And the Best Supporting Award Goes to...SHORT RIBS!

Today is my most high holy day: OSCAR DAY! My goal was to be in my comfy chair, live-blogging undisturbed by the time the celebrities hit the red carpet. So early in the day, I started a crock pot of short ribs going. It was sort of a hybrid of a couple of my favorite recipes, and they turned out FABULOUSLY, if I do say myself--definitely deserving of a Best Supporting statuette!

Italian-Style Short Ribs

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 lbs.(more or less) short ribs seasoned with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic
2 onions, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 red peppers, seeded and diced
*I sometimes throw 8 or 12 oz. of sliced mushrooms in as well, if I have them on hand
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups red wine
1 can tomato paste
2 tablespoons Italian herbs
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of hot red chili flakes
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
28 oz. diced or crushed tomatoes (I used one can Italian-style, plus one can fire-roasted)
1 1/2 cups beef broth

Abbreviated methodology:
Brown the ribs on all sides, add to the crock pot. Drain off all but two tablespoons of the fat from the pan and sauté all veggies until tender. Deglaze with wine, and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir, pour over ribs. Cook on high until the bones fall out (remove those as well as any big fatty/grisly bits), then cook a little longer until the meat can be pulled apart easily. Check the seasoning and serve over pasta (preferred) or mashed potatoes.

Note: As this is cooking, use a turkey baster to keep siphoning off the fat from the top of the sauce. Alternately, if you have the time, when it's done cooking, refrigerate overnight, remove the solidified fat and reheat. As a bonus, the flavors will be even better the second day!

Glazed and Confused

I was running dangerously low on my beloved Bayou Bourbon Glaze with no Tastefully Simple parties in the foreseeable future. I thought about ordering a bottle from someone on eBay, but the glaze is eight bucks a bottle--which is bad enough--and then the shipping was another seven bucks! This is always the point at which I say to myself, "Screw it! I'll make it myself!" And so I did, just like the copycat of Garlic Garlic that I produced a few weeks ago.

I consulted the ingredients on the back of the TS bottle, and began my experimentation. The first batch was mighty tasty. My roommate even said she preferred it to the original, except for one thing--too salty. So batch number two had half the soy sauce. It tasted perfect, but by the time it sat in the fridge overnight, it was thick enough to glue on roofing shingles. So I melted it back down, thinned it out with some water, and TA-DAH, it was perfect. Annnnnd...I've just saved you eight bucks a bottle! #yourewelcome

Gina's Bourbon Blast Glaze

1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup bourbon
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups water
1 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons Tabasco (or hot pepper sauce of choice)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened and syrupy, about 30 minutes.

OKUSNE!

Earlier this week, I got an email at work informing us that the dining hall at the college dorms was going to feature the culinary stylings of a visiting chef and an authentic Slovenian menu. Yeah, my first thought was, "WTH is Slovenian food and is that different from Slovakian?" But I'm always game to try a new cuisine, especially in this little white bread, Applebee's-lovin' town. So I let my Plattsburgh class out a little early tonight and hustled over to the dorms to check it out. And I'm SO GLAD I did! It was delicious (that's "okusne" to you Slovenians)!

Risotto with pumpkin seed oil and Parmesan cheese.

Sautéed vegetables: Zucchini, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, and colorful sweet peppers.

Two Slovenian soups: Chicken stew with chicken, vegetables, wine and spices (front), and one with pasta, cranberry beans, tomato paste and spices (back).

Primorska salad: Buckwheat, radicchio, asparagus spears, shrimp, and vinaigrette. (This salad was beautiful, unusual, and DELICIOUS! I am going to recreate it at home.)

Pork tenderloin with shiitake mushrooms, squash, bacon, and breadcrumbs served with a rich mushroom sauce. (Everything was delicious, but this took the grand prize, IMHO!)

Crispy haddock fillets with bread crumbs and pumpkin seeds.

Bled grmada: A light sponge cake layered with walnuts, vanilla custard, chocolate sauce, and raisins.


I thought the food was very interesting, and seemed to draw from many ethnicities; the risotto seemed Italian, the pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce felt Germanic, and the dessert definitely had a Slavic/Eastern European vibe. When I got home, I Googled up a map of Slovenia, and I saw that it is, in fact, due east of Italy, south of Austria and Hungary, and west of Croatia. Also, it has a tiny bit of coastline, so that explains the seafood elements. Fascinating!

The other thing I did when I got home--albeit a couple of days later--was to attempt to replicate the Primorska Salad. I didn't have time to stop at the co-op for buckwheat, so I swapped out some red quinoa that I steamed, crisped up in the oven, and then cooled. I blanched some cut-up asparagus spears then tossed them in an ice bath, thawed some cocktail shrimp, sliced a shallot into thin slivers, shredded some Parmesan, sliced up a few pieces of shaved prosciutto, and put all of this on top of a big pile of greens and radicchio, and drizzled everything with a Balsamic vinaigrette. Laborious, yes, but well worth the effort to put something elegant and unusual on the dinner table.

Just a bunch of stuff I had lying around...

On tonight's episode of Chopped: It was after 9pm, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. I had a hankering for spaghetti (plus, it's quick & easy), but Cyd wanted Alfredo. So I thought, "Why not both?" So I pulled a jar of roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce and a pint of homemade tomato sauce with red wine and basil from the pantry. In the freezer, I unearthed a package of spicy sausage crumbles, and in the fridge, I found a package of Baby Bella mushrooms that was about to go around the bend on us. I sautéed a diced onion with the mushrooms, browned the sausage, added a few cloves of minced garlic, threw in some dried Italian herbs and black pepper, and stirred in both jars of sauce. Lastly, I boiled up a box of penne with ridges, sprinkled shredded Parmesan on top of the whole affair, and BOOM, faster than you could make Hamburger Helper or get Chinese delivery, we had a beautiful dish made mostly with real food. This "recipe" would be a real weeknight sanity saver! #yourewelcome

Yellow Hands, Happy Tummy

Despite a dearth of exciting food shopping in this town, one of the tiny jewels in our otherwise rusty crown is the North Country Co-op downtown--a great source of organic, ethnic, bulk, and hard-to-find foods. They also send a pretty great newsletter out monthly that has interesting articles and delicious recipes to try with local, seasonal ingredients.

This month, the item featured in the newsletter was fresh turmeric. I had never seen fresh turmeric, so I had no idea what it even looked like. As it turns out, it's in the ginger family, and resembles that type of tuber with a tough outer skin, but without the cactus-like limbs branching out from the main stem. And of course, it's BRIGHT orange inside (more on that later). It doesn't have the same punch as raw ginger, but it does have a milder flavor that perfectly complements the cabbage and chickpea curry that was featured in the co-op's newsletter. 

I pretty much followed the recipe as written, but I added one thing, some cubes of Haloumi cheese that I browned in olive oil. It makes the dish vegetarian and not vegan, but it's so yummy! It's my favorite thing to add to a vegetable curry. Also, as I alluded to earlier, learn from my mistake and WEAR GLOVES when grating fresh turmeric....unless you want to walk around with neon yellow hands the next day like I did.

Curried Winter Vegetables with Fresh Turmeric
(Source:  Marsha Lawrence, via the North Country Co-op Newsletter)
Prep/cook time = 45 minutes      Serves 6

3 tablespoons vegetable oil        
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, washed & cut into bite-sized chunks
2 medium onions, chopped  
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 teaspoon curry powder (I upped this to one tablespoon)  
1 teaspoon toasted coriander seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon salt            
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1/2 head green cabbage, coarsely shredded (I used Savoy)
1 can (15 oz) chick peas, drain    
1 can (13.6 oz) coconut milk
3-inch length turmeric root, peeled and grated
1 medium apple, peeled & cut into bite-sized chunks, optional (use for sweetness)
8 oz. Haloumi cheese, cut into chunks and browned in a skillet with a teaspoon of oil, optional

Prepare or chop ingredients as you work your way through recipe.  Ingredients above are listed in the order of cooking length.

1.  In large skillet sauté oil, potatoes and onions.  Stir and cook 5 – 10 minutes, until onions translucent.  Prepare next items while this sautés.
2.  Add in all spices except turmeric and continue to cook on medium with some stirring.
3.  Turn heat to a lower medium and add cabbage and chick peas.  By now everything should have cooked for 20+ minutes.  If not, continue cooking.
4.  Turn heat to low and add turmeric, coconut milk and optional apple.  Cover and simmer 10 -15 more minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Stir in browned cheese, if using.

The Best Gift is Time Spent with Friends

Once a person heads into middle age, it seems to more and more difficult to buy gifts for one's friends. They don't need anything, and anything they want, they just buy for themselves before their birthdays or other gift-giving holidays roll around. So more often than not, my local friends and I tend to give each other experiences in lieu of material goods. And this year, my friends, Lee Ann and June, outdid themselves!







In December, they asked me and another friend, Vicky, out to lunch and then presented us with these MAGNIFIQUE baskets filled with lots of goodies from Quebec: Maple leaf cookies and cookies with the Chateau Frontenac embossed in chocolate, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Whippets (like Canadian Mallowmars), and even a can of yellow pea soup (it's traditional--don't ask). But the best thing in the basket was a handmade coupon for dinner and a play in Montreal!

So yesterday, we finally took ourselves north to see The Book of Bob at The Centaur (the staging was inventive, but the play was just so-so), and then we had dinner afterwards at a nice wine bar in Old Montreal called Modavie. Everything we had was tasty, but the salad that June ordered looked especially scrumptious. The menu said it was made with frisee (which is why I didn't order it--I'm not a fan of bitter, spiky greens), but it came with mixed greens, lardons (crispy fried pork bits), and a softly poached egg on top. It looked incredible, and I thought, "Why can't I make this for myself at home?"

So...I did. I used smoky bacon ends from Oscar's Smokehouse, and though I admit, my freeform egg poaching skills are pathetic, a drizzle of Caesar vinaigrette covers a multitude of unsightly eggy sins. DECADENT and DELISH!

Another snow day...must make soup!

Ordinarily, one would rejoice at the prospect of a snow day--this time a proper one where classes are cancelled before you make it into school. But this is the second one in a week and a half, and I am starting to despair that my MWF classes will never get caught up!

That said, I slept in, took a hot shower and put on clean, cozy jammies, got the fire going, and started a pot of creamy Monterey Jack cheese soup for dinner. Now I'm trying to clear out the dvr, catch up on blogging, and I'm considering baking something...maybe banana nut bread? To top it all off, I just got a call from my oncologist's office with a "normal" blood work result! Now THAT'S a sweet Valentine's Day!

The soup recipe was another Pinterest discovery, and it's quite good. I made some changes, of course, like using my homemade salsa verde in place of the tomatoes, onion, and peppers in the recipe. Also, I recommend the addition of a couple of cans of corn and some cut-up grilled chicken strips to make it a heartier meal, though it's deliciously meatless as it. Either way, it'll warm your cockles on a snow day!

Monterey Jack Cheese Soup

(Source: adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything)

2 cups chicken broth
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles*
1 cup tomatoes, diced*
1 cup onion, finley chopped*
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups milk, hot
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 lb Monterey jack cheese, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups - see note)

2 cans sweet corn, drained (optional)

1 lb. grilled chicken strips, cut into a large dice (optional)

*I used 1 1/2 cups of homemade salsa verde instead of the chiles, tomatoes, and onion.

In a medium pot bring broth, chiles, tomatoes, onion (or salsa verde), and garlic to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 10 minutes or until veggies are soft. (If using salsa verde, just bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and hold until ready to use.)

While the veggies are cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the flour and cook for three minutes stirring constantly. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the hot milk, adding a 1/2 cup at a time. Cook for seven minutes over medium heat until thickened.

Remove veggie/broth mixture from the heat and stir into milk mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of hot milk, salt and pepper and Monterey Jack cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. (Make sure your don't heat the cheese soup on too high of heat or the cheese will "break" and be grainy.) If you like, add corn and chicken and just heat through.

Note: When making soups it's best to not use pre-shredded cheese which can have additives and doesn't melt as well. For creamier soups buy cheese in blocks. 

Follow-up (2/15): The soup was very creamy…UNTIL I reheated it (on low) today in the crock pot. Then I got the graininess going on. So either I left it heating too long, or it just doesn’t reheat well. So next time, unless I’m cooking for a lot of people, I’ll just make half the recipe.

Yet another follow-up (2/18): You know what "fixed" the grainy reheated soup? I can just hear the screams of the food purists and the "clean" eaters now, but I chopped up about a cup of sharp cheddar flavored Velveeta to the leftovers, and that did the trick. Took it right back to smooth and creamy. I know, I know. But desperate times called for desperate measures! ;-)

"Waiter...there's too much pepper in my paprikash."

This is how dumb and susceptible I am. My friend, Heather, posted a link on Facebook recently from Cooking Light. It was an article about spending Sunday preparing a week's worth of healthy meals. The photo accompanying the article looked delicious, so clicked through to the recipe to see what it was. I guess I must have skimmed the text, as I thought it just said Pork Paprikash, and the picture looked like it involved meatballs in a paprikash sauce over egg noodles. Of course, I have used pork in combination with beef for meatballs, but never a totally pork meatball. I was intrigued and thought I'd give it a try.

But when I got home tonight and read the recipe more carefully, I realized that it called for chunks of pork tenderloin. First of all, I wasn't going back to the store for a tenderloin, and secondly, I wanted pork meatballs! So, as is my way, I made up my own recipe and made use of my slow cooker to do it. And it turned out AWESOME! I am definitely making this dish again and again.

Crock Pot Pork Meatballs Paprikash 

Meatballs: 
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1 tablespoon butter 
1 large onion, finely diced 
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped 
2 cloves garlic 
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
1 teaspoon dried thyme 
1 teaspoon ground celery 
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
pinch of red pepper flakes 
1 cup white wine, divided 
2 lbs. ground pork 
1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs 
1/4 cup half and half 
1 egg 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 

Sauce: 
1 6 oz.can tomato paste 
2 tablespoons flour 
2 cups chicken or beef stock 
1 tablespoon sweet paprika 
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 
1 teaspoon sugar 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 
1 cup sour cream 

wide egg noodles (or egg pappardelle)

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and saute the onion and mushrooms until tender. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, ground celery, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and half a cup of the white wine. Reduce for a few minutes until the wine is mostly absorbed. Combine this veggie mixture with the ground pork, bread crumbs, half and half, egg, and parsley. Mix with your hands until just combined--don't overwork. Form into balls (I used a cookie scoop and got about 35 meatballs) and brown them on all sides in the skillet. Add the meatballs to a crock pot set on low.

In the same skillet, combine the tomato paste and flour and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the chicken or beef stock, whisking until smooth. Add the sweet paprika, red wine vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt, and cook for a few minutes until thickened. With a rubber spatula, scrape the sauce into the crock pot and stir gently to combine. Cook on low for four hours or high for two, then stir in the sour cream. Serve over wide eggs noodles or egg pappardelle. Garnish with a little more chopped fresh parsley.

Annoying Half Snow Day

Note to my college administration: Snow days are fun, but not when you get out of bed, get ready for work, clean off your car, risk your life driving to work, teach one measly 50-minute class, and THEN classes are cancelled, the minute before you are about to do a special lunchtime presentation to the faculty that now has to be rescheduled. BAH!

However, it was nice to be home for the afternoon, and as I had to luxury to do so, I cooked up a...ummm...storm! I made a lovely green salad with dried cranberries, roasted pecans, green onions, creamy dollops of goat cheese, and a homemade strawberry balsamic vinaigrette, then a semi-homemade chicken pot pie for our entree, and for dessert, croissant bread pudding, but instead of making the traditional hard sauce, I drizzled each piece with Fat Toad Farms' Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce. YUM!

The strawberry-balsamic dressing was based on something similar that my friend June made recently, though she mushed up a few fresh strawberries in hers (I used jam), and she didn't use mustard. For my version, I started with two heaping tablespoons of strawberry preserves, two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, one clove of minced garlic, a good pinch of salt and pepper, and then I whisked in olive oil in a thin stream, probably a scant half cup. My roommate thought it made the best salad she's ever had!

Apart from preparing this fantastic meal, I had one other snow day project: to try and clone Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic Seasoning, which I LOVE, but it's frightfully expensive at nine bucks for a small container! As it turns out, it's pretty easy to make a passable copycat for much, much less. Now, keep in mind that when I make a dip, I like to use half Garlic Garlic and half Onion Onion. So if you want this to be more like straight GG, then decrease the minced onion by three-quarters. If you make a quarter of the recipe that follows, it will refill your empty TS container. As it is, this will almost fill a pint-sized container. #yourewelcome

Garlic Garlic Copycat Seasoning

8 tablespoons dried minced garlic (I had dried garlic slices, so I busted them up into small pieces by hand with a pastry cutter--you can use a food processor, but careful not to pulverize, as you want little bits)
4 tablespoons dried minced onion (or cut this back to one tablespoon if you prefer)
4 teaspoons sea salt
4 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons dried chives
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

Super Bowl XLVIII

HAPPY SUPER BOWL DAY! Or, as I prefer to think of it, Happy Expensive Commercials and Bruno Mars Concert Day! As my friends and longtime readers know, I loathe football, but I struck a deal with my roommate that she would go to the Sing-Along Frozen movie with me (tee hee), and I would prepare a junk food feast for the big game. Here was my menu:

Devilled Egg Footballs
Muffaletta Sliders
Festive Favourite Layered Dip
Asian-Style Wings
Beefy Enchilada Dip

Make your favorite devilled eggs, then use green onions or chives to make the "football" laces. Cute, huh? (Thank you, Pinterest!)

I bought little football-shaped potato rolls, spread each side with (prepared) olive salad, then filled the sammies with spicy cappicola, mortadella, Genoa salami, and provolone.

My friend near Quebec City, Isabelle, shared this recipe with me, saying she gets raves about it every time she takes it to a party. And I get that--it's YUMMY and so pretty! It would also be perfect for a Christmas potluck with the red and green.

Festive Favourite Layered Dip
(Source: adapted from Kraft Canada)

1 tub (250g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Miracle Whip Original Spread

1 cup salsa

2 cups Kraft Mozzarella Shredded Cheese

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped (I used a jalapeno instead)

2 green onions, chopped (I doubled this)

Mix first three ingredients until well blended; spread onto plate or shallow dish. Top with layers of all remaining ingredients. Serve with crackers or sturdy tortilla or corn chips.

Asian-Style Wings

Mix together in a large bowl:

1 cup flour 
1 teaspoon granulated garlic 
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1/2 teaspoon salt

Toss 20-24 chicken wings in the flour mixture to coat. Bake at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until crispy and brown.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, blend the following ingredients:
1/2 cup apricot pepper jelly (or plum jam/jelly)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

squirt of sriracha, to taste

When the chicken wings are baked, add them to a crock pot set on low, pour the sauce over, then fold gently to combine. Leave the wings to keep warm in the slow cooker during your party!

Beefy Enchilada Dip

(Source: adapted from Add a Pinch)

1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups red enchilada sauce
2 cups grated Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese

sour cream
tortilla chips

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain. Add in onion and garlic and cook until tender, about three minutes. Stir in enchilada sauce and top with grated cheese. Cover and allow cheese to melt, about three more minutes.

Top with sour cream and serve with tortilla chips.

Fire up the crock pot--"spring" semester has begun!

Spring semester is off and running...and it feels like it's running right over me! It's only Wednesday of the first week, and I'm already WIPED! I guess it's going to take a little time to get my groove back. In the meantime, the only salvation may be my trusty crock pot.

Before I went to bed last night, I prepped a crock of beef, barley and vegetable soup, then chucked it into the fridge overnight. This morning, I put the crock of soup into the heated part of the pot, turned it on low, and went about my day. Six hours later, and it was just about perfect. But I had a bag of baby kale, spinach, and chard in the fridge, so I chopped up a couple of handfuls of the dark leafies to add some extra color and nutrition and threw them in to wilt while I got on with the grilling of the cheese sammies. SO DELICIOUS! Why do I not make beef barley soup more often, especially when the crock pot makes it so easy?

Crock Pot Beef, Barley and Vegetable Soup
(Source: Adapted from Simple, Nourished Living)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound beef chuck roast, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
1 medium to large onion, diced
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
2 or 3 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 4!)
1/2 cup red wine
6 cups beef broth
1 can (14.5 ounce] diced tomatoes, with their juices (I used Italian-style)
1/2 cup uncooked pearled barley
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
more salt and pepper, to taste

In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Dry off the meat with paper towels and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the meat to the pan and brown on all sides. Transfer to a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet, and cook the onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and thyme, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to color and soften. Stir in the garlic and cook another minute. Add the wine and reduce a bit, scraping the fond from the bottom of the pan.

Add the veg mixture to the slow cooker. Pour in the beef broth, canned tomatoes, and dry barley. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours. Garnish with fresh parsley OR wilt some chopped, dark, leafy greens into the soup at the end of the cooking time (e.g. spinach, kale, and/or Swiss chard). Season with salt and pepper as desired.

In which I create guacummus (or hummamole?)

My friend, Janice, was snowbirding down to Florida for most of January, and she just got home yesterday. So she invited a few friends around to have dinner together tonight before the onslaught of spring semester hits us smack in the face come Monday. Of course, I asked what I could bring, and of course, she pretty much had everything covered as she always does, but I thought I might at least bring a little appetizer--nothing too difficult or fancy (I wanted a lazy last weekend before heading back to school).

I recently had a chat with a high school friend about hummus and all the different varieties one might make. This made me crave hummus, and it also compelled me to make a slightly more adventurous variety. As it happens, I had some perfectly ripe avocados looking at me on the counter, so I decided to invent...drumroll, please...GUACUMMUS (or is it hummamole?)! Ok, a quick perusal of the interwebs tells me that I probably didn't invent avocado hummus, but I'd like to think I may have perfected it with the following recipe.

Guacummus (Avocado Hummus)

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas, drained
1/4 medium to large onion, roughly chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lime, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
squirt or two of sriracha (or hot sauce or a few pickled jalapeno slices)
1 tablespoon water, if needed

Blend all this in the food processor, adding a little water to achieve the right consistency. Then throw in a small handful of cilantro leaves and pulse a few more times.

Shame on me!

I am embarrassed to even post this "recipe," but in my defense, I've had a long day! It was my first day back to work, and the hours were filled with mind-numbing meetings and multiple syllabi preparations. So when I got home, I sure didn't feel like cooking.  But then I remembered this shameful junk food meal that I saw on Pinterest and thought, PERFECT! The dish is officially entitled Chili Dog Casserole, but one blogger renamed it "Redneck Enchiladas," which I think is quite apt.

I am not even going to type this out like an actual recipe, because it doesn't deserve that much effort. You take one can of chili (I prefer the hot kind without beans for this, but your call) and spread it into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Then get ten taco-sized soft flour tortillas, place a sandwich slice of cheddar cheese on top of each (that was my twist on this dish--more cheese!), then roll up a hot dog in each tortilla (I used lean beef weiners to make this "healthy"--ha ha). Place them seam-side down in the chili (a row of eight and two on the side), then spread a second can of chili evenly on top. Sprinkle with two cups of shredded cheese (I used colby-jack), cover with foil, and bake at 425 for 30 minutes. That's all there is to it, except that I squirted some yellow mustard on mine and sprinkled on some chopped onion as well. You do as you see fit.

Oh well...at least we didn't resort to calling Domino's as we so often do on a Friday night! Plus, we ate healthy last night, so it all balances out, right? ;-)

Low-carbing it on my last night of freedom...

Well, folks. Winter Break has been fun and relaxing, but my freedom is over, and it's back to the grind tomorrow. I have an 8am meeting in the morning, and the weather threatens to dip to almost 20 below. The only thing that can help me face such a fearsome Friday is a delicious, seasonal margarita--and keep 'em coming!

'Tis the season of lovely citrus in the grocery stores, and I recently bought a box of clementines, mainly because my roommate likes to take a couple to work in her lunch bag. But there are a LOT of those sweet little suckers in that small box! So I decided to incorporate them into my favorite adult beverage, the margarita, because I always like at least a little bit of orange juice in the mix anyway. The resulting drink was delicious, but it also got me to thinking about blood orange margaritas, and minneola margaritas...oh, the list may be endless! It's a little taste of sunshine and summertime in the bleak midwinter.

Clementine Margaritas (on the Rocks)

1 cup clementine juice (about 8 clementines, juiced)
1/2 cup margarita mix
juice of half a lime
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup Triple Sec
good pinch of salt
agave syrup, if needed, to taste
ice

This makes two cocktails (in 16 oz. glasses).

For dinner, I prepared something that my friend (who recently completed a Whole 30 regimen) was babbling about on Facebook--Paleo Lettuce Cups. She said that her kids usually can tell when she's "paleo-fied" a recipe and made legal substitutions, but they loved these lettuce wraps and couldn't tell they were Paleo. I completely concur--they were SO GOOD! But I sort of un-paleofied them by swapping out ponzu soy sauce for the coconut aminos, by using non-sanctioned brands of fish sauce and sriracha, by using toasted sesame oil, and also by adding a little Hoisin sauce. So if you are following those strict dietary guidelines, be advised of these adaptations. Whether you stay "kosher" to the Paleo program or not, this is good stuff, something the whole family can enjoy together, even if the rest of them aren't watching their carb intake.

"Paleo" Lettuce Cups

(Source: adapted from NomNom Paleo)

1 lb. lean ground meat
1 lb. thinly sliced mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas, chopped)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lard (I used toasted sesame oil)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger (I added this)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)
2 tablespoons coconut aminos (I used ponzu soy sauce)
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce (I added this)

1 teaspoon sriracha, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1-2 cups broccoli slaw
1/2 cup shredded carrots (I used 2 cups total of broccoli, cabbage, and carrot slaw)
2 scallions, thinly sliced (I used 4 scallions)
handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground meat with the mushrooms and onion in the lard or sesame oil. When almost all of the pink is gone from the meat, add in the minced garlic and ginger. Keep cooking until the meat has browned through. Add in the fish sauce, vinegar, coconut aminos or soy sauce, hoisin (if using), sriracha, and black pepper, and stir to combine.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add the slaw vegetables, scallions, and cilantro. Serve in iceberg lettuce "cups."

Note: Another non-Paleo addition that's really good here is to toss in a handful of peanuts for some extra texture and crunch. NOM NOM!

Cuba Norte

This would probably stress normal people out, but I kinda love it when my foodie friends text me and say that they are experimenting with Cuban cuisine, and that I should come for dinner...and bring dessert.  Naturally, I accepted the invitation without a moment's hesitation. But my reply was that I would come, and I would make dessert, but it wasn't going to be fancy, and I didn't want to have to go to the store.

So working with what I had in my fridge and pantry, I ended up making not one but TWO simple, but traditional Cuban desserts. First off, I prepared some creamy, luscious Arroz con Tres Leches--that's rice pudding to us Americanos, but sweeter and with a flavor like caramel or dulce de leche thanks to the inclusion of three different milks that are cooked slowly with the rice.

To make the pudding, first, prepare two cups of short-grained rice (I used arborio) in four cups of water with a pinch of salt, a cinnamon stick, and the rind of a lemon (removed with a peeler). Rinse the rice three times, drain, add the water and other ingredients, cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and barely simmer for 20 minutes--no peeking!

Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, then toss the steamed rice into your slow cooker and stir in a can of evaporated milk, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and a cup of whole milk. Cook this on high for about two hours (or low for four) until the rice absorbs the liquid and is creamy but not runny, stirring every 30 minutes to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the crock pot. Of course, you can simmer this on the stove top, but you'll have to keep a much closer eye on it to prevent scorching. That's why the slow cooker is a big help here. However you cook it, when it's done, add two teaspoons of vanilla extract, and serve warm with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon (or chill for a couple/few hours first if you like it cold).

I wasn't sure how people at the dinner were going to feel about rice pudding (some people are not keen on it...inexplicably), so I also baked a batch of Polvorones, tender almond shortbread cookies that are quite similar to Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies. The word "polvorone" has the same linguistic root as the English word "pulverize," and the cookie is meant to be delicately crumbly inside, even after it bakes.

The only changes I made to the recipe I referenced was to use butter instead of lard, and then to roll the cookies in powdered, not granulated, sugar with a little cinnamon mixed in. My friends couldn't stop eating them, and one of them said they tasted like "really good Snickerdoodles." LOL! I guess it was that bit of cinnamon in the powdered sugar that I also dusted onto the cookies after they had cooled, mostly to make them look pretty.

Polvorones
(Source: adapted from Three Guys from Miami)

1 cup creamy white lard (non-hydrogenated leaf lard)--I used two sticks of softened butter
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely ground almonds--I used almond flour/meal
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375º F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the lard or butter and the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, almonds, and salt. Add this mixture gradually to your creamed ingredients until you have a dough that is slightly crumbly. Shape the dough into small balls in the palm of your hand, then flatten slightly. (I used a regular cookie scoop and got 27 cookies.) Rolls the balls in white sugar (I used half a cup of powdered sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon), and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake for approximately 12 to 14 minutes until just starting to turn golden brown on top. Cool on a wire rack and dust with the remaining cinnamon powdered sugar if desired.

Oh, and one last photo before I wrap this up, a picture of the wonderful Cuban meal that my friends Domenica and Jaime made, which included Ropa Vieja with Rice, Stewed Black Beans, and Tostones (Fried Plantains).

It was all FANTASTICO! And it sure beat driving all the way to Montreal in the dead of winter to search out interesting ethnic food, as we so often must do. *sad trombone*

Saying Goodbye to The Rustique

I complain all the time about the lack of decent food in my fair city. Therefore, every so often, my friends and I travel to the county line to dine at a restaurant called The Rustique. It's cozy, the food is good, and it's closer to where three of my most frequent dining companions live, that is, in Saranac, NY. Sadly, the good folks at The Rustique announced in the fall that they would be closing up shop and retiring at the end of the year. :-(

So my friends I went for one last meal there in December, and I had a Greek-inspired pasta dish called Shrimp Athena with lemon, feta, kalamata olives, and sun-dried tomatoes, and shrimp, of course. It was simple, but simply SCRUMPTIOUS! So now that The Rustique is gone (boo hoo), I guess I have to learn to make something similar at home. Here's what I came up with:

Shrimp Athena

1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup flour
1 lb. large (raw) shrimp peeled, deveined, butterflied
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup julienned sundried tomatoes (or swap out halved grape tomatoes, if you prefer)
1/2 cup sliced kalamata olives
zest and juice of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 lb. pasta, prepared according to package directions (al dente)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 oz. feta cheese

In a large sauté pan, add olive oil. Coat shrimp with flour that has been mixed with lemon pepper and shake off the excess. Cook shrimp on medium heat for about two minutes until golden brown on both sides. Remove the shrimp from the pan. 

Add garlic and cook another minute or two. Add white wine, tomatoes, olives, lemon zest and juice, and simmer for an additional two to three minutes. Melt the butter into the wine and veggie mixture, then toss the cooked pasta around in the pan to coat. Add the chopped parsley, feta cheese, and the reserved shrimp and toss once more before serving (with crust bread to sop up the yummy sauce).

*Note: A pound of cut-up boneless chicken breasts can be substituted for the shrimp.

¿Tacos de Papa? !Qué cosa!

So...I was trolling through Facebook on a random Tuesday, as is my way, and my high school buddy, Kim, who lives near Palm Springs and always observes Taco Tuesday in her household, posted that she made potato tacos that were "the bomb" for dinner. Potato tacos, I say? Never heard of such a thing!

So I interrogated my friend, researched recipes online, and watched a couple of YouTube videos until I was ready to make my own attempt. I must say, Tacos de Papa are muy delicioso, and I suspect that even your most carvinorous friends would enjoy them and not even miss the meat. For the next Taco Tuesday or Cinco de Mayo fiesta at your house, give these tasty tacos a try!

Oh, a few notes. Instead of russets, I used Rooster Potatoes. It's a potato with fluffy yellow flesh that the Brits use for making their chips, I believe. They've never been available in the US...until now. And I found them--of all places--at Wal-Mart! Also, though the lady in the video just browns the tacos on both sides in a dab of oil, but I shallow-fried mine in about a half-inch of oil so they were puffy and crispy. Of course, then they they were too crunchy to open up and add the toppings, so I just piled stuff on the outside of the shell and ate them sideways. Problem solved! Lastly, don't ask me why she calls it "avocado relish" and not, um, GUACAMOLE?? Whatever, Betty. Whatever you call it, I call it YUMMY!

Tacos de Papa (Potato Tacos)

(Source: adapted from Average Betty)

Potato Filling:

10-12 ounces Idaho Potatoes peeled and cubed (about 1 1/2 cups diced)--I used Rooster potatoes
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon diced jalapeno
2 ounces queso fresco cheese (farmer's cheese would work if you can't find queso fresco)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
12-16 corn tortillas

Avocado Relish:
1 ripe avocado, diced
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 tablespoons diced jalapeno
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 small tomato, seeded & diced
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

Prepare the potatoes:
1) Peel and chop potatoes.
2) Place potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil.
3) Lower the heat and cover saucepan with lid.
4) Cook 5-7 minutes, until al dente.
5) While the potatoes cook, saute chopped onion and jalapeno until soft and golden.
6) When the potatoes are cooked, drain water.
7) Using a fork, combine potatoes with sauteed onion and jalapeno, queso fresco, cumin and salt to taste.

Prepare the avocado relish:
1) In a bowl combine diced avocado, chopped onion, diced jalapeno (remove seeds for less heat), chopped cilantro leaves and stems, diced tomato, salt, pepper and lime juice.
2) Set aside until ready to use.

Prepare the tacos de papa:
1) Heat or steam corn tortillas and carefully fill with potato mixture.
2) Fold tortilla to form taco.
3) Heat one tablespoon canola or vegetable oil in a skillet. (I used a half-inch layer of oil.)
4) Fry tacos on both sides until puffed, golden and crispy.
5) Garnish with shredded lettuce or cabbage, avocado relish and your favorite hot sauce or salsa.

Polar Pantry Pilfering

Here's the hip new phrase of the season: POLAR VORTEX! I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but I just took this screen shot from weather.com a few minutes ago. Yesterday, the low was "only" -12, but the wind chill factor got down to 35 below! 35 BELOW! Like that's even a thing! This is New York State, not Antarctica!

Because it has been so unbearably cold, and our driveway is one long, deathly ice floe, going shopping is something to avoided at all costs and only undertaken in the most desperate of circumstances. Happily for me in times like these, I have a spare fridge and freezer in the garage, and an overstuffed pantry to keep us alive until there's a brief reprieve in the weather. So for dinner tonight, I raided the pantry for a whole bunch of canned goods and fashioned a quick and hearty taco soup which I let simmer in the crock pot while I kept the taps trickling, the space heaters aimed toward the pipes, and the fire stoked and crackling.

Now this super-quick cheater "recipe" is called 8 Can Taco Soup, but I can't abide canned chicken (except maybe in that Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip, and even then, only in a pinch). I often have a deli chicken half-frozen in the outside fridge for occasions just such as this, so mine was a seven can soup. Actually, six cans and a jar, as I used a homemade salsa verde, because I didn't have green enchilada sauce on hand. Lastly, I didn't have a taco seasoning packet, so I made my own spice blend, which is better anyway--less sodium. Oh, and I used homemade chicken stock, not canned.  So it was really a five can soup! LOL! My point is, and I do have one, is that you can adjust this recipe according to what you have in your pantry so that you don't have to run to the store during the PoVo. (See what I did there?)

Slow Cooker 8-Can Taco Soup 

(Source: adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used Cuban-style black beans from TJ's, drained not rinsed)
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (I used dark red kidney beans--just because I didn't have pintos, though chili beans or ranch-style beans would be good, too)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (I used fire-roasted)
1 can sweet corn, drained
1 can chicken breast, drained (I used a deskinned/deboned rotisserie chicken, torn into pieces)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can green enchilada sauce (I used a pint of homemade salsa verde)
1 can chicken broth (I used two cups homemade stock)
1 packet taco seasoning (I used 2 tablespoons dark chili powder, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper)

Dump all the ingredients into slow cooker and stir together. Cook on low heat for 2-3 hours or high for about an hour. Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, and a dollop of sour cream.

Korean Takeout at Home...in a Flash!

As I have griped about many, many times before, I live in tiny little 'Burgh with a dearth of great food, especially ethnic cuisine. Although, to be fair, in recent years, we've have added Thai, Indian, and even Himalayan/Nepalese/Bhutanese. But one thing our fair city is in desperate need of is Korean food!

So when my friend, Jaymie, shared this recipe on Facebook, I was all over it like white on...well, you know. Of course, you could get fancy and make this with sliced flank steak and throw in some broccoli for color and added nutrition. But when you make it with ground beef, it's SUPER easy, and you can have it served up in less time that it takes to find an old take-out menu. The one main change I made to the recipe was to add some of my homemade kimchi, but you can skip it if you don't have any.  Anyway you make it, this is a fast, easy, flexible dish that is DEFINITELY going into the regular rotation around here!

Korean Beef with Kimchi

(Source: adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff)

1 lb. lean ground beef

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce (low-sodium, or 2T regular soy sauce)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated (I often use the stuff in a tube for convenience)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers, to taste (I used 1T Korean red pepper paste)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup kimchi, chopped, optional

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 bunch green onions, diced

steamed rice

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown the ground beef with the garlic. Drain off the fat and add the brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, red pepper flakes or paste, black pepper, and kimchi (if using). Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil. Serve over steamed rice and garnish with green onions.