Freezable Meals

Ziplock tupperware and frozen homemade meals are so amazing. I rave about freezing meals ahead of time as much as I rave about jeggings (leggings that look like jeans! AMAZZZZZZIIIIINGGG). You can cook three easy one pot meals on Sunday, and for weeks you know that you always have a good meal in your freezer if you dont want to cook dinner/lunch. Buying sandwiches for lunch at work is SUCH a waste. THey are usually made of three cheap ingredients, and cost about 6-7 dollars. You can make a large batch of ood that is healthy and put in your freezer, and then eat a great meal in a pinch for about 2 dollars per serving. Below are some great meals I made that turned out great. They are easy meals, so you can make hem all in one afternoon with limited clean-up.

BEEF CHILI
adapted from allrecipes.com "It's Chili by George" recipe
makes 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 (16 oz) cans dices tomatoes with juice
• 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 chopped red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chili powder

Directions

1. Place ground beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, and crumble.
2. In a large pot over high heat combine the ground beef, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, pinto beans, onions, bell pepper, cayenne pepper, sugar, oregano, ground black pepper, salt, cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. (Note: If using a slow cooker, set on low, add ingredients, and cook for 8 to 10 hours.)

Quinoa Muffins

I like to think that if I eat quinoa (a protien that looks like a grain) that I will become a Victoria's Secret supermodel despite my chocolate addiction. I found a recipe for quinoa muffins. They taste great! They take slightly longer to cook than regular muffins, because you have to add the step of cooking the quinoa first (25 extra minutes on the stove). If you have never made quinoa before, it cooks like rice on the stove. I make these muffins because they are a healthy snack that I can just put in my bag or defrost from the freezer when I need them.

QUINOA MUFFINS

Ingredients

Makes 12

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1/8 cup canola/ veg oil
• 1/8 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (using some to sprinkle on top of muffins before baking)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk or 2% milk (your preference)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, raisins, bananas and 2 cups cooked quinoa; reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 45 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.

From The Martha Stewart Show, January 2008

Note: These muffins do not rise THAT much, so feel free to fill the non-stick muffin tin to the top. This will make large, filling muffins.

Spaghetti All'arrabiata

At the library I was drawn to a book titled My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea. 50 great chefs wrote the recipes for the meals they would want to eat as their last meal, what music would be playing during these meals, etc. I flipped through the pages describing caviar, pigs and truffles to Jamie Oliver's page. His last meal would be spaghetti all'arrabiata. This is a simple enough recipe that has a lot of heat from chilies. Mmmmm...



JAMIE OLIVER'S SPAGHETTI ALL'ARRABIATA



7 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 dried chilies or peperoncino, crumbled or finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 (14 ox) cans good plum tomatoes, sieved, or 3 1/2 cups passata
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
18 oz spaghetti
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons stale (I have no idea why they have to be stale) bread crumbs
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped (optional)
Fried sage leaves (optional)

Heat about 5 tablespoons of the oil in a large saute pan over low heat. Add the chilies, garlic and onion and cook gently for around 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook until the sauce is quite thick, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti in the salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking water.
Once the sauce has thickened, add the red wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To make the pangrattato, heat the remaining oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and thyme, if desired, and fry until the bread crumbs are crispy (about 3 minutes).
Add the drained pasta and the reserved pasta water to the sauce, and toss to coat. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with the pangrattato over the top. If you like, you can garnish with fried sage leaves.

Pasta with tomatoes and chilies. This sounds like a dream dish.

Mad Men Banana Pudding

When I began my cooking trek a couple years ago I came across a very highly rated banana pudding recipe on allrecipes.com. Despite its thousands of reviews, I thought banana pudding sounded like hospital food on a day they ran out of jell-o. I ignored this unappealing dessert until my friend Kibby purchased it at Magnolia Bakery on one of our many sugar crazed nights in NYC. In true Rachel fashion, I snuck my spoon into her dessert. Banana pudding is fantastic! It has the texture of really soft cheesecake with little pieces of cookie in it. In order to procrastinate doing work the other day I thought I would see if the recipe is available on the internet. I have concluded that everything can be found on the internet. Below is the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding recipe.

You will be able to find all the needed ingredients conveniently at the corner bodega. Please make this recipe for your next Mad Men TV night. 5 girls crowded around one community bowl of dessert watching actors constricted in corsets and pointy bras sounds like heaven to me.

MAGNOLIA BAKERY BANANA PUDDING RECIPE
from: More From Magnolia
by Allysa Torey, Photographs from http://newyork.seriouseats.com/images/20081008-banana-pudding.jpg

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups ice cold water
• 1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers (no substitutions!)
• 4 cups sliced ripe bananas

1. In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.
2. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.
3. To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours - or up to 8 hours, but no longer! - before serving.

P.S. - Sorry that most of my posts are from Magnolia Bakery. First, I am titillated (yes I did just use that word casually) that I can make something people pay for in a bakery. Second, it is a Magnolia Bakery stage due to my new cupcake interest. Give me a month and I will be on something else.

Law School Meals

A good friend of mine asked me to give her some tried and true meal ideas for someone who does not feel comfortable cooking and has negative time. Here are some more ideas for those of you who are tired of Lean Cuisines.

SPICY ASIAN NOODLE SALAD Easy

This dish I make all the time and for company, even though it has so few ingredients. This is a great dish because it has your carbohydrate, protein and vegetable all in one dish. This is really the key for saving time. I am known for making this dish in certain circles, because I get lazy and people like it. When I do not feel creative, why cook anything else?

1/3 c crunchy peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce / cayenne pepper to taste
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
3 tablespoons pasta water
3/4 lb whole wheat pasta
3 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite size pieces
2 large carrots cut into small pieces
6 green onions chopped
2 red bell peppers, cur into matchsize strips

Add salt and 1 T olive oil to pasta water. Boil pasta water. Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, hot sauce, sugar, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Boil pasta according to instructions on package. Combine pasta, vegetables, sauce and 3 tablespoons pasta water in a bowl and stir. Serve!!

MEATLOAF...BALLS   Easy
found on cookinglight.com

The special aspect of these meatloaf balls (I keep rewriting this to make it sound less inappropriate) is not the recipe (which I am still perfecting), but the preparation. This recipe is made in a nonstick cupcake tin. You can freeze the meatloaf, and then when you want to eat it, you can take the balls out of the freezer simply in the number that you need for that night. In my experience, the best way to cook when you have no time, is just to cook a lot and freeze it, especially if you have the appetite of a 5 foot tall girl in law school (you know who you are).

Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  olive oil
• 1  cup  finely chopped onion
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped carrot
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  cup  ketchup, divided
• 1 1/2  pounds  ground beef, extra lean (raw)
• 1  cup  finely crushed fat-free saltine crackers (about 20)
• 2  tablespoons  prepared mustard
• 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  large eggs
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried oregano, and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Cool.
Combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.
Spoon the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Top each with 2 teaspoons ketchup. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.



BAKED PASTA, SAUSAGE AND TOMATOES   Easy
adapted from cookinglight.com recipe

AMAZING!!! This is a spicy pasta dish that is all in one. You have your carbohydrate, meat and veg. I added spice and oregano to the recipe, because I like my food to have a lot of flavor. You can make one of these casseroles for dinner, and make an extra one to put in the freezer. Make the freezer casserole in a disposable tin loaf pan (yes, loaf pan. What a scary thought). Therefore you can take it from the freezer, defrost it on your counter and put it straight into the oven.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

• 1  (1-pound) package uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
• 1  pound  hot turkey Italian sausage links
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  tablespoon  tomato paste
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 2  (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh basil
• 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Cooking spray
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain the pasta, and set aside.
Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Josh's Famous Cakes

My friend Josh actually mailed me this cake in college. Yes, mailed. This is one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. This cake recipe was handed around his friends like the answers to next week's bio exam. It includes a yellow cake mix and which you would never expect. Josh sent me this cake as well as the cake I will post next. My floormate Jordan would actually call me to see when I would get home so she could eat the cake. This cake makes vodka look good.


JOSH'S BLACK RUSSIAN CAKE (VODKA CAKE) Easy

1 yellow cake mix
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1/2 c sugar
1 c vegitable oil (or orange juice without pulp, apple sauce or pineapple juice for Kim)
4 eggs
1/4 c vodka
1/4 c water

Oil bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk all dry ingredients together. Whisk all liquid ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients gradually. Pour mix into bundt pan and then bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Invert and poke holes into top of cake so the topping written below can flow into the cake.

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioner sugar
1/4 c Kahlua

Mix and pour over cake. Dust extra powdered sugar over cake.


JOSH'S LA BETE NOIRE CAKE Intermediate

Cake
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced
18 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped 6 large eggs

Ganache
1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
Lightly sweetened whipped cream

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment. Wrap 3 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan.

For ganache:
Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Enjoy!!!

Cakes are great, but they require plates, forks, knives, coordination etc. Cupcakes and cookies are the most amazing solution! They are so much easier to bake too. Carrot cake in a cookie? B-E-A-utiful. These got fantastic reviews on epicurious, so I had to try them. I made them for Alex's classmates who loved them. These are really impressive large cookies. I would double the recipe, because it makes 13 sandwich cookies (12 or 11 after you do the "mandatory" taste test), and there are most likely more than 11 people that would want these.
To make these cookies, you need to also make icing, which is one extra step. This, however, makes them even more special.

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Gourmet  | April 2004    Intermediate

• 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
• 1 scant cup walnuts (3 ounces), chopped

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots and nuts at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese (recipe below) filling in between.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Inside-Out-Carrot-Cake-Cookies-109346#ixzz11tnNPNZe

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING   Easy

8 oz packaged softened cream cheese

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 c powdered sugar

Beat the first three ingredients together with an electric mixer. Gradually add 2 c powdered sugar to the mixture. Enjoy!

Asian Glazed Salmon

This is a fantastic dish. It is not a "I had the worst day at work and now I want to grab something and watch unrealistic reality television" dish. If you want an amazing unusual salmon dish, make this. You will want to eat this when it comes out of the oven, so schedule accordingly. This is really fantastic and is very sweet, so pair it with some steamed vegetable and rice. I made this for my boyfriend when he got out of surgery. He said it was great. I paired it with his favorite foods: brussel sprouts and Kraft Mac n'cheese. He liked it. He was still on medication for the pain. I do not recommend this combination for those of us sober folk.


ASIAN GLAZED SALMON   Intermediate

Epicurious  | March 2009

by Roger Berkowitz and Jane Doerfer

New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Asian-Glazed-Salmon-355912#ixzz11tdwEcdG

1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons peeled and sliced ginger
dried red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 to 2 pounds salmon fillets

Place the sugar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, dash of red pepper flakes, garlic and lime juice in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce forms a glaze. Set aside. Preheat the broiler. Place the salmon fillets on a broiler pan and baste with the sauce. Let sit for 15 minutes. Broil them until cooked through, about 8 minutes, basting again with the glaze. Remove the salmon from the heat and baste once more the the glaze before serving.

Easy Appetizers

I have absolutely no idea how people make a three course meal for friends. No idea. I have one oven and two hands. I also have this wonderful quality where I drop things when flustered. When you have one dish in the oven, the vegetable needs to be on the stove and people can just forget the carbohydrate. That is only the main course! You can at least make the dessert the day before and put it in the fridge (cakes, cupcakes, etc.). Even if you have someone else helping you, there are only so many burners on the stove, and opening the oven too many times brings down the temperature of the oven and messes with what you had in there to begin with.

To solve this problem, I got this recipe from my friend Celine in college. Jordan, Downing, Jess, Celine, Emily and Steffi used to have the most amazing pot luck parties. I aspire to be able to cook like them. However, I will have to settle for imitation.

You can make these appetisers hours before dinner, as instructed below, and finish just before serving. This is the best combination of flavors!

CELINE'S GOAT CHEESE AND FIG BRUSCHETTA   Easy

1 loaf french bread, cut with a slight diagonal in 1/2 inch thick pieces
Goat Cheese
Sliced dried figs
honey

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover baking sheet with tinfoil. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet. Brush olive oil over both sides of bread. Bake bread until golden about 6 minutes per side. Spread toasted bread with goat cheese and top with slices of the figs. You can put these aside until you are just about to serve. When you are just about to serve, drizzle with honey and put into oven at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Done and done. Mmmmmmmm...

BLUE CHEESE APPETIZERS   Easy
NY Times recipe found on epicurious.com

1 loaf french bread, cut with a slight diagonal in 1/2 inch thick pieces
Blue cheese at room temp
butter
sugar
apricot preserves
cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover baking sheet with tinfoil. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet. Brush olive oil over both sides of bread. Bake bread until golden about 6 minutes on the first side. Turn over bread, cover the other side with blue cheese and sprinkle with sugar. Return to the oven or broiler until the sugar starts to bubble and brown. Put a small dollop of jam on top and a very light sprinkle of cayenne.

Hummingbird Cake

I actually made this cake 2 years ago. I visited my mother during winter break from college, and told her that I wanted to learn how to bake a cake. I baked a cake from a box when I was little, but knew nothing about the art of baking whatsoever. I saw being an adult as someone who can do their own taxes, sits in a conference room on a regular basis, knows how to use the steam function on their iron, and in a birthday emergency knows how to bake a cake. I wanted to make something new and exciting that was not from a box. I searched the internet (I went onto allrecipes.com and searched for a cake that had the most stars next to it, not very creative but effective) and found this fantastic cake recipe. My entire family is from NYC, so we know nothing about southern cooking. I have never had sweet tea, and thought making a southern style cake would be a challenging experiment. With my brave mother by my side, two east coast Jewish women descended on the southern recipe.
Hummingbird cake is like carrot cake with a bit more tartness. I don't remember the exact flavour, but remember it was FANTASTIC! It is a bit time consuming, so wait for a rainy day and the availability of a large spork and a bib.


HUMMINGBIRD CAKE  Intermediate
from Southern Living

3c all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon salt
2 c sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 c chopped pecans
2 c chopped bananas

As for the frosting issue, after all this work you will not want to make frosting, so I recommend buying cream cheese frosting from the supermarket. Tell your friends you made the frosting anyway. Top with 1/2 cup chopped pecans and call it a day.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 c pecans and bananas. Pour batter into three greased and floured 9 inch round cake pans. Bake at 35 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Spread cream cheese frosting between layers on top and sides of cake; sprinkle 1/2 c chopped pecans on top. Store in refrigerator and try to keep your friends from sticking their fingers in the frosting of your beautiful cake before you serve it.

Spicy Thai Chicken with Basil

Alex, in fact, made this dish for me. He is truly a better cook than I, so any tips I can get from him I welcome. This is such a fantastic dish, that I actually crave it. it satisfies that spicy Chinese food craving, without the oil that is left at the bottom of your plate after your meal, for which the fortune cookie serves to distract (I actually found a green tea fortune cookie recipe that I will try at a later date. I hope to put messages in it like "I'm held captive in a Chinese fortune cookie factory. Send help."). It is surprisingly difficult to find an Asian food recipe that doesn't taste overwhelmingly like hoi sin or peanut butter. Please try this recipe. It will make you stop going out for Chinese food.
Disclaimer: It is spicy. Remember to wash your hands after touching the red chilies. Even an hour after eating this, you will still feel the heat. If you do not like heat, do not eat this. If you want to turn down the heat, decrease the number of chilies, chop them finer, or move to green chilies.

SPICY THAI CHICKEN WITH BASIL   Easy
Adapted from recipe by  Quick From Scratch Herbs & Spices
Recipe found on Food and Wine at : http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/thai-chicken-with-basil

1. 1 1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4), cut into 1-by-2-inch pieces
2. 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam)
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
4. 1 tablespoon water
5. 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
6. 2 tablespoons cooking oil
7. 1 large onion, cut into thin slices
8. 2 fresh red chilies, seeds and ribs removed, cut into very thin slices, or 1/4 teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes  (DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES OR YOURSELF WITHOUT THOROUGHTLY WASHING YOUR HANDS after cutting these)
9. 3 cloves garlic, minced
10. 1 1/2 cups lightly packed basil leaves
11. 1/2 teaspoon of flour

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken with the fish sauce, soy sauce, water, and sugar.In a large nonstick frying pan or a wok, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in the chilies and garlic; cook, stirring, 30 seconds longer.
2. Remove the chicken from the marinade with a slotted spoon and add it to the hot pan. Cook until almost done, stirring, about 3 minutes. Add the marinade and cook 30 seconds longer. Stir in about 1/2 teaspoon of flour and stir to make the sauce a bit thicker (you can also use cornstarch if you have it). Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup of the basil. Serve topped with the remaining 1/2 cup basil.

Notes
Asian fish sauce is available at Asian markets and many supermarkets

Red Wine Risotto with Peas

Although my boyfriend prefers making risotto with chicken bullion cubes in the microwave, I get a kick out of making risotto the old fashioned way. I hear the ominous reports about risotto: "It is so expensive! It takes so much time! It is so temperamental!" I have no idea what they are talking about. All of the recipes on this website take no baking or cooking skill. You just have to follow the directions! We Columbia kids may not know how to cook, but at least we can read. I promise you that this will not take more than 45 minutes, and you cannot mess it up. This is one of the cheaper risotto recipes I have found, and also one of the best. Make this recipe if you already opened up a bottle of red wine and feel like something creamy and impressive without the cooking experience to back it up.
I have made many risotto duds in the past, but you will not find them here. I will not put anything that is not fantastic on this blog. This blog serves to share my best recipes with my friends who need to know that the food will turn out great. I hope I follow this mission statement and that you all enjoy it!
P.S. - My boyfriend tasted this and then asked for the recipe because it was so good. (Imagine a booming voice when reading the next sentence) "In the right corner, Rachel, THE WINNER!"



RED WINE RISOTTO WITH PEAS
by Giada de Laurentiis
Giada at Home

31/2 c canned low salt chicken broth
3T unsalted butter
1c finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1c arborio rice
1/2 c dry red wine
1/3 c frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 c grated Parmesan, plus additional for garnish
salt and pepper

Bring broth to a simmer over medium heat. Cover broth and keep it warm over very low heat. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent (abt 8 min). Stir in garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in rice and cook for 2 minutes until rice is good and toasted. Add the dine and stir until absorbed, about 1 min. Add 3/4 c (or a ladle) of hot broth; simmer over medium low heat until absorbed (about every 5 minutes), stirring often (every 2 minutes). Repeat until you use up the broth. Pour in the peas and half of the Parmesan, and stir. Season with s + p. Put the rest of the Parmesan on the table for people to put on their risotto right before eating.

Giada, that wonderful cute woman, puts Italian parsley in this dish. I do not have a fondness of parsley, but if you do, add away.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Kale and Lentils

So, you don't have a lot of spare cash but you want a meal that is healthy? Ta da!

My housemate in England found this. She was fantastic at finding healthy recipes on the Internet. We were far away from home, and the English food...has a lot to be desired. This dish is healthy and hearty, exactly what the NHS doctor ordered (NHS = national health service, the socialized health system in the UK). The kale is dark and full of nutrients. Also, green lentils are cheap and will stay in your pantry for forever, so you do not have to worry about your ingredients going bad and wasting you money. Everyone who has tasted this dish has put it in their weekly or biweekly dinner schedules.

PASTA WITH LENTILS AND KALE

1/2 c green lentils
2 c water
3/4 teaspoon salt
olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 lb kale
3/4 lb short whole wheat pasta (penne etc)
Top with Parmesan

the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need

Dear Peeps,
If you want to make chocolate chip cookies, stop searching for a recipe online. There is nothing better than the one from the back of the bag. I grew up with the Toll House recipe. However, Kibby (the master of cookies) sent me the Ghiradelli recipe. IT IS EVEN BETTER! I made these all the time while working in England. They surprisingly do not make a lot of baked goods over there, and rarely make cookies at home. Because cookies are not made in a loaf pan (thank goodness), I felt prepared to bake them for my coworkers after they helped us assimilate to the new culture. They were such a hit that I made them many times whenever I needed the IT department to work on my personal computer. The psych office always had great IT service.



THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE
Ghiradelli Website

11 1/2 oz 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
2 1/4 c unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir flour with baking soda and salt, and set aside. With an electric mixer, mix softened butter and sugars (brown and white). This is where the softened butter is important. If the butter is not softened, you will have sugar all over the place (yes, I once found butter and sugar on my cabinets and in my shirt after skipping this step). Then mix the eggs and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture. Gradually blend in the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover cookie sheet with wax paper (do not grease cookie sheet). Drop 1 tablespoon of dough onto the cookie sheet, bake for 9-11 min until golden brown, and poof! Cookies/ IT assistance.

The Best Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Before making this recipe, I had never made cupcakes before, let alone from scratch! I did my research and found that the Magnolia Bakery recipe is the best (found on epicurious.com). Red velvet cupcakes are a bit more complicated than other types of cupcakes, but have such an impressive presentation. The baking is the same, but there are more ingredients (such as cider vinegar, buttermilk and 6 TABLESPOONS of food coloring, ouch!) so more bowls to wash and coordination in the kitchen. I made these with the Magnolia Bakery vanilla frosting recipe,  and will try them with a cream cheese frosting next time.
The cupcake was great and fluffy! I made them for Alex's friend's party (yes, I am the girl that brings cupcakes instead of alcohol to a party), and people raved! Someone actually told Alex that I was a gourmet cook! This recipe enabled me to fake it. Yay!
P.S. I baked these before I started this blog, so I do not have a picture. I will take a picture next time! Next time I will sprinkle cupcakes with coconut or white chocolate shavings.

MAGNOLIA BAKERY RED VELVET CUPCAKES

Epicurious  | February 2008

by Allysa Torey

More From Magnolia: Recipes From The World-Famous Bakery and Magnolia's Home Kitchen

3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons red food coloring

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour three 9- by 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake has cooled, spread the frosting between the layers, then ice the top and sides of the cake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting .

Epicurious Test-Kitchen Tip: This recipe also makes 2 dozen cupcakes. Use 2 muffin pans, each with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups, and line each cup with a paper liner. (There's no need to grease the cups.) Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing. To ice, mound about 1/4 cup of frosting on top of each cupcake and use an icing spatula to make a swirl on top. If desired, decorate with colored sprinkles.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Red-Velvet-Cupcakes-with-Creamy-Vanilla-Icing-241544#ixzz11sp6lkDf

For the icing below: The recipe calls for 6-8 cups of confectioner sugar. I think Magnolia Bakery puts 8 cups of sugar in their icing, because their icing gives me that "1 hour after you come home from trick or treating, I have had way too much sugar" feeling. Use 7 cups of sugar as directed below.

MAGNOLIA BAKERY VANILLA BUTTERCREAM ICING

from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

1 c (2 sticks) unsatled butter (softened aka leave out for a couple hours while you clean the dishes you made from the cupcakes in your underwear and bootyshake to Beyonce)

7 c confectioner sugar

1/2 c milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 c of sugar, then milk and vanilla. On medium speed with an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy (about 3 min). Gradually add remaining sugar (1 c at a time). Icing can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.