one bunch of mint, three courses: ras el hanout chicken pitas + tabbouleh + yogurt sundaes

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i have a really complicated relationship with herbs because, 

1) i love them

2) but apparently not enough to be able to keep them alive when i grow them myself

3) and apparently not enough to use them up before they go bad when i buy big massive bunches at the store.

this summer, eggboy has officially put me to shame in the herb growing department because he has been spearheading our garden and suddenly these past few days we are up to our ears in basil and rosemary. (get at me, pesto!) i kind of get it because he is a farmer. but one problem this doesn't solve is our love of fresh mint because we have been told *multiple* times not to grow it, since once it starts growing it does not stop until your whole yard is covered in mint. so fresh mint coffee, fresh mint milk shakes, fresh mint everything else doesn't make it into our lives as much as i'd like it to, but when it does and i spring for the big bunch from the store, we have to use it up, quick like a bunny. 

does anyone else have this problem with herbs or just me?

so taking a cue from these one ingredient, five dinners articles, i've got three (3!) fresh mint recipes here! the first is a tasty chicken pita that uses a hefty dose of my new favorite spice mix, ras el hanout, which is common in moroccan cooking. each spice maker has a different (secret) recipe, but it is often heavy on the coriander, cinnamon, and cumin. to give you your ancient grain fix for the day, the pitas are paired with a nice refreshing cucumber and tomato tabbouleh with mint. and for dessert: a fresh mint sundae, complete with homemade chocolate magic shell and yogurt in place of the ice cream for a healthier twist.

two of these recipes, the pita and the tabbouleh, come from blue apron, the magic meal subscription service that i'm obsessed with because it is basically a grown-up lunchable in that you get perfectly portioned ingredients in cute individual packages. (in other words, the perfectly portioned ingredients is one of my favorite answers to my herb conundrum.) every time my box is delivered i squeal out of cuteness and sigh out of relief that i don't have to put on pants to go to the grocery store and clap in excitement, especially if there's mint involved. all of the blue apron recipes that i've had are so freaking good and there are a bunch that i'm still itching to try, like five spice pork buns and spring miso ramen. i'll get to the recipes now but see below for some more info on blue apron and a link to get some free meals!

ras el-hanout chicken pitas

adapted from blue apron

makes 2

ingredients

1/2 c plain greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber, grated

1 clove garlic, smashed

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper, to taste

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tb ras el-hanout

4 tsp flavorless oil

2 plain, pocketless pitas

a handful of mint leaves

1 tb pistachios

 

clues

first, make your yogurt sauce by mixing together the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. set it aside.

pat the chicken dry with paper towels. season both sides with salt, pepper, and the ras el-hanout. heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large pan over medium-high until hot. add the chicken and cook, loosely covering the pan with aluminum foil, for 3-5 minutes per side, or until browned and cooked through. transfer to a cutting board and set aside to cool slightly. 

add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan, let it heat up, and then heat the pitas for about 30 seconds per side, until warm. 

to assemble, thinly slice the cooked chicken on an angle. spread a layer of yogurt sauce onto each pita, divide the chicken between the pitas, and top with pistachios and mint leaves. enjoy! 

cherry tomato & cucumber tabbouleh

adapted from blue apron

makes 2 servings

ingredients

1/4 c bulgur

4 oz cherry tomatoes, chopped into wedges

1/2 cucumber, chopped

a small handful of mint leaves

1 clove garlic, smashed

juice of 1/2 lemon

a drizzle of olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

clues

heat a small pot of salted water over high heat. once it boils, add the bulgur and cook 12-14 minutes, until tender. drain it and return it to the pot. add the tomatoes, cucumber, mint (tear the leaves just before adding it), garlic, and lemon juice. drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

enjoy! 

chocolate mint yogurt sundaes

makes 2

ingredients

3 tb chocolate chips

1 tb coconut oil

2 large mint leaves

1/2 c plain yogurt

clues

in a small microwave-safe dish, microwave the chocolate chips and coconut oil in 15-second increments, stirring after each, until melted.

chop up your mint leaves and divide them between two small bowls. using a muddler or the back of a spoon, crush the leaves and rub them all over the inside of the bowl. divide the yogurt between the two bowls and top with chocolate sauce.

enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you soooo much, blue apron, for sponsoring this post! i love you guys! some additional information on blue apron: they offer two meal plans, one two-person plan that delivers three meals per week and one four-person (family-style) plan that can deliver two or four meals per week. pricing is under $10 per person per meal and shipping is always included. blue apron ships to most of the country (they just added texas!) and the meals come shipped in refrigerated boxes, so even if you're not home to receive the boxes, they'll keep for a bit until you get there. there are a ton of awesome recipes, which can all be prepared in 40 minutes or less and they're each 500-700 calories per person. the blue apron chefs are always adding new recipes as well and if you're wanting to skip a week or cancel, you can do that at any time.

if you're wanting to try blue apron, click here! the first 50 who do will get their first two meals free!

bloody mary popsicles

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what a silly week it's been. 

every other hour, eggboy comes in dripping with sweat from building the chicken coop, saying it's gonna rain! it's gonna rain! and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it *really* does and even sets off the tornado alarms. i love a good rain storm but without any buildings around to break the wind or supply camaraderie/beer in the chance that the storms get really awful, it can be quite scary. luckily we have a basement with a comfy couch and i have my stack of cookbooks to keep me company. during the last tornado warning i read the bread exchange's book. do you know about that project? it is very cool.

we got one inch of rain last night in the time it took me to make pesto cucumber noodles and when the sun came out, our internet was nowhere to be seen! he must have gotten sick of me price hunting for the same nike shoes over and over and just left.

so i spent a good amount of time without the internet, getting things done like cleaning and writing and reading the directions on my new silicone mini loaf pan. oh and watching dvds! i'm back to working my way through harry potter and this morning i watched legally blonde while i was on the treadmill. i'm pretty sure i know every line by heart, is this low-viscosity rayon with a half-loop top stitching on the hem?

*classic*

another silly thing about this week, speaking of fabulous fashion-forward colorful divas, is that it's billy's popsicle week!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 

yay! 

this year i have gone the ~savory~ route with a frozen bloody mary that is practically healthy, extra spicy, and gives you just the right amount of buzz to take the edge off of a tornado warning but not so much that you're too wasted to do anything productive when the rain stops. (if you're looking for the latter, don't try adding more vodka or else they won't freeze. just, like, have a few more or chase it with a shot or something.)

bloody mary popsicles

makes 7 3-oz pops

ingredients

2 c tomato juice
1/2 c vodka
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp harissa powder
3/4 tsp worcestershire sauce
a squeeze of lime juice
a few turns of black pepper

clues

Whisk all ingredients together, pour into popsicle molds or 3-oz Dixie cups, freeze for 20 minutes. Insert popsicle sticks and freeze for two more hours. Serve with celery stalks (and/or an extra vodka shot) and enjoy! 

happy popsicle week, friends! be sure to check out all of the other popsicle week popsicles!

-yeh!

gouda mac and cheese with peaches and prosciutto

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to the person who made national macaroni and cheese day deep in the heart of summer: 

hi, what are you on?

national bbq day, which was yesterday, i get.

national gummy worm day, which is tomorrow, i guess i kind of get in some odd garden-related way. 

but a food that usually requires standing over a hot pot of roux while your oven is pre-heating, and which will undoubtedly make a bathing suit the absolute last thing you want to put on?

i mean, ok, i won't fire you or anything because macaroni and cheese is my desert-island food, but i'm going to make some changes here in the name of *summer* (which around here has meant being stickier than an inside out sour patch kid and a couple of tornado warnings, but that doesn't really have anything to do with anything). please meet gouda yogurt mac and cheese with caramelized onions, peaches, and prosciutto. here are some things i would like you to know about him: 

1. this is a stovetop-only situation. when the fall comes, i will be the first to tell you to turn on your oven, make it rain panko, and get a thick brown crust going on your mac. and then when the winter comes, i will be the first to tell you to get a deep fryer going too because fried mac and cheese is better than life itself. but for right now, in this heat, we don't need any of that, just a skillet and a pot. 

2. roux who? ok, until recently i had only ever made mac and cheese with a roux! (you know, butter, flour, add some milk and make a béchamel, add your cheese and there you have your sauce, it takes kind of a while, it's super thick and creamy, it's so rich and good on a cold winter's day.) but then i was inspiiiiiired by diane kochilas' yogurt pasta, which makes an addictive creamy pasta sauce from yogurt and a bit of cheese, that's it. it's shockingly good and the tang of the yogurt is so summery and refreshing, i just can't get enough of it. so that's the sauce i've used here, but with shredded aged gouda. 

3. it is good both hot and cold. how many meals have i spent tiptoeing across the kitchen with a stray fork, sneaking bites of cold leftover mac and cheese out of the fridge? many. i know good cold mac and cheese and i know great cold mac and cheese, and this is a great one. probably because yogurt in its natural state is cold. 

4. i'm adding peaches. peaches and prosciutto and cheese are like hilary duff and dan humphrey and vanessa from gossip girl before things got weird. 

so, there you have it. a truly summery mac and cheese that's sweet, salty, tangy, creamy, and super easy to make. it won't put you in an immediate food coma, but you should still wait 30 minutes before jumping in the pool.

the recipe for this mac and cheese is right this way, on an entire site devoted to macaroni and cheese, nestled next to things like mac and cheese egg rolls and a mac and cheese burger. so in other words, if fall rolls around and you can't find me, i'll probably be lurking on this site. 

-yeh!

gouda mac and cheese with peaches and prosciutto

makes 4 - 6 servings

ingredients

4 oz prosciutto, chopped

2 tb unsalted butter

1 white onion, thinly sliced

salt and pepper, to taste

2 yellow peaches, chopped

1/2 pound orecchiette pasta

6 oz Gouda, shredded, plus extra for topping

1 c plain Greek yogurt

clues

In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the prosciutto until crispy, 3-5 minutes. The prosciutto should be fatty enough that you don’t have to grease the skillet, but if the skillet gets to be too dry, you can add a bit of oil or butter. Remove the prosciutto and set it aside. Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium and melt the butter. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper and let it cook until very soft, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peaches and half of the prosciutto and cook for about 5 more minutes. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s directions. Strain it. 

In a large bowl, mix together the shredded cheese, yogurt, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fold in the hot pasta and the onion/peach/prosciutto mixture. Top with additional cheese and remaining prosciutto. The sauce will thicken once the pasta cools slightly.

thank you, wisconsin cheese, for sponsoring this post!!!!

harissa pimento cheese + the aperol spritz

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this is a post about orange foods. 

or, orange and white foods.

because for a very long time, back in the day, i didn't eat anything else. 

cheese,

bread,

spaghetti,

butter,

the orange starbursts.

they were all the best and i didn't need anything else because i wasn't old enough to read articles that told me i wouldn't live to be a hundred if i didn't eat an abundance of leafy greens.

(damn those articles.)

mum eventually picked up on my preference for orange foods and started requiring that i ate carrots if i was going to have dessert. that's when things went downhill, or uphill, depending on how you look at it. 

orange foods are still my favorite (even though i've kind of developed a hate for the color orange) and i recently discovered two new orange foods* that i really really love. ones that i can't believe i went so long without. ones that i can trust will please pretty much any party guest, no matter how little i know them, unless they come out of the gates with something silly like, "i just don't like cheese." 

*that's a lie, one of them is a drink 

1. pimento cheese. at its core, it is cheese and mayonnaise and sweet peppers. a cheese spread that is perfect on anything, even your fingers, even a stale unidentified corn chip. having never spent much time in the south, i guess i understand why i didn't eat it growing up, but what i don't understand is how anyone outside of the south can taste it once and then not go around spreading the good word of pimento cheese. i first really learned about it from hannah, who has some great rules which i have followed and also broken. i've made it so many times now and each time i make it, no matter how offensive my interpretation is, it gets gobbled up with a smattering of oohs and ahhs, and i feel like i've tricked my party guests because it is just that easy. here, i've added harissa powder because i love a smoky spiciness. 

2. the aperol spritz. i am in an aperol spritz phase of my life, which is best described by the circumstances under which i popped my aperol spritz cherry: three months ago, over a walnut cream pizza in midtown with a newly pink-haired marian as she filled me in on her recent solo trip to disney world, which sounded like truly the most bizarre and enchanting experience that a person can have. which is to say that i intend the aperol spritz phase of my life to be 30 times more colorful and weird than the college-y gin gimlet phase and, oh god, the skim white russian phase. because an aperol spritz tastes like a grown-up fizzy orange capri sun and it is extremely fun and i love it and i want you to have one too. 

where does that leave us?

have an orange party and be summery about it. 

it's easy, i'll show you.

harissa pimento cheese

mix these together:

4 oz shredded sharp cheddar

2 oz cream cheese

1/4 c mayo

1/4 small onion, minced

4 oz pimentos, chopped

1/2 tsp harissa powder

salt + pepper to taste

serve with bread or crackers

the aperol spritz

fill a glass with ice and add:

3 parts prosecco

2 parts aperol

1 part sparkling water

garnish with an orange wedge

tweet about your #spritzbreak???

-yeh!

thank you so much to aperol for sponsoring this post!! all opinions are mine. all claims to being in an aperol spritz phase are mine. all stories are mine. go have a #spritzbreak!