Spaghetti Carbonara DJ and Mack style

Our mom would make this when we were kids and it was an all-around favorite. Do yourself and me a favor and make it exactly per the instructions the first time before you go fancying it up.
Also, I strongly recommend reading the instructions through once because the end part after the pasta is cooked goes quickly and you're not going to want to be running back and forth between the pasta and the recipe (it's pretty straightforward).
I've made the core instructions bold in case you want to skip my commentary.

Ingredients:

• Bacon - one package, regular type, whatever thickness you like
• Spaghetti - one package (you can use linguine or angel hair the first time but save the fancier shapes and the whole wheat for next time)
• One egg - regular chicken egg is good, anything fancier would be a waste
• Parmesan - get the shredded kind that looks like little sticks. The powder-type won't work and this is not worth hand-shredding your own. Trust me, just don't. You'll want the 5 oz container but more cheese never hurt anyone. If you have a whole foods you can get the stuff they shred in-store (get the tall container, it's easy to use up extra parmesan) but we grew up with belgioioso or whatever the standard grocery store one is so don't go out of your way to whole foods.
• White pepper - This is in the spice aisle and the only "fancy" ingredient you need. It is significantly different from black pepper and you definitely need it. I know it's tempting to ignore this one, but don't.

Directions:

1. Put some water on to boil. If you salt your pasta water, go ahead and salt the water.
2. While that's heating up, cook the bacon. You can do it on the stove or in the oven or in the microwave or however you normally do it. You want the bacon to be done before the pasta because you're going to cut it up and put it in the pasta later.
3. Get a bowl large enough to accommodate the spaghetti later and crack an egg in the bottom. Scramble it up a bit with a fork and set aside. You can do this step at any point before the pasta goes in.
4. Put the pasta in the water when it's boiling.
5. Chop up the bacon while the pasta is cooking, set aside. If you're a slow chopper you might start this early. The pieces should be roughly square (with side length the width of the bacon) but this is a very rough guideline, do not bother measuring or even trying to make the pieces remotely uniform. If you've made your bacon crispy you can even crumble it by hand if you want (though try to keep at least some of the crumbs larger)
6. When the pasta is al dente, drain it in a colander and then immediately dump it on the scrambly egg you prepared earlier. Stir immediately to mix the egg in with the pasta. Yes, you are dumping pasta onto a raw egg. The pasta has just come out of the boiling water and will cook the egg completely as you stir it in. Do not skip this step.
7. Once it's stirred enough that you won't get a giant scrambled egg lump (usually just 4 - 6 stirs), dump in the cheese. If you got the 5 oz container, dump it all. If you got more than that start with about 5 oz (eyeball it, this is not an exact science) and add more as desired.
8. Sprinkle some white pepper over the cheese. A little goes a long way so just give it one or two light shakes.
9. Stir the cheese and pepper in, add bacon when it's mostly incorporated, then stir until it's even enough for your liking.
10. Enjoy!

This is great left over if you manage not to eat it all right away.
The original recipe doesn't need improving but you can certainly play around with it and add in veggies or use different pasta or swap out the bacon for pancetta (probably more authentic). All I ask is that you try it the regular way first.

Avocado Toast

When I first heard about Avocado Toast, I rolled my eyes so hard they almost fell out. But I like avocados and I like toast so I did give in and try it. And it is fantastic. What I don't like though, is going to a restaurant and paying a lot of money for things that are simple and much less costly to make at home. So I try to avoid getting out.
Here's my basic Recipe

Ingredients:

• Bread - I usually go for one of the bakery multigrains, you want something sturdy, not the soft floppy stuff
• Avocados (ripe obviously)
• Olive Oil
• Large Grain salt (sea salt, flake salt, Himalayan pink, whatever your preferred fancy salt)
• Red Pepper Flakes (like the kind in the shaker at the pizza place)
• Pepper (whatever your pepper grinder has in it is fine)

Directions:

1. Toast the bread. I personally enjoy toasting the bread in my cast iron skillet with a bit of olive oil. This method is totally optional and if you think it's too much of a pain or if you just don't have a suitable skillet, just use whatever your preferred toastng method is.
2. Place the toasted bread slices onto a plate
3. Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Use a fork to scoop out the part that you actually eat and kind of mash it onto the toasts in a thick layer.
4. Sprinkle each slice generously with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with the red pepper flakes to your preference
5. If you did not toast the bread in olive oil, you may wish to drizzle a small amount on top.
6. Enjoy!

If you can make toast and cut an avocado in half you can make this yourself. There are many variations to avocado toast, so I encourage you to experiment with additional toppings and spices. Leave a comment with your favorite toppings!

Mackenzie (a grilled cheese sandwich)

In Brooklyn there is a fantastic bar called Noorman's Kil. They serve whiskey and grilled cheese.  I could not recommend this place enough.  If you ever go to NYC with me, I will probably drag you there.  I won their first annual Grilled Cheese competition last year and was granted an automatic entry into this year's competition.  Here is the 2015 recipe!

Ingredients:

• Bread*
• Fontina
• Asiago
• Gorgonzola
• Mozzarella**
• Garlic
• Sun Dried Tomatoes (in oil)
• Basil

Directions:

1. The garlic and sun dried tomatoes get made into a spread.  I use an 8.5 oz jar of tomatoes for about three large cloves of garlic.  This will make enough for about 4-6 sandwiches.  Pulse the garlic in the food processor until it is minced.  Drain the oil off the tomatoes, squeezing a bit (some left is ok but you don't want them dripping), then add them to the food processor for a few seconds  You are looking for them to be blended into tiny bits but it does not need to be smooth.  Extra spread goes great on crackers and stores fairly well in the fridge too.
2. Spread a thin layer of this on one slice of bread
3. Layer the cheeses.  I did them in the order listed above because that was the easiest structurally with the cheese formats I used.  The gorgonzola is a strong cheese so you probably want to use about half as much as any of the other cheeses.  I had the other ones roughly equal, but you don't need to be exact.
4. Snip one large or two medium leaves of basil into little bits and sprinkle atop the cheeses. If you do not have fresh basil, a generous sprinkle of the dried stuff is just fine.  Plop the other bread slice on top.
5. Press that sandwich on a panini press.  If you don't have one, you can try cooking it the regular way in a pan but it's going to be very tricky with the amount of cheese you've crammed in.
6. Slice in half and enjoy.

In case you were wondering, I came in first place (again). I don't have the official dates yet for the sandwich but it will probably be on the menu for May.

* For the competition it was required that we use Orwashers bread so I used their Cabernet Rustica. For testing I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Pane Loaf.  You can use anything similar.  This sandwich would go great on ciabatta, which is probably what they will serve it on at the bar.

** I used the bag of pre-shredded mozzarella.  The fresh stuff is quite delicious but it does not melt the same.

Buffalo Mac and Cheese

I used to live near a bar that used to offer this as an appetizer and it was so delicious I had to replicate it at home.  The recipe is for one box of pasta which feeds two hungry people for dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

• Pasta (elbows, shells, twirlies are all good)
• Cheddar (for one box of pasta I used 2 cups shredded)
• Blue Cheese (you can buy the crumbles or a wedge, however much you want)
• Milk (you will only need a bit so if you're not a milk drinker or coffee-er just buy the smallest amount.  Any percent is fine, I use skim because it's what I drink and there isn't a noticeable difference)
• Cooked Chicken* (2 breasts)
• Frank's RedHot sauce (I just dump and taste but I'm going to guess 1/3 cup)

Directions:

1. If you bought your cheese in blocks, shred it now
2. Put a pot of water in to boil.  Dump some salt in.
3. When it boils, add the pasta.
4. When the pasta is done* drain it and dump it back in the pot.  Do NOT run it under cold water.  Then turn the burner to the lowest setting
5. Dump in the cheddar and some blue cheese (I only put a bit in at this point) and mix until evenly coated.  If the cheese looks stringy, don't worry.
6. Dump in one "glug" of milk and mix until thoroughly combined.  If it still looks stringy, put a bit more milk.  You are going for a creamy or gooey sauce texture.  You shouldn't need more than two glugs of milk for this.
7. Dump in the Frank's and mix until combined***.
8. Scoop a bowlful and top with additional blue cheese crumbles for a fancy dinner!

It is tasty without chicken too but not as filling.

Make sure to add the Frank's last.  If you add it before the cheese, the cheese doesn't melt right and it ends up as these little bitty globs instead of a nice creamy sauce.  The flavor is the same but the texture is not as good.

If you are ambitious and want to screw around in the kitchen you can try making the cheese sauce separately by starting with a roux.  This has been quite finicky in my experience and is more trouble than it's really worth.

*I most recently made this with chicken I made in the crockpot.  To make the crockpot chicken, simply place the chicken in the crockpot and turn it on low for 6-7 hours.  Then shred.  If you want to make this right now, pan frying the chicken works as well.  Simply dice your chicken, then dump it into a skillet with a bit of oil until it is cooked through.
**You can do what the box says or you can stand around stirring it every couple minutes and then taking one pasta out, running it under cold water, and eating it to see if it's un-crunchy yet.
***If you aren't sure how much to put, dump a little less than you think, mix, and taste.  It is not an exact science.  Not enough Frank's? Add a bit more?  Too much?  Add more cheese!  Wayyyy too much? Better luck next time :/

Ada (a grilled cheese sandwich)

In Brooklyn there is a fantastic bar called Noorman's Kil. They serve whiskey and grilled cheese.  I could not recommend this place enough.  If you ever go to NYC with me, I will probably drag you there.  Anyway they decided to have a grilled cheese competition and of course I decided I would enter it (why not!).  I tested out at least eight different recipes and this one was the clear winner.  I submitted this recipe and they picked it as a finalist so I got to compete in their grill-off.

Ingredients:

• Bread*
• Smoked Gouda
• Cheddar**
• Gruyere**
• Vidalia Onions (you will caramelize them)
• Butter
• Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1. Chop your onions.
2. Heat some butter in a heavy pot and when it's melted, dump in the onions.
3. The goal here is to caramelize the onions, so basically keep it pretty low, stir it every once in a while but not too too much.  If you have never done this before, look it up.  There are far better directions on other sites.
4. Once you have caramelized onions,, take them off the heat and add some balsamic vinegar.  Don't go too crazy.  Taste it and add more if you need it.
5. Grate your cheeses.  If you slice it, it won't melt as evenly.  You can go the lazy route but if you have a nice grater*** it's not too much extra effort.
6. Assemble your sandwich. Bread. Tiny sprinkling of cheddar/gruyere. Thick layer of smoked gouda. Thin layer of balsamic onions. Thick layer of cheddar gruyere. Bread
7. Press that sandwich on a panini press.  If you don't have one, you can try cooking it the regular way in a pan but it's going to be trickier.
8. Slice in half and enjoy.

In case you were wondering, I came in first place. If you go during May of this year (2014) you can order it off of their menu.

* For the competition it was required that we use Orwashers bread so I used their Chardonnay Miche. For testing I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Pane Loaf.  You can use anything similar.

** If you have a Trader Joe's you can use their "Cheddar Gruyere Melange" cheese.  That's what I did.  If you don't, you can buy some of each kind of cheese and just mix them yourself.

*** I think this is the one I have.  It is definitely worth the money.  I've had it for years and it is hands down the best cheese grater I have used in my entire life.

Banana "froyo"

Do you own a food processor?
Do you like bananas at all?

If you answered "yes" to both of those you should seriously try this.  Not only is this delicious, it's also healthy and vegan!

Ingredients:

• Bananas

Optional Ingredients:

• Peanut Butter
• Cocoa Powder
• Chocolate
• Caramel syrup
• Nuts
• Anything else you can think of

Directions:

1. Wait for your bananas to get brown spots.
2. Peel the bananas and break them into 1.5" (ish) chunks and put them on a wax paper lined plate in the freezer.
3. Once frozen, transfer to a bag until ready to make banana "froyo"
4. Put the fully frozen bananas in the food processor
5. Turn the food processor on
6. Wait
7. The bananas will turn into little bits that are about dippin' dots size.  This is a good time to turn the food processor off and add any mix-ins
8. Scrape down the sides and turn the food processor back on
9. The bananas will form a giant glob and barely touch the blade.  When this happens, take a break from processing and smush the blob down to sort-of evenly distributed around blade-level
10. Process some more until fully blended and froyo-like consistency
11. Eat immediately

The banana "froyo" stores ok but not great so it's best if you blend this up when you are about to eat it.  You can try re-blending the frozen froyo too but it won't be quite the same.

Brown bananas are best since they are sweeter than the yellow and green ones, also the nearly mushy consistency that makes them less desirable for regular snacking is what makes them blend so well.

Don't skip step 2.  Bananas are way easier to peel and cut before they are frozen.

The result tastes like banana flavored froyo.  Some people will tell you this doesn't taste like bananas at all but they are lying. 

Vegan "Shepherdess" Pie

I'm vegan for lent this year (as I have done before) and this is so far my favorite vegan dish of all time.  So good in fact that you can serve it to your non-vegan friends.  Brian even said it was "really good".  If you're not vegan and not feeding vegans you can substitute the soy products with their dairy equivalents.

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms (I used 1 to 1.5 of the 10 oz cartons of both "white button" and "cremini")
• Onion (I used a med-large yellow onion)
• Garlic (3 cloves?  depends on how much you like garlic)
• Carrots (I used 2-4 handfuls of baby carrots because that's what I had.  Full size is fine too)
• Peas (frozen is fine, I used between 1/2 and 1.5 cups)
• Potatoes (a potful of any mashable sort)
• Soymilk (PLAIN!)
• Vegan butter substitute (I used Earth Balance which tastes just like butter)
• Mustard
• Red wine or vermouth (I used sweet (red) vermouth because I didn't have any wine open)
• Rosemary and maybe Thyme
• Salt/Pepper

Directions:

1. Set a pot of water on the stove and peel your potatoes.  If you're smart you'll do this part first.
2. Add your potatoes to the pot of water and turn it on to high.
3. Cut up your mushrooms, onion, and garlic.  I cut my mushrooms to pretty small dice to kind of mimic ground meat and I cut the onion to about pea-sized bits.  Do the garlic however you want, some people are smashers and some people are mincers and some people use a garlic press.  Whatever.
4. Add all that stuff to a pan with some olive (or other) oil.  I did this in my cast iron skillet and it was lovely.  A regular frying pan should do just fine though.  You will most likely need to do this in parts, allowing the mushrooms to cook down a bit.  I just added them as I chopped but if you're slow at chopping you might want to get a head start.
5. This is probably a good time to preheat the oven.  350 or 375 is good I guess.  I'm not very good at this.
6. Cut up the carrots while all that is cooking down.  I cut my baby carrots into 4-5 cylindrical pieces each)
7. Make a well in the center of the pan and add the carrots.  Put some of the mushroom/onion mixture on top.
8. Check on your potatoes and see if they are done yet
9. Mix the vegetables up again and make another well in the center for the peas.  
10. Add the peas.
11. Add a generous sprinkle of rosemary (thyme would probably be good too but I'm out). Add some brownish kind of mustard.  I made some circles and called it art.
12. Mix it up.
13. If your potatoes still aren't done, just put your veggies on the lowest setting and stir periodically until the potatoes finish.
14. Drain your potatoes and mash them up with your soymilk and fake butter (I promise these are very convincing mashed potatoes)
15. If you used a cast iron skillet you can just plop your mashed potatoes on top of your veggies, if you used a pan that isn't oven safe, put your veggies in a casserole dish and put your potatoes on top.
16. Put the whole ensemble into the oven for 20 minutes or so
17. Eat.

Paprika Chicken

When I'm less lazy, I'll type this up to be more readable, but I'm just going to put this scan up for Kathryn until I get around to that.

Also, feel free to add more chicken and/or onions than the recipe calls for because the proportions as written make a shit-ton of extra sauce. This works great over rice or with bread for dipping.

Brian's Favorite Risotto

I decided I ought to know how to make a risotto since they show up on Iron Chef practically every other episode and this year was the year that I finally got around to it. This recipe is so good I can't stop eating it, so be careful.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 c arborio rice (yes it must be arborio, they usually sell it in plastic jars)
• 4-6 hot Italian sausages
• 4-6 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 c white wine or vermouth
• 4-6 cloves garlic (I like more)
• 1 medium onion
• other vegetables (I usually pick two of the following: sliced fresh mushrooms, spinach, bell pepper, eggplant, but that's just what I've used so far)
• 1/3 c parmesean cheese

Directions:

1. Put the broth in a pot, turn the heat on low. Continue on to step 2 but when it boils, reduce it to a simmer.
2. Chop the garlic and vegetables and toss them into a large frying pan with a little bit of olive oil over high heat.
3. Once the veggies start to cook, add the sausage (this is the fun part) If you bought bulk sausage, break it up into little bits. If you bought sausage-y sausages, squeeze the meat out of the casing and break into little bits. I put the casing in because I like eating them, but most people don't like them so you may wish to keep track of them and separate them out.
4. When the sausage is cooked on the outside, add the rice and stir.
5. Add the wine/vermouth and stir.
6. Add 1/2 cup of (hot!) chicken broth.
7. Stir.
8. When the broth evaporates, add another half cup.
9. Stir.
10. Repeat the last few steps until the rice is tender.
11. Remove from heat, add cheese, and stir.

I've forgotten cheese on this a couple of times. It's easy to do. Without cheese it tastes really good. With the cheese it's really really hard to stop eating.

This recipe makes a large frying pan full, which ought to be enough for at least 5 people in theory but can easily be consumed by two.

Ordinary Everyday Hummus

For the amount that pre-packaged hummus costs in a grocery store, maybe you'd expect it to be a little more difficult to make. But that is not so!

First, make sure you have a food processor.
Then, purchase or reaffirm possession of your ingredients!

1 can of Chick Peas, aka Garbanzo Beans
1-2 tablespoons of Sesame Tahini
1-2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of Lemon Juice
1-3 cloves of Garlic
1/2 teaspoon of Cumin


"...that's it?"
Yep!


Start by draining the liquid in the can of chick peas into a small bowl. Put the chick peas in the food processor and add about a third of the reserved liquid. Then, add one heaping spoonful of tahini. Just start with that for now - you can always add more to taste later.
Grind up those beans! While they're spinning, pour in one or two teaspoons of olive oil. The balance of olive oil, tahini, and chick pea liquid defines the texture of the final hummus, so don't be afraid to play around a little bit (I like to use more oil and tahini for a creamier, thicker hummus).
Chop/mince/grate up the garlic (start small, maybe one clove...you can always add more) into an appropriate size based on the power of your food processor and your desire for chunks. Throw them into the food processor along with about half a teaspoon of lemon juice - just a couple squirts to get a tangy flavor in there to cut through the thickness of the sesame tahini.
Now, add the cumin. This spice is an important one! It conjures up the smells of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, and is the "secret ingredient" that some more basic homemade hummus misses. Don't add too much in the beginning - it's easy to overdo it with this powerful spice.

Grind it all up and taste! If the flavor is off, compensate with garlic, cumin, or lemon, or try adding a pinch of salt. If the texture isn't quite right, play around with the tahini, oil, and chick pea liquid.

Voila, basic hummus :D

It's extraordinarily versatile; you can put it on sandwiches, plain with pita, pair it with lamb or beef, dip falafel in it, or a mixture of any of these! A pita sandwich with falafel, hummus, lettuce and tomato? Yes please.

==========

HUMMUS EXPANSION PACKS!!!

You can add all sorts of things to hummus as long as you reconcile the texture of the added ingredient with the original recipe. For example:

Roasted Red Peppers - so very tasty, but they add a lot of liquid. Don't add the chick pea liquid til after the peppers are in the mix, and only add it if the hummus is too sticky.

Black Beans - replace the chick peas with black beans, and the lemon juice can also optionally be replaced with lime juice for a more classic flavor combo.

Peanut Butter - I know it sounds weird, but if you're in a pinch and have run out of sesame tahini, then natural peanut butter is a great replacement. They have mostly the same texture, with the peanut butter being perhaps slightly more chunky, but peanut butter and cumin is quite an adventure. In a good way!

You can experiment with your own ingredients as well. On my list to try:
Avocado Black Bean Hummus with Lime
--Same as above, just add some avocado! At what point does this become a fancy salsa?
Sweet Blueberry Hummus
--Perhaps some mango instead of garlic for this one...
Strawberry Nutella Hummus
--Actually, you may want to try this with bananas for a better texture - I just can't because I'm allergic :(

Chilean Sandwiches

I went to a great place in Boston called Chacarero today -- a Chilean sandwich place. I liked it so much I decided to reverse-engineer their spicy sauce and I found a recipe online for the style of bread they used. Enjoy!

to make the bread:
(note, this makes 12 loaves, so cut this in 1/3 for a reasonable amount)

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon granulated yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups warm water
1 / 2 cup butter, melted
6 to 7 cups flour

In a cup of warm water dissolves the sugar, sprinkle yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. Dissolve salt in 2 cups of warm water. with 6 cups of flour, make a circle like a crown with a hole in the middle where you will, while stirring with a spoon melted butter, warm salt water, and yeast. Rub a little mass (about 10 minutes) until it becomes smooth and elastic. Remove portions of the size of a lemon, give them a round shape and then press the palms of the hands to a thickness of one centimeter. Put the loaves on a well trained floured baking sheet, prick with a fork in five places, to avoid inflated excessively and depart. Let stand in warm place to rise (45 minutes approx.) Bake in a hot oven at 400 ° F (200 ° C) for 20 minutes until browned.

(source: translated from http://www.recetaschilenas.com/receta.asp?id=22)

the ever-important green chile sauce:
(this is what I tasted in the sauce; you may vary the recipe according to spice preference)
around six green chiles / serrano chiles
lil bit of chopped onion
big ol bunch of cilantro, washed
dash of olive oil for proper consistency
three cloves garlic

put all items in a blender. blend.

sandwich veggies:
steam up some fresh green beans and brush with a tiny bit of melted butter
roast up some red bell peppers
mash up some avocados
slice up some tomatoes

ASSEMBLE!
slice bread lengthwise for proper sammich-making.
at this point you can optionally pan sear some chicken or beef.
smear avocado paste on one bread slice, followed by chile sauce.
other bread slice: MUENSTER CHEESE. yeahhhh that's right!
put your hot beef/chicken on dat cheeeese
if going the vegetarian route, skip the previous step and just get the green beans nice and warm and slap those on there
lay on some peppers and sliced tomatoes
sprinkle of salt and fresh-cracked black pepper
sammich that shit, then slice in half to be ladylike and only eat one portion at a time...then DEVOUR!

Bitchin' Mac and Cheese

So this recipe stemmed from a number of circumstances. Our old cheese grater was literally falling apart. We'd had it less than a year, and I decided that this time I was going to buy an expensive one because it would work better and last longer and in the end cost less because it would still be in one piece in a year instead of five pieces in six months. So yesterday I went to the mall and bought the nicest cheese grater I could find in Williams Sonomoa. It cost about $16, it's made by microplane, it cuts in both directions, it's beautiful. So I decided to make macaroni and cheese. But no ordinary mac and cheese was worthy of the inaugural grating, so this... this mac and cheese had to be bitchin'. I unfortunately got up too late to go to the store this morning, so I made do with what I had on hand. Luckily that was a bunch of stuff. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients (sorry, the proportions are not well defined):

• Box of pasta (I had mezze penne, but you can use anything macaroni-like)
• 4 tbsp butter (ish)
• Flour (um... a couple spoonfuls?)
• 1/2 c cream
• Milk (3/4 cup maybe?)
• 8 oz block Vermont Cheddar
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan (maybe)
• 4 oz? Gruyere
• Paprika
• Nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4+ (I used like 8) cloves of garlic
• Medium onion
• Can of artichoke hearts (in water)
• Can of black olives (normal size)
• 4 large spoonfuls of green olives
• 2 heaping tsp of Dijon mustard

Directions:

(It was not this orderly when I did it)

1. Prepare: Grate your cheeses and set them aside. Peel and mince the garlic. Peel and finely dice the onion. Drain the can of artichoke hearts and the can of black olives. Chop the artichoke hearts. If you have a food processor, dump the olives (green and black both) in with the Dijon mustard and run until evenly chopped (not pureed!) If you don't have a food processor, do some more chopping and mix the olive bits with the Dijon
2. Fry: Throw the garlic and onion in a frying pan with some olive oil. Cook until the onion starts to become translucent and the garlic starts to brown a bit. Then throw the artichokes in and stir.
3. Pasta: Put a large pot of water on to boil. Start the cheese sauce in the meantime. When it boils, dump in the box of pasta and cook to desired doneness (do this by tasting, not by timing, overdone pasta is a travesty) and drain.
4. Cheese sauce: Take the frying pan off the heat. Put a saucepan on low heat with the butter in it. When the butter is melted, spoon in the flour and stir vigorously. You want a thick roux. Then throw in the cream, some more flour, and some milk. Stir a lot. Gradually add the cheeses. Season with nutmeg, paprika, salt and pepper. Keep stirring a lot.
5. Throw it all together: When the pasta is done and the cheese sauce is done, throw everything together and stir until combined.
6. EAT!

By request: Fruit "Salsa" and Cinnamon Sugar Chips

So about a year ago I found this recipe on foodgawker (which is awesome by the way) and decided to make it for my friends. Unfortunately due to the ratio at RPI my friends are mostly impatient males who eat things before they're done to the point where they went through about 80% of the chips before the salsa was done and then didn't have anything to eat the salsa with and then complained a lot. Oh and they kept burning their hands because the concept of "just out of the oven = hot" is too difficult for their engineer brains. Drunk people are annoying sometimes.

Moral of the story: Make the salsa in advance.

Rainbow Fruit Salsa:

• Red: I used strawberries. Pomegranate seeds would probably be awesome too. Other red things: raspberries, watermelon, blood orange
• Orange: I used mango. Other orange things: peaches, nectarines, oranges/tangerines/clementines, cantelope (which is for losers)
• Yellow: I don't remember for sure but I think I used pineapple. May have cheated and used apples which are really more white than yellow. I think there are some weird citrus fruits that are yellow too, but I don't know.
• Green: I used kiwis. That's really the only good option. Starfruit and honeydew are also green, but not nearly as awesome as kiwis.
• Blue: Blueberries are blue. I don't remember if I used them or not.
• Purple: Blackberries are pretty close, if nothing else they get purple juice on everything when they inevitably get mushed. Also blackberries are fantastic.
• Sweetener: Honey, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar. They all have ups and downs. I went for a combination of honey and white sugar that let you taste a hint of honey without it being too in-your-face.
• Other stuff: I added coconut to it and I DEFINITELY recommend you do the same. Other stuff that could be cool: chopped walnuts, bits of candied ginger, a very small amount of mint.
• Spices: I don't think it really needs spices, but you can add some cinnamon to go with the chips if you want.

Directions:

1. Chopping: Chop everything into little tiny bits.
2. Mixing: Mix all the durable ingredients (not berries).
3. Stick it in the fridge: Then go make the chips. Come back when the first batch of chips is about to come out of the oven.
4. The chips are coming out of the oven!: Ok, now you mix those fragile berries into the salsa and put it out on the table (yep, before the chips).
5. Salsa Complete.

Chips Ingredients:

• Flour Tortillas
• Melted Butter
• Cinnamon Sugar (make this by combining cinnamon and sugar. 3/4 c sugar + 4 Tbsp cinnamon is what I got from a Google search, but I always just eyeball it)

Directions:

1. Oven: Preheat to 350 F.
2. Cutting: Cut tortillas into 6ish chip-like pieces. (wedges are great)
3. Topping: Put the tortillas in a single layer on some cookie sheets with a little space between them. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. You only need enough butter so the sugar will stick, but you can get pretty liberal with the sugaring before anyone complains.
4. Baking: Bake 10-12 minutes or until crispy. The edges will kind of turn up a bit and they may or may not puff a little if they have air bubbles.
5. Serve: So to be honest, these are extra-great when they're still warm. If you put a cookie sheet of them in front of college kids, it won't even last two minutes. Ideally you get them to put the salsa on the chips, but that's kind of a lost cause on some people (sigh)

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of last time I made this, but if I make it again or someone else decides to make it, they may be added retroactively :)

Original recipes:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/sweet-fruit-salsa-with-cinnamon-chips/

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-cinnamon-chips/

Potato and Beet Gratin

So I wanted to make beets for Easter, but I also wanted to make asparagus. And potatoes. So I combined the potatoes and beets based off of recipes I've made in the past and here's what I came up with:

• Beets (I used 4 smallish ones because that's what the grocery store had)
• Potatoes (I used an equal amount to the beets)
• Gruyere (or something similar)
• Cheddar (optional)
• Parmesean (optional)
• Cream
• Thyme
• Nutmeg
• Olive oil

1. Slicing: Slice the beets and potatoes very thinly. I used the slicer on my (super awesome) food processor so the slices ended up being about 1/4" thick.
2. Oven: Preheat it to 375 F.
3. Shredding: Shred the cheese(s). My shredder was broken so I ended up using a vegetable peeler (y-type) to "peel" the cheese. It worked pretty awesomely on the gruyere, but the cheddar was too mushy so I had to resort back to the broken grater.
4. Layer: Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a casserole/baking dish (anything ceramic or glass is fine). Place a layer of beets and potatoes in the bottom. Then a layer of cheese. Sprinkle in some thyme (fresh if you have it). Then a layer of beets and potatoes. Then a layer of cheese. More thyme. Repeat until you're out of stuff or out of room. Cover the top in an extra-cheesy layer. Dump some cream on it. I used about 3/4 c (guessing) for a 9x9ish dish that was half full. Then sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
5. Bake: Cover in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake another 15-30 minutes. It should be bubbly and delicious smelling and the beets and potatoes should be tender.

I may or may not add pictures here at a later date.

Nutty Chocolate-Raspberry Thumbprints

These are basically the most delicious cookies ever. They were a finalist recipe in the Cook's Country Christmas cookie contest, which coincidentally happened to be in the first issue my grandparents sent me.

Nutty Chocolate-Raspberry Thumbprints

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, or shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine
6 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
½ cup white chocolate chips, melted

1) Make Dough: Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.

2) Shape and Bake: Place pecans in shallow dish. Roll 1 tablespoon dough into 1-inch ball, then roll in pecans, pressing to adhere. Repeat with remaining dough. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Fill each dimple with ½ teaspoon jam. Bake until set, about 10 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

3) Drizzle Chocolate: Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate and let sit until chocolate hardens, about 15 minutes. (Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.)

Tips:
- Dutch-processed cocoa has deeper flavor than natural cocoa.
- To pipe the white chocolate from a plastic bag, pour the melted white chocolate into the bag. Use scissors to snip one corner and drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.

(Source: Ronna Farley, via Cook’s Country)

Suggestions and Requests

If anyone remembers something specific that someone else has made, request it here! Also, if there's a general recipe you're looking for a good version of, make a suggestion and maybe someone will know of something tasty!

• DJ, the cinnamon sugar chips and fruit salsa you make are delicious.
• Kate, your hummus recipe was awesome.

40-minute yeast-free vegan bread

I discovered this recipe a couple of summers ago when Natalie was vegan. It's super-low-fuss and perfect for someone like me who never thinks ahead enough to make real bread. I almost always add the olives but you can really add anything you want.

3 cups whole wheat flour (white flour doesn't come out as well)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water (You can substitute tomato juice or something similar)
1/4 cup oil (I use olive)
Chopped green olives or sun-dried tomato (optional)

Do not sift the flour!
Mix everything
Stir until there is no more dry flour.
The dough should be moist but not sticky.
Score lightly the surface in a diamond or X shape to prevent splitting of the crust.
Shape into a ball or whatever
Place on clean baking sheet.
Bake for 40 minutes at 400F.
I usually brush the top with olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt and oregano

Sage Fruit Salad

Named after Russell Sage Dining Hall, where I stole this recipe from. I haven't quite worked out proportions for this recipe yet, since I usually just do it by taste, but I'll edit the post when I've had the chance to make it a few more times.

Sage Fruit Salad

Makes ???

canned pineapple, drained
canned mandarin oranges, drained
cilantro, fresh or dried
red onion, finely chopped
jalepenos, finely chopped

1) Put equal amounts of pineapple and mandarin oranges into a bowl. Add small amounts of cilantro, red onion, and jalepeno until it tastes awesome.

2) Experiment; it's really all up to your own preferences. Leave a comment if you discover any other good combinations!

I bet fresh peaches and/or mango would also go well, but I haven't been able to try them out first hand yet.

Breakfast Buttercups

Here are the breakfast buttercups we made at girls' night! So delicious.

Breakfast Buttercups

Makes 10 buttercups.

Note that while most recipes call for large eggs, this recipe calls for medium eggs.

10 medium eggs

10 slices white or wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

10 thin slices deli Swiss or cheddar cheese (about 5 ounces)

5 thin slices deli ham (about 5 ounces), halved crosswise

salt and pepper

1) Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place eggs in large bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let sit 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, following instructions 1 and 2 below, roll bread as thin as possible with rolling pin and press into 10 perimeter cups of 12-cup muffin tin, leaving 2 center cups empty. Brush bread cups with melted butter and bake until light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

3) Top each cheese slice with a ham slice. Make cut from center to 1 side of each stack. Fold each ham and cheese stack into cone and press into toasted cup. Crack 1 egg into each cup and season with salt and pepper.

4) Return muffin tin to oven and bake until eggs whites are barely set and still appear slightly moist, 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Engineering the cup:

1) Roll the bread thin before pressing it into the muffin cups; this makes it easy to shape the bread without tearing it.

2) Pinch the opposite long sides of the bread and press each slice into a muffin cup. Brush with butter and bake until light brown.

3) Cut a slit from the center to one side of each ham and cheese stack.

4) Fold each ham and cheese stack into a cone and place each cone in a toasted cup. Now you're ready to drop in an egg.

Tips:

Use oversize sandwich bread for the toast cups for the best muffin-cup coverage.

(Source: Cook's Country.)