Roasted Tomatoes

Roasting tomatoes is very easy and they can be used in sandwiches or eaten by themselves.

Ingredients:

6-8 tomatoes, cut in quarters

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl rub tomatoes with olive oil and oregano, salt to taste. Arrange tomato wedges skin side down on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Almond and Cherry Yogurt

Tired of eating the same thing over and over again? I hear you. To make my Chobani yogurt more fun these days I add two tablespoons of sliced toasted almonds. Almost like a dessert!

Thanksgiving Trip to San Francisco

This year we went to San Francisco to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family. We did manage to get away and do some sightseeing. The highlight of the trip was walking across the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset.

Other things worth mentioning are: visiting the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Blue Bottle Coffee and dinner at Spruce. All with the baby and a stroller!

Pear Walnut Blue Cheese and Red Onion Pizza

This is another pizza I made using Trader Joe's pizza dough and other ingredients. I already posted a longer post about making pizza at home using ingredients from Trader Joe's. This time I used olive oil as a base and then added slices of pear, chopped walnuts, blue cheese and sliced red onions. As always the key is not to use too much of the ingredients!

Russian Tea Cookies with Cardamon

Oh, Russian Tea cookies! I did not know about you until I moved to the US. And as far as I know none of my Russian friends knew about them in Russia either. But I love them. What not to love? Butter, sugar and pecans! The recipe is your basic Betty Crocker plus I added some cardamon.



Ingredients:

4 oz of butter, room temperature
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of cardamon
1 heaping cup of flour
1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl mix together powered sugar, butter, salt, vanilla extract and cardamon. Next, add pecans and mix well. Lastly, add flour and mix again until you have a dough of even consistency. I use my hands to do all the mixing.

2. Roll the dough into balls, flatten them a little bit with your hands - I get 2 inch diameter cookies. Place cookies on a cookie sheet leaving 1-2 inch space between them - no greasing is needed. Bake for 12 minutes until cooked but not brown though most likely the bottom will be slightly brown.

3. Roll hot cookies in powdered sugar one at a time and then set them to cool. Once cookies have cooled off roll them in powdered sugar once again.

Butternut Squash Carrot and Apple Soup

As it turns out making a Butternut Squash soup without spending much time and without using a heavy whipping cream is very easy. I came up with this recipe on my own over the years. Plus my kid loves it. Below is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
4 carrots, peeled, chopped
1 apple, peeled, seeded and cubed
pinch of cinnamon, cumin, and coriander
8-10 sage leaves, chopped
3 cups of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Salt to taste

For serving:

Sage leaves
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream
Toasted pumpkin seeds

1. Peel and cut your vegetables. Smaller the cubes faster they cook. Also, use a sharp knife and a good peeler to cut the squash. Some people microwave squash before cutting it but I decided not to risk it blowing up (which I hear can happen).

2. Pour 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil in a large soup pot and on medium high heat saute squash, carrots and apple for 2 minutes. Add spices and sage leaves and saute for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat to medium if you see vegetables start burning. Next add stock, bring to a boil, stir, lower heat to medium low (or low, depends on your stove), cover with a lid and let cook for 1 hour until squash and carrots are soft stirring occasionally.

3. Puree squash, carrot and apple mixture in a blender. I worked in 2 batches. Transfer into a clean soup pot and salt to taste.

4. To fry sage leaves heat 1/4 cup of oil in a small pan until hot, add sage leaves and fry for 8-10 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and sprinkle some salt on them. To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl, add creme fraiche or sour cream, few fried sage leaves and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds. 

Simple Greek Salad

It is very easy to make Greek Salad at home. The key is to use good ingredients and slice them pretty. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 of green pepper
1 tomato
1/2 of English cucumber
12 Kalamata olives, pitted
4-5 oz of fresh feta (I buy fresh French feta from PCC Natural Markets)
1/8 (or less) of red onion
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:



1. As I mentioned earlier each ingredient must be sliced nicely. This is the way I do it. I cut tomato into six wedges and then slice each wedge in three pieces. I like my pepper slices to be long and thin ( about 1/3 of an inch thickness). I peel cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise and then slice each half in 1/3 of an inch slices. I use very little amount of red onion and again slice it very very thinly. Feta should be sliced into about 3/4 - 1 inch cubes. I leave olives as they are. Assemble all salad ingredients in a bowl.

2. To make the dressing in a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic that was put through the garlic press and oregano.

 3. Pour dressing over the salad and mix. Salt and Pepper to taste. Salad is ready!