The Bunny Box

Last week, I played some catch up with you guys and introduced you to stay-at-home date night. Continuing in our new endeavor to cook foods from every country in alphabetical order (a la Global Table Adventure ), we took on Albania last night. Ok, last week, when we did Afghanistan, I was blown out of the water. The flavors were bold and bright and earthy and I was just--Wow--it was great. This week? Eh. Byrek with puff pastry...gotta love that crust... We had a couple problems for this week's meal. First off, the main course is lamb in yogurt sauce. Now, kosher lamb is pretty expensive, and not as widely available in my area as beef. Also, when eating kosher, you can't mix meat and dairy, which would mean finding a substitute for yogurt in the recipe. The thought of taking that kind of risk with such an expensive piece of meat was just a little too daunting for me, so I figure we'll wait to make lamb when I can follow the recipe to a T. So, we went ahead w

If you've been wondering where I've been, you may be surprised to learn that a lot has happened in the last few months. I started grad school We bought a house. We moved. And that may be a short list, but I'm sure you know that can keep a person pretty busy. Well today I finally finished writing the Big Scary Paper (BSP) that's been consuming all of my time for the past couple of months. This monster tips the scales at 93 pages, and as you can imagine, I'm thrilled to be done with it. At the same time, I'm way too exhausted to make "real food." So tonight I indulged in a grilled cheese sandwich. A really amazing grilled cheese sandwich. With pear... ...and cheddar... ...and spinach... ...and cottage cheese... ...on thick slices of Italian bread... ...with butter. Because if you're gonna make grilled cheese for dinner, you better be willing to go all the way. So I hope the Fall has b

First of all, I'd like to state the obvious: I love calzones! They're easy to make and so wonderfully customizable for whatever I've got hanging out in the fridge.  Er...maybe not ANYTHING, but at least the stuff that hasn't developed it's own ecosystem. Secondly, before I tie that statement to anything relevant (like, say, a recipe) I want to talk about my week.  Not this one.  Last one. Last week, The Huz took a week off from work so we could have our first real family vacation.  We took a trip to Albany to visit his grandfather (very enjoyable trip, though unfortunately he passed away this morning, BDE), took The Boo to the library for the first time (she had a blast in the baby room!), took a trip to the beach (deets and pics to follow), and spent the weekend out of town with some friends. All in all, it was a wonderful, though exhausting, week. Let me focus for a minute on that beach trip. Ahhh....thanks... I've been craving the beach

You're gonna hate me. I hate myself for this. I made AMAZING stuffed portabella mushrooms on Tuesday, but I was so hungry that I ate them before getting any pictures. :( I know. I'll accept my punishment. But trust me. These were amazing. Served with roasted veggies=FULL MEAL OF AWESOME! Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Portabella mushrooms 1 package garlic couscous, cooked (or whatever couscous you want to make is cool, too) Ricotta/cottage cheese Shredded mozzarella Optional: sauteed spinach, sauteed onions, fried crispy onions, Any other awesomes Wipe mushrooms with a damp paper towel to clean and remove stems.  Rinsing mushrooms waterlogs them. They're little sponges. Place in a pan, gill side up. (Some people remove the gills, but I love their flavor so I keep them.) Sprinkle mushrooms with a pinch of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Spread a layer of ricotta/cottage cheese on.  Don't skimp.  If you're going to add any other toppings

Exciting news, everyone! I finally got that camera I always wanted! Now my pictures won't suck as much! I mean, obviously, I still have to learn to use the camera and stage my shots, but I'm working on it. On that note, here's some pictures of this morning's breakfast! With exclamation points!!!! Ever heard of "Eggs in a nest" or "Eggs in a frame"? Usually it's made by taking a slice of bread, making a hole in the middle, dropping an egg in and frying it. This morning, I decided to make it with bagels. The hole's already there, right? Well it turned out pretty tasty. I even tried making it into a sandwich with a slice of American cheese in the middle. Simple. Tasty. But if you don't like runny yolk (like I do. Yum!) make sure you cook it well.

When you read as many food blogs as I do, you begin to notice food trends that everyone writes about. Around December, everyone is writing about gift-able recipes like cookies, fudge and various candies, all with seasonal ingredients incorporated in (like ginger, peppermint, etc.). You also notice non-seasonal food trends, like baking certain types of breads or utilizing newly popularized ingredients. Right now, one of the popular trends seems to be homemade skillet (or pan) pizza. This style of pizza is made using a homemade dough and is cooked in a cast-iron skillet, often with toppings like olive oil, vegetables, marinara sauce, and sparse cheese. My theory is that these have been popularized by the recent movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" which featured a scene in which Julia Roberts ate just such a pizza. Somewhere along my ramblings through the blogosphere in the past few weeks, I stumbled across a recipe for a pizza fitting the above description that appealed to me simply b