All posts by D

Avocado Pie

Avocado is basically the state fruit of California. So why not put it in a pie? This was a really light, tasty pie, without too much avocado flavor. And the lemon juice keeps the pie from oxidizing and turning an ugly brown color!

Avocado Pie

Adapted from CaliforniaAvocado.com
Prep time:
20 mins
Total:
20 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe avocados, peeled and cubed or mashed
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
  • Graham cracker pie crust
  • Whipped cream

Directions

  1. Pre-bake graham cracker crust
  2. Puree avocado, lemon juice, and sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
  3. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust.
  4. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set
  5. Top with whipped cream and serve

Wine

We went wine-tasting with some friends about a month ago, and I thought I’d post a picture of our haul (no, this isn’t all ours):

Hold up a second, let’s take a closer look at that beauty in the center… and let’s put it next to some dead flowers for no real reason:

Mmmmm…. port. I love port.

Beet and Goat Cheese Burgers

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We made these last weekend:

Make burgers. Roast some beets in the oven with a bit of balsamic vinegar and oil, and saute kale or spinach until slightly wilted. Soften some goat cheese in the microwave and spread it over the buns, then stack everything up and enjoy!

(These burgers also use homemade buns, and I’m preserving the recipe here because I can never remember which burger bun recipe I use):

Hamburger Buns

Recipe from here
Prep time:
20 mins
Cook time:
10 mins
Total:
30 mins
Serves: 12

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 - 3.5 cups flour

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
  2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise (I sometimes let them rise for 30-60 minutes, but you don't have to). Divide into 6-12 pieces (6 pieces is your standard-size burger bun; 12 makes excellent slider buns); shape each into a ball. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
  3. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Kabocha Squash Tacos

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So this is a thing I made for dinner tonight:

Kabocha Squash Tacos

Prep time:
15 mins
Cook time:
10 mins
Total:
25 mins
Serves: 6-8 tacos

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Kabocha Squash, chopped into cubes
  • A good helping of chili powder
  • Red and green onion, chopped
  • Arugula
  • Goat Cheese
  • Olive oil
  • Tortillas

Directions

  1. Put the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat, along with the squash and chili powder.
  2. Cook the squash for about ten minutes, then add the onions.
  3. Cook for a few minutes more, then make tacos!

This is a kabocha squash.

Stuff we ate in 2014.

I had grand designs to post up meals that we had done last year on here, and write detailed intricate stories about each of them. Clearly that didn’t happen. So here’s year-end dump of a bunch of stuff we ate in the last 6 months or so. Yum!

Easter dinner: lamb with figs, potatoes, bread, carrots, and… cauliflower puree? I dunno.
Easter dessert: strawberry rhubarb shortcake

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Menu Plan – Aug 25, 2014

One of the benefits of menu planning is that sometimes you can slide some of your planning from last week into this week. And then you can handwave the rest by saying “I’ll figure it out when I get there”. That’s how menu planning works, right? I’m so good at this!

  1. Tamales. Yea, we never got around to making these last week, because they’re a lot of work and I was tired on the nights we planned to have them. So we’re planning to have them tomorrow, and I’m going to pre-make some of the stuff this evening.
  2. Fish. There’s a really good fish market not too far from where we live, so I usually just go and see what looks good on the day of, and plan the meal from there. I think I might make some roasted potatoes or something with this, though.
  3. Grilled chicken something-or-another. We have a couple extra chicken thighs, I’ll do something fun with them. (That totally counts).
  4. Honey Mustard Chicken. It’s been a while since we’ve done this, and it’s pretty easy to do in a small kitchen, so hey!

Menu Plan – Aug 18, 2014

It totally counts as menu planning if we do it when the week is mostly over, right? I also have a few pictures from past meals that I want to post up. Maybe that’ll happen this weekend. Anyways, here’s our menu plan:

  1. The Best Tortilla Soup Ever. I still stand by my original assertion — this is the best tortilla soup ever, and it’s super. Just make sure you include the guac. Also it makes a bucketful, so we’ll have this for leftovers one night.
  2. Pasta. Yea, boring, whatever. We were in a rush and had some pasta sauce to use up.
  3. French Toast. For some reason K hates breakfast for dinner, except when she requests it out of the blue.
  4. Tamales. These are freakin’ delicious, and so healthy you won’t believe it. You will burn calories eating these tamales. Not even joking. Oh, I guess I’m joking. Also they’re a lot of work.