Beet Burgers...An Instant Classic

We cook at home a lot. We also eat out a fair amount but lately, home cooking has been on high priority. My unspoken weekly goal is to cook/eat at home at least 4 nights in the week (though 'life' has a way of getting in the way of these kinds of goals!).
As a result, there are a few 'Greatest Hits' in our kitchen department. In fact, more than half the meals made at home are made from memory alone. There is no hard copy of a recipe to speak of.

A few of these best sellers include: 
-Fish Tacos
-Mixed Greens w/ Poached Egg
-Homemade Pizza
-Soba Noodle Salad w/ Marinated Tofu
-Grilled Fish & Grilled Vegetable

When inspiration strikes, I will attempt a new recipe but the reality is, the tried and true are ones that get played…the same could be said for our music selections when you get right down to it.
That said, every now and then, a new recipe comes along that knocks our socks off and becomes an instant classic.

This culinary explosion occurred just last night, when I made Green Kitchen Stories’ recipe for Beet & Feta Burgers. DH wanted to make homemade veggie burgers and after having The Plant’s beet burger, I’ve had beets on the brain, so this recipe was, well, a no brainer!
This recipe fit my 3-fold criteria of 1) healthy, 2) affordable & 3) delicious. Altogether, the ingredients were around $15, which when you consider could feed up to 8 people, is incredibly low. Additionally, the burgers took 10-15 min to prep, another 30 minutes to rest, and only 5-10 minutes to cook and assemble. A meal this good in less than an hour is worth some kind of domestic award!

Lastly,these Beet & Feta burgers are extremely healthy. The crumbled feta in the burger can be substituted with tofu for a dairy-free version and the rolled oats used to bind the burger can be gluten-free. Even if you follow the original recipe, it is a well-balanced, high-fiber, low-fat meal that I am certain will be a crowd pleaser among young and old alike.

On Location: Eating In on Kauai Island

Cooking away from home is a real treat to me. Eating out is a great way to take in the culture and traditions but something about shopping at local markets and preparing a home cooked meal feels like the most truly authentic experience.

Between the ample fresh fish markets and daily farmer's markets, Kauai is an ideal springboard upon which to do some seriously delicious at-home cooking. As we were staying on the North Shore, the markets we frequented were in Hanalei but truly there is great, fresh fish and fruit to be had the island over. 

The avocados are the size of your face and run between $1-2. It truly is paradise!


Among some of our favorite meals...

Ahi Belly tacos. You've heard of pork belly but have you ever heard of ahi belly? We hadn't so of course we had to try it. Again lightly seared on a high heat grill draws the excess fat out of this cut and makes for an incredible fish taco fish. We also ate the seared ahi belly over brown rice which was equally great.

Sushi grade striped marlin, lightly seared. Raw kale salad with peanut chile pepper dressing and corn on the cob, both grown within miles of where we were staying. This meal made our Christmas Eve dinner deliciously non-traditional.

Macadamia nut pancakes with ginger syrup and poached eggs provided the perfect Christmas breakfast.

Rainbow chard frittata was delightful but the strange, unidentified root vegetable we paired it with was less than stellar. Physically, the tuber looked more like a yam but tasted more like a parsnip or turnip. Not our favorite.

I could not speak highly enough about the bananas in Kauai. If Butter Date were to have a sister site in Kauai, it would be named 'Apple Banana' because these bananas were out of this world. Completely unlike anything you'd find on the mainland they are half the size and twice as flavorful with a slight apple crispness to them. Yum!

Cooking from 'My Nepenthe'

Cookbooks are among my favorite gifts to receive. It might come as a surprise to learn however, that it is a rare occasion I receive a cookbook a gift. It must be the same reason DH almost never receives wine as a gift. People must assume we have all we could ever need or want in these categories. That or it can be intimidating...but I sure hope not!
I really do love receiving a new cookbook, particularly in an age of epicurious.com, food network and google recipes. Working within the confines of a cookbook's pages can be a rewarding challenge.
And, as with all books given as gifts, cookbooks reflect the giver as much as the recipient. For a recent birthday, a close friend gave me the beautiful My Nepenthe cookbook. 
Nepenthe, the restaurant is arguably one of the most famous spots in all of Big Sur and quite possibly the oldest. With a sprawling, panoramic patio and floor-to-ceiling glass-walled interior, Nepenthe is easily the best bar and restaurant to take in the view. And the food is pretty great too.

our personal favorite at the restaurant! 

When we are fortunate to find ourselves in Big Sur, an outdoor seat at Nepenthe combined with an order of Ambrosia burgers (meat or veggie), a basket of fries and a pitcher of beer makes for a near perfect moment.

Big Sur

Part historical memoir, part cookbook; My Nepenthe weaves together mouthwatering recipes, from the restaurant and from the family's private repertoire along with the family history of Bill and Lolly Fasset, co-founders of the Nepenthe. Each recipe is tied into a story all its own and the order follows a stream of consciousness rather than a conventional cookbook layout.

shooting 'The Sandpiper' at Nepenthe

It's easy to get caught up in all the beautiful pictures and nostalgic stories of Nepenthe's salad days; from the bohemian 50's and 60's to the filming of 'The Sandpiper' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but the real highlight of the book are the recipes.
In the months since receiving this cookbook, I have enjoyed preparing My Nepenthe recipes for large parties, close friends and for just the two of us.

their version

our version

Lamb brochettes with mint pesto and oven-baked rice provided the menu for DH's sis, Casey's Hastings Law School Graduation Party.

their version

our version

Lolly's famous hotcakes are now our go-to pancake batter, particularly when camping.

Marinated fresh sardines and roast corn with chipotle butter have become some of our favorite things to eat at home.

components of the rustic tart

sprinkle sweet dough w. sugar & almonds

stack up sliced pluots & strawberries

dot with butter

messy but good

And for a recent 18 reasons volunteer potluck, I made the plum and raspberry rustic tart. I swapped flavor king pluots for the plums and strawberries for raspberries since that's what looked (and tasted) best at the Berkeley Farmer's Market.

'Californian Hippy' cuisine

All the recipes have a distinctly 'Californian Hippy' feel to them. 'Californian Hippy' is by no means an official cuisine but can be defined by heaps of nuts and seeds, wheat germ, avocados, sprouts, ect. sprinkling every recipe. 
It is a cuisine and a lifestyle I have nothing but love, loyalty and nostalgia for and Nepenthe restaurant, for all intents and purposes, invented it!
I'd recommend the restaurant and the cookbook to anyone.

Hunger Challenge; day 5

I was awoken abruptly at 6am this morning to the indisputable sound of the peanut butter panda puffs hitting an empty cereal bowl. "But it couldn't be!", I thought, we still have one more day of the hunger challenge. DH couldn't be sneaking sweet, crunchy cereal into his repertoire, or could he?
My sinking suspicions were confirmed at the sequential sounds of chomping. When he came to kiss me good bye, I asked him about the cereal incident. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Emily" very quickly dissolved into, "aren't we done with the Hunger Challenge yet??"
Silly boy.
After reading the day 4's entry once more, I could see how one would think that was the last day. It did have a sense of conclusion to it.
Oh well.
I ate my cinnamon oatmeal and the rest of the chana dal rice for breakfast and lunch respectively but when our weekend house guests graciously offered to take us out to dinner at our favorite local restaurant, Pizzaiolo, I caved. The thought of fire-crusted pizzas, house made pastas and ice cold beers was almost too much to bare.
Yes, we are weak people.
We cave on greater goals to peanut butter panda puffs and pizza. There's no getting around the facts.
I definitely plan to do the Hunger Challenge next year, far more prepared than this year. I learned a lot about myself and the food stamp system as a whole through the process. And anyway, the pizza was completely worth it!

Hunger Challenge; day 4

Chana Dal Rice

Day four, I turned a corner. An amazing morning yoga class and some time in the sauna finally eliminated the headache that had been looming since Tuesday. 

I am definitely ready to be done with eating beans or oatmeal at every meal but I do feel like I've reached a new level of understanding with this Hunger Challenge.

Even meals I've long thought of as dirt cheap- $5 burritos, $3 pizza slices, $6 falafel sandwiches- are beyond the reach of those on the tight $4.72 budget of the California food stamp system. In the Bay Area, we are blessed with some of the best farmer's markets, restaurants and grocery stores in the state and yet I wonder how much those less fortunate are able to take advantage of the bounties of the Bay.
Upon informing my mom of the Hunger Challenge DH and I were doing this week, she half-jokingly advised me it would be a lot easier if we hit up the Dollar Menu at McDonald's. That was the opposite of my goal at the onset of this but I can say now I see how it can come to that. Most of those on food stamps do not have the luxury of time to cook multiple meals from scratch at home. There is an incredible dearth of fast AND inexpensive options on the market today. 

When it comes time to eat without such a restrictive budget, I can say undoubtedly I will appreciate every foam-art adorned latte or fire-crusted pizza or burnt caramel ice cream cone for the true indulgence it is.

Hunger Challenge; day 3

L to R: black beans, chana dal, dark kidney beans soaking

Awoke this morning with better spirits than yesterday. No headache initially, but I did have a morning appointment at the DMV looming over me.

Day 3, breakfast: cinnamon oatmeal
With a bowlful of the trusty cinnamon oatmeal in my belly, I was armed and ready to face the Department of Motor Vehicles. But when I arrived to the check-in desk, they had no record of my scheduled appointment and of course, their computer system was down, so there was no way to confirm the reservation...here comes headache!
All my good spirits were absorbed into the bad florescent lighting and all the awful shades of grey and that is the DMV. It only occurred to me later that it must be equally bureaucratic and spirit-draining to get food stamps. 
Why must government agencies be so painful?
Two hours later, my no. wass finally called. After paying my license renewal fee, I was informed I'd need to take a new ID photo today. Fabulous! I can only imagine just how flattering that pict will be. ugh.

 Day 3, lunch: vegan mashed potatoes, curried chickpea salad and a hard boiled egg.
Exercise is extremely difficult on this Hunger Challenge. Yesterday, I attempted a strenuous core-conditioning class at the gym and almost passed out in the first 5 minutes. I powered through but the thought of running or climbing makes me nauseous!

Day 3, snack: carrots
Desperately Seeking Peanut Butter! 
It's not even that I'm a big peanut butter person. I eat it only occasionally and can go months at a time without having any in the house. Of course this week however, I happen to have 3 FULL JARS of the buttery, salty, nutty spread taunting me in the pantry, none of which I included in the H.C. budget. Peanut butter would have been so perfect in the oatmeal, or spread on celery or dipped in carrots or eaten by the spoonful. A spoonful of peanut butter would do wonders for my morale right about now.

Day 3, dinner; Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili

Not as disgusting as it looks but mos def not my best work.

Hunger Challenge; day two

By 10am, my head is killing me. Not sure if its a hunger headache or caffeine headache. Most likely the latter. Why didn't I budget out for coffee!? Or nuts? or some form of sugar? What was I thinking??

Day 2; breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon, again. 

Day 2; mid day snack: one hard boiled egg and curried chickpeas with bell peppers & red onions

Day 2, lunch: mexican red rice and pink beans (leftovers from last night)

Day 3, dinner: homemade chana dal with white rice 

Hunger Challenge; prep and day 1

Late last week, I learned the San Francisco and Marin Food Bank would be hosting the Hunger Challenge, from September 11-17, wherein participants must eat on only $4.72 a day, for an entire week. 
As anyone who eats anywhere knows, one would be hard pressed to spend only $4.72 for a single meal, let alone an entire day.
Foraged food, harvested food and free food are all strongly discouraged, if not completely prohibited. 
DH and I were intrigued, albeit slightly terrified. $4.72 a day essentially meant NO coffee, NO cheese, NO wine...oh my! But it's only a week, right? And anyway, if we can do burrito challenges and 'A Month of Arizmendi' (an upcoming ButterDate food challenge), we ought to try out a more socio-economic challenge.
After all, the $4.72/day figure represents the average amount a Californian receives on food stamps. The Hunger Challenge is meant to bring awareness to this disparity.
Since we agreed to do it from Monday, 9/12 through Friday, 9/16, we would have only $47.20 for the entire week.

Since Berkeley Bowl has an extensive bulk bin, I was able to buy only the legumes, beans and spices we would need for the week. The grand total of the groceries came to exactly $47.12. 
The biggest expense was the olive oil, ringing up at a whopping $9.59 for 1 Liter (actually, a very good price for Italian cold-pressed EVOO). Since we won't use more than 1/2 the bottle for the week, I'm accounting only $4.75 for the EVOO. Sticklers would consider this cheating but I won't loose sleep about it. 
This $4.75 leeway allowed me to incorporate the last of the summer squash and heirloom tomatoes I'd picked up at the farmers market last week. I figure its better to be a little flexible in order to keep good food from going to waste.


For breakfast Day 1: oatmeal with cinnamon but no maple syrup or walnuts is a very different thing. I often add a spoonful of peanut butter to my oatmeal but this was not an option either. Bland but edible.

Lunch, Day 1: vegan mashed potatoes and a hard boiled egg. the lunch of champions.

Dinner, Day 1: summer squash fritters with yogurt, mexican red rice, pink beans, mixed greens & heirloom tomato slices. this is a Sol Food inspired meal is one we would eat any day of the week. hopefully, all the dinners can be this flavorful!