happy halloween!

i've been nagging rita all week to do a post on a delicious couscous salad we made earlier, but she's being lazy and so am i. so, for now, enjoy this song and have a very happy halloween!

-Lola

cinnamon sugar pita chips

yo! how was everyone's weekend?

mine involved lots of homework and studying for midterms, seeing the giants win (we're going to the world series!!!), my first legal drink at a bar (happy 21st to my sister rita too!), and delicious chocolate pudding pie and cookie dough cupcakes baked by my friend (i took pictures but they're on my phone and i didn't properly download the necessary software to get them onto my computer. but the cupcakes were lovely, believe me).

anyhoo, onto the chips...

i love when simple things like this turn out amazing. all you need is some leftover pita, cinnamon, sugar, and oil and you're on your way to a crazy addictive snack.

note the one perfect looking chip off to the side.

cinnamon sugar pita chips
*1 whole wheat pita
*2 teaspoons cinnamon
*about 3/4 of a packet of sugar
*canola oil

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
separate pita into two flat, round halves. rip or cut into triangular pieces.
spread pita pieces onto a cookie sheet. drizzle with a small amount of oil and toss, so that each chip has some oil on it but is not completely coated. sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar--again, each chip should have some but not be coated.
bake for about 20 minutes, or until crispy, flipping chips over halfway through.

eat plain or with peanut butter. i bet they'd be good with yogurt too.

-Lola

breakfast quinoa

rita and i recently purchased a bag of quinoa, which we had been keeping in a drawer in the kitchen, until i learned that quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain, and should be refrigerated.

unfortunately, our fridge is approximately the size of a small dog (i have no idea where that comparison came from, but now that its in my head i have a mental block and can't think of anything else that's the same size), and we had no room for quinoa. which meant we were forced to eat delicious things like this: cooked quinoa, heated up in a splash of milk, mixed with a big scoop of pumpkin and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and half a packet of equal (not because i have any preference for equal. i just happened to grab it at the coffee shop). topped with almond butter.

cooked quinoa, heated up in soy milk, mixed with raisins and cinnamon and topped with syrup (trader joe's maple/agave blend) and almond butter.
-Lola

Cheddar Squash Muffins/Bread

Me and Lola are both huge fans of muffins. And rightly so; they are amazing. The only bad thing about muffins is that you can't eat them for dinner. Well, no more!
we don't have a muffin tin so we made these as bread. They were delicious, although I suspect they would be even better if made as muffins (true fact: everything is better if it's muffin-shaped). we ate them with some tomato soup and they were great crumbled on top of the soup.

Chedder Squash Muffins
recipe from Glamour, makes 12 muffins (or one 8x8 pan of bread)
*2 eggs
*1/2 cup water
*1 cup roasted squash, mashed (we used acorn squash)
*1 one-lb box oatmeal muffin mix
*1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
*1/4 cup chopped scallions
in a bowl, add eggs, water, and roasted squash. whisk in muffin mix. cheese, and scallions. spoon batter inot baking cups of two 6-cup muffin tins or an 8x8 baking dish and bake in oven at 400 degrees farenheit for 15 to 20 minutes

-Rita

my new favorite thing ever

-Lola

hi!

just wanted to pop in to tell you this important fact: trader joe's white bean and basil hummus is amazing!
that's all.
-Lola

migas

i have no idea if how i made my migas is authentically mexican [edit: just wikipedia-ed it. migas are tex mex, not mexican]. in fact, i don't really know much about migas at all. i learned to make them at the jewish community center when i was in 3rd grade, and this is the first time i've made them since. somewhere, i have a notebook from then, with the recipe written out in pink gel pen and titled "hella good chip things". whatever you want to call these, they're delicious.for one serving, i used:
*2 corn tortillas
*2 stalks (is that what they're called?) green onions, sliced
*2 eggs
*1 handful shredded cheddar and jack cheese
*1/2 an avocado, chopped
and some canola oil.
first, heat your oil in a pan. use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. cut your tortillas into sixths, and place the pieces in the pan. fry until tortillas are just starting to get crispy.
next, add your eggs and green onions. stir occasionally until eggs are scrambled. at the end, stir in cheese and cook for about 30 seconds more. top with avocado and serve with hot sauce or salsa (i used sriracha, of course).
-Lola

bbq tofu sandwiches

rita and i have both become hermits this weekend. i caught a bad flu, and have now given it to her. we're both treating it with lots of duane reade nyquil knockoff, way too much grey's anatomy and my so-called life, and plenty of sleep.

despite this, we have managed to cook some very tasty dishes, which i promise we'll post about soon. i also went over to a friend's apartment the other night and helped her make butternut squash ravioli with hazelnut butter sauce (by "helped" i mean i rolled out the dough with a budweiser can. classy). so good! i wish i had a picture for you guys.

anyhoo, here's a not so exciting (or photogenic) but still yummy meal:
we just fried some tofu in oil, then served it in a sandwich with bbq sauce and sliced tomato. we also had un-photographed sweet potato fries on the side. with more bbq sauce, of course. you can never have enough.
-Lola

cheese enchiladas with mango salsa

this post is dedicated to our mom, who taught us (among many other important things) how to make enchiladas. happy birthday mom!
for the enchiladas, you'll need small tortillas (flour or corn), enchilada sauce, grated cheese (we buy the pre-grated mexican blend. you could also use cheddar and jack), and onions. you could also add black olives and jalapenos if you want. we forgot to buy jalapenos, so we added some hot sauce to the enchiladas.

first, make the filling by mixing cheese, diced onion, and olives and jalapenos if you have them.

next, dip your tortillas in enchilada sauce and fry them for about 3 minutes each, until they're just getting crispy. place tortillas in a baking dish, plop a spoonful of filling in each one, and roll up. keep going until your baking dish is full-you can pack your enchiladas pretty tightly. if you have extra filling, sprinkle it on top of the enchiladas and top with a little more sauce.

bake at 375 for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tortillas are crispy and cheese is melted.
for the salsa, i started with this recipe, but just copied the ingredient list and used the quantities i felt like using.
*1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped
*1 red bell pepper, chopped
*juice of 2 limes, or to taste
*4 stalks green onion, chopped
*2 teaspoons olive oil
combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir.
recommended cooking music:

(actually i was listening to taylor swift while cooking, but rita hates taylor swift. we're listening to this song as a type this post.)
and for my mom:

its her song.
i promise i will get over the novelty and stop embedding videos soon. but not yet =)
-Lola

quinoa with roasted vegetables and cashews

sorry to have abandoned you for a week! in my defense, i have been super busy. this week i:

*got a new job

*had about 50 million pages of reading to do for classes

*joined an irish folk group (despite the fact that i have no musical talent what-so-ever)

*ran 3.92 miles in 50 minutes. the farthest i've ever run! i credit all the flo rida on my ipod. (also, i know this is not impressive if you are a serious runner, but i'm not. before this january, the most i'd ever run was the mile run we did in PE class every year. and by "run", i mean jogged for 5 minutes and walked the rest. the only person with a worse time than me was this weird kid who never showered.)
and because i just figured out how to embed videos into posts, here's the aforementioned flo rida:


*had my first food lab, in which we get long lists of tasks, recipes, and experiments to do in groups. basically it is very intense and involves running around the kitchen for 3 hours. we made apple sauce, caramelized onions, roasted vegetables, sauteed mustard greens, steamed vegetables, and cabbage.

so now that you've patiently read through all my excuses, here's some healthy and tasty food for you:

cauliflower and eggplant, tossed with canola oil and roasted at 475 for about half an hour. added to quinoa cooked with curry powder (i believe our curry powder is the sweet kind, but you could use whatever you like) and topped with cashews. and then topped with un-pictured sriracha.

-Lola