Thousand Story Kitchen

Fresh Strawberry Pie

May 17, 2013 in Dessert, Spring

Every year when the market right down the street opens up with fresh strawberries grown out back in their fields, I often find myself swimming in more juicy berries than I can put into jam and fruit salads, over cakes with cream, or even into toddlers’ mouths. I’ll still buy as many as I can, because each year, this season is fleeting; it’s over before I’m ready. As National Strawberry Month just sort of breezes right on by, I thought sharing this pie with you might just be the best idea ever.

Despite the newly-acquired burden of needing to mow the lawn every spare two hours one may or may not have on hand, this month offers the perfect weather for finding moments to spend talking with friends and sitting in the grass. I’ve been doing as much of that as I can these past few days. Though for some reason, every time I set Sam in the lush grass, he is determined to find something concrete and dangerous to play on instead. While, on the other hand, Harper cannot stay out of it, prefacing each and every practice cartwheel with a demanding, ”Watch this!! Watch!” It’s a little exhausting, but who am I to complain?

The perfect weather begs of you to put this pie- with its classic sweetness, resting atop a thin, lemony cream cheese bed and buttery crust- into your life right now. To share it with friends, to be in awe of these ruby red strawberries ripening nearby, and to sit in the grass and take deep breaths at the blueness of the sky.

These May days won’t last forever. The heat will slowly stifle the strawberry mayhem at the market, and new produce will fill the shelves. The sky won’t be quite as blue and the leaves not quite as green in a few weeks. So for now, I will savor the abundant need for lawn-mowing and the toddler escapes; the constant cartwheel applause, and the strawberry pie.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

adapted from Betty Crocker Kitchens

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

For the Filling

1 ½ Quarts Strawberries (about 6 cups), hulled, largest ones cut in half
1 Cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
½ Cup Water
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon grated Lemon Zest

Instructions

In medium bowl, mix flour and salt.
Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas.
Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans sides of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).
Gather pastry into a ball. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. If your refrigerate for longer, let it soften before rolling.
Heat oven to 475°F.
Roll out your pie dough into a ¼ inch-thick circle.
Gently place into pie plate, trimming extra from sides.
Fold dough under and flute as desired.
Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on cooling rack.
In small bowl, mash enough strawberries to measure 1 cup.
In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch.
Gradually stir in 1/2 cup water and mashed strawberries (add 1 or 2 drops food color if deeper red color is desired).
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.
Boil and stir 1 minute; cool.
In medium bowl, beat cream cheese and lemon peel until smooth.
Spread evenly into pie crust.
Top with remaining fresh strawberries.
Pour cooked strawberry mixture over top.
Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

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Tags: fresh strawberry pie, fresh strawberry recipes, National Strawberry Month, pie, pie crust recipe, spring desserts
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Cornmeal Scones with Sweet Heirloom Tomato Jam

May 14, 2013 in baking, brunch, Southern

While both of my children were sleeping today; deep, played-hard-at-the-playground sleeps, I had the doors open and a gentle breeze floating through the house. The screens allowed in the smell of outside- of May air, freshly cut grass, sky, and warm mountain dirt. If the feel of the air today wasn’t enough to bring a peace and a comfort to settle me, the aroma of this food being made certainly was.

I kept walking over to the stovetop as the tomatoes reduced to a jam, wafting the steam into my nostrils. These little heirloom tomatoes simmering in warm sugar, cinnamon, and a touch of cayenne brought me back to something I couldn’t pinpoint. It was comforting. I had never tried these recipes before, but they brought a southernness with them that I realize is indeed quite familiar to me.

It started with these beautiful miniature heirloom tomatoes I found. Gosh, aren’t they gorgeous?

Sweetened with sugar and spiced with cinnamon and just that twinge of heat, these reduced down into a nice tomatoey-sweet jam that oozed right over these delicate cornmeal scones. These. Scones. They aren’t sweet. Well, just barely. Just sweet enough. They are soft, giving the resistance any good scone should against your bite, while embodying southern cornbread at the same time.

…Am I getting all maudlin about scones and jam? But it was that smell today- and that fresh air- and those quiet moments just cooking to myself in the sublte breeze…

I love that food can be experienced; that the atmosphere around it has so much to do with how well it is enjoyed. I love that my husband walked in from work as the smell from these scones and this tomato jam were still in the air. I love that I immediately popped a jam-covered scone in his mouth to try. …Maybe for him it wasn’t quite the bliss I felt, but then, he had been at work all day and had just ridden home. I think he still had today’s mail in his hands. While he liked his snack, the quiet of the sleeping babes and the warmish breeze hadn’t made him gush about them. Or, maybe it’s just me.

Do you get sentimental about food? Don’t you love tastes and smells more in certain circumstances- even if they’re kind of no big deal, like having your windows open and a quiet house?

Cornmeal Scones with Sweet Heirloom Tomato Jam

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 16 Scones, 1.5 cups Jam

Adapted from Better Homes&Gardens

Ingredients

For the Cornmeal Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, coarsely shredded with grater
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
coarse sugar

For the Sweet Heirloom Tomato Jam

1 1/2 pounds miniature heirloom tomatoes and/or cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (*optional)

Instructions

Cornmeal Scones

Preheat oven to 425° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Add shredded butter and whisk until coarse crumbles form.
Make a well in the center of the four-butter mixture and pour in 1 cup buttermilk. Combine until moistened and forms a ball. Add 1 Tablespoon of buttermilk if needed.
Turn onto floured surface and knead several times.
Form into an 8" circle, 1" thick. Cut into 8 wedges, then again into 16 triangles.
Place on baking sheet and brush with remaining Tablespoon buttermilk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned; cool scones on a wire rack.

Sweet Heirloom Tomato Jam

In medium saucepan, combine tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil stirring often.
Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 45 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl to cool.
Serve or store covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.

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Tags: breakfast recipe, brunch recipe, cornmeal, cornmeal scones, heirloom tomatoes, scone recipe, scones, Southern food, sweet, tomato jam
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Gramma Kluska’s Pierogis {and a Mother’s Day story}

May 9, 2013 in Dinner, Guest Posts, Life

Katie writes on Mondays and Thursdays at texasnorth.com. She is a Texan by birth, a Michigander by marriage, and a farmer by Divine Humor. Kate never- never- has the right shoes on for chasing wayward cattle. She believes in Sunday School and likes to roast marshmallows after dark.

My Grandmother, Betty, is a mystery to me.

She was born in 1927, lost both parents before she was 5 and grew up with her grandparents in the farmland outside of Pittsburgh. The day she graduated from high school she hopped a bus to Cleveland and took a job at White Motors. She met my grandfather on a blind date and they had two children- my mother and my aunt. She used to wear an orange fedora.

It has taken years to piece together the few sentences of her story that I now have. Partly because it wasn’t table conversation…death and divorce and love lost, heartache and crippling arthritis and living on social security for thirty-five years…and largely because I waited so long to ask. I have spent the last ten years trying to make up for lost time- asking questions here, pouring over pictures and family memories there. Though dementia and pain have tempered her, and I am more often called Suzy than Katie, I know that there is a story there that is the beginning of my own.

I have her hands.

Perhaps I am finally old enough to appreciate the brave, brutally honest, and scrappy stock I come from…now that I am a mother myself and think more about others than I did as a teen. She was single and tough and often silent…and I told myself we had nothing in common.

But I look at that orange fedora on my shelf…

and I look at my hands-her hands- typing…

and I think maybe, just maybe, part of the mystery in me can be explained through her.

It’s never too late to look back.

Gramma Betty with Cousin Joe

Gramma Kluska’s Pierogis

Ingredients

Dough

1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour (slowly added until you can knead it)

Pierogi Filling

Mashed potatoes (creamy, not lumpy, add cream instead of milk and grated cheddar cheese)
Maybe a touch of sauteéd onion
Or fill with sweetened sour kraut
Others fill with meat or prunes but I never made those

Instructions

Combine ingredients for dough, adding flour last, slowly, until you can knead it.
Cut dough into circles, fill, seal/press to make a half circle (Should be half the size of your fist)
Drop in boiling water like dumplings
Take out when they float and then fry in butter
Serve with sour cream

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Tags: Gramma Kluska's pierogis, mother's day story, Pierogis recipe, texasnorth
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English Muffin French Toast with Homemade English Muffins

May 6, 2013 in Breakfast, brunch

While I’m one who would call bacon and eggs brunch as long as it’s not served before 9:00am, I’d also consider fancying up breakfast foods with a nice green salad when served before noon. Either way, a hot breakfast or a brunch with a good, strong coffee makes me very happy. This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes of all time, which will definitely work served after 9:00am, on a tray, in bed on Mother’s day (hint. hint…let’s see if my husband reads this). It’s an old one I’m bringing over, but it’s ever-so special…

The thing you are going to love the most about this post is that in addition to a sweet breakfast plan, you will walk away with a recipe for the most comforting, butter-melting, honey-drizzling-good English Muffin recipe you never knew existed. It is all thanks to my cousin’s wife, Meredith, who brought a loaf of these to our Thanksgiving family gathering a couple of years ago. I can’t remember the loaf lasting too long, and given the way my large family plunges into something delicious, like pyranah’s devouring their prey in a rapid feeding frenzy, I’m lucky to have tried a slice, or perhaps even two… and I have not forgotten them. “Meredith’s Mom’s English Muffins” is my top page under the breads category in my recipe binder. So, when Southern Living offered a suggestion for English Muffin French Toast recently, I knew I would not be buying English muffins.

Meredith made hers in a regular loaf pan, but she mentioned that her mom had often used a large, empty tin can to make them round. Intrigued, naturally, I had to try the tin can thing. What you see below is one recipe of the English muffins,divided among two cans; the first before the rise, and the second, after. These cans originally held pineapple juice.

I guarantee these “muffins” are so simple, and yet fail-proof impressers. Baked in a loaf pan, the smell of them baking will wow anyone who sets foot in your house. Saying you made your own English muffins, alone, will require its own set of wowed comments. Make them round, and really, you’re just showing off. I’ll give you one must-do instruction, just as Meredith’s mom’s recipe directs: “Use real butter on these.” But, of course.

Meredith's Mom's English Muffins

Ingredients

2 packages Rapid Rise yeast
6 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup water
*you will also need a food thermometer

Instructions

Combine 4 Cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and soda in medium bowl and set aside.
Heat liquids (milk and water) in a saucepan on the stove until very warm (120°-130 *if it goes over you will kill the yeast and they won’t turn out).
Add to dry mixture and beat well with mixer.
Gradually stir in the rest of the flour to make a stiff and sticky batter.
Pour batter evenly into two greased loaf pans or extra large, clean tin cans.
Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until double or rising out of pans- about a half hour.
Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from pans immediately and cool.
“Best served with real butter!”

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Moving along to the fabulous french toast; I love this spin on the breakfast classic. It’s not too out there- you know, same flavors and everything (with the possible exception of orange zest), but why not change up the bread a little and go for a subtle difference? Your shapes are different, too, which just makes this look so pretty! Then there is the lovely greek yogurt and syrup combo for a topping. What a terrific, creamy-sweet idea! It’s just no wonder breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and this one says it with love.

English Muffin French Toast

Yield: 6 servings

Serving Size: 2 pieces with fruit and syrup

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 english muffins, split
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup plain greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
Toppings: Chopped fresh peaches,
strawberries, blueberries, or
whatever you have in season

Instructions

Whisk together first 4 ingredients in a bowl.
Place English muffins in a 13×9-inch baking dish, overlapping edges.
Pour egg mixture over muffins. Cover and chill 8-12 hours.
Remove muffins from remaining liquid, discarding liquid.
Melt butter in large skillet and cook muffins in batches over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until muffins are golden.
Stir together yogurt and syrup until blended. Serve over English muffin french toast and fruit.

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PS- Did you notice the new ZipList recipe cards? You can save them to a recipe box or print them, yo!

Tags: Breakfast, breakfast breads, brunch, english muffin french toast, english muffins, french toast, greek yogurt syrup
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Chipotle Tacos de Carnitas with Avocado Crema

May 2, 2013 in Dinner

An intense nod of approval came from my chipotle-loving husband last night- the shy one who went out of his way to insist that our grocery store stock the Chipotle flavored Tobasco sauce, which, consequently, has remained on their shelves and in our refrigerator ever since; he’s the one who puts it on just about anything- scrambled eggs, B? When someone this chipotle-happy lives in your household and you happen to dally in food magazines a bit, your eyebrows lift ever-so-slightly upon coming across a slowly cooked chipotle pork that falls apart into tender chipotle mouthfuls. It quickly becomes a “soon-to-try.”

After marinating over night in a smoky-sweet concoction of honey, onion, cumin, cinnamon, garlic and chiles, a boston butt was seared to a perfectly browned crisp, then slow cooked in a spicy, caramelizing sauce until it fell apart in the dutch oven. What warm tortilla wouldn’t wrap itself lovingly around this stuff? Topping it with the reduced chipotle cooking sauce and calming the flame with a smooth avocado crema, I couldn’t help but think we had a winner. A Cinco de Mayo winner? Perhaps. An every-time-we-do-tacos winner, more likely.

We have good friends from Mexico with whom we’ve had multiple conversations about the reality that Cinco de Mayo is a much bigger excuse to eat good Mexican food and drink margaritas here in the states, than it is a very big celebration in Mexico. While I say it’s an excuse, it’s also the United States’ way of celebrating Mexican heritage and culture, so what could possibly be wrong with insisting on spending a little structured time indulging in some of the best cultural food and drinks around?

Having seemingly claimed some knowledge on the tradition, I should disclose that I actually had to text my Mexican friend, Monica, to ask what the difference between tacos and carnitas were yesterday. Marinating the pork in a chipotle mixture is, of course, not the traditional style of carnitas. Neither would it be tradition to lather them in avocado crema, but I did it. And I’d do it again. And I think you should too. I mean, Monica even said she couldn’t wait to try them! But she’s nice like that.

While I don’t particularly enjoy my scrambled eggs doused with chipotle Tobasco- in fact, I might roll my eyes at the doer of that- I am a major fan of the smoked chiles in adobo sauce, which are where the chipotle comes from in this recipe. So to my chipotle-lovin’ man, I say, “saludos!”

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chipotle Tacos de Carnitas with Avocado Crema

Prep time

35 mins

Cook time

2 hours 30 mins

Total time

3 hours 5 mins

adapted from Cooking Light’s Chipotle Pork

Serves: 8 tacos

Ingredients

1 small chopped onion
2 Tablespoon honey
2 teaspoon ground cumin
a scant ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 or 11 large garlic cloves, peeled
4-5 Chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 lime
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 2lb boneless pork shoulder (boston butt), trimmed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 haas avocado
¼ cup sour cream
1½ teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
small corn tortillas
1 white onion, chopped small
1 bunch cilantro, chopped small

Instructions

FOR THE PORK: Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Peel the lime and section it, catching the juices, discard the peel. Add lime sections and lime juice, plus 1½ Tablespoons Olive oil to the processor and blend until smooth.
Scrape chipotle mixture into a large ziplock bag. Add pork and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight (or at least an hour).
Preheat oven to 325°
Heat a small dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1½ Tablespoons olive oil to pan and coat. Remove pork from bag, reserving marinade. Sprinkle pork with salt. Add pork to hot pan and sauté on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Remove from pan.
Add broth and reserved marinade to pan; bring to boil, scraping to remove browned bits. Return pork to pan; cover and bake at 325° for 2½ hours or until pork is fork-tender. Shred pork, leaving the sauce in the oven for 5 minutes more to reduce and caramelize. Reserve sauce for a taco topping OR toss shredded pork in the sauce to coat.
FOR THE AVOCADO CREMA: In a food processor, combine avocado, sour cream, lime juice and salt. Process until smooth and serve over tacos with pork, chipotle sauce, chopped onion and cilantro.

I just realized that I did not take the recipe’s advice and mix the shredded pork in the chipotle sauce it was cooked in. I think I was just so focused on how good it was gonna be glugged on top that I forgot I could mix it in. I think this would be a good idea and it would have made for much prettier photos, I’m afraid. Hmph.(Perhaps you’ve established by now, that I’m a learn-as-I-go type of blogger).

Tags: avocado crema, carnitas, chipotle carnitas, chipotle tacos, cinco de mayo recipes, mexican food, tacos
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Panna Cotta with Kiwi Geleé

April 29, 2013 in Dessert, Spring

I’ve been on the prowl for something fun to make using kiwis ever since Harper and Sam and I were strolling through the supermarket produce department and Harper laughed a silly little laugh and said, “oh, mom- look at those fuzzy potatoes!” I chuckled back and said, “Those are kiwis!” She, evidently, hadn’t seen a kiwi with it’s skin on before. Those fuzzy little potatoes are such a zingy, refreshing fruit, and more importantly, they are quite pretty to look at- once you cut into that fuzzy potato skin, that is.

One day, amidst my quest for a good kiwi recipe to share, I tasted panna cotta in a lovely restaurant in Asheville. I really hadn’t a clue what was in panna cotta- I just knew it was a smooth, creamy dessert. It turns out it truly couldn’t be easier to prepare, and while my first inclination was to puree kiwi, sweeten it a bit, and drizzle it over the creamy, vanilla panna cotta, I came across a better idea. Geleé. Ooh, what a fancy way to say “jelly.” Yep, I just couldn’t resist the urge to turn my cute little cups on their sides, making my delicious panna cotta turn out angular so I could top them with a contrasting geleé and make things fancy.

It turns out I’m not the only one who recently discovered the ease and versatility of panna cotta. As I was waiting for these very pictures to load onto the computer, I was skimming my reader and came across this post, where my favorite food blogger of all time shares a recipe for panna cotta using greek yogurt, where she creatively suggests eating it as brunch food or even a kid snack! There is just no reason why on earth you wouldn’t whip up these pretty little panna cotta cups for a dinner party dessert, or why yes, a brunch!

In review, I find the richness of the vanilla happily balanced with the tanginess of the kiwis. I regret not squeezing the tiniest bit of citrus onto my kiwi puree, since I was a little disappointed in the puree not holding its bright green color. Also, I enjoyed the tangy bite of some lightly sweetened chopped mango and kiwi on top of the panna cotta, but wholeheartedly regret adding a whipped heavy cream to this. You might be tempted. Don’t do it. The richness of the panna cotta is just smooth enough and sweet enough alone with the geleé.

So given that others have used this as a kid snack, I have saved a couple for my own after their nap. Harper will be amazed at what I made from those strange-looking fuzzy potatoes we bought the other day!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Panna Cotta with Kiwi Geleé

My panna cotta was adapted from David Lebovitz’s “perfect panna cotta.” The kiwi geleé came from testado,provado,&aprovado.com.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

PANNA COTTA
2 cups heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
3 Tablespoons of cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
KIWI GELEÉ
1 packed unflavored gelatin
3 Tablespoons cold water
1 Cup pureéd kiwi (from 2 or 3 kiwis- processed in food processor lightly, so as not to crush the seeds)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon or lime juice
2 Tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Make the Panna Cotta-
Heat the heavy cream and sugar over medium-low heat and stir until sugar dissolves, then remove from heat.
Add vanilla and stir.
Pour into glasses (or container of your choice). If you want the angled effect, lay half-filled glasses on an angle in a bowl of rice.
Allow to set in refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
Make the Kiwi Geleé- in a small bowl, pour in cold water. Sprinkle gelatin over and let sit for five minutes.
In a medium saucepan over med-low heat, combine puree, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
Heat just until sugar is dissolved and remove from heat.
Pour kiwi mixture over gelatin and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the chilled glasses, over the set panna cotta. Allow to chill for 2-3 more hours
Chop kiwi and mango, sprinkle with a little sugar and stir to combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes to get the juices to merge. Dollop a bit of this mixture on top of each panna cotta glass before serving

Tags: fruit desserts, kiwi, kiwi geleé, panna cotta, simple dessert recipe
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Asheville Food Favorites

April 24, 2013 in Life, Travel

You didn’t really think I was going to just go on and on about my weekend without telling you about the food, did you?

We ate. Oh, how we ate.

It started with a meet and greet over a simple and delicious homemade meal of raspberry barbeque chicken, a gorgeous blood orange and greens salad, and honeyed cornbread. It was accompanied by one of the most interesting and refreshing alcoholic party beverages I think I’ve ever tasted…but you’re going to have to wait for the summer issue of DOCICA to find out what it is! Suspense!

The Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar was a unique maze of cozy bookshelves surrounding sipping groups of intellectuals. Their menu listed extensive wines, coffee drinks, cheese and dried fruit platters, and champagne varieties. Amidst our late Friday-night meeting and initial planning session, we poured over the varieties of cheeses, identifying them or inquiring as to what they could be. We ordered hibiscus flower-infused bubbly and brainstormed away.

White Duck Taco Shop is a little taco stand in Asheville’s River Arts district that has about a hundred creative spins on a taco, and they all seem to work deliciously. The line out the door was the first indication we had hit a hotspot for our Saturday’s lunch. I ordered a Korean beef bulgogi taco with kimchi salsa alongside a fish taco with a chipotle crema- both were amazing- and washed ’em down with an RJ Rockers peach beer. I could have stopped there a happy, happy woman.

Late afternoon on Saturday brought us to the seriously popular (and not surprisingly so) French Broad Chocolate Lounge for locally made chocolate choices that had me googly-eyed. Upon recommendation, I ordered a liquid truffle, the buddha, which had me at “made with coconut milk” because I’m all about coconut and chocolate. I felt I needed a little chocolate with my chocolate and decided on the pomegranate-ginger truffle also. Couldn’t just stop there- I had to try some of Jen’s honey-lavender liquid truffle which was equally as- mmm, maybe more amazing than- my buddha . I seriously needed to just have my moments with this chocolate. Oh my gosh. Just. Seriously.

And the last food indulgence I’ll rub in your faces…because, sorry, I could really go on and on…is the Storm Rhum Bar and Bistro, where we ate dinner. Let me just conjure up a couple of images for your taste buds to get jealous over. Cocktail: Unique and sensational white pepper-rimmed brazilian sugar cane rhum (cachaca) with basil and mint, white pepper, cane syrup, and sea salt…enough said? Probably not. Appetizer: Tangy pimiento cheese topped with bacon jam, served over toasted baguette…bacon.jam. Dinner: A smooth Spring vegetable risotto with ramp creme fraiche, watercress, and lemon oil…lemon oil! Gotta make me some of that…Dessert: a few tastes of Karen’s creamy, lemony panna cotta topped with blueberry compote to compliment a strong coffee…The end. Superb. Thank you very much.

Needless to say, should you find yourself in the city of Asheville, overwhelmed by decisions on where to eat, think no further. Well, I mean, if you have just one meal to eat, then I guess you will have to choose. …Good luck with that!

Again, thanks so much to Karen for documenting the weekend with her camera! All of the images are hers. I couldn’t put my dinky iphone pictures next to her art…and wouldn’t you know, I grabbed my camera, low battery and all, and forgot my whole bag with the charger and the extra battery. Thbbb.

Ahem! Tomorrow is the last day for getting in your Mamma’s Best recipes! Do it people! You’ll be glad you did!

Tags: Asheville, Docica Magazine, Travel
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Feeling Lovely

April 23, 2013 in DOCICA magazine, Life, Travel

Every once in awhile, I’m reminded of this thing I know- that everywhere we go in life, there are fascinating and inspiring human beings dotting the pathways. Interacting with people who inspire my soul is one of my favorite things about life. Last weekend was a concentrate of this marvel.

Undiluted by the saddening events of the week preceding – of terror at the finish line, of horror at a factory – a group of women with a common vision met (many of us meeting others for the first time) to move forward on one incredible publication by combining strengths and talents, and becoming a team. It was a girls’ weekend in the most productive of senses, and it was a foodie’s dream, where I’m concerned.

Since I formerly resided in Black Mountain, near Asheville, NC, going back to visit friends and soak in the city life is always a welcomed opportunity. I love it when my friends show me new hangout spots that have popped up in my absence. I had a lot of new food favorites this time.

While roaming the city and enjoying the plethora of delightful food-related indulgences was incredible, it’s the other mission of my trip that made it invaluable. DOCICA magazine and the unique team of collaborators its editors, Jen and Mel, have brewed, was the reason we all trekked from afar or left loved ones behind for the weekend. We had a job to do.

It has become evident to me, and became even clearer this weekend, that DOCICA (doh-SEEK-uh) is more than a pretty magazine. It’s much more. While a group of twelve strong, creative women drinking champagne and brainstorming a summer issue should have been chaotic and scattered and produced way more ideas than would have actually been needed, there was this common thread being neatly woven through every brainstorm, and being backed by a passion for seeing it through. I don’t think we intended to believe in something so deeply; it just became and it inspired.

The last day was a photo shoot- getting to see what the creators of DOCICA do all the time, where the magic is made- and this time we were the subjects. I got a little lump in my throat watching my beautiful college roommate, Jen, behind her camera, maneuvering her expensive lights, creating and capturing her priceless photographs, all the while, seamlessly- almost wordlessly- banding the vision of her best friend and co-editor, Mel. She’s living beyond the professional photographer dream I remember of hers during college late-night talks. The two of them, whether they know it or not, are daily lifting up the women around them.

I feel like a little part of something that’s going to be really big.

It’s pretty cool.

These images were captured by one of the talented women at the DOCICA planning retreat, another former college roommate and dear, close friend, Karen Neal. She and I are both contributing food editors. How perfect could that be? Her business is Black Mountain Cakes- could I be more serious about the talent involved? I don’t think so. Inspired, seriously.

Check out :

DOCICA

Check out:

BLACK MOUNTAIN CAKES

and don’t forget to submit your Mamma’s Best!

The submitting can go on a little longer- I’ll take ‘em til THURSDAY 4/23!

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Spicy Thai Noodles

April 19, 2013 in Dinner, Pasta, Spring

Athens, Georgia is our closest “cool” town. While I spent five weeks there just over a year ago, my culinary experience wasn’t what I would have hoped for five weeks in such a gastronomic and wine mecca. I mainly stuck to hospital food and sat in a bed… But had I the freedom to roam the streets and enjoy the local fare on a daily basis, I think I would have enjoyed at least one meal per day at The Grit, a happy and hip little vegetarian place that serves the most unforgettable food. Through friends of ours, we have enjoyed many of the dishes published in their cookbook; the vegan chocolate cake and buttermilk pancakes are a couple in which we’ve indulged recently. This spicy thai noodle dish that Elisa makes is also one of them. It is incredibly satisfying and I’ve been dreaming about it a lot this Spring.

This is the kind of thing to take to a spring potluck. It’s a crowd pleaser, and if you make enough for leftovers you’ll be giddy. Despite the title here, it’s not terribly spicy at all. In fact, kids I know have devoured it and asked for more. Elisa suggests, though, that if you’re like she is and would want it kicked up a notch, to increase the chili paste or chili oil a bit. Bring on the spicy!

*What are you taking to potlucks these days? Are you going to take Elisa’s suggestion and make this a bit spicier or keep it toned down a bit?

**Don’t forget about the little project: Mamma’s Best, a recipe swap going on over at Apple Pie, Anyone? I’d love for us to join in the fun!!

Spicy Thai Noodles

ThousandStoryKitchen.com: adapted from The Grit Cookbook

Serves: 4

Ingredients

12 ounces slender pasta
4 quarts water
1 Tablespoon salt
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup water
½ cup peanut butter
⅓ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup honey
2 teaspoons chili paste or ½ teaspooon chili oil
2 teaspoons minced (or pressed) fresh garlic
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 lime – freshly squeezed
5 green onions
1 cup of snow peas or 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 carrots, julienned
½ cup slivered almonds

Instructions

Combine water and salt in a large stock pot and bring to a boil.
Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain thoroughly in a large colander, rinse with cool water and drain again; set aside.
Combine next TEN ingredients (all except green onions, peas, carrots and almonds) in a saucepan and stir well over high heat until gently boiling.
Remove from heat.
Toss noodles and sauce in a large bowl and allow to cool slightly.
Toss with remaining ingredients cover and refrigerate. Serve well-chilled.

*photographs by Elisa Hopkins

Tags: Asian, Noodle Bowl, Potluck, Spicy Thai Noodles, spring, Vegetarian
1 Comment »

Mamma’s Best {a little project}

April 18, 2013 in Projects

image courtesy of texasnorth

I really want you to participate in a little project that’s gonna be a lot of fun! My friend, Katie, whom I’ve never actually met in person but I feel like I’ve known personally for years, writes a wonderful little blog known as Apple Pie, Anyone?. It’s heartfelt and hilarious, and her children are adorable. You are going to become an instant fan.

Katie is always coming up with fun projects for readers. Right now she’s putting together an E-cookbook (a pdf) of ALL OF YOUR favorite recipes from your Mamma’s kitchen- your comfort dishes, the things that make you think of home, the recipes you want your children to have. I really hope you’ll play along!

Click here for the “Mamma’s Best“ Details.

Katie is going to let us extend the deadline a little bit (because she is kind like that and I am scatter-brained most of my life), so you have until **TUESDAY (4/23)** to get your recipes in. Email them to me at mc@thousandstorykitchen.com and you’ll be able to enjoy yours and others’ favorite recipes from Mamma’s kitchen in a handy-dandy pdf file just in time for Mother’s day! Also, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Katie’s gonna be stopping by TSK right around Mother’s Day too. I’m SO excited!

**I changed the date to earlier. Let’s get this ball rolling! Holla!**

Tags: Apple Pie Anyone, Mamma's Best, Texas North
3 Comments »

Thousand Story Kitchen

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Cornmeal Scones with Sweet Heirloom Tomato Jam

Gramma Kluska’s Pierogis {and a Mother’s Day story}

English Muffin French Toast with Homemade English Muffins

Chipotle Tacos de Carnitas with Avocado Crema

Panna Cotta with Kiwi Geleé

Asheville Food Favorites

Feeling Lovely

Spicy Thai Noodles

Mamma’s Best {a little project}

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