My New Roots - Quinoa Risotto with Grilled Scapes and Arugala

Taking a break from squash and zucchini for a bit, we gave this recipe from the My New Roots cookbook a try.  I found some garlic scapes at a local farmer's market and as a garlic lover found myself intrigued.

The recipe turned out really well (even if my picture is a little green).  The one change I'd make next time is to use less arugala.  The recipe calls for 3 cups and I used a packed 3 cups but I'd probably use a loose 3 cups next time.  The risotto ended up a bitterer than I think I would have liked and there weren't really any components helping to offset the bitterness.

Sprouted Kitchen - Roasted Zucchini, Black Bean, and Cheese Enchiladas

Continuing the squash and zucchini trend after another week participating in Whole Foods' bag of produce deal I found this excellent recipe on the Sprouted Kitchen blog:  http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2012/7/10/roasted-zucchini-black-bean-goat-cheese-enchiladas.html

I opted for the shortcut recommendation of using Trader Joe's enchilada sauce which has a pleasant kick to it.  I used summer squash (no zucchini) and substituted in queso fresco for the goat cheese as my wife tends to shy away from goat cheese.

Overall the recipe was pretty simple to make though I did end up with quite a bit extra filling (even after upping to 12 tortillas).  I probably could have stuffed the enchiladas more but I opted not to risk it.  Luckily, the filling is delicious on its own.  With the up to 12 tortillas, my wife and I found dividing into 6 servings (as opposed to the original 4) worked out well for us.

I also chose not to garnish with the cilantro as my wife isn't a big fan of the herb.  These enchiladas were excellent regardless.

My New Roots - Grilled Zucchini and Green Onions with Hazelnuts

Continuing the focus on Zucchini and Summer Squash for the week, we decided to give this recipe a try.  Luckily, this recipe has been posted in full by the author online and I can provide the link:  https://www.yahoo.com/food/grilled-zucchini-and-green-onions-with-baby-118379239941.html

I thought this recipe was another fantastic one.  The flavors came together really well though I may have used a little too much lemon juice.  I doubled the recipe to make extra but opted out of doubling the Serrano pepper.  My wife found that the dish still had plenty of kick so anyone mindful of spiciness may want to reduce the amount of pepper.

As an extra bonus, the spinach leaves I used were from my home garden harvest.

My New Roots - Zucchini Firecracker Corn Bread

My wife and I were planning to sign up for a CSA for the first time this year but unfortunately missed our window and the CSA we were interested in sold out.  Instead, we opted to sign up for "CSA-like" deal through our local Whole Foods to receive a bag of local produce each week.  Our first week of produce resulted in a combined five pounds of summer squash/zucchini and as a result I'll be focusing on these ingredients for a little while now.

I kicked the week off by baking some this recipe with the plan to spread it across the week as a nice snack/side to go with meals.  Due to my lack of a cast iron skillet and being not quite sure which pan to substitute, I opted to make corn muffins instead.

These things turned out great and are extremely delicious.  I opted to go for the milder side of flavor and only use the 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes to suite my wife's preferences.  As a result, these had almost no kick to them.  If you're looking for some spicy kick, I'd recommend going for the full 2 Tbsp.  The other recommendation I'd make is to make sure you give them plenty of time to cool on their own.  I was a bit hasty in bundling these off for storage on my first batch and as a result had a hard time keeping moisture out of the bag these were stored in.

With the first batch I made, I made the critical mistake of waiting too long to whisk in the melted coconut oil resulting in it solidifying on me.  With the second batch (pictured below) they turned out much better.

I must also offer an extreme caution with regards to handling the pan.  The recipe calls for heating the pan prior to greasing it.  On my second batch I made the critical mistake of grabbing the pan while I greased it and suffered some rather nasty burns as a result.

My New Roots - Caramelized Onion, Olive, and Kale Calzones

I think this recipe may be the most exciting one I've tried.  I love pizza and calzones and having a healthier version of one to make up really appealed to me.

The dough was super easy to whip together and I'm eager to make it again and use it for pizzas or my own custom calzones some time.

My biggest worry about the recipe came to folding over and sealing the calzones shut.  I was really worried that the dough was going to tear on me and everything was going to fall out.  It actually held up really easily though.  The recipe did a great job of making sure the amount of dough worked well for the beginner.

The finished product was extremely delicious.  I'm particularly pleased that I got a chance to use fresh picked kale straight from my fledgling vegetable garden.

My New Roots - Freekeh Pancakes with Wilted Swiss Chard and Poached Eggs

I'll start by saying that freekeh is now one of my new favorite foods.  This stuff tastes delicious.  I'll also add that I've never poached eggs before and it is now one of my favorite things to do.

We made this recipe for dinner even though it's listed as a breakfast recipe because it falls a bit more on the savory side and I was eager to try it when my wife mentioned she wanted me to pick up some eggs for the week.  I figured since we were picking up eggs already, we might as well make this recipe while we were at it.

My wife isn't a big fan of runny eggs so we fried hers over hard and she thoroughly enjoyed it that way.

This dish also made great leftovers.  Pile some chard on the pancake for reheating and just make a fresh egg when you're ready.  Whipped dinner up another night in about 10 minutes doing this.

One annoyance that did come up is that it appears Organic Green Swiss Chard at Wegman's is sold in smaller bunches than the Conventional version.  I ended up having to pick up to bunches instead of the one that the recipe called for.  When we stopped by Whole Foods a few days later I notice they carry Rainbow Swiss Chard in Organic that seems to come in the bigger bunches so I may try that next time to get a better deal on the cost.

My New Roots - The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread with Olives and Caraway

I was really eager to give this recipe a try as I'm a huge fan of olives and I love the idea of this bread.

The recipe came together really well though I did find it a bit awkward to flip the loaf out directly onto the oven rack.  I was pretty worried the whole time that when I tried the thing was going to fall apart on me.  Luckily it held together really well and I ended up with a rather tasty bread.

My wife has not been a fan of the bread's mild olive taste (she's not a big olive fan).  As a result, she is very eager for me to try a more traditional version of this recipe.

Freezing the bread slices to make toast at your leisure has worked out really well.  Makes a really nice snack for later in the evening after I've already had dinner and have a bit of a craving for a little more.

My New Roots - Dandelion Greens with Ghee-Poached Radishes and Smoked Salt

I gave this recipe a try the other week after realizing that the local Wegman's stocked Dandelion Greens.

I found the radishes to be quite delightful and really enjoyed the salad though my wife was not as big of a fan of the strong taste of the dandelion greens.  I found the organic dandelion greens I used tended to have pretty small leaves which made them a bit of a pain to strip off the thicker stems (I read somewhere not to eat the stem because it is even more bitter).  It felt like a lot of work when I could have accomplished the same thing with a bag of organic arugala (a substitute the recipe recommends).  This would also have the benefit of saving some money and giving me extra greens I can mix in with other salads.

I'll probably make this recipe again and skip the dandelions next time.

My New Roots - Pear Apple Blackberry Crumble

This was actually my second attempt at making this dish.  My first attempt was while on vacation with several friends about two weeks ago.  I neglected to take pictures that time and the recipe was so good I decided I would just make it again.

This recipe seemed to make quite a bit more crumble than the picture in the book suggested.  The recipe called for a 9" dish for baking the crumble in but wasn't particularly clear on what kind.  On my first attempt, I tried to use a 9" square dish which did not have enough room for all of the fruit and the crumble.  I ended up having to use a 13" x 9" dish instead.

On my second attempt I noticed that the picture in the book showed a rounder glass dish so I dug out one of my round casserole dishes for use.  This thing appeared to be significantly deeper than the dish in the book and yet I still found myself with a dish that was almost overflowing with crumble.  As a result, I'm still not entirely sure what the recommended dish is supposed to be for this recipe.

I should also add that I had a rather difficult time trying to track down arrowroot powder for this recipe and ended up having to substitute in some corn starch instead.  It seemed to work out pretty well as a substitute.

My wife mixed this dish with some yogurt and found it to be an excellent combination.  I also found myself enjoying it for lunch one day.  The portions are very generous and can even be split in half for a small snack.

My New Roots - Sprouted Wild Rice with Pistachios and Spring Vegetables

With my last jar experience from last week I decided to make my first attempt at sprouting with this recipe.  For the sprouting I found some glass jars with two part lids that made it really easy to strain and rinse the wild rice.

The sprouting went extremely well and from there it was very easy to get the bowls together.  One thing I always forget to do is to prep the ingredients in advance.  Since this recipe requires very little cooking, once the sprouts were done and I started combining ingredients I didn't have any free time to prep the ingredients before they were needed.  As a result, my first attempt at julienned carrots took quite a while to get done halfway through the recipe and I had to call upon my wife for assistance with several of the ingredients while I chopped.

The end result was a huge success.  My wife is a big fan of this recipe and is eager for me to make some more.

My New Roots - Rooibos Ginger Sun Tea

Continuing the past week's trend of using jars, I decided to also give the book's Rooibos Ginger Sun Tea recipe a try.  This recipe is very easy and I found the tea to be extremely delicious.

I opted not to use the optional sweetener for this tea and find I quite like the flavor.  I enjoyed this tea so much last week that I whipped up another two jars earlier today.

My New Roots - Pick Me Up Pickled Turnips

I decided this past week to make my first foray into pickling with this recipe.  Several of the recipes I planned for the week required the use of jars so I picked some up and had some fun.  Unfortunately, my first batch won't be done for another couple of days but I had some spare ingredients and decided to pickle up some more turnips for the following weeks.

Here's a look at batch #1 a day or so after initial pickling:

When I made my first batch, the first thing I noticed was that the recipe seems to call for way too many turnips.  After trimming and peeling the turnips I had a lot left over when the jar was full.

The other issue I had with the first batch is that even after filling the jar with turnips, the pickling solution wasn't enough for the jar.  Now that I've done the 2nd batch I've realized that I missed part of a step.  The 2nd step of the recipe calls for you to mix several ingredients with 2 cups of water however the water is not listed as an ingredient and in hindsight I believe I may have forgotten to mix in the water.

Since I had an abundance of turnips and a shortage of pickling solution, I crammed extra turnips into the jar until the pickling solution rose high enough to cover them all.  This made getting the lid on extremely difficult.  I'll be curious to see how these turn out since I'm pretty sure I did something wrong.

On the 2nd batch, I definitely included the 2 cups of water in the pickling solution and ended up with an even larger surplus of turnips AND a surplus of pickling solution.  Since I didn't want to waste either, I mixed some extra water into the solution, grabbed some extra beet, garlic, and dill, and made a 2nd jar.  Hopefully this wasn't a mistake.

We'll have to see how the turnips taste when they're done but overall I'm a bit disappointed in this recipe already.  As someone who is not particularly experienced in the kitchen, it's incredibly frustrating having so much material left over at the end with no clue if it's just because the recipe sometimes works out that way or because I've done something wrong.

My New Roots - Socca With Grilled White And Green Asparagus, Dill, And Feta

My second attempt at a recipe turned out much better than the fist.  I didn't completely botch any ingredients this time.

This recipe was amazing and may be one of the best dinners I have ever cooked.  I made it for my wife and her friend and we all loved it.  I haven't done much cooking with dill but I found the combination of the dill and feta to give a very unique and delicious flavor.

It proved difficult to find the white asparagus so my version used all green asparagus.

The recipe was pretty simple and straightforward.  Now that I know how it's done, I'm looking forward to trying it another time and making enough for more leftovers throughout the week.

Some tips for anyone attempting to replicate this recipe:

1. The socca crepes didn't actually fill the whole pan for me (though I only let it sit for 45 minutes before making, longer might have helped).  I'd recommend taking your large skillet and dropping down a little bit in size.
2. The recipe isn't very clear on the right timing for adding the balsamic vinegar.  I kept waiting for the onions in the pan to start getting dry but that never happened so I eventually had to just add the balsamic vinegar all at once and finish cooking them.  The onions may have ended up a bit overcooked.
3. I found the timing to be just about perfect to start making the socca and the asparagus (in a grill pan) at the same time.  As I was pulling crepes off the batches of asparagus were finishing and I was able to plate them right up.

My New Roots - Oyster Mushroom Bisque

I just finished my first recipe attempt from the new cookbook I recently picked up (My New Roots).  I elected to begin with the Oyster Mushroom Bisque recipe.

I should begin by saying that I botched the recipe pretty badly.  The recipe calls for leeks and I had not realized that when using whole leeks, you should remove the green leafy end prior to cooking.  As a result, my version came out significantly more green than the recipe's version.  It also produced significantly more than I anticipated.

I find the soup to have a very good flavor, if a bit on the leeky side.  I attribute this primarily to my misunderstanding of leeks.

I also encountered some difficulty during the blending portion of the recipe.  The extra volume created by using so much of the leek resulted in a rather messy blender experience.  I would advise caution during the blending portion as the soup is quite hot at that point.

Overall, I really enjoy the soup and am looking forward to trying it again with a bit more experience under my belt.