Sunny Days, Good Food ~ by Kathy Strahs

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(In the Tradition of) Irish Blueberry Scones

March 16, 2015 by Kathy Strahs 8 Comments

Irish Blueberry Scones

A really thought-provoking topic came up on Facebook the other day: what does “authenticity” really mean when it comes to ethnic cuisines? I’ve gone back and forth, trying to define it in my own mind, and I think I found some answers as I worked on getting these Irish Blueberry Scones “right”.

I wanted to make some “real” Irish scones for St. Patrick’s Day, so I messaged my friend Kerily to see if her Irish in-laws had a recipe they loved. Within hours, her sister-in-law, Una, generously replied with hers. Right off the bat, I could tell I probably would not be able to perfectly replicate Una’s scones for a variety of reasons:

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Filed Under: Breakfast/Brunch

Roasted Broccoli and Pecan Salad

March 8, 2015 by Kathy Strahs 2 Comments

Roasted Broccoli Salad with Toasted PecansThis Roasted Broccoli and Pecan Salad I’m sharing today resulted from my recent “broccoli epiphany” (if those are even possible). For years, I’ve picked broccoli florets out of salads as I don’t do raw broccoli — I’m a fan of neither the flavor nor the texture, it’s what I imagine gnawing on the hedges would taste like. {shudder}

But I happen to love roasted broccoli! Somehow roasting changes the taste to something far less plant-ish and almost sweet. My kids especially like when I roast it to the melt-in-your-mouth “chip” stage — near-burnt and nutty.

So my broccolipiphany…I can use roasted broccoli in cold dishes instead of raw! I had an amazing roasted broccoli salad at Lemonade in Manhattan Beach — their Broccoli, Ricotta and Champagne Vinaigrette salad — and my world was changed. Cold — yet roasted — broccoli is on!

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Filed Under: Salads

The Delicious Side of Disneyland: Part 2

March 2, 2015 by Kathy Strahs

Mickey Pretzel from Disneyland

Disneyland has gotten pretty cute with its food, I must say. Who can resist a Mickey-shaped soft pretzel? Apparently not my family!

Last time, I shared the food (and drink!) we encountered at California Adventure — this time we’re across the plaza at the park that started it all.

Dancing with Pooh

For the first time in our history of visiting Disneyland, we actually made it to the entrance gate right when the park opened at 8 AM. We only had 30 minutes until our breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn on Main Street USA, but at that hour we easily had time to walk right onto Star Tours and Autopia and FASTPASS Space Mountain for Mike and our son.

All right, we were a few minutes late for the reservation but it wasn’t a problem. 🙂 They took us to our table and the stream of characters began flowing through immediately. There’s a bit of a premium placed on these character breakfasts — it was $95 for the four of us — but the kids love hugging Winnie the Pooh, Goofy and everyone.

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Filed Under: CA Life

The Delicious Side of Disneyland: Part 1

February 23, 2015 by Kathy Strahs 2 Comments

Hello from Disneyland!

Eighty degrees and sunshine — that’s how our family prefers to do “ski week”! We popped down to the Disneyland resort last week and I thought I’d share with you how that all went. I’ll split it up into two parts: I’ll devote this post to California Adventure (aka, the one with the wine) and next I’ll share our highlights from Disneyland. One day my rocking the mouse ears will embarrass my children, but fortunately we’re not at that point yet. Game on!

Wharf vs Wharf

We actually went to California Adventure on the second day of our trip, but I’m sharing it first in case some of you aren’t as familiar with that park. It’s directly across the entry plaza from Disneyland and, especially fitting for this blog, celebrates the splendor of our state. Here’s a cool example in the pics above — I took the one on the left of Mike and our little guy last summer on Cannery Row in Monterey, on the right is California Adventure’s rendition of the same scene. Pretty close!

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Filed Under: CA Life

4 Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Treats

February 12, 2015 by Kathy Strahs 3 Comments

Valentine Jello Hearts

I’ll admit, it put a smile on my face to see the 4-year olds in my son’s preschool class delightedly ogling the Valentine’s Day treats we brought for their party today. Better yet — I was able to pull them all together in just a few hours (and most of that time was spent waiting for the Jello to set). If you need some last minute ideas for Valentine’s Day, may I suggest to you the four easy treats I just made in the past day.

Valentine Jello Hearts

This (pictured above) is definitely one of those eye-catching treats that look like they involve a lot of technique, but they’re actually pretty simple. If you can boil water and stir, you can make them. The white part, in case you were wondering, is sweetened condensed milk mixed with unflavored gelatin.  Get the recipe from The Hungry Housewife.

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Filed Under: Valentine's Day

Exploring San Jose’s San Pedro Square Market

February 10, 2015 by Kathy Strahs Leave a Comment

Lunchtime at San Pedro Square Market

I’d driven past it a bunch of times in downtown San Jose, but from the outside, I couldn’t really tell what the San Pedro Square Market entailed. But the word “market” always intrigues me, so when my friend Meilee (in the cool red jeans in the photo above) suggested we check it out for our monthly lunch outing I was completely on board.

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Filed Under: Local Flavor

Dominique Ansel’s Mini-Me’s

February 4, 2015 by Kathy Strahs Leave a Comment

Dominique Ansel's Mini-Me's

I expected I’d leave Dominique Ansel’s book signing eager to try my hand at making his famous Cronuts™, but I ended up feeling a bit inspired to bake my way through his entire cookbook, Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes. It’s not that I can handle all of these desserts in my house (although, I’m not bothered by this prospect) but I feel like by the time I work through all of the incredible technique that Chef Ansel handholds you through in great detail I won’t just know how to pull off these showstoppers…I’m going to be a way better baker.
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Filed Under: Desserts

Miso Risotto with Shrimp and Broccolini

January 29, 2015 by Kathy Strahs Leave a Comment

Miso Risotto with Shrimp and Broccolini

A few friends asked for this recipe after I posted this photo on social media, so here it is — one of those fortuitous “let’s see how this goes” dishes that actually turned out to be something I’ll look forward to repeating. I’d found a carton of miso broth at Whole Foods and picked it up without any specific plan for using it. But I knew I’d make something good with it because, hello, miso broth! The opportunities were most enticing.

Compared to risotto I’ve made with chicken stock, I’d say that the miso version was richer and almost tasted a bit like mushrooms. No need for additional salt either — the broth is plenty flavorful. I absolutely loved it, and my kids were fans too (my son did not eat his broccolini, that is par for the course :-)).

With the exception of the rice-to-broth ratio, precise amounts aren’t all that important in this dish, so I’m just going to tell you the general technique for how I made it and you can make adjustments according to your own tastes.

Miso Risotto with Shrimp and Broccolini

Heat 4 cups of miso broth in one pot. In another pot, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and a chopped clove of garlic until it’s pretty fragrant but not brown. Add a cup of arborio rice and stir to coat and toast the rice. When the rice is translucent, after a few minutes, ladle in the first cup of broth and start stirring. When the broth is absorbed, ladle in the next cup and kept going until pretty much all of the broth is used (toward the end you can taste it to see how the texture is). When there are about 2 ladles of broth left, add in a few handfuls of chopped broccolini. The broccolini florets loves to grab hold of all the umami!

For the shrimp, roast it with olive oil, salt and a little furikake (optional) at 400ºF for about 9 minutes until it’s pink and cooked through.

Serve the risotto in bowls, topped with the roasted shrimp.

 

Filed Under: Mains

Finding Home

January 8, 2015 by Kathy Strahs 1 Comment

Finding Home
I miss home.

I’m not even entirely sure of where “home” is. When I find myself referring it to it lately, I’m talking about San Diego. It’s where Mike and I lived for 10 years before our recent move. It’s where we got married, bought our first house and had both of our kids. It’s where we made lots of wonderful friends who became like family.

For many years — decades even — before we lived in San Diego, “home” for me was where we live now, the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s where I grew up from preschool until the start of my sophomore year of high school. It’s where I returned for college and later business school at Stanford, where I held my first real job and where I met my husband.

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Filed Under: CA Life

My Mom’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 7, 2014 by Kathy Strahs 2 Comments

My Mom's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Before I ever watched Julia, Ina or Giada, I watched Nancy…my mom. She cooked dinner for my dad, sisters and I pretty much every night (and breakfast and lunch too, for that matter), a feat I did not fully appreciate until I had a busy (and clamoring!) family of my own.

My mom cooked and baked all kinds of things when I was growing up, but there came a point in the ’80s when she really honed in on chocolate chip cookies. The empire of Mrs. Fields was on the rise — we never left the mall without a half dozen “semisweet, no nuts”. She took it on as a challenge to tinker with her own chocolate chip cookie recipe, which we fully supported as taste testers. To this day, she continues to tweak the ratios of butter to sugar to flour, but as of right now My Mom’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies are pretty perfect, if you ask me.

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: chocolate

Kathy Strahs

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Welcome to Sunny Days, Good Food -- my newest food and lifestyle blog. I'm Kathy Strahs -- a mother of two, a food blogger, a cookbook author and a proud Californian. Learn more about me...

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Meet Kathy

I've been cooking and sharing recipes on Panini Happy and Cooking On the Side for years, and I even wrote a cookbook along the way. With Sunny Days, Good Food things get a little more personal and none of the "rules" about blogging apply. Learn more about me…

Recent Posts

Irish Blueberry Scones

(In the Tradition of) Irish Blueberry Scones

Roasted Broccoli Salad with Toasted Pecans

Roasted Broccoli and Pecan Salad

The Delicious Side of Disneyland: Part 2

Boudin Bakery Tour at California Adventure

The Delicious Side of Disneyland: Part 1

Cheddar Heart Cut-Outs

4 Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Treats

Lunchtime at San Pedro Square Market

Exploring San Jose’s San Pedro Square Market

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