Cooking Change-Up

The longer I've been living in my own apartment, the more I've been making my food from scratch. I used to buy all sorts of prepared food...frozen dinners, boxed pasta dishes, etc. But a combination of limited freezer space and realizing that it's actually cheaper to make things from scratch helped me to modify my grocery shopping habits. The thing is, I've still been making the fastest and easiest things I have in my pantry, so my meals have gotten pretty...boring. I've been wanting to try new recipes, but they always have random ingredients that I'm never able to use in another dish. Eventually those randoms end up sitting in your fridge, wasting away, and before you know it you're throwing out all those extra dollars you spent. When you're working on a tight budget like me, hearing those wasted tasty morsels hit the bottom of the trash can sounds more like your wallet screaming in agony. Ouch.

The thing is, when you spend your time NOT trying new recipes and sticking to the basic ingredients that you know are quick and easy, you find yourself eating multiple varieties of dull chicken far too often. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my life. I've gotten to the point where it's about time to mix things up literally and figuratively. So I pulled out the cookbooks, opened up Pinterest, and started the search for some new recipes. This time around, though, nothing was going to waste!

I started looking for recipes where I knew I would be able to find other ways to use the ingredients after I used them in the main dish. Even if I didn't usually use the ingredients, I was determined that I would keep an open mind and find a way to work them into multiple dishes so they wouldn't go to waste (including with my crazy schedule, when I normally need to make things quickly or in advance). I was also going to do all this while being healthier at the same time. Hours later, I was still trying to find recipes I was willing to risk budget-wise. I felt like I had wasted my Saturday afternoon, felt like I wasn't healthy at all, and it all just made me completely overwhelmed. GAH. 

Luckily, I eventually realized that I was taking on too much at once, remembered I don't have to change everything up all at the same time, and decided to take baby steps. I finally settled on one recipe, found a few new (but not totally foreign) items that were on sale, made my grocery list, and walked away.

Today, I put it all into action.

I started with the grocery store. I admittedly spent a little bit more than I have been lately (and more than I would have liked), but I think I'll be able to put everything I got to good use (and hopefully not let any of it go to waste!). Then I decided to make the one recipe that I had picked out, a new, hopefully-actually-healthy recipe. Other than my quick and dull dinners (which I don't consider to be "real" cooking), I haven't done a lot of cooking lately, so it was really great to dive into an actual cooking project again. I dove into the kitchen, reconnected with my inner chef, and whipped up some......

Carrot and Quinoa Muffins. 

Carrot and Quinoa?? Who would have thought I would make something like that? Until recently, I never thought I would have. But I did! With everyone talking about quinoa these days, and all sorts of people close to me like roommates and family members cooking it up like wildfire, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try (plus quinoa stores well and is incredibly versatile, so I know it won't go to waste). These muffins were simple enough to make so that I would totally make them on a regular basis, but also required enough work to make me feel like I was actually cooking. Plus, they turned out to be ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

I have to admit that I was hesitant when I decided to try this recipe; I thought that the muffins would turn out dry or grainy. But they're not at all! They're soft, moist, and delicious. They basically taste like carrot cake, and if I hadn't told you, you would never know there was quinoa in them. New breakfast/morning snack? I think so :)

I'm still working on taking the time to take good photos, but for now you get to enjoy a lovely pic of one of these tasty morsels chillin' on my awesome, fake, covered-to-look-like-granite counter:

If you'd like to try out these muffins for yourself, check out the recipe at the website Good Dinner Mom. You can also find it on my "Culinary Creations" Pinterest board. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This St. Patrick's Day I decided to host a few friends and take on some pretty awesome culinary adventures. Here's how it all turned out...

Mission one: Irish Carbomb Cupcakes (because I saw another blogger do this, I feel the need to say that I have nothing to do with the name of the drink these tasty little treats are named after). I made these for the first time with a friend last year and they are absolutely INCREDIBLE. Georgetown Cupcake has nothing on these babies. Made with Guinness baked into the chocolate cake, filled with a Jameson chocolate ganache, and topped with a Bailey's butter cream frosting, these cupcakes are probably the best ones I've ever made (and eaten). I once again got to enjoy baking them with a friend/roommate (because we all know baking with friends is the most fun anyone could have) and they once again turned out perfectly. Feast your eyes on the deliciousness:

 (Maybe next time I should take some more artsy close-ups. Oh well...)

If you'd like the full recipe just let me know (or you can be really fancy and check out my Pinterest. Self-marketing, woo!). Everything's from scratch so it's a bit of work, but SO WORTH IT. 

After the cupcakes were done I may or may not have sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, completely wiped. Fighting off the last bits of a cold + not enough sleep + likely dehydration and low blood sugar = cooking exhaustion. But I was not to be defeated! There was more to be done. 

After some lunch, a shower break, and some Gatorade, it was time for......

Mission two: Corned beef and cabbage. I'd never actually made this traditional dish before, but it was about time I gave it a shot. I had to make a double batch, so I ended up doing one with a point cut brisket and the other with a flat cut brisket. You can make the meal with either, but I had heard so many different opinions on which was better that I just decided to try both. I figured the whole meal would go one of two ways. It would either

1. Go above and beyond in scrumptious deliciousness 

OR

2. Turn out to be a Bridget Jones-style disaster and somehow turn blue. 

Luckily, it turned out to be the former. It even got rave reviews from all my guests. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by just how delectable it turned out. The flat cut was awesome, but I think general consensus was that the cheaper point cut was even better (more fat = more flavor). I also took some advice from one of my friends and flipped each brisket part of the way through cooking for better flavor, and I'm guessing that made a big difference in the positive results. I didn't get a picture of the point cut, but here's a sample of the tasty flat cut: 

(Yes I promise there was cabbage as well, it was just in a different dish)

Take all that combined with a few drinks, Boondock Saints, and most importantly some great friends, and you've got a really great St. Patrick's Day :)

Cooking is My Anti-Drug

I always get really annoyed when people post things on the internet to draw negative attention to themselves. The typical "Woe is me" Facebook status, the vague "This is the worst day ever" tweet...and just to throw in a high school flashback, the paragraph-long away messages on AIM ranting on about how terrible life is and how we're so emo (we all did it. It's OK, we can just admit it and move on). I tell you this so that you don't take the following paragraphs the wrong way. I am not an internet ranter, but I have to tell you a bit about my sudden bad mood this afternoon so that you can have a better appreciation for the happy ending to my story.

I've been in a pretty good mood lately; my typical perky and bubbly self, successfully annoying my friend and coworker with my peppiness. But we all have our moments, and for whatever reason, as I was walking from the metro back to my apartment after work today, a little thought popped into my head that made me feel a bit out of sorts. That of course lead to another thought, and then another, and another, until a swirl of negative emotion had engulfed me like a venus fly trap and I had to keep myself from collapsing in a ball of tears on the side of Rockville Pike. I won't torture you all with what the thoughts were because 1. I hate internet rants 2. I PROMISE it's nothing serious 3. it's actually all very silly and 4. this swirl of emotion was most likely fueled in large part by PMS.

Still, fast-forwarding about an hour and a half to when I had finished my errands, I found myself back in my apartment, curled up on my bed, wallowing in self-pity. I still hadn't eaten dinner, had more to get done, and I wondered how I would ever get out of this funk or feel happiness again. I figured I would just lie there, soaking up my misery, and forget about dinner for the night.....

......wait a second. Pause and rewind. I hadn't eaten dinner. Suddenly the light of truth washed over me and a glimmer of hope had returned! When I don't have food in my system, any bad mood gets exponentially worsened to the point where it probably makes my future husband quiver in fear already, and we haven't even met yet (maybe he gets an innate feeling of dread/terror that he can't trace the source of but knows he should be afraid). So I figured it would probably be a good idea to get up and get some food. I would just heat up some Stouffer's mac 'n' cheese, chill for a few moments, then casually go back to trying to figure out my life.

But then suddenly, another idea: Don't be silly, Heather. You should actually cook something. Cooking makes you happy! That's right...cooking DOES make me happy! Not only can it be oddly calming, but it would also give me something else to focus on and think about. I decided to go for it. I didn't have many bare ingredients to work with, but I had just the right ones to make a quick and easy meal. I even got to toss vegetables in the frying pan (I'm practicing a new skill)! Sure enough, I was already feeling a little better as I started to make my veggie and egg scramble, then felt much better as I sat down to eat it (while watching an episode of Band of Brothers). It was a very simple meal to make, but it was just what I needed.

(Cooking makes me almost as happy as Spongebob flipping Krabby Patties. Almost.)

So the moral of the story is - cooking is my anti-drug. I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner, especially given the fact that yesterday I excitedly accepted the challenge to prep and bake cookies in just over an hour (a challenge that I thoroughly enjoyed AND successfully completed. I know, I'm a baller). I know that some nights I'll just be too tired to cook and will let myself curl up with an insta-dinner and a glass of wine, but I think I should really try to take my stress out in the kitchen more often. I love cooking, and it turns out it's one of the many things that helps keep me sane. And all my loved ones should love it, too, since they 1. occasionally get to reap the benefits in the form of free food and 2. get a break from having to deal with my insanity. I think that means it's time to have more cooking adventures...Bon apetit!

(I just couldn't resist putting this one in here)

Ron Burgundy pic from http://losingweightinthecity.com/2012/05/serious-reach-the-beach-withdrawal/
Spongebob pic from http://awordsmithsbrainworks.com/2012/01/22/an-undefined-number-of-reasons-in-no-particular-order-about-why-i-envy-spongebob-squarepants/
Cooking with wine pic from http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi04M2MyZjY1ZmY0NzQ1MTBk