K.Atler's Pizza and Quiche

This week's cooking has been off the cuff - Friday night we went over to Heather & Jason's and decided to make pizza... K.Atler style:
1 can of beer (12 oz)
3 cups self-rising flour
toppings of your choice

you will need extra flour to get it to the right consistency. we cooked it at 350 for ~20 minutes, it was a little chewy - a hotter temperature might help with that. Our toppings of choice were pepperoni, banana peppers and jalapeños. More jalapeños on the part Jason was going to eat and less for the rest of us. The type of beer you use influences the flavor of the crust - we used Guinness and it was sweet, I would guess that an IPA would give it a bite - try for yourself!

Last night I threw together a Quiche - sort of followed Joy of Cooking, but not really.
-cook a pre-made pie crust
- 3 eggs
-2 cups of milk
- 1 1/2 cups cheese (i used mozzarella because that's what was in the fridge)
- 1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- cooked some frozen spinach in the microwave and drained it
I put too much spinach in it so it overflowed when I put all of the ingredients in the pie crust to bake - make sure you have the pie pan on a baking sheet!
cooked at 375 for ~35-40 minutes.

Matt needs to make a dessert for work tomorrow, so we are going to try and find something that would be suitable for the Rockies...

Weak Week

My cooking for the week was less than stellar.. between playoff soccer games, a mid-term and other sporting events in the non-intramural arena, I didn't have much time. I did manage to make some cookies while taking a break from studying on Tuesday night.

Yummy Chocolate Cookies (recipe from my Aunt Sara)
Cream together:
1 cup soft butter
1 cup regular peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

mix together and add to the creamed mixture:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Then stir in 1 package (12 oz) of BOTH semi-sweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips.
Roll into balls & place on ungreased cookie sheet
flatten slightly and sprinkle with sugar.
cook at 365 degrees for ~ 11 minutes ... under cooking is best!

Serve to your classmates after they take a big test and you will be the most popular kid in school! This recipe produces lots of cookies, so perfect for sharing!

Preferred method of consumption - with a warm cup of tea (or coffee if you can handle it). mmmmm comfort food!

Eggplant Parmesan

What is cheesy, fried and delicious? Eggplant Parmesan!
Friday night we undertook our next food challenge and it was great!
Matt was stuck in Friday evening traffic (why is it always slowest when I want him home the fastest?) and so I measured out the spices and started the sauce, when he got home we prepared the eggplant together. We looked in a couple different cookbooks, but The Joy of Cooking only called for 1 eggplant so it won out. Joy also calls for homemade tomato sauce, I did the semi-homemade version by adding a few fresh tomatoes and my own spice blend to a large can of crushed 'Italian' style tomatoes. You could easily make your own version or use a pre-made bottle and it would turn out great.

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant
3 eggs
olive oil (keep on hand)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons chopped parsley

First you must fry the eggplant - (but you can preheat the oven to 425 now)
1. peel and cut eggplant into 1/2 inch slices
2. let them stand for a while - eggplants are moist and need to drain - I let mine sit for about 1 hour while waiting for Matt to come home, but it would probably depend on your eggplant.
3. whisk together eggs and 1 tablespoon of olive oil
4. Dredge eggplant slices in flour, then egg mixture then bread crumbs
5. The recipe says to let the eggplant sit on a rack for 30 minutes, but we skipped that step since we let it sit before.
6. fry the eggplant slices in 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat. It should take ~4-5 minutes per side - they should be golden brown.
We had to do this in batches since not all of the eggplant could fit in the pan at once.

After you have fried the eggplant, you bake it!
1.Cover the bottom of a baking sheet with a layer of your sauce
2. place the fried eggplant in a single layer over the sauce, try not to overlap
3. add another layer of sauce over the eggplant (total sauce volume was a small saucepan's worth)
4. sprinkle the oregano and pepper over the sauce
5. combine the cheeses together and put over the eggplant (mmmmmmmmm)
6. cover everything with parsley
7. cook for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

we served ours over angel hair pasta, with garlic bread and salad. We drank Pellegrino to feel special.

Fun with cooking

I recently decided that at least once a week I would try and make a new food item from either the recipes I have received or from one of my many cookbooks. I was telling Cyndy about this and she suggested I started with a pork dish because it's always good to have a recipe for pork that stays moist. So Tuesday night we had Rocky Mountain Pork from the Colorado Collage cookbook Matt and I received as a wedding gift.

Rocky Mountain Pork:
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons honey
2 small shallots, peeled and halved
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved
2 bay leaved, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
3 lbs pork tenderloin

mix everything but the pork in a food processor and puree. put into some sort of marinading vessel (i love big ziplock bags) and add pork. Marinade overnight (this is the key to the whole thing - get that flavor in there!)
the next day, preheat grill to medium high, reserve marinade and grill pork - turn frequently for ~ 20 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 170 degrees. I cooked it longer because my tenderloin was thick and I don't have a meat thermometer, so I wanted to be sure that it was done.
When the pork is done, remove and cover with foil to keep warm.... take the reserved liquid and boil in a saucepan until slightly reduced (5 minutes or so). Slice the pork and serve with the marinade drizzled over it.

My impressions:
It was delicious and moist. I was shocked at the flavor at first because I am used to pork having a more savory & sweet flavor, but this was tart from the lemon juice. I served Bok Choy and red potatoes mashed..... maybe if you had something sweet like salad with pears or apples in it to counteract the tartness from the marinade it would be perfect? You definitely could use a different type of meat instead of tenderloin - pork chops would work, chicken or if you were a vegetarian it would taste good with a bunch of vegetables stir fried. Also, you could half the recipe and only buy half the pork tenderloin too. I liked having mashed potatoes as a side because they soaked up some of the marinade, but I am sure rice or vegetables would work too.

In case you are wondering about Bok Choy - it's chinese cabbage and pretty easy too cook. Just cut it up into 1/2 inch strips and throw in a skillet with some oil and garlic. You should probably put the white stalks in first for a few minutes before adding the green leaves as to not overcook the leaves. Cook time is about 10 minutes.

Last night we had leftover pork, salad and I made quinoa salad too - quinoa, toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries, parsley, and a little olive oil and lemon juice. It wasn't bad, but could still use some tweaking on portions of each (that happens when you don't use a recipe). I'm thinking my G'ma would be pretty proud of me right now. UPDATE: the last couple days I have been warming this up and eating it for breakfast and it is GREAT - the dried cranberries are delicious!

Matt has said that he will cook dinner on his days off - tonight we are going to make eggplant parmesan together to get his feet wet. We didn't make it last night - will try again tonight!

Life in photos...

I am playing soccer on Monday nights... my teammates are so serious, it's no fun :)
This photos are from a few weeks ago, but at last night's game there was real action. While playing goalie, I attacked the opposing team's forward to prevent the goal. The 200 lb man and I both went flying in the air, but he didn't score!
We went to listen to some blue grass music for Dave's bday when Sara was in town and it was great - so was the dessert.
This past weekend, Matt played around with his facial hair before heading out to Erika and Adrian's wedding... we rocked the dance floor and crashed an 80's party afterwards. Another wedding this weekend . WEEEEE!