Dill Butter and Salad Dressing

It's been a while blog, it's been a while. Apparently medical school is just as time-consuming as everybody made it out to be--shocker! Well, I was a little. I was surprised by how quickly the day goes by, how I will how generally choose studying over everything else, and how quickly time moves.

It's amazing...I've been in medical school for nearly 2 months and now (as of 10 minutes ago) taken an exam in every core subject that I have. It's a bit crazy to think about. I think I've been pretty good at maintaining my stress level, but this weekend threw me for a loop. It was weird, I lashed out at people I love more than I normally would, which made me feel terrible, which made me not happy, which made me study more furiously, which made me not want to study period.

It's a vicious cycle I tell you, vicious. But a learning experience nonetheless. It was important for me to once again realize that medical school was not life, it's just medical school. Yes, it's stressful, yeah, it's a lot of things to learn, but it's not the number one most important thing in the world.

However, my mental health, which largely depends on the happiness of those I love and my own sanity, is the most important thing in the world.

It's only going to get harder from this, so learning to stay calm, not lash out at those closest to me, and realizing again that hey, other people have stuff happening in their lives too. Whether it's objectively as hard as what I am doing doesn't matter, it's stuff, and it's important, because it's their stuff. So this is my note to myself to get over myself, and keep that calm that I've spent years, years, building. After all, it's just school.

Now...a recipe! So I've recently become a little enamored with dill. I use it in salad dressing, mix it into butter (courtesy of some great dill butter sandwiches from Sonali), mix it with olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper to make a pasta sauce...basically in anything.

But I don't have a ton of time to cook unfortunately, so my new obsession is the EarthBound Herb Puree. Sounds odd, but it's amazing, and it lasts a LONG time. Try it, and you'll love it--it'll jazz up any regular old salad dressing, oh hey, like the one below.

Dill Dressing

0.25 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
A squeeze of the dill puree (about 1 tbsp)
Salt and pepper to taste

**Optional: a splash of heavy cream or a small spoonful of sour cream or non-flavored yogurt to make it creamy**

Which all these things together and in a small bowl, and drizzle on top of salad, pasta, bread, or just use it to marinade veggies! 

Green Eggs

Let me tell you about my allergies. I have never really had them before. In Arizona, allergies aren't crazy because it's too hot, and in Boston...well, I don't know why I didn't have bad allergies in Boston. But good heavens, in San Antonio...it's a whole new world! 


I didn't have allergies last year, but then again 2011 was the hottest year on record for Texas, as we went through a severe drought. This year, rain galore! And the flowers are out in full force showing off their pretty little petals. Me, thinking I'm immune, have taken no precaution against allergies. I drove with the windows down, kept the doors open, walk amongst flowers, etc. 

Key example: Tyler and I at the botanical gardens eating a picnic lunch (hence why his mouth is full of food), and inhaling all the demon pollen. But the flowers were pretty!

PSC, poor stupid child, that's what Tyler calls me. I came home earlier this week and proclaimed that I was getting sick...my nose was stuffy, my head hurt, and my eyes were all watery. He patiently informed me that I was suffering from allergies...and boy does it suck. 

The week was...hell-ish to go through, with me frequently telling my students that I needed them to whisper because my head hurt that much...but the weekend was great. I literally spent all of Saturday in bed with Tyler reading books, relaxing, using a Neti Pot (they work!), and drinking lots of water. Brilliant! On such days, it's quite important to have a easy go-to snack that is healthy and filling...ergo, green eggs! 

Basically, it' a hardboiled egg with cilantro pesto on top. Quite tasty, quite easy to make all the stuff ahead of time, and just keep it in your fridge as a go-to. 


Green Eggs


Cilantro Pesto


If you're not a fan of cilantro, feel free to replace any hearty green. I've done this with baby spinach, dandelion green, etc.


2 bunches of cilantro 
3 cloves of garlic 
0.25-0.5 cups of grated parmesan cheese (honestly, you can either grate your own, or if you're short on time, use the Krafts pre-grated kind of fake parmesan) 
2 tsp. lemon juice or white vinegar
0.25 cup olive oil 
salt and pepper to taste


Wash the bunches of cilantro and trim off the ends, so you have mostly the green leaves. Place them in a food processor and pulse a few times. Then add in the garlic cloves and turn it on to full-blast. Then add in all the rest of the ingredients. Taste and adjust as desired. This keeps in the fridge for about a week and a half, and in the fridge for month. I make it in large batches and just unfreeze it when I need it. 


Assembly


Just take a hard boiled egg or a soft-boiled egg, peel the shell, cut it in half, and spoon out a little bit of the pesto on top. This also make a really good party finger food. 


Other Ideas


The pesto makes a good pasta sauce, pizza sauce, spread on sandwiches, salad dressing when thinned out with more olive oil and a little water, or even a good dip for veggies when mixed with some greek yogurt or sour cream. 

Ruby Red Peach Reduction

So we got married. It was fantastic, and everything I thought it'd be. Oddly, I feel the same, and I love it. He's my husband, and I'm his wife. It's simple, and right. I don't feel like writing any more on it quite yet, so maybe later? 

We also just drove along the entire coast of California, from LA where saw the beautificous L and stayed with T's lovely aunt P and her wonderful husband V, they were such wonderful hosts. I left them with the Raspberry White Balsamic Fruit Tart, which I hope they enjoy. Going to LA made me realize how much I love it, it's such a diverse city, you've got everything there. It reminded me a little bit of Boston actually, except much more spread out, with WICKED awful traffic on the 405. 


Anyways, there is not an ugly spot up the coast of California, it's gorgeous...with tons of beach everywhere. My new husband and I had a picnic on a pretty secluded beach while our puppy got very excited about peeing on everything. 

Husband :-) 


Now on to the good stuff. I made a tasty gluten free dessert, without even meaning to make a gluten free dessert. Freaky, no? 

T's parents A and D got tasty Ruby Red peaches from their farmers market, and we had this awesome stuff called goats milk butter, so I figure hey, why not try mixing them?

If you haven't had goats milk butter, well, you're not alone, I had it for the first time last week, and it's great! It has a light, nutty flavor to it, kind of like goats milk, which if you also haven't had straight up, hit up your local Whole Foods and do it up, it's great! 

Anyways, this Ruby Red Peach Reduction as we decided to call it, is a wonderful topping for ice cream or soy ice cream. Even better, take a plain rice cake, top it with this, then add a dollop of creme fraishe or mascarpone and it'll make a wonderful dessert! Or just eat it plain...


...the opportunities are endless...enjoy!


Ruby Red Peach Reduction


1-2 fresh, sweet peaches, sliced
2.5 tbsp. goats milk butter
1.5 tbsp. brown sugar


**Really you can play around with the amount of stuff, adding more or less depending on how you like it** 


In a medium sauce pan over high heat, melt the butter. When it's melted and starting to bubble, add the brown sugar in and whisk it together. Reduce the heat to medium-high. Cook for about 30-45 more seconds. Add in the peach slices, and cook for 1-1.5 min. Then turn off and leave in the pan for another minute. Serve hot!

Raspberry White Balsamic Fruit Tart

The wedding in is 6 days. Sometimes it's hard for me to feel excited about this, and I was scared this would be one of those things. It's not. I'm crazy excited for the wedding. I'm crazy excited to be tied to T- in a legal and love way. 


We have been through so much together over the past 4.6 years. Meeting in college, visiting parents, arguments, cape cod, friends, birthdays, love, happiness, sadness, anger, beauty, weirdness, and overall awesome-ness. I have learned so much, grown so much as a person, and have been very happy. 


I don't think it's going to be a perfect road in any way. I have my problems, T- has his problems, like anyone. But we fit each other well. 


And I'm happy. That's important.

Speaking of things that fit well together, Raspberry White Balsamic Vinegar in fruit tart. It's surprisingly good. I got this recipe from 17andbaking.com, and it's amazing. I modified it a little bit, and I really liked it. 


You'd be surprised how easy and how good this is...I made it in 1.8 short hours. And also managed to make some gluten free chocolate cookies as well (recipe to come!) 

Don't be frightened away by the Raspberry White Balsamic Vinegar requirement. You can make it with regular vinegar also, but in the italian food section of your grocery store, they'll probably have flavored balsamic vinegars. My regular grocery store had rosemary, raspberry, regular, sage, and a few others. Be adventurous! Try rosemary and tell me how it goes. Anyways, I got the this huge bottle for $4.99, so it's not too pricy :-) 

The tartness of the balsamic vinegar blends so well with the creaminess of the custard. Perfection is reached with the texture of the crumbly crust, and the sweetness of the fruit. It's really good. I made it for T-'s parents for this week before the wedding, and I'm reluctant to give it to him. I believe he will steal it out of my fridge though, therefore I must finish this post and guard my fridge...

Raspberry White Balsamic Fruit Tart
modified from 17andbaking.com
Pie Crust


1.25 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp. sugar
0.25 tsp salt
0.5 cups (1 stick) of butter, chilled and cubed
0.75 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1 large egg yellow


Raspberry White Balsamic Vinegar Filling


1.5 tbsp corn starch
4 egg yolks **Reserve the whites for some cookies I'll be posting later**
2 eggs
0.5 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
0.5 cup raspberry white balsamic vinegar
0.75 cup water
0.75 cup sugar
1 stick + 1 tbsp butter (little over 0.5 cup)
Fresh mixed berries for the top


First, turn on some music and have some fun baking. 


Now lets get to the real stuff, preheat oven for 375 degrees to bake the pie crust. In a food processor or a regular bowl if you don't have a food processor, mix together the flour, the salt, and sugar for the crust. Then mix in the butter, until it's tiny little lumps in the flour. Then mix in the vanilla extract, the yolk, and the whipping cream. When it's ready, it should start pulling away from the bowl, or food processor bowl. If it's too dry, add a little more whipping cream, and if it's too wet, then add flour. 


Press it into a tart tin or a pie tin, I did it in a pie tin, so it'll work either way. Then prick it all over with a fork. This is to prevent the formation of bubbles. Refrigerate it for a minimum of 20 minutes, and then toss it into the oven for 15 minutes, and it should turn golden brown. Pull it out and let it cool.


For the custard, whisk together the corn starch and the heavy whipping cream until there are no lumps (you don't want to do it too much otherwise the whipping cream will start to clump...forming well, whipping cream). Then add in the two eggs, mixing until they're just combined, then add in the 4 yolks. Add in the vanilla, then let it sit. 


While its sitting, in a medium saucepan heat the vinegar until its reduced from 0.5 cups to 0.25 cups approximately. Then add in the sugar, and water, and mix it together and allow it to come to a boil. Then pull it off the heat and let it sit for 1 minute off the heat. 


The slowly whisk in the vinegar mixture into the cream mixture. Make sure you add it slowly and you are whisking the whole time. This will prevent the eggs in the cream mixture from cooking. Mix it well, then run it through a sieve/strainer.


Straining it takes away any of the eggs that may have scrambled. Then allow it to sit for about an hour. 


When everything is cool, pour the custard into the pie crust, and stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes to set up. Then top in a pretty pattern with fresh berries! Chill for 2 hours, then serve!

Lemon Curd Recipe + New House

So my parents are here this weekend, and I decided I wanted to make super yummy food for them. Something new and different that I haven't made before...so I decided to make crepes, which are new...BUT I wanted to kick them up with Lemon Curd and homemade chocolate ganache. The lemon curd turned out AMAZING, so I wanted to share that recipe.

Put a pot of water on to simmer, and put a stainless steel bowl or pyrex bowl on top, to make a double-boiler. Have the water simmer, and then put in the following:

--1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
--1 tbsp. lemon zest
--3/4 cup sugar
--3 eggs

Whisk this together continuously for ~10 minutes...it should become thicker.

After that, take it off the heat and add in 4 tbsp. butter (cubed), and whisk it in. Let it cool and you've got yourself some awesome lemon curd that you can put in crepes. If you want a good crepe recipe, check out Laurie's Little Kitchen

Anyways...T- and I have officially moved into the new house, and it is awesome. I love the back porch to eat breakfast in looking at our big backyard, and the front porch to look out at people walking their dogs, cats climbing roofs, kids playing, and cardinals eating seeds. It's got it downsides (the old blinds on a window fell in me the other day...) but overall -- I like not have neighbors above that I can hear, or near me, and coming home to a backyard + garage. It's nice :-)

Right now, I'm going through a life/career crisis...trying to decide between being a doctor and an NP...what to do? I'm having this worry because well...I'm realizing more and more how short life really is, and my desire to spend the first three decades or more in school is limited. Moreover, I have a limited amount of time to spend with the people I love, my parents, T-, my friends, and ultimately the family I have in the future.

I know that after medical school/internship/residency/fellowship etc I will be able to dictate my own schedule and determine what days I want to work and what days I don't want to work.

But the thing is, I don't want to work 3 days a week and call it good. I want to work 4-5 days a week, and have a family, AND get into something bigger and better (policy? education? administration?)

I guess it comes down to...I just don't know. But I'll write when I figure it out.