Baked Goat Cheese Salad

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I know, I know, it's been a little while. But vacation really takes it out of you! (more on that later) Until I get around to posting vacation photos, here's a little something.Goat Cheese. One of my personal favorites. The only person I know who doesn't love goat cheese is my grandma. Her explanation is that it tastes like goat to her. I wonder how she knows what goat tastes like... We sometimes even try to sneak it into her food to see if she'll even notice that there's goat cheese in it and without fail, she makes her best "I just ate something and it did not taste good" face. Go figure.So anyway, goat cheese. We bought an 8 oz package of the creamy, delicious stuff and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Goat cheese salad! And with blueberries in season, they were the perfect complement. The salad I made had spinach, arugula, blueberries, apple, sliced almonds and baked goat cheese with a homemade blueberry dressing.I found a simple recipe for the goat cheese online...all it took was sautéing some garlic, adding panko and some butter and dipping goat cheese medallions in it so they were covered in crunchy bits. Then those went in the oven for about 10 minutes. I think the oven was set to 375 or something.The dressing consisted of blueberries (duh), red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and a spoonful of plum jam for sweetness. It almost looked a smoothie after I mixed it, but it tasted pretty darn good.After that, I just put the components together. Ta-da! Beautiful, delicious and probably fairly good for you.

Plum Jam - Prosciutto Pizza

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Dinner on Sunday night, based on a pizza from a nearby restaurant (A Tavola.) I got the pizza crust from this recipe. The dough was pretty easy and it turned out perfectly chewy and crispy. I didn't get any pictures leading up to the final product, but I can tell you how to make it!I rolled out the dough, spread a thin layer of olive oil on top, spread a generous layer of plum jam on top of that (A Tavola uses fig jam but I couldn't find any of that), shredded some asiago on top (they use manchego), and shredded some prosciutto and sprinkled that on top. Popped it in the over until it looked done. Maybe about 12 minutes at 500 degrees? Then I topped that with arugula that I had tossed with some more olive oil and s+p. I know what you may be thinking, salad on pizza is a little weird...but trust me, this pizza is. so. awesome. The combination of sweet jam, salty prosciutto and asiago, bitter greens and chewy crust makes this pizza on of the best things I've ever eaten.

Camping on Parched Corn Creek

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This past weekend Brad, Q and I took a trip down to the Red River Gorge for a short camping trip. We didn't do much besides relax and eat (and read all of Tina Fey's Bossypants in one day), but we had a good time. The gorge has a really beautiful mixture of evergreen trees, hardwoods, ferns, mosses and rhododendrons. It makes for a strange mix of a woods/sub-tropical atmosphere. Scroll down for some pictures!When we put Q's pack on she acts as if she has the weight of the world on her shoulders... then you see her clear a five foot wide creek without getting a drop of water on herself and you don't feel so bad.The stuffed pepper worked out great! We might have left them in the coals a little too long though. Those red peppers were definitely roasted.We also got a chance to try out our new (used) $2 yard sale find. It's called a Kelly Kettle and you make a small fire in the bottom, then pour water into the walls of the double walled container and it rapid boils the water. It worked great for our morning coffee!Yum...bacon and eggs wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. All we needed was some salsa.I couldn't stop taking pictures of this little caterpillar. This is one of about 15.The hike out was a little rough...But Q handled it well.Brad had to carry her to clear a large boulder.And that was our trip! Like I said, we didn't do much, but I honestly just like getting away from all of the distractions in my life. What do you guys like to do to get away from it all?

The Joy of Cooking (among other things)

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First off: Dinner last night. I had a couple of southwestern-mexican-ish vegetables, so I threw them together and served them with chicken and sour cream on little flour tortillas. The guaca-salsa that I made had 2 avocados, 2 tomatoes, 1 lime, 2 tbsp of cilantro, about 3/4 cup of frozen corn (dethawed) and 1/2 a can of black beans (drained and rinsed.) It was delicious!

Oh, and I made some homemade taco seasoning for the chicken. You can find the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/

And this weekend we're going camping at the Red River Gorge so I made some food for us to take down there. Pasta salad works really well for camping because it doesn't have to stay super cold, is fairly light to pack and requires no effort to eat. Mine has a dressing of 1/4 c. olive oil, 1/4 c. red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper and basil. I mixed that up with the immersion blender while 12 oz of Farfalle pasta was cooking. I also diced up 1/2 a green pepper, 1/4 of a sweet onion, about 8 grape tomatoes (quartered), some asiago cheese and some prosciutto. I mixed it all up and basically all I have to do now is let it sit in the fridge tonight.

Lastly, I made some stuffing for some beautiful red peppers I found at the store tonight. The stuffing has 2 Italian sausages (I just peeled them out of the casing) sauteed with 1/4 sweet onion and some dried oregano and rosemary. This is combined with 1/2 c. cooked white rice, 1 seeded and diced tomato, 1 egg (beaten) and some shredded asiago. The peppers will have to be steamed, then we'll cook the peppers with the stuffing in them (wrapped in foil in the coals.) I'm excited to eat them!

Oh, and the pasta salad recipe and the stuffing recipe were both based on the Joy of Cooking cookbook (my cooking Bible.) I added a few things here and there, but it's pretty similar. Looking forward to a great weekend! I will be sure to put pictures up next week. Here's a picture of Q to sign off!

Peach Cobbler

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Peaches are finally in season, and that's great because I love to make peach cobbler! It's really easy to make and tastes so comforting and delicious (especially when served with some vanilla ice cream!)I got the recipe here: www.myrecipes.com.Picture time:Image4 c. sliced peaches, 1 stick butter, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 c. sugar, 1 c. flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, pinch of salt, cinnamon to top.ImageImageImageImageIt was delicious! Chewy and crispy on the outside edges, warm and gooey on the inside.

Who knew Ceviche was so easy?

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Ceviche! The wonderful, delicious thing that happens when you mix lime juice with fish. Apparently the citrus juice changes the proteins of the fish, effectively cooking it with little more effort than chopping things up, throwing it together and letting it do its thang (that's "thing" for those of you who don't live in OTR).Here's the recipe I used from www.simplyrecipes.com:

Ceviche Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes to prepare, 3-4 hours to let sit. Always use the freshest fish possible. Make the same day you purchase fresh fish.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs of firm, fresh red snapper fillets (or other firm-fleshed fish), cut into 1/2 inch pieces, completely deboned
  • 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 red onion, finely diced
  • 1 cup of chopped fresh seeded tomatoes
  • 1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • Dash of ground oregano
  • Dash of Tabasco or a light pinch of cayenne pepper
  • Cilantro
  • Avocado
  • Tortillas or tortilla chips

Method

In a non-reactive casserole dish, either Pyrex or ceramic, place the fish, onion, tomatoes, chili, salt, Tabasco, and oregano. Cover with lime and lemon juice. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour, then stir, making sure more of the fish gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon juices. Let sit for several hours, giving time for the flavors to blend. During the marinating process the fish will change from pinkish grey and translucent, to whiter in color and opaque. Serve with chopped cilantro and slices of avocado with heated tortillas for ceviche tacos or with tortilla chips.Serves 4-8.And here's what it looked like when I made it:Now I just have to be patient and wait two hours...

Dinner, Field Notes, and a Smoothie

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We had some steak to eat two nights ago so Brad wanted to do steak, potatoes and slaw (one of his favorite combos). We just seasoned the steak with some Montreal steak seasoning we picked up from the market, pan fried it in our cast iron skillet, and quartered and boiled some potatoes for mashing. Now, I have never actually owned Kosher salt, but I picked some up at the store a couple days ago. I'm telling you, those mashed potatoes we SO GOOD. I think the salt was a deciding factor. (The butter, milk, a touch of half and half and sour cream weren't factors at all. No way). We had some leftover shredded cabbage from the Asian Chicken Salad so I mixed up some dressing and made coleslaw. The dressing I use is: 1 cup mayo, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and some celery salt and black pepper. I just refrigerate the excess dressing and use it as needed. Here are the results:(Note the red neck drinking jar and homemade pickles)Last night we were walking home from Bakersfield and we passed by a little store on the corner called Smartfish Studios. This girl is pretty amazing: she opened a little store with sustainable art supplies and she also makes shoes out of the storefront. They're great! Anyway, she had Field Notes books prominently displayed in the front window. My Dad has been using the Field Notes books for years and Brad just got some too so I was feeling a little left out. Also, I've recently had all sorts of new ideas for dresses and such, but nowhere appropriate to write them down. So I got some too!Aren't they pretty? Lastly, I decided I was going to the gym this morning. It takes a lot for me to move my butt to get there, but once I'm done I feel so good. So why does it feel like a chore? Anyway, I made myself a big old smoothie this morning to help myself get ready. Also, I decided I would treat myself to a trip to Hancock Fabrics (which is right around the corner from the gym) after I went. Remember all those dresses I've been dreaming up? They won't be anything but ideas until I get some fabric... Anyway, here's my delicious and nutritious smoothie. It contains: Greek Gods Yogurt (plain), raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, frozen bananas, milk to make it drinkable and a touch of honey for sweetness.

Ok now I'm really going, for real. Just think of the fabric....

A Walk in the Park

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Just a few photos from a walk in the park today. We have this really great little dog park about a block and half away and we end up taking Q there several times a week. I also got a good chance to take some better pictures of the eyelet skirt in action (against a dilapidated building - deconstruction chic!) Oh! and I want the pretty blue dresser in the window of that store. But I think I can find some glass knobs, buy a thrift store dresser, and paint it blue for less than $75. Maybe for a weekend project?

In the past few days...

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  1. One of the best combinations I've found for our leftover Caribbean Rum is Jones Root Beer. I know, it sounds a little weird, but the vanilla flavor in the root beer goes really well with the rum and a little slice of lime gives it a nice bite. So tasty!2. A new version of the banana ice cream. This one has raspberries, blueberries and honey in it. I think it would have been  a little better if I had frozen the berries with the bananas... the texture was a little too much like a smoothie. The flavor was still good though!3. Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I had a couple roasted red peppers left in a jar, so I used those, the garlic with it, lemon juice, chickpeas, tahini (homemade!) Served it with some pita bread and it made a great after work snack. My little food processor was getting a workout!4. A picture of Q for the road!

Quick House Update:

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There are two other offers on the house so we went back last week and adjusted our offer to make it more short sale friendly. Just got a call and we've been outbid, but have been asked to put in our best and final. Wish us luck!

Dinner 6/11/12: Asian Chicken Slaw and Banana "Ice Cream"

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Although Brad thinks "No one cares what we have for dinner," I'm going to post these pictures anyway because it was very tasty and easy. First off, we had Asian Chicken Slaw. Our apartment doesn't have AC, so in the summer time it takes a lot for me to even want to get near the stove. In this case, all I had to do was poach the chicken with some salted water until it smelled done, take it out, shred it and let it cool. While the chicken was cooking Brad shredded red and green cabbage on our awesome mandolin slicer. I threw together a quick dressing with my ever-useful immersion blender: sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, some brown sugar, pinch of honey, tbsp of crunchy peanut butter and a little water to thin it out. Then we mixed together the chicken, cabbage, dressing, some sliced almonds and topped with crunchy chow mein noodles. Delicious! Would have been great with some ginger and cilantro too. We just used what was on hand.Now for the best part of the meal: Banana/Nutella/Peanut Butter/Cocoa/Chocolate Chip "Ice Cream." I use quotation marks because unlike regular ice cream, the base for this one is frozen bananas. Yup, that's it. You slice up some ripe bananas, free them for a few hours, puree them in the food processor with whatever else you want and voila! you have instant soft serve. I love ice cream. But my hips tend to not love it so much....so this summer I plan on eating loads of banana-based ice cream! Last time I made it with some raspberries and a bit of honey for a sorbet-ish treat. But on this occasion I was looking for something a little more decadent...Nutella and crunchy peanut butter:A little bit of cocoa powder and some chocolate chips:Mix it all up:YUM:My favorite version so far! The chocolate chips gave it a really nice texture. I plan on making more versions!

Green Jersey Circle Skirt

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In my sewing frenzy last night, I made a circle skirt using the tutorial on MADE. I thought I had been charging my camera battery all night, but it must not have been connected correctly because I got a total of two pictures out of the battery. Neither of which were of the skirt. So I had my fiance take a pic with his cell phone (why does picture get shortened to "pic" in my mind when it was taken with a phone?) But first Q and I waited for the fiance while he did laundry.

I am so in love with this dress! It took no time at all and it is suuuuper comfy. Will definitely be furiously sewing many more.

A Skirt and Some Buttons

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After working the booth at Italianfest all weekend, I was eager to get some "me" time and do some sewing. I picked up a remnant this morning at JoAnn Fabrics. It's a beautiful white eyelet with a paisley pattern.There was a yard left, and I snatched it up to make a skirt. The one yard was a little short (and see through) so I cut it in half horizontally and used some muslin I had lying around to line it.I forgot the camera for the first part of the process, but basically I cut each piece of fabric horizontally to make four 20" x about 60" (two of the muslin and two of the eyelet.) I sewed the short ends of the two muslin pieces and did the same with the eyelet pieces to make two wide tubes. Then I sewed the tops of the tubes together with wrong sides facing out.Next step is hemming. I actually took pictures of this! Just fold and iron the hem down twice.ImageImageAfter you've hemmed, sew a tube along the top of the skirt (making sure your elastic will fit) and leave an opening to push the elastic through.ImageImageImageImageImageAttach a safety pin to both ends: pin one to the end of the tube so it doesn't slip through. Use to other one on the other end of the elastic to push it through the tube at the top of the skirt.ImageImageSew the ends of the elastic together and close up the tube. You're done!ImageAnd, as an added bonus I made some fabric covered buttons!ImageImageImageImageEnjoy!

On the Bourbon Trail

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After a few minor mishaps Brad, Q and I set off on an adventure on the Bourbon Trail. We've been slowly trying to sort things out as far as what we want to do for our wedding. Since we visited Woodford Reserve in winter of 2010 that's where I've wanted to do the wedding. Unfortunately I got a big fat "no" when I asked about having the event there. Good news is there are several other bourbon distilleries in the area. Brad and I went to check them out. We'll see what happens!

Bicycle Saddle Roll

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My boyfriend being obsessed with bikes, I decided to make him a tool roll for his birthday.  After some adjustments, it is up to his standards.  (He says "not really").  Tough crowd.  Anyway, here are a few pictures:It was hard to get all the pieces to line up and be the right size...next time I'm going to make all the pockets out of one large piece of fabric.I thought the leather guides were awesome, but Brad wanted something a little sturdier.And so, the final version was born.  After a trip to Hancock fabrics and a couple hours later we put metal snaps on all the pockets and redid the straps.  We're both pretty happy with the result.