Fresh Cherry Oat Crumble

Fresh cherry & oatmeal crumble, made with backyard cherries! Our cherries were not very sweet, so adjust the sugar as needed.

Coconut oil can be substituted for the butter, and vanilla extract can be used if you don't have almond extract.

2 Cups rolled oats, divided

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 Cup White Sugar

1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, cubed

1 Large egg

1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds

*

4 Cups Fresh Cherries, pitted

1 1/3 Cup White Sugar

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

*

Generously grease a 9 inch square pan with butter, oil, or cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 350° F.

Prepare the cherries. Add 1 1/3 Cup white sugar to the washed and pitted cherries to coat them. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to prevent browning. (Don't add the almond extract or cornstarch yet.) Set aside.

In a blender or food processor, pulverized 1 1/2 Cups oats into a coarse flour. (Set aside the remaining 1/2 Cup oats.) Add AP flour, baking powder, and salt. If using a blender, transfer the dry mixture into a bowl or mixer.

Add 1/3 Cup white sugar and 1/4 Cup light brown sugar. Mix to incorporate. Add 1/2 Cup cubed butter and mix or stir with a spatula until the butter has blended and the mixture is a sandy texture. Stir in the egg.

Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Stir the 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 2 Tablespoons cornstarch into the cherries. Spoon the cherry mixture into the pan, keeping most of the syrupy juice away from the edges to avoid the dessert sticking to the sides of the pan.

To the remaining oat & butter crumble, add the 1/2 Cup oats that had been set aside, plus 1/4 Cup sliced almonds. Stir together. Pour the crumble loosely on top of the cherries in an even layer, allowing a lot of texture. This will make a crunchy top as it bakes.

Baked at 350°F for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Enjoy warm or after it has cooled!

#😋

Pasta Salad: Trader Joe's Components

Typically, doing all your shopping for a meal at one place means compromising on either the cost or the quality of some of the components. I'm lucky to have many grocery store chains, as well as farmer's market and bakery options, to find my ingredients. Ideally, I shop in a nomadic way, getting guacamole from TJs, salsa from Safeway, meat from one of the smaller places that only carries Painted Hills (because they won't have a lower quality for specials). That requires a lot of time and traveling.

So I have an ongoing challenge to myself to take the components from any one place to make a meal. For the last few years, I've had the extra challenge of not having a real kitchen to cook in, only plug-in appliances and a small refrigerator. This has meant that I eat a lot of simple salads, using oil and vinegar as a dressing.

That wasn't going to work when I needed a ready-made entree to take to a party. I needed to make something where I wouldn't be stuck trying to store lots of leftover ingredients. I feel that I succeeded in this pasta salad because it covered these bases:

1. total ingredients bought in a $20 shopping trip
2. minimal cooking
3. simple prep/short time to prep
4. varied and tasty
5. organic ingredients
6. vegetarian
7. good for hot weather

This recipe makes good use of Trader Joe's package sizes. You'll need something to cook pasta (appliance and pot or dish), refrigeration or other cold-holding, containers for cut vegetables, a zester/peeler if you have one, a cutting board, and a knife.

Because I used the marination from the mozzarella as the dressing, to make a dairy free/vegan version of this, you would need to substitute in a vegan dressing with garlic and herbs as well as leaving out the two cheeses.

Cooling the cooked pasta apart from the raw veges allowed the marinate flavor to sink in to the cooked ingredients. I didn't have any large containers, so I had to use several. This is how I split it up for travel. It was assembled at the final destination.

A) penne, broccoli, parmesan cheese, peppers, cherry tomatoes

B) cucumber, carrots

C) mozzarella

D) olive can unopened

TJ Trip Pasta Salad

Organic Penne Rigate, dry, 8oz (half of the package)

Organic broccoli (1 package crowns or crowns from 1 stem)

Purple carrots (2 from package of organic rainbow carrots), thinly sliced 

1 organic cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced

4 mini bell peppers (from 8oz package of baby bell peppers, red to yellow), slivered

Organic cherry tomatoes (3/4 of a 10oz package) cut in half

12 oz Marinated Mozzarella (small mozzarella balls in oil/herb/vinegar marinade)

Slivered parmesan cheese, about 1 oz (to taste)

Sea salt (to taste)

Cook 8oz of penne in a saucepan for 7 minutes, or until cooked but still very firm. For me, this means:

boil water in an electric kettlepouring enough water to cover the penne in the pot, cover with lidstart timerleave the covered pot on a hot plate until there's a rolling boil, turn off the hot plate

Add the cut broccoli crown pieces directly into the pot. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. (If you are using whole broccoli, save the stem! Cut away the hard outer layer and slice the tender middle for stir fry or soup.)

Drain. Pour 2 Tablespoons of the mozzarella marinade into the mixture; stir until coated evenly. Cool for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator. After cooling, add salt to taste.

Cut up the rest of the vegetables after washing. Thinly slice the carrot into elongated coins. Use the zester to peel furrows into the skin of the cucumber before slicing, then seed (if desired) and slice thinly.

Select four (about 4 oz) of the baby bell peppers, orange and yellow. Cut off the tops, slice in half lengthwise, and scrape out all seeds. Slice each half against the grain into slivers. Cut each cherry tomato in half.

Assemble: cooled pasta, broccoli, parmesan, vegetables. Add the marinated mozzarella balls. Spoon out the herb mixture from the marinade over the cheese, but not the rest of the marinade liquid. (Save for future salad dressing.) Drain the olives and add them in.

Makes 4 entree portions or party food for 8.

Raid the Freezer: Thai Style Curry Soup with Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta

Adapted from Serious Eats "20-Minute Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken" by J. Kenji Lopez

Coming home tired on a cold night, I realized that I had everything I needed to make a warm, fulfilling soup that didn't require a lot of brain power or prep. All of the main ingredients were in my freezer. I had fish sauce and an open curry paste in my refrigerator.

(I think the recipe would still be palatable without the fish sauce. Maybe some tamari or soy sauce added to the serving bowl would work?)

Ingredients
2 TBSP Thai red curry paste (for a medium heat)
1 tsp oil
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1" piece of whole fresh ginger, about 1/2 a tsp
1 TBSP chopped green onion (optional)
16 ounces of mild chicken or vegetable stock
3 TBSP Fish Sauce
2 TBSP cane sugar
Juice from 1 small lime (about 2 tsp); cut frozen limes work great for this
15 oz Coconut Milk
2 TBSP grated carrot
7 oz (about 1/2 a box) of Angel Hair or Thin Spaghetti
1 Quart water for boiling
12 oz salad shrimp
leftover, cooked butternut squash (if you have it), in 1" to 2" chunks
fresh cilantro for garnish if you have it

Directions
This works best with 2 pots so that you can eat in less than half an hour.

1. Fill one pot with the quart of water for boiling the pasta. Cover and set on low/medium heat to bring it to boiling while you start the soup. No need to add salt or oil.
2. In the soup pot, add curry paste, garlic, and oil (unless your paste has a lot of oil) and cook about 1 minute, pressing it against the bottom of the pan and stirring. You want the paste to cook but you don't want the garlic to burn.
3. Add your chicken or vegetable stock.
4. Add fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, green onions, and ginger. My limes were frozen wedges. I put them in as they were and fished them out once they had softened from the hot soup, squished the juice out, and discarded the peel. This is totally OK to do.
5. Add coconut milk.
6. Stir or wisk to blend the ingredients. 
7. Add the grated carrot.
8. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer covered.
9. By now, your pasta water will be boiling and ready for the pasta. Add your Angel Hair, stir it around in the water once the noodles are soft, and use the cooking time to warm your bowls, pour drinks, and set your table. You want your pasta slightly undercooked!
10. When the pasta is cooked al dente, turn off the heat. Do not drain it.
11. If the shrimp are frozen, add them to the pot of pasta and water. This will thaw them out and cool the water to stop the pasta from overcooking. Allow one or two minutes for the shrimp to warm up. If your shrimp aren't frozen, skip this step.
12. Using a spaghetti fork or other slotted instrument, spoon the pasta and shrimp directly into the simmering soup base. The extra water (about 16 oz) from the pasta adds to the soup volume. When most of the pasta/shrimp has been transferred, you can discard the remaining pasta water, which should be about 2 cups (16 oz). I don't recommend adding all the pasta water to the soup because it will make the final soup too thin.
13. Allow the soup to return to a simmer, then turn off the heat.
14. If you have leftover butternut squash, portion it out into your serving bowls.
15. Ladle the finished noodle soup into warm bowl over the squash, garnish with cilantro, and eat.

I like this curry paste, which is all-natural and has low sodium:

Thai and True red curry paste costs a bit more at my local natural grocery store, but it's a bigger jar and very, very good. Plus, it's been open in my refrigerator for about a year and it's still good!

The nation brand Thai Kitchen is easier to find, likely to be on sale or have a coupon, and has 38% of your daily sodium per serving. It works fine, but my experience is that it grows moldy after being open in the refrigerator about 3 months.

The fish sauce, oil, sugar, pasta, coconut milk, and the curry paste can all be in the pantry for when you need them.The perishable ingredients for this soup can be kept in the freezer, even the limes, garlic, ginger, green onions, butternut squash, and carrot. One bunch of green onions is always too much for me to use up while fresh. I have the same problem with fresh ginger, which I don't personally love, but recognize as the ingredient that makes or breaks a lot of soups and other recipes, and powdered ginger just doesn't give the same fullness.

Limes are expensive in the Pacific NW, so when I can't use up a whole one quickly, it's good to be able to cut it into slices or wedges and freeze them. They stay good for a month or so.

One of the best things about the original recipe is that it uses plain ol' pasta. I loved that! Who hasn't cooked too much spaghetti, at one time or another, and not know what to do with the extra? Leftover cooked noodles can also go into this soup.

If you prefer chicken to shrimp, here's the original recipe with chicken related instructions: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/20-minute-thai-red-curry-noodle-soup-with-chicken-recipe.html

Farmers Market Beets, Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Butter Sandwich

Well, that makes it sound fancy.

A big bag of small red beets was my inspiration for beets in a sandwich. The small beets mean that I can cook one or two of them in short time and have fresh beets ready to eat with minimal fuss. Beets are dandy with butter. I'm a fan of artisan bread, so making a beet-and-butter sandwich. This sandwich evolved.

It would be a pretty sandwich if done with thin layers of sliced beet, using the goat cheese as a spread on the butter-grilled roll. However, beets are slippery. Slices of beets shoot right out of the sandwich if it is any larger than a slider. The concoction pictured is quick and easy -- and can be eaten without flying beets.

For 3 well-filled sandwiches:

Ingredients
1 Cup of cooked beets, chopped into small pieces or julienned
2 ounces of goat cheese (this was half a package of Trader Joe's basic goat cheese)
Artisan bread rolls or demi-baguette (any firm, crusty bread)
butter, about 1 TBL
1/4 Cup pecans or walnuts
2 TBL cream cheese (optional)

Prepare your beets. Ideally, you will have done this in advance, and you'll be using them chilled from the refrigerator. My little beets -- about 3" in diameter -- took about 15 minutes to cook to tender, boiled. I scrub them well, put them in a saucepan with water to cover, and simmer covered until a fork pokes through easily. When they have cooled, I peel off the skins. I suspect that these sandwiches would taste good with grated, raw beet as well. I guess I'll find out in the next round!

* Beet juices wills stain your skin, clothes, and porous dishes. No kidding! Wear an apron, watch out for your shoes, and use a plastic or glass cutting board. If you don't have food gloves, plan on prepping your beets just before you wash your hair. Shampooing hair is pretty effective at getting fresh stains out of your fingers (says the multi-media artist and former barista). It also helps to moisturize your skin well before working with dyes. The hydrated skin won't be as absorbent.

Cut your rolls in half lengthwise. In a large skillet or on a griddle, melt the butter. Place the rolls cut side down to grill them with the butter. Don't let them burn!

Mix the goat cheese and beets together in a bowl until incorporated together. The more you mix them, the more pink the mixture will become, so go easy.

A little cream cheese rounds out the flavor and helps everything stick together, so I like a little spread on each half of the grilled roll before applying the beet-and-goat-cheese mix. Add your pecan halves and the other half of the roll.

You can make these in advance; they hold up surprisingly well and are good cold picnic food.

Breakfast Biscuits

This morning, I made biscuits to use up half a pint jar of homemade applesauce. The applesauce had been a test where I cooked the apples without the honey first, then added the honey after twenty minutes. It came out runny, no structure, just like you'd expect from boiled apples, really.

It had cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg in it. The jar has been open since before Christmas and I already boiled it again once. I figured it would be fine if cooked into something.

So what do you do with little motivation, a need for breakfast, and a cup of thin apple sauce? Me, I make biscuits. Now, when I say biscuits, I mean drop biscuits, scones, bannock -- whatever you want to call it. They are essentially all the same thing:
2 Cups of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1/3 Cup of fat
3/4 Cup dairy (or any wet thing)
and whatever you want to add in, such as spices or cheese.

Today I used butter, apple sauce, and a dollop (seriously, did you think I measured?) of thin vanilla yogurt.

Drop biscuits are just a thing you learn to do. The first day I successfully made roll out biscuits, only a few years ago, I felt the achievement. I can still do roll out biscuits, but when I do, I mostly stick to classic recipe. Drop biscuits are far more forgiving. If you make them too dry, you can add a spritz of milk or water to the dough and still be able to eat them once baked. If you make them too wet, it's not a good idea to add flour, but you could if you couldn't bake them as is. Heck, if they're really too wet, you have waffle batter or pancake batter missing eggs. If you put sugar for the salt, or ginger powder instead of cinnamon, you're still probably OK. (But next time, sniff your spices, OK?)

This morning, because I was using spiced apple as the dominant flavor, I chose to make the biscuits with butter. Apples and butter are meant to be together. I cut the butter into slivers and then cut it into the flour with my hands. This isn't pastry. Fluffy flour and softened butter feel nice to manipulate. (As will all cooking, make sure your hands are washed and clean under the fingernails.) I had forgotten the leavening and salt, which should go in with all the other dry ingredients, so before the butter was incorporated, I put those in and stirred it up.

Lumpy butter still works, but you always get a better result if you have as close to a sandy texture as reasonable. If you want to add sugar, put it in with the flour. (I believe this is "scone method." As opposed to "muffin method," where the sugar is creamed with fat and eggs, and the dry is added secondary.) I forgot the sugar, too -- but the apples and yogurt were sweet enough.

Once the butter, flour, pink Himalayan salt, and baking soda were incorporated, I poured in some yogurt, around 2 tablespoons. Then in went the spiced apple sauce.

It's important not to overwork biscuit dough. Don't stir it. Don't knead it like pizza dough. You don't want chewy-making gluten to build up. Be gentle with the dough. Fold it in the mixing bowl (yes, I use a bowl -- and still get flour everywhere) like a big fluffy goose down comforter.

A well-preheated oven at 475 ° Fahrenheit, and 12 minutes later, breakfast!

They came out delicious, in case you are wondering. Fluffy, nicely flavored, just a hint of sweetness.

One-Bowl, 15 Minute, Super Easy Ham & Vegetables Dijon Pasta Salad

Emails about food make my email inbox at work a little more fun. One of the big brand's free calendars graces our wall, brightening the space with a big, colorful photo every month of something that looks mouthwatering.

For summer, I have been getting recipe emails that tout easy dinners with minimal cooking. These inevitably utilize the brand's cooking shortcut products. I understand that these have their place in the world, but they are not for me, a person who doesn't even make hot chocolate from a mix. 

The "recipe" in today's post is a hack of one of the 30-minute, Cooking Shortcut Bag recipes. The result is a slightly warm pasta salad (yum) with a crisp vegetable appeal, low in salt and without a lot of fuss.

Mine is faster and leaves fewer dishes to wash, but it requires that you, like me, are someone who has small amounts of good stuff in your refrigerator and cupboard for the components.

These were my ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup elbow macaroni or small pasta of choice, such as rotelli or fusilli
• salt to taste
• pinch oregano
• pinch onion powder
• pinch dry basil, to taste
• pinch red chili flake

If you have fresh herbs, add them to the chopped vegetable mixture instead of the pasta water.

• 1 TBL sliced red onion (I used the onion heart, which is tender and makes small pieces)
• 1/4 Cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 Cup chopped heirloom tomato
• 1 TBL olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 Cup diced ham of good quality (avoid using a fatty ham steak)

• 1/4 Cup frozen green peas (if you have fresh peas, add them to the vegetable mixture)
• 1/4 Cup grated parmesan

1. In a small saucepan, bring 2 to 3 Cups of water to a boil. I use as little water as possible, enough to cover the pasta while it cooks. Add oregano, onion powder, dried basil, chili flakes, and salt. 
2. Measure the elbow macaroni by pouring one layer of the dry pasta into the bowl that you are going to use for the completed pasta salad. Elbows are plain, so I didn't want to use so much that the end salad is blah. Too much pasta makes a bland pasta salad.
3. When the water is boiling, add the elbow macaroni. Set a timer for 9 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and allow the pasta to cook uncovered.
4. While the pasta cooks, chop up your onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Place them in the bowl.
5. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dijon on top of the vegetables. (Do NOT add the frozen green peas!)
6. Dice the ham. Add it to the bowl.
7. Grate the parmesan.
8. When the timer goes off, test the pasta for firmness. I like mine slightly past al dente for pasta salad. If you like yours firmer, 8 minutes may work better.
9. Add the frozen green peas to the pasta water. Stir for a minute.
10. Drain the water from the peas + pasta. Stir it around to get the water out of the pasta tubes.
11. Carefully spoon (I use the same fork that I will use for eating) the peas, herbs, and pasta mixture into the bowl. Some water will still be in the saucepan, and you don't want watery pasta salad. Using a fork to push the pasta out of the saucepan helps drain it as you go.
12. Gently stir together everything in the bowl until well mixed.
13. Add parmesan cheese.

Cutting up the vegetables while the pasta cooked meant that this only took me about ten minutes. I've added five more for the grating of the cheese and putting away of oil, vinegar, etc.

I put the dry herbs in with the cooking pasta to kickstart their flavor. With single serving amounts of everything, it's more difficult to get flavors to infuse or mix evenly.

I thaw the peas with the pasta to stop the cooking of the pasta without rinsing the pasta. I never rinse pasta if I can avoid it. Rinsing removes the starch in the cooking water that helps the sauce or dressing stick to the pasta. I'd rather keep a small amount of cold ingredient or sauce to toss in with the pasta in place of rinsing. I like my pasta salad slightly warm, rather than refrigerator cold.

Chickpea Popovers stuffed with Curry Chicken Salad

For the chicken salad:

2 Cups of roasted chicken, chopped

1/2 Cup plain yogurt, or mayonnaise if preferred

2 TBL curry powder

1 Cup roasted, salted cashews

1/4 Cup golden raisins

1/4 Cup cranberries

 cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

For the popovers:

1 Cup chickpea (besan) flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs (I use medium sized eggs)

1 Cup milk

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic granules

1/4 tsp black pepper

spritz of lemon juice (about 1/8 tsp)

Jumbo (6 muffin) muffin tin

Cooking spray

Mix all ingredients except cilantro for the chicken salad together. Set aside. If possible, prepare the chicken salad in advance. The flavors of the spices come out more fully after a day. 

Preheat oven to 450.

In a separate bowl, gently wisk together all in ingredients for the popovers until a smooth batter forms. Grease the muffin pan; cooking spray makes this easy. Pour the batter equally into each of the muffin cups, about halfway. 

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350 and continue baking for 15 more minutes. Total bake time is 35 minutes.

Pop popovers out of the pan while still hot. Turn so that the side with a depression is up, and fill the "bowl" with curry chicken salad. Garnish with cilantro.

Gruyere & Applesauce biscuits

2 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 TBL baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C non-hydrogenated shortening
small knob of gruyere, about 3 TBL


1 C small curd cottage cheese (including separated whey)
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 450F.

Combine flour, b. powder, & salt. Mix thoroughly. Cut in shortening until you create a sandy consistency. Slice the gruyere into small pieces and blend in.thoroughly. You can do this with your hands.

Add cottage cheese and applesauce. Mix in, allow to rest 5 minutes if it looks dry. Knead to incorporate the dough into a ball, shape into a log, and slice into 6 pieces. Bake for 15 minutes for a golden color.

Lemon & Lime Fish Chowder

Lemon & Lime Fish Chowder

1 small leek, thinly sliced
2 TBL unsalted butter (don't substitute or leave out)
3 sprigs marjoram
1 1/2 lbs white fish (cod and sole), fillets
1/2 a medium lemon
1/2 a medium lime
salt to taste (1 tsp)
splash (around 1/4 C) of mirin cooking sake (sherry or white wine)
fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

I used to think that every meal would be improved with garlic. The problem is how often anything I cook tastes the same as any other thing I cook: garlic, oregano, black pepper. Tonight I set out to cook something that would bring out the best in the fish. Due to too much fish for too small a cooking pot, this became a chowder instead of poached fish. Happy accident!

In a 3 quart (or there abouts) saucepan, melt the butter. Add the leeks and cover. Cook on medium heat until soft but not brown. (About 3 minutes.) Cut a couple thick slices of lemon.

Cut the fish into 1/2 pieces and place in the pot on top of the leeks. Add the marjoram and the lemon slices. Squeeze the juice out of the remaining lemon and the lime, over the fish. Cover and cook over low heat. (About 5 minutes.) Add the mirin. Let simmer uncovered for another minute. Don't overcook; you'll lose the "broth". When the fish flakes easily, remove the pot from heat and gently turn all the ingredients, removing the marjoram twigs, slices of lemon, and any pips or bones that got loose.

If you're serving this, you can garnish it with a pinch of chopped parsley and one of the lemon slices, which should still look pretty good, since this all cooks very fast. I would say that this serves 2 people generously. I ate the whole thing, I will admit, and it was too much. I ate the whole thing partially because it was soooo gooood and partially because I don't think this is something that will hold up to reheating. I was too hungry/impatient/lazy to make rice or angel hair pasta to go with the fish I wanted for dinner; again, I think that turned out for the best. While some crusty bread would compliment any fish chowder, I don't think this needs it.

It's all about the fish and the butter, but the delicately musty marjoram, the mildness of leek, and the zingy mix of citrus, further sweetened with the mirin, were the right supporting flavors. Sole by itself would have been mushy. The fillets are so thin, they are better for flash cooking. Mixed with the cod, which is a pretty robust fish, the sole broke up the dominant flavor and added texture interest.

No photo. I had nearly eaten it all before I thought, "I should post this."