the not so starving artist
My favorite burger is called the Nanny Goat at Rodeo Goat in Ft. Worth. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, goat cheese, and a little garlicky herby mayo. Best burger ever! They serve them with sweet, hot bbq chips. If you find yourself in town, you should go!
Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple. Jacques is not overpromising with that name. The recipes are just as delicious as you’d expect from him, but they are truly quick and simple. The book is totally newbie-appropriate. Most of them are super wallet-friendly, too, with ingredients like frozen vegetables. I’m so excited to share his recipe with you for Wine Merchant Steak. I’ve made many of Jacques’ different wine merchant steaks and this one is my absolute favorite. I love the addition of the Spicy V8. It’s fantastic. I’m going to try this as a bbq sauce, for a really flavorful, sugar-free option. I just bought crab to make his crab cakes and I’ll add that in later, but it’s Valentine’s Day, and this steak is perfect!!!
I just turned 50 in January, and my hubby did back in August when travel was right out, so we headed to Disney last week for a big celebration. 8 glorious days. Two in each park. Perfect! We didn’t realize the Festival of the Arts was going on at Epcot! Even better! There are little stands scattered throughout the World Showcase that generally have 2 entrees, a couple of beverages and a dessert. They are little taster plates and mostly in the $6-$10 range, so you can have fabulous bites around the world, kind of like global tapas. We had a fantastic time. Let me tell you all about it!
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The Primal Gourmet Cookbook. He is not overpromising with that title! This is a fun new Whole30 book. He has a great range to suit your mood. There are easy, casual and loose recipes when you’d like to keep it simple and those that are more interesting and involved when you feel like it. The food is fresh, delicious, and nutritious. Perfect!
I’d love to share his recipe for Kung Pao Lettuce Cups with you! I’m making you concerned because it’s a health book? Don’t be! You won’t make them because they’re good for you. Make them because they’re awesome! He says this serves 4 as an appetizer. Double it and serve 4 for dinner. Or breakfast. You do you! A quick note on two ingredients you might not be familiar with: coconut aminos and arrowroot starch. Coconut aminos function like soy sauce and arrowroot starch functions like cornstarch.
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I blogged about the updated Whole30 Cookbook, Cooking Whole30, last week. I’m so in love with this book that I wanted to give you one more recipe to try!
Spicy Shrimp Twice-Baked Potatoes. All the yes! The coconut cream instead of the traditional dairy in the twice-baked potatoes made this even more decadent! The shrimp are wonderful! Both of my teenagers proclaimed this to be their favorite shrimp. I’m making the shrimp again with green vegetables. Hope you love it, too!
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Do you want delicious food, high energy, great sleep, or to just feel great in general? Why pick just one?! Cooking Whole30. This is the new updated version of the Whole30 Cookbook. I have both, and this one has more cultural information behind the recipes and bonus recipes! I’ve got all of the Whole30 and Whole30-endorsed books with the exception of the slow cooker title, and they are all fabulous. Melissa Hartwig’s dishes are fantastic, and she has a lot of other contributors, which is really nice, because you can taste a bunch of people’s recipes and have a good idea of what works for you. This is filled with easy, healthy, delicious, make you feel oh-so terrific food. Food preppers strapped for time will be excited because there are a few of what I call “Mother recipes” in here. You make the base recipe and use that in a few different ways over the course of the week. Shortcuts without boredom. Ahhhhh. Totally recommend!
I’d love to share Jessica McMullen’s recipe for Chiles Rellenos with Mexican Picadillo with you. Mexican picadillo is a lot like Cuban picadillo, with potatoes and carrots instead of olives and raisins. To keep it Whole30, she uses cloud-like eggs as her coating. The result is souffle-like. It’s just wonderful. I hope you love it, too!
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We thought 2020 could use a little extra Christmas, so on November 1st, Halloween came down and Christmas went up! We loaded Alexa with a fabulous Christmas playlist, and started watching all our favorite shows. With about a week to go, it was time to make cookies. We have traditional ones for sure, but I love doing family requests. They asked for pecan dreams, gingersnaps, and 7 layer bars. I have favorites for pecan dreams and 7 layer bars, but I didn’t have go-to gingersnap cookies. I decided to consult my very favorite cookie book, Dorie Greenspan’s Dorie’s Cookies. Sure enough, there was a gingersnap recipe in there and it had a triple-threat of ginger in it: fresh, crystalized, and powdered. Ooooo! Best gingersnap ever. Gobs of flavor and that perfect crispness.
She gives a dough chilling range of 2 hours to overnight, and a baking range from 14-19 minutes, depending on where you want to be on the scale from chewy to crisp. I made them once, chilling for 2 hours and once, chilling overnight, and the full spectrum of baking times. If you prefer them to really spread and get crisp, 2 hours chilling and 18 minutes baking hit that. If you prefer a little less spreading and a chewy crisp balance, chilling overnight and 17 minutes baking produced that.
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I love creamed spinach alongside steak. And I love spinach artichoke dip. And now Costco sells this amazing artichoke jalapeno dip. I married all those together as the inspiration for my side dish for my hubby’s 50th birthday. We were all in love with it. And now I can’t quit making it, so I thought I’d share with you lovely people.
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Here’s my original post with details of how I made him!
#Ottolenghi @Ottolenghi #OttolenghiFlavor #TenSpeedPress @TenSpeedPress
Ottolenghi: Flavor is the third book in Ottolenghi’s vegetarian series: Plenty, Plenty More, and Flavor. This is a gorgeous book filled with more delectable love poems to produce. Yes! If you adore or want to adore produce, you need this! All the dishes we tried were wonderfully complex, balanced, and filled with flavor. While quite a few of the dishes are an hour or two from start to finish, most of it is just an exercise in patience. Do this 5 minute step and come back in an hour to finish everything off. It is all worth it!
I’ll tell you all about all the dishes we tried in a minute. But first, let me share his recipe for Chaat Masala Potatoes with Yogurt and Tamarind with you. Don’t be fooled by their appearance. Two out of four of us think this is the yummiest in the book so far. The cumin, chiles and tamarind give this an amazing flavor. And his dual handling of the potatoes, first boiling, then roasting, gives them a perfectly pillowy interior and a crisp exterior. Perfection. A huge thank you to Ten Speed Press for letting me share them with you! I’ve added links at the bottom to all his books. The holidays are coming up, and these are the ultimate gift for any produce lover that wants to flex a little kitchen muscle. Prepare to crave what you’re supposed to eat!
The recipe calls for nigella seeds. Sometimes they’re called black cumin. If you’re a Penzey’s-head, they sell it as charnushka.
