Tag Archives: spring

May23

FeedmePhoebe’s Gluten Free Sriracha Ginger Meatloaf + Broccoli Fried Rice

Posted on May 23, 2016 by athaidek

I made this dinner for a St-Charles-house-family-meal a few months ago. To give you some context, Webster’s dictionary defines a St-Charles-house-family-meal as one where a) the fire alarm goes off because our windows are painted shut and literally everything you cook sets it off, b) someone gets accused for not eating carbs , subsequently carbs are consumed by all, c) we run out of plates, chairs, cups, or utensils and resort to more artistic ways of eating. (slices of cake served in coffee filters , people sitting on the floor eating on the coffee table, people eating in a lawn chair eating off a small side table, people sitting on the ground eating off of a square cooler, boys stealing our silverware/cups/pots/oven/spices) , and the most necessary part of a St Charles house family meal is discussing buying a dog or hosting a Murder mystery dinner.

For the past two years, I’ve lived in a house fondly known as “The Quarter House,” (I think we’ve called it that a whopping 2 times), because it looks slightly like a New Orleans French Quarter house. With a full porch on both levels, the house has welcomed its fair share of fun visitors, held many parties and dinners, but most importantly, it’s been a welcoming home base. Of the 9 (actual) tenants in 4 units in the house, 4 of us went to high school together, all of us are friends, and we have at least 5 others who don’t live in the house but may as well be our roommates. This weekend marks the last that we live together – some of us having lived here for 1 and others for 2 years, together.

In honor of our last week as roomies, I’m sharing with you a great Sunday night meal for you and your friends/ family / fr-amily. I still have many tips and stories to share with you from my tiny kitchen, but I’m excited for my new farmhouse sink and GAS RANGE in the new place! I’ll be missing our house, but thankful for continuing friendships with the people in it.

I understand if you do not meatloaf, but I will not have a discussion with you about it. It’s like when you bring something up with your dad that you knooowwww is going to end with both of you STILL feeling passionately about the OPPOSITE side of the other. Yea, I understand, it’s a loaf of meat. But it’s so comforting – you mix up some classic ingredients, throw it in the oven, and during the hour while it bakes, you’re getting excited for your warm cozy meal with friends.

I love Phoebe Lapine’s blog because she posts recipe that align with different dietary restrictions, but also are takes on classic dishes. I have been wanting to make this meal for a long time and am so glad I did!

Thanks to my housemate Daniel for the final plating pics. It pays to have friends with the more artistics capabilities 🙂

Sriracha Ginger Meatloaf, from FeedmePhoebe, serves 4

For the glaze

1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sriracha

For the loaf

2 large eggs, beaten
4 scallions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced ginger (really a 1-inch knob of gingner, peeled and grated)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari (just uesd low sodium soy sauce)
½ cup gluten-free oats (I just used regular oats)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork

1. Preheat your oven to 375 and set the rack in the upper-middle of the oven. Middle is fine if that’s confusing. You want your meatloaf not to burn by being too high up

2. In a small bowl, mix the glaze ingredients. One of my housemates doesn’t like ketchup very much so I reduced the amount of glaze. However, the glaze is delicious, dont skimp.

3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oats, and salt until combined

4. Next, add in the beef and pork and mix the meat with egg mixture until JUST MIXED. This is key. The second time I made this dish I mixed up the meat too much and it was a bit dry. It helps that you’ve already mixed the other flavors together so the meat should get incorporated with the spice mixture fairly easily.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, and form a log-shape with the meat mixture on it. I think I saw this on Ina Garten – apparently you want to pack the meat in the middle first and start pushing it outwards, ensuring that you don’t leave any air pockets in the meatloaf. This will keep it from drying out.

6. With a spoon or brush, slather on about half the glaze on top of the meatloaf.

7. Bake for 1 hour , until the top is all crispy. Let stand for 15 mins before serving

Broccoli fried rice, adapted very slightly from A House in the Hills , serves 4

1 cup any rice you like – I prefer jasmine
2 heads broccoli, chopped, including the stems if you like them
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 TBS fresh ginger, peeled and grated/minced
3 cloves crushed garlic
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 lime

1. Cook rice according to directions but add on 2 tsp of the sesame oil with the water when cooking.

2. Once rice is close to done, heat a large skillet and add the rest of the sesame oil. Cook onions until they start to sweat and you can see through them.

3. Add broccoli and sautee until the outsides get a little crisp. Add a bit of water if the pan is too dry.

4. Add the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice, and vinegar, sauteeing all the ingredients together until the broccoli is cooked how you like (about 4-5 minutes for me) and the rice is coated in the oil and sauce. If you want this to be really fried, let it keep cooking and turn up the heat to get some more crisp.

5. Squeeze in lime at the end. Serve with meatloaf and sriracha on the side.

This is really yummy. It’s not going to make it out of the pan before you trying it so just serve from here 🙂

Jul16

Mango Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Posted on July 16, 2015 by athaidek

Standard

For all you party people out there who enjoy the likes of PF Changs, you’re in luck today! I’m going to woo you with Mango Chicken Lettuce Wraps as a way to distract you from nagging me about another blog post. Yes, I’ve been MIA and the person whose mostly losing out is my sweet grandmother, Winnie, who is about to be featured here. Grandma, my apologies for not writing this sooner!

Here’s the recap on the past two months: I went to a wedding in Sunset Beach, North Carolina where I had the most delicious mojito and danced the night away. I visited Lake Burton with my ATL crew and said farewell to friends moving to Boston. My dear friend Claire got married in Savannah where I ate the most deliciously moist lemon cake and my friend Sean broke his chair at brunch. Much to his dismay, it was the best part of the weekend. Monroe City, Missouri stole my heart with its rolling cornfields, welcoming community, and overwhelming wildflowers. Lastly, I visited Austin, TX for the first time where I was treated to the BEST food thanks to my lovely host Molly. My sister and I talked all things growing up while we gorged on tacos, amazing smoothies, kolaches, barbecue, and brunch. I am still dreaming of the mezcal drink I had with my sistahwife Molly along with many a cucumber-grapefruit-gin drink that I tried at every place we went.

Lately I’m saying many goodbyes to friends who are starting new adventures in new cities. While I’m sad to see them go, it’s exciting to see people go on their next adventure and become a little bit more of themselves. Throughout the process of saying goodbye, I got to partake in bucket list items that I might not have ventured to otherwise 🙂 This really means new people will have to learn to partake in my late-night baking activities and that I’m going to have to start trolling Yelp in the cities where my friends move. Note to all my friends out there – when I come to visit you, I will have already found the best food instagrammers in your city and will have at least one opinion about following their food recommendations.

Let me tell you about these lettuce wraps. My grandmother loves to take the girls in my family to PF Changs where we always like to get the chicken lettuce wraps. Every time I’ve had them, I never really thought they’d be easy to make at home. THEN my friend Cessie taught Christine and I how to make these really healthy chicken lettuce wraps just like the ones at the restaurant (where you wrap it up like a massive burrito and stuff it in your mouth gracefully and then everything falls out).

After trying it once, I wanted to try out these lettuce wraps from Cookie and Kate for my grandma on Mother’s Day. My grandma Winnie is such an inspiration to me and also the person who gave me a bad habit of laughing anyone’s actually said anything. She can’t start a story without laughing which has entirely rubbed off on me. We also like to sit and eat snacks and chat about love, life , family , and most importantly faith. I was blessed to have so many wonderful Indian dishes from her kitchen over the years, and it’s been a joy to me to be able to actually make something of my own for her. Serve this dish as a light meal with coconut rice like I did or as an appetizer like at PF Changs. I actually made it in advance and it warmed up nicely. I think the mango salad benefits from some extra time marinating as well.

Thai Mango Chicken Lettuce Wraps

adapted from this recipe from Cookie and Kate

Peanut sauce:

⅓ cup creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar or maple syrup

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

½ lime, juiced

2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

Mango pico

2 ripe mangos, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

½ bunch (about 4) green onions, chopped

⅓ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1 jalapeño, minced

½ lime, juiced

⅛ teaspoon salt

Chicken:

1 lb chicken breast, cubed

soy sauce

sriracha or chili garlic sauce

For the rest: small head of green cabbage

Coconut rice:

1 cup rice ( I used short grain brown rice)

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1. Boil water and coconut milk in a small pot. Add rice and salt and bring back down to a simmer, covering rice for about 25-30 minutes or until rice is tender. (you can skip this step if you just want the wraps as an appetizer)

2. In a jar or small bowl, whisk all the peanut sauce ingredients together and place in the fridge to meld flavors.

3. Mix all the mango pico ingredients in a large bowl or serving dish. I know you’re thinking there’s not much in this but I promise it taste delicious and doesn’t need much to it!

4. Cook chicken: Heat a saute pan to medium-high heat and add a few teaspoons of coconut oil or another light flavored oil. Once hot, add chicken and soy sauce. I would recommend about a tablespoon since that’s what the tofu in the original recipe is tossed in, and I added some chili garlic sauce as well. Saute chicken for about 3-4 minutes on each side and then turn off the heat. Drain sauce out and place chicken on a serving plate.

5. To serve, cut the bottom thick part of the cabbage stem off and slowly peel back the layers of the cabbage. Really get to KNOW your cabbage. I found this to be actually pretty hard, but the good thing is that the green cabbage leaves are so thick that even if they rip they can hold a good amount of food.

6. Eat your rice on the side or make a big mound of lettuce wrap and put chicken, mango pico, and rice in your wrap. You can either pour sauce into the wrap or dip the wrap into it.

If you’re like me, you’ll ask your grandmother a gazillion questions about growing up, how to know what God’s calling you to do next, why men are from Mars, what her favorite thing about Grandpa is, and oh yea please pass the vino. Dear Grandma, sorry this post is so late but I’m so glad you like the meal! (and I hope you read this)

Z93Ib8TfHCul3TQRc36LRM1cDs29e1xu1N1lBJaQeDs

❤

H259k4kdftrCWesTDhKupmlIbbe2BI0iBgrr7ErdX40

May10

White Chocolate Shortcake with Strawberries, Blueberries and Whipped Cream Frosting

Posted on May 10, 2015 by athaidek

Standard

I’ve been perusing Etsy lately for new cannisters for my flour and sugar and then I started judging the cannisters based on how much rust they had on them. And then I got really self conscious thinking about the fact that I am searching the interweb for a vintage-y kitschy looking tin can and still considering purchasing it from those South Dakotans (yea that’s how you refer to them) who collect these things even though the can has RUST all over the inside of it. And then I took a deep breath and realized I had too much caffeine.

You know, when did the Container Store fall out of fashion and rusty South Dakota cans make a come-back?

Did you guys also love the Container Store circa 2006? It was absolutely the coolest thing to go and get rando trinkets and your day planner from there during summer break. Instead of buying those sleek Oxo bug-proof jars, I’m trying to find a jar with a print not as creepy as a gnome garden yet not as sleek as an Ikea esque white box. The things I do to procrastinate….

Speaking of flour and sugar….THIS CAKKEEEEE. If I had to describe a cake that would connect a wide variety of people’s sweet palettes, it would be this one. I am one to enjoy the most decadent of sweets, with cake layers full of butter and buttermilk topped with headache inducing frostings (and if you’re really lucky, two types of frosting and some kind of caramel brittley thing in the middle). On the other hand, there are those people born without a soul who like the “lighter” side of desserts.

Yes I am speaking to you, tart frozen yogurt lovers, sorbet-orderers, MERINGUE fans, and the worst – those who JUST SAY NO to dessert. This cake will woo even you!!

It’s a cake that is light enough to be dubbed a shortcake, yet dense and moist enough to satisfy the decadent sweets lovers like (hand-raised) me! There’s even some white chocolate chips snuck in there. The white chocolate gives the cake just enough sweetness that you don’t even notice that this frosting isn’t even really frosting at all. It’s whipped cream!

I made this for my office May cookout a few weeks ago with the help of my baking aficionado friend Tim. While I insisted it probably wasn’t the best idea to break into this cake before bringing it to the office, we made a mini version with the overflowing bowl of batter and made sure the recipe was legit. Here are my tips for assembling cakes after my cake-toppling incident a few years back:

Bake your cake layers the night before if you are gonna make this. Then wrap each one in plastic wrap and cover overnight. In the morning, transport the layers and frosting separately if you’re gonna have limited fridge space because this frosting isn’t the greatest for sitting out. Assemble the cake with the frosting and fruit right before eating!

For all of you who want the recipe – buy JoytheBaker’s Homemade Decadence book!!!

Creaming some butter and sugar (view the sweet potato blondies I also made below)

sawiinngg batta batta

Here are my tips on getting cake out of the pan. Take your spatula and point it straight down around the edge of the cake. Do this a few times until you know the cake is free from the edges. Then start to go down then under the cake and gently pull up slightly on the cake, but don’t actually try to take the whole thing out. Once you’ve primed the cake, place a plate over the cake and count your self down to a flip (I had Tim help with this). 1-2-3 flip!!! Then tap the bottom of the cake pan which is now facing up as you place the plate down on the counter. This will get any last bit of the cake out. Gently pull the pan up – and there ya go.

If you can feel that the cake didn’t in fact come out of the pan (gasp), just flip it over, look both ways to make sure no one saw you, and give it a few more minutes 🙂

You know, just use a big pot to make your whipped cream when all your mixing bowls are taken….

Watching this progression above, this is what happens when you don’t let your mini cake cool and just drop dollops of whipped cream on top

I buckled it in shortly after. This is my recommended safety position for your cake.
Oh just assembling my cake at the office

Shoutout to my coworker Michael who helped put this together!!!

ohhhhh yeaaaaaa

Apr16

Sriracha Hummus and my new favorite party app

Posted on April 16, 2015 by athaidek

Standard

Today I write to you with a new view on life. Let me tell you about the new, Argentine Katie, and how I’d like to convene with those of you who may share the same new views as me. I recently returned from an amazing trip with my cousins, aunt, uncle, and their grandmother to Buenos Aires. To be honest with you, I had no idea what to expect and had an amazing time exploring the city, meeting new people, and spending time with my cousin’s girlfriend’s amazing family.

While in Buenos Aires, I learned that we wait for EVERYONE to arrive before eating*. I’d like to really pronounce this as “eating asterisk” because what it really means is, let’s have a very large spread of appetizers and drink beer and be joyous until the last person arrives and then let’s still eat a completely normal meal as if we didn’t eat any of those apps.

SO, we found out that there is a tradition of serving “picada” before the meal. While I don’t think my family totally figured out what actually is included in the picada (apparently it really means there has to be some specific forms of meat and cheese), we associated it with a few key items.

While I did love the olives, cheese, and crackers they served, nothing compared to the saltiest salt-mine bag of peanuts that you could find at any grocery store. We were so amazed at the amount of salt in these snack bags we seriously considering draining them in a colander and saving the leftover salt at the bottom of the bag. This is the ULTIMATE pre-dinner snack which paired well with the Imperial beer.

Second, PRINGLES. A great app that also went well with beer. From now on, I’m going to try and find the salt mine peanuts and have pringles when I entertain. These were party starters. Next time I go back, I want to bring this hummus with me and see if they’d like the American tradition to their picada. The only thing is, apparently Argentines don’t like spicy food :/. Until then, more for me!

This hummus recipe is an original from my friend Mike who is master of all spicy foods. An avid sriracha fan, Mike went so far as to carry a sriracha flag with him throughout a festival in Atlanta as the reference point for all of us to find throughout the day. Serve this up at your next dinner party and adjust the spice to your liking 🙂

Sriracha Hummus – easily adaptable to all spice pallettes

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped slightly

3 TBS tahini

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

SRIRACHA – looks like we used maybe 1.5-2 TBS sriracha

1. Combine all ingredients except olive oil in the bowl of your food processor, magic bullet, or blender. Preferably you want to use a food processor here, but if you have either of the others they will work. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture starts to become smooth.

2. Once you’ve broken up the chickpeas and can see the garlic is small, slowly stream in olive oil. This is the part where you can start with a little bit and add more depending on how thick you like it. Mike likes his on the thicker side so that’s what you’ll see here…it’s on the lower end of the olive oil scale. Puree until smooth or keep a bit chunky if thats how you like it.

3. Finish off with a heart-shaped sriracha garnish and a few sesame seeds. Serve with carrots, pita, cucumbers, or on top of a salad/sandwich.

Can’t wait to share the SWEETS I fell in love with in Argentina…I know you’re all on the edge of your chair wondering if I mean desserts or men amirite??? jajaja bon appetit! Let me know how the peanut picada works for you next time you have people over!

Mar16

From-scratch Baked Falafel Salad with Honey Tahini dressing

Posted on March 16, 2015 by athaidek

Standard

It’s sppprrriinnngggtiimmmeee peoples!! How do you all feel about having a birthday party for spring? As many of you may know, I have a die-hard obsession with Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers movies (the Parent Trap featuring Lindsay Lohan and Lindsay Loan and You’ve Got Mail being at the tippy-top of the list). In Nora Ephron’s top success (if you ask me) You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan famously says that Fall “makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

Now what would you say about Spring to your mysterious email-pal? I know my friend Molly would say she’d send somebody a package of freshly cut green grass, as she claims the green lawns of UVA made her commit to going to school there. I might say I’d like to take a music box and capture the sound of birds in the morning or the sound of the whistle from soccer practice. What about the last class before spring break? How about the smell of dew hitting your nose as you walk out the door, the fresh scent of lilies, or eating warm ham biscuits with mustard on Easter? Going to Mellow Mushroom after soccer practice, and walking through the gardens at UVA. I love it! In addition to loving spring, I also love a good revival of an old fashion trend to bring back when the weather gets warm. One year it was overalls. This year, I’m feelin the comeback of platform flip flops. Thoughts?

And in true spring fashion, I’ve got a green-colored dish for you all. It just so happens that it’s the day before St. Patty’s as well. This year, I went to Savannah for St Patty’s and brought some Guinness cupcakes with me!! Are you an enthusiastic baker who jumps at the chance to make holiday-themed baked goods?? If so, come hang with me.

On to falafel. Fa-la-la-la-fel. One of my absolute FAVORITE foods, and also one that I haven’t ever mastered. Falafel is essentially a fried ball of chickpeas and herbs (but in this case baked.) Alas!!! A baked falafel recipe worth sharing from Cookie and Kate, a favorite blog in my home. There’s this place that sells delicious falafel by my office called Ameer’s. Every time I go, I try to craft a falafel salad which ends with me ordering side salad and falafel appetizer. Awkward meal, no more. I had heard that to make a homemade version of falafel, it is essential to use dried chickpeas. Well I don’t know if I mastered how to cook dried chickpeas, but I did get a good consistency.

Cookie and Kate says to soak the chickpeas for a long period of time, but I think you are also supposed to cook them once they soften. Mine were a little bit dry but all it did was make the falafel more firm.

Baked Falafel, adapted slightly from cookie+kate

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in water at least 8 hours
⅓ cup chopped onion (she says red I only had white)
1 cup fresh parsley leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sesame seeds, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep two wide skillets with 2 tablespoons olive oil while the oven heats.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine soaked and drained chickpeas, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Puree until smooth, 30 seconds-1 minute.

3. Before you start forming the falafel patties, make sure you’ve oiled the pans because otherwise you’re going to have a mess. Scoop out roughly two tablespoons of the mixture and roll into a ball first. Then flatten the ball lightly into a patty about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.

4. Place each patty into one of your oiled skillets and drop a few sesame seeds on each.

5. Bake falafel on the middle rack of your oven for 13 minutes on one side. While the first side is cooking, prep your dressing.

6. QUICK DRESSING: Whisk about 2 tablespoons tahini, 1/2 tsp honey, 1 TBS water, a dash of cumin, salt and pepp, 1-2 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar together.

7. Flip your falafel and bake for another 13-15 minutes. I found that for the flip I needed some more oil to get a crispy crust. In reality, this recipe may need more oil all around because I never got them to be super crispy.

8. Remove falafel from the oven. Sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds. Serve on a bed of lettuce, with chopped cucumber, carrot, tomato if you have it and some toasted walnuts. Drizzle dressing over top or use as a dipping sauce. Enjoy!!