Recipes

Eat

Microwave S’Mores

May 13, 2014

We've had our fire pit (which I managed to sorrrrt of reassemble post-tree-collision so that it functions while I figure out whether or not to buy a new one) for two years now, and have never made s'mores. This felt like something we needed to fix.

The only problem: as a city girl who genuinely loves camping but is completely at a loss when it comes to edible things and campfires (my hamburgers, without fail, end up being flipped right into the coals)…I'm not very good at making them. I basically just burn the marshmallows and call it a day. On the positive side, however, s'mores are good even when they're not especially good.

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Eat

Slow Cooker BBQ Brisket

May 7, 2014

Did you know that slow-cookers aren't just for heavy, wintry meals? It's true.

As an example: you don't always want to actually barbecue when you have a barbecue. Or at least I don't. Sometimes you want to eat outdoors off of paper plates, but you don't want a hamburger, or a hot dog, or maybe you're out of propane and don't feel like running to Home Depot, or maybe you're just in the mood for something…else.

Brisket is so good. And slow-cookers make eating it so easy. Seriously, what this meal involves is: 1) put things in slow cooker; 2) put slow-cooked things in bun. Done. (I added some broccoli because I felt like it was important to show that I made an effort to include greenery, but honestly: potato salad is probably a better addition here.)

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Entertaining

Fresh Mint Lemonade

April 24, 2014

When I first moved to LA, I found an apartment right off of the Sunset Strip and a job at an upscale-ish pizza place called Cheebo (the phonetic spelling of the Italian word for "food"). It wasn't too bad of a job - the food was pretty reasonably priced and lunchtime-focused, which meant that tips were only okay, but I liked my coworkers and really liked the staff meal that we got at the end of every shift. The part of it that I hated was when my manager asked me to work the brunch shift, because the brunch shift involved fresh-squeezed orange juice…and you know what's a major pain to make?

Fresh-squeezed orange juice. If you have never done this, let me tell you: you have no idea how many pieces of fruit it takes to make your teeny, tiny four-dollar glass of Vitamin C.

I think working at Cheebo gave me a bit of juice-making PTSD, because never since have I been enamored of the idea of fresh-squeezing my own anythings…but pregnancy does weird stuff, like make you all of a sudden need fresh lemonade RIGHT NOW.

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ENTREES

Easy, Awesome Brisket With Vegetables

April 16, 2014

Course #2 of our Passover Dinner (the first I've ever made on my own) was yet another dish that's brand-new to me: brisket. But I was excited to add my aunt Debbie's recipe to my repertoire, because I have a big thing for inexpensive cuts of meat that you cook on low heat for ever and ever: I think they're just incredibly flavorful and delicious, and love how virtually unscrewupable they are. I also love the fact that you start them in the morning and then basically forget about them all day long, and then poof: dinner is ready, and you barely did a thing.

This dish easily serves 4-6, and makes for some seriously good leftovers (try putting the meat between slices of white bread the next day, oh my god yum). You can also try making this in your slow-cooker; just remember that you'll need about 8 hours of cooking if you do it that way.

(Click here for Course #1, Matzoh Ball Soup)

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