Fall (Happy Sigh)

I can't wait for fall. For the crisp nights, cozy meals, and frosted windshields. I wish I could say I've always loved fall, but in actuality, I used to view fall as simply cooler weather (good), going back to school (blah), and gearing up for the main event: Christmas. But within the past few years, fall has become my favorite season. One year, in an attempt to keep myself from breaking out the Christmas music in September, a friend and I wrote a blitz of fall-themed parodies of Christmas carols and church songs. Another friend invited me to her All Saints Day pumpkin parties (yes, we're theology nerds even when it comes to food-themed parties). Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes happened. And I discovered the exquisite joy and versatility of cooking fall/winter squash and roasting vegetables.

This year, I'm especially ready for fall. My heart skips a beat every time I see predicted high temps below 85. I love the sound of the marching band practicing during lunch. I've been drooling over pumpkin recipes that keep appearing on my Facebook feed and favorite food blogs. And a couple weeks ago the smell of roasting garlic nearly drove me to tears (not exaggerating; yes, that was a particularly tough week with some emotion that seriously needed to be acknowledged).

But more than the lower temps and nutmeg-infused baking, I'm looking forward to the start of a new season in my life. This summer was hard. Sure, there were bright spots like taking part in a childhood friend's wedding and vacationing in New Mexico. But I spent the first half of the summer watching (and walking alongside) my boss and friend as his health rapidly deteriorated, while fully expecting him to not live through the summer. And I spent the second half of the summer mourning his death and dealing not only with my own emotional upheaval, but also with all the practical upheaval at the office. Someone had to cancel his five thousand email subscriptions, break the news to people who called the office asking for him, go through hundreds of his files, and help empty his office while not knowing who would be moving into it or when.

So I'm ready to close the chapter of summer 2012. Sure, there will still be grief for a long time, and nothing will ever fill the Charles-shaped void in my heart and life. And there are still days when I need to cry over something as emotionally neutral as roasting garlic. But the grief is becoming less intense with each passing week. This week I get to help move a new boss and friend into the office next to mine. A new semester is underway. And soon I will be burning my favorite Pumpkin Carnival candle and cooking my way through recipe lists like these.

Avocado Egg Stacks

Sometimes it's hard to cook when you're sad. For me, cooking is an artistic outlet. It's a chance to explore new ingredients, techniques, and flavor combinations. And it's hard to do that when someone you love has died and there's a big hole in your life. It's less fun to create, and it's often less fun to taste.

I discovered this recipe shortly before Charles died, and this proved to be a great go-to meal that week when he was in hospice and died. I think I made these Avocado Egg Stacks six times in the span of a week and a half to two weeks. It's a pretty balanced meal--complete with whole grains, protein, healthy fat, fruit (isn't avocado technically a fruit?), and veggies if you count the salsa. It's filling. It's tasty. And it comes together very quickly and easily. This was a good meal to throw together when I didn't want to think too hard or spend forever cleaning up my kitchen. And it was good in that I knew it would taste good with very little effort, but it's simple enough that I didn't care if it ended up tasting blah because I felt blah.

The full recipe is on A Couple Cooks, but here's the basic gist: toast an English muffin; add sliced or mashed avocado, salt, and paprika or chipotle seasoning; top with a fried egg and salsa; eat. I've made it with and without salsa, and actually like it a little better without. I used paprika every time since I don't yet own any chipotle seasoning. And I typically used half an avocado rather than a whole one.

Peach Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Lavender Balsamic Reduction

Confession: I get really frustrated with recipes that have summery ingredients and advertise themselves as summery, but require the oven. When it's over 100 degrees outside, I refuse to turn on the oven. Yet here I am sharing a oven-requiring recipe with summery ingredients. To my credit, it was only in the 90s the day I made it . . . and one of the two inspiration recipes was actually grilled rather than baked. I unfortunately don't have a grill, so I was stuck with waiting for a cooler day that could handle the oven being on for a bit. But if you're interested in grilling this baby, be sure to check out The Healthy Foodie recipe linked below.

Peach Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Lavender Balsamic Reduction

Adapted from The Healthy Foodie and Cooking Light

Yield: 3 servings (2 slices each)

1 medium to large yellow onion, sliced

1/2 Tbsp. butter

Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 scant tsp. dried lavender flowers

1 whole wheat pizza crust (cooked, not dough; I used Boboli)

2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 cup reduced fat grated mozzarella cheese, divided

1/3 cup reduced fat bleu cheese crumbles

1 medium peach, thinly sliced (peeling is optional)

To caramelize the onions, heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions and butter and reduce heat to somewhere between medium and medium-high. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until onions are very tender and golden brown. As needed, add a Tbsp. or two of water to deglaze the pan every so often. Note: for better caramelized onions, cook them on medium-low for close to an hour; I just didn't want to wait that long this time.

For the balsamic reduction, use the smallest saucepan you have. Bring balsamic vinegar and lavender to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently with a whisk. Reduce heat to medium-low-ish and simmer for around 15 minutes, stirring often, until vinegar is thick and syrupy, and has reduced to 1-2 Tbsp. in volume. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Preheat oven (and pizza stone if you have it) to 400 degrees.

Drizzle olive oil over the pizza crust and, using a pastry brush or your fingers, spread it around evenly. Layer 1/4 cup mozzarella, caramelized onions, bleu cheese, peach slices, and remaining mozzarella.

Bake for 5-12 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Mine took about 7 minutes on the pizza stone in the oven. Remove from oven, drizzle with balsamic reduction, and cut into 6 wedges to serve.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (compliments of My Fitness Pal)
415 calories; 15.5 g. fat; 58.8 g total carbs (10 g. dietary fiber, 13.3 g. sugars); 18.3 g. protein 

Comments:

• This was excellent. The mozzarella toned down the bleu cheese and kept it from overpowering the other flavors, as bleu cheese is very capable of doing. The cheeses and onion complemented the peaches beautifully, and the lavender balsamic reduction was the perfect final touch.
• If you don't have lavender, you could definitely leave it out and the reduction would still be great on this pizza. I was just excited about finding another way to use dried lavender.
• I didn't time my balsamic reduction well, so it cooled completely by the time the pizza went into the oven . . . and it got really thick--turned into more of a solid than a liquid. I was able to kind of re-liquify it by putting it back on low heat while the pizza baked, but it was still hard to drizzle. Next time I'll start the reduction later.
• I imagine gorgonzola would be good on this, as in the Cooking Light recipe. I was even planning to get gorgonzola, but the bleu cheese was about 1/3 the cost and came in a reduced fat option. Sold.
• There are a lot of "z"s in this post. With the mozzarella, the pizza, and the drizzle, we've got a lot of "z"s going on. Just thought I'd point that out.

Waiting for Bread . . . and for God's Future

I read this prayer this morning and wept. Once again, I feel like Walter Brueggemann has looked into my soul and expressed my thoughts, tears, and anxieties in such a beautiful, eloquently raw way.

Waiting for Bread . . . and for God's Future
On reading Micah

We are strange mixtures of loss and hope.

As we are able, we submit our losses to you.
   We know about sickness and dying,
                   about death and mortality,
                   about failure and disappointment.
   And now for a moment we do our
               failing and our dying in your presence,
               you who attend to us in loss.

As we are able, we submit our hopes to you.
We know about self-focused fantasy
                and notions of control.
         But we also know that our futures
                are out beyond us,
                         held in your good hand.

Our hopes are filled with promise of
        well-being, justice, and mercy.
Move us this day beyond our fears and anxieties
        into your land of goodness.
                We wait for your coming,
                we pray for your kingdom.
        In the meantime, give us bread for the day.

Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People, page 167

Chicken Peach Quesa-pitas

This recipe was my favorite way to use up Honey and Lavender Crock Pot Chicken. I suspected that the flavors in which I cooked the chicken would pair well with the flavors in this quesadilla recipe. And, if I may say so myself, I was right. If using honey lavender chicken, I'd go with Monterey Jack cheese; if using regular chicken, I think the pepper Jack would be better.

You could certainly use tortillas, as the original recipe calls for. I simply had pitas on hand, so that's what I used.

I almost skipped the honey-lime sour cream element, and I'm really glad I didn't. The sour cream added a additional layer of flavor which was quite good. You could probably substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream.

Chicken Peach Quesa-pitas

Adapted slightly from Cooking Light

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

1/2 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. lime juice

1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

2 whole wheat pitas, cut in half

Approx. 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack or pepper Jack cheese

1/2 cup cooked, cubed chicken         

1 peach, thinly sliced

2-4 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Combine honey, lime juice, and sour cream, stirring well with a whisk or fork. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Preheat a George Foreman grill. Spray the both sides of the pita pockets with olive oil cooking spray.

Fill each pita pocket half with 1/4 of the remaining ingredients—cheese, chicken, peaches, cilantro, and more cheese. Grill each pocket half in the George Foreman for 3-5 minutes, until pita is toasted and cheese is melted. Serve with the honey-lime sour cream.

Results

Fresh and summery. Quick and easy to throw together. Doesn't heat up the house. Delicious!

Lavender and Honey Crock Pot Chicken

A couple months ago several friends from my house church got together to kill, pluck, and gut some chickens. Yes, we slaughter chickens together. No, we are not a cult. I promise!

So at the end of that night, I got to take home two organic, free-range chickens that cost me nothing but a few hours of labor. Well, that, and the feeling that I still smelled like chickens after two days and three showers. As one who doesn't even like to handle raw meat from the store, that was certainly an experience! Perhaps I should write a whole post on that. But lest I ruin your appetite . . .

Since I worked hard for these chickens, I felt like I needed some really epic recipes to cook them. And since they were older chickens, one of the chicken experts in the group warned us that the meat would be tough--so she recommended soup or crock pot cooking methods.

Around the same time I decided to try my hand at cooking with lavender, which I'd eaten twice but had never been brave enough to cook with myself. And then this recipe happened. It used lavender, it featured a whole chicken, and it was easily adaptable to the crock pot. Sold.

I decided to skin my chicken for two reasons: 1) the skin brings a lot of fat to the party, and I wanted a leaner dish; and 2) whoever plucked that chicken (quite possibly me) didn't do the best job, so there were still some feather remnants. However, though I basted this little lady every 30 minutes, she still came out really tough. So if you make this, I'd recommend using more liquid, cooking on low instead of high, leaving the skin on, or a combination thereof.

But the flavor was excellent! The lavender definitely came out, but the dish didn't taste flowery or perfumey, as can happen if you use too much lavender. I don't think I'd change a thing about the marinade ingredients or amounts. For the past couple days I've been using this chicken in some peach quesadillas, and I plan to use the bones to make home-made chicken stock (a first for me).

Lavender and Honey Crock Pot Chicken

Adapted from food.com

Yield: 1 chicken

Ingredients

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried lavender flowers

1-2 sprigs fresh marjoram, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 red onion, finely chopped (2-3 Tbsp.)

1 whole chicken

Salt and pepper

2 lemons (oranges would probably also be good)

Additional sprig or two of marjoram or other herb(s) of choice

Directions

Combine first eight ingredients (honey through red onion) in a 1- or 2-cup measuring cup. Cut one of the lemons into wedges and slice the other one.

Skin the chicken, if desired, and remove any giblets or anything else that came packaged inside the chicken. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place the lemon wedges inside the body cavity and place chicken in a greased crock pot.

Pour honey-lavender mixture over the chicken, place additional herb sprig(s) on top of chicken, and spread lemon slices on top of that. Cover and cook 4-8 hours* or until chicken is tender and juices run clear. Since I skinned my chicken and since I was home all day, I basted my chicken every 30 minutes or so to try to keep her nice and juicy.

* Crock-pot.com suggests that, for a 6-lb. whole bone-in chicken, you cook on low for 7-1/2 hours or on high for 6-1/4. Obviously, individual crock pots vary, so adjust your cook time accordingly based on your crock pot and the size of your chicken.

Orange French Toast with Salted Caramel Syrup

French toast has become my weekend breakfast of choice. There are so many ways to vary the basic French toast to create a vast array of breakfast treats. You can change up the kind and flavor of bread, add various ingredients to the egg and milk mixture, polish the dish with different toppings, or all of the above. The possibilities are endless!

This orange French toast recipe is definitely a keeper! For a simpler version, skip the salted caramel syrup and top with your syrup/fruit/whatever of choice. But I highly recommend you try the salted caramel syrup at least once, as it complements the orange French toast flavors beautifully!

Orange French Toast with Salted Caramel Syrup
Adapted from diamondcrystalsalt.com, as seen in Cooking Light
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup milk
3 large eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
8 thick slices of honey oat bread (or other bread of choice)
2 Tbsp. butter

Salted Caramel Syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light cream or half and half
1 tsp. kosher salt

Orange French Toast Directions
Whisk together milk, eggs, orange juice, zest, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl. (This mixture can be prepared up to 1 day in advance.) Pour egg mixture in a shallow pan. Dip bread into egg mixture, and soak for 45 seconds.

Melt 1/2 Tbsp. butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-low heat. Place 2 slices of bread into skillet. Cook to golden brown, about 3-5 minutes on each side, and keep warm until ready to serve. Continue with the remaining slices of bread.

Serve immediately with the warm Salted Caramel Syrup, with a bit of extra salt sprinkled on top. Garnish with slices of fresh orange, if desired.

Salted Caramel Syrup Directions
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 8 minutes or until golden. Watch carefully to keep the caramel from burning.

Reduce heat to low or medium-low. Gently stir in cream or half and half, using a long-handled spoon or whisk. The syrup will get glumpy, but just keep it on low heat, stirring frequently, until it gets melty again. (Warming the cream in the microwave before adding to the saucepan would probably help the glumpiness factor.)

Stir in kosher salt. Set aside, and keep warm until French toast is done.