Cheryl's Mac 'n' Cheese

Just gave it a test-drive today--delicious! The idea was to have a comfort food supper with the anatomy group while one member practiced her presentation for tomorrow. Unfortunately, comfort food supper generally leads to comfort food coma which leads to TV watching and lethargy. Ah well. This time, I used whole wheat pasta and topped it with fresh parsley. I think next time I make it I will use a variety of cheeses (maybe blue or gouda) or add in some nice fresh herbs:

Put a large pot of water (about 3 quarts) on the stove and bring to a boil
Add 1 lb. of elbow macaroni
While the macaroni is cooking ( about 5 min) beat 3 eggs and add to that about 4 cups of milk.
Add a teaspoon of yellow mustard, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, and 1 tsp Worcestershire (or red wine vinegar) to the egg / milk mixture
Take the macaroni off the stove and pour into a colander to drain
Using a large greased casserole (at least 2 qts.) alternate layers of macaroni and cheese (use 2 lbs grated cheddar total), ending with cheese on the top. don't make the layers too thick.
pour the egg mixture over the macaroni and cheese.
Bake the macaroni in a 350 degree oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out without any egg / milk mixture clinging to it. It usually takes about an hour. watch it to make sure the top doesn't get too brown

Tempting Tempeh

A while back I mentioned making tempeh and Suzanne asked for the recipe. Well I used a 101 cookbooks recipe, pretty much exactly. Here's the link:

Amazingly yummy tempeh from 101 cookbooks

I let the tempeh marinate for 2+ days, and flipped the pieces once, so they were totally saturated in the marinade. I also cooked the tempeh in a pan on medium high heat. I called it done once the marinade started to caramelize a little on the surface of the tempeh. It was sweet, it was salty, it was spicy, it was as close to heaven as you are going to get with fermented soy beans.

Inheriting health and cooking

There's an article in the New York times health section today about teaching very young children how to cook, healthily. The most robust short term result is that kids are less picky and more adventurous in their eating.

The article

It's sort of surprising result to me. I thought an attribute like being picky might stem from an innate hypersensitivity to the way certain things taste. I'm sure this could still be at work to some extent, but it seems like there is a lot of nuture involved as well.

This article also made me wonder is learned healthy eating behaviors are inherited matrilineally. Women tend to do most of the cooking, and women tend to cook like their mothers (well, at least when their mothers cook well and they see no need to change). So I wonder if the over nutritional profile of a family is more like the mother's family than the father's family. If my hypothesis holds up, then if Oliver and I were ever to have kids they'd be set - Oliver seems genetically incapable of gaining any weight and I'm culturally incapable of cooking with unsaturated fats or simple carbohydrates.                                                                   

 

Quelle Surprise!!

So you might remember we couldn't get the blog name "Cheztoby.blogspot.com" because it was already taken. Well, I finally got around to checking out the original chez Toby, and believe it or not, it is run by an adorable little French dog! Le petit Toby devotes his blog to documenting other cute animals doing cute stuff.

Check it out:

http://cheztoby.blogspot.com

Carry on, you cute French version of Toby.

I don't eat wheat, but if I did...

I would totally make this! My co-worker Stevo is always bringing in the yummiest looking (and smelling) homemade pizza. It turns out his wife Liz has a fool proof pizza dough recipe. You use beer instead of plain yeast! Since the yeast have already done their fermenting business, you don't need to let the dough rise, thus decreasing the time you have to wait for pizza. A fabulous standby recipe, indeed. 

Instant homemade pizza courtesy of Liz of No Refunds

Pecan tapenade

From the cookbook Jody gave me - - which gave about 5 hit recipes for Thanksgiving dinner:

Pecan tapenade (the cookbook used walnuts. I didn't have any.)

Roast 2 ¼ cups pecans - - at 300 for 10 minutes, probably, then ten minutes more. Let them cool.

Blend 1 c. olive oil, 1/3 c (5 big) garlic cloves, peeled, 1 Tablespoon mustard (I use the rough-style with some unground mustard seeds in it), ¾ teaspoon black pepper and 1 ½ teaspoons salt in the blender or food processor.

Add the pecans and 2 teaspoons fresh, or ¼ teaspoon dried, rosemary. Process briefly or pulse, leaving the mixture a little chunky, not pasty.

This was great on bruscetta made from baguette (brush with olive oil and pressed garlic and bake maybe 10 min at 300) or from whole wheat/kalamata olive/onion bread (same prep).

Whining

I just dropped a pie. I ate some of what fell on the floor and it was delicious. You take 6 honeycrisp or fuji apples, slice them very fine, and cook them delicately in lots of almond oil, until they have that crisp texture promising a bit of crunch yielding to sweetness. Then mix and add 3 T sugar, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 1/2 T flour, 1 T port, 1/2 t vanilla extractg, 1/2 t Fimo balsamic vinegar, 1/4 t black pepper, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 t freshly ground cinnamon, and pinches each of freshly ground nutmeg and cloves. Cook it in a pie shell, first at 450 for 10 minutes, then at 350 for 30. Meanwhile make the blackberry glaze: gently cook 1 c. blackberries with 1 1/2 T sugar, and then press through a sieve. Then drop pie on floor.

What have I been up to lately?

Or more importantly, what have I been cooking (and why haven't I been writing about it)?

Well, there is no exciting answer to these questions. I have been cooking many things, but I've pretty much gotten them all directly off 101 cookbooks, so it doesn't seem worth replicating them here on this blog. And I've been a bit busier than usual with school. 

The one interesting bit of news for my cooking is that I have decided to only cook one meat centered meal a week. It has worked out well this month. We've been eating a lot of beans and tofu and grains and soups, and last night I made tempeh for the first time! I thought it was delicious. I made it with a spicy, salty, sweet glaze. Even Oliver, a self-professed tempeh hater, said he liked it. 

Thanksgiving is looming large, and I think I will be making a persimmon pudding, apple crisp, and cornbread to take to the Zill family dinner. I bought ripe persimmons today, and I might make the pudding ahead of time (tomorrow). Happily, our persimmon pudding recipe has been immortalized on cafe Libby! We're famous!

http://cafelibby.blogspot.com

As you can see, Libby wrote a totally quality post about how to make the pudding. I was really surprised mine turned out so well last year, and hopefully it will again. At the farmers market, when I went to see the persimmon farmer, I told him I was making a pudding and he new was like "you need two cups of pulp, huh?". So I guess a lot of people had been visiting him with the same thing in mind! 

Can't wait to hear about Thanksgiving back there in Virginia!

Delicious Apple Pie

Today I went to a Thanksgiving potluck in Reed Hall. I was very impressed--everybody brought something, and the person who organized it brought about 5 things. We had a wide array of traditional Thanksgiving foods, plus a few delicious others. In a very Westbrook-like turn of events, nobody thought to bring cranberry sauce. I brought the apple pie. I tried a variation on a Paula Deen recipe that I got when I gave blood last week and it turned out wonderfully:

Preheat oven to 350.
Fill pre-made pie crust with:
-5 peeled, chopt apples
-1 16 oz jar applesauce (Gravenstein, preferably)
-1T flour
-1t cinnamon
-1/2t cloves
-dash salt
-juice of 1/2 lemon
Dot top with 2T butter, chopt.
For the top, I made a half recipe of this pie crust:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001127perfect_pie_crust.php
using 1/2 white whole wheat flour.
Sprinkle top liberally with brown and white sugar and bake for 45 minutes.
I served it with Hagen Daz Dolce de Leche ice cream (good choice).

Enjoy!

Pomegranate glaze

This recipe is from the cookbook Jody gave me. Start with 1/2 cup red wine, a bay leaf, 1 chopt spring onion and 6 peppercorns and simmer that. It should reduce by 1/2. Meanwhile (and it takes a long while), take about 1/2 of the seeds from a pomegranate, mix them with 1/4 c water in a mug, and smush them. When the wine has reduced, force the smushings through a sieve. (Today I bought some Pom pomegranate juice to finesse this step in the future.) Add 1 Tablespoon roasted almond oil (the recipe calls for melted butter), 1 t. maple syrup and 1/8 t. salt. Mix 1 t. arrowroot into 1/4 c. cold water. Add that to the mixture and stir for a few minutes until the mixture clears. Hope that the mixture thickens. It might not, because mine didn't. But next time I'll try cornstarch, or more arrowroot. It really tasted nice on salmon.

eat your spinach!!

When I'm feeling low on energy, spinach always perks me up. Maybe it's the iron, maybe it's some placebo-trickery. This recipe includes raisins, which give it even more iron content and some delicious sweet flavor:

Heat 1T olive oil on medium heat
Sautee one small onion, chopt
Add handful raisins after the onions cook a few minutes
cook a few more minutes
add baby spinach leaves
wilt
season with nutmeg, cinnamon

Inspired by tapas.

A somewhat more high-maintenance squash soup

Not roasted, regrettably, since that seems to be this week's theme. Maybe simmering it, with skin on, in the vegetable stock gives it a little edge. The apples really make it shine. I used to make it with cream, which sedates it in a nice way. Voila:
In pot combine 4 c. stock, 1 c. chopt onion, 2 slices bread (I even served you this soup made with whole wheat bread), 2 tart apples (peeled, cored & chopt), the squash, seeded but not skinned, 1/4 t. each marjoram, rosemary and pepper (maybe this is where you can juice it up with some cayenne). Bring to boil; let simmer 45 minutes. Remove, cool and skin the squash, returning it to th soup.
Puree the whole thing. In a small bowl beat 1/4 c. skim milk & 1/4 c eggbeaters (or, for those who don't mess around, 1/4 c. cream and 2 egg yolks). Stir in some soup to this mixture, then pour the contents into the pot. Don't let the contents boil.

Squash Soup that tastes like Pumpkin Pie but you don't have to feel bad about eating it for dinner

This soup is spicy and delicious. Adapted from a WashPo article and a Vegetarian Times recipe.

Cut 2 large or 3 small (4 lbs) butternut squashes in half lengthwise.
Scoop out seeds
Place cut-side-down on cookie sheet (preferably one with sides) and roast at 400 for 1h10 or until the squash is soft and browned on the outside.
Scoop squash out of its skin.
Place into large saucepan.
Squash the squash (heh) with a potato masher or whisk (or squash squasher).
Add 4c. veggie stock, 2 c. water.
Add 4T brown sugar (I suppose this is the pumpkin pie part).
Season with 1/4t. cayenne pepper, 1/2t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1t salt, ground pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil on medium heat.
Leave in fridge for ~8h before you eat it.

I had it with a hummus and cilantro sandwich for lunch today and it was delicious!! Mom I'd love to compare with your old recipe...

Boasting of Roasting

Excuse the title, but it aptly describes the post I intend to write. The highlights of the past few weeks of my cooking involve roasting. Last week I roasted a chicken, a la Robin, and it turned out perfectly, but we all know how to do that. I then made soup from said roasted chicken which I am still eating ... it just won't go away. 

The slightly more exotic roasting escapade took place two weeks ago. I roasted butternut squash. It was worth it just for the smell that came out of my oven. Let me give you some details. 

I was planning on cutting up my squash into cubes, but I couldn't seem to do this effectively. Maybe my knife sucks or I was being dense, but pieces of squash kept flying this way and that and I was sure I was about to cut off a finger. I found it much more manageable to cut it into thin half moons, so they looked sort of like potato chips. 

After the squash was cut up, I tossed it in a generous amount of hazelnut oil. I also coarsely chopped some fresh sage and tossed that in there as well. I spread the squash into a baking dish and put it in a 400 degree oven. I roasted it for about 25 mins, turning the slices occasionally, until they were brown and caramelized on the outside. 

It was really, really, good.

Speaking of roasting, though of another sort, Oliver and I watched the Alfred Smith memorial dinner roast on the internet the other night. It's some benefit were the presidential candidates roast one another. You should look it up if you get a chance. Now after the third debate, I no longer like John McCain at all. But the man is funny. I hate to say it, but he's funnier than Obama. If anything, this admission proves I remain somewhat objective about the election.

News of a Chocolate Torte

Jody mentioned that she'd made a chocolate torte for a dinner party . . . .

Cinnamon Rolls! Courtesy of Mackenzie

These are posted (by Mackenzie) on my other blog (gasp! I have another blog!), but I made them tonight and loved the so much I thought I'd share:

2 pkgs. yeast (2 T)
2 cups warm water
2 tsps. salt
1/4 cup sugar
4 T oil (1/4 cup)
5 cups flour
Butter (about 1/2 cup)
Sugar (about 3/4 cup)
Cinnamon
Molasses (about 1/4 cup)
Pyrex baking pan

1. Dissolve yeast into warm water

2. Add everything else, mix, and knead. Adjust flour as necessary to make a medium (not hard or soft) dough.

3. Roll out dough and brush with melted butter.

4. Mix cinnamon and sugar as desired, sprinkle over buttered dough.

5. Starting with one side of the long edge, roll the dough up into a roll. Cut into smaller rolls with a knife (make them maybe an inch and a half wide, but its mostly preference)

6. Drizzle the bottom of the baking pan with melted butter and molasses. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.

7. Arrange cinnamon rolls on the pan and bake ~30 min at 350 until rolls have risen and are a light golden brown color.

California attitude

So yes, as Mom insinuated a while back, I am now an avocado snob. The fact of the matter is, I never really liked avocados before I came out hear. I just didn't get it. And when I did get out here, I made fun of Californians and their avocados. Seriously, they eat them like they were they are their own food group. But ... then I had some good avocados. And let me tell you they are something else. A really good avocado is like a creamy bit of heaven, fabulous in taste, texture and appearance. But that said, a blah avocado really doesn't it do it for me. Its just kind of slimy and bland. But a perfectly ripe haas avocado is like a king among common fruits. I could go on.

I happily encountered such an avocado at a produce stand on my way back from Tahoe this weekend. I must admit, I am still not an expert at picking ripe avocados, so maybe I lucked out or maybe the whole barrel was full of them, I don't know. Anyways, I took it back to Berkeley with the intention of making my standard avocado salsa chicken recipe. A twist of fate (namely me spacing and forgetting to buy chicken at the store) let to this vegetarian concoction. The combination of tofu and avocado is really, really good and I highly recommend it:

Warm pan fried tofu with avocado tomato salsa

For the salsa: Cut a perfect california avocado into medium size cubes. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over it. Add a coarsely diced tomato, three diced green onions, and a handful of chopped basil. Crack a little pepper in, mix gently, and set aside.

Cut a block of firm tofu (I like nesoya) into 1" cubes. Thoroughly dust with a mixture of cumin, salt and pepper. Pan fry in olive oil, turning the cubes periodically until the cubes are a pleasant golden color on the outside and the tofu is cooked through. 

Allow the tofu cubes to cool just a bit, and then serve with the salsa spooned over top. 

We had this dish with quinoa on the side. It was a fabulous hippy californian dinner!

Blessings from California and Memories of Childhood

I had promised Suzanne a quick chocolate fix, thinking back to how I used to make chocolate topping for ice cream. So I proceeded to grind (in the FP) ~1 oz Sharffenberger 99% cacao, first split somewhat with a knife. Then when it was getting somewhat ground, I added about 2 1/2 T. sugar. Meanwhile I microwaved about 1/4 cup milk to get it very hot. I poured the milk into the FP while it was running. Then - ! - I remembered that we still had a bit of the Peet's Panama Esmeralda that we'd made that morning, that Jody had given us for our birthdays. So I added 1 or 2 tsp. of that. I kept mixing it, then, in hopes of making it a bit more solid, whizzed it with Mr. Whizzy over some ice, then put it in the freezer while I made yet more coffee.
Making a chocolate fix reminded me of growing up with Jody Wright as sometime kitchen impresario. I remember 3 things she offered me during babysitting jaunts. (1) dog biscuits, (2) potato chips that had been left in the oven, in the bag, which had melted when someone had pre-heated the oven without checking its contents (they were marvelous), and (3) a chocolate icing made from confectioner's sugar, softened butter, cocoa and a bit of milk. We'd make bowls of it and eat the entirety.

curry for when you don't feel like going to the store for the special ingredients

The plan for tonight was to cook a simple, one-serving meal and get to work pretty quickly. After conversing about Spanish food and the various and colorful ways that it can make you feel ill during my medical Spanish class and then going to the gym, however, my stomach demanded more satisfaction than a simple veggie burger could provide. I also had a enormous head of cauliflower, a funky green pepper, and some cilantro that I felt I should at least make a dent in before I go home for the weekend. So, I adapted the following recipe from the Vegetarian Times cookbook:

Saute one onion, chopt, on medium-high heat.
Add one green pepper, chopt, when the onions start to clear.
When both are getting soft, add 1/2 cauliflower (in florets), 1 cup veggie stock, 1t curry powder, 1t cumin, and 1/2t cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to medium.
Once cauliflower is soft, add 1 can chick peas. Allow to simmer a few more minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup yogurt.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

PS--the original recipe calls for turmeric, which I did not have, but I expect would taste delicious. It also calls for chopped green chilis, which I replaced with cayenne pepper due to the green chili famine currently plaguing my house.

Jody, mom mentioned a while back that you had a delicious yellow split pea soup recipe. Would you be able to post it?

'naner bread

Adapted from Simply Recipes (http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001465banana_bread.php)

This bread is magnificent with butter, but I suppose one could substitute fancy nut oils if absolutely necessary.

Ingredients

* 3 ripe bananas, smashed (I like to freeze them and then warm them up in warm water--this makes them get all melty-like)
* 1/3 c melted butter
* 1/2 c sugar
* 1 egg, beaten (fork is fine--no need for a mixer)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1.5 t baking powder
* 1/4 t salt
* 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
* 1 t cinnamon
* 1/4 t cloves

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon or spatula, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Pour mixture into a buttered (MORE BUTTER) 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 45 min until a chopstick inserted into the middle comes out clean.* Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

*A toothpick will do if you have no Asian flair

Mexi Mahi

Inspired by my Spanish class this evening, I came home to cook a Mexican-inspired Mahi Mahi with black bean and corn salsa. I've never cooked fish without a broiler before, so this was big for me. My serendipitous leftovers--half a tomato, almost wilted cilantro, cooked black beans, accidentally frozen ear of corn--led to this enticing combination!

If anybody else has low-tech (read: no broiling pan or grill) fish recipes, send them my way! I am emboldened by tonight's attempt.

Salsa:
heat 1 capfull evoo over medium-high heat
add 1/2 onion (chopped) and one ear corn (cut off cob) and saute until the onions don't taste nasty
add 1/2 cup black beans, 1T lime juice, 1t chili powder
cook until beans are warm
remove from stove, add 1/2 tomato (chopped), a handful of chopped cilantro, and ground pepper/salt to taste

Fish:
Rub fish with 1 capfull evoo
heat 1 capfull evoo over medium-high heat (use same pan as you did for the above)
place fish in pan and wait until it smokes a little bit
flip fish and wait until it flakes a little bit

Top fish with salsa and enjoy!

Nectarines for Mahi, this time warm

Peel and thinly slice 2 nectarines. (I have a slicing disc for my FP - so there!)
add to 1/2 cup orange juice in saucepan, on medium low heat
Add the zest of one smallish orange
Add 1 t. ground cinnamon and 1 t. balsamic vinegar
Cook for 20 min or so.
Brown the peppered mahi in oil, then add this sauce, cover, and poach on low to finish.

I ended up cleaning out the pan with a spoonful of left over rice so as not to loses a speck of the sauce.

vegetarian chinese-style stir fry

I finally cooked again! With free food at meetings plus visiting home every weekend, I haven't been experimenting much in the kitchen. I was inspired to cook this because I realize that, despite being a vegetarian for three years, I'm woefully ignorant when it comes to cooking tofu.

Before I go into the recipe, I'd like to offer my ringing endorsement to Jo's sweet potato and bean recipe. Mom made it this weekend and it was fabulous.

This recipe was adapted from about.com. I felt peer-pressured into cooking Asian food in my apartment, so I decided I'd try my hand at it. Use whatever veggies you have on hand. I used mostly fresh veggies, but I imagine you could just throw in a bag of mixed frozen veggies and the whole thing would be a lot quicker.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
juice from 1 lemon
1T fresh ginger, grated or minced
1 block extra firm tofu
2T olive oil
1/2 cauliflower, chopped
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large handful frozen pepper slices
1 cup snow peas
flavor with mysterious Asian hot sauce (Alyssa, my Chinese-Canadian-American roommate, kindly let me use some of her mother's homemade Szechuan hot sauce. It's flavorful and makes my lips tingle. I love me some hot sauce.)

Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes and marinate in soy sauce, lemon juice, and ginger (~1h).

In a large skillet over high heat, cook oil, sturdier veggies and tofu over high heat, stirring frequently. Once veggies are cooked but not limp, add weaker veggies (snow peas) and marinade. Cook for a few more minutes.

Serve on rice. Get just about all of your daily veggie requirements. Pat yourself on the back for being healthy.

Two Vegetarian Dishes!

I have been eating so much delicious food and not posting! Sorry! But these two recipes MUST be passed along to Suzanne, and I think Robin would like both of them as well.

Lemony Chickpea Stir Fry

This recipe appeared on my favorite food blog, 101 cookbooks. I pretty much followed it exactly, for once I had all the ingredients! The only thing I changed was that I added a bit of ground cumin to the chickpeas while they were cooking. I think it was a nice touch. Also, I pretty much doubled the recipe. We (Oliver and I) almost finished it, I just had enough for lunch the day. To my chagrin, the original recipe claims to feed 2 - 4. Perhaps Oliver counts as 4 and I count as 2. 

Since I didn't change much here's the link:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lemony-chickpea-stirfry-recipe.html

Black Bean Sweet Potato Hash

This recipe is also based on some random thing I found on the internet, but I went looking for it because I was having a black bean sweet potato craving. Libby once made me a burrito containing said ingredients and it was AMAZING. It really is a nice and very healthy combination. This dish really hit the spot, and was pretty easy to make

Saute 1 onion in olive oil until soft over medium high head in a really big sauce pan. Add three cloves of garlic and cook for about a minute. Add 2 big or 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and 3/4 inch dice. Add 4 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt, and good shaking of chili pepper flakes (you could of course use a real chili if you had one). Cook, stirring frequently, 3 - 4 minutes. Add about 1.5 C stock or water, enough to almost cover the sweet potatoes. Raise the heat until the liquid boils, and cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and the liquid is greatly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add a 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed. You could of course use prepared dried beans, in which case add however much you like. Cook until the beans are heated.

I had mine with a a bit of yogurt. It would probably be even more delicious with sour cream, and perhaps cilantro and lime as garnishes, but I didn't have any of those lying around. This dish also makes great leftovers.

Toby: "Holistic my a-hole"

That Holistic Dog Food from Hol Foods was unquestionably the cause of Toby's sketchy eating habits for the last 2 months. When it was obvious at the outset that he wouldn't eat it straight, I bought him some Iams and mixed it with the Holistic at maybe a 4:1 ratio. He ate it, but only disdainfully, and never immediately or with gusto. But I finally threw it all out and just gave him straight Iams. He was a little slow to eat the first unadulterated meal, but the next morning dug into his breakfast like he hadn't in months. He enjoys having Coleen and Tim here. He seems pretty happy.

Almond Oil's Take on Suzanne's Banana Take On

Muffins!
Preheat oven to 350 & prepare tin for 12

Mix the dry ingredients:
1 c. cake flour
1/2 c. King Arthur old fashioned whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

In a 2 cup measuring pitcher, add and then whiz
1/4 c. eggbeater (or 1 egg)
3/8 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. almond oil

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix briefly. Separately, mash half a banana, then add it. Add 1/2 c. granola. Pour into muffin tins and bake 20 minutes.

Free Pizza

is the best way to stay fed at school. It appears everywhere. In fact, a pizza tree grows outside my building.

So, I haven't been cooking much. Apologies for the lack of posts.

Salmon Provencale

So last night I made the most expensive in house dinner EVER, but it was totally worth it. Its based on a recipe from Simply Recipes, a very reliable food blog. The recipe was for salmon with a cold tomato salsa. The biggest change I made was that I cooked the sauce. It would probably be good the other way too, but I really liked how my version turned out.

 I bought a nice tail piece of Coho salmon, rubbed it with olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt and roasted it at 400 for about 12 minutes. I didn't overcook it! This is mainly because Oliver took it out of the oven and forbid me from returning it. Talk about easy.

The sauce was really easy, too. I cut up three shallots and sauteed them in olive oil until they were soft. I then added three minced cloves of garlic and cooked for another minute. FYI, I have decided that cutting up garlic with a knife is far superior to using the press. I then added three diced large tomatoes. Here's what took it over the top: they were heirloom tomatoes! I'm on such an heirloom tomato kick. They're not outrageously expensive this time of year and they are so good. Then I added 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. I've heard of white balsamic vinegar, which might be good in this context, since the the regular stuff diminishes the gorgeous color of the tomatoes. I also put in a little sea salt. I let that cook down for a while, maybe 15 minutes. When I was just about to take it off the heat I added 1 Tbsp each basil and tarragon and let it cook for about a minute. The recipe also called for chives, but I didn't have those. I loved the way it turned out. It went perfectly with the salmon.

I was partially inspired to make such a nice dinner because my friend Emily came over. Emily is not a particularly adventurous cook herself, but she is a very appreciative eater.  Once, when we were young first year grad students cooking for ourselves for the first time, I made her vegetarian chili out of a box. She still asks me to make this for her. I said I would this time, but then surprised her with this salmon dish. I don't think she minded too much.

My take on Highland Lodge Blueberry Muffins

from Williams and Sonoma Muffins and Quick Breads

I'm not sure Jo has the highland lodge muffin recipe (I know mom does), but I wanted to share with you my take on the recipe. I made it today and smoked several curious roommates out of their rooms with the delicious odor. These are a favorite of Michael's. I changed the spices, leavening, and amount of fruit from the original recipe.

2 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
2 T baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1 c milk
½ c unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 pint blueberries
1 very ripe banana

fresh blueberries are best. If you use frozen, stir into batter without thawing. Baking time will increase.

Preheat oven to 400F. Butter muffin tins.

In a medium bowl stir and toss together the dry ingredients and sugar. Set aside.
In another medium bowl whisk milk, butter & eggs together until smooth.
Add dry ingredients to wet and stir just until blended.
Add blueberries; stir until just incorporated.

Spoon into prepared tins; fill each cup ~ ¾ full.
Bake until toothpick inserted to center comes out clean: 15-20 min.
Cool in tins 5 min; remove.

Makes ~16 std muffins.

We haven't had to cook much so far in Baltimore, as there have been so many school events that include dinner. I suppose that's the surest way to convince a graduate student to come to something. Anyhow, Michael made a marvelous lasagna for me earlier in the week that we enjoyed as leftovers for several additional meals. I'll try to get him to do a guest post, or maybe just try to reproduce it later in the week and let you know how it's made.

Late night beans

So last Saturday night I came home quite late and was greeted by an already passed out (as in asleep) boyfriend. I had been anti-socially working late and he had been at a yeast centric cookout, by which I mean it was attended mainly by yeast geneticists. Anyways, I was quite hungry and we didn't have much food, but I russled up cans of beans and diced tomatoes. I sauteed some onions and garlic and dumped in the beans. I was going to add the diced tomatoes and some chopped cilantro and call it dinner. However, to my chagrin, the can labeled diced tomatoes actually contained tomato sauce! A curse upon your house, Muir Glenn Organics. Well, what was I to do? It was late and I really had nothing else going for me, so I dumped in the unwelcomed tomato sauce, let it simmer, and tried a little. It was really not what I was going for. But then I remembered ... I had chicken stock!

Having an open carton of Pacific valley organic chicken stock is a really wonderful piece of refrigerator insurance. Whenever things are going wrong, or just don't seem quite right, adding that stock usually helps. I'm reading this wonderful book right now called "A Taste of Country Cooking" by Edna Lewis. It's really a gem of a book. Edna Lewis grew up in a small farming community in Orange county, Virginia, in the early part of this century. She writes with  beautiful nostalgia about how her community's way of life was centered around the earth and the kitchen. One of her many wise recollections is that when there was a Virginia ham in the smokehouse, one could face any culinary challenge with confidence. I don't have a smokehouse, and if I did I doubt I could find a Virginia ham here in Berkeley, but I guess I sort of feel that way about my carton of stock. It makes so much possible. So I added a good amount of stock to my bean concoction and let it simmer a while. Then I stirred in the cilantro, put it in a bowl, and had it topped with feta cheese. It was very satisfying, if not what I had envisioned when I set out. After doing a few dishes I crawled into bed with a full stomach, and Oliver mumbled something about "have you been cooking?" I guess it smelled good, too.

A Crisp in search of 59 Candles

Reeves's Birthday dessert! 4 small pears from our tree, peeled and thinly sliced, spread on the bottom of the pan, topped with a pint of blackberries from Potomac Vegetable Farms along with some lemon juice, then topped with a crumble made of 1 c. oats, 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 3/4 c. brown sugar, 3/4 c. almonds, and 1 t. salt, mixed with enough roasted almond oil (probably 1/4 cup or more) to make a crumble. I cooked it at 400 for about 30 minutes, until it started to brown. Surprising how sweet it was! We served it with the bottle of Mas de Gourgoinier from Les Baux that Michael had given us for our b'days.

Nectarine Salsa (Mango Indigation gets over it)

Again for fish - - this time, mahi mahi, poached in cheap white wine:

Chop
2 nectarines
1 fairly thin slice of vidalia onion
1" off of a jalapeno

Squirt on juice of 1/2 lime

Instantly takes the sweetness off of the nectarines, leaving a very piquant and interesting salsa.

Nectarine Nugget

Suzanne and Michael were here the week of August 11. It being Restaurant Week, we didn't cook that much, but Michael proposed and executed one delicacy: at Suzanne's suggestion, he sprinkled ground cloves and cinnamon on the tops of nectarine halves. Then he broiled them, sliced side up toward the broiler, placing a preheated cooling rack on their tops (we had to adapt what was probably a superior method he saw on tv involving a grill). He removed them from the oven after a few minutes of broiling and filled the pit pits with a mixture of Skyris Icelandic yogurt (which I think Jody had once recommended) and honey, and topped the mound with roasted slivered almonds. Divine!

Its been a while ...

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while! But neither have you two :(. Its not due to lack of cooking. I have a back log of recipes I'd like to share with you as I have been on a bit of cooking binge lately. I just haven't had time to post them. Some recent highlights are : lemon ginger chicken (Robin you would love this - it involves ginger and seasame seeds), creamy mustard mushroom chicken (made with fat free sour cream, Dad could eat it!), turkey chili, teryaki eggplant tofu stir fry (there you go Suzanne), and poached salmon with cucumber and dill sauce (decidedly not as good as broiling). 

I also made a soy ice cream cake for a friend's thirtieth birthday party last night, and I got a t-shirt out of it! He had t-shirts that said "Danimal's dirty thirty" made as prizes for the dance off, but I got one for the cake, which was lucky because there were some serious dancers ther eand I really didn't have a shot at winning.

But, I was inspired to write this post because lately I've been getting many of my recipe ideas from the banner RSS feed on my gmail account. Its been great; its like google knows what I want to eat. However, I just got a really mystifying RSS feed:

"Men Bra - Bras.Pront.com - 10+ Male bras at Great Prices Shop, Compare and Save at Pronto"

It kind of reassures me that google really can't read my mind. On the other hand, if I'm an overweight transgendered person in 20 yrs we'll know they can predict future. 

We be jammin

My friend Libby is an amazing jammer, but she plays no instrument. When Libby jams late at night it involves big vats of boiling water, mason jars, fresh local fruits, lots of sugar and lots of love. When Libby moved last week she left me a whole flat of homemade jam! I really feel like I have a box of gold bars in my closet, it's that precious. Strawberry, fig, apricot, plum ... the list goes on. 

Today for lab meeting it was my turn to bring in food, and I remembered a treat Robin used to make when we were little - cream cheese and jam on crackers. So I bought some buttery wheat crackers and whipped cream cheese. I simply spread the cream cheese on the crackers and topped it with a generous amount of, drum roll please, homemade apricot lavender jam. Served with blackberries and some baby peaches from my coworker Rosie's back yard and it was the perfect snack. I don't think there's much of that jam left at all. Libby, your jammin really rocks!

Mango Indignation

I bought a mango at the g store for Reeves. He informed me that he no longer eats mango in his smoothies. Indignant, I turned to Alice Waters for inspiration. She offers this very simple salsa for fish or chicken (actually, hers is a little more subtle than mine; she used 1/2 c. cilantro. Helps to be Alice Waters and always have lotsa stuff in the frig):

One mango, peeled and diced
about 1/4 c vidalia onion (she says "sweet")
small amount of jalapeno, minced
juice of a lime

Mix and let it sit a while.

Desparation Tomato Sauce

I'm moving out of my summer home in a week, so I'm trying to make meals out of the odds and ends lurking in my pantry and fridge. I wanted to make a tomato sauce to top some pasta I have. I didn't have a blender, but this turned out to be a blessing--this sauce is delicious and pretty!
heat EVOO in a frying pan
add 1/4 vidalia onion (diced)
add 2 cloves garlic
allow to cook until tasty
add 1 can diced tomatos, drained
season with chili powder, coriander, cinnamon, and ground pepper and allow to simmer, uncovered, until your pasta is done cooking

Russian River Valley

I went to wine country today! It was beautiful. I was DD ing, so I limited myself to small sips of Zinfandels at each place we went. I love Zinfandels, and the Russian River valley is a great place to go to taste them. It was neat just focusing on one grape for the day because you could really appreciate how distinct and complex the various vintages were. The best one of the whole day was at a very small winery that was doing barrel tastings. I swear I was tasting caramel on my tongue for like 10 minutes after having a sip. Unfortunately, at $40 a bottle with a three dollar minimum it was prohibitively expensive. Grad school is not really the most opportune time to become a lover of wines. 

I went up there with two of Oliver's friends who are visiting from New York. They are both really warm people and I had a lot of fun, despite not knowing them well at all. One of them is a really native of the city, and he occasionally entertains me with his New Yorkness. For instance, I pointed out a lemon tree at a winery and he was commented "So you can just eat the fruit that grows on that tree?" If there is anything a New Yorker can seem naive about, I suppose it is fresh produce. 

At that particular vineyard we had a nice little picnic that I had packed under the fruit trees in their lawn. I brought cumin spiked tofu (a recipe from 101 cookbooks), black bean avocado salad, good coleslaw, and pita chips and artichoke dip. I was pretty pleased with my menu. I'll give the recipe for good coleslaw (not to be confused with gross coleslaw, of which there is plenty) since I'm tired and it's short and you all should try it in any case.

Good Coleslaw

1/2 head green cabbage, chopped

~ 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

4 scallions chopped

2 T toasted seasame seeds

1.5 T lime juice

1 T rice wine vinegar

2 T olive oil

Mix together the vegetables, cilantro and seasame seeds. Whist together the dressing and coat the vegetables. Makes a nice crisp accompaniment for any number of picnic foods.

Now I leave you with this question: Why would anyone EVER have a beer when you could be drinking wine? 

In praise of sandwiches

I don't know that sandwiches count as recipes, but sandwiches are amazing (and I haven't cooked anything interesting lately) so I will post two of my favorites--the fried egg sandwich:
Heat EVOO in frying pan
Add two eggs
Cook slices of sweet onion in a different part of the same pan
Sprinkle crushed rosemary onto eggs
When the eggs start to make ominous popping sounds, flip them over
As the onions and eggs cook, ready the rest of the sandwich: spread cream cheese and a red vegetable (bell peppers or tomato) onto bread.
Assemble sandwich.
Enjoy.

Tied for seignority in my sandwich Valhalla is my take on the Californian:
1/2 avocado, sliced
tomato, sliced
grainy bread
hummos
sprouts
cheddar cheese
Assemble sandwich.
Enjoy.

I also enjoy a pb & j frequently, but I believe that requires no explanation. It does merit comment, however, that the 14 oz jar of Maranatha peanut butter that I am currently working through was found, unopened and abandonned, during graduation week this year. Who would discard such a treasure?!

So simple and so good

Last night I made an easy and delicious eggplant dish. I LOVE eggplant, but making the eggplant dishes Robin makes always seem a bit daunting. They sometimes involve cooking the eggplant and then doing stuff with it. I firmly believe that once you have cooked something, you shouldn't have to do anything else to it. Its time to eat at that point. As a result of my laziness I haven't been eating much eggplant. And I miss it. So I found this simple recipe on the internet and decided to give it a try, with a few modifications. Now, before I give you the recipe, let me admit, it is not quite eggplant season yet. I'm sure the eggplant and pepper will be tastier and more ecologically sound in a few weeks. All I can say for myself is that I consider this a warm up, so that my eggplant stomach will be fully prepared for the bounty to come.

Eggplant Goodness #1

1 eggplant in 1' slices

2 red bell peppers in thick strips

1 green bell pepper in thick strips

1 onion, sliced

1/4 C olive oil

Thyme

Fresh basil

Salt the eggplant slices and press out the water into paper towels by putting something heavy on top (I used my frying pan). Put all the veggies in a large, shallow baking tin (I used the bottom part of my broiler). Toss well with 1/4 C olive oil and a reasonable amount of dries thyme. Cook at 350 for 40 mins, or until the eggplant feels soft when poked with a wooden spoon. Garnish with fresh basil.

Suzanne - there is no meat in this dish! I had it with a cumin rubbed chicken breast, which was a great combination, but I could imagine other ways to eat it. Maybe mixed with some nice whole wheat penne, balsamic vinegar and olive oil? It would be kind of like a warm pasta salad.

Desperation Chicken

With thanks and apologies to Jody's Improv Chicken. I had chicken breasts in the freezer and canned tomato in the pantry, so I figured I could pull off a cheap imitation.

As did Jody, pound the breasts (not to worry, chickens aren't mammals, now, are they?)
Brown them (ouch) w/ ground pepper& snips of dried hot pepper.
Sautee 1 onion, chopt, 1/2 ragged green pepper found at back of vegetable drawer, sliced, and 1 clove garlic, minced.
Remove from pan and save for topping after all else is cooked.
Add to pan 1 can diced tomato and boil down for 5 min. Add the chix and cook on low for 10 min or so, till chix seem done.
Put in the chiffonaded basil and rosemary (which we had in abundance!) for the last minute.
(No cheap white wine in the house but can had lotsa tomato juice)
Cross fingers.

Tuna Helper's evil twin

Lobster Jailbreak.
Hey! this blog is on California time!!

Tuna Helper

Is nasty. Don't eat it.

That is all.

Delicious Bittersweet Dinner

Last night we had two dear friends over for dinner. It was a happy/sad event: happy because they are getting married in three weeks (!), sad because they are moving back to the midwest in three days. Libby and Randy have been out here in Berkeley for a few years now, and in that time we have had many wonderful little adventures together. Libby is also and AMAZING cook, but more to come on that later. 

Anyways, I managed to throw together a nice little dinner in no time. All the recipes are Robin's, of course. I made ginger/soy/sake marinated flank steak with a cold soba noodle salad and some broccoli. We had a nice Syrah with dinner. Then for desert I made a blueberry and white nectarine crisp with whip cream. We had that with a bottle of champagne Robin had got as a present for Libby a while ago. It was really good champagne! Good work mom. 

Libby and Randy especially like the Soba noodle dish. So here's the recipe for that one:

Cook 12 oz of buckwheat soba noodles (boil for about five minutes). Cool by running under cold water. Whisk together 1/3 C rice vinegar, 1 T soy sauce, 1.5 T sugar, 1 t salt and 2 T canola oil. Toast 2.5 T sesame seeds. Chop up six scallions and 1/2 C of mint. Toss the soba noodles in the vinaigrette, sesame seeds, scallions and mint. Serve! Its easy and delicious.

Libby and Randy will be greatly missed here in Berkeley. But I am consoled by the fact that they will be lighting up a town somewhere else, and other people will get to know and love them.  

Baby Shower Bread

Some of the clinic profs had a shower for Lily and Greg Camet (bottom left of photo) at Chez Toby. The food came from Whole Foods. But I later used leftover green olive tapenade in some whole wheat bread, to great effect, as follows.
For the bread mix:

• 1 cup hot water
• 1 T. yeast
• 1 cup King Arthur Old Fashioned whole wheat bread

Mix this up until it looks like a slurry, then let it sit to develop the yeast flavor, while you take a small saucepan, add 1/2 cup wheatberry to 1 1/2 cups cold water, bring that to a boil, and let it simmer 3 minutes, then sit for an hour.
Then add to the bread mixture:

• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 c. green olive tapenade (contains garbanzo beans, green olives, eggplant, tahini, red pepper)
• 1/2 cup eggbeaters, or 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 small vidalia onion, chopt
• The soaked wheatberry
  

Mix this up, and add more flour. Once it gets pretty stiff, start kneading the mixture on a surface covered with more flour. Knead and add more flour as necessary until mixture looks pretty tight. Continue as with any bread. When the dough has risen twice, punch it down and put it in a loaf pan lined with parchment. Let it rise one last time, then cook it at 350 degrees for 32 minutes.

Vegetarian Bean and Mushroom Chili

This recipe was inspired by and dedicated to the package of mushrooms that had been living in the fridge since our dinner party last weekend.

Cook 1 c. (dry) kidney beans in vegetable stock, save for later.
Cook 1 c. (dry) rice in 2.5 c. vegetable stock.
Heat EVOO in a large sauce pan on medium heat.
Add 1/2 vidalia onion and 2 cloves garlic and cook until the onions weep, ~5min.
Add 6 oz. baby button mushrooms, cleaned and halved (don't wash them--just rub off the dirt with a brush or paper towel). Add spices (chili powder, cumin, cinnamon) and salt to taste. Cook until the mushrooms release their juices, ~5min.
Add cooked beans, 1/2 can diced tomatoes, approx. 1/2 c. tomato-based pasta sauce, and approx. 1 c. vegetable stock.
Bring to a boil and then cook uncovered over low heat until it has the desired thickness (~5 min).
I served it over rice with sharp cheddar cheese.

Toby is thinking about food. He stationed himself in the living room during the shower for Lily as soon as Lucy brought in a plate of hors d'oeuvres which included roast beef. He did not beg from the party guests, which I thought showed great discretion, but enjoyed some of the leftovers.

Improv Chicken

So last night Oliver had very nicely volunteered to make chicken. He is, by the way, a fine cook. However, last night he was "distracted by SNP [single nucleotide polymorphism] data". This never happens to me. Does it make me a bad scientist that random data would NEVER, EVER, distract me from making dinner at 9:30 at night? Anyways, I ended up improvising some chicken breasts and they turned out just great. I suppose you  could substitute tofu, Suzanne, but it would probably kind of suck. 

So .... first I pounded out two large breasts with my iron skillet. Then I salted and peppered them, and browned them in olive oil. While that was going I diced half and onion, minced two cloves of garlic, and julliened a bunch of mini bell peppers of assorted color (it ended up being somewhere between 1 and 2 cups).  After the chicken breasts were browned I transferred them to a plate. In the same pan I cooked them in I sauteed the onion (3 min), added the peppers and cooked them a bit (4 min) and finally added the garlic and sauteed them (two min). While that was going I chopped 2 tomatoes, cut up fresh rosemary from two sprigs, and chiffonaded (is that a word?) a big handful of fresh basil. I then added the tomato to the pan along with some white wine, about enough to cover the bottom of the pan by 1 or 2 inches, and a good pinch of sea salt. I cooked that a bit, bringing it to a strong simmer, then added back the chicken breasts. You can add some flour to thicken the sauce if it looks like it needs it. When the chicken was cooked through I added the fresh herbs and cooked it for another minute or two. I served the chicken breasts with the sauce/veggies laddled on top generously. Here's what took it over the top: on top of all that goodness I added crumbled dill goat cheese. It was so good!

Huckleberries

Jody corrected my erroneous usage of "huckleberry" to refer to the rubus strigosus growing on Mill Creek Landing. Alice Waters confirms that huckleberries, as Jody said, are blue and separate (not an aggregation of drupulets, as is the case with raspberries). She has a recipe for huckleberry ice cream. Amazing what you find online: a late-19th century medicinal book recommends raspberry cordial (1 pint strained juice, sachet of clove, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, 1 pound of sugar, and 4 oz. brandy) for diarrhea. Medicine maybe no, but an indulgence for the weary, yes.

Bachelorette Party Food

Yesterday night I hosted a bachelorette party for my dear friend Libby (of the food blog "Cafe Libby"). Libby is a domestic goddess, no question about it. So although bachelorette parties are not known for their sophistication, I wanted the food to be somewhat classy. In addition to standard snacks (chips, veggies, crackers, gaucamole, lots of hummus), I made some dessert. The desserts were a hit, if I may say so myself. I made a peach melba crisp! It had a standard crisp topping (2 C oatmeal, 1/2 C flour, 1 C brown sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon, 6 T cold butter cut in all that, no nuts). For the fruit filling I used seven big white peaches (boiled for a few minutes to remove the skin) and two small containers of raspberries, tossed with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, and the juice of half a lemon.  Top with the oatmeal mix, bake in a 400 degree oven until bubbly and golden brown (45 min to one hour) and your done. I finished it off with fresh whipped cream. We also had a big bowl of different types of fresh cherries (cherry season has come and gone in California, but we're still getting them from Washington). But the piece de resistance was some cupcakes filled with a marshmellow vanilla cream concoction. They were kind of like homemade twinkies. The girls loved them. We got lots of great pictures of people posing with their cupcakes, laughing, raising a suggestive eyebrow. Does that seem strange? Oh, I forgot to mention that the cupcakes were made in a very special cupcake molds that gave them quite a distinctive shape ... these are some  cupcakes you only make in your twenties :)  

Vegan Lentils and Rice

On my computer screen, the "Food for the Apocalypse" entry ended in a bunch of wild-looking random characters--a little disconcerting.

I created a delicious vegan recipe last night--no, "delicious vegan" is not an oxymoron!

Heat one capful of extra virgin olive oil (or "EVOO" for devotees of Rachael "Oprah" Ray) in a large sauce pan (medium heat).
Chop ½ Vidalia onion. Add to pan and cook until tasty.
Add 2 cloves garlic, minced. Cook ~1 min more.
Add 3.75 c. stock, 1 c. brown rice, and ½ c. raisins. Increase heat to high.
When stock begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add ½ can tomatoes, 1 c. red lentils*, ½ tsp coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 30 more minutes (add more stock during this time if necessary).
*if you use brown lentils, add the lentils at the same time as the rice.

I served it with rainbow chard from the Brunswick farmer's market, served with 1/2 cap EVOO and nutmeg.

Yield: Approx. 4 servings
Cooking & eating time: the duration of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Bernstein conducting)

Happy Fourth!

Toby enjoys some almond butter and cream cheese (with Jody's approval)

Food for the Apocalypse, part 1

Waffles

Mix
1 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar

Whiz
1/2 c. eggbeater or 2 eggs
1/2 c. almond oil
1 1/2 c. milk

Stir them together. Top the cooked waffles with thin apple slices sauteed in almond oil 'til they are light brown and crispy looking.

Almond Oil

Lest some hapless reader stumble upon this blog and think that Toby and I are the only contributors with weird affinities to random foods, I think something needs to be said about almond oil. Late last night I looked into the pantry here at Chez Toby for a snack, and found dried mangoes and A LOT of almond oil. Like 7 large cans. And 3 cans of hazlenut oil. Let us just say, when the exotic nut oil apocalypse comes, my mother will be well prepared.

Almond butter and fat free cream cheese

Though its not really a recipe, I think almond butter and cream cheese warrants an entry. This flavor combination is good on just about anything, or all by itself. Today, after having some almond butter and cream cheese on an apple for lunch, I decided to give some to Toby. He was moaning incessantly by the mudroom at his imaginary demons, and I thought it might distract him for a little while. It did, but now he has just returned to the moaning with new energy.

The Pie Post

Suzanne's mini-pie must have been a real treat. Did it come in a mini-pie pan? But I have to take take issue with her main point. FIrst, I don't think Toby licks his rear, or any naughty bit whatsoever, any more. His arthritis is probably too bad. He doesn't lick his elbow much these days, either. I hope that means that the infection is under control. He had his last antibiotic this morning and goes back to Dr. Adams next THursday. But more importantly, I believe that his affiliation with this blog - - gracious and selfless as it is - - will allow us to contribute significantly to the science of nutrition (if not to culinary art). In this respect, Toby is the subject of a behavior modification experiment which Jody devised. As we know, Toby has concerns (one might say fixations or delusions, but let's keep this dignified) about the mudroom. Denied entry by the closed door, he will lie nearby and groan. When he squeezes through the gap between the door and the wall and enters this mysterious place, he barks. He looks upward toward the sink when he barks. But Jody is probing the hypothesis that his barking refers to a desire for - - - our topic! - - food. To demonstrate that this might be so, she has moved his bin out into the corner of the breakfast room. The result for now is that Toby will bark and groan in two places: near the mudroom, and, now, in the breakfast room. Maybe this proves JOdy's hypothesis. Time will tell.

Pie

Toby licks his own rear end and therefore has no business being affiliated with a foodie blog. He shares my love of chocolate--nay, exceeds it, as I would cease loving chocolate were it poisonous to me--so I'll let it slide.

My cooking is far lamer than Mom's. I eat lots of peanut butter and jelly. If ever I make something interesting, I'll let you know. I do excel, however, at eating.

I ate a wonderful Maine blueberry mini-pie that I purchased at a farmer's market in Brunswick, Maine yesterday. It was incredibly old school--it even had lard in the crust! I didn't remember that lard came from pigs when I bought it (oops) so I went ahead and ate it. It was fabulous--the crust didn't fall apart like one made with not enough butter or get crunchy like one made with too much butter. As for the size, the mini-pie was adorable but had too high of a crust-to-fruit ratio.

Let's eat!

Welcome to Chez Toby! This will be a food journal where Robin, and maybe Jody and maybe Suzanne will post recipes. Mainly Jody will visit it around 5 pm CA time and wish she were home with her mom! Toby is a border terrier who eats mainly kibble, but provides an inspiring presence around the kitchen nonetheless.