It’s avocado season again, and that means getting creative with the multitude of avocados I pick from now through May. Every year I get very excited for the first avocados to ripen, which generally happens right around the time of football season, and plentiful guacamole is made. After a while my excitement for guacamole wanes, and I start searching for other recipes to use the avocados in. A while back, while perusing the cooking app from New York Times, I came across a recipe for causa, a cold potato dish from Peru that I enjoy. Inspired by the avocado layer, I bookmarked the recipe for spring when the sun would start shining and I would be tiring of guacamole. (more…)

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Appetizers, Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch by Courtney

Many moons ago my uncle made a mushroom extravaganza for Christmas dinner. There was mushroom soup, mushroom loaf, and a mushroom risotto. At the time, mushrooms were something I couldn’t stand to eat, yet I didn’t want to hurt his feelings since he had made such a wonderful meal. So I ate the soup. I ate some of the loaf. And I ate the risotto. I’m not certain if by the time I got to the risotto I was just so inundated by the mushrooms that I didn’t notice them as much, but I really liked the risotto. I remember somewhat picking at the mushrooms, looking at them in wonderment by this portion of the meal, thinking, “Well, this isn’t too bad!”

Shiitakes ended up being my gateway mushroom. Fast forward many years later, and I enjoy most types of mushrooms (still not a fan of the white button, however). This past week my CSA had quite a few varieties of mushrooms available, so I decided I would try my hand at recreating the risotto that was the first way I ever enjoyed mushrooms. (more…)

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Dinner, Gluten free, Italian, Lunch by Courtney

When you have an avocado tree, at some point you start wondering what else you can do with avocados beyond guacamole and garnishes for Latin American foods, though that’s a GREAT use for avocado. After branching out into smoothies with avocado (it gives them a wonderful creaminess), avocado truffles, avocado egg salad, I thought, “Hmmm, what about avocado and pasta?” I have no earthly idea what prompted this line of thought from me, given that I have an aversion to avocados being too warm (that baked avocado and egg thing that went around a few years back was gross!), but the thought popped into my mind and to the google I went, searching recipes.

I came upon a few recipes that combined avocado and spinach, though many of them used lime juice and seemed a little too close to what I was trying to stray from. So I started down the route of another classic pairing – spinach, blue cheese, and walnuts. How would these flavors play out with each other? (more…)

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Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch, Quick and Easy, Vegetarian by Courtney

It’s not a secret that I’m a big fan of salads that have a warm component to them. Whether it is a warm blackberry vinaigrette or adding freshly made buffalo strips, having something warm with my greens makes a salad feel substantial, like a real meal for me. So when I was raiding my refrigerator the other night for things to pair with my baby spinach, it’s no surprise that my first instinct was to sauté or roast the pears I found. But then, I noticed the cucumber sitting next to it, and I decided to go a different route.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy cucumber is with a Japanese bent – soak the cucumber slices, strips, or cubes with onion in a dressing of rice wine vinegar, salt, and sugar. (more…)

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Asian, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch, Salad by Courtney

This is one of those recipes born from a mixture of comfort foods. Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorites, and it’s not really mac-n-cheese to me unless I make it like I had it as a kid – with Velveeta. A few weeks ago I had a leftover hunk of Velveeta in the refrigerator, and I decided why not try this new recipe I saw on America’s Test Kitchen – a macaroni with tomatoes – with Velveeta cheese.

I’ve had other macaronis with tomatoes, most notably a lightened version from Martha Stewart eons ago, which is where the idea came from to top this dish with roasted tomatoes. It was good, even though truth be told, I’m not a huge tomato fan. I assume the darkened color the red lended the cheesy dish on ATK is what hooked me into wanting to try this dish. At the last minute, as I was about to pour the macaroni into a baking dish, I looked up and saw a vial of rasam powder in my spice rack. That’s when inspiration hit. I added a couple of spoonfuls of masala to my dish and stuck it into the oven. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch, Side Dish, Vegetarian by Courtney