Oatmeal Cookies – Welcome Home

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Alisa

We’re back from a two week vacation that spanned Moab, UT, to the northern most part of Washington, where from the top of a mountain, I could see Canada. We drove all the way to Seattle in a rented RV with two of our best friends and our little redhead. Once we were in Seattle, the worst case scenario happened to our traveling partners – a death in the family – and they had to drive the RV home early and we booked a flight for later in the week to come home on our own. We sorely missed their company but had an amazing time with the friends we went to see – John and Courtney and their amazing children. They graciously welcomed us into their home and gave up their beds and their schedules and the order of how they normally go about life and made us feel so welcome, we felt more honored than family! I just feel so lucky to have such friends in my life. Olive has such wonderful people to look up to and strive to become.

I will post a LOT of recipes in the coming days about our trip and mostly recipes INSPIRED by our trip. Recipes that immediately come to mind will be: Raspberry Pavlova, Chocolate Cayenne Mousse, a traditional crab boil, the ultimate potato salad, and a traditional poutine, just to name a few. I can’t wait to share these recipes with you.

But today is about coming home. Coming home to familiarity, to the warmth of being in your own space with the view out the window you remember (let’s not talk about what our yard looks like after 2 weeks of neglect). When I think about coming home, I think about oatmeal cookies. They scream comfort and familiarity and nourishment. And the recipe today is kind of perfect. The original recipe card I had is from a generic set of cookie recipes that came in a funny little box that just says COOKIES. Each card is a different recipe. It’s a pretty fun jumbo-sized deck of cards for Olive to play with and I can imagine when she gets older, picking out a card for our weekend baking adventures. I modified the recipe because it seemed extremely void of liquid. The original recipe didn’t call for any egg, so if you want to leave it out, know that you’ll just have to work the dough a little more so that it holds together because it’s pretty crumbly. Either modification is good, but the addition of the egg makes a softer fluffier cookie, which worked out really well for my gap-toothed toddler.

Enjoy being home. Everything is fleeting.

Oatmeal and Golden Raisin Cookies
makes 2 dozen cookies

1 1/4 cups AP flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 TBS boiling water
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray well with spray oil.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, oats, coconut, and raisins. Make a well in the center.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and syrup over low heat. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in boiling water; stir immediately into the butter.

Pour the butter mixture into the well in the flour mixture. With a fork, mix thoroughly. Mix in the egg until well incorporated.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Cool a few minutes on the sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with milk.

Summer Corn Chowder – perfect for a rainy day

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Alisa

I hope you’re getting rain. We got a little bit last night and it’s threatening to rain, today. The clouds are hanging low and the wind is a cool 65 and I feel for a minute that it could be late September instead of the middle of July. I live for cold weather and I’m still a little perplexed by why I live here, in the desert. I grew up around here – maybe that’s it. We long for things unfamiliar or for the relief we feel on the rare occasions we get a break from our usual reality. I hear people in Seattle long for the beach. I bet they don’t long for the desert, though!

Another comforting thing about food is the ability to transport myself into a feeling or a mood simply by the dish I prepare. Caprese salad makes me long for summer nights, spice cakes make me wish for Christmas, chocolate chip cookies make me think of home. A warm bowl of chowder with a thick slice of cornbread and a cold slab of butter puts me in the mood for a cloudy day and cooler temps. So, in the middle of the heat of the summer, on this cooler week with cloudy days and threatening rain, let’s make a memory with a warm bowl of corn chowder and pray the rain stays a while.

Summer Corn Chowder and the Perfect Cornbread*
serves 6

4 teaspoons bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
2 ribs celery,cut into 1/2-inch dice (3/4 cup)
8 sprigs thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock
3 ears yellow corn, kernels removed (about 2 1/2 cups)
5 ounces small fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 poblano chile, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 1/2 cups half-and-half

Place bacon in small stockpot over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until bacon is deep golden brown and all the fat has been rendered, about 4 minutes. Remove bacon with slotted spoon, transfer to paper towel, and set aside. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat.

Add onions, celery, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste to stockpot; cook over medium-low heat until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 15 minutes.

Add corn, potatoes, and chile; cook until potatoes are tender, 10-20 minutes. Remove and discard thyme. Add half-and-half, and simmer until soup is hot. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, and garnish with the reserved crisp bacon pieces.

*recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living

We only make one cornbread recipe, anymore. The New Best Recipe is a wonderful encyclopedia of how to make every recipe basically, perfect. We love this book and it never steers us wrong. It’s quite bulky, but all the recipes are tested extensively and done in a myriad of ways, and they give a background as to why the recipes work. It’s very trust-worthy and a definite go-to in times of need of a solid recipe! Their Golden Northern Cornbread is our go-to cornbread recipe. It’s light, fluffy, moist and slightly sweet. Holds together beautifully to be a base for your bowl of soup, or just on the side with some cold butter.

The Best Golden Cornbread
makes 9 servings

2 tbs unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup (5 ounces) yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1 cup (5 ounces) AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup milk

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan with butter.

Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Push the dry ingredients up the sides of the bowl to make a well.

Crack the eggs into the well and stir lightly with a wooden spoon, then add the buttermilk and milk. Stir the wet and dry ingredients quickly until almost combined. Add the melted butter and stir until the ingredients are just combined.

Pour the batter into the greased pan (we actually love to use our cast-iron skillet for this recipe). Bake until the top of the cornbread is golden brown and lightly cracked and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool slightly, 10 minutes. Cut and serve warm!

Greek Yogurt and Almond Butter Cheesecake

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Alisa

I made this cheesecake last weekend for the 4th of July festivities. By festivities, I mean meals. Olive has been consuming a lot of yogurt lately (plain, full fat awesome stuff sweetened with a little bit of honey) and I did one of those “I thought we were out” mistakes and bought a huge container to come home and realize we already had a huge container. I hate wasting and so I have been putting Greek yogurt in a lot of stuff , lately. This morning I made yogurt and oatmeal waffles (really good, I’ll post about those, soon) and when I ran across a recipe that called for 2 cups of yogurt in a cheesecake, I knew I’d found my way to not waste! Oh, how humble of me to eat a cheesecake in order to not waste yogurt. It’s a hard life.

This is the no-bake type of cheesecake I grew up eating. I love the kind you bake and there’s a place for that (that place is anywhere) but for these super hot summer days, a lighter, fluffier, doesn’t-heat-up-your-kitchen dessert is the way to go. And using those strawberries I almost ALWAYS let rot on my counter is a plus, too! For the topping, I chopped up almost-bad strawberries, a few blueberries and mixed them up with a bit of honey and let it sit out while I made the cheesecake. By the time everything was ready, the topping was perfect.

The addition of almond butter adds such a wonderful flavor. I think if I make this again, I’d try using peanut butter, just to see what it would be like! The original blogger of this recipe said that it was “healthy” and could be eaten for breakfast because it has yogurt and granola in the crust. I think that’s a marvelous way to feel like taking a nap at about 10:30, so I wouldn’t recommend it (this is based on experience). Just because something has granola and yogurt doesn’t make it healthy. This is perhaps lighter than most cheesecakes, but it also has cream cheese and whipping cream, so you do the math. Or don’t do math. Just enjoy dessert and stop thinking about whether it’s healthy or not. Of course you shouldn’t eat it every day. If you want to, then sure, obsess over calories. If you only eat stuff like this on weekends, then by all means, go for the gold.

This little hand loved every bite.

Greek Yogurt and Almond Butter Cheesecake*

For the Granola:
1 cup rolled or old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup finely shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp coconut oil (or butter would work fine – just make sure it’s soft and at room temp)
1/4 cup honey

Crust:
1 1/2 cups granola you just made
4 whole grain honey graham crackers
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
3/4 cup + 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond butter
2 cups plain greek yogurt – full fat, y’all
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, coconut, and nuts. In a measuring cup or separate bowl, whisk together the salt, coconut oil, and honey. Pour this mixture over the oats, and stir to completely coat the ingredients. Spread the mixture into an even layer on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Flip granola around with a spatula every 3-4 minutes to prevent burning and to get an even golden-brown crisp. After baking, set granola aside to cool.

Once the granola is cool to the touch, combine the granola and graham crackers in a food processor. Puree for 60-90 seconds, until a very fine and crumb-like texture. Pour in melted butter, and stir to combine evenly. Next, spread the crust mixture into the bottom of an 9-in round springform pan. Press down to compact into an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes. (Do not let it burn!) Set aside to cool.

To make the filling, add the cream cheese and 3/4 of a cup of sugar to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the cheese and sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and almond butter, and beat until incorporated. Then, remove the bowl from the mixer, and fold in the Greek yogurt with a spatula. (Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl!)

In a separate bowl, whisk the heavy cream with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake filling. Finally, pour the filling into the cooled granola crust, and spread into an even layer with a spatula. Cover with foil or plastic wrap, and freeze overnight.

To serve, run a paring knife around the edges of the cheesecake to loosen the sides from the pan. Then, unlatch the springform pan. Transfer the cheesecake to a cake stand or serving platter and garnish with fresh fruit.

*adapted from the adorable Mangoes and Palm Trees blog

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Alisa

It’s strange when a holiday falls in the middle of the week. People have to go back to work the next day, so it’s this little blip in the week that makes you WANT the full, extended weekend, but few actually get it. I figure since people might be celebrating all weekend, a recipe for a few burger-accompaniments would be in order. I might even post, again, tomorrow with what we cook, tonight. Maybe I’ll post on Sunday, too, with what happens on Saturday. I love a good excuse to celebrate the summer all weekend long. We really don’t need an excuse, but when festivities are high and people are cooking and grilling, it’s a wonderful time to try out new recipes and make the old, beloved standards.

We’ve been Top Chef fans since its debut seven years ago. We developed a love-hate relationship with Spike during his season and bought his cookbook and now that relationship is all love. He really understands how to do comfort food and takes nostalgia (burgers, shakes) to a new level. So he is the go-to for summer time recipes! I highly recommend his cookbook, The Good Stuff Cookbook and especially his recipe for the Good Stuff sauce that we now have to have on every burger we grill! It’s a perfect blend of sweet, tangy and savory and it is perfect for burger toppings or a dip for fries!

Good Stuff burger sauce*
makes about 2 cups

2 cups homemade or Hellman’s mayonnaise
2 tbs ketchup
2 tbs molasses
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender (or in a cup with an immersion blender) and puree until smooth. The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

*taken directly from The Good Stuff cookbook

We also are addicted, lately to caramelized onions. There’s really nothing difficult about making them, and they completely improve everything they touch. I’ve added them to omelets, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, stir-fry, beans, rice dishes – EVERYTHING! Here is my simple method:

Caramelized Onions
makes 2 cups – can easily be scaled down

6 white onions, halved and then sliced thin
2 tablespoons neutral oil like Canola
Kosher salt

Heat the oil in a 12″ cast iron pan till it shimmers. Dump all the onions in at once and let it sit there for a few minutes. Then, gradually start flipping and stirring the onions around till they all get coated with the oil. Your pan will be VERY full if you used all 6 onions. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally for at least 30 minutes. You want a deep, rich brown color on all the onions. They will greatly reduce in size till you’re left with about 2 cups of onions. We keep ours in the fridge and scoop out portions for everything under the sun, but most recently, they were an AMAZING topping to our burgers this weekend, complete with smoked gouda, pickles and the Good Stuff sauce. Oh, heavens…

The last recipe I’ll impart is a very classic deviled egg recipe that includes a good amount of olive oil and the result is the most silky texture to the filling and the perfect balance of acid and richness from the egg yolks. The recipe is adapted from the Serious Eats site, which, if you haven’t become addicted or receive their weekly emails, you will and you must. So many great recipes come from their extensive research and trial and error!

Deviled Eggs
makes about 18

1 dozen large eggs, not too fresh
2 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably home made
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Up to 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Frank’s Red Hot sauce
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
Crushed red pepper or hot paprika

Place eggs in a large saucepan and cover with 2 quarts cold water. Place over high heat, bring to a boil, cover, remove from heat, and let stand ten minutes. Drain eggs and peel under cool running water. Slice each egg in half lengthwise.

Place all of the yolks in the bowl of a food processor. Select 16 of the best looking egg white halves and set aside. Reserve the remaining 8 for another use. Add mayonnaise, mustard, half of vinegar, and hot sauce to food processor and process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.

With machine running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season mixture to taste with salt and remaining vinegar (if desired). Transfer to zipper-lock bag. Filling and egg white halves can be stored in the refrigerator up to overnight before filling and serving.

Cut off corner of ziplock bag and pipe filling mixture into egg whites, overstuffing each hole. Drizzle with extra olive oil, sprinkle with black pepper, chives, crushed red pepper, and sea salt. Serve immediately.

Rosemary Crusted Pork Chop with Coconut Milk Braised Carrots

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Alisa

This is a good meal for many reasons. The pork chops were actually a good thickness, and lean, and were buy one pack, get another pack for free (4 really thick chops in each package. I get ridiculously excited for discounts in the meat department.) I bought a 5 pound bag of carrots two weeks ago, and so I am currently looking for different ways to prepare them, and found a stunningly simple and flavorful way on one of my favorite blogs, French Foodie Baby. Say what you will about my French obsession, but those people KNOW their food, and from a very loving depth that centers around family and love of pure ingredients. Helene, from FFB, is one of the best writers in the myriad of food blogs out there. I literally exhale with relaxation when I read her posts. She challenges me and inspires me and makes me want to be better at being thoughtful about what I put on the plate for my family.

The braised carrots in coconut milk was from her blog and I just took the concept and did it in a much bigger batch on my stove so that I’d have leftover finger foods for Olive for the week. And so I could use up the never ending bag of carrots. I swear that thing is multiplying.

I don’t know much, but I do know that pork and rosemary are best friends. So when I saw that Helene put rosemary in with her coconut milk to braise the carrots, I thought: instant pan sauce! And it turned out wonderful! The extra sauce from the carrots made an amazing garnish for a thick, crispy, rosemary-infused pork chop! I was happy with this meal and wanted to share its simplicity and comfort-food qualities with you today!

Rosemary Crusted Pork Chop with Coconut Milk Braised Carrots
serves 4-6

4 boneless pork chops, thick cut, if you can find them (the ones I found were about an inch thick)
1/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper – about a half teaspoon of each
2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary – I would think dried would be fine, but it wouldn’t be as aromatic
4 tbs butter or olive oil for pan frying the chops

For the carrots:
1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped into half inch rounds
1 can of coconut milk
2 cloves of garlic, crushed but left mostly in tact
two sprigs of fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Get the carrots on the stove to braise first, as they take the longest. In a deep skillet, heat the coconut milk over medium heat along with the cloves of crushed garlic and the rosemary sprigs. Add in the carrots and let it simmer on the stove until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. I put a lid on halfway through as to not lose too much moisture. When the carrots are done, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

For the chops: pat them dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper. Put the flour and rosemary and a few dashes more of salt and pepper in a bowl and toss well to combine. Coat each side of the chops in the flour mixture and set aside. Heat the butter or olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering (or bubbling if using butter) and add in the chops, cooking about 5-6 minutes per side. If they are browning too quickly, reduce the heat after you get a good sear/crust on each side of the chop. If your chops are really thick, you may need to transfer them to a preheated oven to finish cooking. I had to do this for one of the chops because it was way bigger than the rest and wouldn’t cook through without burning the crust. At any rate, you need a meat thermometer for this because we no longer have to cook our pork to death to be safe. Some farmer told me that no one’s gotten sick from pork in years, but everyone is still cooking it like they could. A pink center is fine – I made sure mine got up to 150-160 and called it good, regardless of how the centers looked.

Place the chops on plates and for the sauce garnish, move the carrots to a bowl, reserving about a 1/2 cup of the coconut milk in the pan. Taste for salt and season as necessary. Remove the rosemary sprigs and the cloves of garlic and spoon the sauce over each chop and serve alongside the carrots. If you don’t cook the chops too much, they will be soft enough for a baby to chew, given she has at least 3 molars, which mine does. She loved the carrots (she’s 15 months old) and ate a few pieces of pork and called it good. And lately, that has to be good enough for me! For smaller babies, the carrots would be IDEAL pureed or just left in tact for finger foods. They are so soft, sweet and a little salty – perfect! I would have blended up the pork with some coconut milk back in the 6-9 month days for Olive.

Enjoy!

Turkey Meatball Stroganoff

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Alisa

For your Monday family meal, I am presenting something truly comforting, low in fat and wonderfully flavorful. Coming, again, from Tyler Florence’s book, Start Fresh, this recipe appears at the back of the book where a few dishes are listed that the whole family can enjoy and be modified for any stage eater. If I were feeding this to 9 month old Olive, I would smash up a meatball into tiny pieces (they are really soft, anyway) and I would take some of the sauce and pulse it a few times with a few noodles. I’d even have taken a bit of everything for 6 month old Olive and blended it all up with some extra sauce! I was never too worried about feeding her a huge variety at an early age. For 15 month old Olive, this meal is a free-for-all. I’m really strict when it comes to what and when she eats, but as for how, I still cringe, but I do let her eat with her hands, smash things in her face and even try and “smell” everything (which results in food up the nose). I know I have a lot of guidelines, so I try my best to not stress too much about the mess. I still won’t dump a scoop of spaghetti onto her try and leave her to it. I have boundaries, you know. 🙂 But I think WHAT she eats and the way we treat mealtimes is more important than having to hose down the high chair. (I’m preaching to myself. This is a life lesson for me and my need to control things too much!)

Turkey Meatball Stroganoff*
Serves 4 to 6

1 slice multigrain bread (I used rye) or about 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1.5lbs ground turkey
2 tbs whole milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
1/2 tsp caraway seeds, crushed (just dump some in a plastic bag and roll over them with a rolling pin if you don’t have a mortar and pestle)
Pinch of kosher salt
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
6 ounces sliced mushrooms (any kind)
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tbs AP flour
1.5 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 tbs sour cream or unsweetened yogurt (I used the latter cause that’s what I had on hand!)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
8 ounces cooked egg noodles (I like the extra wide for baby hands to grasp!)
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Chop or pulse the bread in your food processor (or with a knife) until very small and crumbly. In a large bowl, mix the turkey together with the bread, milk, onion, caraway seeds, and salt until combined (err on the side of too wet and add more milk if it seems dry). Shape the turkey mixture into about fifteen 2-inch meatballs.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the meatballs and cook, turning often, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes (I have to use a meat thermometer for turkey and make sure I get the centers up to 160). Transfer the meatballs to a plate.

Add the garlic to the same skillet and cook over medium heat for a minute or two. Add the mushrooms and thyme and continue to cook, turning often, until the mushrooms are golden. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and stir to coat. Stir in the chicken stock and cook, stirring, until the sauce has thickened, 5 to 7 minutes.

Whisk in the sour cream and mustard until smooth, then return the meatballs to the pan. Turn to coat with the sauce.

Spoon the meatballs and sauce over the noodles and serve garnished with parsley. I didn’t think this recipe made enough sauce, just FYI, so I think next time, I’d double the parts for the sauce. Word to the wise! I like leftover sauce and for the noodles to be absolutely coated!

*recipe adapted from Start Fresh

Fish Sticks and Sticking to Your Guns

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Alisa

The method is working. We have a few food rules when it comes to feeding Olive and ourselves. All these thoughts are fueled by the game-changing book, “French Kids Eat Everything“. I highly recommend it if you find yourself stressed that your kid eats a limited selection of foods. Babies don’t know snacking exists. They learn it soon enough from peers and tv and observing adults who randomly nibble throughout the day, but in the formative first couple years of life where you have most of the control over what your baby consumes, you can show them a different way. And maybe even learn to eat better, yourself! Olive gets one snack a day. Yes, she’s 15 months old (almost) and only snacks once a day. (And it’s a good one! Something fun and really tasty. Usually a piece of fruit or some dark chocolate and bread with milk. You gotta make it something they look forward to.) It’s in between lunch and dinner, because that’s the longest stretch without food. We also have to emulate this discipline for her. How would it be fair to snack in front of her without including her? And if I want her to be hungry enough at a meal to be willing to try something new, well darn it, she needs to not have eaten a snack an hour before dinner! Makes sense to me and it seems so obvious, yet so few do it. We should all eat this way! Hunger is a discipline that too few of us experience. And the discipline is learned before the age of two. It can be learned if started after two, but it’s just so much harder (think: excessive whining).

We’ve even pushed dinner back to 7:30 the past few nights and she has eaten EVERYTHING. Whereas before, I was serving dinner at 6:30 and it was a fight to get her to eat for 10 minutes straight (she’d had her snack just two hours before and had drank milk in between, so, consequently, she was only mildly interested in dinner.) Eating an hour later has been a transformation – she ate marvelously and ate everything from fish to broccoli to berries to a nice piece of Manchego (the King of Cheese). So, it’s working! The next day, she ate like a bird and acted like bananas were the devil (a former favorite). Even if she has days like that, I try to remind myself that she will not starve and that maybe she’ll eat more at the next meal (this is SO hard.) This structure of eating has made my days better, too. I don’t have to constantly find something for her to eat. Other than her snack, we’re all eating at the same time. This will get harder as she gains the ability to ask for things and tell me she’s hungry. I’ll tackle that problem when it gets here. Hopefully between now and then, she’ll form the habit of knowing when food is served and being willing to wait till we can all sit at the table together for the family meal. Also, because she eats so much quantity at each meal, she’s often not even that hungry until about 30 minutes before the next meal. So waiting for the meal is as simple as distracting her with playing in another room with Matt, or just including her in the cooking process like holding the herbs, or a peeled carrot, or whatever. She sits on the counter a lot 🙂

The recipes today come from two cookbooks. The fish recipe came from Tyler Florence’s book, Start Fresh, which is an absolutely wonderful book filled with recipes I would be just as happy eating as I would serving them to a toothless baby or toddler. Toward the end of the book, there are recipes for the whole family to share. My wonderful friend, Becky, sent this cookbook to me as a gift to me and Olive, and she put sticky notes all throughout the book with comments she made about which recipes looked good, which she wanted to try, etc. It made me miss her so much and long for my genius-in-the-kitchen friend to be beside me, cooking and enjoying these recipes with me. I’d recommend doing that to any cookbook you buy for someone – it just made it seem like she was here with me as I looked through it.

The tartar sauce recipe comes from the Bonne Femme cookbook and I swear to you, this is THE best tartar sauce I’ve ever had. It puts every other tartar sauce to shame. Makes them seem like a joke. Like mayo with pickles. This has tang and zip and crunch and so much flavor, I really will never feel satisfied eating any other tartar sauce, ever again. (Dramatic, much?) I’ve made two batches since last week and turned the latest batch into a potato salad. Amazing. You can’t go wrong with these recipes and I feel that this would even be an acceptable meal for a kid who does not like everything. Surely on this plate, any kid could find SOMETHING they were happy to eat!

Oven Baked Fish Sticks with Roasted Potatoes
serves 4

1/2 cup buttermilk
1 lb cod or tilapia fillets, cut into 1 inch wide fingers
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (I ran out of panko and used plain and it worked fine)
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb assorted baby potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
2 tbs olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line two rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pour buttermilk into a large bowl. Add the fish pieces and turn to coat. In another bowl, stir together the panko, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Dredge each fish finger in the breadcrumbs to coat completely and arrange on a baking sheet.

Combine the potatoes (and broccoli pieces, or asparagus or green beans – whatever other green veg you want!) in a bowl and drizle with the oil. Toss to coat thoroughly, then arrange the vegetables on the other baking sheet. Bake the fish and vegetables, turning once, until the fish fingers are golden, about 15 minutes. The potatoes may need longer. If so, simply take the fish out when they’re done and tent with foil to stay warm.

Serve fish (and potatoes, really) with tartar sauce!

Tartar Sauce
makes about a cup

3/4 cup high-quality mayonnaise (we think, aside from homemade, that Hellmans REAL mayo is the best. No low-fat or miracle whip crap.)
2 tablespoons chopped cornichons (small sour French pickles)
1 small shallot or 1 scallion (white part and some tender green tops), minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley or fresh parsley and chives
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons capers, drained and chopped
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon or chervil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a bowl, gently fold the mayonnaise, cornichons, shallot, parsley, mustard, capers, vinegar, and tarragon together (don’t mix too vigorously, or your sauce will be too smooth). Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and preferably 2 hours, before serving. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Freezer Staple – frozen shrimp

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Alisa

This could be considered the first post of many where I will talk about the joys of a well stocked kitchen/pantry. There are a few things shown in the pic above that should be in every well-stocked kitchen.

1. Rice. I keep several types of rice on hand: Basmati (so flavorful for Indian and Thai dishes) Brown, Sweet (sticky rice for Asian desserts), Long Grain and White short grain. It’s easy to store, it’s cheap (usually no more than $2 per pound) and in a pinch, you have an instant side dish.

2. Onions/Leeks/Shallots – Don’t keep these in the fridge. DO keep them in a dry, dark place in your kitchen, separate from other fruits and vegetables. I don’t always have leeks on hand, but I DO always have onions and shallots. When I’m at the grocery store, whether I have a recipe in mind or not, I assume that I will need onions. I usually buy medium sized, sweet yellow or Spanish onions. I would guess that 9 out of 10 recipes I make include onions in some form. Okay, maybe 10 out of 10.

3. Frozen Shrimp. Kind of the wild card that you might not think of, but in the frozen section, usually near the meat department in both grocery stores and big chain stores (walmart, target, etc). They come in a few options: raw with shell, raw, shelled and deveined or cooked. Get the raw, shelled, deveined. You don’t want to have to fuss with peeling shrimp and you definitely don’t want to mess with removing the poop chute. You may not think that you’ll use shrimp often enough to always buy a bag when you’re buying other frozen items, but you’d be surprised. Shrimp tacos, shrimp lettuce wraps, shrimp stir-fry, or coconut shrimp and rice…

Coconut Shrimp with Basmati Rice*
serves 4

1 tbs butter
1tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek (about a cup, white and pale green parts only – halved lengthwise, rinsed and sliced thin)
4 scallions (white and some green tops, sliced and save some for a rice garnish)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup of dry Basmati rice, cooked to package instructions

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leek, scallion strips, and garlic and cook, stirring, until the leek starts to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp, curry powder, and salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the shrimp turn pink, about 2 minutes. Add the wine or chicken broth and cook, stirring, until the liquid is reduced by half-about one minute. Add the coconut milk and simmer until the shrimp are opaque throughout, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cilantro, and let stand, covered, for about 10 minutes to meld the flavors.

Serve on top of rice, garnished with extra scallion and cilantro, if desired.

*recipe adapted from the Bonne Femme Cookbook

Corn Cookies

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Alisa

This is one of the best cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life. Crispy on the outside, chewy and soft in the middle. Sweet, salty, and incredibly buttery. It uses a mystery ingredient: corn powder. All you do (and believe me, slackers, this ingredient is worth whatever effort you don’t want to put forth) is buy a bag of freeze dried corn off Amazon and pulse it in your blender or food processor till it looks like powder. Then, you’ll have enough for a few batches of these amazing cookies. The corn powder adds to the incredible butter flavor and if you don’t tell anyone, they won’t be able to pick out the secret ingredient. They’ll just sit and marvel that they are enjoying the greatest cookie (that doesn’t include chocolate) of their life.

This recipe is from the wonderful Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. Matt made Olive’s first birth-day (made it when we came home from the hospital with her) cake from this book, my birthday cake and the Crack Pie that we’ve made a few times and won a smallish award (in a contest created by us) for best non-fruit pie at our Pie Bake-Off. Christina Tosi is undoubtedly a genius, as Momofuku Milk Bar’s creative pastry chef. It’s only her hummingbird-like brain that could come up with such nostalgic, creative, sugar-rush kind of desserts. She is a child at heart, which shows so evidently throughout this cookbook.

Word of caution: if you like to get in and out of the kitchen quick, this book isn’t for you. (the cookies were easy enough but the rest…) My birthday cake had Matt in the kitchen for two days and involved around 5 different recipes for one cake alone. However, it was the best cake ever. I don’t need to reiterate that good things are worth the hard work, but I will. To quote Bob Kelso, “Nothing in this world worth having comes easy.”

And every recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar is worth having.

Corn Cookies
yield: 13-15 cookies

*225 g butter, at room temp (2 sticks)
300 g sugar (1.5 cups)
1 egg
225 g flour (1 1/3 cups)
45 g corn flour (1/4 cup – if you don’t have corn flour, which I didn’t, mix 1/4 flour and 4 tsp corn powder)
65 g freeze dried corn powder (2/3 cup)
3 g baking powder (3/4 tsp
1.5 g baking soda (1/4 tsp)
6 g kosher salt (1.5 tsp)

1. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes (this is important. This long mixing process is what gives the cookies their amazing texture)

2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, corn flour, corn powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Using a 1/3 cup measuring scoop, portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. Do NOT baking your cookies from room temp – they WILL NOT bake properly.

4. Heat oven to 350F.

5. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment or silpat-lined sheet pans. Bake for 18 minutes (Mine looked perfect in exactly 18 min. They know their stuff) The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. After 18 minutes, they should be faintly browned on the edges yet still bright yellow in the center; give them an extra minute if not.

6. Cool the cookies completely ON the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or your mouth (yeah right, you know you’ll eat a warm one and you SHOULD). At room temp, the cookies will keep fresh in an air-tight container for 5 days. But I really doubt they’ll last that long.

*I think measuring your flour, corn flour and corn powder by weight is really important. Reason: I first did it by volume and measured out 1 1/3 cups. Then, to double check, I weighed the flour I’d measured and it was only something like 210 grams. That’s enough of a difference to matter in the final result. Just FYI!

The Creme Brulee of Lemon Bars

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Alisa

I’ve stuck to this recipe for a few years now. I love lemon desserts and my only complaint is that something claiming to be a lemon dessert isn’t ever lemony enough. I want a ZINGER of a lemon shock. I know this may cause several of you to stop reading, but given the choice between a GOOD lemon bar and a brownie, I’d choose the lemon bar. Not every time. Like I said, it’d have to be good. Not too eggy, just enough curd, just enough crust, big time lemon flavor and another thing: don’t dust your lemon bars with confectioners’ sugar. I’ll give you a few reasons:

1. Lemon bars usually have at least two cups of sugar. So..there’s enough sugar. Why would you dust something with more sugar that is already shockingly sweet? (I’m not complaining – lemon and sugar need each other)

2. I don’t like inhaling powdered sugar with each bite. It kind of ruins the whole eating experience to have to hack on powder.

So that’s really only two reasons. With the right recipe, you don’t need a dusting of sugar to cover up the weird, sometimes sticky top of a lemon bar. This recipe is so wonderful because the top gets crunchy like a creme brulee. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I mix up the filling while the crust is baking, so by the time the crust is ready for the filling, the filling has sat and separated a bit. I whip it up really good, too, so maybe it’s the airy texture? Or maybe the key is to let them cool completely before cutting and don’t cover them up if you’re not serving them right away, lest the top get soft. That way you get that good crunch on the top, the velvety curd in the middle and the buttery crumble of the crust all together. This is adapted from Paula Deen’s recipe, and to me, it’s the perfect lemon bar recipe. The only one you need.

Creme Brulee Lemon Bars

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
2 tbs lemon zest (just zest the lemons you will use for the filling)
pinch of salt
2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

Filling
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13x2″ pan. Cover the bottom in parchment paper and let it hang off the sides (just along the long edge) so that you can remove it for cutting better.)
Make the crust by combining flour, confectioners’ sugar, zest and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. You may need to dip your fingers into a little flour or confectioners’ sugar to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake for 25 minutes longer. Don’t sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the bars, and then carefully, by the parchment overhang, lift the entire pan of bars out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board to cut. I like to cut off the very edge of the bars so that each one will be perfectly smooth, cut, squared edges (obsessive) but that’s really up to you. No one said you couldn’t eat the trimmings and no one would have to know they ever existed.

The Family Meal

we eat together

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Oatmeal Cookies – Welcome Home

Summer Corn Chowder – perfect for a rainy day

Greek Yogurt and Almond Butter Cheesecake

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Rosemary Crusted Pork Chop with Coconut Milk Braised Carrots

Turkey Meatball Stroganoff

Fish Sticks and Sticking to Your Guns

Freezer Staple – frozen shrimp

Corn Cookies

The Creme Brulee of Lemon Bars

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