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2 cups uncooked Farro

1/2 cup Slivered Almonds, toasted

1/4 cup Dried Tart Cherries, roughly chopped (or whole, your preference)

1/4 cup Pomegranate Seeds

1- 1.5 cups Cucumber, diced

1/4 cup Sprouts, rinsed with roots trimmed off (optional, I use alfalfa)

2-3 Scallions, chopped

2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped

1 Tbsp Fresh Mint, chopped

1/3 cup Feta cheese, crumbled

Lemon Vinaigrette*

Instructions

Cook farro according to package instructions, then drain and set aside to cool in a large mixing bowl.  I add a couple shakes of Montreal Chicken seasoning, as well as one chicken bouillon cube, just for added flavor.  You can always use chicken stock/vegetable stock/plain water – whatever you choose.

Toast the almonds in a dry small frying pan on medium-low heat, just until they start to brown and you can smell them – should only take a few minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Chop and prepare all other ingredients.

When the farro is cool, add remaining ingredients.  Drizzle with the vinaigrette and toss well to coat the entire salad.  Add additional vinaigrette to taste.  Feta can be tossed in with everything else, or just crumbled on top.  Serve at room temperature, or chilled if you prefer.

*I make my own vinaigrette.  I don’t measure anything (sorry!!), but here is what I include:

Fresh Lemon Juice, a few tablespoons

Dijon Mustard, a tablespoon or so

Salt & Pepper, to taste (slightly more pepper than salt)

Dried Thyme, couple shakes of the bottle

Honey or Agave Nectar, maybe a tablespoon (or use a pinch or two of sugar)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – good quality – probably ¼ - ½ cup

Whisk everything together until well combined.  Can be stored in a jar or bottle in the fridge for a couple weeks.

One afternoon when I had some free time, I decided to give them a go.  The recipe said they took about 45 minutes start to finish, but come on…that couldn’t be right.  I’m glad to say it was.  Just a few ingredients tossed together and kneaded a few times, divided and rolled out into rounds, then fried in a dry pan for about 30 seconds on each side and donezo!  Seriously - that simple.  This recipe makes a dozen.  If you like them a little thicker, you can always cut it down to 9 or 10, or if you’re going for tacos, make them smaller and get up to 15-16….another bonus to making your own. 

Anyway, here’s the process and what I did with mine.  It included some making some fun cuudles (my word…think zucchini noodles (zoodles), but with cucumber!) with my new kitchen gadget, and obviously talking like Ned Flanders while cranking them out… cuudly doodly!  Don’t be jealous.  ;)

Ingredients

3 cups All-Purpose or White Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup refined coconut oil, melted (or canola/olive oil)

1 cup warm water

Instructions

Note – I have an alternative recipe that adds some chopped spinach to the flour mixture.  That version is mixed in the food processor for even distribution.  I’ll be trying those soon!

Recipe adapted from: Homemade Tortillas

I have been flagging and saving beer cheese bread recipes for years now, but have shockingly never made any.  Well when I saw this one (in a King Arthur Flour catalog, where else?), and noticed that there were only 4 ingredients, I ripped it out and made it three days later….about time!

As I usually do the first time, I followed the recipe exactly.  As such, the bread is good.  But I can definitely make this better.  First of all, I think ½” chunks of cheese are way too big.  I’m going with ¼” next time for more even distribution.  Also, this could use a little kick – I’m thinking some chopped pickled jalapeno.  I ate this at room temperature the first time and it was good, but I highly recommend toasting it.  The edges get a little crispy and the cheese gets nice and soft – mmm, mmm.  Bread and cheese?  That always hits the spot.

Ingredients

4 cups Self-Rising Flour (I always add an extra pinch of baking powder)

¾ cup Vermont Cheese Powder

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese (I used extra sharp, but it was a little harsh – I’ll use medium next time.  Asiago or Gruyere could be good too.)

2 cups beer – nothing too intense, perhaps a lager

½ cup additional cheddar cheese, shredded, for the topping.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º.  Lightly grease a 9” to 10” round deep, lidded Dutch oven or bread crock.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cheese powder, and cubed cheese.  Add the beer, stirring until no dry spots of flour remain.

Pour the batter into the Dutch oven or crock and smooth the surface.  Sprinkle with the shredded cheese, cover and bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a digital thermometer inserted in the middle reads at least 190º.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature (or sliced and toasted in the oven!).

The red pepper in the fridge is starting to wrinkle.  The celery is starting to wilt.  You have one lone potato left on the counter.  What do you do when it’s cold outside so you don’t want a salad, and these sad vegetables aren’t even worthy of one anyway?  It’s soup time!

That is exactly how this concoction came about, and it turned out really well.  There’s no real recipe for this, I literally threw everything soup-worthy from my fridge, freezer, counter and cabinets into a giant pot and let it simmer on low for an hour.  Here’s what I ended up with:

Ingredients

1 russet potato, peeled and diced in ½” cubes

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

3-4 stalks celery, sliced

3 large carrots, sliced

½ - 1 cup frozen sweet corn

1 package frozen chopped spinach (break up as it defrosts into the soup)

1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes with juice, crushed with spoon when added to pot

1 32oz container of Low-Sodium Chicken Broth (or Vegetable Broth)

1 tsp dried thyme

1 Tbsp dried parsley

Garlic powder

Salt & Pepper

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Olive Oil

Instructions

Sauté onion, carrots, celery and potato with some olive oil, salt & pepper for a few minutes, just to soften slightly.  Add red pepper and tomatoes.  Cook for a few minutes more.  Add all remaining ingredients, stir to combine then let simmer for about 15 minutes.  Taste soup and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Continue to let simmer for another 30-45 minutes, stirring on occasion.

Dole out a big bowl, top with a little grated parmesan (optional but tasty), then let it soothe your soul…..and don’t forget the wine.

I’m willing to bet that even if you’re not hungry, you’d start salivating a little when you get a whiff of fresh garlic hitting a hot pan.  We’re talking Pavlov style here.  There are a few things that always do it for me – garlic, the sound and smell of sizzling onions, and on the sweet side – the scent of cinnamon wafting from the oven - I’m a sucker for it.

This super simple recipe starts out with sautéing some chopped fresh garlic.  If you like to cook as I do, the smell invokes instant relaxation and puts everything swirling around in your head to rest, at least for the 30 minutes it takes to put this together. (Kind of how the sound of a running dishwasher makes you want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and nap….no?  Just me?)  It’s perfect for a quick weeknight meal and can easily be adapted as you’ll see below.  After cooking up the garlic and some peppers for a couple minutes, it’s really just a matter of tossing everything into one pot and letting it go.  Healthy, flavorful and high in protein, you can’t argue with that.

Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats: 

(http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/11/05/mexican-quinoa/) 

Ingredients

2-3 tsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced – I used 3 medium sized cloves

3-4 jalapeños, seeded and finely chopped – I subbed about 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained – I used red, but color doesn’t matter

1 ¼ cups vegetable broth – I used chicken broth

1 can (about 1 ½ cups) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes, with juice

1 cup frozen corn (or kernels from 2 cobs)

½ tsp kosher salt

⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro – I used about 1 tsp dried cilantro

Squeeze of fresh lime juice

3 scallions, thinly sliced – my addition

Instructions

Heat olive oil in large saucepan (one that has a lid) over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and jalapeños/crushed red pepper and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Stir in the quinoa and let it toast for 2-3 minutes.  Add broth, black beans, tomatoes, corn and salt and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the liquid is fully absorbed.  If using dried cilantro, add it when you have about 5 minutes of simmering left.  Once the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat.  Add the fresh cilantro and lime juice.

*Couple notes:  I had a leftover chicken breast, so I chopped that up and added it at the same time as everything else.  Nothing wrong with even more protein, right?  I also couldn’t believe this recipe didn’t include onion of some sort so I chopped up a few scallions and tossed them in for the simmer as well.  I think it adds a flavor that would have been lacking.

Optional toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream/plain Greek yogurt, salsa, avocado, etc.  Enjoy!

If you were stranded on a desert island what food would you need to have with you?  I’d definitely need granola in some form or another – I love it and I really love it with yogurt…in fact my obsession with yogurt is borderline frightening.  Thank goodness it’s so good for you or I’d be quite the fatty.  And for the record, my other foods would include good bread, good cheeses, red grapes, bananas, and most definitely bacon.  Ok, I’m totally getting off topic… 

I’ve wanted to make granola bars for a long time and after seeing Ina Garten make them recently (I’ve been on a late afternoon Food Network kick at the gym) I realized that I had most of what I needed at home already so I was sold.

I like this recipe, but I think I can make it better – well, make it more to suite my tastes I should say.  Also, I think I should have baked them for a few more minutes to harden them a bit more as they’re a little crumbly.  I think they’d still be chewy, which I want, but they would just hold together better.  Anyway, this was definitely an encouraging first try.  Next time I plan to add some cinnamon and some seeds – likely pepitas, sunflower and flax (omega 3’s!).  Chocolate chips and/or peanuts would also be great.  There are countless possibilities.  Here’s how it’s done:

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed (omitted – you chew forever and it never goes away - blech!!)

½ cup toasted wheat germ

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

⅔ cup honey

¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup chopped pitted dates (omitted – anyone else think these look like roaches?  Gross.)

½ cup chopped dried apricots (use California rather than Turkish if you can, better flavor)

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup dried tart Montmorency cherries (my addition)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.  **I only had a 9”x13” pan so I made 1.5x the recipe – worked out well.**

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries (or any other add-ins) and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

I flagged this recipe months ago and set it aside for when I had the itch to make something new and had a good group to cook for.  The opportunity came up last week and I’m glad it did as this one is pretty kick-ass.  Admittedly, I didn’t actually use soba noodles when I made it but that is only because they weren’t available at the grocery store I went to (seriously, why do I ever stray from the uber-reliable Giant in McLean, VA???).  I have since bought some soba noodles and definitely plan to re-do this recipe the way it was meant to be made.  My substitution was rice noodles (pad thai noodles) and they worked out really well, but I think the flavor of the soba would make it even better.  I doubled the recipe and 5 of us chowed on two servings each, finishing off the dish – a definite keeper.  I made a lot of little changes which I’ll note in the recipe below.  Who’s in for round 2?!

Ingredients

Recipe courtesy Brown Eyed Baker (www.browneyedbaker.com)

8 oz. buckwheat soba noodles (subbed rice noodles)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced in thin strips

1 cup shredded cabbage (for a shortcut, used the bagged pre-shredded stuff for coleslaw)

1 cup broccoli florets (use fresh not frozen)

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 tsps. fresh ginger, minced (omitted and used some ginger powder on the chicken I added)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

½ cup almond slivers (toast these in dry pan for better flavor and a little extra crunch)

Extra-virgin olive oil

Crushed red pepper flakes (omitted and added ground cayenne pepper to sauce instead)

Boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in thin strips (my addition – needed more protein – see notes in instructions)

Sauce:

3 Tbsp. almond butter (may need one extra for better consistency)

3 Tbsp. water

3 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Instructions

If adding chicken, sauté in a large skillet (when doubling this recipe I used 3 chicken breasts) with some olive oil, S&P, garlic powder and several shakes of ground ginger), cook just until done and set aside.  Wipe out skillet and use for vegetables.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt.  Cook soba noodles just until al dente, rinse, drain and set aside.

In the skillet with a splash of olive oil, sauté the broccoli and red pepper for about 2-3 min then add shredded cabbage and cook a few minutes more.  Add the garlic and scallions (and ginger if using fresh) and cook for a couple more minutes until desired crispness.  Reduce heat to low, add noodles, chicken and slivered almonds then mix everything together.  Pour sauce over and toss to coat, warm through.  Serve immediately.

Oh and we also had this – yum!

I’ve been delinquent in posting this recipe and with only 3 days officially left of summer I figured I better hurry up!  I actually made this a while ago…twice in fact.  The first time, I was at the beach in NC with friends and corn on the cob wasn’t available so I had to use frozen corn.  It was tasty, but when I changed the ingredients a bit the second time around it was definitely better.  This sounds like such a fancy dish, but believe me, other than it being a little time consuming to make, it’s actually quite simple.  And what couldn’t be good about sweet white summer corn, pasta and a white wine butter sauce?  DELICIOUS!!! (Except to those of you who have an aversion to corn on the cob that I will never understand J)  

I didn’t use a recipe for this.  I just thought about the flavor/texture profile I was going for (creamy, sweet, salty, tastes like corn – obvs) and combined all the ingredients then doled blobs out onto gyoza wrappers – asian dumpling wrappers that are the perfect way to make ravioli quickly – folded them over, sealed them and that was that.  The trick to sealing them so they won’t pop open during cooking is to use a mixture of egg and water and rub a little all the way around the inside edge of the wrappers.  After folding them into half-moons, press the edges with a fork to secure the seal.  Like I said, easy, but time consuming.

Here’s what went into the ravioli:

4 oz goat cheese (I used mascarpone the first time – stick with goat, more flavor)

1 cup ricotta

Sweet White Corn from 4 cobs

Salt, to taste

Garlic powder, to taste

Parmesan, for sprinkling before serving

For the sauce, see my recipe from May 16, 2011 – Fish with White Wine Sauce.  Just add a little less lemon juice, and throw in a couple pinches of dried thyme.

Oh, and for good measure, sprinkle some bacon on top as I did.  Mmmmmm, bacon.

Today was a blah day at work.  All day I kept thinking, how is it only Tuesday??  I think two weeks in a row of 4-day work weeks completely spoiled me.  But I was determined not to let the entire day be a bust.  So what does someone like me do for a pick-me-up?  Well, other than pouring a nice cold glass of wine immediately upon getting home, I cook.  Days like today are when I like to get creative in the kitchen.  I may refer to a recipe or two for inspiration, but when it comes down to it, I just wing it.  Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes it ends up in the trash and I have a bowl of popcorn for dinner!  Thankfully today I got lucky….

I’ve always wanted to make falafel, but the thought of deep frying something has never really appealed to me.  I try to be as health conscious as possible - and by the way, it’s bathing suit season people!!  When I get a craving though, I have to satisfy it.  So I decided I’d make falafel patties and fry them in a pan like burgers rather than immersing them.  I used a mixture of canola and olive oils, just a few tablespoons of each, just barely coating the bottom of the pan.  I would have preferred to use all olive oil, but the smoke point is higher for canola oil and these patties needed a good sear.

Now – if you know me, you know I am slightly moderately totally obsessed with yogurt!  And every good falafel has a delicious yogurt sauce accompanying it, right?  Done.  I mixed up a quick sauce of Greek yogurt, chopped parsley, grated cucumber, garlic, salt and pepper.  Just taste it as you go and season accordingly.  If you don’t want to take the time to make this, you could always use some hummus or tahini instead.

I opted to skip the pita or wrap today (again, images of myself on the beach flashing before my eyes…) and just have the falafel with some mixed greens and a deliciously ripe Roma tomato.

 To make the falafel, combine the following:

1 15-16oz can chick peas

¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

2 cloves garlic

½ medium red onion, large dice

½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

⅛– ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional)

2 Tbsp flour

Amounts are estimates; I really did just throw everything in the processor and puree it.  You are looking for the consistency of a thick paste.  If it’s too thick, add a drizzle of olive oil.  If it looks too loose, add a little more flour.

Form the paste into patties about the size of your palm and about ¼ - ½ inch thick.  If you make them any bigger they may fall apart as you cook them.  On medium heat, fry them in oil until dark golden brown, then flip and repeat.  Drain on paper towel when done and enjoy while hot.