Goodbye 2013...

            Here I am, back at my apartment and ringing in the New Year by cooking up some chili and cornbread and marathoning Netflix! I also discovered my resolutions list from last year and figured I should make some for the upcoming year.

            Surprisingly, I did pretty well with my goals for 2013. Some, like “consistently running an 8 minute mile” were a complete failure. Others, like “read 5 books for pleasure” I vastly over exceeded. I vowed to continue eating a vegetarian diet—check. I said I would pass the GRE—also check. I resolved to get hired for my current job—another obvious check.

            For 2014 I want to continue eating vegetarian, which should be pretty easy since I’ll be cooking from Moosewood for most of the year. Which brings me to resolution number two, which is to finish this project. One of my past resolutions was to be more money conscious and stick to a budget. This is something I definitely want to continue; because budgeting is something I’m still struggling with. I never overspend or struggle to get by. But I tend to blow my paycheck on clothes or items that I throw or give away in just a few months. I need to be a more deliberate and careful spender. Other resolutions would be to successfully graduate from college, find a summer job, get my teacher’s license, watch more documentaries, and read 10 new books.

            The chili and cornbread were absolutely delicious and very filling. Moosewood has you use kidney beans, but since it’s New Year’s Eve, I used black-eyed peas too. It’s a Southern tradition to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s to ensure you’ll have a good year and good luck. Usually you eat them in a stew called Hoppin’ John, but that includes ham. Unfortunately, Moosewood has zero recipes with black-eyed peas, so I improvised. In addition to the beans and peas, the chili is packed with protein from bulgur, which is a wheat whole grain that you can use like quinoa or couscous. But it’s particularly good for vegetarian chili because it has a similar to consistency to ground beef. Usually I’m not a fan of meat substitutes, but bulgur is more like a texture match rather than a flavor match. Also, a little goes a long way.

            The cornbread was basically the same recipe as I made all the way back on Day 1, except without cheese. Technically you’re not meant to add frozen corn, but I had some leftover and I liked it so much the last time. It was just as fluffy and sweet as before, and so perfectly paired with chili.

            2013 has been good to me and I’m looking forward to next year being just as fantastic! Happy New Year!

Goin' Greek and the Less than Triumphant Return of Pound Cake

Yum! 

            Tonight’s my last night at home as I will return to school tomorrow to work some extra shifts before the semester starts. Using the extra filo dough from Christmas, I decided to make the dish Spanakopita, which is basically a Greek spinach and cheese pie. I paired it with a fruit salad, using Moosewood’s guidelines, and my sister made a white bean salad. Additionally, I was meant to make some bread since I now know how to use our bread machine, but I forgot. 

            The spanakopita was completely delicious. The filo gets crispy and flakey, while the spinach and cheese get all melted and gooey. The spinach is wilted with onions, herbs, and garlic, and then you mix in feta and cottage cheese (that's 2/11!). Using olive oil, you layer the filo dough sheets and spread out the spinach mixture in the middle. Filo dough, also spelled fillo or phyllo, is paper thin and extremely fragile. It’s used in all kinds of strudels to create a delicate crust.

            For the fruit salad, I followed the recommendations under a special heading called “Dead-of-winter fruit salad”. It was less of a fruit salad and more of a mixed fruit bowl because all I used were apples, pineapple, and strawberries. I thought we had bananas at home, but apparently not. Moosewood’s fruit salad “recipe” is basically a list of instructions on how to cut up various types of fruits. So I didn’t really have to use most of it.

I didn't want to use (clean) the
coffee machine so I invented a new system.
Yes, that is a sink strainer...

            The pound cake was a bit of a fail. I decided to make the mocha-swirl variation because it looked the most delicious. Yet again I made the mistake of overfilling the pan, which led to burned edges and an undercooked center. I thought I had left it in long enough for the middle to be mostly set, but that was not the case. My sisters and I were able to eat about 2.5 slices off the end, but then middle poured out in a fountain of lava-like batter. But those two and a half slices were really good. The whole cake is coffee flavored, but there were swirls of chocolate all around. It was absolutely delectable. But the moral of the story is to just buy a bigger cake pan instead of cramming all the batter possible into one tiny tin. 

             It's now been about 2 months of this project and I'm still slightly behind schedule. The first two weeks of January will probably be pretty busy cooking days because none of the dining halls will be open and I won't have anything else to do. But once the semester gets going, it may take me a few days to get into the swing of my new schedule. I think I should be able to catch up, though.

Merry Christmas!

I know I said yesterday that I wasn't cooking anything for Christmas. That was a lie. I did not make a Moosewood recipe, but I did help out with our dinner. Mom and I made an egg and cheese soufflé from Moosewood's follow-up book, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Additionally, I got my first exposure to filo dough which will be featured on the blog again soon.

We also made a delicious trifle for dessert. Mom got this beautiful dish as a gift in the morning and we scrounged up some fillings. A quick trip to CVS allowed us to buy instant vanilla pudding, but sadly not whipped cream. Still very yummy though.

So, just a quick little holiday post for tonight. I hope you had a happy holiday and that 2013 ends wonderfully for you!

All photo credit goes to Mom

Minestrone: A Story of Redemption

            A few years ago, when I was probably 13 or so, a weird set of circumstances led me to be put in charge of supervising Christmas Eve dinner. The rest of the family was out of the house, attending church, and I was coming back from a volunteering event too late to make the service. So I was tasked with watching over the minestrone that was simmering on the stove. I was probably supposed to do other things as well, but I don’t remember. Watching the soup was the most important because my Mom was nervous the house might burn down. Usually when parents tell their children not to burn down the house they’re being facetious. And I want to make it perfectly clear before you continue reading that I in no way burned down the house. Note that the previous sentence doesn’t say that I in no way burned anything. Yes, I burned the soup.

Pasta purists...get out. 

            It takes a very special kind of person to even have the ability to burn soup. To be fair, minestrone is more on the stew edge of the spectrum than straight up soup. It’s got lots of chunky bits and even some pasta. The base is made from tomato puree and water, so it’s kind of like tomato soup 2.0. But still, it’s soup, and I burned it, effectively ruining Christmas Eve dinner.

I don’t remember exactly what happened. Mom had written me what I’m sure was a very clear and slightly condescending Post-It note of instructions. I think I was supposed to leave the pot simmering and then at some point turn up the heat and maybe add something or stir it. I honestly have no idea. After the family returned, I do have vivid memories of standing over the stove as my Mom stirred up blackened chunks from the bottom of a deep pot and looked at me with rage and a vague glimmer of astonishment (as I said, it takes a very special person…) And of course, I remember crying and apologizing to everyone a lot. I know that we were having soup and sandwiches for dinner. I had not managed to ruin the sandwiches, so I guess we just ate those. I think I made Mom clean up the charred mess, but she might’ve banished me from the kitchen at that point.

Pretty much ever since then, whenever I talk about cooking, someone in the family brings up this incident. Mom still tells people that I can burn water. It’s not really that upsetting. Let’s be honest, I completely deserve it. And as a positive, I do always win the “Kitchen Horror Stories Game” at parties. I’m not that surprised by people’s hesitations when I tell them I have a cooking blog. But hey, it’s a learning process. And now I know that it is possible to burn soup and people get mad at you when you do it.

So this Christmas Eve, I am determined to stop being “Miranda, Soup Burner” to “Miranda, Soup Guru” (admittedly, still a terrible super hero name. Maybe she can be a “soup”-er hero, hahahahhahahahaahaha, I'll stop). I volunteered to make minestrone to complement my Mom’s tamale casserole, a recipe of her own invention that involves all of the normal tamale ingredients but without the incredibly tedious process of wrapping it all in cornhusks. We also whipped up some grilled cheese sandwiches because no dinner is complete without those. And this soup was not burned! It did get really hot from the Dutch oven, and possibly would’ve burned if we hadn’t taken it off the stove exactly when we did. But it was un-charred and absolutely delicious.

My Christmas present to myself is not to cook anything! Happy Holidays! 

Take a Wok

Soundtrack for this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YKcGGO2Ljc

            Back home for Winter Break and the cooking continues! Tonight I made my family Stir Fry with two different sauces. I was particularly excited to use my Mom’s wok since I don’t own one and they make you feel incredibly legit. I also could’ve been excited about using a rice-cooker but since I don’t actually know how ours works, Mom did it for me.

Yum! 

            Moosewood doesn’t so much have a stir-fry recipe as it has a list of suggestions and guidelines. I made mine with broccoli, carrots, bell pepper, onion, and bean sprouts. Moosewood recommended additionally using any combo of cauliflower, cabbage, mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach. I would recommend using more vegetables than you'd initially think you'll need because once you add the sauce you want as much surface area as possible. I didn’t quite achieve this, so the overall dish was a bit overly saucy.

I'm really getting a lot of use from
these nerdy Gordon Ramsay memes...

            Speaking of sauciness, I made Moosewood’s Basic Stir Fry Sauce—which gets poured right onto the veggies while they’re still in the wok—and Orange Ginger Sauce, which you could put on the side. You’re supposed to put ¼ cup of soy sauce into these sauces (each). As I quickly learned, this was way too much. Both were rather salty and overpowering. It wasn’t bad; I think a lighter version of both would’ve been pretty good. But both just were too much and took away from the vegetables. Also freaking grated ginger is the worst and the smell will never ever go away. So I think I definitely need a bit more practice with Stir Fry, especially with sauce ratios.

            More recipes coming up soon as I continue to force my family to eat my food as a sign of support!

Holy Ricotta Cheesecake, Batman!

            Yes, you read that correctly: ricotta cheesecake AKA Italian cheesecake AKA authentic (old timey) cheesecake. This fluffy, thick cake doesn’t even have a crust to infringe upon the filling. It’s pretty intense. In addition, I topped it with Moosewood’s super simple berry sauce for maximum deliciousness. The whole dessert was for a Christmas potluck; so again the pressure was on to bring it and bring it good.

Looks appetizing, doesn't it? 

            In addition to a humongous pile of ricotta cheese (see left), the cake includes grated lemon rind, lemon juice, almond extract (which smells horrendous but apparently tastes wonderful), vanilla extract, and all your normal cake stuff like sugar, eggs, and flour. The lemon juice and zest makes the whole concoction smell amazeballs and the heavenly scent spreads through your whole apartment. It’s perfection.

The recipe calls for 2 lbs. of ricotta cheese or two 15oz containers. I found the 15oz containers in Kroger but then saw a double size one, which I bought. But then when I got back to the apartment, I noticed it said 1 lb. But it also said 30oz. So I have no idea if it was the correct amount or not, but it seemed fine when I was mixing it all together. I think two of those containers would be an all too ridiculous pile of cheese.

            When mixing everything together, you can toss it all in a blender or use a hand mixer (which I did). Since there are really only 2 steps—mix and bake—this is a hard recipe to screw up. And it yields fantastic results.

            The hardest part of making the berry sauce was waiting for the berries to defrost. I bought a bag of mixed berries (blue-, rasp-, and black-) from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago because I thought I was going to use them for something else. I was a little worried about freezer burn since it’s been awhile, but the bag was never opened I figured it’d be okay. But you do have to let them defrost for a bit first. Then it’s just a quick blenderization of the berries, some sugar, and lemon juice. You also have to strain the sauce to get rid of the seeds, which is a cluster and a half. I don’t have a sieve that’s narrow enough so I decided to use a piece of cheesecloth over a colander. This failed epically, so I decided to blenderize the sauce as much as possible and forgo straining. It was a little seedy but still good and perfectly paired with the cheesecake.

            Now, I should say that calling these cheesecake is a bit of a lie. It does not taste like cheesecake. It’s less creamy than typical cheesecake and is fluffier and almost echoes angel food cake in taste. I still think it’s good, but a few people were kind of put off by it. So make sure you warn your tasters that this is not your average cheesecake. Also, don’t pull a me and forget to warn people with nut allergies about the almond extract!

"Stressed" spelled backwards is "Desserts"!

I am now done with finals! WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! However, I still have to take one more licensure exam for teaching on Monday, so I’m not completely done with test taking. But my finals for all my classes are behind me and the fall semester is over.

            People always want to know how my semester is going and if it was a good semester. I think this is such a hard question to answer and I usually flounder, saying, “Oh yeah it’s been good, but I’m glad it’s over.” Which is true. None of the seven semesters that I’ve had in college so far have been particularly terrible or impossible. I’ve had some rough and stressful weeks in the middle of semesters, for sure, but no entire semester that was complete misery. Or complete joy. And I typically am always glad they’re over. As much as you may adore one class, finals makes you hate life just enough to be ready to get all classes out of your life forever.

            So how was my semester? Here’s a little review:

·      I took fewer credits than I usually do, which meant less time in class and less time doing homework.

·      Of the classes I took, I detested 2, loved 2, and the 2 others were decent, but frustrating.

·      I had an absolutely fantastic teaching field experience in a classroom for students with autism.

·      I worked two part-time jobs, which ate up a significant amount of my time not spent in class and doing homework.

·      I only have one grade that’s been turned in so far, but my current GPA is a 4.0

You know your cooking blog is
taking over your life when…

To celebrate this semester, I decided to go shopping this afternoon and wandered into Bed, Bath, and Beyond and immediately hit up the kitchen section. In addition to buying some toys that I’ve been eyeing, I purchased some cute little custard cups so that I could make Moosewood’s Bittersweet Chocolate Baked Custard. The book’s subtitle for this recipe is “easy super-comfort food”. Sounds like a great way to end the semester to me.

            Custard is pretty simple, only 5 ingredients, and easy to customize. In addition to the chocolate kind, Moosewood has recipes for Maple and Maple-Peach. I already had chocolate chips, so that’s the one I went with. I also very luckily had the exact right amount of milk and eggs left (technically the recipe calls for four and my fourth egg broke in the carton, so I was only able to use three). You’re also supposed to make six cups of custard, but the set I bought was only four. I just filled them super full.

Post-baking water bath

            You bake custards in their own little cups, but you also place each cup in a larger baking pan, which is filled halfway full with water. Apparently this is called a “water bath” and is necessary because they are so delicate. The water acts as an insulator to help the custards maintain a fluffy and not rubbery texture. They take a very long time to bake, but again this is the water bath, which slows the process. The slow cook time is actually the exact correct amount of time needed to fill your apartment up with the most heavenly chocolate smell.

Perfectly baked
custardy goodness! 

            You’re meant to bake the custards until the centers are set. It’s kind of hard to check on this; Moosewood says they shouldn’t jiggle when you shake them. But I don’t really know how you’re supposed to shake them when they’re fresh out of a 350-degree oven. I kind of shimmied the pan and decided they were set enough. I let them cool a bit and then dug in! They were absolute chocolaty bliss!