“ The nuns taught us there were two ways through life – the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow. Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Like to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. The nuns taught us that no one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end. I will be true to you. Whatever comes.”

I plan on renewing my imagination.

Develop a stronger focus.

Reveal a better me, a stronger me, a wiser me.

I want to make cooking easier.

Less daunting.

Fun.

Because being connected to our food, makes us feel alive.

It allows us to take some time out of our day to enjoy the simpler joys in life.

So let’s start this year together.

Let’s get back into the kitchen and start with the basics.

Honor ourselves with consciousness and respect.

These soba noodles should do the trick. Buckwheat noodles, fried egg, crunchy carrots and toasted sesame seeds — what’s not to like?

Try it a few times and you’ll find your rhythm and before you know it, a healthful, soulful dinner awaits you in just a blink of an eye…

Eat well. Eat consciously. Eat to nourish.

Let’s make 2012 a fabulous year together, shall we?

On a side note, I received an unexpected surprise.  As I was reading Food & Wine’s Top Chef Magazine I found one of my photos I took of Tre Wilcox in there for the Restaurant Wars article!  Can anyone find something funny about the photo?

Winner gets a prize ]]> http://joylicious.net/2012/01/09/soba-noodles-with-fried-egg/feed/ 11 http://joylicious.net/2012/01/06/brown-sugar-sage-panna-cotta-with-spiced-candied-walnuts/ http://joylicious.net/2012/01/06/brown-sugar-sage-panna-cotta-with-spiced-candied-walnuts/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:11:14 +0000 Joy http://joylicious.net/?p=4751

I’ve eyed Food52 for awhile now – drooling over their recipes, fawning over their contests, so this week I figured what the hell, I’m going to go for it!

So this week the contest was Your Best Walnuts & Sage recipe. “Holidays behind us, we’re ready to return to the pure, clean flavors of winter. We want recipes highlighting the earthiness and muted hues of walnuts and sage – bonus points for thinking beyond pestos.”

Okay. I think I can do that!

Keeping pure, clean flavors of winter in mind, I opted to make one of my favorite healthy desserts – a yogurt panna cotta.  I used brown sugar for a bolder flavor to round out the strong perfumes of sage and used soy and 2% greek yogurt as my base.

To add an element of surprise I made Spiced Candied Walnuts for a nice crunch and playful bite at the end, how else are we supposed to keep warm during these cold winter months?

So there you have it – Enjoy this Brown Sugar Sage Panna Cotta with Spiced Candied Walnuts. This playful wintry dessert will leave you wishing for more.  Feel free to add honey comb and garnish with a fresh sage leaf for an extra touch of elegance.

You can make these a day ahead of time and they can stay stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. To assemble the dish as I have, make sure you layer the candied walnuts under the panna cotta as it serves as a nice crust to the dessert!

After gorging down two Thanksgiving feasts in the past couple of weeks, I figured it’d be a good idea to slow down a bit before the Christmas holidays really tackled my butt.  I cut some fresh lettuce greens from our garden — a mixture of green leaf lettuce, red leaf spinach, mustard purple mizunas, and fresh herbs to serve as my salad base.

For my toppings I used some cornbread that was leftover from my stuffing and warmed up some creamed corn for the perfect amount of savoriness.  Feel free to throw some turkey or maybe even some cherry tomatoes and fresh avocado for a Southwestern twist.  What are some of your favorite leftover recipes from Thanksgiving?  

Here are some great ideas for ways to utilize your Thanksgiving leftovers:

• 5 Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes with AndyTalk 
• Grilled Turkey Sandwiches with Stuffing and Cranberry Relish
• White Chocolate Bread Pudding
• Mom’s Turkey Soup
• Top 10 Thanksgiving Breakfast Recipes

My mother came to visit recently; it’s been a year since I’ve last seen her.  I still always cry whenever she arrives and when she leaves, we both do.  It was nice to have her with me again, the comforting familiarity that places the heart in a warm and calming space is something I often miss when she’s gone.  The more I begin to understand my mother the more I grow to love her.  I wouldn’t have my spirit if it weren’t for her.  I asked a lot about my beginnings while she was here– trying to connect the dots and figure out why I am the way I am.

“Did I always like to eat?”

“ OHMYGOODNESS YES! You aaaalways sooo hungry, always eating eating eating. When you born in the hospital, they wheel babies into your room and I always hear you cry cry cry.  I know that must be my hungry baby.  Really, you eat a lot!  Why you think I always worry you fat?”

“ -_-“

“So was I always a happy baby?  Was I ever difficult?”

“Actually you’re pretty easy.  Yes always happy happy, smiling, laughing but when you hungry, oooo you sooo fussy.”

“I see nothing’s changed. And how did you get pregnant, was I planned was I an accident?”

“NO! Accident?  Mommy plan to have you!  I think to myself – am I ready to be a mom? So one weekend 6 month after we marry,  your father and I go to SuZhou with our friends and we have such the perfect weekend.  We so in love so happy so I knew this was good time to try.  So we did and first time I get pregnant!”

And just like that, I began.

The kitchen is quiet for once since mom has been here.  She was leaving soon in a few days.  What better way to mend a heavy heart than with the perfect dessert?  I pulled out all my new baking toys from the wedding and wasted no time baking away.  I adapted this recipe via Epicurious because I had a couple of Kabochas just begging to be used.  I doubled the recipe to make 6 1 cup  ramekins but the original recipe I am posting makes 6 3/4-cup ramekins.  And the cream?  Yes it’s worth the 15-minute effort.  Ask mom, she ate practically the whole thing to herself.  The textures are similar to light fluffy cake clouds with rustic undertones of all those feel good spices – cinnamon, cardamom, ginger.  Top with generous pillows of the brown sugar cream and it’ll send any soul to the most glorious of dessert heavens.

Brown sugar cream:

• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3 large egg whites

Cakes:

• 2 cups 3/4-inch cubes peeled seeded kabocha squash (from one 3-pound squash)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup lager (mild-flavored beer)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For brown sugar cream:

Place 1 tablespoon water in cup. Sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10 minutes to soften.

Stir cream and sugar in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add egg whites and whisk until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes (do not boil). Add gelatin mixture; whisk until dissolved. Strain into large clean bowl. Chill until cold. Cover and chill overnight.
For cakes:

Combine squash and milk in heavy small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Partially cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Drain squash. Place in processor and blend until smooth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray six 3/4cup ramekins with nonstick spray. Place 1/2 cup squash puree in large bowl (reserve remaining puree for another use). Add sugar, oil, beer, and egg to puree and beat to blend. Sift flour, spices, baking soda, and salt over; beat to blend. Divide batter among prepared ramekins.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool cakes in ramekins. Turn out onto plates. Beat brown sugar cream to firm peaks; spoon alongside cakes.

*** If you do not have ramekins you can also bake these in cupcake liners.  Reduce the baking time to about 12-15  minutes.

The reality of smaller spaces and limited ingredients, limited budgets, and limited free time due to busy lives often get in the way of our health and well-being and so we want to find ways to incorporate simple recipes and techniques into our daily routine and take charge of the kitchen opposed to resorting to unhealthy eating choices. Our health is something we are all capable of controlling and we want to spread the good word: you are what you eat!

We are very passionate about bringing this dream and making it into a reality and would love if all of you readers, YES YES YOU, would be willing to take some time to spread the word to your friends and family (via E-mail, twitter, facebook, etc.) to check out our Kickstarter page and if you are able to support us in any way it’d be greatly appreciated. Even a small donation of $5-10 would really help us collectively reach our goal of $6000, we’re already at a whopping $1195 after 2 days!!!   I can’t put into words how excited I am about this project and I hope together we can make this show a success.

——————–

Back when I interviewed Tim Byres for Sunday Brunch at Crave DFW   I knew I landed some place special.  It was this beautiful space filled with a smokey woodsy aroma, where you feel like you’ve been transported to your Texan grandpa’s lounge (doesn’t everyone have one of those?) –  equipped with a pool table, a large sexy wooden bar stocked with house-made whiskeys, and family portraits hung randomly throughout the walls.  It’s what being part of Texas is all about: the perfectly smoked BBQ, breads, relishes, sausages from scratch; Byres even orders a whole fresh pig every Wednesday but you better be quick or you’ll miss it by Saturday.  Upon eating his infamous Smoked Brisket with Corn Bread Hash, I knew there was no turning back: I was in love with Smoke.  He shares a bold and spicy rub which was originally for beef but I replaced it with a beautiful Coho Salmon filet from the lovely folks of Copper River Salmon. 

People of Dallas, you can actually purchase all the ingredients for the sandwich via Artizone .  It’s a great online market which has your basic grocery necessities from the top artisan purveyors in the city.  Remember to support your local businesses!

Ingredients for Texas-Style Chipotle Salmon Rub

Created from Tim Byres, Chef and Owner of SMOKE Restaurant in Dallas, TX

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons dark-roasted coffee grounds, finely ground
• 2 ½ tablespoons salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons granulated dry garlic
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1/3 cup Tabasco brand chipotle pepper sauce

Combine dark brown sugar, ground coffee, salt, garlic, paprika and oregano in medium bowl.  Add Tabasco chipotle sauce; stir until well mixed.  Makes about 1 cup.  Rub on 1 ½ pounds salmon steak.  Or rub on roasts and ribs.  Refrigerate 20 minutes to marinate before grilling.

This recipe is really easy to put together, 15 minutes from start to finish (not counting marinating time with the rub).  It’d be perfect for a healthy simple dinner or even an afternoon snack.  The best part is, this recipe is heart healthy.  Copper River salmon is full of superior health benefits, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which benefits your heart and brain.  Catch the last of Alaska’s best treasure: Copper River Coho Salmon — with its mild flavor and firm texture it’s great even for the pickiest of eaters.  Savor the last bits of Summer (yes it’s still Summer in Texas) and serve these sandwiches with a nice cold pitcher of Texas Sweet Tea. 

Ingredients for Open Faced Salmon Sandwiches

• 8 oz Coho Salmon Fillet rubbed with Texas-Style Chipotle Rub
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• 1 cup organic greens, washed
• 4 slices whole grain bread

• 1 red onion cut into four 1/2 inch slices
• 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
•  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Brush the salmon fillets with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Place on the skillet until cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Lightly toast the bread if preferred over the skillet, about a minute on each side. To assemble the sandwiches, place greens on each slice of bread.  Place generous chunks of salmon on lettuce and top with avocado, onion and mustard sauce.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

It’s been a blistering hot Summer here.  At times I have trouble focusing, my head feels a daze as I watch the heat shrivel out the remaining life of our cucumber plants.  Day after day the temperatures soared past 100 even 105! How is that even legal?  It’s even unbearable to walk around barefoot anymore; the once soft plushy grass is now replaced with a crunchy yellow patch.  My feet strive for relief.

I can hardly wait for Fall to arrive and I often pray hard for rain.  It seems that God is listening — for the past two mornings have been graced by the soft pitter patter of rain drops beating against my window.  What relief for this scorching hot Summer.  What joy life must feel after such an absence.  If only it rained harder so I could sing and dance and twirl like a child again.

Basil has been growing like mad; the fragrance can be intoxicatingly sweet.  It has a sharpness to it that lingers within you, an awakening of the senses.  I decided to pair fresh basil with ginger soda and added a citrus kick with some fresh grapefruit juice.  Since alcohol makes me blush, I tend to find refreshing mixes that can be just as satisfying as your next mimosa. 

Speaking of which – feel free to mix with a bottle of champagne or maybe even a bottle of white wine for a tasty sangria!  Enjoy the last bits of Summer while it lasts.  So let’s raise our glasses: Here’s to you Summer, thanks for the hot beating, it’s time for you to leave, and please don’t come back as angry as you did this year.  Cheers!   

Exciting news!  I am guest posting for Xiaolu at 6bittersweets this week.  Please check out my post and show her some love!

——

I met Xiaolu this year through the wonderful World of blogging. I was initially attracted to her jaw-dropping photos on 6 Bittersweets and with time have discovered that her inner beauty was just as beautiful as her talent. She was sweet enough to bake me cupcakes on my birthday and even mailed me the adorable pompoms she used to decorate them with. See why I love this girl? You’re the sweetest Xiaolu, thank you for having me guest post on your blog today.

So I’ve decided one thing: the worst possible idea that a food photographer can ever do is go on a stupid juice detoxification. I have to rant a little bit about this entire experience to make up for all the mental anguish that I’ve been suffering this past week. This entire detox has been a complete mind trip.

I bought this juicer — Breville Ikon 5-Speed Smart Juicer – Stainless-Steel BJE510 last Monday and embarked on a mission to pull myself out of this chubby slump I’ve been in. I’ve been interested in doing a juice fast for a couple years and finally decided to go for it. Little did I know it’d be a mentally draining process that would send me through an entire rollercoaster of emotions: anger, anxiety, extreme happiness, you name it. There hasn’t been one night where I haven’t been thankful that I didn’t break the fast because I (still) ever so badly wanted to bury my face in a tub of creamy Blue Bell Ice Cream — vanilla, please.

Every morning, afternoon and night I juiced the following: 2 apples, 1 orange, 2 cups of spinach, 2 cups of kale, and 3 carrots. I’ll mix it up sometimes and use different veggies and fruit like broccoli, watermelon, bananas, flax seeds etc. Unfortunately most concoctions have been ranging shades of pukey green, sometimes red if I use a beet – by far some of the most visually displeasing colors for a drink or any kind of food really. I would repeat the following mantra to myself several times a day to get me through the pain: This is for my health. This is for my well-being. Focus on what your body is telling you.

It was what my body was telling me that messed me up emotionally. I’d drink these pukey magical drinks and they’d somehow cure hunger. I guess it makes sense when you’re dumping in a pound of vegetables for every meal into liquid form, but my mind believed otherwise. Anytime I caught the slight whiff of fried, you know that smell – I’d go crazy. Night time seemed to be the worst, when my food monster would be full blown wanting to devour everything in sight. Don’t get me wrong, when it got too bad I’d allow myself to eat some raw veggies and fruit but you know, it just kind of sucks. Mama wanted a big fat steak.

I’ve been keeping a journal of how I feel day to day to see if there was actually any noted progress — so far, so good…kind of.

Day 1:

9:45 am – Just finished bloodwork. Thankfully I had a good nurse who knew how to work with my tiny veins, hurray!

10:30 am – First juice. Not so bad – beet, 2 carrots, 2 apples, handful of spinach and kale. Not as beety as I’d imagine but just a tad too earthy for my liking.

8:42 pm – I’ve thought about food at least 20+ times today through various outlets, I want nothing more than a big juicy hamburger right now. I think I may be addicted to food…

Day 2: 7:35 am – Hey not too bad! Haven’t felt hungry thus far. Morning juice pretty stellar. Note to self: don’t juice a banana idiot. (Blend it instead.)

9:50 am – There’s a yummy sandwich in the fridge asking to be eaten. Maybe I’ll take just a little bite.

9:57 am – Okay I see where this is going. I just need to step away and calm down. The sandwich is evil… the sandwich is evil.

6:50 pm – Busy day today and didn’t feel hungry at all. I still have that burger craving, it’s killing me.

Day 3:

8:00 am – Every time I drink this juice it hurts my stomach. This is stressful. Not to mention the multiple trips to the loo. Why is this happening?

2:36 pm – You know I feel awesome. If I can do this I can do anything.

9:30 pm – I’m making myself go to bed because if I don’t I might eat that stupid yummy sandwich Carter won’t get RID OF.

Day 5:

9:45 am – So I’m sorry I’ve been absent. What can I say it’s been horrible. It’s a constant battle with my mind and my body. I know my stomach is not hungry yet my mind tells me I should be eating. I crave sugar, I crave meat, I crave something other than these freaking green juices.

10:00 am – how the hell does anyone do this for more than 14 days? Every time I have to photograph food I feel like crying. It’s this bittersweet sorrow where my emotional needs longingly reach out for sustenance only to be replaced with the harsh reality of: why are you eating if you’re not hungry? Or better yet, what kind of freaking idiot goes on a detox when their job almost entirely involves food. Oh wait that’s right, me.

Day 7:

7:30 am – For the first time during this entire detox I’ve gathered something new – I am not only detoxifying my body (supposedly) but I am also detoxifying my life. I’ve realized all the times I unnecessarily consume food purely for emotional purposes. While it’s okay to have fun with food, most of the time I should be responsible with what I choose to put into my body. My energy levels do feel much better and this may sound funny but I feel my mind is clearer. Maybe because my food monster has made me delusional or maybe my body doesn’t have a bunch of junk floating around it (sugar, fats, salts…).

12:15 pm – It’s hard to believe it’s been a week as the change has been both rewarding but challenging. I understand why many religions may practice fasting as a form of enlightenment. I notice when I get caught up with work and become too involved, the other aspects of my life greatly suffer and an imbalance appears. In order to keep a healthy balance, you need to be in the right frame of mind and the easiest place to always start is your health. If there is one thing I would take from this experience is that I would definitely incorporate more juicing into my everyday regimen – maybe as a breakfast option and a pre-dinner drink. I’m finally getting use to the juicing and gradually feel my separation anxiety with food dissipating, this is weird but cool.

——

So there it is: my first week’s experience with a juice detoxification program. I figure not everyone would have the same experience, I read online that many get over the whole food anxiety thing by the 3rd day. (Which I find ludicrous, because any NORMAL human being would take 7.) I finally feel okay and have come to terms with the whole “Solid food isn’t vital for you to live so just suck it up” thing. My skin looks healthier, lost some poundage, and overall I really do feel better. I’ve come to terms with my unhealthy attachment to food, my excessive habits in everyday life and ultimately have brought me a peace of mind that I haven’t felt in a long time. If you choose to do this, just be warned, it will be one of the most miserable experiences in your life. BUT once you get over the miserable hill the other side is really nice too. I like this side; I think I’ll stay here awhile. My goal is to finish next Monday but who knows. If I wake up in the middle of the night and catch myself trying to eat Collin in my sleep maybe it’s a sign that I should stop.