Wheat Berries Round II: Balsamic Gorgonzola Deliciousness

Well, my wheat berry obsession is ongoing, prompting me to turn another dish I like into a wheat berry based dish, at least for the moment. The inspiration today is a spinach salad with apples (or pears), Gorgonzola, and walnuts with balsamic dressing. I like fennel in that salad sometimes, so you can toss that in for bonus points.

For those of you unfamiliar with wheat berries, here's what they look like:

I will also admit that my decision to make something with Gorgonzola was in no small part influenced by my desire for this pre-dinner snack:

At any rate... here is the skinny on the salad:

-2 shallots- sliced and carmelized (ooh, didn't see this one coming, did you? its worth the slow carmelization process, I promise, it adds a big level of deliciousness).
-1.5 coarsely chopped apples (the rest is your snack!)
-1 cup dry wheat berries, cooked*
-some walnuts, maybe 1/3c? toasted.
-about 2oz crumbled Gorgonzola
-about 1/3c simple balsamic vinagrette (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper)
-some very thinly sliced fennel

Combine together and chill.

This is how it looks:


It is DELICIOUS. The flavors just combine wonderfully- the warm taste of the toasted walnuts, the bite of the cheese, the freshness of the fennel, YUM.

*I have decided I can't advise you on the whole water:wheatberries ratio. I ended up following some advice I've gotten on other grains, which is basically to cook them like pasta- use a ton of water, boil them until they taste good (in this case 1-1.25 hours), and then drain in a strainer. Worked perfectly!

[[UPDATE! UPDATE!: so, I don't usually say this, but this was much better the first day I made it. I think it was because it was slightly warm, which made the caramelized shallots easier to taste, and the cheese a little softer. In eating the leftovers I actually ended up microwaving it a little (which didn't do as bad of things to the apples as you'd expect). Anyhow, I would not chill this until its cold, I'd just let it cool down and serve it either warm (not super hot, don't want the cheese to totally melt away) or room temp.]]

Thai Wheatberry Salad

I had an experimental dinner the other night. The version I made involved things like boiled over coconut milk that I have yet to fully get out of my stove, a miscellaneous assortment of leftover grains, and simultaneously burnt and raw chicken. But, surprisingly, the final product was pretty good. I'm going to tell you a bit about how I made it this time, but the recipe itself will be how I'm going to make it next time. Because I definitely will.

The whole idea came because I really wanted cold peanut noodles, but I'm trying to be healthy so wanted to bypass the noodle aspect of things. Instead, I arrived at a plan to use wheatberries cooked in coconut milk. I love wheat berries- they have a perfect texture for hearty grain salads. Unfortunately, I mis-read the internet, and cooked my wheat berries with a ratio of 4:1 liquid to grain rather than 2/2.5:1 which would have been better (hence the boiled over coconut milk). I also realized that I had a lot of extra liquid, so started adding bulgur (which cooks fast) on the fly. Either way, wheat berries have to cook a while so plan ahead. I then used a homemade peanut sauce, similar to this one. But later in the week, when I refreshed the leftovers a little, I realized the Trader Joes Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette (which is delicious) would have been fine.

So, here's what I came up with (which was really quite tasty)


And here is how I would do it next time:

Prepare ahead (or use leftovers):
-3/4c dried wheatberries, cooked in water and chilled (I get mine in the bulk grains area at Whole Foods; put about 2 c water in a pot with the wheat berries bring to to a boil, then simmer. The berries should become soft (but still a little chewy) and split a little. It can take an hour to cook them, or even more, so plan accordingly. You might need to add a little more water, so check on them).
-1 cucumber, seeded and chopped
-a small amount red onion, diced
-1/2 bell pepper coarsely chopped
-one large chicken breast, cooked, chopped
-bonus points for cilantro and chives

Toss all of it with Trader Joes Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette (or the home made peanut sauce below), chill. Enjoy! Makes great leftovers to take to lunch.

Yum! You could make it veggie by just omitting the chicken, or could add marinated tofu, although it would have to be really firm and probably pressed first in order to stand up, because this is not a delicate salad.

Peanut Sauce (slightly different than version for noodles, because more volume was needed as the grains will absorb some of it; all amounts are approximate- adjust it to your taste)
1/4c peanut butter (briefly microwaved, to soften and help convince it to mix with the other ingredients)
1/8c water
2T soy sauce
4T seasoned rice wine vinegar
.5T sesame oil
.5T spicy chili oil
red pepper flakes
diced ginger (1tsp or more)
diced garlic (1 tsp)

Last man standing.

Ok, you will not BELIEVE this.

I have previously posted on the ongoing saga of my lime tree. We've gone through some highs and some lows. This summer I was pretty optimistic as there were actually a number of little contenders. But, then I moved (which caused widespread lime devastation), and it has been insanely ridiculously hot around here.

HOWEVER.

Look at this guy. Even if he doesn't get any bigger, this lime is definitely squeezable. HUURRAAY!

Chocolate Sorbet.... oh my goodness...

Beans, and whole grains, and fresh crispy summer veggies are all very well and good. But sometimes... sometimes, you just want chocolate.

Recently, I had one of those days, which just happened to correspond to a weekend when it was approximately one million degrees out (really, it was). What really seemed perfect was some chocolate sorbet. I have an ice-cream maker which is awesome, but I almost never use it. Therefore, the freezer bowl part of it wasn't frozen, and I was left to my own devices. Fortunately, I found a SUUUUPER easy recipe on Epicurean, that you just make in the freezer. And because of the wonders of the internet, now you, you lucky lucky reader, can have it too.

You need:
1c sugar
.5 c cocoa powder (the real stuff, this doesn't mean cocoa mix)
1.5c water
1tsp vanilla
a glug of kahlua (by the way, having made the vanilla extract and infused vodka, I'm now dying to make kahlua)

Mix together the sugar and cocoa and stir in the water. Heat it up slowly so that the sugar dissolves (if you heat things with sugar up too fast, they can get hot but the sugar is still grainy; this is conceptually related to why some people make bad grainy fudge, they're not heating it slow enough even though they get it to the right temperature in the end. I learned this after making a lot of bad fudge, myself). Boil it for a few minutes until it is dark, a little thick, and glossy- I read these instructions and thought, glossy? what? well, really, it does look glossy- just you wait. Then stir in the vanilla and kahlua, and let the whole thing cool.

Now, once you've done this, it makes this ridiculously decadent tasting syrup. Pop it in the freezer (once its cool! otherwise you will melt all of your nice little tupperware lunches!). Now, I'll say this. I was doubtful about this whole endeavor- I was pretty sure that this entire thing was going to be a chocolate flavored block of ice. But, it seems that the alcohol is not just there to make it delicious- it also changes the properties of the sorbet so it freezes nicely and not as a big block.

At any rate, this was DELICIOUS. Now, once out, it melted reeeeeeeaaaaallly fast- which is why taking this picture was challenging and it doesn't look that great. But, the frozen parts? out of this world. So dark and thick and with a strong purely chocolate flavor that had a little extra depth thanks to the vanilla and kahlua. I highly recommend it.

A little break for a little Decoratin'

Recently I moved into a new (bigger! better!) apartment, and got some new (better! newer! more adult!) furniture. I love it. Charlotte loves it, as you can see here:

Also, for anyone interested, I previously posted about CidTalk. I ordered one of her Crops of the World pieces, and ended up getting all 4 (thanks!). I think they're great, and people comment on them all the time. Well, now I finally have a better place to hang them up!

At any rate, I am totally ecstatic about my new couches and grownup coffee table (replacing my home decoupaged one). But it was all looking a little bit formal, and I decided I needed something a little more relaxed and funky to make it feel like me.

Enter, the stick tree.

I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I went to the Orchid Warehouse (because my neighborhood has not only an inordinate amount of donut stores and psychics, and the Crapi apartments, but also an orchid warehouse) and picked up some dry willow branches (75cents each x 3 = a grand total of $2.25, can't beat that!). I then took a bunch of leftover paper from other projects (and pillaged a random origami paper pack I have despite being terrible at origami) to make leaves, which I hung using thread.

It is really really hard to take a picture of, but I'm really liking it...

Here is a closeup, since it is kind of difficult to capture what the leaves look like in person given that from any one angle you can't see all of them perfectly.


Its a little quirky, and it is very tall, but I like it!

Chana Masala

Recently I went to Trader Joes (aka, my second home), and bought their frozen Chana Masala. Chana masala isn't even in my top tier of Indian food choices (I'm a saag kind of girl), but let me tell you, it was pretty delicious. Of course, having had it in all its deliciousness made me want to learn to make my own (because thats how I am).

So, a perusal of the internets began.I found a number of recipes, but this lady was by far and away not only the cutest of them all, but the biggest influence on my ultimate product.

(I preface this with my usual caveat about how I come from a Nordic people who do not make curry, so everything here is based on me liking stuff, not necessarily me being super authentic and making everything definitively. Plus, I like to experiment too much to make anything definitively, anyways).

SO!

Take a diced onion and slowly saute in some oil. I think that slowness is the key here, so that they get really soft, translucent, and a bit brown.

After they've been going for a bit, throw in a few cloves of diced garlic and some diced fresh ginger (I love ginger, so probably used about 3/4 of an inch of a plug of ginger). Then toss in a diced jalapeno (seeded). Let them cook until the onions are really nice and soft. Put in some cumin and coriander seeds and let them pop.

Now, dump in a can of crushed (crushed! must be crushed!) tomatoes, and stir around. Add 1/2-1tsp tumeric, 1/2 tsp red chili powder, 2-3tsp coriander, and stir it all up and let it cook a bit.

Then, dump in a can of drained chickpeas. Let it simmer for a while- you might need to add a bit of water, but this amount of tomatoes actually provides a lot of liquid. To thicken, just smush a couple of the chickpeas, which will release their starch. After its been cooking and the beans seem soft and the sauce tastes pretty good, add a little salt and 1/4-1/2 tsp garam masala. Right before you serve add a big squeeze of lemon and some cilantro and let that sit a second.

This was goooooooooood. And, cheeeaaaaaaaaap. (if you have your budget cooking basic ingredients, you are almost entirely good to go!).

Summer in a Skillet

Ok, I lied. The "Summer in your ear" (did I really call something summer in your ear? yes. yes I did) earring post was not the end of my summer series... THIS one is.

This is something I threw together (which, to be honest, is how most of my dinners come about), but it was really tasty. Basically, what we have here is whatever summer veggies were on sale. I got white corn (2 ears), 1 Anaheim chili, 2 small tomatoes, and some yellow squash. In just a little bit of olive oil I stir fried some onion and the chili, then threw in the squash, followed by the tomatoes (because I hate raw tomatoes and wanted them to be really cooked), and at the very end put in the corn, which I had cut off the cob*. I like to put the corn in at the end so its still crisp- then, add salt, pepper, and a splash of apple cider or white vinegar (this makes ALL the difference, it just makes everything taste fresh). When it was all ready I threw in a ton of fresh chopped cilantro.

I wanted to add a little protein because basically this was dinner (although it would make a great side dish), and I was too lazy to make chicken or something, so I threw in defrosted turkey meatballs from Trader Joes. It was so fresh and delicious! Perfect and easy for a hot summer day.


* I have an on-off relationship with Rachael Ray, but in an 'on' phase while watching her show I learned an awesome corn slicing trick. Take a big bowl, and put a much littler bowl upside down inside it. Balance the corn on one end on the little bowl and slice off the kernels- they all go into the big bowl and you don't get corn kernel shrapnel all over the place!

Who needs Hostess?

I've posted here before about cupcakes... but, last week I made some cupcakes that topped even the super awesome margarita cupcakes from a while ago. I can't even wait, I have to show you the glamor shot right up front...

Yes, its true- its exactly like a hostess cupcake, except homemade and even more delicious. Yowza! The inspiration for the recipe comes from Our Best Bites.

The cake itself:
Now, she starts off with a recipe for homemade cake, and I'm sure that it is delicious. But, if I'm going to make 2 kinds of frosting, and insert them in every possible location in a bunch of cupcakes, it sounds like a good day to start off with cake mix. I used some kind of chocolate cake mix that was on sale, but I added a small package of pudding an and extra egg, just to make it denser. (by the way, if you want cakemix to be even better use melted butter instead of oil and milk instead of water. I was out of milk and all my butter was going to the frosting, though). So, make some cupcakes- I got about 18 out of it because I wanted them decently sized to aid with the stuffing. Let them cool, fortunately, you have a whole lotta frosting to make so there is plenty of time.

Inner Frosting:
This is without a doubt the weirdest frosting recipe I have ever seen, and I highly suggest you visit the original website for pictures. But, that said, I think that this frosting really made the cupcakes because it was the perfect texture.
You'll need:
3 T white flour
.5 C milk (I used non-fat)
.5 C actual real butter
.5 C sugar (granulated, not powdered)
1 t vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and the milk while heating in a small pan on medium heat. Now, you have to whisk it continuously until it starts to get thick- let it cook a bit but keep stirring. Eventually, it becomes sort of gluey or puddingy looking. Apparently it just really won't work unless you let it get thick. Once that happens, you strain it- put a mesh strainer over a bowl and dump it in, and work it through with a spoon or rubber scraper. Let this chill completely.

Using a mixer (I used a hand mixer because its what I have) beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two. Then, add in the flour/milk mixture and vanilla and keep beating. Do NOT freak out, it really looks gross. Just keep mixing- for mine, with the hand mixer and all, I had to go almost 10-11 minutes. And, part way through I was sure I was going to have to throw it out and just put the chocolate on top and be done (which, by the way, would have been delicious, just not super amazingly awesome like these were). So, persevere. It will eventually look like frosting and be fluffy and delicious!

Now, of course, you have to get this in the cupcake. There are 2 possible techniques. One involves some kind of magical frosting shooting tool that I don't have (see, I don't even know the name!). Then, there is the tact I took- use a sharp knife and carve out a little cone shaped piece of cupcake. Then, cut the bottom off the cone- you can imagine that if you replaced the top of the cone it'd be like the lid on a pumpkin and leave an internal hole for frosting. Here is one of mine, filled, waiting for a lid:


Top Frosting-
Now, I'd make this before you get going on carving up your cupcakes, because it has to chill. Basically, you're going to make a ganache- the recipe as it is was a little big, and I actually had left over frosting (I know, I know, this is not a tragedy ;). I'd never made this before, but it was super easy!
You need:
.75 C Cream
2 T real butter, melted
8 oz semi-sweet/dark chocolate, chopped up

Put chocolate in a bowl and pour melted butter over it (I did not read instructions, and dumped a whole cube of melted butter over it, which I then had to drain off, estimated how much I left behind, and everything was fine- this recipe seems to be fool proof. Either that, or you can never have too much butter). Place cream in pyrex measuring cup and microwave for ~2 minutes- it should be at a simmer, not boiling. Immediately pour over chocolate and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for somewhere around 3 minutes and then stir briskly until smooth. Let it cool- you can kind of decide when to use it, depending on your level of frosting skill. When I did it, it was somewhere between runny and thick- you could still pour it and it would spread out nicely, but it wasn't spreadable with a knife. It turned out so nice and shiny- check it out!

(by the way, I wasn't very happy with these photos, but I was very excited to sit down with a glass of milk and eat one of these things, and by the next day they'd be inhaled by my co-workers, so, this is the one for posterity!).

At any rate, look at the chocolatey goodness- you would never know the awesome filling that lurks within! These were a hit!

Little flowers- summer in your ears!

Ok, to wrap up my end of summer series, here are a couple pairs of earrings I've made recently. I'm not normally a super flowery person, but these little beads were just so cute I had to use them for something.

First up, Hanging Garden Earrings, which are lightly hammered sterling silver curls spiraling down with little orange and white flowers on them.


And next, the Little Bite of Spring earrings. Now, these have a little story- basically, the 'stems' are repurposed out of a necklace I got while I was in Japan. When I got it, I had no idea what it was made of- it almost looked like silk cord, it had such an interesting blue green texture. Then, when I accidentally broke it, I realized that it was really made out of very very teeny tightly wrapped springs. (if anyone knows what this is called, I loooove it and would love to buy some, but I don't know how because I have no idea what it is called). So, I thought it was perfect for these little stems because it gives an otherwise really simple pair of earrings a sort of interesting texture.