That Time I Made Fettucine Alfredo...

It's time for another 20sb Cooking Challenge! This round is "Homemade Fettuccine Alfredo with Italian Breadsticks"

Okay so, cards on the table, I don't have anyone at home to eat the food I make, nor does my schedule easily allow to organize friends to come over to do the eating. Since I was already going to have a bunch of pasta to eat [so. many. carbs.], I opted out of making bread sticks. I know I lose a lot of points for that, but my waistline won't like it so that's how its gonna be. The Chicken and Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo did, however, come out amazing. It was the first time I made an Alfredo sauce, and it was delicious, so that makes doing the challenge worth it!...

That Time I Made Pepperoni Pesto Mini Pizzas...

You guessed right! It's 20sb Cooking Challenge time again!

Today's challenge:


Chopped Appetizer Round
1) Enlist a significant other/roommate/sibling/parents/grumpy cat lady from across the street to put together a “mystery basket” with four ingredients that you MUST use — if they want to shop all ingredients cannot exceed $20 TOTAL (or £10 or €15 depending on your country). They must include a protein and a fruit/veggie...

That Time I Made a Simple Summertime Supper...

It's time for another 20SB Cooking Challenge! This week's assignment:

Simple Summertime Supper

I've chosen to participate in even though I exclusively use the word "dinner."

The rules:

1. Meal must include a protein and a vegetable.
2. No Pasta Dishes. No Sandwiches. *womp womp*
4. Use of the oven is not allowed! Any other kitchen appliance -Foreman grill, toaster oven, etc- is fair game.
3. Limit active time in the kitchen to 30 minutes. “Active time” means any time you are chopping, stirring, or otherwise handling food; this leaves wiggle room for simmering and poaching: ie you can leave for 20 minutes and cool off in front of the fan while a sauce cooks down and it doesn’t count towards the half hour.
4. Post your recipe & pictures by Thursday, July 31. 

So even though I have a toaster oven that I love using in place of my oven because it's faster to pre-heat and more energy efficient than using a full-size oven when just cooking for one or two people, I wanted to do this challenge on the grill to keep most of the heating outside. So I took a recipe for salmon that prescribes being baked and tried adjusting the process to achieve the same outcome on the grill. Result: came out perfect!

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon with Corn on the Cob

(Full recipe)

You will need one 5-oz salmon fillet and one ear of corn per serving and one piece of foil for each of those.

Preheat outdoor grill for high heat and spray grate with cooking spray.

Corn:

Peel back corn husks and remove silk. 

Place or spread one Tbsp butter, salt and pepper on each piece, close husks.

Wrap each tightly with aluminum foil and set on grill. 

Glaze:

Combine 1/2 c balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, and a minced 1/2 garlic clove in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer until thick, about 12 minutes.

Salmon:

While glaze is reducing, spray one piece of foil for each piece of salmon with cooking spray, set salmon in center of the foil, brush both sides of salmon with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Wrap foil tightly around salmon, place on grill, and also turn the corn.

Remove salmon and corn after 10 minutes. Unwrap after glaze has had 5 minutes to cool.

Place corn and salmon on a plate and drizzle glaze on salmon.

 Rinse and recycle the foil, and enjoy!

That Time I Lived Off Bread Ends...

It's time for another 20sb Cooking Challenge! This round is titled "Ugliest Dinner."

The rules are pretty simple:
1- While the goal is a yucky-looking plate of food, it must be something you actually eat
2- No non-food items may be included on the plate

So my entry comes with a story...

I used to work in this cafe in town where the only thing we could eat for free was the bread ends that would have otherwise been thrown away anyway. The discount for other food was only like 20% or something so I embraced eating the bread ends for free.

I think we were only supposed to use butter or jelly as a topping but, being the rebel that I am, chose to go with cream cheese. After a few weeks I decided that I was going to go one step farther and add some bacon. It was that chintzy pre-cooked kind which could not have cost all that much so what was the harm really? And I just used a couple of slices. I thought I was going to hate it but I really wanted the added protein so I would actually not be really hungry every time I worked.

And thus was born: the Bacon-Cream Cheese Sandwich (link will work on 7/1).

For calorie counting purposes, I started making it on pita bread (and specifically Joseph's - Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Mini Pitas), and then I just use a bit of cream cheese and two slices of "Hickory Smoked Fully Cooked" bacon. Put it all together and eat!

It's not really a "dinner" item but it was dinner for me at least two nights a week. It's not really gross looking, but it's definitely not delicious looking at first sight.

That Time I Fried Some Tofu...

20SB Cooking Challenge: Recipe Revision

For this challenge, I had to think about a food I wouldn't eat as a kid and make it myself using a different/better preparation and determine if I still don't like it. The ingredient I am choosing is tofu and the recipe I will be making using it is tofu and mushroom enchiladas.

Here are this challenge's rules:

1)Write about a food you hated as a kid. It could be an entire recipe like tuna casserole or a single ingredient like mushrooms.
2) Cook a meal based on the food you didn't like. Make sure to link to your source if you're not creating an original recipe! And don't forget to take pictures :)
3) Try your dish and tell us if you've changed your mind or if you were right about it all along.

So.... 

1) I am very picky about food textures. I do not eat cooked vegetables or anything with similar consistencies. Tofu strikes me as being one such food and the look of it alone makes me not want to eat it. So I wouldn't even try it. But then I was in Japan visiting my brother and he bought some sort of crispy-thing-on-a-stick that he said was fried soy something-or-other, which was really tasty, so I've wanted to try to make crispy tofu ever since. I'm going to use this challenge to try. When I came across this recipe for Mushroom & Poblano Vegetarian Enchiladas (made with tofu), it sounded like something I could incorporate crispy tofu into so that I actually would like and eat the recipe. I am however making a couple changes to eliminate the cooked vegetables I still won't eat to make: Crispy Tofu & Mushroom Enchiladas.

2) Photos! (Also: recipe)

Fried tofu actually looks yummy.

So do the cooked enchiladas!

3) So I sampled a bit of the fried tofu separate from the enchiladas and I actually liked it. When I tried the enchiladas, I couldn't really tell that the tofu had been fried since the sauce and cheese un-crispied it, but I didn't try it with out the corn starch (that's what made it crispy when fried), so I could actually handle it in this dish un-coated.

However, I still will be hesitant to eat tofu when it's just cooked in broth or anything that leaves it looking like weird, white, squishy, soy-cubes. It's just such a strange food. Nothing about it looks like food. But I think that if it at least RESEMBLES chicken a bit, I could handle it.