spring side dishes

I love being in the kitchen with my mom. She has a fully stocked kitchen, great lighting, and all the great kitchen tools. I love how adventurous she is in the kitchen, pretty much never makes the same meal twice. While we were at Pike Place Market we over heard a lady saying she likes to cook her artichokes in the pressure cooker. We were intrigued and had to try.

This is what we did:
Snip off all the pointy tips from the artichoke leaves. Place in a normal size pressure cooker with a little salt, a cut up lemon, and fill with water about half way up. Put lid on and turn on to high until pressure cooker lid starts to rattle. Turn down and continue to cook for 15 minutes. Take the pot over to the sink and run cold water over the pressure cooker until the valve goes down. Serve with a little melted butter and olive oil to dip in.
Normally it would take 45-60 minutes to cook an artichoke in a regular pot, but with a pressure cooker it took only 25 minutes. Wonderful!

Another side dish we tried was mashed cauliflower.
Here's what we did:
Cut cauliflower in florets and steam in a large pot. Once the cauliflower is tender drain the water and mash the cauliflower. We added some cream cheese and mashed until combined. Salt and pepper to liking.

a trip to the market

 

 

Every time I make a trip home to Seattle,  I visit Pike Place Market. This latest trip home was no exception. My mom and I stopped by the market on Friday to pick up some produce for Easter dinner. We walk the whole market every time and always have to share a "half dozen assorted" mini donuts from our favorite stand.

I couldn't resist taking a few photos because nature is amazing. Can you get over the shapes and colors that come from the earth?

Guest Posting on Topsy and Havoc // Dinner Recipe

My friend, Laura, is having "Food Week" over on her blog and it's gonna make you really hungry. She asked me to share an easy recipe and you can see it on her blog HERE.

I am really happy with how the Marinated Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli recipe turned out. I love both vegetables and roast them often, but steaming and marinating was a great change.

Every Sunday Egan and I are trying a new recipe out of "The New Moosewood Cookbook" that we each got for Christmas a few years ago. We are loving that it's letting us explore new methods and ideas in the kitchen. 

Have you ever cooked/baked your way through a cookbook?

Greens salad // Recipe

 

I was in charge of bringing a salad to our family dinner on Sunday and as usual I was taking inventory of the produce I already had when I called my mom for some guidance. She suggested I try to make a variation on a salad that is at Costco. I was super happy with the results so here I am to share.

You'll need a food processor. I don't even know how to describe the blade tool I used, but you don't want to chop the vegetables, you want to slice them into strips. So you the circular top one with a curved slicer.

The amounts of each ingredient are up to you, I just eye balled as I went to fill a big white dish I had. There was enough leftover that I had it for lunch today and it held over very well. Especially cause it was barely dressed.

Greens salad // Recipe

brussel sprouts
purple cabbage
romaine lettuce
baby spinach
cauliflower
dried cranberries
pumpkin seeds

Chop the ends off the brussel sprouts and put through the food processor. Repeat with the cabbage. The romaine lettuce should be chopped into bite size pieces. Take a small handful of baby spinach and roll them together and cut into a few pieces. Cut the cauliflower into thin pieces.
I toasted the pumpkin seeds for a few minutes in my toaster oven.
Toss the salad then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.

As for the dressing, I made a poppyseed dressing using sugar, oil, dried mustard, apple cider vinegar, and poppyseeds. It tasted good, but I'd prefer to cut down on the sugar and oil. Do you have a healthier poppyseed dressing that you use? Please share.

Try: Roasted Veggie, Quinoa, Millet, Arugala Salad

My sister and I made So Good and Tasty's Roasted Veggie, Quinoa, Millet, Arugala Salad for dinner yesterday.
We followed the recipe, but added fresh tomatoes from my sister's garden, and steamed garden zucchini. We also added a little parro cheese.

On the side we had homemade artisan bread, roasted acorn squash, and strawberries.

You should try.

Summer means Salads

A few weeks ago Word of Wisdom Living posted about eating a green salad every day.

Reading that got me excited about salads again and how easy they are to throw together.

Every weekend I stock my refrigerator with greens (romaine, spinach, cilantro, arugula)
and a variety of things to chop on top (tomatoes, avocado, celery, cucumber, carrots, peppers).

I'll also prepare a protein like some canned beans (kidney, black, garbanzo), a hard boiled egg, or quinoa.

It's been lunches mostly, and I've yet to tire of the fresh salad especially as the days get hotter.

The above salad was one my mom and I made from Power Foods: endive, avocado, and red grapefruit salad. And it was as delicious as you'd think.

What salads do you love to make? How often do you make your own salad?

spring thing+ links

redcruiser garden print via Black Eiffel


I wanted to share a couple links/articles that have been circulating through my family's email exchanges this week. All very worthwhile and thought provoking. I hope you'll read and inform yourself.

Agave Nectar: Worse Than We Thought (thanks Lindsey)

Are Hot Dogs Better For You Than Roasted Chicken? (thanks Egan)

Organic Fruits and Vegetables-Are They Worth The Extra Money?

This 65 degree weather in Salt Lake City is making me swirl with excitement. I'm alive again. And I think this blog is too!

Have a beautiful weekend!

beet bot

I had to try the Beet Chips from my new favorite cookbook, Power Foods.
I wished I had a mandolin because cutting a beet so thinly was difficult.
All else was a breeze, toss with extra virgin olive oil and real salt, then bake till crispy.
I ate the entire bowl immediately.