Sweet Tooth

Good evening and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!! I apologize for not updating at all over my Thanksgiving break, but you would be surprised in how little time there is to cook during a 10 day break. Especially when most of it consists of quality time on my couch, with my dog, and a crossword puzzle book. It was a MUCH needed break, and I DID get to cook a bit. I made a chocolate pudding pie for the holiday all from scratch (crust and filling!). Compared to last year's soupy mess that I called a banana cream pie, this year was much more successful and the pudding filling actually set.

And now, on to tonight! I made my fourth dessert from Everyday Italian tonight, and it too was a success. I am now about halfway through the "Everyday Fruit" section of the desserts chapter after making Cantaloupe, Strawberries, and Grapes with White Wine and Mint. After typing that, I'm now realizing I can hardly call what I made that name. It was more like Peaches and Raspberries with Grape Juice and Basil. Allow me to explain...

For starters, I live on a dry campus and am not of age to buy or consume alcohol. Therefore, the white wine aspect was right out. Instead, I used some white grape juice (I'm sure this is not remotely the same as white wine, but you take what you can get). I boiled this along with some sugar till it was dissolved.

Next, the fruit. Unfortunately, the fruit required for this recipe (aside from the grapes which I didn't think to buy while grocery shopping at home this weekend) is no longer in season. This didn't break my heart when it came to the cantaloupe, because I"m really not a big fan (to me, it tastes like what I would imagine nail polish remover would taste like. Not that I would know). As for the strawberries, I could have easily bought some frozen ones, but I already had some frozen raspberries, so I didn't really see a point in buying anything more. To replace the cantaloupe, I used some frozen peaches. Thankfully, in her introduction to this recipe, Giada gives us college cooks (or any cooks in general) permission to substitute any fruit we like. IN FACT, she even states that this recipe is good for using up leftover fruit.

I combined these two frozen fruits after thawing them and draining the majority of the liquids that resulted. Once the sugar and juice mixture had boiled for about two minutes, I removed it from the heat. At this point, I was supposed to add some chopped fresh mint. Well, I didn't have any mint (I use it so infrequently that buying it fresh just doesn't make sense). I remembered seeing many of Giada's dessert recipes on TV using basil, so I figured a bit of that would be a good enough replacement. I added this to the hot mixture, then poured it all over the fruit. You are then supposed to chill the dessert in the fridge for about two to eight hours. I did not want to wait. I think I gave it about 15 minutes.

Going into this dessert, I wasn't particularly "jazzed" about it because I'm more of a chocolate lover when it comes to sweets. The richer, the better. I really only get excited about a fruit dessert if there's some sort of flaky crust or crumble with it. However, this dessert was actually quite good! It wasn't overly sweet and the peaches and raspberries worked well together. The basil got lost amongst all the other ingredients, and I could see where the mint would fit in nicely, but it didn't detract from the dish at all.

The picture of the dessert in Giada's book is really pretty with the sugar mixture crystal clear and the whole thing in a pretty little glass. Lucky for Giada, she didn't have to use frozen fruit that creates some pink juice and she had pretty little glasses at her disposal. I must say though, the colors in mine above are nice. In Giada's words, "look at how pretty that is!"

And there you have it! I've been through Everyday Italian FOUR TIMES! I'm definitely not sick of this project yet. I look forward to cooking each recipe and sharing my stories every single time. I start from the beginning once again on Thursday with my take on another seafood appetiser. Stay tuned :)

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off..

Ah, yes. I have recovered at last from the tuna debacle from Sunday. I'm positive it was a mind over matter thing, but my stomach was quite upset after trying that dish. I had to lay down and watch Meet the Robinsons to recover. Cute movie, by the way.

I was soo excited to make tonight's recipe out of the "Everyday Contorni" chapter. It is my first from the "Roasted and Baked" section (and if you know me, you know I LOVE my roasted veggies!). The recipe is called Tomato Vegetable Casserole and after reading all the ingredients, I was pretty sure I couldn't go wrong.

I started by peeling and chopping a small potato, small sweet potato, and a carrot. I was supposed to add a bell pepper into this mix, but I didn't see that I needed one and forgot to pick one up this weekend. Oops! I tossed all of these in my glass baking dish with some EVOO spray, salt, and pepper. Next, I added a layer of thinly sliced red onion and topped that with a layer of zucchini. I then seasoned this layer with more EVOO spray, salt, and pepper. On top of THIS, I put some slices of tomato, then sprinkled some bread crumbs and shredded mozzarella on top. The recipe called for Parmesan cheese, but I ran out and will be going home at the end of the week, so there was really no reason to buy more.

I had the toaster oven preheated to 450 as the recipe tells you to do, then put the dish in to cook. Now, when I put this glass dish into the toaster oven, it remains open just a crack. This wasn't an issue when I made brownies in there this past weekend, but then again having half-done brownies is one of my favorites and just plain delicious. This is not the case when it comes to potatoes. When I first took the casserole out (the bread crumbs and cheese were beyond "browned" on the top), the top half was nice and tender, but the potatoes were still pretty raw. I don't know if you've ever eaten a raw potato. They don't taste bad, but they certainly don't taste like much.

I stuck the casserole back in for a bit more, but then took it out again for fear of the top completely burning. What's pictured at the top is my first serving of the casserole. Like I said, raw vegetables aren't bad, they just don't taste like much (with the exception of the tomatoes and such on top. THOSE were exceptional). I decided to mix up the entire casserole and spread it out in the dish to make a thinner layer and hopefully cook the rest of it. Well, some of it cooked, but not all. That's what I get for being lazy and not just marching up to the kitchen and cooking it properly.

That being said, I could imagine the casserole being delicious if cooked in a proper oven with the door completely closed. I will have to try it again when this is possible.

This is my last update for the week as I gear up to get ready to go home for Thanksgiving!! My next two updates will be from my own house (hooray for space, proper supplies, and all resources in one place!) and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!! I'm also excited to get this computer to the Apple store to figure out why my keyboard hates me. Until then, bon apetit!

Dear Tuna...

...and so, we meet again. This dish is sitting here before me, and I wanted all of you to be here with me as I face my foe once again. Current status: TERROR. Alright. Here we go...

First bite: not bad. Still can't get the thought of tuna out of my head though. Let's continue. Second bite: still alive. Tried it with a little less of the pesto so I could really get the taste of it. I had a bite of my Brussels sprouts in between and those have turned out to be an excellent compliment to the dish. We progress. Third bite: gag reflex is setting in. I don't think I can do this. Fourth bite: last bite. The fact that I bit my lip really hard in the process was the tell-tale sign. Alas, tuna, we will just never be friends.

I think that may have been the last time I will try tuna. For awhile at least. I'm sitting here having cleaned all the dishes from that endeavor trying to keep my food down. I just glanced through the index of Everyday Italian and saw that there is one more recipe requiring some canned tuna, and I think I may substitute either chicken or another kind of fish for that one. In the words of a post-it not from Sex and the City, I'm sorry...I can't...don't hate me.

The grilling of the tuna was quite simple. I should mention here that the Grilled Tuna Steaks recipe is from the "Everyday Grilles and Sautees" section of the "Everyday Entrees" chapter. The steaks are brushed (or in my case, sprayed) with some EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper. Giada recommended cooking them about two minutes on each side so that the outside was browned, but the inside was still pink and rare. I personally can't even eat a beef steak that's pink in the middle, so I knew I couldn't handle one made of tuna in that state. Therefore, I cut the steak in half to make it thinner so I could cook it through the whole way.

It turns out I'm pretty bad at trying to cut tuna steaks evenly, so one half was thinner than the other. I decided I would cook one well done and leave the other slightly pink in the middle, but unfortunately, I couldn't get through the well done one in order to try the slightly less done steak.

After allowing the steaks to sit for about five minutes, I had to slice them and drizzle them with some lemon juice. You then serve them with some basil pesto (rather than using Giada's recipe for basil which I've yet to encounter in the "Everyday Sauces" chapter, I just bought some from the store). Thankfully I also served the steaks with some roasted Brussels sprouts (which are quite filling thanks to their abundance of fiber) in case I didn't like them.

The rest of the story you already know. I was successful in cooking the steaks, however, I just did not like them.

I was having a pretty decent day until this point. Especially now that I feel sick. Allow me to share this day with you.

It started with me attending the induction for Lambda Pi Eta (of which I am already a member). The ceremony was very nice, and from there I took the bus downtown. I went into my favorite little bookstore on Main St. and bought Julie & Julia at last! I went to the coffee shop next door and got some Maple Nut iced coffee and a garden salad for lunch. I sat alone at a table in the back corner eating my lunch and reading my book. Honestly, it was one of the more enjoyable things I've done lately. I got through about three chapters of the book in my own little world in the back of the coffee shop. Through my reading, I realized that the only thing that Julie Powell and I really have in common is our love for food and admiration of chefs.

I found that the two of us also enjoy reading cookbooks (I've been known to read through really anything that's on the kitchen table while eating breakfast in the morning, but it's always a plus when a cookbook is out). Aside from that, we are quite different. For starters, she had to go through a billion excuses before biting the bullet and just visiting her family back in Texas. If someone told me I needed to go back home and visit, I would be there in a heartbeat. I love visiting home and spending time with my family. Not to say that she doesn't love her family, but she didn't seem all that thrilled with seeing them.

Another difference: Julie Powell was filled with negativity prior to her cooking project. Seriously, reading the book, all I could think was "find something good about your life!" But that's just how I am. I pride myself on finding the silver lining in most situations or least finding something to be thankful for. I can recognize that there are much worse things in life than anything I could be going through.

To top off her negativity (or maybe the reason for her negativity) is Julie Powell's lack of belief. She did say that cooking was more of a belief system for her, but for me, it's the other way around. There's times when I cook something and it tastes so good that I know I can't be the only one responsible for it being so.

I should mention here that the reason I was able to recall the above points is that I made a note of them as I read in my iPod Touch. I felt like such a hotshot business person making notes in my PDA (my business casual attire that had been required for the induction could have also contributed to this).

At 3, I went to my roommate's wind ensemble concert at a local church and I was probably the youngest audience member in attendance. The concert was very good despite the fact that the iced coffee came back to bite me mid performance. Not knowing where to find the restrooms in the church, I waited till the end then went on the hunt. I did eventually find them in the basement through some creepy dark rooms. The bathrooms themselves were also dark. I decided not to use them for fear of some sort of ghost walking in on me.

Long story short, I ended walking a block or two to Walgreen's to use the bathroom and bought my roommates some Christmas peanut butter cups so I didn't feel guilty about using Walgreen's for their bathroom.

I think this saga of a blog entry will suffice for tonight. That tuna is still haunting me and wreaking havoc on my stomach as I type. This is all for tonight, check back on Tuesday for more food fun!

P.S. This has nothing to do with what I just wrote, but I love it. And this sort of thing is probably more dangerous than texting while driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsvDvEatBUs

Yup, I got nothin'

There aren't too many plays on the word "tortelllini" so I won't even try to stretch for one. Let's get right to it! Tonight we venture once again into "Everyday Pasta, Polenta, and Risotto." We begin a new section in this chapter: "Everyday Stuffed Pastas!" I was very excited when I saw this section. Most stuffed pastas are stuffed with cheese and, let's be honest, there's very few cheeses in the world that I don't like (one exception would be the Horseradish cheese that I accidentally ate at my sister's house. Never again.).

Tonight's recipe was Cheese Tortellini in Light Broth. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? I thought the same thing. It was extremely easy to make. I started by bringing some chicken stock to a boil. I then added the tortellini and let it cook for about seven minutes and added some pepper to the stock. My tortellini of choice was ricotta and spinach stuffed (it actually wasn't by choice, it was the only kind I could find at the grocery store, though I really don't mind. I love both of those things). Once it was al dente, I scooped it into a bowl along with some of the broth, topped with with fresh parsley and cheese, and it was finished!

I wasn't sure whether the dish was supposed to be like a soup, or just have a bit of broth below the pasta. The instructions merely say to ladle the broth and tortellini into serving bowls. A little confusing, and kind of strange if you ask me. I've never had tortellini served this way. It was good, though I wish it was in a sauce rather than a broth. Definitely good for a quick fix meal.

Me being me, I decided to make a side dish to go with the pasta. I halved some cherry tomatoes, added some pre-sliced mushrooms, and tossed them with my vidalia onion dressing and some salt, pepper, and mozzarella. It was a different spin on a traditional caprese salad. My tomatoes were definitely not at their peak though, and I'm beginning to realize why Ina Garten encourages you to use "really good" ingredients. They really do make all the difference.

Seeing as I don't have much work to do tonight, I'll give a little more to this blog entry. My earlier entries seemed much more interesting and chaotic, but I've really got this cooking thing down lately (not to mention the recipes haven't been too involved as of late). I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate cooking into my future without completely derailing the plan I have now (considering I DO enjoy my current career path) and without having to spend hundreds of dollars on cooking school (yes, I have looked up the prices). My goal is to be a music journalist, but what if I could add food into that as well? When I'm home, I rarely ever cook without music. To me, they seem to be inseparable. Now to find a way to make money from writing about food and music...hmm....

Anyhow, I will be cooking again HOPEFULLY on Sunday. It all depends on whether or not I can obtain the main ingredient. The dreadful main ingredient....tuna steaks. I'm hoping these taste different than canned tuna. Regardless, I have yogurt and granola as my back up plan for that night. Join me then to see if I survive.

P.S. My first order of business upon arriving home for Thanksgiving break is to have the Apple store clean my laptop. My mouse has been sticky lately and has developed a mind of its own. It's driving me insane.

Caliente!!

Forgive the cross-cultural reference in the title, but I don't know how to say "spicy" in Italian. Unfortunately, I won't know how to say it for awhile considering my crazy schedule for next semester won't allow me to take Italian :(

Tonight I explored another tomato sauce...Spicy Tomato Sauce! According to Ms. Di Laurentiis, this sauce is also known as "all'arrabbiata" which translates to "in the angry style." It's an angry sauce. Mine wasn't quite as hot as I may have liked it, but it packed a nice punch. And this is how I made it.

I started by sauteing some chopped onion and garlic for about three minutes in some EVOO. I've gotten very good at trying to keep my hands garlic-smell-free and am proud to say that despite the enormous size of the clove I used, my hands only smell like my Lime Basil kitchen soap :) I next added some chopped black olives, capers, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes.

I tried not to go overboard on the red pepper flakes, but I think my sauce could have used more. I would classify it as a "mild medium" sauce. I could've kicked it all the way up to "hot," but I didn't want to overpower the other flavors the first time making it.

Next, I added some crushed tomatoes and let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes while I cooked some penne. I use spaghetti or angel hair pasta more often than any other form, so I had forgotten how much longer it takes to cook other types. Luckily, I started cooking it early enough that it was ready at about the same time as the sauce.

As I said before, the sauce wasn't as spicy as I would have liked, but it was great nonetheless. The tomatoes weren't overpowered by the red peppers and the olives and capers made it a little salty. The penne was Giada's suggestion which, as expected, was perfect for this sauce. The bigger pasta scooped up more sauce than something like spaghetti could.

I must say, thus far the sauces from the "Everyday Sauces" section have been pretty quick (with the exception of the marinara sauce that needs at least an hour) which is nice considering a college student like myself doesn't have all the time in the world to cook. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing like a sauce that took an entire day to cook, but these ones have been just as good and I can eat them sooner!!

The next update will be Thursday with another pasta dish! Can't wait!

Fear and Loathing in My Apartment

Here goes cycle number three through Everyday Italian! Let me tell you, this round has started off with a bang. We're back once again in the "Everyday Antipasti" chapter in a new section: "Everyday Seafood Starters." Sounds delicious, right? Well, it was. But I'll have you know this recipe was no walk in the park. Allow me to tell you the story of Clams Oreganata.

My first order of business was to buy some clams. I read through the recipe and learned that I needed fresh clams in their shells for this one. No big deal. Katie and I took a trip to the grocery store last night and I got a dozen of them (or so I thought. Mr. Seafood Man decided I needed 16 clams because he didn't know I asked for 12 which was MORE than I needed). I got the clams home, but them in a bowl of ice, and covered them with a wet paper towel.

That brings us to today. There was a lack of communication between my mother and I on how the clams were going to be cooked, so she told me to just stick them in a bowl of water for five minutes. I did this and didn't see any of them opening up. This concerned me seeing as a closed clam is a dead clam. I was also concerned that they themselves were alive. As I reached into the bowl to get them out of the water, I had this terrible image of one jumping out and clamping onto me. Yes, I know, this is highly unlikely. And probably impossible.

My mom didn't know I needed to actually open the clams before cooking them. Thank God for the Internet. After searching both chow.com and foodnetwork.com for tips on working with clams and failing, I turned to bing. From there, I found a video from a Legal Seafood worker on how to shuck clams. He went on and on about the difference between and oyster knife and a clam knife. I didn't have either. He then proceeded to show me exactly how to open the clams, then get the actual meat out of them. I was completely grossed out.

After my education, I went for it. First, I went at the clams with a butter knife. Lesson learned: a butter knife will NOT open a clam. After giving it some thought, I went for the sharp knife. I couldn't use the same shucking stance that Mr. Legal Seafood used because if I slipped, my palm would have been sliced open. Instead, I went at it vertically so if anyone were to get hurt, it would be the counter top. That being said, I didn't sustain two minor injuries. Nothing that some Band-Aids couldn't fix.

I will also note here that I felt like a murderer the entire time I was doing this. You can tell me all you want that clams don't have feelings and wouldn't feel a thing if you kill them, but I'm pretty sure that they have to feel SOMETHING. Thank God they don't make any noises. I would have cried.

An hour after starting this endeavor, my clams were shucked and ready to go. I preheated the broiler and started the oreganata mixture. I mixed bread crumbs with oregano and parsley (the recipe called for mint too, but mine went bad so I used some basil instead) and a touch of olive oil. I then placed a clam into each shell and topped it with the bread crumb mixture. They went into the oven for about two minutes (obviously mine went a little longer, hence the over-browning of the crumbs).

These were definitely delicious, but I'm still trying to decide if the five minutes it took me to eat them was worth the hour and a half of making them. It was quite the adventure though. And I can now proudly say that I have shucked clams!! Not too shabby!

Check back on Monday for some more food fun. My sister and brother-in-law are visiting this weekend and I can't wait!!!

Remind Yourself That It's OK Not To Be Perfect...

According to my Dove chocolate wrapper, improvisation is just fine. Good to know considering this is another recipe that probably turned out much differently than intended. Pictured above is MY take on Peaches Stuffed with Amaretti Cookies. This is my third recipe from "Everyday Dolci" and the "Everyday Fruit" section.

The first part of the recipe is making some whipped cream. As I went to reach for my whipping cream, I saw that it went bad around mid-October, so I opted for my dessert without the whipped topping.

Next problem: certain produce is not available year-round. Peaches included. Therefore, the frozen food industry came to my rescue once again. I used frozen peaches but, of course, they don't come as whole fruits. They're sliced, so I sort of had to form the slices of peaches into a faux-peach half. This wasn't too big of a deal until I attempted to transfer them to a plate. More on that later.

Next problem: amaretti cookies aren't exactly all that common in all stores. Therefore, my mother was crafty and found these 100 calorie packs of Stella D'oro breakfast cookies. They may not have the same almond taste, but they did the job just fine.

All right. So I started this recipe by first crushing up my cookies after preheating the toaster oven. The recipe said to use a food processor, but I really didn't feel like using my chopper. The piercing sound of it just didn't seem like a great idea today. Instead, I broke the cookies up by hand and crushed them into crumbs. They were surprisingly fragile for such hard cookies.

I then measured out about 1 1/2 cups of the now thawed peaches (after getting into a wrestling match with the bag that refused to open) and arranged them onto the baking sheet. I spooned the crumbs on top of the peaches (in the recipe, you're supposed to heap them into the hollowed center of the peach. This would have been a MUCH easier task), dabbed a bit of butter on top of each heap, and sprinkled some sugar on top. Then into the toaster oven they went for about 25 minutes.

Once the peaches were done, I used a spatula to transfer them to a plate. They didn't really stay together too well and the crumbs kind of went all over the place. Had I put a full-blown pat of butter on top of each, I may not have had this issue, but the extra points really weren't worth it to me.

Despite my many alterations to the recipe, the dessert was delicious. The cookies toasted up and actually took on a nuttier flavor and the natural sugars of the peaches caramelized them and made them sweeter. I think my version of these would have been even better over some good vanilla bean ice cream, but I didn't have any and, again, didn't feel like using the WW points.

This marks my third full cycle through Everyday Italian! I've made soo many good recipes and I'm always looking ahead to see what's in store next :) Only about 22 more cycles to go! Check back on Thursday when I start from Chapter One once again!