Pan-Fried Onion Dip

I love store-bought onion dip, but it's one of those dishes that I've always wondered if I could make at home. When I saw the Barefoot Contessa's version, I knew it would be delicious. I think this is THE onion dip for me.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip
Barefoot Contessa
makes about 2 cups I had about 1 cup and 1/2

2 large yellow onions
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 t ground cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c good mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half, and then slice them into 1/8-inch-thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.)

Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. ADd the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. REduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until onions are browned and caramelized. I did this for 30+ minutes more on the "medium" end than the "low" setting, which was enough to soften and caramelize, but next time, I'll wait a little longer. The onions weren't brown enough, so people didn't know that it was an onion dip. Allow the onions to cool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. The onions didn't break down quite as much as I hoped, so I did a couple quick pulses in my food processor.

Serve at room temperature.

Spinach Blueberry Salad

Lukey and I love to go to Trader Joe's and try their samples. Yesterday, they had this blueberry salad. It's just so pretty with the blueberries and the gorgonzola. Really, there's not enough blue food in the world. We had it for dinner tonight, and even Asher tried the spinach once I told him about the blueberry dressing.

Spinach Blueberry Salad
1 bag of baby spinach
1 cup fresh blueberries I was too cheap to buy these
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c crumbled Gorgonzola
1/2 c candied walnuts we did candied almonds

Dressing
1 cup red wine olive oil dressing I was at TJ's, but I think any red wine dressing would do
1/2 c blueberry preserves again, you could get these anywhere, but I like that TJ's had all the blueberries well-blended, so I didn't have a chunky salad dressing.

Whisk together preserves and dressing and toss over salad.

Clay Pot Pork

So, a little disclaimer here...Asher and I loved this dish. Nate did not. Nate who NEVER says he doesn't like a dish I make, even when they're disasters took one bite and said, "Ohh, this is not good."

Asher and I were like, "Are you crazy?!" I think the problem is that this dish uses a lot of fish sauce. If you don't like seafood (like Nate), you probably won't like this.

Oh, and fish sauce? It's hard to find a good kind. So, I've put a picture here of the bottle my Aunt Katie showed me is good and is pretty common in most Asian supermarkets.

Oh, and the thing about fish sauce? It STINKS! I love it mixed with other things, but every time I use it, I think, "Oh heavens, how can something that smells this bad taste good in the end?!" But, it does.

Clay Pot Pork** (but you don't actually need to have a clay pot)
Gourmet Cookbook

1/3 c sugar

1/4 c chicken stock
1/3 c Asian fish sauce, preferably Vietnamese
3 shallots, thinly sliced I did 1/2 a red onion instead
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced I minced them
3 scallions, thinly sliced diagonally, white and green parts kept separate
1 pound trimmed boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes this is a very cheap, but very fatty cut of meat. It took me a solid half hour to trim off enough fat for my liking.
1 t freshly ground black pepper I found this a little too spicy; next time, I'll do 1/2 t

Cook sugar in a dry 3 quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, without stirring, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork (a fork, really? I just used a spatula, so I didn't scrape the heck out of the bottom of my pan), until sugar has melted into a deep golden caramel. Carefully add stock and fish sauce (caramel will harden and steam vigorously) and cook, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Add shallots, garlic, and white part of scallions and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes.

Toss pork with pepper in a bowl and stir into sauce. Bring to a simmer, then cover pan, reduce heat to low, and braise pork, stirring once or twice, until very tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in scallion greens and serve with rice. I thought the sauce was a little runny, so I made a slurry with 1 T cornstarch and 4 T water, added it to the sauce and pork, simmering it all for about 10 extra minutes. Then, I poured it over rice noodles.

Eli's Birthday Cake

Nourishing Cake (adapted from this recipe)

1 cup butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled I used half butter, half coconut oil
3/4 cup buttermilk I didn't have any so I did half whole milk and half whole milk yogurt, then added a splash of raw apple cider vinegar
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats
¾ cup honey I did half honey, half rapadura*
2 eggs
1 t. sea salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1 cup raisins, chocolate chips or other dried fruit I doubled the recipe and made three small cakes: 1. Eli's Cake: candy-coated chocolate pieces and finely chopped almonds, 2. cinnamon raisin, and 3. chopped dates and chopped almonds)

*(but 1 c. rapadura equals 3/4 c. honey, so I did 1/2 c. rapadura and then eyeballed the honey somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 c.)

Stir together butter/coconut oil, buttermilk, flour and oats in a glass bowl. Cover with a cloth and allow the grains to soak on your counter overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Stir in honey, eggs, salt, baking soda and vanilla. Fold in raisins, chocolate chips or dried fruit. Pour into a buttered 9×9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Chicken Chile

3 tsp cumin
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can white corn
1 can green chiles
1 can great northern beans
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 1/2 C water
chile powder to taste
garnishes

Saute chicken, onion, and garlic. Add all other ingredients (just dump it all into the pot, no draining needed!). Garnish with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, and/or diced tomatoes.
A Clyde family favorite!

Split Pea and Brown Rice Soup

I was supposed to soak lentils and rice, but did not realize my mistake until the next day when I had already soaked all my peas and rice together. So I made split pea soup with rice. Yum!

Accidental Split Pea and Brown Rice Soup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 cup dried split green peas, picked over and soaked overnight
1 cup brown rice, soaked overnight
3 cups water
3 cups chicken stock
juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve the zest)
a few pinches of smoked paprika
olive oil to drizzle

Soak peas and rice together in a bowl with plenty of clean water, covered, overnight, or at least 8 hours.

When ready to cook: Add butter to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, just a minute or two. Add the split peas, brown rice, water and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, dial down the heat, and simmer for 30-60 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through (but still a touch al dente). Using a large cup or mug ladle half of the soup into a bowl and set aside. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) puree the soup that is still remaining in the pot. Stir the reserved (still chunky) soup back into the puree - you should have a soup that is nicely textured. If you need to thin the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time. Stir in the lemon juice and taste. If the soup needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup really pops. Serve garnished with paprika and olive oil. I like to eat it with whole grain crackers scattered across the top.

Whole Grain Crackers (soaked)

I have made these crackers twice in the last week, since the first batch got chomped in one day! These crackers taste like Cheez-its to me, but in a good healthy way. ;)

Plus if you soak the dough overnight you get not only a tasty whole grain cracker but the added bonus of being able to properly digest the grains as explained here in depth, and here in short.

Rich, Whole Grain Crackers (made with Yogurt Dough)

The night before cream in a large bowl:

1 cup of plain whole milk yogurt (I used Trader Joe's organic)
1 cup of grass-fed butter, softened (I used Organic Valley's cultured butter, on sale from Sprouts for $4.99/lb.)

Mix in:

3 1/2 cups of freshly ground wheat flour (I want to try other whole grain flours and see how they do--I will let you know)
2 teaspoons of salt (I used pink Himalayan)

Cover and leave in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours (this is the “soaking” part).

The next day, when ready to bake:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using white flour to dust your surface and dough, roll your dough out thin. Cut into strips and then cut into squares.

Place your squares on an ungreased cookie sheet and prick with a fork. Bake for about 8 minutes and check, keep checking every two minutes until done. They should be browning slightly on the edges, when done. Take off of sheet and place on a cooling rack. Serve plain, with cheese, or with a hearty soup. Yum!!!