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Archive for March, 2012

I wanted to eat healthy so I made mac & cheese…with kale!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on March 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Seriously!  Mike and I were looking for something healthy to make for dinner when we found this recipe from Bon Appetit.  For the last 2 years or so kale has slowly been creeping onto menus at restaurants in Los Angeles.  In my opinion, kale…is…okay.  I’ve just never go out of my way to order it, but like I said, we wanted to eat healthily so we picked #6 from Bon Appetit’s list of “10 Quick and Easy Ways to Cook with Kale”.

For this recipe, the only item we had to actually purchase was the kale.  Also note, we doubled the original recipe since we love having leftovers in the fridge and we skipped the whole milk and used skim milk instead to try and cut down on calories.  Here we go!

Baked Kale Mac & Cheese

  • 2 tbsp. of unsalted butter
  • 2  tbsp. of all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups of skim milk (we tossed in shredded mozzarella to thicken the sauce)
  • 1 head of kale
  • 4 cups of macaroni
  • grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs to top it off

Make a bechamel by melting 2 tbsp. unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 2 cups of skim milk and a handful of mozzarella cheese, whisking, until mixture thickens and cheese melts and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Blanch leaves from 1 head of kale and puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Stir kale into bechamel sauce.

Boil 4 cups elbow macaroni; drain. Transfer to an lightly greased 9x13x4″ baking dish and pour sauce over.

Sprinkle with a mixture of breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until warmed through and browned on top, about 25 minutes. (Or if your oven isn’t calibrated like ours it will take longer.)

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Jello Shots, St. Patrick’s Day Style

Posted in Holidays, Party, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on March 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »

I know you are all wondering “what festive thing can I possibly make to share with my fellow drunken irishmen??” Have no fear, we have an answer to all of life’s questions and Jameson Jello Shots is obviously the answer to this one!

First St. Pats together in LA. circa '08

Pittsburgh people, as we know, bleed black and gold, but on St. Patty’s day they bleed nothing but green. Whether it’s due to their actual Irish roots or just the amounts of green beer they consume is yet to be determined. The Pittsburgh Parade is huge and definitely something we miss here in LA.

Outside of the parade, another tradition that has taken off are the annual Wendel’s Jello Shots. There are many awesome recipes but you’ll have to follow our blog to catch them throughout the year. For now here is how you make the St. Patrick’s Day Jello Shots!

Katie's Mom, Wendel's. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

St. Patrick’s Day Jello Shots

  • 1 small box of lime jello
  • 1 small box of lemon jello
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 3/4 cup cold water
  • 1 1/4 cups Jameson Irish Whiskey

Dissolve jello in boiling water; Stir in cold water.  Cool some in refrigerator (enough to take the heat off but not jelled).  Stir in whiskey.   Pour in disposable plastic 1oz. shot glasses, cover with matching lids, chill.

You can use sugar-free jello. Makes about 36-38 1oz. cups, but I usually double for parade day.

Get shot glasses at a party or paper store. If you’re a Pittsburgher, Schorin’s in the Strip is the best place for all your needs!

Happy Green Beer Day and enjoy your Irish jello shots!

Leprechaun out. Katie.

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Pesto is the Besto!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , on March 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Metz and I love pesto!  If we are at a restaurant and there’s a good looking sandwich or pasta dish on the menu that contains pesto one of us will be ordering that dish, and inevitably sharing it with the other.  We purchase pesto from the Santa Monica Farmers Market, Bay Cities Deli, and the much less exciting Sam’s Club.  We love it no matter who makes it!  I think if we could drink it we probably would.

Since I’ve been falling more and more in love with my food processor I thought I’d try making pesto on my own.  And honestly, I can’t believe how easy it is!  (I know this sounds stupid, but for the price of pesto I thought that it might be more difficult to make.)  Every time I open my fridge and a I see a jar of pesto that I made myself I smile.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.  Any leftovers you can transfer to an air tight container and drizzle a layer of olive oil on top.  Pesto’s enemy is air, so make sure you close it up tight.  It will be good in the fridge for 3 weeks or so.

If freezing, leave the cheese out of the recipe and add it when you goto use the pesto.  You can freeze pesto in ice cube trays for perfect portions and then transfer to an air-tight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

If you need more inspiration for making your own pesto then check out this video.  It’s what started it all for me: 

Enjoy!

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Something to stew over…

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on March 6, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Many weekend trips have pulled me away from keeping the masses updated on my latest attempts at craftdom. For this I say I’m sorry I’m not sorry. You’ll be happy I’m not sorry after you cook up what’s about to happen in this post.

A weekend ski trip with friends calls for only a few things, lots of food and lots of beer. Did I say lots of beer? I’m sorry, what I meant to say was LOTS of beer. In between beers though, the crew did have to eat. What better way to recover from a day on the snowy slopes than with Wendel’s (my mother confessed post-post that this is my Aunt Jean’s recipe, thanks Aunt Jeanie!) BEEF STEW!

This would typically be where I insert the picture of the finished project, but apparently I was too busy eating and forgot to take one. So you get the image of ingredients instead, how exciting for you! (update: I found a picture of the finished product after I posted this!)

SO DELICIOUS!

Thanks Mom for getting me a specialty "cow" cutting board, really helped me remember I was cooking beef.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2-3 lbs beef for stew (buying precut stew meat saves tons of time although you’ll probably still have to cut the pieces smaller)
  • appr. 2 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed (red or gold potatoes work best)
  • 1 bag baby carrots
  • 4 celery branches sliced
  • 1 large onion cut in pieces
  • (above are all estimates, feel free to use more or less of ingredients depending on what you like!)

LIQUID MIX:

  • 1 can turkey gravy
  • 2 cups water
  • 3/4 cups ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 pkg. instant onion soup mix
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Spray roasting pan with Pam
  3. Layer the first 5 ingredients in pan
  4. In a separate bowl mix together the liquids
  5. Pour liquids mixture over top of the ingredients in roaster pan.
  6. Cook covered for 2 hours stirring only once

Sounds pretty easy right? Luckily for all of us it really is that easy, but alas I always find a way to complicate things. Like i said the key to a good ski trip is LOTS of food, alright I realize I said LOTS of beer but stop being so knit picky! I had to make two batches to have enough to feed everyone and the first batch turned out perfectly. In fact it was very hard to not eat it before the trip.

The second batch of course I was feeling pretty confident and just eyeballed all my ingredients. One thing you’ll learn about me is I’m not very good at estimating. Since I bought everything in bulk for this recipe I just kept filling the pan until it literally couldn’t take anymore. About an hour into the cooking when it was time for a stir I realized my pan was dripping over in the oven.  Big shout out to the person who invented exhaust fans!

After 2 hours, when it should be tasting as delicious as my first batch, the beef is as chewy as jerky. Perplexed as to why my overflowing roaster pan didn’t magically cook it in the same amount of time, I decided to leave it in the oven a little longer. A little longer turned into about 45 minutes longer. Not so much fun when I timed it perfectly in my head to be finished right before bedtime. Bedtime was closer to 1am that night, which despite many of you thinking I’m a party animal, is quite late for a school night.

In the end I had two delicious batches of Beef Stew to take to the mountains. I decided to freeze it in big Tupperware so it didn’t spill everywhere on the trek up. It also helped keep everything cold in the cooler with minimal ice, win win!

Of course the final touch was picking up some fresh sourdough bread from Schat’s Bakery on the way to Mammoth. Perfection.

Pan over flower out. Katie.

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Best Brownie Ever!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , on March 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Last week I made these ooey gooey brownies for the annual Chloscar party and they were a huge hit! But I felt bad that I didn’t share the recipe on the blog then.  So, it’s a Sunday, I have time, I could use a brownie sundae, and thanks to my stocked pantry all I need to purchase is evaporated milk.  This will be easy!

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs, The Urban Spork.  You can always find something delicious to make on this site, or if you aren’t hungry yet you can just go and look at all the wonderful pictures.

The Urban Spork’s Gooey Brownies

Makes 24 large and thick brownies

Preheat oven to 350°F

Step 1

In a large saucepan, combine and melt the following ingredients over low heat while stirring. When melted, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

  • 16 oz. of good semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 14 oz. can condensed milk

Step 2

Melt butter and then stir in sugar until well combined.  Add to the chocolate mixture from Step 1 into this pot.

  • 1/2 pound of butter (2 sticks)
  • 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

Step 3

Pour your chocolatey / sugary mix from Step 1 & 2 into a large mixing bowl before you start onto Step 3.

  • 2 extra-large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon coffee extract – optional, but highly recommended if you can find it in a store – in Santa Monica I had to go to Sur La Table for this ingredient! Whole Foods & Williams Sonoma didn’t have it. So, I’d suggest calling around to find it before getting in the car.
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Fold 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts into the mixture (optional).

Pour mixture into lightly oiled 13x9x2 inch baking pan and cook for 30-35 minutes.  A cake tester will NOT come out clean!

Adapted from See’s Gooey Brownies

Since I’m overnighting these brownies to my family on the east coast I opted for the walnuts.  Any dessert with nuts in it makes my Dad extremely happy.  Check out the gallery for some sweet brownie pics.  Let me know how yours turn out!

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