Colorful and Delicious (and easy!)

I'm headed to RI tomorrow and I'll be gone for a week...so the last few days have been spent eating whatever is lying around that is unlikely to survive until I return.  By today...the pickings were pretty slim.  I had a sweet potato on the counter that was starting to sprout...definitely didn't want it to go to waste so I cooked it for dinner.  Actually, I chopped it up and fried it in olive oil.  Along with some chopped radishes and a little bit of onion.  Very colorful.  Quite tasty.

also tasty for breakfast with scrambled eggs

Merry Pasta Monday!

Browsing through my blog it may not be obvious, but I eat A LOT of pasta.  It's just that this blog tends to be more about my experiments than the things I eat every day.  But when you're looking for something quick and simple for dinner, which is the point of these Merry Monday posts, pasta is always a good choice.  It goes with anything.  Pasta with chicken, pasta with scallops, pasta with meatballs, pasta with...you get the idea.  And don't forget the vegetables!  Gotta have a balanced meal...

So, for today's Merry Monday post, I give you pasta with shrimp and veggies.

Pasta with vegetables and shrimp is one of my favorite quick dishes.  Why?  Well, I love pasta with any kind of meat, but when I'm in a hurry...it's way quicker to thaw some frozen shrimp than it is to cook any kind of meat.  I know there are lots of people out there who only eat fresh seafood, if they live near the water, and distrust seafood anywhere else.  Well...I don't live on the coast.  And I love seafood enough to take some chances.  I try very hard to always have a bag of pre-frozen, peeled/deveined, cooked shrimp in my freezer. 
For this pasta dish, you're going to start 3 things at once.  Two of them require pots with lids. 

Start by putting some water on the stove to boil.  While you wait for it to boil, chop up your veggies of choice.  I believe this particular dish of mine had zucchini, leeks, carrots, and onions.  I generally throw in whatever vegetables I happen to have.  Carrots are pretty much always thrown in, radishes pretty often, leeks whenever I was feeling motivated in the grocery store (they are SUCH a pain to clean! ...but so delicious...)  Once the veggies are chopped, throw them in a pot with some butter and salt, put on the lid, and let them steam on medium heat.  Take some shrimp out of the freezer, put them in a colander, and run cold water over them until they thaw.  By now your water should be boiling, throw in however much pasta you want. (Tri-color rotini is my favorite). Less if you just want one meal, more if you're feeding a bunch of people or want leftovers.  Once the shrimp are thawed and the veggies are soft, throw the shrimp in with the veggies so they can warm up.  (Turn down the heat if you don't want the veggies to turn to mush).  Once the pasta is done and drained, throw it in with the veggies.  Or if you're like me and steamed the veggies in a really small pot, throw everything in the pasta pot instead.  Mix it all up with whatever kind of sauce you like.  Olive oil is always good.  So is pesto.  My favorite pasta sauce is Classico's Sundried Tomato Alfredo.  Red sauce, white sauce, whatever your heart desires. 

Eat up!

Foccaccia

It's time for another Merry Monday simple recipe!

I just made this for the second time a few days ago, sooo good.  Quicker and easier than the loaves of bread I make (which are also quick and easy... here's a recipe for that)

1 pkg yeast
1 c hot water ( I microwave tap water for 1 min)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
herbs (oregano is my favorite, I also use garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, basil, and sometimes tarragon or rosemary)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 3/4 cup flour (add last)

I stir everything together with a wooden spoon, when it gets thick I knead it.  Cover with a towel, stick it somewhere warm, rise for 20 min

Grease a 9x9 pan with some olive oil and stick it in the oven at 450 for about 15 min. 

You can even press some shredded cheese into the bread before you stick it in the oven.

Great next to some soup, or slice a chunk in half and make a sandwich!  Yummy.

Sandwich and soup!  and chips and guac...of course...



Mouth-watering Carrot-Zucchini Cake

I got my guidelines from this recipe.  Then, being me, I changed it. Of course.

First of all, no way did I want to make that much cake.  So I cut the recipe in half. 

2 eggs
5/8 c vegetable oil
3/4 c sugar
(according to the recipe, it should have been 1 c...but I don't like sugar...)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
(according to the recipe, it should have been 1 c...but I figured with less sugar I should add more of something else.  And I didn't precisely measure...it is highly possible that I put in more than 1 1/4 c)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
(I just poured a little bit in my hand...may have been more than 1/4)
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
"1 1/2 c" grated carrot and zucchini
(definitely didn't measure that either...2 larg-ish carrots and 1 medium sized zucchini)

I used a fork to beat everything together in a glass bowl.  Poured it into a greased 9x9 pan.  Put it into the 350 degree preheated oven (Which was at 325 when I put it in...stupid oven.  I turned it up to 375 and I think that got it to 350.)  Set the timer for 45 min, but thankfully checked after 30 min because it was DONE!  If I had waited til 45 minutes were up it would have been burned.  And that would have been tragic. 

yeah...I took a bite first

 where has the cake gone?

I'm totally eating a second piece right now...it's that good.



Cool, Refreshing, Delicious, GREEN

Let's be serious now, if it's not GREEN, does it really LOOK cool, refreshing, and delicious?  ok, maybe I was kidding when I said let's be serious.  But, I do think the color helps...don't you think so?

The last week or so has been very frustrating...Last Wednesday-Sunday I worked 3 8hr shifts and 2 10hr shifts, and let's just say, it was exhausting.  I thought I would have 3 days off to enjoy myself, but instead, I ended up finding out on the morning of the 3rd day that I was, in fact not going to have that day off.  Back to work I went for another 3day stretch of 8 hr shifts (except yesterday's was over 9 hrs b/c I went in early to make soup...).  Thank goodness it's over at 11PM tonight, and, if I'm really lucky, I will have FOUR days to myself.  Time to relax, ride my horse, sleep, run as many miles as possible before I have to taper off for my 1/2 marathon on the 7th, and COOK!  (I had bought groceries in anticipation of cooking a lot on my last few days off...and somehow I didn't quite manage to cook all of it, and then had to work so much more, some of the food went bad and had to be tossed.  Very, very, sad. 

Ok, rant over, back to the issue at hand.  Refreshing-ness.  It has been incredibly hot and humid out lately (which certainly is NOT conducive to time spent in the kitchen...too bad that's what my job is, and I've been practically LIVING in a blazing-hot kitchen!) So today, even though I still have to go to work, I just couldn't wait for my days off to do some cooking of my own.  I had the kitchen-itch.  And since it's so hot, I didn't want to make, and therefore have to eat, something hot.  I had a vague memory of learning about an easy sorbet recipe that I wanted to try.  After some pondering I was pretty sure I had gotten in from an Oliver's Twist episode.  (oh, hello google-search.  find me Jamie Oliver's sorbet recipe please)  Basil-Lime Sorbet

No, of course I'm not blogging about me following someone else's recipe.  I just needed some...guidelines...and besides, I don't have any limes.  So much for lime-zest. 

Cucumber Avocado Basil Sorbet with hint of Lime
(doesn't that long-winded name have a nice ring to it?)

I don't know why Jamie Oliver thinks a wine glass is a unit of measurement, but hey, I have wineglasses. 

One wineglass of sugar and one wineglass of water go into the pot.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes, with some crushed up basil stems.

Chop and puree 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 avocado, and a bunch of basil leaves.  Add a dash of lime juice just for the heck of it.

When the water/sugar is done simmering, fish out the stems, and let it cool for a little while.  Then, stir in the puree.  Let it sit for a while, stirring every now and then.

Strain out the cucumber seeds, bits of stems, chunks of leaves.  Use a pestle to mash as much as possible thru the strainer.  You don't want seeds and stem chunks, but you do want as much flavor as possible!

(this is all that was left when I was done mashing stuff thru the strainer)

Pour into a plastic container, and put it in the freezer.  Try to remember to stir every 30 min or so until set.  Hmm...I'm supposed to remember to STIR every 30 min...that could be hard... one of those 30 min breaks between stirs will most certainly be spent running.  It might turn into 40-45 minutes...

Oh, how I hate waiting to know if I have achieved culinary success or not...I won't find out until right before I leave for work! 

Alas, I am headed to work and the sorbet has only just started to form something thicker than liquid.  Interested to see what I find when I get home around 11 tonight...will it be sorbet, or italian ice after not being stirred for over 8 hrs...?

11:15 PM: Finally!  I am home from work, showered, and ready to find out what happened to the green "science experiment" I left in my freezer...and we have...Success!  It's cold, it's the right consistency for sorbet, and it's yummy.  A lil too sweet for my tastes...but that's just because I'm wierd and don't like sugar.  Definitely using way less sugar next time...  If you have a sweet tooth, use a 1:1 ratio of water:sugar.  If not...like me...use less sugar!

Sweet Potato Chips (the successful version)

If any of you have been following this blog since I started in in April...you saw my post about the failed sweet potato chips I made.  Well, I finally got around to trying again. 

Also, I'm writing this post as a contribution to Merry Mondays check it out for more quick recipes.


Peel and clean a sweet potato.  Using some kind of peeler, make thin strips of any shape/size. 
My peeler has ridges and looks like this:

(don't I have the most awesome cutting board?)

pour some olive oil over the chips and make sure they all get coated.  Then, throw them in a bag of seasoning.  (I used a gallon-size ziploc bag...I'm sure a smaller one would be fine.  My smaller ones are too small)  For seasoning, I used garlic powder, onion powder, mustard power, basil, and italion seasoning bread crumbs. (It really doesn't take much, I think there was less than a tablespoon of seasoning in the bag).  Shake the bag til all the chips look coated.

Put the chips on a non-stick baking pan.  It's ok to have overlap, it creates a nice blend of crispy chips and softer chips.

(wow, the difference between using and not using the flash on my camera...)

Bake for 5-7 minutes at 450.  You will want to check the chips at 5 minutes, and be very careful if you bake them longer than that.  They can burn very quickly!

Pink Hummus

All these hours working at the Pub...and so much of the food is hot, who would want to eat it in this weather?  I'm trying to do a special on Thursdays, something cold, refreshing, and delicious.  It would be much more fun if more people knew I was doing a special and actually came in and ordered it...but oh well.  2 weeks ago I did a pesto pasta salad, and ended up throwing half of it out a week later because it was going bad. 

This week, I decided to do hummus.  Beet hummus. 

Start with a pot.  Open a can of beets, and put about half the beets in the pot.  Dump the entire contents of 2 cans of chick peas into the pot (juice and all).  Heat on stove until simmering.  (Just like the directions on the chick pea can say)  Strain the chick peas and beets, dump them in a food processor.  You can save the juice if you want, in case you decided your hummus is too dry.  (I have used the juice before, this time I did not). Add some olive oil to the food processor, process it up.  Add a good squirt of Zatarains Creole Mustard, a couple shakes of mustard powder, a couple spoonfuls of garlic, and a shake of onion powder. Process it up some more...until really smooth.  Chill and serve.

For those of you in town...this special will be available today.  And tomorrow, if it doesn't all sell today...