We're a good team

As part of our resolution to stay in, DJ and I have been trying to make meals at home. Yesterday, we whipped this together using leftover marinara and wonton wrappers. DJ made the salad and dressing and I made the pasta and fried raviolis.

Penne with marinara and cheese topping made from cottage, parm, and a Italian cheese blend.

Fried "raviolis" made with the cheese topping blend and wonton wrappers

Sometimes eating in is better than eating out. I love it because we get to work together to make a great meal and then sit together to enjoy eating it.

Valentines

So DJ and I are not huge Valentines Day people, but we go out once a week so we thought why not Sunday. Also our favorite Mexican place, Que Chula Es Puebla, was having their one year anniversary with live mariachi and 10% off. After the pm we walked over. To our dismay, the place was packed and the "live mariachi" was actually a guy in a sombrero singing karaoke way too loud! Needless to say we were disappointed and hungry. So we walked back home to regroup. After realizing that several of our regular options were closed, we decided on Dos Segundos in No. Libs. I had the chicken chimichanga and DJ had the goat burrito. With the addition of an enormous amount of complimentary chips, we were stuffed. Sadly they didn't have flan, but otherwise this was a great v-day dinner together.

chili casserole

Hello!

Man have we been busy. DJ and I had our first Christmas together as husband and wife. We also have been keeping up on keeping things homemade and simple. One of our new years resolutions as a couple is to eat more at home. So far we have been doing really well, keeping our restaurant visits down to once a week. This also gives us more opportunity to come up with new recipes!

One our new favorites is Chili Casserole. We take DJ's chili/rice and beans and layer it with cheese in a casserole or lasagna pan. We spread Jiffy cornbread batter (with extra cheese and garlic) on top and bake it until the cornbread is golden brown. The result is a beautiful dish that we eat all week!

golden brown goodness

layer detail

Black Bean Burger

DJ and I love burgers. I think it may be the one thing that keeps him eating meat. Vices aside, I have been wanting to make a healthy alternative to our not-so-healthy favorite. I looked online for the how-to and compiled my own recipe according to what we already had. This is how it turned out.

1 can of black beans rinsed

1 slice of bread toasted

1/2 tomato diced

2 small carrots diced

1 egg

1/3 onion diced

cumin, pepper, garlic

oil for cooking

I first put the toasted bread in the food processor to make bread crumbs. Then I processed the veggies with a couple of pulses to get

them into small pieces. Next, I poured in the beans, egg, and spices. Again, I processed the mixture until it was together, but not a paste. You want to have some texture, so you could even mix in some whole beans after you have finished processing. I formed 6 small patties and fried them in our skillet. I would suggest refrigerating them before you cook them because mine kinda fell apart. However, they were so tasty. I ate mine with cheese and a spicy pepper mayo on a potato roll.

We kept the leftovers in the fridge and ate them all week. I am sure you could freeze them as an alternative to store-bought veggie burgers. These are cheaper and in most cases tastier.

here is the newest incarnation with bell peppers!

Happy eating.

A Happy Accident

A few years ago I worked at a coffee shop in Bloomsburg that shall remain nameless. It was a really strange business, the owner lived outside of Washington DC but ran a small time coffee/Birkenstock/Burt's bees shop in Central PA (basically this store should be in Vermont). One of the nice parts about the job was I got to bake a lot, one of the worst was getting paychecks and being told not to cash them or having the check dated for the next week, also running out of coffee for a day or two was not unheard of. I stopped working there for some of the obvious reasons listed, and an injury. However, I really enjoyed baking.

Since quitting that job I hadn't really baked anything in several years. I didn't really have a reason to, and I really just bake to play with the Kitchen Aide anyway. That mixer is fun, and we got one for our wedding. So I decided to make some Oatmeal Cookies with craisns, flax seeds, and chocolate chips the other day. The cookies are pretty great.

One problem, when making the dough I accidentally doubled the baking powder. I thought "Shit, there I've ruined a whole batch of delicious cookies!" Oh no, it just made them into bigger delicious cookies. The baking powder spread the cookie dough to make some huge cookies, about the size of the Alternative Baking Co. cookies. So if you want to making some huge oatmeal cookies put in some extra baking powder. I don't think it would work with a standard chocolate chip recipe, as it might get a little cakey. But, who knows? Give it a try, and see for yourself.

DJ

Leftovers Pizza

Lately, DJ and I have been very busy, (hence the scarcity of posts) but we still make time to have dinner together as much as possible. We usually make a couple of big dinners on the weekend and then reuse the leftovers during the week. One really good way is making pizza!

We buy the wholewheat large pitas for the crust. You could always make your own pizza crust, but we find that this saves time. This week we had a pizza with left over balsamic chicken breast, homegrown tomato, homemade pesto, garlic, and mozzarella. The toppings vary with the leftovers, but we always seem to have some kind of tomato or sauce and cheese on hand to make these.

One tip if you are going to use pita for the crust. You should drizzle the shell with olive oil and any desired spices and bake it a couple of minutes before adding the topping. This makes a crispier crust.

Every week I love being creative in using leftovers. It makes me feel good in making a tasty meal and not letting good food go to waste.

Happy cooking!

I'll be home for hummus

After weeks sampling the gamut of store bought hummus, DJ and I decided to make our own. Here is the recipe that we followed.

1 can of chick peas
4 tbs of tahini ( sesame paste)
2 limes (we used instead of lemons because that is what we had)
cloves of roasted garlic to taste
1 tbs of cumin (or less if you want)
3 tbs of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

in a food processor puree the drained chickpeas. Add some of the water from the can if needed. In a separate bowl mix the tahini, lime juice, and garlic. Add into the processor. While it is running, gradually add in the oil. Lastly, add the spices and any other flavors you'd like. I was roasting peppers from the Frankford garden, locally grown garlic, and pine nuts in some Italian seasoning to put over pasta. I made a little extra and put into the hummus.

This hummus is better than any we have bought. It also makes more than the larger containers that sell for $4+ at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. This hummus cost under $2. The initial investment for tahini is around $4, but it lasts.

BBQ Okra

Saturday morning I received a call from work saying don't come in today. While this inevitably will make my paycheck much smaller, it afforded me the possibility of making it to the Saturday Headhouse Farmer's Market. The Saturday market is much smaller than the Sunday market and includes a craft fair. The Sunday market is more crowded but there are many more growers and artisanal cheeses and breads. But it was Saturday, and rather than dealing with the crowds at Reading Terminal, I made my way down to 2nd and Lombard.

One thing about the Food Trust markets that I really like is that I can get farm fresh eggs, at about the same price as organic eggs at the grocery store. I like to know where my food comes from. A grower at the Sunday Market comes down to Philly from about 35 miles from my home town in Central Pa.

It was Saturday and pickin's weren't slim, but there wasn't a lot to choose from. I was sad that Tom Colton wasn't there. I guess he only comes to town for the Sunday market. Tom is a great guy, but he wasn't there. However, I was able to get some heirloom red okra from a grower from Blackbird Heritage Farm, and some cheese from an Amish farmer from Lancaster County.

Last night I was able to get to the okra. I will confess, I've never been a big fan of okra, but Jill is. I just never had it prepared right. The times I had, had the okra it was generally deep fried and at the Cracker Barrel with my family (note I do not like the Cracker Barrel or most chain restaurants). I thought I'd try something different.

One of my friends once said you really only need to learn to make two or three dishes, and riff off of those your whole life. I tend to follow this advice. Most things I make have either a BBQ/Chili base, a curry base, or some sort of Italian base. I decided to go with the BBQ for the Okra. It turned out pretty well. The BBQ sauce I make is a tomato based sauce, cooked down with salt, pepper, chili powder, some sort of hot sauce, and whatever varety of mustard we have in the house. I also throw a bit of sugar or maple syrup in. We ate this with some corn over brown rice with pita on the side to eat with.

First things first

This is a new blog. I set it up about a year ago and never posted anything because I was unsure of what topic I'd cover. Now I hope to write mostly about my experiences in the kitchen and around the house. As a newly married man my wife and I stay in and cook often. We come up with some interesting dishes. We also are trying to live a more DIY lifestyle. Expect posts covering a range of topics.

What inspired this? The tomato sandwich and potato salad I just enjoyed . . .

Several months ago I planted some heirloom tomatoes in our small backyard. I love these plants, and have watched them finally bear some fruit. The black kiern tomatoes have been providing about one or two ripe tomatoes a day for about a week or two. My wife and I anxiously waited for the arrival of these beautiful fruits. They are here.

Both the sandwich and potato salad utilized these homegrown beauties, as well as, some basil that we potted in our kitchen window. The potato salad was several days old. I didn't really like it at first taste. But this morning I threw some Parmesan cheese in and that seemed to be what was missing. If we had some dill that would have really made the salad.

The sandwich was pretty standard. A few nice hunks of tomato, basil, garlic, salt, pepper and some Laughing Cow cheese. I really like this cheese, and there is a great Halal shop in my neighborhood that sells it for under $3.00. This shop is a hidden gem. It is in the back of a beautiful Mosque. The mosaics and murals on this building really brighten up the post-industrial wasteland that is Olde Kensington.