Category: cooking

Summer Eating, Part One.

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I love having things in the fridge all ready to go for dinner this time of year.  Things like tabouli, potato salad and pasta salad in all sorts of forms.  I got the biggest craving for macaroni salad this week and so made a big batch of it, which I then proceeded to eat for breakfast and lunch all week.  It was darn tasty and might have to become a staple until I burn out on it (sometime in August.)

Becky’s Summer Pasta Salad
One box macaroni
Half a bag of frozen peas
Two carrots, sliced
A few celery stalks, sliced
Half an orange bell pepper, diced
Just a wee bit of red onion, diced
Minced Garlic
Cubed Muenster and Mozzarella Cheese
A handful of fresh herbs from the garden – rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, dill
Salt & Pepper
Mayo to taste
Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, chop all other ingredients.  I think that raw onion can be a be overpowering, so I sauteed mine with the garlic in a bit of olive oil for just a few minutes to take the edge off.  During the last 3 minutes of the pasta cooking, I threw the peas in to defrost.  I drained and rinsed the pasta in cold water, then combined it all.
Yum.

What ails ya.

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Last week Edie complained of a sore throat.  She otherwise seemed okay, so I chalked it up to allergies and told her to just drink some water.  Tough kid that she is, she didn’t complain again.  This weekend, Pat & I both woke up with sore throats which has since evolved into a cold that while isn’t horrible, it’s still kicking my butt.  And yes, it is what she had.  And yes, she did mention that she ‘sucked it up’ and we should too.
What goes around, definitely comes around.
Last night I decided we needed a nice, hot pot of soup to make ourselves feel better.  Our family favorite when we are under the weather is miso soup.  It’s quick and tasty and I always have on hand enough things to make a decent little pot of it.  Now, I’m not talking miso soup like you get at any Asian restaurants, this is my homemade, stick to your ribs Americanized version that is inspired by several recipes I’ve read and tried over the years.   I fill it full of everything they say has qualities to kick a cold and boost your immune system – garlic, ginger, chicken stock, miso and a kick of red pepper to help it slide down your throat.  (If you’ve never added a dash of cayenne pepper to your chicken soup when you have a sore throat, I highly recommend it.  It’s magical, I swear.)
There was also carrots for color (we like carrots in everything around here), chives (In lieu of scallions, since I have a ton of those in the garden right now), shitake mushrooms, spinach from the garden, tofu, shrimp and last but not least, I threw some rice vermicelli in to give it some heft.

To serve, I sprinkle it with more chives and red pepper.  Yum.  What I love about miso soup is that in addition to being versatile and quick, is that you can make a pot for one or a pot for 6 by just varying how much of your ingredients you use.

Becky’s Chock Full of Goodness Miso Soup
Saute several minced cloves of garlic, a healthy portion of grated ginger, chives (or scallions or a tiny bit of onion chopped very finely) and chopped carrots in sesame oil over low heat.  When it becomes very fragrant and the carrots are soft, add sliced (shitake) mushrooms. (Regular button mushrooms work well too).  When the mushrooms are slightly cooked, add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  When boiling, add chopped tofu.  Cook for at least 10 minutes, then stir in spinach, chopped shrimp and noodles.  Using a ladle, pull out some broth and combine with miso paste (to taste).  Combine the miso with the pot of soup, being careful to not simmer the miso. When the noodles are cooked, serve, sprinkled with chives and cayenne pepper. 
Feel free to use as many or as little of the above as well as adding your own (chicken might be nice) ingredients, but never leave out the garlic or ginger. I also have a French Provincial inspired version that uses nothing but garlic, onions, potatoes, thyme and miso, sprinkled with cayenne.  Make it as brothy as you desire.  Miso soup rarely keeps well, so only make as much as you and your family will eat in one sitting. My rule of thumb is 1-2 cups of broth per person.  This works as a perfect hot lunch for a kid home from school sick or as dinner when you’re all fighting something off. 
This morning Edie told me that last night’s miso soup definitely made her feel better.  Consider that your seal of approval.

More with the arugula.

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I always have arugula growing.  I throw new seeds in the ground every few weeks or so, so I always have fresh, new arugula.  Of course, I also have a tendency to let it bolt and go to seed so that I can have more to plant. 
I pulled out all the arugula that was bolting the other day, washed it and prepped it to be ready to use.  I made that yummy pasta with it the other night, which didn’t really make a dent in what I had.   I made some mini-pizzas for dinner and gave some away and am still left with a solid bag full, which will probably become pesto.
I made a nice white sauce to go on the pizza’s – butter, flour, cream, garlic.  I kept it light on the cheese.  I had muenster, swiss and some parmesan on hand, so that’s what’s on there.  I also chopped some black olives and threw them on top as well.  So good.
I finally found a dough recipe I can whip up in afternoon and have ready to go.  I got it from a friend and it’s out of one her cookbooks, I’m not sure which one.  It’s pretty simple and works well.  This batch was really good – the directions say to let it rise for an hour, but I was working in the yard and it rose for much longer than that.  I also let it go a little bit longer in the kneading process, as I made it in my kitchenaid with the hook and wasn’t really paying attention to how long I left it in there.  Turns out it worked better that way. I love when that happens, don’t you?

First dinner from the garden.

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And it tasted good. 
I thinned my baby greens and radishes and after cleaning the dirt off, tossed them together in a salad.  I made buttermilk ranch dressing with fresh herbs and the combination was divine.
The pasta was this riducously easy recipe for Pasta with Tuna, Arugula and Hot Pepper.  So quick, easy and yummy. (Yes Kristin, even you could make this.)
Here’s my recipe for buttermilk ranch dressing.  I highly recommend fresh herbs.  It takes it to the next level.  And if you eat this, you’ll never eat that jarred stuff again.
Becky’s Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Mayo
Salt, pepper & garlic powder to taste
Chopped fresh herbs to taste*
Combine and serve.
*I use practically every herb in my garden. Rosemary, parsley, sage, oregano, thyme and chives.  If I have fresh basil I use that as well.  Sometimes I even throw in a touch of dill.

The highlights.

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I have been cooking up a storm here lately.  It seems to be my creative bent these days. 

 
 

Roasted butternut squash, black bean, spinach, jack & goat cheese quesadillas with roasted tomatillo salsa and sour cream. (Squash & tomatillos from last summers garden!)
Fried tofu po-boys with homemade lemon tartar sauce.

French toast for breakfast from Irish Soda Bread.  Seriously good salads.  Jambalaya.  This weekend I’m thinking about rolling out a new brunch recipe I picked up recently. 
 
That’s the highlights from around here.   It keeps raining, winter is slowly fading into spring and none of my seeds have popped up in the 4 days they’ve been in dirt.  It seems like the only thing interesting to do around here is cook.

This is what they mean about making lemonade when life hands you lemons.

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One night last week I sadly discovered the oven was not going to turn on. And the end result was the best thing I’ve stumbled upon in a long time.
When Edie came home from school that day, I asked for input on dinner and she wanted pizza.  Homemade pizza.  As she was having a friend over for a playdate and they didn’t want to run up to Mono Lisa Pasta to grab a doughball with me despite my attempts to bribe them with a stop at one of the nearby stores for a treat, I caved to her demands of making my own dough.  (She really is a demanding foodie princess, isn’t she?).  So, I started the dough and as the afternoon progressed, she & said friend wandered down to the friend’s house to play.  I went ahead and made two pizza’s – a plain cheese for her and my favorite, mushroom & onion – so that we could each have what we wanted for dinner, plus leftovers for lunch tomorrow, because we have brought her around to the fact that cold pizza really does rock.  (Even if she’s not on board with it as a breakfast option.) and had them ready to go in the oven.  Also, every recipe for pizza dough that I have makes 2 pizzas and I was too lazy to do the math to cut it in half. 
It was 7:00 by the time we had it together to put them in the oven and that’s when I discovered the oven wasn’t turning on.  And unlike Christmas Eve, there was no fixing it this time.
I was able to cram one of the pizzas into the toaster oven to cook and the other one I just shoved in the freezer, right there on the tray.  The next morning, I wrapped the frozen pizza up and put it in the downstairs freezer and was quite proud of myself for such quick thinking.
And then, Edie & I spent the weekend down and out with the flu.  Last night, we were feeling slightly better and up for something more solid than miso soup and man oh man was I happy to realize we had a frozen, homemade pizza in the freezer.  Actually, Pat may have been happier than I was.  So, we grabbed that pizza and popped it in the oven and voila.  Dinner.

I so totally loved having a homemade pizza to pop in the oven from the freezer.  And it was so easy – I made it, slid the whole thing into the freezer for a few hours, wrapped it up and voila.  And while I was thinking how I need to do this again, Pat asked if couldn’t I do this again please.  I love when great minds think alike.

The best part of the oven breaking is that I realized I could make my own frozen pizza.  How and why have I not thought of this before?!?!?

Now that’s a salad.

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I’m not really entirely sure where the idea for this salad came from.  Saturday night, I was given the task of creating a salad for dinner.  There was iceburg lettuce, onions, broccoli, carrots, a bunch of fresh herbs.  I pulled out a few eggs and decided to hard boil them and made some croutons with some french bread.
And then I diced the onions and broccoli into tiny little bits.  I started caramelizing the onion in butter & olive oil and when it looked good, tossed in the broccoli and just cooked it.

 I chopped the lettuce, julienned the carrots, chopped fresh thyme & dill and threw it on top.  I chopped the hard boiled eggs and added them as well.   I added the croutons and the broccoli mix, a wee bit more olive oil and some vinegar – I used some tarragon as well as red wine vinegar – and tossed it all together. 

 It was a lovely salad.  The cooked broccoli & onion gave it a really good flavor and they clung to the lettuce without a whole lot of oil.  I definitely need to experiment with that some more.  Edie got me a salad cookbook for Mother’s Day last year as a hint that I needed to liven up my salads.  I do love a nice, big salad.  I definitely need to give them more thought.

For a quick little dessert, I took some strawberries, cooked them in a wee bit of butter & chambord liquor, with sugar and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  I served them between wedges of the peanut butter cups I made last week with little dollops of whipped cream.  A perfect little sweet bite.

And that’s total amount of cooking I did all weekend.  We went out of town and it was one of those completely deserved, relaxing weekends.  I got quite a few inches of Pat’s sweater knitted and I got to spend Friday night with one of my most favorite people in the universe, just the two of us, no husbands, no kiddos.  Down right glorious.

Pat’s away at a conference this week, so it’s just me & my gal.  I pulled some soup out of the freezer for tonight’s dinner (it was dated and labeled so I do know it’s some vegetable soup I recently made) and am whipping up another salad like Saturday night’s.  This one uses cauliflower and blue cheese, because that’s what I have on hand.  

Clearly, I have come back slightly refreshed  and inspired from my weekend.  Ah, I needed that.

Lazy weekend.

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It feels so nice to have a weekend where we get to stay home and do nothing.  We haven’t had one in a while, so this one was much appreciated.  This past week has been, well, rough to put it nicely.   Work had a lovely, unexpected rush of folks who wanted to sign up and volunteer.  Not a problem at all there really, it just kept me on my toes.  On the homefront, there was some Girl Scout drama and some school drama that I really could have done without.  My house pretty much looks like a tornado whipped through and I just don’t care.  I’ve spent a big chunk of the weekend curled up knitting and ignoring the mess and the to-do list.    Pat’s sweater officially got started.  Knitting really is just so relaxing and after a week of go go go, it’s been nice to just sit.  And not get dressed.  Thank goodness I have neighbors who understand I’m liable to wander down for a late morning cup of coffee still in my pj’s on a Sunday and invite me in.

Today I thought I’d whip up a pot of vegetable soup.  I started with the usual onions, garlic, celery and carrots, added some potatoes and cabbage, as well as raided the pantry and freezer for tomatoes, corn, green beans and okra.  Last night, I took some tomatillo salsa to a dinner party that I pulled together from last summer’s harvest that got stashed in a freezer.  I do love my freezers. 
I know there are things I needed to get done this weekend that I just ignored.  I know this week coming up is going to be another busy one.  Pat is headed out of town, so while I’m hopeful I’ll get something done in the evenings, I know better.  Edie has needed a little bit of extra attention this past week and I did spend a good bit of this weekend curled up with her – me, knitting, her reading.  I’m wondering if this is going to continue into the week…..I don’t mind, after all, being a mom is my most favorite thing in the world.  But sometimes my own space is good, you know?
Oh well.  The beauty of knitting is that I can sit and have my hot tea and eat popcorn and actually do something productive while feeling quite lazy.

Beans a la Highacre.

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Last weekend, we went up to Harper’s Ferry with friends.  We stayed in the lovely ‘cabin’ Highacre, owned by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.  That right there is the view we had from the dining room window.  The house overlooks all of Harper’s Ferry and the infamous “Jefferson Rock”, where Thomas Jefferson himself stood and declared the view worth the ocean voyage.  It is where the Shenandoah and Potomic Rivers converge and become one.  And the house is this incredibly beautiful  100 year old Victorian.  It’s really one of my favorite places to go.  It’s always relaxing and just breathtaking.  I highly recommend it.
Like I said in my last post, we just brought some crockpots and winged it.  I put a wee bit of thought into it and brought the basics for baked beans.  This is what I had on hand:

That’s coarse sea salt, some Goya Adobo all purpose seasoning that was at the house, black pepper, molasses and a can of spicy hot V8 that was left in the fridge.  I bought a pack of country ham bits to throw in and I had a bag of navy beans.
Becky’s Baked Beans a la Highacre
 Chop an onion and mince a few cloves of garlic.  Add a bag of dried beans, salt and pepper and about a half jar of molasses, cover with water and stir together in a crock pot. Turn it on high.  
Add some chopped country ham bits.   
Sprinkle liberally with the Adobo seasoning.
Add about half a V8 or so.  
Let cook all day.
While the beans are quite good that day, they are even better if you pull them out the next day and heat them back up. 

Mollie’s Awesome Greens.

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My friend Mollie makes the best greens I’ve ever had.  They are always cooked just right.  It’s a  gift really.  She experiments in ways that just blow me away, because no way do I think that way.  I really want to cook like Mollie when I grow up.  Especially my greens.
We all went up to Harper’s Ferry this weekend.  No one felt like being in charge, so we didn’t really have a menu for the weekend.  We did bring crock pots and a few ideas though.  Saturday morning, we got up and went to the store.  She found some organic Chard that looked good. So, she grabbed some and brought it home.

 She sauted it up in a pan with some shallot and some apple and omigod, it was amazing.  AMAZING.

The whole dinner turned out pretty well actually.  Will made his mother’s chuck roast in one crock pot, I made a really good batch of beans in another, we baked some potatoes and Mollie made her greens.  I promised her I’d put the baked beans recipe on here (that will be another post), but she said I could share this recipe.  Which, I’d like to point out, she totally made up on the spot.

Mollie’s Swiss Chard
Shallot, chopped
Apple, chopped into bits
3 garlic cloves, minced
Stems, chopped
Cook in (oil) & butter until softened.
Add chopped greens with salt & pepper.  Cover and simmer over low heat until just wilted.