Tofu & Squash Soup, Salad

>Roasted Tofu Squares
>Squash chunk soup
>Pomegranate & Arugula Salad

If there's anything having this blog has achieved is getting me to make more soups. Which is kind of the purpose, right? I really disliked soups and don't ever make them, but now I have somewhat of a new-found appreciation for them. Yay me!

And squash- The produce that keeps on giving. These babies keep for MONNTHSSS. We have squashes that we got in October still holding us down in March, April, May... Whoa!

Salmon Patties, Rice & Beans, Collards & Chard Salad

>Salmon Patties
>Rice & Beans
>Collards
>Chard Salad

I got the idea for Salmon Patties from this blog, and because I am extremely horrible at following recipes and 'ain't nobody got time for that' I did not actually follow it, but it served it's purpose and we all loved it, and I think I wanna make this all the time!

Orange-glazed Pork Loin Kebabs, Broccoli Salad & Cassava Corn Bread

>Pork Loins on skewers with Carrots, Pears & Bell Peppers, glazed with fresh orange sauce
> Cast-iron Yucca/Cassava Cornbread
>Broccoli salad
 I knew I wanted to make Kebabs.

I had just made like a bazillion beef ones for a friend's bbq party, and I had it in my head. So combined with memories of the best kebabs ever at this restaurant Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica when I went for Annie's wedding, and left over skewers I knew I had to make some.

It was time for some lean pork loins on the 'protein rotation'. I searched around for some pork recipes because I don't really eat pork and this was my second time cooking it. I knew I wanted to find a different taste or way to cook it (because otherwise I would default to something I do all the time). So I found a site dedicated to pork recipes! Wow. Fancy that. And you can search by themes, cut, and preparation time. Since I had some cut loin I knew it wouldn't take me that long to make something anyway (and I wanted this meal to happen quickly), and so yeah I searched by cut. I picked this recipe well, kinda. Haha. I pretty much didn't actually do any of what it says here except for the concept of a glaze. I squeezed some fresh oranges, and reduced it with maple syrup, and thickened with a tiny bit of flour.

I didn't roast over an open flame. I put the pork into a cast iron pan, and threw some black pepper, herb de provence & sea salt on it and threw it into the oven 375. After about 15-20mins? When it was part-way cooked, I brought it out and cut into chunks for skewering. I seasoned some veggies (bell pepper & carrots) and pears chunked and skewered them with the pork. Okay DON'T BE LIKE ME AND TRY TO SKEWER RAW CARROTS. Which I know not to do but did anyway because I don't know I just did.  And then threw it back into the oven at 500 degrees to grill.

For the Cassava (Yucca) & Corn Bread: Okay I get recipe requests from friends a lot and I really never know what I do, and I can't remember. I just do stuff and then it's done. So when I saw we had some leftover Yucca from a previous meal, and some corn on the cob from another meal, I decided they could all get together and party with cornmeal, egg, oil & milk in the oven. And that's what they did and it was GOOD. (And I didn't just say so myself)

Broccoli Salad, Emilie my upstairs neighbor made this and it was delicious.

This was an awesome meal!

Recipe: Orange & Green Goodness

 Eat your colors!

Today's color is Orange (with a touch of green)
Butternut Squash
Mandarin Orange
with Basil and Mint Leaves.

As Fall's bounty comes to and end, we can still eat squashes 'cos these babies usually hold out for a bit; you can store them for a while and still enjoy them long after everything else is gone.
To make:
>Throw the whole squash into the oven on baking tray (or if it's not to hard you can cut it in two first and take out seeds). Once roasted cut out cubes of the meat & throw into a bowl.
>Peel and separate mandarin sections, throw into the bowl.
>Add fresh mint and basil leaves
>Add a like bit of olive oil, salt and black pepper.
>Toss
>Yum!

Pan-Grilled Tri-Tip, Roasted Potatoes & Carrots, Almond Gravy Green Beans etc

 >Pan-Grilled Tri-Tip
> Roasted Potatoes & Carrot Blend
>Almond Gravy over Sauteed Green Beans
>Persimmon, Plum & Pomegranate Spring Greens Salad

Grub this!

Plate: Chicken Soup, BuzzwordFood Salad, Fresh Garlic & Rosemary Toast

 >Chicken Soup with Bell peppers & Onions
> Buzzword Food Salad
> Garlic & Rosemary Toast

I was on my way to the grocery store to pick up some household staples, and see if something may inspire me for dinner, when I ran into my upstairs neighbor Emily and found out she would be making chicken soup that evening. I invited myself into her meal by offering to make a salad and 'some bread thing'. Awesome! I was glad to have someone else make a good chunk of the meal, because I had been a bit stuck. I was also excited about soup, because I kinda-sorta never like soups and just never really think to make them. Well our forces combined to make something that I was really excited about.

I have been pretty much using a lot of Rosemary to cook these days, because you know if you've ever had a rosemary plant, that baby GROWS. So I've been trying to put a dent in it (even doing things like rosemary pesto; another post on that).

How to:
>BuzzwordFood Salad? Check here to learn how I made this
>For the toast: I threw some fresh garlic cloves and some butter into a mini mortar and pounded. Spread it on whole wheat bread, sprinkled fresh rosemary on top of the bread and threw it in the broiler. Another way to make it would be to throw all the herbs and garlic in the mortar and pound with butter.
>Make your favorite chicken soup recipe, just make sure to throw in lots of veggies too, to make it a true grub-a-plate meal

Recipe: When I FALL in love...it will be forever!

Let me introduce you to my 'Ode to Fall' salad. It's delicious!

Here's the story: I like Jicama and when I run into it, I remember that I like it. I had this large Jicama that I needed to use quickly because it was going to go bad soon. So I knew it would be the perfect thing to make for a brunch party where people could help me put a dent in it.

I knew I wanted it in a salad and looked online for recipes; I found one I liked but by the time I got up to start making it, I forgot what it was, and because I can't follow a recipe to save my life. I was like 'umm, how about this instead'? I had to think/work fast because, I was expecting a lot of people over any minute and was still behind. I was excited about doing something that was 'hella fall' and I liked the colors I could see it making. We had just picked up all these cool fruits and veggies from the farmer's market, so I thought how about it. The result was a winner, and I'm just saying this from all the good feedback I got that day.

Okay, so now pay attention because this is REALLY complicated.

Ingredients

1. Jicama
2. Fuyu Persimmons
3. Pomegranate

Directions:

1. Grab Bowl
2. Peel Jicama
3. Shred into bowl
4. Grab Persimmon
5. Shred into Bowl
6. Open/Tear Pomegranate
7. Drop seeds into bowl
8. Tear off mint leaves
9. Garnish
10. Proceed to Ravish.

Complicated. Right? Okay so it's not. I somehow suspect this will work on kids. Got kids? Try it on and let me know.

Recipe: BuzzwordFood Salad

The concept of this salad makes me laugh. It comes from the 'Superfood Salad' movement. Apparently they have these at Whole Foods (I don't really shop there except for urgent situations or quick natural food finds) so I don't know. But I actually got one on a road trip back from Oregon to Oakland at a Fred Meyers. I thought 'oh what a great idea!'. I liked the salad a lot, and I've decided I will go on to make various versions and themes of superfood salads, except I will be calling them BuzzwordFood because basically it's all the trendy new foods that we are going crazy about these days. Lol!

In this Salad:
Quinoa
Sunflower Seeds
Pomegranate
Avocados
Kale
Cherry Tomatoes
Black Beans
Red Onions
*and in my snootiest voice* all tossed in a home-made acai berry juice dressing (acai berry juice, non-fat yogurt, olive oil, salt, black pepper).

You too can make your own BuzzwordFood salad with these or other 'superfoods'.

Baked Chicken, Creamed Spinach and more

Baked Chicken
Roasted Potatoes
Creamed Spinach
Spring Greens Salad

-Grub this plate!

Chicken & Veggie Stew, Delicata Squash...

-Chicken & Mixed Veggies stew in Fresh Tomato sauce

-Roasted Delicata Squash

-Spinach, Cabbage & Raisin Salad

An in-season plate, with Fall veggies (Squash, Spinach, Cabbage). This meal was relatively quick, filling and delish. And I have to say, I really notice the difference between organic produce (not like huge manufacturer organic, but some good ol' small farm food). That shit is GOOD!  It just tastes better, it really does. We had the privilege of getting these delicata squashes, tomatoes and other veggies from a friend's farm, and boy I tell ya. Yum!

For the stew: Chopped up some skinless chicken thighs, threw in a pot with chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes (no added oils, just the juice from the chicken and the tomatoes) season with salt, dried rosemary from our backyard, ginger powder, let it stew. Once chicken was cooked to my standard, threw in some organic frozen mixed veggies, let it sit for a bit and it was done.

for the squash: threw it in whole into the oven, 475 degrees, for about 30 mins or until tender.

for the salad: bag of 'coleslaw' mix, spinach, raisins, lemon cucumbers, apple cider vinegar, honey and some fresh herbs, toss.

Dinner: Turkey Quinoa Loaf et. al

Turkey Quinoa Loaf
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Fresh Cabbage & Raisin Salad


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