My new cooking plan: French Fridays with Dorie

I've just joined the Fridays with Dorie cooking group. So I will give serious blogging another go. This (hopefully) will force me to cook on schedule and write about my results on schedule. My CSA box is on hiatus until March so it's off to the farmer's market for me rain or shine every Saturday. Today I made turkey vindaloo and Clothilde's carrot rosemary mini scones. But.... I forgot to add the rosemary...oops. How could they be bad though, with a quarter pound of irish butter, pecorino romano cheese and sweet organic carrots? After tasting the scones I have to say I love the taste and their smaller size is just right. An extra layer of texture is wonderfully contributed by the carrots.

Two Small Farms CSA forces me to blog

Let me tell you why I love my Two Small Farms CSA share. I am supplied weekly with fresh, high quality organic vegetables and I never have to decide what to buy. You have probably heard all this before but I must join my voice to the many who never want to go back to picking out their own produce. Since the beginning of this season I have eaten more green things and tried vegetables I had never heard of such as agretti. I have had to get back into the habit of cooking creatively. I live under the pressure of the next weeks box coming to fill my already bursting refrigerator. This might sound like a bad thing, but I am so happy. Thank you Two Small Farms.

I will attempt to post my culinary adventures with my CSA share here as often as possible.

Tonight I made chard raviolis (from Rainbow, it's coupon month) with homemade pesto. I used the basil from my share and combined it with garlic, salt, pistachios, Parmesan, pumkin seeds, olive oil and a bit of walnut oil. I incorporated the dark green pumpkin seeds close to the end of the pounding of my mortar, so many were whole or just broken. This looked loved and added a nice crunch. I served this with roasted orange cauliflower from last weeks box and balsamic roasted onions.

A Tasty, Fast and Nourishing Breakfast Idea

Chico summers bring temps in the 100's. Global warming has changed all that. Now we have spring weather in the 100 degree range. I've come up with a refreshing breakfast for hot, busy days. It provides protein, fiber, calcium, antioxidants and will keep me satisfied until lunchtime. The recipe contains raw oats, a great source for soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as, beta-glucan for blood sugar control. Read more about oat's benefits here. Eating enough protein is reputed to help with weight loss by creating a sustained sense of fullness. Cottage cheese is an easy, meatless way to up protein intake. I enjoy eating Nancy's organic cultured cottage cheese. The texture is creamy, but firm. My recipe's optional, furikake, is for the seaweed lovers out there. It's a Japanese rice topping I use on many foods to add a burst of flavor along with seaweed's many valuable nutrients. Many brands have sugar and msg. The Urashima brand is sugar and msg free. Most health food stores carry it. Try this surprisingly quick, tasty and satisfying recipe. And stay cool.

Complex Cottage Cheese
1/2 c cottage cheese (see note above)
1/4 c rolled oats
1-2 T ground flax seeds
1T pepitas or sunflower seeds
2T diced dried apricots
1/2 c frozen wild blueberries
a few shakes of toasted sesame & nori Furikake (optional)

Mix all ingredients except furikake. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and the moisture in the cheese and blueberries will soften the oats. Sprinkle with furikake if desired.
Accompany with a cooled cup of jasmine green tea.

Heidi's Grain'ola

I began last Saturday in my favorite way. After my morning coffee I headed off to the Chico Farmer's Market. I stopped by a plant stall where I picked up basil, melon and three varieties of hot peppers. I purchased 3 bunches of beets which I will roast and combine with walnut oil and feta cheese. The beet greens will go into my morning smoothies along with a banana, frozen acai puree, 1/4 cup oats, 1 cup of keifer and 1& 1/2 cups of water. I bought a dozen fresh eggs, a 10 lb bag of navel oranges (the last of the season), cabbage, chard. I was glad to see butter lettuce back from it's winter hiatus. Farmer's market butter lettuce is the type that's too delicate to ship. Its creaminess is complemented by a tangy blue cheese dressing and offset by sweet pear slices and candied walnuts or pecans.
When I got home I made a variation of Heidi Swanson's Grain-ola from her Super Natural Cooking. I love this recipe because it's fast to put together and has very little fat. This orange flavored granola is refreshing and satisfying. I added sesame seeds, pepitas and ground flax. For dried fruit I chose marionberries, papaya and goji berries, which I mixed in after baking the granola.
After ballet class I picked up my soil amendments and a few more vegetable starts. I'm picturing a row of shiny purple Japanese eggplants in among my sage and white alyssum. The melons will cascade down the hill, beside the stone steps leading to our lake. Garden dreams are beautiful.

San Francisco and Frozen Yogurt

A friend of mine who lives in SF took me to her favorite "froyo" spot. I had to be forced to go in the place, as I'm not a fan of froyo. She dropped me off at the door of Jubili, in Hayes Valley with instructions to get her a "my original". I walked into Jubili with a confused look on my face and placed her order. It turns out 'my' is the size and 'original' is the flavor, a plain, tart yogurt. While I was waiting for her yogurt I spied some colorful and healthy looking toppings in the case. Previous to this occasion the only way I'd eat frozen yogurt was topped with plenty of chocolate caramel cups or any other chocolaty distraction from the yogurt taste. What really intrigued me at Jubili were the white chunks of mochi offered along with kiwi, mango, pineapple and other brightly colored fresh fruits. I ordered a peach mi (small) yogurt topped with mochi, pineapple and mango. Despite my original misgivings the yogurt was delicious! I found myself wanting to go back the next day. I had previously read Amy's post about tuttimelon in the Marina, and I was staying in the Marina so I decided to compare. Before I headed off to tuttimelon I checked out yelp and chow to see what people were saying about these two places. It turns out my choice of mango and mochi is one of the most popular combinations. Go figure. One suggestion I found on yelp was to add gasp! Captain Crunch cereal to said combination. Yes, the Captain Crunch that my mother refused to let me eat because it had BHT, yes, the Captain Crunch which has no part in a healthy diet. I threw caution to the wind and tried the green tea yogurt with mango, mochi and Captain Crunch at tuttimelon on Chestnut st. Oh my word!!!! The Captain Crunch added just the right amount of salty crunchy texture to the mix. It's the best.


My restaurant choices on this trip were limited by budgetary constraints. Of course, we ate at Yuzu's (a treat from my brother-in-law),where we had the fusion roll, (my favorite), great sashimi and a few other rolls which weren't tasty enough for me to remember this time. We also dined at Pasta Pomodoro (not fancy but very tasty and priced right) our faves are the cappelini pomodoro, the pumpkin ravioli with sage butter, fried sage leaves and amaretti. We also shared a verdure which has brussel sprouts and other veggies in olive oil and garlic. Isa was our one splurge and all the food was impecable. I love the Spicy Tuna Tartare and the scallops. We order them every time. Their creme brulee is the best I've had anywhere. We dined on Greens take-out which was nothing to write home about, although we ate on a bench facing the water. The setting was gorgeous. Of course after eating I had to peruse the Fort Mason Center Book Bay bookstore, which supports the Friends of the Library. It was my second visit in two days and I did not leave empty handed.We never made it to Golden Gate Park or do the Dipsea trail this time around. We'll be back in July and I hope to do that beautiful hike from Mill Valley to Stinsen Beach then. I'm in training for it now.





Two nights ago I made this very simple recipe of stuffed zucchini, made with feta, shitakes, organic ketchup and bread crumbs. It was delicious. I used ketchup because I didn't want to open a can of tomato sauce and not use it all up.

2 zucchini sliced lengthwise
4 fresh shitakes diced
3 tablespoons organic ketchup
1/2 cup water or broth
1/2 crumbled feta
1/2 cup bread crumbs
olive oil
Scoop out insides of zucchini with a melon baller, being careful not to make a hole in the bottom.
Place the scooped out zucchini in a saute pan with olive oil, water or broth, ketchup and shitakes.
Saute until zucchini flesh is tender.
Mash zucchini down with a fork or potato masher, add bread crumbs and feta.
Fill hollowed out zucchinis with the mixture.
Bake at 350° for ­20 minutes.

Asparagus, Sugar Snap and Chicken Yellow Curry with Mushrooms

I made a wonderfully tasty and easy curry dish last night. Last week I was dragged to costco by my daughter. So while I was killing time there I stumbled upon a large plastic container labeled Gourmet Mushroom Blend. This looked intriguing because the label shows morels, porcini, shitakes, oysters as well as the expected portabellas and shitakes. There are various health claims and a "ready in minutes" blurb to further entice me. I plunked down my $15.99 and started thinking of ways to use these yummy-looking mushrooms. I bought organic asparagus and a big bag of sugar peas at the Chico farmer's market a few days ago. I rinsed the mushrooms in hot water, as directed and put them to soak in hot water for about 5 minutes. As they soaked, I put 5 chicken thighs on a grill pan in the oven at 400° for 20 minutes. While they cooked I sautéed a sliced onion, 1"sliced sugar snap peas and the soaked and drained( reserving the liquid) mushrooms in olive oil for 5 minutes. I then added 1" slices of asparagus, some soaking liquid, the cooked chicken , which I had diced and a bottle of Trader Joe's Yellow Curry sauce. I left this on a medium heat for 5 minutes. I served this with brown jasmine rice. My husband loved it. It had just the right amount of spice and crunch. Simply delicious .
I will be heading to San Francisco tomorrow. Look for reports on my eating and book buying adventures from the city during the next week.

Click Photo Entry

Here's my Metal click entry.

Beautiful weather and finishing a painting for a friend who's leaving town prevent me from writing much now. I'll be snacking on Lindt intense pear dark chocolate while I work. If you try some you'll be hooked too.
While I paint, red, yellow and chioggia beets will be roasting in my oven to be combined with Hare Hollow organic olive oil, feta cheese and some crunchy, tasty, nutrient adding, Alea Sea Salt.


Renée