My My Apple Pie

Hello Fellow Food Lovers,

I think we can all agree that pie has become a staple part of the "American Dream" culture. Apple pie in particular, while not originally from the United States, has still become a culinary icon of the U.S. For many families, it symbolizes important holidays such as Thanksgiving and July 4th.

Apple...Mac...get it?!

Anyways, in my family, pie isn't just a delectable treat, it represents the very essence of what my family considers important: food and spending time together. It is a ritual and a symbol. What do I mean by this? Since I can remember, we've baked pies together--blackberry pies in late august, pecan and yam pies for Thanksgiving, apple pies when the apple tree bloomed in the fall, and strawberry rhubarb pies for my mom's birthday. We even served blackberry pie at my sister's wedding a few years ago. Like many families out there, pie represents the ritual of the family coming together for holidays and special occasions, as something everyone can participate in for its creation, and eventually for everyone to enjoy.

Actually, since I'd like to dedicate this blog entry to my family, here's a little family photo back in the Croatian homeland. Here's to you, Blumraks!

So then, like my mother did for me, I want to pass on this very easy pie recipe. I think making a pie from scratch (including the crust) can be very daunting for people, and pie crusts often turn out not how we had hoped. In the tradition of passing on recipes and tricks of the trade to the next generation, I pass on to you my family's awesome apple pie recipe and secrets you can use to make any pie delicious.

This pie most closely resembles the original Dutch apple pie style, which includes cinnamon and sugar in the filling, and a lattice crust. Other styles include Swedish (which has no crust), English (which is more a pudding including raisins and figs and other scrumptables--new word I made up), and French (which is more of a tart). I warn you--this entry is a bit longer than the rest, but it's because I go into great detail about the preparation to make sure you know every step and every trick. The length doesn't mean it's difficult or that it takes awhile!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

First, start with the insides. This way, you can let whatever you mixed in marinate and blend together (the berries with the sugar, or in this case, the apples with the cinnamon and nutmeg).

Here's what ya need:

• 6 cups apples, peeled and sliced--Granny smith apples have proven to be good for this
• 2 Tbs tapioca
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• A dash of nutmeg for good measure... Sometimes I even like to sprinkle some in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up?

Now mix these ingredients together. You know what my favorite thing about this recipe is? Almost all baking recipes require you to be so exact. Mix the dry ingredients. Then mix the wet ingredients. But oops! don't put in the butter before the egg or it will mix with the gluten in the flour too early..blah blah blah. It's too precise for my liking. But apple pie is different. Here are the ingredients. Mix 'em. Done. Or should I say afgelopen in Dutch?

Let these insides marinate and the tapioca to absorb all the juices. P.S. tapioca is great for all fruit pies--especially berry pies--because it soaks up the extra juices so your pie crust doesn't get soggy.

Now turn to your pie dough. For apple pie, I double this pie recipe so that I have the bottom shell and extra dough to lay over the top, either to make a lattice design or a sheet with cut out little apples.

Here's the recipe you can use for all pies (the bolded numbers are the doubled amounts for the apple pie):

• 1 1/2 cup flour --> Doubled= 3 cups
• 1/2 cup cold butter (or Crisco if you want to get really unhealthy but really delicious) --> 1 cup
• 1/4 tsp salt --> 1/2 tsp
• 1 tsp sugar --> 2 tsp
• 4 Tbs cold water (with ice cubes) --> 1/2 cup
• At least one cup shredded cheddar cheese (this is just for apple pie)

Now caution! This unfortunately, but highly necessary, is one of those recipes that you MUST mix the dry and wet ingredients separately first. And it is very important to keep the butter and the water cold, as these will determine how flaky your crust is (and believe me flaky is good).

So, mix flour, salt, and sugar.

If you have a pastry blender, great! You're life will be easier. If not, take the cold butter, take two sharp small cutting knives, and cut the butter into the flour, salt, and sugar. You know you're done when the butter has been evenly distributed throughout the dry mixture into very small little round balls (like smaller than the fingerprint of your pointer finger). The best chopping technique I found is to hold a knife in each hand, put the knives into the mixture with the points down, and sharp edges pointing away from each other. Then cross the knives and pull part. You can get going really fast at this and you will protect yourself from harm. You might find this ridiculous, but being a poor college student as I was all summer, this is what I did instead of buying a pastry cutter. And believe me, there is no way of getting around this step--cold butter is the most important thing!

For this apple pie,  I decided to put some cheddar cheese in the dough so that when it baked, the cheddar cheese was already baked in with it. Cheddar cheese and apple go together like...well you would be surprised, I promise! Use how ever much or little cheese as you like to your taste, but again, I would start with at least 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese mixed in. You're gonna find yourself wanting more.

Now add the cold water and continue to cut butter into dry mixture. Add cold water as needed (but try not adding too much as it will mess with the consistency. At a certain point, you're gonna say the hell with it, throw down the knives, and just get in there with your hands like grandma used to. Knead and grab the dough until it starts sticking to itself. Then, divide the dough into two even round balls.

Roll the first ball out onto a floured surface (either with a pastry roller or an empty/full-unopened wine bottle--I swear you can find cheap alternatives for anything in the kitchen). Roll the dough out until it covers your approximately 9 inch pie plate. You're gonna want it so that the dough falls into the plate with excess falling over the sides. Now take a sharp knife, and cut around the plate, cutting off the excess dough hanging off. If there are any holes or tears (which is expected) use this extra pie dough to cover them up, attaching with a dab of cold water. (No one will notice once its baked).

Now put in your filling.

Taking the other ball of dough, roll that out as well until it's big enough to cover the top of your pie. Once you have that, lay it over, cut off the excess all around, and fold the sides of the bottom shell over the top shell around the whole circle. Next, I like to take a fork and press in around the sides of the whole circle to make a nice design. Lastly, I cut an apple design in the top--this both looks nice, and allows hot steam to escape during the cooking process.  You can add whatever design you like, but make sure to poke some holes in the top to allow for this extra heat to escape.

Now your preparation is complete! All-in-all, this part only took me one hour. It's one of the easier, faster pies to make. Unless you're picking the apples yourself...

Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.


Then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


These times aren't exact, so just check often and you'll know it's done when the crust turns a light golden brown!

P.S. There is usually extra dough, so I like to roll out whatever is left, sprinkle some cinnamon sugar and roll into a log. Then I chop this into 1/2 inch thick cinnamon-sugar rolls and throw 'em in the oven with the pie for 8-10 minutes. You can munch on them while you wait for the pie!

P.P.S. For this pie, I had a LOT of extra dough so I decided to make a small apple-nut roll. I rolled out the excess dough, threw some left over chopped apples, some cinnamon, a handful of chopped pecans, and rolled it up like a log. I threw the log in and then chopped it up after taking it out of the oven.

Voila! Take out of the oven and enjoy. Hog it for yourself to enjoy or share it with friends and family.

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

{fah-HEE-tah}. Or {fah-JAI-tah} if you're trying to mess with the waitress at your local Mexican restaurant

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I'm sorry for my 2-week hiatus. It was due to a combination of spring break and allergy season in the 'Springs. But alas, I start my return back to the blogging world with your good 'ol traditional fajitas.

Fajita. The fajita originally comes from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where during roundups, cowboys would butcher the cows to feed all the workers. The throw-away meat (e.g. hide, stomach, entrails, and skirt steak) was given to the vaqueros or "Mexican cowboys", who unfortunately, given the sentiments of the time, were not seen as equals to the white cowboys. But alas, they managed to make something delicious out of it, including the popular menudo you see in many street tacos, tripe, fajitas, and other such popular Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine.

So if it's just leftover meat, why do we pay $18 for fajitas at Jose Muldoon's when we can make better one's at home! They are  simple and easy to put together on the spot, and great for big crowds. Not to mention that they are delicious!

To start, I made guacamole. Now this is not a necessary item to make for fajitas, but homemade guacamole is always a treat. For the guac I used these ingredients:

• 4 avocados (this made enough guacamole for two people's dinners, and 6 friends to "taste", i.e. inhale, and there was still some leftover)
• 1 small white onion (by small I mean touch your pointer finger to your thumb and its the size of the circle that makes)
• 1 lime
• A small heap of cilantro (I would say about 2 cups in total, but I edge on the larger portion of cilantro)
• 3 roma tomatoes
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper
• 1 large spoonful of Cumin (remember our friend cumin from my first blog entry?)
• Paprika (mainly for a nice decoration on top)

Now blend the avocados, 2 of the tomatoes, some of the cilantro and cumin in a blender. This will give your guacamole a creamy, milky texture. Now this step is not necessary, but I found that smashing the avocado took a lot of time and left the guacamole chunkier than I like.

Here is a visual comparison: the one on top was not made with a blender, and the one on the bottom was. They are both delicious, it's just a matter of preference--but they will definitely taste different!

 

After blending, mix in the last tomato diced into small pieces, the rest of the cilantro, the diced onion, a squeeze of lime, salt, pepper, and paprika on top. Mixing in these last ingredients as diced rather than blended will give your guacamole a nice appearance of red, white, and green colors (yay Mexican flag). They also add some firmer texture to the smooth creamy blend you have just prepared. Alright now guacamole done! Either snack on it with Tostitos while you make the fajitas, or put in the fridge for later consumption.

Now to the fajitas. I had two more of the small white onions so I chopped those up, along with one red bell pepper. I threw them in a pan along with about 3-4 tablespoons of butter. I start with these first because they take the longest to cook. Make sure to keep stirring, as the onions and bell peppers will burn easily and need to be moved around every minute or so. These cooked for about 15-20 minutes on medium heat. You'll know its ready when the onions turn a tan color and have a sweet taste to them (and they'll smell fantastic).

In between stirring the onions and bell pepper, I took the tortillas and placed them on a plate in the oven, set at 250 degrees F. Next, I began cooking the meat in a separate pan.

I first started cooking already chopped up beef I bought at the grocery store. The beef was labeled for stirfry, so I figured that would work for fajitas as well. WRONG. This beef was rubbery and tasteless. It tasted like day-old cheap Chinese beef, the kind that has a grayish color and takes forever to chew. No matter what spices I put in this beef, the texture and taste were awful. So, for the future, do NOT buy stirfry beef at the grocery store! Try to find skirt steak, beef labeled for fajitas, or just get thinly sliced cuts of beef, cook, and dice 'em yourself.

But! Do not fret about my fajitas. I had a package of already diced grilled chicken that I threw in the pan once discarding the beef. This chicken was already cooked and thus only took 4 minutes to heat up. I threw in a few tablespoons of butter, some pieces of cilantro, and some Mexican chile seasoning that included oregano, cumin, salt, chile pepper, and onion, and lastly a squeeze of lime. Stir, and it's ready!

Now each person takes out a warm tortilla from the oven, throws on some of that fabulous guacamole you made, a dollop of sour cream, the bell peppers and onions, a couple pieces of chicken, and Buen provecho (meaning to enjoy your meal)!

In total, the onions, bell peppers, and chicken made four well-stuffed fajitas. You also have the option of adding in shredded cheese, salsa, and rice and beans. I also considered making a corn-mango-cilantro-lime salsa that would have added an interesting sweet taste to the mix, but my mangos were frozen and would have taken too long to unfreeze. But, it's an idea for the future!

All-in-all, the guacamole took about 30-40 minutes to make (the chopping and the picking of the cilantro took the most time). Making the bell peppers and onions took about 20 minutes. And the meat, if already cooked, only takes 5 minutes, and if uncooked only takes about 10. If you're trying to use uncooked skirt steak (which I would suggest in honor of the original vaqueros who ate them) it will cook faster than if you were cooking a T-bone or rib-eye. In total, that gives us an upper estimate of 1 hour 15 minutes in total to prepare and cook guacamole and fajitas. Not too bad, right?

No go and try fajitas my little vaqueritos/as. You'll be surprised how easy and delicious they'll be!

As always,
Love & Churros

Wacko Jaco Tacos

Hola Amigas Comidas (food friends)!

I am in beautiful Jaco, Costa Rica on spring break with six of my best friends, enjoying surf, the turf, and the many activities this country has to offer. Of course, this country is abundant with wonderful tuna, mahi-mahi, steak, mangos, avocados, and any other fresh produce you could imagine.

When cooking for a group of seven, you want to keep things simple and easy and not have too many things going on at once. So I went with tacos, where I prepare the separate ingredients and people make their own. It's easy and fast and works with everyone's taste buds.

The taco. Tacos can be found in many different variations all over the world--particularly in central and south american cuisine. You can use fish, chicken, beef, pork, beans and rice, or whatever else you have in your kitchen. And best of all, the tortilla (hard or soft) is great for holding it all together. Originally from indigenous peoples of central Mexico, taco just means a tortilla wrapped around a filling, much like the English "sandwich".

I went with shrimp tacos because my friends that hated fish still like shrimp and my friends that are vegetarians still eat seafood. This dish was great for a tropical vacation in particular, as seafood tacos are a very popular dish for beachy, hot weather places. The closest grocery store was a big super-mercado, much like Safeway, where I bought frozen shrimp (doesn't really taste different in flavor or texture than fresh shrimp, in my opinion).

I started the process by chopping and sautéing onions in butter because they take the longest to cook. Caramelized onions also taste good on everything and add a mixture of salty-sweet flavor to any dish. Next, I sliced red bell peppers and threw those into the pan with the onions, as they also take awhile to cook. I added about 4 tablespoons of butter (a hefty amount) and some salt, but you can go as light or as heavy with the amount of butter and salt you add to each dish.

While my wonderful sous chef and friend, MC, continuously stirred the onions and bell peppers, I began making the sauce for the shrimp. Given that we're renting a house and didn't have much in the way of grocery stores, I didn't have any spices to work with. But the sauce I created is very simple and can be made with ingredients you find in almost every kitchen.

First, I started by placing the frozen shrimp in a pan and turned the heat on to its highest in order to dissolve all the frozen ice still stuck (this process is not necessary for fresh refrigerated shrimp). Once all the ice is gone, drain the shrimp so that this "shrimp juice" doesn't affect the flavor (believe me, it is not very good). Next, take the shrimp and put in at least 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Now, pour a hefty amount of white wine in (any white wine will do) and top with lime juice (I squeezed in about half of a lime's worth, but it can use more, depending on the taste you're looking for).  Last but not least, I sprinkled with salt and pepper. Shrimp cook very quickly, so stir the shrimp in this sauce for maybe 5 minutes, checking for taste only, as the shrimp will have already cooked in the first round (before I dumped the excess shrimp juice).

In the mean time, I put the tortillas on a plate and put them in the oven at around 350 degrees to warm them. In separate bowls, I placed chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, and extra lime wedges. While everything finished cooking (the onions and bell peppers finished last) I put these bowls out in the middle of the table.

Now, just take a tortilla, put some shrimp on, a little of the white wine-butter-lime sauce, a spoonful of the now caramelized onions and bell peppers, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, a squeeze of lime, and buenisimo! Everyone can just help themselves. Had I had the ripe ingredients at the time, I would have also added mango slices and avocado. And enjoy!

Still keeping it delicious in Costa Rica,

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Ay Dios Mio! Papas Bravas!

Hello my Fellow Food Lovers,

I was in finals for the past four days. And as many of you know or remember, finals is hectic, stressful, you don't get enough sleep, and you start feeling a little cold coming on...

But just because you're in a rush, this doesn't mean your food has to go down in quality! Here's a reaalllly simple recipe that only takes about 35 minutes to make.

Papas bravas. I first had this on my abroad trip to Spain. Following the tapas tradition, papas bravas is just fried chorizo and potatoes that are usually eaten with some bread on the side.

Chorizo. For those of you who don't know what chorizo is, it is a spicy pork sausage, originating from Iberia, Spain. Chorizo tends to be a slightly different color from other sausages as an orangish-red color from the dried smoked red peppers it is blended with.

So. First, I boiled the potatoes until they were soft enough to take a bite. Then, I cut up some chorizo in small sections and threw them on the frying pan. Wait to do this when the potatoes are done boiling, as you're going to want to fry the potatoes and chorizo together (that is if the chorizo is already cooked. If not, read the label, cook the chorizo while the potatoes are boiling, and the timing should be good). Then, I mixed in olive oil, a fairly large slice of butter (a little over 2 tablespoons), and crushed red pepper flakes (like the kind you put on your pizza). Throw some salt and pepper in as well. Mix this all together in your pan at a medium to high heat. Lastly, following in my bacon obsession, I fried some bacon until it was very crispy and then cut it into small pieces and threw that in as well. Stir and serve. Voila! Easy as that.

*While the red pepper flakes are common for papas bravas, the bacon is not, but it added a wonderful flavor as well as a crispy texture in contrast to the soft potatoes and chorizo. Remember, a little bacon never hurt anyone!

I served my papas bravas with toasted english muffins, but if you have a really nice baguette or loaf of bread that would be wonderful as well. These are also great for potlucks and parties as something that fills people up quickly, so a little goes a long way!

Alright now go out and try, my little spaniards, you won't be disappointed!

As always,
Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Eggs Benedict...Making you smile on Sundays since 1893!

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I don't know about you folks in the working world, but sundays suck for college students...a lot. It marks the end of your amazingly fun weekend that you wish would never end and brutally reminds you of all the homework you haven't yet started. And mondays always proceed it.

BUT! Now there is something to look forward to every sunday. Eggs benedict! First brought to you by  Mrs. LeGrand Benedict at Delmonico's in New York City. Now, there is some debate over this origin myth--some argue that Mrs. Benedict created it first in 1893, and then there are those that say Mr. Benedict ordered toast, bacon, a poached egg, and a small pitcher of hollandaise sauce to treat his hangover at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in the year 1894. Either way, Mr. Benedict understood one thing: its medicinal values to the ever-so-present weekend hangover (or week day for some of you really ambitious college students). So ladies and gentlemen if you're trying to cure your saturday night hangover (as most of you college students are) AND you want something that will brighten your otherwise library-confined day, eggs benedict is the answer.

Now eggs benedict is my ultimate favorite breakfast/brunch food. I order it at almost every restaurant when I go out for breakfast. It always seemed to me like one of those foods that was way too impossible to make and only the elite chefs could do it. But then I learned a really easy way to poach eggs. And then tried to make benedicts. And it worked. And it's so simple you'll be amazed!

First I started by putting together all the parts except for the poached eggs. This I'll leave to your creativity but these are some things I've done that have worked really well. This morning, I had a bell pepper, avocado, sliced ham, and various left over goat gouda cheese (from all the other meals I've been writing about). I toasted the muffins and buttered them. In the mean time, I sliced the bell pepper and sauteed it in truffle oil and salt until they were soft and slightly charred. Then i put a sliced ham on each open-faced muffin, slices of the avocado, the sauteed bell pepper slices, slices of the goat gouda and a slice of a red heirloom tomato (basically a crazy looking mishapen tomato that doesn't taste any different than your roma or your garden variety tomato, but is really really pretty and comes in orange, green, yellow, and red variations--sometimes a mix of all 4 colors!)

Ok so everything is ready except for your eggs. So I have the easiest way in the world to poach an egg so that it's runny when you cut into it but soft and fluffy at the same time. First take a frying pan, one with high straight sides around it. Now put water in and boil the water in the fry pan. Once the water is boiling (at a very high temperature) crack the egg open into the water. Having the fry pan is important so that the egg is close to the heat. At first, the yolk will appear to separate from the egg white. But don't freak out! You'll see that eventually the egg white will become that opaque white color just like if you fried it (although you will probably have lost a portion of the egg white to the water). Now, preferably using a largish slotted spoon (i.e. a spoon with draining holes in it) flip the egg over so the other side cooks for a bit. Then, once the white part seems firm enough to pick up without breaking, take it out and put on your already prepared benedict!

Now I've tried making hollandaise sauce. But after I spent a solid 40 minutes whipping the eggs by hand so that it would be a creamy texture and then have it still turn out too runny I said the hell with hollandaise sauce until someone gets me a real egg beater (dear family, please click on link for grad present ideas). For now, I have some delicious and easy variations that you can pour over your eggs benedicts and will still make your benedict-os delicious.

Pesto sauce. Yep easy as pie-or pesto! (Ok that was definitely a joke my dad would say). Either use pre-made pesto or make your own.
Quick make-it-yourself-pesto recipe:
- A chunk of basil
- Olive oil
- Cheese (I like manchego or goat gouda or chevre, of course)
- Lemon juice
- Salt and pepper

**Sun-dried tomatoes (*optional for a slightly different taste)

**Artichokes (*also optional for an also differently-delictable taste)

Put in the blender until its smooth and creamy and your done! You can play with the portions of each of the ingredients to get the kind of pesto flavor you like.

Salsa. I had forgotten that I used all my pesto sauce last night and in a hurried frenzy I looked in my fridge and found salsa! So I used that instead of my usual pesto and it was very good. It gave it more of a southwest taste.

Feel free to try whatever else! To top it all off, I put a fresh basil leaf on each one to give it a nice color against the red salsa and a little added flavor.

The finished product! Bon appetit!

Here are some other great combinations I've used in the past for my eggs benedict:

California Benedicts
- Smoked ham / Turkey
- Bacon (optional but always delicious--probably better paired with the turkey)
- Gouda cheese
- Avocado
- Bell Peppers
- Pesto sauce
- Sun-dried tomato on top


Pacific Northwest
- Salmon (smoked or in lox form) / Crab could also be good
- Asparagus
- Chevre
- Homemade hollandaise (but could also be great with pesto)
- Sprig of rosemary (or thyme)








Sky is the limit! Try whatever combinations you like--I promise it can't taste bad!


Changing how you see sundays,

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

The Bee's Knees of Chicken

Dear Fellow Food Lovers,

I had a revelation. I finally found the most amazingly delicious simple way to cook chicken so that it bursts with flavor in every bite and its so tender you could cut it with a fork.

First, set your oven to 410 degrees...or somewhere around that.

Stuffed chicken. I have to give credit to my friend Claire Preston for this one, as she put the idea in my head. Now I am tired of making the same pan-fried chicken where you try and add enough oil or lemon juice to make it moist and toss as many ingredients as you'd like just to bite in and find it's still too dry. But not this one. No, ladies and gentlemen, stuffed chicken has changed my life.

So here's what went down. I had two pieces of raw (organic) chicken breasts. I cut them open like you would cut a fish to make filets. Then I took a pie pan and coated the bottom with olive oil and some truffle oil (my favorite ingredient to put on everything). And by the way, I found a really good bottle of white truffle oil for $9 at Whole Foods, so it CAN be affordable.

Next, I fried 6 pieces of bacon--just a quick toast on each side, and put aside for later. Now your pan is gloriously covered in excess bacon grease. Mmmm. I took each filet of chicken and cooked each side in the bacon greased pan until it was white on each side, but still very raw in the middle.

Now for the yummy part. I opened up each filet of chicken. Here comes the "stuffed" part. And here's where you can get really creative. Like crepes, you can put ANYTHING in stuffed chicken. I had some raw spinach that was about to go bad so I threw in a handful of spinach, some raw onions that I cut up and then three kinds of cheeses.

My trifecta of cheese. If you've been reading my blog all along, then you'll recognize these three cheeses which are my go-to cheeses for everything I cook: the manchego, goat gouda, and chevre. 


Ok so I sliced up the manchego and gouda and crumbled the chevre on top of the spinach and onions. Then I "closed" the chicken by putting one filet on top of the other. Now comes the really good part. I took the bacon that I had quickly toasted and wrapped three pieces around each of the stuffed chickens. Sprinkle some pepper and salt and voila! Now stick the chicken in the oiled pan in the oven and wait 10 minutes.

While the whole chicken process happened, I steamed some brussel sprouts on the side. I know everyone says "ewww brussel sprouts," but brussel sprouts are really just a crunchy medium to put whatever flavors you want on it, sort of like zucchini.

So first I steamed the brussel sprouts for 7-10 minutes with a little bit of olive oil and truffle salt sprinkled on top.

A quick note about veggies. Given that I'm working on an anthropology research paper about the origins of food and cooking with fire, I thought I'd add a quick little interesting tid bit I recently read about our relationship with vegetables.

Raw vegetables contain toxins. Maybe you knew this? Anyway, our foraging ancestors lived off raw veggies, berries, fruit, insects, and whatever else they could find. However, we were consuming so many raw vegetables that the toxins were building up in our system, leading to malnutrition and death. Then we discovered the wonders of fire. And fire changed everything. We started eating meat, which gave us the protein and energy to grow physically and mentally. We cooked our vegetables as well, which took out many of the toxins that was leading to our malnutrition, and allowed us to absorb more of the nutrients in veggies. Basically, our diet had more protein and complex carbs which  allowed us to develop our brains and bodies. And now look at where we are!

Now I'm not saying stop eating salads and raw vegetables. Just make sure its in moderation and that you're still getting your protein and carbohydrates.

Ok back to the sprouts. While the chicken was in the oven, I took the brussel sprouts out of the steamer and put them in the greased pan (because bacon grease is great for cooking everything). While I tossed the sprouts around, I threw in some sliced almonds and this seasoning called "Carribbean Adobo" from a spice shop downtown. It had garlic, onion, pepper, cumin, salt, and Mexican oregano.

Quick note on spices. These kind of pre-made spices are AWESOME for these type of dishes where you don't wanna chop everything up by hand, AND it packs a lot of flavor in just a little morsel. Go to Penzey's or whatever spice shop is around and just smell everything until you find one you like. They're quick, simple, and incredibly flavorful.

So I toss the brussel sprouts in the Adobo seasoning and almonds for just a quick second and by that time the chicken was ready. I puledl it out of the oven and my lord it smelled good! All three cheeses were melted, the spinach soft, and the bacon crispy. Not to mention how tender the chicken became. I sprinkled some lemon juice and it was ready to serve.

All in all, the whole process only took an hour!
















Other stuffed chicken ideas:

-stuff the chicken with other meats like ham or turkey and then add whatever else
-bacon and blue cheese (like a black 'n blue burger but a bit healthier)
-lemon wedges, capers, white wine, and olive oil.
-ground mustard, beer, and onions (I think this one will be the next one I try)

Ok there you have it! Good luck! And let your creativity run wild!

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen

Crepes...Where ANYTHING is possible!

Hello my fellow food lovers,

I have yet to meet any person on this entire earth who doesn't love crepes. Whether you're stuffing your crepes with salty savory yumness or getting your sweet tooth fix, crepes allow for endless possibilities. Which is why I love them.

But I feel like a lot of people are scared to make them. Is it 'cause people believe you need french blood running through your veins in order to make a decent crepe? Or that only a french restaurant can make it right? Who knows what it is, but I'm here to get you to get over your fear of making crepes! They are so so simple.

First, the batter. I went online and found a really easy crepe batter recipe from allrecipes.com

All it takes is:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Sort-of-maybe-kind-of important: when looking at these recipes make sure to look at the "Yield"! Because this recipe yields four crepes, and I was cooking for two hungry people, I doubled the recipe.

I really liked how this recipe turned out: the crepes were thick, a bit sweet, and a little spongy. My mom makes her crepes much thinner and less sweet, but you really can't go wrong as long as you use the basic ingredients above.

Now to the stove. I started with a medium heat, but realized that a high heat was much more successful in keeping the crepe in one piece when I flipped.  For some crazy chemical reason that I can't even begin to explain, the higher heat coagulated the crepe better...basically the liquid stops being a messy goo and turns into an edible mass to hold and cherish in your hand. So! Turn stove to high heat and spray pam, butter, or whatever you like to use on the pan (preferably a non-stick pan).

Now, using a cup (in my case a 1/4 measuring cup which I found to be the perfect amount for my needs), dip in batter and pour over your hot pan.

Important! Move the pan in a circle slow enough so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan (and thins out evenly) but not too fast as to leave the batter dripping around the pan...unless you want really cute mini crepes the size of your thumbnail. And don't freak out if it's not perfectly circular! It will still be delicious (remember, presentation only counts for 1/3 in the judging of Top Chef).

Now comes the creative part. You literally can put ANYTHING in this crepe. Anything at all. Sweet or savory. I decided to do both. Now, flip your crepe over to cook the other side (the timing of this should be determined based on how well the crepe is staying together and how brown it's getting, also how toasty you like your crepe.) For my savory crepe, I went with my left over asparagus, which I steamed for 7 minutes (with lemon and truffle oil to flavor a bit) over boiling water  and then chopped into one-inch pieces. 

I want to interject really quickly here to say that timing for cooking is not absolute. It's probably my biggest frustration with following recipes. If you're constantly checking the exact time for everything you'll drive yourself into an OCD frenzy and forget all about taste. So my advice is this: get a sense for time, how long things cook in general--5, 15, 30, 45 minutes? General increments. But more importantly get to know the timing that works best for your palette. Get to know what YOU like. Yes the professionals and the Food Network have been around the block, but only YOU are the professional of your own taste buds. So check your dishes constantly and consistently until you get it to where you like it.

Now, back to crepes! Ok so easiest recipe ever. I had my asparagus ready to go. I then shredded two kinds of cheese: a goat chevre (which I've already exclaimed my love for) and manchego.

Manchego. An AWESOME sheep cheese. It's a Spanish cheese that is fairly hard in texture, very dry, but incredibly flavorful. And apparently it's such an ancient cheese that Cervantes wrote about it in Don Quijote. So yeah, it's been around. It's great for shredding as the hard texture makes it easy. Again, you can find it at stores like King Soopers (but not Safeway last time I checked, unfortunately).

So I've flipped my crepe. Now all I do is sprinkle some asparagus, both cheeses and then fold it like an envelope. Flip the little package and throw it on a plate in the oven to keep warm until you're done cooking all the crepes (the oven is set to "warm" or a low 200-level heat). 

And Bon appetite!

Other savory crepe ideas:

-Breakfast!! -- Eggs, hash browns, salsa, cheese

-Ham and cheese

-Chicken, spinach, cheese

-Mix all the cheeses in your fridge

...Can you really go wrong?

For sweet crepes, I love using jam. Or awesome melted dark chocolate from Ghiradelli...but only when you're at home and you have an awesome mom who picks up things like that.

For now, jam will do. I used a strawberry rhubarb jam that was great--not too sweet for my taste buds. (The jam happened to be homemade from Lucille's--an incredibly delicious cajun restaurant in Denver that also has great po' boys, beignets, and bloody mary's...if you're ever around the southern, Denver University, part of Denver you HAVE to stop by before 2 pm when they close).

Other great sweet crepe ideas:

-Berries and whip cream (blackberries, boysenberries, huckleberries?)

-Banana and nutella

-Raspberry jam and chocolate

-Strawberries, bananas and whip cream

...And I could go on...

And there you have it! The French definitely knew what they were doing...and somehow stay thin after eating all of them...but that's for an exercise specialist to discuss. Remember, butter never hurt anyone...in moderate amounts.

Love & Doughnuts,

The Mrakulous Kitchen