Weekend Finds

Weekend Finds 8:3:14

I love the summer. I really do. Yesterday’s trip to the farmer’s market was beautiful – everything smelled so good, and I wanted to bring it all home with me. I wish my little sister was here to help me pick out the best tomatoes. But there’s that thing that’s starting to nag in the back of my mind. I look at my closet and wish I could wear some of my favorite sweaters. I wish I could make tea anytime after 10 a.m. and not be too hot to drink it. But then I look at the tomatoes, and I’m ok with summer for a while longer. On to these late summer weekend finds:

1. Homemade Ice Cream Tips

Ice Cream Tips // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
If this picture from Bon Appetit doesn’t make you want ice cream, I don’t know what will.

Tis the season for homemade ice cream, and these tips from BA are really helpful if you’re new to the game. Overall, these tips are mostly about time – take the time to cook your custard well, take the time to add your chunks and ribbons at the right moment, and take the time to let the ice cream set up in the freezer. Trust me, it’s worth it.

2. Gazpacho without a recipe

Gazpacho Non-Recipe // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Gazpacho is happening.

This is exactly the non-recipe I’ve been looking for. Thanks Food52.

3. Ricotta Ice Cream

Ricotta Ice Cream from David Lebovitz // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
I could certainly go for a scoop of this right now.

Speaking of ice cream… David Lebovitz knows his stuff when it comes to ice cream. So I trust him. And when he says to make a ricotta ice cream with pistachios and candied lemon, I listen. This ice cream sounds like it would be sublime on top of a berry crumb cake or polenta cake or something like that. Talk about a lovely summer dessert.

4. Chicken with Plum Chutney

Chicken with Plum Chutney // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
This chicken with plum chutney is a perfect August dinner.

I posted this recipe 2 years ago (wow), and I was reminded of it this week because there’s a plum tree on our walk way, and the plums are starting to ripen (and fall). This means it’s almost time to make plum chutney. And the chicken that goes with it. This is by far one of my favorite summer dishes, and I can’t wait.

5. Alternative Pie Crusts

Alternative Pie Crusts // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
How pretty is this filo dough pie crust?

Now you know I love my pie crust, but sometimes it’s time to try new things. All of these alternative crusts look awesome, as in I would like to try all of them now. I’m particularly intrigued by the rice crust.

Weekend Finds 7:20:14

It has been HOT in Portland, you guys. I’m talking like 90 degrees, humid, blech. The kind of hot that just makes you want to dip your toes in a fountain, drink milkshakes, and take a nap in the afternoon with the fan blowing full force. When it’s this hot, it officially becomes salad season. Here are some weekend finds to help deal with the heat.

1. Gazpacho

Gazpacho Season // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Ooh I could go for a cup of gazpacho right about now.

Jonah claims he doesn’t like gazpacho, but I’m convinced I can change his mind if I find the perfect recipe. I haven’t committed to one yet, but I’m determined to make some this week, before it cools off too much. I’ve been looking at recipes like this, this, and this. Let me know in the comments if you have a great gazpacho recipe.

2. Tomato, Corn, Cucumber Salad

Corn, Tomato, Cucumber, and Feta Salad // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Doesn’t that look just like the definition of summer?

Earlier this week, we needed a quick, crunchy, cold dinner before we went to play a show. I picked up some corn, grape tomatoes, and feta on the way home, we sliced it all up, added some cucumber, and voila, dinner (via this recipe). Then last night we went over to a friend’s house for salad night and we pulled out the leftovers, threw them on top of some spinach, added some chickpeas and a tahini dressing (this one minus the ginger and garlic, plus a little more vinegar). It was filling and refreshing and really delicious.

3. Crispy Tofu with Sriracha Honey Lime Sauce

Crispy Tofu with Sriracha Honey Lime Sauce from I Am a Food Blog // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Beautiful tofu from I Am a Food Blog

On the nights it isn’t so hot, we cook things like this crispy tofu with sriracha lime honey sauce from I Am a Food Blog. I think this might be my new favorite way to make tofu. Be warned though, that sauce is spicy. (I like eating spicy things when it’s hot out – why not be hot on the inside and the outside?) Also, if you don’t know about I Am a Food Blog, you should. Go to her site and poke around. Everything we’ve made from her has been awesome.

4. Cleaning out your spice drawer

Cleaning out the Spice Drawer // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Look at how organized that spice drawer is. I want that in my life.

We are re-signing our lease, and that means we are doing a massive cleaning of our house. We’ve probably cleaned out our spice drawer(s) multiple times since living here, but it can’t hurt to do it again. It’s important to know how long you can keep things before they lose their punch. This guide from The Kitchn is a great help.

5. Miso Quinoa Pilaf with Eggplant and Cucumber!

Miso Quinoa Pilaf from Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Plus this quinoa pilaf features one of my favorite flavors ever: miso!

I don’t usually like quinoa. I find that it tends to be underseasoned/underdressed, and as a result is awfully bland. But my roommate is slowly changing my mind… We made dinner together a few weeks ago from some leftover, and we made this really delicious quinoa bowl with roasted vegetables. Anyway, point is, I’d like to try to eat more quinoa, and this miso quinoa pilaf looks like a great place to start.

Weekend Finds 7:6:14

I don’t know about you all, but I had a truly lovely July 4th. I ate possibly one of the most delicious summer holiday meals every – perfectly grilled steak, BBQ chicken, grilled veggies, and that green rice salad I’ve been going on about. Now I’m at the coast with family, and couldn’t be happier that I get to spend this holiday weekend with people I really love. With that, on to the weekend finds.

1. Corn, Tomato, and Garlic Confit Pasta

Past with roasted tomatoes, corn, and garlic confit from Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Doesn’t that look like a bowl of summer?

Garlic confit sounds intimidating to me. It really does. But let me say this – it was so easy to make. Like painfully easy. And it added immensely to this dish from Food52 (by Dash and Bella). This dish screams summer, and was so creamy and flavor packed. Just start roasting those tomatoes early! They need 2-3 hours in a low oven.

2. Easy Marinades

Easy Marinades // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Marinate everything!

I love summer because it means marinating meats and throwing them on the grill. I’ve got a couple good marinade recipes in my back pocket, but more can never hurt, nor can the ability to throw one together no matter what you’ve got on hand. This little tidbit from Bon Appetit offers some great ideas, as well as a general equation to make your marinades perfect.

3. Apricots!

All things apricots // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
My favorite apricot recipe.

If I’m being honest, I think apricots are kind of an undervalued stone fruit. I love their small size (the perfect snack), their soft skin, and their mild/sweet/tart flavor. Perhaps my favorite thing to do with apricots is halve them, fill the hole where the pit was with a spoonful of honey, and throw them under the broiler for a few minutes. Top with Greek yogurt, mascarpone, or freshly whipped cream, and some chopped pistachios. Other bites of apricots that look delicious are these crostinis, a different roasted apricot technique with butter and brown sugar, this couscous with apricot (sub fresh for dried apricots please), and this apricot miso jam (I know the recipe calls for dried apricots, but still, two of my favorite things in a jar together, yes please right now thank you).

4. Peas, peas, peas

Summer Peas // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
A little ingredient education never hurt anybody.

I love ingredient education, and various kinds of peas are something that I confuse sometimes. It’s actually pretty important to know the different between your peas, particularly shelling peas and snap peas. Read here about which are best for what.

5. Vibrant Table by Kimberly Hasselbrink

Vibrant Food by Kimberly Hasselbrink // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Doesn’t that cover make you want to cook? Photo from The Vanilla Bean Blog.

This is the cookbook that the green rice salad with nectarines and corn is from (the one I haven’t been able to stop talking about and made for the 4th of July), and that recipe was so freaking good, now I really want this cookbook. I love when books are organized seasonally – I feel like it makes it easier to flip through. And taking a look at some of the recipes in the table of contents, I feel like this book is something I’d reach for again and again. Wish list!

Weekend Finds 6:29:14

Dang. It’s almost July. I apologize for my absence of late. Things have been a little busy lately, and Jonah hasn’t been here to cook me dinner, so I haven’t had as much time for writing and recipe researching as I’d like. Yesterday I was able to hit up the Organic Beer Festival here in Portland, and it was lovely, despite the clouds. Here are the weekend finds.

1. Bicycle Pizza Slicer

Fixie Bike Pizza Cutter // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
For the biking, cooking hipster in your life.

I found this pizza cutter via Food Republic, and it immediately made me think of Jonah (who makes pizzas and rides bikes). I think it would make an adorable little gift. You can find it for sale on this website. I also like their salami sticky notes.

2. How to cut a cake. Better.

Cut Cake Better // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
The new and improved cake cutting technique.

This video has been circling the internet (at least, in my food-centric newsfeeds). It’s pretty great, and teaches us a new, much more sensible way to cut a cake. Keep that pastry fresh and moist longer.

3. Pancake in a rice cooker…?

Rice Cooker Pancake // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Don’t you want to punch a hole in this pancake? I do.

Jonah discovered this method for making basically a large, thick pancake in your rice cooker. I’m not sure I believe that it will work, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Because how hilarious does that thing look?

4. Green Rice Salad with Corn and Nectarines

Green Rice Salad from Not Without Salt // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
I love the bright colors in this salad from Not Without Salt.

I’ll be honest, as far as summer salads go, this one from Not Without Salt has officially skyrocketed to the top of my list. Rice with cilantro, parsley, and jalapeño, topped with nectarines, grilled corn, and queso fresco? This is going on my July 4th menu.

5. Car Trunk Organizers

Trunk Organizer // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Trunk organizers even come in pretty patterns like this, with a cooler in the middle.

You know that feeling when you go to the grocery store, grab a 6 pack of beer, a bag of apples, maybe some chips, etc. You pack it all into the car and as you’re pulling out of the parking lot, you hear the sound. The sound of your apples falling onto your chips, crushing every one of them, the apples roll out into your trunk, and the beer bottles tip over out of their little cardboard case, and then spend the next 10 minutes clinking around in your trunk, no doubt bruising some apples. There is a thing that can stop all of that from happening. Read all about it here.