Pear Butter Weight

~ michal ~ 2 Comments

Let’s be honest: there’s baby weight, and then there’s grad school weight.  And as long as we’re putting on weight, may as well make it worth it.  This pear butter is golden, just the right amount of sweetness, and will put you in all the good graces of anyone lucky enough to get a homemade jar from your hands.

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PEAR BUTTER

  • Servings: makes 6 pint jars
  • Difficulty: relatively easy
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INGREDIENTS

  • 20 pears, cored and chopped in a large dice
  • zest of 2 large oranges
  • 2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out, and pods used to steep*
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 2-3 teaspoons anise seeds, depending on your taste
  • 4 cups sugar

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the pears have cooked down to a soft texture, and most of the liquid has cooked off so the whole mixture looks almost like a can of apple pie filling (it will be a little wetter, not quite so much of a gel like the canned pie filling).  This will take about one hour.
  2. Remove the vanilla bean pods and cinnamon sticks, and working in batches, ladle about 5 cups of the pear mixture into the blender to blend into a smooth consistency (I usually do this in just two batches).
  3. Spoon into jars and can according to your canning directions, or save in the freezer.  (I always make 5 jars as “canned” jars to save in the pantry, and then fill an extra jar to keep in our fridge to eat right then.  The “extra” jar isn’t quite filled to a full pint.)

* If you don’t have vanilla beans, you can add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract while you are blending it; it will have a nice vanilla flavor, but you will miss the nuance whole vanilla beans give to the butter (I know I did when I made it with extract instead of beans!)

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Leek and Asparagus Risotto

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

My husband will tell you I am the most anxious when faced with an empty fridge.  Let me go grocery shopping, fill it up, and make a meal plan, and I suddenly feel like I can do life.  So the week before classes started, I changed my meal plan from a weekly meal plan based off the groceries I bought to a running categorical list based off the ingredients I already had on hand: 1. Meals I could throw together in about 10 minutes; 2. Meals I could make within 10-20 minutes; 3. Ready to go frozen meals; 4. Meals I could cook if I had some extra time and fresh ingredients.  I filled up a whole white board with my color-coded meal list, and suddenly felt like I could take on grad school.

Risotto is one of those meals that is homey and filling and warm and doesn’t take too long to pull together on one of those “extra time” days.  Add some fresh veggies, and your meal is set.

LEEK AND ASPARAGUS RISOTTO

  • Servings: 2-4
  • Difficulty: medium, for time
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INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup arborio rice
  • 2 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced, or grated with a medium ribbon grater
  • 1 asparagus bundle, trimmed and cut in thirds
  • 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup roasted, salted sesame seeds, as garnish
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan or Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese (or nutritional yeast flakes)
  • 6-8 cups vegetable stock

DIRECTIONS

  1. Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil, and saute the leeks with salt and pepper to taste on medium heat.  When the leeks are translucent, add the garlic and rice and saute 5-10 more minutes and lower the heat to low.
  2. Add 2-3 cups of vegetable stock, until the rice is just covered, and 1/4 cup of the parsley.  Allow to come to a boil, and let cook and reduce until nearly all the stock has reduced.  Add another 1-2 cups of stock and let cook and reduce.  Continue adding stock, one cup at a time, and reducing, until the rice has transformed into a creamy soft mixture, about 30-40 minutes.  When you add the final cup of stock, add the asparagus to gently cook.  Let the stock reduce just enough to be a thin, pudding-like mixture.
  3. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese or nutritional yeast flakes.  To serve, garnish with the rest of the parsley and the sesame seeds.

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Saving up Tokens and Potstickers

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

Another change I instituted when starting grad school was tokens for chores.  We’ve had a chore chart for a while, and initially paid quarters and nickels and dimes for chores.  My boys’ interest in the money jar lasted just a month or so, and the chore chart subsequently lost its value.  When my boys got into Star Wars {and my husband introduced them to Star Wars video games}–and I started grad school and needed help around the house–I knew the chore chart was about to get dusted off.  For each chore they check off on their chart, they get one 5 minute token.  They add up tokens and turn them in for screen time–video games, shows, games on a phone, etc.

We’re going on four months now, and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet!  My boys get up, {mostly} check off their morning chores without me asking, ask if they can check off the afternoon chores, and always check off the evening and count out their tokens for the day before going to bed.  Ok, well, there are some mornings with lingering dishes on the breakfast table, and some nights with toys on the floor, but it’s a vast improvement from before.  It’s been great to watch them count the tokens at the end of the day and put them in their jar, and then count by 5’s to turn them in for a 20 minute show or game time, share the price of a show by joining tokens together, or tell me they want to save up their tokens for an hour of game time.  And let’s not forget the power of the token in terms of punishment or reward–or how cool you become when you say they can have some free time on you.

Tokens for me?  Freezer meals.  Dinner prep was seriously crunched during the semester, and it helped so much to have freezer meals to pull out and all I’d have to do was heat up the oven.  You have to devote a chunk of prep time–when you have time–but you’ll thank your cool self later when the only prep you have to do for dinner is heat up the oven or a skillet.

A couple hours one afternoon made a few lentil potsticker meals down the line.  Lentils only take about 20 minutes to make, mash them into a paste, add a finely chopped vegetable medley, herbs and asian seasonings, and your wrappers are ready to be wrapped.

Just about 1-2 teaspoons is enough for the small circle wrappers, then you just seal with water and crimp the edge by folding the wrapper over on itself.  And repeat.

You can cook some right away {because who can resist a good potsticker} and flash freeze the rest to pull out on a busy day.

LENTIL POTSTICKERS

  • Servings: makes one full package of small circle wrappers
  • Difficulty: medium, just for the time
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INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup brown lentils, cooked and mashed
  • 1/2 cup each finely chopped carrots, snow peas, red pepper, fresh cilantro, green onion
  • 3 teaspoons Szechwan seasoning
  • 1-2 teaspoons sambal oelek with garlic

DIRECTIONS

  1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Prepare an area to fill the wrappers (I like using a cutting board for easy clean up), and a bowl with water to seal the wrappers.
  3. Using a teaspoon, scoop the filling onto one wrapper at a time.  brush water along the wrapper edges and fold in half, sealing closed by pressing with your fingers.  To create the crimped edges, fold the edges over itself and seal by using water as needed.
  4. To cook, place two tablespoons oil and 1/4 cup water in a skillet.  Place the potstickers in the skillet, base-down, cover, and heat to medium-high.  Let cook for 7-8 minutes, then remove the lid and let the liquid evaporate or until the bottoms of the potstickers are golden brown and crispy.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (mine is a little soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, sambal oelek, and green onions).

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When in Doubt…Pizza

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

Believe it or not, pizza is a speedy go-to meal when you’re short on time…And I’m not talking about delivery.  I have the luxury of being at home, and so I can make my favorite pizza dough and let it rise {and meanwhile read some chapters or edit a paper for a class}.  If you’re on the way home from work, though, swing by your grocery store and pick up some ready-made pizza dough.  The dough is the part that takes the longest, the rest is just food creativity.

The toppings are completely up to you.  You can go traditional margherita pizza with tomatoes, cheese, and basil, or make a veggie flatbread without cheese or sauce…or a hybrid of the two with veggies and cheese.  I love the potato and onion combo I had on focaccia when I was in Italy, and so love it as a flatbread topping–except I add mixed greens and caramelize the onions.  A new favorite is leeks and artichoke hearts.

Crank your oven to 450F while you prepare your toppings, assemble, and it’s a quick 20 minute bake until dinner time!

MEATLESS PIZZA TOPPINGS

  • Servings: prepare as many toppings as you like!
  • Difficulty: easy
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I’m just going to list meatless toppings combination ideas to get your pizza juices flowing…have fun!

MARGHERITA
red sauce, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil

POTATO & ONION
very thinly sliced red potatoes, caramelized onions (thinly slice a yellow onion, sauté on low heat with olive oil, salt, and a tablespoon of sugar, stir and sauté until onions are cooked down and sweet), fresh mixed greens

LEEK & ARTICHOKE 
thinly sliced leeks (sautéed in olive oil and butter), artichoke hearts (marinated from a jar), fresh mozzarella

ROASTED SQUASH
red sauce, roasted acorn squash, mixed greens, caramelized onion, dollops of fresh ricotta, walnuts

GREEN & RED PIZZA
red sauce, mixed greens, broccoli, thinly sliced red onion, red pepper flakes, fresh mozzarella

GREEN & PEPPERY
fresh arugula, olive oil, fresh Parmiggiano-Reggiano shavings (I ordered this pizza in the piazza in Siena almost 20 years ago, and still remember it to this day as the best pizza I’ve ever had–sharp and peppery from the arugula and sharp and rich from the cheese)

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One-Pot Dinner

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

Well, I made it through my first semester of Grad School with two A’s in my pocket and my kids are still alive!  Here are some tips for success, if you find yourself in a similar situation:

  1. Forget about cleaning.  I mean, do a quick wipe-down on a weekly basis…but if it’s between reading your chapters for the week, writing a paper, or scrubbing the toilet, you know where your loyalties lie.
  2. Reconcile yourself to the fact that your social life will not just go down the drain, but it will be plungered and flushed away.  You just won’t have time during the semester, so all your pre-grad-school friends will probably move on to other more available friends.  And when you do have a break between semesters, your time will be spent reacquainting yourself with your husband, whom you have ignored for the previous four months, and convincing your children you are more than just “boring mommy”.
  3. Cut your hair.  I was in the “growing-out” phase, but in the hard in-between time when it was too short to pull into a pony tail and too long to just let air dry without turning into a poofy mess.  So I went back to the choppy pixie crop.  Time management is all about priorities, and I gotta say, I love that my whole shower to make up to hair routine now takes 20-30 minutes tops.
  4. Get reading glasses.  You may not need them now, but by week 5, you will.  So go ahead and stock up at the dollar store now, so when it’s time to hit the books, you can keep on hitting without those pesky headaches.  And wearing glasses just adds to your short hair, making you look more academic.
  5. Lower your dinner expectations.  By a lot. Costco’s ready-made quinoa tabbouleh salad is my new go-to.  If I couldn’t pull dinner together in 10-20 minutes, it didn’t happen.

I also instituted a new dinner initiative.  Instead of making dinner to order like I used to do, for each little member of my family, I made one meal.  We now call it “Real Dinner”.  The little family members are required to have one bite of Real Dinner.  If they like it, they get to eat the rest of Real Dinner served to them.  If they don’t like it, they are not allowed to make gagging noises, say “I don’t like that”, or “But mommy, that’s gross”; they politely request a dinner substitution by saying, “No thank you, I would not like Real Dinner tonight.  Could I please have Prison Food?”  Upon which they receive one slice of bread (no butter, jam, or honey), and water.  This really works!  But, fair warning, it is really hard to keep a straight face while your children are politely asking for Prison Food.

I treated school like a full-time job (after my full-time mommy job, of course), so I set Monday through Friday as my work hours, and used Saturdays only if I was completely swamped.  This happened a few times, as my classes were doubled up the second half of the semester (I don’t remember much from the last 7 weeks).  I also had to use Saturdays as my long run days–I’m training for the Zion Trail Ragnar!  Saturdays were definitely a needed running outlet–kept everything balanced.

One-pot dinners are life savers.  I just had to try One Pot Spaghetti from Martha Stewart–I was really skeptical that noodles, water, fresh tomatoes, onions, and basil would all come together while in the same pot, but it was magic!  You really just throw everything together, and the tomatoes turn into a flavorful sauce, the onions cook down to a sweet note, and the basil keeps things peppery.  Need a 20 minute one-pot dinner?  This is it!

And now on to deep-cleaning my house.  My bathrooms are gonna sparkle this week like no other sparkle on earth!

ONE-POT SPAGHETTI

  • Servings: 4 bowls
  • Difficulty: easy
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From Martha Stewart’s One Pot Cookbook

INGREDIENTS

  •  1 12oz. box angel hair spaghetti
  • 12oz. cherry tomatoes sliced in half, or 6 roma tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, grated on a medium ribbon grater
  • 6 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 4 1/2 cups water
  • freshly grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients except for the grated cheese in a large pot.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Cook, stirring frequently with tongs, until al dente and water has nearly evaporated, about 10 minutes.
  2. Serve with grated cheese and a sprinkle of olive oil.

Life Shifts and BBQ Sauce

~ michal ~ 2 Comments

My life is about to shift.  We used this past summer as our last-ditch effort to get pregnant, undergoing 3 rounds of fertility stuff.  And then {to put it in a very abbreviated and a hovering-above-the-emotions manner} it comes to a point where you have to simply close the door…for your emotional and mental well-being.  And so I spent the first few months of fall updating my CV and composing a personal statement to apply for a Masters program.

I’ve worked since I was 14, and when I had my first baby at 30, decided it was time to stay home full-time.  I have loved every minute of being a full-time mama, but I have to say, it was a little daunting pulling everything together for professional purposes.  I hope I’m not the first one to let you know how hard a stay at home mama works, but let’s be honest–how many daily to-do’s are seriously resume builders?  I got a little creative with filling in the past 6 years, and after hunting down a former professor and former Nurse Practitioner boss lady to write letters of recommendation for me…voilá–I’m starting a Masters of Health Science program in January.

I know life is going to shift a little.  Until I can figure out how to be one of those people that magically transforms their food blog into a paycheck, these posts will be fewer and farther between.  I may not make bread on a weekly basis, and I know dinners may be more of the pull-together-in-the-pan variety.

Here’s a great recipe that comes together fast.  Forget the store bought BBQ Sauces with tons of high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and preservatives.  It’s sweet, tangy, smoky, and has just a little hint of heat at the end.  Feel free to add more heat if you’d like–a jalapeño, poblano, etc.  Lentils cook up quickly without having to pre-soak, so your whole meal can come together with minimal prep time, and quick cook time.  Or you could let your BBQ sauce hang out in the slow cooker all day, and just cook up the lentils in about 20 minutes and you’re done!

bbq-sauce-2  The first meal I made with the BBQ Sauce was lentil sloppy joe’s.  Then I topped my bean burgers with the sauce and caramelized onions.  Oh man.  Talk about a life changer.  It’s just the right amount of messy and deliciously BBQ-y.

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BBQ SAUCE

  • Servings: Yields about 3 cups
  • Difficulty: easy
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Adapted from Gourmet Grilling 2011

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, cut in half
  • 1 1/2 cups ketchup
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup smoked paprika
  • 3 tablespoons ground mustard
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 5 teaspoons black pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. Coat a large pot with olive oil and heat to medium.  Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until softened.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients, lower heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn off heat and let the sauce cool to room temperature.
  3. Purée the sauce in batches in a blender until smooth.

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LENTIL SLOPPY JOE'S WITH APPLE SLAW

  • Servings: 4 sandwiches
  • Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup brown lentils
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2-3 cups BBQ sauce
  • 1/4 apple, thinly sliced (your choice, although sharp apples work best–granny smith, fuji, or even an asian pear would work!)
  • 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped roughly
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 sandwich buns

DIRECTIONS

  1. Bring vegetable stock to a boil in a large pot.  Add the lentils, salt and pepper to taste, and cover.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer until lentils are cooked through and stock is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the apple slaw.  Add the sliced apple, sliced red onion, cilantro, vinegar, and salt and pepper in a bowl and stir together.  Set aside.
  3. When the lentils are done, add BBQ sauce and stir until it comes together as one big saucy mess.  Add 2-3 cups of sauce, depending on your sauce-ness preference.
  4. Toast the sandwich buns, scoop BBQ lentils and top with apple slaw.

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Tomato Jam Magic

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

I’m not sure what else to call this recipe, other than “Tomato Jam Magic”.  I know you’re going to read through the ingredients and think, “What?!?!  Lime juice and cloves?  No way that goes together…”  Trust me on this one.  This jam is a warm, amazing, flavor explosion that’ll shake up your grilled cheese sandwich, be THE gourmet dip at your next dinner party, or be the new pizza red sauce ALL your neighbors will beg you for again and again.

All you have to do is throw everything in your pot and let it simmer–Who knew gourmet would be so easy to make?!

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Let it simmer and cook down until most of the liquid is cooked off and your spoon runs through the jam and it stays separated.

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This will last in your fridge for a while, or you can can it following the traditional canning method and share as Christmas gifts.

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Here’s the grilled cheese {just throw some fresh basil and mozzarella on your bread with that jammy goodness}:

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I made cornmeal hush puppies and use the tomato jam as a dip…Some Sort of Carb + Dip is seriously the best dinner on the planet.

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TOMATO JAM MAGIC

  • Servings: makes 1 pint
  • Difficulty: easy
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Adapted from The Joy of Cooking’s Tomato Jam

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound tomatoes, cored and finely diced
  • 1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 limes, zested and juiced
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce heat to low.
  2. Let the jam simmer for 30-45 minutes, taking care to stir very frequently.  The liquid will evaporate while simmering, and the jam will reduce  to a sticky, globby jam.  You’ll know it’s done when it’s glossy, not runny/watery, and when you run your spoon across the bottom of the pot, the jam will separate and won’t come back together.  Be sure to stir more frequently toward the end, as it’ll get stickier and more likely to burn.

*You can spoon into a pint jar to keep in your fridge for up to 4 months, or can according to traditional canning methods to preserve longer.

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HODGSON MILL'S HUSH PUPPIES

  • Servings: makes 15-20 hush puppies
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

I used the hush puppies recipe directly from the Hodgson Mill Brand Cornmeal, with the only change being adding 1 cup fresh corn kernels. 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk

DIRECTIONS

  1. Fill a large stockpot with 3-4 inches oil and preheat to 375F.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl.  Blend well.  Add onions, corn, egg, water, and buttermilk in another mixing bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.  Let dough sit for 5 minutes before using.
  3. Drop by rounded teaspoons (I use a #40 cookie scoop, which is about 3 teaspoons, so a bit larger) into the hot oil and fry until dark golden brown, turning frequently (approximately 2 minutes for 1 teaspoons scoop, 3-4 minutes for the #40 scoop).  Let drain on a cooling rack.  Serve warm with Tomato Jam Magic.

 

 

Soup and Sandwich…Gourmet

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

When Fall hits our small part of the world, amazing deep grey clouds roll in, full of character, and sometimes full of rain.  We had two straight days of cold, cold rain last weekend.  The weekend my husband happened to be riding in Salt to Saint, a relay cycling race from Salt Lake City to St. George.  While my boys and I drove through 200+ miles of rain, my husband and his team rode through it on their bikes.  Good thing St. George is always sunny and warm.  We met the team at the finish line with homemade cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate, apple cider, and the good ol’ St. George sun.

Just in case your Fall is starting out cold and rainy, here’s a gourmet soup + sandwich combo you are going to just love: Creamy Corn and Potato Chowder + Tomato Asparagus Tart.

Sauté the veggies for bit, add stock and let simmer until the flavors have had time to shimmy and the veggies are perfectly soft, then add the half and half at the end until warm and creamy and heated through.

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Our town’s Farmers Market runs through October, and we can still find a couple large heirloom tomatoes.  I love the vibrant colors of heirlooms–they look just like the leaves!  Mop up some of the tomato juice with paper towels while poking holes in the pastry.

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Arrange the tomatoes and asparagus, bake, and sprinkle with a little love…aka…chopped walnuts and grated Parmigiano-Regiano cheese…

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CORN AND POTATO CHOWDER

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 medium carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1/2 medium celery rib, diced
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 6 red potatoes, diced
  • 2 ears fresh corn, cut from the cob
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 3-4 cups half and half
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS

  1. Coat the bottom of a large stockpot with olive oil and heat to medium.  Sauté the carrot, celery, onion, potatoes, and corn, with salt and pepper to taste, until the onion is translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
  2. Add the stock and parsley, and reduce heat to low.  Allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are soft and tender, then add the half and half at the end, to get creamy and chowder-ish.  {Be careful to not let the soup come back to a simmer or boil, or the milk will curdle and your soup will separate.}

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TOMATO AND ASPARAGUS TART

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 store-bought puff pastry
  • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
  • 2 large heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • grated Parmigiano-Regiano to taste

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat the oven to 425F.
  2. Prepare a large un-rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Unwrap the thawed but chilled pastry and lay on the parchment paper.  Don’t worry about rolling or cutting or spreading it at all, just unwrap and lay flat on the sheet pan.  Poke with holes, using a fork.
  3. Prepare the tomatoes–they are too juicy and will make the pastry mushy.  Prepare by slicing thinly and placing on a paper towel.  Gently press the tops of the tomatoes with another paper towel.  When ready, arrange the tomato sliced on the pastry, leaving a 1-2 inch border (this allows the pastry to puff; without the border, it won’t puff as nicely).  Top with the asparagus.
  4. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and bake until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
  5. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped walnuts and freshly grated cheese.

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LDS Living Contributor!!

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

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LDS Living September/October 2016 Issue

I know this is a photo of Steve Young, retired football player.  But in the upper right hand corner, above Steve’s head, it says, “Fall Pumpkin Recipes”.  And that’s where I step in.

Last fall, a friend sent me a Facebook message that LDS Living Magazine was having a pumpkin contest, and that I should enter.  I got to work creating pumpkin goodness: pastas, sauces, dips, burgers, bakes, pumpkin custard pie…all told, I submitted 10 recipes to the magazine.  And then heard nothing.  I finally emailed them in January, asking what the results were.  They said they didn’t receive enough submissions to go through with the contest, but they wanted to feature my recipes in their next fall’s issue.  I was thrilled, to say the least.

I didn’t tell anyone, in fear it really wouldn’t happen.  But they kept in touch with me, asked for my photos to go with my recipes, and then sent me a draft copy so I could make sure it was all how it was supposed to be.  My recipes, my photos, in print!!  And they mailed me 5 extra copies, so I could mail them out to my fan base.  My mom got 3.  She asked me to sign them, too…{I didn’t do that}

My favorite part?  Being listed in the table of contents as an “LDS Living Contributor”.  The magazine came out on the one-year anniversary I’ve had this blog up and running.  And I’m a contributor.  This is me smiling.

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End of Summer Treats

~ michal ~ Leave a comment

Between the grocery stores putting flats and boxes of fruits on crazy outrageous sale prices, and neighbors asking us to help pick the abundant fruits falling off their trees, I have been a mad-jam-making woman in the kitchen this past week.  Got Jam?  Yes:  Strawberry, Strawberry Peach, Peach, Peach Orange, Apple Cranberry, Pear Butter…You know what I’m giving for Christmas now…Shhh, don’t tell!

Other than mad-jam-making, I’m also currently training for a half, and training hard to PR–I’m determined to run this one sub-2 hours (I was 2 measley minutes over the last half I ran, so it’s in my head now…).  I’ve upped my training schedule and cross-training schedule, and I’ve cut sugar.  So a little jam + buttermilk biscuit is a nice treat at the end of a long day.  And don’t tell me how much sugar is in jam.  It’s fruit, right??!

And after jam + biscuits, you gotta have a veggie pie.  This is a great pie to use up your summer veggies–zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, basil.  And it makes a super pie for a crowd, or little individual pies for a small dinner.  I decided to go individual.

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Just roughly (rustically?) fit the pie dough into your pie plate or individual bowls, mix up the ricotta cheese with an egg and seasonings, layer the veggies on top, and you’ve got a veggie pie!

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VEGGIE PIE

  • Servings: makes 4 individual pies or 1 regular-sized pie
  • Difficulty: mediumish
  • Print

Adapted from Cooking Light

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PIE DOUGH

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 T sugar
  • 6 T unsalted very cold butter
  • 1/4 cup very cold vegetable shortening
  • 4-5 T ice water

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

  • 1 medium zucchini, sliced in thin rounds
  • 1 medium yellow squash, sliced in thin rounds
  • 1 medium red pepper, cut into 2-inch matchsticks
  • 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil, julienned
  • 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 more egg, beaten (for brushing the pie dough before baking)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Start with the pie crust.  Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Cut in the cold butter and shortening.  Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time.  Stir together with a spoon until a ball of dough starts to form.  Continue to form using your hands, kneading the dough together in 5-6 quick smooshes (The heat from your hands will melt the butter and shortening, and your dough won’t be as flaky, so work quickly!).  Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 400F.
  3. Combine the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, basil, lemon zest and juice, and egg in a large mixing bowl.  If you haven’t yet, this would be a good time to slice up the veggies.  Put the sliced veggies in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Unwrap the dough and roll it out on a floured surface.  Roll into one large disc to fit a 9-10-inch pie plate, or use to cut 4 smaller discs to fit 4-5-inch round baking dishes.  Fit the dough into the baking dish, and spread the ricotta mixture over the bottom of the pie.  If you are making one large pie, pour the veggies in the pie plate, overtop the ricotta mixture.  If you are making individual pies, evenly divide the veggies among the four baking bowls.
  5. Fold the edges of the pie dough toward the middle of the pie.  Brush the pie dough with the egg and bake at 400F for 40 minutes for a large pie, and 20-30 for the smaller pies.

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