I had plans for a cookie recipe using buckwheat flour, but Susan left me a message asking if I tried adding cocoa to the cinnamon cookie recipe, and I have to admit that I became curious. So I've left the buckwheat cookie recipe in draft mode, in favor of posting this cinnamon cocoa cookie.
Red lentils are beautiful, almost-paper-thin, orange jewels, that turn into a delicious soup in a relatively short amount of time - about 20 minutes. Add about 10 minutes of prep time for a total of about 30 minutes to have a delicious lunch or dinner soup.
I didn't realize that tart, dried cherries taste really good in scones. I've been cognizant of a bag of dried, tart cherries sitting in my pantry that I bought at Trader Joe's quite a while ago, occasionally throwing them in salads. But now they are making a play in my scone recipe.
I'm a big fan of stir-fry. There are a couple of techniques I have mastered in order to make a stir-fry in 20 minutes, or less. And that includes prep-time. Of course my definition of what constitutes a stir-fry is broad (meaning, just about anything is game).
This was a spur-of-the-moment recipe and it turned out well. I've only made it twice, but it's easy. This recipe is giving me ideas about making other kinds of brittle, like nut brittle, and it could also be another technique for making granola bars. Happy Holidays!
If you're thinking about how to prepare your turkey, here's how I season chicken, turkey, and other kinds of poultry. You can apply this technique at the last minute, as well as a few days before, while the turkey waits in the refrigerator. What I get is golden, crunchy skin and moist meat underneath. Roasted chicken is the meal my kids would choose if stranded on a desert island.
Slowly but surely, I'm building a list of what I want to eat/cook for Thanksgiving. I'm testing some new ideas now, and then I'll have my tried and true recipes around to add on at the last minute. Here is one tried and true recipe, and one new one I just tried a few nights ago that was an instant success.
Happy Halloween! Here are two recipes for toasted pumpkin seeds. One with kosher salt and one with spices. Both are tasty - it just depends on how spicy you like them. And the picture of the masked duo (below) is from Halloween, circa 2002. The Spiderman movie was very popular in our house back then, and rather than have two Spidermen, S opted to balance out the representation. What a guy!
These morning or breakfast sausages are consumed at almost any time of day or night. Breakfast for dinner is a great pass time. These sausages are the star of this plate, but I don't shape them into stars too often - too much work. Most of the time, they're just round and flattened.
This is a simple pasta dish I prepare in about 30 minutes. It's great because it can be made ahead of time, reheated, frozen, and it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve with a salad and you're good to go.
Making a good cracker is no easy task when you are not using flour or other grains. Obtaining a tasty, crunchy cracker using almond flour is the goal I was after and I think I have one. These remind me of Cheez-It crackers.
Caramelized onions go great on salads, in tarts, on pizza, crackers, casseroles, and just about anything else. They're very easy to make, and so is this savory tart. I finally broke in my larger, circular tart pan and came up with a pastry shell using almond flour and Parmesan cheese.
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Here is our pop flavor of the week. Watermelon has a naturally sweet, juicy disposition that lends itself well to smoothies and pops. So here is a quenching treat for the last hot days of summer.
If you love the flavor of coffee, or just like ice coffee and coffee ice cream, you just might enjoy this treat. It's simple to make and can be consumed immediately, or frozen for later.
We're slowly coming out of a heat wave (and still practically no rain, going on almost two months!). Needless to say, I have not turned on the oven much. And I have no need to do so with so much lovely, fresh fruit and vegetables from our farmers' markets. Salads with quinoa have been one of my sustaining meals, along with pint after pint of blueberries, yogurt, and ice cold water.
As some may know, moms that work have an extra busy schedule, and tend to be master jugglers (although experience has taught me that all parents are master jugglers).
Last week was one of those weeks, for me. Kids' doctors appointments, car towed due to lack of parking spaces and a meeting in 5 minutes, vacation plans canceled due to husband's important meeting, and finally, my computer deciding not to start. Not to mention that I started a new contract a few weeks ago. Enough said.
Berries, berries, berries. We have strawberries growing from almost every dirt corner of our house. This year, I decided to rearrange my kitchen garden to grow more stuff I can consume. Out came a lot of climbing roses, columbine, and fragrant flowers, and in went herbs, tomatoes, peas, and a strawberry patch. The strawberries must be thinking, "uh, now she's herding us - that's ok, we'll do our thing here too."
I have been eating this ice cream après breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since I don't drink coffee, it's kind of like my coffee fix - I know, I'm weird - I live in Seattle and don't drink coffee. I love coffee - in ice cream!
This ice cream is so decadent - a chocolate lover's delight. And I add raspberry syrup to the mix for even more sweet decadence. (It's hard not to be a berry fiend in the Pacific Northwest - has anyone anointed this area the "berry capital of the world" yet?)
This is a simple recipe for a chewy, buttery, cinnamon cookie. It is a great cookie to have around when a craving for a sweet butter cookie comes up, and the texture is just right.
Barbecuing is an art form for sure, and it's a great way to enhance the flavor of meats, vegetables, fruit, and even bread. My kids love barbecued chicken, and it's so easy to make. Here is a simple recipe for barbecuing chicken pieces - we use mostly legs because they are easy to grab and eat, and the dark meat stays moist and retains flavor well.
Tabbouleh (tabouli) is a refreshing salad that goes great with grilled kabobs, or grilled anything really. Tabbouleh is a traditional Middle Eastern dish that has been around for hundreds of years, originating from Egypt and Levantine cuisine. This recipe is made with all the traditional ingredients, except that I substituted quinoa for cracked wheat (bulgur) so that it is gluten-free.
Seattle is getting a bit spoiled by clear skies, sunshine, and temperatures reaching the high 70's and low 80's. And I can just smell the grills going full force as I bike past suburban houses in the early evening.
Berry season is coming up (or it may already be with you). In any case, berry sorbets are so refreshing and so easy to make. This not only serves as a refreshing snack or dessert, but is great for whipping up strawberry smoothies.
Here are two ways to make candied nuts: one in a frying pan and the other in the oven. These recipes work for any kind of nut, and the current nut of choice in our home is the pecan.
I've been experimenting with flavors, but for the moment, I'm kind of stuck on berries and chocolate, if you haven't noticed. So here is a recipe for vanilla ice cream with swirls of chocolate and berry concentrate.
This is a recipe for picadillo, and you can use ground beef, pork, or even chicken, depending on your taste and what you have around. It has a great flavor and is flexible enough to withstand ingredient alterations, if you get my drift (Out of cilantro? It will still taste delicious).
This jerk chicken recipe is one of my go-to quick and easy grilling recipes, and I can pair the chicken with just about anything - on top of a salad, with confetti coleslaw, rolled up in a wrap, on top of grilled veggies - you name it. I prefer to use white meat tenders, but you can use any cut of chicken for this recipe.
These fish sticks were made with Pacific Halibut, which, luckily, is still fairly abundant due to careful fishing management. To find out which fish are a good choice, go here.
I use salmon with this recipe as well, and almost any thick cut of fish will work. I cook it with the skin attached, and the bones out (filleted).
Ok, it's not exactly berry season - although California strawberries are beginning to trickle into markets here in Seattle. I'm using up my frozen berries from the summer of 2008, and what better way than with a creamy berry sherbet recipe - it's goes great with Valentine cookies, cakes, and chocolates!
Roasted potatoes are a treat with almost any dish, even with scrambled eggs in the morning. You can use any type of potato, and for this batch I used a potato called a Klamath Pearl because Trader Joe's had a great deal on them - they are from Frieda's (and they're organic).
