I tried another recipe from the Whole Foods Diet Cookbook the other night and I was again pleased!  I’ve only made two recipes from it, this and the Tilapia and Spinach Bake with Anchovies and Red Cream Sauce.  My remarks so far are that both dishes are surprisingly rich and flavorful!  When you think of a whole foods diet, some might imagine a bland, boring meal lacking flavor, and therefore unsatisfying.  So far, Ivy Larson has proven that wrong with her recipes.  You can eat a healthy, whole food diet and not sacrifice flavor and a content tummy.

What I liked best about this recipe:

It’s like a manicotti, only the pasta has been swapped with a vegetable.  The taste and texture of the roasted eggplant makes you not even miss the pasta.

The filling is mostly tofu, with a little ricotta cheese, rather than ALL cheese.  It is just as rich and creamy as all cheese, though.  The Parmesan-Romano blend adds enough cheesy flavor to ensure the tofu is not bland.

The walnuts are a nice surprise!  It’s not an overwhelming amount, but just enough of a crunch to break up the monotony.

The recipe calls for two medium eggplants and makes four servings.  Since it was just Ricky and I, I only used one eggplant (but kept the full amounts for the filling!!).

You need:

• EVOO cooking spray
• 2 medium eggplants 
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 tbsp. EVOO plus some for brushing
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup low fat ricotta
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan-Romano blend, divided
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 7 oz. extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled
• 2 cups marinara sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Cut each end of the eggplant off, then cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices and arrange on the baking sheet.  Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Roast for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Lower the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large skillet, add the onion, garlic and shallots and saute until the onion is soft, about 4-5 mins.

Stir in the nutmeg, basil, and salt and set the mixture aside.

In a large bowl, mix the egg, ricotta, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, wheat germ, walnuts and tofu.  

Add the cooked onion mixture and mix well.

Add about 3 tbsp. of the mixture to the small end of each eggplant slice and roll it up.  The eggplant should be nice and pliable from the roasting.  Place seam-side down in the prepared baking dish.

Pour the marinara over the rolls and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

This is great comfort food, and is something all you vegetarians and health-conscious eaters can enjoy and feel good about.  

A quick word on wheat germ since some of you may have never used it. This was the first time I did. Wheat germ is the most nutritious part of the wheat kernel, being the embryo of the plant.  When wheat grain is refined into flour, the kernel is removed, so you’re not getting all those nutrients.  The wheat germ is packed with B vitamins, fiber, folic acid, essential fatty acids, and more.  It will add a slight nutty flavor, and you can sneak it into just about anything: cereal, yogurt, protein shakes, casseroles, sauces, baked goods, ground meat, vegetables, etc.  Keep it refrigerated because the oils in it can cause it to go rancid.  I bought it for this recipe, and I’m looking forward to incorporating it into many things!

I have had a SERIOUS sweet tooth lately.  We are eating more whole foods, but sometimes ya just gotta indulge in something…CHOCOLATE.  Our friends Drew and Aaron invited us over for snacks and game night on Saturday to see their new apartment, so I made these sinful Double Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes to bring along.  

I found the recipe on Food & Wine, by Peggy Cullen of Lucky Star Sweets.  I had bought something similar from Trader Joe’s several weeks ago and was hoping to replicate them.  This recipe was even better, and a lot of fun to make with a delicious peanut butter filling and a thin chocolate icing that you dip the cupcakes in rather than spread on.  If you love chocolate and peanut butter together like I do, you’ll love these!

For the cake, you need:

• 3/4 cup and 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a muffin pan with paper or foil cupcake liners.

In a heat-proof bowl, add the cocoa powder, then pour the boiling water over and whisk until you get a smooth, thick paste.

Whisk in the buttermilk until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter with the granulated sugar for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs and vanilla, then alternate adding the dry ingredients and the chocolate mixture until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake liners, about 2/3 full.

Bake about 20-22 minutes until cupcakes are springy.  Allow to cool five minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on racks to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, you can prepare the peanut butter filling.  You need:

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup confectioners sugar

Add the peanut butter and unsalted butter to a bowl and beat until creamy.

Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat for about 2 minutes until fluffy.

Set aside about 3 tbsp. of the filling.  Add the rest to a pastry bag with a small star-shaped tip.  Once the cupcakes are cooled, stick the tip of the bag down through the middle of the cupcake to about 3/4 an inch.  Squeeze the filling into the cupcake, rotating it slightly and gradually pulling out the bag as you squeeze.  You should feel the cupcake expand as you do this.  Scrape any filling off the top of the cupcake.

To prepare your icing, you need:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan, then remove from heat.  Add the chocolate to the cream and let sit for about five minutes.

Whisk until smooth, then let stand for about 15 minutes to cool and thicken.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes one by one into the icing and let the excess drip off.

Let stand for five minutes, then dip again!

Once they’re all double-dipped, spoon the remaining peanut butter filling into the pastry bag and make small rosettes at the top of each cupcake.

And that is it!  Now you must eat one immediately.  I did!

Seeing this picture makes me sad that they’re all gone now.  I hope you try these, they are delicious!

This weekend, one of my bestest friends Lisa came to visit!

We stayed at my sister’s house in Powhatan, and had a great time.  Saturday night, we had a soup feast.  We all contributed a different soup (two from Lisa), and all were delicious!  The entries were:

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder by me:

Minestrone by Heather:

Beef Sirloin Chili by Lisa:

And the winning entry, Italian Wedding Soup by Lisa:

We all agreed this one was the best, so I asked Lisa to share the recipe so I could post it here.

The ingredients for the meatballs are:

• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup fine plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 8 oz. ground beef
• 8 oz. ground pork
• Freshly ground black pepper

And the ingredients for the soup are:

• 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 lb. kale, coarsely chopped (you could also use curly endive)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan, and extra for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, prepare the meatballs.  Stir the first five ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add the cheese, beef, and pork, and begin to mix, adding a little bread crumbs at a time until your meatballs form well; you may need more or less than the 1/3 cup.  Mix with your clean hands!

Look at all the different hands in these photos!  It was fun to cook together :)

Form into 1-inch meatballs and place on a baking sheet.

Set those aside for now and start the rest of the soup.  Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot on medium-high heat.

While that’s heating, chop your kale if you haven’t already.

Add the meatballs and the kale to the boiling broth.

Simmer until the meatballs are cooking through and the kale is tender, about 8 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and cheese in a small bowl to blend.

Begin stirring the soup in a circular motion and gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the soup while stirring.   Stir with a fork to form thin strands of egg for about one minute.  Season with salt and pepper and serve hot with a garnish of Parmesan.

I’m not a huge meatball fan so I was skeptical of this soup, but it was absolutely wonderful.  ALL the soups were great, but it was no contest.  Lisa also won points with Ricky, this being one of his favorite soups.  Unfortunately for him, this may have ruined the canned version!

Thanks for the fun weekend, girls!

Happy New Year everyone!!  With the new year always comes new resolutions, many of them having to do with our health.  Last year at the start of the year, I tried to improve my fitness, which I am pretty happy with my progress in!  I started out trying P90X.  That went okay, but it wasn’t for me.  I did several bootcamps, and found one that I really love with a group of ladies that I really enjoy seeing a couple times a week.  It helps that my good friend Shelby goes as well.  Finally, I’ve taken up running.  It’s been almost three months, and I have been consistently running about 3-4 times a week with a “long” run on Saturdays.  I have tried numerous times in my life to become a runner, and I have failed every time.  For the first time in my life, I think I’m actually, well, a runner!  And I love it, too, and have no intention of giving it up.  My first goal is to run the half marathon this year.  Unfortunately, I’ll be out of town for the Monument Ave 10K, but I think I will try to run the Carytown 10K instead.

I owe my success to Ricky.  He has set up a running and cross-training schedule that I have been following.  He is an awesome personal trainer.  And he has tempted me along the way with running-related “treats” that I earned at the one- and two-month milestones and at Christmas, such as: running socks, pants, headband and gloves, shoe pocket and a safety light, and my parents got me reflective bands and new shoes.  I mostly run at night, so I needed the safety and cold weather gear!  Anyway, seasoned runners may smirk at my excitement over these simple items, but to me, it means I’m REALLY doing it!  

So with my fitness on track, this new year we shifted our attention to diet.  Not A diet, as in the four-letter-word diet, but in diet lifestyle.  We’re basically trying to eat more whole foods.  We were pretty good about that to begin with, but now it’s something we want to pay close attention to.  It’s going to be more of a gradual transition, as we use up ingredients we already have on hand and replace them with better choices.  I bought a book called the Whole Foods Diet Cookbook, which has a lot of great information on nutrition as well as some delectable-sounding recipes.  I’ve really enjoyed reading it.  Tonight, I made my first recipe from the book.  The recipe calls for flounder, but suggests that any similar white fish will do. Tilapia is my favorite white fish, so I used that.  I also had a new first: anchovies.  I’d never even seen one before, and I was pretty nervous but optimistic about trying them!  And I wasn’t disappointed.

You need:

• EVOO cooking spray
• 1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach
• 1 lb. fresh flounder, tilapia, or orange roughy fillets
• Unrefined sea salt to taste
• White pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in EVOO, chopped, plus one tsp. of the oil
• 1 2-oz. can flat anchovies in EVOO, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup loosely packed jarred fire-roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry
• 1/2 cup prepared hummus (made with EVOO and tahini)
• 1 tbsp. organic Neufchatel cream cheese
• Grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 (or bigger if your fillets are large) casserole dish with the cooking spray.

If your spinach is not already thawed, you can place it in a bowl and microwave for about 4 minutes to thaw.  Then with cheesecloth, a paper towel (or I just use my fist!), squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the spinach.

Arrange the spinach evenly along the bottom of the casserole.

 Season both sides of the fillets with salt and pepper and arrange on top of the spinach.

Place the tomatoes and their oil and anchovies in a small skillet and heat over medium.  Saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  This oil got really hot, and it was popping and spraying all over the place, so you may want to saute on medium-low.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute.

Spread the mixture over the fillets evenly.

Place the red peppers, hummus and cream cheese in a blender.

This looks like cherry cheesecake, and really makes me want dessert!!!  I just begged Ricky for some dessert, we’ll see if I get any.

Anyway, blend the mixture until smooth and creamy.

You get this nice salmon color.  Pour the red sauce over the fish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes and allow to cool for 10.

Serve warm, and I recommend with a light salad, because this was delicious but VERY rich.  

I was pleasantly surprised by the anchovies.  They did not taste fishy at all, but rather a savory, nutty flavor.  They did add saltiness, but not overwhelming like I was expecting.  If you’ve never tried them, you should!  The best part of this dish was the red sauce, and I think I will be trying it on other dishes in the future.  

I hope everyone is off to a great start to 2012, and are finding success in your own resolutions!

I know we’re all SO over Thanksgiving by now, but having both of our families nearby allowed us to have two Thanksgivings this year!  We made a couple recipes for both dinners that I wanted to share.  On Thanksgiving Day, after a nice run and peaceful workout on the Carillon monument, we prepared for dinner with Ricky’s family.  This year, we decided we didn’t want to deal with cramming in a small space and having so much clean up to do, so we ‘rented’ a large meeting room at the Colonial Heights public library.  At first, I was skeptical…Thanksgiving is such a “homey” tradition that it seemed strange to have it anywhere else.  But, it really worked out great.  We had a lot of space, and we even used the well-lit parking lot as a football field!  I played in heels….next time, I will not. :)

Ricky decided he wanted to try to make a REAL pumpkin pie, using a sugar pumpkin rather than the canned stuff.  He did a great job!  The sugar pumpkin we bought at Trader Joe’s had a sticker on it with a recipe, so that’s what we used.

You need:

• 1 sugar pumpkin/pie pumpkin (enough for 2 cups cooked)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 frozen pie crust, thawed

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

First you need to prepare your pumpkin.  Peel it, cut it in half, and scoop out the seeds and stringy center.

There’s a couple different methods for cooking the pumpkin.  You can microwave it, bake it, or stew the pieces.  We decided to stew it.  Cut the pumpkin into small one inch chunks.

Boil the chunks under an inch of water for about 15 minutes until pumpkin is tender.

NOW, here is where we learned a valuable lesson.  At this point, you should strain the cooked pumpkin, which we did…

…But then you should also go ahead and puree the pumpkin by itself in a blender and strain out excess liquid, which we did not.

SO, after you do that, you can start mixing all the ingredients together in a stand mixer.

What happened for us is that the mixture was extremely liquidy.  No matter, we just strained the liquid out and went with that.  The problem with that is that it took some of the spices with it, so that’s why it’s better to get the extra liquid out before mixing.  We had a lot less filling than we hoped, so we decided next time we would DOUBLE the filling recipe!  (We were also using a deep dish pie crust).

Add the filling to the pie crust and pop it in the oven!  Cook it for about 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue cooking until the pie filling sets.  Shake the pie and check for jiggling in the center; if it does, it needs to bake longer.  If the edges of the crust are starting to brown too much but the filling is not done, you can tent the edges with aluminum foil.

Now, I got too rushed to remember to take a picture of the pie after it baked, but it looked just like this…only a little browner :)

But Ricky did get a picture of me eating it…

And it truly was delicious, Ricky did a great job.  I am going to force him to make one every year now, I hope he knows.

We had a very nice time with his family!  Here are his parents:

His mom, sister and goofy brother-in-law (Dan, this is for the french fry incident! hehe)

Good times.  We also brought stuffed mushrooms to this dinner.  I made it a couple years ago and was told I needed to bring them to every dinner from then on.  It’s a recipe from the classic BH&G cookbook that I modify a tad.

For stuffed mushrooms, you need:

• 24 large fresh mushrooms, 1.5 to 2 inch diameter
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions (about 2)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine!
• 2/3 cup fine plain dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup of one or a combination of these cheeses: mild cheddar, smoked gouda, and/or blue cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

First, rinse and drain the mushrooms.  Remove the stems and save both parts.  The best way to remove the stem is to place your fingers on the stem near the cap and try to bend it over to one side, usually the whole stem will pop off in one piece.  Careful not to tear the caps.

Place the caps in a single layer in a baking dish.  Finely dice the stems.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and cook 1 cup of the chopped stems, plus the green onions and garlic until tender.

Yes, it’s a lot of butter, but it’s the Holidays, you can be a little naughty. :)

Turn off the heat, stir in the bread crumbs and shredded cheese.  I have made these with all three types of cheese at once and it’s wonderful, this time I just used smoked gouda and cheddar.

The bread crumbs will absorb all the butter and liquid.

Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until heated through.

Delish.  These are better when they’re right out of the oven, but they reheat fine.  With all the holiday parties happening right now, this would be a great finger food to take.

Next post, Thanksgiving with my family.  I made sweet and sour brussels sprouts and a pumpkin pear crisp.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, though it feels more like spring in Richmond lately!  

Tomorrow is Turkey Day!  Perhaps just as common on a Thanksgiving table as turkey, is pumpkin pie.  Yes, we will be making pumpkin pie to take to our feast this year too.

What makes it such a special dish?  The spices!  Pumpkin in its pure form is delicious and can be used in all sorts of ways, but there’s nothing quite like the taste of pumpkin seasoned in perfect harmony with pumpkin pie spice.  Pumpkin pie spice consists of a few different things: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or cloves, and ginger.

seasonwithspice.com

Fortunately, for a quick fix, you can buy pumpkin pie spice already mixed.

Cinnamon: Cinnamomum zelanicum

Cinnamon is the star of many sweet things.  It’s made from the bark of a laurel tree, and the cinnamon sticks (also called quills) you can buy are rolled up, dried strips of tree bark.  You can cook with quills or with ground up cinnamon, but with quills, the aroma and flavor will only come out after cooking in liquid or being broken apart.  Once indigenous to Sri Lanka and monopolized by the Portugese, Dutch, then English, the cinnamon tree is now also grown in India and the Seychelles.  You’ll find cinnamon to be an important ingredient in many Indian masalas and chutneys, and Middle Eastern stews in addition to its usual feature in desserts.

Harvesting a cinnamon tree 

Nutmeg: Myristica fragrans

Nutmeg comes from an Indonesian evergreen tree, and is the actual seed produced by the tree.  The kernel inside the hard seed shell, which looks like a big nut, is what is ground up and used as a spice.  Nutmeg is also grown in the “Spice Islands” such as Sri Lanka and the West Indies.  At first nutmeg was used medicinally, and in Asia it is still predominantly medicinal, however it’s culinary uses have expanded.  Today, you will find it used often in Europe, especially French and Dutch dishes, and in North African and Indian dishes.  It pairs well with other spices like cinnamon, cumin, and ginger to name a few.

Another spice, called mace, is actually made from the same seed.  The hard seed shell has a soft lacy covering called aril.  It is bright red when harvested, and after it is dried, it’s removed and used separately as mace.

Allspice: Pimenta dioica

Allspice originally comes from the West Indies and Central America.  It was discovered by Columbus in the Caribbean islands, who thought it was a pepper, therefore he named it “Pimienta”, Spanish for pepper….poor Columbus got a few things wrong, didn’t he?  Nowadays the best allspice comes from Jamaica.  Early islanders, before Columbus arrived, already used allspice to preserve meat and fish, and they taught the Spanish how to use it in this way.  Allspice is mostly used today in jerk seasonings, pickling or mulling spices, and preserves.

kalyx.com

Cloves:  Syzyium aromaticum

Cloves are also native to Indonesia from a small evergreen tree, and Indonesia  is the primary producer AND user of cloves.  Cloves are an extremely powerful spice, and need to be used in moderation.  You may associate the aroma with ham and pumpkin, but I associate it with fish!  WHY?!  While working on my master’s thesis, I handled a lot of channel catfish.  We used clove oil to sedate the fish in order to take measurements, and now the smell of cloves only reminds me of catfish. :)  Culinarily, cloves will be found in Indian masalas and curries, French stews, Dutch cheeses, American hams, and African meat or rice dishes.

eco-planet.com

Dried Ginger: Zingiber officinale

Last but not least, dried ginger has a long history of use by Middle Easterners, Europeans, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.  Dried ginger comes from the ground up root of the plant.  Though it comes from the same thing, dried ginger and fresh ginger have completely different tastes.  It’s a pungent flavor that is featured in spice blends for carrots, winter squashes, couscous, slow-cooked meat, fruit and baked desserts.  You can buy fresh ginger root, and you can buy dried ginger root and grind it yourself, or you can buy pre-ground dried ginger.

21food.com

So that’s some basic info on the wonderful melody of spices that make up one of America’s favorite Thanksgiving desserts.  It’s funny how something so American has such exotic and tropical roots!  

Whatever you find on the table tomorrow, I hope you enjoy every bite and every bit of company you have (or perhaps you are company!).  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

My source of most information for this blog is one of my favorite references, Herbs and Spices by Jill Norman.  I highly recommend you own a copy!

I first had Thai food at age 14 on a trip to Seattle.  I remember immediately being a fan of the peanuty, sweet taste of Thai dishes.  I don’t think I had it again until moving to Richmond for college, with Elephant Thai right across the street from the VCU life sciences building.  Now, when Ricky and I crave pad thai, we just make our own using this recipe.  

I haven’t seen bahn pho, the rice noodles used to make this dish, in a regular grocery store, but you can find them in Asian supermarkets.

For chicken pad thai (and really, you can use shrimp, tofu, veggies, anything) you need:

• 8 oz. rice noodles (bahn pho or sen-mee)
• 1/4 cup salted peanuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. grated lime peel
• 3 tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Asian chile garlic sauce
• 3 tbsp. cooking oil
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in bite-size strips
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped garlic
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts (not used in this example, Ricky doesn’t like them!)
• 1/3 cup sliced green onion
• 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro

First, place the noodles in a large bowl and cover them with hot water.  Let them stand for 15 minutes until the noodles are pliable, but not soft, then drain in a colander.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and garlic and cook and stir for six minutes until the chicken is no longer pink.  

While that’s cooking, you can prepare the peanut topping.  I just buy the little packets of nut topping that can be found in the baked goods section of the grocery store, they’re already chopped up.  Add the lime peel to the nuts.

You can also prepare the sauce while the chicken cooks.  In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and chile sauce.  Stir until smooth.

Once the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a bowl and set aside.

Add the egg to the hot skillet and cook for one minute, chopping with a spatula.

Remove the egg and set aside, then add 2 tbsp. oil to the skillet and heat over high heat for 30 seconds.  Add the drained noodles (and sprouts if you’re using them) and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add the sauce mixture and chicken and cook for another minute until heated through.

Place the pad thai on plates and top with egg, peanut topping, green onions and cilantro.

This is just as good as anything you’ll get at a restaurant in my opinion!  Sometimes I like the pad thai to be a little more saucy, so I’ll use one and a half the amounts of sauce ingredients the recipe calls for.  I highly recommend the bean sprouts, Ricky just doesn’t like them (boo!).  

Enjoy!

This is definitely a summer recipe, and it’s well into fall now, but what the heck, it was delicious.  And, I was proud of my first meringue.  I drooled over this picture for a couple months before I finally got the chance to make this pie for my parents’ Labor Day party.

It was very tasty!  Mine’s not quite as pretty as the cover.

This recipe has three parts; the lime curd, the blackberry compote, and the meringue.  For the lime curd, you need:

• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Stir the lime juice (I used a key lime juice, hoping for more of a key lime pie taste), eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together in a metal bowl.  Keep the egg whites from the three eggs you take the yolks from, because you will need 3 egg whites for the meringue.

Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water.

Whisk the mixture until it is thick and has reached 175 degrees.  This should take about 15 minutes.

Add the butter to the lime mixture one tablespoon at a time.  Keep whisking between additions.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl, and pour the mixture over the strainer.  Once the curd is strained into the bowl, place plastic wrap directly on top of the curd and chill for about 2 hours.

Next, sprinkle the gelatin over 2 tbsp. of water in a small bowl and let stand about 10 minutes, until the gelatin is soft.  I was disappointed to find you must purchase a whole box of gelatin packets for like $7, just to use HALF of one little packet.  Guess that means I have to make more pies.

While the gelatin sits, beat the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Add the gelatin mixture and continue beating until firm peaks form.

Fold the cream into the chilled lime curd, cover, and chill again.

For the blackberry compote, you need:

• 1 cup fruity red wine such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups blackberries (buy 2 pints, use 1.5 in the compote and the other half for garnishing)
• 1 9 inch blind baked deep dish pie crust

Bring the red wine, sugar and 1/2 cup water to a simmer over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until reduced to 1/2 cup.

It’s hard to tell when you’re at 1/2 cup.  I wish I had reduced mine more, because my compote ended up being too liquidy, and it soaked the bottom of the pie crust and made it hard to serve the slices of pie.

Let the liquid cool, then add the 3 cups of berries and fold to coat.

Spread the berry compote in an even layer on the bottom of the pie crust.

Smooth the chilled lime curd/cream mixture over the berries and chill for one hour.

Finally, for the meringue, you need:

• 3 large egg whites (saved from the egg yolks used in the lime curd)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Remaining 1/2 pint (1 cup) berries for garnishing

Preheat the oven to 450 if you plan to toast the meringue and you don’t have a kitchen torch.  

With a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and set aside.

Set a saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water until the sugar dissolves.  Attach a candy thermometer on the side of the pan.  Increase heat to medium-high and boil without stirring.  You can swirl the pan or brush the sides of the pan with a wet brush occasionally.

Let this boil 6 to 8 minutes until the thermometer reaches 238 degrees.  Remove the pan from heat.  Beat salt into the egg whites.

Next, slowly pour the hot sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl and beat until the meringue is firm and glossy.

Sorry about the remaining pictures, my camera battery died and the rest were taken with an iPhone :)

Continue beating for about 4 minutes until the meringue is cool.

Honestly, I was so proud of the meringue.  It was the perfect consistency, and tasted so good I just wanted to eat it all by itself!  First time meringue attempt, and I nailed it!

Spoon the delicious stuff right on top of the pie, leaving about an inch all around exposed.  Shape it up nicely, then tuck in the rest of the berries among the meringue.

Now, just pop it into the oven to toast the meringue.  I only left it in about 2 minutes.  You really have to watch it, the meringue could burn, and your lime curd will start to melt pretty quickly.

So here’s the finished product!  After the meringue is toasted, just pop it back into the fridge to chill until you’re ready to serve it.  I would let it chill for at least an hour, because the curd does get melty in the oven (as you can see in the picture).

I’m sure no one will make this until next summer, but if and when you do, I’m sure you will enjoy making and eating it!  

Hello!  It’s been months since my last post!  I had just gotten back from the beach when I last posted.  Now here it is, the Holidays fast approaching, and a lot has changed since then.  I guess the biggest change, and the one I’m happiest about, is that I got a new job that I started back in September.  If you refer back to some of my older posts, you might find some griping about not being too crazy about my job, even though I did get to do one cool thing, and that was going to San Diego.  GIS is an awesome tool, and one I hope to always be able to use in my career, but doing just that was not fulfilling to me, as I always desired to be a biologist with as much time in the field as behind a desk.  Well, I finally got my chance.  It just so happened that the environmental office at Fort Lee, which is where I was working as a GIS Specialist, was able to open an opportunity for a Wildlife Biologist intern in the Dept. of the Army civilian intern program.  My boss knew that’s what I really wanted to do, and I think they wanted to keep me around, too. So, long story short, I got the job!  I’m still sitting at the exact same desk, under the exact same supervisor (and still doing most of the GIS around the office), but now I get to do things like deer management, bird surveys, small mammal surveys, lots of reading, and LOTS of opportunities for training!  Never thought I’d say this, but working for the Army is starting to make my dreams come true!  Who knew?!

In the first year of this internship, I will be doing a lot of rotations to other divisions doing non-biology stuff, but it’s cool to see what other people do and get a feel for how everyone works together on a military installation. This past week, I was working with Housing, so I got to help place soldiers and their families in barracks or on and off post housing.  At the environmental office, we don’t interact with the soldiers much, so it was nice to get the chance to be around them for a while.  Next stop is working with the Engineering Division in a couple weeks.  I feel like that’s going to blow my mind…engineers are so smart.  I’ll also get to spend a few weeks working for the Army Corps of Engineers district office, and a few weeks working at the Headquarters of the major command that my office falls under.  It sounds so exciting!

Some other new things:

We camped and climbed Devil’s Marble Yard near Lexington, VA last month.

Looks much more intimidating in person, trust me.

Incredible view from the top.

Feeling accomplished.

We also made it up to Massachusetts to see my uncle and aunt and Ricky’s best friend Chris and his fiancee Susie.  I wish I had gotten more pictures!  We spent most of our time in the North Shore where my uncle and aunt live, in a town called Manchester by the Sea.  We also visited Gloucester, Rockport, and stayed with Chris and Susie one night in downtown Boston, about an hour train ride from Manchester.  Here’s a photo in Rockport, which is a gorgeous place.

The wind gave me Alfalfa hair.

Our visit was shortly after Steve Jobs passed away, and a lot of people had left notes, flowers, and apples in front of the Apple Store downtown in his memory.

Even a Lego apple:

We didn’t take many pictures on this trip for some reason, must be better about that.

And now, glorious fall has set in.

Oh, and Lenny is as cute as ever.

He now has two new “cousins”, Roger the lab and Joe the dalmatian.

Well, there you have it, now you know I’m still alive.  Next, an actual recipe post, that pie I was talking about making last time.

Hello and sorry for the long absence!  This summer has been pretty busy.  I was gone half of July, first in San Diego and then to Topsail, NC for a week (which was wonderful and I wish I was still there).  We went with one of Ricky’s best friends Chris, his girlfriend Amanda, and Chris’ parents Warren and Wanda.  They have invited us to come two years in a row now and it has been awesome both times.  We spent the days on the beach and the nights taking turns cooking delicious dinners, having MANY cocktails, glasses of wine and champagne, and beers.  I rarely ever drink during the week, but I must have been buzzed every single night (a little more so on margarita night!).  We spent many hours at night in the pool, walking the beach, and playing cornhole.  The last day there we went jet skiing in the sound and even saw some dolphins.

I have a little less motivation to cook in the summer.  I think because it’s so hot, we end up making simple stuff, like a grilled chicken breast or fish, some veggies, cucumber and tomato salad, etc.  Ricky and I have eaten a salad every single day for lunch (during the week, that is) for about 3 weeks now.  We’re trying to have very few carbs during the week, and most of the carbs we’re eating are fruit.

Tonight I decided to grill some pork chops with peaches.  I absolutely love meat and fruit together, I think it’s the most delicious combination.  Pork is especially good with apples or peaches.  I looked at a recipe on The Garden of Eating and modified it a bit.

For the sweet ‘n’ spicy pork chops, you need:

• 4 boneless pork chops
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or try apple cider vinegar, but I didn’t have any)
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp. hot curry 

Easy, just combine everything in a medium bowl and whisk together.

Place the pork chops in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over, making sure all the chops are covered.  Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

While the chops marinate, you can make a glaze for the peaches.  I used two peaches, so I didn’t make much glaze.  Put about 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced to half.  It only took about 5 minutes.

Add about a tablespoon of brown sugar and a dash of black pepper and stir, turn off heat.  You should have a syrupy glaze.

Heat the grill and add your pork chops.  Brush with some extra marinade.  My grill is pretty slow, so on a good grill they will probably cook in 3-4 minutes each side.  

Wash your peaches, cut them in half and remove the pit.  Brush the flat cut side with the glaze.

It looks like chocolate syrup :)

Once you flip the pork chops, add the glazed peaches flat-side down to the grill.  Brush the rest of the glaze on the back of the peach.  Flip after 2 to 3 minutes.

I must say, this is one of the best ways I’ve made pork chops.  The flavor was good, very subtly sweet and spicy.  The grill really brings out the flavor of the peach, making it soft and warm, and they paired perfectly with the pork chops.  

Well I’ve found a ton of recipes that I photographed, but never blogged about, so maybe I’ll post some of those in the next few days.  I’m also DYING to make the lime and blackberry pie that was on the cover of the last issue of Bon Appetit.  I am determined to find an excuse to make it, even if I have to eat it all by myself.  :)

On another note, I think I’m ready for fall.  The beach vacation is over, I’m tired of near 100 degree weather, football is back, and we’re starting to get some cool evenings…I’m ready!!