Crockpot Venture #1: Not a Failure

So I made my first crock pot entree today. I kind of tweaked out, to be honest. Note to self: do not attempt to cook poultry in the morning; it's a bit of a strain.

I had assembled the vegetarian ingredients last night in the crock, but started trying to research browning the meat and came across too many articles about salmonella and temperature of chicken etc etc. So I decided to brown the meat this morning, but then tweaked out about putting it in the cold liquid. So, I ended up putting it in the oven at 350 and baking it while the crock pot heated up, which was a pretty good solution on the temperature issue but then ended up cooking the ginormous chicken breast all the way through. So I put it cooked in the soup crockpot and hoped for the best. But I worried all day that the chicken was going to be the consistency of a beach ball. But, when I came home, the house smelled amazing (thanks cumin, and thanks to Rotelle chili flavored tomatoes) and the chicken was good. A little dry, but definitely not "beach ball" in texture. And the house didn't burn down.

Isn't the whole point of crock pot cooking that it's not neurotic? I'll have to remember that next time.

Boom Goes My Diet-Namite

I'm still on the cooking tip and today I made a whole wheat pasta with lima and green beans and a bastardized pesto sauce. I guess it was a pesto sauce good for winter in that it did not require ole sturdy basil that can often be unavailable during this time. Bastardized pesto sauce contained:

• olive oil
• fresh garlic
• chopped parsley
• anchovies
• capers
• lemon zest
• lemon juice

And it was pretty damn good.

Miz M's brother came a'visiting this weekend. We had a great time. I took him out for some bodacious pulled pork BBQ, biscuits and gravy, and my favorite country ham. Needless to say, boom goes my diet-namite.

For the most part though, we just hung out. I did my homework in the mornings while he slept in, we ate good food, watched a lot of TV, and made fun of each other. It was a blast.

Curry Couscous

I made some Israeli couscous today with red onions, yellow zucchini, mushrooms, curry powder, raisins, salt, chicken, and fresh mint. I made it up and it was totally tasty and I'm taking it for my lunch for the next two days.

I Cooked My First Steak

It's official.
I'm trying new things.
I cooked my first steak!

I got a "flat iron" steak at Whole Foods yesterday in anticipation of a BBQ that I never attended. I rubbed it with olive oil and some random Chef Paul Prudhomme's "Meat Magic" and pan fried it for 5 minutes a side. It was delicious! I think the cut was slightly tough, but I didn't mind that. It wasn't leathery and the rub was spicy and flavorful. I made a complementary spinach and fresh tomato salad for a delicious and amazing dinner. Hooray! Who knew steak could be so easy?

Refreshing Spring Salad - Better Than Airport Food

With all my excitement and stress for my impending trip, I realized I needed to put away the Doritos and eat some real food. I put together this salad today and it was super-satisfying:

- Arugula
- Tomato
- Avocado
- Carrot
- Feta Cheese
- Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

The avocado was perfectly ripe and, along with the Feta cheese, added a great deal of richness to this salad which made for a full and satisfying lunch meal. The arugula added a little fresh spiciness, the carrot, a little earthiness, and the tomato rounded it out. Yum!

If you have a more adventurous palate for salads, here's a good one that is cheap, tasty, unusual, and if prepared correctly, quite elegant.

The basic formula is celery, green apples, and Parmesan cheese with a little salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. It's a very light Italian salad, but could be varied with say, cider vinegar instead of lemon juice and some red pepper flakes. I suppose you could also make it a mayo salad if you want, but then you are adding calories and heaviness to the salad, which it doesn't really need.

You can chop up the ingredients any which way, but if you can manage to slice everything razor thin, it can look quite elegant!

During the beginning of the month, it always seems that money is tight. The freedom of living in my own place and belonging to a gym among various things, has a price. My new strategy is to stretch money out with my food budget to cut the funds spent on eating out. To attempt to alliviate associated stress, I find clever grocery shopping and cooking skills to be a major blessing, and a must. In the past three months I've discovered skills that I forgot I had. You know, how to make something good with a little this and that in the fridge and some dried pasta. Recently, I thought I didn't have anything in the kitchen, but I boiled some noodles, added some vodka marinara, capers, feta cheese, onions, and salami. Wha-la! Two meals worth of some totally decent pasta dish, and I still haven't had to go to the store.

For my next trick, egg salad on crackers! But, I also want to get a little better and cooking great food from scratch for cheap. A quick google revealed this seemingly awesome website, which I'm going to go read right now. Happy cooking!

Deep Into a Pancake Craze

On my visit to Baltimore, K and I made pancakes one morning and ate them with peanut butter, Nutella, and/or maple syrup. It was totally fun!

Growing up, pancakes were always too much of a "hassle," as neither of my parents were that into making breakfast anyway. My mom bought pancake mix; my dad bought "hotcakes" from McDonald's. But, until two weeks ago, I never realized how easy it is to make the batter from scratch. Now, I'm deep into a pancake craze.

Mr. D and I made pancakes last weekend, with oodles of bacon, coffee, and cheesy eggs. I spiffed up the pancake batter with an extra teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of both cinnamon and nutmeg. The result? Delicious!

Last night, I was at home and kind of scrounging around for something to eat for dinner. But I was bored of all the regular stuff, and I didn't want to go out and buy any groceries. The solution? Pancakes, of course! It only takes a few ingredients, a few minutes, and there were even leftovers to put into the freezer for another day. Pancakes. Hooray. The only thing I was really missing was some chocolate chips!

Cocktail Wieners in the Crockpot

So a friend and I are hosting a work-related party tomorrow, and we decided to make those magically delicious cocktail wieners that sit in the crockpot. When they are served at parties, they are super tasty and disappear much more quickly than anything with, say, spinach in it. Of course the special ingredient is the delicious sauce. A little research revealed many different concoctions for the sauce which included varieties of the following ingredients:
- grape jelly or currant jelly
- cocktail sauce or chili sauce
- ketchup and/or mustard
- bourbon
- brown sugar

Finding this variety of recipes was no easy matter. Apparently, cocktail wieners in the crockpot is too low brow for epicurious.com. Hee! But since the recipes varied so widely, and since it was difficult to use a cook's intuition to evaluate the different recipes (um, grape jelly and cocktail sauce? how could that possibly be good???), I had to consult an expert. Conference with my mother revealed her grandmother's recipe:

"Oh, DEFINITELY currant jelly. And, um, chili sauce that would be in like a ketchup-type bottle. And, you know, the cocktail wieners."

Arroz con Pollo

This time, the recipe only took me 2.5 hours to make. I reduced prep time by 30 minutes since the last time I made it. And, yum!

Pork Chop ala Experimental

In light of my previous post, and before I knew anything about Julia Child, I have had one of her cookbooks. Far from her "preferred" in-depth style recipes, it's more of a general "fly by the seat of your pants" type cookbook. It has a little overview of many things, and leaves many details unclear for someone who doesn't know much about the basics of cooking. However, last night I used her tips to make an amazing rub for some surprisingly tasty pork chops. The rub consisted of salt, pepper, all-spice, and dried thyme. Wow! It smelled so spicy and delicious when I rubbed it on!

To fully cook the pork chop, the recipe said to brown it on both sides, which I did. However, I was then supposed to stew it in a slight sauce of white wine vermouth, chicken broth, and shallots. Sounded delicious, but whoops! I didn't have any of those things in the kitchen. The pork chops needed some additional cooking, so I put together a liquid, ahem, "sauce" of a little water, white wine vinegar, vegetable oil, and sliced onions. "I hope I don't ruin it!" I said as I poured it in. It did the job of cooking the pork, the onions softened beautifully, and my little sauce didn't ruin the savoriness of the pork rub marinade. It was delicious! As one who almost always follows a recipe, I was impressed with myself, and truly inspired from trying something new -

Fresh plums and armenian cucumber.

Ginger Citrus Spritzer

Here's a great recipe for a festive holiday drink:

Boil 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup sliced ginger for 15 minutes.
Let cool.

Stir in 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Add club soda to taste.