Wilted Spinach Salad

What do you do when you have half a red onion and a crap-ton of spinach to eat?

Well, apparently you make this spinach salad.

Wilted Spinach Salad
Recipe halved from my Country Living design book
makes 3 servings

1 Tbs olive oil
1/4-1/2 thinly sliced red onion
1 large garlic clove thinly chopped (or 1.5 normal sized ones)
Enough spinach to overflow your cast iron pan
1 Tbs water
1/2 tsp salt (add more to taste)
1 Tbs vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the spinach, water and salt and cook until the spinach is beginning to wilt, but doesn't completely. Put in medium serving bowl and add the vinegar and pepper. Eat!

I was only able to eat about half of this. It's doesn't make a ton, but it is filling.

Whole-Wheat, Buttermilk, Blueberry Pancakes

Yesterday was another amazing day. I went with my friend to the farmer's market in Moscow, bought a whole bunch of produce, then we went antique hunting (I found some fun things there too!),  and then had dinner at her parents house (pesto pasta, fresh salad, bread from the farmer's marked, and sweet corn. Holy yum).

Our biggest purchase by far at the market was a flat of blueberries. A flat is $30, so we split it.  In my excitement to get the berries washed and plopped into the freezer, I forgot to take a pictures of the flat. But it is kind of a lot of berries! We each kept some out of the freezer to be eaten fresh. This is where the pancakes come in!

I already have a whole wheat pancake recipe on here, I know, but this one takes the (pan)cake. Even though they look kinda ugly.

 
It's adapted from Smitten Kitchen here.

Whole Wheat, Buttermilk, Blueberry Pancakes
(I halved the recipe because I'm just cooking for one person, so this recipe only serves about two. I'd double it if cooking for a group)

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1 egg separated
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used skim milk + 1 tsp vinegar and let it sit for a while)
unsalted butter for the pan

BLUEBERRIES or CHOCOLATE CHIPS or BANANAS or WHATEVER ELSE! Seriously, almost anything would taste good here.

Preheat griddle or cast iron skillet on medium-high heat. Mix dry ingredients together. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whisk together the egg yolk and buttermilk.  Stir the yolk and milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Finally gently fold in the egg whites to all of it.

To cook your pancakes, Smitten Kitchen has a wonderful set of tips for cooking them just right here.

Set temperature on the griddle or stove top to medium, and put 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan. Now drop in your add-ins. For blueberries, plunk them down on top of the cooking batter. Wait a few minutes until the pancake is cooked on that side, flip it over, and let it cook just a bit more before setting it on your plate, drizzling it with pure maple syrup, and demolishing it.

Enjoy. Note how the steaming pancakes actually fogged up my lens!

Round two :)

Spicy Scrambled Eggs {insert oohs and ahhs}

Oh my gosh guys. Tonight's dinner was epic. So epic, delicious, amazing, and just awesome that I am going to tell you about it even before I tell you about my crazy and equally rockin'.

Spicy Scrambled Eggs
Recipe from From Mom with Love: Complete Guide to Indian Cooking & Entertaining by Pushpa Bhargava

Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1 large onion chopped
1 green chili, seeded and finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes (I used three small ones), diced (optional)
2 Tbs oil (I used olive)
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt

1. Whisk eggs until frothed.
2. Heat olive oil in large nonstick frying pan on medium.
3. Add the chopped onion and chili, stir and let cook until the onions are soft.
4. Add the diced tomatoes to the mix and saute for a while.
5. Whisk the eggs one more time while the tomatoes are cooking, and add all the spices.
6. Put the egg mixture in the pan and cook until it's ready! I like to wait until the eggs start to brown just a teensy bit. Undercooked scrambled eggs are nasty. Runny yolks in fried eggs, however, are heaven.
7. Serve with toast. I made mine with my cast iron skillet on the stovetop because we have yet to find a toaster here, and it worked perfectly!

EAT AND ENJOY.
Serves 4. I have 3 more servings left. Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? I think so. Tomorrow is covered.

Finally Home

Wow this summer went fast. Before I knew it I was on the plane headed back to my family, the states, and my new apartment. I will have pictures of the apartment coming soon, but first I want to show you what I've been up to in our little kitchen!

Last night: homemade marinara + whole wheat organic penne + bed of spinach + glass of skim milk

Today's Breakfast: french toast + peanut butter + banana + drizzle of syrup

For lunch today: pan fried tilapia + spinach + pat of butter

Amazing.

p.s. I use "lunch" sized plates, so portions appear rather large in photos. Just a heads up!

Blog Squad Prompt #2

Well this post is about a week late! Whoops!

I my defense I have had homework,diaries, and an essay to do. Oh, and there's no internet at my house :)

And all of this is A-O-KAY!

Here's the next prompt:

You’re abroad, settled in, and attending classes. So… how’s it going?


Choose a picture to post on your blog and describe in some detail why it best describes your experience in-country to date. Think about how it portrays the emotions, feelings and thoughts that you are having as you settle into your overseas experience.

Just one picture??? Emm.... this'll be hard, if not impossible.

I'm posting more than one, but this first one is the one.

Let me tell you why. I sort of climbed a mountain. Just a weeny one, but it still took quite the will, brain, and butt power!

Plus, if we want to get all "metaphorical" here, then I accomplished another thing I thought I could not. When my hiking buddy for the day (Grady) kept going, I had to keep going to! It was fun, tiring, and awesome. This pic is about as high as we hiked that day, so represents the experience the best I think.

Here are some other fun pics:

El Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world)

Cooking with my host family:

With the boys:

Ta-ta for now!

June & Blog Squad Prompt Numero Uno

Where has it gone???

Since the last post I have cooked and baked my little heart out. My family and I also went to Disney World. What? Yep. It was a blast, and I'll most likely post pictures of it later.

But for now I have another thing to write about...... Ecuador! That's right. My trip is rapidly (very, very rapidly) approaching, and I have signed on to be a Blog Squad blogger about my trip. I have been given a series of prompts to be completed at different stages of my study abroad, and this is the first.


Prompt #1: What to Expect...

You’ve been going through all the steps to go abroad and, now, suddenly, it’s time to go! As you prepare to depart are you excited? Stressed out? Or maybe a little of both?

Both! Honestly though, I'm a little more stressed right now. My summer at home is already over, and after leaving on Wednesday, I won't be back home until thanksgiving! Which means I won't be able to see my dog!!!!!!!!!! :( :'(

It’s true that studying abroad will be both exciting and, at times, stressful. One way to combat stress, is to recognize that because you are going to a new or different culture, some of your expectations may be inaccurate or too much to hope for. Will you live in a castle in Wales, England – probably not! Will you become fluent in your foreign language in one semester – probably not!

I'm not too worried about expectations or disappointments. I usually just go with the flow on this sort of stuff. What happens, happens, and what doesn't, wasn't meant to be.

Pause for a minute and jot down a few of your expectations; then reflect on whether they are realistic. Why or how might these expectations impact the beginning of your experience abroad?


Okay.. didn't they just tell us to maybe not have a ton of expectations?? That's not confusing. Anyhow, I want to become a more confident traveler, improve my spanish, make friends, and learn as much as I can. I hope I can at least achieve those goals!

If you recognize that some of your expectations might be overly optimistic, are you able to lower your expectations? Are you willing to accept the unexpected – and appreciate the diversity in your new surroundings, lifestyle and friendships?


Here we are again on not having or lowering expectations... seems like we're going a wee bit in circles, doesn't it? But, yes, I am definitely willing to modify (not lower, thank you very much) expectations, and of course I will appreciate the diversity in my surroundings. That is one of the things I'm looking forward to most!

Well there's blog #1! If anyone is just starting to read this blog for the Ecuador section, sorry that there's no handy "About Me" section or anything on the blog, maybe I'll get a chance to fix that.

Toodles!!

The Greens

Naan

 Found here.

Cooked by my mother and me.

Enjoyed by EVERYONE.

Naan

{an East Indian flatbread}

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 large egg

melted butter or oil, for frying

Mix together water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Let it rest for about 5 minutes, or until it looks a little foamy.

Stir in flour, salt, oil, yogurt, and egg. Knead until it becomes a soft dough, with no streaks of flour left. Form into a sort of ball, then let rest, covered with a towel over the bowl, for an hour. The dough should double in size. 

Separate into 6-8 pieces (go more for eight- they puff up a lot when cooked!), and roll out into circles or ovals on a lightly floured surface. They should be pretty thin, but still thick enough so you can pick them up without tearing them.

To cook, heat a skillet (a well-seasoned cast iron works best for me) on medium high. Make sure the skillet is nice and preheated before you start cooking, so you can get the nice blistered effect. Drizzle a small amount of oil (I use olive), thinly coat the bottom of the pan with it, and plop one of your naan circles in it!

Cook, flipping as necessary, letting it get all nice and bubbly and almost slightly charred.

Then EAT. 

We enjoyed ours with Indian food, then the cooked leftovers were fine for lunch the next day!

Signs

See my grandma??

. . . . . . 

Fluffy, Whole-Wheat Pancakes

from B.E. Good Cooks, 1984

{makes kind of a lot}

2 cups whole-wheat flour

3 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. salt

1 T brown sugar or honey

3 eggs, separated

2 cups milk

1/2 cup oil

Sift together flour, Baking Powder, salt, and sugar (if using- I used honey). 

Whisk together honey (again, if using), milk and oil. Beat in egg yolks. 

Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Cook in a little bit of butter, and enjoy!

Serve with whatever. Some of us had banana and maple syrup, jam, chocolate chips, etc..

Home for Now