Herb Vinegars

Aug 8, 2011 · 20 Comments

Okay, so most of you know, school started back last week for me. School means fall. I know the temperature outside right now is 98 degrees. Doesn’t matter. I am finished with summer and harvesting my stuff and starting to squirrel away for winter.

My very favorite, easy peasy, way to preserve my herbs, (or perhaps I should say the flavor of my herbs) is with herb vinegar. It took me maybe 20 minutes tops to get these four jars of vinegar ready to go.

Now, there are as many ways to make herbal vinegars as there are grains of sand on the beach (this is my zen talk, just finished doing yoga and I’m still in yoga-speak). My way is the easiest. I take two cups of vinegar (white, wine, rice, whatever) and ½ cup of herbs (for these, I have rosemary, lemon verbena, tarragon, and chives). I put the herbs in a jar and kind of bruise and muddle them. Then I pour the vinegar over them. Sit them in a sunny window. Daily, pick them up, give them a little shake, and admire your handiwork. After about two weeks, taste a little of the vinegar, when it reaches your desired strength, strain out the herbs and store in a cute bottle. Because if you read this blog, I am assuming you have cute bottles, it’s practically a requirement. I store mine in the fridge.

Cat is optional, but highly recommended.

I do believe in the Fairy Hobmother

Aug 1, 2011 · 25 Comments

Are you a good news person or a bad news person? You know, when they say, “I have good news and I have bad news, which do you want first?” I always go for the bad news first, that way I end on a positive note.

So, the bad news (or at least it’s bad for me, and since you are my friends, I’d like to think it’s a smidgen bad for you too), today, August 1st, is the first day back at school for me. I know. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. Most of the time. Some of the time. And some of the time, not so much. With the reduction in staff (thanks budget cuts!), this year promises to be especially stressful. Okay, enough with the bad, let’s move to the good.

Guess who was visited by The Fairy Hobmother? Me!!!! I was perusing blogs, as I frequently do, and found a post on Missing Moments, where she had been visited by The Fairy Hobmother, and she had been granted an Amazon giftcard! If you wanted to be visited by The Fairy Hobmother, and I did, all you had to do was leave a comment saying what you would do with your wish. I wished for a remote sensor for my camera. The Fairy Hobmother took pity on me, and granted my wish, with a $100 Amazon giftcard!!!!

If you are anything like me, you are smiling and congratulating me, while in the back of your mind, you are envious and jealous. Well, no need for that envy and jealousy, The Fairy Hobmother at Appliances Online has said that she just may come back and grant one of your wishes too!! So, leave a comment on this post telling me, and The Fairy Hobmother, what you wish you had. Wishes do come true, you know.

P.S. The above picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. I have not taken any photos of any fairies lately, so I had to make do with my purple coneflower. I’m sure you understand.

Granddad Ken’s Crispy Grilled Trout–From Jamie Oliver

Jul 14, 2011 · 16 Comments

You know, it’s funny, but when it was time for I Heart Cooking Clubs to choose a new chef, I made sure I voted for Jamie Oliver. I wanted my voice to be heard. And then. Well, I think this is the first thing that I’ve participated! I really need to get my act together and cook regularly from Jamie, because he never disappoints. Everything is simple and lovely. Like this trout. Just look at it. Isn’t it gorgeous! And I am happy to say, it tasted every bit (if not more) as good as it looked.

I found this in Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook. The only thing I changed was that Jamie has you make it under the broiler. I just went on ahead and grilled mine. Since I grilled them, I left off the knob of butter at the end. I can’t remember, and of course I didn’t take notes, but I think I just grilled it for 3-4 minutes per side. A quick google of grilling trout should give you an idea. Of course, if you googled grilled trout and landed here, well, please just admire my pretty picture, read the recipe, and go on to your next google hit for grilled trout. Thankyouverymuch.

Granddad Ken’s Crispy Grilled Trout with Parsley and Lemon

2 10 ½ oz whole trout, scaled, cleaned and gutted (mine were minus the head)
olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
a large bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
2 lemons, 1 zested and sliced and one halved
a few knobs of butter

Preheat your broiler. Slash the trout with a knife about 10 times on each side (oops forgot this). The slashes should be about ¼ inch deep, rub on the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the parsley and some lemon slices. Place the fish on a rack in a roasting pan.

Put the lemon zest on the fish and place the lemon halves on the tray. Dot the trout with butter and broil for about 6 minutes on each side.

Squeeze the roasted lemons over the fish and serve!

Serves 2

This will be my entry for I Heart Cooking Clubs!

Limoncello

Jun 30, 2011 · 11 Comments

Like a lot of you, during the summer, my thoughts turn to putting things up for the winter. Though, instead of the usual green beans and tomatoes, mine almost always involve alcohol. After making cranberry liqueur and orange liqueur last year, and totally loving them, I decided to expand my alcohol preserving a bit this year.

So, I turned to one of my favorite putting up books, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projectsby Karen Solomon. Seriously, a book that has this sentence: “Make your own bacon, cheese, marshmallows, and more” on the cover, is my kind of book!

I can’t tell you how this turns out, because it’s still seeping, but I have yet to meet a homemade liqueur that I didn’t love. I might leave it as limoncello, but I might do her recipe for limoncello di crema, where you add a milky simple syrup mixture and keep it in the freezer, which she recommends as then serving as dessert shots! Sounds good to me!

Like most liqueurs, this is really easy, it just takes time. But if you need help, Coco has experience!

Limoncello

8 lemons
1 ½ cups vodka
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Peel the zest from 4 lemons, avoiding the white pith. Pour the vodka into a clean, wide mouth jar, with a tight fitting lid. Add the zest, seal the jar and let sit for 2 weeks, shaking the jar daily. Then strain and discard the lemon zest.

Make the simple syrup by combining the sugar and the water in a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool completely and add the fresh squeezed juice from the remaining 4 lemons (straining out seeds). Add the lemon syrup to the vodka and let it mellow for about 6 more weeks.

Store it in a cool dark place, or in the freezer.

Makes about 3 cups.

Ginger Apple Popsicles

Jun 24, 2011 · 8 Comments

Ginger beer and fresh apples make the most refreshing popsicle! A little kick of heat from the ginger, the sweet tartness from the granny smith apples, and a little citrus zing from the lime juice. So good!

Once you start making your own homemade popsicles, you will never go back to store-bought! It's so easy to find popsicle molds now, there is absolutely no reason to not make your own!

Homemade popsicles can be made with fresh ingredients, organic if you'd like. You can make them as healthy or as decadent as you'd like. You can make popsicles for kids and you can make popsicles for grown-ups!

Even though there is actually no alcohol in ginger beer, I consider the Ginger Apple Pops more of a grown-up popsicle. The ginger has a lot of flavor and even a little kick of heat. They are so refreshing in the summer!

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Read On →

Honey-Lavender Ricotta Ice Cream

Jun 6, 2011 · 24 Comments

If you were to ask me right now what my favorite herb is, I would have to say lavender. Lavender! I know, it’s an odd one. Not one that usually comes to mind when you think about your favorite herb. Basil, yes. Tarragon, maybe. But, lavender?

Well, right now, I am all about lavender. It is in all of my flower beds, looking gorgeous (and if I was coordinated enough, tomorrow’s garden Tuesday would have lavender pics, maybe, but don’t hold your breath). I have bouquets of it in practically every room of my house. The kitchen is perfumed with the flowers that I have drying to be used all winter long.

So, let’s recap, shall we…it’s gorgeous in the flower beds, it can be cut and brought in for bouquets, and it can be used for cooking. What more do you need to know? Well, you might need a suggestion on how to use it the kitchen. And, boy do I have one for you. Honey-Lavender Ricotta Ice Cream. I found it in Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2009: Every Recipe...A Year's Worth of Cooking Light Magazine. But you can also follow the recipe link to the Cooking Light website.

This was so good. I didn’t have fresh ricotta cheese, just used some regular old store bought (though it was organic from very happy cows). I can’t describe the flavor of this, imagine a sort of flowery cheesecake, frozen. It was so rich a creamy, almost chewy. I started immediately thinking of other ideas to infuse the ricotta with …. chocolate, raspberries, strawberries…really the possibilities are endless.

Honey-Lavender Ricotta Ice Cream

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms
3 cups fresh ricotta cheese (about 2 pounds)
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt

Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 45 seconds or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in lavender. Let stand 30 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl; discard solids. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Combine ricotta cheese, honey, and salt in a food processor; process until smooth. With processor on, slowly add lavender syrup through the food chute. Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 4 hours or until firm.

This will be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Yasmeen from Health Nut .

Roasted Shrimp with Lemon Thyme

May 23, 2011 · 20 Comments

After declaring 2011, “The Summer of My Herbs” I could think of no better book to turn to than,The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld. The subtitle, “200 Herb-Inspired Recipes, Plus a Complete Guide to Growing, Handling, and Cooking with Fresh Herbs” says it all. This is going to make my “Summer of My Herbs” so easy! Now, if only I could find a book on how to get someone else to come clean out my garage, I will be all set.

Have you discovered roasting shrimp? It’s amazing. Especially if you roast them in their shells; they stay so moist and tender, plus it removes a prep step for the cook. I am all about removing prep steps, I say the eaters need to put in a little effort every now and then!

The original recipe called for marjoram, but it gave the variations of using English or lemon thyme, or rosemary. Since my lemon thyme was looking particularly attractive that day, it was the winner! And speaking of winners, this recipe is one. So simple, perfect for a weeknight, or a weekend when you’ve been out having fun all day. Serve this with some roasted veggies and your entire dinner can be made with one bowl and 2 baking sheets. Nice.

Roasted Shrimp with Lemon Thyme

1 ½ pounds large shrimp in the shell, cleaned (I used the easy peel kind)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped lemon thyme
½ teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

Place shrimp in a large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and toss to combine. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 3-5 minutes or until shells turn pink and shrimp is no longer translucent. Serve warm or cold in their shells.

Serves 3-4 as a main dish or 8 tapas servings.

This will be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

Simple Carrot Salad

May 13, 2011 · 14 Comments

This simple and easy carrot salad makes the perfect year-round side dish! It's especially nice in the spring when summer produce hasn't kicked in yet.

If you want proof that food doesn't have to be complicated to be good, this shredded carrot salad is it!

The hardest part of this salad is grating or shredding the carrots, and being lazy, I found the perfect answer - pre-shredded carrots! I know fresh would be best, but I found organic pre-shredded carrots from Publix and now this carrot salad is on regular rotation!

Ingredients.

Bowl of vinaigrette, parsley and pre-shredded carrots to make carrot saald.

Vinaigrette - red wine vinegar, lemon juice (freshly squeezed), extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Since this vinaigrette has few ingredients, this is a good time to use your better olive oil. It will have more flavor and really sing in this salad. You could even use Lemon Infused Olive Oil to bring out all the lemon flavors!

Carrots - shredded or grated. As I mentioned above, I am fine with using these pre-shredded ones if it means I'll have this salad more often.

Parsley - adds a fresh flavor and a pretty green color. You could experiment with other fresh herbs, parsley is a safe herb though that goes with almost everything.

Instructions.

This is so simple to make, you hardly need instructions.

Begin by grating or shredding the carrots or opening the bag of pre-shredded. Chop the parsley as fine as you would like it.

Make a basic vinaigrette in a bowl large enough to hold the salad, by combining the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and then whisking in the olive oil. Taste and see if you need to adjust the seasonings.

Add the carrots and parsley to the bowl and toss to combine. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Close up of carrot salad in a blue bowl.

So simple and so good! This is the best simple grated carrot salad ever! It's so easy to make, I almost always have the ingredients to make it and it goes with everything.

I've been making this since 2011, I believe that I found the original recipe in an Alice Waters cookbook. I'll link to it in the recipe card. She is my go-to for simple ideas that really allow the vegetables to shine.

I need to add this to my round-up of Side Dishes Grandma Wished She'd Made, my grandma's carrot salad had mayo and raisins, which was good, but this is a lighter option!

More easy salads.

Greek Village Salad

This classic salad from Greece is perfect for summer tomatoes and cucumbers, but good year round too!

Click here to see the recipe

Arugula, strawberries and goat cheese in a yellow bowl.

Arugula Salad with Balsamic Strawberries and Goat Cheese

Bitter arugula, sweet strawberries and tangy goat cheese in the perfect spring salad!

Click here to see the recipe

Roasted Cauliflower Waldorf Salad

A classic Waldorf salad gets and update with roasted cauliflower!

Click here to see the recipe

Recipe.

**As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Print Recipe

5 from 11 votes

Simple Carrot Salad

This shredded or grated carrot salad is a simple salad that really lets the flavor of the carrots shien.

Prep Time15

Resting time.10

Total Time25

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 167kcal

Equipment

The Art of Simple Food

Ingredients

1 pound carrots peeled, and grated or shredded
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons parsley chopped
salt and pepper

Instructions

In a bowl large enough to hold the carrots, combine the lemon juice, vinegar. a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.
Peel and grate (or shred) or buy the pre-shredded carrots and add them to the bowl with the dressing.
Toss to combine, taste for salt and pepper and stir in the parsley.

Notes

Other fresh herbs may be used for the parsley or in combination with the parsley. Mint is good in the spring. Thyme also adds a lovely flavor. Have fun experimenting with different herbs!

I buy the pre-shredded bags of carrots when I want to make this salad even faster and easier!

Nutrition

The was originally published in 2011 and has been updated for 2024.

Potato Salad

May 9, 2011 · 21 Comments

Long time readers, may know of my inclination declare things. There was my Summer of Pickles and the Summer of My Herbs and there was even The Spring of My Side Dishes. Well, it’s that time again. Summer. Well, not quite, there are still 3 weeks of school, but I am ready, boy am I ready. So, this summer, it’s a repeat, a two repeater to be exact. I officially declare 2011 the Summer of My Herbs and the Summer of Cleaning Out My Garage. Yes. I do. Check back in August for the successful recap.

I am, seriously, going to use fresh herbs every chance I get, AND I will get at least one car back into my two car garage. Let’s begin with the easiest of those tasks, shall we, with this potato salad from, The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolutionby Alice Waters.

This was so good and so simple and clean. Sometimes I am not in the mood for a mayo/mustard potato salad, I want something a little lighter. This fits the bill. It was especially good warm, right after it was made. This was a great use for my herb garden bully, the chives. I also used some of my tarragon vinegar for a little extra flavor.

Potato Salad

1 ½ pounds waxy potatoes
2 eggs, hard boiled, cooled and peeled
1 tablespoon wine, cider, or rice wine vinegar (or tarragon!)
salt
fresh ground black pepper
½ red onion, cut into small dice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, cool, peel (I didn’t), and cut into bite size pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl.

Mix together the vinegar and salt and pepper and pour over the potatoes, stir gently and let sit for about 7 minutes to let the potatoes absorb the vinegar. Add the onions and the olive oil and mix gently. Add more salt or vinegar as needed.

Chop the eggs and add with the chives and parsley and stir gently in to mix.

Serves 4

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

Goat’s Cheese, Lemon and Pea Pasta

Apr 7, 2011 · 23 Comments

If you are looking for the ultimate spring pasta, look no further. Seriously. This was wonderful, and I don’t even like peas all that much! Found this in Donna Hay Issue #55 which I splurge and get from Amazon Donna Hay Magazine because I can’t find it regularly in any of my stores. I know! $17 dollars an issue, but really I get as many recipes from one magazine (and sometimes lots more) than I do from a lot of cookbooks, so totally worth it in my book.

Goat’s Cheese, Lemon and Pea Pasta

14 oz penne
2 cups frozen peas
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1.7 oz arugula
sea salt and fresh black pepper

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water per directions, adding the peas at the last minute. Drain and return to the pan. Add the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil and toss to coat. Add the goat’s cheese, arugula, salt and pepper, and mix until just combined. Serves 4.

This will be my entry for this week’s Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Allie of Yum in Tum .

Ultimate French Onion Soup

Apr 4, 2011 · 27 Comments

Conundrum. I have a slight conundrum with this post.

First of all, let’s stop and contemplate the fact that I used conundrum. That I knew what it kind of, sort of, meant. I have been reading aloud a reading and a literature test to my 8th grade students, and I am amazed at the lack of vocabulary they possess. I am also listening to Mark Twain’s autobiography and in it, he quotes passages written by his daughter when she was as young as 8 or 9. They sound more eloquent that most adults do now. When you read civil war letters written by 18 and 19 year old soldiers, they are filled with a vast vocabulary. My youngest daughter and I used to try to outdo each other with the words we could use. In conversations, after using a particularly obscure word, we would look at each other for acknowledgement. Is that what’s missing…a love for words?

Sorry, digression. Back to my conundrum. I’ve been posting a meatless recipe on Mondays. This soup has beef stock in it. Technically it’s meatless, but not vegetarian. Since I’m not specifically going vegetarian, I’m still going to use it. Conundrum solved.

Oh, and it was good. I don’t usually use a cup of red wine in my French Onion Soup, but I will now and forever. Found in Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time and you can also find it online Tyler’s Ultimate French Onion Soup.

Tyler’s Ultimate French Onion Soup

½ cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about ½ bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
½ pound grated Gruyere

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, for about 25 minutes. Add the wine and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Sprinkle the flour on the onions and stir. With the heat on medium low cook the onions about 10 minutes to eliminate the raw flour flavor. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with a slice of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

**I’m not sure what happened, but my cheese sunk to the bottom, normally it floats. Oh well, it was still good!

Serves 4 to 6

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

AND for My Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory.

AND for Souper Sundays (Soup, Salad, or Sammie) hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen.

Chicken and Caper Pasta

Mar 31, 2011 · 29 Comments

Another Donna Hay? I know. What can I say? As soon as starts to turn warm, I turn to Donna Hay, because nobody does simple, light foods like her.

Now, this pasta was actually supposed to use her: Lemon, Thyme and White Wine Chicken – that you were supposed to make and freeze some of it and then she gave you 3 quick recipes to use it with. The Lemon, Thyme and White Wine Chicken sounded amazing, but I have some leftover rotisserie chicken and used that instead. Don’t worry, I will be making the chicken too, someday.

So, anyway. This was a really quick and easy pasta dish. It wasn’t outstanding or drop-down-dead fantastic, but it was very good, and very simple, and quite pretty to look at, which all add up to a keeper in my book.

Chicken and Caper Pasta

2 cups leftover cooked chicken
½ pound cooked pasta
1 cup flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons lemon juice
parmesan cheese for serving
olive oil

Add a little olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the capers and cook until golden, a minute or two. Add the chicken to warm it up a bit. Toss the chicken caper mix with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Serve topped with some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 2

This will be my entry for this week’s Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

Warm Mushroom and Haloumi Salad

Mar 28, 2011 · 27 Comments

I don’t get manicures or pedicures. Nope. What I do for myself is a Donna Hay Magazine subscription. I know. You’re probably saying, “Jeez Louise” if you were the type of person to say, “Jeez Louise” that is. But you know what? It’s soooo worth it to me. To be able to sit in a comfy chair, with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, or a gin and tonic, and browse through her gorgeous magazine, looking for inspiration and recipes is a joy to me. Because every single recipe has an awe-inspiring photo, and I love a good food photo! It helps me to see how a chef visualizes the dish and gives me a standard to shoot for.

So, anyway, while browsing through issue #14, I found Warm Mushroom and Haloumi Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette. This was everything I dreamed it would be and more. And let me just say, that the warm vinaigrette may become my signature vinaigrette – it is that good!

Warm Mushroom and Haloumi Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon olive oil
10 oz haloumi cheese, sliced
20 oz large swiss brown mushrooms, I used cremini
2 ½ oz baby arugula
wedges of lemon to serve

red wine vinaigrette

1 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
salt and black pepper

Place the vinaigrette ingredients in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat for 4 minutes.

Heat a frying pan over high heat. Add oil and cook the haloumi in batches until each side is golden, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove to a paper towel and keep warm. Add the mushrooms and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Place the mushrooms and haloumi on a plate, top with the arugula and spoon the warm vinaigrette over the top, and serve with lemon wedges. (I placed my mushrooms and cheese on top of the arugula).

Serves 4.

This will be my entry for My Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory.

AND for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

AND for Souper Sundays (Soup, Salad, or Sammie) hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen.

and for It’s a Keeper Thursdays.

A Sad Weekend Cat Blogging. Scrappycat. We Will Miss You.

Mar 26, 2011 · 62 Comments

Tribute to Scrappycat

When you have a 20 year old cat, you know that you are going to have to write the “goodbye” post.

What can I say about her. She was my cat. Oh she tolerated the other members of the family, but she was mine. She was usually the first thing I saw in the morning when I opened my eyes, and the last thing before I closed them to sleep at night.

...

Read On →

Grilled Asian Pork Chops and Baby Bok Choy

Mar 18, 2011 · 13 Comments

The first grilling of the season! Is there anything more filled with promises of warm days to come? If you too, are slowly venturing out of hibernation, I can think of no finer way to do it then with this quick and easy dish from The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh. You can also find it online, here.

I had to do some searching for the black bean garlic sauce. I know that they used to carry it in my grocery stores, but I couldn’t find it, so I had to make the slightly longer trip to the Asian market, well worth it though! Also, this was my first time grilling baby bok choy, and I can tell you that it definitely will not be my last.

Grilled Asian Pork Chops and Baby Bok Choy

⅓ cup black bean garlic sauce
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons oriental sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 boneless center-cut pork chops (about 8 ounces each)

4 baby bok choy, halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 lime wedges

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Whisk together black bean sauce, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, and ginger in shallow dish. Set 2 tablespoons marinade aside. Add pork to remaining marinade; let stand 20 minutes.

Remove pork from marinade; brush cut side of bok choy with reserved 2 tablespoons marinade. Grill pork until just cooked through and thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 145°F, about 5 minutes per side. Grill bok choy until softened and lightly charred, about 5 minutes total.

Divide pork and bok choy among 4 plates. Sprinkle with cilantro, garnish with lime wedges, and serve.

This will be my entry for Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!

Balsamic Mushroom and Goat Cheese Salad

Mar 14, 2011 · 23 Comments

I have decided that there is a “Murphy’s Law” of food blogging. You make a dish and it is awful, yet you take the most fabulous photo of it ever! A photo destined to not be published, since your failures are quietly swept under a rug. Then you make a wonderful dish, a dish that you swear you hear angels singing as you are eating it, and you can’t take an attractive picture of it even though you try 392 times.

Evidence? This Balsamic Mushroom and Goat Cheese Salad from Donna Hay Magazine #50. This was amazing. Beyond amazing. One of those dishes where the output is exponentially greater than the work put into it. Make this. You will not be disappointed. Note: she calls for goat’s curd, which I have no idea what that is, so I just used goat cheese also she called for an assortment of mushrooms, I just used 4 portabellos that I had handy. Also, she tells you to toss the goat cheese, I didn’t, I scattered it on as I served it because cheese must be equally distributed in our house – it’s a rule.

Balsamic Mushroom and Goat’s Curd (or goat cheese) Salad

6 field mushrooms, sliced
14oz Swiss brown mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs oregano
¼ cup olive oil
sea salt and fresh black pepper
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
8 thin slices sourdough baguette
olive oil for brushing
6 ounces baby beetroot leaves (I just used a salad mix)

Preheat the oven to 400. Place the mushrooms, garlic, oregano, oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet and toss to combine. Roast for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the vinegar and sugar and cook for an addition 5 minutes or until caramelized. Brush the bread with the extra oil and grill or broil until golden. Scrape the mushroom mixture into a bowl, add the goat cheese and salad leaves. Serve with bread. Serves 4. (or 2 if you love it as much as I did)

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

AND for My Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory.

AND for Souper Sundays (Soup, Salad, or Sammie) hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen.

Bulgur and Citrus Salad

Jan 31, 2011 · 18 Comments

Regular readers know that I buy a rotisserie chicken every week. It is my reward for going grocery shopping on a Thursday, after work. After work, when all I want to do is go home, curl up in a fetal position, and sob myself to sleep.

So, yeah. I get a chicken. I had been serving that chicken with chips and pickles for a totally worry free dinner. Except that I did worry. I worried that I was eating nothing healthy!! So, I decided that I would serve my chicken with some sort of healthy side salad dish type thing. “Side salad dish type thing” – the words just flow from my lips (or in this case fingertips) don’t they? Remember if anyone else refers to “side salad dish type thing” – you heard it hear first. I should probably copyright it.

Yes. I can’t spell. Isn’t it weird that someone who reads 50+ books a year, can’t spell? It drives my husband crazy. I say, it could be worse. I could be a control freak, who makes lists for everything, and tries to bend everyone the way she wants them to be. Oh wait. I am.

For your consideration, my first side salad dish type thing – Bulgur and Citrus Salad from Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchenby Amy Pennington, which I reviewed, here. It was the perfect start! It went great with the chicken, super easy to put together, and made interesting by the citrus/cinnamon combination.

Bulgur and Citrus Salad

1 cup uncooked bulgur
1 ½ cups boiling water (plus a smidgen more)
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh mint (I didn’t have any, so I just used more parsley)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
handful of dried currants or raisins
half an orange, grated outer peel and juice only
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

Put the bulgur in a medium sized glass bowl. Pour the boiling water over it, and cover it, allowing it to steam for 25 minutes. Drain any extra water off.

Stir in the pine nuts, parsley, mint, cinnamon, raisins, orange zest and juice, and vinegar. Drizzle with the olive oil and stir gently. Season to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

Cookbook Used:

AND don’t forget to join me here on Thursday for Tackling Bittman!!

10 Minute Bruschetta

Jan 13, 2011 · 18 Comments

Turn tomatoes, capers, and olives into a light lunch or appetizer with this 10 Minute Bruschetta recipe!

Four slices of bruschetta on a long plate.

When my CSA provided me with some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, I knew that a quick bruschetta would make a fine lunch! It also makes a great appetizer recipe!

In the time it takes to toast the bread, you can thinly slice the tomatoes and get your jars of olives and capers out of the fridge. Anyone else buy those huge jars of capers and kalamata olives from Costco? They are a staple at my house!

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Books Read in 2010

Jan 12, 2011 · 13 Comments

Well, it’s that time of the year again. Time to wrap up my books read for the year. I thought I did really good this year, but I just checked and last year I read 59! What’s up with the 9 book drop?? I’m still happy with 50 though. If you want to check out all of my books, look over in the side column and you can see year end book round up for 2007, 2008, and 2009.

1. Shadow Manby Cody McFadyen. 4.5/5
2. The Face of Deathby Cody McFadyen. 4.5/5
3. Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Womanby Lisa Scottoline. 5/5
4. The Darker Side: A Thrillerby Cody McFadyen. 4.5/5
5. Abandoned: A Thrillerby Cody McFadyen. ⅘
6. Remarkable Creaturesby Tracy Chevalier. ⅘
7. The Little Strangerby Sarah Waters. ⅘
8. Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dreamby James Morgan. 3.5/5
9. 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Lifeby Cami Walker. 4.5/5
10. The Hand That First Held Mineby Maggie O'Farrell. 4.5/5
11. The Wife's Tale: A Novel by Lori Lansesn. ⅘
12.What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mindby Debra Ollivier. ⅘
13.The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery (Flavia De Luce Mysteries)by Alan Bradley. ⅘
14. Bloodrootby Amy Greene. 3.5/5
15. Saints in Limboby River Jordan. 4.5/5
16. The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It Allby Alexandra Penney. ⅘
17. Caughtby Harlan Coben. 4.5/5
18. Bite Me: A Love Storyby Christopher Moore. ⅘
19. Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Storyby Christopher Moore. ⅗
20. I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility by Trisha Meili. ⅘
21. Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?by Jen Lancaster. 3.5/5
22. The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novelby Sarah Addison Allen. 4.5/5
23. Sharp Objects: A Novelby Gillian Flynn. 5/5
24. Dark Places: A Novelby Gillian Flynn. 5/5
25. The Irresistible Henry Houseby Lisa Grunwald. ⅘
26. User I.D. by Jenefer Shute. ⅗
27. A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing by Michael Farquhar. ⅗
28. One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original)by David Nicholls. 5/5
29. Goldengrove: A Novelby Francine Prose. ⅗
30. Georgia's Kitchenby Jenny Nelson. ⅘
31. Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoirby Wendy Burden. ⅘
32. Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemensby Andrew Beahrs. ⅘
33. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Funby Gretchen Rubin. ⅘
34. Room: A Novelby Emma Donoghue. 4.5/5
35. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Homeby Rhoda Janzen. 4.5/5
36. The Family Manby Elinor Lipman. 4.5/5
37. I'd Know You Anywhere: A Novelby Laura Lippman. 5/5
38. Outside the Ordinary Worldby Dori Ostermiller. ⅘
39. The Tale of Despereaux: being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of threadby Kate DiCamillo. ⅘
40. Juliet, Nakedby Nick Hornby. ⅘
41. The Go-Between: A Novel of the Kennedy Yearsby Frederick Turner. ⅘
42. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novelby Tom Franklin. ⅘
43. How Did You Get This Numberby Sloane Crosley. ⅗
44. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircutby Rob Sheffield. ⅘
45. Herb 'n' Lornaby Eric Kraft. ⅘
46. My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Womanby Lisa Scottoline. 5/5
47. Holidays on Iceby David Sedaris. ⅗
48. The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmasby Lauren Willig. 4.5/5
49. The Devotion of Suspect Xby Keigo Higashino. 4.5/5
50. Hidden Wivesby Claire Avery. 4.5/5

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Habanero Hot Honey

Dec 10, 2010 · 15 Comments

No need to buy store-bought hot honey, when it is so easy to make your own! The best part is that you can make this Habanero Hot Honey as hot as you'd like it!

Jar of honey with dried habanero peppers and honey drizzled into it.

I first made this habanero hot honey back in 2010! Before hot honey was even a thing! You couldn't really find it at the grocery stores, so your only option was to make your own.

Now, hot honey is every where, but I still like to make homemade hot honey. We like things hot here, so when you make your own, you can make it as hot or as mild as you'd like!

The best part, besides how good it is, is that it's super easy to make pepper infused honey. I'll show you first how to dry your habanero peppers, but drying your own is not necessary if you want to use already-dried peppers or red pepper flakes.

How to dry hot peppers.

Three orange habanero peppers on a blue cutting board.

It's a good idea to use food-handling gloves when handling peppers. Wash and dry your fresh peppers. You can leave them whole, but since I wanted them to dry quicker and expose the seeds to the honey, I cut them in half.

Using a dehydrator.

Two photos of peppers drying on a dehydrator.

Place them cut-side down on your dehydrator shelf. My dehydrator has only one temperature, if yours has a setting use 130° to 140° f. Check them every hour or so, they can take anywhere from 4-12 hours.

I turned mine over a couple of times and they took about 5 hours. Store in an airtight container.

Using an oven.

If you don't have a dehydrator, you can dry peppers in an oven. Set your oven to it's lowest temperature and spread the peppers out on a baking sheet. Use a wooden spoon or something else to keep the oven door cracked open a bit to let air circulate.

Check your peppers every 30 minutes or so, turning them. Remove them as they are dried.

You want the peppers to be thoroughly dry and crispy. You don't want them to feel soft or malleable.

How to make hot honey.

Apple cider vinegar, honey, and dried peppers in a jar.

Ingredients you'll need:

Apple cider vinegar - this is optional, but I like the little bit of tartness it gives.

Honey - I used a local wildflower honey, which is why it may look darker than yours.

Hot peppers - you can either use dried peppers following the instructions above, store-bought dried peppers, or even easier - red pepper flakes.

Honey and dried peppers in a pot being brought up to a simmer.

Place the honey and peppers in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. You want a few bubbles along the edges of the pan, but you don't want it to come to a boil. Boiling would destroy the extra nutrients in honey.

Simmer for about 5 minutes. If you are using whole dried peppers, this will take longer to infuse. if you are using red pepper flakes, you may need lesser time is needed.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar. Let cool to room temperature.

Taste the honey and if it is hot enough for you, you can strain out the peppers. We prefer to leave our peppers in the honey to infuse even longer in the pantry and get hotter and hotter!

Small jar of honey with habanero peppers in it.

This is so good and it's so easy to make it as hot as you'd like. We like it very hot, so it is sitting in the pantry with the peppers still in it. If it starts getting too hot, I'll just strain out the peppers.

We love it drizzled on fried chicken, egg sandwiches (try it!) use it in dressings and marinades, and as the sweetener in cocktails for an extra kick!

Some ways to use your hot honey:

Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Salmon

Brush salmon with a sweet and tasty glaze and then broil for this quick and easy recipe!

Click here to see the recipe

Honey Orange Roasted Carrots

So easy and so delicious! Just a few ingredients and about 30 minutes are all you need to make these sweet and tangy carrots.

Click here to see the recipe

Close up of chicken and vegetables on a sheet pan.

Honey Balsamic Chicken

Roasted vegetables and a honey balsamic glazed chicken make for an easy chicken dinner that kids and adults will love.

Click here to see the recipe

Recipe.

**As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Jar of hot honey with a honey scooper dripping honey into it.

Print Recipe

5 from 41 votes

Habanero Hot Honey

Make you own hot honey and you can make it as hot as you'd like!

Prep Time6

Cook Time5

Total Time6 5

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 130kcal

Equipment

Dehydrator

Ingredients

2 habanero pepper or 2 dried peppers, or 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Dehydrating peppers.

Wearing gloves, wash the peppers and cut them in half lengthwise.
Place on dehydrator tray and dry until crisp and brittle - depending on your peppers any where from 3-7 hours.

Preparing hot honey.

Place the dried peppers and honey in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, where there are small bubbles on the outside edge, but it is not boiling. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar. Bring to room temperaature.
Taste and see if it is hot enough for you. If it is, strain out the peppers, if you would like it hotter, leave the peppers in and store in a jar in your pantry. When it is as hot as you'd like, you can strain out the peppers.

Notes

Note - you can also dehydrate the peppers in an oven. Put your oven at the lowest temperature it will go and place the peppers on a baking sheet. Roast them in the oven, with a wooden spoon holding the door open a bit to let air circulate. Start checking them after an hour. You want the crisp and brittle.

If you don't want to dehydrate your own peppers, you can use store-bought dried peppers or use red pepper flakes. Red pepper flakes will infuse quickly.

Nutrition

This was originally published in 2010 and has been updated for 2023.

Herb Roasted Root Vegetables

Nov 15, 2010 · 23 Comments

In the summer, I love nothing more than to toss some vegetables with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss them on the grill. Even with our relatively mild winters, grilling is not a winter activity for me. I get cold when it drops below 70 degrees. So, the next best thing…the oven. Seriously, is there anything better than roasted vegetables? They are so good, so sweet, so easy.

I know what you’re thinking, “But Pam, you don’t even need a recipe for roasted vegetables!” And you’re right, you don’t. But when I was paging through Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes and came upon Giada’s Herb Roasted Root Vegetables, I paused. I know how to roast vegetables. Everyone knows how to roast vegetables. But I rarely do anything to the veggies more than olive oil, salt and pepper. So, I was intrigued, with the mix of dried herbs. And while veggies, simply roasted in olive oil and salt and pepper is enough, every once in awhile, it’s good to change things up a bit, add a bit of spice.

Herb Roasted Root Vegetables

4 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 ½ inch thick slices
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1 ½-inch thick circles
½ pound Brussels sprouts, washed, outer skins removed, and halved
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut crosswise into 1 ½ inch slices
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add the carrots, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, parsnips and sweet potatoes.

Toss well with olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper.

Spread the vegetables evenly on a large baking sheet. Place on medium rack in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

This will be my entry for I Heart Cooking Clubs!

Cookbook Used:

Pasta with Arugula Pesto

Oct 18, 2010 · 31 Comments

I have to begin this post by admitting that I don’t even like arugula all that much. So, why did I make arugula pesto? Because my CSA gave it to me, bagfuls, every week. Since I am loathe to waste food, and I am all about eating seasonally, I couldn’t without feeling guilty let it languish in my drawer any longer.

After a search through my cookbooks, I found Arugula Pesto in Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipesfrom Giada. This was chosen for the simple reason that it used up the most of the dreaded arugula.

Guess what? I loved this. Loved it. Seriously. This was so ridiculously quick and easy. I bumped it up a bit by including some shredded cooked chicken when I tossed the pesto with the pasta, but it wouldn’t even really be necessary. This was so good, that I am hoping I get another bag or two of arugula this week!

Arugula Pesto

2 cups (packed) fresh arugula
1 garlic clove
½ cup olive oil
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Process the arugula and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. With the machine running, gradually add the oil, processing until well blended. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the cheese, salt and pepper. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. (Makes enough to sauce 12 ounces of pasta as a main course).

Makes 1 cup.

This will be my entry for Heart ‘n Soul Blog Hop.

This will be my entry for I Heart Cooking Clubs!

AND

This will be my entry for this week’s Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Claire of Chez Cayenne .

Granola

Oct 7, 2010 · 13 Comments

I am taking the day off, people. Here is a picture of my granola, which I’ve already told you about here. I make this every week, varying the recipe depending on what oils, fruits, nuts, and juice I have available, and I omit the dried milk. I don’t measure anything and it comes out perfect every time.

Don’t forget to enter my GIVEWAY!!!!

Urban Pantry by Amy Pennington

Sep 18, 2010 · 16 Comments

A review of the cookbook Urban Pantry.

Post contains affiliate links full disclosure on sidebar.

I have 155 cookbooks. No, I’m not some crazy fanatic who counts her cookbooks. I’m a crazy fanatic who keeps all of her cookbooks in her virtual library on Goodreads. I have seriously cut back on my cookbook buying, so when I do get a new cookbook, I expect a lot from it. Amy Pennington’s Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchenwas everything I hoped it would be and more.

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