Kale, Butter Bean, and Shrimp Couscous Bowl

The other day I went out for a walk, which is quite a production these days. Giant stroller, warm clothes for mamma and baby, diaper bag filled with essentials, keys, phone. I got all the way outside and realized I had forgotten my phone. I stood still for a second, considering my options, and decided that it might be good for me to be without my phone for a few minutes. For the first half of the walk, I had company, so it was no problem. As soon as my friend and I parted ways, though, I started feeling like I needed my phone. At least 4 times, I caught myself reaching for it. It turned into a great exercise, because without the constant ability to check on things and communicate with people, my mind was able to have a little break. I was truly amazed at how refreshed I felt and how sparkling clear my thoughts became.

I think I may make a habit of forgetting my phone more often.



Kale, Butter Bean, and Shrimp Couscous Bowl

adapted from Food and Wine, February 2013

This recipe takes less than 10 minutes to come together, and it is exceedingly delicious. Leftovers are great for lunch, especially if you only cook the shrimp as needed.

2/3 cup whole wheat couscous
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound shelled and deveined medium shrimp
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
one 15-ounce can butter beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons capers
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 bunch lacinato (Tuscan) kale, ribs removed, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, combine the couscous with 3/4 cup boiling water, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. In a nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shrimp, a sprinkle of salt, and the crushed red pepper and sauté until opaque, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside. In the same pan, melt the butter. Add the beans, capers, and lemon juice and cook until the beans are hot, about 2 minutes. Add the beans to the couscous and toss, tasting and adjusting seasonings. In the same pan (again!), add the kale and another sprinkle of salt, and cook for about a minute, stirring constantly, until it is bright green but still holds most of its shape. Divide the kale and bean/couscous mixture between 4 bowls, and top with the shrimp.

Serves 4.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

**NOTE: I have fixed the thing that was making it impossible to pin photos to Pinterest, thanks to this helpful post. If you have a blog and you've been having the same issue, I hope that helps! If you don't have a blog but you like to pin my posts and recipes, thank you! I love it when you share!!

For my blogday, I asked people to suggest things they'd like to see on the blog. My good friend Cassie asked for some asparagus soup, and since this hot weather is about to send the asparagus packing, it's now or never! I had never had asparagus soup before, and I have to say this is not my favorite preparation of this vegetable. Upon first taste I thought maybe I hadn't seasoned it well, or maybe it was too much stock and not enough vegetable, but after letting it rest a day in the fridge it turns out it was actually a pretty nice soup. It's just very, very subtle. And since asparagus has such a short season, I'd rather just barely saute it and toss with pasta, or shave it and pile it on a pizza, or steam it and dip it in a creamy sauce. But! If a velvety, subtly-flavored light green soup sounds like just the thing for you, give this a try!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

I've seen several recommendations from other sources that if you puree asparagus, you should strain it to remove any lingering tough or woody pieces, but I found it to be an unnecessary step. My soup was plenty smooth without straining. Follow your heart, though, and make sure to trim your asparagus well. Peeling the hard edges might also help with especially woody asparagus.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch spring onions, or 1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1- to 2-inch lengths

4 cups water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute about 3-5 minutes, until slightly softened. Add asparagus and toss together. Season with salt and pepper, add the water or stock, and simmer until the asparagus can be easily smashed against the side of the pot with a spoon, about 10-15 minutes (more or less depending on how thick your asparagus is). Puree in batches in a blender, and then return to the pot over low heat. Stir in the butter and cream, taste, and adjust seasoning. Serve warm or cold.

Yield: about 4-6 servings

Bacon and Brie Sandwich

You know what? There's not always time to roast a chicken. There's not always planning ahead. Sometimes you just want something to put in your face so that you can sit on the couch and watch another episode of Friday Night Lights. You get home, you're ravenous, and you have to make some magic happen with whatever's in the fridge. A well-stocked fridge helps a lot with this.

A bacon and brie sandwich to the rescue! With some spinach, because vegetables should be a part of dinner. Mustard and pickles for some pizzazz. And we're off!

Warm up a pan and cook a couple slices of bacon. Crack some black pepper on the top while they're cooking.

Toast the bread. Sourdough is delicious.

Spread one side with Dijon mustard, and put some slices of Brie on the other side. The warm toast will start to melt the Brie. We like that.



Veggies for responsible adults! Spinach and bread-and-butter pickles. Unexpected and awesome.



The piece de resistance... PEPPER BACON.



A dinner fit for a queen.

7 Quick Takes: Ode to my iPhone

Happy happy Friday! This week, I finally traded in my crappy, falling-apart Palm Pixi for a shiny new iPhone 4. I've been playing with it almost nonstop since I got it, so my quick takes this week are going to be iPhone-centered. What are your favorite iPhone apps? I'm all ears!

1. RIP Palm Pixi.

Please tell me you can see why I thought this would be a good way to transition into smartphone-land. I mean, it's cute and tiny (which I liked), has a keyboard (since I was worried I would hate touch-screen typing), and has that little touch screen. If it had performed as promised, it would have been fabulous! ALAS. There's a rubbery layer on the back that just peels off after about 6 months of use. The battery life was atrocious. And about 5 months ago, the button on the side that controls the ringer broke, so I haven't been able to hear call or text alerts since January. Unacceptable. The iPhone is better than my other phone in basic ways: it makes a sound when I have an incoming call. Wow.

2. Pandora!



Wednesday after work, the sun was shining, and it was warm for the first time in weeks! I decided to take my Vibram FiveFingers (which I got on sale a couple months ago) and my Nickel Creek Pandora station for a little spin around the neighborhood. The combination may well change my life. The way I run (even though, let's be honest, I was mostly walking) in the barefoot shoes is completely different, and feels like the way you used to run around when you were a kid playing tag. It didn't feel like jogging (which might as well be called slogging) - it felt like play!

3. Twitter + Instagram!

I started using Twitter on my computer a while ago, but now that I'm using it on my phone, I feel like I'm getting more out of it. I'm able to scroll through and interact a little at a time, which makes it more fun! If you're on Twitter, follow me @elizaraxi.



Instagram was one of the apps I was most excited to start using. See a beautiful thing during your day? Share it. It's a lot of fun, and reminds me to stay present to all the lovely things I see (and delicious things I eat!) in the course of my daily life. If you use Instagram, follow me @elizaraxi there too!

4. I know, I know.



Maybe this is lame, and maybe it's a waste of time. But Angry Birds is pretty dang fun, and my husband and I have been fighting over who gets to play when he gets home from work. Judge away.

5. Redfin + Mint + other apps for grown ups.

Redfin allows you to search for and track real estate listings. It has a great map feature, which is great if you're out and about and want to see if there are open houses happening nearby. Mint keeps track of all your financial accounts in one place. What apps do you use to keep track of your life?

6. Prayer on the go.

The iBreviary app lets me pray in the rhythm of the Church wherever I am. I open it up, and I instantly have the Liturgy of the Hours (prayers for different times of the day that are prayed by religious communities worldwide), daily readings, and lots of common Catholic prayers at my fingertips. I did morning prayer on the train this morning! Super convenient.

7. Quick and easy food sharing!



Sometimes great things happen when you look in your fridge and get creative with what's in there. This was basically my thought process:

I'm starving. Hmmm... I kinda want a burrito. I really don't want to leave the house again, and I don't want to spend any money. I don't have any chicken defrosted. What do I have? A few flour tortillas and a giant bag of broccoli from Costco. I wonder if I could turn that into tacos? Broccoli cheddar tacos? People make broccoli cheddar soups and casseroles! I bet it could be tacos...  Oh! Oh! Let's make them Asian flavored.

And BOOM. One of my new favorite quick dinners was born.

Asian Broccoli Cheddar Tacos

about 2 cups broccoli florets
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha (or more to taste)
a couple dashes toasted sesame oil
2 fajita-sized flour tortillas
grated sharp cheddar

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and add the broccoli. Toss for a minute or two, and then add a couple splashes of water to help steam the broccoli. Season with the soy sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil, and continue to cook until the broccoli is bright green with some crispy brown areas on the edges. Place the flour tortillas over a medium flame, flipping every 5-10 seconds, until hot and blistered. Fill each tortilla with half the broccoli, and top with the cheese.

Have a great weekend, and go see Jen for more quick takes!

Miso-Carrot Soup

We're back to it. Eating our vegetables, buying less stuff, spending more time with people we love. The sparkle of New Year's has worn off, and we're left with clouds and cold, sweaters and snow. How are your resolutions faring?

I am so excited about the food I've been eating lately. So many vegetables, roasted, braised, and sauteed, dressed merrily in herbs and spices, and dancing with citrus. It may be grey and dreary outside, but there is no shortage of color in the kitchen. Carrots! Beets! Blood oranges! Grapefruit!





Treat yourself to a really great lunch of miso-carrot soup and this beet salad, and then use the energy boost to power through a productive afternoon! All those fruits and veggies combine to give you superpowers that no rain/snow mix could dampen. Go forth and do great things!

p.s. Did you know that you can get ten pounds of organic carrots for just under $7 at Costco? Crazy deal.

p.p.s. If you make this salad and pack it for lunch, make double-triple sure the container it's in can't leak. The inside of my lunchbox was fuchsia for a day.

Miso-Carrot Soup
adapted from smitten kitchen

I used ginger-chicken broth in this soup, because I had it leftover, and wasn't a huge fan of it on its own, but vegetable broth is perfect as well. Make sure to choose a low-sodium version if you're not using homemade - the miso is pretty salty, and you want to be able to control the seasoning yourself.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
4 cups low-sodium broth
1/4 cup red miso paste
juice of 1 lemon

toasted sesame oil and roughly chopped parsley or cilantro, to finish

Place the oil in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium flame.  Add carrots, onion, and garlic, and saute until onions are translucent, about ten minutes. Add broth and ginger, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in batches in a blender, or use an immersion blender. Ladle a small amount of soup into a small bowl, and whisk in the miso paste.  Whisk miso mixture and lemon juice into soup and taste, adding salt, pepper, or more miso if necessary. Ladle into bowls and finish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and a sprinkling of fresh herbs.

Classic Crab Cakes

You know how sometimes all it takes to unleash a fully-fledged craving is just the simple mention of something you haven't thought of in a while? A few days before my birthday this year, I read this post, and I knew right then and there that nothing else but crab would do for my birthday dinner. I looked online at some restaurant menus, and then came to my senses and decided to just grab some crab and heat it up at home. Even with a bottle of champagne, a nice loaf of bread, and a salad, we spent less on the whole meal than we would have on one entree at a restaurant. It felt pretty good. Especially when I realized that crab makes for some pretty phenomenal leftovers.



These crab cakes made a perfect birthday lunch alongside a refreshing, peppery arugula salad with a lemon-caper vinaigrette. Crispy on the outside, filled with simply-seasoned sweet hunks of crab, and a dab of homemade tartar sauce on the side. And since it was my birthday, a mimosa to wash it down. Delicious.



Classic Crab Cakes
adapted from Cook's Illustrated
yield: 4 cakes

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for shell fragments
2 celery stalks, finely minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1-4 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
salt and ground black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently mix crabmeat, celery, cilantro, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, and Old Bay in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Carefully fold in egg with rubber spatula until mixture barely holds together. If the mixture doesn't bind, add more breadcrumbs, a tablespoon at a time, until they do. Don't overdo it - it just barely has to hold together.

Divide crab into four portions and shape into fat, round cakes, about 3 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick. Arrange on prepared baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Place flour in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Lightly dredge cakes in flour. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Gently lay floured cakes in skillet and cook until both sides are crisp and golden, 4-5 minutes per side. Serve immediately with lemon wedges or tartar sauce.


Tartar Sauce

yield: about 1 cup

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 shallot, mnced
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and minced
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix together in a small bowl.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Wait, what?

Did I just say "vegan cream" like it was no big deal?  Ew!  EEEWWWWWWW!!

I think it's weird when people decide to go vegan, and then all they eat is super-processed meat and dairy substitutes.  That stuff is the devil!  Tapioca cheese?  Non-dairy creamer, which is basically just corn syrup?  Tofurky?  I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Don't even get me started on vegan bacon.  *shudder*

I mean, why mess with these abominable food substitutes when there are perfectly delicious all-natural unadulterated vegan things you could eat?

This lovely soup has nothing weird or processed in it, and also nothing that came from an animal.  I am totally on board.  Did you know about the magical creamy properties of raw cashews?  It is nothing short of a revelation.  Now, I'm not going to lie to you and say, "Oh my gosh!  It tastes exactly like cream!"  Because it obviously does not taste anything like cream.  But if you eat this soup, which tastes delicious in its own wonderfully nutty way, you'll feel better, and so will your skinny jeans.  Plus, I assume that in eight short days, you will be stuffing your face with many, many delicious things that contain real cream and real butter, so why don't we do ourselves a favor and make up for it now?

P.S. Just for the sake of full disclosure, that toast in the photo has real, non-vegan, from-a-cow cheddar cheese on it.  I am not a vegan.  Clearly.  I just think real plant-based food is fun.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

adapted from Joy the Baker

Trivia: the thing that makes Worcestershire sauce un-vegan is anchovies.

1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 heads broccoli, washed and separated into florets
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard seeds
black pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
4 cups water

Place raw cashews in a bowl with enough water to fully cover, and soak for one hour.  Drain.

Steam broccoli until tender and bright green.  Drain and set aside.

Place the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent, about 5-6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook one minute more.  Add seasonings, and continue cooking for a few seconds.  Toss in the cooked broccoli, mix it all up, remove from the heat and set aside.

Place half of cashews, half of broccoli mixture, and 2 cups water into a blender, and blend until smooth.  Pour into a soup pot over low heat, and repeat with remaining ingredients.  Add lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and more water if desired.  Serve warm.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

Ratatouille Niçoise

I only lived alone for one year of my life.  I lived with roommates in college, and then for one year I lived in a tiny little studio apartment, and then I got married and moved in with my hubby.  I loved that one year.  I loved having the total freedom I had there.  If I wanted to watch TV or practice or listen to music late at night, I wasn't bothering anyone.  That space was one hundred percent mine.  I lived a couple of blocks from a Whole Foods, and once in a while, I took myself on little dates.  I would walk over there and buy a bottle of wine, some cheese, bread, and whatever else looked good, and bring it home to make dinner for myself.  Then I'd take a long, hot bath and read a book.  Far from being lonely, those evenings by myself were soul-nourishing and wonderful.

The kitchen of my tiny studio.

One of my favorite things to make on such nights was ratatouille, which is a traditional Provençal vegetable stew.  My family spent three weeks in Nice when I was six years old, and I assume that's when this recipe made its way into my mom's regular rotation.  The longer I'm away from home, the more I realize how incredibly spoiled my sister and I were by the food my mother consistently put on our dinner table.  Warm and fragrant, with the heady scent of herbs and red wine, a big bowl of ratatouille and a slice of crusty French bread spread thickly with soft goat cheese is comfort food at its finest.

Ratatouille Niçoise

The amounts and ingredients in this recipe are pretty flexible.  Just play around with it until you find something that you love.  And like most soups and stews, this gets better with time - the flavors blend and mellow and make magic together.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sweet bell pepper, chopped
2 medium summer squash, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch half-moons
2 medium zucchini, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch half-moons
1 large or 2-3 small eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon herbes de provence
1 28-oz. can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

Heat the oil over medium heat in a soup pot or dutch oven.  Add the vegetables as you chop them, stirring in the next addition as it comes.  When all the veggies are in the pot, cook them until they are beginning to brown and soften.  Add wine and let cook for a minute or two.  Then add herbs and tomatoes, and stir well.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft, but not falling apart.  The eggplant takes the longest to soften - taste a piece, and if the skin is still tough, give it another 10 minutes or so.  Serve as a side dish with roasted chicken, or as a sauce for pasta, or my favorite way: by itself, with a piece of French bread and goat cheese.

Zucchini-Potato Cakes

On Friday, I had the day off, so I was going to meet some girlfriends at the beach for a picnic.  It was not that warm, and threatening to thunderstorm, though, so they came over and I made them some lunch at my place.  Zucchini-Potato Cakes topped with cool avocado, a salad of watermelon, cucumber, feta, heirloom tomato, arugula and mint, and chilled rose.  It was lovely, and summery, and a perfect girly lunch.  Also a really perfect way to use up some zucchini!

Zucchini-Potato Cakes

These would also be nice as an appetizer; instead of 12 patties, make 24 or even 36, and then top them with a little dollop of avocado cream.

2 smallish zucchini, grated
5-6 new potatoes, grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large eggs
1-1.5 cups breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil, for frying

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  The mixture should be reasonably wet, but still hold its shape.  Start with 1 cup of breadcrumbs, and add more until you have the right consistency.

Heat a good amount of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Shape the dough into 12 medium-sized patties, and fry in batches until deep golden brown, about 5-6 minutes per side.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate, and then serve hot, topped with avocado slices, alongside a green salad.

Serves 6 for lunch.

Those long rambling talks...

From time to time, my dad and I will get on the phone and talk and talk and talk and before I know it, it's been an hour or even two and one of us realizes it's probably kind of late and we are tired and need to go to bed.  I really love those rambling talks.  More often, it's just a quick hello while I'm walking to or from the train, or on my way to the store, or on my lunch break.  I treasure the long talks.  We talk about everything.  Last night, while we talked, I finished up the chocolate pudding pie I had started when I got home from work.  FYI: if you ever start whipping cream in the KitchenAid, and then walk away so that the noise doesn't drive your dad bonkers on the phone, and it whips a little too long, you can add a little more cream, stir it up, and whip it again to save it.  Just don't walk away again.  If your dad is like mine, he will wait patiently while you watch for the cream to get perfectly whippy. 

After I finished putting the whipped cream on the pie, I roasted some vegetables to take for lunch at work, and he told me funny stories from when he lived in Greenwich Village in the seventies.  I walked out on the deck and watched a summer thunderstorm roll in, all dark purply clouds and distant thunder.  I was in and out, talking, writing down some of the funnier things Dad said.  The storm broke like a water balloon over the city, and of course that's when I realized that I wanted to put fresh basil in my roasted veggies.  Grabbed some scissors and walked out in the rain for my first harvest of the season!  One lovely sprig of fresh basil (ah the joys of buying plants instead of seeds), snipped, chopped, and tossed in!

I wish my dad were here to have a piece of pie at my kitchen table.

Brown Rice and Roasted Vegetables

I made this specifically for take-to-work lunches.  I didn't plan ahead for it, I just used things I had on hand.  I would like to do something similar to this each week, so that I can save money on lunch, and also so that I can dictate what I eat, instead of trying to rely on restaurants every day.  You could do this about a million different ways, and you could incorporate leftovers if you happened to have some.  Grill the vegetables, use different beans, change the seasonings, use quinoa, wheatberries, or kamut instead of rice.

2 cups cooked brown rice
3 carrots, peeled and halved or quartered, depending on how big they are
2 yellow summer squash, quartered
1 onion, cut in 8 pieces
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed
3 cloves garlic, smashed
olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
about 1/4 cup fresh basil

Put all the veggies (not the basil) in a bowl, and dress with olive oil and fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Lay them out in a single layer onto a foil-lined (unless you like scraping up burned bits) baking sheet.  Roast for 20 minutes in a 450 degree oven, until starting to char, and barely softened.  Return to the bowl, and let cool until you can comfortably handle them.  Chop them all into small, uniform pieces.  I think mine were about 1/2-inch little cubes.  Combine with brown rice, beans, and basil, taste, and add a little more olive oil and lemon juice, and salt if it needs it. 

Makes about 4 lunchtime servings.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Yesterday, Meg the Grand shared this video with me (apparently I'm behind the times),

Which inspired me to go today and get this sandwich from Specialty's:

"Peanut Butter and Stuff"



Soft and delicious wheat bread, crunchy peanut butter, homemade cranberry sauce, and slices of granny smith apples and bananas!  Heaven!  Peanut butter is a surprisingly versatile little ingredient, and while many people are happy to simply eat it straight from the jar...

...there are so many other things you can do with it!  Plus, it's healthy, providing protein, vitamins B₃ and E, magnesium, folate, dietary fiber, arginine, and high levels of the antioxidant p-coumaric acid.  This recipe for Soba with Chicken and Peanut Sauce comes together in minutes, but the results are so delicious!  Comfort food with an Asian twist.  Instead of spreading it on toast for breakfast, why not stir a tablespoon into your oatmeal with a drizzle of honey and a dash of cinnamon?  What about this Peanut Soup with Rice and Scallions?  For dessert, check out this Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie from Ezra Pound Cake.

The sandwich options are endless, too!  How about peanut butter, apple, and bacon?  Or one my mamma made me when I was little: peanut butter, lettuce, and mayonnaise?  Peanut butter and honey, or bananas, or maple syrup (my little sister used to love that one - sugar on bread?  gimme!).  People even put it on hamburgers!

How do you like your peanut butter?