The View from the 32nd Floor

Herbed Chickpea Patties

2011-08-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

Wow. July 6th. The last time I have blogged. Busy would be an understatement. A lot can happen in 41 days. I will do by best to be short, sweet, and to the point.

This past weekend was the Xsport Fitness Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon benefiting the American Cancer Society. It was a fun, inspirational, and exhausting weekend. The alarm clock was set for 1:45am on race morning. At what time does one go to bed when they have to get up at 1:45 in the morning? Good question. It was an early day, but so worth the reward of seeing our 190 runners cross the finish line. I even got to see one of my favorite DetermiNation athletes - Kristin McQueen. Kristin is hoping to raise $70,000 this year for the 70,000 young adults that are diagnosed with cancer each year. Go big or go home McQueen.

Then, there was the move. Moving is exhausting. The packing, the unpacking, the moving of boxes (or more like dragging across the floor), the changing of addresses on every piece of mail that comes, the going through closets and drawers, and the logistics behind it all, is just a lot of work. I gave away multiple bags of clothes, and could probably have given away more, and tried to de-clutter as much as possible. Overall, I think I succeeded.

I've been living in the downtown area ever since I moved to Chicago, first on the 32nd floor in the Gold Coast neighborhood and then the 11th floor Streeterville. For this move, I've headed north to the Lakeview neighborhood. The commute is just a bit longer, but everything else is just oh so much better.

I can bike to the gym, which is just .8 miles away from the apartment. I have the cutest Starbucks just around the block that has the best outdoor patio with tons of shaded, outdoor seating. I'm just steps from the brown line, not that I take the brown line, but if I need to take the el, it is right there. There are neighborhood restaurants, bars, and cute stores to shop and browse through. It is steps from Wrigley Field. So far, I love everything about the area.

Then, there was a trip out to Seattle for the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. I was out there to work, but was able to get a little bit of sightseeing in. I had never been to Seattle before and would like to go to take more time to explore the city. Of course, visiting the flagship Starbucks was on my to-do list, as well as walking through Pike's Place Market. The Starbucks was smaller than I was envisioning it, and was almost a bit touristy. If I lived in the city, I think I would avoid that Starbucks at all cost.

The fish market was also smaller than I envisioned. I didn't get to see any flying fish, but I also didn't stick around that long to see it happen. If I had been near a grill, I would have been one happy camper shopping here.

The Herbed Chickpea Patties that I'm talking about below, is a dish that Andy and I have made multiple times already. It's actually one of Andy's top requested dishes for the week. It is healthy, easy to put together, and utilizes quite a few seasonal ingredients. There are quite a few staples on the grocery list on a weekly basis, and chickpeas are definitely one of those staples. I easily come out of the store with at least 4 cans of chickpeas for just a week of recipes.

This recipe does require the use of a food processor, but other than that, it quickly comes together. It's a great summer meal, that is meat free, and oh so good. Give it a try.

Herbed Chickpea Patties

adapted from "A year in a vegetarian kitchen" by Jack Bishop

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1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves

1 medium garlic clove, peeled

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Salt and pepper

1 medium head of romaine lettuce, chopped

2 tomatoes, cored and chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and chopped

1 tablespoon tahini

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

5 tablespoons olive oil

Put the cilantro, parsley, and garlic in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the chickpeas, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste and process until the mixture forms a coarse puree. Adjust the seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Shape the mixture into 4 large patties.

Put the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber in a large bowl. Whisk the tahini, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of oil and salt and pepper to taste together in a small bowl. Set the salad and dressing aside separately.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the chickpea patties and cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn the patties and drizzle the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil around the edges of the pan. Continue cooking until the patties are golden brown on the second side, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the salad with the tahini dressing. Divide the salad among four individual plates. Top each portion of salad with 2 patties. Serve immediately.

Macaroni Salad

2011-07-06T19:41:00.003-05:00

6 days. It's been a busy, relaxing, productive, and not so productive mini vacation from work. If only there were 6 day vacations built into every month, one could get a lot done.

Celebrating the big 2-9: I don't like to do much for my birthday. I don't like to make a big deal about it and I don't necessarily love the attention that the big day brings. I do however, like to do a few small things to celebrate and make it a special day, and that is what I did this year. There was a Wednesday night pre-birthday dinner at Cafe 28 with the family. The next day, Mom and I got pedicures, had lunch sitting outside in the sun, drank coffee (it's really what we do best), and we did some shopping without actually buying anything.

Mom and Dad: Is there something you want for your birthday?

Me: Not really. I don't need anything.

Mom and Dad: Are you sure?

Me: Well, maybe there is something I want.

Mom and Dad: What is it?

Me: A bike.

So yes. As of next Tuesday or Wednesday (it's been ordered), I am the proud new owner of a hybrid bike. A bike that can be ridden outside. Down by the lake. Through the neighborhoods. A bike that can get you outside to exercise and get some fresh air. A bike that I will ride very carefully and not fall off (I promise Mom).

The birthday ended with a dinner at Topolobampo. Andy and I made reservations 3 months prior, and to say the least, my expectations were ridiculously high. We both decided to ditch the vegetarian gig and just blow it out of the water. We each got the 5 course tasting menu. Here is how most of the discussion went that night.....

Me: Is this not the best meal you have ever had?

Andy: Yea, it's really good.

(5 minutes later)

Me: Oh my god. This is just the best meal I've ever had.

Andy: I'm glad you like it so much.

(5 minutes later)

Me: I just cannot get over how good this food is.

Andy: Yes, honey, it's really good.

(5 minutes later)

Me: This is my new special occasion restaurant. This is so good. My expectations have been exceeded.

So needless to say, Rick Bayless, you did not disappoint. It was amazing, over the top, good. I can't believe I was lucky enough to eat there. Surely a 29th birthday I will never forget.

A few days at Snow Lake: On Friday morning, a group of us headed to Snow Lake, Indiana to celebrate Lindsay's bachelorette party. A quick 2 days of friends, sun, relaxation, and fun. You can't beat a relaxing view like this.

4th of July: For the 4th, Andy and I were headed over to Ben and Anne's for a cookout. And just like all normal 4th of July barbecues that you might be used to attending, this one was completely meat free. No ribs, pork chops, burgers, or barbecue at this house. Instead, we did homemade hummus with homemade pita chips, baked beans, an avocado lettuce salad (I brought this), a macaroni salad (talking about it here) and veggie burgers. Thanks Ben and Anne for going along. They didn't disappoint and suggested we go above and beyond and do a taste test of 3 different veggie burgers.

Over the past week, this macaroni salad seemed to be popping up everywhere in the food blog world. Heidi Swanson. Amanda and Merril on Food 52. Emily Phillips on The View from the 32nd Floor. Oh wait, that's me. I was talking with Mom about what to take and she recommended this Macaroni Salad. I know what you are thinking. Macaroni Salad. Eh. Ick. No thank you. It sounds like a bowl of elbow noodles, drenched in mayo, without much flavor at all. I'm right there with you.

This recipe is far from your typical picnic macaroni salad. Ingredients include, green onions, lemon zest, olive oil, arugula, and a heavy turn of the pepper mill. It's fresh. It's simple. It keeps well when sitting out on the counter for awhile. It can be made the day before. It's relatively inexpensive. And. It's good.

Macaroni Salad

adapted from Heidi Swanson

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1 pound elbow macaroni

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cups thinly sliced green onions

3 medium garlic cloves, chopped

salt and black pepper

zest and juice of one lemon

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

4 handfuls arugula

1 apple, diced

Cook the macaroni in a large pot of well salted water per package instructions. Set aside at least 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain pasta.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until hot. Add most of the green onions, all of the garlic, and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions soften, and the garlic begins to take on some color, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.

Use a hand blender or food processor to puree the green onion mixture along with 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, zest of the lemon, half of the lemon juice, and the reserved pasta water. Puree and taste. Stir in the Parmesan.

Combine the macaroni with the green onion sauce in a large bowl. Toss well. Add the arugula and most of the apple and toss again. Taste, and add more pepper, salt or lemon juice if needed. Serve topped with the remaining apple and green onion.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream w/Corn Cake

2011-06-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry Dad, but you are making an appearance on the blog today in honor of the Father's Day weekend - I knew you would really appreciate the publicity. Andy and I headed out to Crystal Lake to play 9 holes of golf with Mom and Dad. Mom made about 22 different tee times, as I couldn't quite pinpoint a time for our arrival. Apparently, lots of people leave the city on a Sunday afternoon, head out to the suburbs, thus creating quite a bit of traffic.

I haven't played golf in oh....15 years maybe. Putt putt doesn't really count, and unless you count the Friday afternoon at the driving range this past week, I golf just about as often as I read a good classic novel. Rarely. When I hit them, I hit them good. When I don't swing too well, it shows. I suppose all golfers feel that way though. If everyone always hits them good, it wouldn't be much of a sport. If only my scores in Wii Golf would carry over, I'd be set. I was happy to chip and putt a few balls every so often throughout the 9 holes, but driving the golf cart, and enjoying the company of the afternoon is what I was there for.

As usual, Dad did most of the cooking, despite it being a day for him. We wouldn't have it any other way. We had grilled hamburgers, grilled talapia for Andy and I, cucumber/tomato/feta salad, and potato wedges. A wonderful home-cooked meal.

As I start to pack-up the apartment once again, it is time to analyze the items that I have in my kitchen. What do I keep and what could I do without? What am I using and what was a fad that has since passed? One thing that is a stand-by for sure is the food processor. How can one make sweet corn ice cream without the assistance of a food processor? It stays. The spiral vegetable peeler? Well, that is in the questionable pile. If I haven't used it in the past year, it goes. The same will hold true for my closet, which is why you may see me wearing sandals that I haven't worn in the past year. If I get a wear in now, they can surely make the trip to the new place. I'm glad I can make my own rules for these sorts of things.

But this ice cream. It's odd, I know. You may think you don't like it, but you will.

Me: So....what did you think of the ice cream?

Andy: It tastes like vanilla.

Well, there you have it folks. No matter what flavor of crazy ice cream I make, it always seems to taste like vanilla. I need to work on that. So it is a subtle corn flavor. Maybe the freshness of the corn has something to do with it? I don't know, but it sure is fun trying different flavors of ice cream. Thanks Rick Bayless for the recipe. I'll be dining at Topolobampo on Thursday, so this dish just might be on the menu.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

adapted from Rick Bayless

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3 ears fresh sweet corn

1 1/2 cups half-and-half
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon,

2 tablespoon orange liqueur
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Set up a 4-quart saucepan, filled halfway with water, into which you can nestle a 3-quart stainless steel bowl. Bring the pot of water to a boil over high heat while you're preparing the custard base.

Husk the corn and pull off all the silk. Cut the kernels from the ears and measure 2 cups. Scoop into a blender and add the half-and-half. Blend until smooth. In the 3-quart stainless steel bowl, stir together the egg yolks and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the corn mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly. Reduce the temperature under the pot of boiling water to maintain a gentle simmer.

Set the bowl of custard base over the simmering water and whisk frequently, until the mixture thickens noticeably, about 20 minutes. The custard is sufficiently cooked when it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Pour the base through a medium-mesh strainer into another bowl.

Fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Nestle the custard into the ice and whisk regularly until completely cool. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Stir the heavy cream, evaporated milk, cinnamon, orange liqueur and lime juice into the base. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions. Scrape into a freezer container and freeze for several hours to firm.

Gingerbread Scones

2011-06-13T10:45:00.000-05:00

This 5-day weekend of mine is slowly coming to a close. How does that happen? A birthday celebration on Thursday and Friday with Mom, a trip to Milwaukee with Andy for a wedding and then the Cardinals/Brewers game the next day, and finally a day for just plain catching up.

Thursday: Mom and I are really good at fluffing away the day when spending it together in the city. We always claim that the day goes too quickly. In honor of Mom's birthday, I thought we would spend the day in the new neighborhood and get acquainted with some of the local things going on in and around Southport. I've driven by the apartment so many times since officially renting it, that I'm convinced the neighbors think there is a new neighborhood stalker. I just like driving by it. Last week at 8pm, I was sort of in the area and thought, I wonder what's going on at the apartment at 8pm on a Wednesday - so why not drive by, right?

Instead of doing the normal Starbucks routine, we thought a trip to Julius Meinl would be fun. I ordered an Americano. What a perfect presentation. I hesitated pulling out the camera to take a picture, as we had already made a scene picking a table and ordering from the counter, so I didn't want to draw any more attention to our table - but took the picture anyway. I mean, when am I ever going to see these people again? Oh wait......

A couple of weeks ago, Andy and I had lunch on a Friday afternoon at Southport Grocery - which is also in the new neighborhood. You know who lunches on Friday here? Young mothers, with one of their other girlfriends, and their very young babies. Despite the presence of young children (I'm sure they'll eventually grow on me), I loved it and knew it would make a great lunch spot for Mom and I. I'm already a big fan of the beet salad with fresh goat cheese and the bruschetta with eggs and fresh tomato sauce.

I was also lucky enough to spend a weekend at home in Crystal Lake at the very beginning of June. It doesn't happen to often, and it was just so nice to be at home for longer than 3-4 hours at a time. Chloe can't contain her excitement to have me home, spending some time in the kitchen - as you can obviously tell.

I decided to wake up and make breakfast for the 3 of us while at home on Sunday. Mom warned me that there weren't too many options in the pantry, so I took that into consideration when picking a recipe. This scone doesn't contain any nuts or pieces of dried fruit - which means that if you have the normal pantry staples + molasses, you should be able to whip these up without a trip to the grocery store.

Mom makes jet-fuel strength coffee. I always credit my love of strong coffee to her. These Gingerbread scones are wonderful - and guess what - they go perfectly with a strong cup of coffee. The 3 of us sat at the island in the kitchen, reading the paper, drinking coffee, and eating scones. You can't ask for a better Sunday morning.

They come together very easily. Since I seem to be making scones on a regular basis, I've decided to ditch the step of rolling them out and cutting them into triangles. While it might look just a bit fancier, it is much easier (and faster) to drop them onto the baking sheet. Give these a whirl!

Gingerbread Scones

adapted from Epicurious.com

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2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

6 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs

4 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Blend first 6 ingredients in a food processor. Add butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, eggs, molasses and vanilla to the processor and mix until combined and dough forms. Drop scones into 1/4 cup piles and flatten into round disc on the baking sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Stout Cupcakes with Stout Glaze

2011-06-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

Apartment hunting. Moving. Going through closets. Pairing down what I have. Loving an apartment, only to find out it has already been rented. Thinking you are looking at the apartment of your dreams, only to find that the pictures don't accurately describe the actual product. Who enjoys any of that? As much as I love looking at apartments online, and thinking about what could be, it is somewhat overwhelming with all of the possibilities that are out there. On a typical night, I could easily email 15 people asking to see an apartment that they are currently listing. I can't tell you how many times, realtors respond and say they can show me a place, and I think to myself, what in the world was this apartment like? Did it have everything I am looking for? Was it in the area I want? It is quite often a blind showing with me crossing my fingers behind my back, hoping it is something I am interested in.

I initially moved to Chicago in 2007 and spent 2 years living on the 32nd floor. For the past 2 years, I've spent my time on the 11th floor. And yet again, I find myself getting ready to pack up the boxes again and moving to a different location. It is exciting. I can't wait. I'm giddy. On August 1st, I will be reporting to you from the first floor of a walkup apartment. I will give more details once they are finalized. The view isn't what it was on the 32nd floor, I'll give you that, but in my mind, the view out the front window doesn't matter.

When looking at a new apartment, the key item for me, outside of a garage parking spot and in unit laundry, of course, but ultimately, I'm eyeing up the kitchen space. How many cabinets are there? Can it hold all of the pots and pans I have accumulated over the past 4 years? I've decided that the new place can withstand the Le Creuset pots that I have on hand, but the gigantic, 18 inch diameter cake carrier? It might have to go. I'm going to make a pile at some point. 1 pile will have everything I use on a regular basis, and the other pile will be "do I really need this". I'll see what makes the cut.

I'm not a big cupcake person. I'm actually not a cake person either. I don't really like cookies or brownies, and unless you are serving ice cream or creme brulee, I probably won't bite at ordering dessert. Andy and I have been frequenting Annette's Ice Cream in the Lincoln Park area. I love their homemade flavors of ice cream. Favorites right now include Anniversary ice cream with M&M's, and Banana Pudding ice cream with oreo topping. The line is always long, but nothing beats walking down the block, standing in line for a scoop of ice cream, and eating the ice cream before it melts on the way home.

Birthdays are the exception to cupcakes and cakes. And by exception, I do mean, that I am willing to bake either of those options in my kitchen. You won't find me baking a cake on a random Sunday afternoon. Instead, you will find me at Annette's, waiting in line for my scoop of ice cream. But the birthday bell rings and I decided to make cupcakes for Miss Kacy's birthday. I do own Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book and thought it would be an ideal resource to find a recipe. If you know Kacy, you know she has an aversion to Guinness. So I thought, why not make stout cupcakes?! An obvious decision, right?

As cheesy, corny, and over-the-top boring that Martha Stewart can be, she does have great ideas and great recipes. Every cookie and cupcake that I have made from her cookbooks have been winners. And this does not disappoint. The cupcakes are moist, molasses flavored, and not overly sweet. I like them because there is not a thick frosting on top of the cupcake. The stout glaze is just the right amount of sweet for the cake. A real winner.

Stout Cupcakes with Stout Glaze

adapted from Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes"

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3 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon blus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups molasses

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon orange zest

1 1/4 cups Guinness, poured and settled

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tin or line with paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. With a mixer, on medium low speed, beat oil, molasses, brown sugar, eggs, zest, and stout until combined. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture until combined.

Pour batter, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Place onto wire racks to cool completely.

Glaze Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup Guinness, poured and settled

Whisk together the powdered sugar and Guinness. Pour over cooled cupcakes.

Homemade Banana Ice Cream

2011-05-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

There is something amazing about a 3-day weekend. Does the world not seem more manageable with 3 days to spend away from your normal everyday work routine? Gosh. I just love it. The weather here in Chicago can't really seem to make up its mind....which let's be honest....that isn't unusual. Semi-nice day on Friday. Humid, cloudy and rainy on Saturday. Dark as night, cold, and pouring down rain on Sunday. 90 degrees, gorgeous, and sunny on Monday. Make up your mind Chicago. Somehow, one nice day in every so often around here, makes all the other not so nice days completely worth it.

Saturday: For the past 4 years, Memorial Day means event weekend for our DetermiNation team at the Soldier Field 10 Miler. Runners love it because they can finish on the 50 yard line at Soldier Field. I love it because it is an event without an expo and one that it is not overwhelmingly stressful. I can take time to enjoy the excitement of race morning, take time to chat with committee members who are running or volunteering for the day, and chat with our runners to learn why they are running for our organization. I love the folks at Fleet Feet who put on the race, and all in all, it makes for a great start to the weekend.

Saturday night, Andy and I ventured out to see Hangover 2 on opening weekend. I live in what you could call a touristy area, and often avoid hanging around some of the locations within walking distance to my apartment - the movie theater now being one of them. I've learned my lesson. Don't go to this movie theater on opening weekend on a Saturday night for a popular movie....especially on a cold and rainy day when there is nothing else in the world to do. After waiting 20 minutes in line to get 1 bucket of popcorn and 2 drinks, I declared aloud that "we are never coming back here". I do believe the workers there were popping the popcorn 1 kernel at a time, and freshly carbonating the Diet Coke for each individual customer. That has to be the answer. Why else would one wait in line for 20 minutes with 6 people in front of them?

Sunday: As if seeing Kristin McQueen (pictured center above) once over the weekend wasn't enough, we decided to venture out to downtown Naperville to do dinner and a movie. Girls choice, we picked Bridesmaids. Funny movie in parts. A little slow in the middle, but overall a good see. Not great, but good. I spent all week on Yelp for downtown Naperville looking at restaurant reviews. By the time Sunday night arrived, I could easily rattle off all the non-chain restaurants, how many reviews they received, what they were known for, and highlights of the menu. I think I have a sickness in over-analyzing dinner options. I'll say that Naperville has a lot to offer, despite being outside of the Chicago city limits. And to top off the night, we stopped and got ice cream at Cookie Dough Creations. The name says it all. They serve their ice cream with a scoop of cookie dough on top. Genius? I do believe so.

Monday: Andy and I decided to follow suit from last year's Memorial Day weekend and have lunch while sitting outside at Rosebud in Little Italy. I like the idea of tradition. Last year's Memorial Day weekend was perfect, so I aimed to have this one be just the same. What's not to like about tradition? There is a great little Italian deli that is located in that area (I believe I've mentioned it many times before), and they always have amazing basil plants lining the street for sale. Have lunch, grab some basil, and call it a great day.

Me: Oh no. I don't see the basil plants outside. Maybe the basil isn't out yet.

Andy: It just might be inside. Is it open?

Me: (looking at the sign on the door that says "Closed for Memorial Day"). It's closed. Didn't we do this last year?

Andy: I think we were here on a Sunday.

Me: (defeated) Oh.

So we had to resort to plan B, which slightly throws off the tradition, but it is the thought that counts. We ended up getting the basil from Whole Foods, the small bag of soil too. Sorry to let you down on this one Dad. Potting soil from Whole Foods and not from Countryside or Home Depot, wouldn't be your first choice I know, but it was convenient.

The phrase "it doesn't get much better than this" came out of my mouth today when describing the weekend. It truly is the little things in life. And I'm lucky to have such wonderful days sometimes.

This recipe is perfect for the Memorial Day weekend - homemade banana ice cream. It's hot. You are outside at picnics and bbq's. Nothing ends the weekend like a great scoop of ice cream. There is nothing fancy or out of the ordinary about this recipe. I had some ripe bananas laying around, and thought a banana ice cream would be the perfect remedy. The recipe is from a generic ice cream maker recipe book. I swapped out some of the white sugar for brown sugar, as I believe it gives the dish more flavor, I added more vanilla, and added some cinnamon. This ice cream tasted like you are biting into a warm slice of banana bread. So good. Let your bananas ripen, and make this treat for the summer.

Homemade Banana Ice Cream

adapted from this website

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2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

2 eggs, beaten 3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 bananas, pureed or mashed into a paste

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a saucepan, combine the milk, cream, eggs, sugar and salt. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. Refrigerate the mixture until cool. Combine the cooled custard with the bananas, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour into freezer container. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Green Herb Cucumber Ceviche

2011-05-21T15:07:00.003-05:00

The phrase "I need to host a dinner party" has flown out of my mouth more times than I can count since 2011 began. It has been too long. I think I had a turkey in the oven the last time I had people over for dinner, which equates to almost a 6 month break in the action. Completely unacceptable. In my mind, there is nothing more relaxing than spending a night in at home, entertaining some friends while eating good food, drinking a little bit of wine, or in this case margaritas, and listening to some music. An ideal night.

Although I guess there are good reasons for a break in the action when it comes to hosting dinner parties. We're busy! And trying to find a weekend that works for everyone can be just about near impossible. Andy and I have 9 weddings this year. I have 5 DetermiNation events to staff, plus multiple other work obligations over the weekends throughout the summer. Andy has 2 races this year - one of them being this little race called Ironman. Between the holidays, birthdays, family get togethers, and god forbid just a little vacation, you could say we are booked from now until Thanksgiving. Lately, this is what has been keeping us busy......

Dressing up in bridesmaids dresses for your typical Saturday night out. We got questions from multiple random people that night saying "what in the world is going on here?" as they see about 50 people dressed in the most random bridal attire possible......

Seeing the Cubs and Cardinals play. Despite the monstrous rain delay in the 5th inning. The Cubs won. Just for the record, for all you keeping score out there.

Seeing Peter Bjorn and John at Lincoln Hall. A nice sushi dinner out. A little concert. Sounds like a great night to me.

And to top it all off...we even saw a no-hitter at the Twins/White Sox game. The Sox got no-hit, for all of you keeping score out there......

So, yes. Busy would be an understatement. But better to be busy, than to be bored!

When brainstorming what to have for dinner when the guests came over, I immediately went to my shelf of cookbooks. Surely something would come to mind. We were just approaching the beginning of May, and even though my party wasn't until mid-month, I figured there would be nothing wrong with the idea of hosting a belated Cinco de Mayo party - Rick Bayless style. I had received Rick Bayless' latest cookbook "Fiesta at Rick's" but hadn't really had the time to cook much from it. There are so many recipes to try in this book - they all look so good.

Andy and I are making up our diet as we go along, so I guess it doesn't really have a specific title or label. We are still vegetarian, but have added fish into the diet. Pescatarian? I don't really like that phrase. I've been saying vegetarian, but eating fish. It was easier to nail down the menu options knowing I had to narrow the main entrees down to just fish. When having people over for dinner, the key for me is having everything ready before the guests arrive. That truly allows you to enjoy the company, and not be stressed out with multiple tasks in the kitchen. When guests arrive, you can make drinks, sit down, relax, and enjoy. Here is what I went with....

The Menu

Drinks

Heather's Pomegranate Margaritas

Regular Margaritas

Modelo Negro

Dos XX

Appetizers

Pumpkin Seed Guacamole

Store Bought Salsa (just being honest here)

Chips

Main Dish

Lindsay's Southwestern Slaw

Green Herb Cucumber Ceviche

Avocado Dressed Shrimp Tacos

Black Beans

Suzy's Swordfish and Pepper Kabobs

Dessert

Homemade Sweet Corn Ice Cream w/ Corn Cake

I'll be talking about a couple of the dishes I made for the night over the next couple of blog posts, but I wanted to start with this Green Herb Cucumber Ceviche, because it was just so "I can't believe I made this in my own kitchen" kind of good. Don't be fooled by the title. Even thought it is coined as a "cucumber ceviche" there is still fish in the dish. The original recipe called for scallops, but tuna was on sale at Whole Foods and so was the halibut, so I went with both of those options. I think any fresh fish would work here. The crunch from the cucumber, the tart lime juice, the creaminess from the avocado, and the bite of the fish with the herb marinade, just makes for an outstanding dish.

I know the thought of cooking fish with lime juice can be a bit....well, how do you say it...daunting? Scary? It's not. If you are working with the freshest fish possible, you can't go wrong. The ceviche is just completely melt in your mouth delicious. You could serve this with tortilla chips or as a side dish with your main meal. It is such winner. Thanks Rick Bayless. You never let me down!

Green Herb Cucumber Ceviche

adapted from Rick Bayless "Fiesta at Rick's"

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Herb Marinade:

1/2 head garlic, cloves broken apart

3 serrano chiles

1 bunch cilantro, stems cut off

1 bunch parsley, stems cut off

1/2 cup olive oil

salt

Ceviche:

1 pound fresh tuna, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 pound fresh halibut, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 cup fresh lime juice

2 English cucumbers, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 avocados, pitted, flesh scooped from skin, then cut into cubes

To make the herb seasoning:

Set a dry skillet over medium heat. Lay the unpeeled garlic cloves and chiles in the pan. Roast, turning frequently, until soft and blotchy brown spots appear, about 10 minutes for the chiles and 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool until you can handle. Slip the skins off the garlic, pull the stems off the chiles and roughly chop. No need to remove the seeds. Place in a food processor along with the cilantro (about 1 cup if packed), parsley (about 1 cup if packed), oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Process until nearly smooth. Scrape into a storage container and refrigerate until serving time.

To Make the Ceviche:

Pour the fresh lime juice over the tuna and halibut. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every few minutes. Drain off all but about 1/4 cup of the lime juice. Stir in 1/2 cup of the herb mixture, cucumber, and avocado. Taste and season with more salt if you think necessary. Serve in martini glasses.

Cabbage, Chickpea and Bulgar Stew

2011-05-18T17:11:00.001-05:00

I've officially come up with a new blog title. I think this is.....what...at least 1.5 years in the making? I've falsely announced that the blog would be changing titles multiple times, but this time, I think it is for real. And I throw the phrase "I think" in there, just in case I change my mind again. At one time, I was 99.9% sure my blog would be titled "The Toasted Avocado". Melissa and I spent weeks brainstorming clever food titles for the blog, and came up with this one based on my loved for avocadoes. It could easily have been called "The Burnt Avocado" with the number of mishaps I have had in my kitchen over the past couple of years. I even purchased the domain for that web address, but after sitting on the title for awhile, I didn't think it was the perfect fit. I stopped eating avocadoes for lunch, and somehow the title just lost speed.

I'm working on creating a new blog header for the site, before I actually release the new name. And when I use the phrase "I'm working on creating a new blog header" what I really mean, is I've enlisted the help of a few friends to help me create this new header. After spending at least 2 weeks creating the last one, I'm hoping to have something a little different. When I release the new header, I'll also explain the story behind the new blog title. How's that for building a little suspense?

Why is it that homemade cornbread doesn't taste quite like the box mix? Or at least my homemade cornbread never seems to have as much flavor as the boxed variety. It is good. Yes. And definitely edible. Yes. And good with jelly, butter, or Karo syrup. Yes. Now I realize that my version is probably 1. much healthier 2. less sugar 3. and better for you....but still. I can't seem to make an outstanding cornbread. I've tried multiple recipes, and just can't come up with a winner. If you have any recipes to share that are winners and not completely unhealthy, please share away! In addition to perfecting a cornbread recipe that is better than a box variety, I'm still working on making better brownies than the boxed variety. Come on, Duncan Heinz....cut us home cooks some slack and stop making brownies that everyone likes better than homemade!

Me: I made cornbread last night.
Andy: The boxed kind?
Me: No, homemade, using cornmeal.
Andy: Oh.
Me: It didn't taste as good as the boxed kind.
Andy: I bet.

The recipe I'm posting below is a FANTASTIC one. This is what you would classify as an easy, vegetarian, filling meal to make that ends up lasting for days in your refrigerator. Cabbage with Tomatoes, Bulgar, and Chickpeas is another recipe from the fabulous New York Times website. Cabbage is one of those produce items that just multiplies as you cut it up. I swear one head of cabbage could feed an army, which is why this dish makes so much product.

I'm starting to become partial to the savory cabbage at the grocery store. The texture seems to be a little softer and I think it cooks up better in meals. I'm still a fan of the regular cabbage when making cole slaw and a topping for fish tacos, but in all other instances, I think savoy is a better way to go. Grandpa assures me that there is plenty of cabbage being planted in the garden right now, so I'm stocking up on my cabbage recipes!

This recipe comes together so easily. Cabbage. Tomatoes. Bulgar. Chickpeas. Broth. Throw it all in a pot and let it simmer, and you are set to go. It makes for great lunches throughout the week, especially when you want to have something on hand without doing major cooking in the kitchen each day. Thank you New York Times for another wonderful recipe!

Cabbage with Tomatoes, Bulgar, and Chickpeas
adapted from the New York Times

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1 onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste

1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 medium head green or red cabbage, finely shredded
1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons cider vinegar1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup coarse bulgur
2 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy lidded skillet or Dutch oven. Add the onion, and cook, stirring often, until tender, about five minutes. Stir in a pinch of salt and the paprika. Cook, stirring, until the onion is thoroughly tender and infused with paprika, three to four minutes.

Add the cabbage, and cook, stirring, for three minutes or until it begins to wilt. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar, and add salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes until the cabbage is thoroughly tender.

Stir in the dill and the water, and bring a to a boil. Add the bulgur and chickpeas. Stir to combine. When the water comes back to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer 10 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve hot or at room temperature.

Celery Root, Potato and Apple Puree

2011-05-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

Everyone has their strengths, right? It's what makes the world go round. Ask me to talk about the British Empire and I am honestly at a loss. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Ask me to rattle of my 10 favorite classic novels, and I bet I couldn't give you more than 2. Ask me my favorite show on the History Channel and I will tell you my tv doesn't go to that channel. But ask me how to make pesto from scratch? I could easily talk about that, while also giving 5 different varieties of pesto that you could easily make to put over pasta. Not everyone knows how to make pesto, and I'm ok with that. As long as they are ok with me knowing nothing about the British Empire. Ask me my top 3 favorite cookbooks, and it would be quite a process to come up with a list of just 3.

Maybe geography isn't my best subject either. I did used to play the license plate game when going on road trips as a kid, writing down each state that I saw, hoping to get all 50 before the end of the trip. I never did get all 50 at one time; I usually needed Hawaii or Alaska to complete the project. And I wouldn't count that as being good at geography.

Andy and I were in St. Louis over the Easter holiday weekend and were having lunch out on the patio. While I was inside, the following conversation took place (and I'm paraphrasing here since I actually wasn't outside to hear the conversation).....

Erika (Andy's cousin): We are taking a trip to the Poconos this summer.

Andy: Where are the Poconos?

Erika: You don't know?

Andy: I don't know....Florida?

(crowd laughs making fun of Andy for not knowing where the Poconos are)

(I come out from inside and am not back out on the patio)

Andy: Hey Emily....do you know where the Poconos are?

Emily: I don't know....Switzerland?

(crowd laughs and thank you Andy for throwing me under the bus)

Am I the only one that wouldn't have known the right answer?

I've started becoming attached to the New York Times website and the oodles and oodles of fantastic recipes that they have posted there. I haven't given into purchasing a subscription to the site yet to have unlimited visits and views, but I'm guessing that may be the case in the near future. They have a healthy recipe section, and while the recipes are not specifically vegetarian, I'm finding that very few of them actually contain meat products, which is great. I have about 15 recipes that are bookmarked and I'm slowly making my way through them.

The first one that I am posting about here today is a Celery Root, Potato and Apple Puree.

Celery root is a kind of celery, grown as a root vegetable. It may be used raw or cooked. It has a touch outer surface, which is sliced off before use because it is too rough to peel. Celery root has a celery flavor and is often used to give flavor to soup or stews. I had never cooked with celery root before, but thought it would be an interesting vegetable to tackle. I was able to use a vegetable peeler to get the skin off. My celery root didn't have an immensely tough skin, so it was pretty easy to get off. I think you could easily cut it off with a knife as well.

The recipes calls for you to boil the potatoes in a separate pot from the apples/celery root. I'm not exactly sure why you couldn't cook the two together, and next time, will try boiling them all at once to save on a pot in the kitchen. You take the cooked vegetables and process them through a food mill, and it gives you a product the consistency of mashed potatoes. This is a great side dish and I have been eating it all week. I even took a bit of the puree, and served 2 poached eggs over top of it with a touch of marinara sauce. You don't have to ask me twice to add eggs and marinara to something.

Celery Root, Potato, and Apple Puree

adapted from the New York Times
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1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces

2 large celery roots, about 2 pounds, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 large or 2 small tart apples, such as a Granny Smith, peeled, cored and quartered
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper

Place the potatoes in one saucepan and the celery root and apples in another. Add salt to taste to each, about 1/2 teaspoon. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes, and return to the pot. Cover tightly, and allow to sit for five minutes to steam and dry out. Drain the celery root and apples through a strainer set over a bowl. Purée all of the produce using a food mill or a potato ricer. Stir together, and whisk in the broth until the mixture is fluffy. Add the butter to the hot buree, stir until the butter melts, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Banana Shortbread

2011-04-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

Guess what is back in my refrigerator? Chocolate milk? No. Tuna salad? Tuna steaks? No. I can't think of what else I was on a kick for throughout the duration of this blog, so I will just end there with the guessing. The answer is peanut butter. Yes peanut butter and I....well.....we were on a break, kind of like Ross and Rachel were on a break. And it was for no particular reason really. I think I might have been a little peanut buttered out, and just got tired of eating it. This from the girl who used to go through at least a jar a week of the 365 crunch peanut butter (not organic) variety.

I think the vegetarian lifestyle roped me back in to buying it at the store - and I might have gone to the slight extreme. I have 3 jars of nut butters in my fridge right now, and I have 2 in Andy's fridge. One wouldn't want to be without, right? So I've covered my basis, no matter where I might be eating lunch.

Emily's fridge: crunchy peanut butter, chunky almond butter, smooth cashew butter

Andy's fridge: crunchy peanut butter, chunky cashew butter

Accoutrements (a very tough word to spell): bananas (but as you'll see below I don't tend to eat them), granny smith apples, pink lady apples (2 brands just depending on my mood), apricot preserves (it's the best flavor of jelly/jam/preserve out there), oatmeal, and Triscuits.

I'm glad to have my staple lunch back on hand in the pantry. Now granted, I'm not eating apple and peanut butter for lunch everyday like I used to, but I will throw it in the rotation once a week, just for good measure. Am I the only one that has these foods they just can't seem to live without?

Oh, and Starbucks too. We can't forget about Starbucks.

I seem to be in the habit of having bananas on hand, which is awesome. Nothing like having a healthy, go-to snack just lying around on the counter. However, over the past month, I find myself never eating them in time before they get too ripe. This is actually my 4th bunch of bananas that I am baking with instead of eating (stay tuned for banana ice cream in an upcoming post). I should either take the hint and not buy them on a weekly basis, or continue to buy them and resort to the fact that I will be baking with them instead of eating them.

I've googled banana recipes more often than I would like to admit. It gets hard to think of out of the box ideas of what to do with these ripe bananas, without making banana bread and banana muffins on a weekly basis. It took me awhile, but I found this recipe for Banana Shortbread on the Vanilla Sugar Blog. It is a blog that I hadn't read before, but was immediately intrigued by the recipe.

I must confess, I was worried about the outcome - as is usually the case when I'm trying things that aren't your everyday type of recipe. Do bananas and shortbread really go together? Would the consistency be ok? The recipe has you bake the dough in a springform pan - without the bottom of the pan attached. Instead, you cook it on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Who thinks of these things? Why in the world am I subjecting myself to baking conditions like this? I once tried my chocolate mousse cake in a contraption setup like this, and I can't say it worked like magic. Yet, here I am again, baking without the bottom of my pan attached - a glutton for punishment.

The recipe also calls for you to cut a circle out of the center of the dough, while using a biscuit cutter. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it is so the shortbread doesn't puff up in the center? I have a great set of circle cutouts in about 15 different sizes, from Williams-Sonoma that I use for my scones, biscuits, and cookies all the time, and here is another use for them. As I removed the circle from the dough, I thought to myself, this is never going to work.

But lo and behold, I popped them in the oven, crossed my fingers, and hoped they would somehow turn out like shortbread cookies. And they did. Much, much better than I had expected. They tasted buttery like shortbread cookies, but not too sweet. The hint of banana flavor was definitely there. With each bite, I said to myself, "hmmm....interesting, yet very, very good". I think I like them. I think I will make them again.

Banana Shortbread

adapted from Vanilla Sugar Blog

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½ cup old-fashioned oats
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup cornstarch
2/3 cups + 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
2 over-ripe bananas, mashed w/ juice of ½ lemon

Pulse oats in mini prep and grind until reduced to fine powder, about ten 5-second pulses (you should have ¼- to 1/3 cup oat flour). In bowl of standing mixer, mix oat flour, flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt at low speed until combined, about 5 seconds.

Add butter to dry ingredients, then add in the banana mixture, and continue to mix on low speed until dough just forms and pulls from sides of mixer wall, 5 to 10 minutes. Chill at least 2-3 hours before using.

When ready to bake, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Place closed collar of 9- to 9 ½-inch springform pan directly on parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (do not use the springform pan bottom). Press dough into collar in even ½-inch thick layer, smoothing top of dough with back of spoon. Place 2-inch biscuit cutter in center of dough and cut out center. Place extruded round on side of rimmed baking sheet and replace cutter in center of dough. Open springform pan collar, but leave in place.

Bake shortbread for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees. (release latch on the collar on springform pan, but don’t take off.) Continue to bake until edges turn pale golden, 20 to 25 minutes longer. Remove tray from oven.

Remove springform pan collar and cutter; score surface of shortbread into 16 even wedges, cutting halfway through shortbread. Using wooden skewer, poke 10 holes into each wedge. Return shortbread to oven and prop door open with handle of wooden spoon, leaving 1-inch gap at top. Allow shortbread to dry in turned-off oven until pale golden in center (shortbread will be firm but giving to touch when ready), about 1 hour.
Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool shortbread to room temperature, at least 2 hours. Cut shortbread at scored marks to separate and serve.

Broccoli Pasta Carbonara

2011-04-24T19:46:00.001-05:00

Confession. I've seen more St. Louis Cardinals baseball games this year than I have Chicago Cubs games. That is a problem. Did you know that I am a Cubs fan and not a Cardinals fan? I have a Cubs license plate on my Jeep, and a Cubs tie blanket laying on the end of my couch, and I own a Cubs jersey, a Cubs t-shirt, a Cubs windbreaker jacket and a Cubs visor. See? I even have the gear to prove it. What is the cause of this miss-match? Andy has officially subscribed to MLB.tv, which allows us to watch EVERY SINGLE baseball game outside of the Chicagoland television market, on a daily basis. Yes. In lamen's terms, it means that every night, we can log onto the computer and watch the Cardinals play baseball on tv. Live. The whole game.

It's not that I mind watching baseball at all. Because, that is hardly the case. I love watching baseball, even if it isn't my team playing. There is nothing more relaxing than spending time cooking in the kitchen after a long days work and having a baseball game on in the background. My worry? I'm starting to know the Cardinals players too well. I actually know to boooo Brandon Phillips on the Cincinnati Reds team when he comes to the plate, because he is known for bad-mouthing the Cardinals. I've started to yell "Yadi" aloud when Mr. Molina takes the field or steps up to the plate. I was a already a Ryan Theriot fan when he was a Chicago Cub, so it is easy to root for him, even in a Cardinals jersey. I even talked Andy into buying a St. Louis Cardinals stadium blanket, which upon arriving home, realized that I am now going to adorn myself in a Cardinals blanket whenever I get cold while sitting on the couch, which is practically 89% of the time. I need to demand more Cubs games on the tv. I need to put in ear plugs when the Cardinals are on MLB.tv. I need to sing Go Cubs Go at the drop of a hat. I need to not cave in to rooting for the Cardinals. Help!

Andy and I headed to St. Louis for the Easter weekend. A trip down to St. Louis is always a quick one - especially when you have 5 hours of driving each way across a 48 hour time span. We had tickets to the Carinals/Reds game on Saturday. I have to admit, I do love seeing a baseball game in person. Even though it was the Cardinals playing, I was still very much excited to see the game. After all, I did grow up a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals and Ozzie Smith fan.

We drove through one of the worst rainstorms I've ever seen while out on the road before. The trip started off all fun and games - breakfast for dinner on the ride down, listening to music and playing the "hey Emily, who sings this song" game on the iPod. As the storms approached, the lighting was awesome - bigger than Andy and I had ever seen before. I was even taking lighting videos on my iPhone because it was so extraordinary. The weather quickly started to change, from fun to scary. It was late. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road, and the weather was taking a turn for the worst. As it started to downpour, so much that you couldn't even see 5 feet in front of you, and with big thunderclaps in the background, I was ready to be out of the car. Andy was driving at the time. I'll admit, it was hard to not be in control at the wheel.

Me: It's really raining hard.
Andy: (Talking over the speakers of our iPod Shuffle game) Let's turn the radio on so I can hear the weather report? If there is a weather warning, I think we should be able to hear it.
Me: Sure. (switching it to the FM stations) What station do you want it on?
Andy: (silence)
Me: (flipping through a few radio stations to get to a station with weather talk radio on or maybe even just a song that I happened to know on the radio, because I didn't really know what specifically I was turning to on the radio. I found neither option)
Andy: Did you find it?
Me: Find what? What station did you want? I don't know the St. Louis radio stations.
Andy: (silence)
Andy: What station are you on?
Me: I have no idea. Are you looking for a particular station?
Andy: (silence) No station in particular. If there is an emergency warning, we would hear it on any channel.
Me: I don't know what to turn it to. Should we pull over? I don't like this.

Not to worry. We made it to St. Lous just fine. In one piece. The St. Louis airport didn't fair quite as well. I don't do well with stressful weather situations. Obviously.

Now....onto this pasta dish that I made for dinner last week. As I plan my menus for the week, I'm trying to find the perfect balance between dishes made with the freshest ingredients possible, and dishes that can be made with ingredients already on hand in your pantry or refrigerator. This recipe would be the latter. Yes, you do need some fresh vegetables, but it isn't a necessity. This is a healthy take on carbonara. There isn't a lot of extra fat, grease from sauteed bacon, or an over abundance of cheese. Once the pasta is cooked, and the broccoli is partially cooked, you add the eggs to the pot to just cook them through slightly. The addition of the cheese, makes for a smooth, creamy sauce, without much sauce at all.

Broccoli Pasta Carbonara
adapted from a recipe sent to me via Lindsay Clark
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1 pound broccol florets
1 pound spaghetti whole wheat pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmessan cheese
1 cup reserved pasta cooking water

In a large pot of boiling water, boil the pasta according to package directions. During the last 3 minutes of pasta cooking time, add the broccoli florets to the pot to just cook through. Drain the pasta and broccoli.

In the pasta pot, over low heat, add the olive oil. Add the pasta and broccoli back to the pan. Pour in the egg mixtures. Stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Add the Parmesan. Stir in additional pasta water as needed. Turn off the heat. Serve pasta on a plate. Top with additional Parmesan or red pepper flakes and serve.

Edamame and Tofu Stir Fry

2011-04-22T15:22:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Ben's birthday last weekend - the big 32 for him. Or is it 33? I think it is 32. Ben turned 32. Yes. To celebrate, we had a family brunch at the Publican. We had contemplated doing a family dinner, but after a Jeff Tweedy concert on Friday night for Andy and I and Amy's wedding on Saturday night at Fulton's on the River, Sunday morning seemed to be the only option for us. I had never been to the Publican before, but had always wanted to go. I am a big fan of brunch, so you didn't have to ask me twice if those plans were ok for the day. The outcome? Better than I could have anticipated, and I went in with high expectations.

Bloody Mary's and mimosas were ordered all around - both very good. I grazed on a homemade buttermilk biscuit with honey butter and cherry preserves as a brunch starter. I was slightly worried that the vegetarian options would be hard to come by at a restaurant known for it's pork products and extensive meat offerings - but the menu didn't let me down. Mom and I both had omelets with sauteed artichokes and golden raisins. The French toast with rhubarb compote also looked very tempting. We split an order of frittes at the table, and let's be honest, what's not to love about frittes? Even at brunch. So good. All in all, you could say the meal was pretty fantastic. It is always nice to celebrate special occasions with a fantastic meal like that. Did I feel slightly guilty that Andy had to miss out on brunch and bike 60 miles and run for a half hour? Sort of. But I did treat him to Mom and I's leftovers.

I'm trying to find ways to actually make tofu taste good, and these vegetarian cookbooks are slowly helping. In all honesty, tofu sometimes tastes like a spongy, tasteless mess. What exactly is tofu anyways?

Andy: So what is tofu made of?

Me: I don't know....soy I think.

Andy: Just soy?

Me: I guess.

Andy: How do they get it into that into block form?

Me: Hmm...good question. Maybe we should Google it.

I took the liberty of looking it up on Wikipedia. What did people do before there was Google and Wikipedia? Did everyone just walk around the world not knowing the specifics about things? I Google things all the time. In the past, I guess you were just ok with not knowing things at the click of a button.

According to Wikipedia, "tofu is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white block. (oh yumm) There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu that has been processed in some way. Tofu has very little flavor (such a true statement) or smell on its own, so it can be used in either savory or sweet dishes, and it is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish. Most tofu producers begin by making their own soy milk, which is produced by soaking, grinding, boiling and straining dried soybeans".

I had never sauteed tofu before. It definitely helps with giving it some flavor. I don't know why I had never considered doing that before - probably because I didn't know any better. I usually just ate it raw, cubed up, and added to some steamed vegetables. No wonder it never tasted all that good. I wouldn't say that tofu sautes up quickly, but give it 10 minutes, and it does start to generate some golden brown color. I've since made this dish a second time, and got the tofu even more golden brown than it shows here in the picture. More color = more flavor.

There are many great things about this dish.

1. It is healthy and relatively low in calories.

2. You get a lot of protein from the edamame and tofu.

3. It is quick and easy to put together.

4. You can easily double it to have plenty of lunches for the week.

5. And thanks to Whole Foods, shelled soybeans are readily easily available in the frozen section.

The soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and honey are what really give the dish some flavor here. Andy and I both thought it was a winner for a meal, and have since made it again. I hope to continue to find dishes to make tofu taste good, flavorful, and edible. I'll keep you posted.

Any thoughts on tofu that you would like to share with me? Is it technically a processed food? Is it good for you? How else can I make it taste good?

Edamame & Tofu Stir Fry

adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

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3 tablespoons oil

8 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and drained on paper towels

1 onion, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and minced

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup vegetable stock

2 cups shelled edamame, thawed

Put oil in a skillet over high heat. When hot, add the tofu and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden brown, about 8 minutes. Remove from the pan.

Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, pepper. Cook for another minute or two while stirring. Stir in the vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and stock mixture and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and add the edamame and browned tofu. Cook at gentle simmer until the edamame is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve.

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Blueberries

2011-04-18T16:48:00.002-05:00

Even though I live right downtown Chicago, I try to avoid Michigan Ave. as much as possible when driving. Traffic is crazy during the busy rush hours and high tourist seasons, which actually seems to be pretty constant, so there is never a dull moment out on the road. My car is an extension of my right arm. I would be naked without it. The city is my parking lot and without my car, I feel like I would be isolated in my apartment more often than not, as getting around on my feet isn't always the easiest task.

City driving is not without its insanities. I have daily conversations to myself about the crazy taxi drivers on the street who drive way too fast when they have a customer in their car, and way too slow when they don't. You learn to move with the flow of traffic, swerving ever so slightly as the traffic moves left and right down a 3 lane one-way street. I can eye a parallel parking spot and immediately know whether I can squeeze into it or not. I used to be parallel parking challenged, especially on my right side, but now I'd say I'm ambidextrous when it comes to parking on the streets of Chicago. Also, you aren't afraid to honk if you need to, and you can easily pick out the drivers that are not from the city. Driving in the city is an acquired habit. You never feel like you fit in quite right, yet you just try to act like you do.

I do spend a little bit of time on Lakeshore Drive, as that seems to be the easiest way to get from here to there while avoiding the Magnificent Mile. On a recent trip down LSD, Andy and I had the following conversation.....

(Emily, while driving down LSD, puts blinker on and successfully moves into the right lane as we go around the hairpin curve)

Andy: Do you know what that solid white line means?

Emily: What solid white line? The one on the road? That's a solid white line?

Andy: Yes. Do you know what it means?

Emily: I have no idea.

Andy: It means no changing lanes.

Emily: It does not. Really? Why did I never realize that before? I swear I'm a good driver. I mean, I changed lanes without an incident.

(Andy slowly shakes his head in disapproval)

Do you know what one has a lot of excess of when they make multiple batches of scones over a couple of month period of time? Dried fruit. I have canisters of dried currants, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, and dried cherries. All items that last in the pantry, yet ingredients that just don't scream, snack on these by themselves. You can definitely add them to trail mix, which is a great snack and source of protein, but other than that, they are just left there, waiting to be made into another batch of scones.

Thank goodness for the Internet and daily recipe search, because I was able to find options for dried blueberry uses. Well...actually....nothing really did jump out at me, but I did happen to find a recipe for David Lebovitz's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I figured raisins could easily be swapped out for dried blueberries, and there you have it, I had my recipe. The cookies turned out thin, crispy, and slightly buttery. You could hardly tell the difference with the dried fruit swap in the cookie, and it was a great way to use some of my leftovers in the pantry. I could see any dried fruit option working here. Thanks Mr. Lebovitz for the recipe!

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Blueberries

adapted from David Lebovitz

print this recipe

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups dried blueberries

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate bow, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps of baking soda. Stir in the oats and blueberries.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until thoroughly combined. On low speed, or by hand, gradually add the flour and oat mixture to the creamed butter, mixing until completely incorporated. Chill the batter a few hours or overnight, covered.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the dough in 1/4 cup balls evenly spaced on the baking sheet and flatten the tops slightly with your hand. Bake the cookies for 20 to 22 minutes, until they just start to turn brown across the top. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Bulgar and Tomato Salad

2011-04-10T20:08:00.007-05:00

Race season is officially upon us. And for me, that means weekends are booked from now until the end of August, and ultimately until October 9th. Weekends are spent outside at races, hanging out with our DetermiNation runners, recruiting people to join our team and raising a lot of money in the fight against cancer. The Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle officially kicks off the running season here in Chicago, and the DetermiNation team was out in full force this weekend.

All week I kidded with my runners through email that I would see them rain or shine on Sunday, and probably more rain than shine. The forecast predicted rain all week. I stalked the Weather Channel App on my phone, often checking the 10-day forecast multiple times per day. I was mentally preparing for the worst - packing 5 tarps instead of the normal 2, buying sides to our race tent just in case it started raining sideways, and contemplating resorting to Plan B if the idea of grilling hot dogs outside our tent didn't work. I mean...come on....it's the Shamrock Shuffle, which means the weather is never going to be nice. Well the Chicago weather sure showed me. It was a beautiful outside. No jackets required. And at the end of the day, I left with a little sun tan on my face, and a sense of accomplishment knowing our runners and volunteers did such an amazing job.

Pictures from left to right: 1. Andy and I before the race start. Andy lifted multiple heavy plastic bins, coolers, and tables for me this weekend for me. I didn't even have to pull the "my leg hurts" card once over the race weekend. And don't worry Andy, I liked having you out there for more than just the heavy lifting. 2. Michelle and I. Michelle just completed her first event as an ACS staff. Yay Michelle! 4 more to go. And this was just a pre-season game. 3. DetermiNation Committee members. I had a great group of committee members volunteer at the tent and finish line area with me. How lucky am I that I get to work with my friends throughout the summer?! It makes a work day not feel like work and knowing these folks give up their free time to help us out is just amazing. 4. Here is our Shamrock Shuffle team before the start of the race. 67 runners who have currently raised almost $30,000.

With working all weekend, I'm behind on preparing my meals for the week. The grocery shopping isn't even done. Yikes. I like to get most of the major cooking done on Saturdays and Sundays, so that the weeknights are not so hectic. I love starting the week with a refrigerator stocked full of lunches and dinners just waiting to be eaten. I will get it done tomorrow though. The grocery list is made, the meals have been planned, and now it is just time to execute the plan.

In the blog today, I'm highlighting another one of Mark Bittman's meals from his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book. I made this Bulgar and Tomato Salad last week and loved having the salad on hand all week for lunch. I still had bulgar on hand from a few earlier recipes, I thought it might be best to get that used up before moving on to a different grain.

The salad comes together very easily. You cook the barley on the stove. While it is cooking, you whisk up the quick dressing, and chop up the tomatoes. You could really add any vegetable you have on hand to this salad, which is why it is such a great salad. I added some shredded carrots to the salad and some leftover basil that I had on hand. I think the feta cheese is key in this salad. Although, if you ask Andy, he thinks the feta was the one downfall of the dish. I guess it is all personal preference. I think the salad would be bland without it. But use your own judgement on that one. You don't need a lot of feta to give the dish its flavor, but the salty bite just really makes the salad a complete dish. I'm going to add this to the repertoire of "go-to" dishes. It's easy to throw together and stands up well in the fridge over the week.

Bulgar and Tomato Salad

adapted from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"

print this recipe

1 cup bulgar

1 small red onion, diced

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 handful shredded carrots

Cook the bulgar according to the package directions.

Put the tomato, shredded carrots, onion, feta, vinegar, honey, olive oil, basil and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Stir with a fork to combine. Season with salt and pepper. When the bulgar is done, drain. Put in in the bowl with the other ingredients. Stir together. Adjust salt and pepper seasonings as needed.

Warm Chickpea Salad with Arugula

2011-04-03T11:04:00.006-05:00

I have a great find that I want to share with everyone, and thank you to Tessa for bringing your find to my attention. I'm officially hooked. Lately, I've been snacking on unsalted whole almonds and raisins as an afternoon snack. It is a healthy, protein based snack, which is just what the afternoon calls for sometimes. So, what do I want to share? It's all about the raisins. I'm not a big raisin fan in general. However, the jumbo raisin medley package from Trader Joe's will completely change your mind. 5 types of raisins. They are big. Not dried out. They are different colors. They taste so good. Head out to your local Trader Joe's to get a bag. You'll find them in the aisle at the front of the store with the other nuts and dried fruits. You won't be disappointed.

I've been on the hunt for a few new cookbooks. Sure. I have plenty of cookbooks on my bookshelf already, but none of them are strictly vegetarian related. And that is what I am hoping to change. I can find plenty of recipes on the Internet and now have a bookmarks folder strictly dedicated to vegetarian recipes, but there is just something I love about sitting on the couch with a cookbook and stack of post-it notes in hand, that just feels right. One of my favorite things to do in the summer months while at work, is to walk over to Borders on State Street during my lunch break and parooze the cookbook section, making lists of all possible cookbooks that might be of interest to me. It is one of the many perks of working right on Michigan Ave. I don't dare venture out of the office in the sub-zero temperatures of winter, so this is really a warm weather treat.

We had a few nice days last week, that I swear are just teasers for the up and down weather we are going to be having over the next two months, but I will take a few nice days in a week as opposed to zero nice days. I keep telling myself, the patio furniture at Starbucks will soon be out, and I'll be sipping coffee outdoors in the sun in no time. I had a gift card for Borders that I had gotten for Christmas, and had yet to use it (again, I'm don't venture out in the winter to run errands like this, everything can easily be found on Amazon in the winter). I had done some research online before heading out, and had narrowed down a few choices.

I ended up walking out of there with Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's a big one. 996 pages of anything and everything vegetarian related. I'm sure the book surpassed by 10 pound weight lifting limit, but it is so worth it. And I doubt I will be able to make absolutely everything in the book, but it highlights everything that I might want to make. As it sits on my table now, it easily has over 15 post-it notes sticking out of the pages, highlighting recipes that I'm going to be trying here in the near future. The book is very vegetable and grain focused, which I love.

Let's talk about this warm chickpea salad with arugula. It is from Bittman's cookbook. I think the word that made this recipe jump out at me was "warm". There is something tasty about warm chickpeas with wilted arugula. And throw in a light dressing of rice wine vinegar, honey, and olive oil? Call it a perfect match. The recipe comes together so very easily. I added to the recipe a bit, and threw in a couple sauteed vegetables: green peppers and yellow squash in this case. My goal is to make meals on the weekend that last for the entire week, so I tried to bulk up the ingredients in the recipe to make it go further.

The ginger and garlic that is sauteed at the beginning of this recipe is key. This is what gives the dish its flavor. Saute the vegetables, toss in the chickpeas (I just used can), and mix up the dressing with the arugula, and you have yourself a perfect meal. Andy and I both ate this for lunch through the week and didn't have any complaints. I'm actually making this salad again this week, because it was so tasty, and so simple to throw together.

Mark Bittman.....I think your new book and I might become very good friends.

Warm Chickpea Salad with Arugula
adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
print this recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 yellow zucchini, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Handful cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper
3 cans chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
4 cups arugula leaves
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 hard cooked eggs, quartered (I didn't add these)

Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the ginger, garlic, and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant and the ginger are garlic are soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and green pepper. Saute until soft. Toss in the cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then stir in the chickpeas until hot and coated in the oil and seasonings, about 3 minutes more.

Remove from heat and with a fork, stir in the vinegar, honey and 1 tablespoon water. Mash a few of the chickpeas as you stir to add texture to the dressing. Put the arugula and red onion in a large bowl and toss with the warm chickpea dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with hard cooked eggs (if you are using them).

Oatmeal Currant Scones

2011-03-30T10:54:00.005-05:00

I took some time to think about what I could talk about in this blog post that I'm writing today. I hesitate to talk about being a vegetarian ALL the time because that might bore you all as readers. And since everyone is not vegetarian, I need to appeal to the masses. And I do picture just droves and droves of people reading this blog on a regular basis, and keeping the audience happy and entertained is key. And I can only mention Andy in so many paragraphs without it being overkill on you all as readers. And if I talk too much about swimming in the pool on a weekly basis for exercise, it just might stress Mom out.

Vegetarianism. If I must mention the vegetarian thing today, and I feel that I should, since this is a food blog after all, I will say that it is going very well. The vegetarian chili this past week with 2 beans and soy crumbles was very good. Yes I did say soy crumbles. Gasp. For those of you that don't know, you can find the soy crumbles in the frozen food aisle at the store. I was not even aware that a product known as soy crumbles even existed. I didn't bother to look at the ingredient list on the back of the package - because how you can take a soy product and make it taste like ground beef is just beyond me. It sounds odd yes, but you actually couldn't even tell a difference. After making a pan of cornbread, which Andy is completely in charge of, since his cornbread seems to be better than mine, it made a for a great complete meal throughout the week.

Andy and I have talked about using meat alternative products, and for the most part, we aren't really going to go down that path. It just seems counter-productive to give up meat and then load up your body with these "fake meats" with seasonings to taste like the original dish. Faux buffalo wings with buffalo sauce are just not all that appealing. Have an apple with some peanut butter instead. It is easier to just eat simple ingredients that aren't processed, fresh vegetables, and healthy grains. It is not only cheaper, but it is healthier, and you can easily find recipes to make on a weekly basis that taste good and are good for you.

Andy and I started the vegetarian kick on February 7th, which means this is day 51 of being vegetarian. As of right now, we are thinking of continuing this through the end of the year, but that could change. We shall see.

Brackets. Yes, I filled one out. No, I hadn't watched a single college basketball game leading up to the big dance, but filled one out anyway. I learned that picking Louisville to go to the Final Four because I like Rick Pitino was not such a great idea. Having 3 number one seeds in the Final Four was also not a good idea, and I reminded myself going into the tournament, that things rarely shake out like that. So, I'm hoping Connecticut pulls out a victory to win the tournament, so that I have something to be excited about.

Scones are one of my new "must-haves" in the freezer at all times. I was never much of a scone eater, but ever since I got my very own coffee pot, scones have been making a more often than not appearance in my kitchen. When I'm at home, I'm set on making my own coffee, grinding my own beans, and having a pot of coffee ready in the kitchen for most of the morning. I can't even tell you the last time I have been to the Starbucks by my apartment? Who is this person speaking here? Me, not go to Starbucks everyday? I never thought that would happen!

Now, this isn't to say that I don't frequent Starbucks on a weekly basis. I still get my daily cup of coffee at work from the Starbucks in the building, but I now make my own coffee on the weekend and also when I work from home on Wednesdays. My favorite part of the day when making coffee is the smell that arises from grinding the beans and also going back to the coffeepot at various points throughout the morning to "top off" my cup. I love sitting down on Wednesdays to my cup of coffee, a fresh scone that has been defrosted out of the freezer and heated up in the oven, and some apricot jam. It is a once a week treat that I intend on keeping.

I have quite a few scone recipes bookmarked on my Epicruious app, and I intend to get through all of them at somepoint. I had never baked or cooked with currants before, so this was something new. I easily found them at Whole Foods, but didn't have luck when I was at Jewel to get them. You could easily substitute any dried fruit here if currants aren't available to you. These scones were so good. I still have some in my freezer and intent on making them last for another couple of weeks. These scones do not disappoint. They have a ton of flavor, and just go so well with coffee. Make them for your weekend treat!

Oatmeal Currant Scones

adapted from Epicruious.com

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1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Finely grated zest from 1 large navel orange

2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk plus additional for brushing

1/2 cup dried currants

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt into a food processor, then add oats and pulse 15 times. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with small (pea-size) lumps, then transfer to a bowl. Stir together zest and buttermilk. Toss currants with oat mixture, then add buttermilk, stirring with a fork just until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead 6 times. Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round, dusting surface with more flour if necessary. Cut out as many scones as possible with cutter, dipping it in flour before each cut, and transfer scones to a lightly buttered large baking sheet. Gather scraps into a ball, then pat into a round and cut out more scones in same manner. Brush tops of scones with buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in middle of oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, and transfer to a rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Roasted Pork Loin with Brussels Sprouts, Shallots, and Garlic

2011-03-18T17:51:00.001-05:00

I feel like I'm hungry. A lot. I've been swimming almost 4 times a week now, and there is something about swimming that just triggers the appetite. I'm not sure what it is. I'm swimming about 3200m twice a week, and anywhere between 1800-2400m twice a week. Swimming is such a fantastic workout, and one that is really easy on my leg. I never leave the gym in pain and I can tell that my legs are getting stronger just from being in the pool more often. I can't tell you how good I feel after getting out of the pool. Completely exhausted and relaxed all at the same time. It feels good to be working out again on a regular basis. 6 months was a long time coming, and a long time to wait to get back to doing something that I love so much.

I've even joined up with Andy's swim group to participate in their weekly swim class. I've never been officially taught how to swim, or even worked on that many swimming techniques, but this class is proving to be extremely helpful already. Granted, it takes me about two tries to get the jist of each drill, but I can tell a difference by the end of the class in the quality of my swim stroke. Now if I could just get a bit faster....I would be 1 happy camper. Maybe the vegetarian lifestyle will help with that.

Week 6 of the vegetarian lifestyle is still in full swing. I'm already starting to recipe plan for next week, and here's what I'm thinking: Spinach Lasagna (I vow to not make it crunchy this time), Vegetable Enchiladas (using flour tortillas and not corn so they don't fall apart immediately), Soba Noodle and Vegetable Stir Fry (never cooked with Soba noodles before), and a Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili (because two beans are better than one). I'm starting to find the appropriate line between meals that make for great lunch leftovers and meals that are best to be served and eaten right away. For weekly meal planning, I'm allowing myself one non-leftover recipe per week. After that, the juice that goes into planning meals like that is not worth the squeeze. There are not enough minutes in the day to be making a big home-cooked vegetarian meal every night of the week.

So cooking at home vegetarian style is going great. It starts to get a little tricky when it comes to being social and going out to dinner. Last weekend we wanted to go out to dinner and searched and searched through menus of various restaurants in the area. Nothing was jumping out at us. I mean, aside from the bean tacos, and the spaghetti with marinara, I can't say there are a lot of vegetarian main dish meals available to the average diner. Funny how I hadn't ever noticed this before. One of my favorite past times, other than working out, laying on the couch at night, searching for recipe, and menu planning, happens to be trying new restaurants. The excitement of dining out while vegetarian, just really isn't there.

I want to start compiling a list of go-to vegetarian restaurants that I can have in my arsenal. I've started to ask around and have gotten some great recommendations already. If you have any to add, just let me know. And even better, if you are up for trying one of them with me, I'm all for that as well.

Chicago Diner – 3411 N Halsted
Earwax café – 1561 N Milwaukee
Handlebar grill – 2311 W North Ave
Flying Saucer (great brunch) – 1123 N California
Green Zebra – 1460 W Chicago
Sultans Market (middle eastern) – one on North Ave and one on Clark St
Dharma Garden – 3109 W Irving park
Victory’s Banner (great breakfast)- 2100 W Roscoe
Karyn's - one on North Ave. and one on Halsted

Mana Food Bar - 1742 W. Division

It feels a little odd to be posting a non-vegetarian recipe on the blog today, especially when eating meat hasn't been the norm around here lately. However, this recipe has been sitting in my "to post" pile and I just cannot look at it for another week. I made this Roasted Pork Loin recipe during the blizzard. I figured I needed a dish that would last throughout a couple of meals, and I needed something warm, comforting and slightly healthy. I mean, what's not to love about Brussels sprouts, apples, shallots, potatoes, carrots and garlic? The original recipe did not call for apples or potatoes, but since I had them on hand, I decided it might be a good idea to get everything into the pot.

The pork was really, really good. It doesn't get dried out while cooking because of the mustard schmear that you slather all over the meat. And despite popular belief, the roast is actually done in no time at all.

Roasted Pork Loin with Brussels Sprouts, Shallots, and Garlic

adapted from Alex Guarnaschelli

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1/2 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup grainy mustard

1 lemon, zested and juiced, plus 1 lemon, zested and juiced

8 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 pork loin

Salt and pepper

12 cloves garlic, separated but not peeled

2 cups Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer leaves removed

1 apple chopped

1 red potato, diced

3 shallots, peeled

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, add the Dijon mustard, grainy mustard, the zestand juice from 1 of the lemons, the fresh thyme and the butter.Whisk together and set aside. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat and add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the pan. Season the meat on all sides with salt and pepper, to taste, and gingerly put the pork loin in the hot oil. Brown the pork, without moving it around, for 3 minutes. Use a pair of kitchen tongs or 2 large spoons, to gently, but firmly, rotate the pork a 1/4 turn in the oil. Repeat this process turning the pork every 3 to 4 minutes. The most important thing? Be patient. Get the other vegetables together as the meat browns.

For your "Built-In Vegetables":

Meanwhile, toss the garlic cloves, Brussels sprouts and shallots in a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Season with salt, to taste, and stir in the chili flakes. Heat a roasting pan over medium-high heat. Arrange the vegetables evenly in the bottom of the roasting pan and cook just until the vegetables begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes.

When the pork is browned on all sides, remove it from the skillet and put it on a rack in the roasting pan, flesh side up, fatty side down.

In the same cast iron pan that was used to brown the pork, discard some of the leftover fat, leaving about 1 to 2 tablespoons in the pan. Add the diced bread and toast over low heat. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside until service.

Take care to disperse the vegetables so the heat in the oven can circulate around and under the pork as it cooks. Pour the mustard mixture over the pork. Turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees F and put the roasting pan in the center of the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Test the temperature in the center of the loin. You are looking for an "ideal" internal temperature of 90 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Roast for 10 to 15 additional minutes and test again. You are looking for an ideal temperature of 125 degrees F. Remove the pork from the pan and allow it to "rest" for 10 minutes.

Put the roasting pan on top of the stove, over low heat, and add thevinegar and the juice and zest from the remaining lemon. Stir toblend with the vegetables. Taste for seasoning.

Arrange the pork in the center of a platter (sliced or whole) and spoon the vegetables and any cooking liquid over the top. Garnishwith croutons and serve.

Potato Asparagus Frittata

2011-03-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

What did everyone give up for Lent this year? I'm not Catholic, but like the challenge of giving something up every year that is sometimes a temptation in my everyday life. So the results for this year? I'm giving up salting my food once it is plated (unless using salt while actually cooking a meal), eating after dinner (the nightly glass of chocolate milk is going away for awhile), and drinking wine (Andy gave it up as well as Ironman training is beginning, so I figured I would just go along on this one). 3 things this year. So far, so good on all 3 fronts. I did accidentally take a bite of Andy's cut up apple, that we apparently salts?? Who salts a cut-up apple? I will dismiss that slight hiccup, and continue on. I will admit that not salting the boiled cabbage, potatoes, and carrots last night was really hard, and not as tasty, but I survived the meal experience sans the salt.

Yesterday, I was in Starbucks at about 3:15. With the amount of people that were out in the city for St. Patrick's Day, Andy and I were both surprised at how quiet the Starbucks was for a Saturday afternoon. A 3:15 coffee hour is way late for my normal schedule. My coffee time is usually between 12:15 and 12:45, and never straying too far from that gap. Creature of habit? Yes. After starting the morning at Fleet Feet Sports yesterday for the Soldier Field 10 Kickoff with our DetermiNation team, and a good 3200 yards swimming in the pool, followed by some polenta/chickpeas/marinara for lunch, somehow it was already mid-afternoon. Because of my late coffee hour, I was rewarded with a treat in the Starbucks line. Apparently, this weekend, if you get coffee between the hours of 2-5, you get two free samples of their newest pastry selections that they are rolling out. I disregarded the fact that Andy had given up sweets for Lent, and I happily accepted the barista's offer to choose my snacks.

Now usually, this wouldn't be something I would jump at the opportunity for, as sweet treats aren't necessarily my thing. However, after swimming 2 miles in the pool, I seem to be constantly hungry for just about anything, so I was willing to give them a try. Last Tuesday, I swam in the morning, came home, ate breakfast, got to work, and by 9 o'clock I was already craving my lunch that I had brought in the fridge. Hungry for your lunch at 9am is never a good way to start your morning. I went with the red velvet mini whoopie pie and the mini lemon square. I can't remember what my other options were. My thoughts after trying a bite of each? Eh. Not all that exciting in my mind. Both options were overly sweet and didn't necessarily taste homemade. I didn't finish either. So while I love Starbucks, and love that they are trying something new, I didn't have an overwhelming response of enthusiasm from my first go-round with this.

Breakfast for dinner. It's quite a concept. I could actually eat breakfast at any meal throughout the day. Ironically, I just finished having a bowl of cereal, Kashi Go Lean for anyone who is wondering, and a chopped up banana for lunch. I can eat eggs for any meal of the day, and I find that breakfast foods are always on hand and they are relatively easy to prepare. Oatmeal is another key staple for various meals throughout the week. We always had breakfast for dinner at least one night a week when growing up. It usually rotated between Aunt Jemima's pancakes on the griddle, sometimes with blueberries, french toast, waffles on a waffle iron that looks like it is from the 70's, and omelettes. I love all of these options. I'm bringing back the breakfast for dinner trend, or trying to at least. While challah french toast would definitely qualify as a breakfast for dinner meal, this potato asparagus frittata recipe is more up my alley.

A frittata is really easy to make actually. I sauteed the diced up potato in the skillet, added some asparagus and cherry tomatoes, added the eggs to let it set on the stove, and then finished it in the broiler to cook all the way through. Not only is it a cheap, protein filled meal, but it also is a blank canvas for whatever you might have in your refrigerator. There was plenty of leftover frittata and I was a little worried as to whether or not it would keep for lunch, and it definitely did. It tasted good both cold and heated up as leftovers. Frittatas will definitely be on my weekly recipe list - especially in the vegetarian world - when eggs make great proteins for meals.

Potato Asparagus Frittata

adapted from The New York Times

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2 red potatoes

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1/2 onion, chopped

6 eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Microwave the potatoes in a microwave safe bowl until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Once cool, dice the potatoes, and saute them in the pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Remove from heat and cool. Put the asparagus in the saute pan and saute until tender with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Remove from heat. Add the onion in the same skillet, with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until soft.

Add the asparagus back to the pan. Add the cherry tomatoes. Turn the heat to low. Preheat the oven to 400. Beat the eggs with some salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the Parmesan. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet. Cook, undisturbed, until the mixture is nearly firm, about 15 minutes.

Nestle the potatoes into the top of the frittata. Finish it in the oven until it is set. Serve warm or at room temperature. Top with remaining asparagus and tomatoes, if you have any.

Challah French Toast w/ Caramel Banana Syrup

2011-03-09T17:18:00.000-06:00

Week 5 of going vegetarian is in full swing, and to be completely honest, it is getting easier as time goes by. Shocker. The staples are beginning to present themselves: quinoa stir fry, tofu and steamed broccoli, sauteed vegetables over rice, vegetable tacos, and pasta with cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. When we eat the weekly quinoa stir fry, I think Andy says aloud "that was a great meal" at least 3 times between the start and end of dinner. I secretly want to record him saying that, so I can replay it when things don't go so well in the kitchen (I won't mention the crunchy spinach lasagna I made on Sunday night).

Andy: How's the lasagna?

Emily: Uhhhh...well.....a little dry tasting.

Emily: What do you think?

Andy: It's kind of crunchy. I mean the middle two layers taste normal, but the top and bottom are crunchy.

Emily: I know. I honestly don't know where I went wrong

The usual quinoa stir fry involves quinoa, a can of drained chickpeas, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, a few sliced almonds, and a few tablespoons of a low calorie stir fry sauce. It is so simple. Filling. And delicious.

One of the things I'm noticing as going through this process, is that vegetarian meals make for fantastic leftovers. In general, they are healthy options which make for great light lunches, they keep well, they are easy to heat up, and they fill you up during the day. There was never anything appealing in my mind about reheating a grilled chicken breast in the microwave for lunch, which is probably why I never warmed up to the idea of bringing it as a leftover. But leftover sauteed vegetables over rice? Absolutely. I've had some amazing meals leftover for lunch, which have easily trumped the old stand-bys of oatmeal with bananas and apple with peanut butter.

The other thing I am noticing, is that a vegetarian lifestyle is relatively cheap. On Sunday, I went to the store and bought groceries for the entire week - lunches and dinners included through Saturday, and my bill at Jewel? $68. Now that is a deal. At Whole Foods, I could by $68 in guacamole alone. Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration. I've purchased more zucchini, quinoa, chickpeas, and tofu in the past 5 weeks than I would have ever thought possible. The $15/lb kabobs at the Whole Foods meat counter are no longer calling my name and the $22/lb ahi tuna purchasing has just gone on a short hiatus.

At the beginning of the year, Andy and I decided we needed to come up with a collection of awesome recipes to always have on hand in the kitchen. I think the goal here is to come up with some tried and true dishes when it comes to things we like to eat on a regular basis. I always had many of the same dishes growing up: goulash with elbow macaroni noodles and meat sauce, baked chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, soup and grilled cheese, meatloaf, waffles, pancakes, and so on. I know exactly how those recipes that I had growing up taste. There was never any variance in what we were making, and that is what makes those meals such great memories. Looking back, I realize that it was slightly boring, but it works. I want to have those go-to dishes in my kitchen. I want to make the same thing year after year and begin to have those classic recipes of my own. Ideally, these could be thrown into a cookbook as time goes on. I won't try and get ahead of myself though.

I've been charged with creating the perfect french toast recipe - and let it be made known - that through past experiences, I am not all that great at making french toast. Andy is in charge of creating the perfect homemade marinara recipe. For people that eat pasta every Friday night, an over the top marinara recipe is a must. I guess this process just doesn't happen overnight. In my style of not having a lot of patience for things, I'm telling myself that I can't just create one really good french toast recipe and be done. Although it sounds ideal, I probably need to try at least 10 different options before picking my perfect recipe.

In the past, I've made french toast with your average loaf of wheat bread. I soaked it in an egg bath for a few seconds on either side, and put it on the griddle. The result? Slightly dry, not all that tasty, french toast. And the Log Cabin Lite syrup that I grew up on, just doesn't do anything to really make the french toast jump out at you. I also tried a baked french toast recipe last year. It was an epic fail. Some of the bread/egg mixture was cooked, some wasn't. I threw most of it away.

So needless to say, I was a little worried when officially trying my first round of finding the perfect french toast recipe. I officially declared aloud to Andy that I was nervous in how things were going to turn out. For my first recipe, I turned to Ina Garten, who is a master at cooking just about everything. I had heard a lot about challah bread and it being key when making a french toast recipe. I don't believe I have ever purchased challah bread, or if I had, I don't really remember it. Next time I try a recipe with challah bread, I hope to make it from scratch, and put my own twist on it by making challah cinnamon bread.

I altered Ina's recipe just a touch, leaving out the honey and the orange zest, but increasing the amount of vanilla added, and throwing in some cinnamon. I initially wanted to stay away from the Log Cabin syrup for my first go round, and decided on a banana syrup. I used a little less sugar than the recipe called for.

The outcome? The french toast was really, really, really good. The best I've ever made. Now is it the best that I can possibly make? That I am not sure of. The bread was cooked all the way through, but not dry. It had an eggy bite to it, and tasted of cinnamon and vanilla. The syrup was good, but not great. I liked having the bananas in there, but it was just too sweet. I need something a little different. I'm tempted to just make a decision, and go forth with this recipe from here on out, but I think I can do even better. This is an amazing recipe. Andy agreed.

And the good thing about french toast? It can replace the Sunday morning staple of having eggs and bacon for breakfast/lunch. Last time I checked, bacon doesn't fall in the vegetarian category.

Challah French Toast w/ Caramel Banana Syrup

french toast adapted from Ina Garten

syrup adapted from Epicurious.com

print this recipe

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 slices challah bread

cooking spray

In a Pyrex 9x13 baking dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Cut the challah in 3/4 inch thick slices. Soak the 4 pieces of bread in the egg mixture.

Heat a griddle to 350 degrees. Spray griddle with cooking spray. Add the soaked bread and cook for 5 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Make sure the french toast is cooked through in the middle.

Caramel Banana Syrup

1 banana, peeled, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in pan. Add sugar and dissolve. Allow sugar and butter to start to caramelize and thicken, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped bananas and cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add in the vanilla. Top on french toast.

Oatmeal Muffins

2011-02-25T15:50:00.000-06:00

Who had the brilliant idea to go on a vegetarian diet 8 days before leaving on a tropical, beach vacation? Oh wait....that was me. And I actually decided to stick with it while I was away. How hard could it be? Last week, I traveled to Puerto Rico for an amazing, relaxing, and fun vacation with the 5 other girls you see pictured below. To say that it was a good time would be a huge understatement. I have never been on a beach vacation before. I've never been to Mexico. I haven't set a foot in the Carribean. I've seen the sunny state of Florida before, but that is about it. I once had a trip planned to Aruba, but my leg had other plans. Before the trip, it was decided that I needed to have a revision done to the rod in my leg, causing us to cancel the Aruba plans, and somehow it just never got rescheduled. I was determined to get to Puerto Rico.

The food is amazing in Puerto Rico. It was surprisingly easy to main tin the vegetarian diet. Although I'm sure there were some meat products in the rice and beans that I ordered, and I've heard that mofongo is often sauteed in a bit of bacon fat for flavor. But, I overlook those small inconsistencies and will go with the idea that I did the best that I could. Mofongo was by far, the best thing I ate on the trip. It is actually just a fun word to say in general. Mofongo is a fried plantain dish that is made by boiling green plantains and then mashing them. It doesn't sound delicious in the description I just gave, but let me tell you, it makes for one amazing meal. The serve the mofongo in a thick, disc-like stack, and then top it with various vegetables, meats, or seafoods. My first mofongo consisted of sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots. I ate every last bit.

Coming in a close second place for food on the trip was the guava creme brulee that we had at Ropa Vieja. The custard is almost a bright purple color, which is actually surprising at first. You don't expect custard to be bright purple. But it was probably the tastiest creme brulee I have had. My goal is to re-create both dishes. I picked up a cookbook on the trip and can't wait to try some of the local Puerto Rican recipes that it contains. I've decided that when I do travel, instead of picking up trinkets and souvenirs, I will choose a cookbook from each place I travel to. It will be a great addition to my cookbook collection, and I will be able to relive the memories on the trip through the dishes that I make in my own kitchen.

I was with an active group on the trip, so there was very little time for sitting around and twiddling my thumbs - which is a good thing.

Travel Agenda:

Day 1: Snacks by the pool, a little bit of sun, dinner at Ropa Vieja

Day 2: Time by the pool, lunch at Raices, Walk around Old San Juan, tour around the local PR establishments

Day 3: Snorkeling Trip on the Catamaran in Fajardo and dinner out on the patio of the local PR happy hour

Day 4: Pool/beach and Bio Bay Luminescense Kayak Tour in Fajardo

Day 5: Rainforest Tour and time by the pool

Old San Juan was beautiful. The streets were paved with bricks and the sidewalks were much narrower than I expected. I captured a few great pictures that I hope to frame and get up on my wall in the apartment. I was surprised at how Americanized Puerto Rico was. Almost everyone spoke English. There was a Subway and a Coldstone Creamery smacked right in between local Puerto Rican restaurants by our hotel. It seemed weird to be so far away from home, yet see these places along the streets of San Juan.

The trip was absolutely wonderful. I got to spend some time with great friends doing things I had never done before. I laughed more on that trip than I ever thought I would. It definitely makes me want to travel more. I was glad to get home though. I like the daily routine, as I'm sure you all know. I missed working out, missed eating food from my own kitchen, missed Andy maybe just a little bit, and missed sleeping in my own bed.

While uploading the pictures from the trip, I pulled one of these oatmeal muffins out of the freezer to have with a pot of coffee. Yes, I said pot. I was lucky enough to have a Starbucks right in my Puerto Rico hotel, but nothing beats drinking your own coffee while sitting on the couch at home.

These muffins our courtesy of Epicurious.com. Some muffins are overly sweet, or are extremely dry and lack flavor. These are neither. With the addition of the brown sugar for deep flavor, and the frozen blueberries to help keep the muffins moist, it makes the perfect little afternoon snack. I originally made these to take to work one day, and kept a few leftover in the freezer for myself.

Oatmeal Muffins

adapted from Epicurious.com

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2 1/3 cup quick cooking oats (I used 2 cups regular oats, and 1 cup steel cut, as that is what I had)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons natural oat bran (I used ground flax seeds since I had them)

2 tablespoons wheat germ

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen)

Preheat oven to 375. Spray muffin cups with nonstick spray. You could use 8 large muffin cups or 12 smaller ones. I used the smaller variety.

Whisk oats and next 9 ingredients in large bowl. Add buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Whisk to blend. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and let stand 5 minutes. Fold in blueberries. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 28 minutes for large muffins and 20 minutes for smaller ones. Cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins onto rack. Cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Baked Potato Soup

2011-02-22T09:04:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure how this happened, but I am entering week 3 of maintaining a vegetarian diet. 3 weeks.....and I've made no mention of it in this food blog of mine. I could probably blame a small little girls trip to Puerto Rico for getting in the way of blogging for the last 2 weeks, as things have just been a bit busier. A bit busier, vegetarian style of course. More to come on the trip to PR in the next post. And in addition to the trip, I had a few recipes in the hopper that I wanted to get posted before the vegetarian thing kicked in. Even now, I'm thinking to myself, when in the world did I make this potato soup that I'm going to be blogging about today?

So, the idea of going vegetarian. It started towards the end of last year when I wanted to see if it was possible for me to even be a vegetarian for an extended period of time. There is not one specific reason as to why I am doing this. And what makes it even more fun, is that Andy is totally on board with the idea too. Going vegetarian with someone you eat meals with on a semi-regular basis, makes it much easier. I had kind of put the vegetarian idea to the back of my mind, until Snowlapoalooza hit Chicago. Andy and I were watching an episode of Oprah - well, more like I was watching, and Andy was trying his best not to pay too close of attention - and she had her staff maintain a vegan diet for 1 week. After seeing the ease in making substitutions for daily food choices, and hearing how that staff felt better after doing this small diet change, I thought why not give it a whirl. Andy agreed. We weren't going to go all in and do the vegan thing, but 2 weeks of being vegetarian was definitely possible. In my mind, I can't quite give up eggs as I eat them quite often, and the idea of putting soy milk on cereal, just doesn't sit well with me yet.

I'm not going to be a full time vegetarian. I like meat too much. Seared tuna is by far my favorite dish to have at home or out in a restaurant. Now granted, some vegetarians are pescatarians, and only eat fish, but in my mind for the purpose of this project, I'm going all in. I don't have a strong belief either way as to whether or not being vegetarian allows you to eat fish or not. In my mind, it is whatever you feel comfortable with, and if you want to eat meat, fine. If you just want to eat fish, that is fine too. And if you want to be vegan, go right ahead.

Even though I don't eat hamburgers and steak on a weekly basis, I'm never opposed to enjoying a nice piece of red meat. I don't much care for chicken and I can be pretty indifferent about pork. Meat isn't a highlighted item in most of my weekday meals, so the idea of going vegetarian, is not that far off. Since cooking with Andy in the kitchen though, I do believe my meat intake has risen just a bit. I think I've made more beef roasts, beef stews, steaks, and pork dishes than in my previous 4 years of cooking for myself. But like I said, I don't have a big preference to either option.

The one thing I do miss about the meat eating lifestyle, is the ease of running into the store, grabbing a protein from the meat counter, pick up some vegetables, making some quinoa, and calling it a meal. It is a routine that is predictable, quick, healthy, and easily satisfying as a weeknight meal. Go-to vegetarian meals are not easily at the tips of my fingers. I'm spending a little bit of time paging through recipes, looking up different ways to bring protein into a main dish, and making it as flavorful as possible.

In week 1, I went directly to the vegetarian source - Heidi Swanson - and her 101 Cookbooks blog. Heidi is vegetarian, and has a plethora of recipes to choose from. I bookmarked about 30 of them, printed them off, and slowly started reading them aloud to Andy so that we could decide which ones were going to be up first for getting made. You don't have to ask me twice, to spend a Saturday morning browsing through recipes and doing some meal planning. Heidi didn't let me down.

For week 1, I made Butternut Squash Risotto, Eggs Polenta and Marinara, Orzo Salad with Broccoli and Asparagus, Almost Cheeseless Pasta Casserole, and Quinoa and Kale Stir Fry with Chickpeas. After week 1, I learned Heidi Swanson might be a bit too healthy and earthy in some of her dishes. I thought everything was delicious and tasty, but I think Andy thought it was a bit too far to the extreme of being vegetarian. Lots of different ingredients, and lots and lots of vegetables, which sometimes tasted outside the realm of normal food that one might be used to.

Mid-way through week 1.....

Me: So, are you missing meat yet?

Andy: Well, not really. I guess I just haven't anything that I've really liked yet.

Me: Hmmmm....

I had some work to do. In week 2, I went with a few different dishes. Cabbage and Bean Soup was a big hit and the Quinoa Stir Fry with asparagus, red peppers, yellow squash and broccoli was well received. My goal is to make the vegetarian meals in my head instead of going straight off of a recipe. I know what ingredients I like, so I just need to find ways to bring in a little protein to the dish. Up next is an asparagus and potato fritatta and sweet potato/black bean tacos. I think I am getting the hang of this.

I don't miss the meat and I like the challenge of making vegetarian dishes in the kitchen. Andy swears his workouts have been going better since going vegetarian. So the consensus is to continue on with the vegetarian diet for awhile. We haven't set an end date yet, but will more play it by ear.

The soup I'm posting about today, can easily be made as a vegetarian recipe. When I made it originally, I used chicken broth, but you could easily substitute vegetable stock here. I subscribe to Smitten Kitchen's blog feed and get email updates when Deb updates her blog. Smitten Kitchen is by far my favorite food blog to read, and I salivate over just about everything she makes. This post came through my email inbox, and I believe I was at the store the next day getting the ingredients to put this one together.

I'm not usually a fan of potato soups in general, because they usually contain more cream and fat than you would ever think possible. No soup is worth a calorie count that large. I never order that soup at a restaurant or even make it for that matter. This recipe is completely different. If you look at the ingredient list, the only thing slightly unhealthy here, is a 1/3 cup of sour cream. I used reduced fat. The flavor here comes from caramelizing the leeks with the potatoes, and then letting them simmer together in a bit of broth.

The potatoes start to break down. When you put your boat motor, or immersion blender, into the soup to puree all of the ingredients, you have a thick delicious soup, without a bit of fat. The sour cream does add just a touch of flavor, so I would definitely add it. This soup is over the top amazing. It tastes like you are heating a baked potato, and the hint of roasted garlic and leeks, just makes it the perfect one-pot meal. And a vegetarian one too.

Baked Potato Soup

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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1 head garlic

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise, washed, and chopped small

5 to 6 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth (I used 5 cups; add the extra cup after pureeing if you'd like a thinner soup)

2 bay leaves

salt

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/3 cup sour cream

black pepper

Toppings: optional

Minced chives, or scallions

Bacon bits

Sour cream

Grated cheddar

Rinse the head of garlic to remove any outside grit. Cut the top third off the head and peel any loose papery skins off the bottom two-thirds. Instead of discarding the top third, pop out a bunch of the garlic clove tips and mince them.

In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook them until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute. Add the larger part of the garlic head (whole, not chopped), broth, bay leaves, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat and simmer until garlic is very tender when pierced with tip of knife, 30 to 40 minutes. Add potatoes and continue to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, about 150 to 20 minutes.

Discard bay leaves. Remove garlic heads. Squeeze garlic head at root end until cloves slip out of their skins. Using a fork, mash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste and add it back to the soup.

Add the sour cream to soup and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Using immersion blender, process soup until chunky-creamy, leaving lots of potato texture intact. Serve with toppings if you like...

Lemon and Dried Blueberry Scones

2011-02-09T18:42:00.000-06:00

We are almost into mid-February and I feel as if I'm finally getting back into my weekly routine. Yes.

Going to physical therapy twice a week. In the past 3 weeks, I've increased my range of motion by 12 degrees. 12 degrees may seem like a small feat to you, but 12 degrees brings me that much closer to my original range of motion number. I'm scheduled for another 6 weeks, but hope to be done with PT by the end of March. I'd call that progress. With the buckets of snow that have been falling from the sky, and the subzero temperatures lately, I want to cancel just about every appointment, but have done my best to resist that temptation.
Working from home on Wednesdays. I feel like I can double my productivity on Wednesdays, easily cleaning out my inbox at work and crossing multiple projects off of my to-do list for the week.
Pasta on Fridays. We haven't had a normal Friday night pasta dinner in the past couple of weeks, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our boring Friday nights are on the horizon. 2 weeks ago we spent Friday night out in Lake Zurich having dinner with Mom and Dad at D&J Bistro, which just might be my favorite restaurant to have dinner at. And last Friday night, we celebrated Anne's 30th birthday by having dinner at one sixtyblue. If you haven't been to that restaurant yet, I would highly recommend it for a special occasion meal.
Saturday morning workouts. I do doubles on Saturday morning, which consists of spinning and yoga. I love waking up early, getting to the gym, and spending the morning working out and doing something for myself. Andy does his 120 minutes of biking - yes 120 minutes - while I basically just fluff around at the gym. Coffee is immediately after - a stop at Dunkin Donuts for Andy and a stop at Starbucks for me.
Church on Sundays. We've been alternating Sundays at St. Vincent DePaul church and Fourth Presbyterian church. It seems that everytime we go to church at DePaul, we sit in front of parents with young children. Now mind you, there aren't many kids at church at all, yet we always seem to sit right behind them. And no offense to my friends with young children, but next time, I'm picking the seating location.
Brunch after church. Nothing says Sunday morning like poached eggs and an English muffin. John's Place after church at DePaul and brunch at home after Fourth. Either way works for me.
Blogging twice a week. I feel like I'm back in the groove. I like blogging. I like getting things out there. I like having someplace to document what is going on in my kitchen and what is happening in my life.
Sweatpants 7 days a week. I swear, that once the weather gets nice, I'm going to be in for a big shock when I can't come home and put on my sweatpants, hooded sweatshirt, and slippers. I can't get home soon enough to get those comfy clothes on. As the weather warms up, nights of curling up on the couch in my sweatpants will be come less of a normal routine.

All in all, you could say I'm a creature of habit, and someone that just loves the weekly routine. There's not a Saturday or Sunday that goes by when I don't say out loud "don't you just love the normal Saturday/Sunday routine?".

It's been awhile since I made scones. I sometimes forget how much I like them. I made a big batch and had enough to take into work and had a couple leftover to store in the freezer for a later date. Another routine that I haven't quite gotten back into yet is my Made for Monday routine. We'll see if that event ever makes it out of retirement.

There are lots of scone recipes to choose from when surfing the internet. Epicurious alone has enough recipes to take up my entire inbox. I bookmarked about 10 of them and had a hard time choosing which ones to make. These scones won out not only for their stellar reviews, but for the use of dried blueberries. I've never baked with dried blueberries before, so I thought it made for an interesting recipe try. I didn't check at the local Jewel or Dominick's to see if they carried dried blueberries, but Whole Foods did have them in their bulk bins. They were out of meyer lemons that day though, so I didn't make the recipe exactly as is, but I just swapped out a regular lemon instead.

I love the dark color that these scones get from being in the oven. They don't come out overly sweet or oily - which is exactly what I was looking for. They hold up in the freezer, and as usual, go perfect with the daily cup of coffee. Give these a try.

Lemon and Dried Blueberry Scones

adapted from Epicurious.com

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3 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups dried wild blueberries
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Using fingertips, rub in chilled butter until pieces are size of small peas. Add dried blueberries and toss to coat. Mix 1 cup buttermilk and grated lemon peel into dry ingredients and stir until dough begins to form. Some of the flour will not be incorporated.

Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and gather together. Knead dough briefly, about 5 turns. Divide dough in half . Form each dough half into ball and flatten into 1 inch thick disk. Cut each disk into 6 wedges.

Transfer scones to prepared baking sheet. Bake until scones are golden brown, about 22 minutes.

Pappa al Pomodoro - Tuscan Tomato Soup

2011-02-02T18:35:00.001-06:00

20.2 inches of snow in an 18 hour period of time. That is quite a "feet". Phrases have been thrown out there like: Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, Snowlapalooza, Blizzaster, Snowprah Winfrey, and snOMG. No matter what you call it, the snow in this area was gangbusters. I was giddy just thinking about the possibilities of being snowed in. I was glued to the tv, watching minute by minute weather updates, listening as if they were going to tell me something I didn't already know. I was on blizzard watch - and so was the rest of the city.

The thoughts of the snowstorm left me unable to sleep on Monday night. Mind you, I live within walking distance of just about anything I would need, have indoor parking, and had the ability to work from home the past 2 days. Without those things, I might not have been that excited. I stocked up on just about every single item the grocery store had to offer me yesterday morning. The lines at the grocery store were crazy. I've never seen a store that busy at 8am. Between the avocados for guacamole, the pork roast that could feed 6 easily, the apples to make homemade applesauce, the gallon of chocolate milk, and the containers of fresh fruit, I was really prepared to take on just about anything. Ok, and there might have been a bottle of wine in there as well. And just as Dad always taught me, my Jeep was stocked with a full tank of gas just in case.

I didn't venture out of my apartment, as I'm still working on being steady while upright without natural disasters going on around me. I was able to live vicariously through my 11th story high rise window that looks out on the downtown loop area and also gives me a glimpse of Lakeshore Drive and Lake Michigan. As the blizzard approached, Andy and I hunkered down and played games of Scrabble on the iPad and then a few intense games of Jenga, taking occasional breaks to gaze out the window at what was unfolding in the streets below. I won't go into who won and who lost those games.

These were two of my favorite pictures I saw posted from friends on Facebook. The one on the left is from Gina who got a shot of an abandoned bus on the street. The second is one from Mike who got a glimpse of the cars stranded and buried on Lakeshore Drive.

Lunch, on this snowy and freezing day, was this tomato soup - Pappa al Pomodoro. I didn't make it fresh today, but instead had it on hand in the freezer. The recipe comes from Ina Garten's "Back to Basics" book. I got the book for Christmas and intend to make just about every recipe in it. Did I mention that I love Ina Garten and just about everything she makes? Granted, she has a heavy hand when it comes to using butter, and adds a cup or so more of sugar than I usually would, but she really has foolproof dishes.

In addition to cooking from a brand new cookbook, I also got a chance to use my new stainless steel mixing bowls that I got for Christmas. Mixing bowls have been on my list for almost 3 years now as an item I needed to upgrade in my kitchen, and I think I got some good ones. The narrow, plastic ones just didn't seem to cut it.

This soup is really, really good. I've been a huge fan of the Tomato Chickpea Soup from Orangette, in past years, and I must say, I believe this is better. It is a smooth, thick soup, yet doesn't have the added touch of lots of cream. With the use of the immersion blender, it really comes together quite easily. The most time consuming part of this recipe comes when you have to tear the little pieces of bread from the ciabatta loaf, and that in itself, doesn't even take that long.

This is a great soup for lunch, and would be even better with a nice grilled cheese sandwich. Ina did not disappoint at my first go-round with her new book.

Tuscan Tomato Soup

adapted from Ina Garten's "Back to Basics"
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1/2 cup olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups ciabatta bread torn, crusts removed

2 28 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup chopped basil

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and fennel. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the bread pieces and let cook with the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the red wine, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for 45 minutes. Use an immersion blender to make the soup to the consistency you like. I like my tomato soup really smooth, so I went full out.

Slow Cooked Chicken with Tomatillos and Potatoes

2011-01-30T19:17:00.001-06:00

The picture above is from Monday night's girls night out at Bottles & Brushes at The Poison Cup wine shop on Armitage. Bottles & Brushes is a local business here in Chicago that "is all about friends, a bottle of wine and a canvas". Their motto is, you do have an inner artist inside you just waiting to be realized. I mean, I didn't have a question about my inner craftiness by any means, as I am a die hard Martha Stewart "Good Things" fan, and I have memorized the aisles at the local Michael's Craft store; but inner artist is a whole other beast.

I am not artistic by any means. I spent many days in the hospital at Rush being crafty. Yarn dolls - I've made them. Hemp necklaces - made those too. Stitching - I have no patience for it, yet I've accomplished a few framed pieces. Decoupaging picture frames - absolutely love it. Decoupaging old soup cans - even better. Made by hand Christmas, Birthday, and Valentine's Day cards - I'm all for it. Acrostics for Andy's birthday - been there done that. Latch hook rugs - tried that too. Homemade braided rugs with old bath towels - tried it and epically failed. Button projects - absolutely love a big jar of random buttons. Like I said, I'm crafty. I have a set of drawers at home strictly designated for crafts. However.....and I highly emphasize however.......I paint like a 5th grader. The artwork is well-thought-out, but the final product is never awe-inspiring. It borders on the line of embarrassing actually.

Bottles & Brushes hosts group events at local wine shops throughout the city and they will even host a private party at a location of your choosing, with a group of 5 or more. For $35, you get a 3 hour package that includes a wine tasting, snacks and all the materials that you need to create your masterpiece. We had a group of about 10, which made it really fun, and we decided to go on a Monday night to paint the flower you see in the picture. Everyone paints the same picture, but the details and specifics of the painting can be completely up to you. I was nervous about what I could actually create. I mean, did they know what they were getting themselves into when I sat down on that stool as an artist in their class?

There is an artist present at the event that instructs you how to do each step, and what to paint when. They help mix colors for you, and step in the middle of a crisis situation when you swear you have just officially ruined your painting. It was a blast and I definitely want to go again in the near future. I laughed and told Andy I was going to hang the picture in his apartment, but after putting it up on the wall at my place, I think it is meant to stay there. It needs a partner, so I do have hopes of painting a similar picture in the next month or so, to make it a pair on the wall.

I guess it is time to talk about the food. And I am never one to shy away from talking about my love for Rick Bayless. If I am being honest about this meal, and since it is a food blog, I should probably be honest when it comes to things like this - I didn't have very high hopes initially for this meal. There are very few ingredients in the recipe list, and none of them are specifically out of the ordinary. Onions, tomatillos, potatoes, pickled jalapenos out of a can, and chicken. I mean, anyone could easily have these ingredients on hand in their pantry. And throw in a crock pot, which sometimes mushes all flavors together and just screams, a throw together sort of unhealthy meal, and I can't say it creates the best outlook on things.

Until now that is. Ok, so I should have trusted Rick Bayless. I mean, he is the God of Mexican cooking, and I should just automatically know that it will be out of this world delicious. The dish had so much flavor and the chicken was fall off the bone tender. I am not one to love chicken, and I'm not afraid to let anyone know it, yet I couldn't get enough of it. Not only did I eat this meal for dinner, but I actually took leftover chicken for my lunch 3 days in a row. I never, I repeat, NEVER, take leftover chicken in my lunch.

As the meal cooks in the crockpot over 6 hours, it creates the most wonderful smell in your apartment. That alone, is worth the 6 hours of cooking time. This is an easy, 1 pot, delicious weeknight meal, that you should absolutely put on your "to make" list.

Slow Cooked Chicken with Tomatillos and Potatoes

adapted from Rick Bayless "Mexican Everyday"

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1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds

Salt

4 medium (about 1 pound total) red skin potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 pounds bone in, skinless, chicken thighs

1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

1 1/4 pounds tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4 cup sliced canned pickled jalapenos

2 tablespoons jalapeno pickling juice

Spread the onion over the bottom of a slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt. Continue with layers of the potato slices, chicken thighs, cilantro, and then tomatillos, sprinkling salt evenly over each layer before moving on to the next. Scatter the jalapeno slices over everything, then drizzle on the pickling juice. Cover and slow cook on high for 6 hours.

Chana Masala

2011-01-23T17:36:00.004-06:00

For as many times as I have been to The Spice House in Old Town, blogged about it, made recipes from the countless number of spices that are available there, and insisted that people just have to make a stop there when in the area, I can hardly believe that I haven't been just a few doors down to spend my paycheck at and taste my way through Old Town Oil. Jenn - over at The Whole Kitchen - has an entire counter in her kitchen devoted to storage for bottles of vinegar and oil from this store - and mind you, she doesn't have a large kitchen. I like to think of it as a home cook's way to go about decorating an apartment, with ingredients that don't fit in cabinets. But the bottles taking up space is totally worth it.

As of December though, that statement of me having never stepped foot in there can no longer be true. On one of the most miserable days in the city during the month of December, while it was pouring down buckets of rain, as were accomplishing a list a mile long of errands, while I was on crutches, Andy and I ventured into Old Town Oil to do some browsing. He was hoping to get Mom and Dad some wine and olive oil for Christmas, and I suggested we try to hit Old Town for some gift ideas. I honestly didn't head in there envisioning myself coming out with items for myself. I was purely going in there to help Andy out with some shopping - and I would just take in the whole experience. What was I thinking? That would be like sending me into a Whole Foods, and actually coming out empty handed - which I don't believe could ever happen. EVER. Old Town Oil apparently has the same affect on me.

Wow. I can hardly wait to go back. It is a small store, light hardwood floors, and very friendly local Chicago staff helping you out with just about anything you might need. They provide you with tiny samples of various flavored olive oils and unique vinegars that you have never seen before in your average local grocery store. I think we were both a little hesitant to just start downing olive oils by the small plastic cup, but after the first one, it quickly became routine. The staff also makes suggestions as to what oils pair best with what vinegars. I was like a kid in a candy store - except with how I roll - I was a kid in an olive oil and vinegar store. I immediately mapped out at least 8 bottles that I just had to have. After contemplating how much that would cost though, I showed some restraint and settled on just 3 for myself. I walked out of there with Basil olive oil, Harissa Olive Oil, and Fig Balsamic Vinegar.

The Basil Olive Oil is practically gone - that didn't take long. And granted, the bottles aren't huge, so it goes quicker than you would think. I've been converted to actually having salads at lunch, making a fig balsamic vinaigrette dressing to go along with it. Friday night pasta dinners feel so gourmet when you add just a splash of specialty oil. Andy's convinced we will be spending too much money there in the new future, so I'm learning to save the oil for special occasions. No need bringing out the good China for just an everyday meal. Save it for when it counts.

Onto the Chana Masala....

I've been meaning to make Chana Masala for quite some time now. I've read countless recipes, where this simple, chickpea based dish, creates an amazing and flavorful one pot meal. I'm a huge fan of chickpeas, and can definitely eat a meat-free meal and be completely satisfied at the end of it. I did some browsing around online, and decided on a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The list of spices is long - I probably only had 3/4 of them in my spice cabinet - but figured it was worth the trip to the store to get the spices that I didn't have on hand. I contemplated making a trip to The Spice House to get what I needed, but decided in the end, that the grocery store would be good enough in this case. Smitten Kitchen reinforced to her readers that this would be a dish that you would want to make again, so it was ok to splurge on a few extra ingredients.

I ate the chickpeas for 4 days straight, eating them by night over just a bit of polenta, and by day on their own atop a small lettuce salad. The dish is extremely flavorful - getting more tasty as it sits. You could serve this as a side to and grilled fish, or any other type of meat for that matter, or you can simply eat it on its own. I did have dried chickpeas on hand, but in interest of time, decided to go with just the canned variety. I think either would definitely work here. Next time, I will go a little easier on the cayenne pepper, as I found my lips to be burning just a bit too easy, with each bite I took. Next time I make this dish, I also hope to try homemade Naan, to go along with it. A perfect Indian-inspired meal, with very little work to be done in the kitchen.

Chana Masala

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 medium onions, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 fresh chili pepper, minced

1 tablespoon coriander

2 tablespoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes

2/3 cup water

2 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 lemon juiced

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and saute over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spices for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes with their juice. Scrape up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.

Chocolate Mousse Cake and Olive Oil Ice Cream

2011-01-18T16:41:00.000-06:00

Andy and I celebrated 365 ridiculously awesome days together this past Sunday. I don't know how time goes by so quickly. To celebrate the occasion, we planned out a weekend that incorporated relaxing/do nothing types of activities, a few productive errands, a little exercise, and some good food.

The 3 day weekend...well 3-day holiday weekend for some of us...kicked off with staying in and making dinner on Friday night. I've quickly grown accustomed to the idea that new Friday night meal from now until September 11th will officially be pasta, olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, and some sort of healthy protein. I like to call it "the dinner for people who are working out on Saturday mornings" type of meal. The meal must have some energizing power though as I made it through a spin class and a yoga class on Saturday morning. I really can't do everything that the entire class is doing, as walking without a limp is still my top priority, but gosh, I do feel good just being back at the gym, in my workout clothes, and in attendance at the group exercise classes.

Highlights of the weekend also included a trip to the movies, dinner at Webster Wine Bar, a couple trips to Starbucks, church at DePaul, brunch at John's Place, a Bears win over the Seahawks, a dinner out at Devon Seafood Grill, and a coffee/lunch date with Mom on Monday in Schaumburg. At Devon, I dined on seared ahi tuna - the same dish that Andy first made when I went to his apartment for dinner on our first date. A great tradition, that I think we will continue.

The non-highlight portion of the weekend occurred when I decided to make a small batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies - without a mixer. I wasn't sure if it could be done or not, but after looking up recipes on Google, and realizing that our Grandmother's did not bake with Kitchen Aid stand mixers - I figured I could handle it. Turn on the oven. Fine. Make the cookies. Fine. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper fine. Put the cookies onto the sheet. Fine. Put the cookies into the oven. Fine. 6 minutes later. Not fine.

Me: Do you think it is smoky in here?
Andy: Well, kind of.
Me: The cookies have only been in for 6 minutes, I don't think they could be burnt yet. I'm going to go check on them
(I open the oven. Smoke starts streaming out. I shut the oven)
Andy: Uhhh...yea...it is kind of smoky in here. Let me open a window. This is why you don't put plastic on all the windows.
Me: I'll open the door to the hallway.
(Not such a good idea - smoke alarm in the hallway starts going off. I shut the door)
Andy: Is that the smoke alarm in the hallway?
Me: Ummm....yes. Is it going to go off on it's own?
Andy: Yes. But not until the smoke clears out. I'll take the batteries out. (Tick, tock, tick, tock) The ceiling is too high, it won't shut off. We'll just have to wait.
Emily: What do we do?
Andy: We are probably waking up all the neighbors.
Emily: Well, it is 2pm, I doubt anyone is sleeping right now. And none of the neighbors have come out to see what is going on.
(Me standing at the oven - Andy standing by the couch near the open window. We are just blankly staring at each other. I'm mad because cookies don't burn in 6 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I'm blaming the oven. Andy is falsely accusing my baking skills since my track record of baking when he is around is sub-par. I throw in the towel. Literally. Whose idea was it to make cookies at halftime anyways? Oh wait....it was mine.)

I should have stuck with the cookies seen here from Cafe Selmarie, which is located in Lincoln Square. I was up in LS for a meeting with the great folks at Fleet Feet up there, and the cafe was recommended to me for their outstanding coffee and homemade cookies. I bought a few chocolate chip shortbread, rosemary lemon shortbread, and cinnamon sugar cookies. They didn't disappoint.

We are finally on to part 3 of the New Year's Day meal - Chocolate Mousse Cake with Olive Oil Ice Cream. This picture doesn't do the dessert a lot of justice, but I couldn't seem to do anything about it. There are a couple different variations on the cake, depending on how you want to serve it. One option is cold, out of the refrigerator. The other is at room temperature, and the final option is piping hot right out of the oven. My goal was to make the dish ahead of time, so I went with option 1, serving the mousse cake cold.

I told Andy I was making homemade ice cream to go with the cake and he was more than ok with that idea. When I told him it was olive oil ice cream, I think he immediately wished I was making a chocolate ice cream or any flavor other than olive oil. The only ice cream option in the book though was Olive Oil Ice Cream, so I was going to go with it. I believe I have had olive oil gelato before, and it honestly was no different than your average vanilla flavor.

I did everything the day before: making the cake bottom, making the mousse, chilling everything, freezing the ice cream. I didn't want to be fooling with dessert in and amongst the other portions of the meal. The result is various layers of chocolate flavor goodness, intermixed with the cool refreshing flavor of the ice cream. Next time, I would choose a fruitier olive oil in order to give the ice cream a little more flavor. It wasn't as potent as I was hoping for, and if you didn't know olive oil was the star ingredient, you wouldn't have been able to taste it. Either way, a perfect ending to a really fantastic meal.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table"

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1/4 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup hot espresso

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2 pinches of salt

4 eggs, separated

Center rack in the oven and preheat to 400. Butter the sides of an 8 inch springform pan (you won't be using the base). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the springform ring on it.

Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water. The bowl should not be touching the water. When it's smooth, whisk in the espresso. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the butter tablespoon by tablespoon. Gently whisk in the sugar and a pinch of salt, then add the yolks one at a time.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites with another pinch of salt until they are firm but still glossy. Very gingerly whisk about one quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, just to lighten it. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold the remainder of the whites into the chocolate.

Scrape a generous 1/3 of the mixture into the buttered ring of the pan. Cover and refrigerate remaining mousse.

Bake the cake for 15 minutes, at which point it will be puffed (mine was not). Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cake cool to room temperature. Chill the base, still on the baking sheet for at least an hour. Wait for the bottom layer to cool completely, then scrape the remaining mousse into the pan. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Transfer the springfrom to a serving plate and remove the ring. Slice and serve.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table"

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2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

Set a heatproof bowl with a strainer set over it ready for the cooked custard.

Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a large heavy saucepan. In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened. Whisking without stop, drizzle in about 1/3 of the hot liquid - adding it slowly will temper the eggs and prevent them from cooking. Once the eggs are acclimated to the heat, you can whisk in the remaining liquid a little more quickly. Add the salt and pour the custard back into the pan. Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring constantly. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees, but no more than 180 degrees.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard through the strainer into the bowl. Discard whatever remains in the strainer. Add the olive oil and whisk. Stir in the vanilla. The custard needs to chill before you churn it. Chill it and scrape the custard into your ice cream maker and make according to the appliance instructions.

Beef Daube

2011-01-15T16:50:00.000-06:00

My goal this year was to eat at one of the 3 Rick Bayless restaurants here in the city of Chicago: Xoco, Frontera Grill, or Topolobampo. I can't say that I have gone out of my way to make it happen. I've looked online for reservations for the occasional Friday or Saturday night dinner, only to realize I am about 2 months behind schedule to get a reservation on the calendar. Why would I think that I could look 2 weeks ahead of time and actually get a time that I would be looking for? I mean, I could easily take the random Tuesday night dinner reservation, but that almost seems too easy. My other option would be to hit Xoco right after work, when it isn't crazy busy, and slightly earlier than the normal dinner rush. However, I don't want to go there on just a random day. I'd rather be eating there for a special occasion. In my mind, a Bayless restaurant visit just screams special occasion.

Mom and Dad were in the city during the week in between Christmas and New Years. Ben had the day off as well and the 4 of us were doing some Christmas returns and had decided to do lunch together. We felt slightly bad that Anne and Andy couldn't join us, as they were at work, but relished in the fact that we were not the ones in the office that day. My first thought for lunch was Xoco. It was an easy sell for Dad because he would eat just about anything on the menu, as would I, and Mom would love it because it is talked about all the time in the Chicago restaurant scene. In my mind, it was during the week, we weren't on an immediate time schedule, and it would be the perfect way to round out the Christmas weekend.

Not so fast. We arrived to find the line out the door - which really wasn't what we were hoping for. I can be a good sport about things, but standing in a line, outside when it is sub-freezing temperatures, just makes me plain antsy. Ok, plan B. Let's see if Frontera could take us for lunch. Nope. Completely booked. Well, ok. Let's go big or go home and do Topolobampo for lunch. Nothing there either. How could something be completely booked like that? I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I wonder if Rick Bayless feels that his restaurant empire has become more of a touristy, we have to go there, sort of destination spot for foodies? I wonder how many local Chicago folks are actually eating there on a weekly basis? It seems that the out-of-towners just seem to flock to that block to eat. I mean, I'm surely one of them that would be flocking there, but I wonder if this is where he envisioned himself going?

We decided on eating at Naha, which is kitty corner from the Rick Bayless trio of mecca dining restaurants. At first, I was a little disappointed with the turn of events, but it ended up being the perfect afternoon lunch. It was quiet. We splurged on wine at lunch, with the Phillips' don't usually do. I had an awesome lunch omelet, with thick-cut bacon, sauteed arugula, fresh cheddar cheese, and chunks of roasted potatoes. The boys got burgers that came with hand cut frittes. Hand cut frittes? Yes please. Lunch this day, was a real treat.

Round 2 of the New Year's Day dinner a la Dorie Greenspan, brings us to this recipe for Beef Daube. If you aren't familiar with daube - don't worry, I wasn't either - it is a classic French stew made with cubed beef braised in wine, vegetables, garlic, and herbs. I feel fancy just saying the word beef daube. Andy texted me a day or two after we had this meal and said "I just had some leftover beef daube for lunch" - well look at us - using the word beef daube in text messages now.

This was the perfect main course, because once all of the vegetables and the beef were cut up, the oven did the rest of the work for you. In and amongst preparing dessert and a special salad, this is exactly what I was looking for. It required a stir halfway through cooking, but other than that, it really made itself. At the end stages of cooking, I thought the pot looked a little liquidy, so I added just a bit of cornstarch and cold water mixed together to the pot to thicken it up a bit. I'm not sure if most daube's are supposed to be a little loose in liquid or not, but I was picturing more of a stew, and the cornstarch fixed that problem immediately.

I'm not usually a fan of things cooked in wine, so I was a little hesitant about the final product. I didn't even splurge on a really good bottle of wine either. I believe I went with a Chianti that was $9.99 from Whole Foods. In my mind, the dish didn't even taste of wine. It tasted like a warm, rich, comforting beef stew. The parsnips give the dish that touch of sweetness that just makes you feel like you are eating something that you would be served at a nice French restaurant.

This will be a definite recipe in my rotation of winter dishes. It tastes better than your average beef stew, and is quite simple to make. Stay tuned for the third and final round of the special New Year's Day meal.

Beef Daube

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table"

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4 slices thick cut bacon, cut into 1 inch wide pieces

3 1/2 pound beef chuck roast, fat removed and cut into 2 inch cubes

2 tablespoons oil

Salt and pepper

2 yellow onions, quartered and thinly sliced

6 shallots, thinly sliced

1 garlic head, halved horizontally, only loose papery peel removed

1 1/2 pounds carrots, trimmed, peeled, halved crosswise, and sliced into half moons

1/2 pound parsnips, trimmed, peeled, halved crosswise and cut into half moons

1 bottle fruity red wine

Leaves from 3 thyme sprigs

To thicken if you like at the end:

3 tablespoons corn starch

1/3 cup cold water

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350.

Put a Dutch oven over medium heat and toss in the bacon. Cook, stirring just until the bacon browns, then transfer to a bowl.

Dry the beef between sheets of paper towels. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the bacon fat in the pot and warm it over medium high heat. Brown the beef in batches, on all sides. Don't crowd the pot. Make sure that each piece gets good color. Transfer the browned meat to the bowl with the bacon and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Pour off the oil in the pot, add the remaining tablespoon of oil, and warm it over medium heat. Add the onions and shallots. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the onions soften, about 10 minutes. Toss in the garlic, carrots, and parsnips, and give everything a few good turns to cover all the ingredients with a little oil. Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the bits off the bottom of the pan. Turn up heat to high. Add the beef and bacon to the pot. Give everything a good stir.

When the wine comes to a boil, cover the pot tightly with a piece of aluminum foil and the lid. Slide the daube into the oven and allow it to braise for 1 hour.

Pull the pot out of the oven, remove the lid and foil, and stir everything up once. If it looks as if the liquid is reducing by a great deal, add just enough water to cover the ingredients. Re cover the pot with the foil and lid, slip it back into the oven, and cook for another 1 1/2 hours. At this point, the meat should be fork tender. If not, continue to cook it for another half hour.

If you wish to thicken the daube (I did) add the water/cornstarch mixture and let the daube cook for another 15 minutes in the oven.

Serve the beef and vegetables moistened with the sauce.

Bacon and Egg and Asparagus Salad

2011-01-09T17:20:00.001-06:00

I'm announcing a new habit of mine - and I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I didn't used to be a Coke drinker at all. I tended to side with the idea that my one coffee per day was just the right amount of caffeine that I needed to get by. Starting in October, which makes me think I should blame the rod in my leg for this one, I all of a sudden started having a little Diet Coke in the afternoon. I don't even know how the trend started. And it's not like I'm drinking 9 Diet Cokes a day or anything, it is just the one. I don't even think I drink it for the caffeine that it contains. I find myself watching the clock, waiting for that 3 o'clock hour to come around so that I can crack open a Diet Coke while I have my afternoon snack. I went 4 years at the ACS office, and never once used the pop machine in the break room. I probably couldn't have even told you whether or not we had a pop machine in our office in general. Mom says that 1 Diet Coke per day is not going to kill me, but I don't know where I went wrong in all of a sudden having a liking for a little Coke in the afternoon. I guess there are worse things to take a liking to.

I love that my cookbook collection is one that is ever growing and changing. No matter where technology takes us, and no matter how many apps are created to assist us in the kitchen, and no matter how many food bloggers post recipes that I just must try, nothing will replace the routine of grabbing a cookbook off the shelf, paging through it, flagging recipes, and putting together a grocery list to get the meal started off just right. The number of cookbooks on the one bookshelf in my one bedroom apartment, far outnumber the actual literary books that are placed on that shelf. That is just the way I like it.

I got 3 new cookbooks for Christmas this year: Ina Garten's "Back to Basics", the 3rd set of the "Canal House Cooking" Cookbooks, and Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table".

I spent a good portion of Christmas day paging through the recipes in my new books, contemplating what recipes would be getting made first. This might be a bit sentimental of me, but I think it is important to do something memorable around the special days of the year. A birthday doesn't mean as much in the long run, when a year later, you can't even remember what you did to celebrate the day. Take the time to plan something special for the important days of the year, so you can look back and know exactly what you did for xx holiday. In sticking with that motto, I thought what better way to ring in 2011 than to make a slightly over the top, not your average Saturday night, sort of dinner.

A full course French meal for 2 - made entirely from Dorie Greenspan's book. In my mind, that would make it memorable. Will Andy consider it memorable? I don't know. I'll get back to you a year from now. I also seem to have a knack for remembering everything I ordered at a certain restaurant and probably what everyone else had at the table as well. I can't remember who sings certain songs for the life of me, yet I can quote meals for people left and right.

For the starter portion of the dinner, I decided to go with a Bacon, Egg, and Asparagus Salad. I absolutely adore all of those ingredients, so what is not to love about a salad that combines them all together? The process is slightly more time consuming that your average dinner salad, yet it is so worth the extra work.

The salad consists of sauteed, crumbled bacon, boiled asparagus, toasted walnuts, a shaving of fresh cheese, and a barely soft boiled egg. I was able to use the basil olive oil and fig balsamic vinegar that I got from the Old Town Oil store just down the street from me. I think the explosion of these ingredients together, just make for an amazing salad. Dorie is firm in her belief that to achieve this barely soft boiled egg, you must only simmer it for 6 minutes in boiling water. Before starting this process, I confirmed with Andy that he would be ok eating an egg with a runny yolk. In my mind, the runnier the yolk, the better, but I'm not sure everyone feels that way. He gave me the thumbs up to barely poach to my hearts content.

I chickened out slightly and couldn't bring myself to pull the egg out of water at 6 minutes. I didn't have any spare eggs on hand as a back-up, so I couldn't go big or go home with this task. I played it safe and did 7 minutes and 30 seconds - which in my mind was perfect. A tad runny, yet still holding its shape atop the salad. This recipe has an awesome finale. Once you are ready to assemble the salad, you reheat the bacon grease on the stove and you lightly toss the soft boiled eggs in the bacon grease to give them just a touch of flavor.

Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table"

For the Vinaigrette

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fig vinegar (or other vinegar)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon walnut oil

salt and pepper to taste

For the Salad

4 large eggs

20 asparagus spears, trimmed and peeled

6 strips bacon

3 handfuls mesclun or other mixed salad greens

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts

To make the vinaigrette: put all the ingredients in a small jar, cover, and shake to blend - or use a whisk.

TO make the salad: bring a medium saucepan of heavily salted water to a boil. One by one, put the eggs on a spoon and slowly lower them into the water. Allow the eggs to boil for exactly 7 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat. Lift the eggs into a strainer, and run them under cold water to cool them down. Fill the pan with cold water and leave the eggs in there until needed.

Bring a large skilled of salted water to a boil. Slip the asparagus into the pan and cook for 4 minutes, or until you can pierce the spears with the tip of a paring knife. The asparagus should be cooked through but not mushy. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and pat them dry.

Pour out the salted water, rinse the skilled, and dry it. Add the strips of bacon into the pan. Cook over medium low heat, turning as needed until the bacon is crisp on both sides. Remove the strips from the pan and lay them on paper towels. Once slightly cooked, chop them into bits. Leave 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the skilled. You'll use it for the eggs.

When you are ready to serve, carefully shell the eggs. They are soft, so be careful. Warm the bacon fat over low heat. Assemble the salad. Season the lettuce with salt and pepper and toss it with the dressing. Add the asparagus and lay them over the greens. Top with the crumbled bacon and the toasted walnuts.

Return to the skillet and slip the eggs into the bacon fat and roll them around for a minute or two just to coat them with fat. Lift the eggs out of the skillet and place them on top of the asparagus. Serve immediately.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

2011-01-05T19:00:00.001-06:00

I recently cancelled my cable subscription with RCN. At one point in my life, this would have been a travesty, a "you can't be serious" sort of decision. I sometimes even stop myself when I tell people out loud that I cancelled my cable. Who me? Did I just say that? Didn't I at one time live and die by the Food Network? I guess 90210 Saturdays in bed on Oxygen would no longer be an option either. And you can definitely say goodbye to Lifetime movies. I thought I would miss those things. How would I get by without knowing who wins the next season of Top Chef? How will I know what house a couple picks on House Hunters without getting HGTV?

Well, I am 3 months in to this new cable-free journey, and I must say, I don't even miss it. I have an antenna that lets me get the normal channels - 2,5,7,9,11,12 - and in all honesty, it is enough. I'm saving over $100 per month and I have decided that if I do choose to watch tv, I can find something on one of the 6 channels that I get. I do have a Netflix subscription (and when I say "I", I guess I mean "I" as in Andy has one that I get to use) and it does help to always have a few movies on hand. But all in all, I'm surprised with how easy the transition was.

My tradition of making homemade birthday cakes continues. I seem to be accumulating all of the supplies in my kitchen that I would need to be an annual birthday cake maker. I have multiple 9 inch cake pans, the infamous mini cakes pans that turned on me when I needed them, 2 cake plates - one big and one small, a cake carrier, a cake cutting spatula, and various frostings on hand in my pantry. It's a tradition that I better stick with since I have invested in all of the fixings to go along with it.

How long is too long to go before posting a recipe once you have made it? 1 month? 2 months? 7 weeks? Andy's birthday was in November and despite my poor track record in making cakes for him that actually turn out in edible form, he agreed to let me make him a birthday cake - good choice. Smitten Kitchen seems to have oodles and oodles of cake recipes in her blog index, so I thought it might be best to go with one of hers. She titles this cakes as "the best birthday cake ever". How could I not be sold on that?

We celebrated the evening by having dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - his choice, not mine - as it should be. We had martinis stuffed with blue cheese olives, steaks bigger than we could eat, roasted tomatoes, and mashed potatoes. We skipped dessert there knowing this cake was waiting at home.

I made the cake the day before the actual birthday to save on some time, so it wasn't a right out of the oven sort of cake. Ok, it even spent some time in the refrigerator because I wasn't sure if cake could sit out overnight and still be ok to eat the next day. So all in all, after baking, sitting, refrigerating, and then coming back up to room temperature, it turned out great. We ate on in for quite a few days and I just breathed a sigh of relief that a cake recipe of mine actually came out looking and tasting like a real cake. Let the tradition continue.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

print this recipe

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

Instant Fudge Frosting

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (no need to sift)
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate, then process until the frosting is smooth.

Chicken Stew with Okra

2011-01-02T16:30:00.001-06:00

January 2011. Time sure does fly. In continuing with tradition, I once again made a black eyed pea salad to welcome in the New Year. Black eyed peas are said to bring good luck, so to not mess with the tradition, I cooked up a big pot of peas. I've been eating the salad for 3 days now; 3 days of black eyed peas will surely do me some good, right? A pound of peas, chopped red pepper, chopped onion, fresh parsley, olive oil, and vinegar. Simple. And hopefully, lucky.

When thinking about what I should write about in this blog, so many things come to mind. I mean, I could easily talk about the holidays, the parties I attended, the movies I saw, the meals that I ate, the gifts that I got, and the resolutions that have been made for 2011. Instead of taking up an hour of your time, recapping the happenings in the last month, I thought maybe a top 5 list would be a great way to look back on the past year.

It actually started as a top 10 list, but after realizing that might be a bit time consuming, I made the executive decision to cut 6 through 10. Let's stick with the highlights. Ok, now that I think of it, let's just keep it to the Top 3.

Emily's Top 3 for 2010:

1. Big Shoulders. In September, I completed my first endurance event race. Emily was going swimming. Before 2010, I had done some pool swimming, but just simply as a way to workout on my own, nothing serious. I had never owned a wetsuit, never done an open water swim, never continuously went swimming for longer than an hour, or competed in a swim race. I'm assuming that the local 5k endurance event runs that I did when I was younger don't actually count. Big Shoulders was a 3 mile swim race out at Ohio Street beach, which is just steps from my apartment. For the first time ever, I actually trained for something. I completed something I never thought possible. I crossed the finish line. I had friends and family out cheering me on. I helped raise money for our 2010 DetermiNation team - raising over $10,000 as a team. Pretty amazing experience.

2. Andrew Crabtree. I guess I'm pretty lucky to have someone like Andy around. We met at Fleet Feet back in May of 2009. Andy was attending an info session to learn more about joining the DetermiNation team. Over the next 7 months, I made small, sly moves, to find ways to talk to him.....what was I thinking? I made non-chalant conversation about making ice cream from scratch and encouraged him to join the committee because I thought he was out-going and would be a good fit for our group. After our first committee meeting in January, Andy asked me to come have dinner with him. He made me grilled tuna, grilled asparagus, grilled potatoes, and homemade lemon ice cream with strawberries. He had me at grilled tuna. Despite making him go 3 months without really telling anyone we were dating, for sake of ruining his ACS experience, I think it is safe to say that I've moved past that now. Here is to a great 2011, razzle dazzle.

3. Benny and Anne get married. Weddings are always a good time. You are always happy for the bride and groom, and you are always honored to be a part of someone's special day. However, I must say, there is nothing like going to a wedding when your brother is the one getting married. I only have one sibling, so I guess it is a one shot deal when it comes to having him get married. Ben married Anne on July 24th and I must say, it was one of the best times I've ever had. I'm not usually a crier, but cried when seeing Ben's face as Anne walked down the aisle. We love Anne and love having her as a part of our family. I think it is a night we will all always remember. The best part? The dancing with friends and family. Watching my Aunt enjoy the evening despite not feeling well. Watching Mom and Dad getting down to the Black Eyed Peas. Watching the crowd spin circles around Ben and Anne during the last dance. It was awesome.

2010 was a great year. Now onto the food.....

I've actually had this Chicken Stew with Okra recipe in my back pocket for quite awhile now. I made it back in November. It was one of the first dishes I cooked after being off my feet for awhile from the surgery. It is a great one-pot meal and I'm pretty sure that is why it made it to the top of my "to-make" list. I got the iPad at the beginning of November and have quickly warmed up to the Epicurious App. You can star recipes as favorites and it compiles them into a list for you. The list of my favorites continues to grow at a rapid pace, and I often must go back and pair down some of the choices that have been made. There's nothing worse than being overwhelmed by the favorites in your recipe index.

I grew up in New Orleans, but I can't say that we used okra a lot in our cooking. I know the okra comes in most gumbos, but outside of that, I'm really foreign to the vegetable. I think the okra really adds to the stew. The original recipe calls for a whole cut up chicken, but since I prefer the white meat, I decided to go with all bone in breasts. Cut up a few sweet potatoes, thaw the okra, open up a can of tomatoes, and you really have yourself a meal. The recipe also calls for peanut butter. It may sound odd to put peanut butter in a dish like this, but I really think it adds to the flavor and it really helps to thicken up the sauce in the dish.

Andy doesn't care for peanut butter, so I failed to tell him that the recipe had a 1/2 cup peanut butter in it. And to top it off, all I had on hand was crunchy peanut butter, not creamy, but I just went with it. Andy dislikes chunky peanut butter. How are we even a good match? Lo and behold, he ate it without even mentioning the thought of tasting peanut butter. Withholding the truth? I like to think of it as, you really do like peanut butter, just give it a chance, and what you don't know won't hurt you.

This is a great winter one pot meal, and the leftovers are even better. Give it a try!

Chicken Stew with Okra

adapted from Epicurious.com

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4 bone in, skin on, chicken breasts

1 teaspoon salt

1 15oz can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced and mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter at room temperature

1 3/4 cup chicken broth

1 pound sweet potatoes

1 bag frozen okra, thawed

Arrange chicken in 1 layer on a tray, then sprinkle with salt and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Stir water into tomato paste in a small bowl until smooth. Pat chicken dry. Heat oil in a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, without crowding, in 3 or 4 batches, turning over occasionally, until golden, about 6 minutes per batch. Transfer with tongs as browned to a 6- to 7-quart heavy pot. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet, then add onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until edges are golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add onion, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste mixture, garlic paste, and cayenne to chicken in pot.

Whisk together peanut butter and 1 cup broth in a bowl until smooth, then add to chicken along with remaining 3/4 cup broth, stirring to combine well (chicken will not be completely covered with liquid). Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally (to prevent sticking), until chicken is very tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

Peel sweet potato and cut into 1-inch chunks. Stir into stew along with okra, then simmer, covered, until potato is tender but not falling apart, 10 to 12 minutes.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream and Turkey with Bacon Herb Butter

2010-11-17T15:20:00.001-06:00

The first annual Sweatpants Mini-Thanksgiving has officially come and gone. I'm surprised it came together as quickly and as easily as it did. Andy and I originally set out to watch all of the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends throughout the month of November. In case you were not aware, there are quite a few of them - 8 I believe. We then thought, well, maybe we should invite some friends over to join us in the new tradition that we are starting here. The ball started rolling and we decided to make it a mini-Thanksgiving of sorts. I would do the turkey and a few of the staples and everyone would bring a dish to add to the meal. We had 8 people over to the apartment to watch the Bears game, play a mad game of spoons, watch the Friends episodes, and have a great turkey dinner. I was going to be in charge of the turkey and everyone else would pitch in and bring a side.

It was the perfect day. I was probably more excited than anyone else that was attending. It was something to think about, plan for, and most importantly, look forward to. Well, actually, if the NY Giants would have won last weekend for my pick-a-winner pool, then it really would have made for the perfect day. But all in all, I couldn't have asked for more.

I'm not sure why the holidays make me turn to the crafty ideas in the Martha Stewart magazine - and yes I'm an official subscriber - but I just love having little projects to work on throughout the holidays. Martha had a great idea for turkey place cards - and well - with the extra time I have had on my hands, I figured why not go all out.

I had never made a turkey before. Dad has always been in charge of the turkey. My involvement in that process usually involves walking downstairs in the morning and announcing "wow, the turkey smells really really good". I'm never the one to get up at 6am just to get the turkey in the oven before the guests arrive for a noon dinner. I think it appears to be a more daunting process than it actually is. I mean, roasting a whole turkey just sounds complicated. I don't mind giving it a try, but I really would just rather leave that whole process up to someone else.

I pulled the turkey out of the refrigerator the night before, so that I could put the bacon/herb butter under the skin of the turkey - it needed to sit overnight to let the butter soak into the turkey for flavor. I ran into a few slight problems. 1. The turkey was still partly frozen. Don't panic. I had set out to buy a fresh turkey at Whole Foods, but the fresh turkeys at the store were way smaller than what I needed. I was going for a 14-16 pound turkey, and the largest was 11. No big deal. I can be flexible. We scooted over to the Dominick's and got an organic fresh/frozen turkey that was just under 15 pounds. I put it in the fridge and figured 3 days in there would give it plenty of time to thaw. Fail. So here it is 10pm the night before my Mini-Thanksgiving and I still have a frozen turkey.

So I filled the sink up with luke warm water and set the turkey in there. I was just putting the thought of the turkey juices being all over my sink out of my mind for the time being. I let it sit for awhile and it definitely did the trick. It didn't help that as I was picking up the turkey out of the sink, it slipped out of my hands, splashed back into the sink, causing waves of salmonella infected water to go splashing all over the place. Thank goodness for 409.

The second hiccup in the process was what came inside the turkey. Was anyone else aware that turkey's come with necks that are not exactly attached to the turkey, but instead, are place inside of it? I worked at Kalck's Butcher Shop for a couple of summers and over a couple holiday seasons, yet I never knew turkeys came with necks. What is the purpose of the neck anyway? I couldn't stomach the idea of wedging the neck out from inside the turkey, so Andy offered to take care of that job for me. Way to man up! I also put him in charge of carving the turkey. That is not a job for me, mainly because I don't think I have enough patience to actually cut every inch of meat off of the bones of the bird. I would rather do the dishes.

The Menu

Appetizers:

Chips with Salsa and Guacamole

Carrots and Asparagus with dip

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Mimosas

Dinner:

Roasted Turkey with Bacon Herb Butter (Me)

Gravy (Me)

Cranberry Sauce (Me)

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows (Andy)

Mashed Potatoes (Mike and Emilie)

Portabello Mushrooms (Emilie)

Stuffing (Alex)

Salad w/ Mint and Sliced Pears (Lindsay)

Sweet Potatoes with Apples and Walnuts (Nicole)

Pumpkin Pie (Emilie)

Salted Caramel Ice Cream (Me)

Nicole's bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds were awesome.

Andy's favorite dish is sweet potatoes with marshmallows, lots and lots of marshmallows. Now if I'm being honest here, my preference would be sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecans. Marshmallows are just not that appetizing in my mind. But since he was using a family recipe, and is just so over the top about this dish, I was willing to ditch the pecans for the marshmallows.

I also made a batch of Salted Caramel Ice Cream to go along with the pumpkin pie. I thought it would be the perfect make-ahead treat to have as a dessert. I found a recipe on Epicurious.com and it didn't disappoint. And the best part about making ice cream? The leftovers that are still in my freezer.

We ended the night with game of Spoons. It is a family tradition of ours to play Spoons - it is highly competitive, cut-throat, and just all sorts of fun. The game didn't disappoint and I intend on playing Spoons on a more regular basis.

Bring on Thanksgiving round 2!

Turkey with Bacon and Herbs

adapted from Epicurious.com

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Bacon, dijon, and herb butter:

1 cup butter, room temperature
8 ounces bacon slices, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

Turkey:

1 18- to 19-pound heritage turkey, neck and 1/4 cup fat from cavities reserved for cider gravy base
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided

For bacon, dijon, and herb butter:
Blend all ingredients in processor until bacon is finely chopped. Transfer to sheet of plastic wrap. Using plastic wrap as aid, roll butter mixture into 2-inch-diameter log; chill until firm. Keep chilled.\

For turkey:
Cut bacon butter into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Rinse turkey inside and out; pat dry. Starting at neck end, carefully slide hand between skin and breast meat, then slide hand between skin and thigh meat. Carefully slide butter slices between skin and leg, thigh, and breast meat to cover (there will be a generous amount of butter mixture). Sprinkle 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1 teaspoon pepper over turkey, and 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1 teaspoon pepper in main cavity of turkey. Place turkey on rimmed baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or foil; chill at least 1 day.

Set rack at lowest position in oven; preheat to 350°F. Place turkey in oven; roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 170°F, basting with pan drippings every 30 minutes and tenting loosely with foil if browning too quickly, about 4 hours total. Transfer turkey to platter (internal temperature of turkey will increase 5 to 10 degrees).

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

adapted from Epicurious.com

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1 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

3 eggs

Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber.

Add 1 1/4 cups cream (mixture will spatter) and cook, stirring, until all of caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a bowl and stir in sea salt and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, bring milk, remaining cup cream, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.

Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in cooled caramel.

Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours. Freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft), then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.

Chocolate Pudding

2010-11-10T12:40:00.003-06:00

My favorite time of year is fast approaching. I love the holidays in general, but what gets me even more is the idea of flipping through magazines and recipes, bookmarking the ones that without a doubt need to get made before the start of the New Year. From sparkling cocktails, to roasted turkeys, to festive appetizers, to decadent desserts - there are just so many to choose from. My Bon Appetit's are already sitting out. I need to start making some decisions. Luckily, I only have a backlog of 3 November issues, so I am not completely overwhelmed with options. My goal tonight, is to finalize my grocery list for this weekend. I'm hosting a mini-Thanksgiving on Sunday and need to get the shopping done sooner than later. More on the event to follow in the next blog post.

The revolving door of meals on wheels to my apartment continues. Dusty and Suzy were over for dinner last Thursday and brought all of the ingredients to make stir-fry. I've never seen so much chopping going on in my kitchen, when I'm not the one doing the chopping.

Allison recently brought dinner over and also accompanied it with a dessert - chocolate pudding topped with Cool Whip. Genius. It was the boxed kind. It was simple to make. Nothing fancy. But let me tell you, it was the best part of the meal. I was hooked. On my next trip to the store, I grabbed a few boxes of instant pudding - chocolate and banana. It seems to be my dessert of choice right now. I mean, one can't keep the caramel apples stocked in the fridge on a full time basis.

I told Andy I was on a pudding kick and that I had purchased a few boxes at the store. He suggested I try homemade pudding. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that first? Probably because I've been sticking to convenience foods, crock pot cooking, and things that are simple and quick to put together. Highlights this past week in the crock pot have been pork roast with carrots and parsnips and the easiest beef stew you could think of. I love that the crock pot does all of the cooking, and the dishes make for great leftovers. What has this world come to? I'm resorting to crock pot cooking.

I got on the Food Network website and found quite a few recipes for chocolate pudding. I had a few requirements. It needed to be slightly healthy, using milk instead of heavy cream. And it also needed to call for cocoa powder and not a different form of chocolate, as that was all I had on hand.

Who knew chocolate pudding could be so easy to make? Once you bring the milk, sugar, and chocolate to a boil, you add the eggs mixed with the cornstarch and cook until it has thickened a bit. Bam. After letting it chill for a few hours, you have chocolate pudding. I poured the pudding into the ice cream dishes that Andy got me for my birthday. It was the perfect house for the pudding. The final product was awesome. It didn't taste like the box mix. The chocolate flavor was much richer, and it just tasted homemade. I would love to make an espresso whipped cream to go on top of it the next time. I've since made pumpkin pudding and hope to make a batch of pistachio in the next week or two.

Whether you do homemade or the boxed kind, give pudding a try again!

Chocolate Pudding

adapted from Tyler Florence

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2 cups skim milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

4 teaspoons cornstarch

3 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cool Whip or whipped cream for topping

Put 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, and the cocoa in a pan. Bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of the milk, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl. Gradually whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Return to the pan and cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and continue whisking until thick, about 2 or 3 minutes more.

Pour the pudding into 6 small cups. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight until set.

Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Green Olivata

2010-11-04T14:41:00.003-05:00

I've never seen the movie Girl Interrupted, but that little catch phrase can perfectly describe my life over the past 6 weeks. Girl (that girl being me) whose life has currently been interrupted (insert surgery here). Now I must be honest, not working while recovering has left me completely stress free. I tend to forget what day it is, thinking everyday is the weekend and getting to sleep in until at least 10:00 am has become a normal part of my everyday routine. I've had plenty of time to relax and regroup, but there is only so much you can do while sitting on the couch confined to the 4 walls in this apartment. On most days, I am okay with the idea of sitting, doing nothing, and letting my leg heal. But every so often, when things are going on outside of my apartment, when I've spent too long inside, I crave to have my normal life back.

An incident like this is always a good reality check. It reminds me to be thankful for my everyday life. My friends. My family. The ability to workout on a daily basis. Being able to go to work during the week. Being a productive member of society. 6 weeks is really not that long, I've been stationed on the couch for longer than that before, but I cannot wait to have things go back to the way they were. I'm anxious to start PT. I want to start driving again. And I want to enjoy what's left of this fall season.

People ask me what I have been doing to keep busy. There really isn't one specific answer that I have to give, and nothing specific is taking up most of my time, but the day does go by. My new iPad has been a lifesaver. I've read a few books and intend to start another one this weekend. I started watching Ellen on a daily basis. With that being said, I also got rid of my cable, because I really wasn't watching anything outside of the normal channels. I get on gchat a couple times of day to chat with friends and pass the time. I've been in the kitchen just a bit, but only to make dishes that can be reheated throughout the week with plenty of leftovers. I made a hardcover photo album through Apple with my pictures from the past 10 months of 2010. I've had entertainment from loads of friends and family - god bless you all for providing me with entertainment throughout the day.

My eating habits have changed slightly over the past 6 weeks. I seem to crave the comfort foods. Stews, roasts and soups seem to be the biggest hit right now. The vegetables and healthy salads do not sound all that great. I've also had a slight aversion to wine all of a sudden and am having a Diet Coke every afternoon as a treat. I don't even drink Coke. The other day I actually said outloud....I'm hungry for fried chicken and Pop Tarts. Huh? Is that even real food? I'm just going with it. I guess when I'm not up to par, weird, out of the ordinary things just seem to sound good.

I made this pasta salad over the summer and just realized I hadn't blogged about it. Lucky me. I guess taking the time to go through all of the pictures on my computer, organizing them into their appropriate folders, deleting the ones I don't need, and creating mini photo albums does pay off. I'm surprised at how many "food pictures" I have and even more surprised with the number of pictures I take of the exact same dish. They needed to be paired down, and with my time off, this has been the perfect time to do this. I didn't have to spend anytime in the kitchen today to create this post.

The olives in this pasta salad are what originally drew me to the recipe. I love a good salty, briny olive. I'm the person that gets googly-eyed when I see olives in martinis or bloodymarys. I secretly wish that people will not want their olives and will offer them to me. I am even tempted to order a martini more often than not, just to get that olive. This is a great recipe to make when you need to travel somewhere. You can serve it cold or at room temperature, and it can easily be made ahead of time. All you need to do is whip the ingredients for the dressing in your mini prep, do a bit of chopping, and boil the pasta. With the fresh basil from the garden - ok so maybe it isn't a garden, it is more like one pot on the back deck - the salad is really really good.

Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Green Olivata

adapted from Epicurious.com

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1 garlic clove, peeled

2 cups chopped, pitted, green olives

3 tablespoons capers, drained

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon anchovy paste

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound corkscrew pasta

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved

8 oz small mozzarella balls, quartered

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

With machine running, add garlic clove to processor through feed tube and process until finely chopped; turn off machine. Add 1 cup chopped olives, capers, red wine vinegar, anchovy paste, mustard, and crushed red pepper. Using 6 on/off turns, process to chop coarsely. With machine running, gradually add 1/2 cup olive oil, forming coarse puree. Transfer to bowl; stir in remaining 1 cup olives. Season olivada to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well. Transfer drained pasta to large bowl. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon oil over pasta; toss to coat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Add olivada, halved tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil to pasta; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow Topping

2010-10-31T11:36:00.006-05:00

Today is Halloween. A monumental day in my life and it has nothing to do with the actual Halloween holiday. On October 31st 2002, I had surgery to remove the bone tumor from my leg. In a surgeon's world, he will declare your surgery day as the day you become cancer free. In an oncologist's world, he will declare your last chemo as the day you become cancer free. So the actual title of this date is up in the air, but 8 years ago today I had the malignant fibrous histiocytoma sarcoma removed from my left femur - forever changing my life. Ironic that I am on crutches after having a similar surgery 8 years later? I think not.

There honestly has not been a lot coming out of my kitchen lately. Moving around on crutches is not the easiest thing to do, and my friends have been over the top awesome, and have been providing me with meals throughout the week. I've become slightly familiar with DiningIn.com and have ordered a few things in. The best thing about DiningIn.com? The ability to order a Portillo's Italian beef sandwich with cheese fries and have it delivered right to your door - with only a small delivery fee.

My friend Amy has been coming over on a weekly basis to keep me company on Fridays. We've had a great time piddling around in the kitchen, crutching to Starbucks, and I've been helping with just a bit of wedding planning for her. Amy made a really cute note for the lasagna that she brought over.

Our friends Lindsay and Alex came over for dinner one night. Lindsay make Chicken Tikka Masala with garlic Naan bread - and it was a perfect fall meal. I'm beyond lucky to have such great family and friends in my life.

Last week I made a pumpkin pie. It can't believe that I'm saying this, but this pumpkin pie is actually the first pie that I've ever made. I'm not a huge pie fan in general. My first choice for pie would be Ben's famous bourbon pecan pie. He makes it every year for Thanksgiving and he always brings me a few extra pieces that I can keep in my freezer and they don't last that long! My second choice for pie would be pumpkin. I would consider it a healthy sort of pie, smells of savory cinnamon, and the filling just melts in your mouth. Well, now that you think of it, banana cream pie sounds really good too. My birthday tradition was to always have a Baskin Robins turtle pie as my birthday dessert. Do you know that very few Baskin Robins make turtle pie anymore? Ok....so maybe I sort of like pie. Let me put it this way, if you asked me what I wanted as my one dessert if I were stranded on a deserted island, pie would not be the first choice. I don't even know what my first choice would be, but pie wouldn't be it. I happened to be very hooked on caramel apples from Julie Ann's right now. If you are ever coming to my apartment, and want to bring me a little something, bring me one of these apples!

Last week was pumpkin pie. This week is pumpkin cheesecake. It probably goes without saying, that I love having Andy around to help me eat up all of these things coming out of my kitchen. Andy is also good at eating leftovers. Where I am more into the eating something different day after day, Andy could eat leftovers for days and days in a row. Just like the pumpkin pie, this is the first time that I have ever made a cheesecake. Ben was always the cheesecake maker in the family. To say it is his speciality, would be a slight understatement. We all looked forward to seeing what kind of cheesecake he was going to make for the Thanksgiving holiday.

While paroozing the recipes on my Epicurious App, I found one for a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust and a marshmallow topping one that had great reviews. The thing that caught my eye with this recipe was the marshmallow topping. Andy is crazy for marshmallows. He can eat them straight out of the bag. Me on the other hand, unless the marshmallow is in a sauce or a Rice Krispie treat, I'm not going to be eating it.

If I'm being honest, this cheesecake is REALLY good. The filling is creamy and simply just screams fall. I love the cinnamon and ginger flavors as they pair so well with the pumpkin and the spiciness of the gingersnap crust is perfect. If I had to make one adjustment, I would serve the marshmallow sauce fresh, instead of making it ahead of time. My sauce because a little more "frosting-like" instead of "whip cream like". Either way, it's really good.

I attempted to bake the cheesecake in a water bath and let me emphasize that attempted is the key word here. I didn't have a roasting pan big enough to fit my cheesecake pan in, so I went to plan B. I thought maybe a cookie sheet would work. I put just a bit of water in the cookie sheet, and set the cheesecake pan on top. Well the water evaporated in no time, so the term water bath didn't really apply for this situation. My cheesecake had a few cracks when it came out of the oven, but the marshmallow topping covered these minor imperfections perfectly.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow Topping

adapted from Epicurious.com

print this recipe

For crust:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 9 ounces)
1 cup pecans (about 3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For filling:

4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla

For topping:

2 cups mini marshmallows
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Grind cookie crumbs, pecans, brown sugar, and ginger in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter; using on/off turns, process to blend. Transfer mixture to prepared pan; press onto bottom and 2 inches up sides of pan. Bake crust until set and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on low speed to incorporate each addition. Add flour, spices, and salt; beat just to blend. Beat in vanilla. Transfer filling to cooled crust. Bake until filling is just set in center and edges begin to crack (filling will move slightly when pan is gently shaken), about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool 1 hour. Run knife around sides of pan to release crust. Chill cheesecake uncovered in pan overnight.

Topping:
Stir marshmallows and milk in medium saucepan over low heat until marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt. Cool marshmallow mixture to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Add sour cream to marshmallow mixture; fold gently just to blend. Pour topping over cheesecake and spread evenly, leaving 1/2 inch uncovered around edges. Chill to set topping, at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Cheesecake can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.