I think a lot about cooking. I've come to realize how much I love it and how much apart of my personality it entails. During my daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word? It should be) thoughts of cooking, I'm often thinking of ways I can cook that allow my daughter to help. I want her to help because to me, cooking is something that helps showcase your love and intentions. Think of the movie Like Water for Chocolate. Depressing, I know, but so true. Any emotion you have truly can come through in your cooking. Whether it's trying to impress new friends, making something beautiful for your loved one, or emitting fun for your kids, cooking is something that CAN be easy, and fun. Novel, I know. But that's my deep thought for the day. Not so deep, but exceptionally true. Part of the whole idea behind this year long project is to not only show myself that I can make something different, everyday, but I can have my child, during a developmentally difficult phase in her life (the terrible two's) help me make and eat these hopefully beautiful delicious things (unless I'm just making an alcoholic beverage, then, sorry, I've still made something, but I obviously needed a pick me up :-)!
Today I wanted to focus on things that I like to make for others. I have 3 recipes that are relatively easy, and can be presented beautifully and one, I gave as a gift to my father last father's day from my daughter.
Goats Cheese, Plum and Basil Brushetta
So this isn't a combination that I would have thought of naturally (well I would have, but I don't think most would). I had some beautiful cranberry walnut bread that needed to be eaten, I had just bought a large amount of unripe plums and the basil I had been growing in my windowbox had actually taken off. Oh, and we were going to a friends house for dinner, and I was bringing the appetizer, but my daughter had been throwing a fit for going on two hours. I looked in my fridge and was honestly stumped. I then had an overwhelming desire to eat one of the plums, knowing they were very unripe. So I cut a piece of the bread, dipped it in goats cheese and put some plum slices on it. Why? Because I love all of those things, so I figured, this would be a decent lunch!. And Oh My God. It was delicious. And not just delicious because I was hungry. Honest to God delicious. So I thought about it a little more, and started slicing my bread and arranging on a plate. I then spread some pepper crusted goats cheese that I bought at Trader Joe's, on the bread. I had let the cheese come to room temperature so it was easy to spread. I then sliced the plums thinly and lined each bread slice with about 4 pieces of plum. I then topped with basil and drizzled with a teeny bit of olive oil. These were SUCH a bit at the dinner! They were gone in under 10 minutes and everyone was raving about the idea. I felt exceptionally smug. I googled it to make sure it hadn't been done before. It hadn't. BOOM. I created a recipe that wasn't one I just modified. LOVE IT!
How did my daughter help? She spread the cheese and placed the basil.
Guac
So everyone has their verson of guacamole. And I admit fully that I have never been to California, Mexico, or any southwestern state (absolutely despicable, I agree. I'm trying to remedy soon). This appetizer or side dish is something that I've grown up with, and I love avocados. I just do. I could eat them on everything (and when I get them, I pretty much do). So my guac always is lightly seasoned, heavy of the green stuff. I like the pop of color other vegetables provide, so I make sure when I'm making this to have some of these on hand for my visual requirements!
4 large ripe avocados
1 large nice red tomato (vine ripened if you can get it) chopped
1 medium red onion chopped
1 roasted red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 large lemon
Peel the avocados. An italian friend showed me the easiest way to peel a avocado is to score all the way around and separate the halves. Then peel the back off the avocado, leaving all of the beautiful green insides. Then when you are slicing, the pip will fall right out. Stick these all in a bowl and mash with a fork. Roll your lemon to get the juices flowing. Slice in half and take out as many pips as you can. Zest half the lemon into the avocados and then squeeze the juice out of both sides careful not to allow and pips to come out. Add chopped vegetables, omit those you don't like, add others instead, like corn! Salt and pepper to taste. My mom uses a lime instead of a lemon, it's personal preference, use what you like most! Now for a secret punch. If you are serving at an adult only party, add a splash of tequila for a kick!
So how did Z help? Mashing the avocados of course! She's starting to get the hang of the peeling as well!
Grandpa Greg's Granola
My dad loves granola. Loves it. I wanted to give him something unique for father's day from Zara, that she could actually say she 'made'. Then it came to me. Make him granola. It's something that she could really make most of, and he would LOVE it. (And if he loved it, I could give him the recipe to make himself! Double win!)
What will you need?
4 cups rolled oats (I use Quaker Oats)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried blueberries
1 cup sunflower seeds
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350F
Toss oats, coconut, almonds and sunflower seeds together. In another bowl, toss honey and oil together. Add wet mixture to oat mixture and toss, adding cinnamon and nutmeg until mixture is covered. Dump mixture onto lipped baking sheet that is covered with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes or until mixture turns a golden brown (and smells delicious). Make sure you stir the mixture every 2-5 minutes so it doesn't burn! Remove and cool. Add dried fruit and stir. Store in airtight container. I presented this to my father in a large mason jar that we had decorated together. It was sweet and delicious!
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