Lets face it, we all get stuck in food ruts. Seared salmon on top of mixed greens has been my fast and healthy go-to dinner for far too long. Time to shake things up! Of course like anyone, saying one thing and doing another can be challenging when you work full time, have a family or planning within a budget.

1. Make it Easy on Yourself
You don’t have to get all Martha on everyone and make every single meal from scratch, complete with hand-sewn napkins. Obviously, that would be pretty cool, but maybe you should work up to that. You can still buy a pre-made roasted chicken at the store on the way home, but instead of serving rotisserie chicken as is, cut off the meat and put it in a panini or toss it with a vegetable-packed salad.

2. But I Love Spaghetti Every Night…
Really? Okay, no one is going to blame you, but you might want to mix it up a little bit- what about adding some sauteed peppers or throw in some olive and capers for a little puttanesca inspiration? Try a different sauce or put that irresistable tomato sauce on a grilled chicken breast or roasted eggplant.

3. Plan Ahead
Doesn’t someone telling you to plan ahead sound super bossy and for some of us, unrealistic? I get that. Honestly though, doing one thing like throwing flank steak into a quick marinade the night before or prepping one thing for tomorrow’s dinner while you are throwing tonight’s dinner together doesn’t add up the hours, 15 minutes maybe. Have an office refrigerator? Cooler in your car? If you get a long lunch break, you can save a trip to the grocery store after work, by going on your lunch break.

4. Buy a New Kitchen Tool to Experiment and Force Yourself to Try Something New
Nothing makes you think outside the box more than purchasing a fun new kitchen tool. You don’t even need to splurge on a Vitamix to stir things up. Even buying something as cheap as a potato peeler that has fun ridges on the sides or even purchasing a panini press from the Goodwill will help inspire you to write up a different shopping list.

5.  Use Resources Right Around You
If you are grabbing lunch at a restaurant, don’t just read the menu for what you are eating now, see what else looks appetizing and try and replicate it yourself for dinner later on in the week. Ask all your friends, your mom and your co-workers what they are making for dinner, sometimes the simplest ideas are buried underneath all your creative brainstorming. And lastly, nothing is more inspiring for getting you out of your food rut by reading food blogs. They are overflowing with ideas and they are all cooked by real people who are not trying to sell you something!

Here are a just a couple of food blogs to check out:

Steamy Kitchen
Roots and Grubs
Cooking with Amy

Above Photo by: Gudlyf

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Salads • Technique • Uncategorized • kitchen equipment • quick and easy • tools	6 Comments
Tags:	cooking inspiration • food blog • food rut • quick and easy

Open your fridge. Can you tell the exact history of where one item came from? Eating local doesn’t seem like a hard challenge until you start thinking about it. Last Sunday night, a group of us got together and cooked a meal that was made almost entirely with local ingredients. The best part of it all was that we didn’t intentionally mean to have a dinner made completely of locally sourced ingredients, but once we realized we had the beginnings of one, we made it our goal to get as a close as we could to a completely local dinner.

When you start learning where your food really comes from, you learn how much labor, transportation and energy and resources go  into everything you eat. Eating local doesn’t just mean you help out the farmers, gardeners and butchers in your area, you are also saving other costs that add up, including energy, gas, storage and other hidden resources used to get those items off a truck and onto a shiny display. Challenge yourself to make it a personal goal to eat one thing at one meal a day that is sourced locally, not only will you feel good, believe me, it will taste better!

The Menu

Locally Caught Salmon with Lemon, Herb Butter: The salmon was caught locally by my friend Neil. Oregano, thyme and dill all from Washington state. Our splurge was the lemon, salt and pepper and olive oil, purchased from the grocery store.

All Blue Potato Salad with Fresh Dill: The all blue potatoes came from a farm that I was apprenticing at, about 20 miles away. Fresh dill and a sweet onion came from the Ballard Farmer’s market that morning. Our splurge was purchased Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and salt and pepper.

Summer Corn and Tomato Salad: The corn, basil and sweet onion came from the farmers market. The tomatoes were grown in my garden. Our splurge was olive oil, red onion and salt and pepper.

Winter Greens with Garlic and Lemon: The Swiss chard, kale and collard greens were all from the Ballard farmer’s market, our splurge was olive oil, lemon, garlic- (although it should have been bought at the farmer’s market), and Parmesan Reggiano.

Katy’s Blackberry Pie with Lemon Verbena Infused Fresh Whip Cream: The blackberries were purchased at the farmer’s market, the whip cream was from a Washington state organic creamery and the lemon verbena was from my friend Katy’s lemon verbena plant. Our splurge: organic pie crust from PCC, lemon juice, purchased spices.

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Categories:	American • Baked Goods • Cooking tips • Fish & Seafood • Organic • Salads • Uncategorized • Vegetarian • Veggies • desserts	5 Comments
Tags:	all blue potatoes • blackberry pie • corn salad • eating local • eating local in the northwest • salmon • winter greens

This week we are recognizing Mommy (and one Daddy) bloggers who, through their hard blogging work, have helped many a parent put a quick dinner together, provide laundry tips, and teach us shortcuts for making school lunches. Mommy and Daddy blogs offer more than just useful parenting and cooking tips, they are also the voice of a community.

Just as informative as reading news blogs, and as addictive as a gossip column, mommy bloggers are an inspiration to new mothers and experienced grandmothers alike. With all the gorgeous food photography and delicious recipes, you don’t have to be a parent to appreciate this week’s featured food blogs.

Just to kick things off, here are some quick and easy menu ideas for the week!

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Categories:	Pasta & Grains • Salads • Uncategorized • for Kids • quick and easy	Leave a Comment
Tags:	cooking for kids • daddy bloggers • Mommy bloggers

Grilling lettuce usually isn’t the first thing to come to mind when putting together your barbecue menu. But grilled Romaine lettuce is worth giving a go. The tender leaves obtain a slight smokey flavor and become delicately sweet. Leave the halved hearts on the grill just long enough to get a nice little char on their outer leaves while retaining a crispness in their center. Drizzle with Barnaby’s fabulous and healthy no-egg Caesar dressing, some unseasoned croutons and shavings of Parmesan. The perfect year-round salad.

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Categories:	Salads	Leave a Comment
Tags:	caesar salad • grilled lettuce • grilled romaine • grilling • salad

Sometimes you don’t want to wait six weeks for the sweet tangy brine of your  homemade pickles. That’s when you make a quick pickle. My personal favorite are pickled shallots. In less than two hours, you have yourself a sweet and crunchy condiment for your next burger or sandwich or a marriage made in heaven tossed with a fresh cucumber salad.

Other quick pickle recipes to check out:

Quickly Pickled Green Beans By Pickle This.com

Quick Pickled Asparagus By Group Recipes

Quick Pickled Red Onions by Molly Wizenberg

Above Photo by feministjulie

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Categories:	Salads • Technique • Uncategorized • Vegetarian • Veggies • condiments • quick and easy	1 Comment
Tags:	condimnet • pickled • pickled shallots • preserves • relish

Just this last weekend, I catered a party with one of my close chef friends, Kristen Schumacher.  For me, there is nothing more fun than geeking out over cook books while planning a dinner party menu, especially when your co-chef is also a fan of local and seasonal cooking and  not afraid of experimentation. In the summer months, ingredient options seem endless and with a little bit of inspiration, ordinary ingredients can be transformed into delicious dishes.  Given the small size of the group, (nine) and a good budget, we were able to focus on ingredients and take extra care for plating. For the salad course we tossed arugula and finely chiffonade sorrel with a honey citrus vinaigrette and topped each salad with shaved pecorino, chive blossoms and a soft-boiled duck egg sprinkled with black Hawaiian sea salt. Since a soft-boiled duck egg is one of my favorite foods, I couldn’t wait to share this dish with you all.

Here was the rest of the menu:

Appetizers
Dragon Roll  (sushi of unagi, cucumber, seaweed, avocado and toasted sesame seeds)
Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadew Peppers
Amuse Bouche
Balsamic Pork Belly Skewers with Caramelized Figs
Salad
Arugula  and Sorrel Salad with Soft Boiled Duck Egg Sprinkled with Black Hawaiian Sea Salt
Shaved Pecorino Cheese,  Chive Blossoms, Honey Citrus Vinaigrette
Intermezzo
Mango sorbet with Kaffir Lime and Mint Simple Syrup topped with Borage Flowers
Main
Marinated Grilled Flank Steak with Basil Chimchurri
Heirloom Tomatoes, herb mash
Dessert
Grilled Pound Cake with Mike and Gene’s Berry Farm Sauce
Grilled stone fruit, local cream freshly whipped

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Categories:	American • Cooking tips • Entertaining • Salads • Sauces • Technique • Uncategorized • desserts • eggs	1 Comment
Tags:	Dinner party • duck eggs • summer menu

I was perusing through some of Julia Child’s great cookbooks last night and came upon her recipe for Basic Vinaigrette Dressing. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m horrible at making salad dressing. If it extends beyond a good oil, a splash of lemon juice, and some salt, I’m afraid I tend to fail miserably. Inevitably it comes out too vinegary or just simply lacking in flavor. Salad dressing should be easy, right!? I can create a beautiful cassoulet, a lovely osso bucco, delicate homemade pasta, even fresh sushi. But a simple salad dressing? Not my forté. I usually pass the task on to Barnaby.

So, I’m turning a new leaf (pardon the salad pun), grabbing the oil and vinegar bottles by the <er> horns, and approaching this salad dressing business with a new attitude.

I..will..master..the..vinaigrette!

Who better than to show me the way than our friend Julia Child. I followed her Basic Vinaigrette recipe and minced scallions, mixed in some Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt, some vinegar and lemon juice, a really good olive oil, and a few healthy cracks of fresh black pepper. I gave it all a little vroom! vroom! with the immersion blender and voilà, the perfect vinaigrette. Like Julia says, you can always add more vinegar or lemon but you can’t take it out. I spooned some into the salad bowl, added my just-snipped-from-the-garden baby lettuces, and gave it all a toss. A bit of lemon zest gave it a fresh snap of flavor.

I think Julia would have been proud.

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Categories:	Author • Chefs • Cookbooks • Cooking tips • French • Salads • Sauces • condiments	5 Comments
Tags:	Dijon • julia child • lemon • salad dressing • Salads • vinaigrette

Julia Child week continues at Foodista! Last night I prepared Julia’s appetizer of Mussels Marinated in Oil and Herbs. I was looking to cook something quick and delicious and slightly off the beaten path of weeknight dinners. If you are a shellfish fan like I am, you’ll love it. Fresh herbs, vermouth and sweet mussel meat creates one tasty dish! Although created as an appetizer, these herb-y mussels would be perfect added to a salad with some scallops or shrimp or just added to a light angel hair pasta.

Love mussels? Here are three other mussel recipes that I’m planning to make in the near future.
Sausage and Mussel Soup with Kale From imafoodblog

Cedar Planked Mussels From Steamy Kitchen Food Blog

Moules Fromage Bleu From Laura’s Best Recipes Blog

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Categories:	Fish & Seafood • French • Herbs • Salads • Shellfish • Uncategorized • quick and easy	2 Comments
Tags:	appetizer • Herbs • julia child • mussels • Shellfish

When I was a kid I hated black licorice and subsequently anything anise-flavored. Fortunately I was too young to drink Ouzo, but my mother thought it was a darn shame that I didn’t like licorice. Like most people, as I aged my taste buds changed and I developed a passion for the flavor of anise. Ouzo, Sambuca, fennel, and yes…black licorice (mmm, Good N’ Plenty!)

If you’re a fennel fan (that alone is fun to say), you’ll love this easy and delicious coleslaw. To me, plain old cabbage slaws are too often boring, drenched in mayo, or both. This version has the lovely sweet crispness of fennel and the creaminess of Greek yogurt. For best results, allow it to macerate a bit in the fridge before the final dressing. But if the natives are restless you can serve it immediately and still earn two thumbs up.

Click below for the recipe:

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Categories:	Salads • Veggies	Leave a Comment
Tags:	anise • cabbage • coleslaw • fennel • salad • summer salad • vegetable

My Aunt Dolores always makes this wonderful pasta salad for her barbecues and I’m adding it to my repertoire this summer as well. It doesn’t really have a name, so I’ll call it Mediterranean Pasta Salad, as it contains a lot of the yummy goodness from that region: Kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, Balsamic vinegar… It’s slightly different each time, depending on what ingredients you happen to have around. The shape of the pasta can change too, though it’s best to use a variety that can “hold” the dressing otherwise it will dry out too quickly.

In this case, I happened to have some nice broccoli flourets on hand, some lovely ripe tomatoes, fresh tarragon, and a beautiful red onion. For the dressing, mix in a bit of aioli (mayonnaise can be used) to coat but not drench the noodles. This will give it a nice creaminess. Then add Balsamic vinegar, some sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, and mix well. Adjust to your personal tastes: if you want it creamier, add more aioli; richer, add more Balsamic. Toss in a bit of extra virgin olive oil before serving for added flavor.

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Categories:	Italian • Mediterranean • Salads • Sauces	Leave a Comment
Tags:	Italian • Mediterranean • pasta salad • salad • side dishes