Elizabeth Encarnacion's Blog

My Partner in Crime

I'm currently working on writing a follow-up to one of my recent non-fiction books. I had the original book on our bed so I could reference it, and Dorsey Dog decided to do a little light reading. (I swear I didn't set this pose up—he was just sitting like this and I had to grab my camera.)

This Little Piggy…

I made the unfortunate decision ages ago to purchase a Canon SLR camera just about a year or two before digital cameras exploded and made film cameras all but obsolete. So I've been a little behind in my photography technology, using everything in my bag of tricks to get by with a point and shoot. After years of yearning, I finally made an investment in my photography habit, getting the new Nikon D5100 DSLR camera, and I'm LOVING IT. I'm still getting used to having complete control over how I capture my images, and am mostly shooting in automatic mode for now. But I've also checked a ton of books out of the library to work on my photography technique, shooting in manual, and improving my shot composition. I just love doing research.

Conveniently, I have a new muse. Earlier this year, I became a real aunt (not just an honorary one), and I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend with them, taking photos of my nephew for hours. Of course, I also played with him, fed him, soothed him, and generally stared in awe at him. But usually with a camera nearby. (That's me holding him while taking a photo, below.)

A few days later, I spent three days babysitting for the 6-month-old daughter of friends while their usual caregiver was on vacation. She wasn't so sure about me at first, but actually seemed comforted/amused by the camera and soon settled down. This little girl had a personality a mile wide, and was shockingly agile with her feet. I'd almost swear she had opposable toes. She frequently clapped her feet, perfectly aligning the toes without any help from me. Of course, I couldn't resist taking photos of those perfect little piggies.

Love the bumblebees!

Spells Writing Lab Programming

Farm to Table: Collards & Yellow Potatoes

Tonight I raced home from Spells to cook dinner before our touring Broadway show, Mary Poppins. I quickly cleaned and split the yellow potatoes of indeterminate variety before tossing them with some olive oil, sliced red onions, kosher salt, pepper, and rosemary. I roasted them in our convection toaster oven at 425° for 40 minutes, turning them once, and they turned out quite well, though the red onions were pretty much burned to a crisp. Next time, maybe I'll try some garlic instead, as it might hold up better at that temp.

With the potatoes cooking, I cleaned and de-stemed the collard greens we received in last week's farm share box while feeling closer to my true Southern heritage. As a child growing up in the South, I had overcooked, mushy collard greens as a side dish in my school lunch at least biweekly, which is not to say that I actually ate them. (To be honest, I didn't eat much of my school lunches back then, which is probably why I was so scrawny.) With the bad memories of these over-boiled monstrosities, I was looking for a recipe that wasn't stewed—I figured a crispier collard might help me overcome my childhood trauma. With that in mind, I departed from my usual Cooking Light crutch and chose a Real Simple recipe for Sauteed Collard Greens instead (though both magazine recipe archives are compiled on the MyRecipes website, so it's not like I was going completely out of my wheelhouse).

I have to say, after the 5-second prep of the baby bok choy yesterday, these collard greens seemed like a real chore, though they really weren't that bad to prepare in the grand scheme of things. After boiling the slices of collards for 10 minutes, I sauteed them with about 5 cloves of sliced garlic. The boiling tenderized these tough leaves a bit, but still left them with a slight crisp, while the sauteing gave them a taste profile reminiscent of Italian spinach (yes, that's a good thing). Next time, I might add extra garlic and some of that southern staple, the pig, either in bacon or pancetta form. I'm not sure any self-respecting Southerner would serve collard greens without the pork.

Overall, a great meal that used up pretty much all of the remaining produce from this week's box, just in time for tomorrow's harvest. Wonder what I'll get then?

Farm to Table: Baby Bok Choy and Other Asian Ingredients

This week's farm share had a bunch of complementary ingredients that are all frequently used in Asian cooking—baby bok choy, fresh ginger, green onions, and cilantro. Along with a nice slab of flank steak and the contents of my pantry (in which I inexplicably found 4 bottles of sesame oil and 5 bottles of red wine vinegar, amongst other overflowing staples as I was cleaning tonight), I was able to make an easy, tasty meal tonight that was worthy of another last-minute dinner guest, our friend Erin, who came over to watch the DVRed Bachelor: The Women Tell All episode she was in the audience for.

I rarely cook red meat at home, so I was ready for a change with this recipe for Flank Steak with Hot Peanut Sauce. The marinade doubles as the base for the sauce (separated before it's contaminated by the raw meat), and used some of my fresh ginger and my bunch of green onions. I got home late, so I only marinated the meat for about an hour, but we didn't notice any lack of flavor in the dish as a result. After cooking the sauce, I stirred in a bit of chopped cilantro just because I wanted to use it before it went bad and knew it's often used in Thai peanut dishes.

While the meat was marinating and the rice was cooking, I did some research on how to prep baby bok choy. I've never used this ingredient before, but I'll definitely do it again, as it was extremely easy to clean, and required very little cooking—I steamed it in my vegetable steamer for about 8 minutes, and it was perfectly crisp-tender. I chose this Cooking Light recipe for Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Soy-Ginger Drizzle because I'm a sucker for a soy-orange sauce—this one had a similar taste profile to my favorite Martha Stewart recipe, Pork Chops in Soy Orange Sauce. We polished off all four sections of my two baby bok choy heads very quickly, and could have eaten more.

All the food looked so yummy, I started to dig in before remembering to take a photo, so my food styling wasn't up to par. But I guess that's a sign of a great meal!

 

Farm to Table: Baby Bok Choy

This week's farm share had a bunch of complementary ingredients that are all frequently used in Asian cooking—baby bok choy, fresh ginger, green onions, and cilantro. Along with my pantry (which inexplicably had 4 different bottles of sesame oil and 5 bottles of red wine vinegar, amongst other overflowing staples as I was cleaning it out tonight) and a nice slab of flank steak, I was able to make an easy, tasty meal tonight that was worthy of another last-minute dinner guest, our friend Erin, who came over to watch the DVRed Bachelor: The Women Tell All episode she was in the audience for.

I rarely cook red meat at home, so I was ready for a change with this recipe for Flank Steak with Hot Peanut Sauce. The marinade doubles as the base for the sauce (separated before it's contaminated by the raw meat), and used some of my fresh ginger and my bunch of green onions. I got home late, so I only marinated the meat for about an hour, but we didn't notice any lack of flavor in the dish after stir frying it in my wok. After cooking the sauce, I stirred in a bit of chopped cilantro just because I wanted to use it before it went bad and knew it's often used in Thai peanut dishes.

While the meat was marinating and the rice was cooking, I did some research on how to prep baby bok choy. I've never used this ingredient before, but I'll definitely do it again, as it was extremely easy to clean, and required very little cooking—I steamed it in my vegetable steamer for about 8 minutes, and it was perfectly crisp-tender. I chose this Cooking Light recipe for Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Soy-Ginger Drizzle because I'm a sucker for a soy-orange sauce—this one had a similar taste profile to my favorite Martha Stewart recipe, Pork Chops in Soy Orange Sauce. We polished off all four sections of my two baby bok choy heads very quickly, and could have eaten more.

All the food looked so yummy, I started to dig in before remembering to take a photo, so my food styling wasn't up to par. But I guess that's a sign of a great meal!

 

Farm to Table: Broccoli, Mixed Greens, & Butternut Squash Fries

Tonight's dinner wasn't as ambitious as Friday night's, but it had the distinction of using only ingredients from our farm share boxes other than the meat and a few pantry items. I had a little bit of extra butternut squash from Friday's pizza, so I cut it into fry-shapes and tossed it with some olive oil and kosher salt before roasting it in the convection oven at 425° for about 30 minutes to make Butternut Squash Fries. They were quite tasty, reminiscent of sweet potato fries, and I would definitely consider making them in large quantities next time I have some butternut squash.

I also jazzed up my typical roasted broccoli with some garlic and lemon zest & juice after getting inspiration from this Amateur Gourmet post. I wouldn't call it the best broccoli I've ever had, but it was a nice addition to my usual recipe.

And, finally, I tossed the rest of our mixed greens with a little Newman's Own Lighten Up Italian Dressing, which I find has a piquant lemon flavor that also works perfectly on arugula salad. I put a small pile of the greens on each plate and placed the Whole Foods spinach-crusted chicken breasts on them. Not bad for a low-key Sunday night dinner that hardly required any shopping and was a breeze to make!

Farm to Table: Butternut Squash & Carrots

Friday's my day off from Spells Writing Lab, so I had plenty of time to do some heavy-duty cooking for dinner, including what are probably the two most creative uses of my farm share produce. When I received a butternut squash in the first week, I knew I didn't want to simply roast it or make a soup. My search on the Cooking Light website found this recipe for Pesto Pizza with Butternut Squash, which I immediately knew I had to try. The recipe actually references two other recipes for the dough and the pesto, both of which I made from scratch, but I'd imagine you could get away with a pre-made pizza crust and a store-bought pesto in a pinch.

I frequently use my breadmaker to make flatbread dough, so I adapted this dough recipe for the appliance. Basically, I just dissolved the yeast in warm water and put the yeast-water mixture and the oil into the breadmaker. Then I added the dry ingredients (which I whisked together first for good measure) and started the pizza dough cycle. I usually use a spoon during this cycle to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough early. Then, I let the appliance do all the hard work, kneading and rising.

Once the dough began rising, I went to work on the butternut squash. Mine was fairly small, but despite hearing that this particular veggie can be a beast to prep, I didn't have any problems. After getting my slices for the pizza ready for roasting, I cut the extra squash into smaller strips for butternut squash fries on another night. In retrospect, I might double up the amount of squash on the pizza, however.

While the squash was roasting, I made the pesto. I'm looking forward to growing my own basil plant again this year, but for now I had to rely on Whole Foods for 4 ounces of the herb.

The pesto only took minutes to make, thanks to my faithful food processor. They better keep making this appliance despite the fact many people don't use it anymore, because I find mine to be indispensable in the kitchen for many tasks. I made my pesto with extra garlic, as I do with most recipes, and it was fantastic. The pizza recipe only uses half of the pesto recipe, so I saved the rest for use on bread or a simple pasta. Love the bright green color.

Once all the parts were prepped, I was ready to put the pizza together. I rolled out the dough into more of a rectangular shape, since that fits better on my baking pans. After that, I pretty much followed the recipe, though I probably dropped a little extra pesto on the pizza. I found that mine didn't really need to cook as long as they said—more like 14 minutes than 20—so I may have rolled the dough out a bit too thin. But the end result was gorgeous. I love the mixture of bright colors on this very attractive pizza. And the taste was just as good. The sweetness of the butternut squash was a nice complement to the tangy pesto and the mellow gouda. I'll definitely be making this recipe again, though I may substitute my usual flatbread dough from this recipe, which is a little more delicate and tasty than this pizza dough.

For dessert, we had carrot cake made from the fresh carrots from our first farm share box. I recently discovered after a trip down to Carolina that John shares my love for carrot cake, and I happened to see this recipe in the current issue of Cooking Light as I was flipping through it. A redo of this classic recipe that reduces the calories by more than 1,000 calories and has 10% of the fat? Plus, it has pecans? I had to try it.

Apart from grating the carrots by hand, which was a real workout for my arms, this recipe was a breeze. The resulting dessert was both tantalizing—John was badgering me to finish my photo shoot so he could dig in—and as delicious as it looks. I highly recommend this recipe, and will definitely add it to my repertoire.

Farm to Table: Leftovers

With Wednesday's week two pickup approaching and John out of town, I've been using up some of the leftovers from week one's bounty. Last night, I turned the two extra red potatoes that had already been partially cooked for Monday's salad into quickie mashed potatoes. I simply cooked them in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes (my default time for just about everything), then added around a tablespoon of butter and a bit of 2% milk before mashing them with a potato ricer. After a dash of salt & pepper, they were fantastic—moist and creamy, yet still chunky. I meant to take a picture, but was so excited about eating them, I forgot.

I also used more of the red leaf lettuce for a salad, adding small chunks of apple and using a sweet low-fat toasted sesame dressing. I tend to put the same boring accoutrements on salads—tomato, green pepper, olives—so I appreciated being pushed toward more creative ingredients.

Earlier in the day, I picked up our latest box of farm share goodies. With the cold, rainy weather, it was a bit more difficult to carry the box home than it was last week—I needed a third hand for my umbrella—but I was excited when I opened the box to discover a new collection of produce.

In addition to a new variety of apples, some mixed greens, and baby yellow potatoes, we also got cilantro, broccoli, collard greens, baby bok choy, green onions, and ginger. As a southerner, I'm excited to try my hands at the collards for the first time, and I'm also pleased to have three ingredients commonly used in Asian cooking. Now, if I can just decide whether to go with a slightly boring stir fry or put in the work for some kind of steamed dumpling. If you have any suggestions for good collard greens or bok choy Asian recipes, let me know!

Farm to Table: Red Stuff

After taking a couple nights off from cooking, I was looking forward to using three of my farm share veggies—all with "red" in their names—in tonight's dinner salad. When I searched for "red potato" on the Cooking Light recipe search, the second recipe listed was an intriguing salad that I couldn't resist trying. It not only used red potatoes in an unusual way, but it also made use of my red onions and the head of red leaf lettuce (substituted for a bag of mixed greens).

The Chicken, Red Potatoes, and Green Bean Salad is like a hybrid between potato salad and a regular dinner salad, but it doesn't use any mayonnaise (a question I was asked twice tonight). I wasn't exactly sure what such a salad would taste like, but it was fantastic—a nice mix of flavors and textures, with a mustard-vinaigrette kick to it that made me go back for more (as did our last-minute dinner guest, John's cousin Rochelle from Chicago).

The recipe says it's a 30-minute meal, and I'd agree with that—it only took me a little longer than that, and I was taking breaks to chat with Rochelle half the time. The most tedious part of the prep was cutting the green beans diagonally, just because I pretty much had to do them one at a time. But once I got that done, it was a breeze. While the potatoes were simmering, I was able to prep the chicken (a bag of the Purdue pre-roasted chicken chunks that I cut into smaller pieces) and the dressing. I probably could have done the green beans then as well to save time.

Once again, I served this with a side of whole-grain Near East brand pilaf and rolls. (I wanted to be sure our guest had enough to eat, in case the salad didn't turn out well.) We had some of the salad left over, so I'll be curious to see how the lettuce holds up by tomorrow night, sitting in all that vinaigrette.

In addition to the butternut squash, which I'm saving for later this week, we have a couple of boiled potatoes, some more red leaf lettuce, another red onion, and a couple of apples left from last week's share. I think the only veggies I've bought this week to supplement our share were the green beans and the grape tomatoes and parsley that were both used in two different recipes. Not bad for my first week!