All Hail the Tomato Juice

This morning I remembered the bottles of V-8 vegetable juice on the top shelf of my fridge. So I said to myself, "Why not create a Bloody Mary Moctkail?" I grabbed some condiments, a slice of celery and made myself the perfect non-hangover drink.

Speaking of cure, ironically, that is the name of a place I went to last night. Last summer Cure was my go-to place. Every Thursday, I would go and break out my salsa moves--or lack there of. The place has a "latin room" that I'm obsessed with; every time I go I end up dancing the night away in that room.

Spiced Tomato Mocktail
Total time: 5 minutes.

• 1 lime
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon Maggi sauce (available in specialty food stores or in the Mexican aisle at some supermarkets)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 5-8 drops Tabasco sauce
• 12 oz. V-8 vegetable juice or Clamato
• Pepper
• Celery, for garnish

1. Slice lime in half and run it around the rim of the glass; then dip into a bowl of salt so that the rim is salted. Squeeze the rest of the lime juice into the glass. Add Maggi, Worcestershire and Tabasco in the glass and stir.
2. Add juice and stir again, adding a bit of pepper. Add ice and garnish with celery stick.

The Day After (Black Friday) Part II

Last year I went shopping on Black Friday... and I vowed never to do it again (unless I'm ever really really desperate for crazy discounts and crazy shoppers). So this year I'm giving the day after Black Friday a try. Let's hope it goes well.

I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of scared that there won't be any good things left--discounted or not. But then I might be very wrong since the new stuff might be out by now?

Anyways here is the second installment of our (my cousin's and mine) delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Stuffing is a must on Thanksgiving. Period. No stuffing, no joy. So here is a very good, and quite simple, stuffing recipe.

Sage Stuffing (adapted from Epicurious)
Serves 4

• 4 cups coarse bread crumbs (about 1/2 lb. white bread loaf without crust)
• 2 cups cornbread crumbs (I recommend making a loaf the night before)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
•  stick unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup chicken broth or turkey stock
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spread bread crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry, about 15 minutes. Cool crumbs in sheet on rack. Once cooled, transfer to a big bowl and mix in parsley, sage, salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes. 
3. Add onion and celery to bread crumbs and toss to combine. Add eggs, broth and cream, tossing constantly until well mixed.
4. Butter a large baking dish. Transfer stuffing to dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake covered for about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes, or until slightly browned. Let cool and serve.

Healthy Snacking!

Saturday was quite the adventurous day. I am not joking, just keep reading and you'll find out why.

First of all, I woke up and had delicious queso fundido. Its just melted cheese from the mcirowave, but this was with authentic Oaxaca cheese. Yes, I did bring some from Mexico, and yes I have been eating it lately since I do not want it to go bad.

So anyways, after breakfast, I just bummed around for a bit (it was gross weather outside). Then, after giving it much thought, I decided to make one of the biggest purchases of my life. I bought a NEX-3 Sony compact camera.

Quite an investment let me tell you, but so far I am loving it and I think it was good use of my money. That was adventure number one of the day: spending a chunk of my life savings on a gadget.

Then, I came home, went about my day normally and hoped that the rain stopped before the NKOTBSB concert at Fenway Park. It kind of did, at least for a while.

Now here comes the start of the not so cool adventures. As I am leaving to the concert, I decide to run back to switch my sweater for a trench coat-- quite a stupid decision let me tell you because if I was about to switch my sweater for something that would help if it rained, a hoodless trench coat was not it-- and I forget my keys inside of the apartment.

Forgetting my keys when my roommate is not here had been my GREATEST fear for quite a while. I know the consequences are not so bad (I have tons of friends with places I could crash), but I am OCD, and it really does make me angry to forget my keys. Anyways, I ended up making it back into my apartment in time to go out and enjoy the rest of my Saturday night.

So despite everything that happened this weekend, I managed to maintain some normality: cooking and writing pieces for my internship. I made two simple sides that also happen to be very healthy. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Fries (adapted from Hungry Girl)

• 1 butternut squash
• Cooking spray
• S & P

1. Preheat oven to 425 F
2. Cut off the ends of the squash and slice in half widthwise. Peel butternut squash. Cut bottom half lengthwise and spoon out the seeds.
3. Cut butternut squash into 1/2 inch wide spears and pat with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Lay spears over paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 5 minutes and pat again.
4. Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil and distribute spears evenly. Sprinkle with S & P.
5. Bake fries for 40 minutes, carefully flipping them over halfway through.

Braised Celery (adapted from How To Cook Everything)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 .5 lbs. celery, trimmed and sliced into 2-inch pieces
• S & P
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook celery for about 2 minutes. Season with S & P. 
3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Place skillet in the oven and cook until almost all the liquid is evaporated and celery is very tender, about 15 minutes. If liquid evaporates before celery is tender, add more stock.
4. Serve with chopped parsley as garnish.

Pan-Fried Tilapia and Celery/Carrot Side

Apparently its Starbucks' bday today! I just thought I would drop that random fact in.

Anyways, having defrosted some tilapia filets in the fridge I decided to have it pan-fried for dinner. Its a very simple and delicious way to prepare fish. Literally takes less than 10 minutes and it involves all of pouring oil into a saucepan, heating it, placing the fish filet on the saucepan and seasoning with S & P; then waiting for the fish to get nice and golden on each side.

Then I realized I had almost-gone-bad celery just sitting in my veggie fridge drawer and I looked for some recipe online. Found an easy way to cook Sweet and Sour celery on Epicurious and adapted it to include carrots.

Sweet & Sour Celery and Carrots (adapted from Epicurious)

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Juice of 1 large lime
• S & P
• 1 bunch celery, cut into 1-inch thick pieces. Reserve and chop leaves for serving
• 5 carrots cut into 1-inch rounds

1. Simmer water, olive oil, honey, lime and S & P in a medium pot. Stir until honey is diluted.
2. Add celery and carrots and simmer covered until liquid is reduced (almost inexistent). Recipe called for 30-40 minutes, but I found that after 20-25 minutes the veggies are nice and tender.
3. Serve with celery leaves on top.