Sutliff Girl's Cookspot

This month...

JULY

Farmer's Market Inspiration

Appetizer: Megan
Side Dish: Lauren
Main Dish: Mom
Dessert: Amy

Friday, June 11, 2010

Lauren's June Dish - Quinoa Tabbouleh

So, I decided to try this as a beachy appetizer... I do think it could be a side as well... so I might post another recipe when we get back from our two vacations!

I made this today for dinner tomorrow night with 6 of us Sleesmans. We are all running and I thought quinoa would be a good source of nutrients the night before the race... it was very fun to make as it had lots of chopping.

Some modifications: I used both mint and parsley, and I cooled the quinoa on wax paper before I mixed it into the rest of the ingredients. The first picture is mis en place for the salad... except I had already chopped the tomato... the rest are just pictures along the way. Bon Appetite!

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups water
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped seeded tomato
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint or parsley
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat; fluff with a fork. Stir in tomato and remaining ingredients. Cover; let stand 1 hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.







Our Anniversary Dinner















So I have to post this picture of our anniversary dinner at The Med in Boulder, CO... it was so yummy! We ordered 9 tapas and split a pizza... SO FULL!

Enjoy!


Lauren's May Dessert - Cut Out Sugar Cookies

So, I know it is kind of lame, but I decided to try a new sugar cookie recipe to serve Jay and Christy upon their arrival tonight for their wedding vacation.

My friend Michelle's mother-in-law made these at Michelle's baby shower and I was obsessed!  She finally gave me the recipe and I tried it out... with altitude, I found it a bit difficult to roll out the cookies to the right thickness and my oven isn't the greatest!

The taste is so yummy and very rich... I will learn how to attach a document as it was sent via pdf file... but here are some pictures of the action!  Bon Appetite!




Saturday, June 5, 2010

A great banana bread recipe

To me, Mom's banana bread recipe is the purest form of the popular bread, and how I think all good banana bread should taste. With that said, my mini food processor is too small to make a batch of her bread in and with no room for any additional large appliances in my small kitchen, I am left searching for banana bread recipes that do not require a Cuisinart...

Well, I think I have found a good one! It is from The Newlywed Cookbook by Robin Miller, given to us for our wedding by a couple who has worked for the Marvil family for a long time. I especially like it because it does not use any oil or butter, just an egg. I made a few modifications the first time I made it and have included those changes in the recipe below. I told Lauren about the bread and she wanted the recipe, so thought this would be the perfect place to share it!

Super Moist Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large, over-ripe bananas
1/4 cup milk (regular or nonfat)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, walnuts, and cinnamon. Mix well with a fork and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, blend bananas until mushy. Add milk, egg, and vanilla and mix until blended. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and mix until just blended. Pour batter into an 8-inch loaf pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 1 hour (check with toothpick). Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely.

Catching Up - May's Main Dish

After coming down from such a relaxing and fulfilling vacation week with my family and friends, I am trying to catch up on things neglected. I had the main dish in May, and keeping with my style, wanted to post a yummy meatless meal - Asparagus and Pesto Pasta. This is a very simple, tasty and quick weeknight meal (which makes me feel bad, as Mom's appetizers looked so delicious and exotic!). I came about making this in an attempt to use up some of the delicious spring veggies I could not resist at the DuPont Circle farmers market the Sunday prior. It was my first farmer's market of the season and I left with a bag full of rhubarb, spring onions, asparagus, exotic salad greens, and "Mountain Top Blue", an aged goat blue cheese from a goat farm in Maryland's Allegheny plateau. But the yummiest item I bought was a vegan Green Garlic pesto. Green garlic is a special spring treat that looks like a green onion but tastes like the creamiest, yummiest garlic you have ever tried.

The pesto was yummy enough to eat out of the container with a spoon, but I knew Pat would rather not eat it that way! So I went onto MyRecipes and put "asparagus, pesto, pasta" into their recipe search engine and found my inspiration from the below five-star rated recipe for Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1634729

I used the green garlic pesto in lieu of their pesto recipe, but the dish would be great with any pesto, store bought or your favorite homemade recipe, and I used whole wheat linguine vice the gnocchi. I would never post a gnocchi dish on the blog, as I know mom is not a fan of its uber gummy texture, but I also think the hearty taste of the whole wheat pasta holds up better against the bold pesto flavors. I left out the shrimp because I did not have it on hand (and wanted to keep it vegetarian) although I think it would be a great and healthy addition to the recipe. No photo was taken but will definitely make a point to do so for all future monthly posts.

Asparagus and Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

2 quarts water
1 package of your favorite whole wheat pasta
4 cups (1-inch) slices asparagus (about 1 pound)
1/2 -3/4 cup of your favorite pesto
4 tablespoons shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add pasta to pan and cook according to package directions. Remove pasta from water and place in large serving bowl; toss with a splash of olive oil to prevent sticking. Add asparagus to boiling pasta water and cook 5 minutes. Drain. Add asparagus to pasta. Add pesto to asparagus pasta mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately with a tablespoon of Parmesan sprinkled a top each serving.


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Testing

Thought I'd test this and see if I can post from my gmail and see how it looks compared to the other kinds.