Man, this has been the year of changes! New job in May. A brand-spankin' new car this month--I get to pick it up this weekend. Woo-hoo, I'm sooooo excited! And now a new home next month. Yep, you heard right...I'm moving! Out of my beloved little cottage in the Grid but not too far away...just in with Mr.S., the kidlets (or should I be calling them teenlets these days?) and Pepper. I guess after 5 years, it's about time we shack up, right? What's funny is the reaction I get when I tell people- half of my friends already thought I lived with Mr.S because I'm there so much and the other half are like, "About time!"

Anyhow, I was over there the other day visiting Mr. S and discussing how in the heck we're going to fit my stuff in his closet (that boy has a LOT of shoes!) when I noticed that my baby Roma tomatoes were finally ready to be picked. Look at how gorgeous they are! They're almost too pretty to eat...almost.




To celebrate these red beauties, I decided to transform my garden bounty into a savory tomato bread pudding. Yum! I threw in a bowlful of ripe baby Romas and sprinkled in a few leftover yellow cherry tomatoes for spots of contrasting color. To give the bread pudding some zing I also used a spicy jalapeno-cheddar focaccia from Raley's (but you can use whatever kind of bread you like). Pretty much any type of hearty, thick bread will work in this recipe.  No wimpy bread, please!



Savory Tomato Bread Pudding (based on a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis)

Ingredients

Filling:

Butter, for greasing the baking dish
8 ounces Jalapeno-Cheddar focaccia, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic
12 ounces (about a cup and a half) small, flavorful tomatoes, halved
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1 (packed) cup fresh, chopped basil leaves
5 oz. Parmesan-Reggiano

Custard:

6 large eggs, room temp
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Put oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 375 F.

2. Butter a 9x13x2 glass casserole dish. Spread the bread cubes evenly in the dish. Set aside.

3. In a large skillet, heat up your oil over med-high heat. Add in your onion, cook until slightly translucent. Add in garlic, cook until fragrant. Add in your tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes. Tomatoes will soften. Turn off the heat and add in the chopped basil. Stir. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread crumbs.

4. Sprinkle with the Parmesan-Reggiano. Combine well.

5. In a bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Get the custard really smooth then pour it over the bread mixture. Let it sit for 15 minutes, tossing it frequently. You really want the bread to get saturated with the custard.

6. Place in the oven and cook for about 25-30 mutes. Stick a knife in the center and when it comes out clean, you can take the dish out.

7. Let the bread pudding cool for 5-10 minutes then slice and serve.

Whenever the new year rolls around, I (like most of the world) am hasty to make a multitude of resolutions. Honestly- I always have the best of intentions but the majority of the time, my lofty resolutions (which usually have to do with exercise and eating healthier...big surprise!) end up being cast aside with that first giant bite of double chocolate cheesecake (gosh darn it!). Anyhow, I still like the idea of starting anew each year and this year in particular I'm ready for 2012 to wrap itself up. December has been a particularly rough month and I can't wait to dispose of it and start fresh. I've been feeling emotionally drained and conflicted for weeks on end and my stress eating has become reflected in some holiday pudge. I did get a tiny respite this weekend, when Mr.S. and I took a spontaneous weekend trip to SF. His kidlets were out of town and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a romantic weekend getaway and just de-com-press!

 
We stayed at an adorable boutique hotel just steps from Union Square called The Orchard Hotel (super cute room and friendly staff), indulged in a delicious seafood dinner at Anchor & Hope with Mr.S.'s brother and did some fun touristy things like eating clam chowder at Pier 39 (I hadn't been in years), shopping in Japantown and taking a moonlit stroll to Union Square to see the ice skaters and holiday lights. It was a lovely trip and just what I needed.





Anyhow, my heart and soul haven't been into cooking for weeks but I was able to somehow muster myself into the cooking spirit for the big Christmas Day dinner. I made some spicy chorizo-lentil empanadas for appetizers and also a scrumptious corn casserole as my side dish. My friend Minzi had suggested a recipe by Paula Deen which gave me the idea to do a corn casserole. I liked the basics of Deen's recipe so I used that as my starting point and built from there. The dish turned out to be a big hit and almost all of it was eaten; considering how much food was out on the table, I was pretty impressed. Even the pickier eaters gave me compliments!


The recipe is listed below, give it a try in the new year and let me know what you think.

Holiday Corn Casserole

Ingredients

1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained (*do not substitute frozen corn, use canned)

1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn

1 (8-ounce) package Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 small sweet yellow onion, diced

4 ounce can diced mild green chiles, drained

1 egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

5 slices bacon

salt and pepper


Instructions

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

2. In a skillet, fry up your bacon. Place cooked bacon slices on a plate lined with a papertowel. Allow to cool. Then dice bacon slices. Next, in the same pan- fry up your diced onion. Then set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine: corn kernels, creamed corn, Jiffy corn muffin mix, onion, diced green chiles, 1 egg, sour cream, melted butter and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix throughly.

4. Take a greased 8x8 glass casserole dish and pour corn mixture from bowl into dish. Spread so it's even.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Then remove from oven. Sprinkle bacon pieces and 2 tablespoons of cheddar across the top. Place dish back in oven and cook for another 10-15.

6. Serve warm.

Resolutions and goals aren't solely reserved  for New Year's. I'm a firm believer that you can set them for any time of the year. One of the goals we've in embraced in our household for summer is to get healthy and I'm not talking about sucking down ViSalus shakes and getting up to change the TV channel. By "healthy", I'm referring to nutritious-waistline friendly meals, more exercise and drinking more water. We also enrolled the kidlets in this great program for the summer that I heard from my friend Sheri, who's a nurse. It's called Project HYPE  (Healthy Youth for Physical Excellence) and it's a free day camp (ages 10-15) run by the Mission Oaks Recreation and Park District. It's only the third day in but Kidlet #2 seems to love it and Kidlet #1 slowly seems to be coming around (I think he was hoping for a summer of sleeping in and playing video games all day...teenagers!). The program focuses on teaching the kids proper nutrition and physical fitness in a positive environment. According to Kidlet #2- karate, yoga, and kickball are just a few of the exercise activities on the agenda for this summer. Several speakers, ranging from professional trainers to chefs will be coming to speak as well. Additionally, one of the great things about this program is that it requires that the family be involved. They have bi-weekly meetings for the parents and guardians that are mandatory. According to HYPE's literature, "[i]n 2008, the Center of Disease control published statistics indicating that 1 out of every 3 children are either overweight or obese. Out of 58 counties, Sacramento ranks 3rd in California in the prevalence of overweight children ages 6-11. Overweight and obese children are at a higher risk for developing chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, heart disease and cancer." Sacramento ranks 3rd!! Can you believe that? That is not a statistic we should be proud of.

So a healthy meal...last night I took stock of the fridge and decided to make a quinoa casserole. Although it does have cheese in it, on the whole this meatless meal is nutritionally sound. You have your vegetables and your supergrain- quinoa. Which is high in protein and includes all nine essential amino acids. I tweaked the original recipe to utilize what I had in my home and my personal tastes. I also wanted it to be lactose-free so I subbed in soy milk and Daiya Cheese for the dairy items.


Cheesy Quinoa Casserole (adapted from Eat Live Run)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
3 cups chicken broth (or veg broth if you want to go vegetarian)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1 bunch of chard, rinsed and chopped into bite-size pieces (or you can use spinach)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup soy milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Add canola oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add bell pepper, green onions and chard. Saute for about 4-5 minutes.

3. Add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds more.

4. Add your quinoa and your broth. Stir well. Then add your dry mustard, salt and pepper.

5. Bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer, cover and let the mixture cook for 20 minutes until the quinoa has completely absorbed the liquid and cooked (the quinoa will take on a translucent look).

6. Add the grated cheddar and soy milk. Stir well. Then transfer the mixture to a greased 9x13 glass casserole dish.

7. In a small bowl, combine the panko and the mozzarella. Sprinkle that on top of the casserole.

8. Bake for 30 minutes. The top with get a golden, crunchy look.

9. Remove and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

Note: This also makes a great meal to take to lunch the next day. It reheats well.

Mr. S. and I are not huge proponents of Valentine's Day (or as I like to call it: "the holiday that Hallmark built") but we do love to celebrate our birthdays. And since Mr. S.'s birthday comes in right before V-day, we used it as an excuse to pack our bags and duck out of town for a few days. Mini-vacation time!

Where did we go, you ask? Well, we packed up the car last weekend and headed up the coast to Mendocino. We discovered two things on this trip 1) Mendocino is abso-lutely gorgeous 2) the actual town of Mendocino has the most pretentious, unfriendly people I've ever come across (seriously, could the shopowners be any more unfriendly to their patrons?). Anyhow, except for the quick jaunts we made into town to stock up on provisions (mainly coffee...gotta have our coffee) we had a wonderful time on our getaway. We ended up staying in a super adorable cabin in Little River (about 2 miles from Mendo) at a place called The Andirons. The Andiron cabins resemble something out of the 1950's Adirondacks or Catskills. In fact, it made me feel a bit like Baby in Dirty Dancing....nobody puts Ally in the corner! (Shhhh! Please don't tell Mr. S. I said that, I'll never hear the end of it.) We were lucky enough to score the biggest cabin and saying the place was cute is an understatement. This particular cabin was named after the owner's parents- The William and Mildred Suite. The proprietors, Madeline and Scott, had taken tremendous care to decorate the cabin with period pieces- my favorite discoveries were the vintage cookbooks and cake decorating set in the kitchen. The cabin walls were lovingly decorated with letters and cards the couple exchanged during the war, old photographs and several menus of the period (remember when a full dinner only cost 65 cents? Neither do I, but I bet my parents do!). We kept a toasty fire burning in both stoves, some 1940's music humming in the background while we were there and enjoyed being away from all of the day-to-day hub bub. We both fell in love with the king-size Posturepedic/Memory Foam mattress (it was like sleeping on a cloud in heaven, I tell ya) and the fact that there were two bathrooms in the cabin (we didn't have to fight over who got to get ready first). Anyhow, we had a fantabulous time while we were there. Upon our return to Sacramento though, we discovered that the beautiful spring weather we had been having had been replaced with a lot of rain and cold. No bueno. Not wanting to let go quite yet of our wonderful trip, I decided to whip us up some comfort food for dinner. Eating some warm and hearty eggplant parmesan while the rain pours and the wind howls outside...does it get any better than that? Well, I guess we could have thrown on some Sarah Vaughan and started a fire....







Eggplant Parmesan with Crisp Bread Crumb Topping
(Recipe by Ethan Stowell, printed in Food & Wine Magazine)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus about 2 cups for frying

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

Two 28-ounce cans whole, peeled Italian tomatoes, drained

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

8 small eggplants (1/2 pound each), cut lengthwise 1/2 inch thick

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped basil

1 pound lightly salted fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced and torn into small pieces

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs


Instructions

- In a large skillet, heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

- Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 5 minutes.

- Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into the skillet.

- Bring to a simmer and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is very thick, about 25 minutes.

- Transfer the tomato sauce to a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

- Meanwhile, in a very large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of olive oil.

- Season the eggplant slices with salt and pepper.

- Working in several batches, cook the eggplant over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes per batch; add more olive oil to the skillet between batches.

- Drain the eggplant slices on paper towels.

- Preheat the oven to 400°.

- Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce in a 9-by-13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

- Arrange one-third of the fried eggplant slices in the baking dish and sprinkle all over with 1 tablespoon of the chopped basil.

- Top with one-third of the torn mozzarella and sprinkle with 1/3 cup of the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

- Repeat this layering twice.

- Sprinkle the bread crumbs all over the top of the eggplant Parmesan.

- Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 45 minutes, until the top of the eggplant Parmesan is golden and the tomato sauce is bubbling.

- Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

My friend Sherrie had just come back from a trip to Germany when she saw my post for Mac 'n Cheese and kindly asked me if I'd like to learn how to make the German version called, Käsespätzle. I haven't done much German cooking, despite being born in Germany, so I immediately agreed. Upon looking Käsespätzle up, I discovered that it's a casserole made of Spätzle (homemade German egg noodles), butter-browned onions and cheese. Hearty German comfort food...perfect for those pesky wintry nights. Sounds great, huh? It is! Sherrie was nice enough to let me take some photos of her making the Käsespätzle to go along with the recipe. She also let me in on the secret that Käsespätzle tastes even more amazing the next day when you take a cold serving and fry it. It gets that yummy crunchy texture that most of us love.

Danke, Sherrie!


Sherrie's Käsespätzle

Ingredients

2 onions (peeled and thinly sliced)

1 cube butter

1/2 lb Emmentaler Cheese (we grated a lb. but only ended up using about half of it)

2 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1.5 cup  flour

1/4 t salt


Special Equipment

Spätzle maker (if you're MacGyver-like, you could make a makeshift one from a colander or potato press)


Instructions

- Combine eggs, broth, flour and salt in a bowl and beat until it's the consistency of pancake batter.  Set batter aside.

- Place a heavy bottomed pan on med-high heat. Add butter. Add sliced onions. Cook until onions start to gain a brown color. Reduce heat to low, cover and allow onions to brown slowly. Stir every once in awhile. You want the onions to be browned but not overly caramelized, so stop before they they get too dark.

- Place Spätzle maker over a large pot of boiling water.

- Press the batter through the Spätzle press. (The kind that Sherrie used had a flat piece that you could run across the maker, helping the batter to get pushed through.)



- Use a slotted spoon or sieve to strain the noodles out and place them in a large bowl or casserole dish.

- Repeat the process until the batter is used up.

Look out, Sacramento! It looks like Mother Nature is gifting us with a deluge of rain for the new year. Get your hot tea stocked up, pull your Wellies back out of the closet and make a batch of Martha Stewart's Mac & Cheese. It's the perfect comfort food to eat while curling up on the couch and watching your favorite flicks on a rainy day.

* Note: The original recipe is listed below. When making the Mac & Cheese,  I halved the recipe and made some minor modifications: subbed in sharp (yellow) cheddar for the white, upped the salt and put in a bit more cayenne. Also, I opted to used the Gruyère instead of the Pecorino Romano and mixed in a few smashed Kettle Chips with the bread crumbs to give the top more crunch.

And since it is a Martha's recipe, don't forget to slip a nail file into the Mac & Cheese once it's cooled.  ;)


Martha Stewart's Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

Serves 12

6 slices good-quality white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish

5 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar

2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano

1 pound elbow macaroni


Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

2. Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.

3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère or 1 cup Pecorino Romano. Set cheese sauce aside.

4. Fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add macaroni; cook 2 to 3 fewer minutes than manufacturer's directions, until outside of pasta is cooked and inside is underdone. (Different brands of macaroni cook at different rates; be sure to read the instructions.) Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup Gruyère or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano; scatter breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes; serve.

Before life got too hectic, a group of us girls used to have a dinner club. We'd get together from time to time, pick a food theme and then each of us would pick a recipe that fit the theme. We'd bring our ingredients over to the designated host's home and then drink wine and chat while preparing our dishes. The last supper club we held consisted of a Greek / Turkish theme (yes both, since we couldn't decide on just one). Dishes that were prepared were a delicious pastitsio, yummy lamb koftas, a flaky pan of baklava and an overflowing platter of treats (dolmas, pita chips and a range of homemade dipping sauces- hummus, dill, tahini).  For my contribution, I decided to try my hand at spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie. It was the first time I had ever worked with phyllo dough and I ended up loving it. Not only did this recipe make it into my recipe box, but it's now one of Mr.S.'s favorite dishes.

* The recipe I use is from Chubby Hubby's blog with a few modifications. You can find the original recipe here: Chubby Hubby's Greek Spinach Pie. My version is listed below. The picture above is from the batch I made the night of dinner club.

Spanakopita

2 pounds fresh spinach
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese (I like the ones pre-mixed with Mediterranean herbs)
4 ounces large-curd cottage cheese
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dill, fine chopped
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper
14 sheets phyllo pastry (this can be found in the frozen pastry section of your supermarket)
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

* Wash the spinach thoroughly and pull off any woody stems. Drain, but don't dry.
* Place the spinach in a large pot with about 3-4 T of water.
* Place the pot over a low flame, cover and allow the spinach to wilt, this will take about 5-6 minutes.
* Place spinach in a colander, press and drain off any excess water.
* Then put the leaves in a pan and cook over high heat, drying out the spinach.

* In a bowl, mash the feta and cottage cheeses together with a fork. Add in the eggs, spinach, dill, and nutmeg. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

* Find a baking tray or pan a little smaller than the sheets of pyllo. Brush it with the melted butter. Place half of the phyllo sheets, one on top of the other, at the bottom of the pan, brushing each sheet one at a time with the melted butter, letting the sheets come up along the sides.
* Spread the spinach mix evenly on top.
* Then cover with the remaining sheets, brushing each one individually, including the top one, with the melted butter.
* Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until crisp and golden.