Best friends.
Beautiful family.
Fried clams and lobster bisque.
Perfect beach weekend.
Happy Memorial Day.
I love this rice because it marries most of my favorite flavors: coconut, lime and cilantro. If we could work in peanut butter, fresh dill and bourbon vanilla, it woud be all my favorite flavors; but then it would be pretty gross.
Wait, what?
Let’s ignore me and go to the recipe, shall we?
This rice is the best of sweet and savory, tart and creamy. Its highly addictive and perfect as a side to a Thai Peanut Chicken or Fried Ginger Tofu. Personally, I love it as-is, eaten over some Asian-style slaw.
Cashew Coconut Rice
1 c. (dry) long-grain brown rice
1 can (10oz) lite coconut milk
1.5 c. vegetable broth (plus another cup if necessary)
1 heaping tbs green curry paste
1 scallion, cleaned and chopped (green and white parts)
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
4 cilantro cubes (or 3 tbs chopped fresh cilantro)
2 tbs lime juice
Garnish: shaved unsweetened coconut, chopped cashews, lime zest or fresh cilantro
In a 2-qt saucepan over med-high heat, combine rice, coconut milk, vegetable broth, curry paste, scallions and garlic clove. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 45-50 minutes (you may need a bit more vegetable broth if your rice starts to stick to the bottom of the pan). Once rice is tender, stir in cilantro cubes and lime juice until combined. Garnish heavily with coconut and cashews (lime zest and fresh cilantro, optional). You can mix in the coconut and cashews; but for presentation purposes, I like to serve it on top. Serves four as a side dish.
(I was out of cashews; so I substituted almonds, still good; but not cashew good)
Next up, bourbon-vanilla-peanut butter-fresh dill rice….
…to the incredible mothers out there.
-For when you let us wear a kimono to school in the 5th grade because you knew we had to “express” ourselves.
-For when you made us give away the strapless swimsuit that we loooved because you thought it was just ugly (we see that now, it only took 19 years).
-For giving sound friendship advice and giving us a beautiful example of a 70 year friendship with your own best friend.
-For laughing at our weird dating stories and constantly telling us how fantastic we are, no matter what.
Moms out there. You rock.
Some of the above list may have been autobiographical, just maybe.
When I was wished my mom Happy Mother’s Day, she was drinking a bloody mary and waiting for her lobster dinner to arrive.
Yup, she’s pretty fantastic, no matter what.
For the record,the mustachioed man in the photo above is not my father
Anyone remember that gem from the 1980s? If not, go here to be enlightened.
Last night I tried another Cincinnati classic, Dutch’s Larder. Long heralded a fantastic wine and bottle shop, they’ve recently expanded, and amongst other things, are serving a limited menu of delicious small plates.
A friend and I settled ourselves on their back patio. We shared a bottle of red and a plate of prosciutto, cheeses, jams and a highly addictive hazelnut and honey spread. The wine? Beautiful. The food? Postively fantastic.
I love eating mezza style, so I really enjoyed creating combination of cheeses, prosciuttos and spreads - all different sweet and salty complements, love!
When I wasn’t slathering the wonderfully smooth prosciutto with a dab of the quince jam on a tender but chewy crostini, I did manage to notice that in addition the patio, they also have a bocce court, perfect for when you’re feeling oddly tipsy competitive.
Hi new best friend
I’m trying to come up with a punny “don’t pass this Dutch’s” wrap-up line but I can’t do it to you. I just can’t.
Let’s just say….Dutch’s is fantastic and I’ll see you by the bocce court, I’m feeling tipsy competitive.
I hope you’re having a delicious Tuesday! I’m just racing by in my attempts to finish work, get to the gym, and meet a friend all within the next 2 hours – think I can do it?
I say yes.
I also say YES to this incredibly luscious, but oh-so-fast ravioli dinner.
Your super-busy life and incredibly discerning palate will thank me you.
Fly By Ravioli
I make no secret of loving hearty pork with rosemary; they are a perfect pairing. If you’re inclined to not eat the pig, an earthy mushroom or squash ravioli would work perfectly .
1 pkg Buitoni Spicy Beef & Sausage Ravioli
1-2 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large Portobello mushroom, cut in half, and sliced
1 white onion, peeled and sliced
2 tbs sundried tomato paste*
Sea Salt, Cracked Pepper
2 tbs fresh rosemary, minced
* I love this subtle flavor of the sundried paste, if using regular, use one 1 tbs.
Cook ravioli according to instructions on package.
In a large, deep skillet; heat oil. Add garlic, tossing until just lightly browned. Add onion, cook until wilted and starting to turn golden. Add mushroom and saute until soft.
Stir in tomato paste, sea salt and cracked pepper. Taste, adjust salt and pepper. Stir in cooked ravioli; tossing completely in the sauce. Sprinkle fresh rosemary and heat until just warmed. Serve immediately. Serves 2.
Get out your roller skates and Farrah Fawcett commemorative plates; we’re making
Chex Party Mix. Oh yes, we are.
Although, I like to keep it healthy and make my own snacks, I love me some store-bought Chex Mix; it’s the perfect road trip snack and its highly addictive. BUT, I only really like the Chex. I don’t like the mini pretzels or bagel chips, just gimme the Chex.
Feeling inspired to make my own “Chex Only” mix; I strolled over to chexmix.com to see if I could find a recipe. Um, wow. I had no idea there was a whole world of homemade Chex mix out there. Oh, but there is. After some perusing; I decided on the Lemon Rosemary Chex mix. I love all things rosemary; and this seemed like a healthier option…although not-healthy sounds pretty good too. Naturally, I had to make some adjustments to the recipe….but I loved how it turned out. Crunchy, citrusy, herby and totally addictive.
Just as soon as a I decide which one of those Hazzard Duke boys is my favorite, I’m making some more…
Lemon Rosemary Chex Mix
Adapted from here
6 c. Rice Chex
2 tbs butter
2 tbs lemon zest
3 tbs fresh rosemary, diced
1/2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2c. raw or unsalted almonds, chopped
Sea Salt Cracked Pepper
4 tbs Parmesan Cheese, grated
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 250.
In a medium saucepan; melt butter, stir in lemon zest, rosemary, Worcestershire and almonds, add sprinkle of sea salt and cracked pepper. Remove from heat. In a large bowl combine butter mixture with cereal; stirring throughly so that the Chex is coated completely.
Spread mix evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, gently stirring, then bake for another 7-9 minutes, this should be lightly golden; but not browned.
While tray is still hot, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the mixture and gently stir to combine. Allow mix to cool on sheet.
Store in an air-tight container. Devour while mooning over Ace on the Love Boat. Makes six one cup servings.
Inspired by seeing Emily’s grocery shop last week, I realized its been a while since I’ve posted my own grocery haul. I stocked up on quite a bit over the weekend, so lets take this opportunity to get back into my cart (dirty? not sure)
My grocery shopping is usually a mix of Whole Foods, Kroger and Trader Joe’s finds – depending on what I need and where else I have errands. This week brought me to the Kroger. Let’s see what I got.
Fruits and Vegetables
This undoubtably is the bulk of my shop; I try to adhere to the “perimeter shopping” rules as much as possible, meaning, the bulk of your items should come from the sections in the grocery store in the perimeter: fresh produce, meat and dairy; with only select items coming from the middle aisles (ie packaged and canned).
From left: Button Mushrooms, Red Peppers, Globe Artichoke, Asparagus, Cilantro, Baby Spinach, Raspberries, Blackberries, Green Beans, Avocados, Scallions and Broccoli.
Most of these vegetables will go into salads for lunch and dinner. The artichoke (steamed and then grilled) will be a dinner one night. I’ll be making Thai food at some point this week so I’ll need the cilantro and scallions. The avocados, on-sale (whoo hoo); will most likely be added to salads or eaten as a snack with salt and lime. Raspberries and blackberries for snacking. Most of my produce is organic; I try to follow the “dirty dozen” list of priority organic items and my Kroger has great prices on organic produce ($3.99 for that huge tub of spinach – I’ll take it) so it’s fairly reasonable for me.
Protein & Dairy
From Left: Unsweetened Almond Coconut Milk, Lite String Cheese, Hormone-Free pre-cut Chicken Breasts, Organic eggs, Parmesan cheese, 2% Cottage Cheese, Goat cheese with honey, Aged Gouda, non-fat Greek yogurt and Portobello Burgers.
I recently discovered the Unsweetened Coconut and Almond milk and I love it. It tastes like a tropical booze-free pina colada (come to think of it, I’ve got rum somewhere….) and I love it in coffee or smoothies. I’m trying to increase my whole food snacks (less sugar and starch, more fruits, veg, dairy) so I picked up these lite string cheese snacks to take to work. I’m not a huge fan of chicken; but I’ve got to put a swimsuit on in two weeks and I know that grilled chicken is the perfect salad topper to keep me full with the least amount of fat/calories; I plan on doctoring it up, don’t you worry. Organic eggs; I love eggs for dinner, poached over a salad or scrambled for breakfast. Cheeses: Parmesan is my go-to for flavoring and I thought the goat cheese and gouda would be delicious added to salads. I like that these come in small portions, so its enough to sample without getting sick of it. The cottage cheese is a quick go-to breakfast (although I’m strictly a savory girl when it comes to cottage cheese. Cottage cheese and fruit? I think I just gagged a little – lots of black pepper and scallions for me, please!). The non-fat Greek yogurt is to use in place of sour cream or mayo in recipes and the Portobello burgers are a freezer staple.
Pantry Items
From Left: Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, Dark Chocolate, Organic Chicken Broth, Sundried Tomatoes Organic Garbanzo Beans, Natural Popcorn, Lite Coconut Milk, Organic Roasted Red Pepper Soup, Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix, Brown Rice Cakes, Brown Rice and Spicy V8.
I’m not much of a cereal-for-breakfast eater-I prefer my breakfasts savory over sweet; but I thought these would be a good “sweet treat” instead of cookies or ice cream…and if that fails, I have dark chocolate. Enough said. My Kroger sells Organic Chicken Broth for 1.79 - I’ve seen it elsewhere for as high as $4. I kind of want to buy 100 and hoard them; is that weird? I use chicken broth in everything; for soups, rice, vegetables, everything. The natural popcorn is another at-work snack, if I have my own healthy snacks; I won’t reach for the (ever-present) candy bowl. Roasted Red Pepper soup: yes, I eat soup when its 80 degrees out and I’m ok with it. I love this flavor; its great on its own; but excellent with additions like pasta, cheese or roasted broccoli to make a complete dinner. I like using some of the Knorr soup mix to make a quick vegetable dip (with nonfat greek yogurt) for snacking. Brown rice cakes were a random purchase. I didn’t want crackers or chips but wanted something snacky…we’ll see if this does the trick. Brown rice for dinners. I picked up these V8 on a whim also; I don’t drink juice; but I love V8 (like a bloody mary without the booze – are you sensing a trend here?). Lite Coconut milk is for my Thai adventures this week and I love garbanzo beans in salads. The sundried tomatoes are also a great addition because these are dried; but not packed in oil and don’t need to be reconstituted. Perfect for pastas, salads or eggs.
All in all, these haul cost about $95 dollars. A bit high for me; but I bought more pantry items (read: expensive) than usual so it should all balance out (last week’s grocery bill? $17 it all works out somehow!).
What did you buy this week?
