Blog – Page 15

Roasted Tomato Salsa

September 4, 2014 by Asharae Leave a Comment

Our garden is currently exploding with tomatoes – anyone want some? A couple weeks ago we had an abundance of cucumbers, but this week it’s tomatoes. Obviously that means I should share another salsa recipe with you. I mean, pico de gallo is great for any occasion, but if you want to put a little extra something special into your salsa, roasting your tomatoes is a great option!

Tomatillos are also coming into season, so if you’re really wanting to think outside the box, grab a few of those and add them to this recipe. And a side note – tomatillos are super easy to grow – at least in our hot southern climate. Last year we grew two tomatillo plants (you have to grow at least two so they can cross-pollinate – oh the things you learn when growing your own food!) They’re fun plants to have in your garden because the fruits grow in pretty little paper husks – once they fill the husk and start to break out of it, you know they’re ready! We still have a freezer full of tomatillos from last year, so we decided not to grow any this time around.

Speaking of an abundance of veggies – one of the things I’ve always loved about living in the country is how many people have backyard gardens, and how willing they are to share their produce. “Eating local” and “growing organic” isn’t a newfound fad around here, it’s a way of life. I remember when I was a kid we always had people from the church my dad pastors dropping off bags of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and peaches on our front doorstep. Sometimes we’d look in the bag and wonder “what exactly is that vegetable?” Inevitably the mystery veggie would make its way into some soup or casserole. Another story for another day.

Recently a sweet lady in our church offered up an open invitation to my mom to stop by her house and pick pears whenever she wanted. My mom stopped by Dixie’s house to take a few pears off her hands and called me as she was leaving, “I ended up with more fruits and veggies than I know what to do with! I’m bringing some by your house!” When she arrived she brought in a bag of pears and a bag of tomatoes and exclaimed “I’m not done yet – come help me get stuff out of the car!” Two bell peppers, three banana peppers, seven jalapeños, two honeydew, one huge watermelon, five eggplant, twenty or thirty something pears, and two ginormous bags full of tomatoes later, we’d split her bounty down the middle. All that being said – many thanks to Dixie for the gorgeous yellow tomatoes below! We used them for everything from bruschetta to pasta sauce to this delicious salsa.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Asharae Kroll

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Ingredients

2-3 c of cherry tomatoes halved
Optional 3-4 large tomatillos, halved (6-7 if using small tomatillos like I did)
2 or more jalapeños halved lengthwise and the seeds removed if you want a milder salsa
Juice from 1-2 large limes
1/2 - 1 c loosely packed cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 medium tomatoes
1/4 c white onion finely diced

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Grease a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and place tomatoes, tomatillos (if using), and jalapeños, cut side down on the pan. (I didn't do that for the photos, but your veggies will stick to the pan later if you do it the other way!)
Roast in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven, carefully flip all the veggies so they're now cut side up, and roast for about 15 more minutes, or until roasted and delicious looking. Keep an eye on them during the last half of roasting to be sure they don't burn - char is good, burn is bad. Let cool slightly before adding to the rest of the ingredients.
While the veggies are roasting, you can begin to assemble the rest of your ingredients.
Place roasted veggies, lime, cilantro, salt and pepper, garlic, cumin, and fresh tomatoes in a food processor or blender and blend to desired consistency. If your salsa is too thick, you can always add another tomato or two to add more juice back in. Adjust to taste.
For a little more texture in my salsa, I stir the onion in at the very end. If you want a smoother salsa, you're welcome to blend that in as well.

Notes

For roasting, I used a combination of Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and yellow tomatoes from a sweet lady in our church (not sure of the variety). To add some juice back into the salsa when blending, I used a combination of Black Krim, Better Boy, and Roma tomatoes. Obviously you're welcome to use whatever variety you have on hand - the flavor and color of your salsa will vary depending on what you use.

Guest Post by Tim Kroll – Focaccia / Pizza Dough

August 28, 2014 by Asharae Leave a Comment

This pizza dough recipe is a long-standing tradition in my husband’s family, so I felt it was only appropriate that he write about it! We’ve taken a little liberty with the recipe itself, and discovered that it makes an excellent dough for focaccia as well! Today I’m just sharing the recipe for the dough and photos of the focaccia version – if you’d rather make pizza, you can be creative with your own toppings!

A while back my in-laws gifted us one of those three-ring-binder-church-cookbooks full of recipes from families in the church where Tim’s mom grew up. I love it because I know that there is family history within the pages of that book – each recipe has a story behind it and belongs to a family that enjoyed it enough to share with the whole church. I know that on page 58 I’ll find a recipe for “Pizza From Scratch,” with notes scribbled in the margins. Without further ado, I’ll let Tim share his family’s story of this recipe.

My family likes traditions. Traditions like riding in the car all cozied up on Christmas Eve looking for the neighborhood with the best light display, gathering around the Thanksgiving table with the plethora of family on my mom’s side, celebratory birthday banners that appeared the morning of each of our birthdays – sneakily designed by someone in the family, and french toast every Sunday morning (but seriously, every Sunday morning). These are just some of the fun traditions I had growing up.

Another wonderful tradition that we started when I was in middle school was weekly homemade pizza. We’d usually rent a movie from one of the local rental stores and top the pizzas in whatever way our hearts desired. Inevitably my mom would try to sneak healthy things like green peppers or wheat germ into the recipe, but it still made for a tasty meal! I love how the pizza crust isn’t a thin crust, but also isn’t so doughy that you feel like it’s more bread than toppings. Growing up we usually made 3 or more pizzas, went downstairs to watch our movie while we ate, and put the left-overs (if we had any) in a ziploc bag to be enjoyed the next day for lunch. If I ever had friends over to share in the tradition, they’d always tell me (and mostly my mom) how delicious the pizza was.

When dressing the pizza, I fully recommend using a spoon to spread the sauce on the dough, and because I’m not a huge crust person, I would try to get the sauce as close to the edge as possible (within a half inch or so). Get a good mozzarella cheese blend to top the sauce, and then ever so carefully spread your desired toppings equally spaced along the top. I like to think that with all the years practice I’ve had growing up, I’m pretty good at spreading the toppings on the pizza in the most precise manner possible! (Asharae’s note: Tim takes this very seriously. Can you tell he’s more of a mathematician than I am?)

One thing to note, my mom loved it when she got a bread machine that could mix the ingredients together for her. Even if you don’t plan ahead, you could easily get inspired to make pizzas while reflecting on a delicious lunch, and still have plenty of time to make the homemade pizza dough and get it ready in time for dinner. I have used store-bought pizza dough in the past, but it never has been as good as this recipe.

I hope that you’re reminded of your own family traditions as you make this recipe, and who knows, maybe it will get a new spot in the rotation of your family’s traditions!

Simple Pizza Dough / Focaccia

Makes two large cookie-sheet-sized pizza crusts.

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Prep Time 1 hr 30 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 1 hr 50 mins

Servings 6

Ingredients

For Dough

1 1/4 c warm water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
4 c flour
1 package dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp

For Pizza

Pizza sauce of your choice
Mozarella Cheese
Toppings of your choice

For Focaccia

Olive oil
Kosher salt
Italian Seasoning
Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

(With a bread machine) Place ingredients in bread machine in the order listed (unless your bread machine manufacturer recommends something different). Choose the Dough setting and the largest loaf size. Let the bread machine work its magic!
(By hand) Sift flour and salt together, set aside. In a separate bowl dissolve yeast into warm water, stir in 2 Tbs vegetable oil. Pour into flour and salt mixture and stir until it comes together. Knead vigorously until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, brush with oil, cover and let rise until doubled in size.
Once dough is ready, divide in half and spread on two floured baking sheets.
(For pizza) Brush crust lightly with olive oil (this keeps it from getting soggy from the sauce), top with sauce and toppings of your choice. Bake 15-20 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if your cheese isn't bubbly enough.
(For focaccia) Once dough is spread out, make divots in the surface of the dough with your fingers. Try not to poke through the dough - these divots will hold the olive oil. Drizzle several Tbs of olive oil over the top of the dough, allowing it to pool in the divots you made. Sprinkle dough with kosher salt, Italian seasonings, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-12 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if you'd like the top to be crispier.

Notes

This dough is freezable. I usually make the full recipe and then place half of it in a freezer safe ziplock bag and freeze it till later. When ready to bake, simply let the dough come to room temperature first, spread on a floured baking sheet as usual, and bake as instructed.

Homemade Stovetop Popcorn

August 20, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

A couple months ago I had a fun family session down at Holden Beach, south of Wilmington, NC. A sweet friend of mine from college hired me to do photos with her whole family – all four generations. It was so special to spend the whole day with them, capturing the ebbs and flows of the day, kicking our toes around in the sand, sharing stories, and soaking up the last golden rays of light as the sun dipped beneath the clouds. It was a long enough drive that they invited me to spend the night, and we sat around chatting and playing games till late into the night, all the while munching on copious amounts of homemade popcorn.

My friend Lauren explained to me that homemade popcorn was her dad’s tradition – a little oil, some popcorn kernels, and a little salt makes for a deliciously simple midnight snack. Apparently he keeps huge 50 lb bags of popcorn kernels at home for just such an occasion. I love families that have food stories like this – popcorn is his thing. The whole family knows that when they get together, dad will be making popcorn. It’s tradition. I love that.

As we sat around the dining room table at the beach house, I was in awe at the bowl after giant bowl of popcorn he kept bringing out from the kitchen. I’d always thought that stovetop popcorn was some magical method of popcorn-making that I’d never be able to perfect. Isn’t there a certain way you have to shake the pan? Will I burn the popcorn? Or have too many kernels left over? I never tried it because I was afraid I’d fail. But after sitting around the table with Lauren’s family, laughing and chatting long after the kiddos had gone to bed, eating popcorn until I could eat no more – I decided I needed to learn how to make my own stovetop popcorn.

And you guys – here’s a secret – it’s really really easy to make!

I snooped around the internet for a while until I found a method that was simple enough and provided a good popcorn to oil ratio. I found this recipe over on the Pastry Affair and haven’t looked back since. She recommends using coconut oil, which I agree with. I tried olive oil and canola oil as well, but I like the subtle flavor the coconut oil gives to the popcorn (it doesn’t taste like coconut, I promise). Use whatever neutral oil you have around the house and have fun making your own homemade popcorn! It’s very rewarding and only takes a couple minutes longer than the microwaved stuff. It’s well worth it to know you’ve made a healthier snack with ingredients you can pronounce!

The instructions below might look a little overwhelming, but you really don’t have to take it this seriously. I’ve found that setting a timer for myself helps keep my mind on the task at hand – I’m easily distracted and fear I’d burn the popcorn otherwise!

Homemade Stovetop Popcorn

Adapted from Pastry Affair

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Prep Time 1 min

Cook Time 6 mins

Total Time 7 mins

Servings 2 -3

Ingredients

3 Tbs coconut oil or other neutral oil
1/3 c popcorn kernels
Optional 1 Tbs melted butter
1/4 tsp kosher salt or popcorn salt if you have it!

Instructions

Heat oil over medium high in a large heavy bottomed pot with a lid. Place 4-5 popcorn kernels in the pot and cover.
Once kernels begin to pop, pour the rest of the popcorn into the pot, cover the pot, and use potholders to shake the pot a couple times to distribute the kernels evenly. Remove from the heat for 30 seconds - this allows the kernels to reach the same temperature so they pop around the same time. At this point I like to start a timer for 4 minutes - once the countdown reaches 3:30, place the pot back on the heat.
When the kernels begin popping vigorously (around 2:30 on my stovetop), tilt the lid so it is slightly askew on the pot - this allows the steam to escape so your popcorn doesn't get soggy. At this point, I watch the clock and shake the pot every 10 seconds until the popping slows down. The popping itself should last 2-3 minutes - I've found on my stovetop that it finishes just as my 4 minute timer runs out.
Once the popping slows significantly, remove the pot from the heat and let rest for a moment to ensure no kernels pop out when you uncover it. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl, drizzle with the melted butter (optional), and sprinkle with salt and your toppings of choice.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

August 15, 2014 by Asharae 3 Comments

These barbacoa pork tacos are the perfect thing to serve to a large group of friends. Most of the work is done in the morning, then you throw everything in the slow cooker and let it get happy for 10 hours or so. Your house will smell amazing and I promise your friends will love you more than they did before. Before they arrive, you remove the pork from the slow cooker, shred it, and put it back in with a little of the reserved juices to keep it moist. You’ll still have time to get all cleaned up and enjoy eating and chatting with your friends rather than working away in the kitchen. (Unless of course you offer to make margaritas for everyone like I did, then all bets are off.)

We had a bunch of friends over to our house before our summer travels got started and this is just what I made for them. With a side of cilantro lime rice and all the chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso our friends wrangled up, we had quite the feast on our hands. I even had a little extra fun with the decorations – I rolled out some brown kraft paper on our dining room table, set it up as our buffet, and used chalk to write out all the taco options.

If you’ve never cooked with pork before – fear not! This is probably the easiest way to cook it – the process of slowly cooking over low heat makes the meat so moist and tender and delicious. If you want to add an extra layer of fabulousness to these tacos (and you’re up for a little challenge), brown the pork in a large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed skillet before placing it in the slow cooker. This gives the meat a little more depth of flavor and those browned edges tend to be my favorite once the pork is cooked and shredded.

Enjoy the barbacoa pork in tacos, in quesadillas, over rice, or on nachos. I’m certain any way you enjoy it would be delicious. You can also serve it with this pico de gallo, or one of these corn salsas.

Please tell me you’ll make these tacos? It just might change your life.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

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Ingredients

For the barbacoa

5-7 lb pork shoulder bone in
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce minced
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
1/2 red onion cut into large pieces
6-8 cloves of garlic sliced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbs kosher salt
Juice of 4 limes
32 oz beef stock
3 bay leaves

For the tacos

Flour tortillas
Freshly shredded cheese
Red onions diced
Fresh cilantro chopped
Lime juice
Other toppings of your choice

Instructions

(Optional - gives the finished pulled pork an extra layer of tastiness when it's all done) In a large Dutch oven or deep heavy-bottomed pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium high. Remove the pork shoulder from the packaging and pat dry with a paper towel. Brown the pork shoulder on all sides, carefully using a pair of tongs to turn the meat in the pan every couple minutes. This is a tricky operation, so be very careful not to burn yourself.
Once pork shoulder is browned, place it in a large slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low for about 10 hours, or until pork shreds easily with a fork.
Carefully remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a rimmed baking sheet. The pork should be falling apart, so this part gets a little messy. Use two forks to shred the pork, remove the bone and fatty pieces, and place the "good meat" in a large bowl. Discard the bone and fatty pieces. Continue this process until there is no pork left in the slow cooker. Carefully pour the remaining juices into another large bowl or stock pot. Put the shredded pork back in the (now empty) slow cooker and ladle some of the reserved juices on top of it until the pork is moist.
Let the shredded pork rest in the slow cooker while you prep the rest of your taco ingredients.

Pico de Gallo and some Mid-Week Inspiration

August 6, 2014 by Asharae 5 Comments

Every once in a while I like to share a little mid-week inspiration here on the blog. I find it so helpful to take a step back and look at the things that have been inspiring my days lately. These are a few of the things I’ve been enjoying – I highly recommend checking them all out!

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. This is the first cookbook I’ve ever read cover-to-cover. My dear friend Paige gifted it to me for my birthday back in May, and I spend the last few weeks moseying through each page, devouring each of Deb’s stories and recipes. Most nights I’d sit in bed and read through a few recipes until I got so hungry I either had to get up and grab a snack or make myself go to sleep.

Two of the weddings we’ve photographed this summer even used The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook as their guestbooks – an idea that I’m obsessed with now. “Sprinkle a little love throughout our guest book and we’ll add it to our next meal!” Adorable right?

Although I feel that this cookbook is filled with more wintery comfort-food recipes than summer ones, we’ve enjoyed making several of Deb’s recipes. So far my favorites have included her corn risotto-stuffed poblano peppers, baked ranchero eggs, and big cluster maple granola. So good.

Courtney and Ryan Thomas’s Story. These dear friends of ours have been on quite the whirlwind journey of letting go of their own plans in exchange for the Lord’s. Their story of adoption is truly beautiful – you can read it in their own words over at their blog. They adopted their daughter Nara just over a year ago and recently have felt called to return to her home country of Ethiopia and serve as full-time missionaries there. They’re currently on a three week “trial-run” trip to work with the ministries they’d be serving in and see how Nara does being back in Ethiopia.

I love these sweet words they wrote on their blog several months ago, “We know that God is already working on sweet Nara’s heart and preparing her for what is to come. We have prayed big things over her from the start and Courtney has said from the beginning that she wants Nara to be a little Esther. We even considered Esther as a middle name for Nara. Esther, like Nara, was adopted. I’m sure her life was hard and considering her circumstances she probably felt as if there was no purpose or calling on her life. However, it turns out, as a result of the events that God sovereignly orchestrated in Esther’s life, she had the chance to save her people. We want the same for Nara. Before we even brought Nara home we both decided that we did not want to “Americanize” Nara, but to prepare her to one day go back and help the people of Ethiopia. We just didn’t realize it would be this soon!”

We’ve been filming bits of Courtney, Ryan, and Nara’s story throughout the past couple years, not knowing what the final film would look like. We now have the opportunity to tell their story in an even more professional way through a film contest that The Music Bed is putting on. We would LOVE your votes to help us tell their story more fully through free music licenses, gear rentals, and sound equipment! If Courtney and Ryan discern that full-time ministry is what they’re being called to, we’d love to share their story in a way that would help them raise support in the future.

Female Entrepreneur Association. I’ve been recommending this site to all my friends who are starting up their own businesses. Their mission is to inspire and empower entrepreneurial women around the world. First of all, Carrie has the most fabulous accent, so she’s fun to listen to. She posts inspiration each week – anything from how to set goals and create a successful business manifesto, to overcoming your fears, to creating social media strategies. If you sign up for her newsletter, she’ll send the blog posts right to your inbox – I’ve found that super helpful for my scatterbrained self.

Pinterest. On what days does Pinterest not inspire me? If you don’t enjoy using Pinterest, I’ll either accuse you of not being a “visual” person or try to convince you that you’re not following the right people. They’ve smartened up their site in the last several months so that finding people who pin things you’d find interesting or inspiring is much much simpler!

When you click on a pin, try scrolling down below it. Have you discovered the “Also on these boards” and “Related pins” sections? If not, then you’re missing out! I also like to click on one of the “Pins from..” profiles at the top of my own home page. From there I explore who those people “Pin from” – that’s a great way to find new favorites! Take some time to explore and find new boards or people that inspire you. This board is my personal favorite this week. I just love all the colors and textures – reminds me of summer!

Speaking of summer. How about a perfect summertime recipe? The tomatoes in our garden are producing like crazy right now, so it’s the perfect excuse to make loads of pico de gallo, bruschetta, or caprese salad.

This recipe is really just a guideline (you know how I roll). You can add more or less of any ingredient to suit your preferences, and you’re welcome to leave out the jalapeño entirely if you don’t like spicy salsa.

Pico de Gallo

Asharae Kroll

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Ingredients

3 medium tomatoes
1/4 or a red onion
1 jalapeño diced (seeds removed for mild or with some seeds to add heat)
Handful of cilantro leaves finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/8 tsp kosher salt
Dash of pepper
Dash of garlic powder

Instructions

Toss all ingredients in a bowl.
Let rest in the fridge or at room temperature for at least 15 minutes (more if you can stand to wait) to let the flavors get happy.
Enjoy with chips, on tacos or quesadillas, over eggs, or straight out of the bowl.