AfricanKelli

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Sometimes when I am preparing for a dinner party, I let myself get lost in a pretend land where I have a reality cooking show. Wearing a frilly apron and pearls, I whip through the fridge, pulling out ingredients and humming along to Miles Davis on the radio. I rattle off the recipes to the audience (Nelson.) I laugh at my mistakes and spills and blush bashful when something comes out of the oven that makes me proud.

Yesterday my La-La Land looked a bit like this:

With a dozen friends coming over after work for a meal I marketed as “a casual happy hour,” the menu got a wee bit carried away, as it goes when I receive an issue of Bon Appetit mid-week. My friend David wanted to bring black eyed peas and make his famous cast iron skillet cornbread. Sarah wanted to make kale chips. Everyone else wanted a warm meal and a cold drink. And so, I added roasted Brussels sprouts, baked barbeque chicken, and lots of dessert. Lots and lots of dessert.

Baking apple pie reminds me of my Grandmother Maxine — known for her crust prowess. These beauties would make her smile. The coconut cake, made with coconut oil and milk and topped with toasted flakes over a buttercream cream cheese frosting, went over well too. (It was a take on a recipe in this month’s BA, and a nod to the southern theme.)

The sponsors of my pretend cooking show would be Kitchen-Aid, Tory Burch and Bare Minerals. The eggs would be fresh from the chicken coop. The sprouts would have come from my garden. The guest would sit together around a great kitchen table, rather than folding chairs with plates in their laps like last night. We would play cards after dinner and sip French press coffee, relaxed and happy.

That said, I’ve got the bones of this daydream right: an incredibly sweet group of friends, great food and lovely Mr. Davis on the radio. A delightful start to the weekend, indeed.

Watch your back Martha,

K

Dear friends came into town this weekend for a certain football game; I welcomed the chance to cook for their paleo palates by starting their visit off with brunch. (This egg casserole and this pancake recipe are entirely worth adding new ingredients to the grocery basket. The pancake was actually so good — hefty, filling, satisfying and healthy — I’d consider making it a new Saturday morning routine. No syrup or other nonsense required.)

I’ve come to believe brunch at home, where the coffee, music, temperature and timing are just as you like it, is the perfect way to catch up with those you love.

~K

Nelson wanted to get into the spirit this year, whipping up some easy dog cookies for his friends in the neighborhood:

His peanut butter dog treat recipe was super simple to bake.

He even stamped them with a tiny paw stamp — although it isn’t so easy to see.

I’m pretty sure his friends next door would have preferred tiny barrels of bourbon in this chilly weather. Next year.

When he isn’t chasing squirrels (who could just hibernate already. Please.), sniffing butts at the park, or being attacked by mean dogs with stupid owners, he’s watching me run around like a Christmas crafting maniac baking.

~K

Last week I mentioned I’d be preparing a fancy new recipe with my new 2 week food planning guide. (By the way, that guide is changing my life. I no longer do a dozen market runs for odd ingredients, or worry if I’m going to have the right items on hand for a meal. The mystery is gone, and I love it. It’s planned, working and yummy. Booyah.)

That fancy new recipe was this month’s cover for Bon Appetit: prosciutto-wrapped stuffed pork loin, over apples.

Pros:

Beautiful presentation

Kale. Any time I can use kale, for humor’s sake, I do. Adam hates kale and thinks I’m insane for regularly finding ways to include it in my diet. And so, as our friendship goes, I find ways to add kale to breakfast. And cocktails.

I learned a new cooking technique: butterflying a loin. Who knew it was so easy? (And here I thought butterflying a loin was pulling a muscle in the 200 meter.)

I got to use a meat thermometer I didn’t even know I owned. Score one for the gadget gods!

Did I already mention beautiful presentation, with cooking twine and all? Such fun to put together. 

The baked apples. Propping up the loins to cook over halved apples is genius. And the result is savory, sweet deliciousness. The meat with the cooked, tart, green apples is nothing short of delightful.

Cons:

A dozen expensive ingredients, including $10 worth of mushrooms that ended up being indistinguishable

Not a recipe for a single cook. If Alma hadn’t been visiting, there was no way I could have tied the pork together alone. It was not a hard job, but one that certainly required 4 hands.

DRY. The cook time is totally off. Comments on the recipe show that I’m not the only one to be disappointed with how dry the meat came out of the oven. Come to find out 100 minutes at 400 degrees is a MOTHER LOAD OF HEAT for one little 2.5 pound loin. Some 45 minutes would suffice. (Use yer trusty thermometer to judge.)

And perhaps most “con:” gross leftovers. I tried having this for lunch today and it just wasn’t good. Chances are I will not make this recipe again. The meal cost more than $50 to cook for the 3 of us, with ample leftovers. Sadly, I was counting on those for lunch and dinner today.

~K

There are nights I dream of Gallo Blanco’s tacos.

Just kidding about the sex. But since you’re here…

One of my goals for 2011 was to be better about tracking expenses. I spent September intentionally using only debit, and Mint to categorize where my expenses landed.

Needless to say the dining slice of the pie was ala mode.

hi! I’m unfashionable pie. Somebody give me a scoop already.

Nothing makes me feel more disgusted than throwing food away. It’s disgraceful. In an attempt to be better about both controlling silly food related spending and reducing food waste, I requested the advice of friends on Facebook/Twitter.

There were a variety of clever ideas, with one central theme: make soup. Save what you don’t use and throw it in a pot and clean up your fridge regularly with a hodgepodge soup. Also, plan. My friend Stacey provided an ideal solution. Her two-week food planning Google doc tracks groceries and meals. It makes you sit down, look at your calendar and appropriately schedule meals, and related shopping.

mmmm… soup. Likely to use this roasted squash recipe to clean up what’s left of the gourds in the garden.

I love it.

Earlier this week I set up 2.5 weeks worth of meals, leaving ample room for eating out (with friends in town, this is a certainty), and the chance to cook one fancy new recipe that requires speciality ingredients. These will both help me stick to the plan. Then I cut coupons. For less than $150, I purchased enough food to cook 8 large dinners (to feed 4+), breakfast and lunch. I also restocked my trifecta of bad habits: Diet Coke/coffee/chardonnay. There are leftovers scheduled too. (Those who say “I don’t eat leftovers” make me crabby. There are 7 million children starving in the horn of Africa. Shut up and take the to-go box.)

The next couple of weeks include: Mexican meatloaf, arroz con pollo, BBQ, chicken enchiladas, prosciutto wrapped roasted pork loin, crock pot green chile and chicken pot pie.

So, here I am. The coupon-cutting meal planner who revels in Type A organization and budgets to the penny. In other words, I’m a raspberry beret away from becoming this woman.

The kind you buy at a second-hand store,

~K