Greetings and salutations! 

I have experimenting in the kitchen again, and for once, it's not to make a dessert!

Calamari is one of the few types of seafood that I can eat. I developed an allergy to shellfish when I was a child, much to my chagrin. Yet it's a foodstuff that I don't have much experience cooking. This recipe would only be my second time using the whole calamari, rather than the precooked breaded variety. 

My first attempt had been an Italian stuffed calamari recipe. Which was super good but took me three times as long to make as it should have. So for my second try, I decided to go for something a little, a lot simpler. And in my search on Pinterest, I came across a recipe for a spicy Chinese-style stir fry which sounded right up my alley. 

Original recipe that I adapted from: https://omnivorescookbook.com/spicy-squid-stir-fry/. 

The only trouble was....I didn't have half of the ingredients. Chinese cuisine is usually something I buy, not something I cook, lol. My family is also not much into spicy stuff anyway.

So, I improvised with the ingredients I had, made some substitutions and the results came out absolutely amazing! 

The only thing that didn't really work was...how I cut the calamari. The original recipe had said to split and score them and that they would curl up. Mine didn't do that, and those tubes were kinda big to get the mouth around. And nothing is worse than trying to chew a slightly rubbery squid tube that's too big for the mouth. So I highly recommend cutting the tubes into pieces for easier eating. 

Sweet Squid Stir Fry Recipe: 

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

3 10.6 oz packages of frozen PenaPesca calamari tubes and tentacles, thawed.

Cooking sherry 

2-3 bell peppers, chopped

1 white onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Sauce:

1/3 cup water

1/6 cup Kikoman Sweet Soy Sauce

2 tsp sesame seeds

1- 1 1/2 tsp cumin

1- 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder

2 tsp corn starch

Directions:

1. Chop calamari tubes into wide rings or strips. Marinate tube pieces and tentacles in cooking sherry and set aside. 

2. Caramelize bell pepper and onion pieces over medium heat. Add minced garlic towards end. 

3. Combine sauce ingredients into bowl. Stir occasionally to keep contents from settling. 

4. Remove calamari from the marinade. Saute calamari on high for a few minutes, drain as needed. 

5. Combine veggies, calamari and sauce, cook on medium for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. 

6. Remove from heat and serve immediately with white rice. 

oh dear...guess I should have taken the picture before we cut it....

Hey y'all!

I seem to have developed this knack for creating desserts from limited ingredients.

So during the beginning of July, I and two of my brothers were helping my grandparents move into their new apartment. The only comment I have is that moving in the heat and humidity of July, up and down flights of stairs, really really stinks.

Anyway, we spent a few days unpacking dishes, books and decorating the apartment. And then what comes, but 4th of July!

Holidays always are celebrated with desserts in my family, and so it was no surprise when my grandmother suggested that we make a traditional apple sort of dessert.

But because this particular truck we unloaded was the first load, there wasn't that much foodstuffs that made it down (that came in the second truck later that week). Meaning, I had the apples, some flour, some brown sugar, butter....but no cinnamon, no spices, no white sugar...

So, it was time to dig into my grandmother's recipe books to see what I could find. I'll be frank, I wasn't very hopeful - after all, an apple dessert without cinnamon almost spells disaster.

I got drawn to one recipe called Apple Scallop. Basically, it was thinly sliced apples that were placed in a dish with sugar and some other simple things. But it seemed too simple to me. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that I was craving apple pie at the time.

But again...the cinnamon issue. Ugh!

Now, I don't know why...but my eyes were drawn to a glass jar to my left. It was the apple butter that I had used as part of...something. I think breakfast?

Then a light bulb went off. Apple butter has....cinnamon! Spices! Apple flavoring! Problem solved!

The brain then went into development overdrive. I first decided to make half of a piecrust so that the apples wouldn't stick to the pan. Then taking the recipe for Apple Scallop and treating it similar to scalloped potatoes, I created a sort of pie filling. And then, because of ingredient scarity, I decided to go with an apple crisp sort of topping instead of more crust.

So my dessert turned into a mashup of apple pie, apple crisp, and Apple Scallop.

Now how to name that conglomeration?

In the midst of my brothers and I bouncing ridiculous names at each other, my grandmother raised her fork and said "I call it good."

And it was.


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1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Prepare the homemade pie crust. Place in bottom and sides of a 2 qt casserole dish (if doubling, use a bigger dish!). Chill in refrigerator while the rest of the dish is being prepared. 
3. Combine brown sugar, butter, and ¼ cup of flour to make crumble mixture. Set aside. 
4. Thinly slice apples. Peeling is optional, but may be recommended. 
5. In crust-lined dish, place two layers of apples, alternating directions. Sprinkle some flour (around a 1tsp), over apples. 
6. Spoon apple butter liberally over apples as desired. 
7. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 until all the apples are used. 
8. Top with crumble mixture and place in the oven for at least 35 minutes (apples should be tender). 
9. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!  

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine

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1. Preheat the oven to 350°F 
2. Crush granola bars finely and pour into ungreased 9x9 baking dish. Pour melted butter over crumbs and press to make crust. Be sure to cover the sides of the pan!  
3. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Prepare puddings as directed. Set both crust and puddings aside to cool. 
4. Pour chocolate pudding into cool crust. Then spoon in vanilla pudding in either a design (as in the picture) or swirl together slightly to create the classic marbled look. 
5. Chill for 4-5 hours. Enjoy!  

The first version :)

Hey y'all,

So, after Lent was over, I started craving sweets again like crazy, especially since that was the first thing I cut out.

So, a couple of days after Easter, I went to pull down the large package of Chips Ahoy! that I had stashed up for there since forever.

I opened the package, and...they were pale. Apparently the sell by date was back in March. Figures right? I ate a couple, and they seemed just a little stale but not terrible.

Anyways, the search began for a dessert recipe that used ruined/stale cookies. Cause I wasn't about to waste over 30 cookies.

In the end, I ended up drafting one for bar cookies. I crushed up half the package of Chips Ahoy and placed the crumbs with some melted butter in the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Then I melted a Hershey XL bar of chocolate and mixed it with some peanut butter and spread it on top of the crumb mixture. I will say that was easier said than done. Then I placed some dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses to fill in where the mixture missed. Then I placed it in a 350 degree oven for around 15 minutes.

The result? A ridiculously hard crust and a super soft top.

It did taste good though.....

So I tried again, since I only got rid of half the cookies the first time.

This time, I added milk to the crust, enough to wet the cookies that weren't wetted by the butter. Finding out the right amount of milk was really tough, because Chips Ahoy cookies don't need a lot of milk to be soaked. I will say that the milk really helped to soften the crust and it was somewhat easier to spread. However, the layers were a lot less distinct, which produced a blending effect, which I didn't like. However, I'm not sure how to fix that balance just yet. But, the second batch was met with rave reviews, so I will add the recipe file below.

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine

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My creation...I mean dinner

Hey y'all,

So I'm feeling really, really excited right now.

Because I'm sitting here in front of my computer, contently eating another successful experiment in the kitchen.

Recently, I had been "gifted" some leftover panko fried fish by some family members after a recent trip (I was the only one who had some sort of cooler which I could transport it in....oh well, free food is free food.)

So when I got back to my apartment, I immediately threw it into the freezer in order to keep it. And promptly forgot it for about 2 weeks.

But, being the frugal soul that I am, I hate to waste it. Especially now as I'm approaching the last few weeks of school, I'm starting to think about getting rid of all the food in the freezer. This tends to lead to a lot of experimentation, especially when I have uncomplimentary foods like rice and fish.

Hence I searched for recipes for leftover fish. I didn't have that much success, but I hit paydirt when I found this recipe for Kedgeree: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10421/kedgeree
I adapted it for the spices and food I had and presto! A great meal to do for Fridays with nothing but leftovers!

Recipe is below. Enjoy!


Bottom of the Barrel Kedgeree
Serves 4

Note: if your leftover fish is frozen, let it thaw naturally in the fridge for several hours, at least until it is easy to break apart. The pan will heat it up fairly quickly.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of cooked white rice
1/8 cup olive oil (Have extra ready)
Dried onion (as much as you want)
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried tarragon leaves
4 hard boiled eggs
1 large filet leftover panko fried fish

Directions:
1. Defrost fish, if needed.
2. Hard-boil eggs, if needed.
3. Blend the spices in a small bowl. Place 1/8 cup of olive oil in a large frying pan. Place spice mixture in and mix well.
4. Place cold leftover white rice into pan and mix well. Turn burner to medium heat, heat mixture well.
5. If needed, add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Break fish into small bite-sized pieces and place into pan with the rice mixture. Mix until fish is coated. Let heat.
6. Peel eggs, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Put into pan and mix. Let heat.
7. Serve hot and enjoy!

Hey y'all,

So the past couple of posts have been pretty serious so I decided to change it up a bit.....with a cooking scrape!

Ok, so I'm a big fan of bulk food stores, but it's an art to make it work for a single person. So sitting in my cupboard was a large container of pretzels that I got over the summer at BJs. It was one third full and growing stale fast. Now, I hate wasting food if I can possibly avoid it, and I had a big potluck coming up. I figured that I'd kill two birds and so, I started looking for pretzel dessert recipes. I found one on The Gingham Apron site via Pinterest which looked delicious. Here is the link in case you are interested: http://www.theginghamapron.com/pineapple-pretzel-salad/. 

So I bought all the ingredients that I didn't have, rolled up my sleeves and got to work!

I simply started by following the original instructions (although I must admit, the crust was terrible. I would heartily recommend that you find another recipe for the crust!). Everything was going peachy....until I started getting frugally fancy.....

The recipe called for drained canned pineapple. Since I always get the kind in pineapple juice, I knew the juice was still good. Boy, I hated to waste all 20 oz of it., Besides, the top NEEDED a drizzle! So naturally, why not make a pineapple drizzle?

Ummm, I failed....big time.

I had no recipe to go off of, so I started creating one in my head. I broke out the powdered sugar and started to pour it in, figuring that it would thicken up enough that it would drizzle. After an alarming amount of sugar didn't thicken it at all, I looked for another alternative.

Cornstarch.

That didn't thicken it either, and frankly, the color looked horrible. Of course I'll salvage it!

How?

Microwave.

(You get where this is going?)

Yeah....PINEAPPLE FLAVORED GELATIN.

Oh brother.......well, it tasted good! I spread the hot sticky stuff on the partially cooled filling and let it set a bit. But the original problem still remained....no drizzle.

So I go searching through and found some dark baking chips in the freezer. So, I tried melting them. Not totally successfully here either. The chips were really grainy and further melting didn't help at all. By this point I was totally frustrated and started flinging the hot globby chocolate over the dessert. I wish I had saved pictures of the original because it was a work of art once it was done.

So instead, I made an artistic representation of it.

I added extra pretzel pieces in addition to the chocolate, and the dish was a smash hit (only one or two servings left to take home) 😀

I've included my recipe below. Hope you enjoy it!

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine

Hey y'all,

(I apologize in advance for all the puns I may slip in. The image below is a yellowfin tuna courtesy of the public domain.)


Ah, the joys of defending my Faith....

Recently I have heard a very...ummm....interesting explanation for the Catholic tradition of eating fish on Friday from a non-Catholic relative of mine.

Supposedly there was a pope that noticed that the fishing industry was in decline. So in order to bring it up again the pope (no idea which one) mandated, without any religious reason whatsoever, that the people should eat fish on Friday.

Now, it's pretty obvious to any educated Catholic that this is a myth, on many different levels. Even secular scholars agree on that. Like all myths though, this one has as some grains of truth. The fishing industry in medieval times was looked on favorably by the Church because of the fasting and abstinence laws of the time. Medieval fasting and abstinence laws required 3 days of abstinence instead of just one. Sure, fish was not the only food that would have satisfied the requirements, but it was the most popular. Therefore, consumer demand forced the growth of the fishing industry. (On a side note, consumer demand struck again in the 20th century, forcing fast food chains to create a fish sandwich option. Never underestimate the power of your dollars).

While there was no proof that a Roman pontiff made dealings with fishers of fish, there is a king who bargained with the fishermen. King Henry VIII of England, to be exact. To make a long story short, after the break with Rome, fish was considered a Catholic dish (because of the three days of fasting and abstinence). Therefore fishing declined and the king was forced to do something about it otherwise he would to had to deal with large numbers of unemployed fishermen. Never a good thing.

(Note: Most of the story behind the myth was paraphrased from an NPR article: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/04/05/150061991/lust-lies-and-empire-the-fishy-tale-behind-eating-fish-on-friday)

With that myth safely blown out of water, here are multiple different traditional and religious reasons why this practice was put into place:

1. Our Lord died on a Friday. Therefore, as a sacrifice, Catholics observe full abstinence (i.e. no meat at all). This is true even in the early days of the Church. 

2. Fish are a cold-blooded species, so they are not considered a flesh meat.
 There are various reasons why flesh meat is to be avoided, most having to do with the abolishment of animal sacrifice by early Church fathers.

3. There is heavy symbolism of fish in both the Old and New Testament. The creation of fish was on the fifth day, fish eyes were symbols of God's watchful Eye, fish as symbols for Baptism and Our Lord, as well as countless stories and miracles surrounding fish provide countless traditional reasons why this practice is just.

(Note: These last few paragraphs are paraphrased from the following website: https://www.catholicvote.org/five-reasons-we-should-always-eat-fish-on-fridays/ as well as some input from the NPR article.)

One final one from me:
4. If it's good enough for Our Lord and His Apostles, it's good enough for us!

Speaking of which, I'll get off my soap box and open up my secret recipes files....

A Simple Tuna Casserole

This is a great recipe for a quick and easy Friday meal and one of my favorites. 4 large servings.

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta (macaroni, rotelle, or rigatoni are best)
1 15oz can of Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/4 cup milk
1 20 oz can of Starkist tuna in water, drained.
Frozen Vegetables (My favorites are corn, celery, green pepper, onion and carrots.)
Bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Make pasta as directed. Preheat oven to 365 degrees
2. While draining pasta, combine soup and milk in the pasta pot. Add pasta back into pot. Mix well.
3. Add tuna and vegetables. Mix well.
4. Combine bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, enough to fill a small bowl. Spread enough crumb mixture to cover the bottom of a large casserole dish. Fill the casserole dish with the tuna mixture and top with remaining crumb mixture.
5. Place in oven for 30-60 minutes until it bubbles and the bread coating on top is somewhat crispy. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve.

Hope you guys enjoy the New Year!

Old-fashionedly yours,

Catherine