Put THAT on your bread and eat it.

Bread is delicious.  Seriously.  Freaking.  Delicious.  Rather than covering the bread in butter (also delicious), try roasting some garlic and herbs and veggies and eating that on the bread instead.  It's got this really great rustic look.

You can roast the regular way - high temp, or the slow way - low temp for a million hours.  I decided to split the difference and see what happened.  Spoiler alert:  it was yummy!

OK, let's do this:

Roasted Stuff for Bread
total time 40 min

tomatoes  (on the vine is cuter)
shallots, quartered
rosemary
garlic, sliced thinly
olive oil
salt, pepper to taste


crusty bread, sliced and toasted
balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 300ºF.

Place the shallots, tomatoes and rosemary in a baking dish lined with parchment paper.  Toss in the garlic, drizzle the whole mess generously with olive oil.  Add salt and pepper.  Bake for 40 min - 1 hour or until the skins of the tomatoes split, but before they turn to mush.

Serve with fabulous bread and balsamic vinegar.

Boarding for Breast Cancer

I just started contributing to Boarding for Breast Cancer this month!  Here's the recipe I posted for them.  Check out their site to see all the wonderful things they do.


Nothing says, “I love you,” quite like cruciferous vegetables. Stay with me. Cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower) contain more anti-cancer phytochemicals than any other type of veggie.

So this Valentine’s day, don’t just shred on the slopes. Shred the Love in the kitchen, too with this Stupid Easy recipe for a warm slaw topped with burrata. Cruciferous veggies show that you care – and also that you love somebody so much that you can overlook a little farting now and then. It’s so romantic.

OK, let’s do this:

Stupid Easy Warm Slaw with Burrata Cheese
Makes 4 servings
Total time 15 minutes

2 red radishes, rinsed and stems removed
2 T olive oil, divided
½ red onion, sliced
¼ head of purple cabbage, shredded
12-ish Brussels sprouts, shredded
2 balls of burrata cheese
2T balsamic vinegar
chives, chopped for garnish

Cut the radishes into hearts the way I showed you last week

To shred the cabbage and Brussels sprouts use a food processor with a shredding attachment if you have one. Otherwise use the wide slice side of a box cheese grater, being careful not to shred off all your knuckle skin.

Keep the sprouts and the cabbage separate. Cooking them separately will prevent the purple cabbage from turning everything else purple. The only reason for doing it this way is cosmetic. If you’re in a rush, it’s fine to cook them together.

Heat 1 T oil in a pan over med/high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and sauté until soft (about 4 minutes), stirring frequently. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Using the same pan, heat the remaining 1 T oil and sauté the sprouts until soft (about 4 minutes), stirring frequently.

Combine the sprouts and cabbage and place a heap in the center of a plate. Top with half a ball of burrata. Add salt to taste. Add the radish hearts, drizzle with the balsamic reduction and sprinkle with chopped chives. Love on a plate! Serve with toasted bread. 

Weekend Calorie Splurge: Croissant Bread Pudding

I have been talking about making croissant bread pudding forever, but couldn't make it until I had an event to attend where I could share it (Thanks, Super Bowl !! ).  Otherwise it's just me, the Real Housewives and a warm baking dish full of everything delicious. 

OK, let's do this:

Croissant Bread Pudding
makes 16 servings
total time 35 min


1 T butter for greasing
4 big croissants
2 c heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c Nutella (I just found a great organic, fair trade copycat version at Whole Foods)
handful sliced almonds
handful small dark chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Grease a large glass baking dish.  Tear the croissants into bite size pieces and place in the baking dish.

Meanwhile heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat.  Don't allow to boil.  When tiny bubbles form around the edges, remove from heat.

While the cream is heating, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and nutella together.  Slowly whisk in the warm cream.  Pour the whole mixture over the croissants.  Add the almonds and chocolate and mix thoroughly with your hands.  It will be very moist.  Bake 25 min.

Dear Lanie J-

What's better than old-fashioned paper valentines?


-Super Romantic



Dearest SR-

Radishes.  Duh.

Stay easy,
Lanie J

 

Toss them in this salad.

The Perfect Marriage

Every once in a while savory food and sweet food collide in a head on collision at the corner of Delicious and Fucking Awesome in the center of Tastytown.  If you Google Street View it you'll find me standing on the corner with a fork in each hand and a bottle of rosé in my camel pack.

OK, let's do this:

Strawberry Balsamic Salad
makes 2 servings
total time 5 min

4-6 strawberries, sliced

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 handful toasted almonds

2 large handfuls of arugula

2 T goat cheese, crumbled

1 T ish olive oil

cracked black pepper

Heat the balsamic and strawberries in a pan and gently simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Pour into a bowl and cool in the freezer while you prep the other stuff.

Toast the almonds in a dry pan over med-high heat.  This will only take about 45 seconds. Remove from heat immediately.

Place the arugula on the plates, sprinkle with goat cheese, almonds and olive oil.  Next drizzle with the strawberries and balsamic and add some cracked black pepper.  Enjoy your stay in Tastytown.

Change your life for less than $100

You can literally work your fingers to the bone with this box grater (you can also shred and slice veggies and cheese).

Trudeau 4-sided Cheese Grater $12.95 plus shipping on Amazon.  Photo from Amazon.com

It Doesn't Suck...

This recipe is tweaked and adapted from Natural Health Magazine.  It'll keep for a week in the fridge, and makes a much better midnight snack than cereal.

"Lanie's cooking: At least it's better than cereal!"  Hmm....perhaps I should hire a marketing person....

OK, let's do this:
Curry Apple Quinoa Salad
makes 6-8 servings
total time 20 min

1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed

2 cups water
----------------------------
1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

pinch of salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon grated lime zest

juice of 2 limes
---------------------------
2 medium carrots, shredded on a cheese grater.  Don't have a cheese grater?  Use a potato peeler to peel slivers, stack 'em up and cut them in half lengthwise.

1 15 ounce can of chickpeas rinsed and drained

3 organic green onions, thinly sliced

2 Granny Smith apples, halved, cored and chopped

handful toasted pumpkin seeds (toast them in a dry pan - it'll only take about 30 seconds)


1 handful parsley, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped 
Salt and pepper to taste


Bring the water to a boil in a covered saucepan.  Add quinoa, reduce heat, cover and simmer until water is absorbed (about 10 minutes).  Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.


While quinoa is cooking and then cooling, combine the second group of ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Once the quinoa is cooled, stir in the third group of ingredients, then stir in the dressing.  Eat as a midnight snack.  Unless you're a gremlin.

When prepping a lot of ingredients, it can be helpful to prep them and set them up in separate bowls.  It's called mis en place which is French for "See, I went to culinary school!"  It makes you look professional and gives you a smug sense of accomplishment as well as 10.000 extra dirty dishes.