pasta with pistachio pesto

The garden, despite the random gopher appearance, is doing pretty well. Along with beans, carrots, collard greens, and red chard, we have beets. Lately, our preferred way of eating beets is in a salad.

Did you know that you can wrap beets up in aluminum foil and roast them in your oven? And that you don't even have to peel them first? Or cut them up? And after they're done, the skins easily slip off. This was news to me, but now I'm a huge fan. I roasted the beets for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees, and after they cooled off, I effortlessly peeled off the skin. I also roasted pearl onions and quartered mushrooms, and Drew and I served them on top of spinach. We've never eaten pearl onions, but Drew was suddenly inspired (by what, I have no idea) to roast them.

Drew and I like to try out new recipes, and the results usually fall into 3 categories: 1) so good we should definitely make it again; 2) good, but not good enough to make again; 3) disappointing. It turns out there is a 4th category: surprisingly good. Last night we made pasta with pistachio pesto, and it turned out a lot better than we expected. Not that we expected the results to be disappointing; we just didn't think this dish was going to be so good. 

The recipe is from Food and Wine, and it's super simple and quick to put together. The pesto is made up of pistachios, garlic, olive oil, and mint, processed in the food processor and then mixed with grated pecorino. Instead of orecchiette, we used trottole. Normally, we eat whole wheat pasta, but sometimes we shake things up a bit and we happened to be at Target, where it is sold (it's a Target brand of pasta). 

Drew and I enjoyed this dish a lot, and we couldn't stop raving about it. With a few bites remaining, Drew declared that he was stuffed and I wasted no time polishing off his leftovers. In my defense, I had run a half marathon earlier in the day, and if there is ever a time to finish Drew's leftovers, it's on a day when I've run 13.1 miles. Make this dish, and you'll understand.

balsamic onion, mushroom, and goat cheese pizza

This meal is inspired by a recipe from the Vegetarian Times magazine. If you're not familiar with the magazine and you're interested in eating more vegetarian meals, I highly recommend you take a look. The recipes are low maintenance and easy to follow, and the results are good. Drew and I used to be subscribers, but we stopped only because I began checking the magazine out from the library. 

Last week, we made a balsamic onion, mushroom, and goat cheese pizza. The original comes from Mario Batali (he was doing a pizza special for the magazine) and doesn't contain mushrooms. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the recipe on VT's website but a quick google search took me to the recipe posted on this food blog, if you're interested.

But really, no recipe is necessary. I caramelized 2 sliced onions, and when those were almost finished, I added 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms. When the mushrooms were cooked through, I dumped in a couple glugs of balsamic vinegar and let the onion-mushroom mixture simmer for a few minutes until the liquid evaporated (I repeated this a second time because I decided that the mixture was not sufficiently balsamic-y, but do whatever you'd like).

The pizza crust recipe is from the Pioneer Woman. A couple years ago, Drew really got into pizza making (and bread making) which means that we got a pizza peel and a pizza stone. It's not terribly high maintenance to make "real" pizza, but lately, we haven't been feeling it (okay, the truth might be that when you make "real" pizza you can't use a lot of toppings or else the pizza won't slide on or off the pizza peel easily, and I fail to understand this because I like to have lots of toppings on my pizza, and I got tired of having Drew admonish me for overloading the pizzas), so we use PW's recipe and make it in a pan. We always double the recipe so we have an extra crust in the freezer, and besides, what else would we do with half a yeast packet?

We par baked the crust for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then I sprinkled on some olive oil and covered the pizza with the balsamic mushroom and onions, and then Drew dabbed gobs of goat cheese over the top. Then we put it back in the oven for about 8 minutes or so until the cheese was sufficiently melty. As was the case the last time we made this pizza, we were really satisfied. And the best part is that there is another crust in the freezer, waiting until the next time we do it all over again. 

OC Half Marathon

Today I ran the OC Half Marathon, setting a personal record of 2:29:17. I wanted to come in under 2:30, and I'm happy that I made it happen today.

A year ago, I ran the OC full marathon, and the 2nd half was miserable. This time, I ran the good part and stuck to the half. The weather was perfect; not cold and not at all hot. The fan support was excellent (best sign: Run like Ryan Gosling is at the finish line with a puppy), and the views were awesome. The race felt really good, and almost even easy. I took it easy for the first 10 miles, and then kicked it up a notch and pushed myself for the last 5K.  

chocolate chip bars

For as long as I can remember, my mom has made chocolate chip bars. Whether it's a potluck or a road trip, my mom can be counted on to make a pan of bars. They begin with a cake mix, and she used to add walnuts, but I believe she eventually stopped at my request. 

It was not until fairly recently that I learned that the concept of bars was not widespread in the United States. I don't know if they are a Minnesota thing, or a Midwestern thing, but they are certainly not a California thing. In the summer of 2006, at a family reunion in Minnesota, an announcement inviting people to a potluck caused a bit of confusion. Among other information, there were suggestions for dishes for people to bring, such as bars. The California contingent of our family was perplexed. Bars? Like a drinking establishment? Or prison? This led to a lot of laughs and a long running joke that continues to this day. In fact, for a period of time, every time I visited the Oceanside family, I would bring a pan of bars.  

I've made my mom's version of chocolate chip bars here and there, but I stopped a few years ago because I prefer to bake from scratch. I hadn't thought much about them, until I stumbled across a recipe in the Fat Witch Brownie cookbook. The author, who owns the Fat Witch Bakery, calls them blondies, but to me, they are chocolate chip bars and nothing else.

After nearly a month long hiatus, bars were the perfect way to ease back into baking. They are quick and easy, and the results are always satisfying. I've made lots of things from the Fat Witch cookbook, and it's my go-to cookbook when I want to make brownies or bars.   

black bean, zucchini, and olive tacos

This was the second time we made black bean, zucchini, and olive tacos, and I had forgotten how much we enjoyed them. The recipe is from Appetite for Reduction, from the vegan cookbook authors who brought you Post Punk Kitchen.

Drew was in charge of the tacos (black beans, diced zucchini, black olives, onion, garlic, jalapenos, salsa verde). He made a chipotle sour cream, added some cheese, and we toasted the corn tortillas and ate these as tostadas, not tacos (messy, but more filling). I made the rice (jalapenos, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, green chiles), which is loosely based on this millet recipe from Veganomicon, which is, you guessed it, from the Post Punk Kitchen too.

veggie sushi and chinese chicken salad

I'm back. April was crazy. We barely cooked at all, and I think we turned the oven on once and that was to make a Costco pizza. And so we stayed in last weekend and actually cooked. And baked.

It all began with pickled daikon and carrots. The recipe calls for way, way too much salt, but I've got it figured out now. Instead of 1/4 cup of salt, I add just 1 tablespoon. 

We made veggie sushi, with tofu, cucumber, avocado, green onions, and the pickled daikon and carrots. To be more precise, Drew and I made veggie sushi burritos, not proper sushi. All the rolling and cutting is just too much for us and more complicated than it should be.

As a way to further detox, we also made a Chinese chicken salad, which is loosely based on Giada's Chinese Turkey Salad.

Let's just hope we don't have another month like April.

fast food

Don't worry, we are eating, though judging from my blog, it doesn't look like it. It's been a little crazier than usual around here, what with preparing for conferences (me), working on a dissertation proposal (Drew), and wrapping up the winter quarter and starting the spring one (both of us). Hence, we have been eating "fast food," or meals that require little preparation.

We had tons of collard greens from the garden, so we stir fried them with onion, garlic,  broccoli, carrots, and red pepper and made a red curry (coconut milk and a small jar of curry paste). And last week, we made tofu reubens, which involves little more than pressing and baking tofu. 

The "fast food" will continue for the next few weeks, but in the meantime, let me share with you the best hummus recipe. Hummus is easy to make, but I never made it, until fairly recently. I dabbled here and there, trying out different recipes, but I always went back to the store bought stuff. I could never find a recipe I liked- my hummus would turn out too stiff or too watery. It's not that the store bought stuff was superb, it's just that it was still better than my sorry homemade stuff. This embarrassed me a lot, not that anyone knew about my inability to make good hummus. 

Finally, about six months ago, I became determined to stop buying hummus and start making it. I started testing recipes again, but my hummus just wasn't very smooth. At long last, Smitten Kitchen came to the rescue. It turns out that the secret to super-smooth hummus is to peel the chickpeas. I know, don't roll your eyes; it's the truth. And it is so worth it. Here is the recipe. My only recommendation is to go easy on the salt, the 3/4 teaspoon was too much for my taste. But above all, if you're going to make hummus, peel the chickpeas. Trust me.