Chick Pea Cakes

After seeing something on the Travel Channel, I tried to make it. It was some sort of flat bread-ish looking thing made of chick pea, olive oil, and flour. Seemed easy enough, so, I made my own. I'm not sure if it had the correct texture or taste because it's hard to judge that just from watching a show, but everyone seemed to like it. I put 2 cans of chick peas (drained) in the food processor to grind them down to a paste. I added that to some olive oil, then gradually added flour till I got a consistency I liked. After that, I threw in some salt, pepper, cumin, onion powder and garlic powder. I grabbed small, round pieces of the dough and made them into flat little cakes and put them in the pan with some olive oil. They cooked for about 3 minutes on each side. They came out pretty good. I also made a spread for them with avocado, plain yogurt, minced garlic, onion powder, salt, paprika, and cumin. Very tasty.

Cupcakes and Cheese Steaks

Two weekends ago, I decided to make some cupcakes. Scratch baking these really wasn't an option, so I used a box mix with some modifications. First up were Golden Vanilla with Strawberry Frosting. I added a pinch more vanilla to the mix and after frosting them, I added some metallic sprinkles to the top. They looked.......cute. After that, I did Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting. For these I added a bit of ginger and cinnamon to the batter. I also put some heart shaped sprinkles on the top. Cute. I also made a batch of Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Ginger and Black Pepper. These, surprisingly, came out great. The ginger was very lite, so next time I will increase to 3 tablespoons instead of 2.




August 16 was my first anniversary with Paul. We spent the day together and it was great. The day before that we took a day trip to Philly to see the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute. The exhibit was great and I actually learned quite a bit. After that we took a walk over to the fountain, then to Ginos for cheese steaks. I've been there twice now and honestly I'm not impressed. I've gotten better cheese steak in a Jersey diner. In any case, it was a great trip with a great guy :)

Long Overdue Post

Yeah, I haven't posted in a long time. I'm an ass, I know. Here are some updates:

-Current weight loss is at 41 pounds.
-Mad that Aria and Brad got eliminated. Keeping my fingers crossed for Tom.
-Possibility of opening a bakery is somewhere on the horizon.
-Paul and I are coming up on 1 year.
-Pretzel MnM's are the shit.
-I've had multiple suggestions that I market my Paleo-friendly Spice Rub.
-Red Dead Redemption should be crowned Game Of The Decade.
-I was almost rendered unconscious by HORRIBLE tooth pain 2 weekends ago.

Anyway, I'm sure there's more but I can't remember. I've spent more time in the kitchen lately working on some stuff for this diet that actually tastes good. First thing I came up with was my Rub. People seem to really like it, and, it's sodium and sugar free. I also came up with some sort of Honey and 5 Spice Powder Glaze. Not bad either and mom loved it.

Recently I got Paul to watch an episode of No Reservations and he loved it (much to my surprise). We'll be sure to watch more of that sometime soon. That's it for now. I will try my best to update this beast more often for the 2 or 3 people that actually read it :)

Paleo Diet

So, I've been on a diet now for about....close to 3 weeks. At this point I've lost 16 pounds, which I don't think is too bad at all. It's the Paleo Diet and although your choices of what to eat can be somewhat limited, I'm finding it easy to follow. Basically you cut out things like bread, pasta, dairy, beans, sugar and salt. Things with natural sugar, like fruit, are just fine. A typical day of meals for me is:

Breakfast - 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites scrambled with some fresh fruit or unsweetened applesauce.
Lunch - 2 pieces of fish (tilapia usually) with half an avocado.
Dinner - Lean steak or chicken breast with fresh vegetables.

During the course of the day I'll snack on things like fresh fruit, or unsalted cashews or almonds. Peanuts are a no since they are technically a bean and not a nut. Things are good so far, and the weight comes off really easy. There's a wealth of information online if anyone is interested.

"A Taste For Hotter, Mintier, Fruitier"

I just read a really good article on Yahoo by Miriam Gottfried about how Americans palates are changing and what food companies are doing to satisfy the need. You can link to the article HERE, but I will give some highlights:

• "The buttery taste found in packaged foods isn't just butter flavor anymore. Increasingly, it is browned-butter flavor, formulated to taste deeper and more savory than plain butter"

• "American cuisine is adrenaline cuisine"

• "Food companies describe some of their efforts as adding "umami," a Japanese word that, roughly translated, means good flavor"

• "As people crave intensity in flavor, some traditionalists are wondering if diners will become desensitized to natural flavors. Regular mangoes may taste bland when eaten next to mango-flavored gum or a mango energy drink, they say"

• "New flavors used to originate in fine dining kitchens and work their way down, but now they come just as often from the Food Network or from ethnic or international sources"

Certainly worth the read. There's a lot of interesting material there. Check it out.

China Fun

On Sunday, Paul and I went to the Museum Of Natural History in New York. Neither of us had been there in years, so we were pretty excited about going. We had a great time, and had some great conversations. After the museum, we took a short walk in Central Park, then looked for some place to have lunch. We (actually just Paul) decided on a little place on Columbus Ave that looked and smelled good, China Fun. We both ordered bubble tea. I got the coconut, Paul got honeydew. For our meal, we ordered Beef Pad Thai and Crispy Duck. The Pad Thai was good, but not as good as getting from an actual Thai place. The duck was fantastic. The skin was nice and crispy, and the five spice powder they used on it was delicious. Paul had a tough time removing the meat from the bones, so I had to help him with that. My babe can be so silly at times. In all, it was a great day and I'm looking forward to more.

Giant F'ing Marshmallows

Two weeks ago Kim and Kathleen came over with a bag of over sized marshmallows and really long skewers. The marshmallows were HUGE - probably the size of a baseball and contained 90 calories each. Massive. We traveled around my backyard and gathered downed branches and built a fire in the outdoor fireplace. After it was nice and hot, we started roasting our marshmallows. They were pretty good, but the only problem was their size. It wasn't exactly possible to cook them all the way through because the outside started to burn too badly. Still, we all had a good time and Kim and I were definitely tempted to build our very own Staypuft Marshmallow Man :)

Monday Night Dinner

I decided to make Paul something nice for dinner, so after watching Secrets Of A Restaurant Chef I had some idea. I ended up making Chicken Milanese with Safron Risotto and Mushrooms sauteed in Red Wine. Everything was pretty good. The chicken was wonderfully tender and very crunchy thanks to using Panko (as opposed to regular bread crumbs). For dessert, I made Panna Cotta. Also very delicious. Once again, I failed to take pictures of it all.

Wheelies

Recently my good friend Kim and I went to a new fast food place on Rt. 516 in Old Bridge called Wheelies. This place claims to have the best roast beef sandwich in New Jersey, and being a lover of roast beef I put it to the test. So, Kim and I both ordered the roast beef sandwich. I got a strawberry shake, Kim got chocolate. The shakes were great. Not too thin, not too thick, and most likely homemade. The sandwich was incredible. It was very simply served on a nice squishy white bun with a little bit of melted cheddar. The meat was incredibly tender. What makes this place stand out from other fast food places is that everything is seemingly made fresh each day. Nothing is frozen. Not bad, and certainly worth the trip.

Tower Of India

Okay so, I haven't posted anything in a while. Things have been kind of crazy with my car dying and Paul getting really sick. About a week ago, Alex and I went to a really nice Indian restaurant over in Parlin called Tower Of India. It was a tiny place in a strip mall on Ernston Road. The food was great, the service was fast and very hospitable, and the prices were really good. Alex and I both ordered the Chefs Special Thali for $17. It consisted of Lentil soup, naan, rice, dal, chicken tandoori, seekh kabab, chicken tikka, lamb curry, vegetables, raita, and kheer (warm rice pudding) for dessert. We also shared a Samosa appetizer. All of it was realllllly good and they give you so much. The naan tasted like it was right from the oven and the tandoori chicken was amazingly tender. We will definitely be going back soon.

Jalapeno Poppers

Just like the beef roll, this was another idea I got from Diners Drive Ins and Dives. Tuesday night, I made Jalapeno Poppers wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese, as well as some pan fried chicken. I didn't cook these in a smoker like I saw on the show, but I baked them first, then threw them in the frying pan for a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't take and good pictures of the peppers, just one crappy picture with my phone. I thought they were really great, had good heat, and tasted pretty damn amazing. Paul, on the other hand, couldn't take the heat and whined like a little girl for about 20 minutes. Later in the week I also made a German Black Forest cake for Paul's mom :)

Foodtography: Some Pics I've Taken

Beef Roll

Tonight for dinner I made Paul and I a beef roll. I took a flank steak, pounded it out really thin, and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and basil. Then I started to layer it. First was thin slices of garlic. After that, a layer of spinach followed by roasted red peppers. Finally, a layer of fresh mozzarella. Then it was time to roll it up, which was not as big of a pain in the ass as I thought it would be. Instead of using string to tie this thing up, I used silicone ties and they worked very well and held better than I initially thought they would. After it was all tied up and ready to go, i threw it in the pan for a little bit, just to crust up the outside of it, then put it in the oven on 375 for about 40 minutes. It came out a little higher than rare, about 180 degrees. So then we cut it up and it was, surprisingly, really good! The meat was nice and tender and the filling was really tasty. We also had creamed corn, biscuits with gravy, and mac and cheese to go with it. In all, it was a pretty good night with great food and even greater company <3

Dinner At Dads

Yesterday was a really beautiful day and Paul and I took a trip to upstate NY to visit my dad. We got there in great time and hit zero traffic. My dad was happy to see us and had a great meal planned. When we first arrived, he had some sausage, cheese, crackers, gherkins, and homemade bread and butter pickles out on the table. Dinner was great. He made a roast beef, seasoned with just salt, pepper, and garlic powder which made a nice crust on the outside. There was also peas, mushrooms sauteed in butter, biscuits, and mashed potato with peppercorn. Everything was delicious. For dessert we had my blueberry pie with some whipped cream my dad made. The pie turned out to be really good, and Paul actually had a second piece (seeing him have another piece made all the hard work seem worthwhile). When Paul and I got back to Jersey, we collapsed onto the bed watched the Oscars together. In all, it was a fantastic day :)