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The Lady Has Spoken

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Liz has chosen her birthday cake of choice!

She chose the Red Velvet Cupakes submitted by Laura.  Laura is actually my sister so I won’t be sending her anything special (dont’ worry Laura, I’ll be sending you myself in a few days!).

Liz’s second choice however (which sadly I did not make today) was the Cinnamon Babka submitted by Gina so I’ll send her the something special I had planned to send the winner.  Gina, please e-mail me (foodologie00@gmail.com) your info so I can send you a treat!

Thanks to everyone for submitting recipes!  I think Liz enjoyed getting to choose!

On to the cupcakes… These were DELICIOUS!  You all seriously need to try this recipe.  They were divine!  The crushed candy cane on top adds a great crunch and isn’t chocolate and mint just the best combination?!?!

The party hasn’t started yet but my roommate and I tried one because we couldn’t resist had to make sure they were eatable.

I’ll be back with Ugly Sweater pictures!

Have a wonderful night!!

December Recipe Challenge: Potato Gnocchi

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I should probably preface this with the fact that this was a fail…

About a month ago, I bought a 5lb bag of potatoes for under $2.00.  Since it’s been a month I decided I should probably make use of them.  I also happened to have an open jar of pasta sauce that needs to be used.  Here’s the next addition to the December Recipe Challenge…  it seemed like a few ingredients, a little labor intensive but manageable!

Again I got this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, Heidi calls it How to Make Gnocchi like an Italian Grandmother.  I call it potato gnocchi.  Here’s my version, only 1 change (whole wheat flour for all purpose, which I think was the cause of fail):

Potato Gnocchi

2 lbs of potatoes
1/4 cup egg
1 cup of whole wheat flour
Salt

Boil the potatoes with the peel until tender, save the water.  Then lay the potatoes out on a large cutting board, peel and mash with a fork.

Leave it to cool a bit then add the egg and 3/4 of the flour.

Knead it very lightly, add more flour as needed.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a long worm shape.  Cut worm into 1/2inch – 3/4 inch pieces.

Shape them on the side of a fork (I can’t show this since I only have two hands).  Reboil the water and put gnocchi in the water until they float to the top.

Enjoy with olive oil and salt or some pasta sauce.

Sadly this wasn’t very delicious.  I didn’t even finish making the batch 😦  Not very delicious… In fact my dinner ended up being this:

Oh well.  We can’t win them all!

What’s your most recent recipe fail?

Knock Off Moosewood Dressing

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Remember when I went to Moosewood and fell in love with the lemon-tahini dressing??  Well I decided to recreate it today.

After a trip to the Salvation Army all the way in Cortland (because the Ithaca one simply would not do) to shop for our ugly sweater/Liz’s B-Day party (My sweater is fantastic! I can’t wait to show you all!), we stopped by Ludgate Farms a local farm/store.  I bought a lovely Fingerlakes Salad bouquet!

I ran home and started making my salad with: Fingerlake Lettuce, Carrots, and left over lentil burgers chopped into pieces.  Then I added my knock off Moosewood Lemon Tahini dressing:

Knock Off Moosewood Lemon Tahini Dressing:

1/2 cup tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cumin
few shakes for cayenne
salt and pepper
enough water to make it the right consistency

These are all estimate measurements as I started with a certain amount and added more as needed.  So if you try it making it you’ll have to try it occassionally and add more or less until you get it to be fantastic!

This made kind of a lot of dressing, so it’ll probably last a long time.  But the final product was pretty tasty!

Now off to write my statistics paper and work on my fitness (Fergie anyone?)

December Recipe Challenge: Vegetarian Lentil Burgers

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As you may have gathered, I’m a huge fan of veggie patties.  I eat them all the time.  Unfortunately, they’re expensive and I’m broke.  So I was looking around for a recipe for some sort of patty that’s cheap to make that would fit the need of my December Recipe Challenge (aka healthy).

While perusing 101 Cookbooks, I came across this recipe for Vegetarian Lentil Burgers and decided to try it.  The recipe is really basic so I added a few things to it to spice it up.

Vegetarian Lentil Burger:

adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 and 1/2 cup cooked lentils
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg beater type product)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 shake of cayenne pepper
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tsp olive oil

Ingredient, minus the onion because I forgot to include it in the picture 😦

I cooked some lentils (slightly undercooked since the recipe said to use black lentils which apparently are less mushy than the lentils I have), then put 1 and 1/2 cup of lentils in the food processor with the egg, salt, garlic and cayenne.

Then I processed it for a few seconds, til it looked like chunky hummus.  I wanted to have who lentils still in it, but you can probably process it more if you prefer.

Then I combined the lentil mixture with the onions and breadcrumbs in a bowl .

I formed the mixture into patties (I think I got 8 out of this, medium sized).

Heated the oil and cooked them (covered) for about 8-10 minutes.  On medium heat.  If you have a lid that’s great if not, use foil like I did.

Enjoy!

These turned out pretty well!  I like them!  Next time I would add a little more salt or other spices to make them a little more fun. I still have a ton of lentils that I cooked so I think next time I’ll try making them with a Moroccan twist by adding cumin, corriander, cinnamon and lemon!

Also, don’t forget to suggest a cake!

Breather

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Last night was my poster presentation for my land use class.  Thanks goodness that’s done with!  This is our poster:

After that, I decided to take a break from studying for the night.  So I went over to my friend Rhoda’s place to watch her bake (baking hiatus for me!) and watch Julie and Julia.

Luckily Rhoda had many an apron for us to wear.

Rhoda and Amber ready to bake!

Amber and me

Rhoda made these delicious cookies (I ate about 3658939218774 million, that’s what happens when you don’t eat lunch! shame on  me!)

The cookies were great, the movie…not so much.  Sadly I wasn’t a fan.  There were a lot of things I hate about the characters, especially Julie.  Have you seen Julie and Julia?

Anyway, today I’m doing statistics stuff and I have a new recipe to try!

Don’t forget to submit your cake ideas in yesterday’s post! No one has suggested plain yellow cake with chocolate frosting yet 🙂

Calling All Cakes!

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I woke up this morning to a TON of snow!  It’s so lovely!!  So I slipped on my stylish new snow boots (over my pajamas) and headed out to take some pictures.  I was chic:

Not sure how I’m going to get my car out…

I’ve been a busy bee as of recent.  I have a presentation for my land use class tonight and my group poster is a DISASTER!  I hate group projects but mostly jerks who can’t work with others.

After that I will be working on my stats paper… When it comes to stats I sort of feel like this:

Image not mine

Anyway, It’ll get done!

Luckily my oats this morning were lovely!

On to cakes!

I need your help!

While part of my December Recipe Challenge was to hold off on baking sweets, my friend Liz’s birthday is today!  Happy Birthday Liz!

Isn't she cute?! Gentlemen, she's single!

So this weekend, my roommate and I are hosting an Ugly Sweater/Liz’s Birthday Party.  What kind of a birthday party would it be without the cake??

So if I’m only going to bake one thing then it better be good!  She said her favorite cake is anyone that she doesn’t have to bake.  So that leaves me with a blank slate! 

I need suggestions for an amazing birthday cake! Cupcakes are also appreciated!

Let’s make Liz’s birthday cake amazing!

Please leave me comments with cake suggestions/recipes!

Note: This does not have to be your original recipe, but please give authors due credit.  Also, this doesn’t have to be fancy from scratch.  Doctored cake mix is great!  Creativity is appreciated but simplicity is classic!

I’ll pick the top three by tomorrow and Liz will vote on which one I should make!  The winner will get something special sent to them 🙂

Have a great day!

Copenhagen

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In the news, you’ve probably seen a million articles talking about Copenhagen.  What does this mean exactly?

Yesterday, started the 15th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15).  It’s a meeting on climate change to follow up the Kyoto Protocol.  The Kyoto Protocol was an international agreement adopted at the end of 1997, as a way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world.  The goal was to reduce GHG emissions to the level that they were in 1990.  As of now, 187 national governments have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.  The US has not (this is not to say the US is not doing anything to prevent climate change).

If you click on the Kyoto Protocol link above, it takes you to the UNFCCC website that has a good summary of the Kyoto Protocol and the mechanism of implementation (for some reason I’m a fan of the “carbon market” idea).  Although the Kyoto Protocol doesn’t expire until 2012, preparations are being made for a new program to reduce GHGs.

Since the meeting at Copenhagen just started, I can’t say too much about it.  But I encourage everyone to read the news. Here is the first press briefing (only 2:39 long… pretty short):

Here are a few key points I find particularly interesting and I hope are discussed in Copenhagen:

  • Tension between environmental protection/prevention of climate change and development.  Can we have both?
  • How are we financing this?
  • What are the governance structures and power relationships involved?
  • Where are they looking to cut GHG emissions?  Transportation? Agriculture?

You may be wondering what this has to do with food security… I think it’s a crucial aspect as one of the causes of food insecurity is natural hazards.  Granted the changes in the global climate may be small, but this could effect food production in the future.

Also, food production produces a significant amount of GHGs.  While I don’t think may politicians would promote reducing food production to reduce GHG emissions, it could interesting to see if green agriculture is talked about.

What are your thoughts on Copenhagen?  Are you interested in this or not a whole lot?

Should we be worrying about this now?

I know as a planning student, I’m surrounded by people who feel very strongly about it and are working toward solutions, but I’m always interested in hearing other perspectives.

December Recipe Challenge: Quinoa Mediterraneana

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Ordinarily, when invited to a gathering, I bring a baked good.  I like to bake and I’m not too bad at it, so I figure why not.  However, I’m trying to break out of my comfort zone and get a little healthier.  So in the spirit of the December Recipe Challenge, I’m bringing Quinoa Mediterraneana to my department’s Dish-to-Pass Holiday Party today!

I found this recipe on Food Network.  I made a few changes and omitted pine nuts (because they’re just too expensive and they didn’t have any in the bulk food section so I couldn’t just just a handful) and parsley (because I’m not a fan so why would I waste 99 cents! Every penny counts!)

Here’s my version:

Quinoa Mediterraneana

adapted from Food Network Quinoa Mediterraneana

2 cups dry quinoa
3 and 1/2 cups water (The recipe calls for 4.5 and I used that but my quinoa turned out WAYYY too mushy, so try less water)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 canned artichoke hearts
1/4 cup or 1 small 2.25 oz can of black olives
1/2 bunch about 3 cups of chopped spinach (you can chiffonade–cut into strips– as the recipe says, fancy right??)
2 Roma tomatoes diced
Greek Dressing (recipe follows)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

First gather your ingredients…

Rinse your quinoa and put in a big big pot with water, salt and oil.  First I thought I was going to use my littler bit pot but turns out I needed the jumbo pot!

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-2o minutes.  Let the quinoa chill for a bit while you do the rest.

Chop up your ingredients and set them aside

Then start making your dressing

Greek Dressing:

zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 orange
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

To make the dressing:

Zest your lemon and juice squeeeze your orange juice.  You can use a zester or a microplane (I want one of these so bad but haven’t been willing to pony up the dough for it).  You can also use store bought orange juice(recipe actually calls for this).  I didn’t because I don’t like orange juice and it was cheaper for me just to buy an orange.

Combine all the ingredients and set aside.

Add the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives spinach and dressing to the cooked quinoa.

Mix it up and top with crumbled feta!

It was pretty quick and easy to make, not mention colorful!

Enjoy!  I tried a little bit and I really like it!  Great flavor combination.  I just wish my quinoa hadn’t turned out mushy but that can be fixed next time with less water 🙂

I hope everyone at my party likes it 🙂

Have a great day!!

Guatemalan Black Beans: Part II

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I’m glad you all enjoyed Part I of the Guatemalan Black Bean Saga.  Here’s part II:

But first another picture from Guatemala…

Me in front of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala on a very hazy day!

Once you’re tired of eating whole beans, you can use your left overs and make some refried beans!  Growing up we had refried black beans, eggs and tortillas for breakfast on weekends.  It’s still one of my favorite breakfasts (and I LOVE breakfast food).  Soo good!

Frijoles Volteados:

2 cups Cooked Black Beans (Reserve some of the liquid)
1/2 small onion diced (optional I didn’t use any)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Step one: add as much beans as you want to make in the blender (I recommended two cups above but I only had about a cup).  Add a little bit of the liquid and blend until smooth, almost like a thick soup.  (You can stop here if you want to enjoy some frijoles licuados, essentially a black bean soup).


Step two: Dice your onion into small pieces.  Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on medium to high heat. Add onions to heated pan, cook til onions are cooked through.  Skip this step if you choose not to use onions as I did

Step three: add blended beans to the pan.  Stir until thick (this will take about 10 minutes), watch out for splashing beans!  They burn!  (My mom warns me about this every single time I tell her that I make these).

Then as they thicken, it’ll start to separate from the pan, once you shake the pan and they form a solid log shape, turn them onto a plate.  You can slice it with a butter knife to serve… Doesn’t look very cute, but tastes delicious!

Step four: Enjoy with scrambled eggs, tortillas and sour cream or queso fresco!

I wish I had nice thick corn tortilla and plantains.  Unfortunately in upstate NY, they’ve only heard of flour tortillas and plantains don’t exist (I keep meaning to check the Asian market to double check this).

Once you try these, you’ll never want to buy a can of refried beans again!

In Other News… In case you hadn’t noticed… this site is now officially http://www.foodologie.com!  Woo!