Rosemary-Lemon Whitebean Dip

My brother and sister in-law sent me what is now my FAVORITE cookbook for my birthday. It's Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from The New York Times. It's pure culinary brilliance! His recipes use few ingredients, tons of vegetables, and the man knows flavor. This bean dip my current favorite. I'm eating it for lunch right now. By the way, the lemon zest is not optional.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked white beans, like cannelini, drained but moist
• 1 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
• Grated rind of 2 lemons

Method

• 1. Put the beans in the container of a food processor with 1 clove of garlic and a healthy pinch of salt. Turn the machine on, and add the 1/4 cup olive oil in a steady stream through the feed tube; process until the mixture is smooth. Taste, and add more garlic if you like; then, puree the mixture again.
• 2. Place the mixture in a bowl, and use a wooden spoon to beat in the rosemary, lemon zest and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Taste, and add more salt and pepper as needed. Use immediately, or refrigerate for as long as 3 days.

Source: The New York Times

White Wine Chicken & Potatoes

Last year my husband and I started the Valentine's Day tradition of enjoying a late-night romantic dinner at home after our little girl falls asleep. As soon as she's out we dress up, turn on something like Iron & Wine or Madeleine Peyroux, light the candles, and quietly dance around the kitchen as we put our feast together. We like it so much we even turned down a babysitter this year so we could keep the tradition alive. We have chicken with a white wine sauce, a recipe that my brilliant brother in-law created, with mashed potatoes, some type of bread, and a veggie like broiled asparagus on the side. You could call this meal traditional, French-American, "comfort food", but with a little more sophistication. The flavor is out of this world and the recipe is shockingly simple. There are a few times where you have to "eyeball" the measurements, but it's pretty hard to mess it up.

A special thank you to Leland for sharing this recipe with me and allowing me share it with you.

(I'll post pictures after our date tomorrow, but I wanted to post it beforehand in case you are looking for a new recipe to share with your significant other tomorrow evening.)

White Wine Chicken

From the memory of Leland Rowley

1. Brown both sides of two quality chicken breasts with butter in a heavy-bottomed pan (no non-stick) on high heat to lock in juices. Remove chicken.

2. Lower heat to medium-high.

3. Pour in chicken stock and white wine (the stuff for cooking). We just eyeball the measurements here, but roughly about two cups chicken stock to 3/4 cup white wine.

4. Put chicken back in and cover pan with foil, cooking on medium heat until cooked through. Don't flip the chicken in the pan - just cook on one side the entire time. Remove chicken (lightly cover to keep it warm for serving).

5. Pour in a little heavy whipping cream and cornstarch, or flour,(one tablespoon at a time until it reaches desired thickness) in pan juices to make gravy.

I thought I'd include my favorite mashed potatoes recipe as well:

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Recipe by Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa at Home

kosher salt

3 pounds boiling potatoes, such as Yukon Gold

1/2 cup whole milk

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-1/2 inch cubes. Add them to the boiling water and bring the water back to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes fall apart easily when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat the whole milk and butter in a small saucepan, making sure it doesn't boil. Set aside until the potatoes are done.

As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them in a colander. Place a food mill fitted with a small disk or blade over a heatproof bowl. Pass the potatoes through the food mill, turning the handle back and forth. As soon as the potatoes are mashed, stir in the hot milk-and-butter mixture with a rubber spatula. Add enough buttermilk to make the potatoes creamy. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and the pepper, or more to taste, and serve hot. To keep the potatoes warm, place the bowl over a pan of simmering water for up to 30 minutes. You can add a little extra hot milk to keep them creamy.

Broiled Asparagus

From...everybody knows this recipe so I don't need a source, right?

1. Preheat oven on broil. Lay trimmed asparagus spears on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

2. Broil for about 10 minutes, shaking pan or rotating spears once or twice. Remove when spears are lightly golden brown and tender.

3. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Serve.

Still trying to think of a dessert? Flourless Chocolate Cake is probably the answer you're looking for.

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches

**Finally harvested some beautiful English Baby Cucumbers in my garden and wondered what I should do with them. These tea sandwiches are delightful for an afternoon tea or garden party (we have those all of the time...right??). Best part about them is that I can use mint from my garden as well. Sorry that my photo is not of the actual sandwich, I forgot to take a photo until after I ate them. That's how good they are.

Gourmet | July 1992

yield: Makes 12 tea sandwiches

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

ingredients

• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry, and chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 6 slices of whole-wheat bread
• a 3-inch length of seedless cucumber, cut into thin slices

preparation

In a small bowl combine the mint, the butter, and the cream cheese and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Spread the bread slices with the butter mixture, top 3 of them with the cucumber, distributing the cucumber evenly and seasoning it with salt, and top the cucumber with the remaining bread slices. Cut off and discard the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into quarters.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cucumber-Mint-Tea-Sandwiches-12337#ixzz0utO7Rao4

LAVENDER LEMONADE

• 3 cups sugar
• 7 sprigs lavender (stems and buds), plus additional for garnish*
• 2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 5 limes)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring one gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat; add 7 lavender sprigs and lemon and lime juices. Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve on ice, with additional lavender for garnish.

Avocado Egg Rolls

Avocado Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 large avocados, peeled, pitted, & diced
• 4 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
• 2 tablespoon minced red onion
• 1 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• ¼ t. salt
• 6 egg roll wraps

Method:

Gently stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and salt. Distribute filling evenly onto center of each egg roll wrapper. Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up over the filling.

Fold side corners in and roll toward the top corner. Wet the edges of the top corner with a little water. Then fold top corner over and press to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers.

Continue by deep-frying the egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce.

Honey Cilantro Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3-4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 green onions
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Method:

To make dipping sauce, use a blender or food processor to puree all listed ingredients except olive oil. Blend until well pureed. Then stream in olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use.

(I got this recipe from my good friend, Katy)

Sweet Potato Fries

We're poor, so we hardly get a chance to go to some of my favorite places to eat ( like, Rumbie Grill, or The Blue Lemon... and BOTH places have sweet potato fries.... yummm). I got this recipe from a friend... and you better believe I'm making them tonight!

Sweet Potato Fries

(serves 4)

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into a julienne, cut to the size you like

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1-3 Tbsp Creole Seasoning (recipe follows), or more to taste

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, toss until evenly coated. Place a metal cooling rack on top of a jelly roll pan. Place potatoes evenly over cooling rack. (This gives an even heat distribution so one side isn't soggy and the other is crispy). Bake a 400 degrees until almost all the way soft. (for my size, it was 20-25 min) Turn oven to Broil, remove the fries once they have gotten crispy slightly browned. Mmm.

Creole Seasoning

2 1/2 Tbsp paprika

2 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp black pepper

1 Tbsp onion powder

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried thyme

delicious pumpkin dip

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin pie filling

1 tsp vanilla

mix until creamy and smooth.

serve with apple slices. DELICIOUS.

Banana Oat Shake

I found this on a blog and I love it, it fills me up until well into the afternoon. Sometimes I add strawberries or other fruit to mix it up, but I like it straight up with banana too.

1/2 c. plain vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. oats
1 banana, cut in fourths
2 t. honey
2 t. ground flax seed (i add this for my omega-3)

Enjoy!

double stuffed sweet potatoes

• pre heat oven to 350/400 (whatever you think best)
  
• cut sweet potatoes in half and brush with olive oil
  
• when they are nice and soft take them out and spoon out the inside
• put in plastic bowl
• add in a couple spoonfuls of cream cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• a little bit of curry powder
• a sprinkling of anise seeds
• mix it up
  
• put back in potato skins
• sprinkle cut chives on top
• put back in oven for a little bit
• serve with plain greek yogurt, black beans and rice, and some sparkling water and you are set!
  

seriously SO good.

Almond Milk

1 cup almonds (soak them the night before to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors!)
3 cups milk

you can sweeten it with...

1 vanilla bean (take out the seeds)
and/or
1 banana
and/or
3-5 soft pitted dates
and/or
honey/agave

*feel free to add cinnamon or nutmeg etc.

directions:

• blend water and almonds together until smooth
• strain the mixture
• put the milk back in the blender and add your sweetener

The milk will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. Shake often.