In Continuation of my Tardy Mother's Day Theme

I figured I should get on posting about the actual meal that we enjoyed in order to commemorate another wonderfully spectacular and festively embraced Mother's Day.

What was on the menu? Why, a traditional backyard barbecue feast, certainly fit for my mom - 

Grilled Chicken Sausages and Hamburgers, with all the messy fixin's

Potato Salad

Grilled Asparagus

Cabbage Salad

Ice Cream and Brownie Sundaes

I owe you all the recipe for the cabbage salad - I have not yet memorized it and am back in Lexington, thus far away from mom's recipe box. It's delicious and simple though, definitely something up my alley, not to mention not that bad for you. The kicker? Dried ramen noodles, a food completely banned from my diet and yet, in this salad, it seems so right that I can overlook the sodium, fake ingredients, and overall "blah" just this once.

No barbecue plate is complete without Izzy's pickles - if you have no idea what I am talking about, then you have been sorely missing out your entire life... look them up now!

Doesn't this look like a kitchen island full of heaven?!

Guy Food

I love to eat healthy, really. It makes me feel good, keeps my girly figure intact, and helps me power through my (sometimes very long) days. That being said, I still have cravings for bad-for-me food just like everyone else, and recently it was a meatball sub. Usually I don't like meatballs (I push them off my spaghetti, avoid them at appetizer buffets, and the Swedish cannot tempt me at Ikea) but I think it was the combination of crispy toasted bread, melty bubbly cheese, and chunky tomato sauce that had be craving a meatball sub.

So I made one - healthy Katelyn style!

Ladies, your guys would be pleased to eat this, it's total guy food. You don't need to tell them it's good for them.

Turkey Meatballs 

1 pound ground white meat turkey

1/2 cup minced parsley

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup fat free/low fat mozzarella

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg

1/2 (homemade) bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all these ingredients together and form into one inch balls. Heat some oil in the bottom of a medium pan over medium high heat. Brown all sides of the meatballs, remove to a sheet pan and bake 10 or so minutes, or until cooked through. Be sure not to overcook - turkey dries out quickly! 

Sandwich meatballs inside a toasted hoagy bun, topped with chunky tomato sauce and some more fat free mozzarella cheese, then broil in the oven to melt the cheese. 

1 egg

Spinach (did I mention Vegan?) Pesto

Another early morning before heading to work - a perfect quiet time to get some blogging done.

This recipe is inspired by something we make at Woodford, a spinach pesto that offers a vegan alternative for our interested customers. I absolutely love it and made sure I memorized the recipe in a hurry, though admittedly it is more of a technique than a recipe, as I have made numerous variations to the original below. The biggest difference between this pesto and a store-bought one is this one lacks the traditional Parmesan cheese, thus also lacks the fatty and caloric punch that most pestos pack. No need for your diet to fear this recipe, it is completely waistline friendly.

Isn't this beautiful vibrant green striking?!

Spinach pesto chicken, sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, and a little extra spinach sandwich.

Vegan Spinach Pesto

1 pound fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup garlic confit (recipe to follow)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup garlic oil (recipe to follow)
2 cups soft, fresh bread crumbs, soaked in vegetable stock (bonus points if they are whole wheat crumbs)

Blanch spinach in boiling water for one minute, remove to ice bath to stop to cooking process. Wring out all the water and add to the bowl of a blender or food processor. Add garlic cloves, red pepper, salt, and pepper. Pulse to incorporate. Drizzle in half the garlic oil while pulsing, then add bread crumbs, then add remaining oil. Continue to pulse until smooth and creamy. Adjust for seasoning.


Garlic Confit

2 cups garlic cloves, papers removed
2 cups olive or canola oil (or enough to cover cloves)

Place garlic cloves and oil in a deep baking dish, making sure garlic cloves are covered with the oil. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until garlic cloves are soft and fragrant. Store cloves in oil and vuala! You have garlic confit AND garlic oil.

** If you would like to double, triple, quad this recipe, go ahead! Garlic confit keeps in the fridge for weeks and can be added to soups and stews for a cooked-all-day flavor, smeared on toast points for an instant appetizer, and incorporated into marinades and salad dressings with ease.

I FINALLY MADE A PULLED PORK SANDWICH!

There should be more capital letters up there, because I am THAT excited to finally get my pulled pork sandwich. FINALLY! (Yes, finally. Remember when I was pulled pork-less? Yeah, it was a sad time for me too.)

I accompanied my pulled pork (!!!) with an Asian inspired slaw. But really, all I cared about was the pulled pork. Happy happy day!

I'm really not THAT big of a pulled pork fan, for those of you who are just tuning in. I have just had a hankering for a saucy, slightly spicy, pulled pork sandwich for AGES now. And FINALLY I can put that craving to bed and move on to something else. Because that's how I roll.

Two recipes for you today!

Asian Slaw

1/2 head green cabbage

1/2 yellow pepper, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

3 green onions, finely sliced

1/4 cup parsley, minced

Dressing:

1/4 cup jalapeno peach preserves

1/2 cup olive oil

1 TB sesame oil

red pepper flakes and salt, to taste

Mix the salad ingredients together and set aside. Melt the preserves with a splash of water in the microwave. Whisk to smooth the now melted jam, then whisk in the olive oil to create a suspension. Whisk in the sesame oil to incorporate, toss in some red pepper flakes and season with salt. Toss with salad ingredients and let sit for an hour or so.Optional: Top with toasted sesame seeds or almonds (I obviously didn't have either.)

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, pasted with salt

2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 

2 tsp black pepper

hot sauce, to taste

Heat a medium sauce pot with just a teaspoon or so of oil. Cook onions and garlic just enough to lightly caramelize the sugars in the onions. Add the rest of the ingredients and turn the heat down to medium low. If the chunks of the onion bother you then you can now puree your barbecue sauce with an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor. Just be careful because it's hot! Allow sauce to simmer for an hour or so, then add in your pulled pork and let all that marry a few hours over low heat, or sit overnight and reheat. 

April Fools Day Burgers

Call me crazy, but I have never really gotten into April Fools Day. I have an uncle whose birthday is April Fools Day (Happy Birthday Brodie!) and I too this day I think that today is the most appropriate day to have a birthday if you are an uncle, but other than that, I am usually one of those poor, unsuspecting victims onto which terribly hilarious things happen on April 1st. Today, so far so good, I haven't fallen victim yet. But there is still time - my friends and family know how gullible I am and I can't imagine them not taking advantage of this fact.

What does intrigue me about this holiday of shenanigans is the fact that you can trick people with food. Now THAT is a much better use of evil genius if you ask me. For instance...

Decorating macaroons like slider hamburgers 

Serving a bacon and eggs breakfast made out of white chocolate and Tootsie Rolls

Rolling sushi out of various candies 

Building sundaes with mashed potatoes and tinted gravy

Oh so clever!

So for this April Fools Day, I made burgers. I know, not too mysterious, but at least they are chicken burgers, not beef ones. I know there are some of you prank masters our there rolling your eyes at my weak attempt at trickery, but you can consider this a prank on your taste buds.

Italian Chicken Burgers

1 pound ground, all white meat chicken

8 saltine crackers, crushed

1/2 cup julienned spinach leaves

1/2 medium white onion, minced

1/3 fresh minced parsley

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place ground chicken in a large bowl and break apart with your hands. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix with hands. Do not over mix or your burgers will be hard and and disk-like. Patty into burgers while heating a few tablespoons of oil in a saute pan. Brown burgers on both sides, them remove to a sheet pan covered with foil and finish cooking in the oven (bake for an additional 8-10 minutes or until cooked through.)

Birthday Weekend Recap

Things that made me so incredibly happy this weekend:

1. It was my 21st birthday (for all of you out there who have escaped the barrage of reminders that pepper my posts as of late.)
2. My beautiful birthday cake (pictures to come.)
3. The Passion Pit album downloaded for my by my roommate and now it has dominated my listening pleasure (check them out here and here.)
4. The prayer written inside of a birthday card from my grandparents, reproduced below:

Dear Lord,

Please bless this granddaughter with all that she may need as she seeks to do Your will in life and follow where You lead. Give her guidance in decisions, give her joy in little things, let her know You're always there, no matter what tomorrow brings. Fill her heart with the happiness she's so deserving of for the way she's blessed her family with her gentle faith and love.

This is our prayer for you, Kate

It brought tears to my eyes.

And last but not least... this yummy dinner inspired by the unseasonably warm weather consider it is almost February and I am used to only eating soups and stews at this point of the year.

The makings of a yummy tuna salad - a curious craving but a craving none the less.

My tuna salad dressing contains celery leaf, flat leaf parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, red pepper flake, and salt. The salad itself is tuna (of course!), minced onion, celery, and red pepper. Simple but sublime!

Served as a sandwich...

... and salad.

Oh YES I did make that a Sandwich

Long time no blog y'all! I have four exams last week, one on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so needless to say I have had my head in a textbook instead of on my blog last week. I guess that is a necessary evil of college and all (or at least that is what my mom is going to say when she reads this entry.)

Due to all of this studying, I have been having lots of sandwiches this week. They are quick, simple, can be made out of anything in the fridge, and are pretty good at filling the void that tends to grow and grow. I don't know if you any of you have watched the Food Network lately (I am only partially guilty here) but they not too long ago announced the winner of the "Next Food Network Star" title. Jeff Mauro, the self-proclaimed Sandwich King, is now gracing the screens of novice home cooks' televisions educating all about how "You can make any meal into a sandwich, and any sandwich into a meal." Needless to say I have been channeling my inner Jeff this week.

If you are unaware of his methods, here is the quick 411: he concentrates on making sandwiches that will fill you up like a larger plated meal would, but are way simplified and (sometimes) portable. Anything that can (and can't) fit between two slices of bread he has monkeyed into his sandwich concoctions, and I myself have had fun creating and experimenting with the fillers. Maybe that can be y'alls project for this week - forgo the standing over the stove, scrubbing pots and pans, and get creative with sandwiches, however simple or complex you like them.

First off, I have a sandwich that I actually made out of the remnants of a salad I made earlier in the week. I had (past tense unfortunately) a really great herb and nut bakery bread, which served as the perfect vehicle for salmon, goat cheese (which I used as a spread like mayo,) spinach, and sliced strawberries. Talk about meal into a sandwich!

Notice please that no matter how much I am determined to make this meal a sandwich, I still embrace the "paper towel as a plate" college trick.

Second, I have been playing around with various spreads for sandwiches since some other elements are harder to change. So lately it has been low fat cream cheese. Who would have known that this little element would transform a sandwich from "what you make at home" to "what you will pay $7 for at a deli." Seriously! Cream cheese is their secret! Tangy and creamy, just a little goes a long way.

Here I have roast chicken, cucumber, tomatoes, and spinach on whole wheat bread with cream cheese schmere. I have also experimented with guacamole (I am still trying to learn to like avocado guys) and hummus.

And now I am off to make a sandwich with homemade roasted tomatoes and spinach. Yumm! Happy Sandwiching!

P.S I was rooting for Jeff to win all along so ha! Can I pick them or what?