kitchenry

Balsamic-Roasted Red Pepper Sauce with Shrimp and Chicken

2011-03-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

The aforementioned balsamic-roasted red pepper sauce with chicken and shrimp,

garlic couscous, and a spinach salad with a cranberry-balsamic vinaigrette.

In January, I was given a free ticket to go visit my fantastic friend Michael in St. Paul, Minnesota. I've never been there, hadn't seen him in aaaaages, and was super excited. As always, it was a fantastic couple of days of mocking each other, watching ridiculous movies, and going on exciting thrift store hunts. Micheal's prize-find was a couch for his office, super cheap! Mine was a pair raspberry Doc Martins, also for super cheap. We were pleased.

Pleased and hungry.

Now, we ate out once and had pizza another night. But! I also made pumpkin-ginger cupcakes (which I NEED to post on here, they are my most requested cupcakes, and he had informed me from the first time I said I was visiting that I would, in fact, be making them) and Michael made a balsamic roasted red pepper sauce for some chicken.

Holy deliciousness, Batman. I demanded the recipe.

Then, promptly, I altered it. Because that's what you do. He did it too! It's the delicious way.

Seriously, nom. Make lots of variations. It was originally based on a recipe from About.com for Spicy Cornish Hens. I do quite a lot of variation, as you can see. It is spicy, it has some sweetness to it, and it goes deliciously with chicken and/or shrimp. I also like to add couscous as a grain. I prefer them to be whole wheat, but it is up to you.

My Ingredients!

- 10 oz roasted red peppers (I have also done roasted red-and-yellow peppers)
- 3 tablespoons seedless, all-natural, blackberry jam
- 2 teaspoons French mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2/3 teaspoon rosemary
- 2 -3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- dash sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or less or more, depending on how spicy you would prefer)

Put all the ingredients in a food processor/blender/silver-bullet style zoom-machine. Whizz until smooth, taste, and adjust seasonings as you prefer.

On the stove, have a deep skillet and spray a non-fat cooking spray (actual oil would also work...) and cook your protein and/or veg. When partially cooked, pour sauce over it and let finish cooking - the sauce will reduce somewhat.

Enjoy with a glass of wine!

Or any beverage. Or none, but this is a chance to get your eight glasses of water a day.

No joke, this smells and tastes amazing. It has received rave reviews and I can not encourage you enough to try this. Lock it down - it's delicious.

Chicken Fried Pork Chop

2011-01-08T15:49:00.000-06:00

BEHOLD.

A fantastic work of choppery.
Less greasy than it looks, sorry, this was fresh from the oil.

Confession Time: I've never chicken fried anything and, honestly, I'm not sure I'd ever even cooked a pork chop. But it was New Year's and very nice looking, no bone involved, chops were on sale for $1.66! How could I not?

This left me vs pork chops on New Year's Day and, while I knew I wanted a potato/rutabega mashed deliciousness and a peas/mushrooms/red cabbage veggie dish, I didn't know what I wanted to do with the chop. I debated Jamie Olivering my way though it when I found this recipe for Chicken Fried Pork Chops from Rock Recipes (god, I love foodgawker), did some minor tinkering, and dove right in. When I next do this - and there will be a next doing of this - I have some more plans for it, but thought a basic update would be helpful.

Without further ado...

You will need:
- 2 pork chops
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 TSP sea salt
- 1 TSP pepper
- 1/2 TBS nutmeg
- 1 TSP basil
- 1/2 TSP paprika
- dash of cayenne pepper

You'll want to shift all the dry ingredients together in a shallow bowl that is large enough for you to put a pork chop in.

In another bowl, also large enough a chop to be dipped in, you'll want to mix up one egg and 2 TBS water.

Have a frying pan with about a half inch of canola oil in it ready on a medium heat. Not too hot. You don't want like crazy danger zone oil going on here.

Now. Dip your chop in the flour mixture on both sides, then in the egg wash on both sides, and then back in the flour mixture (yes, on all the sides). Fry it in the pan for about 6 minutes on each side, until it is done in the center. You may require a couple more minutes, but I didn't.

Let it rest for a minute so it can cool down and get all...rested.

The final plating.

I killed this. So, so hard.

Celebrate your genius. Devour. Offer a bite to your roommate, if you'd like. Or just make more chops.

Spinach Lasagna. Lock. It. Down.

2011-01-02T16:46:00.000-06:00

Oh god, so good. SO. DAMN. GOOD.

This is not the first time I've made my own lasagna, but this was the first time that I had a real, honest-to-god hand-crank pasta maker. (you'll note that I say that as if these are rare and hard to find. although, to be fair, this was a brilliant find at Village Discount. well played, me. and excellent addition.)

Add in a bechamel sauce that is gratifyingly simple and a ragu recipe that I've been tinkering with and, quite frankly, would confidently call "nailed", and then some sweet Italian sausage and Italian cheeses? Blammo. Victory.

Now, none of this is as hard as you think and, technically, you don't really need the pasta maker. But I'd suggest it, if you'd like to make your own pasta more than just once or twice, that you go ahead and get one of these magical items. Even if it isn't from a thrift store, it's not expensive. And as nice as those electric ones are, they don't exactly make large sheets. Get both!

I am not paid by pasta makers.

For the spinach lasagna pasta, I used a recipe from an old Daring Bakers challenge - modified slightly for my needs, but essentially the same. All you need is...

- two jumbo eggs (I needed four large, but I had a lot of spinach involved, last time I used three eggs and it was fine.)
- ten ounces fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped finely
- three and a half cups of flour

Have a large clean surface. I put a large cutting board down on my counter and then heaped the flour there, made a large well in the circle. Add the eggs and the spinach and then mix them together, slowly pulling flour in as you stir. It'll be a rough mess for a while, but after you've got it all mixed in - start kneading and it will come together and be smooth and elastic. Knead for about three minutes. Your aim is to have the dough, when held in a ball in your hands, feel alive.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave on the counter at room temp for 30 minutes to 3 hours. I suggest going more towards the hours, it gives it more time to do...whatever exactly it's doing in there.

Follow the instructions on your machine how to roll out the pasta - mine you just want to lightly flour a surface and a bit of the dough, then roll it through. Start at either the 1 or 2 setting, then go on down to 5 or 6, depending on how thin you'd like your noodles to be.

Then boil the noodles - in batches of about four at a time - in salted water. You'll want to have them in the water for two minutes if fresh, but for 4 - 6 if dried first. Put them in a bowl of cold water after, then pat them off so they are dry and use in your lasagna dish.

Enjoy!

The sauce! Oh, this sauce. The bechamel is simple.

- 4 TBS butter
- 4 TBS flour
- 2 2/3 cup milk
- salt/pepper
- ground nutmeg, to taste (I used a teaspoon or so)

Melt the butter in a saucepan and sprinkle flour over it, then whisk until smooth and then keep stirring for three minutes. You're forming a delicious little roux. Don't worry, it's easier than you think it is.

Now, pour in the milk, slowly, whisking continually. Bring to a simmer and stir for three or four minutes - the mixture will thicken and you can cook it for another five minutes. Season with salt and pepper and nutmeg (to taste).

Next up, the delicious ragu!
This is easy as well and you can customize it as much as you like. I made a sausage version and vegetarian version, simply by cooking up some Sweet Italian sausage in a different pan and sprinkling it in my meat-version.

This really is a fantastic sauce.

No, really. Do it.

You'll need...

- 1 tin of diced tomato
- 1 small tin of tomato paste
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, diced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- sliced mushrooms (I probably used about 3/4 cup)
- basil, pepper, salt
- 2 TBS balsamic vinegar
- olive oil

What you want to do...

Splash some oil, basil, onion, and garlic in the bottom of a saucepan and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add in mushrooms and bell pepper, with a touch of butter, and cook for five minutes. Add in the tomato tins (both paste and diced) and stir. Add the balsamic and seasonings, then top with a lid and let simmer and reduce. It took about twenty minutes.

NOW.

On to the delicious assemblage.

This was the vegetarian version and, also, IT IS AMAZING.

No, really.

You'll need all the other ingredients, as well as

- grated Parmesan cheese (one package)
- a meat, if using, cooked and prepared to add with the ragu or use as desired in layers

I drizzled some oil on the bottom of a baking dish, then a layer of the pasta noodles. Spoon a thin layer of the white sauce over the noodles, followed by a thin layer of the red sauce. I then sprinkled some crumbled sausage on the top, but that was my choice - it's still super delicious even without the meat. Vegetarians love it! Then sprinkle cheese on top. Add another layer of noodles and repeat.

When you finish layering, you'll want to sprinkle the top of whole thing with cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes at 375 F. Then remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned. A knife inserted into the middle will come out hot. Let the dish rest for a few minutes so it settles more and then, slice and dig in.

ULTRA NOM.

Nutella Pinwheel Cookies

2010-12-10T00:44:00.000-06:00

A small bite of awesome. With milk, bein sur.

And yes, those are pink, sparkly nails.

One of the best things about this time of year is that I can bake and bake and bake and nobody is going to say anything about it. Because a) it's hard to complain when your mouth is full of food and b) of course I'm cooking! It's Christimas!

That said, I thought this year I'd occasionally practice some new cookies and such before the massive Bake-a-Thon that heralds the holiday. When I have to go to Target and stock up on those stupid-cute gift bags/boxes/tins, when I burn myself with melted chocolate at least twice, when I have to drink through a failed baking attempt (last year - gingerbread house, year before - a complicated yule log experiment that involved a mousse that involved a packet of gelatin, a first for me, year before before, gingerbread. it melted.) Anyway, I have a handle on gingerbread now. And I do not yet know what baking attempt will blow up in my face at, probably, an ungodly time of night.

Look forward to that post, I'm telling you.
Be glad you don't live with me?

I stumbled across this recipe at The Galley Gourmet and love love loved it. What's not to enjoy? Nutella? Delicious. In cookie form? Fantastic. Super easy? Even better!

This recipe is a good reason to put "rolling pin" on the list of things I want for my kitchen, but I'll get to that and, really, you can find ways around it. Luckily, I was visiting a friend and she had a rolling pin and LO these cookies were whipped up. The recipe is fantastically simple - I halved it to see if I liked it and it worked swimmingly. You might want to make the whole batch though - they go awful fast.

I'm giving the whole recipe, in it's original form, but I used salted butter rather than unsalted and just a pinch of salt additionally and was no worse for wear.

Nutella Pinwheel Cookies

- 8 oz butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks (I used large, she had extra large, but things seemed fine)
- 2 TSP vanilla
- 2 1/3 cup flour
- 1/4 TSP salt (she calls for kosher)
- 1/2 cup Nutella, divided

Now, I did veer a bit from her instructions, but I'm giving you mine rather than hers. They are virtually identical and if you'd like to mix up the flour/salt before hand and then add later, that's fine. I just didn't bother.

You'll want to cream the butter and sugar together, which doesn't take long and is - as always - delicious because, well, it's butter and sugar. Hard to fail. Add in the egg yolks and the vanilla and then mix up for a minute, until it's combined. Slowly add the flour and salt, until it forms a soft dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and separate into two halves. Form each half into a square, wrap up in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Now. Amuse yourself somehow. We gossiped and watched some Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Take out one of the squares of dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Have the top covered in the plastic wrap and proceed to roll the dough out into a rectangle about a quarter inch thick. Remove the plastic wrap and spread half of the nutella over it, evenly. Leave about a 1/4 inch on the edges. Roll up the nutella spread cookie dough (god, those are good words to type) into a log and wrap up with plastic wrap (or parchment paper), then pop it into the freezer for about fifteen minutes.

Repeat with the second square of dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. You can either butter your cookie sheet, place some baking parchment down on it, place some foil on it, or use a sil-pat. I used a sil-pat. Consequently, I now really want a sil-pat as well as a rolling pin. Go figure.

Go ahead. Eat one already.

You deserve it.

Now. Remove a log of cookie dough from the freezer and unwrap it. Slice into 1/3" slices and place on the baking sheet, an inch or so apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are olden around the edges. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Or eat in one sitting, either way. Delicious!

This recipe will make four dozen cookies, so, share and share alike!

Garlic Basil Foccacia

2010-12-05T01:15:00.000-06:00

Toasty brown and deliciously crisp.

Not Jewel's foccacia.

"What are you doing today?"
"Oh, I was thinking of making this foccia."
"Yes. Yes, you were."

A good friend of mine was in town recently and we had this sleepy conversation in the early afternoon hours when I was sprawled (and dressed, go me) in bed and he was freshly awoken. I was musing theoretical about ways to spend my day off and we ended up going to get coffee at a nearby coffee shop I'd not been to, but accurately guessed to be the right place to take him, and spent about a zillion hours at Reckless Records (where I found some cheap VHS tapes we needed, he found some albums he needed, and all in all good times were had) and then braved the rains to get home again. Where I tackled this recipe.

Everyone loved it. Most especially, it seemed, the boys. I was pleased because I'm always proud of a positive yeast-bread experience and this one, even with the corners I ended up cutting (just ten minutes! but they were likely meaningful.) was delicious. I even used some of it to make a grilled sammich and that's pretty much the height of living.

My recipe was taken (and based) from the blog So Tasty, So Yummy - it was splendid! Follow that link for the recipe.

The changes I made were to use canola oil instead of olive (we had more. but it was fine.) and instead of rosemary, I used a generous sprinkling of basil. I also used a Portuguese Salt Cream instead of table salt. It's pretty much like sea salt, it's pretty much outstanding.

I also, although this matters less, did not use a mixer - just the good ol' spoon and hand kneading trick.

I hope you love this bread as much as we did! (the whole thing did not last the evening!)

Cauliflower-Potato Cheese Soup

2010-11-22T00:29:00.000-06:00

Soup. Delicious, life-affirming, soup.

Oh it's been up and down and all around, but at any rate, I managed to get into the kitchen and make some soup.

I love soup. Always have. And lately, it's been the only thing I've really been wanting to eat, so I finally got around to making some. I've got my own favorites that I've made, I've got favorites that I want, but this time I went with a whole new soup thanks to (of course) Jamie Oliver. It's his Cauliflower Cheese Soup from Jamie's Food Revolution and ohhhh gracious.

Try. This. Soup.

And not just because any excuse to use an immersion blender is awesome.

It's comforting, it's flavorful, it's actually not really unhealthy because it's made of cauliflower. And it's simple! Insanely so, actually. I adapted it just a pinch, but even with that...well...you'll see. I added some baby potatoes I had, just Russian Blues and a very buttery type.

Ingredients:

- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 medium onions
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
- 5 cups of cauliflower florets
- 3 cups sliced potato (you can sub this with more cauliflower, if you'd like)
- olive oil
- 1 /34 quarts of chicken stock
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper (actually, mine was a Portuguese Salt Cream but that's neither here nor there)
- basil
- 8 oz chedder cheese (grated)
- 1 TSP English mustard

Instructions:

Peel and roughly slice your carrots, onions, and garlic. Slice your celery and cauliflower.

Put a large pot on the stove and add in some olive oil, then add all the chopped and sliced veg and mix together with some basil. Cook for about ten minutes with a lid on, askew, until the carrots/potatoes are softened but holding their shape.

Pour the broth into the pot, then let come to a boil.

Reduce the heat and summer, lid on, for about twelve minutes.

Turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper and then add the cheese and mustard, stir it in a bit and then - using your eager roommate if necessary, use an immersion blender (or in batches in an actual blender, sure) pulse until the soup is smooth.

Thanks, Matt!

You can serve this with bacon, if you'd like, but you can also do what I did and just cook up some chicken with lemon-pepper, slice it, and add to your bowl. Or you can leave it meatless.

Either way, this should serve 6 - 8 and is insanely delicious.

A Delightful Sunday Roast!

2010-10-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

EAT ME. NOM NOM NOM.

Things are going on! Lots of them. Have been for ages. Thus, no me.

But before things went pear, I did manage to cook a few things (and am, slowly, starting to cook more things again SO that's nice even with my piece of shit oven SORRY ARGH RAGE) and this is one of them.

Now, you may or may not know that I don't eat a lot of non-bacon pork. I just don't, there's no reason, and I was gathering some meats at the store for a fantastic "four for twenty" promotion and decided, on a whim, to snap up a pork roast. Now, I never feel confident when I'm cooking steak or beef that is not hamburger and I've been a similar mind about pork that is not bacon. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

IT IS.

I owe one Jamie Oliver a huge thanks for this, as I ended up buying the pork because I knew that he addressed pork in the two cookbooks of his that I own and sure enough, in the pages of Food Revolution, he had everything I wanted to know about making a pork roast. So I did!

And now you can!

Ingredients (serves 4 -6 people, or me and my roommate for a few days)

- one 3 pound boneless loin
- two medium onions
- two carrots
- two celery
- lots of garlic cloves (Jamie asks for a bulb, which I somehow did not have, and so I did a fair amount of cloves sliced in half, this can be changed depending on your garlic love)
- olive oil
- salt, pepper
- a potato or two, cut into bite size chunks (my addition)
- other herbs you may want include - rosemary, sage, thyme, etc. do what you like!

Take the loin out a half hour before it goes in the oven. Why? I'm not sure. Jamie says so. I trust him!

Preheat your oven to 475 F. Swear profusely at your oven for taking so damn long.

Don't peel the veg unless you want to, but wash and chop them. I do peel my garlic cloves before hacking them in two pieces, but you don't have to do anything to them if you don't want. Just pile all of the vegetables, garlic, and herbs in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. I like to stir them about a bit, perhaps lightly season.

Now, to the pork! You'll want a nice sharp knife to score the skin at 1/4 inch intervals - just do the skin/fat! Drizzle the pork with olive oil, sprinkle your salt and pepper over it, then rub it all over to really get it in there. I like to add a fresh basil leaf in between each score. Do what I do! :) Now, place your delicious pork on top of the veg.

Pop the roasting pan in the preheated oven and directly turn it down to 400 F and cook for an hour and twenty minutes. If you've got a bone in your pork loin because you, unlike me, don't mind dealing with bones in your food - then you will want to add another twenty mins. Baste the pork half way through (note to self, buy a baster) and if the vegetables look dry, splash in some water to keep them, well, not burnt. When the pork is cooked to your liking, take it out of the oven and let it rest.

Not the best picture, but shhhh, it's resting.

Now, I like to have my pork pretty much juuuust cooked through, which is when my meat thermometer hits 170 F when jabbed into the center of the thickest part of the pork. You can do what you like, but I wouldn't really suggest cooking it to a lesser temp. Be careful not to dry out your pork! That can be tricky.

Serve with roasted veg or mashed potatoes or something. A simple salad! Also feel free to get make gravy or applesauce. I've yet to actually make gravy, so I will let you know when I do!

It's good to be back!

2010-09-07T18:57:00.000-05:00

Shiny and delightfully tasty. You might be able to eat just one.

Maybe. Possibly.

Aw, cupcakes.

I used to be known for my cupcakes, you know. I mean, my friends still get excited when I say I'm baking a batch of them, but it's not as often as it used to be and honestly, it's not the first thing someone thinks of anymore and this is both good and bad. But it is what it is. The other day, however, I wanted to make cupcakes. Badly. So I thought about what I wanted and then I really went old school - I broke out the Elinor Klivans book cupcakes!

It's bangerang, kids. You should all get this.

I wanted something simple. Something that would make a bad day better, which sometimes means complicated and involved but on that day? No. Complicated and involved was a bad idea. So I went with the butter cake cupcakes and their sticky fudge frosting. The deciding factor to stay with the frosting? It's made from sweetened condensed milk. COME TO MAMA.

Plus. I had some really cute cupcake wrappers that my friend gave me.

Now, this recipe calls for cake flour, but you can make your own with some flour and potato starch. All the substitutions I read had corn starch as the thing to turn the tide, but as that would make me gross, it's not in the house. Potato starch, though, is. Tapioca starch would also be a good choice. It's one tablespoon of starch in a one-cup measuring cup, then enough flour to finish it out to an even cup, by the by.

Anyway. Everyone will love these, even if your oven is wonky and makes them bake a little unevenly like mine did.

See? Just a little. It's still pretty bomb, though.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1 TSP baking powder
- 1/8th TSP salt
- 1/2 cup butter (one stick), room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 TSP vanilla (or an extra splash, it's okay)
- 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but it called for whole. damn cake is lucky I didn't use skim.)

Now. To make these delightful butter cakes you're going to want to first preheat your (hopefully not wonky) oven to 350 F. Pop your cake liners in your muffin tin.

Mix your cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it's smooth and creamy - if you sneak a bite, I won't tell. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until blended, then add the vanilla and beat for about another two minutes. Add in the flour mixture in three additions and the milk in two, making the batter smooth and delicious. It should be just mixed together, ideally. But no one will hate you if you forget because you are ranting about, say, someone in your apartment and beat it a little more ferociously than intended.

Fill each cupcake liner with 1/4 cup batter, just to the 1/2 inch below the edge. Bake until the tops feel firm and a toothpick comes out clean, which should take about 22 minutes. Again, this means your oven? Is not a demon from hell. Lucky you!

I still like my oven for working at all, honestly.

Now. Put your cupcakes on a wire rack to cool.

Hop to the frosting! You will need...

- 2 oz unsweetened, chopped chocolate
- 2 TBS butter, at room temp
- 1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1/8th TSP salt
- 1 TSP vanilla

Put the salt, chocolate, butter, and sweetened condensed milk in a heatproof bowl or sauce pan and place that over another sauce pan of simmering water. Or, if you have a double boiler, use that. Stir constantly and cook for about five minutes, the chocolate and butter will have melted and the frosting will be smooth and thick. Remove from the stove and stir in the vanilla. Pour the frosting into a bowl and beat it for a few minutes (2 - 3) until it thickens a little more and cooks to lukewarm. This frosting needs to be a little warm to spread, so you're really just sort of cooling it down with this step.

This is some glossy, delicious, frosting. Wowza.

Great with strawberries, I'd imagine.

Now frost those sweet little cupcakes! The recipe says use about two tablespoons on each one, I think I just put a spoonful on - I had frosting left over and poured it into a plastic storage container, chucked it in the fridge, and later used it in all manner of delicious ways. Including spoon-to-mouth.

You can let the cupcakes sit uncovered for about an hour, for the frosting to firm up, but if you eat one right away no one is going to blame you. I put mine in the fridge.

One down, as many more as I can manage to go!

The recipe says you can store them in a covered container for three days at room temp, but honestly, I doubt that they will last that long. Too delicious!

Now, pour yourself a glass of the good stuff and enjoy.

Pierogies! The Daring Cooks Challenge.

2010-08-19T01:14:00.000-05:00

Golden. Delicious. And mine, all mine.

If you know me in real life, which you may, then you may know my love of pierogies. It's a lot like my love of samosas. I want to eat a zillion of them and would, if only I were able. It's like I don't like wraps or things - seriously, guys, I cut them open like surgery - because I say I "don't like compressed food" which sounds stupid, when you realize that things like grilled cheeses and sammich presses and quesadillas/enchiladas/taquitos are all compressed foods as well. But seriously, no, I don't like things that feel too layery or something in my mouth. Or maybe I ate some bad wraps once and now the memory stays, but either way, if I eat a wrap - even a delicious one - I tend to feel like I'm gonna be sick.

But a samosa or a pieroi? Those are not under the "compressed foods" category.

I don't know why I've shared this story with you, but I have, so onward and upward. Do you feel closer to me? Let's hold hands.

Anyway. DRUMROLL PLEASE

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

I'll be honest. I shrieked and told my roommate who, in a manlier way, shrieked as well. We were super excited and I tackled it fairly early, excited to press on and create all sorts of things.

I made two types and, as I wrote this, managed to put together in my head like four other delicious ideas and you best believe I am going to do at least one of them.

Using the traditional Russian style dough, I made a filling of potato and cheese as well as a filling of sausage/carmelized onions/mushrooms. And that second one was pretty bangin'. I also felt that it wasn't a poor choice for a Chicago one, although I just thought of pizza (we're a deep dish town! sorry!) and that's gonna be a fun little attempt.

I will blog you all about it.

ANYWAY.

These keep really well, actually, in the freezer before being finished up or after being cooked for leftovers. Well played!

The dough recipe I used was the one given in the challenge and happened to be Anula's family recipe, which I found to be pretty awesome. I don't know why I had a hard time working with it at first, but later it snapped to me, and even after being (wrapped tightly in plastic wrap) kept in the fridge for a day or two. I was spacing it out since I kept doing late night ones and would get tired.

A portrait of hard work.

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water

Instructions (as directly copied from the post, entirely, even the parenthesis - well, not these ones, but those ones.)

"Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass (personally I used 4-inch/10 cm cutter as it makes nice size pierogi - this way I got around 30 of them and 1 full, heaped teaspoon of filling is perfect for that size). Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough."

Now. For the first filling, potato and cheese, I boiled a few red potatoes and then used a mixture of butter, sour cream, and milk to make them delicious mashed potatoes that I totally ate some of first. Then, I mixed in a few handfuls shredded cheddar cheese. Then, I shooed away my roommate from eating it all.

Now. Follow the instructions given ("Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill." if you forgot), and make however many you'd like. Then boil them in salted water, then, if you like, pan fry. I like to pan fry.

Sausagey and Delicious.

Not so much healthy though.

But the mushrooms help, right? Right?

My sausage ones were

- half a packet of sasuage
- pepper, salt, oregano
- half an onion, thinly sliced, then cut those in half so make them each short
- a handful of mushrooms, chopped up quite well
- three cloves garlic, smashed and chopped to pieces. minced. shall we say.

I cooked the onions down in some butter and cooked and cooked and cooked until they were soft and gold and delicious. Then I added the mushrooms and some pepper and salt.

In a seperate pan, I cooked the sausage with oregano and pepper, until it was well cooked, and mixed them all together before filling my pierogies and tossing them in the buttered pan to cook them up.

Serve with sour cream.

I realize these are not the best filling instructions but firmly think that it's better that way. What do you want to eat? Make it! Put it in! Eat it!

Although I will work on the other ideas I have much more dillegently. I have a notebook now. Which is bangerang.

Retro-licious.

2010-08-06T18:08:00.000-05:00

Come to mama, sweet delicious baby.

'Cause Mama wants to devour you.

Now, I'm a fan of vintage - which is not rare or special, but merely true, and you might know that about me if you've ever heard me gush over my 1950's cookbooks or my amazing vintage finds or Mad Men or any number of things. Especially if you've ever heard me bitch about how my hands are waaaay too big for cute gloves I find at places like Lenny's. I never really hunt for vintage dishes, with few exceptions, but would love to find adorable avocado dishes because - while I've always loved me some 'cado - I have recently discovered putting something in your half? EVEN BETTER.

This time, I went super Betty Draper on it and made a light, refreshing crab salad then heaped that on top of my perfectly ripe avocado. Then died happy.

Because, friends, let's face it. Maybe it isn't crazy hot where you are, but until today? Chicago has been pretty high on humidity and anger-inducing heat. Not a lot has really stepped in to save the day on that front. You want something to eat, but you want it to be easy and not millionty-degree-kitchen-making. (which is why I made pork roast last week, ha ha, naturally)

This is fantastically simple. Now, I had crab to start with 'cause of a wicked awesome sale at Jewel, but I imagine you could put a lot of things in an avocado and be happy.

I'll say it loud and proud:

Delicious!

But will not keep the tequila from getting you. Maybe Gloria should've sung about THAT.

Ingredients

- half cup of crab meat (or however much you would like, depending), shredded
- haf a lime
- salt, pepper
- half a small onion, chopped very fine (I used a yellow one 'cause I had it, but red would probably be even better)
- a stalk of celery, chopped very fine
- maybe a bell pepper or something, again, dice this finely, I didn't have this. So really any veg you'd like.
- avocado, halved

Mix your onion, crab, celery, salt and pepper together. Mix in any veg that you are using. Squeeze the lime half over it and mix more. You could let it sit for a few (let's say ten) minutes or so to let everything really come together but if you're being impatient, like I was, it won't kill you.

Cut your avocado in half and then remove the pit. Use the knife to seperate the avocado meat from the skin and place on a plate, then scoop some of the crab salad into the space where the pit used to be. If you'd like to make it larger, just spoon out some of the avocado meat.

It's really weird to say "avocado meat", you guys. Seriously.

Now. You've got your salad in your avocado and you can feel super retro and fancy. This would make a fantastic first course, a great light lunch/dinner, a snack, etc.

Naturally, you can add mayo if you want. I just found that I prefered mine without. And for you healthy people, avocados are supposed to be a healthy fat. Exxxcellent.

Super Delicious Hamburgers!

2010-07-23T08:46:00.000-05:00

Damn, Americana.

You know, I've never before thought my hamburgers weren't delicious, even when I made them only with ground beef (and we're talking the very cheapest packet at Jewel, here) and whatever seasoning I want to try. I thought that adding a bit of butter to the center was an amazing idea and was thrilled with it. Even more exciting was the bit of butter and cheese addition to the center. Then I did what I presume many others did and experimented further, using a Jamie Oliver (yes! Food Revolution strikes again!) recipe and was pretty delighted. On the one hand - I'd go back to my simple "smack ground beef together and cook" method and be okay, but...then again...my roommate freaked out over it. And it was damn good.

They even freeze and reheat well!

So, use whatever bread or condiments you like and be delighted. I don't particularly like pickles, but others do, and I had guests the night I made this so I managed to find corn-free pickle slices (harder than you think) and a tomato and spinach (which I like more than lettuce, mostly, but I should suck it up and buy the lettuce because today I actually did want it and...you don't need to know all of that, I'm sure) and an onion and mushrooms (both of which I cooked in a bit of basily-butter) and mayo and this cranberry-mustard I picked up at Stanley's. Delicious, even though I never use mustard except in recipes. And buns! I almost never get buns. It's hard enough buying bread with my allergy, bothering to go onto buns is almost not worth it.

UNTIL IT IS.

Anyway. The method of making these burgers is much like making these is a lot like making the meatballs I showed you recently. So you'll need...and should have, if you made meatballs...

MAKES SIX

- twelve saltines
- eight sprigs of parsley (finely chopped) OR a few good shakes, if dried
- two heaped TSP honey-dijon mustard
- one lbs ground beef
- one egg
- salt, pepper, other seasonings, etc (I used cumin)
- olive oil
- butter

Smash up the crackers and mix with the parsley, mustard, and ground beef. Add the egg and some salt and pepper and any other seasonings you may desire - I used cumin. Cumin tastes amazing here. Mix everything together quite well and then divide into six and pat each bit into your burger shape - about 3/4 inch thick. I like to put a sliver of butter in the center of my burgers, I find it adds deliciousness and moisture.

Drizzle the burgers with a bit of oil and pop them in the fridge until needed.

Preheat a frying pan (or a grill pan) for about four minutes on a high setting. Then turn the heat down to medium, place the burgers on the pan, and press lightly down on them with your spatula. Cook them to your liking at three or four minutes a-side. Or grill them.

Remember - if the eaters in question are kids or pregnant or sick or something, you'll want to cook them well-done. That's no pink in the middle. If you like it less so well done (I'm a medium girl myself, I like a bit of pink) then have at. You'll be the one sick, after all, if you don't cook it through enough. Not me.

Prepare all your trimmings as you like them, and serve.

If you have extra burgers, wrap them up in plastic wrap (or waxed paper, or whatever) and pop them into the feezer in a secured fashion.

This was my Fourth of July main course, but clearly this is amazing for any time.

Blackbird Blackberry Pie

2010-07-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

A completely delightful and delicious pie.

That you totally want there to be four--and-twenty of.

Well, that's what Heather called it.

But it is made of blackberries and it is delicious and a pie and has a pie-bird in it. So she isn't wrong, but Heather's a bright girl, so of course she isn't wrong. She's awesome. So is this pie. It's delicious! And she thinks so too. So you should agree with her, 'cause my Heatherleh knows from deliciousness.

I basically wanted a pie on the Fourth of July. I didn't know it was the last day I'd feel not sick for over a week (I say over, 'cause I'm still not at peak form, in a few troubling ways, but I'm not as sick as I was two days ago, so YAY that's awesome) and so, despite the heat and my utter and complete laziness - which happens on any day I have off that I shouldn't - I dragged myself to the a nearby grocery store along with the rest of the freaking area.

I did manage, stunningly, to get a self-checkout pretty quickly. I can't even do that on emptier times.

This pie is simple. If you have a favorite crust recipe, please use it! Or a pre-made crust. It's fine. Mine is simple - I just mix a stick of softened butter with around a cup and a half of flour, a dash of salt, and a half cup of sugar. If it is too crumbly, I mix in two TBS of ice water. Then I ball it up, flatten in it plastic wrap, and chill it for about a half hour.

Divide in half. Roll it out, place it on the bottom of your buttered pie pan. OR press it in the bottom of a buttered pie pan if, like me, you a) don't have a rolling pin and aren't in the mood to clean off a bottle or something and b) the dough is soft enough that making bits of dough flat in the bottom of the pan makes sense.

Put the other half back in the fridge.

Take

- two packets of blackberries (or raspberries or blueberries), rinsed with bad ones removed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- two TSP vanilla

and mix together in a bowl. If you aren't in any great hurry, let that sit for about fifteen minutes to a half hour, but never mind if you don't - I rarely do and it's never bothered anything. Pour the mixture into your pie crust.

If you have a pie bird, put in in the center.

Roll out the other half of the dough and place around the pie-bird or, much as before, flatten out and put the dough on top the pie around the pie-bird by hand. It'll look rougher, but that's okay. It's rustic! Sprinkle the crust with sugar, barely.

Looks pretty tasty, if you ask me.

And you sort of it, by reading this blog.

If you did NOT use a pie-bird, then cut some slits in the crust or designs or something. It'll let the steam escape. If you have it, you still can if you want to, but you needn't.

Bake at 375 F for approx 35 mins, until the crust is golden. Let sit and cool, so the pie can gel.

Slice and serve with whipped cream or ice cream or by itself. Be delighted!

OPTIONAL: You can buy tapioca and mix some of it in with the berries, if you want more of a fruit-gel around your fruit.

This soup is brought to you by technology, love, and the letter D.

2010-07-13T01:26:00.001-05:00

Made with love. And edamame.

If that doesn't cure you, what will?

As happens from time to time, I was struck by an illnes last week, and no amount of anything seemed to be getting it to move. No, this is was not any simple summer cold. Those are awful but go away. This wasn't even my standard "oh, fine, I'll work out more" seasonal cough - that involves no actual working out, save for the fact that a few days into it my lungs usually are sore and it hurts my entire torso to cough. This was something else entirely.

This was a cough that was as bad as the one described, but somehow even worse. This was a fever - a really soaring high fever, at that, up and down and off and on. Chills, of the variety that made me look psychotic in a sweater in Chicago in July, and being dizzy and oh, the endless coughing and oh, the frightening fever. It made me take my first sick day since I started this job over a year a go. And I've been sick, people. I went went blind once (it's a long story) and opened that store on time and stayed there all day. I was on time this time too, but I had been arranging someone to come take my shift before I even made it in.

And as I was working a double, with interns, this was pretty much a huge favor. So I missed a day of work, then I missed two days of work, then I had two days off planned anyway but I spent them dying in my apartment. With my cat and my netflix and, sometimes, my roommate. Who made me this soup.

He was starting to get sick, also. And Kelly was texting me that she wished she were here to make me soup when Matt (also via text, from work) asked me if I wanted soup. She relayed to him a soup recipe and he made some additions or changes and lo! A Ginger Chicken Udon soup was served to me. We watched something on Netflix. I tried not to die.

This soup is delicious. I'm not sure how he did it. I'll have to ask. But it's delicious. It features heavily on the ginger root, all diced and steamed and cooked up with some steamed chicken and veg (including cress!) and a delicious broth. Spicy! Awesome. With lazy fat udon noodles from a packet I'd almost forgotten about in the fridge, comforting and invigorating and soothing.

A rough list of ingredients:

- chicken broth
- chicken, steamed
- edamame
- udon noodles
- bell pepper
- diced ginger root
- garlic
- carrot

It didn't herald the end of my sickness, but it certainly brought an evening of comfort and my fever even dropped down to Not Making Me Contemplate the ER levels, which was really the second major thing I wanted. I even coughed less!

That could be due to many factors. Namely, my super awesome Love You Lots So Don't Die Soup.

YEARS AGO, MORE THAN TWO

but god do i love this picture

Thanks, guys. You've always got my back.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken or Why I Love Jamie Oliver

2010-07-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

Dear god.

Lock. It. Down.

I don't want to exaggerate anything, but oh my god I completely love Jamie Oliver. The man is amazing and seems like the sweetest guy. I will genuinely be crushed if there is any scandal about him - but I will still love his food. (also, there will never be any scandal, he is a peach). If I could meet any one chef, I'd want to meet him. Of course, if I could meet any handful of chefs, that'd be even better.

Basically, as much as I detest Bobby Flay, King of Tools, I love Jamie Oliver. That, my friends, is saying something as I have broken into the conversations of strangers when Flay is mentioned.

In Jamie's Food Revolution there is a recipe for Crunchy Garlic Chicken. I can not sing the praises of this recipe enough, seriously, I died. DIED. Then came back to eat more because this is so amazing. If you aren't new to the blog, then you'll know about my quest for the perfect chicken strips. I've found them in panko, yes, but this might actually blow that out of the water. At the first go, I'm going to go ahead and say that - yes, once again - this is a Lock It Down recipe. I made a few minor changes to the original recipe, but essentially let it be.

I suggest serving this with a salad or some simple veggies, but if you'd like to go for full-blown comfort then try some mashed potatoes (to make it healthier, make it a mashed cauliflower or cauliflower-potato blend). Jamie suggests using a cream cracker, such as Jacob's, but my Jewel doesn't carry them and I didn't really feel like hunting them down. Anyway, he'd said the same thing for the meatballs, and saltines were pretty much the bomb in that.

Without further ado...

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS

- two cloves of garlic
- seven to eight saltines
- two TBS butter
- a few shakes of parsley (or four fresh sprigs)
- salt and pepper
- two TBS flour
- one egg
- two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- olive oil
- the zest of one lemon OR Garlic-Lemon Trinidad Seasoning
- OPTIONAL -Orange-Pepper (a fantastic change from lemon pepper, if you use this nix on the black pepper above)

WHAT TO DO

Peel the garlic and zest the lemon. If you have a food processor, zoom the crackers with the butter, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, and salt/pepper. You'll want to make the mixture very fine, then pour the crumbs on a plate. If you do NOT have a food processor (clearly, I do not) then mince the garlic very, very finely. Bash the crackers up and mix with the parsley, lemon zest, pepper, garlic, and salt. The butter should be softened and then stir it in with crumb mixture. Put that on a plate.

Helloooooo, crumbs.

Sprinkle the flour onto a second plate. Be thankful that you have so many saucers in your ramshackle apartment.

Beat the egg in a small bowl with a fork.

Cut the fatty bits out of the chicken. If you want more of a strip type of thing, cut them into strips. I cut my chicken breasts in half to make them thin, then lightly score the bottom of the chicken breasts. Smack them with a pan a few times (in plastic wrap, of course) to flatten them out a bit - unless, of course, you already cut them in half because it's a little late and maybe you don't want to whack things.

Dip the chicken in the flour, getting it totally coated, then dip it into the egg, then coat with the flavored crumbs. Pat the crumbs onto the chicken so it sticks.

sizzle sizzle sizzle

"Oh, that delicious smell? It's nothing...but awesomeness."

I fried mine in some olive oil for about five minutes on each side, until cooked through and delightfully golden and crisp. You can also bake them, however. Preheat your oven until it is hot as blazes (475 F yikes!) and put your chicken on a cookie sheet and bake for about fifteen minutes.

Now. You can serve them whole as they are, cut them up into strips or bits or whatever you like. Squeeze a bit of lemon on them if you'd like. Serve with the sides of your choosing. Swoon.

Poor picture, unbelievable food.

The only flaw in this is keeping the breading crisp for the next day, I chucked some in a plastic container and it didn't really keep up. It was still delicious, though. Really, I think this is much more meant to be eaten the night of, which will be fantastically easy as this stuff is killer.

2010-07-04T13:45:00.000-05:00

A crisp, light, veggie laden salad.

Come to mama.

I realize it might not always look like it on here, but I actually do really love a good salad. I eat my veg regularly and enjoy a lovely salad lunch as much as anyone else. Do I tend to order salad as my meal out with people? No, not usually. But I do really enjoy a nice, tasty salad as a meal or a side.

I made a most delicious salad the other day, is my point. Truly delightful. A handful of spinach, a cut up avocado half, a cut up tomato, some cucumber, a scattering of cheese, a few sliced radishes, and a lovely balsamic vinegarette.

It's actually the vinegarette I'm here to share with you.

I used a ratio of three parts extra-virgin olive oil to one part balsamic vinegar. My olive oil this time was infused with lemon. I added a dash of salt (and one I get sea salt OH MAN LIFE WILL BE AWESOME) and some pepper.

Drizzle on the salad, toss so all the leaves get covered. You don't need a lot, I'm not a drowner. Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2010-07-02T02:17:00.001-05:00

Absolutely delicious. Garlic, a hint of spice, amazing meatballs.

I may never order this anywhere ever again.

So, there's this guy and more than this guy, there's this book that he wrote, and I love it. I love him. I love the whole kit-n-kaboodle of the whole thing. You've heard me sing the praises of Jamie Oliver before and you'll hear it again, don't doubt it. But it's only reasonable! This fellow knows how to cook!

For my birthday, my mother sent me a copy of Jamie's Food Revolution, which I'd only been going on about since it hit the shelves, and was absolutely delighted to finally have it to add in my cramped cookbook cabinet. That cabinet needs to get a big bigger. I may need a new place to store them, they're all crammed in at angles and crafty little layers and so on and forth. Very impressive. I'm going to need more room.

Not the point. The point is, this book? Amazing. Go get it. Get two! One for you and one for a friend. His theory on this is that you pass it on, and they pass it on, and so on and so forth and then everyone knows how to make good food at home! This is the first recipe I've made out of Food Revolution (and I suspect this book is also Jamie's Ministry of Food over across the pond, but that's neither here nor there) and before I fall asleep, I'm going to share this with you all.

And then I'm going to sleep so well it'll be insane.

My roommate, Matt, in awe of the deliciousness.

I made very few alterations to the original recipe, just a pinch more of this or a bit of that. The usual.

My roommate, Matt, told me that it was so good it was like I slapped the women of Italy in the face. High praise indeed!

Ingredients:

- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (but, if your rosemary plant as dying and taken to someone's mother's house, then you could use dried - I still chopped it up)
- 12 saltines (or any plain cracker)
- 2 TSP dijon mustard (or a honey mustard is okay too)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 TBS dried oregano
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
- olive oil

- small bunch of fresh basil (but dried is okay too)
- 1 medium onion
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp Vulcan Fire Salt (for a spicy kick, you can also use cayenne or a red chile)
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes (I get both the plain type and also the ones with garlic or balsamic or onion in them, feel free to mix it up but keep an eye on your taste)
- 6 - 8 mushrooms, chopped
- 2 TBS balsamic vinegar
- 1 pound dried spaghetti or penne or whichever
- Parmesan cheese, for grating (okay, this, I did not use. I had shredded Italian cheese. And I used it.)

Here is how to make the meatballs!

Raw! Like the cavemen liked it!

Pick the rosemary off the stalks and chop them up or, if using dried rosemary, just chop that up too. Smash the crackers until fine, and add that to a bowl with the mustard, ground beef, rosemary, and oregano. Crack in the egg and add a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix well. Go ahead, scrunch your hands up in there.

Turn it into meatballs - it should make about twenty-four, depending on the size you'd like. Drizzle them in olive oil and roll them about so they are all properly coated. Put them on a plate, cover, and pop in the fridge until ready.

These also freeze fantastically! I put some in waxed paper, to keep them from sticking I rolled them each separate and popped in them the freezer. Today, I just chucked a few in a hot skillet and BLAMMO delicious meatballs. I'm completely using this as one of my "stock up" recipes. Of which I can never get enough of. I need to start doing that more.

Back to the dinner.

To cook all!

Finely chop your onion and garlic and, if using a chile, finely slice it.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil and a heat a frying pan on med heat with a good glug or two of oil.

Add the onion to the frying pan and stir around for seven minutes, 'til softened and golden. Add in the garlic and chile and, if using fresh, large basil leaves (if not, shake in dried basil). Stir about for a moment. Add in the mushrooms and cook for a three minutes. Add in the tomatoes and balsamic, bring to boil and season to taste. Stick a lid on and let simmer, stirring occasionally.

Is the water boiling? If yes, add the pasta and cook to instructions, if not, move on.

Now. Get another frying pan. Add a bit of olive oil and your meatballs. Stir them around and cook for around eight to ten minutes - they should be nice and browned on the outside and when cut open, there should be no pink. If they are cooked through, add them to sauce and let simmer.

That one is broken because I ate part of it.

I am not ashamed.

I actually held back on a few of mine.

Now. Cook the pasta, if you haven't already, and reserve some of the cooking water in a cup. Then drain the pasta, back in the pot, and spoon half the sauce over it and add a splash of the pasta water to keep it nice and not claggy. This is where I added my set aside meat balls back to the sauce that was to be put on top the pasta. Serve, with sauce and meatballs on top, and sprinkle with some cheese or tiny (or shredded) basil leaves.

Really dig in, this is madly delicious. I had some garlic bread on the side of it and it was absolutely insanely delicious. I'm ready to call it a lockdown here and now, actually. But I will hold off.

'Cause I have a sneaky plan and until I'm ready to REALLY put into action, really unleash my crazy plan for this site here, I'll hold off on anything rash. Like locking something down a touch too early.

But do please make this, teach others, and really enjoy. It's brilliant as leftovers, as well, as I discovered today.

Oh what a beautiful moooooorning

2010-07-02T00:45:00.000-05:00

Doesn't that look delicious?!?

For those of your in Chicago, I must suggest if you get the chance to check out Red Hen Bread (two locations, one in Wicker Park, one in Lakeview/North Lincoln Park) then you do so. When I used in Lakeview, I used to go to the nearby location and get this utterly delicious sweet potato/pecan bread. Oh. Mah. God.

Plain, toasted, with butter, with jam, as french bread, and I bet as bread pudding...this stuff is like cake. CAKE I TELL YOU.

And because it says "bread" I can pretend it is healthy cake.

Anyway. I awoke with a craving for bacon (don't judge) the other day and on my far-too-early-to-be-reasonable-on-a-day-off meanderings, I remembered that I live near the Wicker Park location. I may or may not have gotten some iced coffee, I may or may not have gotten some microwaveable bacon from Aldi (seriously, stop judging) and I had some pineapple and cheese and....do you see where this is going?

Brioche, my friends. Brioche. In my mouth. With bacon, melted cheese (mozzerella), and pineapple in between my sliced brioche bun. With my iced coffee. I almost giggled I was so pleased.

By almost, I mean, I did, because I am totally that girl. I suggest you all eat something on brioche. Or just brioche. And if you can, I suggest you go to this bakery. Consider in my public service announcement.

It's small, it's adorable, it's full of light and the delightfullness of an airy bakery. I dare you to not be happy standing there, contemplating your options. Get a sandwhich! It doesn't even have to involve bacon! No one can live on just bacon. Or, if you can, you shouldn't, because it's so delicious it deserves to be enjoyed and not taken for granted.

Banana Bread + Cookies = AWESOME

2010-06-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

!BEHOLD!

You know when you've got those bananas that you really meant to eat with, like, cereal (oh, wait, I virtually never buy cereal) or oatmeal that you've put cocoa powder in with sugar (nommmm) or greek yogurt (double nommm)? And then you forget or you work a lot or something and next thing you know, they are certainly not really eating material and more baking material? So you stick them in the freezer and then forget and then, one day, when you have next to nothing to bake with...you take them out, stick them in a bowl so as they thaw and get so gross looking and suddenly realize you have nothing to bake with?

Yes, I knew you would.

I did this, clearly, but it went very well because as it worked out, I wanted to try my hand at banana bread cookies. Originally planned as banana cookies, but this is what happened and it was damn good. You, too, can make these utterly delicious things that your roommates and friends will devour with the utmost glee.

You will need:

- two totally way too ripe bananas
- one cup flour
- half cup sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla
- teaspoon baking powder
- a few shakes of salt
- one stick butter, softened
- one tablespoon cocoa powder

Mix the sugar and butter together, add vanilla and mix until completely mixed together. Mix in bananas and stir until well combined. Blend in cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and flour. You may need more flour/sugar.

Grease a baking sheet and put a spoonful of the dough just like, what, an inch apart? Bake for about ten minutes at 375 F. Remove, put on cooling sheet, burn your mouth on the first one.

Enjoy!

June Daring Cooks - Pate!

2010-06-15T22:05:00.000-05:00

Yes. I know. It should be upside down. Well. It isn't.

And there is no picture of that, since I traveled like this and then everyone ate it like heathens.

Gosh, heathens must eat so well.

It was amazing, what happened for this month's challenge.

I did it with plenty of time to spare! A vegetarian friend of mine was having a cook-out and I needed something to bring and like lighting striking the Jesus statue on I-75 (too soon?), the idea came, took flame, and was quickly put into action.

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

Now, some of these choices were your standard liver pate, chicken pate, and a seafood pate. I honestly had no intention of touching a liver and so was pretty pleased by the vegetarianism as an excuse. Seriously, though, everyone destroyed this. They loved it. I'm thrilled. There are no photos of it upside down as, well, I said destroyed. I meant destroyed. No joke.

Well played, crew!

Tricolor Vegetable Pâté
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan
Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.

White Bean Layer
2 x 15-ounce / 900 ml cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained thoroughly
1 tbsp / 15 ml fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp / 15 ml olive oil
1 tbsp / 15 ml minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 garlic cloves, pressed
Mash beans in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.

Red Pepper Layer
7-ounce / 210 ml jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, chopped
3/4 cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

Pesto Layer
2 garlic cloves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh basil leaves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup / 60 ml toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml low-fat ricotta cheese

Mince garlic in processor. Add basil, parsley and pine nuts and mince. With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Mix in ricotta. Spread pesto evenly over red pepper layer.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté.

I served mine with basil-swirled bread, based off my previously mentioned bread recipe.
I also bought garlic bread chips and brought those. You know. 'Cause it's the right thing to do. Seriously, though, anything would taste good in this. I'd eat this off of a pinecone.

Pastel de Tres Leches con Fresas

2010-05-20T18:57:00.000-05:00

Lordy lordy look what is insanely delicious....

I loved The Pioneer Woman before, but good lord. This cake. THIS. CAKE.

I've heard of Tres Leches cake before and I'd thought about it from time to time, but I'd never had it. For about two weeks, though, it has been on my mind. Oh, my, how I wanted this cake. Finally, an early morning jaunt about in a mist of rain led me to Aldi, where the low low price of sweetened condensed milk told me that, well, today was a good a day as any other.

So, between that and the iced vanilla coffee that I'd gone there for, the brioche from the Red Hen Bakery, and some bacon...I was ready to experience the wonders.

I halved the recipe from The Pioneer Woman (while using three egg whites/egg yolks) and then made a quick whipped topping out of whipping cream and sugar, with sliced strawberries on top. Here are the measurements for the whole cake, rather than my halving.

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

Now.

You want to set your oven to 350 F.

Beat the yolks with 3/4 cup of sugar until it is pale yellow, then stir in the milk and vanilla. I actually used soy milk, as we were out of cow milk, and it was delicious.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the yolk-milk mixture over this and gently mix together.

Now, beat your egg whites until soft peaks form. Pour in the remaining sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff, but not dry. Fold this into the batter. Pour into your prepared pan (9 x 13 inch, buttered or sprayed or whatever) and then bake for 35 to 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

This smelled incredible.

Seriously.

I may or may not have later broken off a teensy-tinsy bite.

Now, put it on a cooling rack to, you know, cool.

While it is cooling, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, the evaporated milk, and the heavy cream. I didn't used the entire amount, I just mixed in equal parts - about a half cup of each - and then mixed it together.

Move the cake to a rimmed plate or something. Use a fork to prick the top of your cake a bajillion times and then pour this mixture liberally over the entire cake - be sure to get the edges!!

Look at that cake, half drowned. It's already soaked up a lot.

At this point, I wanted to just dig in.

It'll pour around the cake but the cake just soaks it right up. You'll see.

While it does that, make your whipped topping. If you want to top it with fruit or not, that's up to you. Either way, this baby is DELICIOUS. Seriously. It stays moist and tasty for days, although it was epic willpower that kept me from eating this whole thing in the first twenty-four hours.

Even at this point, you could just eat it all. Seriously.

I am going to make this a billion more times. I can't wait to experiment with it, but also just to really enjoy this recipe. It's so easy and delicious! Enjoy!!

Chicken ala King. Should that be Dethroned King?

2010-05-19T01:35:00.000-05:00

Mmmm...creamy, peppery, chickeny goodness!

Takes me back, oh yes indeed.

I have a pretty strong memory of the first time I ever ate this dish. Or, anyway, the first time I remember eating it. I was both annoyed and baffled by this not-at-all-a-potpie that my dad had whipped up. I'm sure there were loads of veggies and I'm pretty sure he made drop biscuits. I remember standing in the kitchen and being somehow very confused by the whole sequence of events. I liked it. I did not daydream about it. I was Team Potpie.

Since then, of course, I've really enjoyed the goodness that is chicken ala king. It's just so pleasing and warming! I still tend to make potpie as my creamy-chickeny vehicle (or a pasta) but the other day, I really could just not get this out of my mind. I wanted it. I craved it. I was having A Very Bad Day and I knew this would make everything better.

I swung by Jewel, gathered maybe three or four items, came home and ate some pasta that my roommate had made and went to sleep.

THE END. IT IS SO EXCITING.

Actually, that is how the night went, but the next day I embarked on a huge bake-a-thon and this was my dinner afterwards. Chicken ala Dethroned King. Dethroned because, well, I was broke and the lack of bell peppers and peas and everything clues you in on that. I also took the easy way out and used insta-biscuits from a can.

Still. It was delicious.

- two chicken breasts, cut up into bite-size bits (you can also steam or poach or whichen and shred it)
- four carrots, sliced
- handful of mushrooms, sliced
- splash of white wine
- garlic, minced
- onion, chopped
- paprika, salt, pepper, basil
- one cup heavy cream
- half cup chicken broth
(more or less as desired or needed, I'm pretty sure these were my measurements)
- approx. a tablespoon of tapioca starch to thicken the sauce

Boozey veg! My favorite.

Now, what you want to do is cook the chicken in some olive oil and butter - unless, of course, you've steamed or poached it. Season with pepper and basil and salt. Add in the onion, garlic, and veg. Splash in some white wine and let cook down. Season to taste, then add the chicken broth and the cream (or half and half or even milk!). After about ten minutes, sprinkle in the starch while stirring swiftly the whole time. Go slowly until you've reached the desired thickness. Season with paprika and any additional flavors you may want.

Serve on a biscuit! May I suggest cheese? :)

Ali, Cake, and Limited Time.

2010-05-18T02:49:00.000-05:00

I have a roommate named Ali.

She is moving out soon, but she's still our friend and for now! She is still our roommate.

She also likes to bake. And craft. And dance. We all get along and she and I have a tin-can phone between our rooms, since we share a wall, and a joke about how we must share brainwaves.

Recently, Ali made this cake! It's a delicious orange flavored cake with a chocolate frosting with pecans decorating.

It's even two colors!

She's a very wonderful baker. And while I don't have the recipe for this, I thought I'd share. I'd say this is a yellow cake with orange flavor. I know the chocolate frosting is more a ganache - she melted down chocolate and blended it in heavy whipping cream. DELICIOUS.

Believe me, this was amazing.

I'm trying now to get the recipe from her, but this is still pretty! :)

Happy Birthday, Matt!

2010-05-18T02:43:00.000-05:00

Completely delicious!

Oh yes, a birthday marvel.

For ages now, I've made cupcakes for Matt's birthday (and for others as well) and this year was no exception. I ask what he wants and he gives me a flavor profile, usually, and this year he asked for lavender and vanilla and macadamia nut. He was slightly more specific, but I know him and his tastes and knew exactly what to do. 'Cause that's how we roll, here. With understanding.

Now, macadmia nuts - as pricey as they are - come in bulk at Whole Foods and so I was able to get just a handful of them. My dad had given me loads of dried lavender when I was in Ohio last, so I had that, and so it was really just a simple matter of how I was going to do it without having that soapy-lavender taste that happens. Since only one person called them "bubble-bath-cakes" (although, they did say they were the most delicious "bubble-bath cakes I've ever had"), not to mention that people really killed these and the birthday boy himself apparently ate four of them...

A win!

And simple.

To make the lavender butter, simply take your dried lavender and use the flower bits, not the stems or sticks, and chuck it in a saucepan of melting butter. I did about two tablespoons, but maybe a little less would be fine. I used one stick of butter.

Mmmm...naturally dried lavender and delicious butter.

My father is so proud.

Melt down, turn heat to super low, stir and make sure it doesn't burn while you cook it for ten to fifteen minutes. Strain. You can use cheese cloth or a seive or something - I had a tea strainer that was mug-sized, so I used that and pressed the lavender with a spoon to get all the butter out.

TA-DA!

Lavender butter!

Now.

- one stick of lavender butter, melted but cooled
- one cup of flour
- half cup of sugar
- one vanilla bean
- pinch of salt
- teaspoon baking powder
- two eggs
- splash of milk (if the batter doesn't come together)

Now. Mix all those together. I did the butter, vanilla, and sugar first. Beat until combined, then add the eggs and beat. Add the flour and baking powder and eggs and beat again. If not battery, add milk.

You should have a delicious batter! Taste it and see if it needs anything - more sugar or vanilla are the likely culprits.

Pour into baking cups in your muffin pan and cook at 350 F for about twenty-five minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting

- one stick of softened butter
- splash vanilla
- chopped up macadamia nuts
- one and half to two cups powdered sugar

BEHOLD!

Blend on high util the butter and powdered sugar is creamy, add vanilla and macadmia nuts. Blend. If too thin, add powdered sugar. Taste. Now. If it is too sweet, either add a little more butter and/or splash in some milk. If it is too buttery, add some powdered sugar.

When the cupcakes are cool, frost and give to pleased individuals.

Unbaked

Still delish.

And of course feel free to use adorable cupcake holders....

They really add something, if you ask me.

Then again. I'm always looking for cute ones. Even if I don't get a direct chance to use them!

Taquitos!

2010-05-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not even kidding.

This is the only picture I was able to take, so it is by default the best.

I apologize. Picture something delicious.

THERE. That is now "how tasty my taquitos are".

Effortless would almost be the word best used to describe this recipe, except for the fact that I accidentally left the broiler on and burnt up my first batch. This did not stop anyone from devouring them, though, which I took as a note of confidence as I made sure to guard over the next batch.

Um, about the broiler. It's how we pre-heat our oven. It isn't even on the list of things to fix about this place - rather, "awesome oven" is on the list for Things For Next Apartment. If I told you what else was on that list, you'd shake your heads, so instead I'll say: if you, too, have an oven like this - wanna start a support group?

Anyway.

I made these easy taquitos! There were both chicken and vegetarian (black refried beans, with extra veg) options. So simple. See how easy?

Ingredients:

- flour tortillas
- two chicken breasts
- one can of vegetarian refried black beans
- four cloves garlic
- diced onion
- diced tomato
- diced bell pepper
- salsa
- sour cream
- guacamole
- basil, salt, pepper, etc etc
- olive oil
- shredded cheese

You'll want to steam the chicken, so shake some basil, salt, and pepper over the breasts and then steam away. While your kitchen starts to smell amazing, heat up the beans in a pan, using a bit of oil, about half the garlic, and season as you wish. You'll just be cooking it up a bit so it is hot.

Shred the cooked-through chicken. Add garlic, a little salsa (a few tbs), some of the onion, and anything else you'd like. Now. Take a tortilla. Rub a little oil onto each side and then, fill the inside with some shredded chicken mixture and cheese. Roll up tightly then place in a baking dish (or on a cookie sheet). Repeat.

For the vegetarian ones, you'll want to put the bean mixture in the inside, with some onion and tomato and cheese, then roll up.

Bake for fifteen minutes at 350 F, or until the tops are crisp and golden-brown and the insides are hot and melty. If you want to broil briefly at the end to get a golden-brownier top, please do.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and anything else you want. I imagine that "serve" usually involves plates.

Ours didn't make it farther from the baking dish than our mouths. OH THE LIFE.

Ultra Tasty Brownies

2010-04-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is delicious.

A terrible picture, but a delicious brownie.

Good Golly, Miss Molly!

I'm not actually sure I know anyone named Molly. I know of Mollys. I used to work at Camp Molly Laumen (remember that, it'll come back). Molly Ringwald is pretty cool, although she is second fiddle to Ally Sheedy (sorry, Mol, but even being a fellow ginger can't save you here).This is off topic.

You know what I did, after three days of baking cookies? First, I reminded myself that it's ridiculous to make so many cookies just because I'm working out and then I thought that it didn't matter and so today I made brownies. Do you see the logic there, 'cause I do not.

This did not stop me from making brownies. Delicious brownies. More fudgey and chewy, not dry and ridiculous. It's a nearly perfect brownie. In fact, it might even be the lock-it-down brownie. Might. Only time will tell.

Time and my dress size, yikes, brownies. Delicious! I should find a CYT Recipe for them. Hm. Things to do.

Anyway, these are pretty delicious.

Ultra Delicious Brownies (this was adapted from Diamonds for Dessert)

- 1 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- pinch of salt
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 TBS milk
- 2 TSP vanilla
- 1/2 TSP baking soda
- handfuls of chocolate chips (optional)
- handful of butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Prepare a baking dish by buttering a baking pan -I used a pan, but if you want thinner brownies feel free to use a larger one.

Mix the sugar with the butter and beat, then add the egg and beat. Mix in the vanilla. Then mix in the cocoa powder, baking soda, and flour. Combine, add milk, mix, add the chips (or nuts or whatever) if using and stir stir stir.

Pour in the pan.

Bake for about twenty minutes or until a knife comes out slightly sticky. Slice or use cookie cutters or just get some forks and eat it out of the pan. Whichever.

My roommates LOVE it. As in, this pan didn't last a full twenty-four hours. So, that's a plus. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to cuddle with my cat and then work off these brownies.

Fresh bread! Is anything more delicious?

2010-04-23T05:42:00.000-05:00

Oh man, talk about a smell you wish your kitchen always had.

I find a lot of things, both in and out of the kitchen, to be rewarding. Doing the dishes is nice because at the end, you've accomplished something. I mopped the other night and felt amazing because it was just so CLEAN and smelled so NICE. That was because of the vinegar. Did your parents clean with vinegar? I think that's a difference between people who walk in a kitchen after a cleaning spree and go "smells awesome!" and people who don't.

Those of us who think it's nice remember the spray bottle of vinegar/water that was around for counter tops.

Anyway. I've been wanting to do something especially rewarding for a few days now - make bread! So I did just that today. I've probably mentioned that I've been working on getting over my yeast-fear and this really helped with that. I used Julia Child's white bread recipe because, well, it's Julia!

I tackled my task with a smile and later, multiple hours spent making jewelry later, I was pleased to have two delicious loaves of delicious warm bread in my kitchen. Between my roommates and I, we killed more than half the first loaf and some butter and milk. A bread dinner is a winner, in my book.

This is why could never ever be on the Atkin's diet, even if it does forgive bacon.

Mmmm. Bacon.

Julia Child's White Bread

- 2 1/2 cups hot water
- 1 TBS active dry yeast
- 1 TBS sugar
- 7 cups flour
- pinch salt (one teaspoon if butter is unsalted)
- 7 TBS butter, softened (mine was salted, thus the pinch of salt rather than a teaspoon)

Now.

You'll want to pour a half cup of hot water in a bowl and add in the yeast and sugar, then mix until foamy (ish, mine never got super foamy) and then let sit for about five minutes. It'll look creamy but if you are really uncertain, it'll be okay. Mine turned out and I was a little nervous. I believe in you!

Now, mix the yeast mixture, the rest of the water, and 3 1/2 cups flour together. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, good for you! If you don't, well, pretend your arms are a dough hook. 'Cause for now? They are. Mix until blended, then add the rest of the flour. When it comes together, add the salt and then keep mixing until smooth and elastic.

Now, add one tablespoon of butter at a time and mix mix mix. It might come apart, but that's okay, it'll work out okay. I kneaded the hell out of this in the bowl and once all the butter was in and it was still nicely together, I kneaded it more on a floured surface until it was back to the smooth elasticity that it had been before. I lightly oiled the bowl and lovingly placed the bread in it, turned to have the whole thing oiled, and then covered with a cloth and left it on the counter for about forty-five minutes.

"Rise," I said to it sweetly, "so help me, you will rise."

Once it is doubled in size, come in and punch that sucker back down (sweetly).

I then lightly oiled my bread pan and another circle pan, in preperation.

I shaped a loaf out of one of them, rolling and folding and then pinching it together and putting the sealed bit at the bottom of the pan. Then I made a bunch of rolls out of the other and put them in the other pan.

Re-cover, re-abandon for about forty-five minutes until they have doubled. You can do as I did and whisk an egg white with some water ferociously for a moment and then brushing the tops of the loaves.

At this point, I was feeling pretty good.

But...would it continue to do as I wished?

(yes. yes it would.)

Place in a 375 F oven for about 30-40 minutes. The tops will be so golden delicious and tapping the loaf will get you a sort of hollow-y sound. Sort of. I think. I get concerned.

Turn out of the pans and place on a cooling rack. Devour and enjoy! This is absolutely insanely delicious and I can NOT wait to do variations. Oh, yeast. I can't believe I spent so long being afraid of you!

Oh bless my sweet sweet could-have-been-a-wife-in-the-fifties soul.

If wives in the fifites hit on the other housewives over the hydrangea bushes.

Think they did? I like to think they did.

The moral of the story here is clearly: don't fear the yeast! Embrace it!

And eat bread. It's awesome.

C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me.

2010-04-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

I could probably eat all of these just like this.

Thankfully, I have more sense than this.

Or, um, maybe I just ate too much cookie dough...

There are probably one millionty billionty chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, making up a not-as-large-as-you'd-think chunk of the over all zillionty types of cookies that exist. Say what you will for the humble cookie, my favorite probably is the chocolate chip and so that is what I have been making lately. I made the traditional Toll House recipe. I made something that very closely resembles that recipe. I made the standard chocolate chip from my 1,001 cookie recipe cookbook.

My aunt got me this cookbook for Christmas this year. This thing could seriously keep a girl busy and, well, I do like to read it. I've even got a short list of things that I was especially "oh, gotta make that" about although it's slow to grow because I can't exactly write most of the book in. (or...can I?) I like cookies. Who doesn't?

Good thing I worked out so much this week, wow. Cookies.

Anyway. The recipe I'm giving you is not, by any means, the only one out there. It's not even the best one out there. But it is pretty tasty and it's what is in the picture, above. My advice? Make lots of them, figure out your favorite recipe, and repeat with a new style of cookie. Stop whenever you eat one and think "yep, okay, this is it, success!" because what matters here is your enjoyment of said cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1 stick (half cup) of butter, softened
- 1/4 cup sugar, plus two tablespoons
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or try another spice of your choice!) (optional)
- 6 oz chocolate chips (or semi sweet chocolate, chopped) (or, um, what is left in the bag of chocolate chips that you've been eating for a few days....)

Preheat the oven to 375 F and butter your cookie sheet.

Mix the butter and sugar together until combined, then add in the egg and vanilla and combine again. Mix in the flour, salt, cinnamon, and the baking soda, then stir up nicely. Add chocolate. Mix mix mix. Taste, determine what is missing (if anything) and play with to your heart's content.

Place a spoonful of the dough on the cookie sheet and lightly press down a bit on the top. Repeat, keeping a little distance between the cookies (about an inch). Bake for about seven to ten minutes or until golden brown. Place on cooling rack.

When you don't think you'll burn your mouth, shove a cookie in it and drink delicious milk.

This is also a fabulous breakfast with coffee. By "fabulous" I mean "delicious", but there are healthier choices.

The Eggs Have It. It being a potpie.

2010-04-16T03:02:00.000-05:00

Oh, but don't I love me some panko.

I know what time it is and that time is Posting Time! Or two in the morning, take your pick. My primary reasons for posting right now: I am awake and while Lyra would prefer that I were sleeping (or so I would gather from watching her sprawl endearing on the bed and stare me down with half-shut eyes), it's a little toasty in here and part of that is the weather and part of that is the fact that I feel like I'm running a slight fever?

I started to say "baby fever" but then realized that may send the wrong message. Which I don't want to do.

Also, I just wrote and deleted a description of some amazing thrift store finds. Maybe I should add a partner blog to this that talks about my actual life-life. I'm not boring, just ask my therapist (ba DUM bum).

Would anyone be interested in that?

H-hello? (is it me you're looking for...?)

On to the food! Which is why you are here, I presume. That and my sparkling wit.

One of my cookbooks is Elinor Klivans' Potpies: Yumminess in a Dish. No, I know, it isn't the best title, but so many cookbooks fall prey to the fact that they don't have the best names.

For those interested. My cat has just climbed under my (new! well. new to me! my roommate sourced this from his home in the 'burbs, bless.) bed and is likely going to climb into the box spring BECAUSE SHE IS INSANE.

Back to Elinor! She also wrote a book about cupcakes, which I also own, and is full of delicious ideas. Now, I love me a potpie and while I have made several from this particular cookbook, I've managed to perfect my own person chicken (or veg!) potpie by this point and so use this for the less traditional ideas. One thing I have always meant to cook from this dish is the Comfort-Me-with-Eggs potpie.

The story she has about it says she was served this in Ohio (represent!) by the Overbey family. I thought her recipe seemed...more basic than I would have preferred, so I took the idea and ran with it. Because you know what? When I made this (the day after Easter) I genuinely needed a comfort dish.

April Fools Day is, apparently, still an excuse for people to break out their inner Mean Girls.

SO. Eggs! Plenty of hardboiled eggs lying around, it had just been Easter! Only one thing to do!

Oh look! Brightly colored eggs!

Kitchenry's Comfort Me With Eggs Potpie (with major kudos to Ms. Klivans and, apparently, the Overbey's.)

Ingredients

- eight hardboiled eggs
- two cups milk
- butter! about two tablespoons
- one half of an onion, diced the hell up.
- a handful of mushrooms, sliced
- garlic, minced to minceytown. (I used three cloves.)
- 2-3 TBS of flour
- dash of salt
- pepper (or even lemon-pepper. god I love lemon-pepper.)
- basil (as much as you want!)
- paprika (a pinch)

ALSO

- panko! the original recipe suggests 1 1/4 cups, honestly I just put a nice amount in a bowl.
- 2 TSP paprika
- 3 TBS melted butter
- pinch of salt

THEN

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Peel your hardboiled eggs, then cut them in half and place them in the baking dish. I used my pleasing green dish, the original recipe suggests a six cup baking dish. I was fine. You can lay the eggs atop each other if you need, it's fine.

Chopped and beautiful.

Although at this point, I was a little like "what. are. you. DOING?"

In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until it is hot and steam starts to rise, but don't boil it. Turn off the heat and ignore while you continue.

In another saucepan, melt the butter with the onion and mushrooms for around two minutes. Season with basil. Stir in the flour and cook a bit (or you can, um, forget this part until you've already added the hot milk and then add it but this way is easier. trust me.) for another couple of minutes, then slowly pour the hot milk over it while wisking away like a devil. Season with some salt and pepper and the pinch paprika and any other seasons you'd like. Let thicken, which will take about two or three minutes, and then pour the sauce over the eggs in the baking dish.

Even in non-traditional potpies, the creamy delicious sauce is the turning point.

It's like a promise to be delicious and comforting.

And a reminder that maybe you should eat a salad or go to the gym.

Y'know.

Now. Mix the panko, paprika, melted butter, dash salt, and any other seasoning if using in a dish to moisten all crumbs. Spoon over the filling and spread it out evenly.

Bake around a half hour, until the top is a deep golden color and it's all bubbly and delicious. Then serve the hell out this.

I'm thinking of adding cheese to the crust next time, since when I reheated mine I added cheese to the dish and died. Seriously, so tasty.

And you know what? Comforting. Which is the whole point of a potpie.

Pictures! And captions! And a cat!

2010-04-14T01:06:00.000-05:00

Panko Chicken.

Panko is pretty much the best thing ever.

I'm not even kidding you.

It's just so delicious and comforting, no matter how you do it.

Creamy Lemony Chicken Pasta. With veggies.

SPRING IN YOUR MOUTH.

That's whipped cream with cacao nibs on it, like sprinkles, only better.

You know what's under that?

Delicious honey-vanilla ice cream and chocolate mint ice cream.

Slightly melty.

You can also just call this "medicine" since that's basically what it was.

Lyra, playing Little Red Hen.

"Mom, can I have a treat? I've been sleeping all day and I'm bushed."

Your lovely chef.

Who apologizes for not having a legit entry tonight.

Work + Dealing With Cruel "Friends" + Other Issues = EXHAUSTED

Not too tired to cook, just too tired to post. So. Recipes (not shown above) coming soon!

Delicious ones!

xoxo

Beth & Lyra

Easter Brunchfast: All About the Syrup, Baby.

2010-04-06T08:47:00.000-05:00

Breakfast table of champions.

I had a simple dream for yesterday and by golly, I achieved it.

I wanted to make a really fantastic breakfast for my roommate and myself.

Now, as you can tell from the previous post, I made tsoureki and I decided to turn that homemade bread into french toast. Sausage was obtained from Jewel, Bob Evans brand, in fact (amusing only to me as an Ohioan with a checkered Bob Evans past). Whipped cream. Tangerine-vanilla syrup. Mimosas that involved some freshly squeezed tangerine juice.

Now, part of my allergy means that I can't have fake maple syrup or, indeed, many syrups. I love syrup on waffles and french bread. Pure maple syrup is expensive. As such, I sometimes have a blend of pure maple and agave around, but it's been a bit.

So I made my own. And it was amazing.

The whole of Easter was awesome, in fact, but this as a kick-off (well, dishes as the real kick-off, followed by cooking this, followed by eating this, followed by some laziness and more dishes) made the rest of the day even better. I've been pretty stressed these past few days - friend-drama!

This breakfast makes you forget about that.

For the sausage: mine was just a packet of Bob Evans breakfast sausage, sliced and made into patties and cooked in the skillet until done, according to packet instructions. I sprinkled a little Gateway to the North seasoning on a few of them.

For the whipped cream: Ideally? Heavy whipping cream, zipped into whipped cream. Actually? Low-fat Reddi Whip since, oddly, the diet version is the one with no corn in it. Simply spray and delight! (cash was an issue.)

Mmmmm,

Even cold, this was awesome.

For the French Toast:

- medium slices of tsoureki (or challah or brioche or any bread you are using), I'm pretty sure I made about ten or twelve slices, but my slices were long slices of the loaf and then those were cut in half.
- one egg
- a few shakes of cake spice (or cinnamon, pinch of ground clove, dash of nutmeg)
- milk - 1/4 cup seems like it'd be too much, but then, I just poured some in the dish and mumbled "coffee".
- one teaspoon of vanilla

Take all but the bread and whisk it together in a bowl.

I AM DELICIOUS

PLEASE SOAK BREAD IN ME

Soak slices of bread in the dish, on both sides, until saturated (and I do mean saturated) with the egg-mixture. In a medium skillet, melt a bit of butter and then start cooking these babies until golden and delicious on each side. Ta-da! Serve hot or, keep the oven on low and keep them warm in there and THEN serve hot when good and ready.

For the syrup:

- the juice of one tangerine
- half teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons of water
- half cup sugar

In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt down the sugar with the water. Add the vanilla and 3/4 of the juice, stirring often, and let reduce over low heat. A lid on it is helpful, but keep an eye on this as the sugar likes to boil up from time to time (especially if the heat is too high, as mine often was it seemed). Using the back of a spoon, let this burn-friendly mix cool a bit and taste to determine if it needs more tangerine (if so, add the rest of the juice) or vanilla.

It'll be thin, sort of like pure maple syrup, until you turn the heat off and let it sit for a minute or so, when it really thickens up. Serve warm but not hot - remember! Cooking sugar can be painful. So please be careful.

Put some of all of this on a plate. Make your mimosa or coffee or glass of skim or whichever.

Cheers with your roommate (or significant other or friends or family or cat) and really love breakfast time.

If you cheat, may you cheat death.

2010-04-04T11:34:00.000-05:00

To whatever you celebrate, be it socially or genuinely, may you enjoy it.

Kristos Anesti! Traditional (ish) Tsoureki!

2010-04-04T03:55:00.000-05:00

Actual loaf is bigger than it appears.

More delicious, too.

For those unaware, which means I am choosing to believe that I don't know who is reading this, I grew up in an Orthodox religion. Rather, first my family was Greek Orthodox and then became Russian Old Calender Orthodox until we all did our own things. I am not Orthodox and do not really align myself with any religion, but I do have some warm feelings towards Pascha or as it is otherwise known, Easter.

This year, Orthodox Easter fell on Western Easter, which is different as usually it is either a week or a month after. There are lots of traditions and everything, but this year I've taken part in three of them.

That's a VCR that was broken and taken apart in the background. It's part of an art project, so I left it there.

After all, my eggs were MY art project and I didn't want anyone to move them!

I dyed some red eggs.

I used those eggs to make tsoureki, which is a Greek Easter bread - sweet, though not like coffee-cake-sweet. It's been compare to challah and brioche.

I also made koulourakias, which I did last year as well, so you can read that blog post if you like. I baked it less this time around (fifteen to seventeen minutes, to be exact) and added half a teaspoon of vanilla in addition to the zest. I am beloved of my people.

Now, as you may or may not know, yeast-baking makes me nervous. But I think this time around I may actually be over the fear and on to just edgy feelings. And that's fine! Edge means I'll do it more, to show that damn yeast who is boss. We've certainly plenty.

And I do like bread.

Now, truly traditional tsoureki would mean I would need to have mahlab and mastic, two things I not have. I made do. In fact, I did more than make do, I rocked this. And if I could, you can to! Here is how...

You'll need...

- 6 - 7 cups of flour
- 1 1/2 TBS active dry yeast
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup + 1/2 TBS sugar
- 1/4 TBS vanilla
- the zest of one tangerine
- a few shakes of salt
- juice of one tangerine plus enough water to make two cups
- 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
- egg, beaten, with water for an egg wash
- hardboiled egg dyed red (optional and, clearly, you could use another color)

Possibly the most organized mis-en-place I've ever showed you.

And look! No bottle of whiskey in the background!

You'll do...

First, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and add a few tablespoons of flour to make a paste. It'll be thick, but not super thick.

BEFORE

You'll want to cover it and let it rise in a warm spot. The counter did nicely, but maybe your life is different from mine. I just set mine in front of the microwave and carried on.

AFTER

Now, in a bowl combine five cups of flour and the salt and melted butter. Add the vanilla to the water/tangerine juice mixture and add this. Mix.

Add the eggs, zest, sugar, and risen yeast mixture. Mix it up and add in another cup or two (or, if you must, more) of flour and knead until you have a malleable dough - about fifteen to twenty minutes. I like to call this stage "pretending I am a Kitchen-Aid mixer. Because that is what I am doing.

I AM A BREAD BAKING GIRL

Cover and let rest for about two hours, until it is doubled in size.

This made me feel SO accomplished.

Preheat your oven to 350 F and wander off, watch something interesting, and obsess about personal problems with your friend. Then, go in and punch the dough down.

Now, you shape the dough. You can braid it or twist it or pretty much whatever you like. Tuck the egg in there! Place on a greased cookie sheet or a baking pan or something and cover, then let rise more.

I'll be honest, because this blog is about honesty, an admit that I forgot this step. It was late. I was dealing with a really, really long day and stress and hurt feelings caused by a joke that should not have been played (if you ask me, which by reading this blog, you have basically done).

And everyone is loving this bread so HA HA HA. Still. Best to go with the original plan, I suppose.

Then brush it with an egg wash.

You can sprinkle with sugar or blanched almond slices or sesame seeds if you like.

Bake for thirty minutes or until golden-browned. The bottom of the loaves should sound hollow when tapped. Cool for five minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely.

BOW BEFORE ME, MORTALS

Is this the Easter spirit?

Sorry.

Come, partake of my bounty.

I totally had a tiny loaf and I served that puppy still warmed from the oven, with butter, because that is how I roll.

And that is how I spent my Friday night.

Kristos Anesti!

Homemade Potato Chips or Lazy McLazerson Can Still Impress You

2010-04-02T03:08:00.000-05:00

Look at that! Chips!

Ignore my thumb and the fact that I am clearly holding this up in a place not meant for food-tography.

You'll forgive me, won't you?

Potato chips.

Not healthy, but delicious. I usually eat pita chips or sesame sticks when I want crunchy snacks. I've baked garbonzo beans in the oven. Enjoyed random delicious things from the Asian grocery store I frequent. From time to time, there are other things, but rarely are these things chips.

Inexplicable, then, how I should really really want some the other night. Luckily, my father had told me a while ago (and then, of course, blogged about it) about how to make your own chips in - no, no, wait for it - a microwave. Of all things! The ol' microwave! The cheese-melter! The heater-upper! The friend of all college students! This is not to say that I do not use the microwave, 'cause god knows I do. This is to say that I do not often put uncooked things in it and then later, blog about it.

Hell, I'm skeptical of microwave cake. I like to reheat things in it. On the rare occasion where frozen food exists in my life, I like to use it to turn it into non-frozen food when the oven is not available.

And when is the oven not available?

Rarely. That's when. RARELY.

Anyway. I was skeptical but also figured it was healthier than frying and less time consuming than baking and, well, I was just frying my panko-chicken up in a bit of butter. I hardly needed to wait for my (admittedly finicky) oven to heat up and then make me some chips.

So I did it. I nuked the thin potato slices, the thicker potato slices. And when all was said and done?

THAT SHIT WAS DELICIOUS.

Who knew?

Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:
- a potato
- any seasoning you like

Instructions:

You want to slice the potato in whatever thickness you desire. I suggest thinner ones, but then again maybe you fancy kettle style chips. I like the thick ones too. I get it.

Put the potato slices on a microwave safe (and I mean, really, a microwave safe) plate. Thick in the middle, thin on the edges. Sprinkle with whichever seasonings you like - I did some salt & pepper ones, a few spicier ones, and then just played a bit with some of my Spice House blends. Do whatever you like. One was barely - and I do mean barely - touched with olive oil.

The others weren't oiled at all.

Set your plate in the microwave and nuke for five minutes. You might need more, but I doubt you need less unless they are all really thin or, you know, you like it like that. Feel free to check at around four.

Ideally, the chip has gotten brown spots and crisped up. Most of them popped right off the plate, but even the ones that were a little reluctant came up without any problems.

And I took a bite...

and it crunched! And it tasted good.

Belated apologies for the awful awful plating in that photo. I meant to do it nicely and then got all hungry and then had eaten most of them before I mumbled to my cat "oh, right, the blog!" and then snapped the snap and went back to stuffing my maw.

I know you read this for the depictions of my delicate life. I am, after all, a lady.

A lady with an early appointment who must go to bed.

Enchiladas of deliciousness: made in Jan, posted in March.

2010-03-23T01:13:00.001-05:00

A few years ago, we went to a gay prom hosted by Stoli downtown.

This happiness? This is sort of what it feels like to eat these enchiladas.

Or maybe what it feels like to be a boy band at the height of their fame.

Tomato, tomahto.

You know what makes you feel good?

Making enchilidas - another Kelly Recipe - and nailing it on the first try, according to the ravenous boys who are the reason there is no photo of said enchiladas.

Which means, I suppose, I will have to make more. Many, many more at the same time. So we can eat and have leftovers, which didn't reeeeeally work out so well this time.

Talk about simple! Check this out.

The ants go marching one by one:

- two chicken breasts
- basil
- pepper (or, even better, lemon-pepper!)
- any other seasoning you like, I used a garlicky one from The Spice House
- one package of fluffy flour tortillas (mine were a twelve count, I used eleven)
- two jar of green salsa (optional: you may use green enchilada sauce. my store was out.)
- one package of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (or just go get all the delicious cheeses you want! this was budget night. and easy, I-just-worked-a-shift-from-hell night)
- sliced black olives. one can.
- avocado, sour cream, whatever you like.

Rub the spices on the chicken breasts, then toss those babies in a steamer. Woosh! Steam until cooked through. Use two forks and shred the chicken, then dump in most of a jar of salsa. Make sure all the chicken is coated.

Now, what you need to do is get a pan, feel free to pour a little salsa on the bottom. Take a tortilla and put some of the salsa-fied chicken with a sprinkle of cheese in it. Roll up tightly, like a cigar, and then place it in the pan. Continue until you have gone through them all or, you know, you're sick of it. You should tightly pack them in together and pour more salsa on top, then coat with cheese.

This isn't what I'd call "healthy".

Sprinkle the olives on top and then tent some foil over it. Cook in the oven for about twenty minutes, then remove foil and cook for maybe ten more. The cheese will be all melty and browned. Your kitchen will smell amazing. It will probably smell amazing during the steaming-chicken-phase, but that's to be expected.

Dodge those who are about to shove you out the window by the stove in order to get to this.

Then, enjoy your share. I hope you got it first.

Peanut Butter Pie with a Pretzel Crust. You know you love me.

2010-03-21T20:02:00.001-05:00

The single serving size, if you ask me. Oh so delicious.

I made this a while ago (oh, hello theme) but, clearly, never got around to posting the recipe. I'm not sure why.

The recipe was delicious! I'd been wanting pie for ages (and, in fact, want pie right now. oh man and I have some reeeeeally awesome pie recipes I'd like to try so I'm relatively certain that when Pie Making Fever hits, nobody is gonna want the cure) and was perusing the world wide web for new ideas. And lo, there it was. Peanut Butter Banana Pie! With a pretzel crust! How delicious sounding!

The original recipe was found on Once A Chef Always A Chef. And to see it, you should click that link.

Now. That pie looked real good and I have no doubt at all that it was, but it wasn't the pie I made exactly. No, I tinkered a little - such as there were no bananas. I like bananas. I don't think anyone here doesn't, but we didn't have any, and that usually ends the discussion at eleven at night when I will be damned if I am going over to Jewel for something like bananas.

That and some other small changes and I still was pretty pleased with my pie. Was it everything I wanted? Well. I've been wanting either a coconut cream pie or, you know, a coconut cream pie (or, lately, for me to discover a way to make a Fiona Apple Pie that totally makes sense for it to be called that and not just an apple pie cleverly named and by golly, I'ma gonna find a way...) so in that respect, no. Because it wasn't a coconut cream pie. But I adored it and it was happily devoured by all. So I'm going to go with Success on this one.

Also, this crust is freakin' amazing.

Crust:

- 2 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed. Like, really really really crushed up. Don't skimp on this. It matters. You don't want chunks.
- 3 TBS brown sugar (that was my intention. it became molasses/white sugar. with a little more molasses. see: previous comment about the damn Jewel)
- a dash of vanilla (optional.)
- 3/4 cup melted butter

Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Delicious, hmm? Save a little for crumbling on the top of the pie if you like. Spread in pie pan, keeping it even and working all up the sides. I had enough for what I imagine is a standard sized pie pan (not deep dish) and two little tartlets. Oh, god, the adorableness...

Anyway. You'll want to chuck those babies (gently) in a 350 F oven for around ten minutes. Let the crust completely cool before you fill it with the delicious filling.

The Delicious Filling:

- 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
- one package of cream cheese at room temp (three oz)
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- one container of whipped topping (twelve oz), thawed (okay, here I used spray whipped topping. because I am allergic to CoolWhip. I'm sorry. No, I really am, I really want to eat some of that right now.)

Combine the peanut butter and the cream cheese. Add about a third of the whipped topping and the powdered sugar and beat that mixture like a redheaded step-child. (you do know I'm a redhead, right? so I can say that.) You want a smooth blended peanut butter delight, so do this right. Then sweetly fold in the rest of the whipped topping until they all get along. Put in the crust.

You can top this with whatever you want or add something in the middle like, well, the original recipe said bananas but I imagine loads of things would work. Anything chocolatey would have been a great welcome, but that's just me. This doesn't even need it.

Just like it didn't need the extra whipped topping I ate on top of it. But, oh man, did I ever.

Chill the pie for a few hours before serving. Overnight, if you like. It's totally fine.

Either way, you're gonna really like this. I'm imagining.

Dorie's Brioche, sort of.

2010-03-20T03:29:00.000-05:00

You are all about to finally receive the tale of the time I made brioche.

You lucky devils.

Night-owls of the world, hear my cry!

No, just kidding, I've not been in the kitchen for anything longer than a cup of coffee that I didn't even brew myself today, there have been no late night baking. I did have my hair dyed and will of course now pimp out catwalk! and the amazing colorist, one SJ. Chicagoans, you should check it out. And not only do the fine folks of catwalk! (not just a salon, also a gallery and performance space and all of that) not even know that I am saying they are awesome, but I'm certain they have no idea that I even have this blog. So. It's a real shout out.

But I meant to post this recipe for brioche forever ago and I didn't, so, I suck and would like to remedy that and seeing as how I can't sleep (though, weirdly, last night I totally just dreamed that I couldn't fall asleep - the entire dream was me "trying to sleep"), it was the perfect time! But I mean, I'd forgotten where I found the recipe and then kept forgetting and WELL here it is now. No harm.

If I had the mind to, I'd make some these for the morning seeing as how I'm maybe-possibly going to go to an early morning meditation class. A two hour meditation class, I think, offered for free. I should really be more exciting. Which, of course, brings us back to the brioche!

This is insanely delicious. I need to make this all the time, until mine look as awesome as the original picture. Then again, Dorie Greenspan - the bringer of this delicious treat - probably followed her own directions better than I did. But for someone who has been always quite nervous with yeast, I'd say that it was a gentler introduction than I expected.

Between this and the pita? I'm totally ready for bread-baking. I'm not even going to lie about how exciting that is. (see previous: be more exciting note)

LOOK AT THE YEASTY MIXTURE GETTING ALL YEASTY
OH IT IS SO IMPRESSIVE

Look. We were broke then and had Canadian Club.

You have all seen enough snaps here to know that we generally drink Segram's 7. Or something Irish. Or. Well, clearly or this.

Here is a link to Dorie's helpful Brioche Made Easy tips, as published in Bon Appetit. And, um, I will admit to not really following about half of those. Overnight? I wanted brioche right then! It is entirely my fault that I did not achieve the heights of the recipe I am about to give you.

But, seriously, it was unbelievably delicious. I can not even tell you. Oh, my goodness. Not as airy because I didn't listen properly (a mistake I shan't repeat again) but insanely tasty and we devoured it so quickly I was glad I'd gotten any photos at all. I made mine a little extra vanilla-y. Naturally.

Without further ado: Dorie Greenspan's as-published-in Bon Appetit October 2009 - Bubble-Top Brioches

Delicious Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
- 1/4 cup warm whole milk (110°F to 115°F)
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast (measured from two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Preparation

Combine 1/4 cup warm water and warm milk in bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium-low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.

Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 minutes (dough will be soft and silky). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, 8 to 9 minutes.

Lightly butter large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 minutes until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight. (At this point, use the dough to make 12 brioches, or 6 brioches and 1 tart, or 2 tarts.)

Butter 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup (dough will fill cup).
Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 inch to 1 inch above top rim of muffin cups), 50 to 60 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven).

Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 minutes. Remove brioches from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Kitchenry's Note: I suggest serving with delicious butter melting on it. Just saying. I mean. Look at that?

I woke up my roommate with a plate like this. Let me tell you, I never wake this boy up if possible to avoid. It's, well, it's scary - he gets very cranky. But not this time. No time to be cranky when eating fresh from the oven buttered brioche. (or, arguably, anything fresh from the oven)

I hope you guys enjoy them!

Spring is coming! Lemony Creamy Chickeny Pasta. Y.

2010-03-19T12:06:00.000-05:00

The delicious Amish noodles, all nice and spinached.

You probably don't know this or, you know, maybe you do - who am I to say what you do or don't know - but I have a soft spot for Amish things. I mean, who doesn't, but I did exist in a world where Amish things weren't exactly an unknown as a smaller version of myself. So it was no wonder when I came across Amish Homestyle Noodles the other day at the store that I leapt at it. Especially since I had just been a little let down by the Chicago French Market.

Sorry, CFM. You were pretty cool, I had fun, but you lied to me. I'll forgive you, but only begrudgingly. And maybe only if you get that freakin' pasta stand in there that I was so excited for. I had some pretty big dreams for that pasta I hadn't seen yet and, well, I didn't let those dreams die. Oh no. I just snapped up those Amish noodles and trekked on home to see what I could do with my dreams and noodles.

As it turned out, I could make a pretty insanely delicious Lemony Chicken Pasta with Cream Sauce.

Seriously, I was really pleased with myself and may or may not have advertised the left overs.
As in, I did not say "oh, there is pasta in the fridge" because I wanted it for lunch the next day.

This was another of my standard "let's see what happens" things where, I mean, clearly I kind of knew what would happen but there was certainly room for error and improvement so I'm only going to give really rough measurements because, honestly, that's how I was doing it.

I plan on making more, though, and then will pay more attention. See, gentle readers, what I do for you?

Oh man I just want to eat this so badly.

Aaaaaah the deliciousness!

The Items:
- two chicken breasts (or whatever, it's your chicken), cut into bite sized chunks
- handful of mushrooms, sliced (or quartered, if you like bigger bits)
- cherry tomato, as many as you please! (mine were sliced in half)
- one courgette, sliced
- spinach, rinsed and torn up
- half an onion, chopped
- a lemon, halved
- two-three cloves of garlic, diced nice'n'small
- about half a cup of white wine (I used much of a single-serving bottle)
- 3/4 cup (maybe? I'm really just guessing) heavy cream (or half and half, we just happened to have the cream)
- butter, pepper, salt, basil, etc, olive oil

- pasta. Amish! Or any other kind at all! I'd wanted a basil pasta for this, I'll be honest.

The Instructions:

Boil the water for the pasta, follow directions. When the pasta is finished, drain and add spinach and stir with a touch of butter. It'll wilt the spinach a bit.

Put a bit of olive oil and butter in a pan and let heat up, then add the onion and garlic, cook for a minute. Add in the chicken and season with pepper, a little salt, and plenty of basil. If you'd like to use another seasoning, then you ought to do so. Squeeze in half of a lemon - watch out for seeds! When the chicken is just cooked through (five minutes, probs), then chuck in the veg (save the tomato) and cook up. Add some of the wine, stir, let cook. Add tomato, the rest of your wine, the cream, and the rest of the lemon (still watching out for seeds).

Check flavors, let reduce, add to pasta. All in all this can be done in I'd say under an hour. It's super easy and super delicious and seriously I love it. I wish I'd had fresh basil or some bell peppers, but did not have those things. I ate mine with some french bread because, damn it, I love me some sauced-up bread. This tastes like spring, I'm not even kidding.

Sláinte! Irish Stew from Chi-reland!

2010-03-17T11:45:00.000-05:00

Soupier than yours should look.

Unless you want it to be soupier. Then have at.

Didn't I just say something about not eating a lot of red meat? I'm fairly certain I did and, in all honesty, that was true. In fact, if this were last year I wouldn't be eating it at all as I'd called it quits on cows and such for somewhere around two years.And yet, here we are, with yet another red-meat-recipe.

At least I was better at being a pollotarian that I was a vegetarian. Yikes. "No, no, I'm not eating meat right now...oh, this is a chicken salad bagel with bacon on it? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!" (oh, the things we do in relationships...that we will never, ever do again...)

At any rate. It is St Patrick's Day and that meant I ought to do something Irish for y'all. (must. stop. with. the. y'all-ing.) I don't know what I was planning on (lies, I totally know) but I do know it was awesome (not lies) and totally would have slaaaayed. I'll just have to go through my delicious Irish cookbook another time though because I did this instead.

And how did Irish Stew come into the world here? Well. Jamison is on sale at the grocery store if you get a beef product and, as happens, they don't check to make sure you HAVE said beef product if you do self-checkout. Unless you get the over-zealous self-checkout woman who wants to be sure you know how to scan a coupon and she reminds you to get your beef product. I then hunted for the absolute cheapest thing I could find.

Then I got home and remembered that as a ginger-haired, celtic-inked, whiskey-lovin' Irish lass, I totally have potatoes in my kitchen. And that, yes, Irish Stew practically requires it to be wicked cheap meat.

Also, it tends to ask that said meat be lamb or mutton (grown up lamb!) but I didn't have that and, well, I don't really like to cook lamb. The raw lamb feel? Blargh.

Okay, well, anyway, I decided to try my hand at an Irish stew with a few memories of Irish people I know who made this or talked about this. Sadly, I had no parsnips to include or cabbage or stout or whatever. But I threw it together!

- the packet of cheap stew-level beef (it was less than a pound)
- one cup veg broth
- half cup red wine
- olive oil
- butter
- handful of chopped mushrooms
- one small-medium onion, sliced in half-moon style
- two cloves garlic, diced
- three bay leaves
- three carrots, sliced up into soup sized bits
- three potatoes, chopped up into soup sized chops
- basil, pepper, salt, hint of lemon, a little thyme
- some of that butter-flour roux that you do without cooking it. you know. (a tablespoon of softened butter mixed with two tablespoons of flour to get a sort of crumbly pasty mix.)

Now. I marinated the beef overnight in some oil, with some basil and some garlicky-lemony seasoning. How's that for planning!

Now. Heat up some oil and butter in the bottom of your pot. Add onion and garlic and let soften a bit, then chuck in beef to brown up and cook a bit. About, oh, seven to ten minutes later add a splash of the wine and stir some more. Chuck in the veg, let cook up to a largely softened space. Season with the pepper, basil, etc etc (whichever you like!). Then add the stock and the red wine - if you have an Irish stout that you like or, you know, tolerate, I suggest adding some of that with the wine and stock - just lessen the amount of stock or wine. (may I suggest lessening the stock?)

Chuck in bay leaves, add a little pepper, stir, slap a lid on there, and cook a while. About twenty minutes in, maybe, crumble in the raw-roux and stir swiftly to avoid any gross clumps. Unless, of course, you like them. Then I apologize for mocking.

Lid back on! Cook longer! You want this to reduce down to a delicious stew. Once it does this to your liking, fish out the bay leaves and serve with bread. Soda bread, even, if you've that.

A NOTE.

Irish Soda Bread? Doesn't have rasins. I'm really sorry to tell you this. Traditionally speaking, that is a railway cake. I mean, call if what you want and enjoy it, but facts are facts, yo.

Also. I, um, maybe didn't wait for my stew to reduce. But I was hungry, it was midnight (I work late, I get home late, I eat late...) and by god, I don't even care.

It was pretty tasty, I'll say that. Not like the best thing I've ever done but I did eat two bowls (too much! slept so well!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day, guys!

Rest assured, I'll be celebrating after work. Sláinte!

Shepard's Pie or What I Did On Monday.

2010-03-09T22:07:00.000-06:00

Eat me!

Because I'm ever so tasty!

Then, go out and get some sheep and live on a farm where geese serenely watch me frolic in the daffodils.

HOW IDYLLIC.

I don't actually eat a lot of red meat, but I was wanting it pretty hardcore earlier this week and did what any self-respecting ginger does in the month of March. Or any time. Ever.

I covered it with mashed potato.

Yes, that's right, I made myself a delicious Shepard's Pie. First of all, I hadn't had one in ages (except a seafood one from Goddess & Grocer and holy quailman, was that delicious). Secondly, I've raved about my green Le Creuset baking dish and, well, any excuse to use that makes for a really fantastic day. Third, I'd had a really whatever weekend topped with being sick and cooking is super helpful for that sort of mood.

Not to mention, lately my cat has been freaking out any time I do anything involving chopping. She doesn't want an onion or even the chicken (people-food my cat eats: tuna, peppered thin-sliced deli chicken for a sammich, that's about it) - she just wants to be offered the people-food. She believes in manners and graciousness. Lyra is, after all, a lady.

If you wanted to know, said lady is currently curled up on my lap between me and my laptop. Also, I am listening to Patton Oswalt. I'm wearing a yellow Hello Kitty t-shirt with Japanese on it (which I hope says something like "I have no idea what this says!"). I figured as long as I was giving you lot useless information....

On to what you came here for!

I made a Shepard's Pie. It's not exactly traditional, but it was pretty delicious. Allow me to explain it for you! This made enough for my baking dish. I probably could have done this a little differently. BUT I DID NOT. (next time, less potato, so, keep that in mind?)

Ingredients:

Mashed Taters (use your favorite recipe!)

- ground beef (traditionally lamb, I would like to try ground turkey or chicken or maybe a seitain! mmm. vegetarian.)
- five mushrooms, sliced
- half a can of diced tomato
- a small chopped onion
- two carrots, sliced
- several cloves of garlic, sliced and chopped
- pepper, salt, basil, spices (for some reason, I wanted tarragon. I don't even know. I've never said that before.)
- one cup of broth (beef or veg - I maybe used chicken because I had it.)
- a bay leaf
- may I suggest some peas? I did not use them as my roommate dislikes them (!!) but next time I will anyway 'cause WHATEVER I enjoy them.

Now.

The garlic and onion and carrots go in first, in a little oil. Season a little. Cook until the carrot is nearing tender. Then chuck in the meat, cook up a bit. Add tomato, mushrooms, peas. Then the broth! Naturally, season a little more and the bay leaf and let it cook down. I may or may not have gotten hungry and given up near the end - you should be a little more patient than I am.

Pour into your baking dish. Cover in delicious mashed potato. My mashed potato was simply some boiled potato, some milk, enough butter, some Vulcan Fire Salt, some Shallot-Pepper, and some cheese.

I love cheese!

Pop it into your 350 F degree oven.

Let the potato get a little toasty and then let it cool a little and CHOW DOWN. I found this really delicious. I want to perfect it.

You'll all be so thrilled! Still. I really liked it. I even ate it cold today and it was so tasty. I bet wine would be a good addition. (duh.)

PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE UNDER THIS

THIS IS NOT A THOUSAND MILLION JILLION CALORIES
Also - my cell phone pictures are getting better!

Also. If you leave stock in your meat when you put it in your dish (note to self: this recipe could be written to sound so dirty - I suspect. I don't know. Um. Moving on.) - you get the pools of broth that make it look like oil. This didn't have that much oil! Not really!

Not that this is, you know, healthy per say.

Enjoy!

This is not a cupcake recipe. (no, really, it isn't.)

2010-03-03T02:32:00.000-06:00

I'm delicious!

Find me! I'm in the blog!

Not this post though. This is a trick. Damn, Beth, damn her tricksy ways.

Well, I haven't been posting anything, but there are multiple reasons!

A) I work a lot.
B) I went to Memphis! I ate po'boys and biscuits pretty much every day. Blackened chicken! BBQ Shrimp! So happy!
C) I've been recycling recipes the past week. I've done a stir-fry (not tipsy chicken, but still delicious) and Lock It Down Curry, this style of cooking, and I tried my hand at another chicken tender tonight (not a fail, in fact delicious, but also not really something to post home about in the sense of amazing chicken tenders SO, that's that there), and sometimes - when I'm being particularly sassy - I just make, say, a biscuit. From a can. And then I eat it. With butter. Maybe honey.

Though since Memphis, everything is usually brimming with veggies. Delicious! I love veggies.

Those are good reasons!

Still. I'm trying to post, you know, more frequently. But I'm working on it! You guys aren't sending me hate letters based on my cell phone pics of food, so, onward and upward as they say!

'Cause, oh my! The ideas I have!

Crazy Delicious: Monkey Bread!

2010-02-21T04:03:00.000-06:00

Yes, my friends, this is monkey bread with a little "too much" sugar on that one spot.

IF SUCH A THING EXISTS.

Much to my shock, everyone does not know what monkey bread is. I'm not sure how this escaped people, but then again as one of those people is my father this brings up a good question - when did I first try this completely delicious sweet treat? Answer? Unknown! I'd insist I ate it as a kid except for the fact that my father seemed unaware to the existence of said treat and, well, I imagine he'd probably know something that I grew up eating.

Maybe Girl Scouts?

Side thought: I should remake a bunch of GS recipes. Not cookies, not yet anyway, but just the things I remember from camp and what not. As someone who ran units for long summers at a time, I think I can bring the vibe back and do it delicious and not-actually-in-that-hell-hole style. (sigh, sometimes I miss that hell hole...)

Well. Where it came from is not the point and the sheer, utter deliciousness is.

It is a pull apart bread, typically involving cinnamon and sugar and butter and biscuit/bread dough. And a lot of butter. I should tell you, this is NOT a low-cal snack. This is a "fuck bathing suit season, I'm hot enough!" sort of snack. And oh god, it's so good, you won't even care that you just consumed an ungodly amount of calories in one go.

Seriously. It'll be just fine.

Now, it is more than worth mentioning that there at multiple ways to do this. Sweet, savory, whichever. The Bristol does a dill and sea salt monkey bread that absolutely killed me. Oh, my lord, do I ever daydream about that dish. So much so, that I will point you to this video from The Bristol's website called Monkey Bread 101. Also, if you are in Chicago and have the means, I suggest you try out The Bristol.

I seriously consider going just for a cocktail and this bread. It would be worth it.

But back to MY culinary success, instead of theirs. It was my roommate Ali's birthday and we often speak of monkey bread in sweet, dreamy tones, so I knew exactly what to make. And make it I did!

To blow someone's mind, you will need...

- two tubes of (non flaky!) biscuits (or, you know, make your own little dough bits. use left overs. be better.)
- one and a half sticks of butter
- two teaspoons vanilla (or more, to taste. you like really vanillay things? flavor that shit UP yo)
- a few tablespoons sugar
- a few tablespoons cinnamon
- a dash nutmeg
- a dash clove (powdered, clearly)
- one third cup brown sugar

How you will blow their mind....

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Get a bundt pan or a cake pan or a loaf pan or even a muffin tin! Maybe grease it just a tad, but don't worry. The butter will take care of this.

Mix the cinnamon, white sugar, nutmeg, and clove together.

Pop open the biscuits and pull into their individual biscuits. Cut each one into four pieces and shake or roll or whatever-you-like to coat completely, then chuck in the pan you are using.

Melt down the butter and add vanilla and brown sugar, stir until mixed, then pour over delicious biscuits. Put this in the oven for, oh, about a half hour. The bottom will be browned and delicious.

Let cool a bit, turn over onto a plate, and then watch an army of people consume all the food you just made in waaaaaaay too little time to be reasonable. Fight off others so any straggling roommates may have at least a single bite. Feel damn good about yourself. Be pleased that you have more biscuits in the fridge and can do this agian.

Mmmm. Monkey bread. Delicious.

Too much brown sugar/butter/mess-sauce!

Well. Not for a birthday girl.

I ended up with a half-standard size bundt pan worth and then a smaller, single-serving sort of pans worth.

This can be easily adapted, especially once you get the hang of how you like it, to fit any size anything. Also, I'm putting "kids" on here, if only because they would love to pull it apart and eat it. But also, it's pretty okay to do with them...says the ex-Montessori teacher, who gave her kids sharp things.

Whatever, just eat this. Nom!

Valentine's Day of the Tiger

2010-02-16T02:16:00.001-06:00

Yeah, I gave someone those.

Not the really awful looking ones, clearly.

Delicious though. Very light. Sugar! Nom.

Valentine's Day was also Lunar New Year this year, which played right into my hot little hands because this year I had an idea to make something cool and holiday appropriate, 'cause I'm sweet like that. Plus, I'd given fortune cookies a go ages and ages ago and learned some valuable lessons in my failure.

I learned that the dough makes a fantastic apple pie crust.

I learned also that I hated life.

But I've grown! I've learned! I've made tuilles! I've discovered patience I didn't know I had!

Well, now I've learned new lessons. Such as it is damn fucking hard to make these buggers. But filled with fortunes like "Give Beth a present!", "You will eat a delicious cookie.", and other things for my friends and then sweeter ones, cleverly, rolled up instead of folded...

Yes, much better.

I think next time I'd involve star anise and a few other things, but we'll see. This drove me insane. Ha ha.

Fortune Cookies of Stress (but delicious stress),from The District Domestic's recipe.

- three egg whites
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 tsp vanilla (I used more. god, I love vanilla.)
- one cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together, chuck dough in the fridge for around fifteen (I did longer) minutes, then put a spoon of batter on a well-greased cookie sheet. Spread it around thin, very thin, until the diameter is three inches. Cook for five minutes (browned edges).

Now, be quick here, and put your fortune in the cookie before you either a) roll it up like I did or b) fold it like a fortune cookie. Use a muffin pan to help shape these babies while they cool.

And best of luck to you, strangers, as you attempt this.

If you don't need it, please god tell me the secret!

If you do, then you, like me, will likely just really enjoy the fun of this.

There is totally a "me" in Meez : A Daring Cooks Challenge Discovery

2010-02-16T01:54:00.001-06:00

Let the record show that I did, in fact, do the Daring Cooks challenge on time. But work, Valentine's Day, fortune cookies, and so much more conspired to make sure I couldn't post. End record.

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

I was excited for a few reasons about this challenge. One, I'd never made any of the things on the list. Two, I love me some Middle Eastern food. Three, oh man was I ever broke and chick peas are so cheap!

The challenge demanded hummus and pita to be made, but the rest was up to us. I ended up doing a garlicky hummus, a standard (homemade!) pita (not all of them puffed, but oh man! the excitement! and it was an oven/timing issue, I suspect), falafel, and vaugely Middle-Eastern chicken tenders. Oh. And a tahini-yoghurt sauce.

Yeah, I'm a crazy person.

Look! They puffed!

I AM GODLIKE IN MY AWESOMENESS

A deliciously stuffed crazy person.

Pita Bread – Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook
2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)
2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)
Directions:
1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.
3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).
4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.
5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.

Now, I halved this recipe, but only because it worked for me. I got about six or seven pitas out of it - only a couple were very big (another reason the puffing failed, perhaps? mis-sizing?). The rest were small, snacky sized.

I think I shrieked a little when the puffing began. So. Exciting.

It looks more appealing in person.

But it is so delicious.

Hummus – Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Prep Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.
1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)
2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
a big pinch of salt
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste) OR use peanut butter or any other nut butter—feel free to experiment) (1.5 ounces/45 grams)
additional flavorings (optional) I would use about 1/3 cup or a few ounces to start, and add more to taste

Directions:
1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

I had canned chick peas and I used the whole can (15oz). Ah, well, such is the way. I sprout my own sprouts but I am totally fine with canned chick peas and this made the taste killer for me. I also lost my lemons. I used oranges! It was delicious. Extra garlic, pepper, and a little olive oil. I also upped the tahini by about two tablespoons. I really, really, reeeeeally like tahini.

Nom.

Falafels - Recipe from Joan Nathan and Epicurious.com

Prep Time: Overnight for dry beans and 1 hour to make Falafels

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight OR use well canned drained chickpeas (7 ounces/100 grams)
1/2 large onion (roughly chopped, about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried parsley (.2 ounces/5 grams)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried cilantro (.2 ounces/5 grams)
1 teaspoon table salt (.1 ounce/5 grams)
1 teaspoon dried hot red peppers (cayenne) (.1 ounce/2 grams)
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon cumin (.1 ounce/2 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder (.13 ounces/4 grams)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (1 ounce/24 grams) (you may need a bit extra)
tasteless oil for frying (vegetable, canola, peanut, soybean, etc.), you will need enough so that the oil is three inches deep in whatever pan you are using for frying
Directions:
1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, and then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.
2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed. If you don’t have a food processor, then feel free to mash this up as smooth as possible by hand.
3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.
5. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees (190C) in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
6. Drain on paper towels.

Everyone wanted the hummus and I sort of guarded my chicken tenders (slightly over-floury, cumin was a nice addition, and I crisped it better - so I will just point you to my other chicken tender recipe as this is essentially that. not at lock it down status yet, sadly.) because I work long shifts where I like to have a meal. Everything was pretty delicious though. I might have been the only person concerned about the chicken.

I made a sammich out of my pita - hummus, chicken, some tomato, some peppers, tahini - and chowed down. So very, very happy!

So very very delicious!

Also, this was much easier than I expected. I didn't have all the time to do what I wanted (an Aladdin veiwing party, duh, with loads of food) but still. So happy.

Stress and Limited Options = Delicious Dinner Time!

2010-02-08T02:10:00.000-06:00

Not an awesome picture, but totally awesome food.

Does anyone know where one can get a dirt cheap, not sucky camera?

Sigh. Nom. Nom.

Oops. Got distracted by delicious food.

It's probably because I am fantastically creative and clever, but I'd like to point out that my brain has been on the verge of exploding lately and that today - while a good day - involved nearly no sleep, insane amounts of coffee, and, around the time I was making dinner, a headache that was not helped even by Torchwood.

Whilst I was staring into the abyss known as my post-rent, pre-payday fridge, debating on what to make and if I really wanted anything anyway and just how many poached eggs can one eat before, in fact, becoming an egg themselves...I decided to go a dinner-route that occasionally works wonderfully. I just start chopping things and figure eventually, inspiration will strike. Does it alway work? Oh, god no.

This time, though, it did.

I hadn't really gotten into the idea even when I began slicing the chicken, but then a bag of whole wheat flour caught my eye and I realized I had some chopped potato already boiling and...well...I went with it. The boys were stealing bits from the get go and I've been mightily praised and even though I don't have a decent camera at the moment, I camera-phoned it to share.

This is the first on what I hope to be several attempts at finding my perfect chicken tender ability. I'm really looking forward to locking this recipe down.

I'm giving the recipe as I made it, which means that it isn't enough. Ha. I was fine, I actually feel too full, but then again - I did have some bread and such and am just not feeling at my peak today.

Ultra Delicious Chicken Tenders

- one large chicken breast, cut into thin strips or bits, however you prefer. Fat and gross bits removed.
- a small cup of milk
- a few tablespoons whole wheat flour
- pepper, Lawry's Seasoning Salt (and when did that get in the kitchen? I couldn't find my actual salt at first.), a teaspoon or two of Gateway to the North Seasoning or, alternatively, a lemony-garlicky seasoning (see - Trinidad Lemon-Garlic Seasoning) Use any spice you like! I'd suggest things with a touch of spice, but then again, I really peppered mine up to make up for the slight hit of sweetness from the maple flavor of Gateway to the North.
- oil, tablespoonish? Not loads.

I soaked the chicken in the milk and then dredged it through my coating of flour and seasoning. After getting a nice amount of flour on, I chucked them in batches into a frying pan I'd heated up some oil in.

Cook on both side, until cooked through, and then scowl at the people trying to eat your food before you can. I had this alongside a mushroom-and-onion-filled mashed potato, but a salad would be killer or fries or anything. It's quite delicious, cooks in a flash, and thrills everyone. I find that pan frying it gets a nice bit of snap to it but also is better than deep fried.

Not that I don't love me some fried.

I'm excited to try other ways to do this - oven bake! Different crusts! Oh, the dreams I have!

Dentistry and Matt's Mashed Potatoes

2010-01-21T03:27:00.004-06:00

This is me and one of my roomates, Matt.
We're in roommate-friend-love with each other.
And while he cooks sometimes, it is his most recent cookery that gets his snap put in here.
Also, this is a picture from months and months ago. Just saying.
We'd look just as happy, though, actually. If not more?

Monday, I had a wisdom tooth removed. It wasn't planned (I thought I was getting a consultation, not an extraction, blargh) and so, I hadn't had a chance to go soft-food shopping, let alone warn my roommates (the cast is currently at three and they are best friends of mine so, you know, we're all winners in this apartment). I'd like to take this moment to give a big shout out to Damen North Dental Clinic* for having the nicest dentist I've ever met in my life and also for clueing me in to Careington discount people because, seriously, I can't imagine having had to pay for this.

*If you live in Chicago and have questions about dentists and want to ask me about Damen North, feel free to ask away. As a non-insured, generally broke person with anxiety - I know a few things about a few doctors. This is one of them.

Anyway.

The consultation ended with my tooth and I being parted from each other and it took a wee bit of time. Still, it couldn't be helped so I sucked it up and said all systems were go and by the time I'd been to Target to get my prescriptions filled (bless them and their as-low-as-four dollar generics) and gotten back home, I was actually crying from pain. This was after I'd been numbed to oblivion and had been treated exceptionally well, it was just really painful because it had been a rough time and, well, my shots had worn off before I'd gotten home to take my pain killer.

This is where my roommates found me crying in my room, a little, wonky on pills and exhausted and waiting for the pain killing part to kick in.

Matt responded to my limitations and went to the store and when he came home he had things for mashed potatoes, baked/stewed/sauced apples, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The latter being more for he and our other boy-roommate (we're evenly divided, here at the halfway house of ill repute) but I was certainly part of it as I'd mentioned it as something I wanted for a day we'd already planned on involving the triology and a billion hours of projector time. (Return of the Martin Luther King Day, anyone?)

Well. For the past three days, I've largely been living off of his garlicky cheesey mashed potatoes. The other boy-roommate made a thick applesauce and I ended up making a thin custardy sauce last night for ultra-baked apples. Also, tonight featured only chocolate all-natural pudding from Jewel, which was the only pudding without any corn products I found tonight and oh, lordy, was I happy to find it.

From what my vicodined self observed, Matt's taters go a little something like this...

Matt's You Poor Broken Thing Potatoes (more or less)
- five poatoes, washed (peeled if you desire)
- butter
- half-and-half
- five cloves of garlic
- shredded Italian cheese
- two triangles of Laughing Cow cheese
- one egg
- garlic salt, pepper, salt

Water in a pot, with garlic salt added. Once boiling, chuck in potatoes and garlic cloves. When the potatoes are mashable drain and mash up with butter and half-and-half, to desired richness/texture. If, say, someone has a tooth taken out and can't chew for shit and are not that into the idea of opening their mouth - blend 'til smooth. Add cheeses and egg and seasoning and mash up more, over heat, until you are sure that no one will be poisoned.

Serve to the infirm. Watch as they enjoy it for the next few days. Feel good.

And that, my darling readers, is what friendship is.

Haitian Tragedy: Ways To Help.

2010-01-14T22:19:00.006-06:00

This was a graffiti I spotted from the bus about two years ago, but it has stayed with me as far as the message is.

Hope really does endure through all the worst of everything. While I would love to be able to do something along the lines of the blog links I'm about to post, it's really beyond my ability at this time. Still, I want to re-post these links and hear about any others you may know about.

Thursday Night Smackdown
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Saffron & Blueberry
Savory Sweet Life

There are lots of ways to make a difference (not that I think this post here, on my blog, is one of them) and commenting is just one easy one. Do what you can or what you'd like to, which is what I plan to do. These bloggers are generous and have huge hearts, I am warmed by seeing such compassion for others in the places I look at for entirely different reasons.

My thoughts and warm wishes and energy are being sent, as I'm sure everyone's are.

A Picture of Brioche. Yeah. That's right.

2010-01-11T02:40:00.006-06:00

Who me?
I'm just insanely delicious brioche-muffins whose recipe got lost.
Did I mention I'm insanely delicious?

Know what I haven't done since I last spoke to you guys?

Cooked. I haven't cooked a single thing. I could explain the amount of work I've been doing or this or that, but I thought about cooking tonight and instead popped the Homemade Pizza Co. pizza that was in the fridge into the oven and had done. I was so hungry that everything sounded good and was thrilled to find this when I got home. I was so starved after work that when I realized the crust was sliiiiightly underdone? I just ate it anyway.

Still. I have been compiling a list of things I'd like to try from cookbooks I have. I want to do brief reviews, even, I think. I do love to use the library for cookbook scoping.

I did make brioche early December. I even woke up my sleeping roommate to offer him a warm, buttered, fresh-from-the-oven brioche. It was my first attempt.

I will do it again and better.

Not that this was anything other than oohhh my god delicious. I'll offer you a better recipe though, once I've discovered how to do it.

In the meantime, at least I'm updating!

Two Thousand and Win!

2010-01-08T02:07:00.003-06:00

A melty picture of love.
She may be trying to escape and, yes, this was taken much earlier in the year.
But it's still a picture of love!

Ah, yes, the adorableness of a girl and her cat. Or of anyone and their cat. Hell, of simply a cat.

Another year is here and this time, I'm thinking that while I do not tend to make resolutions (though I excel at breaking them), I may have a few things I want to keep in mind this year. In general terms, I'd like to finally finish cleaning my room before the end of next week. I'm giving myself some time on that. I got a My French Coach on my DSLite and I want to, clearly, learn a little French. I've started and can say the days of the week, the months, colors, and am learning to conjugate the verb To Be.

That's about as general public as I'll get here, at the moment.

As far as the blog? I'd like to update more frequently. I'm not going to make a particular day or schedule or anything, but I want to keep an eye on it more. I also want a camera, but that isn't a resolution so much as a material desire. I'll work on that later. Posting more, yes, want to do that. I also want to use more recipes from my cookbooks. I haven't done terribly, I do use them, but I mean - they have so much more to be done with them! I want to experiment a little more, to perfect some things, and maybe even to pay more attention to measurements so as to explain better.

That last one, though, is pushing it.

Then again, maybe 2010 is all about pushing it?

I did already set up a dentist appointment. Haven't done that in longer-than-any-of-your-damn-business.

Still, I have things I want to try. I have ideas I want to mess with and create and then share with you. Hopefully, all these will turn out well. Maybe they won't. Still, I've been so busy with everything that I find myself cooking the same sort of things repeatedly and while that's comforting, I'm tired of trying new things when I'm suddenly stressing out.

And right now? I am resolving to go to bed. I had a strangely long day, but insomnia convinced me this was a Go.

Bonne nuit, my darlings!

Peanut Butter Dream Bars

2010-01-08T01:53:00.002-06:00

Ahhh....back to the regular me.

So, I was making those gift bags of treats and included a recipe from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook. Now, if you have a corn allergy, you will want to double check all low-fat items...but you already knew that. PB is wicked for allergies, you can't do cheap, and I ended up with a creamy Peter Pan that was NOT reduced fat, as the recipe calls for. But otherwise, it's still pretty spot-on.

And seriously, so good. I highly recommend this.

The Suspiciously Slender Cast

- 1/2 cup low-cal chocolate wafers (ground)
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (side note: I always forget I like oats. Then, suddenly, I remember again. This was one of those times)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbs butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup reduced fat peanut butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 oz reduced fat cream cheese (at room temp)
- 2 tbs chocolate chips, melted

Their Own Personal Bootcamp:

- Line a loaf pan with wax paper (with an overhang). Great, you prepped the pan!
- Combine the ground wafers, oats, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Stir in butter. Stir in one tablespoon of the peanut butter until the mixture forms large clumps. Press those clumps into the tin, making a layer, and chuck it into the fridge for about ten minutes.
- While waiting for this to become firm, carry on by beating the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla, three tablespoons of peanut butter, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and beat until pale and nearly twice the original volume. You'll want to spread this on the cookie-crust you just made. Then let it firm up in the freezer, which also takes around ten minutes.
- When that is set, spread the melted chocolate in a thin layer on top and - you guessed it - abandon to the chill for another ten minutes while it sets.

This should serve eight people at a low 157 calories per serving.

Also, this should be insanely delicious. You'll have a whole new respect for those CYT Girls. I know I do!

Holiday Giving: The Explanation

2010-01-08T01:26:00.003-06:00

This year, I did something I haven't done for holidays since...maybe four years?...since awhile. I made treats and passed them out to people and, unfortunately, I do not mean "all of my friends" but rather "the people I work with" only as I ran out of time and also had less to go around than I meant to. See: running out of time.

At any rate, the last time I did this I was celebrating a holiday with my ex, we were about to be at our respective hometowns, and I had a few days to myself. I was leaving on Christmas Eve and she was coming back on Christmas, so I decided to bake some treats (and also make mashed potatoes to be put in the fridge, as she was a loon). Then I decided that as long as I was baking, I might as well give some of the treats to our immediate neighbors in the apartment building.

Oh, how to explain those neighbors. One was a tiny older woman, maybe fifty or more, who wore heels and dresses and fake flowers in her hair and smelled like a lot of vodka. She was very sweet and we spoke often, as I worked in the neighborhood and she was often at my shoppe. The other lived on the other side of her and he was probably in his late twenties, lived alone and worked at an enviable job, as far as I was concerned. We got along well as we were both sarcastic and exchanged swift stories about dating perils and the neighborhood and our psychotic building manager. Still, we hadn't spoken very often so I'm not sure what made me think to add him to this list.

Honestly, I'm not sure why I did it at all. You don't tend to know a lot of your neighbors, here, and certainly the most I'd spoken with anyone else on my floor was one time the woman across the hall told me I left my keys in the door. I would see the same people all the time, we'd just never speak. I just had the urge and so I packaged up some various kolakies, cream cheese swirled brownies, and probably buckeyes. I wrote little notes on the two containers and left them at the doors of the other apartments before I left.

Fact: I would never eat something that I found in front of my door.
Fact: I did not, in fact, know the name of the guy living down the hall at the time, despite our friendly conversations.

The result? I made this guy cry. Seriously. Oh, the woman was touched and said thank you in a nicely written note. But the guy? He sought me out to tell me that he was alone for the holidays that year, that he'd been talking to his sister and came upon the package and apparently just started to cry and how much it meant to him. Which has stuck with me, how a small act of kindness can really mean something to someone. Something as simple as a brownie or a not-pretty-but-awfully-tasty-cookie or even just a handwritten note explaining you aren't sure if they have allergies or celebrate or anything, but you wanted to do something nice.

Then I never did it again until this year. For all I know, this meant nothing to my coworkers even though my bosses seemed to think it was nice of me. Still, it might have meant a lot or even a little, and it isn't the point.

AND OH MY HOW I HAVE RAMBLED. I will stick the recipe I am giving you in the next post, this is far too long I suspect.

Also, holy shit, was that ever sappy? Blargh.

Still.

If you'd seen that guy when he told me this, you'd want to share the story again too. Especially on cold January days, where you've tromped through snow and remembered the weird isolation that sometimes happens in large cities. I have an apartment where I live with my three close friends and two cats (my precious baby and my roommate's cat, who is oh-so-handsome), so it's not so isolated, but I've certainly been in moods where little things might make you cry or remind you about people.

I don't know. It's Eastern Orthodox Christmas, you know. Despite not celebrating, I still thought a holiday story might be nice.

END SAP.

Gingerbead House: Christmas with The Daring Bakers

2010-01-08T01:10:00.006-06:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

And I, of course, posted it late. Not only that, but the photos are on a roommate's camera, which, of course, I have not uploaded. No, do not weep for me, just listen to my tale.

I was excited. I confess I wanted to make something I was going to call either "Gingerbread Crack House" or "The Crazy Cat Lady Lives Here". I bought tiny gummi bears (all the better to resemble a collection of bottles with!) and real gummi bears and sour things and Pez and all the things I can't eat. But others can! And that was fine with me.

Then I started making gingerbread. I used Anna's recipe, which she got from Good Housekeeping. I picked thise one because I really like molassases. As I proved later that same night by making molassases cookies.

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.

2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.

3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43x36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)

5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.

9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.

I then attached the (shoddily but still tasty) pieces of my house together using a simple syrup.
Which I made simply by melting down some sugar and hoping to god that I didn't burn myself, which ended up working out, as I did not!

Then came the decorating.
I confess, I had little time to do any decorating. In fact. I left it to my roommates. If I had, I would have used this recipe for royal icing, also from the challenge.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

...I'm sure you see where this is going.
Non-complete. Enjoyed! Cheered over, even, if a little mocked. Deservedly mocked. At maybe more than a little frequency.

I take heart in that my house was constructed, at least, and then abandoned like so many projects are at times. I'll think of it as just the Chicago way to build things. Slowly, oh so slowly.

Also: take heart, this was really tasty.

Cranberry Nut Bread

2009-12-11T01:08:00.005-06:00

picture taken moments before i burned my mouth on a too hot cranberry.
it must be the power of deliciousness.
oh, that you could smell this.
and yes. it was worth it.

Well, I hadn't gotten around to making this for Thanksgiving, but that didn't mean I suddenly didn't have the bag of cranberries in my fridge. Which meant that today, when I realized just how very cold it was and how toasty the kitchen was capable of being, I opted to bake this delicious treat.

My mother used to make very nearly this same recipe at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was small. I remember the several foil throw-away loaf pans, sorting through the cranberries to make sure that they were all good, and thinking about how strangely hollow this fruit was. I had the same hollow-fruit-thought this afternoon, in my jeans and hoodie and knit boots, even while wondering just how hard it was to find a freakin' grater in my house.

Pretty hard, we don't have one.

Still. We have a loaf pan that I found at a nearby local thrift store for a dollar and we had all the ingredients that I'd planned on using. I was strangely nervous waiting for my bread to cook, but in the end it was even better than I'd hoped. We stood around the kitchen, eating thick pieces still hot from the oven, buttered and amazing. This was exactly what I'd needed.

Super Delicious Cranberry Nut Bread

- two cups flour
- one cup sugar
- one and a half teaspoon baking powder
- one teaspoon salt
- the juice of one tangerine (nothing says fantastic like fresh juice!) (you may wish to use two, if you'd like more of the flavor. you may not need the half and half then.)
- three to four tablespoons half and half (or milk or cream, what you have about is fine)
- one tablespoon grated tangerine peel (ooooh, I do adore zest)
- two tablespoons oil (I used canola)
- two blended eggs
- one and a half cups fresh cranberries (if using frozen, do not thaw them, I know that sounds odd)
- one half cup chopped walnuts (or other nut)

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Mix the dry ingredients and then, in a different dish (mine was a mug! oh, the shame I ought to feel...) mix the juice, the zest, the oil, and the egg. Add and blend with the dry mixture and then add the cranberries and nuts. Add three tablespoons half and half and then see if you need more. Your dough ought to be thick and sticky, but it shouldn't be too sticky and ought to have some give involved. It's bread dough!

Pour (place, move, dance, whichever) into a greased and floured bread pan and bake for about an hour. I'd start checking on it at fifty minutes. The top will be browned a bit and knife will come out clean. Or, you know, only marred by hot delicious cranberry.

Clearly, this recipe cane be changed. You can add chocolate or a different nut or a different juice, you could make it vegan probably pretty easily.

Enjoy!

Ice! Snow! Bluster!

2009-12-10T22:13:00.004-06:00

Lyra, being precious and addicted to cat nip.
Taken last winter/spring (snow on the ground means nothing in Chicago) by a friend.

Given that right now, Chicago is ever so cold (I am on my computer on the couch, but with my hood up and a quilt draped over me), I figured a nice picture like that could be used to make everyone smile.

Plus, the photo for my cranberry nut bread hasn't arrived from my phone into my inbox yet and yes, as a matter of fact, I do think I am cursed as far as cameras go. Here's hoping the next one I get works out better. Here's hoping the next one I get becomes mine before summer. No, I have no particular one I am lusting after. Suggestions? Nothing that will make me weep over price.

-cricket chip-

Well. Thanks anyway. I shall figure something out.

At any rate, today was a successful cooking day! Tonight I made a variation on my own potato soup, though I can't recall which one I like better. I opted for veg stock instead of chicken, onion instead of leek, loads more garlic, and then a thinly sliced red bell pepper and some mushrooms chopped up.

I also blended it a little better than last time using my hand mixer. No bacon. (because I had no bacon)

But it was delicious. Wonderfully seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, Bridgeport seasoning, and a little dill and a little paprika.

Also, it's become clear that one of these days I am going to have to write something about The Spice House. Just sayin'.

Karo-who? Brown Sugar Syrup Pecan Pie.

2009-12-03T03:42:00.005-06:00

By this point in the Feast, a nice set up and a clean stove were beyond me.
Still, I did try to take a good snap as best I could, considering it was a cell phone.

Well, I hope everyone had a delicious and fattening Thanksgiving because lord knows I did. My friend Dana and I had our Third Annual "We Trust No One Else To Cook" Thanksgiving. It involved a lot of Arrested Development, Diet Coke (esp for dana!), wine (esp for me!), cooking, and a prolonged fight with my oven which decided to be even more impossibly difficult than usual as this was a food holiday.

Also, I think the oven knew that we both worked the next day at our respective jobs.

Either way, it was unbelievably tasty. Dana made stuffing (featuring: pecans, cranberries, and sausage), mashed potatoes, a chicken, a turkey leg, gravy, and brought some tasty tasty cranberry sauce. She also steamed some green beans. I made crash sweet potatoes, whiskey glazed carrots (thanks, Pioneer Woman! don't be too sad that i used Seagram's 7 instead of Jack! it's just always around...), green bean casserole (yeah,yeah), and pecan pie.

Note: I did not make deviled eggs and, yes, I thought about it. I also did not get to make the cranberry nut bread I wanted (which I bought cranberries for! I'll get to it soon. maybe tomorrow?) or the cheesy muffins (which I actually AM planning on making tomorrow. we'll see how this day goes. always with the elaborate planning and rarely with the follow-throughing).

Double Note: Yes, I am allergic to corn syrup.

Which brings me to!

THIS IS A CORN SYRUP FREE PIE.

Yes, ladies and gents, this pie is made without Karo. Oh, they said it could be done but they swore it wouldn't be tasty. But they were wrong. This pie tastes exactly as delicious as I remember my wickedly tasty Karo-based pecan pie being. (I wasn't always as horridly allergic as I am now, but it's progressed, so I can't even cook the filing because it makes me die a little on the inside where no one can see)

My trick? Brown sugar syrup. I cooked brown sugar and water down to a thick syrup that, admittedly not as thick as Karo, was still preeeeeeeetty syrupy looking. And I chopped the walnuts nice and fine and I said a little prayer to my fourth glass of wine and I threw myself into the memory of my old pecan pie.

INGREDIENTS

- two eggs
- vanilla (a drizzle and a dash, which is probs about two teaspoons?)
- sugar, two thirds cup (about)
- brown sugar syrup, a cup (about, sorry!)
- cake spice, a teaspoon (this is made of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. I buy mine at The Spice House)
- a knob of melted butter
- quick dash of cinnamon because, well, why not? but only just.
- pecans (mine were chopped), about two cups - or just under the bag you bought at Jewel when you thought it was on sale, but it wasn't, and you were pissed but you were making this damn pie so you got it anyway. (that's helpful, yes?)

NOTE: I used -gasp- salted butter. I know, I know, I know. But we reached a compromise here at my apartment and that involves the purchasing of salted butter. It's fine. I'm completely okay with this, even though it used to make me cringe a bit. If you don't use salted butter, I suggest adding a dash of salt.

Also. I doubt I've ever said "salted butter" that many times in a short span of time. Reminds me of how I spent actual time thinking about broken eggs in cartons at the store.

Do not get me started.

At any rate, by the time you've finished contemplating all of this, you have mixed together these things and poured it into a prepared pie dish. Really. Just chuck it all together and mix it up nicely. You can add the pecans last if it makes you feel better.

"Prepared", here, means - a lightly buttered/greased/sprayed pie pan with a crust inside. You can make your own or use frozen or the roll-out-pre-made stuff, it's all fine. I made my own. (softened butter, flour, sprinkle of water, some sugar but not much, voila!)

I do not pre-bake my crust.

Wrap some foil around the crust-edges of the pie, then pop it into the 350 degree (F) oven for a half hour. Remove the foil, bake another fifteen or twenty minutes. A knife should come out clean. Yes, it will be wobbly up until the point that it is suddenly done.

Please do not burn your mouth in the attempt to shove this pie in your face. Please. Be better than me.

At any rate, you can add whiskey or bourbon or what have you to this pie. I even suggest that. Nom.

I also suggest smallish slices and vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream) to melt on top a bit.

And I would like to apologize for the pictures. I took these with my cell phone. Um, after eating a piece. It was delicious and I have no regrets.

Delicous, fabulous spinach quiche!

2009-11-08T20:00:00.006-06:00

Dainty, non?
Don't worry, I made loads of mini-ones in a muffin pan. Plenty for all!
Except, sadly, you lot.

As you may or may not recall or even know, we here in my ramshackle apartment of love had a tea party not too long ago! It was quite delightful, complete with tea cups and hats and whiskey and so on and so forth. We dressed to impress! We were beyond lovely. Among our feasting options, I included a quiche. A spinach quiche, in fact, and no mushrooms anywhere since some guests dislike them and I am nothing if not accommodating. Sometimes.

Other times, I inform the nay-sayers to shut their mouths and let me be with my delicious whatever-whatever that has some food ingredient they dislike. Or I encourage them to try a bite. Whichever.

At any rate. Using a muffin tray, I made small quiches but then I had this ramekin and, well, look at that photo! How could I not? I admit to being nervous, as I had just experienced a great failure with my french macaroons and was determined to not fail again.

And I did not!

Super-Easy, Super-Tasty Spinach Quiche

- pie crust (either pre-made or handmade, honestly, it more depends on the time you have)
- three egg yolks
- two egg whites
- one whole egg
(NOTE. you could also just, you know, use five eggs. we just had these things about from previous cooking and didn't want to waste it and I am a big believer in an extra egg for such things, which is a trick my boy-roommate lives by)
- plenty of munster cheese, pref grated but if you, say, have no idea where the grater went? just chop chop cut chop nice and small
- rinsed spinach, which you can chop roughly. (you may also use frozen spinach, thaw it, and drain it, although honestly this is just fine.)
- onion, chopped
- garlic cloves, chopped if you like, as many as you like
- salt, pepper, cake spice (or, lacking The Spice House, you may also blend cinnamon and nutmeg, though the mix also includes cloves and such).

Cook the onion, garlic, and any other veg you'd like to include together. When largely done, chuck in the spinach and let cook down. Then cool. Whisk the eggs together until blended, mix in with the cheese and the cooled veg, season as you like - pepper, the spices, and a dash of salt.

Butter the muffin tin, the pie pan, the quiche pan, etc etc etc - just butter whichever you are using. Line with pastry. Bake for a bit first, I did about ten/fifteen mins - just getting golden! Pour the eggy mixture in the prepared pan and then bake for about twenty-five, thirty minutes at 350 degrees. Or until the top is deliciously slightly golden and it's firmed up proper.

SO DELICIOUS.

I mean, let it cool and finish setting.

I then like to fret over it - did I cook it enough? Oh, heavens! Am I about to kill us all?
Then! I like to watch everyone love love love it.

Also, you do not have to have a tea party to enjoys this...but maybe you should think about it.

Daring French Fail! Oh, the shame.

2009-11-01T20:34:00.003-06:00

Well, that's sort of right.
Inasmuch as it happens to be objects sitting on a baking sheet.

I'm going to keep it real, here, gentle readers. I am not always amazing, all of the time. And I could explain that it was the wee hours (the clock, were you able to see it, reveals that it is six in the morning and does not reveal that I had work mere hours later) but that's not really the problem. The problem was, I suspect, egg whites. And my inability to make a french macaroon properly.

This is largely sad because I was making them for the tea party we were having the next day and also because I didn't have enough time this month to try again, but just the same, I am posting the recipe and such that, in theory, would have revealed lovely macaroons.

Mine were meant to be lemony. They were meant to have a sweet basil filling. The filling, actually, turned out wonderfully and so we dipped fresh strawberries in it and just devoured it like were were beasts (beautifully attired in party dresses and hats and things, but beasts just the same). So that much was nice.

At any rate! I shall try again, in the future, but am wise enough to say when I've made a mistake. My macaroons were cakey and dense, not at all proper, and even didn't taste all that great so I'll review it and see what went wrong BUT everyone should try this because it's good to try new things.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Good luck guys! May your treats turn out better than mine!

Brownie Pudding: An Adventure Using Boiling Water

2009-10-22T17:05:00.006-05:00

Unbaked, but seriously still delicious.

You know those times when you just absolutely have to eat something sweet and chocolatey? And how maybe, since you have a deep, profound love for all things bread pudding (which may or may not have once ended with you throwing allergy concerns to the wind and chowing down on a serving of bread pudding from Sweet Mandy B's that involved caramel?) that sometimes means what you want is something bready and puddingy?

Of course you have. Sometimes, even, you've had it at a late hour of the day. Sometimes, you've had this craving when there is precious little in the house to sate any of your desires.

Thank goodness for my 1950's edition of The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook. I know you've heard me sing it's praises before, but I intend to continue doing so for a while. I just forgot. Well, forget no more! I had just the day before read about Brownie Pudding. And, lo, we had all the ingredients.

Bonus: the recipe called for boiling water to be poured on top of the batter, which would make a chocolate sauce. I was enthralled, skeptical, and excited. Most of all, I wanted my freshly baked, sweet, chocolatey, puddingy dessert. After this, you probably will too.

So, boiling water goes ON the batter you say? Sure. I'll try that.

The Players:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbs cocoa (or, if you were me, a little more than this of hot chocolate mix. sorry, humble women of general foods kitchens. please, don't be me about this.)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tbs melted butter (mine was salted, oh sin of baking sins, but if you are doing it properly then just sprinkle in some salt.)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- chopped walnuts (optional or use whatever type of nuts you'd like or any other addition, actually)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (or, if you don't have any, granulated sugar will work as well but I used brown sugar)
- 2 tbs cocoa (again, see hot chocolate mix note)
- 3/4 cup boiling water

The Game:

Mix flour, baking powder, 1/3 cup (granulated) sugar, and one tablespoon cocoa. Then add the milk, butter, and vanilla. Mix until smooth, add nuts, and pour into the greased (mine was 6x9) baking dish. Mix the brown sugar and the other two tablespoons of cocoa together then sprinkle over the batter, also sprinkle a little bit of nuts over it, and then pour the boiling water over the top. This makes a chocolate sauce at the bottome when done cooking, which is impressive to me.

Bake at 350F for thirty to forty minutes, then cool before serving (recipe suggests a half hour, I was not nearly so patient...).

It smells even better than it looks, trust.

We loved this hot, we loved this cold, and I particularly loved this with the fridge door partially open scarfing down a couple bites because maybe I had to bolt out the door to work in absolutely no time at all.

The point is, it was always delicious. And you will likely love it.

Patty Cake, Patty Cake...

2009-10-07T00:24:00.003-05:00

Well, okay, patty pan squash rather...but you can imagine how the imagine takes off!

I found these beauties at the farmer's market a few weeks ago (back when I made this dish) and was so delighted that a) a stall was still open even after I got out of work and b) that they had this pile of these for about two dollars. I can't remember having ever actually cooked or eaten them before, but when my dad came to visit not too long ago he'd been telling me about this. So I was pretty pleased.

I decided that simple was the way to go, mostly because I wanted full on natural flavors. So I set about making a simple, baked squash dish and ended up making a bitchin', simple, baked squash dish.

INGREDIENTS

- patty pan squash (tops and bottoms cut off, then either chopped or sliced as you like) (i think i had six or seven?)
- onion, chopped
- one or two potatoes, chopped up
- plenty of garlic cloves, diced
- chopped up tomatoes (i had two small fresh ones, quite small, and then about half a can of diced)
- fresh basil
- olive oil, salt, pepper, seasonings in general

Throw all veg and basil in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, season, stir about, get a bit of a coating but don't drown it. Praise yourself in advance. Bake in a three-fifty degree oven for about forty minutes, until everything is cooked through and hot and delicious.

Die of joy when eating, while realizing how healthy this is!

Seriously, how delicious does that look? We ate it hot and loved it, I ate some cold at work and loved it, I even mixed the last leftovers with some pasta and maybe mushrooms (which, sadly, I'd not had any available the night before) and adored it. God, I love squash.

Lock It Down Red Curry

2009-09-15T21:09:00.009-05:00

Matt's arm, holding his massive Boy Dish of Curry.

This is the first in, hopefully, a line of recipes that make someone want to "lock it down". As in, Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson (who, I confess, was the basis for this curry until I completely went off the road with it) would swoon a bit. Gordon Ramsay would say "Well done, my darling". Bourdain would tell me I didn't suck and, well, what else could any one else desire?

Seriously. I've finally gotten down the spicy level down to a T and think it's all swimmingly delicious.

CAST OF CHARACTERSplease ignore the two handles of whiskey in the background. and the ashtray.
and yes, there are missing items.
this picture is just too funny to NOT post.

- (i had white, but have also used yellow and come on, play with it!) onion, chopped up
- as many cloves of garlic as your little heart desires, diced
- basil
- chicken breast, sliced into long thin bits
- mushrooms, sliced
- sweet potatoes, chopped (i peeled mine, do as you like)
- potatoes, chopped (i mostly peeled them, again, do as you like)
- garbanzo beans, one can, drained
- coconut milk, one can
- fish sauce
- toasted sesame oil
- red curry paste (mine was made from a powder blend i purchased at the spice house, then made with the fish sauce and a little water) - a few tbs, as desired for spiciness.
- pepper
- Trinidad-style lemon-garlic marinade seasoning (also from the spice house - it's a blend of lemon peel, garlic, cloves, ginger, and kosher salt according to the website. i am addicted to this and love love love it in just about everything, ever. god i love the spice house.)
- wide rice noodles
- about a cup of chicken broth
- the green bits of scallions, chopped roughly, for the top.

(note: you can also use mangoes, if desired, or replace the beans with butternut squash. rice instead of noodles or change out the broth, any of the veg, etc etc. who says it has to be chicken? i've made it with shrimp when i found some on sale frozen shrimps. do what you will.)

Throw the onion, garlic, and basil in a pan and stir with some oil and a bit of butter until softened a bit. Add chicken, season with pepper and the trinidad seasoning. Add a little sesame oil. Cook until tender and delicious, even if not totally cooked through. Add the curry paste and stir. I then add the broth, the coconut milk, and a few dashes of fish sauce. Stir, throw in veg, the beans, let cook.

Try not to eat the screen, but really, I understand if you forget and reach out to steal a bite.

When nearly done, cook your noodles as per the directions on the packet.

Clearly, taste and season as you desire. More garlic? Less pepper? More salt? Whichever! Fresh ginger, sliced or grated, is also an amazing addition - put it in the start, with the onion and garlic.

You can mix the noodles and the curry together at the start or pour the curry over, then mix them for leftovers. There is no wrong way. Sprinkle the dish with the scallions, if you are using it. Then watch your roommates profess their undying love and make demands.

Ali, sprinkiling her food with scallion bits.

It's hard to demand with your mouth full, though. So you can pretend to ignore it.

The whole thing, after prep, takes about half hour or so, it's terribly fast. And depending on how much you are hanging out, drinking, doing by yourself...the prep could take no time at all!

ENJOY. And let me know if this nets you any action.

NOM NOM NOM

It's getting chilly!

2009-09-01T22:59:00.002-05:00

I don't know about where you are, but here the fake summer (which did, truth be told, give us some crazy hot days) has turned into crisp chill and it's easy to see that fall is zooming in. It's typical Chicago in that it does what it wants, when it wants, and for all we know there are some more heated days coming.

At any rate, I'm excited for the chillier days - though not the winter, blargh. I'm also excited for when I am less broke although as far as that goes, I have no idea. So tonight (and, yes, last night as well) I made some crazy cheap dinner. Tuna Mac. But not just the standard Mac-n-Cheese plus can of tuna equals NOM kind. OH NO.

- box of mac-n-cheese (last night I had whole wheat! tonight was standard)
- the milk/butter or oil/soymilk or whatever-you-like things to make said mac-n-cheese
- can of tuna (in oil or water, either way is fine)
- some onion, chopped up
- a few cloves of garlic, diced up
- sliced mushrooms
- seasonings of your choice (basil, lemon pepper, a sprinkle of bridgeport seasoning)

While your mac-n-cheese is, you know, mac-n-cheesing it - cook the onions, garlic, and mushrooms in some butter or oil. Season. If you like, you can do what I did tonight and add in a little milk. Add with the tuna to the mac-n-cheese when it's finished. Devour!

I also added some salsa verde just for some light heat but that's me.

Honestly, it's so delicious. You can add whatever veg you like or even none at all, but I figure the more veg the better. All together, given my ability to sniff out values, this is like a two dollar dinner. Delicious!!

Bread Pudding? Or Baked Crack? Take your pick.

2009-08-25T21:32:00.004-05:00

I am seriously addicted to bread pudding these days, it's insane. I've done a fair few different versions of it lately - including a croissant one from Nigella that started the madness. Now I am mostly just trying to perfect a basic one, but have been playing around with my own recipe plenty.

I did a bread pudding lately with some chocolate (and, had I not used unsweetened, maybe I would be willing to suggest it but no. though, you know, my friends still loved it). Luckily the flaws in it were only my thoughts and the fruit topping I made for it was sweet and delicious.

It's such a simple and homey dish, super comfy, and absolutely delicious. I have eaten some it straight from the dish, fridge door still open, hoping no one catches me. I have witnessed people eat half a baking dish in one sitting. I have eaten it before it is even cooked, just bits of soaked bread, before finally submitting to the logic of cooking it.

I am so in love with bread pudding.

DELICIOUS ~~CRACK~~ BREAD PUDDING

- bread, torn up, ideally a bit stale but really this is negotiable. I have used french bread and rolls and things. I intend to try it soon with challah, among other things. Maybe cinnamon raisin?
- eggs (two or three, I'm of the more-is-better school of thought, but base this off the cream)
- heavy cream (one of the small cardboard containers, which is around a cup?)
- I often also throw in some milk, which is usually skim but that's just because that is what I have and anyway - all cream is awesome. Or whole milk. Don't constrain yourselves on my account.
- vanilla, a few tsps or to taste.
- sugar, not quite a cup - try a half cup and see
- knob of butter - not half a stick.

I have also added a little honey or some brown sugar. Cinnamon was an amazing addition.

What you do is you chuck the cream and butter together and stir until mixed over a low heat. Turn off burner and whisk the eggs in, one at a time, fast and well so as to not end up with cooked egg. You may want to let the cream-butter cool a bit first to do this. Or you may be on a crunch and just need to whip the hell out of this.

Add sugar, vanilla, and milk if you realize you need more. Any other flavors or any less flavors is fine, as far as additives go (you happen to not like vanilla or be, like my poor friend, allergic? move along - get a different flavor). Whisk whisk whisk. Taste it, die of delight. Try to not drink straight from the pot.

Seriously. Do try.

Now, your torn up bread ought to be hanging about in a baking dish. Pour this custard-y mix over it and move them around so that each bit gets some. Let this sit for a bit until soaked and then eat a piece. A small one. Go ahead, you want to.

Put this in an oven at 350 and then cook for around thirty-five minutes. Check on it, you may want the top more or less browned. Let the dish chill out for a bit so as to a) let it really set (it gets a little bubbly straight from the oven) and b) not scald your mouth, you impatient thing.

ENJOY. Cold or warm, by itself or with a topping, however you like.

AMAZING FRUIT TOPPING

- fruit, fresh and sliced (I used pears and strawberries, respectively)
- butter (a little more than a tablespoon but you'll see)
- sugar, mostly to taste.

In a pot or even pan, on the stove, cook the fruit with the butter and then add sugar.This doesn't take terribly long and you'll know how soft you want your topping. I think I cooked mine for about fifteen minutes. It's insane.

To the pear, I added some mint.

To the strawberries, I ate it on everything ever.

Seriously, I am delighted with this. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Throw an egg on it!

2009-08-13T01:27:00.004-05:00

Do you, my sweet friends, know what this is?

Yes. A delicious spinach pasta from the Asian Market (tm) that I go to (Thai Nam) up in the North Korean Area Of Chicago. And there is some chicken in it. Onion, garlic, perhaps - probably it's been a while - even some mushrooms. And that glorious thing on top? Is a fried egg. One where the yolk is still a bit runny.

AND I PUT THAT SHIT ON TOP.

The problem was, the flavor was not exactly awesome and I couldn't figure out where my misstep was. So I fried an egg and threw i on and lo and behold, a glorious mouth of food happened. What followed was my roommate and I putting eggs on everything to see how it went for a while.

We have no regrets.

Alive! And really hungry, actually.

2009-07-27T15:33:00.002-05:00

OH MAN.

Okay, so, it has been an age since I've been here but I've managed to be insanely busy and largely computerless (and, for a time, gasless...oh god, those were dark times).

But I'm back! I am making a concrete plan to stay on top of things. Since I, you know, haven't. I haven't even had time to cook lately - with the exception of this caramel croissant pudding, a Nigella recipe that I altered ridiculously and was inhaled by my friends before it even could be photographed, and even that was about three weeks ago.

I'm actually exhausted even as I write this, but I assure you. I will return and shortly and with food.

June Daring Cooks - Delicious Pot stickers!

2009-06-15T00:17:00.006-05:00

I've made pot stickers before, but was really excited to see that the Daring Cooks challenge was -drumroll- pot stickers! This month's challenge was hosted by Jen from use real butter had pretty flexible requirements - really, the main thing was to make your own dough to form the wrappers. In all the time that I've made potstickers, I've never done this - I would buy wrappers at the grocery store and just have at. It's the same way I make ravioli, generally, as well.

I'm sort of all about the filling.
This time, however, I settled myself into the idea and prepared to curse and then be delighted. I gathered up a soda bottle (switched, quickly, for a whiskey one) to use as a rolling pin and hopped to.

Given Recipe: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (113g) warm water
- flour for work surface

Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.

And then: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side.

-
Now. I had a pretty good time with the dough. I rolled it out in very small batches and then made a turkey filling.

- ground turkey
- brown sugar (a few spoons)
- diced onion
- diced garlic (a few cloves)
- sesame oil
- honey (a drizzle or two, really)
- soy sauce
- grated ginger
- cayenne pepper
- sweet basil seeds

I cooked the garlic, onion, ginger, and basil seeds in a little butter, then added the ground turkey. A little salt, a little pepper, a drizzle of honey and the sesame oil and soy sauce (to taste). Cook through, add cayenne (if using) and taste. I love sesame oil, so I generally add more and have found that I usually end up with a little more sweetness than spice. It's delicious!

I spooned the filling into my wrappers, closed them up, and - despite a deep deep love of steaming these babies - tossed them in with a little butter and pan fried them.

My dipping sauce is honey, sesame oil, and soy sauce - given circumstances, I would add sweet rice wine to mix in, but I was out. At any rate. It was delicious. I'm planning on trying it again soon with a different type of filling (one that will have actual measurements, etc, sorry guys!) but I was pretty pleased with myself.

Easy, easy, easy quesadillas. Belatedly Posted.

2009-05-07T06:27:00.006-05:00

Yes, it was Cinco de Mayo and yes, that was sort of why I did it, but honestly? I love quesadillas. It's practically the only thing I order at any Mexican resturant, it's why I sometimes go to Qdoba, it's just delicious. Crisp tortilla, melty cheese, delicious fillings...oh, man, I want one right now just thinking about it. To be sure, part of the reason I order it so much is the ease of dealing with my allergies and the fact that so many different things can go in it. I recently had one that had shrimp, mushrooms, and green peppers. MELT.

So, bored and thrilled with how beautiful the day was and appreciative of the fact that a busy few days was about to kick off, I wandered off and gathered up some ingredients and then, somewhere around ten at night, got to cooking. No sooner did a tasty 'dilla come of the pan was it eaten, happily, with the guacomole I made (with help, sort of, as I got one of my roommates to smash up the avocado and mix in the tomato and onion, so I will give some props) and some sour cream. No photos! I will later post photos of hanging out and eating cake or something - so you can get the idea of fun, happy, delicious times.

The fun part of picking flour tortillas is a) there are less options, so I have to obsess over the ingredients less and b) the store sometimes has locally made ones so I can hunt for them! I'm so partial to Chicago produced things.

Clearly, you can do whatever you want to a quesadilla. I recommend getting the actual delicious quesadilla cheese, but I was pressed for time and ended up just getting the packet of cheese at Jewel that said "Mexican Cheese! Four-cheese-style!" (as opposed to the various other kinds. at least I tried.). More on cheese I like to get at the tienda later though. Another post later, not later on here. Sorry! Hopes dashed!

My cleverly prepared counter contained...

- tomato, chopped
- onion, diced
- garlic, minced
- orange bell pepper, sliced and then chopped
- chicken, cut into smallish pieces
- mushrooms, chopped
- butter, knob of
- oil
- dill, salt, pepper

- flour tortillas
- avocado, turned guacamole by being mashed with some more chopped tomato and some diced onion. then one or two dashes of salt.
- sour cream
- the aforementioned cheese

Now. Ordinarily, I would cook up the meat and veg and everything and then set about making the food. However. I have picky roommates. One is a vegetarian (which is cool) and one doesn't eat mushrooms (or courgettes, actually) and so since I like all these things (and so does the third roommate), I just opted to cook everything seperately and put them in their own dishes. So in the end, it was sort of a quesadilla bar.

At any rate, some garlic and onion and chicken go in with some oil and a bit of butter, seasoned happily and when pretty much still deliciously tender put in dish. Salt, pepper, dill. I then cooked up the yellow peppers with a little onion and garlic and pepper, salt. Follow with mushrooms! More butter, more pepper and salt, the last bit of the onion and garlic. (I just divided what I would want in the whole thing, so as to not have overpowering things. not that there is "too much" garlic)

Now, in a now-clean pan, I drop a tortilla and sprinkle cheese. Then I sprinkle some more cheese! Add whichever fillings that particular person wants, put in more cheese. This is a quesadilla, people! Cheese is key! And after topping it with another tortilla (my flour tortillas are smallish) and pressing for a second to help it stick, carefully flip it over. Continue waiting and flipping until satisfied with melty-state and crispy-state.

Serve with sour cream and guac, rejoice in deliciousness. Accept praise and presents, as surely one must follow the other?

I really, really, really love quesadillas.

A Gorgeous Day Calls for...

2009-05-05T01:47:00.007-05:00

Potato Salad!

At least, it doesn't hurt to have potato salad involved in nice days and Saturday was, in fact, a cook-out-style nice day. That said, we here in the halfway house of ill-repute did not have a cookout. We stayed in and ate pasta and potato salad and maybe they don't match up, but they were still delicious. And we were still happy.

This potato salad has been requested numerous times by people and these people? Are very specific in their memory of it. I learned it from one of my very close friends and while I do it a little different (I think. sometimes, anyway.), it's still a huge hit. I've watched this stuff be inhaled at a pig roast, vanish in a backyard soiree, and not linger on in an apartment. Oddly, I don't make it very much until the warm weather starts to hit and people remember this potato salad.

I'd like to learn other picnic/cook-out side dishes and stuff, but until I do - this is a stand-by that I, myself, happily eat myself to fat on.

Now, I have trouble giving exact amounts here or even real guidelines. This is all done to taste. I learned by being told "chop that up and throw that in" and that was that - we were both cooks, we could sort of get away with this. Well, guess what? You can get away with this too.

Ingredients
- red potatoes (or baking potatoes or yellow potatoes, I've used all of them.) This last time, I used five red potatoes of varying sizes. But none were quite small.
- apple cider vinegar
- fresh dill, chopped
- celery, about four or five stalks chopped up fine
- red onion - medium sized, diced
- mustard (dijon, though I used regular on Saturday as I completely forgot and, honestly, I think you can play with this)
- mayo
- a lemon, juiced. (I squeeze mine directly in. Watch for seeds!)
*I recall using a lime once. It was delicious! I like limes, though, so I am partial.
- salt, pepper.

- cut your potatoes into the sized chunks that you want to be eating. I like smallish ones largely, with a few outliers. boil these in some water until tender and, you know, you can eat them.
- drain the potatoes and let them cool. add in the onion and the celery.
- once they are cool, mix in the mayo and mustard. I like to do a few spoons of mayo first with a small spiral of mustard. You can decide from there how much mayo you want and mustard taste and all. Add the lemon, though check after half of the juice to see if you want more. Add a small amount of apple cider vinegar - a tablespoon or two. Mix mix mix, stir stir stir. Add the dill and salt and pepper, all to taste.

Honestly, you can add other things or take things out as you prefer, but this is what I do and people love it. It's got a light zing from the lemon juice and the whole taste sensation is fantastic. Very comforting and fresh - really nice for those days on a picnic. Or sitting around with your friends. Or even as lunch in a break room, wishing you were off work.

And a big Kitchenry thank you goes to Kelly, who taught me this over shots of tequila that summer we rocked it at the Bakery. Also, I think this is relatively cheap - the dill might be the only pricey thing, depending on what you do or do not have in your kitchen already.

Koulourakias or a cookie from my past.

2009-05-02T16:28:00.004-05:00

Woosh, it has been insanely busy around my life lately. Getting a spare moment to myself has been nigh impossible - I traveled out of town, to Ohio, for a wedding and visited people, I moved, I wallowed in despair, I got a job, and I even worked a few days of it! But in the midst of all this, I still had time to make koulourakias - Greek butter cookies - for Pascha (Eastern Orthodox Easter).

I was raised Greek Orthodox (and Russian Orthodox, later) despite the fact that my family is neither Greek nor Russian. Depending on which church we went to, Christmas was either on, you know, Christmas or it was on Jan 7. But the one thing that both churches shared was the fact that Easter is (almost) always one week or one month after the Western Easter. This year, it was a week later.

Anyway. My godmother was from Greece - we met her when my family joined the church, I was young - somewhere around fourth grade - and while my brother had found a god-family relatively quickly, they didn't want a girl and so I was adrift. Georgia offered to be my godmother and lo! I had a godmother and a yiayia (her mother, who spoke absolutely no English at all and would pat my hand and say something to me and I would smile and say "yes, yiayia" but I have no idea what she said...). At any rate, Georgia would make koulouriakias for me each Pascha. I loved them.

I'm not religious, I haven't been for a long time, but each Pascha I get a little nostalgic. Georgia died when I was in high school, she had cancer. I'd never made these cookies and she didn't teach me how, but I am telling you that these taseted exactly how I remembered.

Koulourakia!

- one stick butter, softened
- half cup of sugar
- two eggs, beaten until light
- grated orange peel (original recipe suggested a teaspoon, but I did a little more)
- half tablespoon baking powder
- two cups flour

- combine flour and baking powder
- in a seperate bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then slowly add the beaten eggs and the orange zest. Add the flour/baking powder mixture slowly. You will get a soft dough.
- shape the cookies by taking sections and rolling them first into a ball (walnut sized) and then out into ropes that you can braid together or twist into a circle or spiral or, you know, really anything.
- I put mine on foil on a cookie sheet, then brushed the tops with some beaten egg and baked at 375 degrees for around twenty minutes - until the cookies were golden!

I did a few batches at different cook times, but was pleased with all of them. Twenty minutes gets a bit harder cookie, but you can play until you figure out what you like. This makes a fair few cookies.

And oh, how I loved them. Everyone loved them! I hope you love them too.

(yes, there are many different variations on this cookie - some have vanilla, some have sesame seeds, and I love sesame seeds! I've had them with sesame and I think they are delish. But this is how Georgia must have made them, cause this is how they tasted.)

Insanely Delicious Brownies

2009-04-12T12:10:00.006-05:00

Okay, my camera is still awful and it's mostly my fault since I've done little to try and fix it. For shame, for shame!

Still. This hasn't stopped me from cooking and won't stop me from posting. I made lazy lazy fish sticks dinner the other night, which was basically sponsored by frozen food (but also included some homemade mac-and-cheese) and to top off the cuteness of the whole meal, I had these out of this world brownies that I had made that morning. You know those mornings where you wake up and realize that you've been wanting to try your hand at something for ages and get right to it?

Yes, you do. Easily done when you are unemployed (still! still!!) but the idea here is the same for anyone.

I had this experience. I had been gazing at a brownie recipe for ages in my much-beloved Jamie Oliver cookbook. I'd even gone so far as to pick up walnuts and dried dark sweet cherries for it, but it had been long enough that I never really thought about it and pretty much had eaten half of the dried cherries just as delicious snacking treats. So healthy! You wouldn't know it from this recipe, but I do put in a good effort in being healthy.

At any rate, rather than post a poorly done picture of my brownies, I didn't. You've seen brownies. You know how it goes.

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Chocolate Brownies

- one cup plus two tablespoons unsalted butter
- seven oz dark chocolate, broken up (mine was part of a large bar of a semi-sweet chocolate)
- 2 1/2 oz dried sour cherries (optional) (I used dried dark sweet cherries)
- 1 1/3 oz chopped nuts (optional)
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder (mine was a dark cocoa)
- 1/2 cup flour
- one teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- four large eggs

NOTE: In addition to the changes I mentioned, the original recipe suggests some great things such as superfine sugar and organic eggs. That sort of thing. I do not have these things, but i'm sure they would make things all the better. He also suggests orange zest mixed into a bit of creme fraiche for serving, which I also didn't do. Although I did involve some vanilla ice cream.

At any rate, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. I buttered my baking pan a little, but the original recipe suggests lining it with wax paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over simmering water. You know the kind, the rigged up pot/pan double boiler way. Or if you are fancy, have at the double boiler. When they are melted, mix until smooth and then add the cherries and nuts if you are using them. Mix together.

In a seperate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and sugar. Mix this together with the chocolate mixture, stirring together well, and then mix in beaten eggs until you have a silky consistency. You should eat some, just so can enjoy the deliciousness.

Pour the batter into the pan, then bake for about twenty-five minutes. Be careful not to overcook them - they should still be a little gooey in the middle although the brownies will be a little springy.

Now, I pulled out my brownies pretty much at the twenty-fine minute mark and they were maybe slightly too undercooked. This, however, did not stop me from eating them. The more-towards-the-middle brownies had a very gooey center. If this is your style, then have at because oh man was it awesome, but if you like them more cooked then I say go for it.

Seriously, these things were bangerang. (you know, bangerang! like in Hook!) Everyone pretty much ate the shit out of them. You know. Scarf, die of delight, scarf.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna - DB March

2009-03-27T13:21:00.007-05:00

I, for one, was very exited to make this month Daring Bakers challenge. Not only do I have far too much time on my hands (curse you, unemployment!) and not only was I thrilled to have a new pasta dish to make everyone eat, but there was the enjoyable fact that I've kind of always wanted to make my own pasta. My camera, on the other hand, apparently was a little over-excited because when I turned her on, she whirred to life and then flickered out.

Broken? No, not really. Just refusing to work. I wasn't even concerned because I knew it would be back in order before all the lasagne was eaten.

Oh, what a fool I was. I'm glad I took a couple of cell phone pictures because, seriously, this did not stick around very long. And on that note, I would like to apologize for the fact that my pictures of this are so very, very bad.

It isn't a very good camera phone. But it is a very good recipe!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

This a delicious, amazing meal of multiple steps. I did a large chunk of it at about four or five in the morning, but I wouldn't suggest that. Unless you, like me, are having some insomnia issues and figure that hand-rolling some pasta out is the ultimate cure.
Step One: Make The Spinach Pasta

2 jumbo eggs
10 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped
3&1/2 cups all purpose flour

"Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump."

My pasta? Did not want to behave. I presume it was because my eggs were simply large, so I chucked in an extra one. And you know what? This really did help.

"With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours."

At first, I thought this would not work. At first, I thought I had done something wrong. At second, I cursed that extra egg. And finally, I held the green dough in my hands and said "oh! alive! I get it!" and giggled happily, wrapped my dough in foil, and watched a movie.

"If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag."

All I can say is I have no doubt, at all, that Enza's housekeeper has probably the best guns at the gun show because oh my goodness, this was intense. I don't own a rolling pin, but I do have wine bottles! So I used one of those. I sprinkled some flour on the counter and set to work using little bits at a time. Limited space and all.

I was actually really pleased with how this worked out, but was terribly concerned that I didn't have my pasta thin enough. I had a drying rack set up that that held all my pasta. It looked like real, honest to goodness pasta. And on some level, I thought this might be victory enough.

Thankfully, it also tasted like awesomeness in my mouth. So. I didn't have to settle.

Step Two: Make White Sauce

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons all purpose unbleached flour
2 2/3 cups milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste*

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

* I didn't have nutmeg, but I did have this cinnamon/nutmeg/christmassy spice that I used instead. I also added a dash of dill. I like dill. And I like this sauce. And I like that this is the first time I didn't freak out over the roux and do it the "mix butter and flour together by itself and then sprinkle in towards the end" thing that I like to do. I like doing it that way, but doing it this way was exciting.

Step Three: Making the ragu.

I opted to use my own pasta sauce recipe, that is based off of (what else?) a Jamie Oliver recipe. Oh, be still my beating heart.

olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 can of whole tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes with basil and onions
courgettes, sliced and chopped
salt, pepper
balsamic

First I cooked some onion and garlic in the oil, then chucked in everything else. I let this simmer for about a half hour, drizzled a litle balsamic in, and later added:

chicken, mushrooms, a little more garlic - all cooked and delightfully seasoned

and allowed to reduce. Holy mother of pasta, this was amazing.

You can find the actual Jamie recipe here.
Step Four: Making the actual lasagne.

Cooking the Pasta:
"Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served."

This was sort of amazing.
I was concerned about my pasta being too thick, so I was very careful about the noodles and exactly which ones I used. As it turned out, it worked out wonderfully.

Also, I am now a hero to my people. (hero to my stomach?)

Also, I feel like I wrote this whole entry in a very odd way. I apologize. I am sick. I have some meds in my system and sort of feel like cotton. It really is entirely my bad. Still, I didn't want to be late.

Bacon Chocolate Cookies: Take One.

2009-03-24T21:31:00.004-05:00

Oh, bacon. Is there anything you can't do?

I never tried the Vosges bacon bar or, really, any sweet taste with a crispy bacon undertone. It wasn't even that I missed the boat, I just never got around to meandering by the lake. I'm pretty sure if somehow bacon and sesame chips came into existence together, I would have shoved someone out of the way to get it in my hands like one of those desperate girls who will take your eye out if you get between her and the wedding boquet. But they didn't, so I didn't, and I went on just eating bacon in things like...a plate of bacon, a turkey burger, or an Elvis sandwhich.

This brings me to the point where I promise to make and document an Elvis sandwhich for your viewing pleasure soon. Ish. My camera is out of battery power and, well, I can't find my batteries and refuse to spend money on some when I *know* that I have them. Oh, it's so frustrating. Money! Unemployment! No time for batteries!

This is not the point and I apologize for getting so far off track. I promise, I will do it again. It's in my nature.

I decided today that I wanted to check out this new trend that isn't actually new anymore, as far as I can tell. Frying up my bacon, it was sort of a "one for the cookie dough, one for me..." game planned in advance. A good thing, seeing as how I ended up eating a good bit of the bacon when I was hacking it all up for the cookie. I was using a recipe from The Culinary Sherpas and I halved it, but did add some extra vanilla. (see link for the recipe)

I am not my poor, allergic friend. I love vanilla. I also love cinnamon! Just so you know, in case you ever want to get me something delicious.

At any rate, it went well. Which is good! Because I have a confession.

...when I make cookies? I usually somehow misstep and they, well, they melt.I get a mass of tasty cookie mess, not a bunch of cookies. My gingerbread men? Gingerbread puddle. People like it fine enough, but I don't usually make cookies. I'm hard on myself. Oldest Child Syndrome, maybe?

If I wanted to show you a picture, though, I would google search terms like "no, there are no nuts in here, how strange" and "people looking skeptical and then vowing to give me their first born".

I've also stashed some of the dough in a container (cleverly labeled YOGURT bwa ha ha!) in order to see if it is true. Does cookie dough that hangs out in my fridge taste better after some wait time?

The Great Bacon Cookie Experiment will continue. There may be pictures.

Even if they are just pictures of me and my friends, laughing, from older times.

PS: I suggest enjoying this decidedly not vegan snack with a glass of milk. I'm just saying. I'm out of milk, but imagine it would be awesome.

Being broke doesn't mean you don't eat.

2009-03-11T21:31:00.006-05:00

Club Kitchen was well underway yesterday when I realized that I was going to need dinner, not just cupcakes. I'm not sure why I thought I would need something else, but I did and oh man, was it ever as delicious as I'd hoped it would be.

Since being unemployed, I've been finding ways to try and make every penny count. Now, I've always tried to live cheaply, but these days it isn't as easy as it used to be. Or maybe it is, but I'm just more stressed out about it. That tends to get in the way. Then I caught a lucky break.

Lentils. A delicious bean that was only a dollar per bag at the grocery store. A dollar! I swear, I was filled with a great joy when I saw the orange price tag. I can't even remember the last time I cooked lentils, but they were cheaper than the pinto beans I had originally gone to buy. So, I'm standing there in the grocery store and I realize - lentils! I have a carrot at home! I have some chicken! Mushrooms!

LENTIL SOUP! For under five dollars! (or maybe just over? the lady didn't charge me for the onions.)

- chopped onion
- sliced mushrooms
- thinly sliced carrot
- minced garlic cloves
- one and half chicken breasts, cut into bits
- chicken broth (rather, i chucked a bullion cube into the water)
- lentils, not quite a cup
- seasonings of my delicious choice
- drizzle of vanilla

I cooked the lentils according to the packet instructions, using the chicken broth instead of plain water. Towards the end of the beans cooking, I sauteed the onion and garlic with a little butter and oil - then cooked the chicken bits, then added the veg. Seasoned with salt, some dill, a quick dash of cayenne, and the barest hint of honey.

I added the veg/chicken to the lentils and let everything rest while I made very quick drop biscuits.

Super delicious. Super affordable. Super happy supper.

And since yesterday was a blustery, rainy, awfully grey Chicago day? It was exactly what was needed.

On being burned.

2009-03-11T13:28:00.007-05:00

Oh, it started off innocently enough yesterday.

That may be incorrect. It started off early, though, and I was warm and dry while the outside was soaked and blustery. Around eight in the morning, I realized I really wanted to be baking. I just wanted to devote a whole day to being covered in flour and maybe make bread that didn't need yeast or something. (my plan? irish soda bread or maybe railway cake.)

Instead, I heard rumors that my roommate wanted there to be cupcakes in existence when she got home. So I set to work! I made essentially the same chocolate cupcakes that I posted about previously (click the tag that says "cupcakes" on the sidebar if you missed it) but I added chopped up chocolate. Also! I have stopped having cupcakes fall in on themselves. So, essentially, I am brilliant. (and stopped taking them out that little minute too early. sorry, cupcake gods!)

At any rate. While my delicious, full-of-chocolate-but-less-mocha-powder cupcakes were baking, I decided to wash the other cupcake pan that was sitting on the stove from a few days ago. I tapped it - not hot - and picked it up and set it in the sink. I then turned on the water, and touched a different part of the pan. Oh. Oh, that was hot. There was a lot of swearing and leaping back, turnng off water and continued cursing.

Yes. Turning off water. Why? Because I recently read on Chaos in the Kitchen that a fresh-cut onion can help with a burn. And you know what? It did. It really really did. So all was good in Club Kitchen.

...sometimes, when I cook, I like to have really clubby music playing. I can't be positive, but I am relatively certain that while I was whipping up a fresh batch of sour cream frosting there was some singing and rocking out to Justin Timberlake. (whereas right now, in a normal non-cooking moment, the music of choice is currently The Airborne Toxic Event. they sound a lot like The Arcade Fire, if you ask me, which is a good thing.)

Come for the cooking, stay for the music recommendation.

At any rate. I couldn't just stop there, yesterday, with the cupcakes and the frosting and my (stupid) burned hand. I made some cookie dough which tastes pretty good, but hasn't been baked yet. Ask me later.

March Mehness.

2009-03-09T00:26:00.004-05:00

I feel like I should have some sort of list. A list of things I'd like to make so that sometimes, when I can't think of anything and realize I've made stir-fry fifty billion times (last time there were carrots and sometimes there are freshly made chow fan noodles from a local Chicago place. there is no end of joy when reading Halsted on the noodle label) or something like - everyone makes tuna salad or egg salad. Or when I realize I've been eating bread and butter or this pasta bake that my roommate and I love love love (but I keep not taking snaps of it, so I can't exactly post it).

The point here is. I need to branch out! Document better! Try new things!

Which is, of course, one good thing about being so very very poor (due to being so very very unemployed). Creativity is a must. Especially when I've got to keep a tight watch on my allergy and my nickles. So maybe I'll get on that.

Of course, I have been feeling like not doing anything at all (thus eating things like bread and butter as a meal) because my brain is not what you might call "happy" these days.

In other news, Top Chef. Really? Hosea? He's such a tool, much like Stefan, but so much more annoying and so much less talented and so much less of a decent human. Carla was the nicest of the three, though I kept waiting for her to snap suddenly and violently. Really I just wanted Jaime and Fabio to be there, being awesome. Winning. Making everyone else pay. So at least Fabio won Fan Favorite.

And at least Jamie was adorable.

Plus, isn't my new Daring Bakers badge adorable? The Daring Kitchen now hosts all your daring needs!