Tag Archives: go local!

Simple Side Dish | Sriracha Honey Glazed Carrots

6 Dec

carrots

Since my Sriracha roasted brussels sprouts post was so popular, here is another really simple side dish recipe. How simple you ask? You are just three ingredients closer to tasty town. Y-E-S!

Sriracha Honey Glazed Carrots
serves 2

Ingredients

 1 lb organic whole carrots (cleaned, peeled and cut into circles)

1 TBS cold pressed olive oil

1 TBS Sriracha (hot chili garlic sauce) 

1 TBS local raw honey

salt and pepper to taste

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Lightly coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray or olive oil
3. Place the prepped carrots in a medium bowl
4. Combine olive oil and Sriracha, pour over carrots, stir to combine, make sure they are coated evenly.
5. Place coated carrots on to the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
6. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
7. Bake 20 – 30 minutes depending on the roast level you desire. Stir carrots half way through to ensure even browning.
8. Remove from oven, while the carrots are still hot place in a bowl and coat with the raw honey.

Notes
1. Sriracha is a sweet hot chili garlic sauce, 1 TBS will give you a slight heat factor, feel free to increase the Sriracha in this recipe to increase the heat!
2. Serve each portion in a vintage bowl. The bowl in the picture is not vintage, but it is cute and made by Marimekko.

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Let’s Celebrate! | Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats

22 Sep

Every family has their own little traditions or occasions to celebrate, ours included. 🙂 This post is a celebration of Ollie. We found him on Petfinder and knew that we had to give this little brown Boston Terrier, a puppy mill survivor, a proper home. A home where he always has a toy to comfort him, a brother to play with, homemade treats to snack on, and someone to cuddle.
ImageMy favorite memory from the first week Ollie lived with us, happened at my parents’ house, my childhood home, in Dracut, MA. It was my Aunt’s 60th birthday and the family had decided to go out to lunch and then have cake and ice cream back at my parents’ house. After lunch, Kate and I made sure we were the first to arrive back at the house. Then Auntie came in and called out for Stevie “Where’s my Stevie?” “Come and see your Auntie!” All of a sudden, to her surprise, this tiny little white flash came running down the hallway! She had the biggest smile and greatest birthday surprise — puppy love from the newest member of our family!
In honor of Ollie’s adoption anniversary we took him to the Somerville Dog Festival in our neighborhood on a recent Sunday afternoon. A field full of games to play, prizes to win and free treats to sample… any dog’s dream. Followed up by some homemade dog treats for the boys to enjoy. Yay!

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Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats
Recipe credit: Adapted from an original recipe by Courtney Danyelle Georg (instagram handle: triceracourt) 

Makes 40 – 60 treats (depending on the size & shape you choose)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 cup 100% pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 TBS natural peanut butter
1 TBS ground flax
1 TBS honey
3/4 tsp cinnamon

1) Preheat the oven 350 degrees

2) Line two baking sheets with parchment

3) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine all the ingredients

4) The dough should be dry and come together in a ball when mixed

5) Add a few drops of water if the dough does not form a ball while mixing

6) Remove dough from bowl and place on a floured work surface

7) Using a rolling pin roll dough out to 1/2″ thickness, cut out shapes using a cookie cutter shape of your choice

8) Bake for 20 minutes, then take the baking sheets out, flip over each treat, and then rotate trays before returning to oven

9) Total bake time: 40 mins

10) Turn oven off after 40 mins and let cool in oven on the baking sheets

Stevie and Ollie loved them — they couldn’t get enough! Also, we made a little package for our dog walker to share them with her pack 🙂

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Happy baking! Enjoy the recipe — I’m sure your pups will! Below is a photo of Ollie with the prize he won at the Somerville Dog Festival. He carried all around the festival and all the way home on our walk. What a character!

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Keepin’ it local | Dave’s Coffee Syrup

1 May

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Keepin’ it tasty, keepin’ it local…

Dave’s Coffee is a small family owned craft coffee roaster based in Rhode Island. They are certified organic and do everything by hand, the old fashioned way. I bought some of this coffee syrup at a food show Kate & I went to last December and have been tinkering with different uses and recipes for it.

All in all Dave’s Coffee Syrup is just that syrup, a thick sticky bottle of deliciousness. Hand roasted in small batches, cold brewed organic coffee and simmered with natural cane sugar. Yum!

Here are three ideas I have tried, tasted & approve… enjoy!

Homemade Coffee Soda

Ingredients

12oz seltzer water

3 TBS Dave’s Coffee Syrup

Steps

1. Fill 16oz mason jar or pint glass with ice
2. Pour in seltzer water, you can make your own with a Soda Stream or use bottled seltzer
3. Stir in coffee syrup

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Vegan Coffee Egg Cream (adapted from Babycakes NYC)

Ingredients

2 TBS Dave’s Coffee Syrup

3 TBS vanilla soy milk

5oz seltzer water

Steps

1. Pour soy milk and coffee syrup into a tall glass and stir well to combine
2. Continue to stir vigorously while adding seltzer

Notes
1. For the best results, make sure the seltzer and soy milk are well chilled.

ImageSlow Cooker Marinated Pork Tenderloin
serves 2

Ingredients

1 – 24oz frozen pork tenderloin

1 medium onion roughly chopped

1 32oz box chicken broth

1 12oz bottle of ginger beer

1 TBS Dave’s Coffee Syrup

1/2 TBS Sriracha (hot garlic chili sauce)

1 TBS apple cider vinegar

1/4 c Trader Joe’s Soyaki (equal parts soy sauce & teriyaki sauce could substitute)

1/4 c ketchup

1/2 TBS smoked paprika

1 TBS grill seasoning

5 – 6 garlic cloves (peeled and smashed)

Steps

1. Roughly chop the onion and line the bottom of the center of the crock pot.
2. Cover your pork with salt and pepper and place on top of the onion, this will keep the bottom of your pork from getting chewy during the cooking process.
3. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and pour over the pork in the crock pot. The liquid should almost completely cover the pork.
4. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours, then reduce the cooking temperature to LOW for 4 hours.
5. Once the cooking time is complete, remove the pork from the crock pot, slice and serve.

Notes
1. If you need more pork for your meal, then double the amount of pork and use the same amounts of liquid in the above recipe.
2. To adjust the heat level, add more smoked paprika and Sriracha.
3. The outcome was a really moist, tender and flavorful protein.

For more info on Dave’s Coffee or to order some coffee syrup follow this link to Dave’s Coffee online shop.

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Making & Baking Our Way into Fall | Pics & Links

3 Sep

Oh hi! Here’s what we’ve been up to (a meaty post with pictures & links!)…

Savoring summer, time with Kate’s dad & the best lobstah roll ever (PJ’s Family Restaurant in Wellfleet).

Making pickles! Refrigerator style using this recipe and farm fresh pickling cukes from a farm near Jess’s home town. We added cloves of garlic & black whole peppercorns to each jar. We also made a spicy batch for our neighbor by tossing in a sliced jalapeno from our container garden (YAY!). We’ve been eating them on EVERYTHING (pictured below on turkey sandwiches).

Salivating over a new issue of Bon Appetit and celebrating awesome neighbors with this delightful coffee cake. Toss blueberries in panko breadcrumbs? SURE!

Here’s what the blueberry coffee cake looked like sliced (just before it got hand delivered to our favorite neighbors). This Instagram filter makes it look straight out of my mom’s 1970 Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

Catching up on crafty gifts, part I! Long overdue wedding card/art piece for friends Emily & Chris. Those are heart shaped bits I cut out of their save-the-date & invitations. I love sewing paper.

Catching up on crafty gifts, part II! Finally getting around to finishing this advent calendar project for 2 very special little boys (yes, that’s 48 little fabric bags). Promised last year that I’d make these & we’d fill them with goodies each year…literally the gift that keeps on giving! The first time I stumbled across this project on Lansdowne Life, I obsessed over the adorable vintage looking fabric…to die for, right?!? Can’t wait to fill the bags with goodies & send them off. Oh & those pinking shears were an amazing vintage find at a little consignment shop on the Cape. 

Officially launching Opal & Ollie on Etsy. YAY! A selection of my etched glass mason jars are also available at Magpie in Davis Square & On Centre in Jamaica Plain.

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DIY Cheese | Homemade Ricotta

5 Apr


Recently, my friend, Emily, told me about Salvatore Bklyn. They make fresh artisanal ricotta cheese daily in Brooklyn, NY, using the finest whole milk sourced locally from upstate. After doing more research online, Kate & I fell in love with their story, product and website. Martha Stewart has proclaimed, “It’s my favorite ricotta in the whole world!”, and has featured them on her show. It made me want to attempt to try to make my own ricotta.

(Recipe courtesy of Betsy Devine Salvatore Bklyn)

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

1 gallon whole milk (I used Shaw Farm milk from my hometown, Dracut, MA)
healthy pinch of salt
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Steps

1. Pour the milk into a large, nonreactive pot and season with salt (a healthy pinch). Cover the pot and place it over high heat. Heat the milk to 190 degrees (use a thermometer), stirring it every few minutes to keep it from scorching. Turn off the heat, remove from hot burner, and add the lemon juice. Stir slowly until you see curds beginning to form. (This should happen almost immediately; you’ve now created the curds and whey.) Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

2. Line a colander with cheesecloth and place it over another bowl (to catch the whey). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least 1 hour, then discard the whey. Eat the cheese right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

The results were amazing. This ricotta is delicate and fluffy, best eaten with a pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper. yum.

Meals featuring this amazing ricotta:  

#1: Toasted baguette slathered with roasted garlic topped with oven roasted cherry tomatoes and a heaping of ricotta.
Sprinkle sea salt and cracked black pepper and add a drizzle of your favorite extra virgin olive oil. Tasty with a simple side salad of mixed greens dressed in olive oil and champagne vinegar.

#2: Toasted baguette rubbed with a fresh garlic clove and topped with 2 tsp of pasta sauce, ricotta and a sprinkle of sea salt, pepper & oregano. Drizzle with olive oil.

#3: Egg white omelette with ricotta, sea salt and cracked pepper. (Courtesy of our friend, Cobi!)

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Zucchini Bread…it’s healthy, right?

23 Mar

My friend’s birthday is this weekend and I love an excuse to bake! Sometimes it is a occasion that warrants it, other times a holiday, but more often it really is just an excuse to bake and experiment. (The “experimenting” part drives Kate nuts! Heh.)

So, said birthday friend, dropped a not-so-subtle hint that zucchini bread is his favorite baked good. (He’d actually mentioned this before and THEN at least 2 more times after that.)  Happy birthday, Shaun! (Sometime today, I’m sure you’re going to be tearing into this bad boy at work…)


(Adapted from NY Times published September 9, 2008)

Makes 2 8″x4″ loaves

Ingredients

2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour

3 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 TBS unsulphured molasses

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp King Arthur Espresso Powder

2 cups grated zucchini

2 oz. package of Taza Chocolate Cocoa Nibs (chopped)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Steps

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans with non-stick spray, set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat eggs until light and foamy, 3 minutes. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, baking soda, vanilla, molasses, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, espresso powder and remaining flour. Mix just until blended. Stir in zucchini, nibs, and walnuts.

3. Divide batter between pans. Rotate pans 180 degrees after 30 minutes of the total 1 hour baking time. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4. Let cool on wire rack in pans for 15 minutes. Turn bread out of pans and let cool on rack or enjoy warm!

The result: A yummy sweet-but-not-too-sweet bread that even your cutest little veggie hater will love!  There’s something about cacao nibs in baked goods that’s insanely delicious. They add a little bit of crunchy texture like the walnuts in this recipe. Speaking of…

A fun note: I used nibs from Taza Chocolate — a local organic, gluten-free, dairy free, & soy free mexican style small batch dark chocolate made in Somerville, MA (yay!). Their rustic chocolate is a robust dark chocolate with floral notes (Kate thinks the notes are very fruity) that appeals to bakers and purist chocolate lovers alike.

 

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