A spinach salad for those who don't like spinach salads

I have a small confession to make: I've never been a huge fan of spinach salads. I know, I know... how could I? There is just something about spinach that I've never warmed up to. Actually, I have an even bigger confession, I'm not a huge fan of spinach.

I do love spinach in certain dishes, particularly Spanakopita and any Indian style spinach dishes, such as Saag Aloo. There may be a few more dishes that I am forgetting about, but I think that's it. I want to like spinach. With all of the nutrients that spinach provides, I have always wanted to serve it more, but I just can't seem to fall in love with it.

But then I found this recipe for Roasted Squash, Spinach and Leek Salad with Maple Syrup Dressing in "Dave's Dinners" by Dave Lieberman, and now I'm a convert. I've made this recipe twice, the first time I made it with roasted butternut squash, and the last time, I roasted up a sweet potato which was just as good. In the picture that accompanies the recipe in the book, it looks as though the salad has blue cheese crumbles, although the recipe does not call for them. To serve as a main dish, I think the addition of either blue cheese or slivers of Parmesan cheese (which I have used) really help to finish the recipe. All I require to make this perfect is some good crusty bread.

So, even if you are not a spinach fan, I urge you to try this salad - maybe you'll become a convert like me!

Roasted Squash, Spinach and Leek Salad with Maple Syrup Dressing
adapted from Dave's Dinners by Dave Lieberman

For the salad:
1 small butternut squash or 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
1 cup pecan halves
1 small leek
10 ounces spinach, rinsed, dried, and large stems removed
blue cheese crumbles or slivers of Parmesan cheese

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
15 to 20 grinds fresh black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Toss the squash cubes on a baking sheet with olive oil and salt. Roast 25 minutes or until tender, tossing every 10 minutes or so. Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool fully.

Spread the pecans out on another baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove the green tops and bottom root from the leek. Cut the remaining portion of the leek in half lengthwise and rinse under cool water to wash away any grit inside the leek. Cut each half in half crosswise, then thinly cut vertically to create leek matchsticks.

Make the dressing by shaking together all the dressing ingredients in a seal-able container or whisk together in a bowl. Toss the spinach with the dressing, divide the spinach between serving pates, and top with the squash pieces. Scatter the leek matchsticks around the salad, then finish with the toasted pecans and cheese.

Trying a new ingredient - celery root

I know that it has been too long since I've written about some of the recipes that I've been trying. I think it is going to take me a few weeks to catch up with some of the delicious dishes I've made recently, so stay with me!

The first dish I want to tell you about really surprised me. I think it may be my new - make when I need comfort food beef stew, and I truly didn't expect that. I was looking through some of my cookbooks the other day, and I saw this recipe for Venison Cider Stew in "A Well Seasoned Appetite" by Molly O'Neill. Normally I would have just passed right by it because of the venison, but I thought to myself "well, I could use beef". I continued looking at the list of ingredients, and even though the celery root made me uncomfortable, the rest of the ingredients beckoned me - apple cider, apple cider vinegar, cinnamon...

Needless to say, I decided to give this recipe a try. Off to the store I went, and immediately had trouble finding celery root. Thankfully there was a produce manager to help me. He said that a lot of people had been using celery root lately. Perhaps I'm not the only one trying new things! It's not the most attractive thing in the produce section, quite gnarled and very rooty. Which is I guess what I should have expected! I made a few substitutions - some I meant to do such as beef for the venison; and some I didn't mean to do - I forgot to pick up Calvados at the store, but it ended up being absolutely delicious! I wasn't sure what celery root was going to taste like, so I was a bit apprehensive. I am not a fan of either parsnips or turnips - or perhaps it is both I don't like, I never can remember. Celery root is very much like celery, but almost softer somehow.

The cooking is a bit different for beef than it is for venison, so if you do want to use venison - ask and I'll give you the directions.

Beef Cider Stew (Adapted from Venison Cider Stew)
from "A Well Seasoned Appetite" by Molly O'Neill

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound beef stew meat
2 tablespoons flour, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper
1 onion, peeled and minced
2 small celery roots, trimmed, peeled, and cubed
1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup dried apples, diced
1/4 cup Calvados (I used 1/8 cup brandy and 1/8 cup apple cider)
1/4 cup unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Warm the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Dust the beef with the seasoned flour. Add to the pan and cook, stirring, until well browned. Remove the beef from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and cook until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the celery roots and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the beef back to the pan, along with the apple cider, vinegar, broth, salt, pepper, and cinnamon stick. Simmer until the celery root is tender, about 1 hour.

While the stew is simmering, soak the dried apples in the Calvados.

Taste and adjust the seasoning of the stew with salt and pepper. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Ladle the stew into large bowls. Garnish with the apple-Calvados mixture and pistachios and serve.

Serves 4 as a main course

In Memoriam...

It truly has been too long since I've sat at the computer, and written about some of the wonderful dishes that I have been cooking. Well, that last sentence makes it sound as though I've been doing nothing but whipping up terrific food, and that is not exactly accurate. Suffice it to say, in the past 2, almost 3 months since I've written, I have made a few wonderful dishes. But I haven't sat down to tell you about them, partly because I wonder if anyone really wants to hear about what I'm doing. But also because the last few months have been very difficult. We lost my mother-in-law, Joyce Hahn on January 18th. It has been more trying than we thought it would be. As most of you know, she had been ill for quite some time. We had not lived near her in the 14 years we have been married, so we are thankful that for the past 6 months we were able to have her near us, and spend as much time with her as we could.

Death is not easy, even when we know it is coming soon.

Unfortunately, this was not the end. On Monday, we woke up to find our oh-so much loved cat, Purrsilla in pain. 'Silla, otherwise known as the Queen of Fatness or Queen of the Catbox was 18, and had given us more love and laughs than I think we truly deserved. We had always told ourselves that we would not let our animals suffer. So, with many tears we said goodbye. She was my "Baby Love", my sweetness... and now I have a very big hole in my heart that is 'Silla shaped.

Soon after Joyce passed, we decided that we needed something to help fill the gap in our lives. I'm still not sure if we made the right decision, but Shaka Hahn is the newest addition to our family. I've never had a dog before.
Ever.

I love him, but I have come to the conclusion that I am still a cat person at heart!

Speaking of being a cat person, I'm not sure if Peter likes the new addition. But he is trying.
Sort of.

Reading - The Friday Night Knitting Club

I'm getting very frustrated. See, I caught a cold a week before Thanksgiving, and was well enough to celebrate that holiday. But now I think this cough and cold are going to be here for a while. Every time I think I'm better, I will try to do something, anything - decorate, cook, clean, talk - I start coughing and can't stop.

So, I'm thinking that maybe this is the way my body is telling me to sit back and do nothing. Even though sometimes it feels as though that is all I do. Thankfully we have mostly decorated for the holidays, and after Patrick left for work last night, I could curl up on the couch with the glow of the lights, a cup of tea and a book - "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs.

I don't know how to explain how deeply this book affected me. I had tears streaming down my face by the end of the book. Don't get me wrong, I have cried over books before. But for some reason the story of Georgia Walker and her daughter has hit some nerve ending for me. Even after I had crawled into bed, I couldn't get the story out of my head. I woke up several times last night, thinking about the story. Then this morning, I opened up the third book in the series - "Knit the Season", and by this afternoon I had it finished. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get the second book "Knit Two".

The funny thing is that I didn't think I'd like the books. I have seen the first book in bookstores before, and even though I knit, the book never seemed to call to me. I bought them because I was in the mood for some holiday reading, and thought "Knit the Season" would be a nice easy comfort read. I bought the first book just because.

I've been thinking about these books all day, and trying to analyze both the books and my thoughts. I read. A lot. So why did this book strike such a chord with me? Do I think I can relate with one (or more) of the characters?

This makes me think again of starting both a reading club, but also a knitting club. I've toyed with the idea of starting an online reading club - any body want to join?

Still upacking, and now the holidays are here

Well, we are in our new house, and still trying to get settled. This is the largest house we've ever lived in, and it is strange to be able to have space for all of our belongings. We are not fully unpacked yet, but the main level of the house doesn't make me cringe any longer, so that's a good thing. One of these days we will get around to hanging pictures, but I do wonder if we will ever be fully unpacked. No matter what size house I move into, whether it's smaller or larger than the last place I've lived, I find that I always need at least one piece of furniture or something in order to fill that one space. You know that space - that area that your eye invariably moves to that just seems wrong, empty. There are a lot of spaces like that here, yet in an odd way I'm enjoying the emptiness.



This picture was taken a few days after we moved into the house, and it shows all of the open space that surrounds us. You can't quite make out the cornfields that can be seen from our backyard, but they are there. Perhaps it's the open space around that is opening my eyes and helping me enjoy some of this stillness.

Several friends and family have asked for pictures of the house, and I should have taken pictures of the house the day before Thanksgiving, when we celebrated the holiday with Patrick's mother and the house looked good. But, I didn't. Yesterday because we were having leftovers, we thought we'd get a jump on the decorating and pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations. Now there are decorations everywhere, but nothing is decorated. Our thin false tree that we bought for our small condo in Norfolk is standing in our living room without any ornaments looking quite sad and lonely. Let's hope I can get this posted and the decorations up!

Speaking of the leftovers...




We very rarely have the same recipes year after year for the holidays. Both of us love to try new recipes, and experiment with different flavors. This year the only thing that we have made before was Creamed Corn Gratin that I got from Bon Appetit magazine. It is so good that we have made it every year for Thanksgiving since I found it. The first time was part of a Thanksgiving meal we prepared and delivered to some of Patrick's co-workers that were working on the big day while we were stationed in Italy.

I was impressed with all of the side dishes we made this year, and I will be making them all again. I have always found that most Thanksgiving Sweet Potato recipes are too sweet, but the Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Sugar and Sherry that we tried this year was fantastic. I'm looking forward to using the leftovers to make sweet potato ravioli or gnocchi, or perhaps both!



I particularly loved the Cranberry Nut Rolls . I am going to be making these again and again to have with soups, but especially for breakfast. I had a wonderful breakfast of leftover rolls toasted with butter - um, yum! The only thing that I may do next time is make them a little smaller, to maximize the crust.


The Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apples were very easy to put together, and would be good as a side dish for any fall or winter dish.

P.S.
Just click on any of the links to get the recipe links! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Memories and Faraway Friends

I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving and what it means to me. I'm not sure if it's just because of the upcoming holidays, or "holidaze" as I like to term it. I think it is because we are so far away from most of our family and friends, and I miss spending time with them. I especially miss cooking for them.

Most people spend the holiday with the family and a select few friends. Before I was married, I only knew the holidays as time spent with family. Gatherings around the table with family, that always ended with discussions about politics. Sometimes fun, but always loud! The food for my family was never the most important thing, it was the gathering and the the love. My grandparents were originally from the New England area, and the dishes I grew up with were all traditional New England Thanksgiving dishes. I miss spending time with family, but I have to admit I do not miss Creamed Onions!

Then I was married, and we were gone. First to Seoul, South Korea where we celebrated with friends. I can't remember many of the details of our first Thanksgiving there, other than the panic of preparing my first big meal for a group of people! We knew how hard it was to be away from family for the holidays and decided to invite anybody who wanted to come. Now that I think about it, it wasn't a huge party, I think there was a over 10 people. But that was more people than I had ever served, and we had to buy more plates, silverware, napkins and glasses! The second year we co-hosted Thanksgiving for a group of mostly single sailors and marines with my friend Chasity who lived 3 floors below us. It was great, and besides the fun, I remember it was the first time I had ever had pecan pie!

Since then, I have celebrated Thanksgiving in 3 different countries, and at least 7 different cities. I've been lucky enough to celebrate through the years with all sets of our families. We've traveled to Dallas to celebrate with Patrick's father and step-mother. Soon after I met my father, he became ill, and we came here to St. Louis to spend the last Thanksgiving that my father got to see with him and his family.

I think about all of the friends that I have fed at our house, and all of the friends who have fed us at their houses. I also think about good friends that I have not had the opportunity to celebrate with. For all of the times that family is far away, friends have become family, and I miss everyone of them.

This is for every member of our immediate families, as well as our friends that are like family: Chasity, Danielle, Tara and Marvin, Crystal and Rob, Shazi and Bernard, Shastie and Ed, Tammy and Marvin, Maureen and Tim , David, Valarie, Michelle and Dan, Craig and Mikal, and Sean and Shay. I'm sorry if I forgot anyone. I love you all!!

Moving and a simple recipe

It has been over a month since I've sat down with the computer, and tried to write something here. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't think there is such a thing!

Things are still in flux, but we are not moving from the St. Louis area. The last time I wrote, we were most likely moving to DC. Well, the negotiations fell through for that job, so we decided to stay here. Within a week of realizing that we weren't moving to DC, a friend and co-worker of Patrick's put their house on the market. We have been to their house before and loved it. They bought in a little over a year ago, brand new, and he put a lot of work into the house. The biggest reason for wanting this house was the finished basement that Jim did. He put in a spacious bar and pool table which is staying with the house! SO... we put a contract in on it. We are moving right before Halloween. Which is VERY soon!

Now, the house that we are renting is the first actual house that either of us have ever lived in. We've lived in apartments, condos and townhouses - but never a house. And now we are going to have one of our very own. It's in the country, but close to Patrick's work in Illinois. You can see cornfields from the backyard! I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust to it, being the city girl that I am. But, I'm so excited. We finally are going to have room to put all of our stuff. We have so many beautiful things that we have picked up from our travels, and we've never had them all out. Plus, we are going to have room for guests! So, pack your suitcases, and come to stay for a while... I am looking forward to having visitors that I can cook for!

I haven't been cooking very much for the last month or so. Mainly just heating things up. But I was standing in line the other day at the grocery store, and was staring at the magazines, when I saw a picture for Ravioli with Apples and Walnuts on the cover of the October issue of Real Simple. So, I bought the magazine, and tried the recipe last night. It has been so long since I've served something good or even thought about writing, that I didn't think about taking a picture of the finished product, but it was absolutely delicious. I have to say I was a bit unsure as I was putting the ingredients together, because it didn't seem like much. But one bite changed my mind. I can't describe how the ingredients come together, but wow. This is definitely something that we will be making again, and soon!

Click on this link to get the recipe from Real Simple.