Bad Blogger

Hi Friends,

I mentioned the a grilled cheese party in my post last Friday and promised a post on said party.  Well, my friends came and went and as I was loading the dishwasher I noticed that I had neglected to move my camera off the microwave, my designated “put-the-camera-here-so-you-remember-to-take-pictures” spot.  GAH!  I get so wrapped up in talking to my friends and other hosting duties that I totally forget to document the experience.  Does anyone else do this?

The party was super fun and my girlfriends seemed to enjoy it.  I went to the co-op and bought a five different small chunks of cheese from the cheese end bin.  I hit up the neighborhood Great Harvest and bought three different half loaves of bread.  The girls each came with a different ingredient to jazz up the grilled cheese.  We had pesto, jam, apples, tomato, avocado, and caramelized onions.  Everyone made a sandwich and cut it into piece to share with each other.

The leftovers made for a nice Sunday night dinner so you will be provided with some visual aids of what the food looked like:)

Raw veggies and homemade olive hummus for aps.

Grilled cheese!  This one contained horseradish havarti, tomato, and caramelized onion.

Green bean and Sweet Corn Salad with Summer vinaigrette from the Clean Food cookbook.

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade.   This actually had vodka added to it on Friday night but being that it is Sunday night after a slightly boozey, carb filled weekend I decided to do without tonight ;)

The only thing missing is the yummy triple berry cobbler my friend Anne brought for dessert and the smiling faces of my girlfriends.  We sat picnicked on the floor of my apartment and caught up on life.  A very nice way to spend the evening.

What are your favorite theme party activities?  Any that have been total flops?!

Later

Kate

The Perfect Wrap

Hi Friends,

When I first posted about my Rawish Cran Apple Relish, Sophia commented that it would be great in a grilled cheese.  It got super excited by the idea of this.  Yummy melty cheese topped with bitey cranberries and ginger!  I realized yesterday at lunch that the end of the jar was in site so it was now or never.

Onto the Rudi’s Bakery Spelt Tortilla went a chevre, some steamed kale, two slices of locally raised, free range turkey, and some Rawish Relish.  After grilling a few mins on each side, I was left with the perfect sandwich.  Creamy, sweet chevre and tart cranberries stuffed in a crispy tortilla with all sorts of good nutrients from the kale and turkey.  YUM!   Quick, easy and definitely repeatable.

Nugget 11

Friends.  Both on the blog and in person.  I love feeling connected to people.  The more connections I have, the better I do.  I have plenty of socializing planned this weekend which I am looking forward to.  YAY!

Happy Friday,

Kate

Sweet Potato Sliders

Hi Friends,

The day before I moved to St Paul, I did not have any food left in my kitchen.  I stopped by Gigi’s, a neighborhood cafe, to pick up lunch and had the best sweet potato falafel sandwich.  There was a nice smokey, heat to the falafel patties.  I have been wanting to recreate it for awhile now and desired that last night would be the night to try.  I combine a few recipes I found online and came up with my own. 

Sweet Potato Sliders

- 2 small sweet potatoes

- 1 cup spinach, chopped

- 1 1/2 TB chili seasoning

- 1 tsp chipolte hot sauce

- 1/2 cup plus 1 TB garbanzo flour

- Poke fork holes in the sweet potatoes and microwave for 2 1/2 min.  Flip potatoes over and microwave for another 2 1/2 min.

- Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut potato in half and scoop out flesh.  Mash until smooth.

- Stir in chopped spinach, chili seasoning, hot sauce, and garbanzo flour.  The mixture should be stiff but smooth and of a uniform consistency.

- Form into 9 small patties and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 min.  Flip patties and bake for another 8 mins.    

These were ok but not quite what I had in mind.  The flavor was what I had in mind but the outside needed to be crisper to match the perfection that is the creamy falafel center and crunchy outside.  I think either pan frying them or perhaps rolling them in seeds or bread crumbs might help achieve this.  I mixed together a little yogurt with lime juice and hot sauce to go with the sliders.  There is also room for improvement in the dressing department too.  Honestly, I didn’t even think about making anything for dippage until Art asked about it.  Whoops!

I have a full day today.  I have my annual physical this morning followed by a Culinary Council event at Macy’s followed by work followed by collapsing on my couch at an embarrassingly early hour.  I am usually so tired by Friday evening that I prefer vegging at home to going out.  Not so long ago, Friday’s used to be my night.  When did I get so old and lame?!  What are thoughts on Friday nights?  Stay in a chill or go out? 

Later!

Kate

fun with eggs, pesto and friends!

Hi Friends,

I have been having lots of fun with eggs and my  homemade pesto lately.  Pesto is one of those foods that says summer to me.  It feels wrong to have some in the middle of the winter.

Green Eggs and Fake Pork Product

 

Yesterday for lunch I scrambled one egg with a blob of pesto.  I cooked some of my Light Life Smart Bacon and made an open-faced sammy for with some tomato and romaine lettuce.  The pesto flavor wasn’t as strong as I would have like it to be.  I could definitely have added more pesto.

Pesto Egg Salad

I have a tub of Whole Foods Spinach Hummus that I am very unimpressed with but I just can’t throw is away.  I decided to put it to use in an egg salad creation.  I chopped one hard-boiled egg and one egg white and mixed it with    1 1/2 TB hummus, 1 TB pesto, half a chopped green onion, a little roasted red pepper, and some red pepper flakes.  The results?  Only sort of meh.  Not outstanding but not awful.

Last night I went to out with Art’s extended family to dinner at an Indian restaurant and to a Todd Snider concert.  It was my first time meeting his older sister and her kids so I was a little nervous.  Per usual, I won them over with my natural charms  

 After I hit publish, I am meeting one of my fav bloggie friends at my fav ice cream joint in Minneapolis.  Expect drool worthy food porn  ice cream in the near future!

Later gators!

Kate

I Love My Friends

Hi friends,

I had the afternoon off today.  After a leisurely work out, lunch and visit to Art’s, I was a practice dummy for my dear friend Denise.  She started a massage therapy program and needed to practice.  They are currently studying trigger point therapy in the head, neck and shoulders.  I occasionally get headaches that I believe are caused by tension in the neck and shoulders so she thought I would be a good candidate.

This was different from other massages that I had before.  It was very specific points that she applied pressure to and asked me about the sensations I was feeling as a result.  Some of the points cause pretty intense sensations and others wouldn’t.  The pressure would dissipate after a bit.  It was really cool and my head and shoulders feel lighter now.  I recommend finding a friend in massage therapy school   Thanks D!

Fun Meal of the Day!

I love crispy tofu but can never seem to cook it myself.   I cut two thick slices of tofu and wrapped them in paper towel while I cleaned up from my workout.  After about 10 min, I heated a bit of olive oil spray in a pan over medium high heat.  I let the tofu sit for about 5 min on each side before flipping.  Once they became golden brown, I removed them from the pan.  I let the tofu sit much longer than I typically do which I think was the key to achieving crispness.

I spread spicy brown mustard on a piece of toast and topped with spinach, cherry tomatoes and the tofu.  Yum!  Accompaniments included asparagus, a few weird rice chips, and a blob of Whole Foods Spinach Hummus.  The hummus is rather unexceptional.  I’d recommend buying something else.

Super curious to see what is going to happen on SYTYCD tonight with Alex’s injury and all.  Tomorrow is Friday!  WHOOT!

Kate