mmm, huele como disaster

INGREDIENTS:
- Bag of prewashed arugula
- Butternut squash
- Goat cheese
- Salt & pepper

PROCESS:
> Throw butternut squash in a pan with some olive oil
> After a while, cover the pan with a lid
> Throw all of the ingredients together in a dish (keep squash to one end, or the arugula will get soggy)

RESULTS:
It takes about 10 minutes, which is what I need in my life right now. And it always tastes good. Sometimes undersalted, which makes everything taste really wet for some reason, but that's easily reparied.

once again, eaten before pictures. However, spontaneous cookery with limited ingredients qualifies this for a checkeredmantel entry. Also, it took me all of 15 minutes. If I had taken pictures, it would have looked something like this, minus peas:



INGREDIENTS:
> One head of cauliflower, cut into florets
> A quarter of an onion, chopped
> Two tablespoons of garlic
> Two tablespoons of cinnamon (!!)
> Two tablespoons of curry powder
> Dollop of olive oil
> Salt & Pepper
> Tablespoon of butter
> Bay leaf
> Broth of some sort

PROCESS:
> Cut cauliflower while heating up garlic, olive oil, onion, and garlic in a pan
> Throw in cinnamon, curry powder, and bay leaf, mix around until not powdery
> Throw in cauliflower
> Add cauliflower
> Sautee a bit
> Add a splash of broth
> Cover and steam
> Open lid and mix up once in a while
> Serve when cauliflower is soft, over saffron rice

RESULT:
> I was hungry, so it wasn't mushy enough for my tastes. But cooking it fast and at high heat made it crunchy, which was pretty good too. Next time I want to include potatoes and tomatoes though.

after posting a really extensive grocery list on my daily journal only to realize- who the hell would care- I decided to start posting on my food journal, since I want to talk about food well, just about all the time. for example, I just made lunch, and I just have to tell someone, and I feel like if I called anyone they would find me incredibly stupid for announcing my meal.

with that said,

BEST SUMMER LUNCH EVER:

-peanut butter and jelly sandwich (organic crunchy peanut butter with not jelly really but rasberry preserve mmmm)
-kashi and milk with sliced strawberries, rasberries, and banana

ENTRY #4: RISOTTO


INGREDIENTS:
- One can of campbell's cream of flor de calabasa soup
- One cup of rice
- A little pinch of parsley
- 3 or 4 button mushrooms
- Some milk
- Black pepper
- Parmesan cheese
- California red wine that comes in a juice box and is actually made in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
- Coca Cola

PROCESS:
> Heat campbell's cream of flor de calabasa soup. drink a bowl of it.
> Think: this would taste good with some rice...
> Add one cup of rice to remaining soup.
> Stir.
> Add a little bit of diced parsley.
> Stir.
> Add sliced button mushrooms.
> Stir.
> Add a splash of California red box wine.
> Stir.
> When it looks like the rice has soaked everything up, add milk so it doesn't get crunchy/burnt.
> Keep stirring until rice is cooked and squishy.
> Add pepper and parmesan to taste.
> Enjoy with red wine mixed with Coke (Jote) which is what Spanish bohemians drink, because the wine is to shitty to be consumed alone.

RESULTS:
I'm so delighted I cooked with box wine I can't think of anything else. I probably could have cooked the rice longer and/or used risotto rice (I used regular walmart precooked superbargain rice...) because it was still too crunchy. I personally think the cream of flor de calabasa was a great touch. I looove flor de calabasa. It's probably hard to find in the US though.
And of course wine and coke is always good.

Some people say "that food is orgasmic", to illustrate a point rather than to be literal about things. But today I made an eggplant sandwich (toasted wheat bread with manchego cheese melted on it, prego pasta sauce, 4 thin slices of grilled eggplant, salt, black pepper) and without realizing it, I started taking long and heavy breaths, and my body started shaking involuntarily.

I love. eggplant.

the thing about this food journal is that I feel like it's really boring to post about a food without a picture. but the problem is that if I make something really good, I usually can't resist and scarf it down immediately before I can snap a photo. this was the case with last night's pasta (tortellini + oaxaca cheese + calabasa + black pepper) but also with a number of it's forecomers. I did, however, manage to summon the willpower recently to take a picture of the BOMBASS tortilla soup I made before eating it, probably because I was cooking for one and had made enough for 3.

ENTRY #3: TORTILLA SOUP


INGREDIENTS:
-1 calabasa squash
-1 packet of snack-ready baby carrots
-1 can of premade tortilla soup broth from the supermarket
-sour cream
-a ripe but not squishy avocado
-tostadas planas

PROCESS:
> Slice calabasa into thin strips
> Slice baby carrots into strips, which basically means, cut them in half
> Put carrots, calabasa, and canned tortilla soup broth into pot; heat
> When it looks close to done, throw in two tostadas, broken into fourths
> Cook a leetle bit longer (< a minute)
> Turn off stove
> Ladle soup into a bowl
> Cut tostada into strips, sprinkle pieces over soup
> Cut avocado into slices, lay on top of tostada strips
> Add a dollop of sour cream

RESULTS:
The first ladle-round I added too much sour cream and the whole soup tasted a little off, although still freaking delicious. Also, I put the tostadas in too early and the were all melty. (because I was running around trying to find my camera dammit.) The second ladle round I learned from my mistakes and put a little dollop of sour cream, and also ate it immediately piping hot. crunchy tortilla bits really do make the difference. Ummmmm. Today we spell redemption Y-U-M.

Yesterday I made casserole (sp?) which was not nearly as good as it wouldve been with an oven. It was also quite ugly, and we ate it before I took pics. So. Very quickly, I made pasta, boiled brocolli and calabasa, and then piled pasta, cheese, pasta sauce, veggies, pasta, pasta sauce, cheese. And stuck it in the microwave for 45 minutes. It was actually quite good.

To make up for lack of pictures, I provide another recipe, one that I consumed yesterday, as well as various other days, and in various locales (random cantinas, on the beach in acapulco, at home prepartying).

ENTRY #2: MICHELADAS

INGREDIENTS (cuban style):
- beer (negro modelo works best)
- lime juice
- tapatio/valentina/hot sauce
- clamato
- chili powder, salt

INGREDIENTS (mexican? style):
- beer (n.g.)
- lime juice
- salt

PROCESS:
> somewhat self explanatory. mix everything. put salt on rim of glass. end.

RESULTS:
always fantastic. always satisfying.

enough with foodjournals by you people who can cook! what about us lowly people who get a jonesing for something sweet and pop a nutrigrain bar into the microwave to get a yummy pie-like treat and end up burning the entire inside so that it turns into a carbon-filled nutrigrain bar? what about us?

in a foreign country, with limited resources, living between two walmarts, not much money on hand, unfamiliar with brands, unable to find even baking soda in the grocery store, a kitchen full of fruit flies, no sugar or pepper in the house- I will try to brave the wilderness that is my stove and produce edible things each and every night in time for me to watch The Virgin Esposa at 9 PM.

ENTRY #1: STEW

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 calabasa
- 1 packet of prepeeled/washed baby carrots, the kind you bring in your lunch box in grade school.
- 1 handful of sliced button mushrooms
- 1 cup of instant mexican rice (entirely too salty, unappetizing, inedible on its own)
- 2 spoonfulls of leftover canned black beans
- a handful of roommate's penne pasta, stolen
- a spoonful of vegetable broth powder one of the roomies bought
- 3 spoonfuls of prego pasta sauce
- a dash of salt

PROCESS:
> Stick the calabasa and the mushrooms in a big bowl of water, toss in sanitizing drops so as to not get parasites and buggies in my intestines.
> Boil drinking water with baby carrots.
> Realize the water is tasteless, add the veggie broth powder
> Taste, gag.
> Add a dash of salt.
> Taste, gag.
> Add 2 spoonfulls of leftover black beans in order to make soup thicker.
> Throw in pasta for same reason.
> Search kitchen for tomato paste, find none, get struck with idea. Throw in a few spoonfuls of prego pasta sauce.
> Taste, make noise of surprise.
> Add leftover mexican rice.
> Add a dash of salt.
> Slice calabasa and mushrooms, throw in.
> Put lid on pot, go upstairs, check email, realize soup might be boiling over, go back to check on it. Realize soup is done.
> Spoon soup into bowl, taste.

RESULTS:

The calabasa was freaking awesome. I'm going to boil that plain and eat it all the time. the carrots were a little undercooked, but then they always are. the texture of the rice and pasta worked very well, although the mexican rice STILL tasted shitty, even after being thrown into a soup. It also made everything terribly salty. I don't know what possessed me to add salt, after putting in that ubersalty veggie broth powder, the pasta sauce, and the rice. the mushrooms tasted good too. the black beans just ended up melting and were kind of sludgy. Not horrible though. Felt healthy eating it, despite ensuing heartburn. Calabasa def. a saving grace.

Meal accompanied with peach juice.