Chicken Orzo Soup

 I have entered the zone where all I think about cooking (and pretty much all that I actually cook, if we are being honest) are soups and baked goods. Soups and baked good allll day long please!! Nothing hits the spot for me this time of year better than a hot pot of soup, plus if I'M feeling ambitious a freshly baked *something* warm from the oven. My last couple of posts have been all about the tasty baked goods side of the equation, featuring this obsession-worthy apple cake and these baked pumpkin spice donuts. Hence, I think it's time to move over to soups for a post or two. It's only fair right?? To balance out the sugar and spice and everything nice, you have to base your indulgences on a solid foundation of simmering fresh veggies and proteins.

Enter chicken orzo soup. It's basically like the chicken noodle soup of your childhood sick days grew up into a pot full of goodness and fresh herbs that you could eat all day long. Like any recipe, it's easy to swap out ingredients to fit your taste. If you don't want/have orzo, you could use a different type of pasta (although these little rice-shaped pieces of orzo fill your spoon really well, sans messy splashes). Or, you could substitute the rotisserie chicken with sausage, pancetta, or more veggies. I've adapted this from the amazing cookbook Flour, Too, whose namesake restaurant chain is located in Boston. And you can bet Bostonians know a thing or two about how to make a good winter soup. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

½ of a cooked rotisserie chicken, shredded

4-5 cans chicken stock

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 in pieces (or 1 cup shredded carrots)

2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2 in pieces

¾ cup orzo pasta

1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 in pieces

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 cayenne pepper

2 tsp thyme, finely chopped

2 tsp sage, finely chopped

1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped

4 cups baby spinach leaves

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. Reduce the heat to medium-low and sweat the vegetables for about 8 minutes, stirring often until almost tender to the bite.
2. Add the chicken stock, raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Add the orzo, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the orzo is cooked. Add the zucchini, salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne. Let simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Add the shredded chicken and stir in the thyme, sage, rosemary, and spinach. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately.

Apple Spice Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

So, can we all just get together for a second to agree that daylight standard time is really hard to adjust to?! I am sitting at home, it is 3:00 in the afternoon, and it feels like I should be eating dinner right now. I know everyone says this every year since the history of daylight savings, but man it's tough when it gets dark at five o'clock. Cake always makes things better, so I'm going to post about that, right after some updates about our trip to Big Sur!

We have been feeling the fall chill here in Monterey, and had to get our space heater out of the garage to survive the cold evenings and mornings. The days have still been beautiful though, and we went on a picture perfect day trip to Big Sur yesterday! It's only a one hour drive from us, so we hopped on highway one, stopped at Bixby bridge, took a little hike at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, then had lunch at Nepenthe restaurant which has drop dead gorgeous views. We got the Caprese salad, chicken sandwich, and a basket of fries. It's on the pricier side, but you have to remember it must not be easy to get all their supplies trucked in since the restaurant is so isolated. Definitely worth going to for the unique ambiance and killer views. We will be back.

 View from our table

 Great balsamic on the Caprese, which was almost a Caprese/Greek salad hybrid

 More fries please.

Yes you are correct, I wear this shirt everywhere.

When we got home, I made this amazing apple spice cake that screams "cozy fall day" right in your face. I can't get enough of anything with apples at any time of the year (see Apple Oven Cake, Apple Crisp, or Sweet Potato Apple Soup) but the spices here are spot on for a snuggly Saturday cake fix. I tweaked this from a recipe I found on Bake or Break. You should probably make it right away, preferably after inviting guests over for dinner. We had no guests visiting, so now we just have a LOT of cake to eat our way through. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

 

Ingredients:
2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 medium apples, finely chopped 

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, nice and soft at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans, for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper. Butter paper.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
5. Add flour in 3 portions, alternating with 2 portions of milk. Mix just until combined. Stir in apples.
6. Divide batter between prepared pans and smooth evenly. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Then, remove pans to wire racks, remove parchment paper, and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

1. Place cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until combined and smooth.
2. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, mixing until smooth. Add cinnamon and vanilla and mix well.
3. Frost as desired and garnish top of cake with the chopped toasted nuts.

Pumpkin Spice Donuts & Feeling Like Fall

Why hello! Somewhere in the last month or so fall took us by storm. The days are slowly cooling off in Monterey, but it is still beautiful sticking at around 70 degrees. Supposedly fall is one of the best seasons around these parts, so we shall see if El Nino kicks in early or not! At work I am organizing a pumpkin decorating contest, we have a Halloween themed employee bowling night coming up for which I of course do not yet have a costume...

In the kitchen I have embraced fall by baking pumpkin spiced donuts in my donut pan and some pumpkin pancakes (those pancakes didn't quite turn out as advertised - feel like they just wouldn't cook!). I have heard rumors of a pumpkin shortage this year due to the drought, so we stocked up on lots of cans of pumpkin at Trader Joe's just to be safe. More tests with pumpkin pancakes will therefore be forthcoming.

 These are my donuts just before they were dunked in a butter and sugar mixture. Yumm.

This past weekend we went kayaking at Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing and saw SO matter otters and seals up close and personal! It was a great little protected place where they like to hang out. The kayak rental guy even said that sometimes the otters will jump up onto the front of your kayak and you have to splash them off! Then on Sunday, the power was out all day. That meant no hot showers, no breakfast, no coffee shops open, no grocery stores, no restaurants...luckily we took a nice long walk and discovered that the Aquarium still had power and were able to get lunch there. Whew!

This Wednesday is my birthday!! I am already feeling the love from family and am excited to be turning another year older and wiser. I was also secretly excited at work the other day when a coworker expressed shock when I said I was married - she thought I had just graduated from college. Nope nope nope, but thanks! On Friday Stuart and I will be trying out the Italian restaurant Il Vecchio for a belated birthday dinner. Saturday we are heading over to Santa Cruz for the day (I have a whole list of foodie places I want to try and look forward to reporting back), and Sunday we are doing the Carmel Wine Walk with a couple friends. Life is good!! I hope you too are stocking up on pumpkin (canned or otherwise) and enjoying these gorgeous fall days.

Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts

(Makes 10 regular size donuts)

For Donuts:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

For Coating: (approximate measurements)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a donut pan and set aside.

1. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together and set aside.

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and stir until just combined, careful not to over mix.

1. Fill each donut cup with batter. The cups should be fairly full, but not overflowing. Bake for 15 minutes or until donuts spring back when gently pressed. Turn donuts out onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes.

1. While the donuts are cooling, melt butter in one bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in another.  When donuts are still hot but cool enough to touch, quickly dip each donut lightly in melted butter, then coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately.

*Note: If you're not going to serve the donuts immediately, you can bake them up to a day in advance and store them in an airtight container. Do not coat them in the butter/cinnamon-sugar mixture until just before serving or they may get soggy.

White Pizza with Arugula and Blogging Plans

Well, I think it might be time for a little blogging reality check. As you may have noticed, each of the last few times I've posted a blog I've cited "big recent life changes" (e.g. new move, new job) and vowed to get back onto a regular blogging schedule. And each time, it definitely has not happened! Instead of fighting it any longer, I'm just going to acknowledge the obvious and confirm that this is no longer going to be a weekly blog. Maybe it will be monthly blog, maybe more or less often, but I've decided things are going to be slower and more spontaneous on the blogging front from here on out.

Having blogged now for three fulls years, I have gotten attached to this blog and I'm definitely not planning on throwing in the towel or anything that extreme. I've seen a pretty clear trajectory on my posts now looking back - when I first started this blog, it was just after my wedding and I was on a summer grad school break. The free time + excitement of starting the blog meant I was posting literally every day. Eventually, I settled in at a nice steady pace of blogging once per week, while I was working part-time as a freelancer in San Luis Obispo. Now that I'm working full time for the first time since starting the blog, life has gotten in the way of my regular posting.

I think it's a huge testament to all bloggers who have a blog "on the side" that they are able to do what they do. Even for a blogger like me who isn't trying to "sell" my blog or make my photos look magazine-worthy, blog posts take a whole lot of time! If you are leading a normal, busy life and trying to be economical with your time, the last thing you want to do is make dinner take 3x longer to prepare because you are stopping to take photos every step, then making your husband wait before he can start eating so that you can take more pictures, then spending 1-2 hours writing up your post and uploading and deciding which photos to use. And of course, that means that you can't be making your easy, fast tried and true recipes because you want to cook something that is new, experimental, and blog-worthy which takes...you guessed it, even more time. Even for a hobby blog like mine, all that time adds up. So I hope you will pardon me if you are a stalwart reader of this blog, and continue to check back! Or even better, sign up for email versions of the blog or get the app called Feedly so that you can easily follow all of your various blogs. That's what I use and I love it!

Now for a few life updates and some food inspiration...

I threw an employee appreciation party at work. It was amazing and involved lots of balloons and confetti and treats and these adorable mini fruit tarts which somehow I did not eat?!

 We went to Vintage Santa Clara again this year with our awesome friends, and drank more wine than you should on a Sunday afternoon and had a blast.

 I made an updated version of the Barefoot Contessa's white pizza with arugula and loved it! The recipe is down at the bottom of this post. I think this pizza crust recipe is my new favorite.

My parents and my cousin visited! We celebrated by mom's birthday and went wine tasting and they got to see our new 'hood. 

 We ate at The Bench while touring Pebble Beach and checking out my work. I had this strawberry Moscow mule with lunch that tasted like an ice slushy and felt like...a Moscow mule.

They got me on a bike. Enough said.

 I went to a fancy Luau at work so that I could "provide feedback from a guest perspective." Amazingness.

We built this patio set with our bare hands and I have never been so proud to sit down in my life. 

White Pizza With Arugula

Ingredients:

For the dough:
Just under 3/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
1/2 tablespoon honey
Good olive oil
2cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
Kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups grated Italian fontina cheese
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
5.5 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
For the vinaigrette:
1/4 cup good olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces baby arugula 

Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste (not too much!)

 

Directions:

Mix the dough: Combine the water, yeast, honey and 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 1.5 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon salt and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1/2 cup more flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Make garlic oil: Place 1/4 cup of olive oil, the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the dough on a pan and press and stretch into a circle. Brush with the garlic oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly with fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese. Drizzle with garlic oil. Place aluminum foil in your oven to catch any oil drips that may fall off the pizza pan. Bake pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/4 cup of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. When the pizzas are done, place the arugula in a large bowl and toss with just enough lemon vinaigrette to moisten. Place a large bunch of arugula on each pizza and a slice of lemon and serve immediately.

Panko Fish Tacos

If we are being honest, I have to admit that I am afraid of frying things. Eating fried food is one thing I am not afraid of (I'm looking at you, fried chicken and donuts), but making fried foods at home hasn't happened yet for me. The idea of filling a big pot full of oil, avoiding rogue spatters, and then figuring out how to dispose of the oil when you're done (down the drain, or not??) has caused me to avoid this particular cooking endeavor.

My answer to this has been an increasing love of panko bread crumbs. I love breading things with panko! Give me a piece of chicken and I will panko away - as evidenced in this earlier post on my favorite panko chicken, or as a key ingredient in these homemade turkey burgers. Then a while back, my favorite blog A Cup of Jo also told me that I could panko my fish! This was an even more exciting discovery, as I hate frying fish at home because if we are still being honest, cooking fish can get smelly no matter how fresh your fish is.

What can be better on a warm summer night than perfectly seasoned baked fish combined with a crisp lemony slaw? Adding guacamole and salsa is definitely a must! Find the best tortillas you can and add a margarita and we are looking at a pretty perfect evening.

For the slaw:
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced
2 carrots, grated
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. creme fraiche (or plain Greek yogurt)
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt

For the fish
1 lb. tilapia, sliced (of fish of your choice)
1 egg, whisked
1 cup panko (find at Trader Joe's)
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. oregano
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. canola oil
8 tortillas
1 lime

1. Place sliced cabbage, grated carrots and chopped cilantro in a large bowl. Next combine lemon juice, creme fraiche, and olive oil for the dressing. Generously salt the cabbage mixture, pour in the dressing and toss everything together. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.

2. For the fish tacos, preheat oven to 425F. Next, rinse the tilapia fillets and dry them with paper towels. Slice them into 2″ long pieces and place them onto a plate. Pour the whisked egg over the fish and make sure each piece gets covered in the egg wash. This will ensure that the panko mixture completely coats the fish. 

3. In a Ziploc bag, mix panko, paprika, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt and oil. Place your egg-coated fish into the bag, seal and shake.

4. Once the fish is coated in panko, spread the pieces onto a foil-lined sheet pan. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the panko is golden brown. Wrap your tortillas in foil and throw them in the oven for the last 3 to 5 minutes of baking.

A New Job & The San Juan Islands

Oh my goodness, where does the time go?? It feel like just yesterday that I was writing about our move to Monterey and promising that I was going to get back on a more regular blog schedule. That was...almost one month ago. Don't worry, as usual I am ready with good excuses for my radio silence. First off, I have a new job! Only at the end of July I officially started work as an Executive Assistant at Pebble Beach Company. Yes, as in the world-famous golf resort that hosts all the fancy celebrity golf tournaments. I know, you may be thinking that one important detail doesn't make sense...I don't golf. In fact, I will cheerfully admit that I don't know the first thing about golf, despite the fact that as an employee I can now play the world's best course for free.

It turns out that Pebble Beach is a lot more than just a golf course. I've learned over the past few weeks that it is in fact home to the world-famous scenic "17 Mile Drive," five golf courses, three hotels, a fancy award-winning spa, and almost 15 restaurants. It has a free employee dining room, which means no brown bagging it to work...ever. It is also absolutely gorgeous and only ten minutes drive from my house. In other words, somebody better pinch me because it doesn't seem quite real yet. My job is located at the Inn at Spanish Bay, where I support the general manager, food and beverage director, and rooms director. This is my first time working directly in the hospitality industry, and it is absolutely fascinating. Everyone I work with is extremely nice and very, very good at what they do. I'm still learning the ropes, the lingo, and the industry and probably will continue to learn for a long while to come.

As you know, training for a new job is exhausting just because everything is so new and there is a TON to learn. So, good thing Stuart and I had a pre-planned vacation to the San Juan Islands at the beginning of August! After a week of intensive training at my new job, we headed to the airport for some R&R. We started off with 24 hours in Seattle, followed up by four nights on Orcas Island to celebrate the wedding of two good family friends. It was just what the doctor ordered a great way to sneak a summer vacation into what has been a truly whirlwind of a summer. Here is a glimpse of our recent trip!

Catching up with good friend Lauren and enjoying a French 75 at Bastille in Ballard

A new gem in Pike's Place market - AMAZING yogurt at Ellenos (yogurt as in your breakfast Yoplait but 1000x better)

Brunch at Tilikum Place Cafe, an old favorite from our Seattle days. This beauty is the Dutch baby. 

 

 

Great food on Orcas Island at New Leaf Cafe

Annnnd it's wedding time again! This was our third wedding this year, we have one more to go in 2015!!

Salmon & Asparagus with Crème Fraîche

Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a great last couple of weeks. I am happy to report that life in Monterey is going very well and I am finally settling into a cooking routine in my new kitchen! As you may know from previous posts, I have become a fan of planning out my whole week's worth of meals in advance so that I am guaranteed to have the right ingredients on hand for wholesome meals during the week. After some fits and starts as we continued to unpack and put off grocery shopping until things were getting dire, I am now back in the game and meal planning away.

This past week has been gorgeous and sunny, and while I have been assured that it is not normally so crystal clear and warm, Stuart and I have been taking advantage by lots of strolls along the ocean front and Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. There is a recreation trail that goes all the way around the Bay that's fun to walk, and yesterday we took advantage of the sun and went to spend the afternoon at Asilomar Beach. The smell of saltwater and warm air had me craving fresh fish and I wanted to try my hand at cooking something new. Luckily I had bookmarked the perfect recipe from a recent issue of Sunset magazine and lo and behold Salmon & Asparagus with Crème Fraîche was born. This dish is so quick and simple, but with fresh and interesting flavors as well as the richness imparted from the salmon and crème fraîche. It is bound to become a new staple in my home cooking routine!

I imagine this dish could be re-created to your taste in countless ways - for example by using halibut instead of salmon or by adding different vegetable combinations to roast underneath the fish. Wherever you are, I hope your weekend has involved sun, sand, long days, and delicious food.

Ingredients:

2 bunches asparagus (about 2 lbs. total)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

About 3/4 tsp. kosher salt, divided

About 1/2 tsp. pepper, divided

4 skinned salmon fillets (5 to 6 oz. each)

1/2 cup crème fraîche

1 tablespoon each whole-grain mustard and chopped fresh chives

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler with oven rack about 4 in. from heat (my broiler was acting up so I preheated the oven to 450.)

2. Snap off bottom of an asparagus spear to see where it breaks easily. Line up remaining spears and slice off bottoms at the same spot. Put trimmed asparagus on a 12- by 17-in. rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with oil and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Arrange asparagus in a single layer on baking sheet.

3. Season salmon with remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper, then set on top of asparagus in a single layer. If you would like to serve rice with dinner, begin making it now.

4. Broil or bake salmon and asparagus until salmon is no longer translucent but still moist in center and asparagus is browned in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes. If asparagus isn't done, lift salmon to a platter and return asparagus to oven for a few more minutes.

5. Meanwhile, whisk together crème fraîche, mustard, chives, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Serve salmon and asparagus with crème fraîche sauce.