Lemony Lentil Salad

Another packable lunch item: lemony lentil salad. Brown lentils, orange and red bell pepper, scallions, and a dressing made of extra-virgin olive oil, whole-grain Dijon mustard, fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

Yes, I know whole-grain Dijon mustard has been making a lot of appearances on this blog lately. But it is so delicious. It has a really great rich, wintery flavor.

I've been really into lentils lately because I've learned that they are a great source of protein, folate, and iron. The bell peppers add vitamin C and carotenoids, making this a really nutritious salad. Eat with a sandwich or pita, and you have a great lunch! Cheers.

Chicken and Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Sauce (Plus Rosemary Potatoes)

This chicken and brussels sprouts recipe is from the December 2011 issue of Cooking Light. Zack found it and I thought it sounded good, so we made it a couple nights ago. It's really kind of like a Thanksgiving remix. The brussels sprouts (which my mom always makes for the holiday), the potatoes (of course), and the rich, hearty fall-like flavors (ideally). Substitute the chicken with turkey, and bam; you have yourself a new twist on Thanksgiving. I know, I know. Who's really going to change up their traditional holiday menu...? How about a day-after-Thanksgiving-want-to-use-up-leftovers-meal?

The whole-grain Dijon mustard sauce is really the star of this show. Add chicken broth and unfiltered apple cider to the same skillet you browned your chicken in (finish the latter off in the oven) over medium-high heat. Scrape up those browned chicken crumbs and bits as you bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer until thickened, then whisk in mustard, a little butter, and fresh flat-leaf parsley. Drizzle the final sauce over your chicken and crisp-tender brussels sprouts (we sauteed until lightly browned, added some chicken broth, covered, and cooked for a few minutes).

And the potatoes. Baked golden brown with fresh rosemary and thyme. Mmmm. Nothing like it. Zack and I have been wanting to try this variety bag of little potatoes that we have seen at Trader Joe's, so I snagged some when I knew I was going to be making this recipe. Our first purple potatoes. Yes. They look weird, but they taste the same as the others.

Lesson learned: brussels sprouts can be good without bacon and weird-looking potatoes can be tasty. And whole-grain Dijon mustard is amazing. Watch for the lentil salad recipe coming soon. The Dijon will be making a re-appearance. And rightfully so.    

Ground Turkey and Vegetable Soup with Split Peas and Barley

There's nothing like a hot bowl of soup during fall and winter; hence, we've been eating a lot of it. And sharing some too. So I decided to double the recipe this time and wowzers. We've got enough soup to last us a lifetime. But it's okay. Because this is good.

This soup is a variation of a recipe from Wholesome Kitchen, as is the Moroccan Harira that I have previously blogged about. Both have been huge hits and I'm excited to try more "delicious recipes with beans, lentils, grains, and other natural foods" from this cookbook.

This recipe calls for basically throwing all ingredients (dried split yellow peas, onion, celery, carrot, potato, pearl barley, ground turkey, fresh flat-leaf parsley, chicken or vegetable stock, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper) into a pot, bringing to a boil, and reducing the heat to a simmer, cooking for 2 hours. However, for soups, I've realized that I really like to sweat the onions in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and butter before adding the stock and remaining ingredients. Also, since I was using ground turkey as a meat substitution, I browned that in the same pot before adding the stock as well.

 
This soup is hearty and jam-packed with wholesome goodness. The barley and split peas add great texture. I tried extremely hard to keep the soup at a low simmer (didn't want it to bubble too much and fall apart), so it kept shape this time. The chunks of vegetables were cooked to perfection and the ground turkey dominated the flavor.

When making soup, I've found that I kind of have to amplify the flavor with additional spices like curry or ground cayenne red pepper, in addition to bay leaf among others. This necessity may mean one of a few things: it's time for homemade stock. I think this may be in our future. We'll see. Cheers. 

Coming Soon...

Do not fear. I know this is starting to look like a baking blog, but stay tuned. Turkey and vegetable soup with split peas and barley coming soon!

Cardamom/Cinnamon Rolls

Yes. I bake a lot.

I made these cardamom/cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving morning for my family. It was great. I made the dough, rolled, spread the butter and spices, rolled, cut the rolls, placed in pans, and chilled in the refrigerator for a couple nights prior to baking fresh that morning.

But it wasn't that easy. I begin melting butter and prepare to activate the dry yeast. And nothing happened. This sort of freaked me out because working with dry yeast just makes me nervous. I mean, what if they don't rise? And you're left with flat rolls?! Flat anything?! Doesn't sound good. Well, maybe flat, thin-crusted New York style pizza, but not flat cinnamon rolls. So I do a little online research (always helpful), and realize my dry yeast is dead. Or not activated. One of the two. Throw away and do not use. Really?

So I run to Trader Joe's down the street and wade through all the ladies and their shopping carts full of turkeys, pies, and apple cider. Two of them kindly let me cut them in line when they see me with my three packets of active dry yeast. The cashier says, "You came out into all this chaos just for that?" And I said, "Uh, yeah. I kind of needed it." And I did. The new dry yeast activated just fine and I was relieved that I didn't settle on my first batch.

Cardamom is an interesting twist on the usual cinnamon roll. The recipe actually only called for cardamom, but I thought it might be too strong for my younger sisters; hence, the addition of cinnamon. I think they turned out pretty well. A wee bit hard to pull out of the pans (they were technically only supposed to chill overnight) since some of the cardamom/cinnamon and brown sugar glaze sunk to the bottom, and hardened onto the pans. But that being said, they were pretty good.

Thanksgiving Dessert

You may recognize this Pumpkin Carrot Cake from a previous post. Remember? I frosted it way too early? And I had to check on it every few minutes to be sure the frosting wasn't falling off the cake? Don't make the same mistake, people. Or maybe this is something everyone else already knows and I'm alone here. I think I knew not to frost so soon, but impatience got the best of me! Not this time.

My mom asked me to make this cake again for Thanksgiving. My first Thanksgiving dessert. She made apple pie and I made this. It was a great combination I think. Transporting it from Seattle to Portland was a little interesting though. I bought a cake carrier for the event, which was brilliant thinking. Lining the bottom with parchment paper was not brilliant thinking. It was good for moving the cake from the carrier to my mom's cake pedestal (you know, for elegant Thanksgiving presentation purposes). It was not good for keeping the cake stationary inside the carrier while driving south on I-5 and braking frequently in lovely holiday traffic. Despite these traveling conditions, the cake survived (thanks to it's spot on the floor of the passenger seat and frequent babysitting by Zack and I). You do what you got to do.

And take note...no frosting dripping off the sides.

Pumpkin Cookies

Okay. So I'm obsessed with pumpkin. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice lattes. But then I'm not entirely sure that it is the pumpkin I'm so enamored with. It could very well be the wonderful comforts of pumpkin spice. Pumpkin doesn't exactly have a big, bold flavor. Regardless, I'm in love. So I went searching for a pumpkin cookie recipe a couple weeks ago and this is what I found.

These are more like light, fluffy pillows from heaven. They're like little cakes. What makes them even more delightful is the brown sugar glaze on top. Now, I may be getting more excited about these cookies than I should be. Zack didn't really think they were earthshaking. Well, particularly the glaze.

This glaze is made in a saucepan. It hardens super fast, so I was madly adding additional ingredients and trying to stir and dip/frost the cookies at the same time. Some of the cookies had thicker glaze then others, but that just gives people a choice, right? Thick versus thin anyone?

I will definitely make these again. Chopped nuts could be added for garnish or could even be put into the dough. They make a great holiday treat.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Lots of blog writing catch-up to do. The holidays are here!

For now, here is another lovely side for a packed lunch. Tabbouleh.

I love quinoa. It's a great alternative to rice or couscous. And it's high in protein. I basically just cooked the quinoa, rinsed, drained, and added tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, and an easy dressing (freshly squeezed lemon juice, sea salt, and extra-virgin olive oil).

More lunch sides like these coming. They're light and fresh, and go great with a pita or sandwich. Cheers.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne

I know, I know. Cockaigne? What on earth does that mean? All I can find online is that it means a sort of medieval, mythical land of plenty. Alright. I guess I can take that.

I can take that because these cookies are magical. This twist on the classic American cookie is found in none other than the amazing Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies cookbook (which I checked out from the public library). These are the greatest chocolate chip cookies ever. Even ask Zack.

Finely ground rolled oats, both semisweet chocolate chips and ground bittersweet chocolate, and finely chopped pecans. The texture of these cookies is incredible. Maybe it's the ground rolled oats? I had never heard of that before, but it is genius! A little bit crisp on the outside with a chewy abundance of chocolate on the inside. These are a winner.

Moroccan Harira

Moroccan harira. Our favorite soup/stew to date. I knew we would love this recipe when I saw it because of the spicy cumin and paprika. We also added a bit of curry and cayenne (thanks to Zack). It was delicious.

In Morocco, there are many versions of this traditional soup, but most include lamb or beef, chickpeas, lentils, and cumin. It's thick and hearty, and though it takes over two hours to cook, it is a one pot meal and doesn't require a whole lot of direct supervision.

Heat a little butter and extra-virgin olive oil in a heavy-based pot. Add chopped onion and garlic, cooking until softened. Stir in spices and bay leaf, then add beef stock, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, and beef, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low, partially covered, for 1 hour. Add chickpeas (rinsed and drained) and dried brown lentils and cook for 1 hour more. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper, then sprinkle with cilantro.

This stew is wonderful with a crusty bread. It's spicy, rich with tomato-based flavor, and the chunks of tender beef just melt in your mouth (if that's possible). We're looking forward to having this again tonight for dinner.

Wild and Brown Rice Salad

Well, I definitely have some blog writing catch-up to do. I guess we've been busy. But still cooking never the less!

This last week, Zack and I set a goal: eat no restaurant food for one week. I usually meet Zack for lunch and we've sort of grown accustomed to getting food nearby his work. We try to be healthy (Subway, Asian food, etc.). But lately, I've gotten weirdly into personal finance and budgeting since I'm starting to work again. I'm all about saving money. And eating out does not equal "saving money."

It really is amazing how much less money buying a few lunch items from the grocery store is compared to eating out. I know this is all kind of obvious, but hey, I guess I got lazy about packing lunches and sort of forgot.

So, the rice salad. It's a great healthy alternative to pasta salad, and goes great with a turkey and ham sandwich on seedy, multigrain bread. This recipe has brown and wild rice in it, along with yellow bell pepper, celery, cucumber, tomatoes and cilantro. The dressing is a combination of extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stoneground mustard, salt, and freshly ground pepper. This rice salad just tastes so healthy and the crunch of the fresh vegetables provides for great texture. Plus, it saved really well in the refrigerator for a few days.

I guess this last week taught me that there is no substitute for fresh, homemade food. You feel better, you look better, and you save money! Perfect timing for this revelation considering the holidays are coming up. Wouldn't you agree?

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie. Now that's a tall order. Been thinking about making them for awhile now. But because it's such a cozy, warm meal, I've been saving it for fall. So here we are.

This meal was serious business. Lots going on. First, you roast bone-in, skin-on chicken in the oven, then remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and cut into a large dice. Meanwhile, start heating chicken stock in one saucepan and begin melting butter in a large pot. Saute chopped onions in the butter until soft and translucent. Add a little flour, then the hot chicken stock, and simmer/stir until thick. Add salt, fresh ground pepper, a bit of heavy cream, cubed chicken, blanched carrots, frozen peas and corn, and a little chopped fresh thyme to the large pot. Divide the filling into ovenproof ramekins or bowls. Larger bowls are good for hungry husbands. Just saying.

About the pastry...I don't know what it is about it, but making homemade pastry kind of scares me. I think it's because I've been scarred by an unsuccessful attempt at making scones. If the cold diced butter isn't just so, you've ruined the whole batch of dough! So, I pulled Zack into the kitchen to help me (I thought he knew more about it then I did). Let's just say, I stood there and watched, and let him get up to the elbows in flour and crumbly, little pieces of dough.

Building these pies was interesting. As I egg washed the rims of the ramekins and bowls, Zack rolled out and cut the dough into circles (he just took over the whole dough extravaganza because I obviously had no idea what I was doing). There was egg wash everywhere and finding enough counter space was challenging in our little apartment kitchen. It was kind of a mess, but when these pies came out of the oven, it was evidently all worth it.

I think you have to go with bone-in, skin-on chicken for something like this. It just adds an unbeatable flavor. Although, a couple chicken bouillon cubes can apparently help with that as well. Bouillon, what? Those were new to me! And I like how simple (in terms of ingredients) these pot pies were. The filling really melds together into this smooth gravy, but with the addition of the chicken chunks, carrots, peas, and corn. It was super hot straight out of the oven (Zack and I both burnt our mouths), but so rich and delicious. The pastry dough was light and flaky. I was worried that dough just over the tops wasn't going to be enough (as opposed to a base also), but it was plenty. But note to the wise, the pastry flaked off much more effortlessly on the scalloped ramekins versus the smooth edges of our bigger bowls.

All in all, chicken pot pies were incredibly delicious and gourmet. The amount of butter kind of makes me cringe a little, but if you block that out of your mind and only consume every once in awhile, then I think it's okay. All things in moderation. :)