Food is to love . . .

Review: Comfort Food at Kiki's in New Boston, NH

2010-11-07T14:05:00.002-05:00

New Boston isn't exactly known for being the dining hot spot of the state so I didn't know what to expect at Kiki's but since I recently moved to town, it's been on my radar. It ended up being a great find! I'm psyched that in a town with limited food possibilities - I have a sure thing I can bring friends or family to when visiting.

The restaurant shares it's parking lot with the Gravity Tavern and the inside of the restaurant is a very rustic style mill/barn but is super cozy, warm and comfortable. J and I have been there on two different Saturdays recently and both times we had great service - not just from our waitress but were also treated very well by the hostesses, and even Chef Jason stopped by our table to see how things were. There's no snottiness or pretension here.

The menu had a lot of variety to it. They offer casual comfort food like Fish and Chips, Shepherds Pie and Macaroni and Cheese but then they also offer slightly more fancier entrees that change seasonally, like Butternut Squash Ravioli in a light maple cream sauce and Thyme Crusted Scallops that come with risotto, swiss chard and a pumpkin gastric. They also had plenty of appetizers, salads and kids meals to choose from. You could go here with several picky eaters and find something that everyone was happy eating.

The first time we stopped in at Kiki's, I started off with the French Onion soup, which came out piping hot and was delicious (and comforting on a chilly night), with lots of caramelized onions and crunchy crouton pieces to soak up the broth.

J started off with the house salad which came in this cute little round circle, it's shape held together by a long thin piece of cucumber. It was tossed with a mustardy balsamic vinaigrette. J said it was very good, the dressing especially (although there was a little too much dressing on it).

I had the Tavern Martini -a greygoose dirty martini with olives stuffed with jalapeno. Thumbs up to the olives. Salty and spicy worked nicely together. I probably could have eaten a whole bowl of them and been happy. The martini was a lot watered down and not by olive juice (there was hardly a drop in there). I don't know how that happens - either restaurants intentionally add water to their drinks to save money or keep you from getting drunk or they're using a cocktail shaker with melted ice in it. Either way, that's not a cool practice if I'm paying for a premium vodka at a premium price (and in only a 5 oz glass).

For our dinners the first night, J got the Grilled Rib-eye that was dressed in a mushroom bourbon sauce and served with Brussels sprouts and steak cut potatoes. It was very good (because J let's me taste everything)but I noticed it wasn't very hot. J said the same thing, nothing was cold but it definitely had been sitting for a bit and since the restaurant wasn't very busy, that's kind of a bummer.

I had the Chicken Saltimbocca for my meal. The scaloppini were perfectly tender and the marsala sauce was slightly sweet and buttery, just the way a marsala should be and there was just enough prosciutto and mozzarella. The wild mushroom risotto was tasty but if I didn't know it was supposed to be risotto I would have thought it was just very herby rice with mushrooms. The herb flavors were very very strong (and I love my herbs!) and the rice wasn't creamy at all, the way a risotto should be. It was tasty but I certainly would not call it risotto. I still enjoyed the meal.

We shared German Chocolate cake for dessert - it was very good.

The second time we went to Kiki's, I had the fish and chips and J the prime rib - both were also very good. Good to know they can do both casual and fine food well.

Saturday nights, they offer $10 off a bottle of wine - a great deal considering their wines are already very reasonably priced.

Why am I not giving them 5 stars? The watered down Martini is a bummer. For $10 I want to have some vodka. And the risotto should be creamier and be a touch lighter on the herbs.

I will definitely be putting Kiki's on my list of regular go-to restaurants. Good job New Boston!

Returning from a long Hiatus

2010-01-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted at all, let alone with any regularity. I place most of the blame on moving right before Thanksgiving. Hosting that holiday and a Christmas party, and then traveling to visit J's family in Jersey for New Years Week didn't help.

The rest of the blame falls on me. While I have been cooking here and there, certainly very little of it has been creative, my camera too hard to find and my belly too hungry to take the time to take pictures or write notes that are blog worthy. I'm a bit exhausted. I've been over indulging and not exercising enough (if you think I've been slacking on blogging, you should see the dust that has formed on my sneakers!). I've gained some weight and am feeling a bit stretched in every direction.

I'm coming back with a renewed focus on health and hopefully some creativity. I'm hoping to post more recipes that I can consider healthy. I've been running with the "enjoyment" of food more than anything else since I've started blogging and while it's been fun, I'm normally a very healthy eater. Time to get back there again (at least 3/4ths of the time!). Hope to have some new stuff up very soon and I hope everyone is doing well!

2009-12-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

I'm throwing a smallish Holiday party in a couple of weeks and trying to plan a menu. I 've committed to feeding everyone but I haven't figured out what I will feed them yet. Should I do just appetizers? There's an endless amount of hot and cold tapas out there. Or should I try to pull off a full meal? It won't be a sit down-style meal since there will be between 12-20 people and I'm just not that talented yet!

I don't own crockpots or chafing dishes so keeping things warm for long periods of time is an issue (not that I couldn't borrow some from someone, but I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible). If I do a full meal, I'm thinking soup, salad and some sort of baked pasta. Easy, but is that too boring? On one hand, I'd like to do something fancier, but on the other, let's face it, I moved just over two weeks ago, (and already hosted a holiday dinner) so trying to pull off somethng fancy when there are still boxes to unpack and furniture to arrange is just asking for a stressful night. I'd like to do something that impresses guests but looks more complicated than it is. I need ideas. Give me some. Please?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T11:59:00.003-05:00

Hey there & Happy Turkey Day (almost)! I'm wiped out. In the last two nights I've made, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, savoy cabbage gratin, pecan and dried cherry stuffing with sage, tomato and goat cheese tarts with basil AND cooked dinner AND unpacked a few boxes. I moved in just 12 days ago and I'm already hosting a holiday. haha. I'm obviously insane.

We're settling in to the house and enjoying it immensely! Everyday I come home from work I find something else that I'm happy to now have. It's my first time having a garage (no more wiping and scraping snow off my car), I have a stove with more than 1 large burner and all of them work, I have a walk-in closet to hang everything J and I own, and I've got beautiful views to look at from every window. Life is good and the new home is just one of many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving!

I promise to get posting again regularly very soon, but for now, I'll leave you with pictures of the cheesecake I made tonight!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Yay! We're closing on the house! Finally!

2009-11-08T22:33:00.006-05:00

If you've been a reader of mine, you know that J and I have been trying to buy a house for a while and we've been lusting after one house in particular, but closing on the house seemed like it was never going to happen! I'm happy to say that the sellers have finally got everything they need in place to close the sale and we're closing this Thursday afternoon! Yay!!

I'm crazy excited but I have a lot to do between now and then. J and I spent all weekend packing because we halted our efforts there a while ago. Now we rush to move because I'd like to be settled in for Thanksgiving! We'll be moving at the end of the week and this weekend and I know I won't get a chance to blog for a bit so hang in there and I'll be back!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the new place!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:05:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween!! No parties for me this year, we got word on Tuesday of this week that our sellers (of the house we've been trying to buy for months!) had their short sale approved by the bank (YAY!!!!!) so J and I decided to be low key and stay home so we could get some things done now that we know we'll be moving for sure in a few weeks! Looks like we'll close the week of the 9th, and hopefully be all settled in by Thanksgiving!

I spent the day carving pumpkins, (albeit badly!), and baking these delicious Ham and Cheddar Pretzel bites with Jalepeno Mustard, courtesy of Gourmet magazine's spread on Chef Edward Lee (from the October issue). A little time consuming, as pretzels are, and mine are nowhere as pretty as the ones pictured in the magazine are, but they were delicious and I plan to make them again! The recipe calls for "Country Ham" which is a southern thing, and I'm nowhere near the south and could not find any or anyone who knew what that was at the grocery store, so I picked up a hamsteak and diced part of that up for the recipe. The bonus is that J can have some ham with his eggs and bagel in the morning.

We got a lot of Trick or Treaters this year, all the little kids come early in the night, and then the last half hour are all teenagers. It's pretty funny!

Apple Bread with Cinnamon & Walnuts

2009-10-29T18:20:00.002-04:00

Another fall favorite! The quick bread.

I'm not sure where I got this recipe. It seems to be one of those things that just ended up in my recipe collection years ago and I can't call it my own but I make it often enough that I no longer need to look at the recipe card (which for me is RARE! ha!).

I love this because it's easy, I usually have all the ingredients on hand and like most quick bread recipes, you bake it in two loaf pans so you can eat one now and freeze one for later! It's great for breakfast or dessert and everyone that I've made it for has loved it. Bonus. I like to sneak whole wheat flour into the bread (50/50 all purpose and whole wheat). It comes out a little heavier and doesn't rise as much as using all white flour but it makes me feel a little less bad about eating it!

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups diced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional of course!)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease two loaf pans. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Next, beat the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in apples and walnuts (if using) and stir together gently. Pour evenly into the two loaf pans and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean). Let cool before removing from loaf pans.

Slice and enjoy for dessert (it's great with ice cream or a rum glaze), breakfast or a snack!
All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Review: Riding the Waves at Surf

2009-10-27T18:00:00.001-04:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A few weekends ago, I went to the birthday dinner of a friend at Surf in Nashua, NH. Been wanting to eat there for a long time but just seemed to always end up somewhere else. J and I were the first ones to arrive for our reservation and the first thing I noticed was how much larger the restaurant appeared to be compared to the days of the Paradox restaurant (I spent way too much there in my early 20's). While the room was the same shape and size, the lighting really opened up the space. I wasn't a fan of the color, a very light mint green, or the general decor but it wasn't unpleasant.

I ordered a glass of the Paso A Paso Tempranillo while we waited for our friends to arrive and J had Hennessey on the rocks. The Tempranillo was a rich shade of plum but had a little too much acidic bite for my taste. I knew after just a couple sips that it wasn't going to get better and I would not be ordering another glass. A friend was drinking a cabernet our waiter had recommended and after trying his, I switched over to the same and was pleasantly surprised. Of course, I forgot to ask the name of it so now I have no idea what I was drinking! But it was good. haha.

When our whole party arrived, they brought out baskets of fresh bread, cinnamon, cranberry and a plain french style bread. Yummy. Can't go wrong with fresh bread and even though I'm not big on sweets with my meal, I can appreciate offering different varieties to diners. It's a nice touch.

My friends order the raw sampler and offered everyone some. I tried the ceviche which was served on a tortilla chip. The ceviche was very nice, tangy and sweet but I think a crostini or pita toast may have been a better vehicle for delivery.

The menu had a lot of mouthwatering options. I had a really difficult time deciding what to order and asked our waiter, Rob, if I could order last after he had come back several times and everyone else was ready but me. I finally decided on the Surf salad, mixed greens w/ onions, bell peppers and a tamari ginger vinaigrette, and a half portion of the Surf and Turf which consisted of a tenderloin fillet, chive mashed potatoes topped with a crab cake and a drizzle of bearnaise sauce and served over grilled asparagus. Being blessed (or cursed, depending on your view) with a healthy appetite, I was worried that a half portion would not be enough food and I would be ravenous for the rest of the evening. But, my fears were allayed when the meal came out because it was clearly enough food. So much, that I was still eating once everyone elses' plates were cleared away (might be because I'm a talker but I like to think it was from the generous portion). I can only imagine how large the regular portion is!

The salad was just a basic house salad with mixed greens but the dressing was very good. Sweet and tangy without being too acidic. The fillet was a perfect med-rare, with a very red center (the way I like it!), and super tender. The mashed potatoes were creamy and light and the crab cake and bearnaise were divine. I would have been happy eating nothing more than crab cakes. The asparagus were cut in half lengthwise, which added an interesting texture to the grilling. The whole meal was scrumptious. I felt a little silly ordering steak as my main course in a seafood restaurant but I'm not disappointed that I did.

Our waiter, Rob was very attentive for the most part and pleasant. He knew the menu well. I could have had my water glass refilled a couple of times but I'm a water gulper so that may just be me. For dessert we decided to order to desserts to share for the group since everyone was stuffed but wanted a taste. We had the Key lime torte and a chocolate creme brule. I thought the key lime torte was a little too cream cheesy and didn't have enough lime but the rest of our group really enjoyed it. I preferred the chocolate creme brule. The crust was a little over cooked, giving it a burnt caramel flavor. It wasn't bad but they should watch the blowtorch a little. The chocolate creme was less chocolaty and more caramel-y which was delicious and buttery and I would eat again, however it should be renamed Caramel creme brule.

Surf didn't blow me away. The decor needs some work, the desserts half did their job but the food was very good and I look forward to going back to try some more seafood options next time!

Sausage and Butternut Squash Lasagna

2009-10-25T12:05:00.003-04:00

This Lasagna was the result of looking in the fridge and freezer and trying to figure out what I could make for dinner with the ingredients I had. There are a lot of flavors here: squash, pesto, sausage, eggplant, sage, parmesan. It's not for the faint palated or unadventurous eater.

While it's not perfect and I may do some tweaking on it down the road (I'm not sure how I feel about the eggplant in it yet!), it was yummy, comforting and something different for dinner. True lasagna fans will probably want to use more cheese. I felt that since my sauce was creamy, I didn't really need much of it. Here I used frozen butternut squash despite it being in season fresh where I live but that's only because I needed to use it before it got freezer burn! Fresh butternut squash would be absolutely delicious here. I would boil it or roast it in small pieces if I substituted it for the frozen.

Ingredients

9 Lasagna noodles, cooked
1 bag of frozen butternut squash, defrosted
1 lb hot italian style chicken sausage, casings removed
1 large vidalia onion, diced
2 lrg garlic cloves
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
6 tablespoons homemade pesto (or a store bought pesto that you really like)
1 1/4 cups milk, heated in the microwave for 1 minute
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2.5 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 medium sized eggplant, sliced 3/4 in thick (6-8 slices
kosher salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a 4qt sauce pan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan when hot and cook onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Remove onion and garlic and add sausage to pan, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you cook. When sausage is cooked, add onion and garlic back to pan and stir in defrosted butternut squash, sage and kosher salt and pepper. Stir and cook until blended. Stir in 2 tablespoons of pesto. Set aside.

Next, melt butter in a saucepan and then whisk in the flour, stirring constantly until the flour and butter are well mixed and begin to brown (about 5 minutes). Slowly pour in the warm milk and bring to a boil while stirring. Simmer until the sauce begins to thicken. Add 3 tablespoons of the pesto and 1/2 the parmesan cheese and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While you are making the sauce, lay eggplant slices on a cookie sheet that has been covered with foil and baste on both sides with 1 tablespoon pesto mixed with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place in oven and cook for 13-15 minutes or until tender. Lower the oven heat to 375.In a rectangular baking dish (9x13 or so), layer the lasagna, starting with a tiny bit of the sausage squash concoction, then noodles, then 1/3 of the pesto cream sauce, then all the eggplant slices (cut in half if they are large), then more noodles, sausage squash mixture, 1/3 of the pesto cream sauce, noodles, last of the sausage squash, last of the pesto cream sauce and then top with 1/4 cup of grated parmesan. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then turn on the broiler. Broil until the cheese is browned (2-3 minutes). Let set for 10 minutes before slicing.All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Apple Crisp (Mom's recipe!)

2009-10-24T14:00:00.004-04:00

It's fall. And I apologize once again for being so quiet! Things have been busy and while I have been cooking and baking plenty, I haven't found the time to post anything. J and I still haven't closed on the house. It's a long story, but the short version is that our sellers are working on getting approval for a short sale and that is taking some time. Trying to be patient and not get too bummed about it but it is what it is and I can't do anything to speed up the process. Just keeping my fingers crossed that their short sale is approved and everything goes as planned. Anyhow, back to food!

The air has definitely gotten cooler, the leaves have changed and are falling off the trees, and I'm reaching for a sweatshirt or fleece every night. That means it's time to bake lots of stuff with apple or pumpkin in it! Went apple picking with J a few weekends ago so first up: Apple Crisp!

This is my Mom's recipe. It's super easy and one of the things I like about it is that it doesn't contain oats! Nothing against oats for breakfast or in an oatmeal cookie but I personally don't think they belong in apple crisp. At least in not in mine!

Ingredients

5-6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I use Cortland for baking)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the sliced apples in a rectangular baking dish (9x12 or 9x13), piled high (cut more apples if you need to). Mix the white sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon together in a small bowl and then sprinkle on top of the apples and mix with your hands to coat. I love spice so I use a little more cinnamon and nutmeg than the recipe calls so add whatever amount suits your taste.
Next put the flour, brown sugar and butter in a bowl. Using two forks, cut in the butter to coat the pieces with flour and sugar until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Distribute on top of the apples and pat down. Bake for 30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the topping is browned.Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Happiness!All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Sad News: Gourmet will be No More

2009-10-05T12:54:00.003-04:00

Ran across this article this morning. And then this one. Looks like Conde' Nast is shutting Gourmet magazine down (along with a few others) for economic reasons. Sad.

If you've never held a copy of the magazine in your hands, you're really missing out! Beautiful pictures, restaurant recommendations, recipes that were tested to perfection and articles on everything from food to politics and fashion. It's sad. I'd much rather they close down Glamour & Lucky, magazines that try to dumb down women! But that's just my opinion!

Shameless Plug Part 1: Shauna's Etsy Shop, Green Alligators

2009-09-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

All photo's on this page were taken by Shauna Martone

I know I usually don't post stuff that's completely unrelated to food (unless it's about my HOUSE!) but for a while now, I've wanted to start a series of posts that give a little shout out for some good people in my life who are trying to run their own businesses or get projects off the ground. Everyone knows I love to review stuff (see my profile at yelp) when I love it or hate it so why not give a little boost to some people I know that are out there doing a good job.
The first is an Etsy shop run by my little sister Shauna. She's always been into arts and crafts, and sewing but since she had her daughter Madelyn, she has a renewed interest in making children's clothing, bibs, booties and hair decorations. She's a working mom who is going to school to be a nurse and is still finds time to be creative. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Check out her shop on Etsy if you need a shower present for a friend or if you have a little one yourself. Her focus is primarily girls stuff but there are definitely booties, blankets and bibs for boys too! She's selling a lot of really cute items at very affordable prices. The shop name is Green Alligators, named after my niece's favorite song.

Is your Breakfast Getting a Little Boring?

2009-09-27T22:50:00.002-04:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I think of breakfast, I think of cereal & milk, yogurt & fruit, or traditional eggs and bacon. On weekdays my breakfast consists of a few cups of coffee and either an English muffin with cottage cheese and diced tomato & onion or Greek yogurt with fiber cereal. Weekends, I'll indulge in a savory bagel slathered with a ton of herb cream cheese or a veggie and cheese frittata (the weekend meal still includes copious amounts of caffeine). But I'm growing tired of all of it! How excited was I when I saw an email from ChowHound recently that linked to an article called 10 Ways to Reinvent Breakfast: Go Beyond Bagels and Bacon! Elated!

Best of all, their list did not include lots of sweet items. Those who know me, know that I don't usually do sweets in the morning (unless I'm in NJ visiting J's family where only pastries and cakes are available). Used to, but the blood pressure medicine I'm on completely wiped out my need for sweets and replaced it with a desire for all things salty, crunch and savory. Also, their list had a big focus on incorporating leftovers into your meal. Huge plus because I hate to waste food and am always looking for ways to throw out less food. I love the idea of the black bean cakes with eggs. I bet that would be delicious with fresh salsa!

Hope you find some ideas from this list as well! What do you eat when you need to change up breakfast?

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Zucchini Quesadillas with Chipotle Sour Cream

2009-09-24T22:45:00.000-04:00

Random weeknight concoction that came out delicious! A coworker has been talking about a sweet potato and black bean quesadilla that she had recently and I realized I had the makings and then some at home! Love when that happens! The sweetness of the sweet potato combined with the tartness of the sour cream and spice of chipotle was awesome and really filling.

Ingredients

4 large tortillas
1 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large zucchini, chopped roughly
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can black beans, rinsed well and drained
1 large sweet potato
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
sour cream
2 teaspoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce pureed
kosher salt and black pepper

Begin by washing the sweet potato and poking a few holes in it with a fork. Place in microwave and cook for 7-10 minutes or until soft (the amount of time it takes will depend on how big your potato is). While the potato is cooking, heat a pan and the olive oil over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the zucchini, cumin, chili powder and cayenne and cook for two minutes. Add the garlic and black beans and cook the entire mixture for 1 minute more. Season with kosher salt and black pepper and remove from heat.

Take your sweet potato out of the microwave and let it cool.

While the veggie and bean mixture is working on the stove, mix 2 teaspoons of pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce into a half cup of sour cream (I use light-gotta cut calories wherever I can!). Most grocery stores sell small cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I take the entire can and puree it in my food processor and then freeze portions in a plastic wrapped lined ice cube tray. Individually wrap when frozen and you have a ready burst of chipotle when you need it! If you aren't familiar with chipotle, add a little at a time to the sour cream and taste it. Otherwise it could be spicier than you like.

When your sweet potato is cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise and peel off the skin (or leave it on if you want a little extra fiber!). Dice or slice the potato into small pieces.

Heat another skillet (a little large than the tortillas) to just below medium heat. Place one tortilla in the dry skillet and top with 1/4 cup of the cheese, half of the diced sweet potato, half of the zucchini and black bean mixture and another 1/4 cup of cheese. Top with another tortilla and let cook until the cheese melts and the bottom tortilla is stiff when you slip a spatula underneath (it will take 2-3 minutes for it to brown and crisp up). Flip quickly and cook the other side for another couple of minutes, or until slightly browned and crispy.
Turn onto a plate and repeat the process with the other 2 tortillas and the remaining ingredients. Cut each quesadilla into six pieces and serve with the chipotle sour cream.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

HURRY! Restaurant Gift Certificates at 90% off!

2009-09-09T18:30:00.000-04:00

I stumbled upon a fantastic deal today and wanted to share with you ( I know, I know, I said I wouldn't be blogging much until after my move! haha). Who can't stand to save a little $$$?

09.09.09 doesn't happen very often. To celebrate such a rare occurrence, Restaurant.com is running an unheard of special for 99 hours (I'm assuming it started at midnight on 09.09.09). Gift certificates on their site which are already normally priced at a discount are available at 90% off their value!! I purchased $175 worth of gift certificates for $7!!! Really! No joke! Totally legit.

Each restaurant has their own rules for using the certificates, for example, one $25 certificate I purchased (for $1) requires that I spend $35 or buy 2 entrees to use it. Easy to do though, because the entrees at that particular restaurant are between $25-45. Yes, I'll end up spending $11 to redeem $25 but I'm getting $25 for FREE!!!!! Looks like me and J have some eating out to do!

Go to Restaurant.com, search for restaurants in your area, add them to your cart and enter promo code NINETY at checkout and watch the savings add up!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Farmers' Market Bounty and My Anniversary

2009-09-08T17:00:00.004-04:00

Saturday was J and my 5th anniversary. Can't believe we've been together five full years! Never thought I would be able to commit to someone for that long. Haha! Luckily, we both still like each other a lot so 5 years has really only felt like 1. He's a keeper and I'm not going anywhere.

Since we're in the middle of packing and can't really concentrate on anything but (plus we had two dinner's out earlier this week with friends) we decided to be low key and hang at home. I got up early and hit the farmers' market and got a ton of fantastic veggies: red potatoes, roma tomatoes, couple of heirloom tomatoes, sunfire cherry tomatoes (mine aren't yielding enough), red leaf lettuce, leeks, zucchini, corn, nectarines, purple bell peppers, basil, eggplant and even some wild flowers for J. And I spent less than I would have at the grocery store. Yay and Yum! J was still lounging in bed with the cat.
Stopped by the Black Forest Bakery & Cafe in Amherst for a cake (again, we're not big on celebrating anniversaries but I do like to surprise him. It's more fun if you're not planning on anything and then get a surprise!). Decided to go with this cute little lemon cake. It was awesome! Super light and delicately sweet. I'm so not a cake person but this I could eat several slices of! I will definitely keep it in mind next time I need to bring a cake somewhere.
Came home and had a late breakfast with J and did a bit of packing (the apartment is overrun with cardboard boxes). Made a big batch of basil pesto, a caprese salad which we had for dinner along with some pesto rubbed ribeye steaks and corn on the cob. All delicious. Love using vegetables that were picked the day I eat them. I even took the remains of the caprese salad and used it in a frittata this morning. Going to use the rest of the pesto later this week.
Also baked a loaf of beer bread using my Mom's recipe. Unfortunately, I didn't let my beer get as warm as you're supposed to so the bread didn't rise as much as it should have. I'll post the recipe as soon as I bake another loaf like a patient person. This is why I've always avoided baking with yeast-I don't wait very well. I used Guinness for this and seasoned it with dill and dried minced onion. J and I kept thinking we smelled the Chinese food place down the street while it was cooking. It wasn't until I went into the kitchen to empty the dishwasher that I notified J that the Chinese food smell was my bread. Weird since neither dill or onion or beer make me think of Chinese food. It still tasted good even if it was a little more dense than it's supposed to be. I also substituted half whole wheat flower for all purpose flour since I'm a fan of adding fiber anywhere I can.
Hope all of you enjoyed your three-day weekend (those of you in the States anyhow!). I can't believe it is just about fall already!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Wines I'm loving right now: 2006 Tommasi Valpolicella

2009-09-06T21:45:00.003-04:00

First off, I apologize for being such a lame-ass with posting lately. Explanation as to why, at the bottom of my post.

Bought this on a whim and ended up really enjoying it so I thought I'd share! Especially because I drink more French and Spanish wine than anything else and haven't found many Italian wines yet that I loved (not saying there aren't many wonderful Italian wines!). And I'm always happy to find more to love!

Valpolicella is a lighter Italian red (a little like French Beaujolais or Burgundy) and you actually drink it at a slightly cooler temperature than you drink other reds. Pop it in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so before serving. You don't want it to be ice cold but it should be cool enough to enjoy on a hot day (not that we have many of those left here in NH!).

This Tommasi Valpolicella was light bodied, tart and had a lot of cherry flavor without being too sweet. It retails for about 16.99 but I got it on sale for $11.99. Score! It's surprisingly smooth so be careful you don't throw it back too fast! I definitely plan to grab a few more bottles of this before it gets too cold out.

*****
I'm too distracted with the whole house buying thing to spend much time blogging. I'm not going anywhere or giving up this but until I move and get settled in, I'll probably be a little quiet. I hope you'll still come visit! It's looking like we might close on the house towards the end of the month and not on the 18th like we thought. I'm antsy and want to move in already! The apartment is filled with boxes and we're running out of room! I do have a couple of recipes I want to post but that might have to wait a few more days!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Quinoa Salad with Feta, Roasted Peppers, Artichoke Hearts & Chicken

2009-08-19T22:56:00.000-04:00

Finally have HOT weather here in NH, with minimal rain! Which means I like to make a big batch of something one day of the week and eat on it for several days so I don't have to heat the kitchen up too much. This was relatively quick to make and healthy. As a bonus, the feta and olives gave it a nice kick so it tasted more indulgent than it is.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: If you are still a quinoa virgin go out and get yourself some already! It's one of the most versatile and quick cooking grains out there and it has an an awesome nutty flavor that is delicious all on it's own. One of the coolest things quinoa is that it's one of a very small group of foods that are considered a complete protein (have all 9 essential amino acids and in the right proportion). In the non-animal food source world this is a very rare thing. Most of the time you need to combine two or more sources to get a complete protein (like rice and beans, yogurt & almonds etc) but quinoa can stand all on it's own. It's a super food!

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
3 red bell peppers, cut in half, seeded and roasted
1 can artichoke hearts, cut in pieces
1/2 red onion, diced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 chicken breasts, cooked, diced
2 oz feta, crumbled
a handful of parsley
1 can sliced black olives (small can)
1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
kosher salt and black pepper

Put the quinoa and 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to a simmer. Let the quinoa cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the grains are soft and fluffy.

While your quinoa is cooking, pre-heat the broiler to 500 degrees (if you are roasting your own peppers) and cut the peppers into two equal halves. Place each half cut-side down on a cookie sheet and place in the oven on the middle rack. Leave peppers in the oven until the skins are mostly charred. This will take about 15 minutes. (If you'd rather use jarred peppers, feel free to. Just drain well and pat dry.) Take the peppers out of the oven and let cool. When they're cool enough to handle, peel off the blackened skin (which should come off easily) and chop the peppers roughly.
While your peppers are roasting, heat small pan to a medium-low heat. Pour in the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss in the sliced garlic. Let the garlic cook in the warm oil for just a minute or until the pan gives off a strong smell of garlic. Separate the oil and the garlic pieces with a strainer and throw out the cooked garlic. Set the oil aside.
Put the artichoke pieces and chopped red peppers in a bowl and pour in the garlic oil. Stir to combine. In a separate large bowl, combine the quinoa, the cooked chicken pieces, red onion, feta, parsley and olives (I used canned ones because I was out of kalamata but again, use what you have on hand or like!). Add the artichoke, oil and pepper mixture and 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Serve right away warm, or chill for a few hours and serve as a cold salad.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Cookies & Cream Heart Attack Bars

2009-08-10T21:50:00.001-04:00

Yeah, that's right. I call these Heart Attack bars. I'm sure that's not going to get me any ranking in the search engines, haha, but it was a fitting name back when I came up with the idea. It's a mixture of chocolate sandwich cookies, butter, cream cheese and sugar, the only thing I could add that would make it worse for you is bacon and I have a feeling that wouldn't taste so good here.
I've got to apologize because I don't have any pictures of the bars cut up into squares. I was making them for a cookout I was going to and we were running late so I ended up just grabbing the pan hot out of the oven and bringing it with us (the squares need to chill for a while before cutting) and cutting them there. So, it's hard to tell what you're looking at but they're really yummy so it doesn't really matter does it?

Ingredients

1 package of Chocolate sandwich cookies (with vanilla filling)
2 8oz packages of light cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place sandwich cookies in a large plastic freezer bag. Seal. Using a meat tenderizer (or something equally blunt), smash the cookies in the bag until all are roughly crumbled. Try not to tear the bag because it will make a big mess! Put the crumbled cookies into a medium-sized bowl and pour the melted butter over them. Stir to combine. (The butter will help the cookies form a "crust" and also prevent the bars from completely sticking to the pan.)

In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients (cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla) with an electric hand mixer until smooth.

Spread half the cookie mixture in the bottom of a 13x9x2 baking dish. Carefully spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cookies and then top with the remaining cookies. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is set. Let cook and chill for 2 hours before serving. Cut into 24 squares and make sure to eat any crumbs left in the pan.All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

My First Home!

2009-08-04T22:37:00.005-04:00

Image

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is completely unfood related but never one to keep secrets, I must share. I've been quiet and I'm sure you've noticed. But J and I made an offer on a house, the offer was accepted, we've got our financing in order, and it looks like we'll close on the house around September 18!!! I'm super excited! Been insanely frustrated with renting and the total lack of responsibility the property manager has. It will be nice to have our own place and finally have something pretty to come home to! I'm going to be a homeowner!

The house is just 3 years old, has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, all stainless kitchen appliances, a 1000sq foot deck, jacuzzi tub in the master bath, a walk in closet with awesome shelving/drawers, central air, a gas fireplace, cathedral ceilings in the family room and master bedroom, a two car garage, and 2.2 acres. I'm freakin PSYCHED! It's a lot of house for the price we're getting and the best part is that it's across the street from two of our good friends (we always joked about being neighbors someday but definitely didn't think it would ever happen). It doesn't have my gas stove with 100 burners (haha) but that's something I could have down the road. It's definitely more house than we planned on buying but it feels right.

We're doing the home inspection on Monday afternoon and I'll take pictures. I'll do my best to post some of them here (at least a comparison of my current shitty kitchen vs. the new house). OH and it has ample natural lighting so if my photos still suck you'll know it's just me and not my crappy kitchen!

Cheddar Horseradish Bacon Dip

2009-08-01T13:10:00.000-04:00

This is a dip I came up with for a BBQ when I didn't feel like going to the store and I wanted to come up with something low fiber for a family member's dietary needs. Luckily, you can't really go wrong with bacon, cheese and cream cheese. I feel kind of dirty just posting this because it really doesn't have any redeeming nutritional value (well maybe calcium and protein) but it was fricken delicious so I thought I'd share. I promise this will be the last dip I post for a little while. You must think my refrigerator is just packed with a whole shelf of cream cheese. Haha. You could be right.

I served this with homemade Olive oil crackers. I found the recipe at 101 Cookbooks. I modified the recipe by making lots of tiny crackers instead of several large ones. They came out great and took almost no time to make. Lots of crunch and the flavor was light enough to not overwhelm the dip.

Ingredients

8 oz light cream cheese, softened
1/3 block of cheddar horseradish cheese**
1/2 cup of grated sharp cheddar
1 tablespoon horseradish sauce (Kraft or Ingleoffer)
2 tablespoons cream or milk
7 slices of nitrate free bacon, cooked
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt and black pepper

**Cabot makes a great one, if you can't find it, use 1/2 tsp of grated horseradish or an extra tablespoon of horseradish sauce and an extra 1/2 cup of grated cheddar.

Crumble bacon and put into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to break down some more. Add all the other ingredients and pulse until well blended. If it seems too thick, add another tablespoon or two of milk or cream. Season with Kosher salt and pepper to taste.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Patio Plant Progress

2009-07-26T19:22:00.002-04:00

Long day of House Hunting! J and I saw 7 houses today, 3 that are in the neighborhood we want to live n and 2 of those we absolutely loved! (Omg, and one of the houses had a DeLorean in the garage! haha! Really! Just like in Back to the Future!) Not going to jinx anything by giving too many details or getting too excited but I'll update you as the process continues! It would be nice to have some land to actually plant my own garden in!

I'm just here to give a little update on my attempt at gardening via patio. After a ton of rain in June (seriously, we had like 4 days with sun all month), and more than usual in July, my plants haven't been doing so hot. They're still alive and I do have a few ripe fruits (the first of which were delicious) which I guess I should take as a positive. Haha. These pics are of the sungold plants.

Somebody is eating my basil. Hard to prevent it since the plant sits on the doorstep is surrounded by bugs since we have a light out there that turns on at sunset and off at sunrise each day. So it has lots of bites but the leaves are still edible. Chives seem to be struggling too. I've been snipping here and there when I want some and they are growing back but with a little less ooomph. My tomatoes have had a lot of bottom leaves turn yellow and get spots. Out of fear of blight, I've been cutting the yellow leaves/stems off as it happens in the hopes that if it's bacterial or viral it won't spread. I know that yellow leaves can sometimes just be from a lack of water, but I don't think that's the case here. Between my 3 plants, I probably have less than 10 pieces of fruit growing right now. I'm hoping they'll start to do better and I'll have a ton of tomatoes at the end of August.
All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Shrimp and Spinach in Spicy Chipotle Tomato Sauce over Orzo

2009-07-22T22:31:00.003-04:00

Blogging community, I haven't abandoned you! Just a wee bit busy! Went camping this past weekend, signed papers for mortgage pre-approval, met with a realtor, and hopefully see some more houses this weekend (although I had my heart set on the one we saw at an open house recently-and someone put an offer on it :( before we got our financing). You can expect to see lots of house talk from here on out! Feel like I haven't been home much since we went to Cape Cod last month!

This is something I made a few weeks ago when I had a whole bunch of leftover chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and didn't know what to do with them (and there is no wasting in this household!). I pureed the peppers in their sauce in my food processor and then froze the puree in an ice cube tray. I then popped them out when frozen and wrapped individually in plastic wrap and tossed them back into the freezer. I'll use the rest of them for chilis or chipotle mayo for sandwiches. I love the flavor chipotle adds to things, especially when you combine that with cooking with wine.

Sorry the pictures are kind of suck-ass. Eating dinner so late at night when the sun has gone down (and being too ravenous to set up any type of proper lighting!) makes it hard to get decent pictures. I used frozen spinach here but definitely feel free to use fresh baby spinach. It will look a lot prettier.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon unsalted butter & 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1 can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons (or 1 frozen cube) chipotle peppers in adobo, pureed
1 lb medium cooked shrimp, rinsed, shells removed
2 cups defrosted chopped loose leaf spinach (or fresh baby spinach!)
6 servings of orzo
kosher salt and black peppers
lrg handful of cilantro

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the orzo according to the package directions. While your water is heating, start cooking the tomato sauce. Heat oil and butter over medium heat in a large sauce pan or deep skillit until butter melts and the liquids are hot. Cook the onion for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, chicken stock and tomatoes to the pan, simmer until the alcohol from the wine is cooked off (about 5-6 minutes). Next, stir in the chipotle pepper puree, Worcestershire sauce, spinach and the cooked shrimp and cook until the spinach and shrimp are warmed through. Season with kosher salt and pepper, turn off the heat and stir in cilantro. Serve over the cooked orzo.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Like orzo, shrimp and spinach but don't dig smoky chipotle or wine in your food? Visit the link from Foodista below and check out other recipes with the same ingredients.

Creamy Garlic & Chive Goat Cheese Dip

2009-07-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

Hi!!! I'm back! Sorry I've been so quiet!! So, I was planning on getting on here this weekend but J and I went house hunting and were way too excited to do anything but talk about and look at houses. The internet has been the last thing on my mind. Anyhow, let's talk food . . .

Earlier this week, I went to the store to buy goat cheese for a salad I was making. I usually only buy the 4 oz packages because as much as I love the stuff, a 12 oz log is just way too much cheese for J and I to eat in a short period of time. Unfortunately, all the store had was the large size this time so that's what I bought. Which means that I have a ton left over, and being the type of person I am, I can't let it go to waste and need to find a way to use it other than just slicing off creamy slabs and tossing it in my mouth. Soooooo, I peeked in the fridge to see what else needed to be used up and voila, we've got ourselves another yummy dip. I realize that I have a problem with dips being the only appetizer I make. I'm stuck in 1986 apparently. I know. I don't care, dips taste good!

Ingredients

4 oz Goat cheese, softened/room temperature
3 heaping tablespoons light mayo
1/3 of a 16 oz container of light sour cream
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
large handful of chopped chives
dash of hot sauce
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until well blended, scraping down the sides as necessary. If it's too thick add a tablespoon or two of half and half or milk and pulse until combined. Let chill for an hour before serving (to bring out the chive and garlic flavors). Serve with pita chips, crackers or vegetables.
All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Excuse My lack of Posting Peeps!

2009-07-08T22:39:00.002-04:00

Sorry to be MIA since I left for vacation! Had a great time on the cape and got to spend some good quality time with family visiting from Scottsdale, AZ. This week has been really hectic and I haven't had any time to post but expect me to be back in full force this weekend!

Happy eating!

Tahini Sauce for Vegetables & Pilafs

2009-06-25T21:19:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I get really sick of eating my veggies in the same old ways: salads with vinaigrette, crudites (have I told you how much I hate that word?) with hummus, or just plain. I love my veggies and I eat lots of them but sometimes I want them to taste like they're terrible for me! I want them to taste indulgent! Taste like they could be drenched in butter or covered in cheese and bacon! . . .But I don't really want to cover them in any of those things so I make a sesame tahini based dipping sauce to use when I have that urge.

No, it's not diet food. I'd be lying if I told you it was low calorie but it's still healthy. Tahini, the main ingredient here is made from sesame seeds which are pretty fatty. However, the fat in Tahini is the monounsaturated kind, the good fat, and it's also loaded with calcium, magnesium and iron. So you can enjoy all the deliciousness of tahini without feeling bad (provided you don't sit down and eat it with a spoon!).

Try this sauce on raw veggies, steamed veggies, roasted veggies, as a salad dressing or stir into pilafs, and other grain dishes that need a little boost. It's rich, sweet, garlicky and creamy all at the same time. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

This is the most complicated recipe ever. I had to warn you. It will take all day to make so make sure you set aside 8-10 hours to prepare it. HAHA. Just kidding. Toss everything into a bowl and wwhisk until well blended. Serve. Yum!

I'm heading off to Cape Cod until Tuesday so don't expect any posts from me until after that! I actually have the whole week off (yay!) but have family coming to visit from AZ so I'm not sure how much time I'll have online. It won't kill me to get away from the computer for a few days . . .

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Overcoming Fears of Baking with Yeast: Bagels

2009-06-23T22:53:00.006-04:00

Of all the breakfast foods out there, bagels are the one that have my heart. Sure, I dig into a bowl of steel cut oats or yogurt & fiber one most days but if I'm feeling naughty, it's a big fat toasted bagel (preferably garlic or everything, or anything that stinks! haha) slathered with an inch of cream cheese that I go for. Well maybe not a whole inch of cream cheese, but close!

I've wanted to make bagels for as long as I can remember but have been afraid to even try since I have about as much experience working with yeast as I have with building houses (i.e. none) House building seems like so much work and seems to have slightly more consequences if you screw up so in comparison, making bagels actually seems pretty easy! Plus, there are no slivers with bagel making!

I've stumbled over lots of yummy looking bagel recipes on blogs over the last few months but ultimately decided to follow a wonderful bagel recipe I found posted at Thibeault's Table, particularly because of her beautiful and easy to follow step by step pictorial on making them. It made all the difference! Here's the page with the actual recipe I used.

I ended up making an assortment of bagels: garlic, onion, everything, asiago cheese, poppyseed, sesame and even a plain one. I used dried minced garlic and onion (the kind you find in the spice aisle) and for the cheese bagels, I mixed a little bit of grated asiago with grated parmesan and it worked pretty well (just make sure to grate your own cheese of course!). The recipe is originally for 48 mini bagels but I made about 15 normal sized ones. I like me a big bagel!

Two things I will do differently the next time I make them: #1, add a little salt to my toppings. Bakery bagels always have a salty bite to them and these didn't. I think there is plenty of salt in the recipe but a little coarse seas salt tossed on towards the end of baking would be nice. #2, watch my bagels more closely when boiling. J and I had a couple cocktails while doing our baking on Saturday (J made pretzels while I made bagels. Adorable!) and definitely didn't focus on timing as much as I probably should have! (It's also why my pictures get progressively blurrier)

Anyhow, these came out great and were so much easier than I thought they'd be! I'm no longer afraid of working with yeast and am plotting my next baking adventure. Try these-you'll be impressed with yourself too!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

It's Finally Farmer's Market Season in NH!

2009-06-16T18:04:00.001-04:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Another reason (besides warm weather, bbq's and vacations) to celebrate this time of year: Farmers Markets are finally open! In NH, most open in late May and late June and run through September and October. It's unfortunate that our growing season isn't longer than it is but the farmers in this state still manage to produce an amazing array of vegetables, fruits, jams, breads, cheeses and other artisanal products! The farmer's market in Milford, NH opens up this weekend on June 20th. They have a new location this year (bummer for me since I used to be able to walk to the old location) and you can find all the details if you are a local here.

I'm psyched to be able to pick up fresh veggies that were grown just a few miles away, instead of having been shipped across thousands of miles (which lowers nutrient content and increases greenhouse emissions and makes me sad). Plus fresh just tastes better. Yes, I'm trying to grow a few things of my own but until I actually own a plot of land worth digging into, farmers' markets are the best way for me to get my fill.

Here are some resources if you're looking for a market near you (US only, sorry!):

For a PDF list of other NH locations and all their details (including days and hours open, contact info etc) click here.

Another great website to search for farmers markets, farm stands and other local products no matter what state you live in is local harvest.

Happy eating!

Eggs Benedict Caprese on Grilled French Bread (with Cheddar Bechamel)

2009-06-14T14:03:00.009-04:00

I think I've mentioned before I'm not so hot when it comes to cooking breakfast. Most of the time the meal for me consists of greek yogurt and whole grain cereal or a bagel with veggie cream cheese. Maybe some steel cut oats if I have 20 minutes. Low maintenance and light workload. Frankly, I'm not awake enough in the morning to put together anything else. But on the rare occasion that I've gotten enough sleep and have some time to kill, I will try to make something special of the meal. It's not always successful, haha, but this particular one was.

I had some leftover french bread yesterday that I wanted to use up and when checking on my little plants outside, I saw that my basil and chives were thriving and I wanted to eat some right away. So the plan was to poach some eggs, grill the bread and top with tomatoes and basil and make a cheddar bechamel sauce. My first time poaching eggs actually! And they were much easier than I thought they'd be! My clumsy oxen-like movements didn't break the yolks so I think you could handle it too. This came out delicious and despite the bechamel sauce, is not nearly as high calorie as you think. The same type of meal at a breakfast restaurant would run you about 900 calories-mine is only going to cost you abou 580. Not saying that 580 is low calorie, haha, but it's a feat of amazment considering I'm covering the eggs with butter, cheese and milk. Now stop drooling and go make some yourself.

After eating it, J said "Shit, I guess I should marry you." Maybe I should change the name to "Marry me Eggs". He knows he has a good thing.

Serves 2 (but enough bechamel for 4)

Ingredients

For the grilled bread
8-10 inches of fresh french bread
olive oil (optional
kosher salt

4 large basil leaves
2 ripe roma tomatoes, sliced
olive oil (optional)

For the poached eggs
4 eggs
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
dash of kosher salt

For the Bechamel (makes about 1 cup)
2 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese
1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup 1% milk
couple shakes of Worcestershire sauce
couple pinches of dry mustard
kosher salt to taste

Heat a stove top grill pan over medium high heat. If you don't have one, you certainly can grill the bread on a gas or charcoal grill but I don't do well over open flame (yet!) so I can't give you directions there! Cut french bread in half, and then split each half as if it were a sandwich roll. When the pan is hot, place the four pieces of french bread on the grill, soft side down. Grill bread for 3-4 minutes and remove when desired color is achieved. Season with kosher salt and drizzle with a little olive oil (if desired).

While your bread is grilling, fill a saucepan half way with water and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (the vinegar helps the egg to keep it's shape). Crack each egg separately into a small cup or bowl and then poach eggs one at a time by pouring them into the center of the simmering (not boiling) water. Use a wooden spoon to gently loosen the sides of the egg from the bottom of the pan if necessary but be careful not to nudge too much. They're very delicate. Cook each for 2-5 minutes depending on how runny you like your eggs. If you're feeling nervous about whether you're doing it right, check out some video's on youtube on how to poach an egg. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. If you are making eggs for a large group and and your first eggs get cold, just drop them back into the hot water for a couple of seconds to reheat.

If you're a good multitasker, while your eggs are poaching away, melt the 1.5 tablespoons of butter over medium low heat. Add the tablespoon of flour and stir continuously to incorporate. Raise heat to medium and cook flour and butter until a golden brown (4 or 5 minutes). In a separate sauce pan or in the microwave in a large bowl, heat 1 cup of milk until hot but not boiling. Slowly add the hot milk to the butter and flour roux , whisking the entire time until smooth. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened (5 or 6 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in 2 oz of grated cheddar cheese (grate it yourself, don't buy pre-grated if you can), the Worcestershire sauce and a hearty pinch of dry mustard. Season with kosher salt.

Place two pieces of grilled bread on two plates, top each piece of bread with 1 large basil leaf, two slices of roma tomatoes (and a drizzle of olive oil if you want to be true to the caprese style) and a poached egg. Spoon about two tablespoons of bechamel onto each egg. Add a twist of freshly ground black pepper and chives to garnish (optional of course!).

Use the leftover bechamel for pasta or just to dip extra bread in. I'm so excited about how this came out! Expect to see more attempts at breakfast foods in the future. :)

A Nostalgic Kitchen: Beef Stroganoff

2009-06-10T22:42:00.008-04:00

When I was in college and missed my Mother's home cooking, Beef Stroganoff was one of the meals that always came to mind. Noodles, a creamy sauce and meat-how could it not be a comfort food?! A couple of years ago, my youngest sister let me borrow my Mom's recipe tin so I could copy her recipes (typed and laminated like the dork that I am) and Beef Stroganoff was the first one I rushed out to recreate. I have modified her recipe a little because originally it called for things like margarine (it was the 80's after all) and boullion cubes and I don't use either.

There were ingredients I had to leave in even though some might think it's kind of weird for them to be in a stroganoff. Or at least that's what J tells me (and I guess I haven't seen them in other recipes for the dish either so I guess that confirms it). I use ground beef instead of pieces and cook a green bell pepper with the onions and mushrooms. I don't even like green peppers but it's how my Mom made the dish when were were kids and it's how I remember it so the peppers and ground beef stay!

You can substitute ground chicken or turkey for the beef and use lower fat dairy products if you want to lighten up the fat and calorie content. I also use whole wheat egg noodles to add a little extra nutrition. I love how so many pasta makers are making different varieties of whole grain and whole wheat pasta these days. It makes eating pasta way less of an indulgence (or at least that's what I tell myself!). Enjoy!

Serves 4
Ingredients

1/3 cup butter or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped*
12 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove minced garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup low sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup light sour cream or 1/2 cup heavy cream (I prefer the sour cream route!)
3/4 package of egg noodles
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
fresh parlsey (optional)

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium low heat and add onions, peppers and mushrooms when the butter is melted. Cook until the mushrooms are browned and the onions are slightly soft. Cook the garlic with the vegetables for the last minute of cooking. Remove from pan and set aside. While the vegetables are cooking, fill a large pot with water, salt and bring to a boil. Cook your noodles according to the package directions.

Roll the ground beef in the 2 tablespoons of flour and add the remaining butter to the pan. When the butter is hot, saute the beef until browned and then add the mushrooms, peppers and onion back to the pan. Add the beef stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and kosher salt and black pepper to taste and cook for a few more minutes. Sir in the sour cream (or heavy cream if using) and remove from heat. Stir in the noodles or serve the stroganoff over the noodles depending on your preference. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

As a side note, if the sauce seems to soupy before you stir in the sour cream (it will thicken if you choose to stir in the noodles), add a tsp of corn starch and cook for a couple of minutes and then add the sour cream and serve. As the dish cools the sauce will firm up as well.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

My Patio Tomato Plants and Herbs

2009-06-07T21:12:00.007-04:00

Woohoo, hit Ponemah Farms in Amherst, NH today and picked up a couple of plants for my "patio", ahem, I really mean doorstep! I got 1 patio tomato plant, two sungold cherry tomato plants, chives and a basil plant. I'm no gardener but I attempted to grow a whole bunch of plants on my doorstep the first year I moved in with J and failed miserably. My tomato plants got blight and my habanero plants were infested by Japanese beetles, my thyme and rosemary lasted a long time but eventually were attacked by beetles too (not sure why there were so many beetles that year, it's not like we normally get a ton here!). I was bummed and hadn't tried to grow anything since but I decided that this year was time to try again because there's nothing like a homegrown tomato! Of course, as a renter, I can't really plant in the ground at my complex, so I've got all of them outside on the doorstep. Someday I'll have the room for a big garden!

I'm super psyched about the sungold plants. When I lived in Portsmouth with friends, two of them maintained a small vegetable garden and I remember going out and just picking the juicy orange tomatoes off the vine and eating them like candy. I'm not positive that they were sungold because there are other sweet orange cherry tomatoes out there but either way they were fabulous and I really hope I get a decent amount of fruit from them!

I completely goofed and thought I had some large planters in the closet here (from my last failed attempt) but I must have tossed them because they're nowhere to be found and my sungold plants are stuck in tiny little terra cotta planters until I can pick up some larger ones. Will try to do that this week.

Anyhow, I'll try to post pictures as they grow. Wish me luck!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Strawberry, Red Onion, and Baby Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dresing

2009-06-06T14:26:00.003-04:00

Still recovering from Nashville, haha! Posting, cleaning house and everything else has been put on the back burner. Luckily, I slept in quite late today and am feeling so much better. I was a zombie at work all week. I just can't party and not sleep at 31, like I could at 21. ha!

Anyhow, are you sick of salads yet? Not me! I ate like a bear preparing to hibernate all winter long (and for some of the spring!) so I'm all about eating more of my veggies and less of the heavy stuff (but watch, next week I'll post something incredibly fattening-it's just my nature so roll with it). Trying to shed the pounds I've gained and increase my energy and I find that eating a variety of salads helps me do that.

A couple of years ago, a woman named Sandra that I waitressed with had made a big salad with strawberries and poppy seed dressing and brought it into work. She had so much of it that she insisted I take some home and try it. At the time, I wasn't a big fan of fruit in my salads so I was a little hesitant but of course that has changed, and I was actually delighted with the combination. So I haven't talked to Sandra in awhile (which reminds me, I totally owe her a call! I'm so bad with returning phone calls!), I do make a similar strawberry and poppy seed dressing salad now and it makes me think of her every time.

This salad will only take you about 10 minutes to make but the dressing definitely tastes better and has more flavor if you let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two. I recommend making it the day before it you can-but it certainly isn't necessary!

Ingredients

For the salad

1 lb of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced
1 medium sized red onion, quartered & sliced*
7-8 oz of washed baby spinach

For the poppy seed dressing

3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon of light mayo
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion *
3 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon of dried parsley or 1 tablespoon fresh
kosher salt to taste
a few dashes of garlic powder**
1/2 cup olive oil

*You can reserve one of the quarters of red onion and finely dice it to be used in the dressing.*

Place the baby spinach, red onion and strawberries in a large bowl or serving dish. In a medium sized bowl, add all dressing ingredients except for olive oil and whisk together. ** I used garlic powder here, rather than real garlic because I don't want a strong garlic presence in this dressing. Raw garlic would probably overpower the dressing. I like garlic in almost everything but I know there are others who don't!** When the dressing starts to combine, slowly whisk in the olive oil until well blended. (Feel free to do this in a blender or food processor too!). Pour desired amount of dressing over the spinach, strawberries and onion and toss until the dressing is worked through.

Voila, you are ready to serve! I like to add some raw almonds and bean sprouts and eat it for lunch or bbq some boneless chicken breasts and serve for dinner. Yum!

Well, I'm working at the restaurant tonight (last scheduled shift actually! decided to finally give it up after 11+ years of it. My weekends will be all MINE now!) and then the rest of the weekend is open. J is in Jersey visiting the fam and dropping little bro off at Princeton for a summer work/study program (smart kid!) so I'll probably spend sunday on a bike ride and doing things around the house. Happy Saturday folks!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

I'm a Judgemental Priss & Nashville Rocked my Ass!

2009-06-03T23:21:00.010-04:00

Oh Nashville!

Sorry for the delay in posting anything about my trip or any new recipes! We got home late Monday night and I feel like I've been playing catch up ever since. Thanks for all the comments while I was away!

While I was looking forward to getting away from work and my daily routine at home and excited to spend quality time with my friends, I have to admit that I wasn't completely psyched about going to Nashville. It just wasn't on my list of places I really wanted to visit and since I don't get to travel too often, I felt I should be spending my travel dollars elsewhere. Combine that lack of enthusiasm with a serious dislike of country western music and you have a grumpy and close minded traveling companion.

Anyhow, I'm happy to say that Nashville completely surprised me and I loved it! Walking down the street at any time of day or night, music blares out of some pretty chill bars that line Broadway and 2nd Ave. Bluegrass, Cajun, Blues, Rockabilly, Classic Country and Rock and Roll. I hardly heard actual country western at all. It was a nice surprise!

Except for our night at the Grand Ole Opry, we didn't leave the immediate vicinity of our hotel and Broadway much. I thought we would be sick of such a small radius by the third day but we weren't. There was always a shop we hadn't popped into or a bar we hadn't experienced. We walked, we ate, we drank, we swam, we spent money, we listened, we danced and we laughed. And we certainly didn't sleep enough. I ate ribs, mac and cheese and cole slaw at Jacks BBQ, ordered room service and ate a late breakfast at the hotel, danced till 3am with a rockabilly band at Roberts Western World and basically just fell in love with the town and the people! I heart Nashville!

I didn't get to see the caves or visit any wineries but I don't regret keeping things a little less planned. It was nice to have no obligations or a set schedule for a few days!

Here's a sample of my pictures:

The lobby of our hotel- The Hilton Downtown Nashville. We got a great rate and it was a prime location. The staff was super helpful and the hotel was nice!

Dinner at Merchants Restaurant - I had the Southern Chicken Cordon Bleu which was a pecan crusted chicken breast stuffed with ham and swiss cheese in a creamy dijon sage sauce. It was served with sauteed spinach and Andouille sausage grit cakes. YUM!!! Our waiter was a little distracted and unfriendly but the food was great and we got to sit outside which is always nice! First time having grits and really, it tastes just like polenta!Here is Steve Martin debuting at the Grand Ole Opry on his banjo. It was kind of a cool experience. The Opry is actually a radio show (sort of like Prairie Home Companion) and each guest is only on the stage for a couple of minutes and then they introduce a new guest. Amy Grant and Vince Gill came out and did a song with Steve Martin but I didn't recognize any of the other performers. It was fun. The coolest part was that they let you go right up to the stage to take pictures. No venue ever lets you do that! It was a part of the trip I didn't think I cared about but I honestly had a good time and enjoyed it!On Sunday we grabbed lunch at Demos' Restaurant. The bouncer from Tootsie's Orchid Lounge recommended it. Here is a picture of the House Bread. They're "famous" for the bread as our waiter Shane (who was adorable and seriously bent over backwards to make a good impression) told us. Baskets of soft, buttery pillows of bread that were dusted with parmesan cheese were refilled repeatedly through the meal. We barely had room for our lunch!I had the Ribeye Sandwich which was served on homemade toasted bun with lettuce and pickles. I asked for a side of green beans as my side dish thinking it was healthier than the baked potato but obviously I had a momentary lapse of memory! I'm in the south, of course all vegetables are cooked with bacon! haha! There is no such thing as healthy food in this town! The sandwich also came with a choice of soup or salad. All of this food for less than $8 (not including tax)! Insane. It was actually a pretty good meal and a ton of food for the price. We were really shocked when we saw how low our bill was. We kept thinking Shane forgot to put something on the bill! Oh, I didn't get a picture of it (because I get shy taking food pictures in public still) but if you are ever there try Jim's Famous Spinach and ask for chips to go with it. It's a spinach dip that is mostly spinach yet somehow tastes like pure butter and cheese. Delicious.Me trying to line dance at Wildhorse. Great bar! It's enormous and everyone dances! It was so much fun we stopped by two different nights and took a line dancing lesson one of the nights (very little country music the nights were were there it was a ton of 80's like Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi! haha!). My line dancing didn't get any better with a lesson. I have two left feet.
So, Nashville, I take back my original prejudices about you! This town rocked! I have no complaints and I plan to happily go back! It's a great town to party in and listen to music!

Here are a few more pics for you.

RIGHT: The Country Music Hall of Fame (across from our Hotel)

LEFT: The view from the corner of Broadway and 5th Ave.
BELOW: our mechanical bull friend from Cadillac Ranch. Skip the ranch except for bull riding in my opinion!

BELOW: Taylor, a cute Cowboy performing at Tootsies Orchid Lounge and a pic of me and 3 of my good girlfriends (I'm the blond on the right).

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Giddyup Nashville, Here I am!

2009-05-29T15:15:00.003-04:00

Well, this is it. Right about now, I'm hopping on a plane and zipping off to Nashville, TN to play and party with 5 of my favorite girls. Obviously I won't be posting for a few days but I wanted to leave you with something in case you thought I forgot about you.

Here's some of the things we're hoping / planning to do while we are there:

See a show at the Grand Ole' Opry: Steve Martin & his banjo happen to be there Saturday night. While I can't do real country music, I can handle some bluegrass. I hear he's good.

Visit the Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN. Tuesday night I was reading an article in the June 2009 National Geographic called Deep South about some serious cavers in the south. The three states they talked of the most were Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia (also known as TAG). Well, the pictures made me drool as NG does! Cumberland Caverns is about an hour and a half away so it's an easy distance for a daytrip of exploring. We just don't have caves like that in the northeast!

Other places we are thinking about checking out are Arrington Vineyards and Belle Meade Plantation. We're only there Friday night through Monday morning so we don't want to over book ourselves. Obviously we'll be eating but I'm not setting my sights on anything specific. I just really want to sample southern food and have heard about too many places we must try that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Going to let my belly do the walking and I'll come back and report what it finds.

Have a great weekend and I'll be updating in a few days!

Greek Salad Pockets

2009-05-27T22:13:00.005-04:00

I try very hard to only eat meat 3 or 4 times a week (I'm talking all meals here, not just dinner). I know there are many valid reasons for limiting or excluding meat entirely from ones diet (hormones, drugs, cruelty, cost etc.) but my main reason is because animal protein is significantly harder for your body to digest than other types of protein. Eating large quantities of animal protein (especially fattier meats) puts extra stress on the kidneys and pancreas and while I like my meat as much as anyone else, I like my organs more! I'm always looking for more vegetarian meals and this is one I like to make partially because I usually have everything I need already in the fridge. Ha! No grocery shopping!

No cooking needed. Just a few minutes of washing, chopping and whisking and dinner is ready to be launched into the belly! And really you don't need me to give you a "recipe" really, it's essentially a Greek salad.

Ingredients

pita pockets
1 seedless English cucumber, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 red or vidallia onion, diced
20 Kalamata olives, pitts removed
2-3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
2 or 3 oz feta cheese
5 or 6 diced pepperoncini, stems and seeds removed (optional)

For the vinaigrette

1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Toss the onion, cucumber, tomato, olives and pepperoncini (if you are using them) in a large bowl. Crumble the feta and add to the bowl. Leave the romaine lettuce to the side until ready to use (adding to the bowl will make it soggy, especially if you have leftovers).

Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano, black pepper in a bowl. Add the olive oil last and keep whisking until blended. Pour the vinaigrette over the bowl with your veggies and feta. Stir to combine flavors. You can probably skip the salt since the feta, olives and pepperoncini peppers are loaded with them.

Slice the pita pockets in half and fill with lettuce and a big scoop of salad. Serve with a little hummus if you like. Eat.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Half Price Restaurant Gift Certificates from Select NH, MA, and ME Coastal Restaurants!!

2009-05-22T22:31:00.004-04:00

Who could use a good deal?!! ME! ME! ME!

Taste of the Seacoast, a NH quarterly food and wine publication based in Portsmouth, NH is currently offering 50% off select popular seacoast restaurants! Check out the link here and buy certificates while supplies last. These are legit! If you're visiting the Maine, Massachusetts or New Hampshire coast even once in the next few months, these can come in handy. Who can't use a meal for half price these days?! And the good news is that they have new gift certificate offerings every few weeks!

If you're from NH sign up for their "What's Cooking" newsletter to find out what's going on in food in the area!

*I am not employed with or affiliated with Taste of the Seacoast or any of the participating restaurants. I receive no compensation for mentioning the publication and offer listed here. This post is here purely for you to enjoy!*

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup

2009-05-21T23:04:00.004-04:00

I didn't feel like going to the grocery store on Sunday and wanted to use up some of the random veggies and an open container of chicken stock in my fridge. This is what I came up with and it actually came out really good!

If you can't find cans of fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glenn and Hunts both make them), you can roast your own by spreading out diced canned tomatoes, drained or sliced fresh tomatoes on a cookie sheet and roasting them with olive oil, salt and pepper around 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

And if you don't have a Parmesan cheese rind lying around (I save all of mine in the freezer, they add a ton of flavor to soups quickly!), just buy a good block of Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano if you've got the extra pennies!) and cut off the rind end. Save the rest of the cheese for something else. I have plenty of recipes that use the stuff (here, here, and here for starters!).

Ingredients

Makes about 6 cups of soup

1 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
4 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken stock/broth*
1 onion, diced
one carrot, diced
1 medium sized zucchini, diced
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons tomato paste
kosher salt
black pepper
1 head of garlic
1 Parmesan cheese rind
1 tablespoon olive oil

Roast an entire head of garlic (recipe can be found here). Cook the onion and carrot in 1 tablespoon olive oil until soft, stirring occasionally, then stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and vegetable or chicken broth. Add seasonings: basil, oregano, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the Parmesan cheese rind and zucchini and continue to simmer. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and add to the pot. Cook until the zucchini is soft, stirring occasionally.

Remove cheese rind (will break down a bit but you should be able to remove the biggest pieces) and the bay leaf. Separate the liquid from the solids with a sieve, putting the liquid back in the pot. Puree the solids in a food processor, blender or hand blender and then return to pot. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. You're all done!

Serve with crusty bread and a dollop of sour cream if you like. It tastes even better the next day!

*If using chicken broth, the recipe is no longer vegetarian.*

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

The Foodie Blogroll

2009-05-18T19:25:00.006-04:00

I'm so excited to announce that I've finally been accepted as a member of The Foodie Blogroll! I've been lurking on the blogs over there for a while and have been amazed by the quality stuff out there!

For those of you who have never heard of it, The Foodie Blogroll is a wonderful site that lists roughly 4000 (and growing!) food blogs from around the world. They host contests and giveaways and highlight some of the best food blogs on the internet in "Finest Foodie Fridays" which happens every Friday (so it's not just a clever name!). It is managed by Jenn from The Leftover Queen and her husband, Robert and I think they're doing an awesome job.

Anyhow, I'm thrilled to get a chance to have Food is to Love on the Blogroll there. It's a great way to gain exposure in the blog community as well as discover drool-worthy recipes to make. Stop by and visit!

Quinoa & Lentil Summer Salad

2009-05-17T21:45:00.005-04:00

When hot weather rolls around, I start wanting to cook less and eat lighter. Wish I could say the latter was a year round desire but I love my risottos, stews and sauces too much! It's not quite "hot" yet here in NH but we've had a few humid days where I needed something light and this does the trick. This salad has lots of protein, fiber, veggies and just enough healthy fat to make this a balanced and healthy meal that doesn't taste like cardboard. It'll fill you up and won't leave you feeling over-stuffed on a hot summer day. Plus J hates lentils and I love getting him to eat healthy things he thinks he hates. He liked this and didn't even realize there were lentils in it till I told him!

Ingredients

1/2 cup green lentils
1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (optional)
1 red or sweet onion, roughly chopped
1 orange or yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 cups baby spinach
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 garlic clove, minced
a very large handful of chopped fresh parsley
black pepper & kosher salt to taste

Total calories per serving: 317
4 servings

First, rinse your lentils & quinoa (separately) in hot water and then place in two sauce pans. Add 2 cups of chicken broth (or water if you aren't using it) to the lentils and 2 cups of water to the quinoa and bring each to boil. Cover both tightly, lower the heat to simmer and cook lentils for 30 min or until soft and the quinoa for 12-15 min and the water is absorbed.

While the lentils and quinoa are cooking. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a skillet and saute the onion and bell pepper for 3-4 minutes. (I had to use a yellow onion when I took pictures for this because my red onion was rotten-gross!) Turn off heat and put aside.

Start to make the vinaigrette by mincing your garlic and then sprinkling it with salt. Using a fork, mash the garlic into a paste. It will take a minute but the salt will make the garlic soft. Next whisk together the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil. Then whisk in the lemon zest, salt and pepper, and garlic paste.

Drain any extra liquid from the lentils and put both the lentils and quinoa in a large bowl. Add the cooked onion and pepper and then stir in the baby spinach while warm to wilt it. Finally, pour in the vinaigrette, toss in the tomatoes and parsley and stir till it's all combined. Adjust salt and pepper if needed. Chill or serve warm. The flavor gets better upon standing.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

I'm a Little Bit UnCountry. . .

2009-05-15T17:59:00.000-04:00

I'm going to Nashville with a group of my best girlfriends for a 4 day weekend at the end of May. Any tips about what to do, where to go and where to eat? We're all in our early 30's (that sounds so weird to say!), we're staying downtown and I'm the farthest thing possible from a country music lover.

So why are we going? To spend time together in a location that everyone can make (one friend is in Atlanta, another in Florida, the rest of us in New England. Obviously, since this is a food blog I'm primarily interested in hearing about where to eat and drink! So suggestions or tips, anyone? I'm open to just about anything!

Raspberry Butter Cookies for Madelyn

2009-05-13T23:30:00.000-04:00

My niece Madelyn is allergic to eggs and peanuts so the last few holidays I've worried about making sure there is something sweet that she can eat. It's not fair for the rest of us to be scarfing down cakes and cookies and telling her that she can't have them. For Easter, I made these. These are a hit. Not only did she have something to eat when the rest of us were eating dessert but she took some home and kept asking for more. That's a compliment! The raspberry jam is optional. I usually do half with and half without.

Oh, and did I mention that making these butter cookies is insanely easy???!

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
couple tablespoons of raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put all the ingredients (except of the jam) in a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer for a long time. You're probably looking at 10 minutes or so. It will start off very crumbly and dry, and will slowly turn into a thick and creamy batter. It'll look like frosting (and smell like a vanilla shake!).

On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop rounded teaspoons of batter at least an inch and a half apart. I use a second spoon to remove the dough from the teaspoon. Double check your oven's temperature (If you don't already have an oven thermometer, get one, they're super handy). If it's higher than 350 the cookies will burn after 10 minutes. Once you know the oven is 350, bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Take them out before they brown on top. The bottoms should be golden.

When they come out of the oven, let them rest on the cookie sheet for a minute or two and then using the back of a 1/4 teaspoon gently press into the cookie (to leave a slight impression of the spoon). Don't press too hard or too deeply. You just want to make a tiny reservoir to hold the jam. Using the same 1/4 teaspoon, fill with jam and drop a little less than 1/4 teaspoon into each cookie. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool.

The cookies can be left out overnight and stay fresh. If you want to cover them, keep them in a single layer and cover with foil slightly tented. The jam will take about 12-15 hours to fully dry. But you'll eat them faster than that so it doesn't matter!

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Garlic and Herb Pork Chops

2009-05-10T22:25:00.005-04:00

Happy Mother's Day! I'm not a mother myself, but there are lots of wonderful mothers in my life and to them I wish a wonderful day (yeah yeah, by the time I post the day is almost over-I'm a night owl, get over it!). Mother's Day is a little bittersweet for me as my own mother passed away in 2001, and the day really just makes me miss her more. I was hoping to make my mom's beef stroganoff tonight to honor her memory but that'll have to wait for another night. This has nothing to do with mother's day and everything to do with an easy, low-maintenance main course. Every mother I know could use more of these!

I'm actually somewhat new to pork. I hadn't eaten it since 8th grade when I learned all about Trichinosis. My mother was pissed. She worked so hard to put healthy and tasty meals on the table but whatever my 8th grade science teacher told me stuck out so brilliantly in my little brain that all I saw were worms everywhere when anything made of pig was on the menu. Chicken or veggies were my life. Then I started dating a guy with serious German roots and pork was everywhere and I couldn't avoid it since we spent a lot of time with his family. I've finally gotten over my fears of wormies and now make a couple of pork dishes a month. And I'm still with the same boy, I'm happy to say. (Boy am I happy that I came back to pork. I really have come to appreciate what a little bacon can do to a meal! :) )

Ingredients

4 center cut boneless pork chops
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a shallow bowl, mix together the minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, kosher salt and black peppper. Trim an excess fat off the pork chops. Rub the herb and garlic mixture all over both sides of the pork chops. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. While you are waiting for the skillet to get hot, put the 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a bowl and using a pastry or basting brush, brush balsamic vinegar on both sides of the chops. Put all four chops in the hot pan and cook for two minutes on each side. Remove from the burner and bake for 8 min (10 if you are a scaredy cat) in oven (depending on thickness).

The inside of the pork should be cooked through but a slight blush color when done. I served this with a balsamic vinegar and goat cheese red cabbage salad (which I don't feel like posting at this time, but I will if there is interest!).

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Kitchen Bitchin' and the Oven I'm Lovin'

2009-05-05T22:02:00.005-04:00

Ug, I am soooooo tired of cooking in my tiny and crappy kitchen on a old ugly stove with burners that are lopsided and don't heat up properly! And everything (floor, appliances, counter, walls etc) is a bland cream color, it's disgusting. I'd show you some pictures to show you what I'm attempting to work with here but I haven't picked up the kitchen since Sunday night and it's not fit for eyes other than mine!

Just like we house hunt or job hunt online when we're bored with our living and work situations, I've been busy appliance hunting. I'm currently crushing on the Five Star Gas Double Oven with a griddle and 6 burners (TTN5107BW). Isn't it pretty?!!!! I told J that this could be my engagement ring. He thinks I'm joking.

I'm still picking out my fridge.

Oh and how come all the other food bloggers in the world seem to live somewhere with lots of natural light?? I'm very very jealous. My place is like a dungeon it's so dark. Even when I do cook in the daytime (rare since I'm a night-owl and vampire), it's a serious task to get a few pictures that don't look like they came out of a 1974 grocery store circular!

Gruyere, Mushroom and Tomato Frittata

2009-05-03T18:05:00.007-04:00

I love frittatas. To be honest, this love stemmed from a serious inability to flip an omelette without losing half the filling or ripping the egg to shreds. The frittata is a cousin to both the quiche and the omelette but comes without the fussiness of the omelette or the time commitment required to make a quiche. Another reason frittatas rock is that they look pretty and come out of the pan in one piece easily. I am a terrible breakfast cook (it's just not a meal I'm good at making - I let J do the French toast, pancakes, and scrambled eggs. I would much rather just have a yogurt or a bagel than try to cook in the morning) so it's awesome to have one food up my sleeve that I don't have to fret about if I have a brunch to go to or someone crashed at our place the night before.

I used Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Spinach, Onions and Gruyere in this frittata but really any combination of vegetables, herbs, cheeses and meats you have on hand will work. It's a great way to use up random vegetables you have lying around in the fridge.

Serves 4

Ingredients

5 eggs
2 tablespoons half & half or milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1/2 an onion, diced
1 large shallot, cut in half and sliced
2 big handfuls of baby spinach
2 medium tomatoes, 1 sliced, and 1 chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat the broiler to 475. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a medium sized ovenproof nonstick skillet or saucepan. I use a saucepan because I don't have to worry about over filling it with ingredients! When the fats are hot, add the onion, shallots and mushrooms. Saute for 4-5 minutes.

While the onions and mushrooms are cooking, crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk in the half & half or milk. Add the salt, pepper and ground thyme. Whisk well and set aside.

Add the two handfuls of baby spinach and the chopped tomato to the saucepan and stir until the baby spinach wilts. The mushrooms and tomatoes will have released a lot of liquid so it is a good idea to drain it off, otherwise you may end up with a watery frittata. Once the liquid is drained and your spinach wilted, stir in the 1/2 cup of Gruyere into the egg mixture and pour into the saucepan with your veggies. Turn the heat down just a little and cover the pan. Let cook for 4 or 5 minutes or until most of egg is set (it's okay if the top is still a little runny). Remove the cover and lay the sliced tomatoes on top of the frittata and the remaining 2 tablespoons of Gruyere. Put under the broiler for 4 or 5 minutes or until the remaining egg is firm and the cheese is slightly browned.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before loosening the edges of the frittata with a rubber spatula. You should be able to then easily slide the frittata out of the pan and onto a plate in one piece. If you are worried it won't come out, let it cool for a little bit longer before trying. Cut into 4 slices and serve.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Saliva Inducing NH Restaurants

2009-04-30T22:54:00.005-04:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Or so I hear!

Lately, the restaurant landscape in NH seems to change as frequently as the seasons. By the time I hear a good buzz about a new place, it has closed or moved by the time I can get there. Bad location, fickle customers, poor management, or the crummy economy? There are million reasons for restaurants to disappear overnight but after having my little heart crushed with seeing "For Sale" signs on several semi-local spots in the last two years, I'm committing myself to a list of NH restaurants I want to visit here in the hopes that I might be more likely cross them off my list if my "list" is written down somewhere (and not just a passing thought in my head!). And yes, there is a restaurant that is not in NH but my curiosity is piqued thanks to a flurry or good reviews and word of mouth.

This is just a starter list and I may add to it as I think of more. I hope to cross all of these of the list before 2009 is through and come back to this post and update it with my thoughts!

In no particular order:

1 Cava - (Portsmouth, NH): relatively new tapas and wine bar. Right up my alley!

2 Damians on the River (New Boston, NH): Not much happens in New Boston but I've heard lots of good things about Damian's. They specialize in fresh food and every meal is made from scratch.

3 Brazzo (Portsmouth, NH): been here for drinks but not yet for the food. J is not a huge fan of the Cuban / South American menu offerings so I'll probably have to go with one of the girls.

4 San Francisco Kitchen (Nashua, NH): I have lived 20 minutes from Nashua for the last 3 years and spent a lot of time in Nashua prior to that and I can't believe I still haven't eaten here. The buzz about San Francisco Kitchen has always been good.

5 Pepperland Cafe (South Berwick, ME) - The link to the restaurant has never worked properly so instead I'm offering you a link to a Seacoast Online article about the Cafe by Rachel Forrest, the resident food writer of the NH Seacoast. Constantly hearing good things from friends about dinner and brunch here.

6 Firefly American Bistro (Manchester, NH)- Almost brand spanking new, their menu offers "Get Fit" healthy options. Entrees range from $9.99 - $15.99 making this place pretty gentle on the wallet.

7 Gills Indian Restaurant (Manchester, NH)- I love me some Indian food. The assortment of veggies, beans, fragrant spices and variety of breads totally appeal to my need to balance health with good flavor and there is only one Indian Restaurant near me that I love. I'm always on the lookout for more.

8 Eden (Amherst, NH)- Nestled in the Salsburg Square shopping plaza, I actually wouldn't have known there was a restaurant there except for stumbling upon frequent reviews of it. The menu is laced with a variety of international influences, from Lebanese, to French to Thai and Italian.

All text and photographs (except where noted otherwise) © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Walnut Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

2009-04-27T22:20:00.013-04:00

It seems like every other food blog I stumble across is nothing but baked goods with cupcakes seemingly holding rank at #1, so I felt it was time to post a sweet just so I could fit in! As I've mentioned before, I have some trouble with dough (making it, working with it etc.) and while I may occasionally have a craving for a cinnamon roll, it's not strong enough for me to even attempt to make my own dough! So that's where store bought raw pizza or bread dough comes in handy. It cuts the work load in half so you can have warm gooey cinnamon rolls on the table and in your belly in about an hour and 15 minutes!

Makes 9-10 rolls

Ingredients

1 lb defrosted pizza / bread dough
flour to sprinkle on work surface
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
3 tablespoons white sugar

For the Icing

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk or cream

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, white sugar, cloves, cinnamon and walnuts. Put aside.

On a lightly floured work surface, and using a floured rolling pin, roll out the pizza/bread dough into a rectangle that is at least 10 inches long by 7 inches wide (larger is ok but smaller and it will be hard to cut enough rolls). Use a pastry brush to brush melted butter all over the surface of the rectangle and then sprinkle the sugar and walnut mixture on top. From one of the long sides of the rectangle, roll up tightly and press on the edge to form a seam. Using a sharp knife, cut into 9 or 10 equal pieces and place on a greased cookie sheet (I save my pastry brush and brush the leftover melted butter on the sheet).

Let the cinnamon rolls rest in a warm area for 25-35 minutes. They will puff up a bit (don't expect an enormous size change. You'll be waiting all day if you are!). While you are waiting for your rolls to rise, make the icing by beating together the softened cream cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla and cream until smooth.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops are slightly brown and gooey. Be careful not to over cook because the dough will get really tough! Let cool for a few minutes and frost each one before eating.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Tortilla Pot Pie

2009-04-25T20:33:00.003-04:00

It was 85 degrees today in NH. Earlier this week it was in the 40's. New England weather likes to keep you on your toes. I certainly did not cook Tortilla Pot Pie today (but I did bake cinnamon rolls for J tonight because he's sick and sweets make him feel better-that post will probably be up in a few days) but I've had a draft of it in my blogger dashboard forever and it was screaming to finally be published.

I was going for a Mexican style lasagna but it came out a little too sloppy. I was pissed and almost threw the whole thing in the trash (anger management issues, I haz them!) but then I realized it didn't have to be a lasagna. It could be pie! Why pie? Just because I said so. It's not pretty (at least on the dish) but it tastes good, is inexpensive to make and will fill you up for days and ultimately that matters more to me than how nicely it comes out of the dish.

**If you have leftovers and eat it the next day, miraculously by the power of the fridge it will have turned to lasagna overnight!**

Serves 4

4 8-in diameter flour tortillas
1 can black beans, drained but not rinsed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup vegetable stock
2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups frozen loose leaf spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic, or garlic powder
1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mild enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons low fat sour cream
a handful of chopped cilantro
nonstick spray

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion and bell pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander, garlic, red pepper flakes, chili powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Cook for a minute. Add the stock and zucchini and bring to a simmer. Add the frozen corn and spinach and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes, or until corn and spinach are warmed through. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro, sour cream and enchilada sauce.

Coat a square or round casserole dish lightly with non-stick spray. Press two of the tortillas into the bottom of the casserole dish, top with 1/3 of the cheese, 1/3 of the veggie bean mixture, then top with 1 tortilla, 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the veggie bean mixture. Finally add the last tortilla, the last of the veggies and beans and finish off with the last of the cheese. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the broiler to 450. Broil for 3 or 4 minutes (watching carefully so it doesn't burn!) or until the cheese browns.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a little sour cream if you want.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

100 Foods to Try Before You Die?

2009-04-19T20:32:00.000-04:00

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I've stumbled across this list probably 20 times on various food blogs in the last few months. I have no clue where it originated or who the author is but I think it weighs a little too heavily on typical (for an American) gross out foods- fugu, insects, durian, head cheese? Road kill?? Really? No thanks. I really don't think I need to taste those before I die. The other half of the list are boring foods like p&j and jello shots. Tasting jello shots never did anything for me, except make it acceptable to do or say things I wouldn't say while sober. Not sure if I absolutely needed to try them. And sure, I love pb & j sandwiches as much as anyone else but I don't think your life is incomplete if you haven't tried one. Chocolate? Red wine? Baked Brie? Apple Crisp in the fall? Bacon? Yes, missing these foods WILL make your life incomplete. Never tasting a Big Mac Value meal is not going to take anything away from you, except maybe a little indigestion.

Anyhow, instead of listening to me whine about how I don't think it's the essential list (when I'm posting it on the blog anyway until I can come up with my own!), how many of these have you had? And what ones would you not eat? You couldn't pay me to eat black pudding. There's just something about cooking blood until it solidifies that turns my stomach.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros - yes
4. Steak tartare -yes
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush - yes
11. Calamari - yes
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich - yes
14. Aloo gobi - yes
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - yes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream - yes
21. Heirloom tomatoes - yes
22. Fresh wild berries - yes
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans - yes
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - yes
29. Baklava - yes
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas - yes
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - yes
33. Salted lassi - I've had a sweet lassi, not a salted one!
34. Sauerkraut - yes
35. Root beer float - yes
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - not at the same time
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O shot - yes
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Single malt whisky - yes
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala - yes
48. Eel - yes
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut -yes, thanks to MB!
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer - yes
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal - yes
56. Spaetzle - yes
57. Dirty gin martini - yes
58. Beer above 8% ABV - yes
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores - yes
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - yes
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - yes
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - yes
78. Snail - yes
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini - yes
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - yes
83. Pocky - yes
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash - yes
88. Flowers - yes
89. Horse
90. Criollo
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish - yes
95. Mole poblano - yes
96. Bagel and lox - yes
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta - yes
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
100. Snake

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley (except when noted otherwise)

Potato Leek Soup

2009-04-13T22:53:00.001-04:00

Yum, Yum, Yum!!! This is the first time I've decided to blog about someone else's recipe but this was so delicious and easy that I couldn't resist! My friend Maribeth sent this to me and she got it from her dad, but is unsure of where he got it. I'm telling myself it's an old family recipe of theirs that they're just passing down generation to generation for everyone to enjoy. Regardless of where it came from, it's awesome and I'm grateful that Maribeth was willing to let me post it.

It's sweet and creamy and incredibly filling. I totally thought I'd have room to scarf down some bread and veggies with it (as usually is the case when I eat soup!) but I only had a few bites when I decided to forfeit the other parts of the meal. Pardon my lack o' pictures-I decide mid-bowl that I may want to post the recipe so I didn't take any pictures of the steps to make it.

I followed Maribeth's recipe pretty closely and made just a few substitutions (and added measurements where there was none) based on what I had in the house. Also, if you are looking to add a little something extra, I tossed some smoked oysters in (2 cans, rinsed well and chopped) since J seems to have a stockpile of them growing in our cabinets but otherwise followed her recipe. Rockin! It's a little time consuming (cooking time as well as cleaning the leeks) but it's packed with so much flavor and took so little effort that I think this is something I will make again and again.

Now what to do with all that extra buttermilk in the fridge???

4-6 servings

Ingredients

3 - 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 leeks, dark greens and roots discarded
3 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup cream or half & half
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon white or black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
(optional: 2 cans smoked oysters)

Cut the white and light green part of the leeks in half lengthwise and then slice each half into semi-circles. Put all the cut leek pieces in a large bowl and fill with water. Leeks collect lots of dirt and grit and if you don't wash the layers carefully you're going to end up crunching on something you don't want to. Use your hands to move and break up the layers of the leeks. The dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl and the leek pieces will float. Remove the leeks, drain the water, rinse the bowl of sand and repeat. You may have to do this in batches.

Once your leeks are clean, drain well and melt the butter in a large dutch oven. Toss the leeks in when the butter is melted and sweat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the kosher salt and cook leeks on low medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender. Add potatoes and vegetable broth and simmer for 35 minutes. Puree in a blender or food processor and then add back to the pot. Add the cream (or half and half), buttermilk and pepper. If using smoked oysters, stir them in when you remove the pot from heat. Serve with crusty bread.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Garlic Hummus with Rosemary Pita Chips

2009-04-06T22:40:00.001-04:00

I'm always amazed when I meet someone who doesn't like hummus. There are so many different ways to make it, so many things you can add to it for extra flavor and it can be eaten with almost anything. You are bound to find one that you like.

Every couple of years I go through a new hummus phase. In college, it was homemade hummus eaten with lime tortilla chips, at Pearl St (a house I lived in with friends for years in Portsmouth, NH) it was pita bread or pretzels, these days it's with pita chips or sliced veggies. Every store brand differs in texture and acidity so I guess that could be a factor in why some people don't like hummus. Make your own and you won't be able to stop eating it.

Ingredients

For the Hummus

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup tahini
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons water
2 - 3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)

Put the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times then slowly add the lemon juice and water while the machine is running till the mixture becomes creamy and mostly smooth. Adjust salt/pepper and lemon juice is needed. Pour into a bowl and stir in olive oil if using. Serve with Pita chips, tortilla chips or sliced vegetables.

Get comfortable with this master recipe and then try adding additional ingredients for flavor and variety. Add roasted red peppers, extra garlic, spinach and artichoke hearts, jalepeno's, roasted veggies, sun dried tomatoes and different seasonings (not all at the same time of course!)

Pita Chips

4 Pita pockets
olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper
dried rosemary*
*you'll need a mortar and pestle for this

You don't need a real recipe to make pita chips. Cut the pita pockets into as many triangles as you like. I cut the pockets in half (as if you were going to make two sandwiches) and then cut each half into 6 or 8 pieces. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the cut pieces of pita on a cookie sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In the mortar and pestle put 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary and a pinch of salt and grind to a powder (the salt helps create friction and the rosemary will crumble faster). Sprinkle the rosemary on the pita triangles. Bake for 6 minutes, flip and bake for 5 minutes more. Let cool. EAT!!

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Chicken and Broccoli Pizza with Lemon Peppercorn Sauce

2009-03-31T20:34:00.008-04:00

The delicious Giorgio's that J and I frequent was once a small mom and pop style pizza shop down the street from it's current location. The little pizza shop was owned by this adorable European couple who always treated us like we were old friends. It was endearing and we looked forward to seeing big smiles on their faces whenever we stopped in. But the real reason we went back time and time again was for the pizza. In particular, a chicken a broccoli pizza with a lemon peppercorn sauce. The new Giorgio's opened about 3 years ago and they don't do the same style or flavors that they used to (but still their menu is delicious) so like everything else I eat that I like, I had to replicate it!

This pizza recipe has more steps than most but it's actually pretty easy. And no, you don't actually have to cook your broccoli and onion if you end up using raw dough. I'm dough challenged, as we've discussed in an earlier blog entry, so even though I use raw dough occasionally, I'm not smooth enough to use it for an entry here. Since the precooked shells only need to cook long enough to warm the ingredients and melt the cheese, I go through some of these steps because they add a texture (blanched broccoli) and flavor (caramelized red onion) that I like. I just know if I actually used raw dough to do a pizza on my blog it'll look like crap even if it tastes good!

Serves 2 - 3

Ingredients

1/2 large red onion, cut in half, then sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 - 1/2 cups of fresh broccoli florets
2 cooked chicken breasts, thinly sliced
kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar
pre-cooked pizza crust

For the sauce

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 lemon

Heat a medium skillet to medium with one tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, drop in the sliced red onion and stir to coat with the oil. When the onions have sweated a little, after 2 or 3 minutes or so, give another stir and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Leave alone and cook for 7-10 minutes (they will caramelize-red onions caramelize easily), checking once to make sure the heat isn't too high that the pan burns. Turn off heat and put onions aside.

While your onions are cooking, bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil and drop in your broccoli florets. Cook for 2 minutes and then submerge in an ice bath (bowl of cold water with lots of ice cubes) or run continuously under cold water for a few minutes. The idea is to stop the broccoli from cooking immediately. Drain when cold and set aside.

I browned my chicken on both sides in an oiled skillet, and then added a little chicken stock, covered and simmered till it was cooked through but you can cook your chicken anyway you like.

Once your onions, broccoli, and chicken are cooked, and your cheeses grated (please grate your own-there are very few instances when pre-grated is okay! huge HUGE flavor and texture difference for the price.) it's time to make your sauce. This sauce is essentially a flavored roux. A roux is a cooked mixture of fat and flour and many sauces and gravies begin with one. Master a roux and you are halfway to making a delicious sauce.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the lemon well. Cut the lemon in half. Use a reamer or a fork to get all the juice out and reserve in a bowl. Cut each half into quarters and use your fingers to peel out the rest of the fruit, leaving you with just peel. You'll need two medium sauce pans. Put the peel and the milk and half & half in one of the sauce pans. Bring just to a slow boil, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat. Remove the peel and set peel aside.

In the second sauce pan, melt the butter over a low medium heat. When melted, whisk in the flour and continue whisking until the mixture is a slight caramel color (just a minute or two). Then very slowly, whisk in the half & half and milk mixture. Keep whisking once everything is incorporated. The sauce will thicken pretty quickly. Turn the heat down if it seems to thicken excessively and add extra milk if necessary. Cook like this for 5 minutes or so, or until the flour no longer tastes raw (stick your finger in there and taste!). Turn off heat and stir in the 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and grind 1 teaspoon black pepper into the sauce. Slowly whisk in 2 tablespoons reserved lemon juice till the mixture is well blended. Take the lemon peel you set aside earlier, rinse it off (it will have cream on it) and zest it. If you don't have a citrus zester, you can usually find that your box grater has a side that works perfectly for this. You'll need less than 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest. Stir zest in to the sauce. Adjust salt and pepper seasoning. It should taste lightly like alfredo but very peppery and a little lemony.

Put the pizza shell on a cookie sheet or pizza stone and spread out the peppercorn lemon sauce thinly on it. Top with broccoli, red onion, and chicken. Add shredded cheddar, mozzarella and the last of the parmesan. Bake for 10 minutes and then broil for 3 or 4 minutes till cheese begins to brown. Cut into 4 -6 pieces. Serve with slices of lemon.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Wines I'm loving right now: 2007 Tapena Tempranillo & others

2009-03-28T22:22:00.006-04:00

1) 2007 Tapena Tempranillo

For an inexpensive wine ($9.99 at NH liquor stores), this tempranillo is surprisingly smooth. It's a lighter red wine. For those of you who can't handle merlots and cabernets, this tempranillo might be easier to handle. It's fruity without being sweet and while it's light enough to drink in warmer weather (62 degrees today!), it's got enough body to it to be paired with hearty ingredients like lamb and beef. Delicious-I'll be buying more.

2) 1998 Jean Noel Gagnard Santenay Clos de Tavannes 1er Cru

Mmmmmm, love on the tongue! Clos de Tavannes is a Pinot Noir grape, from the Burgundy region of France and while Pinot Noir's have been hugely popular for the last several years, I've never found them as exciting as others have. This wine was different. So delicate and soft, unlike any other wine I've ever had. The color was slightly darker than a ros'e but it had a lot less sweetness and a lot more body than a ros'e. Wonderful stuff but I can't seem to find it anywhere (I tried it at a restaurant renowned for it's wine cellar). I've found other vintages (2001 and 2000) but I am really hoping to find the 1998 somewhere. The 2001 and 2000 retail for about $25, the 1998 probably retails for $35. Jean Noel Gagnard's winery is still creating wines but I can't seem to figure out if this one if still in production. Fingers crossed.

3) 2006 Ghost Pines Winemakers Blend Chardonnay

I am not a white wine drinker. Sure, some of it is tasty but I get serious acid burps (aren't I a classy lady???) from it. So strange, you would think red would be more likely to cause that. Anyhow, I usually avoid white wine unless I stumble across something spectacular. This ended up in my hands as a gift. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have picked up a couple bottles of it since. It's smooth, dry and buttery with apple and pear flavors. No really. Sometimes they say a wine tastes like certain fruits and you drink it and say "Bullshit! It tastes like alcohol!" but no, this really has hints of fruit. It retails for about $15.99. And no acid burps. Score!!!

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Prosciutto and Brie Quesadillas with Arugula and Pears in Balsamic Sauce

2009-03-23T23:24:00.007-04:00

Friday night, I had gotten home from the gym late and J and I were starving. The kitchen was a mess still from the night before and I realized that I had forgotten to buy arugula at the store. And then I remembered that I planned to put these on the blog. I scrambled around the kitchen moving things out of the way so I could make dinner and take a few half-hearted pictures, and ended up burning one quesadilla and undercooking the other. I am the most awesome cook ever. :) At least they taste good!

These quesadillas are sweet, buttery and salty. They're also a little rich, so if I eat anything else with them it's usually something basic to balance things out, like a plain vegetable or a salad. I've been trying to come up with a salsa that complements the flavors here but the quesadillas have enough moisture on their own that it's really unnecessary. Most of the time, I just eat them "dry" or with a small dollop of sour cream. Have them for dinner or cut into small triangles and serve as an appetizer with some white wine.

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 flour tortillas (8 in diameter)
4 oz prosciutto
4 oz good quality brie, cut into small chunks
3 pears, sliced into long strips
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup diced onion
1 cup arugula
pinch of rosemary
non-stick spray
kosher salt
black pepper

Lay two of the tortillas on a flat surface, side by side and top each tortilla with 1/4 of the brie, 1/2 the prosciutto, and (if you aren't forgetful like me) 1/2 the arugula. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and when moderately hot add the onion, and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes. Add the vinegar, honey, a pinch of rosemary, kosher salt and black pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Add the pears and stir to coat them in the vinegar mixture. Cook for another minute.

Spray a 9 or 10 inch skillet with non-stick spray and heat to medium. Place one of the tortillas (with the brie & prosciutto) you set aside earlier in the skillet. Top with 5 or 6 of the pear slices and a little of the vinegar sauce. Top with another 1/4 of the brie and cover with a tortilla. Cook for two minutes and flip gently with a large spatula (the bottom tortilla will be crispy so it will be easy to flip). Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes and remove. Cool. Follow the instructions in this paragraph again to make the second quesadilla. Cool and then cut both in half or quarters.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Lasagna like Mom's

2009-03-16T21:48:00.006-04:00

My mom made the best lasagna. I didn't think it was all that exciting at the time (I did not like tomato sauce as a kid), but as I got older and tried other lasagnas, whether homemade or in a restaurant, I came to realize that her's had something special about it and it wasn't just the love and energy that went into feeding our large family. Mom's tasted so good because she started off by making a slow simmered meat sauce. You just don't get the same flavor from a jar or from making a quick, meatless marinara (sure, they have their time and place but lasagna isn't one of them!).

Mom's recipes don't include how much of each ingredient to put in. And rarely did she bother to write instructions other than "cook all day on the stove". It's a little frustrating when trying to make something of hers for the first time, but it also makes me laugh because now that I make up a lot of my own recipes, I'm finding it's hard for me to write down exactly how much of something I'm using, because I just toss a handful or a pinch of something into the pot and cook until it tastes good like she did. So, here, I take her original ingredient "list" for lasagna and have added real measurements, directions, as well as plenty of my own substitutions and I think I've come up with something that tastes almost like my mom really did cook it on the stove all day. The best part is that you can eat off it all week and you'll have a ton of extra meat sauce to freeze for another meal.

Ingredients

Serves 6 - 8

*feel free to substitute turkey or chicken for the pork sausage and ground beef. It'll taste just as good for less calories!*

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb hot Italian pork sausage, casings removed
1 large onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
4 cloves minced garlic, separated
2 large cans whole tomatoes
1 large can tomato puree
1 small can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 egg
1 large container part-skim ricotta
2 tablespoons dried parsley, or 1/4 cup fresh
6oz fresh mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cubed, 1/2 thinly sliced
1/2 -3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
9 lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
additional kosher salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Brown the ground beef and sausage until there is no more pink. Remove the meat and drain the liquid/fat over a bowl. Put about 1/4 cup of the beef and pork fat back in the pot and cook the onion and green pepper for 3-4 minutes, then add the 3 of the cloves of minced garlic and cook for another minute.

Next add all your tomato products (2 cans whole tomatoes, 1 can puree, 1 can paste), the bay leaves, sugar, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 2 hours. 2 1/2 hours will give you a thicker sauce, which means a firmer lasagna. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. The whole tomatoes should have broken down. If they are still mostly whole, take a potato masher and break up a little.

While the sauce is simmering, in a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Mix in the ricotta, last clove of minced garlic, parsley, cubed mozzarella, half the parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. (I always use fresh mozzarella and grate my own parmesan. I think pre-grated and shredded cheeses are too dry and lose a lot of their flavor. Buying it whole and cutting/shredding yourself is more work and costs a little more, but the flavor is stronger so you'll actually end up using less.)

When your sauce is almost ready to use, heat a large pot full of water to boiling. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook your noodles for about a minute less than the box directions say to. Drain and spread out on a couple of kitchen towels. Cover with a damp towel.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Pour a large ladle full of sauce in a 9 x 13 pan (9x11 is okay too, but you may need to trim your noodles to fit them), and spread out. Now layer 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1 or 2 ladles of sauce, 3 noodles, 1/3 ricotta, sauce, 3 noodles, the last 1/3 ricotta mixture and another ladle or two of sauce. Press down after each layer of noodles. Top with the thinly sliced mozzarella, tearing with your hands if needed, and the rest of the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the broiler to 500, leave the oven door open slightly and brown the top of the lasagna for 3 or 4 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes (The longer it sits, the easier it will be to remove from the pan). Serve with some crusty bread and a salad.
All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Black Bean, Guacamole and Chicken Wraps

2009-03-11T00:15:00.004-04:00

This isn't so much a recipe or cooking so much as food assembly! This is one of my go-to meals when I'm too exhausted to cook or it's too hot out to cook. It's certainly not too hot out today but we finally had some "warmer" weather today so I was in the mood for something lighter. It's a pretty healthy wrap but is still rich enough to be satisfying.

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, slightly pounded
1 tablespoon olive oil
a pinch of kosher salt & black peper
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 oz sharp cheddar cheese, cut into cubes
3 ripe tomatoes, diced
3 cups green leaf or romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup diced red or sweet onion
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 large whole wheat wraps
1/2 - 3/4 cup hot salsa
* you may need 4-8 toothpicks

For the Guacamole

2 medium sized avocados, peeled, pit removed, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
the juice from 1/2 a lime

Serves 4

Preheat a grill pan to medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, and then baste the grill pan with olive oil (or non-stick spray). Place the chicken breasts on the grill and cook for 4-6 minutes on each side (depending on thickness).

While the chicken cooks, mash the avocado in a bowl with a fork or potato masher. Squeeze in the lime juice and add the minced garlic, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, and 1/4 tsps each of salt and pepper. Take the chicken off the grill and let cool while you chop your tomatoes, lettuce, onion, bell peppers, and cheese (if you haven't already). Slice chicken or cut into cubes. Stir a small handful of your chopped tomatoes into your guacamole.

Spread the a few tablespoons of guacamole around your wrap, leaving the outer 1 inch dry. Place small amounts (1 - 2 tablespoons of each) of beans, chicken, peppers, cheese, lettuce, onion and tomatoes in a straight line down the center of the wrap, except for an inch or two on each end. I emphasize "small" because I'm notorious for thinking I'm using only a little amount but often end up with a wrap that can't close itself. Less is more! Top the filling the center with salsa.

Turn the wrap so that the center filling runs from left to right (rather than up and down) and fold up each end. Hold the end folds with your fingers as you use your thumbs to lift up the part of the wrap closest to you up and start rolling. Do your best to keep the ends tucked in. When it's half rolled up, move your thumbs from the flaps to help you roll the rest up tightly. The wrap seam should end up plate side down. Put one hand on top of the wrap to steady, firmly and cut in half on a slight angle (angling the cut helps the filling to stay in a little better). Secure the bottom of the wrap with tooth picks if needed.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Homemade Chicken Soup

2009-03-07T14:20:00.004-05:00

Mom frequently made big pots of soup when we were kids and I hated them all. It wasn't that her cooking was bad, it's because she'd make things like "Carcass Soup" (also known as Turkey or Chicken Soup). I thought it was so gross that she'd boil a leftover bird carcass on the stove for hours and then expected us to eat it. And the word "carcass" added an extra level of disgust. When I started making my own soups and used store-bought broths and stocks, I couldn't get the flavor I wanted no matter what herb or spice I added. I finally decided to make a batch with help from a carcass and I was amazed at how much richer the flavor was. I can't make Chicken Soup without it anymore. Even though it's March, winter still has a pretty strong hold on New England so I'm sure this won't be the last pot of soup of the season.

This recipe is a little time consuming so I recommend making it over the course of two nights or trying it out on a weekend when you have several hours you'll be at home. Oh and I'm FINALLY posting a recipe that is dairy-free. Aren't you proud?

Ingredients

1 4-6 lb whole chicken or chicken carcass* see note below
6-8 cups of water
7 carrots, 4 peeled, sliced, 3 cut in half
6 celery stalks, 3 sliced, 3 cut in half
2 1/2 large onions, 1 diced, 1 1/2 unpeeled and cut into quarters
8 garlic cloves, 2 minced, 6 unpeeled, smashed with knife once
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons dried dill
4 teaspoons dried thyme
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon ground savory (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 large split chicken breast halves
olive oil for basting and cooking onions
1 1/2 cups pasta or egg noodles
2 teaspoons vinegar based hot sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and baste the skin with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes. Put aside and let cool.

While the chicken is roasting, put the carcass in a large pot (at least 5 or 6 quarts) and fill the pot with water except for the last two or three inches. Turn the burner on medium high and bring to a simmer. While you are heating the pot, throw in the celery and carrots that were cut in half (3 each), the quartered onions and the 6 cloves of smashed garlic. Next, add 1 tablespoon of dried dill, 2 teaspoons of thyme, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Lower the heat if it starts to overflow. A lot of the water will evaporate so feel free to add a few extra cups as it cooks.

Turn off the heat and strain all liquid through a fine sieve into a container, pressing any extra liquid out of the carcass and the vegetables. Discard everything but the strained liquid. Let the stock cool and then put in the fridge for a few hours. While your stock is cooling, remove the meat from your roasted chicken breasts and cut into cubes or shred if that's what you like. Put the chicken aside.

The entire bowl will have become almost solid with a layer of yellow fat on top. Skim off the fat with a spoon and discard. Don't be too grossed out that the stock is thick and gelatinous-this is actually desirable in a stock. The gelatin is a result of the breakdown of cartilage, joints, and calcium released from the bones. Yes, kind of disgusting but gelatin repairs cartilage in our own bodies (how many of us have creaky knees from years of running and/or being overweight?) and can calm an angry digestive system because it is easy to digest. Chicken soup truly is the miracle food it's reputation claims and not just an old wives tale.

Heat a little olive oil in the same pot (or a clean one if you do this over the course of two days) and saute the diced onions for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the two minced garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Remove both the onion and garlic to a plate and add the stock to the pot and warm up to a gentle simmer. Now it's time to add your additional herbs: 2 teaspoons of dill, two teaspoons of thyme, two teaspoons of dried parsley, 1 teaspoon of ground savory and the hot sauce (if you are using it), 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary and the cayenne pepper. Stir and let cook for 10 minutes. Next, add the noodles, sliced celery and carrots and simmer for 7-10 minutes, or until the noodles are tender. Last, stir in your cubed chicken and add more salt and pepper to taste (if you ended up with a lot of liquid stock, you will need quite a bit more salt).

Serve with lots of crusty bread.

* I'll buy a whole chicken and cook it as part of dinner. Once dinner is over and I've picked off all the meat, I'll then start cooking the carcass. If you don't have time to do it all in one night, you can put the carcass in the refrigerator and tackle it the next day.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Roasted Butternut Squash, Walnut and Gorgonzola Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

2009-03-01T23:42:00.005-05:00

When J and I were first dating, I didn't cook. Cans of soup, stir-fry's with arbitrary spices tossed in, salads and nachos were the norm for me. As our relationship progressed, I was spending more and more weekends at his place and we couldn't afford to go out to eat every night so we started to learn to cook together. Not everything came out great the first time we made it but every attempt got a little better than the one before and soon we had 3 or 4 staples we made well, regularly. Even though our confidence grew cooking together, when it came to cooking something alone I had the phenomenal ability to ruin almost anything. After we returned from a camping trip in Lake George, NY, I took Monday off and J had to go back to work so I decided to plan and cook a dinner all by myself. A non red-meat eater at the time, I decided I'd make steak and a salad. Well the steak turned out a little rubbery but the salad became an instant fall favorite for both of us (yes, I realize it's March). And it's filling enough to be eaten alone or with just a piece of crusty bread.

Ingredients

Salad - Serves 4

8 cups mixed salad greens, washed
4 tablespoons chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons dried cranberries
4 tablespoons crumbled gorgonzola
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
1 apple diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
cinnamon
kosher salt
black pepper

Balsamic Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and toss the cubed butternut squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and a few shakes of cinnamon. Bake for 20 minutes or until tender, stirring at least once while cooking.

While the squash is cooking, make the vinaigrette. I use equal parts vinegar and oil but feel free to use less of one and more of the other if that's what you like. Look for a balsamic vinegar that is aged at least a couple of years and thick. It will cost a little more but the difference in taste is discernible. Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, pepper, garlic, salt and basil and then slowly whisk in the olive oil until the mixture emulsifies. You can also do this in a food processor if you want the flavors to blend deeply.

Toss the greens in a large bowl with the vinaigrette and divide equally among 4 plates. Top each with 1 tablespoon walnuts, cranberries and gorgonzola, 1/4 of the apple pieces and a large handful of the butternut squash.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Tyrokavteri: Feta and Roasted Red Pepper dip

2009-02-23T22:55:00.014-05:00

Once again, this is another recipe inspired from something I tried at a restaurant. It was at Giorgio's in Milford, NH. They have a great menu in general but sadly I don't think this appetizer is on it anymore. My version is a little thinner and spicier than Giorgio's but the flavor is very similar. It's creamy, sweet and tangy and takes all of 5 minutes to make.

Ingredients

8oz block light cream cheese, softened
2.5 oz feta cheese
1 large roasted red bell pepper, drained
1 large garlic clove
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons half and half or light cream
2 teaspoons Oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use less if you're sensitive to spice)
black pepper

Pulse the cream cheese, garlic, and roasted bell pepper in a food processor. When the pepper is well broken up and the mixture becomes a salmon color, add the feta, oregano, pepper flakes and black pepper. Pulse until the feta is broken up thoroughly. While the machine is running, add the lemon juice and half and half and blend for 20 seconds or so. I don't add salt because the feta is salty enough for my taste. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve with pita chips or raw vegetables.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Simple Mac and Cheese

2009-02-19T21:20:00.010-05:00

I was making dinner tonight and realized I needed a starch or I'd be pigging out again in three hours. While the chicken grilled and the greens were braising, I rummaged around in the cabinets to see what our options were. I didn't feel like rice, couscous, or bulgur. Pasta might work but, I didn't have any store bought sauce and I didn't feel like making something that was going to take 45 minutes. Mmmm, mac and cheese? Well, shells and cheese, I guess since that's what I used.

I can't stand boxed mac and cheese and most baked are too dry (despite being loaded with cream and fat!) I'm not even remotely skilled when it comes to making white sauces but I had some cheddar and goat cheese in the fridge that need to be used up (I don't like to waste food-learned family trait!) so I figured I'd at least try. If it didn't work out, we could always just have some toast with the rest of dinner.

Anyhow, it came out creamy and smooth and since I used chicken stock instead of several cups of cream, it's slightly better for you than what you've probably had in the past. I bet it would be awesome with some broccoli stirred in.

This makes 4 large side dish portions but the recipe can easily be doubled to feed more.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half
couple shakes of worcestershire sauce
couple light shakes of hot sauce
kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 tsp ground dry mustard
2 oz goat cheese
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
6oz of your favorite pasta shape (makes about 3 cups cooked)

Fill a pasta pot with water, add a dash of salt and a small drizzle of olive oil (the oil prevents the water from boiling over) and bring to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, heat a medium saucepan to medium and melt the two tablespoons of butter in it. Next, add the flour and stir frequently until the flour is well mixed in and browned (3 minutes or so) then add both the half and half and chicken stock and raise to a simmer, stiring occasionally. When the mixture has thickened (4 or 5 minutes), add salt, pepper, worcestershire, hot sauce and dry mustard. Stir well and turn off heat. Cover. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to the directions. Drain pasta when tender and return to pot. Add goat and cheddar cheese, and pour in your sauce. Mix until the cheeses have melted and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve!

Try stiring in broccoli, spinach or tomatoes, or substituting gruyere, emmentaler, or gouda for the goat cheese. Or add some cooked bacon and mushrooms. Yum!

I promise, one of these days I'll post a couple recipes that don't have dairy in them!

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Calzones with Roast Beef, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions

2009-02-12T21:30:00.016-05:00

Growing up, my mom made calzones for almost any occasion: Birthdays, Christmas Eve, Saturday night dinner etc. She'd bake pizza dough filled with layered spinach, lunch meats (like salami, ham and turkey), american cheese and cooked green and red peppers and onions. As a kid, I hated vegetables like most kids, and my sisters and I would pull the peppers and onions out and give them to my mom or dad to eat. Mom made the calzones frequently enough that they now rest in my mind as one of the ultimate comfort foods. This is a little richer than the ones Mom made but just as tasty, I think! I have never been able to master rolling out the dough and wrapping it uniformly around the meats. My mom had a lot more patience and skill than I do and so her calzones always looked pretty and even. My way is a little more haphazard, but it gets the job done and the food into the belly. I use many of the same ingredients mom did, but have changed some of the ingredients to make my own version. This can be served hot for dinner or straight out of the fridge cold as a snack.

I use rare roast beef sliced thin from the deli here. I know a lot of people worry about the safety of using undercooked meats but you're going to be cooking. I think regular roast beef gets too dry during the cooking process. Rare will be cooked well by the time it comes out of the oven, but it will still be juicy and flavorful. Again, just one of my personal preferences.

Blue cheese is very pungent and there are a lot of bad blue cheeses out there. I try to use a good blue like (English) Stilton, (French) Roquefort, or (Italian) Gorgonzola. I've used Danish Blue before but I think it's too sharp and salty. You can smell it when you open the refrigerator and that's too much for me. If you aren't a big blue cheese fan, try the blue cheese crumbles in the deli section of your store. The flavor is a lot more mild than the cheese I mention here (and you don't have to get messy trying to crumble your own!).

Ingredients

1 ball raw pizza dough (found in the bakery or deli area)
1 10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3/4 lb rare roast beef, thinly sliced
1-2 oz good blue cheese, crumbled
1 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
10 oz mushrooms, white button or portobello
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
kosher salt
black pepper
couple tbsp of flour
optional: 1-2 tbsp of cornmeal
*You'll also need a handful of toothpicks

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat till hot but not smoking. Place the sliced onions in the pan, and give them a quick stir. Cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes. Give another stir and lower heat (hot enough to still cook but low enough so they don't burn!) Cover with a lid and don't touch them for 10 minutes. While the onions are cooking, heat the other tbsp of olive oil in another skillet over medium heat and add the mushrooms and red bell pepper and cook until the mushrooms are brown and the peppers are softened. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper in the last minute or two of cooking and remove to a plate till ready to use. Check the onions and give a stir. They should be browning. Sprinkle generously (not heavily though!) with salt. The salt will help draw out the rest of their moisture and aid the caramelizing process. You do NOT need to add sugar to caramelize onions. Cook for 5-10 more minutes, stirring occasionally and keep covered.

While the onions are finishing up, sprinkle a clean surface with a little flour. Rub flour onto a rolling pin and roll out your dough into a rectangle. It should be just slightly smaller than the cookie sheet you will put the calzone on. If you're like me, you will have great difficulty getting the dough to remain in the shape you want it to (suggestions anyone?). If you are using cornmeal, sprinkle it lightly on the cookie sheet and put the dough rectangle on top. The cornmeal prevents the dough from sticking to the pan. (I always wondered what that gritty stuff on the bottom of your pizza was. It's cornmeal!) Stretch the dough to fit the pan as much as you can and then evenly distribute the spinach down the center of the dough (see picture). Next, layer the roast beef down the center, overlapping until you've used all the roast beef. Evenly distribute the blue cheese down the center, use your (clean of course!) hands to break it up if you are not using crumbles. And last, pile the vegetables down the middle. You'll have a ton of veggies and they will spill all over the sides. It's not a big deal.

Here's the part, that, try as I might, I can't get right. I'm afraid I am d ough-challenged. If you're normal and can work with dough properly, tuck in the head and foot flap of dough over the mound of ingredients and then fold the left side of the dough on top, then fold over the right (sort of like closing a box lid), stretching the dough if you need to. Seal in the center with toothpicks (I end up with 7-9 down the center). If you have troubles, like me, you're dough will keep returning to the cookie sheet. So, I pin with toothpicks as I go, pulling left and right sides of dough as if I'm semi-braiding the dough together. Please see pictures and feel free to ask questions. (I know that I'm not explaining this as well as I could!)

Once you've got the whole thing wrapped up and toothpicked, slice vents in the dough every two inches or so, in between your toothpicks and then bake for 20-22 minutes. The calzone will be lightly browned and the dough cooked all the way through when it's ready.

Cool slightly and then cut into pieces by slicing along the vents. 1 calzone serves 4 (about 2 pieces each). You'll find yourself making this again and again.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

A Few of my Favorite (Food) Things

2009-02-03T21:33:00.011-05:00

I'm a big fan of making most things from scratch. Especially for things that really don't take much time to make yourself ( salad dressings, pesto, sauces, soups etc). Why buy a pre-made version that's full of sodium and preservatives or high fructose corn syrup (and probably doesn't taste all that good), when you can whip it up yourself? But we all run into occasions when we need to use something premade, because of a lack of time (you just got out of work and have a party to go to in an hour) or a need for convenience (you're exhausted and just boiling water for pasta seems like a monumental task) and at those times I'll cheat and use a store bought product. However, this isn't the only time I cheat. Once in a while a store bought product comes along that tastes good enough to be home made (and isn't filled with bad for you ingredients). This is a starter list of my favorite pre-made / store bought items (in no particular order!). Scroll over the titles for links to websites.

1. Wildly Delicious Fine Foods, Peppercorn Shallot Merlot Bread Dipper

I stumbled upon this one year while doing Christmas shopping when I lived in Portsmouth and J and I both immediately fell in love with it. Of course, the store I found it in stopped selling it shortly after so I went on a quest to find it elsewhere. I found it finally and have been ordering it in large shipments ever since. As the label says, it's absolutely delicious to dip your crusty bread into (who needs butter?) and I recommend using it also as a salad dressing or marinade for chicken. It's the perfect mix of tangy vinegar and oil. A 12.6 oz bottle retails around $11. The website (link above) can point you to online retailers as well as local stores near you that may carry it. They sell 6 or 7 other flavors that you may also want to try.

2. Taverna Classic Spinach Pie

You'll find this one in the freezer section of most grocery stores and it retails for almost $4. It comes in a green cardboard container that you actually cook the pie in (yay, no dishes!). My mom started buying this after realizing that it tasted pretty close to her own homemade Spinach Pie (which tasted delicious but took hours to assemble). I bought it a few times in college since I didn't know how to cook and the directions were easy and I've continued to buy it since to keep on hand when I don't feel like cooking but want something yummy, healthy and can essentially cook itself! Pop it in the oven and 50 minutes later dinner is done. Think of all the things you can get done while it's cooking! I serve it with some butternut squash with butter and brownsugar. Lots of iron, Vit K, A, & C, folate, magnesium, and potassium and it tastes good without too much fat or sodium. Oh and it's made in Boston (and it's nice to buy somewhat locally).

3. Northeast Kingdom Spicy Maple Mustard

I love my mustards (and no, I don't make my own so I guess this doesn't fit the bill in my description above but it's staying!) and I'm always trying new flavors. We were camping in Vermont this summer and visited the Cabot Creamery when I discovered this one. They have a room where you can sample just about anything. J, me and our friends pretty much spent a good 40 minutes hovering around the cheese table poking toothpicks into each flavor of cheese (so many to try!) and then we moved on to their flavored mustards, dips and maple syrups. Awesome! This mustard is just one of the great products they sell there, I absolutely recommend stopping in if you are ever near Cabot (which is also near the Long Trail Brewery, could be a great day tip, oops, I've gone off on a tangent!). I wouldn't normally think maple and mustard would go together. The idea actually grossed me out, but I have a young unrefined palate, I have no clue what goes together till I taste it. It's pretty spicy, just a little sweet and only has ingredients you can pronounce. A 9.75 oz jar will run you $5. As an adorable side note, I ordered my second set of jars (we finished the one we bought at Cabot within a week of coming home) in December and when they arrived they came with a personalized note from the Wheeler family (the owners). So cute! Must order more to support their small business.

This list shall be continued in future posts!

*I am not employed with or affiliated with any of these companies. I receive no compensation for mentioning these products here. They're listed here purely for you to enjoy because I enjoy them.*

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Spinach and Goat Cheese

2009-01-18T22:51:00.021-05:00

The inspiration for this pizza came from one I tried at a restaurant on Cape Cod. I would have never thought to use fruit as a pizza sauce otherwise. This is one that can be a meal or an appetizer (my pictures are from Christmas when my sister asked me to bring it as an appetizer. Just substitute 3 or 4 mini pizza shells for 1 large one and cut into 1/8ths). I love eating this for dinner. It's not low-calorie but figs are high in fiber so that makes them okay in my book.

Ingredients

1 cup Black Mission Figs (dried are fine)
2 - 3 tbsps olive oil
5 cloves roasted garlic or 2 fresh
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
kosher salt and black pepper
4 oz prosciutto, chopped
10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry.
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 premade thin style pizza crust
optional: caramelized onions, mushrooms and/or bell peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the figs roughly and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan with a little water. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the figs begin to soften. Drain the water and reserve it for later. Put the figs, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary in a food processor. Pulse until well chopped. Slowly stream in some of the reserved fig water while pulsing. The mixture will be thick but should be easily spreadable. Add more liquid if needed. Adjust the seasonings if needed (I like mine flavored with a lot of garlic and rosemary). Line a cookie sheet or pizza pan with foil and place crust on top. Spread the fig puree onto the crust. It's very sweet so it shouldn't be too thick. If you have extra puree, you can freeze it for later use. Lay the prosciutto pieces across the pizza, covering it evenly. Do the same with the spinach and any other veggies you decide to add (no really, try caramelized onions!). Top last with the goat cheese. Bake for 10 minutes and then leave under the broiler for an additional 3 minutes. Cut in 4 pieces and serve (unless using as an appetizer).

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Pan Seared Scallops and Spinach and Tomato Risotto with Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

2009-01-18T22:42:00.008-05:00

Serves 4

I had something similar to this at Giorgio's in Milford, NH a few years ago. It was delicious and simple and I was so thrilled that mid-meal I told J "I can recreate this!" No, it doesn't taste exactly like theirs but I think I've done a pretty good job in creating a similar dish. And the great thing about this meal is that individually each component can be paired with other dishes. The scallops can be added to pasta or served over a salad. The risotto can be served with steak or chicken or swap the spinach and tomato for mushrooms and peas. The aioli can be spread on crusty bread (can't almost everything?) or used as a pasta sauce. Versatility!

People are always afraid to make risotto because you need stir it "constantly". Constantly is a little bit of an exaggeration. If you cook it at the right temperature, you can walk away from it here and there. Enough so that you can prepare the other parts of this meal (which are easy!). I'll start with directions for the Aioli, since that can be made a couple of days ahead of time or while you start the risotto.

One other thing: The reason I use unsalted butter and real wine (rather than cooking wne) is partially because I have high blood pressure (yay genetics!) and need to be careful about my salt intake but also because I don't like my food super salty. Another reason to use real wine is that it tastes better and that's important because that flavor is going to show up in your risotto.

Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

1 1/2 roasted red peppers, patted dry
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, whole or minced
4 tbsp light mayo
kosher salt and black pepper

I run my garlic through a garlic press first so that it evenly distributes finely through the aioli. It's not necessary (since you are using a food processor here) but J and I are both sensitive to textures so its just something I do. Otherwise put all ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until the pepper is well chopped and the ingredients are well blended. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl and pulse again. Slowly stream in the olive oil with the machine on(most food processors have an opening in the lid for you to do this) until the whole mixture emulsifies. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to a squeezable condiment container or a plastic ziplock bag. If using for a recipe other than this, a container with lid is fine.

Simple Risotto

5 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 tbsps unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
1 large onion, finely diced
2 shallots, finely diced
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
kosher salt and black pepper
3 ripe tomatoes, diced and dried gently with a paper towel
2 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves

Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan and turn heat to medium-low. In another saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion and shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to coat the rice with the pan liquids. When it's well coated add the wine to the pan. Stir and let simmer until it's mostly absorbed. Once the wine is mostly absorbed, add a small ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir. It should be absorbed into the rice in about 2 minutes. Continue adding small ladles full of stock to the rice, one at a time, allowing it to completely absorb ino the rice before adding another. Do this until the stock is gone (20 - 25 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, and tomatoes. Stir well to combine and wilt the spinach. Stir in the parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Pan Seared Scallops

12 Sea Scallops, rinsed well and patted dry
Kosher salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter or olive oil

Liberally season the scallops with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat your choice of fat over medium heat in a medium sized skillet. I use 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. The butter helps the scallops to caramelize and the olive oil prevents the butter from burning. You can use one or the other or a mixture. It's a personal preference. I even made them with a generous coating of non-stick spray. Once the pan and oil are very hot, place the scallops in the pan in a single layer (you may need to do this in two batches) and sear for 2-3 minutes. Turns the scallops with tongs (they'll easily give when ready to flip) and sear on the other side for 2-3 more minutes. Hopefully your risotto is ready and you can begin to plate everything. If not, place on plate and cover with foil till ready to serve.

To start plating, trim one of the corners of the plastic bag you have the aioli in. Squeeze a repeating zigzag line on each plate. The aioli will act as a flavoring and a garnish so there's a fine line between using too much and not enough. Top the aioli on each plate with 3/4 cup risotto and 3 scallops on top of the risotto. It'll look like you slaved away all day but if you've made risotto before, you can make the entire meal from start to finish in 45 minutes.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Pardon the Hiatus

2009-01-16T12:48:00.002-05:00

My internet has been funky at home all week. I have a few things I want to post (pan seared scallops with risotto, calzones, fig and prosciutto pizza etc! mmmm!) but can't seem to log in to blogger when I get home at night. Grrr, Comcast!

Hopefully I'll be back up and running this weekend. I don't think work would appreciate it if I spent time updating my blog from there! haha

Roasted Garlic

2009-01-09T22:57:00.018-05:00

The smell of garlic cooking in a kitchen. It's hard not to like it. It can be sharp, spicy, savory, creamy, or sweet and one can find a way to incorporate it into almost anything. Because garlic burns and becomes bitter when you cook it for more than a minute or two at high temperatures (like on a stovetop), my favorite way to make it is by roasting it at a low temperature for a long time. Cooking it like this brings out its buttery sweet flavor and it tuns soft, which means it'll practically melt when you use it.

Ingredients:

1-3 heads of roasted garlic
1-2 tbsp olive oil per head of garlic
kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 375. Lay the head of garlic on it's side and slice across the top so that all the little cloves are now exposed. If the skin is still covering some of the outer cloves, you can pull it off with you fingers or carefully cut them open with a knife. In a small casserole dish, lay a piece of aluminum foil (about twice the length of the dish) and place the heads of garlic in the center. Drizzle the olive oil over the heads on the exposed cloves. The oil keeps the cloves from drying out while cooking. Sprinkle the heads with a little kosher salt and then close the foil over the heads. I pinch the top so that I can easily peek in the little packet and see how they're doing. Put the casserole dish in the oven and set a timer for 45 minutes. Check the garlic at 45 minutes. Open the foil packet and poke the larger cloves gently with a fork. If its done, it'll be really soft and light caramel in color. If its not, drizzle a little more oil, close the foil, and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let cool and then squeeze the cloves out of the skins. Your hands will get a little greasy but they should pop out pretty easily. Grab yourself a hunk of crusty bread, spread and enjoy. It'll stay good in the fridge for a 7-10 days and freezes well.

Some of my favorite ways to use roasted garlic:
1) Top with olive oil and salt and spread onto crusty bread. It'll spread better than butter.
2) Cook some pasta. Cook a few ripe tomatoes on the stove for 3-4 minutes. Mash 1 or 2 heads with a fork, then whisk into a 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water. Pour the garlic water and cooked tomatoes onto the pasta. Season with salt, pepper and fresh basil.
3) Use alone or mix with a little mayo for a sandwich spread (awesome with veggie paninis and turkey with gruyere and tomatoes).
4) Stir into soups.
5) Add to creamy sauces like alfredo, hollandaise, bearnaise etc.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Most Exciting Christmas Presents! EVER!

2009-01-07T21:31:00.002-05:00

I ended up with a little TV in my kitchen after my Aunt N passed away 3 years ago. One thing led to another and I became a die-hard Food Network fan. It's only fitting since Aunt N was a bit of a foodie herself!

I'd watch the shows while making dinner and soon bought the cookbooks of several hosts. Every show had these brightly colored pots and pans as background props (and occasionally they'd cook in them too!). The photography in the books highlighted the gorgeous pieces of enamel and iron like they were the focus of the recipe. I eventually developed pot-envy. Why do they flaunt these spectacular things in front of my face (as I cook in old cheap pots of J's or T-fal pans that belonged to his ex-girlfriend)? hmpf! Once I figured out what they were, the holy grail of cookware LE CREUSET, I wanted my own! But holy crap, who can afford to cook real food when they've spent all their money on pots?? I've been dying to get my hands on this stuff for years but just couldn't get myself to shell out the dough.

Fortunately, I didn't have to because J finally realized that giving a girl like me fancy cookware is better than jewelry! For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive a 5 piece (count them!) Le Creuset set! I got a 3.5 quart dutch oven (with lid), a 9 inch skillet, and a 1 1/4 qt saucepan (with lid). Unwrapping the astronomically heavy box led to much squealing and celebration! Christmas felt like Christmas again!

For those of you who don't know the brand, Le Creuset makes high quality enameled cast-iron cookware. It's oven and dishwasher safe, needs no special treatment like regular cast iron, food won't stick or burn (you have to really let something go to get it to burn in one of these), it heats up evenly no matter how skewed your cooktop burners are, and all their products come in several fun, bright colors. It is a bit pricey, but I think if you're someone who does a lot of cooking, it will end up paying for itself (after you eat Ramen and oatmeal for the first 6 months that is. I think that's actually written in the warranty). It'll last long enough for you to pass on to the next generation, and as a bonus, it can be used as a weapon (the small pot I got weighs 6 lbs!! My cat weighs 7.).

I excitedly used them tonight for the first time. It's so nice to finally be able to cook delicious meals in good pots!

Next, on my list: the 7 1/4 qt dutch oven and 12x9 casserole dish. Maybe I'll spring for one of those myself. Tax refund is coming! Then you'll have something to look at in my pictures other than my ugly stove from 1983.

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Smoked Gouda and Sundried Tomato Spread

2009-01-06T21:48:00.002-05:00

I have an unhealthy love for all things cream cheese (bagels, cheesecake, creamy soups etc). It's always in my fridge. I needed another appetizer for Thanksgiving a few years ago and didn't feel like hitting the store again so off I went to rummage in the cabinets and fridge to see what I could come up with. This cheese spread is what I ended up putting on the table. Super easy to make and super tasty to eat. All you need is a food processor. The flavor of the smoked gouda will make your vegetarian friends think you are trying to trick them into eating bacon.

Ingredients:

1 8oz block light cream cheese, softened
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated smoked gouda cheese
5-8 sundried tomatoes*
3 cloves or 2 tsps of roasted garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Put the first four ingredients in food processor and pulse until well blended. Taste before adding the salt and pepper (the cheese is salty so it may be unnecessary). Garnish with parsley or basil and serve at room temperature with crackers or pretzel thins.

* I use oil-packed sundried tomatoes but you can certainly use dried ones if that's what you have on hand, just reconstitue them first by pouring boiling water over them and let them soak for 20-30 minutes. They'll release more flavor and be less likely to break your food processor blade if you soften them like this first!

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Food is love in the form of Excess

2008-12-29T20:41:00.001-05:00

I'm jumping on a plane in the morning to visit J's family in NJ for New Years. It's always fun to visit with them (although occasionally exhausting and chaotic) because they demonstrate, as many families do, their love with lots of food and affection.

Breakfast each day, consists of cakes, pies, cookies, baklava, rye breads and jam and coffee. If you find something of a savory nature to eat for breakfast, you've somehow managed to wake up in the wrong house.

We usually skip lunch because the waking hours in this family tend to be from 2pm until 5am. Breakfast is around 2, snacks in the late afternoon, and dinner happens around midnight. Even though I'm a night owl, it does take some getting used to at first, especially since both J and I work in the 8-5 world, but it's not as hard as you'd think. The hard part is attempting to go to bed 5 hours earlier when we get back home.

In Omi's house, you don't get the chance to feel even the slightest hunger pang. No sooner do you swallow the last bite of one delectable and they're asking you if you want them to make you something else. Saying "no thank you" is a guarantee way to ensure you have a schnitzel sandwich the size of a football or an enormous plate of fried potatoes, kielbasa and mustard heading in your direction. Over the years, I've learned to just say yes to their offers and at least this way I can control the size of my own 2nd or 3rd helping.

To aid digestion, bowls of various chocolates are strategically placed throughout the house. If Aunt H catches you not eating at least one while watching TV, she will come over and actually unwrap one and put it in your mouth. Time for bed? How about a cup of hot chocolate? Followed by lots of "kusse". The only vegetables I've seen in the house are pickled red cabbage and cauliflower and even those are rare (and when they appear they are doused in mayo).

When it's time to come home, I'll find that my bags are packed with jars of high-fat deliciousness like Nutella, my jeans are significantly tighter and I've developed a strong craving for large glasses of metamucil and big bowls of fiber one cereal.

It hurts a little to eat like that for days and days, but I now understand why they encourage us to do it. We usually only get to visit once a year so they're trying to squeeze all their love in on one trip. With every bite swallowed they feel a little closer to their family from NH. I've been eating a little extra the last few days to prepare my stomach for all the love that's coming . . .

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley

Thai Chicken Pizza

2008-12-28T15:53:00.002-05:00

This is one of J's favorites. It's got healthy fats and is piled high with veggies but still falls into the comfort food category (without being loaded with tons of cheese). Here I use a store bought pizza crust and a premade peanut sauce (with some tweaking of course!) but you certainly can use raw pizza dough (just increase cooking time by 10-12 minutes) and can make your own peanut sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger and lime juice. I make enough stuff from scratch that on weeknights I'll swap out substitutions like this to get dinner on the table and into my belly faster.

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat thin-style precooked pizza crust
2 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1 1/2 to 2 cups rinsed pea pods, cut in half
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 2 inch strips
half of 1 small can bamboo shoots, drained
1-2 tbsp each chopped garlic, ginger
1 - 2 tbsp tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
4 tbsp peanut sauce
2 - 3 tbsp sweet n' sour sauce
1/2 cup grated or 2 oz thin sliced smoked gouda cheese
red pepper flakes, basil, kosher salt and pepper to taste
optional: onion / mushrooms

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (I am not spoiled enough to own a pizza stone). Preheat a stovetop grill pan to medium - high heat. Trim fat from chicken breasts and pound slightly. I pound them just enough to ensure they cook evenly but try to keep most of the thickness as we want decent sized slices of chicken when we're done. Season with salt and pepper. When the grill is hot, lighty brush with olive oil and place chicken in pan. The chicken is ready to be flipped when it easily lifts off the pan, usually 4-5 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, place the crust on cookie sheet and spread sweet n' sour sauce and peanut sauce on crust. Sprinkle red pepper flakes and basil on top of sauce. Once you've flipped over the chicken, toss pea pods, bell peppers, garlic, ginger (and onions and mushrooms if using) into the grill pan and let cook with the chicken. Sprinkle the tamari and a little salt and pepper over the veggies as the cook. Give the veggies a stir once or twice while cooking. They should be done cooking after 4 or 5 minutes (along with the chicken). Remove veggies and chicken to a plate to rest.

While veggies and chicken are cooling down, lay bamboo shoots across the pizza crust (on top of the sauce) and slice or grate your cheese. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, thinly slice at an angle and layer all across the pizza. Pile the veggies on top of the chicken. And then top with the smoked gouda and more red pepper flakes.

Bake for 10 minutes or until gouda is lightly browned. Cool slightly and cut into 4 triangles.

Don't be alarmed if the pizza seems like one huge pile of veggies. That's the way it should be! You will need a fork, knife and probably several napkins. Serves 2-4 (depending on the how big your appetite is!)

© 2008, 2009 Food is to Love / Andrea Quigley

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2008-12-27T12:33:00.001-05:00

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