 Farm Fresh Eggs Edited to add: Yes, I know technically these aren’t hard-boiled eggs, but I titled the post as I did so folks could search on hard boiled eggs and actually find it. Really, my version is easy to peel hard cooked eggs.
Eggs, particularly hard cooked eggs, are an easy and convenient way to get some extra protein in your brown-bag lunches. They’re self contained, travel well, and pack a solid 6 grams of protein in their 70 calorie package. I like to have one after a hard workout (another great post workout snack? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Carbs, protein, and good fats from the nuts make for a great recovery food. Add in some delicious whole grain bread and you’ve got one of the most complete meals you can pack without refrigeration).
But we were talking about eggs, weren’t we?
Continue reading Easy to peel hard boiled eggs
 Mostly Plants Egg Squares We took a little mini-vacation to San Francisco this weekend and my book of choice for the flight was Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. I’ve read parts of this book before, but this was the first time I’ve read it cover to cover. The seven words that he believes are the key to reversing the negative side effects of the Western Diet are these: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
This weekend at the Seattle Area Farmers Markets, we had an abundance of plants. Here’s just a sample of what we were treated to at the markets. Miners lettuce, nettles, chickweed, spinach, salad greens, leeks, sunflower sprouts, and kale. Well, we’ve got plants springing up all over the place! So to ‘plant-ify’ our breakfasts for this week, we switched from the Eggy English Muffin Samiches to these Mostly Plants Breakfast Squares. We’ve still got a good amount of protein, a nice hit of carbs from the English Muffins, and some rich, delicious, and pastured pork sausage. Plus, PLANTS!
Continue reading “Mostly Plants” Breakfast Squares
 Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches … also known as handheld breakfast sandwiches.
We’re in marathon training mode these days, counting down to the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in June. So not only are we working out more and more every week, but we’re also trying to make sure we have the optimum nutrition for training while still eating locally. Long distance running is very much about cardio training, but it is also very much about strength training, requiring core, hip, and leg strength. So protein is incredibly important for us these days. We’re trying to start our mornings off right with a high protein breakfast and while we love our frittata-a-go-go’s, sometimes we need a little variety.
Luck and a trip to Bill the Butcher’s new shop in Laurelhurst this past weekend left us with half a pound of Mexican mole sausage. My English Muffin addiction left us with a bag of homemade Momofuku English Muffins, and the University District farmers market left us with a dozen Skagit River Ranch eggs. Well, now doesn’t that look like the fixings for some sort of breakfast sandwich? Of course it does!
Continue reading Eggy English Muffin Samiches
 Bread Pudding with Grand Marnier Sauce Uff, this is a bit late, isn’t it.
How easy is this dish?
I’ve never made a bread pudding before.
The Mrs. has never made a bread pudding before.
This came out so well, we carried half of it to a party full of strangers where it received universal praise.
And the reason we only carried half of it was that we wanted to keep the rest to ourselves.
So yeah. This is easy and tasty.
Crispy topping, custardy innards, still-crispy apples, crunchy nuts, tart berries, buttery, sweet and slightly boozy.
I’d wager bourbon would work just as well as Grand Marnier, too. I just suggested to the Mrs. that candied bacon would be good in this dish too and well… while I can’t exactly describe the sound she made, it was one of pure, unadulterated food lust.
This dish, in its full size, is definitely a bit large for a couple. But, it is Valentine’s Day. It is meant to be a sweet day to spend with your sweet.
Continue reading Bread Pudding with Grand Marnier Sauce
 Frittata-a-go-go There’s very little I don’t love about my job. I get to buy fresh, local ingredients from farmers I respect and admire. I get to cook those foods in new and interesting ways all the time, and I get to eat dishes that are, by and large, great successes. There’s one downside though. I don’t often get the luxury of repeating dishes whenever I please. Most of the recipes we post get play maybe a couple of times a year. Other than the burritos we’ve been making for lunch (recipe as soon as we’ve perfected it), and the dumplings that we make for quick weeknight dinners, we rarely cook a recipe over and over again.
This recipe, however, we’ve been making off and on for three years. It’s our go-to breakfast dish for weekdays when we’re constantly seduced by the snooze button and tarried by traffic. It’s simple to make, extremely portable, and ultimately flexible. It’s also great for those who need a higher protein breakfast, like Mr. Cook Local, who’s diabetic.
Continue reading Frittata-a-go-go (or handheld breakfast frittatas)
 Deviled Eggs On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me – four calling birds… and Cook Local gives you deviled eggs.
I admit it. We’re tired. 12 straight days of cooking and blogging have taken their toll. All I want to do right now is get takeout and not cook for a week! Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m ready to bake Christmas cookies, make marshmallows, and in general prepare for Christmas. One thing I need a break from though is chicken. So many birds in this song it is ridiculous! So for four calling birds, we decided to do a variation of the fowl theme, deviled eggs.
A few words on deviled eggs. They taste good. They look good. But if you don’t cook them correctly, preparing them can be an absolute pain-in-the-ass. Why? Well, because separating the egg from the shell and the inner membrane is fraught with danger. If you don’t cook and cool the eggs correctly, when you peel the shell off, it will take the membrane AND part of the white off as well. Ugh.
Continue reading 12 Recipes of Christmas – Deviled Eggs
 Over Easy and Delicious On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: six geese a’laying… and Cook Local gives you Duck Egg and Brussels Sprouts Hash.
Ok, before we get started with today’s recipe, I need to rant. Was the original author of this song a poultry farmer? Seriously. Dude. We’ve got partridges, doves, hens, birds, geese, and swans. Have you ever tried to keep a goose as a pet? Those suckers are mean! One used to make a nest on the patio of John’s houseboat and lay her eggs every year and he had to be very, very careful going out his front door. The goose would hiss and flap her wings every time. Granted, she was just trying to defend her eggs, but still. Mean.
Years ago, there was a joke making the rounds on the Internet about a gentleman (?) who gave his lady love everything from the song. It’s old, but here it is. It still makes me tear up laughing. We’ve already cooked the recipes for day 1, 2, and 3, and we’re pretty damn sick of anything that has to do with fowl. Can I have a steak already? Or bacon? Please! Anything but more chicken!
Continue reading 12 Recipes of Christmas – Duck Egg and Brussels Sprouts Hash
 Ladyfingers On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me – nine ladies dancing… and Cook Local gives you ladyfingers.
Unlike some of the other phrases of the song, this one was rather easy. Ladies. Legs. Arms. Fingers. Ladyfingers! These traditional cake-like cookies aren’t often eaten plain, but rather are made into desserts like trifles and tiramisu.
Now I have a confession to make here. I’m Italian. And I don’t like tiramisu.
I’ll wait to continue until you pick yourself off the floor. Ready? Ok. Good.
Yep, so I don’t like tiramisu. I’ve never liked it. I try it every year or so just to see if my opinion will change, but it never does. I just don’t like the soggy ladyfingers. I’d much rather have the ladyfingers and the marscapone and chocolate and then have the espresso or liquor as a shot along the side.
But that’s just me. If you like tiramisu, or trifle, or you just have always wanted to try to make ladyfingers, then today is your lucky day.
Continue reading 12 Recipes of Christmas – Ladyfingers
Today on Cook Local it is condiment day. Condiments don’t always get their due. They can make or break a dish. Slather some store bought flavorless mayo on a prime slice of roasted pork and you’ve done the pork an injustice, not to mention your tastebuds. Slather that same slice of roasted pork with some flavored aioli and you’ve got yourself something awesome. Since I can now have sandwiches any time I want, thanks to the brilliance of my husband, I’ve been making mayo regularly this summer.
Lavender rosemary mayo
I started making my own maynonaise last [...]
We’re a huge fan of local pastured eggs and we’re lucky enough to be able to get fresh eggs in our CSA box from Growing Washington. When we started going to the farmers markets, Skagit River Ranch was about the only vendor for chicken eggs (though Sea Breeze Farms occasoinally had them and they usually had duck eggs).
Now, checking the Ripe-N-Ready list for the University District Farmers Market and there are a whopping 7 egg vendors at the University District Market.
You can find them at the following vendors:
Stokesberry Farm Stoney Plains Farm Sea Breeze Farm [...]
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