Spinach Salad with Grapes & Olives

So this one time I made this chicken and then had a ridiculous amount of grapes and olives left over. After the chicken was long gone, I still had to come up with some sort of lunch for work, you know, all adult-like. I stole some baby spinach from the boyfriend and a salad was born. Paired it with some hard boiled eggs for the protein factor and voila! Lunch! I wish it was always that easy.

We’ve got punchy, salty, fermenty olives, sweet black grapes, spicy pepperoncinis, more salty but creamy feta, crunchy toasted sunflower seeds, and a hefty squeeze of puckery lemon.

You couldn’t have more flavors and textures going on at once, and it is damn pleasing.

Being both a supertaster and a recovering sectional eater, I never would have thought that a salad such as this would ever grace my plate.

Supertaster? Huh? Yea, it totally exists and helped to explain much of my life prior to learning about it. Over the years, I’ve been able to train my palate to be more accepting of overpowering flavors --- anything fermented, vinegar, red onion, any and all things anise flavored, bitter, sour, sweet, salty --- everything is just more intense. I’m better with textures than I used to be, but I didn’t eat avocado for the better part of two decades because I couldn’t get over the weird butteriness of it. And until I was about 21, nothing . could . touch . I was a big fan of things “on the side.”

While I am still able to find that ONE piece of stray arugula that snuck it’s way into my salad bar romaine, LOATHE, I’ve gotten better! I could drink my homemade vinegar based dressings, I pickled red onions this summer, and I’ve come a long way in the mixing and matching of meals. You can look for no further proof than this salad.

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Spinach Salad with Grapes & Olives

Ingredients:

8 ounces spinach

1 cup mixed pitted olives, halved

1 cup red or black seedless grapes, halved

¼ cup crumbled feta

¼ cup sunflower seeds

2 to 3 pepperoncini peppers, sliced

juice of half a lemon

good drizzle of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Assemble spinach, olives, grapes, feta, sunflower seeds, and pepperoncinis in a large serving bowl.

Squeeze the half of the lemon over the top of the salad (or like, be responsible, and do this in separate bowl to avoid rogue seeds), give a good drizzle of olive oil over top, and then do salt and pepper to taste. Go light on the salt at first due to the feta and olives, don’t want it to get too salty.

Toss all ingredients until well combined.

Serves 6 as a starter or side

What I Really Eat: Roasted Sprouts & Squash

Here’s my dilemma: It’s 8:05 on a Sunday night. I’ve just spent all day testing recipes and the majority, failed. Or it was all desserts. This means...I still need to make dinner without much time to make things or maybe even the will to make anything else more complicated.

On days like this I usually fall back on my lazy girl dinner, which is meatloaf. And my other secret weapon is the fact that, on Sunday mornings -- we eat bacon.

After I finally got my act together and learned that making bacon in the oven is actually, the best, I now always end up with sheet pan of bacon drippings on Sundays. This means that without fail, whatever languishing vegetable is in the crisper drawer gets tossed in a coating of bacon fat, salt, pepper, and whatever else seems like a good idea and thrown into the oven for 40 minutes.

This dish is salty, spicy, and a bit sweet --- the sprouts get crispy, the squash rings chewy --- it is all the things. I’d love to tell you I made a beautiful roasted chicken or perfectly seared steak to go with these.

But what I really did was #putaneggonit. (and it was glorious.) 

Welcome to “What I Really Eat”, the series.

Now this is not to say that I wouldn't routinely eat the things I post up on here. If I've spent Sunday testing something that we can eat for dinner, then of course, that’s what’s on the table.

"What I really eat" are my "Iron Chef" meals. My pantry meals. Shit, my fridge is empty meals. The things that come out of necessity and lack of time. The ingredient list will usually be small and the execution usually simple. Something that is less of a recipe and more of a guideline. If something exceptionally awesome comes out of my Sunday night scramble, it will get posted as a “What I Really Eat” and probably be accompanied with a not-my-best photo.

We can’t have it all.

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Roasted Sprouts & Squash

Ingredients:

1 pound brussels sprouts, halved

1 to 2 delicata squash, sliced into ¼ inch rings -- seeds scooped out

drizzle of olive oil or if available bacon grease

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

chili powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

On a large sheet pan that has hopefully been recently used to cook bacon, spread out the squash rings and sprout halves evenly. (If bacon grease is not available, just drizzle well with olive oil)

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of maple syrup over vegetables, then season with salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste. Give the vegetables a quick toss to coat in the syrup, fat, and spices.

Roast in the oven for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, tossing occasionally so the veggies caramelize evenly.

Serves 4 as a side

Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Did everyone else already figure out that Christmas is in less than a week?! Because that shit snuck up on me this year. And that is nearly impossible for a Christmas baby, like myself. An actual Christmas baby, as in, down to the day.

So to make up for the fact that I’ve neglected it completely I just went on an amazon clicking SPREE. Because, as proven previously, I am a “responsible” “adult” who leaves more than enough time to get things done and never lets things burn in the oven.

I waited until the day before the secret santa exchange to purchase the gift online and then was super surprised when everything went wrong with the order. No, that will not ship when you need it, no, definitely a week after you need it and no, you can’t cancel your order because you need to be taught lessons in thinking ahead of time. Thanks, life.

Will I learn my lesson? Will I begin my Christmas shopping IMMEDIATELY so that I can have everything wrapped before the actual day arrives? We shall see. I do enjoy the adrenaline rush of finding out NOTHING WILL SHIP WHEN IT’S SUPPOSED TO AND THIS IS OUT OF STOCK AND YOU CAN’T FIND IT IN STORES.

Whew! I love the holidays!!

Lies. I am possibly a Grade A grinch. I am sorry to burst anyone’s holiday bubble. I am a bah humbug, no tree, no decor, no holiday spirit type person. In other words, the worst. But! but! but! Before you leave me and my Christmas hating ways, give me a secret surprise to try and contain for weeks and a rolling pin and cookie cutters and I am your girl! I make up for my Scrooge-likeness with my deep pleasure for gift giving and holiday baking.

I am super excited to try out this recipe from the goddess over at smitten kitchen and I’ve already made and gifted her hot chocolate mix.

In the meantime, I’m plotting what my birthday sweet might be and making super simple meals like the one below while I panic over the upcoming holiday. All I can say is, thank goodness for amazon prime shipping!

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Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet italian sausage, squeezed from casing

1 large butternut squash, or two small ones peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

4 to 5 whole sage leaves

Directions:

Brown sausage in a pan over medium heat until no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes. Break up sausage into crumbles as it it cooking.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

While sausage is browning, prepare a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper or tinfoil. Spread cubed squash out on pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Once the sausage crumbles are basically cooked through, toss them with squash on the sheet pan. Make sure to get all that good sausage fat on there too and coat the squash cubes with it.

Throw into the oven for approximately 40 minutes, turning over at least once so the squash sides roast equally.

While the sausage and squash is roasting, melt butter and sage down in a small pan over a medium heat. Once it’s melted, watch for it to become a toasty brown and start to smell nutty. Watch it very carefully. Don’t let it go too far or you'll end up with burnt butter, not brown butter.

Remove from heat once brown and nutty. Set aside.

Once squash and sausage is done roasting, pour brown butter sage sauce over the hot squash and sausage. Toss gently to coat and serve.

Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

I’m still mourning the end of my beautiful, lovely, first year of my CSA. My last pickup was about a month ago. Although, somehow, my fridge is still overflowing with vegetables.

I’ve got bundles and bundles of chard, kale, and carrots. Pretty yellow carrots which, I might add, I am having a hard time eating just because they are so pretty. It's a problem of mine, see here.

The escarole and beans in this soup below were from my farm share. I’d never encountered the beans previously. Although, now I have been spotting those pretty pink thangs all over the farmer’s market. If you can’t find the beans or the escarole at the greenmarket, just sub in another leafy green, like kale or chard and some dried or canned cannellini beans

In New York, it is going to be GROSS and rainy this weekend. While I am staunchly pro-sunshine --- cold, rainy, winter weekends do give me a nice excuse to catch up on several episodes of The Wire and get all sorts of cuddly with the boy and the cat, because obviously I am also staunchly pro-snuggling.

A warm bowl of soup really rounds out the picture, don’t you think?

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Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

Ingredients:

1 pound hot italian sausage, squeezed from casing

dash of olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

approx. 2 cups shelled cranberry beans (can substitute dried or canned cannellini beans if desired)

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1 head escarole, torn into bite sized pieces (can also use any other winter leafy green - they may need more cooking time however.)

shredded parmesan for garnish (if desired)

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat brown sausage until no longer pink. Scoop sausage onto a plate and set aside. Add a dash of olive oil to the sausage fat and then add the chopped onions. Scrape up the brown bits from the sausage while stirring the onions, coating them in fat. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic to onions and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sausage back in, along with beans. Lastly, add in the broth and water. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, and bay leaf.

Bring soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook until beans are soft and creamy, about 45 minutes. If you substitute canned beans, they will only need about 15 minutes to warm through. Stir in escarole and let wilt into soup, approximately 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Serve with grated parmesan on top, if desired.

Yield: approximately 8 cups

Squash Pudding

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday.

I think we were about 14 years old when my best friend Deborah and I were invited to eat at the “grownup” table. We were beside our selves, what with the pretty china and crystal glasses we’d get to eat and drink from, likely with our pinkies up.

It started off all well and good. But without getting into all the details, we were not invited back the next year.

At 26, we sometimes still eat at the children’s table.
 

It’s more fun there anyways.

Mama’s fall classics make their first appearance of the holiday season on Thanksgiving, another reason for it being my favorite. Things like her fresh cranberry relish, corn casserole, cranberry upside down cake, and her squash pudding.

The general atmosphere is one of love and thanks and lovely smells from the oven permeate the cozy air.

I took my mama’s squash pudding and put a slight spin on it. Instead of regular old oats, I switched them out for some Bob’s Mill gluten free ones. And in the spirit of avoiding refined sugars, I traded brown sugar for coconut palm sugar and white sugar for honey. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Squash Pudding

Ingredients:

Topping:

½ cup crushed pecans

½ cup gluten free oats

⅓ cup coconut palm sugar

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

Pudding:

1 large butternut squash, cooked, scooped out of skin, and mashed (approx. 2 cups of mashed squash)

½ cup of coconut palm sugar

¼ cup of honey

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup of grassfed heavy cream or whole milk

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the pecans, gluten free oats, coconut palm sugar and pinch of salt. (Do not add melted butter yet! ) Set topping aside.

In the same large ovenproof casserole dish you will be using to bake the pudding in, make sure your squash is thoroughly mashed and no large chunks remain. Add the sugars, ginger, vanilla, cream, butter, and eggs to the squash and whisk to combine well.

Spread the topping evenly across the top of the pudding. Lastly, pour remaining melted butter evenly over topping mix, so that most of the topping has absorbed the butter.

Bake in the oven for approximately 40-50 minutes or until the topping is a nice crisp golden brown.

Cauliflower Falafel

This truly needs no introduction.

No better way to end this Mediterranean week.

Cauliflower really wins the prize here. It does the job. I was super surprised at how well this actually turned out. And man, did it hit that falafel craving spot.

The end.

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Cauliflower Falafel

guided by this recipe and this one

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower, riced to the size of couscous

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup parsley, finely chopped

1 ½ tablespoons almond flour

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

2 eggs, beaten

oil, for frying

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix cauliflower, onion, garlic, parsley, almond flour, spices, and eggs together until well combined.

Cover and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes. (Don’t skip this step, it helps to keep them together.)

Once the falafel mix has chilled long enough, heat up a small saucepan with approximately 2 inches of oil.

The cauliflower falafel mix will have let out a lot of liquid. Don’t worry.

When the oil is ready, scoop a couple tablespoons worth of falafel mix into your hand and shape it to about the size of a golf ball. While you are shaping it, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the ball you are forming.

A few at a time, place the falafels in the hot oil.

Gently turn them over once they have begun to turn a deep brown color on one side. Remove them once both sides are a deep golden brown. Lay them to drain on a paper towel covered plate.

Yield: about 10 golf ball sized falafels

Serve with Spicy Delicata Hummus (if you’d like!)

Cauliflower Tabbouleh

And so I declare this Mediterranean week here in the sizzle & sass kitchen!

It hit me like a ton of bricks about three weeks ago. I could think of nothing else but warm pita, falafels, tabbouleh, and hummus for straight up days. Conveniently this craving struck during the high holidays, meaning, that the Mediterranean place near my job was closed in observance several times.

It got me thinking though as I was finally inhaling still hot from the fryer falafels one day that hmm, I wonder if I could paleo-fy these? Oh and maybe hummus!….AND MAYBE TABBOULEH!

Can we just straight talk for a second? I just want to say that I use paleo as a framework for how I eat day to day. I am not so strict about eating that way 100% of the time. One of the best parts for me has been expanding how I think about food and the way it can be used. It helps me get creative! I'm actually working on re-writing my about me to reflect these thoughts. The "buzzwords" in there have always killed me a little bit. So, anyways, while I am pretty positive some chickpeas once in a while ain’t gonna kill me, having the revelation (which I’m sure is not so original) that cauliflower riced to couscous size could work as chickpeas. I mean come on! I had to try it.

So for the people that do follow strict paleo for whatever reasons and are missing dearly those crunchy, herby, lovely balls of chickpeas, and smooth yummy hummus and refreshingly delicious tabbouleh…I did my best to find applicable substitutions, and I have filed these recipes under SUCCESS.

Today I give you tabbouleh! Hummus and falafels will be posted later this week.

One note about this tabbouleh. Mine looks a teensy bit on the brown side.

You see, what had happened was…

Listen, I don’t think you will have half as many things going on in your oven as I did the day I made this. So you probably won’t be switching pans around to different places in oven and you probably won’t stupidly place your roasting riced cauliflower on the very bottom of the oven and then shut the door and then discover it about five minutes too late when you go to switch things around again.

You will roast this until it's just perfectly tender and just a smidgen toasty on the edges.

Got it? Great.

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Cauliflower Tabbouleh

2 cups of cauliflower, riced in a food processor (about the size of couscous)

1 cup of diced tomatoes

½ cup of parsley, finely chopped

½ cup of mint, finely chopped

approximately ¼ cup of olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and spread your riced cauliflower on the pan.

Roast in oven until tender and slightly toasty on the edges, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Place in bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, add the tomatoes and herbs to the bowl and then dress with olive oil and lemon juice and add seasoning, stir to combine all ingredients. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Tabbouleh is one of the those feel it out type of salads. My mother’s ratio is more bulgar wheat to herbs and then she sorta continues to taste it and add in the oil, lemon, and salt and pepper until it tastes right. This is essentially her recipe with the bulgar switched out for cauliflower.

Fried Squash Blossoms

Now I’ve been playing with these cute little yellow flowers all summer and I finally found something I felt worth posting (though simple and unassuming it might be.)

But then I put it in my back pocket since I had assumed that going into September that it was probably too late for such summery things.

But then in a brief foray to a farmer’s market on my lunch break Wednesday, I spied with my little eye squash blossoms still sitting on a table. And so I feel it it is still appropriate as chilly as these mornings and nights might be to share this with you. If anything it may now seem comforting to stand over a hot pan of oil frying these off.

It took me a bit to figure out the proper breading technique for this delicate lacy little things. My first breading, my go-to, was too heavy for them. I tried just egg wash, just parm, just almond flour. But the key here is the tapioca starch, you could even leave out the parm if you wanted, it's for flavor more than anything. The tapioca starch here gets them nice and crispy but still keeps them light as air.

Traditional recipes also stuffed them full of other things. I will experiment with that next summer, I think. But for now I leave you with the most down to earth version, a fresh tasting bud with the nicest crunch and a sprinkling salt. Practically addicting. Especially dipped in a bit of fresh sauce.

Mangia, mangia!

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Fried Squash Blossoms

Ingredients:

14-16 squash blossoms

¼ cup tapioca starch

palmful of grated parmesan ( if desired)

2 eggs

¼ cup of olive oil for frying

salt

Directions:

Mix the tapioca starch and the parmesan together on a medium sized plate.

Beat your eggs in a small to medium sized bowl. Put all your squash blossoms in that same bowl and gently toss them to cover them all in egg.

Heat the oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat.

While the oil is heating up, take a few of the egg coated blossoms and one by one dip them in the tapioca-parm mix to cover completely. Gently shake off the excess and set aside for frying.

Once the oil is hot enough (you can place the end of a wooden spoon in the oil to see if it sizzles) place a few blossoms in the pan. Don’t over crowd. Fry on each side until golden brown.

Lay to drain on a paper towel covered plate. While still hot from the pan sprinkle with a touch of salt.

Continue with the rest of blossoms.

I served these with Fresh Sauce for dipping, but they’re great just plain as well.