Growing in Chicago: Garden Update

My little plants have come a long way since I planted them back in May, so I thought now would be a good time to share their growth with you!

Let's start with the most unusual little guy, the cilantro:



"Uhh...Katie... that doesn't look like cilantro..."

You're right, it doesn't.

It just so happens that when you plant cilantro, you get a ton of cilantro right away, then suddenly this happens:



It grows a foot and a half straight up, and starts producing flowers and ultimately coriander seeds. Yes, I said coriander. Did you know coriander and cilantro are the same thing? We often associate coriander as the ground seed and cilantro as the leaves, but in reality they're from the same plant. And this unusual sprouting-straight-up process is called bolting. The plant is getting ready to seed and create a new generation, and the old cilantro leaves are done. You can still eat the frilly leaves that come with the bolting, but they won't have quite as strong a cilantro flavor. Once it's bolted, it's in a new stage in life and won't be going back. You can read more about cilantro bolting here.


Now, time to check out the basil!



Happy and full of life, it's also flowering and creating more delicious leaves.




The tomato plant is also doing well, trying to fill out all areas of the pot and budding like mad.



Those little buds will soon die and leave behind little green orbs, the beginning of plump, juicy tomatoes!




And finally, the best for last: the bell pepper plant. I'm just thrilled with my little producer here!





It's already got one pretty sizable pepper sitting at the bottom, as well as three more well on their way.




Hopefully my next garden post has a beautiful red bell pepper and juicy red tomatoes to go with my basil!

Summer Reading List :: Lunch in Paris

The second book in my summer reading series is another favorite of mine. In fact, I love it so much that I've been handing it out to all my friends to read!



Lunch in Paris is a wonderful memoir love story by Elizabeth Bard. As an American journalist who falls in love with a French man while visiting Paris, she struggles with fitting in. She quickly learns that food is engrained in the culture of France, and makes plenty of missteps along the way, much to the dismay of her husband, mother-in-law, and cheesemonger.

I loved this book because I felt I learned so much about French food and French culture while enjoying the love story that was intertwined. It is a must read for anyone who loves food and loves love!

Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce with Chicken and Pasta

You know what I love about summer? All the wonderful, fresh, and not to mention super-cheap produce.

The other day, I went to the local produce market, and all red, yellow, and orange bell peppers were 99 cents a pound. Needless to say, I got a little too excited, and bought way too many bell peppers. So mid-week, I was in desperate need of some ways to use the peppers other than just my traditional stir fry.



Luckily, I remembered reading once about a bell pepper sauce for pasta, and thought it would be the perfect way to use up a ton of my little veggies!


Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce
adapted from Epicurious

1.5 lbs red, yellow, and orange bell peppers
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 can tomato paste
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper, to taste

Roast all the bell peppers over an open flame. Since mine were little bell peppers, I had to do 2-3 of each color, but you may need less if you have larger peppers. Roast the peppers until the skin turns black, and immediately stick them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap to let them steam and the skin soften.



After 10 minutes, remove them from the bowl and scrape the blackened skin off.

Remove the seeds and tops of the peppers, and put them in a food processor with the almonds, oil, tomato paste, vinegar, chipotle powder, and chicken stock.



Puree the mixture until smooth. Transfer it to a pot and bring to heat and let it sit on medium-low for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with pan-browned chicken over pasta, topped with fresh basil.



This is such a great summer dish to help use up all those peppers while they're affordable!

Summer Reading List :: Food Novels

Earlier this year, my mom and I started our own little "book club." Since we don't live in the same state, and since Gilmore Girls ended years ago, we needed a new activity that we could do together even though we were apart. She knows how much I love to cook, and she's working to expand her recipe repertoire, so we picked some great food novels that had recipes intertwined in the stories.

We've worked our way through some great books, so I decided it could be a fun little summer series to share these books with you if you're looking for some good summer reading, in addition to some new recipes!

And with that, I want to share with you the first book in my Summer Food Novel Series, I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti: A memoir of good food and bad boyfriends.



The author, Guilia Melucci, shares story after story about the different loves in her life, and how cooking and food had such a presence in each one. Growing up in a big Italian family, she learned at an early age that food is love.

"If my mother did not impart to me an understanding of how to play games when it comes to love, she at least sent me into the world with a clear knowledge of how to make a simple tomato sauce."

From traditional Italian recipes like Spaghetti Carbonara and Fried Eggplant to more amusing dishes like Pear Cake for Friends with Benefits and Bucatini Amatriciana with MP3 File-Sharing Technology, this book is just a joy to read when you're looking for something light and enjoyable. Also, Guilia goes through some background of Italian cooking, so I definitely learned a thing or two about the basics of making great Italian food.

Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!