About

Cooking is fun. Eating is funner. I cook, photograph, and write the recipes here. Everything I make is from scratch using fresh, wholesome ingredients. Some of the veggies and herbs I use are grown in my sweet, Southern California garden. Yay sustainability! I'm working on making my yard into an edible landscape. Besides cooking and gardening I also like to sew. Here are some items from my Etsy Apron Shop:

Looking for something specific?

 
Comments

Exploded Potatoes

Here’s how to get your kids to eat broccoli: 1) Make it taste amazing. 2) Give it a good name.  

Heat oven to 350. Bake potatoes appx 45 minutes. Chop broccoli, peel stems and chop those up too, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, bake at 350 appx 20 minutes.

Saute chopped shallots in 2 tblsp butter.

Cut potatoes in half. Scoop cooked potato into a bowl. Place potato skins in a buttered casserole dish.

Mix the sautéed shallots and melted butter with the potatoes, add 1/2 cup milk* and 1 small container of plain Greek style yogurt or sour cream, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tblsp dried parsley. Mix it all together, add the roasted broccoli pieces.  * (this amount is for 2 large russet potatoes, add more milk and yogurt if you’re making extra potatoes)

Scoop potato mixture into the skins and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake for another 20 minutes at 400 until golden, crispy and amazeballs.

The last picture is the same recipe with the roasted broccoli left out. 

Yum!

2012.02.01  5:35am  ∞
Sesame Noodles with Garden Kale Kale is a superfood, especially when it’s covered with sweet, spicy dressing.  We have tons of red kale growing out back, it volunteered from kale which I let go to seed last June. I’m glad I did because it’s yummy! The thing I like most about having an edible garden is you always have some kind of food, there’s no need to go to the store all the time. You save $ and time. When I went outside to water the garden, I remembered a friend telling me about a peanut kale dish she had at a restaurant in Los Feliz. She said it was so good it was like spicy candy. I decided to give it a try.  I made a basic sesame noodle type dressing, which I’ve made lots of times before, then I added extra sugar for the candy effect. Here’s how I made this: Boil water, blanch kale for 1 minute until it turns bright green. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add soba noodles to the same pot, cook soba noodles for 3 - 4 minutes.  Drain noodles. Toss with the kale and sesame peanut dressing:  In a small bowl, grate 1/2 inch ginger root, grate 1 large garlic clove, add 2 tblsp soy sauce, 2 tblsp rice wine vinegar, juice of 1 orange or tangerine, 1 tblsp sesame oil, 2 tblsp sugar, 2 tblsp tahini (sesame paste) and 1 tblsp peanut butter, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Mix and taste. If it’s not just the way you like, adjust sugar and vinegar a little at a time. Garnish with sesame seeds and samba oelek. Yum!

Sesame Noodles with Garden Kale

Kale is a superfood, especially when it’s covered with sweet, spicy dressing. 

We have tons of red kale growing out back, it volunteered from kale which I let go to seed last June. I’m glad I did because it’s yummy! The thing I like most about having an edible garden is you always have some kind of food, there’s no need to go to the store all the time. You save $ and time.

When I went outside to water the garden, I remembered a friend telling me about a peanut kale dish she had at a restaurant in Los Feliz. She said it was so good it was like spicy candy. I decided to give it a try.  I made a basic sesame noodle type dressing, which I’ve made lots of times before, then I added extra sugar for the candy effect.

Here’s how I made this: Boil water, blanch kale for 1 minute until it turns bright green. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add soba noodles to the same pot, cook soba noodles for 3 - 4 minutes. 

Drain noodles. Toss with the kale and sesame peanut dressing: 

In a small bowl, grate 1/2 inch ginger root, grate 1 large garlic clove, add 2 tblsp soy sauce, 2 tblsp rice wine vinegar, juice of 1 orange or tangerine, 1 tblsp sesame oil, 2 tblsp sugar, 2 tblsp tahini (sesame paste) and 1 tblsp peanut butter, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Mix and taste. If it’s not just the way you like, adjust sugar and vinegar a little at a time. Garnish with sesame seeds and samba oelek.

Yum!

2012.01.31  1:13pm  ∞

Sunday Smoked Brisket 

We bought this electric smoker at Thanksgiving time so we’d have extra oven space to cook turkey while all the sides cooked in the oven inside the house. I love this thing! Everything we’ve made in it so far has been smokey and delicious. And it’s electric, so it easy to use, no need to keep adding coals all day long to maintain temperature. It’s about the size and shape of a mini fridge, with an electric heating element and a chute for loading chips. The only thing I don’t like is it should have big caster wheels on the bottom. It’s sort of a big old behemoth to move around, and it needs to be away from the house when you use it because of all the smoke it lets off. But it can’t be left out when not in use. Anyway…

I rubbed the beef brisket and pork shoulder with brown sugar & spices including, chili powder, kosher salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and dried thyme. Use any spices you like. It’s fun to experiment. Best case scenario is you have time to let it marinate for a few hours or overnight. I didn’t plan ahead so we got right to the cooking. Set the smoker to the highest, 275 degrees. Sear the meat on the grill before loading them into the smoker, place the pork above the beef so the fat bastes the brisket as they cook together. When you put them in be careful that they don’t touch. Smoke for a good long time, about 3-5 hours depending on the size of the cuts of meat. Serve on a soft roll with cole slaw.

For the cole slaw: shred cabbage and dress with 2 tblsp mayo, 1 tblsp buttermilk, salt pepper, pinch of cayenne, pinch of onion and garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp sugar. Yum!

2012.01.30  12:57pm  ∞

Steak & Eggs vs. Breakfast Burritos

Our friend Mike is staying here. We like serving our guests a delicious breakfast on a Sunday morning. I didn’t have time to go to the store yesterday, so the fridge was mostly empty when we got up this a.m. We made coffee and started looking for breakfast ideas. We had 2 eggs, 2 steaks, 2 tortillas and some jack cheese in the fridge. Steak and eggs were out, since we only had 2 eggs & 3 people. But, we also had a couple potatoes, onions & red jalapeño in the crisper drawer, and tomatoes & parsley in the garden.

So we decided to make grilled steak & eggs breakfast burritos. We grilled the steaks, marinating them first with crushed garlic, salt & pepper. It was fun grilling steaks first thing in the morning, it sorta felt like camping.

We combined chopped potatoes with some shredded p‘taters from the freezer and 1 chopped onion in a skillet with olive oil and butter, and seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Then we made a garnish of chopped tomato, jalapeño, green onion, garlic, and fresh chopped parsley.

Once the steaks are grilled, let them rest 10 minutes before you slice them. Cook the eggs any way you like. Lay a tortilla on a piece of buttered foil, add the sliced steak, eggs, potatoes, jalapeño jack cheese, & tomato salsa. Fold in the sides, roll it up, & cover the foil over it. Bake at 400 for a few minutes so the cheese gets melty. Slice the two burritos into two or three sections being careful not to explode it the way I did here. Yum!

2012.01.29  11:31am  ∞
Betty and Nan’s dresses tucked into snowsuits by katinthecupboard on Flickr.this is almost exactly what it looked like….

Betty and Nan’s dresses tucked into snowsuits by katinthecupboard on Flickr.

this is almost exactly what it looked like….

2012.01.26  3:58pm  ∞
Vegetable & Stars Soup This soup reminds me of being a kid in the midwest during the wintertime. We’d walk home from school at lunch, open a can of Alphabet soup, heat it on the stove, maybe garnish with a few saltines and devour it. Delicious! Then we’d watch cartoons until it was time to put our boots on and trudge back to school for the afternoon. Once school was out at the end of the day, we’d challenge death by “flipping” cars in the snow. In some places they call it “skitching”. It involves grabbing the back bumper of cars as they pass by, and sliding along the snow covered street on our feet. I can’t believe none of us ever got seriously injured doing that. It was really fun though, especially the not dying part. Do not let your kids read this blog post. Here’s how to make this super easy soup: Chop 1 small sweet onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Saute in a bit of olive oil until soft. Add 1/2 carton chicken or veggie stock, 1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes, blended, and 1 tblsp sugar. Season with salt and pepper. to taste. Add 1/2 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, (the kind that are chopped into a small dice). Once the soup starts to boil add 1/4 cup stars, alphabet noodles or any extra small pasta. Stir occasionally because the stars want to stick tot he bottom at first. Turn the heat down and simmer until everything is cooked. If your soup gets too thick while cooking, add extra chicken or veggie stock to thin it out. It’ill keep thickening up as the pasta cooks. This makes a nice dinner with garlic bread and salad.

Vegetable & Stars Soup

This soup reminds me of being a kid in the midwest during the wintertime. We’d walk home from school at lunch, open a can of Alphabet soup, heat it on the stove, maybe garnish with a few saltines and devour it. Delicious! Then we’d watch cartoons until it was time to put our boots on and trudge back to school for the afternoon.

Once school was out at the end of the day, we’d challenge death by “flipping” cars in the snow. In some places they call it “skitching”. It involves grabbing the back bumper of cars as they pass by, and sliding along the snow covered street on our feet. I can’t believe none of us ever got seriously injured doing that. It was really fun though, especially the not dying part. Do not let your kids read this blog post.

Here’s how to make this super easy soup: Chop 1 small sweet onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Saute in a bit of olive oil until soft. Add 1/2 carton chicken or veggie stock, 1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes, blended, and 1 tblsp sugar. Season with salt and pepper. to taste. Add 1/2 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, (the kind that are chopped into a small dice). Once the soup starts to boil add 1/4 cup stars, alphabet noodles or any extra small pasta. Stir occasionally because the stars want to stick tot he bottom at first. Turn the heat down and simmer until everything is cooked.

If your soup gets too thick while cooking, add extra chicken or veggie stock to thin it out. It’ill keep thickening up as the pasta cooks.

This makes a nice dinner with garlic bread and salad.

2012.01.26  3:52pm  ∞

Meyer Lemon and Fennel Pickles

We made these the week before Christmas. I never got a photo of the finished jars, but I thought they looked pretty sweet.

These were really delicious! I thought of these because we have a Meyer Lemon tree in the back yard growing near the fennel plants, which are in pots. I decided to put the two together and see how it would taste.

I turned out to be a very fresh, lemony, slightly anise-y pickle. I tried to keep the ingredients white or light so that the yellow of the Meyer lemons would really stand out.

These jars contain blanched chopped fennel, meyer lemon slices, organic white vinegar, salt, white pepper, fennel seeds and honey. I processed them in a hot water canner for appx 15 minutes. Keeps in the refrigerator for about 1 or 2 months.

Yum!!

2012.01.26  3:11pm  ∞
Chocolate Pancakes This was our delicious breakfast today. I used a basic pancake recipe, sifted 3/4 cup cocoa powder into the flour mix, and added extra buttermilk because I added so much extra dry ingredient. It came out great!  In one bowl: Mix 2 cups buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 large egg, and 1 tsp olive oil. (Any oil will work) In another bowl: Sift together 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tblsp sugar, and 2 tsp baking powder. Add the wet mixture into the dry just until combined. Pour onto a med hot griddle, cook and flip. Be careful that the pan isn’t too hot, if the chocolate scorches, it becomes bitter. Serve with fresh fruit, a dusting of more cocoa powder mixed with powdered sugar, and some maple syrup. Yum!!

Chocolate Pancakes

This was our delicious breakfast today. I used a basic pancake recipe, sifted 3/4 cup cocoa powder into the flour mix, and added extra buttermilk because I added so much extra dry ingredient. It came out great!

 In one bowl: Mix 2 cups buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 large egg, and 1 tsp olive oil. (Any oil will work)

In another bowl: Sift together 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tblsp sugar, and 2 tsp baking powder.

Add the wet mixture into the dry just until combined. Pour onto a med hot griddle, cook and flip. Be careful that the pan isn’t too hot, if the chocolate scorches, it becomes bitter.

Serve with fresh fruit, a dusting of more cocoa powder mixed with powdered sugar, and some maple syrup. Yum!!

2012.01.26  9:36am  ∞
Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup I used leftover chicken and jalapeño relish from yesterdays quesadilla post to make this delicious soup. It was quick and easy since I had most of the chopping done. I like this kind of soup a lot. It’s spicy hot with fresh notes from the lemon, and just the right amount of crunch from the croutons. The melted cheese makes it extra savory. Yum! Here’s how to make this yummy soup: In a saucepan combine chopped leftover chicken, chopped fresh carrots, chopped celery and crushed garlic. Add one carton of chicken stock, 2 or 3 chopped scallions, 1 chopped shallot, 1 minced red jalapeño, a few halved cherry tomatoes, & a handful of fresh chopped cilantro.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil, add 3/4 cup egg noodles*, then reduce to simmer until all the vegetables & noodles are cooked. * (You can substitute diced potatoes for the egg noodles, and corn chips for the croutons if you want a gluten free version of this.) Once you put it in the bowl, garnish with fresh squeezed lemon juice, croutons and grated cheddar cheese. Yum!

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

I used leftover chicken and jalapeño relish from yesterdays quesadilla post to make this delicious soup. It was quick and easy since I had most of the chopping done. I like this kind of soup a lot. It’s spicy hot with fresh notes from the lemon, and just the right amount of crunch from the croutons. The melted cheese makes it extra savory. Yum!

Here’s how to make this yummy soup:

In a saucepan combine chopped leftover chicken, chopped fresh carrots, chopped celery and crushed garlic. Add one carton of chicken stock, 2 or 3 chopped scallions, 1 chopped shallot, 1 minced red jalapeño, a few halved cherry tomatoes, & a handful of fresh chopped cilantro.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil, add 3/4 cup egg noodles*, then reduce to simmer until all the vegetables & noodles are cooked.

* (You can substitute diced potatoes for the egg noodles, and corn chips for the croutons if you want a gluten free version of this.)

Once you put it in the bowl, garnish with fresh squeezed lemon juice, croutons and grated cheddar cheese. Yum!



2012.01.25  12:49pm  ∞

Meatloaf with Homemade Ketchup

Last night I was making this meatloaf & we were out of ketchup. I can’t make meatloaf without ketchup. I was too lazy to go to the store to buy some, but not too lazy to try making it from scratch. It came out delicious! I will always make homemade ketchup from now on!

Recipe for homemade ketchup: Chop 1 small onion, smash 3 cloves garlic. Saute in olive oil. Add 1 small can tomato paste, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon and 2 allspice berries, 2 cloves, salt and pepper. Reduce to simmer until all the flavors come together. Adjust sweet / sour to taste by adding a little more vinegar or brown sugar as needed.

Meat loaf: Ground beef or turkey, mixed with finely chopped veggies including 1 chopped apple, 2 chopped carrots, 2 stalks celery, 1 onion, smashed garlic, red bell pepper, bread crumbs (soaked in milk), 2 eggs. Season with Worcestershire, 1/2 tsp mustard, a tblsp ketchup, salt, pepper, dried basil and fresh chopped parsley. Form into a loaf, cover with tons of ketchup and bake at 350 for 1 hour or more.  Make enough extra for sandwiches the next day.

2012.01.24  3:01pm  ∞

 

Leftovers Aren’t Schmeftovers

My husband, Mike, and our Scrappy Terrier helped me with this. I needed extra hands so I didn’t get cheese on the camera.

Scrappy: “I’ll take care of any food that falls on the floor.” 

Mike: “Can I name this blog post?”

Me: “Yes, what is it?”

Mike: “Leftovers Aren’t Schmeftovers.”

Me: “When do we re-new our vows?”

These quesadillas were made with leftover chicken, whole wheat tortillas, Monterey Jack, &  Jalapeño cheddar cheeses. Slice cooked chicken, layer it with cheese between two tortillas. Cook on both sides. Serve with Jalapeño relish.

For the jalapeño relish: Chop scallions, shallots, red jalapeños, tomatoes, & cilantro. Drizzle with olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Yum!!

2012.01.24  3:00pm  ∞
1 / 47   ►
RSS
a Tumblr theme by Robert Boylan
web counter