January 24, 2013 · 9:34 am

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

So here’s how it went down:

Last week I was dying for something cheesy and delicious so I suggested we hit up our local favorite, Queens Comfort, a magical place that boasts the most fabulous macaroni and cheese. The only problem was mi amor. He too wanted some delicious mac and cheese, but alas Queens Comfort serves theirs with bacon and my boy is of the tribe, so bacon is a deal breaker.

So I suggested instead that I would make a delicious baked mac and cheese at home that was nutritionally appropriate for both of us. Then, while at the market, a non-kosher lightbulb went off, and we decided to kick it up a notch and add some buffalo chicken. BAM. And we’re off!

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Melt butter with garlic & onions.

The first (and most complex) step was the sauce, which began with 3 tbsp butter. To this I added garlic onions and some jalapeño (cause I’m spicy). After this began to simmer, I whisked in 3 tbsp flour, effectively creating a roux.

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Whisk in the flour.

Once the mixture turns a lovely shade of brown, add in 3 cups of milk. Then start slowly adding whatever cheese you fancy. We used cheddar here:

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Add milk and cheese.

Then once it’s all melty and delicious, lower the heat, but stir occasionally whilst getting the rest of the dish together.

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Marinade chicken in buffalo sauce.

I had my chicken marinating in buffalo sauce for about a half an hour, then into a buttery pan until it looks good enough to eat. I then moved the chicken to a cutting board to cool before I sliced it into bite-sized pieces. Then everything into the pan!

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Add broccoli and pasta to pan.

Return the chicken the skillet, followed by whatever kind of pasta you enjoy. We used whole-wheat elbows to convince ourselves this dish was healthy. See also: use of broccoli in this dish.

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Close up of the magic.

Because I’m naive enough to think you can just send a man to the grocery store and expect him to know what you mean when you say “foil baking pan,” I got to coin the soon-to-be-world-famous “mac and cheese pie” with these babies:

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Top with bleu cheese, breadcrumbs and butter.

I scooped it all into two of these pans, then covered them with a little more cheddar, a few bleu cheese crumbles and some breadcrumbs. Then pour on another 1/2 cup of butter and into the oven at 400!

buffalo mac and cheese, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken, recipe

Cook at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

And in approximately 25-30 minutes, this is what you’ll have. Yeah. Mmm.

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And enjoy!!

Take THAT, Queens Comfort!

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January 9, 2013 · 6:52 pm

Drinking Outside The Box Groupon

Today I had a very unpleasant experience with a Drinking Outside The Box Groupon and I’m interested to know if anyone has experienced anything similar.

I purchased this Groupon a month ago with the intention of reserving a wine tasting class for the 14th or 21st of January. On January 4th, I attempted to do so via the Drinking Outside The Box website, but was unable to reserve for any dates beyond the 7th. On that day, I wrote to the contact email on the website explaining that I had a Groupon that I wanted to use before it expired on the 23rd, but I wanted to be sure the 7th wasn’t my last chance and the response I got was:

“Hi Lea! We have class every Monday night- so yes- you should be able to make it before the 23rd” (this was on January 5th). Great! So, I went on today to see if the 14th or 21st had become available to reserve and they had not so I wrote a second email and got the following response: “It is not available because it is sold out. Jan 28th is the earliest available. All reservations must be made thru the website.”

… So “my Groupon is useless?” I ask. “Yes” is the response. — Has anything like this ever happened to anyone attempting to book a class through Drinking Outside the Box? I understand that part of the scheme of Groupon is that people who wait too long lose their money, but I feel as though I tried to use my Groupon in a responsible frame of time and was deliberately misled so that I would not be able to participate before the deadline. Hopefully that isn’t the case. Perhaps the website malfunctioned, but in any event, I feel duped and/or shafted.

I know many people have horror stories involving issues with Groupon itself, but has anyone had an issue like this with a vendor regarding a Groupon? What did you do about it?

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January 8, 2013 · 12:26 pm

Home Made Egg Rolls

We were lucky enough to take a cooking class in Chiang Mai while on vacation in Thailand this fall where we learned to make the elusive Pad Thai my  man craves so much. <– Stay tuned for that recipe. Today we’re going to make a version of the spring rolls we learned to make during that class. I say “version,” because I couldn’t find any “spring roll” wrappers, only “egg roll,” so the filling will be the same, but the outside a little crunchier. Who cares?! I get to use my new deep fryer and that’s really what this is all about, so off we go!

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Garlic, Carrots, Scallions, Bean Sprouts, Tofu, Chicken, Glass Noodles.

Put the water on for the rice noodles to boil then get to chopping! Obviously one would do fine stuffing an egg roll with anything (I’m even thinking a banana-nutella egg roll might hit the spot), but in this case we were really trying to channel those authentic Thai flavors, so I followed the recipe. First heat the oil, then throw in the garlic for a minute, followed by the chicken and tofu for another minute or two. Then throw in the noodles (followed immediately by a tablespoon or two of water), then toss in the other veggies, give it a stir and BAM: easy as that.

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Add fresh cabbage.

Next heap a portion of the mixture into whatever wrapper you are able to find at the market and get to rolling. I added some fresh cabbage to mine for the pretty color 🙂

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Roll it up, paste with egg.

Wrapping these things takes a bit of finesse; I think it’s easiest to roll from the corners, then over roll a bit, tuck in the edges, paste with egg, then roll it on up and paste a little more. The package of wrappers said to use water to make it stick, so if anyone has done that and thinks that’s easier than egg, please let me know! And now for the fun part!

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And fry-eems up!

This Christmas, I requested a deep fryer and was thrilled to receive this amazing and super easy to use compact fryer that fits perfectly in my apartment. Gracias Fajah. I used plain veggie oil to fry as I’ve been told olive oil has too much of its own flavor to properly cook Thai food. I don’t want to brag, but these were pretty delicious:

pad thai, thai food, thai street food, bangkok, street food, spring rolls, egg rolls, recipe, cooking, thai cuisine

Am I right?

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December 13, 2012 · 1:16 pm

Chicken Corn Chowder

Baby, it’s cold outside!

Or at least it’s cold enough to warrant making something as decadently creamy and delicious as chowdah! Since we maintain a fairly seafood-free household, the first thing that popped into my head was chicken corn chowder, which I thought would pair perfectly with the wet and chilly weather we’ve been having.

chicken corn chowder, recipes, cooking, soup, winter recipes, cold weather

Thyme, rosemary, carrots, celery, onion

chicken corn chowder, recipes, cooking, soup, winter recipes, cold weather

Let the chicken simmer 20-30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve only used chicken stock in one recipe before and I really didn’t enjoy the outcome so I thought I’d just poach the chicken in water with some herbs and veggies along with a chicken bouillon cube. Little fun fact: I once dated a guy who convinced me chicken bouillon (which I had never seen before) was in fact chicken excrement. I was young and he was a jerk-a-saurus rex, but I digress…

chicken corn chowder, recipes, cooking, soup, winter recipes, cold weather

Mise-en-place de chowdah.

chicken corn chowder, winter meal, cold weather, recipe, soup, chowder

In the pan with some buttah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut 3 stalks celery, 4 ears corn, 2 potatoes, 1 jalapeño and 4 cloves garlic (because I’m afraid of vampires). All of this goes into a pan or pot on medium heat until the onions are cooked through.

Meanwhile, the chicken should be finished cooking by now, so remove it from the pot and set it aside until it’s cool enough to shred. While it’s cooling, strain the poaching liquid and add it to the potatoes, corn and veggies. Let the potatoes cook in the broth until they are fork tender before adding the cream and chicken:

chicken corn chowder, winter meal, cold weather, recipe, soup, chowder

Let it simmer a few minutes and serve!

chicken corn chowder, winter meal, cold weather, recipe, soup, chowder

It’s like a hug from the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The amount of liquid to use depends on how thick and creamy you’d like your chowder to be. I used a 2:1-ish ratio of broth to cream, but I think it’s all personal preference. One woman’s “recipe-gone-wrong” is another woman’s “recipe-gone-even-better-than-expected.” It’s all perspective. 🙂

What’s your favorite kind of chowder?

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November 26, 2012 · 11:29 am

Homemade Crepes

I thought crepes would be incredibly complicated, but they are in fact just milk, flour and eggs! I’m sure there are plenty of other ingredients (i.e. sugar) that some people add to this recipe, but I was taught that one should start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start). So I kept it simple:

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, pinch of salt.

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

Mix-eems up!

Now came the hard part. I wasted one entire batch of batter attempting to swirl the batter evenly in our cast-iron skillet. The trouble is the batter starts cooking as soon as it hits the pan, so make sure you have a strategy. I didn’t need much butter, just a light greasing of the pan and about 1/3 cup of batter did me just fine. 🙂

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

Swirl evenly into pan on med heat.

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

It’s definitely a learning curve.

After several tries, I finally found my swirling sweet spot. Hours later, I read that an easy way to make it even is to tilt the pan and pour the batter in on an incline — if anyone has tried this, please let me know if it works!

As soon as the batter starts to bubble, flip-eems around and cook the other side. Afterward you can set them aside until you have as many as you need.

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Chicken Caprese Crepe for my man.

crepes, recipes, pesto, mozzarella, tomato, caprese, chicken caprese, lunch

Heat it up on a warm pan and serve!

When it’s time to build the crepes, turn the pan on very very low and lay your crepe down, throw on your toppings and fold hot-dog, then hamburger (the nineties kids know what I mean).

The time had come to attempt the crepe of all crepes. The one I had placed up so high on a pedestal, I was bound to be disappointed, right? WRONG! I had seen this done so many times, I knew all of the components. I knew the order the ingredients needed to go in and what sorts of dressings topped them. It went crepe, bleu cheese, pears, honey, walnuts, balsamic, then arugula.

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

I topped this with black pepper and honey.

crepes, recipes, walnut, pear, bleu cheese, arugula, lunch

Served with arugula and a balsamic glaze.

And it was delicious! I’ll have to work on my crepe technique, but the integrity of the crepe was there. I considered this a huge victory and I intend to enjoy this for lunch every day this week because me and this crepe? We’re married. What’s your crepe soul-mate?

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November 19, 2012 · 7:17 am

Chelsea Market Crepes

As someone who works from home, I have the great luxury of also being able to work from any coffee shop or restaurant with wi-fi. Now truth be told, I love my apartment, and it’s where I’d rather be 75% of the time. On nice days, however, I do like to venture into Manhattan for a sip of all the human energy until I inevitably drink in a little too much pretension and am forced to retreat to my simpler Queens.

Over the summer my prime destination became Chelsea Market. There is a constant in and out of new humans to watch and a varied cornucopia of eateries for me to choose from. It’s a food bloggers dream come true. Or it would be if I’d ever made it past Bar Suzette, the creperie. They have this Walnut, Pear and Gorgonzola crepe and I think we’re in love.

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How I was ever supposed to try something else?

I enjoyed this for the first time with some Texan friends, one of whom likened this crepe to “God’s breath,” now I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds very complimentary. It was on that day that I also discovered The Filling Station.

Every shop at Chelsea Market is a specialty shop and The Filling Station is no different. It has special sea salts and olive oils (like bacon sea salt and chili-infused olive oil) that you can take home in a variety of sizes. They also have really special draught beers from local breweries for sale that they serve you in a jar for $4. So yeah, they had me at “serve you in a jar” and they kept me at “$4.”

I have yet to try something new at Chelsea Market because this crepe truly has my heart on a string, but the hefty price tag it carries ($9!) has made me want to take my heart back. In Thailand we saw street vendors making pancakes (which are basically crepes) in woks and other non-crepe hot surfaces so I’ve become inspired to try to make crepes in my cast iron skillet. Has anyone seen success or failure with this? I will report back with results. Wish me luck!

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November 17, 2012 · 10:00 am

High Heat and Heads Up

Some info about me: I live with a magical person. He’s magical in several ways, one being his magnetic ability to attract odd and awesome opportunities that he always has the good sense to grasp. The latest of these was his role as Sleight-of-hand consultant/Hand double on the short film Heads Up, which played last night at the Big Apple Film Festival. One great thing about NYC is that, no matter the night, there is always something weird and artsy going on. So we went!

But two people gotta eat, right? So before heading down to Tribeca for what promised to be a delightfully hipsterentious evening, we stopped by High Heat for a a burger and some beer.

(Hipsterentious: Where “hipster” meets “pretentious.” See other uses: When bloggers create their own douchey words.)

high heat burger, nyc, west village, flower power IPA, draught beer

A growler of Ithaca’s Flower Power IPA.

To my utter delight, this wonderful establishment had my very favorite IPA on tap, Ithaca Beer Company‘s Flower Power IPA, so we indulged in a growler of this tasty swill.

nyc restaurant, west village, high heat nyc, burgers nyc, ithaca beer company

Appetizer: asparagus with tom-toms and parmesan.

It’s not easy for my man to resist an asparagus dish on a menu, let alone a deliciously cheese-covered asparagus dish as this. This was a tasty addition to one of the tastier burgers I have had in this city:

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This may be the best burger I’ve had in NYC.

The meat was well seasoned and cooked to perfection and the bun was crunchy but soft. It was served with their own B&B pickles, lettuce, tomato, onions and cheese. Since I’m a woman who loves her side dishes, I was enchanted to learn the french fry options were unique and plentiful. We opted to share two orders: one parmesan and herb, the other garlic oil — both were so good I required no condiments.

If you find yourself in Greenwich Village feeling carnivorous (or not! They have a veggie burger :-D), I highly recommend a stop by this great spot! They have pizza, too, so they’ve really covered the “goes-with-beer” foods to perfection. Has anyone tried the pizza? Is it worth a second trip?

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November 15, 2012 · 9:01 am

Thailand and Laos: Photos and Fun Facts

A few pictures from our trip to Thailand and Laos with fun facts along the way!
thailand, bangkok, grand palace, travel

Grand Palace: No sexy here.

thailand, hill tribes, weaving, travel

Jared watching an 84-yr old woman weave.

Thailand is a constiutional monarchy with a population of 66 million.

Thailand, laos, butterflies, mariposas

More beautiful flutter-byes than I’ve ever seen.

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Grand Palace, Bangkok

The King of Thailand is known as King Rama IX. He was born in Cambridge, MA.

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Vang Vieng from hot-air balloon

Laos is a single-party socialist republic with a population of 6.5 million.

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Street Festival in Vientiane

The Laotian currency is the “Kip.” It’s conversation rate is 1USD to 8,000KIP.

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Wat Pho, Bangkok.

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Giant Buddha, Golden Triangle

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Jared being a samurai.

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Monks at sunrise.

A majority of people in both Laos and Thailand practice Buddhism.

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White Palace, Chiang Rai

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Golden Triange

Thailand’s national sport is “Muay Thai” (Thai Boxing) which incorporates kicks, punches, knees and elbow strikes.

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So many kitties.

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Blue Lagoon, Vang Vieng

Laos is completely landlocked. It’s bordered by China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

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Cold beer!

BeerLao was voted the “Best Beer in Asia” by TIME magazine.

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October 19, 2012 · 9:48 am

Vegetarian Pesto Lasagna

The crisp autumn wind that blew in last week made me want to cook comfort food. However, since we are heading to Southeast Asia for the first time next weekend, my main mission has been to cook meals to boost our immune systems (a tip I read for combatting tummy troubles while traveling in a new region). So while everyone knows I’d prefer a nice lamb bolognese or beef chili, I’m here to prove I can cook vegetarian meals that fill the “comfort” quota as well.

I settled on a roasted vegetable pesto lasagna. This was a bit of a process, but since I’d rather spend more time and do less dishes, I roasted the veggies separately. If you have a big pan or a dishwasher, it would be easy to throw them all in together, effectively cutting the cooking time down. Totally up to you. Me? I began roasting the red peppers and mushrooms.

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Roast red peppers at 500 for 20-30 min.

mushrooms, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Roast mushrooms at 475 for 10-15 min.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mushrooms and red peppers supposedly need to be heated at a higher temperature than the rest of the vegetables I chose, although I maintain that throwing them all in one pan together would work just as well. If they’re a little undercooked, that’s okay, because everything will go back into the oven at the end.

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Roast other veggies at 400 for 20 min.

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Boil the lasagna for 10 min

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to mushrooms and red peppers, I roasted zucchini, cherry tomatoes, red onions and garlic. I also went with a whole wheat lasagna because that’s what we had in the house; whatever type of lasagna tickles your fancy will work just fine. Next up, the pesto:

creamy pesto, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Basil, parmesan, walnuts, garlic, olive oil

creamy pesto, roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Then mix and add cream until smooth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know a lot of people make pesto with pine nuts, but I’ve seen it done many time with walnuts, which are healthier and (again) what I had lying around the house. So I processed the basil leaves with the parmesan, walnuts, olive oil and garlic, then added cream until it was smooth.

(In retrospect, I would have added more salt to the pesto itself instead of just seasoning the veggies as I built the lasagna, but hindsight is 20/20, no?)

roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Then start building the lasagna.

After I chopped up all the veggies and mixed them together, I built the lasagna like this: pesto, pasta, veggies, pasta, pesto, veggies, pasta, pesto, mozzarella/parmesan. I read a lot of recipes that included ricotta cheese, but since I was using creamy pesto, I skipped that step. I’d rather have twice the mozzarella if we’re being honest. And I did:

roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Top with fresh mozzarella and parmesan.

roasted vegetable lasagna, vegetarian, pesto lasagna, lea craft spencer, lea spencer

Then into a 375 oven until cheese is bubbly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cracked a little pepper, threw a little salt, then popped my super-sexy tin foil lasagna pan into the oven at 375 until the cheese began to bubble bubble. This dish made a great little dinner for me, plus lunch for both me and mi amor the next day.

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Served here with an arugula salad.

Healthy? Check. Comforting? Check. Delicious? Double check. Traveller’s tummy? Bring it on, Thailand; we’re ready. POP POP.

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October 16, 2012 · 12:08 pm

What makes us happy?

Happiness Project, Happy, Book, Documentary, Lea SpencerI’ve been reading this book, The Happiness Project, which tells the story of a woman spending one year trying to live a happier life. Being a historian by trade, the author spends much of this year researching how difference philosophers and religions view happiness as well as how different cultures and classes view it.

I’m only half way through the book, but having this concept of happiness on my mind whilst surfing the Netflix for a nice documentary to indulge in last night, I stumbled upon Happy, which took viewers on a trip around the world to find out what makes people happy. Sold.

It explored areas like the Louisiana bayou, the slums of Kolkata, the towers of Tokyo and the villages of Namibia. The study of happiness is a segment of psychology that has only recently become a serious area of academia. Researchers have determined that most humans are born with a general range of happiness that they exist in. DNA is supposed to make up 50% of one’s range, while 40% is “intentional activities” or things one chooses to do. Only 10% (if you can believe it) is the circumstances in which one lives, or those things one doesn’t control (where one is born, to whom and with what advantages).

This “happiness measure” also broke down goals into two categories: intrinsic and extrinsic. In this case, intrinsic included “personal growth” “close relationships” and “contributing to the world,” while extrinsic included “money” “image” and “status.” No shocker here: the people who lived their lives in pursuit of intrinsic goals reported more happiness than those who lived in pursuit of extrinsic ones.

Happy, Happiness Project, Lea Spencer, Lea Craft Spencer, Documentary

This isn’t to say that money isn’t important. According to the film, people in the US who earned $5,000 a year reported much less happiness than those who earned $50,000, but people who earned $50,000,000 reported no more happiness than those earning $50,000. So money does influence happiness insofar as it buys the necessities of life and security of future, but once those needs have been met, earning more in terms of material possessions didn’t bring people more happiness.

So what does bring people happiness? Both the film and book reported that the happiest of people all maintain a close support system of friends and family. I suppose it’s true that we aren’t meant to live our lives alone. The film also found that people who live for something bigger than themselves reported more happiness more often. For some religion fills this need, for others it’s volunteering and for some people I imagine their jobs bring them this satisfaction.

Finally, and most interestingly to me, any activity that puts you “in the zone,” so to speak, initiates the flow of dopamine in your brain, which assists in happiness. For some people this is exercise, for some people it’s gardening, for some lucky people it’s their jobs, but finding that activity for yourself and doing it a lot proved paramount. What’s your happiness activity?

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