Entries from April 2009 ↓

Another healthy salad sandwich!  I’m on a roll!  (Get it?  Roll?  Ha…?)

• 1 cucumber, seeded peeled chopped
• 3 plum tomatoes, chopped & drained well
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained well
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup halved Kalamata olives
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3 tbsp each chopped fresh mint and oregano*
• salt & pepper to taste - easy on the salt, the olives and the feta may be enough

Mix everything together.

Serve in pita bread w/ hummus.

*Not in the original recipe, but obviously needed!

If I didn’t live on the 4th floor, I would have done the chicken on the grill.  It was still pretty darn good in the oven.

Jerk marinade / sauce:

• 1 habanero, Scotch bonnet or jalapeno pepper (remove seeds & ribs if using habanero or Scotch bonnet)
• 2 scallions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp allspice, freshly ground if possible
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice (or 1/2 cup pineapple - it’s all going in the blender anyway)

Combine everything in a food processor, puree until smooth.  Reserve 1/2 a cup for dipping.

Combine the rest with 1 whole chicken (cut up) and marinade overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Cook chicken for about an hour.

Serve w/ beans and rice (those recipes have already appeared in this blog).  Make sure you have extra limes for squeezing on top.

Dylan Report: He loved the beans but wasn’t interested in the chicken.  He generally doesn’t like rice, so we haven’t tried this version on him yet.  (Maybe I’ll make a rice cake and tell him it’s a spinach pancake…)

Warm weather = salads.  Finally!  This was delicious as a sandwich filling, but would also be good with some shells or rotini for a picnic pasta salad.

• 2 cans good-quality tuna
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained well & coarsely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup each chopped fresh basil & parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a bowl.  Eat.

These were adapted from The Best Recipe, and were just about as a perfect kick-off to spring/summer as I could have wanted.  They were exactly right for an outdoor early supper, and dead easy to make while still looking kind of fancy and impressive.  This recipe makes 8 small pizzas.  If you don’t want to make that many, you can freeze the dough in individual rounds (separated by wax or parchment paper). Continue reading →

I wanted ice cream and I wanted it fast.  This is as quick and dirty as recipes get.

• 1.5 cups heavy cream (NOT “whipping” cream or anything with preservatives or stabilizers.  Ingredients on label should read “milk”)
• 2 giant spoonfuls strawberry preserves (about 1/2 cup total) preferably something made out of strawberries, sugar, and not much else.  You could also use a pint of really fresh strawberries if you have access to a farmer’s market and they are in season.
• 4 oz block cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Whole milk (opt) to correct consistency if needed

Put everything in the food processor.  Spin until cream cheese and jelly are evenly distributed.  If the mixture seems too thick, add whole milk and process until you like the way it looks.  Freeze according to your machine’s directions, then transfer to freezer for a couple of hours to harden.

No pics yet as this is still in the freezer, but the early Dylan Report based on a spoon-licking sample was “more.”  I think we have a winner here.

This soup is embarrassingly healthy, rich and hearty, and takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Though it’s really more of a hearty soup than a chowder, I will defer to the original recipe name here.

Continue reading →

This was an almost oppresively healthy meal, but the potatoes in the griddlecakes made it filling, and the rosemary, spinach and feta made it tasty.  The lima beans were also amazingly good - dry cooking them makes them fluffy without becoming grainy, and there is almost no vegetable that the addition of Italian herbs and chopped green olives can’t improve. Continue reading →

So, apparently I haven’t posted in 2 and a half weeks.  I am officially the World’s Worst food blogger.  But I have been cooking, so here are some pictures: