Hey, that tastes good!

sticky bbq tempeh

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:12:18 PST

Hi! I sure love sticky saucey things. You should too. So we're kind of eating healthy, so no desserts or anything. Sadfaces. The good news is that I made this tempeh and it was delicious. Remember last time I made tempeh and posted about it?

Tempeh is kind of boring by itself, but crisp it up in a pan and coat it with a sticky sauce and it's a delicious thing you should eat. This is Lightlife brand garden veggie tempeh. This is a super easy recipe. All you do is crisp the tempeh and pour over an easy quick bbq sauce that can be whipped up in 1 second, let it cook for a minute or two or five to thicken the sauce and make it stick, and you're done. I served it over rice, with a side of kale chips.

sticky bbq tempeh

1 package tempeh (I bet this would be good with tofu too probably)

oil for cooking, 2-3 T or so

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c ketchup

4 T cider vinegar

2 T mustard

1 T hot sauce

Slice the tempeh about 1/4" thick. Heat enough oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan you're using over medium-high heat, and toss in the tempeh. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until well browned and crispy looking. While that's happening, whisk together the brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, mustard and hot sauce. When all the tempeh is crispy, pour over the sauce mixture and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for a minute or two or three until the sauce thickens. Serve over rice, or on a sandwich, or whatever.

Those same noodles, with shrimp and greens and mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:09:55 PST

HI! I've been eating these noodles a bunch of times because they're so good. Look! Here they are with kale and mushrooms and shrimp! Also they're easy and fast and cheap and easy.

Look how healthy. Vegetables!

Noodles with vegetables and shrimp

Follow the recipe for these noodles, but cook a few big handfuls of chopped mushrooms until browned, then add some chopped kale in with the noodles. Add cooked, peeled shrimp instead of the crab, and add a teaspoon or two of chili sauce because spicy is delicious! Yum. I will be making these with variations, they're so easy and good and fast.

Crabby noodles with snow peas, from The Gluten Free Asian Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:45:47 PST

Hi! Happy New Year! We're trying to eat healthy this month, like everyone else in the world, but it's not going so great. Alex has a cold so we're on a strict chicken noodle or dumpling soup diet. Before he got sick, though, I made these awesome noodles from this cookbook I for got Christmas from my dad, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. I've made a few recipes from it so far and it's pretty great. These noodles are easy and delicious and fresh. I tossed in some leftover shrimp, and put more cilantro and scallions on the table for serving.

Crabby noodles with snow peas
from The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen

1 package mung bean noodles (otherwise known as jellyfish noodles)
4 T veg oil
6 scallions, chopped up (plus more for the table)
4 cloves minced garlic (I used 6)
1/4 lb chopped up snow peas
8oz real crabmeat, picked through for shell pieces
1/2 c chopped cooked shrimp
1/2 c clam juice
2 T fish sauce
1/3 c cilantro (plus more for the table)

Pour boiling water over the noodles and let them sit for a minute or two until soft and stretchy (the book says to use hot tap water but I let mine soak for half an hour and nothing happened, so boiling water did the trick almost immediately). Drain the noodles and chop them up with scissors.
Heat half of the oil over medium heat and cook the scallions and garlic for a minute, then add the snow peas and cook another minute. Add the rest of the oil and the crab, shrimp and noodles, stirring well. Add the clam juice and fish sauce and cook a few more minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and toss with cilantro. Serve with more cilantro, scallions, and hot sauce if you wish.

Here is a photo of my puppy, who is growing up very fast.

Our trip to Europe

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:25:36 PST

Remember when we went to Europe? That was over the summer. I promised to write about it, and never did. Oops! Here are some pictures.

First we went to London.

Great architecture

We didn't go up on the London Eye

We did a lot of touristy things like take photos in front of everything

We ate gluten free fish and chips at the Mermaid's Tail in Leicester Square. It was ok, but not the best ever.

Horses may bite

Then we went to Hungary and Slovakia to visit Alexs family.

As always, I was fed extremely well. Pictured here - gluten free bread, keilbasa and a weird rice and liver and blood sausage (delicious), and little pickles and apricots

We made something called 'Spanish Bird' which is beef pounded thin, filled with salami, bacon, hard boiled egg and pickle, then cooked in the pressure cooker. Deliciously.

A relative of Alex's made me this giant loaf of gluten free bread. His son has Celiac, so he brought this over for me and I devoured the whole thing. I've never had anyone give me fresh baked, warm bread before.

This is lecso (lech-o), a mix of tomatoes and onions and peppers and bacon that you eat for breakfast in Slovakia.

Slovakia

I made friends with this little spot-faced dog (sure didn't think I'd have a spot faced dog of my own soon after we got home!)

We went to an 'adventurepark' where we went on a ski lift up a mountain and then rode a roller coaster and did a ropes course thing

We cooked fish and chips for Alexs parents (using my recipe)

We went to the Budapest Zoo, which is my favorite zoo. I touched a sloth.

We went to the Vasarcsarnok Market, where there are a million stands of vegetables and meats and things.

We went to a great flea market in Budapest and I bought some cameras (what else)

We ate a lot of delicious salamis

Then on the way home we stopped in Iceland for 24 hours because a flight was cancelled. This was my favorite part of the trip. We saw a friend of mine from summer camp (really, in Iceland!) and ate a ton and explored and loved it. I want to go back.

We ate the best lobster soup of my life at this awesome seafood restaurant, the Sea Baron. I obviously didn't eat the bread.

We had two different kinds of fish and whale, and it was all delicious.

This is the Sea Baron. He came around offering samples of things like fermented shark (what he's holding there, it was not delicious) and whale blubber (so delicious).

Iceland was cool. I bought a really expensive, perfect sweater.

Alex bought a great hat.

The end! Vacation was great.

The stuffing of your dreams (sausage stuffing)

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:04:28 PST

I know, Thanksgiving is over and no one wants to look at another scoop of stuffing or turkey slice or plop of cranberry sauce until next year. Everyone except me! I love Thanksgiving. We had a great time. My mom and sisters and a friend all came over and I cooked a giant turkey, way bigger than we needed for the six of us.

This post is a little delayed because my computer crashed and I bought a new one online on Thursday (did you know a lot of electronics stores start their black Friday online sales on Thursday?) and it arrived yesterday, but I had to set it up and play with it and catch up to all the internet things I'd missed in a week. New computers are so fast and shiny! I love it. It's a Toshiba of some sort.

Back to this stuffing recipe. I found it on Epicurious, and it claims to be the stuffing of your dreams. Obviously I had to test that, and they're right. It's a dreamy stuffing. Butter, cream, sausage, garlic, parmesan cheese, etc. These photos are from when I remade it, to eat with the rest of the turkey we have. It's not too involved to make, cook some sausage and some veggies and mix up some liquid and stir it all together and bake it. Oh and drizzle it with some cream if you want right before you bake it. Seriously.

Sausage and bread stuffing
From Epicurious

1 loaf gf bread*
1 T olive oil
2 lb sausage, casings removed (I use sweet Italian like the recipe called for, but I can imagine it would be delish with half spicy and half sweet)
1 stick of butter
3 onions, chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
a head of garlic, minced or pressed
2 t paprika
4 lightly beaten eggs
3/4 c heavy cream, divided (you can use half and half and it will still be ok)
1/2 c really good stock
1 c parm cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. Chop up your gf bread into cubes, then spread onto a cookie sheet and toast until crispy. Turn the heat up to 425 if you plan to bake the stuffing now. Heat up the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, then break up half of the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned and delicious. Remove to a bowl with a paper towel in the bottom to drain the fat. Cook the rest of the sausage as well. Wipe out the grease from the pan, then melt the butter. Cook the onions, garlic, paprika and celery together until softened. Combine the sausage, bread, and vegetables. Whisk together the eggs and 1/2 c of cream and cheese and stock. Stir in the liquid and spread into a glass baking dish (your largest). Drizzle the rest of the cream over the top and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes until heated through, then remove the foil and bake another 20, until crispy and lightly browned.

Makes about a million servings, and can be made a day or two ahead if you keep it in the fridge, just bring to room temp before baking.

*I use Food for Life brown rice bread. Their breads are pretty crappy for eating, but great for things like breadcrumbs and stuffing. Soft breads like Udi's tend to get all soggy if you don't crisp them up enough.

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and here is a picture of my puppy.

Cranberry cocktail ideas

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 21:01:02 PST

Wondering what to do with your cranberry liquor? Lots of things!

You could mix it into some ginger ale for a fancy Shirley Temple-y drink.
You could make a cranberry cosmo, by mixing 2 oz cranberry liquor with 1 oz cranberry juice, 1/2 oz of triple sec, and a squeeze of lime juice.
You could mix it into some orange juice.
You could make a sparkling cranberry with 1 oz of cranberry liquor in the bottom of a glass topped off with champagne.
Or you can just sip it straight.
Freeze some cranberries to chill your drinks instead of ice cubes.

Cranberry liquor

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:01:00 PST

Hi! Happy almost Thanksgiving! Need a drink? Here is a good one.

Look what a pretty color! It tastes good too. This needs about three days to set, so don't make it on Thanksgiving morning.

Cranberry liquor

12 oz cranberries
2 c sugar
1 c water
1 liter vodka

Microwave the water and sugar 30 seconds at a time until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool while you run the cranberries through the food processor. Combine the cranberries and sugar mixture, then stir in the vodka. Pour into a large jar or two and let sit in the fridge for at least three days. Strain, and then use to make cocktails!

Cranberry orange relish

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:33:39 PST

We used to make this in elementary school, although never this way. In the food processor, yes, but in the meat grinder? Nope! This is the fastest and easiest and my favorite of the cranberry sauces. This relish needs no cooking, and it can be made in advance. These are important things for someone who is working every day until Thanksgiving, which is being hosted at her house.

Plus, this is super delicious. Three ingredients!

Cranberry orange relish

1 orange
3 c cranberries
3/4 c sugar

Slice the orange, leaving the skin on. Run the cranberries and orange slices through the grinder, then stir in the sugar. That's all. Store in the fridge. Makes about 3 cups.

Thanksgiving leftover recipe #1 - Stuffing dumplings

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:41:25 PST

Hi! So Thanksgiving is in like, a week and a half. Are you ready? I bought a really big turkey. I made a practice batch of stuffing the other day, and made dumplings out of the leftovers. If there's one thing I love, it's dumplings. I've been making them a lot lately, since we've been eating a lot of soup and trying not to get sick. Anyway, I had leftover stuffing, and chicken and gravy in a box, and made this! Hooray.

Stuffing dumplings and leftover Thanksgiving things in gravy

Leftover turkey, cut into bite size pieces
leftover vegetable things (I used carrots and celery and onions and mushrooms)
1 c gravy
1 c water or wine or stock
2 eggs
1 T melted butter
1/3 c flour mix
2 c stuffing

Combine the turkey, whatever vegetables you have, the gravy and the liquid in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for about ten minutes. Beat the eggs in a bowl, stir in the butter and flour, then stir in the stuffing. Using two spoons, shape into dumpling shapes (like quenelles) and slide into the bubbling gravy. Cover the pot, turn down the heat a medium-low, and cook about 15 minutes, flipping the dumplings halfway through.
If I was making this for breakfast, I might poach some eggs alongside the dumplings. Just sayin.

Oh and here is a picture of what my life is like now:

Salted hot fudge

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:48:54 PST

Alex and I went to my moms house yesterday to introduce her to the puppy. You know, this puppy:

He's pretty great. Anyway, my mom liked him even though she pretended she didn't, and then we ordered Chinese food and made hot fudge. Then we had ice cream sundaes for dinner. This is extra easy, and extra fast, and super good. My mom used Baker's chocolate, but I used Scharffer Berger because it was on sale. I accidentally doubled the salt which turned out to be a great idea. So delicious. You can halve this recipe, but I made the full recipe because a can of evaporated milk is 12 oz.

Salty hot fudge

1 1/2 c evaporated milk

2 c sugar

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

4 T butter

1 t vanilla

1 t salt

Heat the milk and sugar to a rolling boil, then stir in the chocolate and remove from the heat. Beat with a whisk until the chocolate is all melted, then whisk in the butter and vanilla and salt. Keep whisking until butter is melted. Don't worry that it seems liquidy, it'll thicken up as it cools.

Makes about two pint size jars mostly full (about 24 oz).

Snow storm already? and corned beef hash with eggs and cheese recipe.

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:41:14 PDT

HI you guys! I'm back from Europe, and all kinds of things have been happening. First, we came back from Europe which I will write about eventually, probably. In the meantime, you can look at photos here. Next, Alex got a big promotion at work. Hooray! He's the best. Then, we got this little monster in the photo above. Look how cute he is!! His name is Fritz and he is an English Setter puppy. We found him at a shelter in Beacon, NY and drove down on a whim and picked him out. Have you ever tried to pick out a puppy from a pile of them? It's hard. Also, if you're looking for an English Setter puppy, two of his brothers are left! Puppies are the best.

I'm sure you heard, but we had a hell of a storm this past weekend. We got something like ten inches of snow, and lost power for three and a half (very cold) days. Luckily we were still working, so we had a few hours of warmth and light. It was pretty hard. And they cancelled Halloween!!

I'm glad we bought a grill with a side burner when we picked ours out this summer, because it's saved us in both storms since we've moved in.

My favorite storm food is corned beef hash and eggs. This time I stuck in some american cheese, and it was one of those 'this might be the best thing I've ever eaten' meals. We were freezing, it was dark, and this was a spirit lifting meal.

For coffee I always make cold brewed coffee when we don't have power. It may be cold (or, room temperature, which is cold) but at least it's delicious.

Emergency corned beef hash with eggs and cheese for when you don't have electricity
I buy corned beef hash in a can for emergencies only, because it's super bad for you but nothing tastes as good when you're without power. Hormel brand is gluten free.

1 can corned beef hash
4 slices cheese
4 eggs
pepper

Heat up your cast iron skillet on your grill, either on the side burner or on the grill itself. Plop in the corned beef hash, and spread around. Let it sit for a while, then stir it and flip it over. Next cover the top with cheese slices, and then break in your eggs. It's ok if one breaks. Let that sit until the whites are set, probably about ten minutes depending on how hot your grill is and how cold the air is. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with pepper, and maybe hot sauce. You shouldn't need salt because corned beef hash from a can is super salty. Now keep your fingers crossed your heat comes back on.

See ya!

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:08:17 PDT

Hey guys, Alex and I are going on vacation! By vacation I mean going to Europe to visit Alex's family, with a side trip to London and a quick stop in Iceland on the way home. I am excited. See that picture above? That's from me doing a cartwheel in front of Westminster Abbey sometime in the mid 90s.
Anyone got any gluten free restaurant recommendations in London, Budapest, or Reykjavik?
See you guys soon!

Apple crisp delicious

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 10:09:00 PDT

Hi! Like I said in our post about pickles, Alex and I belong to a CSA this year. Don't know what that is, you say? A CSA is where we pay a local farm in the early spring and then all summer we get big boxes of vegetables and fruits. Last week we got a lot of apples, and I made this.

I used a recipe from Joy the Baker, because she's the best. I changed a few things, like multiplying the recipe to make more because I had more apples, as well as making it gluten free and cutting the apples into little cubes so this is more like a crumble on top of a delicious applesauce. This is good both cold and hot, with ice cream.

Apple crisp
From Joy the Baker

ten or so apples, peeled and cut into little cubes
1/3 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

2 c gf flour mix
2 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

2/3 c gf oats
a big pinch of salt

1 stick plus 2 T butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 13x9" pan. Toss the apples with the sugar and cinnamon, and spread evenly in the pan. Combine flour mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, oats and salt, then smoosh in the butter until none of the flour is dry. Sprinkle over the top of the apples, and bake 45-50 minutes, until browned on top and bubbly underneath.

Makes about a million servings, or approx eight.

Fridge garlic dill pickles

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:25:23 PDT

Hi! Have you made pickles before? I hadn't and it turns out they're so easy. Who knew? Alex and I have a CSA membership and got a whole pile of little pickling cucumbers. I used this recipe from Epicurious, and these are delicious.

Super easy, delicious fridge garlic dill pickles
From Epicurious

A pile of little pickling cucumbers
a head of garlic, peeled
a big handful of fresh dill
2 T salt
2 c vinegar (I used 1 c cider, 1 c white)
2 c water
1 T pepper flakes
1/2 T peppercorns

Cut up the cucumbers into whatever pickle shapes you want. If your jar is big enough, you can leave them whole, or slice into spears or rounds or whatever. Combine vinegar, water, and salt in a pan and bring to a boil. Stick the dill, garlic, pepper flakes, peppercorns, and cucumbers in your jar. Pour the hot pickle juice over the top and stick your jar or soon-to-be pickles in the fridge. In about a week, you have pickles! Hooray!

Peaches

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:17:16 PDT

This is what I've been eating all summer long. Grilled peaches in booze syrup with ice cream. I make big batches with the intention of having enough for a while but then I eat most of them within a day or two. It's been a good summer for peaches, but because I'm allergic to raw ones I have to cook them, and grilling them is the best. I'd even eat them with a little bit of cream poured over them, but I don't have any.

Peaches!!

Grilled peaches with syrup

a bunch of peaches (you can make two, or thirty)
some sort of liquid (I've used whiskey, wine and juice, but you can use water or whatever you want)
some sort of sweetener (sugar, brown sugar, honey)

Preheat your grill to medium high heat. Rinse off your peaches and cut them all in half and remove the pit. You can sprinkle a little sugar on the cut sides of the peaches now if you want, but you don't have it. In a little saucepan, combine two parts liquid with one part sugar (as in 1 c wine and 1/2 c sugar) and cook for a few minutes, until all the sugar is dissolved and some of the alcohol is cooked out, depending on what liquid you used. You can do this in the microwave if you want if it's too hot outside to cook. Now that the grill is nice and hot, place the peaches cut side down over the heat and cook for two minutes or so, then flip. Cook the skin side another minute or two, then remove to a bowl. Let the peaches sit for a few minutes and let their juices run out, then dump in the syrup. Serve warm with ice cream! Or eat plain, or with whipped cream. Or with avocado gelato, like in the photo below.

Arepas with chicken and corn!

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:44:14 PDT

Hi everyone. I've been busy lately, working and working on the house. I hope you are all having a great summer! Today I made kind of arepas. I say kind of because I used the wrong kind of flour, but they're delicious anyway. I ate them. I filled them up with cheese and corn and chicken and deliciousness.

Arepas with chicken and corn filling

1 1/2 c masa harina
1 1/3 c warm water
1 T olive oil
a pinch of salt
1/2 of a leftover rotisserie chicken, pulled off the bone and torn into bite size pieces
1/4 c of your favorite salsa (this is my favorite)
1 chipotle pepper, chopped up
2 ears of corn, sliced off the ears

In a large bowl, combine masa and water and oil and salt. Mix with your hands, until a smooth dough forms. Preheat a lightly greased griddle pan over medium heat, and turn the oven on to 350. Roll the dough into balls and flatten them with your hands (this is a really good tutorial) then press onto the griddle. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, until firm and lightly browned, then finish in the oven for 15 minutes. The inside will still be a little sticky, that's ok.
While the arepas are cooking, make the chicken. Combine the chicken, salsa, chipotle and corn in a pan and cook over medium heat until heated through. Once the arepas are done, slice them in half like a sandwich and stuff full of chicken. I sprinkled cheese on top before I closed them up again. Makes about eight.

Chocolate cake with raspberries and dark chocolate frosting

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:48:35 PDT

Hi! Sorry it's been a while. But to make it up to you, I made a cake! A chocolate one! With a secret layer of raspberry jam in the middle, from the raspberries I picked from the yard. Our new house has raspberry bushes like nobodies business. A giant giant one by the front of the house next to the driveway, and two smaller ones out back. I've been picking about a pint a day, yesterday I picked a pint and a half. I don't even know what to do with that many raspberries. I froze a bunch, and have been eating them out of the freezer as a surprisingly delicious snack.

I used a bunch of raspberries to make a jam which I spread in the middle of a chocolate cake, which I then frosted with easy dark chocolate frosting and promptly devoured. Chocolate cake is so good, you guys. I'm going to bring most of it to work so I don't have to eat it all. Because I will. Don't tempt me.

Chocolate cake with raspberries and dark chocolate frosting

Chocolate cake:
this is the same recipe I've used a few times before, here and here. It's easy, you use one bowl, and I always have these ingredients.

1 3/4 c rice flour mix
1/2 t xanthan gum
3/4 c cocoa powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/4 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
2 c sugar
1 c milk, soured with 1 t lemon juice
1 c strong coffee (I use decaf because I'm sensitive to caffeine at night)
2 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease two 8" cake pans. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then dump in all the rest of the ingredients. Stir well, then pour into the cake pans. Bake about 30 minutes. I forget how long my cakes baked, it was something like 30 minutes. When the cake starts to pull away from the pan it is done. Cool on racks in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out and let cool the rest of the way.

Raspberry filling
1 pint raspberries (or whatever kind of berry you want, I guess)
1 T sugar
1 T juice or water (I used pomegranate)

Combine all those guys in a little saucepan. Cook on medium-low until all the berries have broken down into a mush and some of the juice has cooked out. This isn't an exact science, you're not really making jam as much as you're making mashed up cooked berry juice.
Or, you can skip this step and just use raspberry jam you buy at the store. If you do that, microwave it for a few seconds so it's soft so you can spread it without tearing the cake.

When the cake is totally cool, place one layer on your cake plate, or if they're all still packed because you moved a few weeks ago, a regular plate. Don't mess around here with waiting until the cake is mostly cool, I mean it. It's so sad when you work so hard to make a cake and then it slumps all over because the frosting melts and squishes out the sides. Spread the jammy sauce on top of the bottom layer. If you're worried about it spreading out the sides when you put the top layer on, pause here for a few minutes and stick it in the freezer to harden the jam. Then top with the second cake layer.

Dark chocolate frosting
This is adapted from Joy the Baker's recipe for peanut butter blondies with milk chocolate frosting, which I'm drying to make. The frosting is killer. It's an easy, quick frosting recipe and makes exactly enough to frost the sides and top of a cake, but not the middle, so it's a good thing we've got that jam.

6 T unsalted butter, room temp
3 T cocoa powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 T milk (I used chocolate! I'm crazy!)
3/4 c dark chocolate chips, melted (this might be spectacular with white chocolate....)
1 t vanilla

Beat the butter and cocoa powder and salt together until creamy. Add in 1/2 c powdered sugar and 1 T milk, then beat again. Next, beat in the rest of the powdered sugar and milk. Then dump in the melted chocolate and the vanilla. Now, frost your cake! Then let it sit for a few minutes to firm up, and decorate with raspberries.

cucumber agua fresca

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:40:41 PDT

Because we are spending 99% of our time either at work, sleeping, eating, or doing home renovations, we are not cooking. Or, I am not cooking. Alex is enjoying the new grill we bought a few weeks ago, and I am enjoying spending a few minutes each day uploading one billion pictures onto Flickr of our new house. We've been eating burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken and salads, so no posts. Sorry. Summer!! This is the kind of thing I have been making. Throw some things in the blender, strain it, and drink with ice cubes.

Cucumber agua fresca
another fun thing to add would be some watermelon in here, but I was too lazy to cut some up.

1 cucumber, cut into pieces
a few big sprigs of mint
3 T sugar
6 cups of cold water

Combine the cucumber, mint, sugar, and half the water in the blender. Blend until there aren't any big pieces left, then strain into a pitcher. Stir in the rest of the water. Maybe add some gin or vodka to your own glass, maybe not. Serve cold, with ice and mint sprigs.

Happy Father's day!

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:42:56 PDT

Happy Father's Day! Here is a picture of me and my dad circa 26 or 27 or so years ago. With my friend Pooh and BJ bear. Pooh was later stolen out of the open window of our Volvo while we were shopping, breaking my poor little heart.
Today my dad and step mom came over to see the house and visit. I hope you all had a good father's day, and happy father's day to all the dads!

News!

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:58:43 PDT

Things are going to be quiet around here. Alex and I bought a house! We've been working on it and moving and working on it. We're living out of boxes for a while, see above picture of our porch. So there will probably be a lack of posts over here, but check me out over at our home renovation project blog I started! Red house blog, linked here.

See you soon, with delicious treats once we get things unpacked enough for me to cook/bake!

Crinkle top oatmeal raisin cookies

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:31:08 PDT

I haven't made cookies in a million years, and decided to today. I flipped through my Google Reader starred things and found this recipe. Ok, easy! These are interesting because instead of just sticking the raisins in the finished cookie dough, you run them through the food processor and make a paste. Then you beat them in with the eggs, and have super raisiny cookies. Mine were flat and crunchy and chewy all at the same time, but delicious. I like them. Which is good, because this recipe makes like, a billion cookies. Or five dozen, which is a billion in cookie terms. These might be even more delicious if they had mini chocolate chips in them.

Crinkle top oatmeal raisin cookies
Adapted from this recipe

2 c raisins
2 c rice flour mix
1 c shortening
2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 c rolled oats
1 t baking soda
1/2 t xanthan gum
1 t salt
3/4 t cinnamon
more sugar for rolling cookies in

Preheat oven to 350. Combine raisins and 1/4 c rice flour mix in your food processor, and pulse until a paste forms. If your raisins are kind of old like mine were, add a teaspoon of water of juice.

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the shortening and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs. Beat until well combined, then mix in the raisin paste. In a medium bowl, mix together the rest of the flour mix, oats, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir the dry ingredients into the shortening/raisin mix just until combined. Using wet hands or a small cookie scoop, roll dough into balls smaller than a ping pong ball and roll in a small bowl of granulated sugar. Place a dozen to a cookie sheet, and bake 13-15 minutes, until just set and starting to brown around the edges. Repeat with all the dough, then bring cookies to everyone you know, because you will have so many cookies.

Sausages, onions, peppers, sauce, and Udi's hot dog buns

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:40:34 PDT

Hi. I got a package a few weeks ago from my friends at Udi's, with some hot dog buns and burger buns. Sweet! We ate the burger buns already, and I didn't take pictures, but here's what the hot dog buns look like, with sausages and peppers and onions and tomato sauce. Oh and provolone cheese. The burger buns were good, they held up to the big burgers I made and then devoured. The hot dog buns are good as well, although they do get a little soggy if you don't scarf down your saucy sausage immediately. No stopping to talk you guys, eat this fast. To be fair though, I did make regular sausages and peppers and onions without the tomato sauce, and the buns didn't fall apart. We don't have a grill yet, so we haven't had hot dogs, which I would imagine would be great in these buns, as long as you don't top them with chili or anything.

Even though they were a little soft in the face of saucy goodness, I'd still buy the hell out of these all summer long (as soon as I find them in the store), because it would be great to go to BBQs with these and be able to eat a hot dog like a regular person, not off a plate like a 5 year old. Disclaimer! I did get these buns for free, but I am not paid to say that I ate them and will eat them again. I just think they are delicious.

Now on to the delicious sausage mess on top!

Sausage and onions and peppers and tomato sauce

1 onion, cut in half and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced (or sliced)
1 pepper (whatever color you like) sliced into strips
a can of whole tomatoes
a big pinch of basil and oregano
salt and pepper
4 sausages of whatever kind you like (just make sure they're gluten free)

Heat a pot with a little bit of whatever kind of oil you use over medium heat, and toss in the onion and garlic. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and smell good. Toss in the pepper and cook for a few minutes, until that starts to soften too. Then add the can of tomatoes, pouring them through your fingers so you can squeeze the whole tomatoes into squishy lumps. Add in the herbs and salt and pepper, stir, then nestle in the sausages. Cover and cook until the sausages are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve on toasted hot dog buns. For extra credit, melt a slice of provolone cheese on each bun before adding the saucy sausages. The cheese will help protect the bun from falling apart too much.

Blueberry Icebox Pie

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:29:37 PDT

Remember last weeks strawberry pie? Me too. This is the little sister to that pie. It has less steps and no fresh fruit, but it will still be the pie of your dreams and will still completely ruin the white shirt you decided to wear when you made it. Also, you can eat it for breakfast and not feel too bad about yourself. It's pie, yes, but full of fruit!!

To make this pie, I used the same recipe I used for the strawberry pie, but with a few changes. I know I said that next time I would make a cookie crumb crust, but I didn't because I had another pie crust to use up. Those ones I buy at Whole Foods come in two packs, and I couldn't leave that poor crust to just sit in my freezer forever. It takes up a lot of room, plus we are moving soon. I'll make it with a cookie crust later, promise.

When I Googled 'blueberry icebox pie' I came up with a bunch of recipes that were the opposite of what I wanted. Most of them were for a gross looking cheesecake-y concoction with gelatin and blueberries and low fat cream cheese. I just wanted a blueberry pie I didn't have to bake! All the ones I found that didn't use cream cheese used cornstarch instead, which a) I am out of and b) I wasn't convinced I'd get a firm enough pie. I wanted to be able to cut a slice, and then not have to scoop out all the filling that oozed off the pie server. This is firm, but not 'ew I'm eating gelatin pie' firm. The texture isn't weird, I promise. It's delicious.

Blueberry Icebox Pie

3 lbs frozen blueberries (although I guess if you were made of money, and it was the right season, you could use fresh ones)
1/2 c sugar
pinch of salt
2 T lemon juice
2 T water
1 T gelatin
a prebaked pie crust

Cook the blueberries until they're reduced to three cups, over medium heat, stirring a few times. This will take about half an hour or 45 minutes, I lost count. Once that's done, add sugar and salt to the blueberries in the pan. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and water, then stir in the gelatin until it starts to thicken a bit. Stir that into the blueberries, and bring to a simmer and cook for a minute or so. Pour the blueberry mess into your waiting pie crust, and stick the pie in the fridge for a few hours. This is a good pie to make right at bedtime because then you wake up and it's firmed up enough and you can eat it for breakfast.

You could even stir it into your breakfast yogurt like Alex did.

Fresh chickpeas

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:47:00 PDT

Another delicious vegetable I like to eat is fresh chickpeas. Are? The grammar in that sentence is all wrong. Anyway, these are delicious. I cook them like edamame and they taste kind of similar, very fresh and green and a little salty if you salt them. Inside their little shells, they look like little brains. Gross, but so delicious.

Fresh chickpeas

1 lb fresh chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
a steamer basket
water for steaming
salt

Heat a pot with an inch of water to boiling, and place the steamer basket in it. Dump in all the chickpeas, cover, and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the basket, toss with salt, and eat. To eat - open up the little pods and eat the guts. Yum!

RAMPS!

noreply@blogger.com (jill elise) — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:47:00 PDT

Do you guys know about ramps? They're related to leek and garlic, and grow wild around New England. Probably some other places too, but I don't live in any other places. These ones grow along the path in the woods where my mom walks her dog, so we brought a trowel and dug up a bunch. They're hard to get out of the ground! But they're so delicious.

They're easy to prepare. You can cut them up and cook them in a pan like I did, or you can grill them whole (once you remove the roots), or probably bake them if you feel so inclined.

Ramps

Wash the ramps well. They will probably be dirty. Trim off the roots, then slice in the middle and separate into piles, with a bulb pile and a leafy greens pile. Heat a little olive oil in a saute pan, then toss in the white ends. Cook for about ten minutes on medium heat, tossing a few times. Once the ends are starting to soften and brown, add the leaves and cover. Turn the heat down to low, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring once, until the greens are softened. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve over pasta, or with eggs, or just eat like this.