It’s a new husband’s favorite!

Seriously, my husband said it’s the best avocado smoothie he has ever had. And he’s had his fair share. I’m sure you’ve seen avocoladas around the blogosphere, they’re pretty popular. My first encounter with an avocado in a smoothie was in bubble tea on University Way in Seattle. At first I was leery. Avocados are for guacamole and sandwiches. Not smoothies. So I thought.

After I tried my first one, I was hooked. Avocados are not very strongly flavored, so they are versatile on the savory or sweet side. And it makes such rich, creamy smoothies. Add too much ice and you have to eat it with a spoon. But I like to eat all of my smoothies with a spoon, unlike Caleb who camels it down. Yes, camels is a verb.

To Camel: To consume a beverage quickly and with gusto. Occurs often after intense exercise.

So this is my super hurried recipe for a version of an avocolada that I made up yesterday. It’s based on what I imagined it should be like. It would be better with coconut milk instead of regular milk and coconut extract, but it’s all I had.

And am I the only one who has tried to grow an avocado tree? I always start one, but then end up throwing it out after a couple of weeks. I don’t have the patience, nor the climate, for such a feat. But doesn’t it look like fun?

It started out as a crookneck squash and a pound of Russian blue fingerlings, my inspiration for a school spirit-themed dinner. Sort of.

The crookneck squash was a little old having sat two days too many in the crisper drawer, but it was as “gold” as I was going to get. The Russian blue potatoes were much more purple on the inside than blue. They’re not even close to blue. Therefore they are Russian purple potatoes. Glad to have that cleared up.

I sliced and diced the potatoes and squash for a stir fry in some cheap truffle oil. By the way, save your pennies on truffle oil, most don’t even contain real truffle aroma. A friend who is acquainted with one of the largest truffle oil importers said that a ridiculously large amount of truffle oils are derived from a chemically created essence of truffle. Even many of the very expensive oils have the same chemicals in them as the cheaper ones. So unless you can afford the really, really authentic oils–don’t shell out the dough. Which even the expensive oils are basically just olive oil infused with truffles.

Back to dinner.

I fried them up till they were just getting a little crispy, then I tossed the squash in and put a lid on the pan for a steamy effect for a few minutes. I sprinkled a little coarse sea salt and pepper and served it as a side to some salad. Or maybe the salad was the side.

I topped the salad with some thin strips of beef for protein. I fried the beef after I removed the potatoes and squash from the pan. I forgot to marinate the beef, so I just seasoned it with some oyster sauce, soy sauce, and a few shakes of steak seasoning  I pulled from the depths of my spice shelf. Dressed the salad with little balsamic. And we enjoyed it with a bottle of vino. Which by the way was on sale for 70% off $10 at Fred Meyer, and it was pretty decent too.

The whole dinner took no more than twenty minutes and it was very satisfying. Great for this summer heat. Which by the way is really hot. It was 91 degrees at 5pm. That’s hot for Seattle if you didn’t know that. Especially when two weeks ago we were wearing coats and our comforters were still on the beds. I’m not complaining, it just takes a couple of weeks for the shock of summer to wear off.

P.S. Wondering where the school spirit was? The purple potatoes and the “gold” squash reminded me of the University of Washington. I felt  like I had a teensy bit of school spirit, and this alumna never had school spirit. Though I did really enjoy UW. I always liked that purple was one of the school colors.

I have mastered pizza dough. After many tough and dense crusts later, I have found an easy crust, that has a flavor, and ages well in the fridge.

I will admit that it’s not completely perfect. My technique, not the recipe. But it’s closer than every other attempt and my adventures with pre-made dough from Trader Joe’s.

By the way, Trader Joe’s dough is frustrating. The taste is alright in the I-need-something-to-transport-pizza-toppings-to-my-mouth sort of way. But the most annoying trait is that the dough is so incredibly elastic that it won’t stay rolled out on the pizza pan. So I end up with half the size pizza that I want.

My newfound secret can be found a hop, skip, and a jump away at The Pioneer Woman. And follow her strong suggestion that you make the pizza dough a day or two or three ahead of time. I’m convinced that it makes a difference.

Following my love for Ree’s dough recipe, is my love for her caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza. Oh it’s heavenly. It’s good. It’s really, really good. And once you have the ingredients, it’s actually quite simple to throw together. Especially since you can make the dough a few days ahead.

Pre-500 degree oven.

I have had this for 3 meals this week (dinner and two days of leftovers for lunch) and I’m still not tired of it. The rich cheese, the sweetness of the onion, and the crispiness of the prosciutto are perfecto.

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Have you noticed that I like caramelized onions? This is why I keep my brown sugar in a jar labeled “magic”. I love me some sweet onions.

I do have some tips for this pizza. Be sure to get a big red onion. Buy 2 actually. You want lots of red onion. And if you think you don’t like them, try it anyway. They don’t turn out quite like you’d expect–so much better.

My other addition was a generous sprinkle of coarse sea salt on top of the beast. It draws the sweetness of the onion out even more. Ahhh, sea salt. You decorate nearly every dish that comes out of my kitchen.

One last difference is that I used the full recipe of dough. Ree says it makes enough for two pizzas. Ha. My pizzas are monstrosities. Or my dough just doesn’t rise enough, though it looked plenty risen to me.

Mmm, that pizza is mighty fine if I do say so myself. So does Caleb. So is Caleb. Get it? Get it? ;)

You can find The Pioneer Woman’s recipe here, where I found it. Or follow the recipe from her website below. All credit is due to the PW, because she dominates this pizza.

See tips above.

My grandparents live in the rhubarb pie capital of the world–the world. Yes, in it’s entirety. You can read about how it got there here, as rhubarb originally came from Eastern Europe amongst the Germanic peoples. According to the website, rhubarb comes from a word meaning “barbarians of the Volga River.” Not nearly as lovely as rhubarb pie.

Meaty rhubarb goodness.

Last week I was at Fred Meyer’s and saw that their rhubarb is $1.99/lb. That’s not even on sale. Everywhere else it’s above $3/lb., upwards of $4, so I hadn’t bought any yet. But $1.99lb? Yes please. And strawberries were on sale for $2.50/2 lbs. Yes they are the gross tasteless ones, but they would do just fine for what I had in mind for them–strawberry rhubarb crumble. Oh yes, bring on the drool.

Wait! But you were talking about rhubarb pie.

Yes, I know. But that involves making a crust which I am not inclined to do at 9pm. And rhubarb needed to be in my belly as soon as possible. Thus the crumble.

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Tip: Sprinkle some sea salt lightly over the crumble when it’s done baking. It really helps bring out the flavors.

With two people in the house, this lasted about 3 days. I ate copious amounts of it, I’m surprised it lasted that long. I’d say that it would last the average family a day and a half max.

I’ve always liked my yolks runny and sunny side up. Only slightly thickened, just shy of a custard-like consistency.

Recently I discovered poaching. All my life I either scrambled or fried them, sometimes over easy. Often we made quiches, growing up, to use all of the muddled egg we had from draining them for my mom’s beautiful Pysanky art.

I always knew what poaching was, I had just never attempted it. Sometimes we all like to stick to what we know works. But the other night I decided try it, so I went with a simple dish in which to nest my first poached eggs.

Duck vs. Chicken

I chopped a pound or so of fingerling potatoes into halves and cubes and sliced some carrots for more color and variety. I browned a couple tablespoons of butter in a heavy pan and tossed in the potatoes to fry up for a bit, followed by the carrots.

While that was cooking, I boiled the water to poach the eggs. I was following meticulous instructions, I so desired for this not to fail. I poured in a little rice vinegar (it’s the only clear vinegar I had) to prevent sticking, and I carefully slid my first duck egg into middle of the pan. I hit the timer for 2 minutes.

I carefully took my slotted spoon (a slotted spoon doesn’t hold much soup, but it sure holds a poached egg!) and lifted my first specimen out of the pan and into a little prep dish. I proceeded to repeat the process once more. By this time my potatoes and carrots browning along the edges with a little crispiness. I sprinkled it with sea salt, pepper, and a swizzle of honey and let it crisp just a little bit more.

I dished it up in bowls and plunked the poached egg on top. I nervously broke open my egg and it’s yolk spilled forth perfectly. It’s a rich dish to be sure, but that first bite was absolutely heavenly. It’s a 4 ingredient dish and it took all of 20 minutes. Sold to the girl destined to have high cholesterol!

*I’m thinking that some spinach would be a nice addition to this dish, especially for color. I usually add chicken to incorporate more protein, but it usually makes it too heavy for me.

A week or so ago it was warm out and the husband requested something light for dinner. Alright, I go in search of some spinach and salad-making tools. But the fridge gives me nada. Squat. No spinach for me.

Well that’s fine Mr. Fridge, you won’t get the best of me. I peek into the fruit bowl and spy four things, an avocado, mango, tomato, and one lemon. Ah fruit bowl, you never let me down.

I pulled out some chicken and sliced it up strip style and tossed in a pan with a teensy bit of olive oil and half a lemon’s worth of juice. While that was browning, I diced the mango, avocado, and tomato and divided them between two bowls. Hmmm, still a little too sparse for dinner.

I open the fridge and scan each shelf for something more. I glimpsed the cheese drawer, ah-ha! Pulled out some honey goat cheese and crumbled that into the bowls. Divine.

Back at the fry pan I squeeze the other half of the lemon on the chicken, let it cook a couple of minutes more. Then I sprinkle an itty bitty bit of Johnny’s Seasoning (don’t tell me it’s not good for me, my taste buds will disagree).  I divide the chicken between the bowls, a dash of coarse sea salt, and dinner is served.

Really fresh, simple, and light. The best part is this cost probably .75 per serving since I bought the avocado and mango on a 2/$1 sale at Fred Meyer’s and the lemon at Uwajimaya’s where they’re always cheap. I see this being a heavy repeater this summer. Maybe with cucumbers and fresh herbs.

For those of you who skipped the post looking for the recipe (we’re all guilty), I’ll give you a hint. The recipe is in the post. <3

Photo by Edwin Nollen.