Monday, July 23, 2007

For corn's sake...

Nope. Nothing to do with corn. Just ran through my head.

Funny thing happened. I went to the beach for the first time in about a year... and it rained for the first time in 6 months. Imagine: if I had gone 5 months ago, Los Angeles wouldn't be having a water shortage right now and Matt would be able to do all the cannonballs he liked.

And on a side-note: if your job is to be a killjoy who talks down to people for a career, leave it at work. I'm 24. It doesn't have to be like that.

Why is it that elementary-school teachers oftentimes act like everyone is their student?

The point is that me + beach = rain for LA = big splashy diving.

Here's another recipe.
No, I have no focus today.

Roasted Veggies I Happened To Have
- potatoes
- yellow squash
- onions
- brussel sprouts
- mushrooms
- olive oil
- parsley, chopped
Topping
( - rosemary, finely chopped
( - grated parmesan cheese
( - breadcrumbs, italian style
( - salt
( - garlic powder

Heat your oven to 425 degrees! DO IT!

Chop the veggies into chunks so that each piece is about 1 to 1/2 inch. Leave the onion chunks bunched together. Or, you know, don't. In fact feel free to substitute whatever other veggies you might have. Give it a whirl. (FYI, whole garlic cloves would be a great addition but I didn't have any.) Anyhow, spread the veggies out to an even layer in a roasting pan. Drizzle them with some olive oil and give em a good rubdown so that they are well coated. Yes, with your hands. Now, take all the "topping" ingredients and mix them together in a small bowl. Basically make enough so that some of it can get on each piece of vegetable. Sprinkle your mixture over your spread and make sure you get a fairly even coating. Don't be afraid to get your hands back in there. Finally, sprinkle the parsley on top. Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes...ish. It's hard to account for all ovens, so I usually would check the progress about 30 minutes in. Just be smart. And if you like your stuff crispy, heck! Try an hour!

Frickin delicious. Makes good leftovers too.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

On food.

I've been coming up with a whole bunch of rather nifty recipes these past months and a few have been on post-its in my planner where no one will ever see and use them. Then then they will de-stickify and fall off and be lost forever. Or something.

Spare the drama. Save the recipes.

Ricotta Honey Buns
(really easy)

Baking mix (Bisquick or knockoff, reduced fat okay)
Milk
Cinnamon
Pine nuts
Ricotta cheese
Honey


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Take your baking mix and follow the biscuit dough instructions for however many biscuits you want to make.

Note: If you're like me and put your baking mix in a sealed container, throwing away the box, you can find the recipes online.
Basic ratio is:

2 1/4 cups mix + 2/3 cup milk = 9 biscuits
Adapt this to fit your needs.

Add to this some cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon. I like a lot so I put in enough so that the cinnamon is slightly noticeable when looking at the dough. Mix in some pine nuts. Who am I kidding? At this point, you'll probably be kneading them in. If you don't like touching dough, get over it and get your hands in the bowl.

In a seperate bowl, take about a cup of ricotta cheese and sweeten it with honey. Once again, add enough so that it lightly tints the ricotta.

Have a cooking sheet on hand and sprinkle it with flour so that your biscuits don't stick.

Now, here's the tricky part.
1) Make a disc of dough about 3/4 the size of your palm. If the dough is too sticky, put a sprinkle of flour on the outside so you can form your discs. Lay the disc on the pan.
2) With a spoon, put about half a spoonful of ricotta onto the center of the disc, keeping clear of the edges.
3) Make another disc and put it on top.
4) Seal the edges.
5) Keep doing this until all your dough is gone.
6) Eat any extra sweetened ricotta because it's delicious.

Bake them for about 10 minutes or until they are a slight golden brown on top.

These biscuits kick the hell out of any pretentious $5 scones.

More to come!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Screw June!

You know what June is about?
Getting ready for July and August.

Seriously.

Think about it. If you do seasonal work, by June you better be working on having a sweet summer job. If you burn easily, you better get a base tan and get used to throwing on sunscreen every time you leave your abode (even if it is just your left arm to avoid the dreaded Driver's Tan). If you are cheap and hate turning on your air-conditioning, you better get used to the heat slow and gradual-like because if you start cranking it up June 2, there'll be no money for ice-cream and sno-cones come August.

You know what June is not about?
Blogging, apparently.

I'll get back on it, I swear.