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Toast. Butter. Nectarine Jam.
A strong smooth Americano.
The simple enjoyment of eating.
It feels great to start the morning off on the right foot.
Pizzaiolo Oakland
5008 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA 94609
Tel: (510) 652-4888
>Toast and Coffee: Ahh, the Simple Enjoyment of Eating
12 DecCheesy-Veggie Pie, with Salami, held together by Eggs and a Splash of Milk
10 Dec
Quiche? Frittata? Cheesy-veggie pie, with salami, held together by eggs and a splash of milk.
Whatever its called, its easy, I made it up, its healthy, its got pie crust.
And it’s great leftover the next day.
Cheesy-Veggie Pie, with Salami, held together by Eggs and a Splash of Milk
1 recipe for pie crust
1 head of broccoli, cut into tiny bites
1 zucchini, sliced thin
8 slices salami
Cheddar cheese + this other amazing Spanish cheese that I had, too
6 eggs
splash of milk
salt and pepper
1. Make you crust. Refrigerate. Roll it out. Place into a pie plate or tart pan lined with parchment. Pre-bake your crust in a 400 degree F oven until just lightly colored, about 15-20 min.
2. Take your zucchini and salami and place along the bottom of the tart pan. Whisk together your broccoli, cheeses, and eggs with a splash of milk and salt and pepper. Pour into the tart pan over the salami and zucchini. Bake until done, about 30 min.
3. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve.
Minestrone Soup
4 Dec
Yesterday I bawled my eyes out.
Amongst many other pressing stress issues going on in my life, one of the reasons I was crying was due to a lack of vegetables. No joke; eating my vegetable variety is integral to my sanity. I was unsatisfied with my eating habits for the week and it really hit me hard.
All week I was imagining a huge box of fresh vegetables just somehow appearing on my counter top so that I could make bounties of veggie stir-fries and veggie roasts and veggie soups. Unfortunately the vegetable gods did not hear my cry…so today I sucked it up and went to the store (aka today I made the time to go to the store).
I cooked up a HUGE pot of minestrone soup so that I could be eating leftovers for days. Take that, tears.
Break some bread, grate some Parm, and slurp some soup. It’ll calm you down.
Minestrone Soup
10 servings
from Cooking on the Side
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias
2 small zucchini, trimmed and sliced into rounds
32 oz broth
2 cans (14.5 oz each) petite diced tomatoes, with juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
freshly ground black pepper
10-12 oz macaroni, uncooked
1 can (15.8 oz) white beans, rinsed and drained
1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, and zucchini and cook for 4-5 minutes, until veggies are soft-ish.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, oregano, basil, and pepper. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the white beans until heated through.
3. Ladle into bowls and serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and rustic bread.
>Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake
28 Nov>
Studded with pears and dotted with cranberries, freshly grated nutmeg and sweet powdery cinnamon, beautiful bundt lines and a dusty sugar top. If that doesn’t scream cozy fall cake then…well…then I don’t know.
Then go for a walk in New York’s Central Park…
…and when you are done with your walk, come eat my cake. Maybe then the cake will scream “cozy fall day on a plate”.
This cake is dairy-free (it uses oil instead of butter). This cake is not non-fat. This cake is moist and satisfying and just flat-out cozy. Lately I have been craving cozy. A lot. For now, this cake helps fill my cozy void. 
30 minutes after the cake came out of the oven, it slipped right out of the pan. It slipped right out of the pan and then I flipped it out onto a platter to cool. It slipped right out of the pan, flipped onto the platter, and later that night and for the last few days, I dipped it into my coffee and popped it right into my mouth.
Thanks for the great recipe, Joy!
Pear and Cranberry Holiday Spice Cake
recipe from joythebaker.com
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tablespoon dark Rum (or Bourbon or orange juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 pears, peeled, cored and cut into a 1/4 inch dice (you can make the pear slices slightly bigger if you like a chunkier cake)
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (or raisins or dried cranberries or dried apricots diced or chopped walnuts maybe even chocolate chips)
Directions:
Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan, knocking out excess flour.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum or bourbon and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and cranberries. The batter will feel thick and heavy. Spoon the batter into pan.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
>Thanksgiving Rewind…
26 Nov>2 years ago. I tackled the entire bird for the first time.
I was a skinny little twerp taking the guts out of a big ol’ turkey. But I did it. I won the battle. I successfully baked my spice-rubbed turkey to a lovely golden brown. At least the oven didn’t light on fire (yes, that did happen one year).
Fast forward 2 years. My mother thought it would be simpler to just by a netted breast and thigh rather than deal with the bird as a whole. We nestled the meat atop an aromatic bed of onions, carrots, and fennel. Then mama had this crazy good idea to pour an entire bottle of white wine over the whole darn thing. Crazy good.
Whoa Nelly! That’s one glistening bird. The tough part is keeping it nice and juicy, a rare occurrence in my family’s home (let’s just say we have been known to make dry dry dry and did I say dry poultry). My mom does know how to cook up some real good red meat, but I will save those stories for another day…
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Oh, and here’s a little snippet of some of this year’s “sides” (sides in “” because I usually consider them my “mains”…the sides are always my fav.!) :
Figsinmybelly 