The Bitch Stopped Cooking

The Bitch Stopped Blogging?!

2011-11-04T14:21:00.004-04:00

Hi guys!!

We sort of slacked off the last year and almost a month. I don't know what happened. Are you mad? Can we still be friends?

This summer flew by, full of fresh veggies, days at the beach, and lots and lots of train rides. We, along with the Original Bitch, her cook, and a handful of significant others (aka cooks) and one adorable thirty-something month old, went to EUROPE! We went on a whirlwind tour of a bunch of countries, seeing lots of people we love, and eating lots of amazing food and drinking lots of amazing beer. We got to go to a wedding in Germany, where they partied for about 20 hours straight. We also marinated in the blue lagoon and got to see the extraordinary buildings (and prices!) in Copenhagen. It was a fantastic, memorable trip.

As the summer has wound down we've been able to cook at home a lot more, often using really good, local ingredients. Maria's CSA through Waltham Fields Community Farms went until last week, and didn't slow down a bit. Check out last week's crunchy bounty!

Another thing that's been happening is that one of the bitches has been getting a little... rotund. We are so excited for new little family member coming in December. It's a boy, so we'll be sure to get him a kitchen set before his first birthday.

So, sorry we haven't been posting as much. We'll be better about it I swear. Some things to look forward to reading about are...

Unemployed Boyfriends and their Cooking Prowess!
Barbeque that will Change Your Life!
Adventures in Canning and Preserving!

Peace, Love, and Kohlrabi,

The Bitches

Have you missed us?

2010-10-11T20:29:00.005-04:00

As you've noticed, we've been kind of slacking on posting to our beloved blog. I'm not really sure how people like Ree and Kelle do it, but we just can't get our act together to post every day (or even every week lately). But, we know you love us and that you'll excuse us. If you didn't know this already, two of us bitches are going temporarily insane in graduate school while we learn about swallowing disorders and reading disabilities, how black tea consumption is linked to prostate cancer in China and doing biostatistics like nobody's business. The third bitch already suffered through graduate school a few years ago and is now busy chasing after a precocious and all together WAY TOO ENERGETIC almost two year old. Said bitch is also trying to get a little baby blanket business going. Oh, and watching Madmen.

So...what this leads me to is that we're having trouble making time for our own posts and we're going to cheat today and post a tasty recipe contributed to us by our dear cousin, Liz, of bake sale and Manterview fame. Enjoy!

Lizzy's Oatmeal Buckwheat pancake recipe

Vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, high nutrient

For pancakes for two:

½ cup rolled oats
1 cup soymilk
½ cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon canola oil
capful vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon egg replacer (see note)

1) Put the oats and ½ cup soymilk in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes or so until oats are
softened.
2) Put ½ cup soymilk and vinegar in a bowl. Mix and let sit for 5 minutes or so - the
soymilk gets a little thick.
3) Mix dry ingredients. Add spices if desired: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger,
etc.
4) Mix vanilla and oil into soymilk and vinegar mixture. Add egg replacer.
5) Heat pan on med high with canola oil. When oil gets hot, you may want to turn pan
down a little bit.
6) Put oats and soymilk into soymilk mixture. Mix a bit. Add that to flour mixture. Mix
only until combined. (Do not overstir)
7) Pour 1/3 cup batter into hot pan to make one pancake. Fill pan with cakes. Cook on
med heat until edges are dry and bubbles are forming across the entire top of the
pancake. Flip cakes and cook on other side. The trick is to have the heat hot enough
to make a nice crisp edge and top but not so hot that it burns the cake before it is
cooked through.

I serve these with bananas, pecans, syrup, strawberry sauce (frozen strawberry, orange
zest, oj, syrup, arrowroot), Earth Balance spread.

Note: Egg replacer is easy to find at any natural food market, it keeps very well in the
cabinet, and it is easy to use. I am sure you could just use an egg in this recipe as well and
it would be great!

The Bacon Explosion

2010-09-19T10:54:00.009-04:00

Men, this one is for you. No doubt it's important to know how to properly cook Swiss chard, and who can refuse a homemade oatmeal cookie?! But let’s face it: we know what you really want. Bacon. Lots of bacon. Bacon with sausage. Lots of sausage.

This is the Bacon Explosion. We made it, ate it, and lived to tell about it.

We deviated somewhat from the original Bacon Explosion recipe, so here’s our take on it. This is what you’ll need:

• 2 lbs of sliced bacon (2 packages)
• 2 lbs of sweet Italian ground sausage (you can take the meat out of the casing by hand if you can only find links. If you do this, press the loose sausage together meat in a bowl before using)
• ½ a pepper, chopped (we used green, but you can use any color)
• ½ a medium onion, chopped
• 5 or 6 white mushrooms, sliced
• Barbecue rub
• Barbecue sauce

Step 1. Fry up one pound of bacon in a frying pan, as crispy as you like. Once it has cooled, break it into small pieces with your fingers. This is part of the filling.

Step 2. Sauté the pepper, onion, and mushrooms until soft and the onion is translucent. For added deliciousness, you can do this in the leftover bacon fat.

Step 3. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees (the original recipe calls for it to be smoked. We don’t have a smoker, but baking it worked pretty well. If you choose to smoke it, you’re on your own).

Step 4. Weave the remaining pound of uncooked bacon: place several slices down side-by-side, touching. We used 6, but the width of your bacon may differ. Starting at the bottom, weave one slice of bacon at a time across the slices you already laid down. Do this until you have created a bacon mat.

Step 5. Admire your work. Who says men can’t weave?! If you have extra bacon after making your mat, lay them on top of the weave. Who says you can't have extra bacon?!

Step 6. Press the ground sausage over the bacon mat evenly.

Step 7. Spread the sautéed veggies and bacon pieces evenly over the sausage (unfortunately, this is when you have to stop munching on the cooked bacon pieces, since they’ve now touched the raw sausage).

Step 8. Drizzle barbecue sauce and sprinkle the rub over the veggies and bacon.

Step 9. Roll just the sausage, veggies and bacon from the bottom to the top of the mat, separating from the mat as you go. This will form a nice big sausage log.

Step 10. Roll the sausage log and the bacon mat towards you, covering the sausage with the bacon mat. Be sure to press the bacon mat into the sausage, getting any air bubbles out. Your bacon explosion has been constructed and now it’s time for cooking.

Step 11. Place your Bacon Explosion in the oven on a baking sheet, covered in aluminum foil. We used a slotted sheet placed over a deeper sheet to catch the drippings. Bake covered for an hour, then removed the cover and bake for another hour and a half or so. When the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees, remove it from the oven. Slice, slather with barbecue sauce, and enjoy. Don’t make plans for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, plan to shop for larger clothes. This might not be your last bacon explosion.

The Bitch is Still Gardening....a long overdue update!

2010-09-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

Hi all. I know you've been chomping at the bit to find out how my gardening is going, especially after I left you hanging with my previous riveting posts about my Adventures in Gardening. Okay, I admit - this might be a bit of an exaggeration. But, I'm dying to tell you, so here you go!

I've decided I will never grow a viney or bushy squash-bearing plant ever again. Sorry zucchini, sorry summer squash. I do love you so, but after being plagued by the absolutely nasty, totally disgusting, worse-than-anchovies Squash Vine Borer, I have left the squash business forever. Seriously, the "frass" (poo) they leave behind is gross enough to make me want to stop gardening forever. Anyone out there agree with me? Ugh! I'd rather look at a potato bug all day. Hmmm...actually that's a toss up. Those Jerusalem Crickets (another name for potato bugs) are pretty grody. See for yourself (if you dare.....).

Okay, moving past icky bugs (and I'm the resident bug remover in our house so you know these bugs must be pretty nasty for me to be bothered by them), another reason I am never growing any kind of viney thing is that my garden doesn't have a lot of ventilation because of the wooden fence around our yard, so plants that are prone to getting powdery mildew get it with a vengeance. I know there are actions I can take to take to help control the pesky whiteness that took over the leaves of my cukes, mystery winter squash and summer squash, but I am more interested in low-maintenance gardening. With a little one scampering around and getting into everything, the last thing I want to be doing is spending half my day washing my plant leaves. I'll leave the squash growing up to my neighbor, Milt. He has quite a green thumb when it comes to squash and a much better ventilated garden.

So, the powdery mildew led to a cathartic 10 minutes pulling out my squash/cuke plants and chucking them over the fence into the arms of my amazing husband who didn't know what he was getting himself into (when he happened to walk by the fence, not when he married me, which is what you were thinking, right?). Now, I have a lovely 3'x5' area in my garden ready for some late beets and peas (if I ever get around to planting the seeds!). Speaking of beets, I just harvested a few this week. My hopes for a bumper crop of beets were dashed when I discovered that most of my beet plants were mostly just leaves with these piddly little "beets" for roots. About 1/2 wide at the most, my beets were a big disappointment. I was able to get about four that were about 2 inches across. When I cut into one this week, I discovered one of the most beautiful vegetables I had ever seen. Check it out!

I also grew potatoes this summer and last week, I harvested about 15 potatoes from 5 plants. I expected to get a lot more, but I recall saying that I would be happy if I only got one, so I'M HAPPY! My carrots are still growing, but I did pick a few this week. Tasty! I roasted the beets and some of my potatoes and carrots. Roasting vegetables and potatoes is fun because it's easy, it smells good and seems really fancy so you can impress your eating partner. It's a great way to cook if you're just starting out. Just chop 'em up, throwing on some olive oil and seasoning and pop 'em in the oven at 400 degrees until they're done (usually about 15 - 30 minutes depending n what you're cooking). Here they are before I roasted the heck out of them.

Well, that's it for the gardening update. I hope your gardens are happily producing. I'm off to see about harvesting my peppers. Fun! I'll leave you with a few pictures.

Cubanelle peppers enjoying the sunshine.

Some flowers living up to their name.

A Cool Groupon up in Vermont

2010-09-12T13:35:00.003-04:00

Hey readers, we thought you might like this groupon. It is a two-night stay at a Vermont resort plus a cooking class for two for $349. If you're new to Groupon, it is a website that posts short-term deals in certain regions and the deal only becomes valid if a certain number of people sign up for it. This one is already "tipped", which means enough people signed up. If you're new to Vermont, it's gorgeous. If you're new to cooking classes, hmm, so am I.

The deal is valid for stays from November through April and there is a load of classes you can choose from. Some noteworthy classes are Make Like a Bear on November 7 or Holiday in Spain on December 11.

If you're in the New England area or want to be in the New England area, check it out! The deal expires at the end of the day.

If you don't yet live by Groupon, check out the website here.

And the winner is.......

2010-09-04T13:55:00.003-04:00

The day you've all been waiting for! We reached 400 Facebook fans!!!! As promised, we've randomly selected a winner (using a random number generator and everything!).

And now....

The winner...

Of the 2010 The Bitch Stopped Cooking product giveaway...

Marilyn Downs!!!

AND!!! There's more!!! We are also giving away a prize to our 400th fan!

Wow!!!

Our 400th fan was......

Dawn Yardeni!!!

Marilyn and Dawn, contact us on Facebook so we can mail you your choice of an apron or dishtowel.

Didn't win? That's okay! Check out our products so you can own your very own The Bitch Stopped Cooking gear.

Another Manterview!

2010-09-03T15:07:00.009-04:00

Our amazingly talented cook and cousin, Liz interviewed her hubby about his experience cooking. He's got some really intelligent answers and tips that can really help someone who is new to cooking. You know Liz from our bake sale at Sophie's Sale. Her incredible vegan cupcakes wowed everyone. You can also read Liz's testimonial about how The Bitch Stopped Cooking helped her relationship with her husband and her own experience in the kitchen.

Liz: Do you like cooking?

Andy: Yeah, sure, I like cooking. It depends. I really don't like it in a small kitchen. It is not nearly as good as when I have room do to stuff.

L: What about cooking do you like?

A: Figuring out what combinations work with others, making healthy meals, sharing a healthy meal with others. Trying to make something that others like is part of the fun. Part of the goal is you want to make something others like or appreciate. If it doesn't happen the way you wanted, you move on. Another chance will come again.

L: What about cooking do you dislike?

A: Manterviews! Just kidding. Timing – having everything come out poorly because of lack of experience with a new dish – being able to time the steps accordingly – it never goes by the book if you don't have the experience; improper equipment - not being able to experiment without the proper array of kitchen equipment; Hofstadter's Law

L: What advice would you give to men who are just starting in the kitchen?

A: Don't bite off more than you can chew to start. Start with small recipes that you are familiar with. Learn about your ingredients. Watch good home cooks and help them. Sous Chef at family gatherings. Something simple can be as good or better as something complex. Simple can be really pleasing to others.

L: What is your favorite dish that I make?

A: Hmmmm It is between the lemon-caper tofu and the tofu with mushrooms and pasta. That's a tough one. There are a lot of things that you make really well that I wouldn't say is favored one over another.

L: What is your favorite thing to make?

A: LoMein. That's a lot of fun. Its a project, but it is fun. Because it is a project you don't get to do it very often, which makes it even better when you do get to have it. It satisfies a wide variety of culinary desires. The things that make a meal satisfying, the LoMein has checkmarks in a lot of those boxes. It is juicy, unctuous because of the oil combinations, it is crisp because of the veggies. It is a balanced meal all by itself – carbs, proteins, wholesome array of veggies.

L: What is one of the biggest challenges that you have overcome as you have gotten more comfortable with your cooking?

A: Being able to improvise and having the knowledge not to totally offend or malign the food that I am improvising with. That comes from my earlier statement about understanding your ingredients. For example, now I know it is preferential to roast potatoes. I used to fry my potatoes all the time, but now I roast them. It is much easier to do and healthier. That is what I mean about understanding your ingredients.

L: Do you think that women belong in the kitchen?

A: Yes! Barefoot, pregnant, and makin' me a sammich! Actually, no, but traditional gender roles have offered me an experience of women being culinary mentors. You know, your mom taught you how to cook and her mom probably taught her and her mom's mom and so on.

L: Is there any question that I should have asked you but I didn't?

A: Yes.

Guest Blogger Testimonial: Mary Connealy

2010-08-30T20:23:00.003-04:00

From time to time, we will feature guest bloggers here at The Bitch Stopped Cooking. Today's guest blogger is Mary Connealy, an author (romantic comedy cowboy tales!) who stopped cooking after 27 years. Check out her story below. If you're interested in being a guest on our blog (or having us as a guest on yours), please let us know!

Any pictures, opinions, views, formatting and all content in our guest blog posts belong solely to the guest blogger. If you are interested in borrowing anything, using a picture or quoting them, please contact the guest blogger directly. Contact information for Mary follows her post.

Read on!

I was a stay-at-home mom for 27 years. I had a very traditional marriage.
I raised four daughters while my husband worked his backside off. He came home at night tired and hungry. He’d shower and I tried very hard to be right there, putting the food on, when he collapsed at the table.
Our last daughter was a bit of a straggler. Five years between her and her next older sister. So all the older girls were grown and out of the house and the ‘baby’ (she hates being called that) was in high school when we decided he could either quit or lose his mind.
I believe my exact words were, “What’s your mental health worth, because you seem to be going crazy.” (well, my exact words were probably not quite so sassy. But I’m trying to make this more interesting than the truth. Yes, some fanatics might call that lying, but still. . .)
So he couldn’t really afford to quit his second job but we decided he just had to and we had to take our chances at surviving with less money. So, one day, I got this strange phone call offering me a job.
I had never applied for it. I’d never heard of this job. I had no training for it.
These were, as it turned out, not impediments.
It was to teach GED.
And I was no teacher.
I told the man all the reasons I wasn’t right for the job and he said, “So, do you want it or not?”
Sure.
And it was a good job. Federal, full time, benefits. I suddenly had a freakin’ 401k.
My husband quit his second job.
And here came these checks.
It’s call a salary. I know this sounds naïve but I just hadn’t ever seriously considered earning money. I was a stay-at-home mom. It was how I defined myself. Except I was just a stay-at-home WIFE at this point, because my last ‘MOM’ project was pretty much grown.
So my husband started cooking. (you knew I had to get to the cooking part eventually)
He was just so delighted with his much increased free time and the money coming in from such an unexpected source (me!) that he said he was going to pitch in.
He’s a very simple cook. He broils meat and boils vegetables. That’s pretty much it. But you know what? It’s a really healthy way to eat. No more cheesy casseroles. No more dessert. No more fried zucchini or gravy or potato salad.
I miss that stuff. But there is NOTHING more wonderful than stepping into a house and smelling food and knowing I can now just collapse at the table and have a meal laid before me. What a beautiful thing!
I really recommend to every woman, stay at home for a while. Hopefully when/if you go to work he’ll appreciate it enough to step in at home. And if he doesn’t, then he’s really kind of a jerk.
I’ll add here that all those years I was at home I was also writing. Trying to get a book published. And two years after my first lovely, full-time paycheck started rolling in, I did it.
I got a contract for my first romance novel. I write romantic comedy with cowboys.
Since then I’ve gotten fifteen more books published, with contracts for ten more stretching out four years, with hopes for much, much more. And I continue to work teaching GED. (I can multiply fractions like nobody’s business. So, if you’ve got any questions please contact me directly.)
My husband, I think because he was so completely comfortable in our traditional marriage was really acutely aware of the change, which is why he stepped up so willingly.
He now mows the lawn. Cleans the house. Does the laundry. And cooks, I’d say 90% of the meals. And as I write this, I realize that I now work at two jobs. But no heavy lifting, so I’m good with it.
I help with some of it, but you know—it’s really not my job.

“If they’re sassing each other and falling in love while running for their lives, then I’m happy.”

Mary Connealy writes books that bring humor to the Wild West. Her most recent release is Doctor in Petticoats, book one of a three book series.

Mary is married to a rancher and has four beautiful daughters and one stunningly beautiful granddaughter.

Find me online at:
Seekerville
Petticoats & Pistols
My Blog
My Website

The Elusive 400 - and a new poll question!

2010-08-29T23:00:00.005-04:00

Hey faithful blog readers! As you probably know, we're running a contest on Facebook. Once we reach 400 fans, we will give one lucky fan a choice a The Bitch Stopped Cooking apron or dishtowel! All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment here or on our Facebook page! So, refer your friends! We only need a few more!

We've got a new poll question. Check it out over there!

Summer Squash Sloppy Joes

2010-08-23T21:40:00.012-04:00

This is the first post I'm writing to participate in the "Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts" blogathon. If you're just joining us now, the blogathon is being sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of

Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets. It's being held during Massachusetts Farmers' Market Week. If you are in the position to donate money, please consider giving to Mass Farmers Markets by clicking here.

Tonight I made Summer Squash Sloppy Joes using a recipe I found on epicurious.com. What I love about recipes on epicurious.com, besides the huge variety, is that people leave comments. These can be useful in helping me decide if I want to make a dish. I know that if a recipe has the following comment: "Even my picky boyfriend who won't eat anything liked this dish", I know it's probably pretty bland and I should double the spices. Being married to an aspiring Master Spicer, I have to spice my dinners up pretty well in order for them to be enjoyed by anyone around here. Once I've decided to make a dish, I look for recurring themes in the comments, i.e. "too sweet! halve the sugar" or "add ketchup" or "leave out the anchovies because they're absolutely the most disgusting thing probably ever to be added to any dish ever in the whole world". Okay, the last one was just my personal thoughts about anchovies, but you get what I mean. Here's my experience with Summer Squash Sloppy Joes. The original recipe is found here and I'll post my version here on our blog. The vegetables, except for the onion, were grown locally either in my garden (pepper), my neighbor's garden (carrot) or by my CSA farm, Surrey Farms in Brewster, MA (squash).

Summer Squash Sloppy Joes

1 pound ground lean beef or turkey
1/2 onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cubanelle pepper (or green or red, whatever you have)
1 1/2 cups summer squash, diced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
1.5 tbsp brown sugar (ughhh! too sweet! halve the sugar when you make it!)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 tablespoons mild chili powder
1.5 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano
dash of Worcestershire (that's wus-ta-shee-yah in case you're wondering) Sauce
dash of Liquid Smoke
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 ounces cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
6 hamburger buns

1. Don't do what the original recipe says and preheat the broiler now. If you calculate how many minutes it will take to cook this dish before you put it in the broiler, you would waste at least 22 minutes of gas/electricity while your broiler sits there waiting for you to use it. Wait till the end to preheat it. Don't worry, I'll cue you. Anyway, so in a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the ground beef or turkey (I used turkey) until browned, about 7 minutes. I added salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning to the turkey. Add the onion and sauté 2 minutes. Add the carrot and pepper and sauté 2 minutes. Add the squash and sauté 1 minute more.

2. Stir in the tomato paste, ketchup, chicken broth and water, stirring until the paste has dissolved. Add the brown sugar, garlic, chili powders, paprika, oregano, Wus-ta-shee-yah Sauce, Liquid Smoke and season with the salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until the mixture has thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Okay, folks - here you go: PREHEAT THE BROILER! While everything is happily boiling away in the skillet, spread the cheese evenly over the bottom halves of the hamburger buns. Transfer both halves of the buns to the broiler, open-faced, and toast until the cheese has melted and the top buns are toasted. Don't do what I did and forget they were in there.

4. Remove the buns from the broiler and fill each sandwich with the squash-and-meat mixture. This term was coined by the original recipe writer. I don't know what I would have written if it were mine, but "squash-and-meat mixture" just about makes me want to barf and not eat the dish at all. Serve and eat immediately. The buns get soggy if you wait. We ate ours with a salad, but you can eat it with whatever you want. Our salad had cukes from our CSA and tomatoes from our neighbor!

P.S. My husband loved it and said he'd definitely eat it again. Even with the vegetables.

P.P.S. Leave out the Liquid Smoke if you want. It's not necessary, but does add a nice touch.

The third manterview

2010-08-23T10:35:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who has "liked" us on facebook; only 15 more fans to go until we hold our drawing for a free apron or dishtowel! If you're not already a fan of us on facebook, become one here! Post a comment, and you'll be entered into the drawing automatically!

Here's our third manterview:

Q: Do you like to cook?
Once in a while I like to get creative when the mood strikes and make something delicious because it’s fun and will be delicious, like the bacon explosion [men, we will have a post about this once we come to terms with the fact that such a thing exists], but most of the time cooking is just an unfortunate prerequisite to eating. It sucks that you have to cook before you can eat.

Q: What about cooking do you like?
I like the fact that you can throw in whatever you want and try to anticipate what it’s going to taste like. I guess the thing I like most about cooking is knowing what I like to eat, and working towards that, and being able to make exactly what I like to eat.

Q: What about cooking do you dislike?
The worst part is that you usually do it when you’re really hungry, so everything seems really difficult and it takes a long time. I hate touching gross things like chicken and I hate the fact that anything that goes into the oven takes over an hour and always takes longer than it says it will. I don’t like cleaning up afterwards, which is why I rarely do.

Q: What advice would you give to men who are just starting in the kitchen?
I think most men really like to eat delicious, awesome food, and if you’re cooking you can make whatever you want, like the bacon explosion. So rather than just having boring, chicken-rice-broccoli stuff, you can actually make spare ribs or chicken parm, or the craziest sandwich ever, whenever you want. Also, you don’t have to make everything from scratch; Trader Joe’s has a lot of meals or sides that you can just heat up.

Q: What is your favorite thing that I make?
I like it when you use the slow cooker, most of the time. I like when you make sausage, peppers, and onion sandwiches on the grill.

Q: What is your favorite thing to make?
I like to make sandwiches, especially sandwiches that involve leftovers in some capacity. Sandwiches are awesome because they always taste good and you can put in EVERYTHING. And sandwiches are quick, there’s usually no cooking involved. Or cleanup.

Q: What other ingredients do you like to put in sandwiches?
Hot sauce, chicken products, sliced animals, cheeses, gravies, peppers and onions, bacon, oil and vinegar. Cole slaw is surprisingly good on sandwiches, mashed potatoes and stuffing. This might be a long interview. Eggs are good on sandwiches.

Q: Want me to come back to this question if you think of more things as we go on?
I’m not done yet. I like spreads, like pesto or chipotle things. I guess barbecue sauce too. Sliced jalapeños! Burritos.

Q: Burritos on sandwiches?
Burritos are a form of sandwich. Burrito is Mexican for sandwich. So I guess rice and beans and salsa, too. Sliced apples?! Paninis. And…sausages. Also, burnt fried cheese scrapings.

Q: Do you think women belong in the kitchen?
You know the right answer, just put that down.

Q: Do you think I can handle the grill?
Better than I can. Yeah. I don’t think it’s anything special. It runs on gas, not testosterone.

Q: Is there anything else you want to talk about?
Yes. I wonder if macaroni and cheese is good on a sandwich. Also, spinach is good on them. Spinach and brie, and caramelized onions, and pizzas are great. Pizzas with EVERYTHING, like chili. And pineapples.

Q: Will you make me a margarita?
No? I don’t want you throwing up all over the place.

Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts

2010-08-22T23:18:00.006-04:00

Since two of the three of us bitches live in Massachusetts, we decided to participate in a blogathon called "Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts". The blogathon starts today, August 22 and goes through Saturday, August 28. It is timed to celebrate Massachusetts Farmers Market Week. The blogathon is being hosted by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets. If you are a blogger in Massachusetts and you want to participate, check out the Loving Local blog or Facebook page.

I (Hannah) will be writing a post later this week to submit to the blogathon. We got an amazing selection of tomatoes and squashes from our CSA this week, so I'll be making a couple dishes with those. I'll share my recipes and some pictures with you all. My ideas so far - blogger Helen Rennie's chilled tomato yogurt soup, bruschetta with goat cheese, tomatoes and arugula from Fresh Food Fast and summer squash sloppy joes. As you read in my interview with my husband, Eric, he's not a fan of vegetables unless they're straight outta the garden and not just in there so you can say you had vegetables. These are definitely in there so you can say you had vegetables, but they're also straight out of the garden, so we'll see what he has to say about them. I think he secretly likes veggies, so he's probably going to LOVE it.

Oatmeal Cookies That Get Your Manly Hands Dirty

2010-08-19T01:13:00.018-04:00

This is an age-old family recipe that I am about to share with you, so get excited. Before I share it with you I want to remind you that we are giving away one of our super awesome aprons. As soon as we get 400 fans on facebook (25 more to go!) we are going to select a random facebook fan commenter and they are going to take home an original canvas The Bitch Stopped Cooking Apron. Visit our facebook page and become a fan and leave a comment today!

Are you done?

I'll wait.

Okay. The recipe.

Just kidding about the age-old family recipe thing. I invented it tonight with ingredients I had in my cupboard. It's a night-old recipe.

Here's what I used:

1 cup butter

1 cup raw turbinado sugar (regular sugar would be fine)

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tbsp water (I might substitute milk next time)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour (regular flour would be fine)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt (regular salt would be fine. I like using kosher salt because I like the sweet/salty experience and I feel that kosher salt stays a little crunchy.)

2 1/2 cups oats

a bag o' chocolate chips (12oz/2 cups)

Feel free to use matching sticks of butter.
This is just what I had on hand.
Also feel free to not buy ghetto baking soda.

Here's what to do:

Get a big blue bowl. Fine, get any color big bowl. Cream together the butter and the two kinds of sugars together. As you may have read from our Baking for Sophie post, Hannah and I (Maria. Julia is too busy on a bison hunting safari in the wild hills of Montidaho to make oatmeal cookies) learned that the only thing you can do wrong when creaming butter and sugar is to not do it long enough. OR you can fail to lock in the bowl and the mixer head and explode 3 cups of sugar all over your parents' kitchen. Anyways, cream the sugarbutter.

now picture me gradually cracking two eggs into the creamed sugarbutter.
it was ugly.
blurry.
from a weird angle.
and you could see my batting cages blisters.
picture beautiful hands cracking beautiful eggs.

add the vanilla extract.
try not to huff the fumes from the entire bottle.

add the water.
you could also use milk.
if you're one of those weird families that keeps milk in their fridge that is not 36 days past its expiration date.

In another blue bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add this dry mixture to the other big blue bowl where you have the sugar and butter creamed with the eggs and vanilla.
Beat it until it is just mixed together.
Senseless is not the desired outcome of this beating.

TIME OUT.
Go preheat the oven.
350.
Also get a baking sheet and grease it if you want.
Now tell Mother Nature you love her and boast about how proud she should be of you for not wasting energy by preheating the oven when you started the recipe.

Next you are going to add the chips and the oats separately and deliberately.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand.Yup, by hand.

Like this.
Make manly dinosaur noises while you do it.

Now put balls of the mixture on the cookie sheet. I made mine about the size of golf balls that dinosaurs stepped on and put them about an inch apart. Or two inches. I don't know. They'll be fine.

Cook them for 10-13 minutes. When you take them out, hang on a hot second so you can slide them off without them falling apart. In this case, a hot second equals one to two minutes. When you slide them off, put them on a wire cooling rack.

You have a wire cooling rack, right?

Baking for Sophie: The Yard Sale

2010-08-17T22:05:00.001-04:00

If you're just joining us now, let me catch you up on what happened. In July, our dear cousin, Sophie was walking with her sisters and a friend and was struck and killed by a car. A couple of angels named Caroline and Shayne held a yard sale on a hot, sunny day in early August to benefit Sophie's two beautiful children, Gabe and Fiona. Maria volunteered our time and love of baking to run the bake sale table. The day before the sale, we baked our little (Montague girls are NOT known for having much junk in their trunks) tushies off. Actually, we kept our tushies, as little as they are, quite stuck on because of all the butter-disguised-as-baked-goodies we consumed while baking. Maria notes this in her post about our baking day. If you haven't read that post, check it out - it's chock full of fabulous recipes and luscious pictures. My post today will report on the sale itself. If you weren't there, you missed an incredible day. If you were there, you know how great it was.

Maria and our mother (the original bitch) hopped out of bed and went to the sale at the ungodly hour of 6:00am. Even though I wanted to be there early, I got to sleep in a bit more because my little one was still snoozing away with her teddy bear. We followed later and arrived at 8:00am. Upon driving into the parking lot of the Chatham Coffee Company where the sale would be held, I saw at least 50 people (I'm not kidding) busy setting up items on tables. I could not believe it - there were so many volunteers and so much STUFF for the sale.

And this was just one small section of the entire sale!

I burst into tears. I saw my mother and pulled over. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. We hugged, cried and exclaimed how much this meant and how we just couldn't believe it. It was truly moving.

After the initial shock wore off, I shuttled the baked goodies over to the sale table. We went to park and I put the little one in the Ergo carrier, where she would hang out for much of the day.

We returned to the yard sale and moved our table into the shade. Note to anyone who might run a bake sale table - being in the shade is key. No melted goodies, no sunburned bakers. We set up the goodies and put Maria's awesome handmade signs up so everyone would know what they were getting themselves into.

The sale started at 9:00am after shooing away some early birds ( or were they vultures?). Business at our table was slow at first, but then it really took off. Word must have gotten around about how awesome it all tasted. We had some incredibly generous folks, like my neighbors Milt and Kathy, who bought one chocolate chip cookie for $20 and the guy who wrote a check for $100 in exchange for five of Liz's uh-maze-ing vegan cupcakes.

Yeah, they were that good.

It was hard not to break into tears every time an exchange like this happened - and it happened a lot. There were a few, shall we say, frugal folks, who must have forgotten this was a benefit sale. One guy gave me ten bucks for at least 15 pieces of coffee cake. Thankfully, this was not the norm and the generous folks more than made up for the frugal guys. We think we made about $1,000 just at the bake sale table.

It was this busy all day.

We spent the day meeting some amazing people, sharing some good times, crying together, hugging everyone we knew, seeing old and new friends. The Parkington Sisters played some beautiful music. If you ever get a chance to see them perform, you will be a very lucky person. Our family friend, Melissa sang a song that she wrote about Sophie. It was a day I will never, ever forget. In the end, we raised a HUGE amount of money, but it was bittersweet. All the money in the world won't bring back our Sophie. But, at least it will make sure Fiona gets to continue playing hockey, Gabe will still play football, they'll both suffer through braces and best of all, they'll get to fly back here from their home out west and visit with their east coast family.

Sophie, we love you and miss you every day.

Another Manterview

2010-08-13T22:48:00.006-04:00

Another impromtu manterview. This time between Hannah and her husband, Eric.

Hannah: Do you like to cook?

Eric: Yes. Especially if it’s foods that are delicious to my tastebuds, but I don’t like to cook when it’s just for me because then I’d rather just eat something to not be hungry anymore. But, I like to cook foods as a way of showing that I care for people. And also, a little bit of my ego wants them to be impressed by my girthy culinary skills.

H: What about cooking do you like?

E: Who says I like cooking?

H: Um, you do.

E: I like tinkering and trying to add different spices. Because at this point, my culinary skills are just about spicing things. But, if I were better at cooking, I would be more interested in blending textures and contrasting flavors. Spices are like the kindergarten of cooking because all you gotta do is add more spices. There’s not much refined technique you have to learn to open up a spice jar and dump it in. Some people might be offended by that if they think they’re Master Spicers…

H: What about cooking do you hate?

E: What? Who said I hate cooking? Hate is a really strong four letter word.

H: Okay, just answer the question.

E: Oh man, the cleaning up. That’s the worst. It sucks.

H: But, if you cook, I clean.

E: Yeah, but the fact that you have to clean bums me out. On cooking shows, all they do is cook. They don’t cook and clean. I also hate overcooking things. I’d rather undercook chicken and give everyone salmonella instead of serving everyone a chicken brick.

H: What is your favorite thing that I make?

E: Mmmmm….wow….oh, your garlic beets, chicken pot pie – oh yeah, that’s awesome, but you use too many vegetables. I think you put in at least four types of vegetables and you’re only supposed to use two or three types.

H: How do you feel about vegetables?

E: Oh man, well, if they're so delicious, like out of the garden, then I could eat them just by themselves, maybe with a little salt, BUT! If they are in a dish, just for the sake of being there so you can say you had vegetables, then I'm totally against them.

H: What is your favorite thing to make?

E: Spaghetti sauce because I like chopping and if you wanna be a Master Spicer, you can go crazy in a spaghetti sauce.

H: Do you think women belong in the kitchen?

E: Yeah! What kind of question is that? That’s so ridiculous.

H: But you share the kitchen with me.

E: That’s true. Cuz it’s fun! Especially if I can tell you what to do. I say, “Chop that!” “Add some more spices!”

H: Do you think I can handle the grill?

E: No! (bursts out laughing) That is so funny! You don’t like to touch raw meat! And also, I just picture you with like, three foot tongs, going like this (holds his arm over his face and eyes, looking scared and squinting). And you would totally overcook the chicken.

H: Thanks, I’m glad you have so much faith in me. Will you make me a margarita?

E: Of course, if I knew how to make one. I think it involves tequila.

Happy Facebook Friday! Our First Giveaway!

2010-08-13T22:30:00.005-04:00

Hi readers!

A happy, happy Friday to you.

The Bitch Stopped Cooking is happy to announce we are having...

...our very first giveaway!!

We're giving away one of our awesome aprons or dishtowels (your choice) to one lucky person when we reach 400 facebook fans!

Click this link to go to our facebook page. Then become a fan of us. A huge fan of us.

Then all you have to do is leave a comment on our status.

Tell us your favorite food.

Tell us why men should do the cooking.

Or why they shouldn't.

Tell us how you order your steak.

Tell us how you order your tofu.

Or just say hi.

Once we have 400 fans, we'll randomly pick a winner from the comments.

If you're already our facebook friend, as 344 of you are, you can enter the giveaway too! Just recommend a friend or two (the facebook elves are watching you) and leave a comment.

Good luck and happy weekend!

Ten-Question Impromptu Manterview

2010-08-10T22:18:00.003-04:00

This is an interview that took place in the living room of one of the bitches tonight, as an attempt to gather information on modern views of men and women in the kitchen.

Maria: Do you like to cook?

Dan: I don’t mind it. It’s kind of fun.

M: What about cooking do you like?

D: Eating it. And…. Um…. Flipping everything at the right time.

M: What about cooking do you hate?

D: Having to wait to eat.

M: Don’t you have to wait to eat when I cook?

D: It’s different. When you’re not doing it you’re not paying attention to how long it takes.

M: Because you're busy doing something else?

D: Yeah. Like right now. I'm busy doing something else.

M: What is your favorite thing that I make?

D: Mustard-crusted chicken. (He's totally right. Check it out here. No, I won't come make it for you.)

M: What is your favorite thing to make?

D: Frozen pizza

M: Do you think women belong in the kitchen?

D: No, they belong in the bedroom. No! Don’t write that! Your parents read this.

M: Do you think I can handle the grill?

D: No. (laughs). You’re too scared of the heat. And you don’t like anything done quickly. Your hands would get too hot.

M: Will you make me a margarita?

D: That would involve me going into the kitchen.

Baking for Sophie: Recipes and the Baking Experience. Our 50th Post!

2010-08-07T15:02:00.028-04:00

This is a long post. But read it. Because there's a really cute picture at the end. It will totally be worth your while.

Sophie's Sale was amazing. The amount of support and love and grief was palpable. And it raised an obscene amount of money. I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you, but I will tell you there are five numbers in there. And no decimal points. And two amazing kids that will benefit hugely from the efforts. It was unbelievable. Hannah is going to tell you more about that. I am going to tell you about how baked we got the day before. Wait, no, how much we baked the day before.

Our bake sale was awesome, as you might expect, since we're pretty awesome. Our also-awesome cousin (and in-house vegan expert), Liz, whipped up three huge batches of vegan cupcakes the night before. She brought two of them. What happened to the Margarita Cupcakes will forever be a mystery. Actually, they're in the compost bin at her parents' house giving some raccoons a pret-ty good time on a Friday night. But anyways, Liz's cupcakes were AWESOME. You couldn't even tell they were vegan. And I mean that from the bottom of my animal-product-loving gut. Now that I'm writing this I am realizing I don't actually have the recipes to post on here. Whoops. Let me go track those down. I'm gonna stop at the compost bin for a quick pick-me-up first.

So, the day before the bake/yard sale, Hannah and I (Julia couldn't be there because she's too busy castrating bulls and saving lives from the spread of epidemiolitis on a farm in Colorado) baked our tushies off. Actually, we kept our tushies right there because we sampled everything. We were snacking on butter, folks. We got up at 9. Okay, SHE got up at 9 and started cooking. Of the many, many things we learned on this baking extravaganza, the first thing we (she) learned was that if the recipe is more than one page, you have to read both pages. Pssht. Lame. Who reads both pages? It wasn't devastating, really just a minor mistake. Muffins that were supposed to look like this:

Ended up looking like this:You guessed it, the crumble's on the second page. Anyways, I picked her right up off the kitchen floor and we made another batch. With crumble. And ay carumble, they were good. Here is the recipe for these delicious crumbly cups of blueberry goodness. Don't forget to tell your sister to read both pages.

So then we were right on to learning another lesson. We were making reverse whoopie pies and we had to cream sugar and butter together. I went out and consulted my mother (the original bitch, you know) because Hannah was making me nervous about creaming the sugar and butter. I came back to tell Hannah what I had learned. Just as I was saying, "...other than not doing it long enough, you can't really do anything wrong" I switched on the mixer and chaos ensued.

There was sugar. There was baking powder. There was butter. There was even vanilla extract.

Everywhere.

I hadn't locked the bowl into the bottom of the mixer and I hadn't locked the mixer head in the down position. Turns out, when you're creaming butter and sugar, you really can do it wrong. We laughed belly laughs and exclaimed shouts of disbelief for about five minutes until we got ourselves together and realized what we needed to do.THAT, my friends, is why you have a dog. Okay, this job involved a vacuum too, but Rosie did a great job. She now has diabetes.

Other than being really funny, this mixer experience taught me to a. learn how to use the tool before you turn it on, and b. always put butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in iced coffee. It was delicious. The reverse whoopie pies turned out awesome. They totally looked like hamburgers. They totally tasted like heavenburgers. That may or may not be due to the mass quantities of chocolate, butter, and heavy cream inside.

We actually learned one addition piece of important information during the whoopie pie construction. I made the insides and waited for it to cool, put it in the fridge just like they said, and even put it in the freezer but it just wasn't getting fluffy. If we put that inside of the whoopie pie, it would melt all over the place. It would be like putting a burger-sized amount of barbecue sauce on a hamburger bun. See, they make you think of hamburgers! Anyways, the recipe said to cool it and then whip it. Duh. We finally whipped it and there you have it, perfect hamburgers. Uh, I mean reverse whoopie pies. Here's the recipe. Don't forget to whip it after you cool it.

We made some pretty awesome toffee chocolate chip cookies. It's a secret recipe. I made it up about two years ago. It's my secret. I'm never gonna tell you. Ever. But I will give you a hint. Buy a bag of Toll House chocolate chips. Read the back. Also buy a bag of crushed up Heath Bar (in the chocolate chip aisle). Then hide the other half of the bag of chocolate chips and the other half of the bag of Heath Bar because your boyfriend WILL find them and he WILL eat them.

Don't think you're ever getting this recipe out of me.

Dude, stop licking your computer screen. That's gross.

Next we whipped up some gluten-free chocolate nut bars. Another lesson learned. Read the ingredients of every recipe before going to the grocery store. We had one thing on the list. So I went to the store and got the other eight thousand ingredients and put it all together. These were gooood. They were like candy bars. They went like hot cakes at the bake sale. Check out the recipe and make it for someone you love. As long as they don't have a nut allergy.

Speaking of bars, check out the lemon bars we made. There are a LOT of eggs in this recipe. It's nagev. Backwards vegan. nagev. Get it? The lemon bar making process was pretty uneventful. Hannah didn't think it was puddingey enough. I did. That was about all that happened.

See? Totally puddingey enough.

Then I decided I didn't want to bake anymore. I wanted to sit down and play Puerto Rico. I wanted to watch Project Runway reruns. I wanted to go swimming. I didn't want to bake. But I did.

Next we made the best coffee cake ever. I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman's Blog. It was so delicious. I am a little uneasy that I just told you that because I am afraid you are going to leave us for the Pioneer Woman. Yes, she is awesome. But don't forget about us, okay? I feel like a smokin' hot supermodel just flirted with my boyfriend. Agh.

Anyways, it's the best coffee cake ever. It is so good. Hannah was getting really good at reading recipes at this point because she saw that the eggs needed to be beaten to stiff peaks. I had beaten them senseless, just short of stiff peaks. Here's the recipe. Hey, stop reading her blog. You can read it once you're done with this one.

So it was about 10pm at this point and we were done, except for the fact that Hannah had to make some zucchini bread. So while she did that I wept in the dining room about not wanting to put price stickers on my grandmother's kitchen utensils.

Hannah will be letting you know all about her zucchini bread, our cute bake sale table signs, and how much fun we had at the sale as soon as she is done globetrotting with her gorgeous family.

Here's the picture you've all been waiting for.

It Might Be Time to Stop Cooking...

2010-08-07T13:00:00.001-04:00

We will have a long, gorgeous post for you in the next couple days documenting our baking for Sophie's Sale. Until then, something to make you laugh.

You might need to stop cooking if...

You know dinner is ready when you hear the smoke alarm

Your dog goes to the neighbors' to eat.

The EPA requires that all your garbage cans be marked with large bright red biohazard symbols.

When you grill two of your kids hold water guns and the third has the phone with 911 on speed-dial.

The smoke alarm beeps if you even walk near the stove.

Your homemade bread loaf can be used as a door stop.

Your apple pie bubbled over and ate the enamel off the bottom of the oven.

You've used three boxes of scouring pads, a bottle of Palmolive and a crowbar, but that macaroni and cheese still won't let go of the pan.

You look in a cookbook to find out how to boil water.

Have a happy, safe, and fun weekend!

How to cook Swiss chard (or the Secret to Happiness in Life)

2010-08-04T20:50:00.016-04:00

Update on bake sale posts: The pictures from our baking day for Sophie's Yard Sale are on Maria's computer, so we have to wait for her (the perpetually busy grad student) to get the baking post done. When she's done with that, I'll do my post about the actual bake sale. In the meantime, here's a little recipe for you from me, the slightly less busy mom. Julia, the cowgirl/epidemiologist is busy gallivanting around Colorado and crunching numbers, so when she gets a chance to sit still, she'll do a post about eggs. She knows all about eggs, thanks to the 11 chickens and one turken who live in her backyard.

Anyway....

Life is better because of Swiss chard (Okay, from now on, I will just call it chard - apologies to the Swiss). It's true! Chard is one of those vegetables that you totally knock before you try. I did. I remember when my friend, Vickie "Gardener Extraordinaire" gave me a bunch of it and said, "Here. Have some Swiss chard. " I was like, uh, Swiss what? It looked way too green, way too big and way to healthy to eat. I think I passed it on to a friend who had discovered, but not yet shared with me, the secret amazingness (is that a word?) of chard.Time passed and I finally got brave. I googled (can you believe that word is in the dictionary?) "how to cook swiss chard" and found this recipe on SimplyRecipes.com. After adding a bit of my own flair in the form of pancetta (or bacon if you're lucky), I've concluded that this recipe is the best way to prepare chard. So, here you go. The secret to happiness in life. Who knew!?

Swiss Chard: "The Bitch Stopped Cooking" Way:

What you need:

a big bunch of Swiss chard. Organic if you can find it. Look for a PLU that starts with the number nine, which indicates an organically grown veggie.

two or three cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

red pepper flakes

1/4 cup pancetta in cubes or a slice of bacon

AND/OR

olive oil

What to do:

Make this the same day you buy the chard, if possible. Chard can get bitter if you wait. Wash the chard in a salad spinner. Cut off the stems and remove the ribs if they're thicker than about 1/4 inch. To do this, fold the chard leaf like a book and cut down along the rib. Easy as pie! Set the stems aside (don't chuck them out). Gather the chard together and cut it into 1 inch strips. No need to be exact or graceful here, it's going to shrink down to a piddly amount. Cutting it into strips is really just an attempt to make the large, slightly unwieldy leaves more manageable. Cut a few of the stems into 1 inch pieces. The rest can be tossed, composted, fed to the worms - whatever you do in your house. In a large frying pan, over medium to medium-high heat, add a tablespoon or so of oil or the pancetta (or bacon). Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. How many red pepper flakes is up to you and depends on your tolerance for heat. Even if you're a big wimp when it comes to spice, try at least a few flakes. They're not really that spicy in small amounts and they add some nice flavor. Now, add the stem pieces. Push the garlic, red pepper flakes, stems and pancetta around in the pan for a bit and let them get cozy with each other. I am out of pancetta tonight, so this is the vegetarian version.

After about three minutes or so (whatever, just don't burn the stuff), dump in the chopped up chard.

If it doesn't all fit, wait a second till it wilts a bit and then add more. I usually just put it all in even if it's overflowing, but it's up to you. Cover it all with a lid and wait. After about 4 or so minutes, check on it. If it's mostly wilted and looks a bit like this:

flip it all over with tongs or a spatula. Cover it again and let cook for another 4 or so minutes. Four minutes seems so exact, but really I have no idea how long I actually cook it for. I think it's about 4 minutes, definitely not longer than 5 minutes. It's something you just have to do by sight, you know?

A caveat: don't have the burner on too high. Burned chard is NASTY.

When it's all wilted and you find yourself in shock to see that the massive amount of green leaves you so recently crammed into your frying pan has turned into a piddly pile of green soggy mess, it's all done and ready to eat! Salt and pepper if needed and there you go.
Enjoy the sweaters it leaves on your teeth!!

Yes, those are fish sticks. Admit it - you love them, too. We got these at Trader Joe's. Yum!

The beans are from my garden!

If you're wondering about the things in the background of the picture of the chard in the dish drain....

the pink water bottle is by Crocodile Creek - love it!
the high chair tray is from my favorite high chair, made by Svan
I miss fresh off the tree California oranges
if you don't have an alcohol filled ice cream scoop, get yourself one ASAP

Commercial Break

2010-08-02T21:09:00.005-04:00

We are putting together a big post for you all showing our HUGE success at the yard sale (Chatham, you are amazing), but it is really time consuming, especially considering that collectively we are a mother cowgirl graduate student grieving an earth-shattering loss. So, we gave you something to enjoy in the meantime.

Check out how lucky Maria is tonight. Also check out how it's 9:18 and he is just now looking at the recipe on the computer. Oh, and check out how hard he is gripping the counter. Please don't check out how dusty those lamps are.

Oh, and if you want an apron like Dan's and you don't have one yet, you can get one here.

UPDATE: We were eating by 10:06 (that's normal in this household) and it was DELICIOUS. This is what it looked like:

Mustard Maple Crusted Panko-Breaded chicken. It was heavenly. You can get the recipe here. The cook is all mine, though.

Baking for Sophie: Part I

2010-07-31T22:49:00.004-04:00

Well, we got in over our heads. It's 10:50 p.m. and we have to get up way too soon, so the grand post we had planned to document our baking adventures today will have to wait till tomorrow (or the day after.....). For those of you who are checking this blog out after supporting our bake sale table at Sophie's Sale, here's a list of our goodies with links to the original recipes. We will expand on each goodie, along with some pictures of our baking adventures. Check back soon for those posts. They are sure to entertain you, as we had a blast baking for Sophie today. Everything was made with love and most were made with lots and lots of butter. Life really is better with butter.

The Best Coffee Cake. Ever.

Lemon Squares

Brownies (A confession: We cheated. Get yourself to your local market and pick up a box of Betty Crocker's brownie mix and follow the "cake-like" recipe)

7-Layer Bars - gluten-free!

Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies - find on the back of the Toll House chocolate chips bag

Reverse Whoopie Pies (not burgers)

Blueberry Muffins

Sophie's Zucchini Bread

Contact us for recipes for the other goodies you enjoyed that are not listed here. We will get them from our baker elves who helped stock today's bake sale table.

With love and thanks,
Maria and Hannah

An Important Event on Cape Cod

2010-07-29T18:58:00.005-04:00

Please read this flyer and if you are in the area, consider attending or donating items to be sold.

All proceeds benefit the two children of our sweet cousin, Sophie Corrigan, who we tragically lost last weekend.
We hope you can be there.

Pass this on to a friend...

Cooking For Sophie

2010-07-21T21:43:00.007-04:00

Our family had a terrible tragedy this past weekend. We lost our beautiful cousin, Sophie. We are utterly shaken to the core. Gathering with family and friends at her parents' house here on Cape Cod has been heartbreaking and also incredibly helpful in dealing with our loss. Every night, many of us gather to eat dinner together, to hug, to share stories, tears, and laughs. Food has been nourishing in more ways than just for nutrients - it's given us something to concentrate on, something to taste and enjoy, something to share and provide. I'd like to give you a couple recipes for food that we made to share with the family. These recipes were special for us because we know that Sophie would have loved eating them and also because many of the ingredients were grown in our garden, or the gardens of our family and friends. Sophie was an organic gardener by heart and by trade, so I think she really would have appreciated these dishes. This is for you, Sophie. We miss you every day.

Chopped Arabic Salad

I found this salad on epicurious.com and tried it today. It resembles something a rabbit might enjoy, but it's actually quite tasty for humans, too. Sophie's sister, Ruby, told me that Sophie loved purslane, one of the ingredients. Many folks might see purslane as a weed, but it's actually edible, tasty and super healthy for you. Up until about a week ago, I pulled out those suckers out of my garden as fast as I could, but now that I know, I'll let them grow. Many thanks to the CSA we're participating in as we got a big bag of purslane this week. Sophie always said that weeds are just plants that are growing somewhere you don't want them to grow. If you have purslane in your garden, give it a chance. You might just discover that you like it! If you can't find purslane in your garden, local market or farmstand, you can leave it out of this salad, but it's definitely worth looking for.

1 lemon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 (1/2-lb) cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 1/3 cups)
1 lb tomatoes (3 medium), cut into 1/3-inch dice (2 1/2 cups)
1 cup finely chopped red onion (1 small) or 1 cup chopped scallions (about 5)
1 cup coarsely chopped purslane
1 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint

Cut peel, including all white pith, from lemon with a sharp paring knife. Working over a bowl, cut segments from half of lemon free from membranes and transfer segments to a cutting board, then squeeze juice from membranes and remaining 1/2 lemon into bowl. Transfer 2 tablespoons juice to a large bowl, then finely chop segments and add to measured juice. Add salt, pepper, and oil, whisking to combine, then stir in remaining ingredients.

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Bread

Many of our faithful readers (we recently got confirmation that we do have more than one reader!!!) probably know how to make zucchini bread. Maybe they even have a recipe memorized. This one is slightly different because it has sweet potato in it, but the basic recipe is pretty much the same. I modified it to make it healthier, but you can find the original recipe here. The recipe as is makes too much for one loaf, but not enough for two. I made one regular sized loaf and then used my u(imagine an umlaut over that u)ber-cute turquoise Pyrex vintage mini loaf pan for the extra batter.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce or pear sauce
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (toasting is optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla to blend in large bowl. Mix in zucchini and sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. It really does take that long to bake.

Sophie, Sophie, Sophie.

These Fish Tacos are the Tits.

2010-07-14T09:25:00.005-04:00

If you’ve seen I Love You, Man then you appreciate the humor of the title of this post. If not, then you’re potentially slightly offended and may not want to try my fish tacos now. But you are missing out on a lot of laughing, so go see the movie, and then come back and read this blog post and make these fish tacos and remark, over tequila shots, that they’re the tits.

We’ve had thousands of reader comments requesting that we put more recipes on our blog. We’ve listened, readers, and here you go! I only had to send out about 45 apron orders yesterday so I had a little extra time to make dinner for once.

Okay, I’m kidding. We’ve had about five reader comments ever. (Thanks, Mrs. Ferraresi!) And yesterday I was just procrastinating school work and I was hungry. So I made fish tacos. And they were the tits.

Here’s what I did.

I laid at the pool and read Bon Appetit for an hour. I decided I didn’t want to make any of the things in there because it was all about grilling I didn’t want to have to wait for all the charcoal to burn because I suck at it and my big strong charcoal man was not going to be home until 10. So I hopped on my iPhone, harvested some Zombie Farm crops, and then looked around on my epicurious app. All of a sudden I realized that I wanted lime. And I wanted it now. So instead of drinking mojitos and eating green popsicles all evening, I further decided I wanted fish tacos. And I wanted them now.

I sort of have this thing where I look up a recipe and then I decide they don’t know what they’re talking about and I just use the ingredients as a guideline. So I ran down to Stop and Shop and bought the ingredients I needed, double the jalapenos, plus some coronas. The man at the seafood counter was really upset about the impending rain. I think he wanted me to go tell the manager to close the store. He also told me that he thought I had ordered “a pound of cat” when I ordered “a pound of cod”. He asked if I wanted the whiskers. In hindsight, I think he was flirting with me. He must have known about my cleanse and my awesome new fitness routine. (Which has been sidelined due to ~~me being a baby about a stubbed toe and a skinned knee~~ my new spot on the 15-day disabled list)

I digress. Make these fish tacos. They’re the tits.

Note, you need about 30-45 minutes for all the ingredients to marinate. You can marinate them for up to a day. Don’t you hate when recipes don’t tell you that until you’ve got everything ready to go and your mother-in-law is coming over for dinner in 25 minutes?

Ingredients (modified to my, and your, liking. trust me)

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish (unless you’re a supertaster!!)
2 jalapeños, stemmed and chopped
2 avocados, unless you’re a broke, unemployed graduate student such as myself
1 pound flaky white fish (such as mahi mahi or cod), cut into 4 pieces
8 fresh corn tortillas, soft, crunchy, or both, however you roll.
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Fresh salsa
1 lime, cut into quarters

Procedure:

1. Marinate the Onion: Put the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough red wine vinegar to cover well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or up to several weeks.

2. Marinate the Fish: Pour the olive oil into a small bowl and add the ancho chile powder, oregano, cumin, chopped cilantro, and jalapeño. Mix well. Place the fish on a dish and pour the marinade over it, making sure to coat the fish well on both sides. Allow to marinate for 20 minutes.

3. Cook the Fish: Heat a nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and place in the hot pan (there is no need to add more oil). Cook the fish for 4 minutes undisturbed, then turn over, and cook for another 2 minutes. At this point I sort of just flipped it around the pan for a bit while I was loading the dishwasher and it all sort of just fell apart into one delicious-looking panful of flaky goodness. Make sure you mix it all up so the fish and jalapenos and spices are all evenly disbursed.

4. Wait Two Hours for your Boyfriend to Come Home

5. Heat the Tortillas: Heat up your soft shells and/or hard shells to your liking. Put all the toppings in pretty little bowls and put them on the table with pretty little spoons.

6. Put Everything Together and Eat It: you know how to assemble tacos, right? The limes are for squeezing. The marinated onions go in the tacos. Use them.

7. Remark, “these fish tacos are the tits!”

The Bitch is Still Gardening....but does she have bees?

2010-07-12T14:35:00.012-04:00

Just a quick update for our reader(s?) who might be biting their nails in anticipation to find out if the planting of flowering perennials brought in the bees. Well, folks, we've seen one bee. There might be more than one and they just look alike (which they tend to do), but only one bee at a time has been spotted. That one bee has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders (and bees have really small shoulders), but I must admit he is doing a stellar job because.....get ready for it....WE HAVE A SQUASH PLANT GROWING!!! Sorry to yell, but this is exciting news around here. There may even be TWO SQUASH PLANTS!!!

Last week I had declared we would never again grow any vegetables that require pollination of flowers, but this week, I'm feeling a lot more optimistic. One thing I will say is that when they say you need 36 inches between each plant, they ain't kidding. These suckers are huge! The leaves themselves are as big as plates. And there's a ton of leaves. I have discovered that the plants don't really seem to notice if you lop off a few of the larger leaves when they're not looking.

Update on the rest of the garden - the swiss chard, beets and carrots that I grew from seed are all doing swimmingly. The chard will be ready in a couple days. We are excited about that, because this recipe with garlic and hot pepper flakes is one of our favorite ways to eat chard. Did you know that people here in Massachusetts (and maybe other places, too) say "chard", like "chalk" but people in California say it like "charades"? How do you say it?

I seem to be having the upper hand in the battle against the cabbage worms. The organic bacteria spray that I've been using as my weapon seems to be working. I feel bad for those little squishy green worms, but they really cause a lot of damage. I am determined to eat cabbage later this summer. The green beans look a lot like those cabbage worms at this point. About one inch long and green. Luckily they are attached to the bean plants, so they won't doing any damage to the cabbage. The basil and other herbs are having fun growing and then being lopped off so we can eat them. I made more pesto and froze it for use later this winter. Yum!

The Bitch Started Gardening

2010-07-06T20:11:00.011-04:00

Last year, my husband, daughter and I moved back to Massachusetts after a 10 year stint in dry and sunny California. We left just after getting our state tax return back (lucky us!) and made this humid and mostly cloudy part of the country our home. I couldn't wait to get a garden going. I finally got my act together this spring and we have a little garden doing its thing in our backyard.

Without the pesky ground squirrels, moles, and gophers that ate any attempt we made at a garden in California (except for some mighty tasty broccoli we grew in a half wine barrel), we have high hopes for a plentiful crop. I keep having these garden destruction nightmares (okay, maybe they're just bad dreams) in which something mercilessly destroys my garden. Once, it was something that cut my zucchini and squash plants off very neatly at the base with shears. Another dream involved the disappearance of my peppers through a hole in the ground. Every morning I go out to the garden, shaking in my flip flops, to see if the dreams have come true. We did quite well, until two days ago, when I discovered four perfectly cylindrical holes about 2 inches deep where my once happily growing sunflower plants were. The plants were cast to the side. Whoever it was was not interested in the plants. Were they just destroying them for fun? Were my dreams manifesting themselves in reality? A quick chat with my knowledgeable gardener-neighbor informed me that the holes were probably created by birds, looking for the seeds. Later that day when I went out to check for more destruction, I saw a robin flying away looking awfully guilty. The rest of my sunflower plants are still standing, so hopefully the robins realized that once a plant grows out of its seed, the seed is no longer so tasty. Also, even if it was a tasty seed, it seems like a lot of work for just one.

Gardening is an activity that you can do as a family, if you like your family enough to dig in the dirt with them. In our garden, I set the garden up and have been maintaining it, but my wonderful husband has been the main waterer. This is a good thing since I routinely either forget to water it in the first place, or forget to turn off the sprinkler. We had to set up a chicken wire fence to keep out the dog, who doesn't understand boundaries and to keep out the toddler who doesn't understand that plants need those leaves in order to grow. I thought I had some very, VERY hungry caterpillars on my cabbage leaves, but it was actually just the kiddo pulling the leaves apart.

Here's an inventory of what we've got growing in our garden this year.

A variety of pepper plants
Swiss chard (a fave around here)
Beets (in a variety of colors)
Carrots
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers (I'm growing these vertically in tomato cages. A good idea when space is limited.)
Basil
Thyme
Parsley
Sage
Savoy Cabbage
Bush Beans
Potatoes (these are growing in another bed by themselves)

My pepper and squash flowers have been falling off and not producing fruit. This is most likely because they're not being pollinated. We went to the nursery yesterday and bought a bunch of different flowering perennials. I'm really hoping that the bees smell us out and decide to help. It would be a big disappointment if none of my flowering vegetable plants produce any fruit!

So far, we've used the sage to make Maria's favorite grilled cheese sandwiches. I made pesto with the basil for these yummy open-faced veggie sandwiches. Basil and parsley went into Eric's amazingly delicious gazpacho. We can't wait till the rest is ready to be devoured!

I plan on updating you, our faithful reader(s?), on the happenings in our garden. Until then, enjoy these shots of the current state of things. Comment below - What's in your garden? Any tips for attracting bees? Have you had any garden destruction dreams?

Potatoes growing alongside the garage.

Cukes growing vertically, flanked by zukes on the left and squash (squkes?) on the right.

Peppers in the back and chard up front.

Sage, parsley and thyme. Some marigolds for good measure.

Beans.

Some Cool iPhone Apps for Fitness

2010-07-05T12:47:00.010-04:00

I have been going to the gym a lot lately and I have been using three iphone apps that I absolutely love. They are also the only apps I have ever paid for, the other ones I have are all free.

My bitch/sister introduced me to a website, hundredpushups.com, that gives you a pushup program based on how many you can do after an "initial test". They also have an iphone app. You do five sets of pushups three days a week, and they just increase the amount that you need to do each time. I started being able to do six pushups (with my knees on the ground!) and when I did my sets on Saturday, the five sets totaled 130 pushups. It's so cool. I am superman.

My friend Diana introduced me to another app that is called Couchto10k. You start the program not being able to run very far at all, and at the end you can run a 10k. You listen to music on your phone and it interrupts and tells you when to walk and when to run. The first week you are walking for 4.5 minutes and running for 30 seconds, and then the second week the walking decreases to 4 minutes and the running increases to 1 minute, and then more the following week. You do it 3 times a week as well. I am not that far into it yet but so far I really enjoy it. It's like a game.

I also got iFitness on my phone because when I was working out at the gym I would always forget how many reps I had done and how much weight I had done the previous time. With iFitness you punch in the weight and repetitions, as well as any cardio that you do. There are lots of cool features like a weight tracker, BMI calculator, and TONS of exercises with videos and descriptions of what you should do and why you should do it. You can create routines for yourself that are like little playlists with all the exercises that you want to do in that routine. I have a "pushup days" list with pushups (the hundredpushups ones) and abs and legs stuff. Then on "running days" my list has running and more arms, chest, and back stuff. It's really cool to have because I never forget what to do each day and it makes it really structured.

All of these apps are great and I think they make me much more motivated and "on track" to workout. Enjoy!

Update on Maria's Cleanse

2010-07-05T09:40:00.002-04:00

So I completely blew it on keeping you posted about the next phase... but I will update you now!

After I finished the cleanse, I started on the next "phase" and then in the following weeks I spent some time at home and also drove to Colorado with my bitch/sister. Let me tell you, the highway is no place to follow any sort of food regimen. Unless that regimen is big macs and chalupas. When I got back I decided to do the cleanse again, except I didn't have any artichokes. And I drank coffee. And I totally cheated like every day. But that's okay. After that I followed the next "phase" and have been really quite good about it since. Better yet, I have been going to the gym a lot! I also have been drinking the lemon water and green tea every day, both of which are remarkably refreshing. I drink the lemon water with a straw and sort of drink it in the back of my mouth so I don't ruin my teeth. I am not following the day-to-day menu because it's just too hard to keep up with it, but I have been taking a lot of recipes from the O2 book, many of which are really delicious.

So, I'm still at it, I am eating really well overall, and I am exercising a lot. Let me know if you have any questions about the cleanse!

The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - End of the Cleanse!

2010-05-24T20:35:00.003-04:00

I finished the four-day cleanse! The final day was quite similar to the one prior, roasted vegetables and all. I spent part of the day getting food for this week because..... I have decided to go forward with phase two of the cleanse/diet/become-as-fabulous-as-Gina-plan. Speak of the devil, Gina and I went to Allandale Farm in Brookline to get some fresh and delicious produce. There are a lot of opportunities in the summer for city-dwellers such as ourselves to get fresh, local produce. You just need to know where to go. First, there is Allandale Farm, which opens in April. There is also Marshall's Fenway Farm Stand which has, in addition to delicious fruits and vegetables, the most delicious chocolate milk I have ever tasted in my entire life. And lots of yummy prepared meals. Another good option is Russo's in Watertown. Always really busy but if you can handle that and pick the right fiddleheads at the same time, all the power to you. All of these are good options where you can get yummy local produce almost all year long. There are also farmer's markets in each part of town throughout the summer, there just weren't any when we went shopping. I encourage you, fellow Bostonians, to visit these farmer's markets and rely on them for your produce and let them rely on you for your dollars. You'll both be much happier. Another path you could go down is becoming a member of a CSA. Read all about CSAs here.

Anyways, here I am telling you where to get your peaches and asparagus and expecting you to listen to me. Why? Because you should. Because I'm Fabulous now. Because I can wear pants that have been hanging up in my closet, knowing they are too small, crossing their legs every time the Goodwill truck drives by. Not anymore, pantaloons. You're mine forever. I lost six pounds doing the cleanse. Although I am not entirely sure where it came from, I do feel a lot better, and the fact that I could even button those pants makes me know it came from somewhere. Dan told me my skin looked radiant the other day, and Dan doesn't tell anyone that anything looks radiant. So I guess this isn't all a crock of shiitake as I was secretly predicting.

I felt really empowered being able to change something as "simple" as the food I eat and then feel so much better (science!). I decided that I am going to go forth with phase 2 of the O2 Diet. With caution. I really don't want to turn it into something that I fight with, grow to hate, and then spite with cheeseburgers. I want it to be something I follow -not necessarily swear by- but guidelines by which I will try to dine. This was tested my first day of phase 2 when I unexpectedly made dinner plans with a friend in need. She's a friend, indeed. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in the universe, the Parish Cafe, and instead of ordering my fa-vo-rite steak sandwich ever, I decided I could be a little more sensible and have something a little more healthy. I didn't want to get a salad since I had been living off that for days, so I settled for a chicken dish, swapped out the garlic mashed for rice, and only ate half of it. I ate until I was full, not until I was Thanksgiving Full, as I usually do. It was delicious! And satisfying! And I left the stupid leftovers in my car! I even had a glass of wine. I decided, from that meal forward, that I wouldn't make myself feel guilty about it because a. that will only make me hate it, and b. it is so freaking annoying listening to people complain about how they violated their diet. So here I am, liking phase two as a friend.

Phase two adds more dairy, fat, and carbs to the diet. It lasts for two weeks. There is a recommended meal plan and then also guidelines for doing it yourself. I am going to follow the recommended meal plan because I love the idea of someone just telling me what to eat. I have really enjoyed the ability to eat really varied things after eating the same exact thing every day for four days. I have also been really open minded about trying new things. Like the recommended breakfast for today was a smoothie that had fruit and yogurt and juice and other normal stuff in it, alongside avocado and grapeseed oil. Weird. But it was delicious. As long as I didn't think about it.

I am going to keep blogging through phase two and I will keep you posted about the funny things I eat and the love-love relationship I am going to maintain with this diet. I have had a number of questions from people who are interested in starting this, so I will answer them next time I post, but I currently have a suspected sinus infection to attend to. (I never said this diet was magic!)

The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - Part Three

2010-05-22T23:54:00.011-04:00

The third day of my cleanse went quite well. I had the whole day off so I was able to spend more time preparing my food than I had the two days prior. I said to hell with the eggs and had the apple, the prescribed midmorning snack, for breakfast. Considering I slept until 11, I felt that this was an appropriate choice. Now I am going to talk about cinnamon for a hot second. I had absolutely NO IDEA the havok it can wreak on your mouth. The cleanse calls for a teaspoon of cinnamon on a sliced granny smith apple. Totally seems doable, right? It's not!! It's horrible! On the first day I did exactly that and I was scraping cinnamon off my apple slices with the ziplock bag it was in. I was plugging my nose just to get the slices down. I was sweating. My eyes were watering. It took me an hour to eat the apple. Needless to say, I put an end to such torture on the second day and only put in a half teaspoon of cinnamon with my apple. The other half I mixed in with a glass of lemon water. The apple experience was only slightly improved and the water only brought back flashbacks of Granny Smith and her masochism the day before. Third time's the charm. I realized that I didn't go to college fer nuthin and poured myself a shot of lemon juice mixed with a teaspoon of cinnamon. Down the hatch. No chaser. Problem solved. Now let's do green tea keg stands.

Lunch was delicious. I made salmon again but instead of having it over raw spinach I sauteed the spinach with the pecans in some peach balsamic from Gustare. a-m-a-zing. I am always fascinated by the shrinking power of spinach when you cook it and I think I probably ate about a pound of it. It smelled and looked so good that Dan wanted some. Jumping at the opportunity for him to be the earthy-crunchy-big-mac-refusing organivore that I have always dreamed of, I made him a plate too. Minus the pecans; I didn't have time for anaphylactic shock. He loved it! Amazing!

Having bought four artichokes before starting this whole cleanse hoopla, I really didn't want to waste them, despite my Artichoke Comprehension Disorder. So I looked at ten more youtube videos about how to prepare and eat a goddamn artichoke and I found something that appealed to me. Roast it! Maybe THEN the heart will appear and save me, antioxidants pumping through its ventricles. No such luck with the heart, but the 'choke itself was pretty delicious. I sacrificed some of my olive oil from dinner and drizzled it over the artichoke and topped it with some ground black pepper and a dash of cayenne before roasting it. The olive oil made my fingers messy and I almost thought that I was eating something with butter on it. Almost.

The roasting of the artichoke, along with the oven that was still on, inspired me to roast more. So I threw in some cupcakes. Just kidding. I threw in all the vegetables that my dinner salad calls for, tossed them with a touch more olive oil and black pepper, and charred 'em up nice and good. While they were cooking I George Foremaned (sorry mom, I know verbing weirds words) some chicken with lots of seasoning on it. When the veggies were done I chopped up the chicken and tossed it in. On the side I made a salad with romaine and tomatoes and pomegranate vinegar. It was a little different than I had prepared this dinner in the past three days, and it was SO delicious.

Annnnnd the best part of my day, the blueberries. They are JUST SO GOOD. Can't get enough of them.

I was so excited for my cardio today because I was planning to take a free Zumba class at Healthworks in Cambridge. The class was at 5:30. I left my house at 4:45. It's a 15 minute drive. I got there at 5:40. SO disappointing. So then I was too stubborn to leave Porter Square without having done a thing. I popped into Cambridge Naturals to look at all the delicious foods I couldn't eat. They are so nice in there and I really wanted to support them after bringing all my negative moping energy, so I bought some green tea and some face mask. I even signed up for their email list. I'm supposed to get a free tote bag for that one. The face mask is so nice! It's Burt's Bees Pore Refining Mask. It was really fun to do. It is just a powder and you mix it with water, green tea, tomato juice, or carrot juice, depending on your skin type. I just squeezed out one of my tea bags into the powder. I couldn't decide whether my skin was more mature or troubled. So you mix in your liquid of choice and then put it all over your freshly cleaned face. I put it on with a spoon. It was like painting. It was so much fun. It has some peppermint in it so it felt really cold on my face. I filled up a basin and soaked my feet in that luxurious soap my mom makes and sat there with the face mask on, trying to enjoy pampering. The mask was so interesting. I felt it drying while it was on my face and I completely expected that when I looked in the mirror my face would look like Benjamin Button. In his early days. It didn't. When I took it off I can't say I felt any explosions of cleanliness or pore refinedness, but it certainly was nice.

When I was done I realized that bumming around Porter Square still didn't count as cardio, no matter what my intentions had been. So I sat on the couch and watched a couple workout videos, well aware that that also did not count. I finally found one that wasn't too annoying, too intense, or called Cardioke. I did the whole 30 minute video and then I did situps for as long as it took Not Siobhan Magnus #1 to sing Come to My Window on American Idol and the judges to, well, judge it. As soon as Not Siobhan Magnus #2 piped up I decided to call it quits, and that 35 minutes or so was just enough exercise for me.

Oh, yeah, also. Coffee. Two cups today. Not even considering abstaining. At least I'm having it black. Unsweetened. With cinnamon, of course.

One more day!

The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - Part Two

2010-05-21T16:18:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was TOUGH. I had to get up really early so I had even more trouble with the eggs. I ate about half of them, though. This time I put some asparagus and spinach in there, which helped a little, but I just really don't like eggs by themselves. End of story.

When I was in the shower in the morning I pampered myself, just like they tell you to. I made a facial scrub that called for yogurt and coffee grounds. It was nice. I sort of wanted to scrub the inside of my mouth because it felt so good, but I refrained. I was thinking that maybe the coffee grounds would go into my brain and make it feel like I had a cup of coffee. No dice.

I didn't have time to have my midmorning apple snack so I had it at lunch after I ate everything else. This time I put about half as much cinnamon on because the first day the cinnamon had me in tears. The other half teaspoon of cinnamon went into one of my lemon waters. It wasn't bad. The apple with cinnamon was good but it was still really cinnamony. My lunch was good. I had salmon again on a bed of fresh spinach and eight whole halves of pecan.

I had class in the evening so I had brought everything with me early in the morning. I tried my hand at the steamed artichoke again but I still couldn't find the heart!! I swear I didn't cut it off this time. Perhaps I purchased heartless artichokes. When I was sitting in class I was really tired and I had a headache. I made myself a cup of green tea and it really didn't help. SO I CAVED. I had a cup of coffee. Black, unsweetened, horrible coffee that you make out of packets in the lounge at my school. It was the most delicious thing I have ever had. I perked right up, my headache went away, and I felt so much better. Apparently I looked better as well. So it turns out I can't live without coffee. Fine. With. Me.

My dinner was delicious last night. I put the asparagus in with my salad this time, which was yummy. I did find myself wishing there was more chicken, but perhaps that was just because there was so much of everything else. I think I am discovering that I don't like yellow peppers. I had no idea. I thought I loved them. Maybe I just don't like them in salads.

When I got home I poured myself a glass of blueberries and sat down to watch an accumulation of tivo-ed shows with Dan. I started getting really hungry about a quarter of the way through Modern Family and by the time Claire put mud on Gloria's dress I was almost in tears. I sent a desperate text to Gina, who encouraged me to have some protein. It was okay, after all, since I didn't eat all my eggs in the morning. So I made a salad with romaine, tomatoes, chicken, and pomegranate balsamic vinegar from Gustare Oils and Vinegars. It was so good. It 90% hit the spot. The rest of the 10% of the spot was hit with........

A BITE OF DAN'S CHICKEN SANDWICH. ON POTATO BREAD. WITH CHEESE. AND MAYONNAISE. AND MUSTARD.

I'm sorry, cleanse gods. I couldn't help myself. I was so hungry and the way the mayo oozed out the sides was too much for me to handle. It was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. I only had one (or three) bite(s), though, so I think it's okay. I mean, I know it's not ideal, but I think it's okay. Maybe I'll count that as my pampering for the day.

I totally failed on the exercise front. While I did do a lot of walking and stuff during the day, I really didn't exercise. I didn't have time during the day and then when I got home at 9 I just wanted to watch tv and drool. But I'm okay with that.

Today I drank a lot more water than is prescribed. I had my eight cups of lemon water and probably had an additional three or four cups. Also, I woke up with really dry skin. And the humidifier was on. Granted, I have been nursing a cold for about a week.

Overall I am feeling pretty good being halfway done. I weighed myself this morning when I got up and I have actually lost four pounds. I'm not sure if this is just my IKEA scale being fickle, or if I really have, but that is very interesting. Perhaps because so much sodium is cut out that I am losing water weight. Who knows.

Well, halfway done is good. I have screwed up a couple times but not with anything huge. Other than my sandwich bite(s) I haven't eaten anything that isn't allowed and I have been putting in a good effort for the rest of the lifestyle stuff. I think that if I had a normal 9-5 job then it would be a LOT easier.

Happy weekend, everyone!

The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - Part One

2010-05-20T16:03:00.004-04:00

Jeepers creepers I’ve been so busy cooking that I haven’t had time to blog! I made it through the first day of my cleanse! It was actually rather easy and sort of nice to already know what I was going to be eating for every meal, and to already have it prepared and with me. I will say that the cooking took a long time… but I also had to prepare lunch, dinner, and snacks ahead of time because I had class all day and night.

I did make a valiant effort with the eggs. In the morning. Off a plate. I used one egg and two egg whites instead of three egg whites, added a little extra black pepper, and gagged down about half of it. I think the whole point was to have a. the protein and b. the basil. So later in the day I used an extra half teaspoon of basil in my salad. I didn’t make up for the protein but I probably could have. I didn’t find myself particularly ravenous all day, although I did want something delicious like bread or pizza.

The lemon water wasn’t too bad. I ended up bringing a straw with me at the last minute and I am really glad I did because it is SO sour and when I am one of the Beautiful People I’m gonna need to still have teeth.

The artichoke was…. Interesting. I steamed it the night before and I really didn’t know what to do with it. My dear friend Marisa, who happens to be an Licensed Artichoke Expert informed me that I need to peel off all the leaves and then peel off all the fuzzy stuff to get to the heart. Turns out I cut off the heart when I was attempting to prepare my artichoke. Whoops. But I did eat all the “meat” out of the leaves. That was good. And time consuming.

My dinner exhausted me. First of all I ate it in my disgusting Dysphagia (swallowing disorders) class so we were talking about gross stuff and seeing videos of dead bodies and their tongues and mouth mucosa. So that put a little damper on my dinner. I think I may have brought too much. You’re supposed to eat as many vegetables as you want and I guess I was anticipating being starving so I brought a ton. I couldn’t finish it all but I did eat a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, but it was just a lot.

Coffee, coffee, coffee. I tried to replace my caffeine with the prescribed green tea and ended up drinking about six cups of it in order to stave off a withdrawal headache. It worked until about 9pm and I was hit pretty hard with a headache. I was also pretty lethargic all day and sort of sad. All I wanted to do was come home and hang out with Dan. Maybe I have an emotional addiction to coffee. I am going to try one more day without coffee and then I might have to have a cup of unsweetened black coffee the last two days.

You’re supposed to “pamper” yourself twice a day. I did double pampering just one time, in the evening. After I had gotten everything done around the house I made a face masque that the nutritionist recommends. It uses yogurt, oats, and honey. I made it and put it on, and while wearing it I soaked my feet with hot water and this heavenly soap that my mom makes. And I sat there for about fifteen minutes reading and hoping Dan wouldn’t walk through the door and get frightened by the fact that I had breakfast all over my face. I sort of just got anxious about the fact that I wasn’t doing anything and I had a lot to do, along with the fact that I hadn’t grabbed a towel before soaking my feet. Pampering is for the birds.

In addition to pampering, you're supposed to do 45 minutes of cardio. I did.... maybe 25 minutes (on the wii). BUT I did jumping jacks a few times throughout the day. And I took the stairs whenever I could. And parked far away. So I am counting it.

You are also supposed to set some personal goals, which I did. You can see my little checklist of things I am going to try to do for myself while cleansing.

So, pardon my tardiness in posting this, but that was day 1. Stay tuned for day 2, which is actually today. BIG SURPRISES await you, readers. Big surprises.

The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - Part Zero

2010-05-18T18:27:00.007-04:00

Tomorrow I (Maria) am starting something that is extremely uncharacteristic and foreign to me.

I have been feeling really uninspired by food lately, I’m sick of all my recipes, and I keep just buying food and letting it go bad in my fridge. I have also been feeling pretty low on energy and I feel like my skin and my waistline have also been feeling a little low on energy. When I was in college I could eat whatever I wanted and I would never feel the difference, but lately I haven’t felt so lucky. In order to bring back my energy and perhaps feel a little better in my bathing suit this summer, I decided to try a cleanse. Don’t stop reading just yet!

I can still eat FOOD and I don’t have to drink maple-syrup-cayenne-pepper-and-cat-litter concoctions all day every day. This all started when I hadn’t seen my friend Gina in about a week and I had class with her last week and she sauntered in with a new glow, great hair, and a water bottle with some yellow stuff in it. With concerns that she was now way out of my friend league, I asked how she was looking so damn fine. She told me she had started this cleanse I was very skeptical. Then she told me more about it and it turns out you can still eat, it’s only 4 days long, and you don’t have to get obsessed with calories. I can do that. The cleanse turns out to be “phase one” of a 3-phase antioxidant-based diet plan called the “o2 diet”.

I think that the structure will be helpful for me because my lack of culinary inspiration has made me put off eating until I am starving and then eat something bad for me that I probably spend money on. With the cleanse, you eat the same thing every day for four days and I went to the grocery store today and bought everything I will need. The next “phase” lets you eat more quantity and variety, but the focus is still on antioxidants. We’ll cross that bridge (or perhaps stay on this side of the river) when we get to it, but I wanted to blog about the cleanse for two reasons. I want to stay motivated to do it by writing about it (because I know our thousands and thousands of readers will yell at me if I don’t) and I also want to let you all know about it in case it turns out to make me look as wonderful and feel as fabulous as Gina. Because if it does ya’ll will have some catching up to do.

Here is how it goes. Every day for four days I have to eat the following:

Throughout the day:

8 cups of water, each with 1oz lemon juice and some lemon zest

2 cups green tea

Breakfast:

1 whole egg and three egg whites*

1tsp basil

Snack:

Granny smith apple with 1tsp cinnamon on it

Lunch:

Spinach (as much as my little heart desires) with 4oz salmon, oil, vinegar

8 pecan halves

Snack:

Steamed artichoke. Yeah, I’ll let you know how that goes.

Dinner:

Romaine salad with 4oz lean protein, oil, vinegar, veggies

Steamed asparagus

Dessert:

1cup blueberries

*Hey, do any of you have any thoughts of what I can do with the egg yolks I don’t use every day? I could make something delicious for Dan, perhaps. Ideas?

Note that there is no dairy, sodium, or sugar. I'm going to get so clean inside! We’ll see if that all keeps me full. Note that two things near and dear to my heart are missing. Coffee and red, red wine. I think green tea miiiight stave off caffeine withdrawal headaches, and I think it is the whole curling-up-on-the-couch-with-a-glass-of-wine-at-the-end-of-a-long-day thing that I like the most, so maybe I’ll just put my blueberries in a wine glass. Turns out both coffee and red wine are high in antioxidants, so if I do continue with it then I can consider bringing them back into my life.

I am sure I will be fine without the wine, but I am actually a little concerned about the coffee. I might have to resort to drinking 750 cups of green tea per day; I did the math and that is how many I would need to match the caffeine I regularly get from coffee. I am also a little concerned about this thing you all call breakfast. I can barely brush my teeth in the morning without gagging and the thought of straight eggs makes me cringe, but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I can switch the mealtimes between the blueberries and the eggs. Although I don’t really want to eat scrambled eggs out of a wine glass.

There are some other components of the cleanse. You are supposed to take good care of yourself by pampering yourself, getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night, and it turns out that making whoopie (the no-calorie kind) is good for you, too. You’re also supposed to get 45 minutes of cardio. Not sure if those are one in the same. I’m going to use the wii fit every evening (after curling up with a glass of scrambled eggs, of course) for cardio at least for the first couple days because I won’t have time to ride my bike and I am allergic to all other types of cardio. I think the wii fit will also be helpful because then I can monitor my weight as well.

So, I’ll try it, I’ll keep you posted (literally), and if you don’t hear from me for a while it’s safe to assume it’s because I’m going to be so gorgeous and energetic that I’ll be off on some tropical island with Gina and all the other Beautiful People.

Mother's Day Brunch Recipes

2010-05-07T01:36:00.009-04:00

It's Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 9. A perfect day for a bitch to stop cooking! We want to make it as easy as possible for any mother (or woman) to stop cooking, so why not start on Mother’s Day? Here are some easy recipes that the rest of the family can prepare.

We here at TBSC like to have a family brunch on special holidays and birthdays. We like it because it’s more casual than dinner and you have an excuse to eat lots of sweets, which is really why we all eat anyway, right? For those who are more fans of the savory stuff (this author’s husband is one of those crazy people), there are good choices, too. It’s the best of both taste-bud worlds. The best thing about brunch is that if you suck at cooking, you can always buy everything you need pre-prepared at your local grocery store and bakery. If you just sort of suck at cooking, you can try one of the recipes below and then get the rest at the store. If you are a good cook, or are just adventurous (or your wife/mother/step-mother/grandmother has threatened to stop cooking entirely if you don’t at least try to cook on her special day), check out the spread below and get cooking. Some of the recipes have a lot of flexibility built into them so you can use ingredients that you already have or are easy to find. All of the recipes are pretty much fool-proof, so if you’re not sure, give it a shot. She’ll still love you. We promise. And, if it turns out that you’re an awful cook, as the song says, maybe she’ll make you stop.

Fruit Salad
Ingredients:

Fruit! Chop it all up and mix it up in a bowl. Serve with yogurt and granola if you want a heartier dish. Some ideas: strawberries, grapes, orange slices, watermelon, kiwi, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.

Crepes
This recipe is one of our favorites. Crepes are one of those things that seem fancier and harder to make than they actually are. The following recipe is modified from the Fannie Farmer cookbook, which is a good basic cookbook to have in your collection. You might want to double the recipe ingredients, as this doesn’t make that many crepes (maybe 10 - 12). They freeze well if you end up with leftovers.

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Flour
2 tbsp Butter; melted (or oil)

Beat the eggs well, then beat in the milk, salt, flour, and butter till smooth. Lumps tend to taste kind of yucky, so try to get them out if you can. (Or mix all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.) Cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes. We have let it stand for less than this and they come out just fine. Heat a 7-inch or 5-inch skillet or crepe pan until moderately hot (we like to use a cast iron pan), then add a small amount of oil. You can spread it around with a spatula or brush if you’d like. Using ladle or small cup, pour in several tablespoons of batter, then quickly tilt the pan this way and that so that the batter spreads evenly in the thinnest possible layer. (If there is too much batter in the pan, pour it back into the bowl of batter and use less for the next crepe.) You’ll be surprised about how little batter you need. Cook for a few more minutes, until the bottom is lightly browned and the edges lift easily from the pan. Turn it with a spatula or by catching an edge with your fingers and flipping it over. Cook the second side for a few minutes (or less); it will brown in spots, not cooked as evenly as the first side, but it doesn't matter because this side should be used inside when the crepes are rolled and because she’ll just be so glad she didn’t have to cook she won’t care what it looks like. Remove to a plate and add more butter or shortening before cooking the next crepe. If the batter seems to be getting too thick as you get toward the end of it, add a little milk to thin it out. We have found it is easiest to do this with a cooking partner. One person to pour the batter in and one person to quickly tilt the pan around. Makes it more fun, too!

Crepe Filling Ideas:

Yogurt – plain or flavored, sour cream or ricotta cheese
Nuts
Fruit from the fruit salad you made
Nutella
Chocolate syrup, maple syrup, honeyPowdered sugar and cinnamon
Banana
Jam
Prociutto
Cheese

Prosecco Mimosas
Prosecco is Italy’s version of French Champagne. Makes a very tasty mimosa!

Ingredients:

Some good quality orange juice. Don’t skimp on this part. We have found that Simply Orange is pretty good if you can’t afford or can’t find Naked OJ or some other brand of flash pasteurized OJ.
a bottle of Prosecco

Pour 2 ounces of orange juice in a champagne flute (or water glass or coffee mug). Add 4 ounces of the prosecco. No need to stir. Enjoy!

Egg Scramble
Like an omelet, but easier. The great thing about this dish is that any combination of veggies work well. We’ve listed some suggestions here, but use whatever your tummy desires.

Ingredients:

Eggs 1 – 1.5 per person (there’s so much other food that there’s no need to make a lot)
Milk (cow’s, soy, almond or rice)
Veggies (some ideas: mushrooms, green onions, bell peppers, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, spinach or swiss chard
Seasonings (some ideas: salt and pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, cumin, Italian seasoning)
OilChop the veggies in small pieces. Scramble the eggs together in a bowl with a splash of milk. Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet. Cook the veggies until tender. You want to cook out a lot of their water. Otherwise, the scramble gets really wet and runny and will taste bland. If you add spinach or chard, cook the other veggies first and then add these towards the end. They don’t need much time in the pan and the longer you cook them, the more nutrients are lost. After the veggies are done, add the eggs. Let it stand for a few minutes and then push the eggs around a bit in the pan. Let stand again and do this until the eggs are cooked to how you like them. Make this right before you eat because nothing’s yuckier than cold eggs.

Pastries
Get keys. Get in car. Drive to nearest locally owned bakery. Buy enough pastries for each person to eat ½ to 1 full pastry. Go home and be merry.

Other Ideas:
Some kind of baked bread or muffins – zucchini bread or banana bread are both relatively easy.
Oysters on the half shell.
Sparkling water and juice.
Deviled eggs.
French toast or pancakes.
Bagels with cream cheese and lox.
Mozzarella, basil and tomato salad.

Spicing Things Up on Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-05T13:21:00.009-04:00

Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16. On that date in 1810, Mexico declared its independence from Spanish rule. But today isn't Dieciséis de Septiembre, now is it?

Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Yet Cinco de Mayo is celebrated only sporadically in Mexico, mainly in the southern town of Puebla and a few larger cities. Did you get that? Cinco de Mayo is celebrated only sporadically in Mexico. Then what the jalapeno are we doing celebrating it up here?!

In recent years, though, Cinco de Mayo rapidly gained popularity in the U.S., where it is suspected that changing demographics (no, not more college kids) have helped to turn the holiday into a cultural event. Latinos are the largest minority in the U.S. today with 44.3 million people, representing 15 percent of the population, according to a July 2008 U.S. Census Bureau report. And the rest of us... well, we'll just do anything for a party.

Here at La Perra Dejó de Cocinar, we put together some recipes to help you celebrate Cinco de Mayo with great cheer and great beer.

Roasted Poblano and White Bean Crostini

Ingredients:
2 poblano peppers, roasted and peeled
1 can of white beans
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp cumin
Juice of 1 lemon
Grilled bread
1/4 bunch cilantro, picked but not chopped

Preparation:
Roast peppers on the grill until blackened and charred. Place in a bowl and cover with saran wrap for 20 minutes. Peel peppers. Heat olive oil over medium heat and fry cilantro very quickly (about 30 seconds). Remove and pat dry with slotted spoon. Reserve. Puree beans with garlic, cumin, lemon juice and poblano peppers. Serve warm on grilled bread. Garnish with crumbled fried cilantro.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
16 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
1 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheeses
Garnish: chopped cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Preparation:
Coat large saute pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.

Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add canned tomatoes, saute 1 minute.

Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to saute pan, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.

Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat.

Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. Serve with Spanish rice and beans.

Pineapple-Chile Margaritas

Ingredients:
makes 4 servings
coarse salt
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 cup tequila
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar (you can find this by the honey at the grocery store)

Preparation:
Wet the rim of 4 short glasses and dip in a mixture of 2 tablespoons coarse salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder. Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds of the way with ice. Add 1 cup tequila, 1 cup pineapple juice, 1/2 cup fresh lime juice and 11/2 tablespoons agave nectar. Shake well, then strain into the glasses.

Cerveza, cerveza, cerveza...

I know what you're thinking. You will go grab a 12-pack of coronas and a lime or two and you'll be all set. Just like in the commercials. Well, if you want to get real authentic, you might follow these suggestions.

If you can find them, Cucapa Brewing Company makes a mean hat trick of Mexican beers.

The Obscura is a brown ale, absolutely delicious and available in 22 ounce bottles.
Cucapa Honey is a blonde ale that has a hint of honey flavor. It's light, flavorful, and just sweet enough.
If you're a Mexican Hopping Bean and you can't get enough, try their Chupacabras Pale Ale. It's a pale ale with lotsa hops.

If you can't find these (though I think you will be able to), check out Allison Boyer's Top Ten Mexican Beers.

Have a happy, safe, and picante Cinco de Mayo!

Community Supported Agriculture

2010-04-21T17:37:00.008-04:00

We had a request from a fan for a post about Community Supported Agriculture – CSA – so here it is! Let us know if there’s a topic you want us to cover in an upcoming post!

What is Community Supported Agriculture?

In a CSA, farmers offer a number of “shares” to local community members at the beginning of the season. When community members purchase a share and join the CSA, they enter into a type of shared risk pool with the farmer and the other members. Throughout the season on a weekly basis, the farmer delivers to the CSA members their share of the week’s produce. Shares usually consist of a variety of vegetables, but in some CSAs farmers give their members the option of receiving fruit, dairy, or even meat with their delivery. The produce is all organic, but because of the lower cost of distribution, the cost of a CSA share is comparable to what you would pay in your grocery store (AND it comes with an added perk – since the food is grown locally, you can feel better about your carbon footprint!). The cost of a share is a few hundred dollars for the entire season (paid up front), and each share could feed a family of two to four people for a week (depending on your vegetable consumption).

What you get in your weekly delivery depends on what’s in season, and changes in type and volume throughout the season. Earlier in the season you might get more leafy greens, while at the end of the season you might find yourself with broccoli, squash, and potatoes. The season is typically 14-20 weeks long and runs from late spring until early fall.

Of course, belonging to a CSA isn’t always peachy keen. One big part of entering a CSA is the risk you share with the other members and the farmer. If production is low one season – due to pests, a draught, or whatever – you share the loss with the other members and won’t get as much in your weekly delivery. Also, in many CSAs members are required to pick up their shares at a certain place and time every week. This allows for less flexibility than buying your veggies at the grocery store. Because all the food is locally grown, you miss out on many produce items that you’re used to buying whenever you want at your grocery store (many CSA members supplement their shares with fruits and vegetables that aren’t available locally). On the flip side, you may find that you incorporate new kinds of veggies into your diet that you wouldn’t normally eat.

Some CSAs require volunteering hours. This may involve volunteering at a farm stand, assisting with deliveries, or even helping out on the farm. While this may seem like a hassle at first, many CSA members find that they feel more connected and involved with the farm when they volunteer. Children especially enjoy visiting the farm to see where their food comes from.

How can I find a CSA in my area?

Here at TBSC we’re a big fan of CSA and we encourage our readers to look into it for themselves. And this blog post comes at just the right time, as the start of the next season is only a few weeks away! To find the CSA nearest you, LocalHarvest.org is a great resource. Eat healthy! Support local business! Save the planet!

Readers, do you have any experience with CSAs? Share them with us in the comments section!

The Bitches are Cooking - Are You?

2010-04-13T14:14:00.008-04:00

And we’re back…

The Bitch Stopped Cooking took a little hiatus from blogging. Sorry to keep you waiting. Maria’s challenge to not buy any food out was a hard act to follow! Hopefully you all enjoyed her posts. If you haven't read them, check them out starting here.

We here at TBSC have noticed a bit of irony in our cooking lives. Since starting this little business devoted to the culinary liberation of women, the three of us, all women (a.k.a. bitches), have actually begun to cook MORE! Isn’t this a business to support women who want to cook LESS? What we realized is that our actual purpose, what we really want to do, is get everyone back in the kitchen. Not just women. So, the bitch may not get to completely stop cooking, but hopefully we might help other people in the house begin their own adventure in the kitchen. We want everyone in there – the women, the men, the kids!

Looks like we’re not alone…

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and recently published, Food Rules, was recently interviewed by The Huffington Post. The interview covered a variety of food related topics, such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup, going without meat from feed-lots, and most interesting to us at TBSC – men in the kitchen. Pollan says, “I think it's a big challenge to get men back into the kitchen. There is some evidence that with this generation of young people it’s happening to a greater extent -- the percentage of men who are cooking is up, and if we're going to rehabilitate cooking and recreate a culture of cooking in this country it's going to have to be shared, not just by husbands and wives, but by children as well. “ Yes, Michael, we agree!

Jamie Oliver, celebrity hunk-chef, is fully involved with his Food Revolution movement. He believes that America can beat its obesity problem and a huge component of the solution is, you guessed it, getting everyone back in the kitchen. In his Platform for Change: Why America Needs a Food Revolution – Now, he states that “we have lost cooking skills in the home. “ He continues, “Cooking skills give people a basic knowledge of food and help them make more informed decisions about what to eat. Without these skills, people have no choice but to eat fast food and processed meals.” One of his suggestions for how we, the public, can make a difference is “If you can cook, teach others. If you can’t cook, learn how.” There are so many resources out there for learning how to cook. Local adult education classes, your mother, your friend who is a chef, the neighbor down the street who is a killer (no pun intended) barbecue master. Ask them for tips. Hold a cooking class at your house. Cook together. With friends, with family. It's fun!

It’s exciting being a part of this “food revolution”. We didn’t start TBSC because of it, but we have happily discovered that our timing seems to be just right. We look forward to the future- to seeing the growth of cooking within families. Hopefully we will work ourselves out of a job and in the future the men will do the cooking. But, more importantly, hopefully we will all cook together. What’s next for you? What will you do this week to get yourself back in the kitchen or get someone you love in there with you? What will you learn? What will you teach?

Photo credit: Michael Pollan photo taken by Alia Malley. Check out her website.

Earth Hour 2010

2010-03-27T09:27:00.003-04:00

What is this boring picture, you ask?

It's Las Vegas during Earth Hour last year! Two thirds of the The Bitch Stopped Cooking team were there last year to see the entire strip go dark for an hour to save electricity and bring awareness to climate change.

Tonight, March 27 at 8:30pm EST, join the millions of people around the world who are turning off their lights for an hour.

If Vegas can do it, so can you!

For more information, check out www.earthhour.org

Maria's Challenge - The Aftermath

2010-03-26T12:21:00.002-04:00

So I finished my challenge and was feeling pretty good about it. I made my own coffee on Monday, brought some lunch, and then things started to taper off. I bought iced coffee on Tuesday, then was at school for 12.5 hours and brought NOTHING to eat... So I ate out. And then Wednesday was my birthday so Dan brought me breakfast and I bought myself iced coffee. THEN we went out to dinner on Wednesday night to the Atlantic Fish Company and right after we sat down, the smoke alarms starting going off. No, not going off, BLARING. So we sat there... and waited... (no one got up! did these people not go to elementary school?!) We finally employed sign language to order some drinks, and then sat there looking over the menu, unable to converse (it was SO loud.) I kept expecting it to just turn off the next minute, which is why we didn't leave, but it went on for FORTY FIVE MINUTES. We realized that it was probably the eating-out gods and goddesses punishing me for trying to eat out. It was pretty funny. We enjoyed our dinner... ate lobster and steak until we couldn't move, and then ate some dessert until we really couldn't move. It was all delicious (although Dan's filet tasted so much like the smell of IKEA that I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to) and despite the sensorineural hearing loss we had a great night.

Another exciting thing is that for my birthday my friend Gina gave me a Dunkin Donuts gift card so that now I can buy REAL iced coffee in REAL cups without being plagued with guilt. Thanks Gina!

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challange - Day 7&8

2010-03-23T13:20:00.003-04:00

I’m done! After Friday’s mishap, I redeemed myself on Saturday and Sunday. We went down to the Cape on Saturday and in the morning, for the first time ever when going to the Cape, I didn’t get iced coffee in the morning. I MADE iced coffee again! Check out how delicious it looks. I brought some for the ride as well, in those handy Au Bon Pain cups. For breakfast I had some peanut butter and crackers and some dried cranberries. I think they put drugs in the dried cranberries. Crackberries.

When we got to the cape, my mommy made us French toast. She is the best French toast maker in the universe. As you may know, the is the original bitch that stopped cooking, so this was extra special. For dinner we had delicious baked scrod. Again, the bitch momentarily started cooking again. And it was so good. My sister Julia and her boyfriend made the Dr. Pepper chocolate cake from the Dinosaur BBQ cookbook. So good. I was expecting it to taste a lot like Dr. Pepper, but it didn’t. It was so good. My other sister, Hannah, made a berry and custard trifle. So good!

The next morning for breakfast we had a delicious brunch of an egg scramble, crepes, and Belgian waffles and bacon and sausage. So amazing. That also counted as lunch. We left in the evening and were still pretty full from brunch (and the extra pound of trifle I ate in the afternoon). Around 9 we had some frozen pizza. This whole challenge I was wondering whether frozen pizza was acceptable, but I think it is. It is $5 for one, and it feeds two people, so if we had gone out instead we would have spent so much more money.

All in all, this challenge was really interesting and actually not all that hard. Given, much of my motivation came from the idea of the challenge. In real life, I would probably break down at many points. I am now much more aware of how much money I spend on eating out and I think that this challenge will definitely make me cook a whole lot more at home. I think one of the most important things to consider is the amount of money you spend on this food that is so temporary. In a week, you will completely forget your $11 lunch today, and you might as well have brought a peanut butter and jelly.

I am definitely going to continue to try to cook more things at night that I can bring leftovers of the next day. That’s a huge money saver. I am also going to make big batches of soup, lasagna, etc. and freeze them in individual portions for days when I have nothing to bring for lunch.

And I am going to try really hard to cut down on the iced coffee. Really. I am probably not going to bring that ridiculous orange cup with the baggie over it again, but I am going to tone it down on the coffee purchases. You can hold me to that.

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challenge - Day 6

2010-03-20T10:17:00.005-04:00

It was a challenge, not a promise.

I don't know if you've ever had cheese steak spring rolls from Burtons Grill, but you'd blow it too. More on that later.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous out again, so I knew iced coffee was inevitable. I still had some left in the fridge from the day before. BUT, my wonderful boyfriend has this horrible tendency to load the dishwasher until it is completely full, and then shut the door. and walk away. So I go over and I'm like, Sweet! the sink is empty! Dan did the dishes! and I open the dishwasher and it's all food-y and dirty-y. Maybe he thinks the dishwasher has a sensor and when it senses it is full it turns on. What he doesn't know is that sensor is named Maria. (Now I will find out if he really reads our blog like he says he does.) So anyways, I have plenty of iced coffee, but those cool iced coffee cups I got from Au Bon Pain are dirty. (I have had a dishwasher my entire life, and it is just occurring to me now that I could have just taken them out and washed them by hand. But then I wouldn't get to show you this silly picture.) Any other day I would have abandoned the idea and gone to Dunkin Donuts for my fix. But you won't let me. So I found this ridiculous plastic orange cup that I probably bought in college and I found a complementary colored elastic and affixed a baggie over the top. I took a yellow straw and poked a hole in the baggie and was on my way. All the other kids laughed at me when I got to school. The coffee was delicious, though! I also had a TJ's greek yogurt for breakfast.

I had TJ's dried cranberries and a Nature Valley peanut butter granola bar for snacks.

For lunch I had leftover pasta and sauce and sauce-age from the night before. It was okay. I either have a cold or allergies, so my appetite and taste buds are shot, so eating was sort of just a chore. If I hadn't brought lunch I don't think I would have bought lunch. I probably would have just not eaten and survived off of post nasal drip.

And there ends the success with my challenge. I went home and then went back into the city to get my hair done. They have complimentary champagne there, which I had, but I don't think that's cheating. Then I went next door at met some friends at Burtons. My boyfriend is a bartender there and he bought my drink*. Then we went and sat down at a table and when it was my turn to look at the waitress and say something, somehow the words, "Philly cheese steak spring rolls and a mojito" came out of my mouth. The previous activities may have been excusable, but I absolutely violated the challenge here. The spring rolls were delicious. And the mojito was PERFECT. And I spent $25. My friends all said they wouldn't tell on me, but this is a challenge, not a look-at-me-I-can-do-everything-enge. So yes, I blew it. BUT, I am going to extend the challenge one extra day to make up for it. Also, what was I expecting, meeting friends at 8pm? NOT to get something to eat?

So then we went down to Game On and Katie bought me a drink and then the second round I wasn't drinking anything** so I bought her drink. Maybe excusable, since my drink was sort of paid for through an IOU?

Our waitress at Game On (yeah, you, grouchy gretta) totally sucked and then she threw our bill at us so we left and took a couple cabs home.

So I was not successful in not eating or drinking anything from a restaurant. But now the challenge will be 8 days instead of 7. Also, I think bringing that ridiculous homemade coffee cup thing to school scored me some challenge points.

One important thing to think about is not only the money I have saved not getting coffee every day, but also the plastic cups. I am definitely going to try to tone down my iced coffee buying.

*Some drink quantities may be altered due to blog's audience.

**Some shots may be omitted due to blog's audience.

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challange - Day 5

2010-03-19T12:59:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was a good day. I woke up sniffing for java, to no avail. (You all must think I am some kind of idiot for not being able to figure out this coffee maker). As soon as I woke up I went into the bathroom and opened the window. (we just got one of those nightlights in the bathroom with the light sensor so I have been trying to remember to open the bathroom shade so that light comes in and the nightlight doesn’t turn on and so we will save $.02 per year on our electric bill.) When I opened the window, I saw a group of about six landscapers sitting around drinking medium iced dunkin donuts coffees. I am pretty sure they have been reading my blog and were just there to tempt me. It was like a commercial.

My delicious iced coffee dreams were shattered and I trudged downstairs to face that reality. I couldn’t get the image out of my head of their clear cups, dripping with condensation and filled with ecru goodness quenching their thirst while fulfilling their need for caffeine. I bet it smelled like fresh cut grass out there, too.

I decided that hot coffee just wasn’t going to cut it, so I would have to find a way to have iced. Then I realized it was the perfect opportunity to use The New Pitcher.

(When we first moved into our condo, we went to IKEA for a whole bunch of stuff. Of the $1,000 we spent, I was the most excited about this perfect little glass pitcher that was $2.99. It is perfectly constructed and the optimal size. I spent all of last summer coming up with new delicious things to fill it with. Then, in the Great Cupboard Collapse of 2009, we lost The Pitcher, along with All The Dishes and Any Hope of Ever Walking Barefoot in Our Kitchen Again. So for about a month, I tried to find a time to go back to IKEA and get a new one. I finally was able to, and drove the 40 minutes just for a $2.99 pitcher. So, as you may imagine, I use The New Pitcher at every chance I get.)

I put The New Pitcher in the freezer, along with two of these plastic cups that I bought from Au Bon Pain during an iced tea kick last summer. I then brewed some extra strong coffee and then poured it into The (chilled) New Pitcher, and added some ice. It was not as bad as I was expecting. I had two cups, one for the ride in and one for as soon as I got to school. It was quite satisfying. Still didn’t solve my afternoon iced coffee craving, but it was sufficient.

For breakfast I had a TJ's Greek yogurt and a granola bar. I have been really into Nature Valley Peanut Butter granola bars lately. I have also been really into dried cranberries. $1.99/bag at Trader Joes! Much juicier and more delicious than Craisins.

I guess I didn’t have lunch yesterday. I have Neuroanatomy at lunchtime and one time we dissected brains on the desks, so every time I try to eat on them I feel like I am eating oligodendrocytes and drinking cerebrospinal fluid. Grossss. Also we were getting back our midterms so I figured I wouldn’t waste food that I was just going to throw up anyways. Then directly after Neuro I have clients until 5, so there really isn’t any time to eat.

I had to babysit at 6:30, and on any other day I would have stopped somewhere to grab something to eat beforehand. However, the people for whom I was babysitting live just a mile from my house, so I went home first. I decided to make pasta and sauce. I usually leave pasta as a last resort, when all the beans and cereal have been eaten up and we are physically unable to leave the house to get anything else. We had some sausage in our freezer that some friends left, and I decided to cook some of that too. I am just getting out of a ten-year sausage aversion, so this was a big step for me. It turned out to be quite delicious. I had it with grated parmesan and some fancy vodka sauce that was on sale. I was really lucky that this week I was babysitting for this family on Thursdays. Every other Thursday of my life I babysit for a family that lives between my school and my house, so I would never have the opportunity to stop home and make dinner. I suppose I would have had to bring something for dinner to eat in the car on the way over there or something. I lucked out on this one.

That was about it for my day. Had I eaten three actual meals, it would have been a little more difficult, but it worked out the way it was. For some reason I wasn’t that hungry. Must have been all those dried cranberries. However, if it had gotten out of hand I would have probably bought something. All the money you save not eating out is no fun if you starve to death. Then you can’t even use it.

Tonight I am going out with some friends. I think I am definitely just going to play the it’s-almost-my-birthday card and get drinks bought for me. Or just bat my eyelashes. Any suggestions? I’ll let you know how it goes.

I have had a lot of people asking about my lunchbox. I got it from Naturally Felt, a storefront on Etsy.

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challange - Day 4

2010-03-18T13:58:00.001-04:00

It is GORGEOUS out and there would be nothing more delicious than a medium iced with skim milk and one sugar. But then you would have nothing to read about today.

Yesterday went well… I ran into one minor glitch in the evening (more on that later) but I am still successful with my challenge! Yesterday I didn’t have class until1, so I got to sleep in. I made coffee at my leisure (I didn’t try to preset it this time!) and had a Trader Joe’s Greek yogurt for breakfast.
I brought leftovers from the mustard-crusted chicken for lunch, but there weren’t any leftovers for the vegetables or starch, so it was just the chicken. Sort of boring and not a complete meal, but I managed.

Last night I had to babysit. I picked them up from school we made a frozen pizza for dinner with some salad. Even though frozen pizza may sort of seem like cheating, I didn’t buy it, and I was instructed to make it for dinner.  After dinner we were playing a ball game that we made up and I told one of the girls that if she scored a goal on me I would take them out for ice cream. She did (I let her, i’m actually unstoppable at base-ket-hock-bike-ball). So then I realized I sort of dug myself into a hole. If I explained to them the challenge, they would never accept that as a good enough reason not to get ice cream. If I backed out on the offer, they would have hated me forever. So, we piled into the car and headed over to J.P. Licks. Back when I ate out and got coffee at places, I was at J.P. Licks and got a “cow card”, which is like a member card or whatever that gives you free stuff and takes up space on your keychain. When we got there I realized that with the cow card I was entitled to a FREE SMALL ICE CREAM! I got them kiddie cups and got myself a small cup (they were so jealous and then I made them try my ice cream – coffee – and they got over it real quick.) So, I did pay for theirs but I did not pay for mine. I felt like I was violating my challenge, and maybe I was, but I just couldn’t not take them out for ice cream. What do you think, readers? Did I violate my challenge? (If you say yes maybe I can quit and run to Dunkin Donuts!)

Another exciting thing about the cow card is that I am entitled to a free coffee!!! And YES, IT CAN BE ICED!

So, in theory, yesterday went well. Technically, I may have slipped up a little. Tonight when I am babysitting I am going to keep my mouth shut and maybe skip making bets I can't keep in base-ket-hock-bike-ball.

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challange - Day 3

2010-03-17T14:14:00.003-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you're doing something fun, and maybe cooking our St. Patrick's Day menu!

This whole not spending money on food thing is getting tricky! Yesterday morning I had a very early class, and once again I tried to make the coffee machine turn on at the preset time. Yet again, there were not any coffee aromas floating up to awaken me. I trudged down and turned it on and was soon on my way. For breakfast I had a granola bar again, and for lunch I brought leftovers from the gumbo the night before.

My sister was picking me up in the afternoon and I had to wait a little bit. It was gorgeous out and sitting in the sunshine I would have done just about anything to be able to buy an iced coffee. I refrained…. although I still think this would have been a reasonable purchase.

We went to visit some family outside of Boston and got stuck in quite a bit of traffic on the way home. If it hadn’t been for my challenge, we probably would have stopped and picked up take-out on the way home. Instead we went to Trader Joe’s and got some food. We made the Mustard-Crusted Chicken recipe that is on our website. (have you tried this, readers? it's the best!) It was delicious, but I was really hungry when we were making it and when I am really hungry I am really grouchy, so that wasn’t fun. It would have been a lot easier just to get takeout. But…. It was delicious and inexpensive and now I have lunch for today.

If I wasn’t doing this challenge, today could have been more convenient. I guess you have to think about what convenience is worth to you, and how much you are willing to spend on it. When I think about it today, it was fine making dinner and not getting take-out last night, but at the time I would have preferred just to pick something up.

I am starting to think that the hardest part of this challenge is not getting iced coffee. And no, I can't make my own. It's just. not. the. same.

I am going out with friends on Friday night and with this challenge I can’t buy any drinks! I guess I will either have to look phenomenal or talk about how my birthday is next week and hopefully I will get my drinks bought for me. J

Challenging the Bitches: Maria's Challange - Day 2

2010-03-16T08:26:00.002-04:00

I still haven't spent a penny on food!

Yesterday I made coffee in my coffee maker, even thought it was my first day back from spring break, daylight savings, and pouring rain. All I wanted was a nice hot latte that I didn't have to make. But I filled up two travel mugs instead and went on my (not-so) merry way. I just got a new hand-me-down coffee maker that can be programmed to brew at a certain time. I can't figure out exactly how to set it, so I try a different button every night and then every morning when my alarm goes off I lay there trying to smell coffee to see if maybe this time I figured it out. Still no luck, but it usually gets me out of bed to check and see if it worked. It's like waiting for Christmas. Once I do figure it out hopefully I will get out of bed out of fear of my house burning down if I oversleep.

I am not much of a breakfast person; the thought of cereal and yogurt before I've been awake for at least two hours makes me feel like that girl in the exorcist. Any other breakfast foods cannot be made by zombies, thus I don't make breakfast before the zombie-ness wears off, which is usually much after I have left the house already. Yesterday I grabbed a granola bar for breakfast and ended up eating it during class.

For lunch I had leftover stir-fry and rice. As soon as I went into the lounge to grab it from the fridge, I noticed a giant spread of delicious-looking sandwiches and brownies that were leftover from some event that had just finished. I couldn't help but laugh about the irony of bringing my lunch, doing this challenge, and having to bypass this phenomenal spread of french bread, gourmet deli meats, oozing with mayonnaise, mustard, and topped with crispy iceburg lettuce*. So I put my pyrex in the microwave and ate my leftovers. It was really quite delicious, just as good as the night before, and I soon forgot about the heavenwiches.

When I got home, I knew I had a few hours before dinner because Dan doesn't get home until 8:45 or so on Mondays. We had company for dinner (one of the other bitches and her husband and daughter) so I wanted to make something tasty to snack on. I remembered the sage-fontina grilled cheese sandwich triangles that I had made for the super bowl, and I was thrilled that I had all of the ingredients. I made up the sandwiches, and when our company came they also brought some appetizers. Delicious way to pass the time.

When dinner rolled around, we had Cajun Chicken Gumbo that I made in the slow cooker. I got the recipe from this cookbook, which is a great resource for slow cooking. It has a TON of recipes, many of which I had no idea you could make in the slow cooker. I also made some brown rice over which I served the gumbo. Unfortunately my "garden fresh okra" was actually "gross moldy okra" so I couldn't put it in. While okra is key to gumbo, I don't particularly like it because if you overcook or undercook it it can be slimy and stringy and gross, so it wasn't devastating that I couldn't use it.

Dinner was delicious. I had prepared it the night before and Dan put it in the crock pot around 1, so it cooked for about eight hours. It took a little while to make because I had to make a roux, but it was worth it. Spicy and tasty. With plenty left over for lunch!

For dessert, my sister brought some fudge from the Chatham Candy Manor, which was scrumptious, as usual.

I found my challenge to be fairly easy on this second day. If I hadn't been doing the challenge I probably would have bought a coffee in the morning (and probably upgraded to a latte). If I didn't have lunch of leftovers from the night before I may have bought lunch. Additionally, we probably would have gone out to dinner instead of coming to my house. This challenge saved me a LOT of money today. Three meals' worth! And it was delicious and probably significantly more healthy. Hooray!

*some sandwiches may be changed to protect identity. and add allure.

2010-03-15T13:54:00.004-04:00

Challenging the Bitches: Maria’s Challenge.

I recently downloaded an app for my iphone that is based on the website, www.mint.com. It takes all of your financial information and comes up with a list of how much money you have, how much money you owe, and where you spend all of your money. It also allows you to create a budget based on your lifestyle. I found that I spend a ridiculous amount of money on food. I don’t mean groceries. I mean burritos. Iced coffee. Lunch because I was too lazy to make something that morning. Grilled cheese because I had midterms and I wanted to cry. Being an unemployed graduate student, I saw this as a pretty significant problem in my financial statement, yet something I have control over. I decided to challenge myself to one week of not buying a single food item other than groceries. This is the first part of a three-part series entitled Challenging the Bitches.

Day 1 (Sunday)

I had spent the weekend visiting my sister in New York and knowing that I was starting this challenge, I made the most of my last days of being able to buy food other than groceries. It was a fabulous excuse to eat out! Before I left for New York, we went to The Talk in Watertown, which is one of my favorite restaurants. We also got a delicious calzone from Upper Crust Pizzeria.

When I left for New York I got my favorite, Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.

When we were in New York City, we went to Quickly, where we got Hot Pot. Check out our amazing spread! (Granted, with hot pot you do all of the cooking yourself, but it was still “going out to eat”).

When I got back home I went grocery shopping and hopefully got enough to last the week.

On Sunday night I was exhausted and didn’t want to cook, but I knew that if I did, then I would have leftovers to bring for lunch on Monday. I starting defrosting sausage to make spaghetti and sausage, but all the pots and pans were dirty. I was far too tired and uninspired to do the dishes, and realized that we did have one clean pan: the wok!

I remembered that I had bought some frozen stir fry vegetables from Trader Joe’s and I had just bought some chicken at the grocery store. I cooked the chicken in the wok, then took it out and added the frozen veggies. I also added some frozen corn. In the meantime I cooked some boil-in-a-bag brown rice. Ihave to admit I cooked it in the microwave. I rarely microwave anything, so that really goes to show how lazy I was feeling. As soon as the veggies were just about done, I added the cooked chicken and tossed it all in some Trader Joe’s General Tsao’s Stir Fry Sauce that I had in my cupboard. I put the rice in some bowls and topped it with the stir fry. Delicious!

This meal was really delicious, very healthy, and extremely easy to make. If I had more time (daylight savings gets me every time) I would have used fresh vegetables and I wouldn’t have microwaved the rice. I also would have made my own stir fry sauce instead of the Trader Joe’s. But given the circumstances, it was great in a pinch.

Even better, it was inexpensive (see the cost list below), it was delicious, and it didn’t take more than a half hour total. Now both Dan and I have leftovers to have for lunch. If I had done what I usually do when I am tired and lazy and not wanting to cook, we would have made a frozen pizza by which we were only mildly satisfied, and I wouldn’t have delicious leftovers for lunch, causing the need for a $7 sandwich. And probably a $2 drink. And $1 chips. And since it’s rainy probably dessert too.

Total cost of dinner:

Nature’s Promise Chicken Breast: $4.88

Trader Joe’s Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables: $2.99

Trader Joe’s General Tsao’s Stir Fry Sauce: $0.50 worth

Two bags of Stop and Shop boil-in-bag Brown Rice: $0.375 each, $0.75 for both

Total cost of meal: $9.12

Cost for two people: $4.52 per person

Cost for two meals for two people: $2.28 per individual meal

St. Patrick's Day - History and Recipes

2010-03-11T09:16:00.008-05:00

We know that St. Patrick's Day isn't for another six days, but just in case you're celebrating this weekend instead of next Wednesday, we're posting this now so you can get your grocery shopping done now. We've included a grocery shopping list for each of these recipes at the end of the post.

Who was St. Patrick?

Saint Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland. He was born in Britain at the end of the fourth century A.D. and is believed to have died on March 17 in the year 460 A.D. When he was 16, he was taken prisoner by some Irishmen who were raiding his family’s estate. After being held captive for six years in Ireland, he escaped and returned to Britain. In a dream, an angel told him to return to Ireland as a missionary with the goal of converting the Irish to Christianity. Instead of eradicating Irish tradition and beliefs which were pagan and based on nature, he incorporated them into his teachings of Christianity. Stories of his life were spun and exaggerated by the Irish people over the years and he is still celebrated today. One act he is well-known for is banishing all snakes from Ireland. In actuality, Ireland has never had any snakes on it. The snakes represent the pagan, nature-based religion of Ireland, which St. Patrick successfully eliminated. In fact, within 200 years of his arrival in Ireland, everyone was practicing Christianity.

So, why corned beef and cabbage?

Similar to the division of feelings about cilantro we discussed in our previous post, we have found that corned beef is also a love it or hate it kind of food. Where did eating corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day come from? It has nothing to do with Mr. Patrick. The traditional dish of Irish bacon was too expensive for Irish immigrants living in New York City’s Lower East Side. They substituted it with the less expensive corned beef, which they learned about from their Jewish neighbors. Cabbage has always been eaten in Ireland, but it only recently became associated with St. Patrick’s Day at the turn of the 19th century.

Are you in the “love it” or “hate it” camp? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. And, if you love it, apparently you’re not alone: In 2007, roughly 41.5 billion pounds of U.S. beef and 2.6 billion pounds of U.S. cabbage were sold.

Corned Beef and Cabbage (from Laria Tabul’s recipe on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
• 3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
• 10 small red potatoes
• 5 carrots, peeled and julienned
• 1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges

1. Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water. Add the spice packet that came with the corned beef. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender.
2. Add whole potatoes and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes.
3. Place vegetables in a bowl and cover. Add as much broth (cooking liquid reserved in the Dutch oven or large pot) as you want. Slice meat across the grain.

Irish Soda Bread

This recipe is from Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread’s website. The site offers recipes, history and resources for preserving the legacy of the true Irish Soda Bread. I know! I didn’t know people took it that seriously, either! They’re on Facebook, too, if you’re interested.

Ingredients
4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
14 oz of buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan. In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape). Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough. Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done. Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Green Beer

St. Patrick loved his beer green, so we keep up the tradition today. Simply add green (or blue) food coloring to your light beer and there you go! This guy has step-by-step photos to guide you in your beer coloring adventures. He also tests which works better – green or blue dye.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from all of us at The Bitch Stopped Cooking!

Shopping List for recipes in this post.

References:
St. Patrick information: http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day
Beef and cabbage data: http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day-symbols-and-traditions

Cilantro and the experience of taste

2010-03-06T08:42:00.000-05:00

Ever notice a strong divide among cilantro lovers and haters? Sure, all foods are enjoyed by some and loathed by others, but when it comes to cilantro, the divide seems to be more pronounced. There may be a scientific explanation for this. Research suggests that people can experience taste drastically differently depending on their taste buds. Those in the cilantro-hating camp report that, to them, cilantro tastes something like lemony, soapy dishwater, and they avoid the herb at all costs.

Reporter Josh Kurz, a cilantro hater, sought to get to the bottom of the issue using a Gas Chromatograph, a machine that slowly heats up whatever is placed inside it, in this case, cilantro. Different chemical compounds in the cilantro evaporate at different temperatures, and with the machine, Kurz was able to identify just what it is about cilantro that he – and millions of others around the globe – finds so noxious.

Kurz took part in the experiment along with a couple cilantro lovers. When unsaturated aldahydes were evaporated, Kurz identified them as the root of his cilantro hatred; the cilantro lovers, however, smelled nothing. Shortly thereafter, the two cilantro lovers identified the unique aroma that draws them to the herb, and Kurz – you guessed it – smelled nothing.

Supertasters

In the cilantro example above, Kurz displayed the traits of what he refers to as a supersmeller. Related to this is a group of people known as supertasters. These are people who perceive the taste of a certain chemical compound, phenylthiocarbamide (PCT) as very bitter, while the rest of us perceive it as tasteless. Supertasters also have significantly more taste buds than the non-PCT sensitive (“non-taster”) tongue.

While PCT itself is not found in food, related chemicals are, and it is hypothesized that PCT sensitivity plays a role in determining food choices. PCT tasters tend not to like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, Brussels sprouts and other vegetables with PCT-like compounds, and may thus consume fewer servings of vegetables and more sweets and fats than non-tasters. Their overall high acuity for taste may cause them to eat less of a variety of foods. Overall, supertasters have been shown to have a marginally higher risk of diabetes and heart attack than non-tasters. On the bright side, being a supertaster appears to be protective against cigarette smoking, as supertasters are more sensitive to the negative taste of cigarettes. Genetic differences among people in the perception of sweet flavors have also been found.

An excuse for picky eaters?

Being a supersmeller or supertaster may explain why some people are picky eaters and some are not. So, picky eaters, rejoice. Next time someone gives you a hard time about your selective food choices, explain to them that you might simply perceive the taste of food differently than others, and may be more sensitive to taste than most people. If you think you might be a supertaster (or just plain don’t like many vegetables), try to find a variety of vegetables that you do enjoy, and try to increase your vegetable consumption. For the rest of us, keep your dinner guests in mind when choosing to serve a dish that contains cilantro. You don’t want to offend any supersmellers by serving them a dish that tastes like lemony, soapy dishwater.

Readers, what do you think? What are your own experiences with cilantro, or the perception of taste in general?

Maria's Breast Cancer Walk and Breast Cancer Talk

2010-02-27T20:07:00.007-05:00

On May 15-16 Maria, one of the co-founders here at The Bitch Stopped Cooking, is participating in theAvon Walk for Breast Cancer. It is a 2-day, 40-mile walk around the Greater Boston area. Maria is aiming to personally raise $2,000 to contribute to breast cancer research, treatment, and support. She is well on her way to reaching that goal.

If you are interested in donating, follow this link:

www.avonwalk.org/goto/mariamontague.

Breast cancer is a deadly disease that can affect any woman (or man!) in their lifetime. It is important to remain aware of this and keep up with your yearly exams and self-checks. Some other important lifestyle factors are diet and exercise. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, recently came out with a book, Anticancer: A New Way of Life . In this book he outlines some important dietary considerations that will help you lower your risk of cancer.

Some interesting ones are:

Change your oil: Use only olive and canola oil in cooking and salad dressings. Go through your kitchen cabinets and throw out your soybean, corn and sunflower oils. (And no, you can't give them to your neighbors or your relatives... They're much too rich in omega-6 fatty acids!) You may know our friends over at Gustare Oils and Vinegars, they will come in handy for this healthy step!

Go green: Instead of coffee or black tea, drink three cups of green tea per day. Use decaffeinated green tea if it gets you too wired. Regular consumption of green tea has been linked to a significant reduction in the risk for developing cancer.

Remember not all eggs are created equal: Choose only omega-3 eggs, or don't eat the yolks. Hens are now fed on mostly corn and soybeans, and their eggs contain 20 times more pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than cell-growth regulating omega-3s.

Skip the potato: Potatoes raise blood sugar, which can feed inflammation and cancer growth. They also contain high levels of pesticide residue (to the point that most potato farmers I know don't eat their own grown potatoes).

And, importantly: Make room for exceptions. What matters is what you do on a daily basis, not the occasional treat.

Follow this link to check out an article that outlines all of Dr. Servan-Schreiber’s 20 New Anticancer Rules.

In addition to keeping track of the foods you eat, don’t forget to exercise! Exercising 30 minutes, 5 days a week is what is best for you, but that can be a very difficult undertaking for some people. Our friend Diana has been keeping a blog of fun different ways that you can work out every day, no matter how busy you are. It is inspiring and might open your eyes to new activities you can partake in to get exercise.

Stay healthy, readers!

Will the Bitch Need to Stop Cooking in 30 Years?

2010-02-20T09:05:00.009-05:00

Here at The Bitch Stopped Cooking, we wonder if we're working ourselves out of a job. Perhaps for future generations, there will not be a need for The Bitch Stopped Cooking. Perhaps there will be gender equity in the kitchen (if we can't get the men to do all the cooking, let's at least have gender equity). Imagine - it will be so commonplace for a man to cook, or at least share the cooking, that here at TBSC we will have to find something else to do! In all seriousness, studies have shown that indeed, more and more men are cooking (with or without the help of TBSC). The NPD Group, in 2008, reported that although women still cook 78 percent of meals eaten at home, this decreased from 82 percent in 2003. If we extrapolate these data, we would see gender equity in the kitchen in just a few decades.

First there was metrosexual, now gastrosexual? The Urban Dictionary defines a gastrosexual as "a term used to describe men who cook, taking the household chore part away from it, and turning it more into a hobby, used to impress friends and prospective partners." Fabulous! More and more men are cooking, so now they get their own term! The feminist in me can't help but ask: Is there an equivalent term for a woman who takes the household chore part away from cooking? Or is it so engrained in society that women are supposed to cook that if we make it fun and not a chore, it's nothing special? Sorry, ladies, we don't get our own term! As a stay-at-home mom, I cook most of the meals during the week. My amazing husband does a fair share of the cooking (and vacuuming and laundry), for which I am infinitely thankful. We both truly enjoy cooking and have fun with it, but I can't help but feel like the meals I prepare, which I enjoy making, are a chore and the meals he prepares, which he enjoys making, are for fun. Is this just me being cranky and overtired, or have I also fallen victim to society's attitude about women in the kitchen? It's interesting , though, that even I, a strong, independent woman who co-owns, with her strong, independent sisters, a company devoted to the culinary liberation of women, still succumbs to society's attitudes about women in the kitchen. Why don't I feel like the meals I make are not a chore?

There's a great article in the New York Times about a movement called equally shared parenting. This is obviously a topic for another day (and another blog, perhaps), but one thing that it discusses is some research that Dr. Esther Rothblum has done on how same sex couples share parenting and other household chores. She has found that lesbian parents, gay parents and heterosexual fathers all report doing the same amount of household work, like cooking and cleaning. Heterosexual mothers report doing about twice as much household work. People in most same sex relationships divvy up household chores based on who's good at what and what just works the best for the family. Looking at our extrapolated data, in 40 years perhaps women in heterosexual couples will be reporting the same number of hours spent on housework as lesbian and gay parents and heterosexual men.

Okay, hopping off my soapbox now...

It's been great to witness how our little business of culinary liberation is actually making a difference for some women. Their partners may not be cooking as much as we would like (yet), but they at least seem to be more aware of the fact that, yes, men can cook! And, if they don't know how, they can learn and become great cooks. Suzanne, one of our fans, wrote to us to say that although she doesn't think her husband, who can't even boil water, will ever begin cooking, he was the one who showed her the article about us in the Cape Cod Chronicle. Christine, another fan, reports that her husband now cooks once per week because of TBSC, and Dave, another fan, reports that he thinks that he's cooking more now because of TBSC. We'll have to ask his wife to see if that's true, but at least he is more aware, right?

So, in just a few decades, perhaps my one year old daughter will be sharing meal preparation with her partner and they will both be enjoying it and neither will feel like it's a chore. In the meantime, we here at TBSC have more work to do.

The ubiquity of corn

2010-02-15T22:42:00.006-05:00

This week’s blog post focuses on nutrition and the foods you choose to cook with. These days, corn and corn byproducts can be found in a staggering number of products sold in the grocery store. From high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten sodas and other beverages to corn-fed beef and chicken, corn has become ubiquitous in the food industry. This is thanks in part to the cheap cost of corn due to government subsidies provided to farmers who grow the crop. Because of the subsidies, consumer prices of corn and corn byproducts are more than a quarter below the actual cost of production, making it cheaper to use high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener than other natural sweeteners, and to use corn and other grains for livestock feed.

Health effects

The digestion and absorption of fructose, used in high fructose corn syrup, is physiologically different from that of glucose (a natural sweetener): unlike glucose, fructose does not trigger the release of insulin, increase leptin production, or suppress ghrelin production. What?? Basically, these processes all regulate how much you eat by telling your brain that you’re full. So, when they don’t happen, you eat more. Also, fructose is digested directly in the liver, where it’s turned into fat and enters the blood stream in the form of triglycerides (FAT!), which can lead to insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes. The introduction and increased use of high fructose corn syrup in the food industry since the early 1980s has closely mirrored the obesity epidemic that our nation has witnessed in the past few decades. High fructose corn syrup has also been linked with vitamin and mineral deficiency: people who consume high amounts of added sugar have below-average levels of a number of essential nutrients, and soft drinks containing high fructose corn syrup are largely replacing milk in American homes, resulting in calcium deficiency.

The health effects of eating grain-fed beef, chicken, and fish (yes, fish) are also surprising. A diet of corn and soy rather than their natural diet of grass drastically alters the fat content of beef, significantly increasing overall fat content, saturated fat content, and lowering polyunsaturated fat content (a good fat!). Omega-3 fats, which have been shown to raise your metabolism, are 40% lower in grain-fed beef than grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef also contains more beta-carotene, which, when converted to Vitamin A in the body, is essential for normal vision, bone growth, reproduction, cell division, skin health, and immune function. Similar effects have been found when comparing grain-fed chickens and fish with those who were fed what they naturally eat.

What can I do?

Many people are hesitant to drink diet sodas and other beverages due to speculation surrounding the long-term health effects of artificial sweeteners. Our suggestion is to stop drinking soda and other soft drinks – diet or regular – altogether. Yep, we said it. Stop drinking soda. Instead, drink healthier options such as water, 100% pure fruit juice, or home-brewed iced tea. Fruit juice can be diluted with water to reduce sugar intake and to stretch it out a little so it lasts longer, or you can top it off with some seltzer water for a soda-like effect. Brewing your own iced tea is not only healthier and cheaper than drinking artificially sweetened store-bought iced tea, but allows you to choose which flavor of tea you want to brew and to sweeten it with a natural sweetener, if you choose. Why not experiment with something new?!

Meats such as chicken and beef are a daily feature on many of our dinner tables and provide necessary nutrients such as protein and iron. There are ways to continue eating meat while avoiding grain-fed meat. Grass-fed beef is becoming increasingly available to consumers, especially in health food stores such as Whole Foods or your local farm. Check out a website such as http://www.farmfresh.org to help you find a local farm. When buying eggs, seek out omega-3 eggs. These have a much healthier omega-3 to omega-6 ratio than those produced by grain-fed hens. Another alternative is to substitute vegetarian protein options such as tofu or beans for some of your meals.

In today’s economy it’s often difficult to afford healthier foods, and corn subsidies have allowed the food industry to offer foods containing corn products at a cheap price and in large portions. Ask your congressperson to support a drastic reduction of corn subsidies and to support incentive programs for farmers to switch to healthier crops such as fruit and vegetables, which currently receive only one-tenth of one percent of crop subsidies. In the meantime, recognize that your health is one of the most important things you’ve got and choose to promote it by spending a little more on healthier foods.

Sources

Bray, G., Neilsen, S., and Popkin, B. "Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79 (2004): 537.
Daley, C., Abbott, A., Doyle, P., Nader, G., and Larson, S. "A literature review of the value-added nutrients found in grass-fed beef products," http://www.csuchico.edu/agr/grassfedbeef/health-benefits/ 28 (2005).
Daley, C., Harrison, K., Doyle, P., Abbott, A., Nader, G., and Larson, S. "Effect of Ration on Lipid Profiles in Beef," California State University, College of Agriculture, University of California Cooperative Extension Service, 2006. http://www.csuchico.edu/agr/grassfedbeef/health-benefits/index.html.
Fields, S. "The fat of the land: Do agricultural subsidies foster poor health?," Environmental Health Perspectives 112 (2004): A820.
Friedlander, J., Bauman, E., and Ed, M. "How America’s Corn-ucopia Is Making Us Fat," Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts (2007): 1-5.
Pollan, M. "The (Agri) Cultural Contradictions Of Obesity," The New York Times, October 23, 2003.