Green beans

I often over order with groceries (because with one person, ordering 3 vegetables for a week can be too much to cook), so I'm often scrambling to cook them before they're bad. I think it is really good and important to remember that a lot of food tastes really good done simply. The other night, I cooked flounder in coconut oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and it was great. I followed it with chips and guac and felt pretty thrilled about the whole thing. So while I completely endorse getting together a bunch of new and specific ingredients to try out a new recipe, I think we shouldn't feel so concerned about what to do if we don't have it all. Odds are in your favor that if you throw something in a pan with a fat (butter, olive oil, coconut oil depending on the flavor profile you're into) and sprinkle with salt and pepper, you'll end up with something edible and reasonably tasty. The corollary to that is to buy simple, fresh veggies and meat and fish so that they can stand alone well.

Tonight I heated up some fresh direct soup (meh, things like that remind me how much better homemade is) and then cooked some green beans to prevent them from spoiling over the weekend. I cooked them in the pan with butter and salt until they looked browned and a couple tasted still crisp but cooked (I'm fine with a range of textures usually). Then I served them with some goat cheese. It was great! And I mean that it met my standards for tasting good, being a positive contribution to my nutrition for the day, and helped reduce my produce drawer population boon. 

Apple Crumble

I'll be honest, this was not my favorite recipe. After I made it, I read the comments (yes because I don't learn to do that first), and I noticed many people also found it too dry. Basically, probably not the way you want to go. But the apples turned out well, and when I first got it from the oven and ate it with greek yogurt, it was delicious. It has otherwise been nice to reheat and serve with greek yogurt for breakfast. I used my excess topping that I didn't put on the apples to make a granola pie thing by mixing in peanut butter and maple syrup. Take from all that what you will.

Filling
4 large Golden Delicious apples (about 3 pounds) [I used 4 or 5 smaller apples]
1/4 cup sugar
1 lemon, juiced [didn't have this, just sprinkled on some water]
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
1 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped [didn't use this, but probably would be good]
1 cup all-purpose flour [too much! probably use 1/2 cup]
1 1/4 cups rolled oats [maybe start with 1 cup instead]
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch fine salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
Vanilla ice cream, for serving, optional [or greek yogurt, like I had]

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4-inch slices [I didn't peel them because I don't mind having peels involved]. Place apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with sugar, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon. Pour into a lightly greased 9 by 13-inch baking dish, and spread out into an even layer. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the topping. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, gently work in the cold butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.

Top apples evenly with mixture and bake until apples are bubbly and topping is golden brown, about 45 minutes, rotating once halfway through cooking.

Stop Motion Experiment!

I just made my first stop motion video! It's nothing fancy, obviously, but I'm so glad I tested the waters. One day, I'll use my roommate's good camera and have him help me set it up to be done correctly, but in the meantime, I don't think this is half bad! I made a few more that I've shot but not looked at or imported into Adobe Premiere, so hopefully I'll get to those soon.

Anyway, this was sort of trial and error. I set up my camera on a tripod and shot a picture with every step I did. Then I imported the pictures into Adobe Premiere (a la this youtube video explaining what to do). Select everything and make a new sequence, which drops it into the timeline. You can ripple delete any frames you don't want in the final video. Then I shortened the speed/duration down to 10 seconds, which still feels a little slow. I did a brief color correct (a la this youtube video) but still have much to learn on that front as the color is still off here, but I just wanted to get it done. Then I added in a title and exported it out to a quicktime before uploading to youtube. Et voila!

Chocolate Chip Banana Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

This is absolutely a mish-mash recipe. I even had two open on my computer, neither of which I committed to following in any way. One for oatmeal pumpkin muffins and one for banana muffins. Then I mixed them, used applesauce instead of something else, and threw in some chocolate chips. Muffins are great bases for whatever you feel like cooking with or just getting out of your pantry/fridge. Don't be afraid.

At any rate, these ended up being pretty good. I calculated the calories to be around 110 each (without chocolate chips). They were definitely not dry at all, and I love anything with bananas cooked in because they get so sweet and caramely.

I can't totally remember what I did, so here's the recipe for pumpkin oatmeal muffins with my notes:

1 cup flour [possibly I did 1.5 cups but I can't recall - you can always add more if it looks too wet]
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or apple pie spice or cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves/ginger)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.25 cups pumpkin [I think I used the full 15 oz can]
1/2 cup milk [I don't think I had/used milk, just a self-serving size cup of applesauce]
2 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup oats
plus chocolate chips if you're into that
plus sliced bananas if you're into that [I think I used 3?]

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray muffin cups with cooking spray or put in liners.

Whisk all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.

Stir pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, and maple syrup into the dry ingredients until batter is smooth; fold oats into batter. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them to the top.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes; set aside to cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Grits!

Guys, I just wanted to let you know I've welcomed grits into my life with open arms. I never ate them much growing up and only realized how incredible they were while carb-loading on spring training trips when they were served with cheese at breakfast (oh, spring training was the life! row, eat, sleep, repeat). Now, I know they're not the healthiest thing, but really, they're not so bad. A serving is 1/3 cup and is 130 calories. Totally doable if it's your starch, and it's a pretty substantial serving. 

There's a fancy pants food cart at work sometimes that serves grits for SEVEN DOLLARS. I got them once, and it was incredible. And then I though, oh hell no. I'm from the south! I will make this myself! And save that shit, I don't make mad money. So I ordered a container of quick grits that probably cost $3 and has about 20 servings, and now I make them for dinner or on weekends to go with a range of eggs, cheese, greens, and more. I make them on the stove, it takes about 5 min longer than eggs, and it really ups the ante and fills me up. Plus if I slip just a smidge bit of butter in the water before it cooks, they have a really great flavor. 

Anyway, that's all. This is just a PSA that grits are good and you should probably have more in your life.

Fantastic Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes

Finally! A recipe that is still up on my iPad browser so I can share the actual ingredients with you. Yay! Catching up is incentive to not get behind again.

But more exciting news: THESE WERE DELICIOUS. Like, everyone loved them. I loved them. I ran out of confectioner's sugar, so they were more cream cheese savory than super sweet, and that, I think, is the difference. Also, I added cinnamon to the cupcakes because I think all desserts taste better with cinnamon (or cardamon, or something).

So make these. Even if it isn't holiday time. They are super, extra, definitively worth it. Yumtown, population: these guys.

Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available) [I just used Trader Joe's]

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon [my addition]

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)

1 cup boiling water

Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.

Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)

Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.

Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature

6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (about 3/4 of a regular block of cream cheese)

4 cups powdered confectioners sugar [I probably only used 3 cups]

1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract [didn't have this, I mixed in 4 crushed candy canes]

1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 to 3 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add powdered sugar (a little at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. 

Add vanilla and peppermint extracts. 

Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)

Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

[I put 4 or 5 candy canes in a bag and beat it pretty much to dust using my rolling pin {you're welcome, neighbors} and then mixed that in at the end with a spoon, not the mixer.]

Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.) [I took these to work and transported the cupcakes and frosting separately so it wasn't a hot mess. I'm learning!]

To achieve the red stripe in the frosting:  Before filling a large piping bag with frosting, add some red gel food coloring to a toothpick, and draw two (vertical) lines with the red dye on the inside of the piping bag. Then carefully fill the piping bag with frosting.  Squeeze some frosting into a bowl until you begin to see the red stripe, then frost the cupcakes.

[I mostly failed at this because I was lazy and just swirled in red food coloring to the frosting and then frosted. Whatever, pink is still festive and communicates the point.]

Top cupcakes with some crushed candy canes (they will ”melt” after a bit, so they need to be served right away) or a small piece of peppermint bark (I used a little peppermint Andes candy).

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Who likes substituting and making things up as they go?! I do. Whenever I make muffins, I throw a bunch of stuff in there, just to use up ingredients that are on their way out and to get interesting flavor combinations tested out.

I honestly can't remember what recipe I used for these, so here's one I found that looks about right, and then I just added in some diced apples because why not? Also there this SK recipe, so I'm sure that's delicious as well.

Our adopted kitty, Jonesy. He's aggressively cuddly and hangs out with me while I cook. He's the best behaved street cat on earth.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, cloves, etc)
2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I likely used melted butter instead - I prefer fats & sugars whose existence I understand)
1/2 cup water or orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and water in a mixing bowl. Beat until blended.
Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture - stir just until combined.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Christmas Cupcakes

Super simple, just wanted to make some cupcakes to take to work that were Christmas-y. Plus I love using food coloring (ask my mom - I used to make awfully colored pancakes as a kid, you're welcome for helping with brunch) and seem to always have a lot of holiday sprinkles in stock.

Trader Joe's cocoa powder provided the recipe for this one, and then I just made basic frosting to go with. I think I did a basic butter and powdered sugar frosting, but must have added a bit of milk and vanilla to have the consistency (less stiff). But potentially that's just an effect of my proportions and/or food coloring.

Trader Joe's "The Greatest and Easiest Chocolate Cake"
3 1/3 cup flour
1 1/3 cup cocoa
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 oz butter
3 cups buttermilk (I likely used regular milk)
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour two 9" round baking pans or line cupcake cups with liners

Place all ingredients in electric mixer bowl and beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl once during mixing. Pour into prepared pans or cupcake cups [I like to pour into a measuring cup with spout to make this easier to use a measuring cup to scoop and pour - mostly for neatness sake].  Bake cakes for about 55 min or cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool before frosting; otherwise, they will make the frosting melty and make a mess.


[I usually don't use all the frosting, so perhaps use half the recipe for starters]

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whole milk

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then increase speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer, add the vanilla and milk, then continue beating 3 minutes on medium high on a stand mixer, or 5 minutes on a handheld mixer.

Steamed Clams + Pasta

These were on sale at FD for $0.49/each a while back, so I got a half dozen to test out cooking clams. I'd never done it before, and I think I'm safely far from pro. This meal ended up so-so, but I can easily blame that on lack of skill and not recipe fault. Hard to say. It wasn't that they weren't good - it was just less sauce than I expected for the pasta, and possibly I have no idea how to cook clams.

Of course I can't find the exact recipe I used, but having looked over several that seem similar and familiar, I think we can rough out what went on.  I'd say this recipe I'm looking at on Savory Sweet Life looks like a tempting one to consider, so we'll go with that and assume that's what I followed except I poured it all over pasta.

3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry Vermouth
2 pounds of clams (Littlenecks or Manilla), rinsed and cleaned
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
*optional 1 small lemon cut into wedges

Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant but not burned. Add wine and increase heat to medium-high until wine is brought to a simmering boil. Add clams and cooked covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until clams have opened. Discard any clams still closed. Add parsley and give the pot a quick stir. Transfer clams and broth to a large serving bowl, serving with lemon wedges on the side.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

A while ago, I made these cookies to take in to work. I can't remember if there was an occasion or not, nor can I find the bookmarked recipe. So am I helpful or what?! The moral of this post is that doubling chocolate is always good and everyone likes cookies. I'm pretty confident I just made a basic chocolate cooking recipe with cocoa powder and then mixed in chocolate chips.

Chili Stew (?)

With my FreshDirect, I'm trying to order meat on occasion when I think I'll have a night to attempt to cook it and am brave enough to try (I mess up veggies or baked goods, whatever; I mess up meat or fish, yikes). A while ago (December, to be honest), I ordered some kind of meat and did a wild attempt at my dad's (grandmother's) chili. It turned out in no way like chili because of how much I changed from the original recipe, but it was meaty and warm and edible (sales pitch!). Anyway, it worked for me, especially with some cheese on top, and I had enough for several meals, to which I added polenta several times. I love chili because it ages so well and you can freeze it and the flavors get better. It's a great way to branch into meat cooking because it doesn't threaten me with risky self-assessment of done-ness and is delicious.

Here's my dad's recipe, which I can attest to being delicious. The recipe as he passed to me is in spreadsheet format with stages separated into numbered sections. Welcome to why I'm an excel nut.

Ingredients for A (Stage 1)
3.0 Red chilies or Jalapeno [fresh] chopped
3.0 Green Anaheim or Ordinary
3.0 tbsp. Cumin seed
6.0 Cloves of Garlic-chopped
3.0 Onions-chopped
4.0 lbs. Beef [chili cut]
2.0 lbs. pork sausage
2.0 tbsp. cooking oil

Ingredients for B (Stage 2)
3.0 oz Jar of chilipowder [Gerhard]
1.0 tsp. Oregano
2.0 tbsp. Paprika
2.0 tbsp. Vinegar
0.5 cup boiling water
2.0 can beef stock
1.0 can jalapeno chopped
2.0 14oz  can tomatoes
1.0 pc chopped celery
1.0 tbsp. Worchester
0.5 cup beer
6.0 cloves

Ingredients for C (Stage 3)
0.5 cup beef broth
2.0 tbsp. Mesa corn meal
Salt and Pepper

Pinto or Kidney beans

Instructions
A Lightly brown meet cook for 30 min
B Cook for 45 minutes
C Cook for 30 minimum 30 minutes
D Beans on side or mix some

Now what that all means, obviously, is that you put all of the ingredients in A together in the pot and lightly brown the meat and then cook for 30 minutes. Once that's happened, add in all the B ingredients and cook for 45 minutes. Then add in C ingredients and cook for at least 30 minutes. You are then free, in step D, to do what you wish with the beans.

Belated Return of the Prodigal Blogger

Hi! I've been out of the loop for almost a year (egads!), but I've thought of you often. And I've been taking pictures ever since I started cooking again, so I'm sitting myself down to catch up tonight. I'm planning on buying a domain and making a new website for all this, but in the meantime, I ought to just keep on with it as is.

I did finally get an apartment and then eventually get my all my stuff to it. But I didn't really get to cooking again until I committed to a FreshDirect membership. New Yorkers, you have to do it. Unless you live in an amazing neighborhood with great groceries, in which case, I hate you and don't bother. But for the rest of us who live in aptly named "food deserts", FreshDirect is a godsend. As it is, I'm waiting on my most recent order to show up between 10-11:30 tonight, at which point a very nice delivery man is going to bring me a couple boxes of food directly into my kitchen. All for $10 delivery fee per month! You can't beat it. No, they're not endorsing me, I'm just that thrilled. If not for FD, I'd be grumpily lugging bags home from Trader Joe's once a month and otherwise continue my steady diet of raisin bran from the corner bodega. It wasn't good, folks.

So here's a live picture of the kitchen. I love the open shelving so I can see my beloved kitchen treasures: retro blue kitchenaid mixer, grandmas nesting mixing bowls, Bulgarian bowls, and basic ikea dishware. However, they're a pain to keep clean and now often feature cat hair, so envy me only insofar as you also wish you had to clean everything you use every time.

Otherwise, that's about the majority of the kitchen (and, to be honest), living room. I've got a cabinet of spices, basics, and baking goods, and a lower cabinet of pots and flour and sugar. Glamorous NYC life!

It's not much in terms of provided storage, but the extra shelves help a lot and with the kitchen also being the living room, I at least have space to move and use the table. And I'm more than happy to have this over a tv and other comforts. It's kitchen or bed for me the few hours I spend here. 

On to the cooking!