latkes!

Our winter break starts very late this year, and while we were sad to miss Hanukkah at home, we had a great time celebrating with our friend I. and eating a dinner that consisted only of laktes and gelt, which are really the only foods you need on Hanukkah (well, that and jelly donuts)

it was our first time making latkes and it was very successful. We used our grandparents' recipe and we served them with applesauce.

Bubbe and Zayde's Potato Latkes (thanks to our Bubbe and Zayde, who sent not only their recipe, but also a grater. they are fantastic!)
Makes many, many latkes (or enough for dinner and a small amount of leftovers for 3 girls who really love latkes)
-6 medium potatoes, peeled
-2 large eggs, lightly beaten
-1 tsp salt
-1 medium onion
-3 tbsp matzo meal
-1/4 tsp pepper
grate the potatoes coarsely (according to our grandma, this must be done with a grater, NOT with a food processor) into a bowl of lightly salted water. Drain and press out the moisture.
Grate the onion coarsely. Stir the onion, eggs, matzo meal, salt, pepper and potatoes together.
Heat about 1/4 inch oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into the oil and flatten with back of spoon. Fry until golden brown on both sides, 3-5 min per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with applesauce, sour cream, or ketchup

and the most important part...
GELT!!! (chocolate coins...I get very excited about chocolate things)
Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it! and happy holidays to all!
-Rita
giveaway time!

couscous and roasted squash

I'm not going to write much about this because finals are coming up and the studying is eating my brain. Proof: I had a half hour conversation with Rita last night that ended with "and then all of the nannies and all of the babies and all of the surrogate mothers will rip their masks off and they will all be Rain in disguise". don't ask.
Also, I've decided to switch my major from psych to cat petting and hot chocolate drinking, with a double minor in listening to Ricky Martin and watching Grey's Anatomy.
Anyway, here is a quick, easy recipe you can make even if your brain has been eaten:
Couscous with tomato sauce and roasted squash
serves 2
-2/3 cup dry couscous
-2/3 cup water
-1 14 oz can diced tomatoes in their liquid
-1 yellow squash, diced
-1 zucchini ,diced
-1/2 can (7 oz) chickpeas
- curry powder and cumin to taste
-olive oil for roasting
toss the squash and zucchini with some olive oil and cumin. Put it in a baking dish and roast in the oven at 300 degrees for about 40 min/ until browned. When it has about 10 minutes to go, cook the couscous, adding some cumin and curry powder to the water beforehand. Combine all the ingredients together in a big pot, then cook at a low temperature until everything is heated up.
-Lola
p.s. roasted zucchini and yellow squash are also good added to mac and cheese.
and a giveaway!

baked pasta with gouda

just look at that big chunk of melty cheese:badly lit, yes, but cheesy nonetheless. i promise it really looks more appetizing than that. winter in new york=no natural lighting after 4 pm.

baked pasta with gouda serves 2-3
*2 cups penne pasta
*about 1/3 cups gouda cheese, chopped into small cubes if you live in new york, go here. its amazing.
*a good sized plop of tomato sauce (1/2 cup? basically however much you need to cover your pasta)
*2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
*1 onion
*about 1 tablespoon olive oil
1. cook pasta in boiling water. meanwhile, slice onion and cook in olive oil, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 10-15 minutes.
2. when pasta is done, drain and return to pot. mix in onion slices and sauce.
3. preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. put pasta mixture in a glass baking dish. top with breadcrumbs and cheese. bake for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
-Lola
giveaway links!
the twelve posts of christmas
kay's naturals, from averie
lara bars, from iowa girl
lots of good stuff from pure2raw

peanut butter and sweet potato toast + cinnamon blackberry oats in a jar

two simple and scrumptious dishes...
toast a piece of bread, top with peanut butter and roast sweet potato slices (slice a sweet potato and roast it in the oven for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees F, or until soft on the inside--poke it with a fork to test). YUM! that is all i have to say about that.
Oh. Em. Gee. and that is not a phrase i use often, so you know this was some seriousness goodness.
cook 1/4 cup steel cut oats in 1/2 cup milk (or soy, for any vegan readers) + 1/4 cup brewed darjeeling tea for 10-20 minutes (mine was about 15 min). stir in some blackberries, raisins, and a generous spoonful of cinnamon. serve in an almost empty peanut butter jar and top with a small scoop of peanut butter (I used about 1/2 a tablespoon)and 1/2 a crumbled cinnamon graham cracker.
if i made this again, i would replace the raisins with more blackberries (i only had 3 left and i wanted to get more fruit in, hence the raisins) and either replace the tea with more milk or water or replace some of the milk with more tea (was that confusing? the tea flavor didn't really come through, so either omit it entirely or use more tea, is what i mean).
-Lola
ps. check out chocolate covered katie's coconut butter giveaway
and emily has a giveaway too!

thanksgiving break

its been a while, hasn't it? no new recipes today, but i just wanted to do a quick post. we had a great time over thanksgiving break. my fabulous friend A. was visiting for the weekend, and we spent most of our time in chinatown, with some detours to upstate (thanksgiving dinner with our aunt, yay!), columbus circle (black friday shopping. we went in the afternoon, we're not crazy enough to go at 5 am. but still, it was insane), little italy, and soho.
food highlights (sorry no photos! hopefull A. will upload hers soon and i can steal some):
-Szechuan food in Chinatown. Famous Sichuan. we met up with A.'s friends, who are all from China. super spicy and delicious. from now on, i need to go with people who speak Chinese whenever i eat Chinese food...more authentic dishes and we got a discount! fave dish was the dan dan noodles. we got a huge feast, even though this was our lunch before heading upstate for thanksgiving dinner.
-Cannoli in little italy! amazing, but overpriced. i don't remember what restaurant we went to, but cannoli seems to be the same at most places in little italy.
-vietnamese sandwiches at paris sandwich. delicious, but if you're going to get banh mi, san francisco is better and cheaper. i reccommend saigon sandwich for true amazingness.
-grilled corn at cafe habana. with cheese and chili powder. yum!

-Lola

butternut squash casserole

This weekend was my turn to have a thanksgiving potluck. I was assigned a squash dish, so I decided on this butternut squash casserole. It turned out quite tasty, if i do say so myself! although the star of the dinner, for me at least, was the sweet potatoes. I'd never had the traditional preparation with marshmallows before, and it was fantastic! Although i am generally of the opinion that marshmallows make everything better.

the recipe, from southern living via myrecipes.com

Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients

* 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2-inch cubes (about 1 3/4 pounds)
* 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
* 1 small onion, minced
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped [found these at whole foods]
* 1 cup fresh soft breadcrumbs

Preparation

Bring squash and water to cover to a boil; cook 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; drain. Mash until smooth.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in squash, 2 tablespoons butter, eggs, and next 3 ingredients. Fold in cranberries. Spoon into lightly greased 1-quart baking dish.

Combine breadcrumbs and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Sprinkle over casserole.

Bake at 375° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set and golden.

My "I am a ridiculous college student" notes:
First of all, I doubled the recipe and made it in a 2 quart dish. This made more than enough for the 15ish people at our dinner, although not everyone ate my dish. Also, I would like to say that peeling and chopping a 3.5 pound squash when you have approximately 1 square foot of counter space is very challenging. I made the breadcrumbs by toasting a few slices of wheat bread and 1 stale whole wheat pita in the oven for about 15 minutes. I then put the bread in a plastic bag and crushed it into crumbs using a metal water bottle as if it was a rolling pin. I stole the sugar and pepper from starbucks and our dining hall, respectively. I forgot to steal any salt, so I left it out and it didn't seem to make a difference.
-Lola
p.s. happy thanksgiving everyone!
also: a giveaway!

Stuffing with collards, cornbread, and soyrizo

I had a thanksgiving potluck this week, so I decided to try a new stuffing recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, except instead of making my own cornbread, I used TJ's cornbread mix because it is impossible to do any baking from scratch in our tiny kitchen, especially since we no have no mixing bowls and only 1 baking pan (and as lola's friend k. said, "actual homemade stuffing is like wild cows...you just never see it" we then proceeded to have a 20 minute conversation with two of the RAs about how Jiffy cornbread is everyone's family secret, the controversial inclusion of whole pieces of corn in cornbread, and the existance of something called a "cheesecake lollipop tree". anyhoo, trader joe's makes a good cornbread mix). I also substituted soyrizo (trader joe's too) for the chorizo.


despite having to figure out a way to make everything in one pot, and a frantic last minute trip to the deli to buy tinfoil, it turned out quite good. Everything at the potluck was delicous, and I had a the perfect thanksgiving feast-stuffing, mac & cheese, candied yams, and a ridiculous amount of pie.

from food and wine magazine, via myrecipes.com

Yield: 10

Ingredients

• CORN BREAD:
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups stone-ground white cornmeal
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 
  STUFFING:
• 2 pounds collard greens, large stems discarded
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound chorizo, coarsely chopped
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 celery ribs, finely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock or canned low-sodium broth

Preparation

1. MAKE THE CORN BREAD: Preheat the oven to 425°. Pour the oil into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and heat in the oven. In a large bowl, whisk the cornmeal with the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the eggs. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, add the melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended; do not overmix.

2. Remove the baking dish from the oven and swirl to coat with the oil. Scrape the batter into the hot dish and bake for 25 minutes, or until springy and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and let cool. Turn the oven down to 375°. Crumble the corn bread into small chunks and spread on 2 large baking sheets. Bake the corn bread for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until dry and golden. Leave the oven on.

3. MAKE THE STUFFING: In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the collard greens until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly. Squeeze dry and coarsely chop.

4. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the chorizo and cook over moderately low heat for 5 minutes. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the collards and remove from the heat. Let cool completely.

5. Scrape the corn bread into a very large bowl and add the collard mixture. Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the stock and pour over the stuffing; mix well.

6. Butter 2 large, shallow baking dishes and divide the stuffing between them. Cover and bake at 375° for about 25 minutes, or until heated through. Uncover and bake for about 10 minutes longer, or until browned. Serve hot.

Make Ahead: The corn bread can be frozen for up to 1 month. The stuffing can be assembled and refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before baking.

-Rita we're gonna start signing our posts now so you can tell which twin wrote what =)