brought a thing of leftover roasted garlic (a head of garlic roasted whole until the cloves are soft and mashable) which was mixed into salted butter with some cayenne pepper. also had end pieces of bread.
toasted the bread in the toaster at work, and made myself make-shift garlic bread.
I had brought some cooked orzo to the office, and thought I’d do something similar to what I had done for OC#2. I added pesto, shallot, and frozen corn, as well as a tomato (that I was somehow able to dice up in a bowl).
unfortunately, I forgot about all the added water from the frozen corn and tomato. next time, I should warm them up first and then drain the extra water. otherwise … pretty good.
I scrambled this morning to figure out what to do for lunch. I knew that I had some couscous leftover at work, but it wasn’t enough for a full meal. I did, however, have some pastina that I figured could work just like couscous. I also eyed the frozen veg when I tried to find a frozen meal in the freezer (apparently I have none left), and found a jar of cilantro pesto that I had made.
at work, I combined the couscous and pastina, added hot water, microwaved it for 1.5 minutes, and let it stand. I realized I also had shallot in the fridge, and added that along with the thawed corn and pesto and warmed it up again. added a bit more S+P, and I am now one happy camper.
(just trying to add a little activity to this blog)
found a ziploc bag full of cooked mussels with broth in the take-home fridge. odd, but … awesome.
took the leftover broth, warmed it up, and then threw in some couscous that I keep on my cubicle’s shelf.
I’d like to think that my idea was genius.
and I’m talking about kitchen toys, here. lots of things I don’t need. lots of things I bought because of some dish I wanted to make, but never got around to doing. or things that I’ve indeed used, but not nearly as much as I would like.
things like:
And to think that I want to get two more coffee toys! (an Aeropress, and a vacuum pot/siphon …)
hope all you kiddos had a good holiday season! mine has been a bit tough for various reasons, but also quite amazing because of all the wonderful people with whom I’m surrounded. i’m super grateful for the genuine and caring people at my day job, i feel completely at ease (with my quirkiness) with the people at my side gig, there are so many wonderful women i get to call both old friends and new, and i get to have my brother and my sister-in-law around for Christmas before they move back to the west coast next month.
so as i just mentioned, i spent Christmas at my brother and sister-in-law’s place. i spent most of the day helping them pack, so thankfully i had time the day before to prepare a dessert as my contribution to our Christmas dinner with a few friends.
the cake i decided on is the Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake from CooksIllustrated.com because that photo is just soooo so so enticing. (that, and the Maple Walnut Cake from the sister-site CooksCountry.com requires maple extract, which was relatively hard to find.) even better, it’s perfect for making ahead of time since you can keep it in the fridge, and it needs to sit in room temperature before serving for 45min (which can be done while you’re eating the main meal … or digesting from the main meal).
a few things about this recipe:
and so … my write up of the recipe:
and the end result:
yes, that’s the floss I used to cut the cake. believe me, it works much better than a knife!
it’s a gorgeous cake, but not without effort …. if you attempt this, good luck!
I’ve been waiting a while to make this.
I’ve eaten it only once before, really, so I’m not the best person to ask for an opinion on “the best Cincinnati chili recipe/restaurant.” all I know is that I had it once at a place called Real Chili in Milwaukee, WI, and I’ve been having cravings like mad ever since.
the recipe I decided to go with is from Saveur, which is one of my favorite food magazines. take note that all of the recipes I found featured the use of cocoa powder, cinnamon, allspice and/or cloves, which is characteristic of Cincinnati chili. I know it sounds like an odd combination of spices for a savory dish, but they give the sauce a distinctive and welcomed dimension in flavor as well as a nice dark rich color. don’t bust it ’til you’ve tried it. (and then you’ll understand why I had cravings!)
I laid out everything (but the beef) before I left for a week back home in California so that I could get cooking more quickly when I got back … eager beaver, I was.
now, I didn’t have everything listed on the index card (namely, oregano), but I was too eager to wait when I got back home, so … onward I went!
cheddar-wise, I had only some dairy free cheddar sitting in the freezer. I had heard about daiya somewhere online, and grabbed some in case I had lactose-intolerant guests.
(the verdict, though? I didn’t like it. felt grainy, and it did not taste like cheddar.)
I also cracked the spaghetti in half, since I saw the guys doing it back in Real Chili. it’s so much easier to cook in a small pot (especially since I was cooking for just myself), and MUCH easier to eat than if left full-length!
this is the final dish … Cincinnatti chili 4-ways: half-cracked spaghetti topped with chili sauce, fake cheddar, and chopped onion. (I LOVE raw onion.) 5-ways would have beans on top, but I didn’t feel like it.
I could do without the daiya fake cheese, but the rest of it? it tamed the craving. for the moment.
these baby artichokes were on the verge of going bad, so I gave them a quick roast.
drizzled simply with oil, salt, and pepper.
then I thought … why not cayenne pepper? when in doubt, make it spicy. (or at least try to. it didn’t have as much kick as I’d like.)
outer leaves were still tough, but I bit those [artichoke] hearts out! puahaha.
okay, my attempt to put on a spin on “eat your heart out” didn’t really work …
what in the world is “posset”, you ask?
I know what you’re thinking, it sounds funny. it’s like smooshing the words “possum” and “faucet” together, but if only they were as tasty.
I had to do a little research myself to figure out what posset is. apparently it’s like custard in that it’s cooked milk or cream and has similar textures. however, posset is egg-less, so rather than being thickened with egg, it’s thickened due to curdling from added wine, ale or … lemon!
similar to the previous post on the “Five Minute Ice Cream” recipe, I came across this recipe on AllRecipes.com while searching for desserts using heavy cream, but excluding egg.
so a warning if any of you want to try this … it’s rich. it’s STRONG tasting. that, or maybe I used too much lemon juice.
this is how much I ate of mine:
my cousin, however, gobbled his portion down in seconds, no problem. I think I’ll take that as a compliment.
one of the best parts of working for a company devoted to food is getting access to a bunch of leftover groceries. for the most part, they’re high-quality ingredients, too, and that makes the “fridge diving” experience even more enjoyable.
this week, a bunch of heavy cream was being given away.
uhm, CREAM??? I’d totally jump on that **** any day.
so needless to say, I stocked up. I was craving ice cream, so ice cream here I come …
now, I’m also challenging myself to use up the random groceries in my freezer and pantry without making a single trip to the grocery store. this means I have no more eggs. but I wanted ice cream, and I’m a stickler for egg-custard-based ice cream. but I have no eggs. “oh well,” I told myself. “make do.”
this is where allrecipes.com steps in to save the day. I LOVE love love their ingredient search tool, mostly because you can exclude specific ingredients. by including heavy cream, excluding eggs, and searching for dessert recipes, I came across a very very simple recipe called “Five Minute Ice Cream.”
perfect.
it’s simple: you just blend together 3 ingredients, all of which I now have on hand. frozen berries, sugar, and heavy cream. no need to simmer on the stove, no need to pull out the ice cream maker. just blend and chill. I guess it’s basically considered an “icebox ice cream.”
all in all, it makes for a very simple index card recipe:
keep in mind this makes basically two servings, and I did cut down on the sugar (it was originally 1/2 C). also, use an immersion blender if you have it. I blended mine in the cup that came with my immersion blender, and put the whole thing straight into the freezer.
mmm. craving = conquered.
think I’m going to make this again … I still have another 2/3 C of heavy cream left, plus a bunch of cut up mango in the freezer!
though, there’s also that lemon posset recipe I could try …
indexcardrecipes 