cooking

fool proof

by Lara on February 2, 2012

in crafty

This is a basic recipe for a roast – chicken, beef or pork- that never fails.

either 1 whole chicken cut up, 4 chicken breasts, a beef chuck roast, or a pork tenderloin/butt roast

Season your meat however you want (salt, pepper, dried herbs, Montreal seasoning, etc) and sear all sides in a pan w/ a touch of oil.

Preheat oven to 350 and put a small can of low-sodium veggie/chicken/beef broth in a roasting dish. (I just tried those concentrated Knorr things – seasoned gelatinous broth you mix in water. Not bad.)

Add a 1/2 – whole pack of fresh rosemary to the pan. Thyme and fresh or dry bay leaves are good too.
While your meat is searing, get your veggies ready. I always cut the top off a head of garlic and put it face down in the roasting pan. About an hour or so in, I take tongs and squeeze out the roasted garlic onto the vegetables.

via

Use whatever veggies you have – like cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potatoes, parsnips, mushrooms – asparagus, broccoli and sugar snap peas are good towards the last half hour of cooking. Salt and pepper your veggies after you dump them in the pan.

This serves 4 so, keep the amount of veggies in mind. (2 medium potatoes per person)

Add the meat on top of the veg.

You can deglaze the pan with more broth, water or wine (red for beef, white for chicken & pork), and sherry works great with beef too. Add this to the pan. About an inch of liquid in the pan should be good. the veg & meat will give off liquid as well.

Cover well and toss in the oven for about 2 hours. You don’t have to baste or really check anything except maybe your liquid level, which really should be fine.

NOTE: Roasting means the meat cooks in its own steam – not swimming in liquid – that’s braising. That’s why I set the meat on top of the veg. You can have the meat in the liquid, surrounded by veg if you want. That way, you can cut your cooking time by a half to a full hour and still have tender meat. You can also raise the oven temp to 400 to speed it up.

Since it’s just the two of us, this makes great leftovers for the next night and I think it’s even better once heated up again in the oven for about a half hour.

{ 1 comment }

oatmeal cookies

by Lara on December 13, 2011

in geek

This recipe has now been in my family for four generations and it’s THE BEST. Seriously. Not even trying to humble brag.

I can’t tell you how many it makes though because I eat so many as I go and I really don’t count. I’d say at least a few dozen. I usually double or triple this recipe though since I give a ton away.

Get a big bowl!

MIX TOGETHER:

2 sticks butter (when I bake, I usually do half margarine, half butter – keeps things moist and prevents dark bottoms)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

ADD and MIX:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teasp. baking soda

1/2 teasp. salt

1/2 teasp. cinnamon

FOLD IN:

3 cups Quaker quick oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 – 1 cup walnuts

PREHEAT OVEN to 350 and put the dough in the fridge until the oven is ready. I like to keep the bowl in the fridge to keep it firm while a batch is in the oven.

Parchment paper on cookie sheets is my favorite.

Drop dough the size of golf balls (or a bit bigger) onto a cookie sheet (about 8 for a standard pan to give enough room) and bake for 10 minutes.

The cookies may look a bit wet and raw in the center but if the edges are browning, take them out and cool on a rack anyhow. They’ll be chewy and perfect!

 

Here are my fave recipes for easy fudge, pound cake and apple pie!

 

{ 4 comments }

kitchen gifts

by Lara on November 27, 2011

in crafty

Here’s a collection of gifts for those who love spending time in the kitchen. Everything is $30 or less (not including shipping).

Babycakes Pie Maker $30 + shipping

A friend on Twitter was raving about this little gadget. How cute is this? You can do sweet and savory pies, topped or not, with store bought crust. They also make a mini cupcake maker, a whoopie pie maker, mini donut maker and a pie pop maker! (I found the best prices online.)

Great for families – Popsicle mold $13 and recipe book $6 (don’t forget sticks!)

For a baker -marble rolling pin $14

pie bird $5 – crust shield $5 – crust weights $7

For a couple – Insulated picnic basket $30 – in a bunch of colors

ceramic elephant creamer $9

herb scissors $9 & herb saver $8

reusable up to 300 times – pop up poultry timer $12

stainless steel pasta maker $29

Add a bag of nuts – Squirrel Nutcracker $15

kitchen timer $10

{ 6 comments }

salads

by Lara on November 22, 2011

in crafty

Perfect timing to talk about eating healthy with the Thanksgiving gorge-fest in a few days!

I’m still sticking to my plan and ended up buying a scale so I can keep track of my progress. The one at the store said I had lost 6 lbs. It’s more like 4. I’m not complaining!

Anyhoo… I was spending a small fortune at my local health food store’s salad bar so, I went ahead and got a bunch of produce to make my own mini bar for the week!

baby tomatoes and pre-sliced mushrooms, shredded carrot, sliced bell pepper, shredded beets, cucumber, radishes, red cabbage and broccoli

not pictured: a box of baby spinach, low-fat feta, candied pecans, balsamic vinaigrette, and I blackened and sliced up a bunch of chicken tenders.

I finally used my food processor for something other than hummus. Those attachments are so much fun! This all took about 1/2 hour and will make things so much easier and cheaper.

Still doing the two eggs in the morning and snacking on Lara Bars, low fat string cheese, bananas, apple slices with peanut butter and dried apricots during the day.

Sunday, we decided on keeping red meat to one day a week. I’d like to make it less than that. I celebrated my good behaviour and a shitty week by cooking huge steak dinner. It was delicious and I’m not going to feel bad about it!

Speaking of not feeling bad, here’s everything I’m cooking (all by myself) for Thanksgiving:

rolls, 2 turkey breasts, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar & pineapple, crispy potato roast, stuffing, gravy, deviled eggs, potato salad, 2 coconut pies

I don’t even like Thanksgiving dinner but I will enjoy every bite!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

{ 3 comments }

Fall inspiration

by Lara on September 12, 2011

in decor

I’m getting excited about Fall! Here’s a collection of easy ideas (you know I like easy) to start planning for:

Pumpkin gnocchi and Gorgonzola sauce – I wanted to make these w/ brown butter and sage last year and still have a can of pumpkin in my pantry. Ridiculous. You can just roll the gnocchi on a fork.

If you leave that can in your pantry like me, try a hydrating pumpkin face mask!

felt leaf garland

apple slices – I’d like to do caramel and chopped nuts

I love purple for Fall – via

pet bow tie!

two bite pumpkin pies

cowl scarf

crispy potato roast

teapot

2 bundt cakes – some I’ve seen were completely iced orange. This drip effect is nice though… just more! :)

Kelly of Let’s Die Friends made this awesome wreath! Love it!

Here are some of my favorite Halloween ideas:

via

hand soap

love this pumpkin idea! Mouse Motel!

tarantula in acrylic – the bf got me one for Christmas. His name is Oscar and he lives on my bedroom mantle!

A great idea if you work in an office and want to be subtly disgusting.

candy corn bath bomb

What are YOU planning to do around the house for this Fall season?

{ 7 comments }

+ & –

by Lara on August 11, 2011

in + & -

  • With the heat, I haven’t felt like cooking more than some chicken to top a salad. I managed two big dinners this past weekend and they were easy and delicious! Saturday: small pork tenderloin in oven then glazed with coarse mustard and apricot jam, pan fried and seasoned teeny taters, corn on the cob, bread & butter. Sunday: reheated the last 2 ears of corn, steaks, fried polenta slices popped in a warm oven w/ goat cheese on top and heated up grilled balsamic onions from Trader Joe’s freezer section. Yum! 2 people – 4 plates – $25. Yes, they’re missing green vegetables. Whatever. It was the weekend.

photo via

  • omg this cat bed!

photo via

  • I’m not doing a separate Birchbox post this month but here’s what I got for August (sorry about bad cell phone pics):

Mom & I did a little spa day with it. The hair mask made our hair silky soft (we have fine hair so we managed to split the sample), the face wash was watery but removed all eye makeup (smelled amazing but left my skin dry and tight), the eye pads were fun but I didn’t suddenly have the eyes of a toddler and NO WAY would I pay $60 for 10 sets. I haven’t tried the blinc eyeliner yet. Will report later!

  • Yesterday I shared 3 awesome girls, living within normal means. Here are my 3 favorite fantasy fashion bloggers:

Karla’s Closet

Aureta’s blog

Life in Travel

It’s been a while since I’ve really complained so, here’s a few things that really grind my gears right now:

  • Two pairs of jeans I’ve washed and worn countless times (were actually my loose boyfriend style jeans) got washed w/ Purex detergent and dried and now can’t fit above my knees! I’ve LOST weight and everything else fits fine. So yeah. Screw you Purex. All my other clothes washed with it felt stiff and gross. The jeans went to Goodwill where a 10 year old girl may fit into them.
  • Can companies who use mint flavoring (gum, mouthwash, toothpaste, etc) just say “wintergreen”, “spearmint” and “peppermint”? I hate wintergreen with the deadly fires of a thousand suns and there’s nothing worse than putting “sparking mint” in your mouth and have it be wintergreen! What the hell is “sparkling mint”? Pure filth, that’s what.
  • Okay, last rant: outsourced customer service. No… first off, not being able to find a contact number on a company’s website and having to do a Google search to get this secret number, then calling to talk to someone in India who won’t get off their script to have a real conversation with you about the issue you’re having, that may not fall under said list of scripts. Look, I’ve seen “Office Tigers” and it makes me sad. I also know our unemployment rate is ridiculous and these companies get tax breaks to send jobs overseas for people who can’t even do their damn job. I would rather pay a bit more for products/services to actually have a more secure America and better customer service.

What’s grinding your gears these days? Vent!

{ 4 comments }

+ & –

by Lara on May 10, 2011

in + & -

 

 

  • I’ve grown 2 inches in the past few years! How on earth does this happen when you’re an adult? I’ve checked online and a few other women have experienced the same thing but there’s no real explanation. So strange. Welp, I’m 5’3″ now!
  • I’m loving Pinterest. Truly. If you need an invite, send me your email!
  • Whoa

  • Bap Story is a new Korean cooking blog. It’s starting off with the essentials and the recipes are spot on. One of my favorite things is spicy cucumber salad. So easy and great for the summer!

  • I can’t take a walk around my neighborhood without the bf pointing out potential safe houses from zombie attacks. This would be his dream place. I’m kinda digging it too!

  • For you crafty and home decor folk, there’s a new site called Pick Your Plum. Sign up for a daily email alerting you of a crazy deal for that day only. Shipping is reasonable. There have been pretty drawer pulls at 90% off, ribbon, all sorts of stuff!

 

 

  • Oh hey there 1/2″ long rogue chin whisker that I hadn’t noticed for god knows how long! Where did you come from? Oh that’s right, I’m in my 30s now.

  • So the next 2 weeks are gonna be ridiculous. I almost had an anxiety attack last night thinking about it. Bf’s bff is coming this weekend. His birthday is next Wednesday. His sister and her husband are coming from Jersey the weekend after this one. It’s really not a big deal but I get overwhelmed with the thought of being a good hostess. I want to know when people are showing up and when they’re leaving. I need to know how many breakfasts and lunches and dinners to prepare for. I have to clean. I have to do a ton of laundry. Yeah.

 

{ 14 comments }

easy chocolate fudge

by Lara on November 29, 2010

in crafty

Fudge at a candy store sells for at least $8 a pound. This is a super easy & inexpensive recipe that just requires just a bit of stirring and makes 3 pounds!

I like making this around Christmas. I can fill a few small tins from the dollar store and those random gifts for your neighbors, coworkers, etc are covered!

Here’s what you need:

13″ x 9″ glass baking dish (glass since you will cut the fudge in the pan)

medium sized pot

wooden spoon or heat safe spatula

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine (margarine has a longer shelf life, if you’re making this a week or so in advance)
  • 5oz can evaporated milk
  • 12oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips
  • 7oz jar of marshmallow creme
  • 1+ cup of nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, black walnuts, hazelnuts… it’s up to you – if you want to sprinkle some on top of your finished fudge, get a bit more.) Or, leave the nuts out! You can get creative with toppings after it’s in the pan, like butterscotch chips, mini marshmallows, coconut flake, etc.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease your glass pan with butter. Set aside.

Add the sugar, milk and butter into a pot and bring to a boil. STIR FOR 5 MINUTES while boiling. Set your timer and just stir like a zombie. (This set time eliminates candy thermometers and all that mess.)

Take off the heat and add marshmallow creme, morsels, nuts and vanilla. Stir some more, until it’s a consistent rich brown with no marshmallow swirls.

Dump and spread out into your glass pan. You can add some more nuts to the top if you like, while it’s still hot.

Yup, I just made this!

Let cool completely. Get a sharp knife, a bowl of hot water and a towel. Slice in 1 to 2″ squares, cleaning your knife off after each slice for clean cuts.

Line tins with plastic wrap or wax paper, and add wrap between layers.

You’re done!

Also check out my pound cake and apple pie recipes!

{ 6 comments }

Asian market finds

by Lara on October 22, 2010

in geek

Going to an Asian market can be really intimidating. There are so many things you’ve never seen before and most things have labels you can’t even understand. There are also so many different Asian countries, cultures and cuisines. The bf is half-Korean and has helped me navigate the Korean markets in Richmond. His mom has also taken us to some meccas in Nova. I usually go nuts over the candies. Here are some of my favorite things.

  • Mango jelly cups! You know how we have pre-made Jell-O cups? Well, at most Asian markets, you can find jelly cups. They come in much smaller portions, like Jell-O shooters, in plastic bags or giant tubs. We hit up a big international market in Nova this past weekend and I grabbed a tub of mango jellies. They’re vegan. The gelatinous quality comes from seaweed extract and little chunks of nata de coco (a process of fermenting coconut water) and they’re delicious! If you happen to hit up an Asian market, try to find the more opaque mango ones. Also, if you are vegan, double check the ingredients. Some that say “pudding” may have milk powder in them.

  • Hoddeok – Korean stuffed sweet pancakes. They’re a common street food and super easy to make. They’re like smooshed fried doughnuts filled with brown sugar and crushed peanuts. You can find the packages at most Korean markets. You can also make them from scratch.

  • Spicy Korean ramen – If you love spicy food, this ramen is where it’s at. My dad is insane for hot food and cooks with just the seasoning pack in these things now. I have to keep him stocked up. Ridiculous.
  • Gochujang - this hot pepper paste is a staple in Korean cooking. It’s used in marinating Korean BBQ and as a condiment. It comes in different levels of heat.

  • Candies and Milkita – I love the random flavors of Asian hard candies and gummies. Plum is my favorite. Milkita candies have a cute little cow and a creamy flavor.

  • Large pearl tapioco or boba. Bubble tea is a Taiwanese flavored drink with gigantic black tapioca at the bottom. You drink it with a huge straw. You can find the tapioca and flavored mixes to make your own, or cook (boil until soft) and add the large pearls to regular tapioca pudding for fun. They also come in pastel colors.
  • Noodles! Oh my god there are so many types of noodles! Rice noodles, buckwheat, egg… you name it.

  • Oyster sauce and other staples- use oyster sauce in Asian recipes instead of super strong fish sauce. It’s much milder and less salty. Great with sautéed bok choy, garlic and soy sauce as a side. Also invest in some good soy sauce and sesame oil. La Choy is Americanized garbage.

  • Bacchus energy drinks- If you like Red Bull, these tiny bottles of Korean energy drinks will knock your socks off!

  • Nylon washcloths- These things are awesome! I’ve mentioned them before for exfoliation. They’re coarse and scrub the heck out of your skin. They’re also long so you can get your back, develop a great lather, and they dry quickly. They’re about $3 and last forever.

  • Mochi – These are Japanese and are soft sweet rice powder cakes with a fruit filling! You can also find the ice cream versions in the frozen section.

  • While you’re in the freezer section, look for boxes of melon bars. They taste like the most perfectly ripe cantaloupe you’ve ever had.
  • Produce! Try out all the different fruits and vegetables for the heck of it! There are enough resources online to figure out how to cook with new things. Lychee fruit, musk melons, daikon radish, various mushrooms (bags of dried ones are great to keep on hand and reconstitute beautifully).

  • Frozen dumplings – These are hit and miss. I really don’t like the kimchi dumplings and some of the vegetable ones have been a mushy disappointment. It seems that you get what you pay for in most cases. There are so many different kinds. Just grab a bag and give ‘em a shot!

Well, that’s all for now! Go out and be adventurous!

{ 10 comments }

+ & –

by Lara on October 12, 2010

in + & -

  • Do you love paper goods? I just discovered Felt & Wire Shop. Such pretty things from all over, in one place! Love this wrapping paper. (I covered my funky linen closet shelves with fun robot wrapping paper secured with tape and then protected with clear contact paper. It’s held up great and is easy to remove.)

  • Speaking of, I really love to wrap presents. Here’s the gift for the bf’s sister’s wedding next weekend. I went a little nuts at Ben Franklin. We went crazy getting her killer serving pieces at every Marshalls and TJMaxx in town. She wants to entertain.

  • She-Ra turned 25! Next to Jem, they were my favorite dolls and I can’t believe I sold them all on eBay.

  • My rat’s lump on his chin is gone! There’s a wee scab left so I’m wondering if it was a cyst that burst. (gross, sorry) I’m relieved. Barnaby’s my favorite. He lets me scratch and rub him up and he cuddles. Toki hates me.

go Barnaby go!

  • Thankfully, there aren’t any major negatives burning my ass right now. I miss karaoke. I was always a ham at ballet recitals and school plays. I ad-libbed a lot.  A few beers, a few shots and… well, I really miss karaoke. My signature songs were Beastie Boys’ Get it Together, Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell,, and if you ask me to sing with you, I’ll sing anything you want, with gusto!
  • I do want to talk about how sick and tired I am of those commercials with the bitchy wives and wussy husbands. There are the ones for yogurt where a man can’t even look in his own fridge without his wife, hand on hip, calling “Babe?” in an imperious tone. He sheepishly looks down and shuts the fridge door. There’s also the washing machine commercial with the break dancers. The husband decides to bust a tiny move and make a bad joke. (I would’ve burst out laughing.) His wife cuts a look and he also puts his head down and says, “Sorry.” This is pathetic and makes me feel sorry for men who can’t just be themselves because of overbearing women holding their balls for them in their purse. I’m a raging feminist but that doesn’t give me the right to be a bitch. Sure I want respect and wish to be treated like a “lady”. I’m a feminist but I’m also Southern as hell. We all need to be careful what we wish for. There’s a quote by writer Jean Kerr:

The only thing worse than a man you can’t control is a man you can.

{ 4 comments }

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