Arugula Bruschetta

I love arugula.

Peppery & bright green arugula makes the perfect summer green, in my most humble opinon. We spend an awful lot of time in southern Wisconsin at my parents' lake house in the summer months. All of the time "up at the lake" as we say, gives me a chance to utilize my parents' giant & wonderful gas grill. Living in a condo makes it a little tough to own a giant & wonderful gas grill, so I make do with cooking on my parents'!

We had some arugula in the fridge from the Green City Market (http://www.greencitymarket.org/index.asp) in Chicago that was begging to be used, so I tried it in bruschetta. For the record, the Green City Market is worthy of its own post- I love an awful lot about that place, the arugula is just the tip of the iceberg.

You may already know that I think bread is always better when it is warmed/toasted but when we were having 100+ degree days at the lake, no one wanted to warm the kitchen by turning on the oven, which is why I grilled the bread for the bruschetta. The grill left delicious char on the bread & saved me from my Mom's admonishing for making her kitchen too hot. Win win, right?

Here is the recipe for the bruschetta, everyone gobbled it as a side dish at dinner 1 night, so I made it as an appetizer the next night! We found large tomatoes worked far better than cherry tomatoes did. I have no idea why; but I wouldn't recommend cherry or grape tomatoes in this recipe. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family & I did!

Arugula Bruschetta

Arugula Bruchestta

Ingredients
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 generous handfuls arugula
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 loaf French baguette (or 1 demi loaf)
Olive oil for brushing the bread
Kosher salt (to taste)
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Directions
Chop the tomatoes, mince or press the garlic, and chop the arugula. Mix together in a pretty bowl (don't waste a dirty dish here- use the bowl you'll serve it in to mix it!). Add a few pinches of kosher salt & a few grinds of black pepper and mix well. Give it a taste & increase the salt & pepper to your liking.
Preheat your grill (ideally you are using your grill to cook the rest of your meal, but if not, preheat for about 10 minutes)
Slice the bread on the bias (so the pieces are pretty ovals, not plain rounds :). Brush both sides with olive oil & sprinkle with a bit of salt & pepper. Grill over indirect heat for about 1 minute per side (keep close watch - it doesn't take long for the bread to look like charcoal.......which isn't really what we're going for!).
Serve the bread with the topping and enjoy with your friends or family. And wine. Definitely have a cool glass of white wine too.

Happy summer everyone!

Growing basil- outside!

I love fresh basil, particularly in the summer.

My lovely little basil plant!

I have a brown thumb which I am trying so hard to transform into a green one, but many a plant has perished at my hand!

This year I took the plunge and put a pot of basil out in my building's backyard. It is still alive (about 4 weeks later! Typically my basil plants last closer to 4 days when they stay in my apartment) I had been told that growing things inside could be part of the reason my thumb is so brown....apparently plants just prefer to grow outside, who knew?? It seemed high time to test this theory!

My little plants are giving me snippings of basil to use in some new summer recipes, which is simply the best. I now have a glimpse into why some people love to garden so much!

I used some of my basil in a new appetizer recipe I tested on my book club. It is a Goat Cheese & Fig Grilled Cheese (recipe below, compliments of the website, www.myrecipes.com and Cooking Light) which only requires a sprinkle of fresh basil, but it gave the sandwiches some flavor complexity and balanced the sweetness of the honey a bit. I chose to slice the sandwiches into 4 triangles each (like your mom used to do with your PB & J when you were little) and they made a great appetizer.

Sorry I didn't take a photo of the sandwiches- but really - this post is about my greening thumb & my love of my little basil plants.

I hope you enjoy the recipe, I did. My hat is off to www.myrecipes.com & Cooking Light for a fun new summer option.

Goat Cheese & Fig Grilled Cheese (I've italicized the things I adjusted/changed in the recipe, to make clear the "real" recipe versus my interpretation)
Ingredients
2 teaspoons honey I used way more than this. Probably closer to 2 tablespoons

1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind (zest)

1 (4-ounce) package goat cheese I think I made 8oz of the goat cheese mixture. As it turns out- it is a delicious dip for crackers & carrot sticks!

8 (1-ounce) slices cinnamon-raisin bread

2 tablespoons fig preserves

2 teaspoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Cooking spray I used butter because of the flavor it adds & the way it helps the bread crisp, but if you watching calories, cooking spray is a great way to go

1 teaspoon powdered sugar (I omitted this- it seemed like not a lot of flavor & a pain in my butt to use it!)

Directions
1. Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring until well blended. Spread 1 tablespoon goat cheese mixture on each of 4 bread slices; top each slice with 1 1/2 teaspoons preserves and 1/2 teaspoon basil. Top with remaining bread slices. Lightly coat outside of bread with cooking spray.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 sandwiches to pan. Place a cast-iron or heavy skillet on top of sandwiches; press gently to flatten I didn't want to dirty another pan, so I simply pressed down on the sandwiches with the back of my spatula!. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until bread is lightly toasted (leave cast-iron skillet on sandwiches while they cook). Repeat with remaining sandwiches. Sprinkle with sugar. Or don't sprinkle with sugar....its your prerogative!
3. Slice into 4 triangles if you're serving as an appetizer, or 2 triangles if you're eating it as a main dish!

Popsicles on the stoop

I love summer.

I love the sun, the heat, the long days with daylight lasting past 9 o'clock. I love that the heat makes me slow down (because I pay the high price of pit stains & a bright red face if I do my normally fast walk anywhere!).

Last night Chris & I sat on our stoop and I had a popsicle. I adore the chance to sit in the heat of the night and catch the drips of my frozen treat. It simply is not as enjoyable to eat a popsicle in the air conditioned comfort of my home; I need to be hot to fully enjoy a popsicle.

Maybe I love eating popsicles on the stoop because it feels like an old fashioned thing to do. Perhaps people "back in the day" took more time to slow down and watch the world go by. I suspect people were just as busy back then as we are now; although they may have been busy with things like washing their clothes by hand- which I do not envy. It doesn't change the old timey feeling I get by plopping down outside my building in the dark to do nothing but enjoy myself. 

Our reality last night meant Chris getting home after 9pm, us eating a late dinner & sharing a delicious beer, and me requesting time on the stoop. Maybe I needed that time on the stoop because it made the dirty dishes wait to be washed, made Chris forget work for a bit, and made me savor my husband, my neighborhood & an icy frozen fruit filled popsicle.

Moments like those are reminders of why I love summer.

Fruit Fly Designs

 I love my sister.

Fruit FlyDesigns Earrings-copper&silver

Perhaps that goes without saying, but it never hurts, right? I also love the fact that she is now a jewelry designer! My sister (Marg/Marge/Margie/Mage or just Margaret) recently launched her own jewelry company, Fruit Fly Designs! I am so proud of her, the things she makes are beautiful and all handmade by her! 

Fruit Fly Designs Earrings-copper&silver

As you can see by the photos, she focuses on natural materials, sterling silver, copper, leather, and a variety of stones. As of now, she is selling earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets (although I don't have any photos of the bracelets right now).

Fruit Fly Designs Necklace-silver & leather

Fruit Fly Designs Necklace Close Up (I'm wearing it right now!)

I visited my sister & brother in law last weekend and helped a bit with categorizing the jewelry and getting it organized for its official debut in July! Marg will be offering Fruit Fly Designs jewelry for sale at an artists' co-op in her town. The co-op opens in July, it is called Ally Bally Bee and I can't wait to visit again to see the jewelry amongst all of the other art for sale!

Fruit Fly Designs Ring - copper & silver

As if my sister's jewelry and the launch of her new business weren't enough; I also am the proud owner of all the jewelry shown on this post! My sister thought I gave her WAY more help than I did........she is so generous she gave me a bunch of jewelry for helping! Did I mention I love my sister?

If you are interested in buying some of my sister's beautiful jewelry 

(& how could you not be interested??......its awesome!)

 please email her at margaret(@)fruitflydesigns.com 

(I don't want her to get a bunch of spam- 

so I am not making the email address a hyperlink! Obviously do not include the parentheses around the @ sign if you want her to receive your email :)

Beer Under Glass

Some of our food & beer relaxing on the lawn

 I love craft beer. 

I love Chicago's Craft Beer Week. I love tasting new beers while enjoying delicious food samples and looking at beautiful plants. That basically sums up the event Chris & I attended last week!
Beer Under Glass (held at the beautiful Garfield Park Conservatory, http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/) is the annual kick off to Chicago's Craft Beer Week and is just a blast!

Delicious beer- beautiful flower

 We tried a ton of great beer, our favorite (or at least my favorite) was from Haymarket Brewery (http://haymarketbrewing.com/). Their Mathias Imperial IPA is a total mouth full & packs a punch at 10% alcohol by volume! They represented with delicious food too- kielbasa & bratwurst pictured above are both from Haymarket.

Even cacti like beer

The food competes with the beer for my attention every time we attend a tasting.....I guess I just really like to eat! City Provisions (http://www.cityprovisions.com/) informed me in a facebook post that they were pulling 45 pounds of pork for the amazing sliders they provided. It made me so happy to know what they were bringing- because everything I've had from their deli has been great. The sliders were my favorite food at the event! A dill pickle slice, cole slaw & perfectly prepared pulled pork on a soft roll. They are not included in the photo above - Chris & I both ate them standing up immediately after we got them!

If you want more info about Chicago Craft Beer Week (still going on........it's actually so awesome it stretches into a week & a half!) visit http://chibeerweek.com/. There are so many fun events with outstanding beers - how am I supposed to find the time to do it all?!?

Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

I love salted caramel anything as of late.

I was wandering around Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and came across a recipe for Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars and I knew I needed to try it! You can find the recipe here; http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/chocolate-chip-salted-caramel-cookie-bars/

I baked these for the first time while visiting my in laws in the Philadelphia area and they were a big hit!



Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars



My only 2 issues with my effort on this recipe were: 1. I didn't use a coarse enough sea salt- so there wasn't that chunky salt feeling when I ate the bars (which clearly I ate my fair share!). I personally love the chunky salt feeling when eating anything with salted caramel. The 2nd problem I had was that the bars were SO goopy after cooling for a couple of hours. They were still delicious, but messy and required a plate & fork. Good to know: they were PERFECT the next morning.

I love anything you can make ahead- it makes life so much easier. This is a perfect "make ahead" dessert, because is was way better after it had 12+ hours to cool.

My sister made the recipe too, she added oats & said it turned out really well- so it is also clearly a recipe you can get creative with..............which I think makes it even better.

Let me know if you try this recipe - for your in laws- or anyone else!

Spring Pasta... with a side of relaxation!

I love to try new recipes.

I found this totally easy one on Food & Wine's website; http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/penne-with-asparagus-sage-and-peas After a jam packed weekend, all I wanted to do was head home & cook a meal for the two of us!

We have been so busy with travel, throwing parties in our home, and special events that I have not cooked us a "real" meal just for us in over 2 weeks. That is WAY too long!! (All of those things probably also contribute to my lack of blog posts!)

This recipe is perfect for a spring dinner although I did make a few changes:

I added chicken (to make the meal more substantial)

I substituted dried sage for the fresh (because I didn't have fresh :)

I omitted the butter (because I didn't think it needed it with the richness of the half & half)

I substituted half & half for the cream (because it is what I had in the fridge)

I substituted roasted garlic infused olive oil for the fresh garlic (because I didn't have any garlic in the house!)

Even with those adjustments it turned out really well.

Chris loved it- he is pretty darn complimentary of whatever I cook though- so maybe I should take his compliments with a grain of salt :) ? Even if I deem a dish a failure, Chris will typically thank me for making it & eat it anyway. Often he ends up telling me he thinks my failures are good! I sure do love that about him.

Cooking for the two of us is all about slowing down the pace of our lives. I like to be busy, to have a full plate, to plan & attend parties, etc- but I do love the aftermath- that blissful moment when you realize you have a few hours ahead of you with nothing you need to do and no where you need to go. Except to make dinner and enjoy it  at home with your husband.

I hope you have a chance to try this recipe out- or do what I did & take your own riff on it! Let me know in the comments if you try it!