Makeup Mega Post

Bet you thought you'd gotten rid of us for good, but alas




we creep right back in again.

This summer's brought a lot of changes in our lives. I have no job! What did I do all day? Go crazy, discover Facebook, become a Facebook addict, read a lot of great fiction, sun my legs a little in a cheap lawn chair, oh, and buy a new house!


My new workshop:

My favorite room in the house. Life with a dishwasher is just spectacular, y'all. As adventurous cooks, I estimate we did about 2 hours of dishes a week (at least!) at the old place. A dinner party took nearly a week to recover from, but not anymore. We've been having potlucks every two weeks for the last 2 months and it literally takes two loads in the dishwasher and that's all! We don't have to prerinse really either. We got a good machine on our side now. We let people eat off of real plates, drink out of real glasses! But they're forced to use plastic cutlery. Somehow we run out of silverware before dinner actually gets served, got to work on that. I plan to buy some sets with the birthday/housewarming money my generous mother-in-law has been sending me. I told Mark we should pop out some kids and we'd really be in the money! Oh Deej, you're the best.

So anyway, I'm going to highlight some of the tastiest of our exploits with brief discussion and links to recipes:

This is the pulled pork we made in April frozen and reheated in May with fresh corn and southern style green beans boiled to death with new potatoes. The pork froze really well. It tasted as good as it did the day we made it.

Neely's Grilled Corn Salad


This was really good. We grilled the corn on our grill pan indoors as we didn't want to light up the grill for just corn. The salad actually kept pretty well for a couple of days, but that's coming from me. I tend to like wilty salads because I'm gross like that.

We had the salad with some lovely burgers. Mark had his covered in our favorite cheddar.

You know, to this day, I've never had a cheeseburger and I don't really want to either.

We got the beef from our coop. It's a little pricey, but it really tastes a lot better...perhaps because I don't feel as guilty eating it knowing it was raised by honest local farmers in humane conditions. The coop now sells all kinds of meat, from filet mignon to chicken bologna, they got it. As soon as I'm gainfully employed again we're going to get some really nice steaks. Oh, that list (Things to Purchase When Gainfully Employed Again) is getting longer by the day. I mourn for our Saturdays at Whole Foods. I can't even let myself go in there anymore. However, there's something to be said for living frugally. We should have been living like this all along.

We joined a CSA this year, which has been nice if not a little bit overwhelming at times. Every Monday I take my basket to pick up our veggies. I soon realized this little basket wasn't going to cut it all by its lonesome, but it works hard for us and has many uses as you can see:


I've been trying to think of creative ways to use up all this beautiful produce and clean out my freezer. This little dish attempted to do both.
Giada's Roasted Cod with Lima Beans



I used frozen Limas and cod (not such a good idea as it turns out). The fish was a very unnerving texture and the extras I added to the Lima beans overpowered everything, namely the mint. I have no idea why I put that leaf of lettuce in there. I mean, I like it wilty sometimes, but this didn't work.

We ate it with a glorious salad alongside.

The recipe came from my friend Amanda's mom Patsy. It was just an assortment of veggies cut really small: zucchini, peppers, cukes, tomatoes, etc. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette. I topped mine with a copious amount of avocado (love of my life these days).

Whew this post is long! Almost finished though.

Being in the CSA has introduced me to some new and interesting ingredients, namely garlic scapes. I'd heard of garlic scape pesto and considered using my share to make that, but then I found this little number.
White Bean and Garlic Scape Spread

It was a little intense, so I topped it with some of the chopped veggies leftover from Patsy's salad. It was very yummy. In fact, I wish I had more of those garlic scapes. They have a lovely grassiness about them.

It was on this very night that my camera broke. I've been in mourning ever since and as a result, I've abandoned this blog. That night I served a beautiful roasted chicken which was so good I've made it a couple of times since. I've mastered the big bird, guys. Well, now that I have one of those probe thermometers that you stick in and it beeps whenever the chicken is done.

My camera didn't break entirely. The display screen is messed up which means we can still take pictures, but we just don't know what of. Hence

what was a perfectly acceptable kitten love fest looks more like photos of an illicit affair: caught red handed.

I'm hoping to get a new camera soon (when we get our gov't check--thanks Mr. Obama).
Until then, I'm determined to post crappy pictures because the food we've been making lately has just been too good not to document.

Pork & Apples

When we made Anna Laura's Meatloaf over Christmas break, Mark was struck with inspiration for a curried pork loaf. Saturday night that pork loaf became a reality. We based it loosely on Alton's recipe which can be found here. Here's our rendition:

Curried Ground Pork with Apples

1.5 lbs of ground pork
4.5 oz. bag of garlic and cheese croutons
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 finely minced onions
6 whole cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1/4 cup of crushed pineapples, well drained
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 bottle of pre-made apple curry chutney

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a food processor bowl, combine croutons and spices. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture and ground pork with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the egg and use your freshly washed hands to toss together, but avoid squeezing the meat.

Shape into a loaf and put in cast iron skillet or on lined baking sheet. Cook until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

I coated the pork with the chutney and some minced onion before I baked it, but I definitely wouldn't do that if we made this again. As I suspected, it burned off into nothingness.

We surrounded the pork "loaf" (I certainly hate that word!) with two seeded and chopped granny smith apples that were coated in the chutney.

We had leftover collard greens as a side along with some garlic cheddar biscuits I threw together at the last minute. I've been craving Red Lobster biscuits for a bit now and I can't bring myself to go there, so I thought I'd do my own rendition. We had some Bisquick from a snow day breakfast we had last year, so I put it to good use:
Stupidly Simple Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
2 c. Bisquick mix (mine was heart-healthy, mind you)
2/3 c. milk
small block of white cheddar grated
few spoonfuls of garlic out of the big jar

Mix well with wooden spoon, drop onto baking sheet, brush with butter or butter substitute and cook at 425 for 8-10 minutes.

I added a ton of garlic and it had a lovely crystallized texture.

We ate this meal as we watched the first season of This American Life. We had just finished our meal when a story about pig farming came on. Yep, I'm not eating the leftovers, but Mark doesn't seem to mind.

And We're Back

I hope the holidays were good to you kids. Mark and I enjoyed our first year together as a married couple. Though we've been together for 4 years, this was the first time we actually spent the entire break together. It's nice to have a second family. They're lovely and diverse and a whole other brand of crazy...

That's grandma Miller with the electric knife

Well, really, it's just his mom that's crazy, but she's a good kind of crazy. She thinks I can do no wrong. One night we were really late for dinner and she was yelling at everyone, telling them how they were ingrates and she looked at me and said, "Not you, honey." I have no idea why I was exempt and Jacob, Rachel's boyfriend, was not, but I won't argue with it.

We got lots of great new toys and actually got to cook for everyone. We made a lovely lasagna for Dad & Bev.

I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but I can tell you it was real good. I made a simple marinara the night before by sauteing some onions, garlic, and red bell pepper. When those were caramelized, I mixed half of the mixture into a pound of ricotta, grated a bit of fresh nutmeg in and pureed it in the food processor. I added two 28 oz. cans of San Marzano's to te marinara and let it simmer for 30 minutes. At home I would have added a parm rind from the freezer, but alas. After the sauce had simmered, I pureed it in the food processor and added 1 lb. of cooked lean sirloin. The next day, I layered the chesse mixture with the sauce and noodles adding some piles of fresh baby spinach.

We made a similar lasagna when we got home for Shane and Sarah sans meat, but I decided to sautee the spinach in some white wine and olive oil prior to adding it. Next time I will definitely use frozen spinach as that whole bag wilted down to nothing.

We made meatloaf for Deej (Mark's mom) & Jer using my favorite recipe from Amanda Yarbro-Dill (annotations are hers):

Miss Anna Laura's Meat Loaf
(I must add that my mom, Patsy, has marked this recipe with a g. for good. Not v.g. for very good, mind you)
-------------------------------------
1.5 lbs ground chuck (or round)
1/4 c. bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. onions, chopped
1.5 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 tsp sage
*Mix all ingredients together and shape into loaf (Lord, those directions are short and to the point, huh?)

Topping
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
*Spread on loaf and bake @ 350 degrees for approx. 1 hour or until done.



It was so good we made it again when we got home. We ate it with some ridiculously good greens I had made and frozen. We used a bunch of kale, a bunch of turnip greens, and some spinach and turnips from our co-op.

Another recipe we made twice was this cobbler by David Lebovitz. We rang in the New Year with it, actually. I'm not much of a fan of sweets, but blackberry cobbler is my favorite.

Our New Year's celebration was very laid back. We ate Indian food with Shane and Sarah, bought a huge television with our Christmas money, and made a little time capsule based on a tradition I used to keep. When I was in middle school, Peg and I would always write down our resolutions and I'd keep them sealed in an envelope until the next year. Well this year we wrote our resolutions as well as a few other thoughts and put them along with a few other artifacts from the night in an Aqua Globes box, which was an artifact all in itself. While Shane and Mark were talking TVs, I was desperately searching for a watering can with none to be found. The whole gardening section had been taken over by marked down Christmas stuff. I had to settle for Aqua Globes. They're working out quite well for my two rosemary trees.

As for our resolutions, Mark and I took Sally Swift's idea and decided to pledge to cook our way through cookbooks. Mark picked Veganomicon and I decided on How to Eat Supper. Our goal is to make one recipe a week for the whole year. Tomorrow we're going to have a curried yam dish with some jazzed up bok choy.

Oh yeah, Mark got a deep fryer. So far he's made sweet potato chips:

sorry for the terrible picture

& recreated the ravioli sticks from Mafiozia's


Shane approves:

Total Waste of Time

Well, not totally wasted. I could have been watching The Hills On Demand as I've shamefully succumbed to in the last week. I swear, I stayed so far away from that show for so long knowing I'd get hooked and enable myself to watch under the guise that I'm a culture-watcher. B.S. I'm in on it, sure, but I just can't get enough of Heidi's carebear voice. She's such a total loser and I'm not, right? Many mornings Mark is awoken to my rendition of "Feel the Rain on Your Skin." I've revealed too much.

Last Saturday, we tried to cook a 5 lb. frozen chicken that we got from our co-op...a $20 chicken, mind you. That's a lot to me given I could have gone down to the Kroger and paid about $6 for one that was already rotisseried and pumped full o' facsimiled spices. Well, this one was treated humanely and supposedly you can taste all that good treatment.

I handed the chicken, literally and figuratively, over to Mark as the last time I cooked an entire bird, I was home alone and nearly vomited and became a vegetarian for life. I had to transfer it to a bigger pan and when I picked it up, it's joints moved and it felt just like Xena. My experience only got worse as I stuffed its "cavity" with lemons and heads of garlic. I'll never forget how I ate mine so gingerly while Mark tore into the legs slurping up the skin. That's an image I'll keep for a lifetime.

Well this time, Ina made it look so easy.

Garlic Roast Chicken
1 (5 to 6-pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
1 lemon, halved
1 large onion, cut into fourths
4 carrots cut diagonally into 2-inch chunks
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 6 pieces
4 tablespoons butter, melted

As soon as you get the chicken home, salt it inside and out, wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, first preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken and stuff the cavity with the all the garlic and lemon. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place it in a roasting pan just large enough to hold it and the vegetables. Scatter the onion slices, carrots and potatoes around the chicken. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Place the vegetables back in the oven and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.



When the vegetables are cooked, carve the chicken and place the slices on the platter surrounded by the vegetables. Drizzle some pan juices over the chicken and vegetables.

I added a few red turnips to the vegetable mix because I had them on hand and I would never turn down a roasted turnip. But Mark failed us a little, I'll admit. He got overly excited with the salt and the turnips seemed to absorb it all. They were almost inedible.

In fact, nearly everything we touched that night turned into a fowl-smelling expletive. Mark accidentally cooked the chicken upside down, so when we took its temp an hour and a half in, it seemed done. We took it out, tented it with foil, and proceeded with the rest of the meal.

I'd planned to try my hand at homemade cornbread for stuffing. The cornbread was beautiful, fluffy and tasty all on its own, but I wanted to attempt stuffing to accompany our big bird.

The stuffing was dry and also too salty (I used salted pecans from the beer isle--LRC told me to--I didn't add much salt knowing I was working with pre-salted pecans).

Well, it was ready to be sprung from the oven 45 minutes after the chicken. When the stuffing was sufficiently dried out, we cut into the bird...yeah, blood went everywhere. I was over it at this point. I fixed a vegetarian plate and handed the operation over to Mark and Randy.



I was in such a bad mood by the end of the night. I only wanted to sulk and read by myself. Poor Randy. I had to try to convince him I wasn't a meanie. But I know he gets it. I haven't had any luck at all in the kitchen lately.