Colorful winter salad

I'm always looking for a bit of color in my meals, and while I'm not typically a salad fan (or a fan of cold foods generally), the days that follow Thanksgiving lend themselves to crisper, lighter fare.

Lighter winter fare

I only like salads with...

Fresh avocados

Ingredients  (serves two as a meal or four as a side)

• Butter lettuce (one small head)
• 1 Fresh persimmon, 1/4 papaya, or 1/2 pink grapefruit (listed in order of my favorite) 
• 1 Avocado
• 2 tbsp Pumpkin seeds
• 2 oz. Blue cheese
• Greek yogurt (1/4 cup)
• Olive oil (1/4 cup)
• Juice from half of one lemon
• A pinch of salt
• Freshly grated black pepper

1. Wash the lettuce thoroughly, pat dry, and chop into bite sized leaves.
2. Start the pumpkin seeds toasting over medium heat in a small saucepan (they will turn fragrant, pop a bit, and turn browner) shaking them around frequently.
3. In a food processor, combine the yogurt, olive oil, lemon and salt until blended
4. Cube the fruit and the avocado.
5. Combine all ingredients into low bowls, crumbling the blue cheese on top and finishing with the freshly grated pepper.

Veggie Goat Cheese Breakfast Bake

This is a great and easy meal to make for breakfast or lunch and I find if you double the recipe, you can save half of the goat cheese mixture in the fridge for several days and make it again with whatever vegetables you have on hand!  I made this one with sautéed mushrooms and kale.

Here is all that's left

I tried to take a picture

We ate too quickly

Ingredients:

• Whatever vegetables you have on hand, chopped and sautéed (raw will do as well!)
• 5 ounces of goat cheese
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 cup of egg whites
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• oil for greasing the pan
• rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Saute the vegetables you have chosen to use
3. In a mixing bowl combine the goat cheese, cream, egg whites, pepper and 1/2 tsp of the thyme, stirring until completely incorporated.  Set aside.
4. Grease a baking pan.  Transfer the sun dried tomatoes and vegetables to the baking pan.
5. Pour the goat cheese mixture over the vegetables and top with the remaining thyme.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the center is no longer liquid.
7. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

A new picture to show what it really looks like. June 2019 and I've taken to cracking a couple of eggs into the bake. They're beautiful and add some lovely color.

Recipe adapted from Mariel's Kitchen.  Thank you to Connie, my mother-in-law for the fun new baking pan!

My favorite sandwich á la Swim Cafe

I've never been really fond of sandwiches, have never been a big bread eater (it turns out I have gluten sensitivities), and don't eat much meat.  But sometimes, there is something so satisfying about a sandwich, and when you come across a good one, I find I tend to want it every day until I've gone through the whole loaf of bread.  And philosophically speaking, a sandwich is the Middle Way or Golden Triangle of lunch.  It is made to make every bite contain just a bit of everything - balanced tastes and moderation.  I mean..... if it is a good sandwich.

The cafe down the street from me makes some fabulous sandwiches with really great ingredients and I've been enamored with their turkey sandwich for a while now.  The trouble is, it really depends on who makes it.  So, from now on, it's going to be me!

When the cravings strikes -

Crusty bread, tasty toppings - 

Make me a sandwich!

Ingredients

• White bread, two slices
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese
• 2 tsp horseradish
• Thinly sliced turkey
• Avocado (about half of one small)
• Tomato (ripe, juicy)
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. NSoften the cream cheese approximately 15 seconds in the microwave and whisk the horseradish in, making a thick, smooth cream sauce.
2. Toast the bread.  On one side of the bread, spread the horseradish cheese spread.  Top with very thinly sliced tomato and black pepper.
3. Layer thinly sliced avocado on the other piece of bread.  Top with turkey.  Put the sandwich together, cut on a diagonal with a serrated knife (to avoid pressing all the ingredients out the side of the sandwich) and devour!

Rather than toast the bread, the sandwich can be constructed first and the entire thing grilled in a buttered pan or griddle.  You know... If you want to be decadent about it.  If you're not though, the sandwich is approximately 330 calories of energy and good taste.

Crock-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

I have been making this recipe for years now, and every time, I'm so excited to sit down and eat it, I forget to take a picture and blog about it.  (Full disclosure - I've actually never made this recipe.  My husband has made it every single time and it is fabulous.)

Chicken Noodle Soup

Just as it was meant to be

And not from a can

Ingredients:

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 4 celery ribs, sliced
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 4 tsp)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts
• 2 cups cooked egg noodles
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves

1. Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Melt butter in heavy pan over medium-high heat.  Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook until skin is deep golden brown, about 8 minutes.  Transfer thighs to crock pot.
2. Pour off all but 1 Tbsp fat from pan.  Add carrots, celery, and onions to now-empty pan and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic, thyme, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add 1 cup broth to pan and scrape up any browned bits with wooden spoon.  Transfer vegetable mixture, bay leaves, and remaining broth to crock pot.
3. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and wrap in foil (make a foil packet around each breast).  Place foil packets in crock pot.  Cover and cook on low until breasts are cooked through and thighs are tender, 4 - 4 1/2 hours.
4. Remove foil packet from crock pot.  Carefully open foil and transfer chicken breasts to plate.  Remove chicken thighs from crock pot and transfer to plate.  When cool enough to handle, shred meat into bite-size pieces, discarding skin, bones, and excess fat.
5. Stir shredded chicken, cooked noodles, peas, and parsley into slow cooker.  Cover and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.  Discard bay leaves.  Serve.

Usually I refrain from adding the noodles to the soup.  I pack up a third of the soup and freeze it, and the rest we eat for lunch over a couple of days.  I have poured this soup over noodles, over rice, and even over mashed potatoes.  All possibilities if you don't cook and add the noodles to begin with.

I asked my husband if there were any other little changes that he makes and he said no.  The recipe is perfect.  Make it this autumn and let me know what you think!  It is well worth the planning.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, Winter 2010.

Dark Mint Organic Chocolate - a Review

Okay.  Fanny May Mint Meltaways.  After Eights.  Frango Mints.  We're talking tastes of this caliber here.

I recently tried The Alter Eco Dark Mint Chocolate without much in terms of expectations - I think my local grocer was out of the quinoa bar I usually get (think Nestle crunch but better).  It was delicious.  It is a little pricey, but my local chocolate expert said it is worth it.  

And it gets better.....

What if eating this tasty tasty chocolate nourished more than just your little soul?  The company Alter Eco is doing their best to be environmentally sustainable (which is important if we want to keep eating chocolate).  Their chocolate is organic.  They're trying to offset their carbon footprint.  They compost and recycle.  They plant trees.

So, now you can do your part and eat some chocolate!

Nom nom nom.......

Summer Squash Pomodoro á la Green Zebra

Every meal I have had at Green Zebra has been a good one.  When I do a tasting menu - I'm not left hungry, like I am at so many other posh restaurants.  The last time I was at Green Zebra, my entree was a summer squash pomodoro with rice.  Gluten-free.  Tasty.  Satisfying.  I made it at home and everyone loved it.  I'll share it with you today!  (serves 4)

Ingredients

• Summer squash - 4 small, thinly sliced
• Eggplant - 1 medium, cut into pencil-thick strips
• Rice - 1 cup, uncooked
• Garlic - one clove
• Cremini Mushrooms - 1/2 cup chopped
• Pine Nuts - 4 Tbsp
• Fresh Basil - chopped, 8 Tbsp
• Sauce - store bought, previously made and frozen, or from your own tasty recipe
• Butter - 2 Tbsp
• Olive Oil
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1. Prepare the sauce if making from scratch.
2. Cook the rice and set aside.
3. Heat the sauce if using ready-made.
4. Melt one tablespoon of butter with a little olive oil and sauté the summer squash.  Ladle sauce into low-bowls and arrange the squash on top of the sauce.
5. Add a little more olive oil and sauté the eggplant, sprinkled with a little salt.
6. Place a scoop of white rice in the center of each bowl, on top of the squash.  When the eggplant is cooked, add pieces to the side of the squash and rice on each dish.
7. Add the other tablespoon of butter to the sautéing pan and melt with a little olive oil.  Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently.
8. Sprinkle each dish with 1 Tbsp of pine nuts.
9. Grate black pepper onto each dish, top with mushrooms and fresh basil and serve immediately!

Green Zebra used sticky rice, and I used what I had on hand.  With sticky rice, you may be able to wrap the rice in the summer squash as I was unable to do.  If so, it'll be fancier, you can charge more (we're onto you, Chicago restaurants!), and it should look like this:

Pasta with Artichokes

For my birthday, I received a set of low bowls with artichokes printed on them.  At every subsequent meal that week, when I would get to the bottom of my dish, I'd find myself hungry for artichokes.  Enough was finally enough!  This dish is so tasty, and so quick.  The egg really makes the texture complete.

Ingredients:

• 1 can artichoke hearts
• two servings black soba noodles
• two cloves garlic
• 3-4 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• Garnish:  black olives, fresh parsley, parmesan cheese

1. Set the eggs to boil (7 min, once the water is at a full boil).
2. Drain and chop the artichoke hearts
3. Mince the garlic cloves
4. While the eggs cool to be peeled, melt the butter and olive oil over low heat.
5. Set water to boil for the noodles
6. Add the garlic and simmer until fragrant (approx. 1 minute)
7. Add artichokes and simmer over low heat in the butter and garlic, tossing to coat, approx 5 minutes.  Peel and chop the eggs.
8. Drain and serve the noodles, topped with chopped hard boiled egg and the artichokes.  Garnish with black olives, parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese.