FitFool

This is a quick and easy appetizer if you use ready-made frozen puff pastry sheets. If I had any on hand, I would also sprinkle in chopped fresh basil beneath the zucchini and squash slices. I also think goat cheese would work nicely with this. I think I'll add sliced mushrooms too next time I make this.

I'm always looking for vegetarian dishes that can be enjoyed by vegetarians and omnivores alike so I have good options of what I can bring to potlucks. I think this one could even be ok for vegans if you leave out the parmesan cheese at the end. And yes..it was tasty and filling enough for omnivores. I liked it enough that I made it again a week later. My boyfriend ate it but generally prefers his pasta to have more sauce and the sauce in this is kind of thin so he wasn't a big fan of it but still thought it tasted good. The beans make this simple dish feel more substantial than just pasta and it's a nice mix of textures.

I spotted this recipe in an issue of Eating Well magazine at the library and just had to try it. Want to know how easy this recipe is? I was able to go to the gym for a short workout, come home and whip up 2 dozen of these cookies, and make it out the door in time to meet friends for brunch. And they still tasted fabulous. They came out of the oven soft and chewy. By the next day, they were pretty hard and crispy. (no worries, I just dunked them in my tea)

My friend, Jacyln, and I headed out to Busa Farm last weekend. To join its CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture), I paid $260 up front for the season and they gave me $280 worth of Busa Bucks (which works out to an 8% discount). Then I can use these Busa Bucks at their farm stand. The part that really grabbed me though is Busa Farm lets you go into the fields and pick your own vegetable and gives you 50% off the farm stand price. I imagine the discount is given since you save the farm the labor of harvesting the vegetables but for me, the opportunity to pick the vegetables fresh myself was a big selling point. I really need to remember bug spray though. The last few times I've gone out to the fields, I've been bitten by a ton of mosquitoes.

But the vague fear of picking up West Nile Fever is beside the point. The point is that Jacyln and I have enjoyed some truly farm fresh meals this summer. She's an amazing cook and I've picked up a few recipes from her that I need to post.

This is one from this past weekend where we wandered up and down the row of grape and cherry tomatoes, picking tons of tomatoes because they looked so beautiful. First there were the yellow ones, then red cherry tomatoes. Then we were lured away by the Roma beans and purple beans. That's right, purple beans! They're magic purple beans since they turn green when you cook them. At first I was fascinated by the change in colors but now that the novelty has worn off, I kinda wish they would stay purple. Anyhow, by the time we got to the end of the row of beans, that brought us to the other end of the tomatoes as well and then there were orange grape tomatoes to pick! So we picked a bunch of those too. We even found a few purple tomatoes. Bonanza!

I don't know if this is properly called a salad or not but that's its name until someone suggests otherwise. Jacyln's one of those intuitive cooks so the measurements aren't exact. But they're good and the recipe is very easy.

Whenever I have ripe bananas, I almost always make Banana Chocolate Nut Muffins (from mellybrelly!) but when this batch of bananas were ripening, I had made a bunch of muffins recently so I wanted to make something different. Saw this recipe for banana cookies and decided to give it a try. Simple and pretty good. But I have to admit, my heart was more into the muffins than the cookies. Luckily my roommate liked them and ate a bunch of them.

I've made this twice in just 4 days. When I made it with chicken leg quarters, the meat was very tender, falling off the bones, and infused with so much flavor. Spiciness never even hinted at the painful level. I think the hot peppers lended more flavor than heat. This made for an easy dinner with guests that pleased everyone. Since the chicken cooks for an hour, I started the chicken and then prepared the side dishes. This recipe is definitely going into my regular rotation. Thanks to vanessafrida for turning me on to Donna Hay! She got a bunch of us to try out and post Donna Hay recipes and she'll be posting the round-up soon.

Now the real reason I made the Bacon-Wrapped Pork Chops was so I could have some pig fat to turn into crispy bites of happiness. I had read this recipe for Deep-Fried Pork Belly and I couldn't wait to make this at home. Going to my regular grocery, the closest thing to pig skin I could find were some pork chops with some fat along the edges that I thought could work. I came so close. They looked beautiful when I was done. They had the perfect crispy texture. They tasted awful. All I could taste was baking soda. Clearly I messed up. Looking back at the original post, I'm pretty sure I had the same problem someone else did in the comments. I should've rinsed the baking soda off and patted it dry. If I had read through all the comments, I would've known this. But I didn't until after I had botched that batch of pig fat.

But I went to an Asian grocery (Super 88 in Boston) and saw that they had pork belly with the skin still on. I didn't buy it yet though. It was enough to know that it was available. First I wanted to consult the cooks of the internet. Do you have a tried and true recipe for frying up pig fat/skin? Do you have any tips for how I might've corrected this?



( Click to read what I did and suggest ways to fix it )

My boyfriend Brian is a food snob. Have I mentioned this before? The good side of this is we end up eating a lot of tasty food. The bad side is that he's not excited to go eat street carnival fare like nachos with the unnaturally orange cheese or fried dough with powdered sugar. At least he has a weakness for good chocolate. When he bites into something he doesn't care for, he'll eat a few more bites and then just sort of pick at it listlessly until we can order something else for dessert or go to another place to eat. But when he likes it, it's all "mmmmmmmmm" and contented munching. The first bite might make his eyes widen in surprised pleasure. He'll scarf things down and head to the stove for seconds.

This is all a prelude to saying that this recipe resulted in chicken that he loved. Chicken that he declared quite possibly the tastiest chicken he had ever eaten. This makes me happy. The fact that the recipe is really easy makes me even happier. The recipe had been on a page for Middle Eastern food but I haven't done much cooking in that category so I don't know if it's authentic. All I know is that the chicken was indeed as flavorful as the recipe promised and there was not a single thought of calling it bland. The chicken can be marinated 24 to 48 hours in advance so you could prepare it one night and let it marinate all day and then just cook it up when you get home from work. And once when I was pressed for time, I only marinated for 40 minutes and it still tasted great.

One make-ahead question. Could I throw frozen chicken breasts into the marinade and let it thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours? Would the meat thaw enough to absorb the flavors?

Last year was the first time I managed to make it to 50 recipes for the year. In 2006, I fell just short of the goal. Last year, I included a few 'fluff' recipes to make it to 50 but I figured close enough. Oh but this year...this year I intend to make it through all 50 with true recipes.

As I cook more, I find myself falling back on tried-and-true recipes. Doesn't require any time to pick out a recipe to try or need any effort in puzzling through a new recipe. But on the plus side, there's always the happy thrill of discovery in finding a new dish that I enjoy preparing and eating. And theoretically it's healthier since I can try to reduce the amount of any unhealthy ingredients.

New Recipes Tried in 2008

1. 01/01 Broiled Lamb Chops (recipe)
   
2. 01/10 Frijoles Negros (Cuban Black Beans) (from recipezaar)
   
3. 01/16 Turkey White Chili (from recipezaar)
   
4. 01/21 Taiwanese Rice Sticks (improvised with oyster sauce, tofu, carrots, baby corn, water chestnuts, and mushrooms)
   01/24 slice of French bread, prosciutto, shaved Fontina cheese
   
5. 01/27 Chicken Breasts in a Middle Eastern Marinade (from about.com)
   
6. 01/30 Pasta with Spinach and Cheese (a la Jonathan's typical dinner)
   
7. 02/01 Butternut Squash Soup (from ctah)
   
8. 02/12 Mini Flourless Chocolate Cake
   
9. 03/05 Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops (adapted from here)
   
10. 03/05 Chicharron - Deep fried pork fat (from Nikas Culinaria)
    
11. 03/06 Roasted Duckling
    
12. 03/06 Curry Roasted Cauliflower (from stephygurl)
    
13. 03/11 Pork with Cumin and Cilantro
    
14. 03/11 Banana Cookies
    03/11 Guayaba con Queso (guava paste and cream cheese in puff pastry cups)
    03/17 Prosciutto e Melone (recipe)
    
15. 03/17 Ziti with Onions, Sausage and Fennel (recipe)
    
16. 03/23 Spinach and Prosciutto Omelette
    
17. 03/23 Stir-fried zucchini with Salty Duck Egg Yolks
    
18. 03/24 Cavatappi with Cannellini and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
    
19. 03/28 Sausage Spinach Stuffed Mushroom
    
20. 04/01 Roasted Chickpeas
    
21. 04/03 Sausage and Leeks with Garlic Smashed Potatoes
    
22. 04/03 Cream of Asparagus Soup
    
23. 04/07 Sticky Chili Chicken Wings
    
24. 04/24 Thai Chicken Thighs (recipe)
    
25. 05/11 Roasted Corn on the Cob with Spicy Lime Butter (adapted from recipe)
    
26. 05/12 Sweet Potato Wedges (recipe)(add salt!)
    05/12 Pasta with Kale and Mushrooms (modification of Jonathan's typical dinner)
    
27. 05/13 Kettle Corn (recipe)
    05/13 Popcorn with Chili Powder
    
28. 05/14 Portuguese Green Soup (recipe)
    05/14 Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus
    
29. 05/17 Bechamel (from Marcella Hazan)(had it with linguine, shrimp, peas, and bacon)
    
30. 05/28 Breaded and Fried Zucchini (from Lydia Bastianich)
    
31. 05/30 Prosciutto-wrapped Scallops
    05/30 Imitation of Cinderella's Pesto Bread (needs More Cheese and More Pesto)
    
32. 05/31 Toad in a hole (recipe)
    
33. 06/12 Peach-glazed Pork Ham Steaks
    06/13 Fiddlehead Ferns (just boiled them with some salt)
    06/23 Feijoada (used a pre-made Feijoada meat mix. Added onions and black beans and rice)
    
34. 07/15 Sausage and Mushroom Turnovers (adapted recipe from angelninas)
    
35. 07/20 Peanut Noodles
    
36. 07/24 Zucchini Bread
    
37. 07/26 Lamb Shepherd's Pie
    07/28 Zucchini, Sun-dried tomatoes, and shredded cheese on puff pastry tarts ...
    08/02 tomatoes, mozzarella, and Wilson Farm's pesto on bread (yum!)
    08/03 Peanut Butter Ice Cream
    08/03 Orange Sorbet
    
38. 08/06 Zucchini and Nectarine (recipe from Leaf)
    
39. 08/07 Fried Green Tomatoes
    
40. 08/08 Ratatouille (recipe)
    
41. 09/30 Roast Fresh Ham (recipe)
    
42. 10/06 Cumin-dusted Pork Cutlets with Citrus Pan Sauce (recipe) ...
    
43. 10/08 Ham and Cheese Pasta (recipe)
    
44. 10/21 Cheese Straws (using frozen puff pastry)
    
45. 11/06 Hamburger Buddy (recipe)
    
46. 11/08 Herb and Garlic Lamb Loin Chops (adapted recipe)
    
47. 11/23 Jalapeño Poppers (recipe and some of this recipe)
    
48. 11/25 Sausage and Lentils with Fennel (recipe) ...
    
49. 11/27 Ginger Crinkle Cookies
    
50. 12/03 Pork Cutlets with Orange-Cranberry Pan Sauce (adapted from this recipe)
    
51. 12/06 Garlicky Spinach Dip (recipe)
    
52. 12/13 Prosciutto Pesto Egg Cups (recipe and variations)
    12/15 Chicken Quesadillas (didn't really use a recipe but it was the first time I had made these)
    
53. 12/20 Chinese Steamed Buns (bao) (used bun part of this recipe) ...
    
54. 12/21 Spare Ribs Cantonese (recipe)
    

Who else is playing this game? I'm sure I missed others. Tell me and I'll add you to the list.
I saw:

• yesimthegirl
  
• streetstupid (going for 80!)
  
• mforbes321
  
• theinimitable_l (also planning for eating at 25 new restaurants)
  

People Who Cook a Lot but I don't know what tag to use to find their recipes:

• angelninas
  
• razz
  

From the 2008 list, these dishes have been invited back for repeat performances. (generally means that we liked the way it tasted and they were simple enough to cook more frequently)

#1 Broiled Lamb Chops
#5 Chicken Breasts in a Middle Eastern Marinade
#12 Curry Roasted Cauliflower
#15 Ziti with Onions, Sausage and Fennel
#23 Sticky Chili Chicken Wings
#26 Sweet Potato Wedges
#30 Breaded and Fried Zucchini
#33 Peach-glazed Ham Steaks (it's become peach-glazed pork)
#39 Fried Green Tomatoes (pretty much #30 done with green tomatoes. YUM!)
#42 Cumin-dusted Pork Cutlets with Citrus Pan Sauce
#51 Prosciutto Pesto Egg Cups
#xx Zucchini, Sun-dried tomatoes, and shredded cheese on puff pastry tarts

Congrats to mforbes321 and the rest of you cooks who whipped up good eats and shared them with us.

Recipes From Other Years:
2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

Cookbook of All Recipes I've Posted:
http://fitfool.livejournal.com/53752.html
or just look at the tag recipelist