Finally, Hashbrowns! (and a new post)

First, I must apologize for my absence.  I have recently completed my first year of graduate school, so I was busy writing papers and reading literature theory.  Then I immediately started my summer job, so I'm still adjusting to my new sleep schedule that has me waking up at 6:00 instead of 9:30 or 10:00.  I have still been cooking, and I have a lot of delicious food to share.

Hashbrowns, a food that is deceptive in its complexity.  I have been trying for at least six months to make crispy golden brown shredded potatoes.  During those six months my husband and dog have eaten many terrible attempts at hashbrowns. Each weekend morning when I would mention breakfast my husband's face would grow excited and hopeful until I mentioned that I was making another attempt at hashbrowns.  Some were crispy on the outside but soggy and gray in the middle.  Some were gray on the outside and raw in the middle, and some were burnt on the outside.  I tried baking them, cooking them in cast iron, non-stick, and stainless steel pans on the stove top.  I tried Russets, red, and Yukon Gold potatoes.  I always shredded the spuds on a box grater and wrapped them in a kitchen towel to ring out the moisture.  I tried soaking them in water first.  I tried frying them in bacon grease, butter, olive oil, and canola oil.  Finally, finally with the help of my electric skillet I made perfect hashbrowns.  The key is a medium high heat and a pan large enough to spread out a very thin layer of the potatoes.  They must be left alone and only flipped once.  They were cooked with a lid for about half the time, and they took a good 20 minutes.  When I slipped these hashbrowns on the plate along with bacon and eggs I felt a surge of triumph. I had finally defeated my nemesis.  My husband was happy that he didn't have to eat gray, soggy, mystery potatoes.  The dog, however, was not pleased as he knew he would not get as many leftovers as usual.

Improvised Pasta and a Possible Blogging Experiment

Sorry it's taken longer to post than I was expecting.  Right now I'm taking a little break from writing my final papers, so I thought I would post.  I've been thinking about conducting a little experiment with this blog, but it will take reader involvement.  If you're interested, you can look after the story about the missing rigatoni and picture.  As soon as school is finished for the year, I should be able to post on a more regular basis, and I have lots of great food I'm ready to share!

I had planned and shopped for a delicious pasta dinner.  It would include rigatoni, spinach, chickpeas, a spicy pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  The beans were soaked and cooked, the spinach was washed, and the pepper was dehydrated and ready to go.  All I had to do was boil the pasta and toss everything together.  I started rummaging through my cabinets and realized I couldn't find the pasta.  I looked in other cabinets; I rechecked the cabinets I had just looked through, and I had my husband look for the pasta too.  We couldn't find the package of rigatoni.  I knew I bought it.  I could picture it in my cart.  I knew I bought it, but I couldn't find it.  The water was boiling, and I had to think of something quick.  I found a package of lasagna noodles, broke them up and put them in the water.  Everything got tossed together and dinner was saved.  While supper was not as good as it could have been, I managed to at least put an edible meal on the table.  The next day I found the rigatoni in the cabinets both my husband and I had looked through twice.  Go figure!

The experiment:

I remember being around 15 and reading magazines in the car on the way to a vacation destination.  One of these magazines featured an article where two women wrote down everything they ate for an entire week.  Both women were then assigned to follow the other woman's eating habits for a week and write down their responses.  I've been fascinated by this idea ever since, and I'm interested in doing that and posting it here.  I'm always curious about what other people are eating, the choices they make, the reasons behind those choices, and the way those choices make them feel.  I think the best way to examine my own eating, which admittedly has been horrible lately is to walk in someone else's shoes for a bit.  If you want to participate then you need to keep track of everything you eat for an entire week with amounts and recipes (I know this is a lot to ask, but I bet some of you do this anyway).  If you want to swap diets with me let me know and I will do the same for you, but it's not required.  If you have a blog and want to blog about this along with me then I will link to your blog on the week I chronicle this.  I'm not sure if I will get any responses for this, but I think it will be interesting to try it out.  I will blog about what I eat and how it makes me feel.  Obviously, I will not engage in any diets that I feel are harmful (below 1200 calories, all alcohol, etc.).  Just something I'm curious about and I bet someone else out there is too!

A Pig Cake to Tide you Over

I just wanted to make a quick post to say that I just got back from Boston and final's week is coming up, so things are crazy right now.  I will have a post by Thursday with food.  Thanks to everyone who is stopping by.  The only food I have to post for today is my husband's birthday cake.  My mother made this after Jason told him he wanted a pig cake.  When he said this I tried to decide how I was going to make a cake out of pork with mashed potatoes as frosting, but then he explained that he wanted a cake that looks like a pig.  I don't make pretty cakes, I just make cakes that taste good, so thankfully my mother came to the rescue with her cake.  It was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.  The eyes are jelly beans, and the feet are Good and Plentys with the candy coating removed (she did this by running them under water).  The cake went over well.  Later in the week I also make him a peanut butter cake with chocolate peanut butter ganache and peanut butter cream cheese icing.  I will post that cake later.  Without further ado: the pig cake.

Fon-Don't

Wow, I see it's been over a week since I've last posted.  Don't worry, I didn't go anywhere, and I've been cooking and eating delicious meals.  I guess life just got in the way of posting.  Since it's been a bit since I've been on here I hesitate to post a kitchen fail, but this blog obviously isn't about perfection, so I figured I'd share with you anyway.  

I got a fondue set as a wedding gift, and I was curious about it.  It seemed like a fun way to have an interactive dinner at home.  I considered a cheese fondue, but ultimately decided on a broth fondue where you stick raw meats and vegetables into a simmering broth and cook them.  I thinly sliced chicken, broccoli, and potatoes and awaited my interactive supper.  The chicken cooked fine.  It was moist and flavorful, and didn't cause a problem.  The vegetables where an entirely different story.  The potatoes would not stay on the fondue forks.  This is probably because I thought slicing them would be better than cutting the potatoes into cubes, but it was too late at this point.  As we waiting patiently (or not) for our food to cook, we kept fishing around for the potatoes and finally realized it was a lost cause.  The broccoli stayed on the fork, but took too long to cook.  

Our supper that night ended up being small strips of chicken, raw broccoli, and sliced potatoes that I slipped into a casserole dish with some of the broth, salt, and pepper and microwaved.  Next time I'll stick with the cheese sauce.

Weeknight Kitchen: Peasant Bowls

One of this weeks recipes from The Splendid Table's Weeknight Kitchen newsletter was Peasant Bowls.  This was a bowl layered with black beans, rice, spices, Monterey Jack cheese, tomatoes, and green onions.  I've had other layered bowls similar to this, but the small amount of cheese in this one really set this one apart. The flavors were excellent, and it was a filling and healthy supper.  This would be great packed up for lunch.  I forget how delicious a simple bowl of rice and beans can be when it is properly seasoned.

Stir-fry and a Rice Tip

This stir-fry almost didn't happen.  I had a recipe for it, but I didn't feel like following the steps.  I was sitting in class thinking about what I would do for supper instead, and I was thisclose to picking up something on the way home.  I eventually talked myself out of it, and decided I could make a stir-fry without using the recipe I had.  I knew my husband was thawing out some shrimp for the original recipe.  I had some veggies and chicken in the fridge already thinly sliced from the fondue fiasco of the night before (I will post on this later), and I could quickly whip together a sauce.  I don't have a recipe for this, but I cooked the shrimp and chicken in a hot pan, removed them, and added carrots and broccoli.  When the veggies were soft I added some frozen peas.  Back in the pan went the cooked shrimp and chicken, and I threw on a sauce that contained sesame oil, soy sauce, and agave nectar.  The sauce was then thickened with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch whisked with 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.  I served the stir-fry with rice.  

For those of you who don't know (and I just recently discovered this by accident), rice freezes really well.  Every time I need rice for something I cook extra.  I put the extra in a bag and freeze it.  The next time I need rice I just put some of the frozen rice in a covered bowl in the microwave and zap until warm.  It's much better than resorting to minute rice all the time, and it's even easier. 

Enchilada Casserole Because I Live in the Midwest

I've mentioned it before, but I've heard that the common stereotype about Midwesterners is that we're nice and we make casseroles.  Once again I'm reinforcing the stereotype, and I've decided to turn my dinner plans into a casserole.  I had a post on cabbage rolls about a month ago when I decided that instead of taking the time and effort to actually roll the filling in the cabbage I would just layer everything and bake it.  I had the same thought while making enchiladas last night.  I always have a problem with the tortillas splitting on me when I try to roll up the filling, so I thought I would be so much easier and faster to just layer the ingredients like a casserole.  I was right, and I will make enchiladas this way from now on.  The recipe I have can be changed to suit your tastes and pantry.  If you don't want peppers and onions, don't use them.  If you don't eat meat, add more veggies and use veggie broth or water instead of chicken broth.  Use the following recipe more as a guideline than a strict rule.  Also, please don't be intimidated by what looks like a long list of ingredients and steps.  It's very easy and comes together quickly.


Enchilada Casserole


For the enchilada sauce

• 1 can chopped tomatoes (I used fire roasted adobo seasoned tomatoes)
• 2 dried chilies (I used a medium chili, but use the hottest or mildest one you like)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt

For the enchilada filling (these are suggestions, use whatever you like.  I had these ingredients on hand)

• 3 cups cooked chicken
• 1 bell red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 cup cooked black beans with 1/4 cup cooking liquid
• 1 oz white tequila
• 4 cups shredded cheese (I used co-jack and Montery Jack)

You will also need:

• 12 small corn tortillas

Optional toppings:

• lettuce
• diced tomato
• diced green onion
• diced black olives
• sour cream
• hot sauce

To make the sauce:

1. Roast dried peppers in a dry skillet for a little less than a minute on each side.  Take out of skillet and cool to touch.  Meanwhile, heat chicken broth.  When peppers are cool, remove the seeds.  Place peppers in warm chicken broth, soak for about 5 minutes.  Place broth, softened peppers, tomatoes, and garlic in blender.  Puree until smooth.  Taste for salt and spice.  Add salt and chili powder/hot sauce if needed.  Set aside.  (This freezes really well, and you've made more than you need for the recipe.)

To make the filling:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Add chopped pepper and onion.  Cook over medium low heat for about 8 minutes.  You want the onions very soft and brown.  Add the tequila to deglaze the pan.  Add cooked chicken, beans, and broth and over medium heat until the chicken is warm and some of the liquid has reduced.  Set mixture aside.

To Assemble:

1. Line large baking pan with corn tortillas.

 2. Top with chicken and veggie filling

 3. Top with cheese

 4. Add second layer of corn tortillas
5. Top with enchilada sauce.  It will look very soupy, but don't worry, the sauce with soak in when it bakes.

 Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes

 Cut and serve with toppings of your choice