quick dessert

I have lots of frozen berries, and a bit of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream (so good!)

In a small saucepan heat up, some berries, a splash of rum and heat until boiling for a little bit. Pour over ice cream and eat! Mmm. No need to add extra sugar like the compote recipes tell you too. Unless you want juicier berries.

Quick dinner

steamed summer squash (some lil' fellas I got at the farmer's market last weekend)
pasta (I bought a whole bunch of pasta at Costco during the summer, still using it up, wishing it was whole wheat though...)
Cheddar cheese (I get flack for this all the time, because I put cheddar on everything, even spaghetti with marinara sauce, but it's so so good!)

Quite a simple dinner.

Oh, and fresh mint tea: fresh leaves of mint and hot water. So tasty and supposedly helps aid digestion! It also takes me back to morocco (minus the dirt and sugar commonly found in the tea there... and fewer leaves because I just have the one plant- and I want it to last ). This is totally my new favorite. I think it's better than green tea.

I might have some ice cream later. I probably shouldn't have bought the ice cream, but I like it so much! Maybe a milkshake, I need to use my milk before it goes bad.

I'm looking forward to doing a bit more cooking this weekend (amidst prepping for my midterm). It feels so good to make food. I miss having people to share it with though.

*Sigh* moving/long distance relationship/new town

New cookbook!!

I just received my copy of Baked, I'm so excited to make something out of it, everything looks amazing!!
The brownies look good, the pumpkin chocolate bread, the coconut snowball cupcakes, the sugar cookies decorated... and especially the grasshopper cake (mint and chocolate!!! YUMMY!)

Actual cooking experience to be blogged later :)

Fall dessert, finally, baked apples again!!!

Baked apples are probably one of my favorite desserts. Especially with vanilla Ciao Bella gelato, however I don't have that. I do have some whipping cream so I'll probably whip some up (assuming it's still good, the sell by date has passed, and I don't know how long it stays good after that).

I'm not sure what kind of apple I got but it's flesh is pure white and it tastes like real apple. It is the best apple I've had in a while. I love apple season!!!!

Baked apple for me (for one :) )
1 apple (in a tall ramekin) cored (I left the skin on, but I wish I hadn't)
some butter
some oats
some raisins
some cinnamon
some sliced almonds

set oven to 350 degrees
bake for 30 minutes

mix up all the stuff except the apple, keeping the butter in little cold chunks, and pour into cored cavity of apple in ramekin

top with ice cream or whipped cream or yogurt or sour cream

dinner: other half acorn squash and mustard lover's deviled eggs

My dinner was the other half of acorn squashed, baked with maple syrup and butter. Then when I was still hungry an hour later... I hard boiled some eggs (thank you Joy of Cooking, they came out to perfection!!!) and made my mustard lover (mayo hater) deviled eggs. Very very, incredibly simple.

Hard boil eggs (take eggs out of fridge, put in pan, cover with 1 inch of water, bring to big bubbled boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 17 minutes (covered!) Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and run under cold water, or set in bowl with cold water. Tap egg on a plate to loosten shell alll over. Breaking it up into little pieces (while still attached to membrane below). Then peel off off the shell and membrane. Hopefully it comes off smoothly, it did for me today!! I always love when that happens. Then! Cut the peeled egg in half the long way, dump egg yolks into small bowl, mix in a couple heaping teaspoons of dijon mustard, mix together, put back into eggs sprinkle with paprika and eat! (There's no serving here when it's just you!)


Wash down with a beer :)


My dessert is a little bowl of frozen blueberries, I love the texture of frozen blueberries!

TO prep for tomorrow and the rest of the week I put some frozen berries in a bowl in the fridge to hopefully thaw a bit for tomorrow yogurt. Yogurt with only frozen berries (as opposed to just fresh or fresh and frozen) was too hard and thick to make in the blender, hopefully this will help. I'll find out in the morning!

I also made some blackbean salsa chili, a recipe given to me by my friend Erin who made it up. It is fantastic! satuee 1 onion + 1 cove garlic, pour in 1 jar salsa, 2 cans beans, sprinkle with some frozen corn. Proportions are up to you. Serve with cheddar cheese and blue corn tortilla chips. I like to sprinkle the cheese on top and then dip my chips, Erin likes to put cheese on the bottom of the bowl and then put chips in and crunch them up. So for meals the rest of the week I have leftover spaghetti sauce (to be eaten tomorrow before it goes bad!), black bean chili, yogurt, a cucumber, possibly spinach (it was starting to smell a little funny), too many lemons and 2 granny smith apples. My goal is to not need to go to the grocery store (or go out to eat) before I head back to Brooklyn again on Thursday evening. I think I can do it!

Cheers to frozen blueberries and beer!
Time to do some homework, good night!

I said no outloud, in my head

to cookies! My instructors on tuesday and thursday provide snacks to keep students from passing our or eating inedible berries on plant walks. Today I told myself not to have them because I will feel gross after eating them and they won't help me to reach my fitness goals. I stuck to the food I brought foe myself today minus one big pretzel stick.



Breakfast:

Remainder of vanilla yogurt

Plain yogurt (switching because of added sugar in vanilla flavor)

frozen blueberries

Frozen blackberries



Tossed in blender eat with sprinkling of grapenuts



Lunch;

Pretzels

Fresh tomato eaten straight-up

One ounce seriously sharp cheddar



Dinner:

Tbd when I get home but will definitely include the other half of the acorn squash!



I have also decided to get a pedometer- I have been climbing the hill every morning and tromping back every afternoon and I'm quite sure I'm putting on some miles over the week. Oh and this morning I was down two pounds! That makes healthy choices a little more encouraging when you see numeric results!

Movie: Our Daily Bread

I watched Our Daily Bread last night. It was a narrator-less film which made it all the more startling. It is filled with the sounds of machines, young chicks, squealing pigs. It shows, without comment, the inner workings of industrial agriculture systems. I highly recommend it. If you can, see it before Food Inc. Without the commentary you can get ideas before you hear anything form the filmmakers. It's available on Netflix.

Simple but tasty dinner: brocolli and acorn squash.

Broccoli appetizer and squash main course:

Cut acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds and strings, place face up in pan drop in a pat of butter and some maple syrup and bake at 400 degrees for an hour.

While that's cooking and you are hungry and waiting:
Chop up some broccoli and parboil it (I won't be steaming anything until I get steel wool to clean my steamer sized pot) (get your water boiling, drop in the brocolli, then strain before it starts to lose it's bright colors! Toss with juice of half a lemon and fresh ground pepper and eat while waiting for acorn squash!



It's like dessert, with the butter and maple syrup. Sooo tasty! Probably could have cooked just a little less to avoid the extra burning... but still, tasty!

I'm contemplating documenting all my meals with at least a description of what I ate. I think it will be interesting to follow (for me at least!) especially in regard to my interest in slimming down. I've also been cooking at home way more than I did in Brooklyn, I think in part because I miss Brooklyn food and have been disapointed with everything I've gotten here and just wished I'd waited 'til I got home to make something that I knew would be good! I have several cookbooks to work from, and several I'm eying. Wish me luck and feel free to leave comments, especially encouraging ones!

Again, Acorn squash... so good


Addendum: Plus a bottle of Brooklyn Lager, my carbs of choice :)

How to use the last 2 zucchini and 3/4 of an onion?

Spaghetti sauce! A quick dinner and the long simmer time gave me plenty of time to do my reading homework!

3/4 onion
2 small zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 oz. spagetti noodles

1. Chop the onion into tiny pieces (or whatever size you like really- I like my onion small, I really don't like big chunks of onion, layers still nestled together, in my spaghetti sauce)
2. Saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onions are light brown and translucent, toss in the zucchini and saute for a bit until they start getting light brown spots and pour in the can of chopped tomatoes.
3. Keep at a simmer for 45 minutes, stir occasionally- don't worry, all that liquid will cook off- you'll see!
4. Prepare pasta according to the directions serve on a small plate with warm sauce and some grated Parmesan on top!
5. So tasty :) enjoy!

Tips:

• measure your pasta on a digital scale. It keeps portion sizes under control, which saves money because you are getting all the servings out of a box of pasta rather than half the servings :P
• You could probably put pretty much any vegetable in this sauce. I've used carrots in the past, celery would probably be good. Chunks of squash perhaps? Anything that sounds good sauteed with tomato!
  

Side notes!

I realized today that it's been 2 weeks since I went out to eat/ got take out. I think I'm going to try the whole month- with the exception of when I go visit Brooklyn these next two weekends. If I can just eat at home I will save a lot of money. Especially if I don't over purchase and make sure I use everything I have! The list of the contents of my fridge is slowly shrinking but I really need to be more careful next time I go grocery shopping. I need to start meal planning!

Also, I planted some dill and leafy greens and one of them sprouted today! My basil is slowly coming back to life, I think I will bring it inside so I remember to water it more often. My mint is growing again! Also need to bring that one inside.

And I love my new cast iron pan. I also bought a cast iron dutch oven!! Very excited to use it to make stew when it starts getting colder!

Happy cooking!

Getting settled in my new place

The move is complete, I've met several of my neighbors, been to the farmer's market, Wegman's grocery store (24hrs! yay!) and wal-mart and now it's time to get back to blogging about learning to be cheap.

Some thoughts on setting up your apartment and how to do it cheaply.

• Share- ask your neighbors if they are interested in sharing wireless internet- if they already have it even better- you can check the strength of the signal.

• check craigslist for furniture or look up cheap ways to make your own. I went with the classic 70s style shelves because it's just me living here and I could carry each of the components individually.The black felt is to protect the recently refinished floors (and to prevent a heart attack in my landlord should he see concrete blocks on his floors!).
  

• Unpack your kitchen and bathroom first- make a list before you go shopping for things you absolutely need. If there is a category of things you would like but could live without for a while save them for the next month. I didn't do this and spent way too much in my first month here. In the end I decided not to go back and get the paper towel holder, just one more expense that could be done without.
  

• Take notes when you grocery shop. In Ithaca there are farmer's markets, a co-op, and a grocery store (that offers organic stuff, not so much fair trade, and is open 24 hours!). I have saved all my receipts so I can compare the costs. Tomatoes are cheaper at the farmer's market (for now) than at the big grocery store, same with potatoes (I got potato seconds for $1.50 a pound!). I am also comparing the costs of bulk pastas and grains. I'm not just comparing costs but also eco-footprints. I prefer to buy local because local food supports local farmers and I <3>

• If your apartment doesn't come with things you are used to, like a microwave, toaster or toaster oven- try going without for a while and see if you really really need one. I don't have a microwave but reheating food in a skillet tastes far superior and I'm learning to use my broiler to quickly toast/melt things (nachos!)

• Get an EZpass! Now that I have an actual address, I'm ordering mine I already have two trips to NYC planned and the ezpass will make the drive quicker, probably save gas from not slowing down and then accelerating and I will get discount rates on my tolls. How could I not get one!?
  

A couple foodie-on-a-budget tips:

• Make your own salad dressing. It's super tasty and you can experiment with mixtures. My recipe is as follows (quantities vary): dijon mustard, pressed garlic (or finely diced), lemon juice from half a lemon, fresh ground pepper, olive oil. Mix together and keep in a container with a lid. It will get a little solid in the fridge but when it gets to room temp it will be runny again. You can make it as thick or thin as you like depending on how much olive oil you add.
• If you have some ingredients and want to make something specific browse the web for recipes that use only things you have in stock, that way you don't have to make a special trip to the grocery store (so long as you keep your staples stocks) and you get what you wanted. I believe the phrase is "have your cake and eat it too"!
• leftover roasted potatoes could be remade into mashed potatoes (really easily), add some roasted garlic to give your potatoes new flavor!
  

This was my dinner, reheated roasted potatoes (with way too much oregano, gotta watch that pour spout!) and romaine lettuce with my homemade dressing. I also had some guac-salad with nachos earlier today. I love having my own kitchen!


Tonight I am making an apple bread using this recipe. I changed it to make one loaf, it's just me and I don't want too much bread! I think it could potential make a phenomenal grilled cheese sandwich- granny smith and cheddar are a great combo! I will have to taste the bread before I get to excited. It had all good reviews which is a good sign, I did make some changes though. No sugar was added, I used white whole wheat flour, instead of oil I added a 1/2 cup of no sugar added applesauce. I poured a little olive oil and agave nectar in when it needed more moisture. I If this bread doesn't spread too much it could probably be made as a free-form loaf.

This could totally be made into whatever shape you wanted. The dough was super thick, it didn't rise/spread much at all. It's really tasty and hearty. I think it would be great with some whipped cream, a glass of milk or some vanilla gelato! Warm it's pretty good because of the soft apple chunks (I put in like 2x the amount of apple it called for). It's not overly sweet, would be a good hearty breakfast bread, possibly with some yogurt.. ooo or peanutbutter!

Go forth and create!

About to come back from a summer of uninspired meals

Grad school is about to start. The budget is still smaller than I'm used to but the desire to eat well has grown exponentially because I just saw Food Inc. It was infuriating, frustrating , though provoking and inspiring. I'm going to try to eat on a budget but eat well. I've already decided that I want to reduce my sugar intake and no HFCS so this will mean some alterations to recipes and seeking out alternative sweeteners. I already know about honey, agave and applesauce but I'm also thinking about how I read that most recipes had a lot of excess sugar in them. So I'm going to try to wean myself off sugar, eat well and still within budget. The most encouraging part is that I will have a whole fridge and freezer to myself so I look forward to trying some preservation techniques.
I hope that anyone who reads this blog regularly or in passing will leave encouraging comments and think about how they are voting with their money.

Meat on the cheap

Sometimes you just need to do a little reading to realize the strange sounding cut of meat is totally edible and worthy for more than feeding to the dog.

Check out this NY Times article It May Be Cheap, But it's Also Tasty

I don't cook much meat and I tend to stick to chicken and fish, but in preparing my mole dinner I compared prices and while I like getting chicken breast fillets, the cost difference for thighs (which the recipe called for anyhow) was about 2$/ pound in savings! Next time I want to try something new perhaps I'll peruse the cheaper cuts of meat.

To Make or to Buy?

Slate beat me to it, I will still explore this topic as I planned, but it's an interesting read.

Brooklyn Homestead is online!

We are selling chocolates through Etsy! Please take a look at our shop, Brooklyn Homestead.

Slow times for blogging

In the throes of packing (yes KE, throes) and getting ready to move. My kitchen is packed up in part so that I can make sure that all my stuff is clean when it goes into boxes for 3 months. I'll be staying with my mom for 1 week then with KE for 3 weeks then I will be in Vermont, using a shared kitchen with unknown amenities. I plan to live off things from the farmers market cooked in an Alice Waters sort of way. I am bringing the following cookbooks to Vermont:


I will be on a 3 month hiatus from baking. It will be rough but I mostly have faith that I can handle it! I will also be training to run because I am going to sign up for 2 races in Ithaca int he fall (a much better time for races than the February one I flaked out on because it was like 2 degrees and I knew I'd hurt myself if I breathed in that temperature air. So KE stayed in bed - he was supposed to run too!).

I hope you look forward as much as I do to my baking free summer of fresh food experimentation! I think it will be a tasty and exciting time. I will probably bring my blender/food processor thingy too, for the making of smoothies and pestos. Fingers crossed for garlic scapes!




Get ready for a link to purchase chocolates as well, Brooklyn Homestead is almost up and running for our first batch of handmade chocolate truffles. This along with moving has been quite the busy time. Tonight is of course seafood night (Wednesdays for me and KE for the past 2 months). He has been kind enough to take the wheel of making dinner while I pack, so I don't know what we'll be having! Last week it was bay scallops!

I'm so bad with leftovers. and produce. and things that get moved in the fridge

I just found out about this neat website StillTasty which tells you how long foods really last in the fridge or freezer. Opened or unopened, dependent upon the packaging. This is excellent news because I have a tendency to forget about things. Probably the most helpful thing you can do, armed with this website, is to write what date you opened packages of things like cheese with longer freshness periods.

Everybody should at least peruse this site to get an understanding of expiration dates and how long to keep that one food that doesn't look bad but has been open for a couple weeks...

Cookies!

I am still working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. This creates a lot of spare cookies. So far no one seems to mind ;)

Ever had a kumquat? Me neither, until now!

I never had either but KE and I decided to give them a try. With no idea how to eat them we turned to the omniscient internet and found this video which explains 'How to Eat a Kumquat'!

We bought 6 of them. They are grape sized fruits with a skin that looks like orange peel but is more thinner, like a really tough skinned tomato. The tart flavor is intense at first (and would have been alarming if not for watching that video!) and chewing made it get sweeter. There's just one seed in the middle, about the size of a pine nut.

It wasn't bad, I don't know that I would snack on them, but I am curious about what kinds of dessert they make and how they are in a jam or marmalade. I hope to attempt making jam this summer! Probably raspberry or blueberry- depending on what's available in Vermont. I wish my grandma was around to teach me to make jam. Her's was so good I asked for it for Christmas one year and she gave me 4 tubs of strawberry jam! It was my most memorable present from her :) She made raspberry for my brother, I don't know if he was expecting jam though haha!

Busy busy busy andquick and tasty shrimp fettunici alfredo

Buzz buzz buzz.

I'm moving out earlier than I thought originally, last day of work Friday May 1st, party May 2nd, Pack truck May 3rd, drive it to my mom's May 4th.

One good thing is that my mom is moving at the same time, so we are splitting the truck cost which is good. If you know someone else who is moving at the same time as you sharing the truck is a great way to save money, and have help moving your stuff!

I'm still working on a sewing project which is keeping me form really packing. This weekend will be project finishing time and next weekend I'm off to visit Ithaca, the following weekend is packing weekend and the weekend after that I'm moving! I'd better start putting my weeknight to good use.


KE and I made shrimp and fettuccine Alfredo on Seafood Wednesday - it was tasty and quick and easy.

Sautee shrimp in butter til pink, add garlic, saute for a bit.
Pour 1c half and half in and about 6 heaping Tbsp grated Parmesan. Stir cooking until it thickens. Do not boil! While that is thickening, heat water and cook pasta. Drain and put back in pot. Stir chopped fresh parsley into sauce and over noodles and serve!

We had this with asparagus. It was a tasty meal. Quick, easy and filling. Just don't forget the vegetable, or else it's not very well balanced!

Spagetti! Cheap and tasty dinner (for 2)

Making dinner for E and myself; our weekly dinner together- scheduled to avoid over-scheduling with significant others ;)

I decided to make tomato sauce and a side of sauteed zucchini, I almost put the zucchini, grated, in the sauce, but then I didn't want to dilute the flavor of the zucchini so decided to serve it as the vegetable.

I didn't have pasta but I had left over onion and some baby carrots. I spent $5 on stuff to feed 2 people (and there is still half a box of pasta left).

Saute small diced onions and chopped carrots in olive oil until onions are translucent and carrots are soft, add garlic, stir stir stir.

Pour in one small box of crushed or strained tomatoes (I prefer crushed, strained which I accidentally got, are too watery), let simmer while you cook the pasta in salted water.

The side was sauteed zucchini thin sliced coins in olive oil with garlic and a sliced up cibatta from the bakery (that was $1, we split it.)


Five of our 6 ceiling lights are out, so we ate a candle lit dinner :)
Ooo, you can see the steam!