Category Archives: herbs

I Spy Pesto Pasta

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My two basil plants are dear to my heart. They combat my kitchen with their fresh smell, they are great at communicating when they need water, and they provide some much needed shelter from my neighbors.

Basil!

As a good basil owner, occasionally I trim back the leaves and create something delicious. Often, I make pesto.

Easy-Peasy Pesto

Basil leaves (about two cups packed)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
squeeze of 1/2 a lemon 
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend the pine nuts and olive oil together. Then add garlic. Slowly add basil. Blend in freshly grated Parmesan the squeeze in the lemon to preserve the color.
Use pesto for dip, chicken, pasta etc… Or pesto will freeze/keep in the fridge for up to a day.

View from the Giant’s game!

Between a Giant’s game and a work picnic, I completely overdosed on meat; or more specially, sausages.  I usually chop up Adele’s chicken apple sausages to add a delightful sweetness to pesto pasta. However, last night the thought of another sausage was repulsive.

Thus, I substituted with edamame.  It was a wonderful discovery and one I will repeat.

Vegetarian Pesto Pasta

Pesto (see recipe above) 
Bell pepper (chopped) 
yellow onion (chopped)
handful of sweet tomatoes 
handful of edameme 
Pasta (fusilli, bow tie or similar pasta)

1) Set water to boil, add pasta when water is ready.

2) Meanwhile, saute chopped veggies, adding the onion first and the tomatoes last.

3) Right before the pasta is ready, mix in pesto with the veggies.

4) Drain pasta and toss with pesto/veggies. Finish with parmesan cheese.

I Spy a Healthy Working Lunch

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Working in the city makes it very easy to get caught up in the hussel of life. Forgetting breakfast, lunch and morning coffee, while fun to retrive between the endless nooks and crannies of San Francisco corners, is also expensive and can be very unhealthy.

Last Sunday, I cooked up a batch of quinoa salad to serve cold over a bed of lettuce. I divided the batch into four containers and took it to work (where I often house vinaigrette and can easily access salad bar spinach for under 2 dollars).

 

Quinoa Salad:

1 1/2 cups of quinoa
1 can of chicken broth (or 2 cups) 
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup water
chopped yellow, red and orange bell peppers
1 can of rinsed black beans
1 handful of largely chopped cucumbers and shredded carrorts
For the dressing: 
2-3 Tbs of Olive Oil
1/3 of a cup of red wine vinegarette
salt, pepper and chopped fresh basil

Instructions:

1) Cook the quinoa in a small pot over medium heat. To cook quinoa rinse grain (or don’t), and pour the liquid into the pot with the grain. Stir occasionally until the liquid has absorbed. About 20 minutes
2) Chop veggies, wash beans, set in medium size bowl.
3) In a smaller bowl mix together the dressing. Taste as you go, more vinegar may be needed for people who enjoy a tangy experience.
4) Stir quinoa in and service over a bed of spinach. Add some salad dressing for a little extra flavor!

Quinoa Salad

 

I Spy Summer Panzanella

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Today, the chaos of moving began. Recently I’ve moved far too often, yet somehow by the time my lease is up for renewal, I’ve since forgetting about the utter inconvenience of packing up one’s life.  In a matter of hours, my house went from a livable mess to boxed chaos.

In efforts to pack and relax, I whipped up Smitten Kitchen’s Summer’s Last Hurrah Panzanella. This is a deliciously light recipe and pairs well with a glass of crisp white wine.  Also, it is simply beautiful.

The ingredients

For the Salad
3 Tbs olive oil
1  French bread loaf cut into cubes (6 cups)
1 tsp salt
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into  cubes
1  cucumber, sliced
2 bell peppers, seeded and cubed 
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves chopped


For the vinaigrette
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons  citrus champagne vinegar (or regular) 
1/3 cup good olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

 

Directions

1) Prepare veggies place in large bowl.

Veggies, chopped and ready

2) Chop bread, heat oil in a large pan, then add bread and 1 tsp salt. Cook for about 10 minutes while stirring until toasted.

Cube the bread, I cut the slice in half, they were big but fun to eat!

3) While the bread toasts, mix up the vinigerate.

4) Combine and serve!

 

I Spy Seasoned Kale Chips

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Kale! Purchased at Trader Joe's

I am probably one of the rare folk who enjoy grocery shopping. During my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s I picked up some chopped and washed kale. Inspired by the prospect of healthy eating, I immediately went home to bake up some kale chips.

My Sunday Afternoon Kale Chips

These are actually quite delicious. I decided to make two batches from one bag. Using two cookie sheets, I seasoned each batch differently. Both turned out exceptional.

1 bag cut and washed kale
Olive oil
spices (onion powder, garlic powder, curry, cumin and salt)

My two seasonings for Kale Chips

Curry kale Chips:

equal parts: onion powder, yellow curry powder and cumin, a dash of salt. (make about 3 Tbs)

Garlic and Onion Kale Chips:

equal parts onion powder and garlic powder, a dash of salt.  (make about 3 Tbs)

Directions:

1) Mix seasoning

2) Pour about 1/2 of the kale into a large mixing bowl. Splash some olive oil over the kale and use your hands to spread the olive oil into the crevasses of the leaves.

3) Toss in seasoning and continue to mix using your hands until coated.

4) Spread over baking sheet and bake at 320 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until crisp.

Store in zip lock baggies!

Even if you decide to try only one seasoning, I highly recommend dividing the kale chips into two baking sheets. Remember to swap the sheets/racks and give the chips a quick stir after 10 minutes of baking.

Just because...

I Spy Easter Leftovers

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Easter eggs -- soon to be easter egg salad

In my life, Easter marks the hiatus of holiday leftovers and expensive impulsive seasonal purchases at Target. From Halloween I have a Jack-o-lantern sippy cup, from Christmas I have a Santa hat, from Valentine’s day I have a cheesy heart trinket and now from Easter I have too many pastel cookie decorations.  Yes, a break from Target temptations is one of the many things I look forward to during the reprieve of the holidays. Another task I won’t miss, at least for the time being, is eating up all of the holiday leftovers.

So far, I am on day 3 of the ham and I’ve exhausted the variations of the ham sandwich.   I would make a Quiche, but I stupidly hard-boiled all of my eggs… I was really excited to dye eggs this year. In an effort to continue my use of the food that is already purchased, I made egg salad.

Egg Salad

I love egg salad, it is the perfect meat alternative to a sandwich.  I am an egg salad purest — I like it simple.

A dozen eggs
1-2 Tbs Dill (fresh or dry)
9 Tbs Mayo
1 Tbs Yellow Mustard
1/2 tsp dry mustard
dash of salt

Peal and dice the eggs.

Due to my inability to hard boil eggs properly, I discovered that cutting the egg in half makes pealing the shell easier.

In a smaller separate bowl mix together mayo, mustard and spices. Then stir into the diced eggs.

The dressing

Serve over toasted sourdough bread. I recommend lightly buttering (or brush with olive oil) each side of the bread and toasting over medium heat on stove top until golden.

Simple and delicious. Enjoy! Look forward to next weeks post — what to do with your ham hock… Ah life is so exciting sometimes.

I Spy Salmon

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Almost every time I visit Costco, I purchase a giant package of fresh wild Alaskan salmon. A Costco size portion of salmon either takes six hungry guests or multiple two-person meals to devour. This post includes two dinners created from my most recent salmon purchase. Some other ideas for salmon use include Quiche, omelets and a salmon-melt.

On the purchase day, I prefer to make a simple meal of baked salmon, quinoa and roasted vegetables. For my recipe for roasted vegetables see the link to my previous post here.

Baked Salmon: 

Salmon! I usually cook up 2-3 lbs
1/2 a lemon
1/4 Cup(ish) olive oil
Salt
Chopped basil, rosemary or thyme to taste
Crushed garlic

Instructions: Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel about an hour and a half before dinner.  Combine seasoning ingredients, brush onto salmon. Let salmon marinate for about an hour before baking (on a foiled cookie tray) at 350 degrees for around 15-20 minutes. If you have a finicky oven, cover with foil for 1/2 of baking time. Adjust baking time for smaller salmon fillets.  Do not over-bake!  Salmon is done when the fish is light-pink and flakes with the fork.

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Photo Credit: Google Images

Easy-delicious Quinoa:

1 can chicken broth (low sodium)
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup Quinoa (found in the rice/grain section of most super markets)
Sautéed veggies (I like onion, bell pepper, asparagus, whatever you have extra in the fridge works!)

Instructions: In a small-medium pot combine chicken broth (2 cups), wine and quinoa. Let simmer while stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Once liquid is absorbed, stir in sautéed veggies. Start to cook this dish after you put the salmon in the oven.

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Thank you Google Images for providing lovely documentation of Quinoa. Quinoa is also a great quick meal for chicken apple sausage!

This week, for my second meal o’ salmon, I made salmon cakes with purred sweet potatoes and brocoli. 

Crabby-Salmon Cakes: 

3 slices of bread (run in food processor to make bread crumbs OR 1 C bread crumbs)
1 C Panko Bread Crumbs
Left-over cooked and chilled salmon (about 3 fillets OR 1 1/2 Cups)
1/2 C mayo
2 tsp mustered (I used yellow, but dijon would be good too)
2 eggs (beaten)
salt
2 tbs worchester sause
1 small can crab meat
2 tbs olive oil
onion
1/2 C chopped celery
red and yellow peppers

Instructions:

1) Cook and cool salmon. See above for instructions.

2) Chop veggies, Sauté in pan with olive oil and a dash of salt. After about 5 minutes, add worchester sauce, crab meet and 1/2 of crab meet juice. Let simmer until veggies soften. Cool — the freezer is pretty effective for a quick cool-down.

3) While the mixture is cooling off. Shred the salmon into a medium sized bowl. In a food processor, make bread crumbs. You should have about 1 Cup.

3.5) If you are feeling extra ambitious and/or making this for company, bake bread crumbs in the oven until crisp (about 5 mintes). OR skip this step — everything will turn out just fine.

4) Combine bread crumbs, salmon, whisked eggs, mayo, mustard and sautéed veggies in bowl.

5) Create salmon pattys and roll in panko bread crumbs. Put in fridge to cool for about 30 minutes – this will help the patties stay together when they cook.  **While the salmon cakes cooled, I made the sweet potato dish listed below.

6) Heat about 3 tbs of olive oil in large skillet. Cook each patty about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Pureed Sweet Potatoes with Ricotta Cheese: 

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This recipe originally came from the Stuffed Sweet Potato recipe from the Food Network magazine. The ingredients are essentially the same.

4 sweet potatoes
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp nutmeg
1 bunch of brocoli florets
Shiitake mushrooms (about 10)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
garlic (optional)

Instructions:

1) Microwave sweet potatoes until a fork can easily go through. Microwave time really depends on size, usually between 10-20 minutes.

2) While the potatoes are cooking, saute the broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper flakes and seasoning to taste — Set aside

3)  Once potatoes are soft, using a large spoon, scoop out the insides of the sweet potatoes into a medium bowl.  Add 1 cup ricotta cheese and a 1 tsp of nutmeg. Using an immersion blender or a mixer, blend the sweet potatoes, nutmeg and ricotta.  Add some butter if you want a richer-tasting potato.

4) Serve and top with veggie mixture

Enjoy!

I Spy Roasted Vegetables

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In an effort to prove that I do in fact cook things unrelated to sugary doughs and frosting, here is my all time favorite staple side.  For a quick and healthy dinner I like to serve roasted vegetables with salmon.  I use this recipe often when I have company because it is so simple and delicious.

You can also make this recipe quick and speedy by purchasing pre-cut vegetables. Trader Joe’s has pre-cut brussel sprouts and cauliflower, butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

Chopped potatoes waiting to be roasted

Roasted Vegetables:

Pick the ones in season!

Brussel sprouts
cauliflower
finger potatoes (I cut in half, sometimes if I am in a hurry I will boil the potatoes for 5 minutes before placing them in the oven)
onions
bell peppers
butternut squash
Chopped sweet potatoes
carrots or any root vegetable

Dressing:

1/4 C Olive Oil
1/4 C Balsamic Vinigar 
Herbs: Pick and choose: basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary
 salt & pepper to taste

Directions: 

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and chop vegetables. Try to cut the vegetables to optimize the surface area for roasting.  Place veggies in a large mixing bowl.

2) Mix dressing in a small bowl or cup

3)Poor dressing over vegetables and toss so everything is coated

4) Spread veggies over a cookie sheet

5) If the cookie sheet is layered with vegetables, cooking time will take about an hour. If you are roasting a smaller quantity cooking time will vary from 20 minutes to an hour.  Remember to stir every 15 minutes!  If the vegetables are cooking too fast, add a couple tablespoons of water and reduce heat to 350 degrees.

I Spy an Urban Garden

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My urban mums

My quest to start an urban garden began over a year ago when I moved to New Mexico. Excited for my small plot of land, I set out to purchase strawberry, tomato, basil and bell pepper plants. Due to forgetfulness and New Mexico’s blazing sun, my garden wilted to death.

Moving to Berkeley gave me a fresh start to redeem my persona as the “urban gardener”. Desperate to find my niche, I looked into the Emeryville Community Garden only to find the “No Vacancy” waitlist on their website. On a funemployed budget, I set out to establish my own garden through one very read-the-fine-print Living Social purchase.  Later that week, I returned home from The Watershed Nursery with half a dozen non-eatable native California plants, including a baby maple tree.

Baby tree is on the left. I have 8 years to purchase a plot of land, until then, she can live in a pot.

My inner gardener ceased and instead became preoccupied over the sheer responsibility of raising a tree and subsided by Trader Joe’s ridiculously cheap Basil. After I visited Smith Family Farm for my seasonal activity last weekend, I decided to  give this urban garden thing another try. However, before I started I needed to solve a few lingering questions.

Q) I live in a two-story urban apartment building with a lot of concrete, where do I plant?

In the kitchen, of course! Make sure the dishes are done ahead of time though…

Urban garden = messy kitchen… and cat

Q) My windowsills are filled with pot racks and hanging utensils, what are my options besides windowsill herb gardens?

 I opted for the walkway garden. My apartment complex has a walkway and I found long narrow planters that won’t trip people going by.

My herb garden with basil, cilantro, sage and rosemary. Spearmint, oregano and thyme are in the other planter. 

Q) How can I water my plants without giving my downstairs neighbor an unexpected shower?

I’m not sure… I tried to find pots without holes in them. I filled the bottom with pebbles/old pots to provide some irrigation. There is a good chance this will fail. I’ve tried to use water catchers before, but I still end up showering my neighbors.

Tomorrow’s dinner: pesto from my garden!

I am not sure how my urban herb garden will turn out. This is my second day and I already have enough Basil to make pesto for tomorrow’s dinner. So far, I’m diggin’ the urban greens and I love the fragrance.  Now the real challenge begins, keeping everyone alive.