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Fall Soup Roundup

04. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Cooking, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian · Tags: , , , , , , ,

I’m getting my wisdom teeth out today (ohh, the joys!), so I planned ahead by prepping several different soup varieties to tide me over until I can eat solid foods again.

Here’s what I’ll be eating by the bowlful as I watch Friends, sneak new episodes of Luther, and tweet about my pain (just kidding, I’ll try to abstain from such pointless updates):

(Note: click the soup title for the recipe)

Rainbow chili

Fall Soup RoundupPhoto credit

Zucchini & yellow squash soup

Fall Soup RoundupPhoto credit

Sweet potato, kale, & chicken soup

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Spiced tomato bean soup

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 I made several adjustments for each recipe. For example, I didn’t use flour in the zucchini yellow squash soup and I replaced chickpeas with red kidney beans in the spiced tomato bean soup.

Heart of Palm Recipe Roundup

25. July 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Cooking, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian · Tags: , , , ,

When I used to visit my dad in Costa Rica, we ate a lot of salads filled with palmito, the Costa Rican name for heart of palm. Also known as burglar’s thigh, chonta, palm cabbage, and swamp cabbage, this vegetable is harvested from the inner core of different varieties of palm trees. You can buy it in jars at Harris Teeter and other grocery stores.

Heart of Palm Recipe RoundupPhoto credit

Slicing heart of palm into a green salad is a simple way to give the salad a bit of pop, but here are a few other recipes that revolve around heart of palm:

Heart of Palm Recipe RoundupPhoto credit

Ever had heart of palm? What do you refer to it as? Any other recipe suggestions?

On the Menu for the Week

03. July 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Cooking, Gluten-Free, On the Menu, Vegetarian · Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the beginning of July, which means I can crack my Cooking Light: Annual Recipes cookbook open to a new month! I picked this cookbook up for $2-$3 at the thrift store and it was the best find. It catalogues every single recipe from a year’s worth of Cooking Light magazine into one hardback book. Though it’s from 2004, it doesn’t really matter because food is timeless icon smile On the Menu for the Week  The July section features recipes based around tomatoes, peaches and dinner at dusk, which will undoubtedly make appearances in my On the Menu posts for July!
On the Menu for the Week On the Menu for the WeekTraditional & buffalo chicken gluten-free pizza bites {recipe to come}

Cool as a cucumber salad

Tuna and white bean salad {update: not blown away; will post recipe if I can adapt it!}

Salad with Asian ginger dressing

Potato salad

Rice noodles with peanut lime chicken

Chicken salad

And something with my big flat of peaches!

What are you cooking this week? Any great tomato or peach recipes?

week recap & a solo saturday

09. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Life Updates & Recaps, Raleigh, North Carolina · Tags: , , , , , ,

This Week

  • Doubles tennis
  • Sushi from Sushi Tsune at Lake Johnson
  • Restaurant Week at Chamas in Durham {I got too full and  I didn’t like the meat as much as I thought I would}
  • Boylan Bridge Brewpub with friends
  • Ladies luncheon with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance
  • First kickball game {only made it to the bar afterward because I have a monthly meeting that conflicts! But my team won!}
  • Lady Antebellum & Darius Rucker concert

Solo Saturday

I was busy every night this week with friends, so I was fine spending this morning alone. Being alone is only lonely for me if I want or need to be with people; otherwise, it’s calming and energizing.

I started off the day by packing a gluten-free sandwich, grabbing a Starbucks Iced Coffee, and hitting a toning class at the gym. It was only 30 minutes, but I definitely felt all the exercises. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow! Elisabeth was in the class too!

Then I hit up Under the Sea, a 3D IMAX documentary I’ve been trying to catch- or as I like to say, “I’ve been ‘diving’ to ‘sea’ it.” Horrible puns, I know! I asked the guy at the front desk not to judge me for coming to a movie alone! Haha. Anyway, the movie did not live up to my expectations- Jim Carrey was the narrator, so it started off on the wrong foot because he irritates me! Then I had to close my eyes during the long section on sea snakes and I was super jumpy when they kept showing sea animals snapping up their prey. 3D movies can be very jarring…so I left. The five-year-old kids in there were apparently more brave than me icon smile week recap & a solo saturday

Since I was already downtown, I decided to jump over to the farmers’ market because it was Crawfish Day {remember seeing that on my new calendar?}. I grabbed a pound of live crawfish and then entered the main section. I ended up with a ton of stuff for under $10: several peaches; a tomato; a Pattypan squash {had never heard of it before; it’s also called a sunburst squash}; an Oriental squash; day-old zucchini for $.50 per pound; a bundle of sorrel; a head of cabbage; and a head of elephant garlic. I realized I forgot to pay for the garlic, so I walked back to the booth and the guy ended up upgrading me from a big $3 head of garlic to a ginormous $5 head for my honesty!

I always forget how much I love the experience of going to farmers’ markets- without sounding too hippie and locavore-esque, it’s really neat to form a bond with the person who is producing your food.

screen shot 2012 06 09 at 1 00 44 pm week recap & a solo saturday

From left: elephant garlic; got all that squash & zucchini for $.70; pretty flowers I didn’t buy; and Pattypan and Oriental squashes

As I wrote this blog post, my live crawfish were moving around on my dining room table- such a disturbing noise! I had to put them into the fridge immediately icon smile week recap & a solo saturday

Off to Richmond now for Sara D‘s birthday yard party/sleepover/brunch icon smile week recap & a solo saturday

P.S. You can easily see my Instagram pictures over at Instagrid!

from store to store

10. March 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Food & Drink · Tags: , , , , , ,

storewars logo from store to store Photo credit

I recently saw this article, entitled “What to Buy and What to Skip at Trader Joe’s,” and immediately sent it to my friend Sarah, who did an article on grocery store vs farmers’ market pricing when we were in college.

So as I was bouncing around from store to store this weekend, I decided to jot down a few prices.

A cauliflower- organic or not- is $3.49 at Harris Teeter and only $2.69 at Target. Canned tomatoes are $1.24 at Target but $1.44 at Harris Teeter. Chobani Greek yogurt is $1.22 at Target and $1.38 at Harris Teeter.

Let’s take a look at the difference in the Chobani pricing. It’s a difference of $.16 per container. Let’s say you eat one for breakfast each weekday morning for a year- $.16 x 5 x 52 (weeks per year) = $41.60.

If you had shopped at Target, you would have saved $41.60 over the course of a year. Say you get paid $20 per hour- that’s just two hours of work over the course of a whole year (out of a total of 8,750 hours).

But on the other hand, we’re only talking about one item. Let’s say you save an average of $.16 per item on 40 items each week. That’s now $332.80, which could almost get you a cruise to the Bahamas!

But think about these important factors and their value to you:

  • Your time- running from store to store takes time; think about it in terms of opportunity cost from econ class icon smile from store to store
  • Gas- Target is about 12 minutes from me, so it expends quite a bit of gas over the course of a year
  • Experience- Where do you have a better experience? How important is that to you? I love going to Trader Joe’s and Harris Teeter, but could live without the customer service at Target
  • Quality- Are you willing to pay a premium at a grocery store that you consider to be higher quality than another? Are you willing to pay for perceived quality as well?
  • Ethics- Likewise, are you willing to pay a premium at a grocery store that you consider to be more ethical than another?

i’m gonna be a star…fruit!

28. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Cooking, Food & Drink, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian · Tags: , , , , ,

On Sundays, Harris Teeter wraps up produce that’s on its last leg and reduces the price by a lot.

That’s how I ended up with 7 zucchinis for $.93, a big bag of key limes for $.75, a giant bag of assorted hot peppers for about $1, and my latest find: 4 starfruit for $.69!

starfruit im gonna be a star...fruit! Photo credit

How is a girl who loves making up random recipes and great deals supposed to pass those by?!

According to Wikipedia, star fruit- also called carambola {which is the Spanish name as well}- is native to parts of Asia but is also grown in tropical parts of Latin America. I remember eating it when I lived in Costa Rica for a month during high school!

The whole fruit is edible, including the skins and seeds. The fruit is high in antioxidants and Vitamin C {which is my favorite of all the lettered vitamins}.

Here are some fun recipes to get you started in case you stumble across an equally great deal at your local supermarket!

Star Fruit Chips

Star Fruit Steak

Star Fruit Jam

Star Fish Shrimp Salad

And my personal favorite:

Star Fruit Sangria

cristina discovers sunflower chokes

30. August 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Cooking, Food & Drink, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian · Tags: , , , , , ,

I mentioned the other day that I picked up something called sunflower chokes at Harris Teeter. What on earth, you may ask? Speaking of earth, these are also called earth apples, Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes, sunroot, and topinambour (imagine ordering a topinambour in a restaurant!). And, yes, they are part of the sunflower family (I know I was wondering that).

The taste been described as a cross between a potato and an artichoke, which I think is definitely accurate. Sarah of Cucina  Bella says she and her husband agreed that the taste “bears a stunning likeness to Terra chips.” I’ve never had Terra chips but I can wager a bet that roasted sunchokes are a healthier alternative!

Sarah also inspired me with her super-simple roasted sunflower choke recipe.

sunflower choke cristina discovers sunflower chokes

1 lb sunchokes
A drizzle of olive oil
A dash of sea salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Rinse the sunchokes under cold water, scrubbing lightly to remove any dirt. Cut into quarters and place onto the baking sheet. Drizzle the sunchokes with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper. Cook for 35-45 minutes, flipping once or twice.

So delicious, especially when dipped in ketchup. I would absolutely eat these again!

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+Cristina Roman