at home with ann

This salad went through a lot of different iterations in my head before I made it.  I started planning to make it a salad, then veggie burgers, then back to a salad.  Mostly I knew that with six ears of corn in the fridge and eight more arriving this week, I needed to make a recipe that involved corn.  Fast.  It could be considered a salsa, I suppose, but the black beans bulk it up a bit.  This was good. So good that I dug into it for dinner at 4:58. Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients: 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup corn 1/2-1 cup chopped tomatoes Pickled jalapenos, chopped (to taste) 1/2 mango, cubed Dressing: equal parts (~1/4 teaspoon) chili powder, cumin, and coriander.  Sprinkle of salt.   Equal amounts lime juice and olive oil. Mix everything together and drizzle with dressing.  I served with a scoop of guacamole and some tortilla chips for scooping.  Because food you can scoop = good. ...

One of the things I love about our CSA is that in addition to the designated vegetables for pickup, there's always a list of crops available for pick-your-own, including a large selection of herbs.  Their basil plants are huge, waist high, so it took no time at all to fill a big bag.  I had plans to make pesto, and if the basil is still good next week, I'll probably make more.  It freezes very well, and reminds you of August in February. I confess I don't really measure for my pesto, so sometimes it's extra garlicky, or extra parmesany. In a food processor, drop in roughly chopped garlic.  I used one large clove.  Run until finely minced. Add in parmesan cheese.  I used about 3 ounces.  I rough chop to about 1/2 inch cubes first.  Run until shredded. If you are using nuts, add at this step.  I've been out of pine nuts for about a year, so I did not. Add basil leaves to food processor and run until mixture is finely chopped. With the m...

This is the time of year when cherries are on sale at the market.  By "on sale," I mean that you can manage to buy a bag for less than $10.  If they weren't so good, I couldn't bring myself to pay so much for them.  The only problem I've found is that if you don't eat the cherries within 2-3 days, they start to go bad.  And throwing away $8 worth of cherries is not good.  I noticed ours were on the verge yesterday, so I spent a good chunk of the afternoon pitting and slicing them to freeze.  My hands and countertops are stained with cherry juice, but I now have a nice big bag of cherries in the freezer for whenever the mood strikes me. I sometimes joke that I could write a cookbook called "what's about to go bad."  I hate wasting food, so whenever some produce is nearing the end of it's life, I come up with some use for it right away.  Smoothies are great for any fruit that's still ok, but you wouldn't necessarily want to eat on it...

On Friday night I got an email from Jon suggesting that we take some sort of muffin or breakfast treat with us to the beach this past weekend.  I did a quick internet search based on what I had around and decided on strawberry coffee cake.  Coffee cake, like muffins or quick breads, takes very little time to put together and bake, so it is great for a last minute project.  Then I spent the rest of Friday night in a cold induced misery which involved me spending most of the night awake in the guest room reading and finally falling asleep around 5AM.  As a result, no beach weekend for us, and we ended up with the responsibility of eating the coffee cake.  I'm happy to report I'm on the mend and there's no baked good that stands a chance with us, so it all worked out. Strawberry Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping recipe from All Recipes Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1/2 cup milk 2 Tab...

Inspired by the talented Jenna of Eat Live Run , I wanted to make jambalaya.  Not traditional jambalaya, perhaps, because I only used sausage and not chicken and shrimp, but still fantastic.  This is a one-pot meal, which makes it easy for cleanup, the hardest part is waiting the hour for it to all simmer and cook together.  And that's why I tasted it too quickly last night and burnt my tongue. Spicy Jambalaya recipe from Eat Live Run Ingredients: 1 package (3/4 pound) andouille sausage 1 Tablespoon canola oil 1.5 Tablespoons flour 1 large onion, chopped 1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 small bell pepper, chopped (this was my addition) 2 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 cup brown rice 1 1/2 cups water 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat.  Brown sausage and set aside.  Don't drain. Add the flour to the...

One of my friends asked for a garlic bread recipe.   It's a few more steps than you might think are necessary to make bread, but so good. Garlic Bread Ingredients: 4-5 cloves garlic, finely diced or grated 1 stick butter, softened salt and pepper 1 baguette, sliced in half horizontally 1 1/2 cups cheese, shredded (mozzarella or Italian blend) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small pan over medium low heat, melt 1 Tablespoon butter and cook the garlic until golden, about 5-10 minutes. Mix together garlic mixture, remaining butter, salt and pepper in a bowl and spread thickly on both cut sides of the bread.  Sandwich bread back together and wrap in foil.  Bake for 15 minutes. Preheat broiler. Unwrap bread and sprinkle with cheese.  Broil until cheese has melted, 1 to 2 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, if you walk away it will totally catch fire and you will be sad.

As some of you already saw last night, I set up a new Facebook page for At Home With Ann.  In addition to the usual links to blog posts, I'll also share my occasionally hilarious, but usually awkward, commentary.  Come hang out.   So here's the link: www.facebook.com/athomewithann

I have had an inexplicable craving for fried fish lately.  After a near miss almost buying fish sticks (I know, terrible) at the market, I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands.  For me, when I want fried seafood, I often enjoy the first few bites and get sick of it quickly.  Not so with this.  Oven crisped fish (or chicken for that matter) uses a simple egg wash and bread crumb crust. Very straightforward, easier than anything involving frying, and healthier.  Oven Crisped Fish Serves 2 1/2 pound firm, white fish (I used wild haddock, but cod or tilapia would work as well) 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon milk, whisked together 3/4-1 cup panko breadcrumbs (eyeball it) 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with baking spray. I used a layer of foil, as well. In a shallow dish, combine the milk and egg. In another dish, mix together the breadcrumbs and Old Bay. Pat the fish dry with a paper towel. ...

Remember that giant zucchini/weapon I picked up off the free table at the CSA last week?  It was destined for zucchini bread, or to be used as defense against intruders.  Since we live out in horse country, where the biggest crime in recent history has been mailbox baseball, zucchini bread it was. Zucchini Bread recipe from Baking Illustrated Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 pound zucchini, seeded if, like me, yours is giant 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup plain yogurt 2 large eggs, beaten lightly 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled Shred the zucchini.  I used my food processor with the shredder disc.  You can just add chunks straight into the food processor, or grate by hand. Transfer the shredded zucchini to a strainer and sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of the sugar.  Allow to drain for at least 30 minutes....

You know I am a big fan of kale, although I admittedly mostly eat it in chip form.  Kale is crazy good for you, lots of vitamin K, A, and C, among others.  One of my friends sent me this recipe (I love when they do that!), and I was excited to try it with some of the giant bag of kale I picked this week.  I modified the original recipe a bit to add some more ingredients and make it into a meal (and consequently, no longer officially raw, if you care about that sort of thing). Kale, Tomato and Avocado Salad adapted from Happy Foody 1 bunch of curly kale (I filled up about half a salad spinner to serve 2 as a main course) 1 large tomato, chopped 1/2-1 avocado, chopped 1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil Juice of 1/2 lemon sea salt goat cheese, crumbled, for serving Rip kale leaves off stems and tear into bite size pieces. Mix in olive oil and lemon juice with your hands.  Really, use your hands.  The more it gets worked ...

I love pickles.  Sour dill, sweet bread and butter, all kinds.  I have absolutely no idea how to do traditional canning with the hot water and sealing the jars and all that, so it thought I couldn't make them at home. I was excited to see one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen , make refrigerator pickles that seemed easy, were ready in a few hours, and required no weird jar boiling. After a mishap with my first batch of pickling cucumbers (I procrastinated and left them in the fridge too long so they went bad), this week I was ready to go.  I did have to buy a couple of ingredients to stock my spice cabinet (mustard seeds and celery seeds), but it was totally worth it. Bread and Butter Pickles from Smitten Kitchen Ingredients: 1 pound pickling cucumbers, sliced 1/4 thick 1/2-1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced 1/4 cup kosher or sea salt 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 Tablespoon mustard seeds 1 Tablespoon coriander ...

There are a few things I almost always have in our pantry, various grains (brown rice, couscous, etc.), dried or canned beans (chickpeas and black beans) and canned tomatoes.  With those three ingredients, ideally supplemented by some fresh vegetables and maybe some type of cheese, you can put together a huge variety of healthy and very economical dishes. I had a jalapeno in the fridge, and the bell peppers, tomatoes and garlic from the CSA, so I made a spicy black bean dish. In one pot on the stove, 2 cups of water, 1 cup of brown rice, simmer on low for 30 minutes.  When the rice was done cooking, I stirred in about a 1/4 cup of Mama Pea's Mmmm Sauce .  Kind of like vegan nacho cheese sauce. In another pot, I heated up a little canola oil and sauteed onion, bell pepper, garlic, black beans, fresh tomato, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin and coriander.  About equal amounts of the vegetables (except garlic and jalapeno), and a teaspoon of each spice.  Put the...

We have a great assortment from the CSA share this week.  Here's a sample. Corn, Squash, Eggplant, Garlic, Pickling Cucumbers (I promise I really will make pickles this time!), Carrots, Green Bell Peppers, Apples, Potatoes, Watermelon, Tomatoes, Kale, and a baseball bat sized Zucchini.  While there are two tomatoes here, we have six pounds.  Six pounds is a lot of tomatoes!  I'm excited, tomatoes are awesome.  Also, the zucchini was on the free table, I'll make zucchini bread in the next week, since we went through that strawberry banana bread at an alarming rate.

I had plans to show you the delicious strawberry-banana version of this Banana Bread  that I made this weekend.  Those plans were thwarted when, after baking said bread, I tried to upend it out of the pan to cool and found the middle was still batter and oozed out all over my cutting board.  Some frantic yelling, two sets of hands, and 15 more minutes in the oven, it tasted delicious, but not worthy of photography.   Instead, I'll tell you about our dinner last night.  I saw Rachael Ray make this recipe last week, and modified it a little bit (partly because I can't for the life of me remember everything I need at the market).  Creamy Mushroom Pasta recipe from Rachael Ray Ingredients: 3 Tablespoons olive oil 2 Tablespoons butter 1 pound cremini mushrooms, wiped, stems removed, and thinly slices 2 shallots, chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 Tablespoons thyme 2 sprigs rosemary, chopped 1 bay leaf salt and pepper 2 Tablespoons tomato paste - I omitted thi...

We had so much corn last week from our CSA.  So much corn that I made the hilarious pun that we have corn coming out of our ears and got a pity laugh.  I think.  In any case, eight ears of corn is a lot for two people to manage.  I used one ear in the Cucumber, Tomato and Corn salad, and we had grilled corn with burgers for dinner, but that left me with five ears of corn to use up before it got old and weird.  I had never actually had corn chowder before, but I like clam chowder, and it's essentially the same swapping clams for corn, so I figured I'd give it a try.  Plus, it seemed like a good vehicle to douse with hot sauce, parsley, and mop up with big hunks of bread.  I read over a few recipes to get some ideas, but this is one of those cases in which you can customize based on how much of each ingredient you have. Corn Chowder 3-5 ears fresh corn, kernels cut off (A good way to remove the kernels without spraying them all over your kitchen is to h...

I love salads.  Everything from greens dressed with just olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice, to giant piles of everything in the fridge.  That being said, we all burn out on greens occasionally, so here are a few ideas for lettuce-free salads.  One great thing about these salads, you can make them in advance without worrying about everything getting wilted and sad. Cucumber, Corn and Tomato Salad The title pretty much sums it up. Cucumber, chopped Tomato, chopped Corn, raw, shucked off the cob Avocado (add this at the last minute to prevent browning) Fresh basil or parsley, or both, chopped Olive oil Red wine vinegar This was great as-is, but I also served the leftovers over a bed of lettuce (I know, I promised no lettuce), and added chickpeas to make it a little heartier. Roasted Sweet Potato and Beet Salad Also, self-explanatory. Sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes Beets, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes Onion, roughly chopped Olive oil Balsamic ...

I'm not sure how I got it into my head that I wanted to make ratatouille, maybe because all the vegetables are in season, or once I thought of it I couldn't get the cute cooking rat  out of my head.  In any case, it was a great way to utilize a bunch of the CSA veggies (and a few extras from the farm stand) this week.  I read a whole bunch of recipes online, but went with the Joy of Cooking, my go-to for classic recipes. Ratatouille Ingredients: 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 lb. zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 1/2 cups onions, sliced 2 large bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces 3 garlic cloves, chopped salt and pepper 1 1/2 cups tomatoes, chopped 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 1/4 cup basil, chopped I prepped the eggplant by putting the cubes into a colander, sprinkling with salt and leaving for about 30 minutes.  This draws out some of the liquid and eliminates bitterness. In a large dutch oven...