These days

It's been hard to keep up on Mustgo while I'm up at the ranch.  We all usually get off work at the same time, immediately grab a beer and a computer, and race to open email / facebook / Skype / CNN before the wireless router slows to an unbearable crawl, and even opening Google is impossible.

So, I apologize.  I'm going to try harder to write more.  And cook more. 

Do you know what kind of skills it takes to cook good food for 50+ people?  Mad skills.  I never realized this before.  I'm slowly mastering the art of cooking several pounds of baked beans at a time... along with barbeque sauce, grill rub, and potato salad.  Pounds of everything.

It's intimidating.  I mean, if you accidently mess up the measurement on one single ingredient, pounds of food go to waste (or disappoint lots of people). 

I'm learning these things while working at the ranch.  Also how to manage the lunch rush, cooking burgers and briskett sandwiches and pan-seared fish tacos, all the while making sure orders are finished at the same time so everyone's food will be delivered together... and still hot.

No big deal.

These days, I have to admit I haven't been cooking much.  When you have a live-in professional chef, it's easy not to cook.  I have, however, been trying to expand my food horizons and not eat BBQ sauce with every meal.  For example:

• I (actually, one of my coworkers) caught a trout.  We immediately brought it inside, had one of the men gut it (no way am I ready for that...yet) and chef Jeremy cooked it.  I don't think I've ever had fish that fresh.
• Caramelized onions are probably one of my favorites these days.  Chef makes them in his potato salad, and caramelizes them in bacon fat.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  The other day, I caramelized some onions with mushroom and a dollop of butter, and added them to a grilled cheese sandwich.
• One word: the fryer.  I know, I know... it's so unhealthy for you.  I don't care.  I love anything fried.  Fries, for one. We make them on our own, with one of those potato stamper things.  I remember as a child seeing deep-fried oreos and Snickers bars at the State Fair every year... I haven't gone that crazy with the fryer yet, but one of these days....
• Summery drinks.  For happy hour last night, Mom and I soaked fresh pitted cherries in citrus vodka...we were going to add ice and soda, but we ended up just snacking on the cherries.  Oops. :-)  Our next concotion is going to be strawberries with clementine vodka.

I'll be back in a week or so, with a recipe...

Happy Birthday chef

Monday was chef Jeremy's birthday, and I knew I had to make something.  There aren't any Hallmark stores conveniently located at 9350ft. above sea level, so all I had was the kitchen and everything in it.

What in the world do you make for a chef on his birthday?

It was an opportunity to seize that I could either succeed tremendously (and impress everyone, including my kitchen counterpart), or fail dramatically (and totally embarass myself, and never get placed on kitchen duty again).

I love reading other food blogs.  If you haven't already noticed, I have an ongoing list of blogs I like to read along the right side of my homepage.  17 and Baking is one of those.  The author is a (now 19)-year old writing and cooking like a professional.  She's pretty impressive.

The first time I saw these cute little cookies on her blog, I wanted to make them immediately.  Apart from being a deadly combination of peanut butter and chocolate, they are bite sized and so cute.

The great thing about bite sized cookies?  You don't feel as guilty eating one, or two... or three... or six.  I left a plateful of these in the kitchen on Sunday night, and by Monday afternoon they were completely gone.

Tiny Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Hershey’s Easy Baking (and 17 and Baking)
Makes about 15 dozen cookies, depending on size

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Granulated sugar for rolling
Chocolate chips (any type)

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.      Beat peanut butter and shortening until well mixed, then beat in the two sugars until light. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together, then add in 3 batches to the peanut butter mixture, beating well between additions.  Chill dough for 10 minutes before baking.

3.      Roll dough into 1/2 inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 5-6 minutes and remove from oven. Immediately press a chocolate chip into the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. [Note: the chocolate chip will be warm and gooey for some time, so be careful before stacking them.]

run Colorado

I got to spend the entire day in Denver today!  In civilization!!!  In the land of manicures, rush hour traffic, Chipotle, and hairdressers!  Get this: for dinner, I didn't eat anything with BBQ sauce.  I ate Mexican food!

I am on cloud nine.

This called for some cooking.

Unfortunately, my mom and I arrived to a barren refrigerator.  I know I've mentioned before that she usually has the kitchen of a goddess: you name it... any spice, any rare Asian food ingredient, basically anything you can think of, and the woman has it.

The one time I feel like baking, and she doesn't have any eggs.

We spent the afternoon running errands (a.k.a. shopping), which included a visit to the Boulder Running Company.  About 5 months ago, I was the exercise queen.  I was about to takeoff to Argentina and wanted to arrive as slim as possible.  I lived off of protein shakes and salads for about two months.(Obviously, this is not the case anymore.)

However, browsing through running shoes and warmup outfits and power bars this afternoon got me in the running spirit again.  My mom is a retired (read: injured) runner, and even she felt the runner's buzz after we left Boulder Running Company.

Back to my original story... when I realized I couldn't possibly bake anything without eggs, I decided to turn to my bucket list.  In the healthy mood that I was (yes, all this after scarfing a giant burrito for dinner...) I decided to scratch off energy bars from my list.

I should interrupt myself here by throwing out a photo credit to my brother, Jake.  He is an incredible photographer, as you can see.  He walked into the kitchen just as I was snapping photos of these energy bars with my cell phone, and offered to help (with his $800 camera. Thank youuu, brother!).  He was also very approving of the recipe.

I'm paying him in energy bars.

The recipe is super easy and only took me about ten minutes to throw together.  These energy bars would taste great frozen; I've already got half of my batch foil-wrapped and put away for next week.

Now go outside and get running!  My mom and I are starting on Sunday, at an elevation of 9,500+ feet... you can do it!!

Peanut butter energy bars

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/4 cup honey

2 scoops protein powder (optional)

3 cups whole grain cereal (I used this...but you could also just use plain dry oatmeal)

handful of dry oatmeal (for topping)

1.  Heat peanut butter and honey over medium heat, stirring until just mixed. 

2.  Add whole grain cereal (or oatmeal) and mix entirely. 

3.  Pour into 9x9" ungreased pan.  Top with a sprinkle of dried oatmeal, and let cool.  Cut into medium sized squares.  Store refrigerated for up to a week and a half, or frozen up to a month.

lakeside

I am writing to you from the top of a mountain in Vail, Colorado, at Piney River Ranch--my new home for the next two months.

It's happy hour at the ranch right now, and I'm happily sipping away on a watermelon margarita and munching on chips and salsa and guacamole.  Yum.

Did I show you a photo of my new office yet?

Life couldn't get any better, really.

Since this is a food blog, I think I should begin writing by showing you my new kitchen!

Actually, it's not my kitchen.  It's Chef Jeremy's kitchen... but he shares it with me on occasion.  Jeremy is a BBQ master and an incredible teacher.  He's also your typical chef, flying f-bombs every other word and banging around pots and pans when he gets an order in 30 minutes before close.  Yesterday, I learned how to hold an especially sharp knife (and how to sharpen it), how to carry a huge kitchen tray, technical names of all the kitchen utensils, how to properly season ribs... the list goes on.  He may be rough around the edges, but the guy sure knows how to cook.

Today was Jeremy's day off and my first day as the stand-in chef.  Intimidating at 9am this morning, but luckily the restaurant was fairly slow and I could take my time getting to know the kitchen and all of Jeremy's tools.

And, I only burned ONE grilled cheese!  Not bad for my first day, I think!

Last night, we stayed up late in the main lodge and ate short ribs (compliments of Chef Jeremy), drank wine, and made s'mores. 

I'm on a mission to make as many different / gourmet versions of the s'more as I can think of.  Last night, we started with the classic: honey graham crackers, roasted marshmallows (a little on the burnt side, which I think is always better) and Hershey's milk chocolate.  But to spice things up a bit, I added chocolate sprinkles to the parts of the marshmallow that billowed over the graham cracker.

For the second s'more, I tucked a piece of a chocolate covered mint stick inside the marshmallow and browned it over the hot coals.  The chocolate surrounding the mint stick melted into the toasty masrshmallow, but the mint stayed hard and cool, and was the perfect complement to another thick slab of Hershey's chocolate on top.

Living on a ranch has its perks: firewood and firepits literally everywhere, so when I think about it, I could eat s'mores for dessert every night for the rest of the summer if I so desire.

 
I think a recipe for these puppies is unnecessary; unless you A. didn't grow up in the ol' US of A and never had the delightful childhood experience of making s'mores, B. are completely useless in the kitchen and couldn't possibly figure out how to assemble one of these... or C....

You'll figure it out.

Cheers.

the snack

Ran errands all day today.  I mean all day.

In the blazing hot sun in the middle of a Colorado summer, in an old '97 Pathfinder with tinted windows, errands are not fun.

The worst part is when you arrive somewhere you need to do something, only to realize you forgot something you needed to do before you did the other thing... then you have to turn around and drive all over town... ugh.

Luckily, somehow, I found myself in the heart of Denver's barrio latino.  The Spanish billboards and exotic-looking store windows just touch a soft spot in my heart.  I love those hole-in-the-wall restaurants and grocery stores; it seems that you always find the best foods in the crappiest looking places.

I ordered a tres leches cake for my high school graduation, and I was right near that same panadería (which you can find here), so I decided to stop in and see what was baking. 

I grabbed a couple of mini cookies, a churro, and a grapefruit soda... all for $2.25.  Rosales has a sizeable selection of baked goods: big and small cookies, churros, cakes, muffins, pastries, and all for a very reasonable price.  You can also stock up on hard-to-find authentic Mexican food in their "mini-mart"; I even saw some dulce de leche!!

I think Americans should incorporate "the snack" into our daily eating regimen.  La merienda, or the snack, is usually a cookie, some cheese and jam and crackers, and a cup of tea or coffee, taken sometime mid- to late-afternoon, depending on when you're planning on eating dinner.

I mean, who doesn't love snacks.

Oh, by the way, I'm moving to the mountains tomorrow.

To a remote ranch in Vail, Colorado.

More cooking adventures from there to come...

Reflections on an imperfect life (and ugly food)

There are certain things I've always wanted to own in my kitchen.  Things that are unnecessary in a "regular" kitchen, but could always come in handy when you're trying to start a food blog.

Have you ever walked through a Crate & Barrel and seen these sorts of things?  Neon green mixers, Christmas tree-shaped ice cube trays, high-tech waffle pans, martini glasses that look like they are leaning to the side.  It all seems like fun stuff, but it's really...unnecessary.

Maybe I am cheap.  But when I'm going to use something to make just one meal, I just don't really want to buy it. 

My stepmom is one of the lucky ones.  She actually owns these random kitchen things.  And being related to her, I have free reins to go into her kitchen and use any of these appliances, whenever I want, without having to spend my own money on them!  

So when I came home from Argentina, I was startled (and, yes, a little excited) to find a mini doughnut tray sitting on the counter, conveniently placed alongside a homemade doughnut cookbook. 

I've never known so many different kinds of doughnuts existed.  Chai Tea doughnuts, Red Velvet Cake doughnuts, S'more doughnuts, Vanilla and Lavendar doughnuts, PB&J doughnuts... you name it, it's in the book.

As you probably already know, the first attempt at making certain foods is often a complete failure.  While I was in Argentina, I could always tell if my attempts at new Argentine concoctions weren't good because Julián would take a bite and say "oh. Well it's ok.  What do you expect for the first time?" 

(Which guys, by the way, is not the first thing to say to your girlfriend after she's been slaving away in the kitchen for hours on homemade dulce de leche.  Just take a bite and smile and say it's good.  Trust me.)

Good thing Juli wasn't here this afternoon to see my first attempt at doughnuts.  He would have been horrified.  Actually, he probably wouldn't have tried them.

Lucky for me, I tried them.  And they were really good.  I made a basic cake doughnut dough and added a mashed banana, trying to imitate a banana bread doughnut.

You can see in that picture above that I first tried making a regular doughnut, average size with a hole in the middle.  Once I tried moving it to the frying pan, the whole thing expanded and was nearly impossible to flip, so I continued with doughnut holes instead.

I even got a little crazy and added chocolate chips to the last two.

I used a maple sugar glaze, as the original recipe recommended, but I'll bet a good old-fashioned chocolate glaze with these beasts would be divine. 

I was hesitant to post this recipe on Mustgo.  Every other food blog in the internet world has fancy, 7+ ingredient recipes, professionally photographed and seemingly too perfect to eat.

But in all honesty, that's not what real cooking is like.  Real cooking is starting to make a recipe, only to realize halfway through that you're missing two ingredients... so you experiment.

Real cooking is trying to flip a burnt doughnut hole with, not only one...but two spatulas, while burning your hands and ruining your shirt over the spattering oil. 

I'm not a professional chef.  I'm not an aspiring photographer.  I am a broke, inexperienced, young, picky, curious, and above all, hungry food blogger, that likes to experiment in the kitchen.  And I fail, a lot.  So I won't lie to you about what I cook, and I won't just show you what turns out looking like it's from a 5-star restaurant.  This is real life, people!!!

And these are some damn ugly doughnuts... but damn are they good!

Banana bread doughnuts (adapted from Doughuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home by Lara Ferroni)

Dough:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp. vegetable shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp. plain yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 mashed banana
vegetable oil (for frying)

Maple sugar glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until they form a smooth, pourable glaze.

1.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar in a bowl.  Add in vegetable shortening and mix.

2.  In a separate bowl, mix the egg, 1/4 cup of the milk, yogurt, and vanilla.  Slowly pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredient bowl, mixing at the same time.  Add more milk as needed until the dough is sticky and resembles a wet cookie dough.

3.  Add mashed banana, being sure not to over mix the dough.  Set aside and let stand 15 minutes.

4.  Cover the bottom of a deep dish frying pan with vegetable oil and heat on high.  You will know the oil is ready when you hold your hand over the pan and can feel heat radiating off the surface.  Drop spoonfuls of the dough into the hot oil, turning the ball every 30 seconds or so, until golden brown.

5.  Drop the doughnut holes on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up any remaining oil.  Once cooled, dip one by one in the bowl of maple sugar glaze.