Grilled Pineapple and Brie

Andrew actually made this, but I thought'd I'd be the one to blog about it since 1) it was my idea, he just perfected it, 2) I ate it, 3) I took the picture. Those are good reasons, right?

This, actually, is usually the way it goes with Andrew and I, who still live together in our college bachelor pad. Since Andrew generally follows recipes (though well and with improvisation), I tend to follow whims and fancies. But, Andrew also cooks more than I do nowadays, what with all the papers I have do at the moment. So, sometimes when we have some ingredients in the house that I think would go well together (pineapple and brie, panang curry and dried blueberries, apples and basil, strawberries and cilantro) I am usually the one to come up with the strange combination of the two. Sometimes Andrew looks at me funny and says no, which means I have to do the combination myself later (pictures of the strawberry salsa to come...), but sometimes Andrew actually thinks it's a good idea, and when I come home from school one night I will find something like grilled pineapple and brie waiting for me.

Recipe:
1. Melt butter and mix it with brown sugar to make a glaze.
2. Brush both sides of slice of fresh pineapple with the glaze, and bake at 350 until the pineapple is soft and the glaze browned. This will work best in a roasting pan, or some other way of having the pineapple not be right on the bottom of the pan.
3. Places slices of brie over the pineapple and put back in the oven until it is melted and gooey.

That's it.

And, from now on, be brave in your combinations!

White Chili

Since winter has refused to leave us in these 'northern parts', there's only one thing to do. Make soup. I have many favorites, and white chili is one of them. I usually use ground turkey, but I didn't have any and there wasn't any on sale so I just cut up chicken into really small pieces. It's easier to do if it's still partially frozen. One of the recipes I've used in the past call for a jar of salsa verde. It's tasty, but very spicy so my kids don't like it. This one is more mild, if you or your kids are sensitive to spice, reduce the cayenne pepper, or add it after you serve them. But if I do say so myself, that flavor really makes the dish!

White Chili:

Saute onion, garlic, red pepper (I think you could use green pepper as well for more color and veggies, I just didn't have any). When all is soft, add chicken stock, 2 cans of white beans, up to a full can of chopped green chili and chicken. Cook until chicken isn't pink. Add salt to taste, coarsely crushed black pepper, crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper and parsley for color. Serve with chopped cilantro as desired. Easy, beautiful and so good! If you have a nack for making rolls, that's a great addition as well. I do so love soup. That's one of my favorite things about living in a place that has a winter. Maybe my only favorite thing...

George's Tortellini Soup

Last week I went on a writer's retreat with my creative writing cohort. It was a blast, and besides being really fun, it was also pretty delicious.

The first day that we got there, one of our professors and her husband had prepared some delicious soups, a vegetable soup and a tortellini soup. The recipe is called George's Tortellini Soup. George, if I understood correctly, is my professor's brother in law, and though I have never met him, I like him already because his soup is delicious!



George's Tortellini Soup

6 Cloves of garlic, minced
Olive Oil
49oz Chicken or Vegetable Broth
2 packages tortellini
1 package fresh spinach
4 cans stewed tomatoes
Parmesan for topping

1. Sautee garlic in olive oil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Add brother and bring to a boil
3. Add tortellini, bring to a boil
4. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, spinach and simmer until spinach cooks and soup is heated through.
6. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.



The soup was served with some delicious homemade bread as well as some balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping.





The point of the retreat was to write about place, and to think of how place influences our writing. I am hoping next time we have a food writing retreat...that would be awesome.

Starting Right

I am a firm believer in breakfast. Not a shove a prepackaged overly sweet something in your mouth as your run out the door breakfast, but a full course meal with multiple food groups-keep yourself full until lunch breakfast. It does a body good. My favorite cold and hot breakfast go together to create a full meal with all the food groups.

First, cold. Get shredded wheat (not frosted), add sliced bananas and another fruit cut into bite sized pieces. I like apples and especially peaches or nectarines. Of course, berries would work great as well. I think I even had kiwi once, but decided kiwi needs it's own plate.

My best friend's mom would always have fresh fruit on the table in the morning ready to eat. The oranges would be peeled, apples sliced, kiwi cut. I can't have a kiwi without remembering when I spent the night and noticed the fruit the first time. Even as a kid I thought it was a great idea to get us to eat more fruit. Now as a mom, I think it's a great idea to use up fruit that is about to go bad. Continuing with the recipe...

Top with chopped nuts, mixed nuts are great, just be sure to leave out the peanuts, their flavor is too strong. For a while I had some Brazilian nuts that needed to be used, that was good when mixed with another hard nut, like chestnuts. Add as much cinnamon and nutmeg as you want. Remember, cinnamon is good for you in 3+grams/day (it controls blood sugar, and studies show it improves "cognitive processing", among other things). I've added cardamom before for variety. Pour your milk, enjoy. This was vegan, so I had rice milk this day. But I noticed the carton said "rice beverage" made me smile.

I love omelets. I never cook them perfectly, I always add too many veggies to fold it in thirds, but I don't think you can ever have too many sauteed veggies. Although I would like to figure out how to keep the outside of the egg not burned and the inside completely cooked. My timing is never perfect.

Pair this vegetable omelet with my fruit cereal and you have a perfectly complete meal. Dairy, check; grains, check; veggies, fruit and protein, check! You even have some good fats with the nuts. If only all my meals were this great...

Salted Caramel Granola

 

Ok...there isn't really caramel in the recipe, it's actually honey, but "Salted Honey" just isn't as popular, and besides, the honey does caramelize a bit, and it ends up being caramel colored.

I have really, really been enjoying my Green Smoothies for breakfast, but sometimes I'd like something a bit crunchier for breakfast. Also, I love granola as a snack during long days: the salt, the sweet, the cold milk, all combine for a great snack on a hot day, or for a quick lunch when I don't feel like cooking.





I was a little nervous to make the granola, because every time previously I had tried to make granola, I always burned it. But, I learned my lesson and here's the secret: when you are baking the granola stir it every 10 minutes. Simple enough, it just means you'll be in and out of the kitchen for half an hour or so. Or, you can do like I do, and get a good book and sit by the oven.

The measurements below are estimates, and really you could use more or less of any ingredient, as preferred, though if you add or subtract a lot of any dry ingredients, measure out the wet ingredients accordingly.

Salted Caramel Granola
3 1/2 C Old fashioned oats
1/2 C Flax seed
1/2 C shredded coconut
1/2 C Slivered almonds
1/2 C Sunflower seeds
2 Hearty dashes cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 C Honey (actually, just a bit more than 1/2 C)
1/2 C Olive Oil (slightly less, certainly no more than, 1/2 C)
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of table salt
1/2 C Raisins
1 Tbs (or to taste) coarse sea salt or kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325.

1. Mix oats, flax, coconut, almonds, seeds, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.

2. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, honey, vanilla, and table salt.

3. Thoroughly mix the wet ingredients with the dry, making sure that the oats, etc, are entirely coated.

4. Spread the mixture in a shallow baking pan lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake the granola for 30-40 min, until the whole thing is a caramelly golden brown. Stir every 10 minutes! Stirring is very important to make sure that the granola is cooked evenly and not burned.

6. As soon as you have taken the granola out of the oven, sprinkle the sea salt evenly over whole thing. This does make it pretty salty, so if you don't like salty sweet things, you can leave this out entirely. Mix in the salt.

7. Sprinkle the raisins over the granola and stir them in, then let the granola cool.





If you'd like to see more pictures of the granola check out the other blog

Super Simple Vegetarian Navajo Tacos

Navajo Tacos are essentially Indian Fry Bread with taco filling on top. Indian Fry Bread is essentially just fried bread dough, so you can use any fried dough for the scone. (This is not technically true, Fry Bread does have a particular flavor and feel, but regular bread dough will work. I recommend using Andrew's Honey Whole Wheat bread dough for this. When you make the bread, keep some extra dough on hand for such things.)

To make the fry bread, follow the scone recipe from a few days ago, except use a slightly larger amount of dough and stretch it out as far as you can.

To make the beans:

Drain and rinse a can of black beans.

In a sauce pan, mix the black beans with a third cup of any pureed or especially liquidy salsa (if you like a lot of sauce on your taco, add more). Add a dash of cumin, a clove or two of minced garlic, some chopped cilantro if you have any on hand, and a few dashes of Tabasco or red pepper flakes if you like heat. A bit of oregano and/or thyme can also add a nice flavor reminiscent of chili. Simmer everything together for a few minutes, until it is thoroughly heated through; the longer it simmers the longer the beans will have to soak in the flavor, but also the more likely that the salsa with evaporate, so if it gets dry add a bit more salsa.

Serve the beans on top of a scone, and top that with a dollop of sour cream and some grated cheese. Fresh tomatoes, chopped olives, or anything else you like in tacos will also be good. Serve with some dark leafy greens such as spinach or romaine for a more well-rounded color palate and varied textures.

Honey Whole Wheat Scones

If you enjoyed Andrew's Honey Whole Wheat bread, then you will love making scones with the dough! (If you didn't enjoy Andrew's Honey Whole Wheat bread, then you haven't tried making it yet. Get on that, because this post will be useless without it. Unless of course, like me, you can be satisfied with just looking at and drooling over food pictures. If that is the case, then you should check out FoodPornDaily, which, despite its naught name, is guilt-free gluttony.)

Anyhow. Here in Utah when we say "scone" we mean fried and sugary. (I didn't realize that this was just a Western US thing, but Wikipedia backs me up here). And, though I do love a good English scone every now and then, this is what I want when I say "scone."

The key to a good scone is a good dough. Sure, you can make these with the store-bought frozen dough, but I think that the homemade dough has a flavor that can't be beat.

TO make the scones:

Fill a skillet or frying pan about half an inch with vegetable oil. Pre-heat on Medium-High.

Start with a small ball of bread dough. Any yeasty dough will work, but as I said earlier, my favorite is the Honey Whole Wheat dough.

Roll a small piece of dough into a ball, then flatten it out, stretching it as far as you can. If you like doughy scones (I do), don't stretch the dough out as much, but let it remain more of a ball. If you are adventurous, you can make a filled scone! After you've stretched the dough out, place a small amount of something in the middle; banana, peanut butter, cheese, or jam have all worked well for me. Only use a small dab of the filling, then fold the dough over and pinch it closed, making sure that it is well sealed, as holes in the seal will make the filling leak out into the oil.

By now, the oil in the pan should be hot. Test the oil by dropping a small crumb of dough into the oil. If it sizzles right away then it is hot enough for the scones. Using tongs, place the scones into the oil and cook until the one side is light brown, then flip, and cook the remainder until it is also light brown. Place the cooked scones on a plate with a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.

Serve hot. I prefer mine with honey, but they are also good sprinkled with powdered sugar. I have eaten them with natural maple sugar or jam as well, and that works equally as well.