Posts with the tag 'recipe'
Another nasty day here in NYC. Matthew started the day cracking jokes about being back in Vancouver. I don’t really know what he was talking about though, cause every time I’m there its all sunny and beautiful.
So we aren’t leaving the house today. We’re cleaning out the office. The place becomes a dumping ground when we’re busy, and weeks of being away have made it unbearable.
I decided that we needed to make something simple and delicious for dinner since we’ll be in no mood to cook.
Enter: The Salad
First seen at Pizza night at Theresa’s. We devoured it.
The Salad is awesome. Its hearty enough to be a dinner salad while still being relatively lowfat and vegetarian. You can follow Martha’s recipe or just do the following
Cut up 2-3 beets (peel first, and make pieces thin/small)
2 carrots
1-2 red onions
toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast until soft
Cut up 1-2 heads of butter lettuce
Place roasted veggies on top
sprinkle with goat cheese
dress with balsamic and oil and salt and pepper to taste
We are planning on serving it as the first course for Thanksgiving. We have a few extra seats so let me know!
Tags: recipe
November 8th, 2008
My new found semi-vegetarianism has led us to a few new recipes. Something I really wanted to try was homemade pizza because well…it’s got pizza in the title.
The Inspiration: We followed the cast iron skillet method.
The Skinny: Instead of making our own dough (ha) we went down the street to Anthony’s and got some from them. Then we sauteed mushrooms and onions and, cut up some fresh mozz and other veggies and defrosted sauce from the freezer.
The Verdict: The pizza was amazing! Each pizza only takes 2 minutes to cook. The annoying part was that we didnt know how it would come out so we did one small piece at a time. This is NOT the method to use at your next pizza party. Its very sloooowwwww. You have to wait a few minutes between for the oven to get hot again, or the crust will not be right. We basically stood in the kitchen eating our salads while waiting for the skillet to heat up. Also - we did not need most of the toppings, we are happy with mushrooms and a lil onion.
The always important upskirt:
Perfection! It was totally worth it! I think Fridays are going to be homemade pizza night at our house.
Tags: pizza, recipe
October 14th, 2008
Since Matthew’s been gone I realized that I don’t really need to cook meat. Like ever. Once I got back from Florida I decided I’d try to eat as little meat as I possibly can for a few different reasons. One, I don’t really like it, Two, its expensive and Three, Its not that great for you. Can I go meatless? - Yes of course. Am I 100% ready to give up my Mom’s chicken soup or Matthew’s grandmas roast on occasion, not so much.
So I have been doing a bit of experimenting to see if I can get a few more vegetarian dinners into the repertoire.
Dinner #1: Lentil Barley Soup
I read about 15 recipes for Lentil Barley Soup before just going for it.
Its basically this:
2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 medium potatoes
8 cups of veggie stock (or chicken if you want. I used non-chicken broth)
3/4 cup barley, 3/4 cup lentils
Sautee the onion, celery and carrots until cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
I enjoyed the soup but will try this recipe again with the addition of spices. It was chock full of protein and really hearty. I just didn’t LOVE it.
Dinner #2: Vegetable Fried Rice
Holy crap the veggie rice was the best thing I have ever made on the first try. The. Best. Thing. Ever.
Vegetables
Rice
Shallots
Garlic
1 Egg
Cut up any veggies you want. I did 1 carrot, 1/2 a zucchini and 1/2 a broccoli because that is what was in the house. Throw them boiling water for 3 minutes.
Take 1 chopped shallot and 2 cloves of garlic, sliced into a pan with a tiny bit of vegetable oil
Add splash of soy sauce to color, after they’ve cooked a bit add the veggies and a little more soy sauce.
Move that whole mess to 1 side of the pan and add a scrambled up egg on the other side. Once that is cooked (30 seconds) chop it up and mix it in with the veggies
Dump 2 cups of cooked rice into the pan, add more soy sauce and stir it up.
Eat yummy deliciousness for dinner, then save the rest for lunch. It is that good.
Dinner #3: Veggie BLT and Salad
I wasn’t really in the mood to cook so I thought I’d just make a huge salad. At the store I came across soy bacon and bought a package to make fake BLTs.
I put the bread into the toaster and by the time it was ready so was the facon. I sliced up the yellow tomatoes I picked up at the far mar then made a big old salad to go with it. The entire meal took about 4 minutes to prepare and was very delicious, it totally hit the spot. Anyone who is scared of facon, get over it. You’ve be eating swine with no problem. Try the fake stuff, its different but tasty.
Tags: recipe
October 12th, 2008
Since I had a show in Miami last Thursday I decided to celebrate 5769 at my parents house in South Florida. While perusing the internets I came across this recipe for a homemade honey cake and was thinking maybe I’d make my first ever cake from scratch.
What’s that?
Oh. 32 in March, why do you ask?
Yes I have a kitchen.
Um, yes, of course I like cake.
I DO SO have self-respect!
My family just doesn’t really bake, we always have carvel cakes for birthdays. I just never got into it, I don’t know. Also, I dislike using machines and I foolishly thought you needed to use mixers and stuff to make a cake, likely because my husband is the family baker and he is way into gadgets.
Now I knew the cake was going to be good because besides all the rave reviews on Smitten I got a real life review from my friend Jessica who was on the Miami show with me. A fellow chosen person, we were chatting about family traditions for the holidays and I sent her the link to the cake. She made it Sunday and called me Monday morning on her way to work saying that it was delicious and smells amazing. Then she sent me an email to follow up. Seriously! They loved this cake!
We ALWAYS have honey cake on the holiday, but its ALWAYS packaged and dry and boring and tasteless so making a cake from scratch (!) seemed kind of exciting. Plus the recipe looked super easy and its all stuff we usually have on hand at my house.
The Honey Cake Experiment
Step 1 - Make sure we have all the ingredients.
We have none of the ingredients. Except the honey. We have tons of honey.
Off to Target to pick up a cake pan because we didn’t have that either. Mom and I decided on a bundt for fun and smartly I asked if she had measuring cups and spoons. Good thing.
Then I loaded up the cart at Publix with every single ingredient on the list. My mother was apalled that I put cinnamon in the cart because OF COURSE WE HAVE CINNAMON!
Once we had all of the exotic hard to find ingredients we were good to go.
Step 2 - Mix all the stuff in a bowl. With a whisk! You don’t need a fancy mixer for honey cake people!
Step 3- Put it in the oven and make your house smell like a yankee candle
Step 4 - take it out and make sure it doesn’t all stick to the top. Whoops.
I really don’t know what happened. It was a non-stick pan with PAM. I served it anyway of course, we are not a family of Martha Stewarts.
The reviews:
Mom - “It’s delicious! Really delicious!”
Dad - “Its delicious! But maybe too much cinnamon? But delicious!”
Grandma - “You MADE this cake?”
Poppy - “Why isn’t it a loaf? Cut me another slice”
Me - There was too much cinnamon. I didn’t love the bundt.
Thanks for the good times honey cake! See you in 5770!
Tags: recipe
October 3rd, 2008
Dudes, It has been so boring around here lately. I think the combination of Matthew being away and my intense workload has made it difficult for me to focus on doing anything fun. Yesterday I went to Stanton Social and then a movie with Ramona, then had dinner with my Aunt who is visiting from out of town, which was all awesome. Today I watched some Olympics and went for a big walk around the neighborhood but mostly, I just worry about work :(. All. The. Time.
I’m trying to arrange some me time for this week, because I feel like my life has become one humongous spreadsheet and its no good. I will be away almost the entire month of September for work and currently have every weekend planned until the 2nd weekend in November, and know how crazy that sounds. With all the work stress and having to deal with everything at home by myself (my kitty is high maintenance, people) I just cannot wait for September to be over and its barely mid-August. It just makes me sad.
In any case, bla bla pity party bla bla bla get some real problems, I decided to make one of my comfort food meals for dinner tonight.
The original recipe is called Beef Bulgogi and it’s from the Everyday Food Cookbook (mah personal food bible) and is meant to be a STEAK stir fry wrapped in LETTUCE, 2 ingredients I don’t even use in the recipe.
My version:
2 chicken cutlets
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot chili sesame oil
1 tablespoons dark brown sugar
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon finely ground fresh ginger
1-2 medium red onions, sliced thin
1-2 green pepper, sliced thin
oil as needed
In a small bowl combine soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic and ginger then toss chicken with half the marinade.
Place onions and peppers in a bowl and the rest of the marinade, let stand 15 mins
Cook onions and peppers over oil in skillet until softened
transfer to a plate, wipe the skillet out, re-oil and toss in the chicken until browned (2mins)
Add onion mixture, cook for another minute
I usually use my non-stick wok and hardly need any oil at all, I also swapped the beef out for chicken because I prefer it and cut back on the brown sugar from the original recipe. And ditched the lettuce, no thanks. Other than that my directions are the same. I like to cut my veggies a bit thinner so the cook more, and usually serve with brown rice.
Its really good, and super easy. I think I feel better already!
Tags: recipe
August 17th, 2008
My mom flew in Friday night which gave us the perfect opportunity to do something we’ve been meaning to do for a while - take a ride up to Tarrytown and visit the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
About a month ago we had dinner at the restaurant there, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and ooooooooh it was probably the best meal I have ever had. The menu is unique in a way that most of the food is produced on the farm and that instead of a set menu there is just a list of ingredients. You tell your server what you like and dislike and they work with the chef to craft a menu just for you. My menu was no game meats, organ meats or caviar. Matthew agreed to eat anything and everything. They did a really nice job giving us similar but not exactly the same meals, it was just awesome.
This is a photo of the Tisane service. They have a tea garden out back where they pick the herbs and then cut them at your table and make the tea right there. Our server also happened to tend the tea garden and sensing my intense enthusiasm (2 glasses of wine!) invited us out back to check it out but it was pouring. Maybe next time!
During the day they have a bunch of tours (pick your own eggs, anyone?) but us city folk were slightly more interested in the farm market, shop and cafe so thats where we headed.
The farm market is fairly small and a bit pricey but still pretty cool
We picked up the carrots and beets, salad greens, onion and garlic for dinner plans that night. We also got a jar of the fresh honey. Its the summer honey from the apiary they have at the farm and its delicious. Matthew has been eating toast and honey for breakfast everyday so its worth it. I hope there’s something left when he gets home…
After the market we cruised over to the cafe and had some lunch.
So that’s an open faced tuna sandwich, goat cheese and tomato sandwich, a veggie fritatta, and 2 plates of the salad bar thing which included roasted corn salad, tomato salad, some chic peas with broccoli stems that was…interesting and a farro salad. The 3 of us shared and it was all really, really fresh and tasty once you got over the broccoli stems. All that bounty for only $47. Wait, did you say $47. Hmm. That can’t be right. Well I did get the jar of pickles that are a bit pricey…Oh! Mom’s paying?!. Nevermind.
We stopped at the store on the way out. Although there was nothing I wanted at the moment I snapped a few shots of things to save for later, when I have room for them and stuff.
We headed home mid afternoon and picked up a chicken to roast for dinner. Here is the recipe Matthew’s been using for years:
Clean chicken and place in pan (he uses that one because its easier to make gravy)
1/2 green apple cut up
1/2 onion cut up
garlic
thyme
Salt and Pepper the chicken inside and out. Stuff the garlic, onion, apple, and half the thyme into the big chicken hole. Take the rest of the thyme and place it under the skin.
Make a mixture of paprika and olive oil and baste the chicken
Roast in oven at 350 until done (based on weight)
In the meantime: take all the odds and ends and throw it into a pot for gravy stock
Before
After
Gravy Makin
I put together a salad with the greens from the farm, a little goat cheese and beets that Matthew’s Aunt pickled herself (Thanks Auntie Jean!)
Dinner
Dessert? Spumoni. Adoy.
Tags: pretty things, recipe
August 13th, 2008
Won’t bore you with the details but we cancelled the stoop sale we were supposed to have this weekend due to crazy pouring rain and decided to do tons of home organization instead. It was time consuming but productive. Nothing like going through Matthew’s huge crate of cables and wires and putting them in tiny labeled ziplocs to make you feel better.
I also threw out every beauty product that was over a year old. I was shocked at how much went into the trash. Do this folks, it makes you feel sooooooo good. Unless you people are not like me and actually throw things away. “But one day I might need that tiny 4 year old sample of Angel for Men” whaaa? Yeah I am over that. Everything gets a teeny tiny box and that is it.
The good news is that we put more things aside for the stoop sale. The bad news is that home organization makes the house messy in the process. We did the only thing you can do to motivate yourself to finish cleaning your house when you have already been doing it for 2 days straight. Invited someone over for dinner.
Tim came, we had the somewhat mislabeled “Chicken in Wine” - thanks to Granny Fairclough for the original recipe we copied while in Vancouver. Matthew updated slightly and here you have it:
Chicken in wine (or chicken and mushrooms, or chicken in OJ)
2 packages cut up chicken (we used a mix of cutlets and thighs)
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can mushroom soup (we used Amy’s instead of campbells. Amy’s has alot less salt so we had to add a bit back for flavor)
8 oz chicken broth
½ cup orange juice
½ cup dry white wine (we used Gerwertztraminer)
4 julienned carrots
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
In the dutch oven, on the stovetop:
Shake chicken in seasoned flour and sautee in oil. Remove chicken then add mushrooms and sautee. Add OJ to deglaze the pan.
Combine remaining ingredients, add chicken and transfer to oven.
Cook for 1 hour at 350 in covered dutch oven.
You can also cook chicken and mushrooms in a pan then transfer all to a casserole if you do not own a dutch oven. Thats how Granny did it!
Apologies for the lack of quality photos but Matthew was in charge of this one and I only came running with the camera when I started smelling the deliciousness. It smells VERY good. Then as soon as I snapped these 2 the buzzer rang. Tim came in and I completely forgot what I was doing. If I took a less messy plated photo this would look a lot more appetizing but trust me! Its good!
Verdict: We served it with zucchini and boiled new potatoes. Next time we might try rice like Granny’s recipe called for. It makes a gravy and would be great in the winter with mashed potatoes. We will definitely add this to the rotation, especially when there is a bit of white wine left in the fridge. There were leftovers and I already called them.
Tags: recipe
August 4th, 2008
I never really liked to cook. Matthew seems to enjoy it for some reason so he became the dinner boss. Unfortunately el jefe now works late 3 nights a week so if there is any hope in me eating dinner before 10pm I have to make it myself. Ugh. I don’t really mind the cooking but I hate having to choose what to make. How do people do it every day? For years and years?
I started out really simple like…picking up a rotisserie chicken and making non-fancy sides (can of corn anyone!) I also made stir-frys and what I call 3 on a plate. You got your chicken/fish/meat, a veg side and rice side. Maybe some salad. Healthy? Yes. But nothing that includes a recipe. I got so bored of that I couldn’t stand it and forced myself to learn how to actually prepare something that required the chopping and measuring of food products. But no appliances. I have to put my foot down somewhere.
I now have a lovely rotation of about 15-20 dishes and like to try and make something new just about every week. Pork tenderloin with chutney is a favorite because its so quick but good chutney is expensive and has to be on the fruity side or its not quite right. While browsing the internet the other day I came across a recipe for Spicy Sweet Rhubarb Chutney and immediately thought “I can make that!” which doesn’t happen very often. It looked so easy and we love rhubarb over here. What do you mean its not naturally sweet?
The recipe could not be simpler:
1 lb rhubarb stalks, washed, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces (about 3 cups)
1 medium yellow peach, diced
1/2 cup dried sour cherries
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions:
Combine sugar, vinegar, ginger, garlic, cumin and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add rhubarb, peach, onion and dried cherries; increase heat to medium and cook until rhubarb is soft, about 5 minutes (B’s note: took alot longer than 5 minutes, just let it cook till it gets goopy). The mixture should be slightly thickened and chunky.
Its basically put stuff in a pot, add more stuff and stir. Right up my alley.
Now slather about half of that onto a pork loin:
Bake at 400 for about 20-25 min:
Open up a can of corn and call it done! Just kidding, I made it with rice pilaf and green beans.
The verdict: Just like out of a jar! but more work! It really wasn’t once everything was chopped and measured which will only take the normal chef about 5 minutes. It was pretty delicious and a complete success. Even an eye opener because I found out that I don’t really care for the cumin/cinnamon combo. It inspired me to make more chutney. You might like it! Matthew did.
Tags: recipe
July 30th, 2008
