I don't cook much these days, either, but...

I've been making my own yogurt for quite a while now. Today I made granola for the first time (and too bad computers don't have smell-o-vision, because it is gooooooood). If you call me a hippie, though, I'll smash your face in.

things I've "cooked" in the past two weeks

boil-in-bag brown rice

frozen lima beans

frozen peas

frozen corn

peanut butter toast

turkey and cheese sandwich

marinaded chicken with frozen snap peas

cereal*

*It's a sad life when cereal makes the list of things I've cooked.

Ugly Betty

My mom gave me her very old Betty Crocker cook book maybe a year ago. You know the one, like a big orange binder? Well, I may have taken it from her house. . . with some later permission to do so, but anyway, it had been in my possession for a while now and I hadn't used it, until recently.

Of course I wanted the book because of the cake recipes. Old recipes are usually good ones, right? They're classic. They're the ones you want to keep around for a while and share with others (or maybe not, depending on who your crowd is!) I figured if anyone was going to teach me how to make a great cake it would be Betty Crocker. And in my seemingly endless search for a moist yellow cake recipe, that I was convinced needed oil instead of butter, Betty had my back.

I found a lot of recipes in this great book that called for shortening. I think that's just plain gross, so those recipes were out. I mean, for decorator's frosting or even pie crust that's one thing, but otherwise, that's nasty. I kept looking and found Betty's recipe for Two Egg Chiffon Cake. By definition, I've now learned that a chiffon cake uses oil instead of butter. That's what I was looking for! What was also part of the process was separating the eggs. I whipped the whites to a meringue to be folded in later, which makes the cake light and fluffy. So we have moist. . . light. . . fluffy. . . all good things. I was excited!

After some minor issues whipping up the egg whites (humidity. . . ) the cake came out of the oven and luckily looked perfectly fine. The recipe recommended using a Pineapple Butter Frosting to top it off, so I did. It was just butter, confectioner's sugar, and drained, crushed pineapple. It's pretty hard to drain crushed pineapple completely though, so the liquid left in there is why I didn't need any milk. Other than being sweet, the frosting was really good! With the cake though, the whole thing tasted GREAT! Of course with the pieces of crushed pineapple throughout the frosting, I wasn't able to smooth it over and have it look anything close to even semi-professional. . . so I present you with "Ugly Betty. "

The Tofu Chronicles, Part 1

I'm calling this Part 1, not because there are currently more parts to the story, but because I'm hoping that the future will hold more exciting tofu chronicles for me to share with you. . . so stay tuned.

Once in a while, I get inspired to experiment with tofu. I did so recently, for Jenni! :) My usual attempts don't often pan out very well, typically asking myself why I didn't order takeout instead, letting the professionals cook it for me. This attempt however was pretty good, so here you go.

I've tried marinating, baking, and stir frying tofu. No matter what, it still tastes like tofu. . . which isn't really a GOOD taste, but when mixed with other vegetables, seems to suffice and definitely make me happy because I'm getting a little protein -- so I suck it up and eat. This time, I decided to pretend the tofu was a vegetable.

I bought extra firm tofu, pressed it with a bunch of paper towels to get some of the water out, then cut it up in the thin-ish pieces you see in the picture. I then heated up a medium frying pan with a little bit of EVOO (the more flavor the better when it comes to tofu, right?) and then added the tofu, which I sprinkled rather generously with salt and pepper. I let this sit in the bubbling oil (almost enough to cover the pan completely, but lightly) for a while. . . not sure how long. When it got this nice golden color, I flipped each one (that was fun -- I ended up using tongs after getting frustrated with my spatula) and then added more salt and pepper, letting the other side golden up as well. Once done, I took them out and let them sit on paper towels to drain a bit. It was an interesting texture. . . somewhat crisp on the outside yet not the gushy ickiness tofu typically has on the inside. It was. . . cooked? It tasted okay on its own too. But it was MUCH BETTER tossed in a simple garden salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. I drizzled my favorite dressing on top (365 Balsamic Vinaigrette, the one sold in the refrigerated section -- there are two actually). It was a good dinner!