Roasted Carrots with Feta and Mint

I hardly did any cooking this week somehow, but on Tuesday evening for vampire night, it was my turn for salad. I went outside the box a bit with my definition of salad, and made Michael Symon's roasted carrots with mint and feta.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but I allowed the carrots to completely cool and served it as a room temperature salad. Also, I used some all goats' milk feta-- I think it might be one of my new favorite cheeses! The dish was pretty fantastic, and accompanied Mandy's greek chicken gyros perfectly!

The sweetness of the honey, the tang of the vinegar, and the savory cumin really made the carrots pop. They would have been great alone, but with the feta and mint , this dish was fabulous!  The only negative is that while roasting the carrots, my pan got basically destroyed-- no matter how much scrubbing I do, I cannot get the burned cumin honey off. I guess it was worth it? If I did this again, I think I would omit the honey from the initial roasting phase, and actually, I might parboil the carrots and try to finish them on the grill instead of in a hot oven.

Tim is going to be planting a lot of carrots in his deck garden this summer, so I can't wait to try this again with some home grown beauties!

Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese and Honey

Earlier this year while perusing a cook book, I came to the realization that I have never tasted a fresh fig. This is obviously absurd, so I bought a pint the very second they came into season. I toyed over what recipe to try them in, and I ended on this one from love and olive oil because it looked simple, gorgeous, delicious and most importantly fast (I'm extremely impatient after all).

The end result was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Who knew figs, goat cheese, honey, and pepper could make a girl so happy!?

Haircut Dinner?

Before

Last week, I cut 10 inches (or maybe more) off my hair, and donated it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program which makes wigs for women with cancer.This is the fourth time I have donated my hair (and probably last since it is starting to go gray), and it has been emotional every time.

After!

Eight and a half years ago, my best friend Mariah died of cancer. She was the strongest and most vibrant person I've ever met, and I still miss her every day. But, her memory lives in me, and I try to channel her passionate spirit in everything I do. While I can't bring Mariah back, and I'm not cut out to do research to prevent cancer or provide support for those suffering like some of my other amazing friends are, something I have been able to do is give my hair so women undergoing chemotherapy have one less thing to take away their dignity.

My "hair cut" meal last Wednesday night was in honor of Mariah. One of her favorite meals was Chicken Fettuccine. For her that meant fettuccine alfredo with chicken, but I took some creative freedom and made one of my specialties. While I'm sure I was not the first person to think of this, it is one of the best dishes that I have ever come up with on my own.

This meal was delicious, and meaningful and reminded me that while adjusting to my new short hair may take awhile, it is worth it to be able to honor Mariah in this way one last time.

Sort of a lame photo, but a delicious meal

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken stuffed with Goat Cheese

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 oz goat cheese
• fresh garlic
• fresh herbs (I used Rosemary and basil this time)
• 4 slices of prosciutto
• olive oil

Mince the garlic and chop the herbs and mix into the goat cheese. Set aside. Put chicken breasts on a cutting board and slice into them to create little pockets. Fill with goat cheese and press the pocket shut. Wrap with prosciutto, putting seams on opposite side of the goat cheese pocket. Grill on Medium heat for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through.

Fettucine with Wine Sauce

• fettucine pasta
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced or grated
• red pepper flakes
• 2 TBSP butter (or butter substitute)
• 2 (or so) cups dry white wine
• grated parmesan 

Heat water for pasta. When it boils, salt heavily and add pasta. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, sautee garlic in olive oil until it becomes tender. Add red pepper flakes and wine and simmer to reduce wine by about half. Reduce heat to low and add butter to sauce. When pasta is one or two minutes shy of perfection, drain and add to pan with wine sauce. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water to add in case pasta dries out. Toss pasta with parmesan (about 2 oz), season liberally with black pepper and a bit of salt, and serve.

Shrimp, Scallop, and Veggie Kabobs with Mint Pesto

I'm tired of blogging. I need to stop procrastinating and just write about things when they are fresh in my mind! But, it's too late for that now. Last Wednesday I made some kabobs on the grill and they were pretty tasty.

I made shrimp, bay scallop, cherry tomato, and one with red onions and green peppers. I marinated the shrimp and scallops in a mint pesto (mint leaves, parsley leaves, almonds, water, olive oil, and garlic-- in food processor) which was surprisingly good. I would make it again-- especially on a lamb burger or something!

I served the Kabobs with a spinach and arugula salad with edamame, pecans, and goat cheese. It was kind of a weird combination, but all I had on hand. The dressing was balsamic vinegar mixed with some of the mint pesto. I saved the extra to drizzle on the Kabobs.

I have nothing else to say about this and feel like I sound like a robot. So.... I'm going to be done now.

Bruschetta three ways

***First off, I need to be better about blogging because this post is a good two weeks late.

Sometimes I am overly proud of myself for creating meal ideas out of thin air. This was one of those days. I had a produce drawer with a half a tomato and a verrrry overripe red pepper, and one of those baguette portions that Panera gives you as a side dish on my counter. And it just came to me!

Tomato: I diced up the tomato and threw it in a dish with a little EVOO and the juice of half a lemon. I added fresh basil (which I always have on hand, but dry would be fine), garlic powder (because I didn't have fresh on hand... embarrassing), a few red pepper flakes and some S&P to taste.

Red Pepper: I sprayed the pepper with cooking spray and then broiled the crap out of it (about 10 minutes a side) until it was almost entirely black. I put it in a baggie to cool, and then used a paper towel to wipe off all of the charred skin and get the seeds out. Then I roughly chopped the flesh and added probably 1/4 tsp of olive oil and some sea salt.

Goat Cheese: this one was tough. I opened a package of goat cheese and dumped it into a ramekin. Whew!

The bread: I sliced it as thin as I could, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, threw on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler after the peppers were done (probably 2-3 minutes?) just until crisp

Goat Cheese + Red Pepper on the left, and Tomato Basil on the right.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza and Strawberry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

What a disappointment. I think I just had too high of expectations going into this dinner. I saw this recipe on smitten kitchen ages ago and have been drooling over it, and then when my friend Lisa sent me a very similar recipe and sang her own praises, I thought, "I have to try it!" It was definitely something that was outside of Tim's comfort zone, but I was hopeful he would adapt since he likes pizza crust, cheese, and asparagus separately...

Anyway... it was okay at best. I was just really disappointed. I feel like it was bland and the textures creeped me out. But man oh man, is it pretty!

Strawberry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1.5 TBSP poppyseed dressing (I just use store-bought)
• Sliced strawberries
• chopped pecans
• crumbled chevre goat cheese (about an ounce)

My salad totally stole the show-- It was a little twist on my go-to salad and it is one I will re-create again and again. My rule for salad is to toss it til you think you are done and then toss it three more times. The more you toss, the less dressing you need to use. So, for both Tim and I, I was able to use less than one serving of dressing. The flavor is still there, but the calories and fat are not. Another trick I use, is I first toss just the leaves. Then, I throw on half the mix-ins and toss a few times, and then throw the rest of the mix-ins on top.  For this salad, I only put the goat cheese on top. It was insanely good. 

Heart Healthy Fun!!!

This week, I got two pieces of big news from one of my college roommates. First, was that she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and second, was that she has some rare condition that landed her in the Cardiac ICU. Otherwise healthy 28 year old women are not supposed to have heart attacks-- especially when they have a tiny newborn to hold and love waiting at home for them, so this was obviously incredibly distressing. While Rachel, her lovely husband, and adorably sweet little one are now at home in St. Louis surrounded by an incredible support system of family and friends, I want to do my part to help out. Rachel is being put on a preventative heart-healthy diet and asked for some yummy recipe ideas. I'm taking this request completely overboard and putting together an entire cook book for her. I'm asking my mom, who cooked for my step-father after his heart attack, my aunt Julie who suffered a mini-stroke a few years ago, and all of my food-loving friends for recipes to include. I'm really excited about the project, and have spent the weekend testing and re-creating recipes that I want to put in the book.


Spicy Broccoli and Potato Stir-fry

Friday night, I made a spicy broccoli and potato stir-fry that was a stand-by in my house when I was growing up. My mom used to include marinated tofu in the mix, but I wasn't sure how excited Tim would be about tofu (it's all about baby steps with him), so I left it out, and instead served the stir-fry next to a piece of salmon that I marinated in the orange-soy glaze and broiled for seven minutes. It was juicy and delicious! It was a nice contrast to the crisp and spicy vegetables.

serves 4 as a side, or 2 as a main dish.

• 1 head broccoli-- chopped into same-size florets
• 4 B sized red potatoes, thinly sliced and half way cooked (micro or parboiled; enough so the potatoes will finish cooking at the same time as the broccoli)
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 3 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic (more or less, to taste), minced
• zest and juice from one orange
• 1 tsp ground ginger (I might play around with this in the future, either using more, or using fresh ginger instead)
• red pepper flakes to taste

In a small sauce pan over low heat, add the soy sauce, orange juice and zest, and ginger. Bring to a simmer so the mixture reduces enough to thicken. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium high heat; be careful to stir enough that the garlic does not burn. When the oil is hot, throw in the potatoes and broccoli allowing vegetables to quickly sear before tossing. Once seared, pour glaze over vegetables, add red pepper flakes to taste, and toss.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Fritatta

Saturday morning, I continued the heart healthy trend with a breakfast that was high in both protein and fiber. This was another giant risk for my (formerly?) picky eater boyfriend. He loves eggs, but he wants them plain and scrambled. I have ever-so-slowly been adding things (like Penzey's garlic powder, salt and pepper, fresh herbs, or cheese- really crazy stuff)  to his eggs over the past two years, and he has been incredibly receptive of this, but I knew that changing adding a vegetable was going to be pretty epic. Luckily, he is a great sport and ate it all-- spinach and goat cheese included! I was very happy. Fritattas are great because you can really add anything to them. I picked the ingredients that I did merely because they were on hand.

serves two

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• (1 TBSP water)
• 2 eggs and 2 egg whites, beaten (I like to beat the two whites separately for more fluff, then fold back in to other eggs)
• 1 oz goat cheese (I normally would probably use two oz. but I only had one in the fridge)
• salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Preheat the broiler. Heat oil and garlic in small saute pan until garlic is softened. Add spinach to pan and toss to wilt. If necessary, add up to a TBSP of water to the pan to quickly steam the spinach; this is not necessary, but helps speed the process along. Pour egg over wilted spinach (make sure all water is gone) and garlic and crumble goat cheese evenly across top. If you are me, this is also where you added a ton of fresh cracked black pepper. Cook on stove top for 2-3 minutes, and then put under the broiler for 3-4 minutes more. If your pan's handle is not oven safe, wrap it in aluminum foil before putting it under the broiler. When you take it out, you should be able to slide the fritatta right out of the pan onto your plate. Enjoy!


Roasted Garlic on Crusty Whole Grain Bread 

• 1 head garlic
• 1 tsp olive oil

Yep, there are really only two ingredients in this yummy little treat! (Well, I suppose three if you include some whole grain bread to spread it on.) Roasting garlic is insanely simple, but you end up with something complex in flavor and incredibly elegant-- it is only reminiscent of what the garlic used to be. While roasted garlic is great for adding to mashed potatoes, sauces, or soups, it is also a fantastic spread on its own. When it spends long enough in the oven, it completely softens to the point that you can spread it right onto bread or a cracker and enjoy it's spicy sweetness as a finger food.

right out of the oven

The steps for roasting garlic are easy. First, you cut the garlic open so that some of the flesh is exposed. Side note-- most people say to cut the top off of the garlic, but I have found that cutting the roots off works way better. When you go to squeeze the gooey cloves out later, they aren't stuck to any roots and pop right out! Second, you drizzle olive oil onto the garlic and rub it in. Third, you wrap it up in aluminum foil, and then you pop it in the oven (I did 325 degrees for 40 minutes, and then let it sit in the foil once I took it out of the oven).

after I squeezed 'em out; they spread like buttah!

Once you are ready to serve it, you can either leave the bulb whole, or you can squeeze out all the cloves (see below). I usually squeeze them out because I'm typically throwing them into a pot of mashed taters, and I did that without thinking this weekend. 

Anyway, with barely any olive oil and all of the nutritional benefits of garlic, this is a tasty appetizer that is 100% heart healthy! Just make sure to brush your teeth before smooching your special someone...



Apple Latkes
Sunday I had book club. I love book club (you can see my other blog for proof). Not only do we discuss books, but we have incredible pot lucks. This Sunday was no exception. I made apple latkes, using the recipe found at Smitten Kitchen. I didn't take any photos, because everything was eaten too quickly (read: I forgot), but competing with the photography on Smitten Kitchen would be silly anyway. I followed the recipe for these little cuties exactly, and they were.... just okay. I think that my apples must have been too juicy, because the end result was a bit chewy for my taste. Next time I will either wring them out more (though I did so much that I got almost 2/3 a cup of juice!!) or add a bit more flour. Anyway, any sort of desserty item that includes no fat (animal or otherwise) and barely any added sugar is worth noting!

Mini-pizzas in a flash

It is hot outside. Legitimately. I spent the day working in the yard and sweating, and the last thing I wanted to do was spend a lot of time in a hot kitchen making dinner. So, I opted for a super easy and quick meal that ended up surprising me with how good it was.

Mini and fast pizzas -- serves 1

• 1 "sandwich thin". I've been using these instead of bread for my lunches lately and really like them. The whole bun is the same amount of calories as a normal piece of bread, but it tastes the same! Anyway, open up the sandwich thin so you have two little round flats. These will be the pizza crusts. 
• 1TBSP goat cheese. Spread half on each "crust"
• Toppings-- I used a few thinly sliced golden tomatoes on one and some baby zucchini on the other.
• Brush everything with olive oil (probably used less than 1 TBSP total)
• Sprinkle on parmesan
• Pop under broiler for 5-6 minutes (until parm is golden)

Great expectations

I have been eying a recipe on smitten kitchen for a long time now and tonight I finally decided to try it out. I served asparagus, goat cheese, and lemon pasta because I really love all of those things (it also has tarragon... yum!) Other than fudging amounts here and there, I followed the recipe pretty much exactly. I also prepared salmon fillets in the oven (350 for 15 minutes, 1 TBSP butter, lemon juice, and tarragon on top). The entire meal took 15 minutes to prepare so that was a total bonus!

I loooove goat cheese (marry it and have many tangy creamy babies kind of love) so I was expecting to eat all eight servings of this and fend off any other potential feeders with my pasta tongs. But.......... it just fell a bit flat. I liked all of the flavors, but it wasn't as life-changing as I hoped. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to have enough leftovers to provide me a healthy and tasty lunch the next few days, but I don't know how often I would repeat this recipe. 

Timmy was very excited to eat everything (obviously), but he was pretty wary of the pasta once he experienced the tang of the goat cheese. He wolfed down the salmon (I was also feeling "eh" about this), and then he actually suggested that next time I just do the asparagus in the goat cheese, lemon, and tarragon and I think I just might try it! If nothing else, it's really good to know how easily goat cheese melts and becomes an instant pasta sauce.

My "great expectations" weren't met, but it was still a healthy and pretty dinner with the boy I sorta like. Can't complain about that!

***Update-- I enjoyed the pasta served cold (I just added a bit more lemon juice, and salt) very much. I had it for lunch a few days in a row!