The College Girl's Kitchen

I’m so sorry for the wonky layout in the last entry, particularly with the pictures! I don’t have the energy to go edit it word by word, but I promise I’ll make entries look more aesthetically pleasing from now on!

The inevitable has come! Drew (the boyfriend) and I are struggling to fit into our clothes because of all the decadent treats we’ve been scarfing down!

I’m going on a brief hiatus from sweet treats! Not that I’m going to stop making desserts entirely, but I’m going to cut them out of the daily repertoire for the sake of healthier eats.

My temporary mission is to modify my current favorite recipes to be a little more waist-friendly and prevent me from ballooning to 400 pounds! But Drew and I were discussing our favorite meals, and I realized I’m a little limited in my stove-top cooking options–I NEED A GRILL PAN! It’s difficult to limit the amount of oil used per meal when you’re limited to cooking on non-stick, which almost always results in sauteeing.

So I will embark on a quest for a reasonably priced, good quality grill pan that will sear and grill my meats and veggies sans fat! Until I find it, I’m going to explore the virtues of the oven and alternative ways of preparation so I can limit our fat intake and try to make my meals at least feel healthier!

Drew’s been craving Carl’s Jr lately, and just started a tough new schedule at work, so I’m thinking of treating him tonight for dinner with a Carl’s Jr-style burger, slimmed down. I’ll let you know how it went!!

So I’ve been gone for quite a while. If i had any followers (hint, hint), this would be an utter disgrace, but I promise I have a good excuse.

The college girl’s kitchen is now the young-professional’s kitchen! I graduated from UCLA with my Bachelor’s degree this past June, and in the midst of finding a job, moving in with my foodie boyfriend, and all the little changes that came along with the big ones, I’ve been a busy, busy girl!

But I have a whole batch of new recipes (both inspired and original), all sticking to my original MO–simple, cheap, and delicious meals that any busy guy or gal can make on a weeknight, whether you’re in college, at work, or anywhere in between!

I have to say, my affinity for creating original recipes with what I have on hand has turned into one of my saving graces! When we were so busy decorating the apartment, scouting cheap furniture (yes, my apartment is all Ikea-ed out!) and replenishing my professional wardrobe, I had little time to go to the grocery store to stock up on the pantry items I like to have on hand. So I was left to fend with what I had, and I’ve really developed a knack for making flavors work together! I’m tooting my own horn a bit, but I have to say I’m really proud with the strange but delicious meals I’ve created lately.

Please stay tuned–lots of good stuff coming soon, I PROMISE!

Kisses from the kitchen,

G

Let me start by saying one thing: I am not exactly a typical girl. I de-stress by cleaning the kitchen, and I asked for a food processor for Christmas. And it was the best gift I’ve ever gotten.

I cry at the sight of onions. As you can imagine, chopping them is no easy task for me. But I LOVE onions in almost every savory dish I cook–I love Italian food, and the food from the homeland Bulgaria that I grew up on, and both cuisines incorporate onions into many of the traditional dishes. Same goes for garlic; I have tiny hands and it takes me a good half-hour to mince a few cloves of garlic to a consistency that makes it a part of the dish rather than overpower them.

Enter my Black and Decker Quick and Easy Food Processor It’s not an expensive appliance (although Food Network-quality ones are pricier), but it comes in handy for so many things! So far here are my favorite uses of this handy appliance–it can seriously cut prep time in half, prevent the big mess a lot of recipes inevitably bring, and get you to enjoy the delicious meal you just created a lot quicker!

• Pie crusts, or other thick and stick doughs– Throw the ingredients in the food processor and pulse till the dough forms tiny balls, then all that’s left is a few minutes of kneading (versus a long time mixing and kneading by hand), and you’ve got ready-to use dough!
• Chopping stinky (onions), slimy (frozen spinach) or hard ingredients that would normally take a lot of energy–nuts, thick root vegetables, and the like
• Chopping AND mixing in one–for things like Guacamole or Giada’s White Bean Dip, it’s a breeze to throw in all the ingredients and blend until the texture you like them!
• Shredding hard cheeses like Parmesan–mine comes with a special blade for this, and although I use the chopping one far more often, it saves a lot of the elbow grease a hard cheese required to grate!
• Crumbling–whether it’s bread crumbs (I save the less-tasty crusts of sliced wheat bread to make my own for breading meat), philo dough or struesel, a food processor is a much cleaner way to crumble/chop dry foods that would normally fly in tiny pieces all over the kitchen.
• Disguising vegetables– I’m not 10 anymore, so I’ve grown out of my massive aversion to anything healthy, but I do enjoy a more indulgent dish than a veggie-filled one more often than not. Use a food processor to chop up fresh or frozen veggies to a tiny, unrecognizable consistency, and they’re easy to hide in anything from pasta sauce to meatballs, as long as you adjust cooking time to account for them. My boyfriend’s mom used to use this technique to sneak vegetables into pasta sauce, and I think it’s a brilliant idea for any dish.

I’m sure there’s plenty of other genius uses to this multi-tasker, and I’m going to keep using it until I find them all!

What’s your indispensable kitchen appliance? What makes you love it? I’d love to know!

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