A Basil-Inspired Feast to Remember

Warm Asparagus Soup with basil + a hand-rolled Goat Cheese and Basil Wedge; Basil Pesto for dipping assorted vegetables and roasted potatoes. Thank you to my cat sitting client Sue for tipping me in basil leaves!

Julep Update: Seeds to be Replanted

Sadly, the above basil sprout dried to a crisp and withered away a few weeks ago, and my planters remain dry and empty. I was remiss at watering my seedlings enough, and the big, romantic thunderstorms of last summer have yet to arrive and routinely drench my herbs.

I aim to plant more basil seeds soon. And whether it's homegrown or store-bought, I do declare there will be fresh pesto made in my kitchen sometime this summer!

Julep Update: Seeds Planted

Today I planted the first porch seeds of the year. This season I have one planter of basil, and another of spearmint. I'm keeping it simpler than last year, and also planted much earlier.

This year I used better soil; have a new, more sprinkly and gentle watering can; and know how to fight bug fungus should it again attack my herbs.

I'm looking forward to making pesto from my basil, Cuisanarting various herb-based sauces, and most importantly, muddling mint for Mojitos and Mint Juleps, which I'll drink in a plastic cup as I take my evening stroll.

I've already got my pine nuts, rum, and whiskey; bring it on, herbs!

February Food Porn

Photos of and recipes for my recent culinary 'conquests.'

Bad table manners during dinner at Cochon, which is owned by two of New Orleans' top chefs, Donald Link and Susan Spicer. On a double date, Jon and I feasted on roasted oysters that taste like liquid gold, cucumbers that had just the right amount of vinegar and mint, and a smorgasbord of pork delicacies.

I'm often inspired by my food magazines that arrive each month. One recent night, I made pasta with homemade tomato sauce that includes Kalamatas and grilled chicken sausage. I was also compelled to try Five-Spice Beet Soup topped with sour cream and celery leaves. I didn’t know anything about Chinese 5-Spice Powder before this – it’s a beautiful, delicious and aromatic blend of spices that includes fennel, pepper, star anise, cinnamon, and clove. The soup was smooth and velvety, rich, fragrant, and complex from the spices.

A bountiful counter, onion goggles and all!

Above is my homemade vegetable stock for the Beet Soup. This New York Times article, which I've consulted many times since it was published, gave me the idea to make it. I didn’t have enough store-bought stock in the fridge, so per the article, I decided to supplement and make my own for the first time. The article said cook an onion, carrot and celery stalk for 10 min, but I used more vegetables and cooked them for at least 25 for good measure.

For a special meal with my in-laws, I made grilled arctic char over red cabbage, inspired by this Gourmet recipe, and this Bon Appetit one. I seasoned the fish with salt, pepper, and a blend of 5-Spice Powder, cumin, and turmeric, inspired by both the Gourmet recipe, and the beet soup one.

I also cooked scallops wrapped in grilled turkey bacon, using the same seasoning on the scallops.

Lastly, I made a mashed potato-like cauliflower puree that is incredibly tasty. I don't usually like cauliflower very much, but I love this recipe.

For dessert, I made rhubarb white chocolate chip muffins, as my father-in-law adores rhubarb. When I told Jon I was making them, he complained, "I don't like rhubarb." Guess who ate the most muffins and couldn't stop raving about them?

The recipe for these Espresso Brownies made my mouth water to such a grand extent that I baked them the next week for a visiting friend. If you bake them, please note that the original recipe was not published correctly, but is corrected in the comment section online. The brownies turned out well, except I wish I had cooked them for 5 minutes less (as they cooled, they became much harder than I wanted). When I make them again, I'll add in extra espresso powder. Due to personal taste preference, I left out the nuts.

My friend wrote afterwards, "Do you think you could FedEx me some of those coffee bars? Maybe about 50 of them. Tonight. I can practically taste them in my mouth, and it's driving me insane. I suppose I could make them myself this weekend, if I don't die of longing first."

I made my favorite grilled shallot topped Mac n' Cheese for a friend, who requested it after reading my blog post about it. This time I added in sliced turkey bacon (97% fat-free!), which in hindsight I should've grilled separately before layering into the casserole (would've added more of a crunchy texture to the dish).

I also served homemade carrot soup. I put the carrots, onion, and celery that I'd used to make the vegetable broth for the beet soup into the food processor and gave it a whirl. I was very happy to find a use for those vegetables -- I couldn't stand the idea of throwing them away. Next I mixed them with a can of creamed corn, and the leftover broth, plus salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Poof! I had homemade, healthy, carrot and corn soup. I was a little shocked at how easy it was.

Funny story: I found out during dinner that my guest had never actually had carrot soup before, but had wanted to since she was 11 years old and read about it in a children’s book…something about the bunny feeds another animal carrot soup so that the other animal doesn’t eat the bunny? She (and hopefully the animal in the book) savored every drop.

Finally, "Chocolate Sin" for breakfast at the extremely popular Pancake Pantry in Nashville, Tennessee. Cherry pie filling, chocolate ganache and fudge sauce, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and thin pancakes light as air -- no repenting necessary, it was worth the calories!

Recipe: Spaghetti Spice Sauce

Per my February Food Porn post, the link to Gourmet's Spaghetti Spice Sauce recipe is here.

I like to slice (not dice) the Kalamata olives into threes so that there’s more to go around, and you can actually use any tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, or pre-made spaghetti sauce you like.

I often add diced yellow onion to make it chunkier. I recently tried a new pasta, VitaSpelt Whole Grain Angel Hair, from Whole Foods, which turned out to be delicious. Note: the pasta only takes 5 minutes (the box says 2-3, but it wasn’t ready at 3).

The one problem with this recipe is that there's no protein, so while the sauce is cooking, I add some in by grilling 3-4 store-bought sausages for about ten minutes, take them off the heat, and depending on my timing, either first let them cool some in the pan, or put them on a cutting board and use a paper towel to hold one hot end while slicing up the other (slice the "butts" extra thin for textural purposes).

Like the olives, the more sausage pieces you cut, the more there appears to be in your dish. I add the sausage into the sauce after it's cooked for awhile, and let the sausage warm up again in it until it’s time to mix it with the pasta and eat. I usually use a low-fat chicken, feta, and spinach sausage, but any kind would work.

If you don't like spice, leave out the red pepper flakes. If you do, add more!

Recipe: Cauliflower Puree

Oddly, this recipe comes from my Cuisanart manual's recipe section. As mentioned in my February Food Porn post, the pureed cauliflower truly tastes just as good as mashed potatoes and has less carbs. You could vary it using goat cheese instead of butter, and raw or sauteed shallots instead of garlic.

Note: This recipe requires a food processor and makes approximately six servings.

Ingredients
1 Large Cauliflower head
3-6 cloves garlic, to taste
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1/4c reduced-fat sour cream
3 tbls unsalted butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
-Cut cauliflower into florets.
-Place in medium-size saucepan with garlic and onion.
-Cover with water and bring to boil over high heat.
-Reduce heat to low, cover loosely, and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 15-20 minutes.
-Drain. Since you're going to put it into the food processor, you don't need to let cool much, just enough so that you can handle it.
-Using metal processor blade in work bowl, add in vegetables.
-Press the pulse button 5 times to chop the vegetables.
-Add sour cream, butter, salt, and pepper, then process for about 2 minutes until smooth and creamy (I usually taste once or twice to see if I've got enough salt, pepper, and garlic in).
-You'll likely need to microwave the puree in order to serve it hot.

You can definitely prepare this a day or two ahead -- it still tastes just as good.

Beet Soup, Just like the Picture!

My beet soup looks just like the picture in Bon Appetit, oui?

Kitchenware

Over the weekend, Jon and I returned a Pottery Barn lamp I'd bought online with the last of our wedding-related credits (the blue lamp base was not the same in person as it was in the catalog, which is silly since it was a non-store product!). We decided to use the credit at Williams-Sonoma to buy some fun stuff instead.

Note: My idea of fun stuff is different from what it used to be (a $50 meal out in NYC vs. $50 worth of kitchen gear, which will last much longer than one evening out!).

Items purchased:
-For salad dressing, I usually use olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and sometimes lemon juice, so I've started experimenting with different varities of olive oil. Now there are separate oils for cooking and for dressings in the kitchen cabinet. I asked for a recommendation and ended up buying a small bottle of extra virgin Lungarotti, which comes from Umbria, and is "characterized by a noteworthy balance between fruitiness, bitterness and spiciness." Haven't tried it yet. Will let you know.

-"The peach-colored salt flakes from Australia have a rich yet delicate flavor," says the package of Finishing Salt. It's mild in flavor, heavy in saltiness, thick in texture, and doesn't have that girl holding an umbrella on it! I'll use it for fish, vegetables, and even steak. I really like to splurge on special ingredients as I'm more inclined to think of unique ways to use them when they're nicely packaged...or expensive.

-New, matching oven mitts. The ones we had weren't thick enough to fully block out the oven's heat and, well, didn't match. In a bad not matching way, not a cute, funky one!

-A high-fallutin' baking pan. I have two really old ones that are so stained, and this one is "commercial quality." It glistens, that's all I care about! How cool: "The extremely durable metal heats quickly and evenly to ensure uniform baking. With use, the pan darkens slightly, increasing its ability to absorb heat."

-Tongs made of stainless steel with heat-resistant nylon tips that are okay to use in our non-stick Calphalon. We've had to buy a couple of new utensils like that since you can't use metal with our new pots and pans. For my next kitchen splurge, I want a nylon-tipped whisk. I also need a larger liquid measuring cup and new 12-piece cupcake tins. I'm sure I'll come up with some other items as well in the meantime!

Obamarama

To celebrate President Barack Obama's inauguration, Jon and I threw a party in his honor, replete with many of his favorite foods. We relied on the blog ObamaFoodORama, and some serious Google research, to come up with the following menu.

-Obama's family chili recipe (link to the recipe here), which was very tasty. I'd definitely make it again.

-His supposed favorite snacks, Planter's Trail Mix and Dentyne Ice -- I'd never tried it before, but liked the gum a lot! We nixed the idea of Nicorette.

-Salted edamame: I'm pretty sure I read that Illinois is the fourth largest soybean producing state, though I can't remember where. Also, I hope that Obama will help figure out our fuel crisis and think that going back to (or starting with?) the basics is part of the answer.

-Make your own salad roll (link to directions here), because, as our new President says, "We can't allow any idle hands." Salad rolls are great to serve at a dinner party because they help people interact, though it's very time consuming to prep the vegetables. So much so that I watched a lot of the Inauguration proceedings with tomato seed-covered hands!

-Frittatas with a hashbrown bottom, and onion, red pepper, and spinach, which is our President's favorite vegetable aside from broccoli. Oh the shame -- originally I wanted to make prosciutto wrapped asparagus -- until I read he doesn't like asparagus!

-Cupcakes, because I kept watching TV segments and reading news articles about how they were hugely popular in D.C. leading up to the inauguration. And Whole Foods' sea salt caramels, as a nod to Obama's addiction to Fran’s Grey Sea Salt Caramels.

-PBR because it's Obama's favorite beer, and a cocktail called Obama au Lei. I came up with the very New Orleansy name -- we wanted to do something that honored his Hawaiian roots, so I used the site Drink Swap to find the perfect rum and pineapple-based cocktail recipe. I also added in ample doses of hope, change, intelligence, and charisma for equal measure. A few days later, I enjoyed getting a little tipsy on the rum-soaked pineapple pieces that were salvaged from the bottom of the drained punch bowl. Don't know if it was the rum, or the thought of President Obama, but along with being tipsy I felt quite hopeful and intelligent too!

Obama Family Chili Recipe

I forgot to take a picture until the very end. Guess everyone liked it!

I tripled the following Obama Family Chili Recipe for our Inauguration Party and made it with ground turkey meat. Due to time constraints, I used canned tomatoes. I chose not to purchase oregano or ground basil, served the chili with non-fat, pre-grated cheddar cheese and skipped the rice. The recipe doesn't include timing elements, but essentially, once you've got your meat browned, you're in good shape. Overall, it's about an hour to make and was very tasty, though a little heavy. The heaviness was balanced well by our Make-Your-Own-Salad-Roll bar.

Ingredients
-1 large onion, chopped
-1 green pepper, chopped
-Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped
-Several cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 pound ground turkey or beef
-1 can red kidney beans
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
-1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
-1/4 teaspoon ground basil
-1 tablespoon chili powder

Directions
-Saute onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft.

-Add ground meat and brown.

-Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat.

-Add red wine vinegar.

-Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down.

-Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes.

-Serve over white or brown rice. Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream.

Make Your Own Salad Roll

"We can't allow any idle hands," President Barack Obama has been quoted as saying, which is why there was a make-your-own-salad-roll bar at our Inauguration Party. The prep is a lot of work, so my hands were definitely not idle that day!

Salad rolls are a fun way to shake up a regular bowl of lettuce, especially if you eat salad all the time and are bored by the same ole-same ole. They're also great for getting dinner party guests to interact (well, at least to interact with the food, if not each other).

Ingredients & Directions
-Choose a sturdy lettuce, like Iceberg or Romaine, wash and dry it, then trim into pieces a little larger than your hand, thinning thick lettuce ribs when necessary.

-Dice your favorite salad ingredients very very small (this is the time-consuming part, for me at least). I like tomato (deseeded so there's less runny mess), Kalamata olives, cucumber, and yellow pepper, for example.

-Put the lettuce on a tray, and the veggies in bowls with individual spoons.

-Spoon some goat cheese (or another spreadable cheese) into a bowl as well.

-Fill a small pitcher with your preferred salad dressing. Include salt and pepper, and if you want to cater to Obama's tastes (and mine), hot sauce, on your salad bar.

-I typically like to make the first roll to show guests what to do: take lettuce, spread with goat cheese, sprinkle vegetables, top with a dab of dressing, roll the lettuce, and chomp.

Best to eat over a plate!

Rock of Pie

Jennifer: "What is this?" Chew, chew, chew, smell, glare, sigh,
take a big swig of red wine, chew, grumble.

Jon: "Not pizza." Swallow, swallow, swallow, flip the channel to check the basketball score, growl, swallow, sigh.

Jennifer: "Do you think Bret Michaels has any hair under that bandanna?"

We agree he doesn't.

Jennifer: "What is this?" I ask again as I finish my last slice of undersauced, undergrilled, underflavored cardboard.

Jon: "Not pizza. We won't be trying this place again."

We can barely look each other in the eye. It would've been quite apropos if "Another One Bites the Dust" was a Poison song, but it's Queen.

I was truly hoping for a new explanation that time, like an introduction to some trendy new food I should've known about.

The not good to very bad pizzas we keep trying are kind of like Bret Michaels' reality show. I keep watching because I hope he'll find the woman who'll finally satisfy him, and the journey is entertaining. And I keep ordering because I hope to find the pizza that will be the cherry on the sundae that is New Orleans. Pizza is one of the few things that I miss about living in New York (though the weather's been so warm Pinkberry's started to slip back into my thoughts...).

But then, just like NYC's pizza is so much better than Nola's, one note from Freddy Mercury's beautiful mouth was better than any album Poison ever produced. So maybe the two shouldn't be compared.

Similar to some of the women who appear on Michaels' "Rock of Love" series, after trying at least four different "pizza" shops in Nola, I've started to get desperate. To the point of considering booking a trip to La Guardia, cabbing it straight to John's, eating a 12-slicer myself, and then bringing a few pizzas home with me to freeze.

I can just imagine it:

"What's that great smell, did you make homemade pizza?!?" Jon will say as he walks in the door from work.

"Ur, um, yes, and, I'm sorry about the grocery bill but the pizza ingredients cost $350 roundtrip...but try a bite, it'll 'rock your world'!"

"What do you mean 'roundtrip?'..."

Cue "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

And scene.

Auld Lang Syne, Southern Style

Apparently, according to Wikipedia, this year I made Skippin' Jenny instead of Hoppin' John, since I cooked the traditional Southern New Year's Day dish on January 2nd instead of the 1st. Incidentally, collard greens are still called collards no matter what day of the year you make 'em.

Whether you call them Jenny or John, the combination of black-eyed peas, celery, onion and green pepper simmered together then served over white rice is healthy and delicious, and purported to bring good luck.

For a change, I tried pre-seasoned, partially cooked turkey breasts for the protein in the Hoppin' John and also in the collards. The turkey was flavorful and tender, but next New Year's I'll return to using the traditional ham hock (that link takes you back two years to the first time I made this meal for Jon, just before the seed of possibility that we'd move to New Orleans was planted), which gives both dishes a smokier flavor.

I chose pre-soaked black-eyed peas at the grocery, which I won't do again. Part of the joy of making Hoppin' John is simmering the dish for hours. The instructions for the peas said only to simmer for 40 minutes, and though I cooked them longer than that, they just didn't turn out the same as the usual bag of black-eyed peas you soak overnight.

If Hoppin' John (or Jenny) is said to bring luck, and collards are supposed to bring money, then I'll start my very own superstition right here, and say that my accompanying cornbread muffins (from a mix), which I added canned creamed corn to, brought satisfaction.

Indeed, Jon (no h) and I (went by Jenny in 2nd grade, but never again!), as well as my visiting sister-in-law, were each very satisfied by the meal. I know that part is fact and not superstition, because we all had second helpings, and soon all the muffins were gone.

8 of the Best Slices I Consumed in 2008

(A traditional King Cake in all its sprinkled, iced glory.)

1. My last meal as a New Yorker: As the terrific friends who I met and grew with during my years in New York came in from the January cold to John's Pizzeria, my favorite pizza shop, the waiter continued to add extra chairs to our table. Though many goodbyes were said that night, amidst the bittersweetness a happy discovery was made, and a new tradition begun: the meatball and garlic pizza. I was always a toppings purist when it came to eating at John's, but a smart foodie friend asked the waiter what he recommended, so we ordered one pie with meatballs and garlic. And then another. And maybe a third. In spite of the cold, as was always my tradition, the pizza was followed by a stop next door at Cones for gelato.

2-3. First Parkway Bakery po-boy, and a slice of King Cake: Less than two days after my John's goodbye dinner, Jon picked me up at Louis Armstrong airport and whisked me to Parkway for a po-boy. I washed the warm, well-fried oyster, mayo, lettuce, and tomato sandwich down with root beer, and another new tradition, of root beer with po-boys, was formed. I've since discovered that root beer is very popular in New Orleans, which makes the city even more popular with me, as it's always been my favorite soda.

Next we went to a thrift store, where I found a 70s-style outfit to wear later that night to a friend's Mardi Gras-themed wedding. After the traditional church ceremony, everyone changed into costumes, and we danced to Iko Iko and did the Second Line, beads swinging, white napkins waving. From the buffet, I ate pieces of sweet, sticky, glistening King Cake, which is a dessert associated with New Orleans, mostly during Mardi Gras. During the years that I worked for the travel magazine, the New Orleans Tourism Bureau sent copious King Cakes each Mardi Gras season. Of all my co-workers, I was the one who especially liked them, which I'll take to be one of the signs that I was meant to live in New Orleans one day (and/or that I have a very sweet tooth).

4. My first Sazerac: Whoa, Nelly. All I need is one, and I'm seeing double. Two, and I might be on the floor. Come to think of it, I should probably only drink two of these whiskey, bitters and anise liquor-heavy drinks per year. This year, my first was at La Petite Grocery, and my second was at The Columns. It's definitely time to start thinking about where to imbibe my first Sazerac of 2009.

5. Beef Jerky on my wedding day: On my wedding day, the starving bride-to-be, plus a bag of buffalo beef jerky equaled an energized bride, and a new appreciation for canine teeth. I'm sure I looked quite odd chomping on the jerky in my full wedding hair and makeup at the salon while waiting for my Maid of Honor's hair to set!

6. Pesto from my garden: In 2008, I wasn't able to make a final summer pesto from my basil garden due to the evacuation for Hurricane Gustav, but that's not going to stop me from trying again. This spring, I'm going to grow a garden on my back patio and plant more varieties of herbs, along with tomatoes, peppers, and flowers. Ooohhh, maybe edible flowers...

7. Greek Shrimp (click here for recipe): This was Jon's favorite meal I made in 2008, though my recent dinners of Macaroni and Cheese and Roasted Salmon with Yams, Swiss Chard, Cabbage, and Red Wine Sauce (from Bon Appetit as well) were similarly savored. I first made the shrimp to celebrate a friend's birthday at our house, and then I made it again a few weeks later when my Dad visited. The dish is savory yet sweet and gives you that warm, cozy, everything's-gonna-be-alright feeling.

8. Pepitas: It's so simple: heat up a pan with olive oil, throw in your green, hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas), salt and pepper them, and stir frequently until they start to pop. It's up to you how dark you want them, and also how you serve them. Ground to become pumpkin seed pesto? In a salad? As a snack, maybe sprinkled with curry powder? They're simple, healthy, tasty, and my new favorite ingredient.

Cheers!
(Salted pepitas on the left, curried on the right.)

Recipe: Greek-Baked Shrimp

One of my favorite meals of the year. Please go to this link for the recipe, but read below for my input.

~Prior to making this recipe, I'd rarely cooked shrimp. I have no problem seeing or tasting any kind of food in a restaurant, but with meat, fish, and especially shellfish, which I love so much, I've previously been scared I'd do something wrong and turn myself off it, like I did with hamburgers in 5th grade and meat altogether during my early 20s. Now that I've become a better cook, I have fewer qualms, especially after the fabulous result from this shrimp!

Note: I cut back on the onion and garlic some, and seasoned a little more. I also sprinkled some Parmesan with the feta as we already had it at home. I substituted rosemary for dill (which I don't care for) once, and skipped it altogether the next time. When I did use the rosemary, I baked it right in. I also topped with whole wheat Panko crumbs, to give it a little more texture. If you don't eat shrimp, the dish would be delicious with chicken, or even portobello mushrooms.

Both times, I've served it with cous-cous that I added toasted pine nuts to (oops, burnt the first batch, those things go from raw to burnt in no time!).

Once, I made a homemade pumpkin puree salad dressing (puree, olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic), for a chopped salad with shaved pear, feta, and pomegranate seeds. The second time, I made a salad that included creamed corn, freshly shredded carrots, diced tomato, avocado and a light store-bought vinaigrette. There will definitely be a next time.

#27

I submitted this entry to one of my favorite food blogs, Not Eating Out in New York, which was seeking a 27th reason for why "not to eat out in New York." Another was chosen, so I thought I'd share mine here:

During the eight years I lived in New York, my fridge was a vessel for a few condiments, a Brita pitcher, some Whole Foods containers, and vodka. I didn't even keep milk for coffee. I could blame not making coffee at home on lack of counter space, but instead I'll admit it was due to what I thought was the “convenience” of the coffee shop around the corner. On weekends my routine went something like: wake up, put long coat over pajamas, run down four flights of stairs, walk the block to and fro, run up the four flights of stairs, drop coat, and voila, back to bed with my coffee, which had usually leaked on my hand and coat by then.

Then about a year ago, I got married and moved to New Orleans. Buried in that sentence are three good reasons for not eating out: first, thanks to our wedding registry, I now own the right pots, pans, and other accouterments that make eating at home easier. Granted, I could’ve acquired some of these things on my own, but I spent the money on eating out instead.

Second, I live in a house that's much larger than my former East Village 'squat,' and though I still don't have enough counter space, I do make my coffee at home every day (Cafe du Monde's chicory of course), sometimes twice a day. Now the daily routine goes something like: set up automatic function on coffee maker the night before, wake up to aroma of brewing coffee, stumble toward the kitchen in mismatched or scanty sleep gear, extract milk from fridge, pour, shuffle to bed/couch/kitchen table/front porch. Repeat.

And, I've been known to turn the top of the trashcan, washer, dryer, or even the top of the coffee maker, into those extra inches of necessary counter space.

Third, and most important, so many of the restaurants here serve fabulous, traditional New Orleans food, aka the kind of food that makes you gain weight just by looking at it. Not eating out has become a 6 out of 7 night necessity in order not to gain the "New Orleans 15," which is easily acquired when you move from a walk-to-survive city to a driving one. By not eating out, I can better control what I eat and make sure I put enough vegetables, whole grains and lean protein (not just fried protein!) into my body, to make up for all the po-boys, Muffalettas, and beignets I eat as part of the new New Orleanian initiation rites (who am I kidding, I’m not so new here anymore!).

I’ll admit, however, that often after one of those super-healthy, cooked from scratch meals, I take a leisurely walk over to the local ice cream shop and get a scoop of Red Velvet or Chocolate Chicory Caramel ice cream. Maybe for my one –year wedding anniversary, I'll request an ice cream maker.

The Last of the Thanksgiving Turkey

This year Whole Foods made a happy mistake and gave us double the amount of turkey breast we ordered for our Faux Thanksgiving. After turning it into lunch sandwiches and a curried turkey casserole dinner, I froze the rest until today.

Then I baked it a little more, trimmed and chopped it, and made a Pink Lady apple, mayonnaise, spicy mustard, and salt and pepper turkey salad.

Soon as the turkey salad topped greens and turkey sandwiches we'll make from that are gone, I'll be off the turkey for a long, long, long time...I'm considering duck, quail, ham, or even chicken for next year!

Hand model: JAL ;)

These Are The Things That Make Me Happy Now

Voila, more kitchen space!

A New Kind of Comfort Food

When I lived in New York and was overcome by a particular food craving, I knew exactly how to fill it. Chocolate: Black sesame crusted mochi wrapper filled with hot liquid Callebaut chocolate at Rickshaw Dumpling Bar; Pizza: John's on Bleecker -- no toppings necessary, or the braised lamb and roasted lemon pizza at Waldy's; Skirt Steak: Jane; Indian Street Food: Bread; Comfort Food: Mama's Food Shop.

These days, I've taken to serving my cravings the old fashioned way (new-fangled, rather, for me): first the grocery, then the kitchen! Yesterday I was in extreme need of comfort food, so I shopped for and made a mac n' cheese recipe I'd recently torn out of a magazine. I used to subscribe to food magazines as a way to learn about food. Now I also subscribe for dinner!

Mac and Two Cheeses With Caramelized Shallots
(Click on each photo for a short caption)

Ingredients
-3 tablespoons butter plus more for baking dish

-About 6 sliced "cloves" of shallots [Depends on how much crispy sweet tartness you want on top of your casserole; surprisingly, I did indeed have to wear my onion goggles for chopping the shallots!]

-8 oz small elbow macaroni (2 cups) [I added more than it called for]

-1 1/4 cups half and half [I substituted whole milk; next time I'll do 1/2 whole and 1/2 skim]

-2 1/2 teaspoons hot sauce (such as Cholula) [I love Cholula so I added extra]

-2 cups (packed) coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces) [My grocery store didn't have low-fat cheese, otherwise I would've substituted it to make this fatty recipe a little less so]

-1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

-2/3 cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese [I bought a tube as it was less money than the pre-crumbled, then crumbled it ahead of time into a small bowl]

Jennifer's Extra Ingredients
The tomatoes and spinach enrich the recipe a bit
-1-2 pints cherry tomatoes
-1-2 cloves garlic (or you could use shallots, or both)
-A few handfuls of uncooked fresh spinach

Preparation
-Preheat oven to 400°F.

-Recently, to finish a pint of aging cherry tomatoes, I thinly sliced and oven-roasted them with olive oil and garlic, so that they were crispy, tiny, and almost chip-like. To add additional flavor, texture, and lycopene, I decided to do something similar for the mac n' cheese. I cut the tomatoes in half, chopped some garlic and a little bit of shallot, added them to a baking dish with ample olive oil, popped them in the oven, and set the timer for an hour. I didn't cut them as thinly as last time (or maybe these were just plumper tomatoes), so they were still a little juicy when I took them out of the oven, which worked great since they were soon to go back in, mixed with the mac n' cheese. Note: By the time the tomatoes were done baking, everything else was prepped and the kitchen was clean, so it didn't add that much time.

-Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, covered, until shallots are deep brown, stirring often, about 6 minutes.

-Meanwhile, cook macaroni in large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally; drain well. Reserve pan. [I transferred the macaroni to a bowl and coated them with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and Cholula after they were well drained]

-Bring half and half [or whatever milk you prefer] and hot sauce to simmer in same saucepan over medium heat. Toss cheddar cheese and flour in medium bowl to coat; add to half and half mixture. Whisk until sauce is smooth and just returns to simmer, about 2 minutes. Mix in pasta. Season with salt and pepper.

-Spread pasta mixture in prepared dish. [I spread a thin layer of the cheese-covered macaroni, then added a medium-sized layer of spinach. Next I mixed the tomatoes with the rest of the macaroni and added it. I purposefully didn't add the tomatoes into the first layer of macaroni because I knew they'd get stuck to the bottom of the pan]

-Top with shallots, then goat cheese. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. [I baked for about 25 minutes total to make it crispier -- the extra water from the spinach and tomatoes likely made that necessary]

This recipe turned out to be tantalizing, heartwarming, and sexy. It exceeded my expectations and helped get me through a crappy day. I can't wait to eat the leftovers (there aren't many) for lunch.

Two Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving came early this year. My in-laws visited the weekend before, and we celebrated a Faux Thanksgiving. Whole Foods provided the turkey; brussels (I fell in love with them years ago thanks to WF due to the way they roast and almost burn them); rolls; sweet and mashed potatoes; gravy, cranberry sauce with citrus; cherry pie with vanilla bean ice cream; red wine; and prosecco that I added pomegranate seeds to for a festive cocktail. I'd never deseeded a pom before, and the kitchen looked like bloody murder afterwards! (Note: check out this video for a slightly less messy but seemingly more complicated way to deseed poms. I think I'll stick with my way!)

I also made fried green tomatoes with panko for my Northern in-laws; a pumpkin seed pesto cause Jon loves everything pumpkin; and a straight-from-the-cranberry-bag recipe for basic cranberry sauce for my citrus-averse husband.

As is most's tradition, for the next few days, we ate turkey sandwiches, turkey curry casserole, and turkey salad. Thus, on Thanksgiving proper, Jon and I traveled to Key Largo, where we avoided turkey like the plague and instead gobbled blackened mahi sandwiches, conch fritters, key lime pie, and pina coladas.