Weekend at the Homestead

Hi Lambchops!

After what seemed like a 10 hour drive (really it’s only 2 ½), I arrived home just in time to miss the most exciting Ohio State Basketball game I have ever NOT seen. From a recap on ESPN, I gathered that Evan Turner made a ½ court, buzzer-beater shot (can I just say how ridiculously good he is). They play in the finals today verse Minnesota. Oh, also, because we are on the note of basketball…THE OHIO UNIVERSITY BOBCATS ARE GOING TO THE BIG DANCE! Yes, I said it! OU pulled through in the MAC championship final to beat Akron in overtime. Can I just say, the fact that a nine seed can make it to the NCAA tournament is exactly why I love March. Yay for March Madness!

Ohio's Armon Bassett carries the championship trophy after Ohio beat Akron 81-75 in overtime of an NCAA college basketball game to win the Mid-American Conference men's finals Saturday, March 13, 2010, in Cleveland. Bassett was named the tournament MVP. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Anyway, upon my arrival, I said hi to the rents, we caught up on life and then I headed back out to meet a friend for dinner. As I was leaving, Mike and Tam informed me that they were making a ridiculously good sounding gourmet meal of steamed muscles in white wine and chicken broth, with linguine pasta. Of course they make that on the ONE night I decided to eat out. Needless to say, it was a little hard for me to leave the house after I figured that out.

Dinner was fab. I always think it is great to catch up with friends that you haven’t seen for months. While I was completely unmotivated to go at the beginning, I was extremely happy I followed through and met her. Because of this NCAA basketball tournament, we waited like 45 minutes for a table (totally annoying). Something that I have found extremely irritating about restaurants is when they tell you it is going to be a 25-minute wait and it ends up being 45 (stupid, stupid, stupid). But, whatever, we stayed and had a blast.

When I came home my grandparents parents were already in bed, so I ordered a movie on pay per view (Love Happpens, totally cute) and spent a lonely night on the couch. On a high note, I discovered the band Rogue Wave. Definitely might be my new favorite band. I woke up at 7 a.m., once again because my parents are on this ridiculous sleep schedule of going to bed super early and waking up SUPER early. Whatever, I got up and moving and actually got some stuff done. It actually worked out to my advantage that the parents were leaving for the day. Mike headed off to a gun show, Tam went to meet with some of her friends and I completed about seven Educational Psychology quizzes that I, in true procrastinator form, had left for the end of the quarter.

Tam was staying in C-bus for the night, so Mike and I decided that for dinner we were going to steam the rest of the muscles he had bought. We made homemade marinara sauce and put the whole thing over angel hair pasta. Holy yumminess! It was absolutely phenomenal. We downed that and then went into food coma and napped on the couch for 2 hours. One thing that I love about my dad is that we are typically on the same page when it comes to napping…WE LOVE IT!

Got the camera fixed, but totally forgot to take a picture of the lovely dinner. I promise the pics will start soon! That’s all for now love doves. I will post soon! I am working on getting this crazy paper done, so posting again probably won’t happen this week. Tootles!

Grill Time!

Hi cupcakes!

As the weather gets warmer in Athens, all I can think about is drinking on my porch and grilled food. The smell of the grill on a spring afternoon is phenom. Because of the ridiculously warm weather on this particular day, I decided it was finally time to begin using the grill again. So, I invited a friend over to do the grilling. Side note: I am totally NOT afraid of the grill and usually would prefer to do it myself, but we haven't used our grill in 3 months and, honestly, I am terrified I might blow something up. It's not the grill that scares me, it's that damn propane tank.

Anyway, I took some chicken breasts out of the freezer before class today (I know, right? thinking ahead is totally not my style) and rubbed them with some olive oil and Grill Mates Montreal Chicken Seasoning (literally makes you drool when you smell it). My dad swears by this super easy rub and I constantly use it as a quick way to spice (literally...haha) up chicken. Alright, back to the dinner. My dinner mate came over at 4:30 with his part of the meal (frozen veggies). We decided that 4:30 was way too early to start dinner, so, instead, we drank. I mean Nati Light and warm weather in Athens mix perfectly with porch sitting. We downed a few brews, heckled some people from the porch and after about an hour had passed, made the decision to begin feast preparation.

He threw the chicken on and put the veggies in an aluminum pan so we could just grill those, too. I, meanwhile, cooked some orzo rice in chicken broth. I am, personally, a huge fan of cooking any kind of starchy thing in chicken broth. I always substitute water for chicken broth (I usually do this with grits or pasta). I think it totally adds a different flavor to the dish. When everything was done cooking, we chowed. And chowed and chowed and chowed. The meal was insanely good and somewhat healthy (or so I like to tell myself :|). When we were done, we decided this dinner was fo sho a repeat.

All in all, the night was a success, further making me long for spring quarter (officially 16 days away). I, unfortunately, have zero pictures to post that even prove this night happened. My camera is on the fritz, so hopefully pops/best buy can fix that this weekend during my trip home.

I am past the point of exhaustion and really need to go to bed, so this is all for tonight. I will post from home. I am sure tam and mikey will bring a whole different level of ridiculousness to my posting. Oh, and below is a picture from FoodPorn again. Enjoy fellow foodies!

peace, love and grilling

mea

FoodPorn

I realized after making that last post that I didn't have any pictures...super lame of me. Because I haven't started this whole experiment thing yet, I am posting pictures from my all time favorite Twitter-er, FoodPorn. The point of FoodPorn is to post ridiculously, crazy-good looking pictures of food. Here are some of today's tweets. Above we have a Vegetable Frittata and Baked Mostaccioli w/ Fire-Roasted Tomato Sauce & Smoked Mozzarella. Below is a Chocolate Fudge Cake. Let the drool begin to drip. Enjoy!





















peace, love and FoodPorn,
mea

New Beginnings

Alright, so, I have decided that in an attempt to not let this blog die and go to social media heaven, I am going to switch the focus of it. I kind of had this realization last night that I was totally trying to be professional and, frankly, that's just not me. So, from this point on, this blog is going to be about how to make good food in college while living within a budget. I have gathered from living with four other girls (all of whom, might I add, love to cook), that because of time and money, creating new and exciting dishes as college students, is hard. I am going to make it my goal for the next 10 weeks (yes, I know, it is extremely depressing to think that my college experience will be over in 10 short weeks) to come up with creative and unique dishes that can be made for one or two people. As a way to let people know what I am doing, I have created some rules:

1. I am going to grocery shop every Sunday and post my list.
2. I am going to attempt to make something different every night.
3. I am going to use at least three ingredients each week that I have never experimented with. Feel free to leave suggestions below.
4. I will post my thoughts about each dish. Now, because I am a college student, that is probably not going to happen every day, but I will post about everything I make.

Okay, that is really all I can think of now, but if anyone has suggestions/has attempted to do this before, please feel free to comment or email me. I would love any advice you can give. Also, this little experiment isn't going to start until March 28, because I am going to the Bahamas in a week and half for spring break (ahhhh!!!!!) and I really don't want to think about anything when I wake up but the sun and what kind of drink I am going to have. Oh, and it would be super difficult to blog about anything since I am going to be completely cut off from any kind of communication with anyone that isn't on that boat. If you were wondering, yes, I am totally freaking out about this, but I am hoping that a break from the Internet, might be good for me. We shall see.

Spring Break Countdown: 9 days!!!

As much as I would love to continue talking about my blog's future, my LAST JOURNALISM CLASS EVER is about to start and I am thinking it might be a good idea to pay attention.

peace, love, and new beginnings?

MEA

Welcome Home Dinner

This past weekend, while I was at home, I decided to make my parents dinner. They have been in Key West for the past week and I thought a little welcome home meal might be nice. Cookstr.com has kind of taken over my life the last week and I happened to stumble upon a recipe last week that looked amazing and I thought would be perfect for the parents. The recipe includes one of my all-time favorite ingredients: butternut squash. The texture, the sweetness and the ease of use of this ingredient is what makes it grab a spot in my top five. The recipe is easy and very low maintenance. The roasting of the butternut squash makes it extremely tender and roasting the squash with red onions and garlic gives it more flavor than you can imagine. This is definitely a "must try" recipe. Good luck!

Butternut Squash Penne

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, about 2lb (900g), peeled and seeded
• 1 red onion, cut into eighths
• 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for serving
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1lb (450g) dried penne
• 1 cup shredded Gruyere
• 1/3 cup creme fraiche
• 1 tbsp chopped sage
• freshly grated Parmesan, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Peel the squash. Cut the squash into 1in (2.5cm) cubes.

2. Toss the squash, onion, oil, and balsamic vinegar in a roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until tender. During the last few minutes, stir in the garlic.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted water over high heat until al dente. Drain and return to the saucepan. Add the roasted vegetables, Gruyere, creme fraiche, and sage, and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in deep bowls, with olive oil and the Parmesan cheese passed on the side.

© 2008 Dorling Kindersley

Note: Don't be afraid if you can't find creme fraiche, you can substitute sour cream and it tastes amazing!

Featured Recipe

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (mmm!!!)

With the extremely cold weather hitting the Southeastern part of Ohio, I decided it was time to make some soup, specifically Chicken Noodle Soup. I can remember my grandma making Chicken Noodle from scratch when I was young, it always comforted me and made me feel warm inside. A little bit of homesickness kicked in and I really wanted to try to recreate this feeling. I completely winged it and to my complete surprise, it actually turned out pretty well. This is the perfect solution to a cold winter day. Try it out yourself, the recipe is below.

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 2 qt. organic chicken broth
• 1 package egg noodles
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 1/2 cup carrots
• 1 cup celery
• 2 Tbs. italian seasoning
• 2 Tbs. dillweed
• 1 Tbs. basil leaves
• 1 Tbs. red pepper flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes. In a large pot, saute garlic, onion, carrots, celery in olive oil 10 minutes, or until soft. Add italian seasoning, dill, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Saute for another 2 minutes. Add chicken and saute for another 2 minutes. Add broth and noodles. Bring to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Makes about 8-12 servings.

Featured Restaurant

Lulu's Asian Diner
135 W. Kemper Road
Springdale, OH
513-671-4949

I have been frequenting this restaurant for years and absolutely love the service, atmosphere and, obviously, food that this restaurant provides. They have truly authentic Thai food and their consistency over the 13 years I have gone there is unmatched. I really can't pick what my favorite dishes are because everything is amazing, but below are a few of my favorites. This is definitely a must try restaurant. You haven't lived until you have tried their lo meins.

Noodle Bowl #11 (Spicy Szechuan)
This classic dish with peanut sauce, peanuts, bean shoots and cilantro is out of this world. This dish presents a perfect mix of sweet and spicy and truly gives your taste buds a treat.

Lo Mein (Chicken, Beef, Seafood)
The best part about this dish is the noodles. They are always perfectly cooked and the teriayki sauce that the meat and noodles are marinated in is subtle yet flavorful. You won't be able to get enough of this.

Potstickers (Fried Wontons)
Another classic, these little nuggets of wonton paper and pork filling are the perfect starter. The portion is perfect and they are the perfectly light pre-meal appetizer.

The Dish

Hi all,

This blog has been started purely for lovers of food. I love everything about food, from the sense of accomplishment you have when you create a truly fantastic dish, to the way you feel when you take the first bite. I will use this blog to discuss ingredients, recipes, and restaurants. So, let's get started.

Recipe of the Day:

Pumpkin and Goat's Cheese Lasagne
by Nigella Lawson














While I was wasting time on Twitter today, I discovered a new website called cookstr.com. This website highlights recipes, chefs and food blogs. They highlighted a recipe by Nigella Lawson called "Pumpkin and Goat's Cheese Lasagne." Now, maybe this caught my eye because all I have been able to think about lately is Italian food, or maybe it was because of the interesting ingredients. Nonetheless, I liked it. The recipe includes some of my favorite things: sage, pumpkin, goat and ricotta cheeses, and, of course, nutmeg. The link for the recipe is below.


http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/pumpkin-and-goats-cheese-lasagne

Restaurant of the Day:


Nida's Thai on High, Columbus, Ohio
976 N. High Street
Columbus, OH 43201














I was attending the infamous gallery hop in Downtown Columbus when a friend suggested we stop for dinner at Nida's. Being a lover of Thai food and sushi, I was immediately game. It was predictably busy for a Saturday night in Columbus, but we went to the bar for drinks and were seated within 30 minutes of arriving. Not only was the food amazing, but the drinks were out of this world. The staff was friendly and efficient and very helpful when giving suggestions for dinner options. My picks and the website are below.

My Picks:
Basil and Cucumber Martini
Phuket Punch
Pad Thai

Also, you absolutely cannot go wrong with their sushi!

http://www.thaionhigh.com/index.cfm

Alright, although I would love to post some more food-related things today, I actually need to go get something done. Comment if you have any questions or thoughts!