Cooking Food

Chicken with Fennel and Grapes

May 25, 2012 – 9:20 PM

Recently, I read Gary Taube’s piece on obesity in Newsweek (for a consolidated summary of the article, read Laura Pappas’ post here). It’s good; you should read it. It reminded of what I already knew: refined sugars, bad; meat and leafy green vegetables, good. But after having spent the last week eating jam, I needed a reminder.

I’m not very draconian about avoiding refined sugars, partly because I try to practice moderation, but mostly because I like how it tastes. And you’ll never be able to save a bowl of french fries with parmesan and truffle oil from my rabid consumption. Still, I’m at the mortifying age where friends on Facebook starting to talk about things like cholesterol and blood pressure, so it’s probably time to up the diligence a bit on that end.

All this to say that I feel that for having shared the jam recipe with you, I need to do penance for contributing to the world’s obesity epidemic. (I am reminded of a time in business school where we had to sit through a bunch of presentations on projects we did for a pharmaceutical company. I came in late and Kim, one of my classmates, kept talking about OB City. I was tired and recovering from a spirited evening (meaning an evening that involved imbibing spirits) and getting more confused as she went on. Finally, I leaned over and whispered to another classmate, “Where the heck is OB City?!?” whereupon he looked at me like I was crazy, and said, “It’s obesity.”)

But there’s good news: there is such thing as healthy and delicious! Because I won’t compromise on delicious. So here’s an easy recipe I put together with things that came in our CSA delivery: chicken with fennel and grapes. Salty and crispy with a tangy sweet kick — yum.

So, grab some chicken — here I used bone-in thighs, since I like the size and how they stay tender and juicy. I was cooking for a crowd, so you might use less chicken. Because eating this much by yourself would probably land you in OB City.

Season both sides generously with salt and paprika — take a look at the picture above for a sense of how the paprika should be distributed. Lay them in a baking dish, skin side up, maximizing the surface area that’s exposed on top.

Slice up some fennel bulbs into thin pieces (save the fronds for another use; I put them atop salads or in my Eggs Benedict California), and nestle it under the chicken.

Pull off a handful of grapes, and nestle under the chicken, placing a few on top. You can see in the picture below a better view of how I sliced the fennel.

I had some excess fennel and grapes so I put them on top of the chicken.

Stick it in the oven, bake, baste to make the skin crispy, and serve! I served it with plain quinoa and some simple broccoli.

CHICKEN WITH FENNEL AND GRAPES

Ingredients

  • 4 pieces skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 1 cup of red grapes
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp paprika

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, and season with salt and paprika on both sides. Put into a baking dish skin side up.

Slice the fennel bulb into 1/4 inch slices, saving the fronds for a future use. Separate grapes from stems and nestle bulbs and grapes under and around chicken.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Baste chicken skins with juices and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

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Cooking Food

Strawberry-Raspberry Dessert Jam

May 22, 2012 – 3:20 PM

 

Things have picked up for me on the work front and I am kind of embarrassed to even mention that I might have a food blog. The days have been frenzied and though I have had the luxury most of this past week to work from home, I am ashamed to say that I have eaten the following things for lunch:
  • One of my husband’s Men’s vitamins
  • Frozen dinosaur chicken nuggets
  • Burnt (because I wasn’t paying attention) fried eggs
  • Jam
Yup, jam, like straight. off. the. spoon.
The way I ended up with this jam is that my friend Leesa and I spent a morning hiking the canyon in our neighborhood a while back, and she started talking about the jam that her grandmother used to make. Strawberries are going strong right now in our area, so we decided afterwards to head to the store to get a bunch. If this were a reality show I’m sure the ratings would be really high on this episode where we talked about the grocery store strawberry sales.

So we bought strawberries and made this jam.

Did I mention Leesa, raised Mormon, is my personal tutor on Mormon swearing? Frickin’ frickster!

Motherfather this is good jam!

And so easy. Cut up berries til you get 4 cups worth.  I used a 50/50 mix of strawberries and raspberries.

 Toss them with pectin and sugar.

I know, my pictures are always blurry after I type “sugar”.

Boil for a minute and then put into a glass jam jar.

My family went through three jars in about as many days. This works really well if you have tart berries too — I like my jam a little tangy, which is why I mixed in raspberries.

It is fabulous as jam. As a topping on ice cream. As a topping on strawberries (I really did that). And of course, all by itself (nutritional value not provided).

Now the recipe:

STRAWBERRY-RASPBERRY DESSERT JAM (adapted from ANY-BERRY JELLY featured in August 2011 FamilyFun magazine)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups crushed raspberries
  • 2 cups diced and crushed (use a potato masher) strawberries
  • 1 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3.5 TBSP powdered pectin

Preparation

Put berries in a large, heavy pot and mix with sugar and pectin. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

Let berries cook at a boil for about a minute, and then ladle into jars, leaving an inch of headroom for expansion if freezing. Cap, cool to room temperature and eat it like there is no tomorrow.

Makes 3-4 cups.

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Baking Food

Whole Wheat Strawberry Muffins

May 12, 2012 – 9:57 AM

This week, I showed my hairdresser a picture of Jennifer Lopez and ended up with Martha Stewart.

Then, true to form, I had the urge to bake like Martha, but healthier.

Curses, Hairdresser, why do you forsake me?!?

I thought these would be good to take along on our upcoming camping trip. You know, to appease the bears. Remind me not to wear my bacon perfume when we go camping.

Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

I know these pictures are bad but it was late.

Then in the bowl of a mixer, cream and butter and sugar, and then beat in two eggs, one at a time.

Ok, I might have had a drink or two.

Beat in the dry mixture and greek yogurt, alternating half of each at a time. Fold in the strawberries.

Scoop the mixture into 12 muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes. If you want to make them prettier, sprinkle them with some raw sugar before you put them in the oven. I adapted this from an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, using whole wheat pastry flour, subbing out nutmeg for allspice and adding in strawberries.

Whole Wheat Strawberry Muffins (adapted from Simple Spiced Whole-Wheat Muffins in the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 TBSP baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups greek yogurt
  • (optional) 1 TBSP raw sugar

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup sugar on medium speed til creamy and uniform, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, til combined. Beat in vanilla.

Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in a third of the flour mixture, followed by half the greek yogurt. Repeat with the remaining dry mixture and yogurt.

Scoop batter into baking cups and sprinkle raw sugar on top if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool for 5 minutes and then let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before serving.

Makes 12 muffins.

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Food Lifestyle

What You Said: Your Favorite Chefs

May 7, 2012 – 7:21 PM

What I like best about my first giveaway was that it gave me a chance to get to know my readers better. Some of you drop me a line once in a while, or leave a friendly comment; thank you — I love that! But I understand that many of you have lives to lead, people to feed and careers to advance — so I appreciate the time that you spent in answering the question in the giveaway. I’m not sure how many of you love numbers as much as I do but I’m a data dork and I’m not afraid to admit it. Here’s what you said:

The biggest category (22%) was Other Celebrity Chef — in this bucket are mentions of a myriad of talented chefs like molecular gastronomy pioneer Grant Achatz, master of Mexican cuisine Rick Bayless, Hawaiian specialist Alan Wong and the woman who needs no introduction, Julia Child. There were a large number of wonderful chefs mentioned here, but in the interest of making the graph legible, I lumped those with fewer than three votes in this category. The takeaway: our readership community has a refined and open-minded palate. Please feel free to invite me along on your next expensive culinary excursion. I would very much enjoy dining with you.

It seems that many of you are married to men who are handy in the kitchen. Given an open-ended choice, 17% of you chose to stay home and have your husbands do the cooking. Please reveal details on how you were able to procure such gastronomically gifted spouses.

Mothers and grandmothers followed closely, with Bobby Flay (7%) emerging as the leader of the celebrity chef pack. The other obvious conclusion from the data is that I am personally more popular (4%) than Rachael Ray (3%) and Masaharu Morimoto (3%), despite never even having been invited to participate in the studio audience of a cooking show.

I also enjoyed exploring the Male Celebrity category, where some of you indicated you would choose a T-shirt-optional Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Gosling or Zac Efron (over 18; I checked). One person chose Martin Luther King, Jr. and though I didn’t find any references online to his culinary prowess, the company would more than compensate for that.

Thanks for participating; can’t wait to learn more!

 

 

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Shop and Do Good: 31BITS

May 3, 2012 – 11:14 PM

 

Photo credit: 31BITSAll photos in this post courtesy of 31BITS

I’ve been squealing a lot lately, which I realize is unprofessional unless you’re a pig, but I did it again when I discovered 31BITS. This post isn’t about food, but it’s about helping people get food. That’s important.

I had the privilege of meeting Jessie and Alli from the gorgeous 31BITS jewelry line at a recent event, and these young women have a noble mission: to give women in Northern Uganda who were displaced by war an opportunity to overcome poverty by providing income, education and holistic care.  You can read more about the company’s story here, and watch the video below to see how this amazing company works.

To top it off, the jewelry is stunning. And versatile. And made of 100% recycled paper beads.

It’s for a good cause, I said, grabbing a handful of necklaces and bracelets.

The first handful was for me, because I’m like that. The second bunch: Mother’s Day, teachers’ gifts, upcoming birthdays.

You can get a bracelet for as as low as $10. Today I’m wearing the Starboard bracelet and I can’t stop looking at my wrist. When I wear the Camellia necklace in Mint Green, people are blinded by its glory (It’s a figure of speech. Nobody went blind from it. Still, it’s beautiful.) .

So go on, share this, spread the word and mouse on over to 31BITS to help make the world a lovelier place.

 

 

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Cooking Food Popular

Guest Post: Creamy Zucchini Soup

April 30, 2012 – 7:42 PM

My wedding anniversary’s coming up, so I just had a flashback to the first time I was going to cook for my mother-in-law, and my then-fiance just let it slip that his mother “used to run a cooking school in France.” Oh. Thanks for letting me know, because the last time I trained at the Cordon Bleu was never.

Needless to say, my mother-in-law is an amazing cook. I’ll be putting forks on the table or something and then turn around to her making a flambe of some sort that, had I tried, would have resulted in loss of eyebrows and hair. She’s also a well-known art journalist, whereas I am a famous…uh, let me get back to you on that one.

So when she said she’d share a recipe for my blog, I was excited. And she has shared one that even I, trained only by cookbooks and the seat of my pants, can execute.

*  * *

GUEST POST: MY MOTHER-IN-LAW GEORGINA

Here is an addition to the SOUP KITCHEN that is so darn easy that it seems unfair, if not outright EVIL. I mean, how can you possibly produce a delicious soup with just TWO ingredients? (Not counting water, salt and pepper). And one you can have hot or cold?

My family has forbidden me to say “this is soooo easy” so let me just say, this is not difficult. Not even a tiny bit difficult. In fact, a child could make it. And kids generally love it!

Ingredients for four:

Three average size zucchini (we in Britain call them courgettes, which must be French originally, showing how multicultural we are…)

three squares of Kiri, or Philadelphia cream cheese

water, salt, pepper

Er- that’s it.

 

Wash the zucchini, top and tail them, slice into one inch rounds, just cover with water, season, boil until soft.

Use a wand blender to liquidize until smooth with the cream cheese (I use low fat but of course it tastes better with full fat). Adjust seasoning.

That’s it! You can serve hot, sprinkled with chopped chives, basil or parsley; or cold in small glasses as a pre-starter.

* * *

Thanks Georgina! And before we close I just had to share one of the shots that I took. As you’ve probably guessed, I do my own photography and styling (with lighting courtesy of the sun). I was trying to unwrinkle the cloth under the soup but it was stubborn, so I tried sliding myself under the table stretching out the fabric, holding an ab-crunch position to stay out of camera view, while using the remote function on the camera. It didn’t work out so well.

CREAMY ZUCCHINI SOUP

Ingredients

  • 3 zucchini
  • 3 oz cream cheese
  • water (enough to cover zucchini in pot)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Slice the tops and tails off the zucchini and cut into 1 inch rounds. Place in a pot and fill with water enough to just cover the zucchini. Season with a dash of salt and boil until soft, about 15 minutes.

Using a blender, blend the zucchini and water mixture until smooth. Add in the cream cheese and blend to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

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Baking Food

Dolphin Cake Pops (and a Cake Pop Trick)

April 27, 2012 – 7:52 PM

What are the chances that a bird poops on me twice in 30 minutes? And what are the chances that that happens AND the Winklevii become VCs? 100% apparently. (Though, having lived through a couple of fundraises, I would say in general that the likelihood of getting funding is generally somewhere between the Winklevii becoming VCs and getting pooped on twice in 30 minutes.)

It’s enough to make you want to eat a cake pop.

The girls and I made some recently. And I discovered a new trick. See, the candy coating hardens fairly quickly into something that requires a hammer and chisel to remove. So this time, I put the candy coating in a little ziplock baggie, and then slid that into a mug, folding the mouth of the bag over the top of the mug. Did you know bags had mouths?

So what’s cool about this is that you after you’re done with the coating for the day, you can just pull the ziplock out of the mug, zip it up, and plunk it back in when you’re ready to work with it again. This time, I added in a teaspoon of shortening to help the coating go on a little smoother.

Maybe everyone else already knew this.

Anyway, we made dolphins. Bakerella has great detailed instructions on how to make pops on her site, but here are the basics. First you bake a cake. Let it cool. Then, crumble it into a large bowl.

You may have noticed above that I grew two more hands to do this more efficiently.

Next, squish the cake together with some frosting. Again, see Bakerella for expert advice, but if you use canned frosting, use no more than 3/4 of a can or the pops will be too slippery to stay on the sticks.

Now go to your local police station before you wash your hands and see what happens.

Next, shape them into balls…or in this case, dolphin-ish things. Stick them in the fridge to chill overnight.

When the dolphin-ish things are firm, take them out five or so at a time and dip. We decorated these with just candy coating and edible pen.

Maybe you can’t tell these are dolphins. Some of them have tumors. Our waters are very polluted nowadays.

Some look like T-Rex. I believe he was an ancestor.

Oh, whatever. Cake pops are for eating. So we ate them.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to enter the *nora fleming* giveaway! You get an autographed rectangular platter (you will faint from its cuteness) plus three adorable minis that will change your life and make you lose weight.

 

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Lifestyle

Nora Fleming (Autographed!) Giveaway!

April 25, 2012 – 6:58 AM

Squeal! I’m doing a giveaway and I’m giddy because — gasp — it’s a nora fleming giveaway! And if you’re looking for a Mother’s Day gift, this will arrive just in time.

Do you know someone who has the perfect decor for every occasion? A tasteful starfish for the seaside barbeque. A well-worn catcher’s mitt for the team party. A festive sombrero for the Mexican fiesta.

I was not that woman.

Until I met Janice. Janice can tie bows and wrap presents the Tiffany way. Janice does not wear sweatpants. Janice introduced me to nora fleming.

And now, with nora fleming‘s gorgeously adorable and life-changing platters, I am that woman (but I wear sweatpants). How it works: you get a nora fleming platter. Or three. You insert an appropriate hand-painted mini (they’re adorable little ceramic pieces) into it to transform your classic platter into an occasion-specific serving dish. Your friends are impressed and kowtow in admiration.

And better yet, the winner of this giveaway gets an autographed nora fleming rectangular platter plus three adorable minis (bluebird, apple and butterfly) — an $80 value. Except add a bunch more to that because it’s personally autographed by Nora.

 

Here’s how it works:

  • You have up to 5 chances to win. Just follow the Rafflecopter instructions below to complete your entries.
  • The giveaway will end on Friday, May 4 at midnight Eastern Standard Time.
  • The winner will be randomly selected through Rafflecopter and notified by email after the drawing. The winner will squeal.

Good luck!

 

read more »

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Cooking Food

Eggs Benedict California

April 24, 2012 – 12:00 AM

I’m ashamed to say that I missed National Eggs Benedict Day, but I am recovering from a malady for which I am taking Mucinex DM for cough and chest congestion. And though I know there is nothing hotter than hearing a woman talk about taking Mucinex DM, I will move along to the recipe at hand.

I was inspired by eggs benedict (can you say eggs benedict without saying Eggs Benedict Arnold? I wish Benedict Arnold were Patrick Henry though — you know, “Give me liberty or give me eggs”) but wanted something a little more lively. The sharp and creamy taste of the goat cheese is a nice complement to the carmelized tomatoes and lemony hollandaise — it just works.

First, make the hollandaise sauce — I like this easy version that you make in a blender.  This version is for 4-6 servings, so quarter it if you’re just cooking for yourself. Set it aside.

Toast both sides of an English muffin. While they’re hot, spoon some crumbled goat cheese on them like so:

Next, poach two eggs. Do not poach any giraffes in Africa. If you’re not sure how to poach eggs, click here for instructions.  When the eggs are done, lift them out of the water with a slotted spoon, let it drain (I wiped the bottom of my spoon with a dish towel to get rid of excess water) and place them on top of the goat cheese while hot, so the cheese begins to melt.

Hm, looks like I stopped taking pictures after that. I blame Mucinex DM.

Slice some sweet tomatoes (I used campari cocktail tomatoes, but some nice big cherry tomatoes would work nicely too), heat up a splash of oil in a pan, and put the tomatoes face down in the hot oil for about a  minute, til they start to caramelize a bit. Flip them over and let them cook on the other side for another minute. Remove the tomatoes from the pan and spoon them over the eggs and muffins.

Slice up half an avocado, and put it on top. Drizzle your lemony hollandaise sauce over everything. I had some fennel fronds so I snipped some leaves over it all for garnish. Enjoy!

EGGS BENEDICT CALIFORNIA

Begin with the hollandaise sauce; recipe found here. This recipe makes 4 servings, so adjust accordingly depending on your serving size. Set it aside.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 English muffin, halves separated (for a gluten-free version, use gluten-free muffins)
  • 4 tsp crumbled goat cheese
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 3 campari cocktail tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 tsp oil
  • (optional) fennel leaves for garnish
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Toast the English muffin. While toasting, poach eggs (for instructions on poaching, click here).

Remove English muffin halves from the toaster and place cranny-side up. Sprinkle goat cheese across the faces, and top with poached eggs, one on each half.

Heat the oil for a minute and place the tomato halves cut-side down in the oil for a minute until it begins to caramelize. Flip the tomatoes and allow to cook for another minute on the other side.

Slice the avocado half into long slices lengthwise and place between the eggs. Garnish with fennel leaves if desired, drizzle hollandaise sauce on top and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 1 serving.

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Cooking Food Lifestyle

Guest Post: Super Lucky Charms

April 17, 2012 – 10:10 AM

I have a special treat for you today: a guest blogger! Richard from HumorOutcasts was a high school classmate of mine. When he mentioned that he would be willing to eat any of the dishes I describe on this site if I paid him $100, I was touched.  He assured me that, though not a professional chef, he has a superb mastery of the culinary arts, and I believed him.

I give you: Richard.

GUEST POST BY RICHARD SPALL OF HUMOROUTCASTS

Sandi and I are great friends. We never let any more than 24 years or so go between conversations, even if the last one might have been: “Hey, um, did you drop this pencil?” So when she mentioned that I might be able to write a guest spot on her blog, I jumped at the chance. Yes, I am professional writer who has earned over $20 over his lifetime, but I didn’t think I should rest on my laurels. So I wrote up one of my favorite recipes and told Sandi I had something for her to post.

Me: “I’ve got something to post for my guest blog spot!”

Sandi: “What? Oh, I was just being polite. That’s not necessary.”

Me: “But I spent 12 minutes on it.”

Sandi: “No… really, it’s quite all right.”

But once I explained that I was a professional writer, whose work can be found at the insanely popular HumorOutcasts, soon there was an awkward silence…followed by lot of crying and apologizing, which soon became begging. And finally, once I agreed to stop crying and never bother her again, she agreed to post my recipe.

When it comes to my own library of recipes, I like to focus on quality over quantity. Today I’m going to share with you one of my favorites:

SUPER LUCKY CHARMS

Ingredients

*  Box of Lucky Charms (preferably one with some kind of toy inside, or at least a maze or some trivia on the back)
*  Package of Pre-cooked bacon (why not?)

Preparation
Open the package of bacon and separate 2 slices of bacon. Cook those first so that you can eat bacon as soon as possible. Then cook the remaining package of bacon and eat that. Now you are ready for the main course.

The average box of Lucky Charms maintains a ratio of “tasty marshmallow stuff”-to-“brown healthy stuff” of about 1-to-4. This simply will not do.You might be lucky to have a bowl of these, but wouldn’t you rather be “super lucky”?

Get the largest bowl in the house. Measure out 4 cups of marshmallow bits. Pour them into the bowl. Measure out 4 cups of the healthy brown stuff. Throw three of the cups into your dog’s food bowl or the bird feeder. Put the remaining cup in the bowl. Mix thoroughly to dilute brown stuff.

You probably remember the leprechaun saying “pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers”! Turns out that the lineup is now pink hearts, red balloons, orange shooting stars, rainbows, maybe that’s a horseshoe… and I don’t know what that yellow one is, but it’s magically delicious. It doesn’t matter. Alternatively, you could separate out the marshmallow types and use an equal number of each… but if you did that, what on earth is wrong with you?

Add milk at your preference. Season with powdered sugar to taste.

1 serving.

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