HHI

Brad and I just got back from a week in Hilton Head with my mom and dad, and we had a blast. My parents drove down, and B and I flew to meet them, so we had dinner the first night at The Olde Pink House in Savannah, Georgia. I am obsessed with the architecture in Savannah – it’s just such a cool, beautiful little city. 

I forgot about Southern Cooking, though.  At dinner I ordered what I thought was a simple southern fish dinner.  This is what they brought out:

omg.  I had two bites and then looked at Brad all, “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”  Luckily, he is more adventurous than I am, and so we swapped dinners. His duck crepes were delicious!

We had a great time in Hilton Head. Lots of golfing, bike rides, late dinners and cocktails on the patio. It was gorgeous weather the entire time, and I got to spend some serious QT with three of my most favorite people in the world.  How do you do better than that??
My parents, who are the cutest. Don’t let my mom’s diminutive size fool you. Apparently she’s a ringer (and a  serious trash-talker, at that) when it comes to the game cornhole, who knew!
Hilton Head Island
No trip would be complete for BAF without some lox.

Savannah

Fried Green Tomato “BLT”

Farmer’s Market Quinoa Salad

Incredibly, I have never been to the Scranton Farmers’ Market until this week.  Holy crow, have I been missing out. Gorgeous produce, cheeses, meats,even flowers (!), all from local farms and farmers.

There’s really nothing better, food-wise, than farmers’ markets – supporting your community while being able to find out about what you’re eating and where it came from. I picked up some corn, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and basil, and decided to use a mix of red and white quinoa as a base for this salad. We ate it that day, then took it to Frontier Days, where it was delicious even cold.  The honey-lemon vinaigrette seems odd in theory, but adds a dimension of sweetness that adds to the overall flavors – a feta creaminess, a basil crispness, etc. This is a great end-of-summer dish to use up whatever vegetables you find at the farmers’ market (or, okay, the supermarket).

SEPTEMBER QUINOA SALAD
Ingredients (serves 6-8 as a side dish)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed really well
1/4 c feta cheese, crumbled
3 ears corn, cut off the cob
2 tomatoes, diced
2 zucchini, seeds removed (just drag a spoon down the center after you cut them in half) and quartered
vidalia onion, sliced
basil, julienned
EVOO
2 garlic cloved, minced

Honey-Lemon Viniagrette:
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 tablespoons honey
1 garlic clove, minced 
kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Make the dressing – combine all the ingredients in a small mason jar, adding the honey last so the spices can absorb into the lemon juice. Shake it up and let it sit while you make the rest of the dish.
2. In a saucepan, bring 2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth, if you want to make this completely vegetarian) to a boil. Rinse the quinoa really well – this is important, since the “dust” that collects on the outside of the quinoa is bitter and will ruin any dish you make if any of it remains. I have a really fine-woven strainer that I bought specifically for rinsing quinoa – otherwise it’s a total PITA trying to get the “dust” off it thoroughly.  Add quinoa to the boiling chicken broth, turn the heat down to medium low, and put a lid on it. Let cook until the broth is absorbed and the quinoa is soft and fluffy.
3. In a different saucepan, cook garlic in 1 tablespoon EVOO over medium high heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the corn, zucchini, and onions, and a little salt/pepper.  Let cook about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Add the cooked quinoa and give it all a good stir.
4. Chop up 2 tomatoes, and add to the quinoa/veggie mixture.
 
Look at these Farmers’ Market tomatoes!!  Gorgeous.
4. Add feta, stir it all up so it gets melty and combines everything together nicely.  Then julienne some basil. 

Let’s julienne some basil!  First, clean some leaves, then make a little stack of them. Roll them tightly together like a cigar, then slice thinly from the top down to get perfectly ribboned basil. It’s kind of insane how amazing chopping basil makes your kitchen smell, every time.


5. Add dressing to the salad, mix well, then top with the julienned basil. Serve and enjoy.

Breakfast Burritos!

I’ve never been much of a breakfast person. I tend to subscribe to the whole “food doesn’t fit into a specific time slot” theory of eating, which basically means that if I’m craving pancakes, it’s usually for dinner, and whatever leftovers I have from the night before (especially pasta), it’s what’s for breakfast.  That said, I am completely obsessed with breakfast burritos. Not only are the healthy, versatile, and filling, but you can make a whole batch of them and freeze them, then nuke them individually for maybe 2 minutes and your breakfast is ready to go. For those people who love sleep and consequently are pretty hurried in the morning (me), these are a great timesaver, and a much better option than the sodium breakfast sandwiches available at just about any of the places you can stop at on your ride in to work.
HAM, ASPARAGUS, & CHEDDAR BREAKFAST BURRITOS
Ingredients (serving size can be whatever you want it to be – it’s usually 1.5 egg whites per burrito, and other ingredients to your desired filling, so this recipe made 8 burritos):
– Eggs
– Breakfast ham
– Vidalia onion, diced
– Asparagus, chopped
– Grated Cheddar
– Small whole-wheat wraps – don’t use the regular burrito size, because these will be enormous
– Butter, EVOO
– Kosher salt and pepper to taste

 1. Dice up 1 vidalia onion and maybe 1/2 a bunch of asparagus. Asparagus spears will naturally break off at the part of the stem that gets woody if you just bend it until it snaps.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When melted, add the asparagus and the onion, cook until soft. Remove from heat and transfer the asparagus/onion mixture to a plate.
3. Dice some breakfast ham, and add to the pan that the onions and asparagus were in. Cook until browned, then remove from heat and transfer ham to the plate with the asparagus/onion mixture.

4. Using that same pan, melt a small tab of butter and add eggs that have been whisked. I used mainly egg whites, maybe 1-2 egg yolks. Yolks are chock full of cholesterol, sure, but they mainly just gross me out. Scrambled eggs though – yummo! Once these are set, leave them in the pan but turn off the heat.
5. With your little assembly station ready (scrambled eggs, ham/onion/asparagus mixture, cheddar cheese, burritos), place one burrito on a flat surface, then add eggs, asparagus/ham/onions, and cheddar. I am pretty terrible at rolling burritos, so I can’t even tell you if this is where the ingredients are meant to be placed, or how to roll them well. I kind of just winged it, and they turned out fine, which means I’m sure you’ll be all set, too. 

6. Once you’ve rolled your burrito, roll it up in a paper towel (this will help it not get soggy when you microwave it, I find that Viva “choose-a-size” is perfect for smaller burritos), and then wrap that tightly in a piece of aluminum foil. Put the assembled, paper-toweled, foil-wrapped burritos in a freezer ziplock bag. 

When ready for breakfast, remove one of the burritos, remove the foil (as I learned from watching my babysitter when I was 6 microwave a hamburger still in foil, microwave + aluminum foil = bad news bears), and heat for 1 minute on one side, flip to the other side, and microwave for 1 minute more.

These are super tasty, and keep really well too. I thought that 1 burrito might be too little, but it ends up being a perfect breakfast portion for both me and Brad, which says enough!

Favorite. Salad. Ever.

One of Brad’s and my favorite restaurants in NEPA is the Summerhouse Grill, an amazing, farm-to-table restaurant in Montrose. The food is clean and fresh, it’s BYO, the space is cozy and adorable, and the 45 minute drive from Scranton is time well spent, especially for a date night. Last year, we went to a cooking class they hosted, and learned to make a salad that has been my go-to ever since.  The brightness of the lemon-coriander vinaigrette is balanced by the creaminess of the super-thinly sliced avocado and the peppery crunch of the paper-thin radishes. This was served as an accompaniment to Mexican food, but it really goes with anything. Have I mentioned how much I love avocados?  Because I really, really do.
MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH LEMON-CORIANDER VINAIGRETTE, AVOCADO, AND RADISHES
Ingredients:
Mixed Greens
1 Avocado
3-4 radishes
Dressing:
3 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I use California Olive Ranch olive oil, and only this brand, since reading this “hair-raising article on black market olive oil in the New Yorker that changed the mind-set of every cook who read it.” )
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Coriander
Kosher salt/pepper to taste
1.  Wash the greens, and then (surprisingly), add a teeny pinch of kosher salt to them. Lettuce is technically a vegetable, and should be dressed like one.
2. In a small bowl, squeeze 1 tablespoon lemon juice (I usually find that this is half of a lemon. Roll it out on a hard surface before cutting it, to loosen the lemon juice) and add to that the coriander, kosher salt, and pepper. 

3. Once you’ve added the spices to the lemon juice (since the ingredients will absorb into the acid better than the oil), whisk in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

4. Verrrrrry thinly slice the radishes and the avocado. They should be paper thin – a microplaner will be able to accomplish this, but it usually just takes a couple practice runs and tossing out the thicker slices before you get it right.

5. Toss the greens with the salad, top with the radishes and the avocado. At the cooking class we went to, the folks at Summerhouse noted that the paper-thin slices “take this recipe from a salad to an event”, and I totally agree.

Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce-Marinated Tofu or Chicken

Peanut Sauce marinated chicken and tofu summer rolls, yummo.


One of my very favorite things to eat is anything in a “summer roll” – a very thin rice paper that you soak briefly in hot water to make it pliable, and then quickly wrap any fillings in it like a little asian burrito. When I lived in Colorado, there was this amazing asian restaurant that would serve this tofu summer roll with this incredible peanut dipping sauce. I tried a bunch of recipes to duplicate this sauce, but ultimately landed on one you can just buy in the store. It’s delicious, and for someone who has a real aversion to anything spicy, but is marrying someone who would eat spice every day, it has enough heat to create a solid middle ground for both of us. Working with rice paper is pretty fun once you get the hang of it – the key is to work quickly, and not overstuff it, since the paper is really thin (ummm…because it’s made of rice grains. You get the picture). I marinate both tofu and chicken in the peanut sauce, since some people still think “protein” only means “meat”.  As a side note, it’s really important to get organic tofu and check that it’s a brand that contains no GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), as soy GMOs are especially bad for you.










Ingredients:
– 1 package Nasoya Extra-firm tofu, drained (I take the tofu block out of the package, put it on ultra-absorbent paper towels – I love Viva Paper Towels, and put it in between two heavier plates to get as much water out of it. This takes about an hour and a couple changes of paper towels. I also hear there’s such a thing as a tofu press, which must be a revelation.)
– Bean sprouts
– 1 english cucumber, seeded (if any) and julienned
– chicken tenders or chicken breast strips
– “bean thread” noodles
– rice paper wraps
– House of Tsang Peanut Sauce, Bangkok Padang (I found this at Wegman’s)
– Mint, basil (either or, and these are also optional, but you should really try them the first time around)
– julienned carrots (optional)

1. After tofu is drained, cut into 1/4 in. strips and cover with Peanut Sauce, marinate for 2 hours to overnight. These slices also make an amazing snack. 
     –As a side note, my favorite story about vegans and tofu.  When I lived in Boulder, there was a “local interest” story all over the news about a vegan who wanted to personalize her license plate by letting people know about her love of all things soy.  The Colorado DMV wouldn’t approve her suggested license plate because they were concerned “ILUVTOFU” could have a more suggestive translation than, you know, “I luv tofu”.  

peanut-marinated chicken done “convection oven style”
2. Marinate the chicken strips in the peanut sauce as well. When ready to cook, line a roasting pan with aluminum foil, and put a cooling rack over it. Place the marinated chicken strips on the cooling rack and cook in the oven under the broiler for 3-4 minutes per side, depending on thickness.  I love this little roasting pan/cooling rack technique of cooking chicken, since it basically creates a convection oven type of environment, and covers both sides of the meat way better than something lying flat against a cooking tray.








3. Cook bean thread noodles according to package – this should take approx. 2 minutes in total once the water is boiling.

3. Arrange your little “assembly station”.  You want to have a wide, flat bowl full of hot water, a plate for assembly of the summer rolls, your cooked bean thread noodles, the marinated tofu, the marinated, cooked chicken, the basil/mint, bean sprouts, and julienned cucumber (and carrots, if you’re doing that).






4. Working quickly, dip rice paper in hot water until soft and pliable (approx. 30 seconds). It will become translucent when ready to use. Put rice paper onto a plate and add noodles, tofu or chicken, bean sprouts, basil, mint, cucumber.

Peanut tofu summer roll

Peanut chicken summer roll
5. Starting from the bottom, roll up like a burrito.Be careful not to overstuff the rice paper. This took me a couple of tries to get the hang of it, but they turn out so well once you do!  Arrange summer rolls on a plate, making sure they don’t touch (they will stick together).

6. Serve with a side of peanut dipping sauce and a delicious salad.  



















Chicken Milanese

This recipe is one of my tried and true since I started cooking almost ten years ago. It’s fresh and light and can be made super healthily – the “wash” of lemon juice and olive oil, and the topping of peppery arugula bring this classic dish to a different level.  The first time I made this for a boyfriend (ten years ago) he said, “If I was going to open a restaurant, this would be one of my signature dishes”.  He went on to become a CPA instead of a restauranteur, but I’ll still take that compliment. :]

CHICKEN MILANESE with arugula and a “lemon wash”
Ingredients (serves 8):
– 8 thinly sliced chicken breast cutlets
– 1 vidalia onion, diced
– 4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– Baby arugula (approx. 2 cups)
– Juice of 1 lemon
– Parmesan cheese (approx. 2 tablespoons)
– Bread Crumbs (approx. 3 cups)
– Olive oil
– salt
– pepper
1. Heat 1 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter (or 2 T. olive oil instead of 1 and 1) in small saucepan.  
2. When melted, add the diced vidalia onion and saute until soft.
3. Add 2 cloves crushed garlic, stir until fragrant (approx. 1 minute)
4. Seed approx. 4 plum tomatoes (seeds make things kind of bitter) and dice, add to the onion/garlic mixture. Reduce heat to low and let simmer to blend flavors and ingredients while you prep the chicken.
5. Rinse chicken and pat dry, season with salt and pepper. 
6. Arrange 2 bowls for breading: the first one should be a mix of the juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons olive oil, whisked together, the second a mix of 3 cups breadcrumbs and grated parmesan.
7. Heat approx. 1/4 inch of olive oil (and 1 T butter, optional) in a large skillet. ** Alternatively, for a healthier version, you can bread the chicken, spray it with Pam olive oil cooking spray, and bake it in the oven at 350 for approx. 20 minutes, flipping once. 
8. Dredge the seasoned chicken in the olive oil/lemon juice mixture, then in the bread crumbs/parmesan mixture.

breaded chicken, ready to be cooked either in a pan or in the oven.

 9. Cook in the oil (or in the oven, after spraying with Olive Oil cooking spray), flipping once, until each side is golden brown and chicken is cooked through (these cutlets were thin enough that each side took approx. 5 minutes).

10. If you cook the chicken in the oil, when it’s ready, remove and drain on paper towels (at this point I was regretting not spraying it with olive oil and baking it)

11. Top chicken with arugula dressed with a simple lemon viniagrette (1 T lemon juice, 3 T olive oil, salt and pepper to taste), and then top that with the tomato/onion/garlic mixture, which at this point should be combined in a really melted down, kind of awesome little chunky “sauce”. Serve with shaved curls of parmesan cheese (optional) and a lemon wedge. 

On Sunday we went to Boulder to spend the next two days there.  By this point B was already talking about moving out there someday.  A stay at the incredible St. Julien and a gorgeous little Sunday supper at The Kitchen sealed the deal.
There was a couple sitting next to us having The Kitchen’s legendary tomato soup, and the woman took a picture of it.  She was all, “I just always love taking pictures of the incredible meals we have”, and I was like, “I know.  I get it.”

Our first breakfast was at Snooze, one of my favorite breakfast places in Colorado. That middle paragraph reads, “yeah, we’re pretty much as close to perfect as you can get”.

pineapple upside down pancakes and pesto mozzarella balsamic eggs benedict, omg.

B and I went out to Denver this past weekend to celebrate the wedding of our friends Lauren and Coley (who, in my secret desire to have a career as a matchmaker/yenta, I set up!) and we had an awful time getting out of NEPA. Flights cancelled, hour+ drive to an alternate airport, delays galore. To make up for it, United bumped us to first class.

This is the “snack” they give you.  That wine glass you see there never went below the half full mark.  There are hot towels! And comfy chairs! And fancy cookies! I took so many pictures B had to tell me to cut it out.  So basically, we never should have taken the upgrade, because now I never want to fly coach again.