roasted artichoke dip

around noon on thanksgiving i stopped at the grocery store, halfway between my house and my parents', to get a loaf of bread to go with this dip. as i pulled into the parking lot, almost at a dead stop scanning for a spot, i hear jason yell "woah, woah, woah" at the same time i hear a crunch. i was t-boned in a parking lot by a woman who pulled out of her spot directly into my stopped car. note i said pulled out, not backed out. so if she looked up, she saw me. needless to say, we were all perfectly fine, since the car wasn't moving, but she managed to do $3,500+ in damage, including replacing both of my passenger side doors. thank goodness that's all it was.

pear quinoa salad

in my quest to drop the extra 25 or so pounds i am carrying since i got married and had a baby, i have been on a search for easy and healthy breakfasts and lunches. this quinoa salad is perfect, since it can be both of those or a mid-afternoon snack. i made a batch of this one sunday evening and ate it multiple ways through the next week. i played around with the temperature - some days eating it straight from the refrigerator and others taking the chill off with a quick spin in the microwave - and found i liked it best warm, with a little extra sweetness from a drizzle of real maple syrup. it's both delicious and filling.

pearl couscous with roasted tomatoes & onions

remember this spring when i made this outrageously good chicken and pearl couscous with tomato and lemon? i haven't made a single thing with pearl couscous since then. not a single, solitary thing. so this week, as i was planning dinner, i was in the mood for something just a little bit different but also really quick and easy. i did what any other person would do: googled.

in my quest for a good pearl couscous recipe, i finally came to this one from running to the kitchen. i knew the flavors would be good - roasted tomatoes and onions, bright lemons, fresh mint and basil, and salty feta - as a side with baked fish. this was beyond delicious and deceptively simple. this couscous would be perfect for an end of summer picnic, since it can be served warm or at room temperature. leftovers reheat well and are equally delicious served with two poached eggs on top. 

parker house rolls [12in2012]

i typically eat dinner rolls on only one day each year, thanksgiving. ever since i can remember, we have had brown 'n serve dinner rolls at thanksgiving. found in the frozen foods section of the grocery story, they're small rolls that need a quick pop in the oven to bake them off. we go through a couple bags of them each thanksgiving and they're always completely devoured by the end of the meal. each year, someone tries to change it up with homemade rolls or bread, which results in groans and complaints from all of us grandkids. which was fine, 20 years ago when we were kids. but now, as adults, we can't quite break away from the brown 'n serves. some things never change.

think of these rolls as a homemade version of brown 'n serves. only these have flavor, are lighter and fluffier, and are about twice the size. 

hot pepper jelly

my mother turned my sister on to hot pepper jelly a couple years ago at one of the major holidays. she decided to change things up and introduced us to a new appetizer - hot pepper jelly mixed with cream cheese on crackers. personally, i don't care much for it - i don't particularly care for peppers - but the two of them and other friends and family go crazy for this stuff. so last summer, in the height of pepper season, i made two batches for them for christmas.

orzo with artichoke pesto and grilled corn

i spent my last childless saturday morning being as lazy as possible. i watched a couple hours of food network, caught up on a couple magazines, and did whatever else i felt like. that morning, i watched giada make this orzo pasta salad as part of a simple beach picnic and decided to invite some friends over for one last pre-baby dinner - and a reason to make the salad.

one of our good friends - who will remain nameless - hates artichokes. i mean, hates them with all his might. and of course, he just happened to be coming over for dinner. i was careful not to mention the artichokes and was pleasantly surprised to see him go back for seconds! while i haven't been able to totally convert him, it's a start.

beer battered green beans with spicy dipping sauce

the last few times i've been to the distillery, i've had their crispy green beans - green beans perfectly fried with a buffalo ranch dipping sauce. since green beans are now competing with cucumbers for the top spot in my garden and i finally have the courage to try frying something again (let's just say i had a batch of homemade donuts that did not end well), i turned about a pound of them into the perfect salty spicy snack.

refrigerator garlic dill pickles

a few years ago, i made a mistake with zucchini. it was the first summer in our house and i was excited to have my own space to grow whatever i wanted. a quarter of the space was dedicated to six zucchini plants. yes, six. i spent the second half of the summer trying to give away zucchini faster than they were growing. i vowed never to plant so many again. that same year, my cucumbers did absolutely nothing.

creamy corn with cilantro

it shouldn't be all that surprising to hear how often we eat mexican food in my house. with all the burritos, tacos for breakfast and dinner, salsa, taco salad, rice, quesadillas, baked eggs, and fajitas, i am always on the lookout for something new to add to the mexican rotation. and in this case, another way to mix corn - one of my favorite vegetables, especially now, when it's finally in season - with queso fresco, one of my new favorite cheeses.

great northern cornbread

along with those amazing peanut butter cookies, we had a huge spread of food for jason's birthday a couple weekends ago. i made another batch of homemade pickles and our good friend chris smoked pork and made cajun corn. this cornbread is the perfect accompaniment for barbecue - and i bet it would travel really well, also making it perfect for camping.

crunchy croutons

got some day old bread lying around? maybe the heel of an italian loaf? or a few slices of a skinny baguette leftover from a summer barbecue? turn (thanks for spying the typo amanda!) old bread into croutons. easy, quick, and light years better than any you can buy in a package. and they are great on top of a nice crisp, cold, summer salad.

[are you as excited for strawberries as i am?! hang on, i've got quite a week coming up...]

roasted brussels sprouts

it's time to cut through all this sugar and chocolate with some vegetables. now that the weather is finally nice - we made it all day yesterday without rain and it's finally warm enough for shorts - we go to the public market every saturday morning. this year, my plan is to purchase something new, some fruit or vegetable that i've never had before, and make it. i don't know if i'll run out of options before the season is over, but i'm hoping to find some new fruits and vegetables that i can add to the rotation.

mini bacon scallion corn muffins with cheddar cheese

whenever i get invited to a party, i always ask if i can bring something, hoping the response is something simple like "how about dessert? cookies or something would be great!" is that how most people respond? nope. instead, i get "i don't care, bring whatever you'd like." whatever you'd like. sounds simple enough, and for most people, it most likely brings relief.

quinoa pilaf

to be successful in my vegetarian quest, i knew the biggest challenge would be to find non-meat protein sources that would fill me up and keep me full all day. we've been eating our fair share of mushrooms and beans, but to be honest, we were both getting bored with them and needed something else. so last week, in the bulk section of my favorite supermarket, i scanned through the grains, looking for something different and settled on quinoa, not quite knowing what to expect. 

turnip mash

this is the only time all year i am sick of mashed potatoes. i come from a group of potato lovers, and i count myself as one of them, but a girl can only eat so many. time to change it up. with turnips.

i've never had turnips before. at least not that i can remember. they were good. not great, but a definite contender for those i'm-sick-of-potatoes days. how can anything be bad simmered in milk & garlic and mashed with a stick of butter?

blackberry jam & blackberry syrup

so you just happen to fall into cups and cups and cups of berries - any kind - and wish you could eat them until christmas? yea, me too. i don't like to freeze fresh berries too much. it seems no matter what i do, they stick to each other and end up as frozen blobs. and they just don't taste the same. same for pies. for me, it's jam all the way.

sometimes i wonder if people realize how insanely simple (and cheap) jam is to make. especially when i see it in the store for $4 a half pint.

i decided to end the week with how i started the week. i made the jam and syrup the day after i picked the berries, when they were still fresh and hadn't yet started to get mushy or soft. and except for some straining to make the syrup, they're exactly the same. and the only thing you need to know is that it's fruit and sugar. i used a 2:1 ratio of berries to sugar for the jam and 6:1 berries to sugar for the syrup, but it's totally up to you, depending on how sweet you like your jam and your syrup. and of course they can be scaled up or down, depending on your berry situation.

but the syrup. omg. it's so good i had to stop myself from eating it by the spoonful after it was made. lucky for me, i canned a pint of it, so sometime in mid february when i'would kill for a berry, i can pretend it's summer again while i have blackberry syrup over my pancakes on a lazy, snowed in saturday morning.



if you're sick of jam on your toast/bagel/english muffin/other baked good, try it on top of a cracker with some peanut butter. it makes a great afternoon snack.

and in case you missed it, here's a recap of blackberry week -
kicked it off with my mom's blackberry sangria
then moved on to a moist blackberry crumb cake
i tried my hand at blackberry half moons, but they weren't as berry-ey as i would have liked
and recreated the blackberry pancakes i had on vacation this summer in waffle form
ah, nothing like sweet tart blackberry ice cream on a humid summer night
and last night i made an amazing white layer cake filled with blackberry buttercream that i can't wait to try with other fruits

blackberry jam
makes 3 pints

6 cups blackberries
3 cups granulated sugar

1. in a large saucepan, heat the blackberries and sugar until boiling. use the back of a spoon to crush the berries while heating.
2. if you like your jam thinner (with less chunks of whole berries), use an immersion blender to smooth it to your liking.
3. boil until the jam thickens to your liking, about 15-20 minutes for thinner jam.
4. process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

blackberry syrup
makes 1 1/2 pints plus just enough extra for a round of pancakes

3 cups blackberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. mash and strain blackberries and discard the pulp. you should have about 1 cup of juice.
   
2. in a small saucepan, heat the juice and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
3. remove from heat. syrup can be canned in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. or refrigerate if using immediately.
   

bread & butter refrigerator pickles

i was super excited last saturday when i saw these beauties at the public market for $1.

it's finally cucumber season. and with cucumber season comes pickles. only i couldn't decide which ones to make. traditional dill? bread & butter? super garlic dill? sweet? they all sounded good so the decision came down to one thing: jason. after 2 seconds of thought he decided bread & butter all the way. there's no way i was going to can my first round of pickles. i needed a good refrigerator recipe. lucky for me, smitten kitchen made some last month from her farmer's market cukes (hey, how'd she get cucumbers a month before me?!)

with recipe in hand, i set out to cut up the cukes & onion. stupidly, i used the slicing blade for my food processor to whiz through all six cukes and 2 small onions in 2 minutes. smart because it only took a couple minutes. stupid because they came out way way way too thin. next time i'll take the extra couple minutes to hand slice the cukes into thicker slices.

once the cucumbers and onions are sliced, pickles couldn't be easier. mix them up with some salt in a large bowl. cover with ice and let sit about 2 hours.

when the cukes & onions have about 15 minutes left to sit, start making the pickling liquid. it's a simple sweetened and spiced up (turmeric, mustard, coriander and celery seed) vinegar mixture. bring it to a boil and remove from heat.

drain the cucumbers and onion (don't rinse) and add to the liquid. stir thoroughly and place into a quart jar. refrigerate. we let them sit in the refrigerator over night before eating like crazy. if you make them in the morning, i'm sure you could have some for the night's dinner.

...and i never realized tumeric is the big flavor difference between these and sweet/dill pickles (and adds the characteristic yellow color). interesting. never would have guessed that.

easy bread & butter refrigerator pickles
get the recipe at smitten kitchen

kinda bruschetta dip

yes, it's too early for garden fresh tomatoes in new york. but it's not too early for garden fresh tomatoes in oklahoma.

see, my mother in law (hi barb!) flew in last weekend, just in time for the fourth festivities.

before she got out of the car, she had a present for me. she hand carried about half a dozen fresh picked tomatoes from tulsa, through detriot, and into rochester. otherwise they would have went to waste.

they sat on the counter for a solid day while i debated what to make. salsa? nah, not in the mood. pasta sauce? too much work. freeze them? can them? stuff them? nothing sounded all that exciting until it hit me.



i'm not a huge fan of straight up raw tomatoes. my mother eats them with salt sprinkled on them. for me, i need something more.

when i was a teenager, i remember my dad making a pseudo bruschetta dip for crusty italian bread. i remember the two of us dunking bread, tomato juices running down our arms to our elbows. i had only one glitch: dad's in ireland - dodging sheep with his car and swapping our humid 95+ degree days for a cool 60 degrees - so i'd have to wing this one on my own.



it's a very close cousin to bruschetta. where bruschetta tends to have big, chunky pieces of tomato and is relatively dry, this dip is wet and the tomatoes are pretty crushed. whatever you do, don't skip the salt. it really brings out the flavor of the tomatoes. the basil is definitely optional and it's surprising how much the taste changes when you add it.

kinda bruschetta dip
15 minutes, makes 2 cups

4 medium-large fresh from the garden tomatoes
~1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 gloves garlic, finely minced
8-10 basil leaves, finely minced
good glug - about a tablespoon - of olive oil

1. finely dice the tomatoes. place a good scoop in the palm of your hand and lightly squeeze out some of the liquid. don't get it all out, but get most of it. you don't want tomato soup. repeat with the rest of the tomato.
2. mix the salt into the tomato and let it sit while mincing the garlic and basil.
3. mix in the garlic, basil, and olive oil.
4. enjoy with crusty bread.
   

cilantro lime rice

this rice has been sitting in the back of my mind, waiting for the perfect use, ever since i saw it a couple weeks ago. i know, i know, it's a replica of the rice used at some chain burrito restaurants. but i don't really care about that. let's be honest; cilantro and lime juice in a spicy burrito sounds like the perfect contrast.

it wasn't until this week when i was finally able to try it out as filling for vegetarian burritos (more on that later). it was a breeze to put together - make some rice, mix in some cilantrol & lime juice, eat. the recipe is really just a guideline for how much cilantro and lime juice should be added so feel free to play around with it and add more or less to your liking.

cilantro lime rice
get the recipe at annie's eats

pico de gallo

easiest side dish ever.

great in tacos. or on a chip.

even better on top of a soft boiled egg.

that's all i have to say about it.

pico de gallo
adapted from martha stewart
10 minutes prep, makes ~2 1/2 cups

4 roma tomatoes, deseeded, and chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
~1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
~1 teaspoon kosher salt
for more spice, add 1 seeded, diced jalapeno

mix well. let sit about an hour before serving to let the flavors meld.