It’s probably not technically accurate to call this tasty soybean dip “hummus” but you should think of it as a descriptive, evocative name, not a culturally accurate one. (I’m not alone in this – for example, they’re pretty conflicted about this, among other aspects of edamame hummus, over at The Delicious Life. But no matter what you want to call it, it turns out if you give soybeans a somewhat hummus-like treatment, you get a whole lotta tasty. Here’s my take on the meme.

I added mint leaves and various sesame products, because I thought it was too boring without. Some people think you should remove the thin outer covering from the soybeans before pureeing them. Those people a) care more about the smoothness of their dips than me, and b) are not as lazy as me. If that describes you, knock yourself out. But I would say it’s highly unnecessary and I like texture in my dip anyway. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Edamame Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 small clove garlic
• 2 cups cooked, shelled soybeans
• 1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 Tblsp sesame tahini
• 1 Tblsp sesame oil plus more for garnish
• salt to taste

Method:

• Put garlic in food processor and pulse to chop finely. Add soybeans, mint, 1/2 tsp salt, and  lemon juice and puree to roughly chop the soybeans.
• Add tahini, 1 Tblsp sesame oil, and 1/2 cup water and continue to puree until it reaches desired consistency. You might need to add more water. Taste and add salt if necessary.
• Remove to bowl. Make a well with a spoon and garnish with a small amount of sesame oil (not too much as it can be overwhelming.) Serve with pita or pita chips.

I had some  good quality feta left over and then I was also hungry and had limited items in the fridge. So I invented a dip on the fly to go with some crackers I had laying around and it worked out really well.

I think this would be great with pita or pita chips as well. I didn’t give any amounts in the recipe, because it’s not an exact science and should be put together to taste. I guarantee you won’t mess it up! I like to use a milder feta and a tangy yogurt like Fage or another Greek or Persian yogurt. If you want to make this lower fat you can use lowfat or nonfat yogurt, but it won’t be quite as rich and creamy.

Feta Yogurt Dip

Ingredients:
1 part feta
2 parts plain yogurt
fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped (can use a different herb like thyme, mint, cilantro, or marjoram if preferred.)
fresh cracked pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Method:

• Crumble up the feta and combine with yogurt.
• Mix in herbs. Add pepper and a bit of the oil- just so it gets to be dippy consistency.
• Taste and add salt if necessary. You probably won’t need to as most feta is pretty salty already.

When I was but a youthful lass of 22, I worked at the fabulous Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego for about a year. If you’re ever in San Diego, I highly recommend stopping there for one of their scones (the best I’ve ever tasted, to be sure) or to dazzle your friends with one of their heart-stoppingly gorgeous cakes. I learned a lot there, but probably the most important thing I learned was that the way to a good bread pudding is simple: make creme brulee mixture and don’t use regular bread. This opens up a realm of delicious and easily adaptable flavor possibilities and combinations that are blissfully simple to make, as well as very forgiving.

For this occasion, I bought a soft loaf of Semifreddi’s cinnamon twist bread and made an orange zest-infused vanilla brulee mix, then dotted it all with dark chocolate chunks. It took about 5 minutes to put together and tasted like a million bucks. With a scoop of Bi-Rite Creamery’s salted caramel ice cream, it was almost transcendent.

Orange-Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Chocolate Chunks

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• zest from 1/2 orange
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 loaf cinnamon bread (1-2 days stale is better than fresh but it will work either way)
• large handful semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks (can use chocolate chips)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 250.
• Heat cream in saucepan until hot but not bubbling. Turn off heat and add zest. Set aside.
• If bread is a few days old and a bit stale and hard, just use it as is. If it’s fresh soft bread, toast in a 350 degree oven or toaster to dry out a bit before using. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes.
• Whisk yolks, sugar, and vanilla into cream until fully incorporated.
• In a loaf pan or half-size casserole pan, arrange half the bread in the bottom and pour half the cream mixture over. Sprinkle with half the chocolate. Repeat with remaining bread, cream, and chocolate. Press mixture down with the back of a large spoon or your hands, so it’s tightly packed in and all bread is moistened.
• Bake at 250 for about 20-30 minutes, until custard is set but wobbly. Serve warm with ice cream.

I have no idea where this recipe came from, it’s scribbled on a scrap of paper- but I changed it a lot from the paper scrap version because it had what I perceived to be too much sugar and too many unnecessary steps. It is quick, easy, and colorful, and the figs and pork are a fantastic combination.

I bought luscious Black Mission figs for this at the Farmers Market, but then I let Ross eat them all as a snack. So I had to buy figs at Safeway, and all they had were the green Kadotas. But shockingly they were pretty good figs, even from Safeway.

For a side dish, you want something that can sop up the yummy sauce. I sauteed finely chopped mushrooms with thyme and mixed them into couscous for an easy and fast side dish, but mashed potatoes or a crusty loaf of fresh bread would be good too.

Pork with Balsamic Figs
This is pretty fast, as well as easy- start to finish, around 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 thin-cut, bone-in pork chops
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T butter
• 4-6 fresh figs, cut in quarters
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup beef broth
• 1 T brown sugar
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Season pork chops liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Heat olive oil and cook the pork chops on high heat, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to platter.
• Put butter in pan and melt. Saute figs a few minutes, until a little browned. Remove from pan.
• Add balsamic vinegar, broth, and sugar to pan. Cook on medium until reduced and a little thicker. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add figs back to pan for a minute. Pour sauce and figs over pork and serve immediately.

My mom has been making a version of this pie since I was a kid. If you’ve got really great peaches, this is a terrific way to highlight them without cooking them all to hell as in a normal 2-crust pie. Plus, it’s easy and quick as can be.

Essentially it’s just one crust with raw, unadulterated peaches covered in a layer of sweet sticky peach glaze. I’ve kicked up Mom’s old recipe with a vanilla bean and some fresh lemon juice. We used to go to Brentwood every summer to buy peaches from the farmers, but now my dear ol’ Dad grows lovely ones in his little orchard. If you’ve ever seen a stone fruit tree in bloom you’ll know that you only get a couple of weeks to consume what seems like a gazillion fresh fruits. So if you find yourself with a bushel of great peaches, I highly recommend you try it!

Peach Glaze Pie

Ingredients:

• one baked pie crust
• 4 cups peaches, peeled and sliced
• 1 1/2 cups peaches, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tblsp cornstarch
• 1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tblsp butter
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

• Pour sliced peaches into crust.
• In a small saucepan, combine chopped peaches with 3/4 cup water, plus the seeds and pod of the vanilla bean. Bring to boil and boil gently for 4 mintues.
• Whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Add to peaches. Cook, stirring, until thick and glossy.
• Turn off heat and add lemon juice, butter, and salt.
• Remove vanilla pod from glaze and pour hot glaze over peaches. Let set at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

I had a major popcorn craving the other day. I was in a big supermarket and couldn’t find regular popcorn- only microwave. In a HUGE store. That is a travesty because microwave popcorn has nothing on fresh-popped kernels from the stovetop. At any rate after hitting up a fancier store I bought some organic popcorn and set to work on handling that craving, and decided just to target all possible cravings in one go. Popcorn, check. Salt, check. Sugar, check.

I love things that are salty and sweet and I love popcorn and I love the way my Dad used to make caramel corn when I was a kid. All of those loves combined into this quick and easy combination. I have never liked caramel corn that was too sticky or crunchy so this method creates a palatable texture, takes less time, and uses 1 pot for everything.

Salty-Sweet Caramel Popcorn
Serves 2-4 for snacking.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tblsp oil
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

• Put oil and popcorn into a big pot and put a lid on. (If you have a pot with a clear glass lid, well that makes it a lot more fun.)
• Turn heat on medium high. Keep your hand on the lid. When you start hearing popping, hold the lid down and shake the pot on the stove.
• When popping is mostly done and gets slower, turn off the heat. Wait a minute or two before removing lid as corn will keep popping.
• Remove popcorn to bowl and set aside. In same pot, melt butter over medium heat.
• Add sugar and salt and mix with a whisk. Heat until it boils. It will separate at first then it will become lighter in color and a bit foamy.
• Turn off heat and pour popcorn into caramel, tossing to coat. Mix well and pour back into bowl.

Before I say anything else let me tell you that THIS WHOLE DINNER HAS UNDER 200 CALORIES and is VERY TASTY AND FULFILLING!!! OK, I’ll stop yelling at you now so you can look at the picture.

Now I have never been into dieting or counting calories, but from time to time, often around the start of swimsuit season, I begin to eye my middle section and think that it’s starting to look like Costco up in here with all these muffin tops. This extra unwanted pudge is most likely a result of my personal interpretation of the food pyramid, which, if I’m being honest, looks about like this:

From this pyramid you may deduce a few things. Such as: I am a food hedonist and I really don’t like to deny myself anything. I like to eat animals and gorge on starches. I loves me some wine and meat… and butter, heavy cream, and cheese are all vying for the role of “Karen’s BFF.” So, my goal is to change up my pyramid a bit while still maintaining my lust for life and all of its edible/drinkable wonders. This will mean reinforcing some good habits and rewiring some bad ones. I am aiming for a pyramid that’s more like this:

I’m also in love with this iPhone app called LoseIt! which lets you set calorie goals and then log all of your exercise and  food. It’s great at helping me figure out what some of my good and bad habits are! Tonight my goal was to eat something really tasty, filling, and low calorie, since I had totally crammed a huuuuge bagel with ginormous snowy peaks of cream cheese for breakfast, and I had a fair bit of wine last night (I’m going to let you interpret the phrase “a fair bit” however you wish…) I decided it would be fun to challenge myself tonight.

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible until I did it. But I am here to tell you: I am virtuous. I ate my veggies. I got my balance. My pyramid is turning a corner. I am still full, hours later. And I did it all for 190 calories. But don’t be afraid! I have sacrificed NO deliciousness for this meal. It’s the real deal: and I didn’t even have any wine or butter or bacon to go with it.

Asian Chopped Salad with Tuna and Mint

serves one.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
• 5-7 mint leaves, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cups spinach leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped finely
• 1 three oz. can solid white albacore tuna in water, drained
• 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Combine veggies, mint, and tuna in a bowl and toss.
• Mix together lemon juice, ginger, oils, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss dressing with salad.
• Bask in the imagined glory of how thin your thighs would look if you ate like this every night!

The calorie breakdown, with the amounts in the recipe, in case you’re interested…

• 1/2 carrot: 13 calories
• 1/2 cup sprouts: 4 calories
• 5 mint leaves: 3 calories
• 1 1/2 cup spinach: 15 calories
• 2 scallions: 6 calories
• 3 oz. tuna: 80 calories
• 1 tsp. lemon juice: 4 calories
• 1 tsp ginger: 2 calories
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar: 3 calories
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil: 20 calories
• 1 tsp vegetable oil: 40 calories
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce: 1 calorie
• GRAND TOTAL >>> 190 CALORIES!
  

This is a great and easy appetizer- but since I don’t really like breakfast food and I had some very ripe heirloom tomatoes staring at me as I prepared my cup of tea, I ate this for breakfast today. At 9 AM. DELICIOUS. I’m weird like that. I justified it by telling myself that since it was on toast and toast is a breakfast food it was OK. But you will probably want to make this later on in the day, at which time it would be more socially acceptable. Like, before dinner would be good.

Heirloom tomatoes are in season, and they are worth highlighting whatever chance you get! I never liked tomatoes until my mid-20s, when I tasted an heirloom tomato, at which point I realized I was just a huge tomato snob who didn’t like mealy, flavorless supermarket varieties- only the very best. Luckily the trend has caught on, and you can now get heirloom tomatoes in many major supermarkets, as well as fancy stores like Whole Foods, or, of course, a farmers’ market. Since the tomatoes are so good, they need hardly any embellishment- just a few accoutrements to bring out their bursting flavor and candy sweetness.

I’m not giving specific amounts in this recipe, because I figure you might want to make a lot or a little, and this isn’t rocket science, it’s like, a piece of toast with some stuff on it. So I have complete confidence that if I give you the general concept, you will be able to figure out how to do it in a way that works for you.

Crispy Toasts With Fresh Ricotta and Heirloom Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• crusty bread or baguette, sliced (I used country sourdough)
• fresh ricotta cheese (I used Bellwether Farms Jersey Ricotta)
• heirloom tomatoes, chopped (I used 2 colors so it would be prettier and tastier)
• good quality extra-virgin olive oil (I used Stonehouse)
• coarse salt (I used cyprus black salt from Whole Foods because it looks cool)

Method:

• Toast the bread. If you’re just making a few, you can just use the toaster, but if you’re making a lot, lay the bread out on a pan in a single layer and toast both sides in the oven.
• If necessary, cut toasts into smaller finger-food-sized pieces.
• Spread each toast with a layer of the ricotta. Top with chopped tomatoes.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt on top. Serve immediately.
• You could add chopped herbs if desired, but if the tomatoes are at their peak there is no need.

I was hanging out with my aunt and cousin the other day, and I asked them for an easy and tasty dessert recipe. They both immediately recommended this Bon Appetit recipe on Epicurious for individual toffee, pecan, and peach crisps.

The secret is a little bit of Heath Bars in the crumb topping. I was a little skeptical about the peach/chocolate combo, but in the end the chocolate isn’t really discernible and the whole thing works out beautifully. It’s extremely easy to make, got rave reviews, took no time at all, and should definitely be served warm, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

You can find the recipe here!

Adobo is one of my favorite easy recipes and one of the tastiest ways to enjoy pork. In this case, Adobo refers to a common Filipino dish that combines just 4 ingredients: soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper, and garlic, to create a spicy, tangy sauce. A lot of Adobo recipes are saucy to the point of being more like a stew, but I like this one because it produces a rich, reduced, almost caramelized coating over the pork.

What’s surprising about this combination is that once everything is cooked together it doesn’t taste how you would expect it to taste. To wit: the pepper is spicier than you expect, the garlic is mellower, the soy sauce isn’t as salty, and the vinegar isn’t as pungent. It all marries together in a sauce that is greater, and more complex, than the sum of its parts.

There are probably thousands of Adobo recipes out there, and as you may have guessed I’m totally not Filipino so I make no claims to authenticity. I will, however, make claims to deliciousness! I like to serve it over rice to neutralize the spice of the sauce.

Pork Adobo
serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. boneless pork roast
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups white wine vinegar
• 2-3 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tblsp vegetable oil
• 12-15 cloves garlic, sliced as thinly as possible

Method:

• Trim the major fat off the pork roast and cut into 1/2 inch chunks.
• Put pork, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil, ensuring all pork is submerged in liquid. Lower heat to medium and boil 30-45 minutes.
• Heat oil in saute pan over medium high heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pork pieces to oil. Saute 10 minutes, stirring or flipping often, to brown on all sides.
• Add garlic to pan and cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add adobo sauce and cook about 10 more minutes, until sauce thickens.
• Serve over rice.