Poor Man's Cupboard

Breakfast Burrito

2014-09-14T07:08:00.001-07:00

I haven't had the cooking bug in a while, but it's now finally starting to come back to me. So instead of a Monster and piece of toast for breakfast, I decided to make something a bit more substantial and savory. I present to you the Breakfast Burrito.

I love eggs in the morning, but I'm often too lazy or too much in a rush to cook them. This morning I'm lounging around and decided to take advantage of the extra time. I've also been in the cupboard diet as of late, and had some extra wild rice from a few days ago and a can of vegetarian chili; thus, the burrito idea was born.

On the stove I got everything ready while I raided the fridge for any other ingredients. Cold cuts from yesterday's lunch gave me some tasty ham and white American cheese to add to the burrito. Let me pause and say, I don't know what it is about white American, but it's just so damn good. Back to the stove.

You may remember from previous posts that I don't have an extensive array of cooking ware. As you can see I don't have any lids for my frying pans. But, another frying pan on top does the trick.

With the cheese melted, I throw the rice and chili on top of the eggs and add a little Frank's red hot. Because I literally put that shit on everything.

And there you have it, the Poor Man's Breakfast Burrito. Better than anything you'll get at McDonald's, and a perfect precursor for a rigorous workout.

Disco Fries Chili

2014-02-13T10:24:00.001-08:00

I've thought about naming this creation "Jersey Chili," a nod to the often off-menu item from our world famous diners here in the Garden State.

It started off with a chili recipe I found and used for Super Bowl a few weeks ago. It came out so well, and was relatively inexpensive, that I've made two more pots of it since.

Last night I was down to the last of my current chili batch, and I had an idea. I had some Burger King fries leftover from lunch (was going to use them for hash browns and eggs...that post will be coming shortly), but I decided to use them here. I love french fries in things -- growing up, there was a place down the road that put french fries on their cheesesteaks and it was heaven. Now, fast food fries do tend to go stale pretty fast, but throw them into a dry frying pan and you can toast them back to life. Never throw fries away again!

So, back to the chili... I warmed up my last bowlful in a small sauce pan on the stove while I toasted up the fries. When the chili was heated through, I put it in a bowl and covered it while I got everything else ready.

I happened to have some gravy powder packets on hand from my birthday party -- stuffing balls with gravy dipping sauce -- so I mixed that up in the sauce pan and continued toasting the fries. In the meantime I got out the sour cream and cheddar cheese from the fridge. There was just enough sour cream left for a nice dollop on top of the chili.

Fries were done, they went on top...

Then time for gravy...

Finally, the cheese. Now, typically disco fries are covered with shredded mozzarella. I know this might be controversial, but this IS Poor Man's Cupboard, and we do need to improvise with what we have on hand. And what I had on hand was the last of a package of shredded cheddar, so on it went.

Thirty to forty-five seconds under the broiler (make sure to watch...it can burn quickly), and we had perfection (with a parsley garnish).

The deep, rich taste of the chili, the melted cheddar, the crunchy fries smothered with gravy, the cool surprise of the sour cream -- this is is a bowl with complex flavored and textures that will absolutely delight you...especially before an impending storm.

And for dessert...

Quick update: Tomatoes and Radishes

2013-08-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little update:

First of all, for the cherry tomatoes -- pruning off all those sucker leaves was TOTALLY the right thing to do. All of a sudden, I have a dozen or so more cherry tomatoes blooming. This has actually been really invigorating and has gotten me excited again about this garden. Fingers-crossed on the strawberries (all suggestions welcome).

Also, the radishes are coming in nicely. This picture is from after I pruned a bunch of radish shoots...and let me tell you, I might just grow shoots and not even wait for radish bulbs. The radish shoots/greens taste just like radishes, and I've been using them in salads. Seriously, these took just about a week and are so much more satisfying!

Hopefully I will have some more good news soon!

Long-Overdue Garden Update (It's not pretty)

2013-08-18T07:38:00.002-07:00

I'm not going to rule this experiment a complete failure. It certainly had it's challenges -- cat litter jugs as garden pots, growing on a fifth floor fire escape, a relentless heat wave. I think it turned out the best it could have, although I wish I had yielded more fruit.

Let me break it down.

1. ~~HEIRLOOM TOMATOES~~

Yep, this one went down for the count. I guess the whole thing started with the heat wave -- it started yellowing, and I had to bring it inside. It seemed like it was doing ok, but it took a turn for the worse and there was no saving it.

One thing I have to mention is that this plant had a bunch of great looking leaves and two green tomatoes on it for the longest time (I think I commented on this in previous posts). I did a little bit of research, and found that Miracle Grow (which I had used a couple times) is full of nitrogen, which is great for leaf growth. However, tomatoes need phosphates, and I ended up going to Home Depot for a separate tomato plant food. Once I added that in and stopped using the Miracle Grow, the tomato turned red in a matter of days.

Unfortunately, I was only able to eat one of the tomatoes. The other one was attacked by a mysterious creature.

To this day, I have no idea what ate the second tomato. And, I almost don't want to know what monster crawled up a fifth floor fire escape. Anyway, sads.

2. CHERRY TOMATOES

Sort of a blurry picture, but you can see the cherry tomatoes are doing pretty well. This picture is from a couple weeks ago -- since then, Carl and I had a nice salad (although we basically used all the fruit). Here's another picture from last week:

It's still very green, and a couple more tomatoes popped up. As I was doing research about yielding more fruit, it occurred to me that maybe on the fifth floor there aren't enough bugs to help pollinate the tomato flowers. I tried to help it along by using a small wet paint brush (a suggestion from one of the sites). Also I did some research about pruning, and I took some time this morning to clip some of the "sucker" leaves.

There are a bunch of new flowers towards the top of the plant, so I'm hopeful that I'll get a second crop out of this plant. Will be monitoring this for sure.

3. BASIL, PARSLEY, and THYME

These plants are actually doing pretty well. They've been the best producers all summer. Unfortunately Blogger is being weird and won't let me bring in a picture here, but you can see them in some of the pictures above.

4. ~~SNOW PEAS~~

Yeah.

These were the most fickle of all the plants I started this summer. Super sensitive to heat -- I had to bring them into the house constantly. They only yielded a couple snow peas at a time. I loved the idea of this, but it took up a lot of my time. I wasn't so upset at losing these plants.

5. PEPPERS

Ok, you can see these in the pic above, in the white jug. I'm not entirely sure what kind of peppers these are, my friend Lynn's parents gave them to me. They look great -- but they haven't grown more than 6 inches in the last two months that I've had them. I've been watering them, but I haven't done too much research about care. Since the snow peas died, and now that I think I have the cherry tomatoes under control, I might focus more attention on these.

6. RADISHES

I've started over with these. They didn't really do well to start - again, I think because of the heat wave - but I have a packet of seeds that I've barely used and I decided to plant some on Friday. You can see I already have some growth -- what I like is that radishes have a full germination of 22 days, so it really doesn't take a whole lot of effort. I'll keep you updated on these.

7. STRAWBERRIES

I have no idea what's going on with these. The leaves look great, and I even had some flowers (I posted a pic a few posts ago). But they really haven't progressed. Again, I blame the heat wave, although I need to do a little research about these. I know that they are late bloomers, and recently I've had a lot of new growth on these. No new flowers though. Ugh.

* * * * *

So, that's about it. A few dead plants, some consistent herbs, and some staggering tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. Summer's not over, and we're getting some great weather these days. I'll be keeping an eye on all of these, and hopefully will have an update again soon!

Faux Wood Chandelier

2013-07-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Or, actually, wood faux chandelier. Real wood. Faux chandelier. Well, composite wood...it's not solid pine or anything. Still real.

So, I was home watching Open House on NBC one Sunday morning - not a huge fan of the show, feel like it really interrupts my Sunday morning news gathering. But what caught my eye was a segment on Sabrina Soto's (from HGTV) NYC apartment, and she had this awesome faux chandelier in her bedroom.

I did some research, and I actually found a replica on Etsy for like $60. Well, those of you who know me know that it pains me to spend even $60 on a good pair of jeans (seriously, where can I find a good pair of jeans for $20??), so there's no way in hell I was going to buy this on Etsy.

Since I wasn't about to buy this on Etsy (actually, there is very little that I'd buy on Etsy that I wouldn't make myself - thoughts on this?), I decided to do a little materials-browsing at Michaels and see if I could create my own wood faux chandelier.

And I was in luck -- I found these frames that were on clearance, and had a great shape to them that I thought I could deconstruct and put together in a nice arrangement. The big frames were $1.99 each, and the small frames were $.29!! I love a good clearance sale. (I ended up using just the two large frames, and one small frame.)

I took a bit of time to figure out the construction on this - and honestly, if I wasn't such an impatient person, I probably could have spent more time to make a solid structure. Basically I relied on the strength of Elmers WoodGlue Max. Gotta say, pretty strong...

I used the two big frames and deconstructed them using my Swiss Army knife. The first piece was not so easy to cut out, but after I had a template it was easy to score and break apart the rest of the pieces -- I did some pretty deep scoring, and left the rest to some sand paper to smooth it out.

The bottom half of the chandelier was easy to glue to the dowel connecting it all. The top half was a little tricky, and included the use of some butterfly clips and stray yarn (separate project, in the works). Eventually I got all the pieces glued together, and it was time for some paint.

The paint I chose was some leftover Behr Paint-and-Primer-in-One. I don't recommend this paint, it went on spotty and required multiple coats, despite the fact that its name seems time-saving. Eventually I got it done, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Again, I could have taken my time and thought more about the construction, but overall I'm pretty pleased considering this project cost me $4.29 and some leftover paint.

(Btw, got that bed-set on sale from Macy's for $99 - great apartment-warming present from my mom!)

What do you think? What sorts of DIY house projects have you done?

Also guys - don't forget to like my Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/PoorMansCupboard

Presto Pesto

2013-06-11T15:01:00.002-07:00

Is there anything better than basil? My bsail plant is doing really well, and some of its leaves were getting pretty big. I haven't needed basil for anything I've cooked lately, but I knew I had to prune the leaves to keep encouraging new growth. So, off with the leaves...but how do I not let them go to waste?

I looked in my cupboard and saw I had one small clove of garlic left, and I decided to make a pesto. I chopped up the garlic, washed and julienned the basil leaves and tossed them both in my mortar and pestle. No pine nuts, so I substituted those leftover almonds again - they've been coming in quite handy. A little salt, pepper, and drizzle of oil, and I was off to work.

That plant looks pretty great, huh? And that was after pruning. I know I'm going to have to trim it again in a few days.

Using the mortar and pestle, it took 7 minutes or so to grind everything up into a paste. It's more work, but I wasn't making enough to be able to use the food processor. And using the mortar and pestle made me feel a little old school. ;)

So now with the pesto made, I had to find a way to store it for future use. I've seen my mom use the ice-cube tray technique before, and I thought it would be a great way to store the pesto in individual portions. I lined the tray with some plastic wrap and scooped in the pesto.

So there you go. Homemade pesto, with some substitutions, and I didn't need anything from the grocery store. I love that part! This little garden is really starting to pay off!

Tin-Can Lantern

2013-06-09T16:49:00.002-07:00

This little birdie says CHEAP-CHEAP, CHEAP-CHEAP.

I've been wanting to add a little chic to the Cupboard. Simple project, slightly time consuming, and great use of the chick pea cans I've been collecting from making all that hummus! Seriously, at $.89 a can, this project has Poor Man's Cupboard written all over it. Couple of tips:

Use graph paper to make your template. This makes it so much easier to make it even. I measured the can and then cut out a piece of graph paper to fit. Then I divided the graph paper into two panels: a left panel and a right panel.

I found my template online, and drew half of the image onto the right panel of the graph paper. Then I folded the paper in half, traced the image on the back side of the left panel, then opened up the paper and traced the copy onto the front side of the left panel.

Now I had a perfectly even template, I just needed to punch the holes. I taped the template to the can and started punching away. I had a test can to try different methods, and the end I used a wood boring bit, the kind with the sharp point. It was easy to hold, and easy to be accurate with my punches.

Not going to lie, this was a time consuming process. I didn't even bother with the corner florets on my template...the birds and the center vine probably took me about an hour to punch out, mostly because I was taking my time and trying to be as accurate as possible.

In the end though, it's pretty satisfying. I have the template, and I plan on making at least one more to make a pair. I might choose a less complicated template and make a second pair of these.

I have a coffee tin, too; although I don't make that much coffee at home, and it's still half full. But I thought it might be fun to make an outdoor citronella candle out of.

Also, I saw one suggestion online to pour water into the cans and freeze, so that you don't dent the can when you're punching the holes. I tried this with my first test can -- and as I was punching the holes and holding the can, the ice started melting and seeping through the holes, and the paper got wet and was hard to handle. I think as long as you take your time, you can skip this step and just be careful with the can. Mine came out totally fine without the ice.

Chipotle Hummus

2013-06-08T13:03:00.001-07:00

This was inspired by a hummus plate I had the other day in the city. There were three types of hummus, and the chipotle hummus was the best by far. It's been on my mind ever since and I've been wanting to recreate it. I have to say, I think mine is better than the original.

(Somewhat) standard ingredients - chick peas, garlic, olive oil, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, salt and pepper. Really good hummus calls for a dollop of tahini...but this is Poor Man's Cupboard and tahini is expensive. To get a similar nutty tone, I use leftover slivered almonds from last Christmas' biscotti marathon that have been hanging out in the cabinet. Totes legit.

Also, shelling the chick peas is essential for making a really creamy hummus. It's time consuming, but I pop them out of the shell and right into the food processor. Feel free to deposit the husks onto any Chinese food container lid you've been hoarding (can't beat free tupperware).

So for this recipe, I just got a can of chipotle peppers and popped them in. I probably used about half the can, or 4 peppers. I also poured in maybe a tablespoon or so of the chipotle sauce. I wish I had some cilantro in my garden, but instead I pulled a couple sprigs of parsley, and got to mixing.

Look at that color! The one I had in the city wasn't as vibrant. It's so good, too - it's got quite a kick. And look - A&P was out of pitas, but they were selling this bag of "crutons" for $1.54...perfect for hummus scooping! My afternoon just got a whole lot brighter. :D

My Big Fat Garden Update

2013-06-08T06:14:00.002-07:00

It's been about a month now since I first "planted" my garden. I can't believe how fast that went! There's been some really cool progress, and also some learning curves. Let's dig in and break it down, shall we?

1. Goliath Tomatoes

That picture above is like my pride and joy of this project. That little guy popped up about 5 days ago and he just keeps getting bigger and bigger. You can see below that there are some more flowers, so I'm hoping for a decent crop.

2. Cherry Tomatoes

No fruit as of yet, but there is definitely some flowering going on. It started off as sort of a runt of a plant, so I'm glad it's making progress.

3. Parsley, Thyme, Basil

These guys are doing great! The other day I made a little pesto with the basil for a lunchtime pasta, and made thyme chicken and parsley salad for dinner. So good!

4. Radishes

These are by far my biggest disappointments. These are the original starter plants my mom got me -- they haven't really gotten any bigger. But then all of a sudden, literally in a 24-hour period, this one radish stalk grew like 5 inches and made a pretty little purple flower on top! It's the craziest thing. I think I'll keep it and see what happens next.

I planted some radishes from seeds and they were looking really great -- until I put them outside and fried them in the heat. I need to start a new batch from seeds, but I've just been a little busy (and lazy). I'll probably tackle that today.

5. Strawberries

Also a little disappointing. I planted 10 strawberry plants in this container, and only 3 of them are growing. I'm not really sure what to do with this -- if I should just let it be, or dig up the the ones that aren't growing and replant the good ones farther apart from each other. I'm going to do a little research on this.

What's promising is that one of the good plants has begun to flower. Still has a long way to go, but I knew that this was going to be a late-harvester so I'll continue being patient.

6. Snow Peas

These guys have been the most work. I've continued building the lattices up, and every morning I inspect the plants to make sure the tendrils are latching onto the lattice and not onto each other (I've had to do a little tender untangling). When the heatwave hit last week, I had to bring the plants inside. They were getting dried out and yellowing up quite a bit at the bottom. And with all the rain, I've kept them inside because they seem so fragile. Today is their first day back outdoors.

Even with just the indoor sunlight, the snow peas have been doing really well! They've been flowering, and we've even got some pods. I 'snapped' one off this morning and tried it -- super crunchy and sweet, perfection!

So that about wraps up the update. I'm going to do some research now about the strawberries, and later I'll sow another batch of radish seeds. Will post again soon!

We've got tendrils!!

2013-05-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

Progress!

I was away this weekend, celebrating GWU's graduation commencement (headlined by the most perfect everything, Kerry Washington -- check out her commencement speech on YouTube). I left Friday morning, and didn't get home until way late last night. Before I left, I was nervous about how the plants might fare without monitoring or watering -- I've noticed that outside in the sun, in the cat litter planters, my garden plants get dry pretty quickly. So in order to minimize any damage my absence might cause, I brought the plants indoors and watered them the morning I left (also, to minimize any damage that Mickey might cause, I sett the plants up as high as I could...Mick loves his greens).

I got home late last night, and was so tired that I didn't really do any garden diagnostics. Instead, I made sure Mickey hadn't somehow knocked them over and then went to bed. This morning I did a thorough check, and found the snow peas have started to latch onto the homemade trellis! Woot, exciting!! A little shot of confidence that things are going alright. And it's sort of amazing how quickly, almost overnight, that happened. Small miracles of the universe, life happening.

Next I need to do a little research about pruning. I've noticed some of the leaves at the bottom of the snow pea plants are yellowing. I'm assuming those leaves aren't useful anyway, and that they might be drawing water away from the top of the plant. I'll look into that and report my findings.

Anyway, good start for the week. Happy Monday everyone!

Poor Man's Garden

2013-05-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

Woot! Spring is here!!! YASSSS!!! Been ready for quite some time now for shorts, flip flops, and outdoor happy hours. And also a little gardening.

My mom always had a garden when I was growing up, and there's nothing quite as satisfying as going to the backyard to grab some fresh ingredients for dinner. I've been wanting to tend a garden of my own for years now -- my work friends in Skillman know one of my dreams is to have my own hundred acre farm someday -- but my residences as of late have not been conducive for crops. This spring I am taking matters into my own hands and creating a fire escape garden. And before you get concerned, I've left plenty of room for egress should an actual fire occur:

I'm excited for this, something to keep me busy during the summer. I hope I'm not being overly ambitious, but I've planted a bunch of stuff.

Top row: Heirloom tomatoes, parsley, thyme, basil, cherry tomatoes
Bottom row: Snow peas (3 containers) & radishes

I also have another container, not in the picture, that I planted strawberries in. Those are going to be late harvesters, but hopefully worth the wait.

And this is very tried and true Poor Man's Cupboard project. Those containers are empty cat litter jugs (that were collecting in the apartment because I was too lazy to bring them downstairs to the recycle bin). I just cut the tops off and filled them with organic potting soil. So essentially the pots were free, and I spent about $20 altogether on the plants and the soil at Home Depot (shout out to Mom for the snow peas and the radishes, I got those from her). Not bad!

I went to a couple stores to find trellises for the snow peas. But the cheapest ones I could find were $7.99 each, and weren't that tall. I knew that I could do better (read: cheaper) on my own, so I went back to home depot for some dowels and twine.

Once I devised a system and got the first one done, the second two took no time at all. Dowels were $.89 each, and the twine was another $3. Awesome!

Aside from the tomatoes (I love tomatoes, I will eat them like apples), I'm really excited about the radishes. The ones in the containers are starter plants, but I'm also growing some from seeds. They only take 22 days to harvest from seeds, so I planted some seeds in an egg carton that I will transfer to the pots once the potted once are ready for harvest. Then I can sow new seeds, and keep alternating for the rest of the summer.

I actually already harvested some of the starter radishes. They were popping up out of the soil, and I wanted to make some room for the smaller ones.

So good! This is a really exciting project, and I hope to be blogging about it all summer. And I hope you stay tuned to read all about it!

Proof that garment bags are a waste of money

2013-01-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

This is soooo Poorman, I couldn't not post it. This beats wearing my suit jacket on the plane...

From "EEEK!" to Chic - The Poorman's actual cupboard

2013-01-12T14:16:00.001-08:00

I wanted to get a lot done this weekend, seeing as the apartment is littered with boxes. Unfortunately I had some other errands to run, so I didn't get to everything on the list. One thing that needed to get done was the kitchen...it's been a nightmare. Flashback to a convo with the boyfriend over the phone this weekend while I was at work:

"Hey, where are your bowls."
"Um, they're either in a box in the kitchen, or a box in the den, or a box in my car. But there are definitely glasses in a box somewhere that you can use as a makeshift bowl."

It's been a busy week.

Aside from not having much time, I also don't have much counter space. In like, I don't have any. All I have is this built-in cupboard that needed some cleaning and touching up. So I tackled that this weekend, and tried to find a place for everything.

Despite being a Poorman, I do have some hang ups. Until I have my own house with my own cabinets, I don't like putting plates down on unlined shelves. I didn't buy new liners and I really didn't feel like going to the store, so I made one out of an old white pillow case I'm not using anymore. I cut both sides in order to make it twice as long, measured it, cut it to size and ironed it. Glad to have repurposed it, because it would have otherwise ended up in the trash. And, I bet it's a lot greener than actual shelf liners. And free.

Here are some before and after shots. I got some really cool Phillips Tablets glass bottles from my mom and grandma that I put on the top shelf, along with some cool tins i got from my grandpa with Delft patterns on them. Love! I may not have gotten as much done as I wanted, but I'm def happy with the results!

From "EEEK!" to Chic - Belated update

2013-01-10T07:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry to be gone for so long, it's been a busy few weeks. I moved most of my stuff over the weekend, and last night I got the last bit of stuff out of the old apartment. One thing about the new apartment -- there is a lot less closet space than the old apartment, so currently I have a bunch of boxes sitting in one room (Room #3 if you've been paying attention). Also, shout out to Lynn, my mom, my sister and her boyfriend -- they were amazing helpers helping me move all the heavy stuff over the weekend.

The new apartment is coming together. The floors are all painted now, although they need a few touch-ups. The walls are mostly painted- still need to do second coats on the gray walls. I painted the kitchen all-white, thinking that a nice, bright, white kitchen would look really clean and classic. I'm not terribly happy with the result, it sort of just looks primed. I'm thinking of either breaking it up with an accent wall, or maybe once everything is put away and hung up on the walls it will look much better.

You can see above that the living room is mostly done. I found some old prints of Hoboken from the early 1900s that I think will look really good hung up in there. I also need to paint those ceiling tiles -- I think a nice crisp white will really help to brighten up the room (my mom still thinks the walls are too dark, and I agree the room doesn't get much light...but I think a bright white ceiling will clear that up). And I still need some curtains for the windows. At first I was thinking white, again...but after seeing some things on Apartment Therapy, and after watching the first season of Downtown Abbey, I think I want to go with a tea-stain yellow. There's something old school and almost Parisian about that that I like....we'll see. I'm always up for suggestions!

So I'm obsessed with my new iPhone, but I feel like you're only as cool as as many apps you have downloaded. I downloaded Pic Stitch, and put together the following progress-collage. As I finish each room, I'm going to continue putting together progress shots like this. Stay tuned!

One last thing - I am obsessed with Craigslist. I cruise the ads almost every day looking for some good finds. I start off with the Free section, and check off "has image" and do a search. I've seen some really cool things, but you have to act fast because that stuff goes quick. Then I'll do a Furniture search, with a max amount of $100 and again "has image." With that, I was able to find the two pieces below - the server buffet was $20, and the tobacco stand was $25! Amazeballs. I'll also check the Antiques section, again with the $100 limit and "has image." I've seen some cool stuff there too.

Also, this is a bit more local, but if you are near Princeton you should definitely check out Skillman Furniture Store (www.skillmanfurniture.com). It's a second-hand store, and they have some pretty awesome stuff. I got this step table there for $25.

That's about all I have for now. The apartment is a bit of a mess, and I'm a bit of a mess myself. I'm exhausted from moving and traveling, and getting use to all the noise at night again. I might get some stuff done this weekend, and next weekend I think I want to tackle replacing the vanity in the bathroom. Exciting stuff!

Happy New Year!!

From "EEEK!" To Chic - The Floors!

2012-12-25T17:46:00.001-08:00

I've taken a few days off - been wearing myself a little thin - and now I'm on vacation in Cali. But on Saturday I got a bunch done, thanks in large part to my mom. She introduced me to the angle brush to do all my cutting in around the trim...til now, I've been using just a small painters brush, like for canvas painting. Hopefully it will go a lot faster now.

Another thing I learned - Behr Primer & Paint in 1 is totally not worth the extra $10 per gallon. The paint people at Home Depot said it would just take one coat, even on yellow walls. FALSE. It didn't even put an even coat on the white walls in the kitchen. I was pretty annoyed with that, my mother could testify. I spent a lot of Saturday afternoon complaining about it.

The best part of Saturday is that we started painting the floors. Another helpful hint: paint swatch colors can be lightened or darkened at the paint counter. I brought an espresso brown swatch to the counter, but the guy told me that the special Behr Porch and Floor paint couldn't be tinted that color. He showed me a walnut, but I told him it was too light. He said he could darken it by adding more black tint. The color came out way better than I could have imagined.

Another tip- if you're painting a wood floor, I highly suggest Behr Floor and Porch paint. My mom painted most of the floors with just a brush while I finished painting some walls, and she was surprised how well it was taking to the floors. It really only needed one coat -- if I was going for perfection, maybe two coats, but I think it looks 100% better just with the one coat.

So here are some pictures of Saturday's progress. I didn't get a chance to go back Monday, on account of a bad cold that started Sunday and had me in bed until Monday morning. And now I'm on a little vacation until New Year's. Definitely have a bunch more to do, but energized to get it all done.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Talk to you in a week!

From "EEEK!" To Chic - More painting...

2012-12-22T06:51:00.001-08:00

Last night was a little frustrating, I'm not going to lie. I had planned on tackling the ceilings, and ended up doing so quite literally. There seem to be some air pockets between the ceiling boards and the plaster appliqué, and I could hear it crackling as the paint roller went over them. I tried to be extra careful, but inevitably some of it splintered and fell to the floor. ::sigh::

I didn't take any pics of it, because I was pretty irritated, but I'll grab a few shots and update later. After that I really loaded the roller so I wouldn't have to press so hard, which I think wasted more paint, but I was able to avoid breaking off any more pieces. I did grab a before-and-after shot of the part of the ceiling that was repaired in a different colored plaster:

And my apologies now...I'm using the Blogger app, and I can't format this post as I normally so. When I get to a real computer I will fix this up.

After the ceiling was done, I was determined to finish touching up paint in at least one room. I chose the bedroom, because it's bigger, and boy did it take me a while. This project is a good test of patience. But I think it definitely pays off in the end. Here are some pictures of the bedroom with the walls finished:

So today is another big day. Going to look at rugs in a bit, then it's back to the apartment for more painting. Tonight I'm finally getting to the floors!! Very exciting...stay tuned!

From "EEEK!" to Chic - Floorplan

2012-12-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

I realize that describing these rooms in terms of room numbers doesn't really paint a full picture of what I'm working with here. I created this really really rough floor plan - not totally to scale, but as close as I could make it without a design program.

So there you go. I really wanted to make Room 1 into the dining room, Room 2 into the living room, and Room 3 into an office...but I don't know if my couch is going to fit into Room 2. The more time I spend in it, the more I realize Room 2 isn't really set up to watch TV in. Some people think Room 1 should be the living room and Room 2 should be the dining room, but I prefer to have the dining room next to the kitchen.

Decisions, decisions.

I'll have plenty of time to think about it because I'm not moving any stuff in until after the new year. I'm taking all suggestions...

From "EEEK!" to Chic - Painting

2012-12-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

So it's Friday morning, and I'm planning on spending the whole weekend working on the apartment. I already spent all of last weekend on the apartment and some of this week doing mostly painting. I've painted before, but I don't remember it taking this long.

It's taking forever.

I've been paying painstaking attention to detail thus far. I want to make sure I do it right and that it looks super nice, so I've been taping walls, washing baseboards, painting even coats. I've been playing around to see what works, and here's what I learned.

Tip #1 -Taping is not always necessary
I'm painting walls and trim that already have several coats of paint already on them. The borders between the trim and the walls is sort of blurred and filled in with old paint. I spent a couple hours meticulously taping the trim, only to find out that the paint bled underneath and I have to go back and touch-up all the perimeters anyway. I read on some DIY site that you could apply painters' caulk over the tape, before painting, and that it will help you keep those clean lines. But really, who has time for that? Not me. Instead I painted the walls with a roller right up to the edges. I went back with a small brush and cut into the edges slowly to make sure I had perfect lines. Cutting in takes quite a while, to make sure it's done perfectly, but it also totally replaces the time you'd spend taping the room.

Tip #2 - Cut in edges with your darker color over your lighter color
I read somewhere that you should paint your trimn first, and then your walls. This didn't seem right to me, so I painted my walls first. When I went back and painted the trim, I found it was sort of difficult to cut in the white trim next to the "Bleached Denim" walls -- I was making a mess. So the next room I did, I painted all the trim first and then painted the walls. I found it was SO MUCH easier to cut in with the darker color up against the white trim - it made for much cleaner lines.

Tip #3 - Definitely wash your trim
I'm actually not sure how necessary this step really is, but I found my baseboards to be caked with dust. Same with the window sills. I don't know if more dust settles in those places more than anywhere else, or if they just aren't washed as often. But I'm doing a high gloss on all my trim and I want it to look really nice, so I took a rag and washed those suckers down and let them dry before painting them.

So, some more pictures. I haven't quite settled on what each room will be - except for the bedroom - so I've taken to numbering the rooms instead. Starting with the room you walk into, that's Room 1. You work your way to the left until you get to Room 4, which will be the bedroom. To the right of Room 1 is the kitchen and bathroom...you still with me? Below are some pics of Room 4:

And here are some pics of Room 1:

You see now, I've definitely got to repaint those floors. They're a mess. That's a high priority for the weekend - I'm going to keep them the same dark espresso brown color. The walls, I decided, were going to be blue and gray. It took a long time to figure out the color scheme, but I decided on "Bleached Denim" and "Manhattan Mist" from Behr. I didn't want all the walls to be white, but I also didn't want a kaleidescope effect. But I had a vision of looking down the hallway and seeing the last room in a bold color. So I decided to paint Rooms 1 & 4 the blue, and Rooms 2 & 3 the gray. You can see at the top of this post how it started out after I painted the blue rooms first. And below you can see the effect with the gray rooms painted:

You can also see how messy I got with the trim paint after I had already painted the walls. On top of the light on dark thing, it was hard to get paint into all those grooves. I definitely, highly recommend painting trim first, especially if you are doing it in a lighter color than the walls. You can see below in Room 3 how much better it came out when I ditched the tape, and cut in with the wall color instead:

I still have a some touch ups to make, but I feel pretty satisfied with this one room. One down, three to go...and then the kitchen and bathroom. Oy. I also decided last night that I have to paint the ceilings...I was trying to avoid it, but it is unavoidable. I really had wanted to tackle painting the floors tonight, but that will have to wait until tomorrow night instead.

Ready for a busy, busy weekend!! Stay tuned!!

From "EEEK!" to Chic...The Introduction

2012-12-20T10:53:00.001-08:00

Poor Man is getting a new cupboard!!!

(Spoiler alert: It will still be bare)

About a year and a half ago, I had to leave New Jersey's (unofficial) promised land: Hoboken. But I am happy to announce that I am making a(n unofficial) triumphant return!!!

"Triumphant" is a little subjective. I found a great apartment, great location...it's just a "smidge" run-down (I'm putting it nicely). I should have known when I first saw pictures of the place from the broker:

These pictures actually do it more justice than it deserves. And friends and family have pointed out that, as a young professional, I deserve to live in a nice place (my boyfriend tells me I live like a divorced bachelor, and my mom tells me that I have too high a threshold for blight).

If you know anything about me, then you know that I can't help but root for the underdog. You also know that I can't help myself but take the long way around. So even though there's a seemingly endless list of things that need to get done, I see this place as the "apartment that could." I'm on a mission to prove to everyone that I do deserve to live in a nice place, and that with some time and some elbow grease that I can make this apartment shine.

So follow me as I get to work and restore 721 Willow Ave. I'll be jotting down tips, mistakes, and other things I learn along the way.

Apple Blueberry Pie

2012-11-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

Daaayummmmmm...I'm sorry y'all, but this shit 'good!

Seriously, despite my culinary intuitions, I really didn't think this was going to come out as good as it did. The crust is just incredible -- it's crispy and flaky on the bottom, not soggy at all! Gotta pat myself on the back for that.

So, how is this Poor Man's Cupboard? Well, I didn't have any recipe before making this pie, and just used whatever I had in the house. First thing's first - the crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

6 tbsp cold butter, cubed

4 tbsp cold water

The first thing I did was to make the pie crust. I found a recipe online that called for 1 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of butter. So, 1/4 cup of butter is 8 tablespoons, or 1 full stick of butter. The butter wrappers usually have measurements on one side. Problem is, I had already used some butter for something else, and didn't have a full stick. I saw on the side that my stick of butter was only 6 tablespoons, but I thought that might be close enough (this was the first point where I thought my baking project might go totally awry. I know baking is more of an exact science than it is an art, but I decided to just go with it.)

I put the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and "sifted" it together using a wire whisk. I know this isn't true sifting, and Martha would probably tsk-tsk, but it's all I have. Then I cut the less-than-full stick of butter into cubes and dropped them into the flour. Using just a fork, I cut the butter into the flour until it turned into a sandy consistency. Then I folded in the water, two tablespoons at a time, until the dough came together in a ball. I wrapped the ball of dough in plastic wrap, and let it chill in the fridge for 4 hours.

Then, the filling:

3 medium apples

1/4 cup orange juice

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

Right before I took the dough out, I made the filling. I have a mixture of apples that I've taken home from work and never ate -- one red delicious, one gala, and one golden delicious. I peeled them, sliced them, and tossed them into a bowl. I know you're supposed to use an acid to keep the apples from browning (and for flavor contrast), but I didn't have any lemons. I did however have some orange juice in the fridge. I poured in a little - JUST a little - enough to coat the apples, but conscious not to make the filling too wet. I also had some blueberries in the freezer -- I had bought them a while ago, but never got to eating them. Before they went bad, I threw them in a ziplock and into the freezer for a rainy day. Or a brisk Sunday perfect for baking. So, in went about a cup of blueberries.

I recently watched some program where they were talking about apple pie (hence it was on my mind), and I remembered that they put in a mixture of flour and sugar to help make that gooey filling. I couldn't remember the proportions, so I just guesstimated it. A quarter cup each of flour, brown sugar, and regular white sugar, mixed together, and then tossed with the fruit mixture. I set that aside and took the dough out of the fridge.

So, aside from the not-full stick of butter, the orange juice, and the borrowed apples, this shit is about to get reeeaalll Poor Man's Cupboard, y'all. And I have no shame in my game, because that's what this blog is all about.

I don't own a rolling pin. I needed to roll this dough out. I look around, and what I came up with was an empty wine bottle. Yes. I rolled out my pie crust with a wine bottle, starting in the center and rolling out (Not sure if Martha is tsking, or applauding). I rolled the crust out a little thinner than an ordinary pie crust (ie, frozen Pillsbury), because I was making sort of a free form pie and wanted to make sure I had enough to wrap over the filling onto the top. As I was rolling it out, I could see the little bits of butter in the dough, which I took as a good sign.

After I had my pie crust rolled out, I needed something to put it in. Don't judge me, but I had this empty pie container sitting on my table from a pie I bought about a month ago. I totally washed it, dried it, and greased it with a butter wrapper (p.s. I save old butter wrappers in the fridge for whenever I need to grease something). I carefully transferred the dough to the pan, put in the filling, and wrapped the dough over the top of the filling. No need to put vents in this dough, as the steam can escape from the center of the pie.

I like a nice, golden crust, and knew I needed to use an egg wash to get the effect. I had some eggs in the fridge -- the problem, they had a use-by date of October 31st. I had seen something about testing eggs in a cup of water to see if the float -- some sort of Salem witch trial for eggs...if they float, they're evil or something. I did the test, and they sank, so I figured they were good to use (liability disclosure: I am not actually suggesting you use this method - for witches or for eggs). I also did the ever-accurate smell test. We were all good to go. I couldn't remember, though, if an egg wash is both egg white and yolk, or just egg white. In the end, I used just egg white, and I think it was a good choice.

So, I popped this baby into a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, and then reduced the temp to 350 degrees and baked for another 35-37 minutes. I had seen this baking time technique on one of the googled recipes, and it really seemed to work. What came out was a beautifully goldened pie.

And after it cooled - WATCH OUT! Man, this was one excellent pie. Seriously, I couldn't put it down. 36 hours later, this is all I have left:

Another success of the Poor Man's Cupboard. Enjoy!

Carrot Chicken Curry Soup

2012-10-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about soups for a while now, and it's finally the perfect season! I've got this corn chowder recipe from America's Test Kitchen that I want to try out, but I wasn't really up for it today. In fact, I wasn't up for much -- I drove back down from the city today, and I had no desire whatsoever to stop at the grocery store. I just wanted to get home. Except I knew that I had barely any food in the house, and so as I was driving home I was already trying to come up with a game plan. I knew I had at least a couple eggs, some bread-ends, and seltzer, so I knew I wouldn't starve. So, yea, I just went straight home.

When I got home, I checked the fridge, and this is what I had: bag of baby carrots, a big red onion, a small red potato, and a slightly soft tomato. The beginnings of a soup, but I wanted to make it more interesting. I checked the cupboard - McDonalds Tangy Barebecue packet, soy sauce galore, Hidden Valley dressing mix, and curry powder. Hmm, roasted carrots and curry...could be amazing. But what about a protein? I checked the freezer, and I found some chicken drumsticks. I had bought them a while ago when they were on sale and was going to make chicken salad, but they weren't the easiest to break down. There was still so much meat left on the bones that I didn't want to throw them away and waste them, so I threw them in a ziplock thinking I could use them in a soup some day. So I took them out of the freezer and let them defrost a bit. Then I went for a run.

When I got back from my run, I took a shower and decided it was time to get started. I figured I could roast the carrots along with the drumsticks, so I put them on a baking sheet together, sprinkled them with a little olive oil and some of the curry powder, and threw them in the oven on 400°. It didn't take long for the drumsticks to cook, less than ten minutes (if the were full drumsticks, probably longer). I put the drumsticks to the side, but the carrots needed more time. I thought it might be nice to roast the tomatoes, too, and maybe some of the onion and a clove of garlic. I threw them on top of the chicken drippings on the pan so they could take in some of the flavor, and popped the baking tray back into the oven until everything was nice and roasted.

In the meantime, I chopped the rest of the onion, the potato, and some more garlic (can't have enough, really). I heated up a little olive oil in my soup pot, and tossed in the onions and garlic. After they sweated through a little bit, I put in the potatoes so they could start cooking. I kept the pot on medium heat so that they wouldn't burn while I tended back to the roasted veggies.

With the onions and potatoes going, I took the baking tray out of the oven. I wanted to puree the carrots and make it the base for my soup, and I thought pureeing it with some of the other roasted vegetables would add a nice complexity. So I threw in the carrots, the roasted garlic and onion, and one of the pieces of roasted tomato into my food processor. I also poured in the juices at the bottom of the bowl that the chicken was resting in. I put in a table spoon of curry powder, and a little salt and pepper. I wish I had a little coconut milk to add in, that would be a nice touch. I had some sour cream in the fridge leftover from tacos last week, so I used that as a substitute. I also threw in a little water, so that I'd end up with a nice, creamy puree. After a couple minutes in the food processor, I got the consistency I was looking for. And man, was it tasty -- it didn't need any seasoning adjustments, it was perfect.

Going back to the stove, I chopped up the remaining pieces of roasted tomato, and threw them in the pot with the garlic, onions and potatoes. I went to town on the drumsticks, taking off any meat I could find and adding them to the pot. At this point, the potatoes were still a little firm, so I added the carrot puree to the pot, and maybe about a cup of water. I turned the heat up to medium high, threw in another pinch of salt and pepper, and let it simmer for a while.

After a few more minutes, the potatoes softened up nicely, and I had myself two servings of a really great carrot chicken curry soup. I topped it off with a little more of the sour cream to balance the heat of the curry. So good, I couldn't help but eat the second serving immediately!

If I try this again, I might try the coconut milk instead of the sour cream -- I think that would be really tasty. And I think a little chive on top would be really good too! But, for being a little bit lazy, and a little bit creative, this turned out really great.

Chocolate-covered Peanut Butter Bananas

2012-04-15T17:56:00.003-07:00

Chocolate morsels were on sale today for $1.99 at my local grocery store, so naturally I got a bag of semi-sweets (the dark chocolate ones were sold out, otherwise that would have been my first choice). I planned on just eating them right out of the bag, but I came up with an idea for dessert: Chocolate covered bananas.

I am not the biggest banana fan, but I know they're good for you, and I know they can fill you up. So, I tend to grab one at work, but inevitably I just let it sit on my desk all day, and end up bringing it home. So, I've had this lonely banana sitting on my dining room table all weekend, and I decided it couldn't go to waste. So, why not jazz it up with a little chocolate?

Then, I had the grand idea to take it even further -- why not add a dollop of peanut butter in there? I just tasted five to make sure they're good -- they are!

1 banana, sliced
6 0z. (half bag) semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
Peanut butter

I melted the chocolate morsels using a double-boiler method -- I guess you could use a microwave, too - just careful, the bowl will probably be hot.

So, while the chocolate was melting, I just sliced the bananas and had the peanut butter ready. I wanted the entire banana covered, so first I dipped the bottom of the banana slice into the chocolate, and then set it on a baking sheet covered in wax paper. After I had all the bottoms done, I took a spoon and put a little dollop of peanut butter on top of each slice. When that was done, I used a spatula to cover all the bananas. As you can see, some got better coverage than others, but these are just for me so I wasn't too concerned. I will say that I used up all of the chocolate, so if you want better coverage, I'd melt some more morsels. Maybe 3/4 of the bag, instead of 1/2? What I love about this is, you can play around with it. Maybe Nutella instead of peanut butter. Or how about Fluff! Mmmm.... Enjoy!

Roasted Corn and Red Bean Salad

2012-04-15T15:34:00.003-07:00

The summer is practically here, and one of my favorite things about summer are fresh cold salads. Tomato salad, cucumber salad, arugula salad, cole slaw -- I love it all.

I was recently introduced to a really great salad with roasted corn. I don't think I've ever had roasted corn before. This salad was great - it had crunch, zest, and was easy to recreate in my kitchen. And it's perfect for the Poor Man's budget.

3 ears fresh corn, or 1 package frozen corn
1 can red beans
1 tomato
1/2 an onion
Cilantro
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder

First, I roasted the corn in the oven - 400° for about 40 minutes on a baking tray, turning the corn halfway through. Interestingly, I've made this a couple times now, and during roasting the kernels towards the outside start roasting a lot faster than the kernels in the center of the tray. So you'll definitely need to mix the corn around halfway through. Also, I'm sure roasted on the grill is even better, and I definitely suggest you try. But, I don't have a grill, or grilling pan, or a George Foreman, so the oven had to do.

While the corn was roasting, I drained the beans, chopped the tomato, and diced the onion. The onion I threw into a fry pan for just like two or three minutes. I love onions, but I wanted to take the bit out of them a little -- the true star here is the roasted corn, and I didn't want anything overpowering that. You could probably use red onions too, and skip the fry pan.

So, once the corn is done, just combine everything: the corn, beans, onions, tomatoes. I chopped a handful of cilantro, which I LOVE in this because it adds a touch of pepperiness. (Speaking of, I lightly salt-and-peppered this salad, not too much.) Also, the juice of half a lemon really helps to break down and combine all the flavors together.

Now, if you like an extra kick (which I do), I suggest 1/4 teaspoon of red chili powder. I think it really compliments the sweetness of the corn, the freshness of the cilantro, and the zest of the lemon. And there you have it -- a great, healthy summer salad that's also easy on the wallet. Enjoy!

Mozzarella-Stuffed Chicken Meatloaf

2012-04-03T16:38:00.005-07:00

New creation that I just took out of the oven. Smells awesome, tastes even better!

I'm a big fan of using chopped-meat chicken for meatloaf. Usually, I toss in half a packet of powdered ranch dressing and call it a day. But, I had some store-brand part-skim mozzarella cheese I got on sale for $1.99 that I wanted to use up, so I made this an Italian-style meatloaf.

With the ground chicken, I tossed in one egg, and about a cup of homemade bread crumbs. I had some leftover stale Italian bread laying around, and used a hand grater to make my bread crumbs. I mixed in about a tablespoon of oregano, and maybe 1/2 tablespoon each of salt and pepper -- really just eyeballed it. After tossing the crumbs and seasonings, I dropped it into the chicken and egg mixture and did a quick mix with my hands. At the last minute, I decided to grate in a quarter of an onion I had sitting in my fridge. Mixed it all together, and was ready to assemble the meatloaf.

So, I guess I could have shredded the mozzarella and combine it with the chicken, bread crumb and onion mixture. Instead, I decided to build the meatloaf in layers. I cut the block of mozzarella into the thinnest slices I could make. On a greased baking tray, I put down a layer of the meat mixture, then a layer of cheese. I kept making layers until I used up all of the meat mixture on top. I smoothed out the sides of the meatloaf with my hands, making sure all the cheese was covered. Then I popped it into a 400° oven for 40 minutes, until it was cooked all the way through and was golden brown all the way around.

I guess I should stop here a moment, and tell you that I always cook a meatloaf on a baking tray. I guess you could use a loaf pan, but I like a nice golden brown crust all the way around. Also, in a loaf pan, I feel like the fat drippings just collect at the bottom of the pan and make the meatloaf soggy. On a baking tray, the fat spreads out away from the loaf and leave it with that gold brown crust that I like. To each their own, I suppose.

So, after taking the meatloaf out, I let it sit for a while. I didn't want to cut into it and have all the cheese run out, so just something to keep in mind.

This meatloaf turned out really, really good! You can see the layers of mozzarella, which gives this another layer of texture along with the grated onions and the meatloaf itself. Garnished with a couple sprigs of thyme I forgot I had. Time to eat!!

Eggplant Rollatini

2012-03-22T17:45:00.005-07:00

The triumphant return of Poor Man's Cupboard.

This little creation is an eggplant rollatini, stuffed with ricotta cheese and a parsley-cashew pesto. I had actually wanted to make eggplant rollatini like a week and half ago as part of the first meal I cooked for my new boyfriend, but I was already making a roasted chicken, with roated potatoes and onions, garlic green beans, and a tomato & fennel salad. I thought the rollatini would be too much, so the eggplant remained forgotten in my fridge until tonight.

The thing is, I've never actually made rollatini before, much less cook eggplant. I did a bit of googling, and man-- there are a lot of conflicting opinions. Do you pre-salt the eggplant, or do you not pre-saly the eggplant. Do you fry the eggplant before stuffing and baking, or don't you? Well, I decided to lightly salt and pepper the eggplant, bread it and fry it, and drain it on a paper towel before stuffing. This method was successful for me, but to each their own. (p.s., the breading was homemade, using a dried out loaf of bread, dried oregano, and the food processor. I didn't add any salt/pepper, because the oregano was already giving it such a flavorful aroma, I didn't think it needed it)

So, the stuffing. This is where Poor Man comes in. I had the ricotta and the parsley, along with the eggplant, from last week still sitting in the fridge. But, I was trying to figure out how I could make this sort of special. I had brought some cashew trail-mix home from work last friday, to bring along for a weekend hike, and I had some leftover. Parlsey and cashews -- just the sort of mild flavor I was looking for, I didn't want anything to be overpowering. I didn't make a true pesto-- no oil, no mortar and pestle. I picked out about half a handful of cashews from the trail mix, and roughly chopped it with the parsley. I took the parsley-cashew mixture, and mixed it into the ricotta with one beaten egg. I also added in maybe two table spoons of tomato sauce, and a little salt and pepper.

Now, the tomato sauce. I'm not gonna front -- I used a jar of Francisco Rinaldi Chunky Garden tomato sauce that I got on sale for $1.29.

With the stuffing made, I took the fried eggplant, smeared the stuffing on one side, and rolled them up into pinwheels. I sauced the bottom of a Pyrex dish before placing each rollatini into the dish. I put just a little sauce over the top of each rollatini -- I really wanted them to stay as crisp as possible, and not get all soggy and mushy. They went into a 400° oven for about 15-20 minutes, just so that the egg in the stuffing mixture would cook up and set.

I gotta say, for my first time making eggplant rollatini, this was BANGING! The parsley was nice and peppery, but tamed down by the mildness of the cashews. And the rough chop of the mixture gave the rollatini a nice mix of texture compared to the creaminess of the ricotta. Definitely one for the recipe collection.

So, how do you make eggplant rollatini? What are your secret, special ingredients?