Diary of a Kitchen Wench

Dinner tonight: Salad CHOP CHOP Because it’s more fun...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:50:11 -0700

Dinner tonight:

Salad CHOP CHOP

Because it’s more fun to call it that than Chopped Salad.

Mix of romaine & wild greens (arugula, rocket, dandelion greens), tossed with chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, jicama, Persian cucumbers, snow peas, & chicken breast sautéed w/ onion powder, garlic powder, and lemon pepper.

Yesterday’s Dinner: Pasta Primaverish Penne with...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:42:13 -0700

Yesterday’s Dinner:

Pasta Primaverish

Penne with zucchini & butternut squash, basic marinara sauce.

Dinner tonight: Taco Salad! Chopped butter lettuce and spring...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:50:19 -0700

Dinner tonight: Taco Salad!

Chopped butter lettuce and spring mix, lean hamburger (will switch to turkey next time) cooked with taco seasoning, diced tomato and avocado, and shredded cheese. The dressing for the entire salad is made of a single serving of nonfat Greek yogurt with a scant spoonful of reserved taco seasoning mixed into it. Verdict? It’s a keeper.

Photo

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:32:33 -0800

Drunkenly prepping John Wayne Omelette for tomorrow! Did I...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 21:27:14 -0800

Drunkenly prepping John Wayne Omelette for tomorrow! Did I mention I have a stein that can hold nearly an entire bottle of champagne? WAAAAY classier than swigging from the bottle.

Stuffed Carnival Squash (Easy Version)

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:56:00 -0800

So this is basically a quickie version of a stuffed squash. I’ll be posting my stuffing recipes after Thanksgiving.

First off: carnival squash is really pretty, comes in small to medium sizes. I got mine at Trader Joe’s, but they can be found many places. You can also sub acorn or any other smallish seasonal squash.

Equipment

Knife
Roasting Pan
Pot/Saucepan
Spatula
Large Spoon

Ingredients

5 medium carnival squash
1 pkg Stovetop or similar stuffing
Butter or Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Broth (I use Veggie)

Preheat oven to 375°. Cut tops off of squash and gut them. Set them in the roasting pan. If they roll around or feel unsteady, cut a small slice off the very end to make a flat spot. Be careful that you don’t cut too deep and make a hole in the end, as the squash seem to be very thin there. I made a few tiny holes in the ends of mine. Coat the inside with butter (or olive oil), salt, & pepper.

In your pot or pan, prepare the stuffing according to the boxed instructions. You want it very moist, almost soggy, because the squash and the oven are going to dry them out considerably. Stuff the cavities of the squash, kind of packing it in there, but not firmly. A loose pack, mounding it up nicely. Arrange the stuffed squash in the roasting pan and set in the oven, baking for about an hour before testing the squash with a fork or knife. The outer shell will obviously be hard and brittle, but you should be able to reach the flesh near the top. You are looking for a VERY SOFT consistency. Ours actually took about an hour and a half. This all depends on the size of the squash and how tightly they are stuffed.

For presentation, serving one of these on a plate alone or with something else (we had a bit of ham) as is looks great, but you will probably want to cut them in half or quarters to cool more evenly.

Register to Vote yo!

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:07:12 -0700

inkfaery:

Heya, just a final reminder before I log off and head out for the day:

If you are of age and eligible to vote, and you haven’t registered, do so today!

Here’s a non-partisan link:

https://turbovote.org/register

and another:

http://www.rockthevote.org/

and another:

http://registertovote.org/index.html

SO MANY FUCKING CHOICES!!!!!zomg!!!!

Seriously, register. Don’t be an asshole.

This Sunday’s dinner: Moroccan Braised Chicken. Recipe...

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:25:36 -0700

This Sunday’s dinner: Moroccan Braised Chicken. Recipe found in some magazine I’ve lost track of. I’ll drag my stack of Recipes To Try out sometime and take pics. It’s daunting. Pictures will be coming sometime Sunday night, as well as a review and the recipe itself.

inkfaery: Dinner is called: cleaning out the damn pantry....

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:02:00 -0700

inkfaery:

Dinner is called: cleaning out the damn pantry. Tinned beef cooked with salsa, refried beans, sad packet of microwave Mexican rice, revitalized tortillas steamed to give it a bit of moisture, and tinned French beans. (Taken with Instagram)

Not bothering to post the recipe. It was basically: open can, apply heat, eat crappy burritos.

Going to try to update this more regularly. Trying at least 1 new recipe a week. Occasionally...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:35:34 -0700

Going to try to update this more regularly. Trying at least 1 new recipe a week. Occasionally reviewing stuff.

Thank you, those random followers, for sticking around and thinking I post interesting things.

Happy "Ground Zero of the Zombie Apocalypse" day!

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:06:40 -0700

1,979 years ago today, the plague began in incubation!!! I’m roasting my very first ham on Sunday to celebrate the rise of the the first zombie in widely-accepted-social-Christian history! Hopefully, this won’t be the ham-pocalypse! If all goes well, I’ll post pics and recipe!

Bex Chex

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:16:56 -0800

So I make a few versions of Chex Mix, and one was is so beloved by my cousin that I’ve renamed it Bex Chex. She requested the recipe, so I’m posting it now, but no pictures currently. Cool thing about this? SUPER easy to make vegan if you have friends/family with those needs!

Equipment

Roasting pan or 2 cake pans
Whisk
Rubber spatula
Small bowl
Wooden spatula or spoon
2 large cookie sheets

Ingredients

1 C butter or margarine (use a vegan
4 T soy sauce
1 T Old Bay Seasoning
2 T garlic powder
2 T onion powder
4 C Wheat Chex
4 C Corn Chex
1 C Rice Chex
2 C unsalted mixed nuts
1 C pretzels

Pre-heat the oven to 250°F and melt your butter in your roasting pan. When it’s melted, pull it out and whisk your other ingredients into it, making sure to coat the bottom of the pan with seasoned butter. Scrape the excess out into a bowl to pour over your mixture later.

Now dump all the dry ingredients (chex, nuts, and pretzels) into the buttered pan and toss lightly to mix. Pour the removed butter over the top and stir till coated. Pop it into the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes for 2 hours, you’re going to jump up from whatever you’re doing, and stir the mix with the wooden spoon/spatula. After 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, pull out your roasting pan and divide the mix between the two cookie sheets to cool/dry. Store in an airtight container. This is totally shippable, and will keep for MONTHS in a cool, dry place.

Damn, I make good meatloaf. No recipe because I wing it every...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:11:18 -0800

Damn, I make good meatloaf. No recipe because I wing it every time.

Chicken Fried Steak Equipment Heavy pan. Preferably cast iron. I...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:33:29 -0800

Chicken Fried Steak

Equipment

Heavy pan. Preferably cast iron. I am luck to have my great aunt’s cast iron to use for things like this.
3 shallow dishes. I use pie pans. I have a plethora.
Serving plate or platter
Fork or tongs for flipping
Whisk

Ingredients

1-2 cube steaks for each person eating
1 egg for every 2 steaks
enough milk to make an eggy batter
3-4 C flour
asst. seasoning (salt & pepper, whatever tickles your fancy)
oil, butter, or shortening
milk

Method

Warm your pan and your fat on a medium-low heat while you bread your steaks. You’ll up the temp when you’re frying, but only to medium. Now get ready to get messy. Set up your pans in this order: meat, egg batter, flour, platter. Start coating your steaks as such: dip the meat in the egg batter to coat thoroughly, coat in the seasoned flour, back to the egg batter, back to the flour, onto the platter. Yes, it’ll get messy. Very messy, but it’ll be oh, so worth it.

Once all of your steaks are coated, turn the heat up on the pan (just to medium!) and add your first batch of steaks. Cook till golden, flip, repeat. Bits of breading will come off, that’s fine, it’ll make your gravy better! Remove the fried steaks and put on your serving platter. I keep my serving platter in my oven on warm, you can do whatever.

When you’ve finished frying, it’s time to make the gravy! Take some of the leftover breading flour and add it to the fat in the pan. using your whisk, cook it in the grease until the seasoned flour is browned and the lumps are gone. Slowly add milk, cooking and stirring. Add milk a little at a time, thinning out the cooked flour bit by bit. When the mixture has been thinned to a watery sauce consistency, stop adding milk and just keep stirring with the whisk.

Gravy is a funny thing, you’ll cook and stir and cook and stir, and nothing will happen, and then, suddenly, of nowhere, it’ll go from seasoned milk to GRAVY! When that happens, remove it from the heat, or it’ll go from gravy to paste just as fast.

Best served with mashed potatoes and something green to break up the brown. Leftovers are delicious slammed between two slices of bread. Enjoy!

Bit of a revamp...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:57:06 -0800

So I’m going to stop reblogging things. I’ve been using this as a dump for recipes I wanted to try. I’m still using it as a recipe repository, but for dishes I’ve tried. I’ll include pictures when I try a new one.

Anyhoo… Yeah.

1796foods: 641. Schweinebraten Schweinebraten is a German...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:07:13 -0800

1796foods:

641. Schweinebraten

Schweinebraten is a German version of roast pork where you baste the meat with beer whilst it’s cooking. I love roast pork so I was really excited to give this one a try as an alternative Sunday dinner. As I knew I would be basting it I got a piece of pork without crackling and roasted it mostly covered in foil so that the beer would steam around the pork for the whole cooking time. The result was fantastic - the pork was super moist and flavourful. I cooked potatoes and onions in the same dish as the pork so these absorbed all of the sweet beer flavour too. I shall definitely do this one regularly from now on.

642. Braised Fennel

I served some braised fennel with it. I braised it in a saucepan just by frying it in a little butter, then simmering it in chicken stock until all the stock was absorbed and the fennel was barely solid any more it was so tender. The flavour was fantastic. Even Pie loved it and he usually hates fennel because of the aniseedy flavour it has. Over all this was a totally successful meal.

642 down, 1154 to go

Photo

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:00:06 -0800

wehavethemunchies: (via Glazed Donut Hole Brownies | Picky...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:55:48 -0800

wehavethemunchies:

(via Glazed Donut Hole Brownies | Picky Palate)

thedrunkenmoogle: The Eeveelution of Shots (Pokemon shot...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:00:06 -0800

thedrunkenmoogle:

The Eeveelution of Shots (Pokemon shot set)

Ingredients:
Eevee:
1/4 simple syrup
1 oz Bourbon whiskey
dash Angostura bitters
dash Orange bitters

Vaporeon:
3/4 oz Blue Curacao
3/4 oz Vodka

Jolteon:
3/4 oz Limoncello
3/4 citrus Vodka
1/4 tsp sugar to dissolve

Flareon:
1 oz Fire Water (Hot Cinnamon Schnapps)
1/2 oz Bacardi 151
1 pinch cinnamon

Espeon:
1 oz Hpnotiq
1/2 oz Gin
1/8 oz Grenadine

Umbreon:
1 oz. Kraken Black Spiced Rum
1/2 oz Coconut rum

Leafeon:
1 oz. Midori
1/2 oz. Light rum
1/3 oz. Gin

Glaceon:
3/4 oz Irish cream
3/4 oz Ice 101 peppermint schnapps

Directions: All of but two of the shots (Flareon and Glaceon) can be made simply by mixing the ingredients in a shot glass. For Flareon, layer the Bacardi 151 on top and light on fire. Sprinkle the pinch of cinnamon over the fire for a cool effect. For Glaceon, layer the Ice 101 peppermint schnapps on top of the Irish cream.

“Because its genetic makeup is irregular, it quickly changes its form due to a variety of causes.” -Pokedex entry for Eevee in Pokemon Black and White

Drink created and photographed by Eddie Strickland.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake. Make it for a Loved One. Or for Yourself, Because You Are All The Lovin’ You Need.

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:39:48 -0800

Peanut Butter Cup Cake. Make it for a Loved One. Or for Yourself, Because You Are All The Lovin’ You Need.