I usually try to be modest, but even my kids agree....I make the best Caesar!  This is a little twist on the classic, making it a brunch-friendly salad.  Anyway, I really seem to be on an egg kick lately, but they go so well with everything!  Anyway, here's how I do it....

Bacon and Egg Caesar Salad:

serves 4

1 head Romaine lettuce, cut and washed and taken for a spin in a salad spinner

1 cup croutons made from crusty bread

(Just cube or tear bread into chunks, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and toast)

8 slices pancetta, baked until crisp in the oven

(Bake between two sheet pans to keep them flat, and sandwich between parchment to keep from sticking. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.)

4 eggs, poached

Mama Nelson's Caesar Dressing:

1/2 cup good quality mayo

2 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press

1 anchovy, mashed with fork

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated

freshly ground black pepper

flake salt, crushed between fingers

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Whisk dressing ingredients together until smooth and taste.  Adjust seasonings to your liking.  Sometimes we add a splash of Balsamic, but Lilly doesn't really like vinegar, so I either leave it out, or sneak it in.  

Toss dressing with lettuce and croutons, divide into 4 bowls, and top each with 2 pancetta slices and 1 poached egg.  Enjoy with cracked pepper and grated Pecorino Romano on top.

*Photo beautifully shot by Rod Komis of Rod Komis Photography. Thanks, Rod!

Fried Egg and Veggie Hash and My Mom's Danish Puff

This is such a simple yet satisfying meal, and eggs so often serve as a quick nourishing meal for me, any time of the day.  This was inspired by some fresh eggs I bought from a friend of a friend who raises chickens, and the eggs were actually laid on Innaugeration Day, which really made these eggs something special.  Anyway, I usually like to doll my eggs up with hot sauce and olive jalapeno relish, but really wanted to focus on the rich and promising flavor of this Innaugeral egg, so I gently cooked in in a heated skillet with a little olive oil, being careful not to have the heat too high, and then seasoned it with dried herbs from my garden and sea salt.  A special egg deserves a special kind of side dish, so here's the recipe for Roasted Veggie and Potato Hash.

Roasted Veggie and Potato Hash

Serves 4

2 carrots, peeled and julienne cut

1 parsnip, peeled and julienne cut

1/2 Sweet Yellow Onion, julienne cut

2 russet potatoes, peeled and julienne cut

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

4 Tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt, cracked pepper, and dried herbs to taste

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Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss veggies, onions, garlic, and potatoes with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and herbs.  Roast in the oven, stirring every 8-10 minutes, and roast about 20-30 minutes.  

Kay Nelson's Danish Puff Pastry

serves 8-12

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

My Mom made this every Easter, and so to honor her memory, I make it every year.  Our whole family LOVES it!

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup butter

2 Tablespoons ice water

Blend the butter and flour together with a pastry blender, and then work in the water. Press together and then press into 2 strips 3"X12" on an ungreaded baking sheet.  Set aside and prepare the topping.

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

Bring butter and water to a boil, and then add:

1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup flour

Stir flour and extract in quickly until incorporated, then add

3 eggs

Stirring in one at a time until completely incorporated.  

Spread half the filling on each dough strip, and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until golden brown. Do not underbake.  Allow to cool slightly and ice with Almond Glaze.

Almond Glaze

tops 2 Danish Puff pastries

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon almond extract

*Photo is beautifully shot by Unleashed Productions photographer John Mowers.  Thanks, John!

April Fool's Day Foods

Hey, I like any reason to have a little celebration when it comes to food, and April Fool's Day is one of my favorites.  Here are some ideas enjoyed by kids and adults....

The 'Meatloaf Meal'

Bake a Chocolate cherry cake in a loaf pan, (recipe to follow) and once the cake is done, spread with raspberry preserves, (to look like ketchup, don'cha know!) and turn off the oven and let the jam melt and set up for 5 minutes.  Bake up some cupcakes and frost with pea-green frosting and top with green 'Runts' candies and diced 'Tootsie Fruit Rolls' (orange flavored) to look like carrots, and yellow 'Skittles' or jelly beans to look like corn.  Frost more cupcakes as you like, to look like the t.v. dinner chocolate cake.  Serve slices of the 'Meatloaf' with caramel sauce with sliced dried apricots (to look like mushrooms, silly, that's why!) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with a yellow 'Starburst' candy and caramel sauce and throw caution to the wind and devour!  For a foolish drink, pour liquid Jell-o in a drinking glass, and stick in a straw before it set up. My kids loved trying to drink this, and the noises were just ridiculous!  Lots of giggles from this one.

Some other fun ideas are:

Stick a popsicle stick into a 'Twinkie' cake that has been rolled in graham cracker crumbs.  It looks just like a corn dog, especially when you squirt on frosting colored to look like ketchup and mustard!

Spread wafer cookies with peanut butter and roll in graham cracker crumbs to resemble fish sticks.  Make 'Tartar Sauce' with vanilla pudding with chopped pistachios stirred in.  

Pipe white frosting onto a plate to resemble spaghetti and top with Ferrero Rocher chocolate balls tossed in raspberry preserves.  Top the 'Spaghetti' with the 'Meatballs'!  A great chocolate truffle platter for a party!

Have Fun!

 

Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Applesauce "Meatloaf" Cake

Makes 8 servings, 2 slices each!

1 -1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 Tablespoons ground cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk dry ingredients listed above in a bowl.  In a larger bowl beat until creamy:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

And gradually add while beating for another 3-5 minutes:

3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar

After beating the butter and sugar together until lightened in color, beat in:

1 large egg

Add flour mixture to the above, alternating with:

1 cup chunky applesauce

Mix until just incorporated and then fold in:

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup finely chopped dried cherries

Using a spatula, scrape the batter into a buttered loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.  Turn off oven, and then spread cake with:

1/2 raspberry or strawberry preserves

Return cake to oven for 5 minutes so that jam melts and then sets up. Remove cake from oven and cool completely.

Serve slices of the 'Meatloaf' with caramel sauce with dried apricot slices (to resembly mushrooms), and enjoy with a scoop of ice cream topped with a yellow 'Starburst' candy (to resemble a pat of butter, of course!) and drizzle on the caramels sauce.  Enjoy!

*Photos beautifully shot by Nate Reiman  of 4iphoto.  Thanks Nate!

My Intention for Making Mindful Meals

My intention for making this blog, is to focus on the joy that comes from shopping for, caring for, and preparing food.  Sometimes, I think we can feel that meal preparations are a chore, and we can feel stressed and resentful about the whole process of planning, shopping for, and preparing our food.  My focus for this year is to find more joy in this process, from choosing what is on my grocery list, seeking out the freshest, locally grown and raised foods, to the cooking and eating of my meals.  I have enjoyed cooking and eating my whole life, but have started to feel bogged down by making meals too complicated with preparations, exotic condiments and sauces, and in the process, have lost the joy I once found in making food. So, this blog is a sort of personal search for what feels simple, yet fulfilling, in the way of food, for me.  My original intention for blogging was to document what recipes I created from my little Community Garden space, and other fresh local foods from the Farmer's Market, but as I've talked with friends about the process of cooking, what I really feel passionate about is inspiring others to enjoy the process of choosing and preparing food, and truly being mindful of the whole process, from growing/shopping to eating.  So, I'm taking a  little different twist on my original idea.  This seems a good way to begin the year, as well as a way to keep me on task.  I'm as curious as any to see how it evolves!