Food In Many Forms

... you can dip almost anything into it, including coconut macaroons.  In an effort to use up my shredded coconut leftover from Valentine's Day, one of my good friends from college proposed baking up some coconut macaroons . Right as I was walking out the door on my way to her house, I sent a quick text, "anything else you need before I head over?". "A double boiler ," she replied, "I want to dip the macaroons in chocolate ." It was like music to my ears. Ingredients 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 5 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla using your hands until well blended. Use an ice cream scoop to drop dough o...

... it's delicious. And difficult to do well. Here's what I've learned: 1) Add butter to the melted chocolate to improve the consistency for dipping.  2) Toppings are delicious and add variety (ever seen  Shari's Berries ? Good source of inspiration). Also use different types of chocolate, like dark and white chocolate.  3) Keep your chocolate-dipped creations in the fridge , especially when you are OCD, like me. Just try to keep the moisture level down in the fridge, and wipe off any condensation that appears.  4) Buy twice as many wrappers as you think you need, some will get messed up.  5) White chocolate does not like to cooperate . My white chocolate would not stay melted for more than 15 seconds, and then I had to stir it again vigorously. From all the forums I read, there is a small consensus that Trader Joe's makes the most meltable white chocolate. Also see rule #1.  6) Keep the double boiler dry and free of excess water - any...

For the past couple of years, I have always stayed in and cooked for Valentine's Day. I never wanted to face the crowds or the extra expense, and in college these things just don't seem as important. When I would go to the grocery store on February 14th, I always laughed at the poor husbands and boyfriends struggling to find that last ingredient, or agonizing in front of the spice rack for 20 minutes before finding what they need. I love grocery stores, and learning how to cook new foods.  It will be nice to take a year off and go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate, but since I can no longer pretend that my gift is the dinner, I actually had to think of a gift. Luckily, I had an extra night to plan and prepare. I ended up making mostly milk chocolate and dark chocolate strawberries because the white chocolate was not cooperating. I had no idea white chocolate was so difficult to work with!  I'll be sure to post the recipe after I've been thoroughly romanc...

I count myself lucky that I don't have any allergies, don't have to "count carbs" or "watch my salt". And even though I will try anything once, there are a handful of foods I won't be trying twice. For whatever reason they just don't agree with me.  During my internship, the hospital where I worked had an Au Bon Pain, and my partner and I would often split a pastry after a long day. It was so interesting to me how both of us would have GI symptoms with the same certain pastries. I have noticed that processed foods, saturated fats and hydrogenated oils in particular, are more likely to cause problems. Just one more reason to  eat healthy, fresh foods !  Unfortunately, these  lemon poppy seed bars  are in the second category of "never again", however delicious they might be. My friend actually used the wrong recipe when she went  grocery shopping , and I thought we could go ahead and make it since we had the ingredients. But now that...

There is a lot to be said for a recipe that cooks up quick and requires minimal prep time. Even more so if it is also healthy, cheap, and uses nonperishable ingredients. So even though this is not my favorite Giada recipe, it is definitely worth keeping the ingredients around in case I ever need to cook up  a good amount of food in a short amount of time. I promise you, it will grow on you as you eat, especially if you are generous with red pepper flakes and the parmesan ;) Ingredients: 1 pound farfalle pasta - I had gemelli so that's what I used 2 heads broccoli, trimmed to florets (about 4 cups) - I used frozen 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 garlic cloves, chopped 5 anchovy fillets, diced 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup grated Parmesan - I used Romano cheese Directions: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally. Cook the bro...

Look Familiar? I last posted about this recipe in March 2010. This Spinach Artichoke Dip recipe from Juan Carlos Cruz has served me well over the past few years, so it is too bad that they took down the recipe from the Food Network website. Luckily, one of my fellow bloggers shared her version of the recipe, and I tend to agree with most of her revisions. Thanks, "Tiny Kitchen Cooking" .  Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe courtesy Juan-Carlos Cruz & the Food Network Ingredients: 1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed 1 cup light sour cream 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, plus more as needed 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained Carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips, for serving Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Squeeze all excess liquid ...

 This week was my turn to work the weekend, which meant I had Thursday off, so I spent the day grocery shopping, prepping veggies, making dip and baking lasagna. With the thermometer stuck below 20 degrees, it was too cold to do much else.  I was inspired by a roasted root vegetable lasagna that I had at Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle a few years ago. You wouldn't think that radishes, squash and leeks would make for delicious lasagna, but it did. So I had high hopes for this recipe from "The view from great island" blog. Ingredients: 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and sliced (I used the pre-cut squash) 1 leek, sliced 1 fennel bulb, sliced a couple of handfuls of Brussels sprouts, quartered about a cup and a half of thickly sliced mushrooms 3 garlic cloves,whole with skin on olive oil 1 package of no cook lasagna noodles (I used a little more than half the box) 1 large jar of your favorite tomato sauce, or tomato puree 1 1/2 lb of whole milk ricotta cheese ...