Mushroom Etc. And Sausage Ragu Over Polenta

What a great weekend. French-style brunch by day, Scottish pub by night. Work making pastries by early morning, homework by early afternoon. Stretching in downward dog at yoga class and running out my pent-up energy in the overcast, beach-style weather.

I've made a mini-goal for myself. I am going to try to cook dinner BEFORE I get too hungry. That way, when I am actually hungry I will have dinner made and I won't snack the entire time I cook.

In addition, I want to save time by prepping my fruits and vegetables right after I buy them. I put my breakfast in a tupper-ware and take it on-the-go most days of the week, so I decided to make my own fruit salad to add to my yogurt or oatmeal. With a sprinkle of cinnamon, my fruit salad was complete. Now I can just eat as much as I want out of the big bowl in my fridge whether it is with breakfast, after dinner, or as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. I also chopped my celery and carrots into easy to eat pieces and I can just put them in a ziplock baggie to take with me for lunch.


Fresh Fruit Salad

serves 4-6

2 kiwis
1 banana
4 large strawberries
1 pear
1 fugi apple
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Chop all your fruit. Mix everything in a large bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir. Spoon some fruit salad over your morning yogurt, oatmeal, or eat it on its own. YUM!


After my grocery run this evening, I cooked up a filling, healthy, hearty dinner that made leftovers for lunch tomorrow! I took this recipe I found in a CookingLight magazine and gave it a little twist. Thus I call this a Mushroom Etc. And Sausage Ragu Over Polenta.

Before I started heating any pans, I made sure that I had everything that I needed for this dinner chopped and ready. Then I began sauteing my chicken sausages in a nice hot pan until browned.


Once browned, I took the sausage pieces out of the pan and set them in a bowl.


Next I sauteed some onion and once the onion got soft I added my mushrooms.


After they got nice and browned and soft, in went the garlic, followed by some chopped asparagus and halved cherry tomatoes.


While everything was simmering I was working on the gorgeous creamy polenta. Then it was time to EAT!



Mushroom Etc. And Sausage Ragu Over Polenta

adapted from CookingLight **MY ALTERATIONS ARE IN BOLDED PARENTHESES

Cook the polenta while the ragù simmers so everything will be ready and hot at the same time.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup polenta and 1 cup ragù)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 8 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage (I used about 2-3 Italian Chicken Sausages from Trader Joe's)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (I used a red onion)
  
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained (I used fresh rainbow cherry tomatoes)

• 2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth (I used veggie broth)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked polenta
• 4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (I used 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, a pinch of mozzarella, and a generous grating of Pecorino cheese)
  
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove sausage from casings and chop into bite-sized pieces. Add sausage to pan; sauté 3-5 minutes or until browned, stirring. Remove sausage from pan.

2. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in sausage, asparagus (if using), 1/8 teaspoon salt, and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium; simmer gently for 15 minutes.

3. Bring broth and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add polenta, stirring well. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 20 minutes or until thick (mine took about 10 minutes or less), stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, cheese, and butter. Serve with sausage mixture.

Nutritional Information

This is if you use the CookingLight recipe without my adaptations, but it should still be quite similar regarless

Calories: 428

Fat: 18.7g (sat 8.4g,mono 8.5g,poly 1.4g)

Protein: 18.2g

Carbohydrate: 46g

Fiber: 4.6g

Cholesterol: 53mg

Iron: 3.3mg

Sodium: 821mg

Calcium: 74mg

Orange Cornmeal Cake

I love olive oil cakes. Love them. With cornmeal/polenta, with citrus. They are so easy, no fussing with softening butter, melting butter, or having to turn a blind eye when you see how much butter is actually in the cake that you are about to make and then eat way too much of.

Olive oil cakes are sophisticated. They are rustic and fruity and crumbly. This Orange Cornmeal Cake is made with whole wheat pastry flour, which makes it a bit dense, but I like that. Last night I ate this cake spread with orange fig preserves while sipping the most scrumptious blood orange mandarin tea. This morning I ate more cake with a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. What a treat it is to read the actual newspaper than to stare at my computer screen and read the news online.



Orange Cornmeal Cake

from Linden&Rosemary (thanks, Lindsay!)

**NOTE: You can use extra virgin olive oil in this cake. It will be more fruity and flavorful (which I quite like) vs regular olive oil's milder flavor. EVOO is also slightly more expensive. I struck a balance and used 1/4 cup of EVOO and 1/4 cup of canola oil. You can also use vegetable oil if you wish.

2 eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil (see note above)
3/4 cup of sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar
zest of 1 large orange (I used CaraCara pink oranges, because it was what I had on hand)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
1/2 cup finely ground (I used medium ground because I like the bite) cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher salt)

1. Preheat oven to 375F and spray an 8-inch round cake pan (I used a spring-form pan) with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, 3/4 cup sugar, orange juice and orange zest. In a small bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk lightly until just combined.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cool the cake in pan for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and invert onto a plate. Re-invert cake onto a rack to cool completely.
   
5. Serve with marmalade, and a warm drink.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

Peep Blood Orange Segment (Upper Left of Photo)

It has been a long week of no coffee, bed-ridden sickness, and lots of rain. By last night, extreme exhaustion took over. I fell asleep around 10:30 pm in the depths of a rainy night storm.

So deep in sleep was I that apparently I blurred the lines between reality and dreamworld.

I get a phone call from good friend, Natasha at 11:30 pm. I answer the phone by saying "good morning" in flirtatious voice over and over and over. After Natasha retorts, "Stephanie, it's 11:30 at night! Go back to sleep!" I reply "ok, see you in 4 hours." Natasha and I had no plans to meet up at 3 am. I was indeed sleep talking. I was hypnotic. Woken from the depths of my extreme slumber.

And there you have it. Apparently I sleep talk sometimes.

This morning I decided that I needed to get some good strong caffeine in my body. I did just that, and then I baked a cake. Ah, I'm back in business, back to being me. I made a beautiful cake. This beautiful cake has beautiful blood oranges and olive oil in it.


I got to supreme and segment some lovely bloods (see recipe below for definitions/instructions).


I juiced one of the oranges and mixed it with some plain yogurt to get a pretty pink mixture.


I mixed up the batter and folded in the blood orange segments.

Beautiful. Moist. The taste is all in the name, blood orange with hints of olive oil. Perfect.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

makes one loaf pan

From SmittenKitchen

Butter for greasing pan
3 blood oranges
1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar
Scant 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt I used non-fat yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups (219 grams or 7 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Honey-blood orange compote, for serving (optional, below)
Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar.

Supreme an orange: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and orange can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another orange. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.

Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; you’ll will have about 1/4 cup. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote (below), if desired.

Honey-Blood Orange Compote: Supreme 3 more blood oranges according to directions above. Drizzle in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Tender muffins made with bananas. A sweet crumb top. I want to take these muffins on a picnic. I want to alternate taking bites of muffin and taking sips of black coffee.

Bananas, why are you so yummy? Why are you so yummy in baked goods, in smoothies, in pancakes, with peanut butter?

Peanut butter banana bread

Browned Butter Banana Nut Muffins

Easy Banana Smoothie with Homemade Granola

Bananas, why do you sometimes attract little fruit flies? Why do the flies love you so?


Banana Crumb Muffins
from pipandebby

serves 12

Ingredients:

Muffins:
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 large ripened bananas, mashed
3⁄4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted


Crumb top:
2/3 cup packed (light or golden) brown sugar
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter, melted


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 11⁄2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and 1/3 cup melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 4 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Pour in the butter, one tablespoon at a time, just until moistened. It will resemble coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake

Studded with pears and dotted with cranberries, freshly grated nutmeg and sweet powdery cinnamon, beautiful bundt lines and a dusty sugar top. If that doesn't scream cozy fall cake then...well...then I don't know.

Then go for a walk in New York's Central Park...


...and when you are done with your walk, come eat my cake. Maybe then the cake will scream "cozy fall day on a plate".

This cake is dairy-free (it uses oil instead of butter). This cake is not non-fat. This cake is moist and satisfying and just flat-out cozy. Lately I have been craving cozy. A lot. For now, this cake helps fill my cozy void.



30 minutes after the cake came out of the oven, it slipped right out of the pan. It slipped right out of the pan and then I flipped it out onto a platter to cool. It slipped right out of the pan, flipped onto the platter, and later that night and for the last few days, I dipped it into my coffee and popped it right into my mouth.

Thanks for the great recipe, Joy!

Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake

recipe from joythebaker.com

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tablespoon dark Rum (or Bourbon or orange juice)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 pears, peeled, cored and cut into a 1/4 inch dice (you can make the pear slices slightly bigger if you like a chunkier cake)

1/2 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (or raisins or dried cranberries or dried apricots diced or chopped walnuts maybe even chocolate chips)

Directions:

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan, knocking out excess flour.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum or bourbon and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and cranberries. The batter will feel thick and heavy. Spoon the batter into pan.

Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Fig Galette aka Figs in my Belly (For Real)

Once upon a time there was a dinner party. After dinner the guests ate dessert. A beautiful purple dessert. A purple dessert with a nice golden flaky crust. Warmed and topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Now that's a dinner party!

Fig Galette in the making:

Oh, yes, and there was also a lovely yellow nectarine galette:


I used this recipe for my dough. For the fig galette, I spread the bottom of the dough with raspberry jam, topped it with my sliced fresh figs, and then sprinkled a touch of sugar over the top. Super easy, and the result is just gorgeous.

Fun in the Garden + Salmorejo: Spanish Tomato and Bread Soup

Just the other day, I spent some quality time in the garden with my great friends Michelle and Natasha. Natasha's family lives in beautiful Napa Valley, California. Natasha planted a vegetable garden over the summer, and we came back to give it the love that it deserves.


It felt like we had struck gold, in the form of tomatoes. She planted sweet 100s, a cute little cherry tomato that tastes unbelievably sweet. I could not stop popping them in my mouth, it was like a little burst of sweetness every bite!

Oh my goodness so many tomatoes, it was almost overwhelming!

And, check out the ginormous squashes:

Those squashes were about as long as my torso. And heavy, too!

So it has been 2 days since we picked the tomatoes, and most of them were already starting to go bad today. You really got to pick 'em and eat 'em quick. I sorted through the beauties and separated them from the good ones to make Salmorejo, a Spanish tomato and bread soup from the Andalucian region, specifically Cordoba.

This soup literally took 10 minutes, and involved no cooking! Just throw the tomatoes, some bread (crusts removed), garlic, a piece of bell pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil into a blender then strain it through a fine mesh sieve. The soup is meant to be served chilled. It is a type of gazpacho, a smoother, almost creamier type of gazpacho. The bread helps to achieve that creamy feel and it helps to thicken the soup as well. You can save the crust of the bread to toast and serve as little dippers for the soup.

I ground up some fresh black pepper in and over the top of my soup. Mmm.

Salmorejo

adapted from BakingBites

serves 1 (but can be easily multiplied)

1 lb of tomatoes (any kind you like, I was lucky to have some from the garden)
1 4-inch piece of baguette, crusts removed
1/4 piece of bell pepper
1 garlic clove
1/2 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine everything except for the olive oil in the blender. Blend at high speed until smooth. With the blender running, stream in the olive oil. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate until chilled.

The soup can be prepared one day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

**NOTE: You can save your bread crusts, toast them, and serve with the soup.

Homemade Apple Spice Sauce

Tomorrow night is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Last year, I made this wonderful challah bread on Rosh Hashanah for my 60 housemates. This year I have scaled down to live in a little apartment with 2 friends, so I won't be making 8 loaves of challah bread.

I was, however, fortunate to receive a beautiful bag of Fuji apples as a gift last week. How fitting for the Jewish New Year! Apples and honey are two big symbols for this particular holiday, meant to bring in a SWEET new year.

I chose to make a big batch of gingery-cinnamony-nutmegy applesauce. Homemade applesauce is the way to go my friends. And you can serve it in pretty wine glasses for an elegant touch. Maybe make some basic cookies as an accoutrement, or place a plate of dates on the table to eat with the applesauce. Dates could also be a great Rosh Hashanah food, sweet and satisfying!

I also like to put this homemade applesauce in my yogurt or oatmeal for a nice breakfast. Or it would go great as a sweet sauce with roast pork or chicken (I have heard that added a touch of butter to the applesauce takes it to that next level, if ya know what I mean!).

Homemade Apple Spice Sauce

adapted from Allrecipes

10 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 2-inch piece of ginger, minced finely
pinch of salt

Combine everything in a saucepan or pot. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 20-30 minutes, until the apples are soft. You may have to adjust the amounts of your spices if you think it needs more. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then pour it in batches in a blender and pulse until it reaches the desired consistency (my apples were so soft it literally only took me one pulse per batch).

The Open Markets in Lucerne (Luzern), Switzerland

High up in the Swiss Alps on a Mountain named Pilatus, I stood, freezing (literally) my little tootsies off. A 30+ minute gondola ride took me 7000 ft high to a place where snow reigns strong in mid-June.


And when I say high, I mean high. High enough to see (sort of) the most spectacular view of Switzerland (or at least part of it).


And I especially enjoyed the little yellow flowers peaking through the snow, trying to break free.


After getting back down to a part of Switzerland where it was not snowing, I found myself in the heart of the loveliest town Lucerne, a town where the lake meets the city meets the mountains.


Just beautiful. The snowy mountains were far enough away that I could feel warm again, and I could still admire them from a distance. And there were swans, too!


So, what's was for lunch? How about a ginormous baked good from the local backeri (bakery)?


Ok, ok, maybe some fruits and veggies would be nice, too. I found myself perusing the open markets in Lucerne...there were lions and tigers and berries, oh my! Alright settle down, so there were no tigers. But lions and berries, yes and yes.

The Lion Monument of Lucerne

There were tomatoes that looked like grapes, veiny grapes:


More tomatoes, of the heirloom variety I suppose:


There was white asparagus and chanterelle mushrooms:


Beautiful bundled carrots:


Aaaaaaaaannnnnnddddddd...FIGS IN MY BELLY!!!!!!!!

Dried, fresh, purple, green. Feiges (figs)! Oh, how I love thee.

I bought loads of chocolate to savor between (and after!) meals, I went to a touristy fondue dinner complete with a yodeling show and alphorn blowing, and I even ate sushi in Switzerland (I know, not the most authentic, but sometimes you just crave sushi).

Menu from the fondue dinner

Switzerland was such a blast. I would definitely go back, especially to see some of the other great cities that the country has to offer.