Recipe: The Secret to Easy-to-Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

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"how to", basics, cooking, egg, food, recipe, vegetarian

Little shells under my nails and hardly anything left to eat make me despise an egg that’s hard to peel. I’ve tried everything from adding vinegar to the water to poking holes in the ends before I boil them to using new eggs to using old eggs and nothing worked. That is, until I discovered this magical, mystical, secret trick:

Voodoo Doughnuts Honors Maurice Sendak

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books, donuts, Maurice Sendak, portland, Voodoo Doughnuts, where the wild things are

On May 8, 2012, the incomparable author Maurice Sendak passed away. Portland’s own Voodoo Doughnuts  honored Maurice with some wild things of their own, each one a work of art in its own right.

If you’ve never been to Voodoo, it’s definitely worth a visit. Some of the donuts are pure sugary perfection (we love Grape Ape, Portland Creme, and original Maple Bacon Bar) while others, less so (the cake ones can be hit or miss dryness-wise). But if you can get there on a holiday, that’s the best treat of all… little green leprechauns for St. Paddy’s, pink heart-shaped donuts for Valentines, there’s always something special. Oh, and be sure to pick up a voodoo doll doughnut – they’re  filled with ripe red raspberry jelly.

Killer Burger: Peanut Butter & Bacon Burger? Yes, Please

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"killer burger", "peanut butter", burger, PDX, portland

Portland loves it some bacon. Want yours atop a maple donut? How do you do, VooDoo? Perhaps drenched in chocolate? Hey there, Chocolab. Bundled with your burger? Just about anywhere.

Killer Burger in NE Portland means serious bacon business – they put it on every single sandwich that slides out of their tiny little kitchen. But when you’ve got the whole of your success precariously perched on  a little strip of smoked meat, you’ve got to get creative.

Recipe: How to Pop Popcorn in Water

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Butter, Healthy, Olive Oil, Popcorn, recipe, snack, vegetarian

When we gave up chemicals in our food, the microwave popcorn bags went in the trash and we started popping corn on the stove the old-fashioned way. Then I got the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook and, lo and behold, they had a recipe for popcorn popped in water, then tossed in olive oil. My first thought was “blech,” seeing as how I’ve always found the popcorn

Recipe: Mazel Toffee

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baking, Chanukah, dessert, food, Hanukkah, High Holidays, holidays, jewish, recipe, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur

Looking for a sweet treat to end that High Holiday fast? This one’s so easy, even I can do it and I’m a horrible baker. The original recipe came from my friend, Nancy Chesler; I added the salty twist at the end and the silly name. 

Recipe: Erin Does Injera (Ethiopian Flatbread)

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Ethiopian, flatbread, injera, recipe, vegetarian

Introducing the lovely and supremely talented Ms. Eric Bric! Erin recently embarked on a “cultural deep dive” into Ethiopian cuisine and has graciously allowed me to share it with you. Please enjoy Erin’s story and be sure to stay for the injera recipe at the end! 

What Not to Serve at a $30 Million Wedding

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chicken, kardashian, tacky

I truly couldn’t care less that a reality TV “star” got married. But I imagine if I’d been invited to Kim Kardashian’s wedding, the one thing I would be excited to see is what I’d be dining on at that $30 million wedding. Would it be live lobster freshly flown in that morning from Maine and served with hand-churned butter? Free range baby lamb imported from Ireland? Perhaps Almas Caviar, where a tin will set you back $49,500 (chump change for a $30 million event). Nope. Not even close. I would be enjoying a fine meal of … wait for it … roast chicken. At a $30 million wedding. You think she got ‘em at Costco?

Recipe: “Say No to Costco” Roasted Chicken

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chicken, dinner, recipe, roasted chicken

While a $5 pre- cooked chicken is hard to pass up, I can easily say sayonara to one that’s been processed with the same stuff they use to make plastic. Yes, plastic! What am I talking about? I recently read this article about food additives. Then yesterday, I went to Costco. I was both in a rush and a little tired, and considered one of their $5 rotisserie chickens for dinner. I looked at the ingredients label and, lo and behold, not one, but several of the dreaded additives were lurking.  So

Recipe: Sally’s Killer Lemon Tart

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"lemon tart", baking, dessert, lemon, recipe, tart

I wish I could take credit for it, but this gem is courtesy of my friend, Sally Agnew. Her advice is to have medical personnel standing by when you make it. Why? With all that fat and sugar, it’s truly to-die-for delicious. The good news? They’ll find you with a BIG smile on your face. 

Jon Stewart’s Pizza Rant

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Comedy Central, humor, Jon Stewart, pizza, rant, The Donald, Trump

No matter which side of the fence you’re on, I think we can all agree with Jon that The Donald is guilty of a very serious foodie felony. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-1-2011/me-lover-s-pizza-with-crazy-broad

Recipe: Aunt Lorna’s Matzo Balls in Easy Homemade Broth

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chicken broth, matzo balls, soup

Goodness gracious, great balls of matzo!

My beloved Aunt Lorna lived her life in Manhattan in a small one bedroom apartment with a kitchen barely bigger than my closet. She hardly ever cooked but it turns out that of all things, she knew how to make great matzo balls. These are delicious, light, fluffy, mazto balls and super easy to make. 

Recipe: Unbelievably Fresh Tomato-Basil-Garlic Sauce

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basil, fresh tomato sauce, garlic, italian, pasta, pasta sauce, recipe, tomato, vegetarian

Ridiculously fast, easy and healthy (a Lazy Foodie trifecta!), the taste of this sauce is 100% dependent on the quality of ingredients you use. Try to use the best possible olive oil you can afford – there really is a difference. For the tomatoes, I like organic, vine-ripened tomatoes if they’re available. This is my favorite sauce to go over cheese tortellini, but it’ll work with any pasta or even as a dip for bread. I imagine it would freeze pretty well, but haven’t tried yet. Makes enough for 3 to 4 servings of pasta 

Recipe: Buttery Broiled Lobster Tails

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Butter, dinner, lobster, recipe, seafood

When Melissa d’Arabian won the Next Food Network Star in 2009, I was kinda bummed. I liked the other guy’s recipes just a smidge better and didn’t think I cared that much about low-cost cooking. Fast-forward to December 2010, and my husband and I have decided to make saving money one of our goals in the New Year. So I watched Melissa’s show yesterday and got a great tip that led to lobster tails for dinner tonight. 

Food Haiku: Butter

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Butter

Butter Cow by Duffy Lyon

Salty sweet creamy

Yellow hunk of ambrosia

With you it’s better

(Haiku is 3 lines: the first line is 5 syllables, the second is 7 syllables, and the third is 5 syllables)

Recipe: Cranberry Sauce with Crystallized Ginger

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"cranberry sauce", Christmas, cranberries, ginger, holiday, recipe, Thanksgiving, vegetarian

When we lived in the same city with the rest of the family, I brought the cranberry sauce to our Thanksgiving dinners. There were exactly three people out of 25 who ate it: my Mom, my husband and me. I love cranberry sauce. Canned, fresh, store bought, homemade, jellied, whole berry… it’s all good. A few years ago, I found a recipe with the power to convert the haters. It’s the perfect recipe: it’s easy,

Video Recipe: Halloween Devil’s Egg Eyeballs

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"deviled eggs", appetizer, eggs, Halloween, holiday, recipe, vegetarian

These terrifying treats make an impressive unappetizer for your Halloween festivities. They’re super easy to make, so it’s fun to do these with kids. The big thing to remember is that you need to get the eggs into their blood bath 24 hours before party time! 

Recipe: Cheater Chicken Soup

Tags

chicken soup, dinner, recipe, soup

When I feel like living la vida lazy, I make this easy soup. No, it doesn’t taste like grandma’s chicken soup, but it’s an acceptable substitute and a whole lot faster.

• 1 tbs butter
• 14 oz. (more or less) container of pre-diced carrots, onions & celery
• Meat only from about ½ roasted chicken, fork shredded (ready-made or use my “Say No to Costco” Roasted Chicken recipe)
• 2 containers chicken broth, 32 oz. each
• A few dashes of onion powder to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 6 oz dry pasta – spaghetti broken in pieces, alphabet pasta, rotini, whatever
• A little chopped parsley on top of each bowl for color, if you want

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat.

Add in the carrots/onion/celery and sauté until the onions are translucent.

Pour in the cartons of broth.

Add the salt, pepper, and onion powder.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, boil water and cook the pasta. Drain it, then rinse it in cool water to stop it from cooking, and drain again. Set aside. (Note: it may be my imagination, but it seems like if I cook the pasta separately and cool it down, it doesn’t seem to absorb as much of the soup and get overcooked, even when it’s reheated.)

While the pasta and broth are cooking, remove the chicken meat from the bones and shred it. Set it aside.

When the broth/veggie mix is done, remove it from the heat.

Add in the chicken and the pasta.

Ladle into bowls and top with parsley. (Or don’t. It’s just for color.)

That’s it! This makes a pretty good-sized pot of soup of around 6-ish servings, and can easily be halved or doubled. Also, everyone likes their soup their own way, so you can increase/decrease individual elements at will and it’ll still work. Bon appétit!

The Puff Dreams are Made Of: Humble Pie, Lincoln City OR

Following the Great Pickle Debacle of 2010, I needed to calm my cooking nerves and let someone else do it for me (Lucky for me, the very next week we were headed on a family trip to the Oregon coast and there, thanks to Yelp, we ended up at Humble Pie Pizzaria.

Our Humble Pie pizza arrived with a perfectly crispy (but not too thin) crust adorned with tons of real mozz, and high quality pepperoni and sausage. Delicious, but not the thing that makes Humble Pie a must. Nope, at Humble Pie, it’s all about the cream puffs.

I’ve always loved cream puffs, but they’re not something I go out of my way to get. Trust me when I say it’s worth going out of your way for Humble Pie. In fact, I’m hereby renaming theirs dream puffs, because these beauties are practically hallucinogenic. Light, flaky pastry exterior and a perfectly dense, sweet but not too sweet, creamy interior, topped with a messy measure of powdered sugar. Oh, and did I mention they’re practically as big as your head? Good gawd almighty!

We went back the next day to get some to take home, but they were sold out. More were in the oven, but it would be hours before they were ready. We needed our fix, so we moped down the street to a “bakery” we’d noticed earlier in the trip. Yes, “bakery” in quotes. When I peek in the back of a bakery and don’t see a kitchen, I’m a little suspicious there’s any actual baking going on. Not willing to settle and unable to wait, we headed back to Portland empty-handed, the only silver lining being the thousands of extra calories left behind.

Get some puffy deliciousness for yourself:

Humble Pie Pizzaria
1114 NE Hwy 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367
(541) 994-4840
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-humble-pie-pizzaria-lincoln-city

Yes, I Have No Pickles

September 5, 2010

I live in Portland, Oregon, where truly stellar eats are everywhere – from classic NW cuisine at fancy restaurants to the food carts that have invaded the city. It’s also about as far from the East Coast as you can get and still be on the mainland, which means a serious lack of Jews, ergo a serious lack of traditional New York delis. Our beautiful, forested city is completely devoid of all that salty, fatty, classic deliciousness. Kenny & Zukes is as close as it gets, but they consider themselves “modern deli,” which means the pastrami is sliced thick (wrong wrong wrong – they might as well put mayo on the bread).

A star pickle is proud to be salty, crunchy, garlicky, sour and spicy. The first time I ate at K&Zs, the pickles were salty and that’s about it. Sorry, but 1 out of 5 does not an acceptable pickle make. The last time I was there, they were perfection and life was good again. The problem is the inconsistency. I need to know I can count on a perfect pickle whenever the craving strikes.

So where’s a nice Jewish girl like me to get a decent pickle in this no-real-deli town? At home, that’s where. I’m lazy, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. It’s summer, and fragrant dill and crisp pickling cukes are plentiful. I’ve selected a recipe from Arthur Schwart’s New York City Food book. Arthur’s the go-to guy for anything to do with food in NYC and if he can’t get it right, no one can. Besides, how hard can it be? Cukes, garlic, hot peppers, pickling spices, bay leaf, salt, and sprigs of dill stuffed into a jar. That’s it. What could go wrong?

September 26, 201o

Dear Mr. Arthur Schwartz,

I need things spelled out for me. Like when you say in your book to be sure to push the pickles down tightly in the jar so they stay at the bottom, you need to tell me exactly why — that if I don’t, they’ll rise to the top of the jar and pop out of the brine, and when they’re exposed to air they’ll become moldy and slimy and disgusting, and that I’ll need to start all over again.

So next time you publish a recipe, could you do that for me? Thx.

Still your fan,
Sad Eve

Beautiful jars of hope.

And then this.