You say tomato, I say tomato

There is nothing better this time of year than eating cherry tomatoes by the fistful, or heirloom tomatoes with just a pinch of salt. They are that good.

This week's pickings...

...from the Dupont farmers' market

Got too many? Why don't you try out this simple, delicious recipe and freeze a few jars so that you can remember what summer tastes like in a few months when you'll be well into fall.

xo :)

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

For as long as I've known how to bake, my go-to cookie recipe has been an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from my mom's recipe box.  I finally tried this recipe that my sister has been raving about all year, and I think I have found a new favorite.  They are the perfect balance of sweet and salty, plus they are made with whole wheat flour.*  I like to keep them in the freezer - perfect for hot days (and for keeping me from eating too many at once :)

photo via Diary of a Locavore

You can find the recipe here, at Diary of a Locavore.

*Andy thought they were actually peanut butter cookies because of the texture they get from the flour. I still don't think he believes me that they are PB-free!

The Saturday Find - morning granola

Today we have "The Saturday Find" instead of "The Friday Find." Why? Because I was giving these jars of granola away as gifts and I didn't want to ruin the surprise!

This past week I made a huge batch of this delicious granola. It came out crunchy and chewy and sweet (and even a little salty, mmm) - everything you'd hope granola would be. It served as a yummy, affordable gift for a few great people. So far, it is the best granola recipe I have found out there on the world wide web.

 

For those who want to make this granola, the recipe suggests stirring the granola every ten minutes, but I would suggest every twenty minutes. That way you get bigger clusters. If you like crunchier granola, I also suggest turning the heat up to 325 for the last ten minutes of baking.

Enjoy! And have a very relaxing weekend :)

Summer Snacks

Throwing together my breakfast this morning, I stumbled upon a seriously yummy combination.  It's also pretty much the easiest breakfast ever: fill a bowl with cherries and add a dollop of ricotta on the side.  Dip the cherries in the ricotta and pop 'em in your mouth.  Top it off with a creamy iced coffee and you've got breakfast perfection!

Now my mind is racing with other cherry-ricotta recipes...maybe these scones with cherries instead of raspberries?

Also on the docket today: doing something with this pile of garlic scapes.

I'm thinking pesto...any suggestions?

To sweeten your Monday

A cake rolled in Reese's cups?! Are you kidding me?! Unbelievable. I would want to eat a slice right now if it weren't 100 degrees out. I'll opt for a popsicle today but you can be sure I'll keep this in my mind at all times for future birthdays and holidays. Or maybe we could celebrate Cake Day once a year like these guys.

Via Picky Eatings

Want to make this cake yourself? You can find the recipe here.

Hope your Monday is now a little sweeter! XO

Currently craving...

This cobbler

Via the New York Times

And these shoes

Via L.L. Bean Signature

Don't they look like summer treats to you?

Advice

Do you all read Joy the Baker? I learned about her from Ben's mom. Joy the Baker is a MASTER in the kitchen. I'm sure that every recipe she posts is amazing, but my absolute favorites are her Baked Curry Sweet Potato Fries and her Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread. UNREAL.

Turns out, she gives good, hilarious advice as well. Here is her advice for turning 21 (but I think it's good advice for anyone).

Some highlights:

"If your button up shirt is bulging at the boobs...wear another shirt."

"Chill out on the Facebook. Seriously. It's not real life."

"Look people in the eye and listen when they speak. Seriously. It's a nice touch. It's the opposite of Facebook."

I have taken Joy's lesson #4 to heart this year: "Learn how to sew something. Anything."

Here are two new throw pillow covers I made this weekend.

18"x18" throw pillow cover, Marimekko fabric

12"x20" throw pillow cover, Marimekko fabric

Go find some good advice in Joy's post too. Have a good week!

Elijah is coming!

Ok, so Elijah isn't exactly the most comparable thing to a bunny, but you get the point. It's Passover this week for those who celebrate it, and I'm here to share some of my favorite Passover foods. Sometimes I think of Passover as a type of spring cleaning - my meals during this week every year consist of lots of vegetables and yogurt and healthy stuff. That is, until I re-discover the meat and candy below :)

I'd love to gobble up some of this tangy, spiced brisket.

Photo via Smitten Kitchen

And then munch on some matzo crunch (kudos to Heather for making a mean batch on Monday).

Image via the Slow Travel blog

If you take the ham out of Anna's Easter fritatta, you're good to go for Passover too! Enjoy whatever holiday you do or do not celebrate :)

 

The Friday Find

Yahoo!  It's officially iced coffee season, something I dream about all winter.  Although I would love to have the luxury of indulging in a delicious iced coffee at Coffee by Design every morning before work, the extra $2.50 per day (or more in DC! Portland is cheap) can really add up.  Last summer I discovered that homemade iced coffee can be just as delicious as what's available at the local coffee shop.  Here are some tips:

1. Make a strong batch of coffee in the evening and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  This way, it is nice and cold for your commute to work. 

2. Keep some coffee ice cubes in the freezer so your iced coffee won't dilute as the ice melts.  This ice cube tray would be a cute addition, too!

3.  Put coffee and cubes in this cup (featured on last week's Friday Find) to get the full coffee shop effect.  Add some half and half and get your caffeine fix!

via seriouseats.com

Any other tips we should know? 


P.S.  Here's smitten kitchen's take on iced coffee.  We trust her, too. :)

Slow Saturday

Laundry, coffee, and baking an apple berry crumble. A nice lazy Saturday.

Apple blackberry crumble

If I had a recipe for this apple blackberry crumble I would share it with you. I do know that if you throw together apples, blackberries, lemon zest and all the juice you can get out of half a lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon, a little nutmeg, and a few dabs of cold butter, then top it with an oatmeal, brown sugar, butter mixture, it will taste good :)

Happy weekend!

New blog alert!

When it comes to food blogs, I have three go-to sites: diary of a locavore (my sis!), smitten kitchen, and orangette.  Between the three of them, I can always find something to make for dinner if my creativity is lacking or I'm in a food rut.  While perusing orangette for culinary inspiration yesterday, I happened upon I made that!, a food blog written by the dessert chef at Delancey (orangette's restaurant).  I may be behind the eight ball on this one, but it was entirely new to me and I spent a very long time drooling over it.  By the time I closed my computer, in fact, I was very hungry for some potstickers and a slice of key lime pie.

via I made that!

Fine print: Snacking before browsing is suggested as you will inevitably be very hungry once you start.  Note that many of the recipes are more time intensive than on other food blogs and might be best saved for a dinner party or a best friend's birthday.  Still...they look totally worth it. 

The Friday Find

Today's Friday Find is delicious. And with a few friends and and a bottle of wine, it should only cost you $4-$6 each. Thus, it made the cut for an inexpensive and awesome find.

(Also, my friend Rachel really really wanted me to post this recipe, and considering it's her birthday tomorrow, how could I resist? Happy birthday Rach! We love ya!)

Lemon Goat Cheese Veggie Pizza (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

I made this pizza last week with a few friends. We started off with Smitten Kitchen's lemony zucchini goat cheese pizza recipe, but decided we weren't in the mood for loads of zucchini. We quickly learned, however, that this pizza is ROCKIN as long as it has that key element of lemony goat cheese. Throw on whatever veggies you'd like. We sauteed some mushrooms, threw on some red peppers and yellow zucchini, and opened up a delicious bottle of red wine.

The mix of lemon juice and goat cheese on this pizza is truly awesome. Go eat some.

The Perfect Homemade Bread

Even though I love to cook, bake, and eat, there is one food that has always seemed like too much of a pain in the butt to make myself: bread.  I don't have a KitchenAid mixer or a bread machine, so kneading a ball of dough for 15 to 20 minutes is usually at the very bottom of the list of things I want to do on any given day.  Luckily, my sister recently introduced me to The Easiest Bread Ever (read: you only have to pay attention to it for about five minutes).  It's delicious, too--my boyfriend has proclaimed it the "best bread in the world" and we have eaten almost the entire loaf since I made it on Saturday (if you saw the size of it, you would find this quite alarming).

(Photo by Elspeth)

Rather than post the recipe here, I thought I'd just send you over to my sister's blog to see for yourself.  The Easiest Bread Ever can be found here.  Don't be fooled by the name, though--if you don't like rye bread, you can substitute the rye flour with whole wheat flour (like I did).  Finally, if you don't have a broiler pan in your oven, you can fill a casserole with a few inches of water and put it on the lowest shelf of the oven, a few levels below the bread.

Before you run over there, though, here's a more formal introduction to Elspeth's blog.  She started Diary of a Locavore when she graduated from Middlebury and moved to the (very sparsely populated) Outer Cape to live with her now-husband.  Every Monday and Thursday, Elspeth writes about healthy, seasonal, local food and posts a yummy recipe.  These are some of my favorites:

Portuguese Kale Soup...I make this twice a week.  I'm not joking.

The Hay Wedding Cupcakes

Farro Salad with Feta, Squash and Red Onion

The Best Cornbread Ever

You can also hear her radio show, the Local Food Report, here.

Hi Elspeth!  I love you!

The BEST Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the best cookies to have in your daily life as a mid-day snack, post-dinner treat, or even breakfast. (Yep. I said it.) They are not too rich, somewhat healthy, easy to make, and they will satisfy your sweet tooth. I just made a fresh batch for the week, and decided to share them with you all. I will try to eat only 2/day.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
3 cups oat flour (store bought, or oatmeal ground to flour in a Quisinart)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup banana puree (about 2 bananas)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup raw sugar
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 teaspoons canola oil
2/3 cup light soy milk or skim milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To Make Cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, until well combined.

Use a large spoon to scoop batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Flatten a little with a fork.

Bake cookies for 16 minutes (a few minutes longer if you like them crunchy), rotating the pan halfway through.
Bake until the edges of the cookies are light brown.
Either eat the cookies while hot, or put them away in the freezer until ready to eat. Personally, I like 'em cold!

Helpful Hints:
1) Buy a large container of oatmeal so that you have plenty for turning into oat flour.
2) Trader Joe's has very affordable organic raw ("turbinado") sugar.

And a big ol' thanks to Lisa and Peggy for introducing me to this recipe.

What a Way to Start the Morning

I had an ooey, gooey, fluffy, nutty, best-oatmeal-I-ever-did-have kind of morning. And I owe it all to Kath, from Kath Eats Real Food. She has a whole Tribute to Oatmeal!! Today, I doctored her Whipped Banana Oatmeal recipe.

Whipped Banana Cinnamon Peanut Butter Oatmeal (a take on Kath's Whipped Banana Oatmeal)
You Will Need
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 large banana
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (a few sprinkles)

To Make Oatmeal
Boil milk in small saucepan.
Mash banana with a fork in small bowl (which you can later reuse as your oatmeal bowl)
When milk is boiling, pour oats and banana mush into milk.
Here is the most important part: For 4-5 minutes, whisk the banana oatmeal while it cooks on medium heat. By minute 4 or 5, it should become very creamy and fluffy.
Pour into bowl. Let sit for a minute or two.
Top with a pinch of cinnamon and a heaping spoonful of peanut butter.

Enjoy!

P.S. Next I'll be trying this whipped banana oatmeal with Nutella. YUM.

Cauliflower and Capers

A simple and beautiful side dish.

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, stem removed and washed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small lemon
2 tablespoons capers

Cauliflower
Preheat over to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Evenly coat cauliflower in 2 tablespoons olive oil.
When oven is at 425 degrees, place cauliflower on middle rack.
Bake for 40 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the cauliflower.
Remove when florets are light brown and crispy.
Test the stalk with a fork to make sure it is soft enough for your liking.

Dressing
In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil and the juice from 1 small lemon (or 1/2 of a larger lemon).
Add capers to the dressing. Stir.
Pour olive oil, lemon, and caper dressing evenly over cauliflower.

Serve whole.

Helpful Hints:
1) Goya brand capers (in the international aisle) are the most affordable capers in the store.
2) Cauliflower is available locally at many farmers markets well into the winter months!

Snow and Sleeping In and Homemade Pop-Tarts

You know it's going to be a cozy day when Weather.com reads Blizzard Warning and you haven't gotten out of bed yet. The wind is howling and the snow is coming down, but we're nowhere near the predicted 10 to 16 inches. I guess that means there's a lot of snow to come. Or the weather man is wrong. 


It seems like a great day to test out my new cookbook, which looks almost as delicious as the recipes inside. With its glossy pages and crystal clear pictures, I pretty much want to eat the book itself. Serious kudos to photographers Keller & Keller. (For an hour's worth of fun, take a look at similar food photographs here.)

Did you know that Joanne Chang, the author of this book and the owner of and pastry chef at Flour Bakery & Cafe in Boston, MA, has a degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard? Pretty cool! But what I am most interested in is the recipe for Homemade Pop-Tarts on Page 88. YUM!

Homemade Pop-Tarts by Joanne Chang

Makes 8 Pop-Tarts

Helpful Hint: The dough needs to rest in the fridge for 4 hours, so it might be worth making the day before you want to eat these!

For dough:

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

3 eggs (2 yolks for dough, 1 egg for brushing)

3 tablespoons cold milk

Filling:

1 cup raspberry jam

Simple Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 to 3 tablespoons water

Step 1: Using an electric mixer (stand or handheld), mix together the flour, sugar, and salt until combined (about 10 to 15 seconds). Add butter. Mix on low speed for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

Step 2: In a small bowl, whisk together 2 egg yolks and milk, just until blended. Pour into the flour mixture. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. (Will look less like dough and more like a mess, but you're on the right track!)

Step 3: Dump the dough onto an unfloured counter and pull the dough together into a little mountain. Use the palm of your hand to smear the butter clumps into the dough, starting at the top. Do this until the dough forms a solid mound of dough with streaks of butter.

Step 4: Tightly wrap dough ball in plastic wrap. Press down to flatten into a disk about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using. Helpful hint: the dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

4 Hours Later...

Step 5: Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Step 6: Remove dough from fridge. Divide it in half and press each half into a large rectangle. On a floured surface, roll out each half to make a large rectangle. Lightly score one of the rectangles into 8 small rectangles. Ideally, each small rectangle should be about the size of an index card.

Step 7: Spoon 2 tablespoons of the jam in a mound in the center of each scored rectangle. Lay the second large dough rectangle directly on top of the first. Using fingertips, carefully press down all around each jam mound, so the pastry sheets adhere to each other. Brush the entire top surface with the remaining egg.

Step 8: Using a knife (or a pizza roller!), follow the scored lines and cut the layered dough into 8 rectangles. Place the rectangles on a baking sheet, leaving enough space between them.

Step 9: Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the tops of the pop-tarts are evenly golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes.

While pastries are cooling, make the glaze...

Step 10: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and enough of the water to make a smooth, pourable glaze.

Step 11: When the pop-tarts have cooled for 30 minutes, brush tops with glaze.

Step 12: Enjoy! And if you have extra, put them in an airtight container and eat them for the next 2 days.

Next, I'd like to try these with a filling of apples and cinnamon!

Now a question for you: What flavors and fillings would you put inside your pop-tarts?