Don't Call It a Comeback

Hello,

You've probably come here by mistake. You see, this used to be a food blog. Four years ago when I was nothing but a bright-eyed lab manager, looking for a chance to earn her MD, I started this blog. Back then, in the before-time*, I had the time and energy to cook and bake and it was glorious. But then came medical school. And with it, a series of ever more sleep-depriving activities. Clearly this blog was one of the many things that got neglected and for that, I apologize. I'm probably talking to myself here, which isn't entirely unusual, but if you're reading and by some chance missed me, then I'm talking to you.

I have a few weeks before my internship starts. I have made a few decisions concerning my use of that time. On top of the coursework and orientations and moving that has to be taken care of, I want to write. So I am writing. And I am going to do what I truly set out to do back in the before-time: I'm going to talk to you about food that is stupid-easy and quick to prepare. Because if it isn't, I literally will not be eating it.

With love and newly-formed wrinkles,

K.

*Before-time: The period of years before one enters medical school. Often considered a magical golden age, the before-time occasionally takes on mythic attributes.

Summer is for Blackberries

After the chicken post, I was supposed to have two more recipes up within a matter of days. However, in my infinite winning, I left a bag of groceries at the store and didn't realize until the next day. Even better, this bag had some of the most important ingredients of the two recipes I just mentioned. Well, I finally managed to get my shit together enough to make the cake I was planning on. There is also a pasta recipe, but that has to wait because, yet again, I am an ingredient short. FML.

Blackberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from bon appetit.

3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks) + more for greasing
2 1/3 cup cake flour + more for dusting
2 small packages of fresh blackberries
1/4 cup + 1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 cup buttermilk
powdered sugar (for dusting)

Whenever you're baking, it's usually best to let your cold ingredients come to room temperature before you start working (a notable exception being butter in pie crust). Once you decide to make this, let the butter, eggs, and buttermilk sit out for a while before you start assembling anything.


Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter the bottom of a 9" or 10" springform pan. Cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the same pan and fix it on top of the butter. Butter this parchment paper and then dust with flour, tapping out excess.

Arrange blackberries on this buttered, floured surface, and sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over them.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda. In a larger bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) cream together the 1.5 sticks of a butter and the 1.33333 cups of sugar. Mix until this is pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and zest.

Reduce mixer speed to low (if that's what you're using) and add the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating between the two, until all has been added to the bowl of butter/sugar. It tends to work out best to start and end with flour, but do what works for you. Divide the flour into at least 3 additions and the buttermilk into at least 2, but if you want to go even slower than that it should be fine. Important here: don't over-mix. Stop mixing once the flour has been just incorporated.

Pour cake batter over blackberries and smooth out the top. Place in the oven and set the time for 45 minutes because you'll want to check it at this point (it probably won't be done, but it might be). The cake is done when it is golden brown and bounces back when pressed with a fingertip.

When cake comes out, let it stay in the pan and place the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. Remove the bottom from the pan and peel off parchment. Dust the top (blackberry side) generously with powdered sugar and let cool completely.

Notes

• I'm usually a brownie batter and cookie dough eater only - cake batter has never really done it for me. But holy god, this stuff was tasty. It will also be very light in terms of texture, almost like if whipped cream and cake batter had a baby. This is good, this is what you want.
• There was a ton of debate on the bonappetit.com reviews for this about the proper cooking time. The original recipe states that you need 1 hr and 25 min for a 9" pan, and 1 hr for a 10" pan. I'm using a 9" pan and my cake came out finished at 1 hr but I had to cover it with foil around the 45 minute mark or the bottom (non-blackberry side) would have burned. Just check it as you go to make sure things aren't burnt and don't be surprised if you end up cooking it for a little longer.
• I don't ever have the patience to wait for non-iced caked to cool so I ate a piece of this warm. It's delicious though I recommend adding a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cost

• I got the blackberries on special at 2 packs/$5 and everything else is pretty much stuff you should have on hand so it's about a $5 cake.
• According to the source, this is a 10-serving cake at 410 calories per slice.

Stunning Men and A Home-Cooked Classic

You know what I found today? This. Needless to say, a good bit of my afternoon and evening went to trying to ask Jensen Ackles questions he would actually answer publicly. Out of the three I submitted, he answered one. Apparently most of my inquiries are just too personal/creepy/not okay to be acknowledged. I have no hard feelings though. It's very difficult to be upset with someone so beautiful. Emma laughed at my new-found stalking hobby but, not having ever seen Supernatural, questioned whether Jensen could really live up to the gorgeousness of Ian Somerhalder; I have no answer for this. I have no answer for anything right now, as I have spent the past 20 minutes looking through pictures of these two and have drifted off to a happier place where Jensen and Ian and I sit around sipping coffee and doing crosswords together. Mmmmm.

Oh

uh

food?

That's why we're here? Huh. Okay.

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Rosemary, and Honey
Adapted from bonappetit.com.

1 2-4 lb chicken
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 lemon
1/2 lb shallots, peeled
fresh rosemary sprigs (at least 1 large bunch)
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line your roasting/baking pan with rosemary sprigs. Set aside.

Whisk oil, honey, and most of the juice of 1 lemon in a small bowl.

Open/rinse/remove giblets/neck from your chicken. Now, beginning at the neck, use your fingers to go between the breast meat and the skin to loosen said skin. Pour about 1/2 of your oil mixture on the breast meat (in the space you just created) and try to spread it evenly around as best you can. Spread the rest of it evenly over the rest of the chicken. Set chicken on top of the bed of rosemary you've prepared.

Slice your second lemon in half. Place 1 of those halves and 1 whole, peeled shallot in the cavity of the chicken. Stuff the rest of the rosemary in there too. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.

Cut the other half of that lemon into slices and place those on top of the chicken. Place the rest of the shallots in the baking dish around the chicken.

Roast the chicken, basting as often as you reasonably can (maybe once every 10-15 minutes?), for 45 minutes. Increase over temp to 425 F and roast for another 10-ish minutes, until a thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 F and the skin looks delicious.

Remove from oven. Enjoy.

Notes

• This recipe was originally doubled (IE: for 2 chickens) so feel free to scale this up as needed. 
• If you don't know where you keep the meat thermometer, you can use the classic method of cutting a slit in the skin between the thigh and the body of the bird and making sure the juices run clear. Also, don't get salmonella. That shit is nasty.
• I couldn't find a baster in Emma's apartment so I just tried to spoon juice over the chicken as much as I could. This is tedious and ineffective, so if you have a baster, use it.
• Keep an eye on things while they are in the oven and cover the chicken in foil if it looks like things are getting too dark.
• The chicken came out moist with a slight hint of lemon in the meat. It was good, but I don't know that I tasted anything all that different than I've tasted in many roasted chickens of yore.
• The shallots are sweet and delicious.

Cost

• I bought a humanely-raised chicken cause I'm a sucker for that shit so that plus the rosemary plus the lemons came to $11. This should last me at least 3 meals so, not too bad.
• Calories are obviously less for the white meat, but on average, about 450 for 1/3 of the bird.

Bonus

Though I am loathe to admit it, someone close to me has done a very accurate and abbreviated version of this post that I will share:

[7:44:50 PM]: I'M POOR OH GOD I HAVE NO MONEY I SUBSTITUTED CHEAPER THINGS I HAVE NO KITCHEN EQUIPMENT I'M JEALOUS OF EMMA'S STAND MIXER CHICKEN CAME OUT OK I HAVE NO FREE TIME THE END

Tart Frozen Yogurt > Studying

Keeping the bowl of the ice cream making attachment of the KitchenAid mixer in the freezer is successfully encouraging Emma and me to make more ice cream and ice cream-analogs. She definitely spear-headed this recipe too, and I think it's brilliant.

Tart Frozen Yogurt
2 1/2 cups Trader Joe's 2% Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Place mix in the bowl part of your ice cream maker. Hit Start. Wait 20-30 minutes. Enjoy your Pinkberry-style frozen treat.

Notes

• I'm sure brands other than Trader Joe's would work; my favorite greek yogurt tends to be Fage because I find it to be thickest. Similarly, I'm sure you could up the fat content of the yogurt for a creamier final product.
• If you don't have or don't want to use agave, replace the 1/2 with 3/4 sugar. This may also work with an artificial sweetener if you're trying to cut down on calories, but I haven't tried it so if it doesn't work out, not my B.
• As it was with the previous ice cream recipe, reserve any mix-ins you want for when the yogurt is done being churned. Ideas: granola, nuts, berries, chocolate chips, candies, dried fruits.
• Allowing your pet to clean out the greek yogurt container is entirely optional, though completely adorable.

Cost

• A half-cup of greek yogurt + a tbsp or so of agave + vanilla = at or under 180 calories. Pretty damn good for dessert.
• Greek yogurt can very greatly when it comes to price, usually from about $3 to $6. That means a batch of this will run probably between $6 - $12. Considering a single serving from a fancy yogurt place is often somewhere between $4-$7, this ain't bad.

How Many Doctoral Candidates Does It Take to Make Ice Cream?

I ask. Emma answers matter-of-fact-ly: Two. It seems she's right. In an unprecedented turn of events, I am blogging and photographing this adventure, but someone else (Emma!) is doing pretty much all of the work. She's also doing pretty much all of the singing. It is a humble tune, one I have dubbed "Churning," and it goes like this: churning-a-churning-churning-a-churning. It's cute.

My excitement is less lyrical but just as strong since I don't have a fancy stand-mixer (*sigh*) or its fancy ice cream-making attachment back home. Alas.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Adapted from Baked Bree.

1 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups 2% milk

3 1/4 cups heavy cream

1 tbsp vanilla

6 handfuls of sea salt potato chips
2-3 cups of hot fudge

Put cocoa and brown sugar together in a bowl.

Add milk and cream and whisk until well combined.

Pour mix into your frozen ice-cream maker bowl and follow its instructions.

Voila! Ice cream!

Emma and I wanted fixin's (that apostrophe is substituting for the g, not a possessive marker - just to be clear) so we divided up the batch and mixed in chips and fudge during the ice cream's soft-serve phase. I wrote the amounts assuming you'd want to mix up the entire batch with chips and chocolate but use less if you're making less ice cream.

Notes

• I had a whole big, clever post written up and it went away. I don't know exactly where but now that it's gone I feel deflated and don't really want to re-write all of it. Le sigh.
• Feel free to use different things to mix in or no mix-ins at all. Chocolate chips, marshmellows, nuts, cookie pieces, cereal pieces, broccoli florets, whatever gets your boat to floating.
• It is crucial to use high-quality cocoa here. One of the main reasons Emma and I started experimenting with add-ins was because we used the Hershey's cocoa we had on hand and definitely tasted the low-quality bitterness. That said, the texture was great and it was incredibly easy so it's worth doing if you have the equipment.

Your Entire Shopping Cart in One Meal

Hello Friends! Emma has returned from her Boston/NYC extravaganza so we made a celebratory Costco run and ended up with some delicious chicken-apple sausage that we decided we had to start eating ~immediately. As some of you may recall from a trip I took to Philadelphia last year (two years ago? I honestly don't know anymore), lots of meat + veggies = frittata.


Also, special thanks to Emma, not just for letting me invade her apartment for the summer and for the use of her wonderful kitchen, but also for being this post's photographer. If you notice a difference in picture quality for the better, that's why.


Frittata (general)
meat
vegetables
cheese
eggs


Heat meat and vegetables until they are desired texture and doneness. Add eggs and cheese to veggies and meat (which should be in an oven-safe skillet). Cook until edges and top look like they're nearly done. Pop in the oven until the edges are done. Frittata!

Costco-Style Frittata


2 full-size sausage links
3 small potatoes
2 ears of corn
1 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/4 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 cup grape/cherry tomatoes
12 eggs
milk (for texture and volume)
salt
pepper
cheddar cheese (chunked or shredded)


Go ahead and get a large-ish pot of water boiling, place an oven rack in the top of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 F. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized chunks. Add potato chunks and ears of corn (husked, if they didn't come that way) to boiling water and cook until potatoes are soft - approximately 9 minutes.


Cut sausage into bite-sized pieces. In an oven-proof skillet, heat oil and add your sausage (teehee). Ours came fully cooked so we just wanted to get the outside a little brown but if yours are raw you should probably take this opportunity to actually cook them. Remove from heat and place sausage on paper towels to drain.

At some point, cut the corn off the cobs and dice up all of your veggies.


Salt and pepper the potatoes to taste. Add more oil to the pan and turn up the heat. Fry the potatoes! (You're essentially making home-fries here, and yes, you're welcome.) Remove from heat and remove any blackened bits from the pan. Add more oil if needed cause you're about to saute up your veggies. Add garlic and onions first. Once they are caramelized, add peppers. When peppers are as cooked as you like, add the tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and sausage.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs with milk (volume ratio ~2:1, egg:milk but play around). Spread your skillet mix around evenly  in its skillet and then pour the egg-mix over it. Add cheese and stir it around a bit. Now - and this is the best part - don't do anything! Wait until the edges of the giant egg monster you've made are looking cooked and the top is mostly set (~20 minutes). Shove that bad-boy in the oven. Keep an eye on it, but you're just looking for it to brown around the edges and stop looking liquidy (~15-20 minutes for a 10-12 inch skillet).

Serving Suggestion: eat with ketchup, while watching The Bachelorette. These guys are hilariously self-important.

Notes

• This, as it was before and likely will be again, is a giant frittata. It is also incredibly full so if you want more egg in your egg dish, use less in the way of veggies.
• All of these ingredients (except the eggs) are optional. More veg/meat, less veg/meat, different veg/meat. Do it. Do it all.
• If you jiggle the frittata and it jiggles back, it's not ready for the oven.
• Feel free to sub in egg whites for whole eggs if you're trying to cut calories.

Cost

• This can be as cheap or expensive as you want, but a dozen eggs is generally about $3 and let's say you used some leftovers, some veg you already had, and bought $10 worth of new ingredients (+ eggs). You're going to get about 8 servings at around $1.63 each.
• Chopping and the frying and the whatnot can take a good bit of time, but if you're using leftovers (IE: broccoli from last night, chicken from the night before that, etc) it should go pretty quickly. About 30 minutes for the frittata to cook once it's assembled.

You Can Take The Girl Out of Texas ...

and she won't really mind, although she will miss the food. Okay, enough of the third-person douche-baggery. But I am making a "tex-mex" chicken soup, which is essentially tortilla soup minus the tortilla strips (though you should totally add those if that's your thing). Also, I'd like to give a special thanks to Emma for hosting me most-of-the-summer long, and her kitchen, which is way bigger and more beautiful than mine.

(I left this page open while I was cooking so I could write down anything that came to me and wouldn't forget it. This isn't relevant to anything, but Pandora just tried to play Creed on one of my stations. Who does that, Pandora?)

Tortilla(-less) Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light.

olive oil (enough to coat the giant pot you should be using)
1/4-1/2 of an onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced*
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
shredded chicken**
1-2 bag(s) frozen kernel corn
4 cups chicken broth
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained (and rinsed if you care)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
cheddar cheese
lime wedges

* If you like you're shit extra spicy, just mince. If you prefer it mild, make sure you seed these guys too.
** Use as much or as little as you like. The original recipe calls for 3 cups, but I just bought a package of raw chicken tenders, boiled them w/ the juice of half a lime, and called it a day. People like to get all butt-hurt over boiled chicken but truthfully, if you don't overcook it, it's one of the easiest ways to end up with moist, cooked chicken.

Coat your cooking vessel in olive oil and heat it up. Add onions, garlic, red pepper, and jalapeno. Let this saute for at least 3 minutes, or until you've gathered up all your spices.

Now, take those spices, throw them in the pot. Bam! (If you will.) Stir it up and let it sit for 30-ish seconds. Add chicken and everything else up until black beans (but add those too). Bring this to a boil and then reduce heat and allow your almost-soup to simmer for 6 or so minutes.

Add cheese and cilantro. Serve with a lime wedge.

Notes

• Because I tend to be as lazy as possible without truly fucking something up, I left about 1/2 of the jalapeno seeds in the jalapeno mince. Bad idea. If you end up making a similar mistake, add a dollop of greek yogurt or sour cream. It will temper the heat and make your soup edible again.
• Since this is cooking and not baking, all of the ingredients are pretty much optional and flexible. The only thing you probably have to have is the chicken broth (though if you're going the vegetarian route, you can use that ass-tasting vegetable broth stores sell). Speaking of which, chicken is optional. Veggies are interchangeable. Have fun. Go nuts.
• Upon investigation, I realized I say "go nuts" a lot. Deal with it.
• I don't know if I've written up enough recipes with corn in them for you to notice, but pretty much any recipe that involves corn ends up as the corn-version of that recipe. I used 2 whole bags of frozen corn in this soup, so it might be more appropriately labeled "Corn-and-Chicken Soup." You're fine with 1 bag unless you love corn as much as I do.
• Speaking of love: cheese. Original recipe says to use queso fresco but that's harder to get on the east coast than it is on the Juarez border so, you know, cheddar. As per usual, use whatever amount your fat-kid-little-heart desires (mine desires an entire block).

Cost

• I lost my receipt but I'm not apologizing this time. Why? Because I dug through the trash to try to find it. The old banana peel, dog fur-laden trash. For YOU. Yeah, now you're hungry.
• If you use 3 oz of cheese, and keep each serving size to 1 cup, you're looking at 186 calories. Not bad.

With Much Love and Apologies

Hello! I know it's been ages - close to a year - without a post. I can do nothing about that now except apologize and promise to try to make it somewhat up to you over the next two-ish months. I am on a sort-of break from medical school (they are rare and precious) and want to tell you about some wonderful things I've been cooking and think you should cook too.

If anyone still reads this - and I doubt that - know that you are appreciated. And will soon be rewarded with a low-cal chicken tortilla soup recipe. In the meantime, thank you for coming back. Apparently medical school really is as time-consuming as they say it is, and then some.

Love,
K.

The Saffron Saga Continues

This is another recipe that should have been posted while I was in Durham but wasn't. As some of you know, I've been on somewhat of a saffron binge since I bought it for one recipe and haven't quite been able to get rid of it (and that shit is expensive).

Bell Pepper Soup
Adapted from Power Foods.

3 cups chicken broth
generous pinch of saffron
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, diced
4 large bell peppers, diced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp half-and-half or milk
salt
cayenne pepper
plain, low-fat yogurt (garnish)

Bring broth to a boil - and say it five times, fast. Add saffron (and really, be generous) and stir to dissolve. Turn off heat to let it steep.

Heat butter in a large saucepan. Cook onion and garlic in said pan, stirring frequently, until they're softened and starting to caramelize. Add celery and bell peppers. Cover and cook until everything has softened, about 20-25 minutes.

Add wine, stirring every so often until it's evaporated. Add broth, 1 tsp (or more) salt and cumin. Simmer and cook until vegetables are nearly falling apart, about 10-15 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. (I didn't do this thinking I could save myself a few minutes and definitely ended up with some pepper soup burns down my arms. Go read a book chapter or something before you move on. Unless you have an immersion blender in which case a) I hate you because I'm jealous and b) you may proceed immediately.) Puree soup (in the pot if you have the tools or) in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Return puree to saucepan, stir in half-and-half or milk, and reheat gently - if you let this boil it will curdle so, you know, watch it. Season with cayenne pepper. Sure immediately warm, or allow to cool in the refrigerator for 2+ hours and eat cold. Either way, garnish with yogurt (I used Greek).

Notes

• I'm not in love with this recipe. It turned out fairly bland and was more of an excuse for me to eat a bowlful of saltine crackers than it was anything else. Adding salt helped, but only because it made it saltier and salt is delicious. More saffron probably would have been better, but since I used more in this recipe than I have in any other, I thought it'd be safe. Not so.
• I preferred this warm, but I'm also not a fan of cold soups in general, so you serve it as you see fit. Also, as it's at least 30 F warmer in El Paso than it was in Durham, I might have felt differently had I made it here.
• As should be fairly obvious, I used orange bell peppers. The original recipe calls for yellow but as was the case more often than not, the ingredients I was supposed to use looked rather pathetic at the market.

Cost

• As will be the case for all of my leftover Durham recipes, I have no idea how much this cost. If you're trying to use up your saffron as I was, it's pretty cheap. I would not recommend going out and buying saffron just for this recipe though, unless you have some sort of intense bell pepper fetish.
• Health-wise, this soup is pretty great. Only 96 calories per serving (this makes 6) with under 2 g saturated fat (if you use the half-and-half) and 13 carbs.
• This took about an hour which could probably have been better spent. C'est la vie.

Damn My Hot Oven

Hello friends and lovers (*wink*)! I had started a draft way back in June (when I was still living in Durham), so the following paragraph of commentary is from that time. I am currently making dinner with my new oven in El Paso and will undoubtedly be comparing it to my previous oven in the next post.

I know what you're thinking: "But Kristine, if you know your oven runs hot, why don't you just set it lower? Cook your goodies for less time? Stop being such an idiot?" And those are good questions, provided we're talking about baked goodies and not my, you know, goodies. Ahem: I did set my oven on a lower temp, but it didn't seem to make a difference. There is some bizarre calibration curve that maybe, if I really really wanted to, I could sit down and figure out but I haven't and I won't. I'm moving in a month [sic] and hopefully my shiny new apartment will be have an accurate and shiny new oven. Despite my knowledge of the hot oven, I had to make cinnamon buns, been-craving-for-a-week kind of had-to. So I did. And they're yummy, even if the outer-most layer is crunchy.

PS: As it is with all leaven breads, this one will take a while. If you're trying to have these ready for a Sunday brunch or some such business I would make everything Saturday evening and leave the last rise to happen overnight, then throw them in the oven about forty minutes to an hour before you want them in the morning.

Cinnamon Buns
Adapted from Bon Appétit via Epicurious.com.

1 cup whole milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (divided)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast
2.5 tbsp cinnamon (divided)
1+ tsp salt
non-stick spray
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (divided)
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Microwave milk and butter together until 120-130 F (about 30-45 seconds depending on your microwave's wattage). If you have a stand mixer, use its bowl as the bowl in the next set of directions and fit it with the paddle attachment. If you're a member of the baking proletariat (as I am), you're going to have to make due with a wooden spoon when it comes to the mixing - electric beaters really don't get the job done. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Beat on low or with spoon for about 3 minutes. Keep beating until all the flour is absorbed - you're trying to get a thick dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl as you move it; it will likely be super sticky when you first finish mixing, but continue to add more flour by the tbsp until it reaches the right consistency.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Kneed until smooth - adding more flour if you need - at least eight minutes. Form into a ball.

Get a clean bowl (or the clean the bowl you just used). Grease the inside of it (butter, oil, spray, whatev). Put the ball into the bowl (that's what she said? ... god I hope not) and turn it to coat in grease. Cover with plastic wrap, throw a kitchen towel over the top, and allow to sit until doubled in size (about 2 hours).

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. If you double the amount of these ingredients I won't judge.

Before rising

After rising (no zoom)

Once dough is sufficiently large, punch it down. Transfer to floured work surface. Roll it out into a rectangle, approximately 15x11 inches. Spread butter over dough leaving a 1/2-inch or so border. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over butter. Starting at a long side, roll the log tightly, pinching gently as you go. With seam side down, cut crosswise into thin (less than 1-inch wide), equal slices - you'll have 18 at the end.

Spray two glass baking dishes; if you have two 9-inch square pans, use them. I have a mishmash of glass ovenware that does not include duplicates so I ended up baking mine in a 9x11 pan and a 9.5-inch pie plate. It worked fine. Pack dough slices tightly into ovenware and cover with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in volume again, about an hour (or overnight if this is the night before).

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake rolls until golden, about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately invert pans to release rolls. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then turn them right-side up.

Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth with an electric mixture (now you get to use it). Spread glaze over rolls and enjoy. Mmmm.

Notes

• I brought these into work about two days after I made them and nobody even realized they were there until about two days after that. They kept great, but my suspicion is because I didn't frost them. Frost to order and these should be quite store-able.
• Also, pro-tip, make sure you heat your roll up for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave if you're not eating it fresh from the oven.
• Have milk on hand.

Cost

• I have no idea where in the hellish mess of a move my recipt ran off to (probably the apartment complex's trash bin), but these weren't expensive. The most costly thing you'll be buying that you might not already have is the cream cheese which is about ... what? $3 for 8 oz.?
• SO MANY CALORIES. SO WORTH IT.

A Brief And Incomplete Update

Hello my friends! I am immensely sorry for my absence over the past several weeks, but moving two time zones across the country kind of takes it out of a person (that person being me). I have started my cultural medical school courses - not all medical schools have this, but since 60% of the population of El Paso speaks only Spanish, the school thought it best that we understand the Mexican culture and language. Science business starts on August 1st and I can't wait. My white coat ceremony was this past weekend, so I have one of those now.

In the move some things got misplaced, as things do during moves. Namely, my camera. I have no idea where it is. I've been looking and will continue to do so because I have some fabulous meals and treats I want to post for you. For now, though, I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive, in one whole piece, and miss you terribly.

Millet Muffins And Excuses

Maybe I'm not cut out for blog life, what with this "regular posting" and all. Maybe I'm just super lazy. And maybe, just maybe, it's both. In any case, I made these muffins ... a week ago? Three? And better late than never ...

Millet Muffins
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day.

2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup raw millet
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2 lemons, zested and juiced

Preheat your oven to 400 F with a rack in the top third of it. Grease a standard 12-muffin pan, or line with paper liners.

Whisk together all dry ingredients. In another bowl, after lightly beating the eggs, whisk together the remaining ingredients (the wet ones). Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until the flour is just incorporated - over-stirring this will make the batter dense, making the muffins dense, making you (the assumed eater) very unhappy.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, leaving about 1/4 inch below the top of the pan. For me this meant making two batches. Bake 15 minutes or until muffin tops are browned and just starting to crack. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for about 5 minutes before transferring the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• These were great as snack food. Lightly sweet, I quite liked them with either raspberry preserves or butter and honey. Especially if I warmed the muffin in the microwave for about 11 seconds first. 
• Heidi (this cookbook's author) notes that these go over well with the "cornbread crowd" and I can see why. If you were going to make cornbread as a side to a meal or as a component of stuffing, you may want to try these instead since millet is supposed to be super healthy or something.

Cost

• As you can surmise, this is a super quick recipe. Between mixing and making, you're only looking at a half hour. Cooling brings it up to about an hour.
• My apartment has become a Bermuda Triangle of lost receipts which, regretfully, means I can't give you an exact cost per muffin on these guys. I will say, though, that shopping in the bulk section at Whole Foods for the millet and whole wheat pastry flour will make your costs more than reasonable. Those were the only two things I had to buy and I'm confident I paid less than $5 for them.

The 348th Reason I Wish I Owned A Food Processor

Hummus. It's delicious, healthy, a great accessory for pretzel chips - so I decided to make my own. It was good, a touch sweet from the sweet potatoes (it's shocking, right?) but mostly I just kept thinking about how good it might have been had I had a food processor. I love my Osterizer blender so much: 1970s face, old-school buttons ranging from "Grate" to "Liquefy" ... it's always got my back with soups and smoothies ... but sometimes you just need a food processor. Specifically, chickpeas need a food processor or in the midst of your delightful sweet potato spread you'll find little chickpeas, bobbing around like they don't give a fuck. Well, I give a fuck. And I'd like my sweet potato hummus to be all integrated, as God and Martha Stewart's editors intended.

Sweet Potato Hummus
Adapted from Power Foods.

2 smallish sweet potatoes
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup tahini
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 lemon, juice of
salt
pepper

Set a pot of water to boil on the stove. Peel sweet potatoes and chop into 1-inch pieces. Add to boiling water and cook until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and set aside or put into your food processor/blender. Add remaining ingredients to mixing device. Process until hummus consistency, adding up to 2 tbsp of water if you need to. Garnish with smoked paprika, if you like.

Notes

• Using less sweet potato will mellow out the sweet potato taste; if you're just looking for a straight-up hummus recipe, omit the sweet potatoes all together and use 2 cans of chickpeas.
• As with most savories I post, this is easily tailored to your palate. I used about 1/2 tbsp of salt in mine, but you may only need a pinch. The original recipe called for 1 clove of garlic but I love that shit so I tripled it. Etc. You should feel free to do the same.
• I looked like a fool in Whole Foods trying to find the tahini. If you've never bought/seen it before, they tend to keep it near the peanut butter.
• This was actually really good; the proportions of the recipe I listed above are appropriate (at least I think so) and even though mine tasted a little less like chickpeas than I would have liked, I'm convinced it's because I couldn't blend them properly into the rest of the mixture, not because of some failing in the recipe. But maybe I'm wrong. If you make this, please leave a comment and let me know how it turns out.

Cost

• Including the time it took to cook the sweet potatoes, you're looking at about a half hour for this adventure.
• If you consider an average size container of hummus to be 10 oz (information I quickly looked up on the Sabra website), this runs about $2.85/container. The tahini was the priciest part of this (at $5) but now I have enough of it to make this recipe 15 more times.
  

Anything Clever Involving "Fish" Is Pretty Gross

Remember when I made that Chick Pea "Stew" and bought saffron for it? Well, now I have a bunch (and by "bunch" I mean "about a teaspoon") of saffron in my apartment that I'd like to use because it was fucking expensive. Luckily, I have more than a few cookbooks that assume the reader is made of money and just has tons of saffron sitting around all the time. Hurray?

Sea Bass in Tomato-Saffron Sauce
Adapted from Power Foods.

1/4 cup sliced almonds
3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp saffron threads
1 can (28 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes
salt
pepper
1 lb sea bass
1/4 cup dried currants
3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced


Either on your stovetop in a small pan or in your oven at 350 F, toast your almonds (about 3-4 minutes on the stovetop, about 6-7 minutes in the oven). Meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add garlic to hot oil and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add red pepper and saffron; cook about another minute or until fragrant. Add tomatoes. Using your stirring utensil, break up the whole tomatoes. Add salt (about 1/2 tsp). Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally, cooking until mixture has thickened (about 15 minutes).

Cut fish into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Add fish to tomato-saffron sauce. Add currants. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir to combine and cover to cook for another 5 minutes. When the fish is flaky and no longer gelatinous (as fish is), it's done.

Transfer to bowl(s) and sprinkle with almonds and scallions.

Notes

• The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs of sablefish which is higher in omega-3s and just one of those generally super-healthy fishes. My Whole Foods didn't have any sablefish but the fish guy called around for me and found out sea bass has a similar cooking profile and I think it worked out just fine. I went with only a pound because shit's expensive.
• Also, there is 1/2 tsp fennel seeds in the original recipe but I hate fennel and everything else that tastes like licorice. If you want to add these, do so when you add the red pepper and saffron.
• If you wanted to substitute crushed tomatoes for whole you probably could, but I liked having big chunks of tomato to bite into now and again. Your call.
• It was really wonderful the first night and kept fine, but was never quite as good. Definitely something to make for more than one person so it all gets finished in the same night.

Cost

• I made this last for 4 servings which happens to be what the book recommends. If you care about this kind of thing, each serving runs about 530 calories.
• Between the sea bass and the saffron, if you're starting from scratch this puppy is going to be pricey. For me it ended up at $7.05/serving.

A Little Something for The Heat

According to all reliable sources meteorology, it was Hot As Balls yesterday. Luckily, there are several little concoctions in my new cookbooks that I've been meaning to try that seem cool, crisp, and delightful.

Cumcumberade with Lime
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day.

1 cucumber
1 lime, the juice of
1/2 cup water*
3 cups ice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 tsp salt

Put all items in a blender. Blend until there are no more chunks of ice or blobs of honey (you may have to scrape down the sides). Take your pants off (if they're not already), and enjoy.

Notes

• The original recipe called for 1/2 lime but I didn't think was nearly enough so feel free to add as much as you like. Similarly, I thought the water worked out splendidly, but you may want to substitute it for limeade or lemonade if you happen to have some on hand (this may mean you cut back on the honey, though).
• I recommend taking your pants off because of the heat, not because I'm a perv.

Cost

• All told (chopping, pulling out the blender, measuring out the honey, etc) about 4 minutes.
• This made about a quart and since I only had to buy a cucumber and a lime, cost $1.50.

My First Date with Soba Noodles

As you've surmised by now, I make way more food than I can (read: should) actually consume in a reasonable amount of time. In an effort to correct that, I bought a cookbook that is specifically for one-portion meals. Being the leftover whore that I am, though, I doubled the recipe.

Soba Noodles with Edamame
Adapted from Serve Yourself.

4 oz. dried soba noodles
1 cup shelled edamame
2 tbsp sliced almonds
2 tbsp nut butter*
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tbsp hot water
salt
2 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper

Bring well-salted water to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add soba noodles and cook according to package directions (mine said 3 minutes). Use tongs to transfer noodles to serving bowl when they are done - keep the water. Bring it back to a boil over medium-high heat to cook the edamame according to package directions (5 minutes for me).

While edamame is cooking, toast almonds in a small skillet over medium-high heat or in the oven at 350 F until fragrant but not burnt (about 2-3 minutes). Transfer to a plate to cool and chop if you like. Once the edamame is done, combine with noodles.

In a seperate bowl, combine nut butter, vinegar, garlic and red pepper flakes. Add hot water from the noodle/edamame pot until the dressing has reached the consistency you want; I used between 3 and 4 tablespoons. Add salt to taste. If it needs to be tangier, add vinegar. Spicer? Add red pepper flakes. Etc.

Add dressing to noodles and edamame, along with scallion, bell pepper, and almonds. Toss to combine.

Notes

• The original recipe calls for almond butter but I had peanut butter already so that's what I used. My guess is you can use any nut butter you have on hand (though I'd exercise caution using anything homemade, if you know what I mean).
• The original recipe also calls for a red bell pepper but the orange ones were speaking to me when I got to the market. Red, orange, or yellow pepper would work just fine. I'm not sure about green but if you use it let me know how it comes out.
• Soba noodles, for those of you who've never worked with them, are sticky as fuck. It might be worth it to separate them a bit after they're drained so that when you "toss" to combine the whole meal at the end, you're not just pushing a clump of solidified noodles around.
• I recently invested in a bunch of tiny tupperware containers so when I ended up with 6 extra scallions, I just divided them into green onion pieces and chive pieces and packaged them up to store in the freezer. You could do the same to save some money and then just bust them out the morning before you need them again.

Cost

• As I said, I doubled the recipe, but you could easily multiply this up by however many nights you'd like to eat it or people you'd like to serve. I believe the soba noodles I bought were on the order of 9 oz. so assuming that for the ingredients I could have actually made 4 servings, this totals at $3.24/bowl.
• This took less than half an hour to cook and assemble.