Bread is a Butter Carrier

Time After Time

2011-02-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

It sure has been awhile hasn't it? Well, I apologize for that. You'd think I'd make more time for this, being unemployed. But no matter the circumstances, there's never enough time.

So. What have I been up to? Well, we've done some serious backyard renovation and have gutted half the yard and built raised beds! I've got a gazillion seedlings getting their start and hopefully, come spring, we'll have a fatty garden on it's way to bountiful glory.

The seedlings we've got going are:

cucumber
japanese cucumber
zucchini
striped roma tomato
purple calabash tomato
san marzano tomato
tomatillo
scarlet runner beans
bush green beans
white cannelini beans
corn
rosa bianca eggplant
jalapeno peppers
poblano peppers
anaheim peppers
bell peppers
chamomile
nasturtiums
marigolds
baby's breath
cilantro
basil
watercress
and I think there are some more that I can't remember...

And... here are some pictures!

This is the field behind my house. It was just so pretty and green, I couldn't NOT take a picture of it!

This is my dad digging up the yard. I did a lot of work, too! I got this ball rolling, in fact. It was a major pain in my ass, and back. It's a lot more work than you'd think. FOR. SURE.

This is the pipe I broke with my shovel because... I... dug too hard? Haha. Whoops. Also, I don't know why this text has an hyptertext underline, but... I am too lazy to fix it.

I found a ton of worms while I was digging, which is great! Worms = good dirt. Or at least not shitty dirt. So that's fantastic. My hands looks old ladyish too. They don't really look like that!!

We took this tumbler from my gramma so we could make our own mulch. It's looking pretty good so far. Why did gramma have a tumbler? Gawd, who knows. Her idea of gardening is telling me her flowers are dry when I go over there, soooo....

This is inside our larger greenhouse. It looks crammed right now because it's going to be raining for awhile, and we put a bunch of our plants in here so that they don't get cold and overwatered.

This is our smaller "greenhouse" where I start my seedlings. This one is a bit warmer, which is why I keep them in here. Also, since it's a bit cool these days I put plastic bags underneath the starters to help them hold warmth. I also cover some of them too. Down at the bottom is my mesclun mix. Yum yum.

Seed babies.

CORN!

Pretty purple bean seeds that I just started today!

And these...

... are our raised beds! Yay!

I can't wait for Spring! I'm waiting for march to roll around so we can start planting our little goobers in the beds. woohoo!

It's ALIIIIIIVE!

2010-11-16T11:27:00.001-08:00

Well, of course it's alive. It's food! Here are a couple snapshots of my cauliflower, broccoli, peas, and the carrots I just pulled this morning. :) They're so cute.

F... .... (wait for it)... ... INALLY!

2010-11-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey... so.... sorry, it's been awhile. I've got a few things to update on, but for now I'll start with some cool garden pics. Hopefully I'll get all my ducks in a row, and you'll get to hear about how I was attacked by bees while making jam in my kitchen, and other fun tales.

TO THE GARDEN!

These are my carrrrrrots. They've got bushy tops!

I peeled away some of the dirt so you could see my lil red beauty of a carrot! I'm pretty excited. I planted red, orange, and white carrots!

These are my peas! I ghetto-rigged a trellis out of bamboo. Yeah, it looks pretty... um... what's the word? Classy? Yeah. Classy. It looks pretty classy. They've actually just started to flower so I'll be excited to get my first peas soon!

This is another ghettofabulous creation. I needed something long to plant my arugula in, but I was out of long planters. So instead of buying one, naturally, I cut a garden pot in half and taped it together with duct tape. BOOM. INSTA-PLANTER.

My bell peppers are going crazy! They were slow-goers in the summer, but now that it's fall... they're just going wild! I've got baby bells all over that plant. It's... really cute actually. I've got the garden tape all over this bad boy because the plant is small, but those peppers get HUGE, so I have to give them some support! Like a bra. A bell pepper bra.

LIZARD ON THE FENCE

So, as you may have seen before in a previous post, we live right up against a giant field. So right behind our house my dad decided he wanted to plant some tomatoes. They look pretty good! We have um, green zebra, mortgage lifter, and some generic tomatoes. Everything has been going well so far! The coyotes and other critters have pretty much left them alone... so far.

So as you can see, my mom's flowers have pretty much taken over EVERYTHING. But right there in the lower right corner of this picture, you can see my spaghetti squash and pumpkin plants. what whaaaaat.

There's my baby spaghetti squash on the left, and my lone baby pumpkin on the right. GROW BUDDIES GROW!

I've also got some broccoli and cauliflower going right now, and I just saw the other day a couple broccoli heads growing. Also, I bought my mom some watermelon and icicle radish seeds and we have those planted as well. I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out.

TTFN!

Salsa for Jamie! aka Himee Escalante

2010-09-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

That's right Jamie. Don't think that I've forgotten that your real name is Himee Escalante and you taught calculus to a bunch of no-good misfits. I remember. I. REMEMBER.

Anyway, we have (had) a crapload of tomatoes, and I love salsa. So I made some salsa. I've been making it all summer, and I think I've really got the hang of making some decent salsa! And this time, I even kinda measured so that you know what I'm talking about here.

SO LET'S DO THIS. (By the way, prepare for picture overload. I got a little carried away.)

Start by rinsing all of the herbs - cilantro, parsley, oregano, chives.
I like to fill up a big bowl and just... mix 'em around a bit, letting the dirt and stuff fall off and sink.

Then place them on a napkin to dry, as shown ('cause you definitely needed a picture to visualize what that means, right?)
As you can see, I have quite a bit of cilantro. IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE IT. I use a little bit of parsley just to add more of that "fresh" taste to it. And because I don't want to completely decimate my cilantro plant.

While your herbs are hanging out in NapkingLand, grab that big bowl you used to rinse off your herbs (I hope you disposed of your water by feeding a plant, instead of your sink. Plants like water!), and put into it 1/4 tbs celery seed, 1/4 tbs cumin, 1/4 salt, and a few cranks of freshly ground pepper. Why in the the bottom of the bowl? I'm not sure... That's just the way I do it.

Then you're going to need a medium-sized onion. Yellow or sweet is best I think, but white will do just fine. Or red, for that matter. You don't need to finely chop this sucker, but chop it into small pieces. Also, chop up 3-4 cloves of garlic and toss it in the mix. And now it's tomato time. I used about 4 cups of roughly cut tomatoes of all kinds. I used cherry, heirloom cherry, heirloom roma, yellow pear, orange, moonglow, purple calabash, and... yeah, I think that's it. Check 'em out, they're perdy.

Seriously, a rough chop is fine. I quartered the bigger tomatoes, and just halved the smaller ones. Then give all of your herbs a good chop (again, you don't have to mince this stuff, just a niiiiiice chop) and add it to the mix. For heat, I used 3 serrano chiles. Also, I chopped these up last because I wanted to be sure I could wash my hands and be done getting messy. I've touched my eyeball with pepper residue on my fingers, and hey guess what, IT HURT A LOT. So be careful.
To finish it off, add the juice of one lime. Mmm, lime. THEN BLEND!

I use an "immersion blender", or hand blender, to do this. I like the control of it. But you can do this in the blender or food processor if you like. Just watch it, because your salsa will turn to soup quickfast. I recommend using the pulse option on your blender and roughly stirring it up with a spoon. Get it to the consistency you like, and you're done! You can eat it right then, of course, but it will taste so much better the next day. Also, do a little taste test before you stash it away. You might want a little more salt.

But, overall, it's pretty easy... and it's way better than most of the jarred stuff you get at the store. Viva la freshness!

As a sidenote, I picked one of my anaheim chiles when I was outside gathering herbs, and was going to use it in the salsa. But when I got inside the house I couldn't find it. I figured it just fell out of my pocket somewhere and I'd go find it later. WELL LO AND BEHOLD, I found it! I kid you not, I found it exactly like this, gently nuzzled in between the knobs on the cabinet door in front of the sink. Ridiculous.

So...

2010-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

You may or may not have noticed the lack of postage. And I don't think my gluten scare counts as a post. It was just a minor freakout. Turns out I am okay-to-go on delicious gluten delicacies, I just had a bout of the stomach flu. I didn't realize that those first few days, when I was feeling like I got run over by a truck, that I actually had a fever. SO, after a week of not eating, followed by a week of barely eating, I'm ready to get back on this food train.

Some of you know that I've started an internship with an Online Magazine/Community called LuxEco Living. Oh, you didn't know? Well, um... I did. So I'm writing for them now, in addition to the foodie site Eating Everywhere. I'm doing lots of free work these days. Gotta do something, right?

Anyway, I'll try and update my culinary adventures as soon as possible. But for now, here's an article that was recently "published" by me! Check out the site and see what you think, and do me a favor and "like" them on fb will ya?

Enjoy! Please?
http://www.luxecoliving.com/luxeco-food/eating-well-healing-yourself-with-your-very-own-indoor-herb-garden/

Oh sweet baby Jesus, say it ain't so...

2010-09-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

I might have developed a most heinous and unfortunate disease...

GLUTEN INTOLERANCE.

I really REALLY hope that I just have a nasty stomach bug, and that's the source of all my discomfort. Because let me tell you, the last 4 or 5 days... I have felt downright nasty on the inside.

I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!! I mean, to stop eating bread.

Crap, this'll change everything.

Chicken pot chicken pot... oh, you know.

2010-08-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I MADE MINI POT PIES!

I wasn't going to post on these just yet because they are far from pretty, but Jamie said I should, so I am.

I started with making my own dough. It came out pretty well, I think I just need to work on a consistent thickness when I roll it out. I'm not a baker people, it's hard! Also, some more seasoning would be nice too.

Dough:
5 tbs COLD "butter" (the recipe I looked at called for 6 tbs! so much buuuuutter)
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sage
about 3 tbs ice cold water

The butter has to be COLD! This part is very important. It makes the dough fluffier and flakier and more moist - it melts while it cooks, slowly penetrating (ha) the dough. So get all your stuff in a bowl (of a food processor) and slowly cut the butter into the flour. I used a fork and just smashed it until it was crumbly. Then slowly add the ice water, one tbs at a time. You don't want it to get too wet, just wet enough that everything sort of comes together and feels kind of like play-doh!

I also made a gluten-free dough for my mom using some gluten free baking mix. The same processes apply, I just made a smaller batch.

Ball up the dough and wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about half an hour. That way all the ingredients become BFFs and stick together well.

While the dough was chillin' (literally. get it? get it!?) I made my filling. I didn't want to get too adventurous here in the beginning so I just did a simple veggie filling. I cut up a carrot, half an onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 yellow squash, and 2 broccoli florets. I sauteed those in olive oil on a lower heat and added a little thyme, rosemary, dill, and basil. I wanted to add potatoes (what's a pot pie without potatoes!?) but we don't have any... so, next time. After everything had softened a bit I thickened it up with about 1.5 tbs of corn starch (couldn't use flour, my mom is gluten intolerant) and then slowly stirred in veggie broth. I didn't measure... sorry... it was probably about 1.5 cups? I let it simmer for awhile, to thicken, until it looked almost like a stew.

I cooked my pot pies in cupcake trays. I wasn't sure how I was going to go about this so I tried it 2 different ways.

1. I rolled out the dough and cut it into circles about 1/2" bigger than the tray hole. Then I PAMmed the hole (ha) and slowly pressed my round cutout of dough into it, then pricked it with a knife to avoid air buildup. I made 3 this way, and baked them in the oven just for 5 minutes, sans filling. THEN, I took them out of the oven, brushed the inside of the dough cup with an egg wash, added the filling, and then made a half-ass topper to cover them. Egg wash on top too.

2. I rolled out the dough, a little bigger than in #1, PAMmed the hole, applied the egg wash, added the filling, and then kind of folded the excess dough over the top. Also, egg washed the top.

Everything was baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. I kind of lost track of the time, not going to lie. But I watched them through the oven window with vigilance.

Why the egg wash inside? I was afraid that the filling would goo up the bottom and the dough wouldn't cook. What I SHOULD have done in #1 was apply the egg wash BEFORE I par-cooked it, not after. And the egg wash on the outside gives them a nice golden crispness.

SO. What did I learn from this?
1. I need to cut the veggies much smaller.
2. I need a consistent thickness of dough.
3. Folding the dough over for a top is just too much dough. Applying a separate top, that will be integrated into the other dough, will look and taste much better.
4. More filling!

Here are my little boogers. They're not pretty. Don't judge me, it was my first attempt! The crumbly one is the gluten free one. That recipe is going to take a little more work; gluten-free is a whole different ballgame.

First Thing's First

2010-08-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

I APOLOGIZE for the lack of postage, I've been trying to rearrange my life into some kind of workable, manageable, useful.... THING. Not to mention I've been on a 2 week road trip, had to come back and move, and then try and settle back into 2002 (I've gone back in time, didn't you know?).

Let me start off by showing/telling you about the yummy things I ate on my road trip!!! Now, this wasn't a culinary adventure by any means, but I made the point of finding something ridiculously good to eat every now and then - budget be damned!

God Bless You, Blenders In The Grass. Nick couldn't tell the difference between Blender's and Jamba Juice, but i assure you, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Blender's is only on the central coast, and I use to get it as often as possible when I was in college. It's just so much better than Jamba. It's creamier and smoother; makes Jamba taste like a 711 slushy. It was a nice nostalgic starter to an epic trip.

Manhattan Bagel in Berkeley, Ca. I love this place. Every time I'm up there we go there for a nice bagel breakfast. They just have really good bagels; not to mention that bagels are my favorite breakfast item. Mmm.

CHEESEBOARD in Berkeley, Ca. Good Lord, this pizza was ridiculous. This place is like a co-op and they serve whatever is lookin' good in their garden. They make one pizza a day and let me TELL YOU, that day's pizza was just out of this world amazing. It has corn, cilantro, zucchini, lots of gooey cheese... some other stuff... it was just. amazing. Top 5 Favorite Pizzas for sure.

PIER 23! Delicious. This was the second time I'd eaten here, both times = YUMTASTIC. This here is the White Bass special, with green beans and like a chunky kalamata olive thang going on. I don't remember what it's called haha. But it was ridiculous. Like, call-the-cops-because-it's-an-out-of-control-party-in-your-mouth kind of crazy. I want it, NOW.

This place was in the Ferry Building in SF. It was actually really good for a quick lunch! I had the agedashi tofu (cold), green bean salad, and rice. It was AWESOME.

I brought veggie burgers, cheese, and cheap ass tiny bread on this entire trip so I'd have something (with protein) to eat while we were camping. And thanks to Michelle for letting us take her pan. YEAH!

Thai Food from Tim's Thai in Portland,OR. SUPER good. It was like 10 pounds of noodles, with tofu, green beans, bean sprouts, and some peanut sauce. YUM. I couldn't eat it all, but you KNOW I tried my best. I won't go down without a fight!

Captain Crunch donut from VooDoo! It was super good. Like a sugar-tastic atomic bomb in my mouth. I meant to get this one last time I was in Portland, but I forgot. So I couldn't forget this time! I stood in line, outside in the 95 degree heat, for like 30 minutes... just for donuts. And I'm not even a big donut fan; I'm just a fan of THESE donuts. mmm.

I was starving and needed some morning sustenance in Seattle, Wa so we went to this fancy shmancy grocery store and I got a sandwich at the deli. There were supposed to be red bell peppers in it, but Nick is "allergic" (aka doesn't like them) to them, so the guy who made our sandwich was nice enough to saute some zucchini for us instead! NICE man! Anyway, it was really good.
SERIOUS PIE in Seattle, WA. OMG. It's... I... there are no words. Should have... sent... a poet. 10 high fives to whoever knows the movie that's from!!! Anyway, this pizza was RIDICULOUS. I don't know how they made that dough so light and airy, but they are geniuses. This pizza has yukon gold slices, rosemary, olive oil, and finished with some parmesean. It was just... I can't explain to you how great this is. Remember in Ratatouille when Remi ate the mushroom and there were fireworks all around him? Yeah, it was like that. Definitely Top 5 worthy.

Montana Flathead Cherries. On our drive from Seattle to Butte, MT there were like.. I don't know... 30 signs leading up to this cherry stand. "Cherries in 30 miles..." "Cherries in 28 miles..." etc etc. By the time it came to exit for the cherries WE HAD TO. How could we not? The signs for the past gazillion miles had told us to. And I'm so glad we did. I'm not a cherry person by any means, but THESE cherries were perfect. They weren't too sweet or tart... they were just delicious. I saved one of the seeds and am currently trying to grow it :).

Hey-O Trout Slayer!!! Thank you Yellowstone Marina Store for selling INDIVIDUAL beers. YES.

We stopped at the Marina in the Grand Teton National Park to take some beauty shots of the lake and mountains, and then we decided we might as well eat! Thank gawd they had some vegetarian options. This one here is the veggie sandwich filled with onions, mushrooms (I know... I forgot to ask for them to leave em off!), olives, tomatoes, and provolone cheeeeese. It was pretty dang good. I made quite the mess with it. :D

And there we have it folks.
Don't call it a comeback! Or... do.

BRB and what-not.

2010-07-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of post-age and such! I've been busy packing and getting ready to move and also getting ready for my big Road Trip d'Amurrica. I'll be gone for 2 weeks but when I get back I'll have so much to tell you about all the great food I had! I'm really looking forward to this. I'll be going to...

The Bay (Berkeley, SF)
Redwoods National Park
Portland, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA!
Butte, Montana (just need to sleep there, but hey, there might be something amazing there too!)
Yellowstone National Park
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Elizabeth, Colorado

Ooowee. Thanks for your patience! I don't mean to be a slacker :P.
Until then... eat good food!

And the Green Grass Grows All Around

2010-06-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

I housesat for my parents last week so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to take a few snapshots of their backyard. My dad has quite the green thumb, so he has a bunch of herbs and tomatoes and he's even started a little vineyard. My mom does the flowers and she's been dabbling with succulent gardens as well. Behind their house is a huge field, with a levee that leads to the beach in one direction, and the outskirts of East Oceanside in the other direction. And behind that levee is the San Luis Rey river where my friends and I, and our dog Kuma, would play.

Also, when I stay at my parents' house I bring my plant babies because well, they need constant supervision. haha. In addition, my parents have a ton of bamboo in their backyard! ANNNND a turtle pond! They rescued two turtles - Kanye and Mrs. West (even though they're both boys) - from my cousin who had them in a tiny aquarium. Now they swim free in a pond with some oversized goldfish.

I feel like I've used an overabundance of connecting adverbs, THEREFORE, I apologize for that. har har har. Anyway. Enjoy my parents' backyard!

"I'll see you in another life, brothah"

2010-06-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry. I'm rewatching LOST and I just started season 2.

ANYWAY. So I made these vegetable croquettes and they turned out pretty damn good. I saw Ina make 'em on Barefoot Contessa and I wanted to try and make my own!

First, grate a couple potatoes, a zuchini, and a carrot. I only had baby carrots, so I didn't use much carrot. I grated a couple and then I found myself dangerously close to grating my own fingertips. So I stopped that nonsense. I also didn't have any paper towels so I had to let the gratings air dry... on a dish towel.
While that stuff dried I got together the dry stuff. I mixed about a 1/2 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, a tsp. of baking powder, salt, pepper, and various chopped herbs from my garden: parsley, dill, rosemary, and thyme.

After I gave the gratings a good ol' fashioned pat down, i mixed them in a bowl with a few cloves of chopped garlic and a beaten egg. With my hands I mushed it all together and started adding the dry stuff until it was all goopy and sticky and gross. Yay! Gross! Then, in your hands, roll them into balls and set them on wax paper to get ready for their frying destiny.

Look at those little guys. Look at 'em!!! So after I balled these guys up I also put a little more bread crumbs on them, just to add a little extra crunch when I fried em. So in a pan, heated with oil (you know its hot enough when you can see swirlies in the oil when you shake the pan) set your ball in, crumby side down. Then press it to flatten it a little bit, and sprinkle some crumbies on there, that way when you flip it there're crumbs on that side too.

Now you wanna see something really ghetto? So you know how I said I didn't have any paper towels? Well... I've got to dry the oily goobers on something. I don't have paper towels, but I do have construction paper!

Mmm mmm mmm! Tasty little crispy critters!

Easy as pie.. pasta pie.. pie pasta sauce.. wait, what?

2010-05-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is a suuuuper easy marinara sauce that i make. It's very easy to alter to your tastes too.

You'll need:

1 can crushed tomatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
garlic
basil
olive oil

As soon as my tomato plants start yielding mass amounts of tomatoes, I won't use canned. I most definitely prefer fresh tomatoes when making sauces, but alas my toms are babies right now.

Heat up a saucepot and drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil. Finely chop a carrot, about 2 tbs will be fine. The carrot acts as a natural sweetener. I find that canned tomatoes are too salty, so the carrot helps balance that. Chop up 1 medium sized onion (or half of a large one) and throw it and the carrot in the pot. Hit it with some pepper and a tiny pinch of salt (to make it sweeeaat). After a few minutes add some chopped garlic to the party. I usually go with about 3 cloves, sometimes more. You can use as little or much as you want, it's up to you. After a few minutes add the tomatoes and let 'er cook. Add to that about half a cup or so of fresh cut basil. You can use dried, but don't use half a cup. That's a LOT. ha. If you're using dried I'd say... about... 2 tbs maybe. You can also add oregano, but I don't always have that on hand (and the puppies ate the plant I was growing...) so I don't usually worry about.

Let it all cook until everything is super soft, then blend it! I don't like my sauce chunky so I blend the crap out of it. But to each their own, leave it chunky if that's what you like. Taste it and make sure you've added enough salt/pepper. And then EAT IT!

Puppies and gardens don't go together

2010-05-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

So as most, or all, of you know I fostered two puppies for a few days. It was great! And I wanted to keep them! But I digress... These little girls loved my garden. LOVED TO EAT AND DESTROY IT. However, they were just too damn cute for me to be mad for very long. Here are a few pics of the little destructors plotting the death of my plant babies.

Grill-a-thon twentyten

2010-05-26T12:18:00.001-07:00

So a few days... week(s)ish back I felt the need to break out the ol' stovetop grill and drop some grilling knowledge on a few vegetables. I also brought some tofu to the party and that worked out well.

I had acorn squash, zuchini, and onion. Well, and tofu. I would recommend cutting the acorn squash smaller than I cut it. I was too lazy to cut it thinner. Don't be lazy like me. Do the right thing. Anyway, cut up your other veggies and toss it all in a liberal dose of salt and pepper, and some olive oil. The acorn squash needs a lot of flavor help so make sure it gets a little more s&p. I also used a little thyme and dill for more flavor, and topped it all off with some chives. It's easy!!

I also had a little quinoa sidecar. Quinoa is great! You feel like you're eating a super-starchy carb but... it's actually a great source of protein. You cook it just like rice. I like to sautee mine with some onion and garlic before I add the liquid (I like to use veggie stock instead of water - more flavah!).

lo siento

2010-05-17T15:13:00.001-07:00

So I realize that I haven't posted much about actually cooking. Sorrs. That will change soon I promise. I got too lazy and was busy stewing at my pity party for one. But I'm feeling the itch to cook and blog and cook and blog and cook... and blog. So it shall be done.

It's ALIIIIIIIVE!

2010-05-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

My garden is growing super fast! It's like my lil plants are all on the 'roids. It's ridiculous. Anyway, quick photo update on the kids. Those 4 giant plants in the back are my heirloom tomato plants. It's crRrRraAaAzZzZy!

i made pizza

2010-04-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

YEA! I made pizza! It was pretty good. I started out by making a green onion "cream" sauce. I know! I have green onions up the wazoo so I thought what the hell? Might as well give it a try. It was very similar to pesto! All I did was put a bunch of green onions and a couple garlic cloves in the food processor with a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of water (just for moisture). When it's a pasty goo, start cooking it up a bit in some "butter". After a few minutes add the flour to make a rue. Slowly add your milk and whisk it all together until desired creaminess. Add salt and pepper to taste.

After the sauce was all made I let it cool for awhile while I got my dough all prepped. It was just a Trader Joe's pizza dough. I love that stuff. I only used half of it though... since I'm just one person. ANYWAY. I rolled it out into a lovely umm artistic shape and proceeded to top. First the sauce! Then some red onions, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese. Top that with some fresh basil leaves and chopped hazelnuts. THEEENNN sprinkle over some parmesean and gorgonzola cheese. YUM. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust and top just so it gets a nice crisp to it. Bake it in a preheated 450 degree oven for 12-14 minutes, or until it looks done to you. :) ENJOY!

i'll butter your nut. whoooooaaaa.

2010-04-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

some people came over, there was food, and it was GOOD.

butternut squash mac n cheese!

first, to roast the butternut squash you'll need:

one hot oven
1 butternut squash (medium sized), peeled and cubed (about 1/2" x 1/2")
1/2 tsp of nutmeg (a little goes a looong way)
1 1/2 tsp sage
salt and pepper
olive oil

take your cubed squash and toss the hell out of it in the nutmeg, sage, salt and pepper, and olive oil. lay out on a PAMmed pan (better safe than sorry right?) and put into a preheated 450 degree oven. since the cubes are so small, this shouldn't take too long -- about 20 minutes. after about 10 minutes get in there and just shake the pan a little. you don't need to turn every single cube, that takes too long, a good shake oughta do it. you know it's done when you can stick a fork in it and it's squishy. take it out and let it cooooool.

for the mac n cheese you'll need:

2.5 tbs "butter"
2.5 tbs flour
2 cups milk (1% is fine if you're lookin to avoid fatassery)
1 tbs minced garlic
1/2 white/yellow onion
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesean cheese
1 fairly large ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
salt/pepper
box of your favorite pasta (i used penne)
bread crumbs (italian or regular)
preheated 375 degree oven

get your pasta water boiling first, that way you can assemble your beschamel (fancy word alert!!) while your water heats up. in a saucepot, heat up your butter on medium to medium low heat. when it's almost all melted add the garlic & onion. i like to add garlic early because garlic + butter = yummy. i feel like it helps release the flavor of the garlic more if i saute it for a minute or two. after that, add your flour and whisk it all together. it should look like a nasty looking paste. good. if you're a novice like myself, add your milk in slowly, in portions, to ensure that there aren't any clumps of flour. if you're a pro then... go balls out and dump all the milk in there. fancy pants.

turn your heat to low (not simmer, but like... 1 or 2) and start adding the gorgs. if you LOVE gorgonzola, add more than 1/2 cup. just do it. add your parm too. salt and pepper to taste. you could also add sage/rosemary to this if you wanted. it should be thick enough that if you pull your whisk out there is a good amount still stuck to it. if it's too "watery" add some more flour, a tsp at a time, and let it cook through, whisking a lot.

for the pasta, cook it to al dente. about.. 8 minutes. it's going to finish in the oven by soaking up the milky cheesy sauce. drain the pasta and return back to its pot. hopefully you've used a fairly large pot because you're going to mix everything together in this pot. (oops, shoulda told you that first huh? my bad). pour the sauce in over the pasta, and add your cubes of mozzarella cheese (save a few to top it with) and butternut squash. stir it all up and pour the whole kit and kaboodle into a large corningware or baking dish that has been PAMmed. if it looks like the pasta has already soaked up a whole hell of a lot of the liquid, add about a 1/2 cup of milk to the whole thing. it'll be fine. cover the top with a few handfuls of bread crumbs, mozz cubes, and grate some more parmesean over it. drizzle with olive oil.

bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes with the lid on, then about 10 minutes with the lid off. it's done when you can see goodness bubbling on the sides, and the top has a nice crisp to it. mmm. spoon and SERRRRVE!

i can't find the other pictures i took, but here's one of my plate. yum.

UPDATE! I found the pictures!

makes me wanna soup, soup ba doop

2010-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

sooooo i said that i made a soup with my veggie broth right? RIGHT! so here it is:

tofu soup:

1 tbs each fresh basil and cilantro
1 tbs chili paste
2 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs minced ginger
2 tbs sriracha (mmm)
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 onion, julienned style
about a 1 1/2 cups uncooked cabbage (bok choy would be nice too)
block of tofu, cubed
somen noodles (or rice noodles)
2 cups broth
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
green onions/chives

so start off by sauteing the onions in some vegetable/canola oil. olive oil is a little too heavy for this dish. you could also use mushrooms in this... but i hate mushrooms, so i didn't. so YEAH! anyway, get those onions going and then after 2-3 minutes add the garlic, ginger, sugar, herbs, and chile paste/sriracha. oh, throw the tofu in too. BUT make sure your tofu has been squished and drained of excess water. (don't know what i'm talking about? wrap your block of tofu in a clean dish towel and squeeze. WHOA HULK not that hard. just hard enough to get the moisture out.)

ok so you've got all your goodies heatin up, excellent. toss in your cabbage/bok choy and stir it in, then add your liquids. bring it to a boil, and then simmer for about... 15-20 minutes? you shouldn't have to add too much salt, but salt and pepper to taste. when your cabbage starts getting soft and wilty-like add your noodles. i used somen noodles because that's what i have. rice noodles would have been great, maybe even better. both of these noodles only take a few minutes to cook. so, leaving the heat on simmer add your noodles. it should all be ready within 5 minutes. at this point add some sliced green onions or chives for a little freshness. YUUUM.

we stalk because we care. wait. what?

2010-04-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

today i made my very first veggie stock. i think it turned out really well! i wanted to make a tofu soup and the canned broths/stocks are too strong for it, so i made my own. next time though, a lot more herbs and onion. but... i was out of onion, so yeah. ha.

in my stock:

an onion, quartered
a few cloves of garlic
handful of basil, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, dill
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
some cabbage
3 or 4 green onions
little bit of salt, and pepper

i just let it cook for a couple hours til it had some good color and then strained out all of the veggies and stuff. and BAM! i had veggie stock. and i got to use my dutch oven for the first time. jessica called it my double dutch. hahaha. so from here on out, my d.o.'s name is double dutch.

there was a lot more of it, this was after i used some for my soup.

yum yum.

garden update

2010-04-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

this was last week:

this was today:

have i told you about my rebel pumpkins? so i had this pumpkin right, and it ended up rotting and exploding outside. all the seeds just went all over the place. and apparently they made their way into one of my green planters. i planted some extra tomato seeds in a planter and a few days later i go outside and there's a giant leaf that's sprouted. NOT A TOMATO. i also saw another lil guy sprouting in the planter, and there were two leaves bound by the shell of a PUMPKIN SEED. so yeah, apparently i'm growing pumpkins now. so TOP in the first set of pics are those pumpkin sprouts and TOP of the second set are those pumps this week. crazy lil growers man. and yes, those are my little flinstone feet.

ANNNND see how much my little tomatoes have grown in my upside down grower (that's not upside down yet... it's the thing with the 3 holes).

AND see that empty pot in the bottom right pic of the first set? my green beans are in there! the top pic of the second set is of my green beans today! man, they grow so fast. chomp chomp chomp!

OHHHHH and my cherry tomatoes are blooming!!! see those little green globular guys!? so cute. they're gonna taste so gooooood.

dont judge, i have a looooot of time on my hands. i l<3ve my garden :D

might as well wish out loud

2010-03-22T14:29:00.001-07:00

I wish I had all-white dishes. The designs on my dishes are too distracting in pictures.
I wish I had better lighting in my house. Neon doesn't do anyone or anything justice.
I wish I had the money to go out and buy a bunch of different kinds of oils, just to see what they taste like.
I wish Canon would fix my camera so that I don't get that stupid line in my pictures anymore. I don't even know how that got there!

peppah!

2010-03-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

i almost didn't even post this meal. i was just going to sit my happy arse on the couch and enjoy it while watching a little cougar town (don't judge me). but michelle insisted that i take a picture and blog it. so here it be. last night's dinner!

i was inspired by something i saw on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate. It was this soup that was brought with just the fixins in the bowl, and then the broth was poured around it from a hot kettle. looked BOMB. so i decided try my own variation.

first, the soup part. i made a simple potato soup. i used:

2.5 small potatoes, sans skin
olive oil
garlic & onion
dill and thyme, salt and pepper
veggie broth
splash of milk (thanks jess! :D)

i cubed the potatoes very small (for quicker cooking) and sauteed them in olive oil. i also added half of a chopped onion and a few cloves of (minced) garlic to the sautee. after a few minutes of that i added the veggie broth, just enough to cover everything in the pot. let it cook until the potatoes fall apart at the touch and then blend the hell out of all of it. if it's super thick, add a lil more broth. finish with a splash of milk for creaminess.

for the other part i made a stuffed bell pepper. the filling consisted of some quinoa and onion and green onion that i sauteed in some olive oil with salt and pepper. when it was done i cracked an egg over it, just to hold it together. then i stuffed all of that into a yellow bell pepper and tossed it in the oven, at 375, for about... i dunno.. 15 minutes or so. i just kept an eye on it and when the top was browning and the pepper was squishy i considered it done.

i placed my stuffed pepper in the middle of my bowl and then poured my soup around it. so yum. and you could either just go crazy and break the hell out of that pepper, or you can do like i did and just spoon out the filling and get some soup in each bite. mmm.

sorry the pictures kind of suck, i have bad lighting. =/

herbies!

2010-03-19T14:22:00.001-07:00

look at those little guys. just... growin and livin and doin their thang. i love it. (top to bottom) like a proud mama i had to get a shot of all the kids, basking in the sun, and.. err... shade. ha. next is dill and cilantro, sharin a bucket and getting along. then there's sweet basil, looking cute with her soft leaves. and then! then there's my serrano pepper tree/bush/shrub. he's gonna be AWESOME to have around. the round thing with the holes in it is that upside down tomato grower. my dad bought him and i each one at Lowe's and so I'm trying it out. I also planted a couple extra tomato seeds in that longer planter next to it, just for shiggles. i love my lil potted garden!

a real lunch

2010-03-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

let me start by showing you my cute little herbs basking in the california sun. my thyme looks super green and healthy. my rosemary is a little small, but he's strong. he'll sprout up in no time. and i recently transplanted my chives into this planter because the lil guy was gettin smooshed by my behemoth green onions.

so i was watching julie & julia and (of course) it made me want to cook something. so i made a creamy veggie soup and some feta cheese toast with strawberry and plum slices.

i just grabbed whatever veggies i had; which happened to be a carrot, potato, some broccoli, and half an onion. i chopped those up and tossed em in a pot with some olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper. let it cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring continually. while it cooked i also went and grabbed some rosemary and thyme from out back. i just put it in whole (i washed it first, don't worry gosh!) because a) i didn't feel like chopping it, and b) i like the way it looks. when things start to look softened sprinkle in about a tbs and a 1/2 of flour. yes! look, i'm too lazy to make a rue and then put it in, plus i don't want to dirty another pot. this works just as good i swear. so you sprinkle in the flour and think "gawd this looks disgusting". good, you're on the right track. it's gonna look like a gloppy mess. that's good. when you can see that the flour has soaked up all of the moisture start adding your (veggie) stock, about 1/4 cup at a time. stir a lot to make sure that everything is being incorporated. keep adding stock until all of the vegetables are completely covered, and then let it cook for about 15 minutes until everything is soft and yummy. add salt and pepper to taste.

as a little sidecar i made some feta cheese toast and sliced strawberries (thanks for those mindy!) and some plum. i love fruit and cheese. i think they make the best combo of salty tangy and sweet. yum. eat 'em together! POW!

so i'm on a budget? big deeeaaal.

2010-03-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

i feel like this is some serious product placement here, but whatever. YOU'RE WELCOME companies. YOU'RE WELCOME. i am giving you free advertising to almost ten people! YOU'RE WELCOME.

i made ramen for lunch. no, not that nasty neon crap you buy for ten cents at the grocery store next to the cup o noodles. no no.. this stuff costs like, 50 cents or something. that's right, big dollars.
i also like to have some edamame shumai around to throw in my ramen. they're like little dumplings that you can find in the frozen section at Mitsuwa. and of course, an egg.

i know, you're thinking, wtf dude? it's just ramen. no dude, it's not. it's a meal. i get some water boiling in my pot and then throw my noods in, letting them cook for just a couple of minutes. once they start to break away from each other they're good. take them off the heat, throw them in a strainer and RINSE THEM. i said rinse them! i think it tastes better and it gets all that nasty powdered "seasoning" off the noodles.
excuse my slightly dirty sink. but seriously, rinse your noodles. don't knock it til you try it.

i have an electric water boiler (<3 it), so when i started the pot of water, i also started the kettle. pour the clean water into the pot, toss in your shumai (if you've got 'em) and noodles. then go ahead and crack an egg on top and sprinkle the seasoning packet in there too. you can break up the egg, or just leave it kind of whole, whatever you want. i like to break it up but still leave biggish chunks. fold the noodles over the egg so it cooks faster, and a few minutes later BAM! you've got a meal. and nothing says "meal" like fresh chopped green onions (i told you i like them!).

I love tacos! I love them good.

2010-03-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

First: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fJh7j3INmw

now let's talk about some tacos.
i used some of this:

i cut up half a block of tofu (in small cubes) and patted it dry and then started sauteing it in a pan with just some nonstick spray. i recommend firm or medium firm tofu for this. anything less than that is just gonna be too squishy and probably kind of gross.

saute it for a few minutes and then go ahead and sprinkle in some of the seasoning packet. probably about a tbs or two. start with 1 tbs and then taste it, if it's not seasoned enough for you, go ahead and add more to taste. let it cook through for about 5 to 10 min. i added some fresh cut green onions at the end. mmm. love those green onions.

I also made some potatoes for the tacos. I cut up potatoes, carrots, zuchini, and onion and sauteed it all in a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper, and basil. i let it cook for about 5-10 minutes before adding some taco seasoning to it. i didn't cook the potatoes or carrots at all before this so they take a little longer to cook before they're soft all the way through. BUT the smaller you cut, the faster they cook. they probably take 15-20 minutes for total cooking time. but taste it every now and then, maybe you like your taters harder than i do. or softer for that matter.

I also made beans and rice. beans is eeeaaasssy. open the can and put em in a pot or microwave safe dish and heat them on up. I like to add salsa and cheese if i have it.

ok, so, this may be ghetto, but whatever. i LOVE THIS STUFF. it's so good. and it's only like a dollar at the grocery store (and we all know what a cheapy i am).

seriously. it's great. HOWEVER, their directions are bonkers. allllll wrong. here's what you should REALLY do:

saute the rice/vermicelli in butter/marg until it starts to brown, just like the box says.

add BOILING HOT water (1-2/3 cup) to the pot
add 2 heaping serving spoons of your favorite salsa
add the spice packet

stir it up and then put a lid on it, turn the heat to lo/simmer and let it do its thang for 15-20 minutes. BAM! you've got rice.

now just take a few corn tortillas and spray them with some nonstick spray and toss em in a hot pan to soften/crisp up. BAM! you've got tacos.

TACOS!

oh F to the YES

2010-02-20T14:20:00.001-08:00

i made breakfast... and it was good. ask jessica, she enjoyed it. first of all, check this shizz out! my green onions are on steroids!!! they're growing like crazy!!!

ok now seriously. for breakfast i made poached eggs and home fries/homestyle potatoes/hash/whatever. and normally i prefer a different starch (toast, rice, tortillas) with my breakfast, but i have potatoes so potatoes it was.

i got together some onion and red pepper (which i had leftover from something else), rosemary and thyme (from my garrrrden), two medium sized potatoes, and some bohemoth green onions.

I chopped up my potatoes in small chunks, cuz that's how i like it. you can make bigger chunks if you want but they'll take longer to cook. but just make sure you cut them in same sizeish chunks so they cook evenly.

you can use dry rosemary and thyme if you want, but this stuff is so easy to grow and have fresh that if you can do fresh, DO IT. i also used dill (ok so dill is my favorite herb for potatoes and i sometimes i eat potatoes just so i can have dill). unfortunately i kind of um, neglected my herbs for awhile due to travel... and.. i killed my dill, oregono, and cilantro. oops. oh, and my basil has been dead for quite some time. MY BAD. i'm gonna get replacements today hopefully.

throw all the goodness in the pan and stir up. yum. OH i put garlic in there too. check it out, it's right there on top. add some salt and pepper too, but not a ton cuz you know, you can't UNDO that stuff. so just salt and pep a bit, and you can put more in later if you want. i sauteed this all in a lil veg oil and about 1/2tbs of butter (thanks jess!!! haha). see it all poppin!? holler.

i cut up some green onions (FRESH!!!) to throw in with the taters. check those bad boys out. i cut 'em at a slight angle cuz i'm freakin fancy like that (yea, i said it? so what? you know i'm right!)

heeeeeellllsss yes. look at those taters! the fresh green onion thrown in at the end just makes em POP! i waited till the end to throw the green onions in because i wanted them to hold their color and crunch, so if you throw em in too early they just kinda get soggy. and you know the taters are done when you can smash a piece with your spatula. just feel it, or taste it. you'll know. i have faith in your ability to taste a potato. also, this is a good time to add salt and pepper if you want more.
don't try and tell me that doesn't look bomb. you know you're licking the screen. it's okay, let it happen. mmm.
so my poached eggs aren't PERFECT looking, but they tasted awesome.

REAL QUICK! How I Poach My Eggs:
boil some water, at least a couple inches deep, in a fry pan. when it comes to a boil add a splash or regular ol' vinegar. NOT A TON. just a splash. noone wants their eggs to taste like vinegar. that's nasty. anyway, carefully break your egg into the pan. after about 20-30 seconds you'll see the white start to cook around the yolk. perfect. take your spatula and GENTLY run it underneath your egg just to make sure nothing is sticking to the pan. the vinegar you added should help with that, as well as help keep your egg holding together. i prefer my poached eggs easy-medium, so I take them out when i can feel (with my finger) that the yolk is still pretty much liquid, but the whites are cooked. set the egg on a napkin. the egg will continue to cook out of the pan because it's still hot. it'll also solidify up as the moisture evaporates, so don't worry if your egg looks a lil slimyish when you take it out of the pan. it's ALL GOOD. and then... EAT IT!!!

check out that lil bundle of goodness. i thoroughly enjoyed making a little hole at the top of my egg and opening up that yummy pocket of yolky goodness. i highly recommend dipping your potatoes in this. oh you'll thank me, YES YOU WILL. yummmmmyyyyy.

egg on erryone! egg on!

she's a happy girl

2010-01-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

dreams do come true.

suehiro sukiyaaaaki.

now go up and look around

2010-01-22T10:32:00.001-08:00

How can I describe it? Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it.

You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great.

this is how i do it

2010-01-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

this is one of my favorite japanese comfort foods (exit beef, enter tooofu!) and i wanted it SO bad so i made it. it was makeshift, because i didn't have all the ingredients.. but... whatever. it's all good. i actually paid attention to measurement too, cuz i wanna start writing down all my recipes. they can't all be "some salt" "a lil of this, a lil of that" "handful.." yada yada. for some reason people don't know exactly what "a splash of" such and such is, so FINE i'll play by your rules. for now.

vegetarian sukiyaki (i got nothin on Suehiro's sukiyaki. gawd i could do the backstroke in that broth)

broth:
1/2 cup sake
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup (low sodium) soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar ("melted" in a 1/2 cup of hot water)

innards:
1 whole block of tofu, cubed
1/2 head of cabbage (it'll cook down A LOT)
1 whole onion, sliced about.. 1/4" to 1/2" thick
and then... whatever other vegetables you want
i like to use bamboo shoots and carrots and lots of green onion

last night i used zuchini and broccoli too, but it wasn't my favorite. it flavored the broth too much with its... vegetableness. ha. sometimes i like to put noodles in it too, the glassy jelly-ish kind. shoot, what are they called? Shirataki, that's the kind i like. or you could use somen. but don't put the somen in til later, they only take a few minutes to cook.

assuming you don't have a traditional sukiyaki pan/pot thing, you're gonna need a largeish fry pan with a lid. and something with walls. like this:

get the broth brewing; just throw everything (the liquids, not EVERYTHING) in the pot and get it hot. then when you got that goin, put all of your veggies and other fixins in the pot, grouped. it's not a soup, don't just throw everything and stir it up. keep like items grouped; that way when you serve yourself you can get however much of something you want.

anywhat, get everything in there and then lid it, let it cook until everything is soft and yummy. check it after like... i dunno... 20 minutes or so. it shouldn't take TOO long to cook. just, you know, adjust according to your liking, and such. hahaha.

you could serve it in the pan at the table, and you and your friends can self-serve and be social and stuff. or if you're just cooking for yourself, just serve it in a bowl and have a bowl of rice on the side to drip the broth into. mmm.

and then do backstrokes in the broth.

dee-nar

2010-01-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

my dinner last night was freakin bomb. screw modesty, i knocked that meal OUT OF THE PARK. i had rice, tofu, veggies, and creamed cauliflower. let's expand.

rice: measure, wash, cook. DING!

tofu: i squished as much water out as possible and sliced it in thinnish slices and fried it in a pan with nothing more than cooking spray.

vegetables: i had a squash and zuchini and i kinda cut em at an angle so i'd have big thick slices. i cooked those up in a lil olive oil and this bomb mediterranean salt that my mom and dad got me. it has like basil and something else ground in with the salt. yum.

creamed cauliflower: omg. i think i ate more than half of a head of cauliflower last night it was THAT good. i steamed the cauliflower with a garlic clove (sliced) for awhile until i could break it apart. then i dumped the water out and added milk (thanks michelle!) and another clove of garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. i let it cook for awhile until it was nice and soft and thick. then i blended it all together and added some parmesean and shredded mozzarella and mixed it allllll up. it.was.heavenly. i'm not even kidding.

onions: these bad boys were damn good. what i did was took a small red onion and cut it into 4 thick slices. i peeled the outer layer off (cuz it's gross) and set them on a plate of balsamic vinegar. then i drizzled soy sauce over the top. so bottom balsamic, top soy. i let em sit and soak for about 15-20 minutes or so and then just threw em in a pan with cooking spray. they get nice and charred looking on the outside but sweet and soft on the inside. so. good.

sauce: i made a pseduo reduction for my meal as well (for errthing but the cauli). it was balsamic, soy sauce, water, rice wine vinegar, lil bit brown sugar, chopped garlic, dollop of butter, and... and i think that's it. i didn't add salt because the soy is salty enough on it's own. so yeah i just let that cook down while everything else was cookin. and not at like a rolling boil either, let it cook on low/simmer.

a-mazing.

i love to break fast

2010-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

for some reason the first thing i like to do on a saturday morning is clean the kitchen. maybe it's because i was too lazy to do anything about it the night before... or because i just like a clean slate to start off my day. anyway, so after i cleaned the kitchen i made myself some breakfast. i love saturday morning breakfasts because i can actually sit down with a good morning meal and enjoy it. not like at work where inhale some cheerios underneath some retina-burning neon lights.

i made scrambled eggs with onion and fresh cilantro from my garden (!!!!), crisped up a corn tortilla, and sliced up an avocado. oh, and a pot of tasty coffee. mmm.

i love corn tortillas with my breakfast because i GOTTA have a vessel for my eggs. i can't just eat scrambled eggs by themselves. they need to be on toast, a bagel, tortilla... some kind of bready starchy goodness. and one tortilla is perfect, nice and crispy. plus, it saves me the calories from 2 slices of buttered toast. (i know, i could just have ONE piece of toast, unbuttered. but where's the fun - flavor - in that?)

i wish i had some of that right now. but accompanied by my ass in pajamas on the couch. 'til then, you got my back cheerios.

C'mon 2010. Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love (or food).

2009-12-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

ten things i want to attempt to cook in 2010.

1. i would really like to make my own pasta dough. this also would require the acquisition of a rolling pin... which i do not have... i'll have to get one of those. i would love to have a pasta thingy but a rolling pin is cheaper.

2. pot pie. i want pot pie! chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot piiiieee! okay, but not chicken. just veggies. maybe some fake chicken. mmmm.

3. turducken. ha, jk. toootally kidding. i want to try and make my own veggie patties out of tofu and veggies. i think it'll be fairly easy. we'll see though haha.

4. tortillas. i've never made a tortilla!! i want to do it.

5. tamales too! i'm mexican, it's in my blood. hopefully dna will make tamale creation easier for me. keep your fingers crossed!!!!

6. pesto sauce. i've made it before but it just hasn't been as good as i know it can be, so i want to try and perfect it.

7. keeping on the page of sauces: mole. i know there's like a thousand ingredients, but i really want to try and make a mole sauce. it's SO good!

8. gnochi. also something i've made before, but it was only once. i can do better.

9. potato croquettes. i love the ones i get from mitsuwa; i would really like to recreate those lil cakes of goodness.

10. hmm hmm hmm... what to put in the coveted no. 10 slot... well. there's this giada recipe i've wanted to try for awhile. it's called Lemon and Basil eggs over Foccacia. It's like a hollowed out piece of foccacia bread with eggs poured in it and baked. mmm.

***as an added thing, i would really like to expand my garden. it's pretty small right now, with just some herbs and such. but when spring comes i hope to plant some vegetables: tomatoes, green beans... maybe squash!? broccoli!? endless possibilities.

Broccoli, you fiendish devil.

2009-12-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Broccoli. I've never really been a fan. It's just always been one of those vegetables that I could leave on my plate and not feel bad about it. Same with cauliflower. Well, no, I've always thought cauliflower was gross. BUT! I'm turning over a new leaf, and I'm giving these guys another chance. I figure I'm an adult of sorts now, I should try liking these things. And well, I'm a vegetarian so... I SHOULD like these things.

I helped my dad make a broccoli soup for dinner last week. It turned out fairly well. He just used broccoli, onions, and a little bit of potato and cooked it all in vegg broth. When it was all soft and squishy he hit it with the immersion blender to make it creamy and smooth. It was missing something though, and surprisingly he asked me to spruce it up. I say surprisingly because my dad and I are the same when it comes to cooking: don't mess with our food, it is our creation and we don't want you meddling with our art. thanks but no thanks. SO he had to go fix the garage door (apparently it poopooed and needed a new motor/gears or something) and asked me to fix the soup cuz it tasted flat. I went in there and added more salt and pepper, a pinch of basil, a pinch of dill (brings out those potatoes! i love dill), and a healthy dose of sage. He came back in and tasted it and said it was perfect. He also thought I added nutmeg. I think he asked me 3 times if I added nutmeg. No dad, I did not add nutmeg. But maybe I will next time!

My dad also made this roasted broccoli and cauliflower that was SUPER good. he roasted it in the oven with whole garlic cloves and (I assume) some olive oil. It was delish; crispy and non-squishy and full of flavor. AND he made this bomb horse radish cheese sauce to go with it. Cheese sauce makes EVERYTHING taste better. It's a fact. Don't try and fight me on this.

So broccoli, you've got me interested. Keep up the good work.

oops.

2009-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

i suck. i know. i'm terrible at things.

i'm creating a feast of sorts on saturday.

i think it's going to be really good.

i've been planning the menu in my head for a long time and i think i even got down a prep-schedule (in my head of course).

the menu (as of right now) is as follows:

bacon-herb wrapped pork tenderloin

garlic mashed potatoes

sweet potato stew

butternut squash raviolis

roasted vegetables

i'm sure someone will be bring bread, and hopefully i can convince someone to make cookies or something for dessert. mmm. cookies and ice cream would be perfect i think. well, maybe i can make my own cookies. wait, no, i don't want to. i think i have enough on my plate. har har har.

seriously, someone bring dessert.

For Mindy

2009-09-28T15:42:00.001-07:00

I have this fall-back recipe I like when I want something easy and warm and tasty. It's also easy to make a lot of to share with your friends. For lack of imagination I'll just call it Baked Veggie Pasta. I made it last week for Michelle (who ever-so-humbly requested it) and Mindy, and apparently Mindy would like the recipe. So Mindy, this is for you!

Start out by getting a big pot of water boiling for your pasta.

While that's-a-brewin' cut up a few of your favorite vegetables into about-same-sized pieces. I like to use carrots (these can be cut smaller so they cook easier/faster), asparagus, onions (red and white), red bell pepper, zuchini, and or squash. Chop up some garlic for this too (or spoon it out of the jar, whatever).

By now your water should be rip-roarin' so pour in some pasta. I like to use ribbed pastas like penne because they hold the flavors better in their ridges of goodness. yea, i just said that. Ridges of Goodness. Anyway, your pasta to vegetable ratio should be about even. You don't want to go into a carbo-bomb. Or do you? If you do that's fine, go craaaazy. But only cook the pasta for about 4 or 5 minutes. You want them a little less than Al Dente so that they can continue to cook in the oven with the veggies.

While the pasta's cookin heat up a sauce pot and get a little rue going. If you're watching your calories, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! makes stick "butter" now and you can use that and it works just as well. I really hate the stuff, it tastes like popcorn butter to me, but I couldn't tell the difference between using it or margarine/real butter. When the butter is all melty add an equal amount of flour (I almost typed "flower", wow.) and whisk together. Let the two marry a bit and cook for a minute or so, then start whisking in some milk. I use 2% milk because it has a little fat but not too much. You can use whole milk, half and half, or cream if you want, but don't use nonfat. The lack of fat makes it hard for things to come together. But I use 2% so at least I'm just a passerby of Fatass Town, and not a permanent resident. ANYWAY, slowly whisk in the milk and get all the chunks out. It will start to thicken up.

Check your pasta. Is it a little squishy yet still kinda hard? Good. Turn off the heat and dump that water. Don't just turn off the heat. The pasta will continue to cook in the hot water. We don't want that.

So you've got your sauce/rue thang going, start adding some cheese to it. I like to use Parmesean or Romano, for that nutty (ha) and sharp flavor. Also add a little salt and pepper too. It should start to thicken up even more. Don't make it TOO thick though.

When that's all ready get a big ol' giant bowl and mix together the pasta veggies. Add a handful or two of your favorite melty cheese (I prefer mozzarella, fresh if you've got it, because it's tasty and melty. I don't know how cheddar would fare here... sounds kinda gross. Fontina is REALLY good, but caloric to the max. Fatass Town worthy for sure). Then add your sauce. Mix it altogether. If it's REALLY saucy, GREAT! That means the noodles are gonna soak up all that yummy (in its riiiiiiidges!). If it's not, add a little bit of milk. The moisture that's released from the veggies, especially the zuch/squash, will get soaked up too. Transfer all that into a PAMmed baking dish or Corningware and top with more cheese. You could even sprinkle bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil if you have it. Bake in a 375 - 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I recommend baking with a lid on for about 10 - 15 minutes and then taking it off for the last 5 - 10 minutes. Leaving it on ensures that all the moisture stays in and gets swooshed around to everyone. And then taking it off gives a nice crispy top. YUM.

Btw, I totally cheated and got images off the internet. Thanks Google!

Oh, my bad!

2009-09-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

I didn't forget. I swear. I just have a lack of photographic evidence to document my culinary achievements.

There's a couple pix on Jess's camera that I'll get from her when she gets back from .. the Bay?

There aren't any pictures for this, but, I did make a BOMB frittata on Tuesday. I'd never made one before so I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't end up tasting like rubber. I used like 9 eggs (2.5 whole eggs, the rest just whites), a splash of 2% milk, parmesean, romana, and mozzarella cheeses, some "butter", sauteed onions and red peppers, a dash of cayenne, basil and oregano (I would have liked to use fresh herbs, but The Lazy runs my life so... yea...), salt and pepper ... and then baked that beast in the oven until I thought it looked done. OHHHH i also threw in some Gemelli pasta that I cooked al dente style prior to it marrying the egg. So yea. It was good. I took the leftovers to work and ate it with hot sauce on it. BOMB. I would have liked to make a sauce for it the night I made it, but as I said before: THE LAZY.

Restaurant week in San Diego is coming up fast and I've always wanted to use it as an opportunity to try new restaurants (duh, that's what it's for). Hopefully I can scrape up enough fundage to try a few places. Cross your fingers! (Or send me money. Make my dreams come true.)

Hey Mr. Taliman, Tali Me Banana

2009-08-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Yvone's bridal shower and I was in charge of fruit and cheese. I got (or rather, my dad got for me) a cheese tray and a giant bowl of fruit from Costco. I was all prepared to just open the lid and let people have at it but my mom scoffed at me and told me I needed to "display" it, make it look "nice." I think a plastic bowl would have looked classy but she shot her laser eyes at me and I conceded to her demands. So I thought hell, go big or go home right? I cut up a watermelon and put the mango, pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, and cantaloupe around it. Freakin magical.

A Typical Monday ... err.. Wednesday Night?

2009-08-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

So Michelle, Jess, Nick, Eddie and I do this thang where we have dinner at each other's houses every Monday. It was my turn to cook (hey-o!). It was also on a Wednesday night instead of Monday, we traded Jess for Mindy, and I thought Jager was a good follow-up to this meal (but that's the tale (tail?!) of a different beast).

Anyway, even though my camera was giving me the red-light death battery blink, I thought I could stretch out its life. I was wrong. So I had to take pics with my cell phone. But that's okay; a little photoshop makes everything better.

Here's the spread:
I made rice, tofu (marinated in my new favorite marinade that I've dubbed "the yummy"), chicken (also marinated in the yummy), garlic green beans, spring rolls with a spicy peanut sauce and a ponzu/soy/ginger/garlic sauce, and some delectable chocolate chips cookies made by the fantastic folks at chips ahoy (brought by Nick).

Here's some tasty photoshopped green beans with garlic. yum. i sauteed some garlic in some olive oil and then added what I felt was about 3 pounds of green beans. Cooked those up for a few minutes and then added some water and put a lid on it until they were bright green and had lost that raw taste. BUT I left 'em with a little crunch because that's the way I like it. Oh and there's the chicken in the back. Chix isn't the star. I didn't taste it (cuz I can't) but everyone said it tasted really good, so I'll take their word for it!

I know these spring rolls look like reject orphans of the spring-roll world, but it was only my second time making them and I was a little rushed for time. So they're not pretty. But they're tasty! Inside of these little guys are cucumbers, carrots, bean sprouts (with the ends snipped off because that stringy entrail is just gross to me), basil, mint, and tofu.

Mmm. Tofu in the yummy. This is like a package and a half of tofu. I wasn't messing around here. So you probably want to know what the yummy is. I don't know the measurements of what goes into this. I don't really measure. I eyeball. And no it's not because I'm "that good" so I don't need to measure. It's because I don't want to have to 1) find a measuring spoon/cup/whatever 2) I don't want to have to wash another dish, and 3) I don't want to have to put said dish away. It's out of sheer laziness, nothing more.

Oh that's right! The yummy. The yummy is: soy sauce, mirin (sweet rice wine), salt/pepper, red chili flakes, garlic, onions, a splash of oil (I use veggie oil, but sesame oil would be nice!), a little bit of sugar (brown if you've got it), and water. I usually let my tofu do backstrokes in this yumminess for an hour - hour and a half and then just throw it in a skillet and cook 'er up.

And there you have it. I'll make sure to charge my camera battery next time.

In the Beginning ...

2009-08-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

In the beginning there was food, and it was great. Then came the food coma. I want to put you in a coma.

Top 5 foodie facts about me (in no particular order):

1. i am a vegetarian (since age 10. creepin' up on 15 years!)
2. i am pretty sure cheese is God's gift to not only the world, but to me specifically.
3. i dislike a lot of foods/condiments most people like. i.e. - ketchup, ranch, blueberries...
4. i think soups are the best thing ever
5. i like to look at recipes and not follow them