Monthly Archives: May 2010

the Great Recipe Experiment: #8-Romano Zucchini Sticks

It’s been a busy spring.  So busy that I’ve fallen behind in my Recipe Experiments. But there’s one thing I never fall behind on:

Glee.

Yes, it’s true.  I’m a Gleek.  A huge one, too.  But I’m not alone.  There’s many of us.  We are legion.  We are loyal.  And we love to throw Glee parties and drink mojito slushies.  In fact, we had one such occasion this past Tuesday at the house of my fabulous friends, Brian and Rita.  We had a potluck dinner, complete with chicken marbella (delicious), quinoa (delicious), homemade bread (delicious), a corn-feta salsa (supremely delicious), more potato and corn chips than is probably healthy, homemade wine, the mojitos (of course) and these zucchini sticks.

Chase signed up to be the taster for this particular recipe experiment and he approves.  I’m in fact going to order a stamp that says “Chase Approves” and use it accordingly.  Seriously.  Well maybe not seriously.  But maybe seriously.  How much do stamps cost anyway?

This was a Parmesan zucchini recipe that I found originally on Cooking Light and then adapted a bit.  It makes a good appetizer, crunchy, delicious, and in there underneath the awesomeness and the bread crumbs is a vegetable.  So that counts towards your daily 5.  Just FYI.  And these are in fact so easy that I just prepared the parts of the recipe at home, brought it all to Brian’s and then assembled and baked them there.  About 5 minutes of prep, 20 minutes of baking and that’s all there is to it. Continue reading

Well Ain’t That Some Fancy Corn

The children of the corn give this two thumbs up

It’s officially summer here.  It’s sunny, it’s 80 degrees at 11am in the morning, my farm share is starting next week (!) and my husband can barely stand to go outside.  Yep, officially summer.

Every summer I seem to have a meal that I make on a regular basis, far more than anything else.  When I was 15, it was grilled chicken and rice.  Like every day of summer vacation.  Last year, it was hamburgers.  I seem to be coming into my groove when making burgers now.  It may sound weird, but ground beef brisket is the way to go, mixed in with a bit of ground pork if you’re of a mind, topped with a good flavorful cheese and onions that have been diced and cooked in butter with some dried herbs, and some guacamole.  But this year, this year my summer is apparently going to be embodied by simple evening meals of some good old grilled beef hot dogs and sausages.  Simple, quick, tasty, easy…perfect for hot weather, heavy on the sodium but light on my wallet.  But sometimes I feel the need to kick things up a notch and instead of slaving over an elaborate main dish, I instead serve the sausages simple and grilled (with some onions and peppers, of course) and pair them up with an awesome side dish instead.  Enter the corn. Continue reading

Move Over Wonka

Oompa Loompa doopity doo;
I’ve got a little lesson for you.
Oompa Loompa doopity dee;
Reading this post will make you hungry.

What do you get when you put in the mix
a bit of sugar and a whole lot of nibs?
Make your own chocolate in one little batch.
What do you think of that?

I really like the looks of it.

Oompa Loompa doopity da;
You can make your own chocolate bar.
You will live in happiness, too,
like the Oompa Loompa doopity do!
Continue reading

Green Eggs…and some ham

Sam-I-Am would approve

So you know that I’m not a huge fan of breakfast foods (my friends tease me because my favorite workweek breakfast is a bagel with chicken salad on top), but I do occasionally like eggs.  If I’m going all out, I like to scramble them slowly over low heat with cream, olive oil, herbs and parmesan for a very unhealthy delicious and creamy dish served over asparagus and next to bacon or ham.  And sometimes I like eggs in purgatory served next to black beans and tortillas.  But sometimes I just want simple, low-fuss eggs but with high-end taste.  And Sunday was one of those days.  So I threw together this little dish.

This is more of an idea than a recipe.  A no-recipe recipe, if you will.  Guidelines.  Suggestions.  You know. Continue reading

Pork, Poblano and Black Bean Stew: the Blustery Day Fix

Oh, Internet.  How I’ve missed you.

Let me tell you, I’ve had quite a week.  The first week of May is always a terrible one for me, at least for the last few years.  It is actually the busiest week of my entire year.  Those of you who know me in the “Real World” (I’m in Season 27, how about you?) know that by day, I masquerade as my alter-ego, the instructional technology consultant.  Or the academic technologist.  Or the learning consultant.  Or whatever version of that title I happen to respond to on any given day.  Anyway, I work for a university and during the first week of May, myself and dozens of others like me (we are legion), put on a campus-wide conference and offer workshops on various technological and pedagogical issues and solutions to faculty and staff.  It’s fun.  It’s enlightening.  And it is tiring as hell.

I have so much respect for classroom teachers, such as the delightful Patti from Palate of Patti.  It’s exhausting to be up in front of 30 people, trying to teach something most of them consider to be completely alien to them while simultaneously trying to engage both the quick learner and the slightly slower to catch up, whilst still minding your time limits.  And doing it for hours.  During a normal week, my voice is strained.

But this week was even better.  Because I got the flu the Saturday before.  So that’s great, y’know.  Losing my voice, being exhausted.  Having to do all the regular duties of my job on top of giving 4 workshops, assisting 2 others and helping to host several large social events and on top of that, the cherry to my sundae of doom, as it were, feeling like complete an utter crap despite sleeping ten to twelve hours a night because I could not stay awake.

Good times. Continue reading

We don’t need no stinkin’ restaurant…

this is what heaven looks like…for dessert.

I’m not feeling super impressed with restaurants lately, I have to admit.  Some restaurants never disappoint me, like Beezy’s in Ypsi or Mahek in Ann Arbor.  But then there are other restaurants, mostly chains, who shall remain nameless, where I leave disappointed and annoyed at having dropped $25 on a crappy dinner for two.  It’s especially terrible because I know I could cook way better than that.  But sometimes I’m tired or lazy or haven’t been shopping or want to hang out with friends.  So I go out.  Again and again.  And then I return home, financially and gastronomically poorer than when I left.  In fact, while sitting at one of these restaurants that shall rename nameless with Josh today, I ruminated on the lack of enjoyment I got from they referred to as a “pulled pork sandwich.”  I’ve had pulled pork.  I’ve made pulled pork.  And this, sir, was no pulled pork.  It was just a glob of overly and poorly cooked flesh draped in sauce.  Some poor pig actually died for that.  And that’s not right.

The fate of that poor pig dropped upon me another flash in what’s been a long-running yet still staggering revelation about about my personal relationship with food.  However, that is a story for another day, children.  Instead, we should focus on what I had for dessert.

Chocolate. Continue reading