Friday, June 15, 2012

pre-frenchman

Getting ready for a night full of Frenchman hippie dancing.  I’ve got a sweet beaded headband, a shirt that says radical (literally) and some amazing tunes to pump me up.  A  fabulous Friday night playlist my friends…………

headband shirt

FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Absolut peppars

Soooo many peppers at Hollygrove market this weekend.  As soon as I saw the beautiful variety I knew that enchilada sauce was in my future.  Home made is very easy to make, and it’s all local!  Since tortillas are unavailable locally, I chose to stuff peppers and cover them in enchilada sauce.  It made for a deliciously spicy south of the border meal!

pepper party

                           To make the sauce

                                                                 you will need

                                                            1 onion finely chopped

                                                           2-3 garlic cloves, minced 

                                                             3-4 red chile peppers

                                                                1 crushed tomato

                                                                2 tbsp cooking oil

                                                                1 tsp dried oregano

                                                                       1 tsp salt

1.Place peppers in a pan and cover with water boil peppers for about 20 minutes.  When peppers are remove to let cool, saving the water you boiled them in for later use.  Once peppers are cooled halve and remove seeds.

2. While peppers are cooling, sauté onions and garlic in oil until soft, about 5 minutes.

3. Once peppers are cooled place them in a food processor with about 1 cup of the reserved boiling water and puree on high until peppers reach a very fine consistency.

4. Place pepper puree in to pan with sautéed garlic and onions, add spices, salt,  and another cup of pepper water , and bring to a boil,  reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

peppers in water  pepperonion

pepper puree enchi sauce

 

final sauce You can add any spices you have on hand to this sauce.  Oregano gives the sauce a nice, traditional, smoky flavor.  I had coriander on hand given to me by another ELC participant http://www.facebook.com/#!/thecrumbybaker  Aryanna which gave my sauce a wonderful bright flavor.  Basil would also be a nice addition if that is what you have available. 

                                                          For the peppers

                                                             You will need

                                          5 anaheim, bell, or green chile peppers

                                                            1 cup cooked rice

                                                 1/2 lb ground hamburger cooked

                                      Veg option, 2 cups shredded cheese instead of beef

1. Cut tops off of peppers and de-seed.  If using bell peppers keep their “hats” to top while cooking.

2. Stuff peppers with chosen mixture.  I made mine with beef and rice, but cheese would be a fantastic option.  Ryals dairy is making a queso fresco now that would be fabulous stuffed in an Anaheim!

3. Place stuffed peppers in a casserole dish, cover peppers with enchilada sauce, cover dish with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove tinfoil and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove, let cool , and enjoy!

stuff prepartypeppers

pepper final relleno

And for some reason, this song just seemed completely relevant to the post, hope ya’ll enjoy!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bang-a-rang

Its more than past time for a mid (NOLA) summer hair update.  Its time for bangs again.  So I found some cool chick inspiration in preparation for this weeks update.  So excited for my trip to rocket science….http://www.rocketsciencenola.com/

Nicks_Stevie_123.jpg  brigitte-bardot-hat-1235 04nico02 erin GAB_233029_Francoise_HARDY 5156d4bc05983a41_Untitled-4 42-15889488 nico

Rainy day ravioli

Tables full of tomatoes at Hollygrove market and a mean pasta craving inspired me to make some ravioli and sauce on Sunday.  It was quite the process, but if you are up for a challenge, and love a carbohydrate this is the recipe for you. I was able to make this recipe with 100% local ingredients!

 

                                          Inspiration

table toms creoles

                               Recipe

                                                            For the ravioli dough

                             3 cups flour

                                                                     4 eggs

                            2 tablespoons oil

1. combine eggs and flour in bowl and mix with hands until all ingredients are combined (if you are blessed with a bread mixer here it will save you some heartache, but it definitely isn’t necessary)

2. place dough ball in a covered bowl for 30 minutes to let rest

3. roll out dough on floured surface and cut in to a rectangle shape (if you are lucky enough to have a pasta roller it would come in super handy here, but again not necessary)

 raviolis 1 raviolis 2

  for the filling…

you can use whatever you please for the pasta filling, but its good if it has some sort of cheese to bind all of the ingredients together.  I used sautéed portabellas, zucchini,  steamed arugula, and a bit of goat cheese to fill my ravioli.

ravioli 3 

Once dough and filling is prepared it is time to construct the raviolis.  Spoon a teaspoon of filling on to the dough rectangle about 1/2 an inch apart.  From there, fold dough over, cut, and pinch shut with fork.

raviolis5 raviolis 6raviolis 4 

Once all ravioli are assembled, boil until floating, about 10 minutes.

 

For the sauce..

1 red onion

3 cloves garlic

4-5 tomatoes crushed

5-7 basil leaves

1 tsp olive oil

1. sauté onions and garlic in oil until soft, about 5 minutes

2. add tomato and basil bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer.  About 15 minutes

sauce toms sauce

Once all ingredients are cooked cover ravioli with sauce, top with shredded cheese, and enjoy.  This recipe is quite a few steps and more than a little work.  But wowza is it worth it!

ravioli final

 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Japan! That’s where you’ll go!

An exotic Japanese dinner party is probably the last thing that comes to mind when you think about eating locally. But with ingredients like shrimp, eggplant, and squash readily available we were set for a Friday night theme party!

japan                          Jenns Japan shirt!

delish

 

stove   jazzmen fried rice with local yard eggs, spicy baked eggplant, green beans, shitakes, and squash, plus Louisiana shrimp.

 

lemon cucumber sake1 sake2

Lemon cucumbers are a delicious lemony tasting cucumber treat that mixes great with sake to create a refreshing summertime cocktail!  Lemon cucumbers purchased from Hollygrove market and farm.

sassparty 1 kimono party 2

       All local themed dinner party, easy, fun, and exciting!

Lunchtime adventures

Having brought all local leftovers to work every day this week gave me some extra time during my lunch hour to wander around.  Here are some things I saw………

2012-06-05 12_03_55 park2

alley 2 alley1

blue candy

julephouseplants

plants 2