Side Dishes: Cheese Biscuits

Everyone has experienced the slight panic that comes with a potluck or group dinner. You never want to make the dish that has the least amount of traffic at the table, but you also don't want to be slaving in the kitchen for days. These cheese biscuits are an easy option and will appeal to every crowd because who doesn't love cheese?


This is a dish that requires a minimal number of dishes and space so it's great for apartment dwellers and students.

There are many variations of the basic biscuit recipe and a great place to start looking for interesting additions are right on the back of the biscuit mix box!

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 12-14 mins per batch

Kitchen tip: These are best made in muffin molds because they will not keep their shape as well if made as drop biscuits.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups biscuit mix (such as Bisquick or other all purpose baking mixes)
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (sharp cheese gives the biscuits more flavor)
• 1 cup sour cream 
• 1/2 cup of softened butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and grease the muffin pan.

Cube the softened butter and combine with biscuit mix until the butter is no longer in large pieces.

Stir in the cheddar cheese, sour cream and water.

Fill the greased muffin cups 1/2 full with the mixture. Bake until tops are golden brown.

Falafel Pita Sandwich

Sandwiches are some of the easiest and satisfying meals, but sometimes deli meat doesn't cut it. Falafel is a good (and thrifty) vegetarian option. Making all the patties ahead in one night means simple reheats for the rest of the week.

The recipe below should 2 people 3-4 dinners.

Cook time: 20 minutes

Prep time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Falafel patties

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 slice of wheat bread (the ends are fine)
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans, washed and drained
• 2 eggs

Sandwich fixins:

• Whole wheat pitas, cut in half and split
• lettuce
• tomato
• store bought tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber sauce)

Combine all the falafel patty ingredients in a food processor until well blended. Chill mixture for 20 minutes to make it easier to handle.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Using a spoon, scoop out the garbanzo bean mixture. The smaller and flatter the patty, the more evenly it will cook. Heat for 3-4 minutes then flip. The underside should be a golden brown.

To assemble the sandwich, split the pita to make a pocket. Line it with lettuce, tomato and the patty. Top with tzatziki sauce.

Just Desserts: Hawaiian Mochi Cake

While walking around Japantown in San Francisco, I came across an interesting looking dessert at the counter. It was Hawaiian Mochi Cake, according to the cafe. The cake has an interesting texture, with a crisp brownie top and a mochi middle. For those unfamiliar with mochi, it is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice-very tasty.

The cake has a light coconut flavor and is not too sweet. However, it is very dense so a small square will certainly satisfy any sweet tooth.

The sweet rice flour the recipe calls for is on the expensive side and finding the unsweetened coconut milk was slightly difficult, but the effort is very worth it.

A few notes on this recipe: it is from Epicurious, but I've added a few clarifying notes and additions of my own.

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Baking tip: Don't be alarmed when during baking the top bubbles up. Once you take it out and start cooling it will settle. The baking time could vary (I used a glass pan and have a gas oven). It's important to keep an eye out on the cake to be sure not to over-bake.

Ingredients:

· 3 cups sweet rice flour

· 2 1/2 cups sugar

· 2 teaspoons baking powder

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 2 (13.5-oz) cans unsweetened coconut milk (not low-fat)

· 5 large eggs

· 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

To melt butter, cut the 1/2 stick into small cubes and heat in short time increments. I found 3-4 times for about 15 seconds does the trick.

Whisk together mochiko, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together coconut milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla in another bowl. Add coconut mixture to flour mixture, whisking until batter is combined.

Pour batter into an ungreased 13- by 9-inch glass baking pan, smoothing top, and bake until top is golden and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hours and 15 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours.

For left overs, cover with clear wrap and refrigerate.

Appetizers: Edamame Hummus

I love hummus. It's one of the most versatile food items: great for groups or a quick and easy lunch. Much like traditional hummus, edamame hummus is a good source of protein. This variation has a more distinct bean taste. There are many recipe variations and this is one of the simpler versions that can easily be made with ingredients on hand.

Bonus: great with raw vegetables or even chips.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups pound frozen shelled edamame
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2-3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspooon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• Optional: 1 tablespoon of sriracha

Boil the beans in about 1/4 cup of salted water for 4 to 5 minutes. While the beans are boiling, mince the garlic in a food processor. Drain the beans and add to the food processor. Add the cumin, lemon juice and if using, the sriracha. Puree the beans and slowly add the olive oil, then the water until all the ingredients are mixed and the hummus is smooth.

Appetizers: Egg Drop Soup

The simplicity of egg drop soup makes it super satisfying but also really frustrating to make. The ingredients are simple enough, however the process takes a delicate, patient hand. Slightly adapted the below recipe from The Kitchn (How to Make Egg Drop Soup). The original lists some extras, but I like this as simple as possible.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (32 oz) chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 3 large eggs
• Salt or soy sauce

Cooking tip: This soup doesn't keep too well, so just try to make as much as you'll eat for a day or so.

Pour the stock into a saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Taste and add salt or soy sauce as needed. Make sure the soup is good and hot.

Ladle out some soup, about 1/4 cup the stock and whisk it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk this back into the stock and give it a taste to make sure the cornstarch is dissolved.

Whisk together the eggs in a small bowl with the remaining teaspoon of cornstarch. Make sure your soup is at a bare simmer-this is really important because if it's too hot, the eggs will cook and be really clumpy and weird. Pour the egg mixture slowly, through the tines of a fork. As you're pouring, whisk the broth slowly. Leave it at a low simmer for a minute, just to be sure the egg is cooked.

Serve immediately.

Stroganoff, the remix

A thrifty, quick meal and a delicious, savory meal are not mutually exclusive. Remixing classic recipes can sometimes yield new family favorites. I tried my hand with the always welcome Campbell's Soup beef stroganoff (original can be found here: Campbell's Kitchen).

Due to some childhood guilt about never eating all the peas, I added one 15 oz can, though truthfully, it may taste better without it.

The Galley Kitchen remix fed two people for approximately three days (six total dinners).

Total prep time: 5 mins

Total cooking time: 20 mins

Reheating tip: To fight some of that dryness that comes with reheating food, add a spoonful of sour cream.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 lbs ground turkey
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (98% Fat Free)
• 2 tablespoons Worchestire sauce
• 1 ice cream scoop sour cream (yes, ice cream scoop)
• 1 package egg noodles, cooked
• 1 15 oz can sweet peas, drained (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup chicken broth

Time saving tip: Start the egg noodles first so they'll be ready to rock by the time the turkey is done.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and brown. Once browned, drain of any fat.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook until it's tender.

Stir the soup, sour cream, peas (if using) and Worcestershire sauce in the skillet. Allow the ingredients to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix the turkey with the noodles and enjoy.

Eating Around the Bay: Bun Mee & Dumplings & Buns

Fillmore Street houses a wide array of great new restaurants. Earlier this year it was Bun Mee, and most recently, Dumplings & Buns. Both offer a unique take on much loved Asian fare, with one new eatery making a splash and the other but a ripple.

First stop was Bun Mee (2015 Fillmore Street). The restaurant errs on the small side, with a long bar right up by the kitchen. The Belly Bun jumped off the menu, with its Braised Kurobuta pork belly, salted radish relish, shaved onion, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, jalapenos, cilantro. The sandwich was roughly six inches long and had the right blend of savory and spicy. Two slightly messy thumbs up.

Next on the menu was Dumplings & Buns (2411 California Street). The new eatery offered an enticing combo of a choice of one pork or bbq chicken bun and three dumplings (pork, chicken, pea, shrimp) for only $5.50. The offer was too good to resist: one pork bun and one pork one chicken and one shrimp dumpling coming up. Unfortunately, the good vibes stopped with the offer. The bun had an overdose of garlic and the dumplings were too soft.

Give these restaurants a spin the next time you're on Fillmore St.

Tofu Vegetable Hot Pot

Adapted this Cooking Light recipe to use slightly more accessible ingredients and last two people about 8 dinners (4 days). The original recipes is found at MyRecipes.com (Tofu Vegetable Hot Pot ).

This is a great way to introduce people to the joys of tofu. The spice is not so shocking because of the coconut milk and if served over rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 6-8 tablespoons sriracha, depending on how spicy you want it (or any type of Thai, chili paste or sauce)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage
• 4 medium/large shiitake mushroom caps, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 1 pound water-packed firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tomatoes, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges
• 1 bag frozen vegetable mix that can includes: carrots, baby corn, onions, snap peas and other stir fry type vegetables
• 1/4 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
• 2 cups hot cooked jasmine rice

Total prep time: 15-20 mins

Total cook time: 25 mins

Serves: 2 for approx. 4 dinners (8 meals total)

Cooking Tip: Begin cooking the rice first, so it will be done by the time the entree is ready.

Defrost frozen vegetables and set aside.

• Heat oil in a large nonstick saucepan and add shallots; sauté 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic, cabbage and defrosted vegetables. Cook 2 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in water, soy sauce and coconut milk; bring to a boil. Add tofu.
• Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Add tomato; simmer 3 minutes. Stir in onions. Serve over rice.

Sides: Avocado Salsa

California has some of the best produce I've had the pleasure of cooking with. Everything seems to be ripened just right and it's always fresh.

This avocado salsa takes advantage of the great seasonal produce, and at the same time is super tasty and is a one bowl meal!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe medium sized Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ripe medium sized avocado
• 3/4 cup of fresh, chopped cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced and seeded
• 1 minced garlic clove

Great 1 step dish: combine all ingredients together and mash with spoon.

Serve with tortilla chips or as topping for dishes.

Home Cooking: Quick Vegetarian Chili

Another adapted recipe from Cooking Light-which is honestly a great resource. I like to play around with the list of ingredients, but for those purists, here's the real recipe: Quick Vegetarian Chili with Avocado Salsa

This can easily feed 2 people for 5 days and uses the handy Avocado Salsa recipe

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
• 2/3 cup uncooked barley
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (14.5-ounce) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (fresh is key)
• sour cream
• tortilla chips
• (optional) lime wedges

2 hours before meal time: cook the barley. The recipe originally calls for quick cook barley, but I couldn't find it. The regular stuff works just as good, but takes a bit of time.

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a soup pot at medium-high heat.

Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 3 minutes. Add chili powder and next 4 ingredients (chili powder through green chiles); cook 1 minute.

Stir in barley and next 4 ingredients (barley through broth); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Top with cilantro and serve with sour cream, lime wedges (optional), chips, and Avocado Salsa.

Techniques: Shredding Chicken

One of the most useful techniques I've come to appreciate is how to shred chicken. You don't need any fancy machinery or technical know-how, just two forks and some elbow grease. Chicken is very much a utility meat, and shredding is just another way to use it.

I start with thinly cut chicken breasts. Brown the chicken and once cooked, go to town with the two forks. Use one fork to hold the meat while the other pulls away from it.

I've used shredded chicken in soups and casseroles, but I'm sure there are a hundred other uses.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

In honor of my move to the West Coast, I tried my hand at making some Mexican cuisine. I adapted the Green Chile-Chicken casserole recipe from Cooking Light . This is definitely not light, but it sure is tasty. I added jalapenos to give the dish a little bit of a kick. I also saved a bit of the soup mixture to add to the last layer.

For me, the prep took about 45 minutes and I had another set of hands for help.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups chicken broth


• 1.5 cups canned chopped green chiles, drained


• .5 cup jarred chopped jalapeno peppers


• 1 chopped, medium onion


• 1 cup sour cream


• 3/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin


• 2 (10 1/2-ounce cans) cream of chicken soup


• 2 garlic cloves, minced


• Cooking spray


• 24 (6-inch) corn tortillas


• 1.5 lbs shredded cooked chicken breast


• 1.5 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, with extra for topping
  

Equipment needs:

• 2 large frying pans


• 1 Pyrex/casserole dish, 13x9


• whisk


• ladle


• cutting boards, knives

1. Brown the chicken in 1 pan. When cooked, shred the chicken using two forks




2. Pre-heat oven to 350 and coat pan with cooking spray


3. In the second pan, combine the first 9 ingredients (chicken broth to garlic), bring to a boil and continuously stir with whisk


4. Using the ladle, spoon a little less than 1 cup of the soup mixture on the bottom of the casserole dish, just enough to cover the bottom. Layer 6 tortillas, followed by 1/3 of the chicken, and 1/3 of the cheese. Do this 3 more times, with the last layer being chicken, cheese and the remaining soup mixture


5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly

Eating Around the Bay: Tataki

Who knew that I would seek out a sustainable sushi bar? Didn't think it was a thing-but then I forgot that I'm in San Francisco.

Decided to stop by over the weekend and was really pleasantly surprised. One of the highest quality sushi restaurants I've visited in awhile. Sampled a California roll (natch), the double-double roll (tempura fried spicy albacore roll, masago, green onion and sesame seeds) and the very awesome looking extinguisher roll (albacore tuna, avocado, habanero sauce, and spicy aioli). Did I mention that the extinguisher was on fire? Cause it was.


Everything tasted fresh and was awesomely made. It's a small space so expect a wait.

Two locations in the city. Peep the menu and all the details on their site: Tataki Sushi Bar

Weekend Meal: Southwest Chicken Soup

Count this as one of the easiest and thriftiest meals out there. The long and short of it: mix some things and let them simmer in a slow cooker for about 6 hours. I found the original recipe from a Campbell's book, but made a few adjustments.

Those things to mix are:
Serving size: 6-8 bowls of soup

• 1 lbs chicken breast, browned and shredded
• 1 large onion, diced
• 8 oz chunky salsa-with heat depending on taste
• 1 cup frozen, whole corn kernels
  
• 2 tablespoons of garlic pepper
• 5-8 dashes of your favorite hot sauce
• 1 3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

Brown the chicken breast and onion. Cube or shred the chicken. I think shredding it spreads the chicken love more evenly throughout the soup. To shred the chicken, take two forks and pull the chicken apart.

Mix the onion, salsa, corn, garlic pepper, chicken and onion in the slow cooker. Turn it on low for about 6 hours.

This meal is a great fix for the whole week.

Enjoy!

Kitchen Fail: Homemade Chips

I, like 99% of Americans, enjoy delicious crispy potato chips. One day after the holidays, I found myself with about a pound of potatoes. Laziness drove me to think I could make my own chips. The fatal flaw was were thick, uneven slices and oil that wasn't hot enough. However, out of this came circular fries, which were welcome, but not the intended end result.

A kitchen gadget to consider is a mandolin that will slice the potato thinly and evenly.

You know what they say though, practice makes perfect, so I'm going to keep eating chips...wait, that's not right...

UPDATED: SF Kitchen Pics, coming soon!

[UPDATED 2/6/11] We're happy to present our new West Coast home, complete with tons of granite counter space and a regular sized fridge!

Happy cooking!
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We're all settled in the new kitchen. Tons of storage space and granite counter tops...oh my! Pictures coming soon.

Late to the Christmas Party: Christmas Cookies

Experimented for the first time with cookie cutters over the holiday season, and I must say there's a lot more than meets the eye. While I do call these Christmas cookies, this recipe is great to use for any shaped cookie cutters and makes about 12-18 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutters.

A word to the wise on cutters: try to go for simpler shapes. The more complicated ones with intricate designs tend to not come out as planned.

Icing: This is enough for 15 to 18 cookies. Liquid or paste dyes will work.

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg whites
• 3 or 4 drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Food coloring

Mix the sugar, egg white, and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. It should have the consistency of heavy cream (you may need to add a bit more sugar). Add desired food coloring.

Sugar Cookies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, nutmeg or any other flavoring
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, milk and flavoring. Sift flour. Mix baking powder with 1 cup flour, combine mixtures, then add the rest of the flour. Chill for at least 39 minutes. When rolling the cookies, generously flour the board and rolling pin. Roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, chopped nuts. Bake in a moderately hot oven, 375 degree F., 8 to 10 minutes.