cooking Archives - Food, Booze, & Baggage

So You Say You Can’t Cook~Tara’s Story Part I

July 17, 2014 by Mariah 14 Comments

I’ve decided to shake things up a bit and bring in a dear friend of mine to do a little guest post! I’ve mentioned Tara aka T in some of my prior posts, aka hostess with the mostest, and aka Glinda the Good Witch (in other circles). As, Tara will tell you, I think she is the far superior cook, I know she is the hostess with the mostest, and as you will read, she’s a fabulous storyteller too. So, here’s Tara story of her food journey…

Tara II — This is Tara cooking at my house…see even as a guest she is still doing hosting duties 🙂

When Mariah told me she was starting a blog about food, drinks and travel, I was super excited to check it out. Mariah and I met a little over 4 years ago and we bonded quickly over our common interests; we love to eat and we both have a taste for adventuresome foods, we love to drink (and credit our Irish heritage for us being so good at it), both of us agree that our biological clocks will never chime, and we are blissfully happy in our childfree marriages and lives. When she recently asked if I would consider doing a guest post for her on the blog, I was extremely flattered. I’m not a blogger or a writer, so it’s truly an honor to be able to share something on this very creative project she’s begun. She included in her email that she “was thinking food related since you are the far superior cook”. I was blushing, her compliment was by far one of the most touching I’ve ever received, and it got me thinking about just how far I’ve come with not only preparing food but also how food is a big part of my life…This is my food story.

My love of food, including planning weekly meals, shopping for great ingredients, preparing, and most of all eating, had very humble beginnings. A Midwestern Native, I grew up in a tiny rural farming community with a population of less than 650 people. There was no fine dining, fast food, or big box grocery stores for over 30 miles. If you wanted to try out one of the many popular chain restaurants like the Red Lobster, you were going to have to take a two-hour ride for your Ultimate Feast. Some would say that I grew up at a disadvantage, but I will vehemently disagree. I’ve honestly never tasted better fried chicken (and I live in the South now) than what the wonderful ladies made at the small diner where I held my first job. The beef and pork that I ate growing up as a child was most likely raised on one of my classmates’ farms and processed by the butcher where my Mother worked for 30 years. Heck we even had a Shake Shack in the neighboring town (ok, so it isn’t THE Shake Shack) and a pizza food truck before food trucks were all the rage. Growing up, my days were spent with my Grandmother while both of my parents worked full-time jobs. I credit her with nurturing my adventurous palate (I prefer the term adventurous over sophisticated or the word “Foodie”. Let’s face it–I still love Cool Whip). Grandma B gave me all sorts of delicious foods and introduced me to things my parents generally didn’t serve. Looking back, I remember being fairly willing to eat pretty much anything you’d put in front of me (besides baked beans, which I wouldn’t try until much later in life, all due to an incident with my friend in Kindergarten) but I also loved to tinker around in the kitchen. My Mom never really loved to cook, but she would often let me get involved in the kitchen as a little girl. Remember those old slow-cookers that sat on a heating base? I absolutely loved to take out that heating base to make little pancakes, and just a few years ago she gave me an old meat grinder; I have very fond memories of grinding away leftover ham and beef for sandwiches during my youth.

In 2001 at the age of 25, I moved from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast of Florida to begin my career in healthcare and my palate began to diversify from the meat, potato, cream of mushroom soup casseroles that was my youth. During my first year away from home, I arrived to work on Christmas Eve and my Croatian born/ Long Island bred co-worker offered to make me lunch. As I watched her build this beautiful sandwich with Italian bread & meats and basil and balsamic vinegar (ingredients I’d never seen, much less tasted) I noticed a jar on the counter and asked her “what’s in the jar, hard-boiled eggs?” It was fresh mozzarella and I’m pretty sure she thought that I grew up in a cave.

Soon, I was never more excited than when I got to try a new ingredient or style of restaurant. Along with my new found interest in different types of foods, I slowly became interested in wine. I traded in my box of Franzia White Zin for sweet whites like Rieslings & Gewürztraminers. Then, one fateful day I had a fruit-bomb of a Red Zin forced upon me, (I’d always sworn I didn’t like red wine) and it was all over from there, I signed up for at least three wine magazine subscriptions and drank at least one to two bottles of different types of wine per week, all for the sake of learning and refining my palate of course! 🙂

It wasn’t too long before I discovered that if I were going to support my food (& wine) habit, I would need to learn to prepare some of my own delicious food at home. In 2004 after moving to Atlanta where I spent the first six months living with my oldest and dearest friend and my two-year old Goddaughter, I began to cook. It started as a way of pulling my own weight around the house and taking over a chore my friend wasn’t interested in doing. She’d be happy to grow, forge, or even hunt for food; she’d just rather not have to cook it. Armed with my classic Better Homes & Gardens red and white checkered cook book, I began to make simple sided dishes, casseroles, Easter hams, and desserts. I discovered that though I was neither a talented nor a creative cook, I absolutely loved preparing meals for my friend and Goddaughter. After I moved into my own tiny apartment in one of ATL’s popular midtown neighborhoods, cooking became less frequent; it dawned on me that one of the things that made eating and preparing food so fantastic was sharing the experience with friends and people you love. There was a blissful satisfaction I got from preparing a meal for someone and watching them enjoy it; cooking for just me wasn’t nearly as rewarding.

How do you think where you grew up or your childhood eating habits affect your eating habits as an adult?

That Time I Roasted A Chicken

April 6, 2014 by Mariah 5 Comments

Last Sunday I decided to take the plunge and cross off #72 on my 101 in 1001 list, roast a whole chicken. Much like with the peanut butter, it was so much easier than I thought it would be! Dealing with a whole chicken just seemed so intimidating. Here are the three recipes I loosely followed:

Rotisserie Inspired Roasted Chicken from Taste Love & Nourish

Roast Chicken from Yahoo Shine

Classic Roast Chicken from Cooking Light

For my chicken I used rosemary (4 sprigs), lemon (1), olive oil, butter (2 tbsp) , salt and pepper and garlic (4 cloves). Wash the chicken and then pat dry with a paper towel, make sure to remove the little bag of giblets on the inside of the chicken before washing (discard unless you have other plans for them). I combined the butter, salt and pepper (about 1 tsp of each), and minced garlic together in a small bowl and then rubbed this under the skin of the chicken. I squeezed the lemon over the top of the chicken and placed the rosemary and remaining lemon (after squeezing out the juice) inside the bird. I placed the bird in the dutch oven and then drizzled approximately 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the bird and a little under the bird, and then salt and peppered the whole thing. Baked in the oven at 375 F or about 1 hour and 15 minutes, I used a thermometer to test when done. Temperature should be at least 165 F in the thickest parts, test breast and leg. I would recommend checking it at the hour mark.

My thoughts on the project:

I’m not sure why you need to wash the chicken, but it seems to be the thing to do, make sure to pat it dry very well before doing the other steps
I do not understand why you have to separate the chicken skin from the bird (other than to put the butter under it), someone said this step is not necessary if you are not eating the skin anyway or do not want to do the butter step
I did not get any garlic flavor from the garlic/butter rub, but could taste the lemon and rosemary
I did not tie anything, it fit snugly enough in the dutch oven, so maybe if you use a roasting pan that step would be necessary
The meat turned out super moist and not dry at all, the leg and wings pretty much just fell off the bone when pulled
I FORGOT TO TAKE A FINAL PICTURE….I’m a bad blogger. I will have to make it again and be sure to get a final picture next time!

I sliced the whole bird, and we had it with mashed potatoes Sunday. The leftover chicken was used on Monday in a spring salad; it was SO good. This will be something we will make again!

The only other meal we had last week was Cowboy Dinner, it was ok but not something I’m likely to make again. P and I kept it easy this past week, because we hosted a party yesterday. We did a lot of cooking on Friday and Saturday and I will share what we cooked next week!

Have you ever cooked a whole chicken? Any tips?

Kitchen Confessions Vol. 1

March 23, 2014 by Mariah 11 Comments

Welcome to the very first Food, Booze, & Baggage’s Kitchen Confessions. What food or cooking confessions do you want to share? Here are a few of mine:

Let’s get it straightened out, on who does the cooking in our house. P cooks about 80% of our meals. I like to say I’m the head chef, I make the menus, gather the ingredients (make the lists) and he is the sous chef, meaning he does all the work. 😉 Even when I cook the meals half the time he is chopping and cleaning after me. We do work together often and I help out while he cooks too.

I don’t really like to cook per say. If I’m in the mood I don’t mind it but it is not something I find relaxing or enjoyable.

Oatmeal made on the stove is WAY better than oatmeal made in the microwave.

A good chef’s knife really makes all the difference.

I use to eat butter straight as a child and I still overuse it on bread, pancakes…etc.

I hate spaghetti noodles, vermicelli all the way.

I eat spaghetti with a fork and spoon (yeah I’m fancy like that).

I hate black licorice and avoid anything that has that description in the flavor profile

Is there anything you want to confess about your eating or cooking habits?

The Rest of The Week

Fried Zucchini + Mint and Pistachio Pesto Pappardelle Pasta: The pesto for this dish was SO good. Our zucchini did not turn out so well, and her directions are a bit off for that process because she mentions buttermilk but no buttermilk is in the ingredients list. I think grilled shrimp or chicken would pair very well with this.

General Tso’s Cauliflower: A nice vegetarian dish. Our breading did not stay on the cauliflower very well but the dish tasted just fine and re-heat well the next day for leftovers.

Creamy Broccoli & White Bean Soup: I was really surprised at the creaminess the beans brought to this soup.

Red Curry Lentils: This works very well leftover for lunch

Crockpot Curried Thai Short Rib Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce + Mango Salsa (weekend): Not blown away by the flavor of the meat, but I really like the salsa with the addition of avocado and the peanut sauce was good as well.

Clean Eating and What It Means to Me

January 5, 2014 by Mariah 7 Comments

In my very first post, I discussed some of my food philosophies, cutting out processed foods, and shared some resources for going organic, finding farmers markets, and sources of pasture-raised meats. I wanted to share some more about our journey to cleaner eating and some sites I found helpful.

Clean eating can and does mean different things to different people, this is one reason I like to say cleaner eating when I discuss our habits. The focus of our change has/is cutting out processed foods and chemicals. Our journey started out slowly by gradually cutting out processed foods like soda, frozen dinners, and most packaged snacks. Then we moved into buying organic and pasture-raised meats. We still use sugar, flour, buy chips and crackers (but ones with less ingredients), and only half our meat is pasture-raised.

My advice to anyone looking to change their eating habit is to start by cutting out the most obvious processed foods and start cooking. If you think organic is too expensive start cooking real food, and don’t worry as much about organic. See how buying real foods impacts your budget. Make small changes and don’t feel like you have to do it all at once.

If you are worried about your budget make sure you are not wasting food. This a huge focus for me and I’m so proud of our progress in this area. Planning is key to avoiding food waste. I try to find recipes where I can use the same ingredients like herbs or milk in multiple recipes because you generally don’t use up all of these in one meal. We eat leftovers for lunch at least a couple of days a week, this also helps to stretch your food budget and cuts back on waste. Another factor in keeping your food budget low is eating less meat. Pick at least a few vegetarians dishes or use meat as an ingredient as opposed to the main focus.

We shop primarily at Whole Foods, mostly for their selection of organic foods (especially vegetables). We go to the farmers market about every other week (sometimes less sometimes more…winter is less than summer and in summer we might go every weekend). We also utilize a CSA to get pastured-raised meats and sometimes vegetables.

Resources to start your journey:

100 Day of Real Food: this website has pretty much everything. If you have questions about clean eating and budgeting I recommend her 100 Days on a Budget.

The Gracious Pantry: this site has a lot of how-to. Clean Eating 101 is a good start.

The Rest of the Week:

This week I do not have very many pins for you. We made chili from leftovers (short ribs, bacon, hamburger-I forgot to freeze) and just made-up the recipe. We went out several times and had eggs and bacon another night. We did cook:

Vegetable Lentil Soup: I made this a month ago but it was worth repeating. It is easy and inexpensive.

Chicken and Dumplings: this is a weekend meal, as it is time-consuming but not that difficult. Make sure to read through the recipe before starting. I did not use sherry, and used 1/4 cup extra of chicken stock to scrape up the brown bits before pouring in the rest of the stock. This turned out excellent and I was pretty happy with it since I had never made dumplings before.