Martha Meets Lucy

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Now that summer is officially here (aka I turned on the air conditioning and Memorial Day is almost here) its time to discuss watermelon. (To people in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm sorry. Maybe bookmark this recipe and make this instead.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love watermelon plain. Or with a squeeze of lime. Or juiced and added to a mojito. But I absolutely adore watermelon with something spicy. My mom used to make “Fire and Ice Salsa” which used watermelon in place of tomato. (This was years before the fruit salsa became super trendy. I know because people used to think she was crazy for making it until they tried it.)

Then I saw a recipe for watermelon salad. These days, its not so unique. But that doesn’t mean its not delicious. If you can resist crunchy cool watermelon with pickled red onions, salty feta crumbles, and the kick of jalapeno mellowed by a touch of mint there might be something wrong with you.

 

after cutting up the watermelon my camera died. I charged it for 5 minutes, but only got one picture out of it. I need to remember that iphones have cameras.

 

Just saying.

And if you’re bringing this over to a Memorial Day BBQ, get out your melon baller because you’re going to want to use the rind as the bowl. Trust me, after a few watermelon mojitos, you won’t want to have to remember to bring your serving bowl home. And watermelon balls (hehehe) are so stinkin’ cute.

So on this glorious 3 day weekend that I will be spending at work (where I guarantee it will be mind numbingly slow) eat some watermelon. And have a drink and float in the pool for me. But please wear your sunscreen. Don’t be like my dance instructor who thought the water would protect his pasty white skin from burning to a lobster color. Again. Skin cancer isn’t a good look.

Normally you would get a recipe right here, but WAIT there’s more! Now how much would you pay? I’m hoping its $23.10.

When I was but a wee young lass in the first weeks of my culinary school training, I went to New Orleans for SOS’s annual conference. Also on the trip were two girls who took the trip far more seriously than I. They never had to be woken up to get their butts to general session, nor were they out till 3 in the morning (if they were, they hid it well).

For the last two years, they’ve been writing a cookbook.

Which is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Its full of recipes for family meals served at some of the world’s best restaurants. To give you some perspective, the forward is by Ferran Adrià. There are recipes from Ad Hoc, WD-50, and The Fat Duck. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

I highly suggest you do the same.

Now have some salad.

Watermelon and Feta Salad
One of the reasons I love this salad is it kind of makes its own dressing. I leave the seeds in the jalapenos, but that’s because we like it spicy round these parts  (and even with the seeds its generally not very spicy (to us). That being said, we have friends who think black pepper is spicy and think this salad is crazy hot. If you don’t like spicy, leave out the jalapenos or seed them first. Leftover picked red onions are pretty much delicious on everything.

2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled seedless watermelon
1/2 recipe pickled red onions (recipe here)
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
2 finely diced jalapenos
Big pinch flaky sea salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 packed cups arugula
Optional garnish: edible flowers

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil, arugula and flowers (if using). Give it toss and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. The salt will pull some of the liquid out of the watermelon and give us the base for the dressing. Add the arugula, oil, and flowers and mix together. Check for seasoning and serve. The bulk of this salad will hold up for quite awhile, but the flowers tend to wilt fairly quickly.

Chewy No Bake Fruit and Nut Bars

I’m sorry. I thought I would be back, but honestly? There hasn’t been much around these parts to post about. Or if I did make something worth posting, I didn’t measure or photograph it. I did measure and photograph these bars, but typepad doesn't seem to want to upload them right now and it took 5 minutes to upload one picture. So look at these much prettier pictures from White On Rice couple.

A good food blogger I am not.

A new job and workout regime plus my regular dancing schedule has kept me on my toes. Which is why I am so thankful I have these fruit and nut bars to keep me going.

I have been obsessed with Kind Bars for quite some time. The fact that I could see whole almonds and cranberries reassured me that I was eating something healthy in a way my beloved Peanut Butter and Chocolate Clif Bar can not. And now I’m obsessed.

Running late for work? Grab a bar. Going for a run? Eat a bar first. Done with the run? Eat a bar. Dessert? Bar. Waiting 5 minutes for a picture of a bar to freakin upload? Eat a bar.

Seriously, I would say it needs to stop but then I think of all the possibilities. Coconut cashew with dried mango? Pecan with peach? Walnut apple? Subbing out some of the honey with pureed dates? Cookie butter instead of almond butter?

Seriously, the possibilities are endless. I think the only thing I wouldn’t change is the puffed rice cereal. The recipe calls for brown puffed rice cereal, but that requires a trip to Whole Foods and I am not going to do battle with that Real Housewife of Orange County laden parking lot for anything less than Maldon Sea Salt and my Chipotle Garlic Hot Sauce. I can only be around silicone, bleach, and spray tan for so long before I want to point out the irony of them shopping at a natural foods store. So I used the rice crispies that were hiding in the pantry.

Ok. Sometimes I’ll brave the parking lot for cheese. And their fig and nut loaf. (Sounds gross, but so freaking good. Note to self: fig and marcona almond bars)

Go make yourself some bars. I promise its cheaper than a Kind Bar habit. Oh, and if you decide to mix it up, please report back.

The Pink Egg

When I was but a wee lass (before I turned 5) I had a very firm fashion rule: NO PANTS OR SHORTS. Ever. Skirts and dresses only. I don’t think skorts were acceptable either. I wore a dress or skirt everyday until I mastered the monkey bars and realized everyone could see my Disney princess underwear.

Unfortunately, I never really "mastered" the monkeybars. I had the wrist fracture and corresponding hot pink cast to prove it.  

Pink holds a very special place in my heart. Its been usurped by blue as my favorite color, but I still love me some pink. I don’t own much of it since it clashed magnificently with the red I dyed my hair a year ago, but now that my hair is back to brown, give me a pink shirt, dress, shoes or eggs and I’m happy. Actually, the egg makes me happy no matter what my hair color.

That’s right, a pink egg. I know a one Mr. Theodor Seuss Geisel made green the color of choice for eggs, but before Green Eggs and Ham was even published, this guy was making pink eggs.

And let me tell you, this guy was kind of a badass. He grew up in rough and tumble Wyoming on a ranch and dropped out of school to help support the family during the Great Depression. When WWII came around he enlisted in the Army and was in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Unfortunately, this was after he got his first and only tattoo. He then went on to serve in the South Pacific in some rather gruesome battles.

 

Look at those boxers... oh and the hula girl tattoo on his chest. I have a feeling alcohol played a large part in the decision making.

 

My Grandpa Walter, the badass, made pink eggs every morning for breakfast. I never met him, as he died two years before I was born, but my mom carried on the pink egg tradition. And you better believe that as a dress wearing, pink obsessed little girl the pink egg was my egg of choice.

And it is still one of my go to eggs. I’ve flirted with scrambled, poached, sunny side up, over easy, and soft boiled, but I always come back to the pink egg. And now its not just because I'm enamored with the light pink hue.

Now I make it because holy cow is it easy. No flipping, no hoping the whites set without over cooking the yolk (although you could cook it until the yolk is cooked if you so desire). And honestly I still like that the yolk turns out ballet pink. I'm telling you it will stun and amaze girls and boys obsessed with pink.

Note: these directions are based on the single egg I made this morning. Because there is no flipping, you can make as many eggs at a time as your pan will hold. If you’re doing more than 2, pre-crack your eggs into a bowl so you can pour them all in at the same time.

1: Preheat your pan (I use nonstick) over medium heat. Get out a lid that fits or comes close to fitting.

2: Add a teaspoon or so of bacon fat. If you don’t have a jar of bacon fat, cook some bacon and start a jar. Or use another fat. Warning: my mom will tell you they don’t taste right unless they’re made with bacon fat.

3: Crack an egg(s) into the pan. The bottom part of the white should immediately start to set.

 

Instantly set white on the bottom

4: Add a splash of water to the pan and cover. Its takes a little trial and error to figure out the exact amount, but I usually use about a tablespoon. You want enough water to steam the top of the egg white, but not so much that when you take the lid off there is still water in the pan.

 

 

Taking a picture while pouring water=blurry picture.The Pioneer Woman I am not.

 

5: Cook with the lid on for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The yolk should be soft to the touch and the whites should be completely set. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

 

See? Ballet pink yolk

 

Oh, you're probably wondering about the avocado. I'm a touch obsessed with the avocado/egg combination so what we have here is toasted sour dough bread with 1/2 avocado smushed and salted on it.

Then I added some Chipotle Garlic Hot Sauce (its seriously amazing).

Put it all together.

And made my very favorite messy egg sandwich.

Almond Poppy Seed Cake

Sorry for the sudden absence. I didn’t mean for it to happen and I missed you all. I kept trying to get a post up early in the week, but I couldn’t seem to write it. Then I realized I really needed a job and went from jobless to employed in 2 days. Trying to find a black long sleeve button up shirt in April has been taking up a good amount of time too. But I’m back! And you have this cake to thank. Or complain to.

My family has desserts that are made every year only on Christmas Eve. Yule log cake, walnut roll bread, and poppy seed bread. Unfortunately, I don’t particularly care for any of them. I eat a tiny piece of each, and wistfully think of all the changes I would make to the recipes. Its not that I dislike any of the ingredients (ok, I did spend a few years not liking walnuts, but that’s changed), but I feel like everything could just be so much better than it actually is.

I’m going to assume that makes sense.

The dessert I want to like the most is the poppy seed bread. But its dry, and worse yet bland. I know the recipe uses tons of poppy seeds so there should be lots of poppy seed flavor but there isn’t. And I think its because for poppy seeds to really shine, they need back up players.

Lemon is the player we’re probably the most familiar with, and for good reason. Something about the tang of lemon lets the nuttiness of the poppy seeds come through.  But I think an even better pairing is almond and poppy seed.

I went for broke and did lemon almond poppy seed. Oh em gee ya’ll. This cake did a vanishing act. One second it was there, the next poof! Gone. The poppy seeds give the tiniest amount of crunch to the cake, and the edges. I don’t think I can do the edges of the cake justice.

How to Store Strawberries

This feels like kind of a lame post given that there is no recipe and the pictures were taken with my phone. And its quite likely that it is lame, but with the rest of North America quickly approaching strawberry season, I have information that needs to be shared.

You know that excited feeling when you’re at the farm stand (or farmer’s market) and the first good strawberries of the year show up? The strawberries that are red all the way up to the leaves? The kind you just know are going to go to mush in two days but you buy the three pack anyway because SHUT UP. Local strawberries!

 

This berry was purchased 3 days ago. No mush in sight.

Well you’re in luck today because after years of testing, the brain trust made up of me and my mom have figured out how to store strawberries so they will remain mush, mold, and soft spot free for a week. Maybe more, but ours never last that long.

Geeze, I wish Billy Mays was here to tell you about this for me. He’d make it so much more exciting. AND SHOUTEY!

Anyways, step 1: Procure a tupperware large enough to hold your strawberries in 1-2 layers. (Note: it needs to fit in your fridge too)

Step 2: Cover the bottom of said tupperware with a double layer of paper towels. Yes, it has to be a double layer. If you’re thinking “Oh. Em. Gee. Deanna, a double layer of paper towels? Kill trees much?” just know the paper towels can be reused next week. And the week after. Basically until the end of strawberry season.

Step 3: Put your berries in STEM SIDE DOWN. Even if you’re doing a double layer, try to keep the stem side down. I like to work my way across the three pack in layers rather than emptying one carton and moving on, but that’s probably just me being weird and feeling bad for the berries on the bottom.

 

 

I have pictures of the container when it was full but I can't find my card reader. So you get a 1/2 empty box instead.

Step 4: Put on a lid and store in the fridge.

Now, you may notice that I didn’t wash the berries before I put them in the fridge as that is basically you begging them to become mush.

And since I feel like this is a fairly safe (and maybe judgement free zone), I’m going to tell you the only time I wash berries before I eat them is if there is visible dirt. I know the purveyors and we’ve been buying berries from them for as long as I can remember so it doesn’t worry me. I also grew up eating vegetables straight from the garden...carrots got rinsed off with a hose, and tomatoes were eaten straight from the vine. Please do not take this time to tell me how gross I am, or how I’m going to drop dead tomorrow from E. coli.* (I do wash food really well if someone who is immunocompromised is coming over for dinner.)

So, go forth and buy strawberries. And have them last for a week! Or more! NOW HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY?