Farmers market goodies

Hey all, I know it's been awhile since my last post. I actually had another one drafted up for Tuesday but I figured I'd start from scratch.

Saturday started with a nice and easy 7 miler that took us along the Marina Green through the Presidio,

along the Promenade at Crissy Field,

past the Warming Hut

to Hopper's Hands

and back. (no I'm not skilled enough to carry a camera with me...I am skilled enough to stalk Google images) Oh, and for good measure, to the top of the Fort Mason Hill I love so much.

I polished that run off at an easy 10 min pace with a minor snafu...a familiar little tug tug from the achilles. D'oh. Thankfully we had some Active Release Therapy (ART) specialists on hand after the run. I explained my previous achilles issues and mentioned that the tightness/pulling started up again after my accidental hilly 5 miler the other week and Dr. Kris Blum from Financial District Chiropractic was SUPER helpful and informative.

The whole ART thing is new to me and I told her about my winter of PT and how it would take a lot of massages and foam rolling to get my crazy calf knot worked out. She explained that since this was an injury and a tightness that resulted from movement, static massage wasn't going to help as much. Not going to lie, the 5 or 10 minutes she worked on my left calf hurt like hell...but in a good way. Definitely different than when I went to PT as she worked from my actual achilles all the way up to behind my knee. Apparently everything is connected and affected!

My front ankle joint and calf felt SOOOO much looser after that mini session and I was sent off to do some serious foam rolling. Too bad I trashed mine before I moved...more spending :(

So, what shall I name it??

I decided to have dinner for breakfast since I had a bizarre cereal craving and picked up some milk and Total at the market down the street.

It's been a LONG time since I've had a bowl of cereal and I LOOOOVVEEED it. Especially with some deliciously sweet raspberries :) Do you ever get random cravings for cereal? What kind do you prefer? I prefer flakes (I went through a freak Special K Red Berries phase where I ate around the dehydrated berries).

I woke up early on Sunday with a serious game plan - take a nice long walk to the Fort Mason Farmers Market for groceries, stop at Safeway for some non-farmers market goodies, Wine Market, and whip up two meals to freeze. Of course my plans are never set in stone ;)

I did take a long walk to the market and arrived shortly after it opened. It's a lot smaller than the Ferry Building Farmers Market and less crowded (well, at least at 9:45 it was). I did a quick lap before shopping and walked out with a ton of goodies for under $20! Check it out:

Super sweet pluots

A couple white peaches and nectarines

Some broccolini (WAY cheaper than at the store!)

A HUGE bunch of kai-lan

Just enough grape tomatoes for me

Some little gem hearts (how cute are they?) and some Foggy Morning (fresh cow's milk cheese, hand made) from Nicasio Valley Cheese Company. No picture b/c I tore into the packaging before taking a picture :\ These folks were sampling 4 (or maybe 5) of their cheeses from mild to sharp and Foggy Morning was the very first sample. It was so fresh and creamy...very mild. It reminded me of ricotta, texture and flavor-wise.

Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by the people, vendors and produce that I couldn't keep track of who I bought from! Don't worry, I will be frequenting this farmers market and I'll be sure to take note of my favorite vendors :)

I walked over to Selin's afterward to chill my cheese as we took a long walk through the Marina, enjoying the weather and catching up. Ahhh leisurely Sunday indeed!

Stay tuned for the afternoon antics and cookery!

Back to simple, fresh, yummy food!

AHHH. I've been seriously craving fresh food! After some crazy rain cut my morning run short, I decided to make a little breakfast parfait:

I used some Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt, honey, crumbled Nature Valley Oats N Honey Granola Bar, sliced bananas and strawberries. Here's another view because I thought it was a pretty breakfast.

So I learned that bananas and thick greek yogurt are not my favorite pairing. A little too much mooshiness going on. Bleh. Maybe I'll try nanners with regular yogurt instead.

Since it rained on and off all day, I took time to veg and unpack a few items...and by a few, I mean half a box. HA. What? I'm embracing my time off! :) I wandered around downtown for a little bit before moseying over to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner.

I feel like it's been forever since I've cooked a real meal in a kitchen, so I planned on making dinner for me and Selin. I grabbed some really great looking champagne mangoes the other day and figured they should be used in tonight's dinner. I also wanted something light and fresh...result? Thai-Inspired Fish Cakes with Mango Pineapple Salsa:

Thai-Inspired Fish Cakes

1 tilapia fillets, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp lemongrass, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 scallions, chopped

2 tbsp egg beaters

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp chili garlic paste

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cilantro, finely minced

salt

juice of 1/2 lime

1/4 - 1/2 c panko

Combine first 11 ingredients in a bowl and slowly add panko until mixture becomes thick enough to mold. Form small patties and chill for at least 15 minutes.

Heat 1/2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Cook cakes for 3-4 minutes on each side. Top with mango salsa.

Mango Pineapple Salsa

1/2 avocado, chopped

1 champagne mango, chopped

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/4 c cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp ginger, grated

1/3 c pineapple, diced

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp cumin

salt

pepper

1/2 jalapeno, minced

1 tbsp shallot, minced

Combine ingredients in a glass bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes.

The fish cakes had a pretty subtle flavor (I'd was hoping to achieve more of a kick/zing), but they worked well with the slightly tart, sweet salsa. I intentionally didn't puree the fish (most fish cake recipes require you to put them all in the food processor) because I wanted to maintain a chunky fish texture, not that spongy texture you sometimes get.

I think these flavors would also work great with ground chicken or turkey! A revised version of this recipe might include more lemongrass, lime and/or fish sauce...maybe some ginger?

The cakes were supplemented by a salad a la Selin

Some mixed greens, cucumber, shallot vinaigrette and feta - o so simple and delish! *sigh* All is now right in the world...I've returned to the kitchen :)

I'm heeere!!

I made it to San Francisco safe and sound :)

V dropped me off at Dulles and I kept my cool until I dropped my bags off...all 100 lbs, plus at least a 30 lb carry-on! I started walking toward security and got a little verklempt - it was finally starting to hit me. I was flying out on a one way ticket. I had packed up our entire apartment and left the only city I have known in my entire adult life. WTF was I doing?!

After my spastic day of last minute packing/tossing and my emotional outburst, I hoofed it over to the Gordon Biersch in an adjacent concourse. I was still craving ruffage so I went with the Grilled Chicken Cashew Salad (Artichoke hearts, tomatoes, cashews and feta cheese with Märzen Balsamic Vinaigrette) and the Gordon Biersch Märzen (a smooth, auburn colored Bavarian lager with a mildly sweet malty finish). That was totally an accident. I just thought it was a regular Balsamic when I ordered haha.

Also an accident - the massive salad that appeared on my table

not to mention the huge beer - pretty sure I didn't ask for the large.

I ended up eating most of the salad and only taking a few sips of beer. I remembered about halfway through that lots of ruffage and bubbles are NOT good for plane rides. No they are not.

The salad was pretty good, even mixed up with the dressing (I'm usually an 'on the side' sort of girl). Also, there was definitely goat cheese in my salad, not feta...and I liked it. The beer was tasty and refreshing as well...if only it was the regular size and I wasn't flying. Oh well.

Next thing you know, I'm boarding a plane and napping. Jamie snagged me a window seat, so when I woke up awhile later, I was greeted with this:

I thought it was a fun picture to take.

I popped out of bed around 7am PST and tried to catch up on blogs before heading out on some errands. Turns out Trader Joe's doesn't open until 9am, so I killed some time at Cafe Capriccio. I've grabbed coffee and a bagel here before, but this was my first time sitting for a leisurely breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of a pretty large mug of coffee and a beautiful bowl of Granola (with milk, bananas and strawberries).

It was a filling and nice change from the PB&J toasts I've been having! I was SO happy to see all that fresh fruit :)

After breakfast, I moseyed on over to Trader Joe's to pick up some produce essentials for my veggie packed week. I saw this package of baked tofu and decided to give it a shot:

I was intrigued by this "savory" flavor. Hi, vague name. Did some more errands and maybe took a nap mid-afternoon before making dinner...a HUGE salad:

Sliced up some of the tofu and mixed it up with some romaine and arugula blend, black beans, corn, feta, grape tomatoes, avocado and dressed it with a few spoonfuls of this:

OMG. Sweet and a hint of spice and tang. It went perfectly with all the stuff on my salad. Check out how colorful and pretty it is!

Exactly what I needed. I needed ruffage so badly and this hit the spot. The "savory" baked tofu was a little too salty for my taste. I can actually feel the puffiness happening in my fingers as I type.

I know, I know, a lame first day, but I had to adjust! My first batch of boxes arrived today so tomorrow I'll be sorting/reorganizing since I'll be moving in a month to a permanent home. I'm hoping to make some room in my day to take one of the walks in my new book :) Anyone with suggestions for places to go, things to see, food to eat, send them my way!

Breakfast for all!

Yesterday I was in charge of making Friday breakfast for the office. Totally a voluntary thing...I neeeeded to use my kitchen skills!

As usual, I browsed FoodGawker all week for inspiration and decided I was going to make a couple dishes and supplement with fruit, yogurt and granola. On the menu: Sweet Potato Breakfast Taquitos and Mini Fritattas

Well, the mini part didn't work out so it turned into a big omelet haha.

I stumbled upon a post for a sweet potato breakfast burrito, but there were some ingredients I wasn't really into. Honestly, I was really looking for something that would work with my Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce (aka Crack Sauce). Plus, one of my coworkers is allergic to wheat so I wanted to use corn tortillas.

Sweet Potato Hash Taquitos

2 medium sweet potatoes, finely diced

1 large shallot, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp cumin

1/4 tsp Adobo seasoning

1/2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsps butter

1 package Morningstar Farms Maple Flavored Veggie Sausage Patties

3/4 c egg whites

1/4 c egg substitute

1 tbsp cilantro, chopped

1/4 c arugula or spinach, chopped

15-20 corn tortillas

cooking spray or an olive oil mister

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Toss sweet potatoes, cumin, Adobo seasoning, 1 tbsp olive oil and chili powder in a bowl until thoroughly coated; spread out on baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes and let cool.

Microwave veggie patties for about 1 minute or until defrosted. Chop coarsely and combine with sweet potatoes in a bowl. You can stop here if preparing dish in advance and chill overnight.

Heat 1 tbsp butter in a large frying pan and saute shallot until softened. Add sweet potato and sausage and cook for 3-5 minutes (closer to 5 minutes if you've chilled the mixture overnight). Stir in cilantro and arugula and cook until just wilted. Empty mixture into a bowl.

Combine egg whites and egg substitute and season with salt and pepper. Heat remaining tbsp butter in the same frying pan and scramble egg mixture, making sure to keep the eggs slightly under cooked. Take pan off heat, add potato mixture and stir to combine.

Heat oven to 450 and spray a lined baking sheet with PAM or olive oil. Warm 2 corn tortillas (I found two was the most I could do at once) and put 1 heaping tablespoon (more or less depending how thick you want the rolls to be) of mixture in the middle. Roll up and place on baking sheet seam side down. Spray with PAM or olive oil to prevent cracking. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tortillas start to brown. Cut in half and serve with Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce.

Taquitos were a hit! I'm not a big corn tortilla fan, so next time I'm going to try these out with flour tortillas. I really liked the combination of the starchiness and sweetness of the potato and 'sausage' with the savory spices and onions.

The mini fritattas didn't get as big of a reaction as the taquitos, but I think they turned out ok...I mean, aside from not looking the way I wanted them to :)

Mini Fritattas

1 1/2 c egg whites

1 1/2 c egg substitute

1 tsp herbes de provence

1/4 tsp garlic powder

pinch salt

pepper

1 tbsp butter

1/3 c pepperjack cheese, shredded

1/2 c turkey bacon, browned and minced

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 small red onion, diced

1/3 c mushrooms, diced

Heat butter in a frying pan and saute onion until softened. Add pepper and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in bacon.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray and sprinkle about 1/2 - 1 tbsp of the pepper mixture into each cup and set aside.

Whisk together eggs, herbes de provence, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cheese. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full with the egg mixture. Gently shake muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes or until fritattas begin to puff out of the cups.

I love using herbes de provence in my eggs. I'm usually not a big lavender fan (not going to lie, I think it makes things taste like soap), but combined with all the other dried herbs, a little salt, some garlic - egg perfection!

Wite-out!

So this is what it looked like this morning.

Crazy, right? As usual, I seriously doubted round 2 of this storm since it stopped snowing last night. Guess mother nature showed me! HA!

I was super productive last night (hence the no blogging) - I grabbed some stuff at the grocery store, got a bunch of work done and made a quickie dinner!

Originally I was going to make a couple batches of mac n cheese (one chipotle mac and one with three cheeses), but I had a bunch of dishes that needed some washing so that got pushed off to this afternoon. Instead I went with a quick an easy Rosemary and Mustard Chicken Salad.

I have a soft spot for chicken salad (Potbelly's with some hot peppers is my weakness) and in a pinch, I know I can grab a can of chicken or a rotisserie chicken breast and make a tasty sammich with pretty much anything I have on hand :)

Rosemary and Mustard Chicken Salad

1 can chicken, drained

1 heaping tbsp low fat mayonnaise

1 1/2 tbsp whole grain mustard

1/2 tsp rosemary, minced

1 - 2 tbsp craisins

freshly ground pepper

Combine everything in a bowl, mashing up chicken as you stir. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes so flavors combine.

I toasted some pita and shoved in some cheddar and spinach leaves along with the chicken salad. Funny thing is that I usually don't order chicken salad sandwiches with cheese. In fact I hate the idea of cheese with chicken salad. I made an exception for this:

My mom used to get this Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese and I completely forgot about it until I saw it at the store yesterday. It's a great sharp, slightly sweet cheese that I think went well with the pita and chicken salad!

This morning's breakfast was another oat bowl - can you tell I get into food phases??

Check out how white it is outside! I took this facing my window and no joke, that's what it looks like right now. I can barely make out the buildings in the alley! Man, savory oat bowls are not good for face making. Bummer.

I'm off to brave the gym (here's hoping it's not packed!) and get crackin' on my mac and cheeses! Are you snowed in too? What do you do to keep from going nutty??

Snowday parte dos!

Around 9am this morning I got an email saying the store was closed - thank you blizzard of 2010 for giving me a much needed mini-break :) :)

I made myself a leisurely breakfast (to the tune of upstairs stomping, AGAIN) of some coffee and Peanut Butter & Jelly Oats:

Can you tell I was in a good mood when I made my bowl?? :)

Eyes and smile brought to you by my favorite jelly eeeeeevvvvver:

I'm not really into sweet things and I love that lingonberry jelly is slightly tart (think cranberries - I think they're related) and sweet. Just enough for me! I'm also pretty partial to this brand. What kind of jelly/jam/preserve do you like?

Overall, my first PB&J oat bowl experience was ok. I definitely prefer the spicy oat bowl, but this was a fun change. I might just stick to smearing my PB&J on bread, though.

Any fun Superbowl Sunday plans? I'm not really into it and the piles of snow aren't exactly calling me to leave the house, so i'm going to continue with the productive weekend. Hoping to get a little more into this book:

The THIRD I've read this month. Sorry I haven't had a chance to recap this one:

Or even mention that I started and finished this one:

But I figured, I'd touch on all of them later on. I will say that I really loved the first two and am really enjoying this third one (I'm a little less than halfway through).

More later...time to bask in my free Sunday :)

SNOOOOWWWW!!

Ok, so I seriously doubted this 'Snopocalypse' everyone in the DC area was talking about…especially since the flurries were barely sticking at 2pm. I woke up this morning (after a Ryan Reynolds evening watching this and this) to a very thick blanket of snow. Check out the view from the living room:

Yes, we face an alley. I looked out the window a little before I took this picture and saw some people walking…um, easily up to mid-shin of snow. CRAZY! I don't remember DC getting this much snow since 2003 when I also happened to live in this building! I was excused for like a week (really 2 or 3 days) from my internship because of the weather…and my roomie was trapped in PA (I think?). Insane storm! People were playing in the middle of Connecticut Avenue (pretty major street)!

I've been known to complain about my building on occasion, but it's times like this that I seriously start to appreciate all the amenities. For example, I needed to get my second run/walk session of the week in today. All I had to do was pop downstairs to crank out a quick 30 minute session while watching news coverage of the storm and I was even able to fit in a fair amount of strength and stretching in! Brought some bags and warm clothes with me and 2 minutes later I'm off to the Giant!

BIG BIG perk of my building - underground passageway to the grocery store. OMG, best idea ever. Basically, you cut through two parking garages with signs like this one so you don't get lost:

And then poof, you're in the parking garage for the Giant! This was the scene at 10:30am:

MUCH better than what I saw cutting through yesterday afternoon!

Inside was the most depressing scene EVER. The produce section was wiped out. Apparently everyone has loaded up on bags of salad, lemons and carrots. No joke. Those were the big stand out items as I walked through. Lemons???

I managed to snag a few essentials for my next two kitchen experiments, plus a container of oats for breakfast. I figured cereal wasn't going to happen since all they had left were gallon jugs of whole milk - GROSS. They didn't have any scallions for tonight's dinner, but there was one lonely leek that seemed to scream at me. I'm going to make it work…just because I like a challenge.

As I type this, I realize this is the 3rd time I've been to the store and totally forgotten to pick up a bottle of this:

You can say I'm obsessed with the Sticky Fingers Carolina Classic Barbecue Sauce. It's mustard-based, so it's a given that I love it ;p, and it has a great tang and kick to it. I've mentioned this to my sister TONS of times and she went searching for it over Christmas when she made some crock pot pulled pork. Apparently Sticky Fingers is hard to come by in the island of the long, so I said I'd either send or bring up a bottle. Clearly my brain hadn't been fed it's daily dose of caffeine yet.

I'm off to start/marinate tonight's experiment - hint: it's not tropical and it doesn't involve a creature of the sea. Branching out!! Happy snow day! :)