Virtual Frolic

Chocolate Overdose

2008-04-29T08:30:00.000-04:00

So I had been hearing about several sweets on wheels lately. First it was Sugar with the Treats Truck. Then it was fancy desserts on wheels with the Dessert Truck. The other day, a friend and I were craving something sweet after a huge dinner of soupy dumplings in Chinatown. She mentioned the Dessert Truck which parks on University Place around 8th street. We thought the walk would give us some time to digest and to make us feel a little less guilty about having an indulgent dessert.

Anyhow, the Dessert Truck is just like any food truck, but instead of the standard Halal food or tacos, it only has dessert. The menu looks like it changes periodically, but it it appears as though they have "regular" desserts such as their chocolate bread pudding. My friend mentioned that she got a raving review of the chocolate bread pudding, so we went ahead and got that and the hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was ok. A bit too thick for my taste, but it wasn't bad. I'm not the biggest fan of hot chocolate, so my "eh" review is probably just limited to me.

The chocolate bread pudding though...that was delicious. The one downside to the Dessert Truck is that there's no seating. It's somewhat near the park, so if it's early enough you could probably go to the park, but at night when it's cold, you don't have too may options. My friend and I opted to take our desserts home, and it worked out well, as the Dessert Truck's desserts are packaged for travel. The chocolate bread pudding was composed of one small container containing the bread pudding and is accompanied by a small container of creme anglaise. I chose their optional bacon creme anglaise and am very glad I did. The bacon creme anglaise has a nice smoky flavor and doesn't scream bacon. If I didn't know it was bacon, I'm not sure I would have immediately figured it out. I really enjoyed the creme by itself. Once on the bread pudding, the subtle bacon flavor got overpowered by the chocolate, so you didn't taste it as much. It was ok though, because the bread pudding was fantastic. About half the container was a smooth decadent chocolate pudding and it was topped with a few small cubes of bread and the creme anglaise. Sooooooo delicious. It was all a bit much after the cup of hot chocolate - I wasn't able to go to bed for a few hours as my heart was beating so fast, but it was all worth it.

I didn't know what to make of the Dessert Truck at first, but I am now a big fan. I can't wait to try more of their things...If only they had seating...

You da bomb

2008-04-09T08:30:00.002-04:00

So a friend of mine recently discovered a new sandwich place and kept talking about how big the sandwiches were ("as big as her face") and how much stuff was in them (something along the lines of "every meat that ever existed"). Anyhow, I've been in New York for a long time, and I've seen my share of big sandwiches so I was a bit skeptical. One weekend, we finally schlepped over to the deli she often visits to meet this sandwich I heard so much about. It also helped that the sandwich was featured as one of America's best by Esquire Magazine.

Anyhow, the deli itself is like any old deli. A counter right by the doors, lots of regulars loitering, deli meats and rows of interesting drinks. If I had gone there myself, I would have never noticed the 5 or so sheets of paper that merely said "The Bomb", "Italian Sub", "Tuna Sub, etc.

So are you ready to meet "The Bomb"? The Bomb literally has any meat, cheese and anything else that any sandwich shop has. It EVEN includes some prosciutto!

How crazy is that? To get an idea, here it is compared to a Nalgene bottle.

So at this point, you're probably saying...uh, that's like ANY other sandwich in NYC or anywhere..um, that is just HALF of the sandwich. I put the other half away immediately, as there is NO WAY I could finish the entire thing in one sitting, no matter how hungry I was.

Also, let me point out that the sandwich I took pictures of (the 2nd Bomb I've gotten), is actually pretty small for the Bomb. The first time I went, I went with my friend who is now a regular, and we also got the main sandwich-maker. That sandwich was just ridiculous. It was almost double the size of the above.

Also, let me just tell you, at any other place, that sandwich would EASILY cost you 10-15 bucks. Since it's two meals in one, I'd be ok with that price, but guess what, it's not even close to 10 bucks. It costs a whopping SIX-FIFTY. That's right. If you give him 10 dollars, you'll get change back. It's amazing.

So the sandwich is not the size of one's head - I would compare it to a thigh (fits the shape better) and yes, I do agree that it contains all the meat that has ever existed.

If you're ever in Astoria - or are close to the N or W train headed towards Astoria, drop by this place, you won't be disappointed. Just go up to the counter, order the Bomb and hand the guy 10 bucks (don't forget the change!). You won't be sorry.

Sal, Kris, and Charlie Deli
33-12 Twenty-third Avenue
Astoria, NY
(718) 278-9240

mememe - a little meme about me

2008-04-07T09:00:00.004-04:00

Um, so this post has been in the works for close to 3 months..whoops...

So here's A LOT of information about me =) Keep reading, there are two meme's here...

Meme number 1:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
I was tagged by Sarah at Sarah's Cucina Bella

The rules of this meme are:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.
4. Tag a minimum of five random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.

2. Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
Random things eh?
(a) I really enjoy watching Jon and Kate Plus 8. I would never want 8 kids - I can't even imagine having twins, but it's fascinating to watch 2 totally normal people bring up 8 kids. Since the show has been going on for quite some time, it's fun seeing the kids grow up and see their personalities develop. It's particularly fascinating as none of the 8 kids are identical! The kids are super adorable to boot!

(b) I'd like to know 5 or more languages. I, of course, speak English, I am ok at Japanese (terrible at reading and writing) and remember tidbits of Spanish from taking it for 4 years in High School. I'd love to learn French, how else would I communicate with my favorite pastry chefs?? As for the other two, I'd also love to learn Chinese (I tried, and it was so hard!) and for the last one..maybe Korean? I'm not really sure. I guess I should take it one step (or rather language) at a time. As for the 5 languages part? It's totally random, but I got obsessed with Teresa Heinz Kerry. I read somewhere that she knew 5 languages, and I thought that was a pretty cool thing.

(c) I am obsessed with medical shows, like Mystery Diagnosis. Perhaps it's the House influence, but I can't get enough of those shows. I find it utterly fascinating to find out about all these weird obscure diseases. Of course, the one negative, is that it makes me incredibly panicky when I get any sort of abnormal symptom.

(d) I'd love to learn how to play the violin or cello. No idea why, but I just think it'd be a cool thing to do. In the meantime, I keep myself busy with Guitar Hero, because you know, violins and fake guitars are SO similar...

(e) I spent the majority of my life thinking that I was rejected by the Girls Scouts. When I was growing up, every girl I knew was in the Girls Scouts and every boy was in the Boy Scouts. I always felt out-of-place whenever the girls would start talking about what was going on in Girl Scouts and what badges they got. I think what happened was, as a joke, someone in my family told me that I was rejected by the Girl Scouts. Being the gullible child I was, I totally believed it. Recently, and I mean really recently, I finally found out that it was that I was busy (lots of classes), and I didn't have enough time to commit to the Girl Scouts.

3. Share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.
(a) JAPAN: I can never get enough of Japan. I've usually gone to Japan to visit family, so haven't actually traveled much within Japan. I'd love to take a month and just travel to all parts of Japan...I guess I should start playing the lottery...

(b) FRANCE: I went to Paris once, actually with Sarah, who just tagged me for this meme. Back then, I was a poor college student and wasn't too much of a foodie yet. It also didn't help that the foot and mouth disease epidemic was in full swing, so neither of us wanted to eat much meat. I guess with that trip, what we did accomplish was to hit up all the touristy things like the Eiffel Tower. Now, if I go back, I can spend all my time and money at the pastry shops =) All I can say, is that I'm glad to have seen France at-least once prior to the Euro integration. When I went, everything was so cheap, now, the dollar is so weak!

(c) AFRICA: Although I'm afraid of the five billion shots you have to take to go there, I would love to go to Africa at some point. I'd love to do an African safari and see my favorite animals, giraffes, in their natural environment.

(d) AUSTRALIA: What can I say? Wallabies and Koalas! I'd love to do a trip that covers all the major Australian landmarks.

(e) ENGLAND: This was actually on Sarah's list as well. I have never been to London, or any part of England. Honestly, I haven't traveled that much! Seeing that I work for an UK company, and I have my obsession of British bands, I've been very curious to visit.

4. Tag a minimum of five random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.
Ok, seeing that it's been 5 years since she tagged me for this meme, I think I'm going to skip this step - I think most of the blogging world has been tagged by now =)

WOW - so because it took me 5 years to respond to the meme - I actually got tagged for a different meme! I was expecting the same questions - but they're different! So here's some more information about me...

For this meme - I was tagged by Jessica at Su Good Sweets.

Meme number 2:
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Let me see - that would be 1998? I was being unproductive in college =) I think I was at the beginning of my baking experiments with Duncan Hines brownie mix.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Is it bad that I'm looking at my pictures to figure this out? I had recently gone to Medieval Times for the first time in my life.

Five snacks you enjoy:
Cookies
Cake
Chocolate
Japanese sweets
Ice cream

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Invest (long-term savings, real estate, etc.)
Go to every expensive good restaurant in NYC, and the world
Travel
Buy a Hobart mixer
Get a pastry degree

Five bad habits:
Not sleeping at a normal hour
Not exercising enough
Not responding to emails quickly
Not regularly writing in my blog
Not remembering peoples names

Five things you like doing:
Sleeping - once I get to sleep, it's hard to wake me up
Eating
Reading
Dancing
Frolicking around NYC

Five things you would never wear again:
Tight red plaid pants
Green plaid pants (I had a plaid obsession for awhile)
Short shorts
Hot pink dress - it was so heinous
I think I've blocked everything else out

Five favorite toys:
Wii
Toys that come from Kinder Surprise eggs
Camera
DVR - does that count as a toy??
Anything small and trinket-y

Sweet Surprises

2008-03-23T22:42:00.000-04:00

Image used with permission from Sarah at Sarah's Cucina Bella

This month's Sugar High Friday theme is Sweet Gifts. It's being hosted by Danielle over at Habeas Brulee and as you know, the event was started by Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess. The timing of this worked out very well, as I had a visit coming up to my friend Sarah, of the blog, Sarah's Cucina Bella. I really wanted to make her something that she liked, but at the same time wanted to try something new. At first, I thought it would be fun to make a Boston Cream Pie, but then with all the travel time, I was worried it would either be a visual disaster by the time I got to her home,or even worse, the pastry cream would have gone bad. So that was quickly taken off the list. It's weird sometimes, you know a person really well and she even has a blog telling you all the things she likes, but it's really hard to come up with some things you think she'd enjoy. Anyhow, I was doing my weekly Wednesday reading of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times and hit the jackpot. The Los Angeles Times has a weekly section called "Culinary SOS" in which readers, or in this case an employee of the LA Times writes in/requests a recipe from a neighborhood restaurant or bakery. In last week's edition, they covered a lavender shortbread from a bakery called Akasha. I've never been, but I immediately knew that it was the thing to make for Sarah. In reading her blog, I knew that she liked to experiment with lavender. I like lavender, but I had never baked with it, so thought it would be a good time to try something new out. As fate would have it, the Penzey's in Grand Central stocked jars of lavender blossoms, so I was all set on ingredients.

It was a good recipe! It was completely different than anything I'd made before. It was really easy to make and has surprisingly very few ingredients. If you use the amount of lavender recommended, it can be a bit overwhelming, so I'd recommend taking it down a notch. I also used a flaky fleur de sel which ended up not incorporating into the batter well. As a salt lover, I actually kind of enjoyed the little salt pockets as it added a nice kick to the strong lavender flavor. For the amount of sugar used, it wasn't that sweet. I actually didn't find it too overwhelmingly buttery either. Since it was my first time working with shortbread, I wasn't sure how long to bake, but next time I might bake it a bit longer. I baked towards the lower end of the time range.

Also, Sarah was kind enough to make dinner for me that evening. She made these lovely sweet potato fries - I LOVE sweet potato, and also made these very clever bacon wrapped cheese-stuffed chicken breasts. (Bacon+cheese+chicken) x bbq sauce=delicious. Anyhow, I volunteered for dessert duty, so I also had to come up with something for dessert. Again, I was stumped about what to make. I remembered the self-frosting Nutella cupcakes that were huge in the blog-world awhile back. Since I hadn't gotten a chance to make them, I decided to try them out. In reading many of the posts, some thought the cupcake recipe was too heavy, so I opted for a simple yellow cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart. I thought it was a smidge dry for my taste (it could be that I overbaked them), but not bad. When making them, I thought that the 1.5tsp of Nutella was a bit too much, but it's not. With just 1tsp, you end up with a Nutella center, but there's not enough to "frost" the top. If making them again, I would definitely use more Nutella.

Akasha's lavender shortbread
Adapted from Akasha Richmond of Akasha Restaurant, Bar & Bakery in Culver City, recipe posted on the LA Times

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cup (loosely-packed, or 4 ounces) powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting
1 tablespoon dried lavender blossoms
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour

Directions
1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, salt and lavender until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mix well.
3. Add the vanilla.
4. Add the flour and fold into the mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and create a long log - about 9 inches long and 2 inches thick. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for about 2 hours - or until firm.
6. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Take the log of dough and cut it into 1/4 inch slices.
8. Place the cookie slices on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These cookies will not change shape or spread, so when you place them on the cookie sheet make sure they look the way you want the final ones to look.
9. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. These cookies don't color.

Once they have cooled, you can serve as-is (what I preferred) or you can also cover with powdered sugar.

Self-Frosting Yellow Cupcakes
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients
1.5 cups All-purpose Flour
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 stick (1/2 cup) Unsalted Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
Approximately 1/4-1/2 cup Nutella

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate small bowl, mix the milk and vanilla extract.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well.
6. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then the milk mixture and then the remaining flour mixture.
7. Mix until just incorporated.
8. Pour batter into cupcake liners, this should make about 12 cupcakes.
9. Put about 1.5 tsp of Nutella into the top of each cupcake. Mix lightly so that parts of the cupcake batter is covering the Nutella.
10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Cupcakes are complete when a toothpick inserted comes out without any crumbs (aim towards the sides, where there's no Nutella)

Who doesn't enjoy something icy in the wintertime

2008-03-18T22:52:00.003-04:00

Maybe it's just me - but I eat a lot of ice cream. Just because it's 30-some degrees outside doesn't stop me from enjoying at least one icy treat a day. Lately, while I was searching for some ways to use leftover buttermilk, I came upon a recipe for Pineapple Buttermilk Sorbet in the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook. It's super easy, requires very few ingredients and of course I thought it was very good. It's slightly tart from the buttermilk and pineapple, and just sweet enough - but not overwhelming so. It's best eaten within a day or so of making it. After that, it tends to become an icy mess (which is still good), but a little harder to eat.

Pineapple Buttermilk Sorbet
from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

Ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk
1 can of crushed pineapple (20 oz can)
2/3 cup sugar

Instructions:
1. Mix together the buttermilk, pineapple and sugar. Mix until sugar has melted.
2. Place mixture in container and place container in the freezer.
3. Stir the mixture after a hour - it will still be rather watery.
4. Stir the mixture in another hour or two. It should be much more stiff at this point.
5. If the mixture becomes too hard - you can either leave it out for about 30 mins before serving - or you can mix it in a food processor.

Once upon a time...

2008-03-04T23:45:00.001-05:00

Wow - where did the past few weeks go? I wasn't planning for a big break from my blog, but time has flown by and it's already March! I better get my tax forms in order!!

Anyhow, it's about bedtime, so let me tell you a story. Ages ago, I was a college freshman and I had an interesting roommate.
She liked keeping the room super hot, I liked the room cool.
She was vegan - I pretty much ate anything.
She was always studying...and I was..not...
Anyhow, you get the idea.

Although we rarely got along, there was one thing that always brought us together, Ethiopian food. That's right, Ethiopian food. Since she was vegan, there were few restaurants where we could both eat together and have a good selection of food. For a roommate bonding dinner early in the year, she suggested going to a nearby Ethiopian restaurant. I've tried lots of weird foods before, but I had never had Ethiopian food, or any food from Africa for that matter. As always, I couldn't wait to try it out.

WOW - am I SO glad I agreed to go. Ethiopian food is now one of my all-time favorite foods. I love taking people to try it, and I have converted many a people to Ethiopian food lovers.

If you haven't had it before, Ethiopian food is definitely different. The food is often served on a large metal platter covered with injera, a sourdough-ish tasting flat bread. The servers usually put dollops of whatever you ordered and then you proceed to eat that with your hands using injera to scoop up the food. The closest thing I can think of, is hummus. If you like hummus, you'll love Ethiopian food. The food is great for vegetarians and vegans, as the vegetarian dishes are exceptional and the flat bread is vegan-friendly. If you have the opportunity to try Ethiopian food, give it a try, you won't regret it. If you're new to it and are a New Yorker, or you're in town visiting, let me know! I'd love to introduce you to Ethiopian!

Anyhow, at this point you're probably wondering what that cake slice is all about. Anyhow, in one of my many return visits to the Ethiopian restaurant near my school, my friends and I noticed a rum cake in the dessert section. Since we decided to try everything, we ordered, not knowing what the expect. HOLY CRAP. The cake was out of this world. Very simple, a little on the dry side, but it more than made up for it with the rum soaking. After that visit, we always ordered the cake. It became an inside joke amongst my friends, as the rum cake was only sporadically at the restaurant or it would sell out while we were eating. When we got to the restaurant we'd immediately order the rum cake, before even ordering our food.

Anyhow, sadly, the Ethiopian restaurant near my school closed, but I still dream about the rum cake. Recently, I've been really craving the rum cake, so I decided to run some searches. I came upon this recipe for Chocolate Rum Cake by Marcus Samuelsson. (Recipe found on Culinary Adventures of Luke and Lynn). This cake wasn't the same as the cake at the Ethiopian restaurant, but it was delicious. It uses a disturbing amount of butter..but other than that..definitely a classic. It has just a hint of chocolate, but you wouldn't know it outright. This cake is also great that it isn't too sweet. It's a great cake that you could even eat for breakfast - although it may not be good smelling like rum at 9 in the morning. As an extra touch, I added about a 1 tsp of rum over the cake before eating to give it an extra kick. This cake keeps very well - I left it out on the counter for about a week covered well and the last slice was just as good as the first.

Chocolate Rum Cake
Adapted from Marcus Samuelsson, from his book Discovery of a Continent

Ingredients
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 pound unsalted butter
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup rum
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
About 1-2 tbsp of cocoa powder to cover bundt pan

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and cover the inside of bundt pan with cocoa powder.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir frequently. Once melted, remove from heat and add the coffee, rum and sugar.

3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add in the eggs one at a time.

4. Add in the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder and baking soda.

5. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix.

6. Pour the mixture into the bundt pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream, cinnamon - or what I liked doing, an extra smidge of rum.

Keeper

2008-02-13T23:23:00.004-05:00

Last month, I introduced you to Moist and Tender Chicken Breasts from the Joy of Cooking, which was featured in The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy. I have to tell you, I've made it several times since then, and it's always delicious and they're absolutely right, the chicken is always moist and tender. I thought that you might need a picture to truly believe me..hehe.

I promise, this is super good and so easy. Since you spend a mere 5 minutes or so at the stove, you can easily do other things while you're making this. Perfect for a busy night.

Tonight, I made instant Tabouleh by Near East to accompany the chicken. It's pretty darn good, doesn't taste instant at all. Granted, I haven't had that much Tabouleh in my life, but this was pretty good. Since you add fresh tomatoes, it doesn't taste too "instant-y" which is how some boxed stuff tastes like.

Moist and Tender Chicken Breasts
adapted from the Joy of Cooking

Instructions
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, of even thickness (choose the thicker breasts for this recipe)
1/2 to 1 tsp of Salt(I like using kosher salt)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour (I used almond meal)
1-2 tsp Handful of herbs (I love using herbs de provence in this recipe)
Olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter

1. Mix the salt, pepper and herbs and flour in a pan.
2. Clean the chicken breast and cover the breasts with the flour mixture.
3. In a deep skillet or dutch oven, melt butter and olive oil.
4. Sear both sides of the chicken until they're lightly brown (don't worry, the chicken will still be raw at this point)
5. Cover the skillet/dutch oven and lower the heat to the lowest setting. Leave for 10 minutes.
6. WITHOUT opening the lid, turn off the heat and leave for another 10 minutes.

At this point the chicken is done!

If you'd like, you can make a little gravy from the stuff left in the skillet.
1. Remove chicken
2. Add some wine, about 1/4 cup. Scrape the bottom of the skillet until you get all the little scrapings.
3. Add 1/2 tbsp of butter.

And..you have some gravy!

Categories: Dinner, Chicken, Tabouleh, Healthy, LowFat

I would do anything for meat loaf?

2008-02-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I spent the entire day today feeling sorry for myself. It's cold season and I'm coming down with a bad cold or a mild version of the flu..either way, I'm hoping I'll feel better soon.

Anyhow, while my diet is on hold today, let me tell you about some of the delicious things I've been eating of late. As mentioned before, I asked the Chowhound folks, for some cookbook recommendations. One of the ones that came up, was Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook. The book itself is a great read. Not only does she have a ton of recipes, she also has great descriptions on ingredients and cooking methods, which I found very helpful. Through the use of various flavorful ingredients, she makes a standard dish like meat loaf become something healthy and also flavorful. For my "test run" of the book, I decided to try the meat loaf recipe. Not only did it look good, it also produced 8 servings, which made it very easy to use as my dinner and lunch for the week.

I will be honest. It is a PAIN to prep the materials and it's not a quick meal to make. If you have a food processor, it probably cuts down on the prep time, but if you use manual labor, like me, it's a long process to cut-up all the mushrooms and onions. Also, it'll seem like way too much onions and mushrooms, but make sure you use the full amount. Once everything cooks down, it'll be 1/3 of the amount it previous was.

All in all, it was a GREAT recipe. I loved it hot out of the oven, and I even liked it cold when I ate it at work. The flavors really come together and you can't even tell it's full of mushrooms. I think the addition of mushrooms make the meat loaf taste less meaty (if that makes any sense) and the addition of something made it sweet. You'd think that after eating this for 4-5 days straight, I would get sick of it, but I was actually dreading when I'd run out of it. I enjoyed every last piece of this. Since the portions were rather large, I ended up eating it in an open-face sandwich way and it worked great with some spinach on the side.

Although the recipe recommends serving this with some ketchup, I decided to forego the ketchup with all that sugar, and made a ketchup of my own from the leftover tomato paste.

Meat Loaf with Wild Mushrooms - 8 servings
From A New Way to Cook, by Sally Schneider
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms (I just used fresh shiitake)
1/2 cup hot water
12 oz. fresh wild mushrooms, such as shiitake, cremini, oyster, and/or portobello (I used baby bellas)
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine (since I only had Mirin, I used that)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon finely ground Lapsang Souchong tea, optional (I used Earl Grey tea)
5 slices (about 4 ¾ oz.) white sandwich bread, crusts removed, and torn into large pieces
1/3 cup nonfat milk
3 large egg whites
1.5 lbs. lean ground beef
12 oz. lean ground pork
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt
1.5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup tomato ketchup (I didn't use any ketchup, but used the remaining tomato paste)

If using dried mushrooms:
Place them in a bowl and cover them with the hot water. Soak for 25 minutes. Remove and wash the mushrooms, but keep the soaking liquid. Finely chop mushrooms.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. In a large skillet or pot (I found it easier to do this in my dutch oven), add olive oil and onions and cook on medium heat. Cover the pot until the onions have let out some liquid, about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add garlic and cook for about 1 more minute.
3. Add mushrooms to the mixture and cover pot. Remove cover when mushrooms have released liquid.
4. Continue cooking until all liquid is gone and all the vegetables are caramelized, about 15 minutes.
5. Add the wine, tomato paste, tea powder and the mushroom liquid (if you used dried mushrooms).
6. Keep cooking until all liquid is gone, about 8 minutes.
7. Take pot off flame and let rest until cool enough to handle.
8. In a large bowl, combine the bread and milk and smoosh with a fork until it forms a sort of paste.
9. Mix in the egg whites.
10. Add all the meat (pork and beef), cheese and mix (by hand is the best)
11. Add the mushroom/onion mixture and the seasonings (I used salt, pepper, cayenne and smoked paprika)
12. On a large baking sheet (make sure it has sides as lots of fat will come out), line with foil and/or parchment paper.
13. Plop the meat loaf mixture onto the pan into a loaf-like shape.
14. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
15. Increase the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for about 30-40 minutes longer (I went a bit long to make sure it was baked through). Just make sure the meat reads about 165 or above. For something like this, it's better to be on the safe side.
16. Once you take the meat loaf out of the oven, let it rest for about 5 minutes.
17. Blot away the fat (very gross..but be glad you're not eating it) cover with ketchup and serve-away!

Tomato Paste Ketchup
Sally Schneider recommends serving the meat loaf with some ancho-ketchup. Taking that idea, I used the leftover tomato paste, added some vinegar, tabasco sauce and some cayenne. It actually ended up being very good! Give it a try! It's better than letting that can of tomato paste rot away in the fridge.

Categories: Healthy, LowFat, MeatLoaf, Dinner, Recipe, SallySchneider, ANewWayToCook

Always, always ask

2008-02-02T14:54:00.000-05:00

I just got home, but I had to share this with you.

So Macy's is having a Red Hot Sale, and one of their sales items is a Kitchen-Aid 12 cup food processor which retails for $249.99 and is on sale for $99.99. On top of that price, there's a $20 rebate, so it's basically $80! The one catch is that you can only get it in the blue willow color, which is a muted blue color. It's perfect for me, as blue is my favorite color!

Anyhow, as you'd expect, it sold-out quickly online, but the price is in effect until the end of the sale, I think Feb. 4th, so I've been meaning to get to Macy's all week. Unfortunately, work did not have the same agenda for me.

I went today (Saturday), totally expecting it to be sold out. I walked over to the main display and only saw a bunch of white ones, and a display of the blue one, but no boxes. As I was expecting that, I wasn't surprised, but figured it was worth asking the sales clerk, just in the off-chance they had some in the back. BOY, am I happy I decided to do that. I asked him, and he knew exactly what I was talking about! Since it was a special, they had displayed it in the middle of the kitchen-stuff area and there were actually FIVE boxes left! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? (so for you NYers totally get yourself over to the Macy's in Herald Square, you could get this deal too!)

To make this deal even better, I had a $25 gift card I had gotten somewhere along the holiday season...so would you believe it, after the rebate comes back - all told, I spent under $65 for this food processor! I AM SO HAPPY! I know there's some issues with this machine, but which machine doesn't have issues??? For $65, I think I can overlook some minor details...

My secret obsession

2008-01-27T21:17:00.000-05:00

I grew up reading old-school chick-lit. I loved Louisa May Alcott and read every book and story the library had and then I moved on to Jane Austen when I was a little older. Although I was disappointed by the Pride and Prejudice movie that came out a few years ago, I have really been enjoying The Complete Jane Austen on PBS. So far, they have done Mansfield Park, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Good stuff. Check it out on your PBS channel near you!

Don't be a chicken about trying something new

2008-01-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

To help me on my journey to healthy eating, I decided to ask the experts at Chowhound for some cookbook recommendations. Among the frequently recommended books were compilations from Eating Well magazine. I have to admit that I'd never heard of this magazine before. I've seen some other health-food oriented magazines, but I don't think I've seen Eating Well. In looking at their website, I think I'm already a fan! I like how they use real ingredients, no fake food in the recipes I've seen so far, and I also like how they have different recipes. When I say "different", I mean it in a good way! I feel like some low-fat/healthy recipes merely try to replicate a standard recipe and try to make it low-fat. Although that is what I'm looking for sometimes, sometimes you want an original recipe.

Saying that, of course I decided to show you a healthified version of chicken fingers as a way to introduce you to Eating Well's recipes. I really liked this recipe as it uses Almonds, instead of the usual breadcrumbs. The Almonds added an extra nutritional benefit, and it also added a bit of flavor. I used some Almond Meal I had bought at Trader Joe's and it worked out perfectly.

Some tips for this recipe:
*If your supermarket doesn't sell chicken tenders, it is very easy to cut up some chicken breast into thin strips.
*Make sure you put the chicken fingers on a rack, instead of just on the baking sheet. This helps you get rid of some extra fat.
*Instead of dipping everything in egg whites at one time and then dipping it in almond mixture method at one time, make sure you remove as much of the egg white as possible and cover a few chicken fingers in the almond mixture at a time. Otherwise, the extra egg whites will just absorb the almond mixture and you'll run out of it
Find the recipe here

Categories: Healthy, Chicken, LowFat

Skillet Lasagna Take Two

2008-01-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

A new year brings along new goals. Well, actually, this is a continuation of a goal from who knows when of "get healthy this year." Anyhow, for some reason, this year I am really adamant about making it happen. It could be that when I went home for the holidays this year, I discovered that proportionally, I am probably the fattest person in my family. That is a problem, especially because I am the youngest. Anyhow, my goal for January/February, is to exercise at least 3 times a week and to cook healthier meals. In relation to the latter, I'd like to take most of my lunches to work.

I went back to using a website called SparkPeople, which is an awesome website that helps you journal your eating, exercise, any other goals and also has a great community of users. I've found this website really helpful in keeping on top of my goals. Anyhow, they also have a fairly extensive list of recipes submitted by the website and some of its users. I saw the below, and saw the similarities to a Skillet Lasagna from Cook's Illustrated that I made awhile ago, so thought it'd be a good start. It was! It was shockingly very good and it wasn't glaring that the food was low-fat. As it made 6 generous servings, it also made it easy to pack up and use it for lunch and dinner for the next few days. Which reminds me, making food in bulk like that is very helpful in keeping with eating healthy. Buying food at lunch or having to make dinner every night is great in theory, but I realize that by the time you're either buying the food or making the food, you're starving, so you end up making bad decisions. Just a side note.

Recipe: Skillet Lasagna (6 servings)
adapted from a SparkPeople Recipe

Ingredients
1 lb Ground Chicken
1 small Onion (diced)
3 cloves Garlic (minced)
1 28oz can Diced Tomatoes (undrained)
1-1/4 cup Water
8 oz Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp Cilantro or Parsley flakes (dried is fine)
1 tsp Basil leaves (dried is fine)
1 tsp Oregano leaves (dried is fine)
(Instead of these individual herbs, I used some herbs de Provence)
1 tsp Salt
2-1/2 cup broken up Whole-Wheat Lasagna Noodles
1 cup Fat-free Cottage Cheese
1/4 cup Fat-free Grated Parmesan Cheese (I used regular Parmesan cheese)
1 Egg
Handful Shredded Fat-free Mozzarella Cheese (once again, I used regular)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large skillet or dutch oven, saute the onions and garlic. Once they've started to soften, add the chicken and cook until mostly cooked-through.
2. At this point, you'll notice some fat collecting at the bottom of the skillet or dutch oven. Either drain the fat, or I typically like to push the meat and vegetables to the side and collect and absorb the fat with a paper towel (or two).
3. Add the can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water and herbs.
4. Add the lasagna noodles.
5. Once the sauce has come to a boil, lower the heat to simmer. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or more.
6. Combine the cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese and egg in a small container.
7. Drop the cheese mixture (about six separate dollops) on top of the tomato/pasta mixture.
8. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Sprinkle with mozzarella prior to serving.

Categories: LowFat, Healthy, Lasagna,

Hello everyone and a belated Happy New Year to you

2008-01-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile, but here we are in 2008. Will 2008 be another year filled with great food? Absolutely. Will this be another year of sporadic blog posts? Very likely. I highly recommend you subscribe to this blog - have you used Google Reader? It's really awesome. It's been making my blog-reading much more productive, I must say.

Anyhow, seeing that 2007 has come and gone, here are two picture sets from the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008.

I like spending the holiday season (meaning November and December) in New York. Granted the City of New York becomes overrun with tourists, it's still a fun time to be in the city. Since most people take time off in those months, work tends to be slow and relaxed, which is always welcome. Anyhow, one of the things I like to do is to go around and see all the Christmas decorations on Christmas Day. Usually, there aren't that many people around, but I guess everyone decided to stay in NYC last year, as all the touristy spots were super crowded. It will still fun though, and here are some pictures from some of the places I visited.

Another tradition that I'm even crazier about, is the Rose Parade. I have to say, I really love the Rose Parade. The fact that it's on New Years Day, my whole family is together eating lots of tasty food, and that the floats are all made of flowers (they really are!)..you just can't beat that. When I'm home on New Years Eve, I like to go to the float decoration displays because you can see how everything is put together and all the flowers are in peak shape, it's absolutely stunning. The past few years though, I haven't made it home in time, so I catch the floats post-parade. The flowers are a little wilted, but as you can see from the pictures, they're still amazing.

Well hope you enjoy the pictures - and have a wonderful 2008! Let's hope 2008 is as fun-filled and tasty-food filled as 2007!

Categories: NewYears, RoseParade, Holiday, Float, Decorations

Menu for Hope

2007-12-17T21:58:00.000-05:00

Hi all, it's that time of the year again for the Menu for Hope. This is a great fundraiser coordinated by Chez Pim. Last year they raised $60,925.12 for the United Nations World Food Program!!! This year, they have raised $33,675 with 5 days to go. Hopefully they'll surpass last year's success! They have some lovely prizes, and each raffle ticket is a mere $10. Please stop by Chez Pim's roundup of the prizes before December 21st.

Best of luck to those who enter!!

2007-12-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the best things in life are last minute decisions. As usual these days, I got home late from work, but not late enough to order food at work..so what to eat? It's too late to make something from scratch, and I'm a little too hungry not to eat..so what to do, what to do. The gears in my brain started turning, opened the refrigerator door..OOO, I have some leftover goat cheese that I used the other day for stuffed mushrooms. I decided to do another variation of the pitza..but instead of mozzarella, I used goat cheese. Absolutely delicious. So easy.

Pita/Flatbread
Half of small Goat Cheese package
pinch cilantro
pinch red pepper flakes
sprinkle sweet smoked paprika

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix goat cheese and herbs and spices. Sprinkle on top of Pita.
15 minutes later, voila, dinner is ready.

I apologize for the lack and randomness of the posts, it's been a busy few weeks!

Truuuuuuuuust me

2007-11-27T21:30:00.000-05:00

Now ok, I've been totally MIA, can't explain why..Holidays, work, blah

Anyhow, I was thinking about what to make for dinner, and I stumbled across this recipe for Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast from Apartment Therapy's Kitchen. Simple, looks good and is pretty healthy. They say it requires trust, and are they right. You don't do much - the most you have to do is set the timer.

I put my trust into my timer (side note: I had extra-thick chicken breast, so I increased both times to 12 minutes), and hoped for the best.

1. This smells awesome while cooking
2. This was totally moist and delicious. Don't be shy with the salt, it definitely adds to the flavor.

Sooooooo good - I ended up having TWO chicken breast..so much for the healthy aspect. I am now completely full..and I'm starting to get sleepy.

When you need something to eat quick and easy, try this! This is the best of all worlds. Cheap, easy, quick, good and of course delicious.

For those in New York...

2007-11-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

A friend just forwarded me a great volunteer opportunity! Volunteers are needed to help bake and pack cookies for a fundraiser benefitting pediatric cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. They're aiming to bake 96,000 cookies!!

They need people during the week of December 1st to the 9th. Detailed information about the days/times and how to sign-up can be found here.

Hope to see you there!

Obsession

2007-11-14T22:54:00.000-05:00

I'm actually not the biggest Kiehls fan, but I can't help stopping by the store once in awhile. They have a few things that I absolutely love, and I recently found a new one that is quite addicting.

They currently have a limited-edition series of Pear-scented products, including a Pear Tree lip gloss which is a nice neutral shade. To make it even better, it has a sweet pear-ish flavor/scent that is actually quite addicting. (I will warn that at first, it might feel a little strong, but you quickly get used to it). I have been using it non-stop and unlike other lip glosses, this actually keeps my lips from becoming chapped! It's a smidge pricey, but it's awesome.

Also try their Ultimate Strength Hand Salve..it's a must-have for the winter.

When hunger strikes

2007-11-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

The other day, I came home from a seminar about the food bill (which I'll talk about later). It was right after work, and I was hoping they had food at the event (they did, but the line was too long), so I sat through almost 2 hours of people talking about food in some context, for about 2 straight hours. I got home close to 10pm and was STARVING. I'm trying to be healthier and make things at home, even when I get home late, so I thought about the things I had, which didn't take too much time to make. The first thing that popped into mind was some pita and then I thought about making a pita pizza, or a pitza. I used some pre-shredded mozzarella, slices of about 5 mushrooms and some basil. In retrospect, I would add the basil after the time in the oven.

This was simple, not too heavy of a meal and quick to make. Think about a pitza the next time you need a quick meal!

Who knew...

2007-11-04T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well on top of my lack of posting lately, two weeks ago, my internet at home stopped working. It was utterly devastating! Who knew I relied on the internet so much. I couldn't really write posts, I couldn't add my photos to the internet, it was terrible! Thankfully, it was finally fixed this weekend, and I'm now back to being glued to my computer.

Anyhow, a little late, but this year for Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos, I made "Maya's Day of the Dead cookies" from Alice Medrich's Chocolate Holidays book. I've been meaning to make something from this book for awhile, but just hadn't gotten to it yet. Anyhow, on a regular day, these cookies are a bit freaky, but they ended up being perfect for Dia de los Muertos and Halloween week. Mine didn't look as skull-like as Alice Medrich's picture, but I think they still looked pretty freaky. As you have to make two dough's, the instructions are a bit intimidating at first, but it actually ended up being pretty easy.

Give these a try next year! or anytime you want some freaky looking cookies.

If you need a laugh...

2007-10-25T13:56:00.000-04:00

This article from the New York Times about a paranoid woman's solution to walking alone is utterly hilarious. I laughed and laughed..

Postcard from Japan

2007-10-18T00:09:00.000-04:00

Absolutely stunning.

Right or Left?

2007-10-12T13:54:00.000-04:00

Are you left or right-brained?
Take this test to find out!

This is utterly fascinating..I am apparently extremely right-brained. Never would have guessed that.

Via Kottke.org

Postcards from Japan

2007-10-08T23:13:00.001-04:00

Don't ever say I didn't give you anything...

2007-10-03T17:37:00.001-04:00

Jamba Juice is having a campaign where if you buy one of their "functional smoothies", you get one free. The functional smoothies are:
Acai Super Antioxidant (Acai based)
Protein Berry Workout (Strawberry based)
Heart Defender (Pomegranate based)
Cold Buster (Orange based)
Fit-n-Fruitful (Lemon based)

In all honestly, I'm actually not the biggest fan of Jamba. I view Jamba Juice as the, "I'm really hungry, but if I eat something now, I'm going to mess up my lunch/dinner". Jamba Juice, although pretty hefty, is a great in-between meal snack of sorts for me. Also, I only like one of ther smoothies, which happens to be on their "functional smoothie" list.

I hadn't gone to Jamba in awhile, probably close to 6 months, and was shocked to see their new menu. Everything was renamed AGAIN. Why do they keep doing that? The drink I always get, the Acai Supercharger had become the Acai Super Antioxidant. Who really wants to say that? Acai Supercharger was much easier to say..geez.

The Acai Supercharger is a great smoothie. It's really thick (not watery like the other ones - which are more juice, than smoothie) and it has a great blueberry-esque flavor. Which reminds me, Jamba was responsible for my obsession with acai. I was at a Jamba juice one day, and saw a poster about acai. 1. They mentioned that you say "ah-sigh-ee" 2. They mentioned that they were helping people in the rain forest or something by employing them to pick the acai berries and 3. and most important, they mentioned that acai berries not only are packed with antioxidants, they also taste like blueberries with a hint of chocolate. I was on-board immediately.

Anyhow, this post has turned into a stream of consciousness rambling..so I'm going to stop now..but before I go...Yay for Free stuff (ends Oct. 16).