Squash and fresh thyme pizza: just like Totino's!

No matter how committed you may be to a vegetarian, vegan, seasonal, organic, macro, you-name-it diet, you've got at least one guilty pleasure. And don't tell me it's brown rice. For me, it's mac and cheese. Not homemade. Not whole wheat. Not organic. The radioactive-orange/ made-with-twenty-ingredients-I-can't-pronounce Kraft kind. There's something oddly comforting about squeezing that orange goo all over those noodles, however revolting that might sound. Although I'm pretty successful at not eating anything straight from a box these days, I just love the stuff.

For my boyfriend, Andy, it's Totino's pizza. When he's had a rough day/night of work, he's wont to pick it up at the Snappy Mart up the street from his house. Although I've never tasted it myself, from what I hear, it's pure greasy gas station goodness. Totino's wikipedia page provides further enlightenment: in 2006, Totino's phased out the use of 100% real cheese on its pizzas, replacing it with a "combination of real and imitation cheeses," which led to criticism by the FDA over the new, doubled amount of saturated fat. We sure do love our processed cheese!
One Saturday a few weeks ago, I picked up whatever looked good at the farmer's market with the intention of figuring it out later: some baby yellow squashes, some fresh thyme, and some brussels sprouts. What I figured out was pizza: sauteed squash with a fresh thyme/lemon pesto and oozy, pungent Italian robiola cheese. I'm a bad blogger: I don't remember exactly what went in to the thyme pesto. I will tell you, though, that the lemon was key. It really brightened up the flavor.And, somehow, I made a pizza that Andy swore tasted uncannily like Totino's (except with real cheese.) Becuase Robiola is such a flavorful cheese, a little really went a long way. Apparently, thyme is the secret ingredient in their recipe and satisfied (at least for now) the gas station pizza craving. Success! We served it with some of Andy's seared brussels sprouts and some nice Spanish white wine. The minerality of this Velarde Blanco really complemented the herbal flavor of the thyme and brought out a nuttiness in the Robiola cheese that wasn't immediately apparent.

Strawberry muffins

Strawberry season in the Austin area has just begun, and how gloriously sweet they are! Saturday morning started off cloudy and cool, and I picked up a pint of strawberries before heading to the lake for some canoeing. They had just been picked that morning, and were still coated with a thin layer of field.

Sunday morning, I woke up to a sunny, warm day and wanted to fill my apartment with warm baking smells. Hence the strawberry muffins:1 pint strawberries
1/3 c brown sugar
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c low fat buttermilk (or soy milk, or regular milk)
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 c walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. Slice strawberries and mash slightly with the sugar, using either a potato masher or the back of a spatula. Set aside. (Do this first to give the juice and sugar time to blend.)
3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
4. Whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, and the egg.
5. Fold the buttermilk mixture and the strawberries into the flour mixture until just combined. Add the walnuts.
6. Bake for 15-17 minutes.Good morning! These were delicious - the mashed strawberry tasted like fresh jam and made them oh so moist. I didn't think the walnuts added all that much to the flavor. I'd leave them out next time.

When cooking makes you cry

First off, my apologies for being a delinquent blogger. I have excuses, but you can either read about those or you can read about food. Food? I thought so.

Last weekend at the market, I noticed lots of new things! Notably, onions of every variety are sprouting at the moment. For example, baby leeks:and colorful spring onions:
and Texas sweet onions.
So, if I was on a risotto kick before, I'm now on a savory tart kick. I absolutely love caramelized onions, so I added a red onion and a white onion from Central Market to make a five-onion tart with goat cheese and parsley.
It's simple, though time-consuming. (Speaking of consuming, Andy and I polished off a bottle and a half of wine while the onions were caramelized. If, like me, you drink while you cook, plan on a night in.) Start by preheating the oven to 375 and slicing all the onions (I used what you see in the pic above plus two medium onions.) If you wear contacts, you won't cry as much. Don't know why that is, but it's been a great help to me. Then, heat some olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Use more than you think you need. Cook the onions over LOW heat until they're caramelized, about 45 minutes. Even if you're impatient to eat.

When the onions are almost done, add some salt and pepper along with 1/3 cup each white wine vinegar and white wine. Cook for 5-10 minutes longer, then spoon them into a pie shell. Top with as much crumbled goat cheese and fresh parsley as your heart desires, then bake 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is browned. Et voila!