a cilantro color: a cooking/library blog

Scallion Pancakes

2012-02-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Once again long overdue recipe, I have many more to give, as do most people who blog...they just don't admit the time frames. BUT this was from the weekend at the beach about three weeks ago? I definitely don't care to count, but here we go. So during that trip my car broke down, AGAIN...dumb anyways it is back in action and that is all that really needs to be said at this point in time, and who wants to hear about cars? ...mmm..not me. So lets talk Scallion Pancakes, so yummy and delicious. EAT. Well and the last group of wonderful people I made this for was nine, so I doubled the recipe and it worked very well. So here is the original recipe that I assume feeds four to five, but the link doesn't tell otherwise....OK now eat.

Serves 4-5

The Ingredients

For Pancakes:

1 cup boiling water

Olive oil for frying pan

2 cups flour

2 cups scallions, thinly sliced

Toasted sesame oil

For Dipping Sauce:

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon pressed or grated garlic

1 teaspoon ginger, grated

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

2/3 cup mirin

1 teaspoon lime juice

The Process

1. Whisk together the dipping sauce and set aside.

2. Combine the boiling water and flour until smooth, if you have a fancy mixer use it, but i found that hands and a wooden spoon worked best.

3. Grease a bowl and form dough into a ball, place ball in the bowl and cover with a damp towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

4. Then take dough and knead several times on a floured flat surface. Then separate dough into four parts.

5. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the first sphere into the thinnest, roundest shape possible. Place about a tablespoon of the toasted sesame oil in the center. Using a pastry brush, distribute the oil so it covers the top of the pancake, adding more oil as needed.

6. Roll up the pancake tightly, so it forms one long, thin cylinder. Coil the cylinder into a round shape, like a snail shell. Taking your rolling pin, flatten it out again and shape into a thin round pancake.

7. Then take a handful of the chopped scallions and scatter them evenly across the surface of the pancake. Roll up the pancake tightly, so it forms one long, thin cylinder again. Coil the cylinder into a round shape again, like a snail shell. Taking your rolling pin, flatten it out again and shape into a thin, round pancake. Set aside and make the other three pancakes.

8. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a flat-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Place one of the prepared pancakes in the skillet and fry until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes) on each side, re-greasing the skillet as needed.

Cold Sesame Asparagus Salad

2012-01-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to go to the Oregon coast and Saturday night my lovely boyfriend and I were in charge of making dinner for a total of nine people. We went for an Asian inspired dinner theme and made Chicken Karaage, Scallion Pancakes (next post), and this Asparagus Salad from Good Thymes and Good Food blog...t'was a very tasty meal. We did have quite an adventure at the coast, Saturday it was sunny, in the 50's, and no wind at all...and it's January!!! It was one of the best days I have had in a long long time, we were even able to lounge around on the patio in t-shirts and drink bloody marys in pure comfort. Waldport also has a very rad flea market in town that we checked out, and I was taken to the infamous Flounder Inn for Friday night dinner and drinks after the long dark three hour drive to the coast...epic weekend with amazing people, one for the books indeed.

Serves 6 healthy portions, but it also worked well as a small salad for 9

The Ingredients
2 bundles of fresh asparagus, bottoms snapped off and cut into 3 inch long pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

The Process
1. In a medium saucepan bring 1 cup of water to a boil, and then add asparagus and cook for 1 minute.

2. Drain the asparagus and put into an ice bath and set aside.

3. In the meantime in a medium salad bowl (large enough to hold asparagus) mix together soy sauce, sugar, cider vinegar, and sesame oil.

4. Then drain asparagus from ice bath and add to bowl with sauce mixture. Toss salad with sesame seeds and refrigerate for at least one hour (stirring occasionally). Serve cold!

Pork Larb

2012-01-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

This recipe was part of a large and tasty meal I made for my mother's birthday. We had decided on a Thai themed dinner and I love pork larb whenever I get it in restaurants so me creating this dish myself was long over due. While I did not create this recipe myself it is a very good one, and for the original recipe and instructions on how to make rice powder click this link. The first time I had larb my friend who now lives in Thailand made it for me with tofu and spices that she brought back from Thailand which were extra spicy, and from that day on I became obsessed with the dish. I accompanied this dish with Tom Kha soup, veggie spring rolls, and chicken satay with peanut sauce...the meal was epic. Speaking of epic I have a good feeling that this weekend will be just that; I'm headed to the Oregon coast with a bunch of lovely people and we all like to cook, so I will definitely come back with several new recipes to post.

Serves 5 (as a side dish)

The Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted rice powder
3 limes, juiced
1 bunch of green onions, green and white parts separated, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 tablespoon sriracha
1/4 tablespoon ground chili flakes
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup mint, finely chopped
16 oz ground pork
green cabbage leaves

The Process
1. Combine the juice of 1 lime with ground pork, toss well and let sit for a couple minutes.

2. In the meantime heat a skillet or wok on stove over high heat. Then add 2 tablespoons of water to the skillet when hot and add in pork and the white part of the green onions. Cook pork until it is done but not browned and then put the pork mixture in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl combine the rest of the lime juice, toasted rice powder, green part of green onions, shallot, sriracha, ground chili, fish sauce, black pepper, cilantro, and mint. Then add pork to this bowl and mix everything thoroughly.

4. To serve break cabbage leaves in half and scoop a generous amount of pork mixture onto each cabbage leaf and serve while still warm.

Butter Beans and Kale with Eggs

2012-01-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

One weekend I woke up wanting to make this dish, it looked so hardy, warming and perfect for this rainy and cold Portland weather we have been getting lately. I found this recipe (that I then adapted) on the Serious Eats blog and they never seem to disappoint me so I was determined to make it. This stew like dish would have really been nice last week with all of the snow and me having strep throat...then again I wouldn't even have been able to swallow it. I don't know if anyone out there is like me where every single year you get strep throat, if I am lucky that was hopefully the only time this year and every time it fully defeats me. So eat this stew and don't get sick as hell like me.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 (15oz) can butter beans, rinsed
5 slices of fatty bacon, chopped up
2 (150z) cans chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
2 (15oz) cans of whole stewed tomatoes, chopped
4 cups kale, chopped
4 eggs, hard boiled
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

The Process
1. In large saucepan, over medium high heat add olive oil. When hot add onion, bacon, carrots and celery. Cook for about 7-10 minutes or until everything softens. Then add chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf, and a little salt and pepper. Bring this mixture to boil and then reduce to simmer, and simmer for 45 minutes.

2. Then add butter beans, tomatoes and kale. Stir well and simmer for 20 more minutes. During this time hard boil your eggs.

3. After the 20 minutes the stew should be thicker and kale should be cooked down. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. To serve, dish stew into bowl and cut hard boiled eggs in halves, serve each bowl with two halves and eat!

While this dish takes a bit of time it is so worth it in the end, so plan ahead and enjoy.

Nori Radish Toasts

2012-01-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have been a SUPER slacker in cooking and writing for the last month and a half. I am so sorry, between the holidays, getting really really sick, and job searching my wonderful hobby of cooking and blogging about it has suffered the most. So here is my attempt to revive my blog and keep up the cooking, the thing I love most. I have also been super involved in planning InfocampPDX, it is only two weeks away so register now!!! So here is an appetizer recipe from the wonderful Sunset magazine and it was my addition to the Christmas day activities.

The Ingredients
1 French baguette, sliced 2 inches thick
1 large sheet nori (seaweed)
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced

The Process
1. Turn on oven to 350 degrees, take cut baguette and place pieces on cookie sheet and put in oven for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

2. Using scissors cut up the nori sheet into little pieces or grind in a coffee grinder.

3. In small bowl mix together butter and nori.

4. Smear butter spread onto toasts and top with several slices of radishes and eat away.

Carrot and Feta Salad

2011-11-23T12:15:00.001-08:00

This is the first recipe I have actually been able to make this week, things have been chaotic with me being out of town last weekend and the holiday time approaching. I have found so many awesome recipes for Thanksgiving but once again I was shot down and I am not allowed to cook anything. I am given "assignments" which entails, "we are eating this, now you make it"...and honestly I don't respond well to demands of that sort. Being in charge of a dish in my book means you have the full right to be creative and make what you want, but apparently that isn't how it goes until "the dinner is under my own roof." So once again this year I have refused an assignment and will force an appetizer of my own choice.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 cup feta, crumbled

The Process
1. In medium sauce pan add water, carrots, honey, and mustard. Bring to a boil and then let simmer (high simmer) for about 20 minutes.

2. In the mean time toast the walnuts and crumble the feta.

3. Take carrots out of pan with a slotted spoon, and put in a salad bowl. Then spoon several spoonfuls of leftover simmering liquid over the carrots. Then add cheese and nuts and mix well and serve warm.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Shanghai Chicken

2011-11-17T17:48:00.001-08:00

I made this recipe on one of the recent stormy nights here in Portland, OR because I wanted something that was tasty, healthy, and easy. Speaking of Portland, OR everyone has this idea that Portland pretty much breeds hipsters...and yes I will admit there are a lot of them here but take a look at this awesome article from NPR about what a hipster is and where the MAJORITY of them live, Portland isn't mentioned once! Ha! The article is called The Hipsterfication of America. Currently I am sitting up on the hill at my job in the Oregon Health & Science University Library hoping for snow, being really tired because I still have 2 more hours to work on a 11 hour work day, and really wanting to just meet up with my friend for a nice warm hot toddy. Today was a good day unlike several recent days, most of my day consisted of writing metadata for photos in the Digital Resource Library collection here at OHSU, and while I was writing this metadata I was listening to Drake's new album...again...and again...and well perhaps you should listen to it. Ok now eat some tasty ass chicken.

Serves 3 Adapted from JoCooks

The Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless sliced into strips (like chicken strips)
2 eggs
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon dill, dry
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
Spray olive oil

The Process
1. In a medium bowl add 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mustard, flour, cornstarch, dill, garlic, eggs, and a little salt and pepper and beat to mix well.

2. In a small bowl add sesame seeds. Then heat stove up to medium heat and use a medium skillet and spray with oil.

3. Then take chicken strips and first dip in egg batter, then in sesame seeds, do this with all the chicken.

4. Put chicken in pan and cook until cooked through and slightly golden brown, about 4 minutes each side depending on how big you made the strips of chicken.

5. While these are cooking you are going to make the dipping sauce, in a small bowl mix together the left over 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mustard, and 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce. Mix well and serve with Shanghai Chicken!

Egg Vinaigrette and Asparagus

2011-11-17T11:10:00.001-08:00

As another attempt to make something different, healthy, and full of protein I decided to adapt this recipe from Seven Spoons. It is so filling and amazing you can eat it as a main dish, but I ate it with a light little piece of fish. I also had leftovers the next day and the dressing for the salad tastes even better after sitting for 10 hours. While I ate this dish with dinner it could also be an amazing brunch, oooOOOoo the options:) As for the Portland life, it has been extremely rainy (of course) and all the beautiful colorful leaves are now all over the street causing flooded roads and mayhem, which is pretty entertaining to me. It has also been ridiculously foggy and dark lately, I feel like every morning and every evening I am in the movie Twilight, because where I live which is up on a hill and there are tons of trees and crazy animals...well just deer but still. Also on my morning commute to work today while crossing the Steel Bridge oh the Occupiers were at their best again, getting ready to Occupy the bridge and shut it down...and the S.W.A.T. team was ready and waiting... All I have to say is power to the people! Oh also on a very random and different note y'all should listen to Drake's new album Take Care, it's dope. Here is the recipe:

Serves 4 (large portions)

The Ingredients
1 pound asparagus, cooked however you prefer (I steamed mine)
2 crowns broccoli, cooked however you prefer
4 green onions, white and light green parts separated and finely sliced
4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 - 2/3 cup olive oil
20 capers, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 cup italian parsley, chopped
1 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt and Pepper

The Process
1. In a small bowl, pinch together 1/4 teaspoon salt with the white part of the sliced green onions. Once the green onions begins to release some juice, stir in the red wine vinegar and set aside.

2. Separate the egg yolks from the hard boiled eggs. Place one egg yolk in a medium bowl. Chop the other egg yolk and egg whites separately, and keep both aside for later.

3. Mix the Dijon mustard into whole egg yolk until smooth. Using the back of a fork, beat in the olive oil in a thin, steady stream. Once emulsified, stir in the vinegar and white green onions.

4. Add the reserved egg whites to the sauce, along with the capers, the chili flakes, garlic, and most of the parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

5. To serve, arrange the cooked asparagus and broccoli on a plate. Spoon over the sauce, then garnish with the chopped egg yolk, reserved parsley and green onion tops.

Spinach and Apple Chicken

2011-11-10T17:22:00.001-08:00

Yup you're right, I have been doing a lot of cooking...and enjoying every second of it. This is what happens when you are saving money to be able to up and leave when that job calls and wants you! So if you like reading about cooking and my meals you are in luck, and if you don't like me or my meals...well you can cry about it. This recipe is a particularly healthy recipe with simple and delicious Fall produce. What are you favorite kind of apples? I have several including: Honey crisp, Fuji, and Galas. Apple season is great because I love eating fresh apples, baked apple goods are awesome too but we all know I hate baking....so with this in mind I decided to create a savory apple dish based on a recipe from Health. While it is a easy and pretty straight forward recipe I would not have thought to put apple juice in the dish, but it really tied everything together. So on another note as part of my writing process for my blog posts I obsessively scrap the internet for any sort of brain stimulating piece of information whether it be text, photo, art, etc. This is not only due to my A.D.D (yes diagnosed, just like 2/3's of the world) but it helps me (hopefully) not write really boring blog posts....(which I think I am currently on the edge of....so on to the recipe!)

Serves 3

The Ingredients
3, 5oz chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
1/2 cup apple juice (I used organic cause it has less sugar)
1 large Honey crisp apple, cored and sliced
1 normal size bag of baby spinach

The Process
1. Heat large skillet on stove over medium high heat, add oil.

2. In mean time lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts. When oil is hot add the chicken breasts to the pan, cover and cook for 5 minutes each side, or until the chicken breasts are well browned.

3. Then remove chicken (and juices from pan) and put on a plate and keep warm.

4. Return the pan to the stove and add garlic, salt, pepper, mustard, apple, and apple juice. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

5. Then return chicken and juices back to the pan and add the spinach. Cook covered for about 2 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

While there are several little things that I did change in this recipe the nutritional facts should be pretty darn similar to the original recipe, so here they are:

Calories: 202; Fat: 5g; Sat. Fat: 1g; Protein: 27g; Fiber: 2g

Pho Bo

2011-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Well...o.k. this is once again a slight cheater recipe, but it is more real than the Faux Chicken Pho I previously posted. The reason why this is a cheater recipe is because the broth is made from this amazing boullion base I found at Fubonn last weekend, normally making the broth can take around 5 hours so I haven't tried to make Pho from scratch...yet. Anyways I still technically assembled the Pho bowls and created a fantastic meal. If you don't know what Pho is first of all you are missing out and second click the link. Pho is also a very lean and healthy meal full of protein. In other food related news check this NPRHealth story out, it is about bringing cooking back into the classroom, a step in a great direction for American education. On a sadder note please read this if you love seafood, it is disturbing how much the U.S. inspection codes are lacking in comparison to other countries. As for news in my life, same old job hunt...but there maybe a wonderful and exciting development which I will divulge when it is a more solid plan ;) Until then EAT PHO BO!

Serves 5

The Ingredients
2 1/2 cups petite sirloin, sliced extremely thin
1 1/2 tablespoons pho beef flavor paste (similar to the link)
4 1/2 cups water
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
2 cups bean sprouts
1 cup fresh basil, de-stemmed
1 lime, cut in half and then with one of the halves cut into quarters for serving
1 cup fresh cilantro, de-stemmed
1 package rice noodles, cooked (follow directions on package)
Olive Oil

The Process
1. In large pot add a little olive oil and stove to medium heat. When hot add garlic and yellow onion. Cook for about 2 minutes.

2. Then add water, pho beef flavor paste, mushrooms, ginger, and squeeze half of the lime into soup and stir well and bring to a boil.

3. Then turn stove down to a rolling simmer for about 10 minutes. This is the point that I made the rice noodles and set them aside. I also prepared all of the fresh ingredients and put them on a plate to serve on the side of the soup.

4. Then add petite sirloin to soup and cook for 30 seconds and remove soup from heat.

5. To serve: in a large bowls put noodles, then pour pho soup into bowl, then add as much bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, green onions, and lime as you want to your pho bo!

I would also recommend as flavors to add if you want: Sriacha sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, chili oil, and plum sauce. Eat up!

The finished product to the left, and a plethora of condiments directly above.

Trip to Fubonn

2011-11-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

There are recipes that will follow this post as a result of my trip to Fubonn with my friend Elisa. Fubonn is a very large Asian supermarket, and I love it. I hadn't ever been so this was my first experience and for some reason we thought it was a great idea to go on a Saturday...mmmmm not so much, crowds of people tend to make me feel a little crazy, hence the photos to come. This store has an amazing variety of foods and kitchenware, and I finally bought one of those bamboo layered steamers so that I can make hum bao! Our original mission for the day was to go to Fubonn and get the ingredients to make hum bao, but once we started to read the recipe we realized this process was close to 6 hours because the dough has to rise...so we decided to make hum bao on a different occasion and to just go to Fubonn and explore. Elisa loves to try all the crazy weird snacks at these stores and often times will buy several odd things for us to try, our results of good vs. bad will follow. As for other things in the store I found a wonderful bouillon base for pho, which is awesome because making pho from scratch is a very long process, or at least the broth is. Below are some other interesting things found in the store. P.s. the color tag reflects the amazing time we had.

Escaped Snail!

Beef Carpaccio

2011-11-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Fancy shmancy times here in Portland, Oregon...Or well I try my hardest to be fancy shmancy. And who better than my best friend Elisa to eat fancy raw beef! Friday night hangout after a very long week = cooking, sangria, delirium, and Bridesmaids...a hilarious movie. In addition to the amazing raw beef Elisa made fried polenta cakes with spice and cheesy goodness. This recipe came together because while I was willing to put in the MAJOR effort and really cook, we both finally agreed we were hungry as shit and just needed some protein, so we ate raw beef.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
2/3 pound organic top sirloin beef, thinly sliced (ask the butcher to do it and have the butcher also take out the gristle)
1 bunch watercress, rinsed
1/4 cup delicately shaved (with veggie peeler) Parmesan cheese (or any hard cheese)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons olive oil (extra fancy)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (fancy pants as well)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
5 tablespoons capers, chopped

The Process
1. In small jar put olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard; shake/mix well.

2. Take rinsed and de-stemmed watercress and dress lightly with mustard/balsamic dressing.

3. Next assemble beef carpaccio rolls: at the end of a piece of beef layer watercress, a few chopped capers, 2-3 slices of cheese, and then roll up the beef carpaccio. Do this with the rest of the ingredients.

Please note that this is most safe/and best when eaten right away; but you can eat it until noon the next day...well that was that last point in time that I ate the raw beef.

Tomato Egg Drop Soup

2011-11-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

Sounds different, I know but that is the exact thing that attracted me to this recipe. Not only did I find and adapt it from Serious Eats but I love Chinese soups especially during soup and cold season! This is a nice and healthy recipe after my last cheesy/pumpkiny fat kid recipe. With much of my near future undetermined and ideas of what I need and what I want in terms of a job boggling my brain, I made this soup to bring some ease to my mind. In other things that do not ease my mind, the world population... I mean seriously all I have seen lately is the celebration of what 7 billion? and the celebration of all the babies being born? India's population alone is increasing so quickly that I can't even keep up! Not that I am against people having children, in fact I want a couple little troublemakers of my own, but WTF this is not something to celebrate when our world can't even take care of the humans that are already alive. I highly reccomend you watch this video that NPR put together that helps you visualize the immense increase, and then tell me how scared or disturbed you are. Let this soup sooth you and just think about all the good foods in the world, not babies.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3/4 pound rip tomatoes, cored and chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 (1/2 pound) pork loin chop, chopped into 1in. cubes
2 cups vegetable broth
3 1/2 cups water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
Black pepper

The Process
1. In large pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot add onion and stir and cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.

2. Then add tomatoes, garlic, and salt, stir well and cover and cook for about 5 minutes, the tomatoes will break down. Make sure you turn the heat down if the tomatoes start stick to the pan, and make sure to stir occasionally.

3. Next removed the cover and add the pork, cover and cook for 3 minutes.

4. Then add fish sauce and stir well. Next add the broth and water turn to high heat and bring pot to boil.

5. When it reaches a boil turn down and simmer with no cover for 15 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and stir in eggs in a wide slow circle. Serve with fresh cilantro, and optional sriacha sauce.

Pumpkin Macaroni & Cheese

2011-11-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

oh my god! This recipe is absolute insanity in flavor! It is one of THE BEST macaroni & cheeses I have EVER tasted, so much so that yes, today marks my third day in a row of eating it willingly and lovingly. I made this for Halloween dinner because I wanted to be festive without going out, I couldn't go out due to the fact that I now work at 7:30am on Mondays and Tuesdays, and to say the least I am NOT a morning person. Plus I was fine with staying in because I had enough Halloween parties during this last weekend to keep me covered. I attended these parties as "hot chick with steve buscemi eyes"...if you haven't seen this internet trend you need to look now. And here is my lovely picture being this exact thing: ------------------------------------------------->
Halloween night I also watched the scary movie Quarantine, if you have not seen this movie and you like scary movies about viruses you need to watch it. As for the recipe I adapted it from the blog Blissfully Delicious and by adapted I did quite a few things different especially in the cooking process. As for the rest of life I am still trying to balance out my options and I am still feverishly applying for Librarian jobs, cause I am so ready to start my wonderful career!

Serves 5

The Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni noodles, cooked al dente
4 tablespoons salted butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
1 cup cooked pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces evaporated milk
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 ounces medium cheddar cheese, grated
Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese, granulated
Spray oil

The Process
1. Once noodles are cooked al dente and drained return them to the large pot (keep off heat) and melt in the butter and toss well.

2. In the mean time in a small bowl whisk together eggs, evaporated milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and dry mustard. Then pour and stir into noodles.

3. Turn oven onto broil.

4. Return large pot of noodle mixture to stove and heat over low heat stir in extra sharp cheddar and medium cheddar cheese. Stir for about 3 minutes or until the macaroni and cheese mixture is smooth and creamy.

5. Then add pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Next spray a 9 x 9 glass baking dish with spray oil. Pour pumpkin mac & cheese mixture into baking dish and smooth out the top.

6. Then generously sprinkle bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese over the top and put in preheated oven until slight brown on top, about 3 minutes but make sure to watch it as to not burn it. When it is done take it out of the oven and let set for about 3 more minutes so that it can thicken and become even creamier!

EAT!

Sweet Potato and Fennel Pie

2011-10-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

One of the many cold and beautiful Fall evenings recently my mother and I decided to create a mostly healthy dish using seasonal produce and continuing our effort to learn the magical ways of fresh fennel! How does fennel taste so amazing? It adds this crisp almost vinegar-y flavor to food when it is baked and apparently it is also medicinal, even more reason to love and experiment with fennel! On another recent Fall evening two of my close friend Serenity and Turner and myself got together to create the website and help plan the first InfocampPDX ever! While much planning still has to happen I am proud to be part of planning what will be an amazing event. For those of you who don't know what InfocampPDX is: Infocamp PDX is a one day unconference for people excited about connecting people with information. This includes visual and user experience designers, librarians, web folk, and other InfoNerds. So enjoy this dank recipe and consider attending InfocampPDX.

Serves 5

The Ingredients
1 medium to small sweet potato, peeled and cubed (small)
1 cup zucchini, cubed (small)
2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 bulb fennel, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons lowfat milk
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. Cook sweet potato in salted boiling water, for about 8 minutes, then add the zucchini and cook for about 4 more minutes. While these two things are still hot in a small bowl mash them together with milk and butter and set aside.

2. Keep water boiling and add fennel and carrots, boil for about 8 minutes or until tender then take out of water and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. In large skillet add some olive oil, about 2 tablespoons and heat over medium-high heat. When hot add onion and cook for 10 minutes. Then add mushrooms, garlic, basil, and parsley and cook for about 3 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.

5. Then grease a 9 inch glass baking dish with spray oil (note I used an oval shaped dish and it was too large).

6. Begin the layering process, start by putting half of the sweet potato/zucchini mixture in dish, then add half of the mushroom/onion mixture, then half of the goat cheese and half of the cheddar cheese, then half of the fennel/carrot mixture, ...then layer last half of mushroom/onion, fennel/carrot, cheeses, and last finish with top layer sweet potato and zucchini mixture.

7. Put in oven and cook for about 25 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top and serve! Super hearty and delicious, and it is almost better the second day if you end up having leftovers:)

Fried Green Tomatoes

2011-10-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Because in Portland at a higher elevation apparently, and with how wet this year has been the majority of tomatoes we grew never made it past green...or the damn deer ate all the ripe ones, either way with a little bit of a bitter tone in my voice I decided to make fried green tomatoes. They were good, real good. On a side note have I mentioned how much I LOVE analyzing and scrapping data from twitter tweets? Definitely one of my favorite ways to pass time currently... especially when I am sick, irritated and tired at work. Onto the scrumptious food.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
3 medium green, or greenish tomatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup cornmeal
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil

The Process
1. In a shallow dish mix together cornmeal, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

2. In small bowl whisk together buttermilk and egg, and turn on stove top to medium heat.

3. Place medium sized skillet on the stove and put oil in it to heat up.

4. In the mean time dip tomato slices in milk/egg mixture and then put in cornmeal mixture and evenly cover tomato with mixture. Do this with all the tomato slices.

5. When pan is hot add tomatoes to pan in a single layer and cook for about 4 minutes each side or until golden brown. When done cooking this batch put them on a plate with a paper towel on it to soak up the extra oil. And continue this process till all the tomatoes are fried.

6. Then serve! They are also pretty good with hot sauce or any kind of yogurt sauce.

Infocamp Seattle

2011-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

That is right this post is not about cooking but about an amazing "non-conference" I went to this last weekend called infocamp Seattle. I met a lot of new people and learned a lot of interesting things, but the most interesting session that I attended was about Twitter and the ethics behind social media. Not only was this woman scrapping data sets from twitter for information for a study she was conducting, but she brought a very interesting story to my attention that I hadn't heard of till this weekend. It is a story that Andy Carvin (npr) helped follow and write and here is the link to the article, a very intense story and use of Twitter. Also I am excited because I am helping with a similar data scrapping research based project at my job, and there are only a few of these research projects published. On another note in our crazy world look who showed up to occupychicago. And then yes there was a food portion to this weekend, but of course. This weekend was my awesome friend Turner's birthday so we had to celebrate and what better way but to stay with his close friend who loves to cook. So here are some pictures of food that his friend made, and of our stop at a pho place in Seattle.

Superb Pimento Cheese Spread

2011-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

That is right another pimento cheese spread recipe, except for this one is WAY better than the last one, and it is a lot closer in taste to the ever so famous and amazing pimento cheese spread from Russel Street BBQ. This process began with Becca and I reviewing about 4 or 5 recipes to combine the most perfect recipe for this wonderful feat. I will say that the longer the spread sits in the fridge (like overnight) the more amazing it tastes. So here is the recipe, and mind you this is a great treat to indulge in especially for college football games, GO DUCKS!

The Ingredients
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup Monterey cheese, grated
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup pimentos (from the jar)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 small yellow onion, grated (or we actually re-hydrated dried onion bits but I bet fresh onion is better)
Black Pepper to taste, we used a lot
Stone Ground Wheat Crackers

The Process
1. In a small bowl mix together the red wine vinegar and pimentos.

2. In medium bowl mix together everything else, then add pimento mixture.

3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour, but for best results but in fridge overnight.

4. Serve on the wheat crackers, although little crostinis are amazing too!

Also I am super excited because I am leaving for Infocamp Seattle tonight, it is an amazing "non-conference" full of wonderful presentations and people!

Zucchini Pancakes

2011-10-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year when zucchinis decide to take over you garden and all of a sudden there are tons of them and they are all huge...and then what, you have more zucchini than you know what to do with. So as an option you could make Zucchini Chicken Nuggets that I have made previously, or you can make these super tasty and healthy zucchini pancakes. I also served these pancakes with the garlic yogurt sauce that I made for the golden beets recipe. So take control of the zucchinis and eat them all up before they try and go bad!

Adapted from Notecook
Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 cups zucchini, grated and patted dry
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

The Process
1. In medium bowl mix together zucchini, eggs, and onion. Then add all the dry ingredients which are flour, baking powder, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

2. Turn stove top to medium-high heat, and use spray oil to grease pan.

3. When pan is hot enough drop about two and a half spoon fulls of mixture in pan for each pancake (or make them as big or small as you want).

4. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes each side, or until golden brown, but make sure to cover pan in between flipping.

5. Serve with yummy garlic yogurt sauce, or eat plain because yes they are that tasty, enjoy!

Golden Beets with Garlic Yogurt Sauce

2011-10-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

I love beets! If you are not a beet lover I do understand though, when I was a child beets would literally make me gag! I swore that beets tasted like soap and that they were THE worst vegetable out there... funny how taste buds change. Speaking of taste buds here is an awesome taste bud chart my lovely friend Turner shared with me. This beet recipe once again plays into the the lovely Fall time theme of most of my creations lately, and once again it was a very hearty and filling side dish. I served the beets with zucchini pancakes (recipe soon to come).

Adapted from Butterflyfood
Serves 4

The Ingredients
4 large golden beets, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 green onion, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. Turn oven to 425 degrees. Grease large cookie sheet.

2. In medium bowl toss together beets, 2 tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

3. Once beets are fully coated place them in a single layer on cook sheet and roast in oven for about 25 minutes, or until tender.

4. In the mean time in a small bowl combine yogurt, garlic, 1 teaspoon olive oil, green onion, salt and pepper. Mix well and put in fridge until ready to use on beets.

5. When beets are ready, take out of oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Then serve with dollops of yogurt sauce.

And yes those are the zucchini pancakes on the plate too!

Strata

2011-10-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

Quick and easy. You read that right, yup quick and easy, no over-night time consuming setting in the fridge for this strata, just assemble and go! Of course the bread is not as saturated and spongy as it would be if I let it soak all night, but I really like the texture of chewier bread in a strata, so I felt that this self-created strata was exactly what I had hoped for. This strata was another one of my weekend cooking adventures to help make light of all the changing happenings in my life right now, and what followed the strata was pretty traumatic too! I made this breakfast for my lovely friend Erin and it was the morning after a fun night on the town and since her fiance was out of town I spent the night with her and her dog. Little did we know her dog would get into my purse (post strata) and chew on my bottle of sleeping pills (because yes in fact I am an insomniac...not awesome). So we proceeded to freak out not knowing if her dog had actually consumed any of the pills, and we had to make the dog throw up and all! We wanted to call poison control, but did you know that to talk to someone they charge $65!!!! That is wrong and insane! Anyways long story short her dog is ok, but that was our post strata experience...good thing we had full bellies and brain food to stay on our toes and save her dog. Definitely a scary situation that I hope doesn't happen to either of us again. So here is the day saving strata.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup cheddar, shredded
1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh italian parsley, finely chopped
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 medium size slices of sourdough bread, torn into little pieces
1/2 cup tomato, diced

The Process
1. Turn oven to 375 degrees and grease a medium size glass dish.

2. In a large bowl thoroughly mix together zucchini, cheddar, mozzarella, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato, and bread. Then put mixture into the glass dish.

3. Next in medium bowl beat together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Take this mixture and pour it over the dry mixture in the glass dish.

4. Put strata in oven and cook for 1 hour, then broil for 5 minutes or until golden brown top. Serve hot!

While this isn't the healthiest dish, it is good that it is a breakfast item because then you have all day to work off the yummy cheese and bread.

French Onion Soup

2011-10-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

During this cold and rainy weekend I needed to do something that I love (ie cook) and make something that would warm me up and make it feel like Fall time. The pains of life are getting to me a little again with all this rainy weather, and me being at one of the biggest transition points in my entire life... It's all just pretty scary and stressful not knowing where and what I will be doing two months from now, how I will be making money, how successful I will be and so on. But on the bright side I can cook and feel some solidarity in that. So here is a recipe to make when you just don't quite know what to do or think. Created by yours truly.

Serves 5

The Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
3 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
5 cups chicken broth
1 10.5oz can of beef consomme
1 14.5oz can of beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. In a large sauce pan over medium-low heat melt butter. When melted add all the onions to the pan and turn heat to medium.

2. Saute these onions in this pan for about 40 minutes or until caramelized and slightly syrupy.

3. Next add all the other ingredients which includes chicken broth, beef broth, beef consomme, red wine, Worcestershire, thyme, parsley, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Mix and bring to a boil.

4. Once soup reaches a boil turn down to simmer for another 40 minutes. Then serve! I served it with toasted sourdough with provolone cheese on top.

Tofu with Spicy Sauce

2011-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Once again a very simple, delicious, and healthy meal. It is nice to not eat meat...sometimes and luckily I really do enjoy tofu. Tofu is such a versatile food because it tastes like almost nothing and it soaks up a lot of flavor from whatever you are cooking it with, versatility is awesome. Last night I didn't have a lot of time to cook and I LOVE Asian inspired recipes so I adapted this recipe from Week of Menus blog and it was as tasty as it looks. So here is another recipe for all my lovely vegetarian friends, eat up!

Serves 2

The Ingredients
1 block firm tofu, cut in half length-wise and then into 1-inch thick pieces
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic chili paste
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds

The Process
1. In small bowl mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, chives, garlic chili paste, and black sesame seeds and set aside. Note the longer the sauce sits the better it tastes.

2. Turn stove to medium-high heat. In large skillet arrange tofu chunks in one single layer and then put 1/2 cup water in the pan.

3. Then place pan on stove and let steam for about 4 minutes.

4. Take tofu out of pan and put on a plate, then pour the sauce over the top of the tofu.

Spaghetti Squash with Marinara

2011-09-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

As part of an awesome Sunday night feast I roasted a spaghetti squash and made a simple homemade marinara sauce to put on the squash. I love this time of year for produce because Fall has some of the best goods for sure! Apparently the Portland weather has changed it's mind once again though because today it is super sunny and warm outside which is not common Fall weather, not that I'm complaining. I am ready for the leaves to change color and the harvest moon. On to the recipe.

Serves 6 (as side dish)

The Ingredients
1 large spaghetti squash
2 (14.5oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon white sugar

The Process
1. Turn oven to 375 degrees and poke squash all over with fork (otherwise it can explode). Put squash in oven when hot enough and cook for an hour.

2. In a medium saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat and then add garlic and make sure not to burn, cook and stir for 1 minute.

3. Then add to saucepan tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, vinegar, cayenne, pepper, salt, and sugar and bring to a boil.

4. After the sauce boils turn down to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Serve marinara sauce over scooped out squash.

Beef Jerky (round #1)

2011-09-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

That is right, I have begun preserving foods which really only feels natural in the Fall of the year...not to mention I love beef so yes I want to eat jerky all day every day. Recently my father got two electric smokers from a friend and I was determined to have us make jerky. I learned how to make jerky and smoke fish one summer when I worked at a camp on Mt. Hood and have been wanting to get my own smoker since. So this was the 1st round in several years and it turned out pretty darn good. I will say that in the future we will cut the pieces of meat smaller because they took FOREVER to smoke and they still aren't fully jerky-ized. The brine we made was a secret recipe from one of my father's friends so this post can't reveal the secret process. But here are some pictures:

Polenta and Vegetables with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2011-09-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

This dish was so incredibly satisfying! If you are a current follower of my blog you definitely know how much I love meat, and how much my body actually craves/needs meat. So when I come across a meal that can fill that need without using meat...I am amazed. Not only was this meal very fresh and tasty but once again SUPER healthy! I will say that when cooking this dish you are doing many things at once and it is a little hard to keep everything warm, but it's totally worth the effort put forth! I adapted this recipe only slightly from SELF.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 cup uncooked instant grits (it is what I had instead of polenta)
2/3 Parmesan, grated
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Cooking oil spray
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 asparagus stalks, ends trimmed
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 medium eggplant, sliced 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick
1 medium zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Sauce:
1 12ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
1/3 cup vegetable broth
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

The Process
1. In medium saucepan bring 3 cups water to boil. In a steady stream add the instant grits while whisking constantly (about 30 seconds). Then turn heat down to medium-low heat and continue to whisk about 3-5 minutes or until grits thicken.

2. Take grits off heat and whisk in cayenne, 1/3 cup Parmesan, and salt to taste. Then in a 9inch glass pie pan, spray cooking spray and pour the grits mixture into the pan and let cool for 15 minutes (at least).

3. In the mean time turn oven to broil and cut up all the vegetables.

4. In a small bowl whisk together 3 cloves of garlic (pressed), thyme, lemon juice, olive oil, green onion, and season with salt and pepper. This is the dressing for the veggies. Next toss asparagus, eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes with the dressing you just made and make sure all are coated well.

5. On a cookie sheet (greased with spray oil) spread all the veggies out in a single layer to roast.

6. Roast veggies in oven 3-5 minutes each side or until starting to brown.

7. While veggies are roasting sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan over the top of the grits in pie pan. Then prepare to make the red pepper sauce.

8. In a food processor add vegetable broth, roasted red peppers, garlic, chives, basil, and balsamic and combine until smooth.

9. When veggies are done roasting, put the pie pan of grits and cheese into the oven (still on broil) and bake for 2-3 minutes (until top starts browning).

10. To serve cut up grits pie into 8 pieces and give each plate two pieces. Then stack roasted veggies in an appealing way and pour sauce over the top and enjoy! So damn good!

Nutritional Facts: (per serving)
Calories: 280; Fat 7.2g; Sat. Fat 2.3g; Fiber 6.1g; Protein 9.8g

Cucumber Salad

2011-09-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

and so much more! Cucumbers are merely just part of this lovely fresh and simple summer salad. While doing some end of the summer SERIOUS cleaning and purging of things I found this old recipe that I had printed and I sat there and read all the ingredients and at first I thought to myself this is so simple why did I feel the need to print it? Then I decided to not question my reasoning and just make it as part of a light and healthy dinner on a 99 degree day. So from the endless stacks of printed recipes in my life here is an old but new recipe, not even sure where it came from.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 small cucumbers, pealed and sliced into half moons
1 large avocado, diced
1 large cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 generous tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. In medium bowl combine everything and toss well. Keep in fridge if not serving immediately.

Pork au Poivre

2011-09-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

...in other words amazing. I turn to cooking for many reasons, creativity, outlet, satisfaction, and because I love to cook for others. Lately this whole job search has been weighing on my spirit, while yes I only graduated with my master's 2 days shy of a month ago I do need to start expanding my horizons. I need to be investing more time searching for jobs in other fields as well...with all of this in mind and uncertain change on the forefront I had a very reflective weekend. So I turned to cooking, to comfort, sooth, and maintain something I know so well. As part of a goal to keep things positive and feel good I am once again creating and eating very healthy meals, with less and less "fat kid recipes" and the dreaded baking. This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light and is absolutely delightful.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
3 3-ounce pork chops, or pork loin
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth, (better than bouillon)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray for skillet

The Process
1. Turn on Grill to medium heat (or you can do this part in the oven, follow the original linked recipe for those instructions.

2. Put a medium pan over medium high heat on the stove top and spray generous about of cooking spray in pan. While this is heating pepper the pork chops.

3. When pan is hot add pork chops and cook each side for 2 minutes. When done put pan aside and put the pork chops on the grill for a total of 12 minutes, flipping after 6 minutes.

4. While chops are grilling take the pan with pork juice remnants and put over high heat and add wine, broth, Dijon, tomato paste, and salt.

5. Bring to boil while whisking continuously and boil for about 1 minute. Then reduce heat to medium and keep whisking for about 4 minutes until sauce is smooth and thickens (should be about a 1/2 cup reduced).

6. Serve pork with sauce over the top and enjoy the tangy sensation!

Nutritional Facts: (per serving)
Cal:162; Fat 5.7g; Sat Fat1.3g; Protein 24.5g; Fiber.5g

Baking

2011-09-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Now watch this and listen carefully to why she doesn't like baking...it is the same reason I don't. Enjoy!
Drunk Cooking

Blackberry Peach Crisp

2011-08-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday evening after making pickles all day it was time to go out back and harvest the garden, we picked a ton of peas, green beans, and the wild blackberries that are worming their way over and through the fence. With fresh blackberries and several peaches in the fruit bowl I decided it was that time of year to start making crisps, cobblers, and pies and every type of baked good that has fruit in it, so I decided on blackberry peach crisp. I looked at several recipes and kind of combined them to create this recipe...and I will admit from the beginning that the top crunch layer was not thick enough because I used too much butter and not enough flour, so the recipe below adds additional flour to avoid what happened to my crisp. I will say though that I easily fixed the need for crunchy goodness by sprinkling some honey-nut Cheerios over the top and yes it was very good! So here is my first blackberry item of the season and hopefully not my last.

Serves 9ish

The Ingredients
2 full cups fresh blackberries
2 medium peaches, skinned and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons quick tapioca
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 lemon squeezed for juice
1/3 cup butter, room temp
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup old-fashion oats

The Process
1. In medium bowl gently mix together blackberries, peaches, tapioca, white sugar, and lemon juice and set aside.

2. In another medium bowl thoroughly mix together butter, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and oats.

3. Turn on oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a glass 9x9 pan.

4. Pour in berry and peach mixture into baking dish and then crumble (in large chunks) the oat mixture over the top of the berries and peaches. Put in oven for 25-30 minutes or until berry mixture is bubbling and the crisp on the top is slightly browning.

And don't forget yours will look better because I changed the recipe after my mistake...oh and why did I think I could just make up my own recipe when it's baking?! I never make pretty baked goods,they always taste good, but they are never pretty....well except for my blackberry pies...I should make that next!

Pickle Fest 2011

2011-08-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

That's right another very successful pickle fest! Pickle fest = scrubbing, persevering, and transforming over 40lbs of cucumbers into pickles! This is the 4th year now that I have participated in the "secret recipe group", it started with my mother, the original recipe creator, her daughter, and I. Then the last two years have just been my mother and I, and then this year we added my aunt who just moved up to Portland from San Francisco and that is how the group will remain for a long long time. My mother has been pickling with the recipe's creator for about 10 years now so she is the veteran and the only one who knows the secret recipe because she was sworn to secrecy by the creator. These pickles are absolutely amazing! They are spicy dill pickles and my friends are continually begging for "just one more jar." And the thing is I love the pickles so much too, but I might love sharing more...and these pickles are something to be proud of so why not share the love! It was pretty amazing because this year it only took us a short 5 hours...in the past it normally takes the entire day, so we are obviously learning how to perfect the group members and process more each year. I think my favorite part about the whole process is clipping and smelling the mass amounts of fresh dill...that smell mixed with the vinegar brine smell in the air just makes for a perfect pickle fest! SUCCESS! Now make sure and be nice to me and you may get some more pickles ;)

Ratatouille

2011-08-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

That's right, like one of my favorite movies! I mean if you haven't seen ratatouille yet you really should, it's frickin' adorable! Anyways I keep trying to explore the cooking world and cook dishes I have never made before and ratatouille is a classic that I felt had to be done. It was (once again) inspired by all the fresh veggies I need to use up from the garden (and Katie's garden). The recipe is slightly adapted from the recipe in my big and beautiful Gourmet Today cookbook, and I would recommend this recipe to anyone, it was absolutely delicious!

Serves 4

The Ingredients
2 small eggplants, chopped about 1-inch thick cubes
1 large zucchini, chopped about 1-inch thick cubes
1 large yellow squash, chopped about 1-inch thick cubes
3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped about 1-inch thick cubes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion or 2 little ones, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

The Process
1. Take already chopped eggplant and place in a colander and put that in a bowl. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of salt over the top and toss and let sit for 1 hour (it gets some of the excess water out of the eggplant).

2. After that hour rinse off the salt from the eggplant and then between paper towels press the eggplant chunks to squeeze out excess water. Press them about 3 times, or until the eggplant chunks are fairly dry.

3. Then take eggplant, yellow squash, and zucchini and toss in a bowl with about 1 tablespoon of oil (maybe 2). Then turn oven on to 500 degrees and place zucchini mixture (single layer) on a large cookie sheet.

4. Sprinkle the mixture with salt and put in oven for about 30 minutes, but stirring or flipping mixture every 10 minutes. When done take out of oven and let cool.

5. In the mean time put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large pot and heat over medium-high heat. When hot add the onion, and turn heat down to medium-low heat. Cook these for about 15-20 minutes stirring frequently; cook until they are soft and golden brown.

6. Next add the garlic to the pot and cook for about 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes and thyme to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes (the tomatoes with start to get juicy).

7. Next add the zucchini mixture to the pot and cook for about 5 more minutes or until everything in the pot is heated through.

8. The very last step you take the pot of the stove and stir in the fresh basil and parsley, this is also the point when you add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!!! It pairs great with grilled chicken!

Kale and Broth

2011-08-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Kale, oh how I love thee! It is one of my favorite vegetables because it is so hardy and green, not to mention the delectable flavor. And what better thing to pair kale with than vegetable broth! No this was no soup by any means, but have you tried cooking with broth? It is amazing, so full of flavor and very healthy and low fat. Often times I pan fry pork chops in a little little oil and then pour in broth and cover and steam them, so much flavor is added to the meat it is insane, not to mention how juicy the pork chops stay. Anyways so here is one of my many broth infused recipes, once again a simple and delicious side dish.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 large bunch of kale, chopped, (any kind you want, I used a more coarse kale)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups vegetable broth (better than bouillon is the best)
Olive oil
Ground black pepper (to taste, about a 1/2 teaspoon)

The Process
1. In large skillet heat over medium-high, and add a little bit of olive oil.

2. When skillet is hot add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then add kale.

3. Stir kale around and add black pepper and cayenne pepper, and cook for about 1 minute.

4. Add all of broth and stir and cover skillet, let cook for about 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

5. Kale should be still pretty crunchy and fresh so depending on how hot your stove is adjust time or temperature. And enjoy!

Official Graduation

2011-08-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

That is right, I did it, I am officially a Master of Library Science, and damn it feels good. Of course now it is onto the job search and it has been going quite well so far. My options are expanding as my willingness to move is becoming greater. I am currently willing to move to L.A., Oakland, New Orleans; Chicago, and maybe New Mexico. This gives me so many more options than many of my classmates who are staying in Portland, and while I do love Portland it is time to spread my wings and live in a big city! Anyways, after my graduation my parents threw a little post-grad party for me and family with many amazing appetizers and the most beautiful cake in the world. The cake was the hummingbird cake that I made for my birthday, which was pretty but not as pretty as the one in the original recipe I used...so my mom saw this as an opportunity to make the beautiful cake for me, just like in the original recipe. So adorable and sweet of her! My mom is great. So once again I finally graduated that I got the prettiest cake in the world! So here is a lovely picture of what was left of the cake, and a link to the recipe one more time. Hummingbird Cake

Zucchini Yellow Squash and Basil

2011-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone's gardens are as bountiful as Oregon's are right now, and I'm sure that the fresh ingredients from the garden helped to make this dish extra delightful! While it is a VERY simple dish it is really nice and tame, with tasty flavors in perfect for hot summer days. This was a side dish I created for a lovely steak and mushroom entree and yes it paired quite well. So here it is!

Serves 4 (as a side dish)

The Ingredients
1 large yellow squash (or two little ones), sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. In medium skillet heat olive oil over high heat (but not to the point that the oil will smoke), when hot add zucchini and yellow squash.

2. Fry up zucchini and squash until golden brown, about five minutes.

3. Then turn down heat to medium and add garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 more minutes.

4. Take skillet off heat and add in fresh basil, stir, and serve.

So simple and delicious.

Turmeric Pork

2011-08-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Pork chops or pork loin are often a part of my weekly meat intake and I always steam/fry them in broth or bake them...and while these two methods are bold and tasty I do love to try new recipes and change it up. I was a little weary of the recipe I adapted from Eating Pleasure because it seemed very simplistic and I also know how strong of a spice turmeric is. But paired with a side of sauteed yellow onions and mushrooms, and grilled zucchini a wonderfully flavorful balance was found.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
3 medium pork chops (pork loin chunks), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Olive oil (for pan)

The Process
1. In medium bowl mix together sesame oil, soy sauce, turmeric, and pepper. Add sliced pork chops and let marinate at least 20 minutes.

2. When done marinating put medium skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan and let heat up. Then add pork and marinade and cook for about 6 minutes, or until done. Enjoy!

I will mention that when I make this recipe again I will try adding some crushed garlic to add a more complex flavor to the dish.

Elk Miso Burgers

2011-08-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

I don't normally eat or create recipes with Elk but my parents push it on me, so I decided to make them dinner and be creative with what they had. Elk is pretty good, and very lean I just really prefer beef, and I don't chose to eat meats in ground form often either. I also am not a huge fan of burgers but I will say these turned out very well. I adapted this recipe from Kokocooks in an attempt to try something new, I also don't normally love the sweet and savory but once again this was a great way to use up a lot of awkward food items in the house.

Serves 6

The Ingredients
For Burgers:
2lbs ground elk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger (from jar)
1 tablespoon red miso paste
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
olive oil (for pan)
6 burger buns

For Glaze:
1/2 tablespoon red miso paste
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon soy sauce

For Salsa:
1/2 cucumber peeled and cut into thin and small slices
1 mango, stone removed and cut into thin and small slices
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 tablespoon dried chili flakes
pinch of salt

The Process
1. In a skillet, over medium-high heat add a little olive oil and when hot add yellow onion and ginger. Cook for about 5 minutes or until onions are soft.

2. In large bowl combine burger ingredients which is elk, miso, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and the cooked onion and ginger combination. Mix well and form 6 patties with this mixture.

3. Next in a small bowl mix together the glaze ingredients and set aside.

4. Then onto the salsa, in medium bowl mix together all of the salsa ingredients and set aside.

5. Grill burgers for about 5 minutes each side with the gas grill at MOM, which is medium off medium (these are the three nobs on the grill) or grill them however you like to grill your burgers.

6. To assemble put burger on bun, then add glaze over burger, then salsa and eat!

Banchan Koren Spinach Dish

2011-08-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

Another creative way to use the same old ingredients. Koren food is one of my favorites so full of flavor and very much so on the healthy side. I am continually trying to replicate Koren, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Thai...and I will honestly say there have many successes and quite a few failures as well. I also was able to use spinach fresh from the garden so I am sure that added to the delightful taste of this dish. I always forget how much spinach shrinks up though...so this ended up being more of a small side dish, perhaps even a good appetizer. This is the first new recipe I have made since grad school ended 4 days ago, and damn it feels good to be free!!! I came up with this recipe after looking at multiple recipes on how to make Banchan, and all of them pretty much were the same.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
2 bunches fresh spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 green onions, chopped
black sesame seeds (for garnish)

The Process
1. In a small bowl mix together garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, and green onions (this is the dressing).

2. Next in large pot bring water to boil, when boiling add the 2 bunches of spinach and blanch for 30 seconds.

3. After 30 seconds pour spinach into a strainer and pat and press with paper towels until spinach is relatively dry.

4. To serve bunch about a 1/2 cup size on plate, dress with dressing, and garnish with black sesame seeds.

So tasty and healthy!

Beef Sirloin with Chimichurri

2011-07-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Oh man oh man, this was so so good. I haven't ever made chimichurri sauce before but I know a lot of people like to make it with parsley too, so I should definitely try that sometime, but traditionally it is made with cilantro. Now it has been a while since I have paid tribute to the oh so wonderful herb cilantro and yes I love it hence my blog name. So for a little refresher is if you are cilantro hater read this article and give it a try again. I bet you would like this sauce, just sayin:) My lovely friend Serenity and I cooked this up last night while doing homework and well bitching about homework, that is the scariest speech of my academic career so far... So we made food to heal our souls.

Serves 2 (though there is lots of left over sauce, which is a good thing for later use)

The Ingredients
1 large bunch of fresh cilantro
4 cloves garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 thin sirloin steaks (about 6oz each, 1-2 inches thick)
Salt and Pepper

The Process
1. In blender or food processor add cilantro, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, sea salt, white/black pepper, cumin, honey, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. Blend well and set aside.

2. Turn stove to medium-high and put coconut oil in medium skillet. While this is heating salt and pepper the sirloins.

3. Put sirloins in skillet and cook for 1 minute each side (for rare) and then take off heat and let the meat rest for 5 minutes.

4. Blend the chimichurri sauce a little more and then serve over sirloins, so easy and delicious!!!

Sesame Tonkatsu

2011-07-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

This recipe came about as part of my engaged determination to really master pork. It is just so easy to over cook pork especially without a grill. This is an adapted recipe from The Culinary Chronicles cooking blog. I made this for a lovely girls dinner with my two best friends Katie and Elisa, it had been way too long since we all got to hangout together so what better way to make the night more awesome than to cook them a feast! Might I add that the next day we all went floating down the Clackamas River and it was amazing...felt like the first real day of summer on July 24th...ugh Portland needs to get some real (hot) weather!

Serves 3

The Ingredients
For Pork:
4 pieces pork loin, 1/2 inch thick
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons sesame seeds (black are great if you have them)
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper

For Sauce:
2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

The Process
1. First in a small bowl (for the sauce) mix together the BBQ sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, and pepper. Set aside and let flavors combine.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together the milk and eggs and set aside. In another bowl pour the flour in. And in another bowl mix together the panko bread crumbs and the sesame seeds.

3. Take pork loins and tenderize with a meat mallet (about 5 hits per chunk), then salt and pepper each side of the meat.

4. In a semi-deep large skillet heat up canola oil over medium-high heat. While oil is heating prepare the pork.

5. Preparing the pork: first coat the pork in flour (wipe off excess), then dip the pork in the egg/milk mixture. Next roll the pork in the panko/sesame seed mixture and make sure to coat the entire piece of meat. Repeat this process with the other three pieces of meat.

6. When oil is hot add the coated pork pieces to the pan, takes about 2-3 minutes per side to cook (should be golden-brown). When done cooking dab off excess oil with paper towels.

7. Serve with the sauce drizzled over the top. And EAT!

I also made roasted broccoli to go with the sesame tonkatsu and it was delicious!

Open-Faced French Dip

2011-07-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well french dip inspired, with mushrooms. After a SUPER lame day I went out to the "go-to" bar with a few of my lovely library friends. After my friend ordered the most disappointing roast beast ever I felt I needed to run home and make some real meat...hence the late night meal.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
1 cup beef consume
1 cup beef (better than bouillon broth)
1/2 yellow onion, cut into thin rings
1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced thin
4 thick slices of multi-grain baguette
4 thin slices swiss cheese
1, 6oz petite sirloin
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

The Process
1. In small Tupperware add Worcestershire, balsamic vinaigrette, onion powder, salt and pepper, and steak and marinate 10 minutes.

2. In medium saucepan over medium heat add a little oil and onions and mushrooms. Cook until onions are clear and mushrooms are cooked through, then add consume and broth to saucepan and bring to boil. Once boiling turn down to a rolling simmer.

3. Take slices of bread and place a piece of cheese on each slice and but in toaster oven. First broil to melt cheese then toast to preferred crispness.

4. When meat is done marinating, have skillet over medium-high heat with a little bit of oil. When hot add the steak cook about 3 minutes each side and take off stove. Let meat rest 5 minutes before cutting thin slices.

5. Then take the two slices of cheesy bread and put them on a plate add the mushroom onion mixture, then steak slices, and last douse in the beef consume broth.

Enjoy

Mushroom Goat Cheese Crostinis

2011-07-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

As part of an other lovely hangout with two of my friends from camp we made a yummy dinner. This time I was in charge of the appetizers, with a slight lack in funds and a time restraint I thought what is cheap and what would be good? So I came up with this combination, though I want to mention I would have liked to use Pumpernickel bread but they didn't have it at the store I went to...lame! So here is the simple yet delicious concoction.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Olive oil (for skillet)
1/2 loaf multi-grain baguette, sliced
1, 4oz package goat cheese
2 green onions, sliced thin
Spray olive oil

The Process
1. Turn oven to 375 degrees. Slice up bread and place on cookie sheet. Then spray bread with a little bit of olive oil. When oven is hot put bread in the oven, after about 7 minutes flip bread and toast for 7 more minutes or until crisp.

2. In the mean time heat up oil in a skillet on the stove over medium and add mushrooms, onion powder, garlic powder, and soy sauce. Stir well and cook for about 8 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and saturated. Turn stove to low in order to keep mushrooms warm while preparing the crostinis.

3. Take little toasts and spread goat cheese, sprinkle green onions, and top with mushrooms (about 3 mushrooms per crostini).

Bam done!

They are very simple, so enjoy.

Zucchini Chicken Nuggets

2011-07-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I saw a rough outline for and I have been wanting to try it for quite some time...but every time I wanted to make it I felt a little pathetic. Pathetic in the sense of like...ok I have time to cook and I'm really just going to make chicken nuggets?! But today was finally the day! I figured out how I could really add to and make the nuggets of chicken gourmet and phatty, so I did! I went over to Becca's home, first off to get help with my web portfolio for my professional academic career...but then I realized I don't need help I just need to eat dank foods...so, we cooked :) She made some lovely roasted veggies and her hubby made some awesome mashed potatoes.

Serves 5

The Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground chicken
1 large zucchini, grated (small)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup gruyere cheese, grated (small)
3 cups crushed corn flakes
2 eggs
1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped finely
Spray Oil

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray two cookie sheets with oil.

2. In large bowl mix chicken, eggs, 1 1/2 cups crushed corn flakes, salt, pepper, parsley, cheese, paprika, zucchini, garlic salt, and onion powder. Mix very well.

3. Roll mixture into tablespoon size nuggets, and then take the other half of the crushed corn flakes (1 1/2 cups) put them on a plate and roll the chicken nuggets in corn flakes. Place crusted chicken nuggets on cookie sheet and press slightly flat (so that they are about an inch thick).

4. Put sheet of chicken nuggets in oven for 10 minutes, then take out and flip them and put them back in oven for 10 more minutes or until cooked through. (20 minutes all together).

The chicken meat was very lean and its mixed with zucchini mostly....IE healthy meal!

Garlic Parsley Mushrooms

2011-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

These mushrooms were made as an attempt to bring something different to a BBQ. The typical foods brought to BBQ's are salads of all sorts, meats, hot dogs, corn, etc. So I knew we are having amazing sausages from Kenny and Zukes and then my other friend brought the tastiest sourdough rolls from The Pearl Bakery so I figured I should make something to garnish the sausages with, and I sure am glad I did....epic BBQ dinner to say the least.

Tops about 10 Sausages

The Ingredients
1 pound crimini mushrooms, cut in halves
1/2 stick salt butter, melted
1/2 cup white wine
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. Turn oven on to 425 degrees. In glass shallow baking dish add mushrooms, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and butter. Stir up very well.

2. Put mushrooms in oven (uncovered) and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes add white wine, stir, and bake for another 10 minutes (so 20minutes total).

3. Take them out of the oven and stir in parsley and devour....or bring them to a BBQ and put them on sausages.

Steamer Clams in Broth

2011-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Now this was something I hadn't ever made, but had eaten so many times I was able to make it with no recipe. I will say my father gave me a little direction on ingredients over the phone, but I altered even what he said. This pot of steamer clams was one part of a three course seafood meal on the evening of my birthday. This meal had shrimp and garlic toast, steamer clams, and fresh crab and butter, of course along with a salad. We went down to the jetty to buy all of this fresh seafood and the man cleaning the crabs got us all to eat crab hearts?! Anyone ever heard of or had crab hearts? They were delicious and dipped in butter; they tasted just like crab but a little more gelatinous and they looked like those little star shaped noodles in the Campbell's chicken and stars soup...odd to say the least. The crazy seafood man at the jetty even got my 81 year old grandma to try one, which was extremely impressive since she claims that she doesn't even like garlic... a wonderful feat on his part!

Serves 10 as an appetizer

The Ingredients
4 pounds fresh steamer clams
3 cups vegetable broth (or any broth)
1 bottle white wine, cheap is fine
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 stick butter (salted)
1/8 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and Pepper (generous amount)

The Process
1. In very large pot melt butter over medium heat. When melted add onions and garlic. Saute for about 2 minutes or until slightly tender.

2. Then add broth, wine, salt and pepper to pot and bring to boil.

3. Once liquids are boiling add clams and boil for about 10 minutes, sometimes a little less (the shells will start opening right away but that doesn't mean they are fully cooked).

4. After the clams are done cooking take off heat and stir in fresh parsley and serve. Note dipping sourdough bread in the broth is AMAZING!

To the left was the aftermath crab course!

Hummingbird Cake

2011-07-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yes you read that title right....once again I have attempted baking. So this beach trip I mentioned in the previous post was also for my birthday, and while I usually love to make and eat pie more than anything else (in the baking world) I decided it was time for a challenge, especially after seeing this cake and how beautiful it was. I also did not adapt this recipe at all because honestly that would be asking for a disaster/failure. Here is the original recipe and please take the time to look at the link and see how well the cake is decorated pretty cake.

Serving 1 full cake

The Ingredients

The cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnomin
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup sweetened dried coconut, shredded
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup loosely packed dark brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
4 ounces fresh pineapple, finely chopped
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The frosting:
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon coconut extract
5 cups powdered sugar
16 ounces cream cheese, cold
fresh pineapple chopped

And now for the Process I am going to have you actually go to the original recipes site because I really want you all to see how beautiful the cake is! Birthdaygirlblog.

Here is my cake, its pretty but not half as impressive :)

Elk Meatballs

2011-07-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

This was the first meal I made during my lovely stay at Manzinita beach on the Oregon coast. There was a crew of 13 adults and 3 kiddies involved in this trip, all family and mostly women. Since women love to "be the boss" and the fact that there were four sisters at this lovely beach stay, I decided I was going to cook. Cook so that I could contribute, so I could enjoy my time, and cook to stay the efffff out of their way;) They are all lovely family members but of course you don't want to get stuck in the middle of anything, so the kitchen was my sanctuary. We had a BUNCH of elk that my Grandpa and Uncle brought from hunting, and oh man they brought TONS....so I figured um meatballs?! Yes! So here is the recipe that was accompanied by pasta, dank sauce, and a great salad.

Serves 13 but lets just make it for 6 with this recipe
Oh and I forgot to take a picture...but we all know what meatballs look like

The Ingredients
2lbs ground elk
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup gruyere cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
Spray olive oil

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a large cookie sheet with a rim.

2. In large mixing bowl mix together all of the ingredients (besides the spray oil), and mix thoroughly.

3. Then take about a tablespoon (perhaps a little bigger) of mixture in hand and roll into a ball and place it on a large greased cookie sheet. Note if the meatballs are not sticking together use more egg.

4. Put in oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through (no pink).

Serve with a wonderful marinara sauce! Also these meatballs are pretty darn healthy because elk is such a naturally lean meat.

Libraries and Kanye West

2011-06-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

This has nothing to do with food but everything to do with two things I love very much: librarianship and Kanye! This was a presentation that a wonderful librarian did at a recent library conference....pretty damn awesome!
Check it out!
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgmmxvpj_44gdpz2qdh

p.s. I chose to give the color label of "golden" because I think it perfectly describes libraries and Kanye combined!

Eggplant Cannelloni

2011-06-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

I wish this was a recipe I created, it is amazing tasting, different, and very healthy! Last night a had several of my friends over for a much needed dinner and social event and since one of my friends is a vegetarian I knew I had to make an entree that accommodated her needs. Usually for an entree I would have made a roast chicken, or some sort of meat so this was a little bit of a challenge for me. I wanted a good, healthy, and filling dish that didn't include too much cheese or noodles because that is always the default for a vegetarian dish, so I remember this recipe that I made once about a year ago and it is still as good as I remembered.

From Self Magazine
Serves 5

The Ingredients
Sauce:
4 large shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jars (12oz) roasted red peppers, drained
1/2 cup orange juice
Olive oil for pan

Eggplant:
2 medium eggplants, cut lengthwise 1/2 inch slices
Olive oil cooking spray

Filling:
4oz goat chees
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
5 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon capers, chopped
2 tablespoons green onions, finely chopped

The Process
Sauce:
1. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat, when hot add shallots and garlic, stir and let cook for 1 minute or until soft.

2. Reduce heat and cook for 3 more minutes. Then add red peppers and orange juice and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes or until peppers are soft.

3. Take mixture off of stove and let cool for a about 15 minutes and then puree the mixture with either a blender or food processor. Then grease a large glass baking dish about 9 x 9 and put sauce in dish and spread evenly.

Eggplant:
1. Coat eggplant with cooking spray and broil about 5 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Filling:
1. Mix together (well) goat cheese, yogurt, green onions, olives, and capers.

Rolling:
1. Turn oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay eggplant pieces flat put about a tablespoon of filling at the end of each piece of eggplant, then roll each one up and put in baking dish with sauce, seam side down.

3. Bake for about 10-15 minutes and serve.

Nutritional info:
Cal:207; Fat:8.5g; Sat Fat:3.7g; Carb:25.6g; Fiber:8.6g; Protein:8.4g

Beef Wellington with Bleu Cheese and Mushrooms

2011-05-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

So this last Friday (May 27th) was my father's 56th birthday and so I told him I would make dinner and asked what he wanted. He insisted on this dish, I had made it for him 2 years ago and he has been craving it ever since. This recipe is definitely a fat kid recipe and will surely fill you up to the brim. We had a bunch of family and significant others come to dinner so I ended up making 8 individual beef wellingtons...it was quite the process to say the least, but fun and rewarding. So I will stop blabbering and give you the recipe already.

Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 8

The Ingredients
8 sirloin steaks
1 box of frozen puff pastries (2 rolls), defrost
3 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup bleu cheese
1 egg
1 shallot, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, pat dry the sirloin steaks and season with salt and pepper.

2. Put steaks in a shallow roasting pan and put in oven and cook for 12 minutes.

3. Then take steaks out of oven and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

4. While the steak are in the fridge in a large skillet heat up (over medium heat) some olive oil and add shallots. Cook shallots for 1 minute then add garlic and mushrooms, cook for about 5 minutes and add soy sauce and salt and pepper. Cook until desired texture and set aside

5. Next roll out the puff pastry and cut each sheet into 4 squares. Next whisk up the egg in a small bowl you can add water if you want to dilute it for an egg wash.

6. When steaks are done take a square of puff pastry and put about 1 tablespoon of bleu cheese diagonally across pastry then add about 2 tablespoons of mushrooms in the same direction.

7. Then place one steak on top of the fillings, put egg wash along all edges of the pastry and fold up all four corners to the center of the steak fully covering the steak and creating a pastry pouch.

8. Then put the steak pouches in the fridge for another 1/2 hour. Do this with all the steaks and at the end but egg wash all over the tops of the pastry/steak pouches. When done preheat oven to 425 degrees put steaks in and cook for about 15 minutes and you are done!!!

Coconut Sweet Potato Fries

2011-05-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

This meal was insanely good. I went to hang and cook with my awesome friend Kelly who I hadn't seen or cooked with in far too long and we began with the ever so magic coconut oil. This meal consisted of bacon wrapped pork loin and parsley mushrooms and then the coconut sweet potato fries! Throughout the night we gossiped and watched Harry Potter...honestly I couldn't want much more for a Monday night after five days in L.A. and traveling. I hadn't cooked with coconut oil until this meal and wow I really have been missing out. So here is the ever so successful Coconut Sweet Potato Fries recipe created by Kelly and I

Serves 2

The Ingredients
1 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced into fry sticks
1/4 cup coconut oil, heated so it is liquid form
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. Turn oven on to 425 degrees. In large bowl mix together all of the above ingredients.

2. Lay fries flat on a foil covered baking sheet. Put in oven for 10 minutes, then flip fries and bake for another 10 minutes or until tender.

3. When fries are tender turn oven to broil to crisp up the fries, broil until preferred crispness is achieved (about 5 minutes for us).

These fries were seriously perfect with the sweetness of the potato that mixed so well with the coconut, a little kick from the paprika and the freshness from the parsley....perfect combo.

Chicken Adobo

2011-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I realize I haven't written a blog post in a little while, it is not that I haven't been cooking, it is that I have been making simple things, or things that I have already posted, or I have forgotten to take pictures....but I remembered this time! This recipe is one that I made up after looking at several recipes and techniques for making and cooking chicken adobo. All the recipes I did look at seemed to lack one thing or another and I like dimensions to my food. I made this as part of a yummy feast that my two friends and I created. One of my friends made two Vietnamese dishes: shrimp toast, and pork pastries which were to die for! My other friend so kindly made awesome strawberry lemonades and brought brownies, this was an indulgent night to say the least! I was planning on making roasted broccoli to accompany this meal but when it came down to it we all decided we had way too much food already....so everything we ate was golden brown! Pretty funny, awesome, and rare. So here is the recipe for chicken adobo that I made:

Serves 4

The Ingredients
Chicken thighs(boneless/skinless), about 3 pounds (fat trimmed)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper

The Process
1. In a large tuber-ware mix apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, 3 tablespoons honey, paprika, and pepper. Add chicken and let marinate overnight in fridge (about 12 hours).

2. When ready to cook heat up oven to 425 degrees and take chicken out of fridge to let it warm up.

3. When oven is preheated put chicken in a greased glass baking dish, make sure the chicken is spread out in one single layer so it can cook evenly. Then take marinade and pour over all the chicken.

4. Put chicken in oven for about 30 minutes or until cooked through, and take out of oven.

5. Pour marinade out of glass dish into a small saucepan and bring to a boil then turn down to slow simmer. While making this sauce make sure the chicken is somewhere where it will stay warm for 15 minutes.

6. While sauce is simmering add the last 2 tablespoons of honey and the tablespoon of brown sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes.

7. Put chicken on a serving platter and slowly pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Grilled Potatoes with Sour Cream Green Onion Sauce

2011-05-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

This recipe I loosely based off of a recipe from Life's Ambrosia and after making them they were really good but I think they would be better with pain yogurt instead of sour cream, much less mayo, and I think raw garlic pressed into the sauce rather than the powder. That said here is the story. It's BBQ season and I attended my first of the season, this last beautiful weekend here in Portland, Oregon. In preparation I went on a grilling recipe hunt through the endless blogs to get ideas for new things or ways to grill. I came upon this recipe after about an hour and decided it was perfect. The BBQ of course had all the other basics of steaks, sausages, asparagus, salad, wine, beer the usual. So here is something new, fun, and easy to put on your grill this summa time!

Serves about 5 as an appetizer

The Ingredients
5 medium red potatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise

The Process
1. Start by putting sliced potatoes in boiling water and boil about 4 minutes so that they are par-boiled.

2. While potatoes are boiling mix together in large bowl green onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder, sour cream, and mayonnaise.

3. When potatoes are done boiling rinse them several times with cold water to stop them from cooking and then put into the bowl of sauce.

4. Make sure that each potato is covered with sauce and place on large plate for grilling, there should still be about a 1/2 cup of sauce remaining in the bowl for post grilling dollops.

5. Grill potatoes until tender, about 5 minutes each side. Take off grill and put a small dollop of sour cream sauce on each potato and eat!

Mushroom Chicken Curry Soup and Becca's Bday

2011-05-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

This soup is my go to. It impresses, comforts, fills, warms and is damn irresistible. I owed Becca a wonderful birthday dinner because I was unable to go to her celebration so I had to knock her socks off with this dinner. I began the birthday dinner search by trying to find an amazing new recipe that didn't include pork or big slabs of beef. I knew I could make chicken, fish, tofu, or full on vegetarian. After looking at countless recipes I settled on this panko crusted tofu chunks but as I thought about it I realized I needed to create a meal that I know well, something that isn't new, something that will impress and Becca is a fellow cook so impressing pays off. So I decided on the chicken curry mushroom soup full of onions some butter and mounds upon mounds of varying mushrooms! I accompanied this meal with roasted broccoli and a large bottle of wine and much laughter. Birthday dinner success! And now she is going to make me an amazing birthday dinner, um yes please!

New York Steaks with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

2011-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Two things that I have been doing a lot of lately writing papers and cooking/eating very well. Who doesn't want to eat well? Especially when you have to stay focused on school and not go frolic in the sun with friends and make trouble...this is hard for me so I cook. Mid-Monday work day my lovely friend Serenity commented on this lame Lil' Wayne quote I posted "and if you got beef I turn into a tender loin" she said she had two New York Steaks for us. At that point on I couldn't study any longer, all I could do was research fancy ways to make steaks. We settled on a simple yet delicious sounding Gorgonzola cream sauce....need I say more. We accompanied the meal with avocado slices and roasted asparagus.

Serves 2
Adapted from The Family Kitchen

The Ingredients
2 New York Steaks about 1 inch thick
1/3 Worcestershire Sauce
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream (light)
1 tablespoon half n half
4 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese (crumbled)
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

The Process
1. Marinate steaks in Worcestershire, salt and pepper, and 2 cloves garlic (pressed) for about 15 minutes.

2. In the meantime whisk together 2 cloves garlic (pressed), mayonnaise, sour cream, half n half, Gorgonzola cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside in fridge.

3. Heat skillet over medium/high heat, add some olive oil and when hot add steaks to pan. Cook for about 45 seconds on each side and quickly remove because steaks will continue to cook.

4. Let steaks rest for about 5 minutes then add as much Gorgonzola cream sauce as you want.

I will say that while once again this is a "fat kid recipe" it feels good to eat meat and cheese.

Asian Feast

2011-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

This feast was brought on by a rad trip to Uwajimaya the awesome Japanese store in town. After my dear friend Elisa and I were done poking every weird thing in all the isles and grabbing at almost all of the candy we decided hey lets make a feast! So as I have made before I made pot stickers with a couple different ingredients including thai basil and bean sprouts. Elisa made a delicious miso ramen with some added kimchi. And my roommate Jen made an apple slaw salad, to say the least we ate like queens. Amazing food and company, so here are some pictures to drool over and let it be known that a large bottle of cold sake was also consumed during this lovely Sunday night dinner.

Lamb Gyros

2011-04-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

This recipe was a fix to another recipe gone horribly wrong. I began the evening cooking up some beautiful lamb shanks with the wonderful coffee glaze recipe. I got it from one of my favorite food blogs which will remain nameless because I don't want to give him a bad name for such a bad recipe, because normally his recipes are great, but this one was far from great. The part of the recipe that really failed was the coffee glaze sauce, it tasted like rancid gamy burnt coffee, there was no fixing it. So after my initial state of disappointment and defeat I realized how this dish could be saved. During this whole process my friend Elisa made couscous and stir-fried some Swiss Chard, two lovely side dishes that became fillers. BAM gyros popped into my head. I shredded the lamb off of the bone and made a lovely yogurt sauce to go with the gyro style ingredients, and it turned out wonderfully. Yogurt sauce saved the day. So here is the fail/success recipe by yours truly.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 lamb shanks (about 1 lbs)
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups fresh Swiss chard, chopped
2 cups cooked couscous, follow package but make with chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon Braggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 large flour tortillas
olive oil
salt and pepper

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub lamb shanks in mustard, salt and pepper, 3 cloves garlic, and rosemary. Put in pan and bake for 30 minutes. Then turn oven down to 325 degrees and bake for 15 more minutes.

2. While the lamb shanks are baking cook up the couscous.

3. In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the rest of the garlic to hot oil and cook for about 1 minute. Then add Swiss chard and cook for about 3 minutes.

4. Add balsamic vinegar, Braggs, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook Swiss Chard until wilted but still slightly chewy.

5. Lamb should be done cooking around this time so take it out and let it rest.

6. While lamb is resting keep couscous and Swiss chard warm and covered on stove top. In small bowl add yogurt, onion, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Note the longer this yogurt sauce sits, the better it tastes.

7. When lamb is done resting (about 15 minutes) shred it. Heat up tortillas and then assemble like this: tortilla, couscous, Swiss chard, lamb meat, and lots of yogurt sauce. Then wrap the tortilla up like a burrito and enjoy! Success after all!

Osso Buco with Orzo Risotto

2011-04-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

This post is a "feature post" meaning I didn't personally make the food but I was very lucky and got to consume it!. My father always talk about this amazing Italian restaurant in Vegas and he goes there every time he has to travel to Vegas for business. This last time that he went there he tried something new and it was indeed Osso Buco which is originally made with veal and that is how he had it. After this amazing meal he was determined to recreate it. So my mom and dad both made this amazing dish, the recipe they used was from Emeril's cookbook and they also substituted the veal for a small leg of lamb. The smell in the house when I went up for dinner was absolutely amazing like a buttery pastry meat bread, I almost started drooling on myself. So to say the least it was absolutely amazing and helped get me through filing my taxes (soooo boring)! It was indeed another successful Sunday night dinner at the Himes house.

Asian Chicken Wings

2011-04-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

These chicken wings came about on a night full of academia. My dear friend Serenity and I took a trip to the Reed Library to gather information on their reference collection for our collection development class. It was quite entertaining to see the materials that they had, my personal favorite was the Complete Encyclopedia of Wine. So after this "taxing" adventure it was time to regroup and make a delicious dinner, we were going for cheap and tasty. We found this recipe from BS' in the Kitchen and of course adapted it to our own tastes. Might I also add this meal involved the X-Files and hot toddies...the way it should be :)

Serves 5

The Ingredients
21 chicken wings, rinsed
1 cup flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 medium tangelo (or orange) juice & zest
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon cornstarch (plus 1 tablespoon water)
Frank's Redhot sauce
salt and pepper

The Process
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In brown bag shake chicken, flour, and salt and pepper (to taste). Make sure the chicken gets coated with flour. Then put chicken in greased pans and set aside.

2. On stove top over high heat mix rice vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, tangelo juice & zest, honey, and ginger. Bring to boil and then turn to simmer.

3. When sauce is simmering add the cornstarch/water mix. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

4. Bast chicken with sauce (leaving half the sauce for later), and put in oven. Cook for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes take chicken out of the oven, flip the wings, bast with the rest of the sauce, sprinkle the green onions and cilantro over the top and put back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

6. Chicken should be done, but make sure to check. Once you take the chicken out of the oven let rest for 5 minutes. Definitely serve with Frank's RedHot sauce.

We also had roasted asparagus with these lovely chicken wings, yum yum!

Dill-Yogurt Green Beans

2011-03-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Of course I forgot to take a picture so I will use the picture from the original recipe, and I actually mixed it all together so upon each serving there wasn't just a dollop of yogurt mixture on the green beans. Anyways I made this veggies dish to go with the Greek mac n' cheese I made, both had a nice Greek theme. I love recipes like this because I am always looking for a new way to eat veggies and this recipe has such simple and wonderful flavors. It is adapted from The Perfect Pantry which is also where I got the photo. Enjoy!

Serves 4 (as side dish)

The Ingredients
1 pound green beans, steamed and trimmed (or you can use two cans)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

The Process
1. While steaming green beans, in a medium bowl mix all the ingredients together.

2. When green beans are done steaming rinse in cold water and let cool for about 5 minutes.

3. In medium bowl mix together yogurt mixture and green beans and serve.

Simplicity can be so nice.

Greek Mac n' Cheese

2011-03-29T00:56:00.000-07:00

OMG! Well the reason why I used that word...is because it is actually in the dictionary now (that was an FYI from Beefy). Anyways tonight at the lovely home of Bethany and Dan we decided to make this Greek mac n' cheese. I haven't had mac n' cheese in soooo long, and I'm not trying to make so many fat kid recipes, but apparently that is my current trend. I worked out today for the first time in 9 days because of vacation at the beach and in Cali....it was exhausting to say the least, but it also definitely justifies this meal. This recipe is adapted from Steamykitchen, an awesome blog that I love following.

Serves 6 (healthy portions)

The Ingredients
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
2 cups Havarti cheese
8 oz Feta cheese
3/4 red onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag spinach, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3 cups milk
3 tablespoons wheat flour
2 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
olive oil
salt and pepper

The Process
1. Boil noodles till done (according to the package). Preheat the oven to broil.

2. In a skillet warm up oil over medium high heat and add red onion. After 4 minutes add garlic cook for 2 minutes. Then add the spinach, and cook till wilted about 2 minutes, take off heat and set aside.

3. In medium saucepan heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add flour and whisk until light golden brown, about 4 minutes.

4. Add 4 cups milk to the saucepan and turn up to high to bring to boil while constantly stirring.

5. When boiling reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the stove and add cheeses and stir 'till mostly disolved/melted into sauce. The Feta cheese won't fully melt in saucepan.

6. In meantime grease large casserole dish, put in cooked noodles, capers, dill, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, spinach/onion/garlic mix and stir thoroughly.

7. Then add cheese mixture to casserole dish, pour over top then stir in cheese sauce 'till all is fully covered. Spread bread crumbs over the top and put in oven (broil) for about 5 minutes but watch it very carefully as to NOT burn the top.

8. Definitely let it sit for at least 5 minutes before serving so that it can coagulate like blood.

I also made some lovely veggies that went with the Greek theme.....will follow.

Seared Tuna and Salsa

2011-03-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Its a trick! I know several of you are probably disappointed because you really thought I was going to give you my secret recipe. This is one of those recipes that I made up and yes it is ammo as a chef and also the secret amazing recipe that keeps my friends intrigued in my cooking. I made this for our wonderful friends Liz and Nature who put us up in their beautiful house down in the Mission in San Francisco. Elisa and I decided last minute (right after I got home from my lovely trip to Yachats) that we had to get the hell out of Portland. And my boss being the awesome boss that he is just let me go, so so so awesome! Anyways the meal was a hit! They all loved it, Elisa has had it before and continues to beg me for it which of course makes me happy. I am glad it turned out so well because I hadn't made it in over a year. Elisa roasted some awesome asparagus and Liz made a full and nutritious salad as well. So since I won't give you the recipe I will say it is an extremely healthy meal and here are a lot of pictures so you can drool at your computer.

Breakfast Bagel Sandwich

2011-03-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

These bagel sandwiches were to die for! Once again this is most definitely a fat kid recipe created at the beach with my lovely friends. We could hardly move after eating these monsters. Combined by yours truly.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
3 bagels (we had 10-grain Kettleman's bagels the best)
9 tablespoons scallion cream cheese (Kettleman's if possible), this is 3 tablespoons per sandwich
3 slices bacon, cooked
2 tablespoons bacon grease
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach
1/2 tomato, sliced in small pieces
3 eggs

The Process
1. In skillet fry up 3 eggs (individually) in bacon grease. Make sure the centers are still runny.

2. Cook up bacon to preferred crispness. Then begin toasting bagels.

3. Put bacon grease in hot skillet and add spinach, cook for about 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted and covered in bacon grease.

4. When bagels are done toasting put cream cheese on them, then stack on tomato slices, bacon chunks (torn apart), then fried egg, and then cooked spinach.

Also watch out because since the egg is still runny it will spurt everywhere so make sure you eat over your plate. These were amazing and I want to eat them everyday!

Roasted Chicken

2011-03-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

The first weekend of spring break I went to the coast with my two lovely library friends Serenity and Turner (they also have rad blogs). At the beach we decided we must make gourmet meals, and while they were simple they were amazing! I decided to make a lovely roast chicken after a day full of adventuring on the beach, walking to town and taking oyster shooters, walking back in a semi-CRAZY storm and then back into the wonderful cozy happy beach cabin. Once we put the chicken in the oven to cook for 3 hours we watched the movie Adventures in Babysitting, if you have not seen this movie I insist you must! Anyways we brought tons of bacon on this trip so we had lots of bacon grease that we decided to add to everything, sick but sooooo good! So I guess I would call this a fat kid recipe. Made by yours truly.

The Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 red onion, chopped coarsely
3 fresh beets, quartered
1 cup fingerling potatoes, chop each in half
3 large carrots, chopped thick
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1 stick butter, melted for basting
1 tablespoon bacon grease, for basting
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
olive oil
salt and pepper

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse chicken off, take out the gizzard bag, and place chicken in large deep roasting pan.

2. Rub chicken down with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder.

3. In pan on stove melt the stick of butter and add the bacon grease to the melted butter. Baste the chicken with butter/bacon mixture.

4. Stuff the chicken with 1/4 of the red onion and 1 teaspoon of the chopped garlic.

5. Put all the veggies around the chicken in the roasting pan, the veggies include carrots, beets, potatoes, onion, and garlic. Then pour the broth over the veggies in the roasting pan.

6. Cover the chicken pan with tin foil and bake for 2 hours, basting with butter/bacon mixture every half hour.

7. After two hours take off tin foil and cook for one more hour with no cover and continue basting every half hour.

Note: the chicken will fall right off the bone, sooooo good! Might I add that Serenity made a perfect and wonderful gravy (with bacon grease) for the chicken and veggies. And Turner made very yummy roasted asparagus to accompany the lovely meal. Success is almost an understatement for this meal :) Oh and the beets turn everything red! Awesome! I also kept all of the extra broth-ness and am going to make us a wonderful soup! So wait for that one to come!

Black and Tan Pork Chops

2011-03-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

I made these pork chops for the St. Patty's day dinner. I also made an AMAZING warm red cabbage, bacon, goat cheese salad to accompany the pork. I thought about posting the recipe but it is one of the recipes that cooks can use as ammo. Or as a person who likes to entertain it is one of those recipes that can keep your guests enthralled in your cooking. So yes the salad was that good, and sorry you can't have the recipe but if you are lucky I will make it for you:) I hadn't seen my awesome friend Brittany in far too long so I invited her over for a St. Patty's day dinner that we actually drank wine with instead of Guinness because beer kind of just hurts to drink these days, but I made sure to include Guinness in my cooking. I found the recipe for the glaze on the Food Network's site and I adapted it, as for cooking the pork I did my own thing. I chose to make pork this year instead of corned beef because a) I tend to get tired of corned beef, b) takes a while to cook, and c) they usually only sell it in large chunks....and it was just the two of us for dinner. So pork it was! I will say that I used the glaze as a sauce over the pork and it is pretty sweet which normally I dislike, but I added salt to it and in the end over the pork it was just perfect.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
2 boneless pork chops
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1- 12oz bottle Guinness beer
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

The Process
1. In saucepan heat up some olive oil over medium heat. When hot add onions and garlic and cook about 3 minutes.

2. Lower heat slightly and add 1 tablespoon Guinness and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cook for 3 more minutes.

3. Then add rest of the Guinness, honey, brown sugar, and ginger. Bring to boil and then lower to simmer for 20 minutes.

4. While sauce is simmering heat some oil in skillet over medium high heat. Rub pork chops in salt and pepper (and nature's seasoning if you have it).

5. When skillet is hot add pork chops, sear each side (about 3 minutes each side). Then turn heat down slightly and add vegetable broth and cover pan as to steam the pork chops.

6. After 5 minutes flip pork chops and cook for another 5 minutes or until cooked through.

7. When sauce is done, turn off heat and add corn starch and mix well. The sauce does not get thick. At this point add as much salt and pepper as you want to taste. I added quite a bit of salt but make sure to add and taste add and taste.

8. Slice pork chops up into thin slices (after letting meat rest for 5 minutes) and generously pour sauce over the top.

This is a very sweet savory dish....super super good! And seriously the cabbage salad....holy shit, amazing.

Veggie Meatball Subs

2011-03-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

So I can't take credit for this recipe because I have never had the yearning to make a veggie meatball, I love meat. Besides that I found this recipe and had to try it because it is something different, not the same old meat, potatoes, salads, grains...blah blah blah. I adapted the recipe slightly from The Small Boston Kitchen and I am impressed with how well the balls actually stuck together. This night began with going over to my friends' (Legrand and Corey) lovely house. Welcoming me at the door was their adorable dog Phoebe and a dirty martini, amazing. Since this was a new recipe I wanted to try I gave the "I hope this turns out good" disclaimer and we began our decent. And one more disclaimer I went a little photo crazy with this one:)

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 jar marinara sauce
4 small french baguettes
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
3 cups chicken broth
6 button mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 bag baby spinach, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 eggs, one for wash
a couple generous pinches of crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Parchment paper

The Process
1. Cook quinoa with chicken broth according to package and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat up oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms, cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.

3. Lower heat and add garlic, red peppers, and spinach. Cook for about 1 minute until spinach is wilted.

4. In large bowl combine quiona, veggies mixture, pine nuts, crushed red pepper, oregano, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and one egg. Mix very well.

5. Make egg wash with the last egg. Beat egg with a little water.

6. Take mixture and roll into meat ball size balls and place on cookie sheet with parchment paper.

7. After all mixture is rolled brush the tops of each ball with the egg wash and put in oven.

8. Bake about 15-20 minutes or until the balls get a light golden brown. While these are cooking heat up marinara and cut baguettes and place provolone cheese slices on halves.

9. When veggie balls are done take out and place on counter. Turn oven on broil and broil the cheese baguettes until melted and remove from oven.

10. Place veggie balls in sandwich and douse with marinara sauce and eat!

These were unbelievable good! I could have eaten 20 of them. We served them with a nice simple green salad and it was the perfect combination.

Lambwiches

2011-03-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

The is right you can read, a lambwich is a lamb sandwich. Anyways I had to use up the rest of the huge lamb leg that I received from a friend and to eat it all before it went bad was quite a challenge. It was very large and luckily pre-roasted so it was just a matter of carving and creating many different dishes with lamb meat all week long. On the last day of lamb I created these lovely gourmet lambwiches for my lovely friend Alaina and I (check out her blog, she is an amazing artist). This was Friday night and we decided to stay in due to a long and tiring week, Alaina also brought over some wonderful goodies from the bakery she works at including the awesome ciabatta bread we used for the sandwiches. Now I do understand that sandwiches are easy to make but sometimes recipes for them are nice so you can spice up your sandwich world. While eating we watched the social network finally....what a weird movie. Ok, on to the sandwich:

Serves 2

The Ingredients4 slices ciabatta bread
3 tablespoons mayonaise
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 large zucchini, sliced 1/2 inch thick, long way for slabs
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large tomato, chopped
4 oz lamb leg, shredded (cooked)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper to salt

The Process
1. In small container or bowl mix vinegar, oil, mustard, and garlic. Add zucchini and let marinate at least 15 minutes.

2. In mean time chop up tomatoes and shred lamb. Turn on oven to 350 degrees.

3. Put zucchini mix in roasting pan and roast about 7 minutes, or until mostly cooked.

4. In the mean time take one two slices of ciabatta and put mayo on each then sprinkle each with cheese and toast until cheese is melted and golden brown. With the other two slices, put mayo on them and put them in toaster as well.

5. Also heat up lamb however you want to.

6. To assemble lambwich: take one slice of toasted ciabatta with cheese add several slices of roasted zucchini and garlic, 2oz lamb, top with tomatoes and salt and pepper, and then put toasted ciabatta with mayo on top. Done!

I would say that perhaps this is a fat kid recipe with the ciabatta, cheese, mayo, and fatty lamb but is was really good. Also it would be nice with a bitter green salad.

Roasted Potatoes and Zucchini

2011-03-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

That's right another roasted item. It is nice to move off the stove top and into the oven sometimes, and when summer comes around out of the house and onto a grill! Spring fever is hitting me hard, I'm so ready for short skirts, grilled steaks, and cold sangria! This recipe also follows my simple yet lovely theme I started last post. I finally went to the store and stocked up on groceries which has led to pure happiness because I actually have food to cook and then eat!!! Anyways I also had the leftovers the next day for lunch and I put about 1/4 cup toasted and salted pepita seeds over the top of it and to say the least I would DEFINITELY recommend it. This meal got me through the end of a rather brain taxing assignment of answering 20 reference questions for my academic library reference and research class. And by taxing I mean spending 2 1/2 hours researching one question and then giving up, I never did find the answer but I think now I have to take it on as a personal goal and find the damn answer! On to the meal:

Serves 2

The Ingredients
15 small fingering potatoes, cut in thirds
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large zucchini, sliced and halved
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup pepita seeds roasted and salted (optional)

The Process
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In bowl add potatoes, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, salt, pepper. Mix well and put on cookie sheet save the juices. Put in oven for 10 minutes.

3. While potatoes are roasting put zucchini in leftover juices (oil, vinegar, garlic, spices) and stir well.

4. After 10 minutes take potatoes out, stir them up, and add zucchini to sheet.

5. Put back in oven for 5 minutes more, or until potatoes are golden brown, and zucchini is al dente.

6. Optional: Garnish with pepita seeds.

Super good the next day too!

Roasted Broccolini

2011-03-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

So this picture is definitely not my own and because I forgot to take a picture of such a lovely and simple side dish I am asking you to image my roasted broccolini looking like this but instead of pecans I used red onions.....so just squint and pretend, it works. So this was part of a feast I made with my lovely friend Mike who I have known FOREVER, which is awesome but we don't get to see each other enough...anyways now when we do see each other we get down and to the point with eating (ie red meat, and some sort of green). We don't even want or need carbohydrates involved, one because they get in the way, and two because we like to buy copious amounts of meat (this time london broil) so honestly carbohydrates become obsolete. And might I add how creepy this little chubby baby-like hand looks that is grabbing at the broccolini?! I will assure you there was none of that involved in my simple and happy roasting of broccolini. Might I also add this is a recipe I use for many green veggies that I roast so please explore the possibilities. By yours truly.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
1 bunch broccolini, trim off bottoms slightly
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard or dijon
2 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar, or red wine or apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 large red onion, roughly chopped

The Process
1. Mix in small bowl mustard, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, garlic. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In large bowl mix broccolini and onion, then add liquid mixture and toss until all vegetables are thoroughly coated.

3. Put vegetables on flat cookie sheet, put in oven, roast about 10 minutes or until vegetables start to slightly wilt and brown.

EAT! So the point to this post was to provide simplicity. Everyone is always making these over zealous and complicated meals that do take a lot of "skill".... so I wanted to provide one of my easy, simple, yet wonderful tasting side dishes for a slightly fancy but easy dinner.

Werido photo:
http://www.epicurious.com/images/recipesmenus/2008/2008_december/350812.jpg

Pork Fried Rice

2011-03-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

So Sunday night I went to my little bros first show with his new band and they were amazing, they are the wild ones and my brother plays the keyboard though he is piano trained. It was at the venue the woods and here are future shows that I'm sure are great too (flier below). Anyways I made this dish while trying to use up ingredients and to make my lunches for the work week. So because I was using up ingredients I would consider this a pretty simple version of pork fried rice. And its made by yours truly...not that fried rice is hard, but still.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
1 5-ounce lean pork chop, cubed
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili oil
2 1/2 cups cooked brown jasmine rice
2 cups collard greens, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, crushed (jar)
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic chili paste
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

The Process
1. In large skillet heat up olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and pork. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes, then add collard greens and cook for 1 more minute.

2. Then add rice and chili and sesame oil and turn heat up to medium high heat to help fry rice.

3. Add eggs and ginger, fry for 2 minutes.

4. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, black pepper, and garlic chili paste, stir and keep frying.

5. Cook for about 7 more minutes or until the eggs are cooked and rice is getting crispy and fried.

Can add more soy sauce or hot sauce in the end just depends on how salty and hot you want your fried rice to be. A lot of the flavor comes from the sesame and chili oil so don't leave them out. And if I were making a full on stir fry I would definitely add green onions, mushrooms, carrots, water chestnuts and probably fish sauce. Enjoy:)

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2011-02-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

This week has been something else...I finally finished my annotated bibliography and turned it in after hours and hours of hard brain frying work, so naturally what do I want to do for the rest of my week? Look at food blogs and cook up a storm! Wednesday night there was suppose to be a huge snow storm, my roommate and I desperately wanted a snow day on Thursday....so what did we do? We acted like we both didn't have to work the next day (ie staying up late watching episodes of many things and yes drinking a fair amount of wine). Needless to say the next day was not a snow day and I felt a little under the weather if you know what I mean. My brain function was not at its prime and I was grumpy from little sleep, so what do I do when I'm drained and unmotivated to do anything? Spend endless hours gawking at food blogs. I knew I had chicken I needed to use up but I wanted to make something different (here is my branching out and being creative thing again) and I seriously started becoming frustrated when it seemed as if people only made roasted chicken, drumsticks, seasoned chicken breasts, Parmesan chicken, chicken skewers, or some sort of stuffed chicken.....these were the main recipes for pages upon pages of chicken meals. I was ready to give up on chicken until I found this recipe and its very tasty. I made this meal last night for my wonderful friend Turner (who also has an awesome blog) and I so that we could make it through putting together a 40 minute discussion for our class that we have all weekend. So here it is.

Adapted from This Week for Dinner
Serves 2

The Ingredients
1 large chicken breast, diced bite size
5 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1/8 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 romaine heart lettuce leaves
olive oil

The Process
1. Heat up olive oil over medium-high heat in wok (or skillet), when hot add chicken and onions. Cook for about 5 minutes or until chicken is almost cooked through.

2. Then add garlic, water chestnuts, mushrooms, sesame oil, sriracha, rice vinegar, hoisin, ginger, and soy sauce. Stir and reduce heat to medium heat and cook for about 3 more minutes or until ingredients are semi-soft.

3. Put chicken mixture romaine lettuce leaves, roll, and eat.

I also served brown jasmine rice with soy sauce and nori komi furikake. This is also a very healthy meal with protein and veggies.

Marinated Eggplant

2011-02-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

I love eggplant and one of the rad things about eggplant is it acts like a potato and meat. Its like a potato because it doesn't have tons of flavor to begin with but loves to absorb flavor that seasons it. Its like meat because its chewy and hardy, the way I like things to be. It is not often that I buy eggplant because its not the cheapest and it doesn't have amazing amounts of nutrition like the green leafy vegetables I usually eat.....But I have been trying to branch out in my grocery shopping. It is SO easy to just get in a routine and habitually buy the same food all the time. Don't get me wrong I always buy cheese and bread...and coffee..and....and exactly my point, so with this need for change and creativity in cooking I bought an eggplant (I totally feel pathetic narrating my inner "lame" thoughts but hey whats a blog? exactly that). Anyways while my friend so honestly said "wow that looks like poop" it does, eggplant marinating in brown liquids....not so attractive but it tastes sooo good, not like poop.

Adapted from Amateur Gastronomer
Serves 3 (as a side salad or appetizer)

The Ingredients
1 medium to large eggplant, chopped into large bite size chunks
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons mirin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, chopped coarsely
black sesame seeds (as garnish, optional)

The Process
1. After chopping eggplant, steam for 6 minutes, or until slightly soft

2. In medium bowl mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and ginger.

3. Add eggplant to mixture and stir. Cover and marinate in fridge for at least 24 hours. (the longer it marinates the better it tastes.

4. Serve with garnish of black sesame seeds.

Petite Sirloin Steak

2011-02-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

Have I been slacking on my blog? yes. Why? Because school is running my life. Have I been eating and cooking lots of great food? yes. This post is dedicated to my "I gotta eat way more protein" motto I'm living by right now. So here is something simple but delicious that I made a couple weeks ago for my dear friend Elisa. When it comes to steak rarely do I actually follow a recipe, because what I know is that I like it rare....really rare...and who can't figure out marinades? Anyways this is by yours truly.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
Two (about 7oz) petite sirloin steaks
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons steak sauce (any)
olive oil

The Process
1. In a large ziploc bag mix Worcestershire sauce, garlic, pepper, steak sauce, and add steak to marinate for at least 1 hour.

2. When done marinating, heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium high heat.

3. Cook steaks about 4 minutes each side and yes this makes them very rare.

These steaks were accompanied by some really good red quinoa and slightly sauteed collard greens, great combination.

Faux Chicken Pho

2011-02-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

This is the types of thing that I make when I have almost no food in my entire house (kitchen). I've been holding out on buying food because I have to save money so I am refusing to go the grocery store...which is obviously a losing battle because people have to eat. So this no spending money kick must end, but until then I have resorted to my faux pho. This is my recipe and its damn healthy.

Serves 2

The Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups mushrooms (I used a variety)
4 oz chicken (breast or tenders), poached (boil about 6 minutes) and cubed
1 cup rice noodles, cooked (follow package directions)
1 cup broccoli, steamed
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

The Process
1. In soup pot bring to boil broth garlic and ginger, then reduce to simmer.

2. Add mushrooms, chicken, broccoli, fish sauce, Sriracha, soy sauce, let heat for about 2 minutes.

3. Take soup off heat and add rice noodles last, stir and enjoy.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

2011-02-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Late night baking? Apparently I'm good at it. So as I have mentioned no I don't like to bake and I'm not fantastic at it (ie milk dud cookies)....BUT this bread turned out really well. It was inspired by very ripe bananas and a need to distract myself from homework. This is a pretty healthy recipe considering the other ones I was looking at. I found a simple recipe (that I adapted) that did the job, so here it is, also I will mention it is not a super sweet banana bread...but that is personally how I like it anyways.

2 loaves
Adapted from Food Network Recipe

The Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 very ripe bananas, smashed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 350, and grease two 9x5 bread pans

2. Mix together in medium bowl: salt, baking powder, baking soda, and whole wheat flour

3. In large bowl cream together sugar and eggs

4. In a separate medium bowl add smashed bananas, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon, mix well.

5. Add banana mixture to egg and sugar mixture, mix well.

6. Slowly add (in 4ths) the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stirring very well.

7. Put equal amounts in each bread pan and bake for about an hour or until done

Healthy Yellow Split Pea Dish

2011-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

To accompany the ever so tasty Panko Parmesan Chicken I made this filling and very healthy side dish. I can't take any credit for this dish because I directly copied it due to the odd fact that I have never actually made split peas. Also I was reading all about split peas and they are so high in protein and fiber with a low calorie count and when is that not an awesome thing? oh that's right never. I also want to note that this can easily be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken. So here it is:

From Kalyns Kitchen
Serves 4-6

The Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups yellow split peas
4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Pepper to taste

The Process
1. In medium to large saucepan heat up olive oil over medium heat. When hot add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

2. Next add the yellow split peas to the saucepan and make sure they are coated with garlic and oil.

3. Add chicken stock to saucepan and bring to a boil, then set to simmer. Cover and simmer for about 30-45 minutes of until done (should be a little liquid left when done).

4. When done cooking add lemon juice, lemon zest, ginger, and black pepper. Mix well and serve.

Panko Parmesan Chicken

2011-01-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

I love making food like this because while it is super easy to make it is also super tasty. I invited my friend Erin over for dinner and decided I wanted to make something that seemed slightly fancy. I hadn't seen this friend in quite a while and we had a ton to catch up on so of course while cooking we popped open a bottle of lovely red wine and went to town, she was a great prep cook too:) I also steamed an artichoke to go with this meal and I made a yellow split pea side dish which I will post next. This recipe is also by yours truly.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
8 chicken tenders
1 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 egg

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease cookie sheet.

2. In mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix well, then pour out onto plate to put chicken in.

3. Beat egg in a bowl for dipping the chicken.

4. Take chicken tenders dip them in the egg and then roll in panko mixture and place on cookie sheet.

5. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, turning once.

Enchilagna (Enchilada Lasagna)

2011-01-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

This post is more like a guest post in the sense that I was a guest who helped the lovely Bethany make a dish of AMAZINGNESS! It is a layered casserole dish that we dubbed Enchilanga! It consisted of whole wheat tortillas, enchilada sauce, baby corn, zucchini, yellow squash, cannellini beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, green onions, garlic, and cheese....several spices too. This is one of those meals that came about in a conversation that started with "well I have beans, cheese....." and at the same time we decided Enchilanga! Bethany and I have been determined at hitting up the gym at least 5 times a week so we are bound to be eating dinner together more often and since she is a vegetarian we are forced to get creative with what we eat. Also may I mention that we watched Toy Story 3....adorable! Just another simple and lovely night feasting with friends....these nights are going to be happening much more (ie more recipes to come) due to the fact school is picking back up and I'm taking extra credits this term, time for nesting.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

2011-01-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

I have made these scrumptious squashes two times now and each time they seem to get better and better. The recipe is very loosely based off of an npr stuffed pumpkin recipe, but this one is ten times better. These delicious acorn squashes were originally made by my lovely friend Jovan and I in her kitchen, since then I have changed a few things but not much. This meal is relatively healthy besides the amount of cheese, but you are more than welcome to lessen it, I just know I always want lots of cheese because I don't eat it half as often as I use to. The second time I made this recipe it was for my lovely friend Bethany (ie Beefy) and after eating we played that awesome new game system kinect. So I will say this recipe is officially created by Kirsten (me) and Jovan.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 acorn squashes, cut in halves
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 1/2 (about) slices of sourdough bread, torn into bite size pieces
1/4 pound gruyere cheese, chopped into little bite size pieces
4 strips of any type of facon (veggie bacon), cooked and broken into pieces
1/2 tablespoon salt
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
4 big leaves of swiss chard, chopped
3 cups (or as much as you want) of milk

The Process
1. Turn oven onto 350 degrees. Cut acorn squashes in half and put in glass dish, sprinkle with water and cook for about 30 minutes or until squash is starting to get tender.

2. Mix in large bowl thyme, green onions, sourdough bread, gruyere cheese, facon, salt, garlic, pepper, swiss chard, and milk.

3. When squash is getting tender pull out of oven and stuff to the max. each half with the bowl mixture. Then pour any left over liquid equally into the squash halves.

4. Put the stuffed squash back into the oven for another 30mins or until the squash is tender enough to eat and the tops of the stuffing is browned.

Note: Depending on how hot your oven is you may want to turn up the temperature to 375 or 400 if cooking is taking too long.

We accompanied this lovely meal HUB's new winter ale, yum yum!

Chocolate Milk Dud Cookies with Sea Salt

2010-12-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin...oh baking I really don't like you much. I am really good at making pie, so I like that kind of baking. I'm about to start making my own bread every week so that will be baking.... but if we are talking about baking in general?! um NO THANKS! Though I did enjoy hanging out with my dear friend Nyssa and the "wolf pack" while making these ugly cookies and yes they taste very yummy they just don't look pretty.

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
Makes 2 dozen

The Ingredients
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
5 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 box Milk Duds, chopped into halves

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheet.

2. In large mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, and sea salt mix well and set aside.

3. In medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat when melted and add cocoa powder and both sugars.

4. Next add yogurt and vanilla. When well mixed add this mixture to the large bowl of dry ingredients.

5. While mixing fold Milk Duds into the dough as well.

6. Taking large spoonfuls of dough and put on greased pan. Bake for about 15 minutes. When done take out of oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

These cookies are very gooey and rich, much like awesome brownies. They would also be very good mashed up with vanilla ice cream!!!

Lemon Cilantro Rice

2010-12-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

This recipe also came from Closet Cooking which I mentioned in my previous blog. Though instead of lemon, the original recipe calls for lime. I used lemon because it is what I had and because I used lemon in the Tandoori Chicken. This rice is super simple, it is pretty much pilaf with a little extra, and it was a perfect side dish to balance out the spiciness of the Tandoori Chicken.

Adapted from Closet Cooking
Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup brown basmati rice
2 1/2 cups water
1 hand full of cilantro, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced

The Process
1. Heat oil on medium heat in saucepan. When hot add onions, cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic to saucepan and cook for 2 more minutes. Next add the dry rice to the saucepan and toast the rice for about 3 minutes.

3. Add water to saucepan and bring to a boil. Then cover and reduce for about 40 minutes or until rice is done.

4. When rice is done add the cilantro and lemon juice and stir well. (note: I also added soy sauce after, very good).

So like I said a nice and simple rice and flavor to compliment the Tandoori Chicken.

Tandoori Chicken Skewers

2010-12-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

While trying to use up all my food before buying more I was presently surprised that I had all these ingredients laying around except for the lemon, which my lovely friend brought over. This recipe is based off of one on a food blog I love to read called closet cooking. This blog covers so many different flavors and with everything that I have made I have yet to be even slightly disappointed. I did change the recipe around some, especially since I didn't just have garam masala laying around, in fact I created it with a recipe that is posted on closet cooking. I paired this tandoori chicken with lemon cilantro rice and steamed red cabbage with soy sauce and butter. My lovely friend Elisa also brought over a scrumptious bottle of slightly sparkling pinot grigio, it went very well with the chicken. And now the recipe:

Adapted from Closet Cooking
Serves 2

The Ingredients
1/2 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 medium red onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 tablespoon garam masala (I didn't have whole spices so I halved the portions and used ground spices)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pound chicken breast, cubed for skewer
Salt to taste

The Process
1. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, then add chicken. Let marinate for at least 1 hour.

2. Turn oven on to broil, and put chicken on skewers.

3. Grease pan and place skewers on pan.

4. Broil for about 5 minutes each side, or until cooked through.

Enjoy! It is a little spicy, but in the most perfect way.

Cauliflower Fritters

2010-12-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

I was absolutely blown away by these! I love making different kinds of vegetable fritters because we all know fritters aren't the best thing in the world for you so why not make them more healthy by making them with vegetables! I have made lovely spinach fritters before that I should really make again to put on the blog...but that is my inspiration behind making these, well and for my vegetarian friend Jovan:) These fritters were definitely the perfect compliment to the garbanzo bean tomato curry that I made as well. These are soo fluffy and egg-y and amazing...just sayin'

Adapted from Sunset
Servings 4

The Ingredients
1 cauliflower head medium to large size, washed and broken into florets
1 tablespoon salt
3 large eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced of pressed
1 teaspoon hot sauce (any) we used Cholula
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Olive oil

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees to keep the batches of done fritters warm.

2. In a 6-8 quart saucepan bring water to boil and add cauliflower florets, reduce heat to simmer and cover for 10 minutes. Drain cauliflower and mash with fork and let cool until no more steam is seen.

3. In large bowl mix together eggs, salt, garlic, hot sauce, flour, baking powder, paprika, and pepper. When cauliflower is cool add to bowl and mix well.

4. In large skillet heat up olive oil over medium-high heat, and add a heaping spoonful of fritter mixture to the pan for each fritter. The fritters will take about 6-8 minutes to cook, so flip about every 4 minutes.

So as I said in the recipe for the garbanzo tomato curry, serve these fritters with the curry and it makes a wonderful meal and add cottage cheese dollops they will make the meal even better:)

Also some more nutritional facts

Nutritional info: Calories 107; Sat. Fat 1.5g; Protein 6.8g; Fiber 2.2g

Garbanzo-Tomato Curry

2010-12-14T16:33:00.000-08:00

This recipe I found while trying to find a yummy vegetarian meal to cook for my lovely friend Jovan. After being picky and wanting a new sort of flavor in my life I decided that this dish coupled with cauliflower fritters would be perfect new taste and adventure (nerdy I know but it IS an adventure) haha. Anyways this meal also can after a hellish weekend full of stomach flu and rice cakes....ie boring and shitty. Anyways I'm feeling better and cooking away again:)

Adapted from Sunset
Serves 4

The Ingredients
1 small yellow onioin, chopped finely
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can tomatoes, diced (keep fluid)
Salt
Olive oil
Cottage cheese for garnish (optional)

The Process
1. In a large skillet add some olive oil and heat over medium high heat, then add onion, garlic and ginger. Cook until mixture begins to brown about 6 mintues.

2. Add garbanzo beans, tomatoes (with juice), curry powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cayenne and salt to taste, mix well. Bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for about 6-10 minutes to thicken.

3. Put on plate (with cauliflower fritters) and put some dollops of cottage cheese on all and eat eat eat!

This is obviously a very healthy meal but let me give you some nutritional facts to make you feel extra good about what you are eating:)

Nutritional info: Calories 264; Sat. Fat .7g; Protein 13g; Fiber 8.2g

um awesome:)

Stuffed Mushrooms

2010-12-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

I made this wonderful appetizer for thanksgiving, because I mean more food is always better right? :) I liked this recipe I found because it was one of the only simple recipes....no expensive sea food stuffing or sausage involved. I made these, since I am still not the host of the family thanksgiving I don't get to make many decisions on what we make for dinner, I usually just have to help prepare what is being made. Not saying I don't love the meal every year...it's just hard cause this year I was looking up all these new recipes that sounded sooo good and I didn't get to make any of them...so here was my simple and easy contribution to thanksgiving dinner. Well I did help prepare the green beans too...but you know....COME ON!

Makes 28 mushrooms
Adapted from Giada

The Ingredients
1/2 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Asagio cheese, finely grated
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
28 large white mushrooms, stemmed
Salt and Pepper to taste

The Process
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Stir together in medium bowl: bread crumbs, Asagio cheese, garlic, parsley, mint, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix well.

3. Pull stems out of mushrooms and scoop filling into each mushroom.

4. Spray cookie sheet with oil and put mushrooms on it and put in oven.

5. Bake for 25 minutes or until tops get golden brown.

Enjoy!!!

Burgers: Bleu Cheese/Balsamic Sauce and Roasted Veggies

2010-11-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

The evening began at my friend Rebecca's house with some beverages and watching Man V, Food on the travel channel. The episode was all about burgers, big, spicy etc. Anyways I decided I must have a burger it had been so long, while I sat there I was like ok I'm so tired I don't want to make one, but I also am needing to save money cause its the holiday season....so I decided I had no choice I must cook one up tonight, which we all know I normally love to do....but lately I've been pretty tired. So as I went to meet up with my other lovely friend Elisa I called her and said come outside, get in my car and lets go to the store I have a vision! Once we were finally back home we began the process to success! I will say that obviously this is a burger and we used a ton of cheese, so this is one of my fat kid recipes!!! Enjoy! Also please notice in the picture that there is cheese oozing out of the burger...yep that is because I also wanted a Juicy Lucy, and if u don't know what that is look it up:)

Makes 2 burgers

The Ingredients
4 slices of sourdough bread
2/3 pound lean ground beef
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Italian spice
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
4oz creamy bleu cheese
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/8 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 zucchini, sliced
1 small head of broccoli, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 small tomato, sliced
1 cup mixed greens, (for lettuce)

The Process
1. Start by turning on oven to 450 degrees and in glass cooking dish toss olive oil, and some salt and pepper to taste with zucchini, red onion, broccoli, and two cloves of the minced garlic. Put in oven and cook for about 15-20min or until roasted.

2. Next take the balsamic vinegar and put in sauce pan over medium heat. This will take about 20min to reduce, and you want a slow steady simmer, not boiling because then the vinegar will burn. Stir often and just pay attention to it.

3. Time to spice up the burger meat, in medium mixing bowl add raw beef, pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, chili flakes, italian spice, garlic powder, and rest of minced garlic, mix well with hands.

4. Mix together the two grated cheeses.

5. Heat up pan over medium-high heat and take meat mix and flatten into two thin burgers. Add half of grated cheese mixture to the center of each burger and fold side over to look like a taco. Then reshape each burgers slightly to make round again. Add burgers to the pan and cook each side about 4mins (because they are thin they will cook fast), or cook until done.

6. Put sourdough bread slices in toaster and toast.

7. Slice tomatoes and rinse mixed greens and set aside.

8. When balsamic vinegar is reduced add the bleu cheese and milk and whisk until smooth and blended and take off of stove.

9. To assemble first put roasted veggies on bread, then the burger patty, then the balsamic bleu cheese sauce (lots of it), then put on tomatoes and mixed greens then other piece of bread and eat eat eat!!!

We also added our own bacon to the burger but its not necessary because the burger was so flavorful already. There is a lot of balsamic cheese sauce so definitely dip your burger in it too. And it is pretty awesome because I felt like I was in one of those Carl's Junior commercials with sauce dripping everywhere and big ol' burger in my hands....but it was cooler cause Carl's Junior is nasty and my burger was gourmet!!

I also wanted to give props to this hot sauce shelve in my friend Elisa's fridge because every fridge needs to have that much variety of hot sauce! I approve!!

Mom's Birthday Dinner

2010-11-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

Success! After many emails between my father, me, and my older brother we successfully pulled off my mum's birthday meal:) My older brother hosted the event in his lovely home in Sellwood, and my aunt, uncle and cousin joined as well. My dad made the chicken based on a recipe I found on tastespotting.com
The chicken was apricot chili tequila chicken thighs, and they tasted sooo good:) As for the rest of the meal, I made the potato "salad" which is featured on my blog under gourmet, and I roasted green beans and a red bell pepper, with a pinot grigio vinegar based dressing. My aunt and uncle brought an amazing chocolate mousse cake to top off the meal. It was a perfect way to end an awesome yet exhausting weekend. Now time to prepare for thanksgiving!!!!

Chicken and Asparagus Taco Time

2010-11-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

These tacos were inspired by what was in my fridge and the awesome hot paprika that my lovely friend Jovan brought back for me from Germany. Plus who doesn't love tacos? No one I know. Anyways this is also my one fun thing I'm letting myself do today (writing this post) because otherwise I have a crazy amount of school work to do. I have three papers due in the next two weeks with one due tomorrow and one on sunday.....yes it is intense, but that is graduate school right? Right?....well I think so. Anyways on to the tacos these are very healthy and yes spicy but as we all know you can control your own amount of spice, but be warned if you follow these directions expect spicy:) And once again this recipe is by yours truly:)

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 large chicken breast, cubed
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped in two inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika or cayanne
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon nature's seasoning (optional)
1 tablespoon Tapatio sauce
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
3 tablespoons salsa
Pepper and salt to taste
Olive oil
Small corn tortillas
Extra sharp cheddar, shredded

The Process
1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat, when hot add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

2. Begin steaming asparagus, steam for 2-3 minutes (al dente).

3. After 1 minute add chicken to skillet and turn heat up to medium-high, cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Drain asparagus and add to skillet, turn heat back down to a low-medium.

5. Add to skillet: hot paprika, cumin, garlic salt, nature's seasoning, chili powder, Tapatio sauce, plain yogurt, salsa and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 more minutes or until mixture is hot and chicken is cooked through.

6. In the mean time warm up tortillas.

7. Assemble: tortilla, cheese, hot mixture of chicken and asparagus then top with more plain yogurt, salsa, and Tapatio.

8. Eat!

I know it seems odd to have asparagus in tacos, but it is surprisingly and wonderfully delicious:) Also note that I realize extra sharp cheddar is fattening but when you use extra sharp cheddar you can use a small amount because the flavor is so big, so keep that in mind.

Lamb and Blood

2010-11-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

No I did not make this delicious meal...wish I was that good at gravy and sauceness. On sunday evening, halloween, I decided to go up to my parents house to have a family dinner and watch scary movies. My dad just invested in 20lbs of lamb that his friend raised and butchered. We don't eat much lamb but it is nice to have variety. This was a leg of the lamb and it was sooo amazing! Completely infused with garlic and more. Not to mention the gravy....oh my god the gravy. I'm not sure my dad has ever made a gravy this good, we were all sitting at the table dousing our meat in it and trying not to drool.

Now to the blood part of this post. We ended up watching the movie my bloody valentine. It was a bad movie don't watch it. There was tons of blood which doesn't bother me but it was a little awkward to watch with my parents haha. Anyways all in all awesome evening with motivation to have my dad teach me the ways of sauce.

Thai Beef Salad

2010-11-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

This was absolutely amazing, probably my favorite as of recent. Though a word of warning it is gnarly the next day because the cucumbers have so much water in them that it waters down the whole salad blarg! Anyways I also forgot to take a picture so I will just not have one, but imagine lovely green with the contrast of rare red beef:) Yum! I made this one for my wonderful friend Brittany, she came over and it was one of those nights when you hardly remember to turn on music (which is rare for me) because you are both talking about life in depth. Twas lovely. Alright on to the recipe.

Servings 4
From NPR

Ingredients
1 pound sirloin steak
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 hot red thai chili, chopped
2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
3 large shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup mint, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper

The Process
1. Preheat oven to broil. Rub steak with garlic powder and a little salt and pepper. Place in greased pan and broil each side 3-4 minutes for medium rare.

2. Remove steak from oven and put in fridge for one hour.

3. In the meantime, chop up and add to large bowl the cucumbers, shallots, cilantro and mint.

4. To make dressing whisk together in small bowl fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, hot chili and a little pepper.

5. When steak is done cooling thinly slice and add to the large bowl, then add dressing and mix all together and eat.

It is a wonderful low fat meal that is refreshing and tastes good even on a cold day. But like I said it does not keep well, so make sure and eat it all up!

Tzatziki Sauce

2010-10-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

I love tzatziki sauce! It is good on almost everything, and nothing can compare to the wonderful sour taste of plain yogurt. I was encouraged to make this to accompany my leftover Spinach and Tofu Triangles (the last post I did), and they were perfect together. Also might I add that the Blazers won against the Suns last night and they looked amazing! Go Blazers! So here we go

makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 medium-small cucumber, grated (skin and all)

1 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, pressed (in garlic presser or minced)

1 teaspoon dill

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

The Process

1. Combine all ingredients in small bowl and mix well. Let chill for at least 1/2 hour and serve.

Spinach and Tofu Triangles

2010-10-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well how should I start this. I made these yesterday and yesterday was a better day. Today is one of those days where everything hits you at once even though you knew all these things were happening in your life. Today was that day for me and the coldness outside helps but it doesn't. I just want to go home (at work) and have a warm meal made for me with a large TV with cable so I can watch the Blazers game... Guess I will keep wishing and write about these amazing Spinach and Tofu Triangles instead.

The Ingredients
1/2 package whole wheat phyllo dough
1 10oz. package frozen chopped spinach defrosted, and water squeezed out
1 medium red onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 8oz package of extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 tablespoon baby dill, chopped
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, chopped
1 cup reduced fat feta cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper

The Process
1. In skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat, add garlic and onions and cook until clear. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. When onions and garlic are clearish, take off heat and add spinach, lemon juice, tofu, dill, parsley, feta, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

3. On dry surface lay out 2 sets (4 layers thick) of phyllo dough and cut each set into 9 rectangles.

4. Spray all the rectangle with olive oil, then add about 2 tablespoons full of mixture to each rectangle.

5. Fold rectangles over to look like triangles and take a fork to press the edges together.

6. Lightly spray olive oil over all rectangles, grease a large cookie sheet and place all of the triangles onto sheet and place in oven.

7. Takes about 25 minutes to bake, or bake until golden brown.

I paired these with a large steamed artichoke and it was an amazing combination. I would also suggest making a tzatziki sauce to dip the triangles in. I used balsamic vinegar as a dip which tasted lovely as well.

This is a pretty healthy meal too considering all the spinach and tofu involved:) And vegetarian friendly.

Pimento Cheese Spread

2010-10-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Alright as I have warned you in the past, there will be some fat kid recipes on my blog, because I mean truly who isn't one at heart....I mean seriously. So here we go. This is inspired by Russell Street BBQ, every so often...well more often than not my wonderful friend Rebecca (who has an amazing food blog too) and I go to Russell Street BBQ to grab a drink and their oh so awesome pimento cheese spread. Now the other day we had one of our rendezvous after a shitty monday at work, and we got our typical drinks and we about to order the pimento cheese spread....but no they were all out. Before I almost lost my shit we decided on the Frito chili pie, while it was good I still had to have two cocktails to make up for it. So since then I have been craving the pimento cheese goodness like no other and I decided to make it, knowing of coarse that it wouldn't be as good as Russell St. and guess what I was right....but still this version was pretty damn good. So make this and get fat and be happy:)

From Paula Deen

makes 3 cups (i.e. more than enough)

Ingredients

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sharp cheddar, grated

1 cup monterey jack, grated

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon House seasoning (recipe follows)

3 tablespoons pimentos, diced

2 teaspoons grated onion

The Process

1. Mix together cream cheese, cheddar, monterey jack, mayo, pimentos, grated onion, and house seasoning.

2. Serve on mini garlic toasts.

House Seasoning:

1/2 cup salt

1/8 cup black pepper

1/8 cup garlic powder

mix well

I will say that it is a pretty salty recipe even for my likings (and i love salt), so be weary.

Healthy Chicken Pot Pie

2010-10-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Soooooo this pot pie is sooo amazing, ask Elisa, she was the lucky guest for dinner:) I'm pretty sure her pug Chula liked it too. I was looking through many recipes looking for a healthier version of chicken pot pie because often times even when you make the crust with whole wheat flour, there ends up being sooo much butter involved. Otherwise chicken pot pie doesn't contain too much fat when home made. This came about on one of the wonderful cold and sunny days last week here in Portland, Oregon. Fall is my absolute favorite season for many reasons, but one of the top is the internal instinct to cook up hearty and warm meals. This meal is extremely nutritious and it helped me get through a week full of homework, meetings, work and then a weekend full of class...... thank you chicken pot pie.

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

Serves 3

Ingredients

2 medium sized chicken breasts, cut into cubes

2 handfuls of crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 head broccoli, chopped

2 leeks, bottom 4 inches only, wash and chopped

1/2 small red onion, chopped

2 medium golden potatoes, cubed

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups nonfat milk

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

5 sheets frozen whole wheat phyllo dough, thawed (I found this at New Seasons)

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

salt and pepper

olive oil

The Process

1. Preheat oven to 350F, and spray bread loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Heat up skillet over medium-high heat with olive oil, while it heats season chicken with salt and pepper.

3. Remove chicken and set aside. Add more olive oil to pan and add potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms and red onion. Cook for about 3 minutes.

4. Add garlic and leeks to skillet and cook for 1 additional minute.

5. Add milk to skillet. Stir flour into chicken broth until dissolved and add to skillet.

6. Bring mixture to boil, then lower to medium-low heat and cover and simmer for 10minutes stirring occasionally.

7. Add chicken, parsley and thyme, stir and set aside.

8. Take 5 sheets of phyllo and place center of sheets over the center of pan and press down so all corners are touching pan.

9. Add all of the filling from skillet, then fold end of phyllo sheets over top of filling to cover.

10. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top and put in oven for 30 minutes or until filling is bubbling.

11. Take out and let cool for 5 minutes to set, and enjoy!

I think that steamed broccoli or sauteed spinach would be a great side dish to go with the pot pie, though I just ate the pot pie:)

Mediterranean Wheat Berry Salad

2010-10-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

This is me really trying to revive my cooking blog. So I had made this salad a while back, perhaps even before the blog existed. And I made it once again last week, needless to say I forgot how amazing and healthy it is. I found it tastes best fresh, but the day after is fine as well. All the fresh herbs can get a little soggy even though their flavor becomes stronger with time. Many life changes recently but now I'm getting back on track and hopefully will keep up the blogging, because I love it.

Adapted from Sunset:

Serves 5

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked wheat berries
7 cups water
1 jar (6oz) marinated artichoke hearts
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup feta, crumbled
1/3 cup calamata olives, pitted and sliced
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/4 italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste.

The Process
1. First bring to boil the wheat berries and water, then simmer and cook until done, about 1 hour, then strain.

2. While wheat berries are cooling, combine all ingredients in one large bowl.

3. Add wheat berries, mix thoroughly, and add salt and pepper to taste.

There is a lot of chopping involved and the wheat berries take a while to cook, but besides that it is a fresh easy meal.

Nutritional info: cal:207, protein:5.4g, fat:9g, fiber:4.8g
Picture from: http://www.purelyamerican.com/images/PH%20OrganicWheatBerries.jpg

Cupcakes and Libraries

2010-07-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

This article made my night, and I agree with many of the things it says. Food and information, honestly what more could one person ask for?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/07/20/128651136/why-the-next-big-pop-culture-wave-after-cupcakes-might-be-libraries

I'm Sorry

2010-06-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Web design and research class are slowly killing me. I hope to survive and keep cooking sometime in the near future. Until then just know I have been eating well, but missing the joys of life (cooking, and writing about it).

Pork Stir Fry with Collard Greens

2010-05-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

So normally with meals like this I don't follow a recipe because over many years stir fry has become second nature....well and honestly who can't make a tasty stir fry? Anyways I made this one because it is a low fat and healthy recipe, which lets admit stir fry's can get a little heavy sometimes. Once again I used pork, this is because I was at my parents house waiting to watch the second Suns vs. Lakers game (go suns) and I got bored and wanted to make them dinner...and as usual they already pulled meat out of the freezer that morning to eat for dinner and yes it was pork. I swear I don't normally eat this much pork. So here it is:

Serves 4
Adapted from Cooking Light

The Ingredients
1 package (about 4 ounces) uncooked rice noodles
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound lean pork chops, thinly sliced
1 cup fat-free chicken broth
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
5 teaspoons sesame oil
1 bunch of collard greens, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, grated or jar
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Sriracha sauce

The Process
1. Prepare rice noodles according to package. When noodles are done mix in 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, and cilantro.

2. In a small bowl combine pork and 1 tablespoon soy sauce and set aside.

3. In medium mixing bowl combine remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, cornstarch, and whisk until smooth.

4. In large skillet heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture to skillet, saute for 3 minutes or until browned then remove pork from skillet.

5. Add remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil to same skillet and add collard greens, carrots, ginger, and garlic, saute about 2 minutes.

6. Add pork to skillet once more and stir in broth mixture, simmer about 3 minutes or until thick while stirring occasionally.

7. Remove from heat and stir in green onions. Serve pork mixture over noodle mixture.

Nutritional info:
Calories:395, Fat:9.6g, Sat. Fat:2.1g, Carbs:43.7g, Protein:28.1g, Fiber:2.4g

I will say while I did enjoy the dish I don't prefer sweet things and hoision sauce is definitely sweet.

Picture from: http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/asian-noodle-recipes-00400000039678/page10.html

Breakfast Casserole with Turkey Bacon

2010-05-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

This recipe intrigued me the minute I found it. Not only does it contain some of my favorite breakfast foods, but it is healthy! I normally don't eat heavy breakfasts unless I go out to eat or it is a brunch. But once again this was up in Hood River when my mission was to make sure my grandparents were well fed, so here it is:)

Serves 4 (it's deceiving)
Adapted from Cooking Light

The Ingredients
6 turkey bacon slices
1 cup red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (30 ounce) package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10ish ounce) can of condensed 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
Cooking spray

The Process
1. Spray cooking oil in large skillet and turn to medium heat, add turkey bacon and cook till crisp. Take turkey bacon out of pan and set aside.

2. In same pan add red onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. (Add more cooking spray when needed throughout cooking process).

3. Then add potatoes to skillet and cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Preheat oven to 350F, and spray 11 x 7 cooking dish with cooking oil.

5. In a big bowl combine crumbled turkey bacon, 1/2 cup sharp cheese, green onions, sour cream, salt, pepper, and soup and mix well.

6. When potatoes are done add them to large bowl with mixture from above, mix well but gingerly.

7. Put potato mixture into cooking dish and sprinkle the last 1/2 cup sharp cheese over the top.

8. Cover dish with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake for another 30 minutes until slightly crispy and brown on top.

It was really really tasty! Not to mention it kept me going all morning. Here are some nutritional facts:
Calories:293, Fat:10g, Sat Fat:4.8g, Carbs:41g, Protein:12.2g, Fiber:4.7g
So you can see for such a delicious breakfast casserole it is pretty darn healthy

Picture from: http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/five-star-casseroles-00400000039138/page7.html