Taco Tuesdee

What we love: Tacos
What we don't love: Nuclear orange taco seasoning packets with 5 metric tons of salt  and other scary chemicals, chopping, large piles of dirty dishes, extensive ingredients lists, eating dinner at 8:00 on a week night

That said, I give you :

Easiest. Tacos. Ever.

1 lb ground meat 

4 heaping tbsps picante sauce

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

taco shells

toppings

Put all ingredients except shells and toppings in a large frying pan, over medium high heat, until meat is cooked through. Spoon into taco shells and adorn with toppings of your choice (I like torn up bits of lettuce, tiny tomatoes, plain yogurt, shredded "Mexican" cheese, and more picante sauce...not necessarily in that order)

1-2-3 Artichoke Hummus

Not much to say except, this recipe was good enough to draw me from my blogging slumber. I love to make my own hummus, but sometimes its a little hard to find tahini, and it can be a bit expensive. Enter goddess dressing.  Essentially hummus without the beans. Tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and seasonings. It's easy to find, and only $1.99 a bottle at Trader Joe's. Because of this dressing I now have a recipe that only requires three ingredients and about five minutes of work. YES. 

 I will be honest and say, don't think it's as piquant as traditional hummus, but it's on the better side of decent. I also think it is easy to mess around with the flavoring (i.e. garlic, roasted peppers, etc.).

Three Ingredient Hummus

1- 15 oz can of chickpeas

1/3 cup Goddess Dressing (either Trader Joe's brand or Annie's brand)

1/2- 12 oz jar of marinated artichokes

Drain chickpeas and dump them into a food processor. Add the goddess dressing. Fish out about half the jar of artichoke hearts with a fork and add those to the food processor too. Add 2 tablespoons of the artichoke marinade to the food processor. Process for about a minute and a half, until it is smooth. Et, voila! Hummus! If it's too chunky or thick, add more dressing or marinade until it is to your liking. 

Strawberry Yogurt Breakfast Parfait

1) THANK YOU SO MUCH  to everyone who helped Greta and me raise $142 with our online bake sale!
2) This week has been incredibly busy! I had a lot of catching up to do after the bake sale. Luckily, in Florida, strawberry season is here!  To me, the arrival of the first Plant City strawberries in these Boston grocery stores is the first glimmer of Spring. I have been fueling my days with the same breakfast all week: a simple yogurt parfait. It's an easy way to bring a little health, and I think a little luxury to even the busiest mornings.

Strawberry Yogurt Breakfast Parfait

1 cup(-ish )  plain Greek yogurt

5 or 6 Strawberries- rinsed, dried and cut into quarters

1/4 cup raw, rolled oats

 about 2 tbsp  honey

In your cup (or bowl) carefully spoon in the yogurt so the sides are clean ( it's pretty that way). Layer on the strawberries, sprinkle the oats on top and drizzle with honey. 

That's it. Is that even really a recipe? 

Anyway, I've been thoroughly enjoying it,  and I hope you will too! 

** bonus instructions...put on this beautiful cover of Bob Marley's "Is This Love" while you're eating your breakfast because you deserve at least three and half minutes of heaven to start your day. 

xo

Cookie Sale for Charity! GO GRETA!

Hello all! I have some very exciting news! My friend Greta is training to run in the Boston Marathon this year, and in order to do so, she has to raise at least $5,000  (her goal is $10,000!!) for Boston Medical Center's Pediatric Fitness and  Nutrition for Life  Program . A daunting task, I know. SO...I have decided to sell some of my homemade cookies right here on Eat to the Beat! to help her achieve her goal!
**Sidebar:  (Yes, I realize how hypocritical it is to sell buttery, sugary cookies to raise money for a fitness and nutrition program. Just think of it as an exercise in moderation.)**

How it Works: 
Head on over to the Etsy shop I set up for this event at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/eatothebeat . Every penny in the listed price of the cookies is going to be donated to Greta's fundraising efforts!

All orders must be placed by 12:00 a.m. on Feburary 5, 2012

Baking day is Sunday, February 5, 2012. 

If you are local to Boston and would like to pick up your cookies, I'll be in the lobby of the Boston University School of Medicine L-building  on Monday, February 6, 2012 from 2 pm- 7 pm. 

OR

 If would like your cookies shipped to you, they will be dropped off at the post office in the morning on Monday, February 6, 2012. Unfortunately I am a student and unpaid intern, so if you choose to have your cookies shipped, you will have to pay for that in addition to the price of the cookies. (Sorry!) I'm not sure about the rules for shipping food across international borders, so this offer will be limited to friends in the U.S. Shipping details are listed on the Etsy site.

Don't need any cookies but still want to help out?
You can go to Greta's fundraising page here to make a donation.


Here is a preview of the listings:

Happy Shopping! And Thanks for your help!

I'm Famous!

Okay, not really. As an avid baker/ food nerd, I follow the King Arthur Flour blog. Well, I made a comment on one of the blog posts and I got a reply! HOW COOL? Excuse me a moment while I take this time to geek out, and preserve this moment:

Here is the link to the original post; I'm the 6th comment! :o) Can you believe it? They thought I had a good idea! Fun times. Also, those cookies look TO DIE FOR, and I'm a molasses cookie junkie. Anyone who tries them out, let me know how it goes! 

Until next time, keep on eating, keep on dancing! 

(and remember the secret to perfect cookies, "cool it"!)

Recipe Round-Up

I'm trying out a little bit of a change for the new year. Let me know how you like it, okay?

Here is a round up of some of the things I've been bringing to my kitchen lately:

Stroganoff

The recipe calls for browning some ground beef, but I've seen people have success with chunks or slices of beef. Or, you can really go outside the box and add cubed turkey breast, like I did. If you're using meat that's already cooked, just throw it in with the soup so it doesn't get dried out. Also, I subbed macaroni noodles for egg noodles for the first night, and used pad thai noodles for the left overs. Both were tasty. I think it wouldn't hurt to saute some sliced mushrooms with the onions as well... 

Rapid Roastini

Trader Joe's sells some pretty good whole wheat gnocchi that do well in this capacity. I make them almost weekly.  Most of the time I cook them as a healthy alternative french fries, but today I made these and smothered them in gravy as a side for roast chicken. Delicious. Nigella is a genius!

Frozen Cookie Balls

I did this with several batches of Christmas cookie dough. I have snickerdoodles in the picture, but it works well with any drop cookie, like chocolate chip!  Not only was I able to exercise portion control, but I was able just bake up some cookies at a moments notice. I did so for a dinner party recently and it was so nice to arrive without any stress, on time, and with beautiful cookies!


Finally, I went to see one of my very favorite bands play their 10 year anniversary show for the hometown crowd, this weekend. It was a blast and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Turkey Wild Rice Soup Jazz

Last November, Brad and I went down to South Carolina to celebrate his grandfather's 90th birthday. The first night there was really cold, but we didn't mind because Brad's aunt Shannon made two enormous pots -nay, cauldrons- of delicious, hearty Turkey Wild Rice Soup and Broccoli Cheese soup. Of course, I HAD  to have the recipes for both, and she was generous enough to share. Then, (also of course) I couldn't leave well enough alone and I tinkered with the recipe. I shared in my cook's notes the way I actually made the soup, but I changed the ingredients in the recipe as it's written here so they are easy to find. I encourage you to keep this recipe in mind around Thanksgiving next year so you can try it the way I had it tonight. Think of the recipe as basic chords of a jazz standard, and feel free to improvise as little or as much as you want. 

Turkey Wild Rice Soup

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1/2 cup wild rice

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 1/2 cups cooked, chopped turkey

1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables

1/2 cup pancetta cubes

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 tbsp butter

2 cups half and half

NOTE: There are lots of cooks notes to this recipe, so please read those before trying this recipe out.

In a large pot, over medium heat combine the stock, water, rice and green onions. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 35 minutes, uncovered. 

Meanwhile, prepare the rest of your mise en place. In a small bowl or even in the measuring cup you used for the flour, add the salt and pepper to the flour and combine.  On a plate or in a bowl, combine the turkey and the vegetables and set them aside. Also have your butter and,  half and half measured and ready to go. 

Then, in a large skillet  (9 or 10 inches in diameter), cook the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Turn off the heat and carefully remove pancetta from the pan and put in the bowl with the turkey and veggies while leaving as much fat as you can in the pan. 

When the rice is finished cooking (after the 35 minutes is up), turn off the heat to that burner. For the burner with the skillet with the pancetta fat, turn the heat to medium low, and add the butter. While constantly stirring add the flour to the fat. Stir for about a minute to make a smooth paste. Then slowly add the half and half to the rue, stirring constantly to minimize lumps.

 When the mixture is smooth and begins to thicken (it should almost look like alfredo sauce, or a rather thin country gravy...which is what it is), you'll know it's ready to add to the soup pot. Stir in the creamy mixture to combine it with the rice mixture. Turn the heat to low, and add the contents of the bowl with the turkey to the pot of soup. Heat a couple minutes longer until the soup is heated through. 

** Cooks notes:  This recipe is so flexible it's not even funny. When I made this soup today, I actually deviated a lot from the recipe above, and it still turned out great. I saved all the juices from my Christmas turkey which separated into a beautiful stock and a nice disk of schmaltz (aka turkey fat) in the fridge. I warn you though. The cold turkey stock from a roast turkey chills to the consistency of a gelatin mold, which can scare some people. Don't worry, it melts quite quickly to a velvety liquid base for your soup. If you are keeping it longer than about a week, before making the soup I suggest you refrigerate the stock over night to separate the fat disk out. Wrap the disk in foil. Put both in the freezer until...forever. Moving on. I substituted the homemade turkey stock for the chicken stock and the schmaltz for the butter.  Also, I found wild rice to be $5 a pound at my local Trader Joe's, which is far more than I care to spend for rice. Instead I bought Trader Joe's Basmati Rice Medley- a mix of basmati rice, wild rice, dried herbs and dried veggies. It's $1.99 a pound, which is enough to 4 batches of this soup! 

Can't find pancetta cubes? Think it costs too much? Already have bacon in your fridge? USE THE BACON! The recipe I based this one on, calls for 8 strips to be cut into bits. 

Finally, I have made creamy soups (like the filling for my chicken pot pie) without the aid of fatty heavy cream (or half and half). However, I had some left over from making sweet potato pie and needed to use it up so I added it to the soup this time. I think you could be successful with just milk (we are a 1% household) added to your rue. It should be smooth and velvety but less rich. If you can't be bothered to buy dairy in addition to your milk, or you want to have a healthy alternative...I haven't tested it in this recipe, but I think it's totally do-able.  If you do test it, let me know how it goes! :o)

Apple Pie 2.0

I may have said this before, but now seems like a good time to say it again. I am pie challenged and I use frozen pie crust (not the ones that come in a pan, rather, the flat ones). I came up with what I call " a cook's apple pie". Fried apples with disks of pie crust baked like cookies only takes 15 minutes to cook, far less time than a traditional pie. I find this style of "pie" can go from rustic in a small canning jar, to comforting over a bowl of vanilla ice cream, to contemporary arranged just so on a small dessert plate with an artfully placed drizzle of caramel sauce. It is important to note that if you save your scraps from other pies, or even from making a big batch of these "pies", you can easily adjust this recipe for single servings. When making a single "pie", I just use the very scientific measurements of "small pinches" for the spices.

Deconstructed Apple Pie

2 Frozen pie crusts, thawed

8 apples, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2tsp cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling

1 tsp cloves

1/2 cup water

2tbsp butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (f). Place the pie crust flat on a cookie sheet and cut out 2 inch rounds using pastry rings, running a paring knife around the rim of a drinking glass works well for this or really any 2 inch shape. I used an apple shaped cookie cutter. Remove the "scraps"  and re-wrap them for a later use, or if you didn't quite get 8 rounds out of your dough, make a couple more from the scraps. Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar to your liking. Bake the crusts for 15 minutes or until golden. 

Meanwhile put the apples, measured sugar, measured cinnamon, cloves water and butter into a large frying pan. Let it cook over medium heat until the apples are fork tender, the liquid has thickened and coats the apples.

Divvy up the apples into 8 servings. Your crusts should be done just as you are spooning out the final portion of apples. Use a spatula to place your crusts on top of your apples, and voila! Homemade apple pie!  

A song with the word "Golly" in the title has to be appropriate when apple pie is involved! But just as the pie is deconstructed, just a little disheveled, so is the situation described in the song...

Wintry Roasted Carrots

One of my favorite lines from Twin Peaks is of course food related. "Nothing beats that taste sensation when maple syrup collides with ham!" Really though, you could use any salty meat..sausage, bacon. It's all about the salty/sweet. This dish speaks to the season, is super easy and only has three ingredients! Carrots and other root vegetables that usually store energy as starch, convert it into sugar as a sort of antifreeze when cold weather hits taking them to the peak of their sweetness and flavor. When I made these for the first time, the sweet maple and carrots with the smokey bacon filled my kitchen with the cheery smell of winter. You know, the smell of sweets baking and fireplaces blazing...It's just wonderful. You might up the charm of this dish by adding replacing some or all of the carrots with parsnips.

Maple Bacon Roasted Carrots

2lbs carrots

3 tbsp maple syrup

4 pieces of good quality bacon

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F). Line a shallow baking pan with foil (maple syrup burns and is sticky stuff...it will ruin your pans in you try to cook it straight on the pan). Peel the carrots, cut off the tops and trim off the ends. Cut the carrots into quarters to form sticks (as you can see in the photo). Lay out your carrot sticks in the baking pan. In a frying pan, render the fat of your bacon by cooking it over medium-low heat. Cook it until it's quite crispy. You really want a lot of liquid fat, 2 tbsp worth. Remove the bacon from the fat and let it cool on a paper towel before crumbling and setting it aside. Pour the bacon fat and the maple syrup over the carrot sticks, making sure they are all evenly coated. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the carrots are nice and tender. Sprinkle the bacon rubble over the carrots and serve! EASY BREEZY!  

Nutella Frosting

This year for my birthday, I did not make anything special with the cake...just yellow cake with "funfetti" (stir in jimmies to any light colored cake batter for a festive flecking of color). The frosting, on the other hand, was a luxurious tasting Nutella butter cream! It was very easy to make and "poshed up" the cake quite nicely. I'm sorry, there are no photos of my cake, but for the record, it just looks like fluffy chocolate frosting. I'm going to give you a small amount based on how much stuff you need, per stick of butter. But you'll probably be better off with 1.5x  as much as this recipe makes for a two layer 9-inch cake.  This frosting is good for those, like myself, who don't like frosting that is too sweet.

Nutella Butter Cream

 1 stick  (1/2 cup) softened, unsalted butter

1/2 cup Nutella

1 tsp dutch process cocoa

Whip the butter in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer. When it is smooth add the Nutella, and cocoa. Whip until thoroughly combined, and frost your cake! This is so easy, it's almost not a recipe! 

Turning 25...it's kind of like that. (Except Rebecca Black is NOT invited.)

Thanksgiving Steamed Cod

 This year, for Thanksgiving I parted with tradition and had a very pared down meal. Instead of cooking a turkey and entirely too many side dishes, Brad and I had a light dinner that centered around cod!  I used ingredients that echoed the flavors of my mom's turkey recipe, and it turned out great. Hey, if cod was good enough for the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, it's good enough for my table, too! It was, as my Grandma Kathie said, "Very New England." I have to tell you, this recipe is so quick and easy, it could work for a week night dinner!

Thanksgiving Steamed Cod

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 an onion 

1/2 an orange

1 sprig of fresh sage 

4 individual sized cod fillets (adds up to about 1.5 lbs)

salt and pepper

1/4 cup white wine or light broth

When splitting the onion to make the 1/2 onion called for in the ingtredients, cut from pole to pole, not around the equator. Slice the half onion thinly into arches, chopping again, from pole to pole. Cut the 1/2 orange into 1/4-inch slices, reserving the smaller discs and the "nub" to squeeze juice over the fillets later. 

In a large frying pan, heat your oil on medium heat. Add the onions. Sprinkle a little salt over them to encourage them to throw their juice to add to the liquid for steaming. Next layer the oranges and the sage on top of the onions. This is all going to make a nice flavorful bed of steam for the fish. Generously salt and pepper your fish  fillets before placing them on top of the bed of produce. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes. By 2 minutes, it should look like your onions are making some progress. Pour the wine (or broth- something light like chicken broth or fish stock) over the fish. Return the lid and steam for 5 minutes more. You'll know the fish is done if it is flaky. Be careful not to over cook it, or it will be rubbery and dry. 

I did not eat the onions or oranges...but I don't see why you couldn't pull the oranges and sage out, and continue to cook the onions down into a nice relish or something like that, if you have the time.

Come and Get It! --Chicken Pot Pie

 I came up with the filling after fiddling with a cream of mushroom soup recipe my Aunt Lorraine sent me.
Just some words of advice before you start:  It is of the utmost importance to have all your chopping and measuring done before you start cooking. It really makes things a lot easier. Also, when I say to add the broth slowly while stirring constantly for the gravy, I mean it. If you just dump the broth in all willy-nilly without stirring, you will end up with clumps of flour floating in chicken broth. Actually, adding the broth is a great task for a junior assistant. If you don't have one on hand (like me) it is possible to do it on your own, but be warned that if you don't ever make gravy with an assistant the long and glorious tradition of beautiful gravy may end with you. I don't think it's possible to learn the art of gravy making without first assisting one who has mastered it. I'll do my best to explain it here, but I encourage you to take advantage of any opportunity to experience the benefits of a mentor/disciple relationship presented to you, especially when it comes to making gravy.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1/ 2 inch cubes

1 potato, 1/4 inch cubes

1/2 medium onion, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup milk

1 cup frozen vegetables*

Salt & pepper to taste

 1 frozen pie crust, thawed


In a medium pot, over medium high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter. Add the chicken breast to the butter and brown the meat. Season the chicken with a bit of salt as it is cooking. It should take the chicken about 2 minutes to brown completely on the outside. It doesn't have to be  cooked all the way through, because you'll be cooking it further later. Taking care to leave behind the butter and juices of the chicken, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside.

Add the remaining 2 tbsp of butter to the pot and reduce the heat to medium low and add your onion and potato. Season with a little more salt (just to get the onion to throw its juices).  Cook and stir occasionally until, the onion is turning translucent and is soft, about 3 minutes. Then sprinkle your flour over the potatoes and onions and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.You're making a rue, so it will look sort of like a paste when you're ready to add the broth.  S l o w l y add the chicken broth to the mixture while stirring constantly, until the liquid thickens a little to what looks like a nice consistency for chicken pot pie. <-- I know that's vague, but you'll know it when you see it.

Add the chicken back to the pot, along with the frozen veggies. Then add the milk and put it over low heat until it comes to a simmer (NOT  a boil). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you want you can stop here and enjoy a lovely cream of chicken soup...

OR

After you have chopped the veggies and meat but before you've added your butter to the pot, preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F). Place a 9-inch cake pan on a cookie sheet.  Put the soup in the cake pan (you think it won't all fit, but it does). Lay the pie crust over the soup and seal the edges. Put the pie (cookie sheet and all) into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden, brown and delicious.  The cookie sheet is imperative because the filling  that will be seeping out is capable of burning through an oven mitt...as evidenced by the one we just threw away.

Let the gravy stop boiling before serving, unless you want to risk pie explosion upon breaking the crust.

ENJOY!

*  I used a bag that came with a mix of peas, carrots, corn and green beans. I think it helped to have the small pieces rather than something large, like broccoli. 

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!

It was a gray and rainy day, so I retreated to the dry warmth of my kitchen to make use of the many, many apples my fiance and I picked last weekend to celebrate the beginning of Fall! In an effort to take advantage of my fresh, crisp, juicy bounty I neglected to eat my bananas before they were too mushy to be good for anything other than banana bread. So, inspired by the childhood song, I made apple-banana muffins. But I didn't want them to turn out a heavy, cliche of fall, so I added caraway to the spice profile of my muffins. It brings out the tartness of the apples among the sweetness of the bananas, the warmth of the  little bit of cinnamon and nuttiness of the whole wheat flour. I tested these muffins out on my classmates with great success, so I think it's an experimental recipe worthy of le blog!

Apple-Banana Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 -1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1 apple, peeled cored and diced into 1/2 inch chunks

2 very ripe bananas, smash/sliced with a fork

First a little prep work: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (f). Grease or line your muffin tins (this makes 12 muffins). Peel, core and dice your apple. Finally, combine the milk and vinegar, let it sit and curdle. <--sounds gross, but think of it as homemade buttermilk! 

While the milk is doing its thing, cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the "sour milk". In a smaller bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and caraway. Add the dry mix to the wet and stir to combine. Finally stir in the apples and bananas. 

Portion out batter among the 12 muffin tins, and bake until the muffins are golden and spring back when you poke them (about 25-30 minutes). 

If you used liners, you can carefully remove the muffins from the tin onto the cooling rack. If you did it old school, like me, wait about 5 minutes before GENTLY coaxing the muffins out of the pan. I usually turn the pan upside down with one hand and wiggle the edges of the top of the muffins with the other until they finally drop out.

Happy fall!

P.S. Don't have any cider vinegar? Use 1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt instead! 

Um...not much to say about this song except, "YES.YES. YES." 

Gooey Caramel Popcorn Bars

This recipe is  based on the Rice Krispies Treat method, so it's extremely easy and quick. It's great if you're going to a Halloween party, or you want to get in the kitchen with kids...or if you want a sweet, but it seems like to much to actually bake something. Since this was my first time making these I didn't put any extras in there, but after tasting them, I think these would do well with dried cranberries, chopped nuts, M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, pretzels, or if you want to get all gourmet, vanilla beans, cracked espresso beans, or bacon bits  to balance out the sweetness...the possibilities are endless.

Caramel Popcorn Bars

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1- 10 oz package of marshmallows (the big ones)

**This is a two person job, so recruit a friend!

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat.Place 3 kernels in the oil. When one of them pops you'll know the oil is hot enough to add the rest of the kernels. Shake the pot frequently to help distribute the heat, prevent burning, and once the corn starts popping, to get the un-popped kernels to the bottom of the pot. You'll know it's done when the popping slows down and the pot looks nearly full. Be careful not to burn it! When your popcorn is done dump the pot out into a large bowl and set it aside. 

Now would be a good time to line a shallow, small-ish baking pan (like a  9-inch cake pan) with aluminum foil. Grease VERY WELL with butter and set it aside. 

I just used a wadded up paper towel to get the kernel shells and popcorn bits out before creating my goo in the same pot -which was oiled from the popcorn and also is NON-STICK! 

I turned the heat to medium low and melted my butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly. Do this until the mixture bubbles and no longer looks separated. (By separated I mean, the sugar settles to look like sand in a pool of "butter water" if you stop stirring.) This should happen fairly quickly (in a minute or two). Then turn the heat to low and add your marshmallows, stirring constantly until it's mostly smooth. (A few marshmallow lumps never killed anyone...in fact they might enhance the dish!) 

Turn off the heat and have an assistant carefully scoop the popcorn out of the bowl and into the pot of goo. Try to shake out any un-popped kernels so nobody breaks a tooth!Carefully fold the popcorn into the goo as they scoop it in, so that the popcorn is coated but is not crushed and mashed. If you want to add extras, now is the time to do it. Once it's all incorporated dump the mass into your greased pan, and do your best to pack it down, but not crush it. I used another piece of greased foil to smash it down with my palms.

 Let it cool for about an hour before removing the foil lining from the pan. Set your brick of popcorn on a cutting board and carefully peel the foil away from the sides of the popcorn. Even if some of it sticks,it's okay. Just be patient and gently work the foil away. Use a greased knife or pizza cutter to cut into bars. They're pretty sweet, so I would say smaller is better. (Let's be honest, that's A LOT of sugar.) 

They keep for about two days, in an airtight container, with layers of greased foil between stacks of bars,  before the popcorn gets unbearably stale.

TIP: clean your dishes right away, with hot water. The hot water helps the goo melt and makes it easier to clean up.

The latest in grad student pasta innovation!

 For dinner tonight I made this quick pasta dish ( I feel like I've done a lot of those lately...what can I say? I'm a grad student. It's quick, it's cheap, what do you want from me?) inspired by a baked ziti recipe I saw a few years ago on the Williams-Sonoma website. The original recipe made a sauce from scratch and had whole Kalamtaa olives in it. I highly recommend  you make that dish too, but if you're in a hurry this is what you want. I also found that my friends weren't too keen on being slapped with a full bite of olive in the middle of their pasta, even though the olives did wonderful things for the flavor of the sauce. So, I chopped them up and changed their role in this dish from a featured ingredient to something in the background, like a vegetarian anchovy.

  The whole time I was putting this together, all I could think was, "If I was a mom, I would totally add this to my regular rotation." So, any parents out there reading, if  you try this let me know how it goes.  Inquiring non-parent minds want to know!  Even if you don't have kids, this one is definitely worth making.

Eggplant Pasta Surprise

1 package of short pasta (I used radiatore)

1 medium eggplant

1 lb italian sausage (I used sweet, but spicy works too)

10 pitted kalamta olives

26 oz jar of your favorite tomato-basil-garlic sauce

optional- 1 /4 cup mozzarella cut into 1/4 inch cubes to melt into the dish at the end

Put on your big ol' pot of water to boil for the pasta.

 While you're waiting for the boil,  cut your egg plant into 1/2 inch cubes ( I see no harm in cutting them smaller if your kids are REALLY opposed to mystery veggies) and saute them over medium heat in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Once they start getting translucent and the flesh is going from white to green to brown add your sausage to the pan. If you bought links (like I did), remove the casing before adding the sausage to the eggplant. Once the meat is cooked, drain the fat/excess eggplant liquid and return the pan to the heat. Time for the olives. I'm pretty specific with the olive measurement because those little buggers are intense! You don't want to add too many. Rinse the olives and finely chop them. Add them to the eggplant and meat. Cover it all with the sauce and carefully incorporate all the ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer while the pasta cooks. 

When the pasta is done drain the noodles and return them to the big ol' pot. Add the mozzarella to the noodles at this time if you're using it. CAREFULLY pour your sauce over the noodles and mix it all up. Dig in! 

I feel like this dish is deliciously odd...much like this song! 

End of the World Fiery Chicken Fajitas

Apparently the world is going to end soon. We have experienced an earthquake AND are about to endure a tropical storm in Boston within the same week! In an effort to empty our fridge of perishables, Brad and I made these chicken fajitas for dinner last night. I call them Fiery Fajitas after the red and orange peppers, and slight heat on the chicken. I think this recipe would work well with marinated beef or portabello slices too. Just putting that out there. But if you use the beef don't slice it until after it's cooked and rested. Otherwise it will be dry...and that would be the end of the world!

Chicken Fajitas

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp chili paste (you can add more if you like it spicier)

zest and juice of one lime

1 tsp cumin

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

either 1/2 tsp dried cilantro or chopped cilantro to taste

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 bell peppers (we used orange and red, but you can use any color you have/like)

1/2 large onion or 1 small onion

Tortillas

Make the marinade in a small bowl. Combine the garlic, chili paste, lime zest and juice, cumin, soy sauce, brown sugar and cilantro. Set that aside. Cut the chicken into half inch slices across the breast. In a zip top bag or even a medium container with a lid, combine the marinade and chicken. Let it sit in the fridge for anywhere between 30 minutes and a day.

When you're ready to cook, slice your bell peppers into strips from top to bottom. (You knew to cut around the stem to get the seeds out, and to cut off that white membrane on some of the ribs inside the pepper, right? Good.) Cut the onion in from top to bottom and then slice each half so the slices look like rainbows. Separate the layers of the onions a little so you have "onion strips". Put a little olive oil in a large frying pan and warm it over medium heat. Saute the onions with a pinch of salt (so they throw their juice and make this great glaze for the veggies) until they are just softening and turning translucent. (Here's the part where Brad helped! Hooray!) Add the peppers and really turn up the heat. Stir them frequently but not constantly so you get good caramelization on the onions and a little browning/char on the peppers. The cooking on high heat should take no more than five minutes, or so. Set the veggies aside and cover them with foil to keep them warm.

Return your pan to the heat and cook the marinated chicken on high heat until it is cooked through. It shouldn't take too long for it to be cooked through. Maybe 10 minutes, max.

You can either mix the cooked meat with the cooked veggies, or you can set them in separate containers and set out a buffet of toppings like they do at Chili's with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, or whatever. We just had sour cream.

Make sure your tortillas are warm and pliable, pile on the fillings and chow down! :o)

Also, I recommend this song while preparing the dish. Somehow it just amplifies the vibrancy of the flavors, colors and smells!

Hopefully you won't be cooking this amid natural disaster, like we are. But if you are, I recommend listening to this:

Marinated Strawberries with a Twist

I debated for a while on what to call these little rubies, because I wanted to be clear that this was something a little different than the old "strawberries and sugar" deal, but I also didn't want to scare anyone away. If you're feeling adventurous please read on...

I have two cook books that pair strawberries with black pepper. I thought it sounded so crazy that it just might work! So I decided to sacrifice a pint in the name of experimentation. I went with something simple rather than making a whole dessert or ice cream flavor, as recommended in the previously mentioned books. I marinated them and put them on some vanilla ice cream. If you are bored with the usual strawberries and cream, this is definitely the cure! It highlights the punchy brightness of the strawberries at the beginning, and has a nice kick at the end. It almost creates a sensation of effervescence. If you're not feeling quite so adventurous, I think the strawberry/orange combination is quite nice on its own.

Marinated Strawberries

1 pint fresh strawberries

the juice and finely grated zest of one orange

1-2 tsp sugar (to taste, really)

The tiniest pinch of black pepper (also to taste)

Rinse the strawberries, cut of the tops and cut the strawberries into bite sized pieces. Combine in a small bowl with the juice, zest, sugar and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

I ate them on top of ice cream, but I imagine they would be beautiful chopped into a chunky relish and placed on top of some crackers with a swipe of cream cheese. Upon tasting them I have also become obsessed with the idea of putting them on top of a tres leches cake. Please somebody, help me be in a situation where it is necessary to do that.

I have no other explanation for this song selection other than, "this seems appropriate".

The one where I make up for not having photos by posting two recipes!

It's not that I haven't been cooking and baking. It's just that I've been in a hurry to eat, so I don't take photos, and then I think I can't write a post about what I've just cooked. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting, and I'm sorry that this post has no photos. So I'm making it up to you today by posting two recipes at once.

The first recipe is for some muffins I baked for the research team I have recently joined. I have baked them a couple of times as jumbo muffins for the farmer's market, but I made them as regular sized muffins (my tiny kitchen/oven in Boston is not equipped for jumbo muffins) and the recipe translated quite well! I did try to add white chocolate chips to some of the muffins, but the chips stuck to my pan and broke the muffins in half. So, if you do plan on adding them, I suggest you use cupcake liners, simply sprinkle them on top of the batter before baking, or drizzle melted chocolate once the muffins are baked. Anyway, they certainly don't NEED the chips, but they could benefit from them. Also, this time I skipped the macadamia nuts, but I have included them before and they sure were tasty!

Aloha Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 cup mashed banana

1- 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

shredded coconut for sprinkling on top

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f). Grease muffin tin (makes 18 muffins). In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar, with a hand mixer on medium speed for about a minute and a half. Add the eggs and blend on medium speed for another minute. Next add the yogurt, bananas, and pineapple until thoroughly combined. In a smaller bowl combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Pour the dry mixture into the wet and be sure to combine well. Try to get every bit of the wet mixture from the bottom of the bowl, otherwise you'll end up with a couple of really dry muffins and a couple of muffin tins full of melted butter and sugar. Add in the macadamia nuts.

Scoop out 2 generous tablespoons of batter per muffin. Sprinkle the coconut on top of the batter. Put the muffins in the oven and lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are nice and golden. The coconut will become a little golden as well. Of course the true test will be the clean toothpick test.

If you've greased them enough it will be possible to flip out the muffins immediately on to the cooling rack. If they're a little stubborn, wait for them to cool a bit to steam themselves out of the tin and to be less delicate as you gently encourage them out of the tin.

"And now for something completely different..."

I guess I COULD take a photo of our leftover baked ziti...but it's not as pretty once it's been partially eaten and refrigerated. Anyway, last night we had a baked ziti that I pretty much winged. Have you ever noticed that when you get baked ziti from an Italian restaurant it is very simple. No extra veggies or sausage or Tuscan smoked mystery sauces. So, inspired by that simplicity....and my own laziness I came up this huge casserole of pasta and luckily enough it turned out to be delicious!

Baked Ziti

1-1lb box of rigatoni

1-26 oz jar of your favorite marinara sauce

1- 15 oz container ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella

3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f). Cook rigatoni according to the instructions on the box for al dente pasta. Spread 1/4 of the jar of marinara sauce in an even layer on the bottom of a large casserole dish. In a medium sized bowl combine the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Drain the noodles and return them to their pot. Add the cheese mixture and gently stir to evenly distribute among the noodles. Pour the cheese/noodles into the casserole dish and spread into an even layer. Pour the rest of the marinara sauce on top of the noodles and spread into an even layer. Finally sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan on top of the whole thing. Cover with foil if you want gooey cheese and bake for 20 minutes. If you the cheese to brown, remove the foil after the first 10 minutes.

Also, since I've been listening to nothing but this band since I saw them over Memorial Day weekend, here is yet another fantastic tune from Friendly Fires!

Late Spring Pasta Salad

Even though school is out for the summer, I'm clinging to what's left of the mild spring weather since so much of this season was rainy this year in Boston. Of course this weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, but there's no need to hurry into summer and cut this season short! This week I was experimenting in the kitchen, and came up with a seasonal pasta salad featuring artichokes and edamame. It's perfect for pot-lucks, picnics and grill outs, because it doesn't have any mayonnaise. I'm just going to let you know now, I found that the spaghetti was a little unwieldy, so in the recipe I'm going to recommend a short pasta even though it's spaghetti in the picture.

Late Spring Pasta Salad

1- 1 lb box rotini cooked and drained

4 oz. finely cubed pancetta

2 cups fresh, shelled edamame beans

1- 8oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts

as much finely grated Parmesan cheese as it takes to make you happy

In a medium frying pan, on medium heat cook the pancetta for about7-9 minutes, or until it's crispy. Add the beans and the artichoke hearts (including the marinating liquid) and cook for 2 more minutes until it's all warmed through. Pour this mixture over the pasta and toss to coat the noodles. Serve with shredded cheese on the side so people can add to their liking.

That's it! You can serve it warm or cold. It's yummy either way!

Do you have any plans for Memorial Day weekend? What are they? I'm going to see these guys in concert on Friday, and I'm REALLY excited!!

Sepcial Wedding double feature! Spam Musubi and Nicky's Cheese Dip

Yesterday was such a happy day for so many people in my life! A lot of our friends graduated, it was my aunt's birthday, my cousin's birthday, a family friend went to her prom *AND* Brad and I attended a fantastic wedding celebration! Phew! So much happiness! The wedding reception was a luau themed pot-luck (complete with a tiki piñata!-Aweseome.) so I decided to make a popular Hawaiian snack, Spam Musubi (it's like sushi, but with spam instead of fish), and a cheese dip that my cousin Nicky likes to make, which had come highly recommended from my mom. :o) I will warn you, the Spam Musubi recipe looks long, but that's mostly because I'm describing ingredients that I think many people will find to be foreign and exotic. It's an easy recipe, I promise!

Spam Musubi

3 cups sushi rice

4 cups water

1 can spam

4 tbsp mirin*

2 tbsp soy sauce

5 sheets or yaki nori**

Start by putting the rice into a 2 quart pot. Rinse the rice 7 times by filling the pot with water and dumping it out carefully so you don't spill the rice everywhere. There is a lot of starch on the rice that will just make a gooey film. Not good for sushi. After you pour the water out for the final time, put the measured water into the pot with the rice. Bring the rice to a boil on medium high heat. Then cover it, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook for 20 minutes. Finally, turn off the heat and let it stand covered for 10 minutes before fluffing and cooling the rice so you can handle it.

While the rice is cooling, mix together the mirin and the soy sauce in a small bowl or container, so you can pour it easily. Set that aside

Next prepare the spam by removing it from the can as unmarred as possible. Be patient, and maybe cut out a very small sliver from one of the short sides to release the vacuum, so you can just shake it out of the can. Any way once it's out of the can, slice it in half from top to bottom, making a left half and a right half. Then lay the cut sides on the cutting board and slice each half into 10 even slices making your cuts parallel to what were the top and bottom of the ham. You should end up with twenty 2 inch squares.

Then take your yaki nori and use kitchen shears to cut each sheet into 4 even strips. You'll notice there is a rough side and a shiny side, you want the shiny side facing out once the musubi are done, so just lay the strips in a stack on your work surface with the rough side facing up.

Heat a large frying pan on medium high heat, and lay out 10 of your spam slices in an even layer on the pan. Fry for 2 minutes and then flip them over. Add the soy sauce mixture and slide the spam around to soak up the sauce and to prevent sticking for another minute or two. Once the sauce starts reducing (you'll see it, it happens quickly), flip the spam over again and keep sliding it around until all the sauce is soaked up. Turn the heat off, but leave the spam in the hot pan to continue caramelizing.

Now you're ready to assemble. I usually stir the rice around gently, maybe it's more of a cutting and flipping motion, to release the heat pockets. Once the rice is cool enough to handle, wet your hands (you don't want them dripping, but you want a nice coat of water so the rice doesn't stick to them. Also, do re-wet them in between each musubi) and form the rice into a little round puck, about 2 inches in diameter and an inch thick. You want to pack it tight enough so it will stick together, but not so tight that smash the rice. Place a spam square on top of the rice pillow, and place them spam side down on the center of one of the nori strips. Fold one of the ends of the strip over the disk, and take 3-4 grains of rice from the pot to use it like an adhesive to fold the other end over so it will all stick. Set it on your serving platter with the spam side up. (Like in the photo) and you're done! You have just made one of President Obama's favorite foods! :o)

Nicky's Cheese Dip

A small piece of onion that will result in 1 tbsp when it's finely minced

A small piece of bell pepper that will result in 1/4 cup when it's finely minced

2- 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1- 15 oz can of crushed pineapple, drained well

chopped pecans to taste

Put the onion and pepper in a food processor and pulse until they're in 1/4 inch pieces. Cut the cream cheese into about 3 pieces each, and put that plus the pineapple into the food processor. Process until thoroughly combined.

If you have a spring form pan or mold, you can put the pecans in a layer on the bottom. Pack the dip into the vessel, and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Place this in the refrigerator for at least an hour to firm up.

If you don't, just grab some cling wrap, and use it to form a ball with the dip. Refrigerate the ball, which is now covered in the cling wrap for 1 hour. When you're ready to serve it, just roll the ball in the pecans before setting it out.

Or, if you're really in a hurry, just place the soft dip into a bowl and sprinkle the nuts on top.

This is a fairly sturdy dip so it's good for firm veggies, like carrots or sturdy crackers like Triscuits.

I'm not sure what "version city time" is , but I'll venture a guess that it happened yesterday.

* Mirin is a rice wine, similar to sake, but MUCH sweeter. It is usually next to the soy sauce at the supermarket.

** you can get yaki nori at an Asian specialty supermarket. You can get all the other ingredients for this recipe at a specialty market, but they're probably cheaper at the regular supermarket. Anyway, it looks like this: