What a week here in the boston area..

From a person who worked right around from copley for a total of 6 out of my 25 years of life, I really felt what happened at the marathon this week.

That being said, I don't want to even type about it anymore.

It's so exhausting thinking about the actual event, about how I and everyone around me feels about it and about how people in other countries (i.e. Afghanistan) cope with bombings that happen almost daily/a few times a week.

This week in general has been long and exhausting.

Was out the last 2 nights (last night until 1 am.. Jesse's cousin's band was in town and they're one of our favs sooo we had to go..) and I really just want to be home in bed.

Therefore, I won't be cooking tonight... but that doesn't matter because we have plenty of food already cooked in the fridge!

I made a whole roasted chicken on Monday evening (partially to get my mind off of things) and a pork shoulder in the crock pot all Monday night.

I won't include recipes because seriously, they're just way too easy to make, but I will include spices.

For the chicken, I used season all, garlic powder and onion powder as well as a bit of extra salt. I roasted that at 350 degree covered with aluminum foil and 2/4 chicken stock at the bottom of my roasting pan for about 1 hour 15 minutes (6 lb chicken) and then on 450 for 15 minutes to get it crispy.

It turned out to be absolutely delicious!

Next, I made a whole pork shoulder in my crock pot.

I used garlic powder, onion powder, a good amount of salt, white pepper, cumin and a dash of cinnamon for the shoulder. I put about a cup of chicken broth at the bottom of the crock along with some olive oil and I left the shoulder in the crock pot on high for a few hours then on low for about 8.

It came out extremely moist and really tasty! Seriously, great.

Sorry for such a boring entry but I want to have one at least every week!

On a quick side note.. Jesse has been making AWESOME bread with his spent beer grains.. and I mean awesome. it is amazing! so, with that, I leave you this:

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” 
-James Beard

Another lazy week in the cooking department

Hey everyone.

I had another semi-lazy week in the cooking department.

I feel like things will be this way until the wedding happens and we have a break from life (honeymoon)

Well, I made easy things this week.

Like a boxed taco kit that was disgusting.

And wheat pasta with homemade quick tomato sauce (1 can of tomato sauce, 1/2 can tomato paste, garlic powder, paprika, italian herbs.. that's about it) with cut up italian turkey sausages last night.

But I did make chili over night Sunday to Monday for lunch for Jesse and I for the week.

It's extremely easy and the ingredients can really vary due to your taste buds :)

Easy and Tasty Crock Pot Chili

2 pounds of hamburger, on the leaner side (I didn't drain it, cooked it right in the pot)
1/4 bacon, cut up and sauteed a bit
4 (leftover) turkey sausages (optional) cut up (cooked or uncooked is fine)
2 carrots, chopped
1 can of beans-your choice, I used black beans, rinsed
1 onion, medium sized, chopped
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
spices to your liking (I don't really measure.. sorry about that!): cayenne pepper, paprika, cajun seasoning, mexican chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper

Place uncooked hamburger in bottom of crock pot.
Add bacon and turkey sausage (if using)
Add all other ingredients into crock pot.
Stir but don't have to stir too much.
Cook on low all night or on high for about 4 hours.
Serve!

It was, as my chili always is, delicious. Normally I would use more veggies etc (like mushrooms, more beans, squash) but the really great thing about chili is that you can use what you have!

And, once again, I'll leave you with a nice quote on cooking/food:

“In normal life, "simplicity" is synonymous with "easy to do," but when a chef uses the word, it means "takes a lifetime to learn.” -Bill Buford

roasting of a duck

Hi everyone,

It's been a few days.

I was a little off with my cooking last week so I caught up a bit over the weekend.

I pretty much made a kind of sloppy dinner Saturday; Jesse and I both worked a lot this weekend in the yard etc.

Well, he worked more (as usual).

I gutted our front yard this weekend; getting rid of the ugly red mulch that was there! yuck!

I'm going to be putting in grass and flowers.

nothing that organized. I really want it to look natural :)

Anyways, dinner on Saturday night consisted of chopped up turkey sausages in brown rice with sauteed onions, steamed cauliflower, crushed tomato, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. It was pretty good. Not excellent but it did make for a better lunch the next day :)

Sunday night, I was exhausted after working in the yard a good portion of the day and cleaning parts of the house etc but I had a duck to roast.

I found a recipe online from Saveur magazine but it was very complicated (http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Chinese-Roast-Duck)and my day was too long for complicated.

So, I made lazy roasted duck. That's what I'm going to call it at least.

I really didn't measure anything so all measurements are approx.

Lazy Roasted Duck

1 4lb duck (can be smaller or larger, just need to adjust cooking time)
roughly 1 tablespoon salt, possibly a bit less

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tsp chili bean paste
a good sprinkle of powdered ginger
1 tsp of garlic powder
pepper to taste
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove duck innards and extra skin at neck

Rub duck with salt (rub inside cavity as well)

Tie legs and arms in towards the body with bakers twine

Place about 1/2-3/4 cup of water at bottom of roasting pan

Roast duck for about 1 hour

Baste with liquid mixture

Roast duck for another hour to and hour and a quarter at 400 degrees

This duck turned out really tasty!

It was really moist; maybe too moist?

I don't know how that's even a thing but it was really super duper moist.

The flavor was good but I'd like to put more time into next time so that the flavors are a bit more boosted.

Maybe I'll brine it next time and roast it at a higher temp so that it is more crispy.

I'l probably actually do it in the rotisserie :)

And with that, I will leave you with this:

“I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and say to myself "well, that's not going to happen” 
― Rita Rudner