Muy Caliente!

Oh Baby! Huevos Rancheros, you rocked my world this morning with your sweet allure and spicy deliverance! You served me up with a smoky satisfying brunch smack-down of succulence.

I was feeling a little sassy this morning regarding breakfast. This is a great thing, you know. I'm on the upswing once again.

Life has been a series of changes for me lately and I know it's a growth spurt, but damn I have been trying to be everything to everyone and I just need some time to focus on me. Cooking helps center me. Even better is when I get to show my feelings through the food I create.

Huevos Racheros

Chili-spiked beans:
1 15 oz can pinto beans - not drained
1 small red pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. chipotle powder
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
pinch cayenne

Jalapeno Home Slices:
2 russet potatoes, thinly sliced discs
1/2 medium onion, sliced in half moons
1 jalapeno, sliced in discs
sea salt
sploosh of Heart Healthy canola oil

Fluffy Eggs:
2 large organic eggs
splash of milk
sea salt
fresh pepper

Corn tortillas:
fresh corn tortillas
fresh lime
sea salt
sploosh of Heart Healthy canola oil

Polenta:
corn grits
water

Fixin's:
cilantro, chopped
shredded extra sharp cheddar
hot sauce
fagé yogurt or sour cream

Start your Home Slices by heating 2 Tbsp canola oil in a cast-iron pan. Drop in your russet slices (carefully), once browned on one side, flip over and add in onions and jalapenos. Once close to done, push everything to one side of the pan, and add a sploosh of canola oil, drop two corn tortillas in and brown on each side. Pull them out, sprinkle with lime juice and sea salt.

To make the beans
Sauté onions, red pepper & garlic until lightly browned. Add spices and mix. After about 30 seconds, add the beans and simmer on low.

Make polenta according to directions on the package for two servings. Add in 1/4 cup of sharp cheddar cheese and 1 Tbsp chipotle powder, mix well, set aside. (if it thickens up too much, add a tad of water and mix through before serving.)

Fluffy eggs are basically scrambled, cooked on low heat and flipped often throughout the pan. I prefer to cook mine in a saucepan so they don't dry out.

When everything is ready, place one corn tortilla down on your plate, top with a good spoonful of chili beans and a scoop of fluffy eggs. Top with cilantro and shredded cheese. Squeeze some lime on top. Serve with fixin's.

Savor the spice.

I grill when I want!

Rain won't stop me. I'm Minnesotan, for chrissakes.

I was thinking about grilling out all day long. I knew I was going to the store for the b. to pick up some animal, so I picked up a few veggies to roast and the ingredients for a new bean burger recipe I had been wanting to try out.

Our menu tonight was Rib-eye steak, seasoned with Diane's Seasoning (thanks Wright!) Roasted Vegetables, rustic chopped potatoes, zucchini, onions and cauliflower - tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt & pepper and with a little rosemary and thyme tucked in. Pinto Bean Burger, consisting of mushrooms, onions, pinto beans & spices.

It was good.

Hallelujah!

Well I never let you know - but I've been without a functioning camera lens for quite awhile. And, to be honest, I was not digging on blogging without an image to put to it.

Enter my beloved B. He truly knows when to show up and make my day. He surprised me with a new lens so I could get back to bloggin (and cooking!)

We've been working out most days each week and it's really changed how we're living. Getting up at 5 am is a regular occurance. Coffee is a reward for a hard workout. And now it's time to start changing our food to be a bit lighter. It only makes sense.

I found this wonderful recipe for this cornmeal dish. It's light and extravagant. It's lush and bright.

Grilled Polenta With Garlic-Tomato Sauce

3 cups vegetable broth
1.5 c cornmeal
2 tablespoons butter
minced small onion
2 on -the-vine tomatoes
olive oil
salt & pepper
snipped chives

1 piece of bread (gf or regular)
1 garlic clove
1/2 c walnuts
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

1. Bring stock to boil and add cornmeal, stir till thickened a bit (around 4 minutes) and stir in butter and onions. Pour into a lightly greased baking sheet and spread evenly. Let cool.

2. Tear the bread into pieces place in a bowl with a bit of water, let soak 5 minutes. Squeeze the water out of the bread, set aside. Pound garlic & a sprinkle of salt until it forms a paste. Add walnuts, continue working the paste. Add the bread, then lemon juice, working each one in until fully incorporated. Drizzle in the olive oil until the sauce becomes thick.

3. Heat up your grill or use a stove-top grill pan.

4. Cut polenta into squares or triangles and brush with olive oil on each side.

5. Slice tomatoes in 6 pieces. Toss in olive oil.

6. Cook the polenta and tomatoes until you get a decent crust on the polenta and the tomatoes have softened. This takes about 4 minutes.

7. Plate your grilled polenta, top with tomatoes and pour the garlic-walnut sauce over the whole she-bang.

Scarf.

Heirloom Spring Quinoa

We have a great restaurant in downtown Minneapolis called Zelo. I blame them for the love affair I have going with quinoa, a grain I hadn't experienced until after being diagnosed with a wheat intolerance. Holy delicious. And very under-utilized. Everyone I know who tastes it's delicate nuttiness - falls into submissive lust with it. The lure is strong due to it's balanced set of essential amino acids, which makes it a complete protein in and of itself. Sweet. Quinoa delivers a hearty dose of magnesium, a mineral that helps relax blood vessels for those prone to migraines. Double sweet. After enjoying their Heirloom Grain Chopped Salad from Zelo, I just had to try to recreate it, gluten-free style.

1 cup quinoa
1 cup loosely packed arugula
6 asparagus spears, blanched, popped into cold water and sliced on the bias
2 scallions, rinsed and sliced on the bias
10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 avocado, sliced into chunks
2 ounces dill havarti or fresh provolone cubed into 1/2 " pieces
8 hearts of palm, chopped into cubes
2 tbsp lemon peel, microplanes, no pith
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3-4 good glugs of olive oil
2 generous shavings of fresh parmesan to top each serving

Cook quinoa according to directions on package, pour into bowl and stir every so often to cool (make sure you rinse the quinoa first -very important)

Blanch asparagus, shock in ice water and slice on the bias, toss in bowl
Slice scallions thin on the bias, toss in bowl
Halve tomatoes and toss into bowl
Cube avocado, toss into bowl and pour lemon juice over it
Cube havarti or provolone and toss in
Chop hearts of palm and toss in
Microplane lemon peel and toss in
Add in arugula
Pour in olive oil to get a light coat and mix
Salt and pepper to taste and top each serving with a couple shaves of fresh parmesan

Be grateful for food so pure.

A Super Fresh Asparagus Soup

Minneapolis is a wise-guy city. It's joke today is a snow storm forecast - two weeks into Spring. It got me thinking, what could I make that would entice Spring to follow through while keeping myself warm on a cool and snowy Spring day? I decided on an asparagus soup, one of my favorite recipes. Asparagus is in season and this recipe takes no time, and the reward...is huge.

1 pound fresh asparagus, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup vegetable broth homemade or bought
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons GF Flour or all-purpose flour
salt and pepper - a dash of each to taste - go easy
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth homemade or bought
2 cups milk, or soymilk
Shaved Parmesan
sprinkle of lemon juice (about a 2 tbsp or a half lemon) - to taste
top with asparagus tips and chopped chives

Directions

Place asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 3/4 cup vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Place remaining vegetable mixture in an electric blender and puree until smooth.
Melt butter in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the butter. Stir to form a roux. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan. Whisk in lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls. Garnish with reserved asparagus tips. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Slurp it up.

Fleishers

Meat is back.
At least for me it might be. With a scarlet letter "C" looming over me and with the help of responsible farmers like the Fleishers I just might have a go at it.

Sounds easy right? Not so much. I've been a strict vegetarian for, oh I'd say almost half of my life. For those of you who don't know me, that's about 16 years. Those of you who do know me - see I am old. ::wink:: Too often a lifestyle choice of vegetarianism brings forth a negative air from the carnivores. It's understandable for sure. I have often experienced the shock style spite-spew of some very righteous vegetarians myself. It's why I don't back Peta. It's all in the approach and I hate their woo.

I've been asked my views and reasons on being a vegetarian many times. Sometimes people have been rude about it but more often I think most people are just curious. There's a whole slew of reasons why one chooses to eat the way they do. For me it's a lot of things that collectively got me to where I am.

I grew up a Meat-n-Potatoes Kid. My grandmother Ruth was a dominant icon in our household. There were to be meals of meat, potatoes and of course, a side of vegetables (corn or green beans) when possible. Accompanying this was spongy white bread with loads of real butter. Our salads, if they showed up at all, were iceberg. The crisp, watery green was adorned with a pre-shred of cheddar, drizzled with Russian dressing and spotted with croutons. The recurring meats were roast beef, meatloaf and chicken dumplings. I loved those dinners. Usually I was just happy because it meant there were mashed potatoes with gravy. I swear to all things holy, if my grandmother were still alive and cooked any of those items for me, I would gorge myself on them without a second thought.

My mom Doreen was a vegetarian. Always questioned voraciously by my grandmother about her quirky choice, she held fast and continued to compile colourful meals for herself. Never one to push her views on someone, she always answered with a vague response. As a child consumed with colour, I gradually was more attracted to the hues of my mother's meals and started eating more of them.

I am very inquisitive. I always need to know how or why or what. I needed to know why my mom didn't eat meat. So I read everything I could find on the subject. Knowledge can change your life. I would definitely encourage learning about the practices of the meat industry. I don't see it as a reason to deny meat, but rather to choose selectively when purchasing.

I was about 16 when I stopped eating meat. Reading dozens of books on it I found myself disturbed by the barbaric practices. It repulsed me. I lived on pasta dishes, rice a roni and a few vegetables. In college the atmosphere lent itself well to the practice. Vegetarianism was a good way to define myself. It was in college that I started to experiment with cooking with whole foods for the first time, but with a limited budget I fell back on standards and fast food. Oh yes, a # 2 - cheeseburgers without the meat. ::chortle:: no seriously. It was a trick I had learned from a fellow Veg. Little did I know at the time, my fries were animal lard dunked.

After college I found myself a job at a large ad agency downtown. I moved out on my own and started experimenting with better ingredients. I shopped at the farmers market weekly and compiled fantastic veggie meals.

Which brings me to today. I cook every day. It truly is a release, a meditation if you will. My week is planned out by what I want to cook. It's not that I'm obsessed with food, it's more that I just love a satisfying moan from someone who just tasted my food. Selfish right?

This past summer I found out I was sensitive to wheat. It has changed the way I feel about the food I consume. What I can eat safely has changed so dramatically. This summer I picked up the book Heat, by Bill Buford. It really changed the way I felt about meat. After that it was Shauna James Ahern's book, Gluten Free Girl which ran parallel with my own experiences. When I cut the wheat out of my diet, I started feeling better. I was having less headaches and feeling less anxious. More recently I caught a show about Fleisher's on PBS. "You can see inside the animal how they were treated." What a true statement. Raising an animal on their natural diet is better for them, the environment and us. After watching this I really felt that it sums up how I feel about meat. I've never been anti-meat. I just think we owe it to be conscious of what we put into our bodies and the way it gets there. Check it out, and let me know what you think about it.

I'm still on the fence about a complete return to meat, but I'm curious.

The salad I'm hooked on.

I love me a big mess of salad.

This salad that I am about to share with you has been easing me through these grainy-gray days with it's promise of summer.

I picked up these greens at my local Trader Joes and have been hooked since. What's that you say? You desire a plethora of greens and reds running through herbes in a European bath of flavors? Delivered. How about a promise that this Spring I will begin a series of salads studies to share with you? That rocks, right?

Organic Baby Lettuces from Trader Joes include red and green romaine, red and green oakleaf, lollo rosa tango, red and green chard, mizuna, aruguls, frisee, radicchio, parsley, cilantro and dill! It's amazing, inexpensive and a great shortcut.

Messa Salad
1 bag of Herbe Salad
4 discs sliced from a beautiful herbed goat cheese
handful of dried cherries
handful of fresh walnuts

Vinaigrette
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - about 3 Tbsp
Balsamic Vinegar - a good glug to taste
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Smidge of mustard - I love Surdyk's Herbes de Provence one, but a grainy or dijon would work nicely
Sea salt & fresh cracked pepper

Empty out your bag of greens into a large bowl
Slice your discs of goat cheese (you can crumble too if you like)
Toss in your handful of cherries followed by the walnuts

In a small bowl pour in a good splash of balsamic vinegar. Pour in your sugar. Grab a mini whisk (or fork) and pull out about a 1/2 teaspoon of mustard, add to the mix and start whisking. Pour in oil while mixing to create and emulsion. Salt and Pepper to taste. If it is too tart, add a bit more sugar, if there is not enough bite, add a bit more balsamic. This dressing is an easier and more affordable way to freshly dress your greens. Once you get the hang of it you can tweak the ingredients by adding other elements to intensify your haystack of green goodness.

Dig in and get messy. I promise it will be worth it.