Shrimp Stir Fry

This isn’t your typical stir fry. It’s filled with fresh vegetables and accompanied by wine. But let’s be honest, most of my dinners are accompanied by wine; unfortunately, “I Pray to Pinot Grigio” isn’t quite as catchy.

I use brown rice as a base, but this stir fry is perfection on it’s own, or you could even go as far as putting it on top of couscous or whatever ancient grain strikes your fancy.

 

Shrimp Stir Fry

2 Tb butter (just do it.)

2 Tb olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

10-12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 ear of corn, with kernels cut off

1 red bell pepper

4 radishes, sliced

1 cup black beans (canned)

2 Tb fresh parsley, chopped

 

1. Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic. When oil/butter is hot, add shrimp and cook for 3 minutes. Remove to a plate. Do not clean skillet.

2. Add the rest of the butter and oil and heat over medium heat. Add bell pepper slices in a single layer and cook for one minute, tossing once. Shift bell pepper to the edges of the pan, then add corn kernels to the middle of the pan. Cook for one minute. Add radishes, salt, and pepper, and beans and toss around, then add shrimp. Cook for an additional 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Serve over brown rice if preferred.

Oh, Snap

I have a hard time referring to these cookies as “snaps.” They don’t snap. In fact, they are

deliciously chewy and quite possibly the best gingerbread cookie out there for that very  reason. And they stay soft for more than a day which, if you ask me, is a feat not many cookies can accomplish.

It’s still blustery out there (I have no right saying that. It's in the 40s here, which would probably feel like the Caribbean at this point to most of the rest of the country), so these sweet, spicy little buggers are still totally acceptable to nosh on.

 

If you’re wondering if this is worth buying molasses for, I would reply with a resounding “yes!” Plus, molasses lasts for, like, ever (“ever” to me being 6-8 months. Which could explain my issues with commitment. Hm.).

 

Chewy, Sugared Gingerbread Cookies. Oh, With White Chocolate. Why not?

makes about 2 dozen, adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 large eggs

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white chocolate chunks

1 cup granulated sugar-for coating cookie dough balls. I added sprinkling sugar. I’m fun like that.

1. Preheat oven to Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment papers or with a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

3. Beat in the molasses, canola oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix until well combined.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the flour. Next, stir in the white chocolate chunks.

5. Scoop the dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on lined baking sheets, about two inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, the cookies will still be soft. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Ain’t that a (Side) Kick in the Head

Apparently I’m on a sides kick. Not to worry, main dishes will make a reappearance as soon as I stop going out to eat as much. I go through cooking phases like everyone else does and sometimes having someone else cook for me is diiiivine. But new shows like TLC’s Strange Addictions (eating laundry detergent, what the…?!) or another season of The Bachelor (I’ve been watching since 2001, and so what if that makes me proud) or screaming, “Oh em gee, I can totally do that!” while watching The Amazing Race means cooking and then enjoying food at home is back on the agenda.

This dish is a healthy side dish that packs a punch from the shallots that get caramelized and then a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

 

Balsamic Green Beans and Shallots

What you’ll need (serves 3):

- 1 lbs fresh green beans

- 1 shallot, chopped

- 1 Tb olive oil

- Good balsamic vinegar *

- Salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Blanch your beans. First, bring a pot of water to a boil, throw in the green beans for about 5 minutes, then transfer them immediately into a bowl of ice water.

2. Meanwhile, sauté the chopped shallot in olive oil in a saucepan. Drain your green beans and add them to the saucepan. Toss together with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer to a serving dish and drizzle with balsamic.

Calivirgin Products

* There are some pantry essentials that should be high quality. It is my firm belief that olive oil and balsamic vinegar are two of them; it can change the entire taste of your dish. While I don’t tend to promote goods on I Pray to Gouda and must emphasize that they didn't ask or pay me to do so, I stand behind Calivirgin products for olive oil and balsamic. I’m lucky enough that their products are made locally, but they are also easy to order online. Don’t trust me? Click here.

Try them out!

Garlic-Rubbed Bleu Cheese Focaccia

It doesn’t get much easier than this, folks. Especially since I’m not telling you to go make your own focaccia bread – nope, this is a delicious addition to a meal that will not only taste good, but looks gourmet.

Garlic-Rubbed Bleu Cheese Focaccia

What you’ll need:

- 2 TB extra virgin olive oil

- 1 loaf focaccia

- 1/2 cup bleu cheese crumbles

- 1 Tb chopped garlic clove

- 1/2 Tb chopped, fresh rosemary or basil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine good quality olive oil and chopped garlic.

3. Brush the top of the bread with this mixture.

4. Tear small holes (about 1” across, 1/2” deep) into focaccia.

5. Stuff each hole with two to three individual cheese crumbles. Sprinkle chopped herbs over bread. Broil 8-10 minutes.

Life is Just a Bowl Full of Cranberries.

Some moments are sweet. Some are sour. But combined, you have a pretty good chance of maintaining a nice balance.

Holy shucks, that was sappy, no? But…shoot, I’d write that down if I were you. Before I figure out some genius already said it somewhere else.

This recipe was one I used on Thanksgiving, to give a more real food spin to the usual canned cranberry sauce. Now, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t like that canned stuff. I ignore the fact that Ocean Spray straight up molded a berry into a gelatinous wonder, but I just can’t help it.

Whether you secretly adore the canned version, too, or simply think I’m crazy, I’d recommend you try this version this winter while they’re still in season.

P.S.: did you know these are called “bounceberries” because they bounce when ripe? I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to call them cranberries again.

 

Sugared Vanilla Bean Cranberries

- 2.5 cups sugar

- 1.5 cups water

- seeds scraped from one vanilla bean

 

1. First, you’re going to make a simple syrup. Bring your water and 2 cups of the sugar to a simmer over medium heat and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.

2. During the simple syrup making process, put your cranberries into a heatproof dish. Pour the simple syrup over the top of the berries. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

3. The next day, pulse the remaining .5 cup sugar with the vanilla bean seeds in a food processor and then transfer to a shallow dish. Use a slotted spoon or colander to strain the cranberries. Then roll the cranberries in the sugar and spread on a parchment-covered baking sheet.

4. Let set for one hour, then serve!

Something a Tad Corny

Geez, that title itself is pretty darn corny.  But it’s all I’ve got, it’s almost 3pm on the day before Friday, I’m coming off some weird virus and I’m running on roughly two brain cells.  One of them needs to be used for the rest of the work I have to do today.  That leaves one loner for a blog title.

Summer is the season for corn and tomatoes.  Which means it’s the time of year to leave the canned stuff on the shelf.  Corn fresh off of the cob cannot be substituted for by its cousins in the canned and freezer departments. 

The warmest season of the year is also prime time for pesto-makin’.  But this won’t be your average pesto.  I think you’ll love this tweak on an old favorite.

 Fettuccine with Bacon and Corn Pesto

adapted from epicurious

4 slices bacon, cut into 1” pieces

2 ears corn, kernels cut off (<—like so)

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 1/4 tsp coarse salt

freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (simply put in oven or toaster oven on lined baking sheet for 7-9 minutes on 350 degrees)

1/3 cup olive oil

Fettuccine

3/4 cup basil leaves

Directions

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, tomatoes, 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves and reserved bacon. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.

~ Side note:  I’m giggling every few hours because I’m wearing this t-shirt.

25 Books in 2010

This challenge is going to be a cinch.  And if you think you don’t have the time (no big…reduce your goal, just don’t tell anyone else that I’m advocating for you to be an underachiever), reduce the goal.  But if you used to harbor a love of reading and getting lost in a story and post-college and just plain life have made you forget, having a goal like this will make you rediscover it.

Or maybe it will just help your general spelling and grammar.

I’ve read these thus far….here are my latest:

1.  Midwives.  I’ll be brutally honest.  I couldn’t even finish this book, it was that awful.  I’ve learned that just because a piece of literature is recommended by several people doesn’t mean it’s good.  Or maybe I just have bad taste.

Yeah, right.  Maybe Oprah’s the one with the bad taste, because she’s her people are the ones who recommended it.

2.  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .  Remember all that stuff I said up there about various recommendations meaning nothing?  Yeah, ignore that for a few minutes.  This book is epic.  And graphic.  And completely creeped me out.  All of the reasons I watch Dateline, 48 Hours and 20/20 a lot.  The storyline is pure genius and I can’t wait to read the other two in the trilogy.

3.  Little Bee.  Ok, now you can bring back the distant memory of me casting aside books that had received many recommendations.  This book is rotten.  I finished this one, though, I’ll have you know.  While the true story of Nigerian oil wars could have made a true impact in this book, instead, it’s filled with horrifically unrealistic situations and baseless characters.  I had high hopes.  They weren’t met.

Well, crud.  I just realized I’m only up to 10 books?!  I have to read 15 more within the next four months, apparently.  Ok.  We can do this.

By the way, I get most of my books on Amazon used and I refuse to pay over $5.00.  Additionally, your local library is a great resource…and free.  (I totally should go to heaven for that one).

Enchiladas En Un Jiffy

How do you like that for some Spanish?  You’d never know I was in a Spanish honors program in both high school and college, would you?

It’s 4pm on a Wednesday and I’m sitting in my apartment watching recorded Project Runway in my pajamas.  How in the world does one get the flu in SUMMER?  More importantly, why can’t Gretchen just shut her danged, high-horse mouth?

Back to the fabulous enchiladas (if I do say so myself.  And I do.).  I go back and forth between calling these my Christmas Enchiladas because they’re made with red and green sauces.  But then I realize how dumb that sounds and I stop.

These cheesy delights are only about 30 minutes of work and will please the masses.  Unless they’re lactose intolerant.  FYI.  You’ll make your own enchilada sauce (don’t get scurred!) and do some dipping, stuffing and rolling, so suit up! 

Christmas Weeknight Enchiladas

1 lb ground turkey

Olive oil

1/4 cup chili powder

1/4 tsp of the following:  cumin, onion powder and garlic powder (or you can finely chop a couple of fresh cloves, my personal preference)

Green onions (a bunch)

salt and pepper

1 cup water

tortillas

Mexican blend cheese

El Pato Mexican Sauce (red sauce)

Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

________________________

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix water, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and garlic powder.  Set aside.  Chop green onions.  Brown turkey in 1 tb olive oil, adding in spice mixture as you go.  Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pour red sauce onto a large plate.  Dip each tortilla into sauce, covering completely.  Add meat mixture inside tortilla, cheese, chopped green onion.  Wrap tortilla and place in glass baking dish.

When done wrapping, cover enchiladas with more of your cheese blend.  Then pour green chile sauce over all enchiladas.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

The Next Time You're in Waikiki...

I'll be honest...I'm not really a warm, white sand beach girl. I prefer big cities, mountains and a colder, rockier coast line. Watching mass amounts of tourists squeeze themselves into bathing suits that are inevitably the wrong size or drunkards walking around in sagging board shorts gulping Bud Light isn't my thing. I'd much rather relax fireside in Bodega Bay or engage in broken-English fights with taxi drivers in Paris or New York City. It's now Monday and all I can think about is the fact that it's 10am in Waikiki and we'd most likely be lounging in a chaise near the aquamarine water, sipping mango sodas (I just peed myself. I LURVED these sodas and it looks like they're available at Nugget Foods. Be still my cold, dead heart). To keep myself sane, I decided to do a blog post on things I think you must do if you're going to Waikiki. And, I know stuff, so trust me. Diamond Head Crater. Want a gorgeous, 360-degree view of Honolulu? Do this. It's a hike, but it is easy. We saw people of the older ilk and approximately 432 women wearing some type of wedge heel walking up steep flights of stairs (WTH. Why would you do that?! Same people who walked around downtown Honolulu in their bathing suits only. Save it for the beach and pool, people. Sigh, my mama just taught me right.). Moana Surfrider Hotel. This hotel (the oldest in Hawaii, dating back to 1909), had "Faith" written all. over. it. Gorgeous plantation-style architecture, open-air lobby, on-site Honolulu Roasting Company (DO IT. If you go to Starbucks in downtown Waikiki, I'll personally hunt you down) and...wait for it...lovely, comfortable, wooden rocking chairs on the front patio! No words. Moana also housed my favorite beach bar. One mai tai brought the boyfriend down. Those homies do not mess around with their rum drinks. The Moana is pricey (naturally. Things I love always are. Eyeroll.), but well worth it. Two words: mango daquiri.

Hanauma Bay. This is THE place to snorkel. Just watch out for the kiddies, because you know what they're doing in that warm water. You'll watch a great nine-minute video pre-snorkel that will teach you about the coral and wildlife. My tip is to grab water and snacks at the top of the hill before you go down to the water. That hill ain't no joke, you will not want to traipse back up it for something to drink. I never found Nemo (where IS that freaking clown fish?!), but you'll see tons of beautiful, colorful fish. Another tip is to BYOU. Bring your own umbrella, shade is hard to come by at Hanauma Bay.

LOST. Fan of the ABC show? If you aren't, why the hell aren't you? That show is epic. Netflix it now. Visiting the filming sites was amazing, and I'm not afraid to admit that I was half hoping the smoke monster would fly right out of the mountains. Judge away. You can freely access The Others' Camp, which is a still-used YMCA campground. I totally felt Ben Linus' "Am I evil or am I not evil?" presence lurking. Mmmhm. Next we hit Police Beach, site of the survivors' camp. Visit this site to get driving directions, it can be tricky. Bonus: Tim and I saw at least eight enormous sea turtles at that beach...they were sunning themselves and eating before setting out for....well, whatever they do.

Eat at Taormina Sicilian Cuisine. It's mere blocks from the major Waikiki hotels and not only is the service attentive and nice, but I had the best lasagna of my LIFE here. LIFE, people. Bleu cheese and bolognese lasagna.

Drink Coffee at a Honolulu Coffee Roasting Company. The one in the Moana Surfrider had exceptional service and they use kona coffee (DEE.LICIOUS) alongside their fresh pastries and bagels. And they make acai bowls. Get on that, California.

Eat a leisurely breakfast at the Royal Hawaiian. Their egg white omelet was to die for and they offer four flavors of tropical jam with their toast! It's the little things, people. Warning: everything here is pink.

Summer Denial

Before I start whining about my hatred of Sacramento summers, I'll preface this by saying that this might be the most mild summer season I've ever experienced here. I'm not sure it's gotten over 100-degrees here in three months. It's usually 128-degrees in August. Ok, that's a ridiculous overstatement, but I just roll like that. So, on a summer evening with the thermometer kicking in at 68 degrees, I'm in the mood for some soup. What of it? And, tomatoes taste better in the summer, so I suggest you roll with this, too. Dee-licious Tomato Soup (alongside my award-winning grilled cheese. Because, why would you eat tomato soup without grilled cheese, you weirdo?) Serves roughly 6ish. Or 3 hungry peeps. 3 tablespoons good olive oil 1 1/2 cups chopped red onions (2 onions) 2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves) 4 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped (5 large) 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves, plus julienned basil leaves, for garnish 3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade 1 tablespoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup heavy cream Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender. Add the cream to the soup and process it through a food mill into a bowl, discarding only the dry pulp that's left. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves.