Empirical Foodism

Sometimes, it's hard to get to the grocery store.  I'm just going to put that out there.  Recently, I found myself in the situation where I had a box of pasta in the cupboard and a stick of butter in the fridge (along with a few unidentifiable items in plastic containers, but as a pseudo-chef, I should likely not admit to having such things in my home). As I was reaching for the butter, I noticed that I had a bit of whipping cream, and a shaker can of Parmesan cheese (don't judge).  After smelling the cream to make sure it was alright (it was on the verge, I kid you not, of being ready for the trash), I made a down and dirty version of Alfredo sauce. Surprisingly it came out really well.  I have a bad habit of not measuring ... with this, just taste as you go and all will be well.  I'm giving ingredients and approximate measurements. Down and Dirty Alfredo   1 cup whipping cream (I'm certain that half and half or milk will work just fine) 1 Tbsp. butter 1/

Have you ever had one of those days that you just shouldn't be in the kitchen?  Like the kitchen Gods are just telling you to go and get some take out?  Yeah, that was me tonight. All I wanted to do was make something to share with a friend who just had a baby.  A nice little casserole, a salad to balance out the carbs, and some baked goods. The plan started out fine.  I prepared a quinoa mac and cheese (which, if I remember to take pictures and mark up the changes I made to the original recipe, I might share on here).  I have it ready to go into the oven tomorrow and will take it to her family on Thursday.  CHECK. Salad... well, I bought some bagged salad, and will make a quick Vinaigrette tomorrow, probably while the quinoa is baking.  CHECK Baked goods.  Well, I'm a little strapped for time, and I wasn't looking to do anything fancy, so broke out the old stand by - Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies.  I can make these in my sleep, or so I thought.  Thi

I have issues with pie crust.  I can make an okay crust, but I always strive for a crust that's more than just okay.  Thanksgiving is the time of year where I put my crust skills to the test. I won't lie, I get a little nervous every year at Thanksgiving.  I mean, being responsible for dessert for a dozen people is a big responsibility! Every year I try a little something different with my crust, striving to come up with that perfectly flaky crust that makes people wanting to go back for more. I THINK I might have found it this year.  I think I ran across the concept on Pinterest , and although I didn't pin that recipe, it got me thinking about it.  Sour cream pie crust.  It was intriguing... would it work?  Would I like the result? I had the ingredients, so I tried it (with slight modification).  Here's the recipe from food.com.  My modified recipe is below: Sour Cream Pie Crust (supposedly will make enough for 1 9in pie, but I think it might yield more)

I did mention that I wouldn't be a regular blog poster, right?  I'm finally coming up for breaths from my months of working one and a half jobs.  It's amazing how much time 60 hours a week of working sucks from you.  One of my summer resolutions is to ramp up blog posts (let's see if that works out). I've been a little obsessed lately with Pinterest ( www.pinterest.com if you are totally out of the loop).  I've been 'pinning' lots of recipes that I want to try, and have vowed that even in the 90 + degree heat of the North Carolina summer, I will do so. The other inspiration I've had lately is that the Durham Farmers' Market ( http://www.durhamfarmersmarket.com/ ).is in full swing, and I've already managed to make it there twice this season.  Being surrounded by that much fresh produce, homegrown meat, hand made cheeses ... yeah it's hard NOT to be inspired. This weekend I plan on whipping up some baked goods with freshly picked

I admit, when I saw the recipe for these cookies, I was completely intrigued by the idea.  I found the reicpe on Baked Perfection's blog.  Orange creamsicle, um, yes please!!! I whipped out my bowl and all my ingredients and got to mixing.  After I put in the flour, I realized that this wasn't going to work out.  The dough was super dry, I don't know that it would have even held together had I tried to make cookies.  I don't know what I did wrong.  I look on the above blog and the cookies are super beautiful.  I was cooking at night, so there is a chance that I screwed something up (in fact, there's a good chance that I screwed up). However, I knew I could salvage this cookie dough.  I added an extra egg.  It made sense, there was a lot of flour, and not much in the way of liquid ingredients.  After adding the egg, it was better.  Still a really stiff dough, but definitely workable.  I added in my zest and my white chocolate chips, and started baking! I

Lately I’ve been craving pesto. I don’t even really like pesto, but I’ve been craving it. Normally pesto is just too much basil for me, so I tend to steer clear. In this time of craving however, I dug up the recipe I created for feta pesto. For me, it’s a really good balance of basil, and feta. I LOVE feta… it also has a slight nuttiness from the toasted walnuts. I imagine that I was simply out of pine nuts, and that’s why I used walnuts (plus, it’s also cheaper). Feta Pesto: 1 cup fresh basil ½ cup walnuts (toasted) 1 garlic clove 6 oz reduced fat feta cheese 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1/3-1/2 cup water Place walnuts, basil, and garlic clove into a food processor and pulse, until combined. Add the feta and olive oil and process the mixture until it resembles paste (yum, right?). To the paste, add 1/3 cup of water, and process until creamy. If you want a thick pesto, you can stop here. If you want a more sauce like pesto, continue to add small amounts of water and process until