Author Archives: kaprise

Sunday Seven

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I have decided that every Sunday I will share seven things from the prior week. Only positive things! I’ll post pictures too!

1. The beautiful holiday snow
2. My dog. She is just so funny
3. The Shark steam mop I have. It makes cleaning the kitchen floor a snap.
4. This new job opportunity I have. I’ll tell you more about it later.
5. Friends who visit during the holidays.
6. Those random phone calls from friends who just want to catch up and chat.
7. Brownies. Because chocolate solves everything.

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Paleo Cabbage Ribbons

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Did I tell you my sister and my mother keep a paleo diet? Yeah. I don’t really… I eat cookies and brownies. I don’t eat much pasta or bread, but I am not paleo. I just don’t have the self control, plus the three months I tried it all I did was eat bacon and eggs. You know what happens when you eat bacon and eggs every day? You get fat.

Anyway – my sister brought home these two gorgeous cabbages from her co-op and then promptly flew the coop for the west coast for the holidays. I’ve been staring at the two cabbages thinking “how much coleslaw can someone eat???”

However, I decided I wanted something warm and yummy. It is snowing outside, after all. I read a couple recipes about roasted slices of cabbage, and as I sliced into my pretty cabbage, I realized the slices wouldn’t stay together, let alone roast in a single piece. However, I threw caution to the wind and roasted my pretty slices. I generously sprinkled some salt, pepper, and good olive oil over the slices. I baked at 400F for about 40 minutes. I had two pans. One, I kept as tidy as possible and let the slices roast. And the second? I pulled apart those slices into beautifully toasted ribbons. I tossed a little chopped garlic in at the last minute and baked for another 5 minutes. Glorious.

Paleo Cabbage Ribbons (an inspired recipe)

  • 1 head of green cabbage, washed and the outer leaves removed
  • 4 cloves of minced garlic
  • salt
  • pepper
  • about 1/4 cup of olive oil (plus some as needed)
  1. Preheat the oven to 400F
  2. Slice the cabbage into slices and remove the core in the middle sections
  3. In two rimmed baking sheets, place the slices in the sheets, spaced apart well.
  4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
  5. Evenly drizzle olive oil
  6. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes
  7. Break apart the slices into ribbons and toss with minced garlic
  8. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, or until caramelized

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Super Chocolate Brownies

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You know. I just don’t like home-made brownies. The boxes just GET it right. It is the ONE boxed good that I will concede is better than something I can make in my kitchen.

However, sometimes you just don’t feel like leaving the house for brownie mix and the remnants of your last chocolate binge will make a pretty decent brownie, melted and stirred in with some butter.

Here is my recipe. It calls for an obscene 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of chocolate. I use whatever little pieces of chocolate I have left over from chocolate bars, cookie recipes, and what not.

Be sure NOT to over bake – since the brownie will continue to bake in the pan after you remove it from the oven, be sure to take it out a few minutes before it is set. “JUST” about to set is how I describe it.

Enjoy lovies!

I’m off to polish off the rest of that wine and go sledding. It snowed again!!!

xoxo

-H

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New. Desk.

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I might have told you guys that I’m taking the bar exam in February, and so I bought myself a new desk. Just a place to put my laptop and a new thing to get me motivated to study more.

Yesterday, I was assembling my new desk, and the little bar that holds a piece of the frame up slipped and fell… right into my face since it just happened to be in the way. I didn’t think anything of it, and just whined about my nose being a little squished. Then I was cleaning and bonked my head on the window sill a couple hours later. I didn’t think of it, but I woke up this morning.

Ta. DA. I have a little bit of a black eye. Not so noticeable, but it’s definitely swollen and a little blue.

I know it’s nothing to laugh about, but… HAHAHAHA I actually gave myself a black eye!! Hysterical.

Right. Today. I am going to run.

xoxo ~h

The Burn

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So since I graduated from college, I have been plagued with heartburn. The kind that is so awful that my GP originally thought I had heart problems, for which I had my heart monitored and some such nonsense. Then we discovered it was a stomach issue, and I was put on a number of different medications, and tested for ulcers and a bunch of other ailments. At the end? No answer. I don’t take medication anymore because it ended up hurting me more.

Now, you are asking “what the f are you talking about your stomach for on a FOOD blog?” because I would ask the same thing. Personally, I find talking about anything stomach or bodily function related is rather vulgar… no one wants to know!!  But, I felt like I needed to write a bit about it because it does prevent me from posting occasionally. There are some things that I make and then I’m plagued with this awful chest tightness, and I have nothing positive to write about my food. I know it might not be the food, and it’s probably just this horrible thing I suffer from, but I just can’t bring myself to write about it.

And then, you know I could write about running, but when I feel this tightness in my chest, I’m loathe to run because it hurts.

Anyway, I made this wonderful pasta dish today, but for whatever reason my stomach is squeezing the breath out of my body, so I can’t write much more, but I did want to tell you that so many more recipes are coming.

 

xoxo ~h

 

 

Salmon Mousse

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This is part of the very late Thanksgiving recipes… but I promise the recipes that I will post over the next few hours/days will be well worth the wait.

One of the appetizers I set out was spinach and artichoke dip… I wrote the recipe on the site a while back. The second was something NEW. I had never made Salmon Mousse before, but when I saw the recipe while flipping through my cookbooks, I knew I had to try it.

I’ve always enjoyed anything salmon, but recently I have been having a bit of a love affair with smoked salmon. Smoked sockeye salmon to be exact. I had 16oz of some beautifully smoked sockeye and whipped up this mousse.

My recipe suggested serving this piped onto cucumber circles with a bit of bread… but I decided to keep to the “dip” theme and left this mousse piled prettily into a dish for dipping purposes.

Anyway…. on to the mousse

Salmon Mousse (adapted very lightly from Williams-Sonoma’s Festive Entertaining)

  • 14 oz smoked salmon (I used sockeye), roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt (full fat)
  • 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • 2 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
  • 1 lemon, juiced and zested
  1. In a food processor – combine all the ingredients. Zest the whole lemon into the processor and 2 tablespoons of the juice. Blend until smooth
  2. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Simple. Delicious!

 

Turkey Turkey

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Everyone always tells me that the turkey is the most difficult part of pulling off Thanksgiving… and I was never really sure because my father  has always handled the turkey. Did I ever tell you about my dad? He’s my very own super hero. Anyway ~ each year I help with the turkey in some small way… whether it is insisting on adding lemon to it, or sprinkling it with oregano, or whatever. This year however, I did the whole thing on my own.

I had a little help. My older sister brought be a free range, cleanly raised birdie. I will tell you it is not like those flaccid Butterballs with the loose skin and creepishly uniformly white plucked skin. This birdie was well raised. Firm, and fresh. I can’t describe it, but the minute I pulled it from its plastic bag, I knew it was going to be good.

I read someplace that a little lemon in the cavity helps keep the bird from smelling to gamey and a little water in the pan helps move the bird along to roast more quickly and end up more succulent. I also read quite a bit about beer cans, deep fryers, and weird combinations but I set those ideas aside.

After rinsing my bird in very cold water, I patted it dry. I also looked it over and removed any pin feathers and extra skin. Then, I sliced two little holes by the thighs and tucked the wing-tips in to prevent burning. With my fingers, I generously spread 8 tablespoons of high quality butter over every surface of the bird. Using an aggressive 3 finger pinch of good salt, generously salted the inside and outside of the bird. I stuffed two spray-free lemons cut in half inside of the cavity. I also sprinkled a good amount of oregano over the bird and tucked a few sprigs of herbs between the lemons.

I roasted (baked?) my turkey in the oven on a roasting pan at 325 degrees F for 3 hours and 30 minutes. I periodically checked on the bird and poured water into the basin of the roasting pan when it started to get too dry. I had a 14 pound bird. I would have said that I could have done about 3 hours and 15 minutes, as the breast of my bird was a bit dry.

Simple and easy. After carving, I broke down the carcass and made turkey stock. Unfortunately I was harebrained and left it on the stove top one day too long and it went bad… however if I was as diligent as I should have been I would have added some carrots and celery and reduced the stock by half before freezing for another use.

I think with good quality ingredients, simple preparation is the best way to enjoy the food. This turkey was by far the most delicious I’ve had… maybe enhanced a bit because I did it!

How did you guys make your turkeys?

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