A Pinch of a New Home in the Old City

Turn that page – we’ve got a new chapter in Philly. 🕺 Moving back into the city with a whole lot of excitement.

One of my favorite parts about being back in the city is how much is accessible by walking all around the city. Being connected to different neighborhoods is such a bonus, and living in a new area has me closer to some old favorites, like Rival Bros and Sally, with plenty more to explore. Dare I say… we may be growing the A Pinch Of Favorites map FAST.

Somehow with every apartment I’ve lived in, I’ve found myself living close to some great grocery stores, which probably would be something to consider a must if I could be picky, but living alone doesn’t leave much to work with. Safe to say that I’ve lucked out with this new place, and I can’t wait to share more about from my kitchen and however I transform the space to host friends.

If anyone has any tips for just about the most sensitive smoke detector ever, please share. And for context, the kitchen has both a vent with a fan and a hood over the oven. 😅

What’s Cookin’

Rain! Some of my bowls first use in this apartment are going toward catching rain… so that’s what’s cooking up right now. This is just a real time update as I type this out. Looks like April Showers came a little early. 🫠 

Green Goddess Dressing (Recipe #3)

But here’s the real surprise: another recipe!! After the weekend in Chicago, I was CRAVING a good salad, and with the nice weather last week, the grill was calling my name. Enter: grilled chicken salad with mozz pearls, avocado and sliced cucumber and the green goddess dressing.

This recipe was based on Love and Lemons’ recipe here, which has some great instructions on ways to mix things up and find what works for you. So here’s what I found worked for me, with some notes about where I switched things up, and to be honest, I’ll likely keep working on it but that’s all the fun about testing things out.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of Non-Fat Greek Yogurt – this is what I had on hand, typically a staple for some creamy sauce bases. The L&L recipe calls for full fat, which would definitely have helped with keeping it thicker but more on that later

• 1 cup of Fresh Parsley

• 1 cup of Mixed Soft Leafy Herbs – my recommendations are cilantro and tarragon. You can also go with dill or mint. Find your mix

• 3 Medium-Sized Scallion Greens, chopped thin – I’ll admit, this was because I forgot to get chives at the store, BUT they were a great switch-up because I always have scallions in the fridge

• 3 Tablespoons of Fresh Lemon Juice

• 2 Tablespoon of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

• 2 Teaspoons of Capers

• 1 Garlic Clove

• ½ a Medium-Sized Avocado – here’s where I made up for the fat from the greek yogurt called for in the original recipe. When I first made the dressing it was very thin. With a the avocado and some more blending, the dressing got to a nice, thicker consistency.

• A Pinch of Salt (no pun intended)

• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Add yogurt, parsley, other herbs, scallion greens, lemon juice, EVOO, capers, garlic clove, avocado, salt and pepper to blender – blend until all combined and your desired consistency. I went for a thick, fully-combined dressing.

2. Season to taste – add more salt, pepper and lemon juice based on your preference.

3. Serve! – I like to dress the salad greens very lightly with the dressing before topping or mixing everything else in. Then add the salads other ingredients, top with more dressing, and finish with EVOO and some pepper.

Notes: 1) If you want the dressing to be less thick, use less avocado, 2) You can also skip the salad and use the dressing as a dip for vegetables, chips, chicken bites, or whatever you desire.

So as you can probably tell from my notes, a lot of this was using what I had on hand. And I’m writing this recipe out like this because I feel like it’s a big part about recipe testing that I even wonder about and don’t think about – using what you have on hand, happy accidents, and, again, finding what you like.

As for any other meal worth showing, for my first meal in the new kitchen I kept it simple due to lack of energy and brain power after moving – a Sunday Dinner made up of spaghetti with sausage, peppers and onions topped with parsley and the good cheese, Kraft parmesan shaker cheese.

Well it seems like I need to go deal with a leak, and hopefully by the time that most of you are reading this, it has stopped. If only I could say, “April Fools,” right? Just a small bump in the road of this new chapter ahead. Still love this spot, and can’t wait to grow into it and the neighborhood.

April here we come 🤘