novel nosh - The Help

When my roomie moved in a couple months ago we both started reading the same book.  Why I own two copies of The Help I'll never really know.  But it worked out perfectly because it meant, ready for it?  Book Club!!!  So we set a date, got to reading, told all our girlies about it, and planned our first group meeting.  I finished the book long enough before the meeting that I forgot all the little details that are necessary to recall in order to discuss the book.  I really enjoyed it, but immediately started reading two more books and got a bunch of details mixed up.  Roomie still has 100 pages left to finish but she's totally digging on the story so we can kind of chat about it.  And our only galpal to come through for Book Club Chapter 1 didn't even buy the book and never got around to watching the movie.  Book Club fail.

But we got together despite our literary slacker-ness to share a Help themed nosh and cocktail like proper Southern gals... well, me and Birdy are total Yanks but Isabelle's from ATL.  Our conversation may not have been based on the book, but our menu certainly was - Stuffed Mushrooms (those might not be Southern but we can pretend) & mini Sweet Potato Pie bites from Trader Joes, Southern Champagne Cocktails, and my own version of Minny's Famous Caramel Cake.  We decided against any chocolate pie and if you've read the book, you'll totally get it.  The conversation was girly and bubbly and wonderful so all in all, our Book Club wasn't a total failure.  Plus we were able to narrow down our options for Book Club Chapter 2 which you're all totally invited to join!  But before I let you in on the details, how about I give you a little glimpse into the Junior League cookbook and share a recipe or two?  Yeah, I thought y'all would like that.

thanks to Trader Joes for the tasty treats

Minny's Famous Caramel Cake

I actually found this recipe on Kathryn Stockett's website.  I guess bragging about how delicious an imaginary cake is brought in an awful lot of requests for a recipe.  And wouldn't you know that the recipe she gives is from a cookbook put out by the Junior League of Memphis in 1952.  Amazeballs!  Unfortunately, it was just the recipe for the caramel icing so I just slathered it between a couple layers of basic yellow cake.  Basic yellow cake with bourbon vanilla because bourbon is deep South like the gals in the book.

yellow cake

ingredients

2 c cake flour (not the self-rising kind)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 unsalted butter, room temp

1 c sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp bourbon vanilla

3/4 milk

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 8" cake pans.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

2. On a low speed, add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar.  Add the vanilla and mix well.  Alternately add the milk and flour mix until the mix is creamy and smooth.  Split the batter between the two pans.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely before icing.  Ice with the Never Fail Creamy Caramel Icing from the Junior League of Memphis that Ms. Stockett so graciously provides the recipe to.  I was left with a lot of extra caramel but once it all soaks into the cake, you might want to put a few extra scoops on for good measure.  Really, you can never have too much caramel!

Southern Champagne Cocktail

ingredients

1 oz chilled Southern Comfort

4 oz chilled champagne or sparkling wine

dash of Angostura bitters

orange twist

directions

Pour SoCo and bitters into a glass, topping with champagne.  Rim the lip of the glass with the orange peel and garnish with a twist.

So yeah, we got a little tipsy and had a ladies night instead of chatting about a book.  It didn't matter though because we had a great night!  We've narrowed down our Chapter 2 reads to two books - F Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned or Baby Let's Play House: Elvis and the Women Who Loved Him by Alanna Nash.  I'll let y'all know the second we make our final decision so everyone can run out to the library and grab a copy.  Join our book club!  Tasty treats, sassy ladies and novel noshes - you know you want in!

at least we looked bookish.

empty pot, empty handed

I was really nervous about entering my first ever chili cookoff yesterday... and understandably so.  The chilis there were amazeballs and totally inventive.  Needless to say, me and my subpar chili did not win the main event.  But my 20 minute hobble to the bar with the heaviest pot of chili in the world (so heavy that my arms wouldn't stop shaking for nearly 30 minutes after I finally put the pot down) was totally worth it because I did receive an honorable mention and walked out with an empty pot and a lot of compliments.  Plus I met some really nice people and got to hang out with a few of my favorites that were there, too!

People kept asking me 'what's so special about your chili?' and I would just respond 'nothing, really.'  Then again, my pot was gobbled up pretty quickly so maybe it's a little better than I thought.  You see, I'm not a huge fan of chili.  I am no doubt a regular fan of chili, but it's not something I would ever order out and the only reason I ever really make any is because it's cheap and easy and keeps you warm in the winter.  If you were to ask me for my chili recipe, I wouldn't even be able to give it to you because I don't have one.  But for those of you who said you really liked it (and also said you'd check out my blog,) here's an attempt -

lady baby j's straight up chili

ingredients (nearly all are to taste)

2 lbs really good ground beef

diced tomatoes

an onion, chopped

a jalepeno, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

chipotle chili powder

regular chili powder

cumin, lots of cumin

hot hungarian paprika

smoky sweet spanish paprika

cayenne pepper

white pepper

black pepper

salt

chili infused olive oil

red beans

pink beans

black beans

directions

1. In a large skillet, cook onions, jalepeno and garlic in oil.  Add meat a quarter pound at a time to brown.  Dump the entire contents of the skillet into a large, heated dutch oven or chili pot.  Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer while adding all the spices.  Let simmer for a few hours.  Add the beans.  Let sit overnight and reheat the next morning so all the flavors can really marinate.  Serve with cheese, sour cream and fritos.

If that doesn't work out for you, you're always welcome to swing by my place next time I make a batch.  Maybe you can even give me a few tips to better my "recipe" and give me a shot at next year's prize!  Though I'm not sure I could ever come up with something as creative as a Korean inspired chil-bim-bop nor would I have the patience to prep all the fixins that went along with it for everyone that showed up to the cookoff.  It was definitely a well-deserved win!

So, thanks to Jason of Me So Hungry and Justice of the Unicorns and Vanessa and Jose at K&M and all the chili cookers and everyone that showed up!  It was a blast and I can't wait for next year's event.

it's a cookoff!

If you're in my neck of the woods this afternoon, join me at K&M for a chili cookoff!  I ran out of cumin while prepping my batch at 11:30 last night so what I'll be presenting is kind of subpar.  A bit shameful, but I refuse to show up empty handed.  Either way it's sure to be a super fun good wholesome(?) time so come on down and cast your vote... for me.

details:

4th Annual Chili Cookoff

presented by

Justice of the Unicorns and Me So Hungry 

at K&M

N 8th and Roebling

comfort worth an extra rep of sit-ups

I like to think that I'm one of those people that can eat whatever the heck they want and never gain a pound.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.  I have to bust my butt riding my bike and running and walking and doing thousands of sit-ups and push-ups every single day.  I have to dig deep into my being and use every last ounce of willpower that I have to eat only one cookie or a sliver of cake when I'm done taking photos and blogging about it.  It's taken me a long time to develop this kind of control over myself.  In the past, back when I had no self-control and was twice the size I am now, I could have sat and eaten an entire cake on my own, or three servings of saucy pasta, or a whole baguette slathered with butter.  Well, I could still do that now but at least I've learned to gorge in moderation and not go crazy every single day... but I still have my weaknesses.

this, is not what i look like.

Savory comfort food.  Yup, I'm a sucker for it; especially when this time of year rolls around.  I love to shuffle around the apartment all day in pjs and an old man cardigan and chunky socks while cooking up something super starchy and cheesy and salty and delicious.  That's what I did the other day (before we were hit by this sudden November heat wave.)  A pound of thick cut bacon, some tenderized chicken breasts, a mountain of freshly grated cheese, and a box of pasta later, I sat down to an amazingly comfy plate of spaghetti carbonara.  Had I thought things through beforehand, I would have cut the recipe in half so as not to make so much.  But I didn't.  Still, I managed to reign myself in and only eat one serving at a time like a responsible person.  Even that one serving made me feel just a teensy bit gluttonous though and I did a few extra crunches that night.  Then I thought to myself, 'there is no way in hell Giada ever eats spaghetti carbonara' and got really mad at her for shoving her damn creamy and cheesy recipe in my face (by shoving it in my face I really mean publishing it in her cookbook.  The cookbook that I had to dig around for and then flip through every page of in order to find this recipe since the pages were stuck together with spillage from the last time I attempted this recipe.  So maybe 'shoved in my face' is a little exaggerated.)  But come on now!  I bust my ass to stay fit and hardly ever gorge on things like carbonara sauce and I still don't look like Giada.  I'm calling her bluff!

So yeah, enough ranting - let's get down to business, recipe business.  Like I mentioned, I have attempted this recipe before but have always been met with a few issues.  Either I didn't have enough cheese or I only had regular skim milk instead of cream or, ugh I shiver recalling this, the eggs scrambled in the pan instead of coating the pasta in a creamy sauce.  That result was really gross.  But this time around I tweaked Ms. DeLaurentiis' recipe and made it my own.  After all, her recipe calls for six eggs - SIX EGGS!  I don't have six eggs to spare, I bake every weekend and my roomie loves frittatas; we're lucky if there's one egg in our fridge.  The changes I made amped up the awesomeness of this comfy Sunday supper recipe making it way better than the original... not that Giada would know because seriously, I know she doesn't eat that kind of stuff looking the way she does.  That's fine though, she can keep her super hot bod.  I'd rather do a thousand extra sit-ups if it means I get to eat spaghetti carbonara every once in awhile!

spaghetti carbonara
ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil (if you have chili infused olive oil like I do, use that!)
1 lb thickly cut bacon, chopped (pancetta is better, but I had a freezer full of bacon)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, tenderized and diced
1 c frozen peas
3 large eggs, room temp
1/2 c heavy cream, room temp
1 1/2 c fresh grated parmesan cheese
1/2 crushed red pepper (or more if you like it extra spicy)
1 clove garlic, diced
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
fresh ground salt & pepper to taste
1 lb spaghetti (or whichever pasta you like)
directions
1. In a large skillet heat oil and garlic.  Cook bacon until crisp and add chicken allowing to cook thoroughly.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, heavy cream and half the grated cheese.  Season with salt, parsley, pepper and crushed red pepper.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta and cook until tender.  When nearly cooked to liking, add the peas to defrost and cook.  When you're ready, drain the pasta (but don't rinse it) reserving 1 c cooking liquid.
3. Add the water and pasta to the skillet with chicken and bacon.  Working quickly while everything is hot, toss the pasta and meats with the egg, cream and cheese mix.  Seriously, you need to move swiftly while everything is still hot so that the eggs don't scramble.  Add extra cheese and season with fresh ground salt and pepper to taste.  Indulge.

*** Just so we're clear, I really have nothing against Gianda (in case you're reading this, G.)  I actually totally, kind of dig you and your simple, satisfying takes on classic Italian cuisine.  If you ever wanted, I'd totally whip up a batch of my carbonara for us.  We could sup together, dish about all things awesome and share secrets.  I could help you tweak a few recipes and you could give me some exercise tips!  Just in case Giada happens to come across my blog... ***

questia-tarian

So, remember a few weeks back when I discussed my desire to start Meatless Mondays?  Well, I finally got around to taking notice of my carnivorous consumption today.  And then I realized that I totally put tuna on my ginormous salad this afternoon.  Beans, beets, onions, tofu, radishes and, yup, tuna steak.  But  after the fact, I started to wonder, does fish count as meat?  Pescatarians are considered to be in the family of vegetarians, but who made up that rule?  Was it other vegetarians that wanted to broaden their community or was it snooty meat eaters who wanted to exclude those among them who won't bite into a bloody steak smothered in garlic with a side of creamed spinach?  Or was it the fish eaters themselves who felt they didn't quite belong anywhere and wanted to confuse the heck out of all of us regular or irregular eaters?

With these thoughts in mind, I'd like to propose a question to all my folks out there, both veggie and meat-eatin' - is fish a meat?  Seriously, are pescatarians considered to be in the same family as vegetarians or not?  Because as I was preparing my salad this afternoon, I thought I was being all veggie friendly.  It wasn't until halfway through devouring it in the park that this question was brought to my mind.  So let me know what you think because I'm at a complete loss with this one.  Was I able to stick to my Meatless Monday goal, or did I fall flat on my face with failure?  Help this carnivorous gal figure it all out!!!