All about food

I feel like Ryan and I have had some really good food lately and I just wanted to make a list of things so I don't forget them. Sorry this post will be boring and sans pictures. 

This past weekend we ate at the Pie Hole and wow. Such good sweet pies. The maple custard is a must get. I am drooling a little bit just thinking about it. The savory pie I had (curried veggie) was ok. But then again, I'm not much of a savory pie girl unless it's quiche. Ryan loved the chicken cornbread pie he had for lunch. I want to go back!

We also walked to this Italian restaurant in our neighborhood called Spumante. We've walked by it many times in the almost 4 years we've lived in our neighborhood, but always forgot to go back to it. I'm so glad we tried it out because it is so good! I had the cheese ravioli and it was the best cheese ravioli I've ever had. The marinara sauce was soooo good. 

Recipes we've been eating lately:

-This vegan queso is quite tasty. Even Ryan loves it - he even said if I hadn't told him it was vegan, he would have assumed it was cheese-based. Win! We liked it enough that I've made it a second time. 

- These pumpkin chocolate chip bars are delicious. I had a can of leftover pumpkin from Thanksgiving and decided to make these before Fall treats stop sounding good. They were a hit for sure. 

-Real Simple's chicken paella was so good. I used frozen chicken breast tenderloins (didn't even thaw them beforehand) in place of the chicken thighs, used a bit more smoked paprika, and upped the chicken stock to almost 3 cups. I love one pot meals and will definitely be making this again.

I think that's it for now. What are your favorite recipes or things you've been trying lately? 

Fresh Apple Cake

It's the weekend! And a grand weekend at that. Our good friends are getting married today (yay!), it finally has cooled down here in LA, and I had time to bake!

Ryan and I went apple picking last weekend with some friends in Oak Glen. Ever since, the apples have been staring me down all week in the fridge. I couldn't decide what to make with them until I came across this apple bundt coffee cake recipe. I love coffee cakes. They are the perfect midday fika and you can also eat them for breakfast because it has the word coffee in it [sound logic, don't you think?].

I apparently couldn't wait to try the cake before taking a photo. Oops. 

This cake is quite scrumptious. I used this recipe here on the Food Network site, and subbed out the 1 1/4 cups oil for 3/4 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil instead. I also did a cinnamon glaze instead of the honey glaze it called for. I think it would be even more delicious with some Swedish vanilla sauce! Yum!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pickled Sriracha Chard Stems

If you know my husband Ryan at all, you know that he's pretty obsessed with spicy foods. And I'm not talking just a hint-of-spice kind of obsessed, but rather the let-me-douse-my-entire-meal-with-crushed-red-peppers-until-my-nose-runs kind of obsessed. Needless to say, when the great Sriracha panic happened back in May, we stocked up on the hot sauce...just in case. Thankfully, the Sriracha panic subsided and the local factory never shut down production [phew!]. All that to say, if you like spicy foods and Sriracha, you will love these pickled chard stems!

We got 2 insanely huge bunches of red chard in our CSA* this month - the leaves were bigger than my head! After using a few leaves in our breakfast smoothies, then in some lentil soup, I started researching other recipes for chard. When I came across a recipe for Sriracha fridge pickles using chard stems, I knew I had stumbled upon gold.

They were super easy to whip up, too. I made them before heading to work in the morning they were that easy and quick. And that's saying something coming from a non-morning person.

If you feel like whipping some up yourself, all you have to do is cut up the card stems in 3-4 inch lengths and put them in a jar. Then...

...start mixing up your pickling liquid.

I cut the recipe in half and skipped the onion (only because I was trying to save time).

They were so fast to make. I even made it to work early!

And check out that gorgeous color!

I'm excited to use these in tacos and salads. I might even venture to use them with eggs and toast, or perhaps even just eat them straight from the jar.

Sriracha Pickled Chard Stems

slightly adapated from Bon Apetit

Chard stems from 2 bunches of red chard

1/2 cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp celery seed

1.5-2 Tbl Sriracha hot sauce

Cut up your chard stems in 3-4 inch hunks and put into a mason jar. Heat your vinegar and sugar mixture slightly until sugar is dissolved. Add celery seed and Sriracha and mix. Pour over chard stems and put the lid on. Refrigerate for 2 days before eating. 

Enjoy!

* Use my code to get $10 off your first CSA box if you want to sign up for your own! KATH5242

Figgy jam

It's no secret, I love jam. I love making it and I love eating it. What's not to love about fruity goodness in a jar?

The last few weeks I've been pretty obsessed wtih fresh figs. They're soooo good. Especially warmed in the oven with a little goat cheese. Even just typing that makes my mouth water. 

So what's a jam-loving girl to do when she gets her hand on a couple pounds of fresh figs you ask? Make some fig jam of course!

 

Such a pretty fruit. And quite nutritious too - packed with lots of good fiber and potassium.

Ok, back to the jamming! I cut up a bunch of the fresh figs, added some sugar and lemon juice and let it sit...

...until it turned into this figgy mess:

Then it was ready for boiling! I let it simmer away for only about 5-10 minutes until this figgy jam was ready to be canned. I've been adding this stuff to just about everything, including our morning breakfast smoothies for a little extra sweetness.

If you're in the mood to make your own fig jam, here is the recipe I went off of. I added just a splash of lemon juice for good measure. Happy jamming!

Beet Fries

Yes, I may be a little obsessed with beets these days. But they're so good!

If you're looking for ways to cook beets, this is one of my favorites - roasted beet fries. They're so easy and delicious.

Beet Fries:

Skin and chop 2 large beets into sticks. Spread out evenly on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Drizzle 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper.

Roast in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, stir around and cook an additional 10-20 minutes depending on how well done you like them.

Eat and enjoy!

Beet Greens Smoothie

Ryan and I recently signed up for a local CSA (community supported agriculture) and I kid you not, I was like a little kid at Christmas when I opened up our first box. It was exhilarating, and I've never seen a bunch of more beautiful vegetables in my life [yes, I know I'm a huge nerd and I'm OK with that].

[a small bunch of the veggies from the box]

In our box were two ginormous beets with a ton of greens still attached. Beet greens are edible, but I usually end up throwing them out for lack of ideas of what to do with them. These were too great to toss, so I snipped them off, gave them a quick wash, and then threw them in the blender with a bit of water to make some beet greens puree. Then I froze them in ice cube trays and have been adding a few cubes into our breakfast smoothies. I love it because they give the smoothies extra purple color and up the nutritional value a bit too (high in Vitamin A + C, plus calcium and iron too).

Want to try one? They're good, I promise. Even Ryan likes them!

Beet Greens Smoothie

4 cubes frozen beet greens (see above for how-to)

6 large strawberries

1/4 cup fruit juice - I used pineapple

1/4 cup plain yogurt or kefir

1/2 cup oats

1 tsp hulled hemp seeds or chia seeds (optional)

Pour liquids in blender first, then add the remaining ingredients. Add additional pineapple juice (or yogurt, milk, or liquid of your choice) as needed to reach your desired consistency. Bottoms up!

Year two and a vacation

Well folks, Ryan and I celebrated two years of marriage last week! I can't believe how quickly this past year flew by. Wow. Here's to year three - woo! 

To celebrate, we ventured off to a small, old mining town called Julian here in California. They are famous for apple pie. And it definitely did not disappoint. We had this pie two days in a row it was so good. And they served it with cinnamon ice cream...oh my goodness, it does not get better than that!!

The town of Julian was booked, so we ended up staying nearby in Borrego Springs, in the desert. There were a ton of huge sculptures throughout which was awesome. 

Ryan chilling with the desert monster.

Checking out the old mine...

It was such a great trip all around. We went antiquing, wine tasting, shopping, fika-ing, and more! We drove back a different way so we could check out a few microbreweries Ryan and been wanting to see and they were awesome! We went to the Lost Abbey and Belching Beaver (what a name!) near Escondito. I'd definitely recommend them if you're in the area.

Along with Julian being one of the best little towns there are, they had tons of fresh produce for dirt cheap! I bought a bag of 30 avacados for $5. Five dollars people. That's a steal! We also bought a huge bag of serrano peppers for Ryan since he loves all things super duper spicy. Tonight I made them into pickled serrano peppers. Two jars I chopped and two I kept semi-whole. Hopefully they're tasty...I'll never know because they're too spicy for me!

Pickled Serrano Peppers

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

3 TBL kosher salt

3 TBL sugar

2 TBL whole corriander

Garlic clove for each jar

2 bay leaves

1 TBL mustard seed

pinch red pepper flakes

Serrano peppers, enough to fill 4 jars

Wash peppers well. Either pierce multiple times with a knife, or cut up peppers and place in jars. Boil all other ingredients in the vinegar/water combo. Remove from heat and pour into prepared jars. Let sit in fridge for one week before eating. 

Note: these are not shelf safe, keep in the refrigerator

That's all folks! Hope your week is going well. Tomorrow is Thursday...which means Friday is almost here! 

Fika Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

It's a glorious day. Friday. One of the best days of the week. I hope you all had a splendid week! This weekend really snuck up on me! The beginning of the week was crawling by, then all of a sudden, boom! Friday. I'm quite excited about this weekend. Tonight, I get to go see a Prairie Home Companion at the Greek Theater here in LA (compliments of my super sweet and awesome friend, Hannah - thank you!!). Then tomorrow is a friend's wedding! I love weddings. Needless to say, it's going to be a great weekend!

In case you didn't know, I adore rhubarb. I just love the tartness of it. And the infamous strawberry-rhubarb combo never disappoints. I stayed up until 11:00 PM on Wednesday to make this pie. But it was so worth it. I love me some pie. It made for some great fika snacks yesterday and today.

My fika rundown:

Where: Home

What: Black coffee with strawberry-rhubarb pie

With: Ryan + me

Best part: the rhubarb, and Ryan's company, of course.

What did you do for fika this week?

Beautiful fruit and other things

First and foremost, Happy Easter to all you folk out there! I hope you have had a glorious day! I am thankful I was able to spend today with my family - it's always a good time.

I've had a great weekend thus far - Ryan and I went over to Malibu Canyon yesterday for a little morning hike. It was a beautiful day and perfect for hiking. We didn't go too far or anything, but it was great just to be spending time outside. On our drive back we stopped at a little roadside fruit stand that was selling some beautiful looking strawberries. I bought a case of them with the intentions of making some strawberry jam. And strawberry jam I made.

I love jamming.

I also made some lemon curd for some poppy seed tartlettes I brought over for Easter dinner. I love homemade lemon curd. I have some leftover from the tartlettes so I will probably be eating spoonfuls of it this week.

In other news, I have been trying to brainstorm different types of fiber art classes I can take this year. I was thinking perhaps an advanced needle felting class? I know the basics...but I think it'd be fun to learn more techniques. Any ideas?

I can't believe how quickly this weekend flew by...it's already Sunday night?! My how time flies. 

Here's to a new week!

From my Mother's kitchen

Whenever I go back home to visit my parents, I always peruse my mother's kitchen cupboards looking for long lost kitchen gadgets.  This Christmas, I stumbled upon this little guy: a butter mold.  

This day and age, everyone is more about flavored butters.  There are herb whipped butters, lemon butters...you name it! I love that you don't see many people mold their butters anymore.  It made it feel like a novelty when I gave it a try.

Don't they look elegant?

Now, I didn't make these for a special dinner I was making or anything.  I just made them for fun.  But I must say, it made eating breakfast this morning feel quite fancy.

Here's to feeling fancy! Happy Thursday!

Fresh cranberries

How's your Monday treating you?

I'm typically not the biggest of fans of Mondays, but today has been a great day.  I worked a reverse hour day, so I got off at 3 PM.  Awesome!  I had time to talk with my parents, clean the apartment, and bake some cranberry-orange bread with fresh cranberries.  I love this time of year when fresh cranberries start to become plentiful in the grocery store. Love it.

It's going to be a good week, I can feel it in my bones! 

Happy Monday! 

Party party!

The newest member of the family is here - wooooo!!!  My sister gave birth a week ago to this beautiful new girl, my new niece, Hannah.  Doesn't she just melt your heart?  

She arrived a little early, so early that the doctor didn't have time to get to the hospital and a nurse had to deliver her.  Woah.  But I am SO glad she's finally here!  I already love her to pieces.

While nothing this summer will top the arrival of Hannah, Ryan and I have been trying to soak up the CA summer by getting to the beach more.  Here we are at Santa Monica beach in the evening awaiting the sunset.

Here is the said sunset.

And tonight I tried a new pickle recipe - pickled fennel with orange zest.  I got the recipe from my friend, Jo.  She has an awesome blog all about knitting and eating, check it out.  I love fennel and I can't wait to see how this turns out!

In other summer news, Ryan is job hunting like no one's business.  I think he applied to almost 50 jobs yesterday, no joke. So if you live in LA and happen to own a thriving company, please hire my husband.  

Happy August!

Garden Magic

I think one of the reasons I love gardening is that it seems like magic.  One day you plant something in the ground, add a bit of water and TLC, and the next thing you know you have things to eat - magic!

We recently added this bunch of green onions to the patio pot.  I had bought them from the grocery for a recipe then read somewhere (probably Pinterest) that you can plant the ends and they will keep growing back.  Amazing.  We've used them so many times this may be my favorite kitchen scrap item I've planted.  Next to the green onions is our wily rosemary which I always forget to use.

Our newest plant is this cayenne pepper plant.  $1.50 at our local Do-It Center.  And after just a few short weeks we already have a couple peppers coming in!

And this is our Jalapeno plant from last summer!? Did you know that they fruit for more than one season? I sure didn't.  I was quite surprised that it made it through the winter and was even more surprised when I saw it flowering.  

  

And what you see below is that potato I planted a few months back - holy cow! Who knew potatoes grew such huge, leafy plants! I think there's actually a new potato growing underneath too...exciting.

Just another shot of the hugeness of the potato plant.

Sadly, both the onion and pineapple I planted (at the same time as the above potato) have died.  I think the pot I used for the pineapple was perhaps a bit small.  And the poor onion never recovered from the wind storm.  You win some you lose some I guess.  

My weekend has been off to a great start and I hope yours is too - happy weekend!

There's a dragon in my mouth!

After listening to a recent NPR story about chili-heads, I knew I had try making my own hot sauce.  Ryan is obsessed with spicy foods and a chili-head himself and I knew he would be on board with me attempting my own hot sauce.  Since I already had quite a few Thai chilies in the fridge from a cooking adventure earlier in the week, I decided to make a roasted Thai pepper sauce.  Be warned, these little suckers are hot.

After testing the final product, Ryan said, "It feels like there's a dragon in my mouth!".  Needless to say, he had tears running down his face along with a running nose.  And he still went back for more and more - crazy!

Roasted Thai Chili Sauce

adapted from this YouTube video

Approx 1 cup Thai chilies, red or green

1 tsp kosher salt

white vinegar, enough to cover chilies

First, rinse and drain your chilies well.  Remove all stems.

Place chilies in a preheated pan on medium-high.  Stir frequently to prevent burning.

After a couple minutes they should start to look slightly roasted.

A few minutes more and they should be done roasting.

Remove from heat and dump chilies in a food processor.  Add your salt and vinegar, I poured the vinegar directly over the chilies until they almost covered them.

Grind 'em up!

Pour into a glass jar and refrigerate until use.  Ryan likes to eat it on just about anything.  Chips, crackers, sandwiches, and especially veggies that he's try to mask the flavor of!

He's loving it!