Week 62: Greek Chopped Salad

Lately I have been craving a good, fresh salad. The only thing is that sometimes salads are hard to eat, especially if you want a little of everything in each bite. My solution was to find a good chopped salad. Everything is chopped in to little pieces so you can get all those great flavors on your fork at one time.

There were a lot of chopped salad options, but I knew the search was over when I found this recipe because I love pretty much all of the ingredients typically used in Greek foods. Onions, olives, feta, lemon juice, yum!

Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

(I struggled with this rating. It was a truly GREAT salad, but I couldn't decide if I should rate it in only the SALAD category, or if it was fair to compare it to other foods. If I had to choose between this salad and, say, macaroni and cheese, it would be a REALLY tough decision...)

INGREDIENTS
2 Romaine lettuce hearts, chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 (6 ounce) jar pitted kalamata olives
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, sliced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 lemon, juiced
ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large salad bowl, combine the Romaine, onion, olives, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese.



2. Whisk together the olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and black pepper. Pour dressing over salad, toss and serve.

Kristen's Baby Shower

This is the food that Mom, Mara, and I made for Kristen's baby shower this past weekend. The menu included:

Fruit Salad (in cups on a cute cupcake tree)
Pizza Bites (with a slightly-different filling...more veggies)
Stuffed Mushrooms
Grilled Prosciutto-Wrapped Asaparagus
Caprese Salad Bites
S'mores Whoopie Pies

It was all delicious, and I definitely had more than my fair share of snacks!

Week 61: Veggie Kabobs and Whoopie Pies

Today Mara and I wanted to test a recipe we found for S'Mores Whoopie Pies for this weekend's baby shower we're hosting. It's irresponsible to eat Whoopie Pies for dinner, so I planned on grilling kabobs to start us out and give us energy to bake. The kabobs didn't require a recipe, but here's how we did it...


Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

INGREDIENTS
Mushrooms
Bell peppers, various colors
Grape tomatoes
Yellow onion
Potatoes
Tofu, extra firm
Extra virgin olive oil
Soy sauce
Lemon juice
Sea salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS
Mix the marinade in a large bowl. I just poured in a few glugs of EVOO, several shakes of soy sauce, juice from half of a lemon, and freshly ground pepper.

Cut the veggies and tofu so they're all about the same size. Put them all in the marinade and mix it all up so everything's coated.

Once the grill is ready (I had it on medium-low), skewer those veggies, sprinkle with sea salt, and put on the grill. They're done with everything has that good grill-charred look.



NOW...these whoopie pies (courtesy of Brown-Eyed Baker). I'm not much of the baker, but I was fortunate enough to have great helpers. After I messed up the flour step of the recipe TWICE, I asked Abby to be in charge of looking at the recipe and telling us what to do. These actually turned out to be pretty good, but very rich. We also thought they didn't have an extremely strong s'mores flavor. If we didn't know that this was the inspiration, we might not have recognized it. Also, the marshmallow filling had quite a bit of shortening, and my mouth definitely picked up on that.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 STARS

INGREDIENTS
For the Graham Cracker Whoopie:
1½ cups graham flour (I couldn't find this at the two grocery stores I tried, so I looked up a substitution online. For each 1 cup of graham flour called for in the recipe, you can use 2/3 cup white flour, slightly less than 1/3 cup wheat bran, and 1.5 teaspoons wheat germ. I wonder if I also could have used whole wheat flour here...)
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Classic Marshmallow Filling:
1½ cups Marshmallow Fluff (or other prepared marshmallow cream, which will do in a pinch)
1¼ cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (or solid chocolate, finely chopped)
½ cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together both flours, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and beat until combined.

4. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add the milk mixture to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until completely combined.

5. Using a spoon, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the cakes begin to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

6. Make the Marshmallow Filling: In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the Marshmallow Fluff and the vegetable shortening, starting on low and increasing to medium speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, add the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla, and beat until incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes more.

7. Make the Chocolate Ganache Filling: Put the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate is melted. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth. Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature until firm enough to spread, about 2 hours. You may also refrigerate the mixture for about 30 minutes, until it is firm enough to spread, stirring every 10 minutes.

8. Assemble the whoopie pies: Pipe or spread (whatever your preferred method) a layer of chocolate ganache filling onto the flat side of one of the cakes. Using the same method, top the chocolate filling with the marshmallow filling. Top it with another cake, flat-side down. Repeat with the rest of the cakes and filling.

Week 60: Curried Chicken Breasts with Quinoa

A few notes:

-Abby and I don't have experience with curry, so we didn't really know what it was SUPPOSED to taste like. Since we didn't have strong expectations, we thought it was pretty good. To the curry connoisseur, this dish would probably result in extreme disappointment. We blame the quality of the curry and/or we might have burnt the curry. This is reflected in the rating.

This is what it was supposed to look like (notice the beautiful yellow color):

This is what it DID look like:

-The recipe mentioned that curry doesn't have have a long shelf life, so it's important to buy it someplace where there is a decent turnover. We got ours at a regular grocery store, and decided that if we bought it again it would probably be at a specialty spice store or at the Indian grocer down the street from where I live.

-The original recipe called for Basmati rice, but we chose to use quinoa instead. We cooked the quinoa according to the passage, using half chicken broth and half water for the liquid, and then we mixed the parsley in after it was cooked.

-The recipe asks for a cup of coconut milk, and we ended up using the whole can, which was closer to two cups.

-We served this dish with naan, which is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. Naan is commonly found served with South Asian cuisine.

Year of Yum Rating: 3 STARS

INGREDIENTS
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus salt to taste
2 cups quinoa
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
1 yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk (we used almost two)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (I'm pretty sure we used a lot more than that)

DIRECTIONS
Remove any excess fat from the chicken breasts. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Slice crosswise into strips 1 inch wide. Place in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons lime juice, and toss to coat. Set aside for about 15 minutes.

While the chicken is chilling, go ahead and start the quinoa.

In a large saute pan or frying pan (we used an iron skillet), warm the butter and olive oil. When hot, add the chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until golden, 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate.

Pour off most of the fat and place the pan over low heat. Add the onion and saute for 1 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and saute for 2 minutes longer. Stir in the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Cover and simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and continue to cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes.

Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken to the pan, stir to coat well, and heat through. Adjust the seasoning with more lime juice or salt and pepper.

Toss the rice with the parsley. Arrange the quinoa in a ring around the edge of a warmed platter. Spoon the chicken and sauce into the center and serve.

Week 59: Primavera Risotto Nests with Fried Eggs

This was our first real risotto recipe. I attempted one before, but couldn't find the right kind of rice, so it didn't count. Risotto does require a lot of attention and stirring, but it wasn't extremely difficult, and I loved the creaminess of the result. Other things I loved: all of the veggies, how I could taste the wine that the rice soaked up, and the way the fried egg complimented the risotto.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 STARS

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, divided
2 cups chopped button mushrooms (about 5 ounces)
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable broth, divided
3/4 cup 1/3-inch cubes carrots
2 cups diced trimmed asparagus (about 9 ounces)
3 cups (or more) water
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1/2 cup shelled fresh peas or thawed frozen peas
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil plus additional for drizzling
4 large eggs

DIRECTIONS
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until beginning to soften, 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add rice and stir until translucent at edges, 5 minutes. Add wine. Stir until liquid is absorbed, 1 minute. Add 1 cup broth. Simmer until broth is absorbed, stirring often, 3 to 4 minutes. Add carrots, asparagus, and 1 cup broth. Simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring often, 5 to 6 minutes. Continue to add remaining broth, then water, 1 cup at a time, until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, stirring often and letting almost all liquid be absorbed after each addition, about 25 minutes total.

Stir 1 cup cheese, peas, parsley, and mushrooms into risotto. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat some butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook eggs, without turning, until whites are cooked through and yolks are cooked to desired doneness. (Our eggs were pretty done, but my yolk was just a little runny...)

Mound 1 cup risotto on each of 4 plates. Using back of spoon, make hollow in top of each mound. Top each with egg; drizzle with oil. Serve, passing additional cheese.



Recipe from Epicurious...I LOVE that app on my iPod Touch!

Week 58: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Abby and I love hummus. Every time I make it, I tell myself that I need to make it more often. It's easy now that I have a food processor, and it's yummy to have in the fridge to snack on. In fact, I think I just might make more this weekend...

Year of Yum Rating: 4 STARS

INGREDIENTS
1 16-oz. can chilled chickpeas, drained
Juice of one fresh lemon
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
1/3 cup roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Pinch of sea salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor until creamy smooth.

Taste test and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Cover and chill until serving. We ate it with some yummy pita chips. I need to work on forcing myself to dip something non-carby in my hummus, like veggies!


Recipe from Gluten Free Goddess.