I would be unwrapping the following tasty treats:
- a crispy potato latke
- an order of sashimi or chirashi (white rice, PLEASE)
- a white Russian
- spaghetti carbonara
- some kind of cheese. Just because. As long as it's not fontina or muenster, the tofu of cheeses (in a negative sense). Is there any cheese that sucks worse than muenster? I'd rather eat Laughing Cow or, heaven help us, Velveeta (which if applied to white bread and toasted to high heaven, creates magic. I defy you to refuse that sandwich.)
Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts
11/7/08
A delightful array of slightly overpriced korean deli snacks
Ka-Me plain rice crackers, Slim-Fast, Babybel cheese, Leibniz whole wheat butter biscuits.
An odd array of New York office-grazing comfort foods.
9/26/08
9/3/08
Recipes!
I am not a food blogger (kind of a food blogger addict, though). However, I am emerging from an "everything I cook sucks" phase (everyone hits that patch every once in a while) to becoming a functioning home cook again. That phase is diabolical - it started weeks ago, with a lentil dish I'd made a hundred or more times, which ended up tasting odd and worsening with every attempted fix. Several other failed dishes followed, inexplicable and frustrating. Even my local falafel takeout - my go-to after a failed cooking venture requires cheap quick takeout to dispel - has changed hands and acquired a certain irredeemable dinginess.
I seem to be emerging, though, and have whipped up some delicious dishes lately I thought I'd share.
Imprecisely yours, the Lazy Gourmet.
Veggie Shepherd's Pie - convenience food heaven with the imprimateur of healthy.
1 bag Morningstar Farm veggie crumbles (frozen)
1/2 box or so of mixed vegetables (frozen) (I used peas and carrots)
about 1 cup pearl onions (frozen)
about 1/2 a large bottle of tomato juice or V-8 (trust me. Ever buy a bottle of V-8, have a few glasses, and realize you don't like it much?)
Worcestershire Sauce (dust it off, it's crucial)
Black pepper
2 cups prepared instant mashed potatoes (I use some brand in a small blue box - one envelope makes 2 cups - you don't even need milk even if the box tells you that you do.)
grated cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 375.
Spray with nonstick spray a 9 inch square pan. Dump in the frozen goods. Pour in the juice. Season with black pepper. Stir. Shake in (I'd guesstimate about 6 good shakes) Worcestershire Sauce - the sauce should go brownish red at this point in the pan. Stir well to distribute sauce and veggies.
Spread mashed taters over the top. (Leftover would be fine, I'm sure). Aim for complete coverage. Sprinkle with cheese, or not.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top browns slightly and the sauce gets bubbly and pokes out around the edges.
Inelegant but tasty. Freezes and transports to work well!
Broccoli Ricotta Pesto Pasta
3 Cups steamed broccoli, more or less. (Ziploc steamer bags are a freaking miracle, trust me. Worth the price of admission, cause you won't cook those well-intentioned veggies otherwise)
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c toasted walnuts
1 clove garlic
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
Black pepper and salt
1 small container part-skim ricotta cheese
Your favorite pasta
Dump the steamed broccoli (cooked in bag or you can just boil it up until it's bright green but not soggy), cheese, nuts, garlic, lemon juice and zest into a food processor. Pulse until chopped fine. Turn on the processor and drizzle in the olive oil until you get a smoother paste (pesto - paste - get it?). You may need a little more oil. Season with black pepper and a little salt.
Cook up as much (I guess a box or less - I use very little) pasta as you like - but be sure to pull out 1 cup or so of cooking water before you drain it.
Now, you can be flexible in the assembly. Add some or all of your pesto to a big serving bowl. Stir in some hot pasta water, a little at a time, until the sauce is smooth. You may not need all of it. Now, add the ricotta cheese and the drained cooked pasta. Mix well. Add some pepper or lemon to taste. Enjoy! Also packs off to work and freezes well.
My Weird Comfort Food Soup
I make this an awful lot.
Lipton Ring o Noodle Soup
2 Eggs
Handful grated Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese
Cook up soup according to package directions. Beat the eggs with the cheese. Stir it into the boiling soup. Stir a bit until the egg is shredded and cooked.
I seem to be emerging, though, and have whipped up some delicious dishes lately I thought I'd share.
Imprecisely yours, the Lazy Gourmet.
Veggie Shepherd's Pie - convenience food heaven with the imprimateur of healthy.
1 bag Morningstar Farm veggie crumbles (frozen)
1/2 box or so of mixed vegetables (frozen) (I used peas and carrots)
about 1 cup pearl onions (frozen)
about 1/2 a large bottle of tomato juice or V-8 (trust me. Ever buy a bottle of V-8, have a few glasses, and realize you don't like it much?)
Worcestershire Sauce (dust it off, it's crucial)
Black pepper
2 cups prepared instant mashed potatoes (I use some brand in a small blue box - one envelope makes 2 cups - you don't even need milk even if the box tells you that you do.)
grated cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 375.
Spray with nonstick spray a 9 inch square pan. Dump in the frozen goods. Pour in the juice. Season with black pepper. Stir. Shake in (I'd guesstimate about 6 good shakes) Worcestershire Sauce - the sauce should go brownish red at this point in the pan. Stir well to distribute sauce and veggies.
Spread mashed taters over the top. (Leftover would be fine, I'm sure). Aim for complete coverage. Sprinkle with cheese, or not.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top browns slightly and the sauce gets bubbly and pokes out around the edges.
Inelegant but tasty. Freezes and transports to work well!
Broccoli Ricotta Pesto Pasta
3 Cups steamed broccoli, more or less. (Ziploc steamer bags are a freaking miracle, trust me. Worth the price of admission, cause you won't cook those well-intentioned veggies otherwise)
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c toasted walnuts
1 clove garlic
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
Black pepper and salt
1 small container part-skim ricotta cheese
Your favorite pasta
Dump the steamed broccoli (cooked in bag or you can just boil it up until it's bright green but not soggy), cheese, nuts, garlic, lemon juice and zest into a food processor. Pulse until chopped fine. Turn on the processor and drizzle in the olive oil until you get a smoother paste (pesto - paste - get it?). You may need a little more oil. Season with black pepper and a little salt.
Cook up as much (I guess a box or less - I use very little) pasta as you like - but be sure to pull out 1 cup or so of cooking water before you drain it.
Now, you can be flexible in the assembly. Add some or all of your pesto to a big serving bowl. Stir in some hot pasta water, a little at a time, until the sauce is smooth. You may not need all of it. Now, add the ricotta cheese and the drained cooked pasta. Mix well. Add some pepper or lemon to taste. Enjoy! Also packs off to work and freezes well.
My Weird Comfort Food Soup
I make this an awful lot.
Lipton Ring o Noodle Soup
2 Eggs
Handful grated Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese
Cook up soup according to package directions. Beat the eggs with the cheese. Stir it into the boiling soup. Stir a bit until the egg is shredded and cooked.
8/26/08
Far, far more delicious.
Unlike the tentacles that reared their ugly suckers here, the tentacles in my most recent soup purchase were delightful.
Seafood and Vegetable Noodle Soup from the spare-looking Chinese takeout on 60th between Park and Lexington. Rich and tasty with delicious seafood of all sorts - shrimp, squid, octopus, fish balls (not bad but not my favorite, and no, not what you're thinking - they're small fried up spheres of chopped fish) and crab stick (tastier than expected).
Note the tentatcles slyly peeping out from behind the water chestnuts and broccoli, nestled in a bed of egg noodle.
Seafood and Vegetable Noodle Soup from the spare-looking Chinese takeout on 60th between Park and Lexington. Rich and tasty with delicious seafood of all sorts - shrimp, squid, octopus, fish balls (not bad but not my favorite, and no, not what you're thinking - they're small fried up spheres of chopped fish) and crab stick (tastier than expected).
Note the tentatcles slyly peeping out from behind the water chestnuts and broccoli, nestled in a bed of egg noodle.
7/28/08
6/26/08
Not nearly as delicious.
How many things are wrong with this lunch?
"Seafood Bisque" from the Food Merchants deli down the street.
Ok.
First of all, "Seafood." Not clam, or crab, or lobster. Should give one pause, right? But it appears pink and bisquey.
Second. The reason it's probably pink is because of the massive amounts of cayenne pepper. Not the stomach-soother I was hoping form.
Third. Octopus.
When consuming lunch from a Midtown deli, one should not be confronted with tentacles.
I love octopus, but only from trusted sources. Not a bottomless pinkish vat at the Food Merchant.
I don't feel so hot.
"Seafood Bisque" from the Food Merchants deli down the street.
Ok.
First of all, "Seafood." Not clam, or crab, or lobster. Should give one pause, right? But it appears pink and bisquey.
Second. The reason it's probably pink is because of the massive amounts of cayenne pepper. Not the stomach-soother I was hoping form.
Third. Octopus.
When consuming lunch from a Midtown deli, one should not be confronted with tentacles.
I love octopus, but only from trusted sources. Not a bottomless pinkish vat at the Food Merchant.
I don't feel so hot.
6/20/08
Delicious!
Thanks, Karla, for my going-away present from the old job!
Mine have pineapple flavor too!
Seriously, I like these better than chocolate.
5/21/08
4/26/08
lord have mercy....
Tomorrow is Orthodox Easter. Besides taking care of a million other things, I am baking a 'lamb cake' for my aunt. It's a 2 piece aluminum mold; you fill half, and it rises to meet the other half. An easter miracle, no doubt.
Except-
(1) when you use chocolate cake instead of vanilla
(2) when the mold is a wee bit too full and leaks.
Then, you end up with a lamb perched serenely next to a pile of steaming poo.
Happy Easter, everyone! And happy Passover too!
Follow up: Somehow, the ears detached from the head (one, anyway); the head detached from the body; and random chunks dislodged. That poo was darn useful in patching up!
Except-
(1) when you use chocolate cake instead of vanilla
(2) when the mold is a wee bit too full and leaks.
Then, you end up with a lamb perched serenely next to a pile of steaming poo.
Happy Easter, everyone! And happy Passover too!
Follow up: Somehow, the ears detached from the head (one, anyway); the head detached from the body; and random chunks dislodged. That poo was darn useful in patching up!
3/14/08
Holy Crap, are these delicious.
I don't really feel like talking at the moment. Or working. But, damn, the world HAS TO KNOW about these snacks!
3/3/08
I smellll Bacon!
I've been reading alternative food blogs lately - vegan blogs, raw blogs and the like. I find them fascinating bits of lifestyle-y navel-gazing. Have too much time on your hands? Reduce all your food to juice and then tell me how little you crap. To be fair, some have appetizing, non-tortured and tasty looking food that I would consider ingesting and enjoying. But many are just, frankly, a little nuts. Unroasted nuts, of course.
Also, vegans are cheap as hell, apparently. On most of the sites, the recipes aren't free - Real compassionate, guys! Even better, they'll chat at length about the recipes, post some shiny healthy photos, and then sweetly suggest you buy their book, over and over again. Kind of like free porn teasers. Guess all that agave nectar is 'spensive!
Here's a fabulous quote:
Life's just too short, man. Eat a freaking unroasted nut.
However, I did enter a veggie "meat" stick contest! Yum-yum!
In contrast, this is what I plan on eating this weekend:
Wow! Maybe I'm Lutheran!
Also, vegans are cheap as hell, apparently. On most of the sites, the recipes aren't free - Real compassionate, guys! Even better, they'll chat at length about the recipes, post some shiny healthy photos, and then sweetly suggest you buy their book, over and over again. Kind of like free porn teasers. Guess all that agave nectar is 'spensive!
Here's a fabulous quote:
Cashews are stimulating, not a good choice for just before bed. I forget the precise principle involved, but I always lie awake if I eat anything with cashews too late in the day. Wish I could think of a good substitute. Mmmm... cashews.
Life's just too short, man. Eat a freaking unroasted nut.
However, I did enter a veggie "meat" stick contest! Yum-yum!
In contrast, this is what I plan on eating this weekend:
Wow! Maybe I'm Lutheran!
2/20/08
Totally unrelated, but pretty neat quote
“There are so many clichés about love, food and cooking,” she said. “But cooking with your lover is a great way to see where your relationship is. I have been called an alpha cook, but when I am in love, the man can put as much salt, cream and butter into the dish as he wants. Even if it’s ruined, it’s still the best dish you’ve ever eaten.”
- Kim Sunee, in today's New York Times. She's had a pretty interesting life. I think I'm going to get her book.
2/8/08
Yin/yang, yum/yuck....you decide.
The blog, "Offal Good" by the mad sexy contender from "The Next Iron Chef," Chris Cosentino. Damn, he makes me forgive bleachy faux-hawking. It's NSFDT (Not safe for delicate tummies).
Me, I have had some deliciously prepared tripe. Can't wrap my head around liver, although I'd eaten it when I was a kid. Same with kidneys, although the tiny 19th century anglophile in my head would love to try a steak and kidney pie. Kind of.
Me, I have had some deliciously prepared tripe. Can't wrap my head around liver, although I'd eaten it when I was a kid. Same with kidneys, although the tiny 19th century anglophile in my head would love to try a steak and kidney pie. Kind of.
1/30/08
Yum yum....NOT
Did you ever notice those large cookies sold at 'healthy' places (like GNC, the gym snack stand, etc)?
(Did you ever wonder if I sound like Andy Rooney? I don't.)
You know, the ones that are 'fruit juice sweetened,' "high fiber," and the newest one, "no trans fats"? The ones that taste vaguely of dust and pineapple, even if they are chocolate chip?
They come, apparently, as two 'servings.' Yep. One of those cookies is two servings. Each serving, 220 calories.
One of those dusty, unpleasantly chewy, heavy and vaguely fruity doorstops is 440 calories.
A delightful McDonald's Double Cheeseburger is 440 calories too.
Yum yum!
(Did you ever wonder if I sound like Andy Rooney? I don't.)
You know, the ones that are 'fruit juice sweetened,' "high fiber," and the newest one, "no trans fats"? The ones that taste vaguely of dust and pineapple, even if they are chocolate chip?
They come, apparently, as two 'servings.' Yep. One of those cookies is two servings. Each serving, 220 calories.
One of those dusty, unpleasantly chewy, heavy and vaguely fruity doorstops is 440 calories.
A delightful McDonald's Double Cheeseburger is 440 calories too.
Yum yum!
9/27/07
9/15/07
9/13/07
8/12/07
Semisolid food, from back in the day
Anyone remember the Bisquick Impossible Pies?
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/pieimp/pieimp.html has a ton of them.
The awesomest one in my opinion is Zucchini Tomato Pie, great for using up garden excesses.
This was yummy and easy.
My brother claims no recollection of said Pie.
Fool.
I plan to make one soon and watch the no crust magic happen! You should too! It's a hallmark of suburban garden summer.
Serve one at your next barbeque!
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