Easy Eats

Initially designed to be a woodworking tool, clever chefs began buying these thin rods with hundreds of tiny stainless steel razors and used them instead in the kitchen. Although a bit on the expensive side (the Original Microplane, which I own, costs $12.95), I use mine virtually on a daily basis.

It’s compact and light shape make it great for grating hard cheeses, zesting lemons and limes, and allows you to add a little paste of garlic or ginger into sauces with minimal effort. What I really love too is with the big rubber handle, I’m infinitely less likely to grate myself as compared to a regular box-style grater. I think this fact alone makes my Microplane an Easy Eats Kitchen Essential. This is also often seen on various Food Network shows, such as 30-Minute Meals.

(click to enlarge)

On a more unappetizing note, they also make a Microplane foot file. Be sure to keep that away from the kitchen and somewhere clearly marked!

Wary of certain Asian foods? Well don’t be, especially of Korean-style BBQ. It’s some really tasty stuff. And it’s not hard to make yourself! You really need only the first four ingredients below, and some help from your trusty George Foreman grill…

Ingredients:

• 1 package of short ribs (about 1.5 lbs? see picture)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional, but recommended)
• 1 stem green onions (optional)
• bit of chopped ginger (optional)

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I usually like to keep one “Meal in a Box” type of dinner kit in the house for when I am super tired and need to feed the pack of ravenous hyenas I live with house. So when I saw this 12 taco dinner kit on sale for $2.50, I went for it.

Ingredients: (* = in the kit)

• 12 hard taco shells*
• 1 pouch of salsa*
• 1 seasoning mix packet*
• 1 lb of ground beef
• 2/3 cup water
• Lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese (as desired)

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Ever wonder what to do with that stale french bread, left over from last night’s dinner that now feels more like concrete than food? Make real french toast (or Pain Perdu)! Trust me, it’s twice as good as the stuff you make from WonderBread. And it’s even better with stale bread than fresh.

Ingredients:

• Stale French Bread (I used 1/4 of a large baguette)
• Vegetable Oil (enought to make a thin layer covering the bottom of the pan you’re using)
• 2 eggs
• Splash of milk, or 1/8th cup (any kind, I used skim)
• Pancake or Maple Syrup (optional)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

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I love how stuff just grows by itself in Oregon. My roommate just bought some seed at Home Depot, put them in the ground in March, and now we have summer tomatoes! We just water them daily when it gets really hot and dry. These sweet million tomatoes, which resemble cherry tomatoes are great in light pastas, salsas, and bruschetta. We just made bruschetta last night, but I forgot to take pictures. Next time!

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It’s still going through some growing pains, but BlogAdvance is up and running, and is offering 50 free credits for new sign-ups. Check it out.

Also check out WorldPeace.

Sometimes you just have lot of somewhat limp vegetables in the fridge and a surplus of tomato products in the cupboard. Solution: Stew! Make a ton, and freeze the rest for later. Not a real all-out recipe, I just slapped this together. Even forgot to take good pictures.

Ingredients (very flexible):

• 1 sort of beef: ground beef, beef cubes, tips, cheap steaks… (cut up into chunks if needed)
• Vegetable Oil (2 teaspoons)
• Assorted root vegetables: Onions, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes… (cut up into chunks)
• Tomato products: Tomato Paste, Crushed Tomatoes, Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce…
• Couple of cans of chicken or beef broth (optional, but recommended)

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I went to the Portland Farmer’s Market on the Portland State University campus again yesterday, it’s become a bit of a weekly ritual now. I forgot my camera, so I’m afraid I don’t have any nice pictures to post. Next week. So far, I’ve bought cherries, peaches, coffee, bread, basil, and garlic there. I haven’t tried any of the meats or cheeses yet, they seem a bit pricey to me. I usually roll in around 11am, but some of the stalls are already sold out by then! Usually it’s the blueberry stall and the seafood stall that sells out. Either those are some good blueberries or they are dirt cheap.

Oh, and there is a sausage stand that is a good bet for lunch, I think it’s about $5 for a great sausage with grilled peppers and onions, all on a thick roll. Mmm.. Add $2 for a home-made root beer at another stand, and you’ve got a solid local lunch.

I really like Trader Joe’s, they have a lot of good stuff there. So when I came across their little Red Curry and Rice in a box for about 2 bucks, I figured I’d give it a try. Turns out, not such a good idea.

First, the box came unsealed in the cupboard, and all the contents fell on the floor. The curry and rice come in little separate packets, which you put together in a little plastic dish (included) and nuke in the microwave (They advertise that it’s ready in 2 minutes). Or you can boil the packets seperately, but that sounded like too much trouble for a single-serving dish like that. Well, I used the plastic dish first, but it had a crack in it, so half the liquid leaked out the bottom and made a mess. So I used a real dish.

The rice came out like a brick (see pics, click to enlarge), and didn’t improve much after cooking. As for the taste of the curry, it wasn’t very flavorful, had a thin consistency, and was skimpy on the vegetables. The value was good at about $2 for a meal, but it could’ve been more filling. More a lunch portion than a dinner one. Next time I’m buying TastyBite Curry like I usually do, which they also sell at TJ’s.

Final Ratings:
Taste: 2/5
Value: 4/5
Convenience 4/5 (would’ve been 5/5 if the tray wasn’t leaky).

I just ran across this on Flickr - a guy (phil_g) scanned and put up his mom’s handwritten recipes from old 3×5″ cards. It’s beautiful, touching, and useful all at once. I’m going to make this Apple Crisp recipe soon.

(via growabrain.)