Napa Valley Marathon

two (okay, three now) weekends ago, hubby ran the Napa Valley marathon in 3 hrs, 5 minutes and 58 seconds. very, very fast.

and you would think this photo was taken of him lounging around after the race, but no, this is him trying to relax the day before.

in our lovely hotel room



the lovely view from our lovely hotel room

it's been super busy lately. i'm still working full-time and going to school part-time. that MA will be mine by the end of this semester. but i have to make it through first. in my way are two classes and my thesis project (and that APA manual that i've drop-kicked numerous times).

in the past couple weeks, i've had barely enough time to make food to eat, let alone take pictures, edit pictures (couldn't tell they've been edited, huh? goes to show just how much more i have to learn), and blog. it takes more time than i have. and that thesis project isn't going to format itself. if i have the chance to post a recipe in the next two months, it will be b/c i'm slacking off on my academics. oh well, c'est la vie.

odd-looking vegetable and some southern comfort (not the drink)

Romanesco - it's like an alien vegetable, isn't it?  And yet, strangely beautiful.  

I had no idea how to cook this vegetable.  Some recipes said to steam the whole thing . . . but I have nothing that can steam something this large.  It was the same size as a large head of cauliflower.  So I just ended up chopping it up like cauliflower and roasting it.  It didn't look nearly as pretty all chopped up and cooked, but still strange.

But the main star of our dinner that night wasn't the alien vegetable, it was biscuits.  Sweet potato biscuits to be exact.  Hubby loves these.  They're sweet and light, not heavy like some other biscuit types.  These are not flaky, very little butter.  Very little fat, actually.  

And they're made with wheat flour, just like most everything else I bake.  I made these per a special request from hubby after his Napa Valley Marathon - where he set a personal record.  More to come on that later.

Here is the recipe:

Sweet Potato Biscuits 

1 cup mashed baked sweet potato (one large)

1/2 cup skim milk

2 tbsp non-fat plain yogurt

1/2 stick melted butter

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

preheat oven to 400

mix the sweet potato, milk, yogurt and butter in a large bowl.  then mix the remaining ingredients: flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt.  pour dry into wet, stir until just combined.  

line baking sheet with parchment paper.  or grease a baking sheet.

i form the biscuits by measuring them into a 1/3 dry measure cup and dumping it onto the sheet.  you could also use a tablespoon measure and just make it bigger.

Bake for about 20 min, I like longer until it's brown, not just golden brown.

Eat warm!!!

i like to split them and make little sandwiches with roasted pork loin with gravy.  

pizza! with wheat flour

after having tried multiple pizza dough recipes and trying to modify them to include wheat flour, i have finally found one that is pretty good.  not perfect yet, but good.  recipe at bottom.

i keep trying b/c hubby really likes pizza at home.  and i try to feed hubby food he likes b/c he does nice things for me like get digital tv.  

lack of counter space means rolling out dough into a recognizable shape is a little difficult.  and i know you're supposed to stretch the dough by hand, but i couldn't.  it was too uneven when i tried it that way, so i started over again with the rolling pin.  if you've got the skills to do it without a rolling pin, go for it.
top pizza with yummy things.  we went with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, caramelized onions and arugula.  

bake pizza at 500 degrees.  we have no pizza stone, so i actually heat up the glass pyrex in the oven, then invert it and place the pizza on top (with parchment paper).  we loved this pizza and will be making it again very, very soon!

whole wheat pizza dough

makes 4 small pizzas - we only needed half the dough for dinner for 2

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

mix the water, yeast and sugar together.  once it foams, you know the yeast is good, then you can add the flour and salt and mix.  i used the stand mixer and the dough hook.  i let it go for a good while (about 10 min).  walked away and watched tv and came back and checked on the dough.  turn out dough into a greased bowl, let it rise, double in size and then it's ready to go.  you can chill it if you want, up to 4 days.  my dough kept on rising in the fridge, popped out of it's container, so be careful.  the dough is supposed to taste better after a day or two, but we couldn't wait and had half of it for pizza the same night.  

roasted cauliflower

One of the simple, simple dishes that I make is roasted cauliflower. hubby LOVES these. they are so simple, quick and delicious. we would have them more often, but cauliflower isn't always available . . . well, that's not true, we can always find it in the grocery store, but sometimes, it's $3.99 a head. and i dunno, i just feel like that's a lot when i know i can get it other times for $1.99 a head. but i got this one through our CSA, which i love, they rock.

preheat oven to 400
so rinse and cut whole head of cauliflower into small-ish peices. and yes, small-ish is a technical term that adequately describes size. if you would like more clarification, please feel free to ask. i will most likely elaborate with a description like, "not big, but not small, not quite medium."
get out some garlic (4 or 5 cloves), smash them with your knife, peel off the outside and toss them in with cauliflower.

drizzle on some olive oil, and then add salt, fresh-ground pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and a pinch of what ever else you'd like. i'm not sure how much i put in . . . just sprinkle it on, toss to combine and taste a small piece and add more if you need to.

i pour it all onto a baking sheet, i suppose a roasting pan to roast the cauliflower would work too, but mine was under all this stuff in the cabinet above my head. hubby wasn't home yet and i had sweaters laid out on our chairs (the wash cold in delicate, lay flat to dry kind). so i got the baking sheet. i need a step-stool. sucks being short. hate getting jeans hemmed.

mmmm, yummy goodness. and look, there's one of the pieces of roasted garlic. brush teeth and rinse before kissing loved one after this.

watermelon radishes - a new twist

so i got these beautiful watermelon radishes from our CSA (community supported agriculture) - Eating With the Seasons and needed to find a way to serve them cooked.

why cooked?  raw, it's a little spicy for hubby and i since we don't have other things to pair it with.  

so i decided to roast them with a little honey to cut the spiciness and they turned out beautifully.

honey roasted watermelon radishes

4 medium watermelon radishes, cubed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp honey

preheat oven to 400

toss everything together

spread onto roasting pan

roast in oven for 15 min, take out of oven, toss cubes around

put back in oven for another 15 min, or until it reaches your desired texture.  we like it soft, with the honey caramelizing the outside to a nice brown.

Our Santa Fe trip

we arrived in albuquerque last Friday famished and couldn't wait to get to Santa Fe to eat. so we used our new GPS gadget (gift from hubby's dad for xmas) for the first time and found a place to eat within 2 miles from the airport.

the grove cafe and market had a refreshing atmosphere and good food. i had an open face croque monsieur sandwich that came with a nice little fruit salad - yummy!

then we checked in to the Inn of the Governor's and it was an adorable place. the room was a little small, but the furniture was this rough, dark wood that gave it wonderful ambience. the location was great, right in historic downtown and we were able to walk just about everywhere.

in fact, we walked to all the galleries that participated in the Edible Art Tour that was part of Artfeast. the tour was an event where many of the local galleries (and there are TONS in Santa Fe) paired up with a local chef/restaurant/caterer. paying just $35/person (that went towards promoting the arts), we got to sample food at each gallery. walk into gallery, pick up food, look at beautiful art, eat food, walk out, repeat. it was a wonderful way to see great art and try a lot of different food. through EAT, we discovered a few great places to, well, eat.

but Santa Fe has more than great food and we spent saturday hiking around at the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.

we also visited the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and especially enjoyed the Here, Now and Always exhibit. as the museum was fairly empty and the exhibit used personal accounts to enhance the displays, the whole experience felt intimate and truly touching.

there were also some wonderful sculptures outside the museum.

during our trip, we had the pleasure of discovering Kakawa Chocolate House (from the tour) - a real treasure! they specialize in making Mesoamerican style drinking chocolate. it was a little too strong for me, i guess i prefer mine with a little more sweetness and not too much spice. the man that owns the shop is a chocolate historian and the knowledge behind his drinks was just amazing.

per a tip from Prof. O., we went to Cafe Pasqual's for dinner and the food was amazing. everything that the reviews and hype said it to be. but for me, it was not as memorable as Josh's BBQ (a decidedly more casual joint).

we had sampled their green chile brisket during the tour and i was obsessed. it was amazing and i had to have it again. so it was our last stop before the airport. they take their brisket that's been smoked and made a green chile from it - it's smoky and spicy and flavorful and now i'm drooling on my keyboard. i'm not sure why, but i ordered a green chile brisket burrito (i dunno why, i could've just gotten the green chile brisket plain). here is the monster burrito that was served to me (with sweet potato masher) -

i'm not sure if you can tell, but the burrito was bigger than my forearm. and yup, those ridged things that you see, waffle fries. in my opinion, they were just weird and didn't belong. so i picked them out and didn't eat them. but then, when i got to the end of the burrito, i discovered that the waffle fries had soaked up a lot of green chile goodness and that if i topped it with the sweet potato masher (yes, carb upon carb, get over it), it was no longer strange but deliciously delightful.

it was a good trip!

back from santa fe!

went to santa fe, nm this weekend and it was unbelievable! hubby and i only got into little quibbles, no big fights!
okay, that wasn't really the unbelievable part.
quick review of our itinerary:
friday - grab lunch in albuquerque, drive to santa fe, check in, go to the Edible Art Tour, put on by ArtsFeast, http://www.artfeast.com/events/edible-art-tour
saturday - hiking to go see Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, lunch, Georgia O'Keefe museum, dinner at Cafe Pasqual's (yum yum yum!)
sunday - Museum of Indian Arts and Culture - http://www.indianartsandculture.org/
lunch at Josh's BBQ, drive to airport
more to come later!