Maybe your spinach is popping up in your garden like ours is. If it isn’t, get your hands on some baby spinach, oranges, avocado and feta. Sure to please, and you can whip it up in a matter of minutes.

I love blood oranges for their vibrant color and their distinct tart/sweet taste. If you can’t get your hands on any, any type of seedless orange will do perfectly fine.

For the Salad:

• 1-2 bunches or bags of baby spinach
• 2-3 blood oranges, peel cut off, segmented
• 2 ripe avocados, sliced
• 1/2 cup (or more) crumbled feta cheese

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and coarse ground black pepper to taste

Place spinach on a large platter.  Segment the orange by first slicing off about 1/2-inch of the bottom and top.  Slice down the sides of the orange, cutting through all of the pith to reveal the orange flesh.  Slice the oranges into segments or rounds.  Halve and slice or dice the avocado.  Sprinkle oranges segments, feta and avocado slices over the spinach. Give a light dusting of freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a sealing lid.  Tighten the lid and give the ingredients a good shake. Drizzle over salad.  Dressing will last, sealed in the refrigerator, for 3 or 4 days.

The one thing I like cooking is roasted chicken. There’s something nice about cooking a whole bird. It’s simple. And rustic. And I like both of those things.

So I made BBQ sauce. Bone suckin’ sauce. Holy smokes this is amazing sauce. Use it on anything meaty. In fact, use it on un-meaty things like tofu. It makes a mean baked BBQ tofu. See – BBQ sauce for everyone!! Hell yes.

From The Pioneer Woman

Then I realized I can BAKE in a skillet. Way too awesome.

I made these to have with a roasted chicken and salad we made for my mum. (recipe for the home made bbq sauce and salad to come sooooon!)

Then I made them for soup. And for breakfast. And just to eat. Gosh, they’re good.

Feel free to change up the cheese, the chives, take it away, change it, add something sweet, or leave them plain. They won’t disappoint.

Next up in the skillet is a big ass chocolate chip cookie I think. Go skillet go!!

Adapted by Joy the Baker from Art Smith’s Table Fifty-Two

Well, as the picture says above, we’ve got a little girl in the oven…

We had our 19 week ultrasound yesterday, and she’s got all her parts in the right place and is as healthy as can be. We’re elated.

Erik secretly was rooting for a little girl. He’s got himself his own little cupcake to love on. So sweet.

So here you go baby girl, your first cupcake of many. xoxo

Recipe from Baked Bree

Makes about 18 cupcakes.

I added the red food coloring for effect for the announcement. I probably wouldn’t if I was just making them to eat…well maybe I would, but you can get vegetable based food coloring, not the bad synthetic stuff…

Again, I turn to Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks. If you haven’t explored her site and recipes, I’m telling you…do it NOW. Wonderful, delicious, healthy recipes…gorgeous pictures. I didn’t change a thing in this recipe, and I’m glad I didn’t. So interestingly good.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup  whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup  extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups  mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:
1/2 cup  dark brown sugar
1/2 cup  55g confectioners’ sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate pieces and mix well.

In another, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, zest, and vanilla. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes. Look at it and see if you get a wonderful golden color…you want to try and pull this bread out a little on the under baked side if you have to, so you keep all the moisture.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.

Prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover.

I just had to make this after a friend of mine brought some freshly made to me at work. So delish, complex in flavors – and the feta brings a wonderfully salty undertone, which I am not about to argue about.

From 101 Cookbooks

•   1 pound of large, dried white beans (corona, giant limas, gigantes, or any giant white beans you can find), rinsed, picked over and soaked overnight – or up to 24 hours.

Chipotle-tomato sauce:

•     2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 big pinches of red pepper flakes
•  2 pinches of salt
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers

Cilantro Pesto:

•     1 medium clove of garlic
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oilbig pinch of salt
• 2 cups kale or chard, washed, de-stemmed, and very finely chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese (see head notes)
• 1 1/2 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs, toasted in a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil

Drain and rinse the beans after their overnight soak. Then place them in a large saucepan and cover with an inch or two of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the beans are cooked through and just tender. This took us about 2 hours, but it may take you less, try not to overcook them. Using beans from a can could work, although they’d probably fall apart more easily in the dish.

Remove from heat, add about about a tablespoon of salt to the beans and their water and let them sit for 10 minutes before draining them.

For the tomato sauce (you can do this while the beans are cooking. Place the 2 tablespoons olive oil, red pepper flakes, couple pinches of salt, and chopped garlic into a cold medium saucepan. Heat, while stirring over medium-high heat. Saute just 45 seconds or so until it smells yummy, but don’t let the garlic brown. Stir in the tomatoes and the fresh oregano and heat for a couple of minutes until they come to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the adobo sauce – give it a taste. Add more salt and adobo sauce to your liking.

Make the cilantro pesto by combining the clove of garlic and cilantro in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing. Season with a bit of salt and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees. In a 9×13 baking pan (or large oven-proof casserole/dutch oven) toss the beans with the tomato sauce and the kale. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake in the top-third of the oven for roughly forty minutes, until the cheese to starts to brown and any beans on the top start to get a bit crusty. Remove from oven and let sit for ten minutes. Top the beans with the breadcrumbs and just before serving drizzle with the cilantro pesto.

I love shrimp, I love tacos, I love beer and I love cooking for my lady. Love, your boy Man Chef.

Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa

From Foodnetwork

Avocado Salsa:

• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 jalapeno, quartered, seeds optional
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 4 medium tomatillos, (about 8 ounces)  roasted* and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 ripe Hass avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Shrimp:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chipotle or blended chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound medium shrimp (about 20), peeled and deveined
• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 sprigs cilantro for garnish
• 2 limes, cut into wedges

Put the onion, jalapeno, and garlic in a food processor and finely chop. Add the tomatillos, avocado, and salt and pulse until chopped but still chunky. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cilantro.

Heat a stovetop or indoor or outdoor grill to medium-high. We used our Cuisinart Griddler. Mix the olive oil, chipotle or chili powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Grill the shrimp until translucent, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

Grill tortillas, until slightly charred and pliable, about 20 seconds per side (we do ours on our gas stove). (Alternatively, wrap in a damp paper towel and heat in a microwave.) Spoon sauce on the tortilla, then top with about 2 or 3 shrimp and a sprig of cilantro. Serve 2 tacos per person, with a lime wedge on the side.

*How to roast tomatillos

1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Peel off the outer brown skin that wraps the tomatillos and discard. Rinse the tomatillos and slice them in half.
3. Slice the tomatillos in half through the horizontal center (not up and down) and arrange on a large baking dish. Spray with oil.
4. Bake about 8 minutes, then flip the tomatillos. Bake another 5 minutes until skin side is blistering.
5. Remove, cool and peel.

NOTE: The tomatillos will be very soft at this point, so peel directly over your mixing bowl. Also, if you prefer to bake instead of broil, preheat oven to about 400 degrees, then bake about 20 minutes. Then proceed. They will not char, but they will be just as good.

Courtesy of Bobby Flay

Jicama Salad

• 1 large jicama, julienned
• 2 large carrots, julienne
• 1 cup red onion, finely sliced
• 1/2 red pepper, julienned
• 1/2 yellow pepper, julienned
• 1 tomato, julienned
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinch of cayenne
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Combine jicama, carrots, red onion, both peppers, tomato in a medium bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, honey, olive oil and cayenne and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cilantro and let sit for 30 minutes.

Serve it all up with a cold beer, of course.

But I have a good excuse in my opinion…

Yay!! Yes, Erik and I are expecting a little one end of July/beginning of August.

I haven’t been able to spend much time in the kitchen – my stomach won’t allow. It’s been a little bit of a bummer, since cooking and baking are my meditation, my Zen – but I know it’ll pass and I’ll be able to return to mixing and chopping and enjoying all aspects of my culinary adventures.

That said, Erik has been taking the best care of me. Pampering me. Cooking for me…and anything and everything else that I need. Bubble baths…pedicures…I name it, I got it.

And damn, is he a good cook…and I am learning…a great baker. First attempt at baking – oh, he thought he’d just whip up a little Brioche. Why not? And it was fantastic.

Don’t worry, we’ll be sharing his cooking adventures on here too…just you wait, Man Chef is coming your way.

And I’ve got a few posts up my sleeve too.

xoxo

Z