May 10th, 2012 | by Sara | food
May
10
To balance out my bacon-wrapped chicken from earlier this week, I tried this new recipe from Smitten Kitchen for pasta with garlicky broccoli rabe last night. It was really quick and easy to make, and it was delicious. In fact, I forgot to put Parmesan over the serving I ate tonight, but it was great anyway. So I have to imagine it’s marvelous with the cheese on top! I can’t wait for my first serving of leftovers (with cheese)!
May 9th, 2012 | by Sara | food
May
09
Earlier this week, I made this delicious sweet and spicy chicken from a recipe that Erica posted on her blog awhile back. I figured it had to be good (I’m not sure I’ve ever not liked a dish that includes bacon.) and it definitely delivered. My oven gets pretty hot and I overcooked the chicken a bit, but even so it tasted great.
March 27th, 2012 | by Sara | food
Mar
27
These Chubby Hubby brownies were a crowd-pleaser.
Yea, that title got a bit long. But I figured it only stresses the decadence that these treats were.
I had the day off this past Wednesday. I planned to catch up on some things, maybe take a stroll around town, relax. Instead, I spent the whole day in the kitchen. Luckily, I enjoy that. (I was thinking the other day how I probably spend more time in my kitchen than in my living room considering all the baking and brewing I’ve been doing lately.)
The peanut butter truffles portion of the dough was quick to melt in but you can kind of distinguish it in the orange-colored portions here.
First, I decided to make Bakergirl’s brown butter peanut butter truffle chocolate chip cookies to bring to work for some birthdays. (The verdict: Amazing. I had many co-workers tell me they were addictive.) Then I decided to double the batch so I’d have plenty, and I used a portion of the dough with oatmeal instead of peanut butter truffles. (The reasoning was two-fold: I didn’t think I had enough peanut butter truffles for a full double batch and I had a small amount of oatmeal left in the can and wanted to finish it off.)
Then I figured since I was already baking, I might as well bake something for the DC Homebrewers meeting I was going to that night. I went with a simple recipe and used the Red Kitchen Project’s Chubby Hubby brownies. I figured the pretzel part would pair well with the beer we’d be drinking. Apparently it worked because they all disappeared and multiple people told me they were great.
At least I managed to get some corned beef within a week of St. Patrick's Day!
On top of that, I had seen corned beef when I was grocery shopping Wednesday morning. I had been dismayed I didn’t have time to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day (tradition). So I figured I’d pick it up. Only later did I realize I didn’t have a good time frame in which to cook it — other than that day. So while I was baking, I stuck the corned beef and cabbage on the stove.
By the end, I was rushing to eat and tidy up the kitchen (no time for full cleaning) before I had to leave for the homebrewers meeting. Perhaps I overbooked the baking day a bit. And those other things I had planned to do … well, perhaps I’ll get to them in a few weeks.
March 11th, 2012 | by Sara | food
Mar
11
Dinner tonight was super saucy chicken over angel hair pasta, as posted by the Noble Pig. It was really easy, and it made quite a bit. I think I’ll be freezing some of this one.
February 26th, 2012 | by Sara | food
Feb
26
Tonight’s dinner was shrimp and broccoli tempura with soba noodles, a recipe from Real Simple magazine (which I can’t find on the website or I’d offer a link). It was pretty tasty, though I didn’t think ahead and cut the recipe in half. So I have a load of fried shrimp and broccoli if anyone’s hungry. I usually just eat leftovers all week, but I’m not sure I can eat fried leftovers every night without encountering some health issues.
January 3rd, 2012 | by Sara | food
Jan
03
Last night’s dinner was Vietnamese-style beef with garlic, black pepper and lime, a recipe I got from the Noble Pig.
It was pretty simple to make, and tasty. I used about 1 pound of beef and added in a green bell pepper to put a little more vegetable in it. The only thing I would change is to possibly make more of the soy sauce mixture. Probably because of my added pepper, I thought it could use a little more sauce (and that part was quite tasty). I served it over jasmine rice.
December 21st, 2011 | by Sara | food
Dec
21
I’m in need of a good homemade pasta sauce. My mom and grandma used to make some (and I haven’t yet inquired to find out how easy or difficult it is), but I don’t currently have one that I use. I’ve tried a few lately, but until the past year or so I always used a jar of Ragu from the store.
I did a Google search last week and grabbed this recipe for marinara sauce when I really wanted to make some homemade sauce, but I’m not a big fan of it.
Do you have a favorite you’d be willing to share with me?
December 20th, 2011 | by Sara | food
Dec
20
Photo from stock.xchng
After hearing my friend Adam rave about kale and its wonderful nutritional powers (and great value), I finally gave in and tried it. I found this sauteed kale recipe, which I made with a slight modification (balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar).
So what did I think?
Well, let me start by saying that leafy greens aren’t my favorite. I had an aversion to salad for a while and just kind of avoided it. These days, I eat it sometimes. I go through phases where I’ll bring it for lunch (easy to prepare!), and on a very rare occasion (maybe twice a year), I order a salad at a restaurant. But I realize leafy greens are healthy, important, etc. (Note: In general, I actually love fruits and vegetables. I just prefer pretty much any other vegetable – brussels sprouts, cauliflower, peppers, broccoli, squash, etc. Also, my favorite version of homemade pizza is topped with spinach and mushrooms.)
That being said, I would put kale on the same level as other leafy greens. I didn’t hate it. It was tasty enough, I suppose. I wouldn’t say I really liked it, but I eat plenty of things I don’t LOVE. So, all in all, it gets a “meh.” I’d make it again for the health benefits. But I doubt I’ll be getting a kale craving anytime soon.
November 5th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Nov
05
I went to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show today. I’ll admit, I bought my ticket through Groupon because I wasn’t sure it would be worth it, but it was pretty awesome. Tons of vendors had food samples, so I ate all day. (Salsa, wing sauce and barbecue sauce seemed to be the most popular foods for sale/tasting.)
My ticket included a chance to see a presentation by Paula Deen. I’m not in love with her, but I thought it would be cool nonetheless. She was pretty entertaining. However, the whole show was just her talking to the audience. She had a chef cooking in the background, and every once in a while, she would ask him how it was going. But I was hoping to see more cooking and pick up some tips. I did see some nice cooking demonstrations on the free stages, though.
I’d definitely go next year!
September 22nd, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Sep
22
I helped plan a baby shower for my friend Emily recently. We did a co-ed shower with a kid theme (played pin the baby on the father, gave out Nerf guns as prizes, played Candyland, etc.). To stick with the theme, we made finger versions of kids’ foods. In addition to cupcakes, we had mini sloppy joes, bagel bites, homemade animal cookies, and mac and cheese cups.
To make the mac and cheese cups, I combined two ideas: parmesan tuiles and homemade mac and cheese. The parmesan tuiles were really easy to make. I looked up a few recipes but basically you just put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, sprinkle 3 Tbsp. freshly grated parmesan cheese in a circle about 3 inches wide, and bake it at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. When you take them out, let them sit a minute. Then, remove them with a spatula. and form it into a cup using an upside-down shot glass. (For the size I wanted, a shot glass was the right size, but you could use a larger item for a bigger and more shallow cup.) Let it cool into the shape. This crisp, parmesan cup is beautiful AND delicious.
I used a mac and cheese recipe from my friend Fisch, but you could use any recipe. Then, I spooned the hot mac and cheese into the tuiles. The heat will soften the tuiles a bit, but mine still stayed up pretty well. (I don’t have photos of the finished product because I added the mac and cheese when I was at the party site, but you can imagine how it looks.)
These are very cheesy (mac and cheese in a cup made of cheese!), but also very delicious. The crowd loved them.