recipe review: rice, cheddar, and spinach pie

(posts that aren't all about food coming soon. i promise. maybe.)

i was at barnes & noble on saturday and decided to thumb through a few magazines. never mind the fact that i have a huge backlog of magazines waiting for me once i'm done with my current stack of library books. anyway...i was looking at the recipe index for the most recent issue of eating well magazine and saw a listing for rice, cheddar, and spinach pie. usually i clip/save recipes to try out at a later date (read: weeks/months from when i originally see them), but since i knew we had everything except cheddar cheese and onions on hand, i decided to try to give it a whirl this week.

i made a couple of changes/substitutions, though - i used shredded sharp cheddar cheese b/c i wasn't as specific on the grocery list, and i used pre-minced garlic b/c, well, it's there and i might as well use it. for the rice, i used some leftover cooked white rice that was stashed in the freezer from our last chinese food order. i'm looking at the recipe again now and just noticed that it called for brown rice. oh well.

if/when i make this again, i'm adding more seasoning. i didn't measure the salt/pepper this time around and i thought it was a bit bland. i don't know what spice(s) i'd use, but i'd definitely start with more salt/pepper and go from there.

recipe review: balsamic honey chicken

have boneless skinless chicken breasts, will consult folder of recipes for ideas i haven't tried yet. i saved this one from an email i received who knows how long ago, and decided to go for it.

only one substituion this time - i used canned pears instead of fresh b/c that's what was on hand; i'd say maybe a can and a half, however that translates. no, wait, i lied - i used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts that i cut in half, but that's not a substitution so much as a...oh, i don't know. a change? my brain is refusing to work properly right now, so i'll let y'all figure that one out.

in sum: this recipe was nom and i'd make it again, either with canned pears or actually buying fresh. the end.

a query b/w my brain surprises me sometimes

so i'm finalizing my outfit for a b-day party i'm attending tomorrow evening, and i picked out one of the biggest pairs of earrings i own, mainly b/c i won't be around babies for most of the day tomorrow and therefore can wear them w/o worrying about one of the twins yanking said earrings out of my ears.

then i glanced at the calendar and realized that tomorrow is february 18. february 18 was daddy's birthday. he would've been 79 tomorrow. one of the things i brought with me to the 'burbs is a little keepsake box of stuff that belonged to daddy and to james. it's mostly cta-related paraphernalia, and a bracelet made of coins from 1976 that daddy had someone make for me when i was in high school, and daddy's old masonic ring.

i tried on the bracelet and it's too small. i looked at the ring, tried it on (it actually fits on my ring finger) and, within the space of a minute or less, started a thought process that sorta kinda looked like this:

"what if i started wearing daddy's masonic ring? i could switch my class ring to my left hand and wear daddy's ring on my right. or i could put the ring on my necklace. i have a hard enough time w/the twins yanking at the chain now, though; do i want to give them more ammo? would it be weird for me to wear this ring? are there rules/guidelines for this kind of thing? i don't know. i'll ask the internet!"

and as i was about to go on twitter and pose this quasi-important question, i realized that a blog post would be more appropriate, since this is obviously way more than 140 characters. :-)

anyway...i'm opening this up for discussion. in case it matters, the aforementioned necklace belonged to james and is the one i'm always wearing. the ring on it was my mother's. you can see why the sentimental side of me is leaning toward adding daddy's ring to this mix, but i haven't made an official decision yet.

as for tomorrow - i'm leaving the ring and all the other keepsakes at home. i still have daddy's old cta key on my keychain, so that'll be my memento for the day.

heh.

so, monday's post about the grammys? post number 69 on this blog. giggity.

oh, and to follow-up on yesterday's post - i have enough chocolate in my stash to get me through the end of the week. just sayin'. :-)

why yes, i would like some cheese with that whine

if by "cheese" you mean chocolate, and by "whine" you mean actual alcohol, that is.

before i finally went the fuck to sleep last night, i'd managed to come up with a plan for today's trip into the city. the primary purpose of today's visit was for my monthly date with state-mandated bureaucracy, but i was also going to go to the harold washington library to return books and update my address, pick up my mail and a check from my most recent freelance gig, deposit said check so i could pay my cell phone bill and handle a couple other expenses, maybe have a quick chat with my former boss, go to the evanston library to return books and update my address, and buy chocolate b/c my stash is running low and we all know how dangerous that is, and somehow be done with all of this (and my "date") in enough time to meet j in skokie so we could head back to deerfield so he and l could maybe go out for a quick valentine's day coffee while i stayed home with the (hopefully) sleeping kids. i know that sounds like a lot, but i've actually gotten quite used to packing major amounts of activity into my chicago sojourns, so i had no reason to believe it wouldn't all get done.

i should've known something was up this morning when i found myself being mildly jealous of the 3 y.o. receiving cards & chocolate & presents for v-day. granted, said cards and presents and chocolate were from her grandparents and one of her classmates, but damned if the proverbial knife didn't turn in my heart just a wee bit. irrational, i know, to be even a little jealous of a 3 y.o., but the first step is admitting i have a problem and i promise that if i don't get help at charter, i will get help somewhere.

the fun continued during my trip to the train station. one of the radio stations (i forget which one) was having a segment about "sad and single girls." these women were calling in with their tales of woe in an attempt to win a vacation to...mexico? details are fuzzy b/c the twins were alternating between babbling and crying, and sometimes it takes a while to restore some semblance of calm. i was listening to these women and actually felt a bit proud b/c i wasn't sad. single, yes, but not sad. i'd managed to shake off the earlier feeling of jealousy, primarily b/c i knew there would be copious amounts of chocolate in my future.

i made it downtown, went to the harold washington library and accomplished the tasks of returning books & updating my address (note: there's a self-checkout kiosk at the harold washington library now. woo!), and then went to the red line to head south for my appointment with the state of illinois. that was a bit of a clusterfuck b/c the red line wasn't running normally (as of this writing, i haven't had a chance to find out what the exact problem was), so i went over to the orange line and then eventually wound up on the red line to continue to the link office...

...where i proceeded to wait. and wait. there's normally a good hour or so wait between the time i check in for my appointment and when i actually see a caseworker or other staff member. i figured today would be no different. so very wrong.

an hour went by. 90 minutes went by. 2 hours went by before someone called my name and asked ?s about the reason for my visit. never mind the fact that i had a sheet with all of the pertinent appointment info on it that i presented when i checked in. "oh, you're here to see ms. so-and-so? ok, have a seat and someone will call you."

suffice it to say that i was at the office for a good 3.5 hours, only to be told that no, i couldn't see a caseworker and oh, yeah, btw, my case has been canceled and i need to reapply for benefits and no, they don't know why it took so long and no, they don't know why no one told me last month that my benefits were set to expire. gee, thanks a lot for wasting my entire afternoon. happy valentine's day to me.

by the time i got back on the red line to head north, it was too late to pick up mail and the aforementioned freelance check, let alone stop in for a chat with my former boss. didn't make it to evanston, either. and slightly more painful than not picking up my check? i didn't have time to buy chocolate. which is probably for the best, b/c there's only ~$25 left on my link card and since i'm now in bureaucratic limbo, i'm not even sure i can use that.

so, yeah. fuck today and the three-legged horse it rode in on. i have to now hope that my cell phone provider cuts me a bit of slack and doesn't disconnect me between tomorrow (when my bill's due) and saturday (the next opportunity i'll have to pick up my check). i'm upset that i can't chip in on groceries for l & j and the kids b/c the state of illinois decided to...oh, hell, i can't even pretend to know what the state decided to do. no idea when i'll find out, either, b/c my application has to be reviewed and then i get to have another date with bureaucracy to attempt to figure out what in the actual fuck happened.

but, hey, at least i got to hang at starbucks long enough to write this post while being subjected to seal's cover album(s). the fact that i didn't walk over to binny's instead is a testament to how cold it is, how underdressed i am, and how little money i have in the bank. i'm seriously going to go "home," eat dinner, and figure out how long i can stretch my current stash of chocolate while wishing i could punch today in the face.

hope y'all had a better valentine's day (or tuesday, if this holiday isn't your cup of tea) than i did.

my top 3 moments from the grammys

#3 - this commercial for target:



this is my new favorite commercial. i've been that girl singing on the bus (and on the train, and walking down the street, and in the store) more times than i can count.

#2 - adele's performance:



i couldn't even talk while i was watching this last night. i'm not sure i managed to tweet during the performance, either. i was just so happy to see/hear adele back on stage singing one of my anthems from 2011, i might've just sat in my seat holding my laptop and trying not to jump up and down like a teenage fan. which leads me to my top moment...

#1 - ll cool j as host

to say i was excited when i found out that ll was hosting this year's grammys is a major understatement. y'all know i tend to watch the grammys every year b/c i like being entertained/amused, so it's not as if i needed another reason to tune in, but omg. i had to warn everyone here about my ginormous crush on ll and that i would indeed be squealing like a 12 y.o. girl. and i did. more than once. i can't even pretend to be ashamed. if you followed my tweets last night, then you got a glimpse of just how happy i was. yeah, i'm biased, but i thought ll did a great job, and we all know i'd have no problems with him hosting again next year. :-)

recipe review: skillet chicken & rice with corn and tomatoes

what happens when boneless skinless chicken breasts go on sale? you buy lots of them, and then you find yourself asking "wtf are we gonna do with all this chicken?" ok, maybe not in those exact words, but you get my drift.

anyway - i had this america's test kitchen recipe in my files and figured it was worth trying out. i'm copying it here b/c atk requires a login to view recipes and i'm guessing that some of y'all (myself included, actually) don't have an account with them.

Serves 4

To remove corn kernels from the cob: Use a chef’s knife to cut the cobs in half horizontally, and then stabilize the cobs by standing them on their cut ends before slicing the kernels from the cob. You can substitute 1½ cups frozen corn if fresh corn is not available.

1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1½ pounds)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced thin
3 ears corn, kernels removed from cobs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon grated zest plus 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lime

1. Combine rice, 1 cup broth, and ¾ teaspoon salt in microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave until liquid is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.

2. Heat remaining oil in empty skillet. Cook scallion whites and corn until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Stir rice and remaining broth into skillet and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, nestle chicken into rice, and cook, covered, until liquid is absorbed and chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter. Stir tomatoes, lime zest, and lime juice into skillet with rice and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in scallion greens and season with salt and pepper. Serve with chicken.

i used frozen corn - it is february, after all, but if i made this during farmers market season, i'd probably go with fresh. i think i only used 4-5 scallions, instead of the 8 called for the recipe. i think i had the stove turned up too high and the rice was starting to stick, so i added a little more chicken broth toward the end; maybe 1/2 cup or so. i'd make this again. when sweet delicious swine is back in my life on a quasi-regular basis (read: when i once again have a place of my own), i'll probably try it with boneless pork chops or sliced pork tenderloin.

recipe review: hearty meatball stew

i saw this recipe while watching food network a week or so ago. i told l about it, she bought ground turkey during a trip to the store, and i put it on this week's menu plan.

did i mention that i'm sick? and that most of the folks here have been sick this week? my taste buds aren't working properly, breathing through my nose is becoming a distant memory, and the fact that i had enough energy to do all the prep and pull off a decent, if admittedly bland, meal is impressive to me.

and now, the substitutions/changes. let's start with the meatballs:

--used 2.5 lbs of ground turkey, about 1/2 cup of water, salt, pepper, dried parsley, garlic powder, paprika, and panko. i didn't measure any of the spices. also didn't measure the panko, although i probably should have so i'd know for next time. oops. it all came together the 1st time around, so yay for that. i got about 24 meatballs out of it - 1/2 for this stew, and 1/2 for tomorrow's dinner tbd.

for the stew: a can of green beans (drained) instead of fresh, 2 potatoes instead of one b/c they were a bit on the small side, a large (oh, i dunno, 24-25oz) can of diced tomatoes (drained), about 2 cups of chicken broth, skipped the red pepper flakes, and added extra salt & pepper along with garlic powder & paprika. no, i didn't measure the spices here, either. you'll have to use your own best judgment here, folks.

consensus seems to be that the stew was nom, if a bit bland. i probably could've added more spices, but as mentioned previously, my taste buds aren't fully functional right now and i didn't want to overdo it. that said, i'd probably make this again, possibly with (turkey) italian sausage mixed in.

poet and didn't know it

i'm reading this book of essays about zora neale hurston , which is exciting in and of itself, b/c y'all know i'm a huge fan of zora and her work.

so far, i've read essays about zora being a choreographer, and about her being an environmentalist before such a term really entered our lexicon, and of course about her fiction and plays, etc. one essay in particular stood out b/c it discussed zora's poetry and how a lot of people (myself included) don't really think of her as a poet. the essay closed with 2 poems of zora's that i hadn't read before, and one of them really hit home:

This Year Has Been

This year has been
a great trial of endurance
for me.

I don't mind saying
That more than once
I have almost said:
I can't endure.

I shall hold on,
But every time
I see a cat slinking
in an alley
fearing to walk upright
lest again
she is crushed back
into her slink
I shall go to her
and acknowledge
The sisterhood
in spite of
the skin.

and now i have yet another reason to swoon over zora, as if i needed one. :-)

modern-day mourning

there's an article in the new york times about mourning in the digital age. for the most part, i found myself concurring with the piece, but there was one quote in particular that didn't sit too well with me:

“We’re just too busy in this world to deal with losing people,” said Maggie Callanan, a hospice nurse for the last 30 years and the author of “Final Gifts,” an influential book about death and dying. “And yet we have to.”

the notion of people being too busy to deal with losing people just doesn't resonate with me. maybe i'm spoiled b/c y'all showed up in such an amazing way when james died. maybe my opinion of myself is too high when i think that despite the current insanity that is my life, i'd do my best to support a friend in their time of loss.

maybe i'm overreacting b/c i've been thinking about james a lot during the past week. but i really feel that the day that we're too busy to be genuinely supportive of one another, regardless of the circumstance(s) or what that support looks like, is the day that humanity's doing it all wrong.

and that's all i have to say about that right now. you may now resume your regularly scheduled friday night programming. :-)

recipe review: easy roasted potatoes with garlic

burgers were on the menu for tonight, and we'd decided to have potatoes as a side dish. red potatoes were in the fridge, along with a white onion. my original plan was just to cut them up and throw them in a skillet for a quick saute, but then i found this recipe in my files and decided to follow the basic outline of it.

i say "basic outline" because i:

--added the white onion which isn't in the original recipe
--used a teaspoon of sweet paprika instead of cayenne pepper b/c we all know i'm a wuss when it comes to spicy food. that, and i didn't want the potatoes to be too spicy for the 3 y.o. in case she decided to try them. (she didn't, but oh well.)
--used about a tablespoon of bottled minced garlic instead of chopped b/c that's what was in the fridge

i didn't cube the potatoes; more of a rough dice/chop, which translated to a slightly longer cooking time (about 40 minutes, plus a few minutes under the broiler).

simple. nom. would make again. the end. :-)

recipe review: maple-roasted chicken with sweet potatoes

i'll admit to being a little more nervous than usual about trying out this recipe. not because of the actual recipe itself; it's pretty straightforward (imo) and i knew that once i'd gotten the sweet potatoes under control, the rest of my prep would be easy. the reason for my anxiety? this was the first meal i made for the folks i'm currently staying with. (not up-to-date on that? go check out my other blog.)

so, nervous. i lost count of how many times i copped the "i haven't tried this before so i have no idea how it's gonna turn out" plea in the past 24 hours.

it turned out nomtastic! here are the substitutions i made:

--dried thyme instead of fresh b/c that's what was on hand (let's say i used about a teaspoon or so)
--a combination of pancake syrup & honey b/c, again, that's what was on hand (i'd say at least a tablespoon of each, maybe? i didn't actually measure any of the spices. or oil, for that matter.)
--i probably added less salt & more pepper than the recipe called for. did i mention i wasn't measuring things?

when i make this again, i'm adding more sweet potatoes. why? b/c i love sweet potatoes and i felt like the ratio of chicken to sweet potatoes was uneven. aside from that, we all enjoyed it. woo!

as promised: the "things that will be (back) in my life this year" post

i had to go back a few posts to confirm that i actually made such a promise, and i did, so here goes.

2011 was pretty craptacular, for myriad reasons. i still have a bit of optimism left, though, so i've decided to make a list of things that will be (back) in my life in 2012. i wouldn't consider this a list of goals or resolutions or anything like that - just some things i'm looking forward to in the coming year. i'm sure i'll come back to this list as 2012 progresses, either to check things off or make some additions/changes. in no particular order:

--a smartphone w/a data plan

--voice lessons

--room service

--an apartment of my own in chicago

--less debt

--live music (as in going to concerts more often)

--a vacation that involves an airplane and/or a change in time zones

--dining out (as much as i love to cook, i really miss going to restaurants. so many places to visit, both old and new.

--arts/cultural/entertainment outings

--at least one trip to the casino, preferably on christmas eve for jesusjack

--a job that doesn't suck

--medical insurance

--visits to my doctors that don't involve me begging for free samples of meds

--going out with friends spontaneously (vs. having to plan things out w/r/t my budget)

--disposable income

--a savings account that has more than the minimum amount needed to keep the account open

--a retirement account, or at least something that resembles a retirement plan

--more book purchases (and bookcases to put them in)

--a trip to the dentist

--a new watch

--regular attendance at ddpp

fun with online contests

my track record with contests on twitter has been pretty solid as of late. this morning, i found out that i won my first prize of 2012. woo!

that said, i just entered another contest this morning for a macbook air. want in on the fun? of course you do. click here to enter and we'll see what happens.

happy hump day!

stockyards palate

a new york times article about charlie trotter closing his restaurant came across my twitter feed on sunday. the person who shared the link seemed a bit taken aback, if not offended, by the "stockyards palate" mention in the headline. i shared the outrage at first, primarily in a "how dare this nyt writer talk about chicago in such a way" kind of way.

but then i thought about it. charlie trotter's has been open for 25 years, which means i would've been, oh, 10 years old or so when it first opened. my memories of dining out from that age that didn't involve mcdonald's or other fast food? old country buffet and any number of chain steakhouses - ponderosa, bonanza, sizzler, etc. oh, and shoney's, but that was for the breakfast buffet and we were almost always traveling when that happened. this was also during the time when kids could be fooled into thinking that "chopped steak" was a fancy meal, instead of a hamburger sans bun. yes, that happened to me. i was probably a freshman in high school when i was allowed to upgrade to real cuts of steak. mmm...steak. i've definitely become more adventurous in my food choices as i age, but steak and potatoes never fails to make me a happy girl.

i say all of that to say that, maybe, the notion of my fair city having a stockyards palate back in the day isn't that farfetched. i'd love to hear from other folks who grew up around here and can remember going out to dinner w/their families. where'd you go? what kind of impact do you think those types of restaurants/meals had on your current palate?

first recipe review of 2012

i knew i wanted black-eyed peas and collard greens today. yes, i support the "black-eyed peas for luck and greens for money" superstition. i also knew i'd want something relatively easy to make. i remembered that i had this Cajun Chicken With Collard Greens recipe on my hard drive, and decided to give the collard greens part of it a try. i'd already made chicken wings earlier in the week, so i didn't need to make another main dish.

when i finally managed to get dressed this afternoon (note: migraine + cramps + migraine-induced nausea + all the vodka i drank last night = one of the worst mornings i've had in a long while), i knew i was only going to eat one meal today. once i managed to establish that i could indeed go longer than an hour w/o regurgitating and could actually think about consuming food instead of the water/7up diet i'd been on all day, it was time to start cooking.

note: i used minced garlic instead of the slices called for in the recipe b/c i had minced garlic on hand. i also "cheated" and used a bag of precleaned/prechopped greens that i picked through and rinsed thoroughly. good thing i did, b/c the greens were still a bit gritty and there were still plenty of stems that needed to be discarded. oh, and i used seasoned salt instead of salt/pepper. i didn't measure it, though, so i can't give you a measurement for that. sorry. also, i let the collards cook a little longer than the recipe specified; maybe 10-12 minutes or so before i added the peas.

anyway...nom. so nom, in fact, that i had to stop myself from finishing all of it in one sitting. i might actually eat some more later tonight as a snack.

i just realized that the last 2 recipes i've written about have been vegetarian. that wasn't intentional on my part, but i know there are some of y'all who can appreciate that. :-)

bon appetit!

*swoon*

y'all know i'm a zora neale hurston fan. you also know that i love reading. the fact that i didn't scream with happiness when i saw this pic a few minutes ago? pure self-restraint. (also, i need to save my screaming/yelling for the bowl game in a couple of hours. go u!)



source: awesome people reading, a site i just found while clicking through vintage black glamour, another swoon-worthy site.

happy saturday!

roasted vegetables and chickpeas: a review

you'd think that not having a kitchen of my own would diminish my zeal for cooking and looking at recipes. you'd be oh so very wrong. i may or may not have a tentative menu plan in mind for my first few meals in my new apartment (whenever that happens).

when i saw this recipe, i decided i wanted to make it for christmas dinner. so i did. and it was delicious. the prep work was a little intense, b/c sweet potatoes always seem to give me trouble w/r/t to peeling and chopping them, but the payoff? nomz. i still have leftovers and they're still nomtastic. i'd make this again.

my favorite songs of 2011*

not all of these songs were released in 2011, but i added them to my itunes library this year - hence the asterisk. there's no particular order of preference here. i basically dumped all the songs into a playlist and then rearranged a few in an attempt to make them sound more cohesive, for lack of a better term.

here's the list:

mmm...hot fudge action...

i don't even know why i still have this photo in my files, but i saw it last night for the first time in who knows how long and had to laugh. someone remind me to make brownies for the nye bowl watch party so we can try to get a reprise of this:



happy saturday and/or (insert your preferred holiday greeting here)!