Recipes

Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is off to a fabulous start! So, guys, I have a little confession for you: I’m bored with taking photos of my food. Phew. There, I said it. If you’ve been following CNC from the beginning, you know I’ve been snapping photos of my meals and snacks for almost 5.5 years now. That’s a lot of food photos! Even though I don’t take photos of everything I eat, it’s still something I think about multiple times a day. And I guess I’m just not that into it anymore, which maybe you’ve noticed over the past several months. Now don’t get me wrong, I love blogging and sharing my life “one bite at a time” on CNC, but, moving forward, I’m going to document less of my everyday meals and snacks. I’m not saying I won’t document a full day of eats from time-to-time, but I just won’t do it on the regular. What does this mean for CNC? Honestly, not too much. You’ll still see some of my meals—more like snapshots and summaries of what I am eating—and I hope blogging less about my daily eats will make way for other fun content: workouts, events, recipes, new products, life adventures, pug photos (obviously), and other randomness. You can also follow me on Instagram (carrotsncake) to see what I’m eating. I post a lot of food (and pug) pics there! With that said, here’s a snapshot of some of my eats from the past couple of days: Roasted chicken with carrots, celery, and onions, steamed broccoli, and rice Homemade cauliflower, leek & ginger soup, a banana, and Marylou’s white chocolate chip iced coffee with soymilk Green juice made with apple, spinach, carrots, cucumber, and ginger Baked acorn squash with vanilla cake batter coconut butter Avocado chicken salad Avocado + banana smoothie (recipe on Health next week) Health News & Views Remember when exercise meant playing kickball with neighborhood friends and Capture the Flag during recess? As a kid, I never went in search of a new workout or felt like I needed to check it off my list for the day. I got a workout without even trying! Boy, when did exercise stop being fun? If you can’t remember the last time you enjoyed a workout, try this one, which takes place at an outdoor playground. It’s a guaranteed fun time! Try This Fun, 15-Minute Playground Workout Questions of the Day What are your favorite kinds of blogs to read? What’s your favorite thing about CNC? Bloggers: Have you ever changed the focus of your blog? P.S. Local dog owners: Canines & Cocktails kicks off at the Seaport Hotel tomorrow night (6/19)! Murphy and I will definitely make an appearance there sometime this summer. We had so much fun at Yappier Hour last year!

Molly Siegler Cookout season is upon us and burger lovers and vegetarians alike will clamor for these flavorful and filling veggie versions of our favorite grillable main. Making your own veggie burgers is easier than it sounds and such a resourceful way to use leftovers that we’re not sure why we don’t make them more often. These burgers also freeze well so you can have an easy, vegetarian-friendly addition on hand all summer. Note: Veggie burgers should bind together well before baking, but can be reassembled if they break during an overzealous flip. Mediterranean Veggie Burgers To Bind and to Hold Something soft and mashable that can be used as binder is essential. Steamed potatoes or sweet potatoes can be mashed with other ingredients to hold the burgers together. Cooked whole grains add bulk to the burger, offering great texture. Ground nuts and seeds act as flavorful binders, too, giving veggie burgers a heft often relegated to meat-based burgers. Raw oatmeal can help to pull a looser veggie burger together. Cooked beans can be mashed to serve as a binder or left whole for more texture. Indian-Spiced Veggie Burgers Add to the Mix Fresh herbs and veggies enhance the texture of veggie burgers and spices and pantry staples (like capers, olives and nuts) add to the fun. Chopped fresh herbs and spices can help to tie a veggie burger theme together – use cilantro and curry powder for Indian-inspired burgers and parsley and olives for Mediterranean-inspired patties. Mix in thawed frozen peas or diced raw bell peppers for bright color and texture. Capers and diced gherkins up the savory quotient. White Bean and Almond Burgers Top and Serve While ketchup and mustard are fine, these flavor-packed veggie burgers give you an excuse to experiment. Blend wasabi powder, fresh basil or curry powder into mayonnaise. Slice ripe avocados and shred Swiss chard for a fun spin on the traditional tomato and lettuce garnish. Grill red onion rings and bell peppers alongside your veggie burgers over the fire. Serve veggie burgers atop a bed of greens, open-faced on toast or classically between buns. Southwest Veggie Burgers Have you ever made your own veggie burgers? Share your tips and techniques in the comments section below.

After the previous two days on Polar food, I think we need something comforting, don’t you?Some long time ago I came across a reference to “Golden Pudding” but at the time could not find any specific recipes. I have just revisited the concept, and thanks to progress in cyber-space, I can now report that there are several variations on the theme of Golden Pudding, and none of them sound bad.Golden Pudding.Ingredients.— ¼ lb. of bread-crumbs, ¼ lb. of suet, ¼ lb. of marmalade, ¼ lb. of sugar, 4 eggs. Mode.—Put the breadcrumbs into a basin; mix with them the suet, which should be finely minced, the marmalade, and the sugar; stir all these ingredients well together, beat the eggs to a froth, moisten the pudding with these, and when well mixed put it into a mould or buttered basin ; tie down with a floured cloth, and boil for 2 hours. When turned out, strew a little finesifted sugar over the top, and serve. 'Time.—2 hours. Average, cost, IId. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.Note.—The mould may be ornamented with stoned raisins, arranged in any fanciful pattern, before the mixture is poured in, which would add very much to the appearance of the pudding. For a plainer pudding, double the quantities of the bread-crumbs; and if the eggs do not moisten it sufficiently, use a little milk.Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-day Cookery, 1865Phyllis Browne’s A Year’s Cookery, published in 1879, gives a similar recipe to Mrs. Beeton’s, but adds “a little sherry is a very agreeable accompaniment,” which sounds like a good suggestion to me.Golden Pudding.Line and ornament small pudding dish with puff pastry. Beat 2 tablespoons Crisco with 4 tablespoons sugar till creamy, add 4 tablespoons cakecrumbs, yolks 3 eggs beaten with ½ cup milk, ½ teaspoon salt, grated rind and strained juice 2 oranges. Pour into pudding dish, and bake 40 minutes. Whip up egg whites to stiff froth, stir in 3 tablespoons sugar, few drops yellow color, 1 teaspoon orange extract, and pile on top of pudding. Put back in oven to brown.The Story of Crisco, (Cincinnati, 1914) Marion Harris Neil

Delicious brunch at Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyncraving more? check out TasteSpotting

MAKING 1. In the vita mix combine butternut squash, almonds, garlic, onion, cumin, sea salt and whole peppercorn. 2. Blend for 4-5 minutes until smooth. SERVING 3. Serve Butternut Squash Soup with a garnish of pumpkin seeds.

MAKING 1. Using the gizmo make noodles out of the cucumber, place it in a bowl and drain the excess water and drink. 2. In the blender combine almonds, basil leaves, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, pepper corns and sea salt. 3. Blend at high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy but still dry. SERVING 4. Mix the almond pesto with cucumber noodles and serve immediately.

Saute yellow onions in butter. Place 2 tablespoons onions in a 12-ounce soup bowl, and add dry sherry and Parmesan or Romano cheese. Add soup stock and salt to bowl.

Perhaps it was an influential trip to farm camp as a youngster, or maybe it was out of sheer stubbornness, but I've only come around to eating red meat in the past few years. It's easy to understand a deep-seated fear of cruciferous vegetables (I still can't stomach broccoli), gloppy (or velvety, depending on your perspective) mayonnaise, or pungent hard-boiled eggs, but steak-phobia is a tougher sell. Even the most ardent carnivores will respect one's choice to eschew animal flesh, but I'm still perplexed by my avoidance of red meat (and red meat only). Thankfully I've since learned the err of my ways and have taken to juicy steaks, tender braised short ribs, and silky carpaccio with alarming intensity. Keep reading for the mouth-watering recipe.

Cuban Black Bean Soup is an irresistible recipe that you simply can't resist. Try this Cuban Black Bean Soup; I am sure you will have a huge fan following for this one!

Jacques Pépin on burgers and the gender politics of grilling - The Braiser Was the Sazerac America's first cocktail? - HuffPost Taste Restaurant pulls sexist dress code after backlash - Eater The always dapper Geoffrey Zakarian talks food and fashion - Zagat Creative food-centric wedding gifts you'll be proud to give - Grub Street The best electric waffle iron, hands down - America's Test Kitchen Which fast-food burger chain is launching a food truck? - Delish How to keep pesky cheese from sticking to the grater - Food Republic