2nd place?... feels like first!

first one to name the movie quote gets cookies! i promise!

i was a runner-up on the endless simmer "smallest kitchen" contest! that's sad, really sad. but the happy thing is that i no longer live in that apartment, and my new kitchen is spacious, clean, and well-equipped. =)

i also failed to report that i signed up to participate in the Eating Down the Fridge challenge on true/slant hosted by Kim O'Donnell (the former WaPo food blogger). i also kind of forgot that i was in it, but my sunday grocery trip with the parents stocked me up, and my monday night dinner came straight from the fridge!

i didn't take any pictures, but i went with my old stand-by for fridge-usage: eggs! i made myself a fried egg topped with the last few dregs of the salsa bottle that i always refuse to throw out (read: i love salsa). i mixed up some cottage cheese with honey, and spread some blackberry jam on the remaining 2 slices of toast from my freezer.

i'm excited to make something tonight, now that i actually remembered that i'm supposed to be creative! look for fun things the rest of this week!

ciao,
j

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one tiny cupcake

september was cake month, and i am not complaining about it (there's still a tiny, tiny sliver of the birthday cake on our counter -- no one wants to be the evil person to eat the last slice and make all the roommates jealous).

i've never been a huge fan of chocolate cake (unless it's dark, fudgy, and actually a brownie, not cake), but i've never met an ina recipe i didn't like. i assumed this one would change my mind. i was right. since i was planning on making them into hostess-like cupcakes, i opted just to use the leftover frosting from the birthday cake and not attempt the one associated with her recipe. it seems rather fantastic, though.

my problems with depth perception leach into my baking periodically, causing me to overfill cupcake tins (remember the epic guinness cupcake failure of july 4th?). and it happened again. though no one else really gets to enjoy the cake, lyss and i thoroughly enjoy sampling all the goopy bits that end up all over the pan. like broken cookies, messed up globby cupcake overflows have no calories. if these weren't going to the tailgate, i wouldn't have cared that after i cut them the cupcake papers were brown. but i couldn't bring surgically demented cupcakes to the tailgate, so i had to start over. as you saw in the previous post, my batch of hostess look-a-likes turned out just fine.

somewhere in all of the mess that happened in my oven, one, lone little cupcake decided to defy the man and stay within his boundaries. he was defiant, not breaking ranks to join the sloppy party of crazy kids. i like this one. he doesn't go out on tuesday nights or dye his hair on a whim. he drinks espresso and reads books and likes good beer. he ties his shoe laces and zips up his coat and combs his hair. if you find him in real-life form, and he's 21 and single, please send him my way. for now, i'll just be friends with an inanimate object made of flour, sugar, and chocolate. sigh.

beatty's chocolate cake
chosen by mary of passionate perserverance
also found in Barefoot Contessa at Home on pages 165-166

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken (i made my own with milk + vinegar)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (extremely strong, because my roommates and i are addicts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans. (i used paper cupcake tins in 2 pans)

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. (if cupcakes, cool them upside down on the rack. no soggy bottoms!)

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

i hope yours are full of perfectly buttoned up little cupcake boys, and not rowdy over-flowers =)

ciao,
j

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let them eat cake

first barefoot recipe of september: birthday cake! it's not my birthday, nor is it anyone else's birthday that I know, but birthday cake is still a happy addition to any thursday.

my first attempt at this downright failed. the outside burned while the inside didn't cook. i blame my oven.

luckily, the 2nd shot turned out perfectly. the cake was a bright, golden yellow with the right amount of crumb to moisture, even though i used yogurt instead of sour cream. i'm usually a white cake fan, but this just might be my new favorite.

head on over to Susie's blog, Everyday Gourmet, for the recipe. 


ciao,
J

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barefoot... another late entry

i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry.

i actually made this recipe like 3 weeks ago (the same day as the mango smoothies) because i knew it was the first week of classes and i'd have NO time or ambition to make it. i suppose i forgot to take into account that i'd probably not have the ambition to blog about it, either.

not that it's any consolation or even a good excuse, but i was out from 6pm until... sometime early this morning... celebrating my first thursday night out at psu. it was hilarious, and today's rainy weather was a very good excuse to stay inside and cook warm, tangy pasta sauce and make homemade spinach pasta. yum.

but back to the matter at hand.. my white pizza with arugula turned out fabulous, and i even created a fantastic dip/spread in the process.

though my lactose intolerance is much better, i wasn't ready to take on that load of cheese. improvisation was necessary. i ended up mixing a can of cannellini beans with a few garlic cloves, some thyme, parsley, and a wedge of the laughing cow light garlic and herb cheese. after a few whizzes in the food pro, it spread nicely on the perfect dough. it was also great on crackers as a snack and for a sandwich the next day.

winner.

check out andrea's blog, nummy kitchen, for the recipe, and head over to the BB blogroll to see other lovely creations.

ciao,
j

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foodie fight!

because a barefoot challenge, baking club, bworld (explanation to follow later this week), and the epic sinus infection weren't enough, i decided to go to atlantic city this weekend and then come home and make my entry for foodie fights!

i've been rather busy and ignoring my blog email for awhile, and i decided to catch up on it while in the car on the way to atlantic city on friday night. lo and behold, i'd missed a notification from food fights that'd been chosen for the july battle of eggplant and white wine. OYE.

my karma is out of control; i bought 2 baby eggplants at the farmers' market last weekend and only used on one my pizza this week. so i didn't have to worry about the ingredients, but coming up with a recipe that i could make on sunday night after a weekend in AC was a bit daunting.

luckily, irma never lets me down. i tweaked the recipe for chilled eggplant from the joy of cooking and came up with a pretty solid version of babaghanoush in roughly 40 minutes. the recipe follows the photo, in paragraph form as per irma's style.

bring a pot of water to boil and cook until smushy, about 15 minutes:

one small eggplant, about 5-6 inches long

while the eggplant is cooking, saute in 2 tablespoons olive oil until brown and tender:

1/2 medium yellow onion

1 garlic clove, pressed

remove the eggplant from the boiling water and dice into 1/2 inch cubes.

once the onion is brown, add:

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

eggplant cubes

salt

pepper

deglaze the pan periodically with water and mush up the vegetables with a potato masher or a large wooden spoon. continue to cook.

after 15-20 minutes, deglaze the pan one final time with 3-4 tablespoons dry, white wine. stir in 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. cook for 5 minutes more, mushing up the vegetables until almost like a puree.

chill in the fridge overnight before serving.

if i had the time, i would have made pita bread to go with this. considering how freaking easy it was, a remake and some pita bread is totally probable.

stay tuned later this week for an explanation and mouth-watering photos from my adventure into my heritage with the zwetschgenkuchen i made for the cultural potluck at work =).

ciao,

J

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barefoot thursday: peach and blueberry crumble

whether by coincidence or by design, this month's second barefoot bloggers challenge was perfect for the fruits in season. way to go, aggie (of aggie's kitchen) for being so on par! peaches and blueberries are 2 of my favorite fruits, and the takoma park farmers' market had a lovely variety to suit my needs.

i'm still battling my sinus infection and the horrendous side effects of the antibiotics, so no witty stories or musings. just a few pictures and a recipe. the only tiny

detail i changed was tossing in a tablespoon of vanilla rum. everything is better with rum.

Peach and blueberry crumble

from the barefoot contessa at home

For the fruit:
2 lbs firm, ripe peaches (6-8 peaches)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
(1 tbsp rum, vanilla or plain)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh blueberries (1/2 pint)

For the Crumble:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 lb (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until their skins peel off easily. Place them immediately in cold water. Peel the peaches, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, (rum) and flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups (i used one big casserole dish).

For the topping, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it’s in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and back for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature (with blackberry ice cream, obviously). If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner. (it also goes back in the fridge and reheats very well. Serves 5 to 6.

ciao,

j

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let them eat tarts

it just so happened that my first real "baking club" entry was due the week of bastille day. given my current francophile leanings, i was thrilled. i took this as the perfect opportunity tackle the previously-feared pie crust, and while it was an ooey-gooey experience, i was pretty impressed with the results.

i used a recipe from patricia wells, reprinted by the new york times. the original article ran on july 31, 1988, 2 months after the most glorious day on which i entered the world. it was fate, and who am i to mess with that?

the crust was a lot stickier than i had thought it would be, perhaps due to the fact that i had to use earth balance vegan buttery sticks instead of the impossibly-good french buerre i'm sure the original relied upon. i made the crust on sunday night. i basically had to rearrange the entire fridge to fit the two pans in there to chill over night, and i was worried about the whole "removable bottom" tart pan thing messing up the dough if bumped. i stacked them with a wooden cutting board between, which solved that problem.

i had to make 2 tarts to meet the 30-person baking club requirement, so splurging on the $10 for 4 ounces of ridiculously good chocolate from whole foods was out of the question. the ghirardeli bittersweet baking nibs worked out great and fit the budget much better. i covered one with sliced almonds before baking it, and left the other plain to be allergy-friendly.

the best part about recipes that require tempering chocolate is that it is impossible to get every bit out of the bowl. getting to stick my face into the chocolate-coated bowl takes me back to my childhood when i'd barely let the beaters stop spinning before i licked them clean of mom's magical brownie-batter. raw eggs, you don't scare me.

while i didn't win the challenge (derek's "gorilla bread" -- a monkey bread variation using cream cheese that was well worth the stomach ache i got after eating it... you think i'd learn that simply insisting that i'm not lactose intolerant does not actually make it true), i really liked my tarts and am no longer scared of crust! thanks, patricia wells!

Tarte Au Chocolat Amer (Bitter-Chocolate Tart)
adapted from The New York Times

for the pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 small egg, lightly beaten

for the filling:
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, perferably Lindt or Tobler
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar, for garnish
(1/2 cup sliced almonds)

To prepare the pastry:

Place the flour, salt, sugar and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds. Add the egg and pulse just until the pastry begins to hold together, about nine times. The dough will be very soft and supple, like a cookie dough. Turn the pastry into a 10 1/2-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Using a spatula, and working quickly, evenly distribute the dough in the pan. (i covered the pastry with wax paper and used my fingers to press it in... it will stick. be careful.) To avoid problems with shrinkage as the pastry bakes, build the dough a bit higher than the height of the pan. Prick the bottom of the shell with the tines of a fork. Chill, uncovered, for one hour (or overnight, covered with plastic wrap).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Line the shell loosely with aluminum foil, pressing well into the edges. Fill with weights of rice or beans -making sure you get all the way into the edges - to prevent shrinkage. Bake just until the pastry begins to brown around the edges and seems firm enough to stand up by itself, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until the pastry is lightly and evenly browned, about 10 more minutes. Watch the pastry carefully, for ovens vary tremendously and pastry can brown very quickly. Cool for at least 10 minutes before filling.

Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Stir and melt over medium heat. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the egg, egg yolks and granulated sugar and beat until thick and lemon-colored. Add the chocolate and whisk until thoroughly combined (do this slowly and in small bits so as not to cook the eggs).

Pour the chocolate mixture into the prebaked, cooled tart shell, spreading it evenly (sprinkle with almonds if using), and bake just until the filling is set, about 10 minutes.

ciao,

J

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barefoot thursday and some photos

i'm not going to apologize for not updating since the last barefoot post. i am going to link you to my photo album of adventures to serve as my excuse:

summer adventures in and out of the district

as you can see, i've been busy going to artomatic, eastern market, calvert cliffs, new york city, and atlantic city. i don't like to sit still.

and now i will detail the culinary happenings since the last post:

i joined the baking club at work and had an "initiation bake" last week. while in nyc, i snagged some candied ginger for super cheap, so naturally ina's ultimate ginger cookies were a must. i shook things up by adding in some dried apricots (leftover from the couscous) and dried papaya (homemade from the same source as the ginger). while the initiation round wasn't voted on, i still maintain i won. they were fantastically chewy, sweet, and spicy. a perfect combination. bonus: the whole house smelled like christmas, and every time someone came by and opened the box on my desk, so did my cube =).

we had a bit of an overflow problem with the guinness cupcakes for the 4th (cake recipe from here), but the oozing just forced me to eat all of the extra bits before frosting them. i consider this a serious perk and not at all a problem.

martha's seven-minute frosting covered up any snags from the overflow and added a marshmallow-y goodness to the boozey cake (though it turned into foam the next day -- not good for leftovers). next time, i'm going to try reducing the guinness to give it a stronger flavor and possibly replacing some of the water in the icing recipe with the stout. perfect chocolate cake texture, though.

and finally: it's BAREFOOT THURSDAY! i was excited to see an easy dish that didn't include three pounds of butter and chocolate (i'm still recovering from the outrageous brownies). i've also maxed out my baking and summer bbq palate for awhile, so pasta was right up my alley. i omitted the mozzarella (obvious reasons) and olives (v doesn't like them), and i added chopped tomatoes into the pureed sauce instead of whole in the pasta. the sundried tomatoes gave it an almost meaty texture, and serving it warm right out of the pot made it a very substantial dinner (note the bruschetta in the photo: sundried tomato and basil bread from panera mimicked the pasta ingredients; what a great compliment -- thanks a!). the sauce would be great on chicken or fish, and i'm sure the recipe would make a really good cold pasta salad for a picnic or tailgate. head on over to Cat's blog, Delta Whiskey, for the recipe =)

thank goodness it's almost friday. i'm going sailing on saturday with the other summer consultants (yes, i'll be on a boat with my flippy-floppies), and my parents are coming down for a visit on sunday. looking forward to a fun weekend =).

ciao,

j

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barefoot thursday: gazpacho

i really didn't mean for this blog to become so intermittent, but i've been putting in really long hours at work and the last thing i want to do when i come home is stare at the computer some more. don't believe me? between 7am yesterday and 7am today, i was only in the house for 6.5 hours, 5.5 of which were spent asleep and the other one spent getting ready for work today. granted, 3 of the 12 hours i spent at work were at a dinner with the partners/principals, most of my day consisted of importing and manipulating excel tables, sitting in a meeting, and riding public transportation.

if you don't happen to live near dc, you may have missed the epic metro crash that happened on monday. one in-bound train slammed into the back end of another, and 10 people died. it's the worst crash in the history of metro, and the first fatal crash since the early 1980s. my belief in karma is even stronger now, because had i not felt compelled to wash out my coffee mug and take 5 minutes longer to leave, i would have been on the red line when it happened -- going in the opposite direction, but still. while my heart goes out to everyone involved, and i'm thanking my lucky stars that no one i know was hurt, i can't help but curse it all just a little for adding 45 minutes to my commute this morning and evening, making me not get home until 12:15 last night, and keeping me from going into work on tuesday (okay.. so that wasn't that bad). i just got an email from metro that everything is cleared. let's keep our fingers crossed.

on to happier things.

i mentioned my birthday party a couple of posts ago... turning 21 was fab, and i've been enjoying the benefits of having a legal id. more on that later. back to the birthday. i served grilled shrimp tacos, spicy slaw, and chips and guac, but i needed a good appetizer. barefoot bloggers to the rescue!

the day before my birthday, the recipes were announced, and i wanted to hug meryl of my bit of earth for choosing ina's gazpacho. it was fate.

served in a martini glass, obvi.

gazpacho is probably my favorite summertime food. my "sponsor" took me out to lunch on my first day of work, and i had a gorgeous yellow tomato gazpacho with crab. whenever we splurge and go to whole foods, i have to stop myself from buying the whole shelf of it from their prepared foods section. last summer, i would duck down to marvelous market and indulge at least once a week -- what's more perfect than soup you don't have to heat?! but by far, the gazpacho at mon ami gabi is my favorite. ina's came dangerously close.

i made a few changes [in italics], trying to get it just like mon ami:

gazpacho
adapted from ina garten’s “the barefoot contessa cookbook”

servings: 4 to 6 [i got filled 10 juice glasses with half]

1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes [two cans of whole, peeled tomatoes, drained with juice reserved]
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups) [made up the difference from the canned tomatoes with clamato]
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

[1 tablespoon fresh minced cilantro]

[a few dashes of tabasco]

[juice of 1 lime]

1. roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions into 1-inch cubes. put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped [i failed at the "each vegetable separately part... turned out fine, just a really full food pro]. do not overprocess!

2. after each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper [plus lime and tabasco]. mix well and chill before serving. the longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop. [add cilantro just before serving]

my camera is full, and i'm waiting until i buy some new photo software with my paycheck next week to unload it (i'm actually just really lazy, be glad you got a picture). i'm going to atlantic city this weekend, and after that i promise, promise, promise to update. 6am tomorrow morning is going to come too quickly. it's time for some sleep.

ciao,

j

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barefoot thursday: curried couscous

as a college student with limited access to a grocery store and even more limited access to time, i became quite a fan of one-pot rice dishes this year. many, many of my dinners consisted of putting some sort of grain or pasta on the stove and adding in whatever ingredients i could gather up in the time it took to boil (which is longer than you think when your electric burners are crooked and from 1600 A.D.) this month's first barefoot recipe, curried couscous chosen by ellyn of recipe collector and tester, was a happy reminder of the comfy food i'd eaten all year and a nice break from the grill/bbq/drinking fest i've been on since moving down here:

not that such a fest (see more at silver spring foodies) hasn't been enjoyable, but sometimes all the effort and time of making an elaborate meal is lost on me. most of yesterday was spent staring at the computer converting pdf tables into excel and trying to act casual when i walk past the same person's desk for the 15th time because i've gotten lost in the maze of the 7th floor again. by the time i got home, i just wanted something warm, cozy, and immediately on my plate.


enter curried couscous. the recipe (found on ellyn's blog, here, or on p. 94 of the barefoot contessa cookbook) is simple and quick. i managed to make the whole thing while V and A re-heated up the stir-fry from tuesday. i down-sized it to make a single serving, but a large quantity would keep nicely for lunchtime leftovers. i added in some baby zucchini from saturday's farmers' market trip and used dried apricots instead of raisins. the sweetness from the dried fruit is key.

it's also convenient that my favorite color is yellow =)


ciao,
j

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barefoot thursday and memorial goodies

i'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that i was scared of ina's outrageous brownies. i give props to eva of i'm boring for choosing it as this month's barefoot bloggers second recipe. she's far more ambitious than i am. this fear leads me to my confession: i was going to lie this month. we hosted a birthday party for my neighbor last weekend, and i made brownies for the kids. my mom is known around the neighborhood (and the neighborhoods in naperville and pittsburgh, too) for her brownies, and i couldn't disappoint the kids. i thought it was a perfect out. i'd just whip up my mom's recipe and pretend they were ina's. a box of pillsbury brownie mix with a few tweaks, a tub of frosting, and my new icing tips would save me!

while the results were pretty fantastic, i felt dishonest and gross (maybe because i basically licked the entire bowl of batter and ate all of the crumbs stuck to the pan after doling out the leftovers).

so after the gnawing guilt i was feeling, yesterday i mustered up some courage, cracked open the cookbook, and trucked through. obviously, i cannot consume any part of this recipe, especially after my changes. i halved the recipe, which still required 2 sticks of butter and almost a pound of chocolate (i used semi-sweet chocolate chips and a 3oz hersheys extra dark with almonds bar). i'm bringing them to a cookout tomorrow as dessert for a 3 and 5 year old, so i omitted the coffee (my mom is making ina's lemon yogurt cake again for us big kids).

we didn't have a good rectangular pan for the halved recipe, so i went for a 9-inch cake pan. bad, bad choice. these aren't supposed to be massively thick, and thus they didn't cook in the center well before i thought the edges were starting to burn. my mom was okay with this, as my cutting them out of the pan produced a lot of chunks and breaks for her to sample. i sneaked a tiny taste (i'm sorry, intestines!). fantabulously undercooked and gloriously chocolatey. i think i'll probably just stick to my mom's brownies from now on, as they caused a lot less gastrointestinal distress (both in making and in my consuming), but these were fun to try.

i spent my memorial day weekend, fittingly, at my sister's house in dc. we're finally almost finished with the re-building of my bathroom and the laundry room, and we celebrated our hard work with a great cookout, best shown through photographs because (1) outdoor photos turn out well and (2) i need to go for a run soon.

grill master v

mmm sangria

tiny little weber

grilled chicken with spicy apricot glaze

smashed baby red potatoes with homegrown chives

the family that eats together stays together

we celebrated the hanging of really ridiculous split-frame doors with a bonfire, more sangria, and mm mm s'mores. i was rather bored last week and decided to make homemade marshmallows. my roommate (whose NYC internship started two weeks ago) now thinks i am officially crazy. she's busy working. i'm busy making things that no one ever really makes. or so you'd think. there's a gazillion recipes out there for homemade marshmallows, but i went with david leibowitz. he used 3 packets of gelatin, while all the others called for only 2 with the same quantities of other ingredients. i don't know what difference it makes, but he didn't let me down. the process wasn't hard at all, just sticky. my mom came into the kitchen to find me with my head in the mixing bowl, face covered in little marshmallow strings like a cobwebbed three year old. it was yummy. and homemade marshmallows make the best s'mores. plus the recipe made like 500 billion, so i think we're stocked for at least another week =). i highly recommend making yourself some. it'll impress all of your friends, and it offers the perfect excuse to eat melty chocolate and crunchy graham crackers.

we're officially on the countdown to my last weekend of underage. we're not commenting on the fact that i got carded buying a powerball ticket yesterday at wegmans. i will be 21 on monday, and i will celebrate.

time to go run. hope you all enjoyed your memorial day weekends and are looking forward to june!

ciao,

j

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barefoot thursday: tuna salad

i'm SO GLAD to be done with school for the year. the end of the semester and finals pretty much took over my life for the past month. i did manage to eat well, though:

individual edamame packets (spongebob for some humor), a veggie-laden brown rice risotto, dark chocolate pudding made with green & black's organic dark chocolate with cherries, and pesto eggs in a blanket with mango and blueberries provided just enough fuel to keep my brain charged. i'm happy to report that i ended up with a's in everything (YES! EVEN STRATEGY -- which is the mess sprawled out under my eggs up there) and an a- in mass comm law, leaving me with a whopping 3.98 cumulative for the past 3 years. i'm proud. very very proud.

and now no more school for 3 months. yay. and what a better way to celebrate than with a lovely barefoot thursday!

i was totally stoked that kate of warm olives and cool cocktails chose ina's tuna salad for the first may recipe. i didn't use the whole tuna steaks that the recipe calls for, going for the more economical air-packaged kind. i like ahi tuna, but regular tuna steaks don't do it for me. my version was thus considerably cheaper and less work (not that the original was really all that taxing). i used only 1 teaspoon of oil to make the dressing with all the other ingredients listed, and then mixed it in with the tuna, red onion, and scallions. i chilled it in the fridge for an hour to let it "develop," and then served it over a bed of a butter lettuce with the diced avocado (a bonus MUFA for my mom's "flat belly diet") and grape tomatoes. my mom loves that i'm in this blogger group. ina is her favorite, and she gets a great dinner without doing any work =). i like getting to share it with her, too. with my dad traveling a lot, it's nice to spend time with my mommy.

yesterday was a pretty taxing day. i had my spring appointment with dr. parkman, and it really didn't go very well. i haven't gained (or lost, i'd like to point out) any weight since december, and that really worried him and vanessa, the other doctor on my "case." she mentioned the words "j-tube," which sent me into an emotional whirlwind. i basically burst into tears. the thought of something in my stomach totally and completely freaks me out beyond words. my dad, who is the biggest wimp when it comes to his girls, couldn't handle it either and got really upset at the sight of my breakdown. it was an emotional visit.

after that episode, vanessa pretty much forced dr. parkman to do SOMETHING for me, since he really hasn't treated my symptoms and just runs a lot of tests. he upped the dosage of my enzyme pills, added nexium to "maximize" the enzymes (we don't know what this means, since he doesn't explain what he's doing), and prescribed an antibiotic to treat the intestinal bacterial overgrowth that he found A YEAR AGO with the lactulose test. ridiculous that i was never treated for that before.

it's incredibly irritating to sit there and say over and over again how much i actually eat. my plates are as full as my moms' are; i eat 3 regular meals and 2 or 3 large snacks everyday; i obviously don't throw up or take diuretics. i only exercise 20 minutes 3 times a week, and even that is just light elliptical or a slow, easy "run" (people can walk faster, for real). he doesn't ever come out and say that he thinks i have a problem, but i know it's in the back of everyone's mind. so now i have to drink these strange "enlive" protein drinks, eat a clif bar everyday, and document what i consume to prove to him that i'm trying to gain weight. 5 pounds would make a world of difference, and i'm now on a mission.

and the first step in my mission was a HUGE plate of onion strings, warm crusty bread, and angel hair with marinara at maggiano's immediately following my appointment. i also went home with 3/4 of my pasta and a large vat of sauce, thanks to a very generous waiter. king of prussia shopping is really the only good thing about going down to the hospital. to prove even further that i'm not starving myself, we made some ridiculously good crab cakes for dinner.

the recipe was straight off the tin of old bay seasoning: 2 slices of bread, cubed and moistened with a little milk. mix in 1 egg, 1 tablespoon each of mayonnaise, worcester sauce, and dried parsley, 1 teaspoon of old bay, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 pound of crab meat. i added in a few dashes of hot sauce and a little lemon juice, mixed it all up with my hands, and made 8 hearty-sized patties. we grilled them on the stove-top pan with no oil. my mom and i were a bit concerned that they would stick, but the trick is to let them cook until they're completely seared on one side before flipping. once that brown crust forms completely, they don't stick at all. it's like a built-in timer. i made a mayo-dijon-horseradish dressing for mine and spread some mushed-up avocado on the other side of the bun. they tasted just like summer, especially with the corn on the cob as a side. we're definitely having the leftovers tonight.

the one thing i can count on when i'm home is that my mom will buy bananas and they will go bad. it never fails. we buy them every week, and then we never eat them. obviously, this presents the perfect opportunity for banana bread, and since the over-ripening happens often, we've tried a lot of recipes. this low-fat version i mushed together is so moist and full of nuts and raisins that you'll never know the difference. next time i make it, which will seriously be like next week when the bananas go bad again, i'd like to try a mix of whole-wheat and white flour and sub in brown sugar for some of the white. but for now, go out and buy some bananas RIGHT NOW and let them ripen. you definitely need to try this out:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
½ cup golden raisins
2-3 very ripe bananas
6 ounces vanilla yogurt*

2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1-2 tablespoons milk
cinnamon and sugar for dusting

*if you can't find vanilla yogurt, use plain and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the wet ingredients

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9" loaf pan with parchment and grease the sides uncovered in parchment.

Toast the walnuts over medium heat in a skillet until brown and fragrant. Once cooled, chop the walnuts and whisk with the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas. Add in the yogurt and eggs, and stir in the raisins with a wooden spoon. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. I only had 2 bananas, so my batter was a little bit on the thick side. If it looks too thick, add in 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar

Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.

that little fox tester has been a kitchen staple for as long as i can remember. i have no idea where it came from or why we have it, but it's been stuck in every pan of magic brownies, every white birthday cake before the chocolate frosting, and every quick-bread. i'm convinced that it makes all baked goods better. it's never let me down.

i added a bunch of photos to my flickr pools; check it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbjenny/

now i have to go through the daunting pile of crap that has accumulated from 3 trips home from college. part of me just wants to throw it all away, but i doubt that would be a good idea. sigh. fun looms ahead, i'm sure.

ciao,

j

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surprise barefoot thursday

i no longer have any classes as a junior. let's have a party. a crab-salad party!

the barefoot bloggers went a little crazy this month and added another challenge to the traditional 2 recipes AND the bonus.

we voted on making ina's lobster cobb salad rolls for the "barefoot on a budget" challenge. any modifications were fair game (ie. not even using lobster!), but the end result had to somewhat resemble the original. and since it was "on a budget," frugality was key.

i spent a whopping $3.99 on a can of jumbo lump fancy crabmeat, $.69 on a cucumber, $1.23 on a red onion, and $2.99 on a pint of cherry tomatoes. since mustard, vinegar, and spices are all pantry staples, i ignored them in my calculations.

1 can of crabmeat =$3.99

1/4 cucumber = $.18

1/4 red onion = $.31

1/4 pint of cherry tomatoes = $.75

total = $5.23

so for $5.23, i managed to get 2 fantastic crab salads and 2 fantastic lunches. i win =).

lobster salad remix 1: maryland-style crab salad

1/2 60z can of jumbo lump fancy crabmeat, drained

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped cucumber

4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tablespoon old-bay seasoning

1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar

few splashes of lemon juice

salt & pepper

mix. taste. season. taste. i recommend refrigerating this for an hour (or overnight) to allow flavors to develop. i also think it's better cold. 

i ate this one wrapped in a lettuce-lined tortilla. the lettuce adds some texture and also keeps the tortilla from getting soggy. i hate soggy tortillas.

if you're not feeling so maryland-y, keep on reading.

lobster salad remix II: dijon-dill crab salad

1/2 6oz can jumbo lump fancy crabmeat, drained

2 tablespoons chopped cucumber

4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 heaping teaspoon dried dill (or more fresh if you're so endowed)

1 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

lemon to taste

salt & pepper

mix. taste. season. taste. 

as above, i recommend a little chilling. i made this one when i made the other, but didn't eat it until the following day for lunch. i went with some wasa fiber-rye crispbreads instead of the lettuce-lined tortilla. i love the crispy texture and the nutty flavors of the oats and other things attached to the flats. i often crumble them on salads instead of croutons. yum, yum.

today is rather gloomy.. no rain, but no sunshine either. sigh. i need to get down to business with this finals studying, so i suppose the weather is trying to keep me inside. it's working.

i should be working, too. 

ciao,

j

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shoes on barefoot thursday

today is happy on not one, but TWO, feet-related happenings:

1) my new shoes came from zappos

2) it's barefoot thursday!

but back to number 1. i love zappos. i love how i select free 4-5 day shipping, but i know that in a few hours, i will get an email from the site telling me that i'm so fantastic that they've decided to expedite my order: "Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shippingand handling, we have given your order special priority processing in our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order. Your order will ship out today and be given a special priority shipping status so that you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised!" and tada! my shoes came! sadly, i had just left for the gym so i'm stuck waiting until tomorrow to test them out. however, i do plan on wearing them all around the apartment tonight to break them in.

now onto number 2 of foot-induced happiness. kathy, over at all food considered, chose croque monsieur as the second recipe for april. i was particularly worried about this, since i rarely eat ham, can't have cheese, and substituting for either would be an entirely different recipe. 

and then came easter. the easter bunny brought a copy of go dairy free! i can't sing enough good praises about this book. for anyone who avoids dairy, this is a fabulous collection of original recipes from various bloggers, chefs, friends of the author, and the author herself (she has a lovely blog) that use normal ingredients to recreate the melty, gooey, salty goodness of cheese-laden dishes. i'm in love. i'd probably marry the book if i could.

easter also brought ham leftovers (you saw how much we had!), which worked nicely into the plan. 

as soon as i got back to school, i got to work on my own version of this decadently-dairy-licious creation. since fat is still an issue no matter what i sub out, i had to make some "healthy" modifications as well as for the cheese. i also don't have "good bread" in my apartment, so a plain old sandwich had to do.

i used alisa's recipe for "grilled cheese," added the ham slices, sprayed it with my olive oil spray bottle, and tucked it in for a nap in the toasty george foreman. it was perfect along side some grilled asparagus with lemon. i enjoyed it so much that i made myself another for lunch the following day with tomato soup. 

we have one more barefoot challenge for april (even beyond the bonus in which i didn't participate because recreating savory coeur a la creme really wasn't going to work out), which i'll be making next week. it's a "frugal" challenge, so i'll be whipping out the math skills. watch out. i'm a beast with a calculator.

tomorrow kicks off the 3-day fiesta of blue&white weekend here. there's a carnival, complete with shoddy rides and deep-fried everything (and cotton candy!!!), a football game between the 2 psu squads (hence blue v. white), and TAILGATING for no apparent reason except that it's awesome. i also have a picnic for ARHS and a party for my last thesis seminar. that means tons of baking. 

you can look forward to: blue velvet cupcakes, palmiers, and an array of cookies (toll-house, sugar with sprinkles, peanut butter, oatmeal cranberry...), provided that they all turn out. i'm so pumped to get to use 'the joy of cooking!' it's been lying dormant for way too long.

tonight is my thesis presentation. wish me luck!

ciao,

j

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barefoot thursdays: chinese chicken salad

yes, it's incredibly early -- 7:08am here in sunny (!!) happy valley, pa. i have class from 8-11 (well, 8:-12:30 but i'm skipping that last one to have lunch with my daddy -- shh!), and then leaving for home after, and i wanted to be sure i got this in! 

the first april barefoot recipe was something i was incredibly excited about. i love fresh salads, especially with interesting ingredients and light dressings. i was also pumped because it finally didn't involve cheese (i'm still working on how i'm going to do the second recipe so that i can eat it...), so my variations were because of what i had in the fridge, not because i can't eat it!

thank you, McKenzie of Kenzie’s Kitchen, for picking this lovely chinese chicken salad. you can see the full recipe there, but i'm going to give you my personal variations. in stead of cooking chicken, i used pre-cooked turkey strips. i'm not a huge chicken fan, and these little pre-cooked turkey things are my go-to for salads, fajitas/wraps, and rice dishes. i grilled them lightly on a grill pan and decided just to throw on the asparagus instead of blanching it. the grilling gave it a really good texture and a fantastic nutty flavor, which ended up being a great compliment to the peanut butter in the dressing. i forgot to buy green onions, so i just grilled a few white onions (i hate raw onions in salad) and added them in. i followed her directions for the dressing, omitting some of the oil (necessity) and sesame seeds (forgot these too -- i even made a list and left it on the counter at home... such is my life). i tossed all of the veggies and turkey in the dressing and then spooned that on top of some mixed greens. 

it was a perfectly crisp salad; just spring-y enough, but the warmth of the asparagus and turkey with the peanut dressing kept it a little homey and cozy. next time, i'd like to try shredding the turkey and dicing the vegetables smaller to make a really great salad for sandwiches or wraps. it'd perfect for a little weekday lunch with some lemonade and a juicy, crisp apple. 

i'm heading home for easter, so look forward to lots of posts about peeps and eggs and pineapple souffle. =)

ciao,

j

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barefoot thursdays!

unfortunately, it's cold and rainy here in happy valley, so actually going barefoot is out the question. i actually think i need to stop sleeping with my window open because i'm catching the chills. i'm currently rolled up in my nap blanket (seriously, get yourself one of these. i also have a pillow and socks) in my bed, wearing a sweatshirt and slippers (and pants, duh). 

the weather made tonight's trek all the way to kern for an hour and a half of thesis discussion followed by another trek back really unpleasant. 

that's basically all of campus, minus a few of the halls in east (but really, who cares about them?). and after i walk all the way up there, i have to walk up 4 flights (or 6, if i'm going to get my self-esteem mashed) of stairs because i have a (very reasonable, i might add) fear of elevators, especially those that are ancient and shake violently (i've twittered about this frequently). the length of the route does allow for a rather nice chat with my mom, however. i've called her everyday this week. i miss my mommy.

but there are things about today that make me excited: it's barefoot thursday (as my opening mentioned)! today's recipe is for tomato and goat cheese tarts, chosen by anne of anne strawberry. the recipe is available on her site, foodnetwork.com, and many other bloggers posted it, so i'll save you the space. i'll just talk about my edits.

obviously i can't eat goat or parmesan cheese (dairy) or puff pastry (fat and usually dairy, though the pepperidge farm brand uses margarine) in excess, so i had to modify it a tad. instead of consuming half a sheet of puff pastry, which would undoubtedly send my colon into shock, i used my cute little heart cookie-cutter and made tartlettes.

lyss and i opened the bottle of wine last weekend, so i actually had some left over to cook the onions and garlic (excitement)! to make up for the lack of cheese, i added some arugula and parsley to the pan when the onions were almost done (totally not a substitute, i know). i topped it with sliced cherry tomatoes (you try slicing those babies). cute, quaint, and bite-sized.

i served it up with a salad with more of the greens, some more cherry tomatoes, and a handful of greek olives, all topped off with my new favorite dressing. i mix a teaspoon of blackberry jam with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, and some olive oil. yum!

so even though my tartlettes were only really half of ina's intended recipe, i liked the outcome. i thought about making it into a mini crustless quiche instead of using the pastry by mixing the onions and tomatoes with some eggs and baking them in ramekins, but i thought that'd be stretching it a bit too far. i have some leftover onions, though, so i think i'll try it tomorrow night for dinner. i need to use up the eggs and the rest of my salad mix before they go bad.

i was really excited to try the peppery brown sugar salmon recipe i mentioned yesterday, but i opened the tupperware container to find a rock-solid mass of brown sugar. i ended up just throwing it out and using maple syrup instead. not quite the same, but still peppery-sweet. i'm hoping someone can offer some help, though. is there any way to revive dried out brown sugar? 

if it's rainy where you are and you're curled up with your laptop, keep yourself occupied by checking out the other barefooters on the blogroll. i'm sure they're all fantastic, too!

tomorrow promises sunshine and 60 degrees. i'll believe it when i'm outside in sunglasses, barefoot =).

cheers, 

j

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