“Dude, what happened to your blog?”

Back in November, I essentially stopped cooking until I went home for Christmas break because of issues with my landlord.  It is impossible to both cook real dinners, and have an immaculate kitchen 24/7.   You can have a clean kitchen and cook; you can have a tidy kitchen and cook, but there will be splotches on the stove top or a little dingy somethin’-somethin’ on the floor.  It’s a corollary of Murphy’s law.  However, since January I have been cooking again, cooking a lot and will have a food related post in the next week or so.

 

Future posts will include an increased cast of characters.  For Christmas I got a KitchenAid stand-mixer and a Cuisinart food processor.  I have not yet used either to their fullest potential but already have proposed a polygamous marriage between the three of us; I respect my partners in culinary matrimony equally and adore the unique joy each brings into my life.

 

Stay tuned for kitchen calamities and artichoke adventures. — K.

Mah Spoon’s Too Big!

Today for breakfast, I had half a grapefruit, sitting on my couch watching John Hodgeman talk about aliens, pretty excellent morning, you’ve got to admit. I’ve liked grapefruit since I had a glass of grapefruit juice at a fancy breakfast buffet in the second grade, but haven’t had much occasion to eat it. They’re fairly pricey for fruit. As a result I didn’t learn until a year or two ago that one is supposed to eat the grapefruit with a spoon. This explained why my forking attempts were leading not to nourishment, but to a huge freakin’ mess.

I washed the grapefruit down with decadent chocolate milk. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it decadent, but it is damn good and balances out the health of having a half a grapefruit and calling it breakfast.

Vegetable Binge: Day Three.

It’s just too easy to roast vegetables. Prep ‘em, put ‘em in the oven and walk away. Way easier than making a club sandwich.

Today I decided to try brussel sprouts. I’ve never eaten a brussel sprout ’cause my Daddy didn’t like brussel sprouts and he did all the cooking and there it is. No brussel sprouts. But I saw this Ina Garten recipe, and figured it was worth seeing what all the hate and fuss was about. I made a small, snack-sized batch in case they were going to be truly atrocious.

The verdict?
Not bad, but not good either. I can see why people say sprouts have a “nutty” flavor, but I’m not about to go nutty over them – ha HA. The kosher salt was definitely a good idea, and I’ll certainly eat the others that are hanging out in my crisper…
But I don’t know that I’ll buy them again.

Pot-pie tonight.

Vegetable binge continues.

I was gonna make a pot-pie using last weeks AMAZING CHICKEN. Pot-pie, specifically frozen, trans-fat, laden Banquet pot-pies, was my favorite as a kid and I was looking forward to using my homemade stock for something folksy. — The stock did in fact turn out all right. Anyway, I’m gonna make this pot-pie, did up the crust and then realized I did not have carrots. Since I was already leaving out the mushrooms, because mushrooms do not belong in a pot-pie, and I really like carrots – I’m putting off the pot-pie making until Thursday. At least the crust is started.

Ah, but what did you eat for dinner Katharine? Nice of you to ask. I tried to make caramelized sweet potatoes. Not “tried.” I’ve had many preparations of sweet potatoes in my day and found all of them delicious, because the sweet potato is an under-loved and delicious vegetable. These however, were not delicious. Yes they were gingery. But somehow the onions were burnt and parts of the potato were not cooked through. If I did not know what good sweet potatoes would taste like, I might have enjoyed this monstrosity. Since I know better however, I was unimpressed.

In my cooking exploits this evening I also injured myself. The sweet potatoes did not want to go quietly and required a great deal of force to cut apart. On one occasion the knife slipped and got my thumb. Not a full-bodied slice, but the tips of the serrated edge poked holes in my thumb. Since I was cooking for myself, and am a maverick, I bled on the potatoes. Hard-core.

Pot-pie tomorrow.

Addicted to Veggies.

That best broccoli recipe from The Amateur Gourmet has been growing on me. Not unlike a fungus. Today for lunch…
… I had broccoli.

Just broccoli. Garlicky, lemon-y, cheesy broccoli.
As a college student, I’m ashamed of myself.

Nutritious?

Running late going from work to class, but I had to grab something to eat. Still hadn’t eaten my morning banana and not in the mood for leftovers, I made myself a peanut-butter, banana and honey sandwich. De-lish.

Now I think this was nutritious: you got your fruit and your whole grain in the bread, peanut-butter for protein, and honey s’all natural. Right?

Snow day and French toast.

Well maybe not a snow day. I’ve still got classes but there’s a little powder clinging to the rooftops. In honor of the snow I decided to try my hand at making French toast – success!! Whisked up an egg, added the toast and fried it in the pan. At first I didn’t think it was working – it looked like I had a fried egg clinging to some toast. Then I turned around to tidy up the counter and while I was rearranging my canned goods, took a whiff, “Does something smell like French toast? Oh! It’s my French toast!” A toast note: growing up we always had white bread French toast, but today I used whole-wheat “crunchy” bread and it tasted even better.

(I also had a banana and a hard-boiled egg. But I wasn’t as proud of the cooking for either of those).

Grumpy Pasta.

Phew. I don’t know what got me today, but I came back from classes exhausted. Still, if I don’t cook, I don’t eat and skipping dinner is never a good idea in my book.

I made this delicious pasta with eggplant I saw on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I ran out of parmesan and mostly did without, but it was still delicious and oddly savory for something so veggie-friendly. Ordinarily I would’ve fixed a salad and a vegetable, but I’m tired and I didn’t feel like it.

I did however pop the cork on a tremendous bottle of wine, a Moscato from Gallo Twin Valley. Blogging about wine is worse than blogging about food, but I will say this: it sells for under ten dollars but has the taste of a twenty to twenty-five dollar wine. Sweet and fruity, I was reminded of a good vigonier. Probably the best wine I’ve tried in at least six months.

Woof. I’m going to bed!

Monday Reheat.

Monday is probably the day when I most need a home-cooked lunch, but usually I wind up having leftovers to tie up my loose ends. Today it was the last little portion of the quiche I made last Sunday. Still good, but clearly time to make a new mystery quiche: eggs with unknown cheese plus unknown filling.

While I was reheating my quiche I got a good deep whiff of my stock that I’m cooking from last night’s chicken. It’s the whole carcass, bones, some skin, innards, a little meat and the fat that oozed into the pan, with celery, onions, salt and pepper. I’m about two hours in and it already smells fantastic.

Breakfast.

Oatmeal has become my favorite. Oatmeal and I were estranged for a long time in my late childhood and early adolescence, only to be reunited freshman year when I discovered I could make instant oatmeal in my dorm room using an electric kettle. Those were the days: banana bread oatmeal. Look it up.

Unfortunately instant oatmeal isn’t as healthy as real oatmeal, and it has high fructose corn syrup which I’m trying – desperately trying – to eliminate from my diet. Lucky for me real oatmeal is more satisfying and just as easy if you make it in the microwave.

My favorite oatmeal preparation is oatmeal + raisins + walnuts + brown sugar + cinnamon. It equals delicious. A bit of a sugar fix, but sometimes that’s what I need to get out the door on Monday.

There will definitely be no oatmeal tomorrow because I’ve run flat out! In a way this is a blessing, because I’ve been dying to try steel-cut oats since I saw this recipe on The Kitchn. I know it will take more time but the idea of a truly chewy oatmeal gets my mouth a-waterin’!

Later this week I’ll check out some farther out grocery stores to suss out the oatmeal situation. I also need new tea and would like an opportunity to ogle fancy cheese and “luxury” grocery items.

Happy eating!