recipes – Page 7

“Buffalo” Chicken Salad Sandwiches…and why you should be happy you don’t live with me.

12. June 2013 · 72 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, salads, Savory · Tags: buffalo, chicken, salad

It was such a nice day out today in NY. Warm but breezy. It makes my walk home so nice.

I’m trying to savor these warm, dry days before we get to the so-humid-you-stick-to-your-pants days. Unfortunately, we did have a couple of those in the last two weeks. All I want on days like those is something cold.

Ice cream is totally a possibility for dinner on those days. At least for me. But since I have a husband to feed who can’t subsist on dessert alone, I have to come up with other things.

We had some whole wheat rolls lying around from veggie burgers on Memorial day, and since you know I can’t let things go to waste, i had to come up with some use for them.

I thought chicken salad would be great, but to kick it up a notch, I added the most delicious sauce on the planet- Frank’s Buffalo Sauce. I seriously could eat that sauce every day on anything.

I had a hard time coming up with what I should call this, because when I did a google search for “Buffalo Chicken Salad,” all I could find was buffalo chicken pieces ON a salad….which totally makes sense although I hadn’t thought of that at all. I wish I could like emphasize that “chicken salad” is one phrase. Oh, I know…”Buffalo” Chicken Salad.

That was totally my thought process, by the way. I literally came up with that as I was typing. Now you probably understand why Nate has learned to completely tune me out when I talk, since for me talking actually means voicing my every thought.

Oh well, I guess it’s worth putting up for if you get this for dinner :)

“Buffalo” Chicken Salad Sandwiches

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Makes about 6 sandwiches

1 2/3 lbs chicken breast, raw (I guess the same amount cooked if you have leftovers? prob a little less pre-cooked)
4 ribs celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
6 oz. 2% Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup buffalo sauce
salt and pepper to taste
6 hamburger buns
Romaine lettuce for garnish (optional)

Put chicken in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and heat until chicken is cooked through. I find the easiest way to tell is to take a piece out and cut into it.

Pull chicken out and set on cutting board to cool.

Meanwhile, chop celery. Whisk lemon juice, yogurt, blue cheese, buffalo sauce and s/p. Dump in celery.

When chicken has cooled, chop into small bite-sized pieces and mix with the sauce. Put in fridge to cool.

Top each bun with a lettuce leaf and a large scoop of chicken salad.

Tomato and Rosemary Focaccia and a Belated Memorial Day Post

04. June 2013 · 67 comments · Categories: Appetizer, Baking, Bread, cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, vegetarian · Tags: focaccia, holiday, Memorial Day

Nate and I headed down to his mom’s last weekend, as we usually do when we have 3 days off. I decided to undertake a bunch of recipes that take longer than I typically have. I thought it was a perfect time to get into some yeasty things.

I had marked down a couple recipes, one for a cinnamon braid bread that I decided to make for breakfast, and the other was a Tomato Rosemary Focaccia Nate found in the NY Times. Nate loves focaccia so I’ve been wanting to make it for him. This particular recipe was “healthy” because it had mostly whole wheat flour.

While I waited for the dough to rise, I headed outside to pet the neighbor’s cat. He really seemed to like me, and after about 5-10 min of petting, I decided to come back inside. It was a little chilly and I was in my p.j.’s Well, the cat decided he wasn’t done being pet, so he followed me. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get him to leave me alone, and I didn’t want him to get near my mother-in-law’s house because she has two dogs inside that don’t like cats.

I finally was able to trick him and quickly ran in the front door and shut it. It seemed like the coast was clear until I saw him poke his head in the window. He was looking for me!

He stayed on the front porch for about 15 min, meowing and pawing at the window. When I didn’t come back out, he then went to the back door and meowed there too for another 15 min. I felt so bad!

Finally, after about 30 min of this, I went outside and walked him back to the neighbor’s house. They were about to leave and were in the driveway, so they took him and put him inside. Phew. And I thought my cat was needy! Nate threatened to tell L.C. when we got home that I “had an affair with a floozy.”

But back to the food. Nate loves whole wheat breads, but I’m not as much of a fan. I find them a little on the dry side, and this focaccia was no exception. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but you could definitely tell it was made with whole wheat flour. If I’m going to splurge on bread/pasta, I want it to be white flour all the way!

It sure was pretty, though.

Tomato Rosemary Focaccia ~ ElephantEats.com

We had ourselves a nice outdoor dinner. There are few months of the year when I’m willing to eat outside. Usually it’s too cold, or mosquitoes are everywhere (mosquitoes happen to LOVE me).

Anyway, we had a perfect, sunny evening with a nice breeze.

Nate’s mom grilled up some chicken sausage and veggies and we served the focaccia alongside it.

I made a chocolate pine nut tart for dessert that was as amazing as it sounds, but the recipe needs a little tweaking before I can share it. I followed the directions but ended up having to split it into two pans because there was too much crust and filling.

We had an awesome Memorial Day. I can’t believe the 4th of July is only a month away! Where has this year gone?

For the focaccia recipe, you can get it from the NY Times site here.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas…and some cuteness.

23. May 2013 · 92 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, salads, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: broccoli, capers, chickpeas, house, pasta salad

Before I share my recipe with you today, I have a couple cute things to show you.

First, since I know you all wanted to see- Here’s a picture of our house!

Totally adorable, right? It definitely needs a new coat of paint, among other things. And I can’t wait to get my hands on the front yard for some pretty landscaping. I’ve never gotten to do that before so I’m so excited! Now I just have to figure out what we should do.

I’ll share more pics once we actually close on the house in a few months.

Being Elephant Eats, the second cute thing I want to show you is this video Nate sent me of a baby elephant’s first time in the ocean. All I can say is O.M.G. If our apartment weren’t so tiny, I’d be getting one of these as a pet:

And as for this meal, it’s a rare one that Nate actually helped pick out. You see, we have this routine every day where, before I leave work, I ask him what he’s in the mood for, and every day he says “I don’t know.”

I don’t know if most food bloggers are good about coming up with stuff, but I’m not. I absolutely hate trying to decide what to make for dinner. I have a million recipes pinned to my Pinterest boards, but when it’s actually time to choose something, nothing looks good.

But on this particular day, without my even asking what he wanted for dinner, Nate actually told me he was in the mood for a cold pasta salad (it was really hot out!). I wasn’t one to deny the man his craving, when he was actually giving me dinner ideas, so I looked up some pasta salad recipes using feta since I already had it in my fridge.

I came across this one that has all our favorite things in it and it sounded delicious. I doubled it, swapped blanched broccoli for the zucchini, and adjusted the quantities of the ingredients slightly and it was SO good. It helped that I was completely famished at dinner time.

Nate said he really liked it too, so this one’s a winner! Plus it was fairly quick to make. It will definitely be going into our usual rotation.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas

Adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

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Serves 6-8 as an entree

16 ounces pasta- I used medium shells
1 bunch of broccoli crowns, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
12 oz roasted red pepper, cut in small strips
2 cans (14 oz) chickpeas, drained
3 fl oz. capers, drained
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper

Boil water and put pasta in. 2 min before the pasta is al dente, throw the broccoli in with it. Drain pasta/broccoli and rinse in cold water to stop cooking and cool down the pasta.

In a large bowl, whisk vinegar and dijon. Whisk in olive oil.

Add pasta/broccoli, feta, peppers, chickpeas, capers and basil. Toss well and season to taste with salt/pepper. Serve room temperature or cold.

Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust

17. May 2013 · 58 comments · Categories: Appetizer, Baking, Brunch, cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: chard, goat cheese, phyllo

I forgot to tell you guys last week, but Nate actually has never seen the house we bought. It all happened so quickly. After our offer got accepted, I asked him to come to the inspection with me figuring he’d want to see it, but when he found out it would take a couple hours, he said “no, thank you.” Can you believe that!? Such a guy thing to do. He kind of doesn’t want to see it til the renovations are all done, but I don’t think I’m going to allow that.

In the meantime, our inspector never tested for lead, and the more I’m reading up on it, the more freaked out I am. Apparently it’s pretty much ok if you just paint over it and there are no areas of chipping paint. But if you’re planning to do renovations, like we are, the lead dust can get into the air and you have to hire a contractor that’s certified in dealing with that. I’m getting slightly paranoid now so I think I’m going to call in someone to test so we can take any necessary precautions.

I read that most homes built before 1960 are pretty much guaranteed to contain heavily leaded paint. This house was built in 1920 something so I’d say there’s a very good chance it has lead paint. Have any of you ever had to deal with this? What did you do?

Oh, and don’t worry, pics of the house will come soon! I’m going to try to do a drive-by this wknd and snap a pic :)

On another note, you know how I said I walk by the Today Show every morning? Well today I was walking by and I saw the tv screens outside showing it live, and you couldTOTALLY see me on the screen! So if you watch the Today Show (Shannon, i’m talking to you!!), watch around 8:10 every morning. I’m usually holding a pink/red bag. You can only see me on days they sit with their backs to the window. Let me know if you see me! (ok ok, i know i’m such a dork)

So I made this recipe a few weeks ago. It was really tasty, almost like a Spanakopita but in a pie. You could easily sub some other green (kale, spinach, etc) for the chard. It comes together pretty quickly because you use premade phyllo dough.

I had seen my mom work with phyllo when I was younger, and I remember she always said you had to work quickly because it dries out. She was SO right. It was a pain to work with but luckily this pie is supposed to have a rustic look so it was fine in the end.

I served this as dinner but honestly, it should really be an appetizer or side dish. It wasn’t filling at all. Nate and I ended up eating it in like 2 sittings.

Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust

From the NY Times

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Serves 6-8 as a side-dish

1 generous bunch Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound), stemmed and washed
Salt to taste
8 sheets phyllo (4 ounces)
3 eggs
6 ounces goat cheese (I used 4 oz goat cheese and the rest feta because that’s what i had)
3/4 cup low-fat milk
2 garlic cloves, pureed or put through a press
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, dill, chives, tarragon, marjoram (I used dill which was great!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem and wash the Swiss chard. If the stems are wide and meaty set them aside for another purpose. If they are thin and sinewy, discard. When the water comes to a boil salt generously and add the chard leaves. Fill a bowl with cold water. Blanch the chard for 1 minute, just until tender, and transfer to the bowl of cold water. Drain, take up the chard by the handful and squeeze out excess water. Chop medium-fine. You should have about 1 cup chopped cooked chard.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend together the eggs and goat cheese, either in an electric mixer or in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the milk and the garlic and blend until smooth. If using a processor, scrape into a bowl. Stir in the blanched chopped chard, the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

Brush a 9- or 10-inch tart pan or cake pan with olive oil and place on a baking sheet for easier handling. Open up the package of phyllo and unfold the sheets of dough. Remove 8 sheets of phyllo and fold the remaining dough back up. Wrap tightly in plastic, return to the box if you wish and either refrigerate or freeze. Lay a sheet of phyllo in the pan, tucking it into the seam of the pan, with the edges overhanging the rim. Brush it lightly with olive oil (or melted butter and oil) and turn the pan slightly, then place another sheet on top, positioning it so that the edges overlap another section of the pan’s rim. Continue to layer in 6 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each one with oil – both the bottom and the sides and edges that overhang the pan — and staggering them so that the overhang on the rim of the pan is evenly distributed and covers the entire pan.

Pour the goat cheese and chard filling into the phyllo-lined pan, scraping all of it out of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Scrunch the overhanging phyllo in around the edges of the pan to form an attractive lip. Brush the scrunched rim with olive oil. Place in the oven and bake 40 minutes, until the filling is puffed, set and lightly colored on the surface. Remove from the heat (if it puffed up it will settle) and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Advance preparation: You can keep this in the refrigerator for a day or two but you will have to rewarm in a 300-degree oven to re-crisp the phyllo.

Nutritional information per serving (6 servings): 268 calories; 17 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 118 milligrams cholesterol; 17 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 396 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 13 grams protein

Warm Wheatberry, Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta cheese and Crispy Tofu

14. May 2013 · 59 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, salads, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: brussels sprouts, feta, house, olive, salad, tofu, wheatberry

Well, it’s been another whirlwind week. We put an offer on a house on Tuesday, got it accepted (!!!), and did an inspection on Saturday (because it’s an 85 year old house that they’re selling “as-is”). We were mainly concerned about finding a buried oil tank or major structural issues.

Thankfully, there was no below-ground oil tank, and the house was in pretty darn good shape for such an old geezer. There were some issues we’ll have to fix but overall it’s a well-built house.

Our attorney told ust that today should be the end of attorney review, so before the end of the day, we should be under contract!

It’s a funny story, this house. Basically my realtor was visiting her daughter at college last weekend, so she told me to just go to all the open houses that I wanted to. I had a list in hand and since I only had from 1pm-4pm, I had to quickly go through each of the 8 or so houses. Some I was more interested in than others, but I figured I should at least check out the ones I wasn’t sure of, since I’m totally fine with doing some renovations (then I could really customize the home the way I want it). This house was one of those.

I went in and there were already 2 or 3 families walking through it. Since a 96 year old woman currently lives there (who I met and she seriously looks maybe 75!), it’s decorated as you’d think it would be. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been updated since the 50s and the first floor is covered in carpet…even in the dining room.

Anyway, to say I got a bad impression was an understatement. I’m really good at looking past the decorating in a house and just looking at the “bones,” but I was in a rush and I just didn’t look very hard. I took one look at the first floor, briefly glanced at the second, and didn’t even think to go in the basement or attic.

It wasn’t until I finished all my house hunting and came home to assess everything, that I really started to think about this house that I had pretty much dismissed. When I found out there were already several interested parties in it, I had to really think about what I wanted quickly, and realized that this house really had everything I was looking for- great neighborhood, walk to train, not too big or too small, needs updating so I could customize to my liking, character. Basically, it was kind of perfect. And so we decided to put an offer in!

I was so excited to go back to the house on Saturday for the inspection since I didn’t really remember it too well (I had the realtor go back and check it out before we put our offer in). Honestly, it was sooo much better than I remembered. It has gorgeous wood moldings, a beautiful newel post and staircase, hardwood floors, a cute front porch, and an awesome walk-up attic that can totally be finished down the line. So basically, I’m psyched!

Anyway, with all this mental exertion and stress I’ve had this week, I’ve been craving some hearty, healthy REAL food. I had bought wheatberries the other day at Whole Foods because I love them but don’t think I’ve ever bought them. I figured I’d just come up with some random salad based on what inspired me. I decided on brussels sprouts for the veggie and the rest just came together from there.

It was really delicious and totally just what I needed to make it through the week!

Warm Wheatberry Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta cheese and Crispy Tofu

Recipe by me

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Makes 4-5 large servings

1 1/3 cup hard wheatberries, uncooked
12 oz. extra firm tofu, drained well, squeezed with paper towels, and cut into bite-sized pieces
10 oz. brussels sprouts, bottoms cut off and thinly sliced
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp white sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, drained and halved
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (plus more for garnish)
salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425.

Bring 4 1/2 cups well-salted water to a boil. Add wheatberries and cook uncovered on a low simmer for 45 min or until soft but chewy.

While wheatberries are cooking, spray a foil-lined baking sheet with cooking spray. Add tofu and spray again or toss with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook flipping the pieces halfway, about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Heat olive oil over med-hi heat in a medium saute pan. Add onion, and cook til soft. Add the sugar and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Do not let garlic burn. Add vinegar and brussels and cook, stirring occassionally, until brussels are soft but not mushy.

Remove from heat and add the olives. Drain wheatberries and toss with brussels mixture and feta. Salt and pepper to taste, toss in tofu and serve warm.

“Buffalo” Chicken Salad Sandwiches…and why you should be happy you don’t live with me.

Tomato and Rosemary Focaccia and a Belated Memorial Day Post

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas…and some cuteness.

Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust

Warm Wheatberry, Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta cheese and Crispy Tofu

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Recent Posts

“Buffalo” Chicken Salad Sandwiches…and why you should be happy you don’t live with me.

Tomato and Rosemary Focaccia and a Belated Memorial Day Post

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas…and some cuteness.

Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust

Warm Wheatberry, Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta cheese and Crispy Tofu

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