Zucchini Blossom and Burrata Pizza

I started writing this blog yesterday. 

I failed. 

I tried again this morning. 

0 for 2. 

8 Hours and 2 Hangover Curing Meals Later...

I'm finally making it happen. But, I have to be honest, sometimes I just don't have anything to say. Which is ok, because sometimes I think Rich thinks I am prettiest with my mouth shut. So, silence really can be golden. Or ginger. 

So here it is... short, sweet, and to the pizza. A basic recipe for delicious, healthy(ish), homemade pizza! You can, of course, add toppings (and calories) as you see fit. My two favorite toppings are zucchini blossoms and burrata cheese. You can find zucchini blossoms at your local farmer's market and burrata cheese (the creamy middle of mozzarella) can be found at most grocery stores. And, if you think it's weird to put flowers on your pizza, you should just shut your mouth and try it.

Simple Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
4 cups of all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place a baking stone on the lowest rack to preheat with the oven for 1 hour.

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and set aside. 

Combine the flour,and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix on medium speed until the dough forms into a ball.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball. Divide the dough into 4 equal balls and rub a small amount of olive oil onto each ball to keep them from forming a skin. Place the dough balls under a dish towel, on a lightly floured surface and let them rise for about 45 minutes. 
While the dough is rising, make the pizza sauce.

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:
8-10 tomatoes, cut in halves
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
Salt and Pepper

Method:
Heat olive oil in a medium skillet.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, and water. 

Cover and bring to a simmer. 

When the tomatoes are beginning to cook down, about 20 minutes, remove the skins, they should slide off easily, and dispose. Once all of the skins are removed, remove and dispose the garlic cloves and crush the tomatoes until they are smooth. 

Continue cooking, uncovered for another 25 minutes until the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is a deep red color. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

To Assemble Pizzas

Roll out dough onto a floured surface to desired shape and thickness. I suggest rolling your dough super thin to get a nice, crispy, Italian style crust. 

Place rolled out dough on a preheated pizza stone** and quickly spoon pizza sauce onto dough and top with cheese. If you are using burrata, do not put it onto the pizza until AFTER the pizza is cooked or you will end up with a runny mess. 

If you are adding zucchini blossoms (or any other toppings) arrange them on the pizza and then place the pizza stone on the lowest rack of in the oven. 

Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes until the crust is browned and the cheese is bubbly. I generally think that a properly cooked pizza looks a little over cooked. 

Remove the pizza from the oven. If you are adding burrata or fresh basil, sprinkle them onto right before serving!

Makes 4 pizzas

**If you do not have a pizza stone, no problem! you can bake the pizzas on a cookie sheet, just make sure to lightly oil the surface.

Clamshell Mushroom Toasts with Goat Cheese & Fresh Thyme

Richard and I are creatures of habit.  Especially in the morning. We wake up at 7am. We walk the dogs. Rich makes a french press of coffee and turns on the Today Show while I make open faced breakfast sandwiches. Then we eat, drink our coffee and watch the news in perfect sync. (Unless we are hungover or have that rare "Vicky Christina Barcelona" morning of either passion or pugnacity. Though we still squeeze in the coffee and Today Show.)

But, this morning, I shook our world up a bit. You see, we got our CSA delivered as we do every Thursday, but this week, along with the end of summer/ beginning of fall produce, we were given a little package of very cute (and kind of weird) mushrooms. I swear they were alien fingers wearing turtle shells as thimbles, but apparently they are called clamshell mushrooms.

What the hell do you do with clamshell mushrooms? Other than laugh at and photograph them?

Nobody knows! So, as with most things that I don't know what to do with, I put them on toast.

Breakfast sandwich OUT... Cute mushroom toasts IN. (Routine broken. Mind blown.)

good day, sunshine.

Ingredients:
Clamshell mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
A few springs of fresh thyme
2 slices of whole grain bread
Goat cheese

Method:
Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Sauté sliced mushrooms and onion until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the slices of bread and then spread goat cheese on them while they are still warm so that the cheese gets nice and melty. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper, and pile them on top of the toasts. Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves.

Have a lovely Thursday!

Garden Vegetable Soup

I have decided that it is FALL! It's official. I'm done waiting... and sweating! I went to Starbucks this morning (as I only do from mid September-November...) and ordered a Pumpkin Spice latte and it set me over the edge! Both into fall and into an over-caffeinated, gourd-based decorating spree (there was some dried corn involved, too. After all, it is FALL!).

 

it's that time of the year!

Now, I may have a friend or two who is less than thrilled about my seasonal enthusiasm, (ahem... Marco....), which Rich calls my "seasonal affective disorder" because he says I try to bring about the changes in season through my decorating. But, here's what I have to say to you (and Marco), "Come over and eat a pumpkin whoopie pie while sitting at my lovely, gourd covered dining room table, and shut your mouth!"

I know that it is going to be in the high 80's this weekend, but I will be holed up in my house with the A.C. blasting, brainstorming for my Thanksgiving day menu. You might think that I am kidding.... I am not. Trust me, the only thing that I'm kidding about is that I haven't already started thinking about what I am going to serve on my perfectly decorated Thanksgiving table. I just really love fall!

I may be getting a little ahead of myself, but this time of year just gets me verrrrry excited! Maybe it's a little too early to talk turkey, but it is not too early to break out the fall decor. It's after Labor Day, so something has to fill the hole in my heart left by my inability to wear white jeans (which isn't a seasonal thing for me, white jeans just never work for me and that hurts my heart!)

Anyway, I made a soup a few weeks ago and, looking back, maybe I was jumping the shark a little bit. I mean, I pretty much had to strip down to my skivvies and surreptitiously sip soup slowly as I sat about 2 inches away from the A.C. (which Rich assures me is the least sexy way to see me unclothed). I did all of that just to avoid spontaneously bursting into flames from severe overheating. But, seeing as it was in the 60's this morning,  I decided to give this whole soup-making thing another try. Here's the thing, it's the end of summer vegetables and there's starting to be a (very) slight chill in the air, so take off your judging pants (or shirt... this could get fun) and give soup a chance.... I promise to hold off on the pumpkin recipes for at least another week!

Ingredients:
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, washed and thinly sliced
1 potato, peeled
1 onion
3 stalks celery
5 carrots, peeled
A few leaves of kale (I used curly)
1 zucchini
15 green beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 gallon (or so) of chicken or veggie stock (you know me, I use no chicken- chicken broth because it is the bomb dot com)
2 28oz cans of diced tomatoes
A few sprigs of fresh parsley
A few fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper

If you have some extra veggies that you are dying to add... go for it. Get crazy, be creative, the sky is your limit (I am such a motivational blogger! Woo!)

Method:
Chop all of the veggies into bit sized pieces... about 1/4 inch. Then, in a large stock pot, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and saute all of the vegetables for about 5 minutes until they are translucent, but not browned.

Add the stock of your choice, tomatoes (with their juices) and fresh herbs, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook the soup, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes.

Serve. Hot. Enjoy.

Green Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Wheat Berries

I just ate a grilled cheese for breakfast.... and it wasn't a healthy one. Some jerk left Kraft American cheese in our fridge after our BBQ and guess who found it? Yup. The girl with a serious grilled cheese addiction. I mean, my bread did have seeds in it, so there's that, but the last time we had any kind of processed food (other than popcorn and popsicles, I apparently have a serious problem with "pop" foods) in our house really escapes my memory. The worst part? I barely enjoyed it. You see, I'm Canadian (I know, coolness points everywhere) and we Canadians put ketchup on our grilled cheese (we also have universal healthcare. We're a crazy caucasian bunch.) But since we were all out of ketchup (maybe the cheese jerk stole it) I had to suffer my way through my "breakfast" with out it. It was traumatizing. 

On another note, I also had a bite of the amazing wheat berry salad with green beans and tomatoes I made for dinner last night. I am such a fat kid in the morning. I take bites of EVERYTHING. (Rich says I'm a fat kid all day. He "may" be right.) Anyways, it was a really good bite, and as promised, I am going to share the recipe with you. (I'll leave you to your own devices re: grilled cheese, because I believe in you!)

This salad is an awesome side dish with the dry rubbed chicken that I made last night. Actually, it would be a really great side dish with just about anything (even sad, ketchup-less grilled cheese.) It's light, filling, and unlike my breakfast, nutritious! The best part is, you can totally play around with this recipe, too. We had a TON of green beans in our CSA this week but you could try adding some corn, some different herbs.... There are 44 more days of summer, so you could really go crazy. 

Ingredients:
1 pound green beans, cut into thirds
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large shallot, minced
1 clive garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Basil, lots of it!

Method:
Cook the wheat berries in boiling water for about an hour or until tender. Set aside to cool.

Blanche the beans in salted water until just tender, about three minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Stem the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half.

To make the vinaigrette: Combine the minced shallot and garlic in a bowl with the vinegar and salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Taste and adjust the balance with more vinegar, oil, or salt, as needed. Toss the cherry tomatoes in with the vinaigrette; this can sit for a while. Do not add the green beans until just before serving or they will discolor from the acid in the vinaigrette.I added tons of fresh basil because I'm obsessed with it. 

Summer Grilled Salad & Join a CSA!

Summer how I love thee. Let me count the ways:

Barbecues (Rich concurs)
Bikinis (Rich loves the even more than me)
Sun dresses (Rich may know what these are)
Self tanner (please note: not sun bathing. I am a ging after all.)

And of course peaches, plums, berries, watermelon, corn, 'maters (southern husband, I can say this) summer squash...... actually..... ALL SUMMER PRODUCE!!!

garden harvest!

Oh, summer produce. We are so lucky to live in California where our summer is year round and our produce is extra wonderful and easily accessible. However, if you love summer produce, but hate getting up early on Sunday morning, grabbing your hand woven reusable hemp bags, and braving the unkempt masses who keep trying to hand you a flyer so you'll "come check out their band, do what Richard and I just did... We joined a CSA!  And it has been seriously awesome. What is a CSA you ask? It is community supported agriculture. Every Thursday morning we wake up to a box filled with organic and seasonal fruits and vegetables right on our doorstep. Even better, the farmers know they can count on you to make a purchase, so you're helping lower the cost of seasonal organic produce, all without having to go see anyone's "band." The company that we go through is called Farm Fresh To You. Unlike a lot of CSA's there's no long term commitment, so can cancel at any time, let them know what you like, and if you are the tenth caller, we'll throw in a snazzy watermelon phone (Rich says that joke is funny to people who are old enough to remember the Sports Illustrated football phone. I am not one of those people). Seriously though, if you go to their website and enter the code 6164 you'll get $10.00 off when you check out! That's it. Infomercial over. (I'm obsessed.)

Between our CSA and our garden we have been super spoiled this summer. And with all of this bountiful produce we've had to get creative with what we eat so that it doesn't all go bad! This grilled salad is perfect for that! You can pretty much take whatever veggies you have in your fridge and add them to my super simple (sibilant) salad recipe!

Summer Grilled Salad

Ingredients:
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
 2 ears of corn
1 onion, sliced
1 zucchini
1 yellow summer squash
A few leaves of kale
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa
Goat cheese (optional)
Chopped basil
Salt and pepper

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice and zest from 2 lemons
3 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 small shallot, minced
Salt and Pepper


Method:
Preheat your grill to medium high heat and prep your veggies! Slice the onion and squash. I kept the squash in large pieces for easier grilling. I left the peppers, corn, and kale whole. Toss everything with a little bit of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper.

Grill your veggies until everything is slightly charred. The kale grills super fast, the corn will take 10 minutes or so. Once everything is grilled, set vegetables aside until cool enough to handle. This is a good time to make your dressing.

To make the dressing, combine lemon juice, zest, shallots, garlic, and mustard. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Once the veggies are cooled, chop the squash, bell peppers, and kale. Remove the corn kernels and toss all of the veggies together with the cooked quinoa and the dressing. To serve, top with chopped basil and goat cheese if you like.

Fresh Pasta Sauce & First Kisses

So in case you've been wondering, I had my first kiss in Kindergarden. It was with a boy named Sage (awesome foreshadowing for a young chef; I bet if I was into ladies, her name would have been Rosemary). I was 5 at the time and was attending kindergarten at Sacred Hearts Catholic School in Toronto, Canada. I haven't talked to Sage since, maybe because my family moved to another country, maybe because he was intimidated by my charming ways, maybe because we were five and he went on to marry a lovely woman named Lavender... I guess we will never know.

I'm not sure when Richard had his first kiss.... if I had to guess, he was probably 4 because he always has to beat me and he's always been a bit slutty. Either way, I know for sure it was not with his friend Caitlin, who he went to elementary school with at St. Patrick's Catholic School in Charlotte, North Carolina. How do I know this you ask? Because tonight she and her husband came over for dinner and I asked her. It wasn't awkward at all.

I know. My mind is blown, too... the ONE GILR EVER that Rich hasn't kissed!!!

In case you are wondering, Richard and Caitlin hadn't seen each other since elementary school, so when we found out she and her husband, Tommy, were moving to Los Angeles it was quite an exciting surprise. And you know what happens when this ginger gets excited... DINNER PARTY!

Reunited and it feels so good!

With it being peak tomato season and our garden producing quite an abundance of San Marzano tomatoes, a pasta night was absolutely necessary... and when we throw around the term PASTA NIGHT  in this house, we are not effing around. I'm wearing the engagement ring of Rich's dead Italian grandma so I have a pretty high bar to live up to, lest I find my self resting eternally next to her. So when we say "pasta" we're talking homemade pasta and homemade marinara.... with all the ingredients from our garden!

Fresh Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pounds of ripe San Marzano tomatoes, blanched and peeled (Roma will work great, too)
1/2 an onion, grated
1 stalk celery, minced
1 carrot, grated
3 cloves of garlic, minced
A splash of red wine
Lots of fresh basil
Lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
& lots of  FRESH PASTA (recipe here)

Method:
Begin by blanching the tomatoes. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Score the bottom of each tomato with a small "X" and then drop them into the boiling water for about 30 seconds and then put them into an ice bath to stop the cooking and let them cool. You will then be able to peel the skin off of them very easily. Do this with all of the tomatoes and then set them aside.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the grated onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté until starting to caramelize. Add the minced garlic and cook just a minute until fragrant. Add a splash of red wine. I do this because I think it tastes delicious.... and lord knows I am rarely in the kitchen without a glass of it already in hand. Once the wine is reduced, add the tomatoes and bring everything to a simmer. Turn the heat to LOW and let cook for at least an hour.

The longer you cook tomato sauce, the more caramelized and delicious it gets! Your tomatoes should pretty much break down from cooking, but if they are a little chunkier than you like, you can use an immersion blender to get your sauce smooth right before serving it. Season with salt and pepper, top with tons of fresh basil and parmesan cheese and serve!

One bowl, four hours of love, several hundred noodles of perfection

 Madness:

The dinner was amazing and tipsy. We even kept warm by a fire in our very own fire pit. Needless to say, we are so thrilled to have Caitlin and Tommy living in Los Angeles there will be many more amazing dinners to come! Cheers!!

Tommy: "Where's Caitlin!?"

Three Dog Night

Vegan Five Bean Chili

I know.... I said the "V-Word..."

When I first stopped eating meat, 6 whole months ago, I had this idea that I would just continue cooking all of my favorite meals and just leave out the meat. Super simple. Except for that Beef commercial I booked one month later (hey, I'm a capitalist first) things were pretty simple. Chicken stir fry became veggie stir fry. Chicken soup became veggie soup (not for Rich, he's "not a quitter"). But then my little trick became, well, trickier. You see I'm not a fan of fake meats. If you give up meat, why are you in such a hurry to eat a "burger." Maybe try eating more vegetables? So without fake meat at my disposal, some of my favorite dishes became hard to adapt to my new diet. For example chicken paprikash did not become veggie paprikash... it became disgusting red vegetable gloup. Braised beef short ribs? Let's not even go there...

Don't get me wrong, I love my veggies and there are endless amazing vegetarian dishes that I have seriously started mastering, but steak.... is still steak. And while cauliflower steaks with smoked cauliflower puree (recipe coming soon) are delicious, you can only eat so many grilled vegetables before considering suicide.

Enter chili.

I have tried a lot of vegetarian chili recipes and to be honest, none of them are bad.... they just aren't chili. At least not by the standard definition of flavor profile. Sure, chili pretty much tastes like chili. It's beans and spices, but when you leave out the meat, you lose that comforting, warm THING that feels good in your mouth. You know, that thing chili is all about. What is that thing, you ask? That thing is lentils.

Yup. LENTILS! Bet you didn't see that coming, carnivores.

This recipe is actually VEGAN. It's crazy, I know. I made a dish Fiona Apple would eat. But don't stop reading yet. I fed it to our uber-carnivorous roommate Michael (yup, we're married with roommates) and he didn't even realize it was missing meat... it's that tasty.

five bean chili.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped..... use one whole RED bell pepper. It doesn't matter- go crazy!!

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups lentils, cooked

1 can black beans, drained

1 can great northern beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 28oz can chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp cumin

3 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a large pot (I use a Le Creuset dutch oven because my husband loves me and bought me one) heat olive oil and sauté onions and bell pepper over medium heat until golden. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute until fragrant. Add the rest of the ingredients.... the beans, the lentils, the spices.... you name it and mix them all together. Bring to a simmer and then turn the heat to low and let cook for 30 minutes or so until all of the flavors are combined.

this is how I roll.

And, if you're like me and you're ok with making your vegan friends happy and jealous all in one bowl- pile on the cheddar cheese, greek yogurt (extra protein!) and avocado on your own bowl and I dare you to miss the meat!

If you're vegan? Add some sliced green onions and avocado and try not to cry at how much better my bowl looks with ten tons of cheddar on it.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese & Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Arugula

Can my titles get any longer? Jeeze. 

There are some mornings where I wake up and think "Do they deliver pizza at 10am?" (Translation: How do I keep from having to cook today. Alt translation: I am hungover.) Then there are other mornings where I wake up and think, "That laundry won't smell that much worse tomorrow. If a bill is already late what's one more day?" (Translation: I love cooking so much that you can't get me out of the kitchen today). Today is a "Let the mold grow on my old towels, I'm finding a home-made cheese recipe" day. 

Rich is playing dead on the couch with a tweaked back. This happens to him sometimes. He is old now. It could be worse. He could be actually dead on the couch. Not that I would know, today I'm busy being a cheesemonger. I kid. Usually I would feel bad for him, but this time I think his agonizing pain may have to do with karma and the location of his wedding band being somewhere in the middle of Melrose Avenue (read more here) but either way..... I take playing nurse very seriously and as the world's best nurse- I know that curing a man is just as easy as making him fall in love with me.... through his stomach, of course. 

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

We were at a friend's party a few months ago... you know, one of those super grown up, bring a dish to contribute, cook with your friends party. A party like that is usually my favorite kind because I can show off a bit,  but oh no. Not this time. Some girl walked in the door and announced that for her "party trick" she was going to make homemade ricotta cheese because "it's so much better to eat it fresh and warm." I bet she's an actress. I should give her some notes and make her say that again, but in a way that didn't make me want to gag. Who am I kidding, it wasn't how she said, it was what she said. I hated her instantly. I hate most people that show me up (I also hate other gingers for a similar reason. Except for Prince Harry. Rich, I dare you to lose another wedding band.) So, everyone gathered in the kitchen (I sulked in the back corner) and began ooh-ing and ah-ing at how much cooler this girl was than me. Even worse, they didn't even bother to compare her to me. Now, usually after such a traumatizing experience I would have gone home that night and made 6 batches of perfect ricotta just to repair my ginger ego... (which is as tender as ginger skin in the June sun) but this time was different. I needed a few months before I was ready to tackle this cheesy masterpiece... and today seemed like the perfect day. 

Now, had I known that ricotta cheese is literally one of the easiest things I have ever made, maybe I would have been a little bit less of an embarrassment to myself in the story above. But, alas, nobody is perfect... including Ms. Party Ricotta (worst Halloween costume ever.)


Ingredients:
4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp organic white wine vinegar


Method:
Set a large strainer over a deep bowl. Dampen 2 layers of cheesecloth with water and line the strainer with the cheesecloth.

Combine the milk, cream and salt into a pot and bring to a full boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat and stir in the white wine vinegar. Allow the mixture to stand for a couple of minutes until it curdles. It will separate into thick parts (the curds) and milky parts (the whey).

Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined strainer and allow it to drain into the bowl at room temperature for 20 to 25 minutes, occasionally discarding the liquid that collects in the bowl. The longer you let the mixture drain, the thicker the ricotta. Transfer the ricotta to a bowl, discarding the cheesecloth and any remaining whey.

That's it! So simple and it really makes such a difference to use fresh ricotta in a recipe..... like this one:

Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Arugula

I love pasta so much. I have said this 1000 times just today. My favorite pasta dishes are bright, hearty, and fresh tasting and this one is exactly that! Now, you do not have to use homemade ricotta cheese, though I do recommend it. If you MUST buy a store-bought cheese, try to find a whole milk ricotta so that you get a creamier texture. Not a vegetarian? Add some grilled chicken to this dish for a great dinner.

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 cups fresh ricotta cheese (the above recipe should yield about that)
A few big hand-fulls of arugula (I used both baby and wild)
A pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 cup reserved pasta water
Kosher Salt

Method:
Cook pasta in well salted water. Cook it to al dente- it's better that way.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil, sliced garlic, and red pepper flakes over low heat. You are just infusing the oil... do not brown the garlic or your pasta will taste bitter. Strain the garlic and pepper flakes from the oil. 

Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup or so of the water, and toss the pasta with the garlicky olive oil, ricotta cheese, lemon juice and zest, and arugula. The heat from the pasta should be just enough to wilt the arugula. If your pasta is a little dry, you can add the reserved pasta water a little at a time. 

Season with kosher salt and serve. 

Pickled Nectarine Salad with Arugula and Burrata

Oh, Monday- how I am never happy to see you. What a lame day of the week. It comes after a weekend usually filled with a few too many cocktails and indulgent food choices (if you couldn't tell by my previous post....) and by the time the weekend is over, Rich and I are usually scrambling to find a way to give our bodies just a little bit of nourishment after the three days of abuse they have been through. We're worn out, cranky, and going through carb withdrawals. If we had real jobs we probably would have killed each other by now. Can you imagine the two of us heading out the door Monday morning with our to-go coffee cups and a newspaper. In another lifetime, maybe.... but hopefully not.

Really, Monday's only redeeming quality is that the mail comes again (you know how I feel about the mail- it's the best.) Between all of my ridiculous monthly subscriptions (see: glossybox, birchbox, barkbox) the fact that I am a pretty devoted online shopper, and Richard and I both crossing our fingers for commercial residual checks.... the mail is a pretty exciting part of my day. Especially when Bon Appetit comes. Lucky for me, and my post weekend, salad craving, body, this month's issue had a recipe for the most delicious summer salad!!! Nectarines, arugula and burrata... some of my absolute favorite ingredients and they paired together absolutely perfectly. I switched up the recipe a bit and it turned out super yummy!

summer lunch. kale smoothie and this delicious salad.

Ingredients:

1 nectarine, thinly sliced (can be replaced with thinly sliced peaches)

1/4 small onion, thinly sliced

Kosher salt 

Freshly ground pepper

2 cups arugula

1/4 cup hand torn basil leaves

1 tbsp olive oil

4 oz burrata torn into 1 inch pieces (can be replaced with burrata's less creamy, less delicious cousin, mozzarella, though I wouldn't recommend it.) 

Method:

Toss nectarines, onion, vinegar, salt and peppers in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes to get a nice pickled flavor. 

Remove the nectarines and onions from the vinegar and toss them with arugula and basil. Place the salad on plates, top with burrata and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and enjoy!

Figs on Toast & Figs for Days

I am serious. This is going to be the first annual Ginger in the Kitchen: Fig Marathon.... kind of like when they play 12 episodes of America's Next Top Model, but even BETTER!

I was at Whole Foods on Monday (surprise!) and the fig display and I had a serious moment.... the kind that makes you a little swoon-ey, but not full blown love at first sight. You see, figs and I have a complicated relationship. I think they are really pretty and sweet, but I just don't know what they've got going on inside (besides jammy deliciousness.) This could be because as a child my life was ruined by Fig Newtons (gag!!!!) or because as an adult I just don't know what the hell to do with them! They look lovely on a cheese bored, and man, are they perfect stuffed with some blue cheese, but we have really never taken our love any further than that. So, in an effort to deepen our relationship and see what these tiny, little fruits are made of..... I bought 3 pints. Let the fun begin.

I decided to start easy. I used to hate avocados (except guacamole.... I'm not completely crazy.) Then the avocado toast craze happened, and being the on trend lady in the kitchen that I am, one day I gave it a try. My life was changed. Holy delicious! Avocado toast taught me two things that day: 1. I should always listen to Gwenyth Paltrow and 2. If you don't know what to do with it..... put it on toast!

Back to figs......

Put them on toast!

You can't really go wrong here. Figs pair well with endless ingredients. Here's a few delicious combinations to try:

Grilled peaches, grilled figs, ricotta cheese, and wildflower honey. 

Figs with arugula and goat cheese drizzled with balsamic reduction.

Grilled figs with creamy blue cheese, prosciutto, and thyme. 

I placed each combination on lightly grilled and sliced baguette. The figs were super yummy grilled... just heat your grill to medium, lightly brush the figs with olive oil, and then grill them over medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side or until you see some nice grill marks. I did the same with the peaches, too. Then, just pile everything on your sliced baguette, and voila! This is such an easy, delicious appetizer! You are sure to be everyone's favorite hostess... and figs and I have just taken our love to the next step!

Stay tuned! Fresh fig ice cream and savory fig jam to come! It's a love affair in the making.