Sweet Potato and Pinto Bean Tacos with Kumquat Slaw

This dish came together quickly and easily with ingredients I had on hand! It was inspired by something one of the students at Bauman did for her final presentation. (I've been working as a kitchen manager at Bauman since November) It was fresh, tasty, and oh so filling! Whip yourself up a batch, you won't be sorry! :)

All ingredients are approximate...

Tacos
organic corn tortillas
2 sweet potatoes, small dice
2 cups cooked pinto beans
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 Tbl olive oil
spices of your choice, I used Penzys "Arizona Dreaming", which has ancho, onion, garlic, paprika, lemon peel, chipotle, red pepper, jalapeno, cocoa, & natural smoke flavor flave.
lemon zest
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Slaw
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 cup romaine, shredded
1 cup red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup kumquats, quartered
3 scallions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper

Dressing For Slaw
tahini
olive oil
lemon juice
garlic
tamari
salt and pepper

toasted pistachios, to garnish
fresh cilantro, to garnish

Boil the potatoes in salted water, just until tender. Drain potatoes, return to the pot and stir in garlic, beans, olive oil, and spices. Heat until warmed through, stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.

While potatoes are boiling, prepare the slaw and dressing. Toss to combine.

Place a couple of spoon fulls of potato mixture on top of steamed tortillas, top with slaw, pistachios and cilantro. ENJOY!!

Fusion Recipe Feature from Closet Cooking: Pear Kimchi and Blue Cheese Salad

Pear Kimchi and Blue Cheese Salad

Check out this recipe for pear kimchi and put it on top of a fresh leafy greens, arugula, etc with blue cheese and and the suggested asian sesame dressing in Closet Cooking's spicy recipe. For a quick alternative to homemade, use some MSG free premade kimchi from the grocery store and toss with peeled and roughly chopped asian pears. Enjoy!

Smitten in the kitchen

This past weekend Katie and I were cooking together for the first time in a longtime in her home in Berkeley, CA. We had a blast in the kitchen and out. Cheers to cooking with your loved ones!

Thee best marinara sauce!

I'm gonna go ahead and keep this one simple. This sauce is delicious. It's garlicky. You should make it. It's a teensy bit fussy, but not too bad. I learned the original recipe while I was briefly working as a kitchen assistant in a fancy, upscale kitchen gadget store, that held cooking classes.

This recipe is adaptable to whatever season you find yourself in. In summer, you can skip the canned, tetrapak, or glass packed* tomatoes all together and just use fresh Roma tomatoes. In winter, just go with canned, tetrapak, or glass packed*. I used a combination of both, because fresh tomatoes are, for some reason, still a little on the pricey side here. Once again, I didn't really measure, just wing it, you'll survive. I promise it will still taste good. :)

Bring gardens to the schoolyard!

The Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program with Food Corps. is sponsoring an effort to bring gardening into the academic realm for children. They are granting a total of 2 million dollars towards the cause! 1000 schools will be chosen and granted $2000 to build a garden, or, expand their existing garden. Do all you can to spread the word! Parents and teachers apply for your children's school. Advocates fill out an application for a local school in need of some inspiration. Click here to apply:

Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant

As of August 28, 2011, Whole Kids Foundation has raised over $708,000 for the School Garden Grant Program.

Kids need to learn about the basics of where their food comes from at an early age. This promotes an early understanding and appreciation towards the value of eating healthy, growing your own food, sustainability, enjoying the outdoors and digging in the dirt.

DUDE, WHO POISONED MY FOOD by Trillion

Furikake Soft Pretzels: East Meets West, Philly Meets Hawaii!

Soft Pretzels hold a near and dear place in my heart. I have many memories as a girl buying fresh baked soft pretzels in brown bags served out of a shopping cart on the streets of South Jersey and Philadelphia. This tradition in twisting dough, then baking it to chewy, salted perfection began in the area 150 years ago with the Pennsylvania Dutch in Amish Country. The classic soft pretzel is topped with coarse sea salt and yellow mustard. I decided to experiment with some Pacific influences, including a special Japanese rice seasoning ( furikake) topping. The following is a list of ingredients used to create the topping and mustard:

Raw Vegan Tacos!!!!! Ay Chihuahua!

Sometimes I really do just crave eating things raw. Eating raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc is beneficial due to maintaining the nutrition value in food 100%. The taste of raw foods is so light and refreshing! Adding heat to food through cooking does deplete some health value in the foods that you eat. Consuming only raw foods for a period of time does increase energy levels as well. There are many great ideas out there in the raw food world. Here is one that is simple, entertaining and delicioso!

Click here:


Health Nuts - Raw Tacos from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.


This is an episode of Health Nuts featuring host, Critter Baugh and film by Erik Derman. More exciting and simple concepts in the food world, by surfers for surfers, or other health nuts can be found at Kurduroy.tv. Mahalo for the entertaining cooking videos!

Aloha,

Lauren

Curried Corn & Chard Soup

Eating local, organic, seasonal, and unrefined foods is a way of life for me, and for obvious reasons, summer makes eating a rainbow of foods not only possible, but oh so delicious! I must say that I feel pretty spoiled living here in Northern California, there are multiple farmer's markets just about every day, overflowing with the most gorgeous vegetables, fragrant herbs, and succulent fruits a gal could ask for. The farmer's markets also offer the opportunity to taste some the local food crafters goods, ie; artisinal breads, jams and jellies made from locally grown fruit, and fresh goat cheese from local goats. Actually, the thought of those 3 foods together is making me salivate a little... Even though in California, we do have an extended growing season for lots of varieties of fruits and vegetables, I am of the mind that if something you love to eat is in season, you better gorge enjoy yourself! And so we come to corn! The hubby and I have been doing our part to keep the local farmers in the black with our corn consumption. While the corn here is pretty delicious, I must say, it does seem to pale in comparison to the juicy, sweet corn we get back east, I know, I know, boo hoo for me.

An Ode to the Ahi (Tuna)

Wow, what a lucky gal, living on a small rock, surrounded by the great big sea, I have the pleasures of eating a fresh catch on a regular basis. Most Saturday mornings, I stumble out of bed and head to the neighborhood farmers market which is just a few blocks away. This piece of fish is just one of those gems to be found at the KCC Farmers Market. This Honolulu market is teeming with local fresh grown tropical fruits and veggies, a local cup o' Kona coffee, locally grown chocolate, tempting prepared culinary delights,sea asparagus, honey, fresh cut flowers including ginger, protea, anthuriums, etc...

I had to take a picture of this piece of ahi (tuna) that I picked up at the market just a few weeks ago. You can see how nutritious that piece of fish is by the beautiful sheen and vibrant color!

Muchos mahalos to you, Mr. Ahi Tuna, it is to you who I owe many thanks for providing me with a nutritious and delicious meal!

Aloha!

Alice Waters: 40 years of Sustainable Foods

Check out this great interview on her brand new book featuring the journey of her Sustainable Food mission and Chez Panisse:

Alice Waters: 40 years of Sustainable Foods

"My real emphasis is on the farmers who are taking care of the land, the farmers who are really thinking about our nourishment. I'm looking for them and I know very well that in order to cook something that is really flavorful, you need to have ingredients that are grown in a place where they really thrive and so you're looking to the farmer to plant the right seeds in the right place and care for them, and know when to pick them. That's 85 percent of cooking is about finding those ingredients and then it's so easy after that. You just let them be themselves."

Kitchen Couture

Sisterhood in the kitchen

Although separated by the miles, there are some common goals/ rules, as sisters in the kitchen, that we share:

Primarily, cook with love, health and good intention. Secondarily, use the freshest local ingredients possible, be creative with seasonings and flavors, don't be afraid to try something new, yet keep tradition close to your heart. Lastly, drink wine, never whine.

Katie and I have had separate yet both equally as amazing culinary adventures. We hope to bring these together by sharing with you these exploits of different recipes and their stories, the history of our culinary "upbringing", inspiring "backyard meets global cuisine", the never tiring trek for the best local foods from both Honolulu and the Bay area, and the inspiration to cook and share a meal with friends and family.

"May all your meals melt mouths!" ( Emily M.)

Aloha!

Lauren

Here we go...

Hello and welcome to our blog!

Lauren and I were wanting a place to share recipes, pictures, thoughts and mostly a place to talk about all things food related! We wanted to be able to share some of our creative endevors with our families and friends back east. So, we hope you enjoy what we have to offer and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Peace and Love to all,
Katie B & Lauren A