Magic Fish

I really do love creole food. It is full of so much flavor and soul. We were at the store and they had some beautiful catfish filets. Catfish is a very flavorful fish and really easy to cook. We usually Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic Seasoning on catfish. It has a wonderful taste and a little bit of a kick. I thought we had some in the cabinet, but after searching, I realized we were all out. This created a great opportunity to experiment. I pulled out a mix of spices, stirred them together, and created a great catfish rub.  This is probably one of the easiest dishes you could possibly think of and it tastes really really great.

Blackened Catfish

• 2 (6-oz.) filets of catfish
• 1/2 Tbsp paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp Gebhardt Chili Powder
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp (plus more or less) cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 lemon wedges

Mix all of the spices in a bowl. Dredge catfish filets in seasoning. Heat a pan and when it is hot add the oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the catfish and cover with an oil splatter screen. Cook for 3 minutes on each side. Serve with a pat of butter on top and lemon wedges on the side. 

Holiday Cheer

It's that time of the year. I love Christmas time, we are off of school and there are so many great crafts and recipes. It's the time for gift giving, so I have an excuse to get crafty and spend some time in the kitchen making holiday boxes for loved ones. I've recently gotten into stamps and am slowly acquiring a small collection. There are so many wonderful holiday stamps and great for creating gift tags and cards. One of my favorite holiday crafts are candy cane reindeer. I remember having these hung on our Christmas tree since I was a little kid. They are so simple and so cute. They are simply a candy cane, red pom pom, google eyes, brown pipe cleaner, and tacky glue. So easy and so cute.

This year I decided to try to make a peppermint bark. It is one of my favorite holiday treats. I really love peppermint flavor and when it is mixed with chocolate, pure yum. Usually it's just a layer of dark/milk chocolate, a layer of white chocolate, and crushed peppermint sprinkled on top. It gets messy because you need to melt the chocolate in a double boiler and it takes a while because you need to cool each layer. I decided to spice things up a bit and make a fancier peppermint bark. I found a recipe from Bon Appetit for peppermint bark with a shortbread cookie bottom. It sounded perfect. The buttery cookie gives a nice touch to contrast the sweet chocolate. It also creates another pretty layer in your treat. I also recently discovered peppermint Hershey's kisses. They are delicious red and white swirls of white chocolate, peppermint flavor, and crunchy sprinkles. Rather than the typical crushed candy canes, I decided to chop up these yummy morsels and sprinkle them on top. They end up melting and creating a really pretty red and while pattern on top. Then I drizzled some extra white chocolate on top and a toss of red sprinkles, and voila, spruced up peppermint bark. This recipe is great as a gift, put them in a pretty tin or a holiday box and pass them on to all of your favorite people.

Peppermint Bark Cookies 
adapted from Bon Appetit

• Nonstick vegetable spray
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yold
• 12 oz. bag bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 bag peppermint Hershey's kisses, chopped
• 1 oz. white chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with long strip of 9-inch-wide parchment paper, leaving overhang on both short sides of pan. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just to blend.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into prepared baking pan, spacing evenly. Using moistened fingertips, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.

Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Place pan on rack; immediately sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Using small offset spatula, spread bittersweet chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer. Immediately sprinkle chopped peppermint candies over.

Stir white chocolate in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

Using paper overhang as aid, lift cookie from pan and transfer to work surface. Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in refrigerator in airtight containers between layers of waxed paper or parchment paper.

Squash and Custard

We got an acorn squash in our CSA this week. I don't have much experience with this veggie, so I did a little searching and found a great recipe on Saveur. Apparently this is a traditional recipe from Thailand called sangkaya. It normally is in a kabocha squash, but I adapted it to an acorn squash. This is an absolutely amazing dessert. It sounds a little fishy: coconut custard cooked in a squash. But it is incredibly delicious. Really really delicious. The coconut custard is just sweet enough to complement the squash perfectly.

It's actually pretty simple to make too. Looking at the recipe, it looks a bit daunting, especially since it is from the all-amazing Saveur. But in retrospect, it was pretty simple. I started making it before cooking dinner and it was done right as we finished eating dinner.

Part of the recipe calls for the use of a double boiler. This is a technique used to cook delicate sauces in which you need to control the temperature. Here is a great description with the physics behind it from our good friends at Wikipedia. I used a pot with a little boiling water at the bottom and place a metal bowl with handles in it. The handles sat on the lip of the pot, so the bowl wasn't touching the water but still getting hot. 

There was one part of the recipe that was a bit confusing. It was about how to set up the rack in the oven. I didn't really get it. It said put the squash in an 8x8 baking dish and pour 1 cup of boiling water into the dish. I don't really know what the hot water is supposed to do. Since my acorn squash didn't have a flat bottom and wouldn't stand up by itself, I placed it in a ramekin and then placed that into a dish. I poured hot water into both the dish and the ramekin. Again, I have no idea what the water is for, but my custard turned out great, so maybe it was important in the end. Here is my crazy oven setup:

I used palm sugar for this which is a sugar derived from coconut, but you could use brown sugar if you don't have palm sugar on hand. Also, you need to get coconut cream (not coconut milk). I found copious amounts at 17th Street Market, about 5 different brands. This is super super delicious (got a 10 from JC), so try this if you have a winter squash (acorn, kabocha, pumpkin) on hand.

Coconut Squash Custard
from Saveur

• 1  1 1⁄2–2-lb. kabocha squash
• 1⁄2 cup canned coconut cream
• 1⁄2 cup semimoist Thai palm sugar
• 1⁄2 tsp. fine salt
• 6 egg yolks
  

1. Using a long, sharp knife, cut off the top of the squash, about 1" from the stem end. Discard top. Using a spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds and the fibers to make a hollow cavity. Set aside.

2. In a 1-qt. saucepan, whisk together the coconut cream and 1⁄4 cup of the palm sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, while whisking occasionally; remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining palm sugar with the salt and egg yolks until yolks are smooth and pale yellow. While whisking the yolks, slowly drizzle in the hot coconut cream mixture. Transfer mixture to top of a double boiler set over simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon, about 4 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 325°. Pour custard into the reserved squash and set on rack in the bottom of an 8" x 8" baking dish. Pour 1 cup boiling water into dish. Bake until a knife inserted into center of custard comes out clean, about 2 hours. Let cool; slice into 6 wedges. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Wo ai jiaozi

This is a spin off of the wontons I posted about last week. This is the potsticker/gyoza/jiaozi version. I actually prefer the pan-fried dumplings better than soup--but that's kind of a given, since fried always makes everything better. These use the exact same filling as the wontons, but you need to used the round thick gyoza skins rather than square thin wonton skins. They hold up much better during the cooking process and are thick enough to fry just perfectly. Ideally, we normally make our own dough. It's just a mix of flour and water. I was lazy and was not in the mood to mess with that tonight, so we just used good quality (emphasis on GOOD QUALITY) store bought skins.

There is also an art to pleating your dumplings. According to JC, if you don't pleat them, they're not real potstickers. This is a different fold than if you are doing soup dumplings. I've tried to find a site that explains how we do ours, and this is the best I could do with Appetite for China. It is not exactly how we do ours, but it's fairly similar. Here is how we pleat in our house:

The secret to making perfect jiaozi is to boil them and then pan fry them. By boiling them, you cook the meat and make the skins nice and soft, then you give them a quick toss in hot oil just to crisp up the skin, and you've got perfection.

These are one of my favorite go-to dishes. It's a great dish to keep in your recipe book at an easy reach.

*JC found a website that has instructions on how we pleat. It has pretty straight forward, step-by-step instructions complete with pictures. Really it doesn't matter how you fold these little guys, they will always taste delicious! Tess's Japanese Kitchen

Jiaozi

For the wontons:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1 package GOOD gyoza skins plus 1 egg for sealing

For the dipping sauce:

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. chopped green onions

• Vegetable oil for frying

Mix all of the wonton ingredients together. Assemble filling with the gyoza skins and have fun pleating. Start a pot of boiling water. Gently place dumplings in boiling water and remove them as they start to float (that's when you know they're done). Be careful not to overcook them or they will get soggy and fall apart. Heat oil in a pan and place boiled dumplings in. They will splatter, so use a splatter screen if you have one. Cook on each side until browned and crispy. Mix the dipping sauce ingredients together and eat with the piping hot dumplings.

*The dumplings can easily be frozen before you boil them. When you want to reheat them, remove them from the freezer and boil them to soften again. Then you can pan fry them up and eat eat eat.

JC showing off his skillz in the kitchen

Lean, Green, Indian Machine

I have a ton of recipes I need to catch up on. Too much cooking plus too little posting equals food picture overload on my camera. Thanksgiving dishes ended exceptionally well. I was in charge of the turkey this year (first time ever!) and I decided to brine it. Let me tell you, best idea ever. You will get the most juicy and moist turkey you could ever imagine. More on that later. I also made a pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin spice bundt, both turned out spectacular.

But now onto something completely not Thanksgiving related--Saag. I love Indian food. It has to be in my top 5 favorite ethnic food groups (Japanese and Chinese at the top for obvious reasons). The food is always so flavorful with so many complex spices. I usually never attempt these dishes in my own home mainly because I don't have an extensive Indian spice cabinet, so I know I could never do the dishes justice.

My all-time favorite dish is lamb saag. I think it's a mix of the creamy spinach and the gamey lamb that make an absolute perfect flavor combination, not to mention the dish is a beautiful, vibrant green. Saag is one of those dishes I could probably eat everyday for the rest of my life (along with tempura udon, my grandmother's chow mein, and a few other select dishes). It really does warm you up right to the core. Moreover, this is packed with those dark green leafy veggie (cruciferous veg) nutrients and the power packed super spice turmeric. Serve with some hot basmati rice and crispy garlic naan, and you're set.

This is my version of saag. I must admit it still does not live up to what you'd get at some of the good Indian places in town, but it's not terrible for an Asian girl cooking in a tiny kitchen. I used a mix of mustard greens and spinach, though you could make the dish completely out of just one. I like to use lamb, because let's face it, lamb is bomb-dot-com, but you could use any kind of meat or paneer that your heart desires. This dish doesn't require many oddball/hard-to-find spices, which makes it very simple for the everyday cook. Though I'm sure if you were able to track down some authentic Indian spices, it would make this dish even better. I ended up adding a couple teaspoons of Penzey's Spices Sate Seasoning which is a blend of coarse flake salt, brown sugar, garlic, white onion, coriander, purple shallots, ginger, turmeric, sweet paprika, Ancho pepper, galangal, cayenne red pepper, and lemon grass. I thought this mix added a nice touch to the flavor, but it's definitely not necessary. Really all you need is some cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and ginger and it will taste just perfect. I'm not completely sure on the measurements of all of the spices, just add to taste and how you enjoy it.

Lamb Saag

• 1-2 bunches mustard greens
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter or ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small can diced green chiles
• Cumin
• Turmeric
• Cayenne pepper
• Ground ginger
• Salt and pepper
• 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream 
• 1 lb. lamb, cubed

Wash the mustard greens and place in a pot of boiling water. Add the frozen spinach and boil for a few minutes, until the greens are soft and vibrant green. In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a pan. Add the onions, garlic, and green chiles and saute until the onion are soft and translucent. Strain the greens and squeeze out most of the water. Add to the onion pan and stir to combine. Place contents of pan into food processor. Run until smooth. Add spices to taste and add cream to desired creaminess. In a separate pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil and add cubed lamb. Cook until done and then mix with the greens mixture. Serve with basmati rice and naan.

Perfect Pre-Feast Dinner

I have never thought about this before, but what should you eat the night before a huge feast? What is the most appropriate dinner before Thanksgiving? You don't want to have too many leftovers because your fridge will be overflowing tomorrow. Also, I need a meal that works well with throwing in lots of odds and ends to try and empty out the fridge. Lastly, I want something that is so completely not in the realm of thanksgiving and turkey, because you are bound to be completely turkey-ed out by 5 PM tomorrow. Solution: Wonton Soup.

This is a wonderful go to recipe for a chilly night in. It's surprisingly filling though quite light and flavorful. Find a buddy to help fold wontons, it's super fun to makeup new shapes and a great activity to do with someone/some friends. Overall, this is a really easy recipe, but can be a bit time consuming if you don't have help assembling the wontons.

You can virtually add whatever you like into the filling. Just go through your cabinets and see what you have that sounds delicious. I didn't in this recipe because I didn't have any on hand, but these are also great with some chopped shitake mushrooms and chopped shrimp. Also, I don't really measure when I'm making this recipe, just kind of throw things in until it looks good, so I'll do my best to estimate in the recipe.

One other super important tip: make sure you get good quality wonton skins. Do not get those crap skins you can buy at your normal grocery store, I guarantee they will fall apart in your soup. Then you'll end up with a noodle meatball soup rather than wontons. You need to go to your Asian grocery store (my favorite is LeeLee up on orange grove) and get some real wonton wrappers. We went with Peking Brand wonton wrappers and they came out just perfect (only a couple broke that were already very poorly folded by me). Another thing is to make sure you know the difference between wonton and gyoza wrappers. Wonton wrappers are thinner and used for boiling dumplings for soup or frying. Gyoza wrappers are slightly thicker and used for dumplings you want to pan fry. In general, I usually like to use gyoza wrappers because I love nice chewy dumplings. But if you prefer dumplings with a thin skin, you need good quality wonton wrappers.

There are lots of ways you can fold wontons. Here is a great site with all of the different varieties. We do the Taiwan style (Style 5). It doesn't really matter which way you decide to fold them, they'll still taste delicious no matter what you do. Have fun with this recipe, these little dumplings are delicious.

Wonton Soup

For the wontons:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1 package GOOD wonton skins plus 1 egg for sealing
• Optional: chopped shrimp, chopped shitake mushrooms, chopped bamboo shoots

For the soup:

• 6 c. chicken broth
• A few handfuls of finely chopped chinese cabbage
• 3 cloves whole garlic
• 3 slices of fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
• salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients together for the filling. Assemble wontons and seal with beaten egg. Set aside. Heat a pot of boiling water. Drop the dumpling into the water and cook until cooked through. In a separate pot, mix everything for the soup. Once the dumplings are done cooking in the boiling water, transfer to the soup using a slotted spoon.

Spas and Sausage

I have been avoiding cooking this entire week. The sink was full of dishes and I didn't have the energy to clean them all. So instead, I have been enjoying a week of ZinBurger, B-Line, sushi, and Miss Saigon. Unfortunately, this means my precious CSA veggies have been sitting very patiently in the fridge waiting for me to use them. Sundays are my favorite night of the week to cook dinner. You can enjoy a relaxing day (or un-relaxing day of studying) and then have a nice, leisurely dinner. Best part is, you have leftovers to take for lunch on Monday.

I bought a Groupon a couple of weeks ago because it was advertised as "Unlimited Spa Services for 1-week for $20." How could I pass that up? I snatched up the deal and then started to look into the company a little more. It is for a spa called Planet Beach located in the Total Wine and More parking lot on Oracle. Upon further online searching, I came to realize the deal was really too good to be true. What makes this spa different is that none of the services are done by real people, everything is a machine. No real massages done by trained individuals--rather, they provide aqua massages and some sort of state-of-the-art robotic massage chair. No facials--rather, you slop a package of jelly on your face and sit under an infared light for 20 minutes. To say the least, I was a bit dissappointed. Regardless, I bought the Groupon, so I started my week last Wednesday. I went into the spa and made a promise to myself that I would get my moneys worth. I decided to try every single service--except for the "UV Therapy" aka tanning beds. They have a bed that you lie on and a heated "jade roller" moves up and down your back. They also have a bed where warm water shoots up and provides a massage. They also have a little sauna box and also this other thing called the Hydration Station. It's basically a capsule you lie in and it fills with hot steam to make you sweat. I'm down with that, open your pores, super. But then you can add these different colored light that are supposed to stimulate certain aspects of your body--red is for cellulite reduction, yellow is to stimulate lymphatics, blue is to target acne, purple is to prolong your tan. That seemed a bit hokey to me. Either way, I went back for my third visit today (like I said, I am going to get my moneys worth). I spent the afternoon getting an aqua massage and sitting in the sauna. To be honest, I don't know how I feel about Planet Beach. Getting a massage by a robotic chair is very different from getting a massage from a real person.

On to the food. After my "spa" day, I came home and wanted to make a nice hearty meal that would warm me up (it's freezing outside!). I decided to experiment with the rapini we received this week. I've never had the veggie before, but wikipedia told me it is similar to Chinese gailan. Normally the branches have flowers on them, but I think ours were harvested early in the season, so I just had a bunch of leaves. I did a little searching on tastespotting and saw there were a lot of recipes for rapini and sausage pasta. That was just what I was in the mood for and it seemed so simple.

I basically made up this recipe by throwing in whatever I had available at home. I bought turkey sausage and every time I do that I regret it. I always feel guilty getting the grease loaded pork sausage, so I give in a get turkey. I just can't do it anymore. The drippings from the pork sausage make a dish so much better! After cooking the turkey sausage, there was slim to no oil drippings at all so you don't get that yummy sausage flavor coating the pasta and rapini. I'm over my pork guilt trip. Sorry turkey, I'm going with the pork.

I decided to use orecchiette pasta because I thought it looked really cute with the sausage and rapini. The little cups are perfect to scoop up a little bit of meat and a little bit of veg. It doesn't really matter what kind of pasta you use, but I would suggest either a penne or shell. Really, whatever you have in your cabinet will be a-ok.

Enjoy this dish on a busy weeknight, it literally take 20 minutes to make. It's so easy and you don't need many ingredients. The dish has the bitter flavor of the rapini which is mellowed out by the savory fatty sausage.

Rapini and Sausage Orecchiette

• 1 lb orecchiette pasta, cooked
• 1 lb spicy Italian PORK sausage
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Splash of chicken broth
• Splash of white wine
• 1 bunch rapini, coarsely chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• Fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt to taste

Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water.

While the pasta is cooking, brown the sausage in a pan. After the sausage is done cooking, toss it with the cooked pasta and leave the drippings in the pan. Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute until the onions are soft. Add the chicken broth and white wine and cook for a few minutes. Add the rapini and cook until wilted.

Add the veggie mixture to the pasta and sausage mix. Toss in the butter and cheese and stir until completely mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with a sprinkle of cheese and eat piping hot.

Slightly Sweet

The weather is getting chilly (except today, it was about 82 outside), but earlier this week was perfect winter soup weather. We have been getting some beautiful squashes from CSA like acorn, spaghetti, and butternut. I have been experimenting with the butternut squash doing a few different kinds of lasagna. I finally decided to do a butternut squash soup. Butternut squash soup is very hit or miss. It has to have the perfect flavor where it's not too sweet, but just a hint so you still get that squash flavor. You also need to get the consistency spot on so you are just right in between baby food mush and watery liquefied yuck. It's sort of like Goldilocks, not too mushy not too liquidy and not too sweet and not too yuck.

I found a recipe by Ina Garten that used butternut squash and apples. The recipe seemed so simple that it would be a great dish for a cold night. My favorite part of this dish is the curry powder. Curry powder is one of the most versatile spice mixes you can have in your cupboard. It is a blend of turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, etc. It is great on meats, veggies, and soups. It's wonderful if you don't want to buy lots of odd ball spices but still want a complex flavored dish. It adds the perfect flavor to this soup that complements the squash and apples perfectly.

The original recipe called for McIntosh apples, but they didn't have any at Trader Joe's, so I just bought a bag of Honeycrips. Any kind of sweet apple would work just great. The recipe also called for apple juice or apple cider. I made the mistake of buying Trader Joe's Spiced Apple Cider. Plain and simple, it was just too spicy. Stick to something with just apples so you get that tiny bit of tart flavor. This dish is wonderful for a chilly night in with a movie and some good company.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
adapted from Butternut Squash and Apple Soup by Ina Garten

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 sweet apples
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 c. chicken broth (plus extra if the soup is too thick)
• 1/2 cups good apple cider or juice
• Heavy cream to drizzle on top

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Puree the soup  in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple cider or juice and enough chicken broth to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot drizzled with some cream.

Kuma's Kookies

Today is Kuma's first birthday. I can't believe that my little dog is already one year old. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home and he was just a little furball. He has grown up into a very handsome dog with such a great personality. This afternoon, I took him to the dog park and he outran every single dog there. When we came home, I started to bake up some homemade doggie treats. I've never made dog biscuits before, but  I thought this would be the perfect time to start.

In looking up recipes, I noticed a lot of them included garlic powder/salt, onion powder, and/or raisins--all of which I thought were toxic to dogs. I finally managed to find a recipe that did not include any of these and still seemed wholesome and tasty. It's a peanut butter biscuit recipe and I thought it would be a nice touch to dip them in carob chips. If you're not familiar with carob, it is similar to chocolate with the same texture and color, though it has a (in my opinion) very different flavor. It is like a dark chocolate, but more bitter and not sweet at all. I am not a huge fan, but then again, I'm not really a huge fan of chocolate either (gasp!). I bought my carob chips from the bulk section at Whole Foods.

It's really important to get quality ingredients for your dog treats. We keep Kuma on a grain free food. Sometimes I think he eats better than we do. He rotates between chicken, duck/turkey, rabbit, and salmon flavors. I made sure to use whole wheat flour and plain peanut butter--no Jiffy or Skippy, look for just peanuts in the ingredients list and make sure there isn't added sugars or extra unreadable things. I wanted to get the fresh made peanut butter from Whole Foods (they have it at Sunflower as well), but the machine wasn't working so I bought the Whole Foods brand crunchy peanut butter instead.

These dog treats are really simple to make and create a nice golden brown treat. Kuma taste tested them and has been gobbling them up all night (A-Let me know if your doggies like them too!). I used a small dog bone shaped cutter and got at least 50 biscuits out of this recipe. You can use any shape you like, I think little hearts or animal shapes would be cute too.

I hope your four-legged furry friend enjoys these as much as the birthday boy did!

Kuma's Peanut Butter Kookies
adapted from bullwrinkle.com

• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. carob chips (more or less depending on how many cookies you want to have carob dipped)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
 
In a large bowl, blend together water, oil, eggs, peanut butter, and honey with an electric mixer. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, and oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend until well mixed.

Remove dough from bowl and roll out to 1/4-1/2 inch thick on a well-floured surface. I like to separate the dough into quarters and roll out each quarter one at a time so you don't have a huge piece of dough to work with.

Cut out shapes in dough and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cookies are a golden brown.

Turn off the oven. Once all biscuits are cooked, place all of the biscuits on one cookie tray and place back in the turned off oven. Let the cookies sit in there until the oven cools down. This process will help to crisp up the cookies.

For the carob dipping, place chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds on 50% power in the microwave. (It is ESSENTIAL that you do not microwave on full power because this will ruin your carob chips and make them unusable. Same goes for using the stove, do not melt carob chips on the stove. The heat is too intense and will ruin your carob chips.) Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until most pieces are broken down. Microwave again for 30 seconds at 50% power. Continue microwaving and stirring until the carob chips are the desired consistency

Dip or drizzle carob chips over the biscuits. Sprinkle immediately after you have added the carob, before it gets cold and hardens up. 

Cocktail Cake

This is one of my absolute favorite recipes. I'm not sure exactly when I was introduced to this. It must have been at a family party since it is from one of my great aunts. This is an incredibly simple recipe and makes a perfect cake. I recently bought a bundt pan, and this is the perfect cake for that. It is just a tad sweet with a subtle flavor of chocolate and coffee. It is called a Black Russian cake because it has a bit of Kahlua and vodka baked in. This cake is pure yum and it is sure to disappear really quickly.

Black Russian Cake

Cake:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small box instant chocolate pudding
• 1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. Kahlua
• 1/4 c. vodka

Icing

• 3/4 c. powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp Kahlua

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a bundt pan. Combine all cake ingredients and beat with a mixer. Bake 1 hour or until done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan, then remove to serving platter. Wait 10 minutes and pour icing on.

Study Break Pie

I have spent the past week non-stop in bacteria mode. My head is spinning. I decided to take a break and make a sweet potato pie with some of the veggies from CSA. This is one of my favorite desserts (not to mention it's super easy) and it really gives me the feeling of Fall and cool weather. I had some extra filling that didn't fit in the pie crust, so I decided to fill a couple ramekins and they turned out really cute. I don't have time to write something long on this, so I'll just say that this is delicious and you should make it. Happy studying MSIIs!

Sweet Potato Pie
adapted from Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie by Paula Deen

• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed
• 1 cups sugar
• 1/2 stick melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine everything together and mix thoroughly. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pie on a rack and cool to room temperature. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.



And some (very late) Halloween photos:

My wildcat pumpkin

Cowboy Kuma

Fritters and Furry Friends

Happy Thursday! The weather has been spectacular recently. Blue skies, gusty winds, and warm sunny temperature. I came home after spending the afternoon talking about organ and bone marrow transplants. I was in the mood for a refreshing snack and found a great recipe for zucchini fritters. This seemed so simple and I had all of the ingredients on hand. They are actually very healthy too, just a little bit of cheese and lots of yummy zucchini.  They reminded me a lot of potato latkas but with a yummy green zucchini.

I think zucchini is probably my favorite vegetable and I'm always excited to see new ways to use it. These turned out just great and I was able to make them in under 10 minutes. The original recipe called for mint/parsley. I substituted Penzeys Mural of Flavor spice mix that has a mix of shallots, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, basil, coriander, lemon peel, citric acid, black pepper, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, and orange peel.I think this gave the fritters a great flavor. I also used Japanese panko breadcrumbs. I really do prefer these over regular breadcrumbs. They provide a great crunch and are really light. I served the fritters will a little dollop of tzatzki sauce which was perfect. It provided a cool, refreshing touch to the fritters. 

The recipe cautioned to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini or else the fritters wouldn't hold together. I completely forgot that step, but the fritters still turned out fine. They were a little difficult to hold together at first, but once you get a nice brown on one side, it's not too terrible. 

While we were making these, Kuma was whining at the front door. I took a peak outside and realized there was a lost dog sitting on our patio. I managed to wrestle her down long enough to get the phone number on her collar. I found out her name was Affinity and her owner was right down the street. She was super excited and kept trying to wiggle her way into the house to play with Kuma. Her owner came and took her home after a few minutes. I've actually never found a lost dog, so this was my first experience with a owner-doggie reunion. I was so happy that we got her back to her owner and I can only hope someone would do the same if Kuma ever managed to break free. 

An exciting afternoon full of delicious food and happy reunions.

Zucchini Fritters

adapted from Giusto Gusto

• 2-3 small Zucchini, grated
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 Tbsp spice blend
• 1/4 c. cheese (I used a a mix of pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano)
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Combine all of the ingredients and form into small patties about 1/2″ thick. Fry in a hot pan with 1/4″ of olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Once fried to golden perfection, allow the fritters to drain onto paper towel, this will insure they stay extra crispy and not at all soggy.Serve with a dollop of tzatzki sauce.

Coo Coo for Coconuts

I love coconut. It has to be one of my absolute favorite flavors. Coconut dessert is tops in my book. I'm not sure what about coconut I love so much. It's tropical, sweet, and the aroma is so yummy. I have come to realize you either love or hate coconut, nothing in between. I'm definitely on the LOVE side of the spectrum. I am also in love with coconut water, but only the Taste Nirvana brand. I've tried other brands like VitaCoco and Zico, but they all have a bizarre sour flavor. Taste Nirvana is just a tad sweet and oh so refreshing and crisp.

Every so often they have some cooking demos at CSA. This week, Rachel Yaseen from The Organic Kitchen had some samples of sweet potato patties, braising greens, and a butternut squash crisp. She is a fellow coconut lover and the crisp had a great coconut flavor. It was subtle, but definitely there. I got a butternut squash this week and though it would be great to try out this recipe. Butternut squash has such a distinct flavor that can be translated into both sweet and savory dishes. Surprisingly, this dish does not taste anything like butternut squash. It almost reminds me of peaches or mangoes. You're expecting butternut squash flavor, but you get something very different.

The crisp/crumble topping has a wonderful coconut flavor and it's way healthy too! I had no idea coconut could come in so many different forms, but almost every kind is in this crisp. I got to experiment with coconut flour, coconut palm sugar, coconut oil, and shredded coconut. You'd think this would be coconut overload, but it's actually pretty subtle. Mixed in with the sweet butternut squash, it's a great combo.

The original recipe on the website uses almond flour. Since JC is allergic too all things almond, I substituted coconut flour. I had no idea how this would turn out, I've never worked with the stuff before. I found it while wandering the bulk foods section at Whole Foods trying to find something to substitute for almond flour. I think it turned out pretty well, and it smells so amazing. The recipe also called for agave nectar. I am not a huge fan of the flavor, so I used honey instead. The only spice is cinnamon, but I think it would be great with a bit of nutmeg and cloves to create more of that rich allspice flavor that goes so well with butternut squash.

This dish ended up being nearly all organic and it utilizes some really great low glycemic index foods. It's a great dessert and goes perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Butternut Squash Crisp
adapted from The Organic Kitchen

For the butternut squash:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, cored, diced into small pieces
• 2 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp coconut flour

For the crisp topping:

• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 8 T butter and/ or coconut oil (use less for a less decadent dessert)
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

For butternut squash mixture, just mix all the ingredients together. Place on a cookie sheet (that has a lip) or in a baking pan, greased. Then mix the topping ingredients together (use cold butter cut into pieces and use your fingers to mix it into the rest of the ingredients). Then sprinkle over the butternut squash. Bake on 375 for 30-40 minutes or until top is slightly brown and crisp. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I'm Inspired

I have been pretty lazy about cooking the past couple weeks so I have had a bit of an overload of veggies sitting in the fridge. We have been getting lots of great produce from CSA recently like eggplant, onions, potatoes, turnips, radishes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash and the winter green are starting to trickle in. I am a huge fan of squash, all types, any shape or form. Yellow squash, zucchini, butternut, spaghetti squash, pumpkin, japanese kabocha... everything.

Spaghetti squash is a super versatile veggie. You can substitute it for pasta and toss it with your favorite sauce or make a great casserole dish. A couple weeks ago, I made a Kale and Spaghetti Squash Gratin. It turned out just alright, it could have gone for a bit more cheese and more oomph. I was inspired by a Societies Dinner we had a couple weekends ago. My mentor is also a CSA member and made many CSA veggie dishes. In particular, she made a really great spaghetti squash and green chile dish. It was delish and I knew I had to try to re-create it.

I admit that I am not the best at coming up with my own recipes. I cook by following recipes provided by others and I get really nervous when I have to create something on my own. This dish was all me and it turned out surprisingly well. It has a nice crunch from the squash and onions and also kick from the green chiles. I also used queso fresco which was absolutely perfect. I always want to call this cheese squeaky teeth cheese because when you eat it, it sort of squeaks when you chew on it. It's very mild but so yum.

I'm so proud of this dish, it turned out way better than I had expected--especially since I was not working from a recipe. This dish is super versatile and you could easy throw in any veggies you have on hand. Next time, I might use a different kind of cheese (maybe a gruyere or pecorino romano) and throw in some winter greens. The dish doesn't look that appetizing in the photo, but it's really super good, I promise! I need to work on my food photography skills.

How I cook spaghetti squash: Cut the raw squash in half (this can be difficult, so be careful!!). Put a few tablespoons on water on a plate and place the squash face down on the plate. Cover with saran wrap to create a nice steamy bubble. Place in the microwave for ~10 minutes. Remove saran wrap, be careful because the steam is very hot. Let sit for a few minutes and then scrape out the yummy goodness with a fork. 

Spaghetti Squash and Green Chiles

• 1 spaghetti squash, cooked (see above)
• 5-6 roasted green chiles (more or less to your taste), seeded and chopped
• 10 oz. queso fresco, crumbled
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c. milk
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix prepared spaghetti squash, green chiles, and queso fresco in a large bowl. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and onions. Saute until the onion are soft and the garlic is fragrant. Add onion and garlic mixture to the spaghetti squash mix. Mix in the beaten egg, milk, and season with salt and pepper.

Spray an 8x8 baking dish and pour prepared mixture into dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is bubbly.

An Apple a Day...

Today was the day of our bake sale. We had so much food it was ridiculous, it couldn't all fit on the table. It was incredible. Unfortunately, the event had little to no people attend. It was a bit of a flop and so disappointing. We had all this food laid out so pretty and no one to buy from us. I came home with a lot of leftovers and a sad heart. We have decided to have another bake sale on Monday to try and sell off the mass amount of unsold baked goods. Everything is so delicious and I would be sad to see it go to waste. So, one more plug for the last bake sale. Monday at the CoM Lobby. Come eat our delicious treats! Here is photo proof of how amazing the bake sale looked:

I've decided to write about one of my favorite treats that I made for the bake sale, and probably the most healthy thing too. This is a recipe straight out of Dr. Weil's cookbook called The Healthy Kitchen. I bought this after I attended the Nutrition and Health Conference in May. I haven't made much out of it, but I thought this recipe looked pretty good and it's actually really healthy too. It only has 3 Tbsp of sugar and 3 Tbsp of butter--that's almost nothing in the baking world. The cake gets its sweetness from the apples and dates. Shredding the apples can be a bit of a pain. I peeled and cored them and then threw them into my food processor using the grater attachment. It was super easy, but I know if you don't have a food processor that can be a bit tough. I used red delicious apples only because they were on sale, but you could use virtually any type of apple. This cake is not too sweet with just a hint of spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg. I also used fresh milled flour from our CSA wheat berries. Sprinkle these will a little powdered sugar and they are so pretty. Don't be scared of healthy recipes, this one is a keeper!

Apple Cake Squares
from The Healthy Kitchen by Dr. Andrew Weil

1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons softened butter or Spectrum Spread 2 eggs 2 cups apples, peeled, cored, finely shredded (about 2 1/2 medium/large apples) 1/4 cup finely chopped dates 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and stir thoroughly. Cream the sugar and butter together in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in the shredded apples and dates until they are completely distributed throughout. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly into the batter. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, or grease it with 1/4 teaspoon of butter and pour in the batter. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Put the confectioners' sugar in a sifter and dust it over the cooled cake a few times until all the sugar is gone. Cut the Apple Cake into 9 squares and arrange each one on top of a decorated plate and serve.

True Blue

I have been a baking monster the past couple of days. Yesterday was cookie day and today I made a wonderful apple cake and a blueberry crumb bars. Today, we will talk about the latter and we will come back to the former another day (I feel like I should throw some biochemistry in with all these latters and formers...).

Blueberries are one of my favorite foods, not only because of its flavor but also because of its health benefits. They are super rich in antioxidants like anthocyanin, vitamin C, B complex, vitamin E, and vitamin A. They are also high in zinc and iron which can boost your immune system and prevent infections. But that's not all. They also help to preserve vision and prevent heart disease. They do much more and you can read about it here. Those cute little blue spheres are pretty amazing.

With all of those health benefits, they are perfect for an integrative bake sale treat. I found a great recipe for a blueberry crumb bars that is so incredibly easy. To be honest, it has quite a bit of butter in the crust, so it's really not the healthiest treat. But in my opinion, everything in moderation, plus you're getting those super benefits from these bars being loaded with blueberries.

Rather than fresh blueberries, which can cost an arm and a leg, I bought a bag of frozen blueberries. I got about a 6 cup bag for approximately $4. Last night I took them out of the freezer and let them defrost in the fridge. And voila, today I had perfect blueberries ready for baking. I imagine you could use almost any kind of fruit in this crumb bar, just make sure it gets nice and gooey so it will congeal and hold together. You could also mix additional fruit with the blueberries. I think it would be great to throw some tart cherries, or cranberries, or even chopped strawberries or mango. Get creative, that's why baking and cooking are fun.

By the way, JC rated these little guys a perfect 10. Delicious.

These delicious little bars will make their debut appearance at the Integrative Medicine Club Bake Sale tomorrow (Friday) from 1:30-3 PM. Come visit me at my table under the homecoming student showcase tent and taste some delicious homemade goodies.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
adapted from gimme some oven

• 1 cup sugar (plus extra 1/3 cup for blueberries)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• zest from one lemon
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, baking powder, flour, salt, and  lemon zest. Use a food processor or pastry cutter to blend in the butter, egg and vanilla.  (Or if you don’t have these appliances, you can always just use your hands) Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together 1/3 c. sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Food as Medicine

This Friday the Integrative Medicine Club is having a Healthy Integrative Bake Sale. We held the first healthy bake sale at the end of last year and are continuing this great event. Our healthy approach has been so popular it has even been mimicked by a variety of other organizations. Although at first I was a bit saddened to see our original idea taken by other groups, in the end I am really happy that our club has taken the entire concept of a bake sale on a 180 degree turn. I am glad that our idea was so popular that other people wanted to do it as well. I say no to obese med students! Who made it a rule that baked goods had to be fatty and loaded with unhealthy ingredients? The Integrative Medicine Club strives to educate and demonstrate the importance of nutrition on health. We are really the only club that addresses this topic and the reason why we love our healthy bake sales. Simply put, food is medicine.

I have been busy working in the kitchen all day. I made three batches of cookies today: chocolate almond, matcha green tea, and ginger cookies.

We'll focus on the ginger cookies. Ginger is a great food and has a variety of health benefits. It has a long tradition of helping to relieve gastrointestinal distress and is also loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. Gingerols, the anti-inflammatory compound, may help to alleviate the pain in patients with arthritis. These cookies also do not contain any white sugar. Rather, the sweetness comes from brown sugar and molasses. Sweeteners like refined white sugar and corn syrup are void of virtually all nutrients and artificial sweeteners like saccharine and aspartame do not provide any nutrients and may cause health problems. Molasses is a sweetener that is rich in nutrients such as manganese, copper, iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. So basically, these cookies are sort of good for you.

The original recipe called these cookies "gingersnaps" but I would change the name to "gingerchews." These are definitely not your normal crispy gingersnaps that actually snap when you break them. Instead, these are soft and chewy, which I definitely prefer. I rolled the cookies in some sugar to give them a little shine, but it would be even prettier to use to larger grain turbindo sugar. These don't have a strong taste of ginger, to be honest, I don't really like the flavor of ginger. There is more a flavor of the nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger mixed together with the molasses. It's a nice combo. These are really yummy cookies and so easy to make.

Quick plug: These will be featured at the Integrative Medicine Club Bake Sale this Friday from 1:30-3 on the plaza between COM, CON, and COP. Find our table under the tent to taste all of our tasty treats!

Gingerchews
adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• sugar for rolling

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. In another bowl, combine together the brown sugar, molasses, vegetable oil, and egg until smooth. Mix the flour mixture into the brown mixture, stirring until dough comes together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll into ball by heaping teaspoonfuls and roll the balls in sugar and place on the greased baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 8 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and leave on the baking sheet several minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will be very soft when removed from the oven but they will firm up.

This dish gets an 11

Today is going to be a terrible day, I can already tell and it's only 10:30 in the morning. It is cloudy and gloomy outside and I have a LONG day of studying ahead of me. At least the day started off well, 100% on TL, hip hip hooray. Before I dive into this bottomless pit, I thought I would write a little bit about dessert last night.

The boys spent a whole day climbing outside while I was a prisoner in the house with my head in my book. As my mini-break, I decided to whip up a pie. I had some leftover buttermilk from the fried green tomatoes, and one of my favorite things to do with buttermilk is make pie (oh and red velvet cupcakes). Buttermilk pie is so easy and it's really delicious. It reminds me more of a custard than a pie because it doesn't have a crust. Once you bake it, the top gets a nice crust and is so yummy. Joey and I have a silly ritual of rating our dishes after we make them. It's a 1-10 scale and really doesn't have any strict criteria. 1 means it's absolutely horrible (luckily, nothing has ever been given this rating) and a 10 means it's one of the best dishes you've ever had. Most things get a 7 or 8, occasionally we have a 4. Joey's rating for this buttermilk pie is an 11, it's officially one of his favorite things in the entire world. Yeah, it's that good.

I recently acquired a mass amount of peaches from a good friend (thanks A!). I thought it would be nice to make some kind of peach syrup over the buttermilk pie. I found a great recipe for peach lavender syrup that I thought would compliment the pie wonderfully. The original recipe called for use of vanilla beans, but those little guys are so expensive, so I just substituted a little vanilla extract. I am hesitant with lavender because sometimes it can give off an overly floral taste. I wish that this dish actually had more lavender flavor. You could definitely smell the aroma, but I think the overly sweet taste of the sugary syrup overwhelmed the delicate lavender. I would probably decrease the sugar a bit and let the lavender seep longer. Also, I would just spoon the peaches soaked in syrup over the pie and not drizzle extra syrup on top. It makes the pie too sweet. Just a bite of pie with a bite of peach, divine. Another option would be to reserve some of the syrup and mix it in with some whipped cream to serve over the pie. Delish.

Okay, enough distraction from studying. Here's the recipe. Off to JAK STAT, phosphatidylinositol, Ratkhe's pouch, Hashimoto's and other things I don't completely understand yet...

JC's Buttermilk Pie with Lavender Peaches
adapted from Olivia's Buttermilk Pie and First Look, Then Cook

For the Buttermilk Pie

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup biscuit mix (recommended: Bisquick)
• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan. Put all ingredients in a bowl and blend for 1 minute with a handheld electric mixer. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes.

For the Lavender Peaches

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons dried lavender blossoms
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 medium firm but ripe peaches, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch wedges, skins removed*
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Combine 2 1/4 cups water, sugar, lavender and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; cover and let steep 10 minutes. Strain syrup into medium bowl; discard lavender. Return remaining syrup to same saucepan; add peaches and lemon juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer about 5 minutes. Transfer peaches to bowl. Boil syrup in pan until reduced to 1 cup, 12 to 14 minutes. Pour over peaches. Chill uncovered 2 hours.

*Here's a trick to easily remove the skins from peaches: Place the peaches in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then immediately remove them and place them in an ice bath for a few minutes.The skins should peel right off.

Fried Green Tomatoes (not a very creative title...sorry)

Instead of studying for my test next week, I was busy being interrupted by Stacy and my dog multiple times.

As a result, I was persuaded into going to Fry's (Ghetto Groceries Inc.) and making Fried Green Tomatoes....yes like the movie. Although, I must admit that I've never actually seen it before.

In any case, the deep fried and green tomatoes were bomb.com

Fried Green Tomatoes

• 3 lbs green tomatoes (6-8 medium tomatoes)
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 cups vegetable or peanut oil
• 3 batches of dredge (recipe below)
• Kosher salt (You should buy this and not use regular iodized salt. You'll thank me later)
• Lemon Juice (if needed)

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch think slices. Note: Don't use slices that include the stem. You'll regret it.

Next, whisk the eggs and butter milk together in a small bowl and place it to the side

Now, make the dredge (Fancy word for: flour and other crap that makes a very tasty and crunchy crust post frying). How do you do this? Technically you need to sift all the ingredients together, twice. But, if you are not a baker or do not shop compulsively at Ikea's cooking section like someone I live with, a fork will suffice to mix it all together in a wide shallow bowl or a plate.

Dredge Recipe

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons corn meal (can be found in baking aisle)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1.5 teaspoons of ground pepper (freshly ground preferable)

Now that all of your mis en place is ready, pour the oil into a 12 inch skillet or a normal frying pan. Turn on the heat to high. Typically you want to have a candy or digital thermometer around so you can maintain the oil at 365 F. I'm too cheap to buy one, so I just heated it up until the oil started to sizzle when I threw some flour into it. 

Note: Taste your tomatoes. They should taste tart. If not, sprinkle a little bit of salt and lemon juice onto them.

Once your oil is more or less at temperature, cover your tomatoes in dredge; try to dust off excessive amounts. Then coat the tomatoes in the egg/milk mixture and then re-dredge them again. Re dust off excessive amounts of dredge and throw...I mean gently place the tomatoes into the frying pan. 

Flip the tomatoes once they turn golden brown with a spatula. This should take 1-2 minutes on each side depending on how hot your oil is. Be sure not to let them burn because you left the kitchen to watch the Oregon vs Stanford game like I did. 

Once done, take your spatula and lay the tomatoes on a plate with paper towels on it. I had extra Trader Joe paper bags around, so I just used that.

Let them cool, and enjoy! If you are one of those types who needs to always have dips for their appetizers, I would suggest peppercorn ranch dressing.

I'm Stuffed.

This is one of my favorite comfort dishes. Stuffed shells are so easy to make and are so filling. They also freeze really well, so if you make a big batch of these, you can tuck them away for another night. This is my mom's recipe, but I adapted it a bit to use some of the stuff I had around the kitchen. We used a spicy pork sausage, so it has a bit of a bite. I also decided to throw in some leftover pesto sauce from pizza night. It's also nice to add some fresh chopped parsley if you have it on hand, I didn't so I left it out. For my vegetarians out there, this recipe can easily be made without the sausage as well. One more note, I thought I would be economical and buy the really cheap pasta shells from Fry's. Don't do this. I opened the box and about half of the shells were already cracked, and after cooking them, another quarter were stuck together and ripped apart. Just buy the good quality shells to make sure they are fit for stuffing.

Spinach Cheese Stuffed Shells
adapted from Mama A

• 1 box jumbo shells
• 1 package pork sausage (mild or hot)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 small container of ricotta cheese
• 1 small box of chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 Tbsp pesto sauce
• 1 bottle spaghetti sauce (any flavor)

Prepare the pasta shells and set aside. In a pan cook the pork sausage and add the onions. Drain the fat and cool a little. Mix the spinach, ricotta, egg, parmesan, nutmeg, and pesto. Mix in the meat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a casserole dish, spread some spaghetti sauce on the bottom. Stuff the shells with the filling and arrange in the casserole dish. Pour the rest of the sauce on top and sprinkle some more parmesan cheese. Place in oven to cook for about 30 minutes.

Hello October!

Tomorrow is the start of October and that means it's pumpkin season. For the past few years, I have always celebrated with some of my favorite cookies. I look forward to this time all year. Technically, I could make these cookies any day of the year, but for some reason they taste so much better during October. Ideally, I would be able to look out my window and see the leaves changing and feel the brisk, crisp air blowing. Well, I live in Tucson. Today, the last day of September, it was a blistering 103 degrees and we don't have trees with real leaves that could ever change color. It doesn't feel or look like Fall outside, but inside it smells like pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I feel like making a hot cup of tea and bundling up in a big blanket. Too bad the AC is on full blast and at 8:30 at night, it is still 93 degrees outside. Regardless, I can still pretend like it's changing seasons and eat these yummy cookies.

I need to give credit to my good friend Ashley for these cookies. This recipe is from her and they have been one of my favorites. I made these last year and was cleaned out by my other med students. The frosting recipe is by Paula Dean and is by far the best cream cheese frosting I have ever had. I don't like frosting very much, but I could eat this stuff plain by the spoonful. These are so soft and just the right about of sweetness. These are one of the best parts of October.

Ashely's Pumpkin Cookies

• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 c. canned pumpkin
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the shortening and sugar. Add the egg and mix. Add the pumpkin and mix. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg). Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix. Dough will be thick.

Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Frost when cool.

Paula's Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 lb (16 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 c. confectioners sugar

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Slowly add the confectioners sugar on low speed and beat until incorporated. Increase speed to high and mix until light and fluffy.

Gourmet Pizza Time!

When you have a bunch of veggies you need to get rid of, a pizza is always a great idea. I am not a huge fan of red pizza sauce, so I prefer a white or pesto pizza. We got another bag of arugula this week from CSA and I'm tired of making Pecorino and Pepper Pasta. I searched on Tastespotting for some ideas for arugula and I decided to put it on a pizza. It has such a great flavor and brings in a nice peppery bite. I thought it would pair well with salty prosciutto and sweet caramelized onions. This pizza was, to say the least, beautiful. The bright green arugula, pink prosciutto, and white shaved parmesan made the pizza look great. The only downside was that the pesto made the pizza very oily. I bought the refrigerated small plastic tub from Trader Joe's. It's a great pesto sauce, but if I did it again, I would either use less or try to squeeze out some of the oil before spreading it on the dough. This pizza turned out wonderful and puts any gourmet pizza from Sauce to shame.

Arugula, Prosciutto, Caramelized Onions, and Shaved Parmesan Pizza

• Pre-baked pizza dough (I like to use the refrigerated bags from Trader Joe's)
• 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pesto sauce (Store bought or make your own)
• Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 1 package of prosciutto (about 4 oz), sliced into strips
• 1 1/2 c. fresh arugula, stems removed and coarsely ripped
• Shaved parmesan cheese

To prepare the caramelized onions, heat the olive oil in a small saute pan. Add the sliced onions, salt, and sugar and stir until the onions are soft and have a nice brown, caramel color. This will take about 20-30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven according to the pizza dough packaging, I set my oven to 450 degrees.

On the pre-baked pizza dough, spread the pesto sauce and leave a 1/2 inch crust. Place one layer of the sliced mozzarella on the pizza and sprinkle the caramelized onions on top. Lay about half of the prosciutto on the pizza and put in the oven for 10 minutes or until the crust is finished baking.

Remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Cover the pizza with the arugula. Take the remaining prosciutto strips and twirl them into mounds and place on the pizza. Sprinkle the shaved parmesan on top. 

Place the pizza back in the turned off oven for one minute to allow the arugula to to wilt a bit. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little more of the shaved parmesan. 

Cut, serve, and enjoy!