Category → Cooking

More Conversations with an Engineer

06 July, 21:38, by Kim Toomey
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Dylan lives out of town most of the week. This means he is forced to feed himself in some fashion most evenings. Dylan does not enjoy cooking. He is king of the BBQ – but his grill stays at home with me. And a George Forman just really isn’t the same thing. So I frequently get messages from my lovely husband whining about having to feed himself. Here’s one of my favorites from recent memory:

Dylan: I don’t know what to have for dinner, all I eat is pizza and salad or chicken. I am just going to starve and go to bed early.

Me: Make spaghetti – that is easy!

Dylan: I don’t like making spaghetti because I need to buy milk and it ends up going bad before I use it all.

Me: … ummm. Do you just really like having milk with spaghetti? You know making spaghetti doesn’t involve milk right? Are you making your own white sauce!?! (I am now completely baffled)

Dylan: I don’t make spaghetti, I make pastaroni.

Me: …you realize that spaghetti is easier to make than Pastaroni right? And you don’t need milk…

The end.

Indian Cooking Experiment

09 February, 18:38, by Kim Toomey
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Not that the Pioneer woman needs any more links or shout-outs as she was on the 25 most influential web people for the year,  but I’m making a recipe from her community cooking site that she provided step-by-step instructions on and I had to share.

Butter Chicken by the Pioneer Woman

My poor sheltered soul has never had Indian food before, let alone attempted to cook it. So I went over to Whole Paycheck, stocked up on some bulk spices that have never seen the inside of my kitchen before – Cardamom and Cumin and got at it. Let me tell you, Cumin and Lime are a distinct combination, and if it turns out you are not a fan of said combination, you’re going to hate your life. Because that smell is not leaving your kitchen for a while. Luckily, I am happy to be transported to some faraway – warmer – land.

I’m halfway through this cooking debauchery for the evening and it seems to be a fairly easy recipe. Don’t burn the onions – That’s what happens when you try to cook, chase the dog out of the kitchen, text your husband and blog all at the same time. Maybe someday I’ll get the hang of it!

But seriously, my kitchen smells amazing and I’m not sharing so make it yourself – you can do it!

Turkey Encounters of the Third Kind

25 November, 20:33, by Kim Toomey Tags: , ,
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So I think I mentioned this is my first Thanksgiving that I’m cooking. Which means my first attempt at Turkey. Now I’ve seen my family deal with Turkey each year, but it’s totally different when you have to deal with it on your own.

And I’m not one to do things half-heartedly when it comes to food, so I decided I should brine the turkey which NO ONE in my family has done before. We prefer the dried out version of Thanksgiving Turkey.

So tonight I unpacked my Turkey with Dylan’s help. There may have been some goofing around.

I don’t think there is much anyone can tell me that would convince me from serving Turkey neck in some fashion as opposed to feeding it to the dog. I really think it will make her Holiday (and celebrate her 1 year of life in our hands successfully)

Dylan preferred to be in charge of the brine and not touch raw turkey.

Hmmm, we really need to have a talk with him about the creepy mustache…

*Also, that is not enough brine to cover a 14lb turkey. I had to make a quick second batch. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this one.

Serendipity Pumpkin Pie

25 November, 20:24, by Kim Toomey Tags: , ,
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Sunday afternoon I began my pie baking adventure in preparation for Thanksgiving. Considering I haven’t actually eaten the pie yet, I think it turned out ok. It smells like pumpkin pie, and it looks edible – so I’ll call that a success.

I forgot to take pictures when I was making the crust, but it was pretty simple. Flour, butter, eggs, water mix up – pie crust. I’m sure the pie fanatics would have a cow about my lack of caring about the crust, but I’m sure it will be good enough for my family. I can tell you that if you have a dog that likes to stand directly underneath a cutting board that is covered in flour, and you have to roll out a pie crust and flour goes flying everywhere – this is what your dog will look like:

She likes to help out in the kitchen.

So besides the crust, pumpkin pie is pretty easy. You mix up some pumpkin filling, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, eggs, milk & molasses until it’s nice and liquidity.

I have a very well loved, hand-me-down KitchenAid Mixer. It’s not the prettiest thing out there, but it works. If you want to buy me a new one, I’ll make you a pumpkin pie, and maybe some cookies. But until then, I’ll keep trying to win one from the Pioneer Woman.

So it will look like this:

And if you’re lucky you will have your helper-dog underneath your feet for all of this.

Pour it into your pie crust – mine is not pretty. Thats what you get with homemade crust (at least mine)

Bake it for about 45 minutes and here’s what you’ll get:

It’s been very  difficult to not eat this.

I’ll let you know if it tastes as good as it looks!

Thanksgiving Day Menu

22 November, 09:13, by Kim Toomey
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I put myself in the driver’s seat of Thanksgiving this year, even though I’ll be cooking at my mom’s house. It’s mostly a logistics thing – our house doesn’t do big dinners well in our tiny kitchen.

Here’s what the days events will include – I’ll try and document anything interesting that happens along the way!

Appetizers

Salami Crisps with Sour Cream and Basil from Best of the Best – thanks Janine! These are a very cool series of cookbooks, so much variety in one book!

Artichoke Dip – Care of the Brendyl family for a fabulous wedding present. What new bride doesn’t want a few of someone else’s best family recipes!

Rosemary walnuts – also from the Brendyl family

Assorted cheese and crackers

I figure since I’ll be cooking all day I’ll get snacks set up early to munch on myself.

Dinner

Turkey – fresh from New Seasons. I’m also going to be trying their apple cider brine recipe before hand. Wish me luck.

Stuffing – Gonna wing this part of the dinner thanks again to New Seasons.

Mashed Potatoes with Pancetta and Rosemary

Roasted Carrots – Recipe from another great wedding cookbook present

Mom’s Squash and Pear casserole

Cranberry Sauce – Another recipe they were handing out at New Seaons but I can’t find it online. Yummy cranberries with orange, agave syrup and port wine.

Gravy & Rolls – nothing exciting here.

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie – all from scratch from a recipe from the best dessert place in the world – Serendipity

How to Make Applesauce in a Crockpot

22 October, 19:42, by Kim Toomey Tags: ,
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So you really don’t need a post to explain how to make applesauce in a crockpot, but I feel like my cooking adventure last night reveals a lot about my cooking abilities in general.

1. I’m not a particularly good cook. I am an excellent recipe reader.

2. With all of Oregon’s fall goodness I’ve been completely apple obsessed. Last weekend I bought a bunch of apples with the intention of making applesauce, and finally got around to it last night.

So here is how it goes. And I didn’t take any pictures because it’s really that unimpressive.

  • Cut up about 6-7 apples. Don’t need to peel them, just slice thinly.
  • Throw them in a crockpot with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, some lemon juice and some cinnamon.
  • Cook on high for about 3 1/2 hours.

Now, that was all I read in any other recipe I found online. And if you follow those directions you will come back 3 1/2 hours later and have a crockpot with what looks like cooked sliced apples and something that does not look like applesauce. In my mind, it would all just magically form in the crockpot.

And at 10:00 at night I’m staring at my crockpot saying, how the hell could I have possibly messed this up!!

And then I grabbed a spoon and mixed it up all up, and realized that then I had applesauce!

Crisis averted. And there are few things better than  a warm bowl of applesauce on a foggy fall morning.

Spud Online Grocery

09 September, 19:49, by Kim Toomey
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Sooooo, my new favorite, life altering discovery is Spud. To Dylan’s credit, he was the one who discovered them while showing art at Portland’s Street of Dreams, and insisted that they give him one of those eco-friendly grocery bags. The bag also came with a total of $25 off over a few orders, so I figured I would check it out.

Basically it’s on online grocery store that is able to offer pretty good deals because they don’t have any brick and mortar stores. They offer grocery delivery within an 8-hour drive of Portland (and Seattle, San Fran and LA I believe) and plan the route out to be as efficient as possible. You don’t have to be home, they’ll just leave this bin wherever you tell them too, and it has a special freezer bag for food that needs to be kept cold.

Spud has everything your typical New Seasons would have, but you don’t have to go to the store and delivery is free if you spend over $35, which you will. Their produce is amazing, all organic and fairly local. According to the receipt I was provided the average distance my food traveled was only 500-ish miles compared to 1500 that most items at a chain grocery store go. And then you get home from work and have this waiting for you!

Like I said, I ordered a lot of produce the first time around, apples, oranges, pears, grapes, celery, avacado, onion and a lemon. And, as I also said it is delicious and very reasonably priced. Win win – yummy healthy food and I don’t have to go to the store.

If you want to try them out for yourself, I have a code to share. It will give you $5 off your first 3 orders and $10 off your fourth. CRPDX-TOOKIM

On The Menu: NE Portland Cookout

17 August, 18:41, by Kim Toomey Tags: , , ,
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On Saturday I invited my mom, her husband, my aunt and her husband over for dinner. In the spring, we had my uncle build us a great picnic table, and it was finally going to be warm enough to have everyone over for a good old fashioned BBQ. Except that it really wasn’t, but that didn’t stop us.

So, because I was entertaining, I pulled out all the stops for the family.

Appetizers: Goat cheese filled figs with honey

Main Course: Pepper Steaks, Broccoli slaw, homemade focaccia bread and Scalloped Potatoes*

Dessert: What ever my wonderful Aunt Leslie brought

*I didn’t make the potatoes either.

So, here is the scoop, I’m sure you’re dying to know.

The figs are super easy and delicious. I was scared of them at first, and Dylan thinks they are gross (but he also has the taste buds of a 10 yr. old boy)

I used Turkish figs which can be found at your local New Seasons. Slice them into quarters, without slicing all the way through the fig. Fill with as much goat cheese as your little heart desires. Then pop those suckers onto a cookie sheet and into the over at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or so. They will come out all warm and gooey. Top off with a drizzle of honey and you have yourself a delicious snack. I would even eat these as dessert as they are fairly sweet and the goat cheese is divine.

Don’t you love my countertops in all their 50′s glory? It really wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have 60 years of wear and tear. This was a kitchen that has seen a lot of love.Figs up close and personal.

Dylan was also kind enough to snap a few photos while I was kneading bread. The recipe is from one of my favorite Cookbooks, the Newlywed’s Cookbook. Reminds me of the housewives of Mad Men with all these classic recipes that I feel like I should only prepare in an a-line dress and apron.

As you will see, that is not what I wear when I cook.

And here is the bread after several session of rising and kneading and poking. Right before you pop it into the oven.

Maybe some day I’ll get better at taking more pictures – particularly when I’m done making things. In the case of the figs I was too busy burning my hand taking them out of the oven.