Squash Blossom & Bacon Frittata

Over the last couple of years, I noticed many squash blossom recipes, but I could never find any.  This year when I spotted them at the Penn Quarter Farmer’s Market, and finally bought some!

Squash blossoms grow at the end of the bud that turns into a squash.  They tend to be unavailable in stores since they are very perishable, so a farmer’s market is the best place to find them.  They can be eaten raw, or incorporated into recipes.

About the time I bought the squash blossoms, we had a significant amount of bacon in our fridge.  Days before, my friends and I went blueberry picking, and stopped over at the Lancaster County Dutch Market in Germantown, MD.  There are a number of different vendors that sell desserts, salads, meats and veggies.  Everything that I bought was delicious, including that bacon!

So rather than just frying the squash blossoms, I decided on a breakfast frittata.  It’d be a perfect place for the bacon and squash blossoms to join together.  I ended up making it the day before, and it was enjoyed on a beautiful Saturday morning with some coffee!

Squash Blossom & Bacon Frittata
Inspired by: Sweet Sugar Bean

If you don’t have bacon, or don’t want to use it, feel free to use olive oil when sauteing all the veggies.  Also, if you don’t have bacon or squash blossoms- change up the ingredients to what’s in your fridge.  Frittatas are perfect for “cleaning on the fridge”!

8 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tbsp chopped chives
9 pieces of bacon
3/4 cup chopped leeks
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 squash blossoms
10 grape tomatoes, halved
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a medium-sized bowl, lightly beat together the eggs, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and chives.

In a cast iron, cook the bacon over medium heat.  When all of the pieces are done to your liking, remove and put them aside on a paper towel, leaving the bacon fat in the cast iron.  Once the bacon has cooled off, chop up into smaller pieces.

Next, add the onion and leeks into the cast iron (that has the bacon fat).  Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  Add in the garlic and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove from pan, and set aside.

In the hot cast iron, set the squash blossoms, and cook them on each side for approximately 30 seconds.  Then remove them from the pan.

Next sprinkle the onions, leeks and bacon into the cast iron.  Over those ingredients, pour the egg mixture.  Arrange the squash blossoms and tomatoes on top.  Quickly, scatter the goat cheese around the cast iron.

Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the egg begins to set on the edges.  Then transfer the cast iron into the preheated oven, bake for 10 minutes.

Green Veggie Rice with Fried Egg

As I’ve mentioned previously, I try to use up all of our produce- rather than throwing it all out!  Sometimes I might not get to a recipe I wanted to try, or I get a little crazy at the Penn Quarter Farmers Market and buy too many greens.  Or as I browse through other blogs, magazines or cookbooks I get inspirations about trying new things.  Where do you get your cooking inspiration or recipe ideas?

How did this recipe make itself?
1) I was walking through Whole Foods, and I came across Lundberg Black Japonica rice.  It’s a whole-grain blend of short-grain black rice and medium-grain mahogany rice which originates from Japanese seeds.  It looked so pretty, I just had to buy it!

2) I’m not the hugest fan of kale, until I tried this recipe.  Although I’ve added it to many dishes (kale lasagna, kale white bean & potato soup, pomegranate and kale orzo salad), I haven’t been sold on it.  Until I saw baby kale in the grocery store, and I decided to give it another chance.  Although I didn’t have a recipe for it, I wanted to incorporate kale into something.

3) Fried eggs make everything better.  Trust me!  (burgers, pizza, BLTs, asparagus, soups, noodles, salads- have I sold you yet?)

4) I wanted to clean out our fridge, and I hate taking everything out and putting it back in.  I prefer if the fridge is very very empty- makes the chore so much easier!

As a side note: This weekend I’ll be attending my first food blogger conference- Eat, Write Retreat 2012.  I’m very excited to meet other fellow food bloggers and learn some new things!  And I can’t wait to check out what’s in my swag bag!

Green Veggie Rice with Fried Egg
Fifth Floor Kitchen original

If you don’t have this specific rice, you can substitute with brown or wild rice- both will taste equally delicious.  As noted above, feel free to experiment with other greens if you don’t have kale or swiss chard on hand (ex: spinach, arugula, beet greens, mustard greens, bok choy, etc).

1 cup Lundberg Black Japonica Rice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch of swiss chard, roughly chopped
1 bunch of baby kale, roughly chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
juice of 1 lemon

In a medium saucepan, cook rice in water per package instructions.  Drain and keep covered.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Then add the garlic, cook for another 3 minutes.  Next add the swiss chard and baby kale.  Cover and cook, stir a few times, until the veggies are tender.  Add the rice into the saucepan, mix all of the ingredients together.  Season with soy sauce, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and lemon juice.  Allow to simmer while you fry the egg.

In a small pan, fry an egg per each serving.  We prefer runny eggs, but fry it to your preference.

Plate the rice and veggie mixture, top with a fried egg.

Spicy Asian Salad with Sunflower Seeds

This past weekend, my friend PB* (Happy Birthday!) and I took a walk on the Theodore Roosevelt Island.  If you live in the D.C. area, or are visiting- this is definitely a relaxing walking/running path that does not make you feel like you’re in the city.  We got to see the flowers that have bloomed, and the leaves with their deep green colors.  We also got to see some animals:

All the greenery made me think of foods that take you back to basics.  Earthy flavors.  So, this is a different type of a salad which we had this week (it’s a green one!).  I’ve actually made this for a couple of friends before (C* this is for you, but I’m sure you already know the recipe by heart!), and decided we needed to have it for lunch because it was that delicious.

I’m sure recipes like this one are floating around somewhere.  From a nutritional standpoint, many salads miss out on the flavor and the nutritional boost.  This salad definitely does not lack on either.  I don’t always feel like making a salad, no matter how easy it might be to make.  I love to eat them out, but at home I feel like they are a little too much work?  (I know, this sounds silly).  But when you see how good this is for you, and take the first bite, you’ll start to crave it!

One of the distinct changes I had made from the original recipe was that I used sunflower seeds rather than pumpkin seeds.  Both are delicious, I just couldn’t find pumpkin seeds in the store- come October it’ll be the perfect addition.  Until then, find the seeds that you prefer!

Spicy Asian Salad with Sunflower Seeds
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times

Salad:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup carrots, grated
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 green onions, chopped

Dressing:
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp Asian Stir-fly Oil
1/2 tsp sriracha chile sauce
1/4 tbsp ginger, grated

Coat a skillet with cooking spray, and heat it over medium heat.  Pour eggs into the skillet, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until firmly set.  Transfer the omelet to a cutting board, and let it cool.  Once it’s cooled, chop the omelet into 1/2-inch strips.

To make dressing, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Add the spinach leaves, bean sprouts, carrots, sunflower seeds, green onions and egg pieces to a large bowl.  Finally, add the dressing, and toss to coat.

Book Club Pt 1- Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate

I know, it’s 2 dessert posts in a row!  This last week, Book Club was here, and this was one of the desserts which I had made.  This was a great dessert that was extremely easy to make, and it holds well over a couple of days.  I actually made it over the course of 3 days, but that’s what made it very convenient.  I did each major step per day, since I was running out of time each night.

Coconut and chocolate are such a great combination!  Fortunately, I had a lot of coconut in our pantry, and there is always chocolate there.  If you use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate, it’ll be a little sweeter- but that’s easy to change for everyone’s taste preference.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate
Adapted from: 17 and Baking Blog

3 cups shredded coconut
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup egg whites (about 5)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

In a large saucepan, combine coconut, sugar and egg whites.  Stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  The mixture should be creamy, and almost sticky.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts.  Then spread the coconut mixture in a thin layer on a cookie sheet.  Refrigerate until cold for at least 30 minutes (I did this step overnight).

Preheat the over to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form the coconut mixture into small cookies (I did little balls).  Bake until golden, so for about 30 minutes.  Let them cool.

In a small saucepan heat water until it boils, place a bowl on top (do not let the bowl touch the water), and add the chocolate pieces into the bowl.  Keep stirring until the chocolate has melted.  Then, drip the chocolate over the macaroons (as much or as little as you’d like).  Let it set for about an hour.  You can store the macaroons in an airtight container for about 5 days.

St. Patrick’s Guinness Cupcakes

Happy St. Patty’s Day!  We didn’t have any green beer this year, instead we decided to cook a little bit of Irish food at home.  Sam made corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot, and I tried this dish for the first time.  I really enjoyed the saltiness of the meat, delicious!

For dessert, I made some cupcakes.  Since we already had Guinness on hand, I figured this would be a great time to try out a new recipe.  I wanted to add some green sprinkles on top, but we didn’t have any.  The cupcakes had a great chocolate flavor which the beer enhanced.  I didn’t make the frosting too sweet, and the cream cheese flavor still lingered just a bit- yummy!

Also, my first batch had 2 different sized forms, one had the big one’s, while the other had the mini-bites.  I highly recommend the mini bites, the others came out a little dense.

We decided that all cupcakes should have Guinness it them! 

St. Patrick’s Guinness Cupcakes
Adapted from: Bunky Cooks Blog

3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 can of Guinness (14.9 oz)
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cups sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups confectioners sugar (more can be used)

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese on medium speed with a hand mixer, until it’s lightly fluffy.  Slowly, beat in the heavy whipping cream.  Then on low speed, slowly mix in confectioners sugar, until it is smooth and incorporated.  Cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda and salt.  In a stand mixer, combine the Guinness, butter and vanilla.  Then, one at a time, beat in the eggs.  Finally, mix in the sour cream, until the mixture is smooth.  Slowly, mix in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Lightly grease muffin tins.  Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until they are soft and tender.  Take them out of the oven, and cool them.  Finally, top each cupcake with some of the frosting!