Green Crostini

Since our trip to the Dallas Farmers Market dishes have been clean, simple and fresh. It’s been all about utilizing and enjoying the produce in season and not burying those fresh flavors we crave so much in the winter.  This last week has also been about headaches. I have only escape a skull smashing, eye squinting, bed-stricken state twice this week. My husband luckily has been kind, patient and self-sufficient. I have awoken with ice-water at my bedside and never a cross word about lack of cooking or chores undone. I think I’ll keep him!

via Instagram

Two things I have really enjoyed this last week were a simple Bread Salad and this Green Crostini.  The Bread Salad is simple, sweet and a delicious way to use up leftover bread, or bread ends. I coarsely chopped up two large slices of a loaf of artisan garlic baguette, chopped up 4-5 small tomatoes, tossed in a Tbsp of olive oil, dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and some coarsely chopped cilantro (any fresh herb will do); toss the bread in the mix letting it absorb the juices and oil and enjoy. It’s so so very good. Plus zip, zero, zelch cooking – on these hundred degree days that is a blessing!

makes 2 servings, four slices 

 

4 – inch thick slices of baguette (we used our artisan garlic bread) 

butter or oil for toasting bread

 

1 – large avocado

1 – Tbsp fresh lime juice

1 – Tbsp fresh jalapeno, finely chopped

1 – Tbsp fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

*plus more for serving – if you love it like we do!

2 – Tbsp pistachios, roughly chopped

 

Directions: Slice baguette; spread oil or butter and toast over medium heat in a skillet. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare topping. Combine all the ingredients, except the pistachios, and gently mash. Salt and Pepper mixture to taste and then spread on prepared toast; sprinkle with pistachios and extra cilantro if desired.  Enjoy!

This topping is beautiful with all the different shades of green. It is mildly reminiscent of guacamole, but with a salty crunch from the pistachios.  The garlic bread really brought out the flavors of several ingredients, if you were using a plain baguette I would break the “green” theme and add a little garlic to the mix! Hope you enjoy and for tonight I am headache free – hallelujah!

Bruschetta

We have been enjoying the August bounty of the Farmer’s Market. Tomatoes being at the top of the list! I love fresh grown tomatoes; especially straight from the farm, where they remain untainted by waxes.  One of my favorite ways to enjoy a good tomato is Bruschetta (pronounced “brusketta”). 

• 6 or 8 ripe Roma tomatoes (or any small sweet tomato will do!)
• 1 large clove of garlic, cleaned and cut in half
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (or substitute balsamic vinegar)
• zest of half lemon, optional if using lemon juice
• 6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1 baguette French bread or similar crusty bread
• melted butter, for toasting bread

Directions: Wash tomatoes; cut them in halves or quarters; remove the seeds and stems from their centers.  Cut them into smaller pieces if desired. Add the tomatoes to a bowl; stir in 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and zest/vinegar, chopped basil and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside or in refrigerator while you prepare bread – this resting time allows the flavors to bloom.

 Cut the bread on the diagonal, about 1/2 inch slices. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Apply melted butter to both sides, with a pastry brush; add buttered slices to skillet. Cook on each side until brown and toasted. Remove and  rub both sides of the warm bread with the cut garlic; set aside on serving tray. Top warm buttered garlic toast with chilled tomato mixture. Serve with additional small basil leaves, for those like me who enjoy a lil’ extra basil. Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

We enjoyed ours with some fresh fruit and good cheese. I love the touch of lemon, instead of the much more common balsamic vinegar. It adds a brightness to the taste and smell of the dish.  Also, I love rubbing the warm toast with the garlic, instead of having minced garlic in the tomato mixture.  It adds amazing flavor and is still aromatic, while allowing you to control the garlic content and focus on the beautiful tomatoes!! Simple. Lovely. Summer.

Emerald’s Salad

This crazy concoction just kind of happened… It started with a pretty picture of a salad (with a link in another language!), a craving, and then a random list of things that I thought would oddly go together. The salad in the picture had cherries, and well I’ve never thought to put fresh cherries in salad. So please, bear with me. Keep an open mind and palate and give it a try – it really isn’t as weird as it sounds or looks. Oh and if you can think of a better name, well I am all ears. Cherry Munster Avocado Rocket Salad… well as you can see it’s a bit much and surely there is something better than Emerald’s Salad.

1 package of rocket (arugula) blend lettuce, washed

1 large avocado, sliced and lightly salt & peppered

10-25 cherries, pitted and halved

block of Munster cheese, shaved into slices*

dressing of your choice – we used an olive oil vinaigrette, 

          balsamic vinaigrette or raspberry would also be lovely.

 

Wash and dry lettuce, clean and prepare cherries, and prepare avocados once ready to assemble and serve – as they will brown.  You can prepare each serving and then dress; or toss all three ingredients with dressing and then dish up; shave slices of Munster on top to finish the dish. Enjoy.

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I love salad! I will also admit I had my reservations when I fixed this, but the flavors all balance nicely. The lovely bitter and peppery flavor of the arugula, with the sweet juice and pieces of cherries, rounded by the buttery avocado, more texture contrast with the mild creamy cheese, and all of it drizzled with the vinaigrette lending both the flavor of olive oil, vinegar and a hint of spices – good stuff!  

 

Fried Green Chile Chicken Tacos

These are really like quesadillas, overstuffed and fried, unlike you would normally eat a flour tortilla taco (“soft taco”). It’s cheesy, buttery, roasted goodness and you should try it. Of course this could be made like traditional quesadillas and you could skip the frying part, but you would be missing out! Another thing I really love about this recipe – it is all done in the same cast iron skillet. Less dishes make me a happy cook!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 2 Large Bell Peppers, Cut Into Strips
• 1 Medium Onion, Cut Into Strips
• 8 Flour Tortillas (small Size)
• 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Pieces
• 2 -3 Tbsp Taco Seasoning (or one packet)
• Salt & Pepper, To Taste
• 2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
• 1-1/2 cup Finely Grated Cheese (Colby Jack)
• Butter, for frying tacos/quesadillas
• Sour Cream, for serving
• Limes, for serving

Directions: Prepare your chicken and vegetables (cut into small chunks, instead of strips if you are doing quesadillas). Heat skillet over high heat and add canola oil. Cook peppers and onions over high heat until they start to get brown/black. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Season diced chicken with taco mix and salt or pepper if needed.  Add additional oil to the skillet if needed. Add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring while browning. Dump in the canned green chilies. Stir and cook until chicken is totally done inside.  Add to the pepper and onion mixture.

Here is shot from my phone – showing how I set the tacos to fry.

Wipe out skillet, heat butter. Fill a tortilla with chicken-pepper mixture, then layer on cheese.  Cook on both sides, adding butter before flipping to the other side so the tortilla isn’t overly dry. (You may have to hold one side down while frying.) Remove from skillet and serve with sour cream, fresh lime for squeezing… everyday salsa ;). Enjoy the crunchy, cheesy goodness – EO

Everyday Salsa

Right now I am having a hard time thinking about salsa. We made the Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce from the Pioneer Woman‘s website click here. Sigh. It was a treat. It’s really all I can think about at this moment.

But, alas I will share my thoughts on salsa. Love it. Eat tons of it. Picky about it. Seriously, my Aunt Teresa ruined us on the salsa topic at a very young age. She always makes it for any family meal we eat. She makes extra and sends it home with you. Store bought just can’t compete! Trust me I have literally tried hundreds of bottled salsas – it does nothing for me. So in my early years of cooking, years ago – wow, I called, and emailed, and called, asked again, and again making her walk me through her recipe dozen of times. Now I make my own, just as you should adapt the recipe to your own tastes and standards, but believe me it’s easy and worth the short effort!!

• 1 can (28 Ounce) Diced Tomatoes, drained (can use whole, petite, etc.)
• 1 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (Hot, or Regular, or Mild)
• 1 clove Garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 – 2 whole Jalapeno, roughly chopped (or Serrano)
• 1/4 cup to whole jar pickled Jalapeno, drained (hot, or regular…)
• 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder (or 1/4 cup fresh chopped onion)
• 1 teaspoon Salt (more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin, optional
• handful of  Cilantro (more to taste)
• juice of half a lime

*Note: I make this in my large food processor, but it can be processed in a smaller unit (4-cup, blender, etc.) in batches and combined in a larger vessel.

Directions: Combine fresh and pickled jalapeno, garlic, roughly chopped onion (if using fresh), and cilantro. Process until ingredients are finely chopped, if you like chunkier salsa – you can dice ingredients and skip this step.  Now add drained can of diced tomatoes, onion powder (if not using fresh onion – I don’t),  salt, pepper, cumin, and lime juice in a blender or food processor and pulse until you reach the desired consistency.  I like mine to be a fairly even texture. Taste and add more salt or other ingredients until you love it. Remember this stuff gets better with time.

Transfer to your storage container (I use a large pickle jar I washed out 😉 ) and refrigerate salsa for at least one hour, but it is best if made a day ahead. (The flavor will bloom as the mixture rests.)

I keep this salsa on hand in my fridge for everyday eats. Sometimes I make it mild and other times I add more fresh chiles and get it really hot.  My Aunt’s is very similar – though she doesn’t use Rotel. If you use spicy peppers the heat will also bloom as you let the salsa rest . Another way we love to eat it is with fire-roasted tomatoes, extra garlic, sometimes we use shallots or don’t use lime.  My favorite thing about this is that I have most of these things on hand everyday and it taste so much better than the vinegary mess that is pumped full of preservatives.  Chips and salsa is one of the best things on Earth. Hope you enjoy it, adapt it, and share it! – EO

Fourth of July: Tested Recipes

Our neighbors invited us over to a BBQ, it was very last minute. Not that it wasn’t appreciated – I mean we have neighbors who say hi, invite you to church and cook you dinner. It’s like a dream or a movie, only this one isn’t in black and white (name that movie). Anyways, I wanted to take something along. It’s just who I am. I like to contribute and so these are the two recipes we tried:

Thomas Keller’s Creamed Summer Corn

Photo courtesy of trissalicious.com

• 6 ears supersweet corn, shucked
• 1 large lime
• 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
• Salt
• ¾ to 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped chives

1. With a sharp knife, cut vertically down each ear of corn to slice off the kernels.  Put the kernels in a large bowl, then hold each cop over the bowl and use a spoon or the back of a knife to scrape any remaining corn and the milk from the cob.
2. Grate the zest of the lime, preferably with a microplane grater; set aside.  Cut the lime in half.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the corn, squeeze about 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, or to taste, over the corn, and season with salt.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, concentrating the flavour, and the corn is beginning to sizzle, 15 to 17 minutes.
5. Stir in ¾ cup cream, the cayenne, and lime zest.  Continue to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cream is absorbed by the corn.  Add up to ¼ cup more cream if desired for a creamier texture.  Add salt to taste and stir in the chives.

This is a show stealing side dish. The lime had everyone asking what is in here??? It is honestly one of the best cream corn recipes I have tried and it was super easy to make. Leave it to Keller to make another dynamite dish with so few ingredients! This will definitely make future appearances at our table.

 

Banana Caramel Whoopie Pies (Annie Eat’s)

 For the recipe CLICK HERE.  Some friends turned us onto this website and this particular recipe. I would have just re-posted, but it is long and you really should go see how Annie eats…

Anyways, I followed the piping directions for the whoopie pies and they turned out picture perfect (that is just as this picture shown from Annie’s website – Thanks!) My favorite, favorite part (yes so good it must be said twice) is the caramel frosting. It is divine. You do end up with excess frosting and we used it for a fruit tray and I would honestly make the frosting again just for this purpose. So good!! The banana “cake” is also very flavorful and the perfect texture. So if you love whoopie pies or have always wanted to try them – this is your recipe.

 

 

Quinoa Grits

This is my first time to try quinoa. So far I am a big fan. It was just like cooking rice, although it smelled like I was cooking rice in peanut butter and chicken stock. Maybe that is just me, but it smelt weird so I was needless to say leery.  So I decided to make them cheesy and serve like grits with poached eggs for a meatless, but high protein dinner. So technically these aren’t grits, but this was the closest description I could come up with for the dish.

Serves 2

1 cup cooked quinoa

2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup cottage cheese

3-4 baby carrot, finely grated

1 egg, plus 1 egg white

1 small yellow onions, finely diced

1 /2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

pinch of  garlic powder

Olive oil to saute onions

 

2 poached eggs to serve with Quinoa Grits. 

 

Directions: Prepare quinoa according to directions and set aside to cool. In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrot, eggs, sugar, pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.

Heat a frying pan with olive oil and saute onions; then add mixture and cook through until warm and all the cheese is melted. Place in your serving dish and top with a freshly poached egg. Voila.

I made extra quinoa in the rice cooker to try other recipes. This recipe would lend itself to any variety of flavors and spices so if cumin isn’t your thing feel free to experiment!

Chinese Carrot Salad

I call this Chinese Carrot Salad, because it is something I came up with to serve alongside stir-fry and fried rice.  Nothing ever really seems to go. Especially with stir-fry, because well you put most everything in it. This salad is super crunchy, sweet, savory and very refreshing. It would go well with fish or any number of dishes… but I always serve it with Chinese – hence the name.

12 oz carrots, cleaned and cut into fine matchsticks

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 Tbsp garlic and ginger infused olive oil (recipe below)

 

Directions: Prep carrots and place in a bowl with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh ginger. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour so flavors can meld. Stir in the poppy seeds just before serving. Enjoy.

Garlic & Ginger Infused Oil: Method 1: Add several smashed garlic cloves and about 1 inch of chopped fresh ginger to a bottle of olive oil and leave to infuse about 2-3 weeks before using. Strain the oil after allotted time and store in a cool-dark place. Method 2: Bring oil, smashed garlic and fresh ginger to a simmer in a pan. Stir so the garlic and ginger do not stick or burn and turn to a very low heat for about 20 minutes. Let cool, strain and use. If you make more than needed store in the fridge covered for up to 1 week. 

I could eat the whole batch – it is that tasty. I hope you will make it, even if it is not with Chinese! 😉 P.S. I love poppy seeds.

Smoothie Fest

I have been avoiding my kitchen like the plague.  Moving and packing stinks. Packing dishes, pots, pans and etc stinks 2x. So I have been living on random food from my pantry, Hill Country BBQ and gas station fair. While avoiding this area of my house I have still been drinking smoothies. What? It’s a good ten minutes. In – out and I live to avoid that room for another day.  Plus these sweet chilly concoctions are a great way to start a hot summer’s day.

 Whole Living Smoothies titles are linked to recipes

Mango – Coconut Water 

I used some frozen mango and pineapple. I can actually consume coconut water this way!! Otherwise I find it vile, which is sad considering it’s health benefits.

Blueberry and Green Tea 

This was my favorite of the three. Like blueberry sorbet. Very fresh and bright.

Chamomile-Banana This one was more like a milkshake. Very tasty and the banana went well with the tea. Next time I am going to try the addition of ginger.

Less than one week till the moving day!! Pretty soon I am going to have to face more than the blender in the kitchen… Here’s hoping the beginning of your summer is bright and filled with fruit!

Leftover Fruit Smoothie

I know. I know. That doesn’t sound appetizing, but I am working with the abundance of leftover fruit from my company this weekend.  It includes: watermelon, blueberries and bananas.  If you can think of a clever smoothie name that describes these things then – touché! I can not. It’s a smoothie, there is leftover fruit. It’s purpley. Promise it’s tasty. The End.

Ingredients:

1/2 large banana, frozen

1/3 cup blueberries, frozen

1 cup watermelon, chopped

1/4 cup pineapple juice, chilled 

1/4 cup ice

Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Pour in a glass. Ta Da beautiful, delicious and nutritious breakfast, or snack… or whatever.

I love that this is an all fruit smoothie (i.e. no dairy or added sugars). It tasted like something from Smoothie King (a smoothie company I adore.) It was a beautiful, naturally sweet and refreshing breakfast.  I have never made a smoothie with watermelon before, but to be honest that flavor did not stand out.  Tomorrow I may try something focusing more on that fruit alone… especially since I have A LOT of it. Watermelon and ginger, or green tea, or ??? should prove interesting.

P.S. I like drinking my breakfast. Is that weird?