Veggie Dip

Last week I made this dip/spread.  I wasn't originally planning on blogging about it, but it was so good I needed to share.  I made it first for some opened faced sandwiches.  I spread it on some toasted French bread and topped with radishes, spinach, carrots, and tomatoes.  Later that week I used it as a dip for some vegetables.

I didn't write down my method, so sorry for the lack of a real recipe, but it went something like this:

Equal parts ricotta and cream cheese
1/4 part mayo
Seasoned with dried tarragon, rosemary, dill, and garlic powder.

I really like the sweetness of the ricotta and tarragon mixed with the mayo.  The cream cheese made it creamy with just enough texture from the ricotta. I was out of parsley, but it would also be a great addition, as would a sprinkle of some lemon zest.

Sorry I didn't get a closer picture of the dip.  C was very excited about the vegetables, as you can see from the little feet in the corner, so the photo shoot didn't last very long.

So no "What to Get Rid  of Wednesday" this week.  We're heading to Virginia to look for and hopefully find a house.  Wish us luck!

What to Get Rid of Wednesday

I really should change the name of this series with how well I'm doing.

But, I do have pictures this week.  Well, one picture

I really love quick breads.  I love them for many reasons, but high on the list is freeze ability.  We had no need for a loaf of bread the day I baked this, so it went into the freezer, cut in half so we can just pull it out and thaw when needed.

This loaf is called Aloha Quick Bread, named after the coconut, banana, and pineapple baked inside.  It also has almonds.  I used slivered almonds to finish my bag, but I would recommend sliced.

Aloha Quick Bread

1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
1 C. Mashed bananas
1/4. C. milk
1 T. Orange peel
1 t. Vanilla
1/2 t. Almond extract
2 C. Flour- all purpose
1 t. Baking soda
1/2 t. Salt
1 C. Sweetened flaked coconut, toasted
1/2 C. Sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 C. crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread pan.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in eggs and then banana, milk, orange peel, and extracts.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda.  Add to creamed mixture and mix just until combined.

Fold in coconut, almonds, and pineapple.  Pour into bread pan.

The original instructions I have say to bake for 1-1 1/2 hours at 350.  I did mine 1 1/4 hours and it was a little underdone but pretty dark on the outside.  I think you would have better luck at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Or, tent the bread with aluminum foil so it doesn't burn.
  

Strawberries, Figs, and Balsamic

Spring is still hanging on in Fort Worth, but it's never too early to enjoy some strawberries.  As I've already mentioned here, I have a slight crush on this summer fruit.  While in Arizona last month S and I stumbled on an olive mill.  While it may sound completely crazy to grow olives in Arizona, it is apparently the perfect climate.  Lucky us.  They have a restaurant and store set up with an olive tasting bar.  We tried the lot of them.  As fantastic as their oil was what really got us was their imported balsamic vinegar.  It was enough to convince us to buy a bottle.  They had plain, strawberry, and fig.  For fear of being too cliche I chose the fig.  We haven't been disappointed.

The fabulous thing we've discovered, though, is that fig and strawberry are fabulous compliments to each other.  For some recipe some time I bought a bag of dried figs and haven't had a need for them since.  In my constant effort to empty my pantry I pondered what I could do with them and voila, this salad was born.

This isn't really a recipe, but here's how it goes:

Place some spinach in a bowl,
Slice some strawberries,
Chop some figs,
Toast some almonds,
Top the spinach,
Drizzle on some fig balsamic or your favorite balsamic vinaigrette
Enjoy!

What to Get Rid of Wednesday

It's amazing how a screaming one year old pretty much makes you forget everything.  I remember reading a blog post I think is was about cooking with small children, like babies.  I didn't have a child at the time so obviously couldn't relate. She made a comment like "of course you can stick your kid in a high chair and cook your meal, but who can work under the conditions of a screaming child."   Of course I was judgmental, and now it's coming back to bite me in the butt.   

C pretty much threw a tantrum from 3:45 until we ate dinner at 6:00.  Don't worry, I wasn't starving her.  I even gave in at 5:30 and offered a snack of mini wheats.  When she refused I lost all compassion and let her cry it out.  Anyways, the whole point of this story is to say that I didn't take one picture of me meal yesterday.  Not one.  It wasn't until I was going to bed that I realized I forgot.  Oh, well.

It was actually a little disappointing of a week anyways.  I was trying to finish a jar of olives and some quinoa.  The jar is still half full and there's 3 T. of quinoia left.  Oh, well.  It was delicious and healthy and made you feel good.

My main dish was open-faced hummus sandwiches.  Like so many things I make, I got the recipe from Cooking Light.  Please see the recipe here.  This was so quick to put together and would make a great lunch.  The only changes I made were using a mixture of olives and ricotta instead of goat cheese.

I paired them with a quiona pilaf from Savoring the Tyme.  The amazing this was C ate the pilaf.  She really not a picky eater, but can be a little questioning of new food, but she loved it.

So, here's to all the moms who make dinner despite the craziness behind them, or under them, or pulling on their leg, or screaming their name.

Sushi Night

Hopefully later tonight I'll write my "What to Get Rid of Wednesday" post, but I've been wanting to write this post for several days and have never seemed to find the time to do it, until now.  So, here goes.

Last week I made sushi for dinner.  California rolls.  My mother-in-law bought us the ingredients and rolling mat for Christmas.  She gave us a 30 minute lesson based on the hour lesson she attended.  So, I'm obviously mostly still clueless.  S loves sushi.  I've eaten it a total of three times.  I can handle California rolls.  Small steps.  Make sushi one night; try something new another time.

S was of course very glad to have sushi.  He "loves the way I feel after eating it."  I wasn't exactly sure how to serve it to C.  Most normal people would have just made her a PB&J and called it even.  Nope, I had to do things the hard way.  I gave her a couple hunks of cucumber and avocado (which she hates and won't eat) and then I sliced her a couple pieces of sushi.  That's when the fun started.

She picked it up and really had no idea what to do with it.  She tried it but didn't like the flavor of the seaweed. I doubt she could have bitten through it anyways.  Then, she tried to get the rice off but it was too sticky.  At this point the sushi was completely unwrapped and rice it all over the carpet and C is frustrated, especially when she put the crab in her mouth and again found an unpalatable flavor.  She ate a quesadilla.

What was more amusing was the end of dinner.  We all finished and were sitting around because we didn't want to get up and S decides to give C a taste of wasabi.  Not wasabi mixed in soy, but straight wasabi.  I think C was intrigued by the bright green color because when the chop stick came up to her mouth there was zero hesitation.

I honestly think my daughter is the only one year old alive that could eat wasabi, be completely disgusted by the flavor and then eagerly open her mouth for more.  This continued a couple more times until I decided her mouth was burning enough.  I'm not sure how I feel about this character trait, especially how it could translate later in life, but that night it got us laughing enough to forget about the rice smooched into the carpet.  And, enough to give me a little bit of hope that she will like sushi...one day.

What to Get Rid of Wednesday: Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

This week's venture took me back to the flavors of fall: pumpkin, cranberry, and pecans.

I love scones.  For whatever reason I'm drawn to them.  Ginger and lemon, bacon and cheese, blueberry, or, in this case, pumpkin.  I can never look over a scone recipe.  I always want to make them.  But, my lovely husband has a distaste for anything dry, and scones, being traditionally dry, fit into that category.  So, I usually read a recipe, think about it long and hard and then decide no, I don't think it would be a good decision to make all those scones and then consume them.  I really need to work on getting some food dumping friends.

On another note I try to be frugal where possible and after last October's festivities I baked down a small pumpkin, smashed it, divided it into baggies and stuck it in the freezer.  And there is has remained.  As much pumpkin as I cook each year I never eat through what we have on hand.  Until now.

This recipe was fabulous because I finished a bag of dried cranberries, a container of pecan halves, and the rest of my frozen pumpkin.  It was hard to use the rest of the pecans.  I'm sure I can buy them just as readily in Richmond, but I have an attachment to Texas through them.  They are one of my loves in this state.  They're one of the reasons I learned to love Texas.  Oh, pecans...

Save this one for later or pull out your fall leftovers, this scone is fabulous.  This is adapted from a recipe in Taste of Home.

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter


Butter
2 T. Dried cranberries
1/2 C. Boiling water
1/2 C. Butter, softened
3 T. Powdered sugar

Place cranberries in bowl, add water and let re-hydrate 5 minutes.  Drain.  Chop berries.  In small mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy then add the sugar and berries.  Cover and refrigerate.

Scones
2 1/4 C. All purpose flour
1/4 C. Packed brown sugar
2 t. Baking powder
1 1/2 t. Pumpkin pie spice (I used combo of 3/4 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)
1/2 C. Cold butter
1/4 t. Salt
1/4 t. Baking soda
1 Egg
3/4 C. Pureed pumpkin
1/3 C. Milk
2 T. Chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, salt, and baking soda.  Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  (I did this in a food processor.  About 10-12 pulses to cut in butter.)

In a small bowl, whisk the egg with pumpkin and milk.  Add to the dry mixture and pecans if using, and mix just until moistened.  If you used the food processor, dump dry ingredients into another bowl for this step.

Scoop dough onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet (I cut into wedges, but the dough was too moist and made it difficult). This makes 8 scones, about 1/2 C. each.  Bake 15-18 minutes, until deep golden brown.  Serve warm with butter.