Pineapple Un-fried Rice

There is a Thai place in our old neighborhood that makes unbelievable pineapple fried rice according to Mary. Ever since she mentioned it last week, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Conveniently, we had extra pineapple leftover from our Pineapple Salsa. On a night with little else in the house, we had just enough ingredients to make this “un-fried” version. There is so much flavor that you will never miss the extra oil, nuts or the egg. You can put any veggies you like and we often use dishes like this to clear things out. In this case, our emergency frozen veggies made an appearance and we were thankful for it! We also added cucumber at the last minute for a bit of texture which was a great way to remove the nuts you often find in this recipe. For a great ode to Thai food, try this one!

Kelly


Pineapple Un-fried Rice

2 packages prepared saffron rice (one traditional and one Spanish flavor)

1 tomato, chopped

2 T olive oil

1 cup of fresh pineapple chopped (about ¼ inch pieces)

2 cups shredded chicken

1 ½ cups Whole Foods organic vegetable medley

1-2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 scallions, chopped

4 T basil, chopped

½ cucumber chopped

½ lime cut in wedges for garnish

For the sauce:

2 T light soy sauce

1 T Hoisin sauce

1 T coconut milk

1 t natural peanut butter

Juice of ½ lime

1 T Siracha

Combine the two types of rice and prepare as directed adding the chopped tomato to the cooking liquid. (We usually leave out the oil.) Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce and combine well. Heat the olive oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the garlic. When lightly cooked and aromatic, add the chicken to warm for 1-2 minutes then add the vegetables and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add the rice followed by the pineapple and combine all ingredients. Top with the sauce and add the cucumber and stir well. Garnish with the scallions, basil and lime wedges. Enjoy!

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Patriotic Fruit Salad

Fruit salad is a great addition to any party and always adds a healthy element! This is a simple one with a patriotic twist. Take some red fruits (I used watermelon and strawberries) and sprinkle in some blueberries and a touch of finely chopped fresh mint. Combine and add a bit of festivity to your buffet!!

Kelly

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Pineapple Salsa and Baked Tortilla Chips

What is more perfect for a Fourth of July celebration than a BBQ? It is the perfect way to celebrate America’s birthday!! We were invited to a friend’s house for the celebration and were asked to bring a side dish, so I thought who doesn’t like chips and salsa? This pineapple salsa was a huge hit (and may become margarita inspiration in the future!) If you wanted to get really fancy, you could scoop out half of the pineapple to use as a serving dish. I also baked up some tortilla chips for the leftovers, and they turned out great! Do you have a favorite party side dish that is your go-to? Happy (belated) 4th!

Kelly

Pineapple Salsa and Baked Tortilla Chips

For the Salsa:

½ Pineapple, Cored and Chopped

1 Tomato, Chopped

2 Avocados, Cubed

2 Scallions, Chopped

½ – 1 Jalapeño, Finely Chopped with Seeds

Juice of 1 Lime

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Chips:

Corn Tortillas (however many you need for your crowd)

Cooking Spray

Kosher Salt

Your favorite spice mixture

Preheat oven to 375°. Stack the tortillas and cut into quarters. Lay out in a single layer in baking sheets and spray with cooking spray. Season with salt and your seasoning mix. Turn the chips and repeat on other side. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once. Allow to cool a few minutes before serving to finish the crisping process.

In a bowl combine the salsa ingredients and gently stir to combine. Allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

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Cedar Plank Salmon

Looking for an easy way to update your salmon recipe? Cooking on a salmon plank on the grill adds a whole new dimension. You end up with a slightly smoky flavor with a nearly candied finish. This is a great way to fancy things up a bit with very little work. BF brought this idea home one night and it was a huge hit!

Soak the cedar plank in water for 1-3 hours. (I will admit we cut it close at about 30 minutes and it should have been a bit longer, but we were hungry!) Season 1-1 ½ Pounds Salmon Filets with salt and pepper. Preheat grill. Remove the planks from water and place on the grill until hot. Brush smooth side of boards with olive oil. Place fillets on the smooth surface part of the plank. Brush teriyaki sauce (we like Soy Vey) over salmon. Cook over a medium to high flame for approximately 10 minutes or until done.

Serve with a great salad of CSA mixed greens and strawberries tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and finished with salt and pepper for a healthy meal!

Kelly

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First Day of Summer!

How did you spend your first day of summer? BF and I enjoyed an al fresco dinner on our brand new patio furniture.

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We had be looking for something for a while and finally found the perfect thing on sale. When you live in a place that boasts 300 days of sunshine a year, outdoor living is a way of life, and dining is no exception. I fixed one of our very favorite meals, Poisson Cru.

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It is so light and easy to make. If you are not a sushi lover, this is a good place to dip a toe in. The lime cooks the fish and it takes on a different texture. This one is a keeper! In fact, for lunch today I switched it up a little by eating the leftovers over rice.

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Try it, you won’t regret it! Enjoy summer!
~Kelly

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Weekend Breakfast

Friday brings with it the promise of a lazy weekend morning and a change from my boring weekday breakfasts. We have a lovely little breakfast place with some of the best pastries I have ever had. Frasca Caffe, makes our very favorite Almond Croissant as well as a fabulous breakfast sandwich and fantastic coffee. This is our normal breakfast…notice the smiley. J

Since I am currently laid up with a broken leg, BF brought Frasca Caffe to me and Mary made eggs to top our sandwiches. That little bit of semi-homemade love makes for a great weekend morning! I often make our weekend scramble with whatever we have in the fridge. It is always a unique combination.


Weekend Scramble


Combine 6 eggs, 2 T milk, salt, pepper and your favorite seasoning mix in a bowl and whisk well. Heat 2 T butter over medium heat in a pan, add eggs holding back about 2 T. Cook until you reach desired doneness stirring with a Wisk to create a soft fluffy texture. Remove from heat and add the reserved egg and stir. The residual heat will cook it, I promise! Toast an English muffin and top with eggs, cheese, and sliced avocado. Enjoy immediately! Have a fabulous weekend!!

Kelly

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CSA Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

When you get rhubarb in your CSA box, what is the most logical thing to make? Pie, of course! This pie is not too sweet, a bit sticky and oh so good. I happened to have an extra pie crust sitting in the freezer from our last pie (I always make a double batch even when I only need one…might as well make the mess once!). That meant a last minute dinner party with the family could be finished with this beautiful summery pie. Strawberry rhubarb pie is always a bit runnier than I want it to be, but I think if I had let it rest long enough, this would have been perfect. The flavor was just tart enough to be perfect for an ice cream topping. This is a bit of baking by feel recipe. I got some reinforcement from a family friend who knows her way around a pie! She said, “I can’t give you exact amounts of fruit, just enough to fill the crust!” Try this one for a great summer treat!

Kelly

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

1 pie crust

Filling:

4 Stalks Rhubarb, Chopped

8-10 Strawberries, Halved or Quartered

½ cup sugar (adjust to the sweetness of your fruit)

Juice and Zest of 1 Lemon

2 T flour

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

1 T vanilla

Pinch of Salt

Topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 400° and prebake the pie shell for 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Cook until the fruit releases juice and becomes bubbly. Combine flour and lemon juice to make a slurry. Slowly add the slurry to the sauce and stir into the fruit until thickened to desired consistency. Pour into pastry shell.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and butter combine with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit.

Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° bake for 35 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with ice cream and enjoy!

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Summer Mixed Grill

One of the things that has always been a staple in our house is the mixed grill. As a kid, I remember my mom shopping on Sunday for the week and picking up veggies, fish, chicken and steak to cook that night. We always ate the fish the first night and set the chicken and steak aside for later in the week. The brilliance of this is that you can use the meat for anything! It could be as is with some veggies, or reworked into something like tacos, or pasta. It makes things so easy for planning and you can save yourself time on work nights. This is also a great thing to do for a group or a party as we did here. Throw in the veggies from the CSA box, and you are good to go. Everyone gets what they like and there are always leftovers! Buy whatever is fresh or on sale and throw it all together on the grill; the perfect summer dinner solution!

Kelly


Mixed Grill

CSA Salad: Fresh lettuce, arugula, herbs, diced tomatoes and radishes, tossed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Tuna steaks marinated in Soy Vey Teriyaki grilled to medium.

Chicken legs grilled and basted with Grumpy’s BBQ sauce.

Teriyaki and pineapple sausage from Whole Foods…super delish!

Baby CSA artichokes steamed and drizzled with olive oil, pink flake salt and freshly cracked pepper.

CSA root veggies sautéed with onions in butter, then sherry vinegar to deglaze.

 

YUMMY!

 

P.S. Up next is our CSA dessert: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

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First CSA of the Season!

We got our first box of CSA veggies from Red Wagon Farms!

Here’s what our first CSA box looked like after a tiny bit of cleaning…

Included in the pack was Egyptian walking onions, Easter egg radishes, green garlic, spinach, sorrel, and arugula.

So tonight, I’m home alone and decided on a lush salad after working out.


Springtime Salad

Arugula one handful

2-Radishes

½ Green Onion

Green Garlic leaves

From the fridge:

Cabbage

Grilled red and yellow peppers, chopped

Dressing:

1T Lemon Aioli

2T Greek yogurt

 

Mix the lemon aioli with the yogurt, salt and pepper

Toss in the bottom of a bowl and mix with the veggies. Top with Fried Chicken from Niwot Market and enjoy! I know not exactly the healthiest choice but at least I have the greens to counter act the fried chix. Plus I removed the skin, so it’s not that bad. Next time I’ll prepare better.

I’m happy to have my fridge filled with beautiful veggies and the ones from Red Wagon farms are beautifully trimmed and ready for my attention! Yum.

Mary

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Chocolate Lavender Pie

Pie is a birthday tradition to celebrate my dad’s birthday. He loves pie and quite honestly, I only actually make it a handful of times in a year. I have worked long and hard on my crust recipe and have finally found just the right thing. It is flaky and flavorful. When I started looking for something to make for this year’s birthday celebration, I stumbled upon the Chocolate Lavender Pie from Sunday Suppers. They are really one of my favorite food blogs and I hope to get to one of their classes in NY one day. As you know, I am incapable of following a recipe exactly, so this is my variation. It turned out great! Pie with a great crust, rich dark chocolate, a whipped cream topping and just a hint of lavender. I chose a 72% dark chocolate which over powered the lavender, but it was a pretty touch! If you love chocolate, this is one to try. Happy birthday dad!!!

Kelly

Chocolate Lavender Pie

Chocolate Lavender Pie
inspired by this recipe from Sunday Suppers

For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp coarse salt
4 T cold butter, cubed
3 T cold lard, cubed
1/4 cup ice water

For the crystallized lavender:
2 tablespoons dried lavender
1/4 cup granulated sugar

For the filling:
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons dried lavender (make sure it’s intended for culinary use)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or up to 1/4 cup if your chocolate is very bitter)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Pinch of coarse salt

For the whipped cream:
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

To make the crust:
Combine the flour, butter, lard and salt in the bowl of a food process and pulse until it’s cut into the dry ingredients and the mixture has the texture of coarse crumbs. Add the ice water and pulse in 5-second bursts, just until the dough starts to come together. Don’t overwork it!

Turn it out onto a lightly floured board and roll out the dough to slightly larger than a 9-inch pie pan (you can wrap it well in plastic wrap and refrigerate it an hour to let it rest). Prick the bottom with fork tines, and put the pie in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Once the oven’s ready and the dough is chilled, spray a piece of foil with nonstick spray and press it, sprayed side down, on top of the pie dough. Fill the pie shell with beans or a pie chain, then bake it for 15 minutes until you see a little color on the sides of the crust. Carefully remove the foil and beans, then continue to bake the crust for an additional 15-20 minutes, until it is fully baked and golden brown. Cover the sides with foil if necessary to ensure the edges don’t burn. Let the crust cool completely before filling it.

For the crystallized lavender:
Boil the lavender in water for 30 seconds, then strain. Pat the lavender mostly dry between layers of paper towel, then roll the slightly damp lavender in the granulated sugar. Separate into individual pieces and let them dry completely.

To make the filling:
Combine the heavy cream, the lavender and gently heat. Allow to steep 5 minutes. Place the chocolate, sugar and salt in the bowl of a double boiler. Pour the cream through a mesh strainer into the bowl of chocolate, straining out the lavender pieces.

Whisk everything together until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is shiny and smooth. Add the room temperature butter and whisk it into ganache.

Cool the mixture to room temperature, whisking occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on top. Once slightly thickened and at room temperature, pour it into the baked crust and refrigerate it until it’s firmly set, at least 4 hours.

Chill your mixing bowl and whisk attachment for 15 minutes before you’re ready to use them. Pour the cream, sugar and vanilla into the chilled bowl into the bowl. Whip on medium speed until firm peaks form, then use immediately.

Garnish chilled pie with whipped cream, sliced strawberries (optional) and crystallized lavender. Slice and enjoy!!

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