Coconut infused quinoa, topped with a ginger vegetable medley saute and seared wild sea scallops.
2I wish I had snapped a picture of this dish because it was so tasty, so easy, and so pretty.
It actually came out of my rummaging through my cupboards and fridge trying to come up with something for dinner that wouldn’t require me to leave the house. The result? Subtly infused quinoa with coconut milk, a delicious stir-fry of vegetables, and beautiful, golden-brown seared scallops.
The trick is to make this as a three-step process so that you can essentially layer it all together in the pan you’ve used to cook the quinoa. Continue reading
Category Health Conscious, Seafood | Tags: coconut milk, ginger, quinoa, scallops
Pure NW: Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
5This dish requires no introduction. It’s easy, delicious, healthy, affordable, and about as Northwest as eggs can get. Perfect for a Mother’s Day Brunch or evening party appetizer. You want the dish to have a bit of a ‘kick’ so don’t skimp on the capers and mustard, although you can certainly modify pending on your taste and preference.
Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
Serves 4
8 eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
6 ounces smoked salmon (the salmon in a can is completely fine and makes this an even more economical option)
2 TB mustard
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB dill (or to taste)
1 TB capers (or to taste)
Dash of Tabasco
Category Appetizers, Entertaining, Uncategorized | Tags: deviled eggs, mothers day brunch, smoked salmon
The Culinary WonderBra: Grilled Fig and Prosciutto Flatbreads
5Sometimes we all need a little pick-me-up. Something to make us feel like a million bucks. These moments can happen in our personal lives, in our careers, and if you’re a passionate, but albeit, untrained cook, in the kitchen.
If ever there was a comparison to the WonderBra in the kitchen, these grilled flatbreads are it. They are easy, fun, delicious and sure to impress a crowd.
Make them when you’re looking for the culinary equivalent of a double take. These babies are guaranteed to deliver it. Continue reading
Category 15-Minute-Meals, Entertaining, Mains, Uncategorized | Tags: arugula, fig, flatbreads, mozzarella, pizza, prosciutto
15-Minute-Meals: Alaskan Cod with Citrus Wine Sauce, Roasted Asparagus, and Quinoa
1I’ve recently decided I’m going to run the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Why? I’m honestly not sure. Perhaps it’s because I’m a glutton for punishment, or rather it’s the peer pressure of a number of my friends and family doing it. Or it could be the ever unattainable goal to be perfectly in-shape, toned, and fit like the women I see on the covers of the magazine while buying my triple-whipped brie or multiple bottles of Malbec. Continue reading
Category 15-Minute-Meals, Health Conscious, Seafood | Tags: alaskan cod, asparagus, citrus wine sauce, fish, quinoa
“Lord have mercy…you lost??” : Seafood Stew
1My mother was recently out to visit and decided she would walk back from the local library to our house. If you’ve read, Good, Cheap, and Fast, you know that our neighborhood has its wonderful parts and its decidedly not so wonderful parts. Tall, beautiful, unfailingly elegant, and refined, to put it simply, my mother is not the kind of person you typically see walking around the ‘hood.
As she was hoofing it back from the library (she is known to walk everywhere quickly and with purpose), she ran into two older women decked out in their Sunday finest making their very slow trek up the sidewalk. Continue reading
Category Seafood, Soups | Tags: fennel, fish, mussels, saffron, seafood stew, shrimp, Soups
Screw patience: Roasted medley of spring vegetables served over angel hair pasta with chicken sausage, tossed with a cilantro pesto
1
I have spent my entire life wishing I was a more patient person. But try as I might, I am inherently impatient and intolerant of things that move slowly.
I’m impatient with people who are slow walkers. I loath slow talkers. I despise inefficiency and elevator doors that take seconds to close feel like eons to me. Despite constant admonitions from family, friends, bosses, and co-workers to just “slow down, Erina” it’s something I really struggle with. Continue reading
Category Pasta, Seasonal Cooking, Uncategorized, Vegetarian | Tags: asparagus, mushrooms, parmesan, Pasta
Cupcakes Make My Butt Big: Warm Mushroom Salad
1My friend’s 20-month old daughter came home from daycare the other day and declared, while having a snack, “Cupcakes make my butt big.” Half an hour later while sipping a juice she made a similar proclamation: “Juice make my butt big.”
Now, all women have clearly thought these things to themselves occasionally, and have maybe confessed these thoughts to a good friend, but the fact that they were coming out of the mouth of a child not yet even two was understandably shocking and upsetting. Continue reading
Category Health Conscious, Salads, Uncategorized | Tags: arugula, mushrooms, parmesan, prosciutto, Salad, sun dried tomatoes
One Cook Book a Week
5There were a series of years, (more than I care to admit), where my love of things equine resulted in all Christmas, birthday, and “just because” presents being oriented around the horse theme. There were horse books, horse figurines, horse journals, Waterford Crystal horse head wine bottle stoppers, horse belts, horse sticker books, and of course, the horse calendar.
An equestrian to this day, I somehow seemed to evolve past what we will only refer to as “the horsey years”.
However, as my interest in cooking has grown, cook books seem to have become the replacement. Continue reading
Category Kitchen Trials and Tribulations | Tags:
Comfort Food Goes Chic (again): Gourmet Meatloaf
1I have recently started a new job, and as is typical for most people I think, I am finding myself in these first days and weeks coming home excited and positive but also admittedly tired and a bit drained. Keeping track of who’s who, what’s what, attempting to get out the door in the morning without getting slobbered by the mastiff, and remembering not to put hot tea in the fancy compostable cups (they definitely melt), can take it out of you. Continue reading
Category Comfort Foods, Mains | Tags: beef, comfort food, gourmet meatload, lamb, panko