A Seasonal Tirade Inspired by Pears

Ever since I became interested in cooking, I have heard food people ranting and raving about using seasonal produce. What does that mean? Well, eating seasonal produce means only eating fruits and vegetables that are harvested at their peak. Not all food is at its best at all times of the year. Asparagus in the spring. Peaches and watermelon in the summer. Squash in the fall. Citrus in the winter.

Without fully understanding why, I went along with it. Eat what's in season. I figured it was because I didn't want to eat fruit and vegetables shipped from way across the ocean. Seems like a good idea, right? Shipping from way across the ocean means a lot of fuel was used to get it to the U.S., which means lots of bad stuff was emitted into the atmosphere during the journey, which means that Mother Earth is sad :(

Well, that is certainly one good reason to eat seasonally.

Another is that produce out of season is EXPENSIVE.

Yet another is that produce out of season is YUCKY.

Seriously, go to your grocery store and look at the asparagus right now. It is seriously wimpy. And seriously too expensive for one puny little bunch of asparagus. No no no.

Go to your grocery store and look at the PEARS right now. Oh my heavens. My PPK is literally overflowing with gorgeous, ripe, winter Anjou pears. They have so many that they are practically giving them away.

Last night I sliced up two winter Anjou pears, two small granny smith apples, put them in a bowl, and drizzled a tiny bit of tangerine oil over them. My husband raved and raved about this amazing salad that I made.

It wasn't me. I did nothing. I sliced and drizzled. The juicy perfection of the seasonal produce needed no help to shine.

Lesson learned. Use seasonal produce, people will think I'm an awesome cook.

Sweet Potato Bisque

In the name of contributing some simpler recipes to this blog, I must share with you this incredible soup I made last week. Sweet potato bisque.

It's creamy, delicious, and beautiful due to its lovely silky orange color.

Did you know that sweet potatoes are a super food? That means that they are packed full of lots of incredible vitamins that do your body lots of incredible good.

I adapted it from this recipe, courtesy of Pat and Gina Neely, who hail from my college town of Memphis, Tennessee. Whoop whoop!

I followed their recipe exactly, except for these three changes:

1. I sauteed my garlic, onions, and ginger in olive oil, not butter.
2. At the end, I stirred in 3/4 cup of plain yogurt, not heavy cream.
3. I topped it with crispy, crunchy, breadcrumbs. You can buy some. Or you can make your own. Here's my recipe.

In my humble opinion, there is just absolutely no reason that you need to use butter and heavy cream when you can use olive oil and yogurt. It's just as delicious and much much better for you. Use the healthy stuff when you make dinner. Save the butter and heavy cream for when they are truly necessary, like in desserts.

Cause if you're going to eat dessert, there should be no holding back. In my humble opinion.

Go make this soup. It's yummy. It's healthy. And it's cheap. Check check check.

Easier Recipes for the Novice Chefs

Julia, Mallory (kinda), Robin, Melissa, C-Anne: we're talking to you.


Everyone else: Hi!  Here's the situation.  Kate and I spend a significant amount of time on the phone with our sisters advising them on easy things to make (because we all have a starting point in the kitchen- our sisters are at their starting points right now).  Also, we get questions from our friends who are fairly new in the kitchen so this blog is dedicated to you guys.  Kate and I were on the phone yesterday and Kate made an excellent observation: we don't really make easy stuff.  And the stuff we make sometimes sounds funky to people who are new to cooking.  None of this is to say we are just the most experienced, knowledgeable, exotic cooks, but let's face it: none of us have a direct line to the Barefoot Contessa to ask our food questions so our friends and family have to settle with us- ha!  So, this blog is simply to reference a few easy recipes that we HAVE cooked that are delicious and simple.  We are also going to make a concerted effort to make more simple recipes- but never fear- our love of exotic foods remain and we hope we continue to inspire you to make dishes like Mughlai Chicken and Mango Dal!

Here's a list of some easy, go-to dinners that are DELICIOUS and novice-friendly:

-the infamous Sweet Potato-Black Bean Chili.  I feel the need to say something here: we realize that this chili can either sound 1) boring or 2) weird.  Well put those thoughts right outside of your head.  Everyone- and I mean EVERYONE- who has tried this chili has raved about it and have gone on to make it.  (Kate's sister, Robin, has literally made it once a week since she discovered the recipe).  Here is the recipe.

-Brocolli and Peanut Stir Fry. The recipe is here.  This is one of my sister's favs (that's you, Mal).  Easy to make and super healthy.  Note to Robin: You can make this with something OTHER THAN brocolli!

-Creamy Tomato-Basil Soup.  Here is the recipe.  My girl, Melissa, loved this recipe.  She is fairly new in the kitchen and didn't have trouble making this soup- in fact, she's made it more than once!

Ok, we hope these have provided a good start for those of you new to the kitchen.  We'll send more your way! (In fact, I'm working on a post about a YUMMY and fairly simple Pear and Cranberry Cobbler with a delicious streusel topping.)

Paulie's Fig and Ricotta Gelato

Every week Anthony's uncle takes us out to dinner. We frequent Paulie's, a little bistro right around the corner where I get the most wonderful arugula and prosciutto pizza.

They also make their own gelato. Need I say more?

When we walked in last week, my jaw hit the ground as I read the new gelato special: "Fig and Ricotta".

Oh my heavens. Are you kidding? Fig and ricotta? Fig and ricotta ice cream?! I was so intrigued.

Anthony's sweet uncle took note of my reaction, and insisted that I have some after the meal.  It was one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever received.

Creamy, sweet, salty, and sophisticated. This is ice cream for grown ups. It made me so happy.

I just found out that one of my good friends has an ice cream machine (cough cough, HK). You better believe that I'm going to track down a recipe and coerce her into making this with me :) Maybe we can do that after yoga in the park?

Little Women

I recently finished reading "Little Women". I savored all 643 pages of it for about 3 months, drawing out the process and delaying the inevitable final chapter until it was no longer possible. I hate it when a good book is over. Since I seem to have a recent mental block against posting recipes, I thought I'd pull a few quotes and apply it to the blog:

"Language cannot describe the anxieties, experiences, and exertions which Jo underwent that morning; and the dinner she served up became a standing joke. Fearing to ask more advice, she did her best alone, and discovered that something more than energy and good will is necessary to make a cook." (pg. 148).

And since we're all about keeping it inexpensive here on The Food Adventures of Bitsa Bitsa and Rag Rag:

"Wealth is certainly a most desirable thing, but poverty has its sunny side, and one of the sweet uses of adversity is the genuine satisfaction which comes from hearty work of head or hand; and to the inspiration of necessity we owe half the wise, beautiful, and useful blessings of the world" (pg. 350).

Let's talk about something while we're at it...

Do you remember the end of Little Women, the movie? Do you remember how Jo ended up with that old guy and suddenly Laurie fell in love with Amy and married her, even though he had fiercely loved Jo his ENTIRE life? Do you remember how unconvincing and unsatisfying that was?

Well, let me tell ya, the end of the book is just as unsatisfying. I am not convinced at all. You just don't love someone that much and then all of a sudden fall in love with their little sister. This turn in events did not make sense with the characterization that the author spent hundreds of pages developing. Jo does not really love the old German guy. Laurie may love Amy superficially, but not with the deep passion he has for her older sister. Jo and Laurie are soul mates and will love each other to the end of time. And that is that.

Post-Holiday Ruminations

Warning: I am about to vent and get on a soapbox. If you're not in the mood for such things, stop reading now.



This past holiday season I spent the week in East Texas with my family: half the time at my grandparents' house, half the time with my mom and dad. It was such a blessing to lavish in do-nothing time with the people I love the most. Always coupled with this do-nothing-ness was incredible, to-die-for food. My mom and grandmother know how to cook, let me tell ya. Grammy has a traditional cooking style; I can always expect to be feasting on cornbread and casseroles when I'm with her. My mom is more trendy. Eating at her house means tacos, margaritas,and hip butter-glazed breakfast sandwiches.

Needless to say, by the end of the week I had gained eight pounds.

Now, don't get the wrong idea: I try to live in such a way that the number on the scale does not have as much significance as the way my body feels. We live in an image-obsessed society where the overwhelming pressure on women is to be thin rather than healthy. That's why there is an epidemic of eating disorders in the U.S. It always amazes me to think that, in so many parts of the world, there are people starving because they don't have enough food. Yet here in America our women are starving themselves, despite the abundance of food, in an effort to attain something that is utterly unattainable.

So listen, I'm a social worker. I'm a feminist. When I lament that I gained eight pounds over Christmas, I need you to not roll your eyes at me. I get it. Our focus should be on living a healthy lifestyle, not on how much weight we gain or lose. Sometimes the two are correlated; sometimes they aren't.

In the case of my Christmas vacation, my weight gain and my lifestyle were definitely correlated. While at home in Houston I make an effort to exercise and eat healthy. On the East Texas Christmas Vacation it was all about the honey-baked ham and pecan pralines. Sure, I had the occasional banana and walk with the dogs, but it was not enough to combat all that divine food the matriarchs kept pushing my way.

I am ruminating over this, because it is quite the phenomenon to me. I really didn't indulge that much. The meals my mom and grandmother cooked really weren't that unhealthy. I feel like I made the most with what I had...yet still I gained eight pounds.

For a while I went on an exploratory journey of various dietary restrictions. I tried vegetarian, I tried gluten-free, I tried the Daniel Fast. After all this, I finally found the food-lifestyle that works best for me:

WHOLE GRAINS. LEAN MEATS. LOTS AND LOTS OF VEGGIES.

If I stick to this for most of my meals, then I have zero guilt about occasionally incorporating limited amounts of all the wonderful things that truly slay me: rich, creamy, expensive cheeses. Perfectly seasoned red meats. Divine, exotic rice puddings. When limited, these things become true treats that make me so happy I squirm with excitement. Most of the time, however, it's all about the whole grains, lean meats, and vegetables. And I have to say, I find this quite satisfying because I have figured out how to make it delicious and I know that I am taking care of my body.

In my own kitchen, I have control over these things. When I'm visiting relatives, I don't. I wonder if my weight gain can be attributed to the simple transition from my normal diet to one where white flour, butter, and honey-baked ham are all essential elements?

I decided not to get my panties in a wad over the eight pounds. I admit, I had to have a private therapy session with myself inside my head; it's not always easy fighting the voices that scream inadequacy. In the end, however, I let it go and made the conscious decision not to obsess over my weight.

On my return to Houston I resumed my normal routine of daily yoga and trying recipes from Eating Well and Cooking Light. I didn't go on a diet and I didn't become a marathon runner. I simply resumed normalcy.

Yesterday, for grins and giggles, I pulled my scale out of storage and gave it a whirl. Six pounds lost in the week I've been home. All just by eating healthy and exercising. Women of the world: this is what we need to focus on.

So as you all know, many of the conversations Kate and I have are about food, what we're making for the week, what we made last week that was delicious, what we want to try, etc.  So, because I was a slacker and didn't take photos of the things I have made thus far this week, I am simply going to provide the links to what I've made and give you my review.  It's basically what Kate and I do everyday on the phone so consider yourselves privy to our conversations.  JUST KIDDING. We don't take ourselves that seriously :)

Monday night:
The Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Chili

(This is Ree's picture.  Again, with the slacker thing, I forgot to take a pic)

My review: absolutely delicious.  I served this with cilantro, monterrey jack cheese, and avocado.  I highly recommend a dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top.  Mine was also a touch more liquid-y.  Oh, and I didn't have corn meal or masa to thicken this with so I used cornstarch and milk and it worked perfectly. Also, I roasted my chicken with the same spices she used in the soup (as opposed to boiling it) and shredded it by putting it in my mixer (which, shreds chicken beautifully). Served with cornbread. YUM.


Tuesday night:
Ina Garten's butternut squash risotto with greens

(as you can see, the greens were a little more buoyant, shall we say, than the risotto)

My review: light, healthy, and delicious for any occasion.  To me, risotto is proof that you don't have to cook with butter and cream to make something creamy and delicious.  Sure, those two ingredients make MANY things better, risotto being one of them, but are they always necessary to improve a dish?  I would argue that no, they aren't.  Because the arborio rice develops its' starchiness as you cook it, you really don't need much more than cheese to make it creamy.  Here is the recipe for this risotto.  One trick I must tell you about that I learned from one of my mom's friends: microwave your butternut squash wrapped in plastic wrap for around 2 minutes.  You're going to be peeling the skin, anyway, so the contact with the plastic wrap won't matter.  This process makes it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to cut that beast of a vegetable.  Thanks for that tip, Twila!

Wednesday night:

Robert Irvine's Red Curry

Forgive me, no pic.  

My review: Ok, so here's the situation: Wednesday night was a night where we were working with what we had, and I had the ingredients for Red Curry so that's what we ate.  It was good, not great.  However, in Robert's defense, I also followed the recipe incorrectly and so while it was perfectly filling (and moderately healthy because of the vegetables and cooking with the LITE coconut milk) I would like to try it again, and this time, follow it correctly.  I think this recipe had the potential to be great (it got 5/5 stars under its' reviews).  I definitely needed to add a squeeze of lime at the end, so make sure you do that if you make this!

Tonight: Chicken Parmesan 

I'll holler back later with the review!

Coconut Cake

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!  I am so excited to share this incredible recipe with you for coconut cake.  My sweet friend (and roommate for the last few weeks), Kristi, told me to check out the Peninsula Grill's recipe for coconut cake. I was about to use Paula Deen's, which was good to me last year, but after having this cake, I won't go back to dear ole' Paula's recipe.  I was in charge of making this for Christmas dinner.  I must warn you: this is going to be a fairly in-depth, picture-rich post.  The filling in this cake is the best coconut cake filling I have ever had.  The icing has a creamy, sweet, and slightly tangy cream cheese frosting that merries perfectly with the other flavors of the cake.  I love that you get the toasted coconut flavor from the outside of the cake, while still tasting the regular coconut within the filling.  You will be tempted to eat the filling before you put it between the cake layers.  But don't.  Good gracious is this cake ever incredible.  Just ask my sister, Mallory, who had a slice for lunch one day. Now let's get movin.

Takes 24 + hours (filling has to cool overnight)
Serves....a lot.

For the filling you will need:

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1/4 cup sour cream

For the cake you will need:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter , room temperature
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

(Note: you can really use any white/yellow cake recipe that you love.  I had to freeze the cake layers ahead of time which, I think, made them a touch more dense.  If you have to freeze your cake layers for preservation purposes, make sure you wrap them tight in a few layers on plastic wrap, but before doing so, brush them with a simple syrup to ensure moisture.  I'm going to try and make this cake again to see how it is without having been previously frozen.  I will say though, Paula Deen has a MEAN cake recipe.  Scott likes fluffier cakes, but if you prefer your cakes to be a bit more dense, this is your recipe.)

For the Frosting:

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese , room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter , room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sweetened flaked coconut , toasted

Instructions:

 

Stir cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water, and vanilla in small bowl to dissolve cornstarch. 

 Bring cream, sugar, and butter to boil in a medium sized saucepan

Add your cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil

Remove from heat and stir in your coconut

Allow to cool completely

After it is cooled, stir in the sour cream

It will look like this:

Cover this and refrigerate it overnight.  

Now onto the cake:

Preheat oven to 375.

Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans (the original recipe says 3 cake pans, but I used 2 and was just fine) 

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together over a large bowl

 It will look like a powdery hill of goodness after you sift the ingredients

 Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl to blend

Add your eggs, blending well after each addition

Beat in cream and vanilla

Here's the batter before the flour mixture goes in 

STIR- or SLLOOWWWLLYY blend flour mixture into the butter mixture (don't overmix)

Here's your cake after the flour has been incorporated.  It will be thick.

Divide your batter evenly into your buttered and floured cake pans

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Cool cakes completely (I used a wire rack for this)

Note: in order for cakes to be super fresh, I'd make the filling the night before you intend to serve the cake, and bake the cakes the morning of.  This is one of those cakes, in my opinion, that needs to be made earlier in the day and served that night.  Putting cakes in the fridge DRIES THEM OUT- so avoid it!  Don't let leaving the cream cheese icing out scare you, my family left this cake out for days and we are all still cluckin' along like spring chickens.

Now onto the frosting: 

Leave your cream cheese out for a couple hours to get it at room temp

Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl to blend

Beat in (a little at a time) powdered sugar and vanilla until everything is incorporated

Now that your cakes are cool (completely cool), cut them in half so that you have 4 layers.

Spread your filling mixture between each layer

Now. now. now. now.  We talk frosting a cake.  I am not about to claim to be as good as Ina Garten, but I've learned a thing or two from that woman and I'd like to share it with you using pictures to demonstrate.

First, cut two long pieces of wax paper to criss-cross over each other on your cake platter BEFORE YOU SET YOUR CAKE ON TOP.  This prevents icing mishaps from landing on the platter so all you have to do when you're done frosting the cake is gently slide the wax paper out from under the cake!

Now, plop a hefty amount of frosting on the top layer in the middle of the cake.

With a knife or frosting spatula, spread the frosting across the cake and down the sides

Sorry, I already advanced a little bit in frosting the cake by the time I enlisted the help of a photographer.  Do you get the jist, though?  plop the icing, then slide it down the sides of the cake.  

 Then, rotate your spatula like I did in the picture, and while you frost, turn your platter

like so.

Ok, not that it's perfectly smooth, but it's lookin' pretty good.  Here's the trick: run your knife/spatula under hot water and wipe it off with a towel, then spread it over the icing while rotating the platter.  I wasn't as concerned about the sides because we are about to put some toasted coconut on it.

Take the toasted coconut and literally toss it on the side-gently

You like how some of my pics are edited and some are not? me too.

You'll notice a crucial mistake of mine in this pic: I only have one piece of wax paper.  BIG MISTAKE. Do what I advised up above (this piece of advice actually comes from Sandra Lee on the Food Network).

 The top of the cake, as you can see, has been marked with a hot knife to make it as smooth as it is.

 Isn't our final product a beaut?  A delicious beaut, at that!

Enjoy!

ps: for the straight-forward recipe, click here.

Lessons from Anne

Anthony gave me Anne Burrell's new cookbook for Christmas. This is how I felt when I opened it:

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Mere and I both idolize Anne. She has a cooking show on the Food Network and we were reallllyyyy hoping she would win The Next Iron Chef. She is a natural teacher and is incredibly funny; the humor makes her lessons memorable and fun. I learn something new every time I watch her. I've only read the first few pages of her cookbook, but I'm already obsessed. I have to share some of these quotes with you:

"Food is like a dog; it smells fear. If you're nervous, scared, or bunched up when you're cooking, your food will sense it. But if you embrace cooking with a sense of confidence and an air of fun, your food will taste SOOOOO much better. If you change a recipe, the recipe police are NOT going to be on their way over. if you want to use three cloves of garlic instead of one, knock yourself out" (pg. 15).

"If you don't cook with salt, you will NEVER be a good cook. Salt is a flavor enhancer; it makes things taste like what they are [...] Salt is not something to be scared of. If you cook from scratch with good-quality fresh ingredients- meaning seasonal produce and high-quality meat- and you steer clear of prepared, processed, frozen, canned, and of course fast food, then you can salt your cooking with reckless abandon. As a home cook you'll never get close to using the amount of salt found in most processed and packaged foods" (pg. 16-17).

"Sale (salt) and Pepe (pepper) are not married. they are only dating. Sale makes the party; she's the life of the party. But Pepe isn't usually invited to my party- he's too strong, so I tend to leave him home" (pg. 17).


I love the term "reckless abandon". More quotes and lessons to come. I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas and a fun New Year. Perhaps Meredith and I will be more consistent bloggers in 2012 :)