Marinara, Mo Better

Now, I know I have another marinara recipe on here, and that one was good, until I tasted this one. I still like the other recipe just fine, especially for kids you have a hard time getting veggie's into, because it is vegetable packed. But this one is simpler, with fewer ingredients, and tastes mo better.

This is my go-to spaghetti etc sauce. It is yummy as a basic tomato sauce on pasta, and a great base sauce to jazz up (with Italian sausage, heavy cream or fresh mozzarella). I also use it as my pizza sauce.

It can require roasting your own tomatoes, but only if you want. I combine both roasted and canned tomatoes in order to yield enough sauce to freeze some for later use. I roast about 15 medium tomatoes and combine with enough canned diced tomatoes to yield 10 cups of puree.

Here's what you will need:
- 15 medium tomatoes of your choice
- olive oil, about 1/4 cup
- 6 to 8 cloves garlic, I use about a half clove per tomato. You will be pureeing the garlic into the sauce, so keep that in mind.
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove the stems from the tomatoes and place on a cookie sheet (I line mine with tin foil for easy clean up). break up garlic cloves and push pieces down into the tomato, if any of the garlic is exposed during roasting it will burn. Drizzle oil over tomatoes to coat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tomato skins brown and burst (see photo below), about 45 minutes.

After roasting, allow the tomatoes to sit until they are cool enough to handle. You will need to remove the skins before you puree the tomatoes for the sauce.

Starting the Sauce:
You will need:

- olive oil
- 5 oz pancetta (optional)
- 10 cups tomato puree (canned and/or home roasted)
- 2 large onions, small diced
- 2 to 3 cups chicken broth, or white wine and water to equal same amount
- salt and pepper to taste
- crushed red pepper (optional)

Directions:
Add oil to a sauce pot over medium high heat.
Add pancetta, and cook until browned (4-5 min).

Add onions and season with salt. Cook onions until soft (about 7 min). 

Add tomato puree along with your 2 to 3 cups of liquid (either broth or wine) and allow to cook 2 to 3 hours.

Blueberries! Muffins and more.

I got some awesome blueberries at my grocery store this last week, and after a particularly grueling... no, I should say spirit crushing... day of house hunting I came home and made these:

Blueberry muffins, from my Williams-Sonoma Breakfast Comforts cookbook, and THIS:

Blueberry and Almond Tart (with Basil Whipped Cream, yumm!) which I have made before. They were delicious, and re-inflated my spirit like only fresh home-baked goods can. To find the recipe for the tart click on the link above. Here is the recipe for the muffins:

You will need:


- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a splash of plain white vinegar)
- 2 large eggs
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but what makes these so special)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

for streusel (optional, my Jacob prefers them without):

- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds or pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups or line them with paper liners. Butter the top of the muffin pan.
In a bowl, sift together all DRY ingredients. In another bowl whisk together the WET ingredients. Pour WET ingredients into dry and stir unit just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
 - To make the streusel, in a small bowl combine the flour, sugar, and butter. Using your fingers or a fork, work the ingredients together until just combined. Work in the almonds/pecans. Press into a ball, and then separate with your fingers into coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the tops of the muffins.

Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. I love mine warm, with lemon curd or basil whipped cream, or plain!

Sautéed Baby Beans with Artichokes and Green Olives

Serves 4

You will need:

- 2 cups baby beans (or fresh green beans)

- 8 scallions, trimmed to roughly same length as the beans

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 6 sprigs rosemary

- 1/2 cup green olives

- 2 quartered artichoke hearts in brine (aka: canned, quartered artichoke hearts in water)

- 1 tablespoon baby capers, drained

- 2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar (or good balsamic)

Directions:

Blanch 2 cups baby beans in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then drain. Trim 8 scallions to roughly the same length as the beans. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the beans, scallions, and 6 rosemary sprigs for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the heat.

Add 1/2 cup green olives, artichoke hearts, capers, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 2 teaspoons vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat the vegetables with the oil and vinegar. Pile in a dish and serve warm or at room temperature. A perfect side for a spring lunch or dinner

Razzmatazz

Like every good scene-ster ought, my husband Jacob put in his time working for Jamba Juice. I'm not a smoothie fan in general. The exception to the rule for me is the Razzmatazz, sans banana. When pregnant and nauseous (these two things go hand in hand for me) I find this smoothie to be a life saver. If there is a smoothie you love let me know. I'll get the recipe from Jacob and pass it along.

Yields about 24 oz. of smoothie

You will need:

- 12 oz Raspberry Juice (hard to find, I sub Raspberry Lemonade)
- 2 ice cream scooper scoops of orange sherbet
- 5 frozen strawberries and 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
- 3/4 cup crushed ice

Place all ingredients in the blender and mix it up, honey!


You're welcome!

Muffuletta Sandwich

Jacob and I were road trippin' it on Friday, making the long drive from Salt Lake City to Newburry Park, California. I hate fast food. (Not really, but if I say it enough I am hoping to make it true.) In order to avoid the usual multiple fast food stops I planned ahead. It wasn't just about buying all of our favorite snacks at the grocery store the night before, though I did that. I also wanted to make something that would be so delicious and filling that there wouldn't even be room left for a small order of french fries. Muffuletta Sandwich, mission accomplished. And after I ate my half I had so much energy! Usually I am so tiered the entire drive, and Jacob always makes me drive the second shift.

Recipe by: The Neely's (Foodnetwork.com)Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup mayonnaise

- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 red onion, diced(I used half, and that was PLENTY)
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced black olives
- 1 cup diced green olives
- 1/2 cup diced marinated artichoke hearts
- 1 cup diced piquillo peppers(I used a half cup of pepperoncini peppers, it was yummy)
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/3 cup freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Kosher salt
- 1 muffuletta or round Italian loaf (10 to 12 inches in diameter)
- 2 ounces each thinly sliced Genoa salami, hot sopressata, mortadella, and smoked turkey
- 2 ounces each thinly sliced imported Swiss cheese and aged provolone

Directions:

Whisk together the mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar, honey, lime juice, red pepper flakes, oregano, and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Add the onion, carrot, olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, celery, and parsley; toss, and season to taste with salt. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the salad to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Slice the bread in half, and pull some of the interior from the middle of the roll to make room for the other ingredients.

Spread a generous amount of the olive oil salad on each half. (You will probably have some salad leftover; it holds for 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator.)

Layer the meat and cheese on the bottom half, alternating layers of each meat with thin layers of cheese. Cover with the top half of bread, press gently, slice into wedges, and serve.

Black Bean Soup

Nothing really to say that I didn't already say about navy beans. Beans are good.

So says Zonya.
So say I.

Recipe by: Me (and my neighbor Tessa)
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

- 5 pieces of bacon, large chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- fresh ground pepper (to taste, about 1/8 tsp)
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tomato, diced, and sour cream to serve

Directions:

In a large soup pot or dutch oven cook bacon until done and almost crispy. Add onion. Cook until onion begins to turn translucent.

Add seasoning, beans and broth. Cook over medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until beans become tender and broth begins to thicken. Serve with fresh diced tomatoes and sour cream.

Navy Bean Soup

Scoff if you will, but I am taking seriously the charge given me by Zonya Focco (author of Water with Lemon, and acclaimed motivational speaker). She says that if I eat a serving of beans 4 times a week I will lower my risk of heart disease by 19%!!!! And Zonya knows all.

I wonder if she is factoring in the enormous dollop of sour cream I always add, and the fact that most bean soups call for bacon or some other salty pig product...

I know she doesn't mean just soups, but I've gotta start somewhere. I'm not the type to just throw together a salad (yet), so let me get to that point first before you have me adding those disgusting red kidney beans to the top of it.


Recipe from: Foodnetwork.com
Cook time: 2 ½ hrs, serves 8

Ingredients: 
-1 pound navy beans , picked over, rinsed and drained
-10 sprigs parsley
-2 sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary
-1 bay leaf
-2 large smoked ham hocks, about 1 1/2 pounds
-1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
-1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
-8 cups of cold water
-1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
-Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
-Butter for garnish (or sour cream, or olive oil)

Directions:
Place the beans in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes; remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for one hour. Drain and reserve.
Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf together with kitchen twine. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven combine the beans, herb bundle, hocks, onions, and garlic with the water. Bring to a boil, cover, and adjust the heat so the soup cooks at a gentle simmer. Cook until the beans and hock are completely tender, about 1-1/2 hours. (Mine took quite a bit longer than this, about another hour.)
Turn off the heat and remove the hocks. Cool slightly. Remove the meat from the hocks, discarding the bones, fat, and skin. Cut the meat into small cubes. Remove the herb bundle and discard.
Puree about 3 cups of the beans with some of the liquid in a blender. (For a smoother soup puree all the beans.) Stir the puree and diced meat into the soup. Heat the soup and adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper.
Pour into heated bowls, place a small pat of butter on top of each soup, and serve.
(Or, instead of butter, place a drizzle of olive oil, and a heaping scoop of sour cream. Bam!)

Diamond-Cut Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I love this recipe because it is simple, and looks beautiful! Mine isn't quite as attractive as it could have been because when I made this I didn't have fresh rosemary on hand. Regardless, it is delicious!

Recipe from: Cooking Vegetables, by Joanne Glynn
Cook Time: 40-50 minutes, Serves: 4 to 6 people

Ingredients:
- 3 small orange sweet potatoes, peeled and halved lengthwise
- Juice of 1 orange
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
- 8-10 rosemary sprigs (or dried rosemary to taste)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Using a strong, sharp knife, make ½ -inch deep cuts in a diamond pattern in the peeled surface, ¾ inch apart. Be careful not to cut all the way through. Place, cut side up, on a baking sheet.

Combine orange juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle all over the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle rosemary sprigs on top and roast for 20 minutes. Then sprinkle the slices garlic over top and roast an additional 20-30 minutes or until tender.

2: Vegan Orange Cornmeal Pancakes

Because I don't get to post as often as I'd like, I've decided to make my time on the computer count. Today I've posted six awesome breakfasts that, since making them the first time, I have craved over and over again. My favorite of the six has to be the breakfast puff pastry. It is super easy and delicious, and I probably make it twice a week because I love it so much. Enjoy!



Recipe By: Tina Bell Stamos, published in ReadyMade: Issue 45, February/March 2010

Cook Time: about 30 minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cup plain soy milk
- about ¼ cup canola oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon maple or agave syrup
- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 1 orange, peeled and sliced across the grain




Directions:

Stir together dry ingredients. In a second bowl combine milk, 2 tablespoons oil, syrup, and vinegar. Add into dry mixture and stir until just combined.

Heat some of the remaining oil in a cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add orange slices and cook for 3 minutes or until browned, turning once.

Reduce heat to medium. Place a couple pieces of orange in the center of the skillet and pour about ¼ cup of batter over it. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, turning when edges appear dry.

Repeat with remaining orange slices and batter, adding more oil to the skillet as necessary.

3: Fancy Baked Beans

Because I don't get to post as often as I'd like, I've decided to make my time on the computer count. Today I've posted six awesome breakfasts that, since making them the first time, I have craved over and over again. My favorite of the six has to be the breakfast puff pastry. It is super easy and delicious, and I probably make it twice a week because I love it so much. Enjoy!


Recipe from: ReadyMade Magazine, Feb/March 2010
Recipe by: Neil Roake

Prep time: 8- 12 hours
Cook time: 2-3 hours, depending on prep
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

- 1 lb navy beans
- 3 onions, cut into 8ths
- 7 oz smoked salted pork (I wasn’t able to find smoked salted pork, so I just used plain salted pork)

- 2 t dry mustard
- 2 t Worcestershire sauce
- 3 bay leaves
- 8 ½ cups water
- one 15 to 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1 T salt
- 1 t white pepper

Directions:

Soak the navy beans over night.

If you don’t want to soak them over night that’s ok, you just need to allow an additional 45 minutes of cook time.

In a heavy-bottomed large pot, place the soaked beans, onion, salted pork, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves.

Boil in water with the lid on for 1 ½ hours. Now add the can of tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook for an additional 30-45 minutes with the lid off. The water may dry out and scorch the bottom of the pot, so keep an eye out.
This is really great when served for breakfast along side toast and a fried egg. So delicious and filling, these beans may sound odd as a breakfast treat, but I tried it and loved it! Plan on making them for your lover after a night of passion (you will have to plan ahead) and they will be impressed…

Chicken with Tabbouleh

Recipe by: Ina Garden from Barefoot Contessa, Family Style
Cook time including inactive prep: 1 ½ hours, Serves: 8


You will need:

- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- 1 cup bulgur wheat
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- 1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on
- fresh ground black pepper
- 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
- 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (2 bunches)
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley (1 bunch)
- 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and medium-diced
- 2 cups halved cherry or grape tomatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a heat proof bowl pour the boiling water over the bulgur wheat. Add the lemon juice, ¼ cup olive oil, and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Stir. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the bulgur to sit at room temp for about an hour.


Place the chicken breast on a baking sheet and rub it with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Remove the chicken meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into medium dice and add to the tabbouleh. Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and one teaspoon pepper. Season to taste and serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. The flavors will improve as it sits.


When I made my batch, as you can see above, I used the hour while the tabbouleh sat to prep and combine my other ingredients. It was a lot of choppin'... This chicken tabouleh tastes great on its own, but I loved it in a pita pocket with mayo. This would be delish without the chicken too, for all you non meat eaters out there.

Home made Chicken Noodle Soup (...great for those of you battling swine flu! Be strong out there!)

I have never measured it out, but I would guess this recipe -as is- gave me about 8 hearty servings when I made it the other night.

You will need:
- 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper (and I use a couple cloves of fresh garlic, mashed in a garlic press) to season.
- 2 celery
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 carrots chopped
- 2 small potatoes, chopped
- 10 cups of liquid: 8 cups of water with 6 to 8 chicken and/or beef bouillon cubes to season.
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 cups small shell pasta, or your preference of noodle
- chopped fresh parsley to taste (optional)
- juice of 1 lemon (optional)

Directions:
Melt the butter in the bottom of a large soup pot and add the vegetables as well as salt and pepper (and garlic, optional). Allow them to soften over medium high heat, about 10 minutes. Once the veggies have had a chance to get tender, add your chicken breasts and liquid. Allow chicken to cook in liquid about 20 minutes, until cooked through. Remove chicken breasts and shred or cube meat, then return to pot. Add your noodles. When pasta is done check your seasoning, and parsley and lemon, then serve!

Apple Sauce Cookies, and So Far in California... (10/12/2009)

We left for CA at 5:30 on Friday night, thank you sooooooooo much J. Crew for scheduling me for an on call shift and then not using me. Argh. So happy not to work there, but so sad to lose the discount. My emotions are playing tug-of-war. But thanks to them, Jacob and I had to drive through the night and arrived in Newbury Park at two thirty in the morning.

I shudder to remember how many times I looked over and caught Jacob going a hundred miles per hour. I shudder to remember how many times I got yelled at for back seat driving. Happily it is all fading into a sleepy blur.
We slept in on Saturday, and went to our cousins wedding that night. It was freezing cold outside for the service, but the food was slammin'! And here is my brother in law Adam on his third Shirley Temple....

Car and Jacob on their 6th. Yum.

Thank you Emily for babysitting!

We also went to the movies and saw Couples Retreat. Such a funny movie! The new, or I guess newish, movie theatre in the Thousand Oaks mall is so nice! Sunday we had a BBQ and I got to see my favorite male model. Thank you Mama Jo for having such a beautiful son! I wanted to try to take a sneaky picture so that I could post it, but I was too nervous… People just won’t understand. You really have to see him to believe it. And even then it’s still kind of hard to believe.(P.S. Mama Jo, I hope you had fun in Colorado with Willie, Kelly and their kids!)
Can I get a whoot whoot for Jacob who is super awesome and must still like me a little bit because he reserved us tickets for the October 14th taping of Conan O’Brien! I love Conan! My two reasons for waking up in the morning: Conan O’Brien and Laura Jensen. They make me laugh, and they don’t want anything from me like a clean house or for me to have had a shower, or for me to get them milk and a graham cracker.

I love coming to Jacob’s parent’s house! It’s no San Diego, but it’s a close second… Here are the cookies Larene made at the BBQ.

Apple Sauce Cookies

- 1 cup crisco
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups apple sauce
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup raisins

Cream Crisco and sugar. Add eggs and apple sauce. In separate bowl sift together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and ground cloves. Add dry mixture to wet mixture until combined. Add raisins and chocolate chips. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. The batter should be the consistency of thick cake batter. If yours seems runny just add small amounts of flour until you have the thickness you want. I found that this batter thickens as it sits.

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

I spent this morning cleaning my house, bathrooms mostly. Ugh. So I was in the mood for something yummy and easy. This soup comes together really fast, and unlike most soup/ stew recipes you don’t end up with a truck load of leftovers! To all you non-drinkers out there, this recipe calls for white wine. It’s not like I drink, but I cook enough that I keep white and red wine on hand. You don’t need anything expensive, and the flavor is amazing so I would encourage you to give it a try.

For this recipe you will need:

-1/2 cup chopped onion
-1/4 cup diced carrot
-1/4 cup diced celery
-1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (I left this out, not crazy about the flavor)
-1 bay leaf
-pinch of red pepper flakes
-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
-1 &1/2 cups sweet potato, peeled and cubed (I used canned)
-1 teaspoon curry powder
-1/4 cup dry white wine
-4 cups chicken broth
-1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
-1/4 cup brown lentils
-1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
-juice of ½ a lemon
-Plain yogurt or sour cream to top (I used sour cream, yum!)

Directions:
Sauté onion, carrot, celery, ginger, bay leaf, and pepper flakes in oil in a pot over med-high heat until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and curry and sauté for another minute.
Deglaze with white wine; simmer until almost evaporated, then stir in broth, tomatoes and lentils. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until lentils and sweet potatoes are tender, 25-30 minutes.
Off heat, stir in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Garnish each serving with sour cream and some of remaining cilantro.