Garlic Chips

I remembered seeing these on Rachel Ray a while ago, and it just popped back in to my head to try them yesterday. They sounded so simple and of course, any form of garlic is good in my book. The trick to these are to cook them over low heat because garlic burns very easily. Once it turns brown, you have to immediately remove them from the oil or otherwise they will burn and taste bitter (I burnt a couple of them until I got the hang of it). These are awesome garnishes on vegetables — green beans, potatoes, broccoli, etc. — or just as a snack. Not to mention, the oil that remains is now infused with garlic and adds tremendous flavor when used in cooking vegetables, meat or chicken. Garlic Chips

3-4 Garlic cloves

1/4 cup oil, I used olive

1 Cut garlic cloves into really thin slices, I used a mandolin (and I didn't cut myself this time!)

2 Heat oil in a small deep saute pan over medium to low heat. When you throw in a garlic chip and it bubbles around it, you know the oil is hot enough.

3 Cook garlic slices until slightly brown, about 3 minutes, and immediately remove from oil. You can cook may slices at one time, but don't overcrowd the pan.

Look what I won!

I never win anything, seriously. The only time I ever won anything was on the cruise playing roulette and it was only $10. So, I was so excited when I was randomly chosen by the foodie blogroll as the winner of this cool canvas bag! The packaging was really cool and the bag is so cute! Thanks foodie blogroll!

Roast Chicken with Rice-Pistachio Stuffing

I just bought Mark Bittmans' How To Cook Everything, do any of you have it? I've heard all about it in the blogosphere and decided to give him a try. This book is like an encyclopedia of everything you would want to cook. Ever. It is amazing. I knew I had to make this recipe when I read it. Plus, I had a friend coming over for dinner that night so it was the perfect opportunity to try out something new and a little more festive. And even if it didn't come out good, being the good friend that she is, she wouldn't mind a bowl of cereal for dinner :)

 At first, stuffing a roast chicken may sound daunting (believe me, I was very nervous) but it was surprisingly simple! Like any roast chicken, the oven does all the work. Plus, normally when you buy a whole chicken the inner cavity is already cleaned out and ready to go!

I adapted this recipe slightly form Mark's original recipe. He used white basmati rice as is but I couldn't help but have some color in the rice. I sprinkled some Turmeric, a spice that gives gorgeous yellow color to rice. The results were fantastic! And honestly, who doesn't love pistachios? Especially when they are sauteed in butter. MMmm. On to the recipe!

Roast Chicken with Rice-Pistachio Stuffing

adapted from Mark Bittman

1/2 cup basmati

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1/4 cup pistachios, shelled

Turmeric, enough to give some color (I just kept adding little by little until it reached the color I wanted)

Salt 'n' peppa to taste

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 whole chicken, interior cavity cleaned (the butcher at the market already did this for me)

1 Bring a large pot of water to boil and season with salt. Add the basmati rice and simmer until tender, but not mush (this is very important). Wash and drain the cooked rice in a colander. Twice. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2 Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil in a large skillet and toss in the pistachios. Stir for about 1 minute, add the cooked rice and stir. Season with salt, pepper, and turmeric until desired level of color.

3 Add lemon juice to the rice mixture. This mixture can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

4 Stuff the chicken loosely with the rice/nut mixture. If there is some left over, leave it for the side dish.

5 Rub the chicken with the remaining butter or oil and season well with salt 'n' peppa. Place on a rack in a roasting pan (I use disposable ones) and cook for about 1.5 hours, depending on the size of your bird. Baste with oil or butter and pan juices about halfway through.

6 Remove chicken from the oven when done and let it rest for 5 minutes. Carve and serve with stuffing and pan juices.

My favorite way to eat pasta

I know this pasta bowl might look plain and bland, but I can't help this being my favorite way to eat pasta. I try to break out of this feta-parmesan-pasta rut, I really do! I tried the caramelized onion pasta, the sun-dried tomato and artichoke pasta, and even made bolognese sauce from scratch! I'm not saying those pasta dishes aren't amazing (or else I wouldn't post them!) but they are amazing in their own way. I always will crave soft buttery pasta and salty feta with grated parmesan cheese. Nothing can beat my classic favorite pasta toppings. I just don't like a lot of "stuff" in my pasta. Everyone has their "thing" with food, right? I have been hiding this, afraid that people will think I'm weird but I am ready to be proud of this pasta dish once and for all!! :) What is your classic most favorite way to eat pasta?

Pasta with feta and parmesan

1/2 pound pasta, any shape (I combined two leftover pasta shapes for this batch, don't be afraid to mix it up!

1/4 stick butter or some olive oil

A couple of spoonfuls of feta

Grated parmesan cheese

1 Boil 6 cups water and season with salt. Boil pasta until al-dente, about 7 minutes.

2 When pasta is finished cooking, toss with desired amount of butter.

3 Toss buttered pasta with feta and parmesan cheese.

4 Enjoy my masterpiece.

Summery Tzatziki Salad

I know I've been kinda MIA around here lately, but we've been stung with the 'house hunting bug' and I've been pre-occupied with that. You know things can get hectic with that sorta thing...Meanwhile, I've been making a lot of quick salads like this one. I call it a summer salad because the veggies in it remind me of summer so much. It's dressed with tzatziki sauce, a light tart creamy yogurt which is yummy dipped in veggies. So I thought, why not use it as a salad dressing? Its cool, creamy, yet still light and summery. AND it only has 3-4 ingredients! What's your favorite summer salad?

Summery Tzatziki Salad

2 Roma Tomatoes

1 Cucumber

1/4 cup tzatziki

1 sprig fresh dill

1 Chop up tomatoes and cucumbers and throw in a bowl.

2 Combine tzatziki sauce with chopped dill and fold into the vegetable mixture.

3 Season with salt 'n' peppa.

Squash Sticks

I recently bought this weird looking device called a mandolin. Have you heard of it? Let me just say, it is awesome. Perfectly evened sliced veggies, either matchsticks, julienned, or sliced. You can adjust the thickness of the slices and do a number of garnishes with it. I decided to experiment and make a short spaghetti using yellow squash. This is a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies. My theory is that if the veggies are cut in cute shapes, we are more likely to eat them. At least, that's how it works for me! Anyways, I cut up some squash and boiled them until tender. Topped with a feta cream sauce and sauteed spinach. It was delicious. The only thing is that I cut my thumb pretty bad on the mandolin blade and it still really hurts. So be careful and use that finger gaurd! Squash Sticks 2 yellow squash 1/2 bag spinach Feta 1/4 cup milk salt 'n' peppa 1 Cut up squash into long thin sticks and boil in a saute pan boiling water. Becomes tender after 30 seconds to 1 minutes, so don't leave the stove. Drain. 2 In a different pan, saute the spinach and feta and milk until creamy and tender.  3 Season the squash and mix together with spinach and feta. 3 Serve topped with more feta.

Grilled Figs

I finally found figs at the farmers market! I have been waiting so patiently. Every week the man said "next week, try next week" and finally the day has come! Aren't they beautiful? The colors are so bright and bold. Since I already had the george foreman heated up from my eggplants, I threw on some of the figs to bring out the sweetness and caramelize them a bit. They were warm, gooey and sweet. Great as a quick dessert topping on ice cream, or my favorite, mascarpone. I drizzled some honey on them just for a bit more sweetness. You could even stuff them with goat cheese and they become a savory appetizer! Yum!

Grilled Figs

1 package of Mission figs

1 tablespoon Honey

1 Wash figs well and pat dry. Halve the figs lengthwise to expose the beautiful red color inside.

2 Place figs cut side up on the grill for about 5 minutes. Then turn them over to brown the other side.

3 When browned and heated, remove the figs off the grill and arrange on a plate. Drizzle with honey and serve over ice cream or as is!

Fresh Mango Avocado & Navy Bean Salsa

I don't really like spicy salsa that you would eat with chips. I would much rather have a fresh fruit medley like this one.  This salsa came about because I had a mango that was about to go bad and an avocado that was about to go bad. Thats it. I put the two fruits together, added a can of navy beans, and lime juice and salt. Fresh and perfect. You could serve this as a side to anything, or on top of anything, or just as a cool fresh snack.

Do you want to know how I used it? Thats right. Right on top of a fried egg. The yellow yoke covered sweet mango and avocado was absolutely amazing. You might guess this was for breakfast, but it was actually for dinner and was so satisfying.

Mango Avocado & Navy Bean Salsa

2 Avocado

1 Mango

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 cup navy beans

Lime juice

salt 'n' peppa

1- Peel and cube the mango and avocado.

2 - Rinse navy beans from can. Throw into a large bowl with cubed mango and avocado, pour in juice of one lime, season to taste. Serve over whatever you like!

Grilled Eggplant, Fried Artichoke & Sun Dried Tomato Stacks

I love the taste of grilled veggies - red peppers, onions, and of course eggplant. I love grilled eggplant better than it sauteed because it gains a smoky silky texture that is so amazing. The other night I felt like grilling, george foreman style of course, so I sliced up an eggplant I got at the market, brushed some olive oil and garlic on 'em and grilled away. Perfectly grill marked if, I say so myself. I didn't really have a plan before I started grilling (most of the time I don't) so I poked around the fridge and pantry and made up this "eggplant stack." I fried up some artichoke hearts (from the can), layered some sun-dried tomatoes, and topped with fresh feta. It was sooooo good! The flavors all melded together very nicely and was something different as a side dish/appetizer.  Grilled eggplant, fried artichoke & Sun-dried tomato stack 1 eggplant olive oil 1 garlic, minced 1 can artichoke hearts Sun-dried tomato, julienned 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs salt 'n' peppa Feta 1 Slice up the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Lay the slices on a paper towel without overlapping and salt them, leaving them for 15 minutes to remove the brown yucky bitter taste. 2 Prepare a mixture of olive oil and minced garlic and brush both sides of the eggplant slices. Fire up the grill and cook until soft and smoky. Do in batches if needed. 3 While the eggplants are grilling, prepare a bowl with seasoned breadcrumbs, or season your own. Heat up a pan over medium heat with some vegetable oil. Roll the artichoke hearts in the breadcrumbs, then brown them in the pan for a minute. They fry up really quickly so it doesn't take long. 4 Once the artichokes are fried, start your stack with a slice of grilled eggplant as the base, a few fried artichokes, next the julienned sun-dried tomatoes, and top with feta.  You can get creative with your stack and use whatever ingredients you have on hand. That's what I did! :)

Double Post! Dill-icious Cucumber Chilled Soup & Summer Corn Soup

Finally, finally, finally I get my laptop back! It's been way too long and I've missed all my foodie friends a lot. Because I've taken many photos during these past two weeks (!!) and because I've missed you so, I present...... a double recipe post! Two soup recipes that are outstanding for summer. One is chilled, and one can be served either hot or cold.

First up, the chilled cucumber soup. I recently I had a chilled cucumber gazpacho (called white gazpacho) at a restaurant that reminded me how amazing it really was. Cool, creamy and tart – perfect for the summer. When I recreated it at home, it was so easy! Greek yogurt, lemon juice, cucumbers and lots of dill! I probably went overboard with the dill here, but I just love it so much that I couldn't hold back. Be sure to make double quantity of this soup because it'll go fast! Trust me!

Dill-icious Chilled Cucumber Soup

3 cups Greek yogurt

3 large cucumbers, cubed

lemon juice of half a lemon

a bunch of dill, however much you like

salt 'n' peppa

1 Peel and cube cucumbers. Reserve 1/2 a cucumber for later.

2 Combine yogurt, lemon juice, cubed cucumbers in a bowl and using a hand blender, blend until smooth and creamy. Season to taste.

3 When you have reached your desired consistency, throw in the reserved cubed cucumbers and serve. Garnish with a sprig of dill.

Next is the cold/hot soup, which, I know hot soup can be the total opposite of what you crave during the summer, but it is so delicious! I actually preferred it hot rather than cold. Sweet white corn is at its prime now, but not for long so you better head to the market soon and make this soup! The corn and carrot add to the sweetness and the creaminess comes from the milk (I used skim and it still turned out thick). The trick to get the corniest soup is boiling the cobs (without the kernels) in milk. It boosts the flavor of the corn and tastes like you are eating fresh corn of the cob! I honestly could have eaten this soup for weeks and not gotten sick of it. It's that good.

Summer Corn Soup adapted via austin360

2 ears of corn

2 cups milk

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

Olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 cup water

salt 'n' peppa

2 large sprigs of fresh thyme

Greek yogurt as a garnish, optional

1 Cut kernels form the cob, reserve cobs. Boil milk with cobs in a large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat and cover for 8 minutes.

2 While the cobs are cooking in milk, heat a bit of oil in a skillet and saute onion until soft. Stir in chopped carrot, kernels and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until vegetables are soft.

3 Add veggies, water and thyme sprigs to the cob/milk saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Discard cobs and thyme sprigs.

4 Using a hand blender, blend mixture until smooth. Serve hot or cold with yogurt.

Fried Green Tomatoes

My laptop is out for repair :( so I haven't been able to post as much without being able to upload photos, but I found this old shot of fried green tomatoes that I never got around to posting. I've never actually had green tomatoes - fried or unfried - nor have I seen the movie but I decided to give it a shot. These crispy disks of tart green tomatoes were great with lemon squeezed on top, or even dipped in marinara sauce. I guess I need to go see the movie now! Any recommendations?

Thrifty note
This small rectangular plate is from a local thrift store and I believe is hand painted. It's so blue and pretty, isn't it?