TIP: Great Books (January)

This month I read a couple of great books and was reminded of a book that I personally really enjoyed reading.  I decided I will update this blog monthly with (hopefully) three books that I have read and will recommend: 

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Can be purchased here

This book is about the survival of Louie Zamperini who had an incredible life as an Olympic athlete, an enlisted officer, a plane crash survivor, a prisoner of war, and the list goes on.  His story is simply told by Laura Hillenbrand and it is an absolutely incredible story -- you will not believe that it is true.  I really recommend reading this book -- it will make you realize how resilient we all are. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 

Can be purchased here

This is a story about a family's love, loss, scandal and survival -- all told from their loyal dog's perspective.  The book is funny, sad and entirely entertaining.  Especially if you have a dog, this is a must read. 

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

Can be purchased here

This is a story of the New York food scene, told by the NYT food columnist.  The book is really funny and insightful because she wears different disguises and adopts different personas when going to the new hot spots in town.  Instead of getting the great treatment that you would expect for the reviewer, she is often treated with disdain and impatience when dressed as an elderly woman, an overweight woman, a homely woman.  It is really entertaining and I am sure it made restauranteurs blush.  Plus, she gives some of her favorite recipes!

Vegetarian Pho Soup

I have really enjoyed eating Pho soup and found a recipe here and was feeling adventurous, so I thought I would give it a try and really liked it.

The Broth

Ingredients:

• 8 cups clear vegetable stock
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and chopped coarsely
• 1 small onion, diced

• One 1-inch piece of ginger
• Two 3-inch cinnamon sticks (apparently there is a Vietnamese type that I could not find)
• 2 pods of star anise (see picture below - I found it in Whole Foods)
• 2 large bay leaves

Directions: 

• Put stock, soy sauce, garlic, and onion in a large stockpot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Meanwhile, char ginger on all sides over an open gas flame or in a small skillet. Add to the stock.

• Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and bay leaves to the broth. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20-25 minutes.

• Remove solids with a slotted spoon or strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve. Adjust seasonings if necessary. 

• Return to pot and keep hot until ready to use in soup.

Remainder of the soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound rice noodles
• One 8-ounce package seitan, drained (or tofu)
• 1/4 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup carrots and broccoli
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves
• 1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 3 fresh green chili peppers, seeded and cut into fine rounds
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

• Make the broth.
• When broth has been simmering for about 10 minutes, make the noodles as indicated on the package.

• Drain the noodles and divide them among six bowls.
• Simmer the seitan in the broth until heated through, about 4 minutes. Remove the seitan with a slotted spoon and slice thinly into six portions. Add to noodles.
• Assemble the soup by placing the bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, greens, basil, cilantro, and scallions on top of the noodles and seitan.

• Ladle the hot broth onto the noodle mixture.
• Serve with a plate of lime wedges, chili rounds, and salt and pepper for individual seasoning.

TREAT: Scalloped Potatoes

I know scalloped potatoes are pretty traditional but I have never made them and we never really ate them at home.  If anything, I just have eaten them as a side dish in a steak restaurants or at a friend's home.  I decided to try out a recipe and tweak it a little bit and actually really enjoyed the cheesy goodness that developed:  


Ingredients:

• 4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
• 3 Tbsp butter (plus butter to grease pan with)
• 3 Tbsp flour 
• 1 1/2 cups milk 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 dash cayenne pepper 
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese 
• 1 cup yellow onion 
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 3/4-1 cup grated cheese, to sprinkle on top 

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Grease two 8" pans (square or round) with butter
• Note: If you want to prepare everything in advance, you can cut the potatoes and place them in cold water until you are ready to use them.  The cold water will help stop them from oxidizing and will keep the white color (instead of brown).   

• Also, if you want a good slicer for cheap (less than $20), this is what we have (it is cheap, small and works really well & is easy to clean up.  You can use it for this dish, cucumbers, some meats and cheeses):  OXO Handheld Mandoline

• In a sauce pan, melt butter and blend the flour.  
• Let the mixture sit for a minute to thicken 
• Add the cold milk and stir with a whisk (you do not need to gradually add the milk) 
• Season with salt and cayenne
• Cook the sauce on low until it is smooth and boiling (stir occasionally with a whisk) 
• At the same time, caramelize the yellow onion (onions have enough natural sugars in them that you can just cook the onions in a little bit of EVOO or butter.  If you want, you can add a bit of brown sugar, but the natural sugars in the onion caramelize enough for my taste).  You will know they are done when they are a bit sweeter, fragrant and brown.  
• When the onions are almost done, add the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes. \

• Reduce heat and add: (1) the onions and garlic to the milk/flour mixture; and (2) the cheese.
• Take two 8" (round or square) pans and make sure they are greased.
• Place 1/4 of the sliced potatoes in each of them
• Pour 1/4 of the cheese sauce over each pan
• Repeat with the next layer of potatoes and the cheese sauce
• Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top
• Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour

TREAT: Spaghetti Puttanesca

This recipe is from Martha Stewart and I was drawn to it because I personally love Puttanesca (maybe because I love salty and savory foods - if you can't tell based on the fact I have only posted one sweet dish.....).  In addition to this dish, on the side I prepared shrimp that was sauteed with extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and salt.  It worked well together! 


Ingredients: 

• 1 pound of spaghetti 
• Salt and Pepper 
• 1 Tbsp EVOO 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper 
• 1 can 28 ounce whole tomatoes and juice 
• 2 tablespoons capers 
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives

Directions: 

• Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, drain and return it to the pot 
• At the same time, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add garlic, crushed red pepper and mash them with a wooden or plastic spoon 
• Cook and constantly cook for about 2 minutes 
• Add tomatoes and their juice (break up the tomatoes with your hands beforehand)
• Stir in the capers and olives 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes
• Toss everything together and season with salt/pepper to taste

(Since nobody knows I have this blog other than my sister, I only had a bad cell phone image of the pasta, so this one is taken from Martha Stewart's website.  It does it more justice and, thankfully, it turned out looking the same (maybe not so neatly wound up though....))

TREAT: Asparagus

This is a really simple way to make asparagus, but it is always a big hit.  I love making this for myself as the largest part of a meal too.  


Ingredients:

• Green asparagus - cleaned, washed and with the stalks cut off 
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Lemon Pepper
• Salt 
• Lemon (if possible, Meyer Lemon is the best and it makes a huge flavor difference) 

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees 
• You can either use a brush to coat olive oil on each spear or you can rub it on to the asparagus - just make sure that there is a slight layer of olive oil on the asparagus 
• Place the asparagus in a baking pan and shake lemon pepper on to the asparagus
• Move the asparagus around in the pan so that all sides of the spears are coated with the seasoning 
• Bake for approximately 15 minutes (depends on the width of the asparagus) 
• Once you remove the asparagus from the oven, squeeze 1-2 lemons (it does not hurt to squeeze a lot on the asparagus) on the asparagus.
• Serve and enjoy!

(sorry for the poor photo - it was taken with my Blackberry)

Happy New Years & Apologies

Happy New Year SL2 and anybody else who happens to read this :)  Also - I was tagging posts to make it easier to find them if you want a particular recipe so some of the older posts are showing up as recent - sorry!  If you scroll down, you will find the newest ones that I posted the past few days.  Thanks & Happy New Year!

TIP: Summer Dresses

The weather is finally warming up here in San Diego and there is nothing I love better than a versatile summer dress that I can wear to work, on the weekends or to events.  I recently bought these from Anthropologie, which has the best dresses:

Seaside Fields Dress: $138
The quality is great -- the bottom hugs your figure and is
double lined with pockets.  The top is more of a gren than it appears here.

Magnifying Glass Dress: $138
This one is particulary great for work with accessories and a grey sweater & heels.

Babergh Dress: $188

I don't have this dress, but when pulling the other images I saw it. 

I love how feminine it is!

Anthropologie usually does not have many promotions, but right now they are offering free shipping.  Check out http://www.anthropologie.com/.

TIP: Chocolate House Name Cards for Christmas

We had family over for Christmas dinner and had little chocolate houses on each plate with "snow" (powdered sugar) on the roof with name tags: 

I bought small bite sized brownies from the store (fudge would work too) 
I cut one piece diagonally to create two roofs 
I used sprinkles that I pressed into the houses for the windows and the doors 
Powdered sugar on the roof and marshmallows on the ground functioned as the snow 
I placed the entire house on top of a sugar cookie 
I used some wrapping paper and a tooth pick to make the name sign 


My sister wanted snow for Christmas, and this was the best I could do, but I thought it turned out cute :)

TREAT: Appetizers

For New Years Eve, we had some friends over and I made the following appetizers: 

HOMEMADE OLIVE AND SUN-DRIED TOMATO TAPENADE 

(This is a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 3 (8-ounce) cans of pitted kalamata olives, drained
• 3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
• Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

• In a food processor, add the olives, sun dried tomatoes and olive oil the tomatoes were packed in. 

• Pulse until smooth (but still chunky) -- based on consistency, add more oil 
• You can make this in advance and refrigerate it for up to 2 days, but make sure that it is tightly covered with plastic wrap & I have found that it helps to put a little olive oil on top to make sure it does not try out. 
• Place tapenade (room temperature) in a bowl with the pita chips, crackers, endives, bread, etc. 

TOMATO MOZZARELLA SKEWERS: 




Ingredients: 

• 2 baskets of cherry tomatoes 
• Fresh mozzarella (or burrata) cheese (at some stores, like Trader Joes, you can find mozarella that is already shaped in small balls - this is ideal) 
• Wooden skewers (can be found in the grocery aisle where cooking tools are located)
• Basil 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt/Pepper to Taste 

Directions:

• Soak the skewers in cold water for 20 minutes.  This will help make sure that the food goes on smoothly without any pieces of the wood coming off.  In other words, this will help avoid slivers in the food, which is always a good thing....

• Rotate between the tomatoes, cheese and basil 
• Based on your taste preferences, carefully pour the olive oil and vinegar over the skewers and sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper 
• You can prepare in advance, just make sure that you have poured on some of the oil and vinegar so that the cheese does not harden in the fridge.

PARMESAN CHEESE "BASKETS" WITH SALAD:

Ingredients: 

• A bag of shredded Parmesan Cheese
• Parchment Paper 
• Salad
• Small jars or glasses that you can use for the parmesan cups 

Directions: 

• Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees 
• Sprinkle the parmesan cheese in circles along a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  

• The size of the circles will depend on what you are making.  I made larger circles so that I could fit in some salad.  If you want to place small bite size appetizers in the parmesan bowls, you could make smaller circles and use shot glasses for setting them.
• Make sure to place the cheese on the baking pan at least 1" apart so that the different circles do not touch.
• Bake the cheese in the oven for about 5-7 minutes -- wait until it has slightly browned but it is not completely crisp (otherwise it will not take the shape)

• Remove the pan from the oven and let the cheese cool slightly. 
• While the cheese is still warm, use a solid spatula to move the cheese onto the glass, cup, etc. that you are using for the shape.  Press it down slightly to the shape you desire.

• Make sure that the cheese has completely cooled before removing it from the shaping glass.

• Use tongs to gently place salad in the middle of the parmesan bowl and serve

I hope you enjoy and Happy New Year!

TREAT: Delicious Garlic Bread

This is such delicious garlic bread -- it is a must try!


Ingredients:


1 loaf Italian bread (I used Ciabatta Bread)
5 tablespoons of softened butter
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp dried oregano
salt/pepper
(if you want, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese)


Directions:

• Preheat the boiler
• Cut the bread into slices 1-2" thick
• In a small bowl, mix butter, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt/pepper

• Spread mixture evenly over bread slices
• On a medium baking sheet, arrange slices evenly and broil 5 minutes or until slightly brown. (Note: mine were done in just a couple of minutes.  They burn fast!) 
• If you want, top with cheese and return to the boiler for a couple of minutes
• Serve quickly