Tag

spring

Four Herbs You Should Be Using In Your Spring Kitchen

written by Ali

With spring only a few weeks away, our attention is finally turning to the prospect of warmer temperatures and a greater variety of fresh, seasonal food.

But with so many herbs imported from abroad, it’s sometimes hard to tell which are in season and which aren’t. Here are some of the herbs that will be coming into season in the next few months, and some meal ideas to go with them.

Garlic

Pixabay

You can grab garlic bulbs all year round, but garlic never tastes as good when imported. The good news is that in places in the northern hemisphere, including the US, garlic comes into season in February. Garlic is one of the most versatile ingredients on the planet and can be found in dishes from Thai to Italian to French.

If you want to enjoy the flavor of garlic in its purest form, then one of the best ideas is to roast the whole bulb and then use it to make a kind of dip for some toasted, fresh bread.

The French also have some great, garlic-centered recipes, including mushroom and puy lentil casserole, which helps to bring out the flavor of this classic bulb.

Parsley

By the time March rolls around, parsley starts to grow again in northern climes. Fresh parsley, either curly or flat leaf, makes a great addition to dozens of meals.

Flickr Credit: http://www.sweetestkitchen.com/

Strangely, parsley pairs particularly well with cauliflower. You can make cauliflower “steaks” with walnut, hemp, and parsley pesto. Just roast the cauliflower in the oven in strips, seasoning as you wish. And then mix up the pesto ingredients with a little lemon juice and zest in a high powered blender.

Many meal kits rely on parsley. If you don’t have time to prepare everything from scratch, then take a look at The Meal Kit Comparison reviews out there and find out which is best for you so that you can enjoy spring herbs.

Chives

Chives are part of the allium family of vegetables, along with leeks, onions, and garlic. Not only are chives delicious – adding a savory note to practically any dish – but they’re also extremely good for you. Like other alliums, research shows that they help fight cancer and keep cells healthy.

Want to incorporate chives in your cooking? Chives pair exceptionally well with nacho potatoes. Chop up some white potatoes into cubes and then grab a bowl and mix with some oil and arrowroot. (Arrowroot is a kind of starchy root vegetable that gives roast potatoes a great crispy texture). Then pop in the oven on high heat for around 20-30 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the toppings: guacamole, salsa, cashew cream, creme fraiche, cheese, olives, red pepper flakes, and, of course, chives.

Ginger

Wikimedia Commons

Ginger is the last spring herb in our list. Ginger is renowned throughout Asia for its medicinal healing properties and is an excellent addition to practically any Asian dish.

The best way to bring out the flavor of ginger, however, is in gingerbread. The timing is good too with the Easter holidays coming soon.

January 31, 2019 0 comment

Beverages Foodie Lists

S is for Sangria – A Roundup

written by Ali

S is for Sangria, making it one of my favorite letters in the alphabet. Check out these fifteen beautiful sangria recipes in my sangria roundup post for this Friday’s Happy Hour. Sangria is one of my top favorite ways to serve wine and fruit, plus, Mother’s Day is Sunday and (for those who are 21 and older) what a great treat to make and enjoy with mom!

I’m finally all moved and settled in (mostly). One of the things I’m loving best about my new spot is the great big wide patio. I can sit out here and have a glass of sangria and just be quiet. It’s a bonus of living in a small town – it’s really quiet. There’s very little traffic noise and the breeze from the bay is heavenly. I’d imagine this summer I’ll be taste testing most of these recipes (while saving the pomegranate persimmon sangria recipe for this fall).

First up is a yummy looking white peach sangria from Just a Little Bit of Bacon:

Next is a non-alcoholic sangria from Watch What U Eat that blends pineapple, strawberries, and sparkling water for a refreshing afternoon drink.

I particularly love a good rose wine, so really liked the look of this Rose Sangria from Bourbon and Honey.

Caroline’s Cooking shared this yummy sounding white sangria with whiskey, apple and peach. I’ve never put whiskey in my sangria before – can’t wait to try this one out!

Sparking fruit white sangria from Mommy’s Home Cooking looks so good and refreshing.

Strawberries and basil are two of my favorite things. I’ll definitely be making this sangria from Living Well Spending Less this summer.

Kiwis and raspberries and prosecco are a natural match. Check them out in this easy cocktail from Luci’s Morsels.

I always have a few pomegranate seeds lurking in the freezer this time of year. What a great way to use them up by making pomegranate red wine sangria from A Fork’s Tale.

This summer berry sangria from Cooking With Curls will be so perfect for when it’s berry season again.

You can’t ever have enough recipes for sangria with rose wine. This sangria from Lean, Clean and Brie is a luscious mix of strawberries, lemons, and rose.

One of the great things about sangria is that it’s so easy to make use of the best fruits of the season, like this peach melba sangria from Garlic and Zest.

If my pineapple plant ever takes root and produces pineapple, I think I’d use it to make this champagne sangria with pineapple and berries from Fried Dandelions.

Sometimes, I just want a good classic sangria, like this one from Curious Cuisiniere.

Sangria isn’t just a summer drink. Fall and winter fruits make awesome sangria, like this one from Salt and Lavender that features pomegranates and persimmon.

Finally, here’s a tropical moscato sangria from Living Sweet Moments, perfect for a warm summer night.

May 12, 2017 1 comment

Musings

New Look, New Week

written by Ali

I realize I’ve been a bit neglectful of the blog in the last week. It was mostly because there wasn’t much happening around my lunch that was particularly interesting. I was out of office for meetings for the majority of the week and on the weekend, we were having some food adventures in Portland that I didn’t get around to blogging about until today. So here’s the re-cap.

First off – last weekend and this weekend, we did a combination of farmer’s market and food cart. This resulted in lots of flowers and lots of good food:

From left to right: peonies and strawberries from the Vancouver Farmer’s Market; the menu at Ingrid’s (at a food pod on Division Street in Portland; and a strawberry crepe at Vancouver Farmer’s Market.

Next, I spent several days for a meeting at the Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton, Oregon for a meeting. I know, it’s a rough life. I didn’t have much time to go wander the garden, but when I did, I was sure to visit the chickens in the garden. The Oregon Gardens has a lovely kitchen garden, complete with hens and a chicken tractor. I particularly love the one hen’s expression as we both look at the Chicken Crossing sign.

From left to right: resident hens at the Oregon Gardens; artichokes outside my hotel room; a resident bee in the peonies.

And last, but not least, this weekend, I’ve been doing some cooking, so good things are coming this week on the blog. I’ll share here photos and two links to two of my favorite recipes and a preview of one of my all time favorite spring vegetables.

From left to right: hakurei turnips – these will become Pickled Hakurei Turnips – my go-to in the spring for an easy refrigerator pickle; homemade strawberry almond milk – which I made in response to the current seasonal glut of strawberries. The homemade strawberry almond milk comes from one of my favorite blogs: 101 Cookbooks.

Finally, you may have noticed a new look to the blog – I’ve been doing this for about seven months now, and am starting to figure out my way around wordpress. Keep checking back – I plan to continue to add new features as I go. As always, thoughts and comments are appreciated.

May 16, 2016 0 comment

Appetizers Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes Snacks Vegetarian

Roasted Artichokes

written by Ali

This week has been all about the easiest route to fresh, good food. I believe in elaborate snacks at my lunch – the best way for me to get through the day is to have good food to look forward to. Given the time constraints this week, I didn’t have hours to prep this weekend. I had a few vegetables languishing in the vegetable tray and I wanted to make sure I used them before they became compost. One of those vegetables was a pair of sangria artichokes we’d picked up last week at Trader Joe’s. I love artichokes – whether they are designer or not. I’ll eat them, I’ll grow them and I’ll even let them go to full flower, because they are so lovely (in addition to being tasty).

But back to the sangria artichokes. In addition to being a beautiful deep purple hew, these are named after sangria – and since I also love sangria, I figured the artichokes must be good. I did a bit of research to find that these are a new kind of artichoke, coming exclusively out of California. I didn’t notice a particularly significant different taste, though they did roast up perfectly with all leaves being very tender. I think they are just pretty – and what’s the harm in enjoying a pretty, in addition to tasty, snack at work?

Roasted artichokes take about an hour, but the prep time itself is minimal. I didn’t do anything to these to eat them other than toss on a bit of salt. If you are going to eat these at work, be sure to have a spoon or knife with you to remove the fuzzy parts from the heart.

Roasted Artichokes
Serves 2

2 large artichokes, stem trimmed and leaves gently spread out
1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place each artichoke in a large piece of aluminum foil (large enough to fully wrap the artichoke). Before you wrap it up, drizzle the artichokes with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Wrap up the artichokes in the foil and put in a pie pan or on a baking sheet. Bake for 75 minutes or until a knife can easily pierce the base of the artichoke. Serve as is or with melted butter with garlic salt.

April 28, 2016 0 comment

Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes

Pea Shoot Pesto

written by Ali

I first learned about pea shoots a few years ago – it seems that they were all the rage for a while on food blogs and cooking shows. I have to confess though that I hadn’t actually eaten a pea shoot until this past weekend, as I could never stand the thought of pinching off any part of a pea plant that might produce a pea. We were at the farmer’s market, and one of the vendors had hearty bunches of pea shoots for $2.00 a bunch. I had to have some. I took them home, washed one shoot off and nibbled – pure pea concentrated. I was in spring overload.

I’ll pesto just about any green you put in front of me, so I had to make pea shoot pesto. I saved about a quarter of the pea shoot bundle for a salad – pea shoot pesto, pea shoots, asparagus, assorted micro-greens, and hard-boiled eggs have made the perfect mid-day meal to get me back on track for eating real food. This makes me think it would have been worth it to sacrifice a few pea pods just to eat the pea shoots – it’s that good.

Pea Shoot Pesto

1 bunch pea shoots
12 basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup olive oil

Combine ingredients from pea shoots through lemon juice in a food processor and process for a few pulses. Add olive oil slowly and continue to process until the pesto is a smooth paste. Pesto can be frozen for several months.

April 12, 2016 0 comment

Uncategorized

This Week in Little Lunches – Week of April 10

written by Ali

Just a little preview of what’s coming this week on fixmealittlelunch. Oh the happiness of being settled enough to go to the farmer’s market, cook some good food, and make granola again. Check back this week for recipes for Dried Blueberry Granola, Pea Shoot Pesto, Fromage Fort, and Quick and Easy Focaccia.

April 11, 2016 0 comment

Musings

Week in Pictures

written by Ali

Because it’s spring, and everything is blooming everywhere here in the PNW, I wander around the area where I work and take lots of pictures.

Brunch leftovers made eggs and hash on Sunday morning.

So then I had to try to be healthy the rest of the week with broiled grapefruit, honey, greek yogurt and granola.

Bagels were a go to for lunches. I found a great place for Terra chips on the cheap: both the mixed chips with Mediterranean flavors and the picked beet flavor.

Favas made a great mid-week snack.

And then late in the day on Friday, I wandered to the corner coffee shop to get Thai tea with boba. I think I could get used to this city life.

March 26, 2016 0 comment