A delicious way to kick off the first week of January

Hello everyone!

Our first week of three new recipes went really well, and I think we will enjoy the challenge this year of trying new things. We also refined our approach to the challenge of three new recipes a week. In reality, we do try a couple new recipes a week in our regular cooking. Our goal is to step outside of our comfort zone: try new vegetables we haven't used before, learn a new technique, etc. A wealth of information and inspiration can be found in our growing collection of cookbooks, so no excuses!

Since it's been well over a year since our last blog post, we are out of the blogging habit. We don't have any pictures from this week to share (that we took, anyway), but we have no excuse now that we both have iPhones! Thanks for your patience as we figure out this whole Blogger thing too.

Our first dish of the week was Kale and Brown Rice Casserole. We went into Pasta & Co. last week just to look (it's one of our favorite food stores at U Village), and I saw a container of Kale and Brown Rice Casserole. Knowing we could make one just as good with our own ingredients at home, I passed on the $20 container and turned to Google for a recipe search.

I was a little disappointed when the first several results were vegan recipes, using ingredients such as "Uncheese." Instead, I played off of this one, and added our own touches. Delicious and healthy comfort food!

1 ½ cups brown rice, cooked
1 medium onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper
2 cups kale

Cook brown rice according to package. Preheat the oven to 375°F, and grease a casserole dish. In a medium sauce pan, saute the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until soft. Mix all the ingredients except the kale in a bowl until well combined. To prepare the kale, remove the center rib, and slice the leaves into 1-inch ribbons. Saute in a little olive oil until it begins to wilt, then remove from heat. Place half of the kale in the casserole dish, cover with the rice mixture evenly, then top with the remaining kale. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

We received a Hawaiian pasta salad mix from my aunts for Christmas, which made for a delicious easy dinner this week. Multi-colored pasta shells with chicken chunks, crushed pineapple, mandarin orange slices and raw red onion, dressed in a spicy vinaigrette. This may not actually count as a new recipe because we can't tell you what was in the spice packet, but it was SO GOOD. I grew up with pasta salads during the summers as a cool dinner (no oven required), so it was fun to make some in January with some Hawaiian flair. Thanks, K & J!


The third recipe we made this week is Carl's creation: homemade pizza. It was so good, we made it TWICE! Inspired by the inexpensive, ready made pizza dough at Trader Joes and the pizza stone supplied by Jeannie Rose and shared with us by Rachel, Carl tried his hand at two types.

Here were the flavor combinations:

Pig N' Pear

• Trader Joe's herb crust
• Pesto base (thanks Mary Jean!)
• Mozzerella cheese
• Bacon lardons
• Caramelized pear
• Caramelized onions

Carlo Supremeo

• Tomato sauce base
• Mild Italian sausage
• Sliced onions
• Sliced green pepper
• Sliced mushrooms
• A touch of dried oregano

Carl preheated the pizza stone, rolled out the dough, and carefully composed his pizzas as a one-man show in the kitchen. The inaugural pizzas were shared with Rachel – the two of us drank red wine as Carl cooked and served us. A few days later, Carl baked up three more pizzas for my family, who rolled into Ballard on Friday night. After trying some pretty darn good pizzas from 'Zaw the week before, it was unanimous that Carl's pizza was superior in taste and size (not to mention price!). We think pizza night will become a regular feature at the Treehouse!

So that was week one. We ate some regular stuff too (broccoli, avocados, etc.), but we like those in their natural state – no recipe required. For week 2, we have some exciting things in the works. As I write this, Carl is working on a slow-roasted pork with caraway onion gravy, ala Tom Douglas. Expect a report next week!