Some Good Stuff

Aka, a collection of ramblings and links to share. Also drool-worthy photos other bloggers are rockin’.

This is just too funny: The Nutella Debate. I’m on team-nutella, minus the fact I always want to spell it incorrectly differently. Please do not disagree…especially if you are somebody who pretends to not like chocolate. Be gone with you. Nutella goes with every.thing. Make my grilled nutella, pb & pear sandwich. You can thank me later.

nutella_sand_plate_590_390

Non-Chinese foods that (hopefully) we already know aren’t authentically Chinese…still are top choices regardless. Was somebody thinking these were authentic?

Boston(ish) foodie collaborative & shared rental spaces popping up all over.

How cool is NYC? They did a French Restaurant Week just before Bastille Day. Love it. Regular restaurant week is so tired, and they dumb down their menus, and their staff hate it. I’d love a super specialized restaurant week here and there….now that restaurant week happens all the time. Ok. I’m off my soapbox.

Hmmm. I want some really good polenta…like this amazing looking one by Half Baked Harvest. I should mess around with polenta more often. There was a good one at work but it was just too spicy for me.
Balsamic Fig Glazed Pork w-Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Creamy Gorgonzola Polenta | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest
A House in the Hills made some honeydew basil spritzers which sounds lovely while there’s still some summer left. I’ll have to skip the wine in there, but I should make that happen, pronto.

I’ve been inspired by using weird methods for usual things…like hashbrowns I made the other night on the waffle iron. I was wayyyy too heavy handed with the cheese and they stuck miserably. I’ll try again, but by that point I just wanted to eat so it wasn’t blogged.

What else looks good out there?

Steakhouse Flatbread Pizzas

I was wanting to make his & hers pizzas. I don’t eat beef and Mr. J isn’t into mushrooms so this was the perfect time for individual pizzas. I was really into the idea of buttery mushrooms with a really good cheese. Being pregnant means only pasteurized cheeses and I had envisioned fontina but couldn’t find one labeled as such. I figure they are, but I’m not taking any chances. I found some asiago (labeled as pasteurized) and thought that would be good.

Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
I had some naan pieces from Trader Joe’s which made really great individual pizzas.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough/flatbread/pita bread
1/4 red onion, chopped
3 tbs cream cheese
2 tbs milk
1 tbs garlic
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 oz shiitake or portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup asiago

Directions:

Saute chopped onions in olive oil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until soft and lightly browned.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
Mix up the cream cheese, milk, garlic, garlic powder, Parmesan, salt and pepper.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat until it starts to foam. Add in the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
Spread the flatbreads with the cream cheese sauce, then mozzarella and asiago.
Add onions and mushrooms on top.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
Sprinkle remaining asiago on top.
Bake 5-10 minutes at 350-degrees until toasted and the cheese melts.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
Enjoy!

I loved this one. The mushrooms were buttery and paired perfectly with the asiago.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
Mr. J grilled some marinated steak tips and sliced it for the pizza. His started with the same flatbread, cream cheese sauce, mozzarella and asiago cheese mixture, onions, then topped with sliced steak.
Steakhouse Flatbread Pizza - The Three Bite Rule
These individual pizzas were topped with what we each like. These are a great to really customize for separate preferences but would also be a great way to use small amounts of leftovers.

Roasted Beets and Potatoes

I like beets but I really never make them. I think I like them when somebody makes them for me 😉

I mean, the grocery store sells so many ridiculously prepared things yet not roasted beets. It isn’t rocket science to roast them, but trying not to stain my hands, clothes, cutting boards while also not bringing the kitchen temperature to 1000 degrees.

I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do with some beets from the farmer’s market. Off to pinterest! I found The Heritage Cook’s beets and potatoes and thought it was a great combo. I thought it was a great starting point for me. I added the mustard and lemon juice to wake up the flavors and keep it fresh tasting.

Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule

Ingredients:

3 beets
2 potatoes
1 sweet potato
3 tbs melted butter
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbs chopped garlic
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp chopped chives
1/4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
Trim the beet greens off the beet and rinse well.
Rub with olive oil and loosely wrap in aluminum foil. Roast for 40 minutes. Poke with a fork to check if they are cooked through. Let cool to room temperature.

Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule
Quarter the potatoes, then boil the potatoes until cooked most of the way through.
When the beets are cool enough to handle, use a paper towel to rub the skin off. Then chop into quarters.
Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule
Heat a large heavy skillet to medium high heat.
Whisk together melted butter, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, dried rosemary, salt, & pepper.
Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule
Add the potatoes to the hot pan and the whisked dressing. Cook for 5 minutes to crisp the potatoes.
Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule
Remove the potatoes from the heat, into a large bowl. Add the beets. Pour the remaining liquid over the bowl and toss once. (Tossing too much will make everything beet-colored pink.)
Sprinkle in the fresh herbs.
Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule
This was good and paired well with a grilled pork chop. I didn’t want it to be too fall-feeling. Originally I was going to grill the potatoes, but I usually cook them a bit first. I cooked them a bit too much to then grill. I didn’t want them to fall apart, so I added them all to the skillet.

The sweet potato with the beets with the potato all complimented each other.
Roasted Beets & Potatoes - The Three Bite Rule

What I Ate: Tapas at Barcelona Wine Bar

What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with you for the idea or inspiration.

Washington Square was not the same culinary scene when I lived around there. It makes me feel old but when meeting Ms. L for Tapas at Barcelona Wine Bar and we marveled at how many cool restaurants are there now. We decided on Tapas to hear about her trip to Spain. It was crazy hot so we ate inside. The patio is lovely though. Tapas is such a good summer meal to dabble in flavors and textures that appeal at the moment.

tapas_outside

I loved the menu. There were a ton of choices and we did a fantastic job choosing…I have to say. I was glad some were really sizable. I am happy to say we left feeling full without breaking the bank.

Golden Beets with Pistachio Pesto & Orange – This might have been my favorite dish. The beets were so good and the pistachio pesto was fantastic.

tapas_beets

Zucchini and summer squash- these were from a local farm. They were lightly cooked and a good compliment to everything else we had.
tapas_zucchini

Jamon and Chicken Croquettes – these were perfectly crispy with a light aoli underneath. They were perfectly pop-able. If they were any smaller I might have devoured them without enough attention.
tapas_croquettes

Patatas Bravas Salsa Brava, Garlic Aioli – these arrived hot from the kitchen. They were crispy and had great tomato flavor. We weren’t sure if this was going to be too spicy but it was perfect.
tapas_potatoes

Truffled “Bikini“ Grilled Cheese, Jamon Serrano – mini grilled ham & cheese with truffle oil. Yes. Please. These were so good and a great balance with the veggies we had.
tapas_grilledcheese
Brookline has some fantastic restaurants that I love (like Fireplace, Regal Beagle, Orinoco, La Morra, Publick House, Matt Murphy’s and of course Brookline Spa).
And a bunch more new ones I still have to try (like RibelleFairstead Kitchen, The Abbey).

Any other Brookline spots I’m missing out on? It has now been a long time since I worked in Brookline Village and lived in Cleveland Circle area!

July Recap

July was bananas. Between the holiday weekend, telling everyone about the baby, and some landscape projects I feel like summer is in full swing. I cannot express how thankful I am that Mother Nature has been kind to me without too much heat. Seriously. Those 75-degree days were lovely and I appreciated it thoroughly.

People’s reactions to the baby have been so wonderful and I am grateful for the support. I’ll keep ya posted as any crazy food cravings/aversions changes & evolve. I had grilled salmon on salad one night and couldn’t stop calling it the best I’d ever had. Currently I’m hungry all the time. In July, the babe was the size of a large plum, a peach, a lemon, an orange, then an avocado.
baby_announce

July also was sort of life-changing in that we finally got our ice maker fixed. It is amazing. Having an endless supply of ice cubes is so great. Mr. J has become a cold-brewing coffee master, and ice is a vital component to that. The pups are not interested in them, but I pile them into every drink I have now.

I tweaked my normal pizza dough process with the prompting of Mr. J. He suggested we try rolling out the dough a bit to make it thinner. It was awesome and cracker-thin. I made this breakfast pizza that might be my best attempt thus far. I hard-boiled the eggs and chopped them up. It gave it a true eggy-taste without the texture getting wanky.

The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Flatbread
A true shining moment of food in July was a BLT Burger – This burger was so great. I mixed in some sun-dried tomato pesto into the burger, giving the flavors a serious upgrade.
The Three Bite Rule - BLT Burger
I used this roasted kale pesto to become pasta salad and it was ahhh-mazing. I loved it and want it all the time now. I might have to mass produce the kale pesto to keep stocked.
The Three Bite Rule - Roasted Kale Pesto Pasta Salad

The puff pastry turnovers were so good and such an easy dinner. The creamed spinach and ham were so good. Three ingredients: puff pastry sheets, frozen creamed spinach, chopped ham. Done! They are really adaptable with whatever is on hand. I liked the little deviation from grilled things and I made them in the toaster oven without heating up the whole kitchen! The kale pesto would be good in these buggers too!
The Three Bite Rule - Puff Pastry Turnovers
Mr. J has been toiling away on a landscaping project. He has a great landscaping eye and mapped out a plan for walkway paths from the deck over to the hammock, and to a future firepit area, and to the basement door. After being revived from the landscaping estimates for stone pavers, he planned gravel paths he could do himself…for less than the $10K price tag.

It was tonsss of work and my dad lent some much needed hands-on help. Mr. J rented a sod cutter, dug out the dirt, installed edging, loaded in crushed gravel base, pounded that down, and topped with pea stone. I helped a bit when I was up to it, but really this project took lots of full days of work. I’m thankful the majority is done. It’ll be awesome and I cannot wait to roast marshmallows. It will be done soon!

Let’s check on my goals:
Buy myself flowers more often – The Year of the flower is a hit! this month I nabbed some blue hydrangeas  and then this beautiful mix came from a chef at work.
send more mail – ehh I didn’t quite get there this month.
make some Pinterest pins a reality 
cook with yeast (yikes!)
try a spin class – um nope. I’m not sure I’m adding in any super new exercises at this point. I’m slowly doing a 30-day yoga challenge whenever the mood strikes.
make more cocktails – umm no cocktails for me until January 😉 but I did make a fun beverage: Bubbly Blueberry Lemonade

August is always a reminder to make the most of the final days of summer. I’ll have a few beach days at the very end, and I have already mentally prepared people that I need a lot more Maine Black Bear ice cream in my summer.