Foil Promotes My Laziness

Many times when I come home after working in lab all day, all I want is something quick and easy for dinner...yet preferably not something I can get at a fast food drive through.

 
Here's my "efficient" and lazy dinner which was prepared by just wrapping everything in foil and popping it in the oven. I seasoned the tilapia with soy sauce, white wine, garlic, and green onion.

I kept the zucchini simple and just used some lemon pepper seasoning; and for the mushrooms I used about a half tablespoon of pre-made black bean and garlic sauce that's common in Asian cuisines.

I don't remember specifically how long the food was in the oven for, but since fish cooks really quickly...I assume all of my foil packets were in a preheated 350 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes. Also, keep in mind that if you're baking any kind of squash (like the zucchini that I have), make sure not to over bake it or it can become a soggy mess.    

Be careful when you open the foil packets, or you may end up with a too hot to handle facial!

Pineapple Fried Rice

Obviously graduate school has taken priority over keeping up with this blog, especially on top of having to teach an undergraduate chemistry lab. I'm finally back though! Plus, I'm still cooking and baking when I have the chance, and taking pictures of everything...I just haven't had the motivation to write about it all. I recently started organizing all of the photos I have on my camera and transferring them onto my computer, and boy, hopefully I'll eventually catch up because I have too many food pictures.

Anyways, on to the food!

I usually have leftover plain white rice. I have a handy rice cooker and make about twice as much as I will be eating the day I'm cooking it so I have leftovers the next day to make fried rice. This is pretty much another variation of my previous fried rice post, link here!...which gives you helpful tips on how to make fried rice and prevent it from getting soggy.

There's marinated pieces of chicken, zucchini, pineapple, and egg in this fried rice. I suggest making sure the chicken is well done before incorporating it into the rice. If you refer to my other fried rice recipe, it teaches you how to incorporate each ingredient (typically the order is eggs, meat, seasoning such as soy sauce, veggies/fruit).

Leftover white rice doesn't have to be boring!

Leftovers Reused

In an earlier post, I had made roasted stuffed eggplants. And I am now just getting to posting what I did with the leftovers.

I made a pasta dish out of it that was really simple.

All I did was scrape the innards out of the skin of the eggplant and the stuffing after I had reheated it, and mixed it into some cooked pasta.

Ever use your leftovers to make a different dish?

MIA

I know, I've been Missing In Action.

I believe this is the longest I've gone without posting something on this blog, which is horrible. I've been overwhelmed with being a graduate student. Surprise, surprise for any other readers who understand the pain and suffering that is associated with being a graduate student. And for those of you who don't, it's horrible, trust me. Don't do it! My only hope is that it'll all be worth it once I'm done and can officially be called a DOCTOR. *fingers crossed*

I just started my first semester as a TA (teaching assistant), and it's been interesting teaching mostly freshmen who don't seem to really care whatsoever. I guess they like wasting their parents money, and their education. Thankfully, not all of my classes are this way. I do have some promising students mixed in. I'm still trying to figure out how to memorize all 70+ student names. On top of keeping up with grading multiple weekly assignments from each student. I teach ALL day on Tuesdays. If I'm lucky, I can have a chance to eat lunch in between labs, but other days, I will probably have only 15 minutes to eat.

I've been trying to keep that in mind and pack extra snacks so my stomach doesn't start growling while I'm trying to teach. My stomach is loud, no one wants to hear that. I have fallen more and more in love with KIND bars. I wrote an earlier post about them, but hadn't tried as many of their flavors then.

From left to right: Almond and Apricots (in yogurt), Blueberry Pecan, Pomegranate Blueberry Pistachio, Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew, Sesame and Peanuts

My favorite is definitely the Sesame and Peanuts and Pomegranate Blueberry Pistachio. If I'm craving chocolate, I go with the sesame one, if I want something more fruity, I go with the latter.

I have also been storing mini-bags of popcorn in my snack drawer at work, and fruit in the mini-fridge. I usually like to have a variety of fruit. Recently I've been really liking fresh mandarin oranges, red grapes, blueberries, pineapple, pears, and blackberries. I usually buy whatever is in season or on sale at the grocery store. I'm not a really picky person when it comes to fruit as long as it's sweet and juicy.

Anybody else have to plan their lunch around other obligations?

Note: All products were purchased by me, with my own money. All opinions are my own.

I Assure You, Eggplants Can Be Stuffed

oI am a big fan of eggplant. Eggplant Parmesan, Baba Ghanoush, stir-fried eggplant, you name it, I probably like it.

My two favorite ways of preparing eggplant at home are roasting them in the oven and stir-frying them "Asian style". Roasting eggplant changes the flavor making it more savory, and the texture is better, in my opinion.

Raw eggplant, seasoned

All you need to do when roasting eggplant is to cut it in half, season both sides with salt and pepper, and then put it cut side down into a glass baking dish with about a 1/4 inch of extra virgin olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 40 minutes until the eggplant is tender and the skin is wrinkly and slightly brown.

Roasted eggplant, prepped and cut to be stuffed

The eggplant should be tender and golden brown after it has been roasted. You can eat it straight like this or make it into a dip, but I like to take it a step further and stuff it.

As the eggplant is roasting, I like to brown some ground beef with mushrooms, using some season salt and Italian seasoning. Then I add in some tomato sauce making sure not to add too much, you don't want it to be too liquidy. You can also add in chopped fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. After the ground beef and mushrooms have soaked up some of the tomato sauce and the flavors have had a chance to make friends, I layer it onto the eggplant and into the crevasses. If you didn't notice in the photo above, I like to cut the roasted eggplant so the stuffing has a place to go. I then add bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top of the stuffing. You can also add mozzarella cheese in addition to the Parmesan, but I didn't have any at the time. Put everything back into the oven under the broiler until the bread crumbs become a golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Stuffed eggplant

I've tried this recipe on eggplant haters, and they even liked it. So don't take my word for it and try it yourself!

Keeeesh?

Haha, I promise I know how to spell most of the time!

I was craving keesh...oh wait, I mean quiche, and decided to try and make one myself since I had an extra frozen pie crust in the freezer already. Yeah, I still haven't tried to make dough from scratch. I forgot to put that on my New Year's Resolutions to start practicing dough making. I need to do that.

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream (I think...if you follow my blog, you have probably noticed that I don't really measure things unless I'm baking desserts)
1/4 cup water (typically people use half and half instead of heavy cream, so I pretty much just thinned out the heavy cream with water)
1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese 
2 slices of bacon, chopped
Broccoli, chopped (I used quite a lot)
Salt (I usually use about an 1/8 teaspoon?, I measure it out with my palm, per egg when I make scrambled eggs...so I added 4 of my palm sized portions into this)
Pepper to taste
1 frozen pie crust

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the eggs. Mix the heavy cream and water together, then add the cream mixture, salt, and pepper to the eggs and mix completely. Then add the rest of the ingredients. You can opt to crisp the bacon first before adding it to the mixture. I decided not to out of pure laziness, but I think I would've liked it better with crisp bacon. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for about 30-45 minutes until the center is almost set.

Even though I really don't measure things when cooking, this turned out pretty great. I assume it is just because quiche recipes in general are pretty forgiving, especially for the fact that they're so versatile and can have many different types of meats and/or vegetables added to them.

This tasty breakfast/brunch meal also keeps really well in the freezer. Make them beforehand, freeze, and then reheat them in the oven when you're ready to eat!

Very Slow Pot Roast

For the days that I'm lazy, yet remember to plan ahead a bit (ie: remember to defrost some beef and possibly cut up some veggies).

It's time to bring out the slow cooker and put it to good use!

Keep in mind that I have a tiny slow cooker, so I'm just going to tell you what I put into it and not the specific amounts of each ingredient. Honestly, I really just put as much as I can into the slow cooker until I can't fit anymore, which is a bad idea because there should be some head space when using a slow cooker, just fyi. Y'all can learn from my mistakes!

I threw in some chopped onions at the bottom with the beef which has salt and pepper sprinkled on it. Then I added in cubed potatoes and carrots, some sliced fungus...I mean mushrooms, and then top it all off with cream of mushroom soup and a bit of water. That's it! I set it for about an hour at high, then reduced the temperature and let it cook for about 3-4 more hours. I didn't realize this but I always thought potatoes cooked slower than carrots...yeah, well that's WRONG. I wish I had known this and cooked the carrots with the onions first, then added in the beef and potatoes. It was still good, but I just had to be a bit more patient with the stubborn carrots.

I actually rarely use my slow cooker because I tend to forget how easy it is to use. I really need to remember that I have the darn thing.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is already 2012!

I'm so glad that I started this blog this past year, it has been a really nice outlet away from all things science.

This is what science does to you!

I'm also so grateful for you readers that take the time to even glance at my blog. I had no idea I would get so many people from so many different countries reading about the food I cook and my thoughts on all things food. Thank you!

I have many new additions I want to incorporate into this blog this new year:
1. Making my own title and background wallpaper. I really need to learn more about digital art/graphics and Photoshop and all of that computer stuff!
2. Reorganizing the text and photos.
3. Making Chicken a la King! This is only one example of many new things on my list that I want to try and cook in the future.
4. Remembering to take pictures of what I take to work for lunch and posting about them.
5. Baking more cheesecakes, which I don't do as often as I used to because I don't need entire cheesecakes floating around in my fridge. 
6. Starting another blog in addition to this one about nail polish, fashion, makeup, and all things girly. (I'm a science nerd who cares about that fact that I'm a female in a male dominated industry, is a bit really obsessed with nail polish, and would one day like to work in the cosmetics industry as a scientist.)
7. Possibly attempting to film myself cooking. I'm still not sure about this only because I don't have the right equipment to have a good setup to film. I only have a digital camera and not a camcorder or tripod.

Anyone have any interesting new years resolutions for 2012?

What I Got For Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I sure did since it was a white one! I got a few food related items for Christmas that I will definitely put to good use in the kitchen.

Look how cute the Piggy Wiggy kitchen timer is by Joie! It even has a curly tail in the back. Thank you J & S! The Chef'n flexible kitchen prep bowls (link will take you to the product on Amazon) are not just ordinary bowls, they're flexible (keeps me from making a mess when pouring things!) and have measurements inside each one. I am most excited about the cookbook 1001 cupcakes, cookies & other tempting treats (you can find it at Barnes and Noble online) because there are sooo many awesome and interesting recipes that I have to try. Plus, who doesn't love desserts and sweet things?! I also really like it because every single recipe in this book has a mouthwatering photo for it. Thanks Em for the bowls and cookbook!

I guess it is time to start baking like crazy!