plums in the icebox

here's to 2012

I want to thank all of you so much for reading this little food blog. It's only been going for about 6 months, but it is SUCH a source of enjoyment for me. The latter half of 2011 has been rocky in all sorts of ways, but having the opportunity to share words and recipes here has made it all the better. And I have high hopes for 2012! 12 is my lucky number (I was born on 12/12) so it just HAS to be good, right?

I have some pretty cool stuff planned for Plums in the Icebox in 2012, including a total redesign, more Writers Eat posts, a new series about how to reconfigure leftovers, and of course, more easy, healthy recipes! If there is anything you'd like to see more or less of here on Plums in the Icebox, I would LOVE to know; you can comment here or email me at plumsintheiceboxblog@gmail.com.

Again, thanks for reading and I wish you a very happy 2012!

Carrie

roasted parsnips with thyme

I ate parsnips for the first time only a few weeks ago, when I bought a big old bag of mixed root vegetables and roasted the hell out of them. I had no idea what some of the vegetables were (can YOU identify celeriac by sight?) but one veggie really stood out to to me: parsnips! The roasted flavor of parsnips is so deliciously smoky-sweet, like a carrot that is naturally gourmet. 

Parsnips are pretty ugly, though. Don't they kind of look like Rip Van Winkle? Maybe that's a stretch, but I see it:

They're a light brown color and kind of bent and misshapen, like an old man with a bad back. Don't be fooled by their ugly exterior, however; parsnips are such an perfect, easy side dish, especially in the  fall and winter (when they're in season).

Roasted Parsnips with Thyme

serves 2 as a side

total time: 1 hour

total hands on time: 5 minutes

What you'll need:

8-10 raw parsnips

a glug of olive oil

dried or fresh chopped thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2/3 cup of the broth of your choice, divided (I used chicken broth)

What you'll do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Rinse parsnips and peel if you want to. I like leaving the skin on, but I did chop off the ends.

3. Place the parsnips in a roasting pan and add the olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme (at least a few tsps of thyme). Mix it very well or use your hands to rub each veggie with the spices and oil.

4. Pour 1/3 cup of broth over top of the parsnips. Roast for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes, pour the other 1/3 cup of broth over the parsnips and rotate them. The original broth should be almost completely evaporated.

6. Roast for another 30 minutes or until parsnips are very tender. 

Add in a bit of honey to make the parsnips just a smidgen sweeter. You can also slice the 'snips up into rounds before or after roasting, if you're so inclined. These would be great sliced or diced and served on top of a big bed of mixed greens, too.

spaghetti with chickpea and zucchini sauce

Here's a veggie-heavy pasta dish I made earlier this week for dinner. I had some zucchini languishing in the fridge but I didn't want to prepare it any of my normal ways (stuffed or sauteed) so I roasted it and blended it up with a can of chickpeas. The result? A thick, protein-rich sauce that was delicious on spaghetti. This dish is heavy even though it's healthy, so it's definitely good for the colder months.

Spaghetti with Chickpea and Zucchini Sauce

serves 4

total time: 20 minutes

total hands on time: 15 minutes

What you'll need:

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 zucchini, sliced

1/2 a cup of broth

3 tsps fresh chopped garlic

1 can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce

seasonings of your choice

1 box of spaghetti

 What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Slice zucchini into rounds, drizzle with oil, mix, and roast for 20 minutes or more. I would have like to have roasted a bit longer, until the rounds were good and brown, but I was super hungry!

3. Put the roasted zucchini rounds into the food processor with the drained chickpeas, garlic and broth. Process until the veggies are completely pureed.

4. Put your pasta on to boil. Make sure the water is very salty...I recently read that pasta water should be as salty as the sea! Who knew?

5. Add chickpea-zucchini mixture to a saucepan with a can of diced tomatoes and whatever seasonings you'd like. I did a Mediterrenan blend and then some red pepper flakes. Once it's heated through, simmer on low for about 10-12 minutes.

6. Once the spaghetti is finished cooking, add about 1/2 a cup of pasta water to the sauce, just to thin it a bit.

7. Plate the spaghetti and generously spoon the sauce over it. Top with shredded parmesan and fresh black pepper.

I think the next time I make this, I'll try it with spinach in place of the zucchini. If you want the sauce to be a bit less chunky, you can use plain tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes.

I'm still working on nighttime food photography, even though I now have a DSLR (yayyyyyyy! And thanks to Roxane Gay). Any tips on taking pictures of my dinners after night has fallen? What am I doing wrong with the lighting? I need help! 

 

you should eat this: goya gluten free maria cookies

I haven't done a "you should eat this" post in a long time. In months! But I still like the idea and I've found a couple of things I want to share, so I'm bringing it back! The first item I think you should eat are these cookies. Made by Goya, the Latino food brand, these little cookies are so damn delicious.

I don't buy a lot of GF baked goods, but I picked these up because they were fairly cheap ($4 or $5 for a big box that has lasted me weeks). Maria cookies are made from corn flour, but they have high fructose corn syrup, which is bad. I eat them very, very sparingly due to the HFCS and also because it's 140 calories for only three cookies (!!!) Their flavor is somehow really dense but also light, almost like a shortbread. If you're a GF eater and you miss real baked sweets like I do, they are totally worth the HFCS once in a while.

I eat them as an after-dinner treat: spread with a thin layer of Nutella and then dunked into tea. Find them in the "Latin" section of your grocery store. 

chicken and spinach enchiladas

 

Hello, I taste WAY WAY better than I look

This is like the most cheatingest enchilada sauce ever, especially coming from a huge devotee of Mexican food (and a person that used to live in New Mexico. TEARRRRRSSS. Can you tell I'm not liking life in Northern Virginia any better? Because yeah. Don't follow me on Twitter if you think Northern Virginia is great.) Here's how you make the sauce: dump a can of diced tomatoes (with green chiles or chipotle peppers is best) into your blender, add a little more than 1/4 a cup of broth, a dash of cumin, a dash of red pepper, some chopped garlic or garlic powder, and blend. Optional: a drizzle or two of your favorite hot sauce.  Easy, spicy, good.

I made this in order to use up some roast chicken I had, and it was a perfect little weeknight dinner. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, but these enchis were tasty and they hit the spot. Good leftovers, too.

The photographs of this recipe don't make it look good AT ALL. In fact, I debated even blogging this recipe because the final product photo (above) makes the enchiladas look like some old ice-skating rink pizza that's been sitting out since 1979. But I promise you this is good. The insides of the enchiladas could have used a little kick, so you might drizzle some salsa in there while assembling.

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

total time: 20-30 minutes

total hands-on time: 10-15 minutes

What you'll need:

10 corn tortillas

2 handfuls fresh spinach, wilted

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 cup of shredded cheese (maybe a bit more)

for Enchilada Sauce:

1 can of diced tomatoes

1/4 a cup of broth

seasonings to your liking (I used cumin and red pepper flakes)

fresh garlic

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Make the sauce in the blender by combining ingredients and blending until they are well-mixed.

3. Wilt the spinach and shred the chicken if necessary. To wilt spinach, I usually microwave it for like 30 seconds with just a few drops of water on top; this gets it soft but not cooked, per se.

4. Warm tortillas in the microwave or oven so they are pliable and easy to work with. Assemble enchiladas with tortillas, spinach, chicken and cheese like so:

5. Roll each filled tortilla and place them seam-side down in a greased pan. Pour the enchilada sauce on top and add more cheese.

6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until heated through. Serve with beans and rice, although I didn't.

Come to think of it (and looking at the pictures here), these could have used a bit more sauce. So add in some fresh tomatoes or a bit more broth if you're making this shortcut sauce. Alternatively, you can just make less than 10 enchiladas.

 

26 before 27

at City of Rocks in 2010

I turn 26 in exactly one week. Inspired by Elsie of A Beautiful Mess, I decided to make a list of 26 things I want to do in the next year, before my 27th birthday.

This isn't strictly food-related but I decided to post the list here anyway, because I wanted to make it public (to keep me honest, ya know?) And this is my blog, so this is my public forum. Several of the items on the list actually do have to do with cooking. I'm kind of laughing at myself to see that a chunk of things that I want to accomplish are related to making food. I'm definitely not the girl to want to climb Mt. Everest or bike across the continental US, but making my grandmother's soup recipe is something I've wanted to do (and do right!) forever. So here's the list, in no particular order:

1.Read my poems in more than one city

2.Make tomato sauce from scratch using fresh tomatoes

3.Make chicken soup using my grandmother's recipe

4.Make a tres leches cake

5.Make a pie crust from scratch

6.Watch more classic movies

7.Makeover my blog

8.Make new friends

9.Sew a garment using a pattern

10.Go camping

11.Go to the beach

12.Save money for a trip to Utah or Iceland

13.Find a form of exercise (other than yoga) I love and can stick with.

14.Stretch every morning

15.Take ballet classes

16.Knit a scarf

17.Make a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself

18.Hike part of the Appalachian trail

19.Learn how to use my camera

20.Grow a windowsill herb garden

21.Find a job I enjoy

22.Make a rag rug

23.Write a lyric essay

24.Review a book of poems and have the review published

25.Learn to play the autoharp

26.Volunteer twice a month (or more?) doing something I believe in

Nothing too crazy or lofty on here, but something to guide me through the next year, I hope.

in Italy, Summer 2011

What would be on your list?

regrow your green onions

Want to have a neverending supply of green onions? I came across this awesome trick on Pinterest recently and was AMAZED at how well it works. 

Basically, you just put the white end of an almost gone bundle of green onions into a little bit of water in a sunny window, and the idea is that the onions will just regenerate! Here's mine at about two days:

And here it is at about eight days:

Just keep snipping onions off the top when you need them and refilling the water from time to time. Not sure if this method will last indefinitely, but it's lasted me a few weeks so far. I garnish my meals with green onions all the time, so I love having a fresh supply!

EATS & READS roundup week of 12/2

I guess I'm still doing these little link roundups, although as you can tell, they won't be appearing weekly. These are cool though, right? I should keep doing these?

EATS:

The Best Ways to Store Food via LearnVest 

Vegan GF Sweet Potato Brownies via Apronstrings 

Apple-Oat Muffins (recipe by me) via Zestes De Mode

Are you following former Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl on Twitter yet? I love her tweets. They're kinda corny but also poetic and heartwarming. I'd like to have her life. 

READS:

Roxane Gay on Twilight: Breaking Dawn aka hilarity via I Have Become Accustomed To Rejection

Some insight into WHY DOWNTON ABBEY IS THE BEST THING EVER via Anne Helen Peterson

A poem I like, "You As Bottle," by Rose Hunter via killauthor

The literary magazine Uncanny Valley, edited by my awesome friends Mike Meginnis and Tracy Bowling, needs submissions. Send them stuff. 

Read or eaten anything good lately?