Don't be Afraid

 

These may seem like scary, gross, smelly, disgusting, rotten bananas, but they're really a blessing in disguise.  They are a gift on Christmas morning.  A tiny, fluffy kitten.  A sweet....

Okay, I'll stop now.  But really, they are a GOOD thing because BLACK BANANAS means...

BANANA BREAD!!!!

I'm going to cut to the chase, but let me just say that if you've never had banana bread, you are missing out on a wonderful, wonderful thing.  Sometimes I let my bananas go bad just so that I can make bread.  Or I'll hide them when I'm home because I don't want anyone to eat them while I let them get browner and browner.  I know that my dad appreciates that, because he loves banana bread as much as I do.  Sorry, Dad, you can't have any this time because I'm two hours away, three by train.  Don't worry, I'll make some when I'm home in two weeks.

(Can you hide the bananas now, please?)

Okay, here we go.  I've been using and tweaking this recipe for many moons now, and I shall share it with all of you.

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What you'll need:

Salt, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, yucky bananas, eggs, and a stick of butter.

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How to make it:

First, you want to soften the butter a little and throw it into a large mixing bowl.  When the butter is too hard for me to cream, I just put the whole stick into the microwave for a couple of minutes on each side, until it's soft but not melted.

Now, add 3/4 cups brown sugar into the bowl.  You don't have to add it one-quarter at a time like me if you have proper cooking utensils and an organized kitchen.  And I'm sorry that this picture is sideways; my computer and I are having a fight.

Cream the butter and sugar together until they are thoroughly combined.  Don't eat this, even though its delicious.  Amazing.  Sugary buttery goodness.  Really, don't eat it.  Don't... eat...

Well... I guess a little taste never hurt anyone.

Now, carefull peel your bananas and add the chunks right into the bowl.  Don't be worried about brown spots; it's okay! 

Also, this recipe works with almost any number of bananas; I've done it with anywhere from 2 to 5.  If you have 6, you should probably just make two batches, which is never a bad thing, right?

Smash up the bananas with a fork until there aren't any huge chunks; then, combine it with the butter/sugar recipe.

Add in your eggs.  If you want to go by the book, scramble them before you add them into the batter.  But we're undergrad gourmets here!  We can't be bothered with washing extra dishes.

We have 15-page papers on South Africa due!  And gay rights movements to research!  And Spring Weekend to celebrate!  Errr... yeah.  Homework.  That's why I can't wash dishes.

Now, pretend like there is a picture of me adding 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 2 cups of flour because my camera battery died.  Mix it all together until it is combined and looks like this.

Pour all of that yummy batter into a greased loaf pan, and stick it in the oven at 350 degrees F.  It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, so watch the color on it towards the end, especially if you're using a terrible dorm oven.

Oh man.  Oh baby.  This is what you want it to look like.  To check for doneness, stick a knife down the center and see if it comes out clean.  In my case, it was actually not completely done in the middle, but I had places to be, so I took it out anyways.  It actually finished cooking while it was out of the oven.  So that works too.

Cut along the sides and flip the bread out onto a plate (don't burn yourself).  See?  I told you that rotten bananas weren't scary.  Does this bread look scary to you??

I didn't think so.

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Things you can do with your banana bread recipe:

• Add chocolate chips
• Add raisins
• Add Craisins
• Add marshmallows
• Add candy bars
• Add nuts
• Add berries
• Add any combination of the above
• Give it to your mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/sister/brother/aunt/uncle/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend as a gift to make them love you more
• Keep it all for yourself, eat it all, and feel super guilty
• Eat it for breakfast after you heat it up in the microwave
• Put cream cheese on it
• Put whipped cream on it
• Put butter on it
• Put peanut butter on it
• Put Nutella on it
• Put all of the above on it

Or, my personal favorite (an idea courtesy of my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Florida):

• Bake the recipe in muffin pans and have everyone put their own favorite addition in a couple of them.  Or, just make tons of varieties all for yourself.  I don't judge!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some eati... err... studying to attend to.

Kashi = Love

I hate running.  I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.  But I do it anyway because its something that every person should be able to do and also because this cooking blog has not always been conducive to practicing moderation with food.  This is mostly because, first, I have to cook recipes and then eat them in order to tell you about them.  Then, I have to write and format the blog posts, which includes looking at pictures of food and making myself hungry.  And finally, when I get sick of cooking and eating and taking pictures, I have to look at other food blogs and restaurant websites in order to have other things to write about.  This also, inevitably, makes me hungry.

So, what's a girl to do?  She makes herself work out, despite the nagging voice telling her to hit the snooze button and stay in bed longer.  Because I work out in the mornings (due to my insanely busy schedule), I try to eat a little bit of something and drink some water so that I can have early-morning energy.  Until recently, I was eating Clif Bars (which are also delicious and filled with good stuff), but they were too much chocolate for the morning.

And then.  I found these.

Oh, yeah, baby.  Kashi TLC ("Tasty Little Chewies"... it makes me laugh because Joe's adorable dog is named Chewy) bars, in three different flavors.  They are...

Cherry Dark Chocolate.  I take these suckers to work with me for the mid-day snack.  For some reason, I don't like taking my lunch break until at least 1:30pm (I think it's because I'm used to starving myself at work, after the busy days at the Today Show didn't let me have lunch until 3pm), so I need something around noon to keep me going.  You can really taste the oats in this one, but it's good!

Raspberry Chocolate.  These are my favorite for snackin'.  There are big chunks of raspberry inside, and the fudgey layer on top gives me just enough chocolate to get my hand away from the leftover Easter candy.  Wait... what Easter candy??  Did I just say that?  Nahhh....

Dark Mocha Almond.  And this one's my favorite for workouts.  It's not too sugary for my stomach in the morning, and the almonds really give you a good dose of what you need to get going.  Plus...

...look at the back of this box!  It tells you all the reasons why this granola bar is a super awesome way to fuel up before a workout.  6 grams of protein?  4 grams of fiber?  I'll take it.

I also love the "Tasty Little Crunchy" bars; they're a little bit bigger and have a chocolate layer on the bottom.  They're great for a post-lunch snack, but they're a little bit too big to eat all at once.  I've tried the chocolate peanut-butter bars.  They're great!

For more flavors and other products, check out www.kashi.com.  They make all of their products by the philosophy that food should be natural and taste great, which are two really important things to me.  So, excuse me while I go eat my Kashi bar... and then (maybe) go for a run!

Sautéed Mushrooms and Scallions

If you haven’t figured it out already, I love mushrooms.  I.  Love.  Them.  I would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and recently, I found myself looking at a package of mushrooms that were – gasp! – about to go bad.  So, OF COURSE I had to eat them.  Plus, I didn’t have anything else to eat that night, and mushrooms were really easy to make.

I decided to go simple with this recipe, and it doesn’t require much else than mushrooms.  I also had some scallions left over from dinner last week, so I decided to add those in as well.  So, if you're looking to make your apartment smell really good and you want a nice, savory, simple meal, try these Sautéed Mushrooms with Scallions.

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What you’ll need:

• 10 oz mushrooms, any type, washed   
• 2 scallions   
• Olive oil or butter   
• Salt

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How to make it:

1.  Make sure that your mushrooms aren’t too wet.  Then, slice them into large slices on your cutting board.

You can use more or less - it really doesn't matter!  Whatever you have.

It's okay if the slices are fairly large because they're going to shrink mondo in the pan.

2.  Heat some butter or olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  I used butter this time because Joe wasn’t eating it, and plus, we’re out of oil.  It’s the end of the semester.

Oh yeah, and did I mention it smells amazing??

3.  Now, throw all of your mushrooms in there – don’t worry, they’re going to shrink up soon.

Now, you can leave 'em for awhile!  Just make sure you stir them after a couple of minutes.

4.  While your mushrooms are cooking, start prepping your scallions.  Peel off the outer layer, then chop it into large dices.  You can make ‘em smaller if you like, but I like big pieces!

This is a scallion.  Hello, scallion.  Pretend like there's a picture of me peeling off the outer layer.

You really don't have to make your chunks this big, but it's up to you.

5.  Once your mushrooms are browning and cookin’ well, you can add your scallions in.  You may need some more butter or oil at some point, so don’t be afraid of adding more.

This is a good point to add the scallions in.

Again, stir these every once in awhile, but you don't have to babysit them.  These are grown-up ingredients.

6.  Keep stirring your pan until the scallions begin caramelizing.  Then, you know they’re done!  Don’t forget to add some salt in there… taste it to make sure it’s right.

Hmmm… this would go really well with rice right now.  Well, it’s a good thing you made some on the side!  You’re such a smarty-pants.

Now, eat because you're hungry!

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There you go, a super easy, vegetarian dinner.  You’ll tell yourself that you won’t eat the whole pan… but you will.



A preview for the end of the week... guess what was stinkin' up my kitchen this morning?

These were.

Ahhh, yes... only good things to come...

Tutorial: Onion Basics

Hello again, all you undergrad gourmets!  I hope your weekend was fantastic and that you didn't miss me too much.  But you better have missed me a little, at least.

I'm still getting caught up on everything after this weekend (the production was fabulous, by the way, and I wish that everyone had been able to come see it!) so here is a little tutorial that I made back over spring break.  Hence, the nice cooking utensils and kitchen and photos.  Only a few weeks until I'm back home... which means that it'll be time to work on my food photography skills!

Since I cook with onion, like, every single day of my life, I find it very necessary to be able to peel and chop an onion without crying all over it due to burning eyes.  Of course, sometimes you just can't help it, but I feel like the most pungent onions are also the most flavorful.  I guess you just have to give a little to get a little.

So, here's my step-by-step of how to peel and chop an onion.  Its a basic skill, but until I knew the best way to do it, I was lost.  But now I am found, and you will be too.

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What you'll need:

One of these (an onion).

One of these (a good cutting board... I love this one.  I'm stealing it.  Sorry, Mom).

One of these (a good, sharp knife.  This one is from Germany, apparently).

And one of these (a trash bowl, an idea courtesy of Rachael Ray.  It will make your life so much easier).

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How to do it:

Start by chopping off both ends of the onion to make a flat surface.

Then, with your knife cut into the top layer of the onion, as shown.  If you go a little further, that's okay too.

Then, you'll be able to reach in and peel back that first layer. 

Note: you want to get rid of the entire layer, not just the skin.  If you try to chop that top layer, it will rebel and you will be unhappy.  Trust me.

And if you're lucky, the whole thing will come off in one piece!  Good job!

Now to chop.  First, cut the onion in half, like so. That means standing it up on it's flat end and cutting down the middle.

(Sometimes Joe gets confused, and I have to explain it to him).

Then, cut vertical slices through one half of the onion. 

Note: I found that there is a much better way to do this step.  Don't cut all the way to the top; leave a little room so that the whole thing stays together.  It makes the next step much easier.

Now, flip your onion ninety degrees and slice the other way.  The closer together your slices are, the smaller the dice will be.  Be sure to stop halfway through to take a picture for your blog.

Oh wait, you're not doing that?  Okay.

Wow!  Look at all that onion you sliced!  You're a crazy onion fool.

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For some reason along the way I thought that it would be helpful to do the following.  It was not, so don't do it.

The wrong way to chop an onion:

This was so counterproductive.

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Now, go cook something onion-y.  You have lots and lots of options.  Just yesterday, I made a steak sandwich with leftover steak and caramelized onions.  It was deeeelish!

I received a request in my comments last week to make my version of grilled cheese, and I am definitely brainstorming!  Stay tuned later this week for that escapade... any suggestions?

When parents come to town...

Last week, I was very, very fortunate that I got to go to dinner with my friend Heather and her father in SoHo.  Mr. Olsen was in town for a couple of days on business and treated us to delicious Italian food!

Side note: One time, Heather's dad took Heather, me, and our three friends to the fanciest dinner I've ever eaten in my life.  I had to detox for three days after that.  I promise I'll tell you about it... another time!

We all went to Mezzogiorno Restaurant which is down by Spring Street and 6th Ave.  On the outside, it looked like a casual café (I'll bet it'd be great for lunch), and on the inside, it was small but very sleek in design.  Because we got there at 6, it was pretty much empty... but we stayed until 8:30 or 9, so it definitely filled up!

I want to say right now that you could probably dine at Mezzogiorno the Undergrad Gourmet way - my entree was about $19, and there were dishes for both less and more than that.  However, we did not dine the Undergrad Gourmet way, which is why I have so many dishes that I can talk about.  It was quite a treat for Heather and me.

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We started off with appetizers: Crostino Toscano di polenta fritta and Mozzarella di bufala con pomodoro e basilico.  What?  You don't speak Italian?  Well then, why don't I translate for you?

Crostino Toscano di polenta fritta was a dish of fried polenta triangles with Tuscan pate and caramelized orange peel.  I had never had polenta before, and I loved it.  I loved it so much.  It is basically made from cornmeal, and in our case, it was fried, making it taste a bit like high-end hash browns.  We were a little nervous to try the pate, but it tasted a lot like ground beef and went well with the polenta!

Mozzarella di bufala con pomodoro e basilico was buffalo Mozzarella with tomatoes and basil.  I made the mistake of saying that there was nothing "buffalo" about it and was then told that "buffalo Mozzarella" is a type of Mozzerella.  My bad.  I love this basic dish in general, but this Mozz was fresh, creamy, and delicious.  It was absolutely refreshing.

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Then we moved onto our main courses.  Heather's dad had the special, with homemade pasta.  Heather had Petto di pollo del “Granduca” and I had Garganelli con capesante e porcini.  I tried Heather's dish, so I will speak for her too.

Petto di pollo del "Granduca,"or chicken breast with avocado in a light truffle sauce was absolutely magnificent.  I've only had anything with truffles one other time (the expensive mushroom, not the chocolate- I've had lots of the chocolate), so I was really excited to try Heather's food.  It was so rich but still remained light as a sauce, and even though the avocado seemed a little odd at first, it really tied the whole dish together.  I can't emphasize just how good this was.

My Garganelli con capesante e porcini was so good, too, and I ate way more of it than I planned.  It was garganelli pasta with scallops and mushrooms (two of my favorite things) in a light cream sauce.  I didn't know what garganelli looks like, but it looks like penne:

 Courtesy of playink.com

The scallops weren't the round bay or sea scallops that I'm used to, being from New England, but they were still delicious.  It was slightly more fishy, but it worked well.  I was so surprised at how many scallops and mushrooms were in the dish; they didn't skimp at all.  I also liked the firmness of the pasta.  It went well with the soft texture of everything else.  I would eat this all day, every day.


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Finally, dessert.  Heather and I couldn't decide on a dessert, so we got two: Crema gratinata ai lamponi e zucchero di canna and Torta di gianduia con gelato alla vaniglia.  They sound fancier than they were.


Crema gratinata ai lamponi e zucchero di canna, or creme brulée with raspberry and caramelized sugar cane, absolutely blew my mind.  This really cemented my love for creme brulée - it was very vanilla-flavored and super addicting.  I am not the biggest fan of raspberry, so I didn't have too much of that, but the creme brulée on its own was so worth it.  The sugar cane on the top just gave the slightest candy crust to the whole dessert, which was amazing!


Torta di gianduia con gelato alla vaniglia, a chocolate cake with hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream, was like comfort food fancified to me.  We had to get something chocolate, so we got this.  The hazelnuts were larger than I expected, but such a classic combo always works.


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And there you have it... the complete menu of our fancy dinner out!  It was so nice to have a dinner that we could really take our time to enjoy, which you don't often get to do as an undergrad.  If your parents are coming to town, or if you just want to have a nice night out, I definitely recommend Mezzogiorno.  It's in a great area of the city, and I'll bet you could have a nice time walking around afterward!  Thanks, Mr. Olsen, for a great dinner out in SoHo!


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If you weren't on an undergrad budget, where would you choose to eat??

Food, Chicago-style

*Disclaimer: I am not an expert on Chicago-style food.  I am not even close to being an expert on Chicago-style food.  I haven't even been to Chicago.  However, Chicago is taking up all my time this weekend, so I will devote a little time to you... regarding Chicago... now.

I'm very sorry, but I have some bad news.  Get ready... prepare yourself... okay.  I'm not going to be able to post very much this weekend.  There, I said it.  Get out your weeping now.  Done?  Good.  That was tough.

Anyway, I'm currently producing a show with the Mimes and Mummers at Fordham University, which is basically a full-time job in and of itself.  I may be biased, but I have to say that we put on some pretty darn good shows.  This show is called Sexual Perversity in Chicago, a play by David Mamet (he has a show going up on Broadway right now).  With a title like that, we've hit some bumps in the road, but we're very glad that it's here and looking amazing right now.  Check out one of our publicity designs:

If you're free this weekend, come join me!  It's FREE for Fordham students Thursday night!  The title is SEXUAL PERVERSITY; who doesn't want to see that?  Plus, we can hang out.  It'll be fun.

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Okay, now that you've endured that shameless plug, back to the food.  So, what is there in Chicago, food-wise?  Well...

• Chicago-style pizza: Probably the most well-known Chicago food, Chicago-style deep dish pizza was actually created by Pizzeria Uno (which is now a chain!).  Chicago-style can also refer to stuffed pizza, which looks similar to deep-dish but has more toppings in it.  The funny thing is that, if you go to Chicago, most pizzerias serve thin-crust pizza!  Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is 

• Chicago-style hot dogs: An all-beef hot dog on a poppy-seed bun topped with mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, celery salt, and pickled sport peppers.  This is certainly an interesting combo - but I love pickles, so maybe I'd like it!

• Italian beef: I saw this on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives once!  It consists of thinly shaved seasoned roast beef that is submerged in a rich beef broth and served on a roll.  Depending on what establishment you go to, sometimes the entire sandwich is dipped in the broth afterward, as well.

• Maxwell Street Polish Sausage : This type of sausage is a spicier version of traditional Polish sausage.  It was originated in Chicago in the 1930's and is sold at lots of vendors and restaurants around the city.

• Eli's Cheesecake: This was originally made for Eli's Steak House in the 1980's and has survived despite the closing of the steakhouse in 2005.  A fun fact: Eli's made a 500-pound cheesecake for Obama's inaugural ball!

• Taste of Chicago: This ten day festival takes place right around the Fourth of July each year, and it's the largest food festival in the world.  Because Chicago does have a diverse culinary culture, the festival features Chicago favorites and world cuisine all at once.  Different restaurants participate, and it is free to enter Grant Park and peruse the stands.  Musicians also perform on multiple stages.  If it weren't so expensive to fly to Chicago, this would be an Undergrad Gourmet's dream!

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Man, this foray into Chicago food makes me want to go there and eat some of it!  Joe has been to Chicago, and he absolutely loved it, despite the chilly weather and the fact that he had to fly to get there.  Yes, that's right - Joe hates to fly.  He's crazy, you know that?

So, pick up a piece of pizza or a hot dog (or better yet - make 'em yourself) and come to SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO, performing April 22 - 25th!  For more information, see the poster above.  See you all there!

Got the "Munchiez?"

Oh, I know that all of you undergrads out there know what today is.  Yes, it's April 20th, or four-twenty, one of the most stereotypical college days of the year.  In honor of this holiest of undergrad days, I'm going to talk about a new establishment here in the Bronx that is really every undergrad's holy grail.  It's called... Munchiez.

Man, has this place been long awaited here at Fordham!  The sign has been painted since last semester, I believe, and it already has 545 fans on its Facebook page since the end of March.  From what I have heard, the owner is a former Fordham grad who decided that he wanted to have food available late at night that wasn't just pizza (sorry, Pugsley's and Bellini's - I love ya, but sometimes I just want a burger).  So, he created Munchiez.

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Now, I expected this place to have all of the classic "cravings" food - burgers, fries, nachos, chicken fingers, whatever.  But this menu goes past what you would expect with its page of "Fat Sandwiches."  Just take a look here:

Are you kidding me?  There is a sandwich with chicken fingers, cheese steak (which is made with Cheez Whiz, by the way), mozzarella sticks, french fries, bbq sauce, lettuce, and tomato ALL ON THE SANDWICH!!  In fact, my friend Taylor ordered it the other night.  His reaction?  The sandwich was gone in six minutes flat.

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Another thing that I was not expecting is on this page:

FRIED CANDY???  I've seen this before, at the local Four-Town Fair (small-town living has its perks), but this was absolute genius to put on a menu.  For the record, I have tried both a fried Milky Way and a fried PB&J before, and both were delicious.  Believe it or not, Joe has too... before we found out that he and gluten did not mix well.

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Perhaps the best idea that Munchiez had was to completely cater to the undergrad population by enabling text-message ordering.  You can, in fact, text message your entire order to Munchiez, and they will reply with your order number and how long it will take.  When Taylor went to pick up the food the other night, he asked the owner more about it.  There is a machine that records the text message and signals that there is an order.  If the restaurant is too busy and nobody reads the order within two minutes, the machine automatically sends a message back to you saying that you should try again.  That way, you never have to wonder whether your message was received or not!

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I really think that Munchiez is going to do well with the Fordham population; it is already a sensation among the student body.  I hope that opening in the spring, when everyone is about to go home, won't hurt it at all, just because its main source of income is leaving this summer.  However, I have faith that Munchiez will be there when I return in the fall!

You can become a fan of Munchiez on Facebook.

Hunger Attack, Resolved

If you were witness to my sudden hunger attack last week, I apologize now.  You were all subject to my clearly not thought through decision to take a night class and fail to pack dinner, which was definitely not your fault.  Although, if I had thought that decision through in the first place, this blog wouldn't even be here.  So I guess you have to look at the upside.

Anyway, in order to apologize, I will now update you with pictures of the meal I had decided to make.  I had been meaning to post this for awhile anyway, as it's one of my favorite: Seasoned Turkey Cheeseburgers with Caramelized Onions.

When I made these burgers last Monday night, they were definitely an example of haphazard college cooking.  I used shredded cheddar cheese instead of something that would hold together better, two slices of Wonder bread for the bun, and a pan cover that didn't actually fit the pan because it was dirty.  That's what happens when you have roommates.

Also, I will say right now that I am REALLY SORRY, but I can't remember what I put in my turkey burger patties to make them so tasty!  I made a bunch at the beginning of the semester and froze them, so this baby had just been thawed from the freezer (there are four more left- eek!).  I know that they have onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in them, but for the life of me, I can't remember anything else.  If I find it, I'll post it.  Kapeesh?

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What you'll need:

• Ground turkey (or a turkey burger patty)
• Half of a small to medium onion
• Cheese (whatever you have handy)
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Bread/bun
• Seasonings that I currently cannot remember.  Sorry.

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How to make it:

1.  First, you want to get your turkey burger patty together.  Mine was already good to go because I had frozen it in January, but if you're starting from scratch, take some of your ground turkey and season it with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Form it into a round patty and set it aside.


2.  Chop your onion.  I did it the Pioneer Woman way, so I documented it for ya.  But be warned: I actually didn't want to dice my onion like this; I wanted it in strips.  So this is just for your enjoyment- don't follow the last step!

Once your onion is cut in half, cut several slits in it-

but don't make them go all the way to the top.

Then, all you have to do is slice in the opposite direction... presto!  Perfect dice!

3.  Now, caramelize those babies in a pan with olive oil (or butter… we’re already using dairy with the cheese!).

Just cook them over medium-low heat until they look like...

...this!  When they're nice and brown, remove them to a separate plate.

4.  Now it’s time to cook your burger. Add a little cooking spray and slap your burger right in the same pan. After about 4 or 5 minutes, flip it over.

Yum, golden brown! I’m definitely not the burger master… but when a girl’s hungry, she’s gotta make due.

5.  Once your burger is pretty much done (check the center!), put some onions right on top and layer the cheese over it.

When you’re using cheddar cheese like me, it gets a little messy. Especially if you diced your onions weird, too.

6.  Cover the pan in order to get the cheese to melt for a minute or two. When it’s done…

Oh, baby. It’ll look like this.

Slide it onto your bread (you can put on any extra onions that wouldn’t fit, too!)

And take one final picture before you dig into that delicious hunk of a sandwich, there.

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Recipe Review:

Usually, when I make this burger I don’t add any cheese. And I like to use a thinner bun. However, I had to make due with what I had and I knew that I didn’t have any condiments or hamburger buns at my apartment. That’s the beauty of the “undergrad gourmet” way of cooking – you always get a little twist thrown in!

This burger was definitely an A, especially because of my ravenous hunger. I do want to try those Pioneer Woman sandwiches though – but I’d better get ready to get on the treadmill the next day. You all can come, too. Not on one treadmill, though. That might be difficult.

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Because I’m currently trying to empty my freezer with all of my pre-cooked food from the semester, we’ll be looking at fewer recipes and more other food topics in the weeks to come. What do you want to chat about?