Inspiration Right From My Kitchen and Other Observations from Life and Travel.
Living in New York City we’re surrounded by great food, innovative restaurants, and amazing farmer’s markets. I’m constantly on the hunt for fun new recipe ideas. Follow along as I discover this amazing city, find great food, take in life and celebrate the diversity of food and people in this great city.
Latest Journal Entries
#SidesForDays, Quick and Easy Make Ahead Sheet Pan Friendly Sides
If your household is anything like our crazy New York schedule, you have zippo time during the week for anything special. Tired of turning to dinner delivery from our local restaurants (who wants to really waste all that money!), I decided to take control and come up with something easier. Thus my #SidesForDays side dish packets that I just started whipping up a few weeks ago. Using my spare weekend time (largely early Saturday morning before we start our day), I carve up the prep for some easy side dishes that I wrap in aluminum foil – if you ever went camping as a kid, this is the method you likely used to cook your food over the fire – and freeze in single serving packs for the week. What I love the most is the easy way these sides incorporate into…
A Quick And Easy Nordic Dinner
A new eating trend seems to be finding its way into the mainstream. The Nordic diet is quickly overtaking the Mediterranean diet and paleo diet. Of course being a Norwegian Minnesotan this is no surprise as I’ve benefited from delicious seasonal foods that are Nordic in nature. In this spirit, dinner tonight was right in this corner with an easy to prep, make, and super yummy Nordic meal. Here’s your grocery list: I started with a simple salmon fillet that I prepared and cooked in parchment. If you haven’t cooked fish in parchment before, you definitely need to try it. The fish always comes out perfect and the cleanup is a snap. If you haven’t cooked fish like this check out this how to video. Since the salmon takes…
Basics of Baking Cookies
Cookies have always been one of my favorite treats and over the years I have learned a lot about the subtlties that go into making a perfect cookie. Here are some of the basics that everyone should know before starting out. 1. The Mixing Process It’s really quite simple and there are two steps that lead to perfection. Always start out by creaming together the sugars, fats and eggs (and a touch of flavoring extract when called for). You want this mixture to be well incorporated and airy before adding in your dry ingredients. Always in a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, cocoa, etc. Sift these together so that they are well combined and then add to the wet ingredients until JUST incorporated, not a moment more to maintain a perfect dough. 2. Temperature Makes the Difference You can actually play with the baking…
Basics Of Bread At Home In Under Two Hours
There is just nothing better than the smell and taste of homemade bread, but if you are at all like me you have resisted this endeavor because of the time and energy that it takes. Over the last year I committed myself to finding a better way. I studied the subtle nuances of bread science, watched dozens of informational videos, and tested dozens of loaves of bread. What I have come up with is a basic recipe that can serve as a springboard to unlimited creativity in bread making. Best part – each recipe can be completed from start to finish in under 2 hours! In the time it takes for your household to get rolling on a Saturday morning, you can have fresh baked bread coming out of the oven with just a little bit of effort. So what’s the key to this quick and easy bread making euphoria?…
Norwegian Torsk: Baked Cod Never Tasted So Good!
A long-standing family tradition at Christmas was Torsk, a Norwegian dish of baked cod. Now that I’m older, and we’re largely a pescetarian household (we mostly are vegetarian while adding fish and seafood into the diet for added protein), I love having this fairly regularly as my own little version of comfort food. If you are looking for a quick and easy meal tonight, this just might be it. Here’s what you’ll need. Ingredients: (for two) 2 thick pieces of Fresh Cod 8 tbsp Salted Butter Salt, Pepper and Nordic Fields to taste Directions: Place the cod fillets into a glass baking dish, place 4 pads of butter (approximately 1 tbsp each) along each fillet. Season with salt, pepper, and Nordic Fields and then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Remove and serve. Yeah, that’s it! Enjoy the yum!