Orzo salad

This Mediterranean orzo salad is inspired by the food served at one of my favorite restaurants: Mama's Lebanese Bakery!

I have a slight obsession with orzo pasta lately...and goat cheese as always.

It only takes 9 minutes to cook to al dente perfection.

While the orzo is cooking you can prepare and chop your vegetables.  I just used some things that I had on hand.  I've also made a version where I used sundried tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes and mint instead of basil.

After rinsing the orzo with cold water and draining it I just added in all the ingredients, some red wine vinegar and a little olive oil and then seasoned with freshly ground pepper and some oregano.

And this is what I eat for lunch! Blah blah blah

Rosemary pork chops

So, yet another recipe I found on the Gawker:

http://www.erinnish.com/2011/11/pork-chops-with-balsamic-mushrooms.html

This recipe is ridiculously easy and delicious. 

In the original recipe the lady used canned mushrooms-NASTY!!!

So you will need:

Pork chops

Mushrooms

Rosemary

Garlic

Olive oil

You marinate the pork chops in garlic/rosemary/olive oil for 10 or 20 minutes.  Then you cook them until browned on both sides and cooked through.  This will depend on the thickness of the pork chops you chose.  I am not usually a big fan of pork chops so I went with a very thin cut.

After you cook the pork chops set them aside.  In the same pan cook the mushrooms and they will absorb the browned bits and cooking juices from the pork chops.

I served with mashed potatoes, but any vegetable side would work nicely.

Loon Sugar Cookies

The Hungry Oryx is back by popular demand!  More recipes for distaster and other random stuff!

My excuse for not posting all summer is that it's been too hot to cook or bake anything.

On the hottest of days, I would compare the temperature inside of my apartment to being trapped inside of a robotic rhino... 

I decided to turn on my oven for the first time in many months to make my coworkers some classic sugar cookies in the shape of loons- inspired by my recent trip to Minnesota, and the purchase of a loon shaped cookie cutter at the infamous Mall of America!

(See my Dia de Los Muertos cookie post for sugar cookie recipe: http://lauramanthei.blogspot.com/2011/11/skull-sugar-cookies.html)

These came of suprisingly well, considering how drunk I was when I decorated them! lol

Hear the eerie call of this magestic bird:

One of my aunts and I searched the lake by canoe in search of the elusive loon...

No loons were sighted, but we had the lake to ourselves and it was a beautiful day!

The loon remained ever elusive... but I did see some other fascinating wildlife on my trip.

Behold the albino squirrel!

Words can't describe the excitement I felt when my eyes caught sight of this beautiful freak of nature! 

Not much could top that regal rodent, but I got pretty excited when I spotted this fresh road kill being hauled away.  I guess it doesn't take much to impress this city girl

Olive Oil Spelt Cake

I stumbled upon this recipe while looking for ways to use olive oil in baked goods.

I had to go out of my way to find the spelt flour, but I was excited to try this new ingredient.

The cake has rosemary and bittersweet chocolate chips.  I thought it sounded like a unique combination.

Here's the website I snagged the recipe from:

http://blueridgebaker.blogspot.com/2010/05/spelt-olive-oil-cake-with-chocolate.html

It turned out OK, but somehow was not quite what I expected.

Ratatouille

If you put enough love into vegetables, they will taste delicious.

Been wanting to try this recipe for a while.  Have you seen the movie Ratatouille? I love it! and the "Little Chef" is my inspiration for dinner tonight!

http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/2009/09/using-up-veggies-ratatouille.html

Fresh herbs and vegetables.  I didn't end up using the green bell or yellow squash because there was already more veggies than my casserole dish could hold.

First you saute the onion and garlic and then simmer with herbs, white wine and crushed tomatoes.

It was fun to artistically layer the vegetables.

Baked in the oven and topped with goat cheese in the final stages of cooking.  This was melt in your mouth good and was already more than half gone by the time I remembered to take a picture of the finished product!  I will be making this again!



More pickles!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Recipe is from:
http://foodrepublik.com/real-lemon-cake/

½ cup plain yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp grated lemon zest
½ cup oil
Glaze:
Juice from 2 lemons
¼ cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine yogurt, sugar and eggs in a bowl until blended and smooth.  Add flour, baking powder, and zest, and mix till just combined.  Add the oil, and keep mixing it until it turns into a smooth, creamy batter.
Bake in a buttered 9-inch round pan for 25-35 minutes.  When the top is just getting a little bit golden, test with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean, you’re good to go.  Cool 15-20 minutes – the cake should pull away from the edges of the pan and should turn out nicely onto a plate.  Mix the lemon juice and powdered sugar to make the glaze, and when the cake is cool, spoon it over the cake and let it absorb.

On my day off I felt like baking something.

I looked around my kitchen, took an inventory of my ingredients on hand, did a couple of internet searches and came up with this recipe.

The end result was moist and fluffy and tangy from the lemon juice!

Miso Butter Asparagus

I was looking for recipes that involved miso paste, when I stumbled across this-

Pan seared asparagus cooked with miso paste and butter, and topped with a poached egg.

The asparagus was heavenly good and umami!

I'm not an experienced egg poacher so I just fried mine! The flavors together were a winning combination.

A simple, classy recipe ;)

Cherimoya Pops

Cherimoya!

I saw these at my market and wanted to try them.

The outside kind of reminds me of an armadillo

The flesh is soft and creamy, very sweet with just a little bit of tangy.

extracting the flesh to make popsicles was a messy process.  There were lots of big black seeds that were hard to work around.

I forgot to get a picture of my popsicles! :(

Poached Pears

My first attempt at this.  Pears are my favorite fruit, but I never had an occasion to make poached pears- until now.  Decided they would make a nice light dessert to have after Easter dinner with my family.

Browsed a bunch of recipes on the web and ended up using this one as a guideline:

http://www.sagerecipes.com/2012/01/08/chai-spiced-poached-pears/

I put Steve in charge of buying the pears for me while I was at work and he did a fantastic job!

Peeled pears...

Simmer the pears in white wine with lemon juice, cardamom pods, a stick of ginger, some cloves, sugar, and ginger.  The pears simmer for about 30 minutes then they should be soft.  This made my apartment smell like hot apple cider. 

After the pears were done, I added a little more sugar and then continued to simmer the cooking liquid to reduce it.  I served the pears will a little dallop of ice cream and about 1Tbps of the cooking liquid.

I thought they were fantastic and I think my family enjoyed them as well.  I definately want to try these again or some variation.



Ginger Miso Soba Noodle Soup

Looking for ways to use up my miso paste I came across this blog post:
http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com/2012/03/soba-noodle-soup.html

Mmmmm vegetables. A cheap weeknight dinner :)

This soup was ok, but overall the flavor was mild and unremarkable.  I wasn't too excited to eat the leftovers.  Also, I think that the leftover soba noodles get a little soggy after a day or two, so it's not as good, but the broth was still yummy.

Rosemary Cheese Buscuits

Made these as an attempt to use up a carton of buttermilk.   There are only so many uses for buttermilk, but this has to be one of the best that I have found.
See recipe on this blog:
http://www.dishingthedivine.com/2012/03/25/rosemary-white-cheddar-biscuits/

These were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.  Couldn't ask more from a biscuit.

There were kind of rich- I ate a couple for lunch and then brought a couple more with me for a snack when I went to watch the Hunger Games at the movie theater, and then after that I was sick of them.   Luckily the recipe didn't make too many.

Miso Soup With Soba Noodles

Saw recipe here first:

http://www.soupchick.com/2010/09/recipe-for-miso-soup-with-soba-and-vegetables.html

5 cups water
3 oz soba noodles
2 Tbsp miso
1 carrot, sliced thinly on the diagonal
3 mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce, to taste
1 scallion, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Bring water to a boil. Add vegetables and add soba noodles.

It takes about 6 minutes for the noodles and vegetables to cook.

Easy and cheap dinner!