chopped salad

In an alternate reality somewhere I am at the gym working out and not writing this blog post while the oven preheats for the peach pie I just pulled out from the freezer.  I'm sweating and burning calories and generally looking fit.  But this is the real world and I am, in fact, a few moments away from getting up to place said peach pie into the oven.  I tend to go through cycles of caring about getting fit, which as we all well know is a common problem people have.  By no means am I a yo-yo dieter though.  Actually I am no dieter at all, other than the three months I was on Weight Watchers to lose the extra pounds I had accumulated while pregnant with Clio.  It was a breeze, mostly since I was breastfeeding (WW is the only diet program that I know of that has a plan for nursing moms) and it helped me get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

The pie is now in the oven, by the way.

We don't eat too unhealthily in our house but we don't eat very healthily either.  Case in point tonight we had a very lean bean stew for dinner but we will be eating a piece of pie in a matter of an hour or so.  This is very typical of our eating habits; decent dinner followed by an indecent amount of dessert.  It is not something I particularly love about the way we live but most of the time I don't really feel motivated to change it either.  Leif and I don't have any vices other than that we really, really like dessert.  That folks, is a pathetic attempt at a justification.

On to the actual purpose of this post (You thought it was to bore you with my eating habits? Wrong!).  Chopped salad.  It is awesome, right?  I've eaten this particular salad three times in the last two days, which is why despite all that blabbering on above about eating poorly, I don't feel too guilty about eating the piece of pie that is in my near future.  I prepped enough of the components for all three meals at one time, otherwise I can tell you I would not have eaten it as often as I did.  Not because it isn't incredibly tasty, because it is exactly that, but because chopped salads take a lot of, um, chopping.  I'm not too fond of prep work (fancy people call this mise en place) and having to do this three times in two days would never happen.  Especially when I am generally interrupted by a certain toddler in order to voice one of her stuffed animals every 2-5 minutes.

If you can get past the prep for this salad -and it is not really all that bad I am just being a bit overdramatic- then you will likely end up loving it as much as I do.  It is filling without being heavy and it keeps me feeling satiated until dinner rolls around.  I would highly recommend you give it a try.  The best part of it is that you can customize it to fit your particular preferences very easily.  For instance, if you are not as cuckoo for garbanzo beans as I am, then sub some other form of protein like tofu or shredded chicken.  Don't have any grapes on hand?  Chop up an apple then.  An added bonus is that you don't even need to measure anything.  You can simply put in as much or as little as you desire.

For this particular chopped salad I used romaine hearts, red grapes (not seedless, thank you very much, I had to deseed these mofos), corn, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, a hard boiled egg, and about 2 tablespoons of pepitas (also known as your standard pumpkin seeds but pepitas makes it sound much more exotic).  I am a sucker for Brianna's Poppyseed dressing but I only use a minimal amount with this salad because it just doesn't need it.  Plus, dressing is kind of crazy high in sugar content so I figure it is just as well to avoid using it a lot.  You could use any dressing you want though, I think goddess dressing or balsamic would also be great.

Let me know if you have any chopped salad combinations that are really amazing.  I intend to make more of these in the near future.

Pie's out of the oven!  Time to go.  Cheers!

noms: cannellini beans with sauteed kale

Even though Leif and I eat meat we try to balance our diet with a fair amount of vegetarian dishes as well.  Usually these dishes come in the form of soups or chowders.  I've been trying to expand my repertoire of vegetarian cuisine with dishes that I can easily pull together in the evenings but that are a little more interesting than what I normally make.  This recipe was my first attempt.

Kale has always been somewhat of a mystery vegetable to me.  I know it is something of a power food.  It has more iron per calorie than beef and more calcium than milk. A single cup of the green stuff has more vitamin C than an orange and more vitamin A than any other leafy green. Impressive, right?  Yet I still rarely cook with it mainly because, other than kale chips, I haven't really found many uses for it.  My in-laws juice it but I'm not into the whole juicing thing.  

But then I came along this recipe and decided to give it a try using kale.  It turns out that this is exactly the type of thing that kale is good in.  It holds up well being sauteed and ends up being tender without being mushy and it doesn't overpower the subtlety of the cannellini beans.  Even better is that it makes great leftovers for lunch the next day.  

I highly recommend trying this one out.  But make sure to use organic kale because it is on the Environmental Working Group's list of Dirty Dozen produce that have the highest amount of residual pesticides.  Yipes.

cannellini beans with sauteed kale
recipe adapted from here.

2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper
2 large bunches of kale with thick stems removed and sliced into 1 inch strips
1 cup vegetable broth
2 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp sherry vinegar

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and red pepper and stir for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add greens by the handful; stir just until starting to wilt before adding more.
4. Add the vegetable broth and simmer greens until tender.
5. Add the beans and simmer uncovered until beans are heated through and the liquid is absorbed.
6. Stir in the vinegar.
7. Season with salt and pepper.

noms: crock pot pulled pork with coleslaw

Before Leif started back at work I would get home and dinner would literally be on the table waiting for me.  Now that he is back to work and the stress of the entire job-hunting process is over I am realizing what a luxury it was to never have to worry about making dinner after work.  I was able to walk right through the door, give Leif a kiss and head straight to Clio for some snuggle time before we sat down to eat.  

With both of us working full time again the only time I walk into the house and dinner is ready is when the crock pot has been working while we've been out.  In any given week now we must use it at least two to three times. I've found over the many years that I've been using it that it's a pretty versatile kitchen appliance.  One would not think that would be the case with an appliance that only has four settings: low, high, warm, and off, but I can make anything from soups to re-fried beans with it and there are always new recipes to try.  

This bad boy here is the love child of two pounds of pork loin, a can of root beer, a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, and seven hours in the crock pot.  Add a pickle or some potato salad and call it a day.

slow cooker pulled pork

recipe from here.

2 pounds pork loin (or shoulder)

1 12 oz can root beer

1 18 oz bottle barbecue sauce

Place pork loin in the crock pot, pour over the can of root beer.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Drain the excess liquid.  Shred the pork, add the bootle of barbecue sauce and mix well. Continue to cook on low for another 15-30 minutes.  Serve on hamburger bun with coleslaw.  

...

coleslaw

recipe adapted from here. 

1 package coleslaw mix (pre-shredded cabbage and carrots)

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Mix together the apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, sugar, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Toss together with the slaw mix and let stand or thirty minutes.  Then re-toss and serve on top of the pulled pork.  

noms: corn chowder

It rained off and on for most of weekend, which made me feel excited for the fall and all the things that come with it as well mournful for the summer and the sun on my skin.  I love this city but the fact that I am already apprehensive about the deteriorating summer sun should tell you that the weather here is no joke, people.

It must have been my mind wandering to all the things that I am looking forward to in the fall, like apple cider and pumpkin patches, that made me crave a bowl of this corn chowder.  I can't remember the last time I made it but it has certainly been over a year, maybe even two.  A bowl of this sweet but kicky corn chowder, a hunk of crusty sourdough, and a nice glass of wine used to be a staple around our house.

Generally I prefer to use fresh white corn for this dish mainly because I think it makes a prettier bowl of chowder but hey, yellow corn is just as tasty.  You can certainly use frozen or canned corn for this as well and if you want to throw together a quick weeknight dinner.

Corn chowder can be made with or without potatoes but I could eat potatoes for every meal for the rest of my life and be happy.  So yeah, I add potatoes to my chowder.

In the past whenever I've made this chowder I've always blended all the components, other than the potatoes and about half of the corn which I added at the end, to make a thick but smooth base.  This time I decided to leave it as a chunky chowder and I found that I really do prefer the blended version better.  Your mileage may vary, of course, and either way really is just fine.

Corn chowder is not the most photogenic of food but it is pretty tasty.

Recipe adapted heavily from this one.  I just could not abide by the amount of butter in this original recipe, although I have made it in the past directly as outlined and it was very good.  But two sticks of butter?!?  I just can't convince myself to use that much butter in anything that isn't dessert.

4 cups corn
3 small white potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small onion finely chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup AP flour
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup whole milk (or fat free works too)
salt to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

1.  Boil potatoes until barely fork tender, drain.
2.  Melt butter in a large sauce pan.  Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic.  Saute for about 2-3 minutes until onions are transparent.  Add the flour and continue to cook until the mixture is slightly browned.
3.  Meanwhile, boil the corn in the broth for about 10 minutes.
4.  Slowly pour in the corn and broth into the vegetable flour mixture, making sure to whisk well as to avoid any clumps.  If you wish to make the blended version.  Before you do this step you would want to reserve about half the corn.  Then you would blend with a hand mixer until the desired consistency is reached.
5.  Now add the potatoes and bring to a simmer.
6.  Heat up the milk on the stove then add it to the simmering chowder.
7.  Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
8.  Salt to taste (I also add cayenne pepper for some kick- the spiciness works well with the sweetness of the corn).

sunday sweets: peach pie or how to capture summer in your freezer

Every summer growing up my grandmother would take peaches, remove the fuzzy skin, slice them and freeze them in water to be taken out for breakfasts throughout the fall and winter.  My sister and I were always so happy when grandma would pull out that plastic container of peaches and spoon us each a bowlful.  Every time I put a peach slice in my mouth I was not only greeted by the sweetness of summer's most iconic fruit but also by the crunch of delicate ice crystals. When I think of grandma -oh how much I miss her- I fondly remember those frozen peaches and mornings at her round kitchen table.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to snatch up some freshly picked peaches from Sauvie Island. If you've read much of my blog then you are probably aware of how much I love Sauvie Island and the amazing variety of fruit and vegetables grown there (you can read more about Sauvie Island here, here, and here).  A friend and her family had picked the fruit the day before I got my hands on them and relayed to me tales of the perfectly round and ripe fruit literally falling into their outstretched hands.  It was so perfect, in fact, that they ended up picking something close to 88 pounds of fruit.

What does one do with all that perfectly ripe fruit, you ask?  Well, if you are my generous friend you give a lot of it away.  You also freeze it like my grandma did.  But the best way to use all that fruit?  Well, you make pies of course.  Then you make more and more pies so that you can stash them in the freezer for days when the fall and winter gloom has settled in and you need a punch of summer to lift your spirits again.  This brilliant idea belonged to my friend and so the day after those peaches came home with her I went over and we spent over four hours making peach pies to sock away in our freezers.

We made two versions of the peach pie.  One with my great-grandmother's crust recipe and the other with a butter-shortening hybrid from Ladies Home Journal.  I have not yet tasted the butter-shortening crust yet and so cannot comment on it but I have been noshing on the one made with my great-grandmother's crust recipe.  I'm a sucker for hydrogenated vegetable shortening but I do try to avoid eating too much of it for obvious reasons.

As you may have gathered from this here blog, I love pie.  I love pie so, so, so much.  I love making it just as much as I love eating it.  My philosophy about making pie is that the end result does not need to be something worthy of a spread in Bon Appetit or Martha Stewart for a pie to be successful.  Whether or not you made a lattice crust or if you make a plane jane crust what is really important is how it tastes.  There is no need to be precious about the whole thing.  If it looks homemade, well, that is because it is and there is no reason to feel badly about that.  

It really is ok if your filling doesn't look like this.

But looks more like this.

It will all taste the same in the end.

This peach pie is not the prettiest pie I've ever made but I can safely say that come November when I am craving a bit of sunshine in my life this will feel like the best pie I've ever made.

pie filling recipe from here

2 pounds fresh peaches, sliced (we removed the skin but I'm sure it would be tasty without going that extra step)

1/3 cup AP flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1.  Mix together the butter, sugar, and flour (I used a food processor) to make a crumb mixture

2.  Line bottom of pie dish with pie crust

3.  Line sliced peaches on bottom of pie crust.

4.  Sprinkle with crumb mixture.

5.  Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all peaches have been used.

6.  Cover pie with the top crust.

7.  Bake at 375 degrees F until crust is golden brown

To freeze pies

Reviews are mixed as to whether or not you should freeze pies before or after they are baked.  I am no expert on the subject but it makes since to me if you want the crust to be, well, crusty then you should freeze it unbaked. After the pies were all assembled I wrapped them (all three of the ones that went into the freezer) with tin foil and then I bagged them in a 2 gallon freezer bag. 

When ready for baking, no need to thaw, just place them still frozen in an oven at 425 degrees F for 15-20 mins. Then turn down the heat to 375 degrees F and bake until golden brown.  

sunday sweets: chocolate birthday cake with buttercream frosting

I don't get to make chocolate cake all that often.  In fact I never get to make chocolate cake and have never actually made one other than from a box.  The only reason I have for this gross oversight in my baking repertoire is that Leif is not really all that into chocolate.  So, when I make desserts (and they are usually made with him in my mind) I tend to avoid making things with too much chocolate in them.  But I could not think of a better cake for Clio's birthday party than something heavy on the chocolate (and frosting) so I finally got to make my first chocolate cake.

And let me just say...It was so, so good.  It was everything a chocolate cake should be; chocolaty (obviously), moist, and dense.

I was a little nervous about how it was going to turn out because I lost track of how much sugar I was adding as I was making it.  I have to partially blame Clio, because I have not seen our 1 cup measuring cup since Clio co-opted it for her own purposes and so I was measuring out 3 cups of sugar with only a half cup.  I got lost somewhere between two and three cups thanks to Natalie, who is also partially to blame, as she would not stop talking about interesting things and distracting me.  I ended up adding an additional half cup of sugar thinking that either I would be one half over or under the recommended amount but that either way it would not make too much difference.  Still not sure which one it is but it turned out fine nevertheless.

The buttercream frosting turned out light and fluffy and oh so very creamy.  It was a tad on the sweet side, as is often the case with buttercream frosting.  Next time I'll use quite a bit less of the powdered sugar than the recipe calls for and I'm sure it will be perfect.

I loved this cake and would happily make it again.  Most importantly though, was that Clio loved it and would happily eat it again

...and again

...and again

...and again.

chocolate cake from here

unsalted butter for pans

1 and 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (plus a bit more for pans)

3 cups AP flour

3 cups sugar

1 tbsp baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F, butter 2 pans, line bottoms with parchment, butter parchment and dust with cocoa powder.

2.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  With mixer on low add the eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups warm water, the buttermilk, the oil, and the vanilla extract.  Mix until smooth.

3.  Divide batter between the two pans.  Bake for about 30-45 minutes making sure you turn the pans once halfway through.  

buttercream frosting from here

3 cups confectioners sugar (to make less sweet omit at least 1/2 cup)

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp whipping cream (I used whole milk and it turned out fine)

1. In a standing mixer with whisk attachment, on low, mix together sugar and butter until well-blended.  Then increase to high and continue mixing until smooth and creamy. 

2.  Add vanilla and cream (or milk) and continuing mixing until incorporated.

orzo salad, your new potluck side dish favorite

Potlucks, love 'em or hate 'em summertime means you can't escape them.  This orzo salad is my go-to dish for potlucks of all shapes and sizes.  Not only is it delicious but it is vegan and holds up really well even when not refrigerated for a period of time.  No gastrointestinal distress round these parts, folks.  I have probably made this half a dozen times over the past several months for various occasions and have yet to get anything but positive feedback about it.  The best part about this orzo salad?  It is the easiest dish to make.  Seriously, you cannot screw it up.  

orzo salad, adapted from here.

for the salad:

4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup uncooked orzo
2 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 to 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
3/4 cup red wine vinaigrette

for the vinaigrette:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

...

Bring broth to a boil and pour in uncooked orzo.  Cover partially and cook until al dente, for me about 7 minutes.  Drain orzo and transfer to large bowl and cool completely.  Once cooled toss in the tomatoes, garbanzo beans, onion, basil, and mint.

To make the vinaigrette you can either combine all the ingredients except for the olive oil and blend in a blender.  Then slowly blend in the olive oil until completely combined.  Or you can do what I do and put everything in a mason jar, tightly secure the lid, and then shake until well-combined.

Use about 3/4 cup of the vinaigrette to mix into the orzo salad.  You may find that as the salad soaks up the vinaigrette you may need to add a little bit more.

Enjoy!

sunday sweets: blackberry cobbler

In Los Angeles if you have friends that live further than five miles away they may as well live a thousand miles away.  Leif and I had friends who lived, as the crow flies, not quite twenty miles away and I can count on one hand how many times we saw them in the last two years we were there.  Traffic precluded any spur of the moment or after work visits.  As a result we did not have much of a social life outside of hanging out with my sister or our buddies in Pasadena (all of whom we adore and miss so much).  Which, in truth, was not that big of an issue for us since Leif and I tend to be pretty insular.  We've always been totally content to just hang out with each other, doing nothing.  Of course the fact that we enjoy being together so much is awesome for our marriage but it is not so great for our social lives.  No matter how much we would enjoy spending time with friends far away it was always easier to just not make the effort to do so.

But when we moved here our lives changed pretty significantly.  Between Leif's family and our friends who had moved up here years before we did, our evenings and weekends have become much busier.  Our quiet evenings at home and leisurely weekends have been replaced with dinner with friends and activities with family.  It is totally different than the life we led in Los Angeles, which ultimately was part of the reason we wanted to move here.  Portland makes this lifestyle accessible in a way that Los Angeles never was able to.

This cobbler was one I made to bring over to our friends' house as a kind of celebration for Leif's new job.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal (seriously so good- Taffy you are an amazing cook) all while sitting outside drinking a glass of wine and watching the kids play.  It was a breeze to make.  The most complicated part to the whole thing was trying to gather enough blackberries from the green space down the street before Clio could stuff her face full of them.

The recipe I adapted was one from allrecipes and it was called a cobbler but it isn't like any traditional cobbler I've ever made before.  It was more like the love child between a cobbler and a cake- a cakler, if you will.  The mule of the berry dessert world.   

Thanks for being delicious cakler.

blackberry cobbler

3/4 cup AP flour

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (you may want to increase the sugar if the berries are tart)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

2 cup berries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. In an 8x8 baking dish, melt three tablespoons butter by placing it in the heating oven.

3. Whisk together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.

4. Whisk in the milk to the dry ingredients to make a thin batter.

5. Pour the batter over the melted butter in the baking dish.

6. Place the blackberries on top of the batter.

7. Sprinkle the remaining sugar on top.

8. Bake 60 minutes until brown and bubbly.

sunday sweets: mixed berry crumble

Back in Los Angeles, before Clio was born, we used to have a routine of going to the Hollywood Farmer's Market every weekend.  We would plan the menu for the week, make a list, and head out to fulfill as much of the list as possible with produce from the market.  To beat the crowds we would often get there before most of the vendors were finished setting up and so we would grab a drip coffee and eat Thai food for breakfast.  For an entire year and a half we only missed a handful of days.  Then Clio came in to our lives and all our previous routine were replaced with ones consisting of diaper changes, naps and feedings.  We were never quite able to incorporate the routine of going to the farmer's market each weekend again. 

When we moved here I figured that we would pick back up again with going to the market for our produce.  It just seemed like the Portland thing to do.  Maybe we would even ride our bikes there. But that did not happen.  In fact we never really quite got back into the routine of life we had in Los Angeles at all, which I think in many ways has been much better for us.

On Saturday, by pure chance, we happened to stumble upon a cute farmer's market in Lake Oswego while on our way to grab a coffee and pastry before going on our morning hike.  It wasn't as interesting as the one we used to go to but the location over-looking the lake could not have been more idyllic.  The produce was picture perfect and we ended up leaving with much more than a coffee and a pastry.  It made me realize how much I missed that part of our lives.  

With some of the berries we bought there (again!  stop with the berries already!) I made a quick crumble to take with us to a party later that afternoon.  I think it could have used more berries and because the marion berries I used were really sweet I should have cut down on some of the brown sugar but it was still tasty.  I would make it again, if for no other reason than it was an incredibly fast dessert to make.  It took me exactly 34 minutes from start to the time I put it in the oven, which was perfect as I had to get it done for the most important routine of cuddling Clio before nap time.