at home with ann

This is a veggie salad, but spiced (trashed?) up with hot sauce and blue cheese.  It fills your buffalo chicken cravings without the potentially weird chicken pieces.  If I'm eating chicken and I get a piece of cartilage or something it ruins the whole experience from me and I pretty much throw the rest at Jon and then complain about being hungry. Coating the cauliflower in batter and baking gives them a slightly crispy exterior, which kind of negates the whole vegetable thing, but at least it's not deep fried. Buffalo Cauliflower from Skinnytaste 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets 1 cup water 1 cup flour 2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2-3/4 cup hot sauce Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, garlic powder and garlic in a bowl.   Toss in cauliflower florets until coated and spread on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour hot sauce over cauliflower. Salad ingred...

Earlier this week, my local Whole Foods posted on Facebook that they were looking for food bloggers to post some new recipes featuring their Sockeye salmon, which is going on major sale this Friday.  A food blogger who loves salmon and Whole Foods?  Sign me up!  They graciously offered to provide me with a piece in advance to test my recipe, but you can bet with the great deal they are featuring, I will be going back.  Whole Foods is my favorite place to have lunch dates with my little guy, so I'm always happy to have an excuse to visit. Now, some people say you shouldn't ever have cheese on the same plate as seafood.  I say food rules are meant to be broken and you should eat what you like. Pan searing and then oven roasting the salmon gives it a slightly crispy exterior and a rich, almost buttery interior.  Paired with the orzo and the tart lemon vinaigrette, crisp cucumbers, salty feta, delicious green herbs and the slight bite from the onions, this ...

I know I'm always saying things like, I don't like cake.  But I do like cake, I just don't like it when it's dry and tasteless or covered in that awful grocery store frosting.  This cake was neither dry nor tasteless, plus it looked so pretty in it's little bundt shape. I love using buttermilk, it makes me feel all fancy.  Inevitably, I am left wondering what to do with the leftover buttermilk and keep it around until I can justify throwing it out.  Not this time, however.  Our Friday morning pancakes were given a boost and the Buffalo Cauliflower Salad (recipe to come...) was topped with homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing.  If you don't want to buy buttermilk, you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to regular milk and let it sit for a few minutes.   Taking a cake out of a bundt pan is somewhat nervewracking.  I put the plate over the bottom, gave it a flip, said a silent prayer and heard the thunk when the cake released....

I bought cod.  Cod can be so boring, and sometimes, kind of fishy.  Why did I buy cod?  It was on special and had that little "wild caught" sign in front. I picked up a filet and decided I'd figure out what to do with it once I got home.  Plain baked or broiled sounded exceedingly boring, and my basil plants weren't quite ready to be harvested for pesto.  I asked google for some suggestions and came upon cod cakes.  Always a fan of food in cake form, I went with it.  Good reviews from big and little diners, alike.  Jon and I ate them with snap peas done in the lemon-garlic style .  Cod Cakes Yield: 12 cakes 1 small onion, chopped 1/4 cup parsley (about 8 sprigs), chopped 2 cups potatoes, mashed (I used red potatoes and didn't peel them) 2 eggs, beaten 1-1 1/4 pounds cod salt pepper Old Bay (optional) 3/4-1 cup breadcrumbs canola oil Lightly saute or steam onion and mix with parsley, potatoes and eggs. Season cod with salt, pe...

These are the best green beans.  The Best.  They are so good they make you excited about green beans.  Plus, they only take a few minutes to put together.  If you serve them with a very simple sauteed fish, like I did here, the whole meal takes about 10 minutes.  You could easily use this sauce with other vegetables, it would be delicious with asparagus. These measurements are approximate, I usually just throw all the ingredients in a bowl, so adjust to taste. Lemon Garlic Green Beans 4 cups green beans 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 garlic clove, grated or finely minced 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2-4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese Boil or steam beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Immediately immerse beans in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and maintain their bright green color. In a large bowl, mix together lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add in green beans a...