Thursday, April 18, 2013

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

Friday, April 12, 2013

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


Monday, April 8, 2013

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

Friday, March 29, 2013

haven't really cooked too much this week

So, I've not had a ton of time to cook this week.
But, I have made mac and cheese a good amount over the last few weeks so I figured I would post a recipe of how I make mine.
It's going to be estimates because I really don't measure very often! :)

Baked Chedder Macaroni and Cheese

2 tablespoons of butter
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/8-1/4 cup of cornstarch
2 cups of shredded chedder cheese (I find that a mix of sharp and mild tastes best)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of macaroni noodles (2 cups before cooked, makes more than 2 cups cooked)
1 cup of bread crumbs (I use panko)

First, start to boil water for macaroni in medium to large pot (large enough to accomidate for noodles)
Preheat oven to 350
Next, melt butter in medium size sauce pan on medium heat.
Add cornstarch to melted butter; use whisk to incorporate.
Add milk; heat for about 2 minutes.
Add cheese; melt into milk.
Turn heat up just a bit for a few minutes so the cornstarch thickens the mixture. Stir.
Cook pasta. Drain.
Add cheese mixture to pasta pan. Mix until incorporated.
Add cheese and noodle mixture to baking pan large enough to hold-I use 9"x13"
Cover noodles with bread crumbs.
Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until browned.

Ta DA!

This is a tried and true recipe so I know it's good :)


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

beef stew with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms

On Sunday I decided it would be a good idea if I made a large amount of something to last Jesse and I at least a few days into the week for lunch.

I decided I would make beef stew because I make it pretty often and we both love it.

I've made a "Country French Beef Stew" before that I had found in a slow cooker magazine. It calls for sundried tomatoes and red wine.

Halfway through making it, I realize that I didn't have any red cooking wine! Being the thrifty/semi-creative cooker that I am, I decided to use white cooking wine instead.

I used sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes I added crushed tomatoes and mushrooms as well.

I pretty much, as usual, made it my own.

Beef Stew with Sundried Tomatoes and Mushrooms

2 pounds of beef, cubed (I usually use a roast or whatever is cheapest :) )
2 large carrots, or about 4 smaller ones
1 1/2 sweet potatoes
2 medium onions (or 1 large, 3 small or less if you're not a huge fan.. we are!)
1-2 cups of mushrooms
1/8 cup of cornstarch, possibly a tad more
2 beef bouillons
a tablespoon or so of gravy master (not necessary but does add a dash of flavor and color, could add a dash of Worcestershire sauce instead)
1 cup of sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups of crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup of white wine (or red.. at this point I know I like red better)
garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste
a couple of swirls of olive oil (for bottom of crock)
enough water to cover all ingredients but not much more than that

add all ingredients into crock pot starting with olive oil and bouillons; sprinkle cornstarch along the way while adding other ingredients (so it's not all dumped in at once)

cook at high heat for about 4 hours (it seemed about done at 3 hours but the sweet potatoes were still a bit stiff)

I've gotta say that if I made this recipe again, I wouldn't add the crushed tomato and I would make sure that I had red wine and I would use that instead of the white. Reasons for these two things: the stew was very sweet. Adding some more salt definitely helps to counteract this. 

All and all it was alright. We're eating it cause I made it and we have a whole pot but I really do prefer more savory tastes!

Andddd I will leave you with this:

“I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.” 
― Oscar Wilde,  The Importance of Being Ernest


Monday, March 25, 2013

saturday's dinner/sunday's lunch

I cooked a good amount on Saturday since I really didn't have a lot else on my plate (haha, get it?).

for dinner, I made a pretty simple rotisserie chicken in our wonderful convection oven given to us by my mom and step dad a few Christmases back.

for the brine, I just used about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, about 2 cups of water along with various spices including garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and season all (ya, ya I cheated on that one).

I left that in the fridge for about 6 hours; turned in over about halfway through to make sure the brine got all of the chicken.

The chicken was about 4 lbs; nothing too crazy.

before putting it in the oven, I sprinkled it with more garlic powder and onion powder as well as a good amount of salt.

for some reason the convection oven didn't want to get quite up to 450 for me on the rotisserie setting so I had to cook it for about an hour on that, then about a half hour on the regular ol' convection setting at 450 as well.

the bird turned out pretty perfect! I wish I had kept it in just a tad longer so it would have been a bit more crispy but other than that it was great!

we had that with fresh steamed brussel sprouts that we had bought at a farm that day(mmhhhmmmm) and stuffing (yes, stuffing from a box; it was Bells at least. Jesse loves the stuff).

for lunch on Sunday I made a sort of creamy mushroom and chicken pasta. It was quite delicious and I did cheat a bit.

Creamy Mushroom and Chicken Pasta

about 3 tsp oil
about 1 pound of mushrooms (maybe a tad less, depending on how much you like them)
about 1/8 cup of corn starch (to thicken)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (here's where I cheat.. and it's really not even that necessary!)
1 cup of milk
about 1 pound of cooked chicken (I used leftover from the rotisserie from the night before)
1/2 pound cooked pasta (1/2 lb weight before cooking; so half of a normal bag/box); your choice of pasta (I used spiral macaroni shells)
semi-optional spices (you can kind of feel around for the ones you like best):
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 salt

Heat oil on medium heat.

Add mushrooms. cook until browned and somewhat soft.

Sprinkle mushrooms with cornstarch; follow with can of soup and milk. Stir until incorporated.

add chicken, pasta and spices until well mix.

serve!

*the salt is an added ingredient. I didn't use it on Sunday but I wish I had. the dish was just a tad bland! I definitely suggest adding it.

Good, hearty american meal. Not the healthiest but hey, it could be a LOT worse!

I will leave you with this wonderful quote by a pretty awe-inspiring woman chef:

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” 
― Julia Child




first post, first post

hello all (or no one),

I'm starting this blog because I was cooking over the weekend (big surprise there..) and I figured that I needed to start documenting my failures and successes.
They say that history repeats itself.
Well, if that history is a good recipe then I want it to repeat itself.
If it's a bad one, and trust me, I've made some semi-awful things, I would like them to stay history.

Here's to documenting my culinary exploits in the kitchen.

For starters, I made some really great muffins this weekend.
I guess I can call them "multi flour and grain muffins"
I found a recipe online for "multigrain muffins" online and made my own spin off of them.
Here's the recipe I used:

Multi flour and grain muffins

2/3 cup wheat flour

1/3 cup rye flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of molasses

1 egg, beaten

1 cup of buttermilk

1/8 cup of flaxseed
1/8-1/4 cup of nuts (your choice, I used pecans)
1/4 cup of mixed dried fruits (I used blueberries and cranberries)


preheat oven to 450. lightly grease muffin pan or use baking cups.


combine all dry ingredients, except for flaxseed, nuts and fruit, in medium size bowl.


next, add beaten egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil and molasses. stir until combine.


add rest of ingredients (flaxseed, nuts, dried fruits).


ladle into muffin tin. should yield about 5 large muffins or 8 smaller muffins.


bake at 450 degrees for about 15-17 minutes; 12-15 for smaller muffins.


cool and eat!



pictures to come soon.

I think I will end all of these posts with a quote about eating.

I do believe Jesse and I live well by this one!:

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." -Virginia Woolf