in which we eat a lot of brie

we have some exciting news here at chez twin: rita will be studying abroad in paris next semester! we've already planned her new tres chic wardrobe (quirky librarian meets audrey hepburn. it will involve lots of striped shirts, of course), and this weekend, we decided to have a french-inspired dinner.

arugula with pomegranate seeds, pecans, and vinaigrette

roast tomatoes (sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast at 350 for about half an hour, then broil for 5 minutes. let cool slightly before eating) and baguette with brie.

we should have had wine too, but neither of us like wine, so we had a mix of lime sparkly water and cranberry apple juice.

and of course, we had music to set the mood.


we're already planning an irish themed dinner for me (i'm hopefully studying abroad in dublin this summer) next week. it probably won't be nearly as classy as the french meal, but that's ok with me.

question time! you get to leave tomorrow for a vacation in any country in the world. where are you going?

-lola

butternut-pecan pasta and salad

perhaps you were inspired by our culinary feats and decided to make the casserole from our last post. like us, you probably had a lot of ingredients left over. are you wondering what to do with them? well, wonder no more, my friends!

how about pasta?we made a sauce by melting feta in heavy cream, then added whole wheat pasta, roasted butternut squash, and some greens (which totally cancels out any negative health effects of the cheese+cream sauce. trust me, i'm a nutrition minor). we stirred it all together and topped with pecans.

or maybe you'd prefer a salad?
greens+roasted butternut squash+feta+pecans+vinaigrette=delicious.
enjoy!
-Lola

couscous and carrot salad

first of all...
YAY GIANTS!!! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!


almost as exciting?
my lunch the other day(not really actually. giants winning their first world series in san fran was much more exciting. but i really was quite excited about this lunch).
observe:


couscous and carrot salad
for the carrots:
mix shredded carrots with cinnamon, olive oil, and lightly chopped parsley. stir (or shake in a tupperware) until combined. taste and adjust seasonings if desired.

for the couscous:
cook couscous according to package directions (i use whole wheat couscous, 1/4 cup per serving). i added a sprinkle of Penzey's rogan josh seasoning, which is paprika, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and saffron. i love spice mixes because its not practical to buy a whole bunch of different spices when you live in a dorm.

saute some onion slices in olive oil and rinse and drain a can of chickpeas. stir onions and chickpeas into cooked couscous (i use about 1/3 to 1/2 of an onion and 1/3 a can of chickpeas for one serving). add some crumbled feta too.

top with sriracha or other hot sauce, a handful of carrot salad, and a spoonful of plain yogurt.

et voila! a delicious, nutritious meal!
-Lola

grilled cheese sandwich and spinach salad

yo!
what you see here is our first dorm dinner. that grilled cheese sandwich is the only cooking i've done all week, besides the carrots i've got roasting in the oven right now. the salad is spinach, cashews, and trader joe's cranberry pomegranate dried fruit mix. which is good, btw. you should get some. and that's hummus on the carrots, even though it kind of looks like cream cheese.
so our first week here has been crazy, but hopefully we'll cook some real food for y'all (and ourselves) soon. we have big plans for enchiladas and eggplant lasagna. since real cooking will be more sporadic, please let me know if anyone would be interested in non-recipe posts...perhaps daily food journal type posts, what i'm learning in my nutrition classes, random new york adventures, cheap food tips, etc, and we can try to post 2-3 times a week. because we love having you guys around and we know you like reading posts more than once a month =)
thanks!
-Lola

spinach salad with mango and candied macadamias

with this hot weather, all i've been craving is salad. more specifically, salad with fruit, nuts, and cheese. its just so refreshing. this is the last part of our "last time cooking at home meal" (which also included the corn soup and the bread pudding). we used a recipe from cooking light, but eliminated the scallops and served it with french bread, goat cheese, and smoked salmon on the side. smoked salmon+goat cheese (or butter, or cream cheese)+baguette=amazing-ness, btw.
spinach salad with mango and candied macadamia nuts
from cooking light. serves 4
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons water, divided
• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts or pecans
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups diced peeled mango (about 1 large), divided
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
• 1 pound sea scallops
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 8 cups packaged spinach
• 1 cup vertically sliced red onion
  

[if, like us, you skip the scallops, you don't need the scallops, obviously, or the salt, pepper, or oil. and for any vegans, without the scallops the salad is vegan.]

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in nuts. Spread nut mixture onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Immediately scrape onto a sheet of foil coated with cooking spray. Spread evenly; cool completely. Lightly chop; set aside.

Combine 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 cup mango, juice, ginger, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Stir in poppy seeds; set dressing aside.

Sprinkle scallops with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Heat oil in a grill pan or medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallops; sauté 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan.

Arrange 2 cups spinach on each of 4 plates. Top each serving with 3 ounces scallops, 1/4 cup mango, and 1/4 cup onion. Drizzle each serving with 3 tablespoons dressing; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon nut mixture.

-lola

coleslaw

with pulled pork sandwiches, sweet potatoes, and mom's arm in the background. hi mom!

of course we needed coleslaw to go with our pulled pork. so we made our own.


carrots and red cabbage. look, how pretty:

this recipe was delicious, but made a ton of coleslaw. i could probably open up my own kfc franchise to get rid of it all (of course, it is a million times better than the soupy coleslaw you get in styrofoam cups at kfc).

artsy photo of the cabbage.

coleslaw makes alot of servings. only half of it filled that big glass bowl you see above.
recipe from smitten kitchen, who adapted it from Ina Garten
the only changes we made were to use slightly less mayonnaise (if you've been reading for a while, you know we are not huge mayo fans. but of course you have to have some mayonnaise or it wouldn't be coleslaw) and less parsley (we only had a small handful left).
dressing
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
slaw
1/2 small head green cabbage
1/2 small head red cabbage
4 large carrots, scrubbed or peeled and shredded
1 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (or 1/4 cup if you're me and too lazy/cheap to go to the store and buy more parsley. it was good this way, but probably better with the full 1 cup)
1. half the cabbage halves and slice very thinly. toss cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl. add parsley and stir/toss until everything is combined.
2. combine dressing ingredients and stir until combined.
3. toss dressing with slaw to taste (i used about 4 tablespoons dressing for 1/2 my batch of slaw). stir until combined. store in refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.
-Lola

Falafel sandwiches with Tabbouleh salad

Both me and Lola love falafel and have made it our goal to try it at as many places as possible, both in San Francisco and in New York. Our favorite in San Francisco is Truly Mediterrean, although we still have many more places to try, including King of Falafel, which, as its awning proudly proclaims, is the winner of the mysterious "Billy Award". Perhaps we will never know what the Billy Award is, but nonetheless I hope our falafel will one day win it.


Both recipes from "Festival of Lite" (ha!) by Gail Ashkenazi-Hankin.
We served our falafel in whole wheat pita with hummus and tabbouleh.
Falafel
Serves 8
*3 cups canned chickpeas (or 1 and 1/4 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight)
*2 teaspoons chopped garlic
*1/2 cup bulgar, soaked 10 minutes and drained
*1 small onion, chopped
*1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon ground coriander
*2 tablespoons snipped parsely
*1/4 teasppon cayenne pepper
*3/4 teaspoon salt
*cooking spray
In a food processor, blend all the ingredients except the cooking spray until smooth. Refrigerate 1 hour, until firm. Form into balls, put on a baking pan, spray with cooking spray, and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Tabbouleh
Serves 6
*3/4 cup cracked bulgar wheat
*2 cups boiling water
*2 cups diced tomatoes
*1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
*1/2 cup chopped carrots
*1/2 cup chopped green pepper (we omitted this because Lola doesn't like green peppers)
* 1 cup minced parseley
*1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
* 2 tablespoons chopped mint
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
*1 tablespoon olive oil
*1/2 cup minced scallions
Place the bulgar in a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let stand for 30 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Squeeze out any excess water and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cumcumber, tomatoes, carrots, green pepper, parseley, cumin seeds and mint. Combine the lemon juice, oil, and scallions. Toss with the salad. Chill before serving.

-Rita

home

somehow we made it through finals, sad goodbyes, and a cross-country flight, and we are home for summer break! we'll just be hanging out in sf for the summer, except for a short trip to portland and seattle. hopefully the hanging out in sf will include jobs for both of us, although that is currently looking unlikely. if anyone knows of a good summer job for someone studying psych, nutrition, and irish, please let me know =)

"we have no food in the house", my dad warned me as we hauled massive suitcases up the stairs. which, in fact, meant that our fridge and pantry were full of food. "Feta! Avocado! Sun-dried tomatoes!", Rita and i cried excitedly while preparing lunch today. You have to understand, the contents of our fridge at school is usually frozen peas, 1 jar of peanut butter, and milk.
mache with sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, sliced strawberries, chopped avocado, and feta.
the cats liked it too.
-Lola

100th post! yay!

Black Bean Salad with Feta Cheese and Cilantro, made by my lovely twin, except for the cilantro, which I chopped myself, very confusedly and groggily, as I had just woken up, which made me feel very unaccomplished since Lola had already been up for 4 hours at that point.


Our grandfather loves to send us newspaper clippings, especially recipes. A few weeks ago he sent us a recipe for black bean and feta salad and we decided to make it. This is the first time we've actually made any of the recipes he's sent, but mark my words, it shall not be the last!

Black Bean Salad with Feta Cheese and Cilantro from the Florida Sun Sentinal
Serves 4 as a main dish
*2 cups dried black beans or 4 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
*water, optional

*2 ounces pasteurized feta cheese, crumbled

*1 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

*1/4 cup fine-chopped cilantro

*2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

*3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
*salt and fresh ground black pepper (personally, we use only the finest black pepper, handpicked from the dining hall condiment station, in our recipes), to taste

Reserve 1 T feta. Combine the beans (cook them and let them cool down first if using dried beans), onions, cilantro, and the remaining cheese in a bowl. Add the olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, salt and pepper; mix well. Let the beans marinate 10 min and toss again. Correct the seasoning before serving, adding salt and additional lemon juice to taste. Garnish with reserved cheese.
-Rita

P.S. I forgot to mention, in my haste to type the phrase "mark my words", that later I had this mixed with quinoa and it was very good that way too.

grilled pineapple and avocado salad

aww, i wish i was feeling in the mood to eat something so light and summery now! unfortunately its snowing and i've been subsisting more on mac and cheese and chocolate than on fresh salads. despite the snow, you should make this (or maybe you're enjoying better weather, in which case you should definitely make this) because it was quite tasty. we served it as the starter for our cuban feast (followed by cuban sandwiches and key lime pie).
the recipe, from cooking light
-Lola

Shrimp Ceasar Salad + Zucchini Soup

So, I didn't end up meeting El Vez yesterday. I'm very sad. I was supposed to be helping out interviewing the Zeros, which is the band El Vez was in before he realized his true calling as an Elvis impersonator, but only one member of the band showed up. I did get to see the Zeros play though, and they were awesome.
Anyway, to the food!
I made caesar salad from cooking light, but added some shrimp for more protein. I also made zucchini, potato, and cilantro soup from Bon Appétit. Both were very good, but the soup came out the texture of mashed potatoes. I probably should have added a bit more broth.
-Rita
p.s. i'd also like to point out that we have a whisk shaped like a squid. observe:

goat cheese ravioli with bell peppers and brown butter + spicy fried pb wontons

the first recipe in this post is very classy and gourmet, not something we would likely make in a tiny dorm room kitchen or on a college student's budget. the second recipe is somewhat ridiculous and would probably make good drunk food, except that it would be a very very bad idea to shallow fry anything while drunk. don't do it.

from bon appetite,the ravioli

because we did not have the time to make our own ravioli, we used wonton wrappers this time. definitely worked, but next time i would go all out and use homemade pasta.

seriously, make this. it was delicious and family members proclaimed it "one of the best dinners you've ever made."
we served it with a salad of lettuce, blackberries, and our sweet lemony dressing.

while we were cooking, we contemplated what to do with the extra wonton wrappers. for some reason, we decided that we had to put peanut butter (homemade--just throw a bunch of peanuts in the blender or food processor and blend until you get the right texture) and sriracha (asian chili hot sauce/best condiment ever) in the wonton wrappers and deep fry them. except we both have a fear of large amounts of hot oil, so it was really shallow frying.

we are culinary geniuses

the photo caption does not lie. epically delicious.

spicy fried pb wontons
makes 1 wonton

* 1 (square, not round) wonton wrapper
* 2 teaspoons peanut butter
* 1/4 teaspoon sriracha
* oil for frying
* warm water

1. put peanut butter in center of wonton wrapper.
2. top peanut butter with sriracha
3. pour oil in frying pan to a height of about 2 inches
4. gather wonton wrapper around peanut butter. dip fingers in water and use wet hands to seal top of wrapper.
5. when oil is hot, put wonton in pan.
6. fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. using slotted spoon, carefully remove wonton from pan and place on a paper towel.
7. let cool about 15-30 seconds and enjoy!

veggie pizza+strawberry salad

I've only been back home for two weeks, and I already miss dorm life. I miss the random crazy-ness of it, like being surrounded by people to hang out with on weeknights, the guy who spent his entire life pacing back and forth down the hall talking on his cell phone, and finding my neighbor passed out drunk in the stairwell.

one big difference between the dorms and home is, of course, the food. At school, pizza means "a one dollar slice from the place you go when half the group is drunk and you're about to start an ill-advised 2 am showing of Lord of the Rings." At home, pizza means, "homemade wheat dough topped with portabello mushrooms, onions, cilantro pesto, and fontina cheese, served with a salad of strawberrys, pinenuts, homemade dressing, and lettuce fresh from the garden." both have their merits, but i think you'd prefer a recipe for the latter.

pizza, from cooking light via myrecipes.com
we replaced half of the all purpose flour with wheat, and we both agreed if we made it again, we would make more of the cilantro pesto, as the cilantro flavor didn't come through the other ingredients. overall, the recipe was a success.

lettuce and strawberry salad serves 4

* about 4 cups lettuce, roughly chopped into bite sized pieces
* about 1 cup strawberries, sliced
* about 1/4 cup pine nuts
* 1 tablespoon butter (or margarine, or smart balance, or whatever buttery thing you like)

1. melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
2. add pine nuts, stir constantly until pine nuts are toasted, just starting to blacken but not burnt.
3. top lettuce with strawberries and pine nuts, toss.

sweet lemony dressing all quantities are estimated, we weren't really measuring. i recommend starting with small quantities, than adjusting to taste

* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
* 1 teaspoon mustard powder
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 teaspoons celery seed
* 2 teaspoons poppy seed
* 2 Tablespoons honey

1. combine all ingredients
2. stir, or place in a covered container and shake
3. toss with salad. start with about half the dressing, add however much you need to coat salad.
4. serve immediately.