12 things about Cookie Monster

So, I got this idea from this blog. I thought I'd talk about Cookie Monster for just a bit. 12 things, to be exact. Obviously, I keep this blog as anonymous as possible, so I'll keep details to a minimum about Dr. ChezVCK.
1. Cookie Monster has a PhD. Which is why I called him doctor. I'm not a weird sex pervert or anything. ;)
2. He really enjoys doing yard work. Unfortunately, we do not live in a place that requires it anymore, but when we did, he really liked putting on his iPod and raking leaves, or whatever needed to be done in the yard.
3. He is a nerd. I call him this in the most loving way (because I am a total nerd, too). He talks about cells and brain channels to me, and I try really hard to keep up.
4. He loves to play baseball and soccer.
5. He incurred a war wound whilst playing soccer.  A permanent one. My husband is a complete badass!
6. He has cheered me on at every single race I have ever been in. Including the one with 50 mph wind gusts and pouring rain. The man loves me. I am a lucky woman!
7. Cookie Monster likes to do the "pancake-a-thon" whilst I race. Meaning, he eats pancakes while or after I run. We even made T-shirts for it. Really! His says "I heart pancakes" and mine says "I heart running."
8. He is the most generous person I've ever met. We met when we were 15 years old. We've known a lot of people since then.
9. No, really.
10. He loves to watch totally obscure cartoons, like Spongebob, which is *fairly* normal, or AquaTeen Hunger Force, which is beyond any and all of my comprehension.
11. He hates all forms of squash. And he really dislikes onions, but in the past six years I've been cooking for him, he's been eating them more and more. I'm wearin' him down!...
12. (Be forewarned. It's mushy!). I love him. Lots and lots. Probably more than I have ever loved anything or anyone.

So that's my Cookie Monster.

Cranberry Sauce (juiced!)

Cookie Monster and I did not host Thanksgiving dinner this year; we were guests at his boss' house. So, in order to ensure our favorites were around after the Big Day, we made some of them just for us. Cookie Monster's favorite is a turkey, cranberry, stuffing, cream cheese sandwich (and I happen to like them, too), so we cooked up all of those things. Yes, for the two of us, we cooked a 14 lb. turkey. It was the smallest I could find! So, after two Tupperwares of that turkey, plus some leftover his boss sent with us, we are pretty damn tired of turkey right now. (Nevermind the two more Tupperwares full in the freezer!)
Anyhoo, I'm getting off track. The cranberry sauce. It's tasty. It's tart. It's a bit sweet. And, in our case, it's juiced. With liquor, that is.

Obviously, it started with these:

And then I stripped an orange naked.

And Cookie Monster did this to said naked orange.

...until there was a half cup of orange juice.
Then came the good stuff!

A little for the cook...
(Glass from Portugal. Appropriate, no?)

And then some sugar.

Boil everything together 'til the cranberries burst and it reduces into a lovely, thick sauce.

Makes the best sandwiches! Also great in oatmeal, too.

Orange Port Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh cranberries
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup port wine
3/4 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all cranberries are broken down and mixture becomes gelled.

Bleu Cheese Potato Croquettes

We bought a whole rotisserie chicken from the store the other night, and made some mashed potatoes to go with the chicken. There were a lot of leftover potatoes, so I decided to make potato croquettes with them. Typically, croquettes are deep-fried, but since I 1) Don't have a deep fryer and 2) Would never want one, I just pan-fried these instead.

The potatoes weren't quite as thick as they needed to be to form patties, so I added some panko bread crumbs as well as some oat bran just to thicken them.

I formed them into patties, and then put a hunk of bleu cheese in the middle, then sealed it up. Maybe I should've called them bleu cheese surprise croquettes.

I coated each croquette in more panko to make them crisp on the outside.

Then I pan-fried them until golden brown! (I know they kinda look like scallops in this picture, but they are definitely not.)

Alongside the croquettes, I made some interesting salads.
Cookie Monster's was a little different than mine. It had:
Spinach
Carrots
Cucumbers
Shredded chicken
Bacon Bits
And popcorn! It functioned like a crouton
(My salad had a lot more vegetables--the ones Cookie Monster doesn't like--and no bacon bits.)

 

I also served myself some leftover roasted butternut squash (none for Cookie Monster--he hates squash. I don't know why. It's delicious.) to go with the croquettes.

They turned out pretty well! Although they were a bit dry. I added too much oat bran to keep them in patty form--I think I would add less next time. Also, deep frying is not friendly to my pants, but it does keep a lot of the moisture in. I think some of the dryness was unavoidable with the pan-fry method.

It was an interesting dinner!

And Now, for Your Viewing Pleasure...

I read a lot of food/healthy living blogs, and I just recently found a fabulous one about an ironman athlete from Minnesota. Steve is fucking fabulous. And hilarious. Please check out this post. It won't disappoint.
Warning: Do not consume any liquids whilst watching this video, lest you decorate your keyboard with said liquid.
You have been warned.

Yes, It Really Is THAT Good!

My lunch was pretty much the same today as it's been for the past few days, especially this day. But I start to salivate like Pavlov's best friend each time I think of it, so repeats are definitely in order. Mama Haydn, I owe you one for this recipe!

Here's my mis en place for the wrap today: thinly sliced vegetables, hummus, 1/2 a Trader Joe's lavash wrap and balsamic vinegar.

The vegetables/fillings are: red cabbage, radishes, zucchini, carrots and shredded chicken.

Pretty much the best hummus in the world. Good lord this is good! I think this really makes the wrap.

All assembled

And even the sides are the same! Roasted butternut squash and cottage cheese. Though it's low-fat this time. This lunch is so freakin' good!

Because He's the Best

Cookie Monster did a really nice thing the other day and I wanted to show my gratitude. Enter: Bananas Foster French Toast. And yes, it really is as good as it sounds.

Here's what I put in it:

*Milk

*1 egg

*1/2 a really ripe banana, mushed (and yes, that is the technical cooking term for how it's to be prepared)

*Cinnamon

*A sprinkle of ground flax

*Pumpkin pie spice

*Cinnamon/sugar blend

*Cardmom

I just whisked all the ingredients together in a bowl. Then I dipped in whole wheat slices of bread. The amounts I used turned out to be enough for 2 1/2 slices of French Toast. Perfect.

I melted about 1/2 a tablespoon butter in a pan, dipped the bread in the mixture and let it absorb. Then I cooked the toast until it was golden brown on each side.

While it was cooking away, I made the Bananas Foster topping:

*~1 tablespoon butter

*1 banana, sliced (I used a knife, not this completely useless piece of crap. We saw this in the store and it made us laugh out loud. Seriously?! A fucking banana slicer? How lazy are you?)

*Some more cinnamon

*A few handfuls brown sugar

I just sauteed the bananas in the butter until they began to soften, then added the spices and brown sugar. Cooked on low, it transformed into this gooey, sticky, wonderfully banana-y topping for the toast. I didn't have any rum, lest I would've made real Bananas Foster, complete with flambe.

After the toast was golden brown on each side, I poured the ooey, gooey topping over it and served it with half a grapefruit. And even though it seems decadent, the nutritional stats aren't particularly bad: whole grain bread, nonfat milk, fruit... I think the worst thing was the butter, but I didn't use very much.

Cookie Monster gave it two thumbs up!

Greek Salad

I made a tasty Greek salad for lunch the other day. Here's what I put in it:
A mix of butter lettuce + baby spinach

Phallic-shaped vegetable, aka cucumber

Pepperoncini

Kalamata olives

 

Lowfat feta cheese

1/4 cup chickpeas

And a dressing I made from Greek yogurt, dill, scallions, garlic, season salt and hot sauce.

(Some unpictured leftover roasted eggplant also went into the salad.)

 I served my salad with one side of a whole wheat English muffin, toasted, then topped with lowfat cream cheese, thinly sliced radishes and S&P.

All together now: A tasty lunch is served!

Vaccaro's Cannoli

Mama cannolo + baby cannolo = delicious dessert from Vaccaro's.

The filling is divine--it definitely has some spice added--we think it's cinnamon.

(And did you know? Cannoli is plural, and the singular word is cannolo. The same with panini. If you only want one sandwich, order a panino. This is a small pet peeve of mine after I studied some Italian in college.)

Greek Yogurt is Good. Especially in Brownies.

Who wants a free trip to a spa? Me! Me! I do! I'm entering this contest that Stonyfield Farm is hosting. The winner receives an all-expense trip to Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health.

 In my daily perusal of health food blogs, I stumbled upon this contest. It's open to all bloggers.  To enter, you can do one of three things:

 *Share a brief story about why you need to relax and say “ohm.”
*Share a recipe you create or tip using Oikos yogurt
*Post a photo of you doing yoga in a toga 
 All entries (your post is your entry) must include a link to the Oikos Facebook fan page and be emailed to oikos@360publicrelations.com by November 30, 2009.

My entry shall be: Peanut Butter Chocolate Oat Bran Bars (ok, the name sucks, but that's what's in them and I couldn't figure out a way to shorten it).
And yes, this one requires an actual recipe, but don't worry--it's still my speed. You simply dump all the ingredients together, stir and forget about them in the oven for a while.
Ok, here's the stuff you'll need:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons oat bran
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey, if you don't have agave)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (use Oikos!)
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 capful vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips or whatever kind of chips you like

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, except for the chocolate chips and remaining 2 tablespoons oat bran, stirring just until combined.

In a separate bowl, stir chocolate chips with the remaining oat bran until they're all coated. This keeps the chips from sinking to the bottom. Thanks, Ina Garten, for the tip! Stir the chocolate chips into the batter.
(I used a combination of chocolate chips and caramel pieces leftover from Halloween.)

Spread batter into a greased 8 x 8 baking dish.

Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes until they're cooked all the way through.

These are actually just a little underdone. But when they're just a bit undercooked, the peanut butter makes an awesome texture that's sortof like a cross between cookie dough and the insides of those ridiculous homemade peanut butter cups, wherein peanut butter is mixed with butter and powdered sugar. So good!

I served mine with a dollop of Trader Joe's chocolate soy cream. Awesome!

Fun with Polenta

Feeling a bit whimsical (I have no idea why this hit--I usually feel more "stoic" or "morose," but whatever, I went with it), I came up with a fun dish that would delight any seven-year old. Since there is only one twenty seven-year old and one twenty eight-year old in this house, we found delight in said dish instead. But I bet my nephews, ages 9 and 11 months, respectively, would've loved it.
I started by preparing the polenta. I'm aware there's another longer, much more complicated method of preparing polenta, which involved lots of babysitting and stirring and infinite amounts of patience. Bah! Bah! I say. My method works just fine, and it comes together in about 3 minutes. I boil two cups of water, then add enough cornmeal until it starts to bubble and thicken. I then dump it into a shaped receptacle, which I have thoroughly grease beforehand, and let it set. After about 2 minutes, it's ready. If your receptacle happens to be a shallow rectangle, your polenta will look like this:

Then came the fun part: the shapes! I found my best "fall-themed" cookie cutters, which were a ghost and a half-moon. Voila! Polenta shapes! See?

I served mine with some zucchini "noodles" I made by simply shaving long strands of zucchini with a vegetable peeler. I put them all in a small saucepan with a bit of water and steamed until all the water evaporated, then sauteed for just a bit.Dressed with S&P and some parmesan cheese, they were really tender and tasty!

I topped the polenta with some marinara sauce and a few cubes of goat cheese.
Here is Cookie Monster's plate: a serving of whimsical polenta befitting for a child alongside extremely phallic-shaped meat. Ah, the inappropriate dichotomy.

And my plate. I also had some leftover roasted eggplant topped with a bit more marinara sauce and a Tofurky. It looks like I have served myself so much more food; really, it's that Cookie Monster doesn't like the vegetables I made.

Oh well! More vegetables for me!

Cream of Broccoli Soup (+ salad)

I had some leftover steamed broccoli in the fridge, and I didn't feel like just heating it up for lunch--I wanted something a bit more exciting. Enter "cream" of broccoli soup (I say "cream" because it was actually soy milk. If I'd had nonfat regular milk, that's what I would've used).

I started by sauteeing some onions in a little olive oil. Then I added some mushrooms and garlic.

After the onions had softened a little, I added a little zucchini to the mix.

Then I got out my chicken stock. I froze some of it in ice cube trays to have smaller amounts readily available, as opposed to having to defrost one giant block of frozen chicken stock in a tupperware.

To go with the soup, I made a salad. I made a weird dressing for it: I combined Greek yogurt for some creaminess, then added pineapple salsa and taco sauce. I was trying for a sweet/spicy/creamy dressing but it just ended up kinda weird. I think it'd be good for a taco salad, but it wasn't that great on a regular salad.

While the vegetables were simmering, I scrounged in the cupboards for a crunchy topper for the soup. There were just a lot of crumbs left, so I used these. They are quite possibly my new favorite kind of chip. In Baltimore, they are crab chip flavored. This does not mean they are flavored to taste like crab. (Side note: Yuck! Seafood-flavored chips? Reminds me of our trip to the bonito flake factory in Japan, where a lot of the high school boys ate the bonito chips like potato chips. Blech! And yes, we went to a bonito flake factory when we were in Japan. Don't ask me why.) It means they are flavored with Old Bay, a popular seafood seasoning blend.

On a funny side note, this is the clip that was holding the chips closed. It was a souvenir from our recent trip to Amish country in Pennsylvania. An Amish town called Intercourse. Ironic, no?

After I added the chicken stock to the pot, I then added my already steamed broccoli (plus a small amount of leftover roasted butternut squash to thicken it a little) and some S&P. Then in went a bit of milk for the "cream" part of the soup. After a healthy dose of hot sauce, I pureed the whole thing with my handy-dandy immersion blender, and voila! Healthy, homemade cream of broccoli soup.

Soup + salad = healthy lunch at home.

Hummus/Balsamic Wrap

This wrap is a recreation of a crazy good wrap my good friend D made when we shared meals on a camping trip this summer. In hers, she put red cabbage, mozzarella cheese, hummus, carrots and balsamic vinaigrette. (I think she put some other vegetables in too, but I can't remember which ones.)

Hmm... D does not seem a befitting name for my friend. D is a nickname I associate with a different friend of mine, who is, in fact, a boy, and this D is, in fact, a girl. Perhaps I should come up with another nickname for her? Let's see... Oh! I got it! One of her favorite treats is this ridiculous (as in outrageously decadent) chocolate gateau from a gourmet dessert place in Portland called Papa Haydn. Hence, she shall be known now as Mama Haydn. Because we've already established that she is not a boy.

Ok, back to the wrap. Mama Haydn is a gourmet and she makes lots of delicious things, so I knew our camping dinner would not be just burgers and dogs. This combination of vegetables, even the red cabbage (which I always thought I didn't like much), worked so well together. But the best combination was the hummus paired with the balsamic vinaigrette. It was creamy and tangy and just awesome. I have been trying to recreate that wrap ever since we had it. I got pretty close today.

I used this hummus, which is really fucking tasty. It's safe to say it's one of my favorite hummuses (is that how you pluralize hummus? Oh well. It is now.).

I spread about a tablespoon of hummus onto a whole wheat tortilla, then topped with a slice of deli turkey. Then came the vegetables: red cabbage, carrots, radishes and cucumbers. I then drizzled balsamic vinegar over it all and wrapped it up. I'm not sure if making an actual vinaigrette with the balsamic would've enhanced the flavor; I think what I really like is the tang. I also added the requisite S&P.

I could not taste the turkey at all and would probably leave it out next time, since the hummus has protein in it, too.

I served my wrap with a side of roasted butternut squash (which is my absolute favorite squash! Yes, I have a favorite squash. I am a food nerd. I am ok with it.) and a few spoonfuls of full-fat cottage cheese, which I bought because they didn't have anything lower in fat. Whoo! It is rich when you're used to nonfat dairy! And, because I am weird and really, really like dipping sauces, I added a side of taco sauce with the squash. It got on the cottage cheese, too, and I was fine with that. There was also a bit of extra vegetables that wouldn't fit into the wrap, so I just ate them on the side like a mini salad.

All together now. Lunch is served!