Roasted Cauliflower Potato Leek “Chowder”

Another month down for 2019, and my family is now 2 weeks into trying a healthier lifestyle and 4 months into working out 🏃‍♀️. This has led us to some more veggie based meals, but I really was craving something creamy and comforting.

As with so many recipes it starts with a look in the fridge/pantry and then some quality time researching Pinterest for elements that seem to fit together.

So what did we have on hand?

• Cauliflower,
• Potatoes (yukon and red),
• Leeks,
• Shallot,
• Garlic,
• Carrots,
• 1 Artichoke,
• 7 Slices of Country Bacon,
• fresh Thyme & Rosemary, and
• Imagine Vegetarian Chicken Broth
• Chives

Pinterest inspiration didn’t fail with the following sites:

https://fitfoodiefinds.com/loaded-cauliflower-potato-soup/

https://theforkedspoon.com/leek-and-potato-soup/

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/amazing-roasted-artichokes/

What I wasn’t expecting was how easy and quickly it came together to make something that checked all the boxes I was looking for in the meal.

Preheat oven 450F

Chop the potatoes, leeks, shallot, garlic, and half the cauliflower

Toss with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, olive or grapeseed oil

Place on sheet pan or in large iron skillet with sprigs of thyme and rosemary

Once roasted, place in Dutch oven or large pot and add stock – warm over medium heat and then blend to desired consistency

Serve in bowls and top … accomplished in an hour!

We used the country bacon, chives and roasted artichoke as toppings, but realized so many other delicious possibilities such as roasted peppers or tomatoes, cheese, chicken, sliced green onion, and more!

Hoping you all enjoy this as much as we did!!!

Roasted Cauliflower Potato Leek “Chowder” Recipe

5 Slices Country Bacon

1/2 head of Cauliflower

4 medium Yukon gold potatoes

2 medium Red potatoes

2 Leeks

1 Shallot

3 Garlic Cloves

3-5 Sprigs Fresh Thyme (depending on how big they are and how much you like thyme)

2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

1 Tbs Smoked Paprika

Salt & Pepper

1 Tbs grape seed oil (use 2-3 Tbs if not cooking with bacon)

3-4 cups Low Sodium Vegetable or Chicken Stock (I used Imagine Foods Vegetarian Chicken Stock)

Chives (for topping)

Preheat oven to 450F.

Chop potatoes and cauliflower into large cubes. Slice leeks into rounds. Dice Shallot and garlic. Toss chopped veggies with oil, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Transfer to either baking sheet or large cast iron skillet. Spread thyme and rosemary across veggies and lay 4-5 slices of bacon across top of veggies.

Place in oven and roast for 30-45 minutes (until potatoes are fork tender). Stir halfway through and flip bacon. Remove bacon at 35-40 minutes if potatoes are being stubborn.

Transfer roasted veggies to dutch oven. Remove all rosemary and as many thyme sprigs as you can. Pour stock over roasted veggies (I started with 3 cups) and heat pot on medium heat to warm stock through. While it’s warming, dice up bacon for toppings.

Now the fun part! Immersion blender!!! Blend through the veggies and broth until it’s as chunky or smooth as you’d like. Mine was creamy thick with some chunks which was what I was going for in my head.

Serve in bowls and top with bacon and chives or whatever toppings make your tummy happy!

Side note: We also roasted an artichoke following the method in GimmeSomeOven’s recipe (only deviation was we topped each half with the remaining slices of country bacon), and used it as a topping – well some of it as we couldn’t resist eating that tasty little snack while finishing the dish. Highly recommend it!

Enjoy all!!!

Cooking from the memory of a dish that tasted great when drinking once…

One of the wonderful things about the city I live in is the wide range of cultures and food.  The fusions that emerge are embraced everywhere from food truck to restaurant, and some of the best meals serve as inspirations at home.  This dish is the result of one recent trip with good friends to a local brewery: Karbach.

While visiting and sampling their great array of beer, my friends, trusty test subject and I decided to sit at the restaurant and try various items off the menu.  One such dish was their Korean Fried Chicken – described on their menu as “crispy chile glazed chicken + housemade kimchi + togarashi + scallions.” It was probably the most fantastic thing we had, and though the rest of the food was good there, we couldn’t stop talking about the chicken. So it was agreed – I would attempt to recreate it for our friends’ next party.

Many searches across pinterest and google later, and I now know a lot more about kimchi, togarashi and gochujang.  I was a little afraid of actually attempting to make my own kimchi but wanted to implement features of it to the flavor of the dish.  After figuring out the kimchi from the brewery was made with purple cabbage, I decided to use that as a garnishing layer as well. So while this will not be a true recreation of the dish, the flavors turned out to be quite close and were a hit.  I’ve not made this dish 3 more times since, and it’s still well received.

If in a rush or not feeling the desire to chop up and fry chicken, use chicken nuggets and toss them in the sauce.

Once Upon A Brewery Korean Fried Chicken

Sauce
¼ cup gochujang (Korean Chile Paste)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I use 2 teaspoons of gourmet garden stir in paste)
2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger (I use 1 tablespoon of gourmet garden stir in paste)
2 ½ tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoon mirin
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon orange blossom honey
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2-3 teaspoons fish oil (depending on your preference or you can omit)

Chicken
2.5-3 lbs of chicken each piece cut into equal bite size nuggets
1 cup sweet rice flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon orange peel
1 teaspoon shichimi togarashi
1 ¼ cup cold water
salt and pepper to taste
Canola oil for frying

Garnish/base
Small red cabbage or radicchio leaves – enough to cover base of serving dish
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1-2 teaspoons shichimi togarashi

Directions:
1. Preheat oil in iron skillet to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix gochujang, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, brown sugar, honey, sesame oil and fish sauce. Set aside for later.
3. In a separate bowl, use a fork to mix rice flour, cornstarch, shichimi togarashi, salt, pepper and orange peel. Add in water and stir until no lumps and texture is thick.
4. Dip nugget pieces into the batter and shake to remove any excess. Going in batches as the oil temp will drop of skillet is overcrowded, drop battered nuggets in oil an fry 7-10 minutes.
5. Set up paper towels on cookie sheets, and drain onto paper towels. Place nuggets back in oil a second time for another 5-7 minutes or until golden.  Remove and drain again.
6. Add the nuggets to the bowl with the sauce and toss to coat. In serving dish (or crockpot if transporting*), layer purple cabbage or radicchio leaves on dish. Pour coated nuggets onto leaves.  Top with shichimi togarashi and sliced scallion.

*These keep great on warm for several hours so are perfect for a potluck.

Note: to make these a meal instead of an appetizer, serve with cabbage leaves over steamed rice and a side of cold chili seaweed salad.

Sometimes simple is best

A standard day in my life will generally start with regretting setting my alarm so early, pressing snooze, lamenting I have nothing breakfast related in my house, followed by I have to get up, run to Starbucks because I’m too lazy to figure out how to replicate their Chai Tea Latte, work a ridiculous amount of hours (who am I kidding I was working on my phone the second I gave up hitting snooze), followed by “wait…lunch happened? where was I?”, and then negotiating dinner like it’s a peace treaty with my usual test subject to determine if I have to stop at the store on the way home…finally the delicious stuff happens, maybe I fit in some TV and it’s bedtime – yay tomorrow will be almost identical.  Exciting!

However with an active work schedule and little time at home, this usually means I need to keep things simple. This is achieved with my easy cheat recipes that I can make without too much time and keep all happy in the house without too much time (though I make no promise on less effort because I can make easy seem like a marathon when my brain stops functioning).

If you are still awake at this point, I applaud your perseverance.

Here are a few simple items I usually have the staples on hand to make on any given night or can easily pick up the meat for on the way home (no marinating required):

Oven Roasted Chicken

Originally created when I needed chicken to go in a risotto dish, but didn’t have any space left to make it on the stove. I figured even if I forgot about it, if I threw enough liquid and oil in there with it I couldn’t possibly dry it out (unless I fell asleep or something silly). However, the result was so tender and flavorful it’s kind of the only way I’ll make chicken unless I grill because its so easy!

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1-2 cups chicken stock
• Olive oil
• 1 lemon
• Couple of stalks of whatever fresh herbs you have on hand (rosemary, thyme, sage and basil are all great options)
• Ground black pepper
• Splash of white wine (if you want to get fancy or happen to have an open bottle already)

Preheat the oven to 350 or 375 degrees F (don’t go past 425 degrees F) depending on how fast you need chicken.

In a baking dish, place the chicken breasts so they do not touch.  Pour olive oil over the top and then rub in black pepper (just a little – eyeball what looks good to you), and then flip the breast over and repeat.  From here, I cut the lemon in half and slice off 2 rings from each half and set aside.  Then I squeeze the remaining lemon over the chicken (it’s ok if your aim is off like mine is and it just goes in the dish).

Pour the chicken stock in – you want enough in there to be almost even with the top of the chicken but not covering the chicken (also here it really is better to just pour it around the chicken in the dish otherwise you’ll wash the pepper off).  Add the fresh herbs to the stock (I try to evenly distribute them floating around the chicken), then add the splash of white wine to the stock.  Finally place those 2 lemon rings on top of the chicken and stick in the oven.

Usually these should be done within 30 minutes or at least that’s the earliest I ever check on them.  You can can add in more chicken breast to your pan if you want, but just makes sure they don’t touch so the liquid can float around them uninhibited (yes I just told you to have uninhibited chicken stock).

They will typically slice easily when done, and go great with rice, noodles, steamed veggies, or straight out of the pan as a certain test subject tends to steal chicken from hot pans.  Also, if you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, you can use dried – just rub them on the same time you would the pepper.  You can also use the leftover broth in the pan to add flavor to a dish (I steal some for the risotto when I make this).

Chicken Noodle Soup with Sake

Sure, I would find a way to insert some kind of alcohol into chicken noodle soup. Actually, I had a craving for chicken noodle, but no cans of soup (yes I eat canned soup still), and kind of just stared at my fridge/pantry/pots/pans until they spoke to me and said “hey! crazy lady quit staring and do something!” This was the end result, and I keep repeating it now – so, ha! Who’s crazy now pots and pans?

• 1 tsp fresh lemon grass
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 T grape seed oil
• 4 cups chicken stock (low sodium preferred)
• 2 T sake
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3 T Miring
• 6 oz Ramen Noodles
• 1 chicken breast
• 1 T miso paste (I do a mix of 3/4 white miso with 1/4 red miso but go with your taste preference)
• 1/2 T sesame oil
• 1/2 T soy sauce
• 1 T grape seed oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a shallow baking dish, combine the miso paste, 1/2 T sesame oil, 1/2 T soy sauce and 1 T grape seed oil.  Next, chop the chicken breast into chunks and place them in the baking dish.  Use a spoon (or your hands because you forgot and put the spoon you stirred with into the sink already) to coat the chicken with the miso mixture.  Place the baking dish in the oven and let cook for about 20-30 minutes – if the mixture is bubbling and starting to get a very dark brown at the edges of your baking dish it’s time to pull it out.  Essentially the meat will be tender and cut easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, put the grape seed oil, onion, garlic, lemon grass and stir to coat – turn the heat to medium.  Let them sit for about 2-3 minutes as the garlic and lemon grass get nice and fragrant, then add the ginger, black pepper, and basil. Stir together, and then turn your attention to the noodles (who need water!).

Using another pot, fill a little over halfway with water and place over high heat to get it up to a nice boil. Once boiling (which will occur some point after you’ve added the chicken stock to your soup), add the noodles. They typically cook in about 3 minutes but go by whatever your package says, drain and lightly rinse.  Place in bowls .

Back to the onion/garlic yumminess – add the sake and stir.  Let go for a couple of minutes to let some of it burn off, then add the chicken stock. Stir because it just looks fun to see everything swirling around, and let it continue on it’s merry way for 15-20 minutes. If it looks like you’re getting too much evaporation, reduce the heat to low. Taste test the broth and if you are happy with the flavor, add the chicken chunks (I use a slotted spoon to transfer them so as not to put too much of the miso mixture into the soup), stir and let simmer for another 5 minutes.  Ladle over the noodles in the bowls and serve!

This makes about 4 good bowls worth of soup.  The noodles won’t keep once cooked or I’m just not lucky so if I want leftover, I cut the noodles down to 3 oz, then save the broth, reheat the next day after I make more noodles.  If you figure out a better way – please let me know!

Chow Mein Noodles (chicken, turkey, veggie, whatever you want)

So the recipe I use is based off one I found on Pinterest (was having a food craving, the app was just calling  my name, multiple pins later, yep definitely need help with that problem…) The original recipe can be found here: Produce on Parade, and I highly recommend doing it exactly as stated at least once!

Keeping with the sauce as instructed, I substitute chicken or veggie stock for the water, Mirin for Vegan Sugar,  and replace the sweet chili sauce and crushed red pepper with 1 T Garlic Chili Sauce (for for 2 T if you like spicy). Then I get crazy and use whatever my fridge has to offer as I’ve found this is great way to use up veggies.  If adding meat, I’ve found 1 chicken breast sliced up in chunks (cooked) is enough of a ratio as is about 2 cups cut up turkey (awesome use of leftovers), but I have not tried a beef or pork option yet so let me know if you do and how much worked out for you!  I’ve used broccoli in place of the cabbage, same thing with cauliflower – the essence is having one main substantial veggie item be it cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and complementing it with other veggie goodness, then tossing in whatever cooked meat (if you desire) just after the noodles are added but prior to pouring the sauce in.  Truly it’s that sauce that brings it all together and makes this awesome whatever combo you put together!

I’ll add more recipes to this page of easy items as I recall them, but my brain hit that fog and I need to make dinner!  Happy Eating!!!

Good Friends (or visitors as an excuse to cook more!)

First let me apologize for such a length of time between posts, work conference pulled me away and then I had my great friend Lara visit this weekend, which was way more fun than my conference!!!

In all the years I’ve known her, we just realized I’ve never actually cooked for her.  Which is funny as I’m typically the one who flies to her house and she’s cooked tons for me over the years.  So in a way this weekend then turned into cooking escapades or rather how almost every activity we did involved food (and some drinking).

The first night involved taking her to my favorite taco place (the one that inspired the baked avocado tacos)…Torchy’s! We indulged in fried avocado, fried portabella mushroom and fried chicken tacos (clearly not on a health kick this weekend) plus chips and queso and guacamole! Accompanied with some Sangrita and Tequila all was awesome, then food coma and we called it for the first night.

The next day started a little later and with just fried eggs, bacon and hash browns which then led to deciding what to do – we ended up with shopping, going to a movie that serves food as you watch (mac ‘n cheese and coconut chicken tenders) and then we hit up Sur La Table if only to look at all the kitchen items we never knew existed but totally now need!  Then the real food idea came to me that we would stop by my favorite grocery store (the one I got stuck in on New Years Eve praying not to be crushed at the butchers counter), and we were off to get some truly fresh baby back ribs to smoke.  While wandering through we also grabbed butternut squash to make a side of risotto, sage, garlic, sweet onion, and broth.

To get the ribs started I made a dry rub of brown sugar, chili powder, lemon rosemary salt, pepper, chipotle powder, coriander, thyme, basil, oregano, orange peel, and sage.  Then rubbed the two racks and warmed up the smoker.

We have a green mountain grill so set it to 225 and placed the rubbed ribs to the right side.

In the meantime whipped up bbq sauce to baste with (start with 4 slices of bacon wrapped around a bundle of thyme) add onions, garlic, ketchup, red wine vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, mustard powder – simmer together and tada:

I started the risotto next – warming the broth and then adding butter and olive oil, then the sweet onion.  The butternut squash was roasting on a cookie sheet in grape seed oil with salt, pepper, dash of chipotle pepper and nutmeg. Adding the Arborio rice to the onion and coating thoroughly for about 2 minutes, and next a lovely pinot grigio splash to allow the rice to start to break down.  After that simmers – just slowly adding in broth a little at a time, and after halfway through the wonderful smelling butternut squash which broke down slightly in the broth leading to this amazing color.

As a good friend is always a special occasion, I totally fried some sage to crumble on top of the risotto when it was finished.  My justification is because sage and butternut squash are the best combo ever!

In between adding in broth to the rice, there were trips to visit the ribs outside and say hello with a lovely mop of broth, vinegar, some left over rub and Worcestershire. As the risotto was finishing the ribs had reached nirvana and we were totally starving from the smell, we pulled them off of the smoker and sliced (or rather just let the knife slip through as they were starting to fall off the bone) them.  We also may have sampled as we sliced – though we will never completely confirm that took place.

 

So with all of the yummy ribs, sauce and risotto going on – there must of course be dessert.  Typically bourbon pecan pie is the go to in my house, but we were out of bourbon and alas food comas do not make for good driving conditions.  Therefore, amaretto pecan pie!

The final meal of her visit was biscuits ‘n gravy.  Partially as an excuse to finally take pictures (she is my lovely hand model for the post), and because it’s a great brunch option.  Such a great time! I will absolutely post the full recipes for all items soon!

Paleo-centric Office (aka Strawberry Mint Muffins)

A couple of posts ago there may have been a mention that the office was experimenting with paleo snacks.  I should step back a bit – I work in a small office of 5 people onsite and 3 remote.  Of those onsite some are now doing a paleo diet for the new year, and in an attempt to be supportive, the rest of the office has attempted to include snack items that were friendly to their cause.  

After playing many rounds of “is that paleo?” and talking about it, the idea of making something seemed doable.  Thus much Pinterest and googling ensued and resulted in a decision to use almond flour to attempt a muffin.  This apparently ended up as the easy part.

Having almond meal on hand, I decided to read up on what was the difference and there was a lot! So to make meal finer (and easier to rise) before starting I decided to run it through my food processor first.  Then I decided to figure out what to use for the rest and decided on raw orange blossom honey instead of sugar, coconut oil instead of butter, sea salt, soy free eggs (ok I admit I bought these solely for this), vanilla (because that makes anything better), strawberries and mint for flavor plus baking soda and some lemon juice (hoping to generate some rise to make it look like a muffin).

Letting my inner chemist go to town was definitely fun!  Between all the warnings online that the muffins wouldn’t rise and store bought baking powder was a no-no due to cornstarch I was determined these would look muffiny (pretty sure that’s not a word).

Back to my food processor, which was now making a weird “kalump” noise, and it dawned on me – we were about to have almond butter!!! Oops! The nut meal was definitely moist looking, and in a moment of what I’ll say was brilliance others watching would have said panic, I dumped the lumpy mass into a skillet over med-low heat to try to toast/dry it a little.

Crisis kind of averted…back to our regular programming.

Rinsing the strawberries, removing their tops and hulling before dicing them up into small pieces (you can make them as big or small as you prefer in your muffin).  I also washed out the food processor and ran the mint leaves through it.  Then stirred the almond mass in the skillet (the bits that were drier looked much finer than what I’d poured from my bag so I’ll say semi-success).

Then I broke out the trusty stand mixer and beat the eggs, honey, coconut oil and vanilla together -which smelled awesome! The kitchen was smelling toasty (uh oh -almonds!) back to the stove and stirring.  They seemed as good as they would get so I pulled them off the stove and poured into a large bowl.  I also decided to turn on the oven to 350 degrees F.

Letting the almonds cool a little, I decided to line my muffin tin so it was ready to go.

Break time over… on with the experiment! I added salt to the almond stuff, and then added the baking soda and poured the lemon juice directly onto the baking soda (essentially just made a baking powder alternative) and watched it bubble (inner mad scientist was quite happy). Stirred the dry ingredients together to complete the process. Since I’d already cut the lemon, I squeezed some juice onto the strawberries just because I could.  Stirred the strawberries a bit.

Now to add the dry to the mixer.   I poured in the mix in batches (took about four to get all the dry mix in), and let the batter combine.  It looked like liquid as if I just made some elaborate nut butter…

Well I’d come this far…just see it through. I never told anyone at the office I was doing this so no one would  ever know if these were a complete debacle!

Adding the chopped mint to the strawberries and mixing with my hand, I then poured that into the mixer and stirred until just combined. Now to the muffin tin!

I ended up using a measuring cup to scoop because pouring looked messy. Filled the muffin wrappers about 3/4 full (some had more, others just made it above half). In theory this makes about 12. I placed the tin in the oven, crossed my fingers and set the timer for 25 minutes.  After about 12 minutes I turned the oven light and peered through the glass and took a sigh of relief – there were rising little mounded top things staring back!!!

When the timer went off, I pulled out the pan and flipped it around, placing it back in for another 7 minutes because the fuller cups had not quite set (the less full cups were done and the ones that were filled just right for goldilocks were almost done).

After impatiently waiting, the timer chimed and out came muffins!!! Pulled them out of the tin and set them on a tray to cool. Then my usual test subject pilfered one, then another, so I had half of a third before he ate that too.  The muffin was just slightly denser but moist from the strawberries and had a muffin top.  Placed the rest of the muffins in a container and hid them so they would still exist to take to work.  Experiment successful!

Strawberry Mint Muffins

• 2 1/2 C almond flour (or about 3 C meal run through a food processor)
• 2 eggs 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 
• 1/4 lemon
• 8-10 mint leaves
• 10 med/large strawberries
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 
• 1/4 C honey
• 1/4 C coconut oil

Sometimes you don’t have eggs

The week has been a bit rushed and crazy so I apologize for the lack of posts.

Mainly, my neglected test subject has lived off leftovers, soup, pot pie I had foresight to freeze, and then finally I started cooking again Friday (steak tacos):

I’m still getting used to taking photos of food (and using the camera on my phone doesn’t help) but top one is with flash and second without – for whichever you find more appealing. I’d eat either, but I’d pretty much eat anything if it was called a taco!

Yesterday, had good friends over and picked up fried chicken from this amazing little place near our house (which will be closing soon to reopen for its primary purpose…crawfish).  Truly filling on its own, but during the course of the night someone mentioned cupcakes and I couldn’t get the thought of eating a fresh cupcake out of my head.  So while football watching ensued, I broke out the kitchenaid and started to make a simply vanilla cupcake (hey – some people are not big on chocolate).  Then I opened the fridge and crisis – we had no eggs (silent scream).  Some test subject who shall remain nameless had not only eaten the last of the eggs but had also let me go to the store twice without mentioning we were out!!!! Ok, end of eggless rant.

Pouring some more drinks for the guests and taking advantage of the football distraction – I started looking for egg alternatives I could make from what I had on hand. I settled on using soy flour with water for two eggs and 1/4 cup of greek yogurt for the last egg.  About then people caught on as I was taking longer in the kitchen than usual that there was an issue and I fessed up that these were going to be a bit different.

Making the rest as I would a traditional cupcake, but adding in an extra splash of milk, cupcakes were placed to bake and ready for frosting in 18 minutes.  As the batter was going in, I’d guessed these might be more biscuity (is that a word?) and my friend remarked it looked kinda like cookie dough.  The final baked product looked like a biscuit top but still a cupcake body (interesting tasty combo) and once frosted you couldn’t tell.  They were eaten all the same.  Not sure this would be my go to recipe, but hey they were still yummy and if you can’t eat eggs or things made from eggs this certainly works!

Please note I’m not good with decorating cupcakes and yes there is one sprinkle on the cupcake in the pic below (sprinkles were not cooperating)!

Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes Original recipe of The Baker Upstairs (lack of egg courtesy of my fridge)

• 1/2 C butter, room temp (or pulled out of fridge and microwaved for 15 seconds)
• 2/3 C sugar
• 2 T soy flour, heaping
• 4 T water
• 1/4 C greek yogurt 
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla 
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C milk (plus up to 2 T to splash at end)
• Vanilla Frosting (homemade, Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, etc)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a muffin tin with papers (this recipe made about 14).

Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.  Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix the soy flour with the water and beat together with fork.  Add to the sugar/butter and let mix together.  Then add in the greek yogurt. Let mix together for a couple of minutes.

In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly add to the wet ingredients while mixing (I poured it in three batches).  Add your milk (holding the 2T back to see how moist your batter is).  If batter seems a little dry add the 2T of milk.

Spoon batter into muffin wrappers until 2/3-3/4 full.  3/4 full ones will have a taller biscuit top.  Place in the oven 16 minutes to bake, then rotate pan and bake another 2-4 minutes depending on your oven (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean).

Let cool (5-10 minutes) and then frost with your desired frosting.  I wasn’t too ambitious so Betty Crocker made mine! Top with sprinkles, colored sugar or eat as is with just frosting!

Tortellini in broth

The week is definitely underway, and the workload recovery from the holidays is in full force.  The hardest part is the cold is slowing me down, and almost wiped out my voice completely.  Yet, with numerous cups of tea and honey, I made it through all the while thinking I want soup! 

Then as I walked into the parking garage it dawned on me…you don’t have any at home…you’re out of broth…you’re going to have to stop at the store – the voice in my head likes to state the obvious. 

My cold-suffering test subject then called about wanting beer and if I wanted to eat more leftovers.  After the thrilling steak and eggs scramble from the night before as it used up the leftover steak from the tacos (please note there was no avocado left over from that experiment – take that test subject!) The offer on the table was the last four slices of brisket…and I said soup, which was countered with pasta, and I said ok, which was then amended to refrigerated pasta.  And so my grocery list mentally at hand, off into the rush hour freeway parking lot I went.

Many exciting moments of construction delays, an accident and random braking for no reason later, I reached the grocery store.  Wandering many aisles because of the major mental debate of just using the spices at home versus picking up veggies, I had the pasta (moment of genius: grabbed a pack of chicken and onion stuffed tortellini to go with the broth for a chicken noodle variant), paleo friendly snacks (office experiment initiated by my team), broth and then I almost made the biggest mistake…forgetting the beer!!! Thankfully, I realized that just as I reached the checkout and headed back to grab a six-pack – crisis averted!

After unloading the food bounty, I went to work warming up my ceramic coated cast iron dutch oven, adding in some grapeseed oil and letting it warm up over medium heat.  I added to it 1/2 T each of ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and about a sprinkle of this rosemary, lemon salt (love that blend).  After letting those get fragrant (1-2 minutes tops), I poured in my low sodium chicken broth (6 cups) and let it simmer.  

Meanwhile, the test subject was to my right using the iron skillet to heat up the leftover brisket (snacking distraction while waiting on the the broth to reduce and flavor to meld).  I was fidgeting and decided the broth needed basil, ginger, and sage (about 2 tsp of each) and let come to a boil and stirring (because I like to stir).

Then, because I was getting hungry, I added a bit of thyme and stirred some more.  After another couple of minutes of boiling, I added in the tortellini and let it cook about 8 minutes until they were plump little pillows crowded in the broth just waiting to be ladeled into my bowl.

Quick and easy without too much thinking required – perfect for a chilly night fighting a cold.  Two bowls later and more tea, my voice is stronger, my test subject is napping again (my food always seems to knock that one out), and the day feels like a success! Hooray for soup!!!

Brisket Sunday

Since Christmas Eve, my test subject’s request has been brisket, but I’ve made one excuse or another not to make it – smoking a turkey for Christmas, baking any kind of cookie, and going through a ramen and chow mein (nice way to use up leftover turkey without feeling like you’re eating turkey again) phase since the holiday.

I finally found a break in all that cooking, baking plus working to head to the one store near me I trust to have a good brisket.  Now it should be noted I did this on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, after letting the staff go early and finishing some paperwork,  as I figured there won’t be too bad of a line (very faulty logic applied here). It was mayhem – only way to describe it: full parking lot, produce section that looked like a bomb had gone off, and then I rounded the corner for the butcher section – what on earth was I thinking!?!

They have a pull number system – my lucky number was 78 and they were on 52 with a crowd of people that there was nowhere to stand without being bumped.  I retreated to the cooking utensil section that is just before you enter the meat market and parked. Unwilling to try to find a way to see what was in the meat case (I didn’t want to die in a freak grocery stampede), I noticed the fish section (that’s right fish – where there is no chance for brisket).  My test subject likes fish, especially salmon, and that was how I ended up with a beautiful piece of salmon to smoke, which was Friday and killed some time waiting for my number.

Finally they called 78 and my arm went over my head and I said “here!” And they called 78 again, and I started waving my arm and trying nicely to move through the crowd (of which I was run into by a cart).  And again 78 was called and I was almost to the front (and I was panicking that I would get skipped because for some reason there was no one shorter than 5’10” standing at the front). And then they called 79, before seeing my arm and asking what my number was and all was going to be ok.

The poor butcher was very frazzled so I asked for a 4lb brisket and still never saw what else was in the meat case before retreating (or rather having every random person clip my purse as I waded against the tide of people who were still waiting to win the meat lotto – pretty sure my purse saved me from being bruised).  This is not how I normally choose a brisket – I would typically point at the one I like; they would trim it while talking smoking, rub and mop techniques; and I would leave the butcher area happy, thoughtful and hungry. This time I was thankful to be in one piece and leaving!

After escaping the produce section with my bounty of salmon, brisket and few other items (end caps will get me every time!), I found my car, zipped home, where I celebrated the new year with friends, and woke up with a cold. No brisket was made, on the second day my favorite test subject made his smoked salmon (yum!), and I made a variation of chicken noodle soup.

Yesterday, knowing I either would get the brisket marinating or else would waste a perfectly good piece of beef, I referenced what I consider the most informative website I know on smoking: Amazing Ribs.  It can be a bit technical and sometimes overwhelming, but I’m part nerd and it appeals to my chemistry sensibilities. 

So rinsed the brisket, and splashed/rubbed the fat cap with:

• grapeseed oil,
• apple cider vinegar,
• soy sauce, and
• worchestshire sauce

Using barely enough of each to ensure there wasn’t much run off – or rather that there was very little liquid pooled around the meat.

Then rubbed the fat cap with:

• pink salt,
• ground black pepper,
• garlic powder,
• onion powder,
• chili powder, and
• smoked paprika

Flipped the brisket over and repeated splashing and rub. My hand was an odd orange-red when done (I say hand because I only use one to rub/handle the brisket, and the other I keep clean to handle pouring, kitchen utensils, etc – yes I can be weird).

Then returned the sealed container with brisket to the fridge and made tacos (see prior post).

This morning is glorious – sun is out versus the overcast skies of the past week. Perfect smoking day, but I can’t smell anything (kind of a crucial thing to the way I cook) so my test subject will play surrogate nose. Thus I poured some beef broth and red wine vinegar into a bowl (more broth than vinegar) and stirred in some lemon rosemary salt, ground black pepper and thyme, then chased my test subject around the kitchen so he could tell me if it smelled too vinegary (if so I would have to add more broth) before he had his first cup of coffee. Turned out it smelled fine to him.

Taking the brisket out, I poured the broth/vinegar blend (using a funnel or else I’d make a huge mess) into an injector needle and started injecting the brisket (meat side not fat cap) with the blend.  It’s oddly rewarding to see the section plump up as the liquid goes in.  Always keep the needle angle parallel to the meat grain for this part.  While I was doing this, I started my smoker and got it up to temp (250 degrees F).  Then after I’d injected as much as I could (there will be leftover liquid), I took the brisket to meet its new friend smoker, and placed it with the fat cap up on the grill, where it will live for many hours while I drink tea, and try to regain my sense of smell.  

Will update with a picture once the brisket is happy and done!

Update: Brisket is now complete and about to be no more, but here’s a pic as promised!

Tacos! (Meat optional)

There once was a girl at a taco joint eating an amazing fried avocado taco…

Or at least that might be how the story begins for what ended up as dinner tonight.

One thing to know about me is that if something gets stuck in my mind – such as fried avocados, I will generally try to find a way to make it.

So after another round of Pinterest searching (only slightly sidetracked by salsa), I realized bake the avocado!!! Oh and make some salsa and some pico de gallo and some beans.  One must follow their instincts wherever it takes them…

The salsa was the beginning. I was inspired by a salsa roja found at One Particular Kitchen.  My version ended up as follows:

• 10 Roma tomatoes
• 1 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 Poblano pepper
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• Dash of salt
• 1/4 lime

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

First halve the tomatoes and place cut side up on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Then quarter the onion (enjoy a good cry) and place cut side up amongst the tomatoes on the cookie sheet. Next quarter the Poblano pepper lengthwise and this is where the heat level gets determined – either remove the seeds from the pepper (mild salsa) or leave them (get some heat).  Place 3/4 of the pepper amongst the tomatoes and onions because they like having neighbors! Last peel 4 garlic cloves and add them to the cookie sheet party. 

Bake in the oven about 20-30 minutes (looking for a nice char starting on the onion/pepper and browning on the garlic). Let cool slightly (until you’re comfortable picking up the tomato with your fingers.  

Place all the roasted goodness in a food processor along with the cilantro, squeeze the juice from 1/4 of a lime and a dash of salt.  Pulse until combined and salsa looking – try to refrain from eating straight from the food processor (I will admit this will be hard especially if one has a fresh bag of tortilla chips nearby)!

Next up came the pico de gallo!  Truthfully, I used the recipe I found from Behind the Food Carts.  Only item changed was using the remaining 1/4 of the Poblano instead of jalapeño. 

Put it in the fridge and started the beans because I had a can of pinto beans and a pot just looking for them!

The “refried” beans:

• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1-2 T grapeseed oil
• 1 can pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder (I use Gebhardt)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika 
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Couple splashes of milk

Place the onion, garlic and grapeseed oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the onions are translucent and garlic fragrant but not brown (or kinda brown but not totally fried like mine was since I was cutting up avocado and ignoring the pan), add the drained beans and chicken stock.  Let it simmer/boil (do its thing).  After about half of the stock has reduced, take a potato masher and take out whatever aggression you have pent up on those beans!  Add the spices and a splash of milk – stir to combine and ignore again for about 10 minutes (or in my case 15 – I’m a little neglectful that way).  If you find yourself in the same boat and the beans are looking a bit dried out – add another splash of milk and stir then remember to reduce the heat to low before walking away. After another 10 minutes turn the heat off (your baked avocado will almost be done if you’re multitasking so the residual heat will keep the beans warm).

Now the actual thing I wanted to make – crunchy avocado goodness!!! Why did I make all the other items? Because I wanted a taco and needed toppings…sure that’s it…

• 1 large avocado
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup panko crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

So this is where I’m not good at picking avocados. Mine were still a little hard so I ended up using a vegetable peeler to remove the skin, then I halved them and removed the pit.  I was able to kind of slice one half lengthwise to make the pretty fry look.  However, I was impatient (heck I made three other things and still no crunch) and had dry beans thus the second half of the avocado was sliced up horizontally – not pretty but still good and faster.

Set up three bowls for dredging. In the first, mix the flour, salt, pepper, chili powder and buttermilk in a bowl.  In the second beat the egg. The third put the panko crumbs.

Get prepared to get dirty! Take the avocado slices and dredge through the buttermilk batter, then the egg and finally panko.  Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Repeat until each avocado piece is covered.  At this point you’ll need some serious water and soap to get the batter off your fingers. Once your hand/hands (if you’re like me somehow both hands had batter on them) is/are usable again, place in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then flip the pan around and bake for 5 more minutes (panko should be golden).

So during the time I started all of this and mainly due to the roasted salsa veggie smell wafting through the house, my test subject got crafty and smoked a small steak for about 15 minutes.  Thought process was that not having meat in the taco would make them less filling. Then let the steak rest for 5 minutes and slice into thin pieces.  Silly test subject!

Once the avocados were done, I pulled out the pico de gallo and a package of mexican shredded cheese. The salsa had never left the counter because some people, who I shall not name, may have been eating chips and salsa to stave off tummy rumblings). Lastly, some flour tortillas just made at the store today.

Then the magic happened as the girl from the taco joint began layering the homemade fillings – tortilla, layer of beans, cheese, baked avocado, slices of steak, pico, and salsa…there was silence that fell upon the house.  

Not a single word said. Just munching and maybe a softly audible “mmm” followed by seconds (where the girl left off the steak and it was still worthy of a food coma).  My test subject never said a word until two platefuls were finished; then all I heard was “wow we may have overdone it” before said test subject slipped away into a mandatory nap – high praise indeed from him!

The end!!!

In the beginning…

So it started out with cooking to relieve stress, then a small Pinterest obsession with recipes (to which I still may need an intervention), and finally here I am writing about food because my coworkers will hurt me if I keep talking about what I made last night/over the weekend.  Yes, it finally happened.

Truthfully, part of the reason for not passing along recipes or blogging before is that I’m dreadful on tracking measurements (I’m more of an eyeball and oh those smell awesome together kind of cook). Not very scientific but I’ve yet to turn out a bad dish if it smelled great going into the pot, oven, smoker…of course caveat that with also if I pay attention, remember to set the timer, choreograph the sides to finish with the meal and other kitchen antics that have ruined many a great edible (and they were all great or else it wouldn’t have burned, dried out, or turned to mush)! Yep that’s my story on those failed attempts of deliciousness never known of which there are many and probably more to come.

I’m sure by now you’re thinking well get on with it already!!!

Ok – well this was partially inspired by this sage breakfast sausage I had at a local restaurant once.  Wanting to recapture the flavor of the sage with the pork and placate a certain test subject’s love of biscuits and gravy, I did my research (aka stalked several recipes on Pinterest for inspiration) before settling on a plan… 

Sage, bacon and onion buttermilk biscuits with peppered sausage gravy!!!

Ok, yes, I know that sounds like a whole lot of flavors and also like sabotage to healthy New Years resolutions, but truthfully I felt like I hit the jackpot after making these and these can be like a weekend reward after a busy 5 days of crazy work, spouse, pet, commuting … you know where I’m going! Enough about justifying these (trust me you will always have a reason)…

The main key to this for me was using an iron skillet for the bacon, onion, sage and finally the sausage gravy. If you don’t have one – a large skillet will also do though you may have to drain some grease.

You’ll need the following for the biscuits:

• 4 slices of bacon
• 1/4 medium onion, diced
• 18 fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

To get started, turn the burner on to medium heat for the skillet to start warming up (do not add oil).  While that’s heating up, take 4 strips of bacon (use a regular cut not thin slices or they will cook too fast without producing enough fat) and slice them into about 8-10 pieces each.  Drop one piece into the skillet  – if it starts sizzling the skillet is ready so add the rest.  Reduce heat to medium-low. Pause for one second to enjoy the bacon aroma and now back to chopping.

Next up is the onion – you’ll want to use about 1/4 of a medium onion (I prefer yellow) and essentially dice it – remember it’s going into the biscuit so make them as big/small as your preference for texture allows.

Check on bacon (here is where I tend to stir the pieces around to make sure all are cooking evenly).  If the bacon still needs a bit more time (you’re going for crispy not chewy with these), move on to prepping the sage – rinse off about 18 fresh sage leaves, roll them in a paper towel, and squeeze to release some of their natural oil.

Check bacon again. Stir pieces around (really I do this cause I can’t just stare at something but maybe it does something).  Bacon should almost be crispy – so toss in the diced onion and stir around so onion is coated with bacon grease.  Keep stirring until onion is just translucent (couple of minutes) and bacon is just crisp.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon/onion combo and place on paper towel lined plate to drain.  Then cover with two paper towels.

  
To the skillet now add 2 tablespoons of butter (yes, you just added butter to bacon grease) and allow to melt.  Now take the sage leaves, place them in the skillet and stir to coat them. Continue stirring until crispy (about 3 minutes) – you’ll start to hear a faint crackle when your stirring implement hits the sage (go about a minute more from that point).  Use a slotted spoon and place the sage on top of the paper towel (the ones over the bacon/onion mix) to drain.  Cover the sage with a paper towel and turn heat off under the skillet (do not drain skillet as we’ll come back to it shortly).

  
Now it’s the time to start the oven – preheat to 425 degrees F.

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Add the crisped sage and pulse processor until leaves are incorporated into dry ingredients (you’ll see green flecks throughout). 

If you have a large enough food processor, you can use it for the next step.  If not, transfer the dry ingredients to a large bowl and use a pastry blender.  Add the cold butter pieces to the dry mix and either pulse the processor or cut with the pastry blender (fork would also work) until there are coarse crumbs formed throughout the mix.

At this point, if you are using a food processor, you’ll want to transfer to a large bowl to complete.

Add in the bacon and onion to the crumbly mixture.

Form a well in the center and pour in the milk, stirring with a large wooden spoon until just combined. It will look like a rustic loose dough (don’t go for smooth).

Put parchment paper on countertop, and pour (really more like plop) dough onto it.  Using your hands, pat the dough into a circle.  The thicker you make it the taller they will be.  Aim for about 1-inch. Use a circular item (drinking glass, cookie cutter, biscuit cutter – I use an egg ring) and cut into the dough to form biscuits.  I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the cut biscuits onto it.  To use up all the dough, you will need to pat the scraps into a circle again and then keep cutting.  For the last biscuit, I just put the final scraps inside the egg ring (or whatever you’re using to cut) and pat together.

Place biscuits in the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are golden. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Sausage gravy time while the biscuits bake!

For sausage gravy, you’ll need:

• 1 lb breakfast sausage (I use mild pork)
• 1-2 teaspoon(s) chipotle pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Dash of black pepper
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 pinch nutmeg 
• 1 dash of hot sauce

Just as the biscuits go in the oven, turn the heat on under the skillet (yes that one with the bacon grease and butter) to Medium High.

Using your hands, break the sausage up and drop into the skillet (this is easier than trying to break up the log after dropping it in the skillet). At this point, I add in chipotle pepper powder, smoked paprika and a dash of black pepper (you can omit this step or adjust the amount to your preference).  Then stir the sausage with a wooden spoon to get the flavor evenly distributed.
Cook until all of the sausage is browned and add the flour, stirring to cover all of the meat. Add the heavy cream and milk and bring to a boil (note the amount of liquid here can be reduce by 1/2 cup if you want thicker gravy – I tend to add in the cream and then 2 1/2 cups of milk at first and then add more milk as needed to get the gravy consistency I like).

Turn burner down to low heat and simmer until thickened, adding the black pepper, nutmeg and hot sauce (if you don’t like hot sauce you can skip – I add in Zaaschila Salsa Piquin Hot instead of actual hot sauce but that’s a mouthful and not as readily located as hot sauce) as it cooks. When the gravy achieves the desired consistency, turn off burner. 

Realistically, the biscuits should be done just a few minutes prior to the gravy finishing. But if it’s more like 10 minutes, that’s ok the gravy will warm up the biscuit!  The only real danger in that scenario is certain people (husbands, children, assorted family members, friends) nibbling on the biscuits by themselves instead of waiting for their gravy nirvana!

  

Plate a biscuit, pour over gravy, devour (I mean savor) – repeat. Or if you’re like my test subject – place three biscuits in a bowl, pour over gravy, wolf down, repeat process and enter food coma!!!

  

I hope you enjoy and let me know if you have any suggestions, substitutions, etc.  Thanks for reading!