Puny Radishes!

"Hulk--Smash" Stir Fry

Bruce Banner would approve

Hello All!

Who knew working at a small-town weekly newspaper would take up so much of my time?

Okay, that's not all I've been doing this summer. I've made so many new friends down here.

And I saw a couple movies. Like this one:

I love this movie more than I could conceivably had expected.

If I had actually been paid to do this internship, I would have seen it at least six more times. When it gets to the dollar theater in Provo, I will probably do just that.

But what does this have to do with eating, I hear you asking across time and cyberspace? Well, I'm getting to that.

Remember those amazing friends I mentioned? Well, one of them is named Sariah and she's the Vice President of Snow College's student botany club. So she waters the older greenhouse.

A few weeks ago, she was going out of state to attend a funeral, and she needed someone to water the greenhouse while she was away. I volunteered because it sounded kind of fun, and was pleased to find out that I could harvest any produce that was ready and take it home for my personal use. 

And that was how I ended up with nine radishes that I had no idea what to do with. I love radishes, but I figured that I needed to do something other than cover them in salt, which is what I did when I was nine. 

{This is about what the radishes looked like when I pulled them out of the wet earth in the greenhouse}

I looked up radishes online and found out that they are actually really nutritious and under-appreciated in that way. Radishes are rich in ascorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. They are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium. So they're pretty power-packed, not to mention they're the type of veggie to fill you up on fiber and water. Needless to say, I was both excited to start cooking them and promising myself that I would never look down on the red roots again.

So I started chopping the radishes up with some broccoli and cilantro I had on hand and I started to realize that the color scheme of my meal reminded me of someone:

I have never seen the Hulk movies, but I absolutely LOVE Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner, and his portrayal makes me want to watch the other Hulk movies even though I know he's not in them. 

So this stir-fry is named in his honor.

So you chop up as many radishes as you can, and lots of broccoli and cilantro. If I'd had some I would have put in some chopped up green bell peppers as well (next time). 

But you put that into a pan with a tiny amount of olive oil. Once you'e tossed them a bit, add soy sauce, salt, garlic powder, pepper, chopped dried onion, a pinch of chili powder, about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and a few swirls of your favorite hot sauce (If you know me, you can probably guess I used Sriracha). 

{It should end up looking like this}

Then just toss it around until everything is cooked and well-blended. 

The nice thing about this stir-fry, apart from the fact that it has radishes and is related to The Avengers, is that it can be completely and totally vegetarian, or not, depending on who you're making it for. I chose not to, because on the rainy day I made this, eating it over chicken rice-a-roni sounded great.

{So that's what I did}

But, if you wanted, you could use plain rice or noodles, or I suppose just eat the vegetables if you're into that sort of thing. Either way, you shouldn't be hungry.

I'm honestly think I might try to do a meal or dessert based on each of the Avengers...possible inspiration!!

Black Widow's Black Forest cake?

All-American Berry Cobbler?

Iron Man/Stark Steak Sandwich?

Hiddled Hidden Mischief stuffed chicken breast?

Shakespeare in the Park punch?

Mjolnir Muffins?

Barton's Breakfast Burritos?

Stay tuned, there is no way my fascination with this movie is waning!

Hot Wings Mac & Cheese

Oh, I had a hot wings craving and made too many. You know how it goes, I'm sure.

DO NOT leave this stuff too long. For some reason it degenerates if you do. I'd recommend a week max. Or you could try freezing it. And I would have, but as our R.A. Kate's R.A. fiance Jeremy says, our freezer is like Tetris. So no.

HOT WINGS MAC

Prepare the Mac & Cheese as directed on the box. Add chopped boneless hot wings, some mixture of spices and cream cheese--I had a spicy cheese ball to spare, so I used that--and sriracha sauce.

I like to melt in some individual slices of gouda over the bowls when I reheat it.

A New Culinary Challenge...

Merry Christmas All!!

So, after a long semester--and I do mean long--I came home for Christmas.

A few hours ago--during the Doctor Who Christmas Special, no less--my parents decided to sort through our food storage in the family room.

Guess what I got?

Two bags of this stuff.

"But Lindsey" I hear you say "you LOVE oatmeal! How is this a problem?" 

This is a problem because one cup of oatmeal makes about four servings, and I have to finish it by February.

However, oatmeal is a VERY nice, warm, filling sort of breakfast, which is quite honestly what I need if I'm to ride out the winter sickness-free, which I fully intend to do, thank you very much. It's healthy, whole-grain, and full of fiber, which will help with my one of my New Year's Resolutions {More on those next week}.

So it looks like I'm going to be posting twice a day sometimes, folks. The January 2012 oatmeal challenge will begin on the third of January {because that's when I get back to Provo}.

Much like the Mac & Cheese Challenge, it will consist of me trying to come up with different ways of serving Oatmeal. So far...I have three.

January is going to be fun!!

Cheesy Chicken Ranch Mac

This recipe was born of the desperation that only the need to rid one's fridge of perishables during and after finals week can produce. I had the stuff, it sounded good, and it was all surprisingly filling.

Prepare mac & cheese as directed on box.

Now, add any and all real cheese you have, plus that leftover ranch dressing.

Tear up the leftover chicken you're too lazy to put into a sandwich. Stor. Now add salt & pepper to taste.

I made this during finals week so there wasn't much time for pictures. There will always be pictures from now on, I promise.

The Spicy No-Sweat Sweatpant Stir-fry

Why did I make a spicy stir-fry in the middle of a Mac & Cheese Challenge?

Because I was sick of Mac & Cheese, that's why. Oh well. I got back to it.

I called this what I did because it's spicy, pretty easy to make, and I cooked it in my electric-lime-colored sweat pants.

I had peppers and turkey and broccoli, and stir-fry sounded amazing!!

I have everything in this picture but the peppers!

So, first of all, here is a little tutorial, boys & girls, on how to roast your own peppers at home, so you don't have to buy them expensive and pre-roasted in a jar. I always think everything is better homemade, cheaper and fresh.

So you have your peppers {probably red} and you put them on a cookie sheet, or a jelly-roll pan, which are the cookie sheets with the raised edges. Technically a jelly-roll pan.

Brush them with oil, or spray them with PAM. Turn your oven to broil.

When they get black on top in places, flip them over.

When they're done, take them out and let them cool down.

They will be HOT for a long time!

MEANWHILE...if you did this at the spur of the moment, thaw that ground turkey!

{I keep like three of these in my freezer at any given time. CHEAPER THAN GROUND BEEF!!}

Once your meat is thawed, brown it in a large skillet.

So, turn this

into this

At which point, add Soy Sauce, Sriracha, Garlic, cayenne {go light!}, chili powder, rotisserie seasoning {optional}, curry powder, nutmeg, and thyme. This will make the sauce you see above.

At some point, you peppers will have cooled. Remove the skin, if possible. Slice one pepper, and put the others into a tupperware {You can use them on all sorts of things later}. 

Now throw the pepper slices, seeds and all, into the skillet

Chop up your broccoli, like so:

You want small enough pieces that it can be easily eaten and stirred but large enough pieces that the broccoli retains its unique shape. 

Now put it in the skillet.

And stir it around a bit

Yes I cook in sweats, I like it

{Thank you Cherie for photographing me so I don't ruin my camera}

Anyway, then you boil your pasta {or rice, I felt like angel hair pasta this night} and it comes out looking like this:

And that is how you do the Spicy No-Sweat Sweatpant Stir-fry!!

Chili Mac

This was another idea I first thought of when this challenge occurred. I thought of using my own chili, which I had made JUST because I felt like it. But I had some Wendy's Chili lying around, so I thought I'd use that up instead.

I have to say I wish I had used my own chili--nothing against Wendy's, I just ought to have had more Chili in there.

So what you do for this one is you make the Mac & cheese, and then you want at least a cup of chili, and 1/2 C of cottage cheese. Stir and enjoy.

Sorry no photos on this one, but I made it at Cherie's house without my camera. I promise more next time!!

Salsa-Gouda Mac

Round Two!!

Also as part of the great 2011 food-storage dump, my mother gave me three jars of salsa. I learned two things from this:

1. I now understand why cheese goes so well and so often with Salsa
2. Never underestimate my ability to power through salsa. It is seriously one of my favorite snacks.

But this was one of my first ideas when I took this challenge on, and I happened to have some Gouda lying around, so I did this!!

You will need what you see here:

{Plus, of course, what it said you needed on the Blue Box}

Cook the mac & cheese as directed on the package. Now add in pieces of the Gouda, salt & pepper, 1/2c to 1 C of the Salsa, a teaspoon of the cream cheese {I used Garden vegetable} the chili powder, the cayenne pepper {go easy}, the sriracha {for gosh sakes go easy!}, the onion, and stir.

{Rather like this}

Once the cheese melts you know it's done and ready to serve. 

Bon Appetit!!

Asian Mac

So for the first variation on classic Mac-N-Cheese: Asian Mac.

I did this mostly because I finally bought a bottle of Sriracha Rooster Hot Sauce and wanted a chance to use it. I had put it on the Mac-N-Cheese at Noodles & Company and liked it, so I came up with Asian Mac.

During the beginning of school, I started having serious Chinese food cravings. Now, of course there is a Panda Express on the corner of Bulldog and University, but I am trying to save money this semester, so that is only an option when my roomies and I feel TRULY lazy. I came up with a pretty good imitation of Utah Noodle Parlor's Pork Noodle Soup, which was my favorite thing EVER until they stopped making their own noodles. {Uncle Leo, they did it RIGHT when you were alive, sir!!}

Then I thought "What if I did an Asian Mac-N-Cheese?"

Asian Mac:

You will need the following ingredients:

{Minus the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, I really don't know why that was out, plus milk, margarine, and fresh cilantro}

Prepare Mac-N-Cheese as per package directions

{Frothy Bubbles!!}

{Whilst cooking}

{Drain it, and may I say I LOVE my IKEA colander?}

{In the end, it should look like this}

So, once you get to this point, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and enough Sriracha Hot Sauce (The one with the green lid and the rooster on the bottle) to look like this:

{That should about do it}

And, no, it cant't be Tabasco and I'll tell you why. Tabasco has no flavor for me, just pain. 

The first time I tried Tabasco, I was at Village Inn for a Drama Club presidency meeting. I gave my hash browns to Jeremy Illum, watched him douse them in Tabasco, and then was stupid enough to say "Oh, I've never had that stuff before. He proceeded to take a forkful and then, with the support of everyone in the presidency, forced me to try Tabasco. It was like searing hot fire with absolutely no pleasure of hot FLAVOR.

Sriracha actually has flavor attached to the spice. So I use that.

But anyway, you mix it up together, put it into a bowl, top with fresh cilantro and sprinkle with more Sriracha  sauce.

{All done!}

Mind you, you will want to have copious amounts of milk nearby. Even though Sriracha is not painful like Tabasco, this stuff is HOT!! It is tasty, but spicy. The cilantro adds to the spice, but in a fresh, green way.

Next time: Gouda Salsa Mac!!

The Great Mac-N-Cheese Challenge

Hello All!!

So, when I visited my mom and dad over labor day, they informed me that a large portion of our food storage was about to expire. They proceeded to remind me that there was no way they could eat it by themselves before it would all go bad.

 {No spit, Sherlock! My parents eat like birds!}

"But you can," my mother said.

I chose to take that as a compliment to my cooking ingenuity rather than a "you should go to the gym and practice portion control more often" comment.

{I do need to go to the gym more, but that is beside the point}

So my car was packed with various food items, all of which I intend to transform into masterpieces. Among other things, I got five cans of stewed tomatoes, a case of oriental ramen noodles, a large can of gatorade mix, and eleven boxes of mac-n-cheese.

I really don't see what we saw, as little kids, in this stuff. Yes, it is simple and easy to prepare, but I somehow remember it cheesier than what it is now. Kraft, go back to your cheesy powder recipe from the 90's; it was SO much better!

In the meantime, I was stuck with eleven blue boxes in my pantry. I thought "What on earth am I going to do with all this mac-n-cheese?"

And then it hit me: I can blog about it.

The challenge: to turn eleven boxes of mac-n-cheese into eleven different dishes and make mac-n-cheese exciting again!

I will not, barring any nightmarish brain freezes, be doing this the way my friend Ryan does it. No. Chicken. {Frakking.} Nuggets. Or. Spam. 

To start off, Mac-N-Cheese classico. Just the way the package says it. My friend and roomie Hailey thinks I'm a food nut {Ok, she thinks I'm an all-around nut} and that mac-n-cheese should be enjoyed purely as is. So that's how she prepped it one night when she was hungry and we didn't feel like driving to Wal-mart for a rotisserie chicken {but that's another story for another day}.

So, that leaves me with ten blue boxes to transform! 

Stay tuned...

The Ryan Mark Mills One-Bowl Wonder: Discussed

Yes, Ryan, I'm talking to you about your signature dish. I know you read this--I can see you and your imitation Yu-Gi-Oh picture right over there. For my other readers:

Ryan is a close personal friend. If it were not for him, I would not be in my current, wonderful relationship with Donovan. I love Ryan like a brother--a brother whose survival I sometimes worry about.

Ryan, Donovan, and "Texan" Tanis Reed shared an apartment winter semester. Almost all the time, their friend Sean was there. They often played board or video games together. Sean actually knows something about cooking and nutrition. The same may not be said for the others.

Assumptions Boyfriend & Co. made about food in the course of the semester:

• Celery does not need to be refrigerated
• Chili does not need to be refrigerated
• You may slightly undercook Bacon without fear of repercussions
• Instant potatoes are the only vegetables you will ever need
• Sunny Delight=Tanis Fuel, ergo, I don't think I ever saw Tanis drink milk or water
• Frozen Corndogs + frozen tater-tots=a balanced meal
• It is just fine to eat chicken {frakking} nuggets. Every night. 
• Fried SPAM sandwich. I think that expresses my feelings succinctly enough.

And the list goes on. These are just the incidents that stand out to me. Once in a while, I toyed with the idea that every male ought to be tested in order to avoid being forced to take a Food Preparation class, depending on what level of kitchen-savvy he is at. But only when I got REALLY horrified.

But there is one thing Ryan does which, if approached correctly, can be good. 

The one-bowl wonder.

The base of a one-bowl wonder is either macaroni-and-cheese or instant mashed potatoes, depending on what he feels like. The mashed potatoes are made in a small saucepan, the mac-n-cheese in a rice cooker. Into whatever pan the based was cooked in, Ryan adds at least one type of meat, usually diced SPAM or hotdogs, but possibly chicken {frakking} nuggets. Possibly more cheese, salt, pepper, and cayenne. And then Ryan mixes it all together. And then he eats it, straight out of the pan he cooked it in.

The advantages of the one-bowl-wonder are that it is fairly cheap, also filling, and it is relatively easy to prepare.

Unfortunately, it isn't terribly nutritious. At all.

However, one day here in my apartment, I really had no idea what I wanted for lunch. My Mom had sent two boxes of Mac-N-Cheese home with me, so I decided I might as well do that. I made it, and then I thought about the injunction in my Food Prep class to vary color and texture. So I added some chopped Turkey Meatloaf and cilantro. I would have added broccoli, but I had none. I realized halfway through eating this concoction that I had made a one-bowl wonder. Granted, I didn't eat mine out of the small saucepan I cooked it in, but the concept was the same.

So, after discussing it, my only injunction about this item is to be sure you add veggies.