recipe review: autumn pierogies and apples

(non-food related content coming. i'm just too lazy right now to write the screed i've been pondering re: healthcare, but it's gonna happen. i promise.)

so, yeah. these sweet potato pierogies were on clearance at the store a while back, so i bought a box and stuck it in the freezer. i was flipping through my recipe folder and came across this one that i'd ripped out of a magazine, and i decided to try it out the other night.

for the first time in a long while, i didn't make any substitutions...and i was happy. i used 2 red delicious apples and 1 sweet yellow onion. i thought the cinnamon sour cream would be weird, but it was actually pretty nomtastic. i might make the cinnamon sour cream again just to put on bagels or toast or to dip apples in. i'll probably make the pierogies again, maybe with a different type of apple just for kicks.

2 recipes, 1 post: chicken and seafood edition

remember last week when i said that one of my next recipes would involve chicken thighs because i had a costco-sized package of them in the freezer?

well, i decided to try this chicken with mushroom sauce recipe since i had just about everything on hand except the mushrooms, so this was dinner last night (and lunch this afternoon). i used regular button mushrooms b/c that's what was available at the store yesterday. it will come as a shock to absolutely no one who reads these reviews that i added a bit of garlic. i think the package of chicken i used had 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs in it, which worked out perfectly for me. i also had half a bag of frozen green beans on hand, so i used that as my side dish/vegetable. the chicken and sauce turned out well, although i would've liked the sauce to be a bit thicker. still nom.

i still had orzo on hand, so this shrimp and crab al forno seemed like a good idea. yeah, this was one that was better on paper than in reality. i used lump crabmeat and about half a pound of 26/30 per pound shrimp. i also used shredded parmesan instead of grated, and 2% milk instead of 1%. (note: i grabbed one of those milk chugs thinking it was a standard 16 ounce bottle, and it turned out to be only 14 ounces. argh.) i can't really explain why i didn't like this, but i didn't. i'm kinda upset b/c i went to two stores and spent a sizable chunk of my grocery budget on the crabmeat alone. i don't see myself making this again. i'm glad i decided to make a quick spinach and tomato saute to go with it, though.

inauguration celebration & scurvy prevention

eta: if you haven't already talked to me about your plans to join me for mimosas on monday (hey, look, alliteration!), then please do so as soon as you can. thanks.

o hai!

i'd initially planned on hosting a brunch for inauguration day/mlk day (can i just tell y'all how tickled i am that those fall on the same day this year?), but then i came down with the plague and the thought of planning out a menu and buying supplies and all of that was just too much for me. last week, though, the spirit of crazy joe biden came to me and said that i should drink mimosas on inauguration day, and since i'm not one to ignore crazy joe, i decided to go with it.

so, instead of a brunch, i will be here in skokie drinking champagne and orange juice (hence the scurvy prevention) and toasting crazy joe. you're welcome to join the party. i figure folks can show up anytime after 10:30am and be ready to get kicked out around 8pm b/c i have a doctor's appointment the next morning and i'll need to start sobering up at some point. i'll have orange juice, champagne, and some sort of snacks (on snacks) available, but please feel free to byo food and/or beverage.

if you haven't made the trek to my skokie crashpad yet and need directions, let me know. obviously i'm not posting the address here, but this is why we have email and text, right? try to let me know sooner rather than later, please. kthx. :-)

books!

i just happened to glance at my pile of "waiting to be read" books a few minutes ago and, after my initial moment of squee due to some of the titles (nate silver's book, the most recent oprah's book club pick, a new cookbook, and a new book of poetry from bell hooks, among others), i realized that i didn't close out 2012 w/r/t the books i read. according to my spreadsheet, i read 146 books during 2012. that's down from my 2011 total of 209 books, but let's keep in mind that i was in nanny/mother's helper mode for the first 9 months of 2012, and that i started my job in june of 2012. holy hell i've had this job for a little more than 6 months now.

my spreadsheet also tells me that every single book i read in 2012 came from the library. i'm probably more impressed by that than i should be, but i am. libraries are awesome, and anyone who knows me knows that i've held that sentiment for way longer than i've held my current job.

so, yay for books! and now i will leave y'all with the video for "read a book" b/c it still makes me laugh. :-)

recipe review: orzo spinach soup

i wish i could remember who originally shared this recipe on twitter. alas, i just remember seeing it and saving it to my hard drive for later use. the other night, i realized that i had orzo on hand and wanted to do something different with it, so i decided to make this soup. it also didn't hurt that i'm still recovering from the plague a cold.

only a few substitutions in this one: i doubled the carrots b/c the ones i bought were a bit on the small side; i added seasoned salt throughout the cooking process and used a scant bit of crushed red pepper instead of chili flakes at the beginning; and i think i used about 2/3 cup of regular orzo (vs. the 1/2 cup whole-wheat orzo).

this might be my favorite recipe of the year so far. yes, i know i've only made three. it's also possible that my body is all "omg soup yay!" b/c i've been under the weather. i'd make it again, and would probably use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock (or maybe a 50/50 mix).

next up? probably something with chicken thighs, since they were on sale at costco today and now i have 3 ziploc bags of boneless skinless chicken thighs in the freezer. :P

recipe review: sausage and walnut stuffing

i was all set to try this recipe out last night, but whatever cold-like thing that's been floating around attacked me yesterday and by the time i got home from work, i just wanted to curl up under all of the blankets and stay there forever. i'm feeling slightly better today - not as achy and feverish as yesterday, but still some runny nose and coughing issues - so i decided to go for it.

i skipped the parsley b/c i didn't have any on hand, and i used about a teaspoon of dried sage instead of fresh. oh, and i used seasoned salt instead of salt & pepper.

verdict? i like the taste, but i wasn't crazy about the presentation. maybe if i'd used a corningware dish instead of a standard metal 9x13 pan, it would've looked better, but...meh.

recipe review: (a variation of) black-eyed peas and stewed collards

merry new year! hey, remember when northwestern won a bowl game, and it was amazing? oh, wait...that just happened yesterday. :D

since i was out watching football and drinking beer and hanging with friends, i wasn't able to cook the traditional collard greens and black-eyed peas new year's day meal. i'd decided last week that as long as collards and black-eyed peas were involved in the first meal i cooked in 2013, i'd still be in line for good luck and prosperity in the new year.

that said, i saw this recipe in a recent issue of one of my favorite magazines and decided to try it out tonight, with a few substitutions, of course. here's what i did differently:

--used 2 tablespoons of olive oil to saute the onions
--added about a tablespoon of garlic right before i put in the tomatoes/greens/water
--used a bag of pre-chopped collard greens. ignore the directions that say the greens are ready to cook. you will still need to go through the greens and discard any stems and/or pieces that just don't look right to you. i also gave the collards a quick rinse after i'd picked through all of them.
--instead of cooking the black-eyed peas separately, i added them to the greens about halfway through the cooking time (i set the timer for 20 minutes and stirred the greens every 5-7 minutes or so).

oh, and i skipped the seafood component entirely b/c nothing really looked good when i was buying ingredients the other day. instead, i made a flat iron steak that i bought from the fine folks at c&d family farms. you might know c&d for such nomz as the bacon burgers i've previously waxed poetic about. i seasoned the steak with a bit of spice rub that i had on hand. mmm...steak.

verdict: not bad. the collards still had a wee bit of crunch, which i was ok with. if you like your greens crunchier or more wilted, you could adjust the cooking time accordingly. i usually don't cook collards that often...as a matter of fact, i don't think i've made them since, well, last new year's day. that said, i probably won't make them again until next year, unless i really get a taste for them and/or i come across another recipe that i wanna try out.

here's hoping 2013 brings all kinds of happiness and joy and awesomeness to all of us. :-)