This past week of school turned out to be much more mellow than expected. I had most of my nights free from studying so I was able to spend some much-needed time in the kitchen.

When classes started in February, I made the decision to eat healthier. Each day I start out by having probiotic yogurt and fruit. For lunch, I pack a small cucumber sandwich smeared with low-fat cream cheese along with a generous portion of raw veggies and more fruit.

In the afternoon, I snack on raw unsalted almonds. At night, I have a sensible dinner (this sounds like a Weight Watchers commercial or something) of steamed veggies and some sort of protein.

I decided to start this week with a new lunch routine (since people are starting to notice I eat the same thing every single day). I created a raw broccoli salad with a sesame dressing which is loaded with flavor and nutrition. While I’m not on a raw food diet, I do enjoy eating more raw foods and this salad is nearly 100% raw.

The salad is similar to a mayonnaise broccoli salad which I haven’t had in many years. I replaced the mayo with a sesame dressing and threw in a few nuts and dried fruit for texture and added flavor. I couldn’t stop eating it when I mixed it all together and think it’ll get better as it sits (I just finished making it).

Sesame-Broccoli Salad
2 heads broccoli, chopped (use the stalks too)
1 cup lightly packed cilanto, chopped
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 green onions, chopped
3/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)

Sesame Dressing
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Add all of the salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until blended, then pour over the salad. Toss to combine and allow to set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so the flavors can get all friendly and combine with each other.

Within minutes, the dressing started working its magic on the broccoli and it began to soften. It also didn’t look like enough dressing at first but everything began to have a nice sheen. After taking a few bites, I think it was the perfect amount.

The salad is not only good for lunch, it will travel well for a summer picnic or outdoor barbecue as well since it hasn’t any mayo. Feel free to make it your own and throw in other shredded veggies or nut/fruit combos. I’m contemplating adding some sliced kumquats when I pack the salad for tomorrow’s lunch.

I should have titled this post, ’shamelessly simple’. It’s quick to prepare and contains a powerful blend of flavors from the sweet tomatoes, creamy fresh mozzarella, salty pitted olives, torn basil leaves, salt, cracked pepper, and golden extra virgin olive oil.

This may be the first time I’ve actually put the entire recipe in the first paragraph of my post. Shameless. Utterly shameless.

Typically, this salad is made from sliced tomatoes layered on a platter with basil leaves and sliced fresh mozzarella. Pretty simple as well, but I shortcut it even further by chopping and dropping the ingredients into a bowl. I like the contrast of olives with the tomatoes and added a hand full to the salad as well.

The olives also gave me the opportunity to use my new cherry/olive pitter, a gift from OXO Good Grips at the IFBC conference I attended in May. I never thought I would need a pitter but have since found myself using it for not only cherries but olives too. The pits fly right out with ease!

Perfect for a picnic since it doesn’t contain any mayo or eggs. It also works well for a large gathering since it’s easy to serve and is a substantial salad in case any of your guests are vegetarian. I served it as a savory salad at brunch and it found it a nice contrast to the accompanying fruit salad.

Caprese salad leftovers make for out of this world sandwich topping. Take your favorite crusty baguette and fill with any meat of your choice, then scoop on a helping of this salad. Or as you’ll see below, use the salad to fill a fluffy omelet.

More caprese salad ideas:
Caprese Salad with Apricots – Kalyn’s Kitchen
Caprese Omelet – Poor Girl Eats Well
Caprese Skewers – YumSugar
Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad with Sumac – Jane Spice

It’s childish, I know. But beans always remind me of the saying, “Beans, beans, a magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot!”. I always sang it at the dinner table when my mother baked beans. Even though I don’t sing it as loudly or off key as I once did, I’m sure my mother would be horrified to know I still sing the song.

Joe isn’t a fan of beans so I rarely make them anymore. However, after making this baked beans recipe from Kim O’Donnell … well, I might just have to make them more often. The beans turned out spicy and sweet, so flavorful and satisfying.

My favorite baked beans always contain molasses. There’s something about the dark, rich flavor it imparts which makes even the most lackluster beans into a sacred meal. Fortunately, Kim’s recipe utilizes molasses and takes the beans to a new level with the addition of spicy and smoky chipotle peppers.

I tweaked the recipe slightly based on the ingredients on hand. I used pinto beans which worked perfectly, as well as ketchup in place of marinara sauce. When adding the molasses, I went closer to 1/3 cup. Since I didn’t have any chipotle peppers, I replaced the chipotles and chili powder with 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper.

For anyone vegetarian, simply omit the bacon. Since chipotle peppers are smoky and provide more than enough extra flavor.

I reserved 1/3 of the bacon for scattering across the top of the beans before placing into the oven. As Kim notes, use the leftover bean water to thin out the beans before baking. I like my baked beans to be thick so I only used about 1/2-2/3 cup of the water.

The beans turned out amazing. The ground chipotle added plenty of spice to the beans – if you are fearful of spicy foods, maybe begin with only 1/2 teaspoon or omit entirely. I served the beans as the main dish (much to Joe’s disappointment) along with gingered carrots. The sweetness of the carrots paired nicely with the beans and reduced the overall spicy heat.

I couldn’t stop eating the beans. I kept nibbling away at them long after dinner had come and gone. The next day, I ate the reheated beans on saltine crackers for lunch, a childhood favorite.

More baked bean recipe ideas:
Hot and Smoky Baked Beans – Smitten Kitchen
Vegetarian Baked Beans – Ellie May
Crockpot Boston Baked Beans – A Year of Slow Cooking
Stove-top Baked Beans – Simply Recipes

\I enjoy thinking about food, especially planning food for an intimate dinner or a casual Sunday brunch. I lose myself in daydreaming about what I’ll make and how I’ll prepare each dish, from the prep work to the rotation schedule for when each dish goes into the oven next.

So, with so much energy spent on planning, it’s a shock to learn that a dish you’ve daydreamed about so strongly (and felt was a creative mix of flavors) turns out to be an existing, published recipe. I spent days thinking through this fruit salad which I planned to coat with a ginger syrup and bits of mint. Before starting it though, I did a quick Google search to see if anyone had made anything quite like it.

To my disappointment, an exact recipe already existed. Damn you, Epicurious!

The fruit salad can use any mix of seasonal fruits you desire. As I wandered through the store, I decided that a salad made with a variation of yellow fleshed fruits dotted with pomegranate seeds would look delicious. Yes, I based my fruit selection entirely on color – it sounds crazy to me now, but it did turn out wonderful. I used apricots, nectarines, plums, and melon.

The fruit salad recipe is fairly quick to prepare. I made it the night before, slicing my fruits into a bowl and coating with the ginger syrup. The following day, I added the chopped mint and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds before serving. I feared the mint might discolor if added the night before.

It is an impressive fruit salad (just as I planned it), and if anything I can take comfort in not having to think too hard about concocting a ginger syrup. Epicurious did the work for me. The result is a lightly spiced ginger flavor which permeates the fruit. It’s not overpowering but adds a subtle ’something extra’.

The mix of fruits worked well too and is a nice change up from the more common watermelon, muskmelon, and grapes I grew up with on the farm. Try this recipe at your next gathering and see if it turns a few heads. I think it will. We ate the entire bowl in one sitting.

Aside from the fruit salad, our brunch turned out wonderfully. The meal featured my favorite dutch baby pancakes served with a selection of strawberry syrup, golden syrup, wedges of lemon, and confectioners sugar (I liked it best topped with confectioners sugar, a squirt of fresh lemon juice, and a drizzle of golden syrup).

I also made a caprese salad, pork meatballs with tzatziki dipping sauce, strawberry muffins and a spinach-mushroom quiche. You’ll see more of the recipes in the coming week or two.

I’ve reached day six of the Eating Down the Fridge challenge and I’m happy to report all is going well. No one is starving and our meals are not a crazy combination of disparate goods.

I’m also excited to announce you can read more about my EDF experience on A Mighty Appetite with Kim O’Donnel at the The Washington Post website.

Today, I’m sharing a dinner from the other night which utilized items from the fridge and freezer. My mother-in-law recently hooked me on giant oyster mushrooms. She made them as a side dish and I loved the meaty texture. She paired them with reconstituted dried shitake mushrooms and oyster sauce.

Although it works well as a side dish, we had it as a light non-meat dinner along with steamed rice.

I’ve seen the giant oyster mushrooms in our asian market, usually 6 inches long by 2 inches wide. The bright white stems look gorgeous, so thick and tender. One of my favorite aspects of these mushrooms is that they are so clean, pristine white and no dirt to wipe off.

Dried shitake mushrooms are quite common and I’ve bought them a few times. My mother-in-law reconstitutes the mushrooms in some sort of flavored broth (still a secret at this point – I’m working on it), then freezes for later use. You can reconstitute in any liquid you choose.

After having them at her house recently (and raving about how much I enjoyed them), she sent me home with a baggy of the flavorful shitakes. You’ll see them defrosting below:

Oyster & Shitake Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce
3 giant oyster mushrooms, sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons oil
1 dozen dry shitake mushrooms, reconstituted
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 green onion for garnish

Add the oil to a sautee pan and place over medium heat. When hot, add the oyster mushrooms and sautee until tender. Add reconstituted shitakes and cook for an additional minute to heat through.

Add oyster sauce and soy sauce, stirring to coat the mushrooms before serving.

The meal came together quickly because I utilized a prepared asian sauce. I keep a good selection of sauces on hand, since any sauce combined with veggies and make is an instant meal. With all of these sauces and seasonings, I recommend the Lee Kum Kee brand. It’s easy to find throughout North America in all types of markets and is consistently good quality.

[note: I don't get any kickback from Lee Kum Lee, I just love their sauces!]

A few of my favorite asian sauces and seasonings:

1. Oyster Sauce: Dark and thick, a robust and slightly sweet sauce with the subtle essence of oysters. Great for adding flavor to vegetables.
2. Hoisin Sauce: Thick and sweet, hoisin is a common dipping sauce but also works well to sweeten stir-fry dishes.
3. Chiu Chow: A spicy hot blend of chilies, garlic, and oil. Mix with soy sauce for a dipping sauce or drizzle over noodles for an added kick.
4. Sesame Paste: Asian sesame paste uses unhulled sesame seeds and is slightly more bitter than tahini. We use it with soy sauce as a dipping sauce, but I also use it in noodle dishes and soups.
5. Sriracha (aka Rooster Sauce): Based on a Thai hot sauce, the common North American brand features a Rooster on the bottle. It’s peppery and spicy, and is quickly becoming my all purpose condiment. Use it in any dish to add some heat. I’ve been using it lately in sandwiches.
6. Black Bean Sauce: Fermented black beans, usually added to both vegetable and meat dishes.
7. Korean BBQ Sauce: A sweet and garlicky sauce, perfect for marinating chicken or pork before placing on the grill. The sugars in the sauce caramelize nicely and make for an amazing flavor. I sometimes use in in stir-fry as well.
8. Dark Soy Sauce: A rich and thick form of aged soy sauce, it gives a deep flavor to any dish. A little goes a long way – I sometimes drizzle it into fried rice, almost every noodle dish, and over meat.

This past week found me suddenly traveling across the country to visit my childhood home in Michigan in order to care for my mother. On my first morning there, the air was warm and the sun shone brightly. Something about it just felt like spring mushroom hunting weather. I knew we had a few hours before hospital visiting hours so I convinced my brother and father to go morel mushroom hunting.

Fortunately, we found a bountiful supply of mushrooms on our first hunt – a good 30 or so. When we eventually made it to the hospital, my mother even more determined to come home quickly. Morels are a delicacy and highly valued in my family. You don’t pass up the chance for a steak dinner with morels, even if that means tracking down doctors to get your release papers signed.

Morels are such an amazing fungi. They are difficult to cultivate which is why you rarely find them on store shelves. Around Mother’s Day, morels begin to appear in Michigan. The mushrooms are typically found in moist, shaded environments often around dead elm trees, maple trees or apple trees. I haven’t studied them to understand why this is (and every mushroom hunter has their own philosophy on where to find them) but we’ve found this guidance to be true.

The mushrooms are a single piece, with a stem rising up to form the honeycomb patterned cap. When looking from the bottom of the stem, you will see they are hollow on the inside. You’ll usually find that bugs love all the nooks and crannies inside morels, so a thorough washing is a must.

Unlike store-bought mushrooms, morels should not be eaten raw (due to toxin content which is reduced during cooking). My mother slices them in half then soaks in a bowl of cold water. Dirt and debris will fall to the bottom of the bowl. You may need to drain and repeat. They will keep in the refrigerator for a few days but are best eaten soon after picking. We typically toss them lightly in flour, then fry in butter. The edges become crisp and the inside a tender, almost creamy, consistency with a light earthy flavor.

Since there are sometimes ‘fake morels’ and other varieties of inedible mushrooms, you should never ever eat any mushrooms without first consulting with a local mushroom expert. I cannot stress this enough.

In the following photo, you’ll see these two mushrooms stand out easily against the green grass. In most cases, they hide amongst brown leaves and bits of tree bark, making it much more difficult to find. If the ground is covered in a thick layer of leaves, you may need to brush them aside to find morels laying on their sides underneath.

My brother admitted that he had never found a morel mushroom before, which I found odd given how many he’s likely eaten. In retrospect, I was the one called ‘nature boy’ while growing up and was always out wandering the farm in search of interesting specimens. I guess he never participated in the mushroom hunting back then, but he certainly enjoyed it this time.

My brother is competitive and after finding the first few, he became much more intrigued by the hunt. Here he is walking home with his bag of mushrooms:

My father also enjoyed the hunt and told stories of morel mushrooms past. His favorite story involves finding mushrooms nearly 8 inches in height. It reminded me of fishermen with tall tales of the fish which got away. However, I can vouch for him this time. I do remember finding very tall morels in the past but it seems to change each year based on weather and other conditions. This year, most of them were four inches in height or smaller.

Unfortunately, our hunt yielded my father only a few mushrooms, like the one he is proudly displaying below:

While many mushroom hunters travel around to find the best mushroom picking spots, we are content to hunt only on our own land. We’ve found several good locations that yield enough mushrooms for ‘ a good mess’, as my mother likes to say.

Over the past week, we’ve found over 70 mushrooms and I think there remains another good week or two in the season. About 3.5 pounds found, in total. One local market was selling morels for $35 per pound but I’ve heard some restaurants will pay up to $50 per pound. For the fun we had and for the joy it brought us all, I’m not sure we would ever sell our mushrooms, no matter the price.

Anyone finding morels where you live?

Morel mushroom resources:
The Great Morel
Morel Mushroom Hunting Club
Northern Country Morels
Morel Tales: The Culture of Mushrooming
The National Morel Mushroom Festival

Morel mushroom recipes from other food blogs:
Sauteed Morel Mushrooms with Fava Beans – Apple Pie, Patis, & Pate
Veal Chops with Morel Mushrooms – Sunday Nite Dinner
Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup – Simply Recipes

Today kicks off a series of much-needed Mexican recipes. Since moving to Canada, I find myself missing my former ’south of the border’ food. And now that Mexico is two borders away, I miss it tremendously. I dusted off my sole Mexican cookbook and decided to explore a few recipes I hadn’t yet tried. This one is for a spicy-sweet salad featuring crisp jicama and juicy pineapple.


Before we know it, Summer will be here once again and I want to be prepared with easy picnic ideas. With several parks within walking distance, I have it in my mind that we’ll picnic more often than we did in California. It’s possible that I’m the only one who shares in this idea .. but for now, let me assume there are picnics in my future.

I’ve tried jicama before and found it interesting – extremely crisp and refreshing with little flavor of its own. I think of it as equivalent to tofu, since it’s more the texture of jicama and the flavors it will absorb. Jicama works perfectly in this recipe and is a nice contrast to the juicy pineapple. You should be able to find jicamas easily in both Asian and Mexican grocery stores. The root vegetable is tan, smooth, and round.

Please note two things before attempting this recipe — the amount of serranos and salt. Use your own discretion when using these two ingredients and tailor it to suit your tastes. I used 2 serranos, removing both the pith and seeds to reduce the level of heat. I used a full teaspoon of salt as the recipe suggested. The salt is prominent in this dish and reminds me of the salty rim on a margarita — there is a strong rivalry between the sweet and salty components of the salad. It surprised me at first but I enjoyed it.

Jicama-Pineapple Salad
adapted from Mexico: The Beautiful Cookbook

3 cups cubed, pineapple
3 cups cubed, jicama
2 serrano peppers, finely diced
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

The salad is quick to make — simply toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl and allow to chill for at least 15 minutes before serving. It makes a great appetizer, just provide toothpicks or other skewers. Delicious!

I served the salad in my favorite piggy bowl which I bought a couple years ago at Michael Chiarello’s NapaStyle store in Berkeley. According to the Chinese zodiac, I am a pig and during the Year of the Pig in 2007, piggy bowls were everywhere so I bought this and one other (coming later this week).

Ok, time to share another behind the scenes look at how this post comes together. I was so excited by the salad and using piggy that I kinda made a mess while taking the photos. Before I knew it, toothpicks were flying all over the place:

My new favorite vegetable has got to be the bitter melon. It’s a rather knobby looking green cylinder which is aptly named. It is utterly and truly bitter. I’ve had it in soups but prefer it best when paired with the sweetness of eggs in a simple stir-fry/omelet.

The bitter melon is common in Asian cooking and is grown in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. I think I’ve seen it in nearly every Asian market I’ve ever entered. Although there is scientific debate, bitter melon is believed to contain medicinal properties that can treat malaria, digestive issues, and diabetes. While I’m not eating it for any of these issues, there’s just something about the bitter flavor that lures me in (and, it’s always good to know that I’m combating malaria at the same time, just in case).

Bitterness is not a flavor that we often attribute with something we *want* to eat. Personally, bitter flavors always remind me of when I couldn’t swallow as aspirin as a child and it would begin to melt on my tongue. Yuck. I shudder just thinking about it. Given my aversion, it’s so surprising to me that I’ve really grown to love this vegetable.

Joe’s mom has made bitter melon for me a few times since arriving in Vancouver and she was surprised to find a Caucasian who liked it so much. I decided to try making it myself last week. I’ve now made it twice already. Fortunately, bitter melons are easily found in Asian markets and are reasonably priced so it makes for an affordable dish.

To make this dish, I cut off the ends of the melon, then sliced lengthwise down the center. The inside is a spongy pith with large dark seeds. Use a spoon to scoop this out and discard. Slice the melon crosswise into thin slices (1/8″).

Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons oil and add bitter melon. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until the vegetable just begins to soften. Pour 2-4 beaten eggs (depending on how egg-y you’d like it — in my photos I only used 2 eggs and prefer it with 4). You can sprinkle with a couple teaspoons of soy sauce if you like. Allow the egg to get firm on the bottom before trying to flip the omelet. It doesn’t need to remain in one piece (and likely won’t), so don’t get upset as it crumbles apart.

My photo does not do this justice. You see, I messed around with the egg mixture and shouldn’t have. I thinned it out with some broth thinking it would be nice and fluffy … instead, the eggs didn’t hold their shape and it became a bit sloppy looking. It still tasted ok but I don’t recommend it. I’ve made it again since this attempt and didn’t mess with the eggs, and it turned out much better.

I served this as a side dish along with rice and sticky spare ribs (coming later this week). The melon’s bitterness matches nice with the sweet egg. You get a bitter/sweet flavor in every bite which I really really like.

If you decide to try it, you’ll need to have an open mind :-) I can imagine many wrinkled noses around the dinner table if you aren’t fully prepared to accept the bitterness (i.e. don’t waste your time trying to convince your kids). But, it’s worth a try nonetheless!

Here are others who are eating Bitter Melon:

Bittermelon and Shrimp in Black Bean Sauce @ House of Annie
Mama’s Ampalaya @ [eatingclub] Vancouver
Chinese Bitter Melon Stir-Fry @ Chubby Panda
Grilled Bitter Melon, Mango, and Tomato Salad @ Burnt Lumpia
Bitter Melon Soup @ HolyBasil

I don’t know why I continue to overuse the word ’sexy’. I really need to consult a thesaurus as I need to boost my descriptive word choices. But, for now, these sesame green beans will have to remain ’sexy’.

My brother came over for dinner earlier this week and we are both eating much healthier these days. I made a broiled salmon and served it over these flavorful beans. The recipe is quick and simple, so don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

Blanch the beans, toss with a teaspoon of sesame oil, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Before blanching, I trimmed my beans then added to boiling water. I cooked them for about 3 minutes until they became vibrant green and started to become tender. I drained them and added back to the pan where I tossed with the drizzle of sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Don’t let simplicity fool you – the sesame oil perfumes the air and gives the beans a light nutty flavor. The toasted sesame seeds add a little extra crunch and pop with toasty goodness when you bite into the beans. Sesame oil is a great pantry investment as a tiny amount can add so much flavor to stir-fry, soups, and salads.

I also planned to add fresh lemon zest for a citrus kick but we were talking and somewhere along the way I forgot to add it. A pinch of red pepper flake or chopped red chilies would be a nice addition too.

My brother hadn’t experienced having his dinner plated and photographed before eating, so he patiently watched while I did my thing. I tried to be quick but our dinner ended up a lukewarm .. the price you have to pay for doing writing a food blog. :-)

Tomorrow I will post the broiled salmon that accompanied these delicious beans. I used a mustard glaze with lots of herbs and garlic.

A couple months ago we went to a friend’s house for a lazy Sunday morning brunch and I had the most wonderful watermelon salad. I’ve since seen quite a few variations on it but I think it’s best when kept simple. Let the sweetness of the watermelon be balanced by a bit of olive oil, mint, and cheese.

There are no surprises here. The first paragraph pretty much captures the recipe which is why I like this salad — it’s simple, yet interesting. I cubed fresh watermelon and arranged on a platter. You can chap and sprinkle the mint leaves haphazardly or place a small leaf on top of each watermelon cube. I must have been having a ‘neat & tidy’ day and felt the need to precisely place the leaves, very unlike me.

For the cheese, my friend used feta but I wanted to try a cow’s milk cheese, so I choose queso fresco. It is a crumbly, tangy farmer’s cheese. I like the fresh and light taste that it brings to the dish. Once again, you can sprinkle it on or precisely arrange the cheese. The final fleurish is a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

I thought my friend was a genius when I tried her salad since it’s not a common usage of watermelon here. I enjoyed the savory edge and look forward to trying watermelon paired with other savory items. Later this week I’ll be posting about a watermelon salsa which uses onions and jalapenos :-)