Pasta e Fagioli *Legume Recipe # 2*

This spring has been a typical Oregon one, cold and wet. Needless to say I have been making a lot of soups. This recipe for Pasta e Fagioli will help take the chill off. This recipe is from Giada de Laurentis, but of course I changed some things around a bit. Sofia loved it and ate a whole bowlful and didn’t throw one bite on the floor ( a big deal at her age!)

Makes 6 Servings:
4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
1 Bay Lead
(If you don’t have fresh, use dried.)
1 Tb Olive Oil
1 Tb Unsalted Butter
1 Med Yellow Onion, Chopped
3 Slices Bacon, Chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
6 Cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Cup Elbow Macaroni
2 (15 oz cans) Red Kidney
Parmesan Cheese
Pepper

Heat olive oil and butter, in a large pot, over med heat. Add the onion and bacon, sauté until onions are tender about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, sauté 1 minute. Add the broth, beans , and herbs. (You can make a sachet of herbs but since I am normally cooking with a baby on my hip, the whole sachet thing doesn’t work for me. If you don’t use a sachet, just pick the herbs out at the end.) Bring to a boil over high heat. Then decrease heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. In a blender, puree 1 cup of the mixture until smooth, then return puree to saucepan. Bring the soup to a boil. Add the macaroni noodles and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally. Discard herbs. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve!

Note: The leftovers may need to be thinned with a little more broth.

Grandma Julie's Sweet Iced Tea

Anyone that knows my Grandma Julie knows that she makes the best iced tea around. On any given day, she goes through at least 2 pitchers of the stuff. As a little girl I think I drank more of this tea then I did water or milk. When you visit her, you can refuse all you want, but by the time you leave you will have consumed at least one large glass of sweet tea. Really though, no one is complaining. The tea is great, and I miss it dearly when I am in Oregon. I tried recreating it several times, thinking it would be easy, how hard could tea be? It wasn’t easy though…I never seemed to get the balance of sugar and tea right and some pitchers turned out just awful. I finally broke down and asked my grandma what her secret was. She sent me a letter containing her recipe, and to my surprise it involved microwaving the tea, not brewing the tea in a kettle. After a few attempts at her recipe, I think I finally got it right. Now I can enjoy that sweet tea whenever I want to at home, but somehow it always tastes better at her house.

Take a large Pyrex measuring cup or microwaveable bowl and place 4 small or 1 large family size Lipton Black tea bags in 4 Cups water. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Let sit at least one hour. (The longer it sits, the stronger it gets.) Put 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar in pitcher (I start with 1/2 cup and then taste before adding more.). Pour 2 cups COLD water into pitcher and stir. Add tea mixture and ice. (Don’t add the tea mixture hot or it will crack your pitcher!) If you like your tea strong, add another tea bag to first step, if you like it weak, add more water, if you don’t like it sweet, add less sugar (you can always add more later!) Make yourself a pitcher and sit on the deck, maybe give your grandma or mom a call, she just might have that little secret that will make your recipe perfect.

Grandma Julie & Sofia

Tuna & White Bean Salad : Legume Recipe # 1

So I have decided to do a 3-part recipe series, on beans. Yes, beans. Maybe I will call them legumes just because it sounds better….The reason I have been trying out recipes using legumes, is because beans are high in fiber and high in protein but don’t have cholesterol. The protein part is key because it means, they actually fill you up. Normally I just breeze right past any recipes that include beans. All fart jokes aside, just due to the fact that I didn’t like them. After testing out some recipes though, I have found that you can actually make some pretty tasty stuff using beans. The benefits to cooking with them? 1. They are good for you. 2. They satisfy (I.e.; fill you up!) 3. They are an inexpensive protein. 4. And probably most important at least to my family, they don’t have any cholesterol.

All 3 recipes I am going to use come from spin offs of Giada De Laurentis recipes. They are changed only slightly because her recipes just don’t need that much tweaking! The first is a tuna & white bean salad. I make this salad and then put it on a Ciabatta sandwich roll (like the kind they sell @ Costco) with some Romaine lettuce. This salad is really tasty and eliminates any need for mayonnaise. (Shocking!) Tuna does have some cholesterol, but it is the good kind, loaded with Omega 3’s. You can eat it without the bread, but I feel like turning it into a sandwich leaves everyone walking away from the dinner table full. Personally speaking, if I try to limit my dinner I just end up snack binging later on in the evening.

This recipe serves 4 easily:
2 (5 oz) cans chunk light tuna in OIL
2 (14 oz) cans canellini or white beans , drained and rinsed
½ pint grape tomatoes (halved)
3 tablespoons capers (drained)
1 small red onion thinly sliced into half circles
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon pepper
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Place beans, tomatoes, capers, onion , canned tuna IN ITS OIL, S & P all together in large bowl and mix. Pour red wine vinegar over salad and mix again. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place salad on one half of Ciabatta. Place Romaine leaves on other half and put together like a sandwich. Easy & tasty!

Spring Risotto with Roasted Asparagus & Peas

Risotto is something that I had always stayed away from cooking. Mainly for two reasons : #1. I am not a huge fan of rice and # 2 cooking it seemed complicated and I was intimidated (okay, so that is the real reason….). Over time, it seemed that Risotto was popping up on more and more restaurant menus and Giada was always busy whipping up a different version on the Food Network. Slowly, the dish became harder for me to avoid; and one winter day while trying to figure out how to use a bunch of frozen peas, I came across a recipe in the Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook and I found inspiration. So for the first time, I tried cooking risotto and was not disappointed, the risotto turned out creamy and delicious, with a great depth of flavor. That first time making it I served it alongside salmon but quickly discovered I was getting ahead of myself, because risotto does not leave a lot of room for multitasking. That is probably where my initial fear of risotto stemmed from, because you must give the dish your undivided attention , and you can’t set limits on the cooking time, because it will only be ready when it’s ready. Not being very blessed in the patience department and having the inability to stand still, this aspect of the dish was frustrating to me, even if this coddling produced such great results. Then one evening after a particularly stressful day, while standing there stirring the Arborio over and over, I realized that the process was actually relaxing. I don’t know if it was the fact that the risotto requiring all my attention blocked out all other worries from my brain; or just the repetitive motions of stirring that calmed me, but after that first bite of creamy goodness, I knew that this risotto was truly therapeutic.

After trying out several different risotto recipes, I still found the Barefoot Contessa’s to be my favorite, especially this time of year, with all the spring flavors. I have changed it a bit, cutting out the mascarpone cheese (not because it doesn’t taste good, but it cuts the fat & cholesterol, and I didn’t really miss it, plus, the Contessa is great but I really don‘t want to be as wide as her in 30 years!), cutting out the fennel , and the way she cooks the veggies…(ok, I changed a lot, so if you want to cook hers, then look it up online or buy her book…)

The Arborio rice needed to make risotto used to be hard to find but now can be found at most

grocery stores, my preferred brand is Trader Joe‘s…..

This recipe serves 4.
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
2 leeks chopped. white and pale green parts
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
¾ cup dry white wine ( Pinot Grigio , Sauvignon Blanc)
4 cups chicken stock
2 pounds asparagus, (fairly thin) trimmed to 1 ½ inch lengths
10-12 oz frozen peas, defrosted
Fresh zest from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Heat olive oil and butter in large saucepan over med heat. Add leeks & sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add the rice and stir for a minute to coat. Add the white wine, and simmer, stirring constantly, until wine is absorbed. Add the chicken stock by the cupfuls, stirring constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more. This process will probably take you about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place trimmed asparagus on baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for about 6 minutes and remove from oven. Set aside. Continue stirring rice mixture constantly. ( At this point, pour yourself a glass of that wine!!) When you are down to your last cup of chicken broth, add peas, roasted asparagus, lemon zest , salt and pepper. Continue cooking and adding stock until the rice is tender. (But not mushy!!!) Add lemon juice. Turn off heat, add parmesan cheese. Season to taste with S & P. Grate some extra parmesan over the top and serve. Curl up on the couch with a bowlful and the rest of that bottle!

Note: Depending on your stovetop, the heat may need to be turned past medium to a higher cooking temperature for the rice to absorb the liquid.

Note: One time I had forgot to buy lemons, but I had grapefruit, so I used that instead of the lemon and it still turned out great!

Grass Fed Beef...It's Whats For Dinner...

I was never much of a beef eater, unless it came on a rib from the Elegant Bull , or a Mcdonald’s cheeseburger plain (super classy, I know.) That was until I was fortunate enough to gain a freezer full of beef. Not just any kind of beef, but the grass fed, hormone & pesticde free , “free range” beef….. (Thanks to my daddy, who killed me a cow…) Just kidding, he actually humanely owns some cattle and breeds them, and occasionally a few get chosen to well, y’know provide sustenance. Um…but back to the meat in my freezer….so at first I had no idea what to do with the meat packaged and labeled so prettily in the Frigidaire. I mean, I was coming to the realization that I was in fact a meat racist. I never actually cooked red meat, maybe the occasional sausage, but basically I was being so narrow minded. Red meat, outside of prime rib and hamburger could actually be delicious, and there were so many ways to cook it…

Armed with my freezer of meat, I started trying out cooking techniques on many different cuts of meats, some I had never heard of Coulette? Bifanes? What? Maybe it was the not feeling guilty about the actual dollars$ the meat was costing me..(Thanks Dad..) but I really let loose and had a number of “winning dishes “ So many in fact that it got me thinking. Was it my fabulous cooking….(obviously!) or was it simply the result of a quality product? My answer: a quality product. The thing is, grass fed beef is just plain better. Everyone knows that ground beef they buy for their burgers in the store; with sometimes highly questionable smells and color, the worst wrapped in rolls looking like they are something to be popped at New Years. That was the ground beef I was familiar with. But natural, grass fed ground beef is just different; for one, no smell (good sign!), good color , and very lean. For the first time in my life I made an excellent Bolognese sauce. No gritty, chewy, fatty beef tendrils here! In short, it tastes so much better!! Knowing where it comes from also helps, not sitting in a packaging plant and then being shipped across the United States, just leads to better flavor & quality. The worst thing I have noticed? You need to use more seasoning because grass fed beef naturally has a lower fat content, so more flavor is needed. And last but not least you need to make sure to know your product beforehand, meaning where it is from and who produces it. (Note: when buying grass fed beef it is often frozen, to instill freshness for local producers.) You can find local sources of Grass fed beef by going to www.gowild.com . Another suggestion is to actually just ask around at your locals farmers market. Many small cattle ranchers can’t afford to market & advertise their meat, so it is all really done on a first come, word of mouth basis. You can almost always visit these farms/ranches to ensure quality also (just don’t go naming the cows…) Cattle “season” generally lands in August/September but check around. That is also my dad’s season, so contact me if you are interested in getting a hold of some of that yummy red meat…

Recipe from the woman who swore she would never make pot roast or meatloaf: Bacon & Beef Meatloaf. This recipe was greatly inspired by a recipe in the January 2009 Bon Appetit but has very much been changed.
1 # grass fed beef
10 slices bacon
1 small yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 cup ketchup
2 eggs
2 slices whole wheat bread
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
Kosher salt & pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Preheat onion to 400 degrees. Grate onion and garlic into large bowl. Add beef, 1/3 cup ketchup , 2 eggs , parmesan , thyme , salt and pepper. In food processor chop up bread and 7 slices bacon until well minced. Add to bowl. Add chopped parsley. Mix well. (Let’s be honest, spoons don’t work. Get in with your hands and work it!) When mixed, put in loaf pan. Slice remaining 3 bacon slices in half. Wrap slices around loaf leaving ½ inch spaces. Fill in spaces with remaining ketchup. Cook for 1 hr, 10 minutes. (You want the meat to caramelize along the edges!) Let rest 10 minutes (This is important, don’t skip this step!) and serve with some potatoes!

Maximizing Your Budget Pt. 2 : Black Bean & Chicken Empanadas

So now what to do with that leftover chicken? Make empanadas!
Empanadas are a Spanish dish consisting of a pastry dough with either a meat or fruit filling. The word empanada literally means “in dough.” In Spain they are typically larger and made with a savory filling and in Latin America they are typically smaller and made with a sweet filling. Doesn’t matter which you prefer, the bottom line with Empanadas is that they are supposed to be extremely flavorful and satisfying. This version, is filled with chicken & black beans and is a weeknight standby , because I don’t make my own dough , and the recipe is simple. I have a few more elaborate empanada recipes that I will post when I get the free time to make them!

1 package puff pastry (I like Trader Joe’s Artisan brand, but just use a good quality one & don‘t forget to thaw it !)

Filling:
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic (either pressed, or I like to grate them since I don’t own a press!)
1 tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained
½ cup cilantro leaves
YOUR LEFTOVER DARK/WHITE MEAT CHICKEN (about 1 ½ to 2 cups)
S & P
Heat oil over med-high heat in skillet. Sauté onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add spices and garlic, stirring and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add chicken and black beans and season to taste with S&P. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add cilantro leaves. Cool. (THIS CAN BE MADE THE DAY BEFORE.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out puff pastry onto a lightly foured surface. Roll the dough out until the pastry is about 12 by 16 inches. Cut into 4 inch squares (you should get about 12 !) You will probably need to use both sheets of puff pastry.) Lay each dough square like a diamond. Put 2 tablespoons of filling in the bottom half of the diamond. Fold over the top half to meet the bottom half.. (Like a triangle) Use a fork to pinch & seal the edges. Also poke a few holes with the fork in the top of the dough. Lightly brush the tops with vegetable oil. Place on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with Cilantro/Lime Sour Cream and/or any type of fruit salsa!

Cilantro/Lime Sour Cream:
Measurements vary, depending on how much you are making. Place Sour cream , cilantro leaves and lime juice in a food processor. Process for 30 seconds and serve!

Ideas for leftover puff pastry? Cut out circles and top with fresh fruit, bake @ 350 degrees for 30 min!

Low Cholesterol Version: Take some of the filling, put in a cholesterol free tortilla and top with chopped pineapple or mango.

P.S. Sofia loved these!

Maximizing Your Budget

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone! Don’t worry this won’t be an Irish recipe…..there is a very good reason the Irish are famous for their whiskey and Guinness..... This post is about making the most out of your food budget, so hopefully you will have enough money left over for that pint of green beer! Slainte!
Recently, I was watching a DVR’d episode of Oprah and she had (Iron Chef) Cat Cora on talking about how to get the most value out of your grocery shopping. Chef Cora said when you “don’t eat leftovers or let produce go bad it is like folding up a $20 bill and throwing it away.” That really rang true with me! In a time where every dollar counts in most households, it can be challenging to make it out of the grocery store under budget and still have tasty meals. So I decided to do a 2 part blog about how to get the most out of leftovers by stretching a simple rotisserie chicken into 2 different meals. The idea is to utilize the same protein two nights in a row, but use completely different flavors & textures, so as not to feel like you are having two boring (ugh!) chicken dinners in a row. Rotisserie chickens can be found in just about every market these days, but I prefer to buy mine at Costco when I can. (At Costco they are priced at $4.99 versus the supermarket which is usually more in the $7 range.) The first thing you will want to do with the chicken when you get home is separate the white meat from the dark. Put the dark meat in a Tupperware container and save it for tomorrow’s recipe : Black Bean & Chicken Empanadas. Put the white breast meat aside and choose which recipe you are going to make: Chicken Salad with Lime Vinaigrette or Chicken Soup, Mexican Style.

The chicken salad is very simple, it really is what you want to make of it. What makes it special is the vinaigrette for the salad. I “borrowed” the fresh lime vinaigrette recipe from my friend Gavin, who is the author of the blog the Haute Kitchen. See sidebar or go to http://thehautekitchen.com/the-simplest-vinaigrette-ever/ for more details. For this salad, I mixed baby romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado , cucumber , croutons and then topped with the vinaigrette. I just used what I had on hand, there is no real “recipe” to the salad. We like a lot of dressing on our salad so I doubled Gavin’s original recipe below:
Fresh Lime Vinaigrette:
Juice of 1 lime
4 TB Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
½ c Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
*Whisk together until well blended!

Chicken Soup, Mexican Style:
4 Tb Olive oil
1 Yellow onion , chopped
4 Cloves garlic , minced
2 Jalapenos , seeded & diced
1 (28 oz) can chopped tomatoes
Shredded Cooked Chicken (2-3 cups)
4 Cups low sodium chicken stock
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 Lime
1 Tb Dried oregano
1 tsp Cumin
1 Cup cooked rice
Optional Toppings: Sour Cream & Cilantro
Heat oil in soup pot over medium heat. Add onion & sauté for 2 minutes until translucent. Add jalapeno & cook another 2 minutes. Add garlic , cumin & oregano and cook another minute. Add tomatoes , chicken , Worcestershire & chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook up 1 cup rice in a separate pot. (Instant is fine). After 20 minutes, squeeze the juice of the lime into the pot. Add cooked rice and simmer another 5-10 minutes. Season with S&P. Garnish with sour cream & cilantro. Enjoy!
Any extra white meat chicken that wasn’t used can be added to the Tupperware of dark meat chicken. Check back tomorrow to see how to use the leftover chicken in Black Bean & Chicken Empanadas!

Light & Easy Avocado & Red Grapefruit Salad....Maybe it will make the rain go away

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my husband has high cholesterol. With that being said, it means that sometimes I make small (albeit big for animal fat loving me) sacrifices to serve healthy, cholesterol -free meals. So from now on when I am posting recipes, if possible I will also note changes you can make to the meal to cut the cholesterol .

One evening I had Costcoed up on avocados and needed to use them before they went bad so I came up with this easy salad. We had this for dinner, but I think it would be a lot more satisfying as a brunch/lunch dish or as a side dish. The vinaigrette really complimented the grapefruit, (it cut the tartness) in fact you could even omit the avocado and add more grapefruit and just have a grapefruit salad. This salad serves 2 as a meal.

Ingredients:
2 Avocados
1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
Chopped Almonds (optional)

Vinaigrette:
The juice of 1 lemon (Tip: if you don’t have a juicer just twist a fork inside the lemon to get all that juice!)
1 tb mustard (I used Guldens brown mustard but a whole grain or Dijon would work just as well.)
1 tsp kosher salt
Pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil
Combine first 4 ingredients and then whisk in olive oil slowly until emulsified.

Directions:
Cut open avocados, pit and slice. (You will get about 6 slices out of each half of avocado.) Segment the grapefruit, removing any peel. Place avocados on plate and then top with grapefruit. Pour vinaigrette over. Sprinkle with chopped almonds for added crunch.

Bogle Petite Sirah

Back in the Corvallis days this was me and my roommate Julie’s favorite wine. It was rare for us not to have at least one bottle of this in our wine rack. When Jon and I started dating, we drank this all the time, usually consumed with a big plate of Otis Spunk Meyer chocolate chip cookies. (A brilliant combination that needs to be tried by all!) And then suddenly, we all stopped drinking it. No reason why, other then it just sort of fell out of fashion at the Daylily townhouse. Then on my _ th birthday this year Jon brought home a bottle of Bogle Petite Sirah. We (Jon & I , Gavin & Julie ; see www.thehautekitchen.com) all laughed remembering our indulgence of the vintage a few years back. The bottle was opened and in-between the sips of wine and bites of garlicky Pizzicato pizza we all looked at each other and asked the big question : WHY DID WE EVER STOP DRINKING THIS? A few weeks later at Julie’s _ th birthday dinner we once again asked ourselves the same question. It then became clear that in our quest to find other great wines we had abandoned what we knew to be true : Bogle Petite Sirah is really, really good. Not only is it delicious, but it can usually be found for about $8.99.
Bogle winery is in Clarksburg California, just a little southwest of Sacramento. Their philosophy is refreshing : Make great tasting wines at affordable prices. Now that is a philosophy I could get used to! The Petite Sirah might be a personal favorite, but is by far not the only style that is worth trying. Their Old Vine Zinfandel is exactly what a Zinfandel should be , intense , dark fruit flavors , high alcohol content and a subtle sweetness that bodes well for pairing with dark chocolate. Last time I was in California, Costco had the Old Vine Zin for $7.99. In fact, all of their wines I have tried have been good , and at bordering in the $10 and under range are a steal. Besides their Sirah and Old Vine, I have also tried their Cab , Merlot , Chardonnay , and Sauvignon Blanc. They make more than that too, so next time you are in the market pick up a bottle or check them out at http://www.boglewinery.com/ .

Cheese Tortellini with Pesto , Grape Tomatoes , & Parmesan Cheese

Recently I was faced with the dilemma of making a lot of vegetarian food for a party. I got a little panicky. I mean, I just don’t do well with rules. I always want to add a little crumbled bacon , some chopped anchovies , or place a giant meatball on top of everything. My mind was racing, how was I supposed to make a vegetarian dish that would fill guests up and actually taste good? So I came up with this meal; the recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, or in my case, quadrupled. It was so easy to make and was ready in less than 20 minutes. In fact, it was so stress-free that I felt a bit like I was cheating. The best part? The dish was a big hit and it looked pretty too, even without that meatball…..

1 # Cheese Tortellini (My personal favorite is Arthur's or Monterey Pasta Co.)
1 Cup Basil Pesto
1 Pint Mini Pearl Grape Tomatoes
Shaved/grated Parmesan (really, whatever you have on hand!)
*Lemon (Optional)

Basic Pesto Recipe:
2 Cups Fresh Basil Leaves, packed
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Olive Oil
2-3 Tablespoons pine nuts
2-3 garlic cloves, minced (it really depends on how garlicky you like it)
* Blend the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in food processor for about 10 seconds. Slowly adding in the olive oil. Add the parmesan cheese until mixture resembles a thick paste. Season with salt & pepper. You can also add a little rice vinegar if you would like the pesto to keep in the fridge more than 3 days.
(Note: For those of you who don’t have a food processor or just want to save yourself time, using a pre-made pesto from the store, still tastes great too! I prefer Cibo Naturals basil pesto. You can buy a big jar from Costco and use the excess for other meals. (Spreading pesto on top of grilled salmon or chicken is delicious !)

Boil tortellini in water until al dente. Drain. Toss with pesto. Add grape tomatoes. If grape tomatoes seem to big, just cut them in half. Toss all together. Top with shaved parmesan and drizzle a squeeze of lemon on top. (The lemon isn’t necessary but I feel that it gives a lot of depth to the pesto!) Serve immediately and enjoy!

How simple is that? And ladies, your husbands will like it too, even the ones that think they are being punished if they don’t get meat for dinner! Also, I added some leftover roasted chicken (See previous blog) to my daughter’s portion to give her a little extra protein…..

Carrots, Carrots, Carrot Tops?

I have always found carrots to be boring and lacking of flavor, unless of course they were covered in ranch dressing. (I will save my proclivity for all things ranch and mayonnaise for another post though.) That was until I discovered using fresh carrots in season and roasting them. All you do is lop off the tops and clean the carrots. Next, put them on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil , salt and pepper. (If you have it on hand some chopped fresh thyme is nice too.) Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes depending on size of carrots to desired doneness. I personally like them to cook longer about (35 minutes) because then they start to caramelize, but it is really a matter of preference. The carrots will be soft & tender, sweet & savory! My favorite way to serve these is as a side dish to roasted chicken. My weeknight roasted chicken is simple and easy to do with a baby on your hip or the phone at your ear. First off, I don’t do the whole roasted chicken. (This eliminates the mess and cleanup of the giant roasting pan.) Instead, I use a package or two of the split half breasts with rib meat. Economical at $2-4 a package depending on store sales. Note: Foster Farms is my go-to brand. No, they are not organic and free range BUT they are fresh, hormone and antibiotic free. Plus they are a good company that employs a lot of people in Oregon and California. I always buy Foster Farms because it makes me feel that I am indirectly supporting friends and family. Okay, I will now get off my stump post and continue about the chicken..... Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the breasts, wash and clean, pat VERY dry. Place on baking sheet. (Line with foil for easier cleanup.) Liberally season with Kosher salt and pepper. I also like to sprinkle with fresh thyme. Put enough salt that you can actually see the salt crystals on the skin. (This is what makes the skin so tasty, and lets be honest, isn’t that the reason we make roast chicken in the first place?) Some people like to put a pat of butter under the skin , but if you are like me and watching your hubby’s cholesterol don’t do this…..Plus, I feel this can create steam, which you don’t want if you like really crisp skin! Anyway, roast chicken at 400 degrees for 45 minutes and enjoy your weeknight chicken! As for the aforementioned carrot tops….I always thought carrot top greens were just fodder for the likes of Bugs Bunny, and well it turns out I was right. I searched around on the internet looking for recipes using carrot greens and found surprisingly few. (That should have been my biggest sign!) Even with this foreshadowing, I decided to experiment cooking with them anyway. I sautéed finely minced celery, yellow onion , and garlic in olive oil until translucent. I then added the greens and a little chicken broth until wilted down and then seasoned with salt and pepper. Okay, so the taste was not bad, fresh & herby tasting kind of like parsley BUT the texture was terrible, scratchy and chewy. Maybe you could get rid of that texture by boiling them for 2 + hours or more but next time I would let the clerk at the market cut the tops off for you or take them home and feed them to your rabbit………….

A Wine of the Times

With everyone feeling the weight of the economy these days, it is nice go home after a long day , put your feet up and enjoy a glass (or two!) of wine without the guilt of the money factor. This is where Colombia Crest's Vineyard 10 Red Wine comes in. At $5-6 a bottle , it is inexpensive (sounds better than cheap!) , a lot of bang for your buck flavor wise, and best of all it actually tastes good! I usually am a California wine snob, not for any particular reason, maybe it is just the roots of my raising...(you can take the girl out of California but you can’t take California out of the girl…) but those guys up in Washington know how to make a decent bottle of red! Vineyard 10 is a bold red wine with a lot of big jammy flavors. This wine pairs well with pastas but is also great just on its own. For the white wine aficionados, Columbia Crest also makes a Vineyard 10 White, but I have yet to try it. For those of you that are feeling rich, Colombia Crest Grand Estates also makes a nice Cabernet Sauvignon (preference 2006) at $9-12. So sit down and unwind with your Thursday evening glass (it is after all, almost the weekend) and don’t feel guilty about it!

1st Blog Attempt Ever!

Hi Everyone! I am brand spanking new to blogging and not exactly tech savvy, so if anyone has any suggestions or tips they would be much appreciated.....I am excited to see the sun shining today and hopefully get out of this winter cooking rut. It makes me start thinking about well, food....For the 1st time this year our family is subscribing to a 1/2 share of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket from Sungold Farms. Basically once a week starting in June we pick up a box from our local farmers market filled with fruits, veggies, and herbs of the season. I think it will be a great opportunity for us to stay on the path to eating healthy and also force my creative juices to start flowing. For example, what in the world do I do with a Khalorobi? It will also force us to eat things we usually avoid at all costs in the Markum household....like eggplant. I am making it my special project for us to not only eat everything we get in our box, but make it taste good and enjoy it as well. I will be posting my misadventures right here. For anyone interested about CSA boxes and how to subscribe follow this link:
www.localharvest.org
http://www.portlandcsa.org/oregon-csa-farms.php#OtherCSAs

It is a great way to support your local economy and eat healthy and organic!