Five Fun Things on Friday

I love posting Friday Night Photos, especially when there are new things to share, but when the photos don't inspire me I'm going to start sharing other fun things I've come across during the week. Since there seems to be some sort of unwritten rule that these types of blog features must have titles with alliteration, I'm calling this Five Fun Things on Friday. Keep reading to see five things I thought were fun this week.

Recipe for Individual-Serving Meatloaf Balls with Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Peppers

If anyone is scratching their head over the name of this recipe, let me start by telling you how I came up with Meatloaf Balls. A while ago, I happened to see a site where a famous food personality (who shall not be named!) was touting the idea of meatloaf cooked in muffin tins. I loved the idea, which sounded perfect for any house where some family members want different ingredients in their meatloaf than others. I tried the meatloaf cooked in muffin tins, and (putting it as nicely as I can) it was horrible. All the fat from the meat collected in the bottom of the muffin tins, and the sides of the mini-meatloaves didn't brown. I still liked the idea of individual meatloaves though, so I tried again, making the meatloaf mixture into large balls that I flattened down slightly when I cooked them. Voila, meatloaf balls! And if you have kids in the family who won't eat red or green pepper, this recipe is a perfect one to divide into two variations to please the whole family.

Recipe for Roasted Winter Squash and Sausage with Herbs

Winter squash is one of those perfect vegetables that's easy to grow, nutritious, and versatile, and when it's roasted into caramelized goodness like the squash in this recipe, I think it's one of the best-tasting foods in the world. I never liked squash as a kid, but by my late twenties my Grandma Denny taught me to like butternut squash that she'd roast in a hot oven, then mash with lots of butter, salt, and pepper. That's a recipe you can't go wrong with, but the last few years I've been roasting squash with olive oil, and every version I've tried has been a winner, including this dish of squash roasted with Italian sausage and herbs.

Recipe for Roasted Wild Salmon with Soy-Wasabi-Agave Glaze and Green Onions

Wild salmon is a bit of a splurge around here, but when my local store had these one-pound wild salmon pieces on sale for $6.99, that was an offer I couldn't refuse. I thawed the piece of fish overnight and I'd intended to grill the salmon but it was cold and windy that day. Even though I can cook on my covered deck when it's bad weather, I decided to use Mark Bittman's foolproof method for roasting salmon in olive oil and herbs, and I roasted the salmon in my toaster oven. I don't know exactly what inspired me to brush the salmon with a spicy blend of soy sauce, wasabi, and agave nectar, and then garnish with lots of sliced green onions, but the results were great.

Recipe for Macaroni and Cheese (with a grown-up twist)

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites October 2009) I first posted this recipe back in 2005, when I first heard of Dreamfield's Pasta, and that's what I used when I originally named this "Low Carb Macaroni and Cheese."  Since then I've heard that if Dreamfields if Dreamfields pasta is cooked for a long time or reheated it increases the glycemic index, so this pasta is probably not as low in carbs as I had hoped, and I'm taking the "low carb" off the recipe name.  However, I've been using Dreamfield's products for about five years now to make things like Shrimp and Macaroni Salad, Roasted Tomato Soup, and Vegetarian Lasagna and I'd probably still eat this once in a while as a treat.  If you're making this for the South Beach Diet you could use whole wheat macaroni, or use Dreamfields and limit the portion or save it for phase three.

Friday Night Photos: A Love Letter to Toyota

On Friday nights I share random photos of whatever has happened to come in front of my camera, and this week I've been thinking about cars. Thirteen years ago I bought this 1996 Toyota Camry, which turned out to be the best car I'd ever owned; all I did was change the oil on a semi-regular basis and buy tires once in a while, and I was good to go.

Recipe for Spicy Red Lentil and Chickpea Stew (Paula's Moroccan Lentil Stew)

I'm a huge fan of all kinds of beans and legumes but two of my favorites are lentils and chickpeas, so when I got this recipe by e-mail from a reader named Paula B., from the second I read the recipe, there was never any doubt I was going to make it. Not only did it sound like a perfect combination of flavors, but I'd just gotten a big bag of red lentils from Whole Foods, so it seemed like an omen when the recipe arrived. Paula called the dish Moroccan Lentil Stew, though I'm not sure if it's really Moroccan, but it's aromatic and spicy with a blend of interesting ingredients that come together perfectly. Paula said she eats it with a dollop of sour cream (again, probably not Moroccan, but highly recommend it!) I ate mine over brown rice, and this was one of the best easy dinners I'd had for a long time.

Recipe for Low Sugar and Whole Wheat Apple-Pear Cake with Cinnamon and Pecans

There's something about cinnamon-laden cakes with fruit that just screams Autumn, but this cake recipe actually got started when it was still summer and I had a surplus of zucchini and made a low sugar and whole wheat Garden Harvest Cake with apples, zucchini, and carrot. Despite the fact it looked more like a bread than a cake, it was definitely one of my favorite new recipes of the year. At the time I wondered if you could adapt the recipe to make a cake with just apples, but recently when I had both pears and apples I decided to try it with that combination. Apples and pears together in a low sugar cake sounded so good to me, but my first attempt was far too wet, and I also decided I wanted a flat cake instead of the loaf pan the original recipe called for. It took me two more cakes to get to the version you'll find in this recipe, which is a low sugar dessert that I'm thinking just about anyone would enjoy, or make it with all sugar if you prefer.

Recipe for the World's Easiest Garlicky Green Beans Stir Fry

Beans are one of those plants that don't get too much respect from me in the garden. I find them hard to keep picked, and truthfully, sometimes I end up with overgrown beans I have to throw away. I also notice I don't think of beans as a summertime food in the same way I do things like tomatoes and zucchini, so when I'm wondering what to cook, beans are less likely to pop into my mind. Hopefully next summer when I"m thinking of beans I can remember this garlicky green beans stir fry, because I could eat beans every day if they were cooked like this.

Recipe for Kubideh: Grilled Ground Meat on Skewers with Middle Eastern Spices

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites, October 2009.) One of my favorite restaurants in Salt Lake is Cafe Med, a very inexpensive place that features foods from all the Mediterranean countries. On the section of the menu designated "Persian Food" they have a dish called Kubideh that I love to order. It's made of very finely ground beef mixed with onions and spices, including turmeric, and then grilled. The meat is probably ground twice to produce a dense texture similar to Gyro meat. At Cafe Med it's served with Tzatziki sauce, the perfect companion to the slightly-spicy flavor of the meat.

Kalyn's Kitchen Picks: Heinz Reduced Sugar Ketchup

Kalyn's Kitchen Picks is a blog feature where I talk about products I love and would recommend to my readers. It's been a long time since I've shared one of my picks, but now that there are no house renovations or vegetable gardens to photograph, I thought I'd start doing one of those posts instead of Friday Night Photos some of the time. In case you've heard about the new FTC guidelines for product recommendations by bloggers, let me start by saying that nearly all of the food products and kitchen items I recommend are things I purchase myself. I very rarely accept products to review, but in the rare event that I did write about a product which was sent to me, I would always mention that I received it as a sample. And I will never (ever!) write about a product unless it is something I'd happily purchase over and over, so if I've added a product to my page of Kalyn's Kitchen Picks, you can be sure this is a product I love!

Recipe for Mexican Baked Eggs with Black Beans, Tomatoes, Green Chiles, and Cilantro

This dish started out as one of those recipe ideas that get stuck in my mind and simply don't go away until I've finally tried creating the recipe. For sure it was the Tuscan Baked Eggs I made last summer that got me thinking of eggs baked in tomato sauce but I have no idea what inspired me to try simmering the tomatoes with black beans and spicy green chiles. It turned out to be a keeper though (and not all my spontaneous recipes are a success, so I'm happy when they are!)

Recipe for Wild Rice with Sausage and Mushrooms

(Updated October 2009) I'm a fan of wild rice, which is actually not rice at all, but the seed of a type of grass that grows in the U.S., Canada, and China. I've used it in dishes like Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, and it's often sold in a mix of Brown and Wild Rice. This recipe uses wild rice in a way that was different for me, where the wild rice is the main ingredient in the dish, with sausage mushrooms, and fresh thyme adding flavor. The recipe was called Thanksgiving Wild Rice on the Food Network site, where it included lots of butter that I switched for olive oil. This could certainly be served as a stuffing or side dish, but I could also enjoyed just eating a bowl of it for a quick lunch. I'm putting some of my leftovers in a 2-serving container in the freezer, and I'm guessing it will freeze well and taste great for lunch some day when I'm too busy to cook.

Slow Cooker Recipe for Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce

As soon as I mentioned on Facebook that I was making a version of pulled pork with low-sugar barbecue sauce, I had people asking me to post the recipe. That didn't surprise me, since this is a classic American dish, but I do want to start out by saying that one reason I decided to tackle this was because I find most barbecue sauce recipes to be too sweet, without enough complex flavor undertones. I wanted to see if I could come up with a version that would suit my preference for more savory flavors, so if you try this recipe, be prepared for a sauce with plenty of mustard flavor, smokiness, and spice, and just the barest touch of sweetness. I did try it out on several people who all gave it a thumbs up, but if you're a fan of sweet sauces, this may not be the barbecue sauce recipe for you.

Friday Night Photos: Lunch at Chez Panisse!

I doubt I'll stop talking about lunch at Chez Panisse for a long time, so you must forget that I already mentioned this lunch when I wrote about food bloggers having fun at BlogHer Food Conference. The side trip to Chez Panisse on the day before the conference was the brilliant idea of Grace from State of Grace, who invited me and Christine from Christine Cooks to journey to Berkeley with her in search of local, seasonal, organic, and mind-blowingly well prepared food. When my meal started out with this Canard Farm rocket salad with pecorino and pine nuts, (containing perfect baby arugula, perfect extra virgin olive oil, perfect pine nuts and perfect shaved pecorino cheese) I knew we had come to the right place.

Recipe for Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin

Besides writing this blog, I also write about food twice a week for BlogHer.com, and recently I wrote about spaghetti squash. Of course that made me think about cooking some of my own spaghetti squash from the garden. I found great-sounding spaghetti squash recipes for the BlogHer post, but the one that inspired this recipe was Spaghetti Squash Gratin from Daily Unadventures in Cooking. Adding the chard was one of those "wonder how it would work?" experiments, but really liked the combination of spaghetti squash and chard in this cheesy gratin.

Recipe for Garlic-Lover's Vegetable Stir Fry with Eggplant, Zucchini, and Yellow Squash

Even if you don't have a wok, stir frying is a simple way to turn out great-tasting meals from very few ingredients. I learned how to stir-fry years ago by taking a Chinese Cooking class taught by a visiting professor from China, and once you master the basic technique, you can get good results with many different combinations of ingredients. This stir-fry dish was inspired by the last few vegetables I picked from my garden. I used a combination of eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash, but you can easily make this with just one of those ingredients.

Recipe for Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Soup with Garlic, Sumac, Olive oil, and Lemon

Ever since I rediscovered it when I made Fattoush, I've been loving the flavor of Sumac, the maroon-colored spice you see sprinkled on top of this soup, but if you don't have any Sumac, don't let that stop you from making the soup if you like hummus, falafel, or any of the other tasty things made with garbanzo beans. You can certainly use some smoky paprika (which is how it was served by Gail from The Pink Peppercorn, who posted the Chickpea Soup recipe that inspired me to try this in the crockpot.) I started with dried beans and a bit of skepticism as I added onions, garlic, and chicken stock to the crockpot with cumin and a few bay leaves, but after cooking all day on low, the beans were softened and smelling great. This was my first soup of fall, and although I always hate to see summer end, I really enjoyed the soup.

Friday Night Photos: Food Blogger Fun at BlogHer Food Conference in San Francisco

Perfect Heirloom Tomato Salad from Chez Panisse

For days I've been mulling over how to write about the experience of attending BlogHer Food Conference in San Francisco last weekend. After looking forward to it for months, apparently I was having so much fun I took very few photos of people to help me remember everyone I met! I didn't do much better on the food either (although I did manage to capture the perfect heirloom tomato salad above from Chez Panisse.) BlogHer Food was one of those surreal events where you meet such a huge number of amazing people in a very short time that it's impossible to mention them all in a post like this. I'm going to share a few highlights, but if you were there, please help me write this post by leaving a comment with your thoughts.

South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for September 2009

Kalyn's favorite Phase One Recipe for September 2009 was
Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups

My goal for the South Beach Diet Monthly Phase One Recipe Round-Ups is to convince people who are trying the South Beach Diet that it's not hard to find interesting things to eat on Phase One. I hope that message is getting through, because month after month I'm a little amazed when I see how many recipes I've saved to del.icio.us for the round-up. Even in a month like September where I've been distracted with housewarming parties and trips to San Francisco, there are plenty of Phase One recipes to drool over. Sure, there are always recipes that need a little fine-tuning to work, so those kinds of changes are noted. And no one could ever find all the Phase One recipes posted in a month, so if you're a blogger who posted a recipe in August that you think might be okay for Phase One, check after the recipes to see how to contact me.