Recipe Seventeen - Ground Beef Wellington

Last night I flipped open my Food Revolution cookbook to page 156 - Ground Beef Wellington. My husband took one look at the photos and asked me if this was a "weird British food thing." I had already bought all the stuff to make it though, so I was not deterred. This was to be supper!

There is a LOT of chopping involved at the very beginning, but it's not too bad. I substituted extra lean ground turkey because raw ground beef grosses me out something fierce. I also added an extra glove of garlic because I think everything tastes better with more garlic. I'd also like to note that this is the first time I've ever bought puff pastry. It smells weird.

You have to saute all the veggies together before adding them to the meat and cooking it in the oven. It smells SO GOOD at this point.

Thank goodness for the Kitchen Aid, so I didn't have to "scrunch" it up with my hands, as the directions put it. Yuck.

This thing was HUGE. I took a photo of it next to a ruler so you could see just how massive it was. I wasn't expecting it to be so big, because most of the other recipes in this book have made 2-3 servings. Even the curries only make enough for two meals! This thing will feed us for several days. That makes me think it would be awesome for a potluck.

The verdict - although it's not the prettiest food on Earth, it was quite tasty. The portobello mushrooms gave off a LOT of liquid during cooking and when I pulled it out of the oven it was sitting in a pool of juices. There was also a lot more trying to escape out the side. I took a knife, pierced the pastry and lifted the whole thing up with two spatulas to try and allow it to drain before setting it on a fresh baking sheet. If I had let it just sit there it would have ended up terribly soggy.

We served this with plain old mashed potatoes and it was perfect. It reminded me a lot of a pot pie. I think if I were to make this again I would definitely freeze half of the meat mixture for later use and only use one of the puff pastry sheets. It was just too much food for my little family of three.

Friday Mish Mash

In yesterday's post I sort of alluded to the fact that I have been totally slacking off around here on my domestic duties. I mean, sure, I've been busy, but I haven't been doing the things I should be doing, like cooking and cleaning. Heck, I barely wanted to shower this week let alone clean the house! It's the heat; it's been between 110 and 115 degrees all week and knowing that it's just going to get hotter saps my will to do anything.

There may have been some trips for fast food and a couple of nights with Chinese takeout involved.

Today, I resolved - no more! I got off my behind and spent a good portion of my day in the kitchen, with breaks to do puzzles and watch some silly videos online with the boy. Today's post will be an out of order mish mash of what I accomplished today. First up - a Food Revolution recipe. Recipe sixteen, Pan Fried Glazed Pork Chops, was dinner tonight.

This is a really simple recipe requiring very few ingredients. I didn't even end up using the lemon in the photo. I will say, however, that my pork comes from the supermarket SANS skin. Ew, Jamie. I used my kitchen shears to snip the fat on the chops instead of using a knife as instructed. I also left out the sage because I didn't feel like buying a whole bunch for a few leaves, knowing that I will probably never use the rest of it. Also, eating fried sage doesn't appeal to me in the least.

I tossed the pork chops into my 2 quart d5 pan. It was the perfect size for this. It's been a long time since I pan fried anything like this though, and holy hell I forgot how freaking messy it was! Everything in a two foot radius of that burner got covered in a fine shower of olive oil. Yuck. My chops didn't stick though!

I went with the maple syrup option to glaze the chops. My husband and I both worried that this would be too sweet, but after cooking the sugars must have mellowed or something because it was barely sweet at all. We both really liked how this turned out, with the exception of the cloud of smoke from the sugars burning in the pan. Also, my pan has a lovely black spot of burnt sugar on the bottom that is not going to be fun to scrub off!

I also want to add that the cooking time in the recipe is WAY long, and my chops were a little bit dry because of it. Mine weren't too much thinner than the ones in the photo either, so I don't know what's up with that.

I served this with a simple rice pilaf into which I mixed some frozen mixed vegetables that I had in the freezer. I need to use up a bunch of stuff in there because it's pretty full right now. It's not the prettiest side dish in the world, but it tasted good and I was tired by this point!

I'm also trying to use up some stuff that's been in the house in the interest of getting fresher stuff rotated in. I had a bag of shredded coconut in the cupboard, and a half bag each of walnuts and chocolate chips in the fridge, so I Googled recipes with those ingredients and made cookies.

I also juiced three of the sad looking lemons that I had and made a nice pitcher of lemonade for my husband.

I whipped up a dozen tortillas to have with eggs in the mornings. Of course, I had already measured out everything when I realized that I didn't have enough shortening, so I went ahead and used some bacon drippings that I had in the fridge to make up the difference. Surprisingly, the tortillas didn't taste any different to me, but they were a LOT more tender.

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Waffles (sorry no photo this time!) to put in the freezer for a breakfast alternative. It's so nice sometimes to be able to just pull one out and pop it into the toaster without worrying about feeding my child preservatives and processed junk! They're one of Bubba's very favorite foods, and he ate two of them when he woke up from his nap. This is probably why he didn't want anything to do with his dinner.

I made a batch of cheesy crackers for the baby using a recipe I found here (very bottom of the post). These are ridiculously easy and so very good. I'll never buy Cheese-Its or Goldfish again! I will, however, omit the salt next time because the cheese was plenty salty on it's own. I used 2 cups extra sharp Tillamook cheddar, and 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano in these. I also left out the chili powder. These are SO GOOD. The cookie cutters came from HomeGoods where I only paid about $8 for them. This was their first use. Aren't they adorable? The boy may have also snuck several handfuls of these off the table where they were cooling.

Right now I have a blackberry cobbler in the oven. (Look how cool! My oven has a light now!!!) This is the second one I've made this week. Earlier this week I found organic blackberries on sale for a dollar and stocked up. I want to make sorbet but my freezer is too full to fit the ice cream maker thing in there, boo. I'm working on that! Blackberry Lemon Sorbet is sounding pretty divine in this heat.

This morning, after we got out of bed, had breakfast (chocolate Mini Wheats, because nobody is perfect) and bathed, I took the boy out onto the patio to take his photo. One of the moms in our playgroup, who is also of the crafty persuasion, is making coloring books with photos of all the kids. Isn't that a cute idea? This is the first one I took:

I'm so mad that the stupid flash on the camera was on, because this would have been a great shot. I ended up sending her this one.

Isn't my boy looking so big? I love it. He's talking more and more every day and has become quite the little mimic. He's also very demanding and starting to do that thing where he fake cries if he doesn't get his way. Doesn't he know his mama is wise to all those tricks???

Recipes Nine and Ten

I present to you Pan Fried Curried Cod (page 258) and Cilantro Lime Rice (page 96):

The ingredient list on this one is pretty short and sweet.

The only thing I had to buy special for it was the curry powder, because my old container expired a couple of years ago. Whoops! I picked up the cod a couple of weeks ago at Trader Joe's because my doctor told me to eat more fish. Obviously, I have not been doing that since this was still in my freezer. Whoops again!

These are wild Alaskan cod fillets. I have an app on my iPhone that shows me what fish is safe and sustainable to eat based on your region of the country. In this way, you can eat it a bit more responsibly. I live in the desert and my mom hates all seafood, so I'm a super novice when it comes to cooking/buying anything seafood related beyond shrimp. If you don't have an iPhone, you can download a little pocket guide to keep with you when you go to the store.

The directions call for you to put three tablespoons of curry powder on a plate and then to roll your fish fillets in it to coat them. I didn't think there were three tablespoons of curry powder in my entire container, and also, I was betting that method led to a lot of waste. What I ended up doing was lightly sprinkling the fish with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, then liberally shaking the curry powder over it. I used my fingers to press it into the fish, then flipped it over and did the same to the other side until it was completely covered. I ended up using less than half of the container, and as you can see in the photo, that fish is pretty dang coated.

The whole spooning oil over the fish as it fried thing sucked. It was messy, I got spattered and burned, and there wasn't enough oil in the pan (I used about three tablespoons of olive oil and a generous pat of butter) near the end to do it right. I will say that I made this in my 3 quart All Clad d5 pan instead of the nonstick pan Jamie says to use, and it only stuck the tiniest bit. I used a fish spatula to lift and turn these though, so that cut through any parts that were starting to stick and nothing got left in the pan. My fish developed a nice crust, once again proving that good cookware is SO worth the money.

I had a pot of rice steaming on the stove (I refuse to buy a rice cooker) when it occurred to me that the curry flavor of this dish would go great with cilantro lime rice.

I had forgotten how good curry powder smelled! I remember finding a container of it in the cupboard when I was a kid and reading on the side that it was good to use on eggs, so I did. I ate them that way for about a year. There is a LOT of curry powder on this, but the yogurt really helps to cut that flavor a bit so I think it's essential to this dish. I used plain Greek yogurt. I also was totally right about the rice - the flavor of the lime goes so well with the yogurt and curry powder.

The baby, surprisingly, ate about 1/3 of his rice, then only would eat fish. He ate a third of the largest fillet which totally surprised me. Then he had some Chocolate Chex (not entirely wholesome but not terrible either) to round out his meal, haha!

Kitchen Essentials - The Hardware

I placed a hold on this:at my local library and it finally came in a few days ago. I always love getting my hands on a new cookbook, and I'm particularly excited for this one after watching Jaime's Food Revolution on tv and everything I've been learning about food lately. The introduction talks a bit about where he got the idea for what he's doing, and also lists essential tools and ingredients to own. Today I want to go over the equipment.

This is the list of essential kitchen equipment he says every kitchen should have:

Extra large non-stick frying pan - I don't like to cook in non-stick because Teflon is not so great for your health, but I do have two three quart All-Clad saute pans that I use more than anything else in my kitchen. I do own one medium sized Teflon pan for eggs though. That and miscellaneous Chinese dumplings are all that I use it for.

Large grill pan - I had one and never used it. We would rather just grill outside or use the George Foreman.

Extra large casserole pan or dutch oven (cast iron, aluminum, or stainless steel) - I have an All-Clad stockpot that came with my set when I first bought them. I use that in place of a dutch oven when I need one. I really really really want a Le Creuset one though.

Set of thick bottomed saucepans (large, medium, and small) - All-Clad again.

Good sturdy sheet pans - I have two 18" x 13" ones that I picked up for about $7 each at my local restaurant supply store. They rock.

Wok - I need one of these! I bought a cheap one at Ikea that was Teflon coated (I KNOW!!!) and the nonstick coating started to flake off into our food. It makes me sick to think about how much of it we might have eaten before I realized what those black flecks were. I tossed it and my next one will not have any coating like that because you just cook with too high of a heat to chance it.

Nest of mixing bowls - I have a set of four Pyrex ones that I've had for probably close to 15 years, if not longer. I just chipped one for the first time this year. Those suckers are STURDY.

Metal tongs - Three pairs in two sizes.

Knives (chef's knife, serrated carving knife, small paring knife) - We bought ourselves a set of good knives when we got married, so I have those plus a few more. I do need to get that paring knife sharpened because the honing steel just isn't cutting it any more. (haha, cutting it.)

Wooden spoons - I have two, and two wooden spatulas. I don't use these very much.

Metal whisk - I have a large one, a small one, and a flat one for making sauces and gravies.

Potato masher - Yup. Another item that's lasted forever. I prefer to mash potatoes with this because the mixer makes them too smooth and it reminds me of potato buds. YUCK.

Ladle - Yup.

Slotted spoon - Yup, a pretty All-Clad one that I got as a gift with purchase.

Slotted turner - Cheating here - I have a fish spatula, and that's slotted, so I'm counting it.

Plastic spatula - For that nonstick pan. It doesn't get used very often.

Rubber spatula - I have several of these in different styles, including one very pink glitter one and one Hello Kitty one that is the only thing that doesn't stick when making rice crispie treats.

Speed peeler - I don't like speed peelers. I find them awkward. I do have a regular one though. It's old. It's ghetto. I probably bought it at the grocery store. I like it!

Thick, sturdy wooden chopping board - I have one but it's not looking so hot. It works though.

Small plastic chopping board - I have two cheapies from Ikea. These are for meat and meat ONLY.

Pestle and mortar - Nope. I would love a lava rock pig one from Mexico though, if anyone is headed down there and wants to bring one back for me! HA!

Salad spinner - You saw mine on yesterday's post.

Measuring cups and weighing scales - I have my cute measuring cups that are miniature versions of my pots and pans, that I love. I also have a scale which I bought when I joined Weight Watchers a few years ago. Now I use it mainly to weigh flour as that is much more accurate than using measuring cups. If you bake a lot you should definitely have a small food scale in your home.

Strainers (one coarse, one fine) - I have a fine one. I need to get a course one because sometimes that fine one is TOO fine and ends up being a huge pain.

Large colander - All-Clad, a gift from my Mother in Law who understands these things. :)

Large measuring jug - I have one cup and two cup Pyrex measuring cups, and then my eight cup Pampered Chef batter bowl, which I love. I use it to make our steel cut oats in the microwave for breakfast.

Box grater/Microplane grater - I have a Microplane grater which I use for Parmesan cheese and citrus zest. I have a cheapy cheese grater but it's not a box one - it's just one flat panel that makes it clumsy to use. I would really like this one one day.

Food processor - It always amazes people that I have all this stuff in my kitchen but no food processor. I haven't felt a need for one yet I guess.

Rolling pin - I have a lovely wooden French rolling pin that I picked up for about $7 somewhere a long time ago. I like it because it doesn't leave dents in my dough the way a regular one will if it's narrower than the dough is wide, which they frequently are.

Can opener - Yup. Another oldie but goodie. I used to have an electric one but then I read about how they grow and spread bacteria because you can never wash them. That blade dips into your can of whatever just enough to not only pick up crap, but also to redistribute it in whatever you open next. YUCK. That thing got put into the Goodwill pile with a quickness and I have a manual one that I can wash now.

Tomorrow I will talk about his list of essential ingredients for your pantry!

Stir Fried Chicken & Baby Bok Choy

Today we were supposed to go to a play date at the park with our moms group, but little man still has that cough from last week. He only coughs a couple times a day, but when he does, it sounds terrible. Our pediatrician had mentioned that it was probably due to the high pollen levels this year, because she said his lungs were clear and he had no other symptoms of being sick. Either way, I knew that if I was at a play date and someone else's kid was hacking like that, I'd be worried. Therefore, we opted not to go.

Of course, then another friend invited us to go to Bahama Bucks. I'd never been before and had heard good things about it, so we decided to go ahead and go. I knew that she would trust me and my pediatrician because she knows I'm pretty responsible for the most part. I ordered a shaved ice in a flavor called Gilligan Grape, which was a combination of blue raspberry and grape, if I remember correctly. It was really good, but at the same time, I couldn't help but wonder about all the artificial flavor and coloring that I was putting into my body.

I also wondered if it would make my poo blue, because that's how my brain works sometimes.

Sorry for the overshare there, but you know how this journal thing works. Anyway, after we were done there, my friend said she was going to the AJ's Fine Foods that was down the street. I hadn't been there in ages so I said sure. I love that store, but it's pretty high end and not close to my home, so I don't shop there very often. I forgot how it kind of has the special ability to make me feel kind of ghetto and kind of fancy at the same time. They definitely have super friendly and helpful employees though. This one woman in the produce section helped us for almost 20 minutes, answering questions, bringing out fresher product, and giving bananas to the babies.

I was really proud of myself, because after hanging out there for about forty minutes, I managed to only put produce and a package of sliced gouda into my cart. This is huge for me, because normally I buy a lot of fancy junk food when I'm there. One of the things I picked up was some baby bok choy. I love love love this veggie, and I'm not necessarily a big fan of the leafy greens when cooked. This one, however, I will eat with pleasure.

I threw together a quick stir fry of sorts, and it was so good that I thought I'd share the recipe.

The first thing you'll need is some dashi. You can get it at Asian supermarkets, but I've seen it at my regular ones as well. Get the smallest package you can find because this stuff lasts forever.

Combine 1/4 tsp of the granules with 3/4 cup warm water. You're only going to use 1/4 cup of the resulting broth. You can toss the rest, or save it to use later, or triple the recipe. Your call!

To your 1/4 cup dashi broth, you're going to add another 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I use tamari), 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper, and 2 tbsp sake.

I bought a little tiny bottle for cooking at my local Asian grocery store because I don't really care to drink it straight. You, however, may love you some sake fiercely, so go ahead and buy the big bottle and use the leftovers for sake bombers next Saturday. Again, your call.

I took a photo of the bottle next to a spice jar so you could see how small it is. I think it only cost a few dollars.

Go ahead and set your sauce aside. Take a small onion, cut it in half, and then into thin crescents. Saute the onion in peanut or canola oil for about a minute. Add a thinly sliced carrot (two if they're on the small side) and saute another two minutes. Toss in a thinly sliced chicken breast (or two if you're really hungry, but one is enough) and cook until it's mostly cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Add 1/2 of the sauce mixture and allow it to simmer for another two minutes. This gets the flavor into the chicken.

While you're waiting, cut the bottoms off the bunches of baby bok choy. I used two, but if I had used more chicken I definitely would have used more. Wash the individual leaves. They tend to have a lot of dirt in them. Cut them into 1 1/2 inch lengths. Add them to the pan along with the remaining sauce mixture. Cook them until the leaves start to look good and wilted like so:

You don't want to cook them all the way down into a soggy mess. Yuck! Add another tablespoon of soy sauce and cook for two minutes. If you want your sauce to be a little thicker, you can dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch in about 1/3 of a cup of water and stir it in along with the soy sauce, but I didn't think it was necessary.

Serve this over some steamed rice.

Oh, and just so you know, the boy didn't even cough once all day, not until we got home. Figures.

2010 Goal Check-in: March

I set a lot of goals for 2010, and to keep myself honest, I thought I'd do what my blog friend Sam does and do a monthly check in. It's a great way to make sure that those goals don't get forgotten in a few months and I stick to working towards them.

*I want to try and remember to call my child by his ACTUAL name instead of Bubba. It's so embarrassing when people start talking to "Sawyer" and he doesn't respond because he has no idea who "Sawyer" is!

Still working on this, but I did better than I did last month. He will now respond if you call him Sawyer, which is a GREAT improvement. Before, he would ignore you because he did not know who this "Sawyer" character was.

*I want to try to eat less and move more. I will NOT be going on a diet. I decided I love food too much. I also will not be implementing a formal workout plan. Moving will involve cleaning house and taking the baby to the park, among other things.

I started running! Yay! I didn't start until halfway through the month, but here I have two weeks of running under my belt. I finally started Couch to 5K and it was BRUTAL. The first day I wanted to die. Every part of me hurt, even my eyelashes. My chest felt like it was on fire. My ankles were screaming in pain. It was horrible. It took me three tries to be able to get all the way through day one of the program without cheating and resorting to walking when I should have been running.

I am noticing that my right knee is REALLY bothering me though. I hurt it when I was working at the hotel (almost 3 years ago come May, I think). I slipped on a wet (unmarked!!!) floor in the lobby and landed in a kneeling position. All my weight slammed onto that one knee and it was a marble floor. I was carrying one of those giant coffee dispensers on the way to the kitchen to get it cleaned out and luckily managed to not spill it all over! I was okay when it happened, slightly sore by the end of the work day, and could barely walk by the next day. I ended up having to go to urgent care and have physical therapy for a month. Ugh. It hasn't really bothered me since, until this week.

The knee is mostly just a nagging minor pain, except of course when I'm actually running or when I'm on the stairs. THEN it straight up hurts. I've been advised by friends who run and have spouses that run to a) stretch, both before and after (duh, Sara, right?) and also to to b) take ibuprofen before and ice it after. We'll see how it is next week.

Luckily, I at least know I'm wearing the right shoes because I did this gait analysis a couple of years ago where you walked across this pad that showed how you distributed your weight on your tread. They also had me walk and jog on a treadmill while a camera analyzed how my steps fell. Then they recommended certain shoes with a certain type of support, and I bought those. I know it was two years ago, but since I haven't really worn them much, I think they're still okay.

*I want to quit making excuses and drag my lazy butt out of bed on Sundays to go to church.

Another successful month for this one!

*I want to pick one of my many cookbooks each month and make a new-never-tried-it-before recipe each week from it.

This month I made friends all over again with The Pioneer Woman. I made her Perfect Pot Roast and it was DIVINE. It was the first time I'd ever put any of my All-Clad into the oven. I knew I could do it, but I was a little freaked out by the idea. Now I regret not doing it sooner. That pot roast was so tender I was able to cut it the next day, COLD, with a spoon.

I also made pizza dough and Potato-Leek pizza. They're listed as two separate recipes in the book, so I'm counting them as such here. Also, since the dough is something you have to make ahead, I made it on a Saturday and the pizzas were made on Sunday. That's two different weeks!

If you haven't tried P-Dub's pizza dough, you're seriously missing out! It was so flipping GOOD. This was also my first time ever cooking or eating leeks. They were sautéed in bacon fat, and they were delicious. I used the other half of the dough to make a spinach and four cheese pizza that I found on Kate's blog. SO GOOD. I know I'm saying good a lot but man, you didn't try them.

Huh. I guess that's only three. Ah, well.

*I want to take catechism classes and do my first communion and confirmation.

This is happening this month! Not next Sunday, which is Easter, but the following Sunday, I will be making my first communion and confirmation. I made my first confession on Thursday and it was not bad at all. I seriously thought it would take like half an hour, but it was really fast.

*I want to eat out/eat processed foods less. We've been doing better about this than we were before, but we could do better.

We've been eating a lot of processed foods. I've been lazy and cooking only intermittently. A big part of my problem is that we haven't been to the grocery store. I don't want to do meal plans or a big shopping trip without my coupons, and I haven't taken the time to sit down and just clip and organize them. It's really hard with Grabby-Hands Bub around. It also takes a long time, and I just can't keep him busy for a big chunk of time like that so I can do it.

I did re-read Fast Food Nation and am currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. You know what's sad? Even though I know that a McNugget has 27 ingredients (Wendy's nuggets have 30!!!) and even though I know what meat plants are like, and even though I know all this bad stuff, not only about the food, but about the business practices of these restaurants, I still just want some damn fries from Mickey D's sometimes. Sick.

*I want to get the baby baptized.

This will be done after our confirmation this month. I need to make an appointment to have it done. I would really like the deacon who performed our wedding ceremony to be the one to baptize the baby, so we'll see.

*I want to have people over for dinner more often. Maybe a board game after? Is that weird?

We had the baby's soon-to-be godparents over for dinner. It was actually the night that we had the pizza. I stuffed them silly!

*I want to try one new thing (beside the cookbook goal) each month. It could be a new food, a new craft, a new life experience - it doesn't matter, as long as I've never done it before. Then, I have to blog about it.

Ostrich and lamb gyro meat. Yum. o_O (will probably be the last time for both of those) I also had the aforementioned leeks and attended my first Passover Seder, where I had horseradish for the first time. There was also my first time cooking en papillote and my first "adult" toy party. Finally, there was my first time attending mass on Palm Sunday, and starting Couch to 5k for the first time.

I think I have "try something new" covered!

*And of course, I want to work on incorporating domesticity into my life

Same as last month - I didn't clean a whole lot. That whole "lack of inspiration" business really kicked my butt. I need to stop making excuses and just do it.

Bacon, Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

I've really been into risotto lately. I know it's sooooo bad for you, but it tastes SO FLIPPING GOOD. Last night I decided to experiment a bit with stuff I already had in the house, and came up with this. It's not the prettiest dish, but it sure is tasty!

Just some tips before you start:

*Most recipes that I've seen say to use a nonstick pan, but I've just been using my stainless d5 All Clad pan and haven't had a single problem with sticking. I'd say if you have good pots and pans, to go ahead and skip using Teflon (because it's gross anyway) but if you don't, then go ahead with your nonstick pan. You've gotta use what you have! :)

*Don't stop stirring. Your arm will get tired, but you can't stop stirring. This is what keeps your risotto from scorching and helps to develop it's signature creaminess.

*Because you shouldn't stop stirring, this is an ideal recipe to practice mise en place like on a cooking show. You don't want to be running around and trying to grate cheese while simultaneously stirring the risotto. It's not going to happen.

Bacon, Chicken, and Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bacon, chopped

One of those grocery store containers of white button mushrooms (I forget the size), sliced and left to dry on towels (paper or a clean tea towel)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

8 cups chicken stock

2 cups cooked diced chicken

1/2 stick butter

1 to 1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

1 1/2 cups frozen peas (slightly thawed)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

*In a medium saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat and keep at a simmer.

*In a large skillet, saute bacon over medium heat until it is crisp. Remove from pan, leaving the fat. Place mushrooms in the pan in a single layer and don't touch them! At least not for a minute or so. Give them a stir and let them sit for another minute. Remove from pan, reserving as much of the fat as possible.

*Saute chopped onions in the bacon fat until translucent, about three minutes. Add rice and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add white wine and stir until absorbed.

*Add 1/2 cup of hot chicken stock to rice. Stir until absorbed. Continue adding chicken stock to the rice, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it's absorbed after each addition. This will happen very quickly at first, then take longer as more stock is incorporated.

*After you've stirred in four cups of stock, add bacon and mushrooms into the pan. I had some leftover roast chicken, so I chopped that up and tossed it in as well to make it more of a main dish.

*Keep adding stock 1/4 cup at a time to the pan and don't stop stirring! You'll want to do this until the risotto is creamy and the rice is cooked al dente, just like pasta. I usually use most, if not all of the stock.

*Stir in butter and parmigiano reggiano until melted. Add peas and allow to heat through. Serve immediately.

Um, and in case you were wondering - no, this is NOT low fat! HA!

Gnocchi with Thyme Butter Sauce

Yesterday, the Queen of Quirky tweeted that she was making gnocchi. FROM SCRATCH, y'all. I've never made gnocchi from scratch before! And why not? I love me some gnocchi, and that stuff isn't very cheap. It comes in itty bitty packages too, so you need two to make a decent meal. Forget that!

Needless to say, when she posted a link to the recipe, I was all over it.

First, you need two pounds of potatoes.

Yes, I weighed them, because I'm a nerd like that. I also happen to really love my little food scale. I bought it for Weight Watchers, and now use it to measure flour for baking. I know.

Go ahead and poke your taters then bake them until they're fork tender.

Go ahead and cut them into halves or quarters lengthwise so that they'll cool faster.

When they're cool enough to handle, but still warm (according to the recipe you want to work with warm potatoes) scoop them from their skins. I just used a big soup spoon to do it.

Either put them through a potato ricer, or give them a good mashing manually, followed by a fork fluffing.

Before I forget - put a big pot of water to boil. Once it comes to a boil toss in a handful of salt. I read somewhere that the water to boil pasta should be "salty as the sea." You want to be sure to put the salt in AFTER it's boiling if you don't want the lovely white spots on the bottom of your pot like I have. Oops.

Back to your potatoes - add two egg yolks, a generous pinch of salt, and 1 1/2 cups (188 g) all purpose flour.

Use your hands to mix that all together until it forms a pretty good ball.

Working with a small amount at a time, roll the dough out into long thin logs. Cut into pieces about 3/4" long, and make an indentation in each piece with your thumb.

Put them on a baking sheet that has been lined with waxed paper and/or sprinkled with flour while you work. After you've gotten them all made, place them into your pot of salted boiling water. Wait for them to float to the surface, then boil for another minute.

I had to do this in two batches. After I pulled them out of the water with my spider, I set them back on the baking sheet until I was done with the sauce. I was just sort of winging it at this point and trying to use up stuff I already had in the house.

Ah, sauce. What better way to start pasta sauce than with garlic? Take three cloves, peel them, and put them through your garlic press. Next, get out a large saute pan and set on medium heat.

Isn't it PURTY? Don't you know those nice folks at All Clad sent us a bigger version of the 2 quart pan we got to test out (see my review here)for the d5 release. This one is three quarts and the same size as my original All Clad saute pan, which means I'll be able to get a lot more use from it. It totally made my day when the UPS man dropped it off the other day - it's just fantastic! I've been itching to make something slightly more interesting than the home fries I made in it yesterday. :)

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in your pan.

Once it's melted, toss in the garlic.

Let the garlic cook for a few minutes until it and the butter starts to brown slightly. Add 1 tsp fresh thyme and give it a good stir.

I had some cooked chicken breast leftover from dinner two nights ago, so I chopped it up and tossed that in the pan as well. If you didn't eat meat though I'm sure you could just skip that step!

I sauteed that for a couple of minutes so that the chicken would have a chance to take on the flavors of the thyme and garlic.

Go ahead and toss in your gnocchi and give it a good stir - gently! You just want them to get all nice and coated in the butter.

Finally, sprinkle on some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. I probably used somewhere between 1/4 cup and a 1/2 cup here. I didn't measure - just took the Microplane and my chunk of cheese and grated until it looked good. Mix in all that cheesy goodness and you're done!

Yes, those are celery tops used as a garnish. They were the only leafy green thing I could find in the fridge besides baby bok choy. I wasn't thinking those would look very nice, so celery tops it was.

Ah, and now for the Things I Learned portion of the program...

Although the recipe states that you can mash the potatoes by hand if you don't have a potato ricer, I will not be making this again until I get one. My gnocchi was LUMPY. You couldn't really tell in the finished product (unless you directly bit into a large piece) but it made the rolling out of the dough a pain.

For that matter, let's add that you should bake your potatoes in the OVEN and not in the MICROWAVE like some lazy butt (me) did. My potatoes got sort of dehydrated and gluey, and some parts were a bit tough about the edges. That may have also contributed to my lumps.

I bake a LOT. Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows that. A lot of recipes call for separated eggs, but then I feel bad for wasting the unused part. Sometimes I would feed the yolks to the dogs. I read somewhere that you could freeze leftover yolks and whites for later use, so I decided to try that.

Let me tell you - NEVER AGAIN. The entire consistency of the yolk changed once it thawed. It was a very thick, almost gelatinous, mass. I added a little water to it to try to thin it out, but I don't think it helped. As a result, my dough was very crumbly and I had to add more water to it so that it would be okay for rolling out. I did this by wetting my hands and then working the dough so that I was adding as little water as possible.

The frozen herbs, I'm happy to report, worked just fine. I let my little 1 tsp cube defrost, then squeezed the water from it. When it came time to add it to my sauce, it was a little clump, but the butter and a quick stir with the back of my spoon and it was okay.

The finished product was good - in fact, it was a LOT better than I thought it was going to be, due to the lumps/yolks/water issues. It was also VERY filling. I couldn't finish that portion that I served for myself.

My husband, however, was a different story! :)

Baked Ziti

I got my new Williams Sonoma catalog (with the new d5 All Clad stuff inside!!!) in the mail last week. If you got it also, that means you got the incredible recipe for Baked Ziti on page ten. I took one look at it and knew I had to make it!

Baked Ziti (from Williams Sonoma)

ingredients:

4 tsp plus 1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (I used the whole 1.25 lb package, because what am I going to do with 2 sausage links???)

1 small eggplant, cut into 1/2" cubes (there was one in my co-op basket this week! Fate!)

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced (I used six, because I really like garlic and generally double it in recipes)

1/2 cup dry red wine (I used some cheap Merlot I found at the Walmarts)

1 can (28oz) crushed plum tomatoes with juices (must find alternative for this, as canned tomatoes are not bueno)

5 oz ziti, cooked until al dente (I used slightly more than half a 16 oz box)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (also in my co-op basket!)

1/3 cup rinsed, chopped Kalamata olives (I left those out because I hate olives)

2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (I only used 2 cups because that was all I had)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

directions:

1. Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 400 degrees F. In a large frying pan over medium high heat, warm 2 tsp oil. Brown sausage 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tbsp of fat in the pan. Set over medium-high heat; warm with additional 2 tsp oil. Cook eggplant 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Set pan over medium heat; warm 1 tbsp oil. Cook onion 5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic; cook one more minute. Add wine, increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits. Cook 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and juices; simmer ten minutes.

2. Add sausage pasta, basil, olives, 2 cups of mozzarella and tomato sauce to bowl with eggplant; stir to combine. Season with salt ad pepper to taste. Transfer to a large casserole dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano over pasta. Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover, and bake at 500 degrees for an additional 5 minutes. Serves six.

Notes:

* The recipe calls for you to cook everything in a nonstick pan, and then to bake it all in the same nonstick pan. I try to cook in Teflon as little as possible, because that stuff just isn't good for you, especially at high heat.

*The Walmarts only had a scary brand of ziti, so I used the rigatoni of my preferred brand.

*I thought that the ratio of pasta to meat in this dish was off. Maybe it was because I used extra sausage in it, who knows. Next time, I'll make the whole 1 lb box of pasta and then split it between two casserole dishes and just freeze the second one.

*I'm also wondering if I could add more veggies to this. Maybe some mushrooms and zucchini?

*I'm never going to be a real foodie because I don't like olives or wine. *sniff*

*This was my first time ever cooking eggplant. It was very similar to zucchini in this dish, as in it had no real flavor of it's own because it took on the flavors of the dish.

*A flat whisk is seriously the best tool ever for deglazing a pan and/or making gravy. I am very thankful to the Pioneer Woman for turning me on to this tool!

*We found that slightly undercooked pasta (like a minute or so shy of being al dente) gives you perfect pasta in the finished dish

*The baby LOVED this. He ate a LOT, including the eggplant. His extreme enjoyment of his meal earned him a trip straight to the bathtub after dinner!

Highlights from my Kitchen - 2009

YES, another recap of sorts. Shh! 2009 was pretty good! Anyway, the Queen of Quirky put forth this set of interview questions for foodies on her blog. Since I am starting to think I may have a little bit of the "foodie" in me, I decided, why the heck not? Besides, the baby is napping and I don't feel like cleaning anything else today!

Highlights from my kitchen 2009: A Q&A interview with myself.

Q: What surprised you the most in your kitchen this year?

A: How stinking EASY it is to make homemade pasta, and how good it tastes. It's amazing what the power of two simple ingredients can do! I was also surprised at how good fried sweet potato chips were, because I really do not like sweet potatoes.

Q: What 3 ingredients in 2009 became your favorites to work with?

1. Sugar - in all it's shapes and forms. Fondant, powdered, colored, sanded, molasses, corn syrup...it's all good. It's insane the amount of powdered sugar I went through this year. I'm thinking at LEAST 15-20 two pound bags! I always buy two or three at a time now.

2. Shrimp - but honestly, that's always been a favorite. There are just so many things you can do with it!

3. Fresh vegetables - Growing up, what little vegetables we did consume in our home came from cans. Things that were supposed to be green were more of a gray color due to the canning process. We ate a lot of canned corn! Then I got older, and I moved on to frozen vegetables. They were already cut up and cleaned for me and I didn't have to worry about them spoiling if I went a week or two without actually cooking anything. The only things I ever bought in the produce section were lettuce, potatoes, onions, garlic, and maybe lemons or the odd fruit here and there.

This past year, however, I've started trying out more fresh vegetables. We discovered the simple joy of roasted green beans and asparagus. Making my own baby food brought a lot of different things into the house. We joined the food co-op and had to learn how to cook and eat new foods. (Persimmon sorbet, anyone?)

Q: What was your greatest culinary achievement?

The fondant shoes on that baby shower cake. They took six hours to make and I had no clue what I was doing. I just sort of prayed and winged it, and they worked out.

Q: What intimidated you the most before you tried it?

Definitely the fresh pasta. It sounded like so much work - why go through all the trouble when you can just grab a box for a buck or two at the supermarket? Then I tried it, and boy, did I feel dumb. Sure, it's a lot of work, but it's definitely not hard at all.

Q:What cooks inspired you this year?

Hands down, the Pioneer Woman. It was great getting to meet her, and I've made a lot of her recipes. I'm looking forward to trying more in the coming year.

Q: What was your biggest failure in the kitchen?

I still can't find the "perfect" chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have really high standards.

Q: What new dishes would you like to tackle in 2010?

More ethnic foods. I want to try making new Japanese, Indian, Italian, Chinese, and Mexican foods at home. I have a ton of cookbooks, yet I rarely open them. It's a goal for the year to use them more often.

I also am dying to try the Parmesan Truffled Popcorn Jaimee Rose posted about on her blog. My mother in law got me a jar of the Truffle and Salt for Christmas and it smells SO GOOD!

Q: What 1 event was your culinary turning point in 2009?

I don't know if I would call it a turning point, but I finally figured out how to make bread rise when it was cold outside. Don't laugh! I know most people get into the bread baking as it starts to cool off, but for me, it was always a summer time activity. I'd simply cover the dough with a kitchen towel and put it outside on the patio!

Of course, in the winter it was too cold to do that. Some people said to put the oven on warm and stick it in there, but then it would get all nasty and dried out. Some people said to stick it in the microwave, but that wasn't warm enough to get it to rise. Neither was an oven that was turned off. Finally, the answer came to me on a bag of frozen loaves of bread.

I was supposed to bring rolls to Thanksgiving dinner, but I ran out of time, so I had to go buy some at the grocery store. Of course they were out of the frozen unbaked kind, so I just got a package of five loaves. There, on the back, I found their "rapid bake" method. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees, then TURN IT OFF.

Duh. It works. You just stick your bread in there to rise without worrying about it getting a dried out crust. Now I can bake bread year round!

Q: What was your go-to kitchen tool/cookware/gadget in 2009?

Kitchen tool - my KitchenAid stand mixer. Cookware - All-Clad Saute Pan. Gadget - Onion chopper thing. Don't judge. I hate chopping onions!!! (Sorry, P-Dub)