Festive Fall Dinner Party

We had such a fun weekend last weekend! It got off to a great start on Friday night with our newly married friends Angela and Tushar, who came over for dinner. Rich went to grad school at MIT with Angela and we have loved living close by her this year! They have had a busy few months getting married, moving in together and traveling to Seattle and Taipei so we look forward to seeing more of them when their travel schedule lightens.
I planned a festive fall themed menu for our dinner and it came out quite delicious if I say so myself! I made drunken pumpkin chili, pumpkin cornbread with honey pecan butter, salad with apple, pecans and blue cheese, and honeycrisp apple sangria, and we had mini cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes for dessert.

I was going to have shredded cheese and cut-up avocado as sides for the chili, but that day I discovered the cheese was moldy and the avocado wasn't ripe yet, so no dice on those. We did have sour cream on the side at least.

I made the chili on Thursday so it had a whole day for the flavors to meld in the fridge and I thought it came out quite good. I threw in all kinds of ingredients; I'm not sure if I can remember everything that went into it!  Chili is always a smorgasbord of all the fresh vegetables, grains and legumes I have handy. I chopped an onion, a bell pepper, a tomato, three carrots, and half a large sweet potato, and started sauteing those. I added two cans of chickpeas, two cans of black beans, the remainder of a bag of quinoa, some oat bran, a can of pumpkin puree, an Oktoberfest beer, a jar of tomato sauce, some Tofurky kielbasa, and some water for the quinoa and oat bran to soak up. For spices I added chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I'm sure there were more ingredients but that's all I remember now! After a few hours simmering on the stove it smelled warm and inviting.

I failed to take a picture of the chili - this one is from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. It looked kind of like this.

While the chili simmered I also made the honey pecan butter (which is just honey, butter, and pecans blended together in a blender or food processor) and the salad dressing, which was inspired by the best salad I shared a while back.

¼ cup vinegar (any type) - I used apple cider vinegar
½ cup chopped parsley  - I used half parsley and half basil
¼ cup red onion/shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sugar - I used some agave nectar, less than 1/3 cup
½ cup oil
½ tsp. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

It's also just all thrown in the blender. My blender got a workout on Thursday. 

On Friday, I made the pumpkin cornbread. I don't bake very often and I hate the mess of flour, so I decided to try grinding oats in the blender to make oat flour instead of using all-purpose flour for a healthier twist. It was a success!  I can't wait to try making all kinds of whole grain flours this way. It was super easy, and I didn't have to buy flour! I used this recipe from sweet pea's kitchen and I would definitely make it again. It was easy to throw together, pretty healthy and TASTY with the honey pecan butter. Although, to be totally honest, that honey pecan butter makes EVERYTHING you put it on taste amazing. My friend Lindsey introduced me to that idea a few years ago and I have been keeping it in my back pocket ever since. 

honey pecan butter

pumpkin cornbread - picture by Sweet Pea's Kitchen

I also made the sangria, and rimmed the glasses with cinnamon and sugar. My favorite party trick! Rimming glasses is so easy and really takes the fancy factor up a notch. I used this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction and of course modified it to match what I had since I did not have brandy. Instead I added some triple sec and cranberry vodka. 

We had a blast catching up with Angela and Tushar, and hearing stories about boarding school days and learning Chinese growing up. Always a great time! 

We had the red velvet and caramel apple mini cupcakes... mmmm

First weekend in Cali: Summer Delights

We spent 3 brutal days getting totally unpacked and situated in our new house and it was so worth it to be able to enjoy our first weekend here!

The first thing I wanted to do was check out the Palo Alto Farmer's Market which is Saturday mornings from 8-12 and we just barely made it at 11:45. I was stressing on the way there that everything would be empty and closing down and why are we even bothering.... but I was stressing for nothing! It was AMAZING, the most incredible quality and variety of fresh fruits and veggies and all sorts of foods and it wasn't picked over at all. We dashed from stand to stand buying stuff as fast as we could and in 15 minutes I was blown away by our haul.

We got lettuce, basil, mint, parsley, grapes, avocados, peaches, apples, potatoes, garlic, onion, the biggest shallots I've ever seen, walnuts, sausages and hummus - and we didn't even have time to cover the whole market!  I can't wait to go back next week ...hopefully before 11:45... and have more time to explore. As we were walking back to the car loaded down with goodies, Rich said to me, "What do you think?  Was that 5 times better than the markets in Ohio? 10 times?"

"I think maybe 10 times better," I said.

I could not wait to put together some salads for that night; we were having our first dinner guests! Rich met them back in grad school at MIT, they live about 30 minutes away and they brought their daughter, who is the exact same age as Valerie - the girls were born one day apart.

They were so excited to finally meet each other; they'd seen lots of pictures of each other but never got to meet until now, and they were so sweet and loved playing together.

As soon as they arrived, Valerie insisted on changing into a dress and hair bows so they would match. They were definitely twins at first sight. So cute. We can't believe our amazing luck at having such great friends nearby!

I was pretty excited about the menu, based on all our fresh produce purchases. For appetizers we had jalapeno cilantro hummus and guacamole with chips and veggies, and for dinner I made an heirloom tomato salad with basil and truffle flavored oil, mint and lemon infused water, watermelon mojitos, and a dinner salad, which was definitely the highlight: a mix of greens, fresh peaches, blue cheese and walnuts, and a lemon shallot dressing which was so easy to throw together. I stole this recipe from Vogue , used white wine vinegar since I didn't have any red wine vinegar, and added lemon juice:

1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp. honey
1 T red wine vinegar (preferably Banyuls)
½ small shallot, finely minced
2½ oz. extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

From left: guacamole, mint lemon water, so much fruit, heirloom tomatoes, peach walnut salad

OMG... I will toot my own horn.  The salad was RIDICULOUS. So good. Of course, the credit really goes to the incredible fresh ingredients from California and not to me. I am in absolute salad heaven here. I have been making salads every day since we got here and it's pretty impossible to go wrong. Everything is just.... so... GOOD.

Rich made sausages for the protein portion of dinner, and we also had tortellini and red sauce for the girls.  Valerie doesn't eat any kind of lettuce yet... I can't wait for that day! Life is going to be so easy when I can make a big salad for dinner and she will eat it too. I still need to make something separate for her most of the time.

 We had a lovely meal on our back patio, and then took a walk to the park down the street so the girls could play. They had so much fun, Valerie insisted she was going home with them, and kept asking for one more minute, one more minute. She finally conceded to a hug and our friends had to go home. So hard to say goodbye!

Sunday we decided to drive to the coast and check out the beaches.

We packed lunches and left first thing in the morning for Half Moon Bay, where we found Lemos Farm, which was hopping with parents and kids around 10 am. It was cool and overcast in the morning, too chilly for the beach, so we decided to stop and check it out. Valerie has been talking a lot about riding horses lately and we saw that they had pony rides, along with a hay ride, train rides, playground, petting zoo and bounce house. All of her favorite things!!

feeding the goat

waiting for the hay ride

The pony ride was her dream come true.... if only the pony had been pink. It was adorable. She sat so still on the pony as it walked around and around for close to 20 minutes and we finally had to get her down. She wanted to go again and still talks about riding the pony. She is well on her way to becoming the cliche little girl who wants a pony, in this case, a pink pony. What is it about little girls and horses?? I don't think I was ever into horses and now I'm really not a fan. But I will admit it's sweet how much Valerie loves her some horses and ponies, and farms in general.

She loved feeding and petting the baby goats. She loved riding the train. The playground and bounce house were hits and the hay ride was just okay, but we definitely got our money's worth between the pony and train rides. This place was seriously toddler heaven. We were so glad we found it; it was the perfect morning activity while we waited for the sun to come out.

From there we went on to Pescadero to get the famous artichoke heart bread from Arcangeli grocery / Norm's Market, which our friends had recommended the night before. While we were there we got some giant pastries to tide us over til lunch... yum!!!

Then we stopped at San Gregorio beach for our picnic lunch. It was lovely but there was a big lagoon blocking the beach access so we just ate there and headed back to Pescadero beach.

We weren't sure what to expect of these Pacific beaches; I had low expectations of cold water and lots of rocks. I wasn't wrong; the water is ice cold and we definitely saw some cliffs and driftwood and rocks.  But wow, my expectations were blown away... the beaches are absolutely gorgeous!  And the weather got so perfect in the afternoon, it didn't even matter that the water is ice cold. Between warm sun and cool breeze it was perfectly comfortable hanging out on the sand, no need to even go near the water, although Valerie enjoyed sticking her legs in and shouting, "It's too much, it's too much!!!"

We had the loveliest afternoon hanging out on the beach, flying the kite, playing in the sand, tossing the frisbee... and yes, there was also some bad behavior, sand throwing and time out... we'll skip over that part. Overall it was a delightful day and none of us wanted to go home. We stopped at a farm market on the way back through Half Moon Bay and bought a huge box of local strawberries that are utterly to die for.

When we got home we sat on the back porch and gorged on strawberries, peaches, grapes and artichoke bread with butter. So many carbs.... I died and went to carb heaven, between the luscious peaches, the candy strawberries and the warm buttery bread....... heaven.

It was our first California adventure. We discovered that there are amazing beaches less than an hour's drive from our house, cute Pacific towns, farms, wineries, and stunning views of the hills and valleys along the way. So beautiful. What an incredible place to get to spend this year. I still can't believe we're really here living this opportunity. I can tell it's going to fly by so fast and be over before I even realize it's begun. What an awesome first weekend!

The best salad

A lot of people have a go-to recipe for when they need to bring a dish to something. Mine is this salad. The credit for introducing me to this salad goes to my stepmother-in-law Susan who served it at Christmas one year. Someone else introduced it to her, so I'm not sure who originated it, otherwise I would credit them heartily. I've been making this salad as often as possible, especially for everyday dinners at home, ever since Susan shared the recipe. It's just so good, I can't bring myself to make any other kind of salad beyond minor variations on this one. Favorite minor variation: add fresh chopped strawberries.

I've served it at a number of functions and I always get asked for the recipe. It's pretty much a guaranteed home run unless someone is allergic to walnuts or doesn't eat cheese. Candied pecans (or any other nuts) are a great substitute and you could also serve it without cheese for vegan or lactose intolerant friends. (Of course you would also have to substitute oil for the butter on the walnuts to be vegan.) Although, come to think of it, I don't personally know anyone who is completely vegan (that I'm aware of) so I have never tried that variation.  A life without butter or cheese... ok we're getting a little off topic here.

Back to The Salad. The secret is, of course, the homemade sweet-and-tangy vinaigrette dressing. It's so good I want to just dip anything in it after the lettuce is gone. Vegetables, potatoes, fish... I don't eat chicken but I have also heard it makes an awesome marinade for chicken. Here is the official recipe:

Glazed Walnut Salad
 
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 T butter
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ to 1 tsp pepper
Large amount of salad greens
¾ cup dried cranberries
4 oz. feta cheese
 
For the dressing:
¼ cup vinegar (any type)
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup red onion/shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup oil
½ tsp. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste
 
Melt butter in a skillet; add sugar, walnuts, salt and pepper.  

Cook on medium for 5 minutes.  Cool on wax paper.
 
For the dressing: Combine all ingredients in 

blender or food processor until well mixed.
 
In a large bowl, layer salad greens, feta cheese, 

cranberries and walnuts.  

Add dressing before serving and mix well.

 

 The homemade candied walnuts really take this over the top.  I started making those by themselves for Christmas every year because they were such a hit.  I will admit, though, that in a time crunch I just buy the candied walnuts from the grocery store and skip that part. It is easy, and worth it, to candy them yourself, but it gets a pan dirty, and well sometimes we're just a little crunched for time and we take shortcuts. 

The dressing is very flexible. I've made it many ways - with balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar.  Basil or parsley. Red onion or shallot (or neither if I have neither on hand). I stopped measuring long ago and I just eyeball the amounts of everything and I am yet to screw it up too terribly.  As long as it's about 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, you get some sugar in there, and pack it as full of the fresh herbs as possible, you are not going to go too wrong. 

 

Once again, I love my Cuisinart hand blender so much for making the dressing - just make it in the container you'll be storing it in, no transferring. An old glass pickle jar is perfect with a wide enough mouth for the blender, and you don't have to chop the parsley much at all, just small enough pieces so they will blend. 

One key tip, which you already know if you've ever served a dressed salad before, is add the dressing right before serving - not too far ahead. It will get soggy and sad. The best is when I have time to make the dressing and serve the salad all at once - oh my yum, it's so fresh and amazing. I often have to make the dressing the day before which is slightly less amazing but still works. 

 

It will keep for about a week or so once it's made and I try to maximize my greens intake whenever I have some left over and just keep scarfing mass amounts of this salad until the dressing is gone. If you are looking to get more greens in your diet this will do the trick I promise!  It's not a "light" dressing or salad by any means but it is so, so delicious and it is great real food. 

Nutrition tip of the day: an oil based dressing (or any fat) helps your body absorb the fat soluble nutrients in the salad greens, so pour on the dressing and enjoy!