broccoli rabe & red pepper hoagie melts, gluten-free

There are certain things in life one should just be able to indulge in, regardless of the aren't supposed to's, the probably shouldn'ts, or the no way no how no when's.  Of course I'm not suggesting that indulgence takes precedence over safety (not most of the time, anyway), but if there's this thing that's just so incredibly impossibly amazing that chef's, cooks, and hungry people in numerous cultures have created and savored it for decades, possibly even centuries, then why shouldn't all god's two-legged creatures enjoy it?

I'm talkin' about the hoagie, friends.  You may know this marvel by its other monikers - Submarine Sandwich, Grinder, or perhaps, my personal favorite, Hero.  Yes, I close my eyes and am met with visions of a piquant protector, tough, toasted exterior, cloaked in melty cheese, a defender of deliciousness. 

My last encounter with such a bready, cheese and condiment-stuffed beast was, sadly,  further back than my ever-decreasing memory could possibly muster.  A gluten-free life is a hoagie-free life... isn't it?

Not anymore.

raspberry coconut tartelettes; dairy, gluten & grain-free

I've noticed a lot of talk about fall here on the food blogosphere.  In my last post, I even threw out words foretelling the end of summer and the imminent need for woolen sweaters.  It turns out we're all a little ahead of ourselves on this fall thing.  My sunglasses are still getting daily use here in Seattle, and although the nights have been sweater-worthy, the sun hasn't given up yet, and our days have been pleasantly warm.

Yesterday, I went to the Captiol Hill Farmer's Market, and the booths were still filled with summery things like tomatoes, broccolini (just wait until you see what I made with that), and berries.  Nothing says summer like the delicate vibrance of berries.  The harsh chills of winter simply cannot support the dainty frailness of summer's tiny fruits.  

When the berries are gone, then I'll believe that winter is finally on its way.

gourmande in the kitchen's focaccia bread, gluten-free

Well, this week has been a challenge, so to speak.  Following a long weekend up on Lummi Island (not the challenging part), I've been feeling... just... bad.  I came down with something of this and something of that, and the collision sent me flying.

I'm working on a tale of our adventures on the high seas last weekend, but I still need to do some uploading and downloading, and I made this focaccia bread yesterday with the juiciest little tomatoes, so I'm going to tell you about that first.  Because it's the end of August already, and we'd all better jump on the tomato wagon while we still can.  It'll be leaving town before we know it.

peach pecan crumble pie, gluten-free

I'm sitting here in my undies, cherishing the final morning of my too-short weekend, typing away while my sweetheart fries up potatoes and eggs for breakfast.   It's a good feeling, knowing I still have most of the day ahead of me, a walk to the record store, some baking and cooking ideas in the works. 

Oh, and I'm still riding high from seeing none other than the all-time classic 80's film Dirty Dancing last night.  It wouldn't be a big deal really, except that I got to see it on the big screen, complete with karaoke music videos from the movie's kick ass soundtrack.  And no, nobody puts Baby in the corner.

But although incredibly exciting, that isn't the only thing I wanted to tell you about in this post.  I also wanted to inform you about how I put my baking pants on to make the recipe you see in these photos.  First I was inspired by this recipe, and then my inspiration was driven further by the plump, fragrant peaches I've had ripening on my counter for the past few days. 

Peaches are my favorite fruit this time of year.

Portabello Burgers Take Home the Prize! (Foodbuzz & Oroweat's Summer Grilling Recipe Contest)

I got some very exciting news in my inbox this afternoon.  The folks over at Foodbuzz (aka my new best friends) wrote to inform me that my entry into the Foodbuzz & Oroweat Summer Grilling Recipe Contest was chosen as the winner!  An average October Wednesday was just catapulted to the status of 'amazing'!  My recipe and blog post for Grilled Portobello Burgers w/ Roasted Pepper Spread, Marinated Onions & Oroweat Sandwich Thins kicked some serious booty, my friends, and came out on top.

The truth is, that I thought the contest judging must have come and gone by now.  The entry period was over at the end of August, after all.  I assumed that some other lucky blogger wowed the judges with their own recipe, and that I would have better luck next time.  

I'm so stoked that I was wrong!!!  Not only do I get to bask in the glory of sweet, sweet victory, but Foodbuzz & Oroweat are slipping me a cash prize as well.  The starving student scores again!

Thank you Foodbuzz and thank you Oroweat!! You guys rock! 

Fresh Rolls

Vacation is over.  The Grind has been revisited and will continue to be the mode of living through mid-December.  If I'm lucky, I'll be able to share recipes and ideas here once a week or so, and if I'm even luckier, my transcript will be overloaded with 4.0's.  Wouldn't that be grand.

The first week back to classes and work was a doozy.  It borders on madness in the hallways between classes as students attempt to navigate their way to the next session of powerpoint and lecture.  My two classes on campus are geographically as far from one another as they can be on our little campus, and I have just ten minutes to rush down four flights of stairs, power-walk to the building next door, and book-it up another four flights to get to my second class.  A bathroom pit stop is out of the question.  The door to class #2 is locked promptly at 11 am.  Be there, or be square.

With the onslaught of my school schedule comes the necessity for quick, easy meals.  Lunches must be packed and dinners must be relatively hurried affairs.  No more 3 hour sagas of meal prep in the evenings for awhile, so I've been busting out my repertoire of simple, healthy (gotta keep that immune system up, what with flu-season rapidly approaching) recipes. Fresh rolls (sometimes called 'summer rolls') have become my new favorite thing.  I guess I'm reluctant to give up on summertime.  I want to savor the last of the lettuce, cucumber, and warm-weather herbs while I can. 

Pasta Primavera

I'm on vacation right now.  No classrooms or textbooks, no homework, and for eleven whole days, no desk job...  It's startling how much calmer and more relaxed I become when scholastic pressure is removed from the equation.  I'm practically a different person.  My boyfriend loves it (and tells me so quite often).

There are less than a week's worth of boxes left to X off on my calendar before the one that announces, "School Starts".   Monday is the day that I load up my backpack once again and begin yet another three month stint of lectures and labs and paper writing.  My emotions are a mixture of dismay and excitement.  It's back to the grind now, but the good news is that after this quarter I'll have all of the credits I need to graduate! Yay, excitement!  Oh, but I'll only be receiving my AA degree. That bachelor's is still a considerable distance away.  Sigh.... dismay...

Back to Basics: Roasting Peppers

The window is rapidly closing.  You know, the incredibly brief but intense window of time during which peppers are ripe and ready for the fixin'.  Here in Western Washington it feels like we have half a millisecond to stock up and scarf down as many peppers as we possibly can.

Luckily we have Tonnemaker Hill Farm to aid us in our annual "Peppermania".  These folks over in Royal City, WA (don't worry, I don't know where that is either) grow 140 different varieties of peppers. One - hundred - and - forty.  I just looked up that statistic on their website, and I've gotta say... Holy shit!  They definitely have a LOT of peppers at the farmers market, but 140 different varieties?  That's unbelievable.  Not only that, but they also sell many of their organic pepper varieties dried at the end of the season. I've been crushing my own cayenne for the past year and absolutely loving it!

Goodbye Summer

There has been a definite shift here in the Pacific Northwest.  It's not just the clouds and their omnipresence, nor the drizzly raindrops that are once again falling, accumulating on sidewalks and streaking windowpanes.  There's also a smell. An Earthy musk that stands to remind of fall's inevitability.

Even here in the city the scent of autumn is swirling through the air and hinting at sweaters and scarves and wooly things.  This time of year gives me butterflies in my stomach.  I can feel a sense of transition in the air around me that no other change of seasons brings.  With the equinox approaching, I prepare myself to hunker down for the cold, wet winter that's lurking in the shadows of summer's memories.

My summer ended on two excellent notes.  First, my mom and my Aunt Mary came to visit from the Midwest.  It was fun to play tourist for a week, to see my city through the eyes of newcomers, and to have the good fortune to eat many delicious meals.  We had a sort of mini culinary tour of the city.  Our favorite neighborhood restaurants (Araya's & The Bengal Tiger), some new places we'd never eaten at before (Poppy & Toulouse Petite), farmers markets, home-cooked meals... All I could think about was what we'd eat next. 

Grilled Portobello Burgers with Roasted Pepper Spread, Marinated Onions, & Oroweat Sandwich Thins

During Seattle's fleeting summer, my friends and I get to together to BBQ as often as we can.  It's a difficult endeavor due to busy schedules and the many of us apartment dwellers, but a couple of my oldest friends here in the city have a beautiful yard and tree-shaded patio where they host outdoor gatherings at least twice every summer.  This year they were kind enough to offer up their hospitality on one of the mid-ninety degree days that we had this year.

The BBQ's at Tammy and Eric's are always vegetarian/vegan affairs since the two of them practice those lifestyles (she the former, he the latter), so there are guaranteed to be a ton of veggies thrown onto the grill.  I'm always wanting to push the bar a little bit, though, and show up with creative summer fare for everyone to enjoy.  I like to go beyond the Boca burger and the veggie skewer.

A few days prior to this weekend get-together, I received some Oroweat Sandwich Thins, courtesy of Oroweat and Foodbuzz, to try out with summer grilling recipes.  These thin bun-substitutes are perfect for encasing thick burgers and sandwiches that would be overwhelming with traditional buns.

My friends loved them.

Three Words

School.   Is.   Out!!!

I don't always talk about it in this space, but I have been a full-time student for the past... oh... 18 months now.  I haven't had more than 10 days off from school for the past 11 months.  Let me take just a moment to breathe deep and become one with the realization that I am now, as of 12:30pm today, beginning a 38 day break from classes! This information has been brain-logged into the category of Barely Believable.

What will I be doing with this time - these seconds, minutes, hours-on-end of sweet, homeworkless time?  I wish I had some incredible, over-seas adventure planned. Beaches, exotic foods, and hours to kill in airports (OK, that last one isn't really part of the fantasy, but I would love it anyway!).

The less than glamorous reality is that I'll be working - something that actually becomes appealing after a year of living on a student budget.

I'll also be spending bunches more time in the kitchen.  And reporting back to you all on the (hopefully) prolific successes... and inevitable failures... that are to ensue.  I not only have a backlog of recipes and photos to post from the past few hectic weeks, but also a plethora (you know, alot) of ideas and plans in the works.  It is the end of summer, after all.  Gotta live it up while I can!

Here's a list of some things I have in store:

• fermented things: sauerkraut, salsa, pickles, etc.
• a ladies-luncheon-potluck with my BFF's 
• a week of homemade dinners and restaurant food with my mom and aunt who will be visiting from the midwest!!
• lots, we're talking tons!, of roasted pepper dishes (screw the heat, that broiler will be turned ON)
• kayaking in Lake Washington (not food-related, but so so much fun)
• reading, Reading, READING!! Magazines and cookbooks and novels, oh my! (It's an exciting activity when 'textbook' is not in the sentence)

With that, I leave you with this photograph of some delectable grilled vegetables that my friends and I had the pleasure of nibbling on (well, 'scarfed' would probably be the more accurate term) at a BBQ this past weekend.

What are your plans for the rest of this sweet, fleeting summer?

Zucchini-Pecan Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I feel like some milestones have passed in the last month or so. I feel like I've stepped across some threshold, and now, here I am, back and better than ever.

What have I accomplished?  Well, this blog, for instance, turned 1 back at the end of June. One whole year of photographing my dinner and sharing it with the world. I feel guilty that I didn't properly celebrate, but I had just started a new quarter of school, and my head was wrapped up with calculating the heat capacity of metals and exploring themes in modern fiction. It's difficult to schedule my blog posts to coincide with dated events when school is in session.

Then there was my birthday. My 30th birthday, in fact, was just several days after The Weather in Cascadia's. I have to say that I wasn't freaked out (and still am not) by reaching the three decade mark. It's satisfying to be thirty.  It feels empowering, although people now feel the need to tell me that I "look good".  I'm pretty sure I didn't get a single "You look great!" the entirety of my twenty-ninth year, but as soon as the word 'thirty' hits people's ears, they seem to think I need the encouragement. It's true that I'm "older". Not old, mind you, but apparently no longer wearing the badge of youth that came along with my twenties. 

Beyond the birthdays this month, I've also made it past the halfway point of summer quarter.  Summer school is an intense 8 weeks of class into which 11 weeks worth of material is crammed.  The classes are longer, but there isn't really any time to lag.  This is also my first quarter of chemistry since my junior year of high school -  I'll let you do the math on that one.  So far so good, though.  Just four weeks to go, and then a month off to catch the final bit of Seattle's fleeting summer.  I'm really looking forward to it.

In the mean time, between essays and exams, I'm still finding time to spend in the kitchen.  When I want to take a break from my school books, I pour over cookbooks and food magazines instead and daydream of shopping sprees at kitchen supply stores.  Kitchen Aid mixer... Wusthof knife set... All Clad cookware...  And visions of Cuisinart danced in her head... 

Back in the reality of my mixerless kitchen, I've found some interesting and delicious-looking recipes in this month's Bon Appetit.  They feature a zucchini-themed section that includes a recipe for zucchini cake.  Hmmm.  When was the last time I baked a cake?  I honestly couldn't tell you.  As the daughter of a once professional cake baker, I think I've shied away from cakes.  My childhood sort of burned me out on them.  This cake however was instantly intriguing.  I know from eating my fare share of carrot cake and zucchini bread that adding veggies to baked goods is a sure-fire way to end up with moist, delectable treats.

The holes you see were left over from the birthday candles
used to  celebrate a good friend's birthday.
I had 3 other Cancer friends turning 30 this year.

Since I've recently determined that I have a gluten sensitivity, I needed to adapt this recipe to be gluten-free.  I immediately turned to a leavened, gluten-free flour mix called Pamela's Pancake and Baking Mix.  It's a blend of rice flours that already contains the necessary xanthan gum and some baking powder.  This mix had turned out some excellent chocolate chip cookies, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  In the end, I was far from disappointed.  It was so, so good.  My gluten-eating friends didn't even know the difference.   I highly, highly recommend this cake.  You can tell I'm serious when I start doubling up on my adverbs.

Gluten-Free Zucchini Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2010

makes 1 - 9" cake

for the cake:  
canola oil spray
1 1/2 C. Pamela's Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 C. olive oil
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. coarsely grated zucchini
3/4 C. chopped pecans 

for the frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 F with rack in center.

Line 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and coat parchment paper with non-stick spray.

Whisk Pamela's Mix, baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in medium bowl to blend well.  In a separate, large bowl, whisk oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, then fold in the zucchini and pecans.  Don't over-mix!  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, about 1 hour.  Cut around the sides of the pan to loosen cake.  Turn the cake out onto a serving dish and peel off the parchment paper.

While the cake is cooling, commence the frosting making.  Using an electric mixer*, beat the cream cheese and butter until blended.  Beat in sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Once the cake has cooled and been transferred out of the pan, spread the frosting over the top and sides of the cake.  Slice and serve**.

*If you lack an electric mixer, a food processor works just as well.  Simply add all of the frosting ingredients and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the frosting is smooth.

**This cake tastes just as delicious cold as it does at room temperature.  If there are leftovers, just wrap the serving platter and cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Toothpicks inserted into the top of the cake can prevent the plastic wrap from touching the cake and sticking to the frosting.

Mid-Summer BBQ

The beginning of August seems to mark the time when we're no longer heading into summer but are, quite noticeably, barreling out of it. As if to remind us of the impermanence of flip-flops and popsicles, during the past several days, the temperature has dropped, the mornings have been an overcast sixty-five degrees, and the sun is making its descent earlier and earlier each evening. Warning: summer is slipping away...

This weekend past, some friends and I got together to revel in the sunshine and warmth that are but a blip on the screen of Seattle's year-round saga of rain and gloom. My long-time friends and current neighbors, Tammy and Eric, were kind enough to host. With the charcoal glistening its fiery, orange and the patio full of chatting and laughter, we got things started off right.

Saturday is definitely the best of the seven to invite me to a BBQ. It's farmers market day, so my fridge is guaranteed to be bursting with veggies of all shapes and colors. Last Saturday was no exception with peppers, summer squash and gorgeously vibrant beans on their way to becoming part of the festivities. Marinated veggie skewers and a cold green (& purple!) bean salad were my dishes of choice.


Early in the evening, while the sun was still offering up its services and the food was still grilling its way to greatness, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of Eric's incredible garden. This
guy does not mess around when it comes to growing things.
Blueberries, peppers, greens, corn, tomatoes, cabbage, squash, pumpkins, sunflowers, strawberries... Pots of all shapes and sizes spill over with leaves and vines and scrumptious-looking food and flowers. The lawn has dwindled to practically nil with the continuous addition of garden space. He has mint growing waist high. It is truly remarkable. Every time I visit their house, I get a guided tour of the garden, and each time I am so amazed and excited. One day I will have that much space to plant things in, and then, I assure you, it will be ON.

Back on the patio, the party was in full swing with Negra Modello, bourbon, and Eric's interesting, slightly frightening alcoholic concoctions lubricating the guests. (Eric's drink-mixing experiments would require their own post in order to do them justice. Perhaps another day.)

As for my veggies. The kabobs were prepped and marinated pre-game in my kitchen. There's nothing quite as simple as slicing up a few zucchinis and peppers and tossing them with olive oil, a touch of vinegar and seasonings. The bean salad was nearly as simple and tantalized our taste buds with a lemon-garlic dressing. It's incredibly satisfying to create fresh, good-tasting food. I won't lie and say the compliments from hungry friends aren't a perk, too.

My plate was packed with a salmon burger from Loki Fish Co. (a local seafood supplier), corn on its wonderful cob, green salad with homemade raspberry vinaigrette (also courtesy of moi), and my own veggie dishes. A true summer feast.

The evening was definitely a smash, and just in time. This week the clouds and rains are due back for a visit. Sweet, fleeting summer. How I take thee for granted. At least that particular evening was well spent. Good people, delicious meal. Did I mention that we had chocolate and raspberry gelato for dessert?

And now for the recipes.

Summer squash & Sweet Pepper Kabobs
6 side dish servings
(Vegan friendly)
Disclaimer: exact amounts were not used in the making of this recipe

3 medium summer squash, sliced into 3/4" rounds
2 medium sweet peppers (I used a purple bell and an unknown green one)
olive oil
vinegar of your choice
3 gloves garlic, crushed and minced
salt
cayenne pepper

Pour some oil into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of your vinegar and whisk in the garlic, salt and cayenne. All of these ingredients should be added to taste. Just adjust and taste until you get something that satisfies you.

Dump in the veggies and toss to coat. Refrigerate for fifteen to twenty minutes (or longer if you have that kind of time), tossing twice during that period. Reserve any marinade left in the bowl.


Push the veggies onto the skewers, and they're ready for the grill. I place my kabobs toward the edges of the grill where it isn't quite as hot so as not to burn them. Allow them to cook for about 10-15 minutes (depending on the temp. of the coals), turning several times and brushing with reserved marinade. Serve them on the skewers, or slide the veggies off and let folks take what they like.


Lemon-Garlic Bean Salad
6-8 servings
(Vegan friendly)

1 lb. green beans (other colors welcome!), ends removed, cut into 2" pieces
2 T. olive oil
juice of half a lemon
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Dump the beans in and set a timer for 5 minutes. Fill a large bowl full of cold water and add a dozen or more ice cubes. When the timer for the beans goes off, drain them quickly, and immediately plunge them into the ice water. Swirl them around for a minute or two so that they cool completely, and then drain them again.

At this point, I was dumbfounded. The vibrant purple beans I had added had turned almost entirely green! Kind of a bummer visually, to tell you the truth, but still strong in the flavor department.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Transfer the beans to a serving bowl and pour the dressing over them. Toss to coat and refrigerate for at least fifteen minutes, until ready to serve. Eat up!

Holy Tomatoes, Batman

A couple of days ago, an entire case of extremely ripe, organic heirloom tomatoes made its way into my life. While the sheer mass of plump, juicy redness contained within that cardboard box was slightly daunting, I thought (and still do think) that I had received a blessing from the tomato gods. I'm unsure of the exact poundage involved here, but at $4 - $5 per 16 oz. at the farmer's market, I figure those beauties are worth at least 100 bucks. What a score!

As soon as I realized that I was indeed the proud owner of these delightful fruits, my mind was cranking out ideas as to what I'd actually do with them all once I got them into the inadequate space that passes for my kitchen (more like a tiled closet with appliances). So what can be done with a large quantity of tomatoes that only have about one more day of life left before converting completely to seedy water held inside a red-skinned pouch? Well, tomato soup was my first thought. I mean, really, the poor things were practically soup already. Then I thought about the things that I make the most of with a tomato base. Pasta sauce, enchilada sauce, chili and other soups, like minestrone, are my most common tomato endeavors. Pasta sauce sounded like a good place to begin, so I broke out the eight quart pot and got to work.

This being my first foray out of the small-scale, I turned to my resourceful friend Google for aid in locating a recipe that would guide me along the path of large volume pasta sauce preparation. Unfortunately, a lot of folks think that "from scratch" should include opening up a can of tomato sauce, so it took me a minute to find what I was looking for. In the end I used this recipe as a general guideline, and since I used fewer tomatoes than it calls for, made some adjustments including:

• omitted the green pepper
• only 1/4 C. oil
• several T. each fresh oregano and thyme (what I had available)
• 1 1/2 entire heads of garlic (can't get enough as far as I'm concerned)
• several T. salt (to taste)
• 1/4 C. sugar (added a little at a time and tasted so as not to get it too sweet)
  
• 24 oz. tomato paste
• roughly 1 T. cayenne pepper

I don't know exactly how many tomatoes I used, but my 8 quart pot was about 3/4 full with all ingredients. Also, instead of blanching and removing the skins as the original recipe suggested, I put whole tomatoes in my food processor and pulsed them a few times to make a chunky liquid. It saved me a lot of time.

After simmering for a couple of hours, I allowed my sauce to cool and then portioned it into freezer bags which spent the night lying flat on a cookie sheet in my freezer to enhance stackability. Now I have delicious, homemade sauce at my disposal for all of my Italian creations! I'm stoked.