I don't take pretty blog photos....

...but my food tastes delicious. See, my photos suck because I have either a point and shoot camera and piss-poor lighting or a camera phone and, well...piss-poor lighting. Either way my photos don't really lend themselves to a successful food blog. I'm hoping my writing helps in that category, but then again I just used the phrase "piss-poor" twice in a post about food, so I'm pretty much screwed.

I also have a horrible habit of forgetting to take photos of the process in which I take to get to the delicious food and instead just take a photo of the end product, leaving you, the reading probably thinking, "well...great, it sounds delicious, though her presentation is crap, look at that, she just kind of slopped it on a plate like a neanderthal and didn't even bother to take photos to show me HOW to get it to look like this hot mess. Ugh!"

Trust me when I say...don't judge a book by it's cover people. While my photos might not always (or ever) look like they came out of Cooks Illustrated or were made by Deb over at Smitten Kitchen (seriously, my favorite cooking blog, ever...that woman is pure genius) the recipes I acquire and often adapt are amazingly delicious. I spend hours on Pinterest so you don't have to.

You're welcome.

Today's recipe comes from a blog I found on, duh, Pinerest! This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone if you've been reading my blog at all....ever. It's called Aunt Clara's Kitchen and is self described as a "collection of traditional Dominican and Dominican-Inspired recipes, home ideas, crafts and chronicles of the Auntie's adventures."

I adapted it slightly from the original. It really didn't need my adaptations, Aunt Clara has a fantastic recipe here, however I can't help myself from monkeying around with recipes I find and making them my own.  Please be sure to check out her blog, her photos are beautiful and her blog has many tasty looking recipes. 

Polenta and Mushroom Casserole

I have no idea how people have such nice presentation for their blogs...

Prep Time: 30 minutes                                     Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes                      Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the base
• 2 cups of polenta
• 2.5 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 Jalepeno,diced (this was one of my add-in's)
• 1 cup (or 1 can) of sweet corn
• 1/3 cup of raisins (optional but definitely adds to the dish!)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (to cover the baking pan)
For the filling
• 1.5 lb of portobello mushrooms
• 0.5 lb of sun-dried tomatoes, cut into 1/2"-pieces
• 1 large white onion, cut into very small cubes
• 1/3 cup of basil, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
For the sauce
• 5 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon garlic with sundried tomato (the jarred kind, this was an accidental add-in that ended up tasting great)
• 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

To make the filling
1. Heat the oil over very low heat.
2. Add the onion.
3. Cook until onions are transparent.
4. Add mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.
5. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Remove from the heat and add the basil.
8. Reserve.
To make the base
9. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
10. Mix polenta, water, sweet corn, jalepeno, raisins, salt and sugar in a deep pot.
11. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly.
12. When the polenta is cooked and it starts lifting from the bottom remove from the heat.
13. Cover a 2 quart-baking pan with olive oil.
14. Pour half of the polenta mix and spread in an even layer.
15. Add the filling and smooth it out.
16. Spread the remaining polenta mix in an even layer and smooth it out with a fork.
17. Place in the oven and cook until the top is light golden.
To make the sauce
18. Heat olive oil over very low heat.
19. Add garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stir and do not let it burn.
20. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are tender.
21. Remove the twigs from the oregano and add the leaves to the pan.
22. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
23. Using a potato masher, mash the sauce over the heat until there are no big clumps.
24. Pour into a sauce dish.


Serve with the sauce on top and enjoy! 

*Notes about my changes* I served with Sriracha drizzled over the top, we like heat in our household and Sriracha has a great flavor :) I also added a handful of Sungolds (the small orange cherry tomatoes) to the sauce because he have an over abundance of them in our garden. Very tasty!!

Our most recent veggie harvest.  We currently have 18 ripe red tomatoes!

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

Nothing says summer like cracking out the grill and throwing some meat on it, am I right? Unless of course you're a vegetarian (or wanna-be vegetarian, or just trying to eat less meat). Any way you slice it, grilled food is pretty much amazing. Meat, fish, vegetables, even fruit (what?!)....all delicious once grilled properly.

Recently I've had a hankering for grilled portabella mushrooms. I have no idea what started this strange craving for grilled giant shrooms, only that they needed to happen.....and soon, or the entire world would implode.

We couldn't choose one way to eat them, so we made two varieties and decided they were both mouth watering and could be eaten on their own, in a burger or on a salad.

This is an unbelievably simple recipe that's WOW factor really comes from the drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette over the portabella's when served. Don't bypass the vinaigrette, you might cry a little if you do.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Yield: 1 cup+ of vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 2 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced.
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil

Directions

Combine all ingredients and whisk to combine. Stir well before serving. 

Stuffed Blue Cheese Grilled Portabellas

Yield: 4 mushroom caps

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp blue cheese
• 4 portabella mushroom caps

Directions

Brush or wash the mushrooms, remove and discard stems, scrape out the dark gills if desired (we did not do this, as we would then have to stuff far too much blue cheese into the mushrooms). Take about 1 Tbsp blue cheese and stuff the indentation where the stem of the mushroom was. Repeat with all mushrooms.  Cook over hot grill, approximately 10 minutes. 

Serve immediately with a drizzle of above balsamic vinaigrette.

Notes:  I mentioned we made this two ways, but only gave you a recipe for one mushroom. False promises! Actually, the second way we made it was to follow the directions above until the blue cheese stuffing part. Keep them plain and pop them on the grill. Still delicious! Your taste buds will thank me. :)

Chickpea Summer Salad

I hate summer potlucks when you're expected to bring a side.

I'm not good with healthy sides. I do desserts. The issue with this is that I really don't want to turn on the oven in the summer either because it's damn hot. This presents a problem.

A few years ago were at Geeky Dude's sister's house, (Garden Goddess for future reference) for a weekend of gardening and partying when we came across a delicious chickpea salad from a local co-op that we fell in love with.

Sadly, Garden Goddess lives in another state and this co-op does not exist where we live, so we went home sad and pouty because we could not buy the tastiness that was this delicious salad side-dish. While we don't have the amazing reverse-engineering tasting powers of Garden Goddess, it did occur to us after the fact that we could just copy down the ingredients list and experiment with quantities until it tasted right.

So we did this and now we have a pretty amazing summer side-dish that we can not only make for ourselves, but bring to potlucks, picnics, or as this past week may have had it, our neighborhood's annual block party.

It's super tasty, healthy and gluten free. You should make it, and then thank me when you're utterly and totally addicted.

Chickpea Salad

Yield: A little over 3 qts

Ingredients

• 3 cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 1 zucchini
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 bunch of scallions
• 4 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1-2 Tbsp tumeric
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• cayenne pepper

Directions

Drain and rinse garbanzo beans and place in large bowl. Chop all veggies and mix with garbanzo beans. Add enough olive oil to just coat all items in bowl. Add tahini, honey, turmeric, parsley and mix well. Add enough lemon juice so that the sauce is thin and pools slightly on the bottom of the bowl. Mix well. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and mix well.

Salad should be yellow-orange in color. 

Notes: My zucchinis were teeny tiny, so I used two. Also we like ours to have a bit of a kick so we add quite a bit of cayenne, but if you aren't into spice, just a bit of a sprinkle should be adequate to add to the flavor of the dish. 

Quinoa Fried "Rice"

I know I know, I went away and you didn't hear anything from me for ages. I'm sorry. Life got REALLY busy and I wasn't cooking or baking or really doing anything but living, breathing, eating anything but WEDDING. 

Holy ridiculous amounts of stress. Let's just stray away from the topic of food for a minute and talk about wedding planning. It doesn't matter how much you have planned, or how many people help you, the week of your wedding, you're going to lose your ever-loving-mind.

Thank goodness for my amazing friends, family and now husband. They all were instrumental in making sure I ate something every once in awhile, didn't find out that the staff was late to set up the tables and deliver the chairs for the reception, and made sure that every detail was exactly how my husband (that still sounds so funny!) and I envisioned it. 

I adore all these people and because of them I have an amazing day to look back on.

Geeky Dude and Me On Our Wedding Day

Now, onwards to the foodstuffs!

There's a lot of hubub about this quinoa stuff....but what is quinoa exactly? Touted as the newest superfood it's often confused as a grain, however it is actually a seed that is grain-like. Confusing, right? Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) comes from the Andes Mountains of South America. It was one of the three staple foods of the Inca civilization along with corn and potatoes. 

The Quinoa Plant

Quinoa contains more protein than any grain; an average of 16.2 percent (though some varieties of quinoa are more than 20 percent protein).  To compare, rice has 7.5 percent, millet 9.9 percent and wheat 14 percent.  Quinoa's protein is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal (similar to milk).  It is also high in lysine, methionine and cysthine. 

Prepping Quinoa After It's Been Removed From the Plant

Amazingly Delicious Quinoa Fried Rice
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 to 20 minutes

2 T sesame oil
1 t minced garlic
1 t minced ginger
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1 cup shredded carrot
3 to 4 cups cooked quinoa
2 T mirin (rice wine vinegar)
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
3 eggs
salt + pepper, to taste
extra soy sauce + Sriracha, to taste

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute garlic and ginger in sesame oil for 1 minute. Add vegetables and cook until thawed, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add quinoa, soy sauce and mirin. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until quinoa has absorbed the liquid.

In the middle of your saucepan, push fried quinoa to the side to create a hole. Crack eggs inside the hole and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Gently mix the quinoa and eggs. Let cook for an additional minute. Mix again. Repeat until egg is completely cooked. Season with salt + pepper.

To serve, portion quinoa fried rice into two bowls and top with Sriracha, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

***Adaptations*** Always add snap peas because snap peas in a stir-fry are amazing. Also, I generally garnish with bean sprouts because they're crunchy and delicious. 

PLEASE NOTE: This is COOKED quinoa. Do not use dry quinoa when making this recipe! It won't taste right (dry and gross!) and you'll have too much quiona. 

Meatless Monday...a day or two late

I used to be a vegetarian. Actually, that's a lie. I was a Mainer. I ate fish, and seafood. Though, not copious amounts of lobster as non-Mainers seem to think we do, but enough to qualify me as a non-vegetarian. They call -those- types of vegetarians, pescetarians. (Actually,I'm lying again, because if we want to get REALLY technical, I was an ovo-lacto pescetarian, which is apparently an important distinction to some vegetarians/vegans when saying you're of that dietary preference to them...but that's another story entirely)

When I moved to Wisconsin all that ovo-lacto pescetarianism went right out the window. I blame bacon. Tasty, tasty bacon. What the hell Wisconsin? I can walk into a bar and order a basket of bacon?!? Why...I mean..who...I...what happened to just ordering french fries, people?!?!?

Yeah, I wasn't kidding- It's a real thing

Ugh, my poor arteries clog just LOOKING at that photo. So in an effort to help my poor, poor clogged arteries, I instituted meatless Monday's in my household.

The nice thing about Meatless Monday, is that when cooking for two people, you often have several days worth of leftovers, so it becomes Meatless Tuesday and Wednesday as well, therefore continuing the healthy food streak for days.

Today's recipe is delicious Red Lentil Coconut Soup adapted from Scaling Back

Ingredients:

• 2 cups red split lentils
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 fresh jalapeno or serrano chili, finely chopped, including seeds
• 1 tablespoon fresh peeled and minced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 7 cups water
• 1 can unsweetened light coconut milk
• 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• lime wedges for serving

Directions:

1) Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven or large soup pan and add the onions, bell pepper and jalapeno and cook for 5-7 minutes until the vegetables have softened and start to take on some color.  

2) Add the garlic, ginger, spices and tomato paste and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes until the mixture is toasty and fragrant.  

3) Add the water, coconut milk, lentils and chickpeas and cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes adding the lime juice at the end of cooking.  

4) Taste and adjust with more salt or more lime juice if desired.  

5) Serve with some extra limes on the side.

Changes/Adaptations- The original recipe called for cilantro. I completely omitted this ingredient because cilantro is the devil. Feel free to add it back in if you would like to (it's a garnish with the lime at the end).  I doubled both the onion and the red pepper as this my second time making it and I was disappointed the first time at how little the pepper was showcased in the soup. Two bell peppers was perfect. I also added a second jalepeno for an extra kick of spice. The end result was amazing!