Thanksgiving Roast

Dear Lauren,

I like it that together we've been working on cleaning up our eating habits and trying to figure out if we have any food triggers that might be causing us health problems. You've been a great partner, especially because you seem to have no addiction to sugar. You're a great role model for me! 

The other day, a lady named Lynne, posted a note and photo in our food group we belong to. She had the idea to combine Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and fresh cranberries. She said she liked it so much, she decided to put it on her Thanksgiving menu. I was immediately intrigued because I love all three of these.

So I decided to play around with veggies today and guess what? Big win. I'm adding this dish to our Thanksgiving this year as well. Thank you, Lynne! 

Thanksgiving Roast

6 Brussels sprouts, cut in half through the stem
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 bag fresh cranberries
olive oil or avocado oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Put the cranberries on one sheet and both the Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes on the other. Add a little oil, start with 1-2 tablespoons, to each baking sheet. With your hands, toss the contents of each sheet until well covered with oil. Add salt and pepper and toss again. Turn the cut sides of the Brussels down so they will brown nicely. Add each sheet to the oven. Cook the cranberries for 18 minutes and the Brussels/sweet potato combination for 20 minutes. Your oven may run a little cooler or hotter than mine so watch to make sure nothing burns. Remove from the oven when nicely browned and toss the contents of both baking sheets together and serve.

Love,

P.S. Thank you for taking care of Max and Catarina so often for Dad and I. I left you some Thanksgiving Roast in the fridge as a thank you. Love you!

Cucumber Quinoa Salad Toast

Dear Lauren,

I joined a new cooking group. The group is based on cooking out of all of the Ottolenghi cookbooks.I like to call him Otto. When I joined the group, I did it to lurk. To see what the other cooks liked out of Otto's books. But the very first day, I changed my mind. No lurking for me! The group posts a page number and the name of one of the cookbooks and asks us to consider making that recipe. We can share photos and make other recipes but when I realized they were going to tell me what to make? Well, I develop recipes and answer questions and think (up all sorts of nonsense) all day long, so I quickly realized after being added to this group that I LIKE being told what to cook! I really do!

One of the cookbooks I have really enjoyed this year is Keepers and I've made every "toast" in that book and then some! When I saw the recipe the Otto group chose for this week, Quinoa and Grilled Sourdough Salad, I immediately thought...TOAST! I put a little olive oil on some sourdough and plopped it in the toaster and the rest of the salad I made as Otto ordered. I was able to use tomatoes from my garden and try out my new rice cooker to cook the quinoa, so even if this recipe hadn't been amazing, I would have enjoyed the process. But it IS amazing!! Yum, yum! Off to a good start!

Cucumber Quinoa Salad Toast

adapted from Quinoa and Grilled Sourdough Salad in Plenty

serves 4

1 cup cooked quinoa (use this method and save the leftovers for another use)
4 tomatoes, cut in bite size pieces
2 cucumbers, ends cut off, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed, cut in 1/4" slices
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil, plus additional to brush the bread
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

4 slices sourdough bread

Place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. In a second bowl, whisk next 5 ingredients until combined. Put the dressing over the salad and toss. Set aside. Toast the bread in the toaster and brush with a little olive oil. Place a piece of toast on each plate and divide the salad equally on top of each toast. Serve.

Love,

P.S. Lauren - "Listen Linda!"

Diet Mac and Cheese with Zucchini Ribbons

Dear Lauren,

You have been cooking up a storm lately. I noticed you cooked a lot whenever we were home together. You'd ask me question after question and then get me to help you. Then you'd tell me how you cooked this or that, here or there. You'd say things like...is this or that recipe on my blog, Mom? 

Recently, Dad and I went out of town and you stayed behind to take care of our cats, Max and Catarina. And you cooked even then. You cooked out of books and you cooked based on what was in the freezer and you cooked and you cooked and you cooked. 

Then last night, you cooked for Dad and me.

As a recent college graduate with a marketing major, I figure you'll approve of the marketing title of this recipe. This is not really diet mac and cheese. We named it so because of the bread crumbs you used that were in the freezer...crumbs I made with bread Dad and I use when we're on Weight Watchers. See? Diet!

Diet Mac and Cheese with Zucchini Ribbons
by Lauren
Adapted from Sweet Paul and his cookbook, Eat & Make

Try these. So easy.

3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
3 cups whole milk, heated
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup Gruyère*, grated
1/2 cup Jarlsberg*, grated
1/2 cup Monterey Jack, grated
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil (I think we have every single variety of Sciabica, it's amazing)
2 zucchini, thinly sliced or spiral cut into ribbons with this tool like Lauren uses
1 pound dry pasta (Lauren uses cavatappi, any similar shape is fine)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (Lauren uses Personalized Bread Crumbs)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

*Gruyère and Jarlsberg is tasty, but can be expensive. If your budget doesn't allow for it, substitute 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss.

Preheat oven to 425°F. You will need a 9 x 13" baking dish.

Boil a large pot of salted water, and while you make your cheese sauce, cook your pasta.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Whisk in milk slowly to prevent lumps. Add the cream and continue to whisk for a few minutes, until the mixture is heated through. Take your time with this. To prevent scalding, do not heat the mixture too quickly. Add the cheeses. Turn the heat to low and don't allow the mixture to heat above a simmer.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the zucchini and cook until golden brown.

Lauren made Ina's Jalapeño Cheese Crackers 

while we were out of town.

Stir together the drained pasta, the cheese sauce and the zucchini and pour it into your 9 x 13" baking dish.

Stir together the bread crumbs and the melted butter in a bowl until combined. Sprinkle it over the mac and cheese in the baking dish. 

Put the baking dish in the oven and bake until the bread crumbs are golden and crispy and the cheese is bubbly, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool 5-10 minutes and serve.

Love, 

Toast

Dear Lauren,

I am in love with the cookbook, Keepers. I am pretty sure you will be getting one in your Easter basket this year. Yes, the recipes are yummy, but there are a lot of tips in this book that I sure wish someone would've shared with me when I first started cooking! Like getting tomato paste in a tube instead of a can - that's a good one! It took me years to figure it out! I'm slow, ok?!

When I got to the page about toast for dinner, my jaw dropped open. Of course! Why not?! So simple! Sounds great!

The book had 10 varieties of toast for dinner and I made six of them. I chose those six because, remarkably, I had most all of the ingredients in the house. I did omit an ingredient here or there, like mango, radishes and smoked salmon. And I substituted an herb here and there. But that's the beauty of toast! Use what you have! All six varieties were excellent and I will definitely make the tomato and goat cheese toast (see below) and the mushroom with cream and thyme toast again and again.

My friend Tracy is going to have a Girl Scout night for her daughter based on different toasts and she plans to include dessert toasts. Yum! And my friend Linda (who doesn't drink) has a whole list of alcoholic toasts! Haha! You could build an adult party based on this theme, no? My friend Jessica thinks so. Or you can do what I am planning to do, make toast for dinner when you're on your own. It's such an easy dinner to make for one, and so delicious.

Painters and Ranch Style Beans and Salad

Dear Lauren,

Rule #1. Always have a can of Ranch Style Beans in the house. Rule #2. Feed all workers who come to the house.

The outside of the house was recently painted. Dad is afraid of heights and in some spots the house is 4 stories tall. So, we hired painters. There are two DIY projects dad won't do. Anything related to electricity and anything requiring a ladder.

On day one, I made the painters a cake. It was gorgeous. And the cake was good, but not great. I'll probably continue to look for another lemon cake recipe to use with the glaze from this one. The glaze is gorgeous and so easy to make. The painters were smiling. Actually, they were singing! I learned later that one of them is in a mariachi band!

Today, I made the painters a salad. A salad? For painters? Probably not the best choice! Dad was probably the more popular cook with the painters since he served chili dogs one day and brisket tacos another day. But, I really wanted to make the salad because I really wanted to talk about Ranch Style Beans!

Ranch Style Beans are a staple if you're a Texan. I've never met a Texan who didn't agree with me. Open the can, heat them up and you have an instant side dish that every Texan loves. But, over time I've learned that you can also open a can, toss them in a strainer, and rinse all of the lovely sauce right off. The texture of these pinto beans is excellent and even after rinsing, you have a better flavor than you would if you just bought a can of pinto beans. Rinsed pinto beans and rinsed Ranch Style Beans - they're just not the same! Once rinsed, I've tossed them in a salad (like today), but on other days I've also mashed them up and used them on nachos when I didn't have any refried beans in the pantry. So versatile!

So, here's the salad I fed the painters. They cleaned their plates. They were smiling. I had some myself and I loved it! I found the recipe when I read this month's issue of Food & Wine magazine. I changed a few things up and I also used my stick blender and a Mason jar to make the dressing. Here's my version of the recipe.

Painter's Spring Salad

Dressing:
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 clove of garlic, smashed and minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
plenty of freshly ground pepper

Salad:
1 can Ranch Style Beans, drained of all sauce, rinsed and dried on paper towels
1 small bag frozen peas, thawed
any pretty greens you like (I used radicchio, Boston Bibb, baby arugula)
1-2 avocados, ripe, sliced

Place the first 4 dressing ingredients in a tall Mason jar and blend with a stick blender (you can use a full size blender if you want, but come on...Mason jars and stick blenders are way...funner). Leave the stick blender on and drizzle the oil in the jar until it looks like salad dressing. You'll see! It will happen! Add the cheese and pepper and stir. Then taste it. It might need a little salt.

Arrange the salad on a plate and drizzle with some dressing and serve. To painters. Or anyone!

Love,


P.S. It's almost the 4th of July! Yay! Can't wait to see you!
P.S.S. or P.P.S. Why do I always want to spell DIY as DYI? Always! Does this happen to you?

Chick Flick Hummus and Pita Chips

Dear Lauren,

So, we have this wall in our pantry. It's narrow, but it's really tall, I'd say 12 feet. One week when Dad was out of town, I went to Home Depot and I bought some magnetic paint and I bought some chalkboard paint. And I painted the narrow, tall wall. It required a ladder, plastic sheeting and tools (wow, that sounds too much like Dexter, doesn't it?).

Egg and Cress

Dear Lauren,

Let's recap.

You sent me a text that said, "I want an egg and cress sandwich."

I thought, wow, this child cannot spell. And then I went about trying to figure out how I would make sure there were fresh croissants here for Christmas.

I asked all my cooking friends. They had great suggestions. One of my cooking friends actually made croissants from scratch! I decided since Williams Sonoma was offering free shipping, I'd order their croissants. 

Chickpea-Potato Pancakes

Dear Lauren,

 You can have them with the sauce.

 Or you can have them with a squeeze of lemon.

Or you can have them with cilantro-coriander whipped cream. Holy cow.

Spicy Vegetable Stew

Dear Lauren,

You know when you have a recipe that says add 1/2 cup of onion and a cup of squash.

I don't do that.

If the recipe calls for say, a cup of chopped onion, I just chop one onion and throw it in there! It always works out for me.

I just don't like having half an onion in the fridge.

It gets a little smelly.

You know what else I do?

Mise en place. It means

Spring Rolls are Just Like Tacos

Dear Lauren,

The first meal you, Dad, and I ever ate together was at Kim Son in Houston, Texas. You were 4. We were...older than that. You ate 4 of these. And you were tiny! You also called Dad...dad. And Dad and I ended up with the same fortune in each of our cookies.

It was a moment.

Veggie Burgers

Dear Lauren,

I have a recipe for a dish that calls for veggie burgers as one of the ingredients. I could buy some, but we've never found one we absolutely loved. So I thought I'd make one up.

The first thing I did was start shredding.

I had three zucchini and I knew I'd never use all of them so I just shredded and spread them out over some paper towels to absorb the extra moisture. You can use cloth towels but the zucchini does stick a bit so I use paper. Just leave them sitting there for a couple hours and let them dry out a bit and then ziploc them and stick em in the freezer. The, whenever you want, you can grab a handful and add it to taco meat, soup, hash browns, zucchini bread, or really anything. The shreds really do disappear into whatever you are cooking but it adds fiber.

Veggie Fried Rice

Dear Lauren,

You love fried rice. Looooooooove it. And now you know how to make it. So why is it when you come home, I always make it? 

 Veggie Fried Rice.

  

 Industrial-size soy sauce.

Make Do

Dear Lauren,

I read this post from the Cowgirl Chef this morning and I thought, wow, here she is on the road on her book tour and she comes up with that amazing dish on the fly.

I was inspired! But I had few of the things she had on hand. No avocado, no feta, no fleur de sel! I've got hamburger buns. I've got tomatoes. I have basil in the garden. I have capers but I think I'll skip them today. Oh! I have the olive oil Tim and Patrick brought us back from Greece! And I have coarse Kosher salt and Dad's pepper mill that's on the fritz.

The point is...make do. It'll work out.

Love,
Mom

P.S. The olive oil is as you might predict, incredible. When you come home next, I'll make this for you.

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Dear Lauren,

I don’t like baked potatoes that come out of the oven dry and fluffy. So I always let them cool and then put them in a Ziploc and refrigerate them overnight before I eat them. They’re moister that way. But then I got the crock pot idea from my clever friend, Tracy Hersh. So I thought I would give it a try to see how the potato texture turned out. It was perfect. Just the way I like it. And I didn’t have to wait overnight to get it!

Here’s what I did.

Wash and dry potatoes. Prick them with a fork. Put about a teaspoon of oil in your hands and rub them together a little and then rub your hands all over the potatoes. You might need more depending on how many potatoes you do. I used safflower oil today. I also placed a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of my crock pot to keep it as clean as possible because I am of the opinion that I should spend as little time as possible scrubbing things. Plus, I don’t like to use aluminum foil. But if you do, you can. Turn on your crock pot to the low setting and cook for 5 ½ hours. You might be able to go shorter. That’s when I checked it when I set the timer for 8 hours. And they were done! Cooking it longer won’t really make any difference. You just don’t want them underdone.

Today I ate my potato with a little cream cheese and some homemade salsa. But you can eat it any way you want it. Sour cream, homemade salsa and some of Dad’s Carne Guisada sure sounds good. Roasted Vegetables sound amazing. My current favorite baked potato is with a little cream cheese and some steamed broccoli on top. I have no idea why I like it so much. I think it’s very decadent. It's the cream cheese. Don't use too much, a tablespoon or two is all you need.

(Tracy says you don’t have to prick the potatoes. I never used to but one day I had a potato explosion in the oven and so I always prick. Oh and she doesn’t use parchment paper and she doesn't use foil. So you can try it anyway you like. It’s good to have choices.)

Love,

Mom

P.S. Sorry I have no photos today, so here's a good one at the lakehouse. Sure wish we had deer here!