rosemary-lemon white bean dip

my obsession with rosemary has taken up again. i made rosemary-lemon white bean dip again, but this time i had time to take pictures. and pictures i took.

i found the recipe while trying to find ways to use up the rosemary i got last time at my local farmer's market. i bought some more fresh rosemary on saturday (along with sage, lemon verbena & fresh garlic). and seriously, the fresh garlic was amazing. i'd never had it before, but it smelled great, and i'm pretty sure tasted more amazing than the regular dried garlic i normally use. (also, the lemon verbena makes fantastic tea)

back to the dip. i'm sure you can follow the link to get the recipe, but i'll copy it here with a few modifications i made. which aren't many.



ingredients:

* 2 cups cooked white beans, like cannelini, drained but moist (i used 1 can of white cannelini beans)
* 1 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
* Grated rind of 2 lemons (i used only 1 lemon, & i added about half of the juice from 1 lemon)

- Blend the beans & garlic (start with 1 clove & taste to see if you need more) & a pinch of salt. (add some of the oil & lemon juice if your food processor doesn't blend dry stuff very well). process until the mixture is smooth. then taste & see if you want more garlic. if so, add more, blend more.
- Scoop the bean mixture into a bowl & beat in (with a spoon or spatula) the chopped rosemary, lemon zest, & the rest of the olive oil, along with salt & pepper to taste.
- Garnish, & serve with chips (i prefer rice chips)

blueberries + apricots = yummy smoothie

as you can guess, i made a blueberry apricot smoothie the other day. it was delicious. i never measure things when i make them. but i basically just blended together blueberries, sliced apricots (i think they blend better if peeled..), honey & fruit juice (i only had grapefruit available).

to see the pics large & beautiful, visit my flickr. more specifically: this picture, this other picture, & yet another picture.

basil scrambled eggs...

apparently i'm not very original with my eating habits. i happen to like eggs. a lot. and i like eggs with toast and avocado. a lot. however, i tried something different today. in my scrambled eggs i added a bit of pesto, chopped basil, and shredded cheese. it was scrumptious. :)

sauce of apples

i've discovered how easy it is to make homemade applesauce. i used this recipe as a template, but i make modifications each time i make it.



this is roughly what i did yesterday:

ingredients:
4 large apples (i used golden delicious - they really are...)
1/2 cup H20
2 strips of lemon peel (1/2 inch in diameter)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 -1/2 inches cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp honey

directions:
core & chop apples. put abosolutely everything into a medium to large pot on the stove top on high heat. bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer until the apples are mushy enough to mash with a potato masher. taste for sweetness. (this recipe isn't very sweet - if you like sweeter applesauce add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of honey. or just add more honey.) remove cinnamon stick & lemon peels. mash. serve hot or put in a jar and refrigerate.

the best part of waking up: breakfast

i had pancakes for breakfast this morning. mmm...

lately i've been using the buttermilk pancake recipe from joy of baking, except that i substitute regular milk for buttermilk, since i never have any buttermilk on hand. i highly suggest using 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour, which is what i normally do. however, i am out of white flour currently, since my grocery store isn't selling the brand i like anymore. thus, i used stoneground spelt flour. the result was a batter that was a bit too liquidy, so i'm thinking maybe the stoneground spelt didn't absorb the liquid as well? (i really have no idea). regardless, they were yummy. i ate them with blueberries, peanut butter, and maple syrup.

try the recipe here.

our tiny basil (garden)

tiny basil seedlings:

a little bit bigger basil:


soon to come (hopefully): even bigger basil ready for use in a scrumptious recipe

comfort food

my comfort food: eggs, toast, avocado
(not pictured: coffee)

fresh rosemary and some of its glory

last weekend my dear sister and i frolicked to the local farmer's market. i'd been once before, approximately one year ago, and i found the experience this time around much more exhilarating because a)this time i had a job, consequently money to buy local goodies, b)both my knowledge and appreciation of food have extensively increased.

but the point of my little farmer's market story, is that i bought some fresh rosemary. i've never used fresh rosemary before, so i had no idea where to start.

my first attempt with fresh rosemary goodness involved yams. well, technically one yam. regardless, yams are wonderful. i preset the oven to 425 F. i peeled the yam (singular), chopped it, and tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped rosemary leaves. i read that the rosemary should be sprinkled onto the yams (or potatoes, should you prefer them) only when there's about 10 minutes of baking left, but i cheated a bit. i microwaved (gasp!) the yams before i oiled them up to speed the process (i was hungry), which meant i added the rosemary straight away. after this, i spread the yams on a baking sheet and slid them into the oven and somewhat kept an eye on them, turning them over every so often. ...all that to say that the yams turned out quite tasty, despite the few that burnt when i wasn't looking.


another fresh rosemary adventure involved wild bison steak.
i marinaded the steaks the day before with olive oil, salt, pepper, and of course, chopped fresh rosemary. we seared the steaks for a minute on each side, before placing them on a medium heated griddle. i placed a sprig of rosemary, soaked in oil, onto the griddle between the steaks, to 'infuse' the aroma a bit more. i don't know if it actually worked or not, but it sure smelled amazing. because the steaks were sandwiched between the two grill plates, we only left them on for 9 minutes. they turned out quite tender and flavorful, but if we do it again, they probably only need 7 minutes, as the steaks keep cooking once off the grill.

more fresh rosemary infused food adventures to come! my sister and i made an amazing rosemary-lemon white bean dip the other night, but alas, we didn't have the chance to get any pictures...