Zucchini and Rosemary Fritatta

So what I should have known going into this: frittatas are more like open-faced omelettes. The difference? In a frittata, the extra ingredients are mixed with the egg while the eggs are still raw, it is typically partially baked or flipped, it is cooked over very low heat, and it is served in slices, not whole. Voila!

According to what I just learned, I shouldn't have used such high temperatures when cooking this on the stove. o.O That may have solved the transfer problem.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups zucchini
4 eggs
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 cup mozzarella

Making the dish:
Heat oil  in a skillet over medium-high heat. Make sure the oil isn't to hot! I put in the garlic and it immediately burnt! >.<; Cook the garlic for about a minute and then add the zucchini. Stirring constantly, cook for 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Whisk eggs, whites, rosemary, salt, and pepper together. Pour this over the zucchini and "cook for 3 minutes". After this, you are supposed to sprinkle cheese on the top and then broil for 3 minutes. However, I'm uncertain when you switch from the skillet to a dish you can bake in. I tried to cook for three minutes in the skillet, stirring so that it would fit to the shape of the dish. But then I realized that I was just making scrambled eggs, so I poured it all into a square glass dish. I set that on the burner for a minute, then gave up and put the cheese on and put it in the oven.

How did it turn out?
Well, it tasted good. I might add a little spinach next time. The recipe called for fresh rosemary, which I didn't have so I used dry stuff. Using fresh may change the outcome. Also, the cheese called for was "Parmigiano Reggiano," which is supposed to mean parmesan. I don't like that as much though, and I think the mozzarella worked just fine. :)

Zucchini is rich in potassium, manganese, and vitamin c. It also has a decent amount of vitamin k, vitamin b-6, riboflavin (which is vitamin b-2), and folate.
Eggs are rich in vitamins b-2 and b-12, phosphorous, protein, and selenium.

Baked Catfish

I've discovered a trend. If I'm upset or stressed out, I either eat horribly, grabbing whatever's fastest and perhaps even skipping meals, or I go over board and make mealtimes much more complicated. Guess which avenue causes me to create things that I can post on here....

So today's question: How do you cook catfish? Secondary question: Can I cook decent catfish without going to the store again for ingredients?

Discovery: I like catfish! It's kind of sweet.

So, I decided to go for the baked Catfish recipe since it seemed easiest out of the options I found. I also had all the ingredients on hand! Well, kind of. There was an altering of spices.

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
Catfish fillet

Making the dish:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Since I didn't have one, I used a 9x13 pan. Though I still lined and greased it. Stir together the cornmeal with the spices and the milk with the egg. I cut my fillet into 4ths. Dip the catfish in the milk/egg mixture and then coat liberally with the cornmeal mixture. Place them onto the sheet and make sure to spray the top with Pam or somesuch. Apparently that helps with the crispiness. Then put it all in the oven for 15 minutes about. Make sure towards the end of the time to put your oven on broil or flip over the fillets so both sides get a chance to crispify. I forgot, so i flipped them over and added 4 minutes to the time.

How did it turn out?
I would definitely make it again. Like I said before, it was an almost sweet taste. I ate it plain, and I can see how adding some sort of sauce over rice would be really good. I also put the cold leftovers in a spinach salad. That was really good except for the breading all ended up soggy at the bottom. I passed over a recipe for a chowder, and now that I can imagine the taste of catfish, I'm looking forward to trying it sometime.

Catfish is a very good source of Niacin, Vitamin B-12, and Protein.

Pork Spare Ribs

So I've been on and off craving ribs. And, after a hard day's work raking ALL the leaves off the museum lawn, I decided that ribs were going to happen. I found a recipe and then went off to buy ribs and the other ingredients.
Harder said then done. After a could phone calls to my mother (and translated through my brother because she was driving) I ended up with some pork spare ribs and a bag of red potatoes......

The first direction was to preheat to 300 degrees. Good, got that done. The second was "peel off tough membrane on bony side of ribs". Excuse me? I tried this SO MANY ways before remembering that my mom's ribs always still have it on. Friggin membrane raw meat time killer. :P And all the reviews were like "oh do it this way! It's SO easy" Bullshit! Thing is a BEAST.
Anyways.
Cooking.

After skipping that non-crucial step, I mixed together the rub (3/4 cup light brown sugar, 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt). And it you splash out of the bowl because you mixed too enthusiastically, I don't suggest eating the escapees. It's....odd. Spread rub all over ribs. Both sides.

Then I made a little packet out of foil (using it all up! oops!) around the ribs and stuck 'em in the oven for 2 hours.

When I took it out to apply the BBQ sauce, I learned something. The rest of my house uses the same BBQ sauce and there was very little left! So, we had to run to the store. After acquiring such a crucial ingredient, I bumped the temp up to 350, opened up the packet, dumped out the liquid, slathered it in sauce, and then stuck it back in for 30 mins.

Now, apparently you can grill the sauce on in 1-2 minutes, or broil it on a broiling pan, but this seemed to work well. Unlike with those, I'm unsure whether you BBQ both sides and cook it on, but I did not. And it tasted delicious. And was very tender and eatable. We even sat at the table to do so! The potatoes were boiled and buttered as a delicious side. :)

Vodka Drink II

So it all started with roommate number one bringing home a pomegranate to make juice out of. She had some weird technique that didn't really turn out and it was pretty watery. We didn't want to waste the juice, however, so we decided to try and save it. Who knew such a decision against waste would lead us on an epic messy juice-making adventure?

I had a bag of oranges that I've been wanting to make juice out of. Alas, they were moldy and we could only rescue three of them. Still watery.

So, we added an apple. (side note: apples are pretty big and hard on blender blades. Oh, did I not mention? We were using the "smoothie" setting on her blender and then running the result through a strainer.) Still watery.

We added some yogurt (mixed berry), honey, and tried to add some carrots.......but, we think they just got chopped to tiny pieces, so we switched to the juicer. With that addition, we proclaimed it juice! 

Next came the vodka. I think there is something like 250ml in the pitcher, which is about four full cups. It wasn't bad. after putting it in the freezer to make slushie out of, we realized we could have used the plums and some lemon! Ah wells. Next time.....

Garbage Soup

So I'm living in four different places right now waiting until I can move into my own place (Wednesday!! YAY!). This means I have a very odd assortment of foods at my disposal. So, today when I was craving soup, I knew it would be an interesting affair. What I really want is what google search tells me is sometimes called "Poor Irish Soup" with ham and cabbage and potatoes. This is what I ended up making:

I started with a base of Campbell's Vegetable Soup, which is disgusting, so I'll never eat it.
I added some scraps of cabbage and bemoaned how horrible it tasted.
I had...maybe a cup and a half of old rice I'd made with chicken bouillon that was too old to eat alone, so I dumped that in.
Then about a finger's breadth of extra tomato sauce to help with the base taste, as well as some garlic powder, basil, paprika, and oregano.
Then I brought it to a boil, covered it with a plate (I don't own lids. >.<) and simmered it.

The result? It's edible. I wish I had some sour cream to mix in there. It's a bit tomato-y but I took a can of soup I'd never eat and made it edible so....I guess I can't complain too much. :) I'll try some cheese on top and quit whining. I'm lucky I was able to make soup.

Mac and cheese would have been a good addition as well.

Update: I mixed in some "Mexican Blend" shredded cheese and it's now delicious! :)

Baked Salmon Fillet

What happens when I'm way too busy? I don't do anything, go to the store, and make delicious food! Luckily, this salmon was easy to make and didn't take long to cook, so I didn't waste too much time. The meat counter was closed, so the leftovers were on sale! (Yay cheaper and nutritious, delicious fish!) I bought this half pound fillet and some shrimp I hope to use tomorrow. 

First, I rinsed off the salmon. Why? Because the recipe told me so. However, the Internet tells me that this is a practice bourne more out of habit than from any real need. Apparently, rinsing doesn't actually get rid of bad surface bacteria, it just makes you feel better about it. Proper cooking, however, does get rid of it. And washing may splatter this bacteria around your kitchen sink, so it has been advised against.

After succumbing to a tradition I knew nothing about, I placed the fillet in a 9x13 pan. The recipe I was following was for a whole pound of fish, but the half pound cooked just fine. I just wanted to use the glass pan.

I "brushed" (read--rubbed around with my fingers) the fillet with some mayonnaise and squeeze-tube dill paste, and then sprinkled it with garlic salt and black pepper. Before going into the oven, I topped it with two thin slices of butter and some fresh lemon squeezings.

It cooked for about 10-12 minutes, uncovered at 400 degrees F.

It was pretty delicious! The original recipe called for onion powder, and I wonder if it wouldn't be even better if I first sauteed onions and garlic in the butter and put them on top..... 

Tubular Soup

So, I was just going to make potato soup. But I still had two sweet potatoes left over and a bunch of parsnips in the fridge! Since I've been gone for the past week, I plumb forgot about them, but they're aging fast. So, I sauteed half an onion and 2.5 cloves of garlic in bacon grease (I'm almost out!). Then, in went a big sweet potato and a large one, two parsnips, and 3 russet potatoes. The boiled for about 10 minutes before I added a cup of milk with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed in. After adding 4 cubes of chicken and beef bouillon, some parsley, and paprika, I warmed it for another 10 minutes.

It tastes good with the sweetness of the crescent rolls I stole from my mommy.....perhaps I should add some brown sugar to capitalize on that? I'm not brave enough, but maybe next time.

Meat and veggies

So this was an easy way to fix up some meat. Jeff likes those Hormel/Tyson meat dish meals. Well, all they are is meat. So, I decided to make it a little healthier by slicing some carrots and dicing a yam into it. I just slice/dice them into a bowl, add a splash of water in the bottom, cover it with some kind of lid (usually tuppaware in my case) and throw them in the microwave for a while. Then, cook the meat like normal, add in the veggies, and it's a meal!

I was going to also add some potatoes, but I didn't want to be too obvious/overwhelming in my vegetable-adding.

Garlic Potatoes Gratin

It's been quite a  while since I made these, but I will endeavor to remember what I did. Here, however, is the recipe:

The recipe called for 3 lbs of red potatoes, 6oz Gouda,shredded, 3 tbsp butter, 5 cloves garlic, 1.5 c heavy cream, 1 tsp salt, and a 1/2 tsp pepper.

Again, I didn't have any cream. I also decided that russet potatoes were cheaper and could work just fine. I don't know how many I used and had no idea how many 3 lbs were, so I just put them into my 9x13 pan until it looked like enough. I peeled and sliced them thin (remember "gratin" = "scrapings"). I shredded.....6 oz of mozzarella? or was it monterey jack? a little of both? I shredded cheese.

I layered the pan--1/2 of the potatoes, 1/2 of the cheese, then the rest of the potatoes.
Then I sauteed the garlic and half an onion in the butter, adding flour to create a roux with 1/5 c of milk. (added salt and pepper)
I poured this over the potatoes and added the rest of the cheese.

Baked for 75 minutes at 325 degrees. For the first 30-40 minutes, cover with foil.

These were delicious, but I shouldn't have made so many. I got sick of them. Jeff really loved them, though.

Elderberry Syrup

This is a lot more delicious than the picture looks....

This was fun to make and even medicinal! (To take when it is cold and flu season.)

We made it from already cooked and strained berries, but I got a piece of paper with all the steps that I'll convey here:

*Use 1 cup of dried berries and add 2 cups of boiling water. Let it sit overnight.
*In the morning, pour the softened berries into a blender and blend.
*Pour the berry mixture through a fine sieve and press through, or put in a pressing bag and press out in a tincture press.
*(2 cups juice) Simmer juice on the back burner until it reaches half volume (1 cup). It'll take at least an hour, maybe 2. Stir occasionally. (If fresh berries are used, this step could take all day)
*Stir in 1 cup of glycerin or honey (we used honey!) to make the V 2 cups again.
* Filter through 4 layers of cheese cloth, and squeeze out the cheese cloth.
* All done! But in a jar or bottle. The honey-based syrup should go in the fridge.

The dose is 1 tablespoon taken 2 or 3 times daily. :)

Macaroni

So I've been horrible about keeping up with everything, including what little cooking I have done and this blog. >.<; So here's an attempt to remember what the heck I cooked and how....

I was headed home from work and I talked myself into craving some deliciously processed Kraft macaroni and cheese.....then got home to find out--that I had none. This discovery sent me into a deep spiral of despair until I realized that I had bought all that cheese....and I actually had good milk in the house! And off I went to make some good ol' macaroni and cheese.

First change--it called for a lot of cheeses that I didn't have. So, I just used what I did--the rest of the cheddar block and half of a.....the speckled one.....jack? Monterey jack! half a block of that.

I started off by sauteing some onion and garlic in a decent amount of garlic. I then added around a 1/4 cup of flour to make a roux (since I had no cream) and added in 1/2 cup of milk.  The rest of the wet ingredients went into the pan because it's my biggest container. >.<; (1/2ish cup of cottage cheese stand-in for ricotta, a small tub of sour cream, and random seasonings). I grated......probably 3 cups total cheese. Some over half of it was mixed in with the wet (Oh! And to noodles, too!). And then it all went into a 9x13 cooking pan, topped with the rest of the cheese and crumbled ritz.
Baked in the oven at 350 for 30 mins.

I don't remember much about the cooking of this. I used penne noodles, which was amazing because the cheese melted into them. Then, when I got sick of this dish and made the rest into garbage vegetarian lasagna soup, the cheese inside was an awesome flavor/texture thing!

Chai

So what happens when I get a craving that I don't fulfill? I crave it more later when it's harder to get! So, I end up learning to make chai. Which, actually means "tea." So, I should technically call it "masala chai," spiced tea.
Then I find out I don't have the ingredients. But, that craving. So I decide I don't care and cobble together something that, in the end, tastes close enough to what I wanted to be delicious!

I brewed three tea bags (One I tore open and added cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to before re fastening it shut) in 3.5 cups of water. After 5 mins, I added it to 1.5 cups of milk, 1/8 cup of brown sugar, and roughly a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

I also found out that using boiling water releases the bitter part of the tea leaves more, so you should bring the water to boiling and bring it down to a simmer or below before adding the tea to steep.
One other thing--leaving it in longer also releases more of the bitter, so for stronger tea, add more tea leaves instead of using hotter water or steeping it too long.

Bok Choy Dish

I don't remember how I made this. It's been over a month now since I'm writing this. However, I wanted to make a note that it was delicious! A great way to eat dark greens and a bunch of veggies.

The basics I remember were to cut apart the stems and leaves because the stems take longer to cook. Then cut everything up. There was some sauteing of garlic and then simmering in chicken broth. I added an egg in at the very last. Wonderful dish!

....if only I could remember how I made it. Oh wells, I guess I'll have to buy more and figure it out! :D

Biscuits and Gravy

The best start to a day that's greatest goal is to not get dressed? Make a nummy breakfast! 

I figured that if we went out to eat, I'd get biscuits and gravy. I remembered I had some Italian sausage and I could make it myself! So this is what happened. 

First, the biscuits! I mixed all the dry ingredients--3 cups of flour, 3 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of sugar, 3/4 tbsp(?) of cream of tarter--then cut in 3/4 cup of butter, which takes forever. xp I folded in a cup of milk, until just moist. Kneaded it until it stuck together, then used my cup measure to cut them out. In a 400 degree oven for 10-14 minutes and they're ready to eat!

Kitchen Boy was making the gravy while I dealt with the dough. He cooked the sausage, adding in a little bacon grease so we had something to make the gravy with. Added about 1/4 cup flour and mixed it in before adding, slowly a bunch of milk. Then voila!

Vegetable Gratin

So.....here goes! I was reading about winter vegetables and learned of the term "gratin" which is from a French word that means "to scrape/grate." Basically, it's some vegetable casserole-type dish with thinly sliced veggies. So I tried one! But.....I think I made a mistake. I liked the garlic potatoes gratin recipe, but I was trying to make this other one.....that I think is supposed to be sweet, but I made some distinctly spiceful changes....so we'll see how it turns out.

First, I cut up one of everything. Just kidding. But, it was a lot.....1/2 a butternut squash, 2 russet potatoes, a celery root (called celeriac), a orange-skinned sweet potato, and 1 parsnip. I layered those into a 9x13 pan. Then, on the stove, I sauteed a clove of garlic and 1/4 of an onion in butter. Before they were done, I added 1/3 lb of italian pork sausage to brown. When those were done cooking, I added a half cup of milk, 2 cups of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes. Then the spices: A dash of paprika, three shakes of nutmeg, a 1/2 tsp of thyme, a bunch of black pepper, and two shakes of garlic salt. (See what I mean about the sweet veggies and the salt/spice?) I brought that to a boil, then poured it over the veggies. I baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then 40 more at 350 degrees F.

So I pulled it out of the oven, sprinkled mozzarella on it and let it sit for a bit. Definitely not the creamy sauce I'd imagined, and I wonder if I can use the liquid as a base for some kind of soup. The dish itself is not...unpleasant. Pretty exotic tasting, actually. I like the spice/sweet play and the sausage definitely helps with that! I will probably try making this again sometime! :D

Update: After a night and more in the fridge, the flavors had a chance to meld together. It is a lot mellower, but still nomnom.

Fruits and Veggies!

So, I decided to buy first and then make second. I spent $21.70 on all these fruits and veggies! (To contrast, I bought some bread, milk, cheese and meat to spread through and that was WAY more. >.<;) So lets see what I come up with!

First! I have another mystery fruit! It came up on the receipt as a "lemon plum".....Wikipedia tells me that it is a rare fruit from Chili typically only available in the US in February. It changes from bright yellow to sunset orange as it ripens, so I should leave it with my potatoes for a while....

Pumpkin Bread

So today, I decided to use up my leftovers from that big can of pumpkin. I guestimated that I had about 15oz of it left and went looking for a recipe. This is the one I landed on:

Cream 1 cup of butter with 3 cups of sugar. Add 3 eggs and mix together. Combine 3 cups of flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1.5 tsp baking soda, and spices (1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1.5 tsp nutmeg). Stir into the rest of the batter until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Then, pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake for an hour at 350 F.

What I didn't realize was that my big bowl I normally cook with was too small! I ended up having to dump all of it into my biggest cooking pan for mixing! XD I did half white sugar and half brown sugar, which would have been fine except the brown sugar is old and dried out. It's created these hard-as-rock lumps that didn't all break up when I was had mixing it into the butter. The uh-oh that I didn't realize at the time was that one of them chipped into my wooden stirring spoon! So.....somewhere in my bread, or the muffin/cupcakes I made.....there is a chip of wood...>.<; (On a side note--what is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin. Is there, besides the frosting??) The only other deviation was that I added in a tsp of ginger and a tsp of vanilla.

For something that I just made on a whim, I sure had a lot of difficulties! On top of the mixing bowl/pan switch-up, I also almost didn't have enough butter. Maybe I should ask my mother for a couple of her bread pans....as it is, I used one square pan and then my 6x muffin tin.....

So, I just took the bread out of the oven. I don't know how long it was in for, I just kept checking it every so often. I did need to cover it with foil so that the top wouldn't burn. I sprinkled the top of the muffins with confectioner's sugar and ate one of theme. NOM! It is very good; a little too sweet for my tastes, though very spiceful. I wonder what butter would do on it. Less sugar next time, I think, and more white than brown.

Is it a fruit? A vegetable? Part II

I had the hardest time eating this thing! And not anything to do with it, but my carbon monoxide alarm kept going off! SO OBNOXIOUS! I kept pushing the button to make it stop and it would......for 2 minutes before blaring off again. It was louder and shriller than my smoke alarms! I opened both windows, turned the fan off, double and triple-checked that everything to do with my stove was off, I even tried unplugging the thing! Note to others: The reason they wrote "DO NOT UNPLUG" across the side is because unplugging it will make it go off. Yes, it will stop just long enough to make you relax, but then it will rein death upon your ears! Also, when you plug it back in, make sure it is actually plugged in. It is heavy and awkwardly balanced so that it pulls itself out of the socket and goes off forever until you realize its because it has fallen half out of the socket. Grrr.

Anyways. Back to this:

This is called a cherimoya! And it is DELICIOUS! It tastes like a mango-flavored pina colada. It looks like a vegetable, but it's actually and equatorial-type fruit they've gotten to grow in California. As it ripens, the green turns black and bruised-looking. You know it's ripe when it feels like a ripe avocado. Don't know what that feels like? Apparently that means it gives slightly when pressed. *shrug* Anyhows, the flesh is wonderful-tasting. It would be good with sticky rice, or in smoothies. It would make an amazing ice cream flavor! I know there has to be an easier way to eat it, though. It has big black seeds riddled through it you have to spit out like a watermelon.  I don't know if they're edible. Maybe I didn't let mine get ripe enough and the seeds and the flesh separate easier then.....hmmmn... I will definitely pay the exorbitant amount for this fruit again.

Is it a fruit? A vegetable?

I was at the Safeway and I found two things! I will eat the other one tomorrow. *nodnod* But today, I tried this one:

It was very strange. It is called a cuke-saurus, or Kiwano (Cause it's from New Zealand), but it also goes by "African Horned Cucumber" and "Jelly Melon." I brought it home all excited. Most online references said that it basically tastes no good, like a cucumber dipped in lemon. So, I wasn't expecting much but bitter and yuck. I thought perhaps I could make a drink out of it, maybe an alcoholic one. But no such luck. Perhaps because the season is off, but it really didn't taste like anything to me. It was slightly bitter, but not enough to really even make a taste. However, the texture was amazing! Not good, but interesting. It's very much like I would imagine Waterlollies being like. Kind of like the inside sacs of an orange, but unpopable. Twas very odd.

I might try buying one again if it's in season, but I wont jump to buy it again. An interesting experience I don't regret trying, but it leaves me unexcited to try it again. I agree with the people who say it's better off used as a decorative piece, much like the mini gourds that come out in the fall. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

I can't believe I haven't made this in forever! I got the idea because Kitchen Boy wasn't feeling good and I was starting to get the cooking bug. (It was a good idea, too, because I got sick the day after!)

So, after finally deciding to make it, I had to figure out a way around problem number one: I don't have any pots big enough to cook a whole chicken in! I finally settled on buying a rotisserie chicken. However, to still get that delicious soup flavor, I removed all the good meat parts and boiled the bones and skin and such in water. I added in some celery, onion, and garlic. This makes a wonderful broth. Generally, you boil that until the meat is cooked enough to easily come off the bone. Since I didn't have that step, I just let it boil while I made the noodles (beat 2 eggs, add 2 half shellfulls of water and salt, mix in flour until stiff, roll out and cut in strips, let dry) . I tore up the chicken so that it was bite-sized and cut up some carrots and potatoes. When the noodles were dry (I got tired of waiting and threw them in the oven for a bit), I took out all the bones and unedibles and added everything else in along with thyme, parsley, a little basil and maybe some other spice. Simmer until the noodles are soft, then serve!

Since it's really wet here this time of year, the noodles would not dry! I finally turned the oven onto a low heat temperature and dried them in there. However, waiting so long, I did boil off a lot of my water that I should have added back in. After two full bowls of soup, I was left with a lot of soup parts and not a lot of liquid. To remedy that, I just heat it up with an extra cup of water and a bouillon cube to simulate extra broth. Though, it's flavorful enough, I may be able to just add some more water and have it be fine.






Delicious soup! Kitchen Boy loved it. And it was amusing how excited he was to make his own noodles. :)

Stirstirstir