News Articles

Ok So I'm feeling a little lazy today but I wanted to post something. So here goes.
I found an article on the scariest processed foods in the US.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/144395/the_6_weirdest,_scariest_processed_foods/

It's so sad that I love half of them. The only two that don't surprise me with their weirdness are the spam and the avacadoless guacamole.

"Easy cheese" is a staple of any good camping trip. It's also very close to cheese-wiz without wich you cannot make one of Philadelphia's only culinary advancements, the cheese steak. My favorite is "Wiz wit" (translation for the non eastern Pennsylvanian: A cheese steak with cheese wiz and fried onions)

Oreo cookie filling- did anyone actually think this was good for you? Or had any nutritional value. That's what's so appealing about them!

Condenced soup- wait what? soup isn't bad for you! but... but it's so good.

Spam- Really who knows what it really is. And does anyone actually still eat it? And how? Do you just slice it up and eat it? or do you fry it? or try to hide it in other foods? Like a spam omelet.

The "blueberries" in frozen waffles- really? Are these even really a "food". I don't know. I never thought of them as real food. I always thought they were just colored blobs in my waffles. I'd prefer real blueberries in pancakes.

Avacadoless guacamole: Who knew? That's just nasty. I'm going to stick to the home made variety or the refrigerated stuff. MMM green colored oil on a chip!

A note on sauces

Sauce can be a wonderful addition to any dish. Be it a top sirloin, chicken, ham, or pasta sauces can enhance any dish. However sauces can swamp the food you’re cooking and you may lose the textures and flavors of the main part of your dinner if you’re not careful.

The Apartment Chef’s 5 Rules of Sauce:

1. Sauce is not soup. That means your meat or pasta should not be swimming in liquid!
2. Watery runny sauces are gross.
3. Patience is your friend. All sauces take time.
4. Lumps = BAD
5. Harmonize: Like in music you can harmonize with flavors. Citrus and red pepper goes well together. Apple cider and tomato paste don’t go well together.

Now that you’ve tried to think about what apple cider and tomatoes taste like together think about this classic flavor combination:

Red Wine Sauce:

1 C Red wine (whatever you have around)

1 C beef stock

1 tbs honey

1 tbs molasses

2 tsp flour

Salt and pepper

Mix the red wine, beef stock, honey and molasses in a small to medium sauce pan over medium heat.. Now comes the technical part, this is where your sauce can go very very wrong. Grab your whisk and start whisking. While whisking start adding flour a little bit at a time. A very little bit. Any more than a tiny bit and you’ll end up with lumps (see rule 4 for my feelings on lumps). Once all the ingredients have met in the pot you can slow down your whisking. Now comes rule number 3 have patience. It will seem like the sauce is still watery but let it bubble and reduce for the next 20 minutes mixing every once in a while and voila! You have a thick, flavorful, glossy sauce!

This particular sauce is great over a strip steak or a nice sirloin.

We’ll talk white sauces another day.

Free steak!

It's not every day that free steak shows up on your door. But you know what they say. Don't look a gift steer in the mouth. I'm certainly not complaining!
The whole story is this. I came home from work at lunch after having made an emergency grocery store run (I had a very empty fridge and had reverted to not eating enough again) and there was a big white cooler on my doorstep with a hazmat placard on the side. The placard was a hazard class 9 which could be just about anything. So needless to say I was a little concerned and approached with caution. What I found was a cooler of Kansas City Steak Company steaks on my doorstep. The problem? They were addressed to someone else, who hasn't lived here in over 3 years. I contemplated taking the cooler inside and not telling anyone at the company I had received a miss addressed box of steak. Unfortunately my conscience got the best of me (damn all that Catholic school training) and I called the company when I got back to work. When I relayed my story to the lovely lady who answered the phone she said "Congratulations you have steak!" It was like Christmas in October!
Currently I have 8 burgers, 6 sirloins, and 8 strip steaks. Now I need to figure out what to do with it all! I'm thinking a free steak party is in order!!
I've already cooked up 2 sirloins and they were quite good with just a little Mrs. Dash steak seasoning on the grill pan and some A1 on the side.
Here's KSCS's website. They might not be free for you but they were so nice to me I thought I'd give them a plug. Plus I can endorse them because the meat is quite good
http://www.kansascitysteaks.com/

Soup's on!

As the weather starts to get cooler and the fall fruits ripen on the trees it’s time to start thinking about cozy foods for the colder nights. I always feel warm and cozy coming home to a nice hot bowl of soup. You can’t go wrong with a good hearty chicken soup after a long day of raking leaves or picking apples. And as an extra bonus I get to pull out the crock pot again!

I’m a big fan of setting up a soup the night before and leaving it to cook all day. It’s great, you wake up to the smell of chicken, or beef, or turkey knowing that it will be waiting for you when you come home from work or school.

Here’s my recipe for chicken stuff (a soup like concoction that can be served on it’s own or over rice, barley or some other grain):

1 can cream of ____ soup (whatever cream of soup you’re feeling, I like cream of chicken with herbs)

1 chicken breast

½ onion

1 potato

Corn (however much you feel like)

Chicken stock

Carrots (I use crinkle cut frozen)

Thyme

Start by cutting up the potato and the chicken into small bite size pieces. Layer the all veggies and chicken in a 2 qt crock pot and pour on the can of soup. Pour in as much chicken stock as you need to cover the veggies and chicken. Add the thyme and mix. Set your crock pot on low and let it cook overnight. In the morning check to see if the potatoes are cooked. If not set the crock pot on high and let it cook the rest of the day. You’ll come home to a nice creamy warm soup for dinner and you won’t have to do anything but serve it!

Garden's bounty!

Ok so I'm back again. Again it's been awhile. Life happened. But the good news is so did my garden! With all the crazy that has been going on I've still been able to harvest a crazy amount of food!

My garden is actually starting to attack my upstairs neighbors. I planted runner beans and they took off like wildfire and have wrapped themselves around the upstairs balcony.

This year I planted tomatoes, runner beans, bush beans, strawberries, chives, parsley, and basil. I also had some surprise tomatoes that grew on the other side of the garden. I had planted tomatoes there last year and I guess some of the seeds fell and the soil and water and whatnot was all right for them to grow so I have more tomatoes that I expected!


So now that I have all this fresh produce I've had to find things to do with it all. So far I have pickled beans, I steamed beans and made a green bean salad, I made tomato sauce and canned extra tomatoes so I can do it again when I need more.


The tomato sauce was surprisingly easy. I took fresh tomatoes cut off the top and made an 'X' in the bottom with a knife and steamed them. This is so I could pull off the skin without losing any of the meat. Then I ran them through a food mill to separate the seeds and the pulp from the juice. Then saute some garlic in oil and add the tomato juice. If you're using dried spices add them at the same time. If you're using fresh spices chop them really fine and add them about 1/2 hour before you're done cooking. Cook the tomato sauce on med/low for 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how much water is in the tomatoes. I could have cooked mine for longer this last time. But live and learn! The longer you cook the sauce the more concentrated the flavor becomes.

There is no real recipe for this one. It's a little of 'this' and a little of 'that' until it tastes right to you. I usually use garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, and a little bit of sugar.

BBQ

Ok so I know I haven't posted in a long time. I've been having computer issues. The good news is I have a new computer and I can post again! YAY!
I have done all kinds of cooking and I have so much to share. My most exciting development is barbecue sauce. I made a killer pork last week and I felt like I needed a sauce to complete the flavor. The pork was coated with a spicy pork rub and orange juice. I only used a little bit of OJ to make a paste. The pork takes a few hours to roast in the oven (the internal temp should be 150 when you take it out of the oven).

BBQ sauce *
1/2 can tomato paste
1 c tomato sauce (no spices)
2 tbs vinegar
1/2 c molasses
1 tbs honey
3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients on medium for 1/2 hour. Stir to combine. Stir occasionally so the tomato paste and sauce don't burn on the bottom of your pot.

I'm not 100% sure on the amounts of the ingredients I used. This is a rough estimate but you get the idea and it's yours to play with.

Ode to the Potato

I live up to my Celtic heritage in my love of the humble tuber. I think the thing I love most is how easy they are to prepare and how different they can taste.

White Potatoes:

Right now I have normal Idaho white potatoes chopped with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. They have a very homey flavor. This style of potato is a fantastic comfort food. White and yellow potatoes are great because they're so inexpensive and widely available. They're also a blank slate that you can build any flavor profile on.

Red Potatoes:

You could do the same thing with red potatoes for a little more tender of a potato. I've found red potatoes are a little smoother of a texture which makes them great for mashed potatoes. The only problem is that they're smaller than a typical white or yellow potato so you need to peal more of them if you don't want to have potato skin in your mashed potatoes (which doesn't bother me at all I actually like the added texture and flavor)

Sweet Potatoes:

I love sweet potatoes. They are fantastic baked with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. Alternatively you could make it with onion and the juices from whatever meat you're cooking. I like to make this with apple cider and cumin.

I've never tried blue potatoes so I can't speak to their benefits or what they taste like. I'll get back to you when I do.

Really?!

I discovered something most unexpected yesterday, especially for how much I love food. I’m not eating enough! I know you’re probably laughing right now. How is it possible that I’m not eating enough?! I felt like I eat every spare moment I get. I wasn’t eating enough to the tune of at least 800 calories. As of yesterday I was only eating about 1200 calories. And that was generous. I am of course only talking about normal days, not holidays, special occasions, or company meeting nights (free food!). This count was on my normal daily intake. It certainly explains why I’ve been so tired.
I’m trying to work out how and where to add good calories. I’ve been on a health kick since January so I’ve been eating more vegetables and fruits and less processed foods. The problem now is that processed foods have a ton of extra calories for some reason and now I have to replace those. Which I suppose is great because it means I get to eat more! So today I started on my project. I doubled my lunch. Normally I eat a ham sandwich or a salad for lunch (and not one of those salads that you could feed a family in Uganda for a week with). Today I had both. I know it doesn’t seem like much but I’m taking baby steps.
I’m trying to be really careful because I could start sliding down a very slippery slope. Because I love to eat so much I could easily start justifying my inhaling a pint of ice cream or that huge plate of chicken fingers and fries as ‘adding calories to my diet’. It’s good though right? Studies say we need more dairy… and as for the french fries and chicken fingers… well I haven’t worked that one out yet.
And now because I need the extra calories: Wine, cheese, and crackers!

Picnic time!

Now that the grass is getting green and the weather is getting warmer I’m really in the mood for a picnic. Have you ever noticed the phenomenon that happens with perfectly manicured green grass as soon as you put a paved path through it? It doesn’t matter how inviting it looks. No one will pull out a blanket and throw a picnic on a grassy patch that has a path through it. It’s as though it’s somehow more pristine because of the path, or it’s off limits somehow. Unless of course you’re on a college campus then anyone will park grass anywhere.

The perfect picnic for me includes some of the quintessential summer foods:
Potato salad – Nana Peg’s finest, except no eggs. I don’t like to eggs in my potato salad because they’re the same color as the potatoes and it throws me off when I bite into a egg when I’m expecting the consistency of a potato.
Potato chips, I know potato salad and potato chips that’s a lot of potato but that’s ok. Ham and cheese sandwiches – a classic, but whatever other deli meat everyone likes, but for me it’s ham and cheese.
Grapes because they’re easy to eat and they go really well with the next line.
Cheese and wine – whatever kind is around. I’m a fan of a Chianti or a Merlot and a good smoked Gouda or cheddar.
Cold green bean salad – it’s fantastic, green beans, with red onions, garlic and a vinaigrette.
Crackers- preferable something that goes with the cheese.

Beyond the food I of course need a few friends, a baseball, a frisbee, a few blankets and sun block to cover my translucent skin.

Now to find a nice green grassy space without a paved path running through it.

Anything I'm missing?

Apartment living

I live in an apartment with a fairly small kitchen and I have nearly every small appliance known to man. I've found the key to cooking with so little counter space is organization (I know it's a dirty word) and only taking out what you actually need.
When you're making a multi-stage meal with whatever will take the longest to cook (usually the meat). When you've put it in the over clean up. Put away the spices you're done with, wipe the counters, wash the cutting boards and knives and start fresh.
As far as how to deal with the 48 appliances, various baking dishes and storage vessels I go I go by the principle of most use. Whatever I use most often is in the front of the cabinets and easy to access My Ron Popeil Rotisserie Oven is way in the back behind the cake taker and the big serving bowls. You also need to take into account how heavy some things are. You don't want to put your 20 lbs mixer way above your head, you'll never use it.
Apart from the storage issue there are some advantages to cooking an a smaller kitchen. I know everything is within 2 steps of where I'm standing. This is actually a blessing and a curse. It's great when I'm alone. No one to trip over or step on. When I have people over my tiny little kitchen becomes the center of the universe. So I end up asking 4 people to move so I can open the oven door.
there are 2 other bonuses I know of. I can't buy every gadget and gizmo at the home stores which saves me all kinds of money. And I'm forced to get rid of things I am not using. I just got rid of an espresso maker that's been collecting dust. Don't get me wrong I like espresso a lot but I'm a bit lazy and I have a programmable coffee maker. It's way easier to pour a cup of coffee than to steam the milk and wait for the fresh espresso.
In short: be organized and get rid of things you're not using.

The perils of electric ranges

Reasons electric ranges are difficult:

Burns hurt. I burnt my hand today trying to make tea because I turned the wrong burner on and I couldn't see which one was actually on. On a gas stove you can see the flame. Oh how I miss cooking with gas.

Control. Electric stoves are really hard to control. They're slow to heat and slow to cool.

Christmas Dinner!

Colossal triumphs and failures
I am the type of cook that can pull of a 4 course meal for 6 and have everything come out on time. At the same time I can also fail miserably at making the simplest meals like grilled cheese.
My very first ‘family’ meal was for an early Christmas last year. I actually had a huge triumph and a huge failure in the same meal.

The huge (and surprising) triumph:
Stuffed pork with an apple walnut stuffing (I know it sounds really fancy but it wasn’t too hard at all).
I started with a pork loin (not tenderloin, the whole thing) and butterflied it. To butterfly a pork loin you start with a piece of meat that looks a little like a log and slice about ¾ of an inch down and start cutting on and angle. You should end up with a piece of meat that is about ¾ of an inch thick all the way around. Once I butterfly meat I marinate, I do this after cutting it so that the marinade can get down into the deeper recesses of the meat. For this application I marinated the pork in apple cider, cumin, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. I left this for a few hours.
While that marinated I started the stuffing. I used a boxed cornbread stuffing and mixed in some apple cider, melted butter, chopped granny smith apples, crushed walnuts and the same mix of spices I used in the marinade. This should be a more moist than you would normally make, it makes it much easier to spread inside the pork.
Now to stuff. I laid the pork out on a cutting board and slather on the stuffing. I left about ¾ of an inch at the outside and of the meat. This is so the stuffing doesn’t squish out the end of the roll. Then starting from the opposite end of the pork I rolled the pork in to jellyroll shape and tied it with butcher’s twine to hold it in place while it cooked. I roasted the pork with sweet potatoes, and onions. It was fantastic. I won’t lie I was shocked.

Awful failure: The extra crispy extra stuffing
I tried to crisp up the extra stuffing to serve alongside the pork and the potatoes. While I was spinning around working on getting the meat and potatoes to the table I forgot about the stuffing. I only remembered about half way through the meal and it was toast by that point.

Lesson learned: Don’t forget when you put something in the over. Actually set a timer so you have something beeping at you before it gets too crispy.

10 Things No Kitchen Needs

10 things you really don’t need (But I’ll admit to owning)

1. The slap chopper. Or whatever it’s being called in the latest infomercial. I do own a slap chopper. I’ve used it twice. The one application I can see it performing really well at is soft nuts like walnuts. Beyond that it’s just a mess. I tried to chop an onion. It took me more time to clean the chopper than it would have to get the knife and the cutting board, dice the onion really fine, sauté it, and clean everything.

2. Waffle maker. Who doesn’t own a waffle maker? If you don’t think you do it’s time to take an inventory of your cabinet and cupboards, if you don’t find one there check the attic or the basement. I do love waffles, so I’m not bashing the machine. I just don’t eat waffles enough to really warrant mastering the use of the particular model I have so sadly it sits in the back of my appliance cabinet collecting dust.

3. Champagne flutes. I was so exited that I actually got to use my champagne flutes on New Years this year. I have a whole set of flutes that sit in the top cabinet and look pretty, that is their only function.

4. Shaped cake pans. Unless you have a lot of children in your family you probably won’t use these too often. I do have 2 different shaped pans. I have a fire truck and a teddy bear. The novelty of each of these pans wore off after the first time I baked them. These are very time consuming to decorate. I loved how they turned out but they took forever.

5. Cookie cutters in every shape and size. I love cookies and I love to bake. But once the cookies are all baked you still need to frost them. This is a lot of work just for cookies. I have so many types of cookie cutters I’m not sure I’ve even used them all. Really drop cookies are so good that most of the time I’ll opt for making drop cookies over rolled cookies anyway. Rolled cookies make a great presentation but people are afraid to mess up the design you took so much time making to enjoy the flavor of the cookies. If that’s the case why didn’t we just decorate cardboard cutouts instead of baking cookies in the first place?

6. Crème Brule torch. I love the reactions of my guests when I light the crème brule torch but I don’t think I really use it often enough to warrant owning one. This is another time consuming desert item that people are afraid to eat because of all the time you put into it.

7. Cruet. I usually use a vinaigrette when I eat salad, however I never make enough of it at a time to warrant the use of my cruet. It’s nice to have around when you’re hosting a dinner and want to put your own vinaigrette on the table (flaunting your amazing culinary skills with the little details) but you could easily use a bowl with a spoon. If you’re going to use this method put a plate under the bowl to protect from spillage.

8. Double boiler. There are many chocolate recipes that ‘require’ you to melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don’t own a double boiler not to worry. You can boil water in your 1 or 2 qt sauce pan (see the list of 10 thing every kitchen should have) and put a metal bowl over the boiling water, it will do the exact same thing as a double boiler. It’s the same method with out the cost!

9. An oil sprayer or special oil bottle. The special bottles are great for putting herbs into your oil but how often do you plan on actually doing it? Probably not all that often. The sprayer serves the same function as my no stick spray, and I don’t need to refill the no stick spray.

10. Wax paper. This may seem a little out of place but trust me. Parchment paper is really the way to go. It is a little more expensive but if it’s going into your oven it’s the best bet. Wax paper is coated in wax (I know I was shocked too) which melts when it gets hot (think crayons on the dashboard of your car). All that wax seeps into your food. I know I love the taste of wax in my chicken (not!). Parchment paper is coated with silicon which has a much higher melting temperature making it the better option for lining baking pans.

10 Things Every Kitchen Needs

And now for the fun stuff. When I moved into my first apartment my family and friends gave me all kinds of kitchen implements and of course over time I’ve collected more though various means. Even though my kitchen is bursting at the seams with all kinds of gadgets, gizmos, pots, and pans there are a few that I think are absolute requirements and some that are beyond useless.

My list of 10 things every kitchen should have:

1. A timer. This is pretty self explanatory, and most kitchens already come equipped with one, either on the stove or the microwave. I’m taking it as a given that you have both a stove and a microwave. I will however get into microwave cooking at some point in the future.

2. 6 to 10 qt stock pot. Although you can’t live on pasta alone I don’t think I could live without it which makes a large stock pot a requirement in my kitchen. I’ve actually used this for soups and stews and shockingly enough stock.

3. Strainer. If you’re going to make pasta you need a good strainer.

4. At least 1 skillet. 9 to 10 inches preferably. I find this to be the most useful size. It’s big enough for grilled sandwiches and eggs and if you’re really good even pancakes.

5. At least 1 sauce pot. 1 to 2 qt. this will be good for pasta sauces, (I know I’m a little stuck on the pasta right now, I just ate it for dinner and it was fantastic) gravy, dressing, stuffing, the list could go on.

6. 1 good knife. I prefer a larger knife, 8’ Chef style is my go to knife. This is for many reasons. It’s great for chopping leafy greens and potatoes. It’s also great for smashing garlic.

7. Pepper grinder. If you’re going to cook with pepper you might as well use the best stuff you can. If you use pre-ground pepper the oils evaporate over time and leave you with just the pepper shell and not much flavor. If you grind your pepper as you use it your get the freshest pepper flavor for the money.

8. Wooden spoons. It never ceases to amaze me how often I use my wooden spoons, they’re great. And they’re cheap! The most useful thing about wooden spoons is that the help keep your pots and pans nice and scratch free. If you stir your sauces with a wooden spoon instead of a metal spoon you can run it right along the bottom of the pot without scratching the surface of the pot which also helps keep whatever you’re cooking from sticking and burning.

9. Baking sheets. Not only are they an absolute necessity if you like to make cookies or pizza they are also great for catching drips from pies or casseroles.

10. Cork screw or another wine de-corking implement. Because glass shards are never on the menu.

Getting started

I live in an apartment with a small kitchen. Over time I’ve learned a few things about cooking meals large and small in a tiny space. I have no culinary experience except that I love food, everything about it. I learn by doing. Sometimes it works out for the better and sometimes… not. I have made some colossal mistakes and I have had some amazing triumphs. I want to share my experiences so you can avoid some of the same mistakes and try some of my techniques and recipes.

Two warnings before we really get started:

1. Cooking is dangerous. You’re going to find new foods you really like and want to eat all the time and you’ll be forever spoiled (in a good way) and not want to eat as much processed or ready made store bought food. For me it's home made pasta. It's time consuming totally worth it.
   
2. No really cooking can be dangerous. You should have the proper safety devices in place before you start any type of cooking. You’ll need:

-a fire extinguisher. (I’m not kidding) Mine was mounted on the wall by the landlord. Not really something you’ll see in a kitchen renovation or design show but I’d rather function over form.

-good heat resistant gloves or potholders. I’d suggest gloves; you get protection all the way around your hand. I have had many burns to prove that I don’t always follow my own rules. When I do follow my gloves suggestion I use middle of the road firefighter’s gloves. They will cost more than something like the ‘Ove Glove or products of the sort but they will work better and last longer. They will cost somewhere around $50 to $90 and they take some time to break in but they are worth it.

-sharp knives. you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg but sharp knives will keep your fingers safe. I know this is counter intuitive but it’s true. If your knives a properly sharpened they will glide though whatever you’re cutting without going off course and into your hand. You will also be able to work faster and make more even pieces of whatever you’re cutting

-2 cutting boards. one plastic and one wooden. The plastic board is for all your raw meats. It’s safer than wood because you can throw it in the dishwasher and get it all clean and sanitized. The wooden board can be used for everything else. Wood boards are generally easier on knife blades.

-a good apron. Although this isn’t really a safety thing it will keep your clothes much cleaner. Well, I suppose if your shirts are thin and you’re working with hot oil this might be a safety item too.

When you start cooking make what you love. Cook what you like to eat because then you'll put your heart into what you're making and it will show.

When I was little my favorite food when we would go out to eat was chicken fingers. I still rate diners and chain restaurants by their chicken fingers. This is my recipe for baked chicken fingers.

Easy chicken fingers

1 chicken breast per person

1 egg beaten

1 cup of bread crumbs (you may need more depending on how breaded you like your chicken)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dry parsley

1 tsp dry oregano

1 tsp dry basil

Directions: Pre-heat your oven to 325. Mix the bread crumbs with the spices (these are just the spices I like to use you’re more than welcome to change this up as much as you want, let me know what you come up with). Slice your chicken into strips (fingers). Dunk the strips of chicken into the beaten egg, then dredge them in the bread crumb mixture. Lay all the strips out on a baking sheet or in a shallow baking dish. Bake at 325 for about 15 minutes , or until done in the center of the thickest part of each finger. Turn the chicken fingers over half way through the baking time to have evenly golden brown chicken fingers.

My personal favorite dipping sauce for chicken fingers is honey mustard. I use a good dijon or a fancy stone ground mustard and mix it with equal parts honey. But of course these are equally fantastic with BBQ or ranch dressing.