Girl Meets Turnip: 2014

Friday, October 24, 2014

Pork Belly Tacos

For B's birthday, I bought him a butchering class at Underground Butcher on Willy Street. When I tell some people that, they think it is really strange but he loved it! The class was 6 guys and they paired off to butcher a hog. At the end of the class, not only did he gain great knowledge, but also pork chops, a tenderloin, a roast and pork belly.

The goods he got to bring home!

Now B LOVES pork belly but I have been a little reluctant because of how fatty it is. So I put him in charge of preparing it. One Sunday when I was out of town, I came home to a house filled with the smell of bacon. Here is the recipe he used.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/782637/threehour-pork-belly

I will have to admit, the pork belly is delicious! I try to stick to the crunchy and meaty pieces but the fat just melts in your mouth. Well now that we have this huge slab of cooked pork belly, we had to do something with it. We landed on Pork Belly Tacos to start. And oh my! were they good. I could eat them every week. We topped the tacos off with cilantro, goat cheese, pickled onions and salsa verde. Here is the very simple and quick recipe I used for the pickled onions.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/quick-pickled-onions

Pork Belly Tacos

Num! I can't wait to come up with more things to do with this slab of meat.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Baby Shower Part 2: Mason Jars and Ribbon

Well, one cannot live on assorted baked goods alone! We also had to have a main dish and dessert at the shower. Being that it was brunch and bunch of lovely ladies, quiche just seemed the most appropriate.

Soup, Salad, Fruit and 2 types of quiche

QUICHE
For the quiche, I again, wanted variety so I made 2 types; Spinach Mushroom and Tomato. I used the same basic recipe but just changed the filling. The recipe below only calls for spinach and shallots. I like the addition of mushrooms just to add another dimension. For the Tomato quiche, I omitted the spinach and added halved cherry tomatoes and julienne sun-dried tomatoes. Just a caution on the recipe, it is written to make 2 quiches. Also, I upped the amount of cheese because, ya know, we live in Wisconsin.

http://www.marthastewart.com/336904/spinach-and-gruyere-quiches#Favorite%20Quiche%20Recipes%7C/275606/quiche-recipes/@center/276953/brunch-recipes%7C336904

SWEET POTATO SOUP
My other co-host, Kelsey, brought this amazing soup to the shower. It tasted rich but its actually good for you. I loved the smokiness of the adobo and bacon. She was also telling us that it can be made with squash instead of sweet potato, if desired. I can' t wait to make some of this on a cold fall evening and cozy-up with a bowl on the couch.

http://www.plaidandpaleo.com/2013/10/paleo-spicy-sweet-potato-soup.html

Finally dessert! A balancing act of cookies and crisps! We decided to make the dessert the favor as well so I individually wrapped everything.

A tower of desserts -- crisps and cookies!

CRISPS
I got the idea to make the crisps in mason jars from a friend in Milwaukee that makes desserts in jars as a side job. I thought they would be a perfect sweet fall-ish treat for everyone to bring home. Plus fruit crisps are one of my favorite desserts. :-) To make crisps in jars, make sure to fill them up very full with the fruit filling because it will shrink after it bakes.

APPLE CRISP

2 lbs sliced apples

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

Topping:

1/4 cup oatmeal, uncooked

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup flour

Mix apples, sugar and flour together and put in a greased 9-inch pan. Mix topping ingredients until crumbly, and spread over apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

Cherry Crisp -- I used sliced almonds instead of slivered almonds

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/cherry-almond-crisp-recipe.html

Cookies are my favorite dessert! I actually have one everyday with my lunch. I am assuming this is something I learned from my mom because we were never without cookies in our house. Plus she is known for her Christmas cookies (she makes 12 different kinds!). So naturally, the recipes I used where her's, though I am not sure where she got them from.

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

GIANT GINGER COOKIES -- I received several compliments on these cookies when I brought the leftovers to work. They are actually my favorite :-)

4 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups shortening

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup coarse sugar

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat shortening until softened. Gradually add the 2 cups of sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs and molasses; beat well. Add half of flour mixture; beat until combined. Stir remaining flour in with a wooden spoon.

Using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop, shape dough into 2-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 1/2 inches apart.

Well, I must say the shower was a success and I loved throwing it! I guess it is time to start thinking about the Annual Holiday Party! Until then, I still have a few more weeks of the CSA and I will continue posting some of the things I have been made.

Baby Shower Part 1: Baking Frenzy

The last couple weeks I have been spending most of my evenings preparing for my friend's baby shower. Though my friends and I could have easily taken the easy way and bought pre-made food, that's just not the way I work. I LOVE cooking and baking and any chance I have where I have more than just B and I to eat it, I will take advantage of it. So, I set out to make a menu for the shower where almost every single thing was homemade. The shower was planned to be a Sunday brunch so I knew I wanted lots of baked goods. I also wanted to make sure that I could make things ahead because I wouldn't have much time the day of the shower to cook.

Here is the final menu --

Spinach, Mushroom and Gruyere Quiche
Tomato Quiche
Mix Greens Salad with Toasted Sesame Dressing
Fruit Salad
Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk and Bacon
Assorted Baked Goods

Everything turned out wonderfully! For this blog I am going to focus on the last 3 words...Assortment Baked Goods. Seems like such a small thing but, me being me, decided we had to have tons of variety. For a week, I baked a different item each day and then stored it in the freezer until the day before.

The table with the assorted baked goods

Close up of the plate of goodies!

PUMPKIN MUFFINS with MAPLE GLAZE
I wanted to make sure we had some touches of fall in the assortment. Instead of oil, I used applesauce to make them just slightly healthy. Though these were good, they weren't commented on very much.

http://pinchofyum.com/mapleglazedpumpkinmuffins

DRIED CHERRY and WHITE CHOCOLATE SCONES
I love these scones. They basically taste like cookies. The original recipe calls for dried cranberries but I like the plumpness of dried cherries instead. This recipe is from my aunt.

SCONES

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

3/4 cup butter, cold

1 egg

3/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup nuts

Mix dry ingredients.

Cut in cold butter.

Stir in egg and half and half.

Mix in cranberries, chips and nuts. (I use my hands.)

Divide batter in half.

On lightly floured board, pat each half into a round about 3/4 inch thick and about 8 inches in diameter.

Cut each round into 8 pieces.

Separate the pieces and place on ungreased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

WHITE CHEDDAR and GREEN ONION SCONES

I really love savory things, especially for breakfast. So I wanted to make sure we had some savory mixed in with the sweet. I saw this recipe on a friend's blog. Her blog is fabulous and I highly recommend reading it. MUCH better than mine with MUCH better pictures. I fell in love with these scones! I could eat several day. They are perfect morning, noon and night -- probably even as a midnight snack. :-)

http://www.thingsimadetoday.com/2014/01/23/white-cheddar-green-onion-scones/

GRAPEFRUIT YOGURT BREAD

My friend, Anne that co-hosted the shower, brought this fabulous bread/cake. You could serve it for breakfast or dessert. You finish the bread with a mixture of grapfruit juice and sugar when it comes out of the oven, which it gave it this awesome burst of citrus.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/01/cake-paradisi/

DONUTS AND POPOVERS

So, I bought the donuts. Though I have made donuts before with my mom (since my grandma was known for them). I felt I had to draw the line somewhere and frying up donuts the morning of the shower was where it was at. As for the popovers, I did make them but I am not going to share the recipe because I don't think it is quite right. They came out ok, but didn't pop very high. Other times I have made them and they don't pop at all. Some day I will perfect the popover and then I will share my success!

Coming soon....Part 2 of the shower with quiches and dessert!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Back At It -- Tomatoes Galore!

Finally, I am back in the swing of things. Our trip now just feels like a blip in time. It's good to be home, with our puppy and comfy bed, but I do miss the leisurely life of just eating and beaching; No worrying about groceries or dog hair or work. When we got home late Saturday night of Labor Day, I noticed a HUGE bowl of tomatoes on the counter; along with lots of other fresh veggies. Like it or not, I needed to cook! It was CSA peak and I couldn’t let it go to waste. I first took care of the tomatoes. Between the last 3 CSA’s we have gotten around 20lbs of big tomatoes. I have made 3 batches of salsa, 1 large container of pasta sauce and 1 pot of fresh tomato soup! Along with the big tomatoes we have gotten cherry tomatoes each week and I have been picking mine from my garden. I usually eat the cherry tomatoes for lunch in the form of a caprese salad or roasted and topped with goat cheese and arugula. Below are a few of my favorite tomato recipes.

Salsa:

B eats salsa like it’s his job! I honestly think he has salsa and chips every day. Which is why I have turned the majority of our tomatoes into salsa. We end up putting the salsa in containers and freezing it for the winter months. You can easily make this recipe spicier or milder but don’t be scared of the habanero. With such a large pot, it really only creates a medium salsa. Also, I decided, out of ease, to skip peeling and seeding the tomatoes. (You’ll see that I did this for most recipes) They were just going to get blended anyway so who cares if they were in there or not. It turned out wonderfully!

http://www.food.com/recipe/diners-freezer-salsa-12275

Salsa! Ole!

Tomato Soup:

I needed a new tomato recipe since one can only freeze so much salsa and pasta sauce. I was happy to fall upon this one for Cream of Tomato Soup made with fresh tomatoes. So many of the soup recipes call for jars or cans. Though the recipe does not require peeling and seeding, it does have you put the cooked mixture through a food mill. I decided to skip this step and (again) just use my immersion blender. Why throw out the onions and carrots when you puree them and make a wonderful soup. It did make the soup a little thick which I like but you could always add some more broth in the end to thin it out.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe.html

Cream of Tomato Soup

Pasta Sauce:

I have put this pasta sauce on the blog before but I truly love it! So fresh and rich. Even better, I used the sauce to make Ricotta and Kale Stuffed Manicotti. The Manicotti recipe is my mom’s. Tasting it definitely brought back memories of eating at home on a fall school day. I just added a little twist to her recipe; kale! Now honestly, I am not a huge fan of kale but we got some in the CSA and I made it my mission to use it. I sautéed some onion in a pan with oil and then added some julienned kale. I sautéed the kale until it seemed tender and added it to the ricotta mixture. Below is my mom’s recipe without the kale. I am sure you could also add spinach if you wanted a little more nutrients.

Pasta Sauce

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/fresh_tomato_sauce.html

MANICOTTI WITH CHEESE FILLING

15oz container ricotta cheese

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 Tbsp minced parsley

1/4 cup grated Parmasean cheese

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Manicotti shells

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Blend together all filling ingredients. Fill uncooked manicotti shells. Pour some sauce in 9x13 inch pan to barely cover bottom. Place stuffed manicotti shells in pan. Cover with remaining sauce. Pour 1/2 cup water over sauce. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Ricotta and Kale Stuffed Manicotti

Also here are the pictures of the CSA from the last 2 weeks.

CSA Week #13: Basil, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, patty pan squash, peppers, romanesco and beets

CSA Weeks #14: Leek, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, romanesco, and cabbage

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Rovinj: Part 2

Well it's our last night in Croatia. We have spent most of our time this week just relaxing and eating...my favorites. Tomorrow starts our long travel home; ferry to Venice then plane the next day. Here are some pictures from our last couple days.