Cooking hack: brownies edition

It's safe to say that my friends and coworkers would identify me as a baker. I love baking and find stress relief in it, and I even love the precision of it (the part that right-brained people hate!).

On weekends especially, you'll often find me trying my hand at some new and challenging recipe (like these French cruellers).

Whenever there is a potluck at work or a dinner party with friends, I'm automatically signed up to bring a dessert.

I've made dozens of cupcakes for parties and showers and the like.

When it comes to giving wedding gifts, I almost always go for a pretty cake stand or handy baking sheets.

But I have a confession to make. It's a dark secret. More specifically, it's a dark chocolate secret. and it's this:

These are hands-down the very best ever most perfectly delicious brownies I have ever had. and it's time for the world to know about it.

I know what you're thinking: "oh so you must doctor it up with your own fancy things, right?" Wrong. I wouldn't dream of messing with Ms. Crocker's perfection-in-a-box. I've tried my hand at dozens of from-scratch brownie recipes, and this box by far trumps them all.

This is the brownie for all people. Whether you like your brownies cake-y or fudge-y, whether you are into dark chocolate or not, these perfectly balanced brownies will make you roll your eyes at the ridiculous deliciousness of them.

Stop judging me! This is good news, y'all! I'm telling you that you no longer have to slave over melting chocolate and butter together, and you can stop searching for the perfect flour ratio. You can find this brownie mix at practically any grocery store and all you add are water, oil and 2 eggs. It's so cheap and takes no time at all!

I'm telling you, wooing your friends has never been easier. If you don't believe me, grab a box and try it for yourself. No matter your brownie proclivity, these will satisfy even the most picky palate.

Happy eating!

    

In a pinch: Southern Fried Chicken Salad

Another week-night dinner dilemma was upon us. Empty fridge, empty bellies, approaching hanger... And the I remembered one of my favorite things my mom would make for us:

Salad with fried chicken on top! ('Merica.) 

All you need is some leafy greens (I prefer green leaf lettuce), shredded carrots, shredded cheese, other veggies you want on the salad, and of course- fried chicken. I grabbed some tenders from Publix, but it really doesn't matter. Just choose your favorite / closest fried chicken joint and grab you some.

I also really like making homemade honey mustard dressing. Do it. Then you can say you made the dressing yourself and everyone will think you're a classically trained gourmet chef. 

For the dressing:
Equal parts mayo and yellow mustard and then add honey to taste. (I usually go for about twice as much honey as the mayo) and then go from there. 

And, voila! 

Dinner with time to spare to make those carrot cupcakes AND watch Life of Pi. For the win. 

In a pinch: Something out of nothing.

Ahoy, eaters! I have nothing nautical to say in this post, I just felt like saying Ahoy! So there!

This weekend I found myself in a bit of a food bind. I was sick most of the week and never made it to the grocery store, so most normal people would probably take the opportunity that we call a weekend to go to the grocery store, however, I have some neuroses rules about shopping at the Thunderdome Dekalb Farmer's Market on a weekend. Basically I just won't do it. It's cah-razy. So I was left this weekend with what was in my fridge and pantry. It was slim pickins. I didn't even have an onion.

I hopped on Tastespotting (good-bye productivity) for some inspiration and shamelessly typed into the search bar: chicken breast.

Yep.

Here I am, one of three food bloggers and I'm basically googling 'what to do with a chicken breast.' Not my finest moment admittedly, but after scrolling few a few recipes I was struck with inspiration by an at-home take-out recipe. Perfect. I foraged in my fridge and cabinets and came up with the following: a chicken breast, jasmine rice (almost a full cup!), some wrinkly (but still good) mini bell peppers and almost wilted Swiss chard. It was time to make some Chinese take-out.

[honey sriracha chicken w/chard and peppers]

Here is my go-to quick marinade for any meat for a fake take-out meal (per pound of meat):

• one egg white
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine

Then, I mixed, in a separate bowl:

• 1/3- 1/2 corn starch
• 1-2 tbsp salt (depending on how salty you like your food. I am heavy handed with the salt.)
• dash or two of pepper

Then in oneeee more bowl, I mixed the following:

• 2 tbsp sriracha
• 2 tbsp honey



Chop your chicken into 1 inch pieces and add them to the bowl with the egg-white marinade. Let all those ingredients become friends while you julienne your bell peppers and chard and while you mix your cornstarch and salt batter.

After about 15 minutes, drain the egg whites off the chicken, but don't rinse it. If it's a little runny, it's OK. I mean, we're kinda scrapping here anyway, right? Add your chunks of chicken to the corn starch mixture and stir to coat evenly.  

Put a tbsp of canola oil or grapeseed oil in a wok or deep non-stick pan and turn to high. Once the oil is hot enough (test with a piece of chicken- does it sizzle and start to fry? Good. If not, wait.) add your chicken. I did mine in two batches for even, quick cooking. Your chicken will fry up quickly, so keep an eye on it and stir when needed so there's no sticking to the pan. You don't want to stir so much that you knock all the batter off, but you don't want anything sticking, either.

Place done chicken on a paper-towel lined plate to drain excess grease and add the rest of the chicken. Once this is almost done, add your peppers and chard, stirring to cook. After about 5 minutes, add the rest of the chicken and the honey-sriracha sauce, reducing the heat to low and stirring so that everything is evenly coated.

Serve over steamed jasmine rice.

Until next time,

 

[In a pinch] Moving Day

This weekend marked the beginning of a week-long transition from the two-bedroom apartment that my roommate and I share, to a three-bedroom in the same complex so that our friend could join us as a third roommate. It's been pretty chaotic living half in the old apartment and half in the new.

I found myself at the old apartment at dinnertime, and I needed to scrape together something to eat while I finished packing up the kitchen. Everything had been packed and moved except my cast iron skillet and the food in the fridge. and the end of a loaf of bread.

It's times like these, when you're in a pinch, that it's good to have some "shortcuts" around. Something quick and easy that doesn't require many pans or much fuss.

I threw my skillet on the stove at medium and grabbed a can of Wolfgang Puck's Organic Creamy Tomato soup. Yes, soup from a can. Hear me out: this soup is so, so good. I don't even like tomato soup for the most part. But this is a really delicious shortcut that doesn't have any terrifying chemicals like most canned products. They're 2 for $5 at my Publix, so I keep a couple on hand for when I don't have the capacity to cook. And yes, I heat it in the microwave. No apologies. also no pots to clean.

[Turns out the can opener had already been packed, too. But I was already committed.

So I used a knife. Desperate times, folks. Do not attempt this at home.]

Back to the skillet. I buttered up a couple slices of bread and grabbed some Havarti cheese from the fridge (if I eat it, then I don't have to pack it!) and made myself a grilled cheese. The Havarti is so creamy and melt-able, once you try it you won't be able to go back to boring old cheddar. Having nicer cheese on hand is another great shortcut to a delicious but easy meal. My favorite combo as of late is Havarti and Muenster (props to my roommate's mom for introducing me!) on thick-sliced bread.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese is a classic, and probably brings back childhood memories of the comfort-food combo. Keep some fancier cheese and a can of this creamy tomato soup on hand for when you're in a pinch but still want to eat well!