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Smoked Mac and Cheese

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Nov. 18, 2010   3 Comments  

can comfort food get more comforting?

Last night I ate at 7:30.  Tonight I ate at 8.  Do you see a habit forming?  I really hope not, because gulping down food at 8 at night pretty much ruins any joy I would have had from eating the food.  Since the situation is not getting any better, I keep reminding myself that I will be home next week FOR THANKSGIVING!  I know Thanksgiving is about the pilgrims and the Native Americans and being thankful, but let’s not lie it’s pretty much a food lovers holiday.  And I have been drooling over recipes for the last two weeks, imagining what I’ll make to contribute to the feast.  So far this set of recipes on Kitchen Daily (here’s the link) has me the most intrigued.  I want to try the corn flan and the pumpkin ginger cake, personally speaking of course.  Then there are family dishes that are prepared every year, my mom’s sweet potato casserole, potato stuffing, and of course the turkey.  I am such a fan of  Thanksgiving.

But Thanksgiving is still a week away and between now and then I have some MAJOR work to do.  So my meals keep getting pushed back and I am enjoying them less and less.  Even my daily apple is getting tossed at the end of the day, because I didn’t have time to eat it.  How incredibly sad is that!

So tonight I made a pot of comfort.  I bought a box of gemelli noodles and cooked them to perfection and drained them.  I then dug out the smoked mozzarella cheese I bought a little while back.  I shredded about a cup of it over the noodles.  Then I added about a 1/2 cup of milk, and maybe 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.  Salt and pepper, and I was eating about 10 minutes after I started cooking the noodles.  I definitely gulped it down, because I was starving by the time I ate (lunch was a little before noon).  But the smokiness of the mozzarella and the saltiness of the Parmesan were such a magical combination.  Is it possible for comfort food to get more comforting?  And why is smoked food so much more amazing than not smoked food?

These are all wonderful questions I will hopefully get to when I have a moment to breath.  Until then, I hope you are all planning your Thanksgiving menus.  I’ll keep posting amazing links, in case you’re still looking for something special.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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In our tiny kitchen

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Nov. 15, 2010   Leave a Comment  

individual veggie pot pies

Up until this moment of my life in my tiny apartment, my roommate has had a very confused opinion of my blogging.

“Are you blogging me?”  and “Why do you take pictures of everything you make?” took up most of our conversations around dinner time.

Until tonight.  Tonight my roommate made delicious veggie pot pies and her words were, “you better blog about this.”  I knew she’d catch on sooner or later.  And the pot pies, well they were delicious, and I love sharing delicious things with you.

Vegetable Pot Pies:

1 large onion, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 small head of broccoli cut into pieces
2 tbsp flour
1 can vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
Pie Dough

Saute onions and sweet potato in a frying pan.  Add the peas and corn and broccoli.  Add the vegetable broth and the flour.  Bring to a boil and stir until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper.

My roommate used the already made pie dough.  It saved a lot of time and was easier to work with in our 5 square feet of kitchen.  She filled individual ramekins (Walmart had 5 of them for $10) with a bottom layer of pie dough.  She parbaked them for 5 minutes at 450 F and filled them with the veggie mixture.  Then she topped them with more pie dough and a really cute leaf cut-out and baked them for 10 minutes at 450 F.

If you are more of a meat-eater than my roommate (she’s vegetarian), then you could definitely add some chicken or even some beef to these cute little meals.  I honestly didn’t miss it.  Oh and did I mention the meal cost $1.66 per portion?  Yeah she was right, totally bloggable.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Good morning

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Nov. 14, 2010   Leave a Comment  

we've gabbed the whole night through, good morning, good morning to you.

“Good morning it’s great to stay up late and say good morning, good morning to you…”  If I had not spent most of my childhood dancing around my living room to musicals and Disney cartoons, I would not be the mature astute woman I am today.  And I would have nothing to sing to myself when the bus is late and my pants are soaking through because it’s raining.  Do you think people driving past me think I’m crazy?  They may be on to something.

This morning I was trying to get a lot of studying done.  I had to memorize all of the concepts from Global Journalism that I may or may not have learned over the course of the last 3 months. It wasn’t really going well and I couldn’t stop thinking about the frozen fruit I bought yesterday at the grocery store.  I had a recipe for smoothies that was kind of calling to me.  I got out the blender and added about half of the bag of frozen mixed berries, two six ounce containers of vanilla yogurt, and a handful of old fashioned rolled oats.  I let the blender work its magic and poured two large glasses, one for my roommate and one for me.  The oats were a great source of fiber and, because of the slightly sweet berries and vanilla yogurt, I didn’t need to add any sugar.

I wish I could say my studying went as well as the smoothies, what is the significance of the New World Information Order again?  But the smoothie did make my morning a little brighter.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year

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Nov. 10, 2010   Leave a Comment  

stuffed eggplant = such a good impluse eggplant buy!

No it isn’t Christmas!  Despite what every commercial and retail store are telling you right now, there is a holiday before Christmas.  It is a wonderful holiday for most people.  But in the middle of this whole post-recession America there are a lot of people who don’t have the bounty to create a feast for Thanksgiving like maybe they used to.  Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the Greater Boston Food Bank helping to sort 16,142 pounds of cans of tomato products and beverages.  It wasn’t glamorous.  I had to hear Bruno Mars’ song Just the Way You Are 2 times in a span of 5 minutes because of a radio station change.  And I was genuinely tired from sorting cans and lifting the 40 pound boxes and taking them to the person putting lids on them.  But the full time volunteer who was restocking my boxes said I filled more boxes than anyone else – Go me! – and it was really wonderful to help out during this especially trying economic season.

According to the most recent reports, 42.4 million people were on food stamps in August 2010.  And those are just the people actually getting help.  Giving time, by volunteering at your local food bank or soup kitchen, does not cost any money.  But it means a lot.  The Greater Boston Food Bank said the 16,000 volunteers that help every year save the bank $600,000 every year.  Without those volunteers, the food bank would have to hire full time workers.

So go and do your part.  As food lovers, you all know how a great meal can make even the most dire situation better.

Speaking of great meal, tonight I was wandering my local grocery store in search of prices for a story I am doing.  The most beautiful eggplant called to me, so I decided to try a recipe for stuffed eggplant from Michelle Maisto’s The Gastronomy of Marriage.  Her recipe called for two eggplant, but I was only feeding myself and  I only bought one eggplant.

Maisto’s Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (tweeked, because it’s what I do)

1 eggplant (the shiny black one)
Vegetable oil for the frying pan
2 cloves of garlic
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup of bread crumbs (I used some of the bread I made two days ago that was getting crumbly)
1/4 + cup of grated Parmesan cheese
dry basil
black pepper
Spaghetti sauce

Cut the eggplant in half and cut off the top.  Scoop out the inside of the halves of the eggplants.  I did this by sticking a tablespoon in all around the edge and then worked out the rest.  It was a bit challenging.  Chop the insides into smallish cubes.  Dice the garlic.  Heat a frying pan with oil.  Add the garlic and then the eggplant.  Cook until it starts to break down.  Maisto suggests the amount of cooking depends on the texture you want.  I still wanted eggplant pieces.  It took maybe 10 minutes on Medium heat.

Combine the eggs, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, black pepper, and the cooked eggplant.  I did this in a separate bowl.  Cover the bottom of a pan with tomato sauce.  Put the Eggplants without their middles into the pan.  Evenly scoop the filling into each half.  Cover with tomato sauce.  Cover and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake 10 more minutes.  Finish off with some cheese and try not to burn your mouth, because it is going to be hard not to devour this.  Yum and delicious and thank you grocery store for not having icky looking eggplant for once.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Thank you

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Nov. 9, 2010   Leave a Comment  

what are you thankful for?

Today was rainy and disgusting.  My umbrella flipped inside out just as I had to walk onto the bus, leaving me with no option but to close it flipped inside out, and then fix it on the bus with everyone giving me death stares.  I wore jeans, so drying off would require time in a dryer and unfortunately I didn’t have access to one of those.  My show were squishy and I wanted to cry on a few occasions.

And as I started my walk home – the long walk because I missed the ideal bus by 3 minutes – I was in a crabby mood.  Then I looked at my feet and realized how lucky I was to have them.  Some people can’t walk.  As I splashed through a puddle, I was thankful for the boots I found after I walked into three stores praying for reasonably priced rain boots.  The boots were one of two in my size, in the last store I was going to go to before I just gave up.  When I started thinking about the boots, I realized how lucky I was to have the money to buy the boots.  They were $30.  How many people in the world are wondering where their next meal is going to come from, and I had $30 to spend on boots because my feet were wet.  I was starting to feel a little less crabby.

A car had their high beams on as they drove past me.  At first I found myself getting mad for the temporary blindness, then I realized how lucky I am to have a lighted sidewalk.  I would probably fall a lot more if I didn’t have those wonderful lights.  My hands started getting hot from my gloves.

Thank you for my gloves and the energy to walk fast enough to work up a sweat.

Thank you for legs that don’t just quit on me when I have 5 minutes more of walking.

Thank you for food when I get home.

That was my final thought.  My stomach was starting to grumble and I was just about to walk into the apartment building when I remembered the fresh bread and the cauliflower soup waiting for me in my fridge.  I made the soup from this recipe on Saturday – here’s the link – and it was so much better the second time.  It actually kind of healthy, because it doesn’t involve the cream cauliflower soup normally contains.  And it is just downright delicious, especially after such a terribly long day.  I highly suggest giving it a shot.

Word on weather.com is more rain tomorrow.  I guess I’m going to have to start adding to that “thankful” list.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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How to choose a husband

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Nov. 7, 2010   Leave a Comment  

a source to feed my addiction

He owned a breadmaker.  It was pretty much everything I was not.  I went to school to learn to shape and fold and understand bread.  The breadmaker does all of that in a boring mechanical wonderful way.  Yes I just said wonderful.  When Matt moved away from me, I asked him for the breadmaker.  I was the first one to test it out after he had let it sit in his parent’s house for a couple of years.  And my addiction to bread suddenly felt like it had found its source.

Don’t get me wrong, I love making bread.  The rising and the kneading and the folding  and then the eating, I really do love making bread.  But I hardly ever have the time to make bread.  And all I ever knew was that bread took a lot of work and time.  While breadmakers were all the fad in the 90s, my mom really wasn’t a fad kind of gal, so the beauty of the breadmaker was lost on me.  And then I started dating Matt.

Matt bought the breadmaker at a yardsale for $5.  He is always good like that.  He buys things cheap that actually turn out to be extremely useful.  And he lets me steal them for a while.  I love that about him.

Anyway tonight I decided to dig out the bread maker.  I threw in three cups of flour, 1 tsp. of salt, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 cup of warm water, and a packet of yeast.  2.5 hours later I had a beautiful loaf of bread.  And I thought to myself, this is why I am marrying this man.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Time for some comfort

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Nov. 6, 2010   Leave a Comment  

a little happy to end the week

My week is over.  I am a pseudo-expert on the Lebanese Civil War and Pakistani journalism.  I now understand why my Aunt, after marrying a Syrian, tried to instill in me the fact that Israeli’s were awful to the Palestinians.  No I’m not about to get political hear, but I always find it interesting to learn the cultural biases and the history behind them.  Not interesting enough to spend a whole weekend reading contradictory stories, but thankfully my teachers make sure I perform these enlightening rituals.  Anyway I don’t think you came here to listen to me ruminate over the importance of homework.

Did you hear about Cooks Source and their copyright problems?  According to the Washington Post’s take on the debacle (here’s the link and the other link), Cooks Source (a food magazine based in MA) stole a recipe from blogger Monica Gaudio and then, when she called them out on it, she got an interesting response from editor Judith Griggs.  Griggs told her that everything on the internet is public domain AND basically her piece on her blog wasn’t well edited so Cooks Source made it better.  Dude, would someone please deal with this woman’s attitude problem!  I mean if I stole a loaf of bread and turned it into an amazing bread pudding, I really doubt the grocery store would accept me telling them that it was just a lame loaf of bread before I stole it and that I made it something amazing.

So all I am going to say about Ms. Griggs is that I have my eye on her and if she steals one of my recipes, I will google map Sunderland, MA and show up, voice recorder and all, ready for some fun clips of Judith sharing her bizarre internet views.

In order to celebrate a week well finished, I made myself cookies today.  The situation just seemed to call for it.  I had some leftover cashew butter, some unsalted cashews (What was I thinking when I bought those???), and a box of Sno Caps.  I pulled out my recipe for cashew butter cookies.  I made them into delicious cookie sandwiches this summer.  Here’s the recipe.

I did change things up a little this time.  I added 1/2 cup of unsalted cashews chopped up a little and about 1 cup of the Sno Caps.  I dropped them by teaspoon-fulls onto a sheet pan and pressed the cookie down a little.  I baked them at 350 F for about 10 minutes.  They were soft and milky sweet and a little crunchy from those white sprinkles on the Sno Caps.  My roommate asked me if they were healthy cookies.  I laughed and then said,” No but aren’t they delicious?”

I think that pretty much defines my week.  It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t easy, but the end was awful sweet and terribly rewarding, if only for the cookies.  I am such a sucker for cookies.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Because I like pasta

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Nov. 3, 2010   Leave a Comment  

cheesy pasta, you know a box recipe

Tonight I made my third and final meal with the 30 oz. container of Ricotta cheese I bought over the weekend.  I was glad I bought that container of Ricotta.  It really made wonderful meals.  It was a good container of cheese.  If I had kept it around any longer, I may have named it.  Mr. Cheese or Creamy Cow, I don’t think I have a career in naming things and I may be ok with that.

Anyway tonight I decided to make stuffed shells.  So I called my mom, like I’m prone to do when I want to make something she makes.

Mom what’s your recipe for stuffed shells?

I just do what it says on the box.

Ok sounds good.  I’ll do that.

I know that conversation is going to make it incredibly obvious that I am not Italian.  But I’m often told I look Italian.  Do you think that gives me extra points?  Yeah I didn’t think so.  Anyway here is what the magical box said, so you all don’t have to look on the box anymore.  Looking on the box is just lame.

Stuffed Shells:

12 oz. box of large shells
15 oz. container Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 egg
Sauce (if you make your own, GO YOU!, I buy a jar and hope the jar I bought tastes pretty good)

Cook the shells.  Mine stuff to the pot which made me kind of upset, but you normally don’t need all of the shells anyway so you’ll be fine if some stick.  Adding a little oil to the water may help with the sticking too.  Cook the shells to kind of al-dente.  They’re going to bake some more, so you don’t want them mushy.

Mix the Ricotta, Parmesan,  Mozzarella, and the egg.  Stuff the shells with a tablespoon or so of the filling.  Cover the bottom of a 13×9 pan with sauce.  Place the stuffed shells in one layer on the bottom of the pan.  Cover with more sauce.  Top with some Mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F or until they are heated through.

These are creamy, cheesy and particularly delicious, which means THE BOX WAS RIGHT.  Side story: my dad’s aunt was bragging once about her cake she made from scratch.  Someone asked her how she made it and she said, “Well first you open the box, and then…”  Yeah you get the picture.  I guess getting a recipe from a box isn’t the same as using a box mix.  Since I have been known to do both, I will be the first to say I do not judge.  And for all Italians in the world who have been cringing this entire post, I am so sorry.  Send me your Nona’s recipe and prove my box recipe terribly wrong.  Please and thank you.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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My newest obsession

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Nov. 1, 2010   Leave a Comment  

Pumpkin and Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles make my life happier

I find extremes frightening.  In food people often live in extremes.  It’s no carbs or no fat or vegan.  The latest diet fads tend to capitalize on extremes.  But lately extremes have erred on the healthier side.  Trying to eat local or seasonal are not terrible things in and of themselves, but living by it as a rule gives me the creeps.  I like to eat strawberries in the middle of February sometimes.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to eat seasonal every now and then.  And right now squash are all over the place and CHEAP.  Pardon my excitement, but vegetables are expensive and to my student budget sometimes completely impractical.  This of course makes me sad, because I know I need all of the good stuff in the vegetables.  So it being the peak of squash season and squash being less than a dollar a pound may have caused me to suddenly be fond of squash.  Yesterday I introduced you to the pumpkin gnocchi.  Because I had extra roasted squash after making that recipe, I decided to make this recipe for pumpkin beef goulash.

My mom makes a delicious beef paprika, which she serves over egg noodles.  And I always buy the Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles, so to say I was sold on the recipe at the egg noodles would not be an understatement.  Look to the recipe for the specifics (here’s the link in case you missed it) but I started by adding the paprika, salt, and pepper to the beef cubes.  In order to get a perfect sear, I heated the pan over medium high heat then I added the oil and let that heat up.  Hot pan then hot oil opens the pores of the pot so the oil can fill the pores and the meat won’t stick.  Anyway next I added the beef cubes, searing them.  Instead of following the directions on the recipe, I removed the beef and added the onions.  I am not a huge fan of onions, but I do like them when they are cooked down a little.  So I cooked the onion till it was just about to color.  Then I added the chicken broth, cup of pumpkin or squash. (Squash is sooo cheap right now, so why not roast a few in a pan at 400 F till a fork slides into them.  Scrape out the squash stuffs and store to use in recipes instead of canned pumpkin.)  I also added the garlic, and I added rosemary since I couldn’t find sage at the store.  Then I let the whole thing simmer till the meat falls apart and I removed the meat and onions.

I tried to let the sauce thicken like the recipe said, but it wasn’t really cooperating so I mixed about a tablespoon of flour to a couple of tablespoons of water.  I added this to the sauce and it thickened up nicely.  I could have done the same thing with cornstarch, but I always wanted to do the flour/water thing like my mom does and the opportunity finally presented itself.

This recipe tastes like fall.  You probably will have to tell the person eating it there is pumpkin in it.  It is such a wonderful melding of flavors even the pickiest eater will have trouble finding issue with it.

In case you were wondering, I’m starting to love this new squash thing.  It is kind of a bonus that I’m on season with my obsession.  And don’t worry I’ll still be looking for baby spinach in the middle of January.  I wouldn’t want to be extreme or anything.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Pumpkins anyone?

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Oct. 30, 2010   1 Comment  

a little too much butter, but a deliciously soft gnocchi

First, a scary thing  I heard this week.

“I haven’t eaten butter in two years.  I just don’t want it.” – my evolutionary biologist professor.

EEEEEK AAAAAAAAAAAAH this was honestly scarier than any one of Matt’s horror movies.  Can you imagine it?  Being happy without butter in your life.  After hearing this I decided this woman and I would never see eye to eye on the subject of food.  She went on to talk about how salads are a concoction of her dreams and expressed the word sugar like it was the dirtiest of words.  And then I watched Bones last night and realized who my professor reminds me of.  She is a Temperance Brennan, of sorts, eating what is the most logically and scientifically founded and abhorring the rest, lacking any sense of loss at not enjoying these “bad” foods.  If you don’t watch Bones, you should and if you ever consider giving up butter you will be dead to me.  The end.

Well not quite.  In honor of Halloween I decided to capitalize on the overabundance of cheap squash in the grocery store.  I bought a long neck pumpkin, cut it in half and half again and roasted it at 400 F till a fork slid in without any problem.  I peeled off the skin, which was really easy after it was roasted, and chopped it into chunks.  I used a blender to break up the pieces after unsuccessfully trying to do it with a fork.  I then pulled up this recipe from the Steamy Kitchen.  The recipe called for canned pumpkin, but I felt like having the option of using fresh was just nicer all around.

Like the recipe says I mixed the 1/2 cup of ricotta, 1/2 cup of pumpkin, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1 egg yolk, and 1 tsp Kosher salt.  I then started to slowly add the cup of flour.    I can honestly say I have never pan fried gnocchi, but I followed the directions, rolled out the gnocchi, chopped it into pieces, and heated a pan with 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil.  The gnocchi crisped beautifully.  I couldn’t find sage so I made a brown butter sauce with rosemary.

Between frying the gnocchi in butter and pouring on the brown butter sauce, the gnocchi tasted a little salty to me.  I doubled the recipe so I have another batch of dough waiting for me to experiment with.  I may try a lemon sauce or a brown sugar glaze.  I am not quite sure yet, but I will certainly let you know.

So while giving up butter would be worse than me running into Freddy Kruger, it takes a butter lover to know when butter might not be the best option with a dish.  The pumpkin gnocchi were amazing and made me want to test out different kinds of squash, but it just deserved a less buttery finish to highlight its delicate flavors.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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