New Beginnings

This post has no recipe. Just wanted to get that out of the way, so you can stop reading if you like.

So I mentioned in my last tomato leek (and feta! and tofu!) recipe that we moved. To Japan.  Specifically, we moved to the beautiful little subtropical island of Okinawa. From Alaska. To say the climate alone (negating the huge culture and lifestyle change) was different is a massive understatement. We left knee-deep snow and arrived to capri weather and palm trees. And a million percent humidity. But I digress.

What does this all have to do with a cooking blog? Well, you may see some mentions of strange-sounding ingredients. Or hear about my trials and tribulations deciphering food labels or finding good substitutes for things we don't have access to here. Otherwise though, like always my focus is fairly easy, good, healthy food for a family. So to all two of the people that maybe read this blog, keep reading. Share in our adventure on the other side of the world. It'll be fun!

Some of the local, fresh-caught fish choices at a market. We have had to say goodbye to our huge self-caught bounty of Alaskan salmon and halibut, but made some new friends. The blue fish are amazing.

More mystery ingredients at an open-air market for us to learn about. We have found that generally Okinawans will gladly explain what all of these goodies are.

This isn't Okinawa. I don't believe we ever really get fall here. This is a side trip to mainland Japan, in Nara, this fall. Fantastic fall foliage.

An Eisa drummer performing for Obon, warding off bad spirits from our home.

This is a little church at Zanpa. I think it's mostly utilized for destination weddings. Okinawa is a popular tourist destination for mainland Japanese. Maybe you can see why, it's kind of the Hawaii of Japan.

Tomato Leek Tart, Part 2 (With Tofu)

I keep coming back to this recipe. I haven't blogged in forever, in part due to moving to Japan, but that's beside the point. Leeks are in the markets very frequently here (quite a bit less often back in Alaska where we lived before), and so often when I see them, their crisp white and green selves beckoning beneath the tidy plastic parcel everything comes in here, I think of tomato leek tart.

I was at a shop down the road from my house and saw a huge bunch of leeks, and decided to make a couple tarts. Nevermind tomatoes are not at quite their best here lately. I didn't have the cheese my original recipe called for (people used to shopping in Japanese supermarkets will feel my pain on the cheese issue), so I modified the recipe. 

I also added a bit of protein in the form of tofu. Many of you will stop reading there. I promise, though, my tofu-loathing husband didn't know there was tofu in there until I told him. Try it, you may find you like it. 

Here are the bulk of the ingredients, all chopped up. If you use a stone, you definitely want the filling all prepared beforehand, as the crust will immediately begin to melt and then crisp when it's plopped on the hot stone.

Here we are assembled, ready for the sides to be tucked up. My second stoneware pan broke on my concrete floors here, so I had to sub a silpat-covered baking sheet. It still turned out fine.

All cooked. Moving to a new oven, which is now electric, and operating on slightly lower voltage that it was designed to, I found my stonewear-baked tart needed two extra minutes and the one on the cookie sheet needed another 1-2.

Again, you want to let it rest a bit before slicing so all the veggie juices don't run amok. 

Tomato Leek Tart, Part Two (With Tofu)

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pie crusts

3 medium tomatoes, diced

3 leeks, thinly sliced

1/2 package firm tofu, cubed

1/2 c. Crumbled feta cheese

4 T. Grated Parmesan cheese

Garlic powder

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F. If using a pizza stone, preheat that as well. 

Unroll the pastry crusts and arrange 1/2 of each ingredient in an even layer in the center 3/4 of the crusts. Fold up the edges. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. 

Popcorn Cupcakes

Tomorrow is my baby's first birthday (sniff). I made some "practice cakes" for his daycare tomorrow in preparation for his circus birthday party on Saturday.

The idea was for the cupcakes to look like little sacks of popcorn. To make them, I alternated globs of yellow and white buttercream in a large ziplock bag, snipped a tiny hole in the corner, and started piping. The little cake liners are from Amazon, I was hoping a red and white stripe would resemble the old school popcorn bags.

I thought the ziplock made the kernels seem a bit more irregular and realistic than a regular piping bag would. Plus I don't have a piping bag as I am not that fancy.

After I did the first layer of kernels, the buttercream was getting a little warm from my hand so I put the cakes in the fridge for a bit. Then I piped on the second layer. You want your buttercream to be fairly dense so you can get the volume necessary to look like popcorn.

I think I mixed a little too much yellow in this batch. Too movie theater. It'll be better next time though, right?

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

I'm pretty sure I posted about a chard tart before. This one is loosely based off the last, but it's different. Why?

It has BACON!

I know you are still reading (well, assuming you aren't a vegetarian anyway).

Another awesome thing about this tart: I grew the chard in my my little garden, with help from my son.

Bragging is over, here's the recipe:

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

Ingredients

1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. water

1 T oil (I used coconut oil)
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch chard, destemmed and chopped
1 1/2 t. dried basil
salt and pepper
4 slices thick pepper bacon (try the meat counter at your grocery or meat shop, they have great bacon that you can buy by the slice).

1/2 package cream cheese (I used light), softened
3 eggs
1/2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. feta (I used a sun dried tomato variety)
1 T. sriracha (rooster) sauce

Combine flour and salt, mix in the oil and water and briefly mix until it starts to get a bit gluey (maybe a minute). Press into an even layer in a square pan and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 375

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a big, honkin' pan on medium heat. When it's hot, add the onion and sauté until mostly translucent. Add the garlic and the greens. Sauté until soft, another six minutes or so. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper to taste and the basil.

While the veggies are cooking, fry the bacon over medium-high. Drain on a paper towel and chop.

Mix the eggs, cream cheese (I microwaved it about 10 seconds beyond room temperature so it would mix easily), cheeses, and rooster sauce.

Add the veggies and bacon, mix well, and spread evenly over the crust. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Let cool, serve warm or room temperature.

Hummus

Here's my recipe for just a basic and quick little hummus. Today I ate some for lunch; I served it with baby carrots and cucumbers (dressed with seasoned rice vinegar and salt/pepper) as dippers and with sides of spinach salad and some leftover couscous salad.

You pretty much need a food processor for this, but you could probably use a blender too (especially if you are fancy and have a Vitamix or something).

Hummus

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 T. tahini (sesame butter)
about 3 T. lemon juice
3 big cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
about 1/4 c. olive oil

In the bowl of the food processor, dump the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper. Turn on processor.

Once the beans start to get smashed, start drizzling the oil in slowly through the top opening. Stop as soon as the hummus starts looking creamy and smooth.

If your oil likes to pour fast, drizzle a bit then stop and judge before adding more incrementally so you don't over-oil your yummy hummus.

Bell Pepper Antipasto

I made some impulse purchases at Costco this week. I went with my mom, mostly for the conversation, and left with $50 of crap. How does this happen?

Anyway, one of my purchases was a big old bag of bell peppers. I'm not a pepper fan usually, but these looked good.

I made antipasto for the first time with them. You could use these on pizza, with crackers and cheese, gulped down by the handful ... trust me, I'm not a bell lover but these are tasty. Just don't over cook.

Oh, and these were especially lovely on a little turkey sandwich I made on a pretzel slider bun (also spontaneously purchased at Costco).

Bell Pepper Antipasto

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers (I used one each of ref, yellow, and orange), seeded and chopped into thin strips
1.5 T. coconut oil (olive would be fine)
Salt and pepper
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. garlic powder (or 2-3 garlic cloves, minced)
1.5 T. red wine vinegar

Heat a big pan over medium, add the coconut oil. When it's hot and melted, add the peppers, herbs and garlic powder, then salt and pepper to taste.

Sautée until peppers are just cooked. Turn off heat, stir in the vinegar.

Let peppers hang out, preferably at room temperature, for about an hour. Eat or cover and refrigerate to serve later.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Sounds funky, right? This is an adaptation of a Moosewood recipe. It's good, and it's a great way to get some protein without eating meat, if you so desire. You can sub in whatever veggies sound good to you (or whatever you have on hand), just make sure to dice them small.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

About 4 c. cottage cheese
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 green onion, chopped
About 3 T. lemon juice
1/3 c. craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 hard boiled eggs, salted and diced

Combine all ingredients, adjusting lemon juice, salt, and pepper to your liking. Cover tightly and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Salt and pepper to taste