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Indian Spiced Omelette

Indian Spiced Omelette

Now that I am lucky enough to have chickens who are laying in abundance, we’re having eggs for dinner at least once a week. Which means I need to keep coming up with new ideas!

This Indian omelette was initially going to be a Moroccan inspired dish. And then I cleaned out my spice box and realized I had lots of Garam Masala which needed using up.

Sometimes the best inspiration comes from asking ‘what do I need to use up?’ rather than what do I feel like…

Ingredients

1 small onion thinly sliced

1 tablespoon grated ginger

3 eggs

1 teaspoon garam masala or curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric optional

small bunch coriander cilantro, leaves and stems chopped

Instructions

Preheat a small frying pan or omelette pan on a medium heat. Add some oil and cook onion, stirring every now and then until onion is soft. About 7 minutes. Add ginger and cook for a minute. Remove from the heat.

Lightly whisk eggs in a bowl. Add cooked onion and ginger, spices, a pinch of salt and most of the coriander – saving some leaves for serving to make it pretty!

Add another few glugs of oil to the pan. Add the egg mixture and gently cook for a few minutes. If the omelette is sizzling too rapidly, turn the heat down. Slowly is the best approach here.

When the egg is mostly cooked and set but there is still a little runny egg on the very top, slide the omelette onto your plate, folding in half as you go. The last bit of egg will cook from the residual heat.

Serve with reserved coriander leaves scattered over.

WINE MATCH: A crisp dry white like Riesling or Pinot Gris.

Variations & Substitutions

Short on time – skip the onion.

different spicing – for a Moroccan vibe skip the turmeric and replace the garam masala / curry powder with 1 teaspoon each ground cumin and ground coriander.

different herbs – mint, chives or basil are also great

more substantial (carb lovers) – serve with warm roti, tortillas or pita bread.

more substantial (low carb) – serve with roast cashews or peanuts. Or some cooked low carb veg – grilled peppers, eggplant and zucchini in Summer or roast cauliflower or cooked greens in Winter.

hot! – serve with chilli oil or chilli salt.

Low FODMAP – skip the onion and add chopped chives or sliced green onion (scallion) with the coriander.

cheesey – add some crumbled feta, goats cheese or paneer with the eggs.

Waste Avoidance Strategy

onion – will keep in the pantry for months. Best if in a dark corner in a brown paper bag.

ginger – freeze it.

eggs – will keep in the fridge for weeks or use for another meal.

garam masala / curry powder / ground turmeric – keep them in the pantry.

coriander – best to use for another meal. Can be frozen but will wilt when defrosted.

Prepare Ahead

No best when freshly made! Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks. Don’t freeze. Eat leftovers cold or at room temp because you don’t want to get rubbery overcooked eggs.

More egg based dinner recipes

Have fun in the kitchen!

With love, Jules x

Tags: dinner, eggs, INDIAN / SRI LANKAN, omelette, simple, spiced

Source: https://thestonesoup.com/blog/2019/02/18/indian-spiced-omelette/

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15 Ways Reduce Anxiety Naturally When You Have Thyroid Disease

Anxiety and panic attacks are common symptoms when it comes to thyroid disease. I experienced this myself when I was struggling with Hashimoto’s disease, so I understand how frustrating and scary it can be. Through my own personal experience and nutritional therapy training I’ve learned various ways to use diet and lifestyle to reduce anxiety naturally, so let’s dive in.

Oftentimes, when someone has thyroid disease, anxiety and panic attacks that occur are most often rooted in adrenal imbalance and/or amino acid deficiency*. 

The adrenal glands are the body’s emergency system. When the body is under chronic stress, the adrenals will send out cortisol into the bloodstream. Over time, chronic cortisol output will weaken the endocrine system, digestive system, liver, and brain, create thyroid hormone imbalance and symptoms such as anxiety and panic attacks.

So, if you want to reduce your symptoms of anxiety, I recommend you start with supporting your adrenal glands.

Other symptoms of having adrenal imbalance are: Afternoon fatigue Craving sugar in the afternoons Digestive issues Hormonal imbalances Blood sugar unbalance Low libido Extra weight gain around the waist Getting a second wind at the end of the day Waking up in the middle of the night  PCOS and infertility Brain fog Cravings for salty food Unable to relax and take time off Depression  Thyroid hormone imbalance 

Being deficient in specific amino acids can also have a huge impact on your mood, and create anxiety, depression and a wealth of other negative symptoms.

Here are some various symptoms of low amino acids in the body:

Low in Seratonin Often worried and anxious Irritable and impatient Anxiety or panic attacks Hate hot weather Dislike dark weather, or have clear-cut fall/winter depression Obsessive behavoir Shy or fearful Fear of heights, flying, enclosed spaces

Low in Catecholamines Often feel depressed Low on physical or mental energy Difficulty concentrating Put on weight too easily You feel a need for caffeine, sugar or sodas to keep you going

Low in GABA/Cortisol Feel overworked, pressured or deadlines Your body feels stiff and uptight Feel overwhelmed as if you can’t get it all done Sensitive to bright light, noise, or chemical fumes You need to wear dark sunglasses Easy upset, frustrated or snappy under stress

Low in Endorphins You tear up easy or cry Tend to avoid dealing with painful issues You’ve been through a great deal of physical or emotional pain You crave pleasure, comfort, enjoyment from foods, wine, or coffees

Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure, goes into great detail about this in her book, which is a must-read if you’re dealing with any kind of anxiety, depression, stress, etc. It will probably be the best $10 ever spent!

Here are some steps you can take to reduce anxiety naturally:

1. Eat breakfast within one hour of waking up. If you wait any longer than this, it can cause your blood sugar levels to decrease too much and put extra strain on your adrenals which can cause anxiety.

2. Have lunch about 4 hours after eating breakfast and include some protein, carbs and fat in your meal. I know this is a simple step, but skipping meals will put strain on your adrenals and can increase your symptoms.

3. Only do low-impact exercise like walking, pilates, gentle yoga or stretching. High impact exercise puts strain on the adrenals, especially when the adrenals are already fatigued. If you’re having trouble losing weight, I know this can seem counter-productive, but I’ve seen clients lose weight by resting and following the steps I’m listing here.

4. Sit down to eat each meal and eat slowly. Don’t eat on-the-go, when you’re stressed, driving, etc. because this will inhibit your body from using the nutrients in your food that it needs to help reduce your symptoms. Here’s an article to help you understand the importance of eating in a slow and relaxed state.

5. Diffuse essential oils throughout the day to help you feel more relaxed. If you can’t diffuse oils, put a drop or two on the soles of your feet twice a day to help lower stress levels. This study found that inhaling lavender essential oil can decrease cortisol levels. That’s good news for the adrenals!

Make sure you only use a completely pure essential oil so you aren’t adding any synthetic chemicals to your body — that could stress your system further. Some of my personal favorites are Lavender, Balance, Serenity, Ylang Ylang and Lemon.

6. Eat dinner no later than 6 or 7pm and make sure to sit down while you eat. Dinner should be your largest meal of the day. This will help keep cortisol levels down at the end of the day, and help you sleep and also reduce anxiety.

7.. Take an epsom salt bath a few times a week (or each evening, if you can). When you’re stressed, the first mineral your body burns through is magnesium (this is why so many people are magnesium deficient!). Soaking in a bath with 1 cup of epsom salts and a few drops of your favorite essential oil will help you relax and replenish your magnesium stores, calm your body and support your adrenals to reduce anxiety.

8. Go to bed by 9pm each night. The best way to heal your adrenals, and in turn help balance your thyroid and reduce anxiety, is with sleep.

9. Take the right kind of B Vitamins – I recommend Cataplex B from Standard Process.

10. Try an adrenal tonic that contains adaptogenic herbs – Our practice, carries an adrenal tonic that we mix in-house. It contains ashwaganda, licorice root and rhodiola. It’s immensely helpful for calming the body. To order, contact Biodynamic Wellness.

11. Drink plenty of filtered water each day. Drinking 1/2 your weight in ounces is a good goal; a 160-pound person should drink about 80 ounces of water per day. Hydration is really important for the endocrine system. Without the right amount of water, the body can’t transport the necessary nutrients and hormones to the cells properly. So, please make sure you’re getting enough water.

12. Include protein at each meal – get these proteins from foods such as pastured meat, poultry, wild seafood, eggs, etc. Amino acids from pastured animal foods are very important to help reduce anxiety and depression.

13. Eliminate all caffeine and alcohol. I know this is a hard one, but caffeine and alcohol are liquid stress for your adrenals and will only cause continued anxiety and panic attacks. Here’s a post about how I kicked the coffee habit — with step-by-step instructions for you.

14. Eat pastured animal fats – Our bodies produce cannabinoids from animal fats in our diet. When well-regulated, these endocannabinoids are “feel-good chemicals” that ensure production of the proper amount of dopamine and limit the overproduction of cortisol.

15. Take one day of rest each week. While it’s popular to “hustle”, that kind of daily mentality can lead to all sorts of health issues and will strain the adrenals and cause negative symptoms throughout the body. Take a day each week to rest. Turn off your phone, get outside, or just sleep all day if that’s what your body needs. It’s ok. God set the example by taking a day to rest, so I order my week that way too!

If you’d like some one-on-one help, contact our office, Biodynamic Wellness (858.259.6000 or labs@biodynamicwellness.com) to schedule a consultation or Lab Analysis Service with me.

*Please note:

I am not saying there isn’t a place for medications, or that everyone can eliminate all anxiety and panic attacks naturally. This article is written simply to give you some extra tools to use alongside whatever instruction your doctor has given.

Source: https://deliciouslyorganic.net/15-ways-reduce-anxiety-naturally-when-you-have-thyroid-disease/

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Ambitious Kitchen’s Guide to Los Angeles

Sep 02

Ambitious Kitchen’s guide to Los Angeles, California — everything from hiking to healthy and even indulgent delicious eats. You’ll love all of these fun picks!

A few months ago I went on a girl’s trip to LA to hang with my besties for a few glorious days. We spent our time hiking our hearts out, hanging on in our backyard Venice bungalow and eating delicious, mostly plant based food. I can honestly say that I’m obsessed. The food scene was amazing, especially when it came to healthy options.

Below you’ll find some of my (mostly) healthy recommendations, favorite places and things to do. I have another trip scheduled out to LA in just a few weeks so if you have other recommendations for me, leave a comment. I plan on updating this in early October.

P.S. If you are headed to LA, make sure you rent a car. Everything is pretty far away from each other and there’s not a great public transportation system.

Alright let’s do this thing…

Breakfast/Brunch

MB Post: Honestly one of my favorite breakfast spots. Make sure you get the chicken and the cheddar biscuits with honey butter! Indulgent, so come hungry and make you sure make reservations ahead of time.

Bondi Harvest: I am so unbelievably obsessed with this place. Everything we got was delicious, especially their grain bowls. I also highly recommend getting the smoothie with kombucha and a lavender or turmeric latte. FABULOUS!

Gjusta: This is on my plan for the next time I’m in LA. Everyone recommended it, so once I try it, I will report back.

JuiceBot: An organic juice vending machine invented by one of my college friends! So delicious, healthy and the perfect post-hike refresher or hangover cure. Located outside of Kippy’s Ice Cream in Venice.

The Butcher’s Daughter: Another cute, very LA hip spot with delicious eats. I ordered the gluten free matcha pancakes and my friend got a delicious breakfast sandwich.

Botania: Another one that’s on my list that I’m super excited to try. My friend Sarah had it when she was last in LA and loved it. It’s also on my list when I go back!

Honey Hi: I’ve seen Honey Hi pop up all over my Instagram feed and really wanted to try it but couldn’t get over to it on my very last day. They have everything from mushroom hot chocolate to delicious looking thai green curry bowls. I’m super excited to try it next time I’m here.

Lunch

Sun Cafe: The menu was SO good at this vegan restaurant. We tried their mac and cheese, vegan lettuce wraps, a crispy chickpea kale salad and of course, got a delicious cashew based vegan ice cream pistachio sandwich. Everyone was raving about their sweet kale shake too!

Cafe Gratitude: This place was on my list for years. It’s so good and refreshing and pretty much a quintessential LA spot to visit. I love all of their bowls, especially the one with curry. And if you’re feeling under the weather, don’t forget to grab a wellness shot!

Great White: We stopped here after one of our long hikes and I got their blue smoothie bowl. They also have a selection of yummy salads.

Dinner

Bestia: You definitely need a reservation here! Such wonderful Italian food. We got the tomato salad which came with cherries and burrata (such a unique combo!). Next you must definitely get the Njuda pizza. Finally get the Cavatelli alla Norcina… and end the evening with the fabulous chocolate budino tart.

Gracia Madre: Omgsh this place was truly amazing and completely vegan. Inside you’ll find good vibes and the perfect dinner lit ambiance. We went for a late dinner, noshed on margaritas, cauliflower, ‘crab’ cakes, sweet potato flautas and a fabulous sesame chickpea salad. It was too dark for me to take a good picture!

Gjelina: This is Gjusta’s sister restaurant, and it’s absolutely delish. I loved getting veggie forward dishes that change seasonally. If you can, sit on their back patio! It’s gorgeous.

Republique:I really wanted to go to Republique for a while, but again, we didn’t get a chance to make it there. So many people rave over it and next time, I’m definitely investigating the hype!

Treat Yoself

Kippy’s Ice Cream: Such good dairy free coconut based ice cream! I LOVED the chocolate chunk.

Sidecar Doughnuts: LITERALLY the best donuts I’ve ever had! You must go and try their huckleberry donut. The inside is like a muffin. So incredible, my donut lovers!

Bungalow: This is a cute spot to grab a drink and hang out. Also, a great spot to go out at night for good vibes!

Go shopping at Abbott Kinney: This street in Venice is full of the cutest spots! I got these pants on sale for $25.

Griffith Observatory: You can see all of LA on in this place. Just a fun adventure. Afterwards you can head up on hike Griffith park, and even hike to the Hollywood sign.

Santa Monica Pier: always busy, so it’s best to go during the week day! Take a ride on the Ferris Wheel.

Erewhon Market: This place is full of natural foods and generally is just fun to browse. Definitely overpriced, but if you’re a food lover, you’ll adore getting lost in the aisles.

Los Liones Trail: My favorite place we hiked. It was incredibly hard during the sunny day and mostly uphill, but awaiting you are beautiful views.

Rent bikes: You can rent bikes at various locations in Venice and bike along the path from Santa Monica to as far as Manhattan Beach (maybe further!). So much fun.

Other popular hiking trails to explore:

Fryman Canyon: 

Reservoir Trail

Runyon Canyon

I hope you enjoyed my guide to Los Angeles! If you have any recommendations for my next trip, I’d love to hear it — everything from restaurants to things to do!

Source: https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/ambitious-kitchens-guide-to-los-angeles/

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Mark Consuelos’ favorite pizza topping is a little controversial

Once upon a time, “Kelly and Ryan” co-host Kelly Ripa told Jimmy Kimmel she thinks her husband, Mark Consuelos, has narcolepsy, which she cleverly refers to as “Markolepsy.” The 47-year-old “Riverdale” dad doesn’t refute the claim, but comically says it’s because he’s a relaxed guy with a clean conscience. Is Hiram Lodge taking cat naps at the Pembrooke between takes?

15 Disturbing Things That Happen to Your Body When You’re Sleep-Deprived

On a typical day of filming in Vancouver, British Columbia, Consuelos’ alarm goes off around 5:15 a.m. Groggy, he first checks his phone and then makes a cup of coffee with half-and-half, no sugar. Right now, the TV villain says he’s digging the French Roast, a dark roast coffee made by McDonald’s coffee brand, McCafé at Home, which he’s currently in partnership with.

After showering, shaving, brushing his teeth and maybe splurging on bacon, eggs and cheese, he heads to hair and makeup for a hot five minutes before stepping in front of the camera. His favorite part about playing the suave “Man in Black”? His suits, his hair, how tan he is and the lines he’s given. Consuelos says he’s also grateful to work alongside Camila Mendes and Marisol Nichols, who play Veronica and Hermoine Lodge, Hiram’s daughter and wife, respectively.

While many actors can relate to their roles in one way or another, Consuelos can’t really say the same about his ruthless, double-crossing criminal character. He says, “We’re both Latino, we’re both about 5’9” and that’s probably where it begins and ends.” That’s probably for the best. Can’t be selling Fizzle Rocks and Jingle Jangle or orchestrating mafia-style crimes out in the real world, right? Pour one out for Poppa Poutine.

All mischief aside, if he were to play any other character in the CW’s hit series, Consuelos says he would, “looooooove to play Pop Tate because he’s awesome.” And if he had the chance to dine at the fictional Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe, you’d find him sipping on a peanut butter milkshake. We’ll take one too, please.

As far as tangible eats go, he’s a huge fan of Nightingale in Vancouver, where he chows down brick oven pizza with spicy sausage, cheese, sauce and — trigger alert — anchovies. The slimy, silvery little fish may be a controversial topping, but it’s nowhere near as quirky as what are on these unusual pizzas.

Source: https://www.thedailymeal.com/entertain/mark-consuelos-favorite-pizza-topping-slightly-controversial/020519

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Instant Pot Dynamite Cold Tonic

If you need to jolt a cold out of your body with brute force, you might consider starting here. This head-clearing, sniffle-blasting cold tonic is the color of Tang, with flavor like a stick of ginger dynamite. It's a nuclear version of the Honey-Turmeric Tonic in the Coco Morante Essential Instant Pot Cookbook - hydrating, aromatic, invigorating, decongesting, immune boosting, and not for the faint of heart. I made it for Wayne who was fighting a bit of a head cold last week, and sipped on it myself just because it made me feel like I was treating my insides to a spa day.

For reference, this is the Instant Pot I used for this recipe: Instant Pot DUO Plus 6 Qt 9-in-1

Also, if you have an Instant Pot, be sure to poke around this new section with all the instant pot recipes in one place. Or, if you're new to your Instant Pot, start with these 40 Essential Instant Pot Links - recipes, guides, articles - all in one spot.

browse more:

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Instant Pot Dynamite Cold Tonic

PRINT RECIPE

4.46 from 11 votes

Ingredients

6 cups water

3 tablespoons honey, or more to taste

2 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon dried turmeric

3 dried arbol chiles

3- inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced 1/4-inch thick, and smashed

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot. Secure the lid, and set the pressure release to SEALING. Select MANUAL, and pressure cook on HIGH for 5 minutes. Allow to NATURAL RELEASE for up to 25 minutes (or QUICK RELEASE after 15 minutes, for slightly weaker tonic). Strain, and transfer to glass jars. Serve warm, sweetened with a bit more honey or maple syrup if needed ;). It's best hot.

Notes

For reference, this is the Instant Pot I used for this recipe: Instant Pot DUO Plus 6 Qt 9-in-1

Serves

6 cups

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

35 mins

  PRINT RECIPE

nutrition info nutrition info

January 4, 2019 permalink icon

Per Serving: Calories 39

Total Fat 0g

Saturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 0mg

Carbohydrates 10g

Sodium 13mg

Fiber 0g

Sugars 8g

Protein 0g

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Salt Baked Fish

This post is sponsored by Morton Salt, but as usual, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting We are not Martha!

You might be surprised to learn how easy it is to make salt baked fish… And the results are an incredibly moist and well-seasoned fish with a gorgeous presentation!

When was the last time you entered the kitchen just a little nervous for your next cooking or baking endeavor? That’s exactly how I felt when I decided to tackle salt baked fish. I had heard about salt baking fish and had seen beautiful photos of salt baked fish, but I had never even thought about doing it for myself.

Until Morton Salt released their new Alexa skill, the Salting Sous Chef, and made it seem so ridiculously easy that I decided to just go for it! My mom came along for the adventure since she had never made salt baked fish either and we spent a wonderful day in the kitchen.

I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with salting my food, but I have a lot to learn in terms of when to add salt to various foods, what kind of salt to use for different foods, etc. Morton’s Salting Sous Chef is here to help uncover all of that! You can either tell the app what you want to cook or just ask it for a salting tip. We keep one of our Echoes right in the kitchen (mainly because I like to have dance parties when I’m cooking) and this is an app I can definitely see myself using on the regular so I can always make sure I’m salting my food correctly. Check out my video tutorial at the end of this post to see exactly how the app works!

But first, let’s talk about fish, baby.

WHY SALT BAKE FISH

You may be wondering why the heck anyone would want to take a whole fish, cover it in salt, and bake it, right? Well besides the fact that it looks really pretty (obvi. quite important), the salt coating helps the heat of the oven cook the delicate fish evenly and gently without added cooking oils. The end result is a super moist fish that’s perfectly seasoned. And no, it’s not overly salty because the fish’s skin adds a layer of protection. This technique is seriously awesome.

BUYING WHOLE FISH

If you’re like me, you’re probably used to going to the grocery store and buying your fish already cut into filets. Working with whole fish can be intimidating if it’s your first time, but you can have the fish monger do most of the work, so it’s not as daunting. Obviously, you’ll first have to make sure your local store sells whole fish, but if not, you can likely call ahead and ask the fish monger to save some for you. I recommend asking them to clean and gut the fish for you, so you don’t have to do it yourself and by the time you bring it home, it’s ready for you to get cooking. This was my first time ever preparing whole fish and I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was.

I got a 1-pound branzino and a 1.5-pound red snapper.

SALT BAKED FISH RECIPE

But before I could do anything, I had to ask Morton’s Salting Sous Chef what I was doing and which kind of salt I should be using for my salt baked fish.

Alexa told me to stuff my fish with herbs, but I decided to add some other fun stuff, too. For the red snapper, I used grapefruit, lime, and mint. And for the branzino, I used onion, lemon, and parsley. Because the fish monger prepared the fish, literally all I had to do was stuff it.

Then I got the salt mixture prepped, which just consists of Morton Coarse Kosher Salt and egg whites. How much salt and how many egg whites you need will obviously depend on the size of your fish and for my just under 3 pounds of fish, I found 6 cups of salt (a 3-lb. box) and 6 egg whites worked well. You’ll want to mix the salt and egg whites together until the texture is like wet sand.

And then it’s time to cover your fish in the salt mixture! I made a salt bed for each fish on a baking sheet and then continued using the mixture to coat each of the fish completely.

And bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the salt is starting to turn golden.

Let the fish cool slightly, for about 5 minutes… And then for the fun part! Crack that salt coating off. You can use any kind of mallet for this; I used the kind you’d use for crabs at a crab bake.

How you serve the salt baked fish is totally up to you. I just think it looks so beautiful on the pan like this and if you’re having company, you may want to show it off to them like this. In addition to the taste, one of the big benefits to salt baked fish is how stunning it looks when you chip the salt away.

Of course, it’s slightly awkward to serve a whole fish sitting in a bed of salt on a baking pan to your dinner party and after your guests go “oooh,” they may be like, “OK, so what now??” So after showing it off and letting your guests get some pics for Instagram, you may want to remove the skin and filet it for them.

Guess what? Everything I heard about salt baked fish is true! I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever had such a moist and well-seasoned piece of fish in my life. It was seriously melt-in-your-mouth perfection.

Who knew a 3 lb. box of kosher salt could make for such a delicious meal? And though I started off thinking this was going to be super complicated and time consuming, it ended up being incredibly easy to prep and bake. But ridiculously impressive, right? Serve it with a simple salad and it makes for the perfect light, but deliciously satisfying meal.

Thanks to the Morton Salting Sous Chef for teaching me how easy salt baked fish is! Not only does it help with specific recipes, but it also offers great tips on all things salt, including what to do if you over-salt your food. You can enable the app for your Alexa devices now!

To see how the Morton Salting Sous Chef works, check out my video:

5 from 7 votes

Print

Salt Baked Fish

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

50 mins

  You might be surprised to learn how easy it is to make salt baked fish... And the results are an incredibly moist and well-seasoned fish with a gorgeous presentation!

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American, Eclectic

Keyword: fish, salt

Author: Sues

Ingredients

2-3 lbs. whole fish like red snapper or branzino (either 2 smaller fish or 1 large fish), cleaned and gutted

1/4 grapefruit, sliced into rounds

1/2 lime, sliced into rounds

6-10 mint leaves

1- 3 lb. box Morton Coarse Kosher Salt

6 large egg whites

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Stuff fish with grapefruit slices, lime slices, and mint leaves (see recipe notes for alternative stuffing)

In a large bowl, mix together kosher salt and egg whites until mixture resembles wet sand.

Spread about 1 cup of the mixture on the bottom of a large baking sheet to create a "bed" for the fish. Lay the fish on the bed. Use the rest of the salt mixture to completely coat the fish, gently pressing down.

Bake fish for about 30 minutes (or until fish has an internal temperature of about 135 degrees). Remove from oven and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

Use a mallet to gently crack the salt coating away from the fish.

Serve fish as is or remove the skin and fillet before serving.

Recipe Notes

Alternative stuffing: 1/4 of a small onion, sliced; 1/2 lemon cut into rounds; and a small bunch of parsley

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Source: https://wearenotmartha.com/salt-baked-fish/

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Recipe: Make-Ahead Croissant Breakfast Sandwiches — Recipes from The Kitchn

Add these warm and cheesy breakfast sandwiches to your meal prep, and you'll thank yourself many times over in the days to come. These croissant sandwiches lend themselves so well to batch cooking: Once the eggs are scrambled, you'll spoon them onto buttery croissants, layer with slices of ham, and top with grated cheddar.

Then, you can bake the sandwiches to eat right away, or wrap them up and store them in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for up to three months. Pop one in the oven first thing in the morning, and you've got a satisfying homemade breakfast to be proud of.

For the Easiest Prep, Start with Grocery Store Croissants

All it takes is a flaky, buttery croissant and a swipe of Dijon to take the classic ham, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich from basic to brilliant. These sandwiches make even grocery store croissants feel kinda fancy — a 10-minute trip to the oven softens their centers and draws out all the buttery goodness from their flaky shells, crisping them up for the perfect crunchy bite. At the same time, the cheese becomes melted and gooey and the soft-scrambled eggs warm to perfection.

Makes 6 sandwiches

Prep time: 10 minutes to 15 minutes ; cooking time: 15 minutes

12

large eggs

1/2 cup

whole milk

1 teaspoon

kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon

freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon

unsalted butter

6

croissants, halved horizontally

2 tablespoons

Dijon mustard

6

slices thinly sliced deli ham (about 4 ounces)

1 1/2 cups

shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)

Place the eggs in a large bowl and whisk until the whites and yolks are completely mixed and the eggs are a bit frothy. Whisk in the milk, salt, and pepper until just combined.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Pour in the egg mixture and let sit undisturbed until the eggs just start to set around the edges, about 2 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, push the set eggs from the edges into the center. Spread the uncooked eggs back into an even layer. Repeat, pushing the set eggs from the edges into the center every 30 seconds until almost set, for a total cooking time of 6 to 8 minutes. (The top of the eggs should still be slightly wet.) Transfer the eggs to a bowl.

To assemble the sandwiches, spread about 1 teaspoon of the mustard over the cut-side of each croissant bottom. Place a slice of ham over the bottom piece of each croissant. Top each with a heaping 1/2 cup of scrambled eggs and 1/4 cup of cheese. Place the top half of each croissant over the sandwich.

To serve immediately: Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet. Bake until the cheese is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.

Reheating: If not serving immediately, tightly wrap each sandwich with aluminum foil and store in resealable bags in the refrigerator or freezer. Reheat uncovered in a 325°F oven until warmed through, about 20 minutes if refrigerated, or about 30 minutes if frozen.

Recipe Notes

Storage: The foil-wrapped sandwiches can be stored in a resealable plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Source: https://www.thekitchn.com/croissant-breakfast-sandwich-265098

[riskcause9-blog]

Vegan Everything Bagel Breakfast Pizza

This vegan everything bagel breakfast pizza is a simple, plant-powered twist on the classic lox, cream cheese, and bagel combination. Pizza dough is brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with everything bagel seasoning, and baked to perfection. The warm dough receives a generous smear of vegan cream cheese and is then topped with smoked carrot lox, red onion, and capers.

In my breakfast world, there are few things more satisfying than a doughy bagel toasted and smeared with a thick layer of cashew cream cheese.

Before I went vegan, I’d add to that basic bagel combination a plentiful heap of salty lox, a few fine threads of thinly sliced red onion, and a sprinkling of briny capers.

I’m not sure which brilliant chef/blogger first came up with the concept of carrot lox (it certainly wasn’t me), but we should thank our lucky stars for that highly creative soul.

If you’ve yet to try carrot lox, please promise me you won’t wait much longer. It’s simple to make and a truly delicious addition to bagels and cream cheese (and breakfast pizza, too).

To make this simple vegan breakfast pizza, you’ll start by preparing the carrot lox.

FYI, large and thick carrots work best for this recipe, so keep an eye out for those.

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the carrots and then shave them lengthwise into long, ribbon-like strips. Place the carrot ribbons on a piece of foil, sprinkle generously with smoked salt (or regular sea salt if you prefer), and wrap them tightly. Then, bake for about 20 minutes, or until the ribbons are tender but not mushy.

Next, get to work on the dough.

For ease and simplicity, go on and use some store-bought pizza dough. On the other hand, if you’ve got an extra spring in your cooking step, perhaps you’ll opt to prepare homemade pizza dough. Either works great, so go with whichever’s flowing to you in the moment.

Spread the dough out, brush it with olive oil, and generously sprinkle the surface with Everything Bagel seasoning (i.e., sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion, dried garlic, sea salt).

Then, bake until desired doneness is reached.

While the carrots and dough bake, prepare the other elements…

Thinly slice a bit of red onion, drain the capers, and chop the fresh herbs (if using).

Once the dough has finished baking, slather it generously with vegan cream cheese and top with the carrot lox, red onion, capers, and herbs.

Slice the breakfast pizza and serve immediately.

This vegan everything bagel breakfast pizza is a simple, plant-powered twist on the classic lox, cream cheese, and bagel combination. Pizza dough is brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with everything bagel seasoning, and baked to perfection. The warm dough receives a generous smear of vegan cream cheese and is then topped with smoked carrot lox, red onion, and capers.

Ingredients

5 large carrots, peeled

Smoked sea salt, to taste

24 to 26 ounces store-bought pizza dough or homemade pizza dough

Olive oil

Everything Bagel seasoning, store-bought or homemade

8 ounces store-bought or homemade vegan cream cheese*

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

Capers, drained, to taste

Small handful flat-leaf parsley or chives, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Use a vegetable peeler to shave the carrots lengthwise into ribbons. Sprinkle with the smoked sea salt and toss to coat.

Wrap the carrots in a piece of foil to create a packet and place the packet on a small baking tray.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender.

Increase the heat to 425F.

Roll the pizza dough out into a circle or rectangle on a sheet of parchment paper. Brush the top with olive oil, and generously sprinkle with the everything bagel seasoning.

Bake the pizza dough for 12 to 16 minutes, or until desired doneness is reached. Let cool until just barely warm to the touch.

Spread the cream cheese over the nearly cooled crust. Top with the carrot lox, red onion, capers, and parsley or chives (if using).

Slice and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

*Checkout my simple recipe for homemade cultured vegan cream cheese.

Source: https://www.blissfulbasil.com/vegan-everything-bagel-breakfast-pizza/

[riskcause9-blog]

Special Sauce: Nik Sharma on the Kitchen as Laboratory

[Nik Sharma photograph: Courtesy of Nik Sharma. Meatloaf photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

This week, in part two of my conversation with chef and food writer Nik Sharma, we dug into the science-based approach to cooking that informs his terrific new cookbook, Seasons: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. 

Given Nik’s background in medical research, it made sense to learn that he thinks of his kitchen as just another lab. All of us, he pointed out, experiment in one way or another in the kitchen, even if we’re just tweaking a family recipe. In his case, though, Nik explains that he “had that training to do that…one of the things I really like about recipes, [is that] the way they're written is exactly the way I would prepare my buffers in biochemistry or in genetics… We call them recipes, we pretty much use the terminology, everything is arranged by volume or when it has to go in.” He even admits to using lab notebooks when he’s developing a recipe. It’s that analytical approach that he says allows him to make each iteration of a recipe better.

That said, Nik shied away from making Seasons read overly scientific. Instead, “I kind of wanted to introduce myself to people,” he said. “At the same time, I wanted to be really approachable, so someone who is intimated by being too science-y kind of understands that the simplest things that they're doing in the kitchen actually have a scientific basis to them.” He talked about something as simple as bruising an herb like mint to extract essential oils and introduce them to a cocktail. “You know, you're breaking those cells to release those essential oils so then they get solubilized in whatever solvent they're in, so like water.”

The moral of Nik’s story? Even if science intimidates you, “what you're doing in the kitchen is a form of science,” and even when it goes awry, learning from your mistakes is half the fun. Nik believes, like Bob Dylan once sang, "There's no success like failure and failure's no success at all.” When it comes to cooking, he told me "I want people to understand that when you walk in to the kitchen, you don't have to be compelled to succeed the first time, I think that's something very cultural where there is this impetus to push people for success, but I think we forget sometimes that it's okay to fail because it's your failures that you remember, you'll never remember what you succeeded at or why, but it's when you fail you start to remember what was wrong, how can you fix it, and it makes you much wiser."

I loved hearing what everyone's eating on Nik Sharma Day, but if I told you what it is, you might not listen to the whole episode. And that, serious eaters, would be a big mistake.

Special Sauce is available on iTunes, Google Play Music, Soundcloud, Player FM, and Stitcher. You can also find the archive of all our episodes here on Serious Eats and on this RSS feed.

Want to chat with me and our unbelievably talented recipe developers? We're accepting questions for Special Sauce call-in episodes now. Do you have a recurring argument with your spouse over the best way to maintain a cast iron skillet? Have you been working on your mac and cheese recipe for the past five years, but can't quite get it right? Does your brother-in-law make the worst lasagna, and you want to figure out how to give him tips? We want to get to know you and solve all your food-related problems. Send us the whole story at [email protected].

Ed Levine: Welcome to Special Sauce, Serious Eats' podcast about food and life. Every week on Special Sauce, we talk to some of the leading lights of American culture, food folks and non-food folks alike.

Nik Sharma: We don't think about these things all the time, but actually what you're doing in the kitchen is a form of science and in a lot of the experiments I did when I was in research, we would use similar things like a blender, a Waring blender or a mortar and pestle to crush cells, use glass speeds, you know all those kinds of things. And it was fascinating that we were doing the same thing in the kitchen.

EL: Today we're talking to the supremely gifted Nik Sharma, the author of Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, and the creator of the amazing blog, A Brown Table. He also writes a column for the San Francisco Chronicle called “A Brown Kitchen.” So, when you started putting "Brown" in your titles, whether it's the brown table, or brown kitchen, was that in part your way of saying this is who I am, and I'm proud of it, and, you know, just live with it everybody.

NS: There were two reasons behind it. One was the fact that at the time, brown wood was a popular prop in photography.

EL: Oh.

NS: And I couldn't come up with the name, I'm really not good at coming up with leads and book titles. And obviously blog names, too. And so that was the idea behind that. And the other thing I said, well, it's also playful because I'm brown, and I think it works.

EL: Got it. So you're doing the newspaper column, and how did the book come about?

NS: At the time what happened I had won my second IACP award for my blog. And when that happened, an agent reached out to me to write a cookbook. And I wasn't sure because a couple of years ago, I had reached out to agents who had kind of turned me down and said I didn't have anything to write about.

EL: Nice, that's such a great reaction, that really makes you want to just keep on going, doesn't it?

NS: It does, it actually does. You know why? Because if you come from the science world, your professors will tell you that you have really nothing to tell.

EL: That's awesome. So your science background really came in handy when the rejection started coming in.

NS: Right. I think one of the things with rejection is you have to learn how to take it with a grain of salt and learn to figure out what your point of view is, whether you're in science, whether your theory is right or wrong, and whether you have the tools to get there. And so it made me reevaluate my thoughts and whether I should really write a cookbook, whether really the agent was right did I really have something new to tell people? And why was my book going to be different from everybody else's? You know because, as you know, there are so many cookbooks that come out each year.

EL: Absolutely.

NS: And I think one of the misconceptions that I had early on was that a cookbook would be the next stage in my career but something that I had to do, which isn't true. There was a point when I told myself I don't think I need to do a cookbook also. So when the agent reached out to me, I wasn't really sure, we spoke quite a bit, we even met up in person until she said no, I actually do believe that you have something to tell people that's different. And we both worked on our proposal together, and this was at the same time that I was working at the food start-up in San Francisco and just started writing my food column for the Chronicle. And, you know, we sold a proposal and then I started to work on Season.

EL: Yeah, and that's interesting. Since you were doing both the column and the book at the same time, did you have to come an agreement with the Chronicle? Or did you just say Okay, I'm not going to use anything from the Chronicle in the book.

NS: I did-

EL: I know that's always a thing, when it comes to Serious Eats is, books, or Kenji's book, or Stella's book, or whatever.

NS: Yeah, I didn't have to worry about that, in fact I didn't even to think about it.

EL: Good.

NS: Because the main thing what I wanted to do was with the book, I feel if people are going to spend money or something, they need new content, and that's my personal opinion, because they could get that stuff for free elsewhere. And the only thing I did, I decided because my fans wanted me to include the most popular recipe from my blog. I thought that would be okay and so I picked the apple cake in my book, the Masala Chai Apple Cake, which at the time was one of the most popular recipes on the blog. So I put that in the book, but then everything else I really wanted to be different to kind of reflect how everything that I had done in my life had also influenced this book.

EL: So there was a larger point you were trying to make with the book?

NS: Right, I kind of wanted people to first not think it was an Indian cookbook, and I wanted to look at it from the way that this is how an immigrant cooks, and also this is what it means to cook with flavor, to me.

EL: So you start the book with a flavor glossary, speaking of flavor. What exactly is that? And why include it in your book?

NS: Yeah, so that was an idea that came up by my editor. And I thought it was brilliant because one of the things, even for me, who is someone who grew up in India with spices being around them all day, I find it sometimes hard to distinguish between something like cumin or caraway because they all look similar, right? And the shape of the seed is so similar so if they're not placed next to each other, it's really difficult. And so I decided to put myself in my reader's shoes from, you know, based on the blog and the column, and based on the comments over the years, I started also polling them with questions to find out what do they find uncomfortable? And one of the things is with Indian cooking is with spices, and I think this is common with any culture that's not mainstream, is people are scared of spaces as they're scared of people. I always put it in terms of xenophobia, you're always scared of what you don't know.

EL: Sure.

NS: Right? And so the same thing with spices, so I said this is a great way to kind of, since attention spans have also changed over the past couple of years, something visual will probably resonate much better with people. So if they go to the store and they know what it looks like, then-

EL: They won't be as scared?

NS: Right, you'll feel more confident in asking for something.

EL: Before we leave the apple cake behind, the Masala Apple Cake, I do love an apple cake, my grandmother, may she rest in peace, made a phenomenal apple cake.

NS: Oh.

EL: How did you make it yours?

NS: I go with what excites me in the moment, to be honest. Like with this apple cake, if we take this as an example, apple cakes and spice cakes was something that I learned about when I came to America that during, when the weather starts to cool off, people naturally in America deviate to warmer spices in their deserts. And you know we've got the spice cakes that kind of do that, even mulled wine does that, and so I said how do I put these flavors but kind of connect the apple cake that's so American to me with something that's Indian in my experience, but also brings that level of warm.

NS: And the masala chai spice, or the chai masala rather, works really well here because it's got those combination of warm flavors, and then I said if I'm going to call it a masala chai cake, and "chai" meaning tea, I need to put tea leaves in it, or tea in some form I need to incorporate that. So I put that into the batter and made a flour with that. And to me that represents kind of this I wouldn't say fusion, but this kind of meeting of ideas in between.

EL: Yeah, I love that, I love that, 'cause it's sort of emblematic of the way you cook and the way you think.

NS: Right.

EL: So I want to talk a little about your photographic point of view. On page 75 of in the book, you have these lentils that look like rocks. And you really do have an original photographic voice. How would you describe it? And how did it evolve?

NS: Well, evolve is through trial and error, I, at least, had no idea what even composition was. Two of the pieces of advice I got from my dad on photography was what kind of camera to buy. He's used Nikon for all his life and so it made sense for me to use Nikon 'cause that's a brand that he's worked with, but to be honest, now as I'm more mature, you know, I think no brand is really superior to the other, it's your lenses that matter. But in terms of point of view, I think that was a lot through trial and error, 'cause for the longest time, I was trying to do what everyone else was doing. And it felt okay, but it didn't make me happy. And then I was also letting, again, people define who I was even artistically.

EL: Yes, there's a theme, sort of, there's a through line here, Nik, I'm getting. You know it's like each time, and this is true of I think of most creative people, we tend to emulate or imitate the people we respect and admire.

NS: Right, right.

EL: But at a certain point you go, "This is them, it's not me."

NS: Right. And it came to me early on that I, it just didn't feel right, why I was trying to be like everyone else? And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And so I started to evolve as a writer, as well as a photographer and a cook, and started exploring how could I push my limits.

EL: And so at that point it's trial and error and there's nobody that you're going, God, I'm inspired by, whoever, Weegee, or it doesn't matter, Walker Evans, or any photographer.

NS: Right, I wanted to see what excites me and how, why was I liking food so much? And so I wanted to convey that through my photos. And so I needed to understand myself in order to put myself out there if that makes sense.

EL: Yeah.

NS: Out to my world.

EL: It makes perfect sense. You titled something in the book says, which I think harkens obviously back to your science background, your kitchen is your lab, what did you mean by that?

NS: So one of the things that in the kitchen I realized is that a lot of us, even we're handed down a recipe from a family member, be it a grandmother or a mother, we end up changing it quite a bit over time to make it our own. And that is experimentation in its own way. And so, in my case, I already had that training to do that. Because one of the things I really like about recipes, the way they're written is exactly the way I would prepare my buffers in biochemistry or in genetics, you know, for my enzymes. We call them recipes, we pretty much use the terminology, everything is arranged by volume or when it has to go in. And so, these were the things that I found there were a lot of similarities, and so when I write recipes, I actually use still use lab notebooks, and I write things down in iterations, like you know version one, version two, version three. And so I try to do that with the recipes and work through them in an experimentative way where it may not work the first time, but how do I make it better? So let me look at it analytically.

EL: And like Kenji, you sort of take your readers on your adventure.

NS: I do, I do.

EL: And that seems to be important to you?

NS: That is, because I want people to understand that when you walk in to the kitchen, you don't have to be compelled to succeed the first time, I think that's something very cultural where there is this impetus to push people for success, but I think we forget sometimes that it's okay to fail because it's your failures that you remember, you'll never remember what you succeeded at or why, but it's when you fail you start to remember what was wrong, how can you fix it, and it makes you much wiser.

EL: You know, Bob Dylan wrote, "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." We've got to think about that when it comes to cooking.

NS: Yeah.

EL: Let's talk now, I want to get back to seasoning because it's a big part of your book. And you talk about the how's of seasoning.

NS: Yeah.

EL: And you say grinding, bruising and chopping, toasting, infusion, muddling, smoking, brining, marinating, and applying rubs, browning, and then bringing it all together. So what were you trying to communicate in terms of the how's of seasoning?

NS: I didn't want this particular book to be something too scientific, because it was an introductory book, and I kind of wanted to introduce myself to people. At the same time, I wanted to be really approachable, so someone who is intimated by being too sciency kind of understands that the simplest things that they're doing in the kitchen actually have a scientific basis for them. So something that you might not think about, like you mentioned bruising, is a way to pull out the essential oils, for example, in mint, into a drink. You know, you're breaking those cells to release those essential oils so then they get solubilized in whatever solvent they're in, so like water. And we don't think about these things all the time, but actually what you're doing in the kitchen is a form of science. And in a lot of the experiments I did when I was in research, we would use similar things like a blender, a waring blender or a mortar and pestle to crush cells, use glass speeds, you know all those kinds of things. And it was fascinating that we were doing the same thing in the kitchen in a very different way.

EL: You've gotta level with me, Nik. At any time, when you were in that lab, were you making pesto in the blender?

NS: Okay, I can say now since I'm no longer employed by anyone, at least from science, but I did at one point, I was really concerned about yogurt, why was my yogurt when I made it at home not the same kind of yogurt back in India? And so I actually ended up taking cultures and gram staining them and looking under the microscope to see what was wrong.

EL: But not telling your professor that you were doing that?

NS: No, I didn't need to do. And I think even if they saw it, they wouldn't really care, 'cause they all did their own. I actually had a professor who would, if I'm correct, he actually ran wine samples once in an osmometer to measure osmolality.

EL: I don't even know what that is, but it sounds complicated.

NS: But yeah, I mean, so I did like a lot of those smut stuff, I sneaked it in, but at the same time I also, one of the things that I, you know, I was lucky to do was learn about biology, and in so biology, you end up doing a lot of stuff which is edible. So a lot of experiments I did was learning how to isolate pectin or gelatin from plant or animal tissues, you know, measure the yield of casing in different kinds of milk. And so that I think kind of, for me it just made sense, oh, yeah, you would have to do in a lab anyway.

EL: Got it. So you write about the pantry, "I firmly believe that person's wealth lies in his or her kitchen pantry." It's kind of radical?

NS: Not really so and that's the reason why I put it in, because if you go to anybody's refrigerator, it might not be stocked with actual ingredients, right? You might not have vegetables, or fruit, or meat, or whatever in there. You will see a lot of condiments. Go to the pantry and it's the same thing, you might not see actual, you obviously won't see actual meals in there, but you will see a bunch of random spices, or, you know like a marshmallow or two or something sitting in there, like a half a bag of lentils, and I think that's what reflects the wealth of a person because it's kind of like visiting someone's house and you look at the number of books they have, or the stack of magazines, and you get an idea of how of they think.

EL: Right, so is the pantry-

NS: It's same thing.

EL: You think the pantry is kind of a Rorschach Test?

NS: Yeah, you walk in and you say, wow, this is something interesting, I don't have that at home, maybe I should get it, why do they have it? Let me ask them that question, and what do they do with it? And so, and in often what happens in many cases, and this is something that I've seen with home cooks a lot, is we're always trying to make do with what we have already at home.

EL: It's true.

NS: Right? And so if I have say a bit of brown beef, I don't really want to go out and buy something new sometimes. I want to work with what I have at home, so how do I make that happen? And so that was what I was trying to tell people is that your pantry's probably well stocked already, let's see what we can do with it.

EL: Yeah. Whose had the greatest influence on you sort of cooking wise, writing wise, and photography wise? And they probably are different people?

NS: Yeah, I'll start with photography. So photography, one of the places that I don't have any particular names, but one of the places that I actually look for inspiration is anything that's not food related.

EL: It's great. And you actually talk about I saw a video online where you talk photography in terms of dance and curves.

NS: Yeah.

EL: That was really fascinating. So you have some explaining to do, man.

NS: Okay. So one of the things I'm drawn to are curves; I find curves to be really sensual, and I actually did a poll recently with people as to what kind of taste they associate, shapes of food with taste, and curves seem to be very popular with people. And I think it's because curves are so sensual, your eye tends to move on a smooth line and it's drawn, whereas quadrilaterals and, you know, lines are tend to be a little sharper, and so they feel a little harsh, and so it's soothing. And one of the things I think about when I'm styling food is that I liked food because I think the process is beautiful by the way it happens, the final dish is beautiful, the ingredients are beautiful, and I'm not referring to the way things are styled, but just the idea and concept. And so I wanted to convey that in a way that made sense to me. And for me that was, oh, look at this ballerina on stage, when she's dancing, everything falls, it becomes noise, everything around her is noise, and it gets pushed away to the darkness, and then you have the light just focusing on her. So when I photograph in style, I kind of keep that always in mind, where I want to photograph this process as being the ballerina right now.

EL: Yeah.

NS: That's what makes it beautiful in that moment to me, 'cause sometimes I think we take... the I guess the simplest task for food for granted, like even rubbing a lemon on a cutting board just to loosen the cells up, that's such a beautiful process that we don't think about, there's so much going on in there, the cells are breaking, the essential oils are coming out, and you're getting to smell that aroma.

EL: Yeah.

NS: And I think those are like the littlest things that make it so beautifuL.

EL: Yeah, I think you're right. So what about your cooking or your writing?

NS: In terms of cooking and writing, I think I'm heavily influenced by home cook authors, especially Diana Henry is one.

EL: Whose a famous, for people who don't know, British cookbook author.

NS: Yeah, I love the way that she approaches food in a very mature, sophisticated way, but it's also very casual and welcoming. Nigella Lawson is another author that I really love, and I also really like Nigel Slater, because they do the same thing, they make it approachable for home cooks. At the same time, they're also teasing with them new ideas.

EL: Do you have a British fixation? What's up with that? All three of those people, don't tell me you're into the royal wedding, and the royal babies.

NS: I'm definitely not into that.

EL: Okay.

NS: But for some reason, I do appreciate a lot of British authors. From the American side, I do like M. F. K. Fisher, I think her writing is very, it's again very sophisticated and mature, which I'm not, so I really enjoy people who do that. And then authors that are from India, like Julie Sahni is one of.

EL: Sure, sure.

NS: You know, I really like the books that she wrote. Madhur Jaffrey. And then, I feel like Honey and Co, that's not really well known, they're from the Middle East, they're again based in London, but they've written several books, they're not really well known here yet, but I feel their work is also so compelling because they come from the restaurant side of the world, but they make it approachable for home cooks.

EL: What are their names?

NS: Itamar and Sarit.

EL: I need three recipes people should start with from the book and why. I know me, personally, I'm going to make the Sweet Potato Bebinca for Thanksgiving, 'cause that seemed and looked so awesome.

NS: Yeah, and for the people that hate making pies, I think that's an easy way to do it.

EL: Yeah, yeah.

NS: Definitely since we're heading in towards the Stoneford season, I would recommend trying the Broil Peaches with the Maple Vinegar Syrup, that's one of my favorite deserts in the book 'cause it's simple and easy. And then I would recommend the Cauliflower Paneer Salad because that's a different way of looking at paneer, classically, it's, you know, I always see people substituting feta for paneer, or cottage cheese, or something else. I think it's time to celebrate paneer for what it is and so I tried to do that with the salad and showcase that it can, it holds its structure, like a lot of the other Greek cheeses. And so it works well, it's easy to make at home if you can't find it, all you need is milk and some kind of food acid. And then the third recipe I would recommend is to go ahead and make the Meatloaf.

EL: The Meatloaf?

NS: Yeah, 'cause the meatloaf is something that is so iconically American to me.

EL: This is Cincinnati meets India, meets San Francisco, meet Washington D.C.

NS: Yeah, meets the South. Yeah, 'cause, you know, my husband really loves meatloaf, it was one of the things that he made me when we started dating. And we don't make it that often now, but the meatloaf was something that I said I need to do kind of something like an East meets West kind of thing in this dish, and it's such a classic iconic American dish, how do I make it much more flavorful? I'm not a big fan of ketchup on meatloaf, so I made my own sauce for this. So it's sweet, it's spicy, but it's also really moist because of the apples that go into it.

EL: Oh, I am going to try this. You know that Frank Bruni did a whole book of people's meatloaf recipes?

NS: Oh, wow, I need to look for that.

EL: So what's next, Nik? You've climbed up a lot of mountains in a relatively short period of time. Besides writing for Serious Eats, I think that's what's next.

NS: We'll see what happens, but I am working on a new cookbook that it's definitely going to be more science focused this time, for home cooks. And it'll be out in Fall 2020.

EL: Great, that's awesome. So, now it's time for the All You Can Answer Special Sauce Buffet. No pressure, you could take your time.

NS: Okay.

EL: So whose at your last supper? No family allowed.

NS: I wouldn't invite family anyway, they'll be too critical.

EL: Okay, I like that.

NS: Let's see, I think I'd like to have Kenji and Stella.

EL: You say that to all the guys.

NS: No, I love Stella, because Stella's been so wonderful, and I mean Stella's like someone you can knock on a door and she'll have an answer for you.

EL: And it's true.

NS: So I love Stella.

EL: So we should say that Stella Parks is, at Serious Eats, I call her our pastry wizard, and Kenji Lopez, as everyone I think knows at this point is wrote an amazing book called The Food Lab, and was our Culinary Director, and is still our Culinary Advisor at Serious Eats. So I like that, there's one more person, though, besides Stella and Kenji that I need to have, to finish out the table.

NS: Okay. Samin, Samin Nosrat.

EL: Samin Nosrat?

NS: Yeah.

EL: Is that someone you've gotten to know out there? Or just someone you admire?

NS: Both, so Samin and I, we both live, well, she lives in Berkeley, I live in Oakland. And we obviously know each other since we run in the same circles. But Samin is someone that I really admire because she's someone that's also, you know, a child of immigrants, and has been so successful. So I'm really in awe of what she's been able to accomplish, but she's also just a really nice person, and knows her flavor well. And the three people I selected for this dinner really know their flavor well, so if they had to give me criticism, it would be objective.

EL: I like that. So what are you eating?

NS: Right now?

EL: No, at the last supper.

NS: Oh, at the last supper. So there will be ice cream for sure.

EL: Okay.

NS: 'Cause I'm a big ice cream fan, so there will be ice cream.

EL: Alright.

NS: Let's see, I will probably make some kind of rice dish that will have saffron, for sure, and a bunch of spices. So maybe some kind of pilaf, or pilau, as people call it. I'll probably do a whole roast chicken because that's a great trick for a home cook to look impressive. You make a big chicken, everyone's impressed, and it takes minimal work.

EL: That's great. And you have this line in the book about flavoring a whole chicken, that the trick is to keep the sauce between the skin and the flesh, because the layer of fat in the skin helps the chicken retain its moisture while the flavors in the marinade penetrate the flesh.

NS: Yeah, I don't know why people do it the other way, like I get the salt outside, but I want the flavor to touch the meat.

EL: Yeah.

NS: That's just me, but. And then, Oh, yeah, we've got to have a salad, so probably do, depending on what's in season, I'll make a salad for them. And then, let's see, we have to a vegetable dish, so maybe a roasted cauliflower or something.

EL: That sounds great, man. Can I come?

NS: Yeah.

EL: Alright. What do you cook when there's nothing in the house to eat?

NS: If I have eggs at home, which I usually do, then I'll probably work with the eggs and call it a day. But often what I'll do is I will just make a quick soup.

EL: Assuming that there's stock, either store bought, or that you've made?

NS: Yeah, sometimes I don't even use stock.

EL: You use water?

NS: Yeah, and then I just flavor it as I go.

EL: Got it.

NS: Because I usually have a well stocked pantry, I might not have a lot of things in the fridge, but you can work your way through with the pantry and make it work.

EL: So, do you have a guilty pleasure?

NS: Ice cream. Well, I don't feel guilty about it so I.

EL: Yeah, neither do I. Straight up, are we talking Humphry Slocombe? You're from San Francisco, Bi-Rite Creamery, which one of those ice creams really touches you?

NS: So I'll get in trouble for saying this 'cause I'm not going to pick something local. I'm going to pick Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.

EL: She's Columbus, right?

NS: Yeah, yeah.

EL: I think she's in Cincinnati now, but she started in Columbus.

NS: But the thing with Jeni's Ice Cream is that she is the only one that makes a really beautiful tart lemon ice cream.

EL: Got it.

NS: And no one has ever been able to compare to that. And that's the only thing I get from Jenny's is that lemon ice cream or I make it from her book at home.

EL: That's so great. So what's on your nightstand right now book wise? It doesn't have to be food related.

NS: Oh my God, it is food related.

EL: It's Okay, that's good.

NS: I'm currently reading Arabesque by Claudia Roden.

EL: She's an amazing scholarly writer.

NS: Yeah, I love everything that all the work that she's done. I don't have any of her other books, I only have Arabesque and Middle Eastern Feast, I think that's the book.

EL: Yeah.

NS: And both of them talking a lot personally about cooking Middle Eastern food. I've actually been reading the book just for her essays, they're also fun, the way she approaches stuff.

EL: That's cool. What's the most influential book you've ever read? That influences you personally on your career, on your life.

NS: There's a book called Genome by Matt Ridley. That was a book that I read early before I was I think in grad school. And it talks about each chromosome as a chapter, each human chromosome, and I think they've done updates to it. But it makes you appreciate how our bodies affect our different ways of life, from food to, you know, sociology and everything.

EL: Right.

NS: And so that has always played in mind when I've gone through life, even now with writing about food, a common theme that comes up about taste, you know we're attached to this bitter taste, or not to taste, and so are the things that he talks about, and I've always been kind of paid attention to that.

EL: So, whose had the great influence on you in your career?

NS: Diana Henry.

EL: Really? Have you ever met her?

NS: Yeah, we're really close friends.

EL: That's great.

NS: I love her.

EL: And why is she been the greatest influence? 'Cause you just admire the way she thinks and she cooks?

NS: What I really appreciate about Diana is her ability to introduce new ideas and make them comfortable for home cooks. At the same time, she's also a prolific cookbook author.

EL: Yeah.

NS: And she's also been hugely supportive of my career. I can always ask her about books that I've never heard about, or a topic that, and you need that.

EL: Sure.

NS: In the food world, you need someone. The same case with John Birdsall, he's been also really influential in my life in directing me in the right direction. And both of these authors have really taken their time to help someone who was relatively unknown at a certain point and invest in them because they believe in their voice and work, and that doesn't happen a lot. So to me that, you know, both of them, both John and Dan are really special to me.

EL: It's just been declared Nik Sharma day all over the world. What's happening on that day?

NS: Everybody gets a tub of really good lemon ice cream.

EL: Okay, there's a theme there.

NS: It should be warm 'cause I hate days when they're cold.

EL: Okay.

NS: And I think everybody should write a line on a piece of paper to say what they did that made them really proud of themselves that day.

EL: I love this. I love Nik Sharma day, we're going to make it happen. Let's say September or October, we're going to make it happen.

NS: Okay, Okay.

EL: So, thank you so much for sharing your Special Sauce for this, Nik Sharma. Pick up a copy of Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, read Nik's terrific blog, A Brown Table, as well as his column, “A Brown Kitchen”, in the San Francisco Chronicle. And his about to be column in Serious Eats, no, no, wait, no, no.

EL: But anyway, thank you, Nik, it's been awesome.

NS: Thanks for having me on, Ed.

EL: So long, Serious Eaters. We'll see you see next time.

This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/06/nik-sharma-ed-levine-podcast-2.html

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baked salmon with a lemon & herb crumb

I love baked salmon with a lemon and herb crumb topping. It is the simplest and most delicious way to cook this fish with minimal hands-on prep time. While it bakes to a crunchy deliciousness in the oven you can get busy making a few sides. I have used Hellmann’s mayonnaise to coat the fish giving it juiciness and flavour as well as helping the crumbs stick to the top.

To add another punchy flavour element, I made a lemony horseradish sauce to dollop on the fish at the end too. It’s so easy when you have fantastic ingredients like Hellmann’s mayonnaise on hand. I also love Hellmann’s Light, which has all the taste just fewer calories so choose which you prefer.

Boiled new potatoes with butter and a crisp green salad would be perfect with this dish, otherwise steamed asparagus or tender stem broccoli.

I made a video to show you how easy peasy it all is.

Recipe – Baked salmon with a lemon & herb crumb – serves 2

*I used mainly basil, a little parsley and a dash of thyme and it was really nice. In the past I’ve used parsley and thyme, so you can decide what herbs you like here. 

Salmon

550 – 600 gm salmon (one or 2 centre cut pieces)

3 Tbsp Hellmann’s mayonnaise

½ cup Asian panko crumbs

¼ cup flat herbs (such as basil, parsley) finely chopped (2 Tbsp)

1/2 tsp chopped thyme leaves (optional)

Zest from half a lemon

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)

Sea salt & black pepper

Lemon wedges to serve

Lemony horseradish sauce

¼ cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp creamed horseradish

salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Pin bone the salmon and place it on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper skin side down. Coat the mayonnaise evenly over the top of the fish.

Mix all the crumb ingredients together and using your fingers thoroughly mix together so the herbs, spices, and lemon zest totally mixes in with the crumbs. Spread evenly over the salmon and bake for 15 – 20 minutes (depending on how thick the fish is) at 200C and until the crust is golden brown and the salmon just cooked through.

To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together, season to taste and serve on the side.

**WIN*** share your ultimate recipe using Hellmann’s in a creative way and use the hashtag #treatyourtastebuds on Facebook and Instagram and be automatically put into a draw. 2 randomly picked winners could win R1000 + a Hellmann’s product hamper EACH WEEK. 

Otherwise just make this recipe and share it and @ me @Drizzleanddip and #treatyourtastebuds

Find a few other delicious salmon recipes HERE

*This post is proudly sponsored by Hellmann’s

Find me on Instagram

Source: https://drizzleanddip.com/2018/08/24/baked-salmon-with-a-lemon-herb-crumb/

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Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

This is my favorite, go-to salted butter caramel sauce. There are no real tricks or fancy techniques. And while staying in friend’s houses, I realized I didn’t have my usual arsenal of equipment so was limited in what I could make. This post raised the ire of some, who thought it wasn’t polite to bring cooking equipment when staying with others, but if you’ve tried to dice an onion with a paring knife that cuts like a butter knife or make a cake in an oven that has two settings; on, and off, you realize that good equipment does make cooking and baking easier.

I begged off baking anything because I’m in the midst of working on a book and wasn’t up for a scavenger hunt for ingredients and tools, which can happen in the countryside in France, when even food shops are closed, as everyone deserves a break. (Except for writers.)

While I am sort of on vacation this summer, when Romain made my ridiculously easy Chocolate Idiot Cake, and I was able to pull myself away from my writing to make add this sauce, to serve alongside.

it’s a shame that salted butter has been demonized by the baking community for so long. I, too, was probably guilty of that. But I’ve changed my tune and have apologized for it. Salted butter adds a deeper butter flavor to baked goods, like chocolate chip cookies, chocolate sauce, and French sablés (butter cookies), for example. The late Judy Rodgers made excellent puff pastry with salted butter as well.

Gone are the days when salt was added to preserve freshness (thankfully, most of us have refrigeration now) and the best quality butter I’ve had was in Normandy and Brittany, where salted butter is the name of the game.

In France, we’re fortunate to get beurre demi-sel, and butter with sizable crystals of sea salt in it. There are no hard and fast rules for how much salt is in salted butter, but if you want to use unsalted butter, for every 4 ounces/115g, there’s approximately 1/4 teaspoon of salt added.

Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

Print Recipe

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, Revised and UpdatedThis sauce is easy to make. The trick is to get the caramel base as dark as possible, in step #2, close to burnt, but not quite. The caramel will start to smoke, and a few seconds later, will smell rich and caramelized. That's the moment to remove it from the heat and add the cream. For more guidance and photos, check out my post: How to make the perfect caramel.If you wish to use unsalted butter, you can add an additional scant 1/4 teaspoon of flaky salt to the finished sauce, or to taste. A few readers found the sauce to be on the salty side (I use fleur de sel de Guérande), but sea salts can vary. So you might want to start by using 1/2 teaspoon in step #3, then adding more, to taste.In lieu of the vanilla extract, you could add a half vanilla bean, split lengthwise to the butter and sugar in the first step.

6 tablespoons (3oz, 85g) salted butter, cubed

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream, warmed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel or Maldon, or to taste (see headnote)

1. Melt butter and sugar together in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat, one that will hold at least 4 quarts (4l), but I recommend one that's larger, if possible.

2. Continue to cook the sugar and butter together, stirring frequently, until the color is deep golden brown and it starts to smoke. For best results, I cook the mixture until it smells a little smoky, too, but be careful to find the balance between well-browed, and the moment before it's burnt, which is when it's ready to have the cream added. It should be the color of an old copper penny.

3. Immediately remove from heat and gradually pour in the warm cream, stirring constantly, until smooth. Mix in the vanilla and salt.

Note: If for some reason the sauce seizes up when you add the cream, you've probably added it too quickly, or it wasn't warm. You can gently warm the sauce over low heat and stir into any bits of caramel are dissolved. If some stubborn bits remain, you can strain them out.

Storage: The sauce can be made up to two weeks in advance and stored in a jar in the refrigerator. It was be rewarmed by placing the jar in a saucepan of warm water, or in a microwave oven.

Source: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/salted-butter-caramel-sauce-recipe/

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Cauliflower and Lentil Dahl

One of our favorite cuisines is Indian. Always. Whenever we come across an Indian restaurant we can’t help but stop in for a bite. As much as we love to dine out, making our favorite dishes at home is even more fun. Lentil and Cauliflower Dahl is a healthy, flavor packed meal perfect for vegetarians and #meatlessmonday. The ingredients are easy to find at any market, and this recipe is super quick to throw together. You can have it from prep to table in under 30 minutes. 

Click HERE for recipe details.

Source: https://marlameridith.com/cauliflower-and-lentil-dahl/

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Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Muffins

I do like a bowl of hot oatmeal for breakfast. Especially on a cool morning. One of my favorite ways to enjoy that bowl of oatmeal is with some brown sugar sprinkled on top. However, oatmeal isn’t a very portable item for breakfast on the go, but muffins ARE!

Today’s muffin recipe takes the flavors of brown sugar and oatmeal along with maple syrup and puts them into muffin form. This may just be my new favorite muffins. I love them best fresh from the oven, but they are still great the next day.

After these come out of the oven, the brown sugar helps make a slightly crunch top. I also love the texture that the oatmeal adds to the muffin. My husband, however, had a different opinion on the texture.  He said the muffins were too chewy for him. Next time, I think I may use half quick oats and half old fashioned oats and see if that helps with the chewiness for the muffins for him.

These aren’t super strong as far as the maple flavor goes, but if you wanted it stronger, you could try a little maple flavoring.

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Muffins

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup milk

½ cup pure maple syrup

⅓ cup oil

⅔ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Inn a bowl, mix the oats and milk together.

Add the maple syrup, oil, brown sugar, and eggs. Mix until combined.

Add in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together just until combined. The batter will be wet.

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin tins. Cups will be completely full.

Bake at 400 for 18-25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when lightly pressed.

Allow the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Recipe adapted from I Heart Eating.

Source: https://www.realmomkitchen.com/maple-brown-sugar-oatmeal-muffins/

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The Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki

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The Royal Hawaiian is one of the most coveted spots in Waikiki Beach. Also known as “The Pink Palace of the Pacific”, this historic hotel is made up of luxurious rooms and is located on the most desirable stretch of Waikiki Beach.

Built in 1972, you get a real sense of history at the Royal Hawaiian. It’s the perfect place to stay if you don’t plan on renting a car as it is walking distance to dozens upon dozens of shops and restaurants. The hotel was built in Spanish-Moorish style and it is the second oldest hotel in Waikiki. You can take a tour of the property each Tuesday and Thursday at 1pm.

We had a room in the original building with a great view of the beach and Mai Tai Bar. With two rooms, it was very spacious. (The bathroom was a little small though.)

The bed was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on. I wanted to pack it up and take it home with me.. We felt like we were sleeping on a soft, pillowy cloud.

Rooms in the older part of the hotel do not have balconies but there is a newer connected Ocream View Tower that is 17 floors and all rooms have a balcony.

Stop by the ocean front Mai Tai Bar which has at least a half dozen different Mai Tais to choose from. My favorite was the White Wash which is topped with a signature coco-loco foam.

I recommend renting 2 beach chairs and an umbrella which costs $40 for the day. Call and reserve ahead of time. We didn’t and were lucky they still had a few available.

The chairs have flags attached which you can raise when you want food or drink service. If you want an alcoholic beverage, you have to go and get it yourself at the Mai Tai Bar. Just ask for a plastic cup so that you can bring it on the beach.

I have to say that I love the flag service and I wish more resorts had it. The last resort we went to, the pool waitress stopped to ask us if we need anything literally every 15 minutes for the entire afternoon. So annoying.

The pool at the Royal Hawaiian is very small. There is a larger swim area that is shared with the neighboring Sheraton, but chairs fill up fast.

Even though you are in the heart of Waikiki, the lush grounds at The Royal Hawaiian (14 acres in all) make you feel like you are in a quiet and private oasis.

T

he buffet breakfast at the Surf Lanai is expensive, but what a view! Be sure to try their signature Pink Pancakes. They are delicious!

One of our reasons for staying at The Royal Hawaiian is it is a Marriott property. We love to take advantage of their points program!  🙂

Source: https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/the-royal-hawaiian-in-waikiki/

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Homemade pita chips – in the air fryer or oven!

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Homemade pita chips are so easy to make in the air fryer or oven. In just minutes, you can have crispy chips – perfect for dunking into hummus or baba ganoush.

I also like to add homemade pita chips to salads, as a crunchy alternative to vegan croutons. They go especially well in a Fattoush-style salad.

Homemade pita chips

To make homemade pita chips, I use store-bought pita bread.

It’s very handy, because you can use some of the bread for warm pita chips. And you can use the rest for making gyros, pita pizzas, and pita pockets. So many different options from one bag of pita bread!

Pita bread tends to be vegan. But obviously it’s best to read the ingredient label to know for sure. The ingredients are usually things like whole wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Before I got an air fryer, I always made homemade pita chips in the oven. Today I’m sharing directions to make homemade pita chips either in the air fryer or the oven.

How to make homemade pita chips in the air fryer or oven

Cut two slices of pita bread into wedges – like a real life Trivial Pursuit game piece. You can cut the pita bread with a knife or kitchen shears (my preferred way).

If you’d prefer oil free chips, you can stop right there. And just throw them in the air fryer or onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet to cook in the oven.

But if you don’t mind a little oil, continue on.

Toss the pita chips in a mixing bowl with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, a pinch of granulated onion, dried basil, and dried oregano.

Feel free to omit or change the spices to suit your preferences with alternatives like za’atar, salt, pepper, dried parsley, granulated garlic…

To air fry the pita chips, put the seasoned pita wedges into the air fryer basket. Air fry at 400 degrees for 6 to 7 minutes, stopping occasionally to shake the basket. 

To bake the pita chips, bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, stopping once halfway through to flip the pita wedges over.

How to get lighter pita chips

If you’d prefer a lighter chip, simply peel the pita wedges in half before air frying or baking. So instead of a pocket, each pita would be one single layer. It means that you get twice the dipping for the same amount of pita.

I make homemade pita chips both ways, depending on my mood. Sometimes I feel like something really hearty and super dunkable, so I go with a double layered chip. Other times, I prefer a lighter chip with a single layer, which gives more of the focus to the dip.

What to serve with pita chips:

Homemade pita chips in the air fryer or oven

Get your hummus at the ready. It's time to start dipping! These homemade pita chips are so simple to make in the air fryer or oven.

Print Rate

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Mediterranean, Vegan

Keyword: air fryer, mezze, party food

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 6 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 86kcal

Author: Cadry Nelson

Instructions

If you are going to bake the pita chips in the oven, preheat it to 400 degrees. If you are going to cook them in the air fryer, skip this step.

Put pita wedges in a big mixing bowl. Top them with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, dried basil, dried oregano, and granulated onion. Use your hands to toss the pita wedges, and get them evenly coated.

TO MAKE IN THE AIR FRYER: Put the pita into an air fryer. Air fry at 400 degrees for 6 to 7 minutes, stopping occasionally to shake the basket.

TO MAKE IN THE OVEN: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space the pita wedges across the baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, stopping once halfway through to turn the pita chips over. You want them to be evenly browned on both sides.

Once the pita chips are nicely browned, remove them from the air fryer basket or oven, and serve.

Notes

For a half batch of pita chips (with 1 pita): They will need less time in the air fryer. Since the air will have more room to get around all of the bread, it will cook in about half the time - 3 to 4 minutes. (If you're cooking in the oven, the time will stay the same, regardless of batch size.) For crispier chips: Once the pita are cut into wedges, gently pull the front flap from the back, making two chips out of one triangle. The pita chips will get crunchier, and you'll get twice the amount of dipping for the same amount of bread. For oil-free pita chips: These chips can be made out of one ingredient - pita bread. Just throw the wedges into the air fryer and jump to the cooking instructions.

Nutrition

Calories: 86kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 150mg | Potassium: 33mg | Vitamin C: 0.6% | Calcium: 2.4% | Iron: 2.2%

Source: https://cadryskitchen.com/homemade-pita-chips/

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Must Have Summer Breakfast Recipes

Sharing my Must Have Summer Breakfast Recipes that will put smiles on everyones faces. It’s nice to make breakfast more special when there’s no school to rush off to. These are some of our very favorites not to be missed!  From pancakes, to eggs to muffins and parfaits…I’ve got you covered for special breakfasts and entertaining guests.

Banana Nutella and Oatmeal Pancakes

This gorgeous stack has some of our very favorite flavors.  They’re soft and perfect with a thin layer of Nutella over top and maple syrup!

Brown Butter Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins

These muffins are packed with so much goodness they are hard to resist.  Top with some icing and be ready to wow your family and friends.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Yogurt Parfaits

These parfaits are so fun to make with the kids.  Layered with peanut butter yogurt, granola and Coco Puff’s Cereal, they’re a win every time!

Bacon and Cheese Egg McMuffin Cups

These breakfast cups have all of your favorites wrapped up in one little cup.  Bacon, eggs, cheese and english muffin?  Yes please!

Lemon Poppyseed Ricotta Pancakes

Look at this stack!  The light lemon and ricotta inside each of these lovely pancakes are one of our favorite pancake recipes.  Such a fun treat for a special breakfast.

Mini Broccoli Cheddar and Bacon Quiche

These little quiche could not be more adorable and they’re packed with great flavors.  Individual servings make breakfast a special occasion.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Blueberry Banana Muffins

Flavor packed muffins perfect for summer snacking for breakfast  or anytime really.

Red Tart Cherry Toasted Macaroon Oatmeal

A simple and beautiful breakfast perfect for any day of the week.

Roasted Apples and Peanut Butter Crescents

Warm crescent dough with sweet cinnamon apples and peanut butter.  These are one of our favorite treats with such a great flavor combination.

Other recipes you may enjoy...

29 Responses | Comments RSS

Source: https://picky-palate.com/must-summer-breakfast-recipes/

[riskcause9-blog]

Split Pea Soup With Ham Hocks

This ham hock and split pea soup stove top recipe takes minutes to prepare and can simmer all afternoon. Warm, delicious and loaded in fiber and protein – it is sure to hit the spot and keep you full throughout the afternoon.

Anyone else love soup season as much as I do? Healthy, affordable and oh-so-comforting, I love getting cozy with a warm bowl of soup as the temps drop.

Hearty, smoky and full of chunky vegetables, the best part about this Split Pea Soup with Ham is that it literally takes minutes to prepare and can sit and simmer all afternoon.

Do you brown bag it to work? Make a big batch on Sunday and bring it to work throughout the week.

Never used a ham hock? Look for them near the ham area of your meat department. They cost just pennies and are a great way to flavor soups and greens.

Don’t have one on hand? Try a few slices of bacon or ham instead. A little smoky, salty flavor will enhance the whole pot. Looking to do a slow cooker version instead? Take a look at this recipe.

Your spoon is waiting.

This stovetop split pea soup recipe takes minutes to prepare and can simmer all afternoon. Warm, delicious and loaded in fiber and protein.

<![CDATA[.wprm-recipe-rating .wprm-rating-star.wprm-rating-star-full svg *fill:#fff]]> Print Pin Rate

Course: Entree, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: split pea

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 306kcal

Author: Liz DellaCroce

Ingredients

3 carrots diced

1 medium onion diced

2 celery stalks diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 leaves bay

3 cloves garlic minced

2 cups split green peas dried and sorted

1 smoked ham hock

4 cups chicken broth low sodium

2 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic vinegar optional garnish

Instructions

Saute carrots, onion and celery in a large soup pot over medium high heat using non stick spray.

Season with salt and pepper before adding oregano, bay and garlic.

Saute 60 more seconds then add peas and ham hock.

Season with a bit more salt and pepper then add in broth and water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes until peas are tender.

Check for seasoning and add salt or pepper if needed.

Remove ham hock and bay leaves before serving with a splash of balsamic on top to taste.

Notes

Excellent source of Vitamin A and Iron, good source Vitamin C and calcium

Nutrition Facts

Split Pea Soup With Ham Hocks

Amount Per Serving (2 cups)

Calories 306 Calories from Fat 5

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.6g 1%

Saturated Fat 0g 0%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 1438mg 60%

Total Carbohydrates 68.2g 23%

Dietary Fiber 25g 100%

Protein 27.1g 54%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Looking for more tasty soup recipes? Check out my Pinterest Board!

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Source: https://thelemonbowl.com/split-pea-soup-with-ham-hocks/