From the Little Yellow Kitchen | 2011 | April

April 12th, 2011

Curry, Falafel, Floats, and Fun

by Lauren

Last week was full of food blog discoveries. We developed quite a list of “to make” items and this Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry was at the top of the list. We first noticed the recipe on Tasty Kitchen but the original comes from Salt and Paprika. Check out her site or TK to see the recipe!

Okay, okay, so we definitely did not wait the full 5 hours for this baby to cook slowly. It was more like 1.5 on high, oops. However, it still packed a mean curry punch!

Please serve with a crisp white wine to top it off appropriately.

This weekend I headed to Orange County to visit Chris. That boy loves root beer and vanilla ice cream possibly as much as he loves me, possibly more – yes, probably more.

So when Jessica posted her Root Beer Float Cupcakes I knew exactly what our Friday night was going to consist of. We ~~drank~~ ~~ate~~ guzzled a lot of this:

Chris did this.

Inappropriate, right?

Maybe I’m just a little bitter he slurped up my favorite part.

On Saturday we played tennis and went on the swings at the park by his house. Nostalgia at its finest.

Did anyone else try to swing really high so you could flip over the bar? After a childhood full of attempts at that I’ve discovered it’s probably not possible.

We also took a 9 mile bike ride to the beach. Up hill both ways. No, really. It was. And Chris didn’t warn me.

Did I mention that I was on my 1981 10-speed? Yup, a vintage keepsake.

Did I mention he has a new 26-speed mountain bike? He didn’t even break a sweat.

I’m sore in places I didn’t even know exist.

Ya, that’s my mansion you see in the background. No big deal.

We packed a little homemade falafel for our beach picnic too! The recipe was from one of my favorite newly discovered blogs: Can you stay for dinner? Andrea is hilarious, takes fab pictures and clearly has great recipes. And yes, Andrea. I can stay for dinner, thanks for the invite! Smile

Little falafel patty. So delicious.

We drizzled a little non-fat plain yogurt on there for a little extra somethin’ somethin’. It was a good addition and I highly recommend it.

I did forget the feta though. Aye. Get this super simple recipe here!

A Very Happy Happy Hour

Spending a weekend apart required much catch up between Chrissy and I.

Catch up requires happy hour, right? Right.

Yesterday, Chrissy and I hit up one of our favorite happy hours, Flemings 5,6,7 deal!

5 appetizers and 5 wines, $6 each, before 7pm.

By appetizer I mean giant, juicy, blue cheese bacon burger and crispy onion rings.

And fancy shmancy shrimp cocktails.

Best happy hour around if I do say so myself. I owe the credit to my mom and dad for discovering this hidden gem!

What did everyone else do this weekend?? Any food blog recipe discoveries we should know about? How about delicious San Diego happy hours?

P.S. For those of you who are far too gullible, that is definitely not my mansion in the picture above!

From the Little Yellow Kitchen,

Lauren

Posted in Dessert, Dinner, Just for fun, Lunch, Recipes | 3 Comments »

Tags: beach, biking, curry, falafel, happy hour, links, recipe

April 12th, 2011

Rosemary Turnip and Candy-Striped Beet Chips

by Chrissy

Even after we made those tasty Turnip and Potato Hash Browns to use up some Turnips, there were still many left to use! This weekend Lauren went home and I went up to Ventura, to stay with my awesome sister & brother-in-law duo, Jen and Josh. They are the most hospitable and fun couple on this planet. We cooked some super gourmet meals and desserts—to be shared at a later time, so stay tuned. While Jen and I were planning dinner, we were snacking on some Terra-Chips from TJ’s. As we were reading the ingredients to the chips, we realized that they were all root vegetables! We immediately realized how we could use the turnips that I brought with me: turnip chips! Jen had some raw candy-striped beets from her CSA box, so we thought a combination of the two would be a great crispy chip combo.

They were amazing. When we flipped them, it was so hard to put them right back in the oven. We wanted to eat them up! So if you are ever stuck with some root vegetables, always know that besides soup, mashed potatoes or hash browns, you can make really good chips!

Check out how we prepared them!

First clean and peel.

Then, either slice by hand, or with the food processor. This recipe will have a super quick prep time, if you decide to go with the latter.

The add the rest of the ingredients, and toss. Then lay flat on the foil-covered cookie sheet and pop in the oven to get crispy. Turn them over halfway!

Wow, they sure did get golden, crispy and super tasty! The turnip and beet flavors really come through with the help of the olive oil and seasoning.

The vibrant candy-stripes are almost invisible. The beets are a great balance because their peppery and slightly bitter taste becomes much less harsh. You’ll see.

*Little Yellow Note: Shredded parmesan cheese would probably be a tasty addition to these crunchy rosemary chips.

Rosemary Turnip and Candy-Striped Beet Chips

Ingredients:

4 or 5 turnips, peeled and thinly sliced
3 candy-striped beets, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400
Wash, peel and thinly slice turnips and candy-striped beets. For quick results, use a cuisinart food processor with the slice-blade.
Transfer onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Lightly, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Toss together and arrange in a single layer.
Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, then turn them over and let cook another 10-20 minutes, or until they have reached the desired crispiness. (ovens may have variable temperatures, so cook times may differ).