If you got the poison, I've got the Remedy

Does anyone remember this song from Jason Mraz?  Well I DO. And I remember him before he sold out and went all beachy with Colby Caillat, whose popularity still boggles my mind. BUT then again I am I like music of a different era. The hubs and I had our first dance to Queen's Best Friend and when we were announced for the first time as husband and wife, we ran out to Sweet Child of Mine, a song which the hubs was proud to have picked out. I never claimed to be normal, I only claim to be me.

Whoa A.D.D. This kind of non-topic conversation is only appropriate with those that can follow along. I'm looking at you T-Pain and Lady Bird. Why was I referencing that song? Oh yes. Because last week, I was sick as a dog y'all! Like so sick I had to leave work early, and I happen to be one of those weird people who not only LOVES my job, but also really likes the people that I get to see on a daily basis. But I digress. After I sent myself home and let me tell you: I was craving some ginger ale, dayquil and some soup. We had some pre-made soups, but I was a hankering for something hardy! Something that would coat the tummy and give Nurse Sir Rupert some reassurance that I was going to be on the mend shortly. This is him giving me the stink eye. He does not like seeing me sick and wanted me better. In order to make he rest he resorted to pinning me down and giving me dirty looks. Touche' Sir Rupert, you win this round my fuzzy friend.

I had these Irish potatoes from my produce box, and some left over kale so I decided to do a vegetarian spin on the Olive Garden's Zuppa Italiano, which is made with sausage.

Start out by sauteeing some onions and garlic in EVOO in a small saucepan until they are translucent. 

Chop and quarter your potatoes. In a cauldron add your softened onion mixture with 2 cups of vegetable broth with 1 cup of skim milk. Add in 2 tsp of died rosemary and a bay leaf.

Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

Fish out the potatoes and place into your food processor. If you like some chunks, as I do only take out 3/4 of your cooked potatoes. Puree until smooth. If needed, add some broth to create a nice silky texture. Add this back into your cauldron.

Wow look at the color difference! Go ahead and steam 2 cups of Kale until soft. I did this in the microwave.

I don't have a finished photo, but it was quite tasty. I seasoned with a little salt and a lot of pepper. I also melted cheese it in and ate it with some crushed saltines. Perfecto! And Sir Rupert gave it two enthusiastic paws up!

If you're a meat eater and want to do this with the sausage, just cook it with the onions at the first step. I would imagine it to be tasty that way as well. I ate this for three lunches in a row and it was just as good as the first time every time. Hey- I think that is a line from the Lonestar song: I'm already there. SLIGHTY different context this time! 

Enjoy!

What do you use to mend a Jack-o-Lantern?

A pumpkin patch!

ZING!

Good one. Y'all know I love a cheesy joke.

Fall. Yes. I am going totally over kill with it but I cannot help it. Fall in North Carolina is magical. The leaves changing, the low humidity, the 65 degree weather? Love it! AND I get to wear what many would consider to be my uniform: shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Perfect mix. I don't mind my legs cold and prefer my upper body a bit warmer. Fall is the only time I can do this!

What? What is what you say? SSC! Can't you do that in the spring? NO! AND I am bitter. (I know surprise, surprise!) Spring has been robbed from our quatro seasons here for like the fifth year! It is 30 degrees for all of February with maybe a rouge snow snow, you get one week in March of it being 65 and them BOOM 95! 100% humidity! Frizz everywhere! And UGH! You're sweating and can't breath from all the pollen. This is not a transitional season. It goes from frigid to steamy. It is hell. Pure hazy yellow hell. I am thankful every year that I do not suffer from seasonal allergies. The hubs does though. Poor thing. Everyone in unison now: awwwww!

One of the quatro amigo's introduced me to this concept. While on her blog she is confused, there is no confusing this recipe, it is pure deliciousness. Truth be told Mama Shute introed this concept to me via brownies, and it works, but for the fall season I highly recommend this.

Ready? Buy a box of cake mix. 1 can of pumpkin. Mix with 1/4 cup of water. Put into a 350 degree oven.

Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until you can stick a knife in it and it comes out clean.

Mmmm. Yummy and so moist!

OK! Variation time. I have made these so many times that I am well versed in how to switch it up. All of these follow the same principle, 1 box, 1 can pureed pumpkin and 1/4 c water. Buy a box of gingerbread mix for a spicy seasonal muffin. This also works for spice cake mix too. Also try a yellow cake, with butterscotch chips and a splash of vanilla and cinnamon. And like Mama Shute Suggested, you can also do this with brownie mix, devils food cake and other boxed treats. When the flavors are that strong, you don't even taste the pumpkin. What a nice, healthy and delicious season treat! 

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire... In OCTOBER?????

It is no secret, give me a theme and I am a happy camper. This is why I love the holidays so much. One unified theme that so many people can get on board with? HELLO! This chica is in heaven. I am our work's resident party planner. You name it. Baby shower? On it. Birthday? Bam! I've got your lunch planned. And even this Friday we are having a pumpkin carving contest complete with decorations, gift cards for the winners and themed food. Yup. I know you're ALL jealous. I love planning theme parties as much as I do shoes and that is saying a lot.

In my produce box I received a box of chestnuts. And I have never had a chestnut.  BUT I can sing the song about them ad nauseum. I also know mama Shute LOVES them. Why do I know this? I am 99% sure she mentioned it one time. And last Christmas I searched high and low to buy some and could not find them. I wanted to bring them home and literally roast them on a open fire AT Christmas time. Now. Tell me how perfect would that be?

Well it would have been perfect, except I could never find them. But nevertheless it stuck in my head. So when had the opportunity to make them, you better believe I jumped on it! Just like Sir Mix A Lot....

This is my little box of chestnuts. I wiped them off with a damp cloth. Pre-heat the oven to 425.

Next I took my X-acto knife and with the flat side of the nut down cut and "X" on the round bump. This is every important, because they will explode, and it makes them easier to peel.

Place on a cookie sheet and roast for 20 minutes, or until one explodes as is what happened to me.

Pull out of the oven and allow them to cook slightly. They should be bursting like presents.

Peels back the hard outer shell. While warm they are surprisingly pliable.

Once all done they are a gorgeous deep buttery yellow color. 

The hubs and I tried them and they had an interesting flavor. I really can't describe it. I don't know exactly what I will do with them now that they are roasted. A quick recipe search says they are tasty in stuffings. I plan on just randomly snacking on them until they are gone. Hopefully I will get some more so I can bring them home to mama Shute! 

Kale Blomkvist

I just finished reading all three books from the Millennium Series by Steig Larsson(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) and Kalle Blomkvist is continually referenced. What a fitting way to start off my kale post!

The lovely three children for whom I used to care for introed me to Kale fries and I fell in love. Their grandfather has an awesome garden and was continually providing them with freshly grown goodies. This is so simple and yet so good!

I cheated and bought my kale, pre-washed and pre-cut. I have no received any in my produce box and was craving it like whoa. I know kale is coming into season so I know it will be in my box eventually. I also HATE that people in this state will cook kale TO death, much like other greens. (Collards, I'm looking atchu!) Seriously, no need for the fat back, ham hocks or other nasty throw away bits from random animals. A little EVOO, garlic and salt with a quick warm through IS ALL YOU NEED. That is right. ALL YOU NEED.

If you gret fresh Kale, fill your sink up with water and soak. They are grown in sandy soil and if you don't do this you can kiss the enamel on your teeth goodbye! This way the sand will sink to the bottom of the sink and you'll have nice clean leaves a floatin' on top. Take out and pat dry. Remove the woody vein from the middle and chop.

Pre-heat your oven to 350. Get a zip lock bag and toss with EVOO. Spread evenly on your cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt. 

Cook for 15 minutes until crispy. 

Store in an air tight container. These are surprisingly crispy and light in flavor. That is why I call them kale fries. SO good. And SO easy!

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!

Happy fall everyone! Above is my pumpkin that I carved last year for my place of employment! Sadly... I lost the competition. And ironically another pig pumpkin won. I am not biased, or holding some type of grudge after almost 365 days or anything, but the pumpkin that won was a plain pumpkin, painted pink with a painted pink dixie cup, hot glued for the nose with googly eyes.... yup. The winner people. But I digress.   

With it people fall the produce box has continuously accosted my doorstep with apple upon bag of apple. So now I have 4 bags of apples. I sent a bag with the hubs to work... but le sigh.... what to do with the rest? 

We ate at the Flying Biscuit last week when I was feeling under the weather and the best part about eating there is that they give you fresh baked biscuits with cranberry apple butter. They are to die for! So good. Luckily when you google "what to do with massive amounts of apples" crock pot apple butter comes up. What better way to satisfy the craving with some homemade goodies? Let's get started. 

Pour 3 cups of sugar into your crock pot. Add to it 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice. There was a specific spice blend that many of these sites used, but I just bought my pumpkin pie spice blend and was desperate to use it!

Peel, cut and dice ~8 medium apples and add to the crock pot.

 Stir to coat.  Cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce down to low and cook for 14 hours. You can cook it for less time if you don't like a rich developed flavor. I like mine a deep rich color. 

(Well... to be honest I put it on at 6 pm and knew I would be waking up at 8 so 14 hours seemed like the best fit for my sleeping schedule.) 

Holy cow. How yum does that look? I ate some on toast this morning and it was de-freaking-licious! 

SO GOOD!

That's all today. These next two weeks I'll show you my crispy kale fries, roasted chestnuts, stuffed eggplant, potato and kale soup, pumpkin muffins, spicy broccoli, easy crockpot chili, the Hub's buffalo burger AND roasted okra. AND we'll have a restaurant review of Sunflower's Sandwich Shop. Get hype!

Shoeless Joe's Hometown Eats Y'all

BAM! Field of Dreams reference! And I bought my Chicago cubs tee (and only paid 4 dollars for it, holla!) for next year's sports vacay! 

Two weekends ago I packed my things and headed south to the mysterious and wild land known as Greenville, South Carolina. Why would one leave the far superior state of North Carolina to venture into our savage sister state to the south? Friends. Yes it is that time of the year when flights are booked, monogrammed bags are packed and the quatro amigos reunite for a yearly get together that rivals that of the g8 summits.  This year we all trekked down to the quaint town of Greenville for a hostel takeover lasting 2 nights. I drove back to Raleigh that Sunday and behind me I left my big toenail, my dignity, Saturday night's dinner and a lot of sleep hours. It was in a word: epic. Luckily for us, our hostess greeted us with a delicious shrimp quinoa dish that I have tried to recreate here. This is more of a loose interpretation, because I am 99% sure hers had mushrooms in it and no peppers, but c'est la vie, what can you do?

I started with by sautéing onions and tri-colored pepper in EVOO until the onions were translucent and the peppers soft.

Next I added about 5 asparagus cut into inch pieces and a half a zucchini. These were also sautéed until the zucchini was soft, about 3 minutes. Once done, this went into another bowl to cool while the shrimp cook.

In the same pan I threw in shrimp which were heavily seasoned with a Cajun spice mixture. You can adjust this to your own tastes and heat tolerance. Me? I'm a such a hot tamale myself, I can take the heat.

Say hello to my little friend. As you can see from the photo above, I am NOT referencing Sir Rupert. Folks, meet Seeds of Change. I find this in my organic section of my grocery store, and ever since Mama Shute introduced me to these, I have fallen IN LOVE. 90 sections to perfectly cooked quinoa and whole grains? Yes please. Beats the frozen brown rice, that's for sure.

After your quinoa has been nuked add it into the shrimp and mix lightly.

Add the veggie mix BACK into the shrimp and quinoa.

And serve!

You can very much adapt this to be some type of shrimp stir fry. Add some hoisen and/or soy sauce into the veggie mix and season your shrimp with red pepper flakes and ginger. Easy as pie!

The moon is made of baklava

The title of this post is taken from one of the blogs I read, and has no other hidden meaning. Feel free to read more of Walt Crawford's writings there, I know I enjoy his general musings- check it out!

Ok! It is review time again! I know I JUST reviewed a restaurant on Monday- so aren't you lucky with a double this week? The delightful kids I used to take care of are growing up so fast and September and October marks the middle and youngest's birthday's. Luckily the oldest had to borrow a jersey for her spirit week at her high school (and I remember when she was in elementary school!) SO I got to drop by and deliver some delicious treats. I would have gone to the cupcake shoppe, but sadly (OR maybe fortunately!) it was closed. So where else on Glenwood can you get such a scrumptious item????

TURKISH DELIGHTS! (or that big purple house)

I will admit, I have only ever gotten ice cream there BUT I know they make their pastries and treats fresh daily, so this was definitely going to be good for the kids. As you can see below the traditional baklava is 2.99 and you can almost see the honey oozing out. MMMmmmMMM 

I decided to get 5 since there are 5 members in the family, I decided to go with 5 different flavors. Pictured below is the complete set up!

I decided to get the chocolate (made with Ghirardelli chocolate), the pistachio, the apple crumble, the caramel pecan and the caramel pecan. All were 4.29, with the traditional pictured above being the least expensive. The attendant packaged everything up and advised to microwave for 10 seconds for the best taste.

Let's just say I am pretty sure the kids really enjoyed their treat. I know they love the cupcake shoppe as well, but like is about variety! All three have serious sweet tooths, so with the sugar content alone I knew they would enjoy it.

Lastly, in addition to the ice cream and pastries you can purchase all kinds of jewelry and art. But the pièce de résistance is their extensive collection of evil eyes.

What is an evil eye? Well Wikipedia- I'll let you have this one! The evil eye is believed to be able to cause injury and/or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike. In Turkey, evil eye jewelry and other trinkets are common as well. These are thought to protect against the evil eye. No worries purchase one and hang on and you should be free of anyone casting nasty things your way! Now you know.

Tomorrow's post I am back to cooking! Stay posted!

David's Dumpling and Noodle Bar

The curse of Oberlin and Hillsborough street strikes again! First we saw Darryl's go out of business and now Red Hot and Blue had QUITE the short run at this location. I hope that DDandNB does not suffer the same fate. I can now say I have eaten at this location when it was each different personality and I must confess this is my favorite! Nestled in between two of the three newest roundabouts and adjacent to Loco Pops and Player's Retreat is where you can find DDandNB.  They have kept the exposed brick and centralized bar which gives the restaurant a funky hip flair. The walls are adorned with photo collages of David Mao doing what he does best: cooking. Many of you have probably eaten at the Duck and Dumpling on Blount Street and are familiar with the brilliance that is Chef Mao. DDandNB has some of these iconic dished listed (under chef specialties), but the menu is surprisingly affordable. The fare is described as "unique" Pan-Asian with touched of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Malaysian cuisines with a special emphasis on noodle and dumpling dishes.

SIDE NOTE: We used to say someone was "unique" when we had nothing better to say about them, but did not want to say something condescending. Does anyone else associate "unique" with a negative connotation BESIDES me?

We began with ordering beverages: I had the Los Cardos Malbec from Mendoza Argentina ($6.00) and Todd had the Carolina Brewing Company Seasonal ($4.00).

Our waiter was very attentive, knowledgeable and spunky. I also liked how he referred to Chef Mao as "Dave" as if they were long time friends or at least go have beers after work at Player's Retreat or something. We started off with a selection from the "Small Plates, Appetizers, Salads and Soups" section of the menu. We selected the vegetarian Marco Polo Dumplings which are stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and assorted cheeses. They were deep fried and came with a balsamic vinegar dipping sauce and pickled dikon radish and carrot.

They were good, but a little bit too heavy on the acid portion. I decided to forgo the sauce and they were just as good without it and were quite the bargain for 5.50.

All during dinner chef Mao was walking around the restaurant talking to folks and getting feedback. Although he never got around to our table, I was very impressed by this. His wife also got into the act and was seating people and generally just hanging out. I felt added to the casual atmosphere which I think is needed for the clientèle that will probably frequent DD&NB. I also say this because I could not help by notice there was a late night menu!

Todd and I  both ordered from the "Traditional Chinese Quick-Stir Dishes" section all costing $10.00. Going on a recommendation of the waiter I ordered the Malaysian Curry Chicken, and as the menu notes, you can substitute any of the meats for chicken, shrimp, beef and pork. I did just this and subbed out the chicken for shrimp!

 Mine was not too sweet, and had just enough heat on the back end to make my nose run only slightly. I could taste the coconut milk and that was about the only thing I could pick up on. The rest just tasted fabulous! I highly recommend this. The shrimp were PERFECTLY cooked, which as many know you can over cook a shrimp in no time flat. Todd ordered the Ginger and Garlic Chicken, but subbed out the chicken for shrimp too!

Todd said that he tasted more ginger than garlic and the dish was sweet with a subtle spice. (This is a direct quote PS).  He said he would definitely order this again! Both dishes came with white rice. As you can see, we enjoyed every bite!

I truly hope this does not succumb to the curse and is around for a very long time. The place was packed when we were there, so I have high hopes. I think many people will go just so they can get Chef Mao's signature dishes for only 16.50! Next time I want to try the noodles, and perhaps venture out to some other dumplings! In the interim- you all need to go and try this place! (No peer pressure.)

BECAUSE I LOVE PATTON OSWALT!

Yes I said it. I love Mister Oswalt. And what is Mister Oswalt most famously known for?

Um.... being from Virginia?

what? NO!

Say! Wasn't he Spence on King of Queens?

Why yes he was, but still NO!

Being the voice of Remy in Ratatouille? 

DING DING DING! We have a winner! I also follow him on Twitter and he is incredibly funny. Now when I say I love him it is more like I really appreciate him making me laugh.

Moving along. As said yesterday. After two LONG weeks, my produce box came. So I looked at the contents along with my Simply in Season  NEW book and decided I should make ratatouille. According to Wikipedia, ratatouille is a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice (which I have been to and it is.... nice!). Hey-oh! Apparently there is some dispute about which is better: layering or simmering everything together. Miss JC (That's Julia Child to all you who aren't her close and personal BFF) like to layer and if it is good enough for JC then it is good enough for me!

Grab a large saute pan. Cut two onions and mince 4 gloves of garlic. Grab some goggles because this gets intense.

Put both in your pan with a bay leaf and some EVOO. Saute until translucent. While this is cooking, chop a medium eggplant.

Add to dish along with 1.5 tsps each of basil, rosemary, salt and marjoram. Cook for 10-15 minutes WITH the lid on.While this is cooking cut 2 summer squash, 2 peppers (red green or yellow it doesn't matter) and 2 tomatoes. 

Cook for 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally. 

Serve on some type of carb (I chose Kashi's 7 whole grain blend) or as a side dish. Top with fresh parsley and/or grated Parmesan cheese!

Another artsy closeup:

When I presented it to Todd, he looked dubious, but he went back for seconds and he said that his silence said it all. I hate to tell him, but him not saying anything does NOT tell me YES! I love this! It COULD mean quite the opposite. Either way! I killed the contents of my box using up one of the eggplants I got, both peppers and summer squash and the onions and tomatoes I still had in my fridge from the box I received two weeks ago. That's right my friends, when the produce you get is fresh, it lasts forever in your fridge. I am constantly amazed!

AFTER A TWO WEEK WAIT MY PRODUCE BOX CAME!

I turned a quarter of a century this year. And contrary to popular belief, most people DO consider this a huge birthday. I did as well. I was lucky enough that one of my best friends HAPPENED to have a work recruitment just right down the road and I got to see her on my birthday *BONUS!* Besides that extra special treat, she got me the gift that I swear will keep on giving.

YES. Simply in Season. This book has recipes that are separated into the four seasons with recipes featuring the produce available FOR each season! And then BAM! WTF! Produce Box takes a two week vacay. I have been itching so badly to use this I cannot even stand it. Luckily I had some produce left over, so tonight I will let you all know what I did just to try out one of these recipes.

This is from the fall section and was called "Maple Parsnips." WizIdbijbfaiubfb! I do not have parsnips! BUT! I have butternut squash. So I subbed it out. Today I give you: Maple Butternut squash. Ta Da!

Pre-heat oven to 400.

Cut your butternut squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. You can keep them and roast them if you like. Mine? To the trash they went. 

Cut each half in half and then cut those that halves in half. Translation: cut into four strips. 

I was feeling lazy, so I lined my pan with foil for easy clean up. Each strip then gets lined up and placed in the oven for 20 minutes.

Take 1 Tbsp Butter, 2 Tbsp walnuts and heat over medium heat. Once melted add 1 Tbsp maple syrup. I will be totally truthful. I used smart balance "butter" and sugar free "syrup." It turned out fine, but there is not a whole lot of "realness" to either of those products, but it turned out very tasty nonetheless.

Bring to a boil and then immediately take off the heat. Ding! What's that? Oh! How convenient the butternut squash a ready to come out of the oven!

Roasty toasty. You can stop here, and eat them plain if you would like (I def. snacked on like 3 of these just standing there). But I added them to a bowl and then drizzled the nutty maple mixture over these and voila! Fin!

SO. FREAKING. GOOD! It made my toes curl. I could not believe this was as good as it was! Tomorrow I am sharing the simple summer ratatouille I made tonight! Everyone was a member of the clean plate club. Until tomorrow!