foodandscience's Profile
creamy-style vegan salad dressing suggestions?
I am obsessed with Trader Joe's Goddess dressing which is vegan. Satisfies the creamy dressing need. It also have tahini.. you could try looking for a recipe for Vegan Goddess dressing if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby.
How much meat to grill for a taco bar for ~20 people?
That's great, thanks for the help and advice!
I just hate, hate to run out of anything. I love to entertain & so when people come over, they know they'll have tons of food. Sounds good, around 5lbs of each.
How much meat to grill for a taco bar for ~20 people?
I'm throwing a surprise 60th birthday party for my mother-in-law and we decided to do a big taco bar since its right around Cinco de Mayo, we have lovely weather, a big backyard and a grill to work with.
We are planning to do both marinated chicken and carne asada on the grill for the tacos, but I'm not sure how much we'll need for around 20 people. I always like to have plenty, rather than the fear of running out, plus the guys in my family will be perfectly willing to take home leftovers... I just need a suggestion of how much meat to purchase. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Can I really bake dinner in a toaster oven?
I use mine all the time for things since I live alone. Today was the first time I tried shirred eggs for breakfast in the toaster oven and it worked great! Didn't want to heat up the whole oven and my little ramekin fit in the toaster oven perfectly. Heats up way faster and uses less energy. I love it!
Middle-Brow, Non-Ethnic in Arcadia
We love London Gastropub on Myrtle in Monrovia, which is quite close to the races. They have a new chef and we've tried out most of the offerings. Pub food, burgers, flatbread pizza-ish things, nachos, but all very good fare. They have happy hour as well as we see lots of folks in after a day at Santa Anita. Full bar too.
Ricotta Salata...Who Carries It?
I get it regularly at Whole Foods, so you should be able to find it there.
Recipes from Smitten Kitchen blog.....what are your favorites??
I have quite a few I've tried again and again and love.
I just made her hazlenut plum tart, but I had to double the amount of custard to fill the tart shell. It was a big hit at the picnic.
I love her bretzel (pretzel) rolls, could eat the whole batch.
Braised short ribs are fantastic and my go-to short rib recipe.
Braided lemon bread. Also works great with all sorts of different fruit fillings... or nutella.
Blueberry boy bait.
Tomato and Sausage risotto. Great way to sneak in a lot of good-for-you spinach.
Those are off the top of my head, but they are very good, and work time and again!
Good place to celebrate/eat in Pasadena?
I love Le Grande Orange. Sitting on the patio, having some cocktails and wine, and a great dinner. If you like pizza, you could also try their pizzeria, that's attached to the building called The Luggage Room. Great artisanal pizzas and wine. Not crazy expensive but a fun atmosphere in both.
Left over girlie beer
As soon as I saw the title of your post, I though, hmmm must be Leinie's Berry Weiss. I thought it was really good when I was 18, uhumm, 21. Proud to be from Milwaukee!
Not sure how to cook with it though.
The Casserole
Mine is sort of similar to happybelly's.
Crush up some tortilla chips (they can be stale). I love the flaxseed high fiber/lowcarb ones from Trader joe's, they actually taste great. Anyways, I brown up a pound of ground turkey with some diced onions. Then dice up some red pepper, chop some cilantro & mix turkey, pepper, a can of salsa, maybe some extra diced tomatoes, a can of your favorite beans, some corn (frozen or from a can), olives all together with turkey. Season with a bit of cumin if you like. Layer half in the dish over the crushed chips, then sprinkle on some shredded cheese (low fat if you like), then the other half of the mix and some more cheese on top. I serve it with some reduced fat sour cream on the side.
It's hearty but can really adjusted to your liking, and pretty healthy, with protein, veggies, and fiber.
Little Door?
I've lived in LA for 10 years now and had heard some good things over the years. So we tried it for a friend's birthday. The patio is nice (yes, its romantic) but we ended getting shoved in a strange corner inside, though we had requested outside Food was blah... nothing to write home about and definitely didn't have anything memorable foodwise. Won't compare to Cut. I think you can find better for your trip to LA.
Bittman Takes on America's Chefs--keep or return
I bought it off the discount rack at a bookstore. Blah, I'd return it if I were you. I haven't used it, and I love my cookbooks. I read them like novels. This one just wasn't all that exciting.
Was santa good this year??? cookbooks, cookbooks, cookbooks oh my!
I got Rocco DiSpirito's Real Life Recipes, I think it is because my mom thinks he's as cute as I do. It's good, some simple straight-forward entrees. Nothing too fancy. Deli Roast Beef features prominently in the Beef section, interesting.
Gougères
The one I use is from Leite's Culinaria. There is no milk, yet they are very rich and its quite a thick dough. Thick enough that I use a small scooper to make evenly sized puffs. This recipe calls for 6 oz. cheese, water, butter, salt, egg, flour, dry mustard, and a touch of cayenne. Very easy. I love these. I'm going to try one of these other recipes though. I like to try different types of cheeses too. Mine can't have enough cheese either! I'll try AD's recipe and get back to you. I've got a holiday party on Saturday to try these out.
Help: thickening chicken-pie filling
I often thicken soups, gravy or my chicken pot pie filling with a butter and flour mashed together. I got this from some recipe long ago and it works. Take about 4-5 Tbsp. of butter, near room temp in a bowl and sprinkle a few Tbsp. of flour over it. Mix with your hand by pinching it so you get a coarse crumb consistency. Then drop some of it into whatever you need to thicken, like your filling, and stir. It work remarkably well, plus its easy and you don't need to make a roux. Hope it works.
Looking for exciting Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Thanks, That's a good idea. Plus the lemons on my tree are just turning the perfect yellow. I'll give it a try.
Corn pudding recipe?
I have made a corn pudding or corn souffle before but I have lost the recipe. My friend has requested corn for Thanksgiving and I think this fits into my southern theme.
I would love to add some smoky ham or proscuitto but my host is vegetarian.
Anyone have a good recipe? Maybe a smoked cheese like gouda would make a good addition. Thanks.
Looking for exciting Cranberry Sauce Recipe
This sounds a little like my Grammy's recipe. Everyone I've served it to has asked for it.
Orange-Ginger Cranberry Sauce
1 Bag cranberries (12 0z)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp each ginger root and salt
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier or any orange liquer
Heat cranberries, sugar, water and OJ to boiling in saucepan. Cont. stirring until sugar dissolves ,about 3 mins. Stir in ginger and salt. Reduce heat and stir until mixture thickens and berries split, about 5 mins. Remove from heat and add Grand Marnier. Refrigerate at least 3 hrs... better overnight.
I miss my Grammy so much, so every time I see her handwriting on this recipe, it makes me smile. It helps I can spread her love around a little with this recipe.
Vegetarian Gravy?
Thanks for all the suggestions. Nice to know there are some options.
Vegetarian Gravy?
I know it seems counterintuitive, but I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 10 or so, and one of the hosts is a vegetarian. I thought it would be nice to get her some gravy. Anyone seen any place to buy it? Maybe I'll check out the new Whole Foods in Pasadena tonight.
Suggestions for Craft?
I loved the grits and the shortribs. Our waiter said the roasted octopus was one of the best dishes there but I thought it was just okay and I didn't taste any of chorizo that was supposed to be in the dish. Sablefish was moist and flavorful. We loved most of what we ordered, but I was a bit distracted as we were seated near Tom Hanks and my dinner companion thought it was funny to keep stage whispering Wilson! and Forrest Gump quotes. I forgave him because he was the birthday boy, but needless to say I was shrinking in my seat.
Is your Thanksgiving menu/setting formal/informal, traditional/contemporary, family/friends?
I'm originally from Wisconsin but I've been in LA since I came here for undergrad. It was always too close to finals to fly home for Thanksgiving so we started a tradition our senior year of college to get all our friends together for Thanksgiving who couldn't make it home. My best friend and I have continued this tradition for 7 years, having the holiday at either of our homes.
We consider ourselves foodies but some traditions can't be messed with. We make my grammy's cranberries (with Grand Marnier!) and my best friend's mom's dressing made with half biscuits/half cornbread. His mom is from Alabama so they have very southern, traditional stuff at home. We also try various turkeys. Brining it seemed to make it our best yet.
Embarrasing side note: last year we bought a turkey breast from Whole Foods, pre-ordered. When my friend went to pick it up, it was 110 dollars. The world's most expensive turkey. My family from the Midwest was aghast, and said every time someone would take a bite, I'd think of of it as 5 more dollars eaten!
Traditional sides: Glazed Carrots, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Dressing, Green Beans, Cranberries, Homemade Gravy, our guest bring dessert. The rest we make just the two of us. Its all part of the experience.
We love it because we get all of our friends who can't make it home together. We remember our families we can't be with and celebrate good friendships. We've taught ourselves how to do make all this over the years. Plus lots of good wine we've picked on various wine tasting excursions. I love this tradition; wouldn't trade it for the world.
What are your favorite appetizers to serve?
For any wine get-togethers, I make gougeres. They are savory little pastry puffs. Search Leite's Culinaria for a great recipe for Cheddar-Chive Gougeres. They are really easy to make and hot out of the oven, they are totally addictive. You can vary up the type of cheeses too, depending on your taste. I bought a little scoop, a bit smaller than an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough on the baking sheet, which makes things easy. You can always split them too and fill them with crab salad, chicken salad, or any type of spread. I also give a vote for bacon wrapped dates stuffed with manchego cheese. Easy to assemble ahead of time and then throw in the oven before your guests arrive.
Craft lacking the human touch
Mmmm... I also had the grits last night. Fantastic. Paired with the short ribs, it was a great match. Sadly my one and only other run in with grits was at a roadside Cracker Barrel in Colorado. This was, ahem, a big step up. We also had the sable with bacon sabayon. Quite good fish. It seemed like bacon (or other derivations of salty porkiness) was a theme. Endive salad with bacon, octopus with chorizo.... I can't complain. It was delicious.
What recipes do you cook on Auto-Pilot?
I'll second the risotto. I always have parmesan in the fridge and chicken broth in the cabinet. I like mushroom risotto best but zucchini and peas make a good spring risotto too. Its an auto pilot go-to favorite for me.
What's your favorite oddball candy?
I had a friend who lived in Australia for a year and sent me candy all the time so I love Polly Waffles (a tube of waffle cone filled with marshmallow then dipped in chocolate). Ohh yum, they're just wonderful. I also love Cherry Ripe. Coconutty raspberry in dark chocolate.
Regional "food quirks"
I grew up in Wisconsin... so my dad ate canteloupe with salt and in the summer, ripe fresh sliced tomatoes with sugar. Strange.
My best friend loves biscuits with that white sausage gravy (like from Cracker Barrel but his mom makes is too) covered in sugar. His mom is originally from Alabama. I love salty and sweet but that's gross.
Any ideas for a creamy cheesy pasta?
I'm usually more of a creamy, cheesy type pasta while my boyfriend is more of a red sauce kind of guy but I often make Italian mac and cheese that satisfies us both. I think its delish and its even great reheated.
It's pretty easy and by now I don't look at a recipe. Usually I use ziti or rigatoni. Saute up some sausage ( I used italian chicken sausage) and set aside then saute garlic and sliced mushrooms in olive oil until soft, sprinkle on some flour and cook a bit more while stirring. Add in chicken stock and milk (or cream) and bring to a boil. Then add in a can of diced tomatoes that have been drained. Add cheese (I like a lot of cheese so I used about 2 8 oz. bags or so) any mix will do. I love fontina, a little smoked gouda, some parmesan but cheddar or whatever you like will do. Add back in the sausage and then stir in your cooked pasta and serve.
Here is the original recipe but its relatively easy to tweak. Its one of my favorites.
http://www.recipezaar.com/145583
Your most infamous kitchen misadventure
I had just moved into my first apartment in college senior year and I thought I'd throw a dinner party. For dessert, I was making baked apples in puff pastry with a buttery brown sugar bourbon sauce that is poured over the wrapped apples as they bake. About half way through I went to check on them, opened the oven door and the door fell off!! I was too proud to shut down the whole thing and toss the apples, so I stood there and held the door onto the oven for the next half hour till the apples were done. The dessert turned out great, but it was quite embarrassing.
The Marshmallow Master Topic
I had great luck with the martha stewart recipe. My mom and I love marshmallows and so I decided to make them for mother's day for her. My issue with hers ( and I haven't tried any others) is that even after letting it dry overnight in the pan, it was still waaaay to sticky to cut with her *cute little star cookie cutters*. I ended up letting them dry more and then just cutting them into squares and then dipping in powdered sugar again. Still, it was one of those moments when a hidden camera would have caught me with marshmallows stuck everywhere as i could not peel them from my fingers, arms.. etc. It took forever to cut and put on wax paper. Aaaurgggh!!! I've had luck with various flavorings too and rolling them in toasted coconuts. Love them all!!! Good luck.
