Porridge for Biz

This past weekend I met up with Biz from My Bizzy Kitchen and a few of her blog readers. (Read about our day on her August 24 blog post.)   I mentioned to Biz that I've been making a quinoa porridge for breakfast, so I thought I would share the recipe here for everyone else as well.  I use quinoa because I want more protein so I stay full all morning.  It's working pretty well but occasionally I add some nuts or seeds, like pumpkin or sunflower seeds. 

• 1 c. quinoa 
• 1/2 c. buckwheat or any other grain/legume
• 1/3 c. hemp seeds    
• 1/4 c. ground flax seed
• 3 Tb. chia seeds
• 5 cups water
• seasoning - couple tablespoons of cocoa powder, heavy sprinkle of cinnamon, etc.

I put everything in my small slow cooker (6 qt) and let it cook overnight.  In the morning I divide it up into 6 portions.  It makes large portions, which I love.  I typically add some fruit, lately it has been a couple of plums diced up. 
   
I really don't like the flavor of quinoa, so I prefer to cover it with a strong seasoning.  Cocoa powder is a good way to do that.  I've also tried adding red lentils, but it ends up too "bean-y".  Bleh.

Ready In Seconds, Seriously! Homemade Mayo

I've had some people (particularly my friend John) interested in my homemade mayonnaise I've been using for our Whole30 cleanse so I made a quick video to share with you.

I follow the Everyday Maven mayo recipe because it has instructions for using an immersion blender, which gives amazing results pretty much every time.  And as you can see in the video, it's pretty much instant! 

Please forgive the shortness of the video, I recorded it with my phone and it tipped over before I was finished because of the immersion blender's vibrations on the countertop.  But as you can see, it turned to mayo in just a few seconds.  All I did to finish was to bring the immersion blender up to incorporate the oil sitting on top.  So quick! 

The most important thing to do is to use LIGHT olive oil.  Regular extra virgin olive oil is to olive-y and strong, what you need is a really light oil so it doesn't give too much flavor.   I would recommend a touch less salt, this was my first time using the Himalayan pink salt and this batch turned out a little more salty than expected.  If you're following Whole30, you should use plain mustard or mustard powder because Dijon mustard has white wine, which is not Whole30-approved. 

I've read that to make a smaller batch, you use just an egg yolk (save the white for your next omelet) and whatever amount of oil you want, like 1/4 to 1/2 cup.  But I say go for a whole 1 cup batch, this stuff is so good!  I eat it on everything these days. 

And I follow the advice that it lasts longer than one week, in my book it should last for as long as your egg.  I'm also using a farm-fresh egg that I bought at the farmers' market, really good quality. 

Makin' It At Home: Citrusy Kale-Quinoa Salad

This dish was inspired by a salad that my friend Chuck picked up at the deli for a party at his house.  I ended up eating a large portion of the salad (um, most of the container) and was determined to make my own since I enjoyed it so much.  At the party I snapped a photo of the ingredients list on the package so I could copy it, but of course now I can't find that photo.  Whatever, no biggie.  It was tasty, that's what really matters.  I love the crunchy nuts, the puckery citrus dressing, the earthy quinoa, the sweet fruit, savory onions, and tangy feta.  It all comes together in a great salad.

When I got home I did some searching online and found this recipe from The Kitchn that seemed really close, so I copied it and modified it to match the salad we had. So this recipe is for Chuck because he likes the salad too, and wouldn't it be nice to make it at home for less money?  Plus it's a flexible recipe, using what you might have on hand. 

This recipe comes together in four separate parts -- the onion, the quinoa, the kale & other stuff, plus the dressing. I made this two times, the first time I had walnuts and feta, the second time the feta was all gone so I added some additional lemon juice. Feel free to make it that way if you want a dairy-free/vegan version. 

Inspiration

The Kitchn kale quinoa salad with citrus dressing

Ingredients

Onion

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

In a medium skillet saute the onion for 20 minutes on medium heat.

beautiful caramelized onions.

Quinoa

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dried lemon peel (totally optional, I only added it because I had it)

In a small pot bring all of the ingredients to a boil, turn the head down to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes is up, turn the heat off and let it sit 5 minutes to finish absorbing the liquid.

quinoa on to boil.

Kale & other stuff 

• 1 bunch kale, finely minced
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used raisins because that's what I had, but the original dish had craisins)
• 1/2 cup nuts, chopped and toasted in dry skillet (I used walnuts the first time and sliced almonds the second)
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta (optional if you want it vegan/dairy-free, but then add another 1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice for tanginess)

To prep the kale, remove the leaves from the stems and toss the stems if they're really tough. Then roll the leaves up the long way and cut them into fine ribbons.

Final salad with the walnuts and feta. 

Dressing

• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper

In a large bowl mix the first three ingredients together and taste for salt & pepper. Then as the rest of the ingredients are ready, add them to the bowl as well. 

Final salad with sliced almonds and no feta.

Verdict 

I preferred the version with feta, but the version without it was fine too.

Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Soup

Another requested recipe from my birthday party on Saturday was my Southwestern quinoa and  black bean soup.  I used a few online recipes as inspiration, but the final result wasn't really based on any one particular source, so this recipe is what I wrote down as my final dish in my new recipe notebook.  The notebook is a nice way to keep all of my recipes together rather than the scraps of paper in the junk drawer in our kitchen. I can't believe it took me this long to realize I should write down all of my recipes in a notebook to keep them all together. 

This soup is similar to chili, so you might want to serve it with traditional chili accompaniments like saltine crackers, cornbread, cheese, etc. 

Southwestern soup

Ingredients

• 28 oz crushed tomatoes
• 42 oz water or tomato juice
• 15 oz tomato sauce
• 14 oz petite diced tomatoes
• 1/2 onion, diced and sauteed
• 1/2 each red, yellow, and orange bell peppers 
• 2 cups black beans (or a 14oz can)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
•  1/2 cup quinoa

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

Tae's Peas and Potatoes

At the party on Saturday, our friend Tae brought an awesome dish in the slow cooker, peas and potatoes.  She says, "It's my bastardized version of methi matar malai.  I find that it tastes better the longer it cooks, which is why the crock pot method is so nice."  It seemed like everyone at the party asked who made it and if they could have the recipe.  I also wanted to share it with everyone who reads my blog because I figure most people could stand to have more awesome and effortless slow cooker recipes. It's dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian. 

From my research, the name "methi matar malai" translates to "fenugreek peas cream" and is a Punjabi north Indian recipe.  Here's Tae's recipe!

Ingredients

• Large potatoes - 2, cut into chunks
• Frozen Peas – 16 oz (1/2 kg)
• Coconut milk – 1 14oz can (don’t use lite, use the full fat stuff)
• Tomato – 1 can diced 14oz
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – 1 Tbsp
• Ginger – 1 Tbsp, minced
• Onion – 1 medium, chopped
• Cumin powder 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
• Garam Masala – 1 tsp
• Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp
• Optional: Add fresh cilantro on top before serving
• **Optional: add chicken

Crock Pot Method

Put the oil in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the onions, potatoes, peas, and tomatoes. Throw
in all the spices and add the coconut milk. Set on low for 8 hours. Serve over rice.

Stovetop Method

1. Heat Oil in a medium pan on medium heat.
2. Add onions and cook until a light golden color
3. Add ginger and cook for 2 minutes
4. Add all spices, potatoes, and tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes
5. Add peas and coconut milk and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are cooked all the way through.
6. Serve over rice. 

********
From my research, this dish can also have spinach in it to replace the fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves.   I would also add garlic, because I think it pretty much belongs in every savory dish.  And since I can't leave well enough alone, I would probably see if it would be good with a can of chickpeas mixed in, cauliflower florets, or maybe some cubed tofu.  I would also love to add some sliced mushrooms, but that's not going to happen with my family! 

I love Indian food and this inspires me to want to make some. Thanks for the recipe, Tae!

More Infused Liquor: Chocolate-Mint Vodka & Jalapeno Tequila

On Sunday I had some free time in the afternoon while Sonny D and Husband Jeff went to the park to play with our neighbors, so I decided to make some recipes I've had on my list for a while, chocolate-mint vodka and jalapeño tequila. This will go along with the spearmint vodka and cherry bounce I made earlier this year.  We're going to break them out at Thanksgiving with our friends, that's probably going to be a drunkfest.  :)

Chocolate-Mint Vodka

I finally went out to our garden to pick the chocolate mint for this recipe.  It's a hearty plant, still going strong despite growing without maintenance.

I picked all of the leaves off a few stems and ripped them a couple times to help release the oils, then put them in the jar.  I had no idea how much mint to use, so I just did it until I ran out of leaves and then covered it with vodka.  I used up the last of a bottle of vodka we had in our pantry and cracked open a new one I had purposely bought to make this recipe.  I wanted to use all of the vodka up so we didn't have any leftovers, but I ended up with a tiny bit that wouldn't fit in the jar.  Maybe I'll infuse it with another flavor.

Don't you love the classy homemade masking tape label!?

This will sit in our fridge to infuse for a week and then I'll strain off the mint.  I'm still not sure how we'll use this or the spearmint vodka I made, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Mint, lime, and rum go together to make a mojito, so maybe we'll make a variation on that with something like pineapple juice or coconut.  Or spiked hot chocolate.  Drizzled over vanilla or chocolate ice cream would be good too.  Mixed into hot tea.  Martinis. 

Jalapeño Tequila

I did a bunch of research to learn about tequila to come up with a list of possible brands/types to buy.  I ended up buying El Jimador tequila because it was highly ranked, available at the store I was in, and it's the type our friends Jim & Isabelle drink.  I tasted it straight before I added the jalapeno slices and found out that good tequila is nice!  There's a great smoky quality and it was actually enjoyable, not something you'd need to learn to appreciate like whisky.

I sliced up three jalapeños from our garden and put them in the jar and dumped the tequila on top.  It will infuse for about three-four days and then I will strain out the jalapeños.  I wonder if there's something I can do with those now-boozy jalapeños? 

El Jimador, gettin' spicy. 

I saved the bottle for this one so I can use a funnel and fill it back up.  I figured it will be easier to pour out of a bottle than a canning jar. 

This one seems like it will be easy to use, either straight shots of tequila or made into some sort of margarita.  Yum!  

Hopefully It Tastes Good: Pickled Eggplant

Last night I canned pickled basil-garlic eggplant cubes from The Joy of Pickling book.  I have absolutely no idea what it's going to taste like since I've never had pickled eggplant, but I figured I would try it out.  I don't know how this recipe will taste since you need to wait a week before you eat them. 

It wasn't from a small-batch canning book, but it ended up being smaller rather than larger.  It only took two eggplant and made 5 half-pint jars.  It was supposed to make 6 jars, but that last one wasn't full enough and the others needed more, so I used that less-full jar to get the others filled to the top. 

Blanching the eggplant cubes in vinegar. 

The recipe was really quick, I was done in less than an hour.  It took me about 15 minutes to pull out the jars and lids, find all the rest of my canning equipment like the jar lifter and funnel, and set up my cooking equipment.  I made one substitution, the recipe called for white wine vinegar, which I didn't have because when I originally skimmed the recipe, I thought it said regular white vinegar.  The flavor will be a bit more plain, but that might be ok. 

I tried a new trick for canning this time.  Usually it's recommended to use a rack in your water bath to protect the jars from bouncing around as they boil, but I don't have a rack so I added a silicone potholder to the bottom of the pot.  I don't actually like the silicone potholders to lift things since they seem slippery and I don't feel like I have a good grip on stuff, so this was a good way to use it.  The only other way I use them is occasionally as trivets, but even then I'm not fond of them since they're not very thick and I'm afraid the hot dishes are still too close to the table/counter and will cause damage. 

Blanched eggplant cubes mixed with garlic and basil.

I'm glad I'm comfortable with canning now, I understand the process and I know what I'm doing.  I think my first time canning took a few hours because I had to read and re-read the instructions several times to ensure I wasn't going to make a mistake.  Now I'm a lot more confident and it flows really well.

Steamy canning process.

I especially like that it wasn't a big batch so I could put it in a few small jars and wouldn't end up having to open a huge jar of pickles and then take forever to eat it. 

Sonny D and Husband Jeff sharing a carrot from our garden.

While I was cooking this up after dinner, Sonny D and Husband Jeff were out around the neighborhood having fun.  Their route back home took them through the back yard and they picked  a carrot in our garden.  (the only one big enough to eat!)

One garden thing I need to remember for next year is to definitely put plants into tomato cages or tie them up to a trellis for support.  So many of our plants are drooped over on the ground and all our good food is going to waste while the animals eat them.  And the Asian beetles completely ravaged all my basil.  Last year we had an amazing bumper crop of basil, this year it looks like I will barely have enough left to make a decent batch of pesto after I harvested a bit for this recipe. 

The final product. 

My next pickling adventure is spicy pickled jalapeños. Those should be fun. 

Marinated and Grilled Mushrooms

This recipe didn't come from my stash of bookmarks, it was something I looked up on the spur of the moment and I'm so glad I found it!  It was seriously so good! I made this recipe just for myself since nobody in my family eats mushrooms, but as I was eating the leftovers I offered a mushroom to Sonny D.  He didn't want one but he changed his mind once they were all gone.  Too bad, buddy, should have moved quicker. 

The big tip for this recipe is starting the skewers to soak ahead of time if you've got bamboo ones.  I put mine in a 2-quart pitcher of water and put the lid on to keep them submerged.  And luckily mushrooms don't need a ton of cooking so if you don't get a super long soak they should still be fine since they won't be on the grill long enough to get super charred. 
 

Inspiration 

Natasha's Kitchen grilled mushrooms on skewers

I skipped the parsley and the instructions to whiz it up.  And I substituted Korean red pepper flakes (gochujaru) for the cayenne pepper. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• small handful of parsley (I skipped this)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper  (I replaced this with a sprinkle of gochujaru)
• 1-2 garlic cloves (mine was minced from a jar)
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 16 oz button or baby bella mushrooms

Directions 

Put together all of the marinade ingredients and the mushrooms in a bowl or zippered bag and marinate for at least 30 minutes.  I put my mushrooms in the marinade over lunch and grilled them up for dinner, so mine marinated for several hours.

Soak your skewers now too if you've got bamboo ones. 

Mushrooms marinating

Preheat your grill to medium-low heat, about 300 degrees.  Thread the mushrooms onto the skewers and grill for about 3 minutes per side. 

After grilling.  Not attractive, but sooo tasty!

Verdict

So incredibly good!  I had to exercise my amazing willpower to not eat the whole pound at once and save half for the next day.  I love how simple the marinade is, it's things you

I ran out of lemon juice making this recipe so I couldn't make this same marinade, so a few days later I made an Asian marinade for another batch of mushrooms.  While the second one was quite good, it wasn't as amazing as this one.  We bought another bottle of lemon juice, but now I'm running low on balsamic vinegar.  I definitely need to make sure I'm well stocks on all the ingredients because I'm pretty sure I'm going to make this recipe all summer!

Sweet And Spicy: Baked Coconut Shrimp With Marmalade Dipping Sauce

I use the Google Bookmarks website for all of my online bookmarks, I don't depend on the browser itself to store my bookmarks because I use so many different devices (work computer, home computer, iPhone, iPad) that I wouldn't be able to transfer them or keep them up to date.  So I use the online service and it's great.  One great feature is that instead of filing a bookmark in a single folder, you can give each one multiple tags.  My general tagging concept for recipes is the protein (beef, chicken, shrimp, vegetarian, etc.), type of dish (main dish, appetizer/snack, dessert, breakfast, etc.), and then an extra tag if it's a light/healthy/low-calorie recipe.  For my weekly meal planning, I check the freezer inventory for the available proteins and then browse my recipes for that protein.  So a few weeks ago I looked through my shrimp recipes and found this recipe for baked coconut shrimp.  Once I rediscovered it, I decided I had to use up the partial bag of shrimp (half a pound) for this and I wouldn't be swayed.  I have liked coconut shrimp in the past, but haven't had it in a long time, so I really wanted to try it. 

Inspiration

Eating Well baked coconut shrimp

You could easily make this gluten-free by using a gluten-free flour for your first breading station.  

Even though I was making only half a batch, I made the full amount of the breading ingredients because I hate running out in the middle of breading and needing to make more while you've got goopy hands.  The only thing I didn't use the full amount on was the coconut because I only had a little bit in the freezer.

Ingredients

serves 2

• 1/2 pound large shrimp (I buy the Target Market Pantry 41/50 count per pound tail-off, peeled, and deveined)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

I only had about half a cup of shredded coconut, but I thought it was fine for the half batch and I even had a tiny bit leftover at the end (which promptly went in the trash!). 

Directions

I started by brining my defrosted shrimp to marinade them.  Mix together 1 tablespoon of salt with 1/2 pound of shrimp and cover with water (double the amount of salt for a full pound of shrimp).  Let sit for 30 minutes.  Drain and rinse and dry them off a bit by scooping them out onto a couple sheets of paper towel.  

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (not sure it's necessary but it certainly couldn't hurt.)

The breading process.

Meanwhile, mix together the flour, paprika, and garlic powder in one bowl. 

Crack the eggs and put them in another bowl.  Beat with a fork until yellow.

Mix the coconut and salt together in yet another bowl. 

Breading

Individually dip each shrimp in the flour mixture, then the beaten eggs, and then dip in the coconut.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Serve with the dipping sauce. 

Baked coconut shrimp.

 

Spicy-Sweet Dipping Sauce

For the sauce I looked at a variety of different recipes but I either didn't have all the ingredients or didn't think it was what we were looking for, so I made up my own sauce based on some ideas I saw.  I started by grabbing the new jar of marmalade from the pantry and pulling out all of our spicy condiments from the fridge.  I immediately nixed the Mexican hot sauces, they had too much vinegar. I settled on chili garlic sauce. 

sauce ingredients - chili garlic sauce and orange marmalade. 
other contenders in the background.

I mixed together 2 Tablespoons orange marmalade with 1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce.  This was the perfect amount for our half pound of shrimp, but if you were making a full batch, I would double the sauce. 

spicy-sweet dipping sauce.

Milder Version

It was pretty spicy, so if you want a milder sauce, go with 3 Tablespoons marmalade and 1/2 tablespoon chili garlic sauce. Or if you're really wussy, try 3 Tablespoons marmalade with 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce. 

Verdict

This dish was a little sweeter than I'm used to, but that was because of the dipping sauce.  It was quite good though!  Maybe next time I would add some Dijon mustard to the sauce and reduce the amount of marmalade to get a less-sweet sauce. 

The recipe wasn't too fussy, so you could make this dish as an appetizer for a small dinner party. 

The shrimp weren't exactly crunchy by the end of dinner, so next time I would use half coconut flakes and half panko breadcrumbs for the final breading to ensure it was extra crunchy.  Also the coconut could have been more toasted but I didn't want to bake the shrimp any longer or they might get overcooked.  So I would toast the coconut a tiny bit first, maybe for 3-4 minutes in the oven or until it's barely light golden colored before mixing it in the breading bowl.   

I also felt like there could have been more spice on the shrimp themselves but I'm not sure what, maybe some Old Bay seasoning in the flour mixture?  I don't have any of that but I've been looking to get some.  I actually have no idea what it even tastes like. 

Husband Jeff wasn't really into the whole coconut shrimp idea, but said I could make it anyway.  I'm glad he indulges my cooking plans. He loved the sauce a lot.  It would probably be really good as a spicy-sweet glaze for grilled chicken legs. 

Sonny D had fish sticks for dinner because he hasn't been interested in shrimp in the past.  He wouldn't even try the shrimp. He would have probably enjoyed the sweet sauce but it would have definitely been too hot for him.

Made In The Pressure Cooker: Ginger-Vanilla Syrup

I saw this recipe mentioned in a pressure cooker newsletter a couple weeks ago and was immediately smitten with the idea.  I felt it was urgent to get some ginger immediately to I sent Husband Jeff a quick text message in case he went to the grocery store that day (he didn't).  It was right around Memorial Day weekend and I knew we were too busy to even deal with making this recipe, so I didn't push to go to the grocery store that night.  I ended up buying ginger a few days later and made it on Monday night. I was particularly inspired to make this recipe as soon as I could to show my friend Jessica since she bought her husband a SodaStream carbonated beverage machine but they've only used it a few times to make sparkling water but that's about it.  I'm guessing they don't know what to do with it other than using the pre-made flavorings that you can buy that go with the machine, so here's an idea.

This recipe originally called for 4 cups of water, but that version cooks for an hour to reduce down the liquid.  My version is made in the pressure cooker, where the water doesn't evaporate away much, so I started with the end amount of water. My pressure cooker needs only a minimum of 1/2 cup of water to reach pressure, so I had no problem reducing the water down to half the original recipe. 

The recipe didn't include vanilla, but this was the perfect reason to use up my remaining vanilla bean, it was a bit shriveled up and dried out.  I was saving it for making a special jelly, but I don't think I'm going to make any jelly this year, so I might as well use it here.

You can make this recipe without a pressure cooker, just cook it in an uncovered pot for 45 minutes to 1 hour, as described in the original recipe.  

Inspiration

• David Lebovitz fresh ginger syrup for the original recipe
• Hip Pressure Cooking "fresh ginger syrup" forum post for the pressure cooker conversion

Ingredients

• 8oz ginger
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split (optional)

Directions

Wash and rinse the ginger. Slice the ginger into rounds and then chop some more into rough pieces. 

Add the ginger, water, sugar, salt, and optional vanilla bean to the pressure cooker.  Go ahead and turn the burner on now while you're stirring it all up.  Might as well save time if you can! 

Sugar, water, salt, and ginger all in the pot. 

Added a vanilla bean and stirred.

Lock the pressure cooker and set it to high pressure if you have that option.  Since it was such a small amount of water, it got hot pretty quickly for me.  Cook at high pressure for 22 minutes and adjust the temperature to keep it at high pressure.  In the first five minutes of cooking the awesome pungent smell of ginger filled our kitchen, but as it continued to cook it wasn't as fragrant. 

Pressure cooking. 

After 22 minutes, take the pressure cooker off the burner and do a natural pressure release, which is easy since you let it sit and don't do anything.  I let mine sit for a while to cool since I was off doing other things in the house. Remove the lid and take a look at the chopped bits of ginger.  Huh, not much different than when you put it in, just a little darker because you left the skin on. 

After cooking, this is what it looked like.

I poured the syrup through a strainer and funnel combo (strainer put in a funnel) to get it into Sonny D's little glass pitcher. 

Verdict

I mixed up a La Croix sparkling lime water with two tablespoons of the syrup so I could try it out before I went to bed.  I love it!  It's definitely got some ginger bite.  The next day I had another version with coconut sparkling water and it was great, too.   The vanilla bean flecks sink to the bottom of the syrup so you might want to stir it before pouring, but that's no big deal. 

Sparkling water + ginger-vanilla syrup = tasty drink!

I don't drink alcoholic beverages much, but I'm trying to come up with a recipe that would use this.  I would love a riff on the Dark & Stormy (ginger beer and rum).  I need to check out what alcohols we've got in the pantry to see what I can whip up.  
 
I've got some chocolate mint growing in the garden and no plans on what to do with it yet, so I think I'll probably end up making a chocolate mint syrup. That version won't need as much cooking, the recipes I'm finding say only 3-5 minutes of cooking on the stovetop.  You can also make fruit versions, which I'll probably try out this summer too.

Ruby Spring: Honey-Roasted Rhubarb Sauce

I bought a bundle of rhubarb at the Sunday farmers' market with no actual plan in mind, I just wanted to buy something fresh since it was finally there.  I made a rhubarb cake a couple weeks ago (using home-frozen rhubarb) and so we didn't really need another cake again so soon.  I don't have any other rhubarb recipes bookmarked and no other desserts I wanted to make, so I decided to turn it into a fruit sauce to use in my morning oatmeal.   Rhubarb sauce is also supposed to be good on ice cream, so I might try a spoonful that way.  My current favorite ice cream topping is peanut dust, what's left after Husband Jeff eats the huge container of store-brand peanuts from Target.  It is so perfectly nutty-salty with a tiny touch of sweetness! 

[Edited on July 2, 2014 to add microwave cooking instructions. See below!]

Inspiration

Cafe Zupas' honey roasted rhubarb

Ingredients

• 1 bunch rhubarb (mine was 6 long stalks)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Microwave instructions - To make this in the microwave and not heat up your house, put the chopped rhubarb in a bowl with the honey and microwave for 3 minutes, stir, 3 minutes, stir, and then about 2 more minutes.  If you have a less powerful microwave (mine is heavy-duty) you might need to cook it a bit longer, but it's really quick. 

While the oven is heating up, cut the rhubarb into bite-sized pieces and put it into a glass 9x13 baking dish.  I had thoughts floating around in my head that rhubarb is acidic enough that you need to avoid metal containers, so I figured glass was probably a good safe choice.  Better safe than sorry.

And no need to worry about spraying the pan.  I gave it half a second of thought but went without and it was totally fine because it's so wet that it's not going to stick.   

Chopped rhubarb, oj, and honey.

Add the honey and orange juice.  My orange juice is frozen cubes from a pitcher I made several months ago (not homemade at all, completely from one of those frozen concentrate canisters).  All of the cubes froze into a big blob, so I had to whack the bag against the floor a couple times to break up the chunks. So classy.  One ice cube is approximately 2 tablespoons, so I just went with that. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

After cooking 20 minutes.

I stirred mine after 15 minutes and decided to cook it another 5 minutes to reduce some of the liquid and fully soften the last couple of pieces.  I wish rhubarb was less wet so it could have browned like when you roast veggies.  I guess I could have put it under the broiler for a bit, but I'm slightly afraid of the powerful broiler, it's easy to let something go a little too long and burn it. 

Then I mashed the fruit with the back of the spoon and let it cool a bit. 

After mashing with that big serving spoon.  I don't like that weird pink and green color. 

As it cooled it unexpectedly thickened which was good because that's more of what I was looking for. And I don't know if it's because it cooled or what, but I was glad it turned more appealing pink color that the freshly-mashed dingy green and dull pink. 

After cooling a bit, I transferred it to a smaller container and tucked it into the fridge for later in the week. 

Beautiful ruby color of fresh rhubarb sauce. 

Verdict

I licked the spoon as I finished cleaning out the baking pan and liked what I tasted.  I'm glad I went with this recipe that used only 1/4 cup of honey, it was the right amount of sweetness and not too tart. Some of the other recipes I found used 1/2 cup of sugar, which would have been way too sweet.

I also liked that it added some orange juice for some variety in the flavor.   I wanted to add some vanilla extract and a touch of cinnamon, but I completely forgot since I was making this on my lunch break and I was watching the TV show Clean House on my iPad at the same time. I'll probably add a couple of teaspoons of my homemade vanilla (essentially vanilla vodka, a handful of vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka) and a sprinkle of cinnamon later. 

Savory Flavor Enhancer: Miso Butter

I've read about miso butter a few times and originally thought it was some sort of special sauce, but I got really curious so I researched it and found it's literally just miso and butter mixed together.  Miso is salty fermented soybean paste, it's usually made into miso soup that you might have at a sushi restaurant or it's mixed into Asian dishes.  I finally decided to try it by having toast with butter and smear of miso paste. 

When I went to get my miso it was all dried out after sitting in the fridge with the lid off.  Oops.  Totally not my fault, the lid was really flimsy and I thought it was covered.  I still scraped some out of the least dried-up area and tried it.  Wow!  It's an amazing savory taste that I found myself really enjoying.  Actually, a few days later my mouth was watering over the idea of more miso butter on a crumpet for lunch.  So good!

Last week Sonny D and I went grocery shopping and I decided to buy a new container of miso.  I picked up a 13-ounce tub of Westbrae Natural unpasteurized white miso.

The tub of miso I bought.

Then I figured I should probably look up a more official recipe than just "a bit of miso with some butter".  I found a recipe that gave a ratio of 2 parts butter to 1 part miso, so I grabbed a small Tupperware container and combined 2 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon miso since I figured that amount would probably last me quite a while but wouldn't stick around so long it would go bad.  The only thing is that I keep it in the refrigerator, which means the butter is pretty much unspreadable.  I need to remember to pull it out of the fridge a little early to give it time to soften.

Easy recipe.  Miso + butter = miso butter.

Verdict 

I love this and it's nice to have a pre-made batch so I can quickly spread it on my morning toast or throw some on veggies.  But this probably isn't for everyone since miso is salty with  'umami' (savory) flavor.  It kind of reminds me of fish without being fishy; that's probably the fermentation.  If you're interested in trying a new neat flavor, I recommend giving it a shot.  I want to try it on corn, seems like it would be a great combo.  Can't wait to see what else I can add it to.

The neat thing is that since my miso is unpasteurized, I'm also getting the benefits of probiotics.   Yay, happy digestion!

Superstar Pepperoni Pizza Skillet

Here's a quick recipe write-up of the pepperoni pizza skillet I made last week. This is mainly a concept so you can customize it with your favorite pizza toppings.  The only measurements are the 8 ounce can of pizza sauce and the amount of rice (approximately 1.5 cups cooked). 

Inspiration

Green Lite Bites pepperoni pizza rice

As written the recipe isn't dairy free or vegetarian, but you could easily skip the cheese or use a non-dairy version.  And of course for a vegetarian version use whatever your favorite pizza toppings are - faux sausage crumbles, artichoke hearts, black olives, jalapenos, etc.  And it's easy to add extra toppings to your own serving if your family doesn't agree on the ideal pizza. 

Directions

Cook 1 cup brown rice or you can do like I did and mix half brown rice and half quinoa.  I did this in my rice cooker and I added a packet of onion soup mix to the water to give it flavor.  I also started the rice cooker in the morning and let it sit on the 'keep warm' setting until it was time to cook dinner so we didn't have to wait for the rice to cook since brown rice can take close to an hour.

When you're ready to cook dinner, over medium-high heat saute some chopped peppers and onions.  Mine come frozen in a bag, it's called "pepper stir fry mix", totally love it.

A little extra chopping of the peppers and onions.

Add some chopped spinach and minced garlic (from a jar) and cook a couple minutes until the spinach is wilted.

Then add some diced tomatoes, a pinch of oregano, and chopped pepperoni.  Add an 8 oz can of pizza sauce.   The add some of the rice, only as much as you think looks right.  I used about half of the rice-quinoa mix and saved the rest for fish dinner a couple nights later.  I added shredded mozzarella cheese on top and covered to let it melt over low heat, but if you want more cheese, stir some in and add more on top. 

Not beautiful, but tasty. 
After this photo I added shredded cheese and covered to melt it.

Verdict 

Like most skillet/casserole dishes this wasn't good looking but it sure was delicious.  I completely loved it and wanted to eat more, but I had cardio dance fitness class after dinner and with all the bouncing and jumping I was afraid if I ate more than I would be sick on the floor.  I sauteed a bunch of mushrooms and added that to my bowl since I'm the only one in the family that likes mushrooms. And I chopped up green olives for Husband Jeff and I to add to ours. 

It was good as leftovers too.  I will definitely make this again.  I'd like to figure out how to include more veggies though. Maybe I'll substitute part of the rice mixture with cauliflower "rice" (granules of cauliflower that mimic rice). 

Sonny D likes pizza well enough, but he doesn't LOVE it.  He ate a little bit of this, but wanted just the plain rice-quinoa with soy sauce. 

Better the Second Day: Roasted Broccoli

This is a recipe that I made for dinner in February but am now just getting around to posting.  Broccoli is Husband Jeff's favorite veggie and I think it's ok but I don't want it all the time.  It's always fun to see how I can change it up to be even better.

Even if you really don't like fish I think you should try this recipe.  But if you're allergic, of course skip it!  You could probably substitute a bit of miso for the anchovy though, maybe a teaspoon or two.   And I don't remember it being spicy, so I probably either substituted Korean pepper flakes (gochujaru) which is not spicy at all, or I skipped the red pepper all together.

This roasting method is one I use often, you start with a foil-covered dish/container/baking sheet to let the veggies steam themselves at a high heat and then remove the foil for the rest of the roasting so the moisture evaporates and get the veggies browned a bit. 

Inspiration 

Cooking Light roasted broccoli with garlic and anchovy

You could easily make this dairy-free by switching out the butter with coconut oil or olive oil. I don't recommend skipping the anchovies though, they're going to add a savory saltiness. 

Ingredients

• 6 cups broccoli florets
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon dry thyme (it called for 2 tsp fresh thyme, but who has that?)
• 2 tsp lemon peel (I used dried from Penzey's)
• 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 anchovy filets (I used a couple squirts of anchovy paste in a tube)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  

Toss the broccoli florets with the tablespoon of olive oil and pour out onto a sheet pan and cover tightly with foil.  Bake for 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the rest of the ingredients for the sauce except the garlic.

Anchovy sauce.

Remove the foil, add the garlic to the broccoli and cook uncovered for an additional 6 minutes.

Broccoli and garlic

When the broccoli is tender, remove from the oven and toss with the anchovy sauce. Serve.

All tossed together.

Verdict

Roasting your veggies is pretty much always the way to go, it might take a little longer than steaming or the microwave, but it produces much better flavors.  This was pretty good at dinner the first night, but totally amazing the next day after it soaked up the sauce.  The flavor was a lot more buttery and rich tasting as leftovers. And if I remember right, I chowed all of the leftovers by myself since I come home for lunch pretty much every day. 

Dip An Apple In It: Greek Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip

I thought this Greek yogurt peanut butter dip would be great to send along in Sonny D's lunches for the week along with some apple slices. I whipped this up for dinner on Sunday night and it was super quick and easy. 

Inspiration 

Family Fresh Meals Greek yogurt peanut butter dip
FitSugar creamy peanut butter dip

I combined the two recipes as I was mixing it to get what I thought was the right blend of ingredients and flavors. I could have used plain yogurt, but I thought vanilla would be a better choice.  And I don't have maple syrup called for in one recipe, but I do have honey. 

Ingredients

• 6 oz vanilla Greek yogurt (one serving container)
• 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
• 1/2 Tablespoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.  Taste and see if you need to adjust any flavoring. 

Creamy peanut butter dip.

Verdict 

We ate this for dinner with apple slices.  Sonny D liked it, but declined when I offered it for his lunch the next day.  Oh well.  We finished it off with another apple the next night. 

I don't care for yogurt at all, but this was pretty good.  I'd rather eat apples without it though.  It reminded me of that potluck salad of grapes in a creamy dressing with chopped nuts sprinkled on top.  I absolutely love that salad but I'm sure the original isn't the healthiest with all the cream cheese and sour cream.  This dip would be approximately the same thing, but I would leave out the peanut butter and switch the honey for brown sugar.  

Oh, you could add some cocoa powder or chocolate syrup to make a choco-peanut butter version, that might be really good.  I've also got some caramel syrup meant for flavoring coffee, that would be good with peanut butter as well.  Oh, and some chopped peanuts would be a great way to expand the peanut flavor. 

Ten-Minute Enchilada Sauce for Chicken Enchiladas

Are you:

• out of enchilada sauce but want to make enchiladas?  
• too lazy to go to the store?  
• an overachiever who is trying prove that you're a bad-ass kitchen ninja by making your own enchilada sauce? (I think this is the one most applicable to me, but also #2.)

Well, if any of those things above applies to you, here's the enchilada sauce I made from scratch on Sunday.  I wish I had a nicer chili powder for a deeper flavor, but I used regular McCormick chili powder that we use for chili.  Our grocery store didn't seem to have anything fancier and I couldn't use anything spicy for fear of Sonny D not eating it.  

Sonny D was my helper for this recipe, he did a great job being careful when stirring and didn't have any mistakes or injuries.  He also reminded me to "be careful!" when shredding the hot chicken, chopping the spinach, etc.

My enchilada filling was two chicken breasts grilled on the George Foreman grill and then shredded with two forks, a can of chopped green chiles, most of a can of petite diced tomatoes, some chopped spinach, a splash of enchilada sauce to keep it moist, and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  I like using strong-tasting sharp cheddar for cooking because it has more flavor than a milder cheese so I can use less of it.  You could fill your enchiladas with seasoned ground meat or roasted veggies.  Oh, I also like roasted veggies with scrambled eggs in enchiladas, an excellent breakfast dish.

Oh, and we prefer corn tortillas for enchiladas, not flour.

This sauce recipe made enough for 13 enchiladas, which filled an 8x8 and 9x13 pan.

Inspiration

All Recipes ten minute enchilada sauce

My Modifications

I used half as much oil because I didn't see a reason to use that much and you could probably make it without any oil at all.  And instead of self-rising flour I used white whole-wheat flour because that's what I had and I didn't think it needed the extra salt and baking powder in self-rising (pretty sure we're just looking for the thickening power of flour).  And when I looked in the pantry I realized I didn't have tomato sauce, so instead I used a 6 oz can of tomato paste and added more water until it looked right.  I added 1/4 tsp of salt to start, but added more later after tasting. 

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup New Mexico or California chili powder
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (or 6 oz can tomato paste with at least 1 additional cup of water)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion salt
• salt to taste (at least 1/4 teaspoon)

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium-large skillet on medium heat and add the flour and chili powder and stir it with a whisk. 

Pulling out our ingredients.

The flavor is even better if you use Sonny D's favorite egg-shaped whisk. 

Whisking the flour and chili powder.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Taste and probably add more salt. 

Whisking up the sauce.

Sonny D carefully stirred.  I'm actually in too much of a hurry when I'm cooking so I tend to make a mess when I stir, so I would say he actually did a better job than me. 

 He's wearing a carpenter's apron around
his little waist and I was wearing my cooking apron.

Use a little sauce in your enchilada filling.  

One 8x8 pan of four enchiladas. 
Later I added shredded cheese and put it in the freezer to save for another day.

Fill and roll your enchiladas and place them seam side down.  Pour the rest of the sauce over your filled enchiladas. 

And one 9x13 pan of nine enchiladas. 

The baked enchiladas after we've ravaged them. I purposely left my burned oven mitt in the picture. 

Verdict 

It wasn't much work to make it since it was generally hands-off (aside from Sonny D's love of whisking) but I wouldn't say that it's better than canned.  I bet it's a lot better if you use a good chili powder though. Even if it didn't rock our socks off, it's nice to know you can make red enchilada sauce without going to the store.

I wish I had added even more salt, to me it seemed a little bland.   I have this problem about not adding enough salt, I'm afraid to add too much since I like saltier foods than my family.  Plus it might seem fine when you taste it plain since it's the only flavor in your mouth, but later I find that a little more salt when cooking would have added so much more.  I'm still trying to figure out the right amount. 

After all of this though, I have to say I actually prefer green enchilada sauce instead, so I'm off to bookmark some green enchilada sauce recipes. 

I Double-Dog Dare You To Try It: Savory Oatmeal

I've been thinking about this concept for a while and yesterday I finally took the plunge and had my first bowl of savory oatmeal.  I grew up eating sweet oatmeal, topped with brown sugar and milk floating on top.  Since my re-discovery of oatmeal about 4-5 years ago, I've stayed with sweet oatmeal for breakfast and the occasional lunch. I do a lot more experimenting with fruits and seasonings though and it's always made completely from scratch, no instant packets here.  And a lot of the time what I make could be called porridge since it's not solely rolled oats, usually I mix it up with steel-cut oats, millet, bran, wheat germ, flax seed meal, buckwheat, quinoa, etc. 

But back to savory oatmeal.  I had never thought about eating savory oatmeal, the concept just never crossed my mind. But there's nothing inherent with oatmeal that makes it a sweet dish, it's neutral.  In my fanaticism for oatmeal, I check out any recipe I can find for oatmeal/porridge and I follow a few blogs (Oatgasm, Oatmeal Artist, etc.) that are solely about oatmeal.  Yep, I'm totally obsessed.   And in my explorations, I found mention of savory oatmeal.  Hmm... interesting idea.  And this Serious Eats post by Mark Bittman about savory oatmeal with scallions and soy sauce caused a big kefluffle.  Some people were absolutely disgusted, while others reminisced about the savory oatmeal dishes of their childhood.  And others, like me, were intrigued and willing to give it a shot.

Cooking It Up

For a few months I've thought about the concept and looked up recipes for inspiration, but yesterday I finally mustered up the courage to try it. I had several batches of pre-made plain oatmeal in the fridge, so if it was disgusting I had a fallback plan to throw out the gross experiment and try again with a sweet oatmeal or something from the pantry.  I didn't want to try this on a weekday morning for breakfast since it would take longer to make, so I whipped it up at home over my regular lunch hour at home.
 
My plan was to go with Asian flavors since we've got a lot of Asian ingredients (seasonings, sauces, etc.) and few other fresh ingredients.  I sauteed some sliced mushrooms, added some spinach, garlic and onion powder.  While that was cooking, I added soy sauce to the pre-cooked oatmeal until it tasted like the right amount and heated it up in the microwave.  I used a flat bowl (we call them pasta bowls) because I was going to add a soft-cooked egg on top. 

Mixing in soy sauce

I went back to the skillet and slid the mushrooms and spinach out of the way and cracked an egg in the middle.  I cooked it in my typical way, medium heat with the lid on for two minutes for a soft-cooked egg.  I slid all of that on top of the warmed up oatmeal and added some fresh black pepper and a sprinkle of salt since there wasn't much other seasoning.

I swear there's an egg under all that!

Verdict

I liked it well enough, but my first attempt wasn't thrilling.  I had to add several more drizzles of soy sauce on top because I hadn't seasoned it much.  I was busy browsing Pinterest while eating so I wasn't paying too much attention, but I should have added some spicy Korean bean paste, miso, or sriracha for an additional layer of flavor.  I'd like to take another shot at savory oatmeal but try making it completely from scratch so I can season the oatmeal when it's cooking and adding more flavorful toppings. 

I do have to say that it was really filling.  I had only a little something else with lunch (don't remember what, but it wasn't much) and I was satisfied for the entire afternoon.

So I dare you to try savory oatmeal and let me know how it goes.  Here are some inspiring links from my bookmarks.

• Martha Stewart savory oatmeal with a soft-cooked egg
• St Louis Post-Dispach The secret side of savory oatmeal
• Tea & Cookies Curried oatmeal with caramelized onions
• Penny De Los Santos sexed up savory oatmeal
• Serious Eats Mark Bittman's savory oatmeal with scallions and soy sauce

I could see a Mexican version working out really well with a bit of taco leftovers. I'm also in love with the simple combo of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and soft-cooked egg.   

No Fear Here: Beef Tenderloin

I've always wanted to make a beef tenderloin, but it scared me because it's such an expensive cut of meat.  If you screw it up, there goes a lot of money.  Our local meat market (Jim's Meat Market on Madison's north side) was having a holiday special, beef tenderloin for $9.99/pound.  I was originally going to buy it before Christmas, but I chickened out.  Then I made the decision to conquer my fears and finally bought it right before New Year's Eve.  They only had 3+ pound roasts in the case, but I wanted a 2-pound roast, so they specially cut, tied, and seasoned a 2-pound roast for me. Such great customer service!  If we want something that's not in the case, they're always willing to go in the back and get it for us.  And they make their own brats, we totally love their jalapeno & cheese brats and gyro brats (we ask for crumbled feta and gyro sauce for them). 

Well, anyway, it turns out there was nothing to be afraid of!

I feel that the one key piece of equipment is a remote temperature probe so you're not opening the oven to check the temperature all the time.  You insert the probe into the food and it has a long cord that comes out of the oven and connects to a timer/thermometer.  Mine is on the slightly fancier side and you can set it to alert you when the food reaches a certain temperature.  It works great, when you actually turn that feature on!  I meant to, but luckily I happened to catch my roast at 132 degrees, only two degrees higher than I wanted.

Inspiration

Christopher Kimball Blog (from America's Test Kitchen) simple beef tenderloin

Ingredients

• 2-pound tenderloin roast, seasoned and tied
• fresh black pepper (yes, my roast was seasoned, but I definitely wanted to add more fresh pepper)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

This wasn't in the recipe I followed for the cooking instructions, but I had another Cook's Illustrated tenderloin recipe that said said you should leave the roast sit out at room temperature for two hours before cooking to take the chill off.  I've heard you should do that with most meat so we do that for burgers, etc.  

After the two hours of resting is up, preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Long raw tenderloin. 

Spread the unsalted butter on the seasoned roast, place it on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet.   Insert a temperature probe and set it to alert you when it reaches 120 degrees for medium-rare /130 for medium.  That's 5 degrees less than the actual "doneness" temperature because the residual heat will carry it over as the meat rests.  Roast.  Flip the roast about half-way through cooking (around 25 minutes of cooking). Mine took about an hour total to get to 132 degrees. 

Once the roast is to the desired temperature, remove it from the oven.

Just finished from the oven.

Heat the oil in your largest heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Sear the roast on all four sides, about 1-2 minutes per side. This part was difficult because it was a long, unwieldy chunk of meat, but I did my best. 

Out of the oven and into the frying pan.

After searing, transfer it to a cutting board and let it rest 15 minutes.  While it rested I didn't cover the tenderloin with foil or anything since it didn't say to.  

resting meat.

Remove the twine and cut it cross-wise into serving slices. 

My beautiful medium-rare cut.

Verdict

Wow, impressive and super easy!  

We had Husband Jeff's parents over for dinner and everybody loved this.  I was so proud!  I will definitely make this more often in the future but I will wait until it's on sale. :)