July 18, 2012 – Pizza w/Chicken, Olives, and Summer Squash

Apparently I have a death wish and it’s to roast myself alive in my kitchen.  Today I rediscovered that if I don’t eat a protein at lunch, then I will double snack attack in the afternoon.  Then come home, where it is sweltering, and proceed to nourish myself on freeze pops before deciding that I should really work on using the cookbooks I own, and make a meal from a real recipe once a month.  Then I decided to bake chicken and make a pizza.

Pizza – from my brain and the Better Homes and Gardens Cook book

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup diced summer squash – check
• ¼ cup olives from can and brine – check
• 1 cup grated smoked cheddar (preferably from the Amish who are really good at cheese and fudge) – check 
• 1 ½ cups Flour – check
• 1 tbs Olive oil – check
• 1/4 tsp Salt – check
• ½ cup Warm water – check
• 1 1/8 Yeast – check
• 1 Baked chicken thigh, cubed – check
• ½ cup Pasta sauce from a can – check
• Oregano – check
• Red pepper flakes – check

Step 0: Put the chicken in the oven to bake at 400F.

Step 1: Make the dough following the recipe in Better Homes and Garden’s Cook Book…it involves basically mixing the flour, olive oil, salt, yeast, and water until you have a dough.  Do this.  Set aside to rise in a cool place (if you can find one in the inferno you live in).

Step 2: Dice the summer squash and put into a bowl, add the olives and brine, put in the fridge. 

Step 3: Put the sauce in a bowl, mix with as much oregano as you so desire.  Put in the fridge. Wait calmly as every Italian you know becomes disgusted with your cooking abilities.  Remind yourself that economizing is good and resolve to make your own pasta sauce someday. 

Step 4: Grate the cheddar, all of the cheddar.  It is Cow Appreciation Day after all. Put in the fridge.

Step 5: Take the chicken out of the oven.  Allow to cool then slice into chunks of awesome.

Step 6: Get your dough and roll it out on your pizza stone. Top the dough with sauce, then cheese, then the veggies, then the chicken, followed by sprinkling the red pepper flakes to your heart’s content, then top it off with the cheese. Bake at 425F for 25-30min.  Allow to cool 5 min before serving.

My first impression as I took this out of the oven was…that cheese looks awful crispy. I maybe let it cook too long being distracted by the unknown.  Boy was I wrong.  I’m not sure which particular ingredient made this pizza so awesome. It might have been the pizza part.  Mostly I think it was the cheese part.  All in all, even though I have never had olives on a pizza before, or summer squash, it tasted like something I can’t wait to eat again for lunch tomorrow.

This foodsperiment gets a +7 for taste, +5 for relative health value, +5 for Cow Appreciation Day, +5 for not completely melting, +5 for an easy cleanup, +5 for lunch tomorrow! Happy Sperimenting!

Chicken, Olive, and Summer Squash Pizza - pizza may be more delicious than it appears

July 17, 2012 – Raspberry Gazpacho

Here comes another heat wave.  I don’t particularly mind the heat wave other than I couldn’t really think on my walk home today.  Instead of hanging out with the lovely KP and company, I decided to be economical and wait to spend any more money until payday and make some Gazpacho so my kitchen wouldn’t cook me alive.  If I’m being perfectly honest, I had planned to make some Gazpacho this week for lunches, but hadn’t gotten to the task yet as I’ve been busy reading (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).  I decided to try a few new things in this Gazpacho, mainly to use Raspberries as the fruit (I’m pretty sure I don’t like non-fruit Gazpachos, but that has yet to be proven) and to use Kale instead of the traditional Romaine.

Raspberry Gazpacho – from my brain

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raspberries – check
• 3 handfuls Kale – check
• 1 small cucumber – check
• 1 heirloom tomato – check
• Garlic Salt – check
• Lime juice – check
• Cilantro – check
• Apple Cider Vinegar – check
• Balsamic Vinegar – check

Step 1: Cut the tomato into respectable chunks, taking out the seeds.  Place them into your favorite metal bowl of mixing awesome.

Step 2: Realize your garlic is no longer good, curse you warm weather, and decide to use your garlic salt instead

Step 3: Cut your cucumber into reasonable chunks, add to the bowl.

Step 4: Rinse your Kale, then add to the bowl.

Step 6: Add the raspberries to the bowl and mix.

Step 7: Add a healthy dose, roughly 1 tbs, of the apple cider vinegar to the bowl and stir. Add a splash of balsamic too, stir.

Step 8: Add your ingredients to your Cuisinart mixer, slowly so as to not encourage spilling.  Add a dash of lime juice and garlic salt.  Blend.

Step 9: Wish that you had a real blender, because let’s be honest this has been a gazpacho heavy summer with no end in sight and the whole "scooping out and adding in" is getting a little lame.

Step 10: When all the blended ‘zpacho has been added back to the metal bowl of awesome, add in your cilantro (because you forgot before, about 1 tsp), and continue to add garlic salt to taste.

Not all Gazpacho are created equal.  This Gazpacho is more tart than my others have been, and I think it has to do with two big factors: 1. The use of Apple Cider Vinegar (the heat must have been getting to me when I decided to try that) and 2. The lack of Elephant Garlic, or perhaps simply garlic.  It’s not so much that I hated this gazpacho, or even that I totally disliked it. I just wasn’t in love with it.  It tasted closer to V8 than my gazpachos normally do, and because I used Kale instead of Romain, it doesn't look particularly appetizing either (although the nutritional punch is higher!)

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for not turning on the oven, +5 for nutritional value,+5 for really using mainly my brain, -5 for a lack of garlic, and -3 for looking really weird.  Happy Sperimenting!

(Photo NOT Included as the Gazpacho Yelled "PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M HIDEOUS")

July 13, 2012 – French Fries

Happy National French Fry Day!  In the tradition of this year, I spent the day contemplating how I was going to celebrate the holiday.  As today was Friday (the 13^th, which is terrifying for most people but my lucky number is 13 which means I feel awesome today) and we have summer hours at work, I promptly left the office around 12:30 and headed to the grocery store, or as I call it Reading Terminal Market.  This year I banned/modify banned the making of most starches in my kitchen, it was meant to only be for a month but I never restarted my weekly bread making sessions or my once a week pasta dishes and now I’ve extended the ban for the year, since it’s July and I’ve been not doing such things as baking bread or making pasta since January. I think I’ll stick it out through December (with some exceptions of course but in general…) Anyway, I haven’t had a potato in my apartment in a while.  I bought some Idaho Potatoes at the Market since those seem to be the ones Five Guys most often uses in their fries.

I’ve actually made oven fries before and I decided to use a recipe from my brain and see what happens.

French Fries – from my brain/the interwebs consultation

Ingredients:

• Two Idaho potatoes – check
• Salt – check
• Veg oil – check
• Old Bay – check

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400F.  Scrub the potatoes as you intend to keep the skin on because your boss man suggested the idea.

Step 2: Fill your favorite big metal bowl with cold water and some salt.

Step 3: Slice the potatoes into ½ inch thick slices and place into the bowl to sit for about 5-10 min.  This will seep some of the starch out of the potatoes which will make your fries a little crispier.

Step 4: Fill a Ziploc with the vegetable oil (just enough to coat the slices) and salt (to taste), place a handful of potato slices into the bag and shake.  Distribute evenly on a cookie pan covered with foil  (you’ll have an easy cleanup).

Step 5: Add some Old Bay to the Ziploc, place another handful of potato slices into the bag and shake.  Distribute evenly onto the cookie pan.

Step 6: Put the pan into the oven for 15 minutes, turn the slices, and place in another 15 minutes.  The fries should be squishy, if they’re not you did it wrong.  Or your oven cooks slower than mine.

Ok yes. They are good.  They are good. KP liked them. I liked them. I will eat them more tomorrow. Viva La Potato!

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for potato goodness (they didn't call me the Potato Queen growing up for nothing), +5 for Old Bay, +5 for easy cleanup, and +5 for friendships with KP! Happy Sperimenting!

Oven Fries - Old Bay on the Left, Regular on the Right

July 5, 2012 – Cherry Gazpacho

It. Is. Hot. In. Philadelphia.   After a wonderful 4^th of July which was only slightly marred by work (quarter ends…the bane of accountants everywhere) July 5^th was a long day.  I walked out of work to discover that the world had become an inferno in…it’s been that way for days.   During my brief spells of brain shake out at the office (that time when you let your mind wander to pressing issues such as how many chores you want to get done when you get home because it is unAmericanly hot out and most friends are out of town because there is a beach somewhere) I contemplated not only how much I wanted my new mattress topper to be at my apartment upon my return and how I was going to launder my sheets so they are nice for the new mattress topper…but I also was thinking about what I had in my fridge to cook with. 

In this infernal heat, and in my delightful apartment that only has air conditioning in my bedroom, cooking has come to mean “what can I throw together that involves no heat” so I had a vague plan for gazpacho.  I looked up a few recipes to compare and contrast to see what I had/would want to use/would like and decided that with the epically delicious cherries I’d impulse bought on Monday (sorry I’m 100% not sorry)  I’d make…

Cherry Gazpacho – from my brain

Ingredients (all portions are estimates):

• ½ clove elephant garlic – check
• 2-3 stalks of celery – check
• ½ large cucumber – check
• 1 heirloom tomato – check
• 1-1   ½ cup cherries, halved – check
• Some onion (not enough to be overpowering, about a quarter inch slice of a medium onion) – check
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar – check
• 1 tsp lemon juice – check
• Salt and pepper to taste – check
• ½ tsp frozen cilantro – check

Step 1: Cut all of the fruits and veggies up into sizable chunks, peel all those that need peeling, and be sure to seed the tomato.  I don’t know why you do that, but the Watermelon Gazpacho recipe I use says to do it so  I keep with that trend seeing as I know I like Watermelon Gazpacho.

Step 2: Toss all your fruits and veggies in a bowl, the perfect kind of bowl is that bowl I inherited from my Teta, I hope you have a metal one of these too.  Add balsamic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and cilantro. Toss.

Step 3: Slowly add the ingredients to your Cuisinart, and blend.  Now remember folks, that your average Cuisinart (my amazing 9 cup…12 cup?...many cups Cuisinart food processor) doesn’t allow you to fill it up too much with liquidy creations because it gets angry and spills all over the place, so scope out some blended  gazpacho and add some ingredients... make it work.  I bet if you had a real blender then THAT might work better and quicker.

Step 4: Put the whole gazpacho back into your mixing bowl and stir, put the bowl in the fridge while you clean up.

Step 5: When you’re almost done cleaning, put a serving bowl in the freezer, when you have finished cleaning then serve yourself in that bowl, put the rest of the gazpacho into containers for lunches. Or your friends, like Mai who may get to try some tomorrow.

DAMN I AM A GOOD GAZPACHO MAKER.  Actually, to be fair I’ve only ever eaten gazpacho that I’ve made, but I swear it’s perfect...ly lovely.  This Cherry Gazpacho is tarter than the Watermelon Gazpacho, but I like that.  I am totally digging the hints of spices and the punch every once in a while of the garlic.  Pretty sure a vampire will never get me.  The best part is, the gazpacho cooled me down while I made Five Layer Bars (seen here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Five-Layer-Bars-367589) for Graham Cracker Day today, to bring to the office tomorrow (and save as treats for friends).

This speriment gets a +5 for cooling me down, +5 for very easy setup and cleanup, +18 for flavor, +10 for health, +6 for my new mattress topper and laundered sheets, and +7 for Five Layer Bars!  Happy Sperimenting!

Cherry Gazpacho!

Five-Layer Bars!

July 3, 2012 – Olive and Blueberry Chicken Surprises

The truth of the matter is, I should not be allowed to spend more than a day outside the company of real people (note: while I enjoy my co-workers immensely they do not in this function qualify as real people).  Last night was my first night of “freedom” after a week of rehearsals and shows at Longwood Gardens, (The Mikado, so Asian) and the first time I’d been alone in my apartment for more than five minutes (other than sleep) in two weeks.  I spent the entire 4 hours before bed putting away groceries, cutting up said groceries into respective “for lunch” items, making some chicken, and doing copious amounts of laundry.  Then I fell into bed completely exhausted and unable to sleep…adorable.

During the marathon of “doing everything in the world I haven’t done in two plus weeks” I made part of a foodsperiment that I fully intended to eat for dinner tonight.  I threw a salted chicken thigh (yes, I am officially obsessed with chicken thighs) into the oven at 325F covered with blueberries, apple pieces, and some nectarine bits.  I left it in there while I was folding my last load of laundry, roughly 20 minutes, and threw the handy-dandy top onto the ceramic thing and threw it into the fridge.

Today when I got home after a day at the office that made me mostly wish I drank more wine…by myself…in my apartment…except that would make me feel total skeevy and sad and alone and like I’m about to adopt sixteen cats and a frog.  Anyway! I decided it was too hot to do anything and did a lot of rooting around in the kitchen for things other than my pre-determined meal because it sounded outlandishly non-delicious to me.  Instead after I’d had my appetizers of goat cheese and garlic/parm pita chips, and a bowl of delicious cherries, I decided it was time to experiment for serious using my “too hot to make my brain work and woops I went to the store without an actual list and I came out of there with a bunch of stuff that might not seem like it would go well together but it was on sale so I bought it” ingredients for a true foodsperiment.

Olive and Blueberry Chicken Surprises – from my brain

Ingredients:

• Cooked chicken thigh and fruits (see above) – check
• Tiny can of black olives, presliced – check
• Olive oil – check
• Half a clove elephant garlic – check

Step 1: Peel, smash, and slice the half clove of elephant garlic, which is a little sweeter than other garlics and generally awesome for gazpachos. 

Step 2: Heat a dash of olive oil and about half the olive brine (I’m not sure that’s the right term) in a medium skillet.

Step 3: Add the garlic and allow to heat 1-2 minutes.  Then add the olives. Cook for 2 minutes.

Step 4: Add the fruit from the chicken dish that looks totally unappetizing.  Cook with the rest for another 2 minutes.

Step 5: Add the chicken to the dish and watch the brine and olive oil burn off.  Realize that’s 100% not what you want and throw into the pan about a ½ cup of water.  Cook, stiring occasionally and flip the chicken thigh. 

Step 6: Plate and eat this meal even though it doesn’t look all that great.

What a pleasant half-surprise!  I’m guessing I can hold off on the sixteen cats for a few more years, but this dish is not something I would ever serve to my mother…come to think of it I’ve actually never made a meal for my mother…it was mostly olives, which are delicious, but I think I would add more fruit next time.  The sauce actually was the best part.  I mean I ate the thing, it was pretty good. It had too many olives. I officially could never be a hermit.  Then I watched Crazy Stupid Love, because I’ve never seen it and Ryan Gosling is beautiful.

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for being seriously random, +5 for Ryan Gosling (whatever, I said it), +5 for being very healthy, and +5 for knowing that I can still cook after all this time.  Happy Sperimenting!

June 13, 2012 – Chicken and Lima Bean Stir Fry

CURSE YOU LIMA BEANS I WANT TO EAT OTHER THINGS NOW!!!  As no doubt you may have gathered despite my regard, or rather dis-regard, for Baby Lima Beans at the moment, I still love Asian food and most especially the stir fry.  What other dish could provide you with protein and Asian-ness at the same time?  Scratch that, there’s a lot of things...but stir fry is easy.  It’s easy and it’s quick and when we’re in summer hours at work so I’m not getting home until 7pm (at the earliest!)  stir fry is a good fix.  Plus I hoped that it would mask the baby lima beans (it didn’t).

Chicken and Lima Bean Stir Fry – from my brain and needing to use up the chicken and stir fry in my fridge

Ingredients:

• Two portions of chicken thighs – check
• Half a cup of lima beans or more – check
• Sliced orange peppers (roughly 1/4^th of a cup) – check
• Sliced cucumbers – check
• Veg oil – check
• Sesame seeds – check
• Two packets of Soy Sauce – check
• One tbs Rice Wine Vinegar – check
• One tbs Terriyaki Sauce – check

Step 1: Cube the chicken thighs into even-ish pieces.  Slice cucumbers and orange peppers into thin slivers (about the size of crunchy Asian yummies).

Step 2: Heat a tablespoon or so of oil and sesame seeds in a medium large skillet or saucepan. 

Step 3: Throw the chicken cubes into the saucepan.  Add the Rice Wine Vinegar, Terriyaki Sauce, and Soy Sauce to the pan and mix.  Allow to cook for a minute or so.

Step 4: Throw in all the veggies and beans.  Mix well without letting any of them escape their personal caldron of doom…I mean the saucepan. Allow to simmer 10-15 minutes while you clean dishes etc, or basically until it is cooked. 

Step 5: Cool and serve.

I have two-ish things to say about this dish.  The first is that I love Asian food and let’s face it, stir fry of any variety is the easiest thing to make.  Especially my stir fry which is always a decision of “well which sauces should I use, and what meat and veggies will I throw in?”  Second, I think I hate Lima Beans right now.  Too much of a food you’re not particularly fond of to begin with is WAY TOO MUCH of that food. Next time, no Lima Beans. Luckily I made enough to eat some for lunch, and also luckily I was done in time to eat, do the dishes, do my hanging laundry, and meet the lovely Ang for some vino and cheese.  This foodsperiment gets a +5 for taste, + for Asian, -4 for Lima Beans, +8 for lunch tomorrow, +5 for vino with Ang!  Happy Sperimenting!

Chicken and Lima Bean Stir-Fry...I am in a fight with Lima Beans

June 10, 2012 – Baby Lima Bean Hummus

In my attempt to expand my palate and my cooking skills, I decided to start making beans.  Beans have never been something I’ve been particularly fond of so this felt like a huge step for me.  It was this palate expansion that prompted me to buy some Baby Lima Beans, and it was my lack of experience which prompted me to make an entire bag of Baby Lima Beans in one sitting.  Needless to say that’s a whole lot of Lima Beans.  After trying to down as many as possible during lunches, I decided to speriment a little.

I figured that hummus is made from chickpeas, and chickpeas are kind of a bean right?  Google says they are anyway.  With that in mind I figured I could make a hummus from Baby Liima Beans.

Baby Lima Bean Hummus – from my brain and accidentally way too many baby lima beans.

Ingredients (all proportions are completely a guess):

• 1 ½ cups of lima beans – check
• ½ cup of water – check
• Salt – check
• Garlic salt – check
• Lemon juice – check
• Red pepper flakes – check

Step 1: Put the baby lima beans in a small food processor and pulse until you realize that you’re going to need water to get them to grind to a fine paste.

Step 2: Add water to the lima beans and continue to pulse until there’s a reasonable paste.  I imagine that if you pulse for long enough it will become a fine paste, or if your lima beans are well cooked, or if you add enough liquid but any way mine didn’t work quite like that.

Step 3: Add some salt, red pepper flakes, and garlic salt to taste.  Pulse together.  Taste test, and add more water/garlic salt/etc at your discretion.  Add lemon juice also at your discretion.

Step 4: Serve with Pita Chips or something else of the cracker nature.

I seriously need more patience.  If I could have waited until the paste was fully pasty instead of being a little more chewy, it would have been better.  I loved that it was a little spicy but there was something slightly off. Regardless, I ate it, and so did the lunch crowd at work who enjoyed it.

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for using up ingredients, +5 for innovation, +3 for taste, -3 for my lack of patience.  Happy Sperimenting!

Baby Lima Bean Hummus and Pita Chips

February 29, 2012 - Fried Ricotta Avocados

It’s a LEAP DAY MIRACLE! Leap Day Williams truly made magic happen tonight and made this leap day great.  It only comes along every four years, but leap day is a special day when anything can happen and if something goes wrong it doesn’t count.  I got the opportunity to host my delightful cousin KT, we planned to watch The Voice and do mostly nothing but sit and hang out, chat, or not chat, etc etc.  The awesome thing about having KT around is that she’s a food science major, which means she knows a lot more about cooking than I do, and also means that her nerdy food science major friends talk with her about food all the time, which is basically a foodsperiment waiting to happen.

KT had mostly eaten when she came over, but I pulled out my leftover Turnip Surprise, some sunflower seeds, and an avocado, she was happy to at least try everything.   When I pulled out the avocado, KT did one of these things she does sometimes which is start to explain about a way one of her friends makes avocados even more amazing.  As avocados are one of the three A’s of Deliciousness, I’m always interested in a new way to enjoy it so….

Fried Ricotta Avocados – from KT’s food science major brain, and hands, and cooking skills

Ingredients:

• One Avocado – check
• Ricotta cheese – check

Step 1: Cut your avocado in half and take out the pit.  If you don’t know how to do this, we aren’t friends.  Also, look on youtube.

Step 2: Heat a small pan over medium heat.

Step 3: Put one half of the avocado, pit side down on the pan.  Allow to fry until browned (you can check it by picking it up, that skin is TOUGH.

Step 4: When your cousin, who’s doing the cooking, says “this is supposed to be even better with ricotta” say “I HAVE THAT”.  Dollop a  scoop of ricotta cheese into the pit hole, I don’t know if that’s the technical term but it is now, and place the avocado plus ricotta cut side down on the pan, fry until browned. 

Step 5: Repeat step 4 (dollop ricotta into pit hole and fry until browned) with the second side of the avocado.

Step 6: Consume.

Wowza.  No joke, I love my cousin.  Not only because she’s intelligent, and delightful, and knows food science kids…but those are among the reasons.  Anyway, this is a delightful snack!  KT and I agreed that it will be better when the avocados are a little riper, but this was awesome.  


This foodsperiment gets a +8 for taste, +5 for health, +5 for easy cleanup, +5 for cousintime, and +5 for a true Leap Day Miracle!  Happy Sperimenting!

Fried Ricotta Avocado

February 27, 2012 - Turnips Galore

After a true Monday at work and a stop at the grocery store due to a weekend away from home celebrating my dear friend Kristy’s bridal shower, it was time to get to work on dinner.  I looked in my mostly bare fridge (don’t panic, it’s usually mostly bare, I prefer the freshest ingredients) and realized I still had turnips that I really needed to use.  I got down to the cooking using just my brains and some random ideas.  And also with the knowledge that I’d want to make some for a subsequent lunch.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F.

Pork Chop Packet  - from my brain

Step 2: Cut the top and bottom off of one turnip, wash the turnip thoroughly.  Slice and cut the turnip into bite size chunks, semi-cube like, as usual this is the best way to cut veggies.  Place in your 8 x 8 Pyrex that has been lined with foil.

Step 3: Place one of your “today’s purchase” pork chops in the Pyrex.

Step 4: Rinse the “today’s purchase” tomato and cut into small chunks.  Place as many chunks as will fit on top of the pork chop, the rest can go around the chop with the turnips.

Step 5: Peel, 5(ish) cloves of garlic and throw into the Pyrex. 

Step 6: Here’s the kicker, as a last minute decision totally twist together the foil, to make a little pouch for everything to cook together.  Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes and take out and consume.

Ok, so this one time I made a decision about being really simple in my dishes, and this one was good.  It was a little bit bland, I’d probably throw a little salt in there the next time but it was refreshing to have such a…fresh…dish!  I'd also have smashed the garlic the next time to allow the garlic flavor to better permeate the dish.  

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for taste, +8 for nutritious value, +5 for SUPER EASY cleanup and +5 for turnips!

Turnips a Naturale  - from my brain

Step 1: Peel and cut the the turnip in half.  Put half aside and cut the remaining half into cubed chunks. Put the chunks in your single serving casserole dish.

Step 2: Go ahead and throw some veggie oil on top and throw the whole thing into the oven for 30min (or more). 

Step 3: Take a little taste test before you allow to cool and then put on the handy dandy single serving casserole dish cover and put into the fridge to bring to work in the am!

This dish was also so simple, and it was ok.  I had an accidental fail in that the turnip chunks were not all the same size and so it cooked unevenly.  The well cooked ones were AMAZING but…that will teach me to be better at cutting. 

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for health, -2 for a few undercooked, +5 for using up ingredients before they go bad!  Happy Sperimenting!

Turnip Surprise  - from my brain

Step 1: Take the half turnip that you set aside, and cut into tiny chunks, very very small.  Place these chunks in your other single serving casserole dish. 

Step 2: Dollop 4 spoonfuls of cottage cheese into the casserole dish and mix it all around, do the hokey pokey too if you so prefer.

Step 3: Take the last known lemon in your fridge and zest the wonder out of it on top of your other informative deliciousness.

Step 4: Put in the oven about 15-20minutes or until the turnips are a little tender and things look a little awesome.  Try some once it’s cooled and realize that it’s going to be awesome when it’s cold.  Throw your handy dandy top onto the dish and throw it in the fridge to be enjoyed at a later date.

This foodsperiment was GREAT!  I was so full from the pork chop packet that I knew I’d have to enjoy it later.  This foodsperiment gets a +7 for taste, +5 for health factor, +5 for turnips, and +5 for protein!  Happy Sperimenting!

Pork Chop Packet (all other dishes not photo'd)

February 21, 2012 - Baked Asparagus and Citrus Scallops

On this Fat Tuesday, I read on twitter that Krispy Kreme was giving out free donuts.  It’s well documented how little will power I have so after work I traversed the two miles from my office to my nearest Krispy Kreme.  Due to my lack of will power, and justifying it with “this is Fat Tuesday, I can do what I want” I proceeded to stop and get a dinner on my way home.  Woops.  Knowing that I had some scallops thawed and some mango in the fridge, along with some asapargus, I decided I’d make sure to cook something I could take for lunch to make my “fasting” for Ash Wednesday a little easier. 

Unfortunately for me, when I pulled the mangoes out, they were moldy…seriously even with all my good intentions and desire to not overbuy, I apparently still can’t always win.  Anyway, I decided to use the only other fruit I had in my fridge and create something delicious.

Baked Asparagus – from my brain via the interwebs

Ingredients:

• Half a bushel of asparagus – check
• Cooking Oil (veg or olive oil) – check
• Salt – check
• Pepper – check
• Parmesan cheese – check
• Balsamic vinegar – check

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400F.  Wash and dry asparagus and cut off the yucky end of the asparagus (the tough part by the root).

Step 2: Drizzle a little bit of oil (preferably olive but if you’re still using up veg use that instead) onto the asparagus and roll them around until lightly coated.  Sprinkle some salt and peppa on the asparagi and similarly roll around so they are even. 

Step 3: Grate some Parmesan cheese over the asparagus and pop the whole thing in the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the asparagus smells fragrent.

Step 4: Take the asparagus out of the oven and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over.  Consume, or consume some for taste and then put the remaining in a container to eat for lunchables!

Citrus Scallops – from my brain

Ingredients:

• 1/8 lb bay scallops – check
• 1 small orange – check
• Salt – check
• Pepper – check
• Packet of soy sauce – check
• Balsamic vinegar – check

Step 1: Cut apart an orange, whatever you’ve got but preferably a blood orange.  Put the pieces in a pot and set on low heat.

Step 2: Add some scallops juice and allow to sort of simmer a little bit. Add a pinch of salt for good luck.

Step 3: Add the scallops and allow to simmer in juiciness.  Look around the kitchen realizing that you need to add something because just this isn’t going to cut it this time.  Find a packet of soy sauce and throw that into the pot.  Mix once, then cover and allow to simmer.

Step 4: Uncover the pot and taste a bit of the sauce.  Notice it totally needs something and determine that maybe it’s pepper.  Put in some pepper.  Mix, simmer, taste, it’s not pepper.  It needs a little more acid.  Put in some balsamic.  You’ll be eating these with the asparagus after all so tie it all together.  Mix, simmer, taste, it’s a win! 

Step 5: Allow sauce to reduce and the scallops to continue cooking.  You know they’re done when you squish them and are able to cut them easily with your super spatula.  Taste test one and realize it’s awesome.  Then allow to cool and put into a container to eat for “lunch” or part two of small meals for Ash Wednesday Fasting.

This tastes AMAZING!  I was almost depressed that I’d have to wait until lunch to really eat it but man oh man oh man what a win!  A true experiment.

For this foodsperiment +8 for taste, +5 for health benefits, +5 for lunch, +5 for easy cleanup, +5 for taste testing along the way! Happy Sperimenting!

Baked Asparagus (Citrus Scallops not pictured)

February 17, 2012 - Chicken and Veg Stir Fry

As usual, my hiatus from the blogosphere coincided with having a head cold, and more importantly many activities.  I had Galentine’s day (that’s Feb 13^th, the day you celebrate your gal pals) Dim Sum with my faboosh cousin KT, and then Valentine’s day spicy chickens and went to see The Artist also with KT, and then copious amounts of not wanting to cook due to chugging mad waters (no really, colds need to be drowned).  Anyway, Friday night meant I was FINALLY ready to cook something for serious.  I had thawed some chicken thigh (yes, just one) and I took a sort of “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to what to have with it.  So I grabbed what was available and made up a dish for dinner before heading out into the night of wonder.

Chicken and Veggies Stir Fry – from my brain via what’s in the fridge

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup carrots – check
• ¼ cup red peppers – check
• ¼ cup kale stalks – check
• 3 cloves garlic – check
• 2 packets of soy sauce – check
• Veg oil – check
• 1 portion chicken thigh, off the bone – check
• Pine nuts – check

Step 1: Slice the carrots into small pieces, do the same with the red peppers.  Chop the kale stalks into small rounds. Set aside.

Step 2: Smash and mince the garlic.  Set aside. 

Step 3: Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Step 4: Heat a small amount of veg oil, roughly 1 tsp, in a pot or sauté pan or a pot.  Add the garlic and cook on low until fragrant.

Step 5: Add the chicken and allow to cook for a while, until the chicken turns white on both sides.  Add one packet of soy sauce! (seriously, how have I not turned Asian yet?) and allow to simmer for a while.

Step 6: Add all the diced veggies.  Realize you really should have used a bigger pot or sauté pan…but just try to mix everything together without letting anything fall out of the pot.

Step 7: Allow the veggies to cook down to awesome, so you can mix a little more.  Add the second packet of soy sauce.

Step 8: Realize you want something crunchy in your stir fry, look around the kitchen and PINE NUTS! USE THE PINE NUTS LUKE…er…not luke…skywalker…

Step 9: Anyway, keep cooking until the veggies are soft and awesome and the whole pot is simmering and smelling delicious.

Step 10: Don’t forget to heat your bowl and then clean the pot while you let dinner cool to an appropriate temperature.  Feel the Friday genius.

The first things I thought when I tasted this were “I’M GOOD AT COOKING! I WIN!” Then modesty took over and I thought “I want to make this for someone else” and so hopefully someday I will.  

This foodsperiment gets a +8 for taste, +5 for ease, +5 for using just one pot, and +5 for a fabulous start to the weekend! Happy Sperimenting! 

Chicken and Veggie's Stir Fry

February 9, 2012 – Spicy Chicken, Parsnips and Turnips A Naturale

I love my family.  I brag about them more than I brag about anything, and the funniest part of the bragging is that I had almost nothing to do with getting them as a family and really I don’t think I had too much to do with their awesomeness, but they’re mine so I think that I’m allowed to brag about their awesomeness.  They are all really awesome and special.  I would be lying if I said I couldn’t pick out which ones were my favorites (honesty bomb) but I do love them all.  Some of them I see a lot (like my Teta and Uncle and Cousin for Sunday Family Dinners) and some of them I see less often (like my Uncle and Aunt and Cousins who live in Cali) but all of them rock the cas-bah (I’m not sure I know what that means).  I had the fortune to have an accidental chat with my darling cousin MB and got totally psyched for August for our family reunion (yes people really do that every year).  Then for some reason made the following meal to consume in the time I had between work and meeting up with my ex-work wife Bindy and her dear friend for vino and cheese!

Spicy Chicken, Parsnikps and Turnips A Naturale – from my brain

Ingredients:

• 1 parsnip – check
• 1 turnip – check
• 1 portion chicken – check
• ½ tsp hot sauce (Texas Pete if you know what’s good for you) – check
• Sprinkle Bread Crumbs – check
• Sprinkle Red Pepper Flakes – check
• Salt – check
• Pepper – check
• ½ tsp veg oil – check

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F.  I don’t know why I find this to be my favorite oven temperature but it works.  Peel the parsnip.  I’m not entirely sure that’s how a parsnip is supposed to be cooked because I’ve never cooked with them before but I figured they look like a potato and British people put parsnips in mashed potatoes (a practice I’ve tried and decided it’s just downright Un-American) so they can probably be treated similar to a potato. 

Step 2: Slice the parsnip into similar sizes.  This is tricky with parsnips because they’re a tuber that gets fatter, or skinner depending on your perspective.  So just try to make it work.  Set aside.

Step 3: Cut the ends off the turnip, I’m not sure that’s how to treat turnips either but I didn’t really have time for youtube.  Slice the turnip into roughly the same sizes.  Taste a bit of the turnip and a bit of the parsnip so you’ll know what they might taste like.  Turnips are  a bit sweet and parsnips have a bit of a bite.

Step 4: Mix the parsnip and the turnip together, add the veg. oil and just a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  This will hopefully make them yummy. Put them in a dish so that they’re all spread out.  Sometimes, it may take you many tries to find the right size, but eventually you’ll get there.  Pop them into the oven.

Step 5: Coat the chicken with the Texas Pete, then bread and red pepper flake and bake the chicken.  Then put it in the oven.  Let everything cook about 35-40minutes or until the veggies are soft-ish and the chicken is cooked.  The “I just checked but it clearly needs a little more time to cook” is a perfect time to take a phone call from your best friend Heids to plan things about the weekend.

Catching a small phone chat with Heids is not only the perfect time user (it’s not a waste so I’m not going to use that term) to finish cooking, but also to allow your food to cool.  Plus it’s a pleasure to get a minute to chat about weekend plans, even when your best friend tells you that you’re nuts to have too many things booked and that you might need to relax.  Ok, relax.

I can’t rave about this meal enough.  Wowza.  The chicken was the PERFECT amount of spicy.  The parsnips, well we’ll come to terms with them in a while, but the TURNIPS are like CANDY.  The best part is that they’re candy that’s good for you.  How did I never know that before?  I’m honestly floored by this.  I can’t wait to try it with a multitude of other things.

This foodsperiment gets +7 for taste, +5 for turnips, +5 for easy dishes, +5 for cousins, +5 for best friends, +5 for Chelsea Handler (who I watched on Rosie during dinner), and +5 for drinks later with my ex-work wife Bindy and Co! Happy Sperimenting!

Spicy Chicken, Parsnips and Turnips A Naturale!

February 8, 2012 - Scallops and Mangoes Stir-fry

My walk home from work was different, interesting and new, mainly because it was SNOWING!  As my toes froze and the rest of me kept warm thanks to my amazing coat, I thought about the feel good meals that I could create at home in the time allotted between getting home and the chiropractor (quickly  followed by trivia).  I decided on a stir fry with Scallops that I had left to thaw before work, only when I started cooking it turned into more of a Schezwan type stir-fry than a regular matter stir-fry. 

Scallops and Mangoes Stir-fry – from my brain

Ingredients:

• ½ tsp flour – check
• 1 tbs soy sauce – check
• 1 tbs teriyaki sauce – check
• 3 squirts ketchup – check
• ¼ cup cubed mangos – check
• ½ cup fennel, sliced – check
• 1 egg – check
• ¼ cup scallops – check

Step 1: Mix soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ketchup, flour, and scallops in a bowl (or a Pyrex pouring implement).  Set aside.

Step 2: Thinly slice the fennel.  If you haven’t already cubed the mango, do that too.  (I typically cube mango at once and portion out so that they’re ready to rock when I am, for lunch or dinner treats). 

Step 3: Heat oil in a pan and fry the egg.  It’s best to do this like it would be a scrambled egg but then just flip it don’t scramble it.  Once the egg is fried, take the egg off the heat (put on a plate or some other work surface) and then slice it into pieces.  Set aside you’ll need this later.

Step 4: Sauté the fennel on low for about two minutes or until it starts to get fragrant.  Then add the mangoes (allow to cook about a minute) then add back the egg. 

Step 5: Add the scallops and sauce mixture to the pan.  Allow to thicken and cook in general, make sure you mix so it’s everywhere.  You know that the whole thing is done when the scallops are slightly squishy, but not too squishy. 

Step 6: Eat and be merry.

Oh my jeebus WOW. Amazing.  The egg and fennel give the dish texture and there’s a perfect balance of salty and sweet.  Wow. Wow. Wow.  I’M SO HAPPY THAT I HAVE THE SECOND HALF FOR LUNCH TOMORROW! I can’t, I don’t, my words feel crazy.  The fennel is sweet and is possibly just awesome.  I don’t know this is one you have to try for yourself.  It’s kind of like reading the Hunger Games, if you’ve read them you get it and desperately can't wait to see the movie for your (and Andy's) birthday and if you haven’t you just don’t understand.   An amazing start to the night! Onward to doctor’s and trivia! 

This foodsperiment gets +10 for taste, +5 for easy put together, +5 for one pot and easy cleanup.  Happy Sperimenting!

Wonder-great!

February 7, 2012 – Kale and Fennel Walnut Frittata

On my walk to work in the morning I considered what was in my kitchen. Maybe that’s a bit odd, but there you go. I had eggs that I knew needed to get used and I’d decided it would be a meatless Tuesday, which is less trendy sounding than Meatless Monday but I prefer the idea of Hamburger Monday to Meatless Monday therefore, a non-trendy name for not consuming meat on Tuesday.  Anyway, I considered what to make with the need to use them eggs in my fridge and I decided on a frittata.  Fate must have agreed with me as I arrived at work to a president, from my co-worker who has chickens, of 6 VERY fresh eggs!  I figured if I didn’t eat eggs today God might smite me down.

On the walk home from work I re-considered my options and solidified my frittata plan.  Frittatas are typically cooked in a saucepan and then transferred to the oven but I decided to go with a different method.  I’m lucky enough to have inheritated these two amazing small, single serving casserole dishes from my Teta.  They also have tops and thus can become a simple storage device.  I decided that I’d make enough for two frittatas to bring one for lunch tomorrow.

Kale and Fennel Walnut Frittata – from my brain via what fate intended when six eggs arrived on my desk this morning.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs - check
• ½ tsp chili powder - check
• ½ tsp paprika - check
• 2 cloves garlic, minced - check
• 1/3 cup minced fennel  - check
• 1/3 cup grated parm - check
• Salt and pepper -check
• 1/8 cup heavy cream - check
• ½ tsp lemon juice - check
• ¼ cup minced kale – check
• 1/3 cup walnut pieces - check

Step 1: Read my nerdy science book (Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter) and learn that the “order of operations” is important.  So you know that 2 cloves garlic, minced means mince the cloves after you measure out the portion while 1/3 cup minced fennel means mince the fennel and THEN measure out the portion.  WOAH! SCIENCE!

Step 2: Preheat the oven to 350F.  Take all refrigerated ingredients out of the fridge. Cooking with ingredients at room temperature makes all of the reactions and bonding better so your food tastes better (this is usually the case but not always). 

Step 3: Put the garlic and fennel into your Cuisinart grinder/mincer thing and mince.  Then use the mincer to mince the kale.  Grate your parm.  Generally prep all of your ingredients.  During the prep stage, toast the walnut pieces and allow to cool before using them (about 2 min in the oven and one or two minutes cooling).  Also toast (I’m not sure I’d call it toasting but I can’t think of a better term) the fennel and garlic in the oven about a minute. 

Step 4: Crack the eggs (on a flat surface, not on the edge of the bowl) and whisk together all of the ingredients.  Pour half the mixture into one casserole dish and the other half in the second casserole dish.  Top with some freshly grated parm.

Step 5: Bake 15ish minutes, until just crispy on top, while you clean up the kitchen.  While you were mincing, you probably considered “why don’t I always use this handy dandy machine thing” and while you cleaning you remember why. 

Step 6: Consume, feel free to have a little bit of hot sauce on the side. 

This was good.  I tried really hard to taste everything separately and maybe that’s why I couldn’t.  I couldn’t really taste the chili powder or paprika and my untrained palette knows that I liked it best with the hot sauce (don’t worry, I mostly resisted using too much hot sauce).  I did notice subtle flavors now and again and it was very filling and delicious.  Maybe I needed to not focus so hard, and increase the amount of spices.  I think I’d also make it without the walnuts.  To be fair, I wanted them to be pine nuts but I don’t have any pine nuts.  Turns out that while in a soup a little spice goes a LONG way, in an egg a little spice goes significantly smaller of a way.

Overall I give this foodsperiment a +5 for taste, +5 for ease, +5 for freshness, +5 for final cleanup, and +5 for tomorrow’s lunch! Happy Sperimenting!

February 6, 2012 - Sweet and Spicy Pork and Roasted Fennel

Mondays have a nasty habit of sneaking up on you.  No matter how relaxing and/or fun your weekend was, no matter how much sleep you got, or how much time you spent watching movies and/or commercials with your Cousin, Aunt, and Uncle; Mondays still hit you like a ton of bricks.  Today was just such a Monday, and even though I had good PT session in the morning, and I got a number of fairly important things done at work, it still felt like a serious Monday problem.

I get a daily email from Prevention.com that sends me recipes.  Most of the time I ignore the recipe and/or open it so it’s not sitting unopened in my inbox and then proceed to forget that it ever existed.  However, today I knew I had pork thawing and the recipe I received was for Sweet and Spicy Pork.  When I arrived at my humble abode I checked out the recipe a little more closely and decided I’d make it but with some modifications.  I had already determinedto have some roasted fennel alongside it, since February is the month I nix all soda from my diet, and also try to nix my carbs (mostly in order to force me to try new things). 

Sweet and Spicy Pork and Roasted Fennel – from my brain via Prevention.com

Ingredients:

• Ground Cumin - check
• Ground Cinnamon - check
• Pepper - check
• Salt - check
• Allspice (Jamaican) - check
• Chili powder - check
• 2 clove crushed and chopped garlic - check
• Pork portion - check
• Veg oil - check
• Honey - check
• Fennel bulb - check
• Oregano – check

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F.  Crush and chop the garlic; put into separate tiny casserole dishes, unless you don’t have a tiny casserole dish in which case use your discretion.  Pour a tiny splash of oil over each pile of garlic bits. Put the garlic into the oven while you prep the fennel.

Step 2: Prep fennel…see youtube how to do this here; you should have done parts of this the day you bought the fennel because it makes your life so much easier. 

Step 3: Take your casserole dishes out of the oven.   In a bowl mix half the fennel with one of the sets of garlic and oil, toss in some oregano and a bit of salt and pepper.  Place back into the casserole dish.

Step 4: Wipe the bowl you used for the fennel and mix cumin, cinnamon, pepper, salt, allspice, and chili powder. I didn’t use exact measurements but you want to have approximately the same amount of each spice.

Step 5: In the casserole dish with the garlic and oil, squeeze just a touch (rougly ¼ tsp) of honey and mix well.

Step 6: Coat your pork portion first with the spices, then with the honey/garlic/oil glaze.  Try to make it even all over.

Step 7: If your pork is a pretty big honker, put the pork in the oven for 15min while you do the dishes.  When your timer goes off, flip the pork.  Then put the pork and the fennel into the oven for 25minutes or until cooked (it might need another 10minutes).

This meal turned out very light and very interesting.  Perhaps my palate is finally becoming sophisticated; the pork was perfectly tender with only a hint of sweetness.  I could tell I probably used just a little more cinnamon than the other spices but it was for sure a dish I’d make again.  The original recipe called for hot sauce too which I would have incorporated if I’d READ THE WHOLE RECIPE instead of skimming it.  The book I’m reading, a geeky science+food book I’m sure I’ll mention again, deplores the practice of skimming recipes…I guess this just proved to me yet again that I need to be better at being fully engaged in the recipe before I start cooking.  Lesson possibly learned.  As for the fennel, it was a win.  I love fennel, no matter how my dear friend KP feels. 

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for taste, +5 for nutrient levels, and +5 for a quite Monday meal making sunshine out of a mild weathered day.  Happy Sperimenting!

Sweet and Spicy Pork and Roasted Fennel

February 4, 2012 – Spicy Breaded Turkey with Tomato and Kale Stalks

Saturdays are typically very hectic days for me.  I often have a lunch date or a coffee date or errands to run or recovery needed and then following all of that up with a nighttime activity.  Even more often Saturdays are full of me leaving town and visiting people or having people in town visiting me.  When I woke up on THIS fantastic Saturday I had a day free ahead of me until birthday celebration time for my dear friend Chris in the evening.  I wanted to go get a library card, my one “this is a thing that I need to make sure I get done today” event.  After spending some time with my coffee and reading, showering, and  interneting I pulled myself up and went on an adventure.  I have a few disposable cameras (yes kids, that’s right they are old school) and I grabbed one that was mostly full and went for a walk to procure myself a liberry card.   Needless to say that the joy of walking through my beloved city snapping photos of some of my favorite places and signing my name on the dotted line for a free library card left me a mite hungry.  When I got home I decided to throw together some sort of tasty dish that would warm me up and restore my nutrients.

Spicy Breaded Turkey with Tomatoes and Kale Stalks – from my  brain

Ingredients:

• 1 portion turkey – check
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs – check
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes – check
• 1 large tomato – check
• 1 tsp oregano – check
• 4-5 Kale stalks – check

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400F.  Place the breadcrumbs and the red pepper flakes in a Ziploc (or your neighborhood clearance brand version).  Shake and bake the turkey.  Well, shake the turkey in the Ziploc then put into your baking dish.

Step 2: Wash and quarter the tomato, if there is any bad spots cut those out.  Sprinkle the tomato with oregano. Place on top slash around the edges of the baking dish.

Step 3: Set the Kale stalks into the baking dish.  Bake for 35-40minutes or until it looks amazing.

Step 4: Defrost and toast a pre-made bun.  Consume this delightful meal.

This turned out quite well!  The turkey was not as spicy as I wanted it to be, but the tomato was SO DELIGHTFUL I can’t even fully begin to describe it.  And Kale stalks, have an extra bite to them.  Really what a delightful dish to finish my lazy Saturday afternoon!  Now onward and upward to celebration town!

This foodsperiment gets a +5 for taste, +5 for ease, +5 for easy cleanup (as the baking dish also served as my plate), +5 for freshness, and +5 for tomatoes being GREAT for your skin! Happy Sperimenting!

Yum!

February 2, 2012 – Carrot Cake Cookies

Happy Carrot Day!  Newsflash folks – carrots are one of my all time favorite veggies.  I’m not sure which part of them I like the best.   Possibly the crunch factor, possibly the orange color, possibly the fact that beta carotene is AWESOME, I have no idea but I love them.  If we’re all being honest Carrot Day is Feb 3, so I decided to make a treat to bring in to the folks at work.  And if any of said treats were leftover to share with the fabulous “lives so close to me that we have family dinners on Sundays so they get mentioned a lot” Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin when we go to FIRST FRIDAY that's ok!  I got home from a long doctor’s appointment that left more questions than answers and sat down to find a recipe for something delightful. 

What I found was a little recipe for something sweet.

Carrot Cake Cookies – from allrecipes.com (of course I cut it to 12 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter – check
• 2/3 cup brown sugar – check
• 1 ¼ egg – check; well, ok trying to get ¼ of an egg done I decided “no it’s only 1 egg this time”
• 5/8 oz crushed pineapple – no dice
• ½ cup shredded carrots – check
• 2/3 cup raisins – no dice; instead I used some white chocolate chips
• 1 1/3 cup flour – check
• ¾ tsp baking powder – check
• ¼ tsp baking soda – check
• ¼ tsp salt – check
• 1 tbs + 1 tsp ground cinnamon – check
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts – I optioned out of these because one of the guys at work is not into nuts

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F; get out your cookie sheets and go ahead and put the butter you’re going to need on the cookie sheets to soften. 

Step 2: Peel and grate the carrot while you watch the Big Bang Theory, it’s on DVR so you have all the time and arm power that you need.

Step 3: Realize that OH JEEPERS your butter is mostly melted/melty and then realize that your cookie sheets are now prepped and your butter is ready to be used.  Sunshine!

Step 4: Cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Your arm muscles are going to be SO BIG because you did the creaming and all the grating by hand.  Beat in the egg.  Stir in your carrots and chocolate chunks.  If you use pineapple and raisins then put them in there too.  But if you found the recipe after you’d already gotten home and don’t want to go back out, do it my way.

Step 5: Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together.

Step 6: Stir together wet and dry ingredients until combined.  Well combined.  Why won’t they combine so easily?  Probably because I used ¼ of an egg less than prescribed. And there was less wet as no pineapple bits were included. Bummer dude.

Step 7: Roll the dough into balls and place delicately onto the cookie sheets so that the cookies know you love them and want them to bake well.  And then you can clean while they cook.  Great idea friend!

Step 8: Bake 15-20minutes or until the stick your finger on it method tells you they’re done!  Leave a hot minute more on the cookie sheet and then transfer to your cooling racks and let cool.

Ok so they look a lot more like a snicker doodle than like any other kind of cookie.  But they tasted a lot more like…ok.  They weren’t out of the park but I’m unsurprised by that based on the egg issue.  They are good. I’ll be able to give them to people but I’ll definitely follow the recipe for real next time.

This foodsperiment gets a +4 for taste, +5 for appearance, +5 for making me feel better after missing a Savoy function, +5 for yes.

Carrot Cake Cookies

January 30, 2012 – Cream of Potato Soup

Soup month is almost over and today I decided I really needed to try to construct a new challenge, cream based soup.  The thought came after a week of making various excuses to not cook.  Good excuses I might add, such as “restaurant week”, “happy hour”, “I have popcorn”, and other more mediocre excuses.  

Anyway, my not cooking streak finally came to a head and the weather turned just a bit chilly again.  It was about time to enjoy my creamy soup.  I had a lone potato in the kitchen and thus I decided to make Cream of Potato Soup.  I’d done some research on creamy soups and decided to have a legitimate foodsperiment.

Cream of Potato Soup – from my brain

Ingredients:

• 1 large potato – check
• Handful of precut carrots – check
• 2 large garlic cloves – check
• Handful of precut celery – check
• ½ cup of chicken stock – check
• ½ cup milk – check
• 1 spoonful flour – check
• 1 tbs gorgonzola crumbles – check
• Splash of heavy cream – check
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce – check
• Pinch of salt – check

Step 1: Smash and roughly cut the garlic, put it into a pot with a splash of chicken stock to sauté.

Step 2: Peel and cut potato into cubes, throw into the pot to also sauté. Throw in the celery and carrots to sauté. Realize that THERES WAY TOO MANY POTATOES so take some of them and put them into a dish and into the oven; you can have them for lunch tomorrow.

Step 3: Mix the milk and chicken stock with a spoonful of flour.  Pour into the pot over the sautéd veggies.

Step 4: Mix the heavy cream and Worcestershire sauce into the soup. 

Step 5: Remember that you wanted to put some cheese in there and make it the gorgonzola.  Parm might have worked better.

Step 6: Allow to simmer for roughly 20 minutes or until the veggies are soft.  Stir occasionally.  Salt to taste.  No really, taste it, you’ll want to put some salt in it and then go mm mmm good. 

Step 7: Heat up your bowl so it doesn’t make the soup cold and transfer the soup to your bowl and wash the soup pot.  I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this sort of thing.  That way you aren’t scalding yourself when you eat your food and the kitchen is clean!

This foodsperiment had two reactions.  My first reaction was “OH MAN THIS IS GOOD, I WISH I HAD SOMEONE HERE WHO WOULD TRY THIS!” My second reaction upon biting into a potato chunk was “oh dear I should be more patient and simmered it longer. If I was on the show Chopped, I’d have gotten chopped.”  There you have it, it was a good soup and I enjoyed it but I know it would have been better with a smidge longer cooktime so the veggies would be softer.

Regardless, this foodsperiment gets a +5 for taste, a -1 for slight undercooking, +5 for using ingredients already in my kitchen, +5 for ease, +5 for using one pot, and +5 for easy cleanup.  Happy Sperimenting! 

Cream of Potato Soup

January 28 (29), 2012 – Chocolate Round Cake

Happy Chocolate Cake Day!  Ok, so I’m extended this holiday a few days, but in all fairness I DID have Mexican Chocolate Cake at dinner Friday (Jan 27 - the actual holiday) so it still counts.  I decided I’d spread the holiday out a few days and eat chocolate cake at dinner Friday (the holiday), bake the chocolate cake today (1/28), and bring it to Sunday (1/29) family dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s. 

Chocolate (Round) Sheet Cake – from a weight watchers recipe (6 servings, I clearly halved this recipe).

Ingredients:

• 7/8 cup flour – check
• ½ + 1/8 cup light brown sugar – check
• 3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder – check
• ¼ cup sugar – check
• ½ + ¼ tsp baking powder  - check
• ½ + ¼ tsp baking soda – check
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ + 1/8 cup milk – check
• 1.5 egg whites – check, but seriously awkward to try to make this work.
• 1 tbs butter – check
• ½ + ¼ tsp vanilla – check
• ½ cup boiling water – check
• ½ tbs powdered sugar – check

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F; and prep your preferred pan. Also, melt your butter.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – mix well.

Step 3: In a completely different and bigger bowl mix together the milk, egg whites, butter, and vanilla – mix well until blended.  Add boiling water and mix well.

Step 4: Mix wet and dry ingredients.  Don’t worry if there are bubbles.  It is ok.  You probably mixed well.

Step 5: Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes; use the toothpick and/or plump it up trick to make sure the cake is done.

Step 6: Find a way to get the cake out of the pan onto a rack to cool.  If you didn’t prep the pan with some light oily business you’re going to want to cry and/or some of your cake is going to stay in the pan.  That’s ok though, because you’re going to get to use that bit as a taste test.

Step 7: Allow to cool and then plate and cover, while you go out on the town to play Skeeball with friends at this SAHWEET bar in Olde City. 

Step 8: Steal some confectioner sugar from your aunt and put it on the cake when you bring it to Sunday family dinner.  Also, let your delightful cousin make it look pretty because, well, she’s pretty.

I can’t quite decide which part of this was my favorite…the laziness in which I put the whole thing together, the fact that the cake is a weight watchers recipe and each slice is only 6 points, that the lamb dinner my aunt cooked and we consumed prior to consuming the cake was so epic I am salivating just thinking of it, or that it was enjoyed in the company of my wonderful family.  Oh yeah, and the cake was pretty good.  Everyone gave it a thumbs up and a “let’s have another piece please, oh! Let’s have it with ice cream”.  This foodsperiment gets a +7 for taste, +5 for ease, +5 for a healthy choice, +18 for wonderful dining companions, and +10 for being the perfect cherry on top of a very delightful weekend.  Happy Sperimenting!

Chocolate Round Cake

January 22, 2012 – Pumpkin Blondies

Happy Blonde Brownie Day!  My new year’s resolution continues onward and with it the celebration of Blonde Brownie Day!  For this holiday I’d already decided to make Pumpkin Blondies, a recipe which my dearest friend Mai had left at my house many moons ago and that I’d already duplicated in practice.  I decided to make them for our recruitment tea for my singing group (yeah I get it, I’m multi-talented) and of course I made the mistake of waiting until the last minute to pick up some of the ingredients.  Needless to say, Sunday morning was a bit of a rushed bag of tricks as I went to go pick up supplies, had to try three different spots to find the ingredients, then put the blondies together and get them into the oven and then had to run to the wine and spirits store to supply wine for my ladies’ restaurant week dinner later that evening, and back home to make sure the blondies didn’t burn.  What an adventure.

So here it is folks:

Pumpkin Blondies – from a recipe Mai left at my house

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour – check
• 1 T pumpkin pie spice – omitted
• 1 tsp baking soda – check
• ¾ tsp salt – check
• 1 cup unsalted butter – check
• 1 large egg – check
• 2 tsp vanilla – check
• 1 cup pumpkin puree – oops it was pumpkin pie puree so sorry bout it…
• 1 cup white chocolate chips – check
• 1 cup butterscotch chips – surprisingly neither Walgreens, CVS, nor the little shop down the street carries butterscotch chips, so instead I used heath bar crunches that I found at the little shop down the street

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F.  Set aside your new bar pans to use; you can oil them a bit or maybe use pam.  Woops.

Step 2: In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt (and pumpkin pie spice if you aren’t using pumpkin pie puree)

Step 3: In a bowl beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Try not to let the whole thing beat itself all up in your hair, shirt, and every surface of your kitchen.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.  Mix in the pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie puree if you’re not that smart and bought the wrong ingredients. 

Step 4: Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. 

Step 5: “Fold” in the white chocolate and heath bar chips.  Fold is just a fancy term for mix. 

Step 6: If you use just one pan, throw the whole batter into the pan.  If you’re using bar pans spoon a bit of the stuff into each bar spot. 

Step 7: Bake about 35-40 minutes, or enough time to run to the wine and spirits store, have a lovely gentleman help you pick out a nice Malbec and run back home.  Also use the toothpick test to determine if the bars are done.

Step 8: Allow to cool in pan on wire rack until able to take out of the pan (and to cut into pieces if you used a big ol' pan), but if you’re in a time crunch find a way to make it work.   Then run out the door to go greet strangers and chat with friends.

Whew.  I can’t even tell you how lovely my apartment smelled for A WHILE after making these.  Also they turned out well.  My friends Katie and Rick said “They’re nice”.  I’m going to share them with my co-workers too since a full batch of these is too many for me.

This foodsperiment: +8 for taste, +5 for ease, +5 for easy cleanup, +5 for helping out at a potluck, and +5 for my first batch of bars using my new bar pans (thanks Ma!).  Happy Sperimenting!

Pumpkin Blondies!