November 5, 2008 by Parsnip
I’ve never made pumpkin pie before, what with my fear of pie crust and because someone has always made pumpkin pie for me. I decided to make some for an election night party Cauli and I went to. This recipe calls for a shortbread-type crust, rather than a typical pie crust (hence “pumpkin bars” not “pumpkin pie”).
I got both the recipes from a great baking blog, Baking Bites. I used her recipe for the crust from this post (note, I did not use the pie recipe from this post, just the crust) and the recipe for the pie from this post.
The results were good - buttery shortbread crust that didn’t get soggy from the pumpkin pie (something I notice happens with pumpkin pie in a regular pie crust) and well-spiced pie filling.
The only drawback was how little pie filling there was. If you look at the picture, you can see that there is almost an even ratio of pie filling to crust. This certainly doesn’t make the bars bad (pie and shortbread, come on!), but I would have preferred a larger pie filling to crust ratio. I think next time I will halve the crust recipe and use an 8 inch square pan, keeping the pie recipe as is.
Regardless, this was fun and easy to make!
Posted in dessert | 2 Comments »
November 4, 2008 by Parsnip
I threw together this salad the other day and have fallen in love with it. All it consists of is some baby spinach, chopped tomatoes, a chopped up hard-boiled egg, some crumbled goat cheese, and dried cranberries. Topped with a homemade vinaigrette, it’s an easy yet healthy meal - perfect for lunch now that I’m working from home.
Posted in salad | No Comments »
November 3, 2008 by Parsnip
I love beer bread. It is such an easy and simple quick bread to make. I found the recipe here , and made this bread the other night to go with our crock-pot stew, and it was a great accompaniment. There are a lot of variations to this bread: You can add herbs such as dried or fresh dill, rosemary or caraway seeds, as well as cheese.
Posted in bread | No Comments »
November 2, 2008 by Parsnip
As the beginning of November has begun with storms, I though it would be nice to bring out the crock-pot and make some stew. I followed a fairly simple recipe from the crock-pot website.
I added about a pound and a half of stew meat to the crock pot. Over the beef, I sprinkled 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and stirred to coat the pieces of meat. I then added half a chopped onion, a few chopped carrots, some diced potatoes (purple, red, and gold), 1 1/4 cups of chicken broth, 1 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 clove of minced garlic, and 1 bay leaf. I mixed everything together and set the crock-pot on high for 6 hours.
Posted in main course | No Comments »
October 20, 2008 by Parsnip
A while ago I posted about a great site, Tastespotting. Not too long after posting, the site shut down. I’m happy to report that it is back up and running (and has been for awhile now). I love this site, not just for food voyeurism, but also for dinner ideas.
Last week I came across this recipe for a spaghetti squash and quinoa bake. I’m a big fan of casseroles and bakes, and decided to give this a try. I followed the recipe fairly closely. The changes I made were
- to saute some pancetta along with the onions
- swap out dried thyme for dill
- omit the peppers
I also think you can be more creative with the cheese than just a mexican blend. Any variety, provided it doesn’t get too greasy, would work just fine.
The results were good - the squash has a nice crunch, and I think the pancetta and onions added a good flavor. You could probably use a variety of meats to make this more of a main dish than the side dish that I had planned on.
Posted in side dish | 3 Comments »
October 15, 2008 by Parsnip
Last night, we had Bool Kogi for dinner. Bool Kogi (or Bulgogi) is a traditional Korean marinated steak. This was not marinated by yours truly. Instead, it was again another purchase from Trader Joe’s. The instructions on the package said to “Grill it quickly!” (exclamation point and everything), so I did. I used our grill pan and quickly grilled it all up.
To accompany the meat, I cooked up some spaetzle and topped with slow-cooked broccoli and goat cheese.
Posted in meal | No Comments »
October 14, 2008 by Parsnip
This isn’t a recipe. In fact, half of this meal was store bought and the other half I’ve blogged about before. But I figured that having a food blog means to blog about all kind of meals, not just ones I’ve made from scratch.
With our recent move, my commute is a half hour longer each way. By the time I get home, I’m tired and both Cauli and I are hungry - so I try to throw something together in 30 minutes with little work. This has often resulted in us getting take out (Chinese) or ordering in (pizza). Recently Cauli and I have been trying to cut back on how much we eat out. I’m hoping to chronicle this attempt with Hunt the Recipe.
For dinner last night, we had apple stuffing stuffed pork chops. We bought the stuffed pork chops at Trader Joe’s - a good buy at around $6.50. The results were good - not great. Just your standard pork chop with some stuffing. I imagine this would be an easy recipe to make after Thanksgiving - buy some thick cut pork chops, slice them almost all the way open, and stuff some leftover stuffing in, and bake.
Accompanying the meal was some fried, homemade bread (courtesy of Cauli’s mom) topped with slow-cooked broccoli. I’ve talked about slow cooked broccoli before (here and here). This is such a great way to make broccoli and can be used a variety of ways: on its own, topping pasta, or spread on bread or crackers.
Posted in meal | No Comments »
October 12, 2008 by Parsnip
Not too long ago, I was craving key lime pie. I decided to look up the recipe and found that it is incredibly simple to make, using just four ingredients: graham cracker crust, lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk. So when my mother and grandmother-in-law came over for dinner a few weeks go, I decided to make some key lime pie.
I found the recipe at Baking Bites, a great reference for all things sweet. I followed her directions completely and was rewarded with a very fresh tasting, custardy pie. There are some things that I would do different next time. The most important being that I would make the graham cracker crust. The pie was so fresh tasting, and jarred with the processed/packaged/preservative taste of the store bought crust. I would also zest the limes and add that to the pie - not only adding to the lime flavor but giving it a nice green-flecked look.
Posted in dessert | 2 Comments »
September 15, 2008 by Parsnip
Most Sundays, Cauli and I go over to his mom’s house for dinner. It’s a long-standing tradition with their family and one I’m happy to be a part of. Last night, we invited his mom over to our new condo for dinner. I wanted to cook something classic and easy, as I often bog myself down in newer, more complicated recipes.
I found the recipe for beef stroganoff at the always good Simply Recipes. The meal cooked up in less than 30 minutes, due to some minimal prep work (slicing the beef and shallots prior to cooking). I served it over some penne pasta (which was all we had on hand, though egg noodles and rice would have worked as well) with a simple romaine salad on the side. I followed the recipe exactly as it was written; however, check out the comments on the Simply Recipes site for variations.
Posted in main course | 1 Comment »
September 9, 2008 by Parsnip
Sorry for the bad picture.
It’s been quite a while since I last posted. Seems we got busy all of a sudden and then we wound up moving. Needless to say I stopped cooking for awhile. As a result, Cauliflower and I have been living off of take out, delivery, and fast food. I hang my whisk in shame.
But we’re now all moved in, and I’m happy to say that I’ve begun cooking in our new kitchen on our new induction range. Tonight’s dinner was basically a tuna casserole, based on my previous posting of Judith Jones’ macaroni and cheese. I made the same bechemel sauce, boiled some macaroni, and added two cans of tuna and some frozen spinach (thawed). The result was good, though it was hard to taste the cheese over the flavor of the tuna. Next time I would use just one can of tuna.
Posted in main course | 1 Comment »
