That’s what Maryland Does

I’ve spent most of my life sampling crab cakes on the Eastern Shore and crafting what I think is the best representation of a Maryland-style tradition. I’ve made these more times than I can count and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Beans, Beans, The magical Fruit….

Listen, I’ve been avoiding beans for a majority of my life. To me they have no taste, and typically a less than appealing texture. But during this quarantine period, I did some reading from Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen and decided to give beans another chance - my way. Below is my first success story of flavorful brothy beans and a riff on them for a marinated cold bean condiment option. Both are delicious and I ate them all within three days. Let me know what your favorite ways to eat beans are!

It’s my birthday!

I love carrot cake. It’s always been my mom’s favorite, and I’ve discovered it’s my favorite, too! I made one for my birthday this year, which I shared with my twin brother, Thomas (safely and distantly). We’ve only been apart for one birthday when he was studying abroad in Australia. I hope we can continue to celebrate together for the rest of our lives. Check out how to make one for yourself below!

Have it all

Hangry Husband and I announced last week that we are expecting our first child, our little dumpling, in October! I couldn’t wait to share the news, and I can’t wait to be a mom. I had a feeling I might be pregnant when I started experiencing extreme HANGER pains in the morning. I typically am a coffee for breakfast kind of person, but it was not an option to skip a filling breakfast during the first few weeks. One of the things I crave most is hearty toasts! I equally love buttery egg toast and avocado toast, so I starting making a hybrid of both on one toast! Here’s how I do it:

Let them eat cake

I saw this cake on Instagram and could not stop thinking about it. Then I realized, “Hey, I could probably make this!” So I did. Hangry husband forgot the funfetti cake mix on the grocery list, so I adapted this recipe from Tasty and made my own! Separating the marshmallows from the grain cereal in the Lucky Charms is a fun activity for your spouse or your children and the reaction from this cake is sure to bring smiles and laughter. I presented my nephew with this colorful creation for this eighth birthday and his eyes were aglow, his toothless smile wide. I hope you and your families enjoy it as much as we did.

The Longer it Sits, the better it gets!

Just because we’re stuck at home, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy seasonal eats! Most farmers markets are still open, and you can even source directly from some farms in the area. Check out Future Harvest’s interactive map of both options here. The markets are practicing safety by enforcing social distancing in lines and picking the items for customers instead of the serve yourself method. Grab some spring things and make a big bowl of this pasta salad to have for lunch during the week, which gets even better the longer it hangs out in the fridge!

Snap. Crackle. Crunch. Quarantine.

Well, we are two weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic self isolation in Washington, DC. It’s been a very traumatic time for the DC food industry, and the food industry worldwide. I urge you to order take-out or delivery from your favorite restaurants, if they are offering it, or consider buying a gift card to those restaurants and businesses forced to close. Additionally, you can find an online tip jar for our service industry friends here, and an aggregated list of all food and beverage delivery/take-out options in your area here.

For the soul

Ah, chicken soup. It’s a comfort classic with powers of healing and nostalgia. I grew up on Campbell’s Chicken and Stars, and I still find myself reaching for the can when cold season takes me victim. Better than Chicken and Stars? Homemade. If you set yourself up for success, homemade chicken soup is simple and oh so satisfying. I always have homemade stock and some kind of chicken in my freezer, and some sort of hearty vegetables in my crisper. I replaced noodles with zucchini for this version because I find that when I store chicken noodle soup in my fridge for leftovers, the noodles soak up all the broth and I’m left with mushy pasta and no broth. More on this later.*

The perfect recipe to clean out your fridge and pantry

This recipe was inspired by something I read or watched and when I gazed into my refrigerator one evening I realized I had all the makings for this scrumptious Tuscan soup. Just take some vegetables, some sausage, some bread, and some liquid - and voila - dinner is served. Don’t be afraid to mix and match vegetables, herbs, and bread varieties. It really is the perfect dish to use up all those odds and ends collecting in the crisper drawer.

An Autumn Staple

At first glance, butternut squash is super intimidating. Your knife isn't big enough to slice through it; the amount of skin you have to remove is overwhelming - and there are seeds to remove, too!? But really, once you get the hang of it you will be able to prepare butternut squash in your sleep. My secret? Microwave the squash for one minute and then slice off the top and bottom to expose the flesh. Your (sharpened!) knife will slice right through it, and skinning and de-seeding will be a breeze. Here’s how I do it…

Get lit with local spirits

I recently teamed up with one of my favorite local distilleries, Catoctin Creek, and my favorite local mixtress, Gina Chersevani of Buffalo and Bergen, to bring all of you hangry readers the very special recipe for the 🛷Sleigh Ride 🛷 - a cocktail to make all winter long while you’re curled up by the fire watching holiday flicks on FreeForm. If you want to skip the shakin’ and stirrin’, you can sidle up to the bar at B&B and whet your whistle while you people watch.

Eat Your Veggies

How the heck is it mid-August already?! Wasn't it just January!? The older I get, the faster time flies by. To slow time down a bit, I really like to spend my evenings cooking. I'm not the type to make "quick and easy" suppers, because I just enjoy it too much.  One thing I'm kind of obsessive about is keeping my fridge clean. By clean I mean that I like to use all of my fresh ingredients in the fridge before I buy anything else. I hate wasting food, and I hate a cluttered fridge. Because of this, my style of cooking is what I like to call "MacGyver Style," where I take what I have and create something delicious from it.  This is almost always seasonal, and sometimes it turns out better than others.

Chef Remy At Your Service

Are you sick of my summer recipes yet? I just can't get over my love for fresh summer produce that I can pick right outside my door.  This year we have tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, strawberries (someone help), and herbs.  After the BIT of rain we've had, haha, my eggplants all of a sudden exploded and I was able to grab the first few of the ripe tomatoes and peppers as well. With zucchini from my CSA share at Three Part Harmony farm, I figured it was the perfect time to make my quick stove-top ratatouille. You can find the baked version here, if you're trying to impress someone.  I've discovered that I like eggplant more when it's peeled - it gets caramelized and roasty and it's just delicious in this recipe. Defrost a few salmon filets and use up the rest of that pesto reserve for the perfect weeknight dinner. 

Lunch Bunch

One of my most favorite things my mom ever made for me growing up was chicken salad.  It was made with chicken from a can, Miracle Whip, celery, and lots of salt and pepper. She always shredded it so fine and piled it high between two slices of warm toasted bread, crisp iceberg lettuce and a slathering of some mayonnaise product. I lived for this. It was one of the first things I learned how to "make" haha, and I'd make it all the time in college. 

Garden Party

Is anything peak summer more than warm tomatoes and cucumbers fresh off the vine? Combine that with just picked basil and some Asian flair, and you've got my favorite salad of the summer.  What gives this salad it's Asian panache? Yuzu Kosho. It's a traditional Japanese condiment that packs a powerful salty-spicy-citrusy punch, and I'm completely obsessed with it thanks to Alison Roman and her book Dining In.  Anyway, this is my own recipe and I hope you love it.

Summer's Bounty Amplified

HEY FRANDS! If you live in the District and happen to source locally (cough, cough), you'll probably find yourself with an abundance of kohlrabi and cabbage. Especially now, after all of this gosh darn rain, these cruciferous edibles are growing like weeds. I'm a huge fan of the cruciferous fam, so wanted to create a recipe that really highlighted the flavors of these products, rather than hiding them.  Behold my light and snappy kohlrabi and green apple slaw made completely out of my haul from the Three Part Harmony CSA share.  It's bright, crisp and refreshing - using minimal ingredients that just get better the longer they marinate in the fridge.

Weeknight Recipe to the Rescue!

I love shrimp.  I always want it, I always order it at restaurants, and I wish I could eat it every day.  There's just something luxurious and sweet about them, I will never get sick of shrimp. One of my favorite things about shrimp, is that it cooks SO quickly. If you buy deveined, peeled shrimp, you can whip something up with those suckers in a matter of minutes. Keep reading for my quick and delicious shrimp dinner!

Get off your roost and roast!

Ok, folks, it’s 2018 and you need to learn to roast perfect f#$%ing chicken already. The time has come for you to put down that dry rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (yes, even the one from Costco…and I LOVE Costco), and learn how to roast your own bird.  It takes literally 15 minutes of prep and will taste SO. MUCH. BETTER.

It's easy as pie!

For some reason, I used to be extremely intimidated to make my own pizza at home.  However, since meeting hangry bf, his mom has sent us all the tools necessary to create America's favorite food. With her recipe in hand I tackled the challenge of making pizza at home. Guess what? It's INCREDIBLE easy and not scary at all! 

Crispy AF

I'm all about a flavorful recipe that utilizes affordable cuts of meat and healthy-ish accompaniments, especially for week-night suppers. I stumbled across this Bon Appétit recipe that highlights the splendor of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs -- a favorite protein of mine.  Upon discovering it was a one-pan meal with minimal items to prep, I was hooked.  

Take your lunch break.

It's 11:55am and I'm slugging away at my desk job in the beautiful neighborhood of Chevy Chase, DC. We've all been there and we typically have have two thoughts....Click the picture to keep reading to find out what they are.

A Cocktail Party Classic

What's better then smelling a whiff of hot roasted nuts? (That's what she said?!) In all seriousness though, I am an absolute addict to spiced roasted nuts, and find that there's no better time to make them than for the holidays!  This cocktail snack can be made weeks in advance and is the perfect thing to set around your house while entertaining guests.  They're sweet, savory, spicy and completely addicting.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This Arm Work Out is Worth It

Read this first: CHOP EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU START TO COOK THIS ONE! This is a hands-on, all-in, no rest for the wicked type of recipe. If you stop stirring, it will burn. If you stop mixing, it will burn. If you stop combining, it will burn. Do you see a pattern here? This recipe is all about the steady flow of ingredients in and out of the pan to create a decadent sauce teaming with flavor. Are mushrooms really worth all this work, you ask? All I can say is, YES. And don't forget to pour yourself a glass of wine, I mean liquid motivation, before you start chopping. You're going to need it. 

Curiously Craveable 

I've been attempting a Whole 30/paleo diet the past few weeks and things are going GREAT. I feel great, I've lost some weight, I'm super motivated, and I'm a lot less lethargic. The one thing saving me from my carboholic tendencies? POTATOES.  My absolute favorite new potato recipe are these chile lime sweet potato fries. They take less than 10 minutes to prepare and they're ready in 40 minutes, with no mess from a deep fryer. Keep reading for this completely addicting recipe...

Seasonal. Summer. Succulence.

This recipe is out of control seasonal with all of the happy summery things that are ripening up this month.  For me, this bright, refreshing dish was sourced almost completely locally from my home garden and my CSA share with Three Part Harmony Farm, which is only three miles from my house.  I utilized the juicy, sweet, fruits in a savory component as a salsa -- adding spicy jalapeño, zesty summer basil, crisp white corn, and tangy red wine vinegar.  All of these summer fruits and vegetables work extremely well together, as do most things that grow together during a season.  I topped some buttery salmon with the sweet and spicy salsa, but it's also great with chips, on a grilled cheese, or even as a taco condiment! The best part about this dish is that you only have to turn on your oven for 15 minutes and no other heat is needed, so you can stay cool in this insanely hot DC heat wave!  Let me know how you like the salsa best using #hangrydistrict!

Date Night!

Each Wednesday, hangry bf and I choose recipes from some of my many cookbooks to make for date night! It not only makes my insane collection of cookbooks seem reasonable, but it's also really fun to cook together once in a while.  He does much better with a written recipe than my MacGuyver style cooking off the cuff. Last week we chose The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt and picked recipes that could utilize our pork chops from Liberty Delight Farms and a whole mess of green beans.  The result?  Succulent maple, mustard, Bourbon pork chops with crisp beans tossed with olives and almonds.  Try it for yourself with the recipe below!

Fancy Leaves

Making creative salads is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen.  The combinations are endless, and I typically feel really good about my decision to make and/or eat a salad.  That said, making salads can be one of the most time consuming dishes to make in the kitchen.  Each element of the salad usually requires some sort of preparation, whether it's roasting, chopping, mixing, seasoning, etc.  But the pay off sure is worth it.  One of my new favorite salad ingredients is roasted beets that have been slightly pickled.  I love the combination of beets and apples, so I created this show stopping salad and have been serving it at parties and catering events ever since.  It's got all the things a salad needs:  acid, fat, crunch, sweetness, leaves and salt.  I got the winning "Yum" of approval from none other than my mom, a cook's toughest critic, so you should feel confident in this salad choice!

Veg Out

Spring has sprung in DC!  I think? Hopefully we're finally in the clear from random snow storms, freezing weather and the fear of our gardens dying overnight. So, in honor of my favorite season, I whipped up this quick and easy meatless quinoa bowl utilizing farm fresh eggs from Liberty Delight Farms, herbs from Three Part Harmony Farm, and micro greens from Little Wild Things City Farm.  Enjoy!

Be the Brunch Hero

One of my favorite breakfast/brunch staples is the frittata – a fluffy egg pie that can be stuffed with any ingredient combination you can dream up.  Forget making omelettes to order or poaching eggs for a crowd, just pop this baby in the oven and get your mimosa on with your friends! Frittatas are delicious, impressive, and surprisingly easy AF to whip up.  Here’s my recipe for a loaded veggie frittata so decadent you’ll never miss the meat.  Don’t be intimidated – it will be egg-cellent (groan).

Spread on the Love

Have you ever had a linzer cookie?  They are delicate and flaky with lots of butter, a hint of lemon, and the crunch of ground almonds. What's even more EXTRA is that they are a sandwich cookie! Traditionally stuffed with jam, I turn things up a notch with a homemade chocolate ganache option. These cookies are probably my favorite sweet of all time, so I decided to make them myself - jam variety for me and mom, chocolate ganache for hangry bf and dad.  Treat yourself to these decadent cookies for Fat Tuesday before the fasting begins!