Been cooking with new ingredients. First time with tumeric. I will post the recipe, but this was too pretty to wait on …
who's shroomin' who
Towels, lips, countertop = yellow/orange
Food
It’s not a tumeric
Categories: Chowing Down, Food, In The Kitchen, Photography
Tags: cooking, food photography, shitake, shrooms, tumeric
Food photo: Guess what I made
I made myself cook all last weekend because I’ve been wasting money AGAIN on seamlessweb and take out lunches. What do you suppose I made with these guys:
I spy asparaguy
Categories: Chowing Down, Food, Photography
Tags: asparagus, cooking, food photography, green, guess
Meat class system
Last Friday I dined on delicious fried bologna and onion courtesy of my father, the bologna chef:
Fried bologna is good for what ails ya
This Friday I dined on Meat Butter AKA bone marrow courtesy of Burger and Barrel:
Meat butter. Delicious delicious meat butter.
There are no class lines in my meat world.
Categories: Food, Photography
Tags: bone marrow, food, food photography, fried bologna, meat, meat butter, photography
Alli recipe that won’t make you barf: Penne Chicken Casserole
As promised, I have another Alli recipe to share that isn’t barfworthy. With commentary of course, because this thing was a little bland, but not a lot!
- 1/2 onion, red, medium [no commentary here, a red onion is a red onion]
- 3 small zucchinis [I may have used 4 to up my green things consumption]
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced [I hate button mushrooms. They are the jerks of the fungi world. I used baby bellas instead. They're much less offensive.]
- 1 pound pasta, penne rigate, uncooked [nothing to see here]
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups chicken, cooked [I poached this. I just read in Martha Stewart Everyday Food (or whatever the hell that is) that when you're trying to eat lower fat and you're bored as a buttless boar with the same friggin chicken every night that you should add onions and pepper and herbs to the poaching water (or to your low fat low sodium chicken stock) to infuse it with more flavor]
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 26 ounces Sauce, pasta, marinara [I did not use store bought. I made my own. I do not use salt in my pasta sauce, so this could be why the assembled dish was a touch bland, so I guess I suggest using some salt. Or store bought sauce, but I'm not a fan.]
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, light, shredded
Click on the photos below to bigger them!
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- Always a sucker for packaging, I like how these look like rebellious bad ass tattoo tomatoes
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- Ingredients for tomato sauce, with a watchful little owl man
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- Tomato sauce in, topped with oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, and love!
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- With the first blorps, it’s time to stir!
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- Stirrrrrrr
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- Sauce, done, ready for easy pouring into veggies
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- Sliced zuchs, sliced baby bellas, and chopped red onion!
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- From the top
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- I got to use my new large pan. This was a very exciting moment for me. Yes, I am serious.
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- Cooking veggies
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- Sizzling, smelling yummy.
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- Adding the sauce to the veggie pile. I think the chicken is getting chased around in there, too
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- The pasta has been added to the quagmire of veggies, pasta sauce and chicken. I’d say during this big stir up, it would make sense to throw a pinch of salt in there.
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- Sprinkle with cheese
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- Ready to be foiled and fridged.
Here’s the stuff you do:
Make the pasta sauce, if you’re me. Chop the red onion, slice zucchini and mushrooms. Set aside. Or if you’re me, you layer them all pretty like and shoot them. Cook pasta according to package directions.I cooked only until ALMOST al dente because I knew I’d be backing this thing; drain in colander. Meanwhile (back at the ranch), place a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Sauté the vegetables until soft, about 5 minutes.
Chop chicken into chunks (I did this while I was making the pasta sauce. I just like to have everything ready. Add to skillet with pepper and pasta sauce. Stir well. Oh hey, here is the part in the recipe on the alli website where they neglected to mention when to put the noodles in. This seemed like the appropriate time, so I stirred in the noodles. Things got a little crazy, it’s a lot of ingredients! Place in a casserole dish lightly coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle the top with cheddar cheese. Cover and refrigerate – if you want. I did so I could cook the next night for dinner. To heat and serve: Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover casserole dish with a lid or foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. This took longer than 30 minutes. I may have been impatient with the preheating situation. I hate that. Serve hot. DER.
This honking thing serves 8, so I figured a serving was just a little over 1 cup. It was hot, filling, and with a few dashes of salt and maybe some crushed red pepper flakes, it could be a lot more flavorful!
Nutritional Information
| Calories | 360 |
| Calories from Fat | 70 |
| Total Fat | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1.5 g |
| Cholesterol | 30 mg |
| Sodium | 630 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 54 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugars | 10 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Vitamin A | 10% |
| Vitamin C | 30% |
| Calcium | 8% |
| Iron | 15% |
Categories: Dieting, Food, Health, In The Kitchen
Tags: alli recipes that don't suck, cooking, food photography, penne chicken casserole, photography
How to make the best pasta sauce on Earth
It’s beautiful in its simplicity. It is fresh, it is drinkable it’s that good. And the love you put in it is the most important ingredient.
What you need:
- 2 jars of my mom’s tomatoes canned from the garden
OR - 2 cans plum peeled plum tomatoes (NO BASIL. Do not get the kind with basil. Basil is sweet, and that is a no no in my tomato sauce world)
- 1 can tomato paste
- 3-5 cloves of garlic, depending on size. I love me some garlic, so I always go 5. If you don’t want your guests to hate you because now they can’t make out with each other, go 3. If you don’t give a shit because, damn it, this is your sauce, go with 5)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Crushed red pepper (I added this, this is not called for in my madre’s recipe)
- Dried oregano
- Dried parsley
Get your 5 cloves of garlic and line them up like they’re buddies. Then, one by one, you give them a gentle smush, peel them and cut their butts off. My stepmom told me that when you cut their butts off they ooze their good garlic juices into the sauce without depositing chunks of garlic into the sauce. Place the naked garlic back together in a group of friends. Open the paste. Open the other cans. Now, I like to dump all of the canned tomatoes into a big bowl so I can cut all of their butts off. This is because no one wants to bite into a tough green weird tomato butt. Then, I like to squeeze them to break them into smaller pieces. This can get dangerous, I once squeezed a tomato spurt into my eye. So, you know, squeeze gently!
Ok, so pick your favorite pot. Yes, it has to be your favorite. I like to use a dutch oven because it makes cooking this sauce feel like an event, something special. Plop it over a medium flame and go around the pot bottom a couple of times with the extra virgin olive oil. I don’t coat it. You don’t want oily sauce. I don’t really wait long, I just plop the garlic in and let them dance around. I swirl them around the pot so they get oil all over their little bodies and then when they’re a bit opaque (DON’T BURN THE GARLIC!) I add the tomato paste. Brown it. This is the key to good tomato sauce, and it is apparently the Italian way. You can tell you’ve browned you paste when one, it smells friggin delicious, and two, it’s no longer that freshy fresh looking red, it’s a little deeper, browner I guess.
Slowly blorp the tomatoes that you previously squeezed around into the pot. If you don’t do this slowly, you’ll see why you should have done it slowly. Stir it up from the bottom so that the paste isn’t just lazing there, burning like a jerk. THEN! Take your oregano and “dut dut dut” it around the sauce until it is nearly covered in oregano. Then, take the parsley and do have the amount of duts of that over the oregano. You don’t want a ton of parsley, it gets odd. Now, of course, you can add wine if you want. I sometimes do, I sometimes don’t. Sweet wine is a big fat no. Sprinkle the crushed red pepper on top of the parsley.
I wait until the sauce starts it’s first bubbling before I give it that first stir. And once that happens, I stir in all the green goodness, turn the stove top schnozzle down to low and let that simmer for 3 hours.
And I’m telling you, it’s magical.
Categories: Food, Life, Love, Photography
Tags: cooking with love, food photography, mom's sauce
Photo: chicken fetus
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Eggs are adorable.
this egg has an acne problem. So cute!
Categories: Food, In The Kitchen, Photography
Tags: breakfast, eggs, eggs are cute, food photography
Do you deliver volcanoes?
I overheard one of my coworkers say into the phone “Can you deliver two volcanoes?” She described these volcano things as “so awful you have to chug it, but it really works!” I had to have it. I had to know what this horribly awful good thing was.
It was the Volcano from The Juice Press. I had maybe two gulps of it. And I am currently out of my mind.
This is the reason I am out of my mind right now
Here, this is what it is. I totally want more RIGHT NOW.
It is the Volcano and you will drink it.
Categories: Food, Health
Tags: cold pressed juice, the juice press, the volcano
Photo: Roebling Tea Room
I had a really nice brunch with my sister and her boyfriend at Roebling Tea Room. There is much to love about Brooklyn. It’s got a little more spread so you can stretch your arms from restaurant to restaurant. It can be a little creepy at night in some areas (not unlike anywhere else in the good ole USofA), but I’ve always said I’m more terrified on a backroad at night in Ohio than I am in New York. Anyway, if you haven’t been, Roebling Tea Room is adorable. And if you show up at the stroke of 10AM for brunch and you’re an old bitch like me, you beat the crowd which had designs on that place no doubt. And that, my friends, is good.
The brunch menu isn’t HUGE, but that’s helpful because I still had a hard time choosing between the Egg Mock and the Beets & Eggs. You read that right. We ordered their “Deeply Personal French Press,” bloody marys (delicious, perfect, and the large is strong), two egg mocks, and a potato sandwich (aka sloppy mess) and the total bill came to something underwhelming. The inside of the Tea Room is gentle. Big sweeping ceiling fans, a large communal table in the back. It has the airy feeling of eating in a huge field by a large barn with beautiful fluffy chickens – but inside. And without the chicken butt smell. It was lovely.
Welcome
Deeply Personal French Press. And it was.
Not to be mistaken for boullion
Bloody bloody mary
Do not mock the Egg Mock
Mork was in the Roebling Tea Room Toilet
Oh! There is also a disco ball in case the Deeply Personal French Press really moves you.
Photo: Good morning!
Breakfast egg things!
Categories: Food, Photography
Tags: breakfast, cooking, eggs, food, food photography, kale
How to make your breakfast REALLY healthy – ahead of time
I’m addicted to planning meals ahead. ESPECIALLY breakfast. To know that I have one less thing in the morning to concern myself with is to know I have time to try on at least 3 more outfit combinations.
It’s easy. Veggies: kale, tomatoes, green onions, 4 slices uncured peppered bacon, egg whites, and maybe a dash of Srichacha. SOMETIMES a pinch of low fat mozz.
Spray some cupcake tins, preheat the oven to… 350 or 325 I can’t remember. Cook those little fellers for about 20 minutes and you’re golden for a full week of breakfasts. Sometimes I’ll have three of the little suckers if I’m feeling saucy.
nothing wrong with green onions
uncured pepper rubbed bacon. I will marry you one day.
the bubbles mean it's working!
chopped veggies
chopped up and ready to make healthy taste good.
Slap in some kale and douse the whole thing in almost an entire carton of egg whites.
Did I use red peppers this time? I think I did.
I’ll throw in jalapeno slices, whatever works. It’s about getting all kinds of veggie and protein goodness into yourself.
Categories: Dieting, Food, In The Kitchen, Photography
Tags: breakfast, eating healthy, food photography, quick and easy breakfasts
