Category: 4. Spring

granola, two ways

May 2nd, 2011 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

I have a confession to make: I can’t stop making (and eating) granola.

I realize a handful of you live in places where it’s either warm all-year-around, or just plain hot right now and the thought of turning on your oven is completely nuts. But in Oregon? Not so much. A typical spring in the Northwest consists of perpetual gray skies and a constant drizzle, lending it the perfect weather for granola making. Of course I type this as the sun is blaring and the constant hum of lawn mowers plays background to the chirping birds. So…anyway.

GRANOLA!

I make my own because:

  1. It’s super easy and rewarding to make.
  2. It’s cheap, like crazy cheap compared to purchasing prepared, and tastes infinitely more fresh.
  3. It’s healthy. Truly. Whole grains, protein, healthy fats, low sugar. Delicious.

Nut and Seed Granola

The first batch I made is from the lovely book Feeding the Whole Family. Which I adore in case you were wondering, though the recipe that I used actually comes from an older version of the book. Amanda was able to share it here. Holy mackrol is it good. Lightly sweetened with maple syrup, crunchy, and earthy in the best way. And there’s something just, I don’t know, interesting, about sesame seeds. It gives it an unexpected flavor that is just incredible. Here are my notes:

  • coconut oil for the vegetable oil
  • maple syrup instead of brown rice syrup
  • apricot nectar instead of apple or orange juice
  • omitted almond extract

Double Coconut Granola

The second batch I made is a bit sweeter, a bit crunchier and a bit more addictive. Like, ahem, seriously addictive. I am the extreme opposite from a morning person, but I actually get excited to wake up so that I can swirl a bit into my whole milk yogurt. And then sneak another handful mid-morning. And perhaps later have a small bowl with a splash of milk. Heaven. The recipe I used is from Opera Girl Cooks. My notes are below:

  • carrot honey for clover honey
  • bourbon vanilla extract for regular vanilla

These would make a wonderful gift packaged all pretty, as a housewarming or new parent gift, or perhaps just because. So, for the hotties out there, definitely tuck this away for future reference, but for those who live in cooler climates, I can’t recommend these recipes enough. You must make and mangia, mangia, mangia!

P.S. – Just one week left to enter the anniversary giveaway.

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4. Spring, Mangia 10 comments - Tags: , , ,

how to cook a lebanese-style feast

April 13th, 2011 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Last week we entertained out-of-town guests and I wanted to welcome them to Portland with an abundance of healthy, fresh food. The guests were visiting from Hawaii, and I learned that the produce on the Island tends to be insanely expensive and not of the freshest variety. I wanted to prepare a meal with lots of fresh, organic produce, but not have to fiddle with a new recipe, so I cooked what I know: Lebanese-style food. This is by no means an authentic meal, but it’s relatively simple and extremely delicious.

I shopped and prepared everything that very day, though all of this can be prepared up to two days in advance.

The Menu

Relish tray: carrot sticks, thinly sliced cucumber, assorted pitted olives, fresh feta cheese, sliced tomatoes with cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of basil.

Balsamic Hummus: I use this recipe, and add a splash or two of balsamic vinegar when my blender tells me I need more liquid. Dollop in a pretty dish, make a well and pour in a bit of olive oil; sprinkle with paprika.

Pita Bread: For this meal I purchased the freshest whole wheat pita bread that I could find and sliced it in small slices. I am not really a baker and didn’t want to experiment on guests, but I have wanted to try this recipe for quite some time now.

Tabouli: This is the recipe that I use, and I love it. The only thing I do different is bump up the bulgur to 3/4 cup and omit the cayenne. We had tons of leftovers and have been wrapping spoonfuls in lettuce leaves and it’s just been rad.

Spiced Nuts: The ultimate snack and my favorite, served in a delicate dish.

Forbidden Rice and Sauteed Mushrooms and Spinach: Basmati rice would have been more appropriate, but I used what I had on hand. Simply add one cup forbidden rice to two cups water. I let this soak in the pot for several hours before cooking. Once water has boiled, cover and reduce heat to simmer for one hour. Take off heat, fluff with fork and transfer to a pretty bowl. This is so flavorful, I don’t feel that it needs any salt or seasoning. For the mushrooms: Heat 2 Tbls. olive oil in a large cast iron skillet and saute 1.5 pounds sliced crimini mushrooms, 3-4 (minced) garlic cloves, a sprinkle of sea salt and 1-3 Tbls. bacon ends (meat, not fat) over med.-high heat. Once reduced, add 1/2-1 bunch rinsed and chopped spinach to the pan and allow to wilt. Transfer to a pretty bowl and serve on top of rice.

Roasted Greek Chicken: Rinse and dry 12 organic chicken drumsticks. Spoon just a bit of coconut oil (or sub. olive) onto each drumstick and sprinkle with Cavender’s seasoning. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes until the skin is golden and crispy. Amazingly good and seriously simple.

Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing: You may remember that I love this dressing over fruit. I chopped 1 small pineapple, 1 Braeburn apple, 1 orange, 1 banana, and a couple handfuls of red grapes and tossed it with the juice from half a lime and a drizzle of honey. Blueberries would add even more color and flavor.

Beverages: Ice water garnished with lemon slices and kombucha served in chilled shot glasses. I am somewhat addicted to white rose and spiced apple kava right now. Oh, and of course beer. I suppose wine would have been more appropriate, but whatevs.

Mangia! What are your favorite Mediterranean or Middle Eastern dishes?

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kale & white bean soup with rosemary & olive oil flat bread

June 19th, 2010 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Tonight I made soup. Did I mention it’s nearing the end of June? Yup, steaming hot, delicious soup. It just sounded downright homey and hearty after a busy day shopping at the farmer’s market and fabric store. I tore the soup recipe from the pages of Real Simple, as I tend to do, but you can find the recipe here. The only modifications I made were to omit the soup pasta and halve the amount of salt that it called for, but next time I’ll use the full portion.

The flat bread preparation just seemed necessary due to the lack of soup pasta and sliced bread in the house. And dammit, I just felt carbs were essential. The bread paired nicely with the soup and it was super easy to make. My husband actually whipped up the dough while I made the soup and as that simmered I quickly topped the bread, popped it in the oven and it was ready right as the soup was. The whole production took about 30 minutes. Seriously.

Rosemary & Olive Oil Flat Bread

We’ve made this dough three times in the past week alone, twice for pizza, now for flat bread and there’s another little ball sitting in the fridge waiting its turn to be topped. My husband made the dough in the food processor this time around and changed the ingredients enough that it warrants instruction:

Dough:

  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cup bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Topping:

  • scant 1 tablespoon Spanish olive oil (to drizzle on top of dough)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • a small handful fresh basil leaves

Include dry ingredients in food processor and give it a zap (proof yeast in water first if allowing dough to rise. See original recipe for instructions). Add wet ingredients and give it another few zaps. Divide the dough and roll into two separate balls. Refrigerate or freeze one ball for another day. Roll out the other dough ball on a baking sheet or pizza stone by hand to about 1/4 inch thickness. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle rosemary on top. Bake for five minutes at 425 500 degrees. At five minutes, quickly top with basil leaves, turn the sheet, and cook an additional five minutes. (I added the basil leaves at the beginning, which is why mine look crispy brown instead of vibrant green.) Slice or break the bread and serve alongside soup. Mangia!

And a little preview of what’s to come:

Strawberry rhubarb hand pies! A little Father’s Day gift for my husband and Pops. I’ll post about this later as I may have already eaten one two of the pies and feel disgustingly over-sugared. Oopsie. Plan thwarted.

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roasted chicken, carrots and potatoes with olives and lemon

June 17th, 2010 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Summer in the city means cold, cold, cold! Well, if you’re in Portland it does! So the other night as the rain splashed down, I thought firing up the ‘ole oven sounded down right cozy. And it was! I made roasted chicken, carrots and potatoes with olives and lemon, a favorite in our home, since I found this recipe thumbing through the pages of Real Simple this winter…or perhaps fall. Anyway, it only dirties the baking sheet that you cook it on (win!) and takes me all of about five minutes to whip it together (double win!); though it roasts for about 50 minutes in the oven. This meal is absolutely delicious – so very, very flavorful. The acidity of the lemon and strong salty taste of the olives imparts a powerful blast of flavor with every bite of the chicken and carrots. I add potatoes to mellow it all out.

Check out the original recipe if you wish; here is my adaptation (oh, and because I needed to hurry and pop this in the oven, I only took pictures of the finished product…so yeah…I’m going to show you about 8,000 pictures of this feast from pretty much every angle…ready…):

Looks delicious!?! Let’s get cooking!

Ingredients:

  • 6 chicken drumsticks
  • four carrots cut into two-inch pieces (halved length-wise at the thick top)
  • 2-4 baby red potatoes, quartered or halved based on size (I just use however many fit onto the sheet)
  • 1 small container kalamata olives (the smallest container at the olive bar – I think this is about 2/3 – 3/4 cup)
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 lemon, quartered
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • fine sea salt and black pepper
  • 1-2 teaspoons paprika

Preparations:

  • Set oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet (although I’ve done it in a more shallow one but it was annoying), toss the chicken, carrots, potatoes, olives, bay leaves, lemon, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon salt and a few cranks from the pepper mill. Fan all the goodness out in a single layer. Generously sprinkle the chicken with paprika.
  • Roast, tossing everything just once at about 25 minutes, and continue cooking another 25 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots and potatoes are tender. Mangia! Oh, and in case you missed what it looks like when it’s done:

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4. Spring, 9. Paleo, Mangia 11 comments - Tags: ,

tom kah gai and some pie

June 4th, 2010 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

If tom kah gai was my last meal on earth, I would be okay with that. Honestly. I love tom kah gai. In Portland, there are countless Thai food restaurants and carts and I have ordered this meal from virtually every thai place that I have ever eaten. While I can say with some confidence that phad thai is usually created equal, I can’t say this with the tom kah gai. Sometimes it’s too fishy, other times the coconut milk isn’t the main standout, and I can be very picky about the type and quality of meat that is included, along with what vegetables are chosen, if any even exist…and I definitely need me some veggies! I think my favorite preparation of this dish, ironically where I first experienced this culinary delight, can be found at the downtown location of E-San Thai.

I have always wanted to make this dish, but for some reason haven’t, so I was stoked when Mothering sent me the recipe (via Peggy’s Kitchen newsletter) and I knew I had to make it right away. If you do not already receive Peggy’s newsletter, I highly recommend that you do. Every week or so a new email is sent with an array of amazing, healthy meals. Not only that, but often in the footnotes, it offers suggestions on how to prepare the meal for your baby. This particular meal did not, however my son really enjoyed some of the creamy coconut milk for his supper. The original recipe can be found here, they suggest serving it with these multi-grain rolls. I really wanted to make these but ran out of time, and instead, served it with white rice (served at the bottom of the bowl). Because I know what I like when it comes to this soup, I made a handful of modifications; below is my concoction and it’s now my favorite preparation!

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced in half-moons
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger root
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon thai spice (ask for a container of extra spice the next time you get take-out thai)
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 6-8-inch stalk lemongrass
  • 8 oz. extra firm tofu, cubed
  • 3 cups water
  • 14 ounces organic canned coconut milk
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 8-10 crimini mushrooms, halved
  • 3 firm roma tomatoes, cut in eights
  • 2 stalks green onions, sliced
  • 1 large baby bok choy, thinly sliced (we plucked ours from the garden!)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, garlic, and salt; sauté until onions are translucent. Add ginger, red pepper, thai spice, coriander, and cumin; cook until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Bisect lemongrass stalk lengthwise and remove small core at bottom. Chop up 1/2 inch or so of stalk where it is most tender. Chop the remainder of stock into about 2-3″ pieces (large enough to easily remove when eating). Add lemongrass, tofu, water, coconut milk, fish sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Simmer the soup about 20 minutes. Start the rice by boiling two cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon olive oil and a hearty pinch of sea salt. Add one cup of rice and cover; turn stove down to med.-low heat. After 20 minutes are up, add bok choy, green onion and cilantro to soup; simmer another 5 minutes. Slightly tilt rice lid and remove from heat and allow to rest. Fluff; spoon rice into bottom of bowl and ladle soup over top. Garnish with cilantro. Serves four, generously; I calculate that it cost $8.18 to make the pot. Because take-out only serves two and costs about $10, $12 if you include tip, we saved $15.72. Not too shabby! Now on to this evenings dessert:

STRAWBERRY FREAKING RHUBARB PIE (and Haagen Daaz vanilla bean ice cream)!!! Now I’m not eating dessert every night like I have been doing for the past year or so (and by dessert, I mean giant sized brownies with a tub of ice cream), but tonight my husband surprised me with a pre-birthday present: a strawberry rhubarb pie baked by my friend Laura. I talked about Laura’s pies recently (another friend happened to order one and shared…lucky us!) and honestly, I have never eaten better pie in my life. I do not say this lightly as I have had some killer pie. Let me know if you want to order one and I’ll pass her info along.

Lastly, I was so taken with the kind words and encouragement given me both publicly and privately from my last post. It truly means a lot. I’m happy to report, (ahem, pie not included), that I’ve really been more conscious about the types of food, as well as the amount, that I put into my body. I haven’t been perfect, but I do feel different already, as if I have a bit more energy than the day before. I’m so excited to continue seeing the positive changes that come from this, as I know that you truly are what you eat! Have a fab weekend folks!

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4. Spring, 7. Sweet Treats, Mangia One comment - Tags: , , ,