Dave's Killer Bread

Finally, a bread that I love and the kids love!  I enjoy a sandwich for any meal, so finding the right bread is pretty darn important.  Dave's bread is soft (good for kids), flavorful, won't stick to the roof of my mouth, is organically grown, and fiber filled (my requirements).  Visit Dave's website here.  You can buy the bread at Safeway, Costco, and many local grocery stores (the Star Store and Payless here on South Whidbey Island).  I made a great sandwhich for lunch today with the "Blues" bread, described from the package as:

Blues bread has a substantial chewy texture and a bold, sweet flavor with a crunchy, grain-coated crust.  The mother of killer breads.

Watch a video about Dave's transformation from a four-time ex-con into an honest man who is doing his best to make the world a better place....
http://www.daveskillerbread.com/story.shtml

Happy eating!

Hash Browns and fresh from the Garden Kale

 My cooking tonight included a medley of food from the fridge.  I'd usually rather go to the store and pick out a fresh feast to cook than go through my fridge, freezer and cupboards.  Hmmm, market in Paris anyone?  Despite this preference, many of my favorite meals come from my very own house and garden.  Here are a few that I made tonight, including the kale recipe I adapted from a lovely meal my sister cooked a while back with fresh from the garden kale, a hot pan and olive oil.

Hash Browns
2-4 medium sized potatoes
1-2 eggs, just enough to make the hash browns stick together when cooking.
butter to cook with
salt and pepper
ketchup

Grate the potatoes and salt them, mixing in the salt as evenly as possible.  Use only as much salt as you would like to taste in the finished hash browns.  Too much salt?  Been there, done that.   The salt will pull out the excess moisture in the potatoes and make for tastier hash browns.  Let the raw potatoes and salt sit for 5 minutes.  Preheat a cast iron pan on medium to high heat for a few minutes.  After the allotted time, squeeze out the extra water with your hands.  Mix in the egg(s) with the grated potatoes.  Add a dollop of butter to the preheated pan and add potato-egg mix, forming them into patties.  I make them about the size of a small pancake.  Pepper if desired.  Cover and cook until the hash browns are nicely browned, but not burnt.  Turn and repeat.  Serve with ketchup.

Quick Fried Kale in Olive Oil
what you'll need:
as much kale as you desire, chopped small, especially the stem pieces
olive oil
optional: pinenuts and feta

Preheat a cast iron pan on medium-high heat, hot enough to sizzle, but cool enough to not burn the olive oil.  Good luck on that one =)

When pan is heated, add a splash of olive oil, enough to coat the pan, and chopped kale.  Cover and let sizzle for a minute.  Then stir frequently until some pieces are brown tipped, but mostly green.  The stems should be soft without being soggy.  The key to the specific taste and texture I am going for is the higher heat, but not so high as to burn the kale.  Brown, not burn.  Crisp not charred.  Cooking the kale at this higher temperature and stirring often makes it tender with crunchy, crisp and flavorful tips.  You can add pine nuts and a little bit of feta to dress it up.

Summer. Is. Here.

Red Miso with Noodles and Seaweed

This is an excellent breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It is hydrating for the body which makes it especially good post-party meal.  After all the fourth of July festivities, your body will thank you!

Red Miso with Rice Noodles and Seaweed
serves 1

1-2 TBS red miso
just boiled water
cooked rice noodles
1-2 TBS wakame, rehydrated
soy sauce, optional

Bring a pot of water to a boil, or close to it.  Use 1-2 TBS red miso, mix with 1 to 1 1/2 cups of hot water.  Make sure that you don't boil the miso as it will kill all the good bacteria in the miso.  Add a handful of noodles and rehydrated seaweed.  I also like to add a bit of soy sauce.

Happy Summer!

Steamed Cauliflower topped with Fried Chicken and Fennel

Can you tell that I like fresh fennel?  Rather obvious, I know.  This is the first year I have had fennel in my garedn and because it is right outside my door my lazy self likes to use it often!  I also love using sage, thyme, rosemary, and mint, but that's another story...

Steamed Cauliflower topped with Fried Chicken and Fennel
serves 2-3

2/3 head of cauliflower chopped lengthwise
4 small chicken breasts, or cut larger ones into smaller size
large handful of young fennel (otherwise it's too chewy, but still good)
lemon pepper
soy sauce

Steam the cauliflower in a little water until it is soft, but firm enough to pick up without breaking.  Preheat a cast iron pan, add 1-2 TBS butter and a large handful of chopped fennel, chopped into about 2-3 inch pieces. Place the chicken thighs on top of the fennel, cover and cook at medium heat for 10 minutes.  Pepper the chicken at this point then flip it so the fennel side is up.  Cook until it is done, another 5-10 minutes.  If the chicekn breasts are really big or thick, cut them into slightly smaller pieces. 

Serve the chicken and fennel on top of the stteamed cauliflower drizzled with soy sauce. 

~~~Bon Appetite!~~~

Pork Chops Marinated in Beer with Garlic and Fennel

This was a really easy meal. I made it for my dad for a Father's Day celebration meal with baked potatoes, a fresh garden salad, and a blueberry-raspberry-peach crumble pie, per his request.  It would have been good with polenta as well. I realize writing this recipe that I never put pork recipes on this site!  Up until now.  I just don't really think about buying pork.  I also realize that I don't cook with beef much either.  I enjoy both types of meat, I just happen to mostly eat chicken, fish or vegetarian. 

Pork Chops Marinated in Beer with Garlic and Fennel
serves 4 people

1 beer
4 pork chops
handful of diced fresh fennel
4-6 garlic cloves, diced/pressed
pepper

Place the pork chops in a baking dish, cover with beer, exposing just the surface of the meat.  Place garlic on top of the meat and then fennel.  Add some pepper.  You can marinate for several hours, or if you are pressed for time like I was, you can put it right in the oven.  Cook in preheated 350 F.  If you marinate for a longer duration, which I recommend, place pork chops and marinade in a plastic bag and refigerate for 4-24 hours.

~~~Enjoy~~~

Incredible Blackberry-Raspberry Crumble Pie

 ****This post is cut and pasted from my earlier post "New Baby Celebration Meal" but it deserves its own post...so here goes...


Blackberry-Raspberry Crumble 
When cooked right, the pie is thick enough to stay put on your spoon.  This is a very easy dessert that is sure to disappear quickly.  You can use any fruit, but the cooking times and ingredients will differ a bit.   This is my favorite dessert right now!

Makes 1 pie
Topping:
1 cup oatmeal, whole grain
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter melted
Mix the oatmeal and brown sugar then mix in the butter.  Set aside. The topping gets spread evenly over the pie.  I have a hard time keeping my kids hands out of the topping-- it is delicious and simple.

Insides:
2 cups of previously frozen blackberries (de-thaw before using)
2 cups previously frozen raspberries, or enough to fill a pie dish (de-thaw before using)
5 TBS flour
3 TBS lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix all the above ingredients (minus the fruit and lemon juice).  When thoroughly combined, add to the fruit and pour on the lemon juice.  Be careful not to rough up the berries too much as you mix it.  They are delicate.   Spoon the mixture into the pie pan.   Next, cover the fruit mixture with the oatmeal crumble.  Bake at 350 F for as long as it takes, making sure not to burn the crumble layer. The pie should be bubbling for a while.  Keep an eye on the topping and take out of oven before it gets overcooked.  I think it took about 45 minutes, but... don't take my word for it...I time things very intuitively.  I use my nose too and can usually tell when it is done cooking by the smells.  Good luck!  Bon Appetite!

New Baby Celebration Meal

It is always fun to cook for a family that has just had a new baby!  For this dinner I made a Chicken, Spinach and Onion Quiche with a polenta crust, green salad, and Blackberry-Raspberry Crumble pie.  Half of the quiche has noodles in it for the kids.  The new family now has 3 children, so I imagine the big kids would enjoy the noodles.

Chicken, Spinach, Onion Quiche with Noodles and a Polenta Crust
serves 4-6, makes 1 quiche

Ingredients
crust
1/2 cup dry polenta
1 1/2 cups water
splash or two of olive oil
some salt
1/3 cup grated cheese of your choice.  I used Tillamook Sharp.

Insides of quiche
4 eggs
2 cups milk
2 chicken breasts cooked and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 onion
2 fully packed cups of fresh spinach, chopped
a handful of cooked noodles ( I used leftover spaghetti noodles)- optional
black pepper

Making the Crust
Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Slowly add 1/2 cup dry polenta while stirring to prevent clumping.  Watch out, the polenta will spit up and bite you if the heat is too high!  Mix in about 1 TBS olive oil and a dash of salt.  Turn heat down and stir occassionally until polenta is thick.  Prepare a pie dish by oiling it with olive oil.  This will prevent the polenta crust from sticking to the pan.  Evenly spread polenta like you would a regular wheat crust.  I used a spatula and made the crust a little thicker than a regular wheat crust would be.  Bake the crust in an oven for 20 minutes on 350F.  Right before it is done cooking add the grated cheese and let it melt before taking it out of the oven.  Set crust aside and prepare the filling.

The Quiche Filling 
preheat oven to 375 Bake
1. Thoroughly mix 4 eggs with 2 cups of milk.  Set aside. 
2. Fry one chopped onion in a pan with butter for 3 minutes.  Add chicken breasts if they are not already precooked.  Cook until the chicken and onions are done to your liking.  Add some pepper.  Set aside.
3. Fill the polenta and cheese pie crust with the chopped fresh (uncooked) spinach.
4. Optional- Cover 1/2 of the quiche with cooked noodles (great for kids).
5. Cover the polenta evenly with the chicken and onions.
6. Pour the milk-egg mixture over the chicken-onion-spinach covered crust.  Leave at least 1/2 inch of the pie dish unfilled so that it won't overflow into your oven like it did mine =)
7. Cover the quiche with aluminum foil.  This keeps the pie cooking evenly.  No burned top or hard noodles!
8. Cook in preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes or more.  I can't remember exactly how long I cooked mine, but I think it was 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Mine was really full though, so it would cook quicker the less full your pie dish is.

Now, time for DESSERT!

Blackberry-Raspberry Crumble 
When cooked right, the pie is thick enough to stay put on your spoon.  This is a very easy dessert that is sure to disappear quickly.  You can use any fruit, but the cooking times and ingredients will differ a bit.   This is my favorite dessert right now!


Makes 1 pie
Topping:
1 cup oatmeal, whole grain
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter melted
Mix the oatmeal and brown sugar then mix in the butter.  Set aside. The topping gets spread evenly over the pie.  I have a hard time keeping my kids hands out of the topping-- it is delicious and simple.

Insides:
2 cups of previously frozen blackberries (de-thaw before using)
2 cups previously frozen raspberries, or enough to fill a pie dish (de-thaw before using)
5 TBS flour
3 TBS lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix all the above ingredients (minus the fruit and lemon juice).  When thoroughly combined, add to the fruit and pour on the lemon juice.  Be careful not to rough up the berries too much as you mix it.  They are delicate.   Spoon the mixture into the pie pan.   Next, cover the fruit mixture with the oatmeal crumble.  Bake at 350 F for as long as it takes, making sure not to burn the crumble layer. The pie should be bubbling for a while.  Keep an eye on the topping and take out of oven before it gets overcooked.  I think it took about 45 minutes, but... don't take my word for it...I time things very intuitively.  I use my nose too and can usually tell when it is done cooking by the smells.  Good luck!  Bon Appetite!