2011, a year of deliciousness?

So it's been a while. Maybe 2011 will be a year of better blogging? We'll see. Hopefully I won't have to resit the PE exam (i should find out in a few weeks... the anticipation is killing me!) And hopefully I won't have to spend all my internet time browsing real estate, because we finally bought a house! We moved in right before Christmas, and set up a tree before we'd even begun to unpack! 2 years in a row of Christmas moves taught me to get my priorities straight.

We even hosted my family Christmas dinner! We still did Christmas morning at Mom's, but we packed up the refrigerator and commenced the cooking at nuestra nueva casa.

Sister and mom practically kicked me out of my kitchen (which i dont even know my way around yet) and made a delicious dinner! I helped here and there, but they definitely deserve all the credit. We started out with some baked brie and shrimp cocktail, but graduated onto roast pork with stuffed apples (amaaaazing stuffed apples), cauliflower and fennil gratin, simple greens with a mustard vinagrette, carmelized onion mashed potatoes, and pan blackened (with butter?) brussel sprouts. Look, here we are:

To top it all off we dined on peanut butter brownies, everything oatmeal cookies, and a pineapple layered cheesecake that was to die for. mom gave me the recipe, i can't wait to experiment with other fillings! I lived on leftovers all week, expanding my belly in preparation for new years eve's banquet.

For new years, mom and dad returned to nuestra nueva casa for more snacks, cuban food, sangria, and chocolate fondue and games. I've oversimplified... let me try again. Cheese and crackers. Mom's shrimp dip (one of my favorite things in the world), chips and guacamole, veggies and dip, cuban lobster, ropa vieja, cuban black beans (the husband cooks!), rice, Toblerone fondue, scategories, and wii sports. Thank god husband's friend joined us or we would have died of overindulgence. As it was, we all went to bed with belly aches, though the sangria helped dull the pain of over expanded stomach's (until the heartburn kicked in of course!).

Hopefully all that delicious food means that there will plenty more where that came from in 2011 (though perhaps without the belly aches?)

Easy Recipe for Mom's Shrimp Dip

• 1 jar of cocktail sauce
• 1 small tub of cream cheese (light is ok, but fat free is gross)
• 1 can of tiny shrimp (same size as a normal tuna fish can)
• 1 box of Triscuits
• pie dish or other shallow serving dish

The combo of ingredients sound weird, but it's delicious!

1. Spread the cream cheese in an even layer covering the bottom of the serving dish. Aim for 1/4 inch, doesn't have to be perfect, you can use as much or as little as you want.
2. Pour half the jar of cocktail sauce over the cream cheese.
3. Rinse the can of tiny shrimp and dump into the center of the dish, on top of the cocktail sauce.
4. Pour remaining sauce over shrimp.
5. Gently, using the back of a spoon, distribute the saucy shrimp mess evenly over the cream cheese layer.
6. Serve with Triscuits! Mmm mmm!

I guess summer isn't over yet!

It may be October, but my little balcony garden isn't done trying yet.

I guess little gardens produce little fruits? Check out the bountiful mini produce I'm getting:

That big green pepper is almost a normal size!

Yaaay Fall!

I'm diving right into this cold weather! This past weekend i made not one, but 2 delicious and hearty soups/stews. (in other words, i've been procrastinating with my studying).

I'm a big supporter of "one pot" cooking. So i make lots of soupy stewy type meals, intended to be eaten in a bowl, because I'm also a big fan of spooning. I should also mention that i make up recipes as i go, so sometimes they could use improvement.

Saturday, we had:
Butternut Squash, Apple, Sausage, and Tortellini Soup

Chopping list:

• 2 lbs butternut squash, 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (i used the pre-cut kind, it was actually cheaper!)
• 1 or 2 apples, diced ( i used 3, too many i think.)
• 1 small potato, peeled and diced (i used red, but shouldn't matter much)
• 1 medium onion, diced

Other:

• 3 links sweet italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 package frozen cheese tortellini
  
• 1/2 tsp herbs de provence ( i have this one with a built in grinder and i love it... i definitely bought it at a regular grocery store, but i don't know which one)
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 carton (4 cups?) chicken broth
• water... enough to cover what chicken broth can't
• a little butter? (i didn't use, but would have been a good flavor addition)

Optional:

• 1 beer for enjoying while cooking
• music (optional) for singing and dancing while cooking (I used a combination of Ella Fitzgerald and "Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba)
  
• Blender (I looooove my kithen aid immersion blender)

Instructions:

• Open beer
• Cue music (Que? Queue?)
  
• In large pot, brown and crumble sausage. Anyone know a good way of doing this? I end up with giant chunks, but it doesn't really matter, since they're still delicious.
• Sip beer. Start nodding your head to the music.
  
• When fully cooked, remove sausage, put in a bowl, and set aside.
• In same large pot, now greased with sausage juices, add onions and spices and saute until onions begin to turn translucent. I bit of butter would be good to add here for increased flavor, but I didn't think of it at the time.
• Sing into your beer bottle microphone.
  
• Add remaining vegetables. Stir well.
• Add broth and enough water to cover vegetables. Dance a bit while it comes to a boil, then some more after reducing to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are fork tender.
• If you want a creamy soup, remove from heat and submerge immersion blender, or blend small amounts at a time in a traditional blender.
• Place back on medium heat, add in sausage and 1 bag of frozen cheese tortellini. Cook until tortellini is warmed through. Dance and finish beer to speed along the process.
  
• Salt and pepper to taste, and serve!
• Yum!

Sunday, we had:
Mustard and Beer Beef Stew

Chopping list:

• 1 small potato, skin on, chopped
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
• few carrots, peeled and chopped
• few stalks of celery, chopped

Other:

• Stew meat, doesn't really matter how much... i use a package. 1.5 pounds maybe?
• Beer (darker is better), not for drinking this time.
• Mustard of choice, ~2 tsps (i used a combo of "cuban mojo" and brown mustard)
• 1 carton (4 cups) beef broth or stock
• 1 Bay leaf (i forgot, would have been good)
• 1/2 tsp of herbs de provence or oregano, or maybe sage?
  
• bit of olive oil

Optional:

• half a kielbasa or smoked sausage, chopped

Instructions

• In large pot, add a bit of oil, and brown stew meat. Cut up into bite size cubes as is easiest for you... i use tongs and kitchen shears while they're browning to save time.
  
• when done browning, add mustard of choice, stir well.
• Add sausage, if including.
  
• Add half the beer, stir well. Cook a bit over medium low heat.
• Add onions, stir well, let cook a bit.
• Add a little bit of herbs de provence
  
• Add remaining vegetables, stir well, cook until onions are translucent.
• Add broth and bay leaf
• Cook for a while... until the potatoes start to fall apart
• Make sure beef is fully cooked
• Remove bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• Serve! With remaining half beer perhaps?
  

Smelled funny while cooking (due to the weird mustard i used) but turned out well. Even more tasty a day later!

Pea-nuuuut, peanut butter! (and jelly!)

I don't know about you, but wonderbread has always held a special place in my heart, even though it tastes like nothing and has no nutritional value whatsoever. When it comes to a comfort food sandwich (peanut butter and jelly or fluff, grilled cheese, old school tuna salad, to cite a few), there's just no acceptable substitute.

UNTIL NOW!

I've discovered fiber-one country white bread. Still super processed I'm sure, still fairly flavorless, but now with nutrition! Or at least a little. Fills the same role, with less guilt :)

Yay!

so much in my head!

I've gotten myself into trouble.

I started a blog because i really like how it makes me feel when i write, i'm just not very good at writing. I started writing about me and food, because it's one of the most important relationships in my life, and i'm 100% certain that I am not the only one that this applies to. And I started drawing pictures because it's fun.

I don't have time for fun anymore. What happened?

I still think about food, constantly.
I still think about how i would like to have fun, constantly.
I still try my best to have fun whenever i can, constantly.
I still fail at having fun and doing my best, constantly.
Or do i?
Maybe i am doing my best.
I certainly try hard enough...

Firstly... I've failed at being a blogger. That sounds silly to say.. "blogger" is such and ugly word. But that's how it is... I don't have time! I can't even succeed at defining myself as this ugly word! (maybe that's a blessing in diguise, haha). Not only that, but i've been trying not to think about food (since my pants don't fit...) but how can you write about food if you're trying your darndest not to think about it? Just writing this makes me hungry... imagine how hungry i get writing more interesting excerpts about food. Or imagine how many cookies i could have baked (let alone eaten) in the time it takes me to write this?

Unfortunatly, I don't feel like restraining myself from thinking and writing about food has made me any better at other aspects of my life. I still feel overwhelmed, ALL THE TIME!!! What happened to me that i feel unable to deal with the curve balls life decides to throw my way? As I said to my friend earlier today: Maybe i should consider myself successful given that i've made it this far and haven't yet had a mental breakdown? How do YOU define success? I'd like to know, maybe it will help me to put things in perspective!

PS - I had a wonderful evening with friends. I had fun, which is one of my goals. Having fun as reminded me how often i am dissatisfied with myself for worrying about things, when i could be letting them slip aside and focusing on the fun. But where's the fun in studying for a licensing exam? or trying to decide if you want to buy a house in this failing economy, when you might not have a job in 6 months? The fun is in the kitchen. No matter what's going on in the world around me, the fun is in the cookies... the wine and cheese... the seasonal berry cobblers. So why am i trying to distance myself from food? If i love food, i should embrace it! Not indulge in the traditional american sense of overeating, but indulge in the pleasure and appreciation!

I have baby tomatoes! Here's a picture of me watering my babies:
and here's what it would look like if i watered real babies:
Moral of the story (though incomplete): Appreciate what's there. As long as you're trying, there's no point in worrying about the rest! Love what you can, be happy anyway.

There, now I feel better!

PPS - now that i read back through, it seems as if i were imaginarily watering babies with the intent to harvest. This is not the case! The only baby product i'd consider harvesting would be baby giggles.