Crostini with Avocado and Honey

Crostini:

10 slices of French baguette
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 whole garlic clove
1/2 avocado, sliced
2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts
Drizzle of honey

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place bread on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toast for 5 -7 mins, till a little golden but not hard.

Rub garlic clove on each slice of bread right when it comes out of the oven (mind your fingers).

Place a half slice of avocado on top of each crostini, sprinkle a few pine nuts on top and drizzle with honey. Serve warm.

Berry Crisp

After a few weeks of settling in, our place is finally starting to feel like it's our own.  I went to Cost Plus this weekend and purchased amazing things that made our apartment feel like an actual home.  Let's be honest - if The Boy came with me on this trip, half of these items wouldn't have been purchased, there would be many eye rolls, and lots of "do you really need this hun?"  I found a couple of great lamps, some homey candles, and these amazing Ramekin dishes (The Boy called these "Romului").  

We has a couple over for dinner and I decided to make these easy Berry Crisps for dessert the night before and just re-heat them in the oven after dinner.  I also managed to acquire a pretty significant burn on my knuckle taking these suckers out of the oven.  Battle wounds baby!

Berry Crisp, right out of the oven

Berry Crisp (serves 2):

Topping:
1 handful of oats, maybe 1/2 - 3/4 cup
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
couple pinches of nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
handful or two of slivered almonds
4 tbsp cold butter, cubed


Filling:
3-4 big handfuls of frozen berries (mine were cherries and raspberries)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp almond extract
splash or two of Kirsch (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Make the topping first, everything together except the butter.  Then add the cold butter and mix with your hands to make a crumble texture.

In a big bowl mix all of the filling together.  Place into Ramekin dishes and sprinkle the topping.  I always add extra topping because that's my favorite part but do what you like.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden on top and smells yummy.

These guys are pretty, aren't they?  Even if they're called "Romului"

Key Lime Pie

So the Boy and I took the plunge and moved in together, yay!  We've been busy with packing, moving, unpacking, purchasing and assembling furniture - basically everyone's dream scenario.  Now that we're finally semi-settled, we've been having people over to see our new place.  This past Sunday we had a great couple over and I made some killer Shrimp Tacos and a Key Lime Pie.  Could not have been easier and tasted amazing!

My first baking adventure in my new kitchen, love the granite counter tops.

Key Lime Pie:

Crust:
1/2 box of honey graham crackers, crushed in a food processor till you made crumbs (about 1 1/4 cup)
2 tbsp. sugar
1 good pinch of salt
6 tbsp. melted unsalted butter

Filling:
4 egg yolks
1 14 oz can of sweetend, condensed milk
zest of 2 limes, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup lime juice, about 4-5 limes

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl combine the crumbled graham crackers, sugar and salt, stir with a wooden spoon to combine.  Slowly pour in the melted butter and mix around so it's evenly coated on the graham cracker crumbs.  Pour into a pie dish and use your fingers to firmly press against the sides first, then the middle making a crust.  Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown.  Let cool.

While your crust is cooling.  Add the 4 egg yolks into a mixer and beat on high for 3-4 minutes, until the egg yolks are fluffy and light in color.  Add the sweetened, condensed milk slowly and mix to incorporate.  Then add the zest and lime juice and use a wooden spoon to combine.  Pour the filling mixture into the cooled pie crust and bake for 15-16 minutes, until the middle is set.  Let cool completely, serve with whip cream and more lime zest.

Mango Salsa

This salsa is addicting.  I'm giving you complete warning before reading on, you will want to consume the entire bowl in one sitting.  You can use it as plain salsa with chips, put it on tacos, or pulled pork sliders.  It basically helps anything.

Mango Salsa:
1/2 bag of frozen mango pieces from TJ's, defrosted then chopped into small cubes
1/2 jalapeno, minced finely
1 small red onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
2-3 pinches of sugar, depending on how sweet the mango is
15 grape tomatoes, halved
bunch of cilantro, chopped
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder, if desired

Combine all in a large bowl and cover.  Let refrigerate for 30 minutes and then serve.

Roasted Heirloom Carrots

My great friend and college roommate was in town this past weekend.  We went to the farmers market at the Ferry Building on Saturday.  We picked up some amazingly fresh veggies, including baby heirloom carrots.  They were amazing, I couldn't believe we scored these.  They are almost too cute to eat, almost.

We made Chili con Carne, an arugula salad, cornbread, and roasted carrots.  I think the carrots were my favorite part of the meal.

Roasted Heirloom Carrots:

1-2 bunches of baby carrots, stems trimmed but left on
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Wash and dry the carrots and place in an oven proof dish.  Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and bake in the oven for 20ish minutes (depending on the size of your carrots, mine were little).

Thai Peanut Noodles

Another day of finding things in the pantry/fridge and seeing what my determined mind can create.  I bought some rice noodles awhile ago that are just taking up space in my pantry, they finally needed to be used at some point, and now the time for it.  I had some peppers and onions left over from Chili,and figured it couldn't hurt to make a Vegan- Friendly/Thai style noodle dish that could actually make it Blog-worthy.

So my experiment was set to go, hopefully not set to fail.


Thai Peanut Noodles:
handful of Stir Fry Rice Noodles 
1 tsp. peanut oil
1/2 onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 carrots, sliced in rounds
scallions and basil for garnish
Tofu (optional)

Peanut Sauce:
1 tsp peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-inch knob of ginger, graded
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut milk
few pinches of brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce (if going completely vegan, just use salt)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
cracked black pepper
red chili flakes or chili powder
water if needed

Boil water in a pot large enough for the noodles.  Add the noodles and turn off the heat.  Let soak for 8 minutes in the hot water.

In another small sauce pan heat up the peanut oil.  Add the garlic, ginger and shallot to sweat for two minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients up to the water and stir with a whisk to combine.  Let simmer on very low heat for a few minutes while you chop up the veggies and get ready to stir fry.  Taste for seasoning, add water if too thick.

Heat up a wok on very high heat, add the oil and swirl, then add the onion, carrots and bell pepper (and tofu).  Stir fry for 3 minutes.  Add the noodles and stir fry for another minute.  Add as much sauce as you would like to the noodles, toss to combine.  Garnish with the scallions/basil and eat immediately.

Gorgonzola and Honey Pizza

I made this pizza over New Years and it was delicious, if you love Gorgonzola.  Super easy to make and to eat.  I added some arugula on top to make it more "healthy."  To me it's similar to a dessert pizza but equally delicious.

On the left, BBQ Chicken/On the right, Gorgonzola and Honey sans Arugula

Gorgonzola and Honey Pizza:

1 whole wheat pizza dough ball
1/2 cup or so, of crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese
thinly sliced red onion
honey bear
arugula
thinly sliced scallions
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
Parmesan for topping

Preheat oven to 450F.

Stretch out the pizza to make a circle.  I use a combo of my hands, rolling pin and sheer willpower to make this happen.  Make it fairly thin then move to a pizza transferring device (with cornmeal under it) or a baking sheet if you don't have a pizza stone.

Drizzle olive oil over the dough making sure to get the crust (it will help it brown).  Sprinkle the Gorgonzola and onion over the dough, add some salt and pepper.  Pop in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the dough in the middle is cooked.

Once out of the oven, drizzle with the honey add the arugula on top and then drizzle the balsamic vinegar on top of that adding a bit of olive oil too.  Cut up and serve warm.