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Check Out My [Paleo] Buns

2 Dec

LambBurgers6There’s been a heck of a lot going on at the Tiny Kitchen household, and I haven’t been experimenting with paleo recipes as much as I’ve wanted to. Until this week. I knew we were going to have lamb burgers, and even though I’d saved a big, beautiful collard green leaf from my bi-weekly basket from Alegría Farms, I was wanting a bun.LambBurgers3

Yes, a BUN. You know, to wrap your burger around and soak up all the flavors. Unlike the gluten-free gang, I can’t use rice flour, and definitely not cornmeal. So then I got an idea—I know, it’s shocking, but there you go. I’d seen a recipe for paleo scones and I thought: Hey, maybe a few scones could work like a burger bun! And I’ve got that muffin-top pan…god knows why I bought that thing, but it’s going to come in handy today.

But then I got smart and checked out a great savory muffin recipe at Simply Living Healthy (which has now become my new favorite blogger). EUREKA! Continue reading →

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Chicken Biryani—Paleo Style

22 Sep

I think my long-standing readers know my Indian food obsession by now, so don’t worry—I won’t be blathering on about how much I love it, how important it is to toast and grind your own spices, and how delicious it is.

But a main component of Indian food is rice, especially if you can’t have naan bread to soak up all the delectable saucy goodness of a good curry. And saddest of all, I recently found out my stomach is not happy with poppadums, made from chickpea flour, and I have had a hard time coming to terms with this. It’s certain that The Husband had nothing to do with it, because if he could control my digestion, he could. But I did think it for a minute, since he’s never been a fan of chickpeas! Continue reading →

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The Asada Treatment

29 Jul

So it must be pretty obvious by now that The Husband and I like a few things, namely spicy food, grilling and drinking. We like entertaining and having friends over, and the grill (and the Southern California weather) are pretty perfect foils for that.

Recently I found a carne asada recipe that I decided to tweak and use for marinating a whole chicken. “Carne” means meat, right, not necessarily beef, so I thought it would work. And boy, did it. I butterflied that chicken and let it sit for a day before throwing it on the grill, and everyone was happy! Continue reading →

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Pork Burgers and Green Bean Fries

28 Jul

We are usually addicted to bison burgers on a Friday night—they’re just so good we can’t seem to deviate. Until that Friday when there was no bison to be had at the Whole Foods. PANIC! I called The Husband to see if he wanted a turkey burger, which he initially poo-pooed until he realized he had no choice.

Then I spotted the ground pork—hey, I could mix the ground turkey with the pork to give it more flavor! No, said The Husband. I want an all-pork burger. And so he shall, I decided, but of course I need to make it spicy like my bison burgers. So off to the chili section for some serranos, and the store actually managed to have some jalapeño-cheddar burger buns. Result! Grab some arugula and we’re good to go. Continue reading →

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Another Indian-Spiced Sunday Roast Chicken

11 Mar

I know I bang on about toasting your own spices all the time. And I’m not apologizing, because if you don’t, you miss out on a fantastic range of flavors. I was very happy to see a fellow blogger find this out on her own recently (Violets and Cardamom) when she went to a Peruvian cooking course. Her own recipes look amazing, and I can’t wait to try a few.

But I digress. The other weekend I was a bit lazy and decided to grab the panch phoron, or “Bengali five-spice”, instead of coming up with my own spice mix. I did still toast those spices to maximize their flavor, but because of the fenugreek I used the coffee grinder (which has now become the dedicated spice grinder).

It was a lovely lazy option, because soon the house filled with a delicious smell as I mixed the spices Continue reading →

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Pasadena, Parrots and Halibut at Home

22 Feb

This past Saturday, my friend Heather, her two cherubs and I jumped into her car for a trip up to Pasadena and the Norton-Simon museum. I had not been there since I was about her oldest’s age, about 9, and have wanted to return ever since.

Pasadena is certainly not just up the road from South Orange County, but it didn’t take us too long to get there, and with only one “Are we there yet?” from the back seat. Pretty nice going, if you ask me. I left them at the entrance waiting to be collected for the craft event and swung into the main gallery. I asked one of the staff if it was true—could I really take photos? He said yes, but no flash ever. That I could handle. Continue reading →

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Cilantro Garlic Chicken Under A Brick

16 Oct

These chickens from Lydia at the farmer’s market—yes, I finally found out her name—are freaking amazing. We have been getting one a week, and last weekend we found a magic combination of herbs and spices that just made the chicken sing. Not literally. That would be weird.

Mmmm....it's hard not to eat the whole thing in one sitting! But we didn't. I swear.

Last night we had a great opportunity to try the recipe out again, and on other people to see if it really was that good—both the flavor of the mix and the chicken itself. Both were given superb reviews. Continue reading →

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Barbecue as Pizza Oven

17 Sep

Now that's what I call a pizza, not those things that come in a box!

That’s right, you read it correctly. We got sick and tired of crappy pizza in our neighborhood (thanks, Gina’s, for changing your menu for the worse), and kept seeing some great grilled pizzas in my food magazines. I figured we’d give it a go—what could go wrong?

Exactly, said The Husband, and refused to try it when friends were over and wanted to do a test run. No problem! Strangely enough, the perfect opportunity came on a Saturday when we thought we had nothing in the fridge to rustle up. The Husband lamented that we had just been near Trader Joe’s and could have picked up some pre-made dough, but I scoffed. I’ve got yeast and flour and I’ll make fresh dough myself, no problems. Even though I always freak out that my dough won’t rise and everything will be ruined, it rarely happens. Continue reading →

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