A Little Rambling

School starts on Monday!  Well, parent teacher conferences start on Monday and school starts on Tuesday, but whatever.  I've ordered my workbooks, made up my gradebooks, organized seating charts, set up my class and my desk and my calendar and made forms and passes and all kinds of stuff...and have chosen (almost) no music and written no plans.  I'm severely lacking in motivation, and the closer I get to panic the more I avoid it.  Thus, blogging.  I WILL get it done, and the situation is not as dire as it appears, but I'm still in quite a tizzy of terror.  It won't be that bad...right? Anyways, the purpose of getting on here today (for the first time in far too long) was to share another recipe.  This one is stolen from a wonderful neighbor and adapted slightly. These ham buns are DELICIOUS and easy.  I've made them twice this week for friends who came over. Ham Buns 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 small onion, diced up into itty bitty pieces ...

I've been cooking a lot on the weekends, and feeding as many people as will come over and eat with me.  Dad told me I need to be a little old Jewish grandmother, since I never seem to be happier than when I am feeding people.  It's true!  I think it might come from having worked at the Hospitality House , but wherever it originated, I absolutely love to cook for others.  Sharing food makes it better, and part of it might be just that I like to show off. I had one particularly show-offy meal this week.  Nate came over for dinner on Sunday, and it was a Greek/mediterranean/middle-eastern food fest.  I got to use my new-to-me grill for the first time, and all the food actually turned out really well!  It's always nice to feed someone who vocally appreciates one's efforts, and Nate was good at that. The menu was: pork souvlaki (almost), quinoa tabbouleh, tzatziki, and flatbread.  The flatbread I bought from Trader Joe's, and I wish I had a lot mor...

The other night, mom cut up a fresh pineapple, and I looooooove pineapple.  I decided I needed to make a smoothie, but not the healthy kind.  It was perfect.  Light, fruity, delicious. Ingredients 2 or 3 scoops Haagen-Dasz pineapple coconut ice cream about 1/2 c of ice as many pineapple chunks as you want about a cup of pina colada mixer Directions 1) Mix it all together with a blender. 2) Genießen.  (enjoy!)

I'm sitting here snacking on this week's recipe as I blog.  I was at the grocery store earlier, realizing that the week was almost half over, and while I had cooked several times, I hadn't made anything from a new recipe, (which is my challenge to myself over the summer).  Mom wanted some hummus, but the store only had roasted red pepper (my favorite!), and since she doesn't like peppers, she hadn't bought any.  So, I decided to make her some. Hummus is delicious, high in protein, gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan.  It's great with pita or veggies and makes a good on-the-go meal or a healthy snack.  I chose rosemary to flavor it because a) it's my favorite and b) I have a large rosemary bush in the backyard, so it's convenient.  Also, you'll notice that there's no tahini* in my hummus, for two reasons: I don't like sesame, and we didn't have any anyways. Ingredients 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained 1/4 c olive oil 1/4 c lemon juice ...

A couple weeks ago, I saw a recipe for "Cheddar Bay Biscuits," a knock-off of something served at Red Lobster, where I have never eaten nor have any desire to eat, as I don't like seafood.  Wait, I take that back, I ate at one in New York, for reasons unknown.  I ate a caesar salad, my traditional seafood avoidance dish. Anyways. All of a sudden, I heard of these biscuits often, and always with glowing praise for their deliciousness.  Having spent the last week in the tropical paradise of the Bahamas, (I promise, that blog post is coming soon!) I've heard a lot about seafood and different recipes and approaches, but this is the only one that appealed to me, as it's NOT fish.  Finally being home and looking forward to not eating out, I decided I needed to try this recipe.  I enjoyed myself so much that I have set a summer goal: make at least one thing from an actual recipe every week. So, I give you a recipe based on a food I never tried first - Red Lobster...

I keep having the thought that I want to write a cookbook. More specifically, I want to write "The Alcoholic Cookbook - for People Who Don't Drink." It's one of a long list (included is also a College Student's Cookbook, which is something along the lines of cooking with only a microwave and hot plate and not using any ramen. Maybe I should combine them. But I digress). Anyways. I'm a huge fan of using alcohol is cooking, and this recipe is one of the biggest hits - and suuuuuper easy. Just look - you can see the steam rising from it, fresh from the oven. Ingredients 3 cups flour 2 Tbsp sugar 1 Tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt (a little more if you use sea salt) 1 cup cheddar cheese (finely grated) 1 bottle (12 0z) beer (I used a Corona...ehhh) 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) melted butter Instructions Preheat your oven to 350 ° and grease a 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. Mix your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add the beer an...

One of my very favorite 'holiday' foods. And by holiday, I mean any time that the weather is cool and cloudy and warm, hearty food sounds good. Those days here in the valley are rare, so they all get to be special! Stoup is wonderful for having groups of people over, as it is non portion-specific. (The name comes from the cross between stew and soup.) It's also good for having just to yourself, since it will last forever and just gets better with age. It's super easy, not too pricy, and deeeeelicious. Good college-student food. You will need any of the following: beans - as many kinds as you want: black beans, kidney beans, red beans, great northern beans, pinto beans, ranch style beans, blackeyed peas, more black beans (cause they're the best, of course!) - no garbanzo beans - stewed tomatoes - generally 1 can to every 3 or 4 cans of beans? mexican style is yummy, or some kind of fire roasted tomato salsa (I used one can of each today) onion (red, white, yel...

I have long aspired to become a domestic goddess . Though I do not limit this to cooking, that seems to be the most currently marketable aspect, as I do not have my own home, nor my own family. Thus, I start where I can. Tomorrow night is my Halloween celebration, and we're doing food pot-luck style. I've been hankering to bake something, so I decided I would bring pie. Not just any pie, however. I wanted to make a pumpkin pie - from an actual pumpkin. Along the way, I somehow decided to make a pecan pie too. I began my adventure this afternoon by shelling fresh pecans with Heber while watching The Incredibles . Carrying my bounty home, I investigated the contents of my kitchen and ran to the grocery store, where I collected the necessary supplies, including a sugar pumpkin. Sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins) are much smaller than the typical jack-0-lantern variety, sweeter and less stringy. I can't imagine how much pie filling you could make from one of tho...

Mmmmm dinner last night was delicious, and my wonderful sister took some pictures so that I could make up a "real" recipe blog. This is fairly easy food and always well received, so I hope you enjoy! Also, this is my first time writing it out, so it's probably pretty wordy, not nice and concise like normal recipes. Ah well. Bacon-Wrapped Chicken ingredients (suggested) chicken breasts thick bacon herbs/spices of various assortments according to your taste olive oil red wine possibly toothpicks 1. Get yourself some chickens out of the freezer. Because I am kind of bad at planning ahead, I generally marinade my chicks while they're thawing. It seems to work quite well. I used boneless & skinless this time, though there's a delightful variation if you use boneless, skin-on chicks in which you stuff the skin with herb-y cream cheese. Delish! But this is not that recipe. 2. Arrange them artfully - or not - in your glass pan, or if you don't have a g...