Top Chef Recipes

In my family, everything Bravo is taken very, very seriously.  There is no other show that gets more of our time as viewers, reviewers, and even gossipers.  Honestly, my mom and I watch the Real Housewives of every city so religiously that we've now had to start hiding our obsession from my dad.  

I would just like to note, however, that he has as much love for Bravo as the rest of us.  It's to the point where the last time I was home I listened to my dad explain why the Rachel Zoe Project was so good, and why he just loved to watch it as he worked out at the gym.  

Yes, my dad is straight, I promise.

But on to the important things, like Top Chef.  I have a million jillion things to say about Top Chef, but all I can say right now is that I miss it.  When I'm back home, I never have to go a day without thinking about Top Chef because the TC Cookbooks are the most treasured and adored things in our kitchen.  But when I'm here at school, I start to miss those amazing books and fail to remember all the awesomeness that is contained within those pages.  

My current fix? This.  The new Top Chef recipe finder.  Enjoy.

http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes

xo

JAS

Nutella-Swirled Donuts

Sometimes you really need a bedtime snack.  And sometimes, that snack manifests itself as a donut.  So there I was with the problem: make a donut or go buy one.  So I decided to think about this decision in terms of time.  I knew I would have a 10 minute walk to the place where I would venture to buy such a treat.  However, being the math goblin I am, I knew that meant 20 minutes of dedicated walking time.  That's when I realized that the alternative was a 10 minute cooking process, give or take one minute.  So, decision made!

Going on the theme of time, I wasted no more and grabbed a 1/2 used box of yellow cake mix.  I added the correct amount of water and an egg.  Only problem was that I technically should have used 1.5 eggs.  To substitute for the egg dilemma, I added some orange juice for some taste and a little bit of baking soda.  Then i swirled the dough with as much Nutella as I had at my disposal, and magic!

xoxo
JAS

Homemade Pasta!

So the other day, I decided I needed to tackle one of my big culinary goals: to try to make homemade pasta by hand.  I enlisted the help of Teags (btw have you read her blog yet?) to create our delish dinner.  We followed this basic recipe.  Here's the shorthand version:

1. Clean off a good countertop space.  You will be making your pasta here, so get it nice and clean!
2. Mix together 2 cups flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt on counter, then make into a big mound.
3. Create a well or little hole in the center of your flour mound.  Fill this mound with 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon oil.

4. Mix together ingredients by slowly bringing flour into the mound.  Work those hands.  FYI it's going to get messy.  Just go with it.

5. Add a little more milk or egg if your dough is still too dry (aka not all flour is incorporated)
6. Kneed dough and cover with a damp towel for at least 30 minutes.  This is the time for the dough to 'relax'
7. Roll out dough with rolling pin.  If you are classy like us and can't find your rolling pin, you can use a wine bottle to double as your roller.  And yes, you should have already finished all of the wine out of that bottle during steps 1-6.
8. Get the dough nice and thin! Then cut out the shapes you want!....

-make 'spaghetti' by cutting nice long, thin strips
-make fusilli by taking those strips and rolling them, creating a spiral shape
-make bowties by cutting out rectangles, then squeeze the center together!

9. Let dry for 15 minutes
10. Drop into boiling water for 2-3 minutes.  These cook quickly, so keep your eyes on them!

Then enjoy!
JAS

Coffee and Donuts Cupcakes

Coffee and Donuts. In a cupcake.  Wanna see it to believe it? Ok.

Today I spent my day with one of the bestest friends ever, Teagan.  This was one of our activities.

This recipe came from Always with Butter.  I will note now that the donut recipe seems a little off.  We added lots more milk to it (basically until it was the correct batter consistency.)

We had a grand old time rocking out to some Country music while we made these.  I'm going to say that that is definitely the secret ingredient.  For sure.  ZBB encouraged.


Here are the coffee flavored cupcakes.

After you add the icing to the cupcakes (optional: dye it darker brown) then you can place the frosted mini donuts on top of the cupcakes.  Don't forget the sprinkles on top!

JAS

Donuts! (they're pretty too...right?)

I think donuts are the new cupcake.  If you don't believe me, well then you may be right too.  But luckily, they are so delicious most people don't argue with me when I try to tell them my predictions as I sneakily feed them these glazed little puppies.

So where should one go for donut inspiration?

in NYC, grab some milk and scurry off to The Doughnut Plant.  flavors include: PB&J, blackout, Tres Leches, Creme Brulee.  These are so beyond good that I can't tell you enough how much you must experience eating these straight out of their magical little oven.

in Boston, Verna's will satisfy all your donut craving needs.  A Verna's post can be found here at my other blog (that me and my sister write together)

Rumor has it the Betty Ann's Food Shop is where it's at. (NOTE: in a previous post, I accidentally said it was Carol Ann's.  It's actually Betty Ann's and is located in East Boston) Unfortunately, I haven't yet made it there, but no fear! It's on the list of places to go ASAP!


Any more recommendations? Write them up! In the meantime, these will probably be my next attempt.  Yay red velvet everything!

JAS

Cake Batter Pancakes

So if you're like me, you often wake up and face a serious dilemma.  On the one hand, I want pancakes.  On the other, I wish I was holding a delicious cake.  The perfect answer, this.  That's right... Cake Batter Pancakes.  So grab these ingredients and warm up the griddle. It's breakfast time!

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup yellow cake mix
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk 
• assorted sprinkles (rainbow... obvi!)

So here's how it looked in my kitchen.

Here's your batter... 

For added excitement, I suggest adding sprinkles into the batter, pre-griddling.  Look at how pretty it looks now!

Then you grab your syrup (or if you want a cavity in 4 minutes then you can make a sugar glaze for these with powdered sugar + water)

Oh and don't forget more sprinkles on top!

Ahh grab a fork! Hurry!!!!!

Little Cupcake Bakeshop

When your boyfriend goes out of town for the day for business, what should he bring you back? Flowers? NY bagel? Cupcakes.....? Definitely.   Let's just say that the two fastest ways to my heart are through my stomach (via my sweet tooth) and my liver.  Between good alcoholic beverages and desserts, my life is pretty much complete.  That's why I was very elated when I received this perfect little package the other day...

Little Cupcake Bakeshop has two locations in NYC and both times I've walked passed them I've wanted to go in, but have never had the time.  So this was a perfect surprise!

Inside were two cupcakes.  One was "Chocolate Cloud" which was a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting, topped with shaved chocolate.  The other cupcake was cookie dough and it had nice little chunks of cookie dough baked right into the core of the cake.  Both were scrumptious and I now wish I had more of those as I write these.  Of course I ate them so quickly there was no time to take a picture, so you'll have to go yourself and get some.  It's worth a trip!

image from google

JAS

Celeb Status

Everyone has their opinions about celebrities.  Some people hate them, some people organize their lives around them.  I happen to happily lie in the middle of this spectrum.  Yes, I love reading all of the magazines that happen to fall on my coffee table... but do I go crazy over all of them? No.  Do I spend most of my daydreaming hours thinking about some of them? Yes.  Who makes the cut?

• The Kardashians.  Hottest family alive.  On top of that, they are borderline crazy/dysfunctional which is my soft spot.  Nothing gets me more excited than a bunch of quirky personalities all squished into one household.
• Lisa Vanderpump & Giggy the Pom.  Have you seen The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? If so, have you seen Lisa's house? It's out of control.  Her jewelry collection and closet make me get hot and bothered.  Then on top of that you add in her amazing cute and turtle-saving husband (yeah... he goes and saves the turtles from the dangers of their backyard/pool... presh presh) and THEN the legit cutest dog that has ever graced this planet and her amazing restaurant business.  This is basically my dream life all perfectly packaged.  I'll take one of those please.
• Bethenny Frankel. Natural food chef who loves food in general: awesome.  Cute-as-a-button baby with very cute father: purrfect.  Hot body: check. Sold skinnygirl cocktail for an estimated 120 million?! sign me up.

Honorable mention:

• Kathy Griffin
• Olsen Twins
• GG girls

Just take a look at these people and tell me you your heart doesn't start racing...   (images from google)

Yeah, that's what I thought.  So if you're like me, you should grab any magazine pertaining to these amazing people and prepared to be dazzled.  Between Kim's 20 karat wedding ring and Bethenny's Skinnygirl extravaganza, you won't be disappointed. Then, watch Khloe and Lamar, Keeping up with the Kardashians (10pm ET on E!) and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

JAS

East Boston Taste Tour

When this Eastie Tasting Tour came up on Gilt, I must admit I was a little skeptical.  I had been to East Boston before on an adventure to seek out Santarpio's Pizza and was very very glad I was with my family at the time.  Let's just say that there are lots of characters doing lots of questionable things out on the streets at night.

But this little walking tour proved to be a fun and different way to get a taste of Eastie at a great price! So let's get right to it...

The Stops and the tastings:
1. Mehak Halal : pakistani and Indian food.  Delicious chicken dishes
2. 303 Cafe: American.  Firecracker chicken with caramelized onion mayo.
3. Taqueria Cancun: amazing hole in the wall kitchen that does Salvadoran food.  We ate Pupusa. holy crap this is so good! tortilla filled with cheese and pork.
4. Dough: specializes in pizza, pasta, panini
This last stop featured this amazing sandwich, the Vermonter.  This is a sandwich on crack.  It is multi-grain bread w/ maple turkey, Granny Smith apples, smoked gouda, bacon, onion, and sun-dried tomato mayo!

mmmmm
xoxo
JAS

The places you will go...

I also think that I should publish this, because telling others about what you want to do and achieve is a great way to hold yourself accountable. So this is the ongoing list of places I want to eat in the near future in Boston. Let's hope I can make it through the list; hopefully along with some of my friends!

-Carrol Ann Bake Shop
-Spinelli's
-Lala Rokh
-A&L bakery
-Staff Meal Food Truck (SoWa market)
-Salty Pig
-Tres Gatos in JP
-Market by Jean-George (maybe)
Grilled Cheese Tuesdays : Dante
-Duozo modern japanese restaurant
-L-Andana
-Mistral
-La Verdad : torta
-El Centro
-Stella
-Parson's kitchen : Winchester
-Masa (brunch)

Bam.


-JAS

What's next

Since I'm going to be on a mini vacation for some of the weekend, I decided I needed to make a note of upcoming things that will be presented. So here's a little list of things, I'll start with a list of the stuff already written (a few months ago- oops) and then will switch to new stuff that's being thought up now.

Old stuff that will be posted very soon and probably feel a little late/out of order:
-Brooklyn adventure day
-Spain!
-personal fav drink spots in NYC
-Food trucks part 1! ... Clover, grilled cheese truck, LMA truck
-Doughnut takeover.
- Cake batter pancakes
-My fav celebs : Kardashians, Lisa VanderPump, Bethenny. (HOW has this not been posted yet-- it seems like I spend all of my tv hours truly devoted to these people!)
-This list also includes Kathy Griffin, the Olsen Twins, and the GG crew.


And the upcoming new stuff...
- East Boston Taste Tour
- spiked Popsicles
- summer cocktails and punch bowls
- more doughnuts
- Food trucks part 2: Staff Meal, Cupcake Cart
- more tasty treats made by yours truly
... And more DIY surprises!

Can't wait! But until then cross your fingers and toes for better weather!

Cheers
-JAS

Flour Bakery

So this post is another that didn't make it to the 'publish' mode and remained to be approved for eons.  However this is perfect because I just went back to Flour today and had a wonderful lunch date.  The sandwich choice was grilled chicken, peppers, arugula, and brie on wheat bread.  Yum Yum.  Then the wonderful little surprise was this little beauty : pineapple mint seltzer.  So simple yet so delicious.

Flour has it all: breakfast, sandwiches, soups, salads, baked goods, cookies, treats, coffee, everything a girl like me could ask for.  These desserts are especially amazing, so make sure to grab a few on your next visit.  The best part is that there are two convenient locations; one in Kendall/MIT and one in the South Station area.

Honestly everything here is so good I can't even pick something out to highlight.  Go for the special of the day for soups and one of the chocolate treats for dessert.

Best part? One of their mottos (written on the wall)... Eat Dessert First!

cheers
JAS

Hex Nut Bracelet

AHHH! How on earth did this post never get fully posted?? That's the problem with the option of 'save now' on these blogs... I get paranoid that there is a spelling mistake or something and wait to post them until I can proof read them.... well that didn't turn out so well. Now I have 5 posts that are all waiting to be published... no wonder why there was no activity for a while there! I could have sworn I was being productive and writing but never double checked. My B.

Well that means we get to post a lot of things with nothing more than some clicks. Win.

Ok so for anyone who is in on the DIY scene, I'm sure you've already seen this, but who cares. I put my spin on the original by using brass hex nuts and black string... cuz BLACK & GOLD are my favorite colors (....theta....)

I got this idea originally from my Pinterest..... if you don't know what Pinterest is then you're not living. But the pin on Pinterest is actually from Honestly WTF so you can go there for the original idea and instructions. Here's my version.

1. Have 3 strings and tie a knot up at the top. Basically act like you are about to braid 3 strings.
2. Now stop pretending and actually braid the 3 strings. Braid for about 1.5 inches.
3. Now incorporate the hex nuts by placing a hex nut on a string when that string is being braided across the middle string from the outside. The nut should be angled downwards.
4. This is the important step. Now that the hex nut is on, you will need to put your thumb right below it and hold those two strings together tightly with your thumb. This will keep the nut sort of locked in place until you cross over the opposite side string (that is nutless)
5. Continue for 12-16 nuts. I used 12, they used more. Do what you feel is right.
6. After the nuts are all incorporated, finish the bracelet by braiding. Keep in mind that you want the hex nuts to be the center, so you should braid as much as you did pre-nut braid (in these instructions 1.5 inches) after the nuts.
7. tie and enjoy!

Here's the bracelet getting started on the kitchen table. My grandpa is on my right helping me out, but was a little camera shy today.

Note in this picture A. My thumb is weird and knobby and B. that you need to hold the string tightly up against the nut after you cross the bottom of the string over the middle string.

This is my grandpa when he wasn't feeling so camera shy.

JAS

Blue Bottle Coffee (Brooklyn, NY)

I love my latte art just as much as the next girl, but do you know what I love even more? When my hot chocolate gets the love and attention of art!

This was the experience I had at my second go around at Blue Bottle Coffee.  I knew that since I was in Brooklyn I would NEED to make the stop here, but I had just had coffee and wasn't ready for my usual second cup.  So I timidly ordered a hot chocolate and bam! Look at how beautiful this is.... now that's some lovin' for beverages.

This place is one of the best coffee destinations I have ever seen.  If you haven't yet been, you are missing out.  Get your behind to NYC and spend a day over in Brooklyn.  When you need a little energy boost, head to Blue Bottle.  Done and done.

JAS

New CookBook

Can't wait to get some great cooking and baking ideas from this...



A few things that already caught our attention include: honey biscuits, cannolis, and Paradise cake.

One of the things we also love is that each recipe explains which region it came from. That sounds to us like an excellent way to find some perfect wine pairings for some dishes!!

Mmmm mmmm good

-j&s

Recycle St. Germain

Ok well not the alcohol, but the cool bottle that it sometimes comes in....

Happy Easter!!


-JAS