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Last night I got home from work and went on a run. The weather was amazing and while I was on my run all I could smell were people getting the BBQ going. And it smelled amazing. And all I could think about was the last time I had a burger. So I went to Kroger and made the best burger ever. And it was amazing.
That’s all.
When you work at a preschool or around children of that age, you begin to adopt lots of their habits. For example, you whine (if not out loud then at least to yourself) a lot more than normal adults. You also discover an itch to throw something when you don’t get your way. The need for naps becomes blatantly apparent and you begin to realize that sometimes the best lunches are those that are most simple and sweet.
And many of you tease the fact that on most days my preferred lunch of choice consists of peanut butter and jelly with an apple and some other goodie, but seriously. It’s delicious.
Today, in my midst of being an adult and coupon cutting, no coupon or advertisement excited me more than the one I found for Uncrustables. So simple! So delicious! AND! They now have GRILLED CHEESE VARIETY! And Peanut Butter and Honey! On Wheat?! Oh, man. Guys, seriously. Don’t knock ‘em til you’ve tried ‘em and I’ve got such a suspicion that you’ve never even thought of trying them.
EDIT: Next time I’m Krogering, which may be tonight, I am going to buy one of the new varieties and give you a FULL REPORT on how AMAZING it really is.
Isn’t really as cool as I thought it would be.
Eff it, dude. We’re going to Target. And then probably playing some sort of Monopoly or Scrabble.
I’m big on packing my own lunch for work. It’s cheaper, easier and I almost always get what I want. Granted, it gets boring (crackers, apple, PB&J) it always has a way of leaving me satisfied.
The Museum Center has a typical museum food court going on. The one corporate sponsor (Pizza Hut) and then the sandwiches, fried foods, burgers and salads which many of my co-workers partake in on a daily basis. Hence a major reason that I won’t touch the stuff, some of it just looks downright nasty. But last week, at a staff lunch, my boss had a salad that looked amazing. Now, there are few things in life that I love more than a good salad. Crasins? Apples? Feta? MIXED GREENS?!?! I’m all about it, so imagine my surprise at the mixed greens, crasins, feta, apple and grilled chicken salad I saw in the dining area today. It had to be mine. So I bought my salad and out of lack of a balsamic vinaigrette (my favorite dressing), I went for the raspberry vinaigrette which I had never had before.
And I will never.
Have.
Again.
The dressing tasted like vomit. Totally sickening and awful. And it didn’t help that it covered what tasted like rancid feta cheese, wilted lettuce, weird dried apple things and crasins that you couldn’t taste because they were covered in raspberry vomitgrette dressing.
And that wasn’t chicken.
And now I don’t feel so well.
In other museum news, today I was in the Trading Post and a little loquacious young lady came in and was telling me ALL about her rock collection. And I guess I kept saying “Cool” a lot because she paused her story, looked at me and said “You say ‘cool’ a lot.”
So I guess it’s time to retire ”cool” from my vocabulary. Kosher?
My crazy hectic awful schedule leaves me little time for kitchen fun. But! Last night presented an opportunity! So! I present to you…
Spicy Roasted Tomato Chicken!!!
Chicken breast cooked in crushed red pepper, hot sauce, EVOO, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then it sits in a bath of juicy tomato for 20 ish minutes. Smack that down on some brown rice and you’ve got some good eatin’.
“Geeeeeeeeeeeeeene Parmesan!!!”
Tonight, Amigos, in honor of my brother Clayton’s return from Italy, I stole a recipe from Giada, that spicy little I-talian number they have on Food Network, and cooked Mushroom Parmesan for the Vegetarians and me. Satisfying, rich and flavorful. It was definitely a good choice. More, more! After the jump!
Preface: For those who don’t know, last Friday I got a brand new, abso-freakin’-lutely beautiful HDTV that I’m calling Darryl Hannah. She’s a beaut and the answer to your question is ‘Yes.’ I have developed a very deep and interpersonal relationship with my television set. Sue me.
Since I got the TV I’ve been watching a crap ton of Food Network because everything looks high-def enough to eat right off the screen. Watching all of this Food Network and having to prepare all my meals for myself, has really made me realize how much I truly do love cooking and spending time in the kitchen. So, you can imagine my excitement when last Sunday on my adventures around Boone County with Taylor and Joe, we stopped at a few farmer’s markets and we were able to buy pretty peppers, potatoes, green beans, giant onions, sweet corn, eggplant, delicious cantalope and homemade jam! In fact, that night, Joe, Taylor and I used some of our new ingredients to make quite the filling and delicious dinner! But, I was pretty upset when I realized that because of work scheduling or other commitments (like seeing SUPERBAD tonight!! Full report later, I promise!) I wouldn’t be cooking a nice meal for myself until Tuesday! Well, all my delicious veggies will be no where near fresh by then, so I took today’s special circumstance to make myself a fantastic and easy late lunch/early dinner!
I figured that a good way to use up some of these veggies would be to make some sort of concoction where I could use a lot of them at once. Being that I had one bell pepper that I was especially anxious to try, as well as some other things, I decided to make a stuffed bell pepper with ground turkey and some other fun veggies, too.
First I put the ground turkey and EVOO on the skillet and let it get pretty well cooked before I threw on the veggies that I knew wouldn’t take too long to cook. While the turkey was cooking up, I cut off the top of my round bell pepper and cleaned out the inside and once that was cleaned out, I rubbed basil and garlic powder all on the inside of the pepper, because as you should know by now, I cannot cook without garlic.
When the turkey was pretty well cooked, I put in a diced onion, sliced garlic, crushed garlic, Hungarian hot pepper and some oregano, salt and basil and a few dashes of Tabasco. When the onions started to look a little toasty, I threw on some ketchup to cool off the heat brought on by the Hungarian hot peppers and the Tabasco. When everything was simmering, I threw on the pepper, open side down to the skillet and let it get a little bit soft and let the basil and garlic get it on before they were rudely interruped by the Ground Turkey Gang which got scooped into the pepper by an ice cream scooper and left to soak up the heat on the skillet for about 5 minutes. When that was all said and done, I covered the top with shredded mozzarella cheese (my favorite) and basil and let it all continue hang out while I started to clean up my cooking mess.
Once all was said and done, and I decided it was still plenty spicy, I put a squirt of Ranch dressing on the plate to help cool down my mouth if it ended up spontaneously catching on fire from the Hungarian hots. I’m glad I did because it was… whew. Spicy. But good spicy, not flavor-masking spicy.
And that’s that!
Who knows, maybe someday soon, I’ll muster up the courage to once again face my fear of cooking fish.
Terrifying.
Til next time, let’s go cooking!
This past weekend I moved into my very own apartment! As Carla would say, “Nobody lives there but me!” and so far, so good.
But let’s take a look at some pictures to better illustrate Silena and Chelsea’s great road trip and moving in experience.
Meet you after the jump!
Well, since moving in on Saturday, family has made it a point to feed me some absolutely delicious dinners. Aside from making Silena and myself scrambled eggs one morning, a bowl of cereal the next and peanut butter and banana after work, I’ve done zero cooking (We ate at Waffle House this morning and Moe’s in Newport yesterday. SUCH good Mexican food!!!). Anyway, I was really looking forward to getting my Sea Foods on tonight.
I didn’t have much to work with, but I stretched what I did have pretty far.
Our players for this match included, chicken breast, spinach, onion, garlic (whole cloves, slices and crushed), pepper, lemon and olive oil. Super simple and ended up being super yummy.
First, we put our chicken in the pan with the olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, garlic slices and onion:
Then, when the chicken was pretty well cooked, we took it out and threw in some spinach and let it get its saute on with the onions and garlic. Also (because I can never have enough garlic), I threw in the crushed garlic and some whole garlic cloves.
And once all those lovely veggies and whatnots were sufficiently sauteed, lemon, peppered and prepared to perfection it got forklifted (Literally! Ha!) on to our chicken.
Super simple and incredibly yum. And that’s what Sea Foods is all about, gang.
(Preface: They’re filming a movie in the hills behind my house. The alias for the project is Pineapple. And every 5 minutes there’s a joltingly loud explosion followed by deafining helicopters. That being said, I would like to one day pay top peso to go see this movie. It even sounds excellent.)
Wellity, wellity, wellity. This seems to be the little feature that could, don’t it.
Last night my good Anthro buddies, Tracy, Erica Jean and Lupe (also soon-to-be Guatemala travel buddies!) came over for some 303 studying, some laughs and most of all cranberry orange chicken!
Not too much to say on this one, gang. It was a pretty easy dish. Not too much work, just mostly waiting.
What you’ve got there are caramelized onions, minced garlic, crasins and some orange juice for the sauce. You let the chicken sit in that for about 20-25 minutes and it soaks up a lot of the juice and flavor and when it’s done, you throw down some wild rice and let it sit for a few more minutes so all those good flavors learn to get along. And they do. Beautifully.
I’m not a huge fan of sweet tasting meats, but this really was delicious. Letting the chicken just cook in this saucy, crasiny goodness for the time that it did was truly what made the difference. The caramelized onions were perfect and adding the smallest amount of salt at the end gave it just the right little extra kick it needed.
So, that’s that for this edition. Thanks for stickin’ around.
Til next time, eat your veggies.
Welcome back!
It’s lovely to see you again and I think tonight we’ve fixed up quite a treat for your visual taste buds to get all whirly over. Or at least I’d like to think so. Once again, we found ourselves Han Solo for dinner, and in an effort to save money, Albertson’s was going to provide us with the cheap tools to create a meal that can only be described as Millennium Falc-Yum.
Aside from the many hair/face/lotiony products that has turned tonight into the ultimate girls night of product testing, and turned my tab at Albertson’s up a few notches, the good people there sold me a wonderful Red Snapper fillet, a box of Near East RoastedChicken and Garlic Rice Pilaf and a good amount of fresh, leafy green spinach.
The rice was the usual “bring the water to a boil and then let the rice-n-spice get it on over low heat for about 20 minutes” ordeal, which I followed to the tee.
I was nervous. We all know my track record with seafood has a visual presentation score of “poor”, and I was aiming to get at least a “recognizable” this time around.
I was careful, patient, and prepared to handle what Snappy Red was snappin’ at me.
First, we put some butter and garlic down to do their thing and make the bed that Snappy was about to slip into. And as the garlic was just starting to get brown, we took it out and slapped on the fish. And waited. And squirted lemon. And waited. And dashed garlic salt. And then we flip, and repeat. All while remembering to add a wee bit more butter so it wouldn’t stick to the pan. So far, so good. Until… I wanted to take a peek underneath to see what kind of magic was happening. Seeing that I was putting some stress on the structure of my specimen, I laid off for a few and just let the good times roll. Or sear. Or perhaps burn. I was nervous.
When it was good and ready to come off the heat I carefully slid if off to a plate and threw on some more lemon, butter and garlic and let my spinach get its sauté on. It was almost timed perfectly because right as the spinach was nearing the end, the rice looked ready to go and we were ready to serve.
It didn’t fall apart and the taste was delightful. I managed to get a little of each element on the fork a few times and it made for quite an enjoyable engagement of flavor.
I think Red Snapper is my favorite fish. It’s easy with a light taste and melting texture. And it was only $2.00/lb. at Albertsons! If you’re adventurous and like spicy, try it with schezwan sauce. Last time I was at one of my all time favorite restaurants, Gladstone’s, I had Snapper for the first time and it was the most amazing marriage of spicy and delicate that taste buds had ever experienced in the history of fire. Or seafood.
That’s all for now.
Til next time, kiddos, eat your veggies.
For the penny pincher, bringing your own lunch to work and/or school is crucial. Buying daily lunches can add up to pretty nasty amounts and at the end of the week I’d rather have the money in the bank than in the pocket of the Cal State Northridge Dining Services Tycoons.
However, packing your own lunch is no simple feat. Often times when you do pack your own lunch, it doesn’t look half as good as what some of your friends are buying and you’re tempted to save your sack lunch for another day and splurge on some Chinese or Mexican food. Resist this urge!!!
Sea Foods is taking it upon itself to pack a lunch that I couldn’t possibly find on campus that is filling, nutritious and six different kinds of yum.
The staple to any lunch from home is a good sandwich. Lucky for me, our fridge happens to be stocked with excellent sandwich materials.
That being said, we’ve just enjoyed a turkey sandwich on flatbread with ‘cado, ranch dressing, mozzarella cheese, pepperoccini and basil. Delicious. The basil was a nice touch that I hadn’t tried before but will be trying again. I’ll likely be making this again for my work lunch tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to snap some photos then.
And of course, side dishes. Though they may not be as glamourous as the sandwich, a banana always hits the spot, and a string cheese. String cheese has always had a special place in my heart and will always be one of my favorite quick snacks. In case you were curious, I recommend Frigo’s Cheese Heads for your string cheese dining adventures. Divine. (Also, Frigo’s regular mozzarella cheese is spectacular. This company can really get their cheese right.)
Photos coming soon.
But in the meantime… enjoy your lunches!
I’m just as shocked as you are to see such a new feature get so much attention in its first week of existence, but I’m not complaining, especially because this installment is especially special. For you see, Sea Foods has ventured East. The Far East, to be exact, and I took a chance cooking dinner for me and my sister, Emily (an incredibly finicky eater, especially when I make it. I personally think she’s just being difficult). No bother, the family wasn’t home last night and we weren’t quite Han Solo for dinner, but it was up to me to restore order in the galaxy, the kitchen and our tummies.
And I think I did a pretty good job.
I headed down to Albertson’s where the good people there sold me chicken breasts, veggies, ingredients for egg flower soup and Dryer’s newest ice cream flavor, Hollywood Cheesecake (cheesecake ice cream, with strawberry and graham cracker swirl. Um. Yum. Buy it).
Upon returning home I got to work in the kitchen. I felt really Iron Cheffy, except I wasn’t nearly as confident with what I was doing, especially since Emily is my biggest critic with anything coming out of the kitchen.
Well, hardy har har, Miss Emily! You ate all your food!!
I was able to some how pull off a delicious egg flower soup:
And I really think you should make some. It’s worth the stress and trouble just to put in the egg at the end and watch it “flower.” Totally kick ass.
And then the stir fry. I made up some garlic, soy sauce, peanutty sauce to stir fry my chicken in and then when that was good and cooked, I took out the chicken but left in the sauce and added a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic to accompany the veggies. Broccoli, snow peas, water chestnuts (yum), green peppers, cabbage and carrots. Delish. When the veggies were saturated enough with sauce, the chicken went back in for a few more minutes until it was all nice and hot.
Though the soup was filling, I was in love with this dish. The veggies were saucey, but not too soggy and the garlic went well with everything. It didn’t need any soy sauce at the end, which was a good sign and anything Asian tastes good all mixed up with some good rice.
So there you have it. Not sure when our next installment will be, but here’s hoping it’s worth blogging about 
Til next time, eat up, Kiddos.
Here you have it, folks. The star of the show. The post you (I) have all been waiting for…
The Smokey Robinson Microwave Dinner Food Review!!!
As many of you are aware, a few months ago I was browsing the frozen dinner section of my local Albertson’s when I noticed a friendly smile peeking out from behind the fogged over glass. Could it be? I knew it must be. I’d recognize that face lift anywhere. It was in fact Smokey Robinson. Smokey and I have no recent history, but one of the first songs I really liked when I was little was “You Really Got a Hold On Me.” Fond, fond, fond memories of that song. Smokey’s face is like the familiar ice cream man from your childhood, a representation of simpler, easier times. And though he’s gone through a hell of a lot to keep that face as close to the way it was, it still holds a special place in my heart, as scary as it may be.
The choice was clear. I had to try
Smokey Robinson’s Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
It was a lunchtime treat today that I split with my brother and fearless taster, Iain.
I followed the microwave directions to the tee. Even the “for better results” clause which often gets ignored when zapping your dinner with microwaves.
(I don’t know how the hell we let this happen, but there is a photo of the actual cooked dish missing. I’ve failed you, but we shall press on anyway. We do have this:
)
When it was removed from the oven it did have a distinct “gumbo” aroma that got me excited for what I was about to enjoy.
Sadly, upon actually examining the dish one could not help but notice the chicken was a rare find and the saussage was practically missing. Now I guess I’ve never had good, traditional, “down home” gumbo, but it seems to me that there should be some sort of vegetable substance to the mixture. All we got was okra. There was rice-a-plenty and sauce that it could have benefited from not being so thin and watery, but no heart. The portion size seemed decent, no where near filling enough, but I guess it was okay for being a bowl mostly filled with rice and watered down gumbo sauces. So far Smokey was striking out on appearance.
But taste… well, it was okay. Not too bad. Not too great, but definitely not too bad. The chicken that was there wasn’t too microwave tasting and the saussage still had a little bite to it which was nice. I wish there were more veggies or goodies to be found in the gumbo, but it was pretty Plain Jane. It was fairly spicy for being “mild” and at times I was unsure if I was able to taste it to its full potential or if I was just tasting spicy.
Nearing the end of this small meal I got an idea to take out a piece of sourdough bread and pile a little of the rice sauce mixture on top and take it around town.
And let me tell you, THAT is how you eat Smokey’s gumbo. I wish I knew that from the beginning because I feel that the whole thing would have been much better on a good piece of sourdough than by itself.
All in all, not terrible, but not great. It was no mealtime miracle, but far from being a total bomb. If you’re in the mood for gumbo, don’t buy this product. You can make better gumbo, I knows it. If you’re in the mood for a cheap novelty food and conversation starter to put on top of a good piece of sourdough, Smokey is your man and he won’t do you wrong.
Til next time, kiddo.
As promised, this week is going to be a triforce of our newest feature, Sea Foods.
Last night was Sea Foods foray into seafood. Dover Sole fillets to be exact, and boy, were they good. They didn’t necessarily look so pretty when plated, but the taste is what matters and the taste is what sold it.
It was just going to be me and Dad for dinner, but my dear friend Silena was Han Solo for dinner so I made room for one more and she came over and kept me cooking company, which is the very best kind.
That was pretty good, too.
This was my fist time cooking a fish that was this thin and delicate, and I did not fare well in keeping it in once piece. Slightly embarrassing, but like I said, it tasted fantastic.
The first step was to cook the rice pilaf which was going to take the longest. I don’t know if you’ve ever had rice pilaf, but it’s one of my favorite rice dishes ever and pairs beautifully with seafood. Check it out.
While the rice was cooking I sliced up some fresh garlic, picked a lemon off the tree and got my supplies ready to conquer the fish.
When the time came to cook up my fillets, I melted the butter in the pan and then threw on the garlic, sure to take it out before it burned (though I could eat burned garlic any day of the week, a lot of people don’t like it). Then I put on the fillet and squirted it with a bit of lemon.
Here’s where I faced my greatest challenge, flipping the fish without getting it to fall apart. I had more failure than success. When it was done being mutilated and cooked, I put the garlic back in and gave it another minute or two of cook time before plating with the pilaf, that was delicious and fluffy and the broccoli, that were Steamfresh perfection. One more hearty lemon squeeze and a dash of paprika and the sucker was ready for consumption.
Like I said, a plated disaster, but the fish melted in your mouth and the garlic and lemon was perfectly balanced with the paprika, none more overpowering than the other.
I was impressed with my creation and wish you could have tried some.
Tonight we will finally reach the pinnacle of our Sea Foods feature: Smokey Robinson’s mealtime creations.
Stay tuned. It’s gonna be a bloodbath.
We all eat. And I am sure we all eat some super yummy things from time to time and these things are worth sharing.
Yesterday I was putting things away in the freezer and came across an old friend, my Smokey Robinson microwave dinner I bought months ago but neglected to eat. The decision was made at that moment that this was going to be my Monday evening dinner. And also the inaugural post for my newest feature, SEA FOODS. I start this new feature with slight hesitation. In slightly over two months I will no longer be eating free-o-charge at the Graham Eatery, but will have to apply my skills to create my own dishes. Nightly. Cooking for one sucks, but it could be interesting.
Anyway.
I digress.
I’ve been thinking about Smokey in my tummy all day and while I did develop a gnarly pizza craving about mid-afternoon, I was sticking to the plan. Pizza would be around forever, and who knows how long Smokey’s mealtime magic would last. So, on the way home from school, I swung by the market and picked up my absolute favorite bottle of red wine and marched in the kitchen, determined to zap a feast that will be the welcome post for a most excellent new feature. However, little did I know that Grahamama had the kitchen all prepared for THE ONLY meal that could possibly be better than Smokey as an inaugural post: MYOP.
What is MYOP, you ask?
When I was in elementary school my mom picked me up one day and I asked what we were having dinner, to which she replied “MYOP.” (It was a change of pace from her normal quip of “Food”)
“What’s MYOP?” I eagerly asked.
“You’ll see.” She replied.
Later that night I learned that MYOP stood for Make Your Own Pizza. My mother turns the kitchen into her very own pizzeria with toppings galore, homemade dough, sauce and cheese. It was, and still is, one of the coolest meal ideas ever. You can shape the dough however you want (Mickey Mouse is popular) and top it how you want (spellings of names are always loved)When I am settled, we’ll have a MYOP party. You’ll see. Loads of fun. I promise.
Tonight, was MYOP.
And boy, did I ever MMOP.
First thing’s first. You gotta get the sauce on your dough.
Then, you’ve gotta put your toppings on. I am a big fan of cheese on top. It just works out nicely. I was feeling basic and veggie tonight, so we’ve got bell pepper, onions and freshly sliced garlic.
Then, of course, The Cheese with some garlic salt on top for kick.
Put it in the oven for some pizza magic.
;
And WHAMMY! You just MYOP’d.
For the record, I had three slices and all were outstanding and filling. Whew.
I would say that tomorrow was going to be the night for Smokey, but our menu is already planned. No one is going to be home, so I am Han Solo for dinner. Mom bought me a nice Dover Sole filet, so I’ll do that up with some lemon garlic pepper goodness (Bloggings included) and then Wednesday I shall dine with Smokey and blog of its greatness. Promise.
Til next time, eat up, Kiddo.
