LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

Cooking

Not so bad

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We’ve been experimenting with food left and right lately.   I finally got to use the Baker’s Edge pan for a roast, and I wish I could say it all turned out perfectly.  This was my first experience cooking pork tenderloin, and I wasn’t thinking that it would take less time than a regular piece of meat.  Anyway, the meat turned out pretty awesome (thank, Mrs. Dash!), but the vegetables were kinda crunchy.  Potatoes shouldn’t be crunchy unless they’re chips, and ‘chips’ is a dirty word around here.

Lloyd’s been making salads (trying to be as cool as Brad).  This is his latest creation – lettuce, strawberries, chopped pecans (avocado on mine) and dressed with lemon juice.  It is surprisingly tasty!

A 81% great meal, with only 4% of your RDA of salt.

Presto Pesto

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I made pesto tonight.  I’m always watching people do it on television, and it looks so fun. You need: olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and pine nuts.

Behold: Thy Ingredients!

I toasted the pine nuts.  I’d never tasted them before, and they’re kind of weird.  Like a nut made of gin.

Gin nuts, gin nuts, whatcha gonna do?

 

Throw everything into the blender.  I could have used my food processor, but that would involve finding it, then cleaning it.  The blender’s handier.

Get in there, cheese.

Buzz it up and you’re done!  It has a powerful lot of flavor, I tell you whut.  I’m not sure if I like it yet.  Tomorrow I’m going to put it on some fish, and also pasta.  We’ll see!  How ’bout that for being adventurous!

Looks gross, tastes strange.

A Crucial Step

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(In response to Brad’s comment – “Not dead!” I had to open the center this morning, so there was no time to post.)

On occasion I make chocolate chip cookies.  I’m not really a cookie person, so this is the only kind I ever make.  I memorized the recipe in college, and once during a geography test I had no idea what the answer was to one of the questions, so I wrote down the recipe.  (My professor was not amused.  Hmmph.) 

It’s the basic Nestle recipe with a few changes – Criso instead of butter, twice as much vanilla, and a little less flour.  The other important step is to chill (freezing is even better!) the dough.  Last night we had company coming over – Kristi and Jerome Leckband and their sweet daughter Joanna – and I needed something snacky to have around.  Time was short, so I thought I’d use nature’s freezer.

Crunchy leaves and snow - the real secret ingredients.

(Don’t worry, Annette.  I covered the bowl after I took the picture.  Nobody wants squirrel fur in their cookies.)

FoodSucker

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Yeah, I know it’s called a FoodSaver, but FoodSucker is so much more fun to say, and it’s not crass – it’s appropriate!

Occasionally I have been known to convince myself to buy something that we really don’t need. (Occasionally – ha!)  About a year ago I really wanted a FoodSucker, so I waited the normal one-month period before I buy a major thing, all the while creating all these scenarios where I would be vacuum-sealing food left and right!  So I bought one, sealed up everything in sight in one evening….then put it in a closet, never to be seen again until last week.

Overall, I highly recommend them.  You can wrap and store a lot of things for a long time, but never, ever BUY one.  Find somebody who has one that will loan it, provide your own bags, and bake them a cake as payment.   (My favorite is yellow cake with chocolate frosting.)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - I'm yours!

Favorite Vessel

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At first I titled this post ‘Favorite Pot’, but I knew you yahoos would make all the obvious jokes, so there – do something funny with ‘vessel’.

Anyway, this my enameled red cast iron dutch oven from Target that I love like a child. It’s so pretty, and makes anything cooked in it appear like I’ve really slaved, y’know?  You can’t dish something out of a dutch oven without thinking, “Boy, this food must have had some work done on it.”  It’s not fast and flashy like a frying pan, or quick-to-boil like a saucepan.  It takes minutes for this thing to heat, and even longer to cool down.  I love it.

Chili, or nectar of the gods?