Cashew Chicken in Lettuce Cups

I love rice, but I've realized that sometimes it's just a vehicle for what goes with it. So for this cashew chicken recipe, I served it with large lettuce leaves, which we used to make mini green burrito-like packages. The end result was spicy and crunchy, and it was finger food, which is always fun.

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Israeli Couscous with Cranberries, Apples and Almonds

This recipe, from Giada, is one of my new favorites. Israeli, or pearl, couscous is mixed with dried cranberries, chopped up apple, and toasted almonds, all in an herby apple cider vinaigrette. It's good hot ... warm ... or just out of the fridge, if it lasts that long. I served this with apricot chicken, maple roasted butternut squash and carrots, and a big green salad.


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Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone! As has become our usual, and combined with the overcast, rainy day outside, our schedule was verrry relaxed--and full of good food. Brunch featured my mom's Christmas bread, or stollen, which she makes every year. We also had fresh scones (lemon-poppy seed and orange-cranberry choc. chip), creamy scrambled eggs, a variety of fruit (raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple), oven-baked bacon, and three kinds of cheese (Gouda, Manchego, and Jarlsberg). Needless to say, we were very well fed--sustenance for opening all the presents under the tree, perhaps? Many hours, and a few snacks, later we had dinner, including a small beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, baked tofu loaf for the vegetarians, asparagus, and a big salad. For dessert I made a tiramisu, which was creamy and coffee-y and delicious.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad With Apple Cider Vinaigrette

This is the perfect fall salad. Cubes of butternut squash are roasted with dried cranberries, maple syrup, olive oil, and salt and pepper, and then the squash is piled on top a mound of arugula, toasted walnuts and parmesan, and the whole salad is drizzled with a warm apple cider vinaigrette. The recipe is from Ina Garten.

Family Dinner

After a quick trip north for the weekend, we had some family over to visit last night. Dinner mid-week isn't always easy, but this menu was fairly easy to put together, giving us plenty of time to chat and catch up. The chicken, which has become a staple around here, marinated while the other things were made, and then it was grilled as we had drinks and snacks. We also had French potato salad, which is full of herbs, mustard and olive oil but no mayonnaise; roasted artichoke hearts with red peppers; a watermelon salad with olives; pineapple; and a big green salad and bread. Not shown is the homemade French vanilla ice cream we had for dessert, topped with warm black raspberry jam. Some added tiny (but rich) chocolate brownies ... yum. Somehow in the midst of all that goodness I forgot to take any pics ... and the ice cream is now long gone, alas.

Memorial Weekend Cookout

Happy Memorial Day! We had our cookout on Sunday, as our guests went home today, but it also worked out weather-wise, as today was stickier and then rainy. The chicken was a new recipe, marinated and then grilled in a homemade bbq sauce. We also had grilled tofu for the vegetarians as well as grilled fattoush made with homemade foccaccia, red beans and rice, asparagus, and then carrot cake for dessert. BBQ Chicken 2 c ketchup 1 c brown sugar 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce 2 Tbs cider vinegar 1 Tbs freshly grated ginger 2-4 Tbs sesame seeds salt and pepper chicken, washed and dried (I used boneless skinless thighs and legs, but any parts will work) Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Pour a cup or so over the chicken, using more or less depending on how much chicken you have. Marinate for at least 15 min or, in the refrigerator, up to several hours. Broil or grill til fully cooked and serve with some of the extra sauce on the side. You can also refrigerate the leftover sauce (not the leftover marinade) and use it another time. Grilled fattoush, based on a recipe from Bon Appetit, cucumber sticks, and bbq chicken Red beans and rice, foccaccia, and grilled tofu Asparagus with lemon juice, olive oil, and sea salt Just a slice ... carrot cake for dessert

First Cookout of the Season

Spring is here in full force, with flowers and trees blooming everywhere and warmer weather, too. Today, having resolved our grill issues, we decided to do a quick cookout out back. We had bbq chicken basted in a sauce I mixed up recently (coffee, molasses, caramelized onions etc), potato salad with a little smoky paprika on top, and a mixed greens salad with carrots, apples, and pecans.

Summer Salad

Sungold tomatoes, watermelon, fresh feta, and basil.

Grilled Shrimp Fattoush

It's pouring now, but before the monsoon began, I grilled some salad. Onto the grill went shrimp, squash, bell peppers, onions, and pita. Into a bowl went fresh feta, tomatoes, lots of mint and cilantro, and lemon vinaigrette. The grilled vegetables were then chopped up and added to the bowl, and the shrimp was added on top.

Picnic with Happy Watermelon!

For a bbq/picnic at a friend's house, I brought two watermelons. The first, above, was cored and filled with fruit salad. For the second, I scooped out all the fruit, drained off some of the juice, and then let the pieces soak in Absolut for a few hours--very refreshing, and potent, as you can barely taste the vodka. We had happy watermelon with the chips and salsa, and the fruit salad for dessert.

Asian lettuce wraps

So as I said, it's been hot ... not so unusual for summer, but I've been trying to do something new for dinner. The other night we had Asian-inspired lettuce wraps, using lots of fresh raw veggies, grilled tofu and steak, and Thai cucumber salad on the side. Or inside if you don't mind it drippy. Hoisin and peanut sauces on the side for dipping. And afterwards we had sticky rice with mango, peach, and raspberries in a vanilla-coconut sauce--not necessarily traditional, but it tasted good.

More Fattoush

In living color ... yum

Fattoush

I'm still here ... really! The hot weather has hit, though, and cooking almost anything is hard to imagine at times. However, one thing I did discover in the July issue of Bon Appetit was a great recipe for fattoush. I grilled some zucchini, summer squash, mango, and yellow bell peppers--enough to give them grill marks but not enough to make them mushy--as well as onions and halved pita rounds. These were all chopped or broken into pieces and added to cubed feta (the fabulous kind from the farmer's market), halved cherry tomatoes, a little cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro, lots of fresh mint (very important and tasty), fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Toss together and serve. I served this with chicken kabobs that had been marinated in lemon and lime juice, chardonnay, salt and pepper, cumin, and olive oil. Grill the chicken til just tender and serve on top or next to the fattoush.

Happy Memorial Day!

It's almost a requirement to cook on Memorial Day, no? So not wanting to anger the holiday gods, I made a menu from Michael Chiarello on the Food Network. Really this could have been two meals, since we weren't biking through Napa like he was, but it's very good. Grilled chicken on a bed of grilled and marinated mushrooms on top of a spinach salad, and a rice salad with asparagus, sugar snaps, zucchini, diced ham, romano cheese, and lots of other good flavors. He made his chicken into sandwiches, but left the bread, in this case a fresh French boule, on the side.

Summer rolls in spring

Saturday was sticky and hot, and I couldn't think of turning on the oven or stove for very long. So instead I made Vietnamese summer rolls, using rice paper wrappers, translucent mung bean noodles (didn't have any rice vermicelli), and shrimp for the carnivores and sesame peanut tofu for the vegetarians. I did all the prep work and wrapper cooking, while my assistant, aka Swimmer Girl, did all the filling and rolling--she did a great job, and the rolls, dipped in peanut sauce, tasted delicious. We served them with a simple salad of mixed greens, champagne mangoes, and peanut dressing.

Pancake Tuesday

In honor of National Pancake Day, I made lemon-poppyseed pancakes for dinner last night. The recipe is based on one from King Arthur (Lemon Zephyr pancakes), and it includes both oatmeal and grated apple, so you can even call them healthy. But they don't taste like they have oatmeal in them (not that oatmeal is bad), nor can you tell that they contain apple. The pancakes aren't too sweet on their own (having only the apple as sweetener), so I topped them with a little butter and warm maple syrup. I also made a citrus salad (blood oranges, navel oranges, and pink grapefruit) and a strawberry-feta-almond salad on baby romaine. This feta btw is one from Blue Ridge Dairy that we bought at the farmer's market on Sunday, and it's just fabulous. I've added it to as many things as possible, including just nibbling on it by itself as a snack.

Lemon-poppyseed pancakes
Makes about 10 four-inch pancakes

1/2 c oatmeal
1 1/4 c buttermilk (I use soured milk - milk with lemon juice or apple cider added)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon (can use in the soured milk or in addition to that)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 c flour
1 egg
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp poppy seeds

In a mixing bowl, combine the oats and the buttermilk/soured milk. While they soak, zest the lemon and peel and grate the apple. In a small bowl, combine the salt, baking soda, baking powder, and flour; set aside. To the oat mixture, add the egg, butter, apple, lemon zest, lemon juice (if using extra), nutmeg, and poppy seeds. Then add the flour mixture and mix well. Cook the pancakes on a preheated, greased griddle, using 1/4-cupfuls of batter per each pancake. Serve with warm syrup or jam.

One of my favorite salads. Baby lettuces, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and sauteed pears, drizzled lightly with a dijon balsamic dressing. 

Roasted Beet Salad With Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts

Mixed greens with roasted red and golden beets, Gorgonzola, and toasted hazelnuts in a creamy lemon dressing, based on a recipe from Bon Appetit