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Leena Cooks and Cans: Caramelized Onion Jam…with a no-napping 2 month old

Leena Cooks and Cans: Caramelized Onion Jam...with a no napping 2 month old
My caramelized onion jam with hints of balsamic and rosemary. Did you just get a mouth boner? Cuz I sure did.

So, I’m pretty sure I’m crazy. No sane person would ever try to can, let alone can jam, with a 2 month old. Especially one that refuses to nap for more than 20 minutes at a time and eats every hour and a half. What can I say? I like to roll dangerously close to the line of insanity for the sake of caramelized onions at my reach all year round. Making them from scratch every time is a bitch.

Is the jam ridiculously delicious? Hell yeah!

Was the process ridiculously hard with a baby? Fuckin’ eh.

But lucky for you, I came away with a few pointers for you other psycho moms out there interested in canning with babies. It is possible! My tips and the recipe after the jump.

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August 16th, 2011
Posted in Canning, Condiments, Jam, Leena Cooks, Recipes, Savory | 7 Comments »

Leena Cooks: Meatballs and Sauce for a Post-Baby Meal

Leena Cooks: Meatballs and Sauce for a Post Baby Meal
Even while extremely pregnant, my cooking prowess knows no bounds, especially in balls of meat form.

The later I go into my pregnancy, the lazier of a cook I became. It’s not that I don’t crave foods…I just stopped having the ability to say, yeah, let me make that! And then actually follow through. If dinner requires anything more than raw, chopped vegetables for a side, I can’t handle it (and I don’t even make dinner most nights)

But as I near the end, I am managing to push out a few good cooking sessions, mainly to stock up our freezer with a few meals for post-baby. Nevermind that we didn’t have dinner for the night–we’ll have it for three month from then. Makes total sense, right?

This was one of those meals. Delicious, comforting over a pot a spaghetti, a cheesy polenta or just some bread, here are the meatballs I like to call comfort food. The recipe and such after the click.

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May 5th, 2011
Posted in Beef, Leena Cooks, Mains, Meat, Pork, Recipes | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: Spicy Pork tacos with salsa verde and pickled onions

Leena Cooks: Spicy Pork tacos with salsa verde and pickled onions
My spicy pork tacos with salsa verde and pickled onions. I love the tanginess the onions give the taco!

Since my gestational diabetes has been preventing me from rocking out all the baked goods my little pregnant heart desires, I’ve been ramping up my savory cooking skills. I am a HUGE fan of dishes that yield a large portion of cooked meat that can be saved for multiple meals, like smoking meats and roasting. This recipe, which originates from New Classic Family Dinners, written by Campanile restaurant in L.A.’s chef Mark Peel, relies on braised, shredded pork for the dish.

See the twist I put on the recipe and more food porn after the jump.

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March 14th, 2011
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Mains, Meat, Pork | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: Pickled Onions for tacos and other goodies

Leena Cooks: Pickled Onions for tacos and other goodies
Spicy pork taco with salsa verde and tangy, spiced pickled onions. Hell yeah.

Pregnant or not, I’m a lady who likes her pickles. And when I’m not feeling all Martha Stewert-y and wanting to can, I like to rock out some good old fashioned refrigerator pickles*. These pickled onions were for a batch of spicy pork tacos, but they go great with any grilled, smoked or roasted meat, on cheese platters, and my favorite, in sandwiches (like grilled cheese!).

(*Technically, any recipes for canned pickle fruits and vegetables can be made in the fridge instead of hot water bath canning, so be sure to check out my recipe section for other pickle ideas.)

A super simple recipe and food porn after the click.

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February 28th, 2011
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Pickles, vegetable | Comments Off

Leena Cooks n Bakes: Leek Bread Pudding with Roasted Tomatoes

Leena Cooks n Bakes: Leek Bread Pudding with Roasted Tomatoes

My take on Ad Hoc's Leek Breading Pudding, made with challah bread and mozzarella cheese.

On a rainy winters night in the Bay Area (with lows of almost 40 F- thank GOD I missed Chicago’s Snowmaggedon!), nothing tastes better than warm, cheesy comfort food, and for me, that means rocking out some leek bread pudding with roasted tomatoes. The soft, silky sweet leeks, the crunchy bread and the eggy custard bound together by melty, stringy cheese haunts my dreams and my pregnancy cravings until I wake up chewing my own pillow. Which? Tastes like dirt and cat hair. Awesome.

Definitely time to rock out some leek bread pudding. The recipe and food porn after the click.

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February 21st, 2011
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Posted in Bread Pudding, Leena Bakes, Leena Cooks, Savory | 1 Comment »

Leena Cooks n Cans: Seasonal Guide to Canning!

Leena Cooks n Cans: Seasonal Guide to Canning!

I was canning BEFORE it was cool. Does that make me cool now? Or just well-fed?

This whole week is the 4th birthday of Leena Eats This Blog! I have been sharing my food thoughts with y’all for 4 entire years,two countries and three major cities. Hot damn–that calls for some celebrating!

To kick off Leena Eats This Birthday Week, I thought it might be fun to review over all the tastiness of the past four years, starting with a true passion of mine, home canning. I started canning in 2005, only a year before I started this blog, and to date have published 17 recipes on this blog and participated in one, year long can jam (read more about that here).

So here is my 4 year birthday gift to you–my seasonal guide to canning, including all of my recipes, and a few from fellow bloggers that I find drool worthy. If you’d like to can all year round, or just would like to preserve your favorite season’s fruit, this guide’s for you. Enjoy!

Check out the guide after the jump.

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January 24th, 2011
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Posted in Canning, Leena Cooks | 1 Comment »

Leena Cooks: Food Porn Daily: The Cookbook’s Chorizo Bistro Salad!

Leena Cooks: Food Porn Daily: The Cookbooks Chorizo Bistro Salad!

Chorizo and caramelized mushroom bistro salad with poached egg from Food Porn Daily: The Cookbook

I am not really one to follow a recipe. I always start off with the best intentions to, but soon I realize I am missing an ingredient or have a better ingredient/idea/method in mind than the author of the recipe, and all hell breaks out. Sure, I may end up with a delicious dish, but who knows what mysterious, tasty delights the actual recipe held?

So when my gal Amanda over at Food Porn Daily published her first cookbook, I figured once, JUST ONCE, I could try to follow a recipe. I picked her chorizo bistro salad with caramelized crimini mushrooms, poached eggs and sherry vinaigrette…and I pretty much followed her entire recipe, save for some avocado I threw in at the last moment (old habits die hard…and avocados rock).

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January 10th, 2011
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Main, Mains, Meat, Pork, Soup/Salad, Vegetables | Comments Off

Leena Cooks NYE 2007 (repost)

***I am busy getting ready for my I’m-pregnant-and-can-only-watch-movies-and-eat NYE party with my husband. SO I thought you would enjoy this post from my first NYE dinner party, when I actually had a social life. And yes, it allows me to be lazy and repost, which is awesome. ***********

Leena Cooks NYE 2007 (repost)

Happy belated New Years from some fish that were very tasty!

There is always so much pressure for New Years Eve. You have to go out, have to get trashed, have to have a memorable night so everyone admires you and thinks, gee, (name inserted here) sure has their life together. After all, they had a great NYE!! Read the rest of this entry »

December 31st, 2010
Posted in Holidays, Leena Cooks | 4 Comments »

Leena Cooks (repeat) Jackie’s Thai Shrimp Curry with CSA Produce!

Leena Cooks (repeat) Jackies Thai Shrimp Curry with CSA Produce!

The remains of a most delicious Thai shrimp curry.

I know, I know. I am just as bummed about the death of Michael Jackson as all of you are. The media is already commenting on how much money he left, the custody of his children, but I believe there are more pressing matters at hand. Like wtf ever happened to Bubbles the Chimp?!

Who gets custody of that little bundle of diaper-wearing, banana-eating joy? It is almost too much to take. So what better way to drown my celebrity death sorrows than a spicy curry dish? I really wish I would have taken a proper photo of this curry, because hot damn if it isn’t the best new dish I’ve made in my kitchen in a year. A gigantic, cruise-ship sized thank you goes out to my two gastro gal pals, Jackie (who created the recipe) and Cari (who posted about it on her blog so I could steal the recipe!).

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December 27th, 2010
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Mains, Vegetables | 1 Comment »

Amuse bouche: First Christmas Cookie Swap?

The earliest recorded mention of a Christmas cookie exchange was in Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book from 1963.

Source: The Food Timeline: Christmas foods: cookies

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

December 21st, 2010
Posted in amuse bouche, Christmas, Food history, Holidays, Holidays, The Gastronomical Leena | Comments Off

Leena Bakes: the Best Damn Apple Pie EVER

Leena Bakes: the Best Damn Apple Pie EVER

The makings of a great apple pie.

Please enjoy this last day of cooking for the holidays with one of my favorite apple pie recipes! Happy holidays!

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Apple pie–it’s something so simple and yet so satisfying, especially when served warm from the oven with a scoop of cold ice cream. This is the review of a recipe I made from FoodTV.com, and even though I had a bitch of a time with the dough (I don’t think I made it moist enough–it kept crumbling) this recipe still yielded a delicious, flakey crust and one helluva pie.

For the recipe and more, click on!

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December 17th, 2010
Posted in Fruit, Holidays, Leena Bakes, Pie | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: The Best Damn Turkey Recipe EVER

Leena Cooks: The Best Damn Turkey Recipe EVER

Turkey + salt = Goodness.

Please enjoy this week o holiday cooking to get you in the mood for the holidays!

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Year after year, bird after bird, I have attempted to get the perfect Norman Rockwell turkey. You know what I’m talking about–that perfectly brown, perfectly crisp, perfectly juicy turkey that only seems to appear in paintings? Despite my brining, buttering and basting, I could never get more than a few brown spots.

Well, allow me to introduce you to my new favorite method of poultry roasting: salting. To check out the recipe, step by step photo guide and just a little bit of food porn, click on.

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December 13th, 2010
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Mains, Meat, Poultry | 1 Comment »
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