Searching for Steamers

After my dim sum dream from this morning I went out to scour suburbia for my needs.

1. A decent Asian Market
2. A kitchen store where I could buy a decent steamer for under $30.

It didn't seem so hard. This is California, after all. I found a decent Asian Market on my first try, only 20 minutes from my house, in an extremely dubious looking strip mall. But it had the right smell and a tremendous variety in the store, including a small fish counter. Very Nice!

I found two kinds of dried, shredded pork there (Tung Yang Pork Fu is the kind I got, the mild type, as opposed to Tung Yang Pork Sung, which has the same ingredients but is redder). Lots of veggies that I could identify, and 100 types of rice-based wrappers. The Bug picked some sticky glutinous raspberry sweet, which he didn't like.

On the search for sticky rice I found an employee lounging on 40-pound bags of rice. Feeling quite silly, I asked for the smallest bag of sticky rice possible. I think it was five pounds of "Sweet Thai Riz" and cost $3.50. The man laughed and asked if I knew how to cook it.

"Oh, I have a recipe," I answered, and then asked,"What do you recommend?"

"Cook for a long time, about 30 minutes, with a lot of water," he laughed.

They were all really sweet. The cashier asked, "What are you making?" and I told her I wasn't quite sure, since I didn't know what they would have.

Then, armed with some items, I knew I needed a better steamer. I would have liked a big bamboo one, even though I know they harbor bacteria, etc., but would have settled for something metal, as long as it had stackable levels.

I went up to the Vacaville Factory Outlet Stores. There are four kitchen-ware stores there: Le Creuset, Corningware, The Kitchen Store, and Le Gourmet Chef.

Since I was just looking for a stupid bamboo steamer, I went into The Kitchen Store first. I soon found out it had no steamers whatsoever, and mostly sold gadgets made by "The Good Chef" which are the worst pieces of crap ever. So we went over to the stupidly-named "Le Gourmet Chef" (I should have known).

A mish-mosh of ticky-tacky joke stuff (pig-lighters with flames coming out of their noses, fake french chefs holding chalkboards, etc.), and extremely expensive boxed items with "The Professional Series" or something along that line printed on them. Whether they were nice or not, I don't know. $30 for a tiny steamer insert that I can't unbox is too steep for me.

Did I mention the pretzel and mustard dip bar? Wasabi Horseradish Mustard dip and crap like that. They had more salsas and hot sauces with stupid names like "Queen of Farts" than they did cookware.

I finally found a set of two tiny bamboo steamers made by Joyce Chen. They were called "Cocktail Steamers" I think and would have held no more than two potstickers a piece. At $8 for two they were ridiculous. When I asked the sales clerks they got snotty and said, "We had fold out metal steamers but we don't any more."

Mental eye roll.

The Bug and I will MacGyver something together tomorrow. Tonight we made linguine (see earlier post).

I'm armed with all my fixins though. Pretty excited. Maybe Juiceboy will be home to photograph the results.

Linguini and White Clam Sauce

One of The Bug's favorite dishes is Linguine and Clam Sauce. In fact, this weekend Juiceboy is off camping, and I gave The Bug his choice of any dinner. And that included eating out? His choice? You guessed it. Linguine and Clam Sauce. My "Fast & Cheap" version is incredibly fast and easy. Watch for when your supermarket puts the tinned clams on sale.

Linguine and Clam Sauce
Eyeball all amounts, adjust to your taste.
Since you'll cook the sauce on really low heat, go ahead and use that non-stick saucepan.

Put lots of fresh water, dosed with kosher salt, onto boil.
When it boils, add and cook 10-16oz of linguine.

In the meantime:

• In a big saucepan melt about one and a half tablespoons butter over low heat. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and about three cloves of finely chopped garlic.
  

• Sweat garlic over low heat until fragrant and supple. Do not turn up the heat past medium low, and if butter starts bubbling, turn it down. There's nothing worse than browned garlic in this dish.

• While garlic softens, open two tins minced or chopped clams (I like the ones in the yellow tuna-sized tins. You'll find them with the tuna in fact.) RESERVE THE LIQUID.

• When garlic is softened, add a shake of red pepper flakes. Go easy on this, you can always add more. Heat for 30 seconds.
  

• Then add the clam liquid, plus one whole bottle clam juice, which is also found in the tuna section. Be sure to shake the bottle.
  

• Turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil.
  

• Add about a half bunch of well chopped parsley. (This is a great use for parsley.) Don't worry about the stems--just wash the parsley, shake it, and chop away. My mom uses scissors, I just use my knife.
  

• Immediately turn down to medium/medium-low. Check your pasta.
  

• Now, shake out some cornstarch in a measuring cup. About 1/8 cups worth and add enough cold white wine, chicken broth, or water to liquify. Mix till smooth.
  

• Turn the heat up again till it's simmering and add your starch mixture. But be careful! Add a bit at a time, as this will thicken your sauce faster than you can imagine. Stir like crazy as you add it.
  

• Once thickened to your liking (we like it THICK), turn off the heat and add freshly ground black pepper and the clams. Please don't cook the clams unless you like Linguine and Rubber Bits.
  

Add-ins to consider: fresh basil, finely chopped white onion, fresh clams, even thick-cut and diced bacon.

Serve with Parmesan cheese and garlic bread and a great salad.

Should serve four.

Testing...1, 2, 3

I just switched to the Blogger Beta and am more lost than a man in a bra department. Where are my site feeds?

Dreaming of Dim Sum

I've been dreaming again of dim sum. Really good dim sum, the kind you come across once in a lifetime. The kind that bursts in your mouth with freshness and lightness. Tender, gingery siu mai. Heavy, thin-skinned potstickers. Har gow that explode with cilantro and garlic. Lo mai gai 30 seconds from being cooked--completely fresh and flavorful. There's no grease, and all the carts delight you. And a hundred carts come by in the first 15 minutes you're seated. And you can have all you want for only $10.

It's only 9am and my mouth won't stop watering. Now, if it were a year and a half ago, I'd have The Bug prepped and we'd be flying out the door to Chinatown, ready to be the first ones in when the doors of our favorite dim sum place opened. But when you trade the city for the country (and four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a pool and room for a pony), you lose some things. I have no problem with the commute. I can handle not being able to roll down the street for a beer. Miss the 50 restaurants within walking distance? Not me. Never looked back.

Until today. Even in nearby Napa, there's no dim sum. Even if we headed north an hour to Sacto, no dim sum. And the Bay Bridge is closed this weekend, which would mean driving to BART, then getting on the train, then bussing to our favorite place...and by that time, we'd have hit crowds.

So instead I think I'll spend some of my birthday money on supplies for making dim sum. A steamer, certainly. The ingrediants, for sure. What else? Unfortunately Juiceboy took the digital camera camping with him, so any pictures will be day-old. Now...off to find a cooking supply store in suburbia. Sigh.

My five-things-before-death list

Okay. I'm on the bandwagon. Here's my addition to the Traveller's Lunchbox Five Things You Must Eat Before Death list:

1. Toll House Cookies: Seriously. Think back to the first day you held one of these, hot, off your mom's, or grandmother's, cookie sheet, tossing it back and forth in your hands, till it cooled enough to eat. Remember the creamy richness? The chewy, tender, crispness? Bottle this essence and label it "YOUTH".
2. Boston Cream Doughnuts: I hadn't even thought about this until I was fantasizing about the cookies. And then I remembered one thing better. The Boston Creams from Dunkin Donuts that I loved so as a teenager. I loved them so much that I dreamt about them at 26 when I was pregnant and wrote a sonnet to a Boston Cream Doughnut. Mmmmm....custard in deep fried bread, covered with chocolate. Ayayalllaaagh... (that's onomatopoeia for me drooling)
3. Smoked Oysters: Yes, the tinned ones. Throw some vinegar & Worcestershire sauce on them, then drain them. Good plain, with toothpicks. Divine wrapped in bacon and broiled as "Angels on Horseback". And I have these memories of making plates of them for my mother's bridge group: Ritz cracker, homemade Thousand Island Dressing, oyster. Sprinkle a little confettied parsley and it will look less 70s....
4. O Fries and Gravy from the "O" in Pittsburgh: Hate to say it but it's been 15 years and I don't know if it still exists.
5. Fillet mignon, rare, grilled asparagus, and a nice glass of cabernet. My recommendation? At the bar of the Chophouse Grill in Chicago.

Vietnamese Shrimp Rolls

Had to work late tonight so I picked up some shrimp rolls from the Vietnamese restaurant down the street. Normally they are cut in half, at an angle, but maybe they saw I like my food and figured I'd eat the whole thing in one bite.

Shrimp rolls are a big favorite of mine. They are served cold, and are made mostly with rice paper and rice noodles or rice sticks. The shrimp are sliced in half so they lay flat against a mix of mint and lettuce leaves. Bean sprouts give extra crunch, and sometimes julienned smoked pork or carrot sticks are added.

They are almost always served with nuoc cham, which is a dipping sauce with a fish sauce base. Anyone who knows me knows that Fleas hate fish sauce, which is why I love that this place adds peanut butter to theirs, which cuts the rotten fish taste.

Since they aren't fried or loaded with fat, these are a good option at restaurants for anyone watching their weight.

Beans, Beans, They’re Good for Your Heart

I love a good black bean burrito. The cheaper the better. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Please don’t add rice. A little cheese, a good dose of piping hot black beans…at most some onions, maybe some cilantro. Yum.

A place down the road from the FleaJuice House (aka home) serves a lovely bean burrito for only $3.95. They serve it mojado, which means it’s wet. Making a burrito mojado usually entails enchilada sauce and a smattering of cheese, but this place is smart and uses delicious tomatillo sauce, also known as salsa verde, which is green and garlicky and just the slightest bit sweet. Then they smother it with cheese (hey, I didn’t get to be fat from skipping the cheese). A kick-ass burrito, as big as my head, for under five bucks. Man. I’m making myself hungry.

I had a black bean burrito for lunch today, as pictured, and the man I was with stopped mid-sentence and blurted out, “What are you eating?” I thought it was funny because we are in the SF/Bay Area, and I’d have thought he’d have seen a black bean burrito before. Maybe the fact that he’s 66 years old makes a difference.

The Red-Headed Stepchild of the Buffet

Tonight at work we had food delivered from Pasta Pomodoro (we have a dinner party for 50-100 people once a month). One of the dishes was "Healthy Chicken Pasta." I knew just by looking at it that we'd have tons of it left over. And we did.

It was penne pasta with what seemed to be a very dry tomato sauce, and not much of the sauce. There was big chunks of zuchinni (and we all know I hate zuch.) and little bits of chicken. There were some green bits--but were they spinach? Basil? Watercress? I couldn't tell by aroma--there wasn't any.

I know this was dubbed a "Healthy" dish, but couldn't it have been made to look yummy, too? The "healthy" salmon looked good, as did the fagioli (white beans) and the insalata caprese. And the unhealthy shells with gorgonzola sauce was perfecto!

So, what I want to know is...is the tomato-based pasta dish the red-headed stepchild of the buffet? What do you pass up or avoid altogether?

Chips and Beer (I'm so classy)

I’m on my Capital Corridor Amtrak train going home. It’s my last evening in the 35-and-Under demographic (like how I keep stretching my demo?) and I’m celebrating by enjoying a beer and chips. From the instant the dining car conductor cracked the Dos Equis and squeezed the lime my mouth has been watering. There’s something about essence of lime that’s just delicious. And when it hits hops and barley? Mmmmmmm.

My chips are Cheddar Beer Kettle Chips. They’re new—the ones in the yellow bag. As Michelle, our conductor agreed, “Yum! They’re cheesey and beery and good.” And they are thick and tangy and crunchy. And cover your fingertips in a nice rich coating of oil, so you know they aren’t good for you at all. In fact, one bag has 18 fat grams, but I’m not counting today.

What is it about chips and beer that satisfies me so? Everything is right this afternoon. We’re trucking through Pinole—the gray-green San Francisco Bay to my left, the creeks and eddies and million-dollar swamp grounds of Northern California to my right. There goes the Contra Costa jail, and some small but tidy homes with amazing bay views. Wild life areas and a boarded-up elementary school. Teenagers in red and white striped shirts huddle at the side of the tracks, startling me. They’ve probably started school and are embarking on thrilling and dangerous flirtations.

The Dos Equis wraps around my nerves and relaxes them. I’ve swapped the Hives and the Strokes for Death Cab for Cutie. And it blends perfectly with my respite. Farther east now, I think we’ve hit Hercules, where new houses have popped up like mushrooms grown too close. Old houses and buildings on the edge of town are strangely boarded up. I don’t know why.

All would be perfect if this beer was a Negra Modelo. Oh, how I love my Negra. The flavor is rich and deep and is better without a lime than with. I fell in love with it at Las Mesas, a great little taqueria in the Lower Haight that closed less than a year after it opened, the owner deciding there was more profit in bagels than burritos. Pretty Elizabeth would bring me my Negra Modelo, smiling shyly, knowing before I ordered that I’d ask for it. I’d enjoy it while I waited for our to-go burritos—mine almost always a chicken mole burrito, no chicken, and Juiceboy’s a veggie burrito—they had an amazing number of grilled veggies in their vegetarian items. The Bug tried everything, but loved the shrimp the most.

Las Mesas, this beer’s for you.

Harvesting the Tomatoes

It's the end of August. The kids are back in school and nights are cooler. Radish seeds are planted and the strawberries are making one last heroic push. And my tomato plants, which are the wildest, scariest thicket of bushes you've ever seen, are finally putting out.

Not many toms, as you can see, considering I have six plants. Those wrinkly ones are quite interesting. I can't remember what they're called (yes, I should have saved the little plastic thingy that they stick in the soil), but the flesh tastes quite meaty. I'm not sure if I like them or not. The darker ones are called black beauties, and end up looking like they've gone bad, because they're all tinged with dark green, but they are really quite good.

They're a strange group of fruits, they are. I'll have to make a sauce and freeze it. We're almost tomato'd out!

Food blogs

Jeez. Do you know how many food blogs are out there? 87 trillion. Yes. And most of them take themselves incrediably seriously. Please. We are what we eat and all that crap.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

The Bug, who is nine and not always the easiest to please, announced "We should have this every night!"

This is a good use of leftover chicken when whole chickens are on sale. I bought two, and was able to have two dinners of roasted chicken, a couple of lunches of chicken sandwiches, and then this yummy, stewy soup. And I REFUSE to go the Rachael Ray way by calling it "stoup"!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

• Make a broth with the meaty bones of two roast chickens. (I like to reserve the meat from one and add it at the very end before the soup is served.)
• How to make a broth: take the chicken bones/meat, at least one onion, one or two large carrots, celery hearts with leaves, a handful of smashed garlic cloves, and a handful of peppercorns. If you want to saute the veggies to bring out the flavor, do! Then, cover with fresh, cold water. Simmer for a number of hours until reduced to about 50%.
• Strain the solids from the broth, reserving any good meat and carrots. But for lord's sake, throw out the skin! Allow broth to cool, then skim any fat.
• Saute in butter or olive oil one chopped onion, two carrots, two-to-three ribs of celery, until fragrant.
• Add back the broth and meat, bring to a slow boil.
• Add one 16oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes, with liquids.
• Add one can black beans, with liquids.
• Add one cup frozen corn.
• Add chili powder and cumin, to taste.
• Add about 1/2 cup of small pasta, such as orzo. I like a star shape. The smaller, the better, because pasta absorbs a lot of liquid as the soup sits. Don't add too much or you'll have pasta stew.
• Taste for seasoning (salt, pepper, spiciness)
• Crush tortilla chips into the bottom of each bowl, add soup. Then top with chopped green onion, cilantro and about a tablespoon of shredded mexican blend or colby jack cheese. Cheese is, of course, optional.

Breakfast at Any Time is Good

Last night Juiceboy was scheduled to make Stir-fried veggies and rice. The only problem was he didn't realize it was brown rice and would take much longer than he had planned. We were all starving at 6:30pm and didn't want to be eating at 7:30 or 8pm, so we started thinking about what to have or do.

I was trying to convince him that it would take that long to cut up all the veggies and get them going, but he wasn't having it. What to do? Make breakfast for dinner!

To start:

Homemade Pancakes
I think pancakes made from scratch are nicer than those out of a box. You can adjust the mix to suit your taste (fluffier? more baking powder. Thinner? More eggs and milk. Etc.)

Sift all dry ingrediants:
1.5 Cups flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Then mix separately:
1 to 2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 C milk (I use 1%)
3 Tablespoons melted butter
dash of vanilla

Mix wet into dry until just mixed. Let the lumps sit. This is one of those times you don't overmix, like muffin baking. And then walk away. Cut up your fruit for toppings, etc. After ten to fifteen minutes (if you have the time, let the batter sit longer in the fridge!), prep your pan.

I like an iron skillet. They hold the heat evenly. Juiceboy likes a well-buttered pan, I like a lightly Pam-sprayed pan. If you're buttering, keep the heat lower and cook the pancakes slowly.

Cook the pancakes as you normally would. Serve with sliced strawberries and fresh blueberries, organic maple syrup (or 100% maple syrup, none of that fake artificially-flavored sugar water!). One of our favorite toppings is a strawberry syrup sold by Safeway, warmed up and over the fruit. Yum.

Ham and Eggs
Food Network just ran a repeat of Rachel Ray's Green Eggs & Ham. However our Ham & Eggs is absolutely nuthin fancy.

One ham steak--like a $1.29 Farmer John ham steak. Throw it in a pan with a little oil or butter (Juiceboy skipped that part and it just made cleanup a little harder). Heat on low till it's carmelized a bit.

Sunnyside up eggs: Two eggs per person. Butter/oil your iron skillet, heat on medium. Get all the eggs cracked in there, salt and pepper them, and then cover the pan with a lid. At this point I lower the heat to medium low and go set the table.

After about four or five minutes the whites on the top of the egg should be set. Slide onto the plate with the ham (that has been sliced into three or four pieces, one per person). And then enjoy with the pancakes and fruit!

Breakfast is great at any time of the day!

Chopped Salad and Cobb Salad

Two of my favorite salads are chopped salad and Cobb Salad. Chopped salads are easy to make and easy to eat (you literally chop everything into bite-sized pieces); Cobb salads are robust entree salads that has something for everybody.

The following is a mix of the two. Make the salad yours--add and subtract what you like!

Chopped Cobb Salad

One-to-two heads romaine lettuce, chopped into one-to-two inch pieces. Or, if you've got some organic spring mix, that's very nice. Of course, you won't chop it...
One large grilled chicken breast, chopped into one-inch cubes.
One to two ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped.
One to two ripe avocados, chopped to small cubes. Spritz with lemon juice to
keep from browning.
Three or four eggs, hard-boiled, cooled, and...chopped.
Bacon or ham, about one cup, chopped. Substitute turkey if you prefer.
1/2 cup Red onion, chopped, or green scallions if you prefer.
Small cubed cheese, flavorful and light in color. I like blue cheese/gorgonzola. Feta would be good, as would a nice havarti. (Cheese is optional, esp. for you waist watchers)
Red, yellow and orange peppers; cored, seeded and chopped to one-inch
pieces.

Salad dressing. With all these flavors I prefer to simply toss with good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper, and some snipped fresh herbs like basil or dill. If you prefer bottled, I recommend Paul Newman's "Newman's Own Caesar"
dressing.

Remember, this dish is all about presentation at the table.
Spread lettuce on a large, flat tray. Then, alternating colors, spread other ingredients in lines across the lettuce. Have more egg than onion? Put the onions on the ends where the lines should be shorter, and the egg in the middle.
Alternate meat/veggie/dairy as well as colors.

If you don't have an ingredient, simply replace it with something else.
Marinated new red potatoes would be nice. Celery adds good crunch. Even sesame
seeds would be an interesting addition.

Serves four as an entree; serve with good, crusty bread.

Bread Machine Recipes

I recently received a second-hand bread machine from my mother-in-law (thank you!). I've figured out what buttons to push to make it go--it didn't come with an instruction booklet. Because I've made the one white bread recipe printed on the side of the machine so many times now that I'm bored with it, I went looking for other recipes.

Here are some good sites that offer a variety of Bread Machine Recipes:

• http://www.breadworld.com/ It's the Fleischman Yeast Company's site.
• http://southernfood.about.com/od/breadmachine/ "Southern" bread recipes like cajun and beer bread.
• http://breadnet.net/#ABM A crazy number of bread machine recipes from all over the world

Chicken Piccata & Bread Salad

I really am trying to make smart choices in cooking. Of course, this was a Sunday dinner, so it had to be a little fancy. We had the leftover No-Cook Tomato Basil Pasta from last night plus:

Chicken Piccata

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded thin or butterflied if you want, but I just left mine as is, straight out of the freezer)
• 1/2 can chicken broth
• Juice of one lemon
• One large clove of garlic, smashed but not chopped
• Black pepper
• 1/4 cup (eyeball it) chopped parsley
• About 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• Grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Capers (optional)

In a heavy skillet, place frozen chicken breasts, broth, lemon juice and garlic. Cover and simmer pm medium low about 15 minutes, turning occasionally. When cooked almost through, remove from pan. Reserve broth, straining first.

Add butter and olive oil to the pan--I wash the pan first--and turn pan to medium high. (NO NON-STICK PANS!). Return chicken to skillet and let brown, about 5 minutes each side.

Remove meat once again. Add pepper and parsley. Whisk some leftover broth with cornstarch in a cup till thin and lumps are gone, then add sparingly to sauce. Do this slowly. You don't want a sticky mess, just to thicken it slightly.

Sprinkle parmesan on chicken, then add sauce and capers. Garnish with parsley.

I have nice homemade bread that's just one day past eating for sandwiches. I also have lots of tomatoes from our backyard plants and the farmstand. Here's a simple recipe that celebrates the flavors of summer. It's all eyeballed and to your taste. Go easy. And remember, the bread is supposed to be soggy. It's bread salad.

Bread Salad (Panzanella) day-old homemade bread or other bakery bread--crusts are great--Cut fresh, juicy tomatoes, at least a pound, in coarse pieces. Whatever you do, don't dice into nothingness. This is not about mashed tomatoes. Throw on top of the bread.

Peel and slice a cucumber into 1/2 inch chunks. Don't worry about the seeds. They're good for you.

Add either thinly sliced red onion or chopped scallion (aka green onion).

Tear fresh basil--don't chop it. Throw it in.

Let it all sit for a while, then add 1/4 cup olive oil with a splash of balsamic vinegar whisked in. Season with salt & pepper. Taste. You might want to repeat the olive oil and vinegar.

Please, please, don't use store-bought Italian dressing or vinagrette. The fresh, summery flavors need only to be highlighted by the oil and vinegar, not overpowered by corn syrup, soybean oil, and artificial flavors.

Ham & Potato Hash with Eggs

If you are baking potatoes, throw two or three extra in the oven. Then, put them in the fridge (they'll keep for a few days). On Sunday morning, when you want to make nice hash browns, you'll have your potatoes all ready to go.

This is a hearty brunch, good for a crowd. Serves 4-8, depending on how hungry your crew is. It would make a nice dinner too.

Ham & Potato Hash with Eggs

• Three medium baking potatoes, cooked, cooled, and diced.
• One fresh green pepper, diced.
• 1/2 Cup yellow onion, diced.
• 1 ham steak, diced (the Farmer John ones are perfect for this, not expensive, the right thickness, etc. Watch for when they go on sale. Sometimes I get them for 29 cents, if they are needing to be sold. I pop them in the freezer and use within a month.)
• Butter/olive oil
• Eight eggs
• Shredded cheddar cheese (about 1/4 cup)
• Light sour cream
• Salsa

Heat a large skillet on medium high. I use an iron skillet when I'm cooking at this high heat. Remember, you never want to heat a non-stick skillet higher than medium (here's why). Melt approximately 1T butter and 1T olive oil in the pan. When hot, add the potatoes, and walk away for about five minutes. (Don't really walk away, but don't you dare think about stirring, turning, etc. All the yummy browness you're trying for will just stick to the pan.)

After about five minutes, check a potato. If it doesn't stick you can GENTLY turn the potatoes. Only turn them once. Cook another few minutes. Prep a large non-stick pan with a bit of olive oil and heat to medium-low. Add the potatoes, bring up to medium.

Add green peppers, onions and ham to the iron skillet and cook till fragrant. Watch not to burn. Add to the potato mixture. You can put the iron skillet aside--you won't need it anymore.

On medium heat, mix the hash and taste for seasoning. Remember to taste all the ingrediants together. The ham adds salt, so you should only need to add pepper and maybe some garlic powder.

Make eight indentations in the mix and crack eggs into each. Cover and cook on medium low for about six minutes.

Top with shredded cheese, then cover until cheese is melted.

Serve with a little light sour cream and your favorite salsa.

Fast and Cheap and Oh SOOOO Good!

We went to Casteneda Bros' farmstand today and picked up some good, big heirloom tomatoes. They are way bigger than mine.

I wanted to make a good dinner, but cheap and fast, as it's the first of the month and that means rent comes before fancy dinners. So what to do when you want to make a nice dinner for three, but you have about ten dollars? In California, where meat is expensive--as well as everything else?

One fresh (picked today!) green pepper, sliced. That's it! Cost: 50 cents
Two top loin sirloin steaks, total weight, just under a pound. On sale at Safeway: $4

Fresh Tomato & Basil Pasta
(I eyeballed all of this, so all measurements are approximate)

• About two to three cups chopped, FRESH tomatoes
• One big clove garlic, minced
• Fresh basil, about 10 big leaves, gently chiffonaded (cut in thin strips)--be careful with basil because it gets damaged and bruised easily. Handle it as little as possible.
• Approximately 8 oz ricotta cheese
• Two to three tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes (if you need some heat)
• About 16 oz rugged pasta, like rigatoni or cappelletti

Put water on to boil, with olive oil and salt to taste. When boiling, add the pasta. As it cooks combine all other ingredients in a bowl, stir and taste for seasoning. Let sit. When pasta is al dente, drain well, but do not rinse. Add hot pasta to tomatoes, toss to coat.

Cost: Assuming you have the olive oil and other seasonings, about $4.

Here's an interesting pasta recipe site: http://www.barillaus.com/recipes__cooking.aspx

Steak Marinade

• Two cloves garlic
• About 1/4 C olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper
• Fresh basil, about 2 tablespoons, chopped

Blend in a food processor. Then marinate steaks in a glass bowl for approximately 10 minutes.

I seared the steaks in an iron pan at high heat, treated with olive oil first. I cooked on both sides quickly, then deglazed the pan with about 1/4 cup red wine.

We enjoyed this dinner with homemade bread and fresh, local honey (cost: $5.50).

Belly Fat Foldover

People come to this site looking for the funniest things. Here's a sample of some of the phrases that have brought readers to my little blog:

1. zhizhig galnysh: Now I really do have a recipe for zhizhig galnysh on my blog. Someone in Kampong Batu Tiga Suku, Malaysia Googled this recipe, and once they found it, didn't want it.
2. tuscan potato salad: lots of folks looking for tuscan potato salad. If you don't like my recipe, here's another: Oh. Wait. Epicurious doesn't have one. Neither does FoodNetwork. Neither does Weight Watchers. Guess you're stuck with mine.
3. how to make icing out of regular butter: So this means you don't want royal icing. You don't want cream cheese icing. You don't want fondant. You want good, old fashioned cup cake icing. Okay.
4. organic prarie: Spelled wrong, but they got here. I guess I should edit my own spelling mistakes, huh? This is for Organic Prairie Ground Beef. Here's their link and here are my thoughts.
5. what to do with fresh coconut: okay, so I never cracked open my coconut and all the milk dried up and Juiceboy threw it away. Once a year I buy a coconut, and then it sits in the fruit bowl for two months and Juiceboy throws it away. Please, please, someone give me advice on what to do with fresh coconut!
6. how to sweeten unsweetened chocolate: um...you melt it in a double boiler and mix it with sugar. Or corn syrup. Adding a little butter helps too. Really, it's better to figure out what you want to make with the unsweetened chocolate, and then look for that recipe.

Pollo Asada

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (I use the big frozen ones from Safeway and defrost them in the microwave)
Your favorite marinade. (If you're short on time, use a powdered one, like the McCormick "Zesty Herb" one. I watch for them to go on sale and buy a bunch when they are under seventy-five cents).

Throw the chicken breasts into a glass or ceramic dish, then toss the marinade on top. Cover and refrigerate. Go for a swim in the pool, or run through the sprinkler. Go inside for a glass of wine, and turn the chicken over. Start your barbeque (I prefer hardwood charcoal, not briquettes, and I use a chimney, no lighter fluid. Fluid leaves a yucky flavor.). Go for another swim. Finish your wine. After 20 minutes your charcoal should be ready. Clean & prep your grill--when it's hot, brush with olive oil. For god's sake, don't spray it with PAM--you'll blow yourself up! Get your chicken, throw it on. Once it's nicely browned on the first side, flip it. Test for doneness. Yum.

Okay. So I'll post a marinade recipe later. Gimme a break. That's really what we had on Saturday, with salad and rice. It was good. My mother ate the leftover chicken cold while she was floating around the pool Sunday afternoon.

Iced Coffee

It's too hot for regular coffee at home, but I was really missing my daily Starbucks non-fat, no-whip caramel mocha.

Here's what I came up with:

Iced Caramel Coffee Mocha

Brew your regular coffee, but make it a little stronger than normal.
Fill a tall glass halfway with ice cubes and cover with skim or 1% milk.
Add 1 tablespoon caramel sauce, 1.5 teaspoon chocolate sauce
Fill with coffee, stir and enjoy.

It's not Starbucks, but it also cost a LOT less!