Atole

Atole is a traditional Mexican drink enjoyed during the winter months (mostly December).  It's comparable to hot chocolate, but it's not.  The base is actually made from corn meal, sugar, and cinnamon.  And if you add chocolate to it, it's call champurrado.  Now before you decide that a drink made from corn sounds like the weirdest thing you've ever heard of, consider horchata.  Horchata is another Mexican drink made from rice water and cinnamon.  When I tell people what horchata is made of, they make the "that sounds disgusting" face.  But then they try it and realize how amazing it is.  Atole is like that.

Bucatini alla'amatriciana

This was one of my favorite dishes while I was living in Rome.  First, because bucatini is so much fun.  It looks like fat spaghetti, and is used in much the same way as spaghetti, but it's hollow in the center.  You'll get some impromptu music during the course of your meal... Second, because it just tastes amazing.  Don't let my picture fool you... it's so much more than pasta and chunks of tomato!  It's pretty simple to make, though some of the ingredients might be difficult to find.

Fresh Pesto

I never really liked pesto until I lived in Italy... probably because most pesto in the USA isn't fresh.  Since I've been keeping a summer garden, and basil being a fixture in it, I've started to perfect my pesto recipe.  I think I've gotten it down pretty well.

Capirotada

This traditional Mexican bread pudding is one of my favorites. I've even taken it to a Christmas party because it's so delicious. But it's meant for Easter time. And it's sooooooo good!

This recipe comes from my mother's family, which comes from the southwest.

Salmon & Quinoa Cakes

As any health-minded foodie knows, keeping new but healthy food on the dinner table can be a challenge.  I realized that  I was starting to cook the same thing over and over.  It was healthy and it was delicious, but it was always the same.  So time for something new!  And time to start using the veggies that are coming out of my winter garden!  This recipe is actually really simple, and manages to get fish, quinoa, greek yogurt and leafy greens all in to the same meal!

Couscous with Asparagus, Chard and Shrimp

This is what happens when I go grocery shopping with no real shopping list except "I should make something with shrimp this week because it's on sale."  And after having been on vacation for a week in a country that loves fried food, I was in desperate need of greens.

I have no idea what to call this because I just whipped it up and it's so delicious I just had to share it.  It's similar to a previous recipe I posted, but I was amazed at myself for how wonderfully this turned out for me just decided to throw in some asparagus and shrimp.

Rainbow Chard with Couscous

I made the mistake once of not removing the stems of chard before putting it in my soup... let me just say that they are quite bitter.  But if sauteed up with some garlic and lemon juice, they're not so bad.

Quinoa with Kale

At last year's Thanksgiving, when my mom asked if I would make a quinoa dish, I just stared at her blankly.  One, I had no idea what she said.  Two, whatever it was, it didn't sound like it belonged at Thanksgiving.  She explained that it's a grain that's really healthy for you.  My disinterest continued.  Thanksgiving is supposed to be about consuming as many calories as possible, not making sure your digestive track is in order.   But in the last few months, my boyfriend and I decided we needed to start a healthier routine.  I finally decided to try quinoa, whatever it is.  Surprisingly, it's pretty amazingly delicious when done well.  This recipe has become a staple in my kitchen, and I've been making it about once a week.

Figs with Goat Cheese

Growing up, my mom always packed is fig newtons in our lunches. For a while I thought they were fancy adult food. But then I got bored with them and realized how uninteresting the flavors were. So for most of my life I just avoided figs. Not like they're that easy to find anyway. Now, as a working adult that can afford fresh produce, I have come to realize that fresh figs are actually pretty awesome, and I wish I had rediscovered them earlier. 

Caperse Sandwich

This year we grew tomatoes from seed, and it was too hard to "kill" the extra plants that we grew.  But with 10 surviving tomato plants, we were bound to have a few tomatoes more than we could eat... So I've been trying to find creative ways to use multiple tomatoes at once. I found this recipe but it used Texas toast and blue cheese. Not being a fan of either, I made this variation.  One slice would be plenty as a side during brunch.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Inevitably, Sacramento gets some pretty hot days. Between the last week of June an first week of July, we had 8 days of temperatures 105F and over. But as much as tomatoes love the heat, they too can get sunburnt. This typically only effects the green ones, but it's still sad to see so many hurt tomatoes. And what can you do with sunburnt green tomatoes? Fry them, of course!

Penne with Cauliflower

This recipe I actually got from a cooking magazine in Italy.  Translating it from Italian challenged my Italian cooking vocab, but it was a good exercise.  And converting from metric to imperial was just as fun (not).  But thank goodness I figured it all out because it's pretty delicious!  I don't think I've ever heard anyone say the like cauliflower, but you would never know when you have it in this simple pasta dish.

Panzanella

At the same time I was living in Rome, a friend of mine was living in Tuscany.  We didn't know each other at the time, even though we went to the same university, but we now work together.  She shared this recipe with me, which she learned while living in Tuscany.  Tuscany has some of the best farming country in all of Italy.  And because of the all the farms and natural woodlands, a lot of the food is much more earthy and gamey than in other parts of Italy.  These seems like one of those recipes that you whip together when you have leftover bread that's about to go stale and a few too many tomatoes.  But it is a delicious snack or side dish!

Baked Cod

I must admit, I love fish.  But it's expensive. And it's not like beef or chicken where you can just pull something together and it's delicious.  The last month or so we've been stuck in dinner rut, in desperate need for new flavors.  Thank goodness cod was on sale when I decided to make this.

A Twist on Paella

If you've never had the opportunity to try paella, you really should find a Spanish restaurant and order it. Famous in the coastal regions of Spain (particularly Barcelona) the seafood and rice dish can easily fill you with a single helping. But, one of the main ingredients in paella is saffron... Between the $20 jar of saffron, paella rice, and the mix of seafood, you can easily spend $60 making paella for a family dinner. This variation uses sage instead of saffron, wild and brown rice instead of paella rice, and meat from land animals instead of seafood. 

Stuffed Zucchini

Every summer, we plant zucchini.  And every summer, we are up to our eyeballs in zucchini.  Last year, all that we knew to do with it was sliced in pasta sauce, grilled or in zucchini bread.  Being so abundant in Northern California, we figured there had to be more ways to utilize this delicious summer squash.  And there are!  This recipe is best with slightly bigger and fatter zucchini than what you'd find at the grocery store.  Homegrown zucchini that were left to grow a day too long are perfect. If you use smaller ones, you'll probably need more of them.  Or use smaller ones as a side dish.

Gnocchi

As a kid I thought gnocchi was really fancy.  It wasn't like regular pasta... it was like a little pouch of carb-y goodness.  Come to find out, it's made out of potatoes... one of my favorite foods.  It's commonly served with pesto because it coats the gnocchi better than a red sauce (though ragu is a pretty commonly used red sauce with gnocchi).  Since I originally posted this over a year ago, I've improved my gnocchi and pesto recipes.  I've actually moved the pesto recipe here.

Rocket Bean Pasta

So apparently in other parts of the world, arugula is called rocket. Not sure where that came from but it sure is easier to say (and spell) than arugula. Anyway. I had a ton of it it was growing pretty giant in my garden. So I needed something quick to put it in. Most recipes I found involved pasta. But with a boyfriend on a high protein diet, it needed to have something else. This recipe actually fit the bill. And surprisingly, he was okay with how much pasta there actually was. 

Citrus Mint Tea

I live in California's central valley, where, contrary to commonly held perceptions about California, temperatures in the summer soar over 100 degrees, and drop to below freezing in the winter.  Where I live, the closest thing to a beach is a river, and unless you're in that river, being outside in the summer is pretty miserable.  This makes tending the garden pretty difficult at times.  My boyfriend, a San Diego native, hates anything above 80 degrees.  So when temperatures were already at 70 degrees at 9am this morning, he decided we needed to be prepared for the rest of the day.  Enter the second most refreshing drink I've ever had (first place is held by ice water with cucumber slices in it).

The Fanciest Turkey Burger I've Ever Had

Last month, I went to visit my sister who is currently doing a study abroad program in Paris.  Since it was her spring break, and since I've already been to Paris, we decided to meet up in London and explore the British Isles.  While in London, we visited the Borough Market for lunch.  Besides the usual produce for sale, a few vendors were cooking up food for the local lunch crowd.  This is a recreation of a delicious chicken burger we had.  I was quite impressed by the simple yet flavor-packet street food London has to offer.