Creamed Kale and Eggs

I saw this recipe on a friend's facebook page recently and made this creamed kale and eggs for breakfast recently.  It was delicious.  It would have been even more delicious if I had not overcooked the eggs - I thought they needed more time since they were still shiny, but I guess they cook different in the oven.  Anyhow, I recommend this one!

Apple Tart

Colin made dinner on Monday, so I made an apple tart! I've been craving apple pie for the past few weeks, so I decided it was time to do something about that.

I was inspired by this recipe (their picture is much more beautiful!), but made an almond flour crust from Nourishing Traditions cookbook so Colin could eat it. The almond crust went really well with it.

For the crust:

1 cup almonds (I used mostly plain, but added a few salted), ground into flour

3/4 cup arrowroot or bulgur flour

3/8 cup butter or coconut oil

1/4 cup rapadura (I used sucanat)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

5 to 6 apples (I used granny smith and didn't peel them, just cored and sliced thinly)
2 large eggs, beaten with a fork

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 cup sucanat (the recipe called for sugar and honey, but I reduced it to this)

Zest of 1 lime finely grated

Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Mix crust ingredients together and press into buttered and floured pie pan.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, lime zest and coconut milk. Arrange the slices of apple on top of the crust and add the egg batter.Bake the tart for 30 minutes, or until the crust is light brown, and the flan is set. Leave to cool for 30 minutes before eating.

Maki Rolls and The Lord of the Rings

We've been watching The Lord of the Rings series (about half a movie a night) since the 4th of July. We finally finished on Thursday. It had been so long since I'd seen the movies or read the books that I had forgotten some of the scenes. About once a week, we treat ourselves to a movie with dinner in bed. We load up a tray with our dinner plates and put it on top of an ottoman on the bed to make a table and start the movie.

Thursday, we had our version of maki rolls, which involves either tuna or cooked crab salad, avocado strips, brown rice, stir fried tofu and cucumber and carrot strips as the filling for the seaweed (nori), and Korean side dishes. It made for a very full dinner tray and was yummy!

summer food

Colin and I ate fair food on Saturday and chicken bakes from Costco for Sunday lunch, so when Sunday dinner rolled around, we had to make something on the healthier side. I went for this version of baked sweet potatoes and a tomato, cucumber, and spinach salad as sides for marinated chicken. I highly recommend these sweet potatoes (and the salad, especially if you have homegrown cherry tomatoes on hand!)


Friday, we went down to the corner for Korean BBQ with some friends (we live less than a block from this place and really enjoy walking to dinner!) then came back to our apartment for tea and this dessert, which I made with a mix of blueberries and raspberries. It's amazing and so simple, although it does involve turning on the oven, which is a downside in the summer. I've made it since then with bananas and blueberries to stretch my berries, and it's still good, although not quite as wonderful.


Then there's the tomato open sandwich I make whenever I get good tomatoes given to me (by a friend who grows them or from the farmers' market): whole wheat bread, a spread of mayo, and sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. Ahh. Summer! Late in the season, we figured out a place that we could grow two tomato plants where they'd get enough sun in our shady little yard, so hopefully we'll have some late tomatoes in a few weeks.

I really want to make these cupcakes, but I have no excuse and no one to share them with. Maybe I can make them at my sister's when I go to Texas on Saturday!

Roasted Strawberries!

I got 48 ounces of strawberries last week for only $3. I was excited to try these roasted strawberries I'd seen a recipe for. I washed, hulled, and halved them then mixed them with olive oil, maple syrup, and a little salt and baked them at 350 for about 40 minutes. After they came out of the oven, I splashed a little balsamic on them (skipped the port wine called for in the recipe because I didn't have any).

The next morning I heated up a bowl of the roasted strawberries and spooned it over toast spread with mascarpone. Mmmm! Delicious.

Recipe links I want to remember:

I finally tried this stew that I linked to a while back. It is simple and tastes amazing. I highly recommend it.

We made this Curried Yellow Split Pea and Carrot Soup last night, subbing red lentils for the yellow split peas, rice vinegar for the cider vinegar and cumin for the curry spice since we didn't want to make a trip to the store. YUM again. I am becoming a fan of these Ready Made Magazine recipes.

I wanna try this salad because it's meant to be made a day ahead.

Salted caramel cupcakes! Maybe for Valentine's?

Link Love

I wish I had an attic so I could make it into something amazing like this.

The things this person makes are amazing.

Cardboard faux logs? Awesome! Now I need a fireplace and an attic!

Time to try a new stew. Especially since it has sweet potatoes in it. I once made a really yummy stew with sweet potatoes and green apples. I should find that recipe, too.

Am I late to the infnity scarf thing? I like this one a lot.

Somewhat Embarrassing Fridge Picture

I was originally going to just take a picture of the pickles I made (inspired by this post), but then I decided to just go for a picture of the whole fridge. There's not much space for anything else to go in at the moment. You can see I've already resorted to stacking things. (I can blame that partly on a fridge that's not exactly designed for storing much.)

Colin usually gets excited when there is a lot of food in the fridge (probably because it means that I won't make a case for going out to dinner), but I get more excited about clearing things out and using things up. Anyhow, this is the state of our fridge tonight. Pickles ready tomorrow!

Homegrown Tomato Meal #2 : Tomato Pie!

When I went to Kerby Lane upon my arrival in Austin a few weeks ago, I had their Tomato Pie that's only available from their special summer tomato menu. It was amazing. AMAZING! We also had the best waiter ever.


Tonight, I made a version of a tomato pie from this recipe. I was searching for the actual Kerbey Lane recipe, but couldn't find it. This one looked yummy and won out since I had a lot of fresh corn that Colin bought over the weekend.

I made a few changes to the recipe: subbed half wheat flour for the crust, used half feta and half mozzarella for the cheese (because that's what I had and the Kerbey Lane recipe uses feta) and used caramelized onions instead of chives.

It wasn't as delicious as Kerbey Lane's, but it was still a winner! (There's a weird growth on the pie in the first picture...it's just me compensating for my lack of skills when it comes to making a beautiful pie crust.)

Cold Brew Coffee

I first had cold brew coffee at Flip Happy Crepes in Austin more than a year ago. It was so good I thought they had put sugar in it, but it was just regular coffee without the acidity. I didn't know it was so easy to make at home until recently. I found these articles and started making my own. It's really easy and tastes yummy.

I put about six coffee scoops of ground coffee in a mason jar then fill it with water, put the lid on, shake, and let it sit from 12-24 hours on the counter top.

Then I pour it through a filter into another jar. (I found this nifty red thing at a thrift store for 49 cents, but I think you could just pour it through a normal coffee pot filter in your machine.)

To make iced coffee, I pour a little of the coffee concentrate in a glass, add some ice, milk, and usually a little honey, then stir.

It makes the most delicious iced coffee! In the mornings, though, I like hot coffee, so I pour some of the cold brew coffee concentrate in a mug, then pour in some milk (or if I don't want a latte, add some water instead) and microwave it. It is much easier for me than making hot coffee.

I make some new cold brew every few days, when I'm about to run out. The concentrate keeps for about a week in the fridge. I don't measure out how many parts milk or water to how many parts coffee concentrate, but it's about one to one, or sometimes a little less coffee and a little more dilution, depending on your taste. You can also buy some kind of contraption that is supposed to make this easier, but this process is so easy, I'm not thinking I need to go out and buy something else.

Homegrown Tomato Meal #1

I was intrigued by this recipe on the Dinner: A Love Story blog and couldn't wait to try it. Luckily, we still had three green tomatoes on one of our three tomato plants when I got back from Texas. I used two little almost ripe red ones that were in need of rescue to have on the side.

Mmmm! The first bites weren't as glorious as I had hoped for, but Colin and I agreed that it got better as we ate it. Don't know what that means, but the tangy yumminess of the green tomatoes and the caramelized onions with fresh mozzarella had us halfway through. The pizza crust in the recipe is not as fluffy as my normal one (and I used wheat flour, which makes it rise less), but I think I like the sturdiness of it. Success!