Pepperplate and New Recipes

Have you heard of Pepperplate? We hadn't until we visited with my mentor teacher and his wife in Vermont. They've been using it and gave us a quick demo.

Pepperplate is an app for your ipad/android/chrome device, and also has a website that you can log into. You can upload recipes, create automatic shopping lists (that have been so handy while grocery shopping) and share the recipe easily.

Over the last month Tom and I have been trying out a bunch of new recipes. I have fallen more in love with recipes from Marin Mama Cooks  and we cooked up a bunch of her recipes a few weeks ago. Once I know I like a recipe it goes straight into my Pepperplate account. For a while I only had Jacquelyn's recipes in there, but we have since added our usual dishes and a few new ones to try.

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We had our first Trader Joe's experience last Sunday and came home with all of the fixings to create meatball subs. My mom used to make porcupine meatballs growing up but we always bought regular meatballs pre-made. This time, Tom was the chef and he was excited to try out the new recipe.

Pre-Oven

Let me tell you, these meatballs were amaaazing! And the subs were incredible. We may never buy a package of meatballs ever again!

Have you tried out Pepperplate?

Where do you normally keep recipes? 

I started this blog as a way to remember recipes, but Pepperplate is so much easier!

Chive and Butter Noodles

Chives, butter, and noodles. I love them separately and I love them together. Especially when they are the base ingredients in a delicious dish that I made Saturday night.

The recipe came courtesy of Pinterest, but is from This Blog here. I had to run out to a local organic store to purchase nutritional yeast, but substituted spaghetti for the soba noodles. I had never heard of soba noodles prior to this recipe and did not care to try them. Spaghetti worked out just fine. 

Tom and I loved the meal. It was delicious and much healthier than the packaged mixes you might find in the pasta isle of a grocery store. They have much less sodium, fresh ingredients, and are packed full of flavor. Trust me, this will be made again, and again, and again! I may decide to double the chive/butter recipe next time in order to increase the chive/butter to noodle ratio. 

Chive and Butter Noodles

Adapted from Anja's Food 4 Thought 

Ingredients

• Spaghetti/Angel Hair pasta (enough for two people)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons chives, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt to taste
• 4 tablespoons toasted walnuts, chopped finely

1. Cook pasta according to directions. 
2. While pasta is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once melted, add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened.
3. Add the chives and minced garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. 
4. Add the nutritional yeast along with salt. Immediately add the 1 tablespoon of unmelted butter, and cook until butter has completely melted. Remove from heat.
5. Toast walnuts in oven by broiling for a few minutes. Be sure to watch them so they do not burn. Remove from oven, and chop finely on a cutting board. 
6. Once pasta is cooked, drain the water and add the noodles to a bowl. Pour the chive mixture on top and stir to incorporate the mixture into the pasta. 
7. Serve pasta on plates/bowls and sprinkle walnuts on top. The walnuts give a good crunch to the noodles. 

Enjoy!

We enjoyed the noodles along with fresh cherry tomatoes that we picked up at a local Farmer's market on Saturday. Cherry tomatoes always make my heart happy, but I must confess, they were not as the delicious as Pete's Green's tomatoes that we enjoyed last year. Oh how I miss their CSA.

Grilled Prosciutto and Mozzarella Sandwhich

Last Sunday (4/29) I successfully made a tortilla Española for dinner. Normally I destroy the tortilla when I flip it, it comes out burnt, or the flavor is just bland. This time I made sure to really salt it, cooked it on low, and didn't bother to flip it. Instead, I put a lid on the pan and cooked it for 20 minutes. Perfecto.

By Monday I was craving more Spanish-style comida (food). More specifically, I was craving a bocadillo de jamon y queso (Serrano ham and cheese sandwich), but was lacking the authentic Serrano ham and Manchego cheese.

I discovered the next best thing: A grilled Mozzarella sandwhich with Red Hen bread, basil, tomato, and prosciutto! It was amazing, and so much better than the American grilled cheeses.

Fun fact: Growing up we knew grilled cheese sandwiches as "Toasted cheese sandwiches". My mom broiled them in the oven, toasting them, rather than grilling or frying.

Anyway, to make this sandwich it is quite simple:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter two sides of really good bread (I used Red-Hen)
3. Lay 1-2 pieces of prosciutto on each un-buttered side of the bread.
4. Lay slices of fresh Mozzarella on top of the prosciutto
5. Cover the cheese with fresh basil leaves.
6. Put the two halves of the sandwich together, making sure the butter is facing outward.

1. Heat olive oil in a small frying pan on medium-low heat. Place sandwich in pan and cook for 3 minutes, until crispy and slightly toasted. Flip and repeat for other side.
2. Place sandwich onto pan and bake in the oven for 3-5 minutes, until cheese is melted. 
3. Remove from oven (careful - it's hot!). Open sandwich and place slices of tomatoes between layers of basil leaves.

Apparently my Spanish-styled food cravings did not end last week. This Tuesday I was whipping up some Valencia-styled paella. I wonder what the next dish will be!

CSA Week 2: I love Scapes!

Last week's CSA didn't seem as daunting as the first week, but sadly we weren't home enough to go through everything before it started to go bad. 

Our bag consisted of potatoes (not shown), mesclun mix, nappa cabbage, garlic scapes, scallions, sage, salad turnips, Easter Egg radishes, and Zucchini. Yes, my brain thinks that Zucchini should always start with a capital Z. I had my first radish (yes, I was a very picky eater as a child) when I threw it in with the mesclun mix and other non-csa veggies to make a salad. 

Saturday, while I was busy frosting the wedding cakes, Tom created a delicious nacho dish for lunch using the scapes and scallions. 

Tuesday night came and we realized we had a bunch of veggies left that we needed to eat before our next delivery on Wednesday. When I was in Spain in 2008 I tried a delicious fried Zucchini tapa with honey and salt. I didn't feel like preparing a batter, let alone frying it, so I sauteed slices of Zucchini in olive oil for a couple minutes before adding honey on top and sprinkling with salt. Yum!

We also cooked up the sage, remaining scapes, and scallions with the potatoes. Tom discovered that boiling the potato cubes in water first ensures that they don't burn in the pan and that they're the same texture throughout when eating.

And to update you on the beet situation: my friend, the recent bride, taught me how to roast the beets. I never thought I'd say it but I ate a beet and I liked it!