Food related craft!

Hey there! Sorry for not updating, I've been really busy! I don't have a recipe today, but I have a really cool craft to show you! Nathan and I made this earlier today and it was really simple and relatively inexpensive!

This is a super awesome PICTURE FRAME MENU BOARD :)

I used a 10x20 inch frame, half a yard of fabric, a couple spools of ribbon, a bit of tacky glue, and some chip board stickers!

We could have spray painted the wooden part of the frame a different color but we liked the blue and black! Anyway, I wish I had taken step by step pictures, but it's pretty simple! We covered the back of the frame (behind the glass, where the picture usually goes) with fabric, and glued six pieces of ribbon onto the fabric to make seven nearly equal sections. I layered a thinner black ribbon on the thicker blue ribbon! It's all your personal preference!

So put the frame back together, and then put chip board stickers right on the glass in the different sections! Now all you need is a dry erase marker and you're good to go! Check out this closeup:

This was super, super easy so check out the thrift stores to try to find a frame you like! This will probably be my go-to housewarming/wedding gift from now on :)

I should probably give credit to my friend Brittany Glenn! We were supposed to make something like this together when I was visiting Washington last month, but I didn't get a chance to hang out with her! Thanks Brittany!

Deutsches Abendessen! (or, German Dinner!)

Just a little refresher, in case you forgot: I LOVE GERMANY. I love the people, I love the language, and I love the food. I spent most of my time last summer in Baden-Württemberg, the most southwest state in Germany, which includes the region of Swabia. Swabian food was very, very good to me, and I finally found two great recipes (on About.com, go figure... pardon my copypasta) for my favorite meal: Maultaschen and Swabisch Kartoffelsalat! Or, German ravioli and potato salad!

Maultaschen

Noodle Dough:

• 2 2/3 c. all purpose flour (300 grams)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 T. oil
• 3 T. water

Meat Filling:

• 2-3 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 oz. (25 grams) day-old bread or rolls, cut into cubes and sprinkled with 2 T. water
• 5 oz. frozen spinach (1/2 package), thawed, squeezed dry and chopped
• 2 T. fresh or 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 T. spicy mustard
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. dried marjoram
• 8 oz. ground beef, pork, or turkey
• 1 egg.
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Fresh ground pepper

For Cooking:

• 1-2 quarts broth (beef or other; I used chicken)

Dough:
Mix flour with salt, eggs, oil and just enough water to make a smooth dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes, until satin-y. Form dough into a ball, oil surface, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for at least an hour.

Filling:
Cook bacon and remove from pan. Sauté onions and garlic in bacon drippings until translucent. Cook the ground meat and drain. Mix all filling ingredients well. If you want a finer texture, put ingredients through a food processor for a few seconds, which I did.

Make the Maultaschen:
Roll out 1/2 dough to 1/8 inch thickness or thinner. You should have a sheet about 12 inches by 18 inches. (You may also use a noodle roller to make flat sheets with 1/5 of dough at at time.)
Score dough with a knife, one time through lengthwise and five perpendicular cuts to make 1 dozen rectangles.
Place one tablespoon dough on each rectangle.
Fold rectangle over and pinch sides to close.
Repeat with the other half of dough.
Bring broth to a simmer and place 1/3 of the Maultaschen in the broth. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove and drain. Keep warm if not serving immediately. Repeat with the rest of the Maultaschen.
Serve in bowl with some broth and sprinkled with chives and/or parsley.

Potato Salad

• 4 medium potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 c. broth (beef, vegetable or chicken; again, I used chicken)
• 3 T. cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 2 T. cooking oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 T. prepared mustard
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Place whole potatoes in a pan, add cold water to almost cover, bring to a boil and cook until done, about 20-30 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and peel while they are still warm. Use a mandolin to slice thinly or slice with a knife 1/8 inch thick. Place in a bowl. Pour the broth over the warm potatoes and mix gently. Let sit 5 minutes.
In a second bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard, finely chopped onion and pepper to make a vinaigrette. Pour over the potatoes and mix gently. Potatoes will crumble a bit, but that is expected.
Allow the potatoes to marinate for 20 minutes before serving. Serve lukewarm or room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.
*I used Russet potatoes. Yukon Golds are the best for this particular salad, but if you happen to live in Idaho and the only potatoes you can afford are Russets (like me) you have to be extra vigilant about watching them while they're boiling. If they get too mushy it won't work. A trick is to poke the potato with a fork; if you can get it all the way in with a little bit of resistance, it's done. Remove and drain them now! Any mushier than that and you might need to start over.

Okay, seriously, this was awesome. It wasn't AS good as the stuff I had in Germany last year, but it's pretty darn close! I followed this recipe exactly and both dishes were awesome. This was Nathan's first experience with German food (well, almost... I attempted the potato salad last fall with terrible under-cooked results, sorry in-laws!) and he LOVED it. It's a bit labor intensive, so we decided to have German Night once a month. How about you guys? Any interest in trying this food? If you're lucky, I'll cook it for you when we're in Washington in August ;) If you're not in Washington... make it yourself! The hardest part is making the noodle dough and even that isn't too hard, it just takes time!

Bonus awesome: I got a job! I just got off the phone with the lady who OFFICIALLY offered me the job. Yesterday, I had an interview where I was told that I'd be offered the job tomorrow, and he wasn't lying! I'm going to be working on campus starting this fall as a transcriber for deaf and hard-of-hearing students! My online training starts on July 7, and it won't disrupt our plans to go home for a month!

Your Favorite Weird Foods

Okay, fess up. I know all of you have your favorite food combinations that you wouldn't dare admit to, or even eat in front of other people. I am no exception, and I want to open the floor to everyone's bizarre food preferences, so let's get it started.

My favorite after school snack in high school was chocolatey cereal + chips and salsa. It's SOOOOO good. You take a bite of cereal, and then eat a chip or two. Take another bite of cereal, and then more chips and salsa. The idea was never to mix the two, but to follow one with another until all the cereal was gone. It was ridiculously satisfying and I dearly wish we had some chips, chocolate cereal, and milk. The best salsa was the kind you can get in the refrigerated section, or the homemade salsa I posted the recipe to back in February or March or something. My preferred chocolate cereal was Cocoa Dyno-Bites... the kind in the bag. Chips can go either way. It's a perfect combination.

This one is retired as it involves peanut butter, but my dad got me hooked on PB&J dipped in Cream of Mushroom soup. It was an ideal for a quick and easy lunch after church. My dad and I would split a can of soup and he'd make me a sandwich and cut it into triangles. It's a shame I can't stomach peanut butter, because I miss how easy and delicious this nasty-sounding lunch was! It's not the same with just a jelly sandwich, too. I've tried.

Best man and surprise visitor Nathan Coon told me that he loves putting soy sauce on scrambled eggs. A part of me doesn't think that's weird, because I think soy sauce improves pretty much everything, but this is definitely outside a lot of people's comfort zone. As a matter of fact, I think that sounds pretty good so when I'm done posting this, I might whip up some eggs with soy sauce for the Nathans and myself.

My token Asian friend Krislynn is full of crazy food combinations! She likes to dress up her Top Ramen with sliced spam and a fried egg. I had spaghetti at her house back in high school and was completely caught off guard when the marinara sauce had a bunch of sugar added! One of her favorite breakfast foods was stolen from Neopets: a pizza omelet! She cuts up a slice of leftover pizza and mixes it with her eggs!


Alright, time to share! Comment with your favorite weird food and stay tuned for a new recipe post in a day or two :)

Tom Kha Gai, or "How Rebekah is Ashamed for Never Posting"

Yeah yeah, don't rub it in. I could share a whole HOST of reasons why I haven't updated in forever, but basically I've just been rotating the recipes I've already shared and haven't cooked anything new! However, I am going to start EARNESTLY trying to post something new every week. If not a new recipe, then a features article about food or cooking! Please forgive me, loyal readers. If you have any specific foods that you'd like to see on this blog, leave me a comment and I will try my best to find a great recipe! Now, onto today's recipe...

A little background, I love Thai food. If you don't, you should, because Thai food is AMAZING. I love the bold flavors, and the fresh vegetables, and how light everything is. I'm not exactly a calorie-counting kinda lady, but even I am prone to feel guilty when I eat ridiculously greasy food, but Thai food never makes me feel bad. The two dishes I love best are Gai Pad King (ginger chicken) and Tom Kha Gai.

Tom Kha Gai is a chicken soup made with coconut milk. It's creamy and a bit sweet, but not too sweet. Not everyone's a big fan of soup as a filling dinner, but if you stir in some brown rice, it's as satisfying as anything else you could eat. You'll have to forgive my picture quality (taken on my cell phone, since we couldn't find the camera) and the not-exactness of the recipe... I took ideas from several recipes I found online but I pretty much made this up, and it turned out just as good as any restaurant's version! Since this is a bit touch-and-go, if you're not feeling brave enough to try out a brand new recipe without exact amounts, I'd suggest getting some at a Thai restaurant so you know what it's supposed to taste like. If you're in Marysville, Mae Phim has a great version of it (Mai's Thai, which is my favorite for all other things Thai, has a version that is a bit more sour than I care for) and if you're in Rexburg, Original Thai's recipe is spectacular! Give it a try!

1 lb boneless skinless chicken
Chicken broth
One can of coconut milk
Ginger (I used ginger paste, which worked out awesome)
Green onions
Fish sauce
One small can of mushrooms
One small can of baby corn
One lemon (for zest and juice)
Red pepper flakes
Dash of garlic powder

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and saute it with a little bit of vegetable oil until it's done. Set aside. About the chicken broth... I started off with two cups of it and added half a can of coconut milk, but then I decided I wanted to use ALL of the coconut milk, which you must DEFINITELY shake before adding, so I added two (or so; what did I say about not being exact?) more cups of broth. In this instance I would HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest picking up some Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base so you aren't constrained by cups or cans or boxes. It's really easy, you just boil water and add some of the paste until it tastes good to you, and it's not horribly salty like normal bouillon cubes or powder. Stir in some ginger paste (or fresh slices, or powder, I'm sure the overall effect will be the same but the paste was quite successful in my experience) until you can just taste the ginger without overpowering the other flavors. Of course, if you like ginger, feel free to add more, but there I go again. Wash and slice the white part of the green onions and add them to the mix. Chop up some of the green part of the onion and set it aside for garnish. Now onto the fish sauce. Fish sauce smells nasty, people. Try not to let it bother you, though, because its effect is astounding in this soup. Add a few tablespoons and prepare to be amazed, though I would suggest not inhaling it before you add it as it might deter you from doing so. Drain the mushrooms and the baby corn and add it into the mix. If you have a lemon zester tool, add some zest to the soup. If you don't, no worries. Whether or not you added the zest, cut the lemon in half and squeeze some juice into the soup, but not too much. If you want your soup with a bit of a kick, add some red pepper flakes. Stir in a dash of garlic powder, and season with a bit of salt and pepper if you wish, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Dish up some brown rice in your bowl and then add the soup itself. Put some of those sliced green onions on top to give it a little more color and yet another different flavor.

Verbose much? I'm going to work on this recipe, to see if I can make it a bit more specific, but even now this soup is awesome and completely worth the guesswork. I'm really proud of myself for how it turned out and I highly recommend it. Nathan loved it and couldn't stop eating it :) He had to eventually, though, because it was all gone. It was that good.


Like I said earlier in the post, if you have any suggestions of things you want me to cook or write an essay about, please leave them in the comments! If I get requests, I'll be more motivated to post regularly! Cheap move, I know, but cut me some slack.

Day Six: Crockpot Lasagna!

All credit for this recipe goes HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE

My friend Kayla linked me to it on another blog site, and I've made it twice so far! I really like it, but I used half of the ricotta cheese the recipe suggests and I still thought it was a little much. I'm going to post the recipe to the way I did it but make sure you check out the link :)

Crock Pot Lasagna

1 pound ground beef
1 whole onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar spaghetti sauce (THIS is really good, and cheap!)
1 small can tomato sauce
8 oz ricotta cheese
¼ cups milk
1 egg
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (we only had 8 oz but it was good)
½ cups shredded parmesan/romano cheese
1 package (8 oz.) no-boil lasagna noodles (we used homemade noodles!)

Brown the beef, onion, and garlic in a frying pan. Drain off any grease. Add the spaghetti & tomato sauce into the browned meat mixture. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, milk, and egg. Beat until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Then mix in the mozzarella cheese and the grated cheese, so that all the cheeses are combined. Grease the crock pot with some Pam or shortening.

Put about 1/4 of the meat and sauce mixture in the bottom of the crock pot. Put a layer of noodles on top of that (break or cut them if needed). Put about 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top of that. Then repeat with sauce, noodles, cheese for another 2 layers. Top with meat sauce. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender. (Since our noodles were homemade yesterday, we cooked it for three hours and it was great!)

We had my fake-son Gary over for a belated birthday dinner (he turned 19 on Wednesday) and I also made him a CAKE! It wasn't homemade, unfortunately, but it was pretty danged delicious. Triple chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting. Soooo delicious.

 (Yes, those are matches instead of candles...)

Enjoy some classy cake-eating pictures after the cut!

(Late) Day Five: Things you can make with Cream of Mushroom soup!

I'm not even kidding right now.

I looooove Cream of Mushroom soup. It's so good by itself, but the magic of this soup are the things you can do WITH it. This post is dedicated to my mom, who is the QUEEN of things made out of Cream of Mushroom soup. My parents have soooooo much of this soup in their basement, and they hardly ever make it as regular soup. I will preface the recipes by saying that the soup is NOT a pretty soup to look at. It's gray. All of the recipes I'm going to share are going to end up gray. They're not particularly aesthetically pleasing, but if you can get past the color palette, your taste buds will thank you. I have never been disappointed with any of the recipes I'm going to share.

I'll start with the weirdest recipe first, with the least appetizing name.

Tuna Sauce on Rice

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can of tuna, drained
1/2 soup can of water
Cooked white (or brown, I guess) rice
Random seasonings... garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, black pepper, whatever

Dump the soup, tuna, and water in a saucepan. Stir it up until everything is uniform and the tuna chunks are all broken up. If you have a cat, leave the tuna can out for them to finish off. Turn the burner onto medium heat. Add some random seasonings. The ones I listed are the ones I prefer, although you can really go any which way. It's going to turn out good. When the sauce is bubbling, serve it on top of rice. SO good.


Really Really Really Good Roast Beef

This is probably the easiest recipe I've got for you today. You can make it in a crockpot or a regular roasting pan, and I'm not going to worry you with cooking times, since it all depends on the size of the roast, which method you use (oven or crockpot), and how well-done you like it. Google :)

1 envelope (Lipton) onion soup mix
1-2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (depending on the size of the roast)
ROAST BEEF, unroasted
Vegetables that I like with roast beef: carrots, potatoes, and onions

If you're making this in the crockpot, put about a half cup of water in the bottom. If you're putting in carrots, put them on the bottom of the pot, since they take the longest to cook. Put the roast on top of the carrots (or on the bottom of the pot if no carrots are present) and assemble the potatoes and onion around it. Mix the onion soup mix with the Cream of Mushroom soup and spoon it on top of the roast as evenly as you can. You can season it with other stuff, but NOT SALT, since the onion soup mix is plenty salty. Figure out via the internet (or just... memory if you've been cooking roasts a lot) how long it needs to be in the crockpot! Here is a good chart of crockpot cooking times!

If you're making it in a roasting pan, there is no need to add water, but make sure the carrots are at the bottom of the pan, although they don't need to be underneath the roast this time. Same rules apply otherwise though! Cook it at 300 or 325 for however long... It's all really dependent on how big your roast is and how done you like it. Here is a good article about oven roasting.

If you have leftovers, you can chop them up and use them in the next recipe!


Beef Stroganoff

1 pound of ground beef
1 onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 soup can of water or milk
Extra sliced mushrooms, if you wish
Mrs. Dash (table blend is the best)
Sour cream

Cook the ground beef with the onion until both are fully cooked. Saute the mushrooms separately until they're soft. In a saucepan, combine the soup with the water and stir until fully mixed. Add the meat, onions, and mushrooms. Put it on over medium heat and season it according to your wishes. I would highly HIGHLY recommend Mrs. Dash for the stroganoff, but if you don't have it then salt, pepper, some onion powder, and just a BIT of garlic powder (I am quite liberal with it in the tuna sauce, but the stroganoff only needs a bit) will do you just fine. In the minute or so before you serve the stroganoff, add a healthy dollop of sour cream and mix in well. Serve it over noodles or rice.

Like I said, not that pretty, but mmmmmmm, delicious.

A note about noodles: it goes best, texture-wise, with something like penne, but I think that egg noodles like these ones are the BEST with stroganoff, although honestly, anything will do. Just don't do spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, fettucini or anything else along those long, skinny lines.


Day six will be up later this evening! We just have to make it first ;)

Day Four: Calzones!

Calzones are surprisingly easy, and very satisfying. Remember that the filling is just like a pizza, so anything that works as a pizza topping will also be delicious in a calzone, so be creative!

Calzone Dough

1 cup water
1 tbls oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast

If you have a bread machine, just use the dough setting. If not, then just mix everything manually until it starts to seem like dough, then knead it with your bare hands for 5 to 10 minutes. Cover it in a bowl and allow it to rise for 45-60 minutes.

While the dough is rising, you can start working on the filling. For ours, we cooked and seasoned a pound of ground beef, although you can really use anything. Sausage would be good! We also used cheese, olives, and canned diced tomatoes.

Divide the dough into 6 to 8 pieces. Flatten one into a circle, and put all the prepared fillings on one half. Fold the empty over the everything, and seal the calzone shut by pressing the dough together with your fingers. You can season the top with Italian seasoning or parmesan cheese. Repeat this process until all are done.

Let them rise for about 10-20 minutes, depending on how hungry you are. Put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15, or until light brown.

 

Check out that green koolaid! Blue raspberry lemonade + lemon lime! Sooooo good.

Day Three: Chicken Pot Pie

Last week, I signed up to make a meal for a family that had just had a baby and decided to do chicken pot pie! The family cookbook has a great (and easy) recipe for pot pie, but when I went to get the cans of chicken--I know, I'm a cheater, but canned chicken is GOOD--we only had one can of chicken. Disaster. There wasn't enough filling! So I came up with an idea to add some minute rice (and ran it past my mother-in-law, just in case) and went with it. Success! Here is the recipe I came up with:

Chicken Pot Pie

1 8oz bag frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, carrots)
2 pie crusts (store-bought or homemade)
1-10 3/4 oz can of Cream of Chicken soup
3/4 cup milk
1 can of cooked chicken (or 2)
1 cup of Minute rice, uncooked
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Mrs. Dash (the wonder spice! I prefer the "Table Blend")
1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Roll out the pie crusts. Defrost vegetables in microwave for about 3 minutes. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray and cover the bottom with one of the pie crusts. In large bowl, mix the soup and milk, and then add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Evenly spread the mix in the pan and cover it with the remaining pie crust. Cut vents on top, and put it in the oven for 35-45 minutes. SO GOOD.

Day Two: Oatmeal Cream Pies

Nathan LOOOOOOVES Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, and he found a recipe! They're super super fattening (probably) but I think in cases like these, it's best to just ignore the nutritional facts and enjoy them.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Cookies:
1 cup margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbls molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1.5 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cup quick oats

Cream filling:
 2 tsp Hot water
1/4 tsp Salt
7oz jar Marshmallow Cream
1/2 cup Shortening
1/3 cup Powdered sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla

-Directions-
1 Cream margarine, brown sugar, and sugar.
2 Add the molasses, vanilla, and eggs to the creamed mixture, stir until uniform.
3 Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
4 Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; mix in the oats.
5 Drop dough by tablespoon on ungreased sheets.
6 Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes , or until brown around the edges.

Filling
7 In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water.
8 Combine marshmallow, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in med bowl; mix until fluffy.
9 Add the cooled salt water and mix well.
10 Spread filling on flat side of one cookie, press 2nd cookie on top.

Day One: Mexican Lasagna

I know, I know, I've been MIA with this blog. I don't really have a good reason, but to make up for it, I am going to be posting a recipe every day this week, starting with this:

Mexican Lasagna

6-8 flour tortillas
1-16oz can of refried beans
1 lbs ground beef
1-16oz can of diced tomatoes
Taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded cheese (colby jack, mexican blend, cheddar, etc)

 

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan with Pam or something. Put down 3 or 4 (depending on the size) tortillas on the pan. Spread refried beans evenly over the tortillas (you don't have to use the whole can). Cook the ground beef with the can of tomatoes (don't drain ALL of the juice away) and the taco seasoning--the kind we have says to use 1/4 cup for every pound of meat, but it varies between brands. When the beef is all cooked, spread the meat/tomatoes mixture evenly on top of the refried beans. Put 3 or 4 tortillas on top of that. Spread the salsa evenly on top of the new layer of tortillas. Put the shredded cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until it's bubbly. Serve with sour cream.

SO GOOD.

PIPPA PIE!

It started with a tweet...

I was watching the Olympics and saw some Canadian fans wearing some really cozy-looking mittens and I wanted some. I posted the following message on Twitter: "Any of my Canadian friends want to buy me some of those mittens? I probably won't pay you back hahah. jk jk but they do look cozy!" My lovely friend Pippa responded saying she had an extra pair and could be convinced into giving them to me. I told her to name her stakes. Embarrassing YouTube video? Done. Poetry? Done. She put a lot of thought into it and told me that in exchange for the cozy mittens, she would require me to make a new recipe specifically for her and post it to my blog. SO HERE WE ARE! I combined three delicious recipes to make, you guessed it--PIPPA PIE! (It must be in all caps when written about; when spoken, voices do not need to be raised.)


Pie crust, from the family cookbook:


1 1/3 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3 Tbsp water


Combine flour, salt, and shortening until uniform. Add one tablespoon of water at a time. Work dough into a ball. Roll it out and put it in a pie pan. Prick the sides and bottom with a fork to release any air bubbles that form during cooking. Set the crust aside.

Sour cream peach pie filling, from About.com and adapted:


1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg, slightly beaten with a fork
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 29 oz can sliced peaches (drained

Preheat oven to 400°.  Combine sugar, flour, and salt; beat in sour cream, the beaten egg, and vanilla. Don't over-mix! The mixture will become too airy and not set well. Add sliced peaches. Pour mixture into unbaked pie pastry. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven, but leave the oven on.

Crumbly topping, from the pear crisp recipe:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup quick oats
Dash of cinnamon
1/2 stick (1/4 cup or 4 Tbsp) butter or margarine 

Mix brown sugar, flour, oats, and cinnamon together, and then add butter. Spread it evenly over the pie. Put it back in the oven for 15 minutes.

 

This pie was REALLY good. It finished baking around 11 PM last night but that did NOT stop Nathan and I from eating two slices each. I don't know if this counts as making up a new recipe, since I combined three very good recipes to make one super delicious pie, but I hope it does. This pie is mind-blowing.

 

 

WHAT SAY YE, PIPPA?

Zuppa Toscana

Hey! Sorry for my absence. I really have no excuse except to say we've been making a lot of spaghetti and macaroni and cheese due to not-feeling-well and general laziness. But I'm back with one of my favorites: Zuppa Toscana! I mentioned it in my last post and will now be sharing the goodness with you! I stole was given the recipe by my mother-in-law and has since been a hit with my siblings and my fake son Gary, who we have over for dinner as often as he wants to walk the half an hour to our apartment from his dorm. More fans are forthcoming, I guarantee it.


Zuppa Toscana

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage

1/2 lb. smoked bacon - chopped

1 qt. water 

Two 14.5 oz. cans (about 3 2/3 cups) chicken broth*

2 (or more!) lg. russet potatoes - scrubbed clean, cubed

2 garlic cloves - peeled, crushed

1 med. onion - peeled, chopped

2 cups chopped kale OR Swiss chard

1 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half

salt and pepper - to taste

-In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you fry it; drain, set aside.

-In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon; drain, set aside.

-Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.

-Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes.

-Add kale and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

 

I could eat this every day. Soooo delicious. It tastes BETTER than Olive Garden's version.

* A note about chicken broth: Getting the actual cans (or box) of broth is EXCEEDINGLY preferable to using chicken bouillon cubes or powder to make the broth. I learned from experience that bouillon makes it extremely salty. There are other options for broth (such as the "Better than Bouillon" paste) that I haven't tried yet, but canned or boxed chicken broth hasn't failed me yet!

International Favorites

When I visited Europe with my mom in 2004, we went to four countries and ate a lot of different food. In Russia we ate Mexican food (I still don't know what was in that burrito) and German food. In Austria we ate Chinese food. In the Czech Republic we ate Greek food. In Germany we ate Italian food. I have tried a LOT of different cuisines and haven't yet found one I didn't love. My "Foods I Hate" post was pretty successful so I thought I would follow up with my favorite foods from every cuisine I've tried! Please comment on your favorites and let me know what you think of mine!

American
If I can classify "bacon" as American food, then I will just call it quits on this section. Nathan agrees, but just in case, buffalo wings are pretty amazing! Mmmm I don't like it when the sauce is so hot you want to kill yourself, but, for instance, Applebee's classic buffalo sauce is pretty good. I also like buffalo chicken pizza. And bacon pizza. Haha.

German
I looooove German food so much. In Germany this past summer I must have eaten about TEN Döner kebabs (specifically Döner im Brot). These are so ridiculously delicious and I miss them dearly. They're like gyros, but SOOOO much better. I can't even describe it. The BEST one I had was undoubtedly the first one, and I spent the rest of the trip trying to recreate that experience. Best street food EVER. Other notable German foods: hearty potato dumplings at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, and Swabish potato salad. I loooooved that potato salad, and once I successfully recreate it, you can bet your behind I'll be posting the recipe here.

Thai
Hands down, it's gotta be ginger chicken, aka Gai Pad Khing. Back home in my beloved Marysville lies my favorite Thai restaurant, Mai's Thai. Back when I had a job and a car (and lived in Marysville) I would frequently get their lunch special of ginger chicken (two stars!) to go, so much that the owner, a funny Vietnamese lady, eventually recognized my voice over the phone and we established a good rapport :) There is nothing better than Thai food when you want something packed with flavor but not too heavy. Ginger chickennnnnn. My mouth is watering.

French
HOLY CRACKERS. Tarte flambée. I first met it when it was called Flammkuchen, but it's the same thing. Thin dough covered in crème fraîche topped with ONIONS AND BACON (so, in other words, bacon pizza) and baked in a flaming oven! I couldn't remember what it was called so I asked my friend Kyle, "Hey what was that pizza we ate on top of the mountain?" We took a really sweet day cruise with our host families down the Rhine (can you say awesome? because it was awesome) and then had to climb up this ridiculous mountain for lunch. Our reward at the top was this freaking awesome French pizza and I never regretted the climb afterward. So worth it. It was so familiar and yet so French. If you get a chance, definitely try it!

Russian
When we were in Russia (my dad was sent there for a few months to work), we were invited to a coworker's house for an authentic Russian dinner. My mom and I had eaten most of our meals in the aforementioned Mexican restaurant (haha) and German restaurant across the street from our hotel, or in the executive lounge of the five-star Marriott. We hadn't gotten a chance to experience traditional Russian cuisine, so we were excited and NOT disappointed that evening. It's a little cliche, but I really like borscht! Beet soup. It was so tasty, but what REALLY stood out was pelmeni. The best way to describe them is to call them "Russian ravioli." They were really really delicious... incredibly savory and meaty and chock full of goodness. Even more tasty when dipped in sour cream!

Japanese
I really really love sushi. I never had a problem with the whole "raw fish" thing and have been addicted ever since my Japanese aunt took me out for some fantastic sushi in PV, California in 2007. I'd toyed with it beforehand, but once you've had GOOD sushi (and I don't mean grocery store sushi) it's hard to forget. That's what I'm dealing with now. I'm in a landlocked state, and my favorite sushi restaurant, Tokyohouse in Arlington, WA, is over 800 miles away. It's a tragedy, and I feel sorry for myself on a near-daily basis because of the distance haha. Sushi might very well be my favorite food of all time.

Italian
Wow. I loooove Italian food. Maybe I love Americanized Italian food because I'm not sure I've had truly authentic Italian food, but whatevs. However, my favorite is pasta puttanesca. Anchovies, capers, garlic, peppers, olives, and onions in an awesome tomato sauce. It's SO GOOD, but I love pretty much anything drenched in marinara (or bolognese) sauce. Cheese ravioli in bolognese is great too, but I wanted to take a moment to talk about ZUPPA TOSCANA. Invented by Olive Garden this soup is, like many other dishes, better homemade. I've got the recipe in the sweet family cookbook and I make it pretty often. It's creamy, potatoey, bacony, sausagey, and tasty. You can find many variations of the recipe online but once we've stocked up on kale, I'll post it here. Mmmm I think I might make that for dinner.

Chinese
Hot and sour soup! It took me less than 1/10th of a second to figure out what my favorite Chinese food was. I am a huuuuuge soup person and I love soups that have a mega variety of flavor. As the name suggests, hot and sour soup fits that bill perfectly. I could eat a gallon of that stuff--as long as a good restaurant is making it--and still wish I had room in my tummy for more. I am a little bit disdainful of a lot of Chinese food because while the flavor is almost ALWAYS good, it can be rather greasy depending on where you go, but hot and sour soup is the one thing you never have to worry about. I'm so hungry all of a sudden.

Indian
My oldest sister Rachel introduced me and the rest of my family to Indian food. I will be eternally grateful to her for that. Indian food is generally very rich and the flavors are powerful. My two absolute favorite Indian dishes are butter chicken and lamb korma. I wish I could describe them, but I could never do them justice. In restaurants they are served family style with basmati rice. The idea is, you put some rice on your plate and then put the main dish on the rice. Mix it up and enjoy! Scoop up what's left with some tasty naan, which is flat Indian bread.

Mexican
If you go to Mexican restaurants, you know you're in for a huge and delicious meal. I am NOT picky with my Mexican food, but my all-time favorite dish is pollo a la crema--chicken in cream sauce, ideally with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers, and maybe a slice of tomato or two thrown in for good measure. Mix it up with Mexican rice and put it in fresh flour tortillas. HEAVEN ON EARTH. My good friend Alexis described it as "the ultimate comfort food," and she may very well be right on target. Unfortunately, it's hard to find in Mexican restaurants outside of Western Washington, but it's starting to extend its long, delicious arm out to people who live in other lands (someone please let me know when it reaches Eastern Idaho).

Vietnamese
PHO PHO PHO PHO PHO. That's all I have to say. Vietnamese noodle soup, usually with beef (but chicken is good too). It's served with a plate full of... I can only describe them as toppings, but anyway, you add whatever you want to your soup and stir it around and just let your taste buds celebrate. Pho restaurants are opening everywhere (except here) so if you get the chance to try it, TRY THE HECK OUT OF IT.

Brazilian
Apparently the black beans and rice I posted about last week is the staple dish of Brazil. I've had no other Brazilian foods to compare it to, but I'm pretty sure it would still be my favorite haha. For the recipe, click here!


I can't think of anything else, but please post your thoughts and your favorites in the comments!

It was fun while it lasted.

A couple minutes ago, I told Nathan that my awesome aunt Lisa was going to hook me up with her special secret Alfredo recipe. I was telling him how good a cook she was, and said "She's a better cook than your mom!" High praise indeed. I'm not even kidding. His mom is a GREAT cook. But then he--clearly an ungrateful child--said, "Well, that's not hard to do. YOU'RE a better cook than my mom." (Don't give him a birthday present, Debbie. He doesn't appreciate the years of cooking he didn't have to do himself.)

I've fulfilled my purpose in writing this blog.

I guess I don't have to update ever again.

Thanks for ruining my fun, Nathan.

BLOG FINISHED!

...Just kidding. New post will be up tomorrow!

Homemade Alfredo!

So Nathan and I eat a lot of pasta. It's cheap, quick, and easy, and a few well-chosen additions to the tomato sauce (not to mention Nathan's yummy homemade noodles) lead to a pretty tasty and satisfying meal. I've had bottled alfredo sauce before and I never really liked it, but I thought I'd give homemade a shot. I found a recipe at allrecipes.com that got great reviews and looked pretty easy. I changed it up a bit due to the ingredients we had available.

Here's what I did:

3 tablespoons butter

8 fluid ounces (1 cup) half and half

1/2 cup Italian 4-cheese blend (we got it at G's Dairy Delights)
1.5 tsp sauteed chopped garlic

1 egg yolk (beaten with a bit of half and half)

A shake or two of Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter over medium heat. Add half and half, stirring constantly. Stir in cheese and garlic. Stir constantly until the cheese is melted, then mix in egg yolk slowly. Add the Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Simmer until it reaches the desired consistency. Ta-da!

(I also added some canned chicken so Nathan could get some protein from somewhere besides peanut butter--I would've put in fresh chicken, but I didn't think to defrost it before it was too late. It tasted great but the canned chicken overpowered the sauce a bit. Next time I'll just let the sauce stand on its own, maybe with some homemade noodles!)

 

Also: you can find the best thing ever after the cut!

Pear Crisp

I loooooove this recipe. I stole it from the family cookbook that Nathan's mom gave me! It's so easy and guaranteed to be delicious! We had this as our Valentine's Day dessert yesterday and it really hit the spot after a homemade pasta dinner courtesy of my wonderful husband :) All credit goes to Aunt Marcy!

Pear Crisp (or Peach!)

2-29 oz cans of sliced pears (or peaches!)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
2 cups oats
Dash of cinnamon
1 cube (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 350. Drain the fruit (leave a bit of juice in, but not too much or you'll have a soupy dessert) and put it in a 9x13 pan. Melt the butter (Protip: I recommend using a pot on the stove instead of microwaving it; it takes a bit more time, but the cleanup necessary if you use the microwave takes a lot longer than that). Combine the dry ingredients, making sure you break up any clumps of brown sugar. Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. Put the mixture on top of the fruit in the pan and distribute it evenly. Put it in the oven for 25 minutes; check it. If the crispy part isn't bubbling, leave it in for five more minutes. There's no need to let it cool down once it's done, and it's flippin amazing with vanilla ice cream!

Note: If you're not feeding more than four people, just cut the recipe in half and use an 8x8 dish. The baking time remains the same. Enjoy!

Yummmm!

Awesome commenter Alex's suggestion: add a handful of frozen berries to the fruit! If you don't thaw them beforehand, make sure you drain the canned fruit very, very well! I am definitely going to give it a shot next time I make this dessert!

Things I Won't Eat

Picky eaters really bother me. I looooove food and it kind of breaks my heart when people are unwilling to try new things. My 14 year-old brother-in-law Danny is the pickiest eater I have ever met, and I give him THE hardest time about it. Eating dinner at the same table as him used to drive me crazy. I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually, but he's missing out on some awesome food in the meantime. Sorry, Danny, but you need to expand your food horizons! Life is too short to hate spaghetti, little bro.

I used to be pretty picky. There was a space of a few years where I wouldn't eat any meat product made out of pigs. I've gotten back into pork products in the last year, and I love bacon and ham, and sausage is pretty good IN things, but I still don't love pork chops. Besides that though, I've rarely met a food that I don't like. That's not to say I will eat anything and everything, but I'm pretty close. There are a few foods, though, that I WILL NOT touch. Ever again.


First and foremost, you've got peanut butter. Why does ANYBODY like that? It's sickly sweet and has a terrible texture. The smell alone makes me feel like throwing up a little. I'm so terrible to Nathan when he eats peanut butter, I won't even kiss the poor guy until the smell dissipates a little bit. Ugh, I'm sure I'm fairly un-American for hating peanut butter, but I think Nutella is a more than appropriate substitute. The funny part is, I really like PEANUTS. But I hate peanut butter. I also like almond butter. It doesn't make sense to me, but peanut butter is so gross, I can't even talk about it any more.

The second food I hate is called "hominy." I have NOOOOOO idea why it's called that, because I loathe it to the point where I won't even look it up on Wikipedia. ~Apparently~ it's good as grits, but I wouldn't know, because the only way I've had it is heated up in a saucepan with butter added. Barf. The texture might be the worst thing on the planet. I would rather eat clay. As I no longer live with my parents (and hopefully will never live with them again), I am happy to say that I don't think I'll ever have to eat that crap again. My eventual children are never going to have to suffer through one second of these horrible mistakes of botanic evolution.

SWEET PICKLES. YECH. I love dill pickles so, so much. They're so delightful and pleasing to my palate, but their awful cousins, the dreaded sweet pickles, make me want to scrape my tongue with sand paper. They're GROSS. They're really really gross. The key to their disgustingness is found in the word "sweet." I like sweet stuff. Rice Krispies Treats are basically all sugar, and I love them. But sweet pickles are ridiculously sweet in the worst possible way. I haven't eaten a sweet pickle or sweet pickle relish in years, but like with peanut butter, the smell makes me nauseous.

Last, but not least...

Pineapple. Oh, where do I even begin with pineapple? I usually like foods that are delightfully yellow. It's a good color for food, but pineapple, not so much. It's not a matter of taste with pineapple as much as the fact that if I were going to eat an entire can of pineapple, I would be throwing up for the next two days. Ladies and gentleman, I am allergic to pineapple. I first found out when I was at camp. Lunch was Hawaiian haystacks with Dole pineapple orange banana juice. I went into anaphylactic shock. I started wheezing, broke out in hives, and had the WORST stomach-ache of my life. It turned out I was really allergic to pineapple and had ingested a TON of it. I didn't know about my allergy before that week, because we rarely had pineapple at home. That was not my best day. My allergy isn't as severe as it used to be, but eating pineapple without taking appropriate measures beforehand still ends in vomiting. Nowadays I do my best to avoid pineapple, but I pop a Benadryl and a couple Tums and deal with it when my aunt's mother makes this awesome peach salad she does for family gatherings. It's worth it for that, and only that. In all other instances, pineapple can just stay the heck away from me.

All other foods are more or less fair game. Before I went to Germany I ate some pretty awful cheese known as Tilsiter (my fellow German students dubbed it "Death Cheese") and wanted to die. But when I was there, I ate it AGAIN and really liked it. My teacher, Elke, was pretty happy, since nobody else was willing to try it for a second time. I really like food. I like it more than I like trashy reality television, which, for those of you who don't know me that well, is A LOT.

Post the foods you hate in the comments (and your thoughts on the foods I hate)!

Black Beans and Rice (plus bonus Tortillas)

Okay. I loooooove the Zatarain's version of Black Beans and Rice. It's great when you add canned chicken to it! I'd never had it from scratch before a few months ago at my in-laws house (and before you have to ask, YES, I hardly ever ate dinner at my own house for the entire time I was dating and engaged to Nathan... sorry Mom). It was a Sunday evening dinner, and we sat down to eat around 4:30. When I heard it was black beans and rice, I was really excited because I was thinking of something like the above picture.

But homemade black beans and rice is sooooo different. I wasn't prepared for the subtle tastiness that ensued, and when I called my mother-in-law for the recipe after the move to Idaho, I was taken aback at the sheer lack of ingredients and the sort of touch-and-go mentality of preparing it. I added a couple things to change it up a bit so she can't sue me for recipe infringement, plus I like throwing cheese into everything.

Black Beans and Rice

1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of black beans, mashed
1 lb ground beef (or whatever)
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp (or so) chopped garlic
1 (or 2) dried bay leaf (or 1 tsp or so if all you have is crushed)
Generous handful of cheese--I use Mexican blend
Red pepper flakes

Simple, right? Well the preparation is equally so. I have a fancy hand blender that I got as a wedding present that I used twice for this meal. I used it to mash up the can of beans, but that can be done just as easily with a fork. I also used the food chopper to chop up the onion, but again, that can be done with a knife and cutting board.
Mash one can of beans and mix it with the other (drained) beans in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook up the ground beef (or sausage) with the onion. When it's done, drain the grease and add it to the beans. Add the garlic, bay leaf, cheese, and red pepper flakes. Heat through. Make sure you taste it. If you think it needs more garlic, red pepper, or maybe some salt, go ahead and add it. Delicious!

[If you think bay leaves are poisonous, please read this. I wasn't sure myself, so I checked it out.]

After exhaustive testing, I've found that this amount of the black beans, proportion-wise, goes best with cooking 1.5 cups of white rice. (1.5 cups rice + 3 cups water)

The simplicity of cooking rice eludes most people (my husband, for one), but you can ALWAYS follow this formula: 1 part rice, 2 parts water. Boil the water, add the rice, cover, reduce to low temperature and simmer for 20 minutes without removing the lid. Fluff with a fork when it's done. Voila!

Once I made the black beans I didn't make rice. However, Nathan made tortillas! The next time we had black beans, I mixed the rice with the black beans and we put them in delicious homemade tortillas! It was fantastic. Nathan usually makes the tortillas, but I gave it a shot this last time and they definitely tasted great, but they weren't as pretty as his.

Definitely try out this great recipe for tortillas, which Nathan got from a YouTube video!

Bonus Tortillas!

3.5 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
7 tbls shortening or vegetable oil
1 cup very hot water

Knead dough for 3 minutes, cover with a clean cloth, let sit for 15 minutes, separate into approximately 1.5 oz. balls, roll dough out until it's flat and round, place on hot pan (medium heat, maybe even less), flip when air bubbles form. Ta daaaa! It should make about 18 tortillas, but we've been averaging about 12 or so. They're really tasty!

The Youtube video, if you'd like to see it done.

Salsa! It's famous!

I mentioned this salsa recipe in my first post. This is the one my piano teacher showed me how to make but I changed several elements to make it more to my taste. For example, hers was REALLY spicy and while I like it when food has a kick to it, I haaaate when food is so absurdly spicy that you can taste nothing but the capsaicin. I also don't like jalapenos. It's not the hot-factor, it's the flavor. Am I weird? Maybe. But the nice thing about this recipe is there's room to change things around to suit your own personal taste, but the basic formula remains the same. I've had a TON of people tell me it's the best salsa they've ever had, so if you won't take my word for it, take theirs, and try this out!

Really really really ridiculously good-tasting salsa
(Nathan named it)

 4 cups chopped and drained Roma tomatoes (or 2 lbs chopped)
1 large white onion, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped (the leaves only! the stems are bitter)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 tsp minced garlic (or 1/4 tsp granulated)
Juice of one lime (protip: cut the lime in half and microwave for 15 seconds to make it easier to squeeze, but don't burn your hand!)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)

Combine the tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. Add tomato sauce until the salsa has reached the desired consistency (your call; I like mine a little runny, but my best friend likes it chunkier). Add the garlic, lime juice, and red pepper flakes. Taste it to make sure it doesn't need anything else. Salt and pepper are optional and rarely necessary. Stir well, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best. Remember, the red pepper flakes get stronger the longer the salsa is kept. Share with friends, this makes a LOT. Great with chips, on tacos or taco salad, or with eggs!


I say it's famous because my friend Kristina, who is pretty well-known on Youtube and in the Harry Potter fandom, is a big fan of my salsa and mentioned it in a video once or twice. I used to bring it to her shows and she would bring the chips and we'd kind of sit around and eat it for a few minutes after the concert was finished... good times. Anyway, her shout-out gave my salsa a bit of street cred.

Kristina's Youtube: italktosnakes

Rebekah, A History

Before I begin food blogging for real, I thought I'd lay bare my culinary background. It's not very impressive, but here goes.