blatant random silliness

my new food blog

I decided  this week that I'd really like to post more about what we are cooking and eating, mostly so I can keep track of what was good and what wasn't and what I can do better next time.  I also want to make notes of what Dylan liked and what he didn't (or what he didn't even touch).  So for those of you who like when I post about food, you can click on the "What do you want to eat?" button to the right.

Here's an excerpt from my food blog that goes with the photo above: 

For over a month now, we've been getting a box of fresh vegetables every week through a local farm's Community Shared Agriculture program.  The first few weeks were mostly a lettuce mix and mescalune with some radishes thrown in.  We also have been getting fresh mint every week.  One week we got asparagus.  The past couple of weeks have been more interesting though.  We've had kohlrabi (for the first time ever), garlic tops, rainbow Swiss chard, baby kale, and english shelling peas. And last week in addition to the mint we got a large bunch of fresh basil.

I decided it was time to do something with the peas Sunday evening and pulled out the peas to start shelling.  Dylan decided he wanted to help.  And it turns out shelling peas is a great toddler activity.  It went slowly at first because I had to hold the pea pod for him (he had a plastic tomato in one hand), but once he set his tomato down, he just needed me to open the pods and he dumped them into the bowl, said "all done" and handed me the empty shell.  [Read the rest of this post]

roast chicken

I made this roasted chicken a while ago.  I found a La Creuset pot on sale at Williams Sonoma...it was about 50% of the regular cost which is an excellent deal.  So, I went back and picked it up.  To inaugurate it, I decided to roast a chicken in it.  I searched out recipes and ended up combining a few.  If I remember correctly, I stuffed the cavity with an onion, a lemon, garlic and fresh rosemary and thyme.  I made an herbed butter and rubbed in under the skin and on top of the skin. 

It turned out beautiful and quite tasty.  I haven't done one since then, but maybe will have to again soon.  The pot meanwhile is lovely for soup making.

curry lentil soup with kale and sausage

I need to take a new photo of this one.

There is nothing better than a big pot of soup in the wintertime. I first made this soup several months ago so that we could introduce lentils to Dylan. My first version didn't have the sausage and kale, two additions that I think really make the soup extra tasty (and nutritious). Dylan really liked his portion (I took out some before adding extra spice and salt and pepper), so I've made it a couple of times since. I love the recipe that has evolved and made sure I wrote it down so that I could share it with you (this is one that I usually just throw together without really measuring anything).

Curry Lentil Soup with Kale and Sausage

Olive oil
1 lb sausage (I use Hilshire Farms Turkey Smoked Sausage)
1/2 onion, diced
2 leeks, diced (I made this soup recently and forgot about the leeks..used a whole onion instead...just as good)
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 dash hot curry powder (you can increase this if you like heat..I'm a wuss, so I don't use a lot at all)
1/2 tsp. cinammon
4 cups of chicken broth
4 cups water
1 lb lentils
1 bay leaf
1 bunch of kale, chopped
1 lb sausage (I use Hilshire Farms Turkey Smoked Sausage)
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Brown the sausage in the bottom of the pan. Remove from pan and set aside. Add a little more olive oil. Add in onion, leeks, carrots and garlic. Add seasonings. Sauté until veggies soften a bit, then add lentils. Stir around and pour in the chicken broth and water. Add in the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer (covered) for 30-40 minutes until lentils are tender. Put kale on top of soup and cover. Simmer for another 3-5 minutes until kale is bright green. Stir the kale into the soup and add the sausage in to heat through. Take a taste and add salt and pepper and more seasonings as needed. Enjoy!

This soup freezes well (although you may need to add a little extra liquid when reconstituting). If making for a baby, leave out salt and pepper and cut the spices in half until you remove their portion. For a younger baby, I would pureé the soup. For an older baby you can pureé some and leave some whole, then mix together for a nice texture.

Serve with some nice crusty Italian bread, toasted under the broiler, rubbed with garlic and topped with butter. Use this as your spoon!

i know Christmas was last week but....

...I have to share this lovely Japanese Christmas cake with you.  Chiemi and Kevin brought over a couple of these miniature cakes for Christmas Eve.  They were quite yummy.  I'd love to know what goes in the frosting.  Unlike American frosting (which is basically just sugar), this frosting has a yummy flavor (that isn't sugar).

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pumpkin pie

I have been meaning to post about Thanksgiving for awhile now, and here it is almost Christmas and I'm finally doing it *grin*.  For Thanksgiving, we went over to our friends Cheimi and Kevin's apartment.  I made my Mom's Butternut Squash Souffle, Mom's Stuffing, and a new take on Pumpkin Pie.  Kevin made a delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green bean casserole.  Everything was delicious and even though we didn't cook the turkey, we still got to take home leftovers.  Dylan really enjoyed playing with their dog Pepper for a little while and really didn't want to eat the turkey.  However, the next day, he tried the turkey and seemed to like it.

The Pumpkin Pie recipe that I used is actually for a Pumpkin Soufflé from my friend Crucibel from Puerto Rico.  She brought the Pumpkin Soufflé (known as Soufflé de la Calabaza) to a potluck and it was so good that I knew it would taste good as pie filling.  So, I made my crust and used her recipe for the filling.  It made enough for two pies and they were sooo good!

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Pumpkin Souffle (souffle De Calabaza)
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Recipe By: Crucibel Rivera (actually from her grandmother)
Serving Size: 1 soufflé or 2 pies

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 lb. pumpkin (or 2 cans of pumpkin purée)
1 pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients together (I like to put all the dry ingredients through a colander before)
After that put all the mixture in a blender as a result you'll have a smooth dessert.

[If using a mixer:  Cream the butter and the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time.  Add flavorings and the flour.  Then add the coconut milk and pumpkin. Mix until blended and smooth]

Pour into two pie crusts, or into a casserole dish. Put in the preheated oven at 325º for abut 35 minutes or until a knife or a toothpick comes out clean. [Mine took a little longer to cook, the original recipe said 1 hour, but oven temperatures vary].

ham and cheese corn muffins

Last week, we had a potluck after playgroup.  Denny was out of town and I hadn't gone to the store in a few days.  Conveniently, I forgot about the potluck until the night before after Dylan went to bed.  So, I looked in my cupboard for inspiration.  I found two boxes of corn muffin mix and remembered I had ham in the freezer leftover from a holiday party.  And voila, these yummy ham and cheese corn muffins were born.

Mix up the corn muffin mix following the directions on the package.  Mix in a handful or two of chopped ham, grated cheddar cheese, and canned corn (frozen would work just fine too).  I also added some Herbs d' Provence.  Scoop into muffin tins, about 2/3 full then top with more grated cheese.  Bake according to the package.  They turned out nice and flavorful with a chewy cheesy crust on top. 

cinnamon crescent rolls

I whipped these up a couple of weeks ago when I last hosted playgroup. I needed a snack and had crescent roll dough in the fridge.  So, I laid out the rolls, spread on some butter and sprinkled generously with cinnamon and sugar.  I rolled them up and sprinkled on some more cinnamon and sugar.  Once they were cooked, I let them cool and then drizzled on a thin glaze made with powdered sugar, cinnamon and water. They turned out delicious...a nice substitute for real cinnamon rolls.

pumpkin-apple butter

With fall upon us, I've been cooking more "autumnal" fare.  (Denny really likes to say the word "autumnal" this time of year).  I was remembering back to when my Mom made a big batch of pumpkin butter and how yummy it was.  I wanted to make some of my own, but I don't have her recipe...so I did a google search and turned up with all sorts of recipes, most of which called for more sugar than pumpkin.  I stumbled across a website called Fat Free Vegan Kitchen and the recipe for Pumpkin Apple Butter, that used raisins, apple juice and applesauce to help sweeten the mix.  It turned out sooo delicious that I had to share.  It truly tastes like pumpkin pie on toast.  Enjoy!

Click here for the Pumpkin Apple Butter Recipe at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

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ginger pork with stir fry veggies and brown rice

Last week I stumbled across a delicious looking recipe for gingered pork in my Japanese Home Cooking cookbook.  I haven't really cooked anything out of this book since I've had it (and I don't remember when I bought it) and am so glad I finally did.  The pork was delicious paired with the stir fried veggies and brown rice.  The only recipe I really stuck with was the one for the pork.  I improvised a bit on the veggies and served over brown rice instead of sushi rice. 

I started the brown rice first, as it takes awhile to cook.  I used 2 cups of rice (so I'd have leftovers for fried rice the next day), 2 cups of water, and 2 cups of chicken broth.  I then added a couple of whole cracked cloves of garlic and a few slices of ginger to add some flavor.

For the veggies, I found a stir fry recipe in the cookbook.  However, it called for bell peppers, cabbage and bean sprouts and I had snow peas, carrots and broccoli.  However, the sauce worked for me and would probably work with any combo of veggies you like.  The sauce is 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of instant dashi and 1 tablespoon of mirin.  I just added this after stir frying (and steaming) the veggies for a bit.  It really added a nice flavor.

Ginger Pork
(buta no shogayaki)
From Japanese Home Cooking by Shunsuke Fukushima

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
2 tablespoons chicken stock or water
1 lb pork fillet, trimmed of sinew, cut into slices 1/2 inch thick (I used a pork tenderloin, sliced)
1/2 cup peeled and finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 scallions (shallots/spring onions), thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, for garnish

In a small saucepan over medium-high-heat, combine sugar, soy sauce, mirin and stock or water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove sauce from heat and set aside.

Dip both sides of each pork slice into grated ginger. Reserve any leftover ginger. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add pork and fry, turning once until pork is no longer pink, 3-4 minutes. Add sauce to pan with any remaining grated ginger and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove pork from pan and divide among 4 warmed plates. Spoon any remaining sauce from pan over slices. Garnish with sliced scallions and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.  (serves 4)

pork tenderloin

I am not only behind on baby posts, but also with my food posts.  So here is part 1 of my food catch-up.

We've made pork tenderloin a go-to meal ever since seeing a quick recipe for it in Real Simple.  I can't find the link or I'd post it here.  Basically, you season your pork tenderloin with salt and pepper and then sear it in a hot (oven proof) pan on the stove top for about 3 minutes per side.  I use a cast iron skillet for this.  Then, put it in a 450º oven for about 20 minutes.  Pull it out and let it rest for 5 minutes and then slice and serve.  The Real Simple recipe serves the pork with a mustard sauce (coarse brown mustard and apple cider vinegar ---I always add a bit of honey to this).  I decided to change things up since I had a bag of fresh cherries in the fridge.  I pitted the cherries and sliced them in half.  To my cast iron skillet that the pork came out of I added about a half a cup of balsamic vinegar and scaped all the good stuff off of the bottom of the pan.  Then I added the cherries.  Let this reduce by half and get thick and you have your sauce.

To go with this I roasted green beans in the oven until they got a little brown on one side.  I drizzled them with olive oil and salt and pepper before they went in the oven.  And the sweet potatoes were chopped and boiled until soft.  I made a huge batch and froze some for Dylan.  Our portion was topped with brown sugar and cinnamon.