Northside Food

Acceptable Chain Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:36:00 +0000

I'm visiting family in Texas right now, and like most people, I struggle finding acceptable places to eat when I'm away from my familiar haunts and dealing with a large crowd of eaters with different tastes. It seems like for every seasoned world traveler who happily eats cold jellyfish salad, there's at least two more that seem to subsist on nothing but chicken fingers with ketchup as a side. If I'm at home, I can easily navigate everyone to a local, independent place. But on the road? I'm pretty much at anyone's mercy.

That's where chains step in. As much as they get a rap for boring, mediocre food, they do serve a very real need on occasional. Sometimes that lowest common denominator is the best everyone can agree on. And the dirty secret of hipster food bloggers like myself? Some of them aren't terrible. In fact, some of them can be good. Here's my list of acceptable chain restaurants that you don't have to twist my arm to get me to.

My go to spot for quick, casual and healthy eating is Panera Bread. Panera has fresh made salads, soups and sandwiches. Best of all, they post the calorie counts right there on the menu board so I never worry that I'll accidentally eat a thousand calorie salad.

If I'm in the mood for a burger, 5 Guys hits the spot. Not nearly as good as the offerings at Oak Street Cafe, or even The Counter, 5 Guys still manages to put together a decent burger and more fries than a human being should really eat. Sure, you can do better. But you can also do much, much worse.

For sit down meals, I'm fond of Chili's. Most of their menu is crap, but every location I've been to can grill a decent steak and I can order a double portion of steamed broccoli to go with it. (I am slightly more like to indulge my weakness for mashed potatoes and gravy though. Okay, not slightly. Very likely.) And my husband and I used to go to Chili's all the time when we were dating. Nostalgia!

For fast food, my favorite is Chik-fil-a. I'm under no illusions that it's healthier for you than any other fast food. But it's much tastier than McDonalds. The chicken is an honest to go chicken breast, not extruded "chicken", which reassures me that I'm eating food and not a chemistry project. On Sundays, when they are closed, Wendy's is my next choice. There I have the option to replace my fries with chili or a side salad, which helps me not be such a fatty mcfatterson.

For other chain dining suggestions, I recommend "Eat This, Not That" from Men's Health. They have comparison guides telling you the worst thing, diet wise on national menus and offering a much more reasonable substitute.

How about you? Any suggestions on where to eat when on the road?

Also, if you like what I post here on the blog, consider following me on Facebook.

What I'm Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:44:00 +0000

I'm trying a new thing for the blog. My Google Reader is crammed full of interesting articles about food, local or otherwise. I've often thought about doing a weekly round up of articles I've read here, but its too easy for me to forget what I've read by the end of the week. Finally, I've found a solution: Facebook.

I've made a Facebook fan page for Northside Food. Every day, I share a couple links to articles focused on the local restaurants, seasonal produce and other related items. If you like the things I've written about here, it's pretty likely you'll be interested in what I share over there. And every week, I'll round up the best of those links and post them here for those who prefer that. We'll experiment with this and see how we like it.

This week on Northside Food, we've got a recipe for blueberry butter, as well as simple instructions for freezing your extra blueberries.

FIGO has a deal for free meatballs. You can read my review of FIGO from 2009 here.

To get these as I find them, along with more great recipes, articles, reviews and more, be sure to "like" Northside Food on Facebook.

Review: Roswell Tap

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Yesterday we were in the mood for something new, so we decided to try Roswell Tap. This is a new gastropub that just opened up in Alpharetta Highway in a renovated, historic home. I really enjoyed it and we plan to be back.

The menu is basic pub grub, like wings, burgers, pizzas, etc. But everything is made fresh with carefully sourced ingredients. We tried the "grit chips" appetizer on the advice of our waitress. These are corn chips made of pressed grits and what I guess is masa flour. It's served with a dip made of collard greens and bacon. The effect is somewhat like a spinach artichoke dip, but with a down home twist. It's the kind of dish I love finding at restaurants, a dish that makes me go "Why didn't I think of that?" What I'm saying is you need to go and eat this right now.

My husband, being a man of large appetite ordered a sausage and pepperoni pizza for himself. It was 14", so even he could only eat half of it. The pizza crust was thin and slightly chewy with a little char on the bottom. Good stuff. The toppings were very flavorful and just the right amount.

I ordered the spinach caprese salad for my lunch. This was a large portion of baby spinach leaves topped with marinated mozzarella balls and tomato wedges and a balsamic vinaigrette. I was disappointed in the tomatoes. They were "grocery store" tomatoes without much flavor. But the cheese was excellent. Get better tomatoes and this dish becomes a winner.

I think next time we go, if we don't decide to try the sandwiches, we'll split the pizza and salad together for a slightly more balanced meal. The bar menu looked interesting, with a variety of beer, wine and cocktails. From their website it looks like they've only been open a few weeks, so I encourage you to check them out.

Farmer's Market Season is Upon Us

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:44:00 +0000

With spring comes fresh vegetables and markets to sell them at. The Alpharetta Market is in full swing and we've been shopping there for a few weeks now. The Roswell Market is about to open this weekend. Unfortunately, we have to skip both as my husband is running the Warrior Dash in Mountain City, and my job is to hold his wallet and look admiringly at him when he jumps over the fire pit.

The Alpharetta Market is doing really well this year. Several meat vendors have joined, so you can now purchase grass fed beef, free range pork and free range buffalo. Atlanta Fresh Creamery also has a booth, along with an ice cream lady and a few other goodies. The farmers aren't as plentiful as they can be at the Roswell market, but I've still managed to find broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes and more in the last few weeks.

The Roswell Market? Well, I have no idea. Partly because it hasn't opened yet, but also because the City of Roswell doesn't have any kind of serious web presence for the market. They post announcements on the city's website, but they get buried quickly. And this evening, they posted this video on the city's Facebook page. Sigh. The lack of easy to find, updated information on local markets, farmers and other sustainable, hippy food sources is a BIG pet peeve of mine. Is it really that hard to set up a Facebook for your market/farm?

If you are new to shopping at farmer's markets, you might be interested in this guide I wrote a few years ago.

Easy Leek Potato Soup with Yogurt

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 01 May 2011 22:58:00 +0000

The last few months have seen me ridiculously busy. I've been working two part time jobs, going to grad school and chairing a fantasy literature convention. But as of yesterday, I've finished all my school work for this term (I'm on a self paced program via Western Governors University. I finished approximately two months ahead of schedule according to my pacing guide. I'll just add more classes later this week so I can get my Masters in Special Education just that much faster.), my convention was two weeks ago and for the first time in a long time, I find myself with nothing more pressing this afternoon than reading and updating my sorely out of date blog. It's kinda nice.

After some fitful half starts, spring is truly underway here in Roswell and it is glorious. The awful storms from last week have given way to warm afternoons, low humidity and light breezes. Even the pollen isn't so bad today. I'm typing this on my netbook from the back porch. With spring has also come fresh produce from farm stands and the Alpharetta Farmer's Market. My husband and I have been a little giddy at the prospect of fresh fruit and vegetables, straight from the ground, instead of the limp, pale imitations we've endured all winter.

The primary source of our spring time bounty has been a farm stand run by Floyd Kessler of Moss Hill Farm, in Milton. Every week, Floyd sends out a cheerful email update with pictures of the produce having equal weight with those of his grandchildren. We've been buying from Floyd for several years now, usually through the Roswell Farmers Market. This year, we're ordering from Floyd directly and picking up our vegetables at his charming farm every Saturday.

This week's haul includes two pounds of joi choi, an Asian greens stir fry mix, green onions so large and heavy you could club a man to death with them, and a leek. I could not recall if I'd ever eaten a leek before, so I only ordered one for this week. Today it became a delicious potato leek soup. I liked it. Leeks now have a place at my table.

1 leek, cleaned and chopped, about a cup
1/4 cup spring onion, cleaned and chopped
2 cups potatoes, diced
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
1/4 yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in pan. Add leeks, onions, cook until soft and translucent. Add potatoes and enough water to cover. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add milk and yogurt, use immersion blender to combine and puree ingredients. Add generous pinches of salt and pepper. (I actually salt at every step of this recipe, and still needed to add a big pinch here.) Simmer gently for five minutes to combine flavors, and serve.

This soup is tangy and delicious, and is slightly lighter than the one I converted using whipping cream and buttermilk. The leeks and onions give it a nice flavor, and the potatoes add body. Over all, it's a good soup and one I'd make again. I highly suggest getting on Floyd's mailing list so you can try it yourself.

Gluten Free Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:03:00 +0000

For me, "gluten free" always conjures up visions on neurotic suburban housewives knocking cupcakes out their kids' hands in a panic. "Not gluten!" they gasp. Which is unfair of me, because I know that many people have a real sensitivity to gluten. I just think there are many people who don't actually understand food and just hop on the latest nutritional fad.

The other things I think of when I think of "gluten free" is "taste free" and "weird, complicated ingredients". Fortunately, these muffins feature neither. The weirdest thing is oat flour, which is obtained by simply pulsing a few cups of oatmeal in the food processor until fine. Oatmeal is easy! And the flavor on these is amazing. they have a nutty texture, a rich mouthfeel from the yogurt and big apple flavor. You can substitute a cup of any fruit puree for the applesauce and still have a delicious muffin. The original recipe from Cheap Healthy Good that I've tweaked used mashed bananas and I've done it with pumpkin as well. Just make sure it's a full cup, otherwise your muffin will be bland.

The only downside of these muffins is that they are not very pretty. The lack of gluten means they don't rise very well, so you end up with something about the size and shape of a hockey puck, but made of oats and delicious. Never you mind that! Just enjoy your tasty muffin and share it happily with gluten sensitive friends.

1 1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups oat flour (This can be made by putting two cups of rolled oats in your food processor and pulsing it until fine)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce (or other pureed fruit)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grind oats to make flour. Combine with rolled oats, yogurt and milk. Allow to hydrate for a few minutes. (This step is important! If the oats don't hydrate, they won't cook and it'll be gross. This is usually when I find and measure my other ingredients. ) Combine spices, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, oil and applesauce with the oats. Measure into well greased muffin cups. Bake for about twenty minutes or until a knife point inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Serve and enjoy.

Roswell Neighbor Article

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:54:00 +0000

The Roswell Neighbor did an article on local bloggers this week. I'm one of them. Hooray!

If you're one of the new readers brought here today, welcome! Here's what you need to know about this blog.

I love food. I love trying new recipes and eating new things. I stuffed my face full of Korean BBQ the other day and I loved it. I shop at local farmer's markets when I can. My cooking influences are mostly traditional southern food, with a healthy dash of Asian inspired cuisine. I love to bake, but so far I've been too impatient to manage a decent pie crust. But I do plenty of cakes, cookies and quick breads, along with an assortment of yeasted breads. I love finding hole in the wall places with fabulous food and sharing them. I am not a fan of chains, or fast food (unless it is Chik fil a). My weakness is Chinese take out. I'm a busy lady who is on a budget, but still wants to eat sustainable, healthy food. This is what I write about.

When I'm not cooking or blogging, I'm a fan of science fiction and fantasy. I am best known as a fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I run a programming track for it at Dragon*Con and I chair a convention dedicated to it here in Atlanta. I'm the kind of fan that gets early copies of the manuscript for the next Wheel of Time novel "for feedback". It's finally turned into a part time job doing microblogging and social networking for the publisher. If I disappear from blogging for awhile, it usually means that I'm either getting ready for a convention, or there's a Wheel of Time book coming out. Yes, the whole thing is slightly ridiculous, but its also hella fun.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Beet Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:48:00 +0000

I will spare you, dear reader, any of the dozens of beet related puns that spring to mind when I think of this recipe. Forget what you know about beets and chocolate cake. Leave those preconceptions at your oven door. This is an amazing cake that's going straight into my regular circulation.

When I first heard the words "chocolate beet cake", I was intrigued. I like chocolate. I like beets. Who knew they could go together? But they do! The result is a deeply chocolately cake, rich in antioxidants and fiber. Eating vegetables has never been so fun. I adapted this recipe from Fat Free Vegan, just for maximum weirdness.

I made a few changes to the recipe. First, I diced my beets small and roasted them. A boiled vegetable just seems like a wasted opportunity. Roast those beets and give the natural sugars a chance to caramelize. It's worth the extra step. Second, I was short by about a quarter cup of applesauce and I wasn't in the mood to grab another jar from the pantry, so I did end up using an egg. (If you didn't know, pureed fruit will substitute for eggs in most cakes) So this was not an entirely vegan cake. It should work just fine without the egg though. I also used half a cup of brown sugar, where the original calls for only white. I like the flavor of brown sugar. The cinnamon is a fantastic addition to the cake. I think the next time I make this, I will also add a spoonful of chili powder. That, combined with the dark chocolate cocoa powder I used, makes an almost Mexican hot chocolate tasting cake. (Which makes me wonder how a slice would taste with dulce de leche drizzled over the top. I may have to try this. )

2 large beets (diced and roasted until fork tender and the edges are brown)
unsweetened apple sauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Puree roasted beets in your food processor. Add applesauce to make two cups total puree. Add vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and sugars. Pulse to combine. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Combine wet and dry together. Pour into greased, parchment lined cake pan. Give it a few good drops on the counter top to knock all the air bubbles out of the batter. Bake on center rack for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Well, I'm back

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:58:00 +0000

I had to take some time off from blogging. In fact, I disappeared almost entirely from the internet for the month of December. The holidays were part of it, but not entirely.

Back in September, my father in law was diagnosed with the late stages of stomach cancer. When we went to visit the family in east Texas for Thanksgiving, he was being checked into a hospice. There was no way we could go back to Atlanta at that point, so we massively rearranged our lives so we could stay in Texas until the end. Joseph Liang passed away quietly on December 18th. Since then, I've been trying to make up missed school work and get caught up on the rest of my life that I missed. Blogging here did not seem like a priority.

Though I would like to talk about Joseph for a bit. My father in law was a very kind man. He could have been furious that his only son chose to marry a white woman and live with her three states away, rather than marry a good Chinese girl nearby. If he ever disapproved of our choices, he never let on. Instead, he treated me like a daughter from the moment my husband said we were getting married. Oh, he made no secret that he wanted us living closer, but it was never said in a hurtful way.

Joseph came from a long line of professional chefs. My husband is actually the first Liang in several generations to not be a chef. Joseph's own father cooked for Nixon when the President made his historic visit to China. The Liang's settled in Tyler, Texas, and opened the eponymous restaurant they are best know for there. My husband and his sisters grew up in that restaurant, waiting tables, working the register and folding wontons and eggrolls in the kitchen. They sold it just before I met my husband to retire, but got bored and opened a new fast casual place called "Ming's Cafe".

People always ask if I learned how to cook anything from my father in law. I do have some of his recipes. Passing on recipes to me was always problematic. Joseph cooks like me, without a written guide, improvising on the spot. I'd have to watch him several times to get something down and infrequent visits during the holidays were not conducive to learning to cook.

Also, no matter how hard I try, I will never get it right. There was a certain magic to the way Joseph worked, a kind of wizardry I can't replicate. He tried to show me once how to fold a pork dumpling. My clumsy hands couldn't replicate it. My husband can't quite manage it either, but his come much closer to the neat, fluted pleats his father made. So while I do make Chinese at home, I don't say that I make Liang family recipes. Those belong to other people.

One of the Chinese traditions that I like is the ancestor shrine. We have a big framed picture of Joseph in our kitchen now. Jimmy placed an offering of three oranges on a plate in front of him. I gave him a shot of whiskey. The picture is from Jimmy's college graduation party. Joseph is in his kitchen at home, cooking. There's big bowls of mu shu pork around him, and it looks like he's pouring a noodle dish out of his wok and onto a plate. This is how I'll always remember him, in the kitchen, happy.

Curry Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:24:00 +0000

When ever fall happens, it's like a magic switch in my brain flips. Instead of salads and grilled meats, I start craving soup and things that have been braised. Which is really too bad, because the best lettuces are now in season and i just don't want anything to do with them. Oh well.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I hate squash. It is a vile, tasteless vegetable with a nasty, slimy texture. And then I realized that I'd only had yellow crooknecked squash, usually steamed. Of course I hated it. So I've made it my mission to discover squashes that I like, or at least recipes I can tolerate them in. It seems like butternut squash soup does the trick.

Astute readers will recognize this soup as a riff on the Pumpkin Curry Soup I posted a couple years ago. There's been a dearth of pumpkins at the markets this year, so rather than use canned pumpkin or spend eight bucks for one at Trader Joe's (for reals? Eight bucks for PUMPKIN?), I decided to mess around with butternut squash and see if it did the trick. And you know what? It does.

The trick is to roast everything. And I do mean, EVERYTHING. The squash gets roasted, of course, before being added to the soup. But I found that kind of bland, and so I decided to roast the onions, potatoes and garlic before adding them as well. It makes a huge difference. The onions caramelize and gain a heavy sweetness which is really notable. The potatoes and garlic are also improved. It's really just a better soup altogether.

1/4 cup onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups potatoes, diced
1 butternut squash, cooked. (I do this by wrapping it in foil, then throwing it in the oven at 350 for about an hour. It peels right off the skin.)
2 tablespoons of butter
4 cups chicken broth
Curry powder to taste (a couple tablespoons is what I use)

Toss the diced potatoes, onions and garlic with a couple tablespoons of canola oil and spread on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt, then roast at 350 until brown and crispy. The onions will start to smell like oniuon rings. that's how you know you did it right.

In a pot, melt the butter with the curry powder. Add the cooked squash, the roasted potatoes, garlic and onions. Add the chicken broth and simmer for about ten minutes, then puree. I like to use my stick blender for this.

You end up with a savory soup that gets its power from the layers of flavor created by roasting everything. It's not as heavy as other butternut squash soups that get their omph from cream. And it would be pretty easy to convert to vegetarian by using veggie stock, or even vegan by swapping out the butter for olive oil. Give it a shot. It made a squash eater out of me.

Video of the Week: Brokeass Cooking!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 14:23:00 +0000

I thought I'd start this up again since I've been a slacker lately.

Brokeass Cooking is a video series started by a friend of mine, Mack. In addition to videos, Mack is also a pretty damn funny writer and the inspiration for the title character in the comedy horror novel John Dies at the End. What I'm trying to say is the dude knows how to entertain.

Brokeass Cooking is an occasional web series that he's been working on for about a month. The recipes are pretty basic, meats, pastas and easy veggies. It's not fancy food and Mack relies more on getting a great deal than sourcing ingredients. The intended audience for this isn't the foodie crowd, it's the brokeass kid just out of college, starting a job and trying to figure out how to feed himself on a budget without resorting to fast food and frozen dinners. It does the trick, explaining basics like grocery store discounts, shopping sales and figuring what to do with it all once you get it home. He also encourages experimentation and playing with ingredients. I hope Mack decides to continue the series, because I think there's an audience for stuff like this. Too many people these days view cooking as too hard or expensive and this series helps demystify some of that.

Where I think the series can improve is technique. Mack is pretty much a self taught cook and it shows. But that's a minor quibble on the overall strength of the concept and it's execution.

A Taste of Roswell, Elijay Apple Festival, Cumming Greek Festival and a New Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:56:00 +0000

I need to make a real post here over the weekend, but I thought I'd update quickly with some fun Northside food events this week.

First up is the annual "A Taste of Roswell." I will probably not make it to this, but I do love it. It starts at noon on Saturday in the historic square. Its fun and the food is delicious, but it's always ridiculously crowded. Still, its a great way to sample lots of local restaurants pretty quickly.

The Elijay Apple Festival has it's final weekend. This is a pretty fun mountain crafts festival with an apple theme. The snacks are pretty good too. They do sell plenty of apples and apple themed snacks. I usually go, but I have to skip this weekend.

The Cumming Greek Festival is going on as well. This is far smaller and less crazy than the better known Atlanta Greek Festival that just passed. The food is every bit as good and there's no need to stab someone's grandma to get to it. Give it a shot if you're in the neighborhood.

Finally, my crippling disappointment at the Riverside Market here in Roswell closing early has subsided. Thanks to a hot tip from a user named "Haagen Daaz" over at the 285Foodies community, I found where some of my favorite vendors had migrated to. They are setting up shop at the brand new "Stewards of the Earth" market which will be located at the intersection of Roswell RD and Morgan Falls in Sandy Springs. The hours are 9AM to noon. No word yet on how many vendors will be there, or what kinds, but the word is a good chunk of the farmers from Roswell's market that still had something to bring to market are migrating there. The new market plans to stay open through the winter.

Sounds like a busy weekend. Too bad I'm studying for a test for most of it. =(

Last Weekend for Roswell Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:12:00 +0000

I've been stupidly busy recently. There was a family crisis that necessitated me and my husband traveling to Texas very suddenly for a week. And I'm plugging through grad school and doing some substitute teaching on the side. Hence the lack of recent updates.

But I did want to let everyone know that this weekend will be the last one for the Roswell Farmers Market. The market manager says that attendance is dropping and the farmers aren't producing as much with the wet weather. This makes me sad, as I attend every week and do my primary grocery shopping there. Still, it'll be nice to actually sleep in for once on a Saturday instead of rushing over to try and snag farm fresh eggs before they run out.

Easy Turnip Greens and Poached Egg Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:28:00 +0000

So I've been a little obsessed with poached eggs lately. We've been eating them in spicy mole sauce over rice, with toasted sourdough bread and over some fresh turnip greens. Yup, over greens.

A blogger that I've been following for awhile (The Slow Cook) eats sauteed greens for breakfast with a fresh poached egg on top. Well, if he can eat that for breakfast, I can eat it for dinner alongside some roasted sweet potatoes, beets and carrots. The turnip greens are so tender right now that they barely require any time in the pan to soften. Just a little bacon and chopped garlic and they are ready.

Fresh eggs poach better than old. I've been using fresh eggs purchased from Little Red Hen Farm in Concord, GA. Chris Wernau collects his the day before he sells them at the Roswell farmers market and labels them with that date. It's hard to get fresher than that.

Fresh Turnip Greens

Two strips bacon

1 pound turnip greens, rinsed, and chopped

two cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup chicken broth

Cook bacon until crispy. Remove from pan to cutting board to cool. Drain excess grease from pan. Add chopped greens and garlic. Add salt to taste. Move it around in the pan to let it wilt a bit. Add chicken broth and then cover the pan. Remove from heat and let greens finish cooking. Chop cooked bacon and then crumble it over greens. To serve, mound it up on a plate and add a poached egg. Garnish with a sprinkle of kosher salt and a couple cracks of fresh pepper.

The greens will soak up the runny egg yolk, which I think we all agree is the best part of a poached egg. But don't let that discourage you from scooping up a bit on a piece of toast too.

What Can I Do With Fifty Six Pounds of Rice?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:12:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, Publix had their annual sale on rice. It's an incredible deal, a three pound bag for a dollar. They will let you buy four bags at a time. So, being the crazy food horder that I am, me or my husband hit Publix several times that weekend. We ended up with roughly fifty pounds, which when added to the rice that was left from last year's sale, gave us nearly sixty pounds of long grain white rice. I have a plethora of rice.

The first problem with purchasing this much rice is storage. Where do you put it all? And how do you keep the bugs from getting into it? I do two things: First, I emptied two of the bags into a gallon sized plastic milk jug that I'd cleaned out. Those plastic bags rice comes in are messy and fragile. When it's in a milk jug, I can pour it easily and the countainer is a bit sturdier for keeping insects out. Second, I packed the rest into my freezer. The cold will keep the bugs out and it also helps fill up my freezer so it'll run more efficiently. Double win.

The second problem is: What to DO with it? I haven't even mentioned yet the twelve pounds of parboiled rice my husband bought before he realized there was a difference. It's an ungodly amount of rice. Sure, I could just make rice and gravy for every meal from now until Christmas. Or I could steam it up alongside stir fries. Chicken and rice soup will probably happen as the weather cools. But there's more you can do with rice than just let it soak up gravy. It's a very versatile grain that can be the centerpiece of many meals.

One of the first things I did was make vegetarian Korean bibimbap, using this recipe from the New York Times as a guide. I left out the salmon, and I used blanched carrots, green beans and broccoli for the vegetable. Not traditional Korean cooking, I know. But tasty and different. Continuing with the Asian theme, I've also made Thai style fried rice a couple times. Just stir fry already cooked rice with egg, diced vegetables, soy sauce and some Thai basil from my garden. Add a little srirancha sauce for the heat and you've got a fast, tasty meal. I've also got a ton of great curry recipes I've ganked from Smitten Kitchen and other places.

I've been working on a recipe for Arroz Con Pollo, which I'm almost ready to post. This combines chicken thighs, rice, beans and veggies with savory spices for an easy one dish meal. I've started looking at recipes for jambalaya and etouffee as well. I've got a great Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe that has a little rice in it as well. And I haven't even looked into the possibility of finding a rice pudding recipe my husband will actually eat.

Am I worried about the carbs? Not really. I exercise, though not as much as I should. And you've probably noticed a theme to my cooking suggestions here: vegetarian. I find that leaving out meat for a couple of meals helps keep the calorie content down. I'm not worried about the lack of vitamins in white rice, because I eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies in my daily diet. As long as I'm not eating JUST rice, which would be gross, I'm not worried about my nutrition. Sure, there are plenty of more nutritionally dense grains out there, but I doubt I can but them for a dollar for three pounds.

So over the next year, expect more rice recipes from me as I try to whittle down my stockpile before it overwhelms us.

Changing Seasons at the Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:10:00 +0000

It's easy to tell when the seasons start to change when you eat locally. Yesterday I made my weekly trip to the Riverside Farmers Market (conveniently located a good mile or so from the actual river) here in Roswell. I'd missed the market last weekend due to my annual pilgrimage to Dragon*Con. The change in available produce seemed very abrubt.

Gone were the sacks of crisp, delicious, just picked peaches and baskets of the sweetest blueberries I've ever tasted. Our friends at Moss Hill Farm no longer had pounds and pounds of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes for us to browse either. While many of our summer favorites are still available, like green beans and peppers, we're also starting to see the beginnings of the fall crop. I bought a couple crisp Rome apples yesterday, perfect for slicing up and eating alongside a sharp cheese. Eggplants are still going strong, and we snagged a nice looking cabbage that will be the perfect side for a home made mac and cheese dinner tonight. We also picked up some beets and mustard greens and regretfully put down a head of swiss chard. (It looks beautiful, but neither one of us cares for it)

The summer fruits haven't quite given way to fall yet. Yesterday we picked up the biggest watermelon I have ever seen in my life. It was at least 30 pounds. My husband adores watermelon. It is, along with steamed white rice, his very favorite food. I told him we could buy it only if he promised he would eat watermelon with every meal this week. Even then, I'm not sure if we can eat it all before it goes bad. I took some to my gaming group last night, but I still have a fridge full of diced melon. We'll see how well our war against it will go.

Crockpot Shredded Beef Taco Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:52:00 +0000

So I've been playing around with tacos recently, trying to create a recipe that's a little easier than my usual shredded pork tacos. I've experimented with chicken, pork and beef and I think I've found something that will work with anything.

You want:

A big piece of meat that'll work well in a crockpot. Either chicken thighs or leg quarters, pork shoulder or "country ribs" or a pot roast. I used a pot roast last night.
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves of garlic
2 healping tablespoons of your favorite chili powder
1 tablespoon coco powder
2 tablespoons red wine (optional)
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
Salt and pepper to taste

Liberally salt and pepper your meat, and brown on high heat in a frying pan. Place in crockpot. Use canned tomatoes to deglaze the pan, add to crockpot, along with onion, garlic, jalapeno (I included the seeds), chili powder coco powder and red wine. Place lid on crockpot and cook on "low" until meat shreds easily with a fork. Remove any bones, and add corn. Allow corn to cook, then serve.

As I said, the sauce works really well with either beef, chicken or pork. We definitely like it best with the jalapeno cooked in. It's good without, but it's missing that extra spicy kick. My husband ate, like, six of these last night and then cried because he was too full to eat anymore.

I served the beef variety last night with a homemade heirloom tomato salsa and fresh arugula. Just as a note, there's going to be a TON of liquid released when you make these. I've been saving it and using it to poach eggs in, which I then ladle over mexican rice and serve with tortillas the next night. It's pretty awesome.

Video of the Week: Eggs!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:38:00 +0000

So eggs have been in the news quite a bit lately, what with the salmonella recall and all. Food borne illness is a serious problem in our day and age. With so much of our food now being produced in large, centralized factory farms and distributed nationwide, one farm's sloppy practices can mean serious illness for Americans all over the country. One of the ways you can protect yourself is to never consume raw or undercooked eggs. But where's the fun in that?

Another way you can protect yourself is by purchasing your eggs from a small producer that you know and trust. This is definitely not an option for everyone. These eggs are harder to find and usually at least twice as expensive. Small flocks are less likely to be contaminated with salmonella. I buy farm fresh eggs when I can from different sellers at the Riverside Farmer's Market in Roswell. So far, I haven't had a bad egg from any of the sellers.

And of course, if you live in a place that allows it, you can always try your hand at raising your own laying hens. You'll have to check your local laws about it. And please, think of your neighbors. Chickens can be noisy and smelly. Your neighbors might not appreciate your feathered friends.

And this isn't even getting into the differences between cage free, humanely raised, organic, or omega-3 enhanced eggs, which is a discussion for another time.

There are other benefits to farm raised eggs, which are covered pretty well in today's video link from Simply: Home Cooking. Liza posts a great run down of fresh egg options in her city (Ann Arbor, MI) and gives us a great video that vividly illustrates the differences between conventionally produced eggs and the ones you get from a farmer. So click through to the article and enjoy the video.

Salad Nicoise Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:12:00 +0000

So when I got back from Raleigh last week, one of the first things we did was head to Publix to grab some fruit and veggies to get us through the week, as we'd missed our usual expedition to the farmer's market. This is how I came to be in possession of a big bag of salad greens that needed to be eaten up before they went bad this week. The solution? Salad Nicoise.

Salad Nicoise also has the advantage of using up some of the produce I'd purchased Saturday morning. It's full of protein and variety and can serve as dinner on a hot summer day. I made a vegetarian version, because I felt like it, but it traditionally includes tuna. I did have a decent picture of it, but my camera decided to delete everything, rather than safely download it to Picasa like i told it to.

The Salad:

1 bag o' salad from the grocery store
3 hard boiled eggs, cut in wedges
1 tomato, cut in wedges
1/4 pound fresh green beans, blanched
4 boiled new potatoes, cut into wedges
cucumber, sliced into rounds (Not traditional, but we like them and they needed to be eaten too)

Mustard vinnegrette

1 tablespoon creamy mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

I think the secret here, which I totally borrowed from this recipe published by the New York Times and inspired this meal, was to flavor the potatoes as they cooked by adding a bay leaf, peppercorns and a generous amount of salt. I cooked the potatoes and eggs, and blanched the green beans while I was kicking around the house, trying to make heads or tails of my first assignment for grad school (My problem? It's too open ended. I've been out of school for six years. Don't tell me to "write a paper on something you're interested in related to education." I need a little direction until the scholarly part of my brain kicks in again.).

So when the husband came home, the only thing I had to do was assemble the ingredients on a platter and drizzle my mustard dressing over the whole thing. I also added a big handful of chopped oregano and basil from my tiny herb garden sprinkled over the top. It actually made a pretty substantial meal by itself, though I could see adding a grilled chicken breast or some fresh baked bread to it.

Video of the Week: Cooking in a Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:29:00 +0000

Last weekend I went to Raleigh with the husband for a literature convention. I love attending geek conventions of any ilk. It's nice to not be the nerdiest, most socially awkward person in a given room.

Since this trip coincided with the official beginning of my unemployment, we decided to take a few cost cutting measures this time. Not huge ones, because of one the great joys of travel for us is trying new foods, but enough that we could feel like we were getting the best value from our trip. So we packed a batch of Blueberry Cream Cheese muffins and fresh peaches and bananas to snack on. It made for a good breakfast most days of the convention.

We haven't decided if we're doing this for Dragon*Con in a couple weeks. Since we're staff for the convention, it's harder for us to schedule meals. I might pack more substantial snacks than I usually do, just so I can skip the food court a couple times.

But if you want serious hotel room fine dining, this video is the perfect guide. George Egg makes English muffins, and pasta using just a few simple appliances and easy to get ingredients. I'm awfully tempted by that pasta recipe. It looks something I could live off for four days.

Anyways, check it out.

Millions of peaches, peaches for me...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:47:00 +0000

It's summer time in Georgia, which means that I have two big mixing bowls sitting in my kitchen, both filled to the brim with beautiful hierloom tomatoes and farm fresh peaches. My husband and I apparently buy so many peaches each week, that even the farmer has commented on it. "Boy, you two really eat your fruit." he said, handing over a paper sack with eight peaches nestled inside. How could we not? The farm fresh Georgia peaches are so crisp and sweet this time of year. I've made cobblers, smoothies, salsas and salads with them. They are delicious sliced into a bowl of homemade oatmeal, or just gobbled fresh in your hand. By the time we have a chance to get sick of them, the season passes and we move onto something else.

The best use for peaches that I have, is this deliciously simple salad from Cheap Healthy Good. Part of why I love it, is that it's two additions and an ingredient swap from peach salsa and who doesn't love peach salsa? Communists, that's who. I don't bother with peeling my peaches or tomatoes. It's an extra step that seems unneccesarily fussy to me. Also, I use lime juice instead of the lemon that CHG uses. That's the magic of this salad, it's so simple, even a tiny change can make it your own.

Just chop peaches, and tomatoes together. Add chopped basil, salt, pepper a squirt of lime juice and a glug of olive oil. Combine together and serve immediately. And if you want salsa? Chop everything a bit finer, suv cilantro for the basil, and add onion and jalapeno. Either way, it's a great way to enjoy summer's fruit.

Food Video of the Week: Grilled Corn on the Cobb

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:19:00 +0000

A new thing I'm going to do here is post a link to a great cooking video I've found during the week. There's tons of great demonstrations on various food websites and scattered across Youtube. Why not draw your attention to the ones I think I especially great?

Today's video is from Mark Bittman's Minimalist column in the New York Times. It's a wonderful recipe for the best grilled corn I've ever had. We stayed in last night and this corn was the star of our dinner, alongside leftover roast chicken and a tomato peach basil salad. The corn is fantastic. Bittman describes it as almost "popcorn like" in flavor, and I agree. The addition of the chili-lime mayo takes the whole thing up a level. It's an incredibly simple combination of ingredients that makes a great summer side dish.

Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:46:00 +0000

I happened to pick up Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as some light beach reading when I was in Florida last month. It was a good book, I enjoyed it. But I was also frustrated by it.

The book is a non-fiction account of how Kingsolver's family moves from Arizona to an old tobacco farm in rural Virginia and decides to eat only what they can grow themselves, or purchase and barter locally. It's a noble experiment and one that I support. However, I felt like Kingsolver made the whole enterprise seem just a bit too neat and easily done. There's no struggle, just thousands of pounds of joyfully harvested summer tomatoes instantly turned into cans with a quick, amusing anecdote.

She tiptoes around the edges of what it means to give up eating from the grocery store. A casual mention of a lack of bananas here, a mournful plea from a daughter for fresh fruit in a snowstorm here. But none of these ever really touch on what it might really mean to give up the convenience of just buying whatever's on the shelf at the grocery store. The closest we get to really seeing a struggle is when the author and her youngest daughter spar briefly over the necessity of slaughtering the occasional rooster from the flock of chickens in the yard.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with writing something to inspire people to go outside and get some dirt under their nails. I keep a small herb garden in my yard, which I harvest from frequently. But I'm not a freelance writer who works from home. I don't have a small child I can cozen into helping me spread mulch. (I do have a husband, but he sort of melts when left in the sun too long.) I don't live in a farming area. I'd really like to see a more nuanced portrayal of what its like to live off the grid in the 21st century, rather than essays about the joys of making your own cheese.

Ads on the Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:55:00 +0000

My regular readers, who only know me from this blog and not my other social networks, will probably not know this. But I've been laid off. Prior to now, I taught social studies at a small private school here in Roswell. With the economy the way it is, the small school got smaller and they had to cut staff for the upcoming school year. Since about 3000 other teachers were laid off from the public schools at the same time I was, job hunting has been less than fruitful.

Rather than lay on the floor and cry over it though, I've decided to see this as an opportunity to do things I've always wanted to do, but had trouble doing so because of my teaching schedule. The biggest one is getting my Master's degree. I'm also looking at part time jobs with flexible hours, so look for a post with happy news there in the future.

However, despite the best face I can put on things, we're still looking at a drastic cut in our household income after I receive my last paycheck at the end of this month. So I've decided to monetize this blog. I've never really taken the whole blogging thing seriously, which is why Northside Food has a small audience. However, things being what they are, I really can't ignore a potential source of mortgage payments. So you'll be seeing some ads here now and some links to Amazon if I'm talking about a product you can buy there. Don't feel obligated to click on anything (In fact, by my service agreement with AdSense, I'm not allowed to encourage you to click on ads.), but do understand that they are here to support me in my state of underemployment.

The upside of the ads is that now that they are here, I feel sort of obligated to stick to a reliable update schedule and make an effort to build my audience. So you'll be hearing from me more frequently now.

Make mine with yogurt

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Liang) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:03:00 +0000

I eat lots of yogurt. That's no surprise to long time readers of this blog, who will recall that I occasionally make my own. I usually buy a big tub of plain, organic, cream top yogurt at the beginning of the week and work my way through it. I like the organic, because it has JUST yogurt in it. No fillers or stabilizers.

I usually use it in fruit smoothies, but I'll also use it as a topping for oatmeal, or fresh fruit. Occasionally it get used in a marinade or as the base for a dipping sauce. I also bake with it. Yogurt is surprisingly good in baked goods, especially as a substitute for buttermilk. It'll add that tang with the added benefit that yogurt is easier to keep around than buttermilk. Just remember, it's slightly acidic, so make sure your recipe includes baking soda and baking powder as leaveners. Otherwise, it won't rise and you'll be left with a dense, nasty tasting mess.

This morning I made blueberry waffles for breakfast. I have a lovely repurposed glass jar in my fridge, full of local blueberries I bought at the Green Street market. No, they didn't come in a glass jar. I keep all my berries in glass. For some reason I can't fathom, berries last longer in glass than they do those tiny plastic baskets. I keep old applesauce jars in my cupboard for things like this.

I adapted my recipe from Eat Happy, a blog I found while Googling around for recipes this morning. I liked it because of it's simplicity. I added a big shake of cinnamon to the dry ingredients as I was sifting them together, and of course, a generous double handful of blueberries. I also used plain yogurt, instead of vanilla.

1 c. water
1 c. yogurt
1/2 c. fresh blueberries
2 eggs
2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium/large bowl, combine the water, yogurt, and eggs. In a smaller bowl, mix together the remaining (dry) ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir to combine. Bake in a waffle iron (according to the directions that came with the appliance).