The Cutting Board

Stir fried chicken is a lot of fun to make. By which, I mean, it’s exciting and the results are tasty. It’s even easy, if you do all the preparation ahead of time. And, it involves working with a wok and very high heat, which is fun and exciting. You could do it in any large pot, too. It’s well worth trying, as it’s a delicious and unique flavor.

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To me, at least, spring tastes like fresh strawberries. Well, those, a lot of rain, and allergies, but the fun part would be strawberries. Strawberry rhubarb pie utilizes them in the best possible way, to create warm, gooey deliciousness. I made this pie last week while I was home with local rhubarb, and it was so delicious.

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In my haste to get all my pictures for my other posts uploaded, and the post on the pork chops done today, being home and done finals and therefore having time to write all this up, I nearly forgot about a little midnight experiment I had while writing papers. I was hungry, there was one last chunk of fish in the fridge from the aforementioned fish fry, and I needed to use it up. Therefore, I threw it in a baking pan with what I had on hand, and the result was pretty tasty.

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Thus, why I made it yesterday for mother’s day. I didn’t get pictures, so none are coming, but this one should stand on its own merits: it’s the best thing I’ve made all year, flat out.

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I wasn’t the one to pull this one off, I just helped. My good friend Alex P led it, with me just assisting as needed and prepping the aforementioned beans as a side dish. That said, we agreed afterwards the results were phenomenal, and he was OK with me posting it. And, thus, a post on beer-battered pollock, because this affordable, everyday dish can be a real marvel with some effort.

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At least, this recipe seems to have everything in it - though oddly enough, you don’t really need to use the sink aside from rinsing the beans and picking out any bad ones. This recipe is basically a baked beans recipe modified to have some fun and flavor - smoky barbecue flavor, that is. It’s got a whole range of fun ingredients, and my version, while modified with several substitutions from the original (largely my mother’s suggestions, which removed some of the overpowering elements and upped the barbecue flavor), still has a whole mess of fun ingredients which turn baked beans into something, which, if not gourmet, is at least fun at parties. Keep reading →

Peanut butter cookies, for whatever reason, just feel easier to make than chocolate chip cookies. Maybe it’s that their cooking time isn’t as long, or that the batch is smaller, or that I can fit more onto a cookie sheet, or that the batter is easy enough to mix by hand, but this is a nice quick batch of cookies.
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When I was a child, if you asked me what my favorite food was, I definitely would have said macaroni and cheese. I loved the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese from the blue box that came with the powdered cheese beyond all reason, and nothing else would satisfy my cravings. As I grew older and my palate broadened, I reached the point where I ate too many things to really pick favorites, and then there came the point where something in my brain decided powdered cheese was unnatural, and thus macaroni and cheese fell out of favor with me. But, deep in my mind, there always has been that idealized notion of great mac and cheese.

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Not really the breakfast of champions, but it’s probably the best ‘get ready for a big day’ breakfast I can think of. Everyone has a recipe, this is my favorite. It’s my father’s variant, and it works straight, or with just about any fruit I can think of added in (about 3/4 - 1 cup of strawberries, blueberries, apple, peach, pear, or raspberries have been tried thus far). Today’s version was done with blueberry syrup, which is basically just taking the blueberries, adding them to a bit of pancake syrup, and then boiling it on low heat very slowly, releasing the blueberry flavor. Probably the best use of frozen garden blueberries this side of pie, but pancakes are amazing with no fruit and just a bit of butter.

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I like cucumbers quite a bit. I’ll eat them straight at salad bars. I think they’re just fantastic. However, an already good thing can be made that much better, with a few simple ingredients - this is a side salad I’ll serve with just about any fancy meal, especially Asian cuisine.

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