After an extended break from cooking and blogging, I’m back. We had family visit through Thanksgiving and really went all out with slow food, organic recipes. The two days prior to Thanksgiving, my mom, dad, sister, and I were planted at the kitchen table chopping, chopping chopping. The Thanksgiving table was beautiful and we’re still enjoying the benefits of a well-stocked fridge.
Yesterday, I made a Moosewood Restaurant potato soup recipe with the leftover vegetable stock and extra potatoes. Today, I made mini quiche with a leftover pie crust, veggies, eggs, and cheese. Soon we’ll wean off these rich foods, it’s been a delicious week.
Love escaping NYC and cooking in my parents’ gourmet kitchen.
Vegetable dumplings a la Smitten Kitchen via Alton Brown and watermelon and tomato salad a la Mark Bittman (substituting feta for bleu cheese)
This has been a brilliant summer for gardens in Astoria.
Grits+Cheerwine+Spanish Moss+Azaleas = The Masters in Augusta
Whenever I travel, the best dinner in the land of fast-foods it is simply the Whole Foods salad bar. On it, is a golden colored Israeli couscous salad with cranberries. I’ve been wanting to try to replicate it at home for a while. I’ve tweaked this recipe, changing a few ingredients (like omitting turmeric because it’s not in my spice cabinet, which meant that mine didn’t have the traditional golden color).
It was delicious and super easy.
1 box Trader Joes Israeli Couscous (1 1/3c dry)
1 3/4 cup Vegetable Broth
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
Dressing:
1/2 orange, juiced
jest of 1 orange
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon ginger powder
Bring broth to a boil. Add couscous, cinnamon stick, and bayleaf. Cook ten minutes, or until al dente. Remove leaf and cinnamon stick. If there’s remaining liquid, drain, but do not rinse.
In a large bowl, combine cooked couscous, cranberries, walnuts, and scallions.
Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over couscous mixture.
Serve immediately or chilled.
Does two years a tradition make?
Passionfruit, creme brulee, and oatmeal doughnuts at Doughnut Plant, NYC on Valentine’s Day.
Happy Homemade Hearts Day
Sunday Mornings.
I thoroughly enjoy following Mr. Bittman:
“I have a friend whose slogan is “cooking solves everything.” I don’t think it does, but the point is a valuable one: if you cook, you think about what goes into your mouth; you shop more carefully; you begin to think about where the food you’re shopping for came from, and how it was produced; you begin to think about what you’re throwing out, and how you might use it instead of waste it; and so on.”
Eggs for Supper?
I used to blog here about thriftiness in NYC, but I think I’ll relocate everything to Tumblr. I’ve been underemployed for two years, so the transition from full-time job with benefits to part-time job plus freelancing work has led me to be search out frugality.
First of all, I don’t even use the word ‘supper’. But when you’re eating eggs after four o’clock in the afternoon, it sounds right. I had seen a recipe for Bell Pepper Eggs-in-a-Hole from Martha Stewart’s ‘Everyday Food’ (which is one of my favorite sources for recipes) a few months ago, but it wasn’t until looking through a fridge slim on contents while being snowed in that I remembered it. And it was so delicious.
My sister shared her go-to salad dressing, which I whisk up now routinely. It’s equal parts olive oil and white balsamic vinegar, plus a little sweetener. For a generous salad for two, I used one tablespoon of each and a pinch or two of sugar-in-the raw.
