Mark Bittman, I love you. *Asparagus*

It's that time of year when asparagus is as it should be and everything seems right in the world.

Yesterday Jack and I hit up a local farmer's stand and what did our wondering eyes behold, but freshly cut asparagus gleaming in the early morning sunshine!!!!!

Here is a recipe that does justice to the wonderful flavors this veggie has to offer, and it takes less than 15 minutes to make!! I am going to just paraphrase Mark Bittman's recipe from his cookbook "How to Cook Everything".

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Snap your spears so they break at the natural point
Drop the spears into a dish where they can all lay down flat, cover with water, dump about a tablespoon of salt in there, mix it up and microwave for about 2 minutes.

Take them out, drop them in cold water, dry them off.

Lay the asparagus spears in a buttered casserole dish, cut up about 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and scattered over the top, pour about a cup of freshly shredded parmesan on top. (I use asiago, parmesan, fontina and pecorino romano b/c I love cheese)

Bake about 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is browning. Take it out and add more cheese if you want.

Season with some freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt if you wish, but I omit the salt b/c the cheese is salty enough for me.

EAT!!!

Rather Healthy and Tasty Banana Bread

2 egg whites
1/2 c. light olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas (broken in half)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 c. agave nectar
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c. corn meal
1/2 c. chopped nuts (if your kid isn't allergic to nuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put all items in blender in order listed. Blend until fully, well mixed.

Pour into oiled/sprayed bread loaf pan.

Bake for 50 Minutes at 325.

Blue Bok Smoothie

2 large Bok Choy Leaves
Handful of Spinach
1/2 c. enriched vanilla rice milk
1/2 c. carrot juice
splash of agave
spash of vanilla extract
1/2 c. frozen wild blueberries
1 frozen banana
1/2 c. plain yogurt (easily replaced with tofu for vegan smoothie)
1/2 c. filtered water
handful of ice

I like this smoothie simply because I was able to use carrots, spinach and bok choy! Whenever blueberries are thrown into the mix the green-ness is lessened and so it is even more deceptive for children and more appealing to sensitive eyes!

Smooooooth....

So, a hobby that I discovered since last October, when I got my birthday present (a blendtec blender), was making healthy smoothies for breakfast.

My friend Ryan suggested that I post some of them on here and I realized that posting them as status updates on Facebook doesn't give me the option to review them! So, I am going to post today's smoothie!


"Deception Incarnate" Smoothie
Carrot Juice
Enriched Vanilla Rice Dream
Spinach
Plain Yogurt
Frozen Banana
Frozen Orange Segments
Frozen Pineapple
Dash of Agave
Dash of Vanilla Extract
Ice
Water
IAG

I named this smoothie "Deception Incarnate" simply because I managed to sneak not one, but TWO, liquified vegetables into this smoothie and my son drank it up! It is rather sweet because of the Agave and the Pineapple, and the vanilla lends the taste toward an orange julius.

This Past Year!

I figured that the only way to catch up on this last year was to just pop some pictures in here that tell the story for me!

Hominy and Greens! (Mark Bittman Recipe)
How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food 

Homemade Bread made with my Blentec Blender. YUM!
Blendtec TB-631-20 The Professional's Choice 1560-Watt Total Blender, Red 

Cold Tofu and Celery Salad with Sesame Seeds.

Happy Anniversary to me!
Mauviel M'heritage Copper 8-Piece Set 

Calphalon Unison pans are a great nonstick option.
Calphalon Unison Nonstick 12-Inch Round Grill Pan

Christmas Cornish Game Hens with an Apple Spice Glaze.

Braised Butternut Squash (Mark Bittman Recipe)

Still loving the pots and pans!

Martha Stewart Lemon Ice Box Cookies.

This meatloaf is surprisingly amazing. It is Ground Turkey, Feta, Italian Breadcrumbs and Cooked Spinach.

Uber Healthy Cookies!

Hell YES! Corn Bread.

I HATE dry cornbread, but I love the grittiness and sweetness of it.

So, I decided to mess around with a cobbler recipe I have and see if I could just switch it up to make it more savory. This is what I came up with.

It is so good you'll have to fight the urge to just eat the whole thing with a spoon by yourself- just a warning for those of you dieting!

So, here is the recipe:

1/2 C. yellow cornmeal

1/2 C. all purpose flour

1/2 C. evaporated milk

1/2 C. room temp water

1 C. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 oz. canned green chilies

1 Tbsp. cold butter chopped

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. fresh minced cilantro

Of course, if you aren't into the spicy thing, you can drop the cumin, cilantro and red pepper. But at least TRY the green chilies. They add something special and they taste amazing. They also give a little bit of excitement to the texture.

Grease a deep dish with something like Pam and sift some cornmeal on the dish.

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl except for the butter.

Stir until the batter is nice and well mixed

Drop in the butter chunks. They will show up nicely in the finished product as bursts of flavor.

Put the batter in the dish, put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour.

I didn't watch the time closely, so you'll have to babysit it after 45 minutes. Sorry.

Don't forget to butter the top as soon as it comes out of the oven. It adds calories, but just makes the dish heavenly!

It comes out moist and springs back at the touch and is just amazing.

If you want to spice it up even more, you can put a little white pepper in the corn meal that you sprinkle on the dish prior to pouring in the batter.

Let me know if any of you try it, I would love to hear your feelings about this "bread".

Asian inspired Chicken and Couscous Dinner

The chicken in this dinner was marinated in a soy/orange juice mixture and then seared on each side on the grill. I then left it to finish cooking at a low temp to keep the moisture in.

The side dish of honey, sesame oil and sesame seed glazed baby carrots, with a hint of red pepper for heat, really highlighted the saltiness of the soy in the chicken.

For the grain, I made couscous with some dried cranberries, pine nuts and red onion folded in and then accented it with a hint of orange zest to compliment the citrus in the chicken.

NUM YUMMY!