note from the retreat chefs: whenever you can use organic and/or local ingredients, please do. the results will be so much tastier and healthier for you. SALUD from alison and karen.
Friday night dinner
Kimchee Quesadillas
Ingredients:- white corn tortillas (corn or flour tortillas will work, though i think corn tastes better)
- shredded cheese - cheddar & monterey jack
- kimchee
- butter
Directions:
- coat grill with butter
- sprinkle shredded cheese in an even layer onto tortilla and top with kimchee, top with additional tortilla.
- cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes until golden and crispy.
- place on cutting board and allow to cool for 1 minute.
- cut into halves or quarters
Jap Chae-esque noodles
Ingredients:- clear yam or potato noodles (can be found in asian supermarkets)
- carrots
- spinach
- cucumbers
- red peppers
- shitake mushrooms (this was not included but is a great addition)
- soy sauce
- sriracha sauce
- oyster sauce
- chicken broth
- fish sauce
- extra virgin olive oil (any cooking oil will be fine)
- fresh ground black pepper
- salt (sea salt is better than table salt)
Directions:
- cut all vegetables into thin strips (my best friend, the food processor, was VERY HELPFUL!)
- boil the noodles until it has the consistency you like (chewy, not mushy) and drain water - don't allow the noodles to sit around for too long after draining as they will stick together)
- coat a pan with oil and cook/combine all the vegetables (make sure you cook the vegetables in order, for example, carrots should be tossed in pan first b/c it takes longer to cook than red peppers, which take longer than spinach)
- set the cooked vegetables aside
- put the cooked and drained noodles in pan and simmer for a minute with chicken broth
- combine noodles with the cooked vegetables
- then put in the other sauces and spices, constantly tasting as you go
- don't overcook by keeping the heat low, remember that all the ingredients are already cooked, you're just mixing
Saturday breakfast
note: when baking with an unfamiliar oven, keep your eye on the oven so baked goods don't get burned (like what happened at the retreat).
Oh so good banana bread
Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 very ripe medium-sized bananas = 1 cup mashed
3/4 cup sugar (i usually put less, like 1/2 cup or less)
1/4 cup cooking oil (more oil will make it very cake-y & moist)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1) grease the bottom and sides of a 8x4x2 inch loaf pan - set aside.
2) in a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. make a well in the center of this dry mixture - set aside.
3) in another bowl, combine the egg, mashed bananas, sugar, cooking oil and walnuts. add this wet mixture all at once to the dry mixture. stir until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
4) spoon batter into prepared pan. cover the top of the batter with a thin layer of sugar! bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick or knife comes out clean from the center. let cool for 10 minutes. remove loaf from pan and let cool.
To Die for Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients: - 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
for crumb topping:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions:
- preheat oven to 400 F
- grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners
- combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder in bowl. place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. mix this with flour mixture. add blueberries.
- fill muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture
- to make the crumb topping: mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup finely cubed butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. mix with fork thoroughly and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
- bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven
Saturday lunch
Simple Carrot Ginger Soup
Ingredients:- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped ginger root (a microplane really helps here) - can use more ginger if you like it spicy
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 chucks
- salt & fresh pepper
Directions:
- heat olive oil in large stock pot over medium heat
- add onion, ginger and garlic - saute for 5-10 minutes
- add the stock and carrots
- heat to boiling and reduce heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat until the carrots are very tender, around 30 minutes
- puree the soup in a blender (in batches) or use an immersion blender
- season with salt and pepper to desired taste
Turkey Pesto Spinach Croissant Sandwich
Pesto
Ingredients:
- 2 cups fresh packed basil leaves (packed means, stuff them into a measure cup and press them down with your hand; it's not a precise measurement)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional - we did not put this in)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (or 1 tablespoon of prepared minced garlic)
- salt
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
- pick leaves off basil and wash thoroughly
- chop the pine nuts, olive oil and garlic in food processor
- add the basil leaves in small batches
- add salt to taste
For the sandwich:
- slice the croissant in half
- spread the top and bottom of croissant w/ pesto
- line with turkey
- top with spinach tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and craisins
Saturday dinner BBQ
apologies: i do apologize to the people who didn't get a chance to get these items, they disappeared as soon as they were ready. these are definitely Q-Wave crowd-pleasers!
* 1 lb. fresh mushrooms with caps
* 1/2 to 1 stick (4 to 8 Tbs.) of melted butter
* 1 cup bread crumbs
* fresh chopped parsley
* 1 Tbs. oil
* 1 crushed garlic clove
* 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 1 minced medium onion
Remove mushroom stems and chop. Place caps on buttered baking sheet and set aside. Sauté chopped stems, onions, and garlic in oil. Mix other dry ingredients. Add them to melted butter and wine in a sauce pan and stir together. Mold a small amount on the cap.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 F. Make sure you check it as it gets close to 20 minutes, you don't want to overcook it, actually you want to undercook it a bit b/c it will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven.
Serve warm.
Honey Ginger Soy Chicken Wings
Ingredients: - chicken wings
- honey
- soy sauce
- thinly sliced (julienne) ginger pieces
- 1 or 2 star anise
- 1 cup water
Directions:
- in a small pot, combine water, soy sauce, honey, ginger and the star anise. add more water and honey based on taste.
- keep the temperature low and simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring all the ingredients together.
- marinate the chicken wings for as long as you can (several hours is good)
- BBQ the chicken wings and watch them fly off the tray!
Sunday Working Brunch
Gouda Basil Scrambled Eggs
Ingredients:
- chopped basil
- shredded gouda cheese (or any cheese)
- salt
- fresh pepper
- eggs
- extra virgin olive oil
- optional: milk or cream to make the eggs fluffier
how to make scrambled eggs:
- crack eggs into a bowl and whip it vigorously with a whisk or a fork, making sure that you whip it in large circles which allows air to "enter"
- coat skillet or non-stick pan with oil
- coat pan with eggs, top with cheese
- allow the egg mixture to sit in pan until you see bubbling (don't overcook and let it solidify)
- then fold the egg mixture, one good way to do this is to push the mixture towards the middle (this creates big fluffy pieces of eggs)
- add salt and pepper to taste
- top with basil
Crispy herb potatoes
ingredients:
- cilantro
- garlic - lots of it
- salt and pepper to taste
- yellow or white onions
- green peppers
- hot sauce
- safflower oil (or other high heat oil)
- potatoes (some kind of white potato)
directions:
- slice the potatoes thinly into rounds
- put safflower oil into cast iron pan or other large pan.
- add potatoes, ideally your pan is large enough so there are only two layers of potatoes.
- cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until they start to soften
- chop up the green pepper and onion and then add them
- cook more until these are brown and the potatoes are soft and somewhat crispy
- then add the garlic (finely chopped) for about 5 minutes and
- add the cilantro (chopped)
- add salt and pepper to taste
- serve hot with hot sauce on the side.
a trick to this recipe is to boil the potatoes beforehand, this will significantly decrease the cook time in the cast iron pan and can be done the night before.
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