November 2011
1 post
4 tags
Baked figs stuffed with walnuts!
This is a very nice and easy way to create a sort of fancy looking fig dessert. The recipe makes a lot of walnut paste too, so you can use it for other purposes. I made some muffins and mixed the paste in, and it was also delightful. This recipe comes from Mark Bittman’s Best Recipes in the World cookbook. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons butter: 1 chilled,...
August 2011
1 post
2 tags
Tomato Cobbler
This is a most excellent recipe, especially if you have a ton of tomatoes sitting around. It’s really easy to make, and ends up looking sort of fancy. The recipe comes to us from Marky Mark Bittman (naturally). Variation possibilities abound with this recipe; the original makes a plain topping, I added some scallions which was nice. Adding cheese or herbs to the topping would be awesome, or...
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
Smoky Chili!
Chili does not photograph well, but it sure is delicious. This recipe, involving smoked paprika, bacon, and fire-roasted tomatoes, does not disappoint. If you want the smoky flavor, do not substitute regular paprika. The smoked paprika is really something special. Serve with cornbread, rice, or whatever you like to have with your chili. The original recipe comes from Sunset Magazine. They...
May 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Collards & Bacon call it what you want!
The inspiration for this recipe comes from an article in Sunset magazine a while back on Tim Luym, former chef at Poleng (aka my backyard). He called it bacon and kale adobo; I say, call it what you want. Either way, it’s delicious. My version is made with collard greens and adds a few additional ingredients to make it into a main dish. I usually serve it with brown rice, but this could...
2 tags
Zucchini bread!
People, it is zucchini season. This fact lead me to have an abundance of zucchini in my fridge that needed to transform itself into meals as soon as possible. What to do with too much zucchini? Make zucchini bread of course! The only thing holding me back was grating it, but actually, zucchini is the perfect consistency for grating; kind of fun when you get into it. Anyways, enough of that, on...
April 2011
1 post
3 tags
Enchilada Casserole!
This dish sure does look a mess, but it really doesn’t matter. This magical deliciousness covered in melted cheese will be your new favorite dish, and it can feed a crowd! (Or you and one other person.) This can easily be made into more proper enchiladas, but this is the lazy version. Everything falls apart on your plate anyways, so why not have it start that way? This version is made with...
March 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Product shout out: Onion Goggles!
If you’re like me and chopping onions turns you into a teary, sniveling mess, purchase these onion goggles immediately, if not sooner! They work incredibly well. The onion smell hits your nose, but then, miraculously, nothing happens! You just keep chopping in a goggled state of bliss. Plus, you get to look super stylish while you cook. This is the best new piece of equipment my kitchen...
3 tags
Slowcooker meatballs in tomato-wine sauce
I thought I would finish up my little ode to the slow cooker with other favorite recipe from the Not your Mother’s…cookbook. This fairly basic meatballs and tomato sauce recipe is really excellent in the slow cooker. The meatballs are browned before hand, but allowed to cook for a good long time in the crock pot until they are ridiculously flavorful. This recipe only takes about 5-6...
Slow cooker pork with peanut sauce
Continuing with the slow cooker theme, here is one of my favorite recipes from the Not Your Mother’s cookbook mentioned last time. This method of cooking pork is super easy and versatile and delicious. The slow cooker has the wonderful effect of making everything get tender and just sort of fall apart. This recipe can be taken in any direction or made with any sauce you like.
a 1-2 pound...
Cookbook shout out!
I love my slow cooker. If I could get my act together, I would slow cook all the time. It fills the house with deliciousness and dinner can be ready right when you get home from work.
While the trend is changing, many slow cooker recipes are bland at best and kind of gross at worst (using tapioca pudding mix to thicken a stew? Not really what I want to be doing with my life). Not Your...
February 2011
3 posts
Fennel apple bisque
This was a nice, simple soup with good flavor. Pretty easy to put together too. The original recipe came from Sunset magazine, and I don’t think I strayed from the recipe too far.
1 large onion, chopped
a couple tablespoons of butter
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped (use some of the fronds for garnish if you’re fancy)
2 large apples, peeled and chopped (recipe said Fuji...
Basic muffins
This muffin recipe is the one my Grandma Betsy would always whip up in addition to dinner. I’m not sure where she got it, but it’s just a really simple recipe that can be taken in any direction. Possible additions include extra sugar and cinnamon for something sweeter, any kind of chopped nuts, seeds, fruit, chocolate chips, whatever you want in a muffin, this recipe can give it to...
Easiest salsa in the world
Sometimes a little salsa can make a boring dinner un-boring! (“Deboringify” a dinner? That doesn’t sound right.) Anyways, here’s a recipe to get you started. It can be taken in any direction you want, add fruit, jalapenos, corn, avocados, whatever!
Cut up some cherry tomatoes (as many as you want, there’s no trick to proportions here). Regular tomatoes work too,...
January 2011
1 post
If I haven't said it before, Mark Bittman is... →
Read his great article on why we should all cook more, and see the left-hand side for the three recipes he references. Keep an eye out for his Minimalist column in the New York Times for more recipe-inspiration, or take a look through some of his past articles for great reading.
December 2010
1 post
Most excellent cornbread
Cornbread is not too hard to make from scratch, and it’s one of those nice things where a lot of times the Jiffy mix tastes just as good as any homemade recipe you can come up with. But this recipe is really worth trying. It comes from Mark Bittman (big surprise there), but I have made some very slight changes.
1 and 1/4 cup buttermilk. I never have buttermilk around the house, so I use 1...
November 2010
2 posts
Cranberry sauce!
One of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce. I add cranberry sauce to just about everything on my plate, and then the next day I add it to all leftovers. Cranberries can really hold a sandwich together. I’m not picky about my cranberry sauce either; canned is fine with me. I prefer “whole berry” over “jellied” or whatever they call the one that...
Butternut Squash with mustard seeds and fried...
Well, I ate this too quickly to take a photo, but it was delightful (and looked pretty too! Stupid being too hungry to stop and take a photo!). It was also incredibly easy to put together. The hardest thing about this recipe, and all recipes involving butternut squash, is preparing the squash. Peeling and getting rid of the seeds and goo and chopping butternut squash can be a full-on workout for...
August 2010
1 post
Foolproof salmon
I like to eat a lot of salmon; it’s delicious and good for me and incredibly versatile. It tastes good basically by itself, in a buttery sauce, in a pesto sauce, teriyaki sauce, dipped in some mayonnaise. I’ll eat salmon any old way. And I find the most cost efficient way for me to do this (without some sort of Costco or other giant store membership) is to buy salmon at Trader...
July 2010
1 post
Not sure what to call this, but it sure is...
This recipe comes from a friend of mine that recently finished up his time in the Peace Corps in Cambodia. He wrote down the recipe by watching his host-mother prepare it, and then I went and made some changes to it, resulting in amazing deliciousness. This is basically a messed up version of the vermicelli noodle salad bowls that you can get at Vietnamese restaurants. It takes several steps to...
June 2010
1 post
Cauliflower Curry
I have been on a crazy curry kick lately. Every item in my refrigerator has been subject to intense scrutiny as to whether I can curry it or not. This cauliflower curry turned out particularly well. Based on Fragrant Cauliflower in Tomato Sauce from Food & Wine magazine, this curry takes a few detours but stays pretty true to the recipe.
several tablespoons butter or butter alternative
1 or...
April 2010
2 posts
Orange Avocado Salsa
This salsa recipe is originally from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food, and I really haven’t changed it much, or at all. You can find a photo and the original recipe here. I apparently can’t get my act together to take a photo these days. Anyways, here’s the delicious recipe, good on many things: chicken, white fish, pork, or just mixed in with rice or as a taco topping - go...
“No, seriously. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s chocolate-is-good-for-you...”
– What to do with the amazing amount of food studies that, thanks to the internet, are now at our fingertips? It seems like every day a new study comes out that says the exact opposite of the study that came out the day before. Studies, especially the this-is-healthy-this-is-not variety, are...
February 2010
2 posts
Baba Ghanoush (!!!)
Alright everybody, get ready for my favorite dip recipe. Again, there’s no picture for this recipe because the last time I made this, it was eaten within about ten minutes. No time for pictures when there’s eating to be done! I got the original recipe from the Black Dog Restaurant Cookbook, but I’ve made a few changes.
1 medium to large eggplant
2-3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
...
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
As I have mentioned before, the Silver Palate cookbook is usually way too high maintenance for me to bother with their recipes. However, every once in a while you stumble upon a recipe of theirs that is delightful and delicious and not too much work. Their recipe for curried butternut squash soup is not the easiest, but it’s certainly not the hardest. And the soup is so yummy that it’s...
January 2010
3 posts
Healthy Fats!
Not only do these items make your food delicious, but they make it healthier as well! Talk about a win-win situation.
If you don’t currently get your Omega-3 fatty acids on a regular basis, find a way to start. Omega-3s have been linked to heart health, relief for arthritis pain, and basically help for just about everything. A recent study even found that Omega-3 may actually slow down...
Polenta Pie!
Get ready for some more deliciousness courtesy of the Moosewood Cookbook! This recipe is not exactly high maintenance, but it’s not really low maintenance either. Once you get the hang of the steps, however, it becomes pretty easy, and the variation possibilities are basically endless - my kind of recipe! (You can read the original recipe here, or you can follow my interpretation below.)
...
December 2009
1 post
November 2009
2 posts
October 2009
4 posts
September 2009
7 posts
More information and debate about the Smart... →
Click through for more back and forth about this Smart Choices green checkmark program. This time it’s slightly less depressing because it’s a video including Mark Bittman kicking ass and taking names (and looking quite svelte I might add). The video is informative about how the program came to be and what the proposed benefits are. Also, is it just me or are the Nightline...
“Froot Loops is an excellent source of many essential vitamins and minerals and...”
– Sigh. This article is so depressing to me for so many reasons. I think part of what is so sad is that I can’t even decide if the whole program is a terrible idea or not. Obviously, there are huge giant problems with something like this: it’s a waste of money that could be used to promote...
"World's Healthiest" food #1 that I like: Quinoa
I put “World’s Healthiest” in quotes because the lists that come out occasionally are always changing. One day milk is good for you, one day it’s bad, blah blah blah. So I don’t really put too much stock in them. I REALLY don’t put any stock in the “World’s Worst” lists because a) it’s no surprise that eating a stack of pancakes with...
August 2009
8 posts
Oh joy of joys! →
Marky-Mark Bittman (swoon!) has devoted his weekly Minimalist column to one of the world’s most perfect foods: peanut butter. Click through for the delightful article and video with great ideas for using pb in new and exciting ways. And in the same spirit, here is the recipe for my favorite peanut sauce (fantastic on stir fries). Not sure where the recipe originally came from, but either my...
Gigantes! or Lima Bean Casserole for those of you...
I made this dish the other night. It’s an excellent dish to make on a Sunday afternoon and eat all week for lunches. It holds up well for several days, and reheats well too. (I made the mistake of trying to cook it on a Tuesday evening when I’m already pretty hungry, and then had to wait another 2+ hours for dinner, but that’s beside the point.) I took a bunch of photos to share...