Distracted Mind

So my new years resolution was to take my lunch to work more often than I buy lunch. So far, I’ve been pretty good about it, some weeks I bring lunch every day, some weeks it’s once or twice, but let’s just say that the average is on my side. Since making this resolution, I’ve had to add more recipes to my arsenal–cheap, flavorful and healthy recipes that allow me to make a few meals over the weekend, package them up and put them in the fridge to pull out on my way out the door in the morning.

Imjaddarah is a Lebanese recipe, often made for Friday Lenten dinners. The recipe I’m writing won’t be used for any Friday night though, since it calls for a cup and a half of chicken broth. Sure, you can use veggie broth for a Friday night or a vegetarian meal, but all I had in my pantry was chicken, so there you are. This has a few extra ingredients from your basic Imjaddarah, which you can find here: Imaddarah Lentils and Rice.
Recipe after the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve got to say, Alan Richman is one brave guy. He’s braved stranger dishes than the average American couch potato will see on Fear Factor, just to write about them all.

Read his article, [Waiter, There's a Cloven Hoof on my Plate](http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_4197), if you haven’t just finished your meal.

Normally I’d just post this as a sidebar link through [del.icio.us](http://del.icio.us/distractedmind), but this one is too nice to relegate to the sidebar. [Kokblog](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/), by Johanna Kindvall is a fabulous cooking blog with a definite Swedish flavor, but more than that it’s an absolutely gorgeous website.

Johanna is a Swedish expat living in New York who has married her love of cooking and her awesome artistic talent to create a cooking blog full of interesting recipes, many of which I will be trying (just a warning for my husband, who gets to play guinea pig for my culinary experiments). Some of the most appealing:

* [Rum Apple Pie](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/57/), because adding alcohol to anything creates a chance for the extraordinary….
* [Matcha Pistachio Chocolate Cake](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/44/), because it sounds fascinating
* [Creamy Bacon Pasta](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/55/), minus the chanterelle mushrooms (accommodations for the mushroom-allergic in my household)
* [Fresh Shrimps with Lime](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/27/) — this one is such a simple recipe, but it sounds absolutely delicious
* [Doggie Bag Stew](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/32/) _waste not, want not_

Of course, if you try any of Johanna’s recipes, leave her a comment and let her know how it was. Also, if you try the gravlox, let _me_ know how it was — I’m curious, but not brave enough to try it in my own home (I’m a coward like that).

My husband was wondering how I got to [San Francisco](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/09/starbucks.bomb/index.html) and back yesterday without him knowing. I can’t take credit for this heinous act, even in humour, but I’m left wondering if the would-be bomber is an irate coffee connoisseur or just your garden-variety wacko. There’s no question that whoever it was, they’re a thundering looney, I’m just wondering about their motives.

If you really want to be a coffee guerilla, try taking the [City Hippy challenge:](http://cityhippy.blogspot.com/2005/12/news-starbucks-challenge-30-demand.html) walk into a Starbucks and ask for a cup of [Fair Trade coffee.](http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/) If the barista doesn’t know what you’re talking about, write to the [City Hippy challenge](http://cityhippy.blogspot.com/2005/12/news-starbucks-challenge-30-demand.html) blog and tell them about your experience. While you’re at it, read other experiences and then go get a real cup of coffee from a locally owned coffee shop of your choice. At least they won’t require you to say _”vente”_ like you mean it.

Going to the West Side Market is one of the many reasons why I love Cleveland. Being able to make (and eat) this stew is one of the redeeming qualities of colder Cleveland weather. It’s a variation on the lamb stew one finds all over Ireland and it will feed a family of five with some leftovers for the next day.

It’s a blustery day out there. Seems like [November remembered that it's the tenth](http://www.ssefo.com/) and decided to give us some anniversary weather. While it’s not quite cold enough to break out the leather, I’ve got my warmest sweater on and my favorite scarf wrapped around my neck. They seem to be enough to keep me toasty on the short walks I have from building to building.

Time for crappy November weather and time for food that makes it seem a little less crappy. Presenting Schwein und Apfelkraut. No, this isn’t a traditional German dish. It’s a twist on Amish cooking, with a made-up German title. The title roughly translates to “Pork and Apple-Cabbage”. It’s a one-pot meal, since, being mostly Irish, I like dishes that can be cooked using only one pot. Actually, that has less to do with being Irish and is more related to my hatred of washing dishes. It’s an easy meal that starts when you get home from work and is done about an hour or two later. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m an idiot when it comes to cooking breakfast food. I can make roast beef, whip up sauces, do just about anything else for any other time of day, but if it’s more complicated than cereal and milk, or bread and a toaster, I’m generally not your gal. I tend to scramble any eggs I cook, even if they’re supposed to be sunny-side-up. I’ve made my peace with this ineptitude, but I _have_ found something I can make: pancakes.

This recipe is extremely easy and it doesn’t take long to whip together. I can make pancakes in less than a half an hour and I’m not the most efficient girl on the block.

Last week’s stupid kitchen trick never quite made it. It’s been an interesting month ’round the homefront, and, without any excuses, let me just say that I’m nearly out of stupid kitchen tricks. Readers, if you have any that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear them and give your your proper credit. I’ll try anything once and I only write things I’ve tried, so you may even get me to do something strange in my kitchen.

Now, for this week’s kitchen trick. I’m not going to use my husband’s suggestion of extolling the virtues of combining bleach and ammonia (I told you I was going to blog that), but instead I’ll let you know about something a little less toxic and a lot more useful: thickening gravy.

Now this applies to sauces as well, but lumpy gravy is the source of so many jokes that it’s just another sad little groan at the table. Making an unlumpy gravy or sauce is actually fairly simple and will allow you to pimp slap Uncle Harry at the next Thanksgiving dinner when he starts in about lumpiness. Of course, it will be talked about for years, but there’s nothing more satisfying than a holiday pimp-slap, now is there?

On to the lack of lumps. Very simple. Take a small bowl and put a bit of corn starch, flour, or a combination of the two (I’ve found that the combo does the best for gravy). Then gradually ladle in a bit of the base of your gravy/sauce. If this is gravy, use the drippings. If it’s a sauce… use the friggin’ sauce. Whisk the sauce to mix while you’re adding the liquid until it’s completely mixed in, no lumps. Then add the mixture back into your gravy/sauce, stirring until the gravy/sauce is thickened.

There you go. Gravy sans lumps and a generous holiday pimp-slap for anyone who says otherwise.

_Edited to correct D’s recommendation–it was bleach and *ammonia*, not bleach and water._
_Big fat precautionary note: do not, I repeat DO NOT, combine bleach and ammonia. It creates mustard gas and inhaling mustard gas is a very unpleasant way to die. Trust me on this one._

Yeah, so this whole business of people popping out babies makes for a busy weekend. I’ve been down in Columbus, where I have had the pleasure of holding one tiny niece and running around like crazy (when I haven’t had food poisoning… but that’s a different story). This weekend’s stupid kitchen trick is late, so I’ll try and make it a good one.

Next time you need to thicken a sauce, you have a few options. You can use flour, which is an old standby that I end up using (mainly because I forget where I’ve put the other options… or I’ve run out), corn starch, or if you need to thicken something that’s particularly touchy, say something that requires a lower temperature, use arrowroot powder instead.

Arrowroot powder thickens sauces at lower temperatures and tolerates freezing better than sauces thickened with cornstarch. It also tastes a bit more neutal, so the flavor of your sauce stays a little truer. One quick note: don’t use it with dairy sauces — it makes them somewhat “slimy” in texture (not a ringing endorsement, but if you stick to fruit-based or wine-based sauces it’s awesome).

It’s been a jumbled up sort of day. Maybe I’ll actually write about it… once I scoop my brains back into my skull I just might. For now, a stupid kitchen trick for a hopelessy smelly Friday.

To take some of that onion smell out of your hands after chopping and slicing, rub your hands on something steel under some running water. If you’ve got a stainless steel sink, give it a friendly rub. The steel actually takes the smell away. If you _don’t_ have a stainless steel sink, you can always get a bar of stainless steel soap. It sounds strange, but these bars actually look kind of cool.

I don’t know all of the science behind this, but [someone else has an idea of how this trick works](http://chemistry.allinfoabout.com/features/steelodor.html). It won’t remove _all_ of the most heinous odors, but it will help with onion or garlic stenches when you’re doing some scratch cooking.