"cooking" round-up + dog

Remember how I promised to write more about what I cook in my own kitchen? And then I started writing reviews for falafel and pork buns instead? Well it turns out that I eat some pretty unappetizing things. No, not like adventurous unappetizing, just unappetizing. Remember when I put peanut butter on my sweet potatoes? Yeah, like that. I also made these sweet potato fries (delicious, salty, garlicky) and ate them with salsa and nonfat yogurt. Why?!

I don't know. I just get this idea that I should make use of what's in my fridge and pantry. Like, "Hey, I've got some black beans sitting here, why don't I put this teriyaki sauce  on them, add some cayenne, put it all in the blender, and then spread it on a cracker!" Ga-ross.

But since I promised, and since I did cook a fair amount when I was home sick last week, here's a little illustrated run-down of home-cooked meals, loosely defined:

1. Creamy polenta/polenta bars. Polenta is a miracle starch. I found some of the quick-cooking variety, and it's insane how quickly it comes together and how much mileage you can get from 1/2 a cup. I eat it for breakfast (when I'm not feeling the oatmeal), and the leftovers are great for polenta bars. I eat the creamy polenta with milk and cinnamon and walnuts. The leftovers firm up in the fridge, and I cut them in bars and fry them in a skillet with a little butter (I skipped flour dredging step because I don't have flour, and they were still good, even though they fell apart a little in the pan).

2. Chicken and rice. I'm probably the last person on earth to be wowed by chicken. I told you I'm an amateur. But seriously, I barely used any oil, and my chicken was moist and tender. I put some Adobo seasoning on it (A Simple Shake is All It Takes!), and eat it over Parmesan brown rice. The rice cooks with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and the Parmesan gets stirred in at the end. Gourmet, I know. Oh, and yes, that was a very entertaining article in the New Yorker about lesbians on road trips.

3. Squash and parsnips pureed. This was lovely comfort food on the worst day of my cold. On that day, I slept, woke up and made this, ate it, and went back to sleep. I boiled the chunks of vegetables and threw them in the blender with olive oil, cinnamon, and a little nutmeg. Butter would be delicious, too (of course), but I've been trying to stick with the mono/polyunsaturated fats as much as possible. Mark Bittman has trained me well.

4. Sardines on rice chips and (non-baby) carrots. I don't really understand baby carrots. Are they grown that way? They always taste sort of watery and processed to me. I have similar concerns regarding baby corn. There's just something weird about eating a food with "baby" in its name. I also think grown-up carrots are just better. They're sweeter and crunchier and more satisfying all around. My mom used to eat sardines and I thought they were disgusting. Turns out they're not! I started buying them after I found the Society for the Appreciation of the Lowly Tinned Sardine (SALT), which reviews canned sardines. They're actually a great thing to have around. They have a lot of iron and good fat, and it's easy to plop them into sauces, stir frys, etc, or mash them with garlic and eat them on bread. I ate them on these brown rice chips, which turned out to steal the show. Riceworks, I am now a devotee.

5. No, I didn't make this bagel at home, but it's worth a mention. It's from H&H on 80th and Broadway, where some of the best bagels in the world are supposedly made. I ate it with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and it was good. Not "best in the world" good, but pretty satisfying.

Now I'm home, where my mother makes me dinner and I get to hang out with this guy:

He was lying on my stomach at this point. I won't bore you with gratuitous puppy shots, but there are plenty more on Flickr.

Tomorrow, it's back to city. Expect some Tuesday Tramping and some cupcake updating soon!