Tag Archives: Cooking

Avocado, watermelon, basil, and spinach salad

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This salad is not a combo I would have put together on my own. I added feta cheese and red onion. It turned out to be a great combination!

Chicken soup again

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Jason is just getting over a cold and Daniel is starting one. I about fell off my chair when Daniel asked me to make chicken soup for dinner so he’d feel better. I’d already had some CSA chicken breasts thawing so I used those. The CSA chicken does not have salt water injected into it so it can be a little dry, even when poached. I decided I would try roasting it until almost done and then shredding it back into my soup and that worked perfectly! I just hope I do not catch this on top of whatever else is going on now. I am finally starting to feel a wee bit better.

Tofu stir-fry

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It’s even more important than usual to eat healthy when you are sick. Tofu stir-fry over rice noodles takes a few minutes effort but it’s faster than takeout and much better for you. I loosely followed this recipe subbing in my favorite veggies: bok choi, green pepper, broccoli, red and green chilis, orange slices and green onion. Instead of sugar and corn syrup I added just a tiny squeeze of honey.

Pizza

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Julie’s Sourdough Pizza Crust

1 cup sourdough starter

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon honey

2 cups bread flour (all-purpose is fine too)

2 teaspoons iodized salt

1/4 cup olive oil

enough semolina to make a dough that’s not too sticky

Combine the starter, yeast, honey and water and let this sit in the bowl of your mixer for a few minutes while you feed your starter. Now add the olive oil, bread flour, salt and about a cup of the semolina. Using your dough hook, mix until well incorporated, adding semolina as necessary until you are happy with the consistency and the dough gathers into a ball. Let it mix 4 minutes longer and transfer to a dough rising bucket. Allow to rise until doubled.

This will make 3 or 4 good sized pizzas. I bake on a baking stone at 475F convection 8-10 minutes. The timing really depends on your toppings etc. Pictured is sausage, radicchio and red onion with mozzarella cheese.

Sourdough Rustic Bread for toasting

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Something I’ve discovered is that adding some semolina to your bread or pizza crust makes it wonderfully crispy. I recently made Sourdough Rustic Bread but I was a bit short on flour so I replaced about 1/2 a cup of the bread flour with semolina and got a delightfully crispy bread, perfect for cheese toast.

Chocolate chip cookies

Keith's chocolate chip cookies IMG_0708

 

Keith’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups Nestle chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together sugars and butter until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and then beat into wet mixture just until combined. Fold in chips and nuts. Bake at 375F for 14 minutes or until  brown around the edges.

Vegetable Literacy

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While we were in Florida, we paid a visit to Barnes and Noble to peruse the travel books. I happened to pick up Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison and was immediately smitten with the cookbook. One has to be careful not to make your luggage overweight when traveling lest you end up paying  a hefty fee at the airport so I bought the ebook version (for which my overstuffed bookshelf is also thankful) and immediately began making lists of recipes to try. Last night I cooked the braised fennel with tomato and saffron as well as sauteed baby artichokes. Both were delicious! We also had chicken piccata which was a huge hit with Daniel. He said, “be sure you remember this recipe because I want it again!” I left my chicken breasts whole and I used salt cured capers rather than brined and substituted white wine for the stock.

Sourdough English Muffins

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Considering how I didn’t do the proper rises and added a smidge of yeast, I was pleasantly surprised at how well these English Muffins turned out! I only have four English Muffin rings and as you can see, this recipe makes many more than that so I didn’t bother with them. I hope to try it again using the true sourdough method next time but it’ll take a little while to work through these.

Bluberry smoothie

Blueberry Smoothie Blueberry Smoothie Blueberry Smoothie

 

3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 frozen banana, slightly thawed
1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Whiz until thick and delicious

Avocado and goat cheese brushetta with slow roasted tomatoes

Goat cheese and avocado bruschetta with slow roasted tomatoes Goat cheese and avocado bruschetta with slow roasted tomatoes