Update: Still Alive and Eating Soup

Okay okay okay. I know. I'm the worst. I haven't posted in a loooooooooong time. To be fair, I have cooked. A little.

Also, I am getting sick. And the only thing worse than a cold is a pre-cold: that miserable, slightly foggy feeling accompanied by a sinking realization that you can do absolutely nothing to stop it. And in my misery, all I really wanted was soup. I had planned to make Moosewood's Light Cream of Celery soup last week so I had the ingredients sitting around. It's actually a pretty simple soup, particularly because I omitted all the optional ingredients. I also didn't really have enough celery for what the recipe needed. But, I don't really even like celery, and my final product was kind of a potato soup with a slight celery taste. It was pretty good, actually! It goes really well with a grilled swiss cheese sandwich. And the exact kind of comforting I needed.

Last week I also made Spinach-Ricotta Pie, but didn't post about it. Because I'm a derp. It was basically like a less yummy Spanakopita. I've also been eating the red pepper puree on baked potatoes and scrambled eggs, which is SO good.

So, I majorly need to do some cooking catch-up. It's a new month coming and I am resolving to do a lot of new Moosewood-ing!

Snow Day!!

            We are under a foot of snow! Classes have been cancelled, the University is almost entirely shut down, the heat is cranked up, and I am still procrastinating. The blizzard has not altered my due dates for class assignments, which means that the paper I am very slowly struggling to write is approaching even faster. Also, all of this time I’m spending cooped up in my apartment means it looks like a total disaster. So of course, I made apple pie.

Super awkward shape for a slice of pie,
but aesthetics were never my strong suit.

            Technically, I made this pie last night, but it is meant to be eaten cold, so I figured it would go along nicely with today’s frozen landscape. This pie is not your traditional American apple pie; it is Apple-Custard pie. It reminds me a bit of a lemon-icebox type dish. Basically, you fill a piecrust with sliced apples and pour a cinnamon, vanilla custard over it. Then when the custard sets, you have an almost layered and totally delicious dessert.

            Since my last piecrust making adventure, I have purchased a rolling pin. It helped SO much!! I also did a better job with adding the water to make the crust more uniform. It wasn’t quite perfect yet though. I still need to roll it out thinner. There were parts of the pie that were uncooked because the crust was really thick. I managed to get it reasonably uniform, but just not quite thin enough. I think Moosewood still has a couple other pie recipes so I can practice.

            But for now, I will just keep eating pie and doing anything possible to motivate myself to finish this paper. I’ve managed to get a few things done so far, but my priorities now need to be on this paper and clean my apartment.

Bam! Pow! Squash! Puree!

My squash cutting skills
need a bit of brushing up...

There’s a blizzard on the way, which means impending doom (not really, but the South is never really prepared for snow). I hit the grocery store early this morning to get the essentials (alcohol) and the final ingredients I needed for stuffed squash and red pepper puree. It’s a good wintery, comfort food, hearty meal that’s perfect to eat while watching the snow come down.

            I picked acorn squash for no particular reason, but it is significantly smaller than butternut, which ups the likelihood that I’d be able to finish it all myself. The stuffing is mostly sautéed vegetables; breadcrumbs give it the substantiality that rice or quinoa normally would. I also melted cheddar cheese into the stuffing, which really held the whole thing together. Weirdly, it included both chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds—I guess to pack the protein? You’re also meant to throw in a couple dried apricots. Surprisingly, the apricots were pretty good with the stuffing, but I was definitely apprehensive at first.

I had some leftover stuffing, since my squash was particularly small, so I snacked on that while it cooked. It was absolute perfection. The squash from the final product only improved upon the whole thing. I’m not actually a big fan of the stringy texture that winter squash tends to have. I love the flavor, but the texture can be kinda off putting. I would rather scrape out the insides of the squash and mix it up with the stuffing. That way I get the taste of the squash, but the stringiness is disguised within the stuffing.

             I topped the squash with Moosewood’s red pepper puree, which is remarkably simple and very flavorful. You’re supposed to steam the pepper chunks and then blend them up. I think I may have added too much water to the pot when steaming, because the peppers turned very orange and the final sauce didn’t really have much of a peppery “kick” to it. It was still good, and complemented the squash very well. But I need some “steaming practice”, for sure.

The Pancake Saga, Part III

For a while last semester, I was on a Thursday night pancakes roll. And by a “roll”, I mean, two weeks. Moosewood does have one more pancakes recipe, and I decided to whip it up tonight as a yummy dinner. Zucchini-Feta Pancakes are a savory and filling meal.

            Unfortunately, the return of pancakes means the return of grating. But the zukes were soft so they were easy to grate, unlike the apples and sweet potatoes. The cheese also made them very gooey and soft. The consistency was more like the Apple Pancakes, but still less of an actual pancake. They didn’t quite hold together or brown all the way through. I’m not sure what made the apple ones so much better; maybe it was the additional flour that the recipe called for? But tonight’s were still really delicious and very easy to make!

Short and sweet blog post today, and no picture. Things are starting to settle more this semester so I hope to be back to my more extensive and committed blogging next week. 

The Super Duper Bowl

My friends and I have a Super Bowl potluck tradition that started our first year of college when we wanted to watch the halftime show. At that time, we all lived in a dorm and had zero access to a kitchen, so we used a combo of innovative dorm room cooking and take out boxes from the dining hall. My contribution to the potluck was a layered bean dip made from canned refried beans, cheese, and salsa. It was a surprisingly big hit, so I’ve continued to make it each year since. This year, I decided to make Moosewood’s bean dip and salsa for my dish.

            

The bean dip is essentially canned pinto beans with some spices, garlic, and tomato all blended together. It’s very easy to make, but unfortunately didn’t really make as much as I was hoping it would. Another can of beans would’ve made plenty, but I was in a time crunch. It was fine though, just a little less food than I was expecting. Similarly, the salsa was quite simple and very fresh. It was a fun time with friends and delicious food!