If you haven't noticed, the past couple of blog posts are old ones I wrote while living in MA this past fall. Oldies but goodies.

I'm a cooking machine. I have recently discovered the magic of the public library and their wealth of ethnic cookbooks. I LOVE IT! I have been on a real Asian kick. On my days off I have been checking out all the Asian markets in the area, plotting my menu and reading all the cookbooks I can carry. I think I have mentioned my love for Kimchee. I am literally obsessed. I have made it before but then I got some store bought kimchee and it blew my mind. I inhaled the whole jar in a few days. It's spicy, tangy and full of probiotics which works some magic on my GI tract (not that I need it) Soon I will need to learn how to make this stuff because I'm hoovering it. This week I ate some kimchee but also make kimchee pancakes and kimchee stew. YUMMMMMMMOO! I started a batch of kimchee daikon and carrots that are fermenting on the countertop (sorry roomie!) They stink but taste so good. One of the perks of living outside of Boston is that there are GOBS of international markets for me to play in. I've been bringing home new ingredients and testing out recipes from these ethnic cookbooks. I'm loving it but with all this experimenting there are bound to be some fails. Bagged kimchee? GROSS! I've had some really delicious pork belly at BBQ joints. Imagine my shock and horror when I get home with my fresh pork belly from the Asian market only to discover I have to remove the hide/skin with hair on it MYSELF?!?! SO GROSS! Somethings are best left to professionals. I'd rather but it prepared than go through that piggy hell again. 

Since I've been traveling and a tiny bit lonely I have really developed my cooking skills. I seem to have impressed my current roommate with my skills. She made the point which I find to be true that many people don't know how to cook. It's going to become a dying art form soon. I know a bunch of guys and gals who live off of a bland diet or reheat able food, take-out or PB+J.  C'MON people! I know personally I couldn't make instant mashed taters to save my life until I moved out into my first apartment. I thought I was so cool, doing laundry and grocery shopping. I was a real adult. I soon realized that Mom wasn't going to be making my meals and I had been spoiled with a lifetime of delicious meals. I wasn't about to downgrade that lifestyle with Ramen Noodles and TV dinners. I was going to need to learn how to fend for myself. At about this time Rachael Ray was starting to become popular and she had started a magazine. I'm very visual and cookbooks sometimes didn't cut it but magazines were a totally different story. I loved the pictures and soon was trying to replicate the recipes. It wasn't totally flawless. I called home often. My Dad would pick up and our conversations would go something like this

DAD: Hey sweetie, how's it going
ME: Great Dad, hey is Mom around. I have a cooking question
DAD: Yeah... CAROL! ASHLEY'S ON THE PHONE
ME: Hi Mom, I've got another cooking question... How do you boil eggs again.

No joke, I literally have a hand written recipe to remind me how to cook hardboiled eggs.  I still call home. Mom is surprised when I call and I don't have a cooking question.

This is one of the first things I cooked in the little Winooski Beirut House. It's a Rachael Ray recipe and I haven't made it in almost 10 years but I've been holding onto it for nostalgic reasons. The gravy reminds me of a tomato gravy my Mom used to make to go on top of meatloaf. I just love it! I decided to go a little healthy and make mashed cauliflower. It you use 1 tater and a whole head of cauliflower it's surprisingly good. Since I'm cooking in a stranger's kitchen I get to "experience" some new cooking environments. I can't pack my entire kitchen to take on the road so I only take the essentials. Potato masher just didn't make the list but I was wishing I had it when I made the mashed cauli. Using this imposter of a potato masher was hell on a stick. After a bit I just gave up and stuck my immersion blender in there until I was happy with the consistency.

Bon Apetite!

Meatloaves with Tomato Gravy
Rachael Ray
Ingredients

• 4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

• Salt

• 1/2 pound each ground pork, veal and beef

• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

• 1/2-3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs (a couple of generous handfuls)

• 1/3 cup plus a splash heavy cream

• 1 large egg, beaten

• A generous handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (eyeball it)

• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (eyeball it)

• Freshly ground pepper

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided

• 1 carrot, finely chopped

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

• 3 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 1/2 cups beef broth

PreparationPre-heat the oven to 425°. 

Place the potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water and cover the pot with a lid. Bring to a boil, then salt the water and cook the potatoes until tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and add them back to the pot.

While the potatoes are working, in a large bowl, combine the ground meats with 1/2 cup cheese, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, a splash of cream, the egg, parsley, half of the chopped garlic, the Worcestershire sauce and allspice; season with salt and pepper. 

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of EVOO onto a baking sheet, form the meat mixture into four loaves about 1-1 1/2 inches thick and place on the baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of EVOO. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Wash your hands after handling the raw meats.

While the meatloaves bake, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO, two turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic, carrot, onion and bay leaf and cook until tender, 7-8 minutes; season with salt and pepper and the rosemary. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the broth and simmer until thickened. Discard the bay leaf.

Add the remaining 1/3 cup cream and 1 cup cheese to the potatoes and season with 1 teaspoon salt; smash to desired consistency. Divide the potatoes among four plates and make a small well in the center. Remove the meatloaves from the oven, turn in their sauce and set alongside the potatoes. Spoon extra sauce into the wells and over the meatloaves.

My newest obsession is SNAPCHAT. I've spread the fun to my sister Melissa who isn't really tied to her cellphone but has recently caught the fever for all things snapchat. When we figured out how to use the filters we quickly became obsessed with sending each other ridiculous selfies. I find it to be another form of technology that keeps me feeling more connected to family and friends and wards off the feelings of homesickness that creep in from time to time. One of the features is that a notification is sent every time I take a screen shot of the goofy selfies my sisters and friends send. They're just too good to throw away plus Melissa sends the shortest snappies. The pic only lasts for 3 sec and if she adds text it's impossible to fully experience the snapchat. I feel like sayings "MAKE YOUR PICS 10 SECONDS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE GIRRRRLLL!" But I am too nice.

Disclaimer: I will be posting embarrassing snap chats. Please don't kill me, they're just too good not to share. I'll try to keep the most embarrassing for my personal use. I hope this doesn't limit the number of future snap chats I will get from my sisters...

#Themmelonstho #AmIright? #blessedwiththischest

I love summer because there is a bounty of fresh produce that I want to preserve for the colder winder months. I was on a crazy canning bonanza this weekend. I managed to can up 4 different kinds of jam in a little over 24hrs. When I'm prepping fruit and veggies my mind wanders, I have conversations in my mind with people who aren't even there, daydream about my future life, plan out my next meal/snack/cocktail,  etc. Stuff normal people do, right? I find I also do the same thing when I'm driving on long road trips. As I was chopping away at some massive cantaloupe I was reminiscing about Grandmom. She's chilling upstairs at the all inclusive Pearly Gates Resort but I still have a lot of fun memories from visits down to Maryland. The majority of my childhood visits were during summer vacation where I got to experience real HOT & HUMID weather. Grandmom would spoil us girls with unlimited V8, trips to the mall, duck pin bowling and visits to all the local cemeteries to look at old tombstones. I wonder if I was a dark child. Us growing girls needed to eat and Senior Citizens love a good deal so we ate at a lot of buffets. No matter where we went Grandmom would make a small plate with some melon. She'd sprinkle salt on it and if it was good she's exclaim  "MMMMM! Sweeeeet as honey" We say it from time to time at home and laugh, crazy Grandmom. Home girl had some spunk. Flash back to present moment. I had a ton of cantaloupe on my hands and a cantaloupe jam recipe from Marissa McClellan that I was dying to try. It's suppose to taste like creamsicle and made 2 small jars. The perfect amount to trying out something new.

:: Cantaloupe & Vanilla Bean Jam
From Wholesome Mommy
5 cups of peeled and finely chopped ripened cantaloupe
3 cups of sugar
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
2 tsp lemon juice
6 oz of liquid fruit pectin (2 foil pouches)
Prepare you boiling water canner and jars. Place lids in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water.
In a big pot combine the cantaloupe, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds and pod. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 7 to 10 minutes {or until the thermometer reads 220° F}. Add the lemon juice, stir in the liquid pectin, and return to a vigorous boil. Cook for an additional minute, stirring constantly.
Remove the pot from the heat, discard the vanilla bean pod, and ladle the hot jam into the jars. Wipe the rims; apply the lids and screw bands.
Process in the boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Remove jars from canner and cool.

 I should really title this post " I don't think you're ready for this jelly" or "Beyonce Rules my life". Whatever, I've made the commitment and I'm sticking with it.

​This past weekend started out looking gloomy and cold but soon morphed into sunshine and heat. One of the perks of living in Morganton is I can walk where I want to go. My Romeo walked with me to the Saturday morning Farmer's Market where we snagged some good looking pork belly, beets and eggs. Since it was overcast Nathan and I decided to spend some time doing one of our favorite shared interests, THRIFTING! I love looking through junk shops for vintage kitchen treats. Nathan is usually more into old records and Spanish books. I scored some major finds, Pyrex and Fireking dishes and a whole box of mason jars for $5!!! When we were thrifted out we decided to pick some strawberries. SO MUCH FUN and pretty cheap.  I imagined us picking strawberries and hiding out at the house all weekend cooking and cleaning while decked out in my most fashionable sweatpants drinking beer. I've spent the last 3 weekends away from home and was looking forward to some low key apartment time. I was determined to make some plain jane strawberry jam. I don't even like strawberry jam. I find it to be a little gross with the chunks of fruit in it but it was vital that our cupboards housed some of this red magic goo. I make all sorts of tasty jelly jar treats that you couldn't find in a supermarket but alas my boyfriend likes strawberry jam. If we don't have any in the house he will bring Smuckers Jam and let it live in our fridge. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!  High Fructose Corn Syrup goop laced with strawberries lives next to my artisanal homemade jams? I guess you can't put kumquat chili spiked jam on a PB&J but c'mon! So I made 3 different kinds of strawberry jam in one afternoon (I was motivated). They passed the Nathan taste test so we are hopefully on our last jar of Smuckers. I did try a new jam method and I think I will never make go back to my traditional methods. I love jam but you literally use more sugar than fruit in order to get a successful gel. There is an Italian kind of pectin that uses significantly less sugar to that provides ample gel called Pomora's Pectin. You don't need as much sugar AND you don't need to cook it as long so your jam retains a brighter, jewel like hue. It's my current obsession and I don't know if I'll ever go back to full sugar recipes.



Low Sugar Strawberry Vanilla Jam
From Food in Jars blog
Ingredients

• 9 to 10 cups strawberry pulp
• 2 1/2 cups cane sugar, divided
• 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 2 small lemons, juiced
• 1 tablespoon calcium water
• 1 tablespoon Pomona's Pectin

Instructions

1. Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 4 1/2 pints.
2. In a low, wide, non-reactive pot, combine the berry pulp, 2 cups sugar, vanilla bean seeds and pods, lemon juice, and calcium water.
3. Set pot over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook at a vigorous boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until the volume has reduced by approximately half and the foaming has subsided.
4. Stir pectin into the remaining sugar and stream it into the cooking jar, using a whisk to stir to help prevent clumps.
5. Return the contents of the pot to an active boil and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.
6. Funnel the jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Strawberry Basil Freezer Jam
From Let's Dish 

Ingredients

1. 3 1/3 cups mashed strawberries
2. 1 1/3 cups white sugar
3. 4 tablespoons instant pectin
4. 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

Instructions

1. Place mashed strawberries in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar and pectin.
2. Add sugar/pectin mixture to strawberries and stir for 2-3 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved.
3. Stir in basil.
4. Ladle jam into clean, freezer-safe containers. Let stand 30 minutes to set before freezing or refrigerating.

Notes

1. Makes four 8 ounce jars.