Trial by Food:

Orange Black Sesame "Vegan" Cake

2010-03-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I really apologize on this one... I meant to get this posted 2 weeks ago when I originally made this tasty treat, but since I was making it for a friend who was graduating, I completely forgot to take pictures at home before brining it in to work. I planned to remake it, but then decided that tearing apart most of my kitchen because I was tired of the dark brown cabinets was a better

Carrot and Celeriac Soup

2010-02-18T10:08:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this snow and ice and cold is getting a little old now. Good thing I made a ton of vegetable stock 3 weeks ago, because nothing warms the body like a hot and rich bowl of soup! But what kind of soup? Oh, the debate is endless. Campbell's would have you believe that condensed chicken noodle is the way to turn your snowman back into your kid. But canned, condensed soups generally have

Maple Walnut Chocolate Fudge

2010-01-31T14:18:00.001-05:00

So, you know how when you're on a date that isn't going well there's a really long period of no one talking, and then the only thing you can think to comment on is the weather? Well, I'm going to comment on the weather, but hopefully you're still interested in me (or this blog really).After a long period of having to do a ton of other things than cook/prepare blog worthy dishes, I now have at

Bacon and Lentil Soup

2009-11-18T22:33:00.001-05:00

So, it's mid-November, and that means cold dreary weather. Except, lately it's been rather warm here in central Ohio. I mean, it was 70°F this past weekend! Most people would be quite pleased with that, but for myself, I'm ready for winter soup season, and I want my weather to cooperate. But since I haven't yet figured out how to change the weather, I might as well get started on the soup

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding:

2009-10-28T22:42:00.001-04:00

So, lets see, I get my manuscript off to my advisor to review, think I have at least a week of down-time... and I get sick. And waiting for me when I get better... revisions! Gah, the last year of grad school really is a vicious cycle of writing and trying to have a life.Oh well, I'm back now, and with a dessert that will definitely wreck any diet you may happen to be on. My history with this

Simple Tomato Soup:

2009-10-15T08:35:00.001-04:00

This post is going to get to the point since I have a Friday deadline to get a manuscript out for review.Simple Tomato Soup:2 lbs. tomatoes3 slices pepper bacon1/4 onion, diced3 cups chicken stock --or-- 3 cups water + assorted chicken bits (wings, necks, etc.)~2 tsp. salt1 cup whole milkPeel, core, deseed and chop the tomatoes into small pieces. You can use nearly any type of tomato here, I had

Paella falsos:

2009-09-28T08:56:00.001-04:00

Yes, that is spanish for fake paella. I decided to call this dish that because my first choice of description, tomatoey-rice gruel, didn't have that certain ring to it. Either way, I'm still not entirely sure what exactly this dish is. A quick history of it's creation. A couple of months ago, when the chard in my garden was growing full steam ahead, I harvested what was probably about 2.5 lbs.

Champagne-Pear Sorbet

2009-09-17T22:31:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I've been a bit AWOL of late, its been almost a month since my last post! But to make the long story of why very short, work > blog, so unfortunately that comes first.But now I'm back (at least for a while...) and I've got a recipe that I'm really excited about. Anyone who's ever been to Columbus, OH, and many who've never even come close, know the name Jeni Britton (or at least the Jeni

Blueberry Soup:

2009-08-23T13:54:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry, but it's about time we all admitted it, summer will soon be over. I know, I know, *groan*... But the sooner you accept that the end is coming the sooner you can start preparing yourself. Now, what makes summer so great is that it's the one time of the year when fruits are not only abundant, but also cheap. Seriously cheap. $10 for a 5lb. box of blueberries... how many do you have?

Cajun shrimp

2009-08-10T17:07:00.001-04:00

A few days earlier than I promised, but hey, that can't be a bad thing now can it? Anywho, this is part two of my quick and easy seafood recipe set. Shrimp are notoriously quick and easy to cook, and make for a great middle of the week dinner when you don't have a lot of time. The problem with most shrimp in general, through, is that they're a little bland with out something else to provide

Moules Frites (Mussels with French Fries)

2009-08-05T08:42:00.001-04:00

The first of a two parter on rather quick and easy seafood dishes:Moules frites, or mussels with french fries for those who either don't speak French or think its too fancy sounding, is a rather simple dish of mussels in a broth of various concoction with a nice accompaniment of freshly made french fries. The broth has nearly endless possibilities as far as the ingredients go, but the number of

What happened to the comment feature?

2009-07-21T16:53:00.002-04:00

If you've been asking yourself that question lately, well, guess what, so am I! I just found out a little bit ago that the link to submit a comment no longer appears after each post. Everything is turned on in the settings, and I haven't touched the code in a few months, so I'm pretty flummoxed about why it suddenly went missing. I'm looking into the problem and will hopefully have things

Blackberry ice cream

2009-07-20T21:35:00.001-04:00

Admit it, that looks so good you want to eat your screenAh summer, there's nothing better in the middle of those long hot months than a nice cold bowl of ice cream. Unfortunately, the options available at the local supermarket are often pretty poor. You either get your low end "frozen dairy product" (yes, those $2 per 1/2 gallon tubs aren't actually ice cream according to the feds) or you pay

Two drinks you can make yourself...

2009-07-13T10:41:00.001-04:00

And for way cheaper than you could buy them for in the store. The drinks I'm talking about in this case are hibiscus agua fresca (fresh water) and soy milk. Its a strange combo to present in the same post, but they're both drinks and I have both ready to post, so I am. I'm also posting these two together because I picked up the primary ingredients for each at the same great farmers market in

Apologies

2009-07-08T21:05:00.001-04:00

Ok, so last week I promised a post by mid-week, and it obviously didn't occur. Here's the story, I bought a new computer, but had it shipped to DE so I could see family over the 4th and save on sales tax. Well, it ended up taking forever to transfer all my files and settings and everything else from my old Mac to my new one (I blame the old one). Anywho, I'm still trying to get things sorted

Pho: rice noodles in beef broth

2009-06-29T10:27:00.001-04:00

Ok, so really, this is an imitation pho. Traditional pho is a dish of rice noodles and thinly sliced steak in a beef broth that takes a good 1/2 day to prepare. Kind of kills the whole mythos of asian cuisine as being fast (don't worry, its still fairly cheap!). Ordering it from a take-away restaurant is an option, but you'll pay more than if you made it at home and you know you'll only be

Blackened fish sandwiches

2009-06-22T11:30:00.001-04:00

Ok, so firstly, I apologize for not posting sooner. One of the problems with being an ambitious cook is that often I'll get too ambitious for my own good. So, in the past three weeks I've learned that I'm really bad at trying to make donuts, that "elaborate" sugar crafting is best left to professionals/those with proper kitchen space, and that chili oil turns very quickly into home made tear

Salmon Burgers

2009-06-01T22:38:00.001-04:00

Having been born and raised on the east coast, seafood was a normal part of my diet. I can remember quite fondly going to Long Island to see my grandparents, going out to some restaurant that may or may not exist any more, and surprising my grandfather as I ate all sorts of assorted sea creatures with nary a thought. At family gatherings, if there was a fish on the menu, it was usually on my

Tabbouleh

2009-05-17T21:46:00.001-04:00

So, my last couple of posts have mostly centered around generally unhealthy foods (potato chips, ice creams, tempura, mac & cheese, etc.). And while all those foods are great, they are generally lacking when it comes to the type of balanced nutrition that active people really need to keep themselves going. Fortunately, the focus of this post is on an incredibly healthy and extremely tasty dish

Chips, Kettle-esque

2009-05-10T20:52:00.001-04:00

Potato chips have become something of an oddity lately. Mass marketed for decades as an increasingly inferior and unhealthy snack food, they've recently moved upscale with the advent of small batch "boutique" brands using different cooking methods, oils, and potatoes. In the end though, they're still the same thinly sliced fried potato product originally developed back in 1853. What's the real

Coffee ice cream

2009-05-03T22:49:00.001-04:00

Who says you can't have ice cream for breakfast? Since bacon and eggs ice cream doesn't sound too appealing (although it has been done and I've never actually tried it) I think I'll stick with coffee ice cream for now (full disclosure, this past week my breakfast consisted of raspberry acai sorbet, but thats healthy because it has fruit... right?). Now, most coffee ice cream recipes I've seen

Tempura: tasty fried things

2009-04-29T10:44:00.001-04:00

So, I know I promised this over the weekend, but Saturday was too nice to stay indoors so I worked on getting my garden ready for full planting, did some misc. outside housework, and went for a good long bike ride. Sunday I was unfortunately in my lab all day and didn't have the desire to write a blog post afterwards. I don't even want to get into the past two days.... But this is a sort of

Mac & Cheese, finally...

2009-04-21T21:05:00.001-04:00

Ok, so as I noted in my last post, I had originally intended to post this recipe last Monday. But now I am. So yay for a recipe and not an essay! Anywho, this recipe really started as a mistake. I had bought some steak on mangers special that I was cooking up to make a cheesesteak, but when I looked in my fridge I saw I didn't have any Cheese-Wiz left. (Side note, the true Philly was to do a

Meat reality:

2009-04-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I was originally planning on doing a post about Mac & Cheese, but I happened to be going through my Serious Eats feed over lunch on Monday and noticed this post by Ed Levine: Trichinosis in Free-Range Pigs: Cause for Concern, or Sloppy Editing and Writing?. It refers to an article in the NYT Op-Ed section last thursday (the 9th) by James McWilliams that you can find here. The McWilliams

I'm ahead of the Times

2009-04-15T11:28:00.001-04:00

The New York Times that is...From this weeks Dining and Wine section: For Chileans, Passion Translates to EmpanadasFor those of you who are eagerly awaiting my next recipe, it will probably be next week. I got myself side-tracked on an issue that I feel compelled to do a formal post on, so I'm writing that up and will hopefully have it posted by Friday (my goal is tonight, but with Lost on we'll