Category Archives: Her Kitchen

California Dreaming

Posted on May 23, 2011 | 1 comment

A few weeks ago Mark and I headed out west to California; the land of movie stars and swimming pools.  We went to escape the allergies of the Mid-Atlantic, to get some sun on our faces and really good food in our bellies.

Travel has a funny way of revitalizing of every sense.  This trip sharpened our sense of smell as we drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, delighted our sense of taste as we enjoyed food and drink along our journey, brightened our sense of sight as we stopped to take mental photographs of the idyllic and strengthened our sense of touch during a two-day yoga workshop.

In a week we visited: Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Ojai, Ventura,  Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Carmel/Monterey, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Oakland.

Over the next few posts I’ll share the hotel, food and activity highlights from an amazing vacation!  This trip was truly a California dream come true.

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Posted in Her Inspiration, Restaurants, travel

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Hungry for the Weekend

Posted on May 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

As this week draws to a close I am more than excited for the weekend ahead: dinner party with friends, engagement party, graduation brunch.  Lots of food shared with great people, what more could I ask for?

If you’re winding down your week and also “hungry” for the weekend, here are some great links to check out:

Lady and the Tramp by Disney, via Food Republic

Have a delicious weekend!

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Posted in Her Kitchen

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Spring Vegetable Pasta

Posted on May 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sometimes dinner at my house is a game of what do I have in the fridge, and how much longer will it really last?  Things with major staying power get to stick around for Wednesday/Thursday night’s dinner.

This meal came out of that game.  I had fresh spring peas, two green zucchini, a chunk of parmigiana that was all, “Carly, eat me, a little bite… I’m so good,”  and some fresh basil.  All of that would be perfectly delectable with pre-made arugula and ricotta filled ravioli.

Spring Vegetable Pasta Ingredients

  • A splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • One large onion, chopped into thin rings
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 zucchini, shredded into ribbons
  • 1/2 cup of fresh (or frozen) spring peas
  • Splash of vegetable broth (about 1/4 – 1/2 cup depending on your sauce preferences)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • a sprinkle of red pepper flakes (pepperoncino)
  • a sprinkle (or a handful) of parmigiana cheese
  • your favorite pasta

First prepare the zucchini, this is the most time consuming element so you might as well get it out of the way early.  Chop the head and “butt” of the zucchini off and with a fruit peeler peel down the length of the zucchini revealing thin strips the width of the vegetable.  Set aside.

In a large sauce pan add a swirl of the olive oil and then add the onions.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper here, and over medium/low heat let the onion soften and sweat.

(At this point put water in a separate pot to boil and follow instructions.)

Add the garlic and when that spicy, fragrant aroma fills the air – is that not the best smell? – add the zucchini.  At this point you can give the onions and zucchini a good stir, pour in the vegetable stock and cover.

When the zucchini ribbons are softer but not soggy add the peas and again give this some good stirs so that the flavors are all fully incorporated.

When plating this healthy and quick to make dinner give the vegetables one more quick drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of red pepper and cheese.

Enjoy!

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Posted in dinner, Easy Recipe, healthy, Her Kitchen, Seasonal, Spring

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Easy Passover Desserts

Posted on April 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Oh, did you forget tonight was Passover?  You forgot you were supposed to bring a dessert to your friend’s/coworker’s/cousin’s/mother-in-law’s house?  Oh you’re supposed to bring a dessert and you don’t have like an extra 6,000 eggs lying around, and matzah cake meal?

Do not worry.  Walk away from the bakery counter.  Matzah Toffee to the rescue!

The ingredients are simple, and because its basically sugar, butter and chocolate (and your creativity) it is hard to go wrong.  And you can get ready at the same time!

Ingredients:
5 sheets of matzah
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar (light or dark)
1 cup of chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Cover a cookie sheet in tin foil, and lay out the matzah.  

In a medium size sauce pot, over low heat, melt the butter and then add the brown sugar.  While stirring constantly, watch for the sugar to melt into the butter.  When it starts to bubble remove from the heat.  Off the stove add the vanilla, or other extract that you might like – or none at all, and the salt, and continue to stir.

With a heat-proof spatula spread the toffee mixture on top of the matzah getting as close to all four corners as possible.  

Put the entire tray into a warm oven of 250 degrees for 10-15 minutes. (Take a shower).

Out of the oven, sprinkle chocolate chips onto the hot toffee’d matzah and then tent the entire tray with tin foil and let it sit for 15 minutes.  When tented the heat will melt the chocolate and you’re free to do other things.  (Go do your make up).
Come back to the matzah and spread the chocolate with a knife or spatula and then be creative, sprinkle with a little sea salt, some chopped pistachios or almonds, or candied ginger.

Put the tray in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or longer.  (Dry your hair). When you’re ready to go, break into candy bar sized pieces.

Enjoy with family and friends – this sweet treat is perfect as a Passover dessert, hosting gift, or a quick snack.

Happy Passover!

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Posted in Easy Recipe, Jewish Holidays, Passover

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Menu Planning for Passover

Posted on April 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

On Monday night our family will come over for a Passover Seder.  I am excited to start cooking and have been assembling a menu for weeks.


If you were eating at my house, this is what you’d get!

Herbed Salad

Mark’s Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
via The Daily Batch
Julie’s Charoset

Matzah Ball Soup
Homemade Matzah
via The Daily Batch

Smitten Kitchen’s Slow Cooked Brisket
via Smitten Kitchen

Herbed Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus
via Bon Appetit
Roasted Carrots

 Chocolate Mousse Pie in Coconut Macaroon Shell
Knowing myself I am sure there will be a few more items that sneak onto the table…  What are you favorite Passover foods?  If you’ve never celebrated is there anything you’re interested in trying?

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Posted in Her Kitchen, Jewish Holidays, Passover

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Passover Humor

Posted on April 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

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I’ve got Passover on the brain; I am menu planning, I am planning to clean, and I am writing/revising a Haggadah (the book that is read during the Passover meal).  Least of my worries is what to wear for Passover.

Which is why I got a good laugh when my friend forwarded me this email from Rent the Runway:
Friends, there are few guarantees in life, but of this I can be sure.  I will not be wearing the Diane Von Furstenberg Taste of Elegance Dress for my taste of matzah.  It’s a beauty but you’d probably be better off wearing it to the next J-Date “Matzah Madness” Happy Hour.

For more Passover humor, with a techie twist, please watch this, laugh, and talk amongst yourself (in the comments!).


   
   

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Posted in Her Closet, humor, Jewish Holidays, Passover

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Berry Good Breakfast Muffins

Posted on April 7, 2011 | 1 comment

True story, inspired by “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”, if you’re coming to my house, I am going to make sure that there is coffee.  And if there is coffee you’ll probably want something to eat. And if you’re going to eat something it might as well be a muffin.  And if people are going to be eating muffins, I am going to be baking them.

That is the story behind these Berry Good Breakfast Muffins, we had people coming over at 7am (*I know!  That is crazy early!) and I thought 7am visits deserve muffins.  But, these muffins shouldn’t be cloyingly sweet, or filled with butter and chocolate.  They should be a healthy breakfast is a small paper cup.
Berry Good Breakfast Muffins Ingredients
adapted from Joy the Baker’s Raspberry and Jam Muffins
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups dry oatmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup nonfat Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg

2 tablespoons raspberry jam (I use no sugar added)
1 cup chopped blackberries

In a large bowl add all of the dry ingredients, flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and with fork blend together.
In a separate bowl add all of the wet ingredients, egg, yogurt, apple sauce and sugar.  With that same trusty fork blend these ingredients.  There is something to be said about a recipe that doesn’t require, or isn’t made any easier by using an electric blender.
When the wet ingredients are blended all the pieces will be fully incorporated and smooth.  Slowly add the wet to the dry and incorporate together and whisk together so everything is one big batter.

I used blackberries because that is what I had on hand.  I chopped them up so that the juice would flow throughout each bit and because blackberries are bigger and have a stronger flavor than blueberries (another delicious option).  Really any fruit works here.

With each scoop of jam I broke it apart into smaller chunks within the batter and very gently folded it in without turning the batter a pretty shade of pinkish purple. 

Set these little breakfast bites into a 375 degree oven for 16 minutes.  The batter makes 18 muffins, so you might want to invite people over at 7am to share these with and enjoy!

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Posted in Baking, Breakfast/Brunch, Comfort Food, Dessert, healthy, Her Kitchen, Seasonal, Spring

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Crab Cake Appetizers

Posted on March 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Crab cakes and football, that’s what Maryland does!” – Wedding Crashers

To live near Maryland is to know (and love) crabs: steamed, dipped in butter, made into cakes.  When I was home for the weekend I made a crab cake appetizers for my parents and grandparents.  It was so fun to cook for people who have cooked for me my whole life, and to make something that doesn’t show up too often in South Florida.  Florida is all about stone crabs, not Maryland crabs.

Crab Cake Appetizer, makes 14
2 containers of 8oz crab meat (I used lump and claw)
1 egg, gently beaten
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/8 cup of Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay (this is not exact*)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
3 cracks of fresh black pepper
sprinkle of salt
Sauce
2 tablespoons of mayonaisse
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay
1/4 lemon juice
chopped chives

In a medium sized bowl empty the crab and with a gentle hand and wooden spoon mix the different kinds of meat together.  You can use all the same kind of meat, but generally one is considerably more expensive than the other, and they have a different flavor, so I combine for more depth.

In the empty crab cup, beat the egg and then add it to the crab.  Add the mustard, and a couple of squirts of the Worcestershire sauce, the lemon juice and the Panko.  

You’re probably noticing that the measurements for these ingredients are not overly specific, that’s because we’re cooking and not baking, and because flavor and spice is personal.  Mark loves Old Bay so I tend to go stronger with that, and I don’t care for salt so I tend to go lighter.  If you want spicy crab cakes, add more red pepper – it’s that simple!

Again with the wooden spoon, very gently incorporate all of the ingredients, being careful to not pulverize the crab.  A great crab cake is full of big, pump pieces of meat.  I usually take a sniff of the crab mixture to see if it seems balanced, and then maybe add more spices if necessary.

Now, form small balls of the crab mixture is the well of the palm of your hand.  These just need to be gently formed, not packing them too tightly.  Place all of the uncooked cakes on a plate and cover with plastic to refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Refrigeration lets the crab cakes firm up before they are cooked.


In a large pan over low/medium heat add a touch of butter and get to cooking.  Each side takes 3-4 minutes.

When the crab cakes are out of the pan, give them a few moments to cool and mix up the sauce (mayonnaise, lemon juice and Old Bay) and chop up some chives.  For an extra kick you can add a dash of Tabasco to the sauce.

Place all of the crab cakes on a platter and give some (or all) a small dollop of sauce and a sprinkle of chives, serve with fresh lemon, oh and Enjoy!

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Posted in Appetizer, Easy Recipe, healthy, Her Kitchen, Seasonal, summer

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Full Moon

Posted on March 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

This past weekend there was a “Super Moon” – the moon was 17,000 feet closer to Earth than it normally is, so it looked that much larger than normal. Sometimes the moon makes you do crazy things, this is one of those times.

(The picture, though a great study in contrast, does not fairly portray how big the moon really looked.)
On Saturday, we went with friends to Haine’s Point, the spot where DC’s two rivers meet and it must have been the full moon because we were inspired to try some new food choices, far beyond our normal menu selections.

First stop: Capitol Hill for DC-3, an aviation inspired, boutique hot dog restaurant from the guys that brought Matchbox to DC.  Each dog is inspired by a different location, the Cincinnati, West Virginia, or mine the Californian (no hot dog, just falafel and avocado).  
DC-3’s California “Hot Dog”
To be fair, hot dogs really should be eaten on the spot, either steps away from the grill or still within smelling distance of a street vendor.  Our hot dogs had to travel a little bit, so by the time we dug in, the bun had lost some of its bounce and the toppings melded together.  I wouldn’t recommend these for on the road food, but if I did go back, I would definitely indulge again in their fried pickles; the thick cut pickle coins were battered and fried and delicious.

Post moon viewing we looked at each other and wondered, “So, what’s for dessert?”  Never mind that between four people, six hot dogs, two orders or fries and a order of pickles had already been devoured, we were on the hunt for something sweet.

Perhaps it was the thrill of the moon, or the allure of sugar and butter, our next stop was Dangerously Delicious Pies in the H Street, NE.  Dangerously Delicious is a Baltimore import, and while pie seems homey, this is by all accounts homestyle pie with a bad-ass baker attitude.  No gingham, or girly cake plates here, we’re talking pies and skulls and cross bones, and rock and roll.  
Between the four of us we ordered, and shared the cherry pie (very tart), the mixed berry (perfect sweetness and bite), the chocolate chess and the Baltimore Bomb.

Baltimore Bomb
Baltimore Bomb is evidently a local specialty and has been highlighted on the Food Network’s “Best Thing I Ever Ate” as a favorite of the Ace of Cakes, Duff Goldman.  The cake is a custard cake with Baltimore’s local Berger’s cookies “melted” on top.  It tastes like melted, ooey, gooey cookie dough – which is to say, pretty out of this world.  It is worth sharing with a friend.  While it was definitely a treat, I think if we went back that is what I would order again – I can bake a mean pie myself, so I like to try things that I don’t have the recipe for and that are, well, the bomb.

So, while normally I’m talking oatmeal, whole wheat flour and root vegetables, this weekend was one to indulge in and we took some time to howl at the moon, and quiet the growl of our stomachs.

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Posted in Her Kitchen, Restaurants

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The Difference between Boys and Girls

Posted on March 21, 2011 | 1 comment

On Sunday I woke up to see the following email exchange between Mark and his friend Nima, and then eventually Mark, Nima, his girlfriend and me.

Here is the difference between boys and girls:

Mark sends a date and a one word question.  Nima replies with a one word response.  And so now we have plans.  Needless to say my commentary in the email took more words than the entire planning process.

This email chain did two things, get me excited for dinner and make me laugh.  It has also made me start thinking about where, what we’ll do for dinner – but again, that might be difference between boys and girls.

Happy Monday friends,  look for a moment to laugh wherever you can find it.

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Posted in Her Inspiration, Her Kitchen, Restaurants

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