Savory
Last week Adam and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. It hardly seems possible that a decade has gone by since we gathered our family and friends together in a redwood grove in Berkeley and traded vows and rings. Yet here we are. He with silver in his hair, and I with a little more laugh in my lines. We have our two wild haired boys, our now 15 year old cat, and the shelter and promise of our new home. As it turns out, a lot can happen in ten years. We managed to sneak away for a long relaxing weekend in Palm Springs, where we slept in, laid by the pool, and ate late night dinners, but before we left we celebrated with the boys. At our wedding Adam and I served a family style paella at each table, so we thought it would be the perfect way to recreate the memory. As we sat together in our new backyard, pink peonies on the table like my bouquet, telling bad knock knock jokes, squabbling, sneaking kisses, talking about the big day, we ate our wedding food; our family complete.
So you guys know we make homemade pizza every Friday, as evidenced by this little movie. Remember when Poppy Haus made movies? We've gotta do some more... Since posting about our pizza tradition, I've heard from so many people that they do the same thing, so I thought it would be fun to share what we put on our pizza each week. The boys almost always have the same thing, but Adam and I tend to use fun combinations of produce and cheese, sometimes with meat, sometimes with a farm egg cracked on top. For this first one, I played with the dough a little, adding some of our fresh rosemary bounty and walnut oil to the mix, topping it with sweet and tart blackberries, a nutty manchego, salty ham, and some peppery rocket added for the last five minutes of baking, no sauce just a bit more walnut oil and sea salt. I think it's rather pretty, and oh it was delicious! Here's the link to my pizza dough recipe with baking instructions. Happy Weekend!
My amazing real estate agent brought me a whole grocery bag full of rosemary clippings from her garden last week, with a little note that suggested we could roast a chicken? Seriously, is your agent that good? Okay Tina, you're on. I'm going to do several posts over the next few weeks that will creatively feature the wonderful, aromatic herb, starting out with a rosemary brine for roasted chicken.
Every week I pick up flowers at the market. Just as I would replenish the fruit bowl, I make a fresh arrangement for our table. Right now I am loving proteas. They are beautiful, weird, and they come in the colors of summer, something that I am really looking forward to. I thought I might start an occasional series that pairs food with fresh flowers- starting this week with a little Cinco De Mayo flair, because Mexican food goes so well with pretty flowers. For this week's recipe I give you spicy sausage tacos with a simple slaw. This recipe is very flavorful, and so quick to prepare, making it perfect for a week night meal or party food. Happy Weekend!
When you think of St Patrick's Day food, a corned beef and cabbage meal comes to mind. Unfortunately I just don't care for the taste of brined beef. Perhaps this is because it is disgusting, I don't know. If I'm eating Irish, I much prefer the pub favorite bangers and mash. Yesterday I experimented with the traditional version, giving it a little California love, making it more green (there's a secret ingredient), and a wee bit healthier. All of the components come from Trader Joes and the whole meal took under 30 minutes to prepare, making it easy breezy for next Monday night.
California has been rain-starved this winter, something that has everyone feeling a little uneasy, especially the surrounding farming community up here in Sonoma County. As the skies finally opened up for what looks like a week long storm (sigh of relief) our family took to the outdoors to celebrate with a good old fashioned rain walk. Our destination was the park for some worm hunting, mud football and Olympic style rain luge down playground slides. We got very wet. After the boys took a hot bubble bath and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (now that's a crazy movie), we sat down for an early dinner of chicken and dumplings. This is a healthy, French inspired version of the dish; a perfect comfort food for a day like this. I've put together the recipe below. Here's hoping for another week of swinging in the rain...
A few weeks ago I featured a recipe for chicken pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup that we are known to devour in our family. On a drizzly day in late January this will warm your weary bones. If you've never tried Vietnamese you are missing out my friend. The French influenced Asian flavor is so distinct- a combination of basil, mint and fish sauce, and it can be really healthy; many dishes are packed with veggies, lean meat and shellfish. So for today I'm sharing another Vietnamese food that we can't get enough of...fresh spring rolls. They are very easy to make at home- you can get the ingredients at any grocery store with an Asian food section. Because they are portable little pockets of noodles, shrimp and lettuce, they make a great lunch food, especially with little peanut sauce. Okay, who's hungry? Check out the recipe below.
This is the time of year in California when it finally starts to get chilly. I've pulled out my sweaters and tall boots and I've been making more comfort foods like soups and stews. One of my very favorite warm-you-up comfort foods is Risotto, an Italian style porridge made with Arborio rice and stock. It's actually very easy to make, and once you know the technique, you can experiment with your ingredients. I sometimes make this Japanese version using a ginger-miso broth(found at Trader Joes) and shitake mushrooms. I thought I'd share this recipe today along with a simple technique for making charred bok choy, which I just add straight to the bowl. Stay warm and have fun tonight, Happy Halloween!
I'm in the middle of two projects right now, one that I'm working on for Apartment Therapy's Holiday DIY Gift Guide, the other a new iteration of the paper lantern project that involves collecting hundreds of leaves. I hope to bring you at least one of those by next week. In the meantime, here's what we were snacking on this week. I followed my usual peanut butter cookie recipe, and added a couple of ingredients to the mix to give them a little something more, one being baking cocoa, the other cracked sea salt. The result is a soft at center, crispy at the edges cookie with a peanut butter cup flavor. Here are some glamour shots of cookie eating and the recipe. Have a great weekend!
A while back, shortly after ALT, Blurb asked me if they could use my book as a marketing piece for their brand, because they really liked what I made, and I of course said yes. So I was pretty excited when they contacted me again, this time because they have decided to throw a party to showcase some of their favorite food books, and they want me to cook for some folks, and maybe even shoot a little video. Yes, I'm pretty excited. I had to pick something from the book, which only has a small food section, and because it makes a great finger food, and it's pretty fun to look at I chose the sushi hand-balls AKA temarazushi from this post. I'm working on making them a little more visually interesting for the table so it's what's for dinner around here right now. Here' a freshened up tutorial.
One advantage of having whole grains and veggies prepped for the week is that lunch is a bit more exciting than the usual turkey sandwich (or peanut butter and jelly if you are a lazy daisy like me). We have kabocha squash on hand from our garden right now so I've been roasting it with a little olive oil and popping it into meals- we made enchiladas stuffed with mashed-roasted kabocha last weekend. Roasted kabocha also makes a great addition to a picnic salad like this. The squash is nutty and soft, which works really well with sweet roasted beets and tangy fresh apple. I think it would be delicious with figs too now that they are in season. To make yourself a "Rainbow Bowl" follow the recipe below.
Oh it's that melancholy time of year. The summer abruptly comes to an end and school starts back up for our whole family. I began my classes on Monday, but for the men in the house today is the first day of school. It's our tradition to make comfort food on the eve of summer break's end, and this time around I really outdid myself- one can brag if their macaroni and cheese is considered "really yummy" and "I want this for breakfast" good. We've found that our dairy-free kid can tolerate goat cheese, so I used a goat cheddar for this dish (found at Trader Joes) and he was able to dig in with the rest of us. Here's our simple recipe that will hopefully become a comfort staple in your house all year round.
I talk a lot about food on this blog. I love to cook, and I love to feed people; it's the future grandmother in me. I think the act of giving someone food is one of the most basic, nurturing things we can do as people. In times of stress, whether that be bringing home a new baby, recovering from illness, or facing and coping with great loss, providing food seems to be the easiest, and kindest thing we can do, especially because the act of giving a meal frees the people dealing with transition, healing, or loss, from the burden of having to worry about it for themselves.
I like cobbler. Usually executed as a dessert, cobbler is baked fruit (stewed in it's own juices) with a biscuit topping. What's not to like about that? As my 7 year old will tell you, a tomato is a fruit and because of that, when cooked, tomato yields a lot of juice. Best made with very ripe tomatoes, this cobbler is has the most pleasing of all of all tastes, umami. And the best thing about my tomato cobbler is that it is not only juicy, savory, salty, and sweet..it's vegan. I made vegan biscuits and they rock. Here's the recipe, try it soon, because it's prime tomato time.
It's no secret that the woman who inspired many of the bloggers in my niche to start writing and sharing their recipes and DIY's is of course Martha Stewart. She's the high priestess of domesticity. I have had a subscription to Living since forever and I usually make something from each issue. This past month she featured a recipe for one pan pasta that we immediately tested out, and I can already tell it'll be a mainstay in our house, with some variations. It only takes about 20 minutes to prepare from start to finish, so it's a winner for parents. I'm sharing this today, because I'm going to be testing some other Martha recipes and DIY's this week, making them my own by switching up ingredients and materials. For this first one, I thought I'd give a few suggestions to make this dish more hearty, and how to change up the flavors.
I warned you that I'd being doing this soon! Let me know what you think of our first video post. I really could not have gotten this project off the ground were it not for my friend Pete who helped me brainstorm, let me micro-manage each shot, and waited while I learned how to use iMovie. I also need to say thank you to Zach for letting me use his beautiful music from Release The Sunbird. His latest Rogue Wave album called Nightingale Floors is just now available on iTunes.
I was really excited to read this book to Jasper when he was little, because I remembered it from my childhood. He liked it so much that he chewed the side of the book up. I made up this activity as part of a preschool parent share at Wylie's school, because the kids are studying insects. They raised caterpillars and released them as butterflies today. The teachers read The Very Hungry Caterpillar while I set up the activity and then the kids gathered around and made their own hungry caterpillar sushi rolls. See the photo tutorial below. Today is the day that I announce the winner of the Kikkerland Birch Paper Straws
I am posting over at Playful Learning today! I share one of our personal family traditions, along with the recipe we use to make our favorite pizza dough. Pop over to see the full post!
I love tamales. They are so delicious, but so darn bad for you. Most often the masa is cut with a significant amount of lard, or in some recipes shortening to create the dough for steaming. Our family made tamales this way over the holidays using fresh crab from Tomales Bay and man were they decadent! I've been looking for a way to health them up for an everyday meal without losing any of that tenderness and sweet corn brought out with the extra fat. After a little brainstorming, coconut oil sounded like a good plan, but still, not so great for you, then it occured to me to try applesauce, and what do you know, it worked. I roasted butternut squash and mashed it with some chipotle peppers/sauce to create a sweet and smokey filling. Vegan and dairy free if prepared using the vegetable stock. Here's the recipe and tutorial:
This weekend I turn the big 35 and my parents are coming to celebrate their accomplishment by watching my children so I can dig in at Central Market and spend Sunday wine tasting. To make it easy on them, I created two new dishes to feed the kids while we're gone. For breakfast they'll have a pumpkin spiced granola made from oats, pepitas and shaved almonds. For lunch they'll have macaroni and cheese made with goat cheese and pumpkin puree (a cow milk free recipe). Using pumpkin puree adds sweetness and color without a distinct flavor, and softens the bite of the goat cheese, while adding vitamin A and iron. My little helper Wylie tried both dishes today and they got two tiny thumbs up. Recipes below. Have a happy weekend!
Sometimes I am a glorified lunch lady. I feel for them, I really do. On most days, my 1st grader's sandwich returns home smashed back into it's container, mostly intact, baby carrots dried up, an apple with one bite out of it, pretzels crushed into a powder. I am told that there just wasn't enough time to eat it, but I know this cannot possibly true. I make a mean sandwich, I assure you... So I'm trying something new. Both of my boys love sushi, as do a lot of kids these days. I've tried sending it for lunch in the past, but it gets pretty banged up and half of it comes home uneaten; I also get a little worried about raw fish in a lunchbox. So I was very excited when I found this recipe for hand ball sushi (Temarizushi) in a regional food magazine called Edible. The golf ball sized rolls are packed tightly in plastic wrap, keeping them firm and easy to eat. For Jasper's school version I used smoked salmon, avocado and nori squares (detail created with a hole punch) with sticky rice. Both kids had the hand rolls today and I'm happy to report that the lunch box returned home empty. Quick tutorial below...
Perfect with carnitas tacos, I will sometimes make a cantina-style pickled vegetable jar a few hours before serving. The pink color comes from the red onion reacting with the warm vinegar brine and the brightness in flavor adds a punch to salty pork. Hungry? Here's the recipe...
From Top Left: Baby charentais melons(a French cantaloupe variety), The family eating at the cedar table handmade by Nicole's husband Phil, Lucie enjoying tomato cobbler, The Martin's lush backyard vegetable garden.
Today is the Teacher Appreciation Day Banquet at our elementary school. I'm the daughter of a teacher, I'm also married to a teacher turned principal, and therefore an authority on what they like, and I will tell you, all teachers like buffets.
One week out of the year, our family gets together in Pajaro Dunes, a small coastal resort south of Santa Cruz, CA. We stay in a multilevel four bedroom compound that houses 5 grandsons, 3 couples and two grandparents. During the day we try to spend as much time at the beach as the fickle weather allows and and night we dine. We are a family of eaters, and we can spend a lot of time cooking elaborate meals. Other times, like last night, we make special, but simple comfort food. Grandma C found this paella recipe years ago in Sunset magazine. It's a family favorite and special to me, as we served a similar version of paella at our wedding reception. I made a butter lettuce, avocado and grapefruit salad to compliment the salty and spicy flavors of the dish. Here's an adaptation of the original recipe.
I recently started making my own chicken stock. I realized that I was going through at least 2 cardboard containers of stock a week, much more than that during the holidays. I don't love stock in a box, but it's convenient. Here's a simple, organic, inexpensive way to make and freeze your own so that you always have it on hand.
Last weekend we took a trip up to the sweet North Bay town of Petaluma and had brunch with some good friends at a restaurant called Luma out in the riverfront boondocks by the Cowgirl Creamery warehouse. Adam had their Green Eggs& Ham pizza made with arugula, prosciutto and a fresh farm egg. Does anyone else love the trend in adding a fresh farm egg to things? We liked it so much we were inspired to recreate it tonight in honor of Dr. Suess's Birthday.
Pretty...Tasty...
I got cooking today after our weekly visit to the Farmer's Market. We found some great poblano chili peppers so I decided to make enchiladas stuffed with roasted butternut squash and red quinoa in a poblano cream sauce made with greek yogurt. Here's how I did it...
I like smorgasbord style eating, lots of options, everyone getting to pick what they like for their plate. One such meal we do this with is Mediterranean mezze. Easy to throw together, it can be composed of store-bought hummus, canned dolmas, kalamata olives, pre-made falafal, and tabouli, and pita. You don't really need to cook anything at all and you have a feast on your hands. But if you have time, I recommend you do one thing from scratch, make fresh pita bread. Like pizza dough, it takes very little skill or cook time, and the result is so much better than store-bought; it's soft, spongy, and flavorful. Here's how I make it...