White Bean Tuna Salad & Goat Cheese Cherry Bruschetta

It’s a miracle. I made it home in one piece and on the right date. Air travel is always a gamble. I didn’t help anything by showing up at the wrong airport. DC has too many airports! It could happen to anyone, probably. The breakdown/stressball that I became during the mad dash from Dulles to Reagan was fun for everyone…especially that toll booth man I screamed at. That was unnecessary.

I just had to get home. It’d been over 5 months! It felt amazing waking up in my own bed - minus the small stress hangover – and going for a nice long run to get my engines back to neutral.

Mom and I had a celebratory lunch at Meriwethers in my favorite Portland neighborhood. Super cute outdoor patio and their produce is grown on their own 5 acre farm nearby.



We split the nectarine, tomato, ricotta and prosciutto salad.

And the most delectable Reuben sandwich ever. I couldn’t even speak when the waiter asked us “how everything was tasting”. Is it just me, or do other people get rendered speechless when eating amazing food? The homemade Russian dressing with little pickles was on point.

There was shopping, napping, dog walking and other productive activities like that, before we started on dinner. My mom’s cherry and goat cheese bruschetta (originally a Whole Foods recipe) is brilliant. And a million times more fun to make when you have a cherry pitter.



This could become a really daunting appetizer without a cherry pitter.

Sisters hard at work.

Goat Cheese & Cherry Bruschetta

6 crusty bread slices,toasted
4 ounces goat cheese
2 cups cherries, pitted and quartered
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
handful fresh mint, chopped

Mix cherries, orange juice and mint together and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Spread goat cheese on toasted bread, then top with cherry mixture.

Purrty rainbow tomatoes to go into Giada’s White Bean Tuna Salad.

White Bean Tuna Salad

2 6 ounce cans white meat tuna, packed in water
2 15 ounce cans cannelini white beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup small capers
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
6 fresh basil leaves, julienned
2 cups arugula
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Add first five ingredients to a large bowl. Toss together and let flavors marry while you chop the vegetables. Add onion, tomatoes and basil to mixture and toss to combine. Mix lemon juice and olive oil, then dress the arugula. Plate tuna salad over a bed of the arugula salad. 

Lots of yummy recipes and restaurants to come!

PS. Why is it that the most amazing food is found on the west coast? Maybe it's the weather.

Peach Salsa

Tomorrow is our office’s wild and crazy end-of-fiscal-year party at my boss’s house. I’ve heard rumors of margaritas, karaoke machines, and most importantly, free dinner. I couldn’t pass this opportunity up to make something for the group. 

During my daily blog trolling, this Summer Peach Salsa recipe jumped out at me. It’s easy and yummy and colorful. The trick to the recipe is blanching the peaches to make the skin easier to peel off.

“X” the bottom and throw it in some boiling water for 1 minute, then immediately into ice water.

The skin comes right off! Unless it’s not ripe like one of mine, then its still a pain in the neck to peal.

I bet this would be delicious on top of fish, or in shrimp/fish tacos. But it works just fine with chips.

Recipe:
3 ripe peaches, about 1 pound
1/4 cup red onion, diced small
1/4 cup red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1/2 - 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint (or more to taste)
Juice from 1/2 lime
Kosher salt, to taste

First you need to peel the peaches. Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil. Cut a small X into the bottom of each peach. Drop the peaches into the boiling water for approximately 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches and immediately submerge into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Gently peel the peaches using your hands or a paring knife (the riper the peach, the easier this will be). Dice the peaches into small cubes.

Combine the chopped peaches, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, mint, and lime juice. Season with a pinch of kosher salt. Chill for one hour to allow flavors to combine and serve immediately.

Exposé on Tryst and Mint Oreo Truffles

I know, I know. I’ve made Oreo truffles at least 3 times on this blog already. But these are mint Oreos. And they’re for a very important event: Bachelorette Finale. JP or Ben F?!

There is a coupon-like website that's called scoutmob that has daily deals to restaurants in your area - but unlike other sites, these are free coupons!  Tryst, a coffee house/bar/restaurant in Adams Morgan was featured on their site last week, so Evan and I went to try out it.


The place is cool and funky, with old mismatched sofas, a copper plated ceiling and an even funkier clientele. This shouldn’t have been an issue, but I kid you not, I think we were discriminated against for not being funky enough. I ordered a banana, strawberry and pineapple smoothie to start and when it arrived it was just the smoothie in a glass.

Around us, I noticed people who had ordered the same thing, but they were served with a garnish of pineapple AND animal crackers. I was suspicious, but after a 25 minute wait for our deli sandwiches – and noticing others getting their food way before us – I put it together. We must have had Starbucks written all over us. Other than that, the food was delicious.

I had the turkey, avocado, sprout sandwich with homemade veggie cream cheese.

Evan had the roast beef with red peppers, feta and tahini dressing. I’ll probably go back for the food, there were just too many interesting sandwiches to try!
Hip, Hip, Hooray! It’s August! That means I’m closer to going home to Portland (6 days!), trip to Charleston!, brisk mornings, football Saturdays in Chapel Hill, sweaters

The things I will definitely miss will be the fresh fruit and tomatoes. Ah, and the Summer House sandwich from Jetties:

Food Trucks and Space Ships

In the past two days, I’ve made pretty good work of exploring DC’s trendy food scene. As you’d expect, restaurant’s often get their name on the map in this city because of their famous owner/executive chef/etc. As is the case of El Centro where I went on Friday, a Richard Sandoval operation. Richard has an impressive resume of big time restaurants across the world, and this one didn’t disappoint.
Tucked away into Adams Morgan, the snazzy but authentic Mexican restaurant boasts 250 different types of tequila, table-side prepared guacamole and creative taco options. I stuck with white wine, I’m not sure I’m a tequila kind of girl, but Melissa and I couldn’t turn down the guac. I ordered the grilled cactus tacos. They were great! The cactus was tender and vegetable-like. Who knew?
Day two Evan and I went on a mission to find food trucks.

These are all the rage and I, for one, was a little ashamed to not have tried one of them yet. The Dangerously Delicious truck cranks out all different types of pies. We split the SMOG (steak, mushroom, onion and gruyere) pie

and the strawberry rhubarb pie.

The smog was okay, but the strawberry rhubarb was deeelish. I should’ve sprung for the peanut butter chocolate chess pie too… Next time.
Our other food truck of the day was Red Hook Lobster Pound for a lobster roll.
This petit lobster roll set us back $15, but oh.em.gee. We ordered the “Connecticut style” where the lobster is butter poached and served warm. I had to sit there and bask in it’s glory after it was gone.
Last, and probably least exciting (in my opinion) thing we did this morning was go to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

I have trouble summoning the patience it takes to explore museums. Not to mention when they’re about things like space ships and planes. Poor Evan will have to find a more suitable museum tourer to bring back there.

Nevertheless, it felt like a productive Saturday morning

Vegetable Burrito Bowl

Meatless Thursday.

After a night like last night, it had to be. A bunch of us went to the the Congressional Blues Festival at the National Building Museum. The tickets were only $25 dollars for all you can eat, drink and blues-listen. In theory this sounds awesome, but as usual it was a bit of a let-down. The line for food was 45 minutes to an hour long, which was really my biggest qualm. The food its self wasn’t terrible, but it was all meat. Fried chicken, chicken salad, honey baked ham, ribs, chicken gumbo, with side options of slaw and potato salad. Hence, Meatless Thursday.

I’ve never made burrito bowls, per say, but it’s one of those dishes you can throw in whatever you have in the fridge, top it with salsa, and call it a burrito bowl.

Tonight we have:
rice
black beans
corn
lettuce
bell pepper
cucumber
red onion
white cheddar cheese
salsa
Greek yogurt
tortilla chips

Ina’s Lemon Chicken

I am TOO suggestible. It has always been a problem for me. Yesterday, I went to the gym with a dinner menu in mind, but while on the treadmill I watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa where she makes lemon chicken, and what do I do? Walk next door to Whole Foods and buy the ingredients for lemon chicken. I’ve been disinterested in chicken for a few months now, but watching the white wine, garlic and lemon bubble around chicken with crispy browned skin…I was convinced. Watching the Food Network while working out is tricky. Sometimes it can act as a motivator when you think about the work out as the way to justify eating that Chocolate Honey Almond Tart I’m staring at. Other times, it just makes me hungry and eager to get home.

I only made half of this recipe:

1/4 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on (6 to 8 ounces each)
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don't allow the garlic to turn brown. Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 by 12-inch baking dish.

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned. If the chicken isn't browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.

I served the chicken with basmati rice and grilled summer squash - on my new grill pan!! Thanks to Evan’s parents for the William Sonoma gift card ;)

Monday night’s in the summer, a group called Screen on the Green set up a large screen in between the Washington Monument and the Capitol to play classic movies. Evan’s been wanting to go to this for months, so since it wasn’t 100 million degrees outside, I agreed to go. It was a pretty incredible setting, and the movie In the Heat of the Night was very relevant to the book I’m reading (The Help). We brought lawn chairs, but were a little unprepared compared to the people around us. Next week we’ll be sure to bring some drinks and snacks!

Tapas: It’s what’s for dinner!

How great are tapas? It’s the perfect way to use up what’s in the fridge and make a creative dinner with a lot of variety. Furthermore, I always read about appetizer recipes I want to make for a dinner party or entertaining guests (but at my age, these occasions don’t happen that often). When I grow up - and live in a nice house with a huge vegetable garden - I will have friends over for creative appetizers, tea and desserts, and fun cocktails all the time!  Until then, I’ll just make them for myself for dinner.


~Tapas Menu~
Watermelon
Caprese salad with a huge farmers market tomato

White peach wrapped in prosciutto with a sprinkle of fresh mint and honey

Mixed olives
Sriracha buttered shrimp

The sriracha shrimp left a lasting burn in my mouth, but they were delicious. This was my maiden voyage with the spicy Asian sauce, and I’m definitely a fan. I found the recipe on Bon Appetit's website.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp
6 tbsp sriracha
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp minced fresh mint
2 tbsp minced fresh basil

Whip butter with Sriracha and melt in skillet.  Sauté minced garlic in it and toss in shrimp. Just before they're done, add lemon zest and mint and basil and let them wilt.

For dessert, two scoops of this gorgeous ice cream: