Edamame Orange Salad with Miso Dressing

Ingredients:

Spinach

Edamame

Orange, peeled and chopped into large pieces

Broccoli slaw

Red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Cashews

green onion

For the dressing:

Miso (I used Hikari Minute Miso)

Soy Sauce

Garlic Chili Paste

Rice wine vinegar

Mirin

Toasted sesame seed oil

Grape and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

Spinach

Red or Black Seedless Grapes (halved)

Chopped Onion

Toasted Walnuts

Goat Cheese

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Strawberry Cocoa Salad

For the last couple of months when I get home I've just relied on the same old things to make. I've been getting very bored, so I've tried a few things lately.

The first thing I tried was Strawberry Cocoa Spinach Salad. Sounds disgusting right?

A couple of years ago my parents went to Hershey, PA, and ate at the restaurant. They put chocolate in everything, in every course. My mom was raving about this salad with Cocoa Balsamic Dressing and dried cherries on micro greens. She tried to duplicate it when she got home, and although I can't say how it compared to restaurant's, I thought it was pretty good.

The other day I was at the store, and the strawberries were beautiful, and cheap! So I picked some up and thought I'd make a strawberry spinach salad (because I saw a pre-packaged one at Whole Foods and it inspired me). So I thought I'd try the Cocoa Balsamic dressing.

Strawberry Cocoa Salad
serves 2 (amounts are approximate - just do what looks right to you)

3 handfuls baby spinach or mixed greens
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup chopped or slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup feta cheese
Cocoa Balsamic Dressing
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss spinach and onion with dressing. Fold in strawberries and almonds. Top with feta.

Cocoa Balsamic Dressing

(amounts are approximate - taste and adjust)

3 TBSPs Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp unsweetened Cocoa (I used Ghirardelli Natural Unsweetened Cocoa)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 TBSPs Olive oil, or more

Mix vinegar, cocoa and garlic powder. While stirring, drizzle in olive oil until emulsified.

Gnocchi alla Romana

Most people by now are familiar with gnocchi, Italian dumplings. Here, we are most familiar with boiled potato gnocchi, however, Gnocchi alla Romana is baked semolina and cheese dumplings. I have made gnocchi so many times successfully, that I thought when Brian and I first started dating that it was something I could really wow him with. I read a different recipe than this one, and I thought I'd try a different technique, and it didn't work. I was so embarrassed! I ended up making spaghetti! How lame! I did have a caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes, so it kind of made up for it.

This recipe is the best. So cheesy goodness.

Gnocchi alla Romana

2 cups milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups semolina flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons heavy cream (sometimes I use half and half)
2 eggs (original recipe says 1 egg and 2 yolks)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
more grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Bring milk and butter to a boil in a large sauce pan. Add semolina and all-purpose flour. Stir over low heat until absorbed, and continue to stir until mixture is rolling off the sides of the pan (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat, add the cream, eggs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and stir until smooth. Season to taste (salt, pepper, nutmeg, etc). On a sheet of wax paper, spread to 1/2 inch thick. Cool for 30 minutes, then cut into rounds with a round cookie cutter. Put in baking dish (overlap like scallops if you don't have room to lay each piece out individually), drizzle with melted butter and grate more Parmigiano-Reggiano over top. Bake 20-45 minutes, until golden brown.

This time I served it with a tomato basil salad (basically, you just toss together chopped tomatoes and fresh basil, add dash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper) and sauteed spinach. I found a recipe in an Italian cook book, but I just improvised it... I sauteed chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, added pine nuts, and then spinach, nutmeg, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and raisins.

Spinach and Ravioli Soup

I've always been pretty happy with canned soups. You can doctor them up a bit, and they're good. I've always thought making soup was a time-consuming process, so I just never tried. A co-worker of mine said she makes soup all the time, and she had some tortellini and kale soup that looked awesome. She told me what she did, and I googled some more recipes, and I ended making this one up.

Ravioli Soup

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery (leaves included), chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 TBSP Olive Oil + More
1 can diced tomatoes with basil
4-6 cups broth (I used vegetable)
1 can cannelli beans
1 package fresh ravioli (I used Bertoli 4 Cheese Whole Wheat Ravioli)
2 tsps dried oregano
4 cups fresh spinach
pinch grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Grated parmesan or asiago

In a large sauce pan, saute garlic, celery, carrot, bell pepper, and onion in 2 TBSP olive oil until soften. Add broth, tomatoes, ravioli, cannelli beans, oregano, and cook about 5 minutes. Add Spinach, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until ravioli and beans are cooked all the way though. Serve with grated cheese.

It's a lot of stuff, but it was really good, and so adaptable. You could just use plain pasta, any other kind of bean. It took less than 30 minutes, with only one pan to clean. With a nice crusty bread and a glass of red wine, it was an awesome winter meal. Brian liked it and actually had the leftovers for lunch the next day! Yay, Soup!

Brian Can Cook

I'm not mushy, but I am incredibly lucky to has a guy as great as Brian. I'm super-lucky that he can cook too. Here's a dinner he made:

Grilled Mahi Mahi and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes. I made the spinach - which was just spinach tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, nutmeg, honey, and thyme.

Here's another one he did: His Happy Office Day cake.


He wanted an over-the-top peanut butter and chocolate cake. I hope he doesn't mind me giving away his secrets, but it is a chocolate cake mix, mixed with peanut butter chips, topped with chocolate icing, and the crushed up nutter butters on top. Then he lined it with peanut butter cups, and decorated it with Reese's Pieces.