Thursday, July 7, 2011 Eating Healthy Takes Time (and a little money)

Yesterday I promised my husband two healthy meals - and I delivered, of course.

Wednesday is Farmers Market day in Darien, 11-6 in the lot behind the firehouse, across from Goodwives Shopping Center. But I began my shopping at Stop & Shop across the street. We all know how our trips to the Farmers Market can quickly get out of control budget wise. So I wandered aimlessly around the produce department, as usual, until it hit me. I was going to recreate the veggie melt that my husband missed so much from his days back at Tumbleweeds.

Tumbleweeds was a bar in Bridgeport, that closed before I even met my husband 16 years ago, but it was home to him for a rough period in his life so, even though I have little understanding of bar culture, I tried my best to bring back the feeling of home away from home.

I crammed my basket full of veggies - I figured I'd make a salad for lunch and the veggie melt for dinner. So I bought celery and broccoli and sweet peppers and Swiss cheese and a portobello mushroom cap and corn (20 cents each, how could I resist?) and an onion and...I think that was everything. Oh, and the wheat pita. 21 bucks and change...not too bad.

Then I wandered across the street to the Farmers Market. They key to the market for me is first wandering around all the booths to find what I'm going to buy and from whom I am going to buy it. I have my favorite farmers and I like to spread the money around. So I ended up buying a tomato and a cuke from one guy for $1.95, a squash and some green beans from another woman for 95 cents, a couple carrots from another booth for 50 cents and then a quart of cherries for 5 bucks.

I don't think I've ever gotten out of the Farmers Market that cheap!

So, I get home and start to prep the salad. I had half a head of iceberg that I trimmed up and I added some lettuce from my garden to give it some color. I sliced up the cuke, some pepper, threw in some carrot ribbons, tomato, celery. I made pasta and dressed it with an onion, arugula and basil concoction - this salad probably took me a good 45 minutes to make! (This is why I'm not Food Network Competition material.) It was damn tasty, though! Worth the effort, and our bodies needed the veggies after the holiday weekend.

Dinner might not have taken as long - I really should time what I'm doing, but I'm usually too busy cooking to take pictures, never mind keeping score. I prepped all my veggies separately - putting each one into its own bowl. Little bits of broccoli, sliced peppers and onions, squash circles, mushroom chunks and corn off the cob.

I cooked all the veggies separately but in the same pan - putting the cooked ones into a big bowl and tossing them all together at the end. The pitas I bought were ridiculously thin, like tissue paper - I guess that's how they're low calorie, there's nothing to them. So I carefully opened them up and scooped the hot veggies inside. Then I stuffed them with slices of Swiss and carefully transferred them to my pizza stone in the hot oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Hard to eat because of the pita, but a fork and knife managed to get the cheesy chunks of veggies into my mouth. I don't think I nailed the taste my husband was looking for, but I did manage to make us a nice healthy dinner.

Two healthy meals in a row! WTF? It's a good thing we polished off a bag of Swedish Fish for dessert...

By the way - Check out the article I wrote for CT Bites about Dinner on a Stick Night!

-HH

Thursday, June 30, 2011 Grape Soda Night Was DDelicious!

Usually, once dinner is in full swing, I completely drop the ball on the picture taking and video making - but I managed to snap this shot before I ate all my grape soda pulled pork.

OMG! Grape soda pulled pork!

As I was preparing this feast over the course of two days I made an important discovery. Grape soda turns things horrible colors, but it tastes good.

Grape soda can chicken, seasoned with cocoa, chili, cardamom, galangal, allspice, sage, oregano, sea salt and pepper. Pulled pork seasoned with chili, cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, cayenne, paprika, sea salt and pepper, cooked in the crockpot with a bottle of Goya grape soda. Two kinds of grape soda BBQ sauce, one spicy and one sweet. Slammin drop biscuits, apple sauce made with grape soda and corn. Oh, the corn, with grape soda reduction and roasted garlic and butter - it was like a sweet ghetto Burre Blanc and gaddangit it was good! If you take any recipe from this dinner let it be this one. This covered about 12 ears...

1/2 can Grape Soda - put it in a pan at low-medium heat and reduce it by half,

Add a couple cloves of chopped roasted garlic and continue to reduce for about 5 minutes, it'll start to smell incredible.

Then add two sticks of butter, slowly in pieces, whisking it in to prevent separation.

Pour it on grilled corn, sprinkle with salt and BOO-YEAH!

You're going to have to trust me on this one. It sounds strange, but it will blow your mind with it's sweet complexity - simply dreamy.

Dessert was s'mores, and more grape ice cream sodas (which we also had as an app because dinner wasn't ready yet, bad timing on my part combined with early guest arrival. But no one complained they had to eat ice cream as an app, who would?). I just LOVE s'mores! I had two. And the guests loved them...and there was a big gob of melted chocolate on my carpet, always a good sign.

One of the best dinners ever - I really surprised myself. At one point, when I first pulled the pork out of the crockpot and saw the putrid color it had become I started to get nervous, but I managed to season everything perfectly. You can't go wrong with sweet and spicy, that's what I say!

Stay tuned for the video and feel free to contact me with any questions!

And, while you're at it, check out this awesome article I wrote for Alternative Control, check out this scene I did for Scenes from the Movies on Tango Dango and don't forget to make a reservation to see my play Connect Couples (dot) Com.

-HH

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Pork is Cheap, Yo!

I made this fantastic discovery - don't ask me why it took me so long, maybe I wasn't paying attention, but pork is cheap, yo!

These beautiful deep fried meatballs were born of a 1 plus pound pack - $2.41 I paid for it. That's it! What the heck kinda food do you get for $2.41? The cabbage is actually super cheap, too. 59 cents a pound and the sweet potato was 99 cents a pound. Looks I'm growing up to be an expert in post-modern-depression-like-living.

Of course the 1 plus pound pack yielded me enough meatballs to feed an army - or at least feed my husband and I for two nights. Tonight they found themselves sandwiched inside some kick-ass garlic scape bread and topped with caramelized onions and creamy cheese sauce.

It's was messy, drippy, tasty good. The kinda sandwich you need to take a shower after because it's dripped down your face and neck and arms.

Yum.

Here's the basic recipe for the meatballs. How would you serve them?

Basic Pork Meatballs

Slightly more than a pound of pork
1 egg
1/3 of an onion
1 clove garlic
fresh herbs (use what you like! I used sage, thyme and arugula)
salt and pepper

Mix everything together and then add bread crumbs in small amounts until the meatballs can be rolled into a semi-firm ball.

I deep fried mine, but you can fry them in a pan or do them in the oven at 350 until they're done. Always do a test meatball to make sure you've properly seasoned them!

I actually still have a handful of meatballs left...pizza?

-HH

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Homemade Marshmallows Rock \m/

I'm making candy for my Baking Two final. Cotton Candy, Hot Pepper Lollipops, Apple Jellies and Coconut Marshmallows.

Boo yeah!

Homemade marshmallows are unbelievable. You'll never be able to eat store bought again. Playland has these bad boys on sticks and every time we go you can be sure I stop and get one for the ride home. I don't think they've ever made it past the state line. Nummy with a capital NUMMY!

Here's the ridiculously easy recipe...

2 Tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin (Sorry, if you're vegetarian you'll have to look up the vegan recipe that uses agar-agar)

8 oz (by weight) of cold water

12 oz (by weight) white sugar

12 oz (by weight) light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 bag of coconut, toasted

Candy thermometer

Piping bag with large round tip

You'll need a mixer, stand up is better but I'm sure you can accomplish this with a hand mixer, you may need to borrow a hand.

Place gelatin in the mixer bowl with 1/2 of the water, make sure there are no lumps. Allow the gelatin to absorb the water, this is called "blooming" the gelatin.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 4 oz of water with the sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place the candy thermometer in the saucepan and heat the mixture to 240 degrees.

Have a clean pastry brush and a bowl of water handy. Sugar likes to stay in its crystal form, so while it's cooking you may need to use the wet brush to clean the sides of the saucepan. Even one sugar crystal will remind the others what shape they like to be in, so this is an important step.

Have the mixing bowl raised and ready. When the syrup gets to 240 turn the mixer on low and pour the syrup into the gelatin. Once all the sugar syrup has been added increase the speed of the mixer to high. It will turn white, gain volume and mesmerize you with its sticky strings of sugar pulling off the sides of the bowl. Whip it for at least 5 minutes. The temperature of the bowl should drop to lukewarm and you'll start to see a difference in the way it's whipping about. Add the vanilla and then turn off the mixer once it's incorporated.

Here's where you need to work quickly.

Fill the piping bag about halfway and pipe the marshmallows onto a tray of toasted coconut. Flipping them is a bit tricky, you don't want to touch the marshmallow with your fingers because it'll stick. So pour a little toasted coconut on top of each marshmallow and then carefully flip them over to completely cover. If you don't want coconut a 50/50 mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch will do the trick.

These are DDelicious! I can't wait for s'mores season to get here!

-HH

Friday, April 22, 2011 Butternut Squash Burritos

First off, I've gotta say the Stop & Shop in Darien has excellent employees. Every time I'm in there wandering around the produce department like a lobotomy patient someone always offers to help.

Sometimes I just don't know what to make for dinner. And, considering I'm a culinary student and accomplished dinner-party-thrower, this boggles me further into not-knowing-what-to-make-for-dinner purgatory. My mind gets hazy, I can't think straight and I have zero idea how to make anything into something tasty.

Yesterday I did about three laps around the produce section.

"Can I help you?"

"No...I just don't know what I want for dinner."

She smiled. She works in a supermarket and she doesn't know what to make for dinner either. Happens to the best of us.

Finally I spotted a container of cut up Butternut Squash. Hallelujah. Not very Earth Day of me, but this was yesterday. I'll admit, the ease of it caught my eye. I do tons of prep at school. Although I usually cook my winter squash whole, the chunks of orange sold themselves to me and I decided to make some...

Butternut Squash Burritos

Butternut Squash (cubed)
Brown rice
Black Beans
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
Flour tortillas
Wholly Guacamole 100 Calorie Pack (Since I can't seem to get a good avocado this is my guac of choice for now. Feel free to make homemade and feel superior \m/)
Fresh Cilantro (I was thrilled to find single serving herb selections. For 99 cents you can get the herbs you need and not feel like you're wasting anything. Brilliant.)

First I put some brown rice on the stove. For the two of us I added 1/2 cup of dry rice to about 1 1/4 cups of my homemade chicken stock (I added more later to finish cooking the rice). If you're vegetarian make it with veggie stock or water, although something with flavor is always best.

The cubed squash I boiled until it was tender and seasoned it with some salt and pepper when I took it out. While that was going on I put the chopped onions in a pan with a little olive oil, once they were translucent I added the black beans and spiced them with two kinds of paprika, chipotle and fresh garlic.

Throw the tortillas in a warm oven for a bit then layer the goods around the bottom third, fold in the sides, then the bottom and roll it up. Rice, squash and beans topped with fresh chopped cilantro and guacamole all rolled up in a warm tortilla. Mmm, mmm, mmm. The fresh cilantro makes it. The texture and flavor of the brown rice playes nicely with the spicy beans and sweet chunks of squash and the cool guacamole sneaks in to provide a contrast in temperature.

Very tasty. I'm looking forward to leftovers.

-HH

Sunday, April 3, 2011 Carnival Night Recipes

Carnival Night was a great success! The bunny may not have been impressed with the meal, but Uncle Carlos and Aunt Linda brought him bananas and basil so he couldn't really complain. And the people in attendance enjoyed celebrating the bunny's birthday with some awesome tasting food.

Deep Fried Salad with Kale Chips



Handful of green beans, one pack of button mushrooms, one jar of pickle spears.

Dry out the pickles, clean and destem the mushrooms, clean green beans and take off the strings if you need to.

To coat the veggies you'll need three bowls. One with flour, one with a milk & egg wash and one with corn meal. I used corn masa flour for the first bowl. I seasoned the milk and egg mixture with hot sauce and the corn meal I left alone.

Dip. Dip. Dip. Into the hot oil. Not rocket science. The green beans didn't really need that first bit of corn flour, they weren't moist enough to take any of it on. But the three dip process I've found really works wonders. Fish, squash...it adds a nice crunch to pretty much anything. And if you need to be gluten free the corn flour and corn meal is the way to go.

The kale chips were really tasty. Not everyone liked them, they can be a little bitter. But with enough seasoning I could be convinced to eat them every day!

Clean the kale, remove the ribs, toss with olive oil, salt and paprika and bake them in the oven in a single layer around 325 for about 15 minutes. When they're crispy they're done!


Pot Roast Sundaes



Believe it or not I've never made a pot roast. I'm not even sure if I've eaten one. I must have, it's not brain surgery. Big ole piece of marbled meat seared then cooked in the crock pot with celery, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and stock. Man I love my crock pot! I did it the day before the party, because food like this always tastes better the next day. I put the meat, veggies and juice in a smaller bowl and put it in the fridge so the fat would come together at the top and I could take it off. The next day I sliced the mean up cold, pureed all the veggies together and put it all in a pot on the stove to heat up, fall apart and come together in tastiness.

In a separate pot I made the mashed potatoes and then they went in the crock pot to stay warm! Love that crock pot, I tells ya!

Two scoops of potatoes, a scoop of pot roast, a sprinkle of cheese and a cherry tomato. I ate two of them. Crazy tasty.


Chili Cheese Dog Pizza



I had planned to make two kinds of pizza, this and a veggie. But the Chili Cheese Dog pizza was such a hit I made it twice. A few folks were brave enough to put mustard and relish on it! My husband made the chili for this one, good thing because I'd planned on just opening a can. GASP! I know. But I didn't feel like making a whole vat of chili for one or two pizzas. Thankfully my husband jumped at the chance to get back in the kitchen.

Chili, sliced hot dogs, cheese (mozzarella and cheddar)...we all wondered aloud why this was the first time our mouths were experiencing this. Incredible. Some suggested slicing the hot dog thinner, but that was nitpickyness. This was an amazing pizza combination. Talk of a pizza truck surfaced as someone suggested calling it "Vizza" :)

But it was not the time to be discussing business options and nicknaming a national dish after me. I had dessert to be making!

Cadbury Creme Eggs baked in a biscuit and served with Orange Butter Sauce.



OMG

Okay, the key here is to freeze the Cadbury Creme Eggs so they don't melt while the biscuit is baking. I used biscuit mix because I had it, but you can use any biscuit recipe you have, you could probably use the dough that comes in a can. Just remove the foil from the frozen creme egg (duh) and surround it with biscuit dough. My dough was sticky so I found myself using two hands to strategically plop, drop and slop bits of biscuit around it's entirety. Cover every little bit, no chocolate should be showing through and then plop onto parchment lined cookie sheets.

Mine baked for about 12 minutes. You'll need to add a little cook time because the center is frozen. That dough will need a bit more time to cook, trust me. My practice run was still doughy in the middle. If you've done a good job of covering the eggs in biscuit dough you won't have to worry about melted chocolate running out.

The sauce was just orange juice, a tiny spoon of sugar, butter and a corn starch slurry. I squeezed three oranges into a sauce pan and added the sugar and butter. In a separate cup I mixed water with a spoon of corn starch. When the sauce was reduced enough I added the cornstarch to thicken it. You could also use chocolate sauce, whipped creme, ice cream. Whatever your heart desires.

These were killer. No doubt about it. I had one the next day heated in the oven and I think it was even better. Or maybe they're just so good.......

Check out the video with music by In It For Storms!

And check out this month's Alternative Control \m/

-HH

Monday, February 7, 2011 Headbanging Sauce

(Originally posted on The Headbanging Hostess Facebook Page.)

I must preface this by saying this is not "Italian" sauce...meaning my husband doesn't make it this way. It's good sauce, but not what anyone's Nonni made.

Start with the oven at 425. I used half a large onion, 4 carrots, 2 celery stalks and 1 red pepper. Spray lightly with oil and roast until they start to get good color. The pepper can turn black if you want because you're taking off the skin. You can also do garlic, I didn't use it yesterday. My husband missed it, but I didn't. (He still ate two servings!) Wrap the garlic cloves in foil to roast.

Take them out of the oven when they look done, about 25 minutes, not too dark, fork tender. Put the pepper in a bowl and cover it with plastic, the steam will make it easier to remove the skin.

Now, when I was making the sauce I also had a pot of chicken stock going. A good amount of the flavor came from the stock, so you should consider making stock at the same time. Or you can buy stock and "fortify" it with some more veggies on the stovetop. Onion, carrots, celery. Mine had sweet potato, apples, rosemary, zucchini, peppers. The longer a stock cooks and reduces the better it's going to taste.

So when I emptied two cans of tomato sauce into a big spaghetti pot I used the stock to rinse all the tomato out of the cans. Don't worry about the sauce getting too thin at this point, as it cooks it will thicken. Throw all the roasted veggies in the sauce, the skinless pepper, the onion, carrots and celery. Keep it at a low heat and cover with foil, tomato sauce likes to disperse itself around the entire kitchen.

As Emeril would say, let it get happy for a bit. Then bust out your immersion blender and puree the whole lot. Add more stock to get the consistency you need/desire.

I really didn't add a lot of salt and pepper. I did use dried basil and oregano, but not in great amounts. The flavor of the roasted vegetables really shines through. This is a great way to sneak veggies into your diet. Or your kids diet :)

Rock on! \m/

-HH

Click here for an awesome Valentine's Day rantipe/foodicle in this months Alternative Control!

Saturday, January 22, 2011 BYO Dinner Party Success

Look at the colors popping out of that sammich and tell me the first BYO Dinner Party was not a success...you can't do it! Because it looks DDelicious!

My guests came through, bringing such goodies as prosciutto, basil and fresh mozzerella to homemade sour dough bread to BACON!

Oh yeah, screw the diet, I ate me an Elvis sandwich - peanut butter, banana and BACON!

They also brought a ton of cold cuts, so we had a succession of 6 sandwich combinations. I was cooking them up on the vintage Snackmaster and George Foreman Grill simultaneously, slicing them up and supplying the guests with a steady stream of sammiches.

My cheeseburger soup came out fantastic! Here's a brief rundown of the recipe. Keep in mind I made this with my own goose stock and my own beef stock (plus some College Inn Broth I had left over in the fridge), so if you make it at home you may want to consider making some homemade stock, to add a flavor all your own.

1 1/2 pounds browned ground beef
1 big can of crushed tomatoes
3 cups of beef stock
4 cups goose stock

Shredded cheddar, lettuce, tomato and onion for garnish.

Put it all in the crockpot on high and let it come together. Adjust the seasonings if you want. My soup was pretty liquid so I added butter and flour all mashed up together as a thickener. I also dusted corn starch on the bag of shredded cheese before I stirred it into the soup. Garnish with chopped tomato, onion and lettuce.

My soup had a real chargrilled taste because I made my beef stock with a steakbone from my New Year's Eve dinner at Capital Grille. I know it sounds odd, but it's not like it's been sitting around in my purse, it was in the freezer, and it was real tasty!

And the ice cream sandwiches...you can see here how good they were. And how fun they were to make!

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH

Saturday, November 27, 2010 Apple Pecan Pizza Pie

This is a great dessert you can prep ahead of time and whip up quick when guests stop by.

Start with the dough. If you have a great pizza dough recipe use it. If not you'll have to buy it at the store or the bakery, because I'm not giving out my recipe :)
Most dough you buy will need some time to rise, check the directions. I let my dough rise, then I portion it into 8 ounce balls and stick them in the fridge covered in plastic wrap. The longer they sit the better they will taste. 4 day dough is better than 1 day dough.

For the apple topping I used two kinds of apples. 2 Granny Smith and 3 McIntosh. Peel and slice evenly. Toss them in a pan with a little water, a little more brandy, some sugar and some cinnamon. As they cook the McIntosh apples will turn into sauce while the Granny Smiths will remain whole.

In another pan melt some butter, brown sugar and maple syrup. Toss in pecans and coat them with the syrup. Done.

Take a small container of ricotta cheese and mix in some powdered sugar to taste. Label it so you don't try to make lasagna with it and put it back in the fridge.

Put the apples and the pecans away in separate containers in the fridge until you need them. They'd last at least a week (if no one ate them, which won't happen). When your company stops by throw in your pizza stone and turn your oven to 500. Put some flour on the counter and your hands and push out the ball of dough with your knuckles. Put it on a pizza pan or cookie sheet and load with the toppings. Apple sauce first, then the pecans then the cheese. Cook on the pan for about 5 minutes and switch it to the stone to finish. Bake until crust is golden.

Eat, enjoy and hope your guests don't stop by everyday expecting this faboo dessert!

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH

Friday, June 4, 2010 Silence = Zucchini Night

Every time I cook a meal, at some point, there is total silence. That’s a good sign. It means people are enjoying their food.

Last night there was a lot of quiet.

The meal started off with a Zucchini, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad. Crunchy and sweet chunks of apple tempered the tang of the cheese. The colorful salad could be topped with walnuts, I had them out in a dish. But I forgot them on both of my servings. It was a delicious salad. A great way to start the meal, simple to make – I see many in my future. Maybe with bacon? Mmmm.

The Pasta-Free Lasagna with Zucchini and Chicken took longer than expected to come out of the oven, but as one of my guests said, it was worth the wait. Long thin slices of the summer squash layered with pounded chicken breast. It’s actually something my husband used to make when he was on the Atkins Diet, without the zucchini. The sauce I made was full of flavor, cooking the sliced squash to al dente perfection. Another great way to make a low-carb “pasta” that tastes good and is reminiscent of home.

The Zucchini Dessert Trio was excellent. The Lemon Zucchini Sorbet with Poppy Seeds was bursting with quadruple lemon flavor. Lemon juice, Lemon Verbana, Lemon Thyme and Lemon Balm blended together with the green zucchini to make the most gorgeous shade of citrus sorbet. When making it the texture seemed odd, so I added the poppy seeds as a distraction. But once frozen the dessert came together nicely, the poppy seeds adding a pop - as they should, according to their name.

The Zesty Zucchini Cookies with Quinoa were almost too healthy to accompany the other desserts. The steel cut oatmeal cookies made with homemade apple sauce, orange zest and yellow squash were par-baked during the day so I could serve them hot out of the oven with a cold glass of milk. Everyone got a bag to bring home!

The Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting were out of this world. Spiced up with ground cloves, moist with the zucchini and topped with a little dab of sweet heaven. We almost annihilated the cupcake tree. The best part? I have an extra bag of icing in the fridge. Strawberries, anyone?

Another successful dinner - and “only” three courses, unless you count the three desserts separately. And you count the two bread courses - which I loved. Two courses of bread with butter, what’s not to love? Other than the fact that it’s summer and I don’t fit into any of my shorts.

Stay tuned for the video!

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH

PS - I've tried to include links for some of the recipes. Please note that I rarely follow a recipe exactly as written. Neither should you.