Meat, meet me!

First of all i'm not a huge red meat eater. Partly because i know about carbon foot prints, i know i should be eating more veggies, it's expensive, but also a chunk is that i didn't know how to cook it properly, and meat is really best on a grill.

J. has been working really hard to figure out how to grill in our apartment as we have no bbq. It really is one of the saddest most frustrating things about living in an apartment. It's even sadder because it's summer and summer = grilling/BBQing season.

He read and read and presto here is what he made for me...i provided the sides.

Aren't they just so gorgeous (for those of you who enjoy meat)! It was done on our cast iron skillet, our apartment was about 1000 degrees afterwards, but TOTALLY worth it!

Bits of my week(end)

This is my first attempt at this and as we all know i'm not the best blogger...can i make my excuse? We still don't have real internet. Even as i write this i question if my pictures will upload and if this will even make it on the 'net. I'm taking the risk.

Although hard to see this is the Mets vs. Twins game...a big deal as J. is from Minnesota.

This is sand art all done by hand! Crizazy right!? Top right corner you can kinda see him working on the design.

It's so darn hot here i made this cold soba noodle salad. and to accompany it...

PEACH PIE!
Peaches are in season so i thought i'd make a pie...soooo yummy!

I'll see if i can keep this up...no promises though!

2 years...sigh

I have mentioned this before, but J and I aren't really a cutsie couple with other people around, therefore i haven't really been gushing that our 2nd anniversary was approaching. To be honest we don't really know the date we started going out. We met March 9, but one of our first REAL dates was Good Friday and Good Friday switches every year. How do i remember this? Well there was a "parade" he thought might be cool to see. New to both of us we walked the streets of Cobble Hill looking and listening. Low and behold we could hear drum beats and chanting and found this parade. Fast forward to last Friday. After our delicious dinner we were walking around the Cobble Hill area and all of a sudden we hear boom boom boom, and ladies chanting in Italian. We had come across the parade. Awwwwww RIGHT?!! Anyways, there is no way to describe how different this parade is...wait let me rephrase, traditional the parade is. As you may be able to tell from my iphone photos, there is the life size Jesus in his plexiglass casket with thorns, stigmata and all (i'm sure stigmata is not appropriate, but i'm having such a challenging time wrapping my brain around this day) followed by a HUGE Virgin Mary dressed all in black. It's a very solemn parade and it was how J and I celebrated US. I hope we didn't offend too many old ladies when we were smooching on the corner as Jesus was carried by.

a SUPER Super Bowl

Um yes i can say deeeelayed, but let's all be honest here, i'm clearly not writing anything up to date. I'm going through my computer and pulling up all my old pictures and thinking of oh so witty things to say. Super Bowl is not so much of a big deal for me, but i did decide to make a feast for Super Bowl. It consisted of umm CHILI! cornbread, guac (not pictured here b/c we ate it all before i thought about photographing it) and beer. Not sure i'm supposed to be making chili, not the best thing ever, but the corn bread was good. I can't remember if i told you guys about it before but i swear it comes from a higher cooking goddess. I could eat it every day...i won't tell you what's in it (unless you want to know) b/c this will explain why we really can't eat it everyday.

Holy macaroni...i almost forgot to tell you about my "truffles". They were chocolate date and a bunch of other yummy things which i attempted to roll into coconut. Not so easy. I won't make those again. Too hard and doesn't fall into my category of worth my time. But i did love making them because i required using my newest toy. Oh how i love to chop things up now!!

zip zip zip tzatziki

Where to begin. I HATE chopping things up. Ohhhhh how i loooooathe dicing, and slicing and julienning. Second thing on my list to help me in life was to request from Santa a Cuisinart. Santa was very generous to me and my plight. A few weeks after Christmas my 20 some odd pound baby arrived. Shiny, new and ready to make mama happy. Similarly to my big decision when i got my first born baby (my Kitchen Aid mixer) what would i make first? Something memorable and delicious. Something that i'd hate and would never ever make unless i had something to make my life easier. TZZZZZZATZIIKI!!!!! Here is how to make tzatziki with the Cuisinart. Throw it all in, pulse pulse, and eat. K, it's not really THAT easy, but it really did take about 5 minutes to make and i think 4 of the 5 minutes was trying to get the blades on without slicing and dicing my fingers off. It made my garlic so tiny, and the cucumber so slicey and then blended in all the other ingredients to peeeeerfection. I love to throw in all sorts of things to make my life a slice of heaven. hehe, i just can't help myself.

oh and ps: the middle picture is to show that i must have received the brand for those of us who have poor vision and get panicky about slicing too much. The buttons are pretty much fool proof. AAHHHHHH my cucumbers are turning to juice....where is that darned button. Ohhhhh phew, there it is. 3 inches long and in bold silvery letters.

Pizzazy pizza

Seriously, i love to cook, but i HATE hate to wait for things that take too long. Instant gratification is my best friend. Therefore when i found a recipe for pizza dough that didn't take a long time to rise like regular pizza dough i was kinda wow'ed to the max! Now this dough isn't going to be the best dough you've ever tried, but for dough that doesn't require rising this is pretty darn delicious!

Sadly the first time i made this i wasn't in the mind set to document BUT here I am making it again! It's just not a pizza. This is a flatbread. What the difference is i have no idea...maybe the lack of tomato sauce? This is just oil and ingredients.

Here is what i've got goin' on

Butternut squash

pumpkin seeds (i heard that pine nuts is good)

spinach (arugula should be good too!)

red onion

parm. cheese

oil

the recipe for the pizza dough is as such:

3 cup all-purpose flour

1 package of dry active yeast

2 TBSP veg. oil

1 Tsp salt

1TBSP white sugar

1 Cup warm water

mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast in large bowl. add oil and warm water. mix, mix mix. put on the pizza pan and decorate as you'd like.

bake at 375 for 20-25 min.

Now i have made this a couple times since the first and once i added whole wheat flour....pretty much we ate bread with pizza toppings. it was not so nice. I still have to figure out how to convert whole wheat and all-purpose.

Earth Hour

I am starting to drive J crazy. Not only have i started to make him eat things that are organic, not filled with preservatives and introduced him to butter (instead of margarine), but i just started pushing the use of less lights/electricity and a decrease in meat products. The poor man is really starting to get frustrated and i don't blame him. Don't worry the decrease in meat thing is really only me...i'm not taking away all the boy's fun.

Today was Earth Hour. I only remembered after someone in my electronic universe reminded me and asked if she "could watch tv with the lights off and it still count". I laughed a lot b/c any decrease in electricity is better than no decrease correct? J made the point to me that although the lights are off, everything was still plugged in and we were still on the grid. He didn't understand why i would participate, so he left the house for a run and i sat in dark silence and read. It really did make me think though, is earth hour really effective. Having things on and running does increase the amount of electricity used, but is unplugging for an hour worth it all?

I don't use paper towels anymore. I have cut up an old shirt and i use that instead. I wash it and reuse over and over again. My whole idea behind that is i'm decreasing the amount of waste i send out. I guess this can also be said of this Earth Hour concept. Even though it's a small decrease i guess it's a decrease to an extent. Every little bit helps right?

google reader

Sometimes i think i live under a rock with regard to technology. I love to bookmark things, but i don't really have a clue on how to have my computer tell me when people update their blogs. You know, send me a note or just some how make it so blatantly obvious i don't have to go blog to blog and check...enter here Google Reader. Let's rewind a few months ago.

As many of you know i had my Child Life certification exam back at the beginning of November. I do not standardize test well at all. Worst way to measure my knowledge (and many other people for that matter, but that's besides the point). When if finished my exam i thought i was going to throw-up. I was CONVINCED i failed. Really and truly i thought i failed.

Fast forward 2 weeks after the exam. News started to spread that people were getting their results. A friend of mine mentioned someone she knew found out via mail that day. It was around that time of day when our mail is put out. I became so incredibly nervous and freaked out I stood up and while attempting to put lappy (the laptop) on the kitchen table i accidentally decided to let go a few seconds early and drop her on the floor. It was a crack heard around the world...and a long NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

escaping from my mouth...before i quickly sprinted down the stairs.

Sad thing was my mail didn't arrive until the next day, which is where my results were, but that was the day my laptop died. Happiest day (yeah i'm a CCLS) and saddest day of my life. When lappy broke, and never started again, i lost all my favorited bookmarks. I knew i'd get my hard drive pulled out and all the information put into a new laptop (eventually), but some of the hardest things for me to lose are the favorite sites i have. There were hundreds of them. All organized, and labeled, sigh, so beautiful.

As embarrassing as it was, for a long while i couldn't figure out how to find my blog. This is obviously a lame excuse for not writing. The thing is you can't google my name or the title of my blog and find me...i did that as a safety/privacy measure. Apparently I did such a great job i couldn't find myself. Which brings me full circle to Google Reader.

I'm sure there are ways for an email to show up and tell me there is a new blog post, but now that i've got my new computer i've discovered this instead. All my blogs protected for me to read, updating me as they are written. loooove it!

That's all...maybe i'll remain inspired in my writing. i just don't know though. i really do enjoy reading other peoples thoughts and comments on life oh so much more!!

Get in ma belly biscotti's

The idea of having something last a long time without going bad or becoming stale is a very tempting idea for me. Hello i'm the gal who likes to make cookies, roll the dough into balls and freeze them for later use. 10 minutes later in the toaster oven i've got my delicious chocolate cranberry oatmeally cookie treat.

This is why i decided to give this biscotti recipe a go. They said it would last a month! A lot of coffee is consumed in this house and i liked the idea of having this. All i can say is OMG!! I was so excited about making these and how delicious they were i threw myself to the lion and shared my cooking with my grandmother. A not so quiet critic of anyones cooking. I passed the test. Oh wait did i mention this happened months ago...yes these were made before Christmas. Oh yes, i'm a slow writer and finally got my shiznet together. Anyhoo, the story is still true. The short of the long is these biscotti's were delicious and eaaaaaasy to make. I think my motto should be, if it's not easy she won't make it. If anyone is interested in giving this a try let me know i'll track down the recipe. I want to say it was a King Arthur Flour blog recipe...i do get a lot of goodies from them.

my weakness...bread

I don't even remember if i've talked about this, but a whiiiiiiile back i went to two classes held by King Arthur Flour. They taught me how to make bread, and pie crust. WELL i have yet to tackle the pie crust (missing the pie pan...yes it's an excuse). but i have tackled bread twice.

You all saw my first attempt and now i've done a new one.

No-Knead Crusty White Bread

OMG EASY!!!!!! and so delicious i'm trying to stop myself from eating Joe's. The hardest part is waiting the hours upon hours for the dough to rise. BUT if you make the dough before bed it will be ready for morning.

Here is how i see you doing this

1) make dough. put in fridge over night to rise

2)with 1.5-2 hours before needing to walk out the door. get dough ready for the pre-oven rise (40-50 min).

3) put in oven for 30-40 minutes (until brown in color).... EAT EAT EAT!

OR save for dinner that night. This dough lasts for a week or more! How great. it starts to turn to sourdough bread.

*I made the dough last sunday and this morning i made french toast with some of the loaves i made yesterday. nothing like making french toast with your own bread! I swear this is the easiest thing ever (or else i wouldn't be doing it)!

**I tried to add raisins...nothing like crusty raisin bread RIGHT. I would recommend soaking the raisins a bit to increase the juicy factor.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

Directions

*The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe. If you measure flour by sprinkling it into your measuring cup, then gently sweeping off the excess, use 7 1/2 cups. If you measure flour by dipping your cup into the canister, then sweeping off the excess, use 6 1/2 cups. Most accurate of all, and guaranteed to give you the best results, if you measure flour by weight, use 32 ounces.

1) Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or a large (6-quart), food-safe plastic bucket. For first-timers, "lukewarm" means about 105°F, but don't stress over getting the temperatures exact here. Comfortably warm is fine; "OUCH, that's hot!" is not. Yeast is a living thing; treat it nicely.

2) Mix and stir everything together to make a very sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the beater blade for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don't have a mixer, just stir-stir-stir with a big spoon or dough whisk till everything is combined.

3) Next, you're going to let the dough rise. If you've made the dough in a plastic bucket, you're all set — just let it stay there, covering the bucket with a lid or plastic wrap; a shower cap actually works well here. If you've made the dough in a bowl that's not at least 6-quart capacity, transfer it to a large bowl; it's going to rise a lot. There's no need to grease the bowl, though you can if you like; it makes it a bit easier to get the dough out when it's time to bake bread.

4) Cover the bowl or bucket, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or for up to about 7 days. (If you're pressed for time, skip the room-temperature rise, and stick it right into the fridge). The longer you keep it in the fridge, the tangier it'll get; if you chill it for 7 days, it will taste like sourdough. Over the course of the first day or so, it'll rise, then fall. That's OK; that's what it's supposed to do.

5) When you're ready to make bread, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour; this will make it easier to grab a hunk. Grease your hands, and pull off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough — a 14-ounce to 19-ounce piece, if you have a scale. It'll be about the size of a softball, or a large grapefruit.

6) Plop the sticky dough onto a floured work surface, and round it into a ball, or a longer log. Don't fuss around trying to make it perfect; just do the best you can.

7) Place the dough on a piece of parchment (if you're going to use a baking stone); or onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sift a light coating of flour over the top; this will help keep the dough moist as it rests before baking.

8) Let the dough rise for about 45 to 60 minutes. It won't appear to rise upwards that much; rather, it'll seem to settle and expand. Preheat your oven (and baking stone, if you're using one) to 450°F while the dough rests. Place a shallow pan on the lowest oven rack, and have 1 cup of hot water ready to go.

9) When you're ready to bake, take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 or 3 times, making a cut about 1/2" deep. The bread may deflate a bit; that's OK, it'll pick right up in the hot oven.

10) Place the bread in the oven, and carefully pour the 1 cup hot water into the shallow pan on the rack beneath. It'll bubble and steam; close the oven door quickly.

11) Bake the bread for 25 to 35 minutes, until it's a deep, golden brown.

12) Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

13) Yield: 3 or 4 loaves, depending on size.

heart heathy pumpy pumpkin bread

After i got over how RIDICULOUSLY hard it was to cut a sugar pumpkin (swear to god i was going to lose a finger or hand and sweat all over the thing) and Joe was late for work trying to help me do this....i got down to business on roasting the pumpkin to then make the faaaaabulous pumpkin bread.

So far most of my recipes are taken from allrecipes.com with modifications either recommended by other people or stuff i think would be yummy in it. I made this one because with all the bread J and I are consuming in the breakfast department i wanted something that was good for us, but also had some substantial substance that i could eat this with peanut butter and feel full for a while. I made this as bread (because i don't have muffin tins), but this would also be great in muffin cups to make portion control less of an issue.

here she be:

1 small sugar pumpkin, seeded (about 15 oz---if you go for the canned version)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats

3/4 cup white sugar (agave nectar would be great in this...but i don't know the conversion)

• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup apple sauce
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Split pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and strings. Place on baking sheet, cut side down. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 90 minutes. Remove pumpkin pulp and puree in blender. Measure out 2 cups pumpkin puree; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 2 cups pumpkin puree, apple sauce and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

This bread is full of spices...in a good way it's spicey. You may want to decrease the nutmeg, clove and allspice. I liked it like this though.

red quinoa salad

When my brother came for a visit a month or so ago he came with a container of quinoa he and Rachel had been carrying across the country. They were planning to eat it, but never got the chance. Instead they refused to bring back where it came from and left this delightful treat with me. I have cooked quinoa a couple of times and have been trying to find something i liked with it. I think i've finally made a quinoa dish i can be proud to share. I heard somewhere that if your meal is colorful it is pretty darn healthy.

In my salad i had
2 handfulls of raisins
1 or so cup of corn
handful of raw unsalted sunflower seeds
half an onion chopped into small edible pieces
shallot diced
2 cloves of garlic diced
arugula
4 handfuls of grape tomatoes cut in half
tablespoon of parsley (wish i had it fresh though)

1 cup of uncooked quinoa---1 cup to 2 cups of water (broth is best)

I put the salad together adding oil and red wine vinegar as a seasoning (i would also add lemon juice, but i didn't have any). Salt and pepper
Plate the salad and put the quinoa on top in the center.

ENJOY...beware it's very stinky!

Zest up your life!

Remember how i made those cookies out of new york magazine once. Yes that was the beginning of a few disasters in the kitchen. I tried again. This time i decided tea would be okay. This receipe KNOCKED my socks off!

super easy and not only does it smell good, but it just makes your insides warm and fuzzy!
I forgot to take a picture of me making it...but here is how i felt



ginger citrus tea

4 cups water

1/8 cinny stick

5oz FRESH ginger

1/4 lemon peel ZESTED in strips

1/4 cut FRESH lemon juice (1 1/2 lemon)

1/3 cup honey

1/4 bunch FRESH mint

boil water and cin

peel and roughly chop ginger, add to pot with lemon and juice

cover and simmer 30 min

add honey stir, simmer 20 more min

pour over mint- strain and stir

BAM!

http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/62242/

um i have no excuse

Yeah...i have no idea what to say about why i haven't been writing. So how about i just get it back on track and write a bit today and a bit over the next little while before...i hope...life gets busy again.

I've been cooking, baking whatever you want to call it. The thing is i haven't taken a lot of photos mainly because i keep forgetting durning the heat of it all. But here are a few things i've done

1) Cranberry Chutney....then i made it into a preserve, but was so paranoid about killing us with botulism i made us eat it in a week and didn't see how long it could last in a jar.

2) spaghetti squash pasta...yes it was ROCKIN'

3)heart healthy pumpkin bread (with my own roasted pumpkin)

4)gingerbread

5)zested up my life with ginger citrus tea

6)BREAD BREAD BREAD

7) brought out the ancient grains---quinoa

8)pizzaz pizza!

9)corny corn bread

10) oink oink pork loin

phew. obviously i've made more than this because more than 10 meals have occurred in this house since i last wrote, but seriously, these are the ones worth mentioning.

Happy Anniversary Gorgeous

I have this habit of going for long stretches of time without writing and then i do write and i have a million things to say...but as not to over load all of you, i write and then put it in the draft section of my blog. Well when i do this i sometimes forget to go back a few days later and upload. SO this leads to this post. Last year i wrote an anniversary blog. I wrote it weeks early and then promptly forget to post and i have just recently uncovered it a few months ago. This is last years anniversary blog, and in honor of my two years of writing here is a new anniversary blog.

10/30/08
It's official i've been writing for a year about living here in the big apple. Who knew i could write (i guess that's still debatable), who knew i had the ability to keep something like this going for a year (no really, i've never kept a diary or journal i'm a non-finisher) and who knew i was actually doing stuff that some people find interesting enough to read....FOR A YEAR!

I guess this means i have to say something profound about writing or living here or something, but i guess the only real thing i can say is that living here has taught me a lot about who i am. Although really, I guess i could say that a year of life in general can teach you a lot yourself, but i really think that it's NYC. Here is where profound thoughts should occur, but instead i have a top ten list. Kinda like David Letterman...well isn't that new yorky

Top 10 reasons why i love NYC

10) Sitting in central park in the middle of the city not hearing any sounds of being in a big city
9) Walking for miles and miles not realizing how much ground has been covered
8) How friendly people are. Although they may not be new yorkers, but i'm sure they are
7) You can get pretty much any time of food that exists
6) Delivery of pretty much anything (food, clothing, furniture)
5) People watching
4) Everything is open late night
3) Riding the trains...on the weekend it's kinda like a painful game, how long will it take to get from point A-B. You can read so much and get anywhere faster than above ground
2) The amazing friends i've made

And the number 1 reason i love NYC
1) It's the craziest most bizarre city I know....how often would a gal like me get a chance to live here?!

10/30/09
Two years and how much has changed. Not only have i finished school, but i've moved to a whole new city. I contemplated changing the name of the blog, but then realized that i like the big apple still and unless something major happens that name sticks. Therefore in honor of my move to Brooklyn where their motto is "how sweet it is" i will give my Why Brooklyn is sooooooo sweet top 10 list.

Why Brooklyn is soooooo sweet top 10 list
10) Less traffic, less people, less noise *at night at least
9) Just as close to downtown nyc, but not nearly as much hassle or frustration while on the train
8) the park...oh how i love Prospect park
7) Prospect Park farmers market
6) neighborhoods, with backyards and kids playing in the street
5) stars... i can see the stars at night soooo beautiful
4) is it possible to be not as dirty or smoggy? Don't get me wrong it's still gross though
3) independent-designers, stores, salons, restaurants...they are EVERYWHERE!
2) i'm finally living with J (corny yes, but it's so much better than riding the train 50 minutes back and forth multiple times a week)

And the number 1 reason why Brooklyn is soooooooooooooooo sweet
1) I get to have all the great things about Brooklyn and also know that NYC is still so close i can go there if i need to!

Giving bread a go

A few weeks ago i went to a 2 part cooking class given by King Arthur Flour (KAF). The first half taught us how to make bread, the second half taught us how to make pie dough/crust. For a lot of people (myself included) this stuff is really scary. The part about letting it rise and how long is good enough for kneading. Hint 1:there is a King Arthur emergency hotline for baking 911's. She said the hotline would be starting to have weekend and late night hours soon because of the upcoming holidays. Don't you just love America!!

I kept postponing my first experience. I kind of blamed the lack of a food processor to help as an excuse...but darn that KAF. She pretty much said you don't need a food processor or mixer. All of it can be done by hand. REALLY?! Well i guess our ancestors did it, i guess i can too.

My wonderful friend Chelsea took the plunge first and then shared her recipe for what i was told is a French bread. I'm sure hers turned out like one....mine was kind of just bread like. HEY i'll take any form of bread shape, it was my first go! Since then i've become brave and done it again! Each time it gets better and i become more brave. This week i've decided to tackle something in the filled bread section. We'll see how that one goes.

Anyhoo, here are shots from my bread experience.

This is rising yeast. Smells like a brewery...wonder why!


My dough was supposed to be in the shape of a ball...and not soupy. Well it stuck together, but not as a ball. This is the dough in it's oil bath during the rising process.



Couple hours later it's risen and ready for baking!!


TADA! Fancy huh!