Pantry Pasta Done Right!

I just LOVE when I do not have to leave my house to go to the grocery store just so I can make the night's dinner- I love even more when it turns out to be incredible. If you live on the east coast, or happen to turn on the news, you will know that we are currently trapped inside a 'polar vortex' aka its freakin cold as balls. Sorry for the profanity, but it is. I could only manage to get outside in todays snow to go get lunch, other than that- I'm homeward bound, which I can't even deny that I love. So when it came to figuring out dinner on a saturday night, surrounded by great places to eat, I took a better look at what I had already to see if I could take some weight out of my freezer and pantry. Hm… lets see here- I've got: frozen shrimp, a can of chopped clams, garlic, shallots, pernod (fennel flavored liquer)… ding ding ding… seafood pasta? Yes please. It's saturday night, ya damn skippy i'm feelin' a little naughty- I think i'll give myself a food spanking. Ya know, it may seem like I've been cooking a little naughty lately but ya know what, it's OKAY, salmon recipe on the way tomorrow! I didn't even need to leave the house- winning! The best thing about this is all you have to do is go put these things in your pantry: Pernod, frozen shrimp, canned chopped clams- the rest is as easy as onions, garlic, and some butter- simplicity at its finest. For real.

Pantry-Seafood Spaghetti

1/2 lb cooked spaghetti (salt the water! cook al-dente, about 7-8 minutes)
2 tbs olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup Pernod
1 can chopped clams
3 tbs unsalted butter
1 lb shrimp- peeled and deveined, chopped into bite size chunks
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Step 1: preheat a skillet with the olive oil on medium heat, add your shallots and sauté for about 4 minutes stirring frequently until translucent, add your garlic and stir until light golden color, about 2 minutes.

Step 2: Add your Pernod, bring to a boil and then add your clams in their juices and butter. Take it down to a simmer and add your shrimp- season with salt and pepper and add your shrimp. Crank the heat up a bit, keep tossing the shrimp in the sauce until just turned pink- should not take more than 4-5 minutes!

 Step 3: Add your strained pasta to the pan, toss to coat, season with a little salt and pepper- and serve! I mean… restaurant quality seafood pasta, and you didn't even have to go to the market. ENJOY!

C is for cooookie

It's snowing- it is dumping snow- I'm stuck inside yet again except this time it's 3 pm- welp I can't make lunch- it's too early to make dinner… maybe just a snack… just… one…cookie. Yea i'm a fitness trainer, yea I'm going to school to be a dietitian- but like I said from the get-go, I'm not one of those 'girls who posts photos of food they dont eat' - hate that ish. I EAT. And I love cookies. cookies. Cookies. cookies. For years I could not make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Why? Who knows. They fell flat, they were dry, whyyy. Finally, one day, I crafted a recipe that actually…worked. EUREKA! This has been simultaneously the best and the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Best because I can whip up chocolate chip cookies that are amazing in literally 5 minutes. The worst well… I don't have to spell it out for you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp fine vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Step 1: In a large bowl, combine your cane and light brown sugar, with a hand mixer add in your melted and cooled butter until combined. Add in your egg and egg yolk and beat together, then add your vanilla extract.

Step 2: In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix until just the little bits of flour are gone and the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Stir in your chocolate chips.

Step 3: PUT IN THE FRIDGE. I'm sorry! But if you shove it in the oven those cookies are going to be flat buttery messes- let the fats solidify through some cooling and you'll guarantee the perfect cookie. After about 2 hours (SORRY!) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Check out your oven- is it crappy- most likely- know your hot spots and if your oven scorches food easily keep an eye on the cookies and move them around (from one rack to the other etc). Place several spoonfuls of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Pop in oven- about 10 minutes.

They are caramel-y ooey, delicious, almost butterscotch like in flavor but a tride and true chocolate. chip.cookie. You're welcome and… i'm sorry?

Brunchin' hard: Buttamilk Pancaykes

Ah... the weekend, remember the days in college when there was nothing BUT the weekend? Wednesday night was saturday and thursday morning was sunday brunch- (sigh). Now that we are big kids, the weekend actually carries meaning- maybe we aren't working... maybe we are... but every sunday that rolls around this little critter inside of me (probably my unborn food baby) says... brrrrunch....brrrrunch... feed me things you will regret tomorrow... Well for me, today means get up- put on my comfy sweatpants- and study for the week ahead. If you didn't know already I am a graduate student studying dietetics- so while today I will be revisiting carbohydrate metabolism for my macronutrient metabolism class- I will start with my own 'visit' to carbo-land... PAN-CAKES. Pancakes- so simple- and yet- so daunting. For years I could not crank out fresh pancakes, or chocolate chip cookies, luckily for me (not so much for ma waistline) I mastered them both in due time.

If you are yet to own and renovate your home, as about 98% of MY readers have yet to do so because we are young and independently un-wealthy, you know that renting means an unpredictable stove. Most ovens and stoves I have seen in my short 8 years of renting have been so OFF that when I get to cook at my parents house its like being in a professional kitchen. The only thing this means is we have got to test our shit, ie: do a sample pancake so that one side doesn't look like a black tire and the other one is raw. Its not you... its your shitty equipment that we pay an obscene amount in rent to use.

This pancake recipe is delicious, simple, it tastes like how all pancakes should taste... fluffy yet slightly cakey, hints of vanilla, and doused in syrup because I am a five year old- you know how us elves do (thats an Elf reference, and if you don't know it then just GET OFF OF HERE!) kidding. Are these low-cal- not particularly no, but I always find i'd rather know whats going into my brunch then waiting in a ridiculously long line in the city to get fed something maybe as-good but doused in fat and crap that leaves me feeling like I need a 3 hour power nap. In time I will develop a recipe for healthy pancakes that doesn't taste like wallpaper paste but I will not put anything half-assed on here.

Buddamilk Pancakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cane sugar (can use regular- I just like the bit of caramel flavor from the cane)
1/2 tsp fine kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 stick (4 tbs) melted unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups fat-free buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Step 1: Melt your butter and set it aside. In a bowl- measure and combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder whisk together.

Here's our foster dog Jack! Anxiously awaiting a morsel of p-cake...

Step 2: In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla extract, eggs, and whisk to combine (PLEASE REMEMBER: WET measuring cups are different from DRY measuring cups- pictured is a WET measuring cup, the stackable measuring cups are DRY) Then, add your butter- for here, don't worry if it gets a little lumpy- if your making a souffle- that might be a problem- but your good for p-cakes.

Step 3: Preheat a (preferably nonstick) skillet on medium heat. Add the wet mixture into the dry, and stir just until theres no more dry specks- do not overmix! Batter should be lumpy- not like my or your ass because we are not going to eat like we're never having another meal. In batches place 1/3 cup batter in pan (about 1 or 2 at a time). Keep an eye on them if you have a crappy stovetop with uneven heat distribution. About 3 minutes each side- until golden brown. If the worst case scenario is they aren't totally done, pop them in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. 

Douse with your favorite surrup (syrup) and ENJOY! Happy Sunday everyone!

Sunday Peetzuh

Here in Philly there really are not as many pizza options as I would like. Yes NYC you have us beat on bagels and pizza- maybe we might be a less obese population because of it (however we do pick up the cheesesteak so i'd imagine its a wash). What we DO have here are artisanal, brick-oven pizzerias that have been sprouting out of the woodwork for the past 5 years. Lucky for me, one of the most popular brick oven pizza joints around, Nomad Pizza, has just opened down the street. Since the snow has now turned into ice and walking three blocks looks more like my first time on ice-skates this seemed like the perfect option. The crust is thin and smokey, their hot soppressata pizza is my absolute go to. House cured soppressata- sliced to perfection- crispy on the edges, sweetened with drizzled honey and baked to utter heaven= happy sunday tummy. If these pictures don't get you hungry then you have no food genitals.