Adventures in Cooking

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and White Wine

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 22:50:00 GMT

There are some days where you crave the simple and the good. Something that you know will go well together, is easy to make, and requires the smallest amount of clean-up afterwards. And on those days, I like to stick to one-pot cooking. All the flavors slowly melding together in a single container, bubbling away over an open flame. With this type of cooking, I’ve found that often times the simpler the ingredients, the better. You get more depth to each flavor without too many spices, fruits, and vegetables muddling the overall taste of the dish. And when your main ingredients are chicken, mushrooms, and white wine, you know the end result will be quite good, indeed.

The recipe is very straightforward, coat the chicken cutlets in a bit of flour, brown them in butter, add the mushrooms, thyme, and wine to the mix and voila! Dinner is served. The earthiness of the mushrooms pares down the acidity of the dry white wine, and the rich and savory flavor that comes from the chicken and butter provides the perfect compliment to the other two. As far as the flour goes, it helps to thicken up the sauce a bit, but if you wanted to go gluten-free you could easily substitute cornstarch as an alternative thickening agent.

There’s no better way to enjoy the season of the humble and magical mushroom, and if you’re looking for more savory dishes that put this fungi to good use, I recommend this simple mushroom and egg toast for breakfast, or if you’re on the lookout for a slightly elevated savory breakfast dish, this creamy mushroom Dutch baby. And for a comforting soup that tastes just as good the second day as it did the first, this lentil and mushroom soup is a fall staple at our house. It’s also very healthy, and is a wonderful yin to the yang of this chicken. Wishing you a very beautiful and delicious autumn from Portland <3

Braised Chicken with Sautéed Mushrooms and White Wine

Course Dinner

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings people

Calories 498kcal

Author Eva Kosmas Flores

Ingredients

4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 1/4 pounds)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound mushrooms cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Rub the chicken thighs with the salt and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Empty the flour into a shallow dish. Season the chicken with the pepper and then dredge the chicken in the flour until lightly coated. Set aside.
Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Place browned chicken on a plate or platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the mushrooms and garlic, stirring to coat in the butter. Cook until the mushrooms have released their water, shrunk, and darkened in color, about 15 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so.
Add the wine, broth, soy sauce, thyme leaves, and the browned chicken and raise the heat to medium, bringing the mixture to a boil. Ladle the pan juices over the chicken. Place the pid partially covering the pot, keeping it a bit open for the steam to escape.
Once the chicken is cooked all the way through (a thermometer inserted towards the bone reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit and the juices of the chicken run clear), taste the mushrooms and add additional salt and pepper as desired. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.

Nutrition

Garlic Shrimp Bruschetta with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 19:58:41 GMT

This recipe is my farewell to the summer—cherry tomatoes are usually the only fruits small enough to still ripen when the sun starts to wane and the cool nights of autumn re-introduce themselves into the garden. They’re the last breath of summer’s harvest. To extract every ounce of sweet tannic flavor from each juicy little flavor bomb, I recommend slow-roasting them. This keeps the bottom of the tomato from charring and blackening (as will often happen if you roast for a short amount of time at a high temperature), and helps preserve the delicate bright flavors of juicy summer tomatoes.

Once you’ve roasted them, you’ve got some options. You can throw some in a container in the refrigerator, where they’ll keep for a few weeks, or you can freeze them on a baking sheet, and then pick the frozen ones off and place them in a plastic bag in the freezer, to make for easier storage and more customizable portion sizes (since you can easily grab a couple of them rather than having to thaw an entire jar to use at once). And you can set some freshly roasted ones aside to use for a delicious and simple garlic shrimp bruschetta.

If you’re unfamiliar with bruschetta, it’s an Italian dish that consists of toasted slices of bread, rubbed with raw garlic, and topped with olive oil, salt, fresh tomato, and basil. You can add other goodness to it, too, but these toppings are the mainstays. For this recipe, I top my bruschetta with the slow roasted cherry tomatoes and some shrimp sautéed with a generous amount of garlic. And there’s fresh basil, salt, and olive oil in the mix as well, of course. This makes for a delicious and simple meal that’s as nourishing for the body as it is for the spirit, whether it’s enjoyed as a lunch, an appetizer amongst a group of friends, or a dinner between a couple. It’s my favorite way to use up those last juicy little summer gems, and goes very well with a glass of red wine and good company. Enjoy, my friends ????

Garlic Shrimp Bruschetta

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian

Keyword bruschetta

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Servings bruschetta

Calories 136kcal

Ingredients

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb 2 ounces cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Garlic Basil Shrimp Bruschetta

6 cloves garlic minced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
1 baguette cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
Juice from 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic cut in half
1/4 cup small whole basil leaves
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the tomatoes in half and place on lipped baking sheet, cut side facing up. Lightly brush the cut sides with the olive oil, and then sprinkle them with the salt and pepper.
Place the pan in the oven and roast until the tomatoes have shrunk considerably, are nice and wrinkly around the edges, but still have a touch of juicy shine to the centers, about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes depending on the size, shape, and juiciness of your cherry tomatoes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Garlic Basil Shrimp Bruschetta

Mix together the minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, chopped basil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Allow the mixture to infuse for 15 minutes. In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with the garlic mixture and allow to infuse in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes.
While they're infusing, lightly brush the baguette slices with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large frying pan, and toast the slices until golden, working in batches as needed. Set the slices aside.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp mixture and sauté until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. Remove from heat, add the lemon juice, and stir to coat the shrimp.

Assembly

Rub the toasted baguette slices with the cut half of the raw garlic, then evenly distribute the shrimp, roasted cherry tomatoes, small basil leaves, and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. Makes about 16 bruschetta.

Nutrition

Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice, Basil, and Parmesan + Downloadable Art Prints

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 13:43:38 GMT

We’ve made it to that funny in-between season in the midst of the tail-end of summer and the first wisps of fall. This time of year always feels like a bit of a transitional period, but with all that’s happening right now with school starting up again and workplaces shifting routines, that transitional feeling is even more present. Many of us are schooling and working from home at the moment (my household included), and have established new routines that revolve staying home and inside a lot more than we normally would. One thing that’s really helped make this new routine easier is making my home feel like a really warm, cozy, and joyful place to be, and part of that has been printing out my favorite photographs with my Canon PIXMA TR4520 and hanging them up on the walls. The vibrant colors, calming scenes, and crisp matte prints make me happy and soothed every time I look at them, and I’ve included a free download for 6 of my favorite photo prints for you here!

Having high-quality physical prints that print true-to-color is deeply important to me, especially when I’m looking at them everyday on the walls of my home. And with the Canon PIXMA TR4520, I get a crisp, colorful, and perfectly contrasted print every time. Plus they have an incredible selection of fun photo papers, ranging from magnetic ones (so you can place your favorite photos on your refrigerator or anything you’ve painted with magnetic paint), to professional quality matte photo paper (which is what I use to print out my photographs). If you’re looking for an affordable at-home printer that gives you bonkers-amazing quality prints, I’d highly recommend it (especially for all the holiday greeting printing coming up!) Plus, you guys know that when you support my partners, you’re also helping me be able to continue bringing you flavorful seasonal recipes + garden goodness on the regular ????

And along with the free photo print download, Canon is also sharing a free e-book with the recipe for these stuffed tomatoes + loads of delicious other recipes from fellow food bloggers, and you can download it here! I’d love to see you making these stuffed tomatoes or any other dish from the e-book, so make sure to mark them with the #CanonInTheKitchen hashtag so I can see your creations!

About these stuffed tomatoes, they’re based on a recipe my mom made for us every summer growing up. As soon as the garden started popping out tomatoes, she’d start scooping out their juicy goodness, mixing it with rice and ground meat and garlic and herbs, and stuff it back in before roasting it all up together. Every time I eat this it reminds me of those hot summer evenings as a kid, all sitting around our dinner table, enjoying the sweet and savory flavor of summer’s parting gift. I hope you enjoy it, too!

Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice, Basil, and Parmesan

Course Dinner

Cuisine Greek

Keyword stuffed tomatoes

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings people

Calories 423kcal

Ingredients

Stuffed Tomatoes

6 large tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus a bit extra for brushing
1 medium yellow onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 small eggplant about 3 ounces, chopped
1 pound ground beef or lamb
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup broth chicken, beef or vegetable all work fine

Breadcrumb Mixture

1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Stuffed Tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the *very* tops off of each of the tomatoes and use a spoon to scoop out the soft juicy pulp, while leaving the walls of the tomatoes intact. Place the tomato pulp in a bowl and set it aside, and set the hollowed out tomatoes aside and their caps/tops as well.
For the filling, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened and transparent, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Add the garlic and allow to cook until the garlic is softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes more, stirring every minute or so. Add the eggplant and cook until it's softened a bit, about 5 to 7 minutes. Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, leaving the center empty. Then add the ground beef or lamb to the empty center space, and sauté until cooked through, breaking the meat apart into small pieces with the end of your wooden spoon as it cooks.
Remove from heat and empty into a large heat-proof bowl (like a metal, glass, or ceramic one). Measure out two cups of the tomato pulp mixture and add it to the meat mixture. Add the rice, parmesan, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.

Breadcrumb Mixture

In a small bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs, salt, garlic powder, and thyme. Drizzle with the olive oil and stir it up with a fork to lightly coat the breadcrumbs in the oil. Set it aside.

Assembly

Evenly spread out 1/4 of the meat mixture on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13-inch casserole or baking pan. Place the six hollowed out tomatoes in the pan, and fill them with the meat mixture. Place any remaining meat mixture between the outside of tomatoes in the pan, filling up any crevices and gaps between the stuffed tomatoes. Pour the chicken stock into the pan.
Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the filling in each of the tomatoes, and sprinkle it on the filling between the tomatoes in the pan. Place the caps on the tomatoes and, using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the caps and any exposed skin of the stuffed tomatoes with some olive oil. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the tomato caps get golden patches and the filling is bubbling and fragrant, about 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Nutrition

Grape Custard Tart + a Free Lighting Masterclass

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 20:59:45 GMT

I have some exciting news to share today—I’m hosting a free class all about natural lighting, and you can read more + sign up for it here! As you can probably tell from the images I share here, lighting makes *such* a huge impact on photo quality, and I am so incredibly excited to share my go-to lighting techniques with you in the class ???? And as for this grape custard tart, well…my grape vine didn’t produce as much fruit this year as I’d hoped, but I was able to gather enough of them to whip up this delicious almond custard base with a sweet homemade grape jello layer on top!

Now, I know grape jello and custard might sound strange, but trust me when I say that this cool, creamy, and fruity flavor combination is absolutely bonkers good together. Plus, this isn’t the same as that boxed grape jello from the store. Nope, this is homemade grape concentrate, made with fresh, sweet, juicy grapes, a touch of sugar and water, and a pinch of gelatin. It’s concentrating down all that tannic sweet summer grape goodness into a single vibrant layer on top of the classic almond custard, and it makes for quite the end-of-summer treat.

There are longer steps in this recipe (like soaking the almonds for the custard, and freezing the crust for an hour), so make sure to read through the whole recipe before you make it so that you can pace it out accordingly. It’s not difficult to make, there’s just a lot of down time while you wait for things to cool, basically. As for the garnish on top of the grape custard tart, I stuck to the same color palette as the grape concentrate and went with fresh purple figs, thinly sliced plums, and some fresh grapes for good measure. But you can feel free to use whatever fresh fruits you have on hand ????

Grape Custard Tart with Fresh Fruit

Course Dessert

Keyword grape

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Resting/Cooling Time 1 day

Servings people

Calories 419kcal

Ingredients

Almond Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups almond meal
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter cold and hard
8 to 12 tablespoons ice water

Almond Custard

1 cup blanched slivered almonds soaked for 3 to 8 hours in filtered water
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks whisked
3 tablespoons flour

Grape Gel

6 ounces purple grapes de-stemmed
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon powdered gelatin

Garnish

2 cups fresh fruit such as figs, sliced plums, and grapes

Instructions

Crust & Custard

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until combined. Grate the butter in the large hole of the grater above the bowl, stopping to stir and coat the butter bits in the flour mixture every 30 seconds.
Pinch the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles the texture of damp sand. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing it with a fork, until the dough just holds together when you squeeze a fistful of it in your hand.
Roll out the dough into a circle until it is 1/4-inch thick, and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish tart pan. Press the crust into the pan, and trim off the excess overhang.
Poke it all over with fork and place it in freezer for 1 hour.
For the custard, strain the almonds and discard the soaking liquid. Puree the soaked almonds with the milk, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and salt at high speed until completely smooth. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a piece of tin foil and press the greased side into the crust in the pan and par-bake for 25 minutes.
While the crust is par-baking, you can finish preparing the custard. Empty the almond mixture into small saucepan and place over medium low heat, stirring every 3 minutes. Once the mixture is hot but not boiling, remove it from the heat and ladle some of the milk mixture into a medium bowl with the egg yolks, whisking them together rapidly. Continue until you’ve added about half the hot milk mixture to the yolks, then empty the yolk mixture back into the saucepan and place it back over medium low heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk vigorously until smooth. Continue cooking until the custard has thickened slightly, about 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Once the 25 minutes of par-baking for the crust are up, remove the foil from the crust and pat down any air bubbles that have risen up. Place a casserole dish half-full of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven. Pour the custard filling into the tart crust and place the pan back in the oven on the center rack. Bake until the edges of the custard are set but the middle is slightly jiggly, about 15 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the oven door. Allow the tart to cool completely in the oven (allowing it to cool slowly will prevent cracking of the custard). Then remove the tart from the pan.

Grape Gel

Heat the grapes, 1/4 cup of the water, and the sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and break apart the grapes with the end of a wooden spoon, releasing their juices. When all the grapes have burst (about 5 minutes), remove the pot from heat and strain the mixture through a metal mesh sieve or colander, reserving the grape juice, and pressing on the grape skins to extract as much liquid as possible. Compost the skins and reserve the liquid. You should have about 3/4 cup grape concentrate.
In a very small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the 2 tablespoons of cold water and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
While the grape juice is still very hot, whisk in the gelatin mixture and continue stirring until the gelatin has dissolved. Use an ice bath to cool the grape juice down to room temperature.
If you don't know what that means, get a large bowl and add a few cups of ice cubes to it. Get another bowl that's small enough to nest inside the large bowl and set it inside. Pour a bit of cold water into the larger bowl, taking care not to over-fill it—you DON'T want water to get into the center bowl. Pour the grape gelatin mixture into the center bowl and whisk it. It will cool down very quickly.
Once the grape mixture has cooled to room temperature, remove the center bowl from the ice bath and *gently* pour the grape mixture on top of the custard in the tart. Place the tart in the refrigerator and chill for 4 hours to solidify the grape gel. Before serving, garnish with fresh fruit. Serve chilled.

Nutrition

Fig and Hop Simple Syrup + Voting

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 23:27:34 GMT

I’m writing this with a chest full of smoke, sitting at home in front of my desk. The wildfires are the worst they have ever been in Oregon’s recorded history, and our neighborhood is on the border of Level 1 evacuation. The sky is blotted out with smoke, and it has seeped through the cracks of our old home and the smell of fire has permeated everything. As someone whose life is deeply tied to nature, it breaks my heart to see the damage that climate change is doing to my beautiful home state, and all the incredible rural plains and forested landscapes that make this place so special, literally going up in smoke and turning to ash before my eyes.

60% of Oregon is in a severe drought, and things will only get worse if the United States doesn’t course-correct very soon. There are so many things we could do to slow down the effects of climate change, nurture the earth, and restore the balance that’s been lost. But because of the inherent greed (both individual and corporate) within capitalism, and the lack of meaningful legal environmental protections from our government, we are on a path set towards the increasing destruction of our natural world.

We need to elect leaders who truly care about the landscape and the environmental culture within our borders, and will be brave enough to stand up for it and make big and bold changes. Please, register to vote. It takes less than two minutes, and it is more important than ever that you cast your ballot for someone who will make the world better for future generations. 83% of states are allowing mail-in ballots this year, too, but some of them require you to apply for it in advance starting now. You can read a breakdown of the different mail-in ballot + voting options by state here. Definitely google your state’s name and “mail-in ballots” to see what you have to do to make that happen. And remember that the deadline to mail in your ballots is October 28th.

I definitely don’t feel safer or happier than I did 4 years ago, and I doubt many folks do. I know it’s unpopular to get even slightly political on a site about food, but it’s hard to ignore it when it’s literally choking me in my own home. I don’t have the luxury of putting my head in the sand and pretending that everything is just dandy. Because it very much isn’t. Ahem!

So, if you find yourself incredibly wound up and stressed about the world at this late summer season, I have a very simple + soothingly aromatic recipe for this fig and hop simple syrup below. You can buy dried hops very easily online, but if you have them fresh from the vine that works great too. Hops are an herbal flower that has a calming effect on the human body, and they’re often used to brew + flavor IPA beers. But their uses extend much beyond just beer brewing, and include herbal teas and soothing bath salt mixtures. When you combine hops’ herbal floral flavor with fresh juicy figs, it creates an insanely fruit-forward simple syrup that tastes like honeydew melon concentrate. For real, it’s absolutely wild! I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you take action against climate change with your vote this autumn. <3

Fig and Hop Simple Syrup

Course Drinks

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Resting Time 2 days

Servings ounces

Ingredients

1 cup hops dried or fresh
5 ounces fresh figs quartered
16 oz mason jar
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Place the hops and fresh quartered figs in the mason jar and set aside. Heat the water and sugar in a small pot over medium high heat, stirring a few times to help the sugar dissolve.
Once the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved, pour the hot syrup into the mason jar with the figs and hops. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for 48 hours.
Strain the syrup, setting aside the figs and hops. Keep the syrup in a mason jar in the refrigerator. You can eat the figs, but they will be very sweet since they've been steeping in syrup. Compost the hops.
The syrup is wonderful in cocktails, in a quick lemonade with some lemon juice and ice water, in iced tea, and iced matcha lattes. It has a delicious honeydew melon flavor to it!

Fig Cheesecake Tart with Honey and Pistachios

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 18:19:46 GMT

There’s so much good produce in the summertime—it’s hard to pick favorites. But if I were pressed to, a ripe juicy fig would definitely be in my top three. I love this fig cheesecake because it lets the fresh figs be and allows you to enjoy them in all their raw and decadent glory, simply quartered and adorned atop the cheesecake tart. And with a little extra drizzle of honey and pinch of crunchy pistachios over the top, it makes for a wonderful mix of textures and flavors.

I made this tart for a special project I’m working on with my dear friend Bea Lubas, and I’ll be sharing more about that later in the fall (you can sign up for my email list to find out the details asap once released!) Also, her book all about food photography just came out and it’s absolutely incredible—highly recommend it! For the project, I wanted to make something beautiful and delicious, and I knew I had the best of both worlds when I spotted these plump green figs at the farmer’s market. I’m not quite sure what variety they are (it was simply labeled ‘figs’ at the farm stand) but goodness were they good. So sweet and syrupy inside, and the skin was so thin you could eat them whole with no problem.

I drew a bit from my Greek food heritage for the other components, using goat’s cheese and honey in the fig cheesecake filling, almond in the crust, and pistachios sprinkled on top. You really can’t go wrong with flavor combinations that have stood the test of time for thousands of years ???? The same goes for this fresh fig, grape, and ricotta salad I whipped up last summer (if you’re looking for more fresh fig recipe inspiration!) There’s some salty proscuitto and tangy balsamic in that one, too, which makes for an out of this world summery salad! I hope you enjoy this tart as much as I did, and are soaking up this last bit of summer. I’ll be back again next week with one more fig-centric recipe for the season!

Fig Cheesecake Tart with Honey and Pistachios

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Keyword fig

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 40 minutes

Chilling Time 5 hours

Servings people

Calories 301kcal

Ingredients

Almond Crust

1 cup almond flour
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
5 ounces butter cold and hard
8 to 12 tablespoons ice water

Chevre Cheesecake Filling

8 ounces plain goats cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs whisked, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature

Toppings

6 to 8 figs quartered
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Instructions

Almond Crust

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon until blended. Cut the butter into pea sized pieces over the bowl, stopping to stir every few minutes to coat the butter pieces in the flour mixture.
Use your fingertips to pinch the butter pieces in the flour until the mixture resembles the texture of damp sand. Add the water and stir to combine, then knead the dough with your hands until it comes together, about 10 to 30 seconds. If the dough sticks together when you grab it and squeeze it in your hand, it's fine. If it falls apart, add another tablespoon or two of water.
Transfer the dough to a clean surface, pat it into a circle, cover it, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough into a roughly 12-inch circle and transfer it to a greased 9-inch tart pan, trimming off any excess edges. Use a fork to poke holes all over it and place it in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight.

Chevre Cheesecake Filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the goat cheese, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix until combined. With the stand mixer mixing at low speed, add the milk in a thin steady stream. Mix until incorporated and smooth. Set aside.
Place the tart shell on a baking sheet. Line the inside of the tart shell with a piece of tin foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and remove and discard the aluminum foil. Press down any areas of the crust where air bubbles have formed. Add the cheesecake filling and bake until edges are set but the center is still very slightly wobbly, about 15 to 20 more minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to help firm up the filling.
Top with the quartered figs, creating concentric circles of the fig slices on the top of the tart. Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Blackberry Pavlova with Cardamom

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 01:35:21 GMT

I originally made this blackberry pavlova for a blog post waaaaay back in 2012 as a part of a larger dinner party post with a few other old recipes. Like many of the posts I created back then, the food was good, but the recipe writing needed improvement, and the images weren’t what I’d call my best work. But, I like having some of those old images around because they show how far anyone can come at any task (given lots of practice), so I have a few of them at the bottom of this post (Brace yourselves!) ????

Originally, I’d made this as a multi-layered pavlova rather than a single one. But since pavlova’s meringue base makes them a bit fragile, I didn’t like the idea of the weight of the toppings crushing all the beautiful meringue. Part of the joy of a pavlova is having that satisfying ‘CRUNCH’ of the outer crisp shell break away to reveal the marshmallow-like soft pillow of meringue inside—and when the weight of the layers has already crushed that shell, you kind of miss out on all that magic. So, I updated it to be a nice big solid single layer of pavlova goodness.

Aside from some quantity adjustments, the blackberry pavlova recipe held up *very* well and was just as insanely delicious as I’d remembered it being. Something about that sweet tannic blackberry flavor paired with the spiced, almost floral, flavor of ground cardamom creates an unforgettable duo. It’s encouraging my mind to go all a-flutter with more ways to incorporate cardamom and blackberry together…from pastry swirl buns to fruity crumble bars, it looks like I have quite the blackberry season ahead of me!

Blackberry Pavlova with Cardamom

Servings people

Ingredients

Blackberry Jam

1/2 pound blackberries fresh or frozen
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Cardamom Pavlova

5 egg whites
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Blackberry Whipped Cream

8 ounces heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons blackberry reduction
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish

3/4 cup fresh blackberries
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons honey

Instructions

Blackberry Jam

Heat the blackberries in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, stirring every few minutes until they break apart. Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove 2 teaspoons of the blackberry reduction mixture and set it aside. Stir in the sugar and honey and allow the blackberry jam mixture to continue simmering over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes or so. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice, zest, and cardamom, and allow to cool to room temperature then refrigerate.

Cardamom Pavlova

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Gradually beat in the sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time. Continue beating on high speed until the egg whites are shiny, thick, and hold stiff peaks, then fold in the vanilla extract and the ground cardamom.
Trace a 9-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper, then flip it upside down and place it on a baking sheet down so the traced side won't touch the meringue. Lift up each corner of the parchment paper and dab a small teaspoon-sized blob of meringue on the corner of a large baking sheet, then press the parchment paper back down firmly onto the bit of meringue (doing this on each of the four corners of the baking sheet will keep the parchment paper from sliding around while you spread your pavlova shape).
Using a rubber spatula, spread the remaining meringue into a 9-inch circle shape using the tracing to guide you. Try to make the edges of the pavlova slightly higher than the center to allow space for the toppings later on. Use an offset spatula to make vertical lines around the edge of the pavlova, starting your offset spatula at the bottom of the pavlova and then lifting straight up, and repeating all the way around the edges of the pavlova (optional).
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the meringue is crisp on the outside and easily lifts off the parchment. Turn off the oven and allow the pavlova to cool to room temperature over several hours. Pavlovas will deflate and collapse if cooled too quickly. Once cooled, remove the pavlova from the oven.
If your pavlova has cracks, do not fret. If any part looks like it may crack off after cooling, just gently press it back into place (the toppings will help hide any large cracks on the top).

Blackberry Whipped Cream

To make the whipped cream, beat whipping cream, sugar and cardamom until lightly fluffy and smooth and holds soft peaks. Then add lemon zest, blackberry reduction and vanilla and beat on low speed until it's combined thoroughly but be careful to not over beat!

Assembly

To assemble the pavlova, place the pavlova on a serving plate. Spread the blackberry whipped cream on top of it, then the blackberry jam. To garnish, arrange some of the fresh blackberries and blueberries on top and drizzle with the honey. Serve immediately and enjoy!

This Recipe was Based on a post from 2012, You Can See the Original Image Below!

No one starts being an expert at anything from the get-go ???? If you want to learn all about photography, styling, + branding to take your photos from that ↓ to this ↑, check out my online photography + styling courses!

Peaches and Cream Strudel

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:38:00 GMT

A couple weeks ago I felt an intense itch to get out of the house, so Jeremy and I headed east to our friend Trina’s farm, Mountain View Orchards, to soak up the views, wide open spaces, and pick up some fruit from their luscious peach trees. The orchard is set right against the foot of Mount Hood, so the views from the farm are as striking as those in the alps. We sat for a bit at a sunny table in the grass and enjoyed some of the cool crisp cider they brew in-house with their own apples. It felt good to sit outside someplace outside of our own yard. Really, really good. After enjoying the tickle of the cider’s bubbles on my lips, my glass eventually emptied and we made our way over to the peach groves. After a nice long walk through the fruit-studded trees, we took home a pleasantly heavy bundle of tender peaches, and I put them to use in this sweet and summery peaches and cream strudel.

In this dessert, buttery layers of filo dough encase a peachy honey custard. There’s sliced peaches on the bottom of the strudel, there’s chopped peaches mixed into the custard, plus there’s *super* thinly sliced peaches nestled into the filo dough on top. Oh! And there’s peaches cooked into the syrup that you pour over the strudel, too. It’s pretty much a creamy custardy celebration of all the flavorful magic encased in their fuzzy, tender skin. An ode to a peach, if you will.

Instead of making strudel dough from scratch, I like to keep things simple and use ready-made filo dough. As the child of a Greek immigrant, I have had a lot of experience working with filo dough and have summarized all my tips about it further down in this post. Definitely make sure to read through all of them before making this recipe. I know that filo dough can be intimidating, but I promise it’s not that bad! As long as you follow the advice I’m sharing with you, your filo experience (and your peaches and cream strudel) will be totally fine.

I will say, though, that this peaches and cream strudel isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s based off of a traditional Greek baked custard, galaktoboureko, which is one of my favorite desserts of all time, but was also created with the expectation that you were a stay-at-home mom whose sole job it was to cook for a minimum of 6 children, and would be totally okay with spending several hours tediously hunched over the counter, stovetop, and oven to create one dessert. Luckily, having ready-made filo dough saves a LOT of time, but there are still a lot of important little steps in this recipe, and a lot of nuance that goes into making it. That being said, even if your filo dough topper sinks in the custard or your peach slices are too thick and not flexible, it will still taste damn good, and in the end that’s all that really matters. ????

Working with Filo Dough

Thaw it Overnight in the Refrigerator — You can find ready-made filo dough frozen (usually right next to the frozen pie crusts) at your grocery store, but you need to defrost it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before using it. DO NOT defrost it at room temperature. If you try and defrost it at room temperature, moisture will condense within the package and the sheets *will* stick together, making it almost impossible to use the filo dough.

Keep it Covered, Keep it Safe — Once you’ve opened the package, the filo dough is now exposed to air and will begin drying out. I recommend keeping the pile of filo dough sheets covered with a kitchen towel while you’re working to keep them flexible and prevent them from drying out and crumbling.

Lightly Brush with Butter — Brushing the filo sheet you’re actively working with with melted butter helps keep it moist and flexible. I tell you when to brush it in the recipe below, but it’s worth mentioning here, too. I recommend using a bristled pastry brush, I feel like the silicone ones can hold onto too much butter sometimes, whereas the bristled ones distribute the butter more evenly.

Peaches and Cream Strudel

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Keyword peach

Servings people

Ingredients

Strudel

12 filo dough sheets (about 1/2 pound) thawed for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator if purchased frozen
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine melted
3 large peaches
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Peaches and Cream Custard Filling

2 cups whole milk or full-fat coconut milk
1/3 cup semolina flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs well-beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large peach chopped

Peach Honey Syrup

1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 peach chopped
1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

Peach Honey Syrup

Begin by making the syrup. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Strain the mixture, pressing to get all the juicy syrup out of the peaches, keeping the syrup. Cool the syrup down in an ice bath and put in the fridge.

Strudel

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and lightly flour an 8-inch springform cake pan that's about 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep, and set it aside on a lipped baking sheet (this will catch any butter that may leak out of the bottom of your springform pan as it bakes).
On a clean work surface, lay out your filo dough sheets in a pile and cover it with a linen or cotton towel to keep them from dying out. As you pull filo sheets from this pile, make sure to place the fabric back over the pile each time.
Pull a sheet of filo and lay it on your surface. Brush it lightly with the melted butter, then grab another sheet of filo and place it on top of the first sheet, and lightly brush it with butter as well. Fold the two sheets of filo dough in half width-wise to make almost a square-shape. Place them over the cake pan and press them into the sides of the pan (there will be empty spots, thats okay), and any overhang is okay too.
Repeat the previous step again, and this time place the folded filo dough in the alternate area of the pan to form a criss-cross, so that any empty spaces on the sides and bottom of the pan are covered by the filo.
Cut two of the peaches into twelfths and place the slices on the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
We will use the filo again later, so just roll it up, cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to keep it cool and prevent it from drying out while the filo shell bakes.

Peaches and Cream Custard Filling

While it's baking, you can begin the custard. Heat the milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until warm, stirring every minute or two. Add the semolina, sugar, and the butter. Continue to cook over low heat until the mixture thickens to coat the back of the spoon, whisking every few minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk 1 cup of the hot milk mixture with the beaten eggs, adding the hot milk mixture in a thin steady stream while whisking. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk constantly until it thickens a bit more, about another 3 to 5 minutes. (It should be thick enough to support the weight of the filo dough spiral we'll make without the filo dough sinking into the custard.) Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and chopped peach until combined. Set aside.

Continuing Assembly with the Strudel

When the shell of the strudel has baked for 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and fill it with the custard. Take your filo out of the refrigerator and unroll it on a clean working surface.
Take one sheet of filo and lay it out on the work surface and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Take another sheet of filo and place it on top of the first and brush it lightly with butter. Repeat this once more so that you have three sheets of filo layered on top of each other lightly brushed with melted butter.
Scrunch up the filo length-wise to create a long ridged piece of filo (see the in-process photo below). Take one end of the filo and twist it to create a slight spiral shape, and set it to the side of the work surface.
Take one sheet of filo and lay it out on the work surface and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Take another sheet of filo and place it on top of the first and brush it lightly with butter. Repeat this once more so that you have three sheets of filo layered on top of each other lightly brushed with melted butter. Scrunch up the filo length-wise to create a long ridged piece of filo. Now place the end of this filo at the end of the first piece, and twist it around the original spiral to continue the spiral shape outwards.
Take one sheet of filo and lay it out on the work surface and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Take another sheet of filo and place it on top of the first and brush it lightly with butter. You should have two sheets layered on top of each other lightly brushed with butter. Scrunch up the filo length-wise to create a long ridged piece of filo. Now place the end of this filo at the end of the first piece, and twist it around the original spiral to continue the spiral shape outwards. You should have a round spiral of filo measuring about 8 inches across. Pick this up and place/nestle it on top of the custard in the pan (it helps if you have a large pancake spatula or plate you can use to slide the spiral off of and onto the top of the custard).
Cut the remaining peach into *very* thin slices (the thinner they are, the more flexible they will be). Tuck them into the wrinkles of the filo spiral to give the impression of flower petals. Generously brush the top of the spiral with butter, sprinkle with the tablespoon of sugar, and place it in the oven to bake until the filo spiral is lightly golden and the custard is set, about 50 to 60 more minutes. (It's okay if the top tips of the filo shell get too dark, you can always break off any dark bits before serving).
When ready, remove the pan from the oven and immediately drizzle with the cold syrup. Allow the custard to cool and absorb the syrup for 1 hour. Break off any dark edges of the filo shell, unclasp the springform pan, and slice and serve.

Stuffed Summer Squash with Dill and Feta

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 01:34:52 GMT

The garden’s been in a tizzy these days. It’s popping out summer squash like there’s no tomorrow, and I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with the sheer quantity of squash heading into the kitchen. I have a great recipe for summer squash fritters in my cookbook, and we’ve definitely been making a ton of those lately, but I wanted to whip up something that involved less grating and frying, and a memory popped into my head of the stuffed summer squash my parents would make in the summer when I was a kid.

My dad used to grow these comically huge zucchini (he’s since stopped growing them because they “took up too much space in the garden”), and my poor mother was left to figure out how to cook and make use of these vegetable monoliths. She realized they could be easily hollowed out and stuffed with all sorts of other good stuff from the garden, like diced tomatoes, oregano, onions, garlic, raisins, and rice among other equally tasty tidbits. After that realization, stuffed zucchini was a summer staple for the Kosmas household of yesteryear. And this year, I brought the stuffed summer squash back from retirement and introduced it to the Kosmas-Flores household, where it was very much appreciated and enjoyed.

You can use any kind of summer squash for this dish, whether it’s patty pan, rond de nice, or a plain old zucchini. Zucchini tends to have the most innard space for stuffing though. I recommend using medium-sized summer squash, so that you can get a decent amount of filling in them, but not such a huge squash that it won’t easily fit in a casserole baking dish. This recipe makes enough filling to go inside the squash, plus some to put in the pan, nestled around the squash, to keep everything in place and prevent any zucchini from tipping over and spilling out their precious contents. To keep the filling in the pan from drying out, I recommend adding a splash of broth or stock to the pan to keep it nice and moist as it roasts.

Oh! And I used ground turkey in the stuffed summer squash filling, but you can feel free to substitute your preferred ground meat, or swap it for cooked lentils if you’d like to keep things vegetarian. My biggest recommendation, though, is fo make sure to sprinkle it with more fresh dill and feta right when it comes out of the oven before you serve it. There’s something about the contrast of the fresh, wet, salty feta with the bright herbaceous dill and the soft steaming summer squash that’s just heavenly. Hope you enjoy it, my friend!

Roasted Stuffed Summer Squash with Dill and Feta

Course Dinner

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings people

Ingredients

5 medium-sized summer squash
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic minced
3 fresh cayenne peppers thinly sliced, (can substitute any fresh hot pepper, such as jalapeno, adjusting quantity to your heat-liking)
2 pounds ground turkey
4 ounces tomatoes chopped
2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
8 ounces feta cheese crumbled
1/2 cup chicken stock

Instructions

For round summer squash, such as 'rond de nice' and 'patty pan', cut the top 1/4 off the squash and use a metal spoon to scoop out and compost the soft seedy pulp. For long summer squash like zucchini, lay the zucchini on it's side and cut the top 1/3 off length-wise. Use the previous instructions to scoop out and discard the seedy pulp. Set the squash aside in a medium casserole baking dish, and preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit.
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened and transparent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to coat, and continue sautéing until the garlic is very fragrant. Add the cayenne peppers and stir to combine. Cook until the peppers softened, about 5 minutes more, then add the ground turkey and cook until it's nearly cooked through, breaking it apart with the end of your wooden stirring spoon as it cooks. Add the tomatoes, rice, paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, the basil, and half of the dill and stir to combine. Add 6 ounces of the feta (3/4 of it) and stir until *just* evenly mixed throughout.
Spoon the filling into the squash in the pan, and then spoon any additional filling into the pan around the squash, creating a little nest of filling around each squash. Add the chicken stock to the pan, place the pan in the oven, and bake until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork and the skin is very slightly wrinkled, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the remaining dill and feta, and serve immediately.

Berry Mojito + Printable Recipe Cards

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:49:37 GMT

I’m so happy that summer is here in full swing, and nothing tastes quite as refreshing on a balmy July afternoon as a minty berry mojito. I love having mojitos when we’re grilling out on the deck, it makes waiting around for the chicken to finish cooking through much more pleasant! On that note, I’m sharing 6 recipe cards with my favorite summer recipes (including my grilled chicken with plum sauce) with you for free! I printed them out here at home with my amazing Canon PIXMA TR4520 Printer and you can download the PDFs here to print them at home ????

As a photographer, print quality is incredibly important to me, and as you can see from the photos, the way the Canon PIXMA TR4520 captures the true colors of my photos is absolutely *mind-blowing* (even more so considering it’s an affordable at-home printer!) I also love that the wireless connectivity of the printer means I can print fun impromptu photos directly from my phone without needing to transfer them to the computer, but it still gives me the option to print from the computer wirelessly for my more polished food photos that I want to hang around the house.

And I love that the printing tray fits a huge variety of different photo paper sizes, like classic 8 x 10-inch or even fun square 5 x 5-inch ones! But it also can be switched to normal document printing when you’re not doing photo prints, too, which is super handy. Truly my friend, if you’re looking to upgrade your home printer, I *highly* recommend this one. Plus, you guys know that when you support my partners, you’re also helping support me to keep bringing you flavorful seasonal recipes + garden peeks on the regular ???? And for even more amazing summer recipes, make sure to download this free printable #CanonInTheKitchen Recipe e-Book with summer recipes from myself + many other talented food bloggers!

Also, a note on mojitos, if you’ve never had them before, they’re traditionally a mixture of vibrant lime juice, simple syrup, mint leaves, rum, and a touch of club soda. I always add berries to my simple syrup for them, though, because it adds just the right amount of bright summer berry flavor, and it pairs so perfectly with the lime and the mint! I also like using a mix of honey and sugar in the simple syrup, because I find the honey adds the most wonderful floral taste to the drink. Take note that this recipe makes a big batch for entertaining, so if you want to make a smaller amount feel free to halve or even quarter the recipe. Enjoy it + stay cool, my friends!

Berry Mojito

Berry Syrup

2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup honey
3 1/2 cups berries (fresh or frozen)

Berry Mojito

2 cups rum
24 mint leaves (ounces or cups)
6 cups lime juice
4 cups berry syrup
2 cups club soda
3 fresh limes (thinly sliced)
Ice

Berry Syrup

Mix all ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium high hear. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the berries disintegrate, about 15 minutes, stirring every 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to warm.
Place a mesh metal colander over a large bowl, and strain the mixture, pressing on the berry pulp that remains in the mesh colander to get out all the remaining berry juices. Discard the pulp, and pour the syrup into airtight containers (like mason jars). Allow to cool to room temperature uncovered, then cover and refrigerate. Will keep for 1 month in the refrigerator. Makes about 4 cups of berry syrup.

Berry Mojito

Place half of the mint leaves in the bottom of a large pitcher. Use a muddler or the end of a wooden spoon to press gently all over the mint for about 30 seconds (this helps the mint release its tasty essential oils). Add the remaining fresh mint, the rum, lime juice, berry syrup, club soda, and stir to combine. Add the lime slices and ice and serve immediately. Makes 12 servings.
PS: The color of your berry mojito will vary depending on the berries you use. I used mostly raspberries with a few blackberries and blueberries.

Disclosure: I partnered with Canon for this post, and all opinions shared here are my own, per usual!

Berry Curd Tart with a Deep Dish Almond Crust

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:17:29 GMT

It’s prime berry season here in the Pacific northwest, and between the raspberry patch in the garden and the native blackberries and black cap berries at the homestead, I’m eyes-deep in berry heaven. My love affair with berries started a long time ago, though, and it began like this. When I was a little girl, my best friend lived in a house in the woods. We’d run around in the forest creating our own little adventures, which ranged from pretending we were fairies to explorers to mermaids (typical child fare). In the summer, there were patches of wild blackberries scattered about the sunny breaks in the forest canopy, and we’d spend hours carefully plucking them from the thorn-studded canes and savoring them one by one, later emerging from the brush with cheerfully stained fingers and mouths.

I’m always reminded of those wonderful memories during this time of year, and it brings me a lot of joy to think back on them as I carry my berry-picking torch deep into my adulthood. And while I don’t play imaginary games anymore, I hope that someday when we have a family of our own they can have a similar experience out in the garden that I did in the forest. Connecting with nature and the earth and getting such pure and profound joy from it.

But enough about my memories, let’s talk about this berry curd tart! This recipe calls for a deep-dish tart pan, so that you can get a nice and generous amount of berry filling inside. If you don’t have one and don’t want to buy one, a shallow pie pan will also work. There’s also two kinds of filling here—the bottom one is a nice jammy mixture of stewed berries, sugar, and cinnamon, and the top one is a creamy and silky mixed berry curd. These are layered on top of a deliciously nutty almond and flour crust, whose buttery crumbles compliment the bright tannic berries perfectly.

The filling for the berry curd tart is also no-bake, you just make it all on the stovetop to keep it simple. The crust needs to be par-baked in the oven, but I have instructions on how to do that properly in the recipe below. You can also feel free to use whatever kinds of berries you’d like in the filling, anything from strawberries to blackberries to cherries and so on. If it’s sweet and tannic, it’s fair game. The tart also keeps well, too, so you can make it the day before you plan on serving it and just keep it refrigerated. And if you want a smaller berry tart, you can check out this regular-depth one from last year around this time. I hope you enjoy it and savor every little bite of these gifts from summer.

Berry Curd Tart with a Deep Dish Almond Crust

Almond Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups almond meal
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter cold and hard
8 to 12 tablespoons ice water

Berry Jam Filling

4 cups mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Berry Curd Filling

1 1/2 cups mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup lime or lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon quality balsamic vinegar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons corn starch
6 tablespoons butter (cut into individual tablespoons)

Garnish

1 cup berries (fresh)

Almond Crust

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until combined. Grate the butter in the large hole of the grater above the bowl, stopping to stir and coat the butter bits in the flour mixture every 30 seconds.
Pinch the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles the texture of damp sand. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing it with a fork, until the dough just holds together when you squeeze a fistful of it in your hand.
Roll out the dough into a circle until it is 1/4-inch thick, and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish tart pan. Press the crust into the pan, and trim off the excess overhang.
Poke it all over with fork and place it in freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a piece of tin foil and press the greased side into the crust in the pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil, pat down any bubbling parts, and bake until edges are lightly gold, about 15 minutes more. Pat down any additional bubbling parts and allow crust to cool completely on a wire rack. Then remove the crust from the pan.

Berry Jam Filling

Mix together all of the ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to simmer the mixture until the berries have softened and begun releasing their juice. Add the cornstarch and stir. Continue cooking until the mixture has thickened slightly and has a jammier texture, about 9 to 12 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Berry Curd Filling

Heat the berries and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until softened and *just* beginning to release their juice, stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool to warm. Press the berries through a metal mesh sieve to extract the juice. Discard the pulp, reserving the juice.
In the top of a double boiler that is boiling over medium heat, whisk together the berry juice, lemon juice, water, balsamic vinegar, egg, egg yolks, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Continue whisking while the mixture thickens very slightly, about 5 minutes.
Whisk in the cornstarch, then the butter, one tablespoon a time. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 to 12 minutes more. Remove from heat and place the top of the double boiler in an ace bath. Continue whisking until the curd cools to room temperature, then remove from the ice bath and set it aside.

Assembly

Pour the berry jam into the tart crust and spread evenly across the bottom. Pour the berry curd over the jam and use a spatula to spread it evenly over the jam. Garnish the top with fresh berries and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Nocino – A Recipe for Italian Walnut Liqueur

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:27:30 GMT

I first came across nocino several years ago during a trip to Italy. I like to stock up on various bottles of local specialties wherever I go, and during that particular trip I found myself at a supermarket where I came across a bottle called “nocino” with an illustration of a walnut on it. I absolutely love hazelnut and almond liqueurs, so I figured a walnut one would be right up my alley. I grabbed it, wrapped it up tight with multiple sweaters, and nestled it in my suitcase, desperately hoping that the nearly black liquid it would make the journey home intact without leaking (both to spare my clothing and also so I’d be able to taste this new-to-me concoction).

It made it safely all the way home to Portland, where I promptly opened the bottle, poured me and Jeremy a couple snifters’ full, and feel deeply in love with this warming, spiced, and mysteriously dark beverage. The next time I went to Italy I asked my friend Valentina about it, and she explained that it was made from unripe green walnuts that are picked in spring and then soaked in a non-flavored liquor (like vodka) with spices for a long time. I tried to find another bottle of nocino on that trip, since I’d long since finished the original one, but because it wasn’t a specialty of the specific region I was in, it proved difficult to track down (the hyper localism of Italian food culture didn’t work in my favor, at that particular moment). However, my last day there Valentina managed to track down a bottle and surprised me with it as a parting gift before I left to go back home.

Since then I’ve gone through that bottle and several more, some made locally here in the Pacific northwest, some from Bulgaria, and some from Croatia, but the Italian version is still my favorite. As a stubborn Greek with a bit of Italian in her, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making it from scratch, thinking that perhaps I could make it close to (or maybe even as good as) the delicious Mediterranean original. And then it so happened that on my morning run along the trail near my house, I saw little green orbs developing on the low and broad walnut tree whose two branches generously drape over the fence. Most walnut trees bear fruit only ever other year, and I knew this was my chance.

After scouring David Lebowitz’s nocino recipe from Room for Dessert, along with every other nocino recipe I could find in every corner of the internet, I put together a hybrid of all the spices that sounded particularly tasty along with my quartered green walnuts, lemon zest, and sugar. Now that it’s all mixed together, I’ll need to wait two months before straining it out and allowing it to age for a few more months again. But I know my patience will be rewarded at Christmas, when I get to crack it open and enjoy this spiced inky concoction. That’s how it’s traditionally done in Italy, the walnuts are harvested in the spring, allowed to steep in the liquor for a few months, then strained, then the nocino is sealed up and aged again for a few months, to be opened and shared at Christmastime gatherings.

I’ll update this post again once I do the filtering in September and again in December once it’s served, so stay tuned! ????

A Note on Green Walnut Harvesting & Cutting for Nocino

Keep your eye out for any neighborhood walnut trees (if you’ve ever found any walnuts buried in your garden, thank your neighborhood squirrels for cueing you in on the fact that there’s some nearby.) It’s time to harvest them when the green walnuts are about the size of a small lime. This falls between mid-May and early July, depending on how hot your spring is. If it’s a warm Mediterranean-like spring, you’ll be harvesting sometime between mid-May to mid-June. We had a *very* cool spring this year, so I didn’t harvest them until the first week of July. The size is really the best measure of whether or not they’re ready.

It’s better if they’re a little too small than a little too big, because once they’re big they begin to develop the hard internal shell of the walnut, and it makes cutting them into quarters super difficult and also really dulls down your knife. You also want to pick the walnuts that have little to no pock-marks on the outside and are a nice and vibrant green. You definitely don’t want pests or worms contributing any off-flavors to the nocino as it’s aging. And of course, you want to give them a good wash with cold water in a colander to make sure any pests, fungus, and bacteria are rinsed away.

And lastly, wear dark clothing and use a cutting board you don’t mind staining, because the slight juice released by the walnuts when you cut them will eventually turn whatever it touches black. This includes your hands, so either wash them regularly while you’re cutting the walnuts, or wear gloves. And if you’re using a favorite knife to cut them, clean it well immediately afterwards to prevent staining.

Nocino – An Italian Walnut Liqueur

1 64-ounce mason jar with a lid
28 green walnuts (young + about the size of a small lime)
2 cups granulated sugar
6 whole cloves
3 whole small cinnamon sticks ((about 3 inches long each))
1 whole star anise
1 whole vanilla bean
1 organic lemon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 liter vodka

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zest off of the lemon, trying to get as little of the white pitch on the zest strip as possible. Set the zest aside, and place the lemon in the refrigerator for another use.
Cut the vanilla bean in half length-wise, and then cut it into roughly 1-inch long pieces. Set it aside.
Begin cutting the walnuts into quarters (taking heed of the staining warnings outlined in the blog post above under "A Note on Green Walnut Harvesting & Cutting") and placing them in the 64-ounce mason jar.
Try to evenly distribute the spices, lemon zest, and vanilla bean pieces throughout the jar as you tightly layer the green walnuts. When the jar is about 1/4 full, add the granulated sugar. Continue adding the green walnuts, spices, lemon zest, and vanilla bean pieces until you have about 1-inch of headspace from the top of the jar, and all the spices, + lemon zest + vanilla bean bits are incorporated. (It's okay if you have one too many or too few green walnuts, the important thing is to leave a little space at the top for the vodka to cover everything.)
Pour the vodka into the jar, leaving a small 1/4-inch of headspace at the top. Seal tightly and store in a cool and dark part of your kitchen. It should be visible, so that you remember to shake it once a day over the next two months (ideally—it's not the end of the world if you miss a few days, though).
After the two months have passed, place a large strainer lined with two layers of cheesecloth over a large bowl and strain out the nocino. Discard the solids, and empty the infused liquid back into the mason jar and seal it tight. Store in a cool and dark place for 3 more months, then serve and enjoy it!

Strawberry Caprese Salad

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 22:26:42 GMT

Well my friends, spring has officially turned to summer. We’re a few weeks past solstice, and I can feel the long langorous days warming my bones, shaking the dust out of my head, and filling me with the boundless energy that comes with the seemingly endless days of early summer. And one of my favorite treats of this season is the plucky summer strawberry, whose shoots have just started unfurling across the garden floor. I’ve been enjoying them as an after-dinner sweet, but wanted to make a dish that was wholly and fully about their bright and juicy goodness, and so I put together this little strawberry caprese salad to share with you here.

It’s a simple dish, just containing strawberries, basil, burrata, and a few flavorful drizzles of honey, olive oil, and balsamic. It takes about 15 minutes to put together (less if you’re not cutting the strawberries), and is as nourishing for the eyes as it is for your stomach. There are a few important things to note with this strawberry caprese salad recipe, though.

1—The quality of ingredients will truly make or break this dish. I recommend using Modena balsamic vinegar, which is from Modena, Italy and has a far superior flavor to anything else you can find. 2—Use ripe juicy strawberries that are nice and red through and through. Getting them from the farmer’s market is best! 3—Get nice and creamy burrata, not mozzarella. Burrata is basically a mozzarella that’s stuffed with cream and ricotta, and makes some real “strawberries n’ cream” magic happen on the plate. If you use mozzarella, you miss out on the oozy creamy magic, which is truly a shame.

And if you’re looking for more strawberry goodness, I have quite a few recipes in the archives that will help you put their bright and sweet flavor to good use. Wishing you all a wonderful summer and hope you’re staying safe and well-fed! <3

Strawberry Caprese Salad

Balsamic Dressing

2 tablespoons quality balsamic vinegar (ideally modena balsamic)
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt

Strawberry Caprese Salad

1 pint strawberries (cut in half)
2 ounces fresh basil leaves
12 ounces burrata
3 tablespoons honey
Flake sea salt (to taste)
Whisk together the balsamic (olive oil, and salt in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.)

For the dressing, whisk together the balsamic, olive oil, and salt in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the strawberries and basil leaves. Lay them out on a platter. Cut each burrata ball in half and nestle the burrata onto the platter, cut side facing up. Drizzle with the balsamic dressing, then the honey. Sprinkle with flake sea salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Apricot Yogurt Cake from Carpathia

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 14:38:26 GMT

Before apricot season bids a final farewell for the year, I wanted to squeeze in *one* more apricot recipe here on the blog. This beautiful and light apricot yogurt cake comes from the new cookbook by Irina Georgescu, Carpathia. Carpathia is a love letter to Romanian cooking, packed to the brim with delicious comforting recipes and awe-inspiring images that show the sweeping natural beauty of this country. It’s one of those cookbooks that you immediately flip through from start to finish as soon as you open it for the first time, drinking up all the magic, unable to stop yourself. Reading it felt like a journey into the heart of Romania, and it was so nice to feel like I got to travel someplace new (at least in my imagination! Hello, quarantine.)

I love this simple apricot yogurt cake because it isn’t loaded with sugar like a lot of American desserts tend to be, and really allows the juiciness and rich flavor of the apricots to shine through. It’s the *perfect* accompaniment to a morning cup of coffee or tea, or a post-meal sweet. It’s served with a garnish of powdered sugar, but if you *really* want to take the sweetness up a notch, you could drizzle some honey or maple syrup over it before serving, too. It depends on how big your sweet tooth is.

This apricot yogurt cake is super easy to prepare, with only a handful of ingredients, and is a great dessert to make if you want to share something that looks very fancy, but in actuality is profoundly simple and stress-free to assemble. In all honesty, these are my favorite kinds of sweets to make. The ones that require very little time and energy, but always reward you with something vibrant and delicious. They’re the kinds of baked goods that easily become a habit or a routine, and end up with many beautiful ‘everyday’ memories tied up in them. Highly recommend checking out the other amazing recipes in Carpathia!

Also, I wanted to share a few words about the events of the last few weeks here in the US. As someone whose life and livelihood revolves around food, one of the things I love most about it is its ability to bring people together. While I will be getting back to work creating recipes to share with you guys, I will be continuing to do the work on myself, and progressing on this anti-racist journey.

Don’t take me posting food + gardening as going back to ‘business as usual’, I’m continuing to implement these changes in my life, it’s just not my place to lead on a subject I am *very* much a student in. There are so many gifted experts on this subject, and these are the folks we should be looking to for next steps. I’ve enrolled in Monique Melton‘s Anti-Racism 101 online course and am looking forward to becoming a better ally to the Black community, and hope that you continue to do the work on yourself as well.

And to everyone who has used their voice to call for change, or messaged words of encouragement to others, thank you. I am so encouraged by the support I’ve seen here in the food community and on the streets of Portland as we’ve marched together. As I come across it, I will continue to share relevant and helpful information on IG to support the cause, because I am lucky enough to have all you beautiful people here with me who have shown me again and again how much you care. Through hard work and perseverance, I truly believe we can change society for the better. <3

Apricot Yogurt Cake from the Carpathia Cookbook

3 eggs (whites and yolks separated)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup olive oil or rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-5 fresh apricots, halved
3 tablespoons powdered sugar, for dusting
3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a deep 9 x 13-inch baking pan and line it completely with parchment paper. Set is aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the egg yolks and sugar for 1 minute at medium low speed. Then add the oil, yogurt, vanilla extract, and salt, mixing well to emulsify.
Transfer the yolk mixture to a separate large bowl and set aside. Thoroughly clean the stand mixer bowl (you will be using it to beat egg whites, and if there's a speck of oil on the bowl the whites won't beat properly.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Set aside.
Add the flour and baking powder to the yolk mixture and stir to combine. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until incorporated.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, then arrange the apricot halves on top, cut-side up. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden on top and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan, then dust with the powdered sugar and drizzle with the honey (optional) and cut into pieces to serve.

Lilac Panna Cotta with Honey

Mon, 11 May 2020 23:47:28 GMT

There’s been a special aroma wafting through the garden this past week, and I have the delicate sprays of blossoms studding my old-growth lilac bush to thank for it. That sweet scent brings back memories of all the lilac syrup I enjoyed this time last year—from drizzling it in a bit of sparkling wine to iced tea to a medley of different lattes, it’s hard to go wrong with this subtle floral flavor. Because of how well it went with milk in the latte situation, though, I wanted to pair it with something creamy again. So I went with one of my favorite desserts, and decided to make a lilac panna cotta.

I love panna cotta for a few reasons:

It’s very easy
It tastes good with pretty much everything
You can make it ahead of time and serve it chilled whenever

To infuse the flavor of the lilac into the panna cotta, you just heat up the cream and milk together until they’re very warm. Then, you stir in some lilac blossoms and let it sit for an hour before straining the liquid out, and you use that liquid as the base for the lilac panna cotta. It’s pretty simple stuff, and results in an absolutely delicious dessert that tastes like spring concentrate.

While I haven’t been eating much dairy lately, I did make a special exception for this stuff, and I will readily admit that nothing can replace the flavor of chilled heavy cream and the way it melts in your mouth and coats your tongue. Boy, did I miss that.

On another note, I hope you’re enjoying the longer days and savoring some time in nature, if you’re able. Every day I thank the earth for the garden, it’s been such an escape for me from all the wild things going on in the world around us. For a few hours, everything feels right and normal, and I can just put my hands in the dirt, smell the lilacs on the wind, and listen to the birds sharing their sweet spring songs. There’s simply nothing else like it. <3

Lilac Panna Cotta

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup fresh lilac blossoms (pulled clean from the stem)
1 packet unflavored gelatin ((about 1 tablespoon))
2 tablespoons cold water
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the cream and milk in a small pot over low heat until very warm but *not* hot. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the blossoms. Allow to cool to room temperature, then strain through a mesh strainer placed over a bowl, pressing gently on the blossoms to get all the liquid out. Discard the blossoms, reserving the lilac-infused cream mixture.
In a very small saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Place over low heat and stir until the gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside.
Heat the lilac-infused cream mixture and the honey in a small saucepan over low heat until hot but *not* boiling. Remove pan from heat and stir in the gelatin and vanilla extract and stir until the gelatin dissolves completely.
Evenly divide between 6 8-ounce mason jars or 12 4-ounce mason jars and allow to cool to room temperature before covering with a lid and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve chilled. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Egg Yolk Ravioli (Uova da Raviolo) with Lemon Pesto

Tue, 05 May 2020 18:32:55 GMT

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the longer our quarantine lasts, the faster the days seem to slip right past us. I would’ve thought it’d be the opposite, with the days dragging by, but I find myself going from my breakfast to the computer to the garden and then I look up and the day’s already over. I’ve started accidentally skipping lunch (and I am a HUGE lunch person) just because I still think it’s noon when it’s already 3 o’clock. I also contribute this to the extra meal prep that my open schedule has been able to accommodate, which has consisted of me making all the more hands-on + time-consuming recipes that I’ve always wanted to make, but haven’t had the time for. And this list of exquisite dishes includes egg yolk ravioli, more traditionally known as Uova da Raviolo in Italy.

I first heard about uova da raviolo from my friend Shauna, we were sharing cocktails after she’d just returned from her first trip to Europe, which consisted of visiting small farms throughout central Italy. She mentioned having a giant egg yolk ravioli, and I immediately asked her to describe it in minute detail. I learned that it’s a traditional Italian dish that consists of a single perfect extra-large ravioli, with an egg yolk and ricotta tucked away inside. Sometimes fresh herbs are incorporated, as well. It is always made fresh, and is cooked only briefly, because the yolk should stay wet and slowly ooze out of the cooked pasta at the first cut of the knife.

It sounded insane in the best possible way, and I knew I had to try making it at home. I did some recipe testing and have the goodness below to share with you. I basically made an herby ricotta filling to go with the egg yolk, and a delicious lemon pesto to serve alongside the egg yolk ravioli as a bright and tart contrast to the rich creamy filling. The end result was a dish so utterly full of flavor that I don’t know how it all fit onto one 8-inch plate. I do have some general tips, though, that will make it easier + save resources, so make sure to read through them below. Happy cooking!

Tips for Making Egg Yolk Ravioli

Use a pasta press to flatten out the sheets of pasta dough. This is helpful for a couple reasons. First, it will make sure they’re uniform in thickness, which means they’ll cook evenly. Second, it saves you the time and intense effort of rolling out all that dough by hand.
Use a pastry bag to pipe the ricotta filling onto the pasta dough. By piping the ricotta in a circle onto the pastry dough, you’re creating a structured wall of ricotta that will help contain and support the egg yolk when you spoon it onto the pasta. It’s much less messy and easier than using a spoon or spatula to try and make a well in the blob of ricotta you put on the pasta sheet.
Enjoy it within 24 hours. These do not freeze well, since the yolk takes on a gelatinous texture when frozen (hence preventing that sexy goo-action). They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, I recommend storing them in an airtight rectangular tupperware containers with a sheet of parchment paper that’s been brushed with oil between each egg yolk raviolo. If you store them any longer than 24 hours, the yolk dampens the dough and can cause it to stick to the parchment paper and tear.
Take your time. This recipe is not for those in a hurry—it’s meant for a leisurely morning that sprawls into an afternoon. It’s also a great all-hands-on-deck activity, so if you’re quarantined with friends or family, it’s something fun and interesting (not to mention bonkers delicious) you can make altogether. On the flip-side, you can definitely make it solo, as well! It will just take a little more time/delicateness to seal up the second layer of dough on top of the filling.
Save those egg whites! If you make the whole roughly 1-dozen batch, you’re going to have a LOT of egg whites left. Egg whites freeze really well, so feel free to pop them in ice cube trays so you have smaller portions at the ready. You can use them to whip up a stacked meringue, salt-baked fish, lavender lemon meringue pie, chocolate and goat cheese souffle, or a pavlova!

Egg Yolk Ravioli

Pasta Dough

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Lemon Pesto

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 ounces coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves and stems
2 ounces coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves and stems
2 cloves garlic (coarsely chopped)
2 teaspoons finely grated organic lemon zest
3 ounces shelled chopped walnuts
1 ounce shelled chopped hazelnuts
2 ounces grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus additional for garnish
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Ricotta + Egg Yolk Filling

8 ounces ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
12 individual egg yolks (still in their individual whole yolks (It helps to keep them in a flat casserole pan, storing them in a bowl puts too much pressure on the yolks at the bottom and makes them burst open))

For Serving (Optional)

Finely grated lemon zest
Finely grated parmesan

Lemon Pesto

Pulse the lemon juice, herbs, garlic, and zest in a food processor until almost a paste, scraping down side of bowl as needed. Add the nuts, parmesan, and salt. Pulse until no whole nuts remain. With the motor running, add the olive oil in steady stream until well blended. Season with additional salt, if desired. Transfer to a jar, cover, and refrigerate.

Pasta Dough

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, semolina, salt, and garlic powder. Turn the mixture onto a clean flat work surface.
Make a large well in the middle of the flour pile and add the eggs, egg yolks, and oil. Using a fork, gently start to swirl together the eggs, yolks, and oil, slowly incorporating the flour into the wet ingredients and taking care not to break the flour wall holding in the liquid ingredients. Continue mixing until the center is thick enough that you can stir in the flour walls without the mixture spilling out everywhere.
Stir until the dough comes together enough that you can knead it. Knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Separate the dough into 4 equal-sized portions. Form each one into a long rough oval shape, no thicker than 1/2 of an inch and no wider than 3 inches (they can be as long as needed). Seal them tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Ricotta + Egg Yolk Filling

For the ricotta filling, mix together the ricotta, chives, milk, sherry vinegar, and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Fit a pastry bag with a large circle tip and fill it 2/3-full with the ricotta filling. Set it aside.

Assembly

Clear a large clean surface to work on. Pass one oval of the dough through a pasta press at thickness level Pass it through again at thickness level Pass it through again at thickness level 3, and continuing until you’ve passed it through to thickness level 5, which is 1.5 mm thick. Repeat with all the ovals of pasta dough.
Take one sheet of dough and lay it on a clean work surface. Measure the width of the sheet (it should be about 4 to 5 inches wide). Starting where the width becomes consistent (i.e. not at the ends of the sheet), use measuring tape or a ruler placed next to the sheet to make a small cut on the edge of the dough every 4 to 5 inches (i.e. the width of the sheet).
In the center between the markings, use the pastry bag to pipe a circle of ricotta filling that's about 2 inches in diameter. Use a spoon to gently transfer one of the egg yolks into the ricotta well. Use the pastry bag to pipe one more circle on top of the initial circle, thus walling-in the egg yolk. Repeat between every marking. Once you have all your filling placed, dip your finger (or use a pastry brush) in a glass of water and gently run it along the exposed pasta dough, re-dipping as-need to keep your finger lightly damp (this will help the dough seal). You don't want a lot of water on the dough, just a trace.
Lay a second sheet of dough over the first (if you have an extra set of hands, this will make it easier). Using your fingertips, press very firmly around each mound of filling to seal it in, taking care not to accidentally push down on the filling (which can break the seal between the layers of dough). Then press outward toward edges of the dough, pushing out any air pockets. It’s very important to get any air out of the raviolis, otherwise it can cause the raviolo to burst when cooking.
For square ravioli, use a pizza cutter to cut the sheet across into individual raviolo. For round raviolo, you can use a large (4 to 5-inch circular cookie cutter.)
Repeat the above process with the remaining filling and dough until all the ravioli have been assembled.
The ravioli should be enjoyed within 24 hours. These do not freeze well, since the yolk takes on a gelatinous texture when frozen. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, I recommend storing them in airtight rectangular tupperware containers with a sheet of parchment paper that's been brushed with oil between each egg yolk raviolo (to prevent sticking). If you store them any longer than 24 hours, the yolk dampens the dough and makes it extra sticky, which can cause it to tear.
To prepare, bring a quart of water to a boil. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and stir to dissolve. Add 2 ravioli and cook 4 minutes for al dente and 5 minutes for a softer pasta, stirring once per minute to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot/each other.
Use a slotted or mesh spoon to remove the ravioli from the water and plate it. Garnish with 1/2 cup of the pesto, some grated lemon zest and parmesan, and enjoy!
Makes about 10 to 12 individual 4 to 5-inch square raviolis. About 2 ravioli is good for one person, depending on your appetite!

Disclaimer: Consuming raw or undercooked eggs can result in food born illness.

How to Plant a Tree

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 18:52:20 GMT

Back in early March, Jeremy and I gathered at the homestead with a few friends. Over the winter I’d pre-ordered 80 young trees (aka saplings) making up 6 different tree varieties native to the Pacific northwest, and that spring morning we picked them up, loaded them into the cab of the truck, and headed to the homestead. Over the next few hours we planted over 60 trees altogether—it was a LOT of intense physical labor that entailed trekking through blackberry brambles and searching for soft spots in the ground (which as you guys know from this post, was very compacted from the logging process), but at the end of the day we were the best kind of sore, and it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. It was also the second-to-last time we saw our friends in-person before quarantine started, and I’m so grateful we were able to share this amazing day together out in the sun beforehand.

Jeremy and I went back a few days later and planted the last few saplings, and we’ve been checking on them every time we’ve visited the homestead since. It’s been so exciting to watch the new growth come out; seeing that and knowing that they’ll (hopefully) be around much longer than we ever will is a really special and rewarding feeling. I like to imagine what they’ll look like in 10 and 20 years’ time, when they’re towering tall over us and giving us a beautiful forest canopy to gather under again.

Some fun facts about trees

Without forests on the coast, anywhere over 500 miles from a coastline would be a barren desert. The condensation that forms on the needles + leaves of trees from the ocean spray eventually evaporates and this is what creates clouds. Without clouds, there would be no rain. Without trees, there would be no clouds. This is why combatting de-forestation is so important.
Trees communicate through an underground network of mycelium (aka fungus) that grows around tree roots. Trees create electronic impulses through the mycelium network to communicate with nearby trees, much like the neuron pathways in the human brain.
They also communicate through scent. When attacked by predators/pests, some trees flood their bark with toxins and also emit a mixture of scent compounds that warns nearby trees of the attack, so the neighboring trees can preemptively fill their bark with toxins as well.
Trees also exchange nutrients with one another through their mycelium network, to help keep the young trees they’ve created around them healthy. A beech tree stump was found in a forest in Germany that was from a tree cut down over 400 years ago, and yet it was still alive, thanks to the support of the tall trees around it sharing their nutrients with it for hundreds of years.

There’s a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to trees, and I *highly* recommend reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben if you have the time. It’s really easy to read, and paints a fascinating picture of the intelligence these creatures have. Just because they’re slow-growing doesn’t mean there’s not a lot going on in there under the bark + earth. I like to think of them as Peter Jackson depicted them in Lord of the Rings ????

When it comes to planting trees, using very young bare-root or plug saplings is *MUCH* better than buying a several-foot tall tree from a container. There’s a pile of bare-root trees in the very first photo of this post, if you’re curious about their appearance. When you plant a bare-root tree, the tree ends up being much hardier and more likely to survive for a very long time because it’s raised from a young age in a normal growing environment, and gets used to + builds up defenses against the natural elements like snow, drought, pests, etc. When you buy a tree that’s in a pot, it’s been pampered at a nursery it’s whole life, and is used to the nursery environment. It hasn’t developed the defenses to survive in the wild, and will likely die unless you’re able to give it weekly pampering for several years until it’s established.

If you’re worried about the growth rate, bare root trees usually out-grow their root-bound container transplant counterparts in a couple years. Because trees grown in containers have the roots so tightly packed together, they are a lot more at-risk for disease and the roots don’t grow as quickly as the young bare-root trees do. This means the tree isn’t able to get as much nutrients and water from the soil, which slows down its growth considerably, and make it more at risk for drying out in the summertime.

You can order bare-root trees online to be shipped to your house. They should be planted either in the spring or in the fall, when natural rainfall will help them stay hydrated. But if you’re able to water them, (like if you plant them in your backyard), that will help them, too! I put together a guide on how to plant a tree below, it’s a great activity to do outdoors with the people you’re quarantining with, or solo. It feels so good to do something that you know will benefit the earth and all its life-forms, including humans, for hundreds of years. Enjoy it my friends!

How to Plant a Tree

This will take you through how to plant a bare-root tree sapling, which should ideally be done in spring or early autumn, to give the tree's root system time to establish itself before drought or frost hits.

If you're going to plant a lot of trees, I recommend investing in a dibble tree-planting tool. If you're just doing a couple or a handful, using a hand trowel (aka small shovel) will work just fine! I also have step-by-step photos of this process below these instructions, too, so feel free to peek at them for guidance ????

1 Bare-root sapling
1 dibble tree-planting tool or hand trowel (aka small shovel)
Mulch (like bark chips)
Compost
Watering can filled with water
Gloves (not totally necessary but makes the process cleaner)

Choose the Planting Site

Do some basic research on the variety of tree you're planting, and choose a planting site that fits the requirements of your tree (aka full sun, or partial shade, etc). Spending 5 minutes to choose the right planting site greatly increases the long-term health of your tree.

Mix Native Soil with Compost

Dig up some soil in the general area where you will be planting the tree. We will refer to this as 'native soil'. In a bucket, mix together 3 parts native soil with 1 part compost. Set it aside.

Dig the Hole

If you have a hand trowel, dig a hole that's about 4 inches in diameter and deep enough so that the tree's roots don't touch the bottom.
If you have a dibble, insert it into the ground at a 60-degree angle up until the hilt of the dibble. Push it forward to a 90-degree angle to create your hole, then remove the dibble. Make sure your hole is deep enough so that the tree's roots don't touch the bottom.

Hold the Tree

Hold the tree by the stem over the center of the hole, and make sure the area with roots is *just* below the soil line around it. You don't want any roots above the soil line, otherwise the tree will dry out. You also don't want any branches below the soil line, otherwise the tree could rot.
Now look at the bottom of the hole. If the root are dangling straight down into the hole, that's great. If the roots are touching the bottom of the hole, or caught on the side of the hole and forming a 'J' shape, take the tree out and deepen or widen the hole as-needed, and dangle the tree in the hole again until the roots hang straight down and don't get caught on the sides.

Fill the Hole

While holding the tree in place (still making sure the roots are *just* below the soil line) with one hand, use the other to start filling in the hole with the native soil and compost mixture.
Fill until the soil in the hole is level with the surrounding soil line. Pat the soil gently around the tree with the flats of your palms. If it sinks a bit, sprinkle some more native soil and compost mixture around the tree to make its level even with the surrounding soil line again.

Water the Tree

Use more of the native soil and compost mixture to make a 1-inch high mounded circular border around the tree, about 3 inches away from the base of the tree. This will help the water stay around the tree when you water it, rather than just flowing away.
Water the tree with your watering can. Wait a few seconds for the water to drain, then water it again. Repeat one more time.

Add the Mulch

Sprinkle a a 1-inch thick layer of mulch around the base of the tree, going out 4 to 6 inches in diameter around the tree.
Use your pointer finger to nudge any mulch that's touching the tree's stem about 1 cm away. Ideally, you don't want a lot of mulch actually physically touching the tree because that can cause fungal rot, but you do want a good amount of mulch around the tree.

Water Again

Now that the mulch is there, water it one more time. And that's it! You've successfully planted a tree!

Maintenance

Every tree has different hardiness levels, so do some research on the variety you're planting and follow the watering guidelines for that variety.

Rosemary Simple Syrup with Vanilla

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 23:13:43 GMT

Since I’ve been nowhere but home for the past several weeks, I’ve really become attuned to the small subtle changes going on every day in the garden. My young clematis vines that I thought the chickens had destroyed over the winter have come back with vigor, last year’s sunflowers self-seeded and the little starts are popping out along the pathway, and my rosemary bush slowly changed from green to the most beautiful shade of blue-violet. Yep, this time of year even rosemary blooms, and I was so taken with the array of colors that it inspired me to make a rosemary simple syrup, to soak up their sweet fragrance and flavor just a little bit longer.

If you only have normal (aka non-blooming) rosemary around, don’t fret! This rosemary simple syrup can be made with regular rosemary and it will taste just as sweet and good. I love using this syrup in matcha lattes especially, but have also used and enjoyed it in coffee lattes, as a sweetener in both black, green, and herbal teas, and for a bit of flavor in cocktails (it’s especially good with gin!) I hope it gives you something fun to make with something many of us have in our yards. Also, rosemary is a really common landscaping plant in much of the world and grows really vigorously, so if you see some on your neighborhood walks, feel free to snip 3 sprigs for this recipe. It grows so fast, I’m sure they’d be happy to share their bounty a bit ????

And I hope you enjoy the above photo, Jeremy was cleaning out last year’s hive (the bees froze to death over the winter again sadly, this winter we’re going to wrap the outside of the hive in insulation to see if that helps) and I wanted to share what a frame from inside the hive looks like. The bees ate almost all the honey in this frame, which lets us know they survived into late winter. You can see the honey that’s still capped in the lower left hand corner, (it looks more white-ish). We installed the new hive this past Sunday, and the bees are looking really happy and were especially enjoying all the flowers in the yard earlier in the week. Fingers crossed we can get this hive to make it through the winter this year, would be so amazing to spend more than a year with these guys <3

Rosemary Simple Syrup

Whether you have standard green rosemary or some rosemary that's in bloom, this syrup will add the most delicious floral and herbal sweetness to any beverage. Makes about 3 cups syrup.

3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 cups honey or granulated sugar
2 cups water
1 vanilla bean (optional) (cut vertically in half)

In a small saucepan, bring the honey and water to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and, if you're using the vanilla bean, scrape the contents into the pot, then drop the spent pod into the pot as well. Stir to combine, then allow to cook for 10 minutes.
Add the rosemary sprigs and cook for 3 minutes more, then remove the pot from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Remove the rosemary sprigs from the syrup and compost them. Place the syrup (with the vanilla bean) in an airtight container like a mason jar, and keep refrigerated.
Makes about 3 cups syrup. Add a bit to your favorite beverages (matcha, lattes, tea, cocktails, spritzers, etc) for a sweet and floral kick.

Seed Cycling Potatoes and Eggs + My Hormone Journey

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:49:33 GMT

Before I talk about seed cycling, I want to preface this post by saying that I’m going to be talking about hormones, and things that relate to hormones, birth control, health, and the female human body. If this isn’t your jam, feel free to scroll right on down to the recipe part and stop there. Or just skip this post entirely.

Okay! So, I normally just share recipes here, but I wanted to talk a little bit about my hormone journey. It’s something that I’ve been struggling with for several years now, and every time I talk about this with female friends or acquaintances, I find that SO many of them are struggling with the same issues, so I wanted to put all this out there to help provide more information about the hormonal issues that many of us are experiencing (unexplained infertility, ovarian cysts, adult acne, and so on). I’m starting off by sharing my go-to seed cycling recipe and talking about seed cycling a bit, and then I’m going to share my personal hormone journey and struggle, and list out what’s actually helped me and made a difference, and what I hope can help you too if you’re struggling with something similar. Let’s dive in ????

Seed Cycling Skillet Potatoes and Eggs

6 ounces yukon gold potatoes (about 1 medium potato) (peeled and diced into 1/4-inch cubes)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon either raw flax seeds or raw sesame seeds (freshly ground)
1 tablespoon either raw pumpkin seeds or raw sunflower seeds (freshly ground)
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes and stir to coat in the oil. Spread out in a single even layer. Cover the pan and allow the potatoes to cook for 8 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove the lid and raise the heat to medium high and cook until the outside is golden and crispy and the inside of the potatoes are soft, stirring once every few minutes.
Meanwhile, about halfway through cooking the potatoes, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a separate small frying pan over low heat and immediately crack the egg into it. Cover the pan and cook for five minutes, or until the whites of the egg are cooked but the yolk is still jiggly.
Stir the ground seeds into the potatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with the egg, one more pinch of salt, and enjoy!

Seed Cycling

So, what is seed cycling? Well, seed cycling helps support your body’s natural hormone levels by providing it with the nutrients it needs at different times of your cycle. You’re basically giving your body the building blocks it needs to turn the compounds and nutrients in those seeds into the appropriate hormones. With seed cycling, you eat different freshly ground up seeds during the two phases of your cycle. The seeds DO need to be freshly ground, since the nutritive compounds in the seeds deteriorate quickly once ground, but stay very protected within the shell of the seed. So, just order an inexpensive electric coffee grinder and use that *exclusively* for grinding your seeds. It literally takes 20 seconds each morning to scoop out two tablespoons of seeds and pump the grinder a couple times. Super easy stuff!

If your hormones are out of balance, this is a really helpful and healthy way to get them back on track. I have the details broken down below. If you’re unfamiliar with the numbering of your cycle, though, know that day 1 is your period and kicks off the first half of your cycle. During this first half (aka the follicular phase), you should have more estrogen in your body. For a ‘regular’ 28-day cycle, you ovulate on day 15, and that starts the second half of your cycle. During the second half (aka the luteal phase), you should have more progesterone in your body.

However long your cycle is, just know that day 1 is your period, and the halfway point is about when you’re likely ovulating. So with that in mind, the directions for seed cycling go like this:

First half of your cycle (day 1 [period] through ~14)

DAILY:

1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seeds

1 tablespoon of freshly ground pumpkin seeds

2000 mg of fish oil

Second half of your cycle (day 15 [ovulation] through ~28)

DAILY:

1 tablespoon of freshly ground sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of freshly ground sunflower seeds

2000 mg of evening primrose oil

A lot of people add the seeds into smoothies to eat them, but I have a hard time starting the day with a smoothie when the weather is still cold, so I have a recipe above for potatoes and eggs with your daily dose of seeds incorporated into it. For the fish oil, I just take a supplement via my prenatal vitamin (I have my complete hormone balancing regimen listed + linked below), and for the evening primrose oil, I just take about 1/2 teaspoon of it straight. It’s pretty flavorless and unoffensive taste-wise.

My Story

I was on progesterone-based hormonal birth control pills from the time I was 18 until I was 28. After I went off hormonal birth control, I started breaking out. I tried every. single. product. I could find, and nothing worked. I went to a dermatologist, explained that I kept breaking out around the jawline, and was prescribed two different pills to take everyday and two different creams and sent home, with worrying warnings about the side effects of the prescriptions. I took the pills and did the creams for 4 months with no difference, so I stopped taking them. After several years and lots of google sleuthing, I had the suspicion that it was related to hormones because it was always along the jawline area, which is typically where women break out if they have a hormone imbalance. So, I got my blood tested in November 2018 at my normal doctor, and asked her to do a hormone panel. I did the test, and was told that my results were in the normal range.

This was *hugely* frustrating for me, because I knew that something was wrong, but no one in the traditional medical field seemed to be listening or even care about finding out what the root of the problem was. All that happened was that I’d get prescriptions thrown at me, and still have no idea about what was actually happening inside my body to cause this. Normal healthy 30 year-olds aren’t breaking out like teenagers, and I knew something wasn’t right.

So, I did some googling for Portland naturopaths and made an appointment with a local naturopath here. The moment I walked in, I knew it was going to be different. We talked and talked, and she listened to my frustrations and explained to me how hormones work in the body, what she suspected might be going on, and tests we could run to get answers. I was so, so happy to finally be heard, and to have a doctor that actually wanted to find the root of the problem as much as I did. She did a hormone blood test, and a food sensitivity panel to see if there was anything dietary causing it, and then I waited a couple weeks for the results.

Well, the only thing I’m sensitive to apparently, is green beans (so weird!), so that was a relief. But on the hormone test, she had me get my blood drawn on specific days of my cycle, because the normal levels of the three main types of hormones in the female body (progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone) vary depending on the time of your cycle. For example, if you’re ovulating you usually have higher progesterone levels, and if you’re on your period you usually have higher estrogen levels, kind of like a yin and yang type thing. So having the reference for where I was in my cycle was a hugely important part of knowing whether my levels were normal or not. This is not something my ‘regular’ doctor even asked about, which is why my previous results were marked normal, even though (as you’ll find out), they were not.

A normal women’s progesterone levels in the luteal phase of her cycle are between 3.3 – 28.0 ng/mL, with above 10 being considered ideal, and mine were 0.3. When my progesterone levels were supposed to be highest, they barely existed. Armed with this information, my naturopath prescribed a regimen of seed cycling in combination with low doses of a naturally-derived progesterone cream (made from sweet potatoes) to help me get my hormones in the right place, and we decided to do a more in-depth hormone panel called the DUTCH Test.

After the appointment, I did a lot of reading about low progesterone levels and realized that it meant it would be very difficult for me to have children as my body currently is. Progesterone is what creates a healthy blood lining in the uterus, and the body needs progesterone to be able to carry a child to full term (aka stay pregnant). So in a way it’s a blessing in disguise that I was breaking out, because if I wasn’t, I never would have found out about my hormones and gotten a head start on getting them normalized.

I ended up doing the DUTCH test three separate times to track my hormones over the past year. I also have scans of the first page of my results below here, too, in case any of you are curious what the DUTCH test looks like. There’s a lot more detail in the rest of the pages of each test result, too, where it breaks down how your body is metabolizing the hormones, but to keep it brief I’m just sharing the first page of each result. So, the results were:

March 2019

Estrogen: 7.71 (1.8 – 4.5 is normal)

Progesterone: 5.0 (6.0 to 20 is normal)

July 2019

Estrogen: 4.12 (1.8 – 4.5 is normal)

Progesterone: 5.6 (6.0 to 20 is normal)

February 2020

Estrogen: 3.93 (1.8 – 4.5 is normal)

Progesterone: 3.5 (6.0 to 20 is normal)

So my estrogen levels were insanely high at first, but have now gone down significantly with every test, which is a relief. I was especially high in the estrogen 4-OH-E1 which is tied to increased cancer risk, and that has gone down with every test too (from 3.5 to 3.3 to 2.12—normal is 0 to 1.8), although it’s still higher than it should be.

For this last test, you can see that my progesterone levels dipped down again, and it’s because I didn’t apply any progesterone cream leading up to the test that time because my doctor wanted to see what my baseline natural progesterone production was. I also stopped seed cycling back in October after traveling a lot, which I think contributed too. It’s pretty clear now that my body really needs the external progesterone at this point, so I’ll continue doing that and am going to start seed cycling again.

If you suspect you might have a hormone imbalance, or want to try getting pregnant after being on hormonal birth control for years, I’d highly recommend asking your doctor to do a DUTCH test. It’s so incredibly helpful with giving you a precise picture of what’s going on inside your body, which will help you and your doctor lay out an effective treatment plan.

My Hormone Balancing Regimen

This is everything I’ve done to help balance my hormones that I felt really made a difference. If you suspect you have a hormone imbalance, definitely talk to your doctor and advocate for yourself. In my personal experience, going to a naturopath resulted in finding the root of the problem rather than a band-aid type of treatment, but do whatever makes you comfortable. And *always* consult with a physician before starting any new supplements. And only use a hormone cream that is prescribed by your doctor, *never* try to use or buy one on your own without your doctor’s prescription. The linked items are the exact ones I use, and the supplement brand (pure encapsulations) is the one recommended to me by my naturopath.

DIM (daily supplement)
Calcium D Glucarate (daily supplement)
Pre-natal multi-vitamin (daily supplement)
Seed cycling with flax and pumpkin seeds and fish oil (daily through days 1-14 of your cycle)
Seed cycling with sesame and sunflower seeds and evening primrose oil (daily through days 15-28 of your cycle)
Naturally derived progesterone cream (daily through days 15 – 28 of your cycle)
Eating lots of fresh ginger + turmeric (helps your liver filter out excess hormones from your system if you’re dominant in a particular hormone)
Cut out most dairy (dairy products definitely make me break out and the hormones in fresh dairy aren’t helpful. The only dairy items I still eat in moderation are butter and quality aged cheeses, like parmesan or aged cheddar)

A Word About Endocrine Disruptors

At the end of all of this, I was asking my naturopath about how my hormones could have ended up this way, and if it was because I was on progesterone-based birth control pills for a decade. She said it could be that in part, but that a lot of it has to do with endocrine disruptor exposure, too. Endocrine disruptors are compounds that are structurally very similar to hormones, so when they enter the body they are accidentally used in the same way that hormones are, except that they aren’t hormones, so they end up wreaking havoc on your hormonal system. You can read more about how they work here and here.

Things like BPA (the thing that used to be in almost all kinds of plastic), phthalates (which are in most commercial cosmetics), glycol esthers (which are in a lot of cleaning products and cosmetics), many pesticides (especially DDT/round-up), and fire retardants (which are required in some states for materials like pillows) are endocrine disruptors. You can read a list of some of the most common ones here, and about some more of them here.

Basically, a lot of plastics, cleaning products, sun screen, cosmetics, receipts, and fragranced products have them. I don’t use much plastic for environmental reasons, but reading about endocrine disruptors really reinforced that on a whole new level. I’d highly recommend trying to switch to more low-key and natural products, like using baking soda and lemon juice as a cleaner, essential oils as a perfume, glass jars for food storage combined with using the bulk bins at the grocery store (its cheaper, too!), and avoiding plastics in general as much as you can.

Back when I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s these weren’t even on the radar, but were omnipresent everywhere (hello, flame retardant children’s pajamas). It makes sense that myself and so many of my female friends are struggling with hormone issues, ranging from unexplained infertility to unnaturally large ovarian cysts to migraines to miscarriages. If you are experiencing hormone issues, definitely check out what endocrine disruptors are in your home and try to minimize your exposure to them as much as possible, *especially* when it comes to food preparation and storage (never put plastic in the microwave or oven!!)

My Next Steps

Now that my hormones are finally in a relatively stable place and I know how to best keep them balanced, we were going to try to get pregnant this year. But with COVID-19, we’re putting those plans on hold. It will be nerve-wrecking enough through the early stages of the pregnancy with my progesterone issues (low progesterone means a sharply increased risk of miscarriage), and worrying about contracting a virus during pregnancy or the birthing process or infancy isn’t a risk we feel comfortable taking right now.

In all honesty, I’m really nervous because I know that with every year that passes, it will become more and more difficult to get pregnant, but with all that’s going on it feels like it’s best to wait. Even though in my heart I want to start our family *right now*, I know that it’s the wrong thing to do. If I or the baby contracted the virus and something happened, I would never be able to forgive myself. So, I’m just going to keep taking care of myself and my hormones to create as healthy a home as a can for the day when it’s safe to start trying again.

And I’m really and truly grateful for getting to the root of what was happening to me, and finding healthy treatments that work. I know I mentioned this before, but it’s worth saying again. Please don’t be too intimidated in your doctor’s office to advocate for yourself and your health. You *know* your body and can tell when something is wrong, and if your doctor keeps telling you it’s normal, definitely get a second opinion. It can’t hurt anything to get the insights of a second physician, or even a third. Be your best and strongest advocate, you deserve it <3

Archive Update Round Up | March 2020

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 18:47:03 GMT

First off, I hope you’re all staying safe and cozy at home. As of this writing, there is a surge of COVID-19 cases here in the US (the most in the world at the moment), and most of us are under self-imposed quarantine to help keep the virus from spreading. In a time of uncertainty, fear, and stress, we find ourselves turning towards comfort. And for many of us (you and me included), there’s nothing as safe as the embrace of good food, or as grounding as the familiarity of our own kitchens.

While I’ve been absent with posting ‘new’ recipes for a good part of the beginning of this year, it’s not because I haven’t been cooking or creating. I have. A lot, actually! But they’ve been old recipes on the blog that I wrote 10+ years ago when I hadn’t written any cookbooks yet and wasn’t quite as seasoned at writing recipes—basically, some of the recipes were written pretty haphazardly back then ????So over the past few months, I’ve been going through them, re-testing and re-writing the recipes, re-shooting them, and updating the old posts.

I left the intros pretty much the same, however, because this blog also serves as a journal for me, and it’s really nostalgic to read through what I was doing back then. Updating the posts brought back LOTS of memories of my early twenties, and the scrimping and saving and socializing that went with that era of my life. It’s been fun to reflect back on that time, for sure, but it’s also made me even more grateful for the family and stability I have right now. I’ve always been more of the responsible-type that flourishes with plans and structure in place, so realizing that I have this rhythm in my life that I yearned for so much for back then definitely makes me appreciate it even more.

Well, that got a bit off-topic, but what I *meant* to share was this: Since we’re all social-distancing inside our own homes, I wanted to share some links to the posts that have been updated, so that you can try your hand at them if you’d like. I hope you all enjoy them, and that they bring you some comfort in these wild times. I’ll also be sharing some new posts on the blog soon, I promise! In the meantime take car, stay healthy, and talk soon <3