As of late...

Heyyyyyyy! 

So this blog has been called "as of late" because we don't have internet at the apartment so it's hard to keep up on my blogs. Not too hard to make tasty food though. 

Steak Sandwich

One night I was craving a good steak sandwich. So we went to the store, grabbed some cheap steak, went home, cut it into strips, and I cooked it in my Le Creuset pot. I just seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it with some yellow onions and jalapeno. I toasted up some buns with Muenster cheese. I then put the steak onions and peppers on the bread and we chowed down. Steak was a little tough but it had a really good flavor. I'm sure if the steak would've cooked longer and slower, it would have been a little more tender. Overall, it was very satisfying.

Next up..

Conor's NoodleLog/ Noodleloffloff/ somethin'...

So Conor wanted to make dinner for all of us, esp Gina but it ended up being for 5 people. Gina, Conor, Me, Michael, and Jazzy. It was noodles and cheese and butter and tastiness! We had no idea what to expect. But when it came time to eat, it was pretty damn awesome and we all had seconds!

and Sushi...

Yeah, we make sushi. So what? My favorite has cream cheese, avocado, and spam. Yes, I SAID SPAM. Don't hate.

And I grilled chicken. And we made a salad.

That chicken was so damn good and the salad was mixed greens, avocado, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes with garlic infused red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt & pepper. Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce is just so perfect. And the chicken was juicy and perfect. This dinner was perfect. 

And one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time, 

Rachael Ray's Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

along with tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad. 

To make this pasta, it's a little pricy-but so so worth it!

Here's the link to her pasta:

Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

And then there was Paula Deen.

My most favorite southern belle. 

My favorite chef. 

And to the haters who say she is making the world fat..

SHE IS MAKING THE WORLD HAPPY! 

So....STFU.

:)

And so there was Paula Deen's

Gooey Gorilla Bread. 

For Christmas I got a surprise present from one of my best friends. 

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible!

I was so effing pumped to get this book. 

So not even a week later, I was trying her recipes. 

Gooey Gorilla Bread!

SO DAMN GOOD! 

Why you should make this:

1. It's easy.

2. Your house will smell like heaven

3. It's a hit with all the ladies. HAHA (But seriously.)

All you need is some biscuits, brown sugar, reg sugar, cinnamon and butter, of course. 

Here is the link for this recipe:

Gooey Gorilla Bread

Lastly, 

another recipe of Paula's

Cream Cheese-Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding.

Let me tell you something about this recipe.

It's the best food you will ever put in your mouth. 

Your taste buds will thank you. 

One little side note though; the recipe calls for an egg bread like brioche or panettone. I couldn't find either of those breads. So I decided to use french bread. Whenever I've seen a bread pudding made on food network, they always say just use whatever bread you have laying around. So I just figured french would be fine. The crust was a little tough but it wasn't. Some parts were chewy and delightful, other parts were creamy and just as delightful. The chewiness gave this recipe some character. 

If you don't believe me, try it yourself and let me know what you think.

Proceed With Caution!

This recipe is rich! 

The link to this recipe:

Paulas Bread Pudding

Any comments, you know where to leave them. 

Live. Laugh. Eat. 

So...it's been a while.

Hey.

It's definitely been a while. But lately, i've been meaning to write and inform but I just haven't. 

Busy? Lazy? All of the above? 

So I have decided to just write about the foods that I have had in the near past. 

Let's start with our trip to Florida.

Well, Michael and I went to Miami this past summer and we had a lot of Latin food and a lot of tasty food in general. First of all, let me just say that Angelina's in Miami has the best fro-yo (frozen yogurt) in the world! I didn't think I liked fro-yo because Red Mango is so terrible. But Angelina's was awesome! I had Raspberry Tart and Dulce de Leche... AMAZING! With some strawberries and coconut..O.M.G. If you ever go to Miami, definitely hit that place up. 

I also had fried plantains for the first time. They were so good! Tasted like fried bananas. I enjoy fried bananas a lot, and the plantains were just as good. 

I also had patacones and taqueno's. I don't remember what patacones had in it because I didn't like it too much. But those taqueno's. Those were tasty. They tasted like a pillsbury crescent roll stuffed with ooey-gooey cheesy goodness! My cousin got like, 50 taqueno's to-go for our sugo night which would be the night after. 

Another sweet treat was at Tasti-D-Lites. We were walking around checking out art galleries and stopped at this place for ice cream. They had like a bajillion flavors! 70 calories, 80 calories, or 90 calories. Or something like that. But I had the mint chocolate waffle cone -70 cal.- and it was darn tasty! I thought it would taste like some diet ice cream but it surely did not. It felt awesome to know that I was eating a huge ice cream cone and I wasn't going to feel like a fatass afterwards! 

Super awesome.

Now let me fill you in on my life recently. 

I got a new job and left Scrubway. I am currently working at Josef of Barbados. Very classy restaurant. Probably one of the classiest in Rockford (Keep the "Rockford sucks" comments to yourself). I am an apprentice to the chefs and I love it! I'm like a little chef. I've already learned how to make so many different things. I've learned how to make goat cheese souffle, quiche, fry some potatoes and plantain chips, sausage rolls, escargot, along with slicing and dicing whatever they throw my way and a slew of other stuff. 

My favorite thing that I have been learning is how to plate the desserts. 

They are so beautiful.

This is the first one I learned. 

Kind of proud of myself just because it isn't the easiest to remember.

 The Crispy Almond Tuille Brulee.
Compliments of Josef's facebook.

Some day I may even get to learn how to make the desserts with the pastry chef. Ever since, well, forever I've wanted to be a pastry chef. And the fact that I get to plate desserts and hang with the big dogs is kind of a big deal (to me). I am very very grateful that I got this job. I am actually happy when I walk into work. That is something I have never really known.

Along with a new job, I've moved out and moved up into a sweet apartment with Michael. Just livin' life and growin' up and stuff. 

New apartment = New kitchen. 

I've made a few things in the kitchen:

Steak sandwiches.

Italian beef.

Grilled up some fish.

Made a red velvet cake and didn't have any.

Grilled pork chops (my specialty).

My version (Gina's favorite) Teriyaki Chicken. 

That's just to name a few. 

I'm not sure what I want to make next but I'm thinking it might be Tiramisu. That is my favorite dessert of all time and I love trying it at different places. I've even had it in Italy and in England. 

It's just what I do. 

It's my favorite. 

It's creamy and has coffee in it and I've made it once before but that was a long time ago. I think it's time for me to try it out again. 

I think the best is at Franchesco's. I just had it a few nights ago. And it is truly the epitome of amazing. Just put a nice big smile on my face and on Michaels. 

Well, I think it's time for me to go to bed. 

Let me know if you have any ideas of what else I should make. 

I'd appreciate it!

Rules are for Fools!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while but I haven't had money. I finally had just a little bit of money and I needed to cook. Honestly, it was a need. I bought some olive oil the other day and decided to separate some into a smaller bottle and added fresh garlic cloves. I also had a quarter of a box of pasta left and I really was feeling like some pasta. But I didn't make any the other day because, "I am trying to stay healthy and pasta is not healthy." So much for that idea! Today I was really hungry and we had some random stuff and I decided to check out my Rachel Ray cookbook and as I was looking at the pastas I said to myself, "Nope. I'm not gonna use a recipe because recipes are for chumps!" So I knew I needed some cheese and I wanted something tomato-ey. I also wanted some fresh herbs. I went to the store and I bought Asiago Cheese, Canned Tomatoes with Italian Seasoning in them, Organic Rosemary, Peaches, and Raspberries. I gave myself a budget which was $10 and I ended up spending 11 something. Pretty good I'd say. 

When I got home I started cooking right away as if my life depended on it. 

1st up was the pasta.

(Let the record show, I did not use any measuring cups or anything. These are just guesstimates.)

Jenny T's Pastachino

Ingredients:

A cup or so of Angel Hair pasta

1 sprig of my good friend, Rose Marie. (Rosemary)

About a half a cup of Asiago Cheese

Half of a medium onion

A 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with the seasonings

Olive oil infused with garlic

A pinch of Red Pepper flakes

And salt and pepper to taste

1st I started to boil the water and once the water came to a boil, I added the pasta to the water and I heated up the frying pan at about medium-high heat. To the frying pan I added about a tablespoon of the olive oil and let that get hot. Then I added the onion and as it started to cook I added a nice pinch of the chopped up rosemary. I could smell it right away. It smelled so sexy.

Once the onions turned slightly translucent I added the whole can of tomatoes.

 Once that started to bubble I added some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. While this was cooking together I drained the pasta and added a little bit of canola oil to the pasta so it wouldn't stick together. I then grabbed about half of the asiago I had grated and added that to the tomatoes and onions. Once that got all melty, I added another pinch of rosemary and it gave the sauce more flavor. I turned it off and added half of the pasta to the tomatoes and onions.

Then I ate it. 

It tasted really good. I could taste the onions and tomatoes and especially the rosemary. I added a little more of the asiago on top to make it pretty for the picture and plus I love cheese. For being pasta, it was quite light compared to what I usually make. When I make pasta I use lots of butter, oil, and cheese. But not this time. I tried to cut back on everything and this pasta turned out awesome. No exaggeration.

Then came time for dessert. 

I have wanted to grill peaches for a while now. So I looked up grilled peaches at FoodNetwork.com and I came across a Bobby Flay recipe. But I didn't read much into it except that he used butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. From that I made my own recipe. 

Grilled Peaches and Raspberries

(Again, I did not measure anything out.)

Ingredients:

3 peaches

a handful of raspberries

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon

a pinch of ground nutmeg

1/2 stick of butter

Heavy duty aluminum foil (better for grilling)

I started up the grill and away I went.

First I took the seeds out of the 3 peaches and cut the peaches into pieces of 8. So I quartered the peaches and cut each piece in half again. I sprayed the foil with some non stick cooking spray and put the peaches on the foil. I then added a small handful of raspberries. I sprinkled on some cinnamon and added the brown sugar. I then put 4 pads of butter on top of the fruit, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I decided to add a little bit of nutmeg because... well... Hey! Why not?

 I wrapped it all up in the foil and put it onto the grill over indirect heat. I let the peaches cook for about 15 minutes then rotated them. I let them cook another 15 minutes and opened up the foil and checked them out. They were done and looked absolutely awesome. I did this all just randomly because I thought all of the flavors would go together like best friends that met in pre-school. And boy oh boy was I right.

I came in and served the peaches and melted berries to Michael, Jasmine, and my mom. Of course I tried some too even though I'm not crazy about peaches or fruit in general. I just thought it'd be a good idea. 

We all tried it out and they thought it was really good but the sauce that it made reminded them of something. Michael said it'd be good on some kind of meat and Jasmine said it'd be good over ice cream. I then had a brain blast and grabbed my blender and sent Michael out to get vanilla ice cream because he's the best! I then puree'd the rest of the peaches and berry sauce until it was smooth. Michael came back and I put a little bit of the puree'd mixture over a couple scoops of ice cream.

Oh My God! It was soooooooo good! It was creamy and smooth and just a good idea all around. 

Jasmine then proceeded to tell me how great of a friend I am and how she is really glad we are friends. I would love to cook for everyone someday and I promise that someday when I have my own restaurant, I will be inviting you all to eat at my restaurant. You won't be disappointed.

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog and sorry I go so long between blogs. 

Any feedback just leave me a comment. 

Live. Laugh. Eat.

Grillin' Like A Champ 101

So it has been forever and a day since I've last posted a blog for my awesome viewers. I figured you all were getting hungry since it's summertime and junk. I've been hungry. Real hungry. Especially for steak. Or any kind of meat you can get your hands on (or grilled veggies for all of you non-meat lovers!)

Once it started getting nice around here, which was around mothers day, I decided to get out the old charcoal grill and make mom a meal she'd never forget! She loves New York Strip steak and so I went to the grocery store to find a couple less expensive steaks for my sister, my mom, and myself. I didn't buy the pre-packaged stuff because that's LAAAAAAMMME. I got two decent sized (1 lb. each) NY Strip from behind the counter or whatever. It was like $6.50/lb. so it came out to be about $13.00 for both steaks. We had some other steak at home I was going to grill up too. I came home and seasoned up the steaks but not too much seasoning. Just enough to taste. A light sprinkle of things- i.e. salt, pepper, garlic salt, and a little basil. 

I let the steaks sit for a little bit with their seasonings so they can get to know each other before they head to their final resting place. 

In the meantime I got the grill going. I learned all my grilling skills from my dad because he can grill up anything and everything. (no joke.) And if I learned anything from him in the past 21 years, it's that gas grills can SUCK IT and charcoal grills reign supreme especially Weber Grills. For a while we were grilling with charcoal lighter and matches. Then.. we got the grill chimney. It's a metal contraption and the way it is used is to put a few pieces of crumbled up newspaper in the bottom, and the old leftover charcoal (from your last cookout) with some new fresh charcoal on top. You light up the bottom newspaper and eventually the coals start to become white (Remember: not completely white.) When this happens you flip the chimney over and lay out your coals (on the coal or bottom rack) evenly and add some more briquettes (charcoal). 

This process takes about 20-30 minutes. It takes up more time this way so people use gas grills to save time and effort. 

So then I put the top grate back on the grill and let that get nice and hot. I went in and got the steaks and put those on. I cooked them mostly with indirect heat meaning I didn't put them in the center where most of the heat was. I put them on the outside of the grate around the coals, not directly on top. When you cook with direct heat, you end up burning and charring the outside of your steak before the inside can even start to have some sexy time. So that way, your steak cooks evenly. 

The steaks turned out AWESOMELY!! My mom is usually a very harsh critic when it comes to my food, but when I cooked for her, she said the meal was the best she's ever had. I also made mashed sweet potatoes. Just steamed up some cut up fresh sweet potatoes for 20 min. Then mashed them up and added butter and some brown sugar. OMG it was awesome. 

I love a man that can eat!

Just a couple weekends ago, Michael and I were wanting steak for lunch and instead of going out for steak, we went to Penguin meats in Rockford because we were in the area. So Michael got two beautiful steaks that weren't too expensive and I got 2 fillet because it was the cheapest they had and I was broke. So we went home and I grilled us up Michael's picked steaks because his were fresh and mine were frozen. My mom pulled out a package of Johnsonville Brats for herself so she could have that for lunch for a few days. Michael loved the steak and my mom loved the brats. She was nervous about me cooking them because we didn't boil them first, we just threw them on the grill. My mom said that the brats were the best she had ever had! And she wasn't joking because she still talks about them 2 or 3 weeks later. Michael ate his steak and I ate mine and Michael had a bite of a brat to try it. He liked it so much he ate the whole thing! I didn't try one. I was too full from the steak. 

Sexy grill lines and not charred whatsoever. :)

A few weeks ago my mom bought some cheap $6.00 ribs from Aldi's. She took them out of the freezer the other night and wanted me to grill them and I decided to cook my fillet as well. I lightly seasoned the ribs and steak and put them on the grill. I wasn't expecting the ribs to turn out very well because I had never cooked ribs by myself without my dads help. Plus we didn't have any Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce. :(

Things to remember:

-Don't over season.

-It isn't always about direct heat. (Slow and in control).

-Charring any food is unhealthy.

-Always use Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce.

-With a little Reynold's tin foil, anything can be done.

-Charcoal grilling is ten times better than grilling with gas. 

Why? 

Gas grills cook unevenly.

Propane tanks scare me.

Well I hope you learned something from this blog. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. 

What's the deal with the Veal?

     Ok, so this really isn't about veal. Well kinda. Or not really. But I did have veal! At my grandma's. She bought these meat sticks. They were pretty tasty. I took a bite. After a bite or two, I was informed that I was eating a veal stick. I had not really planned on eating veal just because of the simple fact that veal is baby cow. *sad face* I hate to say it, or love to say, that it was quite tasty. 

     Ya know, I've had a few new foods since the beginning of my adventure that I have failed to mention in my blogs just because of the simple fact that I am lazy. 

But I have tried the following:

-Fried Okra from Bandanas BBQ
verdict: It didn't taste like anything. Blah. But most of the time when I have fried food, it doesn't ever taste like anything.
-Leeks 
verdict: Michael and I made Parsley soup. Leeks were involved. Smell like onions. Taste like onions. Not as potent as onions.
-Pho (pronounced FUH) from Pho Square in Rockford on Riverside.
verdict: Vietnamese soup. I had heard good things about this soup from friends and therefore tried it with them. They give you a big bowl of soup. I got the vegetable Pho. It had a bunch of different types of veggies along with Tofu. I like tofu. It was a tad bland but it looked absolutely beautiful. And for the record, the people that worked there were the most friendly people I have ever met! (Especially being at a restaurant.) They were so friendly, it put me in a great mood.
-Pastrami (from the workplace. Aka: Subway.)
verdict: It was kind of fatty. Okay, so it was really fatty. And greasy. But you know what, I had it once. The flavor was really good though. Not one of Subway's finest sandwiches but a good flavor. Just add some nice yellow mustard and it was a decent sandwich. I ended up having it 3 or 4 times.

Short, Sweet, and To The Point.

*READ WITH CAUTION: I did not proofread this blog.*

So here's the duck deal. I have been suuuuuuuuuuuuper lazy lately and I just haven't felt like writing. I don't know why but the duck I made just kind of ruined my motivation for a while. This blog that will be short and sad (just like myself). 

JUST KIDDING!

Let me just say this:

The Duck Sucked. 

Basically, I had very high hopes for the duck even though I had never roasted anything (turkey, duck, any kind of meat) by myself. Meaning-- without the help of a parent who happens to know what they are doing. i.e. my dad. I wanted to make it by myself and so I did. I couldn't find a set recipe for a duck online because there were so many variations and it was just all confusing me. They would say, "Do this OR do this OR combine it all!" After seeing that a few times I gathered the info I wanted to use and just WENT FOR IT!  

I woke up that day and I ran to the store to get some pineapple juice, an onion, and whatever else I got that I can't remember. I set the oven at somewhere in the low 300's. (Degrees, Fahrenheit)

I washed the duck with salt and took the liver and kidneys and heart and neck out of the bird and I had to stop for a second because touching that stuff grossed me out. Made light slits in the bird so the fat would render (more fat would come off the bird = not so greasy bird like everyone was telling me). After it was all dry from being patted with paper towels (drying the ducks skin after washing makes for a crispier skin, or so the online people said). I stuffed the duck with a few sprigs of fresh (expensive) rosemary or Rose Marie, as I like to call her. I quartered an onion and an orange and put 3 of the 4 pieces of each into the duck, along with a few smashed cloves of garlic, and a few cinnamon sticks. I did this so the beautiful flavors would be held inside the duck and move throughout. 

I also made a glaze/juice to keep putting over the duck as it cooked. In my head I added everything up and it seemed legit.

Pineapple juice

soy sauce

brown sugar

a little bit of regular sugar

salt

pepper

and other stuff I can't remember. 

*Whisked all of that together*

Drizzled it on the duck. 

Shoved it in the oven for an hour.

Turned it and added more sauce stuff.

Cooked and Waited 30 minutes.

Turned it again and drizzled more sauce.

Cooked and Waited another 30 minutes.

Turned it for the last time and added more sauce.

Cooked and Waited for 15 more minutes.

Then took it out to sit for 30 minutes.

Tried pulling off a duck leg (because Paula Deen made it look easy) and found that I was having a wrestling match with the duck.

Carved in to one breast and it was cooked but tasted (insert *nasty* face here). Well, it just wasn't tasty.

It tasted game-y and tough. I don't know about you but I don't like tough meat.

My mom didn't like it either. That wasn't a big surprise. She's picky.

Gina my seeester, kinda liked it. Then bit into a pink part and spit it in the garabage. Good girl.

Then...

Carved in to the other breast

IT WAS STILL BLOODY! 

After seeing this, I got nauseous and upset, then I said, "That's depressing."

Kept the good meat and threw the whole effing duck in the garabage.

Brought some of the good meat to my dad and he said it was good. He had never had duck before. 

He isn't picky. 

I talked to him about it and he encouraged me to try again and next time USE A MEAT THERMOMETER AND COOK IT SLOW! 

YES! A MEAT THERMOMETER! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN????!!! 

and

COOK IT SLOW?! THAT SHOULD BE COMMON SENSE!

But either way, I didn't have a meat thermometer at my moms house. Next time I will

DONE!

I also made Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Pie with the help of Alton Brown. 

I watched Alton's video:

Click Here to watch Alton's video!

and looked at Paula's recipe because who better than the down-home country gal, Paula Deen for a sweet potato pie recipe?? Um No One!!

Click Here for Paula's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie Recipe!

I watched Alton's video because Paula didn't explain how to cook the fresh sweet potatoes. So it was very easy. I chopped up the sweet potatoes and steamed them for 20 min. Perfect Potatoes every time!

I followed Paula's recipe, minus the meringue. Baked it and it was absolutely delicious and flavorful and fresh! It tastes like pumpkin pie but fresh and like sweet potato. Fresh pumpkin pie is also great but who has the time to mess with a whole fresh pumpkin? Not me. 

(Well, sometimes. Around the holidays at my dads.) 

But anyways, The duck sucked and the pie rocked! I definitely encourage you to try Paula's Old- Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie recipe. It's awesome. 

Also:

Never give up especially on yourself. And if you mess up a few times, don't let that get you down. Keep going. No matter what it is.

WWDD?

(What Would Dory Do?) 

"Just Keep Swimming."

or...

"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." 

-Cinderella Story

or...

Whatever your motivational quote is, JUST DO IT. 

Cottage Cheese Pananacakes!!

Cottage Cheese Pananacakes = Pancakes with Cottage Cheese and Bananas

Sounds disgusting right? Right.

Different than your average pancake? Most definitely.

You're probably wondering why cottage cheese pancakes. Well I can give you a hint: Matt Kittoe. Who is Matt Kittoe? Well, I work with him and he is Michaels' bffeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeae! He eats healthy and is getting in shape (as we speak). He is always talking about cottage cheese pancakes. They are healthy for you. I don't know how really but they are. They consist of cottage cheese, eggs, a little flour, a little baking powder, and your choice of salt or sugar. My lovely assistant Michael and I decided on a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar and also added a whole banana. << Yum Yum Potassi-YUM!!!  

Click Here for the recipe!

We told my mom we were going to be making pancakes and she decided out of the kindness of her heart that she would supply the funds for this tasty adventure. She also supplied the funds for the Flan. Thanks Mom! 

Here is a tip from her to the world that she tells me every time I go out at night:

"Be Aware of Your Surroundings."

Well first the recipe said to mix the 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of cottage cheese together. I did the cottage cheese and Michael used his one-handed cracking skills (sexy!) with the eggs that were put into one mixing bowl. Whisked it up a little, then added 1 teaspoon of baking POWDER. (This is very important because if you use baking SODA when it calls for POWDER, you will mess the whole recipe up. No matter what you are baking. That's real talk!) Once that was all mixed up, I quartered a whole banana and chopped the banana into small pieces, whisked it up a little more, then it was time to start cookin'.

I don't have a griddle so we used a large non-stick frying pan. Works just as well, just less space. A few more ingredients we used were leftovers: coconut from our Flan, sliced almonds my mom had left over from making cookies, and Fruit Loops. Yep. You heard me. Fruit Loops.

I wasn't yankin' your chain :)

Well, we got the pan nice and hot and added a little canola oil. It called for vegetable oil but I didn't have that so canola was our only option. My dad is an awesome pancake maker and so he's always taught me that when making pancakes, drop only a dime-sized bit of batter onto the pan. That way, you can tell if the pan and oil is hot enough and ready to go. You will know it's hot enough because the sides of the dime-sized drop will start cooking and turning light brown. Once that little bit did exactly what we were looking for, the fun began. At first we did 2 pancakes at a time then moved up to four pancakes at a time. You will know the pancakes are ready to flip when you see bubbles appear through the batter and end up on top. So I tried the first flip and I messed it up. From there I let Michael watch the pancakes because he's a pretty good pancaker himself. So I grabbed the coconut, almonds, and fruit loops. We had a few pancakes with just coconut, a few with just almond, and a few with almond and coconut. The last of the batter made one more pancake and that was the one with the fruit loops. 

When all of the pancakes were done cooking, we divided the pancakes up between us. I had heard that honey was good on pancakes along with being a healthy alternative to syrup. I tried it on one and it wasn't my thing. So I stuck to Mrs. Butterworths syrup and so did Michael. On the side we had some chopped strawberries and kiwi.

After we both tried all of our choices of pancakes, we agreed that surprisingly, the fruit loop pancake was our favorite. It gave the pancake sweetness, color, and an all-around great taste. It was one of those things, don't judge it 'til you try it. My second favorite was the almond pancake. 

Going into this, I didn't know what to expect because I thought, "Cottage cheese? In pancakes? This should be interesting." My mouth just didn't know what to expect. But the fact is, if you came to eat these pancakes, and we didn't tell you that there was cottage cheese in the pancakes we made you, you would never know there was cottage cheese in the pancakes you had just devoured. I could taste the banana but not the cottage cheese. 

Sometimes you have to just jump and try something new without thinking yourself out of it. Now if only I could apply that to life and not just food. I think that should be my new motto. Because when you eat, you do so much more than chew, digest, and be happy. You have to taste. You have to think. Sometimes fall in love. So this week, try something new. Anything. Don't think, just Do. 

(: See ya next blog :)

*Pictures coming soon*

The Triple Threat: Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup

*Everything in this blog that is red, is something new that I have never used or have done before.*

It all started with the thought of... The Tomato.

My best buddy, Andrew, had a hankerin' for some sort of tomato soup. For Christmas, I had recently bought him a cookbook with a multitude of low-fat and/or fat-free recipes. He has worked very hard to get his body in great shape and has lost quite a bit of weight over a period of months, so therefore, I bought him a healthy cookbook.

 Ladies, he's 20 years old, single, a scorpio, loves being active, and an all-around great guy who will treat you right and make you a great sandwich. You want a shot with him,

shoot me a comment, message, or Facebook me:
Jennifer Tillou (I'm the only Jennifer Tillou).

 ;)

Anyways...

Andrew had a hankerin' for some sort of tomato soup. He had a few recipes picked out and so after work I went down to his house, a few houses down from mine, and we decided to make "Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup." The picture for this soup looked the best out of the 3 I had to choose from.

The first thing Andrew wanted to do was make a list he would need at the store. We went to Woodman's, "the grocery store of grocery stores", and we got everything we needed;
such as:
Fresh Ginger Root,
A pound of fresh Tomatoes,
A yellow Onion,
Sunflower oil,
Crushed Cumin seeds,
(We bought those whole because our only options were whole or ground)
Red Split Lentils,
(Lentils are a type of bean that you do not need to soak or cook all day)
Tomato Paste,
and lastly...
Vegetable Stock.

Before we started, I ran up to my house to grab fresh garlic, my food processor, and my special chopping knife. Once we got back to his house after the store, THE PREP BEGAN! I was in charge of chopping the onions, chopping the ginger root, and seeding the tomatoes. The recipe called for a pound of fresh tomatoes that were skinned and seeded. This was something I had never done before personally, but I had seen the technique on t.v. many times before. It also helped that the cookbook told us how to do this properly, as well. We had to bring a pot of water to a boil to submerge the tomatoes in for 30 seconds. We counted to 30 in tandem. Then we took each tomato out of the boiling water and shocked it in a pot of very cold water. After that was done, we dug our finger nails into the tomatoes to peel the very thin layer of skin off of them. (Don't worry, we washed our hands many times during the making of this soup.) I was having trouble peeling the skin because I really don't have nails to dig in with, so Andrew peeled the tomatoes and I started the seeding process by using a spoon to scrape the seeds out, ever-so-lightly. Then I chopped the remaining tomatoes up and put them in a bowl.

In the meantime, Andrew started to try to crush the whole cumin seeds. The recipe called for crushed cumin. Our only options were ground or whole. So we went with whole. Little did we know that it would be so difficult to find a way to crush the whole cumin seeds. I made suggestions that he tried, like the butt of a wooden spoon and his mom, Mary Jo, suggested to use a wooden meat mallet. Then, Andrew came up with an idea that was molded by a stroke of genius. After trying numerous kitchen utensils, he went for,

wait for it...
wait for it..
wait.

HIS COFFEE GRINDER!
(Which I bought him for his birthday this year!)

It worked perfectly and would give the soup that spicy little kick. The cumin smelled like it belonged in chili. Which it usually is used in chili. I never really knew that and neither did he because we both decided that it belonged in chili.

Another new ingredient I had never cooked with fresh was the ginger root. We only needed an inch of it. Literally, an inch. It smelled amazing. Like lemon. The freshest of lemon. It was such a happy smell. It was kind of tough to chop but I am...

The Chopper!
>>Insert Evil Laugh Here<<

Once everything was done being prepped, the adventure began. Andrew fired up the stove and added the sunflower oil (a healthy alternative to olive oil or canola oil) to the hot, deep soup pan. Once the oil was nice and hot, I added my finely chopped onion. He cooked the onion until it became soft and slightly translucent. From there we added the chopped garlic, ginger, and cumin.

Once that had all cooked together for a few minutes, Andrew added the red split lentils and I added the chopped tomatoes simultaneously.

Beautiful colors!

He let that cook for a few more minutes then he added about two Tablespoons of tomato paste. (The recipe only called for one Tablespoon but we put just about two. Because we can.) I added the (unsalted- Andrews decision) vegetable stock. The recipe called for five cups of chicken or vegetable stock, but it wasn't until we got home that the vegetable stock we had bought, only contained four cups and not five.

Oh well. No bigs.
:)

Once the soup came to a boil, Andrew turned the flame down on the stove and we let the soup simmer for a half an hour. To pass the time, we admired just about every recipe in the cookbook I had bought him that he seemed to have fallen in love with. From pastas to salads and to desserts and breads.

Now for the fun part.
:D

We turned the flame off on the stove and poured our simmered soup into the food processor. Suddenly, the liquid of the soup started leaking out of the food processor from every which-way. The blade seemed to be too shallow and therefore, the liquid of the soup came out from under the blade and leaked out onto the kitchen counter. It looked like puke. Yes puke. And honestly, it kind of made me nauseous. So as Andrew's and my eyes grew bigger because of the mess we had begun to make, we each took ten seconds (felt like a minute) to figure out what to do next.

Do we just go for it as fast as we can and make an even BIGGER mess or do we use paper towels to sop up the dripping mess and then go for it? 


DUN! DUN! DUN!

Andrew grabbed a few paper towels and wrapped it around the food processor with his hands holding them in place. I secured the food processor lid and pressed "On" while he proceeded to hold the towels in place. We stopped, he changed the paper towels, and I pressed "On" one more time. We agreed that that was enough. When we were done processing the soup, I tried to unlock the part of the processor which held our processed soup. When I got close to having it unlocked, more soup mess came out. So Andrew pretty much said, "Watch out!" and picked up the whole processor and poured it back into the pan. We turned the flame back on to bring it to a simmer to heat the soup back up. While the soup heated back up, we cleaned up our soupy/pukey-looking mess. And cleaned up the food processor and it's parts.
 (For those of you that care about the food processors' well-being, it was cleaned up and is looking good as new.)

Then the soup came to a slight boil and we turned off the flame and We. Were. Done!

Andrew took down two very pretty, clean, white glass bowls and he poured our soup into the bowls.
I snapped a few pictures and Voila!

End Result: Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup.

When the soup was all done, we were ready to eat.

Without even mentioning anything, Andrew pulled down some crushed red pepper flakes from the cupboard and added a sprinkle of black pepper. That thought never even crossed my mind. It was that extra "beauty" and extra "taste" component. Or better yet, the cherry on top of a perfect sundae. (Even though I don't like cherries but bear with me. You know what I mean.) We each salted our bowl of soup to each of our own likings and it was nothing short of awesome.

 It was a perfect dish for the winter time.

The memory it brought to my mind was something like we had just got home from sledding and it was very cold outside. This soup would be ready on the stove and ready to be eaten to warm each of us up. My only warning to you people who do not like spicy foods, this dish may not be for you. I thought that it was perfectly spicy, but that's my own personal opinion. Andrew likes crazy amounts of spicy.

Also, usually I am that person that needs something to drink while I am eating; no matter what food it is. But I didn't want a drink with this soup. It was perfect.

But like I said, the spice was not over-bearing whatsoever, and it will definitely clear up your sinuses. Andrew can agree with this statement because after he was done eating, he had to blow his nose.

This was a great soup and a great time.

I conquered 4 new foods and 1 new technique with 1 new recipe. I have Andrew to thank along with his mom for letting us cook at their house.

Remember:
Chew. Digest. Be :).