The Real Housewife of Santa Monica

Two weekends ago I made three things and had high hopes of posting all three recipes BUT was unable because of CARMAGEDDON!!!!!!! Well, actually, Beamageddon. Bea started crawling. I’m blaming her for problems with the recipes. And the pictures. Anyway, these were all good hot weather dishes.

Here’s one of our favorites given to me by Joy Armagost who is not only an excellent cook but also an outstanding FARMER. Earth, Wind & Fire Salad is a hearty, fresh & tasty salad. Every time I take it to a cookout or serve it at home I get a lot of compliments.

EARTH WIND & FIRE SALAD

You’ll need these ingredients for the salad. The only ones you might have trouble finding are the wheat berries. I get them at Whole Foods but they don’t have them at the Ralph’s near our house.

Salad ingredients:
1/2 c wheat berries
1 c wild rice
2 green onions (what we call scallions)
1, 2 or 3 peppers (I used 1 red, 1 yellow & 1 orange for looks!)
1 c edamame (Fresh is best but I had these frozen ones so I used ‘em – boiled in microwave with salt!)

The time-consuming part is making the rice & wheat berries. I simmer them according to package directions on the stove for 45-60 minutes – just keep checking them after 45 mins. I think Joy used a rice cooker which is probably a lot more efficient but I wanted to cook them both at the same time. Also, she is a lot more organized than I am. Btw: you can do this a day before and store in fridge b/c you’ll want them cold for the salad anyway.

Chop up those peppers.

What is that haunting specter? Oh, water on the lens.

There it is AGAIN!! I thought I got it.

Here is one way to cut peppers. I am only slightly embarrassed to admit I learned this from the BEST SOURCE OF EDUCATION IN THE WORLD! – TV. Yes, I saw it on Top Chef. Cut the top off first. It will look like this.
(Who left the flash on??)

After removing the stem I give the tops to Maddie who thinks they are edible flowers. I definitely don’t like to waste the tops no matter what the folks at Top Chef tell me.

Then scoop out the inside.
Dang that flash!

Now chop in relatively thin strips. I like to get rid of all the “white stuff.” And dice.
Check this out.
WITH FLASH:

WITHOUT FLASH:

Which looks better? You know the answer.

How pretty!

Chop scallions any old way!

Add peppers to a large bowl (preferably a salad bowl if you have one handy) and toss with the chilled rice & wheat berries. Keep green onions/scallions separate. They can get slimey! (Yes, I know, I combined them but don’t be like me!)

This is where my photography goes wayyyyyyy downhill. Things got hectic in the kitchen so it’s all downhill from here.

Dressing Ingredients

1 tbsp red chili paste (I believe you could substitute that red rooster sauce if you have it – “Sriracha”)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c sesame seed oil
2 tbsp sherry
1-2 tsp rice vinegar
1/3 c low salt soy sauce

Wisk these ingredients together & taste! Adjust anything you like (i.e. if you like it spicier add more chili paste!)

Omit the chili paste/rooster sauce if you don’t want it spicy.

At the last minute, combine everything! Mmmmmm this is so good!

Between missed photo ops & flash malfunctions, I hope what I DID post inspires you to try this salad! It gets easier & easier to make. Somehow, I neglected to take a pic of the final product.

I DID get this shot though:

If you try this please let us know about any improvements you made in the comment section below! (On blog, not on Facebook so Zuckerberg won’t own it!) Thank you & enjoy!

(Photo from today’s LA Times.)

It’s not even close to Thanksgiving – I know, but when I see the news about the famine in Somalia only a few hours after posting an extremely fattening recipe, my heart breaks. I am truly thankful to be born somewhere where I likely won’t have to worry about feeding my kids. In fact, it’s more likely they’ll have to be careful not to eat too much.

That said, I’m posting a couple of links to send aid to Somalia. Times are tough for many in the U.S. right now but not as tough as in Somalia.

Doctors without Borders

Mercy Corps

(Here’s info. about Mercy Corps in case you’re wary…)

Hi Y’all!

What do you do when the bananas start going brown?

Apparently, not wipe the table. But that’s another story… what I do is whip up the BEST BANANA BREAD ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Aka Fatty’s Banana Bread (Fatty referring to the banana bread only of course). This is a recipe my dear friend Nina Viswanathan gave me over a decade ago. And believe me, Nina KNOWS her banana bread. It’s very easy to make!

Want to try it?

OK!

Gather these ingredients:

But wait, something’s missing! The most important ingredient.

I keep a bag of chocolate chips in my baking drawer but they sure weren’t here today when I looked. I need to find a better hiding spot. Luckily Trader Joe’s is 3 blocks from me so I threw Bea under my arm and strode down there.

INGREDIENTS:
3 over-ripe bananas
1 egg
1 stick butter (D’OH!)
1 c sugar
1.5 c flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 to 1 c chocolate chips

First: preheat oven to 350

(I can’t believe I took a picture of that!)

& lightly grease a loaf pan.

Melt butter.

Mash bananas in a medium to large bowl.

Don’t use a fork for this. Trust me.

Ahhh, that’s better.

Add melted butter & egg and combine well. I actually used a hand mixer but was unable to photograph it as my free hand was holding the bowl while batter splattered across my shirt.

Sift together flour, salt & baking soda, then slowly combine with wet ingredients. Full disclosure: I never sift together the dry ingredients – I just start adding things to the wet. I know it’s not the “right” way to do it but have you seen my sifter? Talk about a hand cramp.

Now add the chocolate chips. People: go for the full cup. You won’t regret it!

Oooooooooo just look at them…

Combine. And not with a spatula.

Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes.

Here it is from another angle in case you can’t get enough!

Thanks, Nina. This “bread” has brought so much joy to so many!

Bea is full-on crawling this week. HELLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!

This afternoon I got smart and put the baby in the backpack when she got ornery.

I still had to work pretty quickly though! I remembered a really good sweet potato pancake recipe I made a longggggg time ago from the Moosewood Cookbook so I decided to make them and I’m glad I did. The ingredients list is VERY simple for these! They’re really tasty AND good for you and you can reheat the next day. I did alter the recipe by adding regular potatoes and I planned to add grated carrots until I realized I didn’t have any.

You can also make them with just the sweet potatoes or yams if that’s all you have…

You’ll need these ingredients:

And some of these:

And this stuff:

Oh yeah and this:

That’s a lemon from my tree. Now, before you detect smugness on my part at having a lemon tree, please realize it’s a dusty old, rooty old, grumpy old neglected lemon tree that yields about 3 lemons per YEAR. So let me enjoy this lemon, will you?

INGREDIENTS:
1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes or yams
3 small potatoes (I had red potatoes so I threw them in just to use them up!)
1/2 onion
1 cup minced parsley
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1/3 c flour
3 eggs (original recipe calls for 4 but I only had 3 and it worked out fine. 2 might even do.)
3-4 t lemon juice (I squeezed in about half a small lemon)
**NOTE: I would add 1 or 2 grated carrots if you have them!**

1. In a large bowl shred potatoes and onion (& carrots if you have ‘em) using food processor or the old fashioned way.

Keep going! Your arm will soon look like this:

Check on the kids every once in a while.

Fill up the compost!

2. Turn on heat in a seasoned skillet, large non-stick frying pan or electric skillet. (Basically, whatever you have!) Heat should be medium/high. If you use an electric skillet about 325 is pretty good.

2. Add flour, salt, lemon juice, pepper & parsley to bowl of shredded taters.

3. Beat eggs & add to potato mixture. Combine thoroughly.

4. Heat oil in skillet.

5. Plop large spoonfuls of the mixture into the skillet. Flatten with a spatula.

6. Fry until brown. Flip and add more oil as necessary.

Serve hot with sour cream, butter, yogurt, cottage cheese, apple sauce or anything else that appeals to you!

Bea loves these through her food mill!

Maddie didn’t share her sentiments.

These taste like mashed potatoes but are a lot lighter & would be great served with a fresh green salad!