Whats Cooking #4: Eggplant + Soy Vay

Zucchini Tots

I really need to dedicate a whole post to zucchini. It is by far my favorite vegetable because it is so versatile and easy. Recently my favorite healthy blog Skinny Taste posted a list of all of her fabulous zucchini recipes and these “tots” caught my eye. They remind me a lot of my mom’s unspellable dish  called “keulikeith” which is a  ricotta, egg, zucchini tart. These mini delights were superb!. A super easy side dish that is very flavorful with a dense muffin-like texture. Side note: it is very important to spray the pan with a cooking spray so they do not stick. lesson learned. Here is the Recipe. (Image via Kim’s Healthy Eats)

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 packed cup grated zucchini
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 medium onion, minced
• 1/4 cup grated reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Grate the zucchini into a clean dish towel until you have 1 packed cup.  Wring all of the excess water out of the zucchini, there will be a lot of water. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lavender Rice

I call this imitations of what you really want. Have you ever tried Whole-wheat pasta? Compared to regular pasta, it is disgusting. However pasta in large amounts is not all that good for you-especially every night. The same goes with white rice. Although brown rice is the healthier option, I can not get myself to eat it. I was making an Asian inspired dinner a couple of nights ago and decided to try a wild rice brown rice blend from Sundance. It turns a beautiful lavender shade when cooked. It is delicious and is a great replacement for white rice and much better than plain brown rice. Check your specialty food stores or bulk sections for this.

Asian Stir Fried Chinese Eggplant+ Zucchini

Gorgeous round globes of pretty purple eggplant caught my eye at the farmers market last week. Eggplant would by far win the “prettiest veggie award”-It also helps they are my favorite color. However I have never really enjoyed eggplant. Sure, I like eggplant Parmesan but who doesn’t like something fried and battered smothered with cheese. I decided I needed to give  eggplant another shot, and try cooking with it again.  When  I was debating what kind to purchase, someone at the Saturday market came up to me and started chatting about how he saw on TV that the long-ombre ones(which I later discovered online that they are Chinese Eggplant)  were supposedly really healthy. Stranger-approved: Check. Buying something I  didn’t like: check.

Regardless, I really liked this technique of cooking. Basically it is  cooking a veggie on high heat. Then, adding oil and garlic for a couple of minutes with the veggies till fragrant. Finally adding soy sauce and a little bit of sugar to caramelize and give a nice sear. Verdict: Delicious but still not a fan of the eggplant texture. Here is the Recipe from Steamy Kitchen. I omitted the Chile pepper and green onions and instead used red pepper flakes. Also used rice wine vinegar instead of black vinegar.

Eugene Eats: Ox & Fin

As a celebratory outing out with one of my good friends in Eugene, we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner out at Ox & Fin. Ox & Fin is an upscale restaurant that describes themselves as a “NW steakhouse with Italian sensibilities”. Their menu includes a variety of meat (Ox) and seafood dishes(Fin).

I love the name, and think it accurately describes their establishment. Although I am not a huge fan of their logo, I do like the atmosphere at Ox and Fin. I love the dark rustic color scheme, and when you walk inside plush deep burgundy leather seats greet you with dark wood accents. A very rustic/upscale cabin, woodsy feel.

I ordered the bacon cheeseburger that was surprisingly worth every cent of the 12$ price point. The meat was perfectly cooked and extremely tender, oozing of garlic juices.  The burger was topped with crisp bacon and a creamy lemon aoili all on a house made bun. Also on the plate were pickled cauliflower and red onions which were superb. I would have ordered those as a side in a heartbeat. One downside was that the fries were cold-however I wasn’t too upset since I shouldn’t have been eating them anyways.

Although I enjoyed my burger and would order it again, the best part of the meal was the bread and olive oil that came with the meal beforehand. It was a whole wheat seedy bread that was warm and fluffy, while still being dense,  with a slight honey taste. Yumm, drooling. I honestly do not know what it was that made it that good.  My friend ordered the chicken in a lemon butter sauce that was  just as tender and packed with summer flavors. (Pictured above)

This is a great “special occasion” restaurant that provides drool-worthy dishes and homemade artisan breads that are worth the trip alone! -Rachel

What’s Cooking #4: Chia Seeds + Edamame Hummus

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

The best part about muffins is that they are actually little cakes disguised by the name muffins. And having a little cake for breakfast is amazing. I was craving blueberry or banana chocolate chip muffins but didn’t want to splurge on the unhealthy sugars so instead I made these. Although they do not taste  like a buttery chocolate muffins they are a really nice snack and packed with protein from the oats and zucchini. Plus who doesn’t love individual mini snacks? Here is the recipe I used.

Smoothies + Chia Seeds

Count me as jumping on to the smoothie train! Smoothies are a great snack option for after a workout or when you’re feeling hungry. The basis of mine are always Greek Gods honey Greek yogurt, cranberry juice, and ice cubes with whatever fresh fruit I have on hand. Usually some sort of berries or peach mixture. My favorite combo this past week has been honeydew + Chia seeds. I had some overripe honeydew I needed to use up so I added it to yogurt and chia seeds to make a smoothie/juice drink! Very delicious. Chia seeds are a healthy nutritious seed that are very absorptive. In just one ounce, there are 11 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. I found mine at trader joe’s for $4.99!

 

Southwest Zucchini Boats

Dinner last week were these easy scrumptious zucchini stuffed boats. Stuffed with ground turkey, black beans, corn, and jalepeno’s they were easy to assemble and were great as leftovers. I enjoyed them so much I gave the recipe to my mom to try out-which she loved as well. I used this  recipe by Skinny Taste and added jalapeno + paprika + red pepper flakes. I guess I was feeling extra bold at the time. A great tip is taste as you go because they were on the spicier end of my heat tolerance.

Eugene Eats: Tailored Coffee Roasters Review

If I could be a coffee shop. I would want to be Tailored. It’s the new kid on the block that is totally swoon worthy. It’s the one at school that is cool without trying-polished and perfected while still disheveled. It is like wearing expensive plaid that gives off homeless vibes but in actuality is so trendy right now. Their coffee is perfection, the atmosphere provides cool coffee vibes, the décor is beautiful, and as an added bonus they have adorably attractive male baristas.

In fact can we talk about these barista? Yes, I love Tailored we will get to the cool atmosphere and delicious Ethiopian coffee later but first the baristas are deliciously attractive. Talk about a tall, dark cup of coffee! Yes, I am a twenty-one-year old female and am blushing as writing this. An attractive barista is a very important factor of a coffee shop in my humble opinion.

Coffee Taste

Now the coffee. I opted for just a plain cup of drip coffee. The day I went in, it was an Ethiopian blend that’s slightly bitter. Usually I’m all about sweetness and cream and sugar. I know how can I be a foodie and not like black coffee. But its true black coffee disgusts me. Also coffee is my weakness, tea is so much better for you, but coffee is just something I can never give up.

My love for cream and sugar is probably because I have never experienced truly delicious coffee until I tried traditional Italian espresso, a couple of months ago in Italy. In Italy it is a sin to drink milk after 1:00 or even in the morning. Small shots of espresso are the classic norm. In the morning, old Italian men stand around the bar and casually read the daily news while gossiping to their friends sipping on espresso. I eventually started liking espresso but would still add 3 packets of sugar. I know, my sweet tooth is becoming a problem.

However with Tailored, I didn’t add that much sugar or milk and it was moan worthy. Perfectly caffeinated and  like nothing I have ever tasted. It reminds me of coffee in Europe but more earthy and bitter without being overwhelming. A Tailored employee was describing to me that this coffee is a light roast, single origin that gets sweeter as it cools down. Coolio!

Melons 101: Tips and Recipes

Juicy, Fresh, Sweet, and a delicious summer treat. Melons are in the peak of their season here in the Pacific Northwest and I couldn’t be happier. Farmers markets are filled with many delicious varieties and shapes and I am going crazy trying them all. My childhood was always filled with watermelon-it was a summer staple at our house along with lazy pool days. Sometimes my parents wouldn’t even slice it but just give us a half or quarter of the melon and a spoon and leave my brother and I to our pool shenanigans.

What’s Cooking #3: Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe + Multigrain Bread + Buffalo Turkey Burgers

Alas, Another round of What’s Cooking! This past week I have been cooking up a storm. Because I work everyday from 9-4, I am always on the hunt for new and exciting recipes that pack well for on the go lunches. Snacks are very important as well. Usually I bring a ziplock bag of cherry tomatoes, crackers, and some sort of fruit. This week’s fruit is watermelon-which was worth every second of  trying not to smash them on the bumpy 15 minute bike ride home from the farmers market!!

Caprese Pasta Salad

Last Saturday at the Eugene Farmers Market, heirloom tomatoes were the prized possession. Pretty ruby reds to vibrant oranges with striped ridges, there were so many different shapes and sizes.  I had to buy some from a couple from different vendors since they are in the peak of their season. I also picked up some basil and decided to use these fresh ingredients to make a simple pasta Caprese Salad. I was inspired by a recipe I received in Italy from my program director’s wife Angelica. Angelica was full of energy and loved sharing her pasta recipes she makes on a daily basis. One of the many valuable tips I learned from her is to scoop out the pasta from the water rather than strain in. This way you can keep the extra salted water which will be useful  to thin out thick tomato based sauces while giving flavor.  Enjoy the Caprese recipe below:

• 1 package of pasta cooked al dente- I used Trader Joe’s Rigatoni
• 1 small ball of fresh mozzarella cubed into bite size pieces
• Half a bunch of Basil, chopped
• 4 medium sized heirloom tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of good quality Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients gently and refrigerate overnight

What’s Cooking #2: Spring rolls, U-picking, & Theo Chocolate

Happy halfway through summer! Trying new foods and recipes has always been a passion of mine. One of my favorite parts is searching out recipes online on food blogs, or in magazines or cookbooks and seeing all the beautiful recipes come to life in a photograph. Food photography has become huge within the past couple of years and I continue to be amazed how bloggers capture food in beautiful ways. It takes skills to have the correct lighting and make food look appetizing. No way am I even close to even passing yet, but it is fun to try and capture the beauty of food. Anyways, here are five things what I have been cooking and loving last week in food:

Spring Rolls via Heather Christo

I made these for a pot-luck shabbat dinner for my friends-and they were a huge hit! I was inspired to make a variety of spring rolls after eating some at my favorite Thai restaurant, Sabai, in Eugene. The rolls at the restaurant were delicious and I was determined to make some of my own. As with most Asian food, spring rolls and their sticky-cellophane-like wrappers intimidated me. However multiple links online including this one, which demonstrates how to roll–eased my tension. I used two recipes by Heather Christo, one of my favorite food bloggers. THIS spring roll recipe minus the chicken with the addition of avocado and mango + THIS soy sauce recipe with added chopped ginger and jalapeno! Also important to note that most grocery stores carry spring roll wrapper and rice noodles in their Asian food section-no need to make a special trip!

Summer Cooking: Ideas + Recipes

Summer Food: Fresh juicy berries, beautiful sunset colors of stone fruit, Saturday farmers markets stacked high with leafy vegetables, citrus popsicles, and home-brewed sun tea are just a handful of my summer essentials. Schools out, and I am finding myself with more free time to enjoy the little things and truly appreciate the season; which includes having time to cook up a storm and enjoy summer’s beautiful bounty! Lately my cooking routine includes blasting my Shania Twain Pandora station and singing out to some country while chopping, dicing, and slicing. Here is what I have been cooking and eating lately:

Chicken Tamale Bowls via Half Baked Harvest

These bowls are deliciously Tex-Mex perfect! It starts with a creamy cheesy layer of Polenta covered in spicy shredded chicken, then topped off with a layer of stir-fried veggies and of course guac. Polenta kind of reminds me of grits and it is a nice change from the usual carbs such as pasta and rice. Polenta is definitely worth a try and makes a perfect first layer for this dish. Also bonus-you get an arm workout from all of the whisking you do. The flavors are bursting with summery goodness. Half Baked Harvest is one of my favorite foodie blogs, and her unusual combinations are mouthwatering. Recipe HERE

Chinese Food + A TED Talk

I love Chinese food… I mean Americanized Chinese food. I have not really given the Chinese food that I have consumed in the past much thought before. Its quick, delicious, sinfully sweet, and my future can be predicted at the end of a meal. I always knew that what I was eating was not traditional, but had no idea of its historical importance nor the political connections.

As it turns out, a majority of the Chinese food in the US does not even come close to representing Chinese food in China. Should I be ashamed of eating the delectably sweet dishes and referencing that it anyhow related to China by calling it Chinese along with the rest of the population? Maybe. Jennifer 8. Lee, American journalist and Ted Talk speaker, describes the main appeal, its “Fried, Sweet, has chicken, and is delicious”

I remember watching this Ted talk below on the origins of classic Chinese dishes awhile ago and decided to re-watch it. The speaker-Jennifer 8. Lee is fantastic and brings up several great historical comparisons in this 2008 Ted Talk. As with many other Ted talks, Lee is captivating and I learned so much about a food industry I knew nothing about. Highly recommend-Watch it!!

Great right? One of my favorite quotes is how Lee states that “Chinese food is more American than apple pie”. If I think about it, I eat Chinese food regularly and even have my favorite restaurants , while my consumption of apple pie falls strictly to one day-Thanksgiving. Mind blown.

As it turns out, Lee continued her search for the origin of General Tso’s chicken and was the producer of  2014 Tribecca Film Festival Documentary “The Search for General Tso”(Trailer Here). Hopefully I can watch this sometime soon.

Americans love Chinese food so much that they are often disappointed when visiting China and seeing frog legs on a menu instead of sweet and sour pork or Lo Mein.  So much so that two entrepreneurs opened an Americanized Chinese food restaurant called Fortune Cookie in Shanghai just over a year ago. (Link) Fortune Cookie restaurant highlights classic sweet dishes, red and white to-go boxes, and of course fortune cookies. This NPR article by Frank Langfitt analyzes Fortune Cookie’s success, their primary customer base, and why it really wasn’t that absurd of an idea.

Should I be embarrassed that sesame chicken or lo mein are delicious and bring me joy? Probably. However, this is just the continuing evolution and transcendence of food and its many quirks.

-Rachel

 

Cooking in College 101

I am taking a quick break from My Last Meal Posts and going to talk about something that has been on my mind recently….College Cooking. As a Junior in college now, I find it sufficient to say that I have an adequate grip on the whole cooking for yourself while balancing a full class load, part-time job, and an extremely busy life. I admit, I have had my fair share of low points where I was eating top ramen and frozen meals constantly; or going out to dinner more than I should have. Throughout my two years of living in a college apartment I have stumbled upon some useful tips on how to successfully cook in college. At first I thought I was one of the few and far between, the ones “who actually enjoy cooking and baking” However I have discovered more recently that a lot of college aged students are similar to me in that they enjoy cooking yet just don’t have the time or laziness takes over.