quinoa + white bean burgers with a ramp + chili pesto

I cannot believe that this is the first ramp recipe I am posting this season, since ramps have been on my plate at almost every single meal I've had at home over the past few weeks. Breakfast: side of crispy ramps, lunch: raw ramps in my salad, dinner: ramps any way I can think of. 

Ramps, all day every day. 

I'm hoping you have not been overwhelmed by onslaught of ramp recipes this year .... if you're anything like me, you'll never be sick of ramps. 

But this recipe is not just about the ramps. They're sharing the spotlight with this quinoa burger. If you've been following along here for a while, you know that I have done a few variations of a quinoa burger, shifting ingredients and preparations around each time. This might be my favorite one to date. 

The very first recipe I posted for a quinoa burger went internet famous on me. And by internet famous, I mean it has made it's way around Tumblr (not as exciting as being YouTube internet famous). To be honest, I don't even think it was the burger that was getting all of the love, I think it was the avocado spread.

Because let's face it, when it comes to a veggie-type burger, it is just as much about the sauce as it is the patty. 

And with that, the conversation gets turned back to ramps.

 

I've tried some pretty interesting and awesome ramp preparations this year. There is so much you can do with them. They're great raw, sauteed, pickled, or incorporated into a sauce, like this recipe here. 

Last night I watched my father-in-law chop a few up and mix them into some homemade guacamole (I'm pretty sure he thought it was green onion). It was so good. 

Ramps are a little more pungent and exciting than green onion, but the two can be interchanged in almost any recipe. So if you cannot find ramps where you are, or when their short season is over, then go ahead and sub green onion. 

Okay, back to the burgers. These burgers are super versatile. You can switch up, increase, or leave out pretty much any ingredient listed, including the egg, since I know some of you would prefer a vegan version. In the past, my quinoa burgers were made without egg, however the egg really helps to bind. If you prefer not to use the egg, by all means leave it out. Just be aware that they will be a little more delicate (they fall apart easier). 

You can go crazy with the toppings. For mine, I just added some arugula and some thinly sliced red onion but you can also add avocado, and any other veggie you can think of. If you want a gluten or bread-free option you can leave out the bun and serve it over a salad or in a lettuce wrap. 

The only non-negotiable part is the ramp pesto. You cannot leave out the ramp pesto, it really is the best part.

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shaved asparagus + carrot salad with a toasted cumin vinaigrette

 

This past weekend, Michael and I celebrated out 1 year anniversary. Our anniversary is on Cinco de Mayo, and I kind of love that we share our anniversary with a silly, happy, tequila drinking, mexican food eating holiday. I cannot believe it has been one year already, this has undoubtedly been the fastest year of my life. Well ...  know what they say .......

We didn't make a big deal over our anniversary. We spent the day attending a culinary class that Michael had gotten me for Christmas. For dinner, we had sushi at a no-frills, hole-in-the-wall sushi place down the street from us. It was peaceful, perfect, exactly how I wanted it to be. 

In celebration, I thought about posting a fun cupcake recipe for you here, or maybe even a mexican-themed dish, but I just wasn't feeling it. I have been really into spring vegetables and salads recently, so instead I thought I would go with one of my newest and prettiest salads. 

Simple, perfect, not over the top, just how our anniversary was spent. 

We are in the height of asparagus season right now, and the asparagus that I've been finding at the markets have been so good that they are just as deliciuos raw as they are cooked. If you can find them, the white asparagus are a real treat. They have a slightly brighter taste than the green, and they go so well together in this salad, visually and taste-ually (is that a word? I don't think so). 

The carrots add another layer of taste and color to the dish. I looked for colorful carrots, and could not find any, but if you are lucky enough to find some I am sure they would make for a stunning presentation. 

Thinly slicing and marinating vegetables has a way of making raw vegetables taste "cooked". You can eat this totally raw, or if you want a little more umph to it you can add in rice, quinoa, millet, or any grain or you like. I loved the look of the red rice. I'm big into color coordination here if you haven't been able to tell. 

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the best olive oil cake you'll ever have

It's no secret, I love a good slice of olive oil cake. 

So when I was asked by Cup of Jo to submit one of my favorite recipes for her "best you'll ever have" series, I immediately thought of my absolute favorite, go-to cake.

This olive oil cake is super easy the make and has an awesome and unique flavor. One of my favorite things about this cake is the ingredient list, especially the use of olive oil over butter. Meyer Lemons are also a favorite because they have a slight sweetness to them that you will not find in a regular lemon. 

People either love olive oil cake or have never heard of it, and the ones that have never heard of it often love it as soon as they try it. 

To see my post + more pictures, you can head over here on Cup of Jo. 

Or, you can also get the recipe here (below). Enjoy!

olive oil cake with rum glaze

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut palm sugar (or regular white sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (good quality, but not too strong of a taste)
1/2 cup lemon juice (preferably Meyer)
Zest of 1 lemon (preferably Meyer) 
2 eggs

For the rum glaze (optional):
1 tsp. dark rum
2 tsp. almond milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Method 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Oil a regular-sized bundt pan. (If you don't own a bundt pan, you can make this in a 11x7 rectangular dish or round cake pan.)
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients, and whisk. Then make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredients. Whisk until everything is combined.
• Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven to bake for approximately 45 minutes. When it is done, the edges should be brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan, and if you insert a tester it should come out clean. Let the cake rest for several minutes, then carefully remove from the pan. Allow it to cool slightly on a wire rack.
• While the cake is cooling, you can make the rum glaze (if using). Whisk together all of the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Then, using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the cake. In about 10 minutes, the glaze will harden.
• You can serve the cake warm (which is my favorite), or you can allow it to cool and serve. (If you prefer a denser cake, be sure to wait until it cools.)

wild blueberry + pomegranate oatmeal breakfast bars

I realize that I've been lacking in the breakfast department recently, and I promise I'll make up for it. You see, my lack of breakfast recipes recently is probably a reflection of my breakfast routine which, albeit (mostly) healthy, can get a little mundane. 

You know that during the week, I don't get too creative with breakfast for myself. I usually just make a green smoothie and call it a morning.

There are some days that the smoothie holds me over until lunch, and there are some days I need a little something in-between. Those days, my stomach starts to growl at 10:45am on the dot. It usually happens when I am running around doing a million things, so I succumb to buying some sort of sugary pastry because it is the easiest and most accessible thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good pastry once in a while, but if I am going to indulge I want to be leisurely hanging out with the New York Times in one hand and a perfectly made latte in the other. Not rushing around with the pastry shoved in my purse sneaking bites every once in a while just to hold me over until lunch.

I really needed to chill out on the mid-morning purse pastry eating habit of mine so I decided to come up with something - on the healthier side - that I can make and keep around for a mid-morning snack. But not just something healthy, I wanted something I would really enjoy eating.

Granola was out. I am not a huge granola fan, I mean, I will eat it if it is the only thing around but I don't really enjoy it. I do love oatmeal, nuts, and berries, but if I needed something to grab on the go, the oatmeal would have to be baked in the oven instead of on the stove. 

Baked oatmeal bars were the winner. An on the go type breakfast food, or a mid-morning snack. Heck, you can even eat these for dessert with some ice cream if you like.  

I know that my busy, on the go friends appreciate breakfast recipes like this. 

 

These bars are loaded with healthy goodies. They are gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free oats) and they can be made vegan omitting the egg. Chia seeds, cinnamon, oats, blueberries and pomegranates are all super ingredients loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. A little bonus added into the morning routine.

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grilled artichokes marinated in garlic + lemon

Yes, this is my second artichoke recipe of the season. No, this will not be the last. 

As you are probably well aware, I'm kind of obsessed with artichokes. They are one of my favorite foods of all time. I'm not sure exactly why I love them so much. My mom used to make big batches of steamed artichokes when I was growing up, and when they were in season, it seemed like we always had stuffed artichokes around. I'd come home from school and immediately run to the fridge with hopes that I would find something yummy to snack on, and if that yummy thing happened to be an artichoke, well then it was a happy day.

My mom always used the same recipe, and when I started making them for myself I used my mom's recipe. It was not until the past couple of years that I started to branch out prepare them in different ways. 

When we were in Rome for our honeymoon last year, it was artichoke season. Lucky me. Lucky us. There was not a single restaurant in Rome that did not have an artichoke on the menu. Some as an appetizers, some as a side, and a few as a main course. They were prepared in every which way, steamed, fried, grilled, served in salads, dissected, or whole. And we tried them all. It definitely inspired me to branch out and try different preparations. 

This marinating and grilling preparation has been my absolute favorite this year. So much so that I have not stuffed or steamed a single artichoke this season ..... (yet). It is a little easier because you don't have as much prep and cook time. You just steam them lightly, toss them in a bag with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon and when you're ready to eat them just throw them on a grill or grill pan for a few minutes. As with most things, the longer you marinate the better. 

I have made these about 4-5 time in the past few weeks. I have wondered if Michael is getting sick of artichokes, I don't think it possible for me to. 

 

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