roasted garlic & cheddar cheese scones

when people give me rides to the airport, these scones say 'thank you, i appreciate you and like you' beautifully.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/10/jalapeo-cheddar-scones/

i generally followed ^this recipe, except no jalapeno yes roasted garlic. 

roast the garlic, mince it up, add to the batter and use really cute cookie cutters in the shape of teddy bears! 

heirloom tomato galette

looks so impressive but is so easy & so tasty.
those are the best kinds of foods!

ingredients:

heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half

half of a regular tomato, cut in thin slices

fresh basil 

mozzarella (squeeze out the water!)

feta

parmesan 

pre-made pastry puff sheet from trader joe's

basically, everything's arranged in the middle of the pastry puff sheet all pretty, then you roll in the sides. 

brush the crust with an egg wash, or milk and set to bake according to the pastry puff directions. 

tasted like an extravagant pizza. 

grilled cheese and almond pear salad with honey pomegranate vinaigrette

today jen came over to eat.
so i happily spruced up a plain old grilled cheese with caramelized onions and put together a bomb-diggity salad.
we were going to put eggs in the salad too, but forgot about them.
so we just had them with salt.
it was a good second course.

caramelized onions:
just one onion sliced thinly
and sauteed for a while
til everything gets nice and brown and translucent
add pinch of kosher salt

grilled cheese:
use a nice sharp cheddar
after everything's gooey and grilled,
stuff with caramelized onions
(the perhaps odd order of the grilling then onion-stuffing is because we didn't decide until the last moment whether the onions should go in the salad or the sandwich)

salad:
toss together baby romaine lettuce, chopped toasted almonds, and sliced pears.

vinaigrette:
mix together honey, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and pomegranate vinaigrette.

tasty and impressive!
well, i was impressed.

broccoli quinoa pilaf then chocolate earl grey tea

whenever i say quinoa, stacy repeats it right after me.
"keen-waaaah"
like that.
it's not funny, i don't know why she does it.

ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
handful raisins
1 cup broccoli
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic

use a saucepan. heat up some olive oil, add onions, sautee til brown, add garlic, sautee some more, then salt & pepper it up.
add the quinoa, 2 cups water and bring to boil.
then simmer for a while til it is all cooked.
a while means 8-10 minutes.
stir and make sure it's not sticking to the bottom!

you know the quinoa's done when it starts looking edible and fluffy.
then add broccoli & raisins
cook til the broccoli is just tender.
salt some more if it's tasting bland.
but it won't be, unless you're not using kosher salt.
you should always use kosher salt.

i topped it off with a fried egg for protein and some more pepper.
simple but so nice! especially because i am a raisin person.
i love when raisins get all plump and squishy in my food.


later i was craving chocolate earl grey truffles but since i don't know how to make those, i made the tea version.
i experimented some and was pleased.

ingredients:
earl grey tea
chocolate powder
milk

it looked just like hot chocolate, but tasted so deep.
so earl-y. so grey.
i got caught up in drinking it and forgot to take a picture til it was halfway gone.
oh well.

miso chard & mushrooms with teriyaki salmon

let me tell you about chard.
its huge leaves will take over your shopping basket, but also taste better than spinach when sauteed.
don't eat the stalks, just the leaf part.
the stalks are gross.

ingredients:
-onion
-garlic
-chard (i used rainbow but you can use swiss)
-baby portabellas

sautee these in this order first.

make miso sauce:
-good quality miso
-low sodium soy sauce
-tiny bit of mirin (cooking sake)
-brown sugar

toss together.

the salmon was just baked in the oven and it is my mom's recipe.
it's the best.
i don't know it though.

i ate all of this with brown rice and i was happy.

oh wait and i had the best little dessert.
strawberries, greek yogurt, and honey.
it might also be possible that i had two handfuls of goldfish too.
but not together duh.