It's Time to Make the Pesto

The basil plants that I have in my planter box are, um....thriving. I had to trim it back before it bolted to seed. So, with my bounty of basil I made pesto over the weekend. I used this recipe from Food Network.

But, seriously, how much pesto can one girl eat? Obviously not enough (even if I invite friends over) so I froze the pesto in an ice cube tray.

Last night I popped the pesto cubes out of the tray and put them in labeled freezer bag for future use!

Another Dinner With Friends

Ryan's birthday is early in May so we decided to have a dinner party to celebrate. The theme this month was Italian food. Yum! I made this antipasto platter inspired by my Aunt Jo who makes amazing antipasto platters. I'm so glad that Harmon's carries most of the ingredients necessary to assemble one of these for a get together.

Whitney and Ryan are making fresh pasta to go with the red pepper sauce that I made. The task was a bit arduous but I have a different style pasta maker that I think might be a little more user friendly.

Liz's pups hoping someone would drop some antipasto.

Here's the finished main course. Delish!

Finally, the two goof balls getting ready to devour the coconut cupcakes that Liz made which were amazing!

Whit made Ryan a mix tape for his birthday which may the most adorable thing that I've ever heard. Rumor has it that he may have made one for her too.

Carrot Salad

Yesterday I made this delicious carrot salad as part of a picnic dinner for Ban and I to take to Red Butte for a concert (Steve Martin...worthy of another post). The salad could not be simpler, grated carrots, toasted sunflower seeds, blueberries, lemon juice, olive oil, and black pepper. I found the recipe in Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads of the Season article which you can see here. I have my first CSA pick up this afternoon so I hope to plow through as many of the 101 salads as I can this summer.

Boboti!

In honor of the World Cup being played in South Africa, Ban decided to make Boboti for dinner while we watched soccer on Sunday. He used this recipe to make the Boboti. Believe me, the smell was intoxicating while it was baking. He served it with rice and simple cucumber/red onion salad dressed with only cider vinegar and Dijon mustard. Yum!

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize Wish

Have you seen this? Jamie Oliver gives a twenty minute talk on obesity, nutrition, school lunch, and home cooked meals. No new concepts here but I'll props to him for giving traction to a topic that is timely given the statistics about our ever-widening society.

Fueled by his Food Revolution project, which is tackling obesity, poor nutrition, what passes for food in the school lunch program and teaching families how to prepare home-cooked meals in one small town in West Virginia. Full episodes of the show which airs on ABC are available online.

Addendum: In this morning's Salt Lake Tribune there is an article about the results of a survey about the new school lunch items given to the West Virginia school kids participating in the Oliver's Food Revolution. The results are funny. You can read it here.

Cupcakes Rule

Here's my latest article about Diva's Cupcakes and Coffee for Utah Stories magazine. If you haven't been to Diva's yet do yourself a favor and go. In addition to sweet treats they also offer soups, salads, wine, and beer. I can't wait for warmer weather so I can chill on their lovely patio.

Mediterrean Sprouted Lentil Salad

The holiday excesses are a distant memory and my 2010 healthy living resolutions are still in place. I've been interested in incorporating more raw foods into my diet and read about Daniel Koontz's seven-day raw food trial here. I don't really see myself taking a raw foods diet to that level but I like the idea of working some into my regular diet.

I decided to try sprouting lentils. I used the instructions posted here at The Nourishing Gourmet's website. I soaked the lentils on Friday night and started the rinsing process on Saturday morning. This morning I woke up to mason jar full of sprouted lentils!

For lunch this afternoon, I mixed a cup of lentils with chopped roasted red peppers, red onion, and olives with a dijon balsamic vinaigrette. Then, I added a scoop of the lentil mixture to a bed of salad greens. The salad was light and healthy but very filling. Manga!

Favorite Blog Discovery of 2009

I have fallen head over heels in love with VeganDad's blog. Both of my kids are vegetarians and have been for a long time. I occasionally find that I'm lacking inspiration to put together meatless meals that truly are delicious. When this happens I just head over to VeganDad's blog. How does Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes sound? Delicious, right? He's also posted a bunch of Ethiopian recipes lately that I'm dying to try. I dare you to head over there and not find something that you'd like to try.

Best Article of 2009

This one is a no-brainer for me. Mark Bittman's NY Times'article on 101 Simple Salads posted during the summer has become a mainstay of our dining repertoire. Here's the link. Bookmark, refer to it often, and enjoy!

p.s. Bittman has done similar lists for suppers, picnics and appetizers. I can't find a link for the appetizers. I seem to have only a hard copy of the article. I'll keep looking and update.

Quinoa, Leek, & Cherry Stuffed Turkey Breast

Ban made a sensational stuffed turkey breast for dinner yesterday. There were only going to be five of us for Thanksgiving dinner this year so we didn't want to cook an entire turkey. He found the recipe on Dani Spies website. Here is a link to the quinoa, leek, and cherry stuffing.

We bought a turkey breast and for some reason, we were surprised when we got it home and found that it was basically a turkey with no legs or wings. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but nonetheless, we had to figure out how to debone the damn thing. Thank God, Ban is fearless and you can find instructional videos on how to do pretty much anything on youtube. I've included a link to the youtube video that we used if you are interested.

The process of deboning is a little gruesome if you are a meat-a-phobe like me, but as usual, Ban did an amazing job. After he skinned and deboned the turkey breast, he pounded it out flat. Then, he spread a layer of thinly sliced black forest ham over the breast. Next, he placed the quinoa, leek, and cherry stuffing over the ham.


Then, he rolled and trussed the bird. The deboned turkey breast cooks much more quickly than a whole bird so we were ready to roll after an hour and half in the oven.


The end product looked gorgeous and tasted delicious. The turkey was tender and juicy and the stuffing was light and flavorful. We'll definitely add this recipe into the holiday meal rotation.

Sunday Dinner with the New York Fam

I spent the weekend with my New York family. I went to the city, visited the Tenement Museum, and ate at some charming (read small) cafes. I spent a few nights with cousin on Long Island and had a great time with her ridiculously adorable daughter.

But one of the highlights was having Sunday dinner with my Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, cousins, and the cousin's babies. We so rarely have the opportunity to share a meal together which is a shame because my Aunt Jo is an excellent cook.

Tonight, we started the meal with antipasto. Besides being visually stunning it tasted like salty, creamy deliciousness. Next up was my spaghetti with my Aunt's famous meatballs and tomato sauce. Heaven!

For dessert, we had the choice of chocolate cheesecake, crumb cake (my fave!), or chocolate covered pretzels and mugs of steaming coffee.

After dinner I headed back into the city to meet up with the girl child. We're having a sleep over at her place tonight which thus far has consisted of us camped out on her bed each with a laptop on our lap. It's been way too long since we've had a girls night like this.

Cine-Dips

Earlier this year some of our friends started Cine-Dips which is a group of friends who meet monthly to watch a movie and share delicious dips. Ban and I have not been able to make it even once this year because of conflicts in our schedules.

But all that changed last night. We watched The Man Who Planted Trees, the 1987 Oscar winner for Best Animated Short. You can actually watch the 30 minute short in its entirety below. You can also check out my post (and links to recipes) on the Cine-Dips blog here. All told, the food, film, and company were excellent and we can't wait until the next installment of Cine-Dips.


The man who planted trees

Miguel | MySpace Video

Harvest and Bounty

For the last few months I've been on a kick to improve the way I eat. I typically eat pretty healthy food but I've been making a conscious effort to really reduce the amount of processed food that I eat. So, last weekend, my girlfriend Liz helped me can 28 jars of marinara sauce and 18 jars of chili sauce. Seriously awesome, right?

Ban and I already tried the marinara on calzones and I can tell you that it is garden-fresh garlicky goodness in a jar. Additionally, my step-dad loves chili sauce on scrambled eggs as much as I do, so it was very convenient that he had a birthday on Monday and I could give him a jar.

It took Liz and I about eight hours to make the sauces and then process the jars but in the end it was worth every second. I'm so inspired that I'm considering making a double batch of chili verde and canning that too!

Savory Palmiers

I'm a big fan of Ina Garten's cookbooks and while I was at the cabin last week I had the chance to peruse her most recent one Back to Basics. There were some delectable sounding recipes in there! I'll be adding the book to my collection.

I was co-hosting a bridal shower for a girlfriend on Sunday and was looking for some appetizers. I found one in Back to Basics that I knew I wanted to try. Savory Palmiers are puff pastry layered with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and pine nuts, all rolled up, sliced and baked into tasty deliciousness.

Here's what they look like before the folding process (which I sadly didn't take photos of the process).


Here's the final product! They turned out delicious if I do say so myself. Everyone at the party really liked them too.

Christmas...the Low Down

Christmas was great. Good times with family and friends. Delicious food. Thanks Mom, for Christmas breakfast of sausage, egg, & potato casserole and the stuffed french toast. Yum!

We also celebrated Christmas night with some french food to honor Lauren's impending semester in France. Lauren requested ratatouille and we also had quiche, a cheese tray, and mushroom pate. Bon appetit!

Awesome gifts!

And finally, some holiday silliness. We sent this to our friends who spent Christmas in Cancun. Earlier in the day they'd sent a photo of their pool side fruity drinks, complete with paper umbrellas, wishing us a merry Christmas.


Overall, a terrific day despite all my pre-holiday crankiness! :)

The Perfect Debate Watching Menu?

This morning I'm dreaming of the perfect debate watching menu for tonight's VP candidates' debate. How does this sound:

• Soup Course: Either 'I can see Russia From My House borscht' or Effed Up Kid Name Alphabet Soup?


• Main Course: Sarah Barracuda Fish Tacos or Moose Burgers


• Dessert: Baked Alaska Cupcakes

Any other suggestions?

Dinner tonight....yum!

This is a photo of the delicious dinner that Ban made for us tonight. We had soft shell crab gratin (in the ramekin), sea scallops with pear relish and lemon oil (!) and asian slaw. It was amazing!

Mystery in the Mountains

We planned a cook out in the mountains with some friends last night. We loaded up a grill and cooler and looked for a great spot to dine al fresco. Up Big Cottonwood canyon we exited at the Donut Falls turn off and headed up the road and found a perfect place by a creek. Our menu included garden fresh bruschetta, grilled italian sausages w/ peppers & onions, and pasta salad. In addition to the picturesque setting, the evening cooled off beautifully, in fact, we needed to put on hoodies shortly after dinner.

We are a goofy bunch and every get together eventually devolves into feats of strength or daring so I always carry my camera to capture the ridiculousness. But in the group shot below don't ask me what the white circle is on the left side of the photo because I have no idea. I'm sure it has to be something with the flash but I took a photo 30 seconds before this one from the same spot with no mysterious object in the photo.

BBQ & the Blues

We were invited out to hear a friend's cousin play at local BBQ joint earlier this week. We've heard great things about the food at this place and who doesn't love the blues? It was a little bit tricky to find Pat's BBQ but once we were on the right street the mouth-watering smell of BBQ hit us from down the block.

Once inside, John Nemeth had already taken the stage and was belting out the tunes. He is an amazing talent cultivated from the hot of the blues, Idaho. He has a tremendous voice and mad harmonica skills. You should check out his website and definitely buy his CD. He's traveled the world and played with many of the biggest names in the blues world. I was very glad that we got to see him play live.

In terms of the food, I ordered the BBQ pork sandwich with a side of slaw. The food was delicious. The seasoning on the succulent pork was very flavorful and BBQ sauce is available on the table so that you can add just the right amount for your taste.

The best part of all was that for an hour or two on a Tuesday night I completely forgot that I was in Salt Lake City.