from 5/2/2007

I have not smoked for 2 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 8 minutes, 43 seconds, which equals 382 cigarettes and $95.50. But, yesterday was dicey. I was calling all over creation trying to find some canning jars, and was put on hold one billion times. That, with a doubtless contribution from pms and some recent dykey annoyance (not quite drama, but still), made me almost crack. I wanted a cigarette more than I have since the day I quit. I tried nicorette. I tried slipping into the bathroom at work to bawl for a few minutes. I tried talking to friends. But, nothing was helping. I was kinda freaking out. The only thing that stopped me from smoking is the thought of having to quit again. The quitting process pretty much sucks ass, so it's a strong motivator. So. There I was up the proverbial shit creek with a turd for a paddle (thanks, Supersuckers). I discovered my recipe for success. 1) leave work, 2) walk outside into a gorgeous day, 3) go grocery shopping, 4) run into Matt at WF (he teaches the vegan and raw cooking classes at WF, and I adore him), 5) take half of a xanax, 6) wash it down with a mango kombucha (hot damn, the mango flavor is good), 7) meet Lauren for dinner at the Quiet Storm.

Easy-peasy. Crisis averted.

And, I was rewarded by the universe with an email back from Alison Bechdel this morning that was cute and funny. Good times.

So, I ate at Quiet Storm (http://quietstormcoffee.com/) instead of cooking last night. I got the Magic Carpet. It may be the best sandwich Of All Time.

MAGIC CARPET: Grinder of roasted zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, peppers & onions, with fresh spinach & tomatoes, ajvar (roasted red pepper sauce) & vegan mayo on a roll $6
Add soysage or tofu for $1 [I add the tofu]

And, then Lauren and I split a slice of (vegan) lemon-coconut cheesecake. I'm betting that it was made by Deanna (a local vegan baker that I fell in fan-love with at last year's Handmade Arcade after tasting her coconut-avocado cupcakes). Freakin' fab.

And, I brought the other half of my Magic Carpet for lunch today, along with a salad of some of the leftover wild rice with spinach, grape tomatoes, some ramp salt, fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of my current favorite olive oil.


Marsha asked about assembling the pocket tarts. Duh! I totally forgot to put those instructions. I don't have them with me today, but I'll post the instructions from Heidi's Cook 1.0, along with my notes tomorrow (now just have to remember to bring them...).

Maggie is coming over for dinner tonight. I think I'm going to make Heidi's recipe for Millet Fried "Rice" from Super Natural Cooking. And, maybe some kind of crunchy salad. I especially love it when Maggie comes to dinner, because she always volunteers to be my "dish dog", and I loathe doing dishes. Sweet.

I made a plan to go to Zenith again for brunch this week. Yum! If you haven't checked it out, you should. It is bomb!

Oh, and a guy I work with is tossing around the idea of making a vegetarian/vegan taco shop. Wouldn't that rock? I want a vegetarian "fish" taco!

I just found a recipe for tofu "fish" sticks from Jennifer McCann (she does the Vegan Lunch box blog). Here's a link to the recipe: http://shmooedfood.blogspot.com/2006/01/tofu-fish-sticks.html
And, here's a link to Vegan Lunch Box: http://www.veganlunchbox.com/index.html

Look how cute! In fact, all her lunchbox creations are painfully adorable. I love that blog.

from 5/1/2007

Oh man. Yesterday was a banner day! Not so much for the food (although I did make a lovely ramp pizza, more on that later), but because I met one of my idols. And, then awkwardly hit on/harassed her. I was a hot mess. But, it's funny in retrospect, and I wrote her an explanation/apology email this morning that I think/hope was funny and disarming. Whoa. Now, I've made a fool of myself in front of: Alison Bechdel, John Waters, Stephin Merritt, Kathy McCarty and Crispin Glover. I'm sure this list of The Famous I've Offended and/or Freaked Out will continue to grow. Stay tuned.

Here's us:

(note the intense red flushing at my neck. i was embarassed, yet i still could not stop talking.)

And, here's us making out:


Okay. Whoa. Back to the food-talk.

Ashley asked about what the heck ramps are. They are a member of the onion family, and sometimes (by yankees), they're called a wild leek. The flavor is very intense, and is sort of between spring onions/garlic/shallot/leek. But, they're wild, so they have that wild kind of flavor (think: the difference in flavor between a morel and a white button mushroom).



They're notorious for being stinky. Often called "little stinkers" or "the king of stink". They're one of the signifiers of spring, and taste like a mouthful of West Virginia to me. They grow all over Appalachia (and other places, like Minnesota, farther north, but they call them wild leeks there)--anywhere in the woods where it's shady and moist, but are celebrated most fully in WV.

When I was a kid I hated going to ramp festivals because that meant we'd load up in the car (my brother, step-brother and I crammed into the backseat), and take a whole day taking my step-dad's "shortcuts" through windy country roads, and then on the way back everyone would be stinky and my brothers would constantly burp and then refuse to roll down their windows. I thought I was above all that. But now, it tastes like nostalgia and good times.

In the last couple of years, the ramps have become a culinary darling--prized for its heady aroma and taste, and its rarity and seasonality. You can google recipes with ramps, and find contributions by Emeril and Martha (Martha did actually spend some time in WV, if you'll remember her stint in the pokey), and find them on the menus of the most chi-chi restaurants. Locally, I've seen them on some of the Big Burrito menus. Casbah has a couple items on their menu now featuring ramps and other spring foraged delicacies: Alaskan halibut, olive oil poached, wild ramps, baby nettles, oyster mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, grilled potatoes and Horseradish crusted salmon, wild ramps, haricot verts and cucumber cream. When I recently asked at Whole Foods if they ever get any, they said that they probably will, but they'll probably be about $20/lb. I got a large bag (2 lbs?) at the festival for $3.50.

Actually, I got three bags. So, I'm going to try to learn how to can them this week so I can have them indefinitely, because there's no way I can eat, like, 5-6 pounds of ramps this week before they give up the ghost. If you want to have a taste, let me know and I'll share some fresh beauties before I can them up.

For more info you can find their wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_leek

So, last night's ramp adventure was Ramp Pizza. So, so good!

Ramp Pizza
(2 servings)

Crust:
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. (1 1/2 packages) active dry baking yeast
1/4 t. sugar or honey
1/2 t. fine-grain sea salt
1/2 c. warm water
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose white flour (plus more for kneading and surface)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the warm water and olive oil. Mix until almost smooth. Stir in white flour.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, and gradually add more white flour (about 1 t. at a time) to the dough as you knead it until it's no longer sticky. Knead for a couple more minutes until it's smooth and elastic.

Coat a bowl with oil, and form the dough into a ball, and place in bowl, turning to coat it all with the oil. Let rise for about 25 minutes, or until it has doubled in size, while you prepare the toppings.

After the dough has risen, put it on a lightly greased pan, and spread to the edges. I use a 9x13" cookie sheet, and it makes a very-thin (my mom calls this cracker crust) crust. If you'd like a slightly thicker crust, use a 12" pizza pan, but it'll still be thin.

I like to bake the crust for a about 5 minutes before I top it, so it gets a head start on being crispy-licious. I dock it a few times with a fork so the air can escape and not make big bubbles. I sprinkle it with some dried parsley, some crushed red pepper flakes and some grated parmesan/romano.

Then, take the crust out of the oven, and top (you can top with whatever you like; this is my current favorite combo):

sun-dried tomato spread (i used California Sun from a jar)
2 ramps, bulbs and leaves, minced
3 handfuls of spinach, washed and destemmed
1 large handful of grape tomatoes, quartered
4 dried figs (i like calimyrna)
Gimme Lean "sausage", fried and crumbled
grated manchego cheese

Bake for another 12 minutes. Let cool enough to not burn a hole through the roof of your mouth, slice, enjoy!

from 4/30/2007

Pittsburgh, you are lookin' cute today! And, I hear that we're in for some sunny, warm good times all week! Woot!

Apart from being way too short, this weekend was super-duper! Friday night I made up the other pocket tart filling, assembled and baked the tarts and some mesquite chocolate chip cookies and wrote a little song about ramps.

The third filling was a sweet one. Cherry-Cinnamon with Almond Cream Cheese. Yum!

Cherry-Cinnamon
1 bag frozen organic whole cherries, thawed (I used 365 brand from WF)--make sure they're all pitted. I found two pits.
cinnamon, to taste (I used about 1 t.)
1 t. cream of tartar, disolved in a couple T. of cold water
1 T. butter

Heat a skillet over low heat. Add butter, then pour in thawed cherries with juice. Add cinnamon and the dissolved cream of tartar. Cook down for about 5-10 minutes of low heat, stirring often.

Almond Cream Cheese
1/2 pkg (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 pkg (4 oz) farmer cheese, softened
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t. almond extract

Use a mixer to blend up the cream cheese and farmer cheese, mix in the egg until well incorportated, then add sugar (sifted if lumpy). Mix in almond extract, and taste to adjust sugar and extract. This makes way more than you need for the pocket tarts (I just used about 1 t. for each tart, so feel free to cut this in half, or just think up something else delish to use it for).

Do you believe that I completely forgot to take picture of the tarts?? I'm so annoyed with myself! They were hands-down the cutest things I've made so far. Dang.

Well, I'd never worked with puff pastry before, and I was a little nervous, especially when I realized that puff pastry and phyllo dough are not, in fact, the same thing. They're similar, but not the same. I'd gotten phyllo because it was a lot cheaper, and I thought it'd pretty much just be like a poor man's puff. But, no. It's much more difficult to work with, to cut, and you use many fewer layers or you lose the taste of your fillings. After one test batch, I figured out my method. They still turned out great, but I'll totally use puff pastry next time. Then they'll be even cuter. Which may not even be allowed by law!

But, they got a good reception from my fellow roadtrippers, so it's all good.

I also made some mesquite chocolate chip cookies from Heidi's recipe in Super Natural Cooking. These cookies are show-stoppers. They taste like little pieces of heaven. Me + mesquite meal + Heidi = TLA! I just baked half the batch for the trip, then another dozen (plus three for me) on Sunday morning for a friend, and then froze the rest of the batter which is probably enough for another dozen or so. I'm glad I froze it, or I would've eaten up the dough. Dang, it's good.

..

On Saturday the rampin' roadtrippers met up at Beleza for coffee and hit the road. We had a fun drive to Morgantown eating tarts, cookies and playing SHAZZAM! (a game I made up at my beach trip last year). Our car was Ellen, Jr. and I, the other car was Mags, Ani, Fig and Raindog. Then we met up at the Lozier homestead, dropped off some dogs, hung with some parents, and joined forces for a one-car journey the rest of the way to Elkins. We took windy, back country roads, and it was lovely. We even passed through a town called Junior! We made it to Elkins and the sun was shining (it had been alternately cold and rainy, then warm and sunny all day). We hit the booths first where I bought three bags of ramps, some dehydrated ramps/salt and some honey, then we made our way over to the cook-off tent. There, it started being rainy/cold again, there was a Top-40 Country cover band playing (way too loud), and mullets a-plenty. Ahh, home.

While we were waiting in line, Ellen procured us some deep-fried ramps. They were tasty, but seriously greasy. I think my stomach's rebellion later was specifically related to these babies. But, going down? Divine.

..

Then, we made it into the tasting tent. About a third or half the things were vegetarian (yay!). I tasted Ramp Bruschetta, Griddle Cakes with ramp relish, Pickled Ramps and, um, there was one other thing. What was it? Hmm...

Anyway, I'm totally making those Griddle Cakes. My great-grandma Virgie used to make griddle cakes and top them with maple syrup. Sweet or savory, they are fantastic.

We jetted out of the festival after that, and took a scenic route back. We passed through Thomas, WV, and stopped at The Purple Fiddle. This is such a great cafe! (http://www.purplefiddle.com/) It's in an old general store with all the original tin celings and woodwork, and it was just really homey and sweet. I had tea, but they also had coffee drinks, soups, ice creams, beer, and a full lunch-type menu. So cute! And, they even have a B&B. I was completely charmed.

We meandered back through WV and even into Maryland, where certain members of our party took a spring baptismal dip in Deep Creek Lake. Seriously, we pulled off the side of the road, and they stripped down, and skinny dipped, dunked and waded while I laughed so hard that I nearly peed. Too cold for me, but it was fun to watch! But, then the funk in the card only increased--ramp breath and damp lesbian. Whoa.

I got back home that night thoroughly sated and sleepy. I'd planned to maybe go to Art All Night, but I just didn't have it in me to navigate the crowds.

Got up bright and early on Sunday morning, baked another batch of cookies, watched a saved episode of Good Eats about pocket pies, and started reading Rebecca Wood's The Splendid Grain. When Heidi replied to my fan letter, she suggested I check out Rebecca's blog and cookbooks.

Then I met some friends (some old, one new, and a couple I'd never met) at Zenith for brunch. I don't know why I always forget about this place. I probably hadn't been there for two years or more, and I'd only been for lunch, never for brunch. Oh my god. The food--the bounty and the deliciousness--were AMAZING! I'm going there every week from now on. So good! http://www.zenithpgh.com/ In addition to the fabulous spread, we also just had a great group of folks. I laughed the whole time.

Then some of us (including my potential new roomie) went to check out the house I'll be moving into soon. Looks like I'll be moving in July 1st. I hope this roommate works out, 'cause she's a peach. But, even if it doesn't, I'm so glad to have met her.

Check it out. This is the view from the deck at the new house.

..

I can't wait to move in! So, that was my morning. I got home in the mid-afternoon, and had big plans for a nap, but I kept thinking of stuff I wanted to do or read, so I just read for a while instead. The first section of the book is about wild rice, and it reminded me that Maggie gave me a bag of wild rice a couple of weeks ago that her uncle had hand-harvested in Minnesota, so I cooked it up. It cooked kinda weird. I've always see wild rice just flecked in other rice, and it always was pretty uniformly brown and straight. Mine came out all wiggled up in all sorts of tones, shapes and sizes, and deliciously nutty. I ate some warm, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with some of the ramp salt. I had it again for dinner along with a salad. I was talking to Amy on the phone, and she was telling me about her salad which sounded gorgeous and good-tasting, so I made a Hurd-inspired salad of spinach leaves, steamed asparagus and snap peas, grape tomatoes, shaved manchego cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar with lots of fresh ground pepper.

..

I brought a re-run of that for lunch. And, it's almost lunch-time. Goody.

from 4/27/2007

When I was a kid, I just didn't get the whole notion behind "TGIF". I liked weekends, but I liked week, too. Why did grown-ups get so excited about Fridays? Well, now I know. I am so excited that it's Friday! I like my job and all, but still. Weekends are where it's at. If I could magically double the time in each day maybe I wouldn't care so much, but since I've been concentrating on cooking, and not inventing the time-doubling machine, TGIF it is.

I'm especially excited about the ramp festival/cook-off/roadtrip tomorrow! My West Virginia pride is a-swellin', and I'm looking forward to sharing the lovely, potent, odoriferous experience of ramps with my peeps. That is the taste of spring, and the taste of my West Virginia childhood.

I've mentioned that I want to make some treats for the car trip down, and am planning on making Heidi's pocket tarts from Cook 1.0. She had a few suggestions of fillings, but advised that pretty much any filling would be good in them. I've settled on three filling flavors--curried potato-pea, spinach-mushroom-goat cheese and cherry-cinnamon. Yum! I made the two savory fillings last night so they'd have a day to fully develop their flavors. I'm making the sweet filling and baking the tarts tonight. I want to underbake them just a tiny bit so I can pop them into the oven for a few minutes on Saturday morning so they'll be all warm and toasty and mouth-wateringly fragrant. I actually haven't worked with puff pastry before, and I'm a little nervous, but hopefully they'll turn out to be golden, flaky and delicious. As it should be.

curried potato-pea filling
..

This is great on its own, too! I actually planned to bring a little scoop of each of these fillings for lunch with some brown rice, and left it sitting on my kitchen counter. Bummer! But, here's the recipe:

Potato-Pea Curry
(filling for pocket tarts)

2 1/2 c. golden new potatoes, 1/4" dice
1 c. baby peas (I used frozen, 'cause even though I have some fresh peas, I love to eat them in the pods, and didn't want to sacrifice them!)
1 1/2 T. olive oil
1/2 T. butter (it'd be great to use ghee in place of the oil/butter)
2 large (or 3 small) cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 c. onion, small dice
1 1/2 T. curry mix (I made a mix using curry powder, cayenne, chili powder, cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, tumeric, crushed cumin seed, crushed coriander seed)

Heat the oil and butter in a medium-hot skillet, and add the garlic and onion. Saute for about 2 minutes until they're soft and translucent. Add in the curry mix, and saute another minute until it's really fragrant. Add in the potatoes, and cook for about 10 minutes, until they start to soften (but are still al dente). Add in the peas, and saute for another couple of minutes. Add sea salt to taste (I used about 1 t.).

..

Spinach-Mushroom-Goat Cheese
(filling for pocket tarts)

1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. onion, small dice
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. sea salt
3/4 lb. crimini mushrooms, 1/4" dice, stems removed (I kept the stems, and I'll use them in soup/stock)
1 lb. spinach, washed, drained and roughly chopped
goat cheese, crumbled

Heat the oil in a medium-hot skillet, and add the shallot, garlic and onion. Saute for about two minutes until soft and translucent. Add the cinnamon and salt. Add the mushrooms, and cook for about five minutes until soft and smelling like a little slice of heaven. Add the spinach, and stir while it cooks down and incorporates.

I didn't add the goat cheese yet. I'm just going to crumble some on the top of each dollop of filling in the tart.

[Why, oh why, didn't I remember my lunch?! I want some right now!]

I'm not, of course, starving right now despite my strong desire to eat up that filling. I had a strawberry-blueberry-maca smoothie this morning (with 1 c. soymilk, 1/3 frozen banana, 1 t. raw agave nectar). It was gorgeous!



And, I had an especially good morning because I weighed in, and--finally--the scale moved again! Three more pounds shed. That makes 39 so far. Woot! And, it's my two-week-a-versary of being a non-smoker. Again, woot!

I was taking out the trash this morning, and noticing how much less trash I generate now. I used to have about 2 very full bags of garbage each week, but since I've mostly gotten rid of the pizza boxes, packaging from processed foods, cigarette packs, cigarette butts, etc. I've reduced my trash to about a half of a bag per week! And, when I move into my new place and have a garden, I can start composting, and that'll eliminate about half of that! This healthquest is not just good for me; it's just good, period!

from 4/26/2007

Yesterday after I posted my list of kitchen staples, I kept thinking of more! For the must-haves: light coconut milk (I like Native Forest or the WF 365 brand). For the my-must-haves: dates, young coconut, unsweetened shredded coconut, figs, pine nuts...um, I know there were more than that...

Anyway, I have my lunch sitting on my desk in a see-through plastic container, and can barely contain myself from scarfing it down now. It's another Heidi recipe (surprise)!

My friend Elizabeth came over last night. We were planning on riding bikes, but the cold and rain kept us indoors. So, I made us a little snack from Heidi's Super Natural Cooking (p. 52) - [my notes in brackets]:

Wheat Berry Salad
with Citrus, Toasted Pine Nuts, Feta and Spinach

2 c. soft wheat berries [I didn't have soft wheat berries, so I used hard red wheat berries, and it was still deelish]
6 c. water
2 t. fine-grain sea salt [I used about 1/2 t., and it was plenty]

citrus dressing:
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice [I used the juice of 1 lemon]
1 T. minced shallot
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 generous handfuls spinach leaves, stemmed and well-rinsed [I used arugula, just 'cause that's what I had on-hand]
1 c. toasted pine nuts
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese

Combine the wheat berries, water and 2 t. salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until plump and chewy, about an hour or so. The berries should stay al dente, and the only way to be sure they're done is to taste a few. Drain and season with more salt, as needed. [Seriously, you don't need more salt since there's some in the dressing and the feta is salty].

To make the dressing, combine the orange zest and juice, lemon juice and shallot. Whisk in the olive oil and season with a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

Toss hot wheat berries with the spinach, pine nuts, citrus dressing, then top with the feta. Taste for seasoning and sprinkle with a bit more salt if needed. Serves 4-6.

..

..

We had this warm, fragrant salad with a 2003 Bonny Doon Montepulciano. (I've had a few of their wines, and really liked them, plus the design of their labels is great--that's why she picked the bottle. I got a bottle of their Cardinal Zin as a gift a couple years ago for the holidays, and had kinda forgotten about it until now. I don't drink wine often, but really enjoy it when I do). We had a lovely evening. I love it when she comes over!

And, the most exciting thing to date--a friend of mine asked if I'd be interested in doing some personal chef stuff for her late this summer! Whoa! I've been fantasizing about that lately, but hadn't necessarily thought about actually putting it into a specific plan-of-action. You know, I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up. I'd been thinking of going back to Pitt to finish my social sciences degree, then applying to CMU for a masters program in creative non-fiction. What if I could do both? Get some formal chef training along with the other, and then eventually have a business and work on writing (about food and cooking) in my spare time? My mind is swimming with the possibilities! And, I'm so, so, so flattered that someone would be interested in hiring me already. I think the feeling I'm currently feeling is elation. I love elation!

Okay, it might be elation mixed with kombucha (Guava Goddess today) and maca root powder. I started out the day with a peanut butter-banana-maca smoothie, and heated some of my leftover tortillas until they were pretty golden and firm so I could cut them into chips, and had that with the rest of my guacamole (which was still looking pretty good since I had so much lemon juice in it). Yum.

Is it time for lunch yet?

from 4/25/2007

Is myspace acting up for you guys, too? I see that I have some comments on yesterday's blog, but when I click to read them, I just get some freakin' ad for smartphones that never goes away. What up, Tom?

Anyway, I did a little light cookin' last night. I remembered to go by the library (where I was assaulted by Hurd and Lisa in the parking lot), and sadly surrendered Cook 1.0 (with $.10 fine for being so reluctant to bring it back). But, I picked up a bunch of other books to ease the pain. Then, over to Whole Foods to pick up a couple things for the pocket tarts I'm making for the ramp road trip, some kombucha (they were out of the gingerade and mango, so I got some guava, trilogy and some kinda passionberry or something) and some other assorted goodies. Plus, I ran into my favorite WF teammember who happened to be cutting the cheese (oh man, that makes me laugh every time).

So, when I got home and started putting my groceries away, I realized that I had three avocados on the verge of extinction. So, I made up some guacamole. I like mine chunky, garlicky and lemony. So, I used:

3 avocados, cut into large chunks (about a 1" dice)
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped fine
a little fresh mint (about 1 T.?), chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
cayenne (about 1 1/2 t.)
cumin seeds, crushed
sea salt & black pepper, to taste (i used about 1/4 t. of each)

So, I chop the avocado, and set aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, and then fold into the avocado gently so the avocado stays really chunky and beautiful. Of course, if you prefer more of a paste/dip, then smash it all up.

..

So then I needed something to scoop up the guacamole with, so I made a batch of Heidi's tortillas. There is nothing better than a fresh, warm tortilla. And, they're so easy! Here's her recipe from Cook 1.0 [my notes in brackets]:

Flour Tortillas
2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour [i like to use 1 c. unbleached flour and 1 c. whole wheat flour]
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 T. vegetable oil [i was out of veg oil, so just used a light oilive oil that i keep around for stuff like this. i save my good olive oil for drizzling and such where you can really taste the oil]
3/4 c. warm water

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and shortening. Pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl.

Stir in the warm water a bit at a time until a stiff dough forms--not sticky and not dry. Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pieces (depending on whether you are making small or large tortillas), and form each into a ball. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a cloth, for at least 15 minutes.

Roll or flatten each piece of dough into a thin circle at least 6 inches across. Cook on an ungreased skillet or griddle over medium-high heat until barely golden, about 45 seconds on each side.

[I like to flatten these by hand. One, because I don't currently own a rolling pin, and two, because I think they are just fun to do this way. I spray a tiny bit of olive oil cooking spray on my surface, and then just moosh them out with the heels of my hands until they're about 6" circles. I find that it takes me just long enough to moosh them as the previous one takes to cook on one side, so I make a little assembly line. I also like to slightly undercook them because when I eat them, I like to again heat them up in a skillet and actually brown them a teensy bit then--not too much, though, or they get hard.]

..

I sliced up some grape tomatoes, and as soon as the tortillas came out of the pan, I topped them with a generous helping of the guacamole and some of the chopped tomatoes (these little jewels are so sweet they're like candy!). And, some fresh mango on the side. Yum.

..

That meal was freshness personified. Soooo good. I wish I had some more right now! Well, I did actually have a tortilla sandwich for breakfast. I heated up two tortillas, then smeared one side with peanut butter, then other with fig jam, slapped them together for a warm and gooey treat, and washed it down with another mango-strawberry-banana-maca smoothie. Breakfast of champions.

Last night I was talking to a friend while I was preparing the guacamole, and she was asking about how you know what to have on hand in your kitchen for someone just starting to incorporate more cooking and more healthy ingredients. I thought about it for a while, and then looked around my kitchen and thought about what I stocked when I started getting more into this and what I think are staples that I always have on hand. So, here's a quick list of my kitchen must-haves.

-olive oil (one to use for cooking in stuff, one really good one to use for drizzling)
-vinegars: balsamic, rice wine, white, apple cider
-brown rice
-Bragg's liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
-some kind of pasta (i've been keeping spinach linguine)
-quinoa
-dried beans (whatever kind you like. i always have pinto beans, and usually black beans, kidney beans, etc.)
-garlic and ginger
-spices: sea salt (coarse & fine grain), black pepper, cayenne, curry, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, red pepper flakes
-fresh herbs: basil, cilantro, mint, parsley
-tofu (extra-firm and silk)
-whole wheat flour, cornmeal
-sugar and honey
-some kind of green (usually spinach or arugula or kale)
-some veggies (whatever you like; i usually have beets, asparagus, peas, green beans, onions and potatoes)
-some fruit (bananas, berries, etc. - also, if my fruit is in danger of turning, i just wash/dry it, and stick it in a ziploc bag in the freezer--always good for smoothies, and you don't have to use ice if you have some frozen fruit)
-baking powder, baking soda
-soy milk (i like the 365 brand from WF, and you don't have to refrigerate it until you open it, so it can hang out on the shelf 'til you need it)
-plain low-fat yogurt
-steel-cut oats

You should be able to weather, like, a nuclear winter or something with that stockpile.

other stuff that really isn't a necessity, but I can no longer live without:
-mesquite meal
-maca root powder
-mangoes
-kombucha
-kombu
-avocados
-toasted sesame oil
-an assortment of a bunch of different grains
-an assortment of a bunch of different flours
-goat cheese
-pine nuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts
-brown rice syrup
-agave nectar
-raw honey
-hunza golden raisins
-goji berries

Yum.

So, we gotta process all this food, right? I've been reading about metabolism (in the book Low-Fat Living that I picked up at Goodwill), and the author talks about a couple easy ways to kick your metabolism into gear. Here are three easy tips:

1. Do some kind of exercise/activity within 20 minutes of waking. This tells your body to start burning, not hoarding. I jump on this little exercise machine thingy (glider? sorta like a hybrid of a skiing thing and a stepping thing) for five minutes right after I wake up, but you can do anything you like as long as you're active.
2. Eat within one hour of waking. Again, this signals your body to start burning.
3. Drink lots of water. Cold. Your metabolism speeds up when it has to warm the liquid to your body temperture.

Neat!

from 4/24/2007

Well, I "forgot" to take Cook 1.0 back to the library yesterday. Sorry, person-who-is-waiting-for-it! I actually really did forget. I had a nagging feeling on my way home that I was supposed to do something, but couldn't remember what it was--it was going to the library and going to WF to get kombucha. Dang! But, it's actually good, 'cause I needed to use this cookbook just one more time. I want to make some snacks for the Ramp Festival Road Trip, and I think I've found the perfect idea from Cook 1.0: pocket tarts! They're really cute, sound tasty, and, like all of Heidi's recipes, are simple. So, I'm going to copy those pages so I can make up some of these little guys for treats on the winding way through WV. She has a few differnet filling ideas, but I think you could pretty much put anything tasty in there and they'd be perfect. I think I'll make them up on Friday night and then bake them on Saturday morning before we leave so they'll be warm and toasty. Yum.

I can't wait for ramps! And, for a good ol' fashioned WV road trip!

Last night was the queer dinner at Gypsy Cafe. Good times, good peeps, good food and a freakishly accurate tarot reading. Rebecca is so freakishly accurate that sometimes I wonder if she follows me around all month to pick up details to amaze me with during the reading. I'm not telling what she told me, but suffice it to say that it was pretty right-on. Crazy. Okay, I will tell one thing. She said that I'd made a choice in the last week or two that was really health, but a struggle. She said that I'd struggle with it for another month, but ultimately be successful. I think she's talking about the smoking. And, speaking of the smoking, I'm now at 1 week, 4 days, and have saved $55.25 by not buying cigarettes. Pretty crazy.
So, I had my first post-smoking weigh-in today. I stayed exactly the same--not up, not down. I'm okay with that. I was secretly terrified of gaining weight when I quit smoking because you always hear about that, and because so often when you have a craving there's a tendency to satisfy it with something else--like food. I have indulged a little bit, but not too badly. Next week it'll go down. Swear.

This morning I started the day with a lovely smoothie. Today I had some fresh strawberries, some banana chunks I had frozen, and some frozen mango with some soymilk and maca root powder. The maca is actually a stimulant, so I think it's a good start-of-the-morning ingredient. Plus, it's supposed to make you all virile and increase your libido and stuff (hellooooooo, ladies...). Plus, it's supposed to help increase endurance, so it's good if you're exercising. It tastes a little funky by itself, but a little in a smoothie is lovely.

I tried the Mango Kombucha juice last night (Ellen brought a bottle to the dinner), and it's fantastic! Even better than the gingerade! (Nowlzie--try the mango! you'll like it!) I really am going to try to remember to go by WF after work today and stock up. Plus, I need some ingredients for the pocket tarts, so I'd better decide what's going in them. I'd like to make a couple varieties. And, I need some tofu. And, asparagus. And, peas. And, basil. And, cherry tomatoes. Yum. Okay, making a list...

from 4/23/2007

Hey, hey! Happy (belated) Earth Day to everyone! What a gorgeous weekend! That is good for the soul, I tell ya.

I went to Gist Street on Friday night, and it was a good time as always (i <3 Gist Street!). The readers were Jason Schneiderman (poet) and Kellie Willis (fiction). They were both great, but Jason Scheiderman made me--literally--laugh and cry. Fantastic. And, one of the prizes this month were three beautiful, just-laid eggs from the chickens in the backyard. I wanted those babies really badly. I didn't win, but my friend Kara did! And, she shared. She gave one to me and one to Ellen. I made it as soon as I got home. This little baby never even made it to the refrigerator. I decided on hard-boiling, and to eat it warm with some sea salt and coarse ground pepper. Yum. It was delicious. The yolk was really a gorgeous deep orangey-yellow and tender. Deelish.



Saturday morning I started the day with a Power Smoothie. I had to capitalize the name because that's how powerful it was. It was a take on the chocolate almond milk from the raw foods class last week. I didn't strain the milk, though. I wanted to bulk of all the ingredients. I like my smoothies a little chewy. So, I blended about a 1/3 c. soaked almonds with the meat of a young coconut and some leftover lite coconut milk (about 1/3 c.). When it was pretty well pureed, I added about a 1/2 c. of water, 1 1/2 t. raw cacao nibs, 1 t. mesquite meal, 1 t. maca root powder, 1/2 t. carob powder, 1 small banana and 3 dates. It was a powerhouse! I think it'd actually be an awesome filling (with less water) for a raw pie. I got a good recipe for a raw crust using dates, coconut and ground pecans. I think it would rock. I'll be making that soon.



Then Saturday night I had a lovely dinner with Mags and Ani before we hit Operation Sappho. We had bean and rice burritos, a gorgeous salad and some tasty chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies. Good stuff. And, then we went to Whole Foods for some raw kombucha juice before hitting the dance floor. You gotta try this kombucha juice! Some lady in the vegan cooking class last month had mentioned it, and I'd kinda forgotten about it until Ellen pointed it out at WF last week. So, I picked up a bottle of the gingerade. It is amazing! It tastes a little like apple cider vinegar, but with a little fresh ginger taste, too. Ellen tried the Mango too, and gave it a good review. I think I'm gonna have to swing by WF after work to stock up. It's pretty crazy. You almost feel a little high when you drink it. I get the same feeling when I drink wheatgrass and eat sushi. You can read more about kombucha here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha



(can you tell i just recently learned how to add images to blog posts?)

Sunday morning I'd planned to hit up the brunch/show in Lawrenceville, but my compatriots all backed out so I made a batch of Heidi's basic drop biscuits. I had a little trouble getting the tops to brown (but, I think that's mostly because my oven sucks), so halfway through I pulled them out and brushed the tops with a little egg white. They turned out really tender and flaky. They're from Heidi's Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen cookbook. This cookbook ROCKS. I got it from the library after I bought (and fell in love with) Heidi's new book Super Natural Cooking. I've had it for about a month and a half, and I tried to renew it again, but someone has it on hold. Bummer! I wonder if it's someone who reads this blog? If so, please enjoy it. It's maybe the best cookbook ever. It is chockfull of fantastic recipes and ideas. I'm going to buy my own copy as soon as I get paid again. I will miss you Cook 1.0...



Queer Dinner is tonight! Gypsy Cafe at 7:00 p.m. If you want more info, message me.

from 4/20/2007

I got to leave work early yesterday, but it was kinda crazy. There was a bomb scare outside of my building. First we were evacuated to another side of the building, then out of the buiding, and then eventually sent home. I liked having the afternoon off (I got home around 3:00 p.m.), but it was a little bit scary. The guy evidently had some kind of torpedo-type thing in his trunk. Some people had seen him load it, gotten suspicious and called the cops. So, they tracked him down, and pulled him over (I guess he didn't want to pull over at first?) in front of our building. So, it wasn't, whatever it was, directed here anyway, but just happened to be here nonetheless. The guy evidently wouldn't talk to the cops, so there were SWAT teams and helicopters and all sorts of madness. The coolest thing about it was that some CMU robot saved the day--it went in to get the "bomb" thing.

So yeah, beautiful afternoon off. I went home, and took Scout for a little spin, and took the K-Bear with us. He is generally scared of bikes, so he wasn't really excited about it. Well, excited about running around, but not being attached to a bike. So, he stayed as far as possible away from the bike (on his leash), and so ended up kind of towing me, or being a brake, at various times. Hopefully he'll get used to it, and start to love the bike/runs.

After that leisurely afternoon I went to another cooking class at Whole Foods last night with Ellen. It was called "Buy the Book - with Chef Lon". He was talking a little about sustainable seafood and organics, and then made two dishes. One was a really simple, but amazingly tasty warm salad. The other was a pasta dish, but it had pancetta in it, so we didn't taste that one. But, the other attendees raved about it, and it smelled good. All in all, Chef Lon was entertaining, but I didn't really learn anything. It was pretty general from an informational aspect. But, that salad was delish. Here's the recipe. I think he said it was from Bon Apetit magazine.

NEW POTATO, CHERRY TOMATO AND GREEN BEANS WITH FRESH BASIL
1 lb new potatoes
1/2 lb green beans
6 oz cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh basil, chopped
3 T. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until tender, about 40 minutes. Keep warm. Boil beans until tender, about 5 minutes. Cut tomatoes in half. Mix all ingredients.

Voila. Simple and tasty. I was still hungry when I got home, though, so I decided to make something quick. I had some grains that I got in bulk last month, and couldn't remember whether it was millet or amaranth (need to remember to label!). I'd never made either before, and they look kind of similar. But, I decided that I was pretty sure it was millet. So, I cooked it up. But, I was wrong! Amaranth! It's weird. It sorta looked like cream of wheat, or maybe coca-wheats since the color is kind of a malty brown. But, you could see the little germ, so it kinda looked like miniature quinoa. But, it was really gelatinous--like when you cook okra. Weird. But, the taste is really nice--a little bit sweet. I made it with savory stuff, but in the future I'd probably just use it as a breakfast porridge.

It's a pretty interesting little grain, though. Amaranth and quinoa are the only grains that are complete proteins. It's also a great source of fiber and minerals (iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous and copper). It's generally prepared as a porridge or toasted and popped like popcorn. I gotta get some more soon and try it like that! It's also a flour, and I just got some to make one of Heidi's recipes for seed-crusted amaranth biscuits. Yum.

I made it with some sliced avocado, tosted pine nuts, and a sauce mix that I made with some Bragg's liquid aminos, raw honey, crushed red pepper and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. It was tasty. Here it is:



So, for all my talk the other day abut not bringing ice cream into the inner sanctum, and always getting it on the outside, I broke down at WF last night and bought a pint of Woo City toasted coconut ice cream. It is freaking delicious! It's not very sweet, but with a really nice, creamy texture and lots of pieces of the toasted coconut. I made a little sundae with the ice cream, some yellow mango, crushed pecans and hunza golden raisins. It was a taste and texture sensation. It was hard not to eat the whole pint, but I kept it under control.



Since I've quit smoking (it's been a week, by the way!), I'm often overcome with an urge to want...something. Just something to have. So, I understand why a lot of people gain weight when they quit. My little essential oil inhaler thingy helps, as does nicorette gum, but sometimes you have to kick it into high gear and have a delicious treat. I'm trying to be gentle with myself because the stopping smoking is the most important thing, healthwise, I can do for myself. So, the occasional tasty treat will just have to be forgiven.

I'm looking forward to an action-packed weekend! Tonight is Gist Street and then a free concert at CMU (Spoon). Tomorrow there's lots of dykey goodness--an early show at Earthstone, then Operation Sappho! I love Operation Sappho! I really like the dancing.

from 4/19/2007

Yo, yo, yo! It is a lovely day! And, I just looked at the 10-day forecast, and it's in the 50s and 60s the whole time. Now, this is what I'm talking about! This is spring! I'm so, so glad that I got my little bike! I wish I had it with me here so I could go out at lunch and ride around. I can't wait until I get good enough to ride it to work and back. That's tough 'cause I live on top of a mountain, and there's no way to get there except up-up-up. My goal is to be able to do it by the end of September. Maybe I could start out by driving to Shadyside, and riding it from there. Then, Bloomfield, then the Strip, then the North Side, then home. That sounds like a plan.

And, I need a new bike seat. The one that's on it now is brutal. It makes my butt and my delicate lady parts alternately hurt and go to sleep. Not good. But, it is real cute. Her name is Scout. I just found out that she's a kid's mountain bike. No wonder it's so small! That's okay; it's my starter-bike. At least there are no training wheels! Here she is:



So, anyway. I went to the Raw Foods Class last night at Whole Foods with Matt and Chad. It was great! They made nut/seed milks, a dip and a couple salad dressings. Here are the recipes:

BASIC NUT/SEED MILK
1 c. raw nuts/seeds
1 qt. water
pinch of salt
optional: honey, dried fruit, stevia, etc.

Soak nuts or seeds. Rinse the seeds, then blend with a small amount of water to liquify, then add the rest of the water, the salt, and the optional sweetener. Strain and serve. Keeps up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

For this class, they used pumpkin seeds. The milk was really mild, and just really sorta tasted like regular skim cow milk or soy milk. But, it's really nutritious (pumpkin seeds, in partcular, are really high in iron and zinc), and was a lovely light sage-green color. It would be great as a smoothie base, in recipes, or just for drinking.

As far as soaking, here's the scoop:
almonds need 12-48 hours; cashews/macadamias need 1-2 hours; brazil nuts need 30 minutes; walnuts/pecans need 4-12 hours; seeds need 4-6 hours.

I've found tons of stuff online about soaking. There are varying times. But, basically, the idea behind soaking is that nuts and seeds naturally contain some enzyme inhibitors that protect them while they're growing. By soaking them, you remove these inhibitors, and also release their natural life force. And, always rinse them after, so you remove the toxins that leech out into the water. And, don't soak almonds with other nuts. This is a good raw/vegan site for recipes and resources: http://goneraw.com/

Okay. So, the next thing they made was Chocolate Milk. And, it was seriously the BEST chocolate milk I've ever had. So freakin' delicious! I could've chugged the entire batch they made (which was, like, a gallon).

CHOCOLATE MILK
1 qt. nut/seed milk*
2 heaping T. ground cacao
1 heaping T. raw carob
1-2 t. maca root powder (more, if desired)
honey, soaked dates or some other sweetener to taste

Blend, strain, enjoy.

*Matt made the nut milk first using 2 c. soaked almonds, water and 4 soaked dates.

That stuff is magically delicious. For real.

Next Chad made a raw macadamia dip. It was sort of like hummus, but better.

RAW MACADAMIA DIP
1 c. macadamia nuts (don't need to soak; can also use pine nuts)
1/4 c. water (you can increase the water to 1/2 c. to make it a dressing, or use these two ingredients--the nuts and water--as a base for all kinds of dressings)
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice (or slightly less than 1/3 c. raw apple cider vinegar)
2/3 c. cold-pressed olive oil
salt
herbs (he used dried Italian Seasoning herbs)
1/2 T. ground, dried sage

Blend the nuts and water first to desired consistency, then mix in other ingredients. This stuff is taste-a-licious! They served it with baby carrots. Yum.

Next up were the salad dressings. Just throw these in a blender. Quick and delicious.

TOMATO VINAIGRETTE
(keeps up to two weeks in the fridge)
1 large tomato, chopped
1-2 T. fresh dill
1 clove garlic
fresh thyme (he used the leaves from about 5 stems)
2 t. fresh lemon juice
salt
1/4 c. water

RASPBERRY VINAIGRETTE
(keeps up to two weeks in the fridge)
1 c. raspberries (can use fresh or frozen-and-thawed)
2-3 soaked dates
4 1/2 t. apple cider vinegar or 3 T. lemon juice
1/2 -3/4 c. water (use the lesser amount if you're using frozen berries since they'll have some liquid when they thaw)
1/4 c. flax oil
2-3 cloves garlic
3/4 - 1 t. celtic salt

This one delicious and really beautiful. It's a hot pink color, and looked really striking on the salad. Matt says he always makes this when he's having someone to dinner that he wants to impress.

Matt also gave us a recipe for a basic dressing, but we ran out of time last night, and didn't make it.

BASIC DRESSING
1 lg or 2 small avocados
1 med. orange
1 lemon

Peel fruits, blend, enjoy.
1/4 c. olive oil

Right on. Thanks, Matt & Chad! I also came outta there with another huge list of things that I want to google to learn more about. Here's that list:
-nightshade plants
-nut milk bags
-Institute for Integrative Nutrition? (nyc)
-The China Study
-Healthy At 100 (John Robbins' new book; I just started his other book Diet For a New America)
-some guy who ate a plane
-acidity/alkaline levels in body
-Herbert Shelton (Sheldon?)
-Hunza (out of print. used?)
-Hunza valley
-Dr. Douglas Graham
-David Wolf
-nettle tea
-burdoch root
-dandelion flower (one of the only plant sources for vitamin D)

And, tonight I'm going with Ellen to another cooking class at Whole Foods with Chef Lon. Will report back.