Sept. 6: Friday night grateful moment, otherwise known as: 10 things that make me happy

In keeping with the blog challenge, I'm posting today! In keeping with my traditions, I helped shape the blogging list toward my Friday night grateful traditions. Sneaky, eh? Today we're posting about things that make us happy... 10 of them, in fact. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

10 things that make me happy

1. Laughter. I cannot get enough of laughter.

I think Jimmy Fallon is hella funny most nights, and I check out clips from his show on Hulu+ pretty frequently. The little bit about Bill Nye the Science Guy made me chuckle a lot, as did the Miley bit at the very end.



2. Electricity. You don't realize how much electricity makes you happy until you don't have it for a few hours, pack your fridges with ice packs and go to bed in the dark, only to wake to lights on around midnight. Happy!

3. Kind, sweet words from my husband. He's a keeper, for sure. Or, as he's occasionally been called, a catch. ;)

4. Hugs from my son. My goodness, I never get tired of those. In fact, now that he's more man-size, they're even better.

5. Haystacks. To those of you who may just call them taco salad or nachos, this layered meal of chips, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and avocado and sour cream makes me happy happy. I found the picture below on Pinterest, and while it's certainly a haystack, it's also about half the size of the ones I end up making!

6. Hummingbirds. What beautiful creatures they are! Whenever either husband or I happen to catch a glimpse of one at the feeder, it is a gleeful moment.

7. Basil. When I was out snipping basil the other night, I thought about what a delightful scent the herb gives off, and how I can almost imagine a perfume that smells basil-ish. Basil makes me happy.

8. Showers. Nothing starts my day happier than a hot shower. I think showers are at least as effective as coffee at perking me up and getting me moving!

9. My wonderful friends and family. I am blessed beyond to have the support and love in my life, not just from the people who have to (my family), but the ones who choose me, too! How did I get so lucky? Every day I think about how fortunate I am, indeed.

10. Clouds. Whether stormy or pastel or puffy or quickly moving across the sky, I love clouds! It makes me very happy to observe weather.

So what is on your happy list tonight? Can you give me 10 things? I would love to hear them, all.

Jen and I (and now my mom and Lisa too!) are blog challenging throughout September. You can catch her blog over at Stuff Jen Says. If you want to write along with us, give me a shout and I'll send you the blog prompts.

Ricotta gnocchi

icotta gnocchi is one of those dishes, where, if I remembered how easy and versatile (and yummy) it is, I'd make it all the time! So, it's probably good that my memory fades... But when I remember all over again, pull out the ricotta and enjoy making and eating these little dumplings, it is always a pleasant "oh, yes, these!" moment.

Ricotta gnocchi
Makes about 50 1-inch dumplings
1 15 oz container ricotta
3 eggs
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper

Drain the container of ricotta in a colander lined with paper towels, for a couple of hours or overnight. (The original instructions on epicurious don't call for draining the ricotta, but I like to (and plenty of other recipes point that direction). The dough is pretty soft as it is, so getting rid of some of the excess moisture--even if it's just onto the paper towels, or tea towel if you prefer--helps stiffen it up a bit and makes for easier handling.)

Place the ricotta and eggs in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until very smooth. Add the flour gradually and mix thoroughly. Salt and pepper a bit, maybe a teaspoon of salt and a couple of grinds of the peppermill.

Meanwhile, have a pot of water on a low boil, nothing too rolicking. Take two teaspoons and fill one about half full and use the second to push the dumpling off and into the water. Depending on the size of your pot, fill it with about 12-15 dumplings. Let them cook until they float to the surface, about 3-4 minutes. Collect them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon or long handled strainer. Place into a bowl or on a tray until you're ready to use, and continue cooking the gnocchi until all the dough has been used up.

Now, what to do with these little bundles of cheesy goodness? Pretty much anything your heart desires! I treat them like pasta and combine them with tomatoes and basil and garlic and parmesan  (pictured above). I've also put them with marinara sauce, or a mushroom sauce. They are also very delicious pan-fried and tossed with parmesan and pinenuts (and kale, see below)... the options do seem to be endless, really.

I arrived at the world of gnocchi via the potato, but I have to say after making the ricotta gnocchi a number of times, I really do prefer the lightness (and cheesiness, of course) of this recipe. I first made them to accompany my very favorite beef recipe for dear friend Kate's bachelorette weekend, and topped them with a creamy basil and fresh corn sauce.

Since then I've tried these gnocchi in a variety of settings, and have to say a) it's a hard dish to ruin, and b) I do much prefer them warm. I toyed with the cool-to-room-temperature idea, extrapolating that they, like pasta, would work well as either a hot or cool dish. I was less than impressed with the cooler version--heavier feeling in your mouth, and less flavorful, in my opinion.

I hope you give these a try soon. So easy, and so good!

Figs and orzo with goat cheese and basil

igs are a well-documented favorite with me (here, here, here and here, just to get the party started). My goodness, I love that fruit! And it's been with quite a bit of glee that I've watched local merchants bring them to town the past few years... the fruit's popularity has grown, for sure, and with that, thankfully their per-pound price has gone from the "OK, Seth's obviously going to community college to support Mom's habit" to a more reasonable place.

So when I have figs around as well as all my other favorite summer ingredients, I can't help but want to put a few of them together. The past few days I have been caught in a serious basil-tomato-parmesan-pasta loop. Tonight I thought... what if I swap out the tomatoes for figs? And then, because figs and chevre go together so beautifully, a bit of goat cheese found it's way into the bowl too. Heaven.

If figs are your thing, you gotta give this a try. And if they're not, you should still have just a bite... it might convert you.

Figs and orzo
Serves 2 as a side dish
1 cup cooked orzo or other tiny pasta shape
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced finely (optional)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
10 fresh figs, quartered
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
1/3 cup crumbled chevre
Salt and pepper to taste

Place orzo, garlic and olive oil in medium bowl and stir to toss well. If pasta is freshly cooked (ie, warm), this should suffice to wilt the garlic, if you choose to go that route. (I found the garlic helped cut the sweetness of the figs just right. I also felt like a walking garlic clove for a bit, so it's your call.) If you are using leftover pasta (as I was tonight) warm for a minute or two in the microwave. (Room temperature would be great with this dish, but cold-cold is not my preferred state for most dishes.)

Add the figs, pine nuts, basil and parmesan and toss again. Add the chevre last and toss gently with salt and pepper to coat the rest of the ingredients. Serve immediately!

Oh yum. I will be making that dish again. Soon.

Polenta panzanella

y love of panzanella and it's many variations has been documented a few times on the blog... here, here and here, at least. Any kind of chopped salad with fresh seasonal ingredients gets me pretty excited...

When I had a few girlfriends over for lunch recently, I concocted a variation I hadn't seen around before, but it seemed like it should exist: panzanella with polenta cubes standing in for the stale bread. I did a google search (my first line of research, naturally) and found it listed on a few restaurant menus, but no recipes themselves appeared in a cursory search. But, I figured it couldn't be too hard to figure out... I had the polenta left over from a weekend breakfast and was bound and determined to find a use for it!

Polenta panzanella
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 cups cooked and cooled polenta that's been spread to about a 1/2 inch thickness, then cubed
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1.5 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1 can (16 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained
1 red bell pepper, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped roughly
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Toss the polenta in bread crumbs and parmesan to coat, and then fry lightly and quickly in a hot saute pan so they brown and crisp up.

Drain the polenta cubes on a platter lined with paper towels to soak up any excess grease, and set aside.

Combine the next six ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined, and then drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar lightly over the mixture. Stir again. Let sit for a half hour at room temperature to allow flavors to mingle.

Arrange polenta cubes on a serving platter and top with the tomato mixture and parmesan-bread crumb crumbles, if you're lucky enough to have a few of those fall off the polenta.

Serve immediately.

The frying step was the most challenging for me, but the fried crumbles of bread crumbs and parmesan that were left behind in the saute pan were one of the highlights of the dish. Truly yummy. I sprinkled them over the dish as I tossed the other, non-polenta, ingredients. Another google search found others with similar issues/concerns... I think next time I will have the pan hotter, and maybe coat the polenta in an egg wash before tossing in the bread crumbs and parmesan...

In all, this was a lovely surprise of a dish. I can imagine having it as a warm dish in the winter as well, making a kind of ratatouille stew over the top of the polenta cubes...

End-of-summer fling: Nectarine salad with basil and fresh mozzarella

o, remember what I said last week about autumn being here? Well, I lied. Or, maybe more to the point, autumn lied to me. It's summer again, at least for the moment, and gone are the soup cravings, the curry cravings, the anything-warm cravings... it's been WARM. And since there are still vestiges of warm-weather food lying about, I couldn't help but whip up a lovely salad this weekend to go along with the sunshine!


Nectarine salad with basil and fresh mozzarella
(So the title pretty much lays out exactly what's in the salad!)
2 nectarines, sliced thinly
1 cup of basil, cut chiffonade
1/2 cup of fresh mozzarella diced (I had those little bocconcini, and halved them)
2 tsp basil oil (straight olive oil will do, but I couldn't resist)
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl and serve room temperature.

Basil oil
So in true "me" fashion, I didn't look up an infused oil recipe, just stuck some leaves in a pot with some olive oil and warmed them through for a couple of hours. Worked well. But if you want to do it the way every recipe site recommends, you'd blanch the leaves first... I think that's why my color isn't as *green* as other basil oils I've seen... So I'll do that next time. Sigh.

Regardless, the salad was amazing. Really a lovely last taste to leave summer with...

Salads of summer: Asparagus

ery few things make me as happy as basil. Except maybe asparagus. And then there are eggs... and cheese... OK, fine, so there are quite a few food items that bring a smile to my face. And happily many of them converge right about now, season-wise.

It really only gets better from here (if and when summer actually arrives)! I had my first good blueberries (not local, but not GIANT carbon footprint, more in the medium department) this week, and a pretty half-witted watermelon (what was I thinking? That was rushing it a bit, I know!). But nectarines are coming around, and strawberries are getting less white inside. All headed in the right direction.

Now come the salad days! Here are three variations on salads that have made me quite quite happy lately:

Asparagus Salad with Deconstructed Pesto
2 cups of cleaned, steamed, chopped asparagus
1 cup of basil, chopped chiffonade
1 cup of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup toasted pinenuts
1 garlic clove, minced
Olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together except the olive oil, then drizzle with the olive oil to taste, and toss lightly. Serve room temperature and enjoy!

Asparagus Salad with Poached Egg and Croutons
2 cups of cleaned, steamed and chopped asparagus
1 cup of basil, chopped chiffonade
1 cup of homemade croutons (storebought can work, but won't be NEARLY as yummy, unless you have access to some fresh ones from Trader Joe's, etc.)
1 poached egg
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Toss the asparagus, basil and croutons with olive oil and balsamic, starting lightly so as not to overdress. Plate the salad and then add the poached egg on top. A little salt and pepper and enjoy!

Cobb Salad with Asparagus
1 cup of cleaned, steamed, chopped asparagus
2 boiled eggs
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
Handful of salad greens
Salad dressing of your choice

Put the greens in the bottom of your salad bowl and build the salad on top of the greens. The variations are endless--you could add whatever flavors appeal to you, but I especially enjoy the asparagus on this one. I often will use a blue cheese dressing, since a traditional cobb usually has blue cheese crumbles on it, but you can steer clear of that extra fat and just enjoy a light balsamic or honey mustard vinaigrette too.

More salad days are coming! Soon the produce will be straight from the garden, but it's going to take a few weeks with some actual sunshine to get that growth... between now and then, I'm happy to rummage through the local markets and see what's available. Fresh is fabulous! What's your favorite salad combo? I love to get new ideas...

Asparagus lemon pesto pasta

nce upon a time, there was a lemon asparagus pasta recipe, and I'm pretty sure it came from epicurious. But try as I might, it would not show itself--not under "asparagus," asparagus pasta" or even "lemon asparagus pasta." Nothing. After a couple of really decent attempts to find it, I gave up and decided I could wing it on feel and taste and memory alone. And sure enough, that worked. This version is slightly different than I remember, but with asparagus, parmesan and lemon in the pot, it is pretty hard to go wrong.


Asparagus lemon pesto
Serves 2 
1 dozen asparagus spears, steamed, tips cut off
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. grated fresh lemon peel
2 Tbsp. grated parmesan
2 Tbsp. pine nuts
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parmesan to taste

Put a large pot of boiling water on for your pasta. Whatever shape you like--I generally like a long strand like linguine or spaghettini for this dish.

While your pasta is cooking, steam the asparagus in a separate pot (or in the microwave, if you like shortcuts like me!) and cut off the tips, saving them for later. Chop the spears and put the them into your food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse for about 20-30 seconds, until the mixture is coarse but consistently so. You may need to stir down the sides of your food processor bowl in the middle of pulsing to achieve that.

The asparagus mixture on it's own is quite lovely. It would make a great bruschetta, or even a pizza topping (with extra cheese, of course!)... really a delectable mixture.

Once your pasta is cooked, drain it but keep some of the cooking water (a cup should do). Toss the pasta with your asparagus mixture and add in some of the pasta cooking water to wet the mixture and melt the cheese into the pasta. Add in the asparagus tips and basil, and season with salt and pepper as well as extra parmesan to taste, and serve.

I love the fresh flavor of the asparagus; it simply screams "Spring!" to me, and I welcome it gladly into the supermarket (especially when it's local and not being flown in from Chile or some such exotic locale)! Thus begins many days of cooking with asparagus, happily.

Here's our Aerogarden in full swing! I took a whack at the basil for this recipe, and now need to scare up a dill-oriented recipe or the dill might take over that side of the kitchen! It's a good problem to have.

What to do with all that basil?

I have been asked this summer by many fellow basil lovers, "Do you dry your basil to preserve it for winter?" My answer is always an emphatic, "No! Freeze it!" But then I thought to myself, why am I so emphatic about it? Maybe drying is better, or at least as good?

I did a bit of online research (ie Google) and found that the world seems evenly split between freezing and drying, but those that stand up for freezing do so because they like the flavor better with that method. And it is so much more versatile too--how would you make pesto in February from your dried basil? I don't think so... Since I fall squarely in the "freezing makes for better flavor" camp, I will continue with my freezing ways.

Here's how I do it:
Pick and wash basil. I don't wash basil until just as I'm about to use it, since it tends to deteriorate pretty quickly after washing. Pat it dry with towels or spin it dry in one of those salad spinners.

The next part really does require a food processor, or maybe a very powerful blender. Stuff basil leaves into the bowl of your food processor (not too many at one time, as that can make it difficult to blend properly), put the lid on and start whizzing. Have your olive oil ready, and start drizzling it through the top feeder of the food processor, slowly. Continue to process until you have a basil paste, taking care not to make it too liquidy with the olive oil. If that happens, just add some more basil leaves until you have the desired consistency.

Brighter green color going in to the freezer

How you freeze it from this point is really up to you. I have heard of freezing in ice cube trays, or measuring cups. I recently used a mini muffin tin for 2 Tbsp. portions, and a regular muffin tin for 1/3 cup portions. Whatever you freeze in, I recommend lining it with plastic wrap first so that the cubes will just pop out when frozen.

Darker green color coming out of the freezer!

Cubes, ready for their ziploc home!

Once frozen, the cubes are easily stored in freezer ziplocs and are available for use in soups, to make pesto, or anywhere else you want a little garden-fresh basil flavor. Enjoy!

Thursday 13: Thirteen ways I love basil

I just finished plucking basil leaves off my seven basil plants, the final harvest of a very full season. Two kitchen garbage bags came in from the garden and got plucked down to three grocery bags... so there is plenty of basil love to go around. How appropriate for Thursday 13, to list my favorite ways to eat this lovely herb!

1. Pesto. I always need a pot of this in my fridge. Always.

2. Aglio Olio. I will never forget the first time I ate this combination: angel hair pasta with tomatoes, basil, garlic and parmesan. Dear friend Corinne made this for me when she moved to Walla Walla in 1990. She had been living in Vancouver for a while, came back to the small town with her big city cookin' ways and whipped this up for me. I had never had this combination before. I have no idea what culinary rock I'd been hiding under, but whatever. I have made this dozens of times in the intervening decades. And have loved it every single time.

3. Basil and nectarines. This is a great combination. I've sliced nectarines and basil and tossed them together for a quick salad, I've eaten them in a sandwich with cream cheese. Here's a preserve I'm thinking of making this weekend. Sounds delicious to me.

4. Panzanella. Classic Italian bread salad with tomatoes, basil and whatever else you might have lying about the kitchen.


5. Caprese. So simple, so lovely: Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Drizzle the EVOO and go!

6. Basil and figs. Yes, so shocking that I would want to put these two together! A great bruschetta topping is chopped fresh figs, basil chiffonade and goat cheese. Heaven.

7. Infused/dipping oil. Garlic, basil, rosemary in grapeseed oil... Hand me the crusty bread and let's go!

8. Basil stuffed chicken breast. I have made this many times, most often in a catering scenario, with a sundried tomato and shallot cream sauce. Slice into a chicken breast to create a long pocket, stuff with chopped basil and goat cheese, brown the chicken in a saute pan with some olive oil, then transfer to a baking dish, cover with the sundried tomato cream sauce and bake until done. Easy and a real crowd-pleaser.

9. Basil polenta. A wonderful accompaniment for grilled steak or chicken, and even makes great "noodles" for a unique lasagna. Or, just pile on the cheese and have a bowl by itself. Yum.

10. Basil creamed corn. I have made this recipe a number of times, and have fond memories of serving it for our wedding/Thanksgiving dinner four happy years ago.

11. Sesame noodles with peanuts and Thai basil. I just had to throw this one in there to mitigate the heavy Italian influence on this list. I love a good nutty noodle bowl!


12. Pasta carbonara with basil. Take the classic and throw in basil. Basil makes it better, I swear.
13. Pizza margherita. Classic. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Tell me in the comments how you best like your basil!

To find other Thursday 13-ers, click here. Happy TT!

Ricotta ravioli with fresh corn cream sauce

Heaven! I'm practically live-blogging this little slice of paradise as I eat... (Side note: I've decided that the shorter the window between cooking and posting, the higher the likelihood that posting actually takes place... I don't know exactly why, but my interest in sharing wanes fairly quickly.) (Quiet on the ADHD comments, Kim. :))

Back to heaven. On a plate. I mentioned the ricotta gnocchi with fresh corn cream sauce I enjoyed while dining out last week, and so wanted to replicate it as closely as possible. This did the trick for me, sauce wise, and since I already had the ricotta filling on hand, it was very easy just to make a few quick ravioli.

Easy ravioli
Serves one
Ricotta filling
Six square wonton wraps

Lay out wonton wraps. Place a tablespoon of ricotta filling in the middle of each wonton wrapper. Dip your finger in a small glass of water and run it around the outside edge of the wonton, and fold over into a triangle, pressing the edges together to seal. Set aside. Repeat with remaining five wontons.


Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, turn down so it's barely simmering. Gently place the ravioli in the water and simmer for 3-4 minutes, until they rise to the surface. Don't boil too long or they will tear apart. Drain ravioli in a colander and then place on a plate, waiting for the perfect sauce.

Fresh corn cream sauce
Serves one
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup fresh corn, cut off the cob (I suppose you could use frozen, but it will be a far cry from this farm-fresh delight)
2 tsp butter
1/3 cup cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 egg, whisked
Basil and cherry tomatoes for garnish

Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until softened. Add corn and saute until cooked through, about 4 minutes. Turn heat down to low. In a small bowl, crack the egg and whisk. Add the cream and grated parmesan and stir well. Pour cream mixture into the saute pan and stir until the cream is warmed and parmesan has melted. Gently ladle over the ravioli. Garnish with chopped basil and halved cherry tomatoes and enjoy.


The last bite is gone and I'm sad. That was really an end-of-summer treasure. Joyous. Now off to pluck the basil leaves off two garbage bags of basil I harvested tonight... green thumbs (literally!), anyone?!

Summer photo shoot delights

Summer is the best time to take food photos. The ingredients... the ingredients... the ingredients! Produce abounds and it's so fresh from the farm!

I recently made four dishes that we shot for our editorial team at work to choose from. Since I can't really show you the pretty pictures... they belong to "work," and since I forgot (as ALWAYS) to take my camera with me to the shoot, my pictures are from home, and of only two of the recipes. But they are all worthy of a try. Check out the American Institute for Cancer Research and the Centers for Disease Control, where I found the recipes as well; both have many healthy options that are easy and delicious.

Other than the two recipes posted here, I made Savory Fresh Apricot Bites and Bruschetta with Plums and Fresh Basil--both lovely and summer-fresh beautiful.

Santa Fe Chilled Nectarine Soup
2 lbs (8 small) nectarines, sliced
1 cup apple juice
1 cup cranberry cocktail juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Combine nectarines with juices, salt, pepper flakes and vinegar in electric blender. Whirl until smooth and blended. Add cilantro leaves and whirl in a stop-and-go fashion a few seconds, just to chop. Serve chilled.

This soup was just a lovely and refreshing surprise. The fruit flavor came through loud and clear, with a bit of zip from the red pepper flakes, and a bit of zing from the balsamic. Definitely a make-again!


South of the Border Watermelon and Sweet Onion Salsa
2 cups chopped seedless watermelon
3/4 cup Walla Walla sweet onion
3/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped and seeded jalapeno chilies
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Pinch of salt

Stir together all ingredients in bowl. Refrigerate, covered at least 1 hour to blend flavors. Stir before serving.

A nice blend of flavors and textures. I would not normally think of putting black beans and watermelon together, and this was a bit of a "sell" for the husband, but it was good. If I were to make it again, I would absolutely add some lime juice to the mixture, for the zing.

Springtime pesto delights

So there was before:

And here's after!

When the basil gets THAT tall, something must be done about it! I know, I know, pesto is so '90s... but it is one flavor I can't get enough of! And especially since my last basil overdose feels like months ago (because it was), I was more than ready to pull out the pinenuts, parmesan and olive oil. As I seem to be more and more sensitive to garlic lately (I can't really belive I'm saying this, it makes me feel old to even say it) I just left the little cloves stay intact and made a garlic-less version.

There are all sorts of recipes for pesto. But I find it turns out best when you add a bit of this (basil), a little of that (cheese, parm and oil) and play around with it until you have achieved the consistency you're going for. The video below gives a good idea of how to accomplish that. Complete with an accent! Oui oui!

I am so happy spring is here! Maybe, just maybe, summer will follow. I don't want to get all freaky optimistic here, but all signs point to warmth and sunshine in the coming weeks. Yeah for that!