"Pita" chips

The Mr. and I were having friends over so I popped over to the local supermarket to pick up pita chips to go with my homemade olive tapanade (recipe to eventually post, pinky promise) and much to my surprise, it was $4 a bag. I don't know why this shocked but it did and I refused to buy them and make them myself instead! Innovation and cheapness go hand in hand, no?

I went to the local kosher market that makes their own Persian sangak bread. It's a heavenly, lightweight, airy and addictive bread. Since it doesn't store well and turns stale quickly I had to work fast.  

 Inside shot of the deliciousness

 The bread comes in this oblong shape, so I decided to quarter it the best I could and eat the sides that were funny shaped... alright, I just wanted to eat the ends.

 Then I started cutting the sections into triangular and rectangular shapes or whatever shape you want really. I just got into the zone while chopping them into triangles. 

Place them on a baking sheet - no need to spray or oil the pan

I made my own mixture of minced garlic and olive oil, I let it sit for a bit to really get infused. Though now a days, I make my own garlic infused olive oil but throwing some cloves into an olive oil bottle. 

With a pastry brush, brush down the pieces, I made sure to leave pieces of garlic on it for that extra bite to it. 

 Preheat the oven to 350 and place inside. (don't mind that stain, I was cooking all day and spilled something-it's clean now I promise)

Bake until it's at a desired crispiness. We like ours super crisp so we let them get nice and toasty. 

 And then proceed to stuff your face.  

This is a great trick and can be used with pita, challah and pretty much any other bread you've got laying around and you don't want to go bad. 

Bok Choy in Garlic Sauce (Baby got bok)

So we've been getting (a lot) of veggies from the farm share... and most times when the Mr. sends over the list I just sigh heavily because for weeks on end, we were getting baby bok choy. So I decided to dive in and made the only thing I could think of.... something with loads of garlic.

1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic (about 8 cloves)

2 pounds baby or Shanghai bok choy, halved lengthwise

2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil

Recipe taken from Epicurious


First off, wash your bok choy because those little suckers can be dirty. Stir together broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, and 1/2 teaspoon salt until cornstarch has dissolved

 The recipe called for a 'well seasoned wok' ... I got this at the bridal shower and never used it before so let's totally pretend it's well seasoned and not just taken out of the box.

Heat wok over high heat until a drop of water evaporates instantly. Pour peanut oil (I used canola oil with no issue) down side of wok, then swirl oil, tilting wok to coat side.

Add garlic and stir-fry until pale golden, 5 to 10 seconds

Add half of bok choy and stir-fry until leaves wilt, about 2 minutes, then add remaining bok choy and stir-fry until all leaves are bright green and limp, 2 to 3 minutes total

Stir broth mixture, then pour into wok and stir-fry 15 seconds. Cover with lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender, 2 to 4 minutes

Stir in sesame oil, then transfer to a serving dish

If you are cooking this ahead of time, be careful to reheat on a very low temperature so not to dry out the sauce.