Goodbye Dairy

I am sorry dairy, but we are no longer friends.  I must learn to live without you...

Well, I doubt I can completely live without cheese and yogurt, but  am ditching milk and butter.  Those two seem to make my throat close up the most.  I am going to cut back on the cheese to once a week.

So... a lot of the recipes I write will be close to vegan, except for when I can afford some meat.  Don't fret!!  There are lots of ways to eat without dairy, lots of delicious ways.  :)

Crunchy Salad with Balsalmic Garlic Reduction

This is good.  Really, really good.  Oh, and really, really cheap.  I already had most of these ingredients in my pantry or fridge.  The Balsalmic Garlic Reduction makes way more than you'll need for a salad, so just keep it in an airtight container on the counter for... like forever.  You can add it to not only salads, but roasted root vegetables, proteins, or even add a drizzle to a veggie dip.  The Annie's Woodstock Dressing is something I could make from scratch (with all the garlic and sun dried tomatoes), but I'm not going to.

Quick tip: when making the reduction, keep a window open.  It has a strong smell while cooking and you don't want to OD off of vinegar vapor fumes.  It would be an embarrassing way to go. 

Ingredients:
1 cup Balsalmic Vinegar
2 crushed whole garlic cloves
1 tsp sugar
1 bunch radishes sliced
1 pink lady apple chopped
1 head romaine lettuce chopped
1 handful seedless green grapes sliced in half
drizzle store bought tahini based dressing (preferred: Annie's Woodstock Dressing)


Directions: 
Heat Balsamic Vinegar, garlic and sugar in a small pot over high heat until boiling then drop the heat to a simmer.  Simmer uncovered for about 25 minutes.  Cool, reduction will thicken substantially.

Mix chopped fruits & veggies together, top with dressing and a drizzle of the reduction & enjoy!

Chicken & Broccolini in a Ginger Tangeriene Teriyaki

This past Christmas Mitch bought me a wok.  It's one of my new favorite toys.  I love making curries with it, but last night I made a stir fry that I shared with my 15 month old daughter.  She LOVED it.  Apparently toddlers love running around the house with cooked Udon noodles.

The sauce for this dish is directly inspired by a Clementine Teriyaki sauce I found on Vegan Yum Yum.  I used a mandarin tangeriene and added some ginger powder to the sauce.  Also, I used a bit more juice so I could cut the sugar down a bit.  I like the Tamari sauce in place of soy sauce because it not only decreases sodium, but has a richer flavor than plain old soy sauce.  If you can't find Tamari sauce, you can always use a low sodium soy sauce instead. 

Ingredients:

½ cup Tamari Sauce

¼ cup sugar

juice from one tangerine

zest from one tangerine

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

¼ cup water

1 tsp ginger powder

1tbsp safflower oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 pkg broccolini

1 lb diced chicken breast

1 pkg Udon noodles

Directions:

Bring a pot of about 8 quarts of water with a pinch of salt to a boil. Add Udon noodles to water and boil for 8 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water and reserve. Whisk Tamrai Sauce, sugar, tangerine juice & zest, rice wine vinegar, water and ginger together to make teriyaki sauce. Heat sauce in a small pan and simmer for about 20 minutes. Cool and reserve sauce.

Cut broccolini into bite sized pieces. Heat oils in a large saute pan or wok over medium high heat. Add broccolini, chicken, salt & pepper to taste, a couple tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce. Stir fry until chicken pieces are almost cooked through. Add Udon noodles and a few more tablespoons of the remaining sauce and stir fry another couple minutes. Serve drizzled with teriyaki sauce on top.

Roasted Asparagus with Parrano & White Wine Cream

The vegetable for today is asparagus courtesy my friend Patrick's pick.  Normally I just roast asparagus or steam it for a side dish.  Since it is still cold as hell outside, I thought a creamy pasta dish would be a nice application for tonight.  Originally I was going to add some breaded tilapia, but this dish is heavy enough on it's own.

Paranno is a yummy cheese that we sell at the natural food store I work at.  If you can't find it, just used equal parts Gouda and a good quality Parmesan to get the same effect.

Feel free to omit the jalepeno pepper if you wish.  I just had a few left over from chili-makin this morning, and I hate to let things go to waste.  Also, if you want to make this a vegetarian dish, simply use vegetable broth or a veggie boulion cube mixed in water.

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus

1 tsp garlic salt

4 tbsp butter

1 pkg wheat linguine

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup chopped red pepper

1 chopped jalepeno (optional)

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp flour

½ cup white wine

½ tsp + 1 pinch salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth

1 cup 1% milk

2 cups Parrano Cheese

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Melt 2 tbsp of the butter with the garlic salt. Cut asparagus into 2 inch pieces and place in roasting pan. Baste the asparagus with melted butter and roast for 20-25 minutes.

Heat olive oil and remaining butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. Heat a quart of water in a separate pot with a pinch of salt for the pasta. Add onion and peppers to the saute pan and cook until tender. When water in pot comes to a boil add linguine and cook for 7-8 minutes or until al dente and then drain.

Add white wine to the saute pan and reduce for a couple minutes. Whisk in flour and cook for a minute then slowly stir in the chicken or vegetable broth and milk. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a medium and melt in cheeses. Stir in drained pasta and roasted asparagus. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Chili Day!!

Snow and ice.  That's what we've got here in Dallas.  This is a photo of what my car looked like yesterday.  Also, there's a ton of out-of-towners hangin out waitin for the superbowl.  MOST importantly today is WF Lakewood's Annual Chili Contest!!!!!

I am about to make 3 gallons of my badass Cashew Chili and brave the winter weather so everyone in Dallas can come taste a bite.

The sun is shining and I am confident that I can make it there, even if our wonderful city sucks at taking care of salting and shoveling the roads.  (I swear Florida is more equipped to handle a snowstorm than Texas.) 

WF Lakewood is located at 2118 Abrams Rd. in Dallas (corner of Abrams & Gaston).  The contest is from 1-3pm today, so make plans to come taste all the chili and cast your vote!

Tomato Basil Parsnips

Today at work I asked one of my coworkers, Jan, to pick a vegetable and I would make up a dish.  This is a fun game.  I think everyone should play it once a week, if not more often, to up your creativity in the kitchen.  Jan picked parsnips.  

I dig me some parsnips.  If you haven't ever had one, the flavor is somewhere between a carrot and a potato.  I've used them in a vegetable chili, a savory bread pudding with butternut squash, and pureed with yukon golds.  I spent most of my afternoon racking my brains for a new way to use parsnips. 

A few other coworkers came up with some great ideas, some of which I intend to use in the near future, including chips, various purees and soups.  I've never had them carmelized.  I really wanted some tangy roasted cherry tomatoes.  Basil and garlic also sounded pretty damned good tonight, so I decided to toss it all together and here you have parsnips caramelized in basil and garlic with roasted tomatoes.  This dish goes well with my Breaded Chicken Thighs or tossed in some whole wheat pasta or soba noodles.

Ingredients:

5 parsnips, peeled and cut into bits-sized pieces

1 pint cherry tomatoes

2 pinches salt

2 tbsp olive oil + a drizzle

2 cloves garlic, crushed

handful of chopped fresh basil

½ tsp paprika

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Place tomatoes into a baking pan, drizzle with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast for 20-25 minutes or until tomatoes burst and look wrinkly. Cook parsnips in microwave oven on high for 4 minutes to soften them slightly. In a saute pan add olive oil and crushed garlic cloves on medium heat to infuse the oil. Add parsnips, a pinch of salt and the basil to pan and raise heat to medium high to fry for 15 to 20 minutes, flipping the parsnips until all sides are carmelized. Remove tomatoes from oven and add to the saute pan and fry for another minute. Serve with a few basil leaves for garnish.

Breaded Chicken Thighs

I am by far not a rich woman.  My best recipes usually come from creative thinking on a tight budget.  When I can't afford pork chops or chicken breasts, I turn to the wonderful, flavorful chicken thigh.  

I use chicken thighs due to not only their frugality, but wealth of flavor.  Dark meat absorbs vast amounts flavor quickly when you are on a time crunch, and give any dish that slow-cooked feel.  

Tonight I used the tried and true breading-searing-roasting method, and paired my thighs with Tomato Basil Parsnips.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2eggs

splash milk

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup italian panko breadcrumbs (recommended: Ian's)

3 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly whisk milk and eggs together in a bowl and set on counter next to a separate bowl containing the breadcrumbs. Between 2 sheets of plastic wrap pound the hell out of the chicken thighs. Season thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Dip each thigh into the eggs and then into the breadcrumbs. Melt the butter into the oil in a saute pan or skillet. Sear the thighs in the saute pan or skillet over medium high heat on each side for 2-3 minutes. Place seared thighs in a baking dish and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until thighs are cooked through.

Southwest Quiche Lorraine

I love bacon.  I love quiche.  I make one quiche a week so that I can quickly heat up a slice and eat it on my way to work.  Most of the quiches I make consist of whatever veggies I have in the fridge left over from other recipes.  I usually cook with turkey bacon and egg whites to cut calories, but Mitch brought home some thick cut pork bacon, so I figured, what the hell, may as well use the whole egg!  

You can simply grate the swiss and fan it out on the bottom to make a traditional quiche, but I like to cube it up so that there are tasty bits of gooey cheese running throughout my quiche.  I use a store bought pie shell mostly in the interest of saving time.  If you live near a natural food store you can find a wide array of pie shells to choose from.  I've used wheat, spelt, and gluten-free, but, well, this one is a traditional full-fat shell because we are cooking with bacon... mmmm bacon.

Ingredients:

1 store bought pie shell

1 tsp safflower oil

1 tbsp olive oil

½ cup onion chopped

½ jalepeno pepper minced

½ serrano pepper minced

½ cup green pepper chopped

1/3 cup red pepper chopped

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp salt + 1 pinch

pepper to taste

6 eggs

¼ cp milk

dash of hot sauce

1 cup diced swiss cheese (real small cubes)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2-1 cup crisp crumbled bacon (cooled)

Directions:

Preheat stove to 350 and blind bake pie shell for 15 minutes. (I weigh it down with a glass bowl that's lightly greased with safflower oil on the bottom.) Remove pie shell from oven and let cool. Render bacon and then set aside on a plate with paper towels to cool. Saute onion and peppers in olive oil with a pinch of salt over medium high heat for 15 minutes or until tender. Add all spices to the pan and saute for another couple minutes. Set vegetable aside to cool. Shred bacon into bits. Cut swiss cheese into tiny cubes. In a large mixing bowl whisk eggs, milk and hot sauce. Mix cooled veggies and bacon into eggs. Pour mixture into cooled pie shell and cook at 350 foe 25 minutes or until eggs in center are set.

Cashew Chili

I am going to be in a chili cook-off this weekend at work.  I entered last year and my cashew chili was a hit... with everyone who got to try it.  When I got there all the heating elements were in use, so I missed out on an hour of votes.  Grrrrr...

 This year I am bringing my own crock pot (well I am borrowing my mother-in-law's because I broke my crock pot, which is another very interesting, yet silly story).  I've adjusted the recipe a bit, and I am aiming for gold!!

I came up with the idea of cashew chili back when I was on a vegetarian diet.  My man, Mitch, who is also my trusting guinea pig loves cashews.  It was winter, I wanted chili without meat, and I found a few recipes online for cashew chili.  Of course I have to adjust anything I make, and wham, bam, next thing you know I have the best damned vegan chili I've ever tasted.

The original recipe had no jalapeno or serrano peppers and used raw cashews.  I've found that adjusting the spice levels, adding the peppers and going with roasted unsalted cashews is the way to go.  At a quick glance, this might seem to have a ton of ingredients, but most are spices and other items I have in my pantry.  Make sure that you get all the membranes and seeds out of the peppers before you add them in or you will have one hell of a kick in your mouth.  If you live in the Dallas area don't forget to come to Whole Foods Lakewood this Saturday from 1-3pm to try my chili in person!!

** According to one of the local beer gods that I work with, Joe, this pairs well with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

½ cup red pepper

2 cups white or yellow onion

1cup green pepper

2 jalapeno peppers

1 serrano pepper

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 ½ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dry basil

1 tbsp. dry oregano

1 tbsp. chili powder

1tbsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. cumin powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1tbsp. + 1 pinch salt

¼ tsp. paprika

16 oz. can diced tomatoes w/ juice

16 oz. Can kidney beans in water

2 bay leaves

1 ½ cups roasted unsalted cashews

1 tbsp. hot sauce (recommended: Cholula Original)

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Chop onion and peppers and saute with olive oil in large skillet or dutch oven over medium to medium high heat for 15 min or until tender. Add garlic and spices and saute for another couple minutes. Add tomatoes & beans (with their water), cashews, bay leaves, hot sauce, vinegar and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to simmer for up to an hour. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Hello World

For the pleasure of everyone who listens to me babble on and on about the food I cook out of my tiny ass kitchen, I have started this food blog... and there was much rejoicing.

I spent a good majority of the day, whilst cleaning, cooking, playing guitar, and mommying about, trying to come up with a blog name. Then, as I surfed the net, I came across a quote from one of my childhood heroes:

"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." - Miss Piggy

If you have ever gone to the trouble of dealing with an artichoke, you know this is a fairly accurate statement... however those 30 or 40 stamps worth of food are delicate and delicious and worth every bit of effort.  Though there are many instance where it is totally acceptable to sub in a can of artichokes in water or the yummy ones in seasoned oil all in the spirit of saving time.

In general I am not ashamed or lying when I say that I cook all types of food.  My heart revolves around comfort food, but I love fancy treats as well.  I've lived in several regions of the US (the midwest, the south, the southwest), and I've been introduced to almost every type of cuisine.  Since moving (or rather being moved) to Texas, I've developed a deep and passionate love of peppers, spice and Cholula.

I also try to cook within a reasonable budget, focusing recipes around a few ingredients per week so I'm utilizing every penny in my kitchen wisely.  So, let me show you a few tricks I've learned, and some tasty dishes that give you more than a few stamp licks worth of taste.