emily ellen

Kitchn Cure - After

Kitchn Cure - After, originally uploaded by amalia12481.

Kitchn Cure - Before

Kitchn Cure - Before, originally uploaded by amalia12481.

Recycling

I generally avoid recycling other people's posts or material, but I think this is really important and if you haven't seen it, take a read.

Women are Never Front-Runners
Gloria Steinem

THE woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father — in this race-conscious country, she is considered black — she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

Be honest: Do yo think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?

More...

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve - some indulgences to celebrate the year past. Brie and apples. Latkes and sour cream. Rack of lamb. Chocolate souffle. Yum.

No real resolutions this year. There's the usual desire to be healthier, spend more time outside, lose weight, lose stress, but I'm not setting goals or targets for any of these things. Instead, what I'm really interested in is enjoying life a little more. Have more fun. Spend less time worrying and more time reveling in the good stuff.

Seriously?

Our New Obsession

So I've always hated video games. Always. When I was 11 my parents got my sister and I a Super Nintendo, available today at vintage toy stores everywhere (or the ubiquitous Ebay) I played like a crazy person for about three days, missing meals and staying up late just to get past level four, and then I never touched the thing again.

Flash forward 15 years and here I am at 26 spending countless hours parked in front of the TV playing Guitar Hero. It's too fun for words, really, and those of you who haven't played need to go out to your local big box electronics store and take a turn on the demo. Don't be intimidated by the hordes of 13-year-old boys crowding around the system, just wait your turn and go for it. They don't know most of the songs on the game anyway. But I - I knew the melody and the lyrics to "Barracuda" and these little punks were clueless. I kicked their asses.

So I guess I have to recant - video games aren't evil. There, I said it.

 

Tackling a Classic

Potage Parmentier - it's the first soup in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It's the first recipe Julie Powell took on in Julie & Julia. So it's about time I got around to making it.

There's something about fall that makes me much more interested in cooking and being at home in general. So after work today rather than getting antsy about what to do with myself for the evening (Thursday night TV stinks and DK would certainly demand to watch the World Series) I stopped by Whole Foods, grabbed two leeks (how many leeks would I need?), a five-pound bag of potatoes, and made my way home to start dinner.

Oops. It turns out I bought WAAAAAAAAAY too many potatoes and barely enough leeks; I guess that's what you get when you don't read the recipe first. So I cubed my potatoes and "thinly sliced" my leeks, tossed everything into a pot with 2 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. 50 minutes and one whir of the immersion blender* later, I was slurping down some pretty darn good soup!

I'd post a picture, but my camera is in China with my dad, who is there on vacation (!) for a week with his brother.

A tip: this is not the recipe for you if you don't like chopping. I have the best knife on the planet so I actually really enjoy chopping, making the prep for this recipe a breeze.

Potage Parmentier, adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

3 to 4 cups peeled potatoes, sliced or diced
3 cups thinly sliced leeks, including the tender green
2 quarts of water
1 tb salt
2 to 3 tb butter

Simmer everything, partially covered, for 40 to 50 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Pass the soup through a food mill. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Serve with minced parsley, chives, or a grind of fresh pepper.

*Julia and Simone say: "Although we are enthusiastic supporters of blenders and food processors, we almost invariably prefer a vegetable mill when soups are to be pureed." Well I used the immersion blender anyway, being careful not to over-process my soup. It was wonderful. I wouldn't ordinarily go against Julia's wishes, but I don't have a food mill, nor the funds to buy one, so the immersion blender will have to do.

Banana Bread - YUM!

I really need to spend more time learning about bread. I never eat bread. It wasn't something we kept around the house as a kid - sandwiches were rare, toast was rarer. But bread is culturally critical to most people on this globe, so clearly it has its place. And with three bananas sitting on the kitchen table getting more and more brown by the minute, thank goodness for banana bread.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, and stir with a fork.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl, and whip together with a fork until well blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Spoon batter into a loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield

1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 187(21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 3.3g; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; SODIUM 198mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g

Baby Shower

HOW TO: make DK happy, or, how to make Mario Batali's basic pasta sauce

1/2 large onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 carrot, shredded or grated

1 can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes

salt and pepper

olive oil

Adapted from Molto Mario by Mario Batali

Over medium heat, coat the bottom of a large saute pan with olive oil. Add the chopped onions and a pinch of salt. Cook onions for two minutes, then add the garlic. Allow onions and garlic to simmer for five minutes or until they've softened, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add carrots to the mixture and continue cooking for another three to five minutes. Add more olive oil if necessary. Pour the can of tomatoes into a bowl, liquid and all, and squeeze the tomatoes, breaking them down into bite-size pieces with your hands (be careful while squeezing - there's liquid inside the tomatoes, and they have a tendency to explode). Add the tomatoes to the saute pan with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Bring sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes or until it reaches your desired consistency (mine looks like oatmeal). Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning (sometimes I add garlic powder or red pepper flakes). Serve immediately over al dente pasta.

The best part about this recipe, in my mind, is that I'm using very healthy, basic ingredients to produce a really tasty sauce. Yes, it takes more work than unscrewing the lid from jarred sauce, but I like knowing exactly what I'm putting in my body. Ain't no preservatives, thickeners, or any other craziness in this sauce - just good veggies and healthy oil. Yum!