Hilary makes food

Squash Risotto (and a new vegetable friend)

~ Hilary ~ 5 Comments

This was a day of trying new things!  Being in an abnormally daring mood (this can probably be attributed to the fact that I’m now rollerblading to school and feeling significantly more badass), I decided to try TWO new things: risotto and squash.  Yes, I know what you’re all thinking.  “Has this girl lived in a hole!?  How can she never have possibly eaten these two things?!”  Well it’s the truth.  The only exposure I’ve had to risotto has been when my roommate Alex makes it and I grab the occasional spoonful (secret’s out!) from the pot when she’s not looking.  Ooo, I also know risotto as the food that the contestants on Hells Kitchen always mess up.  See below for dear Gordon Ramsay’s description of this seemingly easy, but apparently very complicated dish…

Now that we’ve been distracted momentarily by Ramsay’s dreamy British accent, let me resume discussing this squash.  When I went to the grocery store in search of a butternut squash, I wandered around the produce section eventually realizing that I have no idea what it actually looks like.  Once again, my wonderful iPhone saved the day, as I was able to quickly google pictures of this strange vegetable (or is it a fruit because it has seeds?  The verdict is still out).  Once I got home, I had this gigantic desire to draw a face on the squash.  I do not know why…these bizarre thoughts just sort of come to me sometimes.  Anyways, the result was the picture below.  I almost drew a face on Brittany’s to make my squash a husband, but I don’t think that would have bode too well for me…

Anyways, the risotto was yummy!  I also discovered the definition of a miracle while making this meal: there was somehow magically chicken stock, white wine and – this is the best part – FRESH SAGE in our kitchen.  This made my day.  I was super sketched out with adding white wine to the mix at first, but after much convincing from Ariel, I finally caved.  Speaking of the recipe, this one was from the October edition of Canadian Living.  It’s a great way to make use of fall’s wonderful harvest, and I definitely recommend it.  The only thing is, it makes LOADS!  I halved the recipe (thank god) and still ended up with enough for four servings.  Make your measurements wisely blogosphere…

Spinach Alfredo con Pollo

~ Hilary ~ 2 Comments

I am currently sitting on a semi-comfortable metal bench at the Ottawa Greyhound Station waiting for the midnight bus home.  Little Iman is sitting next to me, watching My Fair Lady with a look pasted on her face that can only be described as sheer innocence.  At this point, I realize I have absolutely nothing better to do with my time than update this blog, so here we go.  Now that you know my exact location, the fun begins!  Oh, one more thing before I start: I love that my iPhone allows me to tether internet to my laptop.  The magic of technology, right?

In case some of you were thrown by the fancy name of this post, I apologize.  Since this was a recipe that I sort of partially invented myself, I didn’t have the standard copying-and-pasting of the Canadian Living recipe to rely upon.  This being said, I sat on our futon for about 10 minutes this evening, half watching Hells Kitchen (that guy Louis is kind of cute) and half trying to figure out what the formal name for white cream pasta sauce was.  Thank god my fabulous roommate Natalie came along.  She quickly fed me the words “alfredo” and “con pollo,” the second of which apparently means “with chicken.”  Who would have known?

Considering this was something I just whipped up quickly the other night, it was super delicious and filling.  I was dying for a major carb fix and knew that only spaghetti could satisfy this endless craving.  I also had lots of whipped cream leftover from Capital Cupcake Camp, so I decided to make and try my first white pasta sauce ever.  The sauce was adapted from Canadian Living’s Basic White Sauce recipe with a few tiny alternations made here and there to allow for the thickening properties of flour to kick some ass.

Inside the sauce was chopped red pepper, baby spinach, onion, garlic and chicken (hence the con pollo).  Overall, this pasta dish was really easy to make and produced some extremely satisfying leftovers (seriously, all I’ve eaten in the past 24 hours has been this pasta, it makes about four servings).

Since this is my own creation, here are the instructions!

Recipe:
Use the Canadian Living recipe listed above to make the basic white sauce, stirring in an additional tablespoon of flour when sauce is simmering, to allow for a thicker consistency.  After sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, add it to:

– 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced
– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 1 thinly sliced red pepper
– 1 cup of baby spinach, whole

(all of these things should be fried on a non-stick pan in the order listed above with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil prior to sauce-adding, about 15 minutes)

While the sauce and vegetables are cooking, add 200 g. of spaghetti (about two big handfulls) to a pot of boiling water.

Mix spaghetti and sauce mixture together to combine awesome tastes.

Final step?  ENJOY!

Wish me luck on the bus!

Lemon Sour Cream Loaf

~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

My goodness, I have been such a slacker with blogging this past week!  It has been four days since my last post, a record-breaking amount of time since the summer began.  This is my oath to the blogging world to try and be better.  School is absolutely crazy right now, and I am running around left, right and centre trying to get journalism stories organized before Thanksgiving.  Right now it looks like October may just be the month from hell, but I will try my very hardest to charge on through, treating my hard work with delicious meals every once in a while!

I made this loaf last week.  The reason why the pictures you see below were taken inside was because I made this little baby at 9 p.m. and, by the time the next day rolled around, the majority of it was gone (yes, this was also due to my near midnight snacking, I had a stomach ache).  That being said, no pictures were able to be taken outside, to my great dismay.

This lemon sour cream loaf is actually just Canadian Living’s Lemon Yogurt Loafwith, you guessed it, sour cream.  Why is sour cream in absolutely everything I make nowadays, you ask?  I have no idea, but it is good.  The original recipe called for the use of “balkan-style plain yogurt,” something I have never heard of.  Apparently it’s like a low-fat yogurt or something?  Not too sure.  Whatever, our fridge was crowded beyond belief (I blame all the plastic containers of spinach) and I needed to use up this sour cream.

When Canadian Living says “use parchment paper” in your loaf pan, I definitely recommend you follow their instructions.  Unfortunately for me, our lowly student home had run out of parchment paper  just a few days earlier, and I instead was forced to heavily oil the pan as an alternative.  This worked…sort of.  After the loaf was semi-cool, I could be seen standing over the deep freeze (I use it as a counter), whacking the bottom of that pan like there was no tomorrow.  After a substantial shaking and use of brunt force, the loaf surrendered to my attempts, and plopped nicely down on the cooling rack, with a mere chunk taken out of the bottom.  Needless to say I bought parchment paper the very next day.

Finally, the reason why the surface of this loaf looks like it has reflective properties is because of all the delicious lemon glaze I put on it!  The glaze was just icing sugar and lemon juice, and the loaf soaked it up like a sponge.  Absolute heaven.

Rosemary Garlic Steak with Potato, Carrots and Shredded Zucchini

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

The reason for making this dinner was pretty simple: I was craving steak SO badly, haven’t eaten potatoes in half a year and wanted to use up the rest of my farmer’s market carrots.  This meal took about twenty minutes to make, and allowed me to utilize our beautiful non-stick pan as a BBQ alternative.

I know this is a ridiculously short post, but I’m watching this show Hawaii Five-O with my roommate Amanda, and am too distracted by Daniel Dae Kim’s cheekbones to write anymore.  That’s right, Jin from LOST is in a new show.  It gets an A+ already.

Okay, one more Daniel Dae Kim girl crush moment.  Remember when he was in Seinfeld?  So precious!

PS: this dish was adapted from Canadian Living’s Grilled Rosemary Garlic Flank Steak recipe.

Corn and Bacon Quiche (featuring the utilization of our new and wonderful deep freeze)

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To end off the month, I knew I had to get around making this one last recipefrom the September issue of Canadian Living.  I’ve really been meaning to make this one for awhile, but the fact that I had to make my own quiche crust kind of deterred me up until now.  Yesterday evening I finally decided that I could wait no longer and, since I had been having a kitchen marathon in preparation for CAPITAL CUPCAKE CAMP (pictures of my top secret cupcake will be posted soon!), I decided to extend my kitchen stay for awhile longer.

Making this cornmeal-based dough was pretty basic, but I found I had to add a little more water than requested, to make the blob of stuff surrounding my fingers stick together.  The result was this delicious doughy ball, off which I snatched at least a handful of dough to eat before the pie assembling even began.  Must I always eat raw dough?  Yes.  At least there weren’t any raw eggs in this one…

The rest of this dinner was sheer chaos.  This supper saw THREE of us in our cramped, student home kitchen attempting to make three different dishes.  Needless the say, there were bowls, cutlery and crumbs everywhere.  After miraculously managing to fit my quiche into the oven beside Britt’s biscuits, the rest went fairly smoothly.  I only mildly freaked out with how early the sun is setting.  MUST figure out new photographing method, or I may cry.

In the end, the quiche was yummy… bacon can always be counted on to make things better!  The homemade crust was delicious and has made me never want to buy those pre-made Pillsbury crusts ever again!  Grocery store, I am defeating you.  Oh right, and the deep freeze: well our smart Costco purchase allowed me to freeze my meal away for a night when I have nothing to make and am drawn to soup noodles.  Lazy but balanced dinners?  Win!