Thursday, March 11, 2010
feels like home to me....
Comfort Food: n. Food that is simply prepared and associated with a sense of home or contentment. The term "comfort food" refers to simple, familiar food that is usually home-cooked. More generally, comfort food can be defined as food that brings some form or measure of comfort, sense of well-being, or easy satisfaction.
It's raining.....again. ALL I WANT TO DO IS EAT!! Could I please get: mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, tator tot hotdish, a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, corn bread and fried chicken on the side....oh and a DIET coke. These thoughts make my waistline cry quietly in the corner.
I've been working really hard to NOT want to burn the pictures that will be taken at my little sisters wedding coming up in May. And all this rain, making me want to eat EVERYTHING, isn't helping! THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!
Have no fear! The days of having to choose between a Beach Body and eating the food we love when it's cold and rainy are over. Ok, enough with the infomercial.
All this started when my girl, KTJ asked me, "What food would you concided relaxing?" I thought it was such an interesting question. You think of food as delicious, comforting, subtle; but relaxing isn't a word I would think of to discribe food. Well, not the actual food itself. We came to conclusion that food itself isn't nessesarily relaxing, but the company and atmosphere can be. It got me thinking about food and the feelings that are evoked from it.
Your Mom's speghetti or chocolate chip cookies, or Dad's lasagna or beef stroganof. [Shit, now I'm hungry.] No matter if you have their specific recipe and make it EXACTLY like they do, it never quite tastes the same. Maybe it's because they have been making it for years and years, or maybe it's just magic. But there is nothing like your parents cooking. OR IS THERE!!!??!!!
I've decided that our own cooking might not be the same, but it can be just as good and healthier than you'd think. For example, the chili I made when it was cold out and I wanted a little taste of comfort was better than my Mom's [sorry mom]. I can't say that it was too much healthier just because she makes her's with broccoli tons of lean meats and veggies. But I will pat myself on the back for this 3 Bean Turkey Chili recipe I made up one night. Let's see if I can remember.....[I really have to start writing these things down.]
Ingredients:
1 md. yellow onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 carton sliced mushrooms
3 jalapejos pepper
1 habanoro pepper
1.5 lbs. ground turkey breast
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can chili beans, with sauce
1 can black beans, drained
1 can tomato sauce
1 28oz. can crushed tomotoes
5 cloves garlic
3 tbs. cumin
2 tbs. chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
[... that's a lot of shit]
12 Servings
PER SERVING: Calories: 164.7, Fat: 4.2, Carbs: 20, Protein: 13.3
Basically put it all in a pot and let 'er rip. Nah, kidding. Cook the meat with the onion and garlic until it's cooked all the way though. Then add all the peppers and mushrooms; cook for 5 mins or so. Then add in all the rest of the ingredients. Cook FOREVER.........or for as long as you like. The longer, the better the taste. You could also make it in a slow cooker. That's it. Totes. Easy. Oooh! I almost forgot the best discovery ever! If you like it with sour cream or cheese and are watching you're girlish or boyish figure, try adding 1% or fat free cottage cheese. I'm telling you, I'll never eat chili another way ever again. SO yum.
I think food is all about reinvention. Nothing tastes the same each time you made it. Recipes are great for guildlines, but there is something about having an idea of flavors in your head and just going; sink or swim.
Assignment readers: Go into your kitchen when you're ready to eat and look in your fridge. Grab the things that you like; protein, pasta, rice, veggie, cheese, anything! And just go. Mix it up. It's so much fun! I'm telling ya.
Website of the Week:
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/quick-easy-comfort-food-recipes-00400000057748/
This is a Cooking Light website that's all about updated Healthy recipes for our favorite comfort foods. I would make any and ALL of these. They look so amazing! Check it out!!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Guess I Got Bored...
I love pasta, as I have stated over and over and over. It only made sense to create a Blog around something that I loved so much. It was all so magical!! It was a new year, a new decade and I wasn't about to just sit around doing nothing while I could be creating amazing food and fun for myself and my friends.
A new job, a new show, and a new theatre company. Cooking with my ta-tas all pushed up for the world to enjoy as much as I do fell by the wayside. Don't get me wrong, I cooked!! Max's Birthday 3-course dinner went off without a hitch and they were great recipes [Baked Caprese Salad, Asparagus with Vin Santo Vinaigrette, and Roman Style Fetteccini with Chicken.Friggin' YUM]. I'm just seeming to have a problem actually blogging about it all....yea........which is kind of the most important part about having a blog..... Am I right ladies?
Maybe it's not the blog that is making me not go through with this. Maybe, juuuuuust maybe, it's all the constrictions that I was putting on it and myself. [profound, right? i know, i thought so too]
So here we are. What now. I don't want to abandon this goal that I had for myself. I don't want this all to end on a note of disappointment that I somehome new would come eventually. Besides....this site is cute. So what now?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
And So it Goes.....
This whole blog thing started off well. Cooking, havin' fun. Then......well, like most things that I start, I got caught up with other things. Don't get me wrong, I have done three recipes since my last, I just haven't blogged about it.....oops. But here is my attempt to get back on the wagon in one fowl swoop.
It's a really good thing that the three recipes I have done in the last three weeks or so were the easiest recipes I have maybe ever done, maybe. So this should be quick.
Recipe #1: Bruschetta with Frisee, Proscuitto, and Mozzarella
Ingredients
18 diagonal slices (1/2-inch-thick) baguette bread
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 head of curly endive or frisee leaves, separated into 2-inch strips
1 (7-ounce) ball fresh water-packed mozzarella cheese, drained, cut into 18 thin slices
18 paper-thin slices prosciutto
2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
Directions
18 diagonal slices (1/2-inch-thick) baguette bread
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 head of curly endive or frisee leaves, separated into 2-inch strips
1 (7-ounce) ball fresh water-packed mozzarella cheese, drained, cut into 18 thin slices
18 paper-thin slices prosciutto
2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Arrange the bread slices on 2 heavy large baking sheets. Brush 3 tablespoons of oil over the bread slices. Bake until the crostini are pale golden and crisp, about 15 minutes.
Wrap 1 curly endive and 1 slice of cheese with 1 slice of prosciutto, allowing the tops to extend 1-inch over 1 long side of the prosciutto. Arrange the crostini on a platter. Top each crostini with a prosciutto roll. Drizzle the vinaigrette over and serve.
Red Wine Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.
Yield: 1 3/4 cups
what you need to know......
What is Frisee?
Basically Frisee is just another type of lettuce. But technically: French "frisée" (curly). "Lettuce" from the Latin "lactuca."An edible plant with long, wide leaves in shades of green or sometimes red, or simply edged with red. As its name suggests, frisée is a curly lettuce whose long tender leaves are joined to a short whitish stem which somewhat resembles the base of the fennel plant. It's lettuce, whatever.
the story......
So this is a recipe that I wanted to make for my closest Friends Christmas or Friendsmas as we like to call it. Basically, it's just a gathering of my closest four; Max, Sheena, Katie and Ali. We get together and eat really good food, drink anything alcohol, and exchange presents. I was all ready to make this recipe and couldn't wait to try it because it looked so so good.
So. It's the night before the party. My other dear, dear friend Marissa was in town from Seattle visiting so her and my other great girlfriends; Alex, Anne and Carissa, all head out to of all places Williams in Uptown. ISH. Just saying. But we went all the same. We all were just thinking it would be a really simple quiet night with the ladies and we would all head home early. Yea......that didn't happen. [When does that EVER happen?]
Cut to: Bar Close. Me wasted in the back of Anne's roommate [Jackie]'s car on our way to McDonald's. No worries. Got a save ride home. Ate my nasty junk food and went to bed. Oh. Did I forget to mention I didn't quite finish the double cheese burger? Yea.... so I set it on my night stand. The next morning I woke up, still a little drunk. "Ummmmm, morning burger." I thought. I reached over and ate the rest of the burger thinking nothing of it.
I went along with my day with a little hang over but nothing too bad. Got my groceries and started to make my recipe for the party. Something wasn't quite right. I, all of a sudden, was the sickest I have ever been in my entire life. You would think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you I'm not. Just ask Max, Katie, Sheena and Ali who all had to take care of me all night. It was offical, Nurse Ali confirmed it.............I had food poisoning. I was throwing up from 5pm to 3am.
Ish. McMorning Burger!!! NOOOO!!!
Needless to say, I didn't even get to try this recipe seeing as my head was in a toilet most of the night. So this one is a do over.
Lesson Learned......
Don't eat McMorning Burgers. Ever.
Recipe #2: Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan
Ingredients
Butter
Any small noodle
Parmesan Cheese
[seriously, that's it]
Directions
Boil water. Cook noodles. Add butter and Parmesan. [seriously, that's it]
what you need to know.......
Absolutely nothing.
the story.......
There is no story other than my dear friend Alex loves butter noodles so we decided to make this one from the book. It was the easiest and cheapest recipe I think I will make from the book. It was Delicious though. Try it sometime. Yum.
I did, however, decide that in good conscience I couldn't possibly eat just noodles, butter and cheese for dinner. So. I decided to make green beans with sauteed shallots [my recipe]. All you have to do is blanch [that just means you boil any vegetable in salted water for 3-8 mins depending, drain them and toss them into ice cold water so they stop cooking] the green beans. While they are cooking, I just sauteed one shallot in a pan over medium-high heat in some olive oil. Then, I added the green beans to the shallots for a couple mins. That's it. But it's so so damn good. Also, it went along with the pasta so well and made it a little more of a complete meal.
Recipe #3: Orecchiette with Mixed Greens and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
1 cup dried orecchiette pasta
2 cups Mediterranean-style mixed salad greens
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil), chopped
1 tablespoon goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the water.
In medium bowl, mix the salad greens with the sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and Parmesan. Top with warm pasta and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss to combine and wilt the greens. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper, or to taste. Garnish with additional Parmesan, if desired, and serve.
what you need to know.....
What is Orecchiette?
It's basically just a shape of pasta. Technically: Orecchiette are a distinctive Puglian type of pasta shaped roughly like small ears, hence the name (orecchio, ear, orecchiette, little ears).
the story.....
My dear friend Anne chose this recipe. We hadn't seen each other in quite awhile so we decided to have a night of wine and food. Alex came as well and supplied us with amazing red and white wine, bread and some of the best dessert ever.
So......as it turns out Orecchiette is available to buy, it's just really hard to find. I blame the traffic. I was stuck on friggin' cross town for like an hour in dead lock and was so irritated by that and the whiny child I nannied for all day that when I didn't find the right shape of pasta and the first store I went to, I said "Screw it" and decided to used whatever I had at home. [Turned out to be plain old Rigatoni.]
This dish, like all the others I have so far made from Everyday Pasta was so super simple. Cook pasta. Put ingredients in bowl. Add cooked pasta. Chat with friends. Get a little loopy from the wine. Eat. Just the way I like it.
So. If you don't like goat cheese, or don't know if you do like goat cheese, I wouldn't recommend this dish. It is a very strong flavor, [that I happen to love love love] but some don't and that's the main things you taste in this. My hat came off for the Mediterranean Greens. I'm sold. If you like salads with a sturdier lettuce but still want flavor, Mediterranean greens are the way to go. And they stood up with the pasta really well.
All around it was a really nice, simply, flavorful dish that I can't wait to eat again.
in conclusion.....
So. There you have it. I'm all caught up. Finally. Hopefully this whole "Kecia is really lazy thing" won't happen again......but I'm not making any promises.
next up.....
Max's Birthday Dinner Party!! [unless I get bored before then]
Friday, January 8, 2010
"When Sunny Get's Blue"
Recipe: Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne
Page: 156
Company: Dear college friend Mrs. Alex Kotarek [no I will not call you Nelson just because you got married. You will be forever known to me as Alex Kotlarek.....sorry Patrick].
"New Age" White Wine
aka. cheap wine
Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne
1 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season with salt. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
things to know....
What is herbes de Provence?
It's a mixture of dried herbs from Provence invented in the 1970s. Usually the herbs included are a combination of the following: dried marjoram, dried thyme, dried savory, dried basil, dried rosemary, dried sage, fennel seeds.
Moment of truth.....
I took a sip of my red wine.....big mistake. Ish, did those flavors clash. I tried some of Alex's white and that was much better. The chicken was AMAZING. If you have never used herbes de Provence, you should. I would cook up the chicken portion of this recipe and put it with almost anything. It would be really great cold on a salad.....just a thought.
The sauce was growing on me too. I still think that it needs a bit more lemon and salt and pepper to cut through the chicken broth flavor, but it was nice. Rich and silky but still light; like a summer pasta dish that you would eat while sitting in a well air conditioned room drinking really cold white wine.
Because I am constantly over doing things, I couldn't help wonder what I could add to the recipe to make it a little.....more. I might add a pinch of the herbes de Provence into the cream sauce. Maybe sautee up some mushrooms and onions with the chicken. I think this recipe comes down to simplicity. Simple ingredients, simple cooking methods, simple but delicious flavors.
As I'm sitting here writing, I'm eating some of the leftovers from last night. Note: Make the amount that you know you will eat right when it's done. These leftovers certainly DO NOT do the dish justice. The noodles are a bit soggy because they soaked up the cream from the sauce but the fat is left over which makes it grease. Not good.
what i learned....
The wise old saying: don't judge a book by it's cover. Or in this case, don't judge a recipe by it's seemingly boring ingredients and preparation. Sometimes simple can be delicious.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Here Goes Nothing...
Pasta is like nothing else. I'm just saying. So like I was saying here I am, a 26 year old woman. I, like so many, have learned to cook not from my mother or father, or through classes and trial and error but the American way....television. I have two words that can completely sum up the largest sore of technique and knowledge.....FOOD NETWORK. I don't mean to say I haven't learned a great deal from my mother and father [who are both amazing cooks and have made a point to have family dinners since I can remember] but after college, when all I was doing was working in a restaurant and coffee house, the greatest pleasure of my days off were to watch the Food Network all...day....long. Sad, maybe. Obsessive, absolutely. But it became something I really looked forward to.
Yes, it was an escape from the real world and the bullshit that comes along with having two costumer service/food industry jobs, but without me even realizing it, it became more than just an escape. I found myself learning and getting excited about cooking. Granted I hadn't started to attempt to actually cook anything that I was watching and learning about, but it kick started a passion for food.
There is so much about the Food Network that is absolutely amazing. I love that I, a normal person, can sit in my own home and learn how to make the most impressive meal simply by watching the television and doing what the professionals do.....and then take all the credit for it. Well, wouldn't you? But here's the thing....learning from a cookbook or from your parents or from the television, it's all the same. The same product [that being a beautiful herb lamb roast or macaroni and cheese] can be learned and produced no matter where you learned it.
So HERE GOES NOTHING....
Pasta and Italian dishes are what I like to eat most. I happen to have received Giada De Laurentiis' "Everyday Pasta" Cookbook for Christmas nearly three years ago and still hasn't even attempted to cook even one recipe from it. Well my friends, the days of throwing whatever you have in your fridge into a pan and calling it dinner is so over. Follow me through an Italian Feast.....
87 recipies
13 meal combinations
endless possibilities