Award Winning Peach Blue Berry Pie

So I won a baking contest...

My award winning pie awaits judgement. 

I've always wanted to enter a baking contest. I'm just a wee bit competitive. Not because I need to be the best at everything (though that would be nice), but because I want to know how I rank against other people and what I can do to improve. I'm the nice kind of competitive. But there just hasn't been a good time for me to enter any kind of cooking contest until this summer, when the Roswell Farmers and Artisans Market decided to host a pie baking contest. Perfect.

I wouldn't consider pie to be a specialty of mine, because I don't get a chance to make them very often. (I also don't own a rolling pie, so I used an empty wine bottle to roll this out....) But I have a tried and true recipe for crust and no filling is simpler than fresh fruit. I knew I could enter this contest. I didn't think I would win, but I knew I wouldn't embarrass myself either.

So now I had to think about what kind of pie to make. The rules of the contest said that your pie had to feature at least one local ingredient. It didn't have to be in season, so if you had put up some peaches or pumpkin or something, you could use that. But it had to be local. Well, the peaches are especially fine this year, so I knew I wanted to feature those. But I had to assume mine wouldn't be the only peach pie on the table. I needed a hook.

My first thought was a peach jalapeño pie with oatmeal crumble topping. I love the combo of sweet and spicy and jalapeño and peaches are both good right now. I wanted to be sure of it though, so I made a "practice pie" with peaches from the grocery store. Big mistake. Those peaches were flavorless and watery. They drowned out my jalapeño.  It wasn't tasty at all. So I went back to the drawing board.

This tasted of failure. 

I was pretty turned off on the idea of a peach jalapeño pie after that. I also didn't quite have enough peaches on my counter for a pie. But I did have some blueberries left from the market, and I always think things that grow in the same season are meant to be together. My other change was to toss my fruit with a little cornstarch before it went in the pie shell as insurance against wateriness.

The only thing I kept was the oatmeal crumble topping. I am not good at making things pretty, so I didn't want to mess around with fancy lattice tops or cute shapes cut from pie dough. I just wanted an attractive, tasty top that still allowed you to see the pretty fruit inside the pie. It also meant my pie might still standout against any other potential peach or blueberry pies. (Also, oatmeal crumble anything automatically means butter and lots of it. Nothing is tastier than an entire stick of melted butter, and this pie has one in the crust and one in the topping. You're welcome.)

Spectators had a chance to sample all the pies. 

When the Market Manager started announcing the winners, I still didn't think I'd win. My pie looked pretty good next to all the others, but there was a tomato goat cheese pie that was just mind blowing. I was sure that was the winner. The manager announce third and second and my heart sank a bit, because I didn't think I'd placed at all. Then she said my pie! I was very excited.

My award winning pie earned me $20 in vouchers for the farmers market and an invitation to compete in the Tri-County Farmers Market Championship next month. I'll have to check my calendar to see if I can do that.

But anyways, enough jibba jabba. Here is the recipe to Award Winning Peach Blueberry Pie.

Peach Blueberry Pie

Crust

6 ounces all purpose flour

4 ounces unsalted butter

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 pinch salt

2 ounces ice water

Filling

4 peaches, peeled and sliced

2 cups blueberries

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Oat topping

1 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 ounces unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon Penzey’s Cake Spice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 425.

Freeze butter and flour over night. Pulse flour, sugar and salt in food processor until blended. Add butter and pulse until butter is incorporated. Drizzle in ice water until it becomes dough.  Remove from processor, shape into a wide disk and place in freezer bag. Place freezer bag in fridge for at least an hour or until ready to roll out.

Score four peaches lightly across the bottoms to form an X. Place in boiling water for about a minute to loosen skins. Quickly drain and add crushed ice and cold water to stop the cooking process. Once peaches are cool, you can easily remove the skins. Thinly slice peaches. Add two cups blueberries. Mix gently with 1 tablespoon cornstarch.

Combine oats, melted butter, brown sugar and spices.

Roll out pie crust. Add pie filling. Top with oat mixture. Bake at 425 for 45 minutes. Allow to cool for at least an hour before slicing.

Beans and Greens with Bacon

Brr! The winter weather is pretty bad lately. Not as bad as last year, when we all got stuck in our cars for hours and ate frozen pizza for dinner. (I spent five hours in mine, but made it home safely.) But still it's been bad enough to have a few school closures or late starts. I'm taking advantage of today's day off to do the things that make me happy, like baking and sleeping in.

The other thing making me happy right now is soup. Gallons upon gallons of delicious, warming healthy (and sometimes not...) soup. I've got a regular rotation right now between loaded baked potato, vegan minestrone, chili and this wonderful bean soup I've been dying for a chance to post about.

There's two ways to make this one. One is the lazy shortcut way, which still produces a delicious soup. The other is slightly harder and still produces a delicious soup. Hear that? No matter what, you will be eating delicious soup. The lazy way is to use canned beans. The harder way is to use dried and soak them before using. Which one you do is up to you. It's not difficult for me to leave a bowl of beans soaking on my counter before I leave for work, but other people may not have that luxury. I just like working with dried beans and they are cheaper to play with.

This soup uses some of my favorite ingredients, bacon and kale. It also benefits from my current obsession with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I've taken to keeping these on hand to slide into soups, chilis and casseroles for extra flavor and warmth. They come in a can, but I only use one or two peppers at a time. The extras keep very well in a container in the fridge and make a very convent flavoring for whatever you are having. This soup is easy to make, if not very quick and makes delicious leftovers. I looked at several other recipes for pinto bean soups, but couldn't find one that incorporated much in the way of vegetables, so I had to make my own. They were mostly just slow cooked beans decorated with bacon or ham. I wanted more than that. This is especially delicious with a square of your favorite cornbread recipe.


2 cups dried pinto beans, soaked for eight hours OR two cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 slices bacon
2 cups carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
About 3 cups of curly leafed kale, sliced thin
Vegetable broth (I make mine using Better than Bullion)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

If you are using dried beans, you want them to soak for at least six hours before using. I measure mine into a mixing bowl, then cover with cold water and leave them be while I am at work. If you decide to use canned beans, just rinse and drain them before using.

Cook the bacon until brown and crisp. Remove from pot and set aside. Add carrots, onion, celery and garlic to the pot. Cook over medium heat in the bacon grease until softened. Add beans and chipotle pepper. Cover with water or broth and salt heavily if using dried beans. Bring it up to a boil, then drop it back down to a simmer. Times get tetchy here, because it can take up to an hour for dried beans to cook. If using canned, expect about twenty minutes. When the beans are soft, add the sliced kale, reserved bacon and black pepper. Salt it again.  Seriously. It needs salt. When the greens are tender, your soup is done!

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Curry Roasted Acorn Squash

Fall is finally here, which means I no longer have to feel guilty about turning on my oven. I love fall in north Georgia. It's the prettiest time of year and it has all of my favorite foods.

Big Trees Forrest Preserve in Sandy Springs

Look how pretty that is! And it's not hot and sticky outside anymore and all the mosquitoes are gone! This is my favorite time to be outside in nature. 

Thanks to Georgia's long growing season, the best foods are being harvested now. Crisp apples, savory winter squashes, fresh kale... The list goes on and on. 

And oh those winter squashes. Look, I've tried with summer squash. I've had them all, zucchini, yellow crookneck, patty pan. I've tried them grilled, fried, baked, sautéed and more. The only way I've been able to enjoy them is in zucchini bread. And if you have to chop it up really small and hide it inside a cake, you aren't really enjoying that vegetable, are you? 

But winter squash... savory, sweet. Blended into a soup or roasted in the oven. I was ridiculously excited to see the first acorn squash of the season in the Roswell farmer's market last Saturday. I was less excited when the farmer suggested I drench it in butter and brown sugar to eat it. I mean, yeah sure, butter and brown sugar make everything taste better. But there are just some things that just don't need it. 

My version of roasted acorn squash forgoes extra sugar and fats in favor of a hearty dusting of curry powder and drizzle of olive oil.  Curry powder goes amazingly with winter squash. Trust me. You'll like it better than sugar. It's simple enough to have any night of the week, but looks fancy enough to sneak onto the Thanksgiving table. And don't tell the carnivores, but it's actually vegan, so your hippy friends will love you. This is worth waiting for winter squash season. 

Curry Roasted Acorn Squash

2 acorn squash, sliced in half long ways and seeds removed

Extra virgin olive oil

Curry powder

Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Slice your squash, carefully, because those suckers are tough and scoop out the seeds. Brush with olive oil, then sprinkle generously with curry powder and salt. Place on a cookie sheet and roast for about 20-30 minutes, or fork tender. To eat them, fluff up the insides like a baked potato and scoop it out with your fork. Makes a great side dish and fantastic leftovers. 

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Easy Breakfast Sandwiches

I flip flop back and forth on eating weekend breakfasts at home or going out. Making it at home requires planning and effort. Going out requires me to wake up early enough that I don't have to wait for a table and putting on pants. I'm not always sure the trade off is worth it. 

Right now we're leaning in the direction of "not wearing pants" when it comes to weekend breakfasts. I've managed to streamline the process down to just one dirty pan and can get it done in the time it takes to brew a cup of loose leaf tea (my caffeine delivery vehicle of choice right now). I've even managed to sneak in a couple vegetables so I can pretend I'm a healthy adult. 

It starts off the day before with a quick trip to the store. I like to his Roswell Provisions in the Historic District to grab a couple fresh croissant and either ham or Canadian bacon from Patak's. The croissant will be a little stale by the next morning, but still delicious. But you can grab whatever bread and sandwich things you like. The point is that when you roll out of bed Saturday morning, starving, you can feed yourself without trying to remember where you left your shoes.

When it's time to fix breakfast, I start by heating up a glug of olive oil in a pan and sautéing either spinach or kale. Spinach cooks faster, but kale is less watery and I like it better with eggs.  You could do mushrooms, or peppers and onions instead. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. While it cooks, slice open your croissants and scramble a couple eggs. For two people, I do three eggs. One egg per person isn't enough and two is too many. When your veggies are done, set them aside and put your pan back on the stove. Take a minute to heat up your breakfast meat now. It should only take a minute. When it's hot, layer it onto your sliced croissants. Pour your scrambled eggs into the hot pan and let them cook. Top your sandwiches with your cooked veggies, your eggs and close up your sandwich. 

I've timed myself doing this and it takes me about ten to fifteen minutes, which as long as you'd spend waiting for an egg mcmuffin at McDonalds and certainly less time than waiting for a table at Thumbs Up on Sunday morning. But it tastes way, way better and you can be in your jammies the whole time. I hear McDonalds frowns on that. 

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Recipe Free Cooking: Easy Vegetarian Curry

This will all be food soon.

People ask me all the time where I get my recipes for the blog. I think some of them think I'm cooking my way through a book, similar to the Julie/Julia project everyone saw in that stupid movie. And while I do frequently consult recipe books and cooking blogs for inspiration, I'm just as likely to walk into the kitchen, quickly scan the fridge and then start making something. I learned how to cook pretty young, so I'm very comfortable in the kitchen. My mom taught me to cook dinner with her, and I saw her modifying and adapting recipes on the fly to suit our family's tastes and so I picked up the idea that a recipe is just a guideline. 

Recipe free cooking makes you so much more flexible and versatile in the kitchen. Once you are familiar with your ingredients and confident in your skills, you will be doing it all the time. Instead of just knowing a few recipes, you know a couple of methods for creating a meal. And that's what makes a good cook. You'll get there with practice. 

There's a couple things that really lend themselves to recipe free, improvisational cooking. Soups, curries, and stir fries are my go to meals when I have a hodge poge of ingredients and desperate need to eat dinner. They all incorporate large amounts of healthy vegetables and are easy to prepare. They are flexible enough to include anything you've got on hand, and rely on easy to store pantry staples, like chicken broth, canned beans and brown rice. 

Check out the picture. All the things in this picture will combine together to make a delicious vegetarian meal. It's easy. I heat up a little oil in my pan, brown some onion, garlic and ginger if I've got it. No worries if I don't. Then I add a generous spoonful of curry powder. I don't measure. Stir everything around to make a paste, then add the peeled, chopped carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms and kale. Add a big pinch of kosher salt. Stir some more and add a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas, and a can of tomatoes if you've got it. If you don't, no one will die. Add the coconut milk, turn the heat down and let the whole thing simmer on low until the vegetables are tender. Serve over brown rice and enjoy. 

What else can you add? Broccoli is good. So are potatoes or kohlrabi. Any kind of winter green works.  Green beans are probably okay. Just throw something in! If you need meat to be happy, throw some leftover roast chicken or pork in at the end.  Skip the chickpeas if you don't like them, or swap out another bean. Use chicken or vegetable broth instead of the coconut milk. Use tomato sauce instead of the canned tomatoes. Pour it over quinoa instead of rice. Really, I don't care. You won't hurt my feelings any. Make yourself  happy. Improvise. Experiment. Enjoy. 

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Ribeye Steak and Bourbon Mushroom Sauce

Eat this.

I promised to post this a few weeks ago and I'm finally getting to it now. Yeah, that'll teach me to attempt any kind of schedule around here. Luckily, you all have low expectations for me anyway.

So! Let me introduce you to Exhibit A in the "Why I Will Never Be A Vegetarian" debate. Delicious steak with bourbon mushroom sauce. Mmm. My mouth waters just thinking of it. Mr. Northside and I both love steak. We used to go out for it, but then I perfected my home cooking technique. I can make a good ribeye from the grocery store taste like something from an upscale chain. Why would I go out for steak, wait forty five minutes for a table, and spend twice as much for something I can make myself? Especially with Valentine's Day coming up. Everyone goes out for Valentine's and everyone eats those silly, overpriced prix fixe meals. Save money and aggravation by making your own meal at home and watch Netflix in your jammies.

We've been making steak at home for years and have perfected the technique. It's very simple. You pan sear a good ribeye as hot as you can get it, then finish it in the oven. While it's resting on the counter, you use the already hot pan, full of delicious brown bits to make a bourbon mushroom sauce you pour over the steak. It takes minutes to prepare and I promise, it's just as good as waiting in line for an hour on a special occasion. Plus, you get to be creative with sides. Why waste your time with steamed broccoli when you can have roasted? Forget mashed potatoes, have some cauliflower puree. You'll be happy you decided to stay in tonight.

Why bourbon? Because I like it, that's why. Bourbon pairs really well with steak and the mushrooms soak up the flavors. Plus, I can't think of a single place around here that serves something like this. I guess you can go to TGI Friday's and get something with that syrupy sweet Jack Daniels sauce dumped on it, but why? This is better. Much better. I recommend using a good quality bourbon, one you'd be happy drinking neat. My favorite right now is Four Roses small batch, but really, any good bourbon will work.

You know you want this.

Ribeye Steaks with Bourbon Mushroom Sauce

2 ribeye steaks, salted and brought up to room temperature
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup fresh, sliced mushrooms (I like crimini, but use your favorite)
2 tablespoons bourbon

Pre heat broiler. Pre heat pan. When a drop of water skitters across it, add canola oil and swirl to coat. Place steaks salt side down in the pan, salt the other side and wait. You are waiting for the side touching the pan to finish cooking. You can tell it's done when you can easily flip it over with a pair of tongs. After you flip the steaks, throw the whole pan in the oven until steak reaches desired doneness. I'm a fan of the finger poke test. When steaks are ready, move them out of the pan and cover. While they are resting, the mushrooms will cook. Put the pan back on the stove and turn your burner to medium. Drop your butter in the pan, let it melt. Add your sliced mushrooms and let them brown, while also scraping up the delicious brown bits. Add the bourbon and let it cook off, about one minute. Pour over steaks. Ta dah! Now you have the
best special occasion meal you and your sweetie can have on Valentine's Day.

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Easy Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry

Chinese New Year started on Friday, and I married into a Chinese family, so of course we are having fun eating our traditional foods like noodles for long life and a whole fish for prosperity. Even if you aren't celebrating Chinese New Year, stir fries are a great way to eat more vegetables. You can stir fry almost any vegetable and lean protein together. I have a beautifully seasoned wok now, but for years I made my stir fries in a regular skillet. As long as you can cook quickly, over high heat, you can make delicious stir fries at home. The great thing about stir fries is that they are endlessly customizable. You can do any combination of veggies and protein. 

The trick to a good stir fry is to cook everything very fast. You need to chop everything in small, even pieces, get your pan extremely hot and just keep it moving. Stir fries are the only thing where I make sure all my vegetables are chopped before I turn on the stove, Usually, I chop as I go. If you try that while stir frying, something will burn. So make it easy on yourself and chop everything first. You can even cook your rice before getting started. It's one less thing to worry about.

For a tough, woody vegetable like broccoli, it needs more than just touching the wok to cook through. I always give it a quick stir fry to brown it, then blanch it very quickly in the wok before cooking anything else. The tofu needs some prep work too. It needs to be pressed and drained before cooking and I like to give it a swirl of soy sauce and sesame oil before cooking.


Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry

2 crowns brocoli, separated into florets
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small onion, cut into strips
1 block tofu, rinsed, drained and cubed (I like to marinade mine with one tablespoon soy sauce and one teaspoon sesame seed oil. It adds flavor to the tofu and it keeps it from sticking.)
1/2 teaspoon of ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Get your skillet or wok extremely hot. I test mine by flicking drops of water at it. If it sizzles immediately, its good. Give it a good glug of canola oil, or something else that can take the heat and swirl pan to ensure coverage. Add broccoli to pan and move it around to keep it from burning. Add about a quarter cup of water, then cover with a tight fitting lid. Let broccoli cook until bright green and tender, about three minutes. Remove immediately and rinse out wok. Heat it back up, add more oil.

Add carrots and onion, stir it around for about a minute. Add tofu, continue to stir. Add minced garlic and ginger, then add broccoli back to the wok. Stir it again. Combine cornstarch with enough water to make a slurry, plus the leftover soy sauce. Add to wok, stir to make sure vegetables and tofu are covered. Serve immediately.

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Chicken and Biscuits for a Wintery Day

Not my car, thankfully.

Tuesday afternoon, when Snowpocalypse 2014 struck Atlanta, I spent five hours on Roswell road between Sandy Springs and Roswell. And I was one of the lucky ones. I drive a Prius, which was designed for stop and go traffic and has a computerized system that prevents your tires from spinning out. I slid a few times on Glenridge and Riverside, but never for more than a few seconds and I never lost control of my vehicle. And I still had a full tank of gas when I was finally safe in my driveway. I feel incredibly lucky.

Five hours in the car gives you lots of time to think. When I wasn't contemplating which gas stations would be a good zombie apocalypse shelter, I made a recipe in my head, because that's what I do. I wasn't able to make it that night, because my nerves were shot after that long behind the wheel. (I am a nervous driver and prone to panic attacks. I am a super exciting person to be in a car with.) But I did make this the next day. Cold weather makes me crave soups, stews and hot breads pulled freshly from the oven. In my head, as I navigated the icy conditions, I planned out a meal that included the best of all these things: Chicken and biscuits.

As with many of my recipes, I try to lighten things up a bit. So instead of a heavy cream sauce, or cream of condensed soup, this uses a light chicken broth thicken with corn starch. I loaded it up on veggies, including the super trendy kale that I always seem to have around these days. Skinless chicken thighs provide the protein.

Why chicken thighs? First, they hold up to stewing better than breast meat. I've never made a chicken stew with breast meat that wasn't tough and stringy. But thighs? They become melt in your mouth delicious when braised slowly at low temperatures. Thighs get a bad rap for being fatty, but pull the skin off and ounce for ounce, they are nearly indistinguishable from breasts. Plus, they just taste more…chickeny than breast meat. Trust me on this one. Do this with thighs.

The biscuits are where I don't try to be healthy. I use Michael Ruhlman's Chicago biscuit recipe to top this stew. Someone less lazy would roll these biscuits out and cut them properly before laying them down, but I think drop biscuits taste just as good and don't make such a mess of my countertops. The combination of tender, puffy biscuits and savory chicken and vegetables is really quite magical. Take the extra time to make your own biscuits.

Chicken and Biscuits

For the stew…

1 pack skinless, bone in chicken thighs
3 ribs celery, rinsed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped roughly
2-3 small, waxy potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cups leafy kale
6 cups chicken stock (I use Better than Bullion)
2 tablespoons cornstarch

For the biscuits…

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 ounces butter, chilled
6 ounces milk


In dutch oven, brown chicken thighs. Remove and set aside. Add chopped carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Once those are soft, add potatoes, mushrooms and kale. Add chicken back to the pot and cover with chicken broth. Place in a low oven (mine goes down to 270 degrees) and cover with heavy lid. Cook for two hours, or until chicken shreds easily with a fork and vegetables are tender. Mix cornstarch with enough water to make a slurry and add it to the pot. This will thicken your sauce.

For the biscuits, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in chilled butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Slowly beat in milk until mixture is pliable. I do all this in a food processor, so it's really fast. If you are rolling and cutting, let your biscuit dough chill for at least twenty minutes before rolling out. I'll do another post just on biscuits some day, but the secret here is keeping everything cold.

Top with generous spoonfuls of biscuit dough and and bake at 350 until brown. Serve immediately.

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Low Carb Cauliflower Puree

Cauliflower puree topped with
 steak & mushrooms

There are two schools of thought on cauliflower puree, the popular, low carb substitute for mashed potatoes. The first is to pretend your cauliflower really is mashed potatoes and drown it with butter and cream. The second is to man up, admit you are eating a vegetable, and prepare your cauliflower simply and lightly with just a little vegetable broth. I've done it both ways and yes, I prefer the second version. Cauliflower has a natural sweetness to it and it doesn't need much embellishment to be delicious. Besides, the idea of cauliflower puree is to eat healthy. It's silly to load it up with lots of saturated fats when you've got something so good for you. It soaks up your gravy or pan sauce just as well without the extras. I don't miss mashed potatoes when I make this at all.

I cook my cauliflower in vegetable broth to add extra flavor. You could use chicken if you prefer, or just plan salted water. I like to do my puree in my food processor, but I think a blender would work too.  I've tried mashing it with a fork, which works okay, but you aren't going to get a really smooth puree. It'll be mashed cauliflower chunks. I usually make this when I know I'll have a gravy or sauce to go with it, so I leave it plain. But if you want to experiment, I think roasted garlic, a handful of grated parmesan cheese or chopped fresh herbs would be amazing.

Cauliflower Puree 

1 head cauliflower, chopped (You can include the stems, along with the flowerettes.)
Enough vegetable broth to cover your cauliflower (About three cups)
Salt to taste


Chop cauliflower into smallish pieces. The smaller the pieces, the faster they will cook and the easier it will be to fit them in your food processor. But don't make yourself crazy over this step. Bring your broth to a simmer and add the cauliflower. Simmer until it's soft enough to break apart with a fork. With a slotted spoon, remove cauliflower and add to food processor. Pulse until it reaches your desired level of smoothness. I like mine with a few chunks still in it. If needed, use the remaining broth to thin out your puree. Sometimes it needs a little extra to get things moving. Serve immediately.  

Next up, I'm going to share how I did that steak with bourbon mushroom pan sauce.

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Vegetarian Tofu and Bok Choi Soup

If you are like me, after the excesses of the holidays, you need a nice, light soup to balance all those cookies, pies and turkeys you devoured. While I'm not a vegetarian, I do enjoy having many vegetarian recipes in my repertoire. Not only is it healthy, but it means I never have to worry about what I'm going to feed the many vegetarians and vegans in my life.

This soup is very simple and fast to assemble, but it does require a little pre-planning to drain the tofu properly. See, tofu is basically a big sponge. It'll absorb whatever flavors you want. And like any sponge, it needs to be wringed before it can absorb anything. The easiest way I've learned to do this is to cut my block of tofu into thick slabs, layer them between cleans towels and press between two cutting boards. To really squeeze out the packing water, I pile some heavy cans or pots on top. 30 minutes is enough to get most of the liquid out, but longer is fine.


Tofu and Bok Choi Soup

6 cups vegetable broth (chicken is fine if that's what you have and don't care if you're eating vegetarian)
2 slices raw ginger
1 clove garlic
2 dried chili peppers
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 head bok choi, chopped
1 carrot, shredded or julienned
1 red bell pepper, shredded or julienned
1 block tofu, rinsed and drained, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Heat six cups of broth until simmering. Add ginger, garlic, chili peppers and onion.  Let those steep in the broth for about fifteen minutes. Add bok choi, carrots, peppers and tofu and stir until tofu is heated through and vegetables are bright colored. Serve immediately.

Chili Lime Sweet Potatoes

I think I've mentioned my disdain for "traditional" sweet potato recipes, drenched in butter, sugar and marshmallows. Sweet potatoes are naturally flavorful, needing only a little salt and oil and a good roasting in a hot oven to bring them to life. That's not to say that they don't pair well with other flavors, but I'm definitely a "less is more" kinda gal when it comes to this vegetable.

I don't recall where I found this recipe, but it's been part of my repertoire for a couple years now. It's an easy side dish for the holidays, or a nice pairing with a couple pan fried pork chops and turnip greens during the week. Really, the possibilities are endless on this one. You've got the sweetness of the potatoes, the smoky chili powder and a hint of acid from the lime cutting through all of it. It's a lighter take on sweet potatoes, but still full of flavor.

The easiest way I've discovered to prepare this is with the help of a zip top bag. The diced, raw sweet potatoes go in, along with your chili powder, salt and some cooking oil. Squish everything around a bit and pour it out on a cookie sheet to roast. You can even do that step a day before, if you decide to make this for Thanksgiving, and keep the bag in the fridge until you are ready to roast.


Chili Lime Sweet Potatoes

3-4 peeled and diced sweet potatoes, enough to make about three cups
2 tablespoons chili powder (we like the Medium blend from Penzey's, but whatever chili powder you like is fine.)
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
juice of one lime

Peel and dice sweet potatoes. In a zip top bag or large bowl combine with chili powder, salt and cooking oil until potatoes are evenly coated. Spread on a cookie sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soft and the edges are crispy. Remove from oven and squeeze lime juice over the potatoes. Serve.

Easy No-Knead Dinner Rolls

I think every home cook out to have at least one seemingly impressive "I made this from scratch!" recipe in hand, especially around the holidays. Too many people just whack some crescent rolls out of a can for Thanksgiving, when its surprisingly easy to make dinner rolls the night, or even several days before. These simple rolls can be whipped up in just a few minutes, require no kneading (meaning no messy, floured counter tops) and can sit in the fridge for up to three days before you need them. In fact, they taste better the longer they sit.

This is an enriched dough, which means butter, eggs, sugar and milk are incorporated into the dough. This gives the yeast extra sugars to feed on, as well as imparting flavor to the dough. The longer the rise, the more time the yeast have to play, which means a slight sourdough note to your rolls. Much better tasting than the fake butter in the canned bread dough you usually buy.

No-Knead Dinner Rolls (Adapted from Joy of Cooking, sixth edition)

3 1/2 cups flour

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm water

1 packet active, dry yeast

1 egg 

Slowly heat milk on the stove, being careful to not let it come to a boil or simmer. Dissolve butter, sugar and salt completely in the warm milk. Add warm water and yeast. Let it sit for about five minutes to allow yeast to activate. Add beaten egg. Make a well in your flour and add milk mixture. Mix until flour is thoroughly incorporated. You can get about a dozen rolls out of this, by either shaping them by hand and dropping them into a nine inch round pan, or spooning dough into a lined muffin pan. Cover the pan loosely for at least two hours on the counter, or ideally overnight in the fridge. If you refrigerate overnight, allow them to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

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Basic Banana Bread (With Three Easy Variations)

I love banana bread. Not only is it a fun way of using up those black bananas sitting on your counter, but there are endless variations on it. This simple recipe from my vintage Joy of Cooking book is easy to adapt and personalize. Want something more tropical? Add a handful of shredded coconut. Want nuts? Chop up some pecans or walnuts and throw 'em in the batter. Feeling like Elvis today? Stir in some peanut butter and reap the health benefits of those healthy fats. Add chocolate chips to EVERYTHING.  Swap a half cup of whole wheat flour for the white. You take this banana bread recipe and you own it. Make it yours. A nice, simple banana bread recipe is the foundation of so many fancier sounding treats. Be creative and you'll soon have a recipe everyone will be begging for.

I've included my favorite variations here, but feel free to experiment on your own. 

Basic Banana Bread (Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, sixth edition)

1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3-4 very ripe bananas

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and banana, then gradually mix in the flour. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

As black as a middle school
teacher's heart

For Peanut Butter Banana Bread: Add 1/3 cup peanut butter to butter sugar mix. Continue recipe as directed. 

For Banana Pecan/Walnut Bread: Add 1/2 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts before pouring. Or add both. I won't tell.

For Coconut Banana Bread: Add 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg while sifting dry ingredients. Before pouring, add 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut flakes and 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips. 

I cannot stress enough how much abuse this recipe can take. I've already changed it from the original by using butter instead of shortening (What was Erma Rombauer's obsession with flavorless transfats anyways? Half her baked goods have it.) and swapping brown sugar in for white. Just keep the proportions of ingredients the same and enjoy eating your glorious missteps. 

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Holiday Baked Brie Appetizer

Like a boss.

It came to my attention recently that I don't have enough Thanksgiving themed recipes on this blog. My excuse is that I don't host this holiday very often, because we usually spend it with my in laws in Texas and they do all the cooking. But last year was a rare year when I got to host in my own home and tried out some new things.

One of them was this super fancy, yet surprisingly easy baked brie appetizer. It's a wheel of brie, a layer of jam, some pastry and crackers or apples for dipping. It looks extremely elegant, but took very little time to assemble. Most of my prep time was spent making my own pastry sheets, but you can skip that by buying frozen puff pastry dough. I've done this both ways and the frozen stuff is pretty darn close to homemade. If you do want to make your own, I used Michael Ruhlman's 3-2-1 Pie Dough recipe, from his Ratios cookbook (One of the best Christmas presents I've ever received. Thanks husband!)

This is the only thing I know how to draw.

For very simple dishes like this, the ingredients you use matter. That's why I made sure to pick out a brie wheel from Roswell Provisions, a really gorgeous wine, cheese and meat shop in Historic Roswell. I'm actually shocked I haven't written about them yet here, considering how often I stop by. Provisions stocks brie from Caly Road Creamy, a local, independent goat and cow's milk dairy. They make all their cheeses in house at the storefront in Sandy Springs. For the jam, I used one of the jars of red pepper jelly I always buy at the farmers market each summer. The combo of sweet red pepper jelly and creamy, melted brie is really just amazing. You need to try this.

Baked Brie 

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed OR pie dough
1 wheel of brie
1 tablespoon jam or jelly of your choice
One egg, beaten and thinned with a tiny bit of water.

Assembly is simple. Roll out your pastry dough. With a very sharp knife, cut out a circle a bit larger than your brie. Reserve the excess. That's for arts and crafts later. Spoon a bit of your jelly or jam onto the cut pastry and place your cheese on top. Fold over the pastry and flip your cheese over onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Use your pastry scraps to decorate the top. I did a very simple flower design, because cutting semi-straight lines is the best I can do. You could use a cookie cutter if you want a more complicated decoration. Use a pastry brush to brush on the egg wash, then pop it in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden brie. Served with sliced fruit and crackers, because you'll want to scoop up every bit of that gooey, melty cheese.

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Easy Braised Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

I realize that I haven't posted much Asian food lately. Which makes me sad, because my Asian recipes are some of our favorites.  Here's one that uses the late season japanese eggplants that are still popping up in our CSA box every week. It's a little sweet and as spicy as you want it to be. It's pretty easy, because it doesn't require any special stir frying skills or equipment like a wok. All you need is an oven, a casserole dish and a knife to chop with. It's a great side dish for grilled meats or part of a larger Asian inspired meal. I actually served it along side some tofu and veggie soup earlier this week as part of a vegetarian meal. Here's how to do it.


Easy Braised Eggplant in Garlic Sauce


2 japanese eggplants, cut into one inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
Chili-garlic hot sauce to your liking (We prefer Sriracha)

Combine ingredients in casserole dish. Add about a tablespoon of water, then cover with lid. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, or until eggplant is tender.

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Best Thanksgiving Recipes

I don't have many Thanksgiving recipes. I usually spend this holiday in east Texas with my in laws and they do all the cooking. That suits me just fine. Thanksgiving cooking is less about meal prep and more performance art, so it's nice to not have the pressure. But here are some recipes you might consider adding to your own table this year.  Several of them were already featured in my Fall Recipe feature last month, so feel free to peruse that for even more seasonal inspiration.

Pie is usually how most of us enjoy our pumpkin during the fall. But for those who can't get enough pumpkin flavored baked goods, here's a recipe for pumpkin muffins featuring rye flour.  Pumpkin Curry Soup would make a delicious, yet slightly untraditional starter course for the big meal.
Sweet potatoes are an important part of Thanksgiving. Here's a casserole combining sweet potatoes and orange juice for a treat that's delicious, but not as a heavy and gooey as the traditional one with the marshmallows.

Apple crisp is an easy, but still seasonal alternative to pumpkin pie for dessert. And it tastes good with ice cream.
That doesn't seem like very many recipes, does it? Looks like I have some work to do this month.

UPDATE: True to my word, I've written up more of my Thanksgiving appropriate recipes for your eating enjoyment.  It's still not a huge amount, but I'm feeling more respectable now.

If you are looking for a non-traditional take on sweet potatoes, try these Chili Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes. I guarantee you won't miss the butter and marshmallows.  For a bread course, check out these No Knead Dinner rolls. They are so easy, I make them for weeknight dinners. And if you need an easy to prepare, but super fancy looking appetizer, you definitely want to use my Holiday Baked Brie. It uses spicy pepper jelly for a surprising twist on a traditional appetizer.

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Beef and Crimini Mushroom Stew

Well, it looks like fall is well and truly here. I'm still wearing sandals outside, but they are with jeans instead of capris. In fact, I'm starting to wonder where I put all my work pants. It's going to be a little chilly standing on the playground tomorrow...

Yesterday was one of those wonderfully drizzly, gray days. It wasn't a bad enough storm that I worried about a dead branch busting up my fence again, but it was enough to make me want to burrow under a blanket on the couch and drink something warm. My husband calls it "Soup weather" and is demanding I make him some nearly every night this week. That might be excessive, considering all my recipes make roughly a gallon or so. There's only so many bowls of soup I can take for lunch every week. 

Last night's soup was Beef with Crimini Mushroom Stew, a really nice riff on the classic beef stew recipe I grew on. It's extra seasonal since this is Atlanta Beer Week, and this stew features some German beer whose name has fifteen syllables, bought at Ale Yeah! in Roswell. (I am not a beer person.)

I may not be a beer drinker, but I do love cooking with it. I think it's especially good for braising beef and I use it for stews and pot roasts all the time. 

Crimini mushrooms are probably my favorite mushroom and I look for excuses to add them to things. They sell at grocery stores as "Baby Bellas", because they are just a smaller version of the portabello mushroom. They are a nice, meaty mushroom that's easy to clean and always in stock at the grocery store. As you can imagine, they pair really well with beef. I add them to stews and frequently put them over steaks. 

This stew would work well in a crockpot. In fact, that's how I usually cook it. But I'm in love with my big, porcelain glazed, cast iron, dutch oven right now.  I made this stew in that and let it cook in my oven at a low temperature for several hours. Either method works just as well. One just looks prettier on the table. 

Beef and Cremini Mushroom Stew

1 pound beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 cups chopped and peeled carrots

2 cups chopped potatoes (I like a waxy red potato)

1 cup cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 small can tomato sauce

2 cups (16 ounces) of a medium body beer you like

1 table spoon "Better than Bullion" OR 1 and 1/2 cubes of bullion, beef flavor

1 table spoon cornstarch

In bottom of dutch oven, heat up a couple table spoons of canola oil. In batches, brown stew meat.  Salt it really well. Reserve. Add chopped veggies, add meat back. Salt everything. Add tomato sauce, beer and one cup of water. Cover and place in pre-heated 250 degree oven. Braise for at least three hours, checking periodically to see if more water is needed. When ready to serve, remove from oven and add bullion. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and add to stew. Stir until dissolved. Check for salt and serve. 

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Easy Pumpkin Rye Muffins

I made these delicious muffins for the tailgating party I went to on Saturday. There's something about fall that makes us crave pumpkin. It's sweet, but not cloying and tastes wonderful in baked goods. I actually think pie is the least of the possible applications for pumpkin in your kitchen. Muffins, quick breads and soups are far superior to plain old pie as a pumpkin treat. Most recipes add so much sugar that it drowns the natural, nuanced sweetness of the pumpkin. It's unnecessary.

I adapted this recipe from my old reliable baking cookbook: The Joy of Cooking, sixth edition (1975). This cookbook was passed to me from my mother after I was married and I started getting interested in cooking again. She had the newer edition and didn't need this one cluttering up her kitchen anymore. It's a really solid cookbook, the best I've ever owned and I turn to it almost every time I bake.

There's a couple things I find superior about it. First, the recipes have less sugar than modern recipes. Seriously, it's amazing how much our palates have changed. But before you think these are "healthier" recipes, the second big difference is the amount of butter. There's considerably more.

But the final big change is the serving sizes. "Joy's" chocolate chip cookie recipe is supposed to make 2 dozen cookies. I feel lucky if I squeeze more than a dozen out of that bowl. Why? Because my idea of what the proper size for a cookie is is vastly different than Irma Rombauer's. I make them too big.

Anyways, this recipe came from that book, with a couple changes. The first was substituting a portion of the white flour for rye. Since my husband was diagnosed as a Type II diabetic, I've both cut down on the amount of baking I do and started experimenting with lower glycemic flours. I've been having good results with rye slipped into cookies and hearty quick breads recently, so hopefully there will be posts with more rye flour recipes. The rye is unnoticeable, except as an extra layer of heartiness to the muffin. The second big change was that I didn't think there was quite enough pumpkin in the recipe as is. So I simply replaced the liquids in this with more pumpkin, bringing it up to a full 15 ounces, or one can's worth. It makes the recipe really burst with pumpkin flavor and simplifies the directions by giving one less thing to measure. I further tweaked things by cutting the sugar back, because it was just too sweet and swapped half the white sugar for brown. The flavorless shortening is replaced by an equal amount of butter.

The result is a complex, hearty pumpkin muffin for grownups. Not too sweet and lightly spiced, it cries out for a pat of butter when it's warm from then oven, but stands on it's own as a dessert or breakfast treat. It's a pumpkin muffin that actually tastes like pumpkin. Next time I make this, I'll probably add some mix ins like dark chocolate chips or chopped pecans. Someone who is less picky about cooked fruit might like raisins.

Easy Pumpkin Rye Bread

1 1/4 cups white flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 brown sugar (I prefer the dark kind, but light brown is okay, I guess)
1/2 (one stick) cup of butter, softened
2 eggs
15 oz. (1 can) of plain pumpkin puree

Sift together flours, spices and reactants. Beat until light and fluffy the butter and sugar (this is when my stand mixer gets a work out).  Add the eggs one at a time, pausing the scrape down and ensure they are mixed in well. Add the can of pumpkin, scrape down and ensure everything is beaten together. Remove bowl from mixer and add 1/3 of flour mixture. Fold in gently, then repeat until flour is just barely mixed in. Over mixing will result in tunneling, which still tastes good, but looks silly. Portion out with an ice cream scoop into lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, or about 12-15 minutes. Or, if you want pumpkin bread, pour into greased loaf pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes.

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Fall Recipes Round Up

I noticed my old recipes featuring fall ingredients have been getting lots of hits off Google recently. It's that time of year, I suppose. So to make it easier for you to find my best fall recipes, I've gone ahead and rounded them up into one post for you.

Greens are definitely a fall/winter vegetable in my head. Here's my recipe for easy sautéed turnip greens  with poached eggs. This is a really easy week night dinner. Poached eggs would also go well with this recipe for perfect collard greens.

I haven't made this baked applesauce oatmeal in a long time. I should really dust this one off and make it again soon. But it's a great make ahead breakfast for any day of the week. I used to pack in small glass containers to eat at my desk at work. I've also got a great recipe for gluten free applesauce oatmeal muffins that's worth trying even if you don't an issue with gluten.

If your tomato plants are still producing, you can try your hand at a traditional southern favorite: fried green tomatoes.

We're going apple picking in north Georgia tomorrow, so I'll definitely be using this recipe for apple crisp soon. Fruit crisps are always an easy dessert.

It's pumpkin season! You should totally make this delicious pumpkin curry soup. It also goes well with butternut squash... If you're really adventurous, you can make your own pumpkin puree! Or you can buy a can and just make the pumpkin bread recipe in that link. I won't mind.

I hope these fall recipes inspire you to cook more with fresh, seasonal produce right now. Fall is probably my favorite time of year and the delicious fall treats certainly help with the love. Enjoy!

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Easy Spinach Alfredo Pizza

I just finished up the first week of school, (My schedule is different because I work at a private school.) and felt celebratory. What better way to celebrate than to host a small dinner party? Homemade pizza is such an easy way to entertain, especially on a Friday night when you are exhausted from explaining to autistic fourth graders that stalls in the bathroom are one per customer. (Don't even ask. Seriously.) So pizza it is!

Because it's Friday, and going back to work after a summer at home sleeping in exhausts me, I'm taking a shortcut. While I can make a totally rocking pizza crust, I grabbed pre-made dough at Publix. We like the multigrain. It's tasty without being heavy. Most grocery stores have what I call "the pizza station", which will contain pre-made dough, crusts, jarred sauce and other things you can use to build a pizza at home. I also grabbed a bag of spinach and some shredded mozzarella and a wedge of asiago cheese.

 I pulled it as flat as I could to make the base. Can you see the sunflower seeds? That's multi-grain goodness right there.

I sweated some onions and garlic from our CSA in olive oil, then added the entire bag of baby spinach and a big pinch of salt. I turned down the heat and put the lid on to let the spinach cook down. When I make garlic spinach like this as a side dish, I usually use two bags of spinach, because spinach is delicious. The cooked spinach goes on top, with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese.

 
 The whole thing went into a 500 degree oven until the crust was crisp and the cheese was brown and bubbly. Then I added the grated asiago and popped it back in for a few minutes to let that melt. It was ready to serve after I sprinkled on some chopped parsley and savory from our CSA.

We ate it with heirloom tomatoes chopped and dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped savory and lemon verbena, all from our CSA. (Yeah, the CSA thing comes in handy.) Dessert was banana "ice cream" made by freezing over ripe bananas and pureeing them in my food processor until it had the consistency of soft serve. We topped that with nutella. We had a nice bottle of wine and some nice craft beers the staff at Ale Yeah in Roswell helped us pick out.

So what was the verdict? Well, everything but one slice of pizza was eaten. So if you're looking for a fun, casual dinner party after week at work, make a pizza!

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