Homemade Tortilla Chips!

Hello to my co-collaborators and other sporadic readers of Tastyface!

So I am currently abroad in Paris until December. And while I realize that many of my culinary experiences thus far would likely have made fantastic blog posts, I have found that I frequently have no idea what I am eating. I just eat what is placed in front of me, especially at my homestay. And you know what? It's always delicious. However, saying "I had some sort of meat stew tonight with an orange soup that you should definitely eat if you get the chance" is probably not that enlightening.

My roommate Kathryn and I have discovered though, that one type of food really lacking in the French diet is that of the salty snack. We were really craving chips and guacamole, and while the guac was no trouble at all to find at our local Monoprix, we were hard pressed to find anything to dip in it. So we bought some tortillas and took it upon ourselves to fill the hole in our hearts with crunchy salty chips.

It's really simple: all you have to do is cut the tortillas into chip shapes, then paint each side with the oil of your choosing (you don't need a pastry brush or anything, we just dipped a napkin in the oil and wiped it on the tortillas) then add salt and pepper to taste.

We baked our chips, but you could fry them if you so desired. To bake, put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheit (or 205 degrees Celsius). After 5 minutes, turn them over. You'll also want to put them on a greased baking sheet, or you can use aluminum foil like we did.

Yum!

(Mostly) Vegan Dark Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Hello everyone! Sorry about my looong absence from Tastyface! Over the last little while I have just been wrapping up my summer at home and getting re-settled in my East Coast college world.

Luckily, I have a kitchen in my dorm room this year (hallelujah!), so I have begun to phase out my eating out all the time while I am here, and phase in cooking myself delicious food so that I will be a good independent human being some day.

Yesterday afternoon I did my first baking in the room and decided to use some rapidly ripening bananas to make some banana bread WITH dark chocolate pieces!!! It is a pretty easy recipe that was pretty close to vegan to begin with...and I would have completed the vegan-ness had I purchased egg replacer but alas I had none. BUT you can make it vegan! Or just use a cage-free egg like I did to ease your conscience.

Mostly Vegan Dark Chocolate Banana Bread

Based off of Butter, Sugar, Flour's Banana Chocolate Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1.25 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1 half bar of dark chocolate, broken apart into chunks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg (or your favorite egg replacer equivalent)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit (It was 200 degees Celsius, which works out kind of strangely in F--but this temperature actually ended up being perfect). Grease and line a loaf tin and set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a larger bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and banana. Stir through the chocolate.
4. Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a fork/toothpick/thin object inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Let cool for a couple minutes and dig in. So delicious!

Thanks for the awesome recipe Butter, Sugar, Flour! :)

Crock Pot Magic!

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a terrible cook. I have no idea why I'm a contributor to a food blog, considering I didn't learn how to boil water till I was about 13, and my parents have to leave me detailed instructions on how to heat up turkey in the microwave when I'm in charge of dinner. I usually opt for pasta (which is not kind to my waist) or going out (which is kind to neither my waist nor wallet).

However, now that I'm in New York City interning at a fabulous magazine, I can no longer afford to go out every night. So I am determined to learn how to make something semi-nutritious besides salad for my dinners.

Mama Williams helped tremendously in this endeavor by purchasing me the most adorable little red crock pot you've ever seen. I've dubbed it Rudy. It's too cute to not have a name, and Rudy just fits perfectly. Plus, the feminist in me snickers at the idea of giving kitchen appliance a male name.

(Isn't he adorable??)

But back to the food! My first attempt at cooking with Rudy tonight was nerve-wracking. I've seen my mother cook beef stew for my seven-person family with her gigantic crock pot from the 1980s. However, I don't eat red meat, I only had to cook for one, and my crock pot is presumably from 2009. So I did a few Google searches for "easy mini crock pot recipes."

While I didn't actually find an appealing or easy crock pot recipe that way, I took a few of the tips and made my own concoction with chicken breasts, garlic, onions, and broccoli. Very basic, yes, but I was erring on the side of not blowing up half of 12th Street. I just tossed in:

1 chicken breast completely slathered in garlic and herb spice mix

about 1/4 of a large red onion (Onions are possibly one of my favorite foods, so I always put in way more than a normal person would probably want to eat. Adjust accordingly.)

2 big cloves of garlic

a few florets of broccoli

a couple drops of olive oil (in the bottom of the crock pot, just to make sure it didn't burn)

I was so terrified of killing myself and possibly my neighbor over in 4C that I neglected to take pictures of the preparation of this dish. All I did, though, was layer the onions on the bottom to form a base, put the chicken on top of the onions, tossed in the garlic cloves, and put the broccoli at the top. Watching the Food Network 24/7 (seriously. I'm watching it as I write this) has taught me that you always put onions in first because they take longest to cook and get that deliciously sweet flavor, plus they're way less likely to burn and taste icky like the broccoli would if you put it on the bottom. Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, the Neeleys, Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis, and the Iron Chefs all say so, so to me, that's basically gospel.

I put Rudy's lid on and let it cook for about an hour or so, checking in every now and then. And lo, my dinner actually came out really, really good. The chicken wasn't dry at all, the onions were sweet but not mushy or burnt-tasting, and the broccoli and garlic made it smell (and taste!) like a fantastic hybrid Italian/Thai dish. Forgive the terrible lighting in the picture...my camera is just a little point-and-shoot, my apartment is poorly lit, and I'm an even worse photographer than I am a cook.

(I was so into eating it that I forgot to take pictures before I dove in. Oops.)

Of course, I'd change a few things about this dish next time I try it. I'd probably slice the onions a little thicker, add a smidgen less oil, and put the broccoli in a little bit later so it got just steamed and not so cooked.

I think that Rudy and I are going to become very, very close these next few months. Thank goodness for a good man in the kitchen.

Neglect!

This poor blog. No one loves it anymore. Well, I've been super busy and hectic lately, trying to finish up internship stuffs and pack up and head back to the north. But despite the horribly chaotic state of my room and my lack of time or energy to cook foods, I have been drinking good things! I tried Ooba for the first time last week and was very pleased! It's delightfully hisbiscusy and comes in some tasty flavors. So far I've tried lime, blackberry and vanilla. The vanilla tastes kind of like cream soda. It's apparently pretty good for you, and it's yummy too.


I don't know if this is the case everywhere, but when I buy it at my local health food store (which is expanding-- sweet!) there's a 50 cent off coupon attached to it.