smoky quinoa with shrimp + bacon

I quit my job two months before our son was due. We had decided I would stay home with him until it made sense for me to go back to work. It was a decision we did not make lightly, especially because living on one income in the San Francisco Bay Area is just straight crazy. We live in the land of million dollar 900 square foot houses and everyone knows somebody who sold their three person start up for a whole lot of money. The weather is pretty much always perfect and within an hour we can be in San Francisco or on the beach in Santa Cruz. If that isn't enough, our dearest friends are here as well as half of our family. For many of our friends who have become parents in the last year, the weather just wasn't enough to keep them here and I can't say I blame them. It's certainly difficult to make ends meet, especially on one income. 

When we were working out our one income budget, we knew we would have to adjust our lifestyle. Birthday dinners would be a pizza night at home instead of a fancy restaurant with six of our friends. Travel would be less frequent, if much at all and we would have to tighten the reigns on all of our monthly budget items, including the grocery bill. That was not an easy task for me. I love grocery shopping. Going to Whole Foods is therapeutic for me (although bringing a toddler along makes it less so). I can spend upwards of two hours walking the aisles, adding things to my cart that look interesting as well as executing a loose list of regular items. We cook a lot at home and we do our best to buy organic whenever possible, which includes the meat we buy and all of that adds up, fast. I started menu planning and making detailed shopping lists and did my best to limit waste. Overall, we have made it all work somehow and I'm so grateful I've had this time with my son. The next kid might not get that luxury. Sorry future kiddo, mommy does love you. 

At the end of the week, I try to plan for meals that can use up what I have left in the fridge, so we tend to have some kind of stir fry, pasta or quinoa bowl. This week, we had a bag of frozen shrimp stuffed way back in the depths of the freezer and some bacon that needed to be used as well as a bowl of cooked quinoa and some herbs. I thought that all sounded like it would go pretty well together, and man, they really really do. 

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smoky quinoa with shrimp + bacon

serves four as a side dish

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups quinoa, rinsed
• 8 ounces medium sized shrimp, thawed if frozen, shelled
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 5 pieces of bacon
• 1/4 cilantro, leaves only
• 1/4 cup diced red onion

For vinaigrette:

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• juice of one small lemon
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt 
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation: 

1. Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add quinoa and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer cooked quinoa to a large bowl. 
2. In a medium bowl toss shrimp with the smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, cumin and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Set aside. 
3. Cook bacon over medium heat in a large skillet until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it into 1/2 inch pieces. 
4. Wipe out the skillet, leaving a small amount of bacon grease in the pan. Bring the pan the medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until starting to turn opaque, about two minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook for 30 seconds. Turn the heat off and allow the shrimp to finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan, about one more minute. 
5. Add shrimp, bacon, red onion, cilantro and 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette (reserve the rest for another use) to the quinoa. Toss to combine and serve. 

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house guests: really good granola

This is the second post in our series: house guests where we are sharing some of our favorite recipes and tips for making your guests feel right at home. You can find the first post here for a hearty banana hazelnut muffin which is the perfect companion to our really good granola. 

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When you're expecting house guests, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with a long to do list. From cleaning to cooking to itinerary planning, it can feel like a lot. Once your guests arrive, you want to spend as much time as possible with them, not running around trying to play catch up. Earlier in the week we talked about putting together a simple breakfast platter with muffins, granola, yogurt, some fruit topped with sweet condiments like honey or jam. This has worked brilliantly for us. In less than 5 minutes, your guests have a nutritious and protein packed breakfast just in time to plunge the french press. 

Last weekend, we hosted our dear friends all the way from Norway. They arrived in time for a late dinner on Friday and left before the sun was up on Sunday. We stayed up too late catching up on what has happened in our lives since we last saw each other, and were awoken by a sweet little boy laughing in his crib in what always feels like the wee hours of the morning. We threw together our breakfast platter, poured a french press and rushed out the door to get a head start on the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. A light breakfast was perfect because all we wanted to do was stuff our faces with every single thing. Our day mostly centered around food, but had we planned something less culinary-centric, I would have packed us some containers of this granola for the trip. It's the perfect to go snack and with an apple can be a quick no-fuss meal. 

The granola in our house is never the same. Each time I make it, it takes on a new flavor profile, depending on what is in the pantry. However, this recipe is one I will make again and again and then once more. Feel free to swap out different dried fruit or use pecans instead of almonds. Throw in some sunflower seeds or add chocolate chips when you stir in the dried fruit in the end. I think for the holidays an orange and chocolate granola will certainly make an appearance!

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really good granola

serves 12

(adapted from this excellent recipe)

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 large egg white, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 1 1 /2 cups coconut shavings
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup walnut oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 1/4 cup black sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup orange flavored dried cranberries (or regular dried cranberries)

Preparation: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone liner. 
2. Combine the first eleven ingredients (leaving out the dried fruit, you'll mix this in after baking) in a large bowl until well mixed. Spread it out evenly onto the baking sheet. 
3. Bake until the granola is fragrant and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking to keep the granola from browning unevenly. 
4. Place the sheet pan on a cooling rack and let the granola cool completely. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to one week. For longer storage, keep the airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. 

house guests: whole grain banana hazelnut muffins

If you're at all like me (and let's hope for the sake of human kind, you aren't), you go a little nuts before you have house guests. I clean the house top to bottom, even the places I don't think anyone else looks besides me. All the cleaning would be quite enough work in and of itself, but I also like to have the house stocked with some quick snacks and a few meal components to make life easier on myself when mealtime rolls round. In the next week, I'll share a few of my favorite ways to prepare for house guests with some recipes and tips on making your guests feel right at home. 

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It's not often that we have house guests, but when we do, I like to pretend I run a bed and breakfast. Complete with guest baskets in the bathroom and fresh linens for a cozy nights sleep, it's all the fun of running an actual B&B minus the 'stranger danger' factor. The thought of having complete strangers sleeping in our house has always freaked me out, so this is sort of like playing house without actually having to pay the rent. We stock the pantry with homemade granola and the fridge with yogurt and fruit and rich hazelnut milk. I like to make the bulk of our meals ahead of time, that way, I keep my time in the kitchen short so I can spend time at the table, eating and drinking and catching up with our friends.

Breakfast is my favorite meal with house guests. There is something so inclusive about sharing a meal in your pajamas. Everyone begins the day on the same plane. No one is wearing makeup and we all have smelly breath and disheveled hair. We all need the exact same thing: a good bite to eat and a hot cup of coffee. Making breakfast for a group can be daunting since many items are made to order which can keep the cook in the kitchen until the last waffle is pressed or the last omelette is flipped. By that time, the bacon is gone, the coffee is cold and everyone is starting to think about hitting the shower. Instead, I like to set out a platter of baked goods, yogurt, fruit, granola and complimentary condiments. I find a big bowl of yogurt covered with granola, fruit, and a dollop jam to be just about the best. Add in a banana nut muffin with butter and a sprinkle of salt and I'm done. Just send me back to bed to dream sweetly of hazelnuts dancing on bananas in a sea of yogurt and honey. 

This week I made hazelnut milk, just in time for our friends to fly in from Norway. It's just as good as it sounds and I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to buying nut milk in a grocery store. Not only was it incredibly easy, it was so darn delicious that I just don't think it can be topped. All that to say, I used the left over hazelnut pulp (what you're left with after you strain the milk out) in these muffins. It adds a nice texture and a subtle hazelnut flavor, a bit more than you would get by just using the chopped hazelnuts. If you happen to make hazelnut milk (do it!), go ahead and throw the pulp in when you whip the bananas and sugar together. If you don't have hazelnut pulp, just follow the recipe as-is and go make yourself some hazelnut milk to enjoy with your freshly baked muffins. 

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whole grain banana hazelnut muffins

makes 12 large muffins 

(loosely adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups whole grain pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 overripe bananas, divided
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup walnut oil (or any mild flavored vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (no need to toast them)

Preparation: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin. 
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
3. Mash two of the bananas with a fork and set aside. Add the other two bananas to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar and beat on high speed until light brown and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the dry ingredients until just moist (do not over mix) and fold in the mashed banana and chopped nuts with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. 
4. Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 18-20 minutes. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. They can be enjoyed warm from the oven, especially with a pat of butter. 

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weeknight chili

There was a time when my husband thought he had married a hoarder. When we were first married, I was just learning to cook. I was never very interested in really cooking. Lasagnas with pre made ingredients, chocolate chip cookies and the occasional taco made the rotation but that was about the end of it. Whether it was my new domestic role or the fact that we moved to a city that seemed to find it's very life and breath in the quality of food it produced, I'm unsure, but I rapidly became obsessed with cooking and baking and eating. Along with my new hobby came the collection of supplies, gadgets and cookbooks. I was sucked into all sorts of silly things that were largely unnecessary, but my cookbook collection was really starting to form and when I say form, I mean form a problem. When I had filled all the shelves we had, my husband, very sweetly I'm sure, suggested I have a "one in, one out" rule. Now, I know some of you can sympathize with me on this. I thought that was a terrible idea. They all brought something unique to our kitchen, man. He was worried. I get that. He was afraid we would have to start making walkways through the stacks of books teetering to the ceiling and that we would start to find old pizza buried beneath them. Don't fret. I slowed down and I even got rid of a bunch for the sake of my husbands sanity. He was relieved that he didn't have to stage an intervention. I can't say the same for my mug collection. There may be an intervention any day for that one. 

One hutch in our house is basically dedicated to my current collection of cookbooks. I have to say, the fact that I can fit them all in a tiny little hutch is pretty darn good, don't you think? They serve as inspiration for our weekly menu planning and for recipes on occasion. Most nights, I'm throwing some things in a pot and hoping that my understanding of how flavors work together serves me properly. This setup can be a problem when I make something I really love because recreating it is difficult when I can't remember what I put in it.

Chili is the biggest culprit of my culinary amnesia. I don't think I've ever made chili the same way twice. The base is generally the same but each time it's slightly different than the one before. That's the great thing about a big pot of meat, beans and tomatoes, it's a blank canvas.  

This particular iteration is one of my favorites and the only one I've written down. The addition of the curry and coconut milk make it a bit more exotic and might make some die hard chili fans cringe (the addition of quinoa might do that, too), but I love the riff on an old standard. If I had more time, I would have served this over a baked sweet potato. 

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weeknight chili

serves 8

Ingredients: 

• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, 93% lean
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 2 15 oz cans pinto beans, drained
• 2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted if you can find them)
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 cup cooked quinoa, cook according to package instructions
• 1/3 cup light coconut milk
• 3/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 avocado diced

Preparation: 

1. Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Drizzle in a bit of olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is getting soft, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and the spices and cook until the turkey is almost cooked through, about 6 minutes. 
2. Pour the beans and tomatoes into the pot and season with kosher salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover. Let the chili simmer for about 30 minutes if you're in a hurry and up to 45 minutes if you have some more time. The flavor will concentrate a little more the longer you simmer it. When you're ready to serve, stir in the quinoa and coconut milk. Top with red onion and avocado and serve. 

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