what's been cooking

Matt and I are heading to Tokyo on Saturday. That means the next several blog posts will be about Japanese food, hopefully while we're still over there. Before we go, I want to clear out my stash of recently-cooked meals, especially before all the spring/early summer ingredients are gone. The following are all recommended recipes--some have a link to a recipe and some just have the ingredients listed. Enjoy!

strawberry chicken club sandwich

potato frittata with bacon

burger with horseradish havarti, bacon, caramelized onions, mayo, and greens on pretzel roll

asparagus panzanella

grilled chicken fajitas

mixed green salad with strawberries, grilled chicken, avocado, spring onions, and Bolthouse Farms mango vinaigrette

three-cup chicken with green beans (no photo)

wisconsin tomatoes

We've been getting beautiful tomatoes from the farmer's market, the local co-op, and our CSA box. That means almost every meal uses tomatoes--I have to take advantage while they're available! By the way, you can freeze a whole tomato in a freezer bag. When you're ready to use a tomato in a sauce or pasta in the winter, just run the tomato under warm water until the skin slips off and chop it up. Oh, and it's not a bad idea to core the tomato before freezing.

caprese salad

Anyway, here's one of the meals I made with CSA tomatoes--a simple caprese salad. I snagged the recipe from Giada De Laurentis, but used balsamic vinegar in place of the lemon juice (we've had a lot of lemony dishes lately and needed a change). The fresh tomatoes grown nearby and ripened on the vine really make the salad. The basil was also from our CSA farm and the fresh mozzarella is made in southern Wisconsin as well. There will be more tomato recipes coming in the following days.

Edit: When you follow the link, you'll see a platter filled with tomatoes of all sizes and large slices of mozzarella. Since I only had grape tomatoes, I used those and tossed them with cherry-sized fresh mozzarella balls that I halved. In a nutshell, use whatever tomatoes you have available.

style and sustenance

I love a word play.

top with bow, Gap
high-waisted wool shorts, thrifted
Green Goddess Chicken Salad with Asparagus

I'm still working on finding tasty ways to use asparagus from our CSA box. Tonight's dinner was a really simple salad that I adapted from my favorite cookbook, Simply Organic.

Trim about 10 stalks of asparagus and cut them into 2-inch chunks. Cook the asparagus for 3 minutes in boiling water, then fish it out with tongs and drop into ice water. Put it in a bowl. Do the same thing with a couple of sliced chicken breasts (but boil as long as it takes to cook through, maybe 5 minutes). Toss the asparagus, chicken, and some sliced green onions in (here's where I made it even easier) Annie's Natural Goddess or Green Goddess Dressing. Put it on top of some greens. You're done! Eat it with some crusty bread.

l.a. foods

Fun trip, good food. Matt's brother took us to a salad place called Tender Greens in Culver City. We sat outside on the porch. It was such a lovely day.

Chicken Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese, Egg, Bacon, Avacado, Tomato, and Creamy Dressing

Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Salad with Avacado, Green Onion, Queso Fresco, Tortilla Strips, and
Cilantro Lime Dressing

We had brunch on Saturday at the Omelette Parlor in Santa Monica. So many things looked good, it was hard to decide. The omelettes were gigantic and delicious. The garlicky fried potatoes and wheat English muffin helped to make sure we were stuffed.

Omelette with Bacon, Avacado, Jack Cheese, and Sprouts

Omelette with Salsa, Cilantro, and Cheddar

Matt and I on the Santa Monica Pier

It was a great trip. Windy, but beautiful.