Delicious

Dinner Friday was delicious. Definitely try this recipe for a light but filling dinner. You could definitely vary the vegetables but made as is it's a lovely spring dish. I serve it with steamed artichokes and crusty sourdough bread. I's really quick to put together too! Try it!

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce, Asparagus and Peas

8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 lb. asparagus, sliced into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 c. frozen peas, thawed
1 Tbsp. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. chicken broth
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 c. heavy cream
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

(Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Add asparagus during last minute of cooking time. Place peas in colander; drain pasta mixture over peas and set aside. Melt butter in pan, saute garlic one minute. Combine broth and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir until well blended. Add to pan and bring to a boil. Cook one minute or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in cream, lemon juice, salt, pepper and red pepper. Add pasta mixture to pan and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Dinner tonight

I'm making this for dinner tonight. I'll let you know how it goes!

Pixie Mandarins

If you get a chance to stop by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market (and you should, you really, really should, Fresh and Easy rocks!)) pick up a bag of their "Pixie Mandarins". They are little oranges, even smaller than Clementines and just as easy to peel with no seeds. They are the sweetest little oranges I have ever eaten. Seriously. They are like juicy candy. So good. Try them!

Hunger

I have said a million times, "I'm starving to death!" But I have never really been starving. I think it would be a horrible thing to be that hungry. Here is a website that appeals to me on several levels. It's called Free Rice
and you play a vocabulary game and if you get the vocabulary word right then a sponsoring advertiser donates twenty grains of rice. You can keep playing as long as you want and it gives you some really challenging words. I've been playing at level 43 which is really tough. It goes up to level 55 but says it's hard to stay above level 48. But you don't have to worry about choosing your level, the game will do it for you based on the words you get right and wrong.

I saw this game yesterday in my Mensa magazine and then again last night on NBC News. With two references in one day I had to go check it out. I played today and not only did I learn some new words (that's important for a writer, right? I wasn't just wasting time, right?) but I "donated" three thousand grains of rice, or about half a cup. Now I know I'm not going to end world hunger but if everyone played this game for five minutes, think how many hungry people would have rice.

Here's one to get you started:
"Stertorous" means a) jumbo b) attractive c) snoring d) permeable

Head to Free Rice and learn some new words and feed some people. It's all good. And the answer is c.

Ah, Brownies

I love dessert (as anyone who has ever seen my ass can attest). And for me, the ultimate dessert is brownies. Why? Because they are the most perfect cross between cake and candy ever invented. Rich, fudgy, loaded with extra chocolate and then embellished to your hearts content. Mmm.

Brownies are easy to make, take only one bowl, no mixer required and you can vary them infinitely. I once had a man, who had recently gotten engaged, offer to dump his fiancee and marry me after eating one of my s'more brownies. (Graham cracker crust, rich brownie center, smooth marshmallow cream on top that I toasted with a blow torch. Yummy.) I'm not sure he really would have married me (I also had a proposal over my home made peach pie and yet I'm still single. The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach but apparently the stomach has a short memory span) but it was nice to know my brownies were that good.

I love taking brownies and seeing how I can make them better. My malt ball brownies with malted chocolate frosting are to die for. Black forest brownies are sinfully good. Others have exclaimed over my German chocolate brownies (I'm not a big fan of coconut so I'll just take their word for it) And my brownie trifle was once given the highest compliment, "it's better than sex". While I'm not sure it's that good, it is a pretty awesome combination of brownies, chocolate custard, whipped cream and ganache. My brother also says it can induce coma if not given in small doses. Wimp.

My favorite brownies are loaded with chocolate then frosted. Pretty basic but I then drizzle ganache over them because I just can't leave them alone. For those that don't know, ganache is just chocolate and heavy cream mixed together. Lots of people are intimidated by ganache. It's so easy if you use my microwave method. (Oh, be quiet all you chocolate purists, yes you can make a great ganache in the microwave!) Put a few tablespoons of heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 20-30 seconds until quite warm. Pour in chopped chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and glossy. It will look really disgusting at first as the cream sort of separates but keep stirring and it will all come together and be soooo good. The ratio varies depending on how thick or thin you want the ganache to be, but a good rule of thumb is two parts chocolate to one part cream for a sauce-like ganache. I use a mixture of both bittersweet and milk chocolate in my ganache, mostly bittersweet with just a touch of the sweeter milk chocolate to mellow it out. Three to one seems just right. Of course if you love milk chocolate, just reverse it for a sweeter ganache. Use this ganache for drizzling over brownies, ice cream, using in butter cream frosting, fold into whipped cream for an amazing chocolate mousse. Ganache is to die for!

Okay, here is my dirty little secret. If I'm running short on time I'll cheat and use a brownie mix. Brownie mixes are pretty easy and if you 'doctor' them a bit they taste almost as good as home made. If I'm 'cheating' I'll add four tablespoons of chocolate syrup (Hershey Special Dark) and at least an extra half cup of chopped chocolate. Also, if you substitute a little of the water called for with Kahlua or vanilla rum it will really taste yummy. Of course home made is best but I always keep a box of brownie mix on hand for 'emergencies'. A doctored mix can be in the oven in less than five minutes and that can cover a lot of emergency situations!

If you have the time, here is an easy brownie recipe to get you started. Embellish to your hearts content and enjoy!

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 c. butter
1 3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 9 X 13 baking pan. In a large microwaveable mixing bowl, microwave butter and unsweetened chocolate for 1-2 minutes until butter is melted. Take bowl out of microwave and stir until all of the chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar. Mix in the beaten eggs and the vanilla. Stir in flour and chocolate chips until just combined. Spread into greased pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (Be careful not to over bake. They are fudgiest when slightly under done. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out 'almost clean" - meaning not gooey but not perfectly clean either. If you cook them too long the center will be dry and the edges inedible.) If you can wait that long, cool and frost. If you can't wait, eat them warm with some vanilla ice cream. Heaven!

Food Porn

I read cookbooks for pleasure. Cookbooks and cooking magazines and gourmet food catalogs are pornography for foodies. I love to read the recipes and if there are pictures then it's even better. Now we add to the list of food porn the internet.

I have had a subscription to Bon Apetit since I was a teenager. My grandma got it for me because she knew how much I like to cook. Every month that issue would come and I would peruse it's glossy pages for recipes and photographs like a frat guy with a Playboy. ( I wish I could say I just read Bon Apetit for the articles but I'd be lying. And honestly, I wish it had a centerfold of like a cake or smorgasbord or something). And I save my favorite issues to read over and over again. Recently the magazine has undergone a bit if a 'makeover' and the magazine is better than ever with a little more everyday type food as well as the true gourmet stuff. I love it even more now, if that's possible.

I also love those little grocery store checkout cookbooks with the 'pictures of every recipe'. At one point in my life I had several hundred of them, stored in cardboard filing drawers, many of them with their pages marked with colored paperclips for the recipes I had made, or wanted to make someday. During my last move I got rid of them except a few well worn favorites. It's only because I'm a struggling writer that I don't keep collecting them but at four dollars a pop I can't afford them right now. So I just surreptitiously read them in the line at the checkout counter and make mental notes of any interesting recipes.

Don't even get me started on food catalogs. I read the Dean and Deluca catalog with almost religious devotion, drool over Harry and David and save my Zabar's catalogs for years. Heck, I even read the crappy Swiss Colony catalog at Christmas time just to see what's in the 'Super Tower of Treats'. Yes, I know I have a problem, but it's my problem, don't judge.

And now I search the internet for recipes. Many sites have pictures and I must constantly remind myself that licking my computer screen is probably not a good idea. So I will try to add more pictures of my recipes here on Gourmand Girl so that food porn lovers like me can enjoy.

The only thing that could make it better is if you could taste the food. Scratch and sniff was a start, but I saw a marketing campaign for juice that put one of those little strips (like the ones with the mouthwash or breath strips) into a magazine so you could 'taste' their product. Now we just need scientists to make one that tastes like white chocolate key lime pie to put next to the recipe and I'd be in high heaven.

My Favorite Blue Bell Flavors (so far)

1. Ultimate Neapolitan
2. Pecan Praline's and Cream
3. Mint Chip
4. Moo-lenium Crunch
5. Banana Nut

I only have three and a half days left to try and eat as much as I can. I'm up to the challenge!
P.S. The Shopette across from my office on base has an AMAZING selection of Blue Bell. There isn't a vegetable in the store - in any form, canned, frozen, fresh, I mean nada, zip, nothing - but they have every flavor of Blue Bell in pint and half gallon. Gotta love that!