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.