Foodgoat

What the World Eats

2013-05-22T13:06:00.003-04:00

In the past couple months, the appetites of my kids, who are all of 50 lbs between the two of them, seem to have increased exponentially. Where a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk was once good for a week, and a dozen eggs could last weeks, now I need two or three loaves of bread and a dozen eggs and three gallons of milk every single week. And so. much. cream. cheese.

Which is why I've been a little preoccupied lately with monthly food budgets and consumption, and why I particularly enjoyed the photo album What the World Eats (also a book) of families in various countries surrounded by their weekly food purchases along with how much they spend.

What I noticed:

Almost everyone eats bananas. And carrots.
I am alarmed that the family from Mali is really big, and those bags of grain aren't really enough.
Packaging seems to be a big part of the Japanese family's food. Even the bananas are packaged.
That's a lot of Coke to drink in a week, Mexican family.
The Ecuadoran family looks super stylish in those hats.
Ritz crackers and Lays potato chips cross country lines.
Goodness, families all over the world eat a lot of eggs in a week.
Why so much baking soda, Italian family? But I do love all the bread.
Nice to see so much beer front and center of the German family food table.
Do all Quebec families have Toblerone every week? I would.
Is that Kraft Mac and Cheese over in Kuwait?
So surprised that so many people buy bottled water.

I'm not sure which one is closest to what we eat. Our photo would have a piles of pasta. And gallons of milk. Some vegetables, especially in the summer but less so in the winter. But always a lot of cheese - cheddar, mozzarella (fresh and regular!), Parmesan. And yes, Ritz crackers. At least when I am shopping.

Did Not Expect to See This at Target

2013-05-21T13:18:00.001-04:00

First reaction: Is that mango juice?
Second reaction: The Philippines brand??
Third reaction: For real?
Fourth reaction: On sale???
Fifth reaction: Am I still in Cleveland?

Worst Cheese in the World Meets the Worst Bread in the World

2013-05-16T15:31:00.001-04:00

It all came together in SuperPretzel Softstix, cheese filled soft pretzel sticks.

I knew it would be bad, but I was unprepared for how bad they really were. The worst part was that they had not sufficiently warmed up in the oven in the time indicated by the package, so the first one I tried was warmish on the outiside, but cold on the inside. Fake-ish cheese really needs to be hot to be palatable. It really, really does.

How to Screw Up Muffins

2013-05-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

Muffins are so forgiving to bake. But they can be screwed up. Here's how I did it!

Use raspberries that have been in your freezer for ... no one really knows how long.
Over-oil the muffin pan. Be super sloppy about it so that oil drips out of the muffin pan during baking.
Pull muffins out midway because there is an alarming amount of smoke coming out of your oven.
Leave the half-baked muffins out while you try to clean a hot oven and wipe off the residual oil all around the pan.
Put the half-baked muffins back in the oven an hour later.
Take them out when done. Observe how they turned green. Note how they taste really weird.

Exactly How Much Money We Saved By Roasting Our Own Coffee Beans

2013-04-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

Our coffee roaster. Love it, love it, love it.

Foodgoat has been roasting his own coffee beans for over a year now, and filling the house with the lovely smell of freshly roasted coffee has become a weekly ritual. The coffee tastes delicious and the types of beans and roasts we can try increased tremendously. Plus, I have a much finer appreciation for the subtleties of coffee flavors and nuances. We have a big basket filled with beans ready to be roasted, so we never run out of coffee. It sets off the smoke detector every single time he roasts, but it's well worth it, both in taste and in price.

Recently though, I calculated just how much money we saved by roasting our own coffee. Here's the breakdown.

How much we paid roasting our own beans:

Cost of coffee per year, 45 lbs of coffee beans in one year, for two people = $293 (from Sweet Maria's, with shipping).
Cost of coffee per pound = $6.50
Cost of coffee per day (our French press holds 51 ounces) = $0.80
Cost of coffee, per person, per day = $0.40
Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.02

How much we would have paid if we used Starbuck's bestselling bag of whole roasted beans, French roast (which, by the way, I cannot believe is the most popular roast, because it is AWFUL):

Cost of coffee per year, 45 lbs of coffee beans in one year, for two people = $540
Cost of coffee per pound = $12
Cost of coffee per day= $1.48
Cost of coffee, per person, per day = $0.74
Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.03

How much we would have paid if we used those terribly wasteful, mediocre-tasting single-serve K-cup things:

Cost of K-Cup box from Amazon (50 servings, each makes 8 oz) = $29.99
Cost of one K-cup, each makes a puny 8 oz = $0.60
Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.07
Cost of coffee, per person (assuming 2 K-Cups for one person) per day = $1.20
Cost of coffee per year, for two people = $876

How much we would have paid if we bought coffee at a coffee shop every single day:

Cost of one 20 ounce (Venti size) brewed coffee = $2.00
Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.10
Cost of two people buying one coffee each per day = $4.00
Cost of coffee per year for two people = $1,460.00

And just for the heck of it, how much we would have paid if we bought a fancy espresso drink (San Francisco price) at Starbucks every single day:

Cost of one 16 oz latte = $3.55
Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.22
Cost of two people buying one coffee each per day = $7.10
Cost of coffee per year for two people = $2,591.50

So, to recap:

Cost of coffee for our household over one year:

(Lattes) From Starbucks: $2,591.50
From coffee shop: $1,460.00
Using a single-cup brewing machine: $876
Using bagged whole roasted coffee beans: $540
Roasting our own beans: $293

By roasting our own coffee instead of buying regular brewed coffee at the coffee shop, we save $1,167 over a year. Over $1,000! If we bought lattes, it's over $2,000!!

Okay, we never in our lives actually bought coffee from a coffee shop every single day. Does anyone actually do that?

But by roasting our own instead of buying already roasted beans we still save $247 a year - over $20 a month.

Of course a roaster does cost money initially, but a dedicated machine costs about $150, still less than what you would spend buying roasted beans in a year, and will last a few years. And of course, there are even cheaper, DIY ways to go about roasting.

And maybe you want to support your local coffee shop and coffee roaster, and enjoy the relaxing coffee shop atmosphere. Nothing wrong with that!

But roasting your own coffee beans at home will save you money, and potentially a lot of it.

Because with all that cash Foodgoat has saved by roasting coffee, he has ... well, I'm not sure what he's done with it. I think he's bought more beer.

The Best Use of Leftover Fish ...

2013-04-29T15:23:00.002-04:00

... is fish tacos.

You can't even see the fish in this photo, but it's there, and believe me, it's good.

Finding an Asian Market in Cleveland

2013-04-26T14:06:00.002-04:00

For many years, I have suffered from not having an adequate Asian market nearby. There's one close to downtown, but that seems like a long drive, and it's a drive that requires me to drive by work, which I don't care to do unless I'm actually going to work. There used to a Korean shop down the street, which had the basics but selection was limited. And no one else ever seemed to shop there, so the owners would follow me around whenever I shopped, to see if I needed to help, which was nice but also a tiny bit creepy. Then they stopped carrying banana sauce and I had even less reason for going there.

Then someone mentioned to Foodgoat that there was an Asian grocery store in North Randall - the CAM Asia Supermarket.

Walking inside was like being in California. A real, true Asian grocery store with shelves and aisles of the food of my ancestral region of the world. There was even one whole aisle with just Filipino food. So, so happy!

So even though I now know I can run up there any old time I want to pick up shrimp chips and patis, every time I go there I want to stock up on everything we might possibly want, as if the store might disappear tomorrow.

Alchemy Hour is Indeed Bewitching

2013-04-19T00:30:00.000-04:00

The new Great Lakes Alchemy Hour Double IPA is not only the beer of choice here lately, it may be one of the best beers Foodgoat has had. And though I, unlike Foodgoat, don't often cotton to the big, bitter, hoppiness of the IPA style, Alchemy Hour is so smooth and so nicely balanced that even I really like it. Oh, it's still heavy of the hoppy, but they seem to have captured it in just the right way.

Foodgoat is buying this by the case, though at 9.4% ABV, we've learned you might want to enjoy this beer pacefully, which is not a real word but could be if you say it with all the authority conferred by English lit undergrad degree.

Next year, though, we'll have to look for it under a different name. Will it be another surfing phrase, since they were inspired by the (I have to believe the few) Cleveland surfers who brave the lake in near-freezing temperatures? The only phrase that comes to mind is "Straight Up Crazy" but somehow I don't think that is exactly the sentiment they are trying to express here.

Have I Mentioned That There Are Whovians Here?

2013-04-18T01:00:00.000-04:00

Four of them, to be exact.

Some of us prefer the 11th Doctor.

Some of us miss the 10th Doctor. Really, really miss him. (Happy birthday David Tennant!)

Some of us miss the 10th Doctor and Donna Noble.

Some of us wants to know if River Song is coming back. Or don't want to know. Don't tell us.

But all of us want to know what's up with the spunky new companion. Is she going to be a Kenny, getting herself killed all the time then coming back in another place and time? We don't know!

This Is How I Roll

2013-04-16T15:12:00.000-04:00

Such a lazy post title, I know. What, you expect me to come up with both content and a photo and a snappy title on the same day? Jeez.

There are very few things that I have made repeatedly. As in, more than once. That is because most things that I cook don't turn out that well the first time. So I assume the recipe is a bad one. It's only recently starting to dawn on me that maybe the more one makes a dish, the better one gets at making it and the better that dish turns out. Craaazy, right? I'm still processing it.

But I have made these dinner rolls several times, because they came out perfectly the first time, and I haven't had a bad batch since, which must mean that they are very forgiving. They're just dinner rolls; nothing fancy, no bacon or sparkling sugar or truffles, but they're soft and and just a little buttery and good. The recipe is from King Arthur Flour.

3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons potato flour
3 tablespoons dry milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons soft butter
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk

Combine all of the dough ingredients in a bread machine set on the dough cycle to make a soft, smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's about doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Round each piece into a smooth ball.

Lightly grease two round cake pans. Space 8 buns in each pan. Cover the pans, and allow the buns to rise till they're crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover the buns, and bake them for 22 to 24 minutes, until they're golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it. Remove the buns from the oven, and brush with melted butter.

You Can Never Go Wrong With Bacon and Avocado

2013-04-02T15:20:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted in ages, mostly because Google apparently doesn't like me and have made their products annoyingly hard for me to access, and then because I stopped liking Google, since they then killed Reader, the one Google product that was working just fine.

But I had the share this photo, because doesn't it look yummy? I mean, really, really yummy?

The photo was taken months ago, but delicious food, featuring a variety of fats, is always relevant. Fresh avocado. Bacon. Fried bread crumbs. There are even chips on the side.

It looks like the perfect lunch.

The Inaugural Snack

2013-01-22T15:01:00.003-05:00

I love not only that they served Cheez-Its at the Inauguration, but that they saw fit to label it.

You have to admit, it's a really good snack, and if I didn't already know what it was, I'd be asking the nearest Secret Service agent, "My God, what is this wonderful, delicious orange cracker?"

The other day, Foodgoat passed on making breaded pork with crumbled Cheez-Its. Opportunity lost.

Poached Pears, Oh My

2012-12-05T14:10:00.000-05:00

Hello, pear.

I know we're haven't been very close over the years. In our previous encounters, you've been fresh but kind of ... grainy. It's a texture thing. I didn't care for it. Also, your shape makes you a little hard to hold. Sometimes I eat my lunch fruit at my desk, so my fruit really needs to be one-hand friendly.

But I'm still a believer in no bad foods, just bad preparations, so a few weeks ago I bought some Bosc pears, watched them sit untouched on the counter for a few days, discovered we had half a bottle of way-too-sweet for me Gewürztraminer wine left (you don't want to know how many times I tried to spell that right), then poached them exactly as David Lebovitz said to.

In addition to the wine, I also threw in dried cranberries. It's an incredibly easy and simple recipe. The result?

Hellllllo, pear.

Poaching the pears was transformative. It made them soft and sweet and smoothed the texture enough to make it totally delicious. Maybe anything can be good swimming in a sweet syrup, but it really made me like pears for the first time in my life.

The nice thing was that the poached pears sat in my a jar in their syrup for a week, and I could dip in and have a few slices whenever I wanted. On top of oatmeal. On top of banana pancakes, as above. Warmed up, by itself in a bowl, along with an episode of Modern Family.

It's a lovely way to have fruit this time of year, when it's so cold outside (and 45 degrees still counts in my book as SO COLD) - warm, sweet, but not too heavy.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips

2012-12-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

Don't make your oven too hot, and don't be distracted by kids who have managed to find the lollipop hiding spot in the pantry

That, my friends, is an oven baked sweet potato chip.

I've made them a few times in the past few weeks because everyone will eat them. Because they are chips, and who won't eat chips? Aliens, that's who.

I found the recipe for them online, but now I can't find the original one I worked from. No matter, I've had to modify it anyway, because I've learned a couple things in making them.

It can be easy to miss that cooked-just-right sweet spot and end up with burned sweet potatoes. Especially if your oven is 450. See the photo?
If I brush one side with the butter/syrup mix and then go off to organize a race between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, the mix will have effectively soaked through so it doesn't need to be brushed on the other side.
The edges will burn if you wait for the center to get totally crisp. Once the edges start to look dried out, the chips are done.
A mandoline is my slicing friend, and works best if I don't push down too hard.
If I do push down too hard and end up with chips that are way thinner on one side, I can overlap the chips for the thin parts don't cook too quickly.
I really should buy more baking sheets. I only have one.

Here's how I make them:

Slice one sweet potato. Thin.
In a small bowl, mix equal amounts of melted butter (or olive oil, or coconut oil) and maple syrup (or honey or nothing, if you don't want it too sweet). About two tablespoons of each should be enough.
Brush on one side of the potato slices. Or just toss it all together.
Bake in a 375-400 degree oven, for oh, about 8-10 minutes.
Flip the slices over. Brush with more of the good stuff if you want.
Back in the oven for 8-10 minutes more, or until the edges look dried out and crisp. Keep an eye on it!
Take out and cool for bit, and enjoy!

Retronaut Food

2012-11-16T12:34:00.001-05:00

You sit down to figure out the Petraeus scandal, and the next thing you know you haven't blogged in a couple of days. Who did what now?

Anyway, on to more pleasant things. Lately I have been enjoying getting the Retronaut emails because old photos of odd and interesting things from ye olden times have been far more enlightening and delightful than CNN's headline news.

from WWII, when donuts were ... healthier?

1951 Donut Queen Kris Nodland and the Gingerbread Donut Boy

another WWII poster, which frankly contradicts the donut one, if you ask me

Superheroes gardening!

the very first McDonald's in 1948

But of course, you can also find photos of a teenage Morrissey, Robert Smith's wedding, the time Cleveland set a world record in balloons, exotic dancers from the 1890s, David Bowie playing ping pong in a kimono (although all photos of David Bowie are pretty much fascinating), and this are-you-kidding-me pro-draft-dodging poster.

Winter Squash Paprikash (Hey, It Rhymes!)

2012-11-12T16:20:00.000-05:00

More squash!

This time, we started with delicta squash, which is the most approachable winter squash there is. It's small. It's thin skinned. The seeds are scooped out easily.

Even though it was pretty easy to chop up, I opted not to roast them. Instead, I steamed them until they were soft. It seemed much more efficient than roasting - faster and requiring less energy since you use the burner instead of the oven.

Then I pureed the whole thing - skins and all. I froze the puree in a plastic bag until ...

Foodgoat decided to make squash paprikash.

Because there's no reason that paprikash needs to be made with chicken. Remember? He made Italian Bean Paprikash already.

Here's his recipe for Chicken Paprikash. Can you just substitute in the two cups or so of frozen steam squash puree for chicken? Maybe! I'm not really sure! I assume so!

I didn't actually watch him cook it, so I don't know. I would have liked to watch him cook it, and I would have liked to taste it along the way, and I would have liked to have a glass of wine at the same time, but sometimes I don't always get what I want.

Mmmmm, creamy squash sauce

I did get a delicious squash paprikash though. Super creamy, a nice balance of sweet and spicy, with comforting dumplings.

It has become one of my favorite versions of paprikash.

Dumplings and Broccoli and ... Cheetos

2012-11-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

NOTE: THIS DISH WAS NOT FOODGOAT'S IDEA.

I don't think there's enough beer in the world to inspire the use of Cheetos in his cooking.

Nope, the inspiration for this came out of the 2010 Saveur 100 issue, the Chef's Edition.

In that issue, Chef Craig Koketsu of New York City's Park Avenue Winter provided his recipe for Broccoli and Cheetos.

Apparently foodies in New York will pay for anything.

Anyway, it's basically steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, topped with crushed Cheetos.

Foodgoat's version had a cheddar sauce (instead of a mostly Gouda sauce) and joined it with bacon dumplings.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure that Cheetos will become a staple of the Foodgoat kitchen any time soon. They weren't bad on broccoli, but I'm not they added much except a crunchy texture and a sense of culinary slumming.

It makes a nice photo, though, doesn't it?

The Future is Ponies

2012-11-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

Whew, it's starting to really sink in. The election is over.

Are you happy? Are you sad? Optimistic? Proclaiming the decline of civilization via Twitter?

Either way, it's time to focus on other things now. It's time to look to the future. A positive future, based on something that can unite us all, rather than divide us into reds and blues. Something in which we ALL can win.

I'm talking, of course, about the new season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic starting on Saturday.

Honestly, I'm so excited.

Here's a food blog called My Little Recipes: Cooking is Magic, featuring such dishes as Unicorn Poop and Homemade Rainbow Pop Tarts
13 recipes for your Brony party
Not for the kids! 7 My Little Pony cocktails
And below, Cutie Mark Crusaders Chocolate Popcorn, a recipe from Hub for your Playdate Party. Yes, it's hot popcorn mixed with chocolate chips.

Squash Bread & Thoughts on Mixing

2012-11-07T01:30:00.000-05:00

I am really beginning to really admire quick breads for their ability to easily take on almost any kind of fruit or vegetable pulp and transform it into a sweet and delicious baked good.

Here I had some roasted and mashed squash - I don't remember what kind - just sitting in the fridge, cold and a little sludgy and not very appealing.

Then I used My Baking Addiction's recipe for Butternut Squash Bread and voila!

Of course I used a lot more squash puree than was called for (I was determined to use up what I had) and I put raisins in and I had to bake it longer than the recipe said ... but I'm happy with how it came out! Super moist and tasting very seasonal.

Of course, I did under-mix it a bit. I am always anxious to avoid over-mixing a quick bread, since that causes gluten to develop, making the bread tougher instead of more tender. But under-mixing means ingredients do not get well incorporated, and lucky Foodgoat gets a mouthful of baking soda in his slice of bread.

Now that I think about it though, I guess I could have mixed the baking soda well into the flour before I had to mix in the wet ingredients. Just like the original recipe said.

Election Night Stress Eating

2012-11-06T11:29:00.001-05:00

There is hope in this endless, bitter war!

No, not Melody Pond. I wish. No, it's finally election day! Soon we can put to rest what has seemed like the longest, most endlessly prolonged, most annoyingly partisan election season ever.

I will never be so happy to see local carpet cleaning commercials.

But first I have to get through the day, and even worse, the night. A night of being glued to the news channels and their needlessly high-tech maps and their commentators of varying (but mostly low) tolerability.

I'm trying not to be too emotionally engaged in this, but I can already see it's going to be a bad day for stress eating.

Consider the circumstances:

We have a ton of leftover Halloween candy.
And a box of Mozzarella Cheez-Its.
Ohio is a swing state. THE swing state. The one it always comes down to.
Ohio can go either way.
The freezer is really full, and two ice cream cartons are taking up a lot of room.

Oh yes, it's going to be ugly.

Tips managing the election night emotional binge eating:

Focus on what you can control: I voted, and things may go my way, or they may not. Now I will focus on not eating another Twix Fun Size bar.
Know your triggers: Some things just might cause an uncontrollable upsurge in stress. Please, please do not me hear Sarah Palin talking on TV.
Relieve the stress some other way: Take deep breaths! Vent something you may later regret on Facebook! Do push ups! Ha ha! Got you on the last one. Like I would do push ups. Foodgoat will be the one who does all the crazy push up variations just for fun.
Drink black tea instead: Black tea, according to one study, reduced cortisol (stress hormone) levels and helped men de-stress more quickly. Black tea doesn't sound nearly so satisfying, though, as a salad made primarily of Cheez-Its.

It Doesn't Just Remove Staples!

2012-11-05T02:00:00.000-05:00

Just an FYI, if you don't happen to have a bottle opener handy, one of these will suffice:

Just try not to get root beer all over your desk, your day planner, or the documents you printed out for the meeting in five minutes.

For Some Reason, I'm Really Hungry Now

2012-11-02T10:05:00.000-04:00

I presume it's only a matter of time before the food blogs feature not only professional, stylized photographs for each step in the recipe description, but animated gifs too.

They're so mesmerizing, aren't they?

why anyone would prefer a raw food diet, when heat can do such magical things?

this looks exactly like the mac and cheese Foodgoat makes, right down to the boing boing pasta. Has he been foodblogging on tumblr without telling me?

as you can see, I've got a thing about melty cheese

the bulb in my oven burned out long ago, so I find this fascinating

okay, this one is actually a tiny bit gross, but it's still mesmerizing

What are you making for dinner, Foodgoat?

One Thing I Don't Need: A Banana Slicer

2012-11-01T09:48:00.000-04:00

Far be from me to judge other people on the kitchen gadgets, but this one really does seem particularly unnecessary:

It's $10, and it slices bananas.

It also looks terrifyingly dangerous.

The reviews on Amazon, though, are pretty hilarious.

Happy Birthday Matt Smith!

2012-11-01T09:23:00.000-04:00

Why Matt Smith, Mr. 11th Doctor, did I forget it was your birthday on Monday?

Happy 30th birthday!

because everything is better as an animated GIF

I feel a little better that not even the Chin Boy got a Dalek cake for his birthday. For while I thought about trying to make a Dalek cake. I have seen some wonderful Dalek cakes that people have made, but I think that for me to attempt it is just a recipe for one epic cake wreck.

Winter Squash: The Risk, The Reward

2012-10-31T15:27:00.001-04:00

I usually avoid winter squashes altogether. Not because I don't like them, in fact, I think they're delicious. No, there are three reasons:

1. I am afraid of suffering bodily mutilation in the process of cutting them up. Butternut squashes, in particular, mock me with their hard, hard shells. Sometimes I think I should try to take a power tool to them, but then me + power tools does not necessarily reduce the likelihood of bodily injury.

But thanks to my CSA, we amassed a collection of large and small winter squashes and I either had to admit that they were just there in a feeble attempt at autumn decor or go ahead and cook them.

So I took the acorn squashes and the hubba hubba squash and the other varieties I don't remember the names of (seriously, there are lot of different kinds) and cut them up with the sharpest knife we had. Then I tried the heaviest knife. And I think the heaviest knife is the one to go with.

Because I didn't want to spend any more time with the knife than I had to, I just cut them half and roasted them with olive oil. And there's the other reason I generally avoid the winter squashes.

2. They take FOR-EV-ER to roast. Like an hour, at least.

So I had a bunch of roasted squash halves, finally. Now what? Enter reason #3.

3. I have no idea what to do with cooked squash.

Having exhausted all my cooking mojo just cutting up and roasting the squashes, I don't know what to do with it now. Eat it like that? Stick it in the freezer until inspiration or an appropriate recipe crops up?

Fortunately Foodgoat stepped in.

And just like that, he whipped up a roasted squash dumplings with one kind of squash, with a squash sauce made with another kind of squash.

Has this ever been made by anyone, ever? I have no idea, but Foodgoat just made this whole dish up on the fly, and it was sooo delicious.

It was totally worth the risk of bodily harm.