Poached eggs, where have you been all my life?

I'm addicted to poached eggs, ever since I learned how to make them a few weeks ago. If you don't know how to do it, and you love your eggs poached (like I do) here's a very simple, helpful tutorial from Smitten Kitchen.

The yummy, healthy dinner (or breakfast) from these pictures comes together in the time it takes to poach your eggs, which is about four minutes once your water has boiled. I always include some lightly dressed greens, sandwiched between a buttered English muffin and a not-quite-four-minute poached egg.

And the acorn squash is something I just discovered this year. It's sweet and pumpkiny, the skin gets caramelized and chewy in the oven--hello edible skin! In that way, it's better than butternut squash. It roasts up easily, tossed with oil and rock salt in a 400-degree oven for a mere 20 minutes. 

Hakka noodles, cookies and a baby

I'm kind of obsessed with Hakka noodles since reading this article in the February issue of Sunset magazine.

It's basically four recipes that you can mix and match: Chinese sesame noodles, chicken and ginger broth, soy-glazed vegetables and pork. I made mine vegetarian, with tofu. The sesame noodles are addictive on their own (I eat them cold out of the fridge) and also good in the ginger broth. And it's great to have lightly sauteed vegetables in the fridge, an easy way to get more veggies into my diet. My four-year-old likes the different combinations and is a tofu monster, so I'm happy he's eating good food.

And on an entirely different and crazy unhealthy note: I finally made the cookies whose recipe I've been making sexy eyes at for months now. Brown butter, nutella-stuffed, sea salt studded chocolate chip cookies. The name is an entire sentence, amazing.

And they are good. And huge. Are they really supposed to be this big? The recipe says it makes 24, I made 28 pretty huge cookies. I put a lot of sea salt on each, they can take it with all the chocolate in them. And nutella. And brown butter. Ugh, my diet starts tomorrow. This picture is pretty bad, but for great photos and the recipe, go here.

And finally, here is what I've been working on these last 11 months. Baby Adam is here and I'm feeling like myself again. I loved being pregnant, but it feels good to be able to lift heavy things and get some serious exercise, you know what I mean?

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling and homemade vanilla extract

Seriously, this looks so good I think I'm going to make it for dinner tonight.  Find the recipe here

I also made some homemade vanilla extract a few weeks back. I found the recipe in this awesome book that I got for Christmas last year.

The homemade vanilla is relatively simple to make, and pretty inexpensive when you consider how much a tiny jar of extract costs. This recipe makes a ton (about two cups worth) and uses just five vanilla beans (about $3 at Whole Foods) and two cups of vodka (the cost depends on the quality of vodka you use, I had Smirnoff on hand.)

To make it, you just gather a mason jar (mine held 16 oz. filled up to the very top,) some vanilla beans (5) and rum or vodka. Open and scrape the vanilla pods, stuff the seeds and the pods into the jar and fill it up with your alcohol.

Then let it sit for a few months before using, shaking every week or so. Mine should be ready around Thanksgiving, before I begin all my holiday baking. And I seriously go through a lot of vanilla, more so than liquor (especially now that I'm pregnant!) The flavor of the homemade variety is supposed to be much better. This is what mine looked like after I made it, but it's already much darker now after just a few weeks.

Quinoa burgers

These will definitely be on the menu the next time my sister rolls into town. They love quinoa over there in San Francisco. I have never prepared quinoa before (I know, how is this possible?) and feel that the time has come to try it once and for all. I've been eyeing some recipes for quinoa breakfast porridge and 'risotto.'

I found the recipe here, it follows below.

Quinoa burgers

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

To cook quinoa:
In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil over high heat.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the seeds are tender.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.

OR  2 rounded cups leftover, cooked quinoa

.

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or other variety, if you prefer)

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1 medium carrot, finely grated (OR 1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed)

3 eggs

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 green onions, including white parts

1 /2 teaspoon Splenda or sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil for frying

.

In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrot, eggs, flour, green onions, Splenda, pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.

Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons olive oil over medium-low heat.  Measure 1/4 cup and form into patties about 1/2 inch thick  - mixture will be slightly sticky.  Fry until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side.   Makes approx. 10 burgers.

Per burger:  Calories 132; Protein 8 g; Fat 5 g; NET Carbs 12 g; (Fiber 2 g); Sugar 0 g; Sodium 200 mg

Seitan Bourguignon

Saw this dish prepared on Martha today. It looks seriously deelish, something that should probably wait until the weather is a bit cooler though. Bring on autumn!

Find the recipe here.

35th Birthday

We spent my birthday (35?!) at a beautiful vacation home in Calistoga.

It was truly lovely. The swimming pool, the wrap-around porch. Not to mention a hot tub. And we made a version of a salad my sister and I had in Paris years ago. Perfectly dressed greens, couscous, fingerling potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. The real Parisian salad had goat's cheese wrapped in a crepe, cooked in butter though. Mmmm.

We chose to nix the cheese in the salad because my sister made this cake, complete with goat's cheese frosting. And goat cheese on goat cheese, I don't know....too much of a good thing, perhaps.

Kitchen sink quesadillas

This is a great recipe adapted from Real Simple. I've omitted many ingredients to make it a recipe I can make almost anytime from staple ingredients. If you swapped out the flour tortillas for whole wheat and used a lowfat (or polite amount of) cheese, it would be even healthier. But we like our flour tortillas and healthy amount of cheese over here.
Added bonus: It's a vegetarian dinner that my meat-eating husband loves.

Kitchen Sink Quesadillas
adapted from Real Simple

Ingredients:
flour tortillas
grated cheddar cheese
one 15 oz. can drained and rinsed black beans
one 11 oz. can corn
one cup salsa

Preparation:
Mix the beans, corn and salsa together in a bowl. Heat one side of the tortilla over medium heat in wide pan. When one side is hot, flip over and sprinkle the hot side with cheese. Top with 3 or 4 big spoonfuls of the bean and corn mixture. Top with more cheese and finally another tortilla. Let bottom tortilla get some color on it before gingerly flipping the entire thing over. Let other side brown, then slide off onto a cutting board and cut into quarters. Dip into more salsa, sour cream, or eat as is.