well... i must have drank too much.

i had a great blog.  really... i did.

i cant figure out how to post everything i want, in the order i want without going crazy.  i tried using the new editor but its just not working out for me.

i promise i will try again soon.  i am sorry i have been gone so long... i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

It's not delivery, it's Dig....HOME MADE PIZZA!

Well what few of you readers are left after months of non-posting, we're back, or at least I'm back and I have a new friend whom you'll meet soon. After much traveling back and fourth from Louisville to Evansville with a spectacular 30th birthday to celebrate in New York (Wild as Mink, it was by far the best party I've been to), I finally had the chance to hang out in my own tiny kitchen where I cooked to my heart's desire. The menu was pizza, delicious, thin crust, tangy sauce pizza. And boy was it amazing. And with a side of O'Fallon Pumpkin Ale, what a Sunday.

I got the hankering for some thin crust and being far to stubborn to order out, I decided to whip up my own. I had all the ingredients for the crust but lacked the tomato base for the sauce, so I hopped in my car and drove to the Target. The newly remodeled Target that I had to go an entire year without. I was so excited, I actually went there twice on opening weekend.

Now to the good stuff. I suggest getting your beverage of choice ready, you're going to be kneading that dough like no body's business. You'll probably work up a sweat.

The Crust:

• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup cornmeal

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and salt in water. Add oil and flour to bowl and stir like you mean it for 1 minute.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press into a circle. Sprinkle yeast evenly over dough and knead for 12 minutes. Luckily, I had the help of 'Lil Homie.

Divide dough into portions 3 equal portions. Place dough balls in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours in a warm location.

Now is the time to refill your drink, clean up your mess, and begin making your sauce and planning your toppings. I also suggest you begin preheating your pizza stone as to not waste time getting this pizza into your stomach.

Place a dough ball on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle a light coating of flour on top. Working from the edges to the center, press dough into a paper thin circle (or at least into the size of your pizza stone).

Coat a large cutting board with cornmeal and place the flattened dough onto the cornmeal. * A tip from my cousin: Cook your dough on the pizza stone for about 10 minutes before topping to ensure your crust gets crisp while your cheese stays un-blackened.

The Sauce

• 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• A splash of vinegar
• Secret Ingredient: 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir together.

Since this recipe makes about 3 pizzas, I opted for some cheesy garlic toast, a pepperoni, and a ham, green pepper, tomato, and pineapple (this one was by far the tastiest). Go crazy, it's your own creation!

Making Whoopie...pies, pumpkin whoopie pies

My sister is on her way to Louisville which can only mean one thing, I have to whip something creative up for her judgemental taste buds. While on a run earlier this week, which just happens to end at the Wine Rack no matter the millage or the day, I noticed pumpkin beer in the window, a favorite between the sisters. I came home and begin looking for that extra special pumpkin recipe when I stumbled upon one of my favorite blogs. After reading the list of ingredients, there was no way I could compete to make it my own so I present you with Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, from Erin's Food Files.

While you're there, check out her other amazingly delicious treats. Erin is a good friend of Megan and from what I hear, quite the chef. My whoopie pies are in the cooling stage but from licking the bowl throughout the process, I can already tell these are going to be a hit!

* This is not a picture of the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies as my camera is toast. However, this is my jack-o-lantern from last Halloween, so it counts.

For you meat lovers

So, I am by no means a vegetarian. I just have a strong distaste for touching raw bloody carcass prior to gnawing on its bones, that, and I do feel bad for the little guys. However, I am a huge huge huge fan of bacon and bison. Thus I present you with this:







If you haven't tried bison, it is much less fatty and greasy than beef and is huge here in Kentucky, that and fried green tomato blt's which I will attempt one of these days. Back to the bison, simply season with salt and pepper and throw it on the grill with some potatoes and veggie kabobs and you have yourself a well balanced meal. I prefer mine medium to medium well, but if charred is your thing, by all means go and ruin it. Now to the veggie goodness, I opted for eggplants and squashes from my CSA basket, added in green pepper and tomato with minced fresh garlic. Mmm mmm good.

Veggie Burger Deliciousness

So this one I totally stole from Megan, but since she's much too busy to entertain you, I am taking the credit. While I have not quite mastered the stability of these yet, the taste is there and that's really what counts.

2 cans black beans (rinsed, drained, and mashed)

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

2 eggs

1 ear corn, off the cop

3-4 garlic gloves minced

1 package saltines

salt

pepper

chili powder

cumin

squirt hot sauce

small handful shredded cheese

Finely chop up the onion and peppers and drain them as much as possible. Wrap them up in towels being careful not to spill them on the floor to soak up some of the moisture. Mix all the ingredients with the mashed black beans and make yourself some patties.

Tips

Things you can add to help keep the patties as patties: flour, oats, cooked rice, sweet potatoes. egg whites, etc. etc.

If you plan on grilling these, which is by far the tastiest method, freeze them in patties first.

Basically throw everything together and make patties.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooo blog world, I'm back, camera or not. After many weekend away, I have decided to spend this one indoors cooking, except for that little stint with blogging buddy Megan in which we drank champagne and visited the many Louisville festivals. My favorite of the recipes was French Onion Soup. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a delicious bowl of tasty goodness and wait until you see the soup crocks I bought in Chicago.

After much google searching for the perfect recipe I came across the following from Cooking Light. I halved this recipe and substituted fake beef broth for the real deal. At Whole Foods I discovered Vegetarian Better than Bouillon fake beef paste stuff in a jar. To make a long story short, it's delicious. So here it goes:

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups thinly vertically sliced Walla Walla or other sweet onion
4 cups thinly vertically sliced red onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dry white wine
8 cups less-sodium beef broth (I used the fake stuff, no cows for me)
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
8 (1-ounce) slices French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
8 (1-ounce) slices reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

Preparation
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in sugar, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat to medium; cook 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high, and sauté for 5 minutes or until onion is golden brown. Stir in wine, and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and thyme; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours.

At this point I divided my recipe into the cute little crocks shown above and placed them in the fridge for individual indulgences.

Before Service

Warm soup in oven. Remove from oven.

Place bread in a single layer on a baking sheet; broil 2 minutes or until toasted, turning after 1 minute. Or if you're me the bread is already stale and you can skip this step.

Place bread on top of soup and layer with cheese. Broil 3 minutes or so or until cheese begins to brown. You might place a pan underneath these so you don't burn the dripping cheese.

Enjoy, it's delicious

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

As I celebrated the big 26 this weekend in Evansville, I remembered, I have a blog. A very very sad blog with lack of posts. So what if I don't have a camera, if it's worthy enough, it can be visually described.

My late birthday weekend was filled with food. I had a delicious angel food cake (made by Betty Crocker herself) topped with the freshest of fresh berries. And my mother has apparently been keeping up with my food blog because I received a brand spanking new rolling pin for my birthday. Yes, you heard that correctly. Goodbye empty Svedka vodka bottle, hello delicious wood rolling pin. I also got a hand mixer, can opener, and mixing bowls. Who knew a 26 year old would be so thrilled over such commodities.

We also ventured out to take in the new flick Julie and Julia. If you haven't gone, you should. It is fabulous. If I only had the blogging/cooking skills as portrayed in the movie. Well, for one, I'd be enormous. The main ingredient in each dish is butter. But honestly, quite a good film.

Since I can't simply post about my fabulous weekend, that did come complete with the best 60 minute massage ever, I have posted a new favorite snack.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
You make these the traditional way, bag of marshmallows, stick of butter, small box of krispies. However, try adding about 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup peanut butter while melting the marshmallows and butter. Your taste buds will thank me, your gut, not so much. I could have eaten 1/2 the pan the first night. Luckily these were going to the local Gilda's club, so none stayed in my kitchen!

Enjoy, and I promise to not abandon you anymore poor blog.

Goulash, or something like it

First and foremost, I apologize for the picture. My camera bit the dust shortly after the upload. Thank goodness I have a birthday coming up, hint hint.

Growing up, everyone has that one food that they hate, well, I had many, but the one that you hate, and then as you get older, you love. Mine was my mom's goulash.

Goulash, well, sort of, kind of goulash. Each member of my family makes this completely differently but for some reason it all has the same name. This is my version.

My Version

Small Onion

Clove of Garlic

Green Pepper

Half bag veggie crumbles

Big can diced tomatoes

Cooked elbow macaroni (use your best judgement, I went with half the package)

Salt

Pepper

Cut up vegetables and cook with veggie crumbles until they are no longer frozen(the veggie crumbles that is). Add diced tomatoes, 2 pinches salt, 2 pinches pepper. Stir until hot. Add to cooked, drained noodles and season to taste.

You can use ground beef, but, I don't like to touch it so I opted for veggie crumbles. You all missed the bison steaks I cooked up this weekend, hehe.

*Note, there is no mention of the corn, it tasted like earth.

homemade mayo!!

i dont eat it very often so there is really no point in buying it.  but, while bobby was here for the 4th of july i was cooking like a mad woman and realized that i needed some for the coleslaw i was making.  i didnt want to go to the store and richard and bobby had downed an entire bottle of jager in 30 minutes so they werent going either....

hummm... what is a girl to do???

make her own, of course!!! :)

this recipe is so so so simple!!

ingredients:

1 egg

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 teaspoon powdered sugar

1 1/4  cup canola oil

mix everything except oil together in a blender.  NOTE:  ALL INGREDIENTS NEED TO BE ROOM TEMP!  slowly add oil while continuously blending.  i actually doubled everything because i was making avocado ranch mayo.  (hence the empty avocado and ranch packaging)  for that i used 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 avocado and 1 packet of hidden valley ranch dry mix.  mash up the avocado and mix everything else in with it.  it is really really good  :)

comfort food

i dont know what my deal has been lately but ive been craving carbs!  i didnt exactly know what i wanted but i know i wanted to feel full.  so, while richard was playing with his toys (aka turntables) i decided to make something yummy and this is what came about....

i took this recipe and made my own little version of it.

ingredients:

12 ounce package dry gemelli (its pasta... use whatever you want)

small onion

1 pound fake sausage

1/2 cup white wine

1 15 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

6 ounce can of tomato paste

14.5 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes

shredded cheese... the more, the better :)

preheat oven to 400.  you will also need to start boiling water for the pasta and get that going.

chop up that onion.  i cant get enough of my nicer dicer.  it is the best thing i have in my kitchen right now... until i get my kitchenaid standing mixer.  dont worry nicer dicer, i will still love you equally.

you will need to brown the meat.  obviously, you dont have to use fake sausage but sausage is needed for this recipe.  so, for you meat lovers... go ahead and eat little wilbur.  anyway... once you start to cook the sausage, add the onion and cook until evenly brown.  (if you are using real meat, once the meat is finished cooking make sure to drain that nasty, greasy fat)  then add the wine, spaghetti sauce, fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste.  simmer for about 10 minutes.  stir occasionally.  (are you jealous of my cast iron skillets?  its ok, you can be) :)

next toss pasta with the sausage mixture.  from this point, you can do what you like.  you can throw this is a greased 9x13 pan, cover it with cheese and bake it or you can layer it.  one layer pasta, one layer cheese, one layer pasta, one layer cheese... you get the point.  (layering is what i did)  

bake for about 20-25 minutes and then enjoy!!! :)

it was really really really good.... this recipe is very versatile and super easy to make.  you can add and take out whatever you want.  since it is just me and the boy, this dish lasted us all week.  well, i also make eggplant parmesan so between the 2 of those dishes we were set! :)

Homemade Tortillas

Literally, I'm cooking with cocktails. I was in the mood for a cheesy quesadilla but had no tortillas. I whipped up some real quick. However, I lack one important thing, a rolling pin. Thank goodness for vodka bottles, and have you tried Svedka? Cheap, delicious, and look how cute that little bottle is. Goes great with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, or even pink crystal lite!

Tortillas

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup Crisco

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup warm water

Work Crisco (or any vegetable shortening) into the flour until crumbly. Dissolve salt into water and add too flour mixture. Mix until goopy.

Knead dough for 3 minutes and then divide into 12 small balls. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour.

Heat skillet, no oil. Roll balls of dough into flat, very thin shapes (I couldn't get circles for the life of me, I went with blobs). Cook for about a minute on each side watching carefully not to burn them.

Let cool between paper towels, store in an airtight container.

Fill with your choice of wholesome goodness. I opted for cheese this evening, but cooked up a delicious vegetable mixture for tomorrow's lunch. (Squash, green pepper, onion, garlic, and some vegetable that looks like a cross between a squash and a cucumber. Sprinkled with some black pepper and Italian seasoning and topped off with juicy pepperoncinis, sure to make the coworkers jealous).

"they melt in your mouth" (thats what she said)

ok, sorry... i couldnt help myself on that one.  but the quote is real and she really did say that :)

4 words

honey chocolate chip cookies

yes.  they are amazing.  you might not be ready for it....

i found this recipe and decided to make a little bit of a twist to it.  i really had been wanting to use the honey i had recently bought at the farmers market and thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

 

ingredients - 

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda (i didnt have baking soda so i used baking powder.  i used about 3 tsp)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup crisco (melted and cooled)

2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup honey

in medium mixing bowl, mix sugars, crisco, eggs, honey and vanilla until combined.

in a large bowl, mix flour and baking powder until combined.  then add sugar mixture to the large bowl and fold into the flour mixture.  add chocolate chips until it looks amazing and you want to eat all the raw cookie dough :)

i let the dough cool for a few hours before baking it.  actually, in all honesty... this was the night amanda came over with her wine charms.  i let the dough sit for about 5 hours and then made the first batch.  (i only have one cookie sheet)  then i realized it was almost midnight and i needed to go to bed.  i ended up waking up at 6am (which came entirely too early) and made the rest of the cookies.

but, all in all.... it was worth it.  these cookies are pretty damn amazing and everyone at my work (and richards) ate them right up.  i will be using this recipe again because its a no fail kinda deal :)

moms taco salad

when i was younger, my mom made this amazing taco salad.  as ghetto as it is, you are going to love it too.  if you dont, you suck and im telling my mom on you.  :)

ingredients:

doritos

1 pound meat (and as you all know, mine was fake)

taco seasoning

cheese... lots of it

i also put green peppers and onion in the "meat" while it was cooking but you dont have to.

first, smash up a bunch or doritos.  this is the fun part... and i had a lot of fun making it after a long day at work last week.  just beat the crap outta those chips!! :)  once you have done that, make a layer on the bottom of a greased, 9x13 pan.

next, take the taco "meat" and make a layer on top of the chips.  (obviously, you know how to make taco meat... cook the meat, add taco seasoning and shazam!!  taco meat!!)

after the taco "meat" layer, throw on a bunch of cheese.  the more, the merrier.  repeat these layers until you can layer no more.  then add more cheese... 

i love cheese.  i dont know if you all knew that or not :)

then, during all of this tedious work, you get someone awesome to do their part.  *que richard*  my lovely stepped up and made cocktails... even though he doesnt blog, he does his fair share :)

ta da!!  of course i ate it before i took a picture of it... when food is calling my name, i dont hesitate to answer.  :)  

just bake this sucker for 15-20 mins at 375 and you are good to go.  add whatever you like on top.  i put lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa and of course, more cheese.  richard did all of the above minus onion plus sour cream.  it was yummy in the tummy!

Simply Cocktails

This being a blog about cooking and drinking, I have to show you the newest addition to my collection. My dear, sweet, loving aunties made me my very own wine charms. And yes, you are reading those correctly, they aren't nice, but are very appropriate.

I immediately showed up at Megan's house with not one, but two bottles of wine so we could test out each one.

Iced Oatmeal Blueberry Bars

Once again, instead of doing things like running and filling out those same IRA forms, I opted for cooking. This time I stuck to baking, it's not has hard to ruin a good dessert recipe. I was searching for a good blueberry oatmeal cookie recipe when I stumbled upon a recipe for Oatmeal Blueberry Bars, so I decided to whip that up instead. After removing them from the hot hot oven, they weren't as pretty as imagined so I drizzled with a little glaze.

My parents and I have decided to take a hike through Brown County tomorrow and enjoy the spring like summer air. They are bringing the lunch, I'm in charge of the dessert. Let's hope these taste as delicious as they sound!

Cookie Ingredients
1 3/4 cup pats
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter; melted
2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen if fresh aren't in season)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 and grease up that 11x17 baking dish.

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, baking soda and salt. Add melted butter and mix until crumbly.

Pat 1/2 of mixture into greased pan, reserving 1/2 for later. Bake for 10 minutes

While baking, bring blueberries, 2 tbs water, and sugar to slow boil. Simmer 2 minutes. Combine 1 tbs water, cornstarch, and lemon juice and gradually stir into blueberry mixture. Cooke about 30 seconds while stirring until thickened.

Spread blueberry mixture over partially baked portion of oats (watch out for the edge of the pan). Pour remaining oat mixture over blueberry portion and carefully pat down.

Bake 22 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Let cool and drizzle with icing.


Icing
This might possible be the easiest icing I've made.

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tbs soy milk (could use water, milk, juice, etc)
1/2 tsp vanilla (or if you had a little left over blueberry sauce, this would be delicious)

i love goat cheese

this really isnt too exciting of a post.  for one, i had to use my camera phone and two, there really isnt much to it.  

i decided that i needed to eat cheese last night and since i had goat cheese just hanging out, i though to myself... "mmm, goat cheese sticks!"  so, here is how it came about.

this is the cheese, yum.  :)  i chopped it up and then mixed it up with some basil, minced garlic and parsley.  i obviously got carried away and forgot to take a picture of the mixture.

speaking of add, i had cherry tomatoes that were calling my name so i chopped one in half, scooped out the inside and threw some of the goat cheese mixture inside.  it was yummy :)

i took about a half a teaspoon of the cheesey happiness and rolled it up in a wonton wrapper.  to be honest, i found this recipe a long time ago when amanda and i realized that we couldnt/werent allowed to go to spinellis every single night.  the only difference that im making to this recipe is that im using goat cheese.  any other time ive made them, i use string cheese.

prepped and ready to hit the oven!!

and this is the outcome.... nothing fancy but then sure tasted good.  :)

baked cheese sticks - 

wonton wrappers

string cheese (as previously mentioned, i just sub-ed the goat cheese mixture for this certain creation)

thats it.  thats the ingredient list.

basically, just roll the cheese into the wonton wrapper and pop in the oven on 350-400 for about 10-15 mins.  when using string cheese, cut them in half and they fit in the wrapper perfectly.  :)

because they are adorable...

this is aryah.  she is 6 but you can tell she is going on 16.  michelle sent me this picture last night and i was soooo excited to see that she accessorized herself.  

this is emery.  i think this could be the cutest think ive ever seen... well, until the next cute thing she does.  (hello!!  do you see that red hair!?)

michelle made some damn good babies if i do say so myself :)

Summer Quiche with Potato Crust

It didn't take long after opening that first beer to realize that tonight was not the night to transfer a looming IRA into a Roth IRA. So, I cooked. Today was CSA today which means more potatoes and more zucchini. After scanning through many zucchini dessert recipes, I opted to make something for lunch/dinner to last the rest of the week. The result, was a summer quiche with potato crust.

Again, I altered various recipes and came up with the following.

Potato Crust

I don't usually say this, but use a store bought crust, you're welcome to try the potato crust recipe below but mine was a bit oily and undercooked. The rest of the quiche was mighty delicious though so I scraped it off and ate it like an egg scramble!

3 cups grated potatoes (thanks to the Magic Bullet, this step was easy)
2 tbs canola oil

Grate the potatoes and mix with oil. Pat along bottom/sides of 9" pie pan and bake for 20 minutes at 425 until lightly brown. Add the following (feel free to add the ingredients of your choice)

Quiche Filling
2 small zucchini (you could use 1 large, 2 mediums, 1 small, whatever your liking)
1 small handful cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup (or more) cheese of your choice, I opted for mozzarella

Fill the pie crust with the quiche filling and prepare the egg mixture

Egg Mixture
3 eggs
3/4 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Poor over vegetable mixture. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, cool before serving.

Veggie Pot Pie, hold on to your hats, this one's my own creation

Veggie Pot Pie

You've probably noticed, that's not a picture of pot pie. My camera was having a bad day and the rest of the picture aren't this pretty. This is a gorgeous flower from my very own front garden. It has made my apartment smell so fresh and clean, I almost hate to leave it.

Now on to the food. I was sitting at my kitchen table, staring upon a mound of potatoes. Potatoes of every shape, size, color, and dirtiness that you could imagine. I knew I wanted to create a good Sunday 'Mom' meal, those meals that always made me cringe when I was younger. I opted for pot pie. After searching through websites and cookbooks, I gave up and attempted it on my own. While it's not quite perfect, it is worth sharing and asking for your suggestions. It definitely needs some more spice and TLC, but I was nursing a pretty bad vodka hangover, Megan's fault.

The veggies (part 1)

2 cups diced potatoes (straight from the ground to my table, I'm liking this CSA)

1 cup diced carrots (again, still covered in fresh dirt)

1 cup diced green beans (these came from Abbey's (my sister) garden)

2 cloves fresh garlic diced to your liking

1 small onion

Once chopped, drizzle the veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper and saute until slightly browned. This is where I made the first mistake (I might suggest to cook the potatoes for just a little bit prior to sauteing, but once reheated, they were perfect).

Place cooked veggies in a well greased pie dish of your liking.

The gravy (part 2)

2 cups veggie stock (homemade, I'll post this recipe, or your favorite store brand)

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

In one pan bring your vegetable stock to a slow simmer. In a second pan melt your butter and flour, whisking to create a rouge. Once to your liking, slowly add the vegetable stock. Once combined, add to your veggies, and mix well.

At this point, I added some additional spices. A pinch each of salt, pepper, thyme, sage, and parsley. I probably should have added 2 or 3 pinches to kick it up a bit.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (do this sooner if you have an electric stove.

The biscuit crust (part 3)

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbs unsalted butter

3/4 cup soy milk

Combine the dry ingredients, add the butter and fork until you get that corn meal texture. Add the soy milk and mix well, knead in bowl 3-5 minutes.

This is where I got lazy and just plopped the dough onto the veggie/gravy mixture. It worked well.

Heat in oven about 30 minutes. Watch the biscuits to ensure they don't burn. I was hesitant to post this upon first taste, but I must admit, it's one of my favorite lunch box meals I've had this year. It needs some work, but it's not to shabby if I do say so myself.

Grandma's Recipe

Sweet Summer Slaw

This week I'm determined to use all the veggies from the CSA possible. So what else is there to do with red cabbage besides slaw, unless you're my mother and you boil it into eternal nastiness. Not much to this recipe, I didn't even have time to uncork the wine.

Ingredients

1 cabbage (red came in the csa this week)

1 carrot (I opted for 2 medium size carrots, they still had the dirt on them)

1 green pepper (nothing special here, just a pepper)

Grandma's trick is to sprinkle the cabbage with tone tsp salt and let sit for an hour.

Dressing (mix and boil for 1 minute)

1 cup vinegar

2 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

While your dressing is boiling for that whole minute, chop your veggies into oblivion, or however you may like them. I shouldn't have made fun of Megan's 'Nicer Dicer', it would have come in handy.

Boil the dressing for one minute and let cool, add to veggies, grab a fork. Easy, aye?

i promise im still around... and still cooking :)

my new (pink!!) house :)

so, excuses excuses.  they are my middle name.  im sorry for my absence but have you really noticed?  :) 

the past month has been crazy for me... moving out of my first louisville apartment (*tear*) and into a new house is quite an adventure.  we are all moved in and the place is coming along quite nicely.  although i havent had much time for blogging, i still have made time for a little bit of cooking in my new (huge) kitchen!  dont hate me, but unfortunately there are no pictures.  my camera is dead.... actually its just the batteries which are dead but ive been to lazy and forgetful to buy new ones.  

i just wanted to check in with you all and let you know that i will return... but not right now.  right now im supposed to be cleaning... but i will post up the recipes that i have attempted.  (and to be quite honest, they have successfully turned out)  very delish!! :)

hope all is well in your world and you have been enjoying the summer!! 

Holy Canoli, This Was a Crazy One

Get your glass ready, you're going to need it. This is definitely a two drink recipe. Oh man did I not prepare myself for this undertaking. Lasagna rolls, has to be easier than lasagna, so wrong. I found this recipe on the Whole Foods website. I have a thing against Kroger, we don’t get along, they gross me out a bit. So I try to stick to the farmers markets as much as possible. Gets kind of tricky, that’s when I take a trip to Evansville and visit Schnucks, the friendly neighborhood store.

To get started, poor yourself your favorite cocktail, I opted for Sam Adams Summer Ale pictured with my new Grand Canyon pint glass compliments of mother and father. A good choice.

8-10 lasagna noodles (cooked to your liking and slightly cooled, you have to roll them you know)
Ricotta Cheese

Marinara Sauce (I usually have my own, or whip it up quickly, there’s a recipe on here somewhere, if not, pick the sauce of your choosing)

Baby Spinach (again, I happened to have frozen CSA spinach in the freezer, I’m sure fresh would be delicious, but this was cheaper)

Mozzarella

While boiling your noodles, you can heat your oven to 400 and grease up a roasting pan.
This is where it gets tricky, note the multiple cocktails. Lay one noodle flat. Spread ricotta cheese, then spread marinara, followed with spinach. Roll up and place in dish. You may think more is better, wrong. They ooze all over you and are hotter than heck if not cooled.

Repeat this process until all your noodles are rolled. When placing them in the pan, make sure they are close enough together, they don’t unroll on you. Once complete, top with remaining marinara and sprinkle with mozzarella to your liking.

I didn’t include measurements on this one because it’s kind of to your liking. I took a few pictures along the way to guide you a bit.

I opted for a side of steamed summer squash sprinkled with cinnamon. Delicious.