New Recipes: Summer, Part II

The recipes in Part II all fit into either the salad or vegetable category - perfect for summer.

Clockwise from top left:

Chili-Lime Jicama Salad with Shrimp - My photographs of this recipe do not do it justice; it was flavorful and pretty different from what I usually cook. When I was growing up, my mom used jicama in salads fairly regularly, but this might be the only time I have ever bought one on my own. The original recipe suggests spiralizing the jicama, but cutting it into matchsticks worked pretty well. All of the flavor comes from the dressing, and the combination of lime, chili and shrimp helped me feel like I was near a tropical beach.

Ginger Miso Glazed Eggplant - Since having an eggplant dish for dinner one night during my trip to NYC in July, I've wanted to try my hand at one at home. The only downside of this recipe was having to use the oven - something I prefer not to do in the summer. The results were worth it though, good both warm and cold the next day for lunch.

Greek Zucchini Salad - I won't bother trying a recipe that I don't think will taste good, but this recipe really surprised me with how good it was. It was really easy to put together, and held up in the fridge for a few days allowing me to pack the leftovers for lunch, a huge plus! As much as I love pasta (see next recipe) I'm also a fan of "zoodles" as a medium size zuke makes a ton, and I can enjoy them in vast quantities without feeling like I am carbo-loading for a marathon I will never run.

Basil Pesto - A few weeks ago, one of the stands at the farmer's market had huge basil stalks on sale for $2.50, and I brought one home with me. I give this recipe 4 out 5 stars because it turned out a bit oilier than I would have liked. I will definitely try it again though, since nothing compares to fresh, homemade pesto. My own basil plants are doing pretty well after breaking them up into a couple of different planters, which is exciting since the first one I bought in the spring bit the dust within a week or so.

There are still a few summer-y things I'd like to make before the season ends: bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, a peach cobbler and some of the summer cocktail recipes I have pinned, and I hope the farmer's market continues to have the necessary ingredients on hand for a few more weeks.

What's your favorite summer recipe?

Currently - August '15

It's that time again already! Please go visit the Currently link-up hosts, Anne and Jenna and take a peek at what others have been up to. 

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As usual, I can hardly believe another month has come and gone, but I am actually glad to see August for a change. Keizo has his visa interview scheduled for the 17th, and after nearly a month of physical therapy I can actually pedal on the stationary bike (I dislocated my right knee cap on July 4th and for weeks could not bend my leg enough for a full rotation) Things are definitely looking up!

creating - a growing pile of half-finished projects. Knitting, blog posts, recipes to try, doodles...you name it, and I've probably started it. I've been finishing up some books instead.

wishlisting - I really should be hunting for a nice belated birthday/fiance-visa celebration gift for Keizo, but I have been dreaming about a new bicycle for a while, and the big 3-0 coming up in September seems like a great time to splurge. Maybe a pair of bikes for epic two-wheeled adventures?

hoping - to be rid of the knee brace I've been wearing pretty much 24/7 for the past month. Sure, it's "breathable mesh" and has flexible hinge so I can bend my leg, but I am starting to get a weird tan and the velcro sometimes gets caught on stuff.

eating - Sitting around for a month certainly hasn't dampened my appetite at all. Lately it's been a lot of smoothies for breakfast (including this Strawberry Mint one) and homemade pesto pasta salad for lunch and dinner.

watching - My forced convalescence has permitted me ample time to study my heroine, Liz Lemon and get drawn into the never-ending intrigue and sabotage of Revenge on Netflix.

*This month's photo: nothing quite says summer like a grilled cheese and a milkshake enjoyed by the side of a highway on a 90+ degree day. Work trips are always much better when they include a stop at the Moo-Thru.

New Recipes: Summer, Part I

Signing on to finish up this post, I noticed the page view count at the bottom has crept above the 10,000 mark! In November this blog will be five years old, and it means a lot that so many people have stumbled across it since it began in Japan almost a half decade ago. Thank you!

I find the 10,000 page views even more remarkable in light of my rather sporadic posts of the past few years. I am still looking for (always will be?) a schedule I can stick to, but in the meantime there have been so many new recipes tried in my kitchen that I've had to break them up into two separate posts.

At the beginning of the summer, I rediscovered the joys of being a public library card holder, and all but two of the recipes here came from a visit back in May.

I checked out a copy of "Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook" by Joe Yonan. I appreciated his cooking philosophy and the other essays included among the recipes, and liked the recipe for Enfrijoladas (top right photo) so much I made it three times in short succession. It's just as good for breakfast as it is for lunch and dinner. I also tried Black Pepper Tofu (bottom right), Indian Chickpea Salad (top left) and the recipe for Broccoli Couscous Salad (not pictured). The couscous salad included pickled raisins as a topping, which ended up being much more delicious than I was expecting. They're kind of sweet and sour, and go great with all sorts of salads.

That same trip to the library, I sat down with a copy of June's Real Simple magazine and found a recipe for Green Curry. It was simple to make, and had a ton of flavor. Having tried green curry paste, it wasn't much of a stretch to try red curry paste in this Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup recipe. My mom, who came to help me out for a week after I dislocated my kneecap, prepared everything while I was at work, and we both enjoyed the results. The soup kept well in the fridge, and I still enjoyed it several servings later.

On the baking front, I tried my hand at homemade brownies for the second or third time ever. While brownies aren't hard to make from scratch, I grew up on the boxed mixes and haven't been able to get my homemade versions anywhere near as moist and gooey. This attempt was also turned out a bit drier than I like my brownies, but it did give me a chance to try chia seeds. The recipe, from an old Better Homes & Gardens seasonal publication, replaced a 1/2 cup of butter with 1 Tbsp of chia seeds that had been soaked overnight in a 1/2 cup of water (bottom left). Previously, my only other experiment with chia seeds was putting them in a smoothie and I definitely liked them better in a baked good. I don't think any of my co-workers noticed the lack of butter in the brownies either, as the pan I took in left quite empty.

More new summer recipes coming soon!

Currently - July '15

A new month means another Currently post, hosted by Anne and Jenna. Please take a moment to go say hello!

craving - Connections. I got a letter from the leasing office asking whether I would be renewing my lease in August, and it doesn't seem possible that my one year anniversary could be so soon! I still feel like a new comer, just starting to put down roots.

grilling -  As an apartment dweller, I am prohibited by city code from having my own grill. But it's not all bad, I just caught a free fireworks show from my balcony!

listening - I am usually all about the upbeat pop to help get me through the more repetitive tasks at work, but the past few days I've been in a more mellow mood and listening to Songza's "Acoustic Versions of Pop Songs" station instead.

planning - My upcoming trip to NYC! This is planning in the loosest sense; I picked up a guidebook at the library, have read bits and pieces and made a mental list of things I'd like to see (Central Park and Times Square are the biggies.) I only have a weekend, and hope to spend a good chunk of time just hanging out and catching up with the wonderful friends that are hosting me.

decorating - Not decorating per se, but I have been getting back into other creative pursuits lately. I picked up a long forgotten knitting project and was inspired to buy a nice sketchbook and some new pens after attending a meet-up of the "Unofficial Hand Lettering Society of Silver Spring" early last month. Both of these things have reminded me how fun and therapeutic having a creative outlet can be.

30 before 30: 18 month report

I just know that the world has been on the edge of its collective seat waiting for my next (and second to last!) report on the progress on my 30 before 30 list. I've spent the last two weeks worried I wouldn't have anything to show, but thankfully my January-self was hyped up on New Year's resolutions and my June-self has been trying to make the most of some abundant alone time (see #23) to check a few things off as well. Those weekly goals though...

Blog
4. Post 1X/week (Jan-June 2015=12/26)

Cooking
8. Try 5 new/unusual foods (4/5 - chipotle chiles in adobo sauce 10/2014, dragon fruit 12/2014, seitan from Whole Foods hot bar 3/2015, chia seeds 6/2015. Not a fan of seitan, and I haven't experimented with chia seeds enough to know whether or not I will be buying more when the bag runs out. They do seem to get stuck in your teeth though, which is kind of annoying.)

9. New recipe 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=28/26; Keizo gets a big chunk of the credit for this one, with the 9 new recipes he made for us in April alone. I also bought a spiralizer; does it count as a new recipe if the ingredients are in completely new shapes?)

Fitness
11. Run a 10K (St. Patrick's Day 10K; 3/2/2015. There was a lovely winter mix falling from the sky and there were ice pellets stuck to the front of my bib when I finished around the 57 minute mark, but I did it! I would actually consider doing another one too, maybe in early fall?)

13. Try new activity (6 AM Bootcamp; 6/2015. Astoundingly for someone who can barely get out of bed at 7 AM, I have only skipped one class this month, and I am planning to stick with it for a few more months, or at least while it's still light out at 6 AM.)

14. Yoga 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; Who's feeling stiff and inflexible these days? This girl.)

Personal Growth
19. Read 12 non-fiction books - (7/12 - Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Bikenomics, Blink, At Home, The Rolodex Network Builder, Walkable City. I am also currently in the middle of Hidden Power about the First Ladies of the 20th Century)


Relationships
22. Get married - (Engaged 8/29/2014; Fiance visa paperwork filed 11/2014; Notice of Action received 6/3/2015. Things are moving ever so slowly in the right direction. After 7 months in the Texas holding center, our paperwork moved to the New Hampshire processing center. The very official letter informing me of the move said I should not contact the processing center about the status of the case for 30 days. Those 30 days end on Friday, and I have my fingers crossed that I get another letter saying the application is en route to Tokyo before the week is up!)

23. Live in same time zone - (We tried it out Feb-May 2015 and I think my face below says it all. Going back to being 8,000 miles apart and relying on facetime has been challenging for both of us.) 

24. Write letter 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; I know I am not writing a letter every week, but I am even worse at keeping track of them.)

Travel
27. New York City - (Weekend trip booked for mid-July 2015. It will also be my first trip on Amtrak!)

29. Renew passport - (edited 6/2015. It's hard to believe that the passport I renewed in preparation of studying abroad in Costa Rica my junior year of college is only a few days away from the end of its decade of validity. That one still had plenty of pages left, but I am already excited thinking about getting the first stamp in the new one!)

Currently - June '15

playing - with kettlebells for the first time today during a 6 AM bootcamp fitness class. My goal is to go twice a week for the month of June.

going - on a bike ride once a week.There are some great trails around here once you figure out how to get them!

wearing - mostly skirts and dresses to work; sandals when I can get away with it.

sipping - flavored seltzer in lieu of beer/cocktails at home. It's bathing suit season and I am not feeling it.

reading - a new stack of books from the library. Two mysteries, a graphic novel of unusual DC history, a vegetable cookbook and a non-fiction tome about presidential marriages.

See what others are up to "currently" at Anne in Residence and Gold & Bloom.

New Recipes: April

Keizo and I tried a record breaking number of new recipes in April. While he did most of the cooking, I like to think I pulled my weight with the meal planning and grocery-list making. It seemed to take most of Keizo's nearly three month visit for him to really grasp the concept of planning ahead and buying ingredients for multiple meals at one time. As much as I generally enjoy grocery shopping, it's not something I want to do everyday!

Waiting more than month between trying a recipe and writing it up here has both its pros and cons. In general, it gets harder to remember the details of each one, whether or not the recipe was followed exactly, which substitutions I would make next time etc; but on the other hand, it also gets easier to pick out the winners. 

Spring Pasta with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes - Not exactly a winner, but I am sure I will be eating some variation on this theme (pasta + vegetables) several more times over the summer.

"Pizza Chicken" - Given the amount of gooey cheese in the photo, it shouldn't be a surprise that this recipe falls into the "make again" category. Running the oven in the summer is less than ideal though, so it may have to wait until fall.

Cheddar Beer Fondue - Although I was initially concerned we would set off the fire alarm, this ended up being a really fun meal. It was fun to make, fun to eat, and inspired several conversations about future uses for our "new" $8 fondue set. Our dipping items consisted of bread, sausage and roasted vegetables and I had a hard time choosing a favorite. One word of caution, the recipe is labeled as "date night," but contains a whopping 16 servings of cheese. I think next time I will halve it with the hope that we'll be able to get up from our chairs a bit more quickly afterwards.

Eggplant & Chickpea Curry - This is another "make again" recipe with lots of vegetables and chickpeas to give it some more staying power. Not nearly as entertaining as fondue, but definitely worth trying :-)

Bim Bim Bap - Somewhere under all those toppings is some rice and marinated ground turkey(?) I went a bit overboard with the garnishes trying to use up old produce and add on new farmer's market finds (see the pickled yellow beets in the middle? Delicious!) and drowned out the flavors of original recipe. I see more rice bowls in the future though, since the different components can be assembled ahead of time and combined later for a quick meal. Also, they're an excellent base for delectable pickled things from No. 1 Sons.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms - I had high hopes for this recipe based on the photos and several roasted vegetable sandwiches with portobello mushrooms and goat cheese enjoyed over the years. The results weren't quite what I was hoping for, nor was the dish particularly satisfying as Keizo and I both had double servings.

Creamy Chicken Quinoa Casserole - This was one of Keizo's picks, and while creamy and comforting, it was also rather bland. It improved with some hot sauce, but is not one I am likely to make again.

Miso Broth Bowl with Soba - This meal was inspired by the cherry blossoms and our visit to Hana, a small Japanese grocery store located on U Street. I was impressed by their selection, and will definitely be making a return trip when I run out of my favorite Japanese pantry items like miso and okonomiyaki sauce. Now that the weather is warming up, I don't know if I would make this again anytime soon, but it was really tasty.

Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins - Wrapping up on a high note, these loaded potato skins were tasty and really filling. The chipotle peppers packed some heat, and we were also able to enjoy some of the leftover filling with tortilla chips.

Nine new recipes in a month was quite a lot; the past few weeks I have been relying on some old standbys and trying to use up some things from the freezer. Today, I made gazpacho for the first time, so there will be at least one new recipe in the May round up. When I write it up, however, is bit less certain.

Thank you for reading!