try this tuesday: the passing of time edition

Ready to hear something everyone else is saying today?

I can't believe it's November.

Like, wasn't it just July? or March, for that matter? Ah, the passing of time. I remember being in Kindergarten and thinking (very distinctly): "I have been in Kindergarten for.ev.er." And when I was a Sophomore in high school realizing I was not yet half way through high school, and it really bummed me out (I didn't enjoy high school). Two+ years seemed like eternity to me at age 15, and now it's practically the blink of an eye. (We've now been in Virginia for two years.) And now here I am wondering what the next two years will bring, and . . . I've come full circle to my last post. I spend a lot of mental energy on the passing of time. Can you tell?
Um. Anyway. I've been out of town a lot lately, which is making me feel slightly disconnected from the real world, but it's also really fun. Sam and I are headed to NYC this weekend, and a handful of weeks later, Bria and I are headed to Utah for a week. This year is practically over, and it's freaking me out. In the meantime, I have food to keep me grounded. or something. This is the food I'm obsessed with lately:

This salad will knock your socks off. I keep making it expecting the novelty to wear off, and it has yet to do anything but please me to no end.

Whole Foods brand crumbled blue cheese. In a salad, on slices of fresh pear, or just snitched from the fridge-- I just can't get enough.

This bbq sauce is . . . interesting. Sam and Bria l.o.v.e. it, but I am not wild about the Asian undertones (perhaps I'll omit or reduce the hoisin sauce next time?). It does however, make dinner a cinch. My freezer is packed full of small portions of the sauce, and my favorite quick dinner lately is a slew of oven roasted veggies, black beans, brown rice, and a scoop of this sauce all mixed together.

And because I know you just want more sugary things the day after Halloween on the brink of the holiday season: I dare you to make this carmel sauce and not attempt to drink it straight.

Capellini Pomodoro

If I can admit something, it's that I'm superstitious (against my better judgment). On Monday I said to Sam, "this weather has just been so amazing. I love it!" And BAM. Yesterday was a hot, humid sweat fest. I jinxed the weather, and I'm sorry! And now when dinner time rolls around, I don't want to turn on the oven. Actually, I don't want to move at all. I just want to sit on the couch, sip diet coke, eat watermelon, and watch Downton Abbey. Is that so much to ask? But I have this charming three year-old who requires three meals a day, plus snacks. Enter capellini pomodoro. I have a feeling this will be our go-to dinner all summer (because, it was actually already our go-to dinner all spring).


You kind of can't go wrong here. It's simple, and I think it's best to not follow a strict recipe. But to make things easier, this is how we do it 'round these parts.
1 package capellini (or angel hair)
1 box small tomatoes (cherry, grape, plum, or even roma all diced up will do)
8 cloves garlic (or more! don't hold back!)
1/2 cup olive oil
a handful of fresh basil, torn or cut chiffonade
kosher or sea salt, pepper, and freshly-grated parmesan to taste

Put on a big pot of salted water to boil, and while you wait, begin quartering your tomatoes and mincing your garlic. Before you put the pasta in, tomatoes and garlic should be ready. Put the olive oil in a small sauce pan on medium heat and toss the garlic in to loosen up a bit. Toss the pasta into the water (it only takes about 2-3 minutes). Once it's done, drain it, and immediately toss it into a big bowl with the tomatoes, garlic, and oil. Using tongs or two spoons, gently toss everything together to combine, adding the basil as you go. Season with salt, pepper, and top with parmesan. You can also toss the tomatoes in with the garlic to cook a bit, but I just warn you to not let them cook much. You want the tomatoes to be firm and fresh. Also be sure to cook the pasta al dente. This provides our small family with plenty of leftovers that get better after a night in the fridge and are stealthily eaten by the forkful throughout the day.

Try This Tuesday

And we're back! I've overcome the intimidation of photo file organization on our computer. I uploaded 200 photos today, and I'm ready to start sharing some incredible things we've eaten in the last two weeks. So, in the sometimes-recurring series, Try This Tuesday is here to save the day.

I think I've perfected the Hawaiian pizza. This crust (add 1T olive oil to the dough); Trader Joe's pizza sauce, canned pineapple chunks, and canadian bacon; and Safeway mozzarella cheese (Lucerne brand, the mozzarella log that is not water packed).

My friend Erica has some great recipes, and this Mexican Tortilla Bake is one of them. It's easy to freeze ahead of time, and adding some homemade pico de gallo on top turns it into a fresh, filling meal. Funny enough, I made this meal during National Vegetarian Week-- along with four other meat-centered dishes that week. We usually average less than one meat dish a week, so the strange carnivorous menu was delightfully ironic.

I just discovered the dreamy 101 cookbooks blog. Do you know it? The photography is delightful, and most of the recipes have me reaching for a pen and my shopping list. This Pappardelle with Spiced Butter was delicious. Warm, earthy, and complex. It was fun to make, though I think I need to steer clear of recipes that require to me to buy ingredients I'll never use again (I'm looking at you, wilting and dead mint plant sitting on my counter). I'm all for branching out and trying new things, but sometimes it's not very economical. It's a delicate balance though, because I'd love to make a permanent leap into new food territories-- one where scary new ingredients become familiar friends-- but it's a long process to create familiarity.

Do you read Cup of Jo? Because you really should. Last week she posted about Greek Yogurt and Berry popsicles and Avocado popsicles. I know, right? So we made them this weekend. They were just as she described them-- the avocado were surprisingly sweet and the yogurt were tart and creamy (we used raspberries). I will be making both again and again (especially the avocado!).

It's no surprise my favorite food blogger continues to be Molly Wizenberg. I can never get enough of Orangette. We tried her Baked Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella for dinner on Sunday and were absolutely smitten. If I had to commit to one cheese and forsake all others, might I choose fresh mozzarella? I can't say for certain, but it's a definite possibility.

More on this later, but I made a batch of granola for my dear sister Lindsay, who just had a baby (darling, precious Chloe Eve!). Smitten Kitchen's is my favorite granola because it results in a crunchy, clustery granola. Also, pepitas? Yowza. Those things are TASTY when they are all baked up in sugar and honey.

Are you still reading? Wow. You're a trooper. Well, I appreciate it. I also promise more (and shorter!) posts to come in the following days. Now I'm off to frolic in the gorgeous weather (not quite 80 and no humidity!)-- a rare, but greatly appreciated late-spring gift from Mother Nature.

The Return

If there were one lesson I am in dire need of learning right now, it would be that of Being Happy In The Present. The weather in DC is 100% perfect right now: bright skies, mid-70s, occasional breezes. It is SPRING in its most perfect form. But it's all I can do to fear the heat. I know it's only a matter of time before I'm sweating 24 hours a day and my hair quadruples in size and turns into something resembling the spawn of a tumbleweed and a rat's nest. Please, don't be jealous. But amid the fear and the frantic, frizzy ponytails, there is a promise of something more. And to remind me of the glory of summer foods, we have the return of Fretalian Night.
Fretalian Night was invented last year when Bria and I would visit the farmer's market every Wednesday in Old Town. We would pick up a baguette, tomatoes, basil, and strawberries and then swing by Trader Joe's for some brie on our way home. Dinner was whipped up in no time once we returned home. Brie and bread for the French half and bruschetta for the Italian half of Fretalian Night. The strawberries round it out for the perfect light summer meal.
So am I concerned about how I will survive another summer? Incredibly. But is it a price I am willing to pay for the abundance in fresh berries and basil and tomatoes? Of course.

So Not Posh

I think this happened around the same time last year, but I hit a culinary wall. I don't feel like cooking or baking anything. We've been eating a lot of quesadillas and pasta with marinara. One of our go-to easy meals lately has been an amazingly simple burrito.

Is it sad that this is what my food blogging has been reduced to? Meh. Whatever.

If you have only five minutes to feed the hungry people surrounding you, here is the solution:
A bunch of leftover brown rice (found languishing in your fridge)
A heap of cheese
1 can black beans
1 minced garlic clove (or a small spoon of garlic paste, for increased simplicity)
Chili powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper

Mix it all together and toss it in a tortilla. Roll it up and heat each side in the pan on medium heat until it's hot, gooey, and crispy. Adding some avocado on top makes it even more heavenly.

Tortilla Soup for the Soul

Today marks the commencement of No Dish Left Behind, a program in which I attempt to conquer my kitchen sink. Due to the ill timing of three simultaneous colds, Bria, Sam, and I trashed the place this weekend, with no energy to clean it up. N0 matter! I have faith sanity will soon be restored at chez Mangum.

To nurse our suffering immune systems, I made tortilla soup. (I haven't posted this recipe yet, have I?) Adapted from my friend Jenna, this is our all-time favorite soup. Last night during dinner, Bria kept saying over and over, "I love this soup! I love dinner!" It's healthy and filling and so easy, you'll cry (in a good way).

1 large bottle Spicy V8
2 cans chicken broth
2 cans black beans
1 bag frozen corn
1 chicken breast, raw, cut into tiny pieces
1 T chili powder
1 T garlic powder
1 T cumin
1 T Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

Dump it all in a pot, bring to a boil and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Garnish with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. Green onion and cilantro are optional.

Gazpacho!

My mom called me a couple weeks ago and asked if I had a recipe for gazpacho, and I did not! Truth be told, I didn't even know what gazpacho was (but I didn't tell my mom that). I promised to find and send her a recipe. First, I turned to my homegirl Ina, and her recipe looked fantastic. And to give my mom some more options, I also sent along PW's recipe.

And then, all I could think of was gazpacho, which, it turns out, is a cold, tomato-based soup. (But I'm sure everyone else in the world already knew that.) I decided to make it the night Matt and Elisa arrived.
This is the perfect summer meal because it's light but totally satisfying, and (here's the kicker) you don't have to cook anything. It's been like a billion degrees here lately, so when you turn on the stove or the oven, a little part of your soul dies.
So, the thing about gazpacho is that it's made up of tons of finely diced veggies, and if you're not really into chopping veggies, maybe you should use a food processor. I was seriously thinking about this until I realized three things: 1) I was going to make it during Bria's nap. 2) I like chopping vegetables. 3) I don't have a big enough food processor.
So I hand-chopped everything, and it was so delightful to just stand up to my counter and chop, chop, chop while Bria napped the afternoon away. Then, you just combine everything in a big beautiful bowl, and you're done. Seriously. Chop, chop, chop, combine, done.
I served it up with some Trader Joe's cornbread, which resulted in a small part of my soul dying while it baked, but it was soooo worth it. That stuff is good. As was the gazpacho. It tasted exactly how the last days of spring should taste-- vibrant, alive, and fresh. We all gobbled it down, including Bria. She ate two bowls of her own, then she climbed up onto Elisa's lap and demanded Elisa's bowl. And also? I'm going to stop pretending I have any idea whatsoever of how to take pictures of my food. But here's what it all looked like:

And now for the recipe:

Gazpacho
(adapted from Ina Garten and Pioneer Woman)

1 hothouse cucumber, not peeled, seeds removed
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper
4-5 roma tomatoes, seeds removed
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves
1 zucchini
1 stalk celery
32 ounces tomato juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
dash kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Finely dice all vegetables and toss them into a bowl with remaining ingredients. Stir thoroughly and refrigerate until cold. Serve chilled with avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and a splash of lime.

Presto Pesto

The other day, I finally made something worth writing about: pesto. Pesto and I have a history. I didn't really know what it was, and was therefore mostly afraid of it until after I was married. I had it a couple times without feeling too strongly about it until August 2007. I had just found out I was pregnant, and it was the day I graduated from college, and my old roommate Alexandra was in town and having a dinner party for some close friends. She made this fabulous asparagus with orange zest dish and had piles of grapes and cheese (but I didn't eat any brie because I didn't know if I could in my condition). And she also made pesto. And the pesto was so incredibly amazing. I was truly and deeply inspired. I copied down her recipe and made it several times, even taking the recipe to a dinner group the following winter.
The whole school year I was pregnant with Bria, Sam and I would have international cuisine themed dinners with a group of my old school friends. We started with Indian and made our way through Thai, Mediterranean, French, Swiss, and Italian. We would get together in the evening and cook for hours and hours and then eat for hours and hours. And Amanda would always do the dishes. (Thanks for that, Amanda; I hate doing the dishes.) Those nights are wrapped in this magical, nostalgic, warm and shiny place in my memory-- I think they kept me sane that year as I was uncomfortably pregnant and working an awful, brain-deadening job.
So for Italian night we made homemade pasta to be accompanied by three sauces: a basic alfredo, Matt's secret-recipe marinara, and the pesto. Everything was so delightful and perfect and fattening and filling and mouth-watering. Except the pesto. Oy! The Pesto! The greatest misfortune of all time is that someone (no naming names!) made the pesto with 1 tablespoon of salt instead of 1/2 teaspoon. And there was no more basil or pine nuts or parmesan to hide the salty horridness of it all. I think a little part of all those present died that night.
And, interestingly enough, I have never been able to find that exact recipe since. I honestly have no idea where it ran off to, but I've just improvised my pesto ever since. Sometimes it's super spicy, sometimes it's very cheesy. But it is never, ever too salty. When I made it the other day, I decided to measure it out as I went along so I could share it. The way it turned out this time was rather thick. I really like it that way, because when you add it to the pasta, the residual pasta water and the heat of the pasta loosen it up, and it's so beautiful to stir it all together. But if you want a more thin sauce, just add more oil until it reaches your desired consistency.
It is incredibly easy and quick to make, which makes for a cinch of a dinner. You can even make it ahead of time and just pull it out when you make the pasta. It will become firm in the fridge, but will loosen up with the heat of the pasta. If I make this for dinner, I find I often need more than just pasta and pesto. I added bacon this time, and I was so pleasantly surprised by the results. It adds this rich flavor that is so different from the pasta; it really adds to the depth of the dish. And the crunch from the bacon just makes it more interesting and makes you feel like your getting a whole lot more with each bite. I definitely recommend topping your pesto with bacon, pine nuts and parmesan for a truly delicious meal.


Pesto
1 c packed basil
2 cloves garlic
1 c parmesan cheese
2 small pinches salt
1/2 c pine nuts (lightly toasting these beforehand is a great idea)
3/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 T pasta water

Place basil, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pine nuts in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend until the mixture forms into a thick paste. Slowly stream in oil while continuing to process until the pesto reaches the desired consistency. Add the pasta water last and blend to mix in.

Salad for Salad-Haters

First of all, I am not really into salads. They are often boring, they are rarely filling, and wilty lettuce gives me the creeps. So, for the most part, I steer clear of salads. But my mom made this salad just before I moved, and I have been craving it ever since, so I made it for Sam last week-- and then ate it for several days in a row and shared it with some extended family. A couple times I found Bria standing with the fridge door open eating out of the salad bowl (including popping green onion in her mouth and chewing with delight), and every time I ate it, she perched down next to me and helped herself to everything in my plate, use her little fingers like tongs to pick out what she wanted to eat (usually the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers)
The recipe comes from my Aunt Karen, and I have no idea where she got it. But I love the complexity of this dish. The wild rice adds such an awesome texture, depth, and flavor, it feels like this salad is a real meal. And the flavors aren't strictly lettuce and dressing-- the rice helps here too-- but all of the other vegetables blend so well together, it feels like a masterpiece in your mouth. And, despite never being a lover of salad, I have always been a lover of French dressing, so there you go. I give you Southwest Wild Rice and Black Bean Salad, adapted from Aunt Karen:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped into salad-sized pieces
1 bunch green onions
1 cucumber
10ish grape tomatoes
1 avacado
1-2 c cheddar cheese, shredded (or colby jack)
1-2 c blue corn tortilla chips, lightly crushed
1 rounded c wild rice (cooked)
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t garlic powder
French dressing (I like the creamy French)

In a small bowl, combine the wild rice with the spices. In a large serving bowl, combine other ingredients. Then, devour! This serves a TON, so if it's just for a couple people, either scale it back or enjoy the leftovers. If you do keep it, don't dress the salad, just add the dressing to each part as you eat it. Also know that the chips will lose their crunch and become more like bits of tortilla rather than tortilla chip. I didn't mind this, but it bothered Sam. The original recipe calls for one head of romaine and one head of red leaf lettuce as well as 2 cups of shredded pepper jack cheese and 1 c cheddar cheese. Both of my substitutions came from what I already had in my fridge and didn't feel like making a trip to the grocery store for. I'm sure following either method would turn out equally delicious.

Penne with Bacon and Zucchini

Sam has been working the swing shift these first two weeks, so instead of a fancy dinner to come home to, I send him off to work after a fancy lunch. I've actually found myself more motivated to cook at 11:30 am than at 5:00 pm. Hopefully I can transfer that enthusiasm, because Sam will work a more regular shift starting next week.
One of the lunches I made was this wonderful pasta dish that felt healthy but probably added a couple inches of plaque to my arteries. Oh well. The zucchini and lack of heavy sauce made it feel light and scrumptious-- the perfect kind of lunch. And of course it was delicieux because it featured two of my all-time favorites: bacon and parmesan. I should state, for the record, that bacon is why I am not a vegetarian. When I was 9, my friend told me she was a vegetarian, so (naturally) I decided I would be, too. Then, I went to a slumber party for a different friend, and in the morning, bacon was served for breakfast. I have this clear shot in my head of sitting at the table, staring longingly at the bacon, wanting so badly to eat it but feeling this moral obligation to stand firm. I gave up vegetarianism not long after. Plus, have you had the bacon bar? I love it.

Anyway, back to the pasta.

This dish doesn't need a firm recipe. I think it better to just explain the process. Cook some penne pasta al dente, and reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Cook up some bacon. I used half a package. I also cut the bacon beforehand so I didn't have to crumble it after; this was much easier. Just before the bacon is finished cooking, toss in some diced zucchini and saute it with the bacon until it is tender. Throw the pasta, bacon, zucchini, and pasta water in a big bowl with a hefty amount of parmesan. Stir it up then add more parmesan to serve. It is surprisingly flavorful and complex. You'll love it, I'm sure.

Easy Dinners: caprese

Last night was a night for a simple, light dinner. After a day of too-short naps and, consequently, a grumpy one year-old, I needed dinner prep to be quick and easy (with an easy clean-up as well). My sister Amy introduced me to this scrumptious and easy dish last Christmas, and I fell in love. I tried it again at New Years, but didn't have the oven hot enough, so I ended up with tough, dry bread and chewy cheese. This attempt turned out perfectly from the simple change of cranking the oven up another hundered degrees. This is such a great easy dinner, and Bria loved eating chunks of mozzarella and tomato as I was preparing. We continued the tone of the meal by using paper plates and dining outside-- the quintessential summer night, if you ask me.














You will need:

1 loaf any dense, artisan bread-- I use ciabatta
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
4-6 Roma tomatoes
Fresh and soft mozzarella (the kind that comes in a ball or tube-like loaf)
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil

Slice bread loaf in half lengthwise. Cut halves into desired size. Liberally drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over bread until fully covered. Top bread with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella (cut into chunks or slices-- whichever you prefer.) Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top. Bake in a 425 degree oven until the cheese turns golden. Top with shredded basil leaves and serve.