Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

Happy spring everybody! I've officially started spring quarter and Santa Cruz is just lovely this week. Before I left for spring break it was rainy, windy, and grey. But this week has been absolutely perfect! Just the right amount of sun, a light breeze.... *sigh* And most importantly, that makes it dress season! I love wearing summer dresses, and I finally have the chance to wear them every. single. day.
I've also started my last three classes of junior year. It's weird to think that I'll be a senior next year! This quarter I'm taking a history class and two lit classes. The history class is definitely my favorite; it's called "The Italian Renaissance" sooooo....it's awesome. The lit classes are alright, so far I'm not super excited about the topics, but it is only the first week.
The other exciting thing about this quarter is that I can finally start looking for a place to live next year! Aileen and I have been talking about moving for so long and it's great to be able to go look at houses and picture ourselves living there. We started planning for next year in January. That's how much we want out of these dorms. When we get especially frustrated with the dining hall or our neighbors or the general atmosphere of the dorm, we sit around our room looking at for-rent listings and Ikea catalogs. I know, it's kind of sad. But it's the little glimmer of hope that lets us stay in the dorms without feeling too claustrophobic and generally annoyed.
So that's what my spring is going to look like. I'm very excited!
And now, onto the food! Since last time I gave you a (delicously, sinfully, fabulously) unhealthy cake, this time I'm going to give you all a healthy dinner recipe. I actually didn't think I would like this recipe very much; I don't really like vegetables at all, so a vegetarian meal makes me suspicious. But, I was very happy with this dinner. It was satisfying and light at the same time. Also, it was super delicious. I even ate the spinach!

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Adapted from La Kocinera
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 red onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped carrots
7 bell peppers, 1 cored/chopped/seeded, the other six hollowed
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 lb baby spinach
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to package directions
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

heat the oil in a skillet then add the onions and garlic. Let cook until soft, then add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, until they start to become soft. Then add the carrots and chopped peppers. Let cook a few minutes, then add parsley and baby spinach. Let the veggies cook until the spinach is wilted. I like to cook spinach by gently tossing it with a wooden spoon until it starts to wilt. Otherwise the bottom leaves will wilt fast, while the leaves on top don't cook at all. After spinach is wilted, add the cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, and cooked quinoa. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then set aside to let cool.
While the veggies are cooling, prep the other 6 peppers. First core the peppers. The best way to do this is to make a horizontal slice around the top of the pepper, keeping the core intact. Then simply pull the top off and use your fingers to scrape out any leftover seeds. Cut off the core from the top of the bell pepper and save the tops.
Grease a baking dish and set the hollow bell peppers inside. Fill each bell pepper evenly with the quinoa-veggie mixture. Place the bell pepper tops on top, cover with foil and place in 350F oven for 1 hour.

Even if you don't like veggies, I think you would like this dish. One thing that I'm going to try next time is cutting the mushrooms up even smaller. I find that the texture of the mushrooms weird, so if I cut them up small I can enjoy their flavor without the texture. I will probably also add things like zucchini as well! yum!

XOXO
Natalie

Latkes!

Last weekend I went home to clean out my room so my parents could remodel the upstairs. I was not particularly excited about the idea of cleaning my room, not because I hate cleaning, but because I knew there was probably a giant hairy spider lying in wait for me.

Just sitting....waiting....ready to pounce from behind my collection of stuffed animals...

Ugh, the thought gives me chills. But luckily, there were no spiders to be found! And I was extremely successful in cleaning my room! I essentially threw out 80% of my stuff and reduced everything that mattered to me to about 5-6 boxes. I had so much junk, like I don't even know how I accumulated that much stuff. In the past when I tried to clean my room, I never wanted to throw anything away. But this time, I kept only the things I really needed and, you know what? It felt awesome! I feel like I get to start all over with my stuff, because the next place this stuff is going is into my very own apartment. That idea just blows my mind. That now, I have stuff that belongs to ME and will go in MY HOUSE. Not just my bedroom, but my very own place! That's just nuts you guys.

And now, in honor of my ability to get rid of a bunch of crap, here's a random recipe I have in my "to post" folder!

Latkes

Adapted from Allrecipes

2 cups potatoes, peeled and shredded

1 Tbsp grated onion

3 eggs, beaten

2 Tbsp all purpose flour (more if they aren't holding together)

1 1/2 tsp salt

oil for frying

Now, I don't know about all of you, but the idea of a potato pancake makes me drool. Potatoes are delicious. Pancakes are awesome. Therefor potato pancakes must be deliciously awesome! And these potato pancakes really are. They're really easy to put together, basically just throw it all in a bowl and mix. But one of the important things to remember is that the potatoes need to be really dry. After you shred the potatoes, put them in ice water so they don't turn brown. Then right before mixing them in, drain them and try and squeeze as much moisture out as possible. Cheesecloth is good for this, but if you don't have any, paper towels work too. After mixing the potatoes, onion, eggs, and flour together, heat a bit of oil in a skillet. You don't need too much oil, just enough to fry them in. Drop the batter into the skillet in spoonfuls, flattening them out quickly. Let them fry 1-2 minutes per side until lightly browned. Let drain on paper towel then serve with sour cream or applesauce and a salad on the side!

XOXO

Natalie

Chana Masala

Confession time. I have an addiction. A relatively healthy addiction, but an addiction nonetheless. I am completely obsessed with Indian food. I've probably mentioned this before, but I seriously cannot get enough! I didn't used to like Indian food. In fact, I was a little bit scared of it because I didn't really like spicy food. But ever since going to Sitar (the best Indian restaurant in Santa Cruz, nay, the world) I've fallen in love. And the fact that Sitar is right on the bus route is not helping the situation. I probably go there way too much, but it's so freaking delicious! Of course, this sudden discovery of a whole new world of food has prompted me to make Indian food at home as well. My all time favorite dish has to be Aloo Tikka Masala, but this recipe I'm giving you today is a close second. Chana Masala is a simple tomato based chickpea curry and it is SO AMAZING. I'm sorry, you all probably read that as shouting. I'm just very enthusiastic when it comes to Indian food.

Last week, I offered to make dinner for my little brother and gave him options like pasta, mac and cheese, sandwiches, and Indian food--surprisingly he chose Indian food! *sniff* I'm so proud! He has learned well. I made him Chana Masala, which we both thoroughly enjoyed and, in my opinion, tasted even better the next day for lunch.

Chana Masala

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

vegetable oil

2 med onions, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 Tbsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garam masala

2 cups tomatoes, chopped (I used 1 tomato and a can of tomato sauce)

2/3 cup water

2 15 oz cans of chickpeas, drained

salt

1 lemon, juiced

Heat the oil in a large pan, then cook the onion, garlic, and ginger until browned. Then add all of the spices. I know it's a really long list of spices, but trust me, it's delicious. Cook the onion mixture and spices for a few minutes then add the tomatoes. I only had one tomato so I supplemented with a can of tomato sauce. I also wanted to make sure that this ended up having extra liquid, because I prefer my curries to have lots of sauce. But that's just a personal preference thing. So if you are in a similar fix and don't have enough tomatoes, you could also add a can of whole tomatoes chopped finely. When you add the tomatoes, scrape the bottom of the pan to get any delicious brown bits that may be stuck. Then add the water and chickpeas and let cook for at least ten minutes. I let it cook a little bit longer so that the flavors would meld together more. After it has cooked, add the salt and lemon juice. Stir and serve! Delicious!

XOXO

Natalie

The Simple Things in Life

You know how there are some foods that are kind of...well...plain? It's so simple it's almost boring, but it's something that you just love? Whether it be because it's something you grew up with or because you are learning to appreciate simplicity in your life; simple foods can end up being just so darn tasty. One of my favorite simple foods is polenta. I love it because you can make it completely on it's own-I'm talking water and corn meal here-and have a tasty side dish. Because corn is just GOOD. Of course adding things like chicken broth, basil, and a healthy dose of tomato sauce doesn't hurt either. That's what I made and it was mmmmm goooood. I made my fantastically-delicious-party-in-your-mouth-mushroom-marinara to put on top of the polenta. I know it's strange to put so much effort into a sauce that will go on top of the simplest base ever, but hey, I gotta be me. I just followed the instructions on the back of the polenta bag but used chicken broth and stirred in a little basil and parmesan. Just pop it in the oven and wait. Here's what it looked like: Gosh it's so pretty!

Anyway, the point of this post is two fold. 1.To share my new favorite quick meal and 2. to remind myself, and you dear reader, to enjoy the simpler things because they can end up being amazing.

XOXO

Natalie

Daring Cooks: Apple Butter

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

This month's challenge was Apple Butter in order for all of us to better understand food preservation. To be honest, I'm a little dissapointed because my apple butter didn't come out quite right. It was too chunky to really be called apple butter, but no matter how much I mashed those apples, I still couldn't get it to be like butter. And without an immersion blender, what's a girl to do? So what I have is a cross between apple butter and sauce and is quite tasty. I ate it this morning on a bagel with cream cheese!

The whole process of making apple butter is simple, but time consuming. Basically I peeled and cored 5 lbs of apples, cooked them with a cup of water for about n hour until they were falling apart, added some spices, mashed, and let it go! It ended up being about a 3 hour process, but I think it was worth it. Apple butter freezes very well so this is a great idea if you have an apple tree and need to use up the piles of apples in your backyard.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the finished product because my camera/phone died. However, I will be using the apple butter this week to make a tasty pork dish. So look forward to pictures then!

XOXO

Natalie

Daring Cooks: Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Daring Cooks again! YAY! I love doing these daring cooks challenges, because they are usually just that: a challenge. Super fun! And my family likes it too, cause they get to eat something new and exciting. This month's challenge was pierogi which was perfect because Becky had asked me to make those a couple weeks ago and I never got around to it. I made two kinds: Potato/cheese and Meat/cabbage. I liked both of them, however I felt like the potato cheese one went over better. Although if you don't want to eat just carbs and cheese for dinner, I recommend the meat one. There are a bazillion types of Pierogis, so feel free to experiment with it as well!

Pierogis

From the Daring Cooks

Dough
2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
About 1 cup lukewarm water

Potatoes and Cheese

3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed (1 1/2 cup instant or leftover mashed potatoes is fine too)
1 cup cottage cheese, drained
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear
3 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy (you can add more bacon if you like or omit that part completely if you’re vegetarian)
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper to taste

Meat and cabbage
200 g cooked meat (minced or cut very finely)
500 g white cabbage (chopped and simmered in a little bit of water, until soft)
1 onion (diced and fried)
1 whole medium egg1 tablespoon butterdry breadcrumbs (add as much to hold the filling together, about 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper

To make the dough, combine the flour and salt together in a pie dish. Make a well in the center of the flour and crack the egg into it. Using your hands, or a fork if you don't want to touch the egg, combine the flour and egg together. Then slowly add in the water. The water amount is a guesstimation, you might need more or less. Form the dough into a ball, cover with a towel and let rest for half an hour. To make the Potato/cheese filling, just combine all of the ingredients together! (That's a great idea Daring Cooks had, putting the cooking instructions in the ingredient list! Me likey!) Same goes for the meat/cabbage filling.

When you've got the fillings put together, prepare an assembly line situation. If you can, recruit you're family to help. Roll the dough out thinly and cut out circles using a glass or cookie cutter. The size doesn't really matter, it's mostly just personal preference. Put a small amount of the filling in the center of the circle and close the sides up. Seal them with your fingers, but make sure they are sealed all the way, or else the filling will just fall right out. I went around the edges of the potato cheese ones witha fork so that I would be able to tell them apart. You can also use a pierogi form, but hey, where's the fun in that?

After all the pierogis are constructed it's time to boil them. Bring a deep saucepan or a wide pot of water to a boil and then drop the pierogis into the water in batches. I did about 5 pierogis per batch. When they rise to to the top, set a timer for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, take them out of the water and let them dry off a bit. When you've boiled all the pierogis you can go ahead and eat them. OR you can go one step further and fry them. (DO IT!) Wait until the pierogis have cooled then fry them on both sides with butter. They should be lightly brown and crispy. Nowwwww you can eat them. Frying them makes them like 10 times better. Not even kidding.

XOXO

Natalie

Mushroom Marinara Sauce

So this is the follow up to the garlic bread recipe posted the other day. This recipe probably should have been first, but oh well! So here is what you should eat that tasty tasty garlic bread with: tasty tasty mushroom marinara sauce. Now I actually hate mushrooms. They have a weird texture that I just can't get over. But I love this sauce! I don't know why, but it's just so freaking tasty!

Mushroom Marinara Sauce

Adapted from Allrecipes

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 6 oz can tomato paste

merlot wine

2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup white sugar

heat olive oil in a large pot over med high heat, add garlic and onions and cook until soft. Stir in the mushrooms and basil and cook until the mushrooms are done (about 10 minutes). Pour in the whole tomatoes, bring the mixture to a boil while crushing the tomatoes with a spoon. I suppose you could use a can of crushed tomatoes, but where's the fun in that? Pour in the tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce simmer until thick and bubbling, about 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste then fill the empty can with the merlot wine and add to sauce. Bring to a simmer, then add salt, pepper, oregano, and sugar. Let cook a few minutes longer until heated through. Serve over spaghetti noodles and garlic bread.

XOXO

Natalie

Garlic Bread

This garlic bread post is part 1 in a series; tomorrows recipe will be mushroom marinara sauce. This is one of my favorite pasta sauces (which is weird, since I hate mushrooms) and it goes perfectly with garlic bread. Since today I don't feel like typing an incredibly long pasta recipe, I'm just going to give you the galric bread one. Yes, I know, I'm super lazy.

Garlic Bread

1 loaf of nice bread, we used french bread

1/2 stick butter, melted

garlic powder

onion powder

Cut the bread into slices, but don't cut all the way through. Leave about 1/2 inch of the bread still together at the bottom. Liberally brush the melted butter between the slices. If you need more butter, go ahead and melt some more. This is not the time to be stingy people. Then sprinkle on plenty of garlic powder anywhere you put the butter. I like to sprinkle on a little bit of onion powder too, but hey that's totally optional. Put the bread in a 350F oven for about 10 min, checking on it after 5 minutes. If you like it crispier, leave it in for the full ten. Then turn the broiler on and let it crisp up for about a minute. Keep an eye on it! Don't want super burned garlic bread, just golden brown and crispy. Oh this would also be the time to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, if you so desire. When it's done just put it in a basket and people will rip off the slices themselves.

XOXO

Natalie

Almond Butter- Daring Cooks July Challenge

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

So I am officially a Daring Cook! I have participated in my very first Daring Cooks challenge and it was awesome! For those of you not in the know, Daring Cooks is a foodie challenge; every month a new challenge is posted and the participants all create some dish using the challenge item. This month's challenge was "nut butters." (Isn't that just so ironic? My first one is all about nuts.) Luckily for me, I'm not allergic to almonds and so I was still able to participate in this challenge. I made an almond butter then used the almond butter in a curried chicken dish. The recipes were given by Daring Cooks, so they aren't original for anything, but everyone should really try it. This is one of my new favorite chicken dishes and I'm sure it's going to become a weeknight go-to meal.

So for today's post I will explain the process of making a nut butter, then the next post will be about using it in the curried chicken dish. Honestly, it's 12 am and I am just not in the mood for typing.

Nut Butters (Almond Butter)

1 cup almonds

canola/vegetable oil

salt

Grind the almonds in a food processor until they start to form together into a sort of paste. This will go faster if the almonds don't have the skins, but that's kind of a personal preference thing. Then drizzle in the oil until the almond butter reaches the desired consistency and salt to taste. Again with the personal preferences, but you can make it chunky or smooth here. This will give you about 1/2 cup of almond butter, in general the amount of original almonds is divided by two to make the butter.

A potential variation is to roast the almonds. I did this and I thought that the butter had a richer flavor because of it. Roasting the almonds is very easy, so I definitely recommend trying it. Preheat the oven to 350F and lay the almonds out on a baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Let the almonds cool before grinding. Also at this point I took the skins off the almonds. I left a few on for the hell of it, but I tried to get the majority of the skin off.

So there you go! Almond butter!

XOXO

Natalie

roasted asparagus

Hey everybody! I promised a roasted asparagus recipe so here you go! I don't really like asparagus that much; I don't hate it, it's just not my favorite veggie. This is my favorite way to make it because it's easy and tasty. Basically you throw it in the oven until it's done to your liking. I think that we had it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Toss the asparagus, with the bottoms trimmed off please, with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Toss it in a 350F oven, testing them every 5 minutes or so. I don't think you would want to cook it more than 20 minutes because that would mean they would be soggy and that is gross. So please please please, for the love of all that is good, please don't over cook your asparagus.

That is all.

Eat up!

XOXO

Natalie

garlic parmesan potatoes

The other day I had two things: a bag of potatoes and an idea. TA DAH! I was put in charge of the potatoes for dinner the other night and, remembering a recipe I saw earlier, I made some really tasty parmesan and garlic potatoes. This is a really nice side dish and it went really well with the main course, salmon. I also made some roasted asparagus, so today I'll be posting the recipes for the potatoes, but I'll put up the asparagus tomorrow. OK! Let's do this thing!

Adapted from Naturally Ella

3-4 cups red potatoes, sliced

Olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

fresh basil

1/2 cup parmesan

In a large skillet (I had to use two) heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and garlic and cook until the potatoes are softened. Then add the basil and parmesan and fry the potatoes until they have a crunch to them. I didn't cook mine long enough before I added the parmesan, so make sure they actually are soft. Also, feel free to replace the basil with any fresh herbs you have around. The original recipe called for oregano, but I didn't have any. So basil it was!

Hope you like it!

XOXO

Natalie

Guacamooooooole

Hopefully some of you are seeing this post from my brand new fan page on facebook. If you are, welcome! Tell your friends! Subscribe to my blog! Hope you all like what you see and will try out some of my recipes. If you've been here before: welcome back! Tell your friends! Subscribe to my blog!

End of shameless promotion. On to the food.

At Alayna's request:

I love avocado. I can't get enough of it. When I come home from school for breaks, my dad prepares by buying 5-10 avocados just for me. They're so weird! Green, mushy fruits that are sooooo amazing. I'm probably not making any sense right now, but don't worry about it. Just know that the avocados are so so so good. So here is my/my dad's recipe for guacamole, the best ever!

note: sorry all the measurements are "dash of" but I really don't know how to quantify them. I'm going to work on that over the course of this week. If you really really really need measurements, I'm going to guesstimate them at about 1/8 tsp. I realize that's a small amount, but this is just one avocado and dried spices are pretty strong.

note 2: Sorry there aren't pics, but honestly, its just a bowl of green mush. You can picture it.

1 avocado, cored, peeled, and mushed

dash of cumin

dash of dried oregano

dash of garlic powder

dash of onion powder

salt to taste

finely chopped jicama (chopped into tiny cubes)

Mush the avocado with a fork; if the avocado isn't quite ripe enough and isn't mushing add a tiny bit of a neutral oil like canola or vegetable. Don't add too much, just a drop or two will soften the avocado and make it easier to mush. Mix in the seasonings and jicama and serve with chips!

Pasta Alla Vodka

Yessss I know, I'm a horrible slacker and I haven't posted in forever. I have more food pictures from Hawaii, however I can't post them today. All my pictures are on my computer which I sent in to Apple to be fixed. So! Pictures will be posted at a later date!
I have also had an epiphany. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, there tends to be a trend in my writing. Every now and then I have a weight loss/healthy eating epiphany followed by a week or two of actually trying to be healthier before I give in to a bag of Doritos. But not this time folks! I've decided that my problem is not so much what I eat but how much I eat. I will clean my plate even if I'm full. I'm going to go ahead and blame everyone else for this issue. Everyone knows that phrase "Finish your food, there are starving kids in China/India/Africa etc." Well I won't give in to that anymore! I am not going to finish my food! I am going to pace myself and not finish my food, because chances are I'm already full. TADA! EPIPHANY! and this one's going to last.
And now a recipe that is the complete opposite of weight loss/healthy eating. But I didn't eat that much of this and it was followed by a salad, so I think that's good still. This is: Pioneer Woman's Pasta Alla Vodka. The reason I made this is that I was curious. SO CURIOUS! How does vodka make food taste better? It has no taste! What will it add? I have been wanting to make this for a while, but I wasn't able to before because I was at school. I'm not old enough to buy/drink alcohol and I wasn't about to go find some just for one little pasta dish. But now that I'm home, I can make this for my family and it's ok! My parents were curious about it too, but admittedly not as curious as I was. So here you go! Pastaaaaa!
PS. Again, no pictures sorry. I will try harder!!!!

Adapted from Pioneer Woman
1 lb pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped (or half an onion if you don't like onion.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup vodka
1 14oz can tomato puree (I used sauce)
1 cup heavy cream
red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup Parmesan

First get your water boiling and pasta cooking. Just let it do it's thing but don't forget to check on it every now and then. Meanwhile, heat up the olive oil and butter over medium heat. When it's hot, add the onions and garlic and let cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Then (This is important people!) TURN OFF THE FLAME. Please don't pour vodka into a screaming hot pan while the flame is on. Your eyebrows will burn off. After you have turned the flame off, pour the vodka into the pan and stir. Now you may turn the flame back on. Oh, if you're using an electric stove you can ignore that. Let the vodka cook down for a few minutes. Also, don't put your face over the pan unless you like getting evaporated alcohol in your sinuses. But if you do, please by all means, go ahead. After the vodka has cooked down a bit, add the tomato puree/sauce, stir, then add the cream. Bring the mixture to a simmer and add the salt and pepper.
Here's where I changed it up. I added another can of sauce because I didn't like how it tasted. I know that vodka is supposed to be flavorless, but I completely disagree. It tastes like alcohol! And it is gross. So when I tried the sauce it tasted like tomato sauce at first, but then I got this intenssssse flavor of alcohol. Maybe I just didn't let all the alcohol cook out or maybe I'm just a baby, but I didn't like it. Even after adding another can of tomato sauce, I still tasted that ting of alcohol in the back of my throat. My other theory about that is that maybe it's because I'm not a drinker? I'm not used to the flavor of alcohol, so therefor I notice it more? My parents didn't seem to notice it at all, so I think I'm going to stick with that theory.
Now before you drain the pasta, grab a cupful of the pasta water to thicken the sauce if necessary. I didn't need it, but you might, so do it anyway. Throw the drained pasta into the sauce and toss. If the sauce is too thick and goopy, so ahead and add a little pasta water. Then add the Parmesan cheese and stir it all up! We all added even more Parmesan cheese to our own bowls, because really people, is one cup of cheese enough? No. Never.
So there you have it, Pasta alla Vodka!
XOXO
Natalie

corn avo salsa

So this weekend, me and my friends had a bbq at natural bridges, one of the nicer beaches in my area. I made a bunch of food, and this week, Ill be sharing those recipes with you! Today I have a recipe for corn avocado salsa. Me and Aileen (my future roomie) made this and it was mmmmmm so good. Here's the recipe and some awesome pictures!

adapted from Pioneer woman

4 ears sweet corn

2 avocados

1/2 red onion, chopped

/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced

Juice of one lime

chopped cilantro

1 Tbso vinegar

1 tsp sugar, optional

salt to taste

First shuck the corn and try and get all the stringy bits off. Then shave all the kernels off the cob. Cut the avocados into small squares. Then throw everything in a bowl! We didn't have any cilantro, but it tasted fine without it. Wow I expected this post to be longer...so here are some lovely pictures!

XOXO

Natalie

Torrrrrrrtillas

So I have another very simple recipe for you all today. We had like zero food in the house, but we did have the ingredients to make tortillas! Specifically, gluten free flour tortillas! And if you don't have the ingredients to make these then you need to go to the store more than I do.

adapted from home cooking in montana

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix in the vegetable oil and milk until the dough forms into a ball. You can do this in a mixer or with your hands. I am mixer-less so I just kneaded the milk and oil in. If you are using gluten free flour like I am, you are going to need to use a lot more milk. I added 3/4 cup and it didn't blend well at all. Just add about a 1/4 cup of milk at a time until the dough forms into a ball. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes. Then make eight balls out of the dough. Cover in plastic wrap again and let sit for ten minutes.

Time to cook em! Roll them out between two pieces of saran wrap. They have to be reallllllly thin. Like paper thin if you can. Then throw them into a hot pan. If you aren't using a non-stick pan then you might need to add a little bit of oil. But not too much because you don't want to deep fry them. Use a spatula to prevent it from sticking. Cook for about 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a plate.

These are really good fresh, and I had a hard time not eating them right out of the pan! but please, try to contain yourself and let other people try them too.

XOXO

Natalie

And in the mornin'...I'm making WAFFLES!

Honestly, who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? Brinner is maybe the best kind of meal. Doubly so if you've been in your pajamas all day anyway. The other day I was looking in the cabinets and noticed the waffle iron I had completely forgotten about. So brinner it was!

I've made waffles from scratch before, but I think they're kind of boring on their own. So I made three different kinds. Regular, chocolate chip, and brown sugar-cinnamon. The brown sugar-cinnamon were my favorite, but the boys liked the chocolate chips ones. The recipe below is just the regular waffle recipe, but if you want to make variations, it's really easy.

adapted from allrecipes

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp white sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy, then whisk in all the other ingredients until smooth. Then just throw a spoonful into a (preheated) waffle iron and cook until golden brown! Depending on your waffle iron, you may have to grease it or flip it, so look in the instruction manual for more specific instructions.

Brown sugar-cinnamon: After mixing the normal recipe, add about a 2 Tbsp brown sugar and a generous dash of cinnamon. Mix well and prepare normally.

Chocolate chips: Mix as many chocoalte chips as you want into the batter and grease the waffle iron well. The chocolate chips will melt onto the iron, but you want to be able to scrape them off easily between batches.

Enjoy!

XOXO

Natalie

granola

I would like to announce something awesome. Last week I went to the dining hall for lunch and was annoyed, but not surprised, to find that there was nothing for me to eat. I approached one of the managers, hoping that I had missed-read the ingredient labels. Unfortunately, I had been right. No gluten free food! GRR! He offered to make me a quesedilla, but I told him that I couldn't eat their tortillas. He informed me that they had gotten new tortillas that were both gluten free and nut free! So he made me a cheese quesedilla, which was amazingly delicious, and I was giddy with excitement. What can be better than a gluten free quesedilla at an otherwise unhelpful dining hall? But then...the next day...it got even better! I went to the dinner service the next day, and they had signs up saying: gluten free brown rice and the main course was gluten free by coincidence. I was ecstatic! I love it when that happens. They also had a pasta bar, but I didn't even look there, cause that would be silly. But then I went over to the soups and had to do a double take: gluten free turkey noodle soup. WHAT WHAT?! I beg your pardon!? Well I just had to eat everything. So I grabbed servings of all that gluten free stuff and sat down. Then Dan said: "what, no gluten free pasta? You saw it right?" WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAAT? I shouted a couple of expletives out of pure joy and ran back to the food. I probably cut a couple of people in line, but I don't care. I was a woman on a mission. I got like two plate fulls of the pasta and it was mmmmmmmm tasty. I was so happy I nearly started crying. I thanked like every dining hall employee I saw. One of the managers informed me that they just hired a new chef who has done gluten free cooking before and they're overhauling their labeling system. I am sosososososososososo happy with this. I have been trying for the longest time to make the dining halls better for students like me, and it seems that all my whining has paid off. And I couldn't be happier. Let's hope they keep it up!

On to the food! Because of the awesome combo of gluten and nut allergies, I never get to eat granola. ever. I think I ate a chewy bar once, but I really shouldn't have. Anyway, I found this recipe for cinnamon granola that is gluten and nut free and it is really tasty. I'm looking forward to eating it with yogurt for breakfast tomorrow! Note: oats have been determined to be safe for SOME celiacs. Depending on your sensitivity, they may not be safe. I have eaten oats plenty of times and never had a problem, but I know that some celiacs choose to avoid oats. Please, use your own judgment if you are gluten-free.

4 cups oats

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

raisins or other dried fruits/nuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Then, in a large bowl, combine the oats and coconut.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, oil, honey, and cinnamon. Heat it over med heat until it boils. Stir it while it's cooking because you want the ingredients to blend into a syrup. After it comes to a boil, take it off the heat and mix in the vanilla.

Then pour the whole mixture into the bowl with the coconut and oats. Mix it up really well so that there are no dry oats of coconuts. Then spread the granola out onto a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. I stirred it after about ten minutes and then left it in for another five. After the granola has cooled, stir in whatever dried fruit or nuts you are adding. I just added raisins, but you could really add anything you want.

This granola isn't clumpy, it's more flakey. If you prefer clumpy granola, change the amount of honey and oil to 1/3 cup.

XOXO

Natalie

scalloped potatoes

So the other main dish I made for easter was scalloped potatoes. I love scalloped potatoes, and in fact, I don't think I know anybody who doesn't like them. They're delicious. What could be better than potatoes in cream sauce? nothing, that's what. I also made mashed potatoes because Andy begged for them, and you can find that recipe here. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it seemed like everyone really liked it. So, here's how to make scalloped potatoes!

1/3 cup chopped onions (about one small onion)

5 Tbsp butter

5 Tbsp flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

5 cups milk

6 cups thinly sliced potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350F and peel/slice the potatoes. Then in a sauce pan melt the butter. Add the onions to the butter and cook over med-high heat until the onions have softened slightly. Then add the flour, salt, and pepper and stir it continuously. We're making a roux again!

keep stirring until the mixture is thick then add the milk. Bring it to a boil, stirring every now and then.

In a 9x13" baking pan, layer half the potatoes in the bottom. Then pour half of the mixture on top. Then do it again!

The dish will be really full, so please be careful not to spill on yourself. Bake, uncovered, for 60-70 minutes. The top should be golden brown and crispy and the potatoes will be tender.

Eat up!

XOXO

Natalie

Hi I'm Natalie and I'm a chip addict

I would like to announce to the world that I am DONE WITH MY FEMINIST THEORY CLASS! yayyyyyyy! Seriously, I could not be happier. Not the worst class I've taken, but it is definitely up there on the list. (Econ 2 takes the cake, if you were wondering) Yesterday I handed in my final paper and I was done with that class for good. The worst part of it is, I only took that class in order to stay in school. The system requires that we have at least 14 credits, or we are not a full time student. If you're not a full time student, you cant live on campus, and you could be kicked out for a quarter or more. So basically, when I only had two classes this quarter I was forced to find a third class and feminist theory was literally the only thing left. And it ended up being my most difficult class! But that doesn't matter now, because I am never taking a fem class again. No offense to all the fem studies majors out there. I'm sure you're all great at what you do. But your major blows.

Anyway, onto the food!

Last weeks winner at the poll was eggs benedict, so I will be making those over my spring break. I'm sure my parents will be very happy, because my mom has been asking me to make them forever.

I have a super, super, SUPER simple recipe for y'all today. I actually wasn't going to post it, but they ended up so tasty, I just have to share it. We (me and my roomies) were having another kitchen adventure and we decided to make ground beef with taco seasoning and guacamole. But we didn't have any chips! ...but we did have tortillas. And oil. So I made tortilla chips!

Tortilla chips are really good, but homemade ones are like exponentially better. Basically what you do is grab a fat stack of tortillas, cut them into wedges (a pizza cutter is an excellent tool here) and then start heating up about a 1/2 inch of oil in a pot. When the oil is hot, maybe about 350F, throw a couple of wedges in the oil. After about a 30 seconds to a minute, grab some tongs and flip them over.

Use your discretion here, because some people like their chips super crispy, and some don't. I did a mix of the two. Anyway, these chips are great with homemade guacamole, and I'm sure they would make great nachos too!

XOXO

Natalie

Za bro

Sorry I didn't put up a post yesterday, I had a hectic afternoon and forgot about posting! Anyway today I want to show you how to make:

Piiiiiiiza. Everybody likes pizza. It is delicious. I wanted to try out pioneer woman's pizza dough recipe and in the end, I think it worked really well! I didn't make it gluten free, but the boys thought that it was really good. They ate both of the pizzas for dinner that night. It's a really thick crust, and dan described it closer to bread than pizza. The thing I liked the best about this recipe is that you can make it days in advance. In fact, according to pioneer woman, it's even better days in advance. So here's how you do it!

1 tsp yeast

4 cups flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/3 cups olive oil

combine the yeast with 1 1/2 cup warm water and set aside. With a mixer, or a spoon if you don't have one like me, combine the salt and flour. With the mixer still going, or you still stirring, drizzle in the olive oil. Then pour in the water and yeast mixture.

Coat a big bowl with olive oil and put the ball of dough in it. Cover it with saran wrap tightly and put it in the fridge until you want to use it.

We had sausage and pepper pizza. I cooked the sausage before hand, but I didn't cook the peppers.

Anyway, doesn't this pizza look tasty?!

XOXO

Natalie