Brunch

Quick + Easy Focaccia

October 18, 2018 by Lindsay 9 Comments

I couldn't wait. As promised, after we watched the first episode of Salt Fat Acid Heat (why are the episodes not in the order of the words in the title?), all I could think about was making focaccia. Ok maybe more all I could think about was eating focaccia, because the filming of the episode was so lovely and the language used with the imagery was just so compelling, I NEEDED to experience salty, oily-in-a-good-way bread ASAP.

The obvious hiccup being that I 1. don't bake and 2. have literally never made anything with yeast. Ever. And if we're being honest, 37 weeks pregnant with a messy house and full-time toddler and part-time job is really not the time to get all LET'S TRY NEW THINGS. Having a second child is new enough. Eating bread was the goal. Luckily, I had a package of pizza dough in the fridge that had all but tripled in size in the few days it had been in my fridge. Tripled! I bought it on a whim thinking that I'd make pizza for Beck as a treat, but I hadn't done so yet or told her about it, so I took to the interwebs to see if other people make focaccia with pizza dough.

THEY DO.

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Oven Roasted Home Fries

September 12, 2018 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

WELP, no one knows a dang thing about where Hurricane Florence will go, but nowwwww they're saying the storm might end up over us at some point. This means...well, who knows. We're pretty far inland, so even major storms coming our way have a good amount of time to slow down once they hit the coast. We get some wind and lots of rain and the occasional short-lived power outage, but overall nothing catastrophic in several years from a hurricane.

BUT STILL. We absolutely should reward our bravery for making it through this storm with fried potatoes to go with our fried chicken, right? Because hunkering down means nothing if it isn't calorie laden, especially if you're pregnant and mostly sober. Give me my calories in other ways. For the baby!

Even if you don't use carbs as rewards for getting through tough events, you could just...make these because they are delicious. The method was inspired by Molly Yeh's new Food Network show (which I love! have watched every episode! can't wait for more!), and is nice and simple for a weeknight dinner or breakfast/brunch situation, which we definitely need more of as the days get slightly cooler. The potatoes are boiled and then roasted with tons of spices, and the boiling can definitely be done in advance. Then, before eating, roast the potatoes and done! Crispy, buttery potatoes with tons of flavor that go well with just about anything.

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Bacon Basil Panzanella

August 30, 2018 by Lindsay 1 Comment

It's the first day of school! Beck left this morning to great fanfare and WAHHHHH MY BABY and also guilt because honestly who needs school at age two and a half so if she stop school after high school that's still sixteen more years of freaking school and also I'M FREE and also thirty weeks pregnant today so not free for long, sucker, and I'm hungry.

It's also 90 degrees here because of course it is. Climate change is a myth.

But we may as well soak it up, right? Even people who hate summer love summer; the nostalgia of freedom from school and longer days, more daylight, and freaking perfect fresh summer produce. Spring and fall greens and gourds are just nothing compared to tomatoes, corn, watermelon, and fresh herbs, so I'm going with it as long as the weather stays this warm. It's my payment for excessive heat while pregnant - watermelon.

So today we're using tomatoes and basil that are still everywhere in panzanella, aka bread salad, aka of course we should have bread in our salad. The dressing base is actually juice from the tomatoes, then we have salt, sugar, and shallot to round out the most delicious dressing. The bread gets crispy in the oven while bacon gets crispy on the stove, and honestly by the time we factor in the bacon and bread we should be just eating this for breakfast, shallot breath be damned.

I'm not above it.

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Tomato Pie

August 16, 2018 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Guys.

I love dubbing things MY NEW FAVORITE RECIPE because everything that I love goes through a pretty good phase of "let's have this once a week," but this is reeeeeally my new favorite recipe. It is also incredibly high maintenance and full of fat and carbs, two things that are very near and dear to my heart.

But, before you x-out, trust me when I say that even though there are a lot of steps to this recipe they are all super simple and the results are a thousand percent worth it. I found this recipe while on vacation with Jay's family back in June, when we were tag-teaming who was going to stay inside during naps on a boat day. I was making dinner that night and had a little extra time, so when I found this recipe I was all HECK YES LET ME AT HER. The recipe comes from Saveur and I have made it a few times with a tiny tweak here and there, but mostly I follow the recipe exactly as it's written.

The beauty of the recipe is that it includes a whole onion, caramelized for over an hour, roasted AND fresh tomatoes, and a great balance of salt + sugar to bring out the most delicious tomato flavors. There is mayo in the dish, but just enough to hold the cheese mixture together, so if you hate mayo don't worry - it serves a purpose but doesn't add any flavor. The Saveur recipe includes instructions on making pie crust which I firmly ignored in favor of a local all-butter crust made at my favorite grocery store IN A TIN FOIL PAN. I do not care that this doesn't make for the best presentation, it is delicious and saves on dishes so we're going for it.

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Super Quick Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Bites

July 30, 2018 by Lindsay 4 Comments

They're balls, but it felt tacky to use that in the title because of all of the jokes I'd invariably make.

But! For your Monday! Here's our treat-because-its-Monday meets healthy-because-weekend-recovery. It's perfect for any way you're feeling. Our weekend was fiiiine food-wise save for some extra bites of Beck's pizza and overindulgence of the booze on the part of the non-pregos. We went on a quick long weekend vacation with my family and it was great to get away, do very little, and let Beck have some time with her aunts.

Today we're back at it, working and unpacking and cleaning (omg the dogs alone in the house all weekend so much hair), and these little bites of happiness are calling my name. I took the recipe directly from Pinch of Yum, one of my (and everyone else's) favorite food blogs. The recipe takes five minutes, is no-bake, is customizeable, and works every single time, all criteria I have for recipes because obviously. The ingredients combine to taste somewhat like cookie dough, and and the base of oatmeal + peanut butter + coconut is hearty without being super heavy like a cookie made with butter and oil. They're also gluten free and dairy free but don't scream I'M A HEALTH FOOD, which I love.

Make these today and have them for the entire week, is pretty much all you need to know.

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