potatos and eggs

AHHHH! food blogs are so cool! you can learn so much! I have been doing a bit of food blog research and have picked a few favorites and made a few things. So far my favs are:

http://noteatingoutinny.com/
http://smittenkitchen.com/
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

These links have already taught me so much. I've snagged a few recipes, modified slightly of course, and brushed up on the typical food blog nomenclature.

Although I have been enjoying this food blog safari I'm afraid I've run into a few problems.
For starters, I don't have a camera. You can't see what I'm eating and I miss taking awesome pictures of some crazy food (ex.desert pizza, baked sweet potato, Potato gratin and apple salad). Dang I wish I could show you but unfortunately I already ate it!

I also have not been publishing my receipts, sorry, I have been watching the wallet though. I spent a total of 5 dollars last week, (yeah that right) mostly change too. But I have not, as my very first follower has pointed out to me, been updating this information. I could be lying. I'm not, trust me, but the meal calculator is going to be swinging back into motion asap.

My third problem is that I am finishing finals, its not really a problem, its an excuse but a valid one in my opinion.

So last night I stole a recipe from Smitten Kitchen for pizza dough. It was off the chain. As a pseudo-avid bread baker this was hands down one of the simplest dough recipes I have ever used.

3 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp
1 tsp yeast
1 cup of cold water

now it calls for a mixer if you have one use it, other wise you can do it old country style like me a beat it crazy with a wooden spoon. You mix all the dry ingredients, slowly adding the cup of water and mixing slowly, then "beat it crazy hard with a wooden spoon" until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl. You then place the dough in a bowl with about a tablespoon and a half of olive oil in it cover with a damp towel and let rise for 2-4 hours until its doubled. THEN you roll out a super light, elastic, delicious pizza crust that you can put anything on and it will taste amazing.

Side note: OK so everyone should always have a bag of wheat flour and a bag of all purpose flour at the house. I like to keep mine in the freezer cuz that is what my mom does and flour is just so chill.

So the two to four hours of rising is a bit daunting, but if you have anything you have to do in the house or a two hour errand to run, or feel like catching a brewski with a friend its really no biggie.

I made one with just olive oil and red onion, I didn't have any cheese. When it was finished I added a little extra olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Me and my mouth were very happy.
Then i was like omg I want desert pizza.

It started with a layer of nutella and peanut butter. Then I added about 3 tablespoons of coconut milk. I baked it for maybe ten minutes added butter, cinnamin, and some cream cheese and sugar. It sounds like an overload, it wasn't really. It was instead, the perfect midnight snack. The ingredients mentioned were used conservatively and then i added a little lemon juice. It was good.

So the other thing I've been hopped up on this week is this other recipe I stole for a simple potato gratin. I made it on sunday, its great with a salad, packs well in lunch, even can be used for breakfast (if you're really hungry.)

hmmmm, i've also been really into ice water and lemon, and iced tea. We had a sudden rise of temperature it was 80 but alas its 50 again.

ok so prices??
I barely have gone grocery shopping but it helps to have at the house
milk and butter are always in my fridge
flour in my freezer
oilive oil sits on the stove
That way if lets say you want to make potato gratin you spend like $2.00 on potatos and you're set.

Oh I think I'm getting into cream cheese again.

ok recipes

pizza!!

Jim Lahey’s Pizza Bianca
Makes two long pizzas

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary

1. Combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer, and slowly add 1 cup cold water. Mix on low speed until ingredients begin to combine, increase speed to medium-high, and continue to mix for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and cleanly pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

2. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and allow to rest for 2 to 4 hours until it has doubled in size. Split the dough into halves, and form each into a log. Place each log on a generously floured surface, and allow it to rest until the formed dough doubles in size again, at least 1 hour.

3. Put dough on a lightly floured surface. Dimple dough by pressing it down with your fingertips. Work the dough outward toward the edges of the peel until you reach your desired size and thickness, about 1/4 inch. [Or in our case, realize that I forgot to do this, and instead rolled it out!] Drizzle with remaining olive oil, rosemary and sprinkle with remaining salt.

4. Place a baking stone, sometimes known as a pizza stone, in the oven. Set oven to broil, about 520 degrees. Slide pizza onto baking stone. Bake until the bubbles range from golden to deep brown in color, 10 to 12 minutes.

Potato Gratin

Serves 4-6 or one for 4 days

4 large yellow potatoes

4 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

a cup and a bit more of whole milk

slice the potatos thinly and place in the bottom of a baking dish ( I used a 9x6) placing a few tabs of butter and and a little bit of cream cheese inbetween each layer. When finished pour the milk. Place a piece of seran wrap over the sish and place a plate/dish with some weight on it, let it sit for two hours.

Place in 350 degree oven for about an hour or until the top is golden brown and seductively bubbling.
Serve with salad (romaine, apple, balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, olive oil and salt.)

for the record

I've been stealing milk.

Feeling Saucy

The Noodle.

I have a love hate relationship with the noodle. Lets start with the love. Noodle is quick, noodle is easy, noodle is cheap.
There are so many different kinds of noodles, like macaroni or a personal favorite of mine campanelle. When you're not feeling particularly tuscan there are bean thread noodles, soba, and udon. Just like people, noodles come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
Its crazy to think that a something that spans so broadly through so many types of cuisine would ever get tiring but in my experience with the noodle, i've been tired. real tired.

thats where that hate comes in. there is something so inherently repetitive about noodles. In my house it felt like we had spaghetti with tomato sauce every other night. Its not the noodle's fault though! Its the sauce.

I discovered this curious folly when I first made puttanesca. I was like "OMG pasta is awesome!" Then I made a goat cheese with italian sausage and kale and was like "this rocks!" Then I made a rice vermicelli and cabbage cold noodle salad and was like "this is so refreshing!" Then I made peanut noodles, which I had never had before and felt like I had just found a part of myself I never knew I had.

Moral of the story is, noodles can be great, sauces can be boring. When you are reaching for the jar of tomato sauce you're just selling yourself short. This week my friend Dori and I got together and got saucy.

We made a simple tomato sauce

2lbs roma tomatos
2 heads of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
red chilli flakes

total cost $4.86, thats under $3.oo a person. Thats like a shitty bagel from au bon pain. and it was sooo good.

moral of the story is talk is cheap but sauce is cheaper.








http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Garlic-Tomato-Sauce-242340

Ham Hock

My sister lives with three hockey players. Although she is three years my junior and I have never backed down from a sisterly brawl in the past, I do now. She's gotten real mean and extra violent, she just told me about a house organized event, girl fights 2008, where she ended up at the end of a 15 minute fizzight sitting on a girl's back and punching her in the head. no thank you.
I will take her newly acquired VHS collection though, 100 Thunderous Hits and Hockey Fights. Premium video montage. As the narrator of Hockey Fights says "Hockey Fights are an important part of hockey. It is difficult to fight on ice skates." Its impressive, so much punching that turns into hugging that turns into punching. One guy did a cartwheel from gettin' checked (that's body checked).
I'm also a genius at making up answers to hockey trivia. (where is he from? "Canada")

Easter Ham, I like mine a little cold, or warm with lots of Dijon. Its about as official as a referee wit a whistle. BAM! Along with the ham and the hockey is the left overs. Talk about a money saver, having mom and dad pack a basket full of ham, cookies, Midwestern casserole and possibly a Schlitz or two (crosses fingers!) or three guarantees me a penny pinchin week full of d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s ham sandwiches. There are a lot of other things you can do with ham but I have little to no urge to move beyond a lightly buttered piece of toast with ham, dijon, and if I got it, a piece of cheese, preferably swiss.

I plan to try waffled ham sandwiches.

My apologies to those who can't go home for the weekend, it is truly a luxury. But I promise, on the integrity of this blog, that I will not take it for granted.

my m.o.

I've been thinking about starting a food blog. Everyone is starting a food blog and unlike the pair of uggs I never owed I feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon. My take on food is naive. This is not a self deprecating statement, its honest. I'm a good cook. I even have some nice knives but I feel that this blog is going to ultimately be about learning.
I need to learn a few things, like saving money. I have found that I can periodically live off of an average of $40 a week (including libations). Now this may seem like an extravagant sum for some but when you don't pack a lunch its easy to blow ten bucks on a mediocre sandwich with roast beef that isn't as rare as you would like it to be (sometimes they even forget to put on Dijon!!!).
The other problem I have is that I get bored easily. My father has had the same lunch for as long as I can remember; carrots, coffee yogurt, and V8. I am not a creature that could endure the same monotony. My dad made my mom's lunch for a while and legend has it one day she sat at her desk and cried when the contents of her brown paper bag contained the same thing they had the day before and the day before and the day before. I think I would have done the same thing. I
I need some variety! Like, is that too much to ask for? No. Its not. But it requires investigation, perseverance, and planning.
My hope for this blog is to keep me on track with the quest for good, cheap, investigatory cooking and to possibly offer you something from the fruits of my labor. Sooooo, with this said I will be publishing my grocery receipts along with the weekly recipes and any other food related cost along side my adventures in my modest but efficient kitchen.

A detailed survey of the things I put in my mouth and their effects on my wallet.