Apologies + Tomato Salad

Dear Friends Who Leave Me Voicemails,
I am sorry I never reply to you.  Actually, I am sorry I never even check your messages but just delete them and call you back when I have time.  I would like to say I have some good excuse, but I don't, other than I simply don't like checking my voice mail.  Sorry.

Dear Other Drivers on the Road,
I am sorry for all the times I wished the CHP upon you when you ticked me off.  I wouldn't like it if you did the same in return... oh wait, I am pretty sure you do do it in return.  Oh well.

Dear Friends Who Invite Me Over,
I am sorry for all the times I brought lame, store bought food to potluck dinners.  I know that you expect more from a woman with a food blog, but it's just so easy to hit up Safeway on the way over...

Dear Digestive Track,
I am sorry for all the times I fed you cheese or popcorn, knowing full well that it would make you miserable, and therefore make me miserable. I apologize for thinking more about the taste buds than I think about you.

Dear College Roommate,
I am sorry that I showed up to your wedding in the wrong colored bridesmaid's dress. You said 'blackberry' and I wrote down 'black', only to find out the day of your wedding that 'blackberry' was code for 'dark purple'.  Oops.  (And thank you for still being my friend, despite that.)

Dear Husband,
I am sorry for all the times I made you sit through The Bachelor with me. I know you have about 1,287,658 things you would rather be doing, but you power through so I can have someone to comment to.  You are a trooper!

And, Meu Amor, while I am at at, I am sorry that I never feed you Brazilian food anymore.  You have given up your country and your language and all the people you knew, and I don't want you to have to give up your food, as well.  I hope this tomato salad can help put us back on the half-American-half-Brazilian track again.  Besides, with fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice it is delicious and there is no reason not to have this on our plate, regularly.  Kind of like pico de gallo as a side dish...  Yum.

Whew!  It was good to get that all off my chest ;)

// Day 13 of Blog Every Day in May //

BRAZILIAN TOMATO SALAD

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 5 MINUTES

ingredients

• 3-4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• ½ onion, very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• juice from 1-2 limes or ½ lemon
• salt, to taste

directions

1.      Mix tomatoes and onions together.  Add cilantro and lime/lemon juice with salt.  Enjoy!

 COST: $3.14       COST PER SERVING (4): $0.79 

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I lived my entire life missing out on one of life's greatest food sources.  I can pinpoint the moment when I decided I knew that I didn't like sweet potatoes, one Thanksgiving years ago.  I tried candied yams and knew without a doubt in my 13-year-old mind that I would never eat yams or sweet potatoes ever again.  NEVER.

And I held true to that for 16 1/2 years.

The truth is, I would still be in that boat if I did not 'need' to make Joy the Baker's sweet potato cookies for the baking group I am in.  And I would have been fine, like a kid is fine the first year or two of their life when their parents vow never to give them sugar.  But then one day they have chocolate cake or a brownie and their little brain says, "Hey, why have you been holding out on me, huh?!"

That was the conversation I had with myself this winter after those cookies: "Why have you been holding out on me?!"

Sweet potatoes are GOOD! Really good. In fact, so good that you will be seeing at least three sweet potato recipes in the next week or two.  Why?  Because I want to eat them ALL. DAY. LONG.

And the easiest way to do that?  Mashed sweet potatoes.  Takes 15 minutes (mostly while you are waiting for the potatoes to boil) and tastes like Heaven on a spoon.  No more living in sweet potato ignorance for me!

MASHED SWEET POTATOES

Ingredients

TipCuttng the potatoes into smaller cubes allows them to cook faster.

TipYou can subtract the amount of dairy as you wish.  Sweet potatoes are flavorful and naturually creamy when cooked.

• 
  1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream 
• 2 T. butter

• 1/4 t. nutmeg

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 
  

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the potatoes until soft when pierced with a fork, about 12 minutes. Drain return to the pot.
2. Toss remaining ingredients into the pot and stir with a fork, until soft and creamy. 

COST: $2.20   COST PER SERVING (4): $0.55

Snow Pea Salad

This past week when I was gone I had the privilege of eating good food without any thought put into it.  Dinners out, dinner in, breakfast and lunch, it was all provided.  One of the perks of being a guest in a very kind home. 

And it was great!  Everywhere we went, whether in the house or out and about, the food was GOOD.  This was how I always imagined my life would be -- great food and little effort.  I used to have it all planned out... you know, marry someone who loves to cook and then I would be in charge of the dishes.  Sounded great to me. 

But I can tell you that times have changed.  Yes, I loved having all this food just appear -- it is like magic.  No thought, no planning, just sit and eat.  How easy!

It only took a couple of days, however, before I missed my little kitchen.  Not neccessarily the food in it because I was truly enjoying all the food there, but I missed the time spent in my little kitchen. 

I missed chopping vegetables.

Crazy, I know.

So this week, back in my own home, I am setting out to try new dishes.  The days are long and summer is here, perfect for preparing light and simple fare.  The first thing I tried out was to go with the beans, rice, and chicken I had left over in the fridge: snow pea salad. 

Let me warn you, the dijon makes it a tad bit spicy, but not spicy spicy, just a little bit spicy.  Good spicy.  But go easy on the Dijon or else it will be spicy spicy.  And if you are looking for some fiber in your life, this is your dish.  Super simple and just the right bit of zest to go on a bright colored plate along side kebabs or whatever else you like to eat on warm summery nights.

 

SNOW PEA SALAD

Recipe adapted from EVERYDAY FOOD, June 2012

INGREDIENTS:
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound snow peas
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS.:

1. Mix mustard, vinegar, and olive oil together.
2. Shred snow peas.  I used the food processor with the blades out and the shredder side up on the slicer.
3. Mix and put salt.  Serve cold.

Viola!

COST: $2.70       Cost per Serving (4):$0.68

Bringing in the Sunshine... (Avocado Pineapple Salsa)

I love Summer time.  I know it isn't officially Summer as far as the whole tilt-of-the-Earth goes, but for all practical purposes, it is Summer.  Memorial Day Weekend?  Check.  End of the school year?  Check.  Fun plans and nice weather?  Check and check. So, being "Summer", I have the perfect thing to share with you.

I happened upon this SIMPLE recipe when I had a gluten-intolerant friend come to visit and needed a way to dress up some chicken without killing her.  It was intended to feed us for that specific purpose but we loved it and we have had it many times since then.  And right now is the perfect time for it as the ingredients (mainly avocado and pineapple) are easy to find at this time of the year.  Sometimes I use a fresh pineapple, but that yields a lot so this time I went for the canned rounds and just chopped them up.  Make sure you get the kind in pineapple juice and not syrup.  Yuck yuck yuck.  Who wants their fruit swimming in sticky sugar for the entirety of its shelf life?  Not me.

Here is what you do: 

1. Take the four ingredients above, dice, and throw in a bowl.  (I used 1 avocado, 1/2 can of pineapple, 1/2 red onion, and 1 small handful of cilantro.)
2. Mix with the juice of a lemon or a lime.
3. Add a dash of salt.
4. Enjoy.

"But what should I enjoy it with, Tiffany?"  Glad you asked.  We have had it on top of chicken, on top of fish, and by the spoonful.  No joke.  It is hard to keep this stuff around.  I think crackers or chips would love to be wearing this finery as well.  Basically, it is just all around good, so enjoy it anyway you possibly can.  And give me some of your great ideas so I can expand my horizons, alright?  Alright.

Happy Summer, Friends!

Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (for the top of fish or chicken) or one medium bowl (for dip)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 can of pineapple rounds, diced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix.
2. Enjoy.  (Simple like that.)

Cost: $3.83                 Cost per Serving (4): $0.96

Top on fried fish, add a side salad (last night's dinner) and it comes to $3.02 per serving.

Sundays with Joy -- Avocado Fries

This weeks recipe was something I would have never in my wildest of wild dreams have come up with.  Avocado Fries. 

I mean, really the concept is simple... kind of like fried green tomatoes.  Which are amazing, right?  So why not with avocados?  Yet, I still would never have come up with this combination.  Just a few simple ingredients: avocados (obviously), eggs, flour, oil for frying, and bread crumbs.  It also called for Cayenne pepper, but you will never find that in my house.  Never. 

Instead of going for bread crumbs I decided to make them myself.  I figured out how to do this a few months back, and even though it is way easier to buy the store ones and the taste isn't that much different, I feel a sense of pride when I make bread crumbs from scratch.  I feel so... domesticated.

If you have never made bread crumbs from scratch, have no fear.  It is really, really easy. Takes about 10 minutes, too.  And you can season them any way you like.  There are four things you need:  bread, salt, seasonings, and a little bit of olive oil.

First, you take your bread (I used three slices of potato bread this time, but you can use any) and you grate it into, well... crumbs.  Makes total sense, right?  Throw those crumbs into a frying pan, add your salt and seasonings (I use garlic salt, oregano, and thyme), and drizzle some olive oil on top.  Turn the heat on to medium and then stir frequently for 5-7 minutes.  That's it!

Now that I had that done I was ready to go onto the actual recipe.

I have mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating.  I heart avocados.  Oh yes, I do.  So does my husband.  He likes them sweet, I like them salty, but whatever, we love them.  So this sight makes us happy.

There you go, avocado fries.  I must say, the concept is a little weird, right?  As my husband pointed out, "Isn't the point of eating fruit and veggies to be healthy?  Doesn't deep frying them kind of take that away?"  Hmm... Dude's gotta point.



But that didn't stop him from getting seconds, thirds, and then more...

So yeah, maybe not your healthy veggies-on-the-side that you go for, but a dish you can enjoy none-the-less.  And my thought is this: If I can do it to green tomatoes, why not to avocados?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

Recipe Adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook

INGREDIENTS:
3 slices of bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 avocados
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup flour

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Make bread crumbs (see above).
2.  Cut the avocados in half, peal skin off, and slice
3.  Beat eggs together.  Put the eggs, flour, and bread crumbs out.  Heat up vegetable oil in small frying pan over medium heat.
4.  Taking one piece of avocado at a time, dip in egg, then flour, and then bread crumbs.  When you have 6-8 pieces drop them (carefully) into oil. 
5.  Let cook in oil for 4 minutes, flipping once.  Carefully remove from oil with a fork and place on paper-towel lined plate.
6.  Continue dipping and frying until all pieces are done.

Cost: $3.74                  Cost Per Serving (4 servings at 6 slices each): $0.93

Avocado Pizza

Like you, I have fallen in love with Pinterest.  (Like how I just assumed you do?  Well, if you are reading this you probably are a fan of sharing things via the web, which makes me assume you like Pinterest.)  If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon, you really should.  Why?  Because I find great ideas there.  Like this one.  Avocado Pizza.

It's not really a pizza in the traditional sense, but it has all the same elements.  Bread base (pocketless pita bread), sauce (avocados mixed with lemon and salt), and toppings (an egg, sunny-side up).  But it has one thing pizza doesn't have -- a five minute time period, start to finish.

Four easy steps --
1) heat the pita bread on both sides
2) spread 1/2 of an avocado mashed with lemon juice and salt
3) put a fried egg on top
4) eat

Pretty simple, huh?  A pretty tasty, too.  This is my third one this week, if that is saying anything.

You have a weekend to enjoy, and so do I, so I will stop talking about this and just tell you to do it.  You will be coming back to thank me, I am pretty sure.  And then I will be thanking the makers of Pinterest for allowing us to be flooded with such great ideas, all day long ;)

Cost per Pizza: $1.01

Brazilian Tomato Salad

Five simple ingredients.  That's all it takes to make my husband the happiest man alive. 

Yup, tomatoes with some onion, cilantro, and a little bit of lime juice and salt are the way to this man's heart. 

And I totally get it.  I mean, my idea of salad had always been lettuce/spincach/arugula with some veggies and dressing on top, but this is so light and so fresh there is no dressing needed.  And you can skip the lettuce and get straight to the good stuff... tomatoes.

Unless you don't like tomatoes.  Then I guess it isn't the good stuff.  But if you do, well, you need to try this.  We had it with a plate of rice and beans and some ground beef/veggie mixture and I just mixed it all up... so. incredibly. GOOD.  I went back to get some more but there was none.  Guess who ate it all?!

Happy me -- I still have some tomatoes at home.  You know what I will be having more of tonight ;)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 Roma tomatoes, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 thin slices of onion, cut if quarters
• Salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Chop, slice, cut, mix, ENJOY :)

COST: $1.10       COST PER SERVING (4): $0.28

Soooo cheap!

Bonkers for Bananas: Banana Chocolate Bread

I am going through this weird weather thing.  Since I have already spent my days under the sun and applied tons of sunscreen and have tans lines crisscrossing my back, I feel like Summer has come and gone.  So when the rain is pouring down outside (as it has been these past few days, at least here in California) I feel like it is Fall.  I drive down the freeway thinking about mashed potatoes and turkey, scarves and umbrellas.  But then I have to stop myself, because it is not Fall.  It is Spring. 

Or it is supposed to be, anyway.

It sure does feel like Fall though.

Which makes my search for super banana recipes very necessary at this moment.  I love Spring!  If the weather isn't going to help me out, then I need something to bring Spring into my life.  And bananas, although I eat them all year around, seem Spring-ish to me.  I think it is the bright yellow... maybe.  I don't really know, but I like them, they remind me of Spring, and that is all that really matters.

Really, though, the rain is alright.  I mean, rainy day recesses are downright awful for elementary teachers(imagine all those little bodies, trapped inside, bouncing off the walls... and the poor teacher who has to maintain her sanity during that time), but at the same time, rainy days after school hours are quite nice.  Kind of peaceful.  Perfect baking weather.  Especially when these are your ingredients:

 
Bananas?  Yum.  Chocolate?  Yum.  Together?  Double yum.  The bread, since it has chocolate AND sour cream in it, comes out nice and moist, almost like a fudgy cake.  Not your typical banana bread, but who is complaining about that?  Not me.  I like banana bread and I like fudgy cake, so this is the best of both worlds.  Perfect for a rainy day.  Or a sunny day.  Or any day, really!

Recipe from Everyday Food, March 2012

• Prep Time 15 minutes
• Total Time 1 1/4 hours
• Yield Serves 10

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (3 to 4)
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until fluffy, 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down bowl as needed. Beat in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture and chocolate on medium. Pour batter into pan. Bake until a skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.
3. Let bread cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Cook's Note

Store tightly wrapped in plastic, up to 3 days, or freeze, up to 3 months.

Chopped or Chips?
For this loaf, we like the variety of sizes we get from chopping. Tiny bits of chocolate flavor the bread beautifully, while larger ones provide big hits of deliciousness.

Kitchen Tip
If your bananas aren't quite ripe enough, put them in a 300-degree oven, unpeeled, for 15 minutes to soften.

Cost: $5.92                   Cost Per Serving (10) $0.59

Not Barefoot in the Kitchen -- Salami Roll-Ups

I am excited to share with you a new part of my blog: my Not Barefoot in the Kitchen section!

As we have all discovered, I have learned to love to cook within the last couple of years.  That would be evident by this blog, right?  But another thing I have learned to love is fashion.  It was not too long ago that a friend told, in love of course, "Tiffany, you need to spice it up.  You always look like the girl next door."  (This was before the movie The Girl Next Door, btw, so no, not that one.)  My reply?  "But I am the girl next door!"  Which for me meant cute, sweet, and that was it.  I would admire the girls in college who were bold enough to try a new look from the safety of my shirts, jeans, flip-flops, and ponytail.  Maybeeee some make-up.  Maybe.  But that was it.  I would admire them, think something along the lines of, "Wow, they look nice..." and then be on my way.  Because I couldn't do that, right?

Well, along with growing up and learning that I actually could cook, I grew up and learned that I actually could try something fun and new.  I am definitely no fashionista, but I am not the girl next door anymore.  Not that there was anything wrong with that...

So this new column or whatever it is called will be a place where I can put these two together: my new found love for cooking and my new found love for style -- affordable style.

I would like to give a shout-out to Britt at The Magnolia Pair for being bold enough to start a style column on her page.  Her confidence gave me confidence.  (And, FYI Britt, yes our outfits are strikingly similar... I think we were inspired by the same Pinterest pin originally, and then you helped me find out where to get the pants I wanted :)  Man, first What I Love Wednesday and now this... this lady has been an inspiration to me!

Today my recipe is for salami roll-ups.  You know how much I love Trader Joe's, right?  Well, this was a sample one day.  Fell in love.  Immediately.  And the good thing about Trader Joe's is that there are all kinds of salami there, not just pork... you can get beef or veggie, whatever you prefer.  Love that place.  And you have to admit, when you look at these pants you think "salami".  At least I do, anyway.

Three basic steps and you are there:  Spread cream cheese over lavash bread.  Place your toppings.  Roll and cut.  Ta-da!

We like to put it in the fridge when we are done.  They taste good room temperature, but they taste amazing when the cream cheese is cold. 

As you can tell from above, most of this outfit is from Forever 21.  Sometimes I see their stuff and want to gag myself.  But this Spring collection is incredible.  I had to practice some real self-restraint.  The pants were $24.80 and the top was a whopping $11.80.  The shoes I found at Payless (yes, Payless -- I have found their high heels to be really decent and cute) for $29.99.  And since nude can go with anything, I will definitely be sporting these a lot!

Salami Roll-Ups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pack lavash bread
• 1 tub cream cheese
• 1 pack salami
• fresh basil leaves

Cost: $9.27                   Cost Per Piece (24) $0.39