Cooking for Love

Open Pit Duck

2008-01-27T16:34:00.000-05:00

The euphoria of Spagio Cellars and dining surrounded by thousands of wine bottles could not mask the fact that the Smoked Duck Pizza might as well be smoked, pulled pork on a crust featuring asian barbecue sauce.

It is with great sadness that I type that sentence; although, the writer in me is quite impressed with the word choice and voice. It also is with a humbleness that can only be understood by other foodies who must admit that they were wrong; they ordered the wrong thing. In the world of competive menu orderers, this is difficult. You know who you are. You look at every aspect of the menu. You curiously wonder what the other people are getting; so that in the end, your order is the looked at with longing gazes. And you know that feeling of satisfaction, that little chair dance that your ass cheeks do, as you take a bite of the perfect choice. And with every triumphant feeling, of course the feeling of defeat is equally emotion causing. The lament is shocking.

As I was saying, a wine store with a menu, servers, and the ability to just walk up to shelves and coolers and pull something out and drink it at a table, is a delight! With a $5 corkage fee, a normally 55 dollar bottle of wine can be had for 25. And the cheese plate accompaniments and drool-provoking dessert case makes it easy to overlook the Smoked Duck Pizza and how uninspiring it was. If a meat is smoked, I suppose it doesn't matter what it was before the 'smoking'. And so it is foolish to eat the duck, if it will just taste like pork. And thus the title, Open Pit Duck. sigh.

But of course I recommend Spagio Cellars! Just don't get the duck pizza, no matter what other bloggers may gush about it.

Sunday Roasts and Soups

2008-01-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

Sunday was not without explitives and sated noises. I would title this as such, but perhaps the focus would be wrong. Because honestly, this is a blog for recipes, really. The explitives were from my vegetable peeler (second-string peeler) snapping in two. Somehow, during the holidays, the first-string peeler walked out. Call it a "no bagel no bagel" walk out. Call it a thievery. Whatever it was, it is gone.

The sated noises were caused by two things made in my new, red, Mario Batali Dutch Oven. It is so cute when novices to cooking still think that a dutch oven has to do with sheets and flatulence. That sounds like ANOTHER title for a post...but I digress.

First item ever made in my dutch oven was vegetarian vegetable soup. I think this is fairly comparable to the ridiculous fad diet Cabbage Soup, but I love it. It is a good snack, when you crave something hot. And it is nice for lunch too. Since school starts, meaning work starts, again tomorrow, it is onto preparing for weekly lunches.

Vegetarian Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 LARGE onion (or atleast mine was large) chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 zucchini squash
1 yellow squash
1 large brocoli stalk
2 yellow potatoes, cubed
1 can chopped tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
1/2 green cabbage head, chopped
water (about 6 cups, or to cover)
salt
pepper
bay leaf (1)
garlic salt (a smattering)
oregano (some shakes)

In a heated and olive oiled dutch oven, cook carrot, celery, and onion. Add garlic. Then add all vegetable, except the cabbage. Be sure to season at just about every step. You'll still end up adding salt at the end. Cover with water, add seasoning that you prefer (mine were the garlic salt, oregano and bay leaf) and simmer until potatoes are soft. Add cabbage and cover for about 15 minutes. Voila! Salt if it needs it; since I didn't use chicken broth, it needed it!

The second dish prepared, causing the MOST yummy noises, was a roast. I combined a couple recipes that I found in my Annual Cooking Light books. Sure, the website is free, but it is nice to sit down with an actual book sometimes.

We shall name this dish: Cocoa Roast with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
1T Unsweetened Cocoa
1.5t cumin
1.5 t coriander
1.5t paprika
1.5t chili powder
1.5t garlic powder
1.5t oregano (dried)
1/8t cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
3lb Round Roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 4 pieces
olive oil
1/2 large onion, largely sliced
4 cloves garlic
1 can chopped tomato (14.5 ounces)
1/2 cup red wine (divided)
1 can beef broth
2 T balsalmic vinegar
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, halved, and rough chopped (only about 8 pieces per potato)
2 t flour (for slurry)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine first 8 spices. Dredge meat pieces in the mixture. Remove meat, and add flour to the remaining spices. Dredge meat in flour/spice mixture.

In Dutch Oven, heat olive oil and brown meat on each side. Remove. Add onion and garlic and cook. I used some red wine to help pick up the remnants from the browning of the meat. I added a little of the beef broth as well. Once cooked, add rest of broth, tomato, and vinegar. Add meat back to pot. Cover and cook in oven for 1 hour. After one hour, carefully remove and flip the meat in the pot. Nestle in sweet potatoes. Cover and cook another hour.

Remove meat from the pot and set aside, about 15 minutes. At this point, I was heating water and cooking some egg noodles. Remove sweet potatoes from the sauce. Create a slurry with about 1/4 cup red wine and 2t flour. Pour into sauce to thicken, and then return potatoes. Pull apart meat, into manageable pieces and add back to pot.
Servings: 6ish

And now for the PICTURES!

Boy doesn't this look like dog food.

But this one...

Some Food Pics! and Recipes too!

2008-01-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

I am such a slacker when it comes to taking pictures of the food. I know why. I am obsessed with the food actually being HOT when I serve it. Most of my food pictures are portions AFTER I have already eaten. And as a single girl on a budget (that is my mantra for the year), I can't afford to make an extra portion for posterity. "posterity" is a fancy name for "the readers".

Picture Numero Uno: The horror of the Red Velvet Cake Truffle. I don't recommend making them, so I will not give the recipe.

Picture Numero Dos: New Year's Day Pork and Sauerkraut, extra kraut-y
Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb Pork Loin, sliced into 8 pieces
4 yellow potatoes, quartered
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cans of saurkraut, juice included
4 T brown sugar
1 really big apple, chopped
shakes of caraway seeds
salt
pepper

In crockpot, layer first can of sauerkraut, onion, and apple. Place browned, salted, and peppered, pork on top. When I cut the pork, I didn't cut all the way through, so it fans out a little in the pot. Place potatoes around the pork. Sprinkle the caraway seeds on top. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of pork. Pour last can of sauerkraut over pork and potato. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. The pork will just fall apart.

We liked it with all the juices. And the potato tastes like sauerkraut, which we liked too. If you want it a little sweeter and less tart, add more sugar. And you could possibly use NONE of the sauerkraut juice from ONE of the cans and be just fine. My audience for this dish wanted ALL the juice...oh and I gave it to him. "you like-a the juice?"

Picture Numero Tres: Ham and Cheese Mini Frittatas
Oh so good! And I put this recipe into Sparkpeople.com. It has 9 grams of fat and 170ish calories per 6 little frittatas. You could cut some of the fat out by using skim milk and egg beaters. But 9 isn't that bad, to me! And I made these with some other variations for my Christmas Party! I did a bacon and leek (awesome!) and a potatoa, red pepper, and onion. You could do WHATEVER you want for these. They rock!

The Battle Begins

2007-12-26T14:36:00.000-05:00

I am currently battling with my computer. Not that there is anything wrong with it; I am just WAITING for something to be wrong with it. You see, it is brand new. And new things just seem to have little bumps in the road.

I think my computer smells my fear. It knows I am scared of it; so, it is taking advantage of my nerves and acts up just a little. At what point do you decide something is wrong. Or at what point do you decide, Oh this is what it is supposed to do?!

So in the mean time, I hosted one of the biggest events EVER this last weekend and I took ZERO pictures. The amount of cursing in my head about this huge mistake is deafening. I am really mad. I took a couple pictures of the prep work. Okay, only two pictures of the prep work and it was of my red stained hand after rolling Red Velvet Cake Truffles. Woopity Doo!

I hosted the meeting of my parents and my "person's" parents. It was a Saturday night. It was an appetizer type party. There was lots of drinking. The appetizers came out in waves.

The first wave (all recipes will follow):
Rosemary Cashews (a fortuitous gift from a student)
Mini Frittata three ways: bacon and leek, ham and swiss, and potato, onion and red pepper
Cocktail Shrimp
A trio of dips: Salsa (my standard recipe), black bean (my standard recipe), and hummus (store bought)
Carmelized Onion and Butternut Squash Purses

The second wave:
Porcini Mushroom Fondue
Chicken Skewers

The third wave:
Mini twice baked potatoes (My dad called this "a good pill")
NY Strip Cheesesteaks on french bread slices

Desserts:
Red Velvet Cake Truffles
Carrot Cake Truffles...for both truffles, I would not make them again. Just too much!
Pecan Pie Cookies
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Bailey's Whip Cream in Chocolate Cordial glasses (they looked like little thimbles)

Drinks:
Beer
an Albarino for the white wine
a french Pinot Noir (Klingenfus, awesome!)
Spanish Cava, Rose'...When I brought this out, the "person's" mother thought there was a big announcement. Clearly she needs to learn that sparkling wine should totally be an ALL THE TIME drink!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Mustard Cream Sauce

2007-12-13T12:24:00.001-05:00

The sweet potato gnocchi (SPG) was supposed to be my signature dish. It is unique and something not many people would go through the pains of making. Honestly, gnocchi making is pretty fun! And it is so reassuring to know that restaurants who make their own gnocchi, fresh, DON'T do the crazy fork markings. I still do though. It is a cute personal touch. Literally, every gnocchi gets personally TOUCHED!

The recipe that I use makes a POOP TON of gnocchi. And the gnocchi I cooked last night had been frozen, thawed in the fridge, and then rolled last night. So if you freeze the dough, it will still come out as if you didn't. When you freeze the dough, I recommend freezing it in about the size of a bratwurst, wrapped in parchment paper. When thawed, they probably need some flour added.

This recipe is from epicurious, and I think it is the same as the one I have. But I got mine from another website.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi in Sage Brown Butter:
2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork

1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve 2 hours 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place sweet potatoes on plate; microwave on high until tender, about 5 minutes per side. Cut in half and cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into medium bowl and mash; transfer 3 cups to large bowl. Add ricotta cheese; blend well. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces (two pieces will create two servings, freeze the remaining). Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2 tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender (uh when they float, they are done), 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Turn off heat. Season sage butter generously with salt and pepper.

Transfer half of sage butter to large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add half of gnocchi. Sauté until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes. Empty skillet onto rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining sage butter and gnocchi. (This seems entirely too high maintenance...just toss and go!)

Last night, I served these with Pork and a Maple Mustard Sauce (featured in a previous blog entry). This sauce actually went GREAT with the gnocchis! SO I took a picture of the gnocchi atop the sauce. A really nice and different way to eat them. And who doesn't love sweet potato with some maple syrup??

Who's Ready for a new Apron??

2007-12-11T08:21:00.000-05:00

These aren't your grammies aprons! I think Paris might call them, "hot."

So if you like, check out my google page for directions on how to get your very own!: Cook's Wear by Kristy.

Cook's Wear by Kristy

2007-12-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

My cooking focus has been transferred to a focus on aprons. I want to make cute aprons. So I have been learning how to do this. I learn by trial and error, so I bought some patterns and some fabric, and I have been trying to create cute aprons. So far, I have made one. I am not sure if I should take a picture yet.

The idea: I want to sell them. I figure I can sell them a little cheaper than the boutique aprons I have seen at Anthropologie and online.

Soon I'll post my products!

In the mean time, a recap of my week in eating, so you can see how my cooking has suffered:
Monday: Chinese Take-Out
Tuesday: Leftover Chinese Take-Out
Wednesday: Chicken Caesar Salad and Orzo pasta
Thursday: Taco Bell Grilled Stuft Burrito
Friday: Peanut Butter and Jelly for lunch...so far.

Slippery Slope to 30

2007-12-03T07:50:00.001-05:00

Last year I learned about something called the "Golden Birthday". It was quite fortuitous, as it came shortly before the year that IS my Golden Birthday. It is the year where your birthDAY is the same as your age. As all who know me know, 529 takes on mythical meaning with me. It is the time my alarm clock goes off everyday. If an item's total at the checkout is 5.29, it is fate that I purchase it. The last purchase that happened this way: A map purchased at BP on the road to North Canton on Thanksgiving Eve (have you SEEN the traffic on 71 at the holidays??).

On Thursday, November 29th, I celebrated my HALF birthday. Some may find it comical that I even KNOW when my half birthday is. My students don't find it funny, as on their half birthday they can legally get their temporary permit to drive. They certainly are aware of their half birthday.

Truth be told, I used the half birthday as an excuse to open a bottle of wine that I would otherwise never purchase and certainly never drink ALONE. It was a Barolo. It was almost $30. And I drank it with a frozen thin crust pizza that I doctored up with homemade meatballs (transported BACK from North Canton) and banana peppers.

See that wine glass? It exists no more. I shattered it walking from the living room to the kitchen, running into one of those dining room chairs in the dark, after I fell asleep on my new sofa. (FELL ASLEEP, not passed out...I swear!)

My Chicken Stock Secret, exposed!

2007-11-28T08:49:00.000-05:00

I make my own chicken stock. I have been doing it ever since I started buying the roasted chickens from the grocery store. I'm pretty sure I have not posted my recipe, because I was a little shy about it. Truthfully, I wasn't sure it was turning out right, but my FOOD that I cooked with it tasted great! So I was not going to change anything about it. Just kinda shyly put it into stuff and pretend I knew what the hell I was doing. Really, I wasn't sure!

There is a local blogger that I frequent, who seems to have much more substance to back up her cooking. She does cooking expos at the North Market. She reads books by chefs about cooking. She seems to have some experience! A recent post features her knowledge about stock, which she learned from Ruhlman's book The Elements of Cooking. This Ruhlman character is, like, the real deal. He was a judge on the Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef." I am pretty sure I saw him on a "No Reservations" episode with one of my favorites, Anthony Bourdain. (It was the Las Vegas episode...and yes, I have a small obsession with everything Vegas). Oh! And Ruhlman is from Ohio! I think his book will be on my Christmas list, officially.

So Ms. Restaurant Widow took a picture of her final product. It jiggles. MY STOCK JIGGLES! I always thought the jiggle, was, like, BAD. It isn't! It is CORRECT! Not to mention, in her blog "Comments", there is a nice response from someone titled "ruhlman". I like to think I am not naive. Maybe I am...but quite possibly he posted on her blog! And of course I comment, because, "Hey! Look at me! My stock does that too! I can't take good pictures of it. And I secretly thought I was just f-ing it up. But me too, me too!"

So in conclusion. I was right. And perhaps you now want my brilliant recipe. So here you go (and as usual, all measurements are approximate, as I no measure good, or ever).

Kristy Stock
One chicken carcass (2lbs)
2 sliced carrots
1 chopped celery stalk (the leafy part is encouraged)
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
other herbs if you got 'em (thyme, sage, oregano)
salt
pepper
water to cover (about 10 cups)
Crockpot

Put vegetables on the bottom, and place the chicken on top. Cover with water. Generously salt and pepper the water. Nestle the herbs and bay leaf along the side. Cook on low overnight. In the morning, turn to "keep warm" until you get home from work. Turn off and let cool enough to then place pot in the fridge. Skim off the fat after it appears at the top. Strain. Freeze. And yes, it is OKAY and GREAT if it jiggles!

Picture Update: Here is the amount of stock I get from my crockpot. Each container has 2 cups, and the top of the pyramid is 1. The containers, which I then put into the freezer, are FREE from the local chinese food place, and I just pop them into the microwave for 3 minutes to partially thaw so that I can then pop the stock into a pot on the stovetop when I am ready to use them.

Sweets! Sweets!

2007-11-26T08:48:00.001-05:00

The Chocolate Crepe, stuffed with amaretto cream, drizzled with coffee syrup.

Recipe:
Chocolate Crepes
Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar
Amaretto or other liqueur (Baileys, Kahlua, etc.)

Directions: In your KitchenAid mixer, pour 1 cup of whipping cream. Set to medium-high, and whip with the whisk. Once it gets 'peaky', add powdered sugar slowly, tasting often so you know when it reaches the sweetness you desire. Add 1T of liqueur, taste. Add more if desired.

The Pecan Pie Tartlet

This was eaten for breakfast. Don't judge!
Recipe:
Pie Crust
Pecan Filling Leftover from THESE COOKIES

Directions: Make the cookies, because they rock. But I had a lot of leftover filling. Line a small baking dish, or even cupcake tin, with pie crust. Fill with filling. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It may bubble over, so I put foil under the dish.

Baked Ziti with Ground Turkey

2007-11-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Sundays are for pasta. It is a nice filling dinner and just perfect for starting your diet off on the WRONG foot. I tried to trim down my ziti a little, with ground turkey, 2% milk Mozzarella, and low fat sour cream.

Ingredients:
cooked penne pasta (about 4 cups)
1 large can chopped tomato with basil and oregano
1/2 large can of tomato sauce
2 frozen cubes of Trader Joes basil
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion chopped, (used in two spots)
1lb ground turkey
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3 heaping large spoonfuls of sour cream
1/2 cup shredded "other" cheese (I used extra sharp white cheddar)
handfuls of grated parm
salt to taste (sauce and ground turkey)
olive oil (for cooking onion)

Directions (in order of how I cooked things)
1. heat olive oil, saute onion (about 3/4 of what you chopped) and garlic
2. I add some pepper flakes (totally optional) and then added the sauce and chopped tomatoes. Drop in the basil and bay leaf, stirring to thaw and mix into sauce. Heat until bubbles start popping, then turn down to simmer.
3. Put water for pasta on the burner. Preheat oven to 375.
4. Once water starts to boil (drop pasta in), heat a small amt. of oil for remaining onion. Saute and then add in ground turkey. Cook and then strain.
5. After pasta is cooked, transfer to casserole dish or large bowl. Mix in sour cream. Mix in cooked meat/onion. Spoon about 3 ladles of tomato sauce into pasta mixture.
6. In large rectangular baking dish, spoon tomato sauce on bottom. Dump pasta mixture on top. Layer shredded cheese (I did just the cheddar here) on top of pasta.
7. Spoon more tomato sauce on top. Then mozzarella, then parmesan.
8. Bake covered about 20 minutes. And then uncovered about 10 minutes.

And now...the pictures!
Before Baking:

Ready for eating: (see that forkfull right there? That was the BEST bite!

Finally, this is what my kitchen looks like when I cook. Is everyone as messy as me? The gnomes that clean up after I cook think I am extra-specially-messy. Am I?? What I love about baking things for dinner...you have that 40 minutes of clean up time, so that AFTER you eat there is little to do.

UPDATE: I clicked on this picture (you can too) and it totally zooms in so you can see EVERYTHING. Including, through the peep-through over my sink, where you can see the outline of the gnome that cleans the kitchen. Okay, actually he is a gnome wearing an Ohio State shirt. Go Bucks!

Ohio Blog Meme:Only 5 Questions

2007-11-16T07:55:00.000-05:00

1. You and your town: a marriage of love, convenience, or necessity?

Such a complicated question! I moved back to Columbus on purpose. I regret it. I regret it, not because I dislike Columbus, but because I could've gone ANYWHERE and I was chicken! I moved back to Columbus because my father offered up Bluejackets season tickets, which have since been sold. I stay in Columbus for family. I'd leave Columbus for love, though. If I didn't have love now, I'd possibly leave. Again, not because I dislike Columbus but for the adventure!

2. A mysterious benefactor gives you $75, with the condition that you must do nothing productive. Where in town do you go, and what do you do?
I have spent almost $75 on dinner and trivia for two at Damon's; you know, the place for ribs. I am not proud of that! I guess my idea of productive could be different from others. I'd take my $75 to North Market and just buy lunch and a couple cool things to cook with later. But is eating productive? I think so! Or I'd go to The Columbus Zoo.

3. You are your town’s tour guide, on a tight schedule. What is the one place you show visitors?

The Short North, North Market, and all the cute boutiques, making sure to stop at Jeni's Ice Cream.

4. The mysterious benefactor is back, this time with $500, three days off, and the condition that you must not leave the state. What’s your plan?

I don't think I'd even leave Columbus! I've always wanted to stay at The Loft hotel downtown, go to a show, get drunk in the Arena district, stumble back to the hotel, eat bruch at L'Antibes (only seen it in pictures and they looked GOOD!), Hockey Game, and eat at one of the nice places downtown or in the Short North.

5. You’re an Ohioan. What about that makes you proudest? The flip side of pride is shame; go there too if you want.

I love that no matter where you go, there is a fellow Ohioan there. And that Ohio is often the "hometown" of a character on tv or movie. We are just the most predictable plot detail.

Ohio bloggers...man up and answer the five questions too! And post your blog in the comments section if you do!

Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery

2007-11-15T11:51:00.000-05:00

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Carrot Cream Cheese, Black Bottom, Chocolate Caramel, Peanut Butter Chocolate
Wednesday: Pumpkin Cream Cheese, Ginger Bread, Red Velvet, Chocolate Chai Spice
Thursday: Vanilla Latte, Devil's Food, Spice Buttercream, Apple Crumbcake
Friday: Banana, Chocolate Peppermint, Coconut, Peanut Butter Cup
Saturday: Lemon, Pumpkin Cream Cheese, German Chocolate, Black Bottom
Sunday: Closed

Photo: Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, and Pumpkin Cream Cheese

My favorite was actually the Pumpkin! I was surprised! And His favorite was the Carrot Cake. Eventhough, he is so perplexed at how carrot can actually be IN the cake. It was cute.

Each cupcake is $2.50. We cut each in 1/4s, ate one 1/4 of each, and were stuffed!
The boxes are worth the money...they are so cute.

Location:
West Olentangy St.
Powell, Ohio 43065
And they do have a website:
http://www.pinkmooncupcakes.com

Which cupcake would you like to try? What flavor is missing? I'd like to see a chocolate raspberry!

The Steak I Can't Recommend Enough!

2007-11-15T06:59:00.000-05:00

Flat Iron Steak Fajitas

The flat iron steak is the best steak ever! I purchased this piece of meat at Whole Foods. It is about 8 ounces and was only 4.50, I think. All I did for the meat was place it in a zip lock with a spice mixture, about 1t of oil, and a couple shakes of Worcestshire sauce. Then I moved it around and let it sit about 20 minutes.
Spices:
1/2t Cumin
1/2t paprika
1/2 cayenne
salt
pepper

I love the Calphalon grill pan. I just throw vegetables on there with some salt and they are perfect. Now, I do have to wave an oven mit over the smoke alarm every minute or so. Whoever chose to place a smoke alarm in the hallway, right by the entrance to the kitchen, is a chooch!

Pink Moon Cupcakes...the latest craze in Powell.

Next Post...the weekly Cupcake Specials. Because I am a nice person, and I think a lot of people want to know what all this place has!

Linky Poos

2007-11-14T13:54:00.001-05:00

I didn't cook last night. So here are some cool things to look at instead!

A new blog I found...
A list of soups for the winter...
A website of cool aprons...

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2007-11-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

I have officially met someone who loves sauces as much as I do. But if you've ever cooked for someone who loves sauce, you know that they will dip anything into the sauce, while it is cooking, thus lessening the quantity of the sauce. Now, I don't mind company in the kitchen, so the idea that I am cooking with someone to talk to is so very nice. It is just a little comical to see Triscuits, dive into the sauce. Bread slices, dive into the sauce. Tortilla chips, dive. Spoons, dipped. Cooked egg noodles, dunked. The sauce being smuggled last night, the homemade cream of mushroom that was then tossed with the noodles and tuna.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Egg Noodles, cooked (about half a bag)

Preheat oven to 350.

2 T butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 T flour
2 cups milk
1 can tuna
1 cup frozen peas
parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Melt butter until bubbly, then cook onion. Add garlic and mushroom and cook until mushrooms give off their juices. Stir in flour and brown. Whisk in milk, and cook until thickened, salting and peppering to taste (this is when the sauce starts to disappear...sauce gnomes). Add tuna and peas. Toss with noodles, and add parmesan cheese. Dump into casserole dish, and dust the top with more cheese. Bake covered for 20 minutes, then uncover for 10 more.
Serves about 4...normal people. We also had a salad, and I had about 1 serving leftover of the casserole.

I swear I will bring my camera to work tomorrow with all of these lovely pictures I keep taking.

Things I could've made with a Dutch Oven

2007-11-12T07:52:00.000-05:00

More food without Pictures, sigh.

Parental Anniversary Menu (PAM)

Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce (including an extra tablespoon of horseradish)
Au Gratin Potatoes
Cabernet Pot Roast
Shredded Brussel Sprouts
Chocolate Crepes with an Amaretto Cream and Coffee Syrup

Two of the menu items were from fellow food bloggers, and I have linked those recipes to their sites. Go check them out, as they are much more diligent at the blogging than I.

For the potatoes, there was some drama. I do not have a mandoline, so I used the large bladed side on the cheese grater. It worked great; however, I did the slicing in the morning, put the potatoes under plastic wrap in the refrigerator, and when I came back to cook them, they were almost black. I rinsed them with cold water, which seemed to lessen the discoloration, and upon cooking them, it was all normal again. PHEW! But I thought I had lost 4lbs of potato!

Because I did not have a pot large enough to house all of the potatoes, I split them up between two round casserole dishes. This recipe definitely serves at least 8!
Potatoes au Gratin

Ingredients:
4 lbs. russet potatoes, sliced into 1/8" slices with a mandoline
2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, choped fine
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp. butter
5 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. flour
1 4in x 2in parmesean rind
1 bay leaf
1 c. shredded aged white cheddar
1/2 c. shredded parmesean
1/8 c. shredded white America cheese (I just did more white cheddar)

Directions:-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Meanwhile, melt butter in Dutch oven over medium high heat until foaming subsides, about 1 min.
-Add onions and saute until soft and begins to brown, about 4 min.
-Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 sec.
-Add flour and stir until browned, about 1 min.
-Deglaze pan with chicken stock, scraping browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
-Add parm rind and bay leaf and simmer vigourously until stock is reduced and sauce gets thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
-Remove parm rind and add cheese, stirring to melt.
-Add sliced potatoes and stir to coat.
-Cover Dutch oven tightly and place in oven to cook for 45 minutes.
-Remove top of Dutch oven, stir slightly to recoat potatoes and place back into oven to brown for 15 minutes.
-Remove Dutch oven from oven and let cool, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving.

And the pot roast...

I also added a sweet potato to the vegetables that roasted with the beef. I actually cooked all of this in my large Calphalon Omelete pan, covered in foil. Worked just fine! I did my grocery shopping at 1130pm, and there was no rosemary in the fresh herb section. I bought, instead, a poultry mix, using the sage and thyme as the herbs used. I also forgot to use bay leaves. And I did a red wine and corn starch slurry for the gravy.

Cabernet Pot Roast
1 2 lb. chuck roast trimmed of excess fat
Flour for dredging plus 1 Tbs. for slurry
salt, pepper and garlic powder for seasoning
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 cup Cabernet
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 1/4 cup beef broth divided
3 med. sized carrots cut into long strips
2 celery stalks roughly chopped
1 medium chopped
4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
1 rosemary sprig cut in half
2 bay leaves
2 sage stems with leaves
1 Tbs. unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325

Heat skillet over med. high heat and add oil. Season meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder and dredge in flour. Sear meat in skillet on all sides, and set aside. Add butter to the pan and take off burner to cool down. Lower heat to med. low and return the skillet to the burner after a few minutes. Add all veggies and herbs except garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent and soft. Add garlic and cook a couple minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine scraping all the stuck on bit from the bottom of the pan. Add tomatoes, and broth and bring to a simmer. Let simmer about 5 minutes until slightly reduced. Add roast, cover skillet tightly with foil and roast for 2-2 1/2 hours.
Take skillet out of oven and put meat and veggies on a platter. Discard stems and make a slurry with 1 Tbs. of flour and water. Turn heat on burner to low and stir in slurry and 1/4 cup of beef broth. Continue stirring until you have the consistency desired.

The blogs, where these two recipes came from, have great pictures. So I feel a little okay that I didn't take the photos last night. I was entertaining for this meal, so the added stress made it impossible.

I will post the dessert recipe with the photo tomorrow...stay tuned.

Chicken Parmesan with Creamy Orzo

2007-11-09T13:22:00.001-05:00

Chicken Parmesan
Pounded Chicken breast, for even cooking
1 cup italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup egg beaters
1/2 cup flour
vegetable oil to cover bottom of saute pan (size of pan varies this)

1 cup tomato sauce (recipe to follow)
shredded mozzarella
grated parmesan

After chicken is pounded thin, dredge in flour, then dip in egg beaters, then in bread crumbs. Heat oil. And also turn on broiler in oven. I unsafely drop a little water in the pan to see if it is ready for the chicken. If the oil spatters and burns me, we're good to go. Drop chicken into pan, turning once after the first side is brown. If the chicken is thin enough, 3-4 minutes on each side should be sufficient. After cooked, place in oven safe pan (I use a pie dish), top with a spoonful of tomato sauce, and then top with the desired amount of cheese. Place under broiler to melt the cheese.

Creamy Orzo
1 cup uncooked orzo
1 T butter
3 minced garlic cloves
3 cups chicken broth (I make my own)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tree of broccoli, chopped
1 T cream cheese (I use 1/3 the fat cream cheese)
Melt butter in a sauce pan, and cook garlic about halfway. Then add the orzo to coat with butter. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add chopped brocolli. Boil until orzo is done. Sometimes a need for straining is necessary, sometimes it isn't. If you strain, leave a little liquid to keep creamy once you add the parmesan. Mix in parmesan, then drop in cream cheese, mixing until it melts.

Last Minute Tomato Sauce
1 small onion, chopped small
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 t oregano
2 t fresh basil
salt
crushed red pepper
1/2 cup red wine
1 large can of crushed tomatos
1 bay leaf

I always make my own tomato sauce. I keep cans of Tomato Sauce, Crushed Tomato, Chopped Tomato, and Whole Tomatoes in my pantry at all times. I really liked the CRUSHED for this sauce, and will probably keep more crushed tomato than just tomato sauce in the future.

The order that I cooked this in:
Tomato Sauce
Cooked the orzo to a boil
Started chicken on the stove
Put chicken in the oven
Added cheeses to the orzo

White Bean and Chicken Chili

2007-11-09T13:16:00.001-05:00

Yum! I haven't heated something up at work for lunch in a very long time and ALOUD gave an "oh yum." This soup caused me to do just that.

And I took a picture of it! All dolled up with a dollup of sour cream, and smatterings of green onion and cilantro. But, the camera is at home. With the picture. Insert frowny face here.

But here is the recipe with my alterations in parenthesis. I printed it off from All Recipes.

Cha Cha's White Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers (I had jarred jalapenos, chopped, and only about 2 T)
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (roasted from the store, or course)
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans (I used 2 cans of White Kidney beans, with one can smashed. And 1 can of Cannelini beans)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used the Kraft Mexican Shredded blend)

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans (including the smashed ones). Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

Pictures Coming Soon!!

2007-10-25T06:12:00.001-05:00

I got a great deal on a canon digital camera yesterday. It was an early morning impulse buy, but it is for the good of Foodie Nation that I can take photos of my creations. (rhymed)

Last night was comfort food night. It was a cozy 62 degrees in my house when I got home, and soup and macaroni and cheese certainly sounded good!

Brocolli and Potato Soup (5-6 servings)
1 small onion chopped
1 smaller carrot peeled and chopped small
2 potatoes peeled and cubed
1 brocolli stalk, chopped
2 T butter
chicken broth to cover, about 3.5 cups
1 cup milk
1/3 cup Half and Half
1 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper

In a pot, melt butter, and add onion and carrot, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook until softened. Add potato, brocolli, and broth (I did not add salt and pepper here, but you probably should). Simmer until potatoes are softened. Then cover for about 10 minutes over low heat. While simmering, take about 1/4 cup of the milk, and mix with 1/4 cup of flour; this is The Agent, the thickening agent.

Uncover the soup and add the milk, The Agent, and the cream. Bring to a simmer; let it simmer until it creams up. Add the cheese.

With soups, I just prefer to salt to my personal taste when I eat it. This was a little under salted upon serving, but I prefer it that way!

Second Course: Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Ham (6 servings)
2 cups dry elbow macaroni
1 can Fat Free Evaporated Milk
1 cup milk
3 T butter
1/3 cup flour
1.5-2 cups shredded cheese (I used white cheddar and swiss. Just use up what you have!)
1/2 cup deli ham chopped
4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

Cook the macaroni.
Melt the butter, add the flour (The Agent), then whisk in the milk. Once creamy, add the Evaporated Milk. Mix in shredded cheeses. Once thick and looking like heaven, add the ham and bacon. Stir in macaroni. Turn into a buttered round casserole dish and bake at 375 until bubbly goodah.

Notes:
-I am NOT a breadcrumb topping kinda gal, so you won't see a topping on the mac.
-Block cheese, shreddeed on your cheese grater, melts the best.
-If you eat the soup first, it will fill you up more, and you will not need as much of the super rich mac and cheese.

Trader Joes....Loves Me, Love Me Not

2007-10-22T06:51:00.000-05:00

In the cooking world, Trader Joe's is known as "TJ's". In my world, it is known as Trader Joes.

I have had some issues with good old Trader Joe's. Last thing that sucked royally, Thai Style Green Beans with the ICKIEST sauce ever to come in a frozen pack of vegetables. Yes, even ickier than the pack of garlic sauce for Trader Joe's Garlic French Fries. That is some serious ICK.

Last night, was a triumphant Trader Joes night. I bought Gorgonzola Walnut Tortellini from their Frozen Food section, thinking I would use up some of the butternut squash that I roasted. I mashed up the roasted squash, mixed it with a pat of butter and a cup of milk, and then tossed that with the cooked tortellinis, adding the appropriate amount of parmesan cheese (meaning, what is appropo for me, is probably NOT the suggested serving amount). It was DELICIOUS! You can definitely taste the walnut and the gorgonzola is perfect. If only I had a little fresh sage!

Ravioli Lasagna

2007-10-16T06:12:00.000-05:00

Ravioli Lasagna
serves 4...cook in a LOAF PAN
1 package Trader Joes Cheese Ravioli (cooked per package directions)
1 cup-ish mushroom cream sauce (recipe follows)
2 cups marinara sauce (recipe follows)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
frozen spinach (1/2 a package)
2/3 lb ground beef, browned with 1/4 onion chopped

Mushroom Cream Sauce:
Brown 1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms and one large minced garlic clove in 1 t olive oil. Remove from the pan. Place 1 T butter and melt, then add 1/4 cup flour and make a roux. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of skim milk. Salt and pepper to taste, adding some parmesan cheese. Stir BACK in mushroom. Remove from heat. This makes more than you'll need.

Marinara Sauce:
(this is adapted from a Cooking Light magazine recipe...I had to change it a little)
1/4 chopped onion
1 large minced garlic clove
In 1 T olive oil, cook onion with garlic. After softened, add:
1/2 t dry: basil, oregano, salt, and crushed red pepper.
After herbs are combined with the onion, pour in:
1 14 ounce can of chopped tomato (mine was with balsalmic and garlic)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1T balsalmic vinegar
Let simmer so that it thickens, about an hour. I then added about 1 cup tomato sauce, because the recipe was very chunky and it wasn't reducing much. It tasted great! And it went along well with the lasagna.

The assembly of this lasagna went, from bottom up,
Marinara
3 cooked ravioli
cream sauce
spinach
mozzarella
parmesan
3 cooked ravioli
beef
mozzarella
tomato sauce
ravioli
cream sauce
parmesan
strip of tomato down the center of the cream sauce
parmesan

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Let set about 15 minutes, so it hopefully sets up a little.

Oh how I wish I had a camera. It was pretty, but then when served, that first piece looked crazy. I need little individual baking dishes, so that I don't have to use a spatula to get it out!

Note for the dieting: These raviolis from Trader Joes claim to be enough for TWO. So I stretched these raviolis into 4 servings. Also, the beef, 2/3 lb, for 4 people is a smaller sized portion too. I used Skim Milk Mozzarella, skim milk in my cream sauce, and smaller amounts of olive oil, since I have lovely Calphalon cookware. I don't feel too bad about this dish, diet wise.

Roasted Poblano and Chicken Penne

2007-10-15T08:17:00.001-05:00

3 handfuls Dry Penne Pasta
1 cup chopped rotisserie chicken
1 roasted poblano peppers
1/2 roasted red pepper
1/4 of a yellow onion sliced
1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 large garlic clove
1t oil
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (pisses me off...because why do I have a whole can and then only use one...now I need more recipes that calls for this)
1T flour
1t cayenne
1/4 t cumin
2 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup broth
1/2 cup water
optional: shredded taco cheese

And now for the process:
I created this dish based off of the Mushroom Cream Sauce that is used in a Cooking Light Mushroom Enchilada recipe.

Warning: This ended up spicy!!

Under Broiler: place peppers, halved. Roast until skin is black. Place peppers in a zip-loc bag to cool. This will make it simple to peel skin off.

In nonstick pan, heat oil and add mushroom, onion, and garlic. Cook until soft and shiny. Add chipotle pepper (cut it up...and if you remove the seeds, this won't be so hot). Add flour and spices. Cook to make it nutty smelling. Whisk in broth and water. Bring to a simmer to thicken. Add sliced roasted peppers. Add chicken. Add cream cheese and remove from heat.

After boiling penne, add to sauce (salt sauce to taste). Shredded mexican cheese looks nice and adds a little more cheesiness.

This makes two big servings. And I did NOT eat all of it by myself.

Faster than frozen pizza Pasta

2007-10-11T07:31:00.000-05:00

Faster Than Frozen Pizza Pasta:

4 cups penne (uncooked)
1-2 cups chopped roasted chicken from the grocery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 sundried tomato pieces (mine were in oil)
2-3 T pesto ( I used Trader Joes Genovese Pesto)
1 large garlic clove minced
2 T pine nuts
2 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup crumbled feta
white wine (I just use splashes here and there for some liquid, broth would work too)

I had parent teacher conferences last night, so I asked my special friend to put pasta water on the stove, so hopefully it would be boiling by the time I got home (12 minute drive) Note: This means COVER the water and put on the burner with a good heat radius (is that what it would be called??). The pasta making is seriously the most time consuming thing in this recipe. Everything will be done in the time it takes for the pasta to cook.

Before making the "sauce", bring pasta water to a boil. Once you add the pasta, heat a saute pan and add the mushrooms. I use a nonstick pan, and then add NO oil. As the mushrooms are cooking, they will emit liquid, and then add a splash of wine or broth. Add the minced garlic and cook about 1 minute. Then add chopped sun dried tomatoes and the chicken. Stir to coat chicken and to heat the chicken. Add 2 T of pesto. At this point, I slid the chicken to the side of the pan to keep warm, and toasted the pine nuts.

Drain pasta and add to saute pan. I added another T of pesto to the pasta, and then added the feta and cream cheese (I used my fingers to break it up and scatter along top...it was messy). Stir, and add some splashes of wine to add some liquid and make the cream cheese create a creamy coating.

Voila! This should probably serve 4 people, along with a salad. We just ate this. All of this. But it was 8pm and we was hungry!

Egg Noodle Coma

2007-10-09T07:37:00.001-05:00

Recipe:
Chicken Ala King Noodles

1 Chicken breast from Grocery Store baked Chicken (chopped)
1 handfull of frozen peas
1 handfull of frozen corn
1 cup milk
1T butter
2T flour
1 cup sliced mushroom
1 garlic clove, chopped
optional: parmesan cheese and italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 bag of egg noodles (figures to 3 servings after cooked)
(preheat oven to 400)
Here is what I did. Because this is a blog and not a recipe machine! I am going to explain, rather than make it all recipe-ish.

I love casserole.

I had mushrooms to use up, as they were about to get a little slime. Recently, I have discovered how it is cheaper to buy mushrooms from the bulk bin, rather than the prepackaged business. So that makes me happy.

I had milk to use, as it expired last Friday. Using my super-smeller, I can tell it will not be spoiled until tomorrow around 4am.

I get a little skeeved out by the curd looking thing that squeeks out of the Cream of Mushroom can. Sometimes it makes funny noises coming out! And it has ridges (for her pleasure) from it forming to the can. So I used the soon-to-spoil milk and the mushrooms and made my own "soup". First, I cooked the mushrooms, until they started to let their "juice go", then I added the garlic, being careful that it didn't burn. I removed that business, then added the butter. After it melted and picked up the mushroom leftovers, I added the flour. I salt and peppered that, and then whisked in the milk. Once the flour was combined without lumps, I added the mushrooms and garlic back. Then added the chicken. Then added the peas and corn.

While all that was going on, I was cooking the noodles. Duh. If you don't know to do that, you need a better blog than mine. Sorry. I consider certain things to just be OBVIOUS, so sue me.

Add the cooked noodles to the chicken and soup stuff. Then bake it at 400 for about 20 minutes. I added some bread crumbs and parm to the top.

And sadly, I ate all of it while watching America's Next Top Model. Or also known as "Dog Show", named such by my new special friend :)

A warning: If you eat all of this in one sitting, do NOT try to watch baseball, as it will make you sleepy and unable to move for the rest of the night. It will also make you send sleepy text messages that say, "Gooj nite". It will also make you pour water all over the counter, in an attempt to make coffee for the next morning. And then you find the water the next morning, as it has been soaked up by random things on the counter, and then wonder "Where in the hell was the water??" Thus creating the term: Egg Noodle Coma.

Asian Ground Chicken with Lettuce Cups

2007-09-18T08:22:00.001-05:00

The diet continues and I think I am doing a nice job. I am keeping track of calories on SparkPeople. I was 10 calories OVER for the amount I should be burning a week. I don't think I went over my daily calorie allowance, well Saturday doesn't count. I figure I'll give myself one free day a week.

Last nigth I created this little recipe for myself. I am excited to have leftovers for my lunches, but think I'll keep it as a "dinner meal." One change in my routine is that I am NOT bringing dinner leftovers for lunch. I think that just messes me up. So dinner leftovers will be consumed only at dinner.

Recipe:
Serves 4
1 pkg Swanson Ground Chicken
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 cup chopped cabbage
1 can waterchestnuts, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2T teriyaki
1/4 cup Gyoza Dipping Sauce (Trader Joes) or another stirfry sauce
1T cornstarch with 1T water (slurry)
1t vegetable oil

In wok or saute pan, heat oil and then brown the chicken. Add first three vegetables, garlic, and chicken broth, soy, teriyaki, stirfry sauce. Simmer about 10 minutes to soften vegetables. Add waterchestnuts and cabbage. Combine well, adding more soy or broth if needed. Let simmer 10 minutes, then add slurry to thicken the sauce. The longer it simmers, the better the sauce!

Serve over rice or in lettuce cups. According to sparkrecipes.com, this is approximately 330 calories, and 12 grams of fat per serving.

Caffeine and the Blog

2007-09-12T06:36:00.000-05:00

Wow Monday's post sucked! Call that a result of too many things bouncing around in my head, along with about 3 cups of coffee. And I had 2 extra hours at home due to FOG! Yes, scary scary fog.

For Clarity:
If you didn't follow the link, my sudden comment about Feminism causing obesity probably sounded insane! The previous blog mentioned, and I think even SHE was quoting someone else, women working is making it harder for families to eat healthy because they aren't at home cooking healthy meals (icky word icky word!). Honestly, grilling some chicken, steaming some vegetables, baking a potato would be considerably easier than the concoctions I put together! And weren't stay at home moms the ORIGINATORS of the meatloaf and casserole? Super healthy there! So no. I don't think working moms/women causes obesity.

My food allergies do not stop me from eating those things! I just don't eat a lot of them. And I don't eat them on a completely empty stomach. I had a Dairy Queen Blizzard for dinner once (so many things wrong with that statement!) and I felt like a huge pile of crap! Damn Dairy. I had a whole meal (icky word icky word!) of seafood, including tuna, lobster bisque, fish, calamari, and awoke in wicked cold sweats.

Progress Report: I had cereal for dinner last night. NOT following the elimation diet there! But it was the only wheat I ate all day! And it was within my calorie counting, which I am using sparkpeople.com for that task.
For example, today's lunch of vegetable soup with a whole wheat tortilla with hummus and feta cheese in the middle, along with a yogurt is 346 calories.

If I was home right now, I'd make an egg beater omelete and an english muffin. Instead, apple and peanut butter. Sigh.

Why We're Fat...or at least I'm Fat.

2007-09-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

One of my guilty pleasures is reading blogs; generally, they are mom blogs, written by moms. I am not a mom. And I read to get a taste of what all that craziness will be like. There is one blog I have followed, and they have recently moved to Korea...just like my friend Achilles! (And Achilles is so NOT a mom.) I read this recently, which I thought went along well with my weekend.

My second year teaching, I had a pretty brutal asthma attack one morning after the day before I was pulling ragweed out of my garden. I am allergic to ragweed. Duh! So I got tested for foods, at the same time as some other allergens. I learned I am allergic to wheat. And dairy. And oats. And oranges. And corn. And "fish mix", sounds like cat food. I blame my vegetarian diet for 6 years (Sophomore year H.S. to Junior year College). During that time, there was a lot of cereal, pasta, and orange juice. Perhaps I used up my lifetime quota. The doctor suggested an "Elimination Diet". For two weeks, I did not eat any of those things, and I lost 11 pounds. IN TWO WEEKS!

So this week, I am doing another elimination diet, maybe a little modified, but close enough. But seriously, I was just eating significantly healthier. I was eating unprocessed things. I ate a lot of fiber and vegetables. And avoiding corn and corn starch and corn syrup cuts out some serious sugars. And I need it. I was in the copy room today, and a teacher thought I was ANOTHER teacher who I think is significantly larger than I. I blame the hair. My back was to her. I am wearing a non form fitting skirt. I swear my ass is not THAT big!

Do I blame feminism, like the above linked blog mentions? No way. I blame my love for food, but also the expense of good food. My grocery bill yesterday, chock full of fresh vegetables, is evidence of this! Yesterday, I cleaned, did laundry, and of course, cooked a bunch of stuff. All after I spent almost 90 bones at the grocery store, and I am SINGLE people! I didn't even buy booze! But I did buy oatmeal.

So I made
Vegetable Soup, modifying an old Weight Watchers recipe I had.
Salsa, using the salsa recipe I have posted here before.
Grilled Vegetables, including zucchini, onion, red pepper, mushroom.
Brown Rice
Boxed Banana Muffins, "Just add Milk!" (I was craving, literally made this just so I could eat ONE. A waste of money, perhaps?)
Chicken Broth, which is currently chugging away in my crockpot as I type.

And I am going to quit my latest addiction at the same time...Vitamin Water. Wish me luck. There will be progress reports.

Chicken Scaloppine

2007-08-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

(I am just going to post like I have been posting everyday for the last month. Because nobody truly noticed, I'm sure.)

I breaded chicken breasts that I pounded real good (incorrect for effect). Pan cooked it in only 1 T oil. Deglazed the pan with some chicken broth. Added the juice of two lemons. Some juice from the caper jar. Some capers. Placed the chicken back in the pan. The bread crumbs thickened up the sauce a little. And poof it was done.

The end. Thanks for stopping by San Diego.

Funkity funk funk funky

2007-08-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

I am in a cooking funk and I blame the heat. Isn't that what we blame EVERYTHING on in August? "I don't want to workout; it is just too hot!" or "Yardwork? Too hot!" or "Grocery store? My leather seats are too hot!" This is how I know I am in a funk. I don't even want to go to the grocery store!

And the fact that my last dinner seemed like a failure. And I am just not in the mood to get back on the horse. Or bike. It was just an ugly meal. It tasted great but was not attractive. I hate that.

So today I made something that I blogged about early in my career. It is what I call the Goddess Omelet. I actually made the pesto for it last night at about 11pm, because I just felt like making something. Eventhough, I didn't eat it last night.

I am just a whole mish mash of topics today. And I think I'll just type as they come to me. It will be an adventure.

I have been eating a lot of tomatoes. It seems all I am really in the mood for.

Yellow curry stains your carpet. It is now known as simply "The Devil". I dropped the smallest of yellow curry coated beef on the floor beneath my dining table. It rolled a good 3 feet and left little yellow tracks the whole way.
Now that I think about it...is "yellow curry" even what it would be called? Maybe there was Turmeric in the dish. Hmm...whatever. It is just called The Devil, whatever it is. (again, I didn't cook. So I didn't make it!)

Blockbuster is playing a dirty trick on me and not letting me send the movie Hannibal back to them. This movie is TERRIBLE! And it is forever stuck in my house because they won't send me a replacement envelope for it and all of its crappiness.

Ding Dong the Bees are Dead.

I think tomorrow I will make braciole. This means I have to go to the store...but I will just go tomorrow.

ennui

I say that now, but in three weeks I'll be all longing for the ennui!
(as in boredom)

The Refectory: 27 years of Frenchiness

2007-07-18T07:16:00.000-05:00

To say that I am very blessed is an understatement. On a Tuesday evening, when the skies are looming with rain, I had the privilege to attend one of the top restaurants in Columbus. It is not trendy. It is not filled with blinking neon lights and techno music. It is, though, featuring the latest trends in fine dining cuisines, but with such restraint and finesse that it leaves you feeling on the edge of a culinary precipice.

The Refectory has been in business for 27 years, and it exists as a "special occasion" restaurant. However, it would seem the staff wants you to become a regular. Or maybe it was just me and my dining companion; I mean, we did look GOOOOD. Dressed in our nicest dining ensemble and the waitstaff in their tuxedos, it seems a bit upsetting to see a man walking out in shorts and golf shirt. But if that guy is accustomed to dining like that SO MUCH that it doesn't seem like an occasion to dress up, well I guess the more power to him!

I love a server who asks if you'd like to start the evening with a cocktail or glass of champagne. THANK YOU for suggesting we ease into our meals and not rush us in and into a salad or appetizer. I absolutely took him up on his subtle champagne nudge, and it was the wisest choice. My dining companion sipped on scotch throughout dinner, but of course could not resist the Wine Show that our server put on for us. Special Show. Ask for the show.

You see, I got caught. I was taking a picture with my cell phone of our first course. And man I wish everytime I got caught doing something wrong it had this result! Our server saw and said, "Do you have a blog!?" I think I must've blushed, because he came back and apologized. I was just hoping I was unique, but immediately it is assumed there is a blog. Now, he did inform me that a previous employee's wife is a blogger, and so perhaps she does the camera phone thing too...so he is just equating me with her. The previous employee now works at Rosendale's, which I hope is next on the fine dining list. So not only did we chat about my blog, they wanted the website, the owner came over and talked about the blog, we talked about food, we had star treatment!

So onto the food:
Course 1: MARBLE OF ESCARGOT
God Bless him, he made sure we knew it was not the standard escargot, bathing in the butter and garlic. I did not mind this, as the idea it was not standard made it even better. The only thing I missed was that standard texture of the escargot, but all of the flavor still existed. Perhaps though it was a little dry, but compared to the Butter Bath, what wouldn't be? And compared to the creaminess of the second course, the escargot didn't have a chance in hell of standing up to it!
Course 2: Sea Scallop with pan seared Foie Gras
OH
MY
God.
If Foie Gras is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Upon placing this interesting piece of duck in your mouth, it just "evaporates". There is no chewing, it is just setting it on your tongue and letting the flavor fill the expanse of your pallet. Adding a small bite of the seared scallop just places such a perfectly paired texture to the dish that you don't really want to swallow. And I may have said an expletive, causing my dining partner to look around to see if anyone heard, and have to decide if he wanted the check or to continue to watch my face in peaks of culinary pleasure.
Course 3: CRABMEAT AND ARTICHOKE CRUSTED HALIBUT After scooping my goo-like body off of the floor so that I could enjoy something other than this foie gras, we moved onto a fish dish. Now to call this dish 'flimsy', it creates a negative connotation. But the fish is not a firm fish! It is moist and mixed with crab meat, it is incredibly, well, WHITE! Splitting this dish between two plates was impossible, understandably, and so they brought an extra plate and two gravy terrines of the lobster butter sauce. HEAVEN is Lobster Butter Sauce. It runs out of fountains. There is of course endless amounts of bread in heaven. And the fountains are there to coat this bread in lobster goodness. One of my dining quirks is that I choose things for the sauce. This sauce stole the show for this dish.
Wines: Three Whites consisting of a California Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc of bananas, and a third that I can't think of!! grr!!
Course 4:PAN SEARED CRISPY MILD SPICED DUCK MAGRET I am a girl who had never had duck. Well I think I had a little sliver on SOMETHING somewhere, but never had a whole breast of duck. I was leaning toward a steak course, only because it had a truffled butter on top (again, with the choosing things because of the sauce). Our server said he would just bring the butter on the side, so that we could enjoy the duck. And enjoy we did. I hate to keep harping on textures, but for so many people, food is just about taste. And to me, it is every sense creating an experience. The texture of duck is unlike chicken. It is unlike steak. Perhaps most similar to a medium rare steak, when you are eating the warm red center. I didn't even notice the sauce on this, because duck just has a flavor to itself, that is complimented by the cherry sauce, but not masked. I didn't want to drown it in anything.

This course indeed was split into two plates and the portions were still large! If you've never dined like this, one entree at a time, go do it tonight! So relaxed. So peaceful.
Wines: Three reds, featuring a Pinot Noir, Shiraz, and Merlot that exploded like a canoned Cab.
Course 5: PEAR FEUILLETE AND CHOCOLATE CREMEUX
If your meal is a ride, I think it should start slow have a peak and then come back down. I felt going to the poached pear next would be a nice gently stop to the meal. It is not too rich. It does not carry you out with a mouthful of heavy chocolate mouse. It gently places you at the end of your meal, on a cloud of whipped Chantilly cream and a bite of light puffed pastry. (Note: I hate the cliche of a cloud and cream. I'm upset I even typed it.) But God bless our server, he wanted us to have some chocolate! And I think my dining companion was relieved. You men like chocolate just as much, if not more than some women, I swear! The chocolate dessert was good, but I think my choice of pear was better. I win!
Wine: Moscato

Wine Show: I did not order a single wine. I requested--well actually he suggested this and I beamed at the thought--the server bring a 2 ounce pour of two wines for each main course. He brought three. And with dessert, we ordered the pear, and he brought the chocolate and two tastes of the moscato dessert wine.

Before my personal experience at The Refectory, I had heard from people who had heard from people that it "isn't THAT great." I consider this to be the spouting off of morons. People who will not take the chance of the experience and therefore cope with their ignorance by pretending they are not missing much. They are missing a lot. But honestly, some people may not be ready for the experience, and to The Refectory I say, you didn't want them there anyway!

To finish, it has been nothing but stressful thinking of how to put this all into words. It is really a consistent thing for my last week or two. So to have this dining experience fit into the place that I feel I am right now, is just so, well, FITTING. And we will be returning and creating even more experiences that leave me speechless.

Porky Pink

2007-07-12T07:33:00.001-05:00

I made something up last night!

Spinach and Spanish Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with an Maple Mustard Apple Chutney
Holy long title Batman!

Ingredients:
Pork Tenderloin sliced carefully to make flat and rollable
Bagged Baby Spinach
Grated Mahone and Roncal Cheese
salt and pepper

Chutney:
one granny smith apple, diced
2T diced onion
2T butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
1t dijon mustard
1t whole grain mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
splash of milk
1 t butter

Place spinach and cheese inside pork, and roll. Use toothpicks or twine to bind, but it is not necessary. Grill on all four sides, about 4 minutes a side.

Melt butter and add apple and onion, let saute until soft. Add chicken broth to syrup and whisk. Add butter and milk to desired thickness. Place chutney over or under pork on a serving plate.

I served this with a side of sweet potato and white potato cooked in foil, also on the grill.

For dessert, Vanilla Crepes with Strawberries and Dark Chocolate Sauce. Crepe recipe is from allrecipes.com.

Vanilla Crepe
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons melted butter
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together the milk, egg yolks and vanilla. Stir in the flour, sugar, salt and melted butter until well blended.
Heat a crepe pan over medium heat until hot. Coat with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and tip to spread the batter to the edges. When bubbles form on the top and the edges are dry, flip over and cook until lightly browned on the other side and edges are golden. Repeat with remaining batter.
Fill crepes with your favorite fruit, cream, caramel or even ice cream or cheese to serve.

A couple tips:
-Pork is usually dry because it is overcooked. Do you KNOW how many antibiotics are in pig feed these days to prevent crazy pig borne illnesses? Lotsa. So eat your pork medium-medium well. A little pink makes things so much better!
-Find friends/dinner guests who enjoy your food and then say, "You are not doing anything else! I am cleaning it all up!" These people just come from a better ilk than other people. And they probably are very thoughtful in other ways too.
-Crepes are easy. Don't let the french fool you! They are tricky like that.

Happy Fourth of July!

2007-07-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

I feel like every July 4th for the last 6 years have been SOMETHING. Last year, it was spent with my husband, after a couple months of minimal time spent together. The year before that, it was in California. Before that, I was on my honeymoon, or at least just getting back. And always there was a bit of a struggle about going to see fireworks or not. I'm not sure why I am not always gung ho on the fireworks thing, but it has never wowed me. In fact, the owws and ahhs kinda make me laugh.

This year, it is truly an Independance Day. I did laundry, independently. I watched The Next Food Network Star Marathon, independently. I then made my standard Independent Dinner. Spaghetti, meat sauce, red wine...and I rented The Departed. Because my independent nights are generally mafia themed. Whaddaya gonna do about it??

Foods that are SCARY

2007-06-29T10:42:00.000-05:00

Growing up, my reoccurring nightmare involved a crocodile. More specifically, the crocodile that chased Ernie in the song on the Sesame Street Album. In this song, he goes over a mountain, because "You can't go under it. Can't go through it! Gotta climb over it." And then he goes through a spooky swamp (because you can't go over or around it), where low and behold, a crocodile is lurking and then we had to RUN! Run with the speed of a gazelle!! Run or we will be EATEN! Go go go over the mountain and the grass and whatever obstacle the twisted sadist decided to put into this children's song!

I would only have the nightmare of the crocodile chasing me after drinking hot chocolate before bed. Because generally, hot chocolate was not permitted in the evenings by my mother because, "If you drink it you will have nightmares." So why, did occasionally, I get this nectar of the gods (I like to think Buddha is a Hot Chocolate Lover)? I have no idea. But indeed, it would cause nightmares.

Last night I discovered another nightmare inducing food. Similar to how after eating the Boneless Teriyaki Wings from Buffalo Wild Wings you sleep dreaming only of drinking endless amounts of water, eating Level 4 Chicken Tikka Masala from Amul India causes dreams of a Female Wellness camp that encourages wrestling matches amongst the girls. And there were colorful painted faces and costumes. One of the ladies had this interesting blue feathery outfit, with blue eye make-up.

Now how is this a nightmare? Because of my wrestling match. Oh I was good. I was dominating in my match (note: nothing sexy about this...no mud, or grease, or bikinis). Because as many know, I am indeed freakishly strong. But I got bored and just wanted it to end, so I jumped and yanked the legs of my partner, causing her to fall out of the ring and onto her neck area. I, because I jumped, was then looking down on her. And it was SAD! I really wounded this person! And I woke up, so horrified that I had caused damage to someone! So bizarre. I was shaken.

I prefer the crocodile dream. No more Indian food after 9.

The End.

Grillin'

2007-06-28T07:32:00.000-05:00

My grill usually becomes the home for wasps. As it was all leaky at the beginning of the season, I was thinking it would be a wasp hotel yet again, but my dad in his fix-it-ness saved it!

So I have cooked a couple things out there. Last night, I did a sad hamburger for one, some sweet potatoes in foil, and thought I'd give bacon on the grill a try. Just put it in foil. And NO NO DON'T YOU TRY THIS TOO!! I don't know what happens to bacon in that environment, but it almost liquifies and then catches fire. True Story.

Marcella, I love you.

2007-06-13T12:47:00.001-05:00

I took pictures!! How do I get the little fuckers off of my cell phone? I figure it out. They'll come soon!

Marcellas sits on High Street, in the short north with parking being my only complaint. There is a long bar along the right side of the establishment, and lacking a patio, it has a large window wall that opens up. You cannot sit outside, but you can definitely sit and hear the traffic whiz by and feel the breeze.

I am going to just list out all I love. Because I loved a lot.
1. the napkins are dish towells...the white with green stripe down the middle.
2. the placemats are maps of Italy.
3. there is a stack of appetizer plates in the middle of the table, all mismatching, just like the silverware
4. the wines come out in carafes: one glass, half bottle, and full bottle carafes
5. there are small cold plates, small hot plates, 6 cheeses and a list of meats.
6. pasta dishes that would please my father who wants to go to an Italian place and get PASTA. not ravioli, not tortellini, but spaggheti.
7. the cheeses came with TRUFFLED HONEY. This stuff was amazing!
8. the servers wear jeans and white shirts that have things on the back like "Sprinkle some parmesan on me." "EVOO" "Everybody loves an Italian Girl". And one guy had on a white snapped shirt with TEX on the chest. Yes, he was from San Antonio...because as he walked by, in true Kristy style, I read aloud what his shirt said and he turned around. Of course.
9. water did not have ice.

So our dinner was:
three cheeses: goat, buffalo mozarella, and one that starts with T that I don't remember. (started with a glass of prosecco)
fried risotto balls: these had a surprise of cheese in the middle, came with marinara to dip in. (shared a half bottle of Nebbiolo)
shrimp pesto pizza: with goat cheese and roasted tomato...good!

No dessert. But they looked interesting!

This place was busy! And it was a Tuesday. Get there at 6 and you'll get a table. But you won't get to sit by the windows. There were people lined up outside when I left at 7:45. I plan on going, oh, once a week. And if I go with my friend that I went with last night, we may get as good of a deal on the bill everytime.

Trader Joes Hates Me

2007-06-07T06:29:00.000-05:00

I made pork tenderloin kabobs last night, and they were so incredibly excellent. I used the marinade from a Cooking Light recipe. I wanted to serve them with a fruit salsa, like a pineapple mango jalapeno chunky thang. Well Trader Joes USED to have one that was decent. So I trucked down there.

Nope.

Discontinued.

So I wung it. Winged it. Gave it a wang. :)

one chopped roma tomato.
About 1/2 cup chopped pineapple.
2T chopped red onion.
1 chopped green onion.
5 chopped jalapenos rings (from the JAR).
juice of half a lime
chopped cilantro (I like a lot)

It was perfect. Yes, perfect. And spicy! I figure this is about 2 servings worth.

Here is the marinade for the pork: (linky poo up there)
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 1/2 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

This marinade is for 8 servings. I cut it in half. It says to reserve marinade for brushing while cooking, but the pork is so tender and I think it would be marinade overkill.

Marinade Overkill...my new band name. Rock on!

Evolution of a Blog

2007-06-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

New Cell Phone New Cell Phone! Which means, I can take photos of my food and post them on the blog.

So what did I do? I went to Scali's, and forgot to take a picture of anything except a half eaten stuffed mushroom and the bottle of wine we ordered. Nice Work Kristy. Nice Work.

Priorities

2007-05-27T11:50:00.000-05:00

I have been planning my budget. As I am hoping to have a loan and take over the ownership of my house sometime this week, I have been trying to figure out the whole real life thing called BILLS. Basically, as long as I find a second job, I can still eat and have gas for my car. Great! Right?

Here is where my priorities come into play. Good food (i.e. not ramen, pizza rolls, hamburger helper) or television. Or more importantly, an occassional glass of wine, nice dinner, and in general keeping up my food snob habits.

Currently, I am choosing food over television. If I can actually make enough money to include the tv...well then that will be a nice addition. But it isn't a necessity.

So Friday night I stayed in, made a pizza, and watched a movie. And I had a couple beers. If I had not been saving money, I would've had some spaggheti with meatballs, Chianti, and movie. But I opted for cheese, turkey pep. and banana peppers pizza with Miller Lite. I am so responsible! And really craving that Chianti.

Buy the Chicken

2007-05-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

If you are like me, you've looked at those roasted birds at the store and contemplated throwing them in your cart. For whatever reason, I always resisted. Since I began cooking for one, the individual birds have been the greatest purchase in my cart.

I pick it. (get about three meals worth)

I then put it into the crockpot on low for the day and gain about 10 cups of broth.

So three meals, about $2 a meal.
10 cups of broth, about $7 of boxed broth.

So I save $3 and a lot of time! And my broth is better than the box. And that chicken is damn good!

Here is my broth recipe:
one small onion
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
sprig of sage
sprig of thyme
dried herbs
salt
pepper

Chop the vegetables in larger pieces, so they strain easily. Cover with water, about 10 cups.

Last night I took the chicken and made a curry simmer. I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com.

In the recipe, it calls for uncooked chicken. The roasted chicken got so tender and good, and I simmered it for about 20 minutes. Here is the recipe the way I used it, sans chicken. It made 2 servings.

1 onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 itty bitty bay leaf
1 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 pinch salt
1 T cup olive oil
water to cover
DIRECTIONS
Fry the onions in olive oil until browned. Add the cinnamon and the bay leaf. Continue stirring and add the ginger, paprika, curry powder, sugar, salt, and garlic. Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Mixture will become much like a paste.
Add chicken pieces and tomato. Add enough water to just cover the chicken. Simmer until chicken is done, about 20 minutes.

I ate this chicken with brown rice, cooked in lime juice and water, and tossed with chopped cilantro.

YumYum gets under my skin.

2007-05-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

More on the yum yum debacle.

Sure, mayo exists in Japanese cooking. Or at least as a nice swirly decoration on the greatest sushi roll ever.

If you people SAW what the woman across from me was DOING with the yum yum, you'd be horrified and tweaked as well. I'm talking POURING it over rice, vegetable, and meat. I have to think this is NOT what the gods of Japanese chefery (I made that word up. Suck it) intended as the usage of this condiment.

If they ("they" being Morimoto on Iron Chef when he defeated Bobby Flay) get pissy when someone jumps on a cutting board, I have to think they would throw a samurai sword at your head if the mayo was poured over so excessively.

Gengi...yum yum sauce, For serious!!??

2007-05-19T00:04:00.000-05:00

Yum Yum Sauce=Mayonnaise and Sweet Mustard

Please tell me...what Japanese recipe books includes a recipe for such a sauce? None. That is the answer. ZIPPO!

So the fact that a Japanese Steakhouse, which yes, may be an oxymoron in itself, offers such a sauce is so incredibly condescending and insulting. You crazy Americans who think it is amazing, please realize, you are putting MAYONNAISE on your asian-esque food!

I would consider myself an expert on the House of Japan cuisine. It is something I have experienced multiple times (like, lots) and it has always been the same. Soup, good. Salad, good (sometimes two salads). Chicken and Steak, very good.

At Gengi, I got the same entree. The salad tasted fine; although I like the ginger dressing at HofJ a little better. The soup, tasted like straight up beef broth, which to me can have a bit of a rodent cage flavor. Like, it tastes like a gerbil cage smells. I had a couple slurps and was done. The steak was excellent. My dining companion had the scallops and they were just fine. The chicken was a little dry. Vegetables good. Bean sprouts, fine.

Interesting note: The servers have ear pieces like they are in the frickin' Secret Service. I imagine, "We are going to need some chicken and a steak...but this girl is a BITCH, so make sure it is a crappy piece of chicken." Of course I was not the bitch in this scenario. My chicken was fine!

Vaqueros doesn't Compare-Os.

2007-05-18T07:29:00.000-05:00

In my quest to find the perfect all around Mexican food location here in central Ohio, here is what I have found:
Salsa: Senor Antonios
Queso: Senor Antonios
Bean Dip: Vaqueros. I have not had it elsewhere...so a wee skewed.
Enchiladas: Chile Verde
Margarita: Senor Antonios...but it is EXPENSIVE/Chile Verde is good and reasonable!
Service: Chile Verde
Atmosphere and Cleanliness: Senor Antonios
Feeling that I will NOT get food poisoning: Chile Verde. (I have heard horror stories about Senor Antonios).

Vaqueros in Dublin Center was 'meh' to say the least. I ordered something different than I normally do to go along with my whole "try new things" thing. So I got the Yucatan Chicken, which had a large portion of vegetables and small portion of CRAPPY CRAPPY chicken. Like, chicken parts. With funny shapes and tendons running through them. I put it all to the side. And still did not eat all of my meal. Maybe they could put the shredded chicken in it next time?

There was salsa on the walls. And they sat us by the kitchen, where I could see servers pull of squares of toilet paper and blow their noses. Nice, huh?

I'll end it with that lovely visual.

I'll take irresistable things that end in O, Alex.

2007-05-17T07:51:00.000-05:00

The Daily DOUBLE!!

I'll bet my ability to grade essays and urge to spank people.

The answer: When consumed together, these two food items seem to be impossible to stop consuming.

What are Risotto and Prosecco!

Correct!

(And the result: I couldn't stop eating this amazing risotto I made which included garlic, shallot and onion, as well as roasted chicken that I tossed in pesto before mixing into the saute pan. And an entire bottle of prosecco went bye-bye. Oh. And I wacked TJ in the ass when he was standing in the kitchen. And then just laughed. Yes, he knew I was drunk. I'm a delight! I'm sure at that moment he knew he was making a huge mistake...joke. Obviously.)

Overthinking It

2007-05-13T13:40:00.000-05:00

When you think as much as I do, it is so difficult to not think. Just put things in your mouth, just walk around the neighborhood, just watch tv. Everything is fairly planned out. Incredibly intentional. And moments that are unintentional, that are done with little thought, generally cause regret. "Why did I do that!" "Boy I wasted time there." "What a waste of money!"

Some people regret eating things, usually because of the quantity. Or the contents. I regret eating things that I really didn't want and the fact that there was something I wanted more. Or I could've had something even better. So I live in fear that what I am eating, isn't the absolute best choice. This is why I plan my dinner at 9am.

It has to do with what might spoil. What I could then use the next day. What would be good leftovers. What I might eat later in the week.

We were discussing OCD last night. It to me includes cleanliness, but I think I may be a little food OCD. Standing in front of a spread of appetizers and munchies at a party, I must scan the whole table, weigh the possibilities, feel the air for a breeze, check my taste buds, and then choose ever so carefully.
-That cheese is too big
-That chip will break in that dip...need a smaller chip.
-Brocolli floret is too big, carrot too boring, grape tomato too squishy
-That dip is cold now
-If I dip that stick-lookin-thing into that sauce, I'll want more sauce and that stick is too long. I can't double dip! I just met these people!
-In order to get to that piece of pineapple, I must move that large watermellon piece.
-This thing has too much dough, not enough filling
-Beer and Brownies?? I'm not ready for sweets.
-Pigs in a blanket? Really?
-Bowl Of Nuts...I call those "Poop Nuts". Just like the "Poop Mints" in the bowl at restaurants.

All of these thoughts, in the time it takes to wiggle my fingers as I'm trying to choose. Impressive. Insane.

Chile Verde: Spanish for Green Spicy Sauce

2007-05-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

My dinner event last night included one of my most favorite things in the whole entire world. That would be MEXICAN food and margaritas! In the aftermath of my insane spring, there are multiple things I am thankful for. To repeat things: sleeping with the windows open, cooking whatever I want just for me, using onions willy-nilly, trying new restaurants and one of my most thankfullnessed things is EATING MEXICAN FOOD! Next week I'll get to blog about El Vaquero, but for now, I am blogging Chile Verde, a Mexican restaurant in a strip mall. And it has been there for a very long time.

Three of us ate and drank for 55 bucks. We had a beer and a pitcher of margaritas, as well as three entrees. The menu consisted of fairly standard fare. C.V. is known for their green sauce (Chile Verde) and it is very good, but some find it spicy. Me, notsomuch. One neat thing about their "Pick your combo" option--seen on most menus of this ethnic genre--on the menu is there are the usual: burrito, enchilada, chimichanga, and then there are chile relenos and crab cakes! One of my dining partners chose a crab cake, and she did not share a bite with me...shame!!!! It was a nice sized cake, looked good and crabby...but that is all I can say about that.

The second entree ordered was the grilled fajita burrito. It comes with a queso sauce, which is excellent. The beef is sliced and flavored, seemingly marinated, and very tender. Great choice and as this particular dining partner is known for announcing, "Now I have lunch for tomorrow" after most dining events, indeed there was enough for lunch the next day.

I chose two enchiladas. One shredded beef and one chicken. The chicken was cubed, not shredded, and seasoned with a tomato like substance. Beef was great and beefy. The green sauce was noticeable, but I would've preferred less cheese on top and more sauce. I wasn't in a rice mood, so I chose the sauteed vegetables which were outstanding! I really only order fajitas for those veggies, and here I got them along with the standard menu accompaniment of pinto beans (NOT refried beans).

It is the norm for complete and utter STUFFING at mexican restaurants. I tried not to STUFF myself, but I finished my whole meal nonetheless. This is by far one of my favorite restaurants for mexican fare in Columbus, and I can't wait to compare El Vaquero next week. Chile Verde, I can already say, has a much smaller menu, but like I said about La Tavola, it means they do everything right...or at least have a better chance to!

Claddaugh: Irish for Overpriced Salads

2007-05-10T07:12:00.000-05:00

I went to Claddaugh last night with friends. I hate complaining about restaurants that I attend with friends because I don't want to be a negative nelly. And in no way is it a reflection on the company I dined with.

My complaints about Claddaugh?
prices
grilled chicken in my salad was suspect
dressing pairing on the salad menu were bizarre-o

That's all. Their patio is nice, but bugs were amok (pronounced: a muck...I bet you didn't know that was the spelling of that word). Despite the bugs, there was the requisite old guy with three guys around him who in turn bought our whole table a round of drinks.

I giggle at myself, because I chose my salad based on the goat cheese. There was also sun-dried tomato and pine nuts. Here is the weirdness: Tarragon Mustard dressing. huh? What part of those ingredients makes you think a thick mustard dressing is appropriate? And the mustard was good with the creepy chicken, but didn't really match up with the goat and sun. I ordered a second dressing, because I am high maintenance like that, of maple vinegrette and it was much more suitable for this salad.

My advice...order an appetizer. Cheaper, although still overpriced, but the amount of food is sufficient.

Tips for the 'Ginners

2007-05-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

As in BEginners.

1. pans/pots on the stove, hot and empty, for too long, will scorch, smoke, and ruin the pan/pot.
2. adding oil to a too hot pan/pot will cause a fire or splatter burns
3. mushrooms should be cooked in minimal liquids, or they taste weird. IF they carmelize and let go of their OWN juices, it tastes substantially better.
4. burnt garlic is G-ROSS. Sautee intelligently in enough oil, or often WITH something else to prevent burnt, bitter, barlic. (b's hee hee)
5. don't move your meat too much.
6. the more you cut into your meat, the more juices are lost and flavor goes buh-bye too.
7. the broiler is an excellent tool! It keeps the smoke and smell of using a grill pan to a minimum, as it is cooked within the stove.

Some things I learned recently:
1. Wooden cutting boards should be washed/submerged. Otherwise, getting them wet only in ONE part will cause the cracking and warping.
2. Indeed, Calphalon should NOT be put into the dishwasher. It ruins the calphalon coating, and then they DIE!

Food Plan!

2007-05-07T06:57:00.000-05:00

Here is where I think I am going this week with my foods:
1. Meatballs from the freezer
2. Trader Joe's Pizza dough, fashioned into some sort of pizza. Maybe with chicken?
3. Happy Hour scheduled at Claddaugh Irish Pub.
4. Shrimp with Pesto Risotto
5. Fajitas!

Last night I tossed together a Tuna Orzo salad for my lunch. It looks beautiful! My goal this week is to use up some things in the freezer. So I grocery shopped last night, only buying a red onion, grape tomatoes, and basil. I used leftover orzo, a can of white tuna, red onion (about 1/4 of the onion, sliced), a handful of grape tomatoes, quartered, chopped red pepper, two large basil leaves (chiffonade), red wine vinegar and about 1 T of olive oil. I think it will be two servings. In the tupperware container, it looks even cooler, as I placed the serving atop a bed of baby spinach leaves.

Jason's

2007-05-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

And no. It is not the name of the guy's house I stayed at last night. Jason's is a restaurant in Dublin, on High Street, near some other faves: Tuccis, Brazenhead, and now a La Chatelaine. It is a funky place, with an asian fare and an italian fare section on the menu. I have indeed tried some of the asian dishes, and they are excellent. Still have not ventured to the italian side. Although, last night we came close.

My dinner companion and I started with the Flirtini. And no, it was not the girliest drink on the menu. They had a whole section of what could be boat drinks. Even with a boat drink glass. Their Flirtini is made with Raspberry Vodka, not Chambord, so we were a bit surprised when it was not pink. We both looked at it a little suspiciously. I even smelled it first. In essence, it is Raspberry Stoli, Pineapple, and Champagne. Easily could put me under in 5 minutes flat if I didn't sip and ordered 5.

We followed the martini with an order of spinach dip with garlic toast points (not chips) and a bottle of Pouilly Fuse. We were splurging. The spinach dip was excellent, seemed a little lacking in the spinach, actually. But often, that would be preferred for people.

After the dip and the bottle, we moved onto a Margherita pizza, which was super fresh and great, and fried calamari. Calamari was prepared perfectly, dipping sauces were k-rappy. There was an aioli which was really more of a dijon mustard and dill sauce. The red sauce was a cocktail sauce. Weird. So we commented on the abundance of mustard and our server brought out a new dipping bowl, which still tasted like mustard. But she also brought a hoison barbecue, and it was much preferred! Kudos to her and the chef for noticing two people with excellent taste and recommending something new and even better. It probably helped that we ordered a SECOND bottle of wine. This time, it was a Pinot Noir from Oregon.

The wine prices here are not great. The Pouilly was $20 MORE(!!) than it was at Thom's in Grandview. And to think around the corner is Tuccis and that conglomerate who charge only $5 over retail. I can't imagine upcharging and surviving.

I also can't imagine drinking two bottles of wine again tonight and surviving. So since it is Cinco de Mayo, it will be margaritas bitches!

(La) Tavola on the River...

2007-05-04T08:31:00.000-05:00

...the dirty river, that is indeed a little green. But from afar it could be called picturesque.

Actually, I never even ventured to look over the railing and see if the river was indeed in view. Next time, I will make a point to go check it out. Ambiance was awesome. Deck/Patio was busy. I can't believe I had never been out there before!

"Next time". That is what I like to call, "foreshadowing." From the usage of this foreshadowing it is implied that indeed the restaurant was a winner and deserving of a second visit. It helps that their new menu starts TODAY.

Their menu is one page, no back, separated into sections of (and this is my language, not theirs): Appetizers, Pizzas, First Course Pastas, Meal Like Pastas, and Proteins. There is a Tapas menu, which is quite small and seems to change daily. This Italian restaurant could freak out the plebians, as the choices are not lengthy, but honestly, that just means they can't skimp or half ass on something. I appreciate that. But it also raises the expectations.

As in my real life, I am attempting to have no expectations; I am uping the ante on the food life expectations. Oh they're high! For example, I think restaurants need to be doing a "bite" from the chef. Something not on the menu. Something to give you an idea of the kind of head a chef has. Where his allegiances lay. La Tavola's chef likes fennel and tomato based sauces. If I wanted to get this across, perhaps a bite sized brushcetta with a tomato and italian sausage bite would've gotten that across.

Onto the description of dinner:
We began with a large portion of the steamed mussels, in a tomato broth with the usual toasted bread accompaniment. The mussels were cooked perfectly; however, I am not really a tomato broth fan. It wasn't that the broth was poor, because it was good for dipping bread in. But the acidity just does something to the flavors of the mussel and it just isn't the same as a more butter based "broth". And this goes for any seafood, for me. Not sure what it is about my palatte that I just don't care for it. Before this mussel experience, I don't recall the last time I had mussels or especially mussels with tomato sauce, so I was wanting to try it again. There I go with the whole "try something new" thing.

Choosing an entree was difficult. As this winter was the Winter of Gnocchi, I've been wanting to try a gnocchi from a professional, to see where mine measures up. So I went with a Gnocchi dish, with a cream sauce featuring pancetta and artichokes. The dish was baked off, so it was bubbling, and if you recall my hot food thing (some might call it neurotic), I liked this a lot! Luckily, I had a dining partner that could help me finish this off. It was excellent, but as in most Italian places, a large portion. So how do my gnocchis compare? Lets just say I was giving myself little high fives in my head. Texture was dead on. And in the future, screw the ridges from a fork. If the Tavola chef doesn't roll his over something to give it grooves, I sure as hell am not either.

On the other side of the table (I love the mystery of "who is over there?"), the tortellini filled with pork and some other meat, was ordered. It had that tomato broth again, but with the meat filled torts, it worked. Here is where the fennel came out a bit too much for my taste. But it is my problem, really, as I can see how many would like it. The tortellinis were HUGE and obviously handmade, and I SO appreciate this and look forward to trying maybe a ravioli or other unique tortellini there in the future.

Dessert. Tiramisu. Dry. Sorry guys, it wasn't that great. I'm a fan of the lady fingers having an obvious soakage of coffee liqueur. This one didn't. And there was a lemon flavor there.

And onto the drinks! Madonna Montepulciano. Described as a dark cherry with spice, and it drank very much like a red Zinfandel. Which I love me some Red Zin, and I especially like it with Italian food. It drank smoothly, maybe too smoothly...but honestly, who says that? Too smoothly? "Oh yea, it went down perfectly, but I wish it hadn't so I didn't enjoy it so much." I hate that.

And if you go, Kali rocked. She was our server and was just all peppy and pleasant. And when I ordered, she said I was "so smart" and picked the best thing. Ha! I win!

Another Example of my Selfishness

2007-05-03T07:42:00.000-05:00

Wonder why I do not take photos? Wish I had a picture of that Creamy Chicken weirdness? Wish you could see my skills in colorful creations and presentation? Oh I've got skills!

But I am more hungry and unwilling to delay my personal pleasure for your pretty picture desires.

Last night I made an awesome Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Orzo. And it was purrty! There was red, green, browns (from balsalmic vinegar) and whites. It would've made an excellent photo. But I want my food hot; I want to eat all of my food; I take extreme pride in making the perfect amount without much measuring and the whole photo process takes up precious-get it while its hot-time.

Like I said, I'm a little crazy!

Here is the recipe from my dinner. I'm actually the author of this one.
Sun Dried Tomato Balsalmic Chicken Orzo
servings: 1 Kristy Sized Portion

1 6 ounce chicken breast
2 T balsalmic vinegar
1 large garlic clove (halved)
3 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
2T sliced sun dried tomatoes in oil
1 Trader Joes basil cube (frozen)
1/2 T butter
1 cup orzo
2.5 cups broth
1 cup fresh baby spinach

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Combine chicken, half minced garlic clove, and vinegar. Set aside.

Melt butter and saute other half of garlic, minced. Add orzo and toast. Add broth, boiling, stirring, until pasta is done. Remove orzo.

Coat pan as you like (olive oil, spray, whatever). Pour chicken and marinade into pan and cook. Add mushrooms. Add sun dried tomato. Add basil cube. When cooked, add orzo and combine. Add spinach and heat up, but try not to overwilt. Season with parmesan cheese.

Creamy Chicken Bake...they're not kidding!!

2007-05-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

This is Ca-Reamy. And I have discovered the word "creamy" could be never spoken again and I'd be happy with that.

In the future, I would: cut the first four ingredients in HALF. Up the chicken. And perhaps add a brocolli layer or something. I ate this with a side of brussel sprouts, and if you like dipping your veggies, the cream is good for that. The weird part: there is a cream layer, and a sauce layer. Sauce layer is like a chicken gravy.

Here is the recipe:
Chicken Bake from Cooking Light:
cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup light cream cheese
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream
1/2 cup nonfat mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup skim milk
1 (10 1/2-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash of garlic powder
6 cooked lasagna noodles
Vegetable cooking spray
3 cups diced cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; beat at high speed of a mixer until well-blended. Stir in onion, bell pepper, and 1/4 cup parsley; set aside.

Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Remove from heat; set sauce aside.

Arrange 3 noodles in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, half of chicken, and half of sauce. Repeat layers, ending with sauce.

Combine breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons parsley, and paprika; sprinkle over casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Yield: 8 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 321(24% from fat); FAT 8.4g (sat 2.9g,mono 3.1g,poly 1.7g); PROTEIN 26.1g; CHOLESTEROL 50mg; CALCIUM 91mg; SODIUM 618mg; FIBER 1.4g; IRON 2.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.2g

Food Preview

2007-04-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

1. Chicken Bake, from Cooking Light

2. Tomato soup, no recipe. Gonna try to just conjure this one up.

3. La Tavola...it is about damn time I go to this place!

4. Columbus Sushi, for real! Not just a safe California Roll!

5. Quinoa with Black Beans from All Recipes.

6. Hopefully Saturday I can find someone to Cinco De Mayo with me, where I will eat Mexican food that I have NEVER ordered before. I usually get Enchiladas. I think I'll try a Mole dish. (not the rodent. the stuff made with chocolate).

Sushi out the Wazoo

2007-04-29T14:02:00.000-05:00

As petty and ridiculous the list is going to be, I am definitely making one of things I want to do and try. Things I've wanted to do but hadn't for various reasons.

One thing on that list is to try Oonagi, or Eel in sushi form. I can't type, think, or speak that word without thinking of Ross and his "oonagi" form of kuh-ra-tay. Nevertheless, I got to dine at an amazing sushi restaurant called Beluga, in Hyde Park.

I tried to relax, and happily I was with someone, who shall remain nameless to keep it all mysterious, who knew the restaurant and had no problem with taking control. Now, if you have ever dined with me, you probably know that I order for myself and am generally a bit controlling. I don't really know why, because I really enjoy someone else taking a risk and making all of the decisions. In fact, my favorite dining experiences included NO control over the outcome.

In China Town, San Francisco, I sat at a counter where what seemed to be the owner just kept bringing us plates. We had a soup, tempura vegetables, sesame chicken, a dumpling of some sort, and a shrimp dish. It was outstanding.

In Las Vegas at Emeril's restaurant in the MGM Grand, we had a 7 course tasting dinner. Pics and all that good stuff are HERE.

Now here at Beluga, I almost wanted to title the post Beluga is Belicious. But that is just cheesey. And speaking of cheese, I think this is the first restaurant in quite awhile where I didn't want or have cheese in any form! Oh crap, I think there was cream cheese in one of the rolls...but I didn't enjoy it as much as the others!

We started with a large Japanese beer, a crafe of sake, and two pint glasses. The fact that my dining companion was so precise about this was really impressive. And we also had edamame. Edamame is a soy bean, where you bite down and pull the pea-like beans out of the shell. It is a bit sensual, and also such a simple treat.

We then ordered the following "Creative Rolls".
1. AMERICAN DREAM ROLL
Shrimp Tempura Roll topped with BBQ eel and avocado
**Here's my oonagi! Texture wise, much nicer than an oyster or calamari. Not chewy at all. No fishy flavor. The bbq, actually is the prominent flavor and I would compare the texture to a raw tuna. Not slimey at all!

2. BIG MOUTH ROLL
Spicy tuna, spicy crab and avocado-tempura deep fried
**THis was my favorite. And I am really happy to say that it was the one I picked out. It was a very large roll, and I sadly could not fit the whole sucker in my mouth at one time. But more on that later. It was spicy, and had two or three layers of flavors. The spicy orange sauce that was drizzled over it just was icing, really.

3. NINJA ROLL
Shrimp tempura inside, slices of tuna and salmon outside
**This was just pretty. It was impossible to tell the tuna from the salmon, and they overlapped like pretty red shingles. The shrimp tempura that ran down the middle of this was a large piece of shrimp. And getting this whole thing in at once was difficult! I am such a delicate flower!

4. DRAGON ROLL
BBQ eel, cucumber inside, topped with avocado.
**If I thought the presentation of the red shingled tuna was amazing, try "shingling" avocado! The avocado, to slice, usually sticks to the knife. So if these sushi chefs, and slice them paper thin, and then layer them overtop a Dragon Roll, color me F-in Impressed! With capital letters!

5. A white tuna appetizer, with a black sesame topping. It was a special, and not listed on the current menu. Raw white tuna that just melted and combined with a little wasabi, or mopping up the sauces from the other sushi items made this even better.

So it is "later", where I can divulge the fact that I have a small mouth. Ask my Dentist from childhood. He literally said to me one day, "If anyone ever tells you you have a big mouth, have them come to me." I literally have to 'work up' to getting a whole piece of sushi in my mouth. Like take some deep breaths. Be prepared to possible gag myself and then projectile SUSHI all over. I told my dining companion not to look at me at least twice. It was almost like Fear Factor. Having to put a finger to my mouth, as if it will suddenly burst through the lip seams.

What is that? You never want to eat sushi with me? That sounds horrifying and disgusting? Whatever.

Perhaps the idea of a Sake Bomb should be explained now. It is about a 3 count pour of beer. A sake glass full of sake. You, according to my companion, who I think just wanted to put a lot of happy and hopeful thoughts in my head, said we had to "Cheers" the sake glasses, pour them into the beer, and then cheers the "Bomb". So we "Cheers'd" 6 times, I think??
-to friends
-to new beginings
-to doing whatever you want and not caring what people say
-to blue eyes (i think I was tipsy at this point)
-to "Cocktails and Dreams"
-and we may have forgotten to cheers the last one...big surprise. I probably had a whole mouthfull of Ninja Roll and couldn't speak (that sounds a little dirty)

So since a sixth toast was missed, I'll end my post with this:
-To relaxing and just letting things happen.

Cheers!

Adding the Green Ended my Marriage

2007-04-27T07:32:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't that be HILARIOUS if it was true? I mean, "Kick you in the crouch, spit on your neck" funny, as Rachel Greene would say.

It ended because it was supposed to end 6 years ago, but it foolishly did not.

So what am I doing with all of my time? Well, I created another blog for that. But there is food involved in how I pass my time! Of course!

I made a roast in the crockpot. What I call: Revenge Roast, as there are carrots and onions, and tender beefy-ness, which HE did not ever want. So I used up a 2lb roast just for me. Extra carrots.

I went to dinner and wine with two girls. Luce, Opera Salad and Tomato Bisque.

Opera Salad is heaven. It has a champagne vin., gorgonzola crumbles, spiced walnuts, and dried cranberries.

Tomato bisque had GOAT CHEESE in it and a basil oil star on top. So artsy! So great. Better than Le Chatelaine's soup, and closer to my house (please buy my house, please please).

Perhaps from here out, we are dedicated to cooking for one, restaurants I visit, and general madness. I say we...as I think my stomach truly is its own entity.

And he is angry today, as I ate THREE salads (cobb for lunch, opera at dinner, leftover Caesar as snack) yesterday. Too. Much. Roughage.

Two Columbus Restaurants of Note:

2007-04-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

Click on the names for the websites. Thoms: great webpage. Le Chatelaine: no website, but an entertaining review on CitySearch.
Thoms in Grandview

Excellent Wine Prices makes it ALL worthwhile
Great Tapas Menu
Scallop with peanut noodles perfect! Scallop perfectly cooked
Salmon was wonderful
Soup Special not seasoned enough (Roasted Red Pepper Soup...not a lot of flavor)
Caesar Salad too dijon-y
Apple Tart Tartin not cooked enough and dry
Coffee was yum

A bit of a nonfragmented explanation, although I am really enjoying writing in fragments. I ordered the french white burgundy, Louis Jadot's Pouilly Fuse. It was excellent and would've been about 50 in a normal place with normal mark-ups on wine. Let me just say, if you have a place that charges just a slight corkage fee for the wine, get the wine that would normally be MORE! Take advantage of that great wine menu. Don't order the cheapest thing, because I guarantee you they don't make their menu based off of the 8 dollar bottle of wine.

Le Chatelaine in Worthington

Not a dijon-y Caesar Salad
Great flavor in a tomato basil soup
Great mound of shredded gruyere and croutons for the salad
(I ate the cheese by itself)
I ate dinner here alone, on the patio, grading papers. Love the Olde Worthington atmosphere. I'm not sure how many times I have eaten DINNER alone, but it is something I am going to do more often. Something about it CENTERS you. Well at least it centers me.

To know me, is to know I am a little crazy...

2007-04-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

and be okay with it! Find it endearing! Think of it as a little bit of my magnetism. But also know that if you were inside my head, you'd probably get dizzy and fall down from all of the thoughts spinning.

Not that you want one, but here is a peek (I totally just interupted a smart student, working diligently on an assignment to ask her how to spell peek):

A coworker today asked me if I wanted Quiznos. He didn't have lunch and was actually going to go pick something up. In my head:
Well, I like their flatbread salads, but really the last couple times I have eaten one I have felt shafted. Like, burned by the salad. Like, the bacon isn't crispy, not as many greens as I would like, and just left wanting more. Maybe the salad wouldn't be a good choice. I would feel a little empty inside because I fell into the bad salad trap, yet again.

So I talked him into going elsewhere. Where I can get a loaded cobb salad and cup of creamy tomato soup.

Exeunt Flourish

Finally a colorful dinner!

2007-04-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

My creation last night was beautiful. A .88 lb Boneless Lamb Leg, browned, and perched atop a sauteed mixture of carrots, green beans, and onion, surrounded by chopped yellow potatoes, drizzled with olive oil. Poured over the top of it all, a tomato and white wine sauce. It was a lovely stack of food. And here is the picture...

PSYCH!!

(did I REALLY just type psych?)

Why don't I take pictures of these things? Why do I remember when I am seated on the couch, sated, and watching the Friends episode that TIVO so smartly recorded for us? It isn't that I remember at the dinner table, as just the twine binding the lamb is left in the baking dish. Because I could at least take a picture of that! I remember after the food is placed neatly into a tupperware dish and 'fridgeated'. At that point, the sauce is a little congealed and looking ickerrific.

Sigh. I am just a crappy foodie blogger.

After dinner, we had whole wheat tortillas, buttered and cooked on a griddle, with dark chocolate chips melted inside, and a side of cheesecake flavored pudding (sugar free btw!).

Recipes:
Mediteranean Roasted Lamb
from my KitchenAid Cookbook
3 lb lamb shank or leg, bound with twine
2T olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
1/4 lb. fresh green beans
1 large onion, sliced
1 minced garlic clove
salt and papper
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine (dry)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup flour

Dredge lamb in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in skillet. Brown lamb. Remove from pan. Add carrot, onion, beans, and garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. In buttered casserole dish, place sauteed vegetables, place lamb on top. (optional: surround lamb with chopped potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and some lemon juice would be GOOD, but I did not have any). Whisk tomato paste, wine and water, season up with parsley and oregano. Pour tomato mixture over lamb. Place casserole dish LID on top. Cook 2 hours at 350.

My recipe note:
My lamb was smaller. I cooked it for 1 hour. I used about the same amount of vegetables, though, because I like me some roasted vegetables (in my best Slingblade voice), mm hmm.

Pork Meatballs II: How these little guys went from Cream Sauce to Soup

2007-04-16T08:40:00.000-05:00

So, when cooking for two people, there are often leftovers. And making something like meatballs, you really need to have more than one plan. I mean, who wants to create a meaty mess for half as much outcome? If I make meatballs, I make a normal recipe's worth, and then freeze them. But since there wasn't a sauce with these meatballs, as they weren't "Italian", I had another idea.

Meatball, Tortellini and Spinach Soup
Ingredients:
20 meatballs (cooked)
frozen cheese tortellini (half the bag or two handfulls)
frozen chopped spinach (only half the package, as I used the OTHER half in the cream sauce below)
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
sald and pepper
1 T butter

In soup pot, saute the carrot, celery and onion (the trinity) in butter. Salt and pepper. Add spinach to combine. Add chicken broth and 1 cup water. Add meatballs Simmer until carrots are soft. Add tortelli, and simmer until cooked.

This all made about 4 servings. Great for lunch! And add parmesan cheese, if that is your 'thang'.

Pretty Cool Visual Activity

2007-04-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

A scene from our dinner table:

2007-04-12T07:59:00.000-05:00

The table is dark brown, and it seats four. Once a week, the table has 3 eaters. One plate for TJ, one for me, and one for Zach. You know which plate belongs to TJ, because there is nothing green on it. Zach's plate has green, usually onions, and an overwhelming amount of teriyaki sauce. My plate is perfect, of course. tee hee.

Last week we had barbecued pork loin, baked sweet potato fries, and sauteed onions (for the 'normal' people at the table).

The conversation that took place, wasn't so memorable. But the decision that we came to, at the end of the dinner, would leave a mark on the family for-e-ver.

While trying to decide what type of pudding to have for dessert, coconut cream or banana cream, we reached a problem. Nobody cared. Nobody would make a decision. So I had an idea. I took a piece of uneaten, fatty pork.

"Let's flip the fat, fatty side up is coconut, other side is banana." I said.

"Okay! Let's flip the fat!" Said the two boys in unison. Then they chanted, "Flip the fat, flip the fat!!" (okay not really, but if it a sitcom, they would've)

(added after TJ read the blog and reminded me of a bit of dialog I left out)
"Well why don't we just do what we normally do when we need to make a big family decision....honey flip the meat."

Fat flipped...."Coconut it is!"

And from now on, whenever we can't decide, we will flip the fat.

Man law.

A scene from our couch:

2007-04-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

It is a green couch. Husband and I were sitting on the couch sipping some powdered cappuchino stuff I got in 2005 for Christmas from my job. It still tasted fine, by the way. (And for those confused, the powder was DISSOLVED in hot water).

Anywho...we were watching tv and a Fig Newton commercial came on. At some point, a large green THING falls from the sky (in the commercial, not in our living room).

TJ looks at me confused and says, "Is that a fig?"

Me:"Yes, I believe it is a fig."

Him:"I suppose it could be a Newton."

Me:"Considering it fell from the sky, it might be."

Him:"From now on, if we don't know what something is, we'll call it a Newton."

Me:"Okay, 'man law!'"

And we laughed and laughed.

London Pictures, Take 2

2007-04-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

So, whatever. Yeah, this is the Globe Theatre, blah blah blah. Something about Shakespeare, and he's like, a great playwright, or something. I don't know. I think I learned about him in high school. Sadly, this was indeed exactly how I felt. It is in the location of the actual Globe Theatre, which was torn down at some point. The fact that the people of London tore the theatre down, makes me think that we've made a whole lot more out of this guy than truly is deserved. Am I going to English Teacher hell now? Probably. But I was already going, considering I swear "littler" should be a word.

Look kids! Big Ben!

Parliament!

Westminster Abbey is OLD! And they have added a new line of sculptures, all are "modern day martyrs." Each martyr was persecuted for religious beliefs and taken from every continent (well, I think Antartica is left out). The American winner is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Pasty from Cornwall

2007-04-06T18:50:00.000-05:00

Not sure where this Cornwall place is...but the Cornwallish, Cornwallians, Cornish, were the creators of the Pasty. It is not a sticker that covers your nipple. It is not pronounced like a sticker that covers your nipple, either. The U-ppers in Michigan pronounce it in a way that it rhymes with "nasty." I heard it pronounced like a "pasta" with an EE at the end too. Who cares. The food is GOOD!

It is basically a shmancy hot pocket :)

Here is my recipe:
Pork, Potato and Apple Pasty

1/3 lb ground pork
1 medium yellow potato
1 large granny smith apple
2T chopped onion
1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm puffed pastry
2T butter, melted

Cut the apple and potato to similar sizes. In a bowl, mix apple, potato, pork, and onion. On thawed pastry, heap a mound of mixture in the middle. Pull up both sides of pastry and meet in the middle, closing the pastry by pressing the dough together. On a cookie sheet with parchment paper, place Pasty with seam on the side. Pour butter over the pasty. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes.

There is no cheese in this pasty, but you could put some swiss or gruyere inside and it would be awesome!

And looky! A picture!

2007-04-04T08:33:00.000-05:00

London in Short, food first

2007-04-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

Who can complain about a free London trip? Not I! Nopers!

Here are some little known facts about England, that perhaps could come as a surprise, make complete sense, or prove that I am a bit behind in understanding the people "across the pond", as they say.

1. They do not season their food. They rely on eating foods from other ethnicities to get the flavor that we seem to appreciate daily. For example:

As part of the trip, we received dinner and breakfast at the hotel or a couple pubs around the City (if a town has a cathedral, it is called a city). Breakfasts consisted of cereals, rolls, croisantish things, fruit, yogurt, cheese and meat (salami and ham). I had bran flakes everyday, as an homage to my grandmother, who I often called gramflakes. And coffee. And the difference in Greek coffee, which I experienced on another free trip through school, is HUGE. Greek coffee rocks.

For dinners the hotel had a buffet with three options: vegetarian, fish, and a meat. Each night there was a "thai" something and an "italian" something, and a roast (a la English) with cabbage. I have never had so much cabbage in one week in my life.

The pubs offered pretty bland roast, roasted chicken, and a terribly flavorless version of fish and chips.

The best food items I ate were pasties from the Cornish Pasty chains. Basically it is a puffed pastry filled with goodness. I had a pork and apple, with ground pork, baked apple, roasted potatoes. Then I had a bacon and leek pasty. So good. I will be trying out the pasty business here in the George house.

2. Anglican Church worships royalty and war heroes like the Catholics idolize Patron Saints. And yet Catholics are not allowed in Parliament.

3. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were buried together, in the same big adorned box, with only Queen Elizabeth's effigy on the top. The QM got the shaftola. Probably the whole Catholic thing again. Burning Protestants at the stake and all...not a wise choice.

4. Pounds come in 1 and 2 pound coins, and you spend them like quarters. And the American dollar is only about a half a pound. And Starbucks is the same price (number wise) but it certainly doesn't equate. 2.89 for a cappuchino...as in 5 dollars American. YIKES!

5. You can buy shrooms on the street, as in from a store, laughing gas too.

6. The whole driving on the left side of the road is scary. You never know which way to look when crossing, and the traffic lights have warning lights before it turns green and before it turns red. Kookily sensical! Yet I would never drive there, and not so sure I will have to ever worry about that.

7. When travelling London, everything is so old, that if it took place in the 1700s you really aren't that impressed. Pre Henry the VIII is pretty sweet, but even that isn't impressive when you think about the pre-AD Stonehenge, ninth century Canterbury Cathedral and just a little younger St. Paul's.

8. The Blitzkrieg thing really sucked! And the Brits seem to talk about it a lot, or at least our tour guide Fred did. And understandably.

9. The London Bridge is now in Arizona...huh?

10. London Underground Rocks.

11. The Parthenon in Athens had a whole slew of sculptures telling stories at the top, around the building, and some Brit took them and now they are in the British Museum. And when I was in Greece, they were pissin' and moanin' about it. They are called "marbles" and truly belong back in Athens. That is what I think about that.

Pictures to come. Gots to take them off my ipod.

Roasted Garlic and Horseradish Crusted Beef Tenderloin

2007-03-14T09:25:00.000-05:00

Crust to me means: a crispy topping a la the crust of bread is not soft.
This recipe?
Not crusty.

Not at all.

The recipes DOES make a great and full of flavor (I have stopped using the word flavorfull because it is so overused by Rachel Ray, who I no longer like very much) beef tenderloin.

Here are my thoughts on beef tenderloin. It is my beef of choice because it really needs a sauce, and I am saucy. Also it is not chewy, and you don't have to cut around hunks o' fat. It isn't the most flavorful beef. And filet mignon, grilled, is really kinda icky sometimes. It just ends up tasting like the grill. And I like keeping my bacon with bacon and beef with beef, so adding bacon around the beef so that it tastes like bacon, seems rather idiotic to me. I mean honestly, you are turning a $30 piece of meat (at a restaurant), into a 5 cent slice o' bacon.

So with a sauce, you are getting the tender, melt in your mouth, beef, with a nice addition of bernaise sauce, or red wine reduction, or some gorgonzola cheese. In this case, our dinner last night, it had a roasted garlic and horseradish topping. It was roasted, which is nice because then it doesn't taste like the grill. I served it with roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

The recipe says it serves 12 people. I halved the recipe for the two of us, using less than 1.5 lbs of beef (much less), and the topping was enough. So if you are going to do this with 3 lbs of beef, I recommend doubling the "crust". And if you want a "crust", as I define crust, press some breadcrumbs into the topping...

Here is the recipe, taken from Cooking Light.

Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish-and-Roasted Garlic Crust
1 whole garlic head
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1/3 cup prepared horseradish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (3-pound) beef tenderloin

Preheat oven to 350°.
Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Coat with cooking spray; wrap in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Mash garlic pulp, horseradish, salt, basil, thyme, and pepper with a fork until blended.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Trim fat from tenderloin; fold under 3 inches of small end. Rub garlic mixture over roast. Place tenderloin on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Insert meat thermometer into thickest portion of tenderloin. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) to 160° (medium).

Place tenderloin on a platter. Cover and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 3 ounces)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 179(38% from fat); FAT 7.5g (sat 3g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 24g; CHOLESTEROL 70mg; CALCIUM 22mg; SODIUM 117mg; FIBER 0.2g; IRON 3.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2.5g

Pastitsio, but less fat and stuff.

2007-03-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

I have been craving the creamy. (I don't like the word creamy, so I will not use it again for the rest of this post.) Because I have been craving the smooth, cheesy, whiteness, I decided to try a ground beef pasta dish with elbow macaroni. TJ said, "Like hamburger helper?" Uh, yes dear. Something like that. (sorrowfully hanging my head that indeed I am craving the hamburger helper) So I decided I would try something a bit higher in class than the trashy box-o'processed, powdered, helper.

My mother-in-law mailed (postage? what is that?) me a recipe for Pastistio last year. I believe I made it for a birthday party. It was AWESOME! But TJ thought there were too many onions, which it did call for two chopped onions. I was amazed at the egg quantity with 6!! So I followed the recipe for the ground beef mixture, and then did my own cheesey white goodness for the elbow macaroni. It was excellent. Here is the recipe, as best as I can remember it. (Remarking snobbily, I really don't use recipes):

PASTA:
elbow macaroni (12 ounces, maybe??)

GROUND BEEF MIXTURE:
1.2 lbs ground beef
1/2 t cinnamon
salt
pepper
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 cup tomato sauce (I actually blended up canned "chopped tomato with onion and garlic", it was a wee watery, so i did not add the water. If you use canned tomato sauce, perhaps add 1/4 cup water)
1 t tomato paste (if it isn't thickening up for you by simmering)

Brown the beef, add the spices, add the wine and tomato sauce, simmering about 15 minutes to thicken. Add the paste if necessary.

MILK/BUTTER/CHEESE SAUCE:
3T unsalted butter
salt
1/4 cup plus 2 T flour
2 cups milk (I used 1% and it worked fine)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
pepper
After you cook the noodles, drain, rinse, and let cool while cooking the sauce. For sauce, melt butter, and add salt. Whisk in the flour until combined. Whisk in the milk. Simmer and whisk until thick, add cheese and black pepper to taste. Toss in noodles, stirring it all up.

Preheat 375.
In a round casserole/baking dish, put ground beef and then put sauced up noodle on top. Dust the top with nutmeg. Bake for 30 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes, so that it sets up nicely.

When I made this last night, I ended up with a bit more noodle than necessary for the top layer, so just eyeball it.

I figure it is less fat than the original recipe because:
A. I did not use butter to cook the beef or onions in, nor did I add oil to the pan.
B. I did not add eggs to the noodles, as is customary.
C. I did not add eggs to the sauce mixture.

I think there were 4 good sized servings in this. The original recipe, served more like 8-12 (imagine 1 chopped onion and 3 eggs in this smaller one).

You know how I know that this recipe was a hit?? TJ wanted to take leftovers for lunch. SCORE!

Hunan House Review

2007-03-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, in a Kohls with poor cell reception, I made a reservation for the Hunan House. It was a Valentine's Day afternoon. We adamently oppose such manmade love days, but decided we still wanted to EAT that night.

Upon arriving at Hunan House, it was, of course, very crowded. And the stern faced host proclaimed that he had no reservation in the book. So we waited. And waited. And left. Angered. I wrote up a long letter, which was never sent. And for the next three years we boycotted the HH. Hunan Hell. Horrible House. Hunan Heinous. Hwasted Htime.

Now three years later, and a whole relationship makeover under our belts, we decided to give it a second try.

We ate:
Sesame Noodles
Beef Satay
Won Ton Soup
Spicy Triple, featuring shrimp, beef, and chicken.

The sesame noodles were spicy! Loved them. They were not listed as "for two", but the server promptly separated them into two large servings. We then split four skewers of satay. I am interested to do these at home, but perhaps just going back to HH for them is easier. The won ton soup could be the best in town! It had at least 3 large shrimps, strips of white meat chicken, 2 or more full fledged dumplings with substantial filling, and cabbage! It is listed as "For Two" and it was so filling! We subsequently had little room for a dinner. So we split the Triple. It too was actually spicy. I seldom have an asian, szechuan, meal that actually feels spicy to me. But HH totally came through here.

In the future, I really want Coconut Ice Cream as dessert, but we'd have to cut back on the food. The food is too good to cut back!

And there is booze on site. They have the funny boat drink menu, with the big flaming drinks, and a Zombie drink. The Zombie drink says, "limit 1". The hubby thinks it is a joke. I believed the menu. So if you would, go and see if they only let you have one. I am really curious!

Location: 161, west of Cleveland Avenue. Definitely go.

I have been LINKED!

2007-03-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

I was surfing around other food blogs today, and looky looky! My blog was on their list of websites for other food blogs! ME! So, now I feel bad for not linking them, which I will do now fo-sho! And one of the blogs I had never seen before! Okay, can you sense my excitement by the number of exclamation points I have used?

Last night I made Mushroom Risotto for the dear husband. It was his homemade birthday dinner, kinda. A day late, but the Subway and then stuffed jalapenos the night before wasn't that great of a "birthday dinner". Although we did revisit the stuffed jalapenos for dinner with the risotto.

Here is my risotto recipe...pretty standard.

8 ounces sliced baby portabella mushrooms
6 cups chicken broth (I used 5 chicken and 1 beef last night)
1/4 cup wine red or white works great!
1 cup arborio rice (makes 3 cups of risotto)
2 large garlic cloves chopped
2 T finely chopped onions (TJ don't read that)
salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan
olive oil

Pour chicken broth into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat. Turn to low if it boils.

Heat olive oil (about 2 T) in a large saute pan. For me, I use my Calphalon omelete pan (large not the small). Saute mushrooms until they release their liquids and brown. Add wine and cook down. Add garlic and onion and the arborio rice. Add another T of olive oil. Saute until the rice looks pearly with a white dot of sorts in the middle. Then start the ladling. My ladle is 1/2 cups. I ladle one scoop at a time, stirring until the broth is soaked up. The rice will release its starches, and you can tell when the broth has thickened with that starch. Keep adding until it is the consistency of risotto. Honestly, sometimes it is more and sometimes less broth in order to "get there". Sprinkle in cheese, stirring to make it creamy.

The End.

I wish I had a camera to take photos...it is broken. Remember?

My Subway Woes

2007-02-28T12:31:00.000-05:00

TOO MUCH BREAD! CAN'T TASTE TOPPINGS!

Thank you,

Kristy

Shrieking and Running Around Crazy-Like

2007-02-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

WEEEE GOTTTTTT IPODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TJ got one for his birthday from me. I got myself one for just being me.

So we may be a little distracted for awhile to figure these bad boys out. Let me say this, I can download episodes of:
"I Love New York"
"Rob and Amber Show"
"No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain"
and so much more!

If I was a Mexican Food Party, this is what I'd be:

2007-02-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

I would be margaritas and sangria. There is boxed Sangria mix at Trader Joes, I think. Just slice up some lemons, limes, oranges, and add it to the wine mix. Put it into a pretty pitcher; I've heard Snowman Pitchers would be a nice irony, considering it is a WARM weather drink and there is a foot of snow on the ground.

I would also be a spread of dips. Salsa, Guacomole, Black Bean, and Queso would be perfect! And there are multi-colored chips at Trader Joes (the blue ones), as well as precut carrots, celery and peppers. Even better, Whole Foods veggie counter will package up those vegetables for you, even if they aren't already prepared in the Cut Vegetable Case.

There are two very easy crockpot meat recipes, that would then be perfect for burrito/taco bars. Put a roast in one crockpot, with a package of taco seasoning and some beef broth. Put chicken breasts in another crockpot, with the same and let them cook up to shredded seasoned goodness. Along with the seasoning, cut a lime in half and put that with the chicken. Cut an orange in half and put that with the beef.

I swear I created this dish in college and now it is all over every "easy dinner" webpage in the world. I called it Enchilada Lasagna. Now it has stupid names like Enchilada Bake, Casserole, whatever. It is pretty much all from the can, and I just needed a can opener and an oven. I lived off of this when I did my student teaching. Fast for when I got home at 630pm, and great in my lunch, since I left at 530am.

Here are the recipes!!

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this" Salsa
Can of chopped tomatoes with garlic and onion
garlic
jalapeno (canned) slices
cilantro
salt
lime juice
BLEND in food processor. This tastes just like the Senor Antonios, Las Margaritas, and La Vaquera salsas!!

Black Bean Dip
Mini food processor: Place:
a can of drained black beans.
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup of chopped red onion
A handful of cilantro
2 cloves of garlic.
Blend until smooth.

Guacomole (buy it when you are at Whole Foods)

Queso
Melt Pepper Jack Velveeta (it is white like real queso blanco). Add a can of Rotel tomatoes with chile peppers. I have this little dipper crockpot that would work great for this.

Enchilada Lasagna
1 large can of white meat chicken (or use the crockpot chicken)
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 package of flour tortillas
1 can of refried beans
1 chopped small yellow onion
1 shredded cheese package
1T oil, to saute the onion and combine with chicken.

Layer from bottom of casserole dish up:
tortilla, refried beans, chicken and onion, cheese, tortilla, enchilada sauce, beans, chicken and onion, cheese, tortilla sauce cheese.

For the crockpot meats:
Brown the roast and then put into a crockpot. Pour a can of beef broth over the roast, along with the package of taco seasoning. Anti packaged seasoning? Use Cumin, Coriander, Chile Pepper, Salt. The halved orange adds an interesting flavor. 8 hours on low.

Chicken can be thrown in raw. Pour the broth over it, and add the seasoning. There are some other marinades that could be used instead of the seasoning. They are on the top shelf in the Mexican aisle at any grocery store, and generally, I can't reach them very well...so I have never bought them. But it could work!

Six Weird Things About Me: Or, I Am Only Doing This So People READ My Blog!

2007-02-12T14:09:00.000-05:00

Weird Thing Number 1:

I know the entire dance number at the beginning of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This occured because I did not have cable or an antenna one WHOLE summer in college.

Weird Thing Number 2:

I love working out while watching the Food Network. Especially Tyler, Michael Chiarello, or Giada Big-Head de Laurentis. Strike that, I don't LOVE working out, but I can tolerate it while watching people make food that will refuel the calories I just burned.

Weird Thing Number 3:

On my list of reasons to have children with my husband, the top two are: 1. To see if they are cute. 2. To see if they can sing.

Weird Thing Number 4:

I stopped eating meat for SIX years basically so I had a good excuse to eat a lot of pasta, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Oh I know there are meat products in stuffing. I didn't say I did it to save the animals!

Weird Thing Number 5:

I love Taco Bell Nachos Bell Grande, will buy it while driving, eat it before I get home, and hide the evidence. Luckily, there isn't one NEAR my house, so this does not happen too often. However, TJ has a nose for onions and can smell those pesky green onions the moment I enter the door.

Weird Thing Number 6:

I teach World Literature and TOTALLY got a D in British Literature. AND I have been picked to go to London with students for school. I get to go for FREE! I got a D people!!

Weird Thing Number 7, in case one of those was more a confession than weird:

My hands are freakishly small, and I ROCK at Thumb Wrestling.

This is called a meme. I do not know what that means. It is like a blog chain letter of sorts. So, people reading who do not have blogs, just post your weirdnesses in the comments section. Please?

That is so last year!

2007-02-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that I would like last year to go poof? Because I would. It influences my life weekly, down to the fact that I think cooking or eating certain things reminds me and my husband of last year, and therefore we no longer like them.

Case in point: Balsamic Chicken.
I used to recommend this gem of a dish to anyone looking for a light, not bad for you, tastey chicken dish. I got the initial recipe off of a Weight Watchers webpage, and aside from adding a little more olive oil, I follow the recipe and do not need to doctor it up. But we are done with it. I made it last night, and I think I decided that balsamic vinegar is no longer a necessary ingredient in my house. On salads, perhaps. But champagne vinegar may be the new balsamic. (Honey, it is used in Bernaise sauce. And we LIKE THAT on steaks; you'll be reminded tonight at Hyde Park!!)

Anywho...for some, butternut squash is "so last year". But I got the guts to start cooking with it and sweet potatoes THIS year. Note: a "year" to me, begins in September and ends in June.

I have made: butternut squash soup, butternut squash cream sauce for gorgonzola raviolis, and I put it in a pot sticker wrapper for a squash ravioli. The soup was created this week, along with a laundry list of other things. The list and recipes will follow:

Butternut Squash Soup: I found this on allrecipes.com!
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped (I also chopped up a small leek)
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed (I used one red potato, one sweet potato)
1 medium butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed (about 4 cups)
1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock (I used less than this)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
My herb additions:
chopped sage
1/2t cinnamon
1/2t nutmeg
1 t red curry powder
2T brown sugar

White Bean Dip:
Can of white beans
garlic
chives
salt
Blend and dip carrots, red peppers, and celery in it.

Buffalo Chicken Dip:
4 boiled, shredded chicken breasts
equal parts: (In this case, 8 ounces of each)
Franks Red Hot
Cream Cheese
Ranch Dressing
Shredded cheddar on top (amount may vary)
Soak chicken in Franks in the casserole dish that you will use to bake it. Melt cream cheese with dressing, mix. Top the chicken. Top all with cheese. Bake at 375 until it is bubbly melty.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this" Salsa
Can of chopped tomatoes with garlic and onion
garlic
jalapeno (canned) slices
cilantro
salt
lime juice
BLEND in food processor. This tastes just like the Senor Antonios, Las Margaritas, and La Vaquera salsas!!

Soft Pretzels
1 tsp dry yeast
2 tbls and 2 tsp brown sugar
2+ cups flour
coarse kosher salt
baking soda
shortening or butter (I used cooking spray...with NO problems)
Directions: 1) In large mixing bowl mix 1 tbls HOT water and 1 tsp yeast. Mix until yeast dissolves completely. 2) Stir in 2/3 cup WARM water. 3) Stir in 2 tbls and 2 tsp brown sugar. 4) Slowly add 2 cups flour, stirring constantly. Contuine stirring until the mixture is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. 5) Lightly flour counter. Dip your hands into extra flour. Knead the dough until it is stretchy and smooth. (Push it down and away from you with the palms of your hands, turning the dough as you work) 6) Grease cookie sheet(s) well with butter or shortening. Sprinkle greased cookie sheet(s) with kosher salt. Preheat oven to 475. 7) Using liquid measuring cup fill a large saucepan at least 1/2 full of water. For each 1 cup of water, add 1 tbls baking soda. 8) Divide the dough into 16 equal sized pieces. 9) Using the following 4 steps shape each dough ball into a pretzel shape... 1)Roll the dough into a rope 14\" long and as thick as your thumb. Bend the dough into a U shape. 2) Cross one end of the rope over the other one. The ropes should cross about three inches from the tips. 3) Twist the crossed ends, making a full turn. Fold the ends back, towards the middle of the U. 4) Open the ends slightly to form a pretzel shape. Press the ends into the dough firmly. 10) Bring water into saucepan to a gentle boil (not to many bubbles) 11) Use pancake turner to lower each pretzel into the saucepan. Count slowly to 30. Then lift the pretzel onto the greased and salted cookie sheet (shaking off excess water back into the saucepan). Repeat until all the pretzels are done. 12) Sprinkle some kosher salt on top of the pretzels and put them in preheated oven. Bake for 8 minutes or until the pretzels are golden.

Pizza Dough
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Increasing Readership

2007-02-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

If I really want people to read my blog, I should probably post more than once a week or so. I would. I totally would! If I knew people gave a poo. I have two avid readers. Love you guys. Word to your mothers.

My latest blog topic idea is what foods do you ignore? I mean, if you see a recipe, judge it by the title, look at the ingredients, what is a trigger ingredient that makes you go, "nope! not for me!" ??

My Top Four (I can't think of five!):
1. Velveeta
I don't want it in my house. I don't want to be seen with it at the checkout counter. I don't want to be tempted by its creamy fake goodness. Yes, I like a good Mexican cheese dip, a la my sister in law's which has sausage in it. YUM!! Problem: I could eat it all. WIth a spoon. By itself.

I recently saw a recipe for Cheeseburger Soup. Cheeseburger, good. Soup, good. I bet this would be for me! Ingredient Numero Dos: Velveeta. Calmly I set the recipe down. And walked away. Shaking my head.

2. Yeast
It doesn't like me. I apparently live in a Yeast Free Zone, where yeast (yeasts, yeasti, plural??) are rendered inactive. Bread does not rise. Pizza doughs taste like Saltine crackers. I stay away.

3. Olives
Love all mediteranean foods, but olives don't do it for me. So tapenades, olive martinis, olives in layered dips do not occur in my kitchen.

4. Chicken Thighs or recipes requiring various chicken parts.
I am Chicken Racist. White meat all the way. Dark meat and meat that gets too close to a bone or ligament gives me the willies. When you swore off chicken for 6 whole years, you tend to still have your standards.

So take a risk. Hit reply or post a comment, whatever it says down there. And reply with your own personal banned ingredients.

Beef Roast in Sur La Table style

2007-01-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

We tried the same lamb recipe with a roast last night. It turned out great!!

Since we didn't get to trim, pound, tie the roasts at the cooking class, that was an endeavor last night. TJ wanted to try doing that. Watching a left handed person using knives is really quite humorous! Not a jab at his wielding skills, just not something I have seen before.

If you want a rich tomato sauce, seriously, roast a can of chopped tomatoes on TOP of a beef roast, then blend up all the juices in the blender. In the future, I am going to make meatballs, brown them, top them with tomato and then bake them in the oven. Then blend up the tomato and whatnot and put the meatballs back in the sauce. It is just so much better than stove top simmered sauce!

Potato Gnocchi in Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Sauce

2007-01-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

In the pasta aisle, you will find potato gnocchi in vacuum sealed packages. They say "3 Servings"; I say NO. But they work for 2 people for sure. I think homemade gnocchis are better. These were a bit mushy, but they serve a great purpose, taking only 3 minutes in boiling water. They made a great dinner for TJ and I last night.

This was an attempt to recreate a Whole Foods menu item. I tweaked it a wee.
Roasted Bulb of garlic (40 minutes at 350 in foil)
Toasted Pine Nuts
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chicken broth1/4 cup white wine
Cook the gnocchi and set aside, keeping them warm.
Toast pine nuts, and add to gnocchi. Sweat the mushrooms in a nonstick pan (I cover mine). Add chicken broth to mushrooms to deglaze the pan. Add the roasted garlic and wine; saute to blend flavors. Toss with gnocchi and nuts. Add parmesan cheese.

Our first Cooking Class

2007-01-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

I have zippo witty things to say about my cooking lesson at Sur La Table. It is kind of a downer, having nothing witty, not the lesson. I guess I'll have to give it to you straight.

The chef leading our little cooking class was previously a soux chef at The Refectory (duh duh dun). He had all of these nice little anecdotes about Chef Rouchard, the french chef in charge. We have never been to The Refectory, and I want to go now, just to check it out.

The lay out of the class was a little sitting and listening, hand washing, and then splitting up to work on different tasks. I was hoping to get to make each thing, but the group just split to do a little of everything. I peeled vegetables, whisked some eggs, and just stood back a little to watch everything. TJ really wanted to SEAR the meat, so he hung out with the other men by the meat. I know there is a joke there somewhere!

While peeling the vegetables, we used a serrated peeler. Pretty effective little buggers, and the peel of skin from my knuckle proves why I will not be investing in one of those. Ohhh, they peel tomatoes! Ohhh they are so sharp! Ohh they really are dangerous people. Now, I am positive I did not A. Get skin in the vegetables. B. Bleed on anything (it didn't bleed immediately, and when it did ooze a little, I was done touching things). Strangely enough, the vegetables did not roast fast enough for anyone to eat them, except maybe the "help" in the store manning the cash registers, and they are just little moochers anyway.

On the menu:
Italian Feast
Fontina Cheese dip
-lovely! After it had simmered for awhile, it got to a nice thicker consistency. Initially, however, it was runny and felt like I was dipping bread into the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese juices (just a better flavor).
Roasted Winter Vegetables
-uh, didn't get none. It was only a plethora of roots that I usually do not eat, and it would've been nice to try! But there was NOTHING shmancy about the prep (just olive oil, salt, pepper), and it may be for the better, what with the skin, and the long curly hair I removed from one piece of sweet potato. The danger of this class: strangers! With HAIR!
Roasted Leg of Lamb
This was great. This was worth the money. Just seeing the prep, tying up, sauce making, etc. He pounded the lamb, rolled it with thyme and rosemary, and roasted. On top of the lamb, while roasting, was a can of tomatoes and carmelized onions. After the roasting, the onion pan was used to transfer all of the lamb juice, tomato,etc., and a nice sauce was created. He used an immersion blender, and NOW I want one. Sauce rocked. And it could be good on beef roast too, which I have in my freezer already. Which I will be trying!!

Flourless Chocolate Tart
Another winner! I saw the making of Creme Anglaise, which I love. This was just easy, and I will make at home. The tart is simple, just need the right chocolate.

Another bonus of the Sur La Table class, is a 15% discount in the store the NIGHT of the class, and 10% all week. I found a recipe binder.

Most important part, this was a Christmas gift for TJ. And he had a great time! And he wants to go again. I just love that.

A Croque can make diaper talk worthwhile.

2006-12-10T19:04:00.000-05:00

Have you ever eaten something so good that for the rest of the day you didn't want to put anything else in your mouth because you just wanted to SAVOR that flavor, texture, experience? It happened to me. Today. At BRUNCH.

Yes, I had Brunch (capital B) with some good girlie friends. It was at the original Lindey's and so urban. Picture the cute little NYC breakfast place that Jack Nicholson visits everyday in the film As Good As It Gets. You know, the one where he says, "There's Jews sitting at my table." And one of the accosted Jews is the actress who is now the head of the hospital on House, but I digress.

Well as I listened to my friends speak of their new babies, upcoming nanny interviews, upcoming babies (in like two weeks), and upcoming gallery openings, I felt like an adult and awfully shmancy. I didn't have as much to contribute, except for my dorky students who are taking over an online discussion forum that I started for them...and boy are they DORKS! Discussing the upcoming Eragon movie and new Nintendo Wiii.

So, I just sat back and enjoyed the ambiance, and then came my brunch. I ordered the Croque Madam and oh. my. God. I didn't have to hear anything else about disposable or cloth diapers and then cringe at the idea of WASHING diapers. You know. DiRtY diapers! (perhaps when I can focus on the money saved and not the poop, I'll be ready for a kid) I was all sated and just bathing in the richness of the Croque. (pronounced Croak, I think. Hopefully not Crock). It was a brioche, soaked in egg and cream, with ham and gruyere cheese. Topped then with a fried egg and then again with hollandaise. Did I say oh my God?? Because that is about all I can say to explain.

So moral: Lindeys...good croque madam. And I have a tiramisu in the fridge waiting for me later.

I'm Back Baby!

2006-12-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

So much to discuss, oh where to start!

Let's start with the bad and then get to the good. It is serious. It is really something to be concerned about. The topic. The concern. The issue:
Fat Women, Large Large Women, with...gasp...COUPONS!!

If you ever wonder when NOT to go to the grocery store, the answer is simple. With me. And with me on Sundays. Twice now I have been stuck behind evil coupon wielding bitches. Most recent occurrence was Giant Eagle two days ago. This event made me want to blog. So thank the amazon woman with a pile o' coupons for this post.

Now I had a bad coupon experience last time, which included mass coupons and price checks on clearance gum. So with the visit Sunday, I doubled checked that the lovely pregnant lady in front of me had NO coupons. Check. Little did I know, the woman in front of her, seemingly almsot done, and did I mention OH LARGE, was actually scanning the first part of her coupons. I think we could separate her coupon load into four parts. When I started unloading my cart, she was on part two. Then part three occurred as I watched people get in line behind me. Then before part four could occur, I kid you not, the manager had to come over to allow the rest of the coupons to go into the register. Literally, she hit the maximum for normal people, and went into coupon orbit with the rest.

"Dear Gawd Kristy, what was in the cart?" you ask. Cereal. Chips. Lotions. In essence, CRAP. Lots of high fat, high sugar, overly processed CRAP.

"What was in your cart, oh wise ass?" Apples, ground chicken, Birds Eye frozen vegetables at 10 for $10. No crap here, dammit! Well, some crap. Ranch Munchies for my lovey love.

Moral of the story, if you use coupons, and I mean USE THEM. Like piles of them. Go shopping at 1am. Don't inconvenience people willing to pay more because they value their time too much to waste their time on 50 cents off of THREE (yes, because my experience requires you to purchse multiples and the biatch in front of me Sunday proved that point too).

Onto the good stuff. The meal plan for this week is STELLAR! We had cannelloni last night. It was from Cooking Light. Here is the recipe, in bold is how I changed it to make it LESS good for us.
Cannelloni (Weight Watchers 8points for two)

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Cooking spray
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground turkey I actually used ground chicken. It was cheaper.
1/4 cup egg substitute
5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided Yeah right. 5 T! More like 1/2 cup.
1 1/4 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
(8-ounce) cans no-salt-added tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 cooked manicotti shells
White Sauce The white sauce calls for dried milk. uh, eww. I did 2T butter, 2T flour and about 1.5 cups milk. Beautiful. And I added some parmesan to that too.

Place spinach between paper towels, and squeeze until barely moist; set aside.
Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add spinach; sauté 1 minute. Place mixture in a large bowl; set aside.
Combine ground chuck and turkey in skillet; cook over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain and pat dry with paper towels; add to spinach mixture. Add egg substitute, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper; stir well, and set aside.
Combine tomato sauce, 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; spread 1 cup over bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375º. Stuff each shell with 1/3 cup spinach mixture; arrange on top of tomato sauce mixture in dish. Pour remaining tomato sauce mixture over shells; spoon White Sauce evenly over tomato sauce mixture. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 375º for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 stuffed shells with 1 tablespoon white sauce)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 376(30% from fat); FAT 12.5g ; SODIUM 448mg; CHOLESTEROL 48mg; PROTEIN 26.4g; CARBOHYDRATE 38.8g

So the cannelloni rocked. But the pork cooked tonight for dinner by the husband was even better. It, also is from Cooking LIght. I picked out three recipes before my fateful grocery trip on Sunday. And then the webpage makes a grocery list for you. Quite nice!

Honey Hoisin Pork Tenderloin (weight watchers 4pts a serving):
2 tablespoons sliced green onions Didn't use this either, because it is green and TJ doesn't eat green things. Well, he doesn't eat onions either, but generally anything green is boycotted in our house (parsley, cilantro, garnishes far and wide).
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sage honey Regular honey was just fine.
1 tablespoon hot water Uh, this was not used. Not sure where it was supposed to go. But he didn't do it.
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Pour 1/4 cup honey mixture into a large zip-top plastic bag; reserve remaining honey mixture. Add pork to bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning bag occasionally.
Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle pork with salt. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork; cook 2 minutes, browning on all sides. Brush 1 tablespoon reserved honey mixture over pork; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place skillet in oven. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160° (slightly pink) or until desired degree of doneness.
Place pork on a platter; let stand 5 minutes. Cut pork across the grain into thin slices. Drizzle with the remaining honey mixture. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork and about 2 teaspoons honey mixture)

CALORIES 195 (20% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 1.4g,mono 1.9g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 24.7g; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 12mg; SODIUM 633mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 1.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 13.6g

Pork with Maple Mustard Glaze

2006-11-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

Oh the deliciousness of last night's dinner. Oh the yummy smells. Oh the desire to lick the saute pan even with the searing burns that would occur on the tongue. Sidenote: your tongue heals faster than any other part of your body. Well your tongue and the whoo-whoo on a woman. So really, it would just be a temporary pain. Highly worth it so as not to waste yummy leftover pan bits.

The dinner was a joint effort. But really, my part in the effort was not the most important. I am humble enough to admit that the Pork with the Maple Mustard Glaze was not my creation. After the pork was cooked, the leftove pan goodness was deglazed with chicken broth and a splash of heavy whipping cream to create an amazing sauce. The sauce was then poured on top of the pork and mashed potatoes (my humble contribution).

Here is the recipe from Cooking Light. Now it probably wasn't all that light for US, because to the dearest one who shares my life, a teaspoon of butter is more like 1/3 stick. And "sauce serving" is 1 T of sauce. HA. I think I just peed laughing at that one. We poured the sauce we made; I dipped into the sauce. I think I licked the side of the measuring cup.

And if you don't like links:
Pork Chops with Maple Mustard Glaze

Maple syrup makes a fine stand-in for honey or sugar in sauces. Here, it adds a rich, sweet note to herbed mustard sauce. This sauce goes nicely with sautéed chicken breasts as well. 1 teaspoon butter
(4-ounce) boneless pork loin chops, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons heavy cream

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle pork chops evenly with salt and pepper; add pork to pan. Cook 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; keep warm.
Add broth and next 4 ingredients (through thyme) to pan. Bring to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in cream, and reduce heat to medium. Return pork to pan; simmer 3 minutes or until pork is done, turning once. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 214(22% from fat); FAT 5.2g (sat 1.9g,mono 1.9g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 26.3g; CHOLESTEROL 68mg; CALCIUM 38mg; SODIUM 751mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.6g

Answer: Pizza Places Located at the Entrance of a Trailer Park.

2006-10-24T12:49:00.000-05:00

Question: Where you should NOT buy pizza dough? (this is an homage to my Jeopardy love, as well as a shout out to my Father-In-Law)

I strolled into this pizza place called Lilman's. It is on the way home and they were kind enough to give me some ranch dipping sauce one other time when I was mildly unprepared for the dinner plans.

Now to me, Lilman's should be a Hebrew Bagel place, not a pizza joint. But this is Delaware Ohio people, and ethnic consistency flies out the window (mostly because the windows are covered with a garbage bag and duct tape).

At any rate, after the chica behind the bar had to ask the manager in the back, she giggles and brings out some pizza dough. It was only 3 dollars...but it was dry and kinda crappy, and ended up a little brick like. I think with pizza sauce et al it would have been fine...but I just wanted some garlicky cheeseness to accompany the Wedding Soup.

In the future, I'll try my luck with the yeast packets. But the idea that there is something alive in there just wigs me out.

Tonight a more normal plan: Syrian Rice and Lemon Chicken. I'm craving Pine Nuts.

Butternut Squash Ravioli...the night I wanted Cheerios.

2006-10-18T07:51:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:
*One large phallic shaped Butternut Squash
1 cup ricotta cheese (mascarpone works too)
WonTon Wrappers (I found these near the salad mix in the produce section)
Stick of butter
Sage (fresh), chopped (2 T ish)
Parmesan
chopped nuts if you like them
egg wash
boiling water

Roast el squash-o in a 375 oven for an hour or until soft; I spread butter over it too. Let it cool and then scrape out. Mash it, mash it good. Add ricotta and mix it up. Spoon onto wrapper, brush with egg, place wrapper on top.

chef's note: I think folding the wrapper over, is possibly the better way to go. It seems safer, and my won ton wrappers may have been a wee large.

Drop the little buggers into boiling water. They will float when they want out.

To make the Sage Brown Butter sauce, melt and cook the butter (a whole stick, minus what you spread on the squash for roasting). It will bubble and once it turns brown, drop in the fresh, chopped sage. IT will REALLY bubble and the sage will get crispy. ( Yes, this is the same sauce from the gnocchi. Yes, I am sick of it. TJ lurves it. I lurve him. ) I added nuts here too. They were a nice crunch.

Some crumbled gorgonzola would ROCK this out...but we had none.

They were great. They were rich. After all the time put into it, I wanted cereal instead.

In the future: these will be an appetizer of three raviolis. More than three and I think you get tired of them.

*This squash was HILARIOUS looking! And yes I walked around poking people with it when I purchased it at the Farmer's Market with Lisa, Jim, Barb, Brian, and TJ. I poked people in the rears. I also left it out on the counter for showings of our house, which is for sale. I wanted it to say, "We like fall and we have a sense of humor. Buy our house."

What does 20 inches mean to you? The difference between Men and Women.

2006-10-12T09:36:00.000-05:00

Weep blubber sigh.
You've missed the blog. I've missed you too.

A couple food events have occurred. Sunday, I baked. I baked so that our house would smell like apple pie. We are selling the house. I figured happy cooking smells would make people want to buy the house. Or at least give a reason for why there may be some stains on the stove..."holy cow. they actually cook in this kitchen!". After the pies, I made Banana Bread.

Parent teacher conferences were Monday. It is exhausting. But uneventful. TJ wanted to have dinner ready when I got home. We discussed just heating up a pizza from the freezer. I had a voicemail on my cell around the time i was leaving. I thought it was TJ trying to figure out the best way for the reheat. It wasn't. He was actually calling to say he was surprising me. He drove his little, wee, tiny, butt over to Whole Foods and got Portabella Mushroom Ravioli for us. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. So it was Meatless Monday. With an apple pie dessert.

Tuesday night was now TJ cooking night. I wanted to try to make gnocchis. I had never made them before. I found a Sweet Potato version, which I KNEW TJ would love. He wanted to try to make them too. So it was a joint venture. The recipe is next:

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI WITH BROWN BUTTER AND SAGE
2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork
1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve 2 hours
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons plus
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place sweet potatoes on plate; microwave on high until tender, about 5 minutes per side. Cut in half and cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into medium bowl and mash; transfer 3 cups to large bowl. Add ricotta cheese; blend well. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces. Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2 tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Turn off heat. Season sage butter generously with salt and pepper. Transfer half of sage butter to large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add half of gnocchi. Saute until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes. Empty skillet onto rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining sage butter and gnocchi. Divide gnocchi and sauce among shallow bowls. Garnish with sage leaves. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Stop drooling on your keyboard.

The making of the recipe was completely uneventful. I did the fork tong imprints, while TJ cut them. When we were rolling the dough into "20 inches", it was quite humorous to see the difference in our interpretation of 20inches. I was optimistic, thinking 20 inches was much longer than TJ's pessimistic version. Come to realize, he was right. My size assumptions have been sadly wrong. Is it based on my height? Do I want 61 whopping inches to be taller than it is? Or does a guy want "20 Inches" to be shorter? Hmm. Deep thoughts. Possibly toward the dirty.

We had tons of gnocchi. We froze a couple more meals worth. And it seems like a cheap dinner. And did you KNOW Sage is furry and kinda smells like PINE? I was worried, but when cooked it tastes different. Thank GOD!

2006-10-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Mark it down. Monday, October 2nd, TJ took a step into the kitchen and made dinner. It started when he called, from the grocery store, and said, "I was thinking I'd cook dinner tonight."

Sweet! So I asked him, "Where are you?"

"Giant Eagle"

"Okay, they have Salmon on sale, if you want to get that." And then the conversation ended with the customary pleasantries.

Phone rings

"I'm not at Giant Eagle. I am at Walmart."

I say, of course, "Well don't get salmon THERE!" The horror of walmart fish! Something just seems bizarre about buying stereos, fertilizer, and salmon all in the same place.

He says, "I already did. It looks fine."

p ause.

"uh, okay" Again with the pleasantries. (mmm, pastries)

Phone rings

"I need you to come pick me up. My car won't start. "

GAH! Why does he try and do something so sweet and wonderful and get punished? Why Buddha why?

But the calmness came through. We handled this as we usually do, fairly calmly. $65 later for a tow, we are home and he actually still wanted to cook dinner!

I wish I could go moment by moment and giggle at his little trials as he cooked. Truth be told, he did one funny thing and there was only one loud bang, followed by the vacuum sucking up whatever was then on the floor.
The funny thing: for bread crumbs, he toasted an English Muffin and then started scraping it. I then got the food processor out and he did it that way.
Loud Bang: cookie sheet that was in the oven already. He said immediately, "It's all good!"

And as with any cook, he was more critical of his concoction than I. He thought it lacked flavor and was troubleshooting for next time as he ate. I thoroughly appreciate that, and often do the same thing. It was, however, very good! I mean, he never cooks, and a salmon with an ALMOND CRUST, people, is a LOFTY goal for a first timer, and he did great!!

The most beautiful thing said during this excursion: "I want to cook once a week." Yes!!

There are no words...

2006-09-25T18:17:00.000-05:00

But really, have I ever been able to have NO WORDS?

This is just wrong. And what are the toppings? Green chop sticks, a spool of red thread, and some pennies. I think the other red globs are blood stains. And that baby is NOT actually wearing it because that is one creepy smiling baby with a badly photoshopped hat.

This costume is available at Target.com for your lovely cherub at the bargain price of 24.99, followed by thousands of dollars in therapy because your kid has a serious fear of, well, being stuffed into a pizza crust. Imagine, a child who won't touch pizza! Devastating.

Last Meal Tells All

2006-09-22T13:53:00.000-05:00

I found this webpage, because a post on The Nest for a free book that foodies would love. As I consider myself a foodie, and I like free stuff, I handed over my info in hopes that a free book will arrive at my house. Upon its arrival and it being read, I'll post a review; don't worry.

Any who, the author is a chef and pretty well known and has his own show, although I have never seen it. TIVO will be utilized tonight so that I may better acquaint myself. The point is coming, I promise. If you venture to read any of those links up there, you will see a section where he discusses what good food really is. In fact, he compares it to the "If you were on death row, what would you want your last meal to be?" game. We've all played. If you haven't, I am not sure why you are reading my blog and what is wrong with you? But he says that the last meals are very rarely, even in 5 star chefs, some elaborate gourmet meal. It is ultimately the most comforting food item. Or for girls, the FATTENING food item that you would only eat with the knowledge that the calories or effect on the hips will not better because, hello, you are going to be dead!

This rant leads to this...good food is oh so good. But it isn't what heals us or often what we truly splurge on.

My last meal:
a whole pepperoni, pineapple, banana pepper pizza (is it bad that I sing the Gwen Stefani song in my head to spell banana correctly??)
extra sauce on the side
garlic cheesy bread
alfredo sauce
Dairy Queen banana split with no pineapple, extra strawberry sauce
bottle of Chianti

This would be my last meal according to TODAY. It may change. I now encourage you to respond with your own choices.

Don't fret my pet!

2006-09-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

Oh my avid blog readers. I wasn't so much sad as I was Writing Blocked.

I guess for a while I was on such a writing high, with people reading and telling me I was witty and what not. But then I didn't feel so witty anymore. And felt like I was just complaining all the time. I fear what you all would think when I was feeling really sad. I shudder at the thought like the hyenas shuddered when Moustafa's name was mentioned in The Lion King.

So onward and upward, right? I had a rip roaring time at BW3s last night. I also discovered that Boneless Wild Wings makes me very thirsty. Like wake up in the middle of the night thirsty after just having a dream about drinking mass quantities of water thirsty. And then TJ is all, "Are you okay?" as I am stooping eeirily at the end of the bed searching through my gym bag where I hoard free bottled water from the gym.

Yes, I have a Water Membership, not a Gym membership. I belong because they provide bottled water for members, and I can take one with me on the way home for later. So really, I pay for water and can work-out for free, baby!

Off topic, sorry. We played trivia with Brian and Barb, lovely friends of ours, and I learned:
um
crap
not sure what useless facts I learned

Wild Wings make me thirsty?

I'll leave you with a haiku:

Peeing while drinking
Does feel oddly connected
I dare you to try

This is who I am. This is what I do.

2006-09-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

I have been feeling especially paranoid lately and it has caused me not to blog. The little voice in my head is all, "These people do not give two shits about what you had for dinner." or "They do not want to hear AGAIN about the crappy service you had at a restaurant." I swear I do not complain all of the time! But I get paranoid that I am always especially complimentary of myself and oh so critical of everyone else.

But then I think, "Yes, I am a bitch. Who cares?" Ha! I care so much that I tell myself I don't. It is like when the bath water gets so hot that it almost feels incredibly freezing on your skin as it turns it dark shades of scary red. I care so much it becomes not caring.

I fooled my husband with this for awhile. He thought I didn't care and he could joke or say what he wanted and it wouldn't matter, "Because man she is tough!" Oh the wicked web we weave...For our marriage, thank God he knows the truth now. I am as strong as my chili is spicy (another problem that I have. I mean, do I actually have to put jalapenos in there??).

In the same way that I tackle not remembering someone's name (I just tell them, "I'm sorry, but you are now Cody, because damn you do not look like a Logan."), I am tackling my writing issues.

Oh, and I love TJ with all my heart and it was he who suggested we use Chex Mix to make breadcrumbs for the fish crust. There, I admitted it. I feel much better now.

C is for Cookie

2006-09-08T07:10:00.000-05:00

I heard a student say "Veggie Monster" yesterday. Is that really a new character on Sesame Steet? Veggie Monster? I mean, the essence of Cookie Monster was the irony of the name. Kids are not going to be scared of a Cookie Monster! But a veggie monster, they may indeed run screaming from. I know what I thought brussel sprouts smelled like as a child! They smelled like my dad's flatulence. And they smelled like my dad's flatulence because my dad LOVES brussel sprouts! I would run from that monster too! Now, my dad would also turn his eyelids inside out along with his lower lip turned over. Scary.

Subconsciously, I took this Sesame Street conversation home with me and made cookies! I baked Oatmeal Chocolate chip Peanut Butter Cookies. The biggest bonus, all of the ingredients were already in my cupboard! Because I am scared to death to go to crazy neighbor Sam's house to borrow a cup of sugar. Do people still do this? I wish they would! Mostly because there are times when I NEED something.

The cookies are very soft. I think they may need a wee more flour. Click on the link and it will take you to the recipe. And if you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, this will take you all of 5 minutes to make.

Bison Balls for Everyone!

2006-09-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

First, there is a new webpage called Bake Space. It is like MySpace but for people who cook. It is quite cool, quite new, so get on it! My name or profile or whatever on there is Kristylynn (so unique). If you want me to be a Kitchen Helper, you can add me, just like MySpace.

I included on my Bake Space page the recipe for Bison Meatballs. I made these Tuesday night and they rocked! One thing I normally do not care for in meatballs is that gritty dryness they can get. I use milk soaked bread in leiu of breadcrumbs, and it really keeps the meatball moist. Note: I HATE the word moist, so if I use it, you know it must be for damn good reason.

A good meatball has: garlic, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs or my tricky milk soaked bread, parsley, egg, and any other special herb you may like. I had some basil around, so I chopped that up. I also had a little bit of Bob Evans Hot Sausage, so I put that in with the ground buffalo meat. Good meatball rollers (you know, the people that are good at handling and rolling the balls without over working, making them too small or big, making them too oily) will mix the meatball 'slop' with their hands so that it gets mixed evenly. We also know that it takes a little olive oil on your hand so that the meat rolls and sticks to itself, and not to your hands.
Note: the funniest part of the parenthetical innuendo is my mother in law reads this. Hi!

My point in having no recipe here is that, like me, you can just have a basic understanding of what a meatball generally IS, and then run with it! I had 1.25 lbs buffalo and added maybe an ounce or so of sausage, one egg and tossed in some of the other stuff and it made 15 meatballs the size of golf balls. Perfect for two people and then leftovers.

And because you read my blog, you get the little secret that makes my meatballs so extra great: fresh mozzarella stuffed in the middle. It is a nice creamy goo center. Mmmm, warm creamy goo. (Austin Powers fans: "Warm liquid goo phase")

What was the gum with the goo in the middle? I think there was even a Dr. Pepper flavored goo.

And I'm spent.

My Experiment with Fish Crust

2006-09-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

I had these lemon potatoes at Tria once. Tria is a greek restaurant whose side dishes are lemon loaded (ohhh, nice band name). So I took a stab at the potatoes tonight. I tossed Idaho potatoes with olive oil and lemon juice (2 lemons), added salt and dry oregano and baked at 400 for about 50 minutes. I forgot to add...you MUST put chicken broth in the bottom of the dish so the potatoes do not dry out. And check as they cook. If the broth goes magically away, add more!!

Ah yes. The fish crust. I am a bit picky on waste. So the bowl I tossed the potatoes in with the lemon juice was also used for the salmon. I put two pieces of salmon in the bowl, added a bit more salt and oregano, and flopped it around (technical term). Then placed on a baking pan in the same 400 degree oven. After baking for about 5 minutes, I added a crust. The crust was made with pine nuts, three basil leaves, one garlic clove, chex mix, and a couple tortilla chips.

Huh? Chips? Chex? So a while back TJ and I were in need of bread crumbs. So we took the mini chopper jobby (little food processor) and put some left over spicy chex mix and blended. It worked! So for my crust tonight, I tried the pine nuts blended with some basil and garlic. It was too oily. Nut oil or something. So I added some tortilla chips...yay, notsomuch. So I added chex mix. Perfect! I then pressed it onto the salmon. And the dinner was a huge success.

2006-09-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

Lisa made new friends last night. She commented on the age of a couple sitting across the wine tasting table from her, and then to make it okay, mentioned her cellulite. Cellulite, apparently, quite ironically, can easily smooth over the uncomfortable comments on age.

In a profession of elders, I've made the comment, "You are older than my dad." And then my department chair looked menacingly at me, realizing if he found me cute it could be construed as creepy.

After tasting 8 different wines, the cellulite comment ensued, and lead eventually to a piciture of her ass. Now my camera, if you recall, is broken. This photo was taken with a verizon cell phone (I now have their phone number btw and the man's name is George), emailed to Lisa, and then emailed to me. Of course it is now here.

How was the wine tasting at Spagio? Well, after tasting 8 wines and just a little food, Lisa was willing to bend over and have a picture of her supposed cellulite taken. What do you think??

Amul India: The best in strip mall cuisine.

2006-08-30T07:01:00.000-05:00

I forgot to defrost meat. As I type, I am realizing I forgot to do it again today. But my solution yesterday to this quandry was going out for Indian food. I haven't had Indian food in years and wanted to try it again. So I did some research, and found this small restaurant located in a Sawmill Road strip mall. The mall is a ghost town, as a new and improved Stip Mall has popped up across the street!

We arrived to the restaurant and there was one other couple dining. They looked like people who would know good Indian food. Young, hip, you know, people that would eat trendy food. After they left, we were the only ones there. This is sad, and I had a flash of Aboo and his Pakistani cuisine on Seinfeld. If you are familiar, have a small chuckle here in remembrance of his long finger shaking back and forth ("Very bad man. You are a very bad man.").

pause

And continuing on...

Chicken Tikka Masala.
This is a photo of the dish I ordered. It is a photo from the recipe on how to make it, in case you are curious. It looks good! And it was good! The restaurant serves the saucey chicken with rice. And we did ask for more rice, and it arrived with no charge.

You can dictate your spice, I went with 'medium', and it wasn't too spicy at all. The sauce is excellent for dipping the nan bread in. Nan is pita like, but softer and even better.

TJ had Chicken Makhani, which apparently is also known as "Indian Butter chicken". Yum! Looks similar. Tastes a little the same. But his was hotter. Our server, who I think was also the owner, told TJ to get this. TJ tried to order Tandoori Chicken, and the server said, "No. Number 8". We were like, okay, number 8 then, and that was Chicken Makhani. Then, when TJ said, "Medium Hot" for his spiciness, the server tried to say no again. But we pressed on and were permitted to get "medium hot" chicken. TJ's was spicy, but not too spicy for either of us. I think I actually liked his dish a little better because his chicken was more in white meat chunks, whereas mine was a little different. But both dishes were great!

I also had Mango Juice, which is great if you are eating spicy food because it takes the hot right away. So good!

Grand Total with Tip: $33. Nice! I wish we lived closer. I'd get take out!

Thespian Notes:AKA The day I get to talk about the origin of Lesbian

2006-08-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

Quick Note: I have been accused of not blogging enough. Sadly, I was accused by a LURKER. What is a lurker, you ask? It is someone who reads without commenting. Every blogger has an issue with this. They actually commission "DeLurker Days", hoping for comments or even just a "hello!"

School started last week. Good times. I have six classes with a grand total of 118 students. They seem smiley and eager to participate. A couple seem like wastes of good desk space, but it is early. I am sure there are more :)

I have a fairly diverse group of students, at least diverse for the district I am in. In each class, there is at least ONE student who is either Asian, Black, or Multi. Literally, this is what my class lists state under "ethnicity" of the student. I have yet to determine what multi may mean. What would TJ be listed as? I'd like to see the multiple choice options on the "Student Information" sheet that they use for this.
a. White
b. Asian
c. Multi
d. Black
e. Bitter
f. Downtrodden
g. Able to Pass as White

Today we talked about the history and evolution of Theatre. In early Greek Theatre there was a competition and one of the plays IN the competition was a Satyr Play. Struggling to describe gently the idea that characters dressed as half goat/half man beasts with extra large male genitalia and then ran around poking each other with it, because how can you explain this to a group of 15 year olds without being BLUNT, I started with it being a shorter play that was just a "break from the sadness of the tragedies." One astute lad said, "It is like the halftime show!"

small pause

By Zeus, it is! And I was able to say, "Actually, you are absolutely right! And the halftime show with Justin Timberlake and seeing Janet Jackson's BOOB is the best comparison!" Did I fail at being gentle?

Thespis was an early playwright, and now we have Thespians, people who follow Thespis. Lesbos was an island; those who lived there were Lesbians. They also were mostly women poets following Sappho, also a woman poet. Many of the poems did not paint men in the nicest light. Lesbos housed Sappho and her quorom of angry female writers...now we have Lesbians. Why do I teach this? Because simply saying "Thespian" makes 15 year olds giggle. So I set them straight. I pretend I am not ashamed of teaching this and "sure go tell your parents. I don't care!" But then I hurridly erase the word "Lesbian" off the board. Scary word...lesbian. Actually, the word isn't scary. But the crazy ultra-religious fools are scary. And I like to eat.

Lindey's German Village

2006-08-24T13:49:00.001-05:00

I love their patio! The food was, well, eh. The wine was decent and decently priced, and the company was awesome.

Salad was normal. Although the champagne vinagrette seemed overly vinegar-y.

I had the sole special with lemon caper sauce. Sauce was excellent, sole was not my type of fish. Thin, flakey, and I think mine was undercooked with some mush. The other dinners seemed to have decent luck. Although the yellow fin tuna was over cooked, but it was a Special also, so perhaps they weren't 'used to' it?? I don't know! I feel bad because DAMN I love the patio!

Tiramisu was not good. I love a good soaked tiramisu where you can get a coffee buzz from the soaked lady finger layer. No real coffee taste at all. And you know how has awesome tiramisu? Whole Foods!

I didn't have to pay for the dinner because it was actually part of a research study. So I can't complain too much. My four friends and I met with three people from Proctor and Gamble to speak of hair products. It was hilarious, as we talked about everything, with a little hair thrown in. Thankfully none in the food.

I am whipped after a whole DAY of school. I don't feel like my blog is humorous today, so I am stopping.

Breakfast Recipe: Goddess Omelette

2006-08-17T08:46:00.000-05:00

Let's talk about my breakfast today. Probably one of my last opportunities to cook for myself before going back to school.

I had the Goddess of all Omelettes. I believe omelettes are feminine..eggs and whatnot. It contained: red peppers, cherry tomato, red onion, and Feta Cheese. All cheeses should be capitalized. They are just important that way. Oh, and then I brushed some pesto on top.

Drool? Good.

Haikus for Yous

2006-08-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

smooshed frog on the ground

baked crunchy and black, made me

drop the nail polish

Well we are trying to sell our house. One smartass realtor, after bringing a client through the house, recommended we put some "color" in the front yard. Now there is OPI "Its My Party Purple" on the driveway. There's your color, bitches!

There are no pictures for this post. But there is a review of a fun evening that we had last night. We attended the Wine Festival at Bon Vie. It was $30 a person, included 5 tastings (good sized pours by the way) and a smattering of passed horse ovaries. I do not wish to spell or look up the spelling of that word that begins: hors. There was a cheese tray with brie, bleu cheese, white american ( I remarked it tasted like a Kraft Single), and another with a red vein running through it. There was smoked salmon on a slice of cucumber, which I have never liked cucumbers and after attemting a bite, I can safely say I still do not. The slice of bread with fresh mozz on a tomato was much more my style. These little pizzas that tasted like quiche, which prompted TJ to ask, "Do you want a little quiche?" and then giggle.

Next was something that I would not recommend to be passed without a fork or plate. A mussel, still attached to the shell, with a crab breading baked on top. It did not slide into your mouth. You can't bite it off the shell, because, well, who would want to? You have to pull it off, and even then, it doesn't come in one piece. You get this circular rubbery piece, that I can only equate to a flat bicycle tire. And then you are supposed to put it in your mouth. But really, do you WANT to put something that looks like THIS in your mouth?

Sadly, I don't want to mention this next part. There were little legs of lamb. They looked delightful. We saw them come out once, and Mary didn't bring it over to us. And then they never appeared again. TJ was distraught about the lamb. Didn't stop pining over the lamb. Even told the waitress we named Mary that he would love it the next time they came out. Instead, she brought us the last chocolate mousse on her tray. Mousse and Lamb...not even close. Perhaps there should be a haiku for this too:

Mary had a tray of lamb

You went right past us

You are now a lambless Ho.

Even the small creme brulees that were passed next couldn't silence TJ. They couldn't silence his inner need for the lamb. Silence the Lamb.