"Hostess-y Cupcakes!"

Seriously, shut the front door.  

I just purchased what has fast become my second favorite cookbook of all time and I've only made three of the recipes so far.  (My first favorite will always and forever be the Moosewood cookbook.  It is my vegetarian bible.  It is literally in shreds.  I really need a new one, but I digress.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612431216/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's called 'Classic Snacks Made from Scratch' and I'm kind of giddy about it.  Homemade oreos, Nutter Butters, Doritos, Goldfish Crackers, the list goes on.  Now I know that usually (in my experience anyway) that when someone says "the list goes on" usually it pretty much ends there.  Not in this case.  There are 70 recipes and they all use normal, wholesome ingredients.  

So far I've made the Oreos and Nutter Butters--Nailed it!  

Lol--the filling looked messy in the Oreos.  I decided to use a piping bag to put the creamy middles in the Nutter Butters and the end result did look neater, therefore it tasted better too.  I don't have a picture, you'll just have to trust me.  They were adorbs.

This third recipe attempt involved a trip to the Hobby Lobby to get brown/black cupcake liners.  Very, very important.  Although the cupcakes were a mulit-step endeavor, I really think the end result was worth it.  Only a small issue with the doodle icing on the tops becauseI added a dab more milk when I thought it was too thick.  I think that caused it to run instead of staying firm.  A very minor detail.  OMG these are incredible.  Mind you, I never buy this stuff premade.  I probably haven't bought a package of snack cake food since I was 18 or 19.  These taste like good times.  Wow.  

Seriously.  Amazing.  Ridiculous.

Too bad the recipe only makes a batch of 12.  I am torn between sharing them with my friends, hoarding them in the freezer for late night snacks, or the best solution--getting started on another batch right now.

"STARBERRY"-Rhubarb Soda

My strawberry bed is ridiculous this year!  For a couple of weeks already I have gotten a huge bowlful every day.  Mostly I've been using them in our daily smoothies, but today I picked a few really weird looking ones and thought I'd make something special.  Strawberry pop!

So many gorgeous berries!

Check out these weird mutants--I call them STARBERRIES.  lol.

I picked several stalks of rhubarb and cut them into chunks as you can see below.  They were pretty green I realized, but the ultimate sweetness of the syrup should make it work.  I threw in the STARBERRIES(!) along with about 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 cups of water and brought it to a boil.

Usually when I make a simple syrup I use 1 part sugar to 1 part water.  Sometimes it seems too sweet, so I am using less sugar to water today (of course I could just use less of the syrup, but whatever.)  

I'm not an expert, just an enthusiast.  

I simmered everything on low heat for about 1/2 hour or until all of the fruit had broken down.  Then strained it into a jar.  It turned out a really pretty color too!

I have a soda stream, so in that size bottle I used a shot glass (what is that, like 1 oz.?).  Hmm...I should know that since I used to be a bartender.  But you don't need a soda stream, you can use the syrup to flavor a bottle of plain club soda for the same effect or add it to individual glasses.  And obviously, use more or less syrup depending on your taste.  Happy Summer!

Backyard Fun!

Today I picked another buttload (that is the technical term I like to use) of strawberries, and, as I washed and hulled them, I set the oogie ones aside.  By "oogie"  I mean, they had bruises or had been nibbled on by some critter.  I'm not going to eat those.  

The chickens don't mind a bit.  So, I gave them a tasty treat of a few berries.  Score one for chickens.

Then I thought they might like to get out and enjoy the buggy, sunny day.  So I opened the gate to let them explore...

Here they come!

And there they go.

They immediately went to a dirt mound in the back of the yard...

I started taking a couple of pictures of my other baby rolling around in the grass...

...and the girls came running back to me (probably thinking that I had more good stuff to share)

Since I didn't, they went and hung out in the driveway to wait for my husband to get home.  Really.  They will probably also visit the neighbors for a little bit since that guy likes to throw bread in his yard.  For the birds, one might assume--no it's for his dog.  

OK then.  Of course it is.  

Garden Strawberry Smoothie

I got home from work today and was able to pick a whole bowlful of berries.

How exciting is that??

Into the vitamix with one banana and one orange.  

These are for tomorrow's lunch!  

pretty in pink!

Sardine Thursdays!

I actually eat sardines a lot...on Thursdays.  

That's something I never would have dreamed I would eat, because--ewww!--but they taste very good and are super nutritious and sustainable too!

Sometimes on triscuits, today on toast with Sriracha.  

You see, on Thursdays the husband has band practice and we just cross paths as I'm getting home and he is leaving so he has to fend for himself dinner-wise.  

Over time this has begun to mean that he eats a can of sardines and therefore so do I.

I don't bother cooking just for myself--because I do it for the glory first and foremost, so it's not as much fun if no one is there to eat food with me. 

Woo Hoo Sardines!  Yum!

Hey, Look at My Food.

Oh how I love to post about food!

Dinner!

Tonight I made hash browns with a lovely salmon (patty) sandwich with an egg, arugula, and provolone.  I have heard on various (usually competitive) cooking programs that you're not really supposed to serve fish with cheese, but I do what I want and what do I know?  

Here's how I like to make the hash browns (which is completely different from the way my husband makes them.)  I started tonight with slices of purple onion and mushrooms.  

When the onions were soft, I took out a few and put them on a sandwich I started for tomorrow's lunch.  Basically just some arugula, spinach, and provolone.  

for tomorrow's lunch

Then I added the hash browns on top of the remaining onions & mushrooms.  These are just boring old frozen bagged hash browns.  Although I sometimes go that whole absolutely homemade route, I usually do have these on hand most of the time.

The cool thing I like about using the sliced (rings) of the onions is for the flip.  They just look pretty.  The most difficult part of this for me is that I have to wait and let them cook and just not mess with them for at least 10 minutes!

Yum.  

Meanwhile, I started frying some again pre-made frozen salmon burgers.  Placed on the (homemade) whole wheat bread--that's my husband's baby--with cheese and arugula (why not put some on everything?).  After I looked at my creation, I wasn't visually satisfied, so I fried an egg and put it on top.  So Yummy!  A tomato slice would have been nice here.

While the burgers cooked, I made a smoothie for tomorrow's lunch.  I eat a lot.  Into the Vita-mix went a couple of handfuls of spinach, an apple, an orange, and a banana.  Here's the before and after:

Smoothie to be.

This goes in the lunch.

So, tomorrow I'll have the green smoothie, grilled cheese w/mushrooms, onions, arugula and spinach, a little bag o' salt & pepper kettle chips, and a container of plain greek yogurt topped with strawberries picked today from the garden.

I love making my own lunch.  It's delicious, nutritious, AND it's pretty.

What's For Dinner?

Don't hate me because I can cook.  

It's no big deal. 

Sometimes people ask me for a recipe or what something is called, but recipes and names of dishes don't really exist in our house.  I use things we have on hand, very rarely do I follow any instructions or do the same thing twice, and even MORE rarely do I have what I would call a "well-stocked" fridge to begin with.  

Tonight was basically a dinner made from leftovers.  I had a partial brick of extra firm tofu that I cubed and marinated in Tamari soy sauce (extra firm is the only style I prepare this way) and a container of sticky risotto that I made the other night.  

I also had 2 jalapenos that really needed to be eaten.  I'd rather throw something unusual into a dish than end up throwing it away because I couldn't think of a way to use it.  If something is colorful and nutritious, I don't see how you can go wrong!

Ok,  I started by coating balls of the risotto in some flour/cornmeal mixture.  I would have preferred to use bread crumbs, but for the reasons explained earlier, that's what I had.  I was hoping for a little bit of crunch there.  I browned those little buggers in some oil while I fried the tofu in a similar fashion.

Risotto Cakes

Fried Tofu

Ah, everything is brown.  Not good.  

I want to eat a rainbow.  

I did a little prep work.  A couple of slices of purple onion, those 2 jalapenos, garlic, the last 2 carrots in the fridge, 2 celery stalks, about 6 mushrooms and a handful of baby spinach.

Sauteing veggies

Add the mushrooms.

Add the tofu back in.

Spinach at the very end.

Served with a small bed of arugula under the risotto cakes.

I had enough left over for lunches tomorrow!  Yippee.  That was delicious.

I can't wait to eat it tomorrow!  

Awesome Pizza

The backstory:  We made a "normal" pizza over the weekend.  

By normal, I mean your basic mushroom and black olive 

except with a homemade crust 

made by my Master-of-the-Dough husband 

and homemade sauce blended into a velvety blanket 

thanks to the Vitamix.  

So, it was a pretty special  pie.

This particular dough recipe makes enough for 2 crusts, 

so we put the extra one in the fridge after par-baking it.

Tonight, I decided I better use it or freeze it, 

so here's what happened when I didn't plan for a pizza.  

I just used what I had on hand...

( Luckily I had a lot of awesome stuff! )

Step 1.  Sauce it up.

Look closely and you may be able to spot the layer of cream cheese below the sauce.  The sauce was left over from the other night...just carmelized onions and garlic, mushrooms, and italian herbs, salt, pepper, a little brown sugar and a can of tomatoes.  Blended in the amazing Vitamix after it simmered for awhile.  

I still have some left if you need any.  It's amazeballs. 

Step 2.  Top it.

I had about 5 mushrooms that were near their end.  

AND a 1/2 can of the olives we used on the weekend's pizza.  

A perfect amount.

Step 3.  Top it some more.

Step 4.  Keep toppin.

These red onion slices (and some other stuff that comes later) Billy will be less excited about, 

but whatever...It's pretty. 

Step 5.  Cheese it.

We're totally out of shredded pizza cheese, but 4 slices of lovely provolone?  

Awesome.  (Told you.)

Then, see below----->Oh yes I did--jalapeno slices.  

The thing about that is, I had this craving for nachos a week or so ago, and I bought this entire tray of jalapenos.  I am actually trying to use them up, but even after this pizza adventure I still have a couple left. 

Also, the ever presence lately of the jalapenos is the other part that Billy is less enthused about.  

Very hot.  Plus I left all of the seeds in.  

But, it's pretty.  Shouldn't that be nearly enough?  

Step 6.  Back to toppin.

Step 7.  More cheese.  And oil.  and sprinky stuff.

A little bit of shredded Parmesan?  

Don't mind if I do.  

Guess what else?  

Salt, 

pepper, 

italian herbs, 

and drizzle of garlic-infused olive oil.  

Holy crap.

Step 8.  Bake it (till it's done.)

I baked the whole mess until the top cheese was brown and bubbly.  

Step 9.  Eat it.

The finished product.  HOT!  Delicious.  Awesome.

just cleaning out the fridge...