Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Hey there, cats and kittens. I've been working on a new collaborative blog called Nerds and Nomsense. Mosey on over there to see me and more fabulous bloggers. It'll be delicious, I promise!

Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges!

Hi internet! I just wanted to let you know WOTF is combining forces with several other foodies to collaboratively produce a blog called Nerds and Nomsense. So, come over there to get your food on, because there's enough cobwebs here to choke a barnful of horses! Sayonara! See you over there, launch is August 1!

Quiche!!!

I had a hankerin' (do people even have hankerin's anymore?) for quiche last night, so we made it happen today. I did not meal plan this week, much to my disorganization and detriment. Anyway, this quiche kicked much butt. Here's my recipe.

QUICHE OF WHATEVER WORKS

Filling ingredients:

• about 10 golden cherry tomatoes, quartered
• a handful of wilted spinach
• a handful of sliced fresh mushrooms
• about 4 ounces grated sharp Cheddar
• a quarter of a yellow onion, sliced thinly
• 5 beaten eggs
• a tablespoon or so of Emeril's Essence, plus a good dash of garlic powder
• 3/4 cup (soy)milk

Plus a pie crust for a 9-inch pie

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Whisk your eggs in a bowl, then fold in everything else you want in the quiche(in this case, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, spinach, spices, cheese, milk). Pour into your crust (which you have carefully laid into a pie pan), and bake for about 50 minutes covered in foil, then 10 more minutes uncovered. Let it cool and settle a bit, then slice up and enjoy like crazy. I made the filling in the morning, then worked all day and asked the mister to pour the filling into the crust and bake it. Presto, dinner in a hurry! Now, go listen to Stevie Wonder records and have a hard apple cider, because you worked hard today. Go you!

The verdict on my homemade laundry soap

It works!!! My clothes smell nice and don't make me itchy or anything. I haven't tried it out on heavily soiled clothes yet, but I am feeling confident. I did accidentally leave a load in the washer for 2 days and the clothes did not smell mildewed. I think that has more to do with the cold front that parked itself over my town over the weekend, but I digress.

I think my next homemade conquest will be edible, perhaps apple butter? Maybe limoncello or vanilla extract? Hmmm... I am pretty stoked. :D

Meal plans: week of Oct 8

Monday: leftover magic (crock pot beef burritos made from last week's steak fajita meat)
Tuesday: Fish Tacos!
Wednesday: Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Thursday: Homemade pizza of unknown topping
Friday: Pumpkin Risotto

Chicken and dumplings, revisited

I know the meal plan totally said burger night for today, but Zach was so hungry at lunch today, we went out for 5 Guys and decided to make dinner. I thought about everything we had in the fridge and freezer, and realized we had everything needed for chicken and dumplings!!! Here's how I did it.

Chicken and dumplings

• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• about 12 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons of Emeril's Essence
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• a couple tablespoons of white wine
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon cold butter
• slightly less than 1/2 cup milk

Put your chicken thighs in the water with a dash o' salt. Turn the heat up to a medium-low setting and let those babies cook for a while, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees. Add your Essence shortly after the water starts to bubble.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it to a plate and let it cool off a bit. Once it's cooled some, pluck the meat off the bones and pull it into nice small pieces. Strain your water (that has become chicken broth, you genius you!) through a sieve into a bowl, so you don't have as much junk floating in the broth. Save back about 6-7 cups for your meal, and freeze the rest. Put the newly-strained 6-7 cups of broth back into the pot and get it back up to simmering. Add your vegetables and garlic; let them soften a bit.
Meanwhile, you can prep your dumplings. Put your flour, baking powder and salt into the food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it looks like a fine crumbly mixture. Stream in the milk while the processor is running, keep mixing until the dough forms a ball. Turn out your very sticky dough-ball onto a very floured surface and roll the dough out to about 1/4" thick. Slice into little squares, about 1" or so.
Pop the wine into the simmering veggies, and then start dropping in raw dumplings, one at a time (to avoid them sticking together). Once the dumplings are all in, go ahead and add your chicken. Taste your broth and season as needed. Serve hot alongside some cornbread!

Homemade WHAT?!?

I made laundry soap today! The raw components cost approximately $7 and made about 7 cups of soap, with leftovers to make many more. It was 3 ingredients and took me about 30 minutes all together to do. It smells awesome, and I'll let you know how it does when I test it out. Here's what I did:

• 1 bar of Zote (I found mine at Lowe's for $1.09 on the cleaning/laundry stuff aisle), finely grated
• 1 3/4 cups Borax(a couple bucks on the laundry aisle)
• 1 3/4 cups washing soda(Sodium carbonate, also called soda ash. Can be found on the laundry aisle for about $3.25, or in the pool chemicals as a pH lowerer for about $8.)

Grate (yes, with a grater! you can wash it and it won't taste like soap later)your Zote(fels naptha, ivory, whatever soap you like. just not a super oily soap, you don't want it to ruin the clothes) into the smallest bits you can manage. Mix together with your dry ingredients, then run the whole shebang through the food processor(probably a few batches) to make the soap bits smaller and to also "marry" the mixture together a bit better. Store in a dry, cool place, use about 2 tablespoons in a regular load of clothes. You'll probably wanna do less if you have one of those fancy high efficiency washers.

Like I said, I haven't tested it out yet, but I have positive feelings about it. I'll keep you posted. Next, I think I'll attempt dishwasher soap and deodorant. :D

Meal plans: week of October 1 and other concerns

Monday: Black bean burgers
Tuesday: Apple cinnamon chicken (thanks Clint!)
Wednesday: Mcnellie's burger special
Thursday: lentil soup
Friday: steak fajitas
Saturday: left intentionally blank for possible fun!

I am starting to get antsy over this cooler weather coming up... I want to start making caramel corn, homemade vanilla extract, limoncello, and apple butter. Other holiday gifts have started to materialize... :) My guestroom, office and master bedroom need some attention before the holidays get too hectic, but I don't want to unpack too much especially if we decide to move again in 9 months (that's when the lease is up, and our landlord is not too keen on the whole "keeping things nice" approach to home ownership).

Meal plans: week of September 24

Monday: BLT Turkey wraps
Tuesday: Turkey bolognese
Wednesday: $3 hamburger and fries special at McNellie's = date night!
Thursday: Moosewood vegetarian chili
Friday: Chipotle avocado pasta, likely with a few shrimp added for fun, plus prep for Oktoberfest pretzels
Saturday: Oktoberfest
Sunday: dinner with my folks

The weekend!

We had people over for a little get together on Saturday, I was tired from working all day and staying up too late the night before. But, before I passed out, I made rum punch. It was tasty!

Rum punch ingredients:

• 1 cup lime juice
• 2 cups simple syrup
• 3 cups rum (I used a white rum, a darker nonspiced rum would be okay)
• 4 cups orange juice
• 4 dashes bitters

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher. Serve over ice. FYI: 2 little glasses of this will make you fairly tipsy. Be safe!

I didn't meal plan this week. Having 2 days off during the week makes me lazy. However, I did make a chicken taco salad on Tuesday.

Chicken Taco Salad

• 1 chicken breast, rubbed with chili powder, paprika, salt, a little sugar and black pepper, baked until its internal temp is 165 or better, cubed
• 1/2 head green leaf lettuce, torn into manageable pieces
• handful of cilantro, plucked off stalks
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1 avocado, pitted and diced
• 1/4 green bell pepper, diced
• grated cheese to taste
• dressing of choice (I did salsa with a squirt of ranch)
• tortilla chips

Combine all the veggies in a large bowl, toss until well-combined. Serve topped with the chicken, cheese, crushed tortilla chips and dressing.

Tuesday night dinner!

This week is ideal for sticking to mealplans, my boss is on vacation and I'll be opening the shop every day (home by 6:30 or earlier!). Tonight I made Dr. Zorba's Firecracker Chicken and Tasty Kitchen user Coastal Countertop's Avocado Spinach Mac and Cheese (with a little modification).

Firecracker Chicken

Rub:

• 3 Tbs Paprika
• 1 Tbs Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbs Kosher salt
• ¾ tsp Brown sugar
• ¾ tsp Chili powder
• ¾ tsp Garlic powder
• ½ tsp Ground cayenne pepper

3½ Pounds Chicken thighs or legs

Mix rub ingredients together until well-combined. rub into surface of the chicken pieces, and let rest in a zip top bag for at least an hour or up to overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (or until an internal temp of 160 degrees is achieved).


Avocado Spinach Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces macaroni noodles
• 2 whole Avocados, Peeled, Pitted
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Lime
• ½ cups Spinach
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 1/4 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, Shredded
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• blob 'o' dijon mustard
• ¼ cups Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. When done, drain off the water and set pasta aside. While pasta is cooking, make avocado mix using a food processor or blender. Combine garlic, avocados, juice from 1 lime, spinach and salt and pepper to taste in your food processor and process until creamy and well-blended. Set aside. Preheat oven to 450 F. To make cheese sauce, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly add flour and whisk until combined, and then add milk and continue to stir until smooth. Add blob 'o' dijon. Just say yes. Add in cheddar cheese and continue to stir and heat until cheese is fully melted and sauce is creamy. Place noodles in a large baking dish (9×9 or larger), and mix avocado and cheese sauces in until noodles are evenly covered. Cover with Parmesan, and bake at 450 F for 25 minutes.

Labor Day 2012

Today is day 3 of my rare 3 day weekend. Day 1 consisted of a trip to Turner Falls, Day 2 mega-chillaxing, chocolate waffle breakfast, garage sales and dinner with my folks, and Day 3 lunch out, making sun tea, had a friend over for hanging out/cards, and making dinner at home.

Zach listens to NPR at work every day and loves Splendid Table and Zorba Paster. There were several dinners last week and this week from good ol' Dr. Zorba. Today, we're making a Cranberry Crusted Salmon from his website.

Cranberry Crusted Salmon (from Dr. Zorba at wpr.org)

• 4 salmon filets
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

• 3/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking dish. Lay the salmon in the dish, skin side down (if it has skin still). Salt and pepper the fish to your liking, then spread the mustard over each fish filet. Place remaining ingredients in a bowl, mix until thoroughly combined. Press resulting crumb mixture onto each fish filet, dividing crumbs evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when pierced with a fork.

Week of Sept 3 meal plans

Monday: Cranberry crusted salmon filets
Tuesday: Grilled chicken and avocado-lime mac and cheese
Wednesday: Shrimp Scampi
Thursday: Portobello sandwiches and watching Hedwig
Friday: open for visiting with friends :)

Sunday, lazy Sunday...

Hi there. Rebrand in progress. :) I am sorry if you have been hoping to hear from me. It's been a hot summer and I sometimes forget about the internet, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I made chocolate waffles for breakfast today and scored a $30 electric lawnmower at a yard sale. We celebrated with icees afterward. Chocolate Waffles (makes 4 small square waffles or 2 bigger ones) 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter, very soft (room temp or mild microwave time) 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup water Mix it all together until only a little lumpy. Throw in a little handful of chocolate chips if you want. Scoop batter into waffle iron and cook until the light shuts off. (takes about 3 minutes in my waffle iron) Serve hot with whipped cream or whatever sounds good. These were almost too sweet and chocolatey for breakfast, so maybe these are a dessert item.