Bison Hanger Steak with Baked Sweet Potato

I got a bison hanger steak at the Eastern Market while I was home last weekend and seared it with some salt, pepper, and garlic oil. I also baked a purple sweet potato to go with it.

Cherry Pie

I'm not going to give a recipe for this one, it's my own secret. My parents think that they have the correct recipe, but they don't have any of the last 3 or 4 modifications I've made :D. I'll tell you that the top crust is oat based, though.

Swordfish

A seared steak.

A second, breaded steak

Tonight, I made swordfish steaks. They were seasoned with sea salt, pepper, and old bay, and seared in avocado oil. The first steak was a little boring, so I breaded the second one in a liquidy mixture of water and corn flour. This one was SO GOOD.

Morning Brownies

Yesterday I wanted to make brownies with a coffee-cheesecake layer on top. It turns out that I didn't have any baking powder or cream of tartar - only baking soda. I tried to correct for this by adding some extra instant coffee to the batter with some baking soda, and they turned out fine. I also didn't have any white flour, so I used white whole wheat instead. In retrospect, I should have adjusted for this and put in less flour, as the batter was very thick.

The cheesecake topping, however, was a little bit more difficult to salvage. I didn't have an electric mixer and I didn't want to beat cream cheese by hand, so I put the cream cheese on low power in the microwave until it was very soft. This resulted in a pretty liquidy batter without much trapped air, since the sugar dissolved into the cream cheese instead of cutting air pockets. I had been tasting things along the way for a while at this point, so I needed someone with a clean palate. The other two people in the room repeatedly agreed that it needed a much stronger coffee flavor, and soon I had dumped in the entire bottle of instant coffee. While this ended up making a very tasty brownie (if you like coffee), it also means that each individual brownie has the equivalent of one cup of coffee in it - thus the name Morning Brownies.

Due to the extra thickness of the brownie batter and the decreased thickness of the cheesecake batter, They wouldn't really swirl together. In the end, they turned out to be very tasty, with a very dense, chocolatey brownie and a light cheesecake topping. I'm sorry, but I don't have a recipe for you at this time.

Steak and Arepas

Nothing fancy here. Sirloin steaks were on sale so I bought a few. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic oil, then seared it on high heat with some avocado oil. I tried to cook some arepas in the same pan at the same time, but our lounge burners are so weak that it probably took more than 20 minutes.

Steak, Onions, Rice, Beans

I don't really know what to call this. I cubed a sirloin steak, marinated it in half a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and threw it in a pan with onions. Meanwhile, I cooked some brown rice in the rice cooker. When the rice finished, I dumped the steak/onion mixture and a can of black beans into the rice cooker on its keep warm cycle.

Chili

I was in charge of doing most of the cooking for my dorm's super bowl party this weekend, which basically meant that I had to cook chili for over 40 people. On Saturday, I made a beef stock to use in the chili. I really can't express how much better homemade stock is than store-bought stuff. Not only does it actually taste of something other than salt, but it's also cheaper and doesn't require that much effort. All you have to do is get some bones and veggies, roast them (optional), and then simmer them in water all day.

Marrow bones and mirepoix after roasting

Simmering stock

I meant to make several extra quarts of stock to freeze and use later, but unfortunately when we were unpacking the groceries, we left a package of bones out of the fridge so all 2.5 quarts of the stock had to go into the chili.

Sunday was a lot of work. I had to chop 12 onions and cook them in several increments since I don't have a large saute pan, which took a while. Then, I had to cook 12 pounds of ground beef in four separate increments, draining as much fat as I could from each (we got cheap 73/27 beef). Those two things took seemingly forever, but the preparation was mostly done at that point. The stuff I made was loosely based on Emeril's recipe.

That's a 3-gallon pot of chili.

I didn't really like it but others seemed to have. In the end, only half was eaten, so that should tell you what my dinner is on Monday.

The vegetarian chili.

Oh, yeah, I also made a vegetarian chili for the vegetarians of the dorm. I wasn't very happy about that, but at least it turned out alright. I have a rather large disdain for vegetarians (excluding those who have been advised not to eat meat by a doctor). I'm not going to go into it here other than to say that meat is really good - eat it.

Arepas

An arepa with salsa and cheese.


An arepa in the frying pan.

Tonight, I made arepas. They're essentially a South American corn cake that are incredibly easy to make. Just combine equal amounts of masa (corn flour) and water (perhaps slightly more masa) with a little salt to make the batter. You're supposed to use masarepa (precooked masa), but I used masa harina and they turned out fine. Add a very small amount of oil to a pan and heat on high-medium-high heat. Drop the batter into the pan in ~4" rounds with ~1" thickness. Cook for 4 minutes per side, split open, and fill with whatever you like (I used salsa and cheese).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I always like to keep a bag or two of cookie dough around to feed to people when they are hungry or feel that I have wronged them in some way (usually the latter). As you can imagine, I go through quite a bit of the stuff. I've never found a better recipe than Tyler Florence's. I recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon of coffee extract along with the vanilla. If you intend to eat the dough raw, use pasteurized egg substitute and no baking powder. That dough can be baked (see above picture), but it won't turn out nearly as well.

Turkey Leftovers Part 2: Turkey Posole

This was suggested to me by my hallmate, Kevin. The recipe can be found here. After cooking the turkey the other night, I made a stock from the carcass and leftover vegetables. Obviously, if you have homemade turkey stock, use it in place of the chicken broth. I also suggest putting at least 2 adobo chipotle peppers in unless you are sensitive to heat.

Turkey Leftovers Part 1: Turkey Salad

Yes, it's supposed to be green.

I had a ton of turkey left over from the previous night's dinner, so I decided to make a turkey salad for sandwiches. Mayonnaise isn't the best thing for diets, though, and I never really liked homemade chicken salad with it. This is a recipe that I made up while walking through the vegetable section of bloom, but it's definitely one of my favorites. For fat, I used pureed avocado instead of mayo. To add some taste, I mixed that with some Dijon mustard and chopped celery, then tossed bite-sized pieces of turkey in it. I wish I'd had some walnuts and dried fruit, because I think this recipe would have been absolutely fantastic with it. It's definitely worth revisiting in the near future. A warning to anybody who tries to make this: be sure that your avocado-dijon mix is cold when you are adjusting for taste, or else it will be off when you do eventually refrigerate it.

Turkey

Back in November, the local Bloom had a deal where you could get a turkey for $0.39/lb if you spent $30 on other stuff. A $5 turkey is too good to pass up so I bought it...twice. We used one in a turducken feast the weekend before thanksgiving and kept the other in the freezer over winter break. Having already cooked several birds in the past couple months, I was in no mood to get fancy with this turkey, so I just defrosted it, shoved some halved carrots, celery, onions, and oranges into the cavity, squeezed an orange on top, and roasted it in the oven for several hours. It actually turned out really well, and I shared it with a few friends.

Sauteed Eggplant

Eggplant is quite the fruit. It tastes great and only contains about 30 calories in one cooked cup. I wasn't too thrilled with this as a meal the first time I made it, and I certainly regret slicing the eggplant the way I did. I am very happy with my improved version over pasta, though:

• 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 15 ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 head garlic, each clove quartered
• 1 medium sweet onion, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon basil
• Pinch salt
• Olive oil

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute eggplant, garlic, and onion with salt until all are tender. Add basil and tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. Serve over pasta.

Pita Bread

Puffed pita in the oven


Finished pita

Homemade pita is surprisingly easy. There's a great guide here. I was able to make the pita puff with 100% white whole wheat flour by allowing it to rise slightly longer and rolling it out very thin. Fantastic results. I rolled out three rounds and froze them, too, but I haven't tried to see if they'll bake correctly yet.

Mahi-Mahi with Brown Rice

This turned out fairly well, although it wasn't really meant for mahi-mahi or searing. My correct recipe for this dish is:

• Steelhead Trout fillets (Or Salmon)
• 2 parts Olive oil
• 1 part Soy Sauce
• 1 part Dijon Mustard
• Crushed Garlic/Garlic Powder/Garlic Oil to taste

Optionally, brine fish for 10 minutes in soy sauce to avoid unsightly protein coagulation. Place fish in 9x13 baking dish and pour most of the sauce into the pan. Bake at 350 until nearly done, pour remaining sauce on top of fish, and finish in the oven.

Spaghetti with Meatballs

These are actually cold leftovers

On the 20th, I made spaghetti and meatballs. For the spaghetti, I used the whole wheat spaghetti that the Cheese Shop sells. For the sauce, I used a bottle of Ledo sauce. For those of you who are not familiar with Ledo Pizza, it's only the best pizza in the world. They've always sold their sauce in the stores, but I just found out while writing this post that they now sell it online! It's so good. Seriously. Buy it right now. For the meatballs, I followed Alton Brown's meatball recipe, except with veal instead of lamb and no red pepper flakes. It's a really good recipe, just make sure you never try to fry the meatballs instead or they'll completely fall apart.

Pork and Chive Dumplings

I used the day before class started to make about 80 large dumplings which I can freeze, steam, and eat throughout the semester. They were fairly simple to make. The dough was made with just hot water, white whole wheat flour, and a tiny bit of olive oil, then rolled out to a 3-4 inch diameter. The filling is ground pork and chive with a little oil and some seasonings. I wrapped them like this to decrease the cross-sectional area while still being able to hold a sauce.

From frozen, they steam for about 13 minutes. Served with a sauce made from black vinegar, sweet soy sauce, chili oil, and garlic oil. Each dumpling is approximately 90 calories.

Welcome

I'm a freshman in my second semester of college living without the meal plan. I used the meal plan in the first semester, but it was nearly impossible to eat decent food on a diet. If there was even anything nutritious on the menu for a given meal, it was probably awful. Factor in lack of variety and the probability that you are actually in the mood for whatever the dish you can eat is, and it all makes for one very poor dining experience. And the worst part: it costs $1726 per semester.

So I've ditched the meal plan, choosing instead to cook for myself. My budget: $1726 for the semester, which gives me more than $100/week for new equipment, groceries, and restaurant bills. The nearest grocery store is Bloom, a 15-minute walk down the road from my dorm. I'm also taking an above-average course load this semester, so I have restrictions on the amount of time I can devote to my cooking. Finally, I'm currently on a diet on which I'm trying to limit my calorie intake to about 1500 daily, so I also have restrictions on what I can put into my meals.

Having said that, here's what I have to work with...
I keep all of my cooking supplies in my room, along with most of my food. I wasn't using my desk anyway, so all of this used to be wasted space.

My dorm room setup

My dorm has two kitchens for 3 floors of people and each of the first floor lounges have a couple mediocre burners. I live on the first floor, so I'll be doing most of my cooking on the second floor.

Second floor kitchen

I know that most food blogs involve recipes, but I'm usually not going to do that. For one, I rarely cook with recipes, and when I do, I don't follow them very closely. I do a lot of tasting and adjusting and I just don't have the time to carefully measure and write up food amounts and cooking time. I'll usually provide an overview of what I did, though. You can always ask questions in the comment section. Also, I'm using my android phone for a camera, so the pictures will not be very high quality, as you can see.

I have several recipes that I've already cooked, so I'll be posting fairly frequently in the next few days to catch up.