Roll That Beautiful Bean Footage! 05/04/2012
 Well that was quite a break. Oops! Life became busy and the blog went on the back burner for a while. So much for that New Year’s resolution! This May 4th resolution will hopefully stick a bit better. Now for a game of catch-up… Let’s start at the very beginning. Julie Andrews insists that it is a very good place to start. (Bonus points to anyone who got the Sound of Music reference!) How about some easy and delicious pizza rolls! This is something that I made based on ideas from Pinterest (if I can find the original site, I’ll link to it here but so far I haven’t yet). Did you ever realize that Pillsbury crescent rolls are perfect for making roll ups of whatever you want? I’ve seen pictures with them as pizza roll ups, s'mores, cinnamon rolls, a cream cheese filling, etc. The world (or rather, the crescent roll in this case) is your oyster! I was going to a classy wine and dine evening at a friend’s house before heading over to see My Fair Lady and needed a dish to pass. This was perfect because it is only a few ingredients and it only takes about 20 minutes to make! The only downside was that they were significantly better hot out of the oven so for the people grazing later on, they weren’t quite as tasty. To make them, just roll up your insides into the crescent roll - I used a half of a string cheese and 2-3 slices of pepperoni, but feel free to make your own rendition (ground sausage, peppers, mushrooms, etc.). Once they’re all rolled up and lined up on your cookie sheet, brush them with a mixture of melted butter and garlic powder. This takes them from really good to AMAZING. Then just pop them in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 375 and voila! Delicious and easy pizza rolls! Serve with warm pizza sauce and wait for the oohs and ahhs. For the full recipe, click here. If you give this a try, let me know what stuffings you used and how it worked out! Add Comment S'more, please! 01/26/2012
 If you’ve ever spent time at a lake, gone to an overnight camp, or lived in the boonies, you’ve probably been to a campfire or two. I fit into all 3 of those categories so I’ve been lucky enough to go to lots of campfires. The best part? S’mores. Hands down. A delightfully gooey sweet treat, the s’more - or “Heavenly Smashes” as my Grandma used to call them - have been around since the 1920s and are credited to the Girl Scouts. (Thanks, Wikipedia!) Unfortunately, they are mostly just a summer treat, since people rarely have the urge to sit outside and sing kumbaya by a fire when it is snowing. Despite the cold weather, my craving for s’mores rarely goes away so I decided to make a variation of them: the S’more Bar. Nothing can beat the whole experience when it comes to making s’mores at a campfire but these sure do come close! I found this recipe on Pinterest (my newest addiction) which linked me to this blog. To say these are delicious is an understatement. Not for the faint of heart though - these s’mores are really sweet. They were fairly easy to make, but for my next go-around, I will definitely be making some changes. You can find my version of the recipe on my Recipe page. Some of the changes I made to the original recipe: I increased the dough portion of the recipe by 1 ½ times because I felt the ratios were off with the amount of crust/topping compared to the fluff and chocolate. Two bars of chocolate weren’t enough so I increased it to 3. When I made it, I only had 2 on hand so I filled in the extra space with chocolate chips. This worked out fine but made it considerably more difficult to spread the fluff on top. Also, I added in a few tips I picked up from making this, such as greasing your fingers when working with the fluff and using a spoon on the dough part. On my oven, it probably took more like 35-40 minutes, but just watch it and take it out when the top looks nice and golden brown and crusty. The only downside of this recipe? They don’t last long. If you’re having people over, I may even suggest making 2 batches. Even my Dad - who hates smores/marshmallows and only ate the chocolate bars at campfires - ate one of my s'mores bars and liked it! Fa ra ra ra ra... 01/19/2012
 The holiday busyness has come and gone. 2012 is here and with it, I’m back to blogging and have a slew of fun recipes I tried out over the holidays! I’m playing a bit of catch up here and will be going back to Christmas time for our Japanese-Day-After-Christmas Feast. Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra! With the addition of spouses and children, my family has grown to 10 people and we managed to all be together for Christmas. To split up cooking duties, we all paired up and picked a night to make dinner. We had delicious homemade soups and deli style sandwiches for Christmas Eve dinner (a family tradition) courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law; my last day at the beach, my brother and sister-in-law made my all-time favorite chili; and my parents made Beef Tenderloin for Christmas - another one of my favorite meals. As I mentioned in my “About Me,” I definitely come from a family of amazing cooks! My brother John and I chose the day after Christmas as our kitchen duty day and spent a while coming up with different ideas but ended up settling on sushi night. By the end of our all our prep and cooking, our feast included lots of different kinds of homemade sushi, a few samplings of nigiri, tuna tartar, Bourbon chicken, green tea, and smores bars for dessert. This post is just going to focus on the first few items - otherwise it would just go on and on! The beach is the perfect place to make homemade sushi because we can go to the fish store where they bring the fish in freshly caught. Amazing food comes from there but the process isn’t my favorite (it smells HORRIBLE and you have to see their head and eyes) so I stayed in the car and made my brother take care of that part. We ended up with fresh tuna, trout, and shrimp. Trout isn’t something you usually see in sushi but that’s the fun of making your own sushi - you can try any combination you want! Along with the fish, we also got veggies (carrots, cucumber, avocado, chives), cream cheese, seaweed already prepared for wrapping, rice vinegar, and Japanese sushi rice. They make rice specifically for sushi that is nice and sticky so I recommend getting that. Oh and can't forget the beer! We got some Kirin (Japanese beer) to get everyone in the sushi mood. This is a fun meal to make, especially if you’re making it with a friend or 2. It isn’t too difficult, but - it’s time for a kitchen confession! - I didn’t actually do any of the rolling. We each had different jobs: John was head chef, I was sous chef extraordinaire and Stacey, my sister-in-law, was master sushi roller. I did make the nigiri though! In the end, we ended up with LOTS of sushi. My favorite was the tuna, avocado, cream cheese combination (I love anything with cream cheese in it - especially sushi!) and the tuna nigiri. Also, the tuna tartar was amazing. The trout was a fun change from the ordinary but not necessarily something I’d revisit. For the shrimp, we considered doing them tempura style but instead, to save time, just added some panko breadcrumbs to the sushi roll before rolling it up. They added a nice crunch and it was much easier than trying to fry up the shrimp. I’m not going to write a recipe for this since it is whatever you want it to be but will add some tips. It can be done alone but is much easier to divvy up the work with a kitchen partner since there are a lot of steps and it is time consuming to roll each one up. It isn't something you just whip together; it does take some planning ahead. You can find kits for sushi making kits around (I saw them recently at Barnes & Noble but they probably have them also at places like Home Goods and Crate & Barrel) to help with the rolling. Also, rice vinegar is key. It keeps the rice from sticking to your hands and it acts as a good seal for the seaweed when you’re done rolling. Lastly, make sure you cut everything up into nice long slices ahead of time otherwise you’ll be doing too many things at once. It was lots of fun and I hope to do it again soon! Have you ever tried making your own sushi? Any trick of the trade? What’s your favorite combination? Back to the Kitchen 12/22/2011
 Sorry for the mini hiatus Kitchen Confessions readers! I’ve been fighting a bug for about a week now so the last thing I wanted to think about was fancy food. My diet for the past few days consisted strictly of chicken noodle soup and bread. Yummm. So last night I finally ventured back into my kitchen. I wasn’t ready to spend the energy making something elaborate and was still just eating bland foods but decided to step it up to some pasta. Nothing out of the ordinary - just some boxed Barilla fusilli pasta with some canned sauce. Normally I would spice it up with a homemade sauce or some veggies at least, but I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Clearly this is not a very exciting post about my food, but the noteworthy part is my new trick! I was reading some tips and tricks in the kitchen recently and saw something about preventing boiling water from spilling over. The key is to place a wooden spoon over the top of the pot. I tried it out… and it works! The scientific reasoning behind it that I found online at boiledpizza.blogspot.com: “When you place a wooden spoon on top of the pot, there's a very low heat conductor sitting on top of your pot. When the boiling water gets closer to the spoon, it shys away from the cool object (transfers or loses heat to the cool wooden spoon). In addition, the spoon breaks up the bubbles once they get to the top (remember surface tension), thereby preventing a boil over.” So if you’re sick of having boiling water spill over and make a mess, give this trick a try! What is your favorite kitchen trick? And for a comprehensive list of various kitchen tricks, you can check out this site I found on Pinterest: http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2011/10/did-you-know.html I Found the Little Italy of RVA! 12/14/2011
 Although the main focus of Kitchen Confessions is on what I put together in my kitchen, there are so many amazing restaurants in Richmond that I can’t pass up an opportunity now and again to write about those as well. And this past weekend, I rediscovered one of those amazing restaurants. Backing up a bit: From January through May 2009, I was lucky enough to study abroad in what I consider to be one of the best places in the world: a small but amazing city in central Italy called Perugia. Before you say, “Hey, wasn’t that the place where the murder took place and the Amanda Knox trial?!” just… don’t. Yes, that unfortunate event did take place there, and yes I have many opinions about the whole ordeal, but that event is not at all reflective of what the city is actually like. Perugia is what I consider to be quintessential Italy. The old Italian women in their fur coats, gossiping while they stroll through town for their evening Passeggiata; children playing soccer in the street; fresh pastries and gelato everywhere…perfection! I digress; long story short, Perugia is amazing. Despite traveling around Italy and Europe almost every weekend, one of the best food items I discovered was just a few minutes away by foot from our apartment in Perugia. Pizzeria Mediterranea. To call it a pizza place doesn’t do it justice. Their pizza was unlike anything I’ve ever had before - homemade pizza, fresh ingredients, straight out of the oven, and unbelievably delicious. And the best part was that it was socially acceptable to eat the entire thing by yourself. Thank goodness Perugia was so hilly! Leaving Italy, there were so many things I knew I would miss and Mediterranea was definitely on that list. And it wasn’t until recently that I found something that would help fill that void. Present day, Richmond: This past weekend, my friends and I decided to try out Stuzzi. I have been there before so I knew how good it was but that doesn’t take away from how wowed I was this time around. If you’re looking for greasy, fast, American pizza, you will be disappointed. I love that kind of pizza too, but it is from an entirely different food group than what you’ll find at Stuzzi. This is the thin crust, fresh ingredients, pizza covered with tomatoes, prosciutto and mozzarella kind of pizza that you’ll find in Italy. This is my kind of pizza. The restaurant was buzzing since it was 6:30 on a Friday night, but luckily with our small group of 3 we only had to wait about 10 minutes. I ordered a Peroni, since I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to have it on tap and to make it feel even more like Italy, and their Margherita Reale (San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala, cherry tomatoes, basil, EVOO) and asked to have prosciutto added too. About 15 minutes later, the pizza arrived. One bite and I was suddenly transformed back to Italy. The only thing missing was the loud, rapid Italian. If you live in Richmond and want to try some authentic Italian pizza, give Stuzzi a try!  I’m every marketers dream: I see a commercial for something and I am suddenly intensely craving it. Which was the case with those cute little those slice-and-bake sugar cookies with a Christmas tree on them. A few weeks ago I gave in and went to the store to get them and lo-and-behold they also happened to be on sale! I went in with the purpose of buying just the cookies and came out with 2 packages of cookies, milk, and sprinkles. The sugar cookies left quite a bit to be desired - especially since I had recently made my pie but I decided to go ahead and try the second kind I got anyway. I got gingerbread as my second batch to switch it up and I was thankful for that. I preheated my oven and got my cookie sheet ready and opened the package. Much to my dismay, they were definitely not slice and bake. This wouldn’t be an issue for a normal person but believe it or not I do not yet own a rolling pin or any cookie cutters (hint hint to whoever my Secret Santa is!). My kitchen is somewhat small and I have just been getting things as I go and when I need them. Apparently the need for either of those items has not yet come up until now! So what I learned: you can certainly make do and improvise but some cooking/baking utensils really do make a difference. If you’d like proof, check out the picture of my attempt at a gingerbread man made by hand. That’s about as artistic as I get. Using other kitchen items to make things work: Don’t have a rolling pin? Next best thing: a wine bottle. It is certainly more difficult since it doesn’t have handles but it will do the trick in a pinch. Note that the bottle will get mucky from the dough though, so I wouldn’t suggest pulling out the ’98 Petrus sitting in your cellar (ha, I wish!) for this occasion. Don’t have cookie cutters? You’ve got a few options. If you want shapes and have an artistic side, a butter knife is a pretty good substitute. It takes a bit longer to draw out 20 stars than to just punch the dough with a premade shape, but it does give you more room for design and creativity. If you just want circles, you can either just roll it into a small ball and flatten it slightly with your hand, or you can use a drinking glass to cut out the shapes. The cookies ended up tasting pretty good - and were much better than the sugar cookies. I like them with some hot cocoa or hot apple cider. Yum! The perfect fall/winter combination. What substitutions have you had to make in the kitchen? Anything you think works just as well, if not better than the original? Chick-Fil-A vs. MC 12/08/2011
 Let me preface this by saying I love food with sauces. I don’t care if it is the moistest (is that a word?) chicken ever, I still think that 99% of the time, it is better with some sort of sauce. I worked backwards on deciding what to make for dinner, starting with the fact that I wanted it to involve ketchup. I didn’t want a burger because I just had one the other day and a fried egg sandwich just didn’t sound all that appealing. Chicken nuggets sounded good but I definitely didn’t want fast food or the frozen version. And so I decided to try making my own homemade, healthier than fast food, chicken nuggets. It’s much easier than I thought, too! I just used chicken breast, egg, flour, and parmesan herb panko breadcrumb. I wish I had gotten regular, unseasoned panko breadcrumbs but unfortunately Kroger was all out. I prefer to start with the basics and season it myself to my liking, but this ended up working fine. The next time I make these, I plan to not only use the unseasoned panko breadcrumbs, but also the regular breadcrumbs and mix them together. I think they’ll stick to the chicken better than just panko. Check out the recipe page for the exact recipe I used, but essentially it was a lot of dipping, dredging, and rolling. Roll in flour, dredge in egg, roll in breadcrumbs, and bake. Easy peasy! The best part is the prep - butterflying the chicken breast and then cutting it into the pieces you want for your nuggets. I mostly did strips but used a little creative liberty to make some different shapes. Next best part: finding the perfect sauce to go with your now deliciously golden brown, ready to eat chicken nuggets. I lined up custard cups filled with ketchup, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce (the best BBQ sauce around in my opinion), ranch dressing, a failed attempt at homemade honey mustard sauce, and honey. My favorites were the honey and the ranch dressing, since it went with the parmesan herb crust. As for my pairing, I've always heard that sparkling wine and fried chicken are a match made in heaven but unfortunately I didn't have any on hand. Maybe for the leftovers! I had mine with some Starr Hill Love (local wheat beer) and that was delicious. All in all, it took about 45 minutes including baking time, but was fun, delicious, and healthy. I put Chick-Fil-A to shame!  Cooking for one can have its challenges. When I get home from work, lots of days I don't feel up to making something extravagant just for myself. I continually look online for meal ideas for those nights when I just want to take 10 minutes to cook but still want it to be good. Some of them I’ve found, I liked enough to add it to my recipe book and others turned out to be a flop. One that I just made up all by myself, has become my go to. I will call it… MC’s Chicken Cheese and Maters. (I hope you weren't reading this for creative recipe titles! Based on that, you're probably not going to find many here.) It is only a few ingredients - always a plus for someone unsuccessfully trying to stay on her budget, and takes about 15 minutes to make. And best of all, it encompasses one of my favorite ingredients of all: goat cheese! Chicken Cheese and Maters (for One) Ingredients: · 1 Skinless boneless chicken breast · 1 - 4 oz tube of goat cheese (I prefer the plain version but you can also get the herbed option) · Sundried tomatoes -– about 6-10 medium sized · Olive oil · Spices of your choice + salt and pepper *Note: I highly recommend using the sundried tomatoes from the Mediterranean salad bar if your grocery store has them. They not only taste much better and fresher than the ones from the jar, but they work better for this recipe too. Directions: 1. Heat olive oil in a saute pan on medium. 2. Season chicken breast with salt, pepper, and some spices. I have garlic based medley of spices I bought that I usually use. Another money saver! 3. Cook chicken in pan, turning once after about 6 minutes. 4. When chicken is done, remove from pan and let cool slightly. Smear a thick layer of goat cheese on top (I only use about 1/3 - 1/2 of the goat cheese in the package) and then place sundried tomatoes on top. Voila! The hardest part about this recipe for me, which should probably be the simplest, is my inability to know how long to cook chicken and when it is done. I inevitably end up cutting it up to check on it a few times before I’m OK with it. I’ve been told it just takes time and experience to feel comfortable with that sort of thing, so I’ll just keep trying! I highly recommend this recipe - it is easy, delicious, and can be easily changed up (spices, type of goat cheese) to make it slightly different the next time. Perfect for after a long day of work! What’s your favorite quick and easy recipe for busy weeknights? A Non-traditional Thanksgiving Pie 11/28/2011
 Thanksgiving: the day of food, food, and more food! Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy… does it get any better? When it comes to dessert though, I tend to crave sweets and the pumpkin pie just wasn’t cutting it for me. So after I cleaned my plate and had a sliver of pumpkin pie to make it feel like Thanksgiving, I began thinking about a dessert I’d much rather indulge in: a Four Berry Pie!
I’ve always heard how difficult it is to make a pie from scratch but like every homemade food I can think of, it tastes so much better than store bought. I found that when it comes to making your own pie, the key is to not be intimidated and to allocate enough time. Basic pies are much more doable than I was expecting. This was the first pie I have made in a few years and if I do say so myself, it turned out quite beautifully.
If you want to use the recipes I mentioned here, check out my recipes page. Girls Wine Night 11/16/2011
 I've worked in the wine industry in some form or another for a few years now and have managed to rack up a pretty decent wine selection. The wines that I deem as "every day wines" I drink with dinner or with friends or give as gifts without much thought. Unfortunately that keeps leaving me with lots of "special wines." Since I'm a firm believer in wines are made to be consumed, I don't have big plans for aging them - but I do want an occasion to drink them. Girls Wine Night was born! This was the second girls wine night and we had a great spread. Some hummus, veggies, dip, chocolate, cheese, etc. that pairs nicely with wines and then the easiest but most amazingly delicious main event: baked brie pastry. YUM. Hosting a party in less than an hour? Take note! This is so easy and will be a hit! Baked Brie Pastry - Ingredients: Crescent rolls, small wheel of brie, jam, brown sugar - Heat oven to 350 degrees - On a greased cookie sheet, unroll the crescent roll sheet. Place brie wheel in center and top with jam or preserves. Fold crescent roll sheet to cover brie wheel. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes. - Voila! Delicious Baked Brie Pastry is ready! ** I used Pinot Noir Raspberry jam since I was pairing it with wines and it was perfect.** All in all, a great night! And of course I can't go without mentioning the wines. We shared 1 white and 1 red. The white was the McGregor Vineyards 2009 Semi-Dry Riesling from Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes of New York. I worked for 2 summers in their tasting room and had only 2 bottles on hand from there. This wine brought me back to summers on the lake immediately. It was extremely citrus-y and fruity, with lots of lime and lemon. It's high acidity was well balanced with just a hint of sweetness. This wine paired really well with a cheese called Uniekaas Parrano that Emily picked up from Ellwood Thompson's - tasted like a mix between Gouda and Parmesan. The second wine we sampled was the Linden Vineyards Claret from Northern Virginia. A Bordeaux style wine made by winemaker Jim Law, I thought this wine went really well with both the baked brie pastry - especially due to the wine jam - and the Dove dark chocolates. For more information about these wines, visit my wine page. Already looking forward to the next Girls Wine Night! I'm thinking a theme may be in order for the next one. Bubbly? Regional? Favorite value wines? We'll see!    | AuthorI'm a recent college graduate, living in Richmond and writing about all things food and wine! 
Updates
|
RSS Feed