Hear me out... it's time I said something!

Goodness Gracious! Where have I been?? Not here, that's for sure. And for that, well, I'm sorry!

I've been thinking lately about what I really want to do with my life. And it has finally been decided. I am going to pursue my goal of becoming a chef. That's right, I'm going to go to culinary school. But here is my fear. Where I come from (both my hometown and current place,) people that go to culinary school, or study culinary arts, well, they are slackers. In high school, the people that took culinary arts classes were the kids that took them to avoid having to take foreign languages or gym class. And in college, the people that dropped out of school to go to the local culinary school usually did so because they were failing miserably in their studies. I don't want people to think that about me. And that is why I do not want to start school around here. I want to go away, start somewhere fantastic! A great school with a great reputation, that churns out great chefs, not ones that go on to work at Olive Garden (no offense to the OG, I LOVE that place!! It's just not the same kind of cooking that I want to do...) I have a dream about opening my own authentic Italian restaurant. Not with extra cheese pizza and spaghetti loaded in sauce (They don't REALLY eat it that way over there!) I want to make authentic Pizza, baked in a real brick oven, with just the meager toppings that the Italian version is served with. I want to make Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, and Maccheroni con la ricotta (the dish that America would later ruin by turning it into Macaroni and Cheese.) I want to have a wine specialist, and an offering of authentic Italian Beers (all Bud Light drinkers will have to just find the nearest Macaroni Grill.)

And yet I feel like I am never going to get there by studying anywhere but the best. And if one more person recommends Sullivan to me, I might get sick (I live only a few short miles from there, and I have seen the kind of students that go there. I'm sure Applebee's is never at a loss for new cooks.)

It has occurred to me that I might sound smug right now. Maybe I do. But I just really know what I want to do with my life. I want to be the best. And when I hand over ownership of my incredible restaurant to my able son or daughter, I want to have my own Food Network show! Just kidding. Okay, maybe not... :-)

Buon Appetito!

Some posts are better left untitled...

Wow, it's been a few days! And still, I have not come up with any new culinary masterpieces. With work and everything, it has just been so hard to find the time. But alas, this is not a good excuse, and for that I apologize.
I'm headed out of town this weekend for a wedding. So I probably will not be coming up with anything at that time, either. So if anyone who reads this has any good ideas, please share them!

Also, I have recently started training for a race, so I have to be much healthier in my eating habits. So the butter-laden recipes will probably cease, for the time being. But I will post some healthy ones! That is better anyway, right?

The last time I made dinner, it was my first time working with new potatoes. That sounds simple, right? Those little suckers take forever to soften into a consistency that one might consider edible! But they were pretty incredible, once it was all said and done.

I will leave you with a simple recipe for tomato sauce. Just the good old fashioned, on-top-of-spaghetti kind. Only better. Why did i choose this recipe? I don't know. Because tomato sauce sounds really delicious to me right now, I suppose!

Tomato sauce

Serves 4

5 whole tomatoes, peeled (look at the bottom for a quick and easy way to peel tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 leaves fresh basil, chopped (or 2 Tbsp jarred basil)
6 leaves parsley, chopped (or 1 Tbsp jarred parsley)
1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place peeled tomatoes in a medium sauce pot, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add garlic. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Do not stir, or disturb in any way. Once 30 minutes has passed, use a pastry or potato masher to thoroughly mash tomatoes in pot. Add olive oil, water, and spices, and simmer on low for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mash tomatoes once again, to ensure consistency of sauce. The longer that the tomatoes simmer, the more tender and easy to mash the tomatoes will become, and the more uniform the sauce will be. If you do not like the chunks of tomato, you can then puree in a food processor until the desired consistency is reached. Store refrigerated in an air-tight container, and use within 4 days.

*to easily peel tomatoes, fill a large pot 2/3 full with water, and bring to a rolling boil. Add tomatoes, and allow to boil for 3 minutes. Drain off water, and immediately fill pot with cold tap water. The sudden temperature change will cause the tomato skin to shrink away from the fruit, and a gentle rub is all you will need to remove the skins.\

-Happy Cooking!-

It's been a Kraft kind of day...

I've been sooo lazy lately! Well, as far as food preparation is concerned. We've been living on boxed foods lately... Lots of mac and cheese! :-)

However, the other night I DID do some improvisation. Someone at church has been giving us fresh veggies from their garden. Well, my husband left them in his car on a hot day, and they sort of "pre-cooked" in the hot sun. Needless to say, the shelf life was drastically shortened. So we needed to use them fast. We had a squash and two green peppers. An odd combination, but with a little help from my own stash of veggies (in the refrigerator), I made a very non-Asian stir fry. And it turned out so well that I decided to share it with you, even though it is really more of a variation on another recipe than a totally new creation. So without further adieu, I give you Squash Stir-fry!

Squash Stir-fry (if you have a better name, feel free to rename it!)

1 large yellow squash
2 small or 1 large green bell peppers
1 small Vidalia onion
1 carrot
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 Tbsp olive oil (or whatever oil you like to cook with)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp coarse sea salt (I use Fleur de Sel, but it's pricey. Morton is just fine!)

Slice the squash in half lengthwise, then cut into thin slices so that you have thin, half-moon slices. Cut the peppers into thin strips. Thinly grate the carrot. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is heated, add onions, and saute until caramelized. Add chicken, and stir-fry until nearly done, then add vegetables in order of slicing: squash, pepper, carrot. Once squash slices have begun to soften, add the liquids, and mix evenly to coat all vegetables and chicken pieces. There should be a small amount of liquid pooling in the middle even after mixing. Use your spoon or spatula to form a well in the middle of the ingredients, allowing sauce to puddle in the middle. Add brown sugar, stir until thoroughly dissolved, then mix to coat all pieces again. Sprinkle salt over food, then continue stir-frying for 3-4 minutes. Serve over rice.

Serves 4

Well, I hope that if you try this recipe, you enjoy it as much as we did!

If there are any types of food that you'd like to see, comment! I'm always looking for new ideas!

Hmmm...

Well, by the time I got home the other night, it was too late to make pizza, so we went with the frozen-type pizza instead. But eventually I will post my recipes for all things pizza (crust, sauce, etc.)

As I was typing this, I realized that I just don't have anything good to talk about! I haven't really made anything in the past few days, at least nothing to talk about (unless you would like to know my variations on a box of Kraft mac & cheese.) So I am going to go home tonight and really create. I'm going to make something, and it's going to be good!

And when I do that, I will be back to share it with you!

Until we meet again!

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Holy Heck! I have a new project! Making my own vanilla extract! I go through so much of it that when I came across this little gem of an idea, I just HAD to get on board!!

Home-made Vanilla Extract -> joythebaker.com
(click the link, I already bookmarked the post about vanilla for you!)

If you ever find yourself wanting to check out a puts-my-blog-to-shame site, check out some of her other posts! She's incredible!

Now, on with the show

Someone at church recently gave my hubby some fresh yellow squash from their garden. It sat around in our refrigerator for quite some time, just trying to decide how it wanted to be cooked. Well, inspiration came to me one day in the form of home-made squash ravioli. It sounded delicious, and I had some pasta dough left over from my recent homemade spaghetti venture. So I tried. And failed. The two halves of the ravioli "shell" wouldn't stick together unless I used so little filling that it just made no sense to even make them. So I scrapped the ravioli idea, but I still had a pan full of this squash-carrot-garlic creation. I had failed, but refused to be defeated. I added a little melted butter, a splash of cream, and turned it into an INCREDIBLE pasta topping. ( I realize that this is my second recipe in a row to include pasta, but hey! I'm Italian, after all!)

No-Name Squash Pasta Sauce

1 medium to large yellow or Butternut squash, cleaned and sliced cross-wise)
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced paper-thin (this is best done with a razor blade, but BE CAREFUL!)
1 carrot
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 Tbsp cream or the milk of your choice (the less fat in the milk, the less creamy the sauce)
1/3 cup of grated cheese of your choice (optional)

Place the squash slices into a medium sauce-pan of water, bring to a rolling boil
Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat, turning to coat entire cooking surface. Add garlic slices, saute lightly until just beginning to turn light brown. Finely grate entire carrot into skillet, and continue cooking for approx. 2 minutes, until carrot begins to soften.
Once squash has been at a full rolling boil for 4 minutes, remove from heat, drain in a colander, and return to pan. Using a potato masher, mash squash just until it no longer looks like uniform slices. The idea is to leave the rings of squash rind mostly intact while mashing the middles together. Add brown sugar, salt, and pepper; use masher to blend until just combined. Add entire contents of skillet, plus cream (or milk) and cheese (if you're using any.) Use a wooden spoon to gently stir all ingredients together. Serve still warm over the pasta of your choice, or serve as is for an interesting side dish.
Serves 4

Note- You can make this recipe vegan (or just healthier!) by swapping olive oil for the butter, and using 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp cool water in place of the milk (or using plain soy milk.) Neither of these trades will affect the final look, flavor, or texture of the dish. Perhaps I should have just written the recipe that way...but I love butter!

*I wish that I had made extra of this, because my mouth is watering as I'm typing the recipe. :-)

Tonight we are having a friend over for some TV watchin', beer drinkin' fun. I am going to make a homemade pizza. I will let you know how it turns out!

-Happy Cooking!-

Last night, I got the itch. To create a new recipe and make it for dinner, of course! I needed something that was simple, inexpensive, and yet delicious. So I decided to keep it simple, angel-hair pasta and chicken, and save my creative juices to invent a spectacular pasta sauce. I wanted to stay true-to-form, and make it using things that I already had at home, but my cabinets were getting pretty bare. I figured if I already had to go to the grocery, I might as well make something that truly sounded good to me. So this is what I came up with. It's pretty easy, but unfortunately not too healthy :-)

Garlic Butter Sauce with fresh Basil and Cherry Tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove fresh garlic (you can use the pre-diced jarred stuff, but fresh works best)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp chunks
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp organic peanut butter
1 tbsp whole or 2% milk (or 1 tsp cornstarch in 2 tbsp cold water)
6 large basil leaves, torn in half
8 cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Grate garlic clove directly into hot oil, and saute until lightly browned (this should only take about 45 seconds, so watch closely.) Reduce heat to medium-low, and add butter, one chunk at a time, until melted. Add basil leaves, stir, and return to medium heat. When basil leaves begin to darken and curl, add oregano, peanut butter, and sea salt. Stir continuously, until salt has dissolved and sauce begins to take on a uniform consistency. Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, and add milk or cornstarch mixture. Sauce will begin to thicken slightly as it cools. Spoon over pasta.

Serves 2-3

I made this, plus a simple grilled chicken breast seasoned with lemon and parsley. It was a hit!


I have also been working for the past week on a loaf of sourdough bread. It takes that long because you have to make a "starter" which is water, flour, and yeast, and let it ferment so that you get the sour taste. I have to say, the bread turned out wonderful! I will post the recipe soon!

-Happy Cooking!-

Since my last post was about hummus (a Greek dip), it seemed fitting to me that this post be about hummus' favorite companion, pita (a Greek bread!) Those chewy, delicious pockets of bread are also useful for more than just dipping in pureed beans. They are delicious when made part of a sandwich, or just eaten by themselves while they are still warm. The recipe that I have isn't my own (It comes from the book Bread by Eric Treuille,) but it is simple, and the results were even better than I expected.

Pita Bread
Makes 8 servings

Oven temperature- 425 degrees

2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for coating a medium-sized bowl

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into 1/2 cup of the water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast and the olive oil.
Mix in the flour. Stir in the remaining water, as needed, to form a firm, soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth, supple, and elastic, about 15 minutes. Initially, the dough will be quite stiff. It will soften and stretch gradually as you continue kneading.
Put the dough in an oiled bowl, turning it to coat evenly with the oil, and cover with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into eight pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each ball to form an oval, 9 inches long and 1/4 inch thick.
Cover with a dish towel and let it rise slightly, this takes about 20 minutes.
Dust two baking sheets with flour and preheat in the oven for 5 minutes. Place the dough ovals on the hot baking sheets and return immediately to the oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes until puffy. Wrap in a clean, dry cloth to keep bread soft and to prevent drying out.

* I used the dough to make 4 large pitas instead of 8 smaller ones. This makes using them for sandwiches easier. I also made mine round instead of oval. These minor differences didn't alter the recipe, so you should feel free to use them.

Tonight for dinner I am going to be making asparagus. I do not like asparagus, so I am not sure how to cook the stuff in order to make it more palatable. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, or if I even decide to eat any of it!

-Happy Cooking!-