Thursday, September 10, 2009

Thursday Tweet Treats~

This week's Thursday Tweet Treat is a truly sensational, uber easy frozen, refreshing desert that uses just ONE ingredient.

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I certainly did not make this discovery first hand, and you can scope out this dairy-free, one-ingredient- "ice cream" over at The Kitchn on August 19th and on Instrucables.com recently too!!

Are you wondering how to make this creamy goodness??

Wanna know what the ONE ingredient in this "ice-cream" is? Well if you follow me on Tiwtter, I will be tweeting the recipe at least three times today, and just so you don't miss it, from now on, just before the Tweet Treat Tweet I will do an announcement tweet with the title of the recipe and "#recipe", hopefully this will make it easier to spot!!

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Don't forget Sweet Life Kitchen's FIRST GIVEAWAY EVER!!!~CLICK HERE for DETAILS~

CLICK THIS LINK to FOLLOW ALONG on TWITTER!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Just Halibut....and a whack photo.

This is totally phoning it in in the photo department~ my apologies. This photo was taken after the good light of the day had passed. It was also, unfortunately, taken with anger because I'd just shattered my NEW pretty yellow Le Creuset rectangle baking dish. :( You will get to enjoy that baking dish just like I did, once...it'll be featured in the upcoming Peach & Apricot cobbler post. Blast. I miss it already...
ANYHOW~
This is super simple, dinner-in-minutes, healthy meal...add a baked potato, rice or a toasted Hawaiian roll if you'd like. I made this after a looong Labor Day weekend eating marathon. So we just kept it simple halibut, roasted garlic and spinach. I also had a few scallops and cooked them right along with the halibut~ they weren't cooked properly though so I am excluding the 'splaination in this post...more scallop recipes coming soon.

Serves 4

4 4oz Halibut steaks
1 bunch spinach
1/2 a lemon
1 head of garlic
3 T butter
olive oil
salt
pepper

Cut the top off of the head of garlic, exposing the tops of most of the individual cloves. Place on foil & drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the toaster oven at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until garlic is golden and soft. While garlic is cooking, wash the spinach and chop it up coarsely, removing as many of the stems as possible, pat dry with a paper towel & place in a large saute pot. Add a little olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter and a little salt & pepper, squeeze the juice of 1/4 of a lemon, turn on medium heat, stir occasionally until spinach reduces and is cooked but not wilted (about 4-6 minutes). When the garlic clove is done roasting, smash up 3-4 cloves and stir into spinach. In a large pan, heat a few tablespoons olive oil and 1 T butter on medium heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper all sides of each halibut steak. Add fish to the heated pan and squeeze 1/4 of a lemon over the fish, cook about 4 minutes. Flip, squeeze more lemon and cook about 4 minutes..flip again and give it another minute, or until fillets are golden, one more flip to brown that other side. Serve with the spinach and 3-4 cloves roasted garlic on the side. Healthy, delicious, even though the photo was junk ;o)

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Don't forget Sweet Life Kitchen's FIRST GIVEAWAY EVER!!!~CLICK HERE for DETAILS~

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Tailgating with Dorie~ A COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY!!

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Well, the more accurate title for this post would be Biscuits with Dorie, but because I made these biscuits for our first tailgate of the year, I was inspired to come up with a football themed pots title...Biscuits are perfect in many, many settings- including on a paper plate with fresh berry jam, on a Saturday game-morning at the start of the season. While making these biscuits I though about how much I love my copy of Baking from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. I purchased it when I joined the weekly baking ranks of Tuesdays with Dorie, and loved each and every recipe I tried! While I was unable to keep up with my weekly TWD commitment, I still cherish this book and use it VERY often!! There are so many great recipes that are really not all that technically difficult and yield professional, delicious results. When I make something from this book I prefer to post the link to buy the book vs posting a copy of the recipe...I've decided to go one step further and GIVE YOU THE BOOK!!! THAT'S RIGHT, A FREE COPY OF DORIE GREENSPAN'S BAKING; FROM MY HOME TO YOURS!!!!

Just type "Tuesdays with Dorie" into the search feature on this blog to get a tiny idea of the bounty of glorious recipes that this awesome book contains! Mine is a floury-sticky mess, but don't worry, the winner will receive a shiny new copy~ ready to get coated in flour and sugar!

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Here's how it's going to go down~
All you have to do is POST A COMMENT with your favorite Dorie recipe or if you've never tried one, the one you'd like to try, on to this post on or before Tuesday September 15th and a winner will be chosen at 6pm PST on Tuesday September 15, 2009.

I'll post links back to this giveaway on my TWITTER and FACEBOOK page to remind you to get your post up before 9/15/09 at 6pm PST!!
Good Luck~

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

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Nana grows zucchini and mid-August it is very abundant around here!! We'd also purchased a big bundle of carrots at the market with the intention of juicing them...but on a Saturday afternoon of cleaning out the fridge we decided to try this combo in a muffin, totally delicious. I had never tried zucchini bread until a few years ago when Nate made it with the awesome zuchini from Nana. I couldn't believe how much I loved it. She makes a FABULOUS chocolate zucchini cake that I will have
to make and share with you soon, but for now enjoy this combo-muffin~ a yummy veggie-filled snack that is perfect any time of day!!

Makes 24 muffins
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots & zucchini
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 handful mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 handfuls crushed pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350, and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt- set aside. In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the eggs and sugar. Add the zucchini, carrots, oil, milk and vanilla and mix about 30-45 seconds, until ingredients are well combined. With the mixer on a low speed add the flour mixture slowly, and mix just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Using a large spoon or spatula, stir the chocolate chips and pecans into the batter. Fill each muffin cup a bit over 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Mama Corrado Pasta Salad

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On summer Thursdays in LA we gravitate to the Santa Monica pier for picnic dinners and some outside week-night relaxing, sad to see it coming to a close, I will cherish these evenings in the sand eating dinner with friends. This year, on September 9th, 2009 the pier will turn 100 years old and we'll be down at the beach watching the fireworks and eating dinner on the sand one more time before we head full force into fall, football and snow (boarding for Nate, skiing for me!)...

A few weeks back when I took the PICNIC CHICKEN to the pier, I also attempted to pay tribute to a family tradition of a favorite girl. My friend Natalie has a mom that knows what is up in the kitchen. I mean it, and you KNOW what I am takin' about. They have spectacular get-togethers and after one of those, Natalie brought in some leftovers of a pasta salad that was awesome, and I'd never had anything like it before!!
It had everything rockin and can feed a big group of hungry fun-having friends with out spending a zillion dollars.

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This should be called Tribute to Mama Corrado Salad, because although Natalie & Naomi gave mine the thumbs up, I had the real deal again this past weekend and I think because I 1/2'd the recipe mine was not quite the same...I'll go full batch next time and tote this yummy pasta, tuna, egg salad down to the Coliseum to chow on before we watch the Trojans win some football!! WOOHOOOOO!

1 regular sized bag Macaroni pasta
4 8oz cans Tuna
8 Hard boiled eggs, chopped
4 ice cream scooper scoops of Mayonnaise
1 ice cream Mustard
6-8 Chopped sweet pickles (I used 12 cornichons)
1 can of sweet peas
salt & pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepot. Cook macaroni about 9 minutes or until cooked a bit aldente (you don't want it overcooked and mushy!)Drain and cool pasta.

Mix the macaroni, tuna, eggs, sweet pickles, peas, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the mayo and mustard, and mix until everything is incorporated. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Thursday Tweet Treats~

So as I'd mentioned last week, I've joined the ranks of tweeting twitterers and decided a great challenge/use for my twitter account would be to come up with recipes so easy they could be captured in 140 characters or less, ingredients & instructions bada-bing.

Two recipes down and many more to come, I plan to continue this at LEAST every Thursday~ so be sure to FOLLOW ME on Twitter so you are sure not to miss any of the so-easy-you-can-tweet-em goodness~

THIS WEEKS THURSDAY TWEET TREAT is a delicious all-fruit smoothie;

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It's been VERY hot in L.A. and unfortunately, there is a VERY large fire burning not too far from where I live and work. We feel awful for all the people, animals & homes that have been hurt by this fire and really hope it gets under control soon.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Picnic Steak Samich

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Sometimes it's all about an AMAZING sandwich, or samich, as this particular recipe creates.
With Fall right around the corner, it's time to start planning our tailgating menus and Sunday afternoon football party feasts! Nate suggested this for last Thursday night's pier picnic dinner and we were all very grateful for his inspiration.
This is very easy to put together, the flavor is off the chain and you can feed a good sized group with out seriously breaking the bank. So...be sure you add this bad boy to your Fall get-together menu and HAPPY FOOTBALL SEASON EVERYONE~

This makes 2 Giant Samiches, each samich feeds about 6-8 adults
1 tri-tip (about 2 lbs.)
tri-tip rub*
2 large loaves French bread
1 batch of garlic aioli**
4 avocados
1 sweet white onion
the best balsamic vinegar you can find (my favorite is from Joan's on Third, 18 years old- thick- almost sweet- and beyond delicious)

Tri-Tip Rub
In a small bowl mix equal parts (a few tablespoons)Kosher salt & cracked black pepper, then add in a few teaspoons garlic powder & onion powder, throw in a pinch of cayenne & 3 cloves minced fresh garlic.

Garlic Aioli
3 cloves garlic
1 raw large egg
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
3 T. mayo
a pinch of salt and a little bit of cracked black pepper

In a food processor, blend the garlic, egg, lemon juice salt and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil and continue to process. Once all the olive oil is added process about 1-2 minutes, add mayo, then process another 30 seconds- 1 minute and transfer to container with a secure lid, refrigerate 1 hour.

Slice the onion and throw it in a saute pan on low heat with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Continue to stir the onions occasionally and saute on lowest heat for about 45 minutes, until they are all caramelized and gloriously golden looking. While you are caramelizing the onions, grill that tri-tip! Trim off any major excess fat, if it is not already pretty trimmed. Rub it with the spice/garlic mix and toss it on the grill (on medium heat), for about 45 minutes flipping 2-3 times until the internal temperature is about 140-150 degrees, cook longer if you'd like it more medium to well done.

Let the tri tip cool completely, when the onions are all caramelized, set them aside to cool completely as well.

Slice the tri-tip thin for stackin on the bread. Slice the avocados (you'll use two avocados on each samich). Slice the French bread open lengthwise. On the top half of each loaf, generously slather aioli. On the bottom layer lightly drizzle the balsamic vinegar (if you are worried about the steadiness of your hand and don't want to annihilate the bread by accidentally dumping the bottle, pour it in little pours into a large spoon and use that for drizzling.)
Layer caramelized onions on the bottom half of each loaf, over the balsamic, then layer the tri tip over the onions. Top the tri tip with avocado slices and top with the aioli'd top half of bread. SHIZAM- awesome, amazing samich perfection.
Slice each according to how many folks you've got coming to grub down and what else you may be serving on the side...(two great side-suggestions comin ASAP!! Keep ya posted)

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