Stephanie says

Smitten Kitchen Keepers  new cookbook by Deb Perelman I've followed Smitten Kitchen for at least fifteen years and I love this new cookbook.  I bought it as a Christmas present to myself. So far I've made:  Pea feta and mint fritters: Peanut butter oat and jam bars; Skillet white bean "caesar'; Winter squash soup; Swiss chard enchiladas.   Each of these recipes was delicious.  I look forward to trying more recipes! I love beans in any form.  The  following recipe: Skillet white bean "caesar", is so tasty. Serves 1 or 2 Ingredients Olive oil 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs Kosher salt 2 garlic cloves 3 anchovy fillets 1 TBL drained capers Red-pepper flakes Grated zest and nice of 1/2 lemon One 15.5 ounce can white beans, (cannelloni, navy, etc.), drained and rinsed. I cooked up a pound of dried Great northern beans in the instant, for 35 minutes.  30 minutes would have sufficed - the beans were a tad mushy.) 1/4 tsp smooth Dijon mustard 1 TBL grated parm...

  A hearty loaf with a tight crumb and a hint of sweetness. Ingredients: 1 pkg yeast (2-1/4 tsp) 2-1/2 cup liquid (I use water) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup molasses 1/2 cup butter 1 tsp salt 2 cups whole wheat flour 6 cups unbleached white flour - (save 6th cup to knead dough.) 1 cups raisins (optional) 1.  Dissolve yeast in small container with 1/2 cup water and a bit of the brown sugar.  Stir.  Let sit 10 minutes while you gather other ingredients.' 2.  In large bowl, add wheat flour and 5 cups white flour.  Stir in remaining brown sugar, molasses, butter and salt.  Add dissolved yeast.  Stir to mix. 3.  Pour out on counter.  Knead 10 minutes, adding sprinkles of flour as necessary.  Pour some olive oil into original mixing bowl.  Place kneaded dough in bowl.  Rub oil over top.  Place a tea towel over dough.  Let rise until dough I doubled in size, around two hours if your kitchen is warm.   4.  Prepa...

  Cowboy caviar. A delicious salad or tortilla dip. I whipped up this version tonight with sadly no ripe avocado available. Circle back to the name, cowboy caviar. Real Cowboys don’t eat avocados! Cowboy Caviar Prep Time:  25   mins Serves  8 This Cowboy Caviar recipe is adapted from  The Well Plated Cookbook  by Erin Clarke. Served with tortilla chips, it's a fantastic party appetizer, but it's also delicious as a salad. Toss it with greens, or enjoy it on its own. Ingredients 1 1/2   cups   cooked black beans ,  drained and rinsed 1 1/2   cups   cooked black-eyed peas ,  drained and rinsed 2   cups   cherry tomatoes ,  halved 1   cup   corn kernels 1   red bell pepper ,  stemmed, seeded and diced 1/2   cup   diced red onion 1   medium jalapeño pepper ,  finely chopped juice of 1 lime 2   large avocados ,  pitted and diced 1/4   cup   cilantro tortilla ...

  Panna Cotta Recipe Ingredients You only need 7 basic ingredients! 3 Tbsp cold water 4 tsp (12 g) gelatin 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar Pinch salt 2 tsp vanilla extract Bloom gelatin: Pour water into a bowl, add gelatin all at once and mix right away. Let rest at least 5 minutes. Prepare ice bath: Fill a large bowl with a few cups of ice and enough cold water to come about halfway up the bowl. Simmer dairy, sugar and salt: Meanwhile in a large saucepan bring heavy cream, milk, sugar and salt to a simmer stirring frequently to dissolve sugar, remove from heat. Melt gelatin, pour into dairy mixture: Immediately following heat gelatin mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt mixture to liquid form and then right away pour into cream mixture and whisk for 30 seconds. Cool in ice bath: Set saucepan over ice bath and stir with a spoon until it’s cool to the touch. Stir in vanilla. P...

 Mexican restaurants were a long time coming to Oregon.  Taco Bell opened in Portland circa 1965 - I was totally hooked on tostadas: the crunch of the corn tortilla, creamy refried beans, crisp lettuce, grated cheese and hot sauce. However tame is seems now, it was Yum. My taste for Mexican food broadened during the 80s when I was introduced to Green Chile Pork by a friend who learned to make it growing up in Colorado. Anaheim Chile was the primary green, along with onions and garlic.  It was delicious.  We'd cook up huge batches for parties and it was always a hit.  The recipe morphed into a soup with the addition of cooked beans.  Delicious. Then came 2021 and a weekly CSA share, (community-supported agriculture,) from Gathering Together Farm, an organic farm-stand a couple miles from my house.  Using the various seasonal veggies takes planning.   There were tomatillos, poblano chiles, jalapeños, onions, garlic, and cilantro last week.  The...

One of those moments you can’t erase:  Me meeting Michael at his Honolulu apartment, we had dinner plans. So I knock, knock, he eventually answers, oddly enough armed with his Hawaiian sling, (rubber band version of a spear gun.)  He’d spear fished earlier in the day and bagged himself a big ole Moray eel. Took it home. Put it in the sink.  He realized that eels breathe air, they’re not just any fish, at precisely the moment this large, powerful  creature, with scarily sharp teeth, jumped out of the sink and dove under the refrigerator.  Stage entrance Stephanie. Thank you Michael. I recall barefoot Michael perched on a counter, rocking the refrigerator with one hand, a spear in the other, trying to flush out the Moray. I was barefoot, standing on a chair. Laughing uproariously when not shrieking, at my brother's attempt to contain this powerful creature without losing any fingers or toes . Michael eventually moved the refrigerator and speared the eel. Back ...

I had four hours to wait at Puerto Vallarta airport, 6000 pesos in my pocket, and some very nice leather goods shops to browse.  So I shopped for a purse. I ended up with this beautiful specimen to add to my collection.  For a whopping $400. Partly because foreign money doesn't seem quite real.  And also because I really, really wanted to avoid going through the currency exchange.