FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Happy Spring!

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As if I wasn’t already crushing hard enough on Austin, my love for this city was compounded yesterday.  Matt picked me up and we headed to our friend Wade’s house to celebrate spring.

We couldn’t have driven more than three miles from my place before we started winding through hills that reminded me of the west coast.

I was giddy the second we arrived and started hiking our way down the limestone steps that led us through the greenest greens and then to the water.

We spent all day goofing around on paddle boards, listening to our favorite SXSW music discoveries, and laughing like little kids at summer camp.  The day, the scenery, the people – all perfect.  I have a feeling this is going to be one of the best years of my life!  Happy spring!

Arugula In Moderation

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Stuffed mushrooms should happen and they should happen often.  Fill them with your favorite pesto, pop them in the oven, and…  Boom.  Dinner.

I made a mental note prior to the move to make Jenna’s arugula pesto when I settled.  And even though I have yet to hang anything on the walls yet (this weekend, I promise!) I’m definitely settled enough to whip out the food processor and get it all green.

I used an entire bunch of fresh arugula to make this vibrant little pot of pesto.  And if I had to give you my opinion of this sauce based on appearance alone, I’d say A++.

But it turns out that arugula pesto is not a good fit for stuffed mushrooms.  Why?  Because arugula has a hefty funk and it was just wayyy too much for the shrooms.  I did, however, make a bowl of artichoke pasta with this exact batch of pesto and it was pretty darn tasty.  New rule:  Arugula in moderation.

Cookies For Dinner

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I rarely crave sweets.  I’d much rather have a loaf of crusty bread with melty butter than a cookie on any given day.  Well any given day except for today.  All I wanted today was sugar.  My day went something like easter candy, easter candy, veggie dog, cookies.  Minus the veggie dog, it was nine year-old Kristin’s dream day.

I hunted around for oatmeal lace cookie recipes, thinking they’d be much more labor intensive.  Then I settled on this Epicurious recipe and made some minor adjustments.  Like…  almond meal instead of flour and sugar in the raw instead of white sugar.

Oh and I didn’t refrigerate my dough for an hour (or at all).  I did, however, google why refrigerating dough was important.  I came across explanations such as better flavor, better texture, better yada yada, but the only thing that was going to make this cookie better for me was if it was ready sooner!

Eleven minutes later I was in total cookie heaven.  Using sugar in the raw made me feel like I was eating these cookies combined with an oatmeal lace cookie and I was totally down with it.  If you like a gooey-er oatmeal lace cookie, I’d stick to plain old white sugar so the granules are small enough to melt thoroughly during the bake sesh.

See you tomorrow vegetables!!

Sick Girl Seasonings

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Holy SXSW recovery!  It turns out the reason why Ariel and I were so achy was because we caught some sort of mini-flu that knocked us out for a few days.  But now that I’ve found my way out of a sloth-like state and back to the kitchen, it’s all good.

Joy the Baker’s Spicy Lentil Soup seemed like the right, hearty choice for my first home-cooked meal in ages.

I followed Joy’s recipe almost to a tee.  Even though I’ve been venturing into the meat scene on occasion when I dine out, I’m still keeping a mostly veggie kitchen at home.  I subbed chicken sausage with Smart Sausages and quadrupled the crushed red pepper (addiction?).

From what my stuffy senses can tell, this is a darn good soup!  The kick and texture are a far cry from the mushness that I remember lentil soup to be (mom, why was your lentil soup so mushy??).

And then…  I headed to my first ballet lesson!  The class was so great that I found myself asking “whyyyyyy??” when the instructor announced it was time to pack up.  That never happens.  Perhaps I enjoyed my time suited in ballerina gear so much that I forgot I was in “class”?