Mustard Chicken

Okay, so I haven't posted in awhile. I haven't really cooked anything in awhile and I cooked this a couple weeks ago. It's been pretty bad. I've been eating out a lot lately (oh god, my waistline!) and I've been making a lot of pasta and salad.

I did find time, however, to try breaded, pan-fried chicken. It didn't work out perfectly, and I feel that the next time it should be baked... if there is a next time. My usual grocery store was out of basil and chicken breasts the last time I went. How do you run out of chicken breasts? And basil? All forms of fresh basil. Lame.

Anywho, so the instructions are as follows.

2 chicken breasts
1/2 c bread crumbs
4 Tbs whole grain mustard
2 Tbs honey
olive oil

1. Combine 1/2 c bread crumbs and 2 tbs-ish of the mustard. In a separate bowl combine the rest of the mustard with the honey and mix well.
2. Cover the chicken in the honey sauce and then dredge (is that *actually* the word I'm looking for?) the chicken in the bread crumb mixture
3. Put it in a pan and cook it until it can't kill you.

It ended up taking a lot more olive oil than I had hoped, which is why I think baking it is the answer. Also, I had Italian bread crumbs on hand... which maybe wasn't the answer.

So lesson learned... more baking, no oil, and PLAIN bread crumbs.

Also, I need to figure out some dishes to make for November.. gah...

Pretentious Mac'n'Cheese

This one may make me sick. It has so much dairy in it, I'm apt to explode, but it's okay because I learned what a roux is *actually* supposed to look like so... go me!

I've been buying random cheeses at will at the grocery store lately and then trying to incorporate them into my cooking. It's been somewhat amusing, although I have to admit that a lot of the cheese is put on crackers and then into my tummy which is way easier than cooking. The last time I got fontinella cheese, which is fairly strong.

I've also taken to not really measuring things for cooking anymore. Mostly I've been eye-ing things and then tasting, but that only really works when you're not cooking for anyone else... but lo and behold, I'm not.

2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
2 c. warm milk
Fontinella cheese (or any cheese, really)
elbow macaroni

Boil water, add mac, clean up the sink whilst you're waiting for things to boil. Melt butter and then add flour and stir so things don't burn. Add milk a little bit at a time and let it heat until the mixture thickens. Add mixture to the drained noodles and then add cheese.

It came out tasty. I assume I didn't use enough cheese, though. It was okay, because I added breadcrumbs and pepper... so it was less bland. Given that this occurred several hours before, I also ate the leftovers and added tomato sauce to make it a palomino. Mm mm good. Or something. I guess the next time I'll use a higher moisture cheese.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I haven't updated in awhile because I've been battling a bout of bronchitis for a week and finally got the gumption to go to the doctor. That was a lot of alliteration; I'm immensely proud. (And awesome assonance!) Anywho, I haven't really cooked anything new or different as a result. Also, no one cares whether or not I update because no one reads this.

So the only really "new" thing that I've attempted of late was a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I stole from Chris which was modified with complaints. I baked them three times over the summer, with varying results. I guess I bake best unwatched. Or something.

2c + 2 tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
12 tbs. butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
lots of chocolate chips

Set oven to 325 F, grease baking pans (or be lazy and use parchment paper)

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter until creamy. Beat eggs and add vanilla. Add mixture to the sugarbutter and then add in dry ingredients in parts. Add in chocolate chips.

Take 1/4c of the dough and roll into a ball. Rip the ball in half and smash the two smooth ends together. It should look like the world's saddest snowman.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown and the tops still look like they need a little more time. You can rotate in the middle of the bake time, but this is for people who aren't lazy.

So I was studying for the GRE with Colby and mostly felt completely inept, so we decided that it was cookie time. We made a half batch (which was hard with the eggs...), but they turned out to be pretty decent and I foisted them upon my physics friends.

Cheesy Smashed Potatoes

So given that I had this corn bread (which is pretty much the heaviest bread I've ever eaten and almost a meal in itself, but not quite), I needed something to go with it, so I made mashed potatoes with baby Yukon gold potatoes, garlic (fried in olive oil), basil, and brie. The brie was creamy enough such that I didn't need to add butter or anything else, really. And I found out that my metal spatula is perfect for smashing potatoes. The basil was left over from the MSU Organic Farm club (which is AWESOME and I can't wait to buy more stuff from them).

So my new favorite game is typing in things I have in my refrigerator and "pantry" in google and seeing what kinds of recipes I get. This was one of the first hits I got with "potato brie basil garlic". Yay dinner!

Corn Bread

This one was stolen from Chris. Again. Also, I made it a couple days ago, but I've been busy... not that anyone reads this. Mostly, I wanted to log it for posterity... or something.

And I also managed to take a picture here because I had my camera out and I was uploading all of the pictures from Hawaii onto my computer. There are some pretty awesome pictures from Keck and Mauna Kea and Volcanoes National Park.


1 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs baking powder
1 1/2 c corn meal
1 1/2 c milk
2 eggs
14 tbs butter, melted


Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the cornmeal and make a well in the center. Whisk together eggs, milk, and butter. Try not to freak out when the butter gets solid in the milk... just keep whisking. Pour into a WELL GREASED bread pan and throw into an oven for 45ish minutes at 400 F and try not to get butter all over the bottom of your oven. It's kind of a pain to clean up.

It actually turned out a lot more savory than I had anticipated, but in a good butter-soaked sort of way. I also didn't grease the pan well enough. Oops. It's okay, though. The bottom was all crispy and delicious anyway.

Balsamic Chicken Stir Fry

This one didn't work at all. It sounded good in theory... chicken+balsamic vinegar+garlic+fresh basil, but most unfortunately it never came together.

chicken
glug of olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
several basil leaves
mushrooms
broccoli
zucchini

Create a marinade with the vinegar, chicken stock, sugar, garlic, and basil. Let the chicken sit for 20 minutes. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and let it reduce and then cook the chicken in a separate pan with the olive oil. Add the reduced sauce and veggies+fungi. Cook until you will no longer die of food poisoning. Serve over rice

So I suspect that what didn't work was a combination of me being a subpar cook and the fact that my ingredients weren't the *best*. I didn't have chicken stock, so I ended up using soup mix instead. Oops. I should get on getting a box of actual chicken stock. I also think that my love of balsamic vinegar extends only to the salad world. I foisted the meal upon one of my friends who thought it was fine and, "tasted like stir-fry."

I was all excited about getting the basil and zucchini. The MSU Organic Farm club was having a sale outside of the Aud today and I picked up a nice zucchini and some nice basil for two dollars. I was all happy about it. The basil will probably become part of something pasta like tomorrow, as I have it and I have no more meat. Sadness. I'm trying the curry again soon. I have Thai basil, garlic, and I'm going to get actual chicken stock next time, damnit.

Dad's Famous Eggs

Dad's Famous Eggs should probably be called Dad's Famous Egg, given that it consists of toast topped with cheese (preferably American, hey I need to pay respect to my white trash roots) and one poached egg. So I wanted to see how to poach an egg. Attempt number one didn't work.

I used the toaster as an egg timer, but when I cracked the egg in the pan, it didn't really stay together well. The white started to cook, but the top didn't, so I put a lid over it to try to "steam" the top cooked, but that didn't so much work well because the water managed to boil and the egg stuck to the bottom of the pan ever-so-slightly such that a lot of the yolk ran into the pan. I did salvage it enough to put it on my toast'n'cheese. Oh well. Maybe next time.

At least I have cheese'n'crackers...