Bacon Cornmeal Waffles

My Christmas traditions are better than yours.

Please post for Mom: sometimes its good to just go easy!

Pasta!

Since the last of my frozen summer tomato sauce was used up, I haven't eaten a lot of pasta. I don't typically cook or eat pasta all that often, to Adam's dismay, but if I don't have any sauce or when I'm not in the mood for red, I use garlic, olive oil and throw in some tuna. I had no tuna and only clove of garlic, which is always kind of sad and you always wonder how you let that happen.

Anyway, I rehydrated a few sun-dried tomatoes tomatoes in hot water while the pasta started cooking. I sauteed the lone garlic clove, some shallots and sun-dried tomatoes with olive oil and threw in the pasta when it was done, along with some of its water.

I added a tiny bit of butter to thicken it up and topped it with breadcrumbs and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano. I eat cheese even more infrequently than I eat pasta, but a good wedge of parm is worth every single penny.

Happy holidays from my pasta plate to yours.

Hi & Thanksgiving Part two

Hi, I'm Jennifer, and Meredith made me do this. I like to cook and bake, and I like to follow recipes. I tend to make something once and never again, because what is the point when there is so much food to go around?

On Thanksgiving, my boyfriend Adam and I were gifted a free twenty two pound turkey, along with an eight pound turkey breast. We have always done our own Thanksgiving, in addition to the one with his family, but since the turkey was so big this year, it became a bit of a production. I usually keep it pretty simple when roasting anything - just salt, pepper and butter, sometimes lemon - but again, since the turkey was so big, I turned to Martha Stewart and her recipe for Perfect Roast Turkey this past Saturday. It is definitely a rich recipe, calling for a cup and a half of butter, and time consuming, having to baste every half hour for four hours.

You will never have a more moist or beautiful looking turkey in your life. Ever.

I served this with pan gravy, buttermilk garlic mashed yukon gold potatoes, wheat/white bread stuffing with sage, caramelized corn with mint, pomegranate cranberry relish, a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, and roasted Brussels sprouts with mushrooms and cream (I wasn't kidding about loving recipes).

The key to serving a feast of any kind is obviously to do as much prep work before dooms day. I made vegetable stock for the stuffing a week and a half ago and froze it. I toasted the breadcrumbs a week ago and bagged it. I seeded and juiced the pomegranate and made the relish three days prior, so on and so forth. Do you know a good tip for mashed potatoes? Make them the night before and let them warm up the day of in a slow cooker. Thanks, internet!

Tomorrow I'm going to use some of the leftover turkey for enchiladas, but I will be cheating and using canned enchilada sauce. We can't all be Martha Stewart.

Chops

We were going to make ton katsu don, but by the time we got back from a long, hard day of abuse from teenagers and staff meetings and fellowship meetings, it just wasn't in the cards.

This was a super quick recipe for chops. Pork chops were about an inch thick, so not too big. Lots of salt and pepper, oregano, allspice on both sides, brown, then roast until the thermometer says 145 in the middle. Perched atop some wilted watercress and crispy chopped bacon. Everything gets done in one pan: first brown the chops, then brown the bacon while those are in the oven, add the greens and garlic, a little vinegar, salt/pepp. Take everything out and reduce some chicken stock, mustard, vinegar, salt/pepper/oregano in the same pan and make a little puddle there on the side of the plate. Brown rice too.

Maybe 30 mins cooking time -- not bad for a Monday night.

ref

Guest post from my mom: morning-after-fritatta-overload

Listen up folks. I taught Meredith and Ben their approach to creative cooking and it went something like this--if you are hungry, look in the fridge. There's plenty there. This is what I call a morning-after-fritatta-overload and it's particularly good if you entertained the night before. In this case, I chopped up and combined some leftover salmon and roasted potatoes we had for dinner and combined it with the olives and goat cheese we served for appetizers. I added a lonely artichoke heart that had been in the fridge for days. I mixed that with a few egg whites (cutting calories where I can) and made my fritatta. I served it with last night's salad that marinated in its dressing overnight. I ate it while doing an old Times crossword puzzle. This morning's puzzle would have seemed too fresh. Love, Mom

I Roasted my first whole chicken last night.

I'm pretty sure I'm a grownup now. (Also, it was delicious.)

Ben, you gotta read this.

How to cook an omlette INSIDE the shell.


These guys were frickin thorough

Why Hello There

My name Mr. Extra Large Gummy Bear
I have a secret.

I am a sot.
A lush.
A drizzy drunk little sauced up little ursa major.

I'm here hangin out with my friend. He's a XXX bear.
Not in the gay-sex-subculture kind of way.
in the "i go to shows and mark my own hands and think loose sex is dirty and not fun"
in the "i dont do drugs, not even the awesome ones"
and i DEFINITELY do not drink. Not a drop.

That's why my little friend over here is so small. drinkin gives you a bit of extra chub. Skinny little bastard.

How to make the magic:
Get some gummy bears. Soak those drunks in vodka. For DAYS. then eat. woooo!

PS. that plate is not filty, i just ate some cookies off of it prior to putting the gummy bears on it. QUIT JUDGING ME.

Return of MK

Made my own butter, bitches:

Basil Butter, to be exact. In stick form:

I just was curious, really. I may never do it again.

Actually, I've been cooking a lot with my roomie. I think I'm ready to get back off my ass. I've been too lazy/tired/hungry to photograph any dishes, but things will hopefully be changing.

Congee and oxtail soup tonight as well, thanks to Cindy.

Oh, and some meringues, below. I made them because I had egg whites left over from the shortbread that I also made. It was a big Sunday for us here.

Japanfest

For the record, since clarification is needed, the sushi is takeout but the soup is homemade.