Cheap, Healthy, Good!

Last week, I was lucky enough to showcase one of my favorite hot dinners on a fabulous site called Cheap, Healthy, Good.  Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle is the perfect dish to warm you up as winter drags on.  And on.  And on.

Hope you enjoy it!  The Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle, that is.  Not winter.

Quinoa Pilaf

You may have noticed that I post quite a few quinoa recipes.  This is why:

I bought a 95,000 pound bag of quinoa at Costco.  So, you can look forward to many, many more recipes featuring this fabulous ingredient.  (I can hear your cheers of enthusiasm!)

My friend, Niki, (who also purchased the 95,000 pound bag of quinoa at Costco) and I made a super simple quinoa pilaf recently to enjoy with Salmon en Cocotte.  It was both delicious and easy, making it a perfect versatile side dish. 

Today I'll share the basic recipe for quinoa pilaf, but look forward to variations on this theme in the weeks ahead.  (You can thank Costco for that.) 

Simple Quinoa Pilaf
Serves: 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quinoa
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, season with salt and pepper, and saute until it begins to soften, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in quinoa and allow it to toast for about 2 minutes.  Add broth and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring liquid to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until quinoa has absorbed the liquid and is tender, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Toasting Nuts

I have read (and posted, for that matter!) many recipes that call for toasted nuts.  Pecans, pinenuts, walnuts, any nuts.  When I first started cooking, I would see "toasted ___nuts" in a recipe, and blatantly ignore it.  Why in the world would I take the time to toast nuts when I had perfectly good non-toasted nuts at the ready?  I couldn't be bothered.

Until I tried the nuts toasted.

Next time you're thinking about skipping the toasting step, I challenge you to try it.  First, try the nuts raw.  Try them again them once they're toasted.  And then let me know if you'll ever ignore the "toasted ___nuts" part of a recipe.

Toasted Nuts: Two Ways
Whichever method you choose, make sure the nuts are the same size so they cook evenly.  And when it comes to determining if the nuts are ready, use your nose and your tastebuds to make sure they're toasted.  

The Dry Skillet Technique
*Note: Use the dry skillet technique at your own risk.  It requires diligence.  I burned pecans three times in one night using this method. Not kidding.
Place nuts in a single layer in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Shaking incredibly frequently, toast for 5-7 minutes until nuts are fragrant and golden brown.

The Oven Technique
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast for 8-12 minutes until nuts are fragrant and golden brown, shaking halfway through.

Like a Good Neighbor by Lady of the House

As an adult, certain inevitable situations still seem to strike me with all the horror and wonder of an anxious 8 year-old. The bus commute demands that we must cuddle up with and smell people we wouldn't otherwise encounter. Travel beckons our manners, even if Mr. Elbows with the wet cough isn't planning on sharing the armrest on your six hour flight to Cleveland. And living somewhere, anywhere, forces us into relationships with our neighbors, for better or for worse. These are all the things that no matter how many times I go through, I seem to cowar in temporary fear. Oh come on, you remember getting paired up with the smelly kid for gym class sit-ups. It's that same thing.

This first week in our new flat has brought about more than a few strange and uncomfortable encounters with the neighbors. In fact, we've started the search for another apartment. Gasp! Yes, it's as bad as the gym class fart.

And while I doubt any of you dear readers has behaved so poorly as to stir your own neighbors to up and leave a week after moving in, I will say it's never a bad thing to remember that we do live near people and our actions absolutely affect them.

I'll just maybe step up a rung or two higher on the ol' soapbox and encourage you with the following neighborly tips.

1) Welcome your new neighbors with a knock at their door, a brief introduction and oh, a pan of something yummy. You set the tone.

2) Okay so nobody knocked your door and welcomed you to the 'hood? Go say 'hello.' Be the neighborly person. You set the tone here, too.

3) It's time to sleep train your bundle of joy? Drop off a pack of ear plugs and some chamomile tea. Explain your phase, and your neighbors will nod their heads in sympathy as little Henry belts out another round of "waaaaaaaa!"

4) Party time? Hello! Invite your neighbors, or at least drop by with a bottle of bubbly to apologize in advance for the raucous evening about to unfold. (You ARE raucous, oh yes, I've heard about you!)

5) If you're in an apartment setting, where walls and floors may do little to dampen your noise, function with mindfulness. I suppose that means, step lightly, close--don't slam cupboard doors, and be sensitive to your neighbor's bedtime.

6) And I'll end here because this is turning into a sermon. Be GOOD to each other. Yes, I'm realizing I could have just written that and been done in one point, but it wouldn't have been as therapeutic for me.

How are you amazingly neighborly? Leave a comment. I'm dying to add to my repertoire.

xoxo

Lady of the House

Prosciutto and Mozzarella Sandwiches with Fig Jam

Recently, I read a recipe for pizza that called for prosciutto, cheese, and fig jam.  It sounded, in a word, unbelievable.  Feeling a little lazy, I decided to turn it into a sandwich.  It was, in a word, unbelievable.

Prosciutto and Mozzarella Sandwiches with Fig Jam
Serves: 2

2 ciabatta rolls, sliced in half lengthwise
3 tablespoons fig jam
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (you could use sliced cheese, but I usually shred it so the cheese melts quickly and evenly)
6 very thin slices of prosciutto

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spread fig jam on the cut sides of both rolls.  Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese on the bottom slice of each roll.  Top the cheese with prosciutto, and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the prosciutto.  (Having cheese on the top and bottom of your sandwich will help "glue" it together.) Close up each sandwich with the top half of the rolls.

Wrap sandwiches in foil and place them in the preheated oven.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the bread is crusty.  Unwrap the sandwiches and serve them while they're nice and hot.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

It's Valentine's Day, folks! Give your sweetie a smooch. That's all I have to say about that. 

Mashed Sweet Potato

I love sweet potatoes.  Fry 'em.  Bake 'em.  Roast 'em.  It's all good, if you ask me.  But when I was making my fast and easy dinner for one, I couldn't pass up my trusty microwave for its convenient and quick cooking.

Even though this mashed sweet potato recipe is super simple, it's still special because of a few extra ingredients that you probably have on hand.  Orange zest adds a floral fragrance and nutmeg gives depth.  Toasted pecans provide crunch to this creamy dish.

Next time you're making dinner for one, two, or twenty, give these mashed sweet potatoes a whirl.   

Mashed Sweet Potato

Serves: 1

1 sweet potato

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Pinch nutmeg

2 tablespoons chopped toasted pecans

Poke the sweet potato with a knife in several places.  Microwave for 6-8 minutes until softened, flipping the potato over halfway through.  Allow the sweet potato to cool until you can handle it, then remove the peel and place the potato in a small bowl.  Use a fork to mash the sweet potato.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in the butter, orange zest, and nutmeg.  Top with pecans.