yogurt - - Page 3

by gansie

Friday Fuck Up: Attack of the Three Dairy Smoothie

Look how beautiful and pink that drink is. It’s just gorgeous. I wanted this calcium-filled liquid to taste as good as it looked. But I think I took it one dairy too far.

Like most weekday breakfasts, this one started simply: a blender, yogurt and frozen strawberries. But I barely had any yogurt left so I reopened the fridge. What else could I throw in this? I spied milk. Of course, milk lends itself perfectly to smoothies. Problem is, well, there are two problems. One, I hate milk and don’t like a lot of it in anything I consume. And two, there wasn’t that much milk left and I wanted to save it for my boyfriend’s cereal. I added a splash, but my smoothie begged for more ingredients. So there it was. The final dairy left in my fridge that I thought was somewhat suitable for drinking: cottage cheese.

Clearly, I was wrong. Cottage cheese consumed the entire smoothie, even covering that signature yogurt tang. I gagged to swallow the pink liquid down my throat.

So let this be a warning: keep your smoothies to a two dairy minimum.

by Miss K

The Return of Miss K…and the Great Stuffed Pumpkin

Last fall, I wrote a few posts for this website, heading down a path I was sure would lead to fame and fortune as a food writer. It wouldn’t be long before Gail Simmons was calling me to do a story and Rachael Ray was looking to me for advice on new ways to serve chickpeas. But then I hit a literal bump in the road in my relationship with food — pregnancy. I spent the first three months “uneating” my dinner every night at ten only to wake up ravenous at 3 am. Why exactly is it called morning sickness? Then, I took a job as a camp counselor for 3- and 4-year-olds, which left me with exactly enough energy each afternoon to go home and go to bed, sometimes at 7 pm. Eating became rote, done primarily to keep my stomach from devouring itself before I could make it downstairs for breakfast.

My darling boy arrived in September at a robust 8 lbs, 6oz.. I guess someone was getting enough to eat. Now that the haze of the first few months has lifted, I am back to some of my old hobbies, namely cooking and writing. Plus, we finally polished off the last casserole in the freezer. For my return, I have a recipe that represents my life — the same as a year ago, but really not the same at all. Here’s an updated take on last year’s baked stuffed pumpkin:

by gansie

Tahini: Round Two

I seriously never stick to my kitchen word. I had, well, still have, grand desires to cook Japanese food since I returned from my trip, which I earnestly documented. Have I bravely entered the world of miso soup? No. Nothing. (Although more on miso later.)

A beautiful tagine has been sitting on a high-up shelf in my current kitchen for 3 years now. And I actually think it sat unused in a previous kitchen. In fact, I am so out of touch with this clay vehicle that I referred to it as a taNgine at a press lunch at J&G Steakhouse the other day. Although a fellow writer was nice enough to correct my pronunciation before I started blabbing about it in public.

Tahini, however, has proved a powerful tool in the kitchen and as I try to use what I have in my over-stocked life, I have returned to this paste of sesame seeds. Round two.

in Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Win 30 Days of Free Yogurt from ES and Voskos

If you’ve been following ES for a bit, you know that one of our favorite dish-saving ingredients is a nice, fancy Greek yogurt. The folks over at Voskos caught on, and have challenged ESers to kick it up a notch.

Here’s the deal: send us your best recipe that includes yogurt — it can be a yogurt-centric dish or just a meal that was made complete by yogurt on the top. You can write your recipe in the comments, paste a link to a blog post, or email the recipe to info (at) endlesssimmer (dot) com, with “yogurt contest” as the subject line.

An esteemed panel of judges will pick the winning recipe, and one reader will receive 30 (!) free samples of Voskos’ rich, creamy yogurts (in the form of 30 free product coupons mailed directly to you). Contest is open from today through Friday, September 17.

Need some inspiration?

Be Friends with Voskos on Facebook
Squash and Spinach with Curry-Ginger Yogurt Sauce
Lox and Swiss Chard Omelet with Ramp Yogurt Sauce
Blackberry, Peach and Banana Smoothie

in Contests 2 comments

by gansie

Turning Gross into Dip

80P and I attended a latke themed Chanukah party this weekend. Like most Saturdays, we were still hungover well after the sun set and therefore arrived at the open house party in its last hour. We were starving. In the car ride over I lusted after the idea of greasy potatoes. When we got to the party there was ONE latke left. Sure, I’ll take that as a Chanukah miracle, but one just wasn’t going to cut it.

80 and I stayed at the party for a while, chatting with old coworkers about lobbying for the banking industry, receiving health insurance through organized labor, and gushing over Annise Parker‘s pending victory as Houston’s mayor. Yes, I know. It’s so very DC.

The party landed 80 and I in the unfamiliar chain-filled land of Northern Virginia. We asked for a dinner recommendation and settled on Silver Diner. Obviously I chose breakfast for dinner in the form of pancakes, scrambled eggs and a biscuit (which was a sub for bacon/sausage.) 80 ordered a meat-heavy sandwich on buttered sourdough featuring chicken, ham and bacon. The sandwich came with fries and this eerily green-tinted cole slaw. I stole a few fries from 80 but we both refused to try the cole slaw, citing our mutual dislike for the side, especially a green tinted one.

The next morning 80 woke up dedicating his stomach to vegetables. I obliged.

in Recipe / Veggie 7 comments

by gansie

Maybe Sandra Lee Has a Point

It was one of those weekends where I somehow managed to spend more money in two and a half days than I had all week. Sunday night must be a make-at-home meal.

Of course I refused to leave the apartment for additional ingredients so I performed a mental scan of the kitchen. Two things popped out: broccoli and cheddar cheese. I really didn’t feel like messing with a broccoli and cheese soup. Not that it’d be particularly hard, but I had a feeling I would be scouring the internet for recipes and then melding 20 different variations into one fat crock of soup that would take me two hours to make.

Instead, I decided to chop up a bunch of random vegetables, some summer veggies that were a day away from the trash and some winter veggies that could hold up in the fridge for another week. I’m not sure what defines a casserole.

Actually, can something be a casserole without the help of a Campbell’s soup product?

in Cheese / Eggs / Recipe / Veggie 5 comments

by gansie

Appetizers All Night

My back hurts. Really hurts. I have no idea how chefs stand for that many hours in a row. I just finished my most recent catering gig. This was with 80P’s mom again. I conducted many, many brainstorming conversations (thanks: Maids, Romeo, El, WestCoast, BS, 80P…) but because I’m so used to Eating Down the Fridge (using up ingredients in my fridge/pantry and not shopping for new food) that I could only fathom working with items already in my possession, or ones I knew I could pick up while working at the farmers market.

Fortunately, I was recently in Philly for work and had some spare time before dinner (ate at Monk’s–mussels, fries and stout–with BroadAndPattison). I found this adorable nut shack: Nuts to You.

I’m not even kidding, I was in that place for 45 minutes browsing the 4 aisle store filled with nuts, dried fruits, grains and candies. I walked out with, and I’m still not kidding, FIVE pounds of food, which I then had to drag around as I wasted more time checking out Banana Republic, Lacoste, Williams-Sonoma (don’t get me started on their uni-tasker inventory; they have 6 instruments alone to peel and chop garlic) and this weird all-natural soap and lotion place with the perkiest staff of all time. Soap that smells like pine nuts and lavender, no thanks.

I left Nuts To You with: dried dates (pound), dried figs (pound), quinoa (pound), mixed bag of almonds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts and walnuts (pound) and cashew butter (pound). Yes, not peanut butter, but cashew butter. And I saw them make it. There was this crazy looking glass machine with some peanut oil in it and the salesperson dumped a pound of cashews into the machine and then out oozed cashew butter. No salt, no preservatives, no corn syrup. Just nuts and oil. A-mazing.

Anyway, with that in the cupboard, here is what I proposed to 80P’s Mom:

Dates and figs (either or both) stuffed with cheese (either ricotta, goat cheese or quark) and herbs. This can be served warm or room temp and can be stuck with a toothpick for serving
Sweet potato disks with cashew butter and chili powder spread ( Can spread the cashew butter on top of the chips or let people dip it)
On a toothpick: cube of roasted winter squash, cube of feta, cube of squash
Cucumber slice with Greek yogurt, lemon zest and quinoa
Artichoke, olive and caper crostini
Radish, cashew butter and broccoli (Or the broccoli can be cooked)

80P’s Mom selections after the jump.

in Cheese / Desserts / Featured / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments