Cooking with Spices in Kalyn's Kitchen

Food bloggers, this post is for you! Others, normal people who actually eat without photographing their food first, probably don't really care what kind of spices someone else has. However, among food bloggers, there seems to be quite a willingness to share intimate details of our (cooking) lives. I'm not sure if it's motivated by voyuerism, seeing how everyone else cooks, or exhibitionism, showing off how you cook. Whatever the reason, we share these things because we like reading about each other.

Recipe for Middle Eastern Tomato Salad (Salad Shirazi)

I vowed that I wouldn't repeat vegetables for WHB, but that doesn't include things that are growing in my garden! This week I'm writing about parsley, more specifically Italian parsley or flat leaf parsley. I know the flat leafed parsley is highly prized for cooking, but to tell the truth I like the curly type too, and I have both in my garden. Parsley contains vitamins A and C, and is used in nearly every cuisine on earth. In the garden parsley is fairly easy to grow, but seeds should be soaked overnight for quicker sprouting. Parsley is a biennial plant, but if you're not too faithful about clearing it out at the end of the year, like me, enough seeds will drop that it will grow in the same spot year after year.

Weekend Herb Blogging Update

If you missed the amazing recap for WHB #38 that Virginie from Absolutely Green did last weekend, in English and French, here are the links:


WHB #38 - 6-26-2006 - Part 1

WHB #38 - 6-26-2006 - Part 2

WHB #38 - 6-26-2006 - Part 3

Curried Stuffed Eggs (Weekend Cookbook Challenge)

When I noticed yesterday that the deadline for Weekend Cookbook Challenge was today, I was so glad I hadn't missed it. Actually, as soon as Alicat and Sara announced that the theme this time was picnic food, I knew what I wanted to make. I'd been planning to try this recipe for a while, it's just that I got a tiny bit distracted going to visit Rand and Bradley, or I would have done it sooner.

Garden Update #6

It's Sunday morning, and I'm home from Venice Beach where I had a great time visiting Rand and Bradley. If you're not a regular reader, that's my brother Rand and his partner Bradley who are the design/tech support team for Kalyn's Kitchen. While I was in California, they redesigned my blog into three columns, and added some great headings in the sidebars. What a talented team those two are! I appreciate their help and support so much.

Recipe for Broccoli and Radish Salad with Gorgonzola

This week I decided to blog about the humble radish, a veggie that I admit I didn't have too much fondness of until recently. It wasn't that I hated it, but I didn't really like it that much either. That was before I made Crunchy Chopped Salad with Gorgonzola and Radishes and discovered the marriage of radishes and Gorgonzola cheese, truly a wonderful flavor team. That recipe inspired this one, which was partly the result of one of those big bags of broccoli from Costco!

Rotisserie Pork Roast Recipe with Rosemary, Garlic, and Balsamic Vinegar

Last September I wrote about how much I like to cook chicken in my George Foreman Rotisserie. This is a great way to cook pork roast in the rotisserie, although you could certain roast this in the oven too if you wanted.

Oasis Cafe: One of My Favorites!

(Note from Kalyn: I've been kidnapped and am being held captive in the kitchen tied in an apron at Rand and Bradley's house. That's what happens when your creative brother has your blogger password. Luckily I had some posts prepared at home so I can break out of the kitchen long enough to publish them! Here's a report on a restaurant I visit often.)

Ransom Note from Venice, California.

If you want Kalyn to return to Salt Lake and blog again, please send three fresh Ahi Tuna steaks, a lb of fresh asparagus spears, some very nice gorgonzola cheese, a bag of fresh baby spinach leaves, several crisp , but tart apples, 5 or 6 Persian cucumbers, an assortment of freshly cut herbs, a chilled bottle of spring water, and a biscuit for a certain black dog. (Only organic produce, please.) Oh, and also two pints of of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice-cream. Please don't worry about Kalyn, she is being held safely in our kitchen, tied up in an apron. We promise to return her safely, but in the meantime she's not leaving the kitchen. (Well OK, maybe a little beach time.) Thank you in advance. Rand and Bradley.

Sauteed Spinach with Parmesan and Pine Nuts

It's Tuesday, and I'm jetting off to Venice Beach today to see Rand and Bradley, but I didn't want to miss my Tuesday favorite, ARF/5-A Day. This is the food blogging event brought to us by the lovely Cate of Sweetnicks, where Cate tries to tempt us into eating more veggies, fruits, and anti-oxidant rich foods.

Weekend Herb Blogging #37 Recap Happy Father's Day!

It's time for Weekend Herb Blogging #37 and in the U.S. the day to honor fathers. I'm blessed to have a wonderful father, a dad who writes poetry, someone to talk to when others don't understand, and someone who always gives me better advice than anyone else.

I'm very grateful he's my father, and thankful for the influence he's been to me all my life. I hope he knows how much I love him. (Dad, are you reading this?

Garden Update #5

Another Sunday morning, and once again I'm up early, taking photos of my plants. Before I show you what's new in the garden, I want to thank Elise of Simply Recipes who has spotlighted the Kalyn's Kitchen Recipe collection on her blog today. Elise is away from her kitchen visiting New Zealand, and while she's traveling she's been spotlighting some of her favorite blogs. I feel completely honored to be included among the great blogs she's mentioned. Thanks Elise!

Meme-ing Again! Confessions in Groups of Five

Time for a meme! It's been a while since I've been tagged for a meme, but now the lovely Nerissa from Deetsa's Dining Room has tagged me for this meme, which she's calling Confessions in Groups of Five. I love Nerissa's addition of the word "Confessions" to the title, enticing us to tell something a little more risque. (OK, I'm racking my brain to see if I can think of anything risque, but not too risque, that I haven't already revealed.)

Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe

I freeze the Garlic Scape Pesto in a mini muffin tin for a perfect sized cube of pesto!

(Updated July 2011)  I first learned about garlic scapes in 2006 and ever since I've been using them to make pesto.  In 2011 I had the idea of combining the garlic scapes with chard, and I loved the Chard and Garlic Scape Pesto.  Through the years I've tried different options for freezing pesto, but now I am sold on the idea of freezing it in mini muffin tins, which makes cubes that seem to be just the amount of pesto I want for a recipe. 

How to Make Absolutely Perfect Restaurant Quality Salad at Home

Ok, if you're a food blogger who's reading this you may be thinking, what a boring topic for Kalyn to be writing about. The truth is, the longer I've been writing this blog, the more amazed I am at what some people want to know about cooking. I recently had some friends for dinner and made this simple salad. They all wanted detailed instructions about how I had done it, so I realized it might be something a lot of "normal" people (i.e. not food bloggers) might like to have explained.

First Ever Utah Bloggers Conference

Utah bloggers gathered tonight for the first annual Utah Bloggers Conference, organized by Phil Burns and Ryan Money. And through one of those technology miracles that we couldn't have imagined a few years ago, by the time I got home, Phil Windley of the blog Technometria had already blogged about the conference and mentioned me, and I found it on Technorati. I promised Phil I would write about the food, which was kind of a joke, since it wasn't particulary blogworthy (but free, due to generous sponsors whose names I'm sorry I can't remember.)

B-L-T Salad and Teacher Gifts

Before I tell you about this great tasting salad, my contribution this week for ARF/5-A-Day at Sweetnicks, I'm going to go on a little tangent and talk about teacher gifts. All you parents out there who'd like to score big points with your child's teacher, listen up!

Dining in D.C.: Palette

(Edit April 2012; this restaurant is no longer open.)

This is the last in a series of reports on restaurants where I ate when I visited Washington D.C. in May. I could say that I had saved the best for last, but it would not be completely true, as all the places I visited were wonderful, and actually I posted about the restaurants in the order I went to them. If you missed them, you can read the reviews of other restaurants I visited in D.C.

Garden Update #4

It's another wonderful Sunday morning in Salt Lake City, and I'm outside in my bathrobe taking photos of the garden again. We had three days with rain this week, and there are weeds everywhere, so if you're one of those meticulous gardeners (you know who you are), don't be too critical. I'll be spending several hours weeding today while the soil is still wet. Overall, my garden is looking great, even if there are a lot of weeds. Here are some of the discoveries I made today.

Downtown Alliance Farmer's Market In Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City has several wonderful Farmers Markets, but the biggest and most diverse is the one sponsored by the Downtown Alliance. It just opened today, much later than Farmers Markets in other areas, and there wasn't a lot of fresh produce yet. When it's later in the season, I can't justify visiting the Farmers Market because I have so much fresh produce from my own garden, but I love to go early in the summer just to see what's available. This week I also made a special effort to notice what kinds of foods were produced locally besides produce. Here's a little taste of the Salt Lake Farmer's Market.

Kalyn's Souvlaki Recipe

(Photo and recipe directions updated July 2008. The souvlaki skewer in this photo has more than one pork chop.) This is a recipe I first posted in 2005, before I entered the digital camera age. In 2006 I updated it with a photo, but it's nice to update it again with better one. Souvlaki is really easy and delicious and the perfect thing for summer grilling.

Dining in D.C.: Mourayo

(This is the third in a series of reports on places I ate when I visited Washington D. C. recently. You can check my page of restaurant reviews to read others.)  Washington D.C. is a town of great restaurants. The competition for restaurants is so fierce here that a place can't stay in business unless it's a cut above the norm. However, even in a town where you're expecting that every restaurant will be a great place to eat, once in a while you'll find a place that completely wows you. That's how my friend Tia and I felt the night we went to Mourayo.

Weekend Herb Blogging #35 Recap and The Green Blog Project

It's time to recap all the great things people have posted this week for Weekend Herb Blogging, but before I do that I want to let you know about something fun that I'm positive some of you herb bloggers out there will want to participate in. Called The Green Blog Project, this blogging event hosted by LG from Ginger and Mango urges everyone who blogs to grow at least one plant, then post the recipe using that plant and a photo of whatever plant you grew. Twice a year LG will do a roundup of all the things that people are growing and cooking. The first deadline is September 1, and there's also going to be a roundup March 1 for those in the other parts of the world. I think this will be great fun to see what other bloggers are doing in their gardens and kitchens.

Garden Update #3

This summer, whenever I'm in town on Sunday I'm going to give you a peek into what's happening in my garden. I admit, this is partly for me to keep a record of how the garden is doing, inspired by Farmgirl's brilliant garden blog In My Kitchen Garden. Here's what I found when I went out there in my robe this morning, camera in hand. School is finally out, so now I can start to actually take care of the garden. Right now there are weeds everywhere, and little chores that need to be done.

Ten Things I'm Doing This Summer

Summer Vacation!
Today is the last day of school in my district, which means that after today, for the next 75 days, I don't have to go to work, and I still get paid! What a great job! Seriously, every teacher and student loves summer vacation. It's a chance to charge up your batteries. take on projects you wouldn't normally have time for, and just generally enjoy life in a way you can't quite manage when you're doing that 9 to 5 thing every day. Retired people can relate.

What's In My Fridge? AKA I'll Show You Mine . . .

Once again Cate from Sweetnicks has come up with a blogging event I can't resist. In an event she's calling I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours, Cate wants food bloggers to show what's in their refrigerator.

The funny thing about this is my brother, Rand, has been telling me for a few months now that I should show my freezer-organizing system on the blog, but I've resisted, mostly out of fear that you would all decide I'm hopelessly obsessive-compulsive. I admit, I'm a wee bit compulsive about my freezer. I have an upright freezer, separate from the refrigerator, and there's a list on the side showing what's inside. When I use something from the freezer, I decrease the number, so it's an ongoing inventory of the contents. At least that's how the system is supposed to work, when I remember to do it.