No I’m not giving away $1,000. Unfortunately. What I did notice though is that we are rapidly approaching the 1,000th comment on Macheesmo! I’m pretty excited about that as getting comments on posts is one of my favorite parts about having this site so far. The wonderful reader who posts the 1,000th comment will get a brand new copy of a cook book of their choice that I’ve reviewed on Macheesmo!
Of course, I won’t tell you how close we are to 1K comments, as that would defeat the purpose. I’ll tell you this though – the comment count is somewhere between 900 and 999. So worst case scenario you have about a 1% chance of winning a free book :) All you have to do is make a little comment. And obviously it doesn’t have to be on this post. It can be on any Macheesmo post you like.
Also, don’t even try going into the archives (which lists number of comments for each post) and add up all the comments. One, that would be totally lame. Two, I edited out that field so it won’t show that again until after the 1,000th comment.
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There are some things in cooking that aren’t glamorous or wonderful at first glance. They aren’t expensive and the ingredients are things you can buy in any grocery store. But these are the things that can seriously change your life. In my mind these small things are what I’m really learning to love about baking and cooking. I’m talking about homemade sandwich bread!
Making of a mean sandwich.
I’ve been making no knead bread for awhile now and Betsy and I have become used to using it for our weekly sandwich bread. Every once in awhile though I want the kind of bread that you see in a store, but I don’t want store bought bread. This bread fits the bill except it tastes nothing like the pre-sliced stuff you buy at the Safeway.
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Somehow Spring completely skipped Washington DC this year. It was 55 and crappy and two days later it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity. And it appears it’s going to stay that way. I’ve been experimenting with a few light salads in an effort to defeat the absolute sweat-fest that is happening outside.
This fennel and orange salad fit the bill just fine.
Orange and fennel work.
This was a really simple salad that only required three main ingredients. It takes about 5-10 minutes to make (although it is better if you make it an hour or so in advance). It is completely refreshing.
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A few weeks ago a coworker asked me to make an eggplant parmesan for a post. I had no problem with this as eggplant is one my favorite vegetables and the traditional cheesy and tomatoey dish is one of my favorite ways to eat it. I was at the store buying the ingredients and I had an idea to do something a bit different with eggplant parm: Put it in an empanada.
This was the result!
This was a very good idea.
I had never really made empanadas before, but they were not that hard. The dough was pretty easy to make and work with. The cool thing about empanadas is that you can fill them with practically anything so I wasn’t too worried about this filling working out.
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Every weekend, I review a cookbook in an attempt to lend some guidance in a field that has become overrun. These days everyone is writing cookbooks and it is incredibly upsetting to buy a dud and have it sit on your shelf for years – staring at you, mocking your poor judgment.
This is one of the newer books I’ve reviewed on Macheesmo. When I first read about “Ratio” by Michael Ruhlman, I knew that I wanted to check it out. I’m a pretty avid reader of his blog, and I love his writing style and explanations. I reviewed his book on Charcuterie a few months ago and this book seemed even more up my alley.
The Truth of Cooking. If you have ever worked in a restaurant, you’ve probably seen the truth of cooking in action. And no I’m not referring to the yelling, sweating, or general craziness that dominates a professional kitchen.
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It’s time for another Food Blog Battle and this time I’m taking on the very healthy Veggie Girl. Be sure to check out her creation on her site. We picked the ingredients and decided to try a Vegan style challenge where both dishes had to be completely meat and dairy free.
I’m always up for a good challenge and this was a tough one. I mean she clearly has a pretty large advantage on me as I’ve never purposefully tried to make a vegan dish although sometimes I make one by accident I’m sure.
To make things even more difficult, these were are chosen ingredients: Fruit preserves and raisins!
I’m pretty much at a loss.
Honestly, I’m not sure what I would’ve done even if I could’ve used meat and/or dairy. I poured over recipes for days trying to think of something that would work with both of these things and satisfy the Vegan deal. I decided to use an Apricot preserve that I had left over from my very non-vegan calzones. No real reason other than it was in my pantry.
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This week I’m doing my normal Internet kitchen post on Thursday instead of Friday because I’m competing in a food blog battle tomorrow versus Veggie Girl! I won’t give away the two ingredients before tomorrow, but I’ll tell you that the battle is all Vegan. I cannot express how incredibly hard this was for me as a complete meat and cheese lover. But the point of these battles is to explore new stuff, so I was happy to give the vegan challenge a shot!
We are planning on posting our entries tomorrow at 9 PM. So basically check it out Saturday morning and vote for your favorite. I usually like to post battles on Mondays, but I’m a very nice person and Veggie Girl asked to post on Friday night so that is cool with me.
Now for some links!
Foodie Fights #1 Results - The people have voted (332 people) and the guest judges have added their votes. And we having a winner in the first ever Foodie Fights battle. Check it out! (@ Foodie Fights)
The Twitter Recipe Challenge - The idea is simple. Take a complicated recipe and condense it into 140 characters. A kind of fun game and challenge but ultimately it takes me longer to decipher the crazy Twitter posts than it would to just read a normal recipe. (@ Diner’s Journal)
Ice Cream Clowns and Golden Girls – Hilarious, but apparently Cafe Fernando has been chosen to adapt the Golden Girls series in Turkish. To celebrate he made these ridiculous ice cream clown sundaes which sort of scared me because I think clowns are creepy. (@ Cafe Fernando)
How to Make Wonton Soup – Wonton soup is one of those things that I absolutely love, but I’ve never tried making it. This photo walk-through makes the whole thing seem very manageable. (@ Recipe Girl)
So be sure to check back some time Saturday to see a very interesting, all Vegan, cook off!
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