Back to School Food

Hey, hey, hey.

Today has been busy. I want it to be Thursday, like now. I woke up early and taught my first class. My class is mostly male, but they were talkative and awake. I also had two graduate seminars. Holy crap, a lot of reading in my future. After teaching, I took my reading to the local coffee shop, Greyhouse. I helped myself to one of their new savory crepes: the broccoli, chicken, and swiss (with some green onions thrown in). It was pretty awesome, but my one complaint is that the broccoli was too cold. I would order it again, though.

After all the teaching and learning, I headed to Zumba class with some fellow female graduate students. Okay, Zumba is awesome. You don’t stand still, once. I can feel it in my butt. I’m totally going again, but I was exhausted after this first class. Since Lars was my ride, I had to read outside while he was in class. That workout drained me, so I needed some post-workout nourishment: a mango smoothie. It made reading bearable.

Lars had sent a text earlier today saying he’d make dinner, because I had been working so hard. He made a delicious pepperoni pizza with some fresh mozzarella and basil. He even made the sauce.  I’ll keep him.

So, today rocked as much as a school day can rock. But ugh, back to reading.

What is your favorite type of smoothie?

Crazy Lady/Kitchen Lady

I am having one of those weeks where you work hard, then look around, and feel as if you got nothing accomplished. The final days of summer of whipping past me. I have to start class soon at a new school. I have to teach soon. I have no idea what I’m teaching these poor freshmen. One student already emailed me asking what textbook we are using. I don’t freaking know. I don’t even know what day it is.

Anyway, it has been a complicated week, but a fun one. I am starting to love the place and it is slowly coming together. I love our neighborhood and my English colleagues. I just hope I can get everything settled with the house before the school workload hits me like a ton of bricks.

Although I have been a crazy lady, I have also been a kitchen lady. I wanted to share some recipes from the past few days.

Amorelli with Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Feta

Adapted from Cooking Light

Just mix these delicious ingredients together, and then feel free to top with freshly ground pepper. It makes 12 servings, which means lunch for the rest of the week for me. Holler!

• 8 cups coarsely chopped spinach
• 8 cups hot cooked amorelli
• 1 cup crumbed low fat feta cheese
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 (19-ounce) cans garbanzo beans
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed

This pasta is what 5th-grade-Ashley would call “tight.”

A perfect summer pasta. It tastes great cold, also.

You know what else tastes great hot and cold? Blondies. I found a recipe for Blondies, infinitely adaptable on Smitten Kitchen. I tried these in two ways and created Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies, and my favorite: Chocolate, Banana, and Pecan Blondies.

Ashley’s Blondies Adventure

• 8 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

1. Butter an 8×8 pan
2. Mix butter and brown sugar, then egg, then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in additions (see below).
4. Pour in pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Cool on rack, then cut away.

Additions

Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/2 cup semi-sweet chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Chocolate, Banana, and Pecan Blondies: 1/2 cup toasted pecans, 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 banana); feel free to add more chocolate chips

Best Chocolate Chips EVER!

The banana added a great texture to the blondies.

Lastly, Lars and I finally tried the Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix I won from Tamara @ The Amateur Nutritionist. Thanks again, Tamara! Lars and I brushed it with olive oil, topped it with fresh mozzarella and baked it. Then when out of the oven, we topped it with salt, pepper, and basil. Delicious. Lars and I finished this baby off.  I don’t follow a gluten free diet, but I would definitely buy this crust again! It was easy to make, too. And this week, I need easy.

Okay party people, I must go. I NEED to catch up on y’all’s blogs. Hopefully I get internet at the new place soon. I’m going bonkers.

Homeless Robot

I was supposed to drive back to Ohio today, but I never really left. I wasn’t in the mood to drive. I was in the mood for tomato roasting and reading. I miss staying in place. Two more weeks until I officially “settle.” I head to Ohio tomorrow for packing/socializing. Then, I have to go stay at my parents’ house while my roommate takes her master’s exam. I need a home.

Starbucks is my home for now. I went there to take a break from oven babysitting (I was roasting tomatoes for 6 hours; keep reading). I brought along an apple and Hannah’s dark chocolate. I read my book about virginity outside (today’s topic: The Virgin Mary) and sipped on an iced coffee. I mostly eavesdropped on the conversation next to me. It was two women police officers complaining about male officers. I hope they get the respect they deserve soon; they seemed like some cool ladies.

Also, the barista gave me a compliment on my Flava Flav Robot chain. Thank you. Its limbs move. It’s a dancing robot.

Let’s travel back in time, Flava Flav Robot. Around 10 AM I started roasting tomatoes. I used a recipe from Cooking Light for Aromatic Slow-Roasted Tomatoes. I used roma tomatoes instead of plum, but it worked out just fine. We took them out of the oven a little earlier than planned, but we thought they were roasted enough. When we roast…we roast!

We mixed this into our recently-purchased sweet basil whole wheat pasta from Decatur, IL (home of that guy that tried to kiss me during the Fishers Freedom Festival when I was in 6th grade). We also mixed in toasted garlic, fresh basil, and shredded Parmesan. The roasted tomatoes had a nice sweetness to them that helped balance out the rustic pasta.

After dinner, I took Lars out for gelato. Lars ordered swiss chocolate and I ordered creme brulee. Mine tasted fantastic, of course.

Good until the last drop.

Well, I’m off to load my iPod with podcasts for my three hour drive tomorrow morning. Two more weeks…two more weeks…two more weeks.

What is the best gelato you’ve ever had?

A Good Food Day

Ever had a good food day? Like everything just hit the spot? You are eating just the right amount and every bite tastes awesome? That was my day.

I started off the day with a blogger staple: oatmeal. I mixed in pecans (from Green Valley, Arizona, holler at my G-Ma!), strawberries, and brown sugar. I ate this while watching Pretty Little Liars on Hulu. I’m not afraid to say it, but that show rocks.

I took Bob’s Red Mill corn muffins out of the freezer (I had saved them from earlier) for lunch. They tasted better than I remember. I slathered them with strawberry jam. I also had an apple and sliced carrots.

After lunch Lars and I ran some errands. We got to take another tour of our new apartment for next year. I love the place! It has so much windows; I’m a fan of natural lighting. I’ll post pictures once we move in and get settled.

The highlight of my day was the chocolate I received in the mail from Hannah over at Wayfaring Chocolate. Thanks Hannah! It was wonderful. Hannah sent Dark Chocolate with Strawberry and Sichuan Pepper (made by the The Curious Chocolatier). The pepper added a gingerbread-type taste. I loved it. Loved it. I couldn’t wait to eat it, so I brought in the car on the way to our new apartment.

Cute package, right?

Lars and I had pizza for dinner. We used panini grilled flatbread again. I topped mine with olive oil, sliced roma tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, diced prosciutto, fresh basil, and oregano. I popped it in the toaster oven, and then enjoyed!

Up close.

Our new apartment is next to a Great Harvest Bread Company, so of course we stopped by. I bought a Blackberry Fruit Bar for Lars and I to split for dessert following dinner. It got a little damaged in my purse, but it was still the best fruit bar I have ever had. They used shredded coconut in the streusel, which added a nice sweetness without overpowering the natural sweetness of the blackberries. I also appreciated the amount of fruit they actually used. I’ll buy this all the time after the move.

What is the best treat you’ve had lately? The chocolate and fruit bar made for an awesome food day!

Speechless

Today has been pretty relaxing, but with a huge headache! I woke up around 9, which was lovely. I have spent the day riding my bike, and catching up on e-mails and blogs. My mother took me out to lunch to Noodles and Company. I got the usual: Tomato Basil Bisque and flatbread for dipping.

I ran some errands with my mother. She wanted to buy stationary to write my brother (training for the Air Force). But, can we talk about something? Crocs-inspired purses? Really? What? I am without words.

Is there a fashion trend you just don’t get?

Cleaning-Inspired Cooking

I was so out of it today, again. Then I realized I have been out of it this entire summer, because I haven’t been drinking my morning coffee. Hm, good to know.

For lunch I kept it simple. I sautéed one sliced chicken sausage link in olive oil. It was a delicious Spinach, Fontina, and Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe’s. I ate it alongside the Mediterranean CousCous from the Schwann’s man. It was a light, yet filling lunch.

After being all emo for half the day, I finally had coffee. I made half a package of the Starbucks Via Iced. I got a new cup! Well, Carrie from TV and Dinners bought it first, but I loved it too much. I spotted it at Target! Carrie has great cup-taste!

I am moving in early August and I have the daunting task of using all the food in my fridge and cabinets before then. I have a lot of flour and oats, so I made some delicious oatmeal cookies!

I used a great recipe from Whole Grain Gourmet for Healthy Oatmeal Cookies. The recipe uses honey instead of sugar, and molasses. If you like molasses, you will love these. They are darker than the average oatmeal cookie because of the molasses. She also recommended (and I didn’t notice until later) adding more oats. It is your call. I added 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. They are not overpoweringly sweet. I like them!

Oh, and she had a great tip. Spray the measuring cup before you pour the honey, so that the honey pours out of it more easily.

For dinner, I climbed around the cupboards again.

I found a huge 28 oz can of whole tomatoes. Among the many things Andy Warhol and I have in common, the biggest thing is our love for tomato soup. I’ve always bought canned soup, but never again. After researching recipes online and seeing how easy it was, I decided to just make-up my own recipe. I was mostly inspired by Cooking Light. The soup was very good for the first time. I will play around with it more to perfect it.

Tomato and Basil Soup

• 1 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup of organic free range chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh copped basil
• a sprinkling of dry basil (I was worried I wouldn’t have enough basil)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp olive oil

I opened the can and stabbed the crap out of the tomatoes and put it aside. I sautéed the minced garlic in the olive oil for about 30 seconds on medium heat. I then added the tomatoes, broth, salt, pepper, and dried basil and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. Then I mixed in the fresh basil. I put the mixture into the blinder and pureed it until smooth. Then it was ready.

I served it with an adaptation of my mother’s easy bread stick recipe.

Whole Wheat Breads Sticks

• 1/2 package of Trader Joe’s Refrigerated Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
• butter
• garlic powder or salt
• grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 425. I rolled out the dough into a circle (as if I was about to make pizza) after I let it do it’s rising/whatever thing (while I worked on the soup).  I baked it for 10 minutes. I immediately but the baked dough on a baking rack. I microwaved some butter for about 30 seconds, and then stirred in some garlic powder. I brushed it onto the dough (while it was still hot). I then immediately sprinkled the grated Parmesan on to the bread. After it cooled, I sliced it into strips.

Yum, yum. What a day of kitchen adventures. I’m actually having fun cleaning out my kitchen before the move. It is surprisingly inpsiring!

I have a date with the Lifetime movie My Stepson, My Lover starring Rachel Ward. You don’t know who Rachel Ward is? Um, The Thorn Birds: only the best mini-series ever!

Do you have any entertainment-related (music, movies, tv, etc.) guilty pleasures?

Has anyone been watching Top Chef?

1. I hate that one girl that tried to get school children drunk. She has a face I’d like to punch.

2. Stop complaining Top Chef contestants! My Top Chef would know how to make a damn pie! The punch-face girl (see #1) was like “I hope it is okay for not being a pastry chef” and the guest judge said “So what? My grandma isn’t a pastry chef and she knows how to make a pie.” Snap!

A Sweet and Savory Change of Plans

I am so out of it this morning. I was going to make smoothies, but Lars told me not to wake his roommate. So, I’m having an Italian-inspired egg scramble with honey on a corn muffin. Then, I’ll have a smoothie for lunch. Ahhh, everything is out of place!

My Italian-inpsired Egg Scramble consisted of:

• 1 Trader Joe’s Garlic Chicken Sausage Link (leftover from pasta last night)
• garlic clove minced
• a made-up amount of Egg Beaters
• fresh basil
• part skim shredded mozzarella cheese

I also enjoyed my breakfast with half a package of prepared Iced Via Coffee.  Wait until lunch Miss Cup, you will be filled with smoothie goodness.

I was thinking bloggers. Do you have a pottery-painting place where you live? It would be fun to do a pottery exchange. You know, I paint something and you paint something, and then we exchange via mail. And, pottery places have a lot of kitchen-oriented pottery items. Hmm, I have random thoughts in the morning.

Also, it is July. Huh? This summer needs to slow down. But, it is here and we might as well learn something new. For the history of July check out this blog post on dictionary.com.

After lunch I’m heading to my parents’ house to ride my bike! It is stuck there until I officially move. Boo. I miss it. All I do is think about the places I can bike to. Then, I’m heading back to Ohio to finish my thesis, do some packing, and get things in order.

What is your favorite SAVORY breakfast dish?

Pasta and Virgins

Do you like pasta? Wow, so do I! I’m no pasta virgin, fo sho!

Lars and I prepared a pasta dish inspired by Cooking Light. We basically mixed the following ingredients together.

• 3 sliced-links of Trader Joe’s Garlic Chicken Sausage
• 4 cups of whole wheat cooked penne pasta
• 4 cups-ish of grape tomatoes
• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp of capers
• 1/3 cup sliced fresh basil
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 3/4 tsp salt

It was a refreshing summer combo. Lars also recommends adding balsamic vinegar for an extra kick! I might add artichoke hearts next time!

This pasta paired well with my Charles Shaw Merlot from Trader Joe’s. Always keeping it classy with the 3-Buck Chuck. Kathy Griffin’s mother would be proud!

Lars and I will spend the rest of the evening watching Netflix (mostly MST3K), while he grades and I blog/read. My book on the history of virginity is BALLER. It is interesting to see how much medieval diseases were linked to virginity, when it was actually malnutrition. Maybe I’ll explain further in another post.

What is your go-to pasta ingredient?

Restaurant Review: Lafayette Brewing Company

Hey Hey. Before I jump into this restaurant review, I must lament on my new brownie fetish. Why do I keep baking a dozen brownies for two? I went a little crazy on the brownie consumption yesterday. On a hight note: (1) They are awesome, (2) I didn’t binge. I just ate badly. For the first time, I ate badly and stopped there. I didn’t do the rhetorical move of convincing myself that I had cheated and I should continue on. I was like, “that is enough.” Oh, the little things I suppose.

So, this review is for the Lafayette Brewing Company (LBC; Lafayette, IN; home of Purdue). I have been here before, but only for the purpose of beer drinking. We were meeting a new colleague of mine and her husband.

We started off with an order of onion rings.  I don’t know if I would call these onion rings or onion fritters, or onion-filled donuts. I couldn’t even decipher the individual pieces, but I managed to find one. These were decent, but I have had better onion rings on campus. I just prefer to have an onion ring and not an onion ring with fried outgrowths. You know that German Christmas tradition where you try to find the pickle in the Christmas tree? Well, the fried part is the Christmas tree (instead of sparkling lights you get sunlight reflecting off the grease) and the onion is the pickle.

I was the only lush to order a beer at the table, but I cannot properly review this place without one. I had an Eighty-Five, the waiter’s favorite and described on the menu as:

This aggressive American ale features a hearty quantity of pale malt and a massive dose of US~grown Centennial and Cascade hops. The resulting ale is a rich golden color and rather light in body, yet has a huge citrus aroma and is extremely bitter. Our own alpha acid test!

The waiter was worried I couldn’t handle it, probably because the description sounds like a battle between a pale malt and  Centennial and Cascade hops. I thought it was good and it was aggressive, but I–daily wine drinker–could handle it.

If I learned one thing from Top Chef, you can tell the quality of a restaurant’s food from their grilled cheese sandwich. It is the easiest thing to make, and the easiest thing to F up. Firstly, LBC gets points for creativity. Their new spin on a classic, the Pesto Melt has provolone cheese, tomato, and pesto. It was good, but easy on the butter Chef! The bread had this buttery, extremely crisp layer that distracted me from pesto. And no one puts pesto in the corner.

Lars ordered the Black and Bleu Steak Caesar, and our friends both ordered the Bison burger. Maybe it was the Eighty-Five or onion fatigue, but I forgot to ask their opinions. Lars did like his “salad” and finished it.

I also think they did like their bison burger. I have heard its praises from other reviewers. Plus, there are not much bison burgers in Lafayette.

The place is rather large and isn’t cramped like most establishments serving alcohol, and it is local. “Local” in a college town means that there aren’t a bunch of students, but a lot of residents. I find that refreshing. The beer is award winning, the beer is local. I give this place a B+

A Whole Bunch of Random

I finally made it home, y’all. Lady Gaga got me through, but so did baby carrots and Jones Zilch (last one).

I got home and was starving so I tried these bagels that are 110 calories. They tasted like absence. The Amish Triple Berry Jam of course tasted like it was just picked from the vine.

So, I cooked for my family tonight. First, I had to get my family a cutting board. Next time, knives that cut. I made my family Chicken and Basil Calzones from Cooking Light. I think Cooking Light is pretty solid. These were about 450 calories, but so filling! It was a hit.

After dinner I met a friend from high school for some coffee. I ordered an iced coffee, my usual summer drink. It was nice to catch up, and she didn’t give me a weird look when I talked about my food blog! Have you gotten bad responses from people? My aunt called me “weird.”

Tonight I am watching part 2 of The Bachelorette on Hulu (last night’s episode). I don’t know if I like this Bachelorette. Has she ever seen a Lifetime Movie? Yes, my Lifetime Movie watching has made me slightly paranoid about the male species, but I do know when a guy is a creeper. But I also want the creepers to stay, because it is entertaining. Also, I would kick off the men that tattled, and that were cheesy…and mushy.

You know what I miss, Veronica F’IN Mars!

Do you miss a particular television show? Let’s talk; I talk TV.