Surprise Cookin' Stuff

I haven't had much time to update, seeing as I had a ton of really important things to do over the past couple days.  These things included:

1) Doing my laundry for the month (when you run out of certain essential items, it's really not a choice anymore)
2) Hanging up my laundry (there's a lot, do not underestimate this step)
3) Cleaning my room (it's JUST SO MESSY ALL THE TIME GOSH!)
4) Cleaning the kitchen (apparently our landlord doesn't like to pick up our phone calls all the time so we have to keep it as clean as possible to avoid mousies and roachies)
5) Decorating my apartment because right now it's just an off-white blueish gray zone of despair a little bit and nobody really wants that
6) Gymming because I bought this dang membership and now I'm going to use it!
6a) ^^^Also I have to catch up on season 6 of How I Met Your Mother which is on CBS on Monday nights and the premiere is next week and I don't have cable

I also had a ton of non-important things to do over the past couple of days:
1) Hanging out with peeps because I miss them when I'm in my basement apartment alone, sniff sniff
2) Watching The Office
3) Squealing about the Four Town Fair
4) Squealing about Homecoming
5) Willing myself not to get sick (okay I guess that's kind of important but it doesn't really take up a lot of time
6) Doing other things that are so unimportant I can't even remember them for my unimportant list

But in the meantime I have to talk a lil' baby bit about the dinner I made yesterday.  I defrosted some chicken so I was already to cook up some barbecue chicken and maybe some potatoes and veggies and have myself a good ol' time after work.  But then I was all I have this leftover coconut milk from my mushroom chicken and gee that might be good so I told Reece I was going to mix the barbecue sauce and coconut milk together and see what happened.  I think he was a bit skeptical.

BUT it was actually pretty delish and I added a few other things (although I wish I had used less barbecue versus coco-milk).  These things were: soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper.  Things I didn't add but could have: peanut butter, spicy chile sauce, uhmm maybe some sesame or sesame oil or something?

And guess what you have there?  You have a nice little off-the-cuff coconut thai-ish sauce.  Way to go, you kitchen master, you!  I would suggest that you go on Hell's Kitchen but I do not want to be responsible for sending you off to the wrath of Gordon Ramsay.

I just simmered the sauce for a bit, added it to a pan-cooked chicken breast when it was almost cooked through, added veggies, let all the stuff simmer together for a bit, and serve over rice.  When you don't have all day to plan out your meals like you used to (cry for the days of having 15 hours of class a week) it's a nice surprise to eat something that's not stir-fry or any variation of pasta.

Let's not talk about my weirdo eating habits on Sunday: rice-a-roni, a whole tomato, some popcorn, and ice cream.  That's it.  All day.  Someone send me an intervention.

Love,
Courtney

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies NomYum!

Today I was super exhausted at work for some reason, which couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I wanted to finish watching Project Runway and read a little bit before bed last night.  Since it was raining, I had to go grocery shopping, and I felt like I needed some time to relax, I decided to make dinner and do some baking.  I made chicken with mushroom sauce, as I once posted on my old cooking blog, which was a huge success since it was delicious and I now have at least two batches of leftovers.  Then it was time to make my first attempt at baking oatmeal raisin cookies.

I generally make cookies every Tuesday night to bring into work on Wednesday, but since I just have the loveliest of apartments, the water was out downstairs yesterday and I didn't know if it was going to go out upstairs too, so I decided not to risk it.  Needless to say, I was berated a bit at work today, but I'll show them ALL tomorrow by bringing in oatmeal raisin cookies and not sharing ANY of them.  Maybe a few.  NO, NONE!  Okay, all of them.  NEVER!  But then you'll have to go to the gym for hours and hours.  Yeah, you're right, that would really suck.  Might as well share.

So now that THAT'S out of the way...

Oatmeal raisin cookies have never really been my favorite since I'm such a chocolate fiend, but now that I like trying pretty much anything and everything, I've taken more a liking to them.  One of my coworkers made the request for these after two weeks of caramel-filled chocolate cookies and one week of chocolate chip.  And I believe there was a store-bought cake in there somewhere as well.  Clearly we can all see where I unload my baked goods onto unsuspecting victims.

All that talk is nice and good, but let's stop rambling, forget that we made plans to clean out the fridge, and get to baking!  I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen because I really don't think you can go wrong there.

In a bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, an egg, and some vanilla.  I used bourbon vanilla because I'm fancy like that.  Also, it's all we had.  I like to play it by ear.  Cream all that stuff together and forget that your arm is sore because you did arm exercises two days in a row.

Normally I would tell you not to eat this and really be kidding to cover up the fact that I ate some of it but really don't eat it because there's a lot of raw egg in there, man.  Safety first.

Add in some salt...

...baking powder...

...and the cinnamon you just ran to the store to get because you forgot to get it earlier!

Also some flour please!  Mix it all up.

Does it look something like this?  Good job!  You're probably on the right track.

The recipe called for rolled oats, and then I got to the store and I was like, I have no idea what those are.  So I got regular oats.  I figured I probably couldn't go wrong...?

Add them in that there mixture, kids!  That's a lot of oats.  I hope you are not an anti-horse.

Because horses like oats so anti-horses would not like oats so... that's where that came from...

Please accept me.  Thank you.

Oh yeah, and some raisins!  Those are pretty important when you're making oatmeal raisin cookies.

So you mixed everything up without me even telling you to, right?  You're so smart.  Now your batter should look like this.  You're like a prodigy, I'll bet, aren't you??

After this the recipe says that we should chill the batter in the fridge.  But I say, why use a fridge when you can use...

...a freezer!  Go do some dishes or clean your kitchen or your fridge or something and stop being such a slob.  You're a girl.  You're supposed to be clean.  I am ashamed.

But don't worry!  Now your kitchen will be clean and I can forgive you.

Also, I have to remind you, I went grocery shopping today.  I froze seven packages of veggies, four turkey burgers, a package of cube steak, some chicken, and a serving of leftovers.  Please disregard how full my freezer is for only sharing it with one other person.  I appreciate that.

Let's try a different camera for this shot since I love my Droid 3, but the camera is always tinted blue.  Did you do all the things I told you to?  Good!  I'm proud of you.  Now you're ready to scoop out your dough.

If you're one of those kinds of people, you can make your oatmeal cookies into pretty little balls.  But if you're me, you can just scoop them into whatever lumpy shape you would like.  Mine were imperfect and a bit quirky.  JUST LIKE ME! 

The recipe says to line the baking sheets with parchment paper, but I just oiled them a tiny bit beforehand.  I wish that the batter had made more cookies just because I have many people fighting over them (it's acceptable to say if it's a fact!) but I suppose it wouldn't have been hard to double it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  The bottom will be browning a bit, but the top will still be pretty light.  Like...

...this!  Nommm.

Better picture focus!  Double nommm.

COOKIE MONSTER SHADOW!!!

Hip edited cookie picture.  Must eat.

I'm not really sure that I'm the best person to review these cookies because I don't know what oatmeal raisin cookies typically taste like.  They were definitely oat-y and raisin-y.  I think next time I would probably increase the ratio of batter to oats and raisins just because I really love cookie batter and brown sugar, but they are very good.  I'll let you know what the reviews are tomorrow.

If you want the recipe, you can get it here at Smitten Kitchen.  But I'm going to have to warn you, you'll stay on the website forever.  Reece has already yelled at me for adding the Pioneer Woman to his Google reader when he was trying to trim it down, and this is one of those sites as well. 

Now I will go to bed an hour later than I planned to, just as happens every night.  Plus, I mean, I can't just leave this episode of Amazing Race unfinished.  They're ON THE MATTERHORN, for goodness sake!

Priorities.

Love,
Courtney

What To Eat When You're Broke

Today was my first day of work, and I belieeeeve I shall adjust to corporate life quite well.  The people are great (another Fordham grad is a newbie too, if the company hired two Fordham grads, they obvs know what's good for them) and I think once I get into the groove of things, it'll go smoothly.  And commuting from Brooklyn is actually a lot better than I thought... though I can't wait to get to the UES.

Until my first paycheck comes in, or at least until after my gradumacation party on Saturday (whee!), I'm kind of broke.  Andrea and I went to the grocery store yesterday, and for the first time, I seriously paid attention to the prices of food.  So now, I shall instruct you on what one can eat when they are on a budget.

Tuna sandwich.  Tuna = on sale + not bad without condiments = buy 5 cans and eat every day.

Enjoy that tuna sandwich, college grad.

It was your idea to move to Manhattan and leave behind your free shrimp scampi and steak 'n potatoes.  Eat.  Every.  Last.  Bite.  Of.  That.  Shit.

Steal your ex-roomie's spices to pretend like you're not eating tuna from a can and generic brand mayo.  You're quite the gourmet chef, my friend.  A regular MacGyver.

Bread you bought for tuna + cherry jam (on sale) + crunchy peanut butter that your roomie used to have at your old apartment which basically makes it yours = PB&J!!  Good job, you just got yourself some VARIETY!  10 points for Gryffindor!

Chex Mix, 2 for $3, on sale.  No Cheez-its for you, madam.  $4.59 a BOX?  I'm not DONALD TRUMP over here, friends, do you see a comb over anywhere on this head??

Carrots = necessary.  Need.  No matter what.  Hummus, not on sale = SPLURGE!  Guard with your life.  It's spinach and artichoke flavor.

Greek yogurt = 5 for $4.  Hello, breakfast!  You need your protein, commuter.

And lots and lots of.... water.  FREE SUSTENANCE!  Drink up, my friend, because you shall be consuming this in abundance until you can shank some leftovers from the pulled pork this weekend.  Can you say "WINNING!!!!"???

I like food.  I miss food.  Please come back.

Love,
Courtney

Lemon Meringue Pie Please?

Today I biked to the grocery store to get lemons to make a lemon meringue pie for my parents anniversary.  I biked.  With a backpack on my back.  I'm really cool.

But then I made the pie (and shrimp scampi!) and it was really good and I took some pikshures for you to see here.

LEZZ MAKE A PIE!!!

Start by combining four egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar (save the egg yolks!).  Whip in your REALLY AWESOME YELLOW KITCHENAID STAND MIXER until they form soft peaks, then add in two tablespoons sugar.

Keep whipping until they form stiff peaks.  I almost just said hard peaks.  That would be incorrect.

You need a baked pie shell, so bake it if you have an unbaked one.  Unbaked + the oven = baked.  I got a 5 on my Calculus AP.

In a saucepan, throw in 1/3 cup cornstarch...

1 1/3 cups sugar...

1 1/2 cups water...

And a pinch of salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling.

My hand looks really weird in this picture and I hate it.

While you're waiting for it to boil, you gotta zest some lemon.  I had a really difficult time at this part.  Is this what you use to zest a lemon?

I mangled this poor lemon.  I definitely didn't do this correctly.  Good thing I don't pretend to be perfect.

I even forgot to take a picture of the zest.  You need a tablespoon.  Imagine that here.

Next, you need 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  It took me 4 lemons, probably because I juiced them wrong.

This is what a half cup looks like, in case you were wondering.

Remember those egg yolks I told you to save?  This is why!  You're going to...

WHISK THEM!!  Good job.

Does your cornstarch/water/sugar mixture look goopy and gross now?  Good!  You're ready for the next step.  Remove that pan from that there heat!

Now, this part is very important... you need to temper the eggs.  Basically, you need to add the hot hot mixture to the eggs slowly so that you don't cook the eggs instantly.  Otherwise, you'd have scrambled eggs instead of a pie, and I really hate eggs.  Which is weird, I know, but they just gross me out.

So, as you are whisking the yolks, add the hot mixture into the eggs one ladle at a time, until at least half of the hot stuff is mixed in.

I added in pretty much all of the mix.  This is what it should look like if you did it right!

Now, pour the egg mix back into the saucepan and cook over low heat for another minute or two.  Then, remove from heat.

Add in three tablespoons of buttah...

...and the zest and juice.  I'm silly and knocked the zest into the juice while I was taking pictures.  Don't be like me.

Stir until completely combined!

Like this!  This tastes really good, but don't eat a lot of it because it has raw egg yolks, and while I've never gotten salmonella, it's just a little yucky.

Pour the yellow goo into the pie shell.

Nom!  Now comes the fun part.  Take your meringue (if it has fallen a little like mine did, whip it back into shape again!)...

...and if you like to be cool and creative and make more work for yourself you can put it in a bag, cut a hole in it, and pipe it on the pie.

It looks like packing peanuts!

Or a cloud.  No, mostly just packing peanuts.  Make sure the meringue covers all the filling, even to the edge, then pop it in the oven (375F for 10-14 minutes!).

And then it will look like this yummm!

Deliciouso.  Stick the pie in the fridge after a little while or else it will turn into soup like mine.  But it still tasted really good!

Ta-da!  You made a pie.  If you want the original recipe, you can find it on the Food Network site. 

So now I have a raging headache and I'm going to go to seeps seeing as I have to wake up tomorrow and unpack.  I have no clothes.  None.  My life is in the garage.  Ahhh!

It was really a pie not soup I swear,
Courtney