Tomato Chickpea Dip

Since I just posted my Thai food, I figured I'd keep on the savory roll and post this. It's from ages ago, so I don't really have much to say, but here goes:

This is sort of like hummus, but fresher. It's lighter tasting but still somehow thicker than traditional hummus; I think the fresh tomatos make that possible. It's great with the fresh pita--light and healthy--but I wouldn't say no to having tortilla or pita chips with this. Alright, that's all I've got for you. I promise I'll be back with desserts and slightly more comprehensive posts soon!

Asian Cuisine

Have I mentioned that from time to time at work I teach cooking classes? Well I do! And I'm meant to be doing some Asian cooking (using premade sauces, thank goodness--I can make a soufle that doesn't fall, but don't ask me to make a curry sauce from scratch!)

Quinoa with Cranberries and Pecans

I like quinoa. It's delicious, with its slightly nutty flavor. The texture is good. And it happens to be a berry (or something of that nature) and therefore fits almost any dietary requirements. Also, I can never get non boil in a bag rice to come out properly, but I've never had a problem with quinoa. Finally, I find it more versatile than other grains. It works nicely with basil, a bit of lemon zest, and pine nuts; or black olives with a bit of crumbled feta; or as a base for grilled vegetables and falafel. But it can also be more on the sweet side, as with this recipe. In this case, all I did was toss in dried cranberries and toasted, chopped pecan after the quinoa was cooked. It makes a great side for a protein like turkey--perhaps a healthy addition to Thanksgiving dinner?--or, cold, a hearty addition to a baby spinach salad.

I feel as though I rambled through this a bit, apologies--I'm tired but determined to get this posted!

Pomtini

Just before the holidays my mom and I bought a beautiful bar for the living room. Neither of us are drinkers, but we thought it would be fun (and we needed a better place to store our glassware). Since we have a bar, I figured I needed to learn to make proper mixed drinks. I'm starting slow--it's been 4 or so months and we are still on our first bottles of gin and vodka (and we haven't even opened the rum.)

So anyway, these are pomegranate martinis--or pomtinis. They are a vodka martini with all natural pomegranate juice and a bit of powdered sugar, all shaken (not stirred). I rimmed the glass with a mixture of clear and red sanding sugars held on by a touch of lemon juice (run a wedge of lemon around the rim of the glass, then dip in a saucer of sugar). Fun!

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

I cannot stand bright red red velvet cakes. Originally the reddish color came from the reaction of vinegar with cocoa powder. Now most recipes have tweaked the ingredients to make a richer, moister cake, as I understand it. This means that a bit of food coloring does need to be added. I use the tiniest bit--just to make sure it's clearly red velvet, but not so much as to dye your mouth.

Because this was a Bundt cake, I wanted a glaze rather than a frosting. This ended up somewhere in between; pourable but still thick. It was cream cheese, warmed, and mixed with a bit of heavy cream, plenty of powdered sugar, and a dash of vanilla extract. Yum!

Strawberry, White Chocolate, Pistachio Scones

These were delicious. I used a basic scone recipe and snazzed it up with white chocolate and pistachios. But I decided that, as much as I like the combination of pistachios and white chocolate, it wasn't quite flavorful enough. I happened to have some delicious dried strawberries, so I chopped them up and tossed them in. The tangyness of the dried berries complemented the sweet white chocolate and the nutty goodness of the pistachios perfectly.