food that was never what the title implies

one scary thing about working for institutions that are funded partly by the government: government food. my favourite being the chicken nuggets that were never chicken.

Goulash

This makes a really big portion of goulash, so feel free to scale it back to your preferences.

1-1.5 lb ground beef (best you can afford) OR 1.5 cups of beef flavoured TVP
2 cans diced tomatos (do not drain)
1 large can of mushrooms or 2 small cans (do not drain)
1 can kidney beans (do not drain)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic (unless you like more), minced
1 lb elbow macaroni
1/2 fresh green pepper, chopped
23 oz (more or less to preference) tomato juice
salt, pepper to taste
grated parma

1. Boil water for pasta. Add pasta when ready, and cook until al dente.
2. Cook beef/reconstitute TVP with garlic and seasonings of choice
3. In a dutch oven or very large pan at medium heat, put cooked meat/reconstituted TVP.
4. Add tomatos, tomato juice, mushrooms, kidney beans, onion, and green pepper.
5. Once pasta is done, add to the mixture in the dutch oven.
6. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes or so.
7. Serve with grated parma on top.

This makes easily eight big servings. It's easy though, and leftovers are always good. Goes well with garlic bread.

Garlic bread

1 loaf sourdough bread
butter
garlic salt
grated parma

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice sourdough into 1-inch thick pieces.
3. Butter bread.
4. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt.
5. Top with grated parma.
6. Bake until edges turn brown.

Note to those who are like me, and a little aloof about parmesean cheese: it does not melt--silly me, I didn't know!

to eat or not to eat, that is the question

when home for the summer, eating can be a royal pain in the arse. when parents are not there to feed you, and there is no longer a baldwin option, life in the eating world can become quite the drag.

jimmy john's has become the staple of my diet. better than subway, they offer standard subs, not all that 'what the hell do you want on your sub' that they do at subway. go for number six. it's a glorious option for the happy veggie.

until next time. ta ta

Birthday dinner

[Chickpeas are good in a stir-fry with curry in it. Mmm.]

My mom was stressed out and unhappy on her birthday, last Friday, and still had to decorate a cake for some friends' birthday the next day (my mom is an excellent semi-professional cake decorator. She's good at it but she hates it so she only does it as a favor to people she likes, or the church. The church never pays her on time and treats her like dirt. End church rant). So while she was out picking up more supplies for the cake, I decided that I was going to make dinner. I didn't try for anything fancy - just pasta and salad - but it's still comical to see me and my dad trying to cook. He was the chef's assistant.

The chef's main problem is that she has no eye for measurement. No eye and no brain, either. I have no idea how many pints are in a quart or how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, or how many ounces are in a cup, if there are ounces in a cup. I know that there are 16 oz. to a pound, but that's not going to do me much good in cooking.

"Does this look like a pound to you? How much is a pound of pasta? Is that a lot?" "Is this pot going to be big enough?" "Well, four quarts of water aren't going to fit in this pot. So we'll put three and hope that this isn't a whole pound of pasta here." Ah, improvisation. It didn't turn out bad, I thought. I tried to make mustard vinaigrette for the salad, too. I think it was a little oily or something. Halfway through making it I discovered that we didn't have dijon mustard - only French's or Jack Daniels Horseradish. What a choice. I went with horseradish.

Anyway, doesn't matter how bad it is, Mommy will always be glad not to have to make dinner!

First Cooking Failure of the Summer

Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) as a taco filling are just not good. Before I wandered back to the Homeland, I asked Cameron what I could do with them that would be fairly simple to make a meal. Well, he said that I should cook them with a little bit of milk and some cumin, chilli powder and something else (believe it was cayenne pepper, but since I didn't have any, I used some garlic and freshly ground pepper instead...not that that's the same or even similar, but the first two spices are really strong...anyway...). I cooked the hell out of the beans trying to get them to taste like anything other than sweatsock flavoured beans. Didn't work. They were mildly tolerable when consumed with more taco toppings than taco filling...so don't bother.

They are, however, very yummy as a pizza topping. They're a meaty little food that adds a wonderful complementary flavour to the sauce.

Since I'm home, I have access to my favorite recipes again, so if anyone's interested, I'd be happy to post them. Hell, I might post them anyway so I have something to use when I'm abroad. Wonderful cake recipe, bread recipes (pumpkin and zucchini), and corn casserole, which has been a family favorite since I was very young. Anyway, later on, I'll post. Any cooking endeavors from the rest of you?

Keep in touch

Well, folks, the school year is coming to an end. Please don't forget about Baldwin Blog! Let us know what you cook over the summer and how it turns out. And don't forget to share the disasters along with the successes!

Cold treat on a hot day

This isn't really a recipe, but it's food-related so I'll post it.

I had a little bit of juice left in my carton of white grape juice and I had an empty ice cube tray, so I filled the tray with grape juice and put it in my freezer. I had intended to make grape ice cubes, but I don't know anything about chemistry or physics or whatever it is that governs the freezing of liquids so instead I have little mini-slushes that I am eating with a spoon. Mmmmm!