Left on a Jetplane

No meal plans or recipes for the next week or so, since we’re in Hawaii! Off to eat SPAM and poke now. Aloha!

Links I Want to Eat: July 25

 

The best ice cream in the world: Jeni’s. Go find the goat cheese and red cherries flavor

• Curry paste, coconut milk, and fresh corn in a soup is pretty much perfection
• I’d love to make this strawberry syrup for cocktails
• This summer squash gratin with salsa verde looks like the ultimate summer comfort food
• Individual watermelon and feta bites would be great for a party or shower
• I’m still learning to fully embrace anchovies, and spicy anchovy butter on zucchini might help
• Sometimes it’s good to keep dinner pretty basic, and this soy chicken and eggs with spicy cucumber salad looks perfect
• I would like someone to make me this lemon and raspberry cake
• Key lime pie is one of my favorites, and I think this pie, with its citrus filling and saltine crust (!) might be it’s long lost best friend
• Slushes with alcohol? I think every grown up needs this bourbon slush punch for Friday happy hour

Awesome Beet and Green Bean Salad

In the favorite salad hierarchy, this one is definitely near the top of the list. Sometimes we forget about it for a few months, and then have a “duh” moment when we remember just how good it is. Salad greens, radicchio, roasted beets, crunchy green beans, creamy chickpeas, a little ricotta salata (for me), all tossed in a simple balsamic vinaigrette just makes for extreme lunch happiness.

Awesome Salad (original recipe here)

• 5 ounces of mixed greens (6-8 loosely packed cups)
• 1 small head radicchio, roughly chopped
• 20 green beans
• 2 medium beets (we’ve used both golden and red. It’s delicious either way)
• 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup ricotta salata, crumbled/shaved

Balsamic Vinaigrette 

• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• Salt and pepper to taste

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 375. Wash the beets, drizzle with a little olive oil, wrap individually in aluminum foil, and place directly on the oven rack. Roast for 40 minutes to an hour, until tender. Let cool, peel, and chop into small pieces.

Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook for about 1 minute. Immediately drain and place in the ice water until cool. Drain. Chop into small pieces.

Add all of the vinaigrette ingredients to  a jar and shake well to combine. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Combine all of the salad ingredients, minus the cheese, in a large bowl mix well. Pour vinaigrette over and toss well. Top with crumbled ricotta and serve.

 

Rosemary Focaccia BLT

So this week’s tackling of yeast involved focaccia, and holy crap, it was amazing. Also, incredibly easy. No kneading, no worries. The recipe says you can let it rise in the fridge for anywhere for 8 hours to two days, and due to the way our schedules worked this week, I wound up letting it go for the full two days. In that respect, it’s perfect for serving when you have friends over for dinner, because most of the work is done days before.

My modifications included using half bread flour and half AP flour, since that’s what I had on hand, and I scattered chopped fresh rosemary over the top before baking (a step I highly recommend).

When it was still warm from the oven, I cut myself a piece, layered on some chipotle mayo, lettuce, bacon, and tomato, and then had a moment of silence to celebrate just how perfectly simple a good meal can be.

She recommends eating it all day of, which unless you’re feeding a large group, isn’t possible. I sliced the rest of the bread into individual servings, wrapped it in plastic wrap, placed it in a ziploc bag, and put it in the freezer. I have faith that it will make fantastic toast.

Here is the complete recipe: Saltie’s Focaccia 

Edited late to note: It really does makes fantastic toast, pulled from the freezer and toasted under a low broiler for a few minutes. I seriously want to always have some of this bread in my freezer. Perfect side for some soup, too!

Meal Plan: July 20-July 26

Every week we make a meal plan for the week ahead. The plan accounts for 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 snacks, and 5 dinners for the two of us. Lunch ideas are typically a double batch of whatever the recipe calls for. I make the lunches and do other various prep work on Sunday. Nearly all items are purchased from either our local farmers market or Whole Foods. We are currently living in New York City, so things are more expensive than average.

Kitchen meal prep disaster area

July 20-July 26

Still enjoying all of  the summer produce.

Did fruit salad in place of our usual apples with lunch, which definitely makes things pricier but so delicious.

Total cost: $155 (had to restock a lot of pantry items. Ouch)

Average cost per meal per person, with snacks tucked into the mix: $5.54

Breakfast

•  Cacao, banana, avocado smoothies with homemade coconut milk
• Avocado toast on Focaccia

Lunch

•  Awesome beet and grean bean salad

Snack

•  PB energy bar– with sunflower seeds

Dinner

•  Roasted squid w/ grilled leeks and warm chorizo dressing
• BLT on Focaccia
• Frittata with chorizo, squash, potatoes, caramelized onions
• Vegetarian tortilla soup– squash and corn
• Red curry and miso roasted veggie bowl

Links I Want to Eat: July 18

Trying to enjoy summer while I can. Will not think of winter. Will not think of winter…

• Homemade Shake Shack Burgers. You’re welcome
• I still have a batch of pizza dough, so maybe this version with corn, tomatoes, and shishito peppers will happen soon
• Focaccia would make an excellent addition to my yeast project, and I can think of so many ways to use it in a week
• This spicy vegetarian tortilla soup looks delicious and easy.
• I’m southern, and I love pimento cheese. I want to make this and then make some grilled pimento cheese and tomato sandwiches. Yes.
• Making my own salmon gravlax isn’t something that has ever crossed my mind, but this recipe shows that it’s so easy to do at home.
• I love strawberry water, so that’s where most of my strawberry stems are going these days. i might have to save my next batch for some strawberry vinegar though! Cherry pits apparently work well too, so I could easily make strawberry water and cherry vinegar at the same time. Win!
• Peach cobbler cinnamon rolls. I think that sums it up.

Roasted Vegetable and Hummus Mix It Up Salad

I kind of think of this salad as the “choose your own adventure” salad. The basic formula can be altered to suit our mood or the season easily, but it’s always delicious. We got the inspiration from this post, and it has quickly become a favorite. I love that each bite can be so different, depending on which of the elements I combine on my fork. Plus, I love how bright and fresh it looks! No sad desk lunch here.

Here’s our basic formula, with our choices this week:

• One batch of hummus, typically roasted red pepper and paprika hummus
• 1 batch of roasted chopped vegetables (squash, zucchini, and carrots this round), tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever spices you choose (smoked paprika!), roasted at 375 for 20-30 minutes
• 1 batch of quinoa, cooked using this method, with salt, lemon zest, and dried herbs added before cooking, then tossed well in lemon juice and olive oil after cooking
• 1 handful of arugula, dressed lightly with lemon juice
• 1 handful of marinated olives and roasted tomatoes from the Whole Foods olive bar

Feel free to switch things out as much as you’d like! There really is no going wrong here.

 

 

Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

The running joke in our house is that once blueberries are in season, a pint of them won’t last a full day before being inhaled. They are, by far, Josh’s favorite fruit, and one of the only ways I can convince him to let me do something with them (besides eating them by the handful) is to tell him that I’m going to make these muffins. That is the power of these muffins.

Honestly, what’s not to love? Fresh blueberries, folded into a not overly sweet batter, laced with nutty browned butter. All very, very good things.

The original recipe calls for a streusel topping as well, but we like them best when they’re simple and unfussy. The batter is thick, and I wind up having to gently mush it into the muffin liners with my fingertips, taking care not to burst the blueberries.

Go find some fresh blueberries (raspberries would work beautifully as well!) and experience them for yourself.

Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins (recipe from Joy the Baker)

• 7 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Place you oven rack in the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 375. Grease or foil/paper line your muffin tin.

Melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. It will get all crackly and it might stress you out, but that’s a happy sound. Once the crackling starts to subside, the fat pieces turn a nice golden brown, and it starts to smell nutty, it’s ready to take off the heat. You really need to watch it closely, because it WILL burn. Stressed again?

Combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla and whisk well.  Slowly stir in the browned butter.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Carefully fold in the blueberries.

Divide evenly among the muffin cups and spread them out until the tops are flat. I usually wind up doing this gently with my fingertips because the batter is definitely on the thick side.

Bake for about 18 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.  Let cool for at least 15 minutes.  Best eaten still warm with some extra butter. Butter makes it better.

Meal Plan: July 13-July 19

Every week we make a meal plan for the week ahead. The plan accounts for 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 snacks, and 5 dinners for the two of us. Lunch ideas are typically a double batch of whatever the recipe calls for. I make the lunches and do other various prep work on Sunday. Nearly all items are purchased from either our local farmers market or Whole Foods. We are currently living in New York City, so things are more expensive than average.

July 13- July 19

Summer vegetables are here, so we’re celebrating with an abundance of squash and corn.

Total cost: $129

Average cost per meal per person, with snacks tucked into the mix: $4.61

Breakfast

• Cacao, banana, avocado smoothies and homemade coconut milk
• Baked eggs with slow roasted tomatoes and spinach

Lunch

• Roasted veggie and hummus mix it up salad – with summer vegetables and red pepper paprika hummus
  

Snack

• Browned butter blueberry muffins

Dinner

• Sticky sesame chicken wings with rice
• Corn soup (page 26)
• Creamy zucchini fettuccine (p 69)
• Classic split pea soup
• Summer squash tacos with avocado chimichurri

Links I Want To Eat: July 11

Slow roasted tomatoes with garlic oil and rosemary: before and after

• These sesame chicken wings look so delicious and easy
• I need someone to make these cocktail snow cones immediately
• This amazing cookbook (available in a free PDF) is based on the average SNAP (food stamps) benefits. It’s full of healthy, delicious, and extremely affordable meals, and I love it
• The hardest thing about this list of pies is deciding which one to make first
• The pie decision becomes even more overwhelming when you consider eating pie for breakfast. If it has fruit, it’s healthy
• A bruschetta bar would be so perfect for a party. Or a Monday night at home. No judgement
• I used to make candied bacon with brown sugar and cayenne, and now I really need to try this maple and sriracha version
• These spicy tuna cakes would be so easy to make on the weekend and reheat through the week for breakfast