Roasted Pear Shortcakes with Warm Toffee Sauce

I have never watched Rachel Ray, but when I was at the grocery store yesterday, I was drawn to her Holiday magazine, and took it home (after paying for it).

Last night, as a brave move,  I tried the Roasted Pear Shortcakes with Warm Toffee Sauce for guests, and it came out amazingly delicious.  And it was pretty easy.

(photo from Everyday with Rachel Ray)

I marked my changes in the following recipe, and broke down the instructions a bit differently than in the magazine.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour (I used 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white)

1 cup, plus 3 T light brown sugar

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt (I omitted this)

2 1/2 stick of butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1 large egg

2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whipped

6 pears, peeled, and sliced to about 1/4-inch thick

Preheat oven to 400'

Shortcakes

1. Mix the flour with 1/4 cup brown sugar, the baking powder and salt.  

The recipe called to use an electric mixer, I just used a spoon.

2.  Add 1 1/2 sticks butter and mix on low until crumbly.

Again, I did not use a mixer but my very clean hands.

3.  In a small bowl whisk the egg and 1/2 of the unwhipped cream, and mix into the sugar-butter mixture until just combined.

4.  Pat the dough onto a cookie sheet until about 1-inch thick.  Cut into 6 pieces and place about 1 inch apart.  Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  About 15-18 minutes.

Pears

Meanwhile, toss the pears with the 3 T of brown sugar and 3 T of butter.  Place on a cookie sheet, cover loosely with foil, and roast until the pears are tender and caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Toffee Sauce

In a small saucepan, cook the remaining stick of butter, 1/2 cup unwhipped cream and 3/4 cup of brown sugar over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat to medium-high, and summer the sauce until thickened, about 5 minutes.

To serve, slice each shortcake in half horizontally, and layer the bottom halves with the toffee sauce, roasted pears and whipped cream.  Drizzle more toffee sauce and cover with the shortcake tops.

Enjoy!!

Linguine with Salmon and Arugula

This is a recipe I used to make a lot pre-baby, but I have recently resurrected it.  

It is a pretty quick recipe and great when having guests over.  It basically takes as long as the pasta does to cook.  I would make sure your water is almost ready before you start the sauce, because once the sauce is done, you wont to serve it right away.

2 T butter

2 T olive oil

2 shallots, minced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 plum tomatoes, chopped

1 1/3 C dry white wine

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 t dried marjoram

1 3/4 salmon, skinless and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3 cups loosely packed arugula

2 T drained capers

1 T chopped fresh basil

1 T chopped fresh parsley

12 ounces linguine (I have also made this with bow tie pasta)

Melt butter with olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.

Add shallots and garlic, saute 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Add wine, lemon and marjoram, simmer 5 minutes.

Add salmon and simmer until almost cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add arugula, capers and fresh herbs to salmon mixture.  Simmer until salmon is cooked through and arugula is just wilted, about 2 minutes.

Once pasta is al denté, drain the pasta, return to pot, and add the salmon mixture.

Serve warm.  Enjoy!

Apple Crisp

This is a super easy dessert and perfect to use to bribe little ones to finish their dinner...or at least to sit at the table.

I will get this ready before dinner, and then put it in the over to cook while we are eating.

Heat oven to 375'

4 cups sliced apples
2 T sugar (I use raw)
1 T fresh lemon juice
--------------
1/3 cup flour

1 cup oats (do not use steel cut here)

1/2 cup brown sugar

--------------

1/3 cup butter, melted

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the next 3.  Add the melted butter and stir until coated.

Pour apples in a baking dish, pour the other mixture on top.  I usually stir to combine a little once in the dish.

Bake for 35 minutes.

I like serving it with vanilla ice cream.  Martin liked it with plain yogurt.  It is even good plain =)

Grilled apple & gorgonzola sandwich

I just made this for lunch today, and it is so yummy. I actually found the recipe in this month's issue of Southern Living.



I probably made mine a little thick. Southern Living actually used this recipe as thinner appetizer sandwiches...but I couldn't resist piling it on for a hearty lunchtime meal.

1 pkg cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat)
1 4-oz. pkg gorgonzola crumbles.
1 T honey
(the recipe added roasted chopped walnuts as well, but I am not a fan of walnuts, so I left it out)

thinly sliced apples
arugula
sliced bread (I used whole wheat)

Mix the cream cheese, gorgonzola, honey in a bowl, and season with pepper. Spread a T on each slice of bread. Add sliced apples, and a handful of arugula.

Grill in a griddle or a pan.

Eat....so good!!

Post-apple picking deliciousness!

Last weekend we went to our favorite apple orchard, where we have gone for the last 4 Octobers..even before Zoë was born.

And I made these yummy treats today.  I can't get enough!!

Now, I have to think up lots of ways to use our apples. So far, I have made the treats above, and apple bread, where I used my zucchini bread recipe, but substituted shredded apples for zucchini. It came out delicious. I think next will be one of our favorite breakfasts of a huge apple pancake, and may some apple cobbler, apple pie....I am up for suggestions :)

I also read this great sandwich idea in this month's Southern Living, about making a spread with cream cheese and gorgonzola, and putting it on bread with apple slices and arugula. I bought the gorgonzola today, so I will try that this weekend as well.

Buttermilk oatmeal blueberry bread

I kind of put this recipe together from other stuff I found.  I just had a craving for something "oatmealy", but more bready than a cookie, so I am came up with this.  It is easy and nutritious!  I use applesauce in place of some of the butter, and have replaces the buttermilk, at times, with plain yogurt, and it comes out super moist and satisfying.

Heat oven to 350'

1 C oats

1 C buttermilk or plain yogurt

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C butter, melted

1/4 C applesauce

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 C flour (I use 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat)

1 C frozen blueberries

Soak the oatmeal in the buttermilk or yogurt for an hour.

Once soaked, combine with the wet ingredients.  

Combine 1/4 C of the flour with the blueberries in a small bowl.  This will prevent the blueberries from bleeding and falling apart if you were to put the blueberries directly in the batter.

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet.  Stir until combined.  Add blueberries.

Bake for an hour, or until a knife comes out clean.

I have also tried these as muffins and they are just as yummy.  Muffins would work perfectly for children's pre-school snacks too!

Enjoy!

Yummy apple dip!

Yesterday, while on Zoë's field trip to the apple orchard, one of the other mom's passed on a great recipe to me.  So super easy!

Combine equal parts plain yogurt and peanut butter.  Stir well.  Dip apples.

Simple, healthy and delicious!

Nasturtiums gone wild!

It is now the end of the season for my tomatoes, and wow, they did great! I started them from seed, and now they are massive, with hundreds of unripe tomatoes still waiting to ripen.

Meanwhile, the nasturtiums I planted from seed have gone completely wild! Interestingly, I plants the same seeds in some of my containers on the deck, and they really did not do much...but the seeds I threw into the ground are quite impressive!

You can see my unruly tomatoes as well:

The nasturtiums have completely covered up part of the path as well:

To compare this to how my tomatoes and veggie garden started out as, look here - early veggie garden.

I am sad the season is coming to an end, and I am going to have to go back to actually buying mass-produced tomatoes at the store.  It was great while it lasted.  And during the season's height, I was picking 20-30 tomatoes a day!

Being that I started them from seed indoors when it was still freezing and snowing outside, I felt really attached to them...my little tomato babies.  I look forward to doing it again next year!

No cook tomato sauce & pasta

I admit I enjoy my sauces warm, but this recipe sounded so easy I couldn't pass it up.  I always joke that I could never be a raw foodist, because I love gooey cheese and warm comfort food.

This recipe is very tomatoey!  I found this recipe in my latest issue of Food & Wine.  I actually didn't make any changes except I used whole wheat fettucine rather than the penne used in the magazine.

And I love that I was able to just go outside and take basil from my garden. I have 100s of unripe, green tomatoes, I can't wait until they are ready to eat!

16 oz pasta (I used fettucine, the recipe called for penne)
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
4 large basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until al dente

2, In a blender, puree the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, garlic and olive oil. Pour the sauce into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.

3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and toss well to coat. Serve piping hot.

Tonight, I am going to attempt roasted beet salad (from my friend's garden with goat cheese on arugula.  

My tomatoes and more!

This was my first year starting anything from seed. Last year I grew some tomatoes from plants, but this year, I was determined to do them from seed. As well as zucchini, cucumbers, beets, radishes, beans, peppers and herbs.

As far as the tomatoes go, I am growing brandywine, celebrity, yellow pear, red cherry, super sweet and tomatillos.

I started my seeds in April here.

This is what my veggie garden, mainly tomatoes, looked like the first week of June:




These were taken this morning. Some of my plants are now as tall as me!




Here is a shot of my zucchini plants:

My (old) house.

Last weekend we happened to be in Naperville for a party at a friend's house.  It has been a while as I don't get back very often.

This is the house my sisters were born (well, not in the house..but the house they came to from the hospital), and the house I lived in for almost 18 years.

I remember when we planted that tree in front of the house.  I cannot believe how huge it has become.

I really wish I could have gone inside to see what it looks like. At the same time if I was inside my old house, I would feel like I had every right to go to my old bedroom, and see what was in the fridge...and I guess that would make me seem a bit stalkerish. So, I admired it from the outside. Though, I do think someone from inside the living room saw me, and was looking out the window.

Egg Salad with Tarragon and Shallots

For some reason I was craving egg salad, even though I had never even eaten it before.  So, I went searching, and found this recipe on epicurious.  Being that I detest mayo, I replaced it with sour cream, and some greek yogurt, and made some other changes, so I am posting it here, as I made it.

6 large eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon, or to taste
1 teaspoons tarragon vinegar or white-wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

I then placed the egg salad on rye bread with watercress and cucumbers. Yummy!

New Kitchen!!

I know it has been a while since my last post. I will promise to get back to posting semi-regularly. Part of the reason for my long hiatus was planning and constructing our new kitchen.

We basically set our budget to match our tax return. Of course, a kitchen budget never ends up what you plan it to be...c'est la vie. You just don't realize what goes into a new kitchen until you are in the middle of it.  It is so much more than appliances, cabinets, counter top, sink...items such as knobs, tools, screws, materials, the faucet...things I didn't think of initially. 

I now love my kitchen, which was previously my most unhappy room in the house, especially for one who loves to cook.  It was nice upon first look, but when you really looked into it, you could see how monstrous the original 1936 built-in cabinets were. I could not even stir a bowl with a large spoon on the counter, because it would hit that wall cabinets. And if I ever wanted to use my blender of food processor...forget about it...they didn't fit either!

The oven was stand-alone, which was annoying and unsightly. And not to mention dangerous, as my 3-year old had more opportunity to reach her hand over the side and burn herself. Previously we only had cabinets on one side of the kitchen, and now it is galley-style, with cabinets on opposite side, and the oven built into the cabinets...as it should be. We did keep the oven, which is white, and decided that is something the new owners can replace, as our budget was quickly dwindling.

And my most hated aspect of the old kitchen...we had a dishwasher that you had to roll over and attach to the sink to use!! This was something I didn't realize until we bought the house, I went to turn on the dishwasher in those first days, and wondered why it wasn't working. I literally cried for days over this one fact.  And refused to ever start it.  I admit it, I am a kitchen snob. But those days are over, and we now have a brand new installed dishwasher!! And I am actually starting the dishwasher for the first time in almost 2 years.  I am sure Martin loves this.

So now I love it!! We tried to keep the style of the previous kitchen with the shaker cabinets. Which incidentally is the style I prefer. We were going to stay with white, but decided to do a warm maple. For the counter tops we did a black granite-looking Formica. Of course I wanted the real thing, BUT we didn't have it on our budget, and since we are going to put our house on the market soon, I wasn't sure we would get the money back for it. We also had a large 1936 farm-house sink, that we also decided to ditch. I grew to not hate it so much, but I am still happy we have a new one, even if it is smaller. And though we have more cabinets now, the kitchen seems so much larger than before. Maybe because the space is better used and there is less clutter with the stand-alone appliances.

We were very lucky to have Gary coming over for a 3-week holiday, so we recruited him to help with a lot of the work. His work was invaluable! Everything from demoing to installing the cabinets, and all the stuff in between...he even removed an old ironing board closet that was being used as a spice rack behind the old oven--ewww. And now it is nice smooth drywall.  We did go to the beach in Florida while he was here...so it was not all a working holiday for him.

I am still trying to get used to where everything is, I feel lost in my own kitchen sometimes, but I don't mind, because I love it.

BEFORE:

Before the demo

AFTER:

Need some color.

It might not be Spring yet...even though it is past mid-May..but I couldn't hold out any longer, and wanted to put some color on our front steps. I planted 2 identical ones...one each sire of the entrance. Usually, I prefer more randomness, and less symmetry...but with trying to sell our house at some point this year, I figured I need to do what looks good to others. That is assuming these plants live that long.

Off to make fish tacos!!

The finished sun room!!

It is more or less finished now.  From the awful paneled walls, nasty carpeting, and acoustical tiles...we had it gutted to the studs, and redone in a much more pleasing way.

A previous post with pics of its transformation.

And today:

Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes

I made these the other weekend for the 3 of us, and they were so delicious, and disappeared quickly. And they are a great way to get something as healthy as oatmeal into your diet. I think I will do these again this weekend.



2 C oatmeal
2 1/2 C buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 C flour (I used 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white)
2 T sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda

Soak the oats and buttermilk from an hour to overnight. I did it for an hour, and they still came out delicious.

Add eggs and butter and stir well.

Add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir until blended, let sit for 10 minutes to set.

Make!

Seeds at 2 weeks

My seeds at 2 weeks:


The small tray on top is my 5 different types of tomatoes in peat pots.

The tray on the left if full of more toms, pepper and herbs.

The middle tray has lots of flowers (nasturtium, calendula, marigold, sunflower, and more...), more herbs (dill, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and more..) and lavender.

The tray on the right is full of bush beans, zucchini, cucumber, flue fescue, bunny tail, poppies, arugula, shasta daisy and cosmos.

My super fast growing beans.


I realize my grow op is not ideal...but having 2 very curious cats in the house and an even more curious 3-year old, it is best I could do. I need to do lots of transferring this weekend.

Some of them are pretty long and leggy, like the tomatoes, but I am going to transfer them to 4"pot and cover their stems to try and fix that. The zucchini, cucumber and beans are coming in strong!!

The nasturtiums and calendula are doing really well too. The calendula seeds are actually ones I collected from our flowers last year...I think I have over 1000 seeds. If anyone wants any...now I know they grow.

I was surprised how fast they grew. Interesting to see what comes in fast, and what is slower. The peppers were the last to come up. The cucumbers, zucchini, beans, blue fescue came up really fast.

Seeds, seeds, seeds!

I am probably about 2 weeks late, but I did it. I started my seeds indoors. I am so excited. I just want to stare at them and wait for them to grow.

This is what I have so far:
(yes, I am probably a little ambitious for my first year starting seeds indoors..but what the h*ll)

Tomatoes
yellow pear (heirloom)
red cherry (heirloom)
brandywine (heirloom)
celebrity
super sweet 100

Veggies
arugula
zucchini
green peppers
colored peppers
cauliflower
sugar pumpkins (heirloom)
bush beans
cucumber
beet
sugar snap peas
corn
radish

Herbs
rosemary
lavender
dill
thyme
basil
spearmint
cilantro
chamomile

Flowers
canna (these are not from seed..i have 24 rhizomes for them to plant whenever it gets warm-love these!!)
sunflower
shasta daisy
poppies
nasturtium
cosmos
zinnia
marigold
calendula
coneflower (one of my favorites)
black-eyed susans

Grasses
bunny tails
blue fescue

Phew! Hopefully when I add all of this to what I did last year, I will have a lush backyard and full edible garden too. It is all an experiment, and I am sure some won't make it, but if they do I will have loads to share.

Our front yard was already landscaped when we moved in, so it is the backyard I have been working on. Last fall we had huge areas cut out and tons of shrubs and trees put in, and just this last week, we finally filled those areas with mulch. We spent 2 days, getting a massive truckload of mulch from the driveway to the backyard with a wheel barrel and a pitchfork. I don't want to have to shovel mulch for a long time!!

And I know it sounds bad, but we had out apple tree cut down. An apple tree sounds idyllic in theory, but unless you are prepared to spray it with pesticides and keep up with picking over a hundred of apples on a daily basis...it brings mice and a fruit fly extravaganza to the yard and the house (no mice in the house so far...knock on wood...but they were in the garage). But in place of my act of green-icide...I planted 40 bushes, shrubs and perennials last fall during our landscaping mission. I hope this makes up for it somewhat.

I am so ready for spring!!

Buttermilk cranberry scones

I look for recipes everywhere...you never know where you might find something yummy..or the base for something yummy, and then add your own touches to it.

As I was siting in the walk-in clinic a few weeks ago, while I was suffering from the plague, oops flu, going around, I was flipping through Good Housekeeping, and came across this recipe, called a 'celeb dish', and entitled "Courtney Cox's Currant Scones". It sounded yum, so I thought I would give it a go. I didn't have currents on me, so I replaced it with dried cranberries, which I always seem to have.

Here is the recipes with my changes:

3 C flour (I used 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)
3 T sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 t baking soda
6 T cold butter, cut up
1/3 c dried cranberries
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 C, plus 1T buttermilk

1. Pre-heat oven to 425'

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and baking soda. Add butter, blend until mixture resembles fine meal. Mix in egg and 3/4 cup buttermilk to form soft dough.

3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Pat dough 3/4 inch thick. With a 2 1/2-inch round cookies cutter (I used a glass turned upside-down) cut as many rounds as possible, gathering scraps together to use up all the dough.

4. Place rounds on lightly greased cookies sheet. Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk. Bake scones about 18 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Makes about 12 scones.

Serve plain, or with warm butter and jam.


I am about to make some, so we can have them for breakfast tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Where is spring?

It has been a while since my last post. After getting back from England in February, and me getting the flu, and then Zoë being the lucky one, and her birthday following, we have kept pretty busy.

Just last week when I thought I might be able to start doing some stuff in the garden...like getting the mulch delivered, and seeing what survived the winter....it snowed over a foot! So, now it may be a couple of more weeks. Though, I do think that this weekend, I am going to start some seeds indoors. I have been saving toilet paper/and paper towel rolls to use as little pots. I definitely want to start herbs soon, so that I will have a full, fresh supply through the summer. It will be a fun project for Zoë and I.

When I last posted about a couple of dishes I was going to make....fish pie and Cincinnati chili, I never had the chance because of our unexpected and sad trip back to England. Now that we are back in the swing of things, I will try and do that this next week.

One thing, I did manage to do before my lovely daughter turned 3 and my mom and sister came to town, was to paint our dining and living room. Now that I have done it, I can't believe I waited to long to do it. They are so much cozier now. My wonderful husband also surprised me with a new dining room table that I have been infatuated with for several months now. Our dining room is so much better, and I *heart* the table!!

Our dining room before:


After:


I love the Craftsman-style look of the table. I wish our entire house could be like that.

For the color, I began by thinking I would just use the red that was used under the chair-rail and that would be a cheap and easy solution. I have learned nothing is going to be "cheap & easy". Once I got that red on an entire wall, I decided it was too "bricky" and I definitely wasn't thrilled about it.. So we spent a week painting samples on the wall, and decided to go with Benjamin Moore, poppy, and I am in love with it!

The living room before:


After:


I kept the charcoal grey fireplace wall that I had painted when we moved in, but painted the rest of the room a slate grey. It kind of came out looking more blue than I imagined, but I really love it. No more beige!!! And it really makes the trim and crown molding stand out.

I think I am done painting for a while. I have now done almost every room of the house, and I don't want to smell paint fumes for a long time!

Vegetarian Irish Stew

I stole this recipe from the March 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times. I received the magazine in the mail today, opened it to this recipe, and had to make it. I changed a couple of things, and will post this recipe mostly as I made it.

It had such a great flavor, and I will definitely be making it again soon. Even Zoë gobbled hers up.

This recipe calls for seitan and tempeh, and while I like both of those items, we were snowed in and all I could get my hands on were what was available in our house, so I used tofu. When I make this again, I may omit the tofu/seitan/tempeh all together and use another vegetable like parsnips or sweet potatoes.

1 T olive oil
1/2 coarsely chopped onion
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)
1 T flour
4 oz seitan, cut into 1-inch pieces (I actually used firm chopped tofu)
2 slices smoky tempeh bacon, cut into 1/2-inch peices (I omitted)
1 clove garlic
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
1 cup stout beer
1 14-oz. can od vegetable broth (I used a bouillon cube in 14-oz of hot water)
6 oz butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used organic frozen)
1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrot, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 2 more minutes. Add seitan, tempeh bacon, garlic and thyme and cook another 2 minutes.

2. Pour in beer, and bring mixture to a boil. Cook 3 minutes, stirring and scraping any bits that may be stuck to bottom. Add vegetable broth and butternut squash, and bring to a simmer. Readuce heat to a meium-low and cook 20 minutes. Add edamame and cook 10 minutes more. (If using frozen squash, I would recommend cooking it 5 minutes and then adding the edamame for another 5 minutes).

I served this with homemade mashed potatoes cooked very indulgently with butter and cream, and a touch of nutmeg.

Yummy!

My next recipe to make from this issue is Jasmine risotto spring rolls with vanilla dipping sauce. And the sticky rice with mangos.

Update

Unfortunately, I did not get to test those last 2 recipes yet. Sadly, we received news the morning after the last post that Martin's father had passed away suddenly of a heart attack. We flew out that week, and just arrived home Monday night. It all seems so surreal.

I am just so happy that we were out there right before xmas and able to spend time with him, and that he was finally able to meet Zoë, and she was able to know her grandfather.

He will always be in our thoughts.

My food goals for the week

My cooking goals for this week are to create:

1. Vegetarian Cincinnati chili

2. English fish pie (like a dish, using salmon, we had in Hastings while we were there last month)

Asparagus & smoked salmon risotto

Risotto is my total comfort food. If I was on an island, and could only have one thing..I would be a risotto.

Be prepared...it involves constant attention, and lots of stirring. Those packets in the store that are ready made "risotto" are a farce...you can only make it, correctly, from scratch.

One of my favorites...from my own head:

3 T butter
1/2 chopped onion
1 cup aborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups broth (I use veggie)
6 stalks asparagus, trimmed and coarsely chopped
4 oz smoked salmon (I use cracked pepper smokes salmon from Trader Joe's), chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

- In one large pot...a risotto pot, a dutch oven...something big..melt the butter.

- At the same time in another pot, heat the broth until it is warm, and keep it warm..if you ever run out while cooking...add more water.

- Once butter is melted, add onions onions until they are translucent over medium heat, about 5 min. Stirring regularly.

- Add the rice to the onions, and stir until coated with butter and onion mixture. Continue to stir the rice for about 3 minutes until a white dot is clearly visible in the grains.

- To the rice, add the wine...continue to stir until absorbed.

- Now, using a ladle or even a measuring cup, add 2 cup fulls at a time of the broth. Continue to stir, and once it is absorbed, repeat until liquid is gone. Approx. 30 minutes. Keep taste testing until the rice is al dente.

- When the rice is about 5 min from done, add the asparagus.

- Add the parmesan cheese

- Add the smoked salmon

Viola!!

This will serve 2 good size portions.

To double, just double the rice, wine, cheese.

Even little kids will gobble this up!

Farfalle with Yogurt and Zucchini

Thanks for Food & Wine, which I have been getting for 10 years now, and continue to love.

This is one of my favorites. This one is a healthier version of alfredo sauce, and honestly, I think it is yummier!

1 pound farfalle
4 medium zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds), coarsely shredded
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the farfalle until al dente; about 1 minute before the farfalle is done, add the shredded zucchini to the pot. Drain the farfalle and zucchini, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, melt the butter. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Greek yogurt and the 1 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and season the yogurt sauce with freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Add the farfalle, zucchini and reserved pasta water to the saucepan and cook over low heat, tossing, until the sauce coats the pasta; and enjoy!

Meatless Tacos

In this last year, I have done away with meat substitutes like veggie burgers from the frozen section. I ate them for years and then finally realized they are full of even more crap than actual meat. There is so much artificial sh*t in them, I would rather eat the real deal than a chemically processed veggie burger.

Non-GMO tofu = good. Processed soy = bad.

Now I use a lot more tofu and beans in place of meat.

This recipe doesn't have the exact texture of ground meat, but it works for me. I actually end up craving this.

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 taco shells (I use organic - has no partially-hydrogenated oils)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 of a 1-1/8- or 1-1/4-ounce envelope (5 teaspoons) taco seasoning mix (I use organic)
8 ounces firm or extra-firm tub-style tofu, drained and finely chopped
1-1/2 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, lentils, and onion. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until lentils are tender and liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, heat taco shells according to package directions.

2. Stir tomato sauce and taco seasoning mix into lentils. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in tofu; heat through. Spoon into taco shells. Top with lettuce, tomato, and cheese. If desired, serve with salsa.

3. Makes 8 tacos

4. Bulgur Tacos: Prepare as above, except increase water to 3/4 cup and substitute bulgur for lentils. Simmer water, bulgur, and onion, covered, for about 15 minutes or until bulgur is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Quinoa & Edamame

This has become one of my absolute favorte dishes. It is perfect for summer, or anytime of year. A great side dish to bring to a BBQ. And super healthy!

I stole this one from my friend Dawn. She always makes the yummiest things.

1 C quinoa
2 C broth (I use veggie broth)
2 C frozen edamame (already shelled)
1 t. lemon zest
2 T lemon juice
3 T olive oil
2 T fresh chopped tarragon
3 oz. jarred diced roasted red peppers

1. Toast quinoa over medium heat in a pan, stir often until crackles, darkens and becomes aromatic...about 5 min. Then put in a colander and rinse with water thoroughly.

2. Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil, add cleaned quinoa, return to a boil, simmer covered for 8 minutes.

3. Remove lid without disturbing the quinoa, and add the edamame. Cover and continue for another 8 min.

4. While that is cooking, whisk the lemon zest, juice, oil and tarragon in a bowl.

5. Add dressing to quinoa once it is done, and toss in red peppers.

My friend also adds some chopped walnuts, but I prefer my food nut-free. Enjoy!

Sunroom

One of our big accomplishments of 2007 was the sunroom. I know this is not kitchen or garden stuff...but it does look out into the garden.

By an twist of fate...we had a huge storm last summer that caused lots of water damage to this back room. Water came through the ceiling, down the walls and all over the carpet. It smelled super musty. I just thought "shit!" It didn't even occur to me to call the insurance company..when either my mom or dad suggested it. I called them, and within a couple of months, they gutted the back room to the studs (which we hated and wanted to change anyway and were already in the planning stages), and completely redid it with new hardwood floors, new drywall, new insulation, new trim and new lighting. Even though I had just painted the room less than a year before, I figured a new room needed a new color, especially if I, for once, was not doing the painting.

The only thing I wish we did differently was open up the wall a bit from the dining room to the sunroom and add a double french door. I could have taken the budget they put in for the painting and applied it to this, and done the painting myself. Oh well, lesson learned.

We are super happy with our new room...now we just need furniture!

Before:
Note the horrendous curtains, wood paneling, and acoustic tile ceiling. All totally not my style - can it even be anyone's style in 2007??!! As soon as we moved in these curtains become drop clothes for my painting. Though this room is fully insulated, so it is a room that can be used year-round.
After some minor improvements once we moved in...paint and no awful curtains! Though we are still stuck with the nasty carpeting, but were planning on ripping it out anyway.
After:
We did cherry hardwood floors, I love them!! Now we just have to refinish the rest of the house so the floors in the rest of the floors are just as shiny.  No more paneled walls, acoustical tile ceilings or icky carpeting...yeah!

What is looks like today with curtains. Still no furniture, but that is coming very shortly!
Hopefully this was good practice for the kitchen..which we hope to do this summer.