But never have I had a dinner that started off … meeting chickens.
My friend Kate found about the dinner at Goat Lady Dairy, and told us about it and as soon as I read about it on the website, I was in. Actually, all I had to read was “goat cheese truffles” and I was in. So last night, Kate and Charlie, Anne and I (husbands were working, sadly) and Anne & Kate’s parents, Linda and Eddie, packed ourselves into the car and made the 50 minute drive out into the country (and it was indeed) to have dinner at the Goat Lady Dairy.
Our evening started off, as I mentioned, in the chicken coop. Steve Tate, one of the owners of the 15-year old goat farm, assured us that we would be better off not looking down at our feet while he chatted. We happily complied. Steve gave us a little history of how Goat Lady Dairy came to be, but more near and dear to my heart, he waxed poetic about sustainable farming.
If you’ve seen Food Inc, you know we’re in a tad bit of trouble – food wise – in this country. And I’m not just talking about the stuff that I usually talk about – weight loss, obesity, health. We’ve got totally disconnected from where our food comes from… and what our food is – and what that is doing to all of us. There’s a whole heckuva lotta stuff in the grocery store that your great-grandma wouldn’t even know how to identify, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Cheap food comes at a great cost.
Oops, guess who else can wax poetic about sustainable farming? Sorry, I’ll just to keep myself in check here… Anyways, the point I was going to make is – I liked Food, Inc. I thought it was informative. But it was also a little bit IN YOUR FACE, YO and I know a lot of people had a hard time stomaching the film. Steve was pretty much the opposite, but with the same message. He spoke from a place of passion and purpose. Here we all were to have a delicious farm fresh meal, and he had recognized an opportunity to minister to a captive audience about a simple idea: “Food is the problem, but food can be the solution.” (His direct quote, but I loved it.) And we were a captive audience – indeed, we were in the chicken coop. See if a bunch of us city folks can figure out how to work that pen latch.
Genius. But genius delivered with a side of earnest, heartfelt truth about our food.
Oh and the food! The food we had for dinner last night was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. Everything served came from the farm we were on, or a nearby local one. Considering March isn’t exactly known to be the most generous garden month of the year, I was a little curious as to what we would be served up. Here’s the blow by blow:
A cheese tasting platter, all the cheese coming from the goats on the farm. (They are, after all, a goat dairy. Their cheeses can be found at Reynolda Farm Market year round, as well as I think the Krankies market in the summer.)
The top cheese was a chevre mixed with carrots and a little bit of, I think dill? It was called the “spring garden goat cheese.” Amazing. And then the next one was called “Farmer’s Cheese” – a bit similar to a feta. The bottom one was called the “Smoked Round” which I will be buying in mass quantities to dollop generously on top of a tomato-basil-salad. I bit into that piece of cheese and my mind went “mmmm, summer.” The fourth one was a sweet chevre with honey and fig, and could pretty much have been dessert.
Course two was a roasted sweet potato soup with a hint of thyme. I hadn’t had enough wine to throw my manners out the window yet, or I’m certain I would have tipped the entire ramekin up and slurped it clean.
The third course was a cold kale (although previously sautéed?) salad with a sundried tomato lemon vinaigrette. This wasn’t my all time favorite, but that’s because I’m still learning to like greens. Not being a natural born Southerner, my palate still doesn’t quite know what to make of collards, kale and turnips. But I want to like them – hello, nutritional powerhouse – and this was certainly a step in the right direction. Fortunately Anne, Southern born and bred, finished off my plate for me. I informed her that she had gotten her fair share of vitamin K and her blood would be clotting well. “Uh huh, okay, but did you try the flower? It tastes like PURPLE!” was her response.
It did, surprisingly, taste like purple. (And yes, we checked. It was okay to eat them.)
The main event was venison and pork ragu served over a bed of polenta. Funny enough, we often had venison at my family Thanksgivings thanks to uncles who were handy with a shotgun and had a few too many Bambi’s in their backyard. It amuses me that I now see venison on some nicer restaurant menus as a “delicacy.” But, you can’t argue with good tasting meat right? Right.
The next course (I know, right?!) was the infamous goat cheese truffles. Oh my souls. Goat cheese and chocolate? Amazing.
And then finally….
Pound cake with dark chocolate sauce and an orange whipped cream. I was too full at this point to actually eat much of the dessert, but I do love me some real whipped cream. I now pledge this: I shall forever add orange zest to my whipped cream.
The food was amazing. I wish I could go back weekly, because the menu changes each week with whatever is in season. The setting was perfection – simple, rustic and wholesome. It’s obvious that everyone who works there believes in what they’re doing and why they are they, and it shows.
And the goats!
How could I forget to tell you about the goats? Well, for starters, they were all pregnant. Like, due any day now pregnant! After our session in the chicken coop, we were introduced to the goats.
I am quite certain Locke is going to have to buy his wife a goat this summer or else she is just not going to ever be happy again.
Although, I believe she said she’d be okay with a few chickens, too.
SO! If you live in Winston-Salem or Greensboro, make yourself a date with some goats and chickens and truly amazing meals. Gather up some friends, bring a couple bottles of wine (it’s BYOW) and don’t wear your favorite shoes.
If you don’t live here, read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Watch Food, Inc. Find a Farmer’s Market. Cook seasonal. Get a goat. Do what you can do – I think a lot of people get stuck because they feel like if they’re not going to go 100% organic, local, whatever, then they shouldn’t do it at all. I’m a far cry from eating “ideally” all the time (I’m certain the “Pirate’s Booty” I’m eating as I write this is neither local nor organic nor…gasp… nutritious…) but whatever small steps you can make towards eating in a way that supports your health and yup, the planet’s health, count.
And I mean, if eating sustainably means eating goat cheese truffles for dessert from time to time, well I’m sorry, that’s just the price you’ll have to pay.
I’ve known a couple people who do the “cook all your meals on Sunday” thing and I’ve always had a mixture of apprehension and hesitation about it. It seems like a tremendous amount of work (is it really a time saving?) and that it would be difficult to make healthy meals, as I’ve always pictured casseroles and other dense heavy meals sitting in the freezer.
But lo and behold, here I find myself with 4 recipes on the counter, along with 5 onions, 8 pounds of chicken, and just about pot and pan in my cupboard out, ready to be put to work. I genuinely love cooking, and furthermore, believe that most of the time, home cooked meals are healthier than restaurants meals. (They are, certainly, exceptions to this. Especially in the South.) BUT, as of March, I’m going to be switching to a 4-day work week and the 10 hour days, combined with a 40 minute commute both ways means I’ll be getting home pretty late most nights. Add a trip to the gym or an errand after work, and I could already forsee it was going to become quite tricky to assume I’d be cooking on a regular basis at night. Lest we become on first name basis with the folks at Jersey Mike’s down the street, I decided to tackle the Sunday cook-a-thon – since I will now have a 3rd day off every week (woohoo!), I figure it could very well be a good time investment.
I gave it a test run this weekend, and while it didn’t go perfectly, it was overall pretty successful. I cooked for 7 hours, used every pot and pan I own, chopped enough onions to give watching Stepmom a run for the cryfest title, and had to run the dishwasher twice. I didn’t quite pick out enough variety in my meals (all chicken, oops) and they weren’t the healthiest things in my repertoire BUT….
When all is said and done, I had 5 meals with 4 servings (10 meals for 2) PLUS I was able to take 3 2 servings meals to my next door neighbors, who just had a baby. So, 16 meals in 7 hours? Not bad.
Kitchen: After…. Oh dear.
It’s going to take me a while to perfect this strategy, but overall I think it’s going to work and I’m pleased with the solution instead of subjecting us to takeout or quick heat meals because “we’re busy.”
Here’s what I made:
6 grilled chicken breasts to top on salads or chop up and take for lunch w/ some pre-cooked whole grain pasta
Since it was the Sunday before Valentine’s Day, part of my prep was also making our Valentine’s Day dinner: seared steaks, roasted asparagus with proscuitto, twice baked potatoes and this delicious chocolate espresso cheesecake that was made mostly of cottage cheese. Not kidding. And I’m telling you that now, because my hubby has already eaten it and now he can know. Hi, honey!
All in all, this actually ended up being about 2 week’s worth of food, because we’re starting the 2nd week and we still haven’t finished it all up. I’ve even taking it for a lunch a few times, and it’s been a nice change of pace from my usual winter meal, turkey sandwiches.
The key to being able to do this, I think, is to be okay with eating the same thing a few times during the week. (Or making smaller portions, or freezing 1/2 of each dish.) I have no problem eating the same meal a few days in a row, but I’ve definitely talked to a few people about this strategy who were horrified at the idea of having chicken tetrazzini more than once in a week. *Shrugs*. If you’ve got the time to cook every night and have that variety, then there’s probably no need to attempt this. I never did, until I was faced with the alternative of not having time to cook and knowing that we would get into the habit of picking up meals or relying on quick and easy, more processed foods.
Some tips if you attempt this:
Plan ahead: Pick your recipes ahead of time, and look for things that have overlapping ingredients. I definitely took this one a bit too far with all chicken recipes, but besides that the ones I picked out also all had green peppers, chicken broth and onion in them. This allowed me to use up ingredients among the recipes easier.
Start with an empty dishwasher: Keep it open and load as you go. This helps keep clutter off the counter and it will make clean up less daunting.
Batch task: I learned this skill when I worked at GapKids and it has helped me in so many situations! Group like tasks together. For example, pull out all ingredients first. Measure out dry ingredients. Chop all vegetables at once. Then prep all meat. When you have a break (when something is cooking or simmering) wash dishes as you go.
Prep snacks and other meals too. You’ve already got the kitchen duty. Now is a perfect time to pre-chop veggies or salad mix. I bought a 3 pack of a peppers and only needed the green pepper and half the red pepper for my meals. The yellow and other half of the red ended up in strips to go with hummus for snacks later.
Listen to music! Whenever I have a long task to do, like cleaning the house or walking the dog or cooking, my iPod has been my saving grace. A little music, or even a book on tape can distract me enough that the hours fly by and the job gets done. I spent the first hour of my cooking bonanza listening to a church sermon, the middle 3 listening to Pandora radio (“Club Can’t Handle Me Right Now” station – hello, dancing in the kitchen) and the last 3 listening to the book “The Help.” I also like to download (free!) lectures from iTunes University or interesting podcasts. But that’s just me. But whatever you do: dont watch TV and cook. I have learned this over and over again. Well, again, maybe this is just me – but I get so distracted by the show, I end up working slower and it takes me twice as long to do everything.
Have an assistant. Even a furry one.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Even though I wasn’t working later yet this week, it was still so nice to do things after work and know that there was still a home cooked meal to be had that night. On Monday and Thursday, I went for a run. On Tuesday, I did my last Christmas return and went to dance class with Jamie and Anne. On Wednesday, I worked til 8 and on Friday, I crashed with a DVRed How I Met Your Mother and some crafting. Tonight, we’ll probably go out for dinner… because we want to. Not because we have to. And that’s exactly how I’d hope it would be.
This is another recipe from my Aunt Jennifer’s recipe book. I really like white chilis, and this one looked like it packed a little heat. It actually made a ton of soup, too. We had about 4 servings that I put in the fridge, 3 servings in the freezer and 3 to give to my neighbor. (I’m approximating a 1 cup serving.)
Here’s the how to. I don’t have any funny inside jokes about chili yet… so feel free to share yours if you’ve got one. No “beans, beans, they’re good for your heart” please.
I think you probably could use the pre-cooked shredded chicken for this, but I ended up dicing and cooking the chicken so it would get the flavor of the onions and garlic while it cooked.
The recipe also called for cumin, which I left out because, eww. That’s how I feel about cumin. If you like it, add a shake in. I think it was 1/2 tsp.
Aunt Jennifer’s White Chicken Chili 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 med onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves minced 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 14 oz can chicken broth 2 15 oz cans cannellini beans 1 4.5 oz can green chile peppers 1 tsp salt 3/4 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp pepper 1 dash cloves 1 dash ground pepper
1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. 2. Add chicken to brown and season. 3. Add all ingredients to a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. 4. Serve w/ sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. If you’re going to freeze, allow it to cool first. Pour into glass jars or tupperware and leave room for it to expand.
Diced chicken to cook. (Sometimes I use scissors to dice. It’s faster and I’m lazy.)
Chicken, onion and garlic cooking in the back – the pot I cooked it all in front.
Cooling before it goes into the plastic tupperware.
I would serve this with a small side salad, or maybe a nice crusty whole grain roll. Between the chicken and the beans, it’s got protein and fiber galore so it should be super filling. Everything seems to settle a bit, so it will need a good stir before serving if you’re reheating.
I’m gonna go ahead and apologize, because I have yet another recipe that triggers an immediate inside joke… ‘cept this one is between me and anyone who watched the soup in 2010. If you’re one of those people, I’m willing to guess you couldn’t help but hear this in your head when you read this title:
I’m not going to link the longer clip (just look up “chicken tetrazzini” on youtube if you’d like), but be warned it’s NSFW. Or children. Or your sanity.
chick-en-tet-ra-zzini.
So, where were we? Oh yes, chicken… chicken tetrazzini. Despite the fact that The Soup has pretty much made this dish a joke in our household, it is DELICIOUS. And it’s easy to make ahead of time, freezes nicely and travels well. The recipe came from Wino Emily and she’s made it for us on many occasions. When I was getting married, I had a kitchen/recipe shower and this was the recipe she gave me.
It makes a lot – you could do either one big lasagna dish or 2 small 9×9 dishes. I did 2 small ones, so we could eat one and give one away. I again used my big serving of pre-cooked shredded chicken for this one.
4 cooked chicken breasts, shredded 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 can cream of celery soup 16 oz sour cream chopped pimientos, drained and rinsed small container of fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 small box of spaghetti noodles 2 c shredded cheddar cheese 1 onion chopped 1 green pepper chopped
1. Cook and shred chicken. 2. Cook noodles according to box’s directions. 3. Mix soups, sour cream, and salt and pepper. 4. Saute onion and green peppers. Add mushrooms. 5. Add noodles to soup mixture. Stir/toss (it will be very thick.) Add sauteed veggies and chicken. Pimientos are added last so they don’t color the sauce. 6. Place in a greased dish. Top with cheese. 7. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour or freeze uncooked to be baked later.
I actually made a double batch to have some more for our freezer, and it was so big I had to get out my giant salad bowl to mix it in.
Unless you’re feeding a crowd, you don’t have to double it. We’ve got chicken tetrazzini to spare. (Luckily, it freezes beautifully!)
I forgot to take a finished product picture, but to be honest – it’s not the prettiest dish. You’re just going to have to trust me that it’s a crowd pleaser and easy to boot. It’s obviously a pretty calorie dense meal, but a small serving goes a long way. Pair it with a simple side salad, and you’ve got dinner – for a few nights or for a big group.
Or, to seduce your best friend’s boyfriend.
The next few day’s posts will be featured in one post at the end of the week explaining how I cooked *all* these meals in one day. Yea, I’m superwoman. No big deal.
My Aunt Jennifer is one of the best cooks I know, so when a few years ago when she passed down her old recipe binder to me (I guess she was updating her recipes into a new one), I felt like I inherited a treasure book of secrets. I always think of Chicken Pot Pie as the quintessential meal that people make to fill up someone’s freezer when they’re going through a rough time and so it was no surprise to me that Jennifer’s recipe was for 2 pies with the directions: “Make one and freeze one to give away.”
Yes ma’am.
This recipe is super easy, but I was really happy with how it tasted. I put in a few more veggies than it called for, and it made for a very filling meal.
Side bar: I literally cannot eat or make CPP without singing a little diddy to myself of “chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot pie.” My HS best friend (Hi, Kris!) and I had this as an inside joke, and like most good inside jokes, I had no clue where it originated from. Enter google. It took me about 3 minutes to find out it was from an episode of Just Shoot Me, where David Cross pretends to be Slow Donnie in order to get attention.
It’s at 0:57. And now, it can be stuck in your head too. You’re welcome.
Anyways! Cooking, right? Yes, cooking.
For most of the recipes I made this week, I had boiled a lot of chicken and then shredded it. This went into these pies, the tetrazini and the buffalo chicken sandwich.
Aunt Jennifer’s Chicken Pot Pie 14 oz frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas & green bean mix) 1/3 C butter 1/3 C flour 1/3 C chopped onion 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 3/4 c chicken broth 2/3 c milk 3 c cooked shredded chicken (approx 2-3 chicken breasts) 2 pie crusts*
1. Melt butter 2. Add flour onion, salt and pepper. Stir quickly to dissolve flour lumps. 3. Add broth and milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. 4. Add chicken and veggies. Stir for a minute to thicken. 5. Pour mixture into 2 pie shells. 7. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, put tin foil on the edge of the pie crust to keep it from burning.
*I buy the Pillsbury pie crusts that are in the fridge/dairy section. Take them out of the fridge before you prep to come to room temp. Directions are on the box. You will need a pie dish to make this in, and if you’re giving one away you can usually find a disposable tin one with a lid in the plastics aisle. You can also buy the frozen pie crusts already in a tin (buy 2) and 1 box of the Pillsbury dough as the top crusts for each of the pies.
I have also seen CPP recipes where, instead of using a top layer of pie crust, you use the Pillsburgy crescent rolls and lay it out in a lattice shape across the top. This is intended to cut down on how much pastry dough is used in order to make the recipe a little healthier. I’ve done this in the past, and it does turn out fine. So if you wanted to healthify this a little bit, you could do that.
I decided to make it the traditional way this time though.
Before & After. The after-after? An empty pie plate. Yum!
If you freeze or give-away, include the instructions to reheat in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes. For a truly authentic experience, be sure to add a Well, bless your heart as you deliver it to a friend or neighbor in need.
The next few day’s posts will be featured in one post at the end of the week explaining how I cooked *all* these meals in one day. Yea, I’m superwoman. No big deal.
Something fortuitous happened to me this week. I had been couponing a little too aggressively and as a result, I ended up with 7 cans of crushed or diced tomatoes on my shelf. I don’t really like stockpiling food, and all these cans of tomatoes were bugging me. Since I don’t really care for pasta dishes, I wasn’t sure how I was going to use up all the tomatoes. I went to AllRecipes to do a search by ingredients for crushed tomatoes when I came up on this recipe for Tomato Basil Soup.
It’s no secret I love tomato soup. But I’ve gotten picky. I don’t really care for the Campbell’s condensed version (although in a pinch, it will do… especially if there is grilled cheese to dunk in it.) My craving is best satiated by Panera’s version – slightly creamy, a little hint of basil, and great tomato chunk texture. This recipe looked like a perfect replica.
I only made a half batch to see if I liked it, and I made a few tweaks by cutting back some of the butter that seemed extraneous. It was so good. I know exactly where the rest of those canned tomatoes are headed.
Here’s the half-batch recipe (made 4 1 cup servings), with my tweaks. You can still see the original in the link above:
1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
8 oz chicken broth
10 basil leaves, minced**
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 T butter
**I didn’t have fresh basil on hand but I had minced, frozen basil on hand. I get it in the freezer section of Harris Teeter. This is the brand I use.
How to:
1. Add the can of crushed tomatoes to the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add basil and sugar. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream and butter. Stir until butter has melted.
3. Serve with homemade croutons! (See below).
Homemade Croutons
This isn’t really even a recipe… just a quick how to. Cut up any stale bread into bite sized pieces. Put in a ziploc bag and add just a drizzle of olive oil. Add any type of seasoning you want (I like just a pinch of salt and dried basil). Pour on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Flip, and bake for another 10 minutes. They’ll keep in a tupperware or plastic bag for about a week.
Enjoy! I apologize in advance to Panera on Penny Rd. You will probably see a substantial drop in your tomato soup business now.
****
(Oh hey, stats! In case you’re counting. Per 1 cup serving: 217 cals, 14.5g fat, 628 mg sodium, 6g fiber, 6g protein. Croutons will depend on how much bread and OO you use. I used 3 oz bread + 2 T olive oil. Per serving (4 svgs): 116 cals.)
Football season has kicked off, which means … tailgates! We had our first tailgate for Wake Forest’s season opener last night and I had been really craving chicken wings… so I decided to venture into making them myself. Now chicken wings certainly don’t make anyone’s list of healthiest foods, but I figured if I could find a recipe with a great sauce and bake them, caramelizing the sauce would give it a little bit of a crispy outside without having to deep-fry them.
I don’t know what I was more excited about: Wake Forest’s 53-13 opening day win or discovering that chicken wings can indeed be very tasty without being deep-fried. Score!
(Ok, that’s the last of my sports jokes. They’ll only get me so far.)
Try these wings the next time you’ve got a tailgate or potluck to go, and no one will know that you’ve saved them from deep-fried madness.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
You’ll want to prepare the sauce first. In a large saucepan (not turned on yet), add together:
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 T rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 red hot chile pepper, halved (remove seeds if you want it to be as hot)
2″ piece of ginger root, peeled and cut in half (it will be a large chunk)
5 garlic cloves, cut in half
Turn up to a boil, then switch to simmer. *Keep your eye on this. If it bubbles over, you have one sticky stove. Not that I know from experience or anything…*
Sauce Fixins'
Making the Sauce
While it’s simmering….
Cover your cookie sheet with tinfoil. This sauce makes a sticky mess, and it’s a whole lot easier to clean up this way. Then take about 2 dozen chicken wings, rinsed and patted dry, and lay them out on your cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray or drizzle a little bit of olive oil, and then season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, flip and bake for another 15. (Total cook time: 30 minutes.)
Ready for the oven!
The sauce may take 30 minutes to really thicken, and it may even take a litte bit longer. Remember, the thicker it is, the easier it will be to have it coat the wings.
Once you feel like the sauce is thick enough, put the wings in a mixing bowl and pour the sauce over. Toss to coat. I used tongs to do this.
Saucing the wings
(I also used the tongs to pluck out the ginger root, chile pepper and garlic clove. Didn’t want someone to bite into one of those!)
Put the wings back on the cookie sheet, and bake for another 10-12 minutes to caramelize the sauce. Reserve any extra sauce. If you can, serve when hot. I actually did make these the night before, and the day of the tailgate I just stuck them in the oven for about 5 minutes before we left to warm them up. Extra sauce can then be poured over them.
Teriyaki Wings!
Sit back and watch the crowd cheer!
(Oops. That one snuck in there.)
Pro tip: Bring napkins, or even better, Wet Wipes with you. Sticky fingers will abound.
Stats: I wouldn’t claim these as healthy per se, but they certainly are a healthier version than the original. The sauce is fairly high in sodium, which is tempered by using the low sodium soy sauce but the ketchup and hoisin sauce still contribute to the sodium count. 75 calories per wing, 3.7 g fat, 426 mg sodium. (Teriyaki wing from BBW: 100 cals per wing, 7g fat, 550 mg of sodium.)
Don’t worry, this just sounds impressive and like it will require a lot of effort. It won’t. (But other people will think it did and that’s okay.)
A few weeks ago, I gave you a recipe for homemade balsamic vinaigrette on my post for roasted vegetables. Then I made a video of how to make it. And forgot to post it.
So just ignore the part where I said I shared this recipe with you last week, because it was actually a month ago. Better late than never. Go make yourself some salad dressing, people.
The first time I came across the entry in her food log – “Texas caviar” – I didn’t think too much of it. After all, as a Northerner transplanted to the South I’m used to coming across things in my clients’ food logs that I’m not entirely familiar with. Succotash? Butter beans? Banana pudding, fried okra, and even barbecue – all culinary creations I didn’t know existed until I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line.
Then I saw it everyday on her log for a week. ”Is she eating caviar EVERY DAY?” I finally asked and she turned over the recipe.
Turns out the very same recipe is one of my best friend’s “go to” dishes for potlucks as well, only she calls it by the slightly less PC-term “Redneck Caviar.” Whatever you want to call it, it’s easy, it’s delicious and best of all, it’s healthy.
The fixins:
1 can of black-eyed peas (15 oz)
1 can of black beans (15 oz)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/2 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
salt + pepper
1/2 cup light Italian dressing or Lime dressing
Everything gathered!
Chop the Toms
And the Onions
Give it a stir....
Add dressing, salt + pepper... and chill!
In case you’re not a visual learner:
Chop tomatoes, onions, green onions, jalapenos and green pepper. Combine.
Add rinsed black-eyed peas and black beans.
Toss lightly.
Add 1/2 cup salad dressing, a pinch of salt and pepper and the minced garlic.
Allow it to chill at least 2 hours, up to overnight, to blend flavors together.
I like this just as “as is” as a side dish and with the beans in it, you could almost have it be a light meal by itself. You can also use this a dip, which is how it’s mostly common served. Of course, best served on a patio on a warm summer night with good friends and cold beers!
(When you look up the calorie count for this, you’ll find a range of 20 cals-200 calories per serving. This depends mainly on two things: how many servings you make out of it and how much dressing you use. Play around with it to figure out what works for you. If I’m eating it as a side dish, I get about 20 servings out of my batch at 140 calories, 10 g of protein and 9 g of fiber.)
I’ve been on a baking kick lately, which is highly unusual for me as I much prefer the less-precision-required art of cooking to the scientific act of baking. However, I had a container of blueberries that were getting just past their grab n’ eat stage, and I thought scones were the perfect way to use them.
This is a recipe from my go-to cookbook, The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book. It’s not a fancy cookbook or specific to any type of cuisine or diet or chef, but it’s got all the basics in there as well as good pictures. I also like that since it was my mom’s copy, it has notes from her written in the margins and inside cover.
If you buy it, yours won’t have these lovely notes until you lend it to my mom for a year or so.
So, where were we? Scones! I didn’t take pictures of the how-to process, because it was a spur of the moment decision to make them. And in fact, it wasn’t until the FINAL piece was left that I remembered to grab my camera.
This is the basic scone recipe, you can add whatever fruits or nuts you might desire after you’ve mixed all the other ingredients together.
2 cups all purpose flour 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick), cut into pieces 3/4 cup milk 1 large egg, separated
1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 T of sugar, baking powder and salt. With pastry blender or knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (Note: I don’t own a pastry blender and have never been very successful at the two knives thing. I usually use my hands here, and try not to over mix.) 2. In one-cup measuring cup, mix milk and egg yolk until blended with a fork. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in milk mixture. Stir until combined. 3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5-6 times, until smooth. With lightly floured hands, pat into a round cake. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheet. 4. With a lightly floured knife, cut dough into 8 wedges (do not separate wedges). In a small cup, lightly beat egg white. Brush scones with egg white and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake until golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Separate wedges, serve warm or cool on a wire rack.
I feel slightly bad that my Mom just emailed me for this recipe….because she would have it if I hadn’t stolen her book. Sorry, Mom. Next time I see you… I’ll make you some scones. xoxo
