Scones, Granola, Cauliflower, Grapefruit wine, Calamari Nicoise, Homemade Feta and good old Avocados.... My week in cooking.

Did a lot of cooking this week- sometimes life's just like that

Found this awesome recipe from Goop's annual detox- which i highly recommend... I did it for a week and felt great at the end.... This is the Cauliflower 'Fried Rice' and it's the jam...

I was eating alone that night- so I had leftovers... and for me, little is better then some black beans and a fried egg... topped with a little salsa.... epic

I had a little time off so i made feta.... Feta keeps a long time, so I make it about twice a year, it's SO good and salty and great on a salad or with crackers... I gave it as xmas gift last year... and it was a big hit. It's important to start with an organic whole goat milk... spend the money here... it's worth it. I haven't used this kind before- I'll let you know how it is...

Next you add the coagulant and let it set- then you spend 36 hours letting it settle and drain all the whey... 

As you can see here the cheese is ugly, I flip and smooth every 12 hours... because when it comes to food: pretty counts

Then you slice them up and salt them... these suckers need to sit out for 2 or 3 days depending on the weather... 

Once they are dry you pop them in brine and jar them. They will mature in about a month and they will last in the fridge for about a year. (although in my fridge they don't last 5 minutes....) 

Made Coconut Granola... so easy- SOOO good... I may never go store bought again!

I love the winter citrus season... So i popped open Kevin West's 'Saving The Season' and decided to give Vin De Pamplemousse a go. Was fun and easy- it won't be ready for a month... thats exciting... I'll report back...

I felt the need to use the slow cooker, and so i grabbed the The French Slow Cooker and made us a little Calamari Nicoise... put it over a little saffron rice... was fairly epic.

Tate was shooting all week, and i felt the need to spoil him for working so hard. His all time favorite is scones, and I had never made them before. I couldn't find recipes that I had all the ingredients for, so i did some thing I never do in baking- I made up the recipes for something I've never made before. Now in a stew or a salad or whatever- who cares- make that shit up, explore ... but with BAKING? I feel like baking is chemistry, science... I feel like you shouldn't fuck with that shit... but you know what? I was feeling frisky... so I went for it: First I made Banana Blueberry scones... I looked over several recipes, to get the basic tenants and then had a go.
They came out perfect... I was feeling terribly pleased. Normally I don't eat what I bake (because my ass grows exponentially, so I have to curb that shit...) but I did eat one of these- a) I needed to make sure I wasn't gonna poison someone, and b) that shit was fuckin good and way worth it!

I'm big fan of making things pretty so i surprised my man when he got home with scones and tulips...

I mean seriously... is there anything prettier then a fucking tulip??

Tate took the scones to work, and I received several texts from his co workers thanking me and asking for more... so fuck it- I made more. This time I did raspberry coconut... I invented this recipe too... too much moisture... I need to tweak these. They tasted great, but they were a little flat. Let me say only they taste better then they look:

And finally- with all the cooking and learning and trying new shit, I thought I'd give a shout out to the simplest MOST delicious thing of all. 

A perfect avocado and Stoned Wheat Thins

In all my years of cooking, few things are this easy, this simple and this good...