Green Beans and Beef Cubes

After having rice so many times the week before (at this point in time I still had a little less than half a pot of rice left), I finally gave us a break and ventured out to completely new ingredients (almost): cut green beans, tomatoes, onions, beef. 


So I got a ten dollar piece of sirloin (not the easiest to chew) and cut it in cubes of 1-2 inches on each side. When I finished, I put them all in a pot on the stove with a little bit of oil and let them cook evenly on all four sides, occasionally stirring. Once that was done, I poured water on top until they were almost completely covered and let them cook through thouroughly, just in case. When most of the water boiled off, I decided they were done and took the beef cubes off the stove.


While I was waiting for the beef to cook, I opened two cans of cut green beans (low sodium, because everything in a can usually gives you like 30% of your daily intake it seems like) and started cooking them in their own pot. 


In a third pan, I started sauteeing some onions. Once the onions were sauteed and had lost their white color, I poured the contents of a can of diced tomatoes on top. At this point in time the green beans were almost ready, so I poured the tomato/onion sauce on top of the green beans and stirred that pot. 


My boyfriend loved this dish as well as my friend Paige -- who even asked for the recipe! I did not add any condiments of any sort (especially no salt) because once I add anything from a can to my dishes, I feel like they've already been processed and salted enough and I don't need to add anything else myself. I think next time I make this dish, I'll try using tomato paste instead of - or along with - the diced tomatoes to make the sauce a bit creamier. 


I did not end up getting a picture of this one :(.


I highly encourage everyone to start cooking at home if you don't already do so. Most of the dishes I put on here take about 20-40 minutes to cook. I live really close to where I work, so if the recipe is REALLY simple, I can sometimes cook everything fresh at lunch. Other times, I just prepare part of the dish that morning or the night before and do the fast part when I get home at lunch. I think it's a great alternative to going out to lunch not only because it's healthier and helps save money, but it also will allow you to practice cooking and make little mistakes you can live with and you won't have to make these mistakes at a dinner party. :) In the end, you become a Chef Extraordinaire!

Romanian Traditions - Coliva

This past Saturday, my boyfriend's paternal grandfather passed away. I had never met him, but I remembered how I felt when my grandfather passed away. I wanted to do something in my boyfriend's grandfathers' memory to make this time of grief easier for both him and his family. So after thinking a little bit about it, I ended up thinking of food as a method of comforting -- something it seems I think can solve all problems. 


In Romania we have a dish that's traditionally served when a family member passes away. Usually the widow or the immediate family members of the person passing away prepare this dish, but I thought it would be okay this time if I prepared the dish and gave it to my boyfriend's family. The tradition varies around the country, and since I'm from the capital city of Romania I wasn't familiar with how everything is carried out in the countryside - where all traditions are more deeprooted - but I knew what I had seen happen growing up. And I've learned more about the traditions in the countryside in these past few days as I was looking up various recipes for this dish. Turns out, in some parts of the country this dish is made by the deceased person's family and brought to the church on the day of the funeral. After it is blessed, it is then shared with everyone who attends the funeral. Now that I think about it, I think that is what happened at my grandfather's funeral but I was only six or seven years old when that happened so it's all a little blurry in my head. In larger cities, like in the capital, sometimes it is hard to gather everyone that wants to commemorate the deceased at once and so sometimes this dish is put in ornate tea cups and coffee mugs, which all match among each other but don't match the recipient's tea sets at home. These tea cups and coffee mugs are exactly that and are not designed specifically for this purpose. Once you receive a cup or a mug with this dish, you do not return the cup usually. My grandmother's cupboard is full of cups that don't match and she claims it's because she's received so many cups along the years from this tradition, but it's also because a lot of cups have been dropped and broken over the years, leaving most of her collections of cups and mugs down to one or two of the original sets of six. 


I have never had to cook this dish myself (although it's traditionally associated with a death in the family, sometimes it is cooked just because it tastes good), so this was an adventure. In Romania it's easy to find the ingredients; in the United States it isn't easy to find the ingredients. Since the dish originated in the countryside, where wheat kernels were readily available, procuring the ingredients wasn't a problem. Since wheat kernels aren't actually a staple in people's diets in the United States, procuring the ingredients here was harder. Luckily, in the larger grocery store in the international foods section, I found some wheat kernels. I forgot to get the recipe with me and only bought one bag, which means my whole recipe had to be cut in half once I got home. 


I boiled the kernels after washing and rinsing them thoroughly for about 40 minutes. The recipe said to cook them on low for 2-3 hours. Turns out not only is 6 not low enough of a setting for my stovetop, but also the kernels really cooked and partially burned on the bottom within the first 40 minutes. So I went through all the kernels (it felt like I was going one by one) until I picked out all the burnt kernels and started over in another pot. Once that was done and I let the kernels cool off, I added 3 oz of honey, 4 oz of sugar and 100 g of chopped walnuts. I stirred everything together and as would be expected, I forgot to add the vanilla, which I had to add later on after I set the food in it's serving dish. 


It is traditional to decorate the dish with candies and chocolate and cocoa powder, so I did. I first sprinkled powdered sugar on top. I used a cutout of a cross to keep the center area white in the shape of a cross and sprinkled cocoa powder on top. When I removed the paper cross cutout, I had the cross imprint left in white and cocoa powder all around it. I then placed chocolate covered cranberries in the white section in the shape of a cross. Here is an image of the resulting concoction:

May he rest in peace.

In the search for the perfect mashed potatoes...

I don't know when my love affair with potatoes really started, but like all great loves I know they're not healthy for me, but I can't walk away from them. 

I guess it's the fact that all my happiest dinner/lunch table childhood memories involved potatoes -- specifically mashed potatoes. My two most favorite meals were mashed potatoes with schnitzel (which I have yet to make on my own) and mashed potatoes with chifteluţe (another dish I have yet to make on my own). The creamy softness yet hearty taste of mashed potatoes always put a smile on my face and I have since been in search of the tastiest mashed potato recipe to call my own. 


Last night, while I was debating the different options I had for acquiring some milk to make mashed potatoes (either I could go to the store in the morning before work, or I could ask my boyfriend to bring me some from his apartment, or perhaps he'd volunteer to go to the grocery store for me), I realized how amazing mashed potatoes could be with a little bit of cream cheese. 


A friend of mine in college cooked me dinner one night and he used sour cream in his recipe and it was delicious! (He got the recipe from his mother so she deserves the credit for that compliment more than he does.) But I didn't see what else he put in the mashed potatoes nor how much, so I haven't tried to recreate that recipe. 


Another version of mashed potatoes I made once, that were surprisingly delicious, were these mashed potatoes I made only with butter and milk. But then, I heated up some peas and sauteed some onions and threw those inside the mashed potatoes too and it may have been one of the best decisions made for that meal. I brought it to the potluck Thanksgiving meal I had been invited to and everyone loved them!


I really want to find that perfect addition to the regular mashed potato recipe I use (potatoes, milk, butter) so until I find it, I will not be satisfied. 


So today for lunch, my boyfriend and I undertook the challenge of using whipped cream cheese with chives in the mashed potatoes. Really, this was supposed to be my adventure and he was going to be my guinea pig, but he didn't want to do the dishes, so I ended up doing the dishes and he mashed the potatoes. But skipping over the technicalities...


We used about two pounds of potatoes -- peeled and boiled/cooked, one 8 oz. package of whipped cream cheese with chives and half a cup of milk. The overall outcome was good (I still wouldn't give it a ten), and I think it could have been better with a little more potatoes and maybe even some real chives or mildly sauteed onions mixed in there.


I served the potatoes with some fried frankfurters (bought at the international foods store, although I'm positive using some kosher hot dog sausages would have worked just as well).  And here is a picture of what our lunch ended up looking like. Not sure my boyfriend was the biggest fan of this meal so I'm not sure he'll want to eat it for dinner again in two days, but I know I will! 

Rice Cooker Fun!

For my birthday this year, my parents gave me a rice cooker, a crock pot and a little George Foreman grill. Thank you, parents! I think it's because I never ask for anything in particular for my birthday (which I guess makes it a little impossible to find a good gift for me considering how picky I am sometimes), so buying me cooking supplies/kitchen appliances is a pretty safe bet.


But I'm also scared of the unfamiliar and since I'd never used a rice cooker before, the idea of using the rice cooker intimidated me for a while. Finally, one night, when my boyfriend insisted we watch the movie Hidalgo -- a quasi-Western set in the Middle East -- which was close to 2 hours in length, I decided it was the perfect time to experiment with the rice cooker. My mother had also given me some brown rice and my rice cooker adventure began.... Turns out brown rice takes about two hours to be done. And since I hadn't accounted for two hours (I assumed the rice cooker would be more efficient than me cooking rice normally), I ended up eating scrambled eggs with Feta as a snack instead. I may be wrong, but I think that's probably a very healthy, tasty snack.


Anyhow, my next adventure with rice was Basmati rice. There's this amazing Persian restaurant close to where I live and their rice is divine. And since I want to also make delicious rice like them, I decided to use my rice cooker to make some Basmati rice. Well you can't just eat Basmati rice plan -- I guess you could, but that's not a meal then -- so I also made some tomato sauce and served those two with chicken. It was delicious and healthy, but I need to learn some portion control. I made that rice on Sunday and I still have half a pot of it left and my boyfriend and I have eaten about 5 or 6 servings of that meal until now. 


So here's how I did it,  although you may want to cut down on the ingredients and not make enough for a small army. 


I put two cups of rice in my rice cooker. Also, it turns out that you're not supposed to measure cups of uncooked rice in regular cups but in standardized rice cups (?) which are 180 mL, not the regualar 240 mL. 


It only took about ten minutes to cook (as opposed to the brown rice which took a century!)


In the meantime, I got a can of diced tomatoes, put it in a pan and started heating it. In a separate pan, I began sauteeing some bell peppers and onions. As soon as they started heating up and looking like they were ready, I moved them over to the first pan with the diced tomatoes and mixed everything together.


Then I used a pot and cooked some pieces of chicken through. I originally just cooked/boiled them in water for a healthier alternative but then added some oil to make it tastier. 


And here is how a plate of this concoction ended up looking. Deliciously healthy and satisfying. 

First Month Anniversary Dinner!

My boyfriend and I are celebrating our five month anniversary in about two weeks. Obviously, the title gives away how slow I've been at updating. I don't have any good excuses except "life happened." 

But here's the story anyway...

So when it was almost our first month anniversary, I thought I'd treat my boyfriend to his first taste of my culinary adventures. I could have gone with something safer/simpler or maybe even something I had cooked before, but I don't like repeating recipes in the kitchen unless there's a good reason (like training a puppy or being enrolled in one too many self-improvement classes). And since I wasn't short on time or creativity at the time of our anniversary, my boyfriend got a pretty good meal: chicken breast with sauteed onion/vinegar/cranberry sauce -- its formal, chef-friendly name escapes me now -- and hasselback potatoes. 

I figured the chicken breast part of the recipe wasn't too crazy, so I won't provide an in-depth explanation of how I made that part. Really, I just got the chicken breasts at the grocery store, put them on the stove in a pan (not having either an outside or inside grill, a pan was this girl's best friend at that point in time) and let them cook through thoroughly. 

While the chicken breast was cooking, I melted some butter in a second pan, cut some onions in pretty small cubes and sauteed them. I then put some vinegar and cranberry sauce in there for extra taste. Since it's been so long since I actually made the recipe, I forget how much of each I put in. 

Now, for the funnest (and most time-consuming part) of that dinner: the hasselback potatoes. There's a little bit more prep time than I usually like for any of my recipes, but I knew the outcome had to be delicious.

First, I got about eight small/medium sized red potatoes, cleaned them off and started cutting them. I cut them about halfway to two thirds through all the way across in increments of about a quarter or a fifth of an inch at a time. You can look in the picture below to see what I mean. 

Cut potatoes about 2/3 of the way through at increments of 1/4 or 1/5 inch.

Then I cut some garlic clovers thinly and put them between each section of potato. Don't worry if you're not a huge garlic fan, because the taste won't be overwhelming once the potatoes are cooked through. After you've put all the garlic in, put some melted butter on the bottom of a baking pan, and some salt sprinkled all over and rub the potatoes around until they're all covered in the butter/salt. 

Put the sliced garlic cloves between the sliced potato wedges.

Put the potatoes in the oven for about 40 minutes. I forget what I put the oven on, but really it's like you're making baked potatoes. You can take them out when the tops are all golden brown. 

Now, the next part will be the dollops of sour cream you put on top. Delicioius!!! You get about 8 oz of sour cream, you're supposed to put real garlic and parsley for better taste, but I didn't have any in my apartment, so I just used garlic powder/salt that had parsley sprinkled in there, too. Put the garlic/parsley in there to taste. Mix it well and put it in dollops on top of the potatoes once they're out of the oven and ready to serve.


Here is a picture of our final meal all put together. Good luck to everyone who tries this recipe!

Final dinner. Yum!

Ice Cream... with Croutons!

So in preparation for becoming a party host extraordinaire, I have decided to start practicing making fun appetizers! And for my first experiment, I decided to use what I already have in my fridge...


As you may remember from my last post, my mother overstocked my fridge three weeks ago, and I am still feeling the side effects of it. Just a couple of days ago, as I was scavenging for sweets in my kitchen and started looking for ice cream, I saw this package of cinnamon raisin bagels that she bought for me. The only problem with that is that I don't particularly like cinnamon, and I'm honestly not that big of a fan of raisins, either. So while trying to figure out how to use these bagels and not throw them out, I had a brilliant idea: why not use these bagels in a dessert?


Turns out, when you Google what flavors match best with cinnamon and raisins, apples turn out to be the most popular choice. Lucky for me, I knew exactly where to find those and I was ready to try it out. In fact, this recipe is so simple, I will even type it out for you guys on here so you can make it too! It's really simple, and if you're low on ideas and/or time for making dessert for a dinner party, I highly recommend making this. All you need is some vanilla ice cream, some cinnamon raisin bagels, apple cider, apples, and a little bit of olive oil. So let's get started!


As long as your bagels aren't moldy, you can use them. So even if they're a little stale, you should be fine. But if you are grocery shopping quite a few days before your party, just put them in the fridge or freezer to keep it for longer. First, go around your bagels and chop them up into 10-12 pieces total. I didn't get a picture of this when I was doing it, but the best way to explain how to cut it, I would say cut it like you would a pizza.


Then, spread a little olive oil on your cooking pan and put the bagels on there. (When I say a little bit of oil, I mean 1.5-2 tablespoons of olive oil.) I moved them around on the pan, just to make sure the bagels were covered pretty evenly with the oil.


Third, I peeled a couple of apples and cubed the edible parts of the apples. And when I was done, I threw those on the pan, too.


To make sure the apple taste was infused in the bagels and that they wouldn't become really crouton-y, like you would have in your salads, I poured apple cider on top of the bagels. I had never done this before and wasn't sure how to pour the apple cider out of the huge bottle it came in; also, I have no measuring cups yet, so I had to use the closest thing I had to a small measuring device... I used a shot glass. This may have been the reason why the bagels ended up tasting a little bit like bread pudding pieces, and it was amazingly yummy.


In total, I ended up using two bagels, three apples, and four shots of apple cider. I left them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes and that's it for the preparation part.


Let them cool a little bit and then serve them just as a topping on top of some vanilla ice cream. When I served them, it had been a while since I'd taken them out of the oven, so I just put them back in a microwave for 25 seconds and they were ready to be served!


Here is a picture of the serving I made myself. This dessert will most definitely be making an appearance at one of my parties, so be on the look-out kids!

Too Much Food In the Fridge... Again.

Since my parents came to visit me two weekends ago, my fridge was overstocked with veggies, carbs and meats. This actually always seems to happen when my mom finds a fridge that is not adequately overflowing with food. Although it was all done out of love, I think they grossly overestimated how much I could eat by myself. I would not have minded if this was limited to cans and pasta -- food that could last for more than two weeks without me living in fear of it going bad. One of my saddest and hardest errands and household duties is cleaning out my fridge and throwing away food that I used to have such high hopes for. When I go to the grocery store, all the limitless supplies of perfectly aligned apples and avocados, croissants and butter sticks, eggs and milk cartons just inspire me. That and I'm a sucker for pretty designs, so put a pretty wrap around that vegetable smoothie bottle, and you've got yourself an inspired customer! But then, I work late hours and by the time I come home, I hardly have the time or energy to prepare the extravagant meals I concocted mentally while rummaging around the frozen vegetables section. And then, a few weeks later, when I see the mushrooms shriveling up in my fridge and my avocados becoming unhealthily soft, I avoid throwing them out as long as possible. Not because I have any intention of eating them, nor am I delusional into thinking they'll get better, but because I hate throwing food away. 


It is this exact train of thought that brought me to the idea of having a private dinner party for four tonight. My abundance of veggies, pita pockets and chicken (all of which had been in my fridge for a little longer than I had originally intended for them to be there) needed to be eaten. And since I could not eat that much alone, I figured I'd spread the joy and feed my friends! My only experience in making pitas had come from watching the cute boy at Pita Pit who worked at the store I went to on Tuesday nights in my last semester of school. But not having any prior experience in cooking, preparing or making pitas did not discourage me from deciding tonight's menu would be based around pitas. Turns out, I have quite the beginner's luck. Here is the picture of one of tonight's concoctions. I think the best part of having pitas for dinner is the fact that I could make sure each of my guests was fully satisfied, since everyone got to personalize what went in their pita. I think I'm going to make a regular event of these fridge-cleaning dinner parties, considering the success I had tonight. Want an invite? Let me know and we'll see what we can make happen!