Heart-Shaped Stuff, or "Happy Black Monday"

I was gonna call this post, "Hey! Wait! I've Got a New Complaint," but, eh. Maybe I'm dating myself with that. And hey, maybe YOU'RE dating yourself this Valentine's Day! In which case, you probably don't wanna hear any more about it, in which case, I apologize. I'm remembering one particular V-Day in Chicago, when I went to pick up my roommate and friend Katie after work. I stopped at a gas station off Ohio Street, and promptly locked my keys in my car. I soon had the help of two cabbies, one minivan mom, and no less than eight gangbangers trying to help me break into my own car. The cabbie had an illegal jimmy in his trunk, but it didn't work on a car "as old as mine." The gangbangers fished out a coat hanger, but after an hour it was finally me that extended it long enough to unlock the door on the side opposite me. All the criminals cheered, and the mom got in her car as quickly as possible. Spending the day that way just made being single that much more special for me.

Well, this Valentine's Day, I will have three dates. I haven't made any dinner plans, and we don't have a babysitter that day, so I may be employing the old standard: a heart-shaped pizza.

This one is from Wayne's in Arlington Heights, but most pizza places do this. A nice option for some of the fellas: pair this with a nice piece of jewelry, and no one will really care that you didn't cook (plus she gets the night off from it). Just a thought.

If you want more of a simple breakfast-in-bed, jump-up, kick-in-the-privates from the adorable children, you can pair a "red scramble" (good diced salami, scrambled with eggs, topped with parmesan) with a heart-shaped artisan roll:

Easy to do - just use an oblong roll with rounded ends, cut in half on the diagonal, and then split. You could use red jam if you wanted to go further with the red thing.

Just for fun, I have some photos of some other heart-shaped things. Since this is a food blog, I'll spare you the picture of the perfect heart my cat left in his litter box, and just show you the heart-shaped potato I found!

Cutting it in half was a bit weird, though. And sometimes I cut into a pepper, and there's another little baby pepper in there. This one had a heart inside, which I found cool, and then upsetting and anatomical.

Well, anyway. Neither here nor there, but what other post was I gonna use those pictures on?

Have a Happy Valentine's Day, or alternatively, just get through it without drunkenly attacking any singing telegrams, tearing the heads off someone else's flowers, or locking your keys in your own car.

Soft-Boiled Egg

And now, for the first post of the re-launch. I've had my babies, and I've never stopped taking photos. This is my first post via phone!

The peelable, soft-boiled egg! Boil salted water, add eggs, reduce to simmer 6 min, shock in ice water for just a minute or two. The white can be peeled, and the inside is still warm and slightly runny. Great on a salad. Mmmm.

Spinach and Feta Scrambled Eggs

It's been a rough week. The baby has had the flu, and now she looks to be getting a cold. On top of everything else, we had to call a service repairman about our garbage disposal (something about someone shoving too many sweet potato peels down at once... Just wait until I get my hands on that no-good, lazy cook we've got), and today the dishwasher conked out.

If you're like me, and you feel like the subject of a Loretta Lynn song right about now, here's a timesaver: thaw and drain a package of spinach (squeeze that sucker good), and scramble it with a bunch of eggs and a package of feta cheese. You can reheat a bit of it each morning for a few days, along with some frozen waffles and coffee. You may poo-poo this idea and choose to eat only freshly scrambled eggs, but as Loretta says: "here in Topeka," my good food snob, "the coffee's boilin' over and the warsh needs a' hangin'/ one wants a cookie and a' one wants a' changin'/ Lord, one's on the way."



"Aw, gee, I hope it ain't twins uh-gain!"

Kinder Surprise

I've told you how much I love Joe Caputo's grocery store. Let me tell you how much. I dunno if you've read between the lines here, but Chris and I were seriously considering a move to Portland, which is just a wonderful place (now we'll find out if Chris' mom is really reading this blog.) We have 80-85% decided against it, and for Chris the big reasons are because his family and his sports teams are here. For me, the reasons to stay are the theatre scene and the extra-work I've been doing here, the fact that I am a true cold-weather jogger, the job that I love, and Joe Caputo's. Not necessarily in that order. I also just know that my cat wouldn't go poo for the entire three days it might take to get out there, and then he would detonate. He's a nervous poo-er.

So I got to take Ma into Caputo's when she was here, and she loved it, too. In the checkout line, which is always long, I freaked when I noticed this:



Ma has a degree in French, and she's always loved all things French. When Dave and I were kids, she had Asterix and Obelix hardcover books around the house, which she would generally have to read to us (as they were in French, and I think the Romans spoke in Latin.) The names translate to Asterisk (because he is the small one), and Obelisk (because he is the large one.) Anyway, later on, cartoons of the two appeared on the Disney Channel, if memory serves... And they were hilarious. The cartoon is based on Gaul's resistance to Roman occupation. The Gaul's drink a potion that makes them stronger, all except for Obelix -- who fell in a vat of it as a baby.

Caputo's has a wide selection of not only Italian stuff, but lots of imported food. So I had to grab one of the egg toys, for old times sake. They were little chocolate eggs with a prize inside of "Asterix and the Vikings."



When you open it, there is a little egg capsule inside the chocolate:



And inside the egg capsule is a figure and a comic! I was hoping to get Obelix, but I got a Viking. Still neat.



Le Gaulois en vie long!

My First Hollandaise Sauce, and Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups

And it was good!



I was inspired by this post on the Home Cook's blog to do another chicken roll-up with a creamy, lemony sauce. Theirs looked awesome, but I wanted just a straight hollandaise on this particular day. So I went hunting of the FoodTV site, and I found one by Tyler Florence that calls for a whole stick of butter. Ah, no. I figured there would be some way to lighten up what is basically warm mayonnaise once I found a feasible recipe... And this one by Paula Deen did the trick. Here it is reprinted, with my changes added in italics:

2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cream (I used 4 tablespoons nonfat yogurt)
2 large tablespoons butter (I used light butter)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon ground mustard
pinch cayenne
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
Chicken broth, optional
1 tablespoon white vinegar

The instructions were, "Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler, over boiling water. Stir until thick, approximately 3 minutes; set aside until ready to use. Do not reheat or cover the pot. Thin, if needed with a little chicken broth. Stir in the vinegar." I did the heating part, and it wasn't coming together or thickening... So I quickly added a dissolved teaspoon of corn starch, and added a tablespoon of Just Too Good! light mayo and whisked those in. Then it came together perfectly. I don't know if I needed the additions, or if I was just impatient and it would have thickened anyway... But it worked!

For the chicken cordon bleu, I flattened two chicken breasts, and then covered them with some prosciutto I had bought for Chris' lunches (hey, it was in the house, anyway). Then I just put in a half-stick of string cheese in each, and some smoked Monterey jack cheese. I tied them with string, and just lightly grilled the sides of them.



I then put the chicken in a covered dish and baked them for 20-25 minutes more on 375. Then I grilled some asparagus, because you know, it is the dream of all young asparaguses to one day be bathed in hollandaise sauce. And who am I to dash the hopes of any young asparagi? Guses?



When all was done, I sliced the chicken and laid it out attractively on the plate for its close-up.



I have to say, it was just right. It had a lovely tang to it, and just the right lemony taste with a little vinegar in at the end. I ended up spreading it on not only the asparagus, but the chicken, and a dinner roll as well.

Spam 'n Eggs, Yes, I Said Spam 'n Eggs

I am my father's daughter. Though the cooking I do is typically healthy, one thing I have in common with Dad is that I sometimes get a craving that is undeniable. I don't mean the type of craving you get where you think, "Hmm, I think stir-fry might be nice for dinner." I'm talking about the kind that starts as a nagging voice in the back of your mind, and builds over days at a time. Should you try to suppress the Craving, and allow days to turn into weeks, you will find yourself making a trip to the store at the most inconvenient time, and doing your food shopping at places like Walgreen's. Because you just have to get whatever-it-is you've been trying to tell yourself that you don't need, or is too high in fat, or doesn't fit with your ideals. And you have to get it right then.

Spam is not for everyone. In fact, I don't think it appeals to a lot of people, even those who are dedicated meat-eaters. I remember walking into my friend Jen's house one morning in high school. Her father worked for Dial corporation, which had recently acquired the company that produced Treet, a rival product of Spam. He had gotten a lot of free Treet as a result of the merger, and was packing Treet sandwiches for all the kids. One of them, Jason, was having none of it. As I walked up the stairs, I heard her dad saying, "Jason, do you like pork? Do you like chicken? Do you like beef? Well, good. Because IT'S ALL IN THERE." I'm sure Jason tried unsuccessfully to trade his lunch that day.

Well, I've never tried Treet. But I grew up with Spam, and for me it is a fond memory. In my younger days, before I turned fifteen and my metabolism came to a screeching halt, I ate as much as four grown men at every meal. I also had no standards or "ideals" to speak of, and I only obeyed my instinct -- to eat what was tasty. And oh baby, I could eat those pan-seared slices of Spam just as long as Dad would cook 'em up, and the stockpile of cans in the cabinet held out.

Now, I still adore the idea of Spam for kitsch value (a reputation I think the company is well aware of, due to their production of an extensive catalog of items, a museum, and a pretty awesome, if slightly obnoxious, website). But come on. I'm not that girl anymore. I can't stand most Hormel products (Dinty Moore beef stew gives me the shivers just to think about... And remember the Frankenstuff hot dogs with chili inside? In the commercial the dog was struck with lightning, and the chili gushed out. Uhhhk.) I don't generally eat mystery meat, or pork of any kind. Except, of course, for those times when I do.



And don't bother with the Spam Lite. It doesn't taste the same, and that unsatisfied craving just might get rolled over to another day. When you experience the Craving, just go for it. Serve a bit of it diced in scramble eggs with onion for dinner, some green veggies on the side, and enjoy. If our lives are like houses, then a good home is all about balance. And sometimes the cracks can be patched up nicely with Spam.

Deviled Eggs

What's spring or summer without a deviled egg? Answer, "a sad one, indeed."



I made these awhile ago -- on Easter, I believe -- and neglected to post them. But in going through my files, they looked so yummy I didn't want to forget about them.

I had boiled the eggs, and had a dickens of a time getting the shells off, even under cold running water. In "Googling" a solution to this, I found a patent for a shell ripper, (which I assume has become the "Eggstractor" you see on TV), but who wants to buy a new item? I don't have the room for that in my tiny kitchen. Not when the unused waffle-maker is collecting enough dust for everyone. Then I read several threads which had such useful recommendations as "crack the shell all over," and "cool off the eggs." Really? You mean the egg is INSIDE that shell thing..? And I shouldn't peel them boiling hot? Wow, I didn't know that. Sheesh.

Some did say not to overcook the eggs (10 minutes only), to simmer in salt and vinegar, and to use older eggs (because gas has permeated the shell). Guess I'll try those next time... Anyone else know any tricks?

Anyway, I used a hand mixer for the yolks. I added:

• a dollop of Just Too Good! mayo


• about a tablespoon of vinegar


• a little sugar


• a couple shots of hot sauce


• garlic and onion powder


• a little dijon mustard


• salt and pepper

That's pretty much it... I just kept playing with it until I liked the taste. I used a hand-mixer, and then a pastry bag to pipe it on all pretty-like. However, even the smallest unbroken piece of yolk clogged up the whole works and required extraction... So I think next time I will put the whole deal into the food processor, whir it up, and break up the yolks very well before I add the mayo and liquids. Or find a bigger nozzle...

Even with the poor peeling, and the nozzle problems, they came out quite pretty and very tasty. They were a little zippy, just how I like them. I dusted them with paprika. I could have added some fresh dill to the inside, but this batch was destined for a family affair, and I decided to just put little sprigs on the top so that anyone who didn't like it could just take it off.

How do you like your deviled eggs (with more, or less "devil")?

Grilled Veggies... and What to Do With Them

I love the veggie griller's package at Trader Joe's. It comes with bell peppers, a slice of eggplant, sweet potato, zucchini, red onion and yellow squash, plus a couple mushrooms, and some asparagus. I added the green onion myself, plus some additional bell pepper I had. If you don't have access to Joe's, you could easily make the mix yourself. I just like that it is "single-use, no waste."

Now, of course, they are good simply paired with a grilled chicken breast, but one could get tired of that. Also, there are a couple of these (like the eggplant) that need some "sneaking in" for my husband's sake. I grill the veggies on my grill pan, and I've come up with several uses for them after that.

One night I rough-chopped them, and added them to pasta with some olive oil, a can of clams, a little red pepper flakes and a bit of white wine. Plus, of course, a ton of parmesan cheese.



On another occasion, I put them through the slicer blade (after grilling) of my food processor, plus some leftover asparagus and steamed broccoli I had.



Then I added them to a sautée pan and added red sauce. I got a nutrient-packed veggie sauce out of that, and there was lots left over for the week.



Lastly, I also diced them after grilling and added them to a "crustless quiche." I based it on this recipe from cooks.com, but I basically put in the following:

10 cubed slices wheat bread
9 eggs
3 cups skim milk
two large handfuls (about 8 oz. or two cups) shredded cheese
the cubed veggies
four slices grilled Joe's turkey bacon, diced
salt and pepper

I cut the bread into cubes, and added the beaten eggs and milk, then all the other ingredients. I baked it in a sprayed pan at 350 until it all puffed up into a nice blossom, which took something like an hour. (Hard to say, because mine takes twice as long as everyone else's on earth.)



This was really delicious. We had lots of leftovers that we just reheated in the microwave throughout the week... Would be good without the bacon as a vegetarian option, too!

"Let's Get Some F*%kin' French Toast..."

A little more than a year ago, Chris asked for my instruction on how to prepare French Toast. He became quite frustrated during the process, as he usually does whenever he performs something for the very first time, and afterwards no one solemnly presents him with an embossed certificate proclaiming him the "Ultimate Maestro" of whatever that new thing is. We have that in common, actually. It will be very sad for everyone to see us pass this trait onto all of our future children -- a gaggle of neurotic kids that feel completely worthless if they can't do something perfectly the first time, at the age of three.

Anyway, I think he's ready for his certificate. He's better at this particular dish than I am. And believe it or not, I'm totally okay with that.

Christmas Cookies in L.A.

For Christmas this year, in case you haven't already gotten this, we went to L.A. and saw the bro. We ate (both at restaurants and at home) so much freaking food that I will be posting feverishly for the next few days!

David had requested some Chicago gear so that he could "represent." We followed through, and he was able to fully represent while eating his salami, toast and eggs on Christmas Eve.



While watching the Bears game and not climbing out of our pajamas all day, Chris sampled his first bloody mary... the first of his many "first drinks" on our trip.



I don't think he was a huge fan, and while they aren't my favorite drink either, you can't argue that Dave makes the best ones. He makes them spicy with horseradish, worcheshire and hot sauce, and gives you plenty of skewered snacks.



That day, we also baked sugar cookies (per Chris' request.) We got plenty of Christmas cutters from the 99 cent store. I made the cookies from a box and still managed to mess up the directions with too much butter (I failed to use the "roll out" recipe.) So I had to keep adding flour. I also managed to overbake most of them slightly (I like to watch the game.) Still, despite my lack of baking prowess and a failure to purchase many decorative items, they came out pretty good.



I can't believe our trip is over and we are home, already! Hope yours was happy!

Breakfast Casserole

I'm gonna start this post with a pledge for the four of you that read this blog. I'm done with the semester until mid-January, and you can look for a new post from me every day (yeah that's right, I said EVERY DAY) until I get back to school. And then I promise to update at least once a week after that. K?

Onto the food.

This stuff is gooood!

This recipe was given to me by my friend Sarah that I used to work with. When she sent it to me, it said, "submitted by Peggy R." Submitted to, I know not what. But cheers to Peggy!

1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper (I leave this out, because in terms of cookery, I think green pepper is the facist vegetable that makes everything way too... facist and green peppery)
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup half-and-half cream (I used milk)
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, diced (fat-free works fine, but integrates less than the regular does)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices whole wheat bread, cubed
ample salt and pepper

Sautee the veggies and set aside. Cream together the eggs, cream cheese and milk. Stir in the cheddar and bread cubes and veggies, and pour everthing into a greased baking dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until center is set. Excellent hot and amazing cold.



I made the one on the right without onions and brought these to the onion-hating in-laws home. Jason devoured the one with onions, and so did Wilma. They were like, "it's way better with the onions." I could have told them that.

Which brings me to my other promise to self: convert all picky-eaters and onion heathens.

Tiramisu

PHOO! I've been gone a long time. October was particularly busy, with all-weekend anesthesia courses to complete (on my other blog, I may post pics of me getting, and giving, nine injections in the oral cavity on a Sunday night. Nothing like it.) Now that I've primed your appetite, let me tell ya, I'm still taking pictures!

I had never heard of tiramisu, probably, until I began dating my husband. In my family, we rarely ate Italian in restaurants. Aside from our favorite restaurant which used to on Wabash called Cafe Angelo in the Oxford House hotel (now the Hotel Monaco), *** an order of tomato gravy that invariably came with green peppers in a sauce that was gorily undercooked to a bright red would leave us disgusted and seeking Chinese cuisine the next time out. But Chris' family? Oh, they love to eat in restaurants. And my mother-in-law, who moved here from Italy at eight years old, always selects Italian or "just regular American." And they always pay, so who am I to argue? Chris and I pretty much leave the experimentation in exotic cuisines to our own time.

Anyway, something that always seems to be on the menu in any Italian restaurant (especially the nicer class of them that my in-laws favor that by the way, can also competently cook a white or a red sauce) is tiramisu. It also frequents the Food Network. It looked so easy that a couple of years ago I tried Giada's recipe.

I made a few alterations that I think made all the difference. First of all, authentic or not, I can't make anything with rum in it. Let's just say that a few experiences in my twenties left rum on my "never drink again" list. So I substituted with amaretto liquor. While tasting the marscarpone mixture, I also doubled the sugar (still just 6 tablespoons total), and added a capful of vanilla extract. I've used fresh bakery ladyfingers, but the shrink-wrapped kind from the Italian grocer actually seem to work better. I have an unsweetened cocoa and chocolate mixture that my brother got me some time ago from Ghirardelli, and I dust that between layers and on top. Lastly, I don't usually have espresso on hand, so I substitute with strong coffee, preferrably the stuff that has been evaporating/condensing in the pot since morning.



Chocolate chunks on top of this one, I know, totally unnecessary, but I didn't have block chocolate, and I was too lazy to shave each individual hunk. Now ask me if I regret it. NO.



The Witt family seems to like it. For the Christmas holiday shown above, my MIL had gotten some wonderfully fresh torrone -- the best I've ever tasted. She also had the panettone. My bro brought the amaretti cookies. It was a real meeting of the minds. Stomachs.

*** Cafe Angelo is STILL my favorite Italian restaurant. I read some time ago that the former owner opened another restaurant in the suburbs... and then I lost the name. They have a dance floor and they play Sinatra tunes. If anyone out there knows, let me know!

UPDATE: Holy crud, I'm getting good at answering my own questions. Angelo Nicelli now owns the Porto Bello Italian Steakhouse in suburban Lake Zurich. We'll be checking that out soon (and taking pictures, of course.)

UPDATE on the UPDATE: Sadly, it appears that Porto Bello is no longer open. Nuts.

Buffalo Grove Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor

Chris and I stopped by the Buffalo Grove Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor on a hot day when I didn't feel like grocery shopping OR cooking. The service was pretty lousy, and by that I mean incredibly slow, yet disarmingly apologetic. The other bad news is that the matza ball soup was very mediocre:



They might have called it Mush with Boullion Cube, though I don't know if it would have sold so well. Chris' omelette was all right, but didn't look spectacular:



If we ever return, however, it will be because my club sandwich was an absolute perfect "10": a light coat of heavy restaurant-quality mayo, lettuce, tomato, well-done bacon, wheat toast, and real carved turkey. It was a thing of beauty:



Overall, I would recommend the sandwich. They also had a very wide array of creative ice cream sundaes and treats, which we did not sample. I would go back to try those.

I was also pleased to see that the silverware was magnetized, which I haven't witnessed since Denny's Restaurant in 1991, when our friend Chris C. made an elaborate working sculpture that clicked together in a domino effect:





Between the sandwich, the ice cream we didn't try, and the magnetic forks? Worth the money, no question.

Breakfast Biscuits

These are just store-bought biscuits. We like Pilsbury Oven-Baked Southern-Style. The husband is a huge fan of the breakfast biscuit format, so we try and lighten it up as much as we can. These in the pikkie are veggie sausage and reduced-fat cheddar. That's about 20 g less on the fat -- and it's just a Saturday treat.

Today we had turkey bacon instead of the sausage. I have a good time scrambling one egg at a time, swirling it around the pan, and folding up the egg so that it looks like that McDonald's "bedsheet egg" thing they do.