Meals and Sunsets

I've been a little busy the past week as I juggle two jobs, but I've still been trying to eat clean and healthy.

{fried egg over steamed broccoli and cauliflower with spicy ground turkey}

Eating healthy means trying new recipes...like this one pan chicken and potato roast with green beans:

{about to hit the oven}

{and plated!}

After eating so healthy, you gotta take a cheat meal here and there...like this ice cream sandwich from Star Noodle's food truck: Starstruck.

{sesame seed chocolate chip cookies with vanilla bean ice cream}

And then, you gotta go back to eating healthy.

{potato veggie frittata on Easter}

{and a roasted beet salad for breakfast}

Thankfully, all of these home cooked meals are punctuated by ridiculously gorgeous sunsets.

{all snapshots are from the same evening, shot at work--my best sunset watching spot}

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Frittata

Bryan and I were given a bunch of farm fresh eggs, so I decided to make my first frittata today for our lunch.  I followed tips and suggestions from The Kitchn, and my frittata came out beautifully!

I cooked down onion and garlic with a chopped sausage, and then threw in my leftover pesto cous cous from dinner the other night.  I wilted handfuls of fresh spinach and topped it all with pecorino cheese, smoke paprika and seven eggs, beaten with salt and pepper.

I threw the oven safe skillet in the oven for about 8 minutes at 400 degrees to finish cooking the eggs.

I remembered how I burnt the hell out of my hand the last time I put my skillet in the oven, so I kept the non-ovensafe handle in an oven mitt after I carefully removed my frittata from the oven.

{safety first!}

So delicious!  And so easy!  This was incredibly quick to whip up, and I love that the variations on this simple dish are endless.  I foresee many more frittatas in my future.

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Farewells and Fine Cooking

I said my farewells to my family this morning over breakfast at Coolers before they drove off to the airport.  We had a great visit filled with sun, sand and delicious food.  It's amazing how quickly a week goes by.  It never seems like enough time.  I'm looking forward to making the trip out to Tahoe over the summer to see them all again.

{Hana, Dad and Mom enjoying the goods at Star Noodle}

After seeing Mom, Dad and Hana off this morning, I did some grocery shopping and then hit the kitchen.  After a week of eating out for every meal, I wanted to focus on having healthy, home cooked meals for this upcoming week.  I made a Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup, Green Bean and Potato Salad, and a Veggie Curry with Kale using the highly recommended simmer sauce from Maya Kaimal.

It's going to be nice to have ready made meals all week as I get back into the grind at work.  It's going to be crazy busy at the restaurant as droves of tourists come to the island for vacation.  I'm looking forward to making big money!

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More Homemade Pesto. And a Sunset.

In February, I made this awesome walnut-avocado-basil pesto, and it was delicious.  I happened to have all the same ingredients on hand today--minus a lemon (which was purchased at the store) and the basil (which was plucked from a towering basil bush growing in the front of the house).  It's an easy sauce to assemble and make, and tastes delicious on everything: toast, pita, and pasta, of course.

I food processed a huge clove of garlic, toasted walnuts, some lemon zest, the juice of half a lemon and a swirl of olive oil until the garlic and walnuts were pulverized.

I then added half an avocado, a huge handful of basil (about 1/4 cup), and some salt and pepper to the mixture and blended until smooth.  I added another swirl or two of olive oil as I went along to get the texture I was looking for.

While I was working on the pesto, I had a pot of salted water boiling for the whole wheat gnocchi I had picked up at the store.  

When the gnocchi was cooked (wait for a few to come popping up to the surface), I reserved a quarter cup of the pasta water just in case I wanted to smooth out the sauce some more when I mixed it in with the cooked pasta (fancy cooking tip).

I drained the pasta and returned it to the pot where I mixed in the pesto, a splash of the pasta water, and freshly grated pecorino cheese.  I had some leftover toasted walnuts that didn't make it into the food processor, so I used them to garnish the plate along with a palm full of teeny, tiny olives.

Fast.  Easy.  Homemade.  And delicious!

Before I leave you, a little sunset awesomeness from last week to feast your eyes on.

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Chorizo Egg Scramble with Turnips

Our CSA box from Kula Fields was a Thanksgiving bonanza!  We got loads of veggies perfect for every Thanksgiving side you could imagine.  Along with the usual suspects (kale, butter lettuce, tomatoes), we received turnips, green beans, sweet Maui onions, and a packet of herbs perfect for stuffing a turkey.

I'm not planning on doing too much Thanksgiving cooking this year since the restaurant I work at does a Thanksgiving lunch for employees.  It's been a huge hit for Bryan and me the past two years, so we'll be making a guest appearance next week and then vegetating at home for the rest of the afternoon.

So, I'm putting all these Thanksgiving veggies to good use this week in not-so-Thanksgiving dishes.

{chopping turnips}

{a little fresh kale thrown into the skillet}

{cheesy Chorizo scramble--ready to eat!}

I sautéed half a Maui onion, chopped, in coconut oil until translucent.  I threw in two chopped turnips with 3 minced garlic cloves, and seasoned with salt and pepper, and a smudge of smoked paprika.  I added a small pat of butter to give the turnips a glossy color and of course, flavor.  After the turnips were fork tender, I added my leftover chorizo from my chicken paella and browned it.  I added a little over a cup of chopped kale, and added four scrambled eggs to the skillet.  I scrambled the eggs with all the goodies in the skillet and added shredded mozzarella and chopped parsley before serving.

It came out absolutely delicious.  I can't wait to dig into the leftovers later.

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Adventures in Home Cooking

After gorging myself on stuffed pasta shells and my kitchen scrap pasta for a few days, I committed to eating a little lighter and cleaner at home for the rest of the week, hoping to cancel out my carb and cheese overload.

The following is one of my healthy meals:

My sautéed broccolini with poached eggs and a side of sweet potato is way more photogenic than the mountain of salads I consumed this week, although, they too, were equally delicious.  I also took this short period of clean cooking and eating as an opportunity to cook chicken.  

It was the first time I've cooked chicken in over three years.  And that is not an exaggeration of any kind.

Growing up with a vegetarian mom, I never really got introduced on how to cook meat.  Which is fine.  I did great without it.  And then in college I learned how to make Hamburger Helper.  I was down with ground beef and turkey.  Chicken was never my thing because it seemed a little too complicated, but it wasn't until I began working at my first restaurant job that my true fear of chicken developed.

 In Oregon, in order to work at a restaurant--no matter if you are a line cook, server, host or bartender--you must take a food safety course, usually administered online.  It's a crash course on properly handling, storing and cooking food so it is safe for consumption.  This is where I learned how devastatingly dangerous uncooked chicken can be for your health.  

When I did attempt cooking chicken, which was an incredibly rare occurrence, I was grossed out by handling the raw cutlets--convinced that I was immersing myself in a layer of salmonella, and I grossly overcooked it.  I would rather eat chicken that was as dry as wood chips than risk giving myself food poisoning.

After several anxiety inducing chicken dinners, I just stopped cooking chicken.

Until now!

Just this week, I broiled some boneless chicken thighs and stored them in my fridge as protein for salads the past few days.  It was a very big deal.  Most of my close friends already know about this.  Because I told them.  In great detail.  Kind of like what I'm doing right now.

And then yesterday, I had my second chicken cooking extravaganza of the last three years.  I made the Chicken and Chorizo Paella recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything--the illustrated version.  Don't judge me.  I like pictures.  I'm a visual learner.  And I'm bad at math.  Which is neither here nor there, but it's still true.

Here's a photo of the chicken browning in the skillet:

It kind of looks gross, doesn't it?  Chicken is kind of nasty.  That's why I've avoided cooking it for so long.

Moving on...

Here is a much more appetizing photo of the other ingredients:

...minus the chopped chorizo.  That kind of looks icky too.  Maybe I'm not cut out to cook meat at home.

And then there are no more home cooking photos of the Paella because I managed to burn the holy hell out of my hand.

That is a photo of me squeezing the hell out of a packet of frozen vegetables.  And that's an empty wine glass.  Thankfully, this paella recipe called for a cup of dry, white wine for cooking.  I was very grateful that were still three to four cups of wine left in the bottle to help take the sting out of my burns.

It all began innocently enough.  I was cooking the paella in an oven-safe skillet on the stove top, then moved the paella into the oven to bake for 15 minutes.  When the timer went off, I moved the skillet out of the oven using oven mitts, but when I went to stir in the last ingredients I grasped the skillet handle with my bare hand.  I'm smart like that.

Two hours, three-quarters of a wine bottle, and several episodes of Firefly on streaming Netflix later, I couldn't feel a thing.

Moral of the story: cooking chicken at home is very, very dangerous.

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Cooking with Kitchen Scraps

This is my first blog post from my new computer.  I know that you don't really notice the difference, but I can.  And it's dandy.

Anyways...

I had some odds and ends in the refrigerator, and I was keen on making something for lunch that didn't entail me running to the grocery store to beef up my ingredients.  So, I made Kitchen Scrap Pasta!

Okay, so Kitchen Scrap Pasta doesn't sound that appealing.  How about Pasta in Butter Sauce?  I cooked about 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium high heat with one large clove of minced garlic, chopped chives and a teaspoon of red chili flakes.  When the butter started foaming and browning, I threw in a heaping handful of chopped kale--the last few pieces from the Kula Fields Delivery box.  When the sauce was ready, I tossed in my leftover cooked pasta shells from my stuffed pasta that I made earlier this week.  I drizzled some olive oil over everything, squeezed juice of half a lemon over it all and coated the shells in the sauce.

Delicious.  Decadent.  With a hint of kick.  Not too shabby for kitchen scraps.

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Stuffed Pasta Shells

I've been craving getting a little more hands-on and creative in the kitchen, so I took advantage of my day off to try my hand at a new recipe.  I wanted to make something that I could eat off of for a few days, so I decided on a baked pasta dish.  

I had pinned this stuffed pasta shell recipe a long time ago on Pinterest, and I finally got inspired to follow through and cook it.

I followed the 101 Cookbooks recipe rather closely, except I added in fresh kale into the ricotta mixture.

The homemade marinara sauce is delicious.  I added about a tablespoon of butter as I cooked the sauce down to give it additional richness and a slightly creamy texture.  The kick from the red chili flakes is awesome.

The recipe suggests lemon zest for the filling, and I loved the addition.  It adds a lightness and freshness to the cheese mixture that's unexpected, but certainly welcome.

While my pasta was cooling, I went downstairs to check out the jam session that Will had put together with some of his musician friends.

It was a good night in.

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First Week of November

A few snapshots of the first week of November...

When I was on the other side shopping for the last odds and ends for my Han Solo Halloween costume, I picked up a comic book tee in the men's department at Old Navy.  I took it home and cut it up:

{kitchen selfie--our apartment has so many random mirrors}

The day after Halloween, Bryan and I got lunch at Longhi's.  I had been dying for some of their delish pasta bolognese.  While we were waiting for our food to come down from the kitchen, we snacked on their signature pizza bread and got seduced into ordering mimosas.  Longhi's makes the best mimosas with freshly squeezed orange juice.  Our bartender hooked us up and gave us monster drinks in wine glasses instead of champagne flutes.  It's good to be a repeat customer.

{monster mimosas}

I went to the amazing Doctors on Call at the Hyatt on Sunday to refill prescriptions.  My doctor has an interesting collection of monkeys pinned to his wall:

My housemate Alexa hooked me up with homemade borscht (aka beet soup).  I had some with some organic arugula tossed on top.

{eating colorful, eating clean}

Yesterday on my day off, I did an afternoon solo snorkel sesh at my favorite beach.  It had been awhile since I've been in the water, and it was nice to spy on all my fishy friends again.  I ran into a small honu (turtle) and a spotted eagle ray too.  Epic.

When I was done swimming, I got out and let the sun dry the salt water off me while I finished reading my book.

When I came home from the beach, the most handsome hound dog was waiting for me with his stuffed bunny.

{he's so happy, his tail is a blur--how awesome is that?}

My girlfriend Shaina and I went out for lunch this afternoon at one of my favorite spots, Pineapple Grill.

I got the corned beef brisket sandwich:

And the pineapple upside down cake for dessert:

It's a perfect overcast day, so I'm going to snuggle up with my new book: The Keep by Jennifer Egan.  How's your week been so far?

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Spiced Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Glaze

My first attempt at home cooked pork chops:

Soooo good!

I'm one of those weirdos that watch the Food Network when I'm eating lunch--talk about producing major food envy.  Most times, what I'm eating is nowhere near as appealing as what's being cooked in front of me.  

Yesterday, I watched my Food Network favorite Giada De Laurentiis whip up pan seared pork chops with a agrodulce glaze.  It looked simple to prepare and downright delicious.  I decided it was high time to try my hand at pork chops, and I was going do it just like Giada did it.

I went to the grocery store this morning and picked up chops along with honey and scallions for the glaze.  It was helpful that my pantry was already stocked with the rest of the ingredients--see, I told you the recipe looked simple.

I came back home with my goods and immediately started cooking.  I sauteed a mix of spinach and kale with onions in olive oil in a big pan.  Once the greens were cooked, I plated them and then started cooking my seasoned chops (about 5 minutes each side).  While the pork chops were cooking, I made the glaze in a small saucepan.

I made the glaze to the measurements that Giada recommends--which serves 4, so I have extra glaze sitting in the fridge.  I'm thinking of using the leftovers on salmon tomorrow.  Yum!

After thirty minutes prep and cooking time, Bryan and I sat down to a lunch of epic proportions--these were some seriously big chops that I bought at the store.  I'm very happy with how the pork chops turned out.  They were juicy and perfect, and the glaze was a winner.  I usually shy away from homemade sauces, but this one was so easy and absolutely delicious--even without the rosemary (I decided not to purchase any from the store and hope that the sauce would turn out okay without it).

Homemade pork chops?  A total snap.  I'll be making these again sometime soon.

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Stuffed Zucchini Boats

I went to bed last night planning out the stuffed zucchini boats that I was going to make for lunch the next day.  My goal was to utilize as many of the Kula Fields box ingredients as possible.  I used our monster zucchini, a bell pepper, a Maui onion and one of our tomatoes in the dish.

{chopping}

{the hollowed out zucchini and stuffing}

I layered cooked quinoa and stuffing on top of the zucchini, but of course, I had massive surplus of everything, so I just kept layering on top of the zucchini like you would make a casserole.

{about to go into the oven}

I finished it off with grated Pecorino cheese and the last bit of Cabernet Marinara from a jar.  I tipped a generous pour of low sodium chicken stock into the corner of the baking dish to coat the bottom of the zucchini for more flavorful cooking.

When the dish was fully prepped, I stuck it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

{cooked and out of the oven}

{onto the plate--his and hers}

I served our lunch with more Pecorino grated on top.  Delicious!

And here's a snapshot of lunch from earlier this week: homemade beef and broccoli with quinoa, bok choy and kale.

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Yum!

Bryan and I went back to Honu the other day for lunch.  We just can't get enough of their amazing menu!

{vegan butternut squash soup}

{seared Ahi nicoise salad}

And then I made the eggplant dip from Jane Coxwell's Fresh Happy Tasty cookbook.  I smeared some on a slice of french bread.  Delicious!

I don't have photographic evidence of today's meal, but it was delicious!  And filled with ingredients from our Kula Fields delivery box.  I made corn on the cob, roasted broccoli with a kale, quinoa stir fry.  Bryan was a very happy camper.

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Fresh Happy Tasty

My new cookbook just arrived in the mail from Amazon.com yesterday.  Once removed from its shipping packaging, I read the whole thing from cover to cover, and I'm so excited to try everything in Jane Coxwell's book.

I'm looking forward to trying the green quinoa-crusted bass, the lobster quinoa, the poached salmon with shrimp on couscous, among many other super tempting tasty dishes!

I'll, of course, keep you informed on how my kitchen escapades go!

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