business or pleasure?

March 8th, 2010 by Jenny

I don’t see why it can’t be both.  I spent the weekend in Kitty Hawk, NC for work.  You didn’t read that wrong.  I really did get paid to go to the beach.  We went on various field trips which were a blast, and I feel quite a bit more knowledgeable on the subject of beach erosion.

I couldn't think of a better way to start the morning.

I couldn't think of a better way to start the morning.

I felt a little silly taking pictures of my food during business meetings, so my words will have to suffice.  Dinner Friday night was divine.  I ordered the pork tenderloin, and that’s what I got.  An entire pork tenderloin.  It was overwhelming to say the least.  This was followed up by one of the best key lime pies I’ve ever eaten.  Ok… I don’t have many words either.  Deal.

Saturday, we went to Jockey’s Ridge, which include some of the largest sand dunes I’ve ever seen.  Realize that my grandparents live 20 minutes from White Sands, NM.  I got the bright idea to trek all the way to the top of the largest one.

See the huge dune and the tiny people?

See the huge dune and the tiny people?

Then, the Wright brothers’ memorial, which is nothing more than a glorified sand dune covered in grass with a big piece of rock at the top. My legs hurt like they haven’t hurt in a while.  … and I really started thinking that it must have really sucked to pull a plane all the way up a huge sand dune just to have a failed flight down it.  Props to Orville and Wilbur!

The drive back was miserable.  9pm to 1am, I listened to Adventures in Odyssey while throwing gummy worms and chex mix into my mouth.  …ok, so it wasn’t SO miserable.

Work shmork, the purpose of my trip was accomplished at lunch the day after I got home.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

The fresh rockfish was amazing.  We drizzled with butter, topped with salt and pepper, wrapped in foil, and baked at 450 for about 20 minutes.  Served with risotto and snow peas.  Delicious.

Posted in Food Talk | No Comments »

Here we go a-waffling

March 6th, 2010 by Jenny
Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

When I tell people about my new favorite blog, I seem to get one of two responses:

1) Wow! That sounds really neat. I think I’d like to waffle things. Do you dip things in batter, or what? How does this work? I want to know!

2) … the things people blog about. I might as well start a blog about my cats.

The only outlier thus far has been during this conversation between Valerie and another coworker:

V: I didn’t know “waffle” could be a verb.
H: It can; remember that Christmas song… “here we go a-waffling*”?

*She means wassailing, although, frankly, I’m a fan of her version of the song..

… back to the first group, though…

You’re wrong, and here’s why: at the root of that statement is an idea that fundamentally shapes your worldview. This idea is essentially that waffles are just pancakes in a funny shape. This is false, and if you don’t know why, I have nothing more to say to you.

To the second group…

Will you be my best friend?

All of that said, I’ve taken up waffling as my new hobby, and thus waffled shortcake that I served with strawberries and vanilla yogurt, topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

A few things I’ve learned about waffling:

  1. Since waffling things is generally experimentation, it may not come out great the first time. Try before serving.
  2. Do not overcook.
  3. Do not undercook.

Expect more waffled recipes in the future.

Posted in Food Talk | 1 Comment »

Church “soupluck”

March 1st, 2010 by Jenny

The first time we held one of these, my friend introduced it as a “depression era potluck dinner”. People bring a pot of soup or bread, we drink water, and we have an amazing time.

My contribution was a loaf of bread. When I got the Cooking Light for March, I was inspired by this recipe. Irish Soda Bread has always been a bit of a curiosity for me. I was interested to try it myself. It took a bit of hunting in the grocery store to find all of the ingredients, but the work was well worth it. Besides, it took me all of 5 minutes to actually mix the ingredients.

Three reasons you should make Irish Soda Bread:

  1. It’s super easy
  2. It’s super hearty
  3. Perfect for soup (and pot roast, as we discovered last night ;) )
Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup steel cut oats
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 large egg, beaten

Procedures:

Mix ingredients until combined.  Pour into greased loaf pan*.  Bake in preheated oven at 325 for approximately an hour, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  You should probably let it cool just a bit.  Good luck with that.

*Note: the first time I made this, it overflowed just a bit.  The second time, I made it in two loaf pans which I baked for only 50 minutes.

Posted in Breads, Recipes | No Comments »

Success!

February 20th, 2010 by Jenny

I chatted with a coworker who follows a strict gluten free diet about what kind of cookies to make for my brother’s birthday, and he recommended flourless peanut butter cookies. The idea intrigued me.  After all, the best gluten free recipes are those that are naturally so, not those that have all sorts of gluten substitutes in them. Food Blog Search helped me find this recipe, which not only matched the ingredients I had on hand, but also addressed the many doubts I had about making cookies without flour.

Mad props to Joy the Baker. The cookies were AMAZING! Don’t believe me? See the text my I got from my brother just a couple days later:

Do you even need to read the rest of it?

Do you even need to read the rest of it?

I must confess that I did get lazy. On two counts. So my recipe is a little different than the original, though I cannot claim that mine were better.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar (I skimped on the brown sugar; it’s true)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Procedures:

Cream all ingredients together.  Place by rounded teaspoons onto greased baking sheet.  Use your thumb to press the cookie down a bit in the middle.  (I just wasn’t going to worry about dirty-ing forks for a silly little criss-cross pattern.)  Bake for 10-ish minutes.  Let cool on baking sheet for a bit, then transfer to wire racks.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Do you really miss the criss-cross pattern?

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Gluten Free, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Fish Made Tasty

February 19th, 2010 by Valerie

I’m not usually a fan of fish. My mom, who is an awesome cook, always fixed it the same way. I never thought of it as something I’d want to experiment with. However, this week when I ran low on food again (this is a theme with me since I try not to spend too much on groceries), I decided to try using some tilapia fillets we had in our freezer. We had a roommate move out in the summer who left behind all sorts of food, particularly fish and shrimp. She moved to Wilmington, where I guess she’ll get better seafood.

Anyway, this is what I made:

  • 3 small tilapia fillets
  • 1 onion
  • 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 2-3 T pesto
  • 1 T olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Spaghetti noodles
  • Mozzarella cheese
Tilapia Pasta

Tilapia Pasta

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in olive oil, then added in the fillets.  I was amazed at how fast fish cooks!  I’m used to working with chicken or ground beef. Next I mixed in pesto and squeezed lemon juice over everything. Meanwhile I boiled the spaghetti, which I added to the frying pan so it could cook with the sauté for a while (I learned this trick from The Splendid Table).  Wow, it was good!  I served it with mozzarella cheese melted on top.

Posted in Italian, Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »

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