Karina lost a bet and scallops were met...

A few weeks back my co-worker Jeff and I were suffering through a terribly slow start to our Friday night dinner shift and to keep ourselves motivated, we challenged each other to a serving contest. The first one to sell every dessert on our menu was entitled to a home-made dinner slaved over by the other. I like to think I had it in the bag, but my loyal obsession to one particular dessert was my big downfall and I ended up selling primarily that one over and over as always. Needless to say, I was due in the kitchen.

I found some beautiful organic pesto at a local market, and had a half a head of purple cabbage left over, so I decided to make a pesto and substitute strips of cabbage for noodles. In a food processor, I mixed about 1 1/2 cups washed basil, a cup of cashews, several cloves of garlic, some fresh ginger, salt, olive oil, cayenne and lemon juice. I like my pesto really spicy, so I always add a lot of garlic (no surprise there) but you can definitely tone it down with less. Traditionally pesto has parmesan cheese as well but Jeff and I both tend to stay away from dairy.

I also found some gorgeous scallops while shopping with Ariel, so I decided to make a type of salsa to go on top of them. Since I already had green and purple planned on my plate with the pesto dish, I wanted to find red and yellow produce to use. I was thinking I was going to find strawberries or something to mix with the yellow bell pepper I picked, until I saw a beautiful stem of rhubarb calling my name. I have never cooked much with rhubarb, so I decided this was the perfect chance to start.

I chopped up the rhubarb, bell pepper, garlic and ginger and mixed it with fresh lemon, salt, olive oil, braggs, cinnamon, and agave. I made this salsa hours beforehand so it could soak in the liquids and the tartness of the rhubard would mellow out. It had a sweet, almost pickled flavor by mealtime and Jeff and myself had to stop ourselves from eating it by the spoonful!

Next, I had been craving cooked cauliflower so I bought a lovely head of it and searched for something sweet and orange to add to the growing palate of colors. Thank heavens for kumquat season! I boiled the cauliflower until it was slightly soft and when it was drained and cooled, I began sauteing it with onions, garlic and the sliced kumquats. I added my usual assortment of spices and agave to balance the sweetness and acidity. I simmered this all for quite sometime to make sure the bitterness of the kumquat skins would soften and the cauliflower would be as juicy and flavorful as possible.

Lastly, I moved to the precious sea scallops. I had never cooked scallops on my own before, but I knew that you don't have to do much to them at all. In fact, it would be a crime to mask their natural, succulent flavor with too much spicing or altering. All you need is a really hot pan, butter (or in my case olive oil), maybe a sprinkle of salt any cayenne, and a minute or two on each side until they are golden brown and juicy! I squeezed a slice of lemon over them and flames came up at least 2 feet which added a lot of unexpected excitement to the moment!

Yes, my co-worker was very lucky indeed that I love our restaurant's raw-banana cashew cheesecake so much....

Karina makes garden dogs!

I took a little trip down to Santa Cruz last weekend to visit my big sis, Alia. One of my favorite parts of my SC visits with her, besides the obvious proximity to the beach and her lovely company, is her luscious garden out front...

I was informed right away that my job was to prepare dinner that night, so I immediately went to see what I had to work with. CHARD. Lots and lots of chard. (I'm still so amazed that California offers such beautiful produce even in February!)

I thought of all the ways I've used chard in the past and realized I haven't been incredibly creative besides steaming or sauteing it with other veggies or in soups. I wanted to find a way to keep the fullness of the leaf, almost using it as a wrap, but didn't want the toughness or bitterness that would have dominated the dish if I had left them raw. So I decided to marinate them with a mixture of olive oil, brags, lemon, salt and pepper and set them aside to bake in hopes of reaching a crispy, almost nori-like wrap or "taco-shell."

I have experimented with veggie burgers before, but with the long slender shape of my chard wraps, I decided to try "veggie dogs" to fill the dish.

I bought some delicious, fresh organic beets and boiled them until soft.

I put my beets, a boiled sweet potato, sauteed crimini mushrooms, shallots, and a handful of dates in a blender.

I then added in black beans and gluten-free rice bread.

I continued to experiment and add ingredients to thicken the texture and perfect the taste. I added corn flake crumbs, peanuts, quinoa, corn, salt, pepper, cayenne, avocado, and lemon. When the mixture stopped falling apart and sticking to my fingers completely, I formed four hot dog shapes.

I heated up olive oil on the stove and grilled each side until thick and dark brown on all sides.

I prepared a salsa of my leftover chopped chard stems, avocado, carrots, peanuts, and apples and flavored with lemon, olive oil, agave, chili powder, curry, salt and pepper.

I turned the oven on at 400* and baked the chard leafs for 5-10 minutes on each side until crispy and sturdy but not burnt. They turned out exactly as I hoped, almost like nori, and were incredibly delicious. I prepared a quinoa on the stove and added sweet corn, green chili, salt and cayenne to it once it was cooked.

I put together our garden dogs and we feasted away...The wraps weren't necessarily able to "wrap" around the heavy dogs with out cracking into smaller pieces but they were so amazing we didn't care.

I think I would definitely go to more baseball games if these were the dogs they were offering up! Yum!

Karina Makes Fresh Hummus to Spice Up Leftovers!

I am truly a hummus addict. Besides being a great source of protein, this creamy and satisfying spread takes any savory snack to the next level. I used to spend a fortune buying small containers of hummus, one after another, until my friend Alma shared how simple her mother's recipe was with me.

I had a lot of leftover cilantro that was about to turn, so I'm sharing how I added cilantro the the traditional recipe.

I peeled and smashed several cloves of garlic, washed my cilantro, and sliced a lemon.

I opened a can of organic garbanzo beans and drained them.

I put the garbanzo beans in a blender with 4 or 5 large spoonfuls of tahini (which is ground sesame seed paste).

I added the cilantro, garlic, and salt..

..and squeezed in a few slices of lemon. I added water to make sure the texture was smooth and creamy.

I blended it all and continued to add salt, lemon and water until I got the perfect taste and texture I was looking for.

I have to caution that though my hummus be delicious, it induces fierce garlic breath!

The days after Thanksgiving I was overwhelmed with the amount of leftovers I had, so I whipped up a few improvised snacks to keep me interested.

I toasted some slices of my left over olive bread, and smeared some of my mashed potatoes and fresh hummus on top. I added tomato, sliced raw squash and leftover edamame and enjoyed!

Then one day I added all of my left over mashed potatoes, stuffing and seitan dish and re-heated them in the oven. I bought a head of organic purple cabbage and seperated the leafs to use as fresh wraps instead of tortillas. I made a fresh "salsa" with organic tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, and brought out my trusty hummus.

I brought all the ingredients out to the table and made the best leftover fresh wraps imaginable!

As much as I cursed the leftovers, I miss them now...