Mango – Pineapple Sorbet

We bought a case of champagne mangoes from Bountiful Baskets last week – and after eating plenty and drying a few, I decided to put our new (ish) ice cream maker to use for mango sorbet. YUM! It turned out really really well. It’s very possible that this may be starting a new obsession.

This is a general recipe… as usual, I didn’t actually measure what went in, but it’s an approximation.

• 6 cups sliced champagne mangoes
• 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup agave nectar

Puree with a food processor, and pour into an ice-cream maker. Voila!

Salad Fiend

I go through a lot of salad. Usually about 1 pound every 3-5 days or so. I try to eat salad for lunch at work most days, and at least once over the weekend. I’ve got a salad dressing that I adore (and that people at work seem to like too) and that, all things considered, isn’t too bad for me either.

The end result of all this salad eating, though, is that we have lots and lots of those one-pound plastic boxes that salad comes in. We can’t grow salad all year in this climate, so I had just kind of assumed that for part of the year, I’d be spending $8-$10 a week on leafy greens.

Pete, however, had a much better idea. We took the salad boxes, added soil and water and seed, and put them under our seed-starting light. We’re just starting the cycle, but thus far it seems to be working. It’s cut-your-own salad, and thus far it is very tasty. We aren’t up too the production level of keeping up with my salad habit yet, but we’re making progress.

On a similar note, one of our garden beds appears to have been taken over by broccoli. Some of our crop went to seed last year, and I guess we didn’t get the seeds all picked up, because it’s overgrowing half of our garden space. I’m going to rip up a bunch of the greens to give what we actually planted a chance, but I am curious what to do with the broccoli greens. They’re still young and relatively tender, but kind of bitter. That is my challenge this weekend.

Bountiful Baskets : Week 1

Thanks to Michael & Jaspenelle, we heard about this great produce co-op called Bountiful Baskets – $15 a week, and you get a basket that’s 50% fruit, 50% vegetables. Saturday morning, just six hours after heading to bed from our Party of the Week, I woke up to go pick up our basket. I chose to ride my bike over – it was only four miles, and I figured with a combination of my backpack and the basket, it should all fit.

Well, it did, but not with much breathing room! The pickup went quickly and easily, though I think the volunteer was surprised at how I was hauling my produce . For our $15, we got:

• 3 roma tomatoes
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 bunch spinach
• A 1 lb bag of baby carrots
• 1 head cabbage
• 5 lb russet potatoes
• 1 pineapple
• 5 braeburn apples
• 4 oranges
• 1 bunch bananas
• 1 lb strawberries
• 1 package raspberries
• 3 avocados

We’re trading the cabbage for the avocados from Ben and Laurie’s basket – not that I don’t like cabbage, but I LOVE avocados.

I also stopped by the farmer’s market that was halfway between Bountiful Baskets and home and picked up an amazing loaf of bread from the local Hutterite Brethren.

All I can say is yum. For breakfast that morning, we had French Toast with the fresh raspberries… and finished off the rest of the raspberries that morning. The apples and oranges we’ve been eating as snacks at work. Sunday night I made pineapple upside down cake with the fresh pineapple. The lettuce and spinach are getting used as salad, topped with the tomatoes and avocado as well as feta and cranberries and a pomegranate red wine vinaigrette. The strawberries and carrots are also ending up as snacks… but very tasty ones! The potatoes, thus far, have been used for both hashbrowns and potatoes au gratin.

In general, thus far, I really really like Bountiful Baskets. I know we lucked out to have all things we recognize and like in the first basket, though I also look forward to the challenge when something gets picked up that’s a little less “usual” for our diet. The only thing that confounds me a bit is that darn 7 a.m. pickup time on a Saturday. Ouch!

But – that’s our first go-around at Bountiful Baskets. Next week is a “week off,” but I’ll be certain to keep trying to post what we end up making with our Bountiful Baskets.

The Story of the Violated Chicken(s)

Letting me read food blogs is… well, it’s like letting a drug addict have free reign in a pharmacy. It’s dangerous, and yet so entertaining in a horrible way.

So, last week, right before our Party of the Week, I ended up reading over Serious Eats, where they discussed to methods of roasting chicken to keep it moist and flavorful. Rather than choose one method to roast chicken, I decided we may as well give both a try. The first and more… exciting… method was what shall henceforth be referred to as “violated chicken.” Rather than using an expensive, single-use roasting pan, the violated chicken method uses a bundt pan. The fact that this method makes use of a pan that is pretty much otherwise single-use was attractive. Add to that that the instructions include “impale the chicken on the center post of the pan” was just an added bonus. Oh yeah, the other method was butterflying – cutting out the backbone and laying the chicken flat. Not nearly as exciting, but worth a try.

So, two whole chickens were acquired from the Safeway Clearance Meat section (my absolute favorite place to buy meat, honestly). Both were about 4 pounds, and even had the same “sell by” date. First, the bundt pan was prepared by placing it inside a 9×9 pan to capture drippings. Then carrots, onions, potatoes, and garlic were chopped and placed in the bundt pan. That got set aside while everything else was prepared.

The first chicken, intended for the impaling, got rubbed with butter under the skin, along with seasonings. Next time, I will definitely add more salt and seasonings, but this was just a start. The whole chicken is then upended and impaled on the bundt pan. Add more paprika and spice, and it’s ready to go.

The other chicken, I cut the backbone out using a pair of kitchen scissors. I then pushed down the entire chicken so it laid flat. More butter and spices under the skin, and placed on a foil-lined rimmed pan.

Both of the chickens then went into a 450-degree oven for 15 minutes to get the skin all crisp and tasty. Then the oven goes down to 350, and it took about another 35 to 45 minutes to roast the chicken up to temperature. Both of these methods actually cooked the breast meat slower than the dark meat – which is exactly what we were shooting for. Both also stayed very moist, and were perfect for chicken enchiladas the next day too.

So, the conclusion? Impale your chicken! It’s fun, it’s dirty, and it makes a crispy, tasty, perfectly-roasted chicken. And you can make dirty jokes during dinner preparation. What could be better? See all the pictures in the Flickr set.

In a Cooking Contest – Farmers Market Orzo

So about a week ago I found (actually, though my work) the Philadelphia Cream Cheese / Paula Deen Real Women of Philadelphia cooking contest / casting call. Just a few weeks ago, Shadra had joked about submitting me to a cooking contest without my knowledge. I figured I’d beat her to the punch.

So, I put out a Facebook plea for help in filming. Then I realized – Faythe and Ryan not only had a wonderfully open kitchen that would be great for filming, but they could also probably be bribed to help. A few emails later, and a Tuesday filming schedule was set.

After four hours of filming, we had tape for two recipes – a Farmer’s Market Orzo and Beet Hummus. Week 1 of the competition is Side Dishes, and I was absolutely blown away when Ryan had the video edited and ready to go in just a single day. It looks amazing, and he managed to take my nervousness and hide it!

So, without further ado, here is the video:

And here’s the full recipe:

* 2 tbsp. of butter
* 1 1/2 cup(s) of sliced carrots
* 2 cup(s) of chopped broccoli
* 1 bell pepper
* 3 sliced green onions
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 tbsp. of butter
* 1 pound(s) of orzo pasta
* 4 cup(s) of broth
* 1/2 cup(s) of Parmesan cheese
* 1 tbsp. of dill
* 8 ounce(s) of Philadelphia Chive & Onion cream cheese

Steps

1. Melt butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Saute vegetables, garlic, and herbs over medium-high heat until brightly colored and fragrant.
2. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Melt additional 1 Tbsp butter in saucepan. Saute orzo until lightly browned and slightly toasted.
4. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup broth and stir until thickened and bubbling.
5. Slowly add another 2 cups broth and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, adding more broth if necessary.
6. Once pasta is al dente, add vegetables, Parmesan cheese, dill, and cream cheese to the pasta. Stir over medium heat until cheese is melted and dish is heated through.

Rainbow of Hummus

The recipes to these hummus flavors will be coming soon, but to give you an idea of what I spent my evening working on…