Taste of Wine Country: Mushroom Risotto

Brian and I have been slowly working our way through the 10 bottles of wine we brought home from our trip to Wine Country back in November.

It’s hard because you want to drink it, but at the same time want a “special” occasion or event to break open some of these bottles.  But I also don’t want to “save” them forever!  I mean I still have the bottle of champagne my mom gave us for our engagement…yeah, you know, saving it for a special occasion!! 

We visited the Thomas George winery during our stay in Healdsburg.  We were out for the day, hiking/picnic, and the owners of our B&B gave us some recommendations for wineries to stop at on our way back.

One of these was the Thomas George Estates Winery in the Russian River Valley.  They had a very cool wine cave where they did tastings.

It was here that we bought our first bottle of the trip (and one of the more $$ ones we’ve ever bought…although at the same time I’d never tasted wine so good so it was ok ;)

Before we left, the guy who helped us that day said that this wine goes excellent with mushroom risotto!

We did not for get that piece of information, AND we were able to use one of our other purchases from that trip:

A bag of dried wild mushrooms we picked up in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Dried mushrooms are great because you can get a good variety and they keep for a long time!

You just need to remember that they need at least 30 min to re-hydrate

 Wild (Dried) Mushroom Risotto
(adapted from Ina Garten)

• 1 oz dried wild mushrooms (or your favorite kind)
• 2 1/2 cups boiling water
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3T butter
• 2 oz pancetta, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Re-hydrate the mushrooms with the boiling water for 30 min or until soft.  Remove with a slotted spoon, then give mushrooms a rough chop.  Carefully pour the mushroom broth into a sauce pan, leaving just the last little bit in the pan with the debris from the mushrooms (or use a sieve).  Add the chicken broth to the mushroom broth and heat over med/low heat, just until steaming.

In a large heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven heat the butter over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and pancetta. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes, then add rice. Cook for 2 more minutes, then add the wine and cook for 2 more minutes. Then add 2 ladles full of the hot broth mixture to the pan. Stir regularly until the broth has been mostly absorbed by the rice. Repeat this process of adding 2 ladles of broth, stirring until dissolved, until all the broth is used and rice is cooked but still has a little bite to it…al dente.

You have to keep regularly stirring but no need to go crazy.  This took me 35-40 min.  The mixture will be very creamy by the end. 

Finally, remove from heat and add the cheese. 

We served this with some steak, and a small piece of left over fish from the night before (a little surf and turf action)

And a little side salad

Of course the wine was incredible

Just as good as we remembered.  Now I’m just sad it’s gone!!!   

Now I just need to plan some more wine-centered dinners for those other bottles ;)

Does anyone else have this problem of “saving” the good stuff and then years go by???  I think we’ve done a decent job with our wines from the trip, but still have 5 to go! 

Stratta (Vegas) Chopped Salad: Recreated

Not only was Vegas a blast, but I don’t think I ever had a bad meal.  In particular, there were some very delicious salads eaten throughout the weekend and I found myself writing down their ingredients so that I could re-create them when I got home.

Our plane got into Boston around 9:30AM Tuesday morning and later that day I went grocery shopping, then spend a good chuck of my afternoon chopping veggies for this guy:

On Saturday evening, after checking into the Wynn, Jocy and I wanted to eat a not-so-big dinner before getting ready for our big night out at Pure (green dress night…p.s. that dress is from Nordstrom juniors dept.). 

We grabbed two seats at the bar in Stratta and proceeded to split a salad and a pizza.

First up was the Stratta Chopped salad which was described as:

CHOPPED SALAD. . .
Escarole, Beans, Salami, Crisp Vegetables, Mustard Vinaigrette

The best part about this salad was that all the veggies were diced up so small!!   Even the olives were small!

As we kept “mmm”ing about this salad, I whipped out my phone and jotted down every veggie and bean I could identify. 

Next came our pizza

The crust was SUPER thin…almost like a tortilla, so thin.  I love a good thin crust. 

Toppings were sausage, green peppers, onions, and buffalo mozzarella.

Using some will power we were able to leave 2 slices to pack up.  We then proceeded to fill one of the sinks in our hotel room with ice and leave the leftovers on ice for a late night snack….Best Idea Ever.  Although the bar at Stratta is open until 6am.  The bartender did tempt us with the knowledge that we could get a fresh pizza after our night out, but we resisted. 

Re-creating that chopped salad was fun, although it did involve a LOT of chopping.

However, it made a big batch and I had it for lunch the next 2 days.

Chopped Veggie Salad with Salami
inspired by Stratta, serves 5-6

The key here is to chop all the veggies at a uniform size.  The smaller the better.

• mixed greens or baby spinach for your salad base
• 1 can kidney beans or black beans (or both!)
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/2 med. red onion, diced
• carrot, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 red or orange bell pepper, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 large cucumber, diced
• kalamata olives, small ones if you can find them
• 4oz salami, diced from a larger piece, or from slices

Mustard Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 T white wine vinegar
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

Drain and rinse beans and chickpeas.  In a large bowl combine all diced veggies (onion through cucumber).  Add in beans, olives, and salami. 

Make vinaigrette:  combine ingredients into a bowl or mason jar with lid.  Whisk or shake until combined.

Toss veggie mixture with salad.  Serve over a small layer of greens. 

As long as you keep the greens separated until ready to serve, the leftovers will keep for a day or 2 even with dressing already tossed in.  Just serve over fresh greens.

For lunch I added extra slices of salami and provolone cheese.

 

Does anyone else have a good mustard vinaigrette recipe?  I really enjoyed how this came out, but it wasn’t quite what we had at the restaurant. 

Do you ever “take notes” at restaurants??

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes – Egg Free!

Happy Spring folks!!

Sometimes I sit down at the lap top and just stare at the screen for a while…I hate that.

But that’s one great thing about having a blog!  It’s mine, and if I want to take a little break I can :)  Of course I miss it, but it’s not worth stressing over. 

Also, it’s pretty amazing how fast time flies…it does NOT feel like it’s been over a week since I last posted!  Craziness.

Now, where were we?

Let’s see, this past weekend was St. Patty’s day, and while I tried to avoid the craziness that ensues in Boston, I did spend it with friends and some delectable cupcakes! 

My friend hosted a housewarming/St Patty’s day party and I was in the mood to make some cupcakes.

I went with a popular combo: Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Baileys butter cream.  However, I opted to make an EGG-free version as my friend’s daughter is allergic!

I’ve made egg-free muffins before, but they are usually meant to be a “healthy” treat.  I still wanted these to taste like classic chocolate cupcakes!

Most egg-free recipes I saw didn’t call for an egg replacer, but I opted to add a flax-egg anyways.

Of course the real stars were:

You don’t taste the beer in the cake, but it does make for a super moist cupcake!

Egg-less Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Taste and Tell

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup Guinness
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• scant 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 flax-egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water)
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 T vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 350. 

Make flax egg and set aside.  Takes 15-30 min to “set”

In a sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add stout and bring to a simmer.  Add cocoa powder and whisk together until combined.  Remove from heat. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. 

Once butter/cocoa mixture has cooled a bit, stir in sour cream, flax egg, and vinegar.  Pour this mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix gently to combine batter. 

Line cupcake tin, or MINI cupcake tin! 

Fill each cup about 2/3 – 3/4 full.

Bake mini cupcakes for 9-12 minutes, regular cupcakes for 16-20 min.

Once cool, I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe for the butter cream using salted butter (of course) and only 2 T of Baileys + 1 T of half and half.  You could definitely still taste the Baileys but I don’t like my baked goods overly boozy tasting. 

Frost!

Not only does using a pastry bag + tip make them look prettier, but it is so much faster!

YUM!!! 

The cake and the frosting were such a delicious combination!!!  I LOVE butter cream :)

Didn’t miss the egg one bit!  These cupcakes still held together great. 

I think everyone loved them as much as I did :) 

I know cupcakes are like “so last year” but I still love making them…especially in mini sizes!

And somehow it’s already bed time ;)  I’m telling you…time is FLYING!

Blueberry Almond Muffins and New Balance Gear!

Happy Leap Year to me!!

The awesome crew at New Balance generously provided our Reach the Beach blogger team:  “Team Off Balance” with enough gear to get us through training AND the relay itself!!  Check this out…


The 870v2 Sneakers
NBx Prism Half Zip
Impact Capri
Heathered Short Sleeve
NBx Prism Capri

Icefil Short Sleeve
Get Back Racerback
Prism Running Short
Fun Run Shorts



Tonic Crop Sports Bra
Socks!
PDA Running Gloves
Tri-Viz Running Cap
NGR Bars



Um, wow!

Pictures don’t even do it justice…but that hot pink t-shirt is HOT PINK, and incredibly soft!! 
The 870’s are their stability shoe, and I don’t even think these particular sneakers(870v2) are out yet!  I’ll let you know how they feel next time I run.  I’ve always needed some stability in my running sneakers and this will be my first time trying New Balance since I started running a few years ago. 

I even tried on all the bottoms right away.  All the material is so soft, and nothing feels like it’s going to fall down, and most have drawstrings!  I currently own a pair of nice capris (not NB) but they are a lower rise and always need to be tugged up..annoying.  I’m liking the higher rise of these (not high rise, but you know…normal!).

I’ll be sure to get photos of myself when I’m wearing the gear so you can see! 

In the meantime, if you want to get some sweet New Balance gear yourself, they’ve provided me with a coupon code for my readers to get 15% off AND free shipping!! Pretty sure even Brian is going to get something after seeing my new items.

From now until March 10, 2012 you can use the code: NBRTB1279GDCT

Awesome right?!  I can’t wait to try everything on!!  If you have any specific questions about the products leave a comment or shoot me an email :)

Ok Muffin time.



This was one of those recipes that I had made before and my initial assessment was that they weren’t that great and can’t use them on the blog.

However, that was after a bite when they were still warm.  My feeling with “healthier” muffins, is that they taste better once they’ve cooled and flavors come through better.  See, the next morning I went to eat one (I mean they were still good to me!), and they tasted so much better!!  I was actually bummed I didn’t take photos that first time.

So this weekend when I was craving muffins for the week, I went back to the recipe.  Since my initial gripe with them was that I thought they weren’t sweet enough, I added a bit more honey.

Banana muffins are the best kind to make healthy versions of because bananas themselves are so sweet and flavorful, but blueberries, not so much. 





These use equal parts almond meal and oat flour so they are a little denser than your standard muffin, but they stay really moist from the almond meal, blueberries, and eggs!  Also higher in protein!!

If you have nice fine blanched almond flour then your muffins will be lighter in color and possibly a little less dense, but for now I just buy the cheaper Almond Meal from Trader Joes and it works perfectly fine.
The almond flavor is there, but not too over powering.  You can always increase the almond extract a little (that stuff is potent!) if you wanted more almond flavor.  These have more of a natural almond flavor rather than an almond extract flavor.




 Almond Blueberry Muffins 
(makes 12 muffins)

• 1 cup almond meal (almond flour)
• 1 cup Oat Flour
• 1/4 cup Flax Seed Meal
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup almond milk (plain or vanilla, unsweetened)
• 1 tsp Almond Extract (add another 1/2 tsp for more almond flavor)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp canola oil (or butter or oil of choice)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup slice almonds (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350*
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl (almond flour to salt), whisk to combine.
In a separate bowl beat eggs and egg whites, add almond milk, oil, honey, almond extract, and vinegar. Whisk to combine. Add wet to dry, mix with a spoon until just combined, fold in blue berries.

Distribute batter into a regular 12-cup muffin tin lined with paper liners.

Top with slice almonds if desired.
 

Bake for 16-18 min, or until toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool.


(my little “cake tester” from Crate and Barrel)




Enjoy!

I guess this if for bloggers, but have you ever made something “not for the blog” and wish you had taken photos because it came out so good!?   

Do you wear New Balance Gear?  Like it??  I’ve always liked the company.  I used to work right near their Outlet store in Lawrence…that place is awesome! 

Lets hope this is finally The Snow for the season and from here on we can move to spring???  Wishful thinking??

Freezing 5K & Glazed Gingerbread

‘Tis the season for a busy schedule and when I had my first chance to rest all week yesterday afternoon the last thing I wanted to do was blog…no really, 4 hours at the mall yesterday afternoon = exhausted.

Anyways, at least the 4 hours were productive!  I’m 93% done shopping, but still need a few things.  I also realized I wish I had more kids to buy for!!  Kids stuff is WAY more fun.  Like this thing I saw at the Learning Express…almost just bought it for myself ;)

How cool is that!?  Ok that’s my geeky side coming out, but I’m an engineer I can’t help it.

I’m grateful I had yesterday afternoon to basically just rest because we had to get up for a CHILLY 5k this morning!! 

All December people around here have been amazed at the mild weather, and I get the urge to punch someone when they “complain” that it “doesn't feel like December”…seriously?  Enjoy it!  Because it will come back to bite you, like today!  Easily the coldest day we’ve had this season, and me and hundreds of my closest friends had to fun a 5k! 

(like my elf tights??  I LOVE them!)

Actually there were two 5K’s this morning.  The jingle bell run in Davis Square, and the Yulefest 5K in Harvard Sq!

I ran the Yulefest!  They were the ones who hosted that really fun Oktoberfest 5k earlier this fall!

Once again this one was 21+ with a block party following the race with beer sponsors: Pretty Things, Notch Session, and Peak Organic, and also Clover Food Lab.

It was just hovering over 20 degrees at 10AM when the race began, and this very well might have been my coldest run ever!  Brrr.  You know it’s bad when the water at the water station was frozen!

Regardless, we ran slow had fun and saw some great costumes…like the guy dressed at Santa riding an ostrich!!  Hahaa.

(took that from the Cambridge5k facebook page)

How do you run in that?!

Anyways, after have a beer, thawing our tight and frozen muscles in the car, grocery shopping (yes I wore the tights…got lots of weird looks…and think little kids thought I was really an elf), we made it home to relax all afternoon…heaven!

Even had time to make a nice dinner AND bake!!

For some reason I was in the mood for gingerbread, but also a healthy version I could enjoy for breakfast this week.

 

Whole Wheat Gingerbread with Yogurt Glaze

• 2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup unrefined sugar of choice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/4 non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 350, and spray a loaf pan with canola oil spray

In a medium/large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients (flours through to all spice).  Whisk to combine.

Beat egg and egg white in a small mixing bowl.  Add in applesauce, yogurt, molasses, canola oil, and skim milk. (TIP: spray your measuring cup with canola oil spray before measuring out molasses.  It will easily slide into the bowl instead of sticking to the measuring cup).

Add wet ingredients to dry, and gently mix with a spatula or wooden spoon just until combined. 

Fill pan about 2/3 to the top.  Bake for 45-50 minutes. 

Let cool for 10min, then remove from pan and continue to cool for another 30min or so.  Then glaze the bread!  The glaze is definitely optional…it’s great without it too.

Yogurt Glaze:

• 1/3 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp skim milk
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Keep refrigerated until bread has cooled slightly (it can still be a little warm).  Drizzle over loaf!

Lemon option: replace milk and vanilla with 2-3T fresh lemon juice. 

It’s also REALLY good with the Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter (aka their version of Biscoff spread).     

(source)

I love love love having a delicious yet healthy baked good with my morning coffee.  Much less sweet and heavy than anything you pick up at a bakery. 

Last week before Christmas!!  What do you need to get done this week??  I’m going to see the Nutcracker one night, getting to Crossfit at least 2x this week, and finishing my shopping somewhere in between all that and work.