Make Your Own Condiments: Balsamic Reduction

It's absolutely no question that working as a sous chef in a corporate kitchen with two badass women for my last year and a half in Boston upped my cooking game.  It also upped my confidence-in-the-kitchen game, and recently, my parents have been reaping the benefits…(but more on that later…)

What I also found is that so many of the condiments that we put on our foods - I'm talking salad dressings, dips, spreads, syrups, etc - are not only extremely easy to make, but are so filled with unnecessary ingredients when they are bought at a store instead of homemade.  There are preservatives to keep them shelf stable, and most condiments are FULL of added sugars.  That is not to say that these foods aren't made with sugar, but making them yourself gives the power to you to sweeten to your desire instead.

Because of all of that, I'm looking forward to posting some blogs about how to make your own condiments.  Trust me, once you see how easy it is, you'll never look twice at bottles of salad dressing at the store ever again.

Balsamic vinegar is the only ingredient in today's recipe.  Wait.  What?!?

Yes.

You'll hear the product that this recipe makes called by two names - balsamic reduction and balsamic glaze.  Now, technically, for something to be a glaze, there has to be sugar involved.  Many recipes on the internet have recipes for balsamic glaze include balsamic vinegar and either honey or sugar.  So since I decided to let the vinegar's natural sweetness speak for itself, it's just a reduction I'm making here.  I'm literally just reducing the vinegar over heat until it's syrup-y and thick and sweet and tangy.

Balsamic Reduction
(makes 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:
1 cup balsamic vinegar

Pour balsamic vinegar into a shallow pan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to boil.  Turn heat down to simmer, continuing to stir every once in a while to make sure the mixture isn't sticking to the bottom.  When it has thickened, and reduced by about half, you are down.  Take your reduction off the stove, wait for it to cool a bit, and then find a bottle to put it in.  I used a small squeeze bottle that makes it really fun to decorate food and/or plates with.


You guys - that's it.  It's just boiling some of the water out of balsamic vinegar.  And anything you're going to find at the store is going to be not only super expensive, but filled with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, and probably not taste as good as this.  If you do need more sweetness in this, just add some honey or maple syrup and stir it in.  (Of course, then it's officially a glaze, but I digress…)

Try this.  It is super worth your while, I promise.

-Bethy

What Exactly Is That Gluten-y Goodness?

I work in the food industry, and I go to school for food.  I'm around all sorts of people with all sorts of ideas about what foods are good for humans, what foods are bad, and what foods everyone should or shouldn't be eating.  Recently, the gluten-free craze has been running rampant in America.  Where before, the phrase "gluten-free" was rarely seen, now, there are entire sections of the supermarket filled with highly processed but gluten-free foods.  While that's great for people with a diagnosed gluten intolerance, celiac's disease, or true wheat, barley, or rye allergies, the number of people who are insisting on gluten-free foods is skyrocketing way faster than those discovering a true intolerance.  



It's been driving me more and more and more crazy that there are people who insist that they are gluten-free, yet can't say definitively what gluten is.  KNOW YOUR BODY; KNOW YOUR INTOLERANCES.  (And for goodness sake, don't tell me you don't eat gluten "for health reasons" unless you actually have a real, medical reason to not eat it.) 

This Is How I Cook: Curry Chicken Salad Edition

So.  Cooking.  Some people like it, some people hate it.  I cook for a living every day, so honestly, I don't get super excited about making dinner for myself all the time…But when I do, I don't use recipes, or really measure anything.  Cooking for me means throwing things in a bowl/pot/pan/what have you, and mixing, tasting, adding, repeating, repeating, repeating.

Today, I was toddling around in the Whole Foods, and the idea of curry chicken salad got into my brain.  All I wanted, nay needed, was some curry chicken salad.  So I went over to the deli case: $10.99/lb.  Ugh.  I'm sorry, but that's absurd.

So I turned myself around and picked up a rotisserie chicken (ok, truth: I got two, but only because they were buy one get one half price, haha).  I could definitely take 20 minutes or so to pick a chicken, and save all that money on pre made chicken salad that would cost too much and be gone too soon.

Are you craving curry chicken salad yet??

Make it.  Bethy-style.

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, picked clean, and in smallish pieces
Mayo
Curry powder
Turmeric
Celery
Sliced Almonds
Raisins
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:
(this is where it gets pretty Thug Kitchen-esque)  What?!?  You don't know what Thug Kitchen is??  Oh dear me, that is sad if you don't.  This is perhaps the most amazing website/organization out there.  Love it.  And I think if all people listened to TK's instructions on life, the world would be a better place.  But I digress…

Put your chicken meat in a medium size bowl.  Add enough mayo to it so it mixes well.  Chop some celery into pieces that are as big as you want them (I mean, generally smallish is better in this case, but you do you…).  Add curry powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper to taste.  (Generally this means add a little and then taste it.  And then add some more and then taste it again, and so on and so forth).  Add the raisins and almonds.  I'm not going to tell you how much to add.  I don't know what you like, and I'm not going to assume that you'll like what I like.  So add a little, and then see if you feel moved by the spirit to add some more.

When the chicken salad seems right (and your tastes are super delicious!), it's right.  Eat it.  On a sandwich, or on a cracker, or, as it usually happens in my kitchen, straight off a spoon.  Yum.

Straight up modeling with the chicken salad :)

TL;DR
Put chicken, mayo, curry, turmeric, salt, pepper, celery, raisins, and almonds in a bowl.  Mix.  Eat.  Never pay $10.99/lb. for curry chicken salad again.

-Bethy

Scholarly Business

This semester I'm taking a food history class for my program.  Now my father was a history teacher back in the day, and I think a little part of him died when I complained in high school that "but Daaaaadddd, I HATE history…." (whine whine whine complain complain).  

Well, I'll redeem myself now.  We have to write 1,000 word blog posts for this history class on topics in food history - anything we're interested in.  It's been hard to decide what to write about, but I've managed to do four so far.  

There're all here, mine as well as everyone else's in my class, so go to if you're in the mood for some serious (but short! and fun to read!) scholarship.

-Bethy

Smoothies for the Sickly

So I basically worked myself into a cold this week.  By last night, I was at three 17 hour or longer days since Monday (and that fourth day I had to wake up at 4am, so let's just say that my sleeping schedule has been less than ideal).  With all that, I'm not surprised that I woke up this morning feeling like I was absolutely dying: my nose running, a wicked cough, sore throat, the whole works.  I'll just say that I'm glad it's Friday so I have the weekend to recover.

I ended up taking the day off of work (that's one thing about working in a kitchen - it's not really like you can come to work "a little sick" and "tough it out"…).  I did a lot of sleeping, and even more laying in bed watching Jeeves and Wooster on Hulu.  (It's here, and you don't even need Hulu plus!!)

I also made a few smoothies, and they were all fantastic, but I thought I'd share one of the recipes with you, inspired by my father's love for those Dole juice blends.  I didn't have any strawberries in my freezer, but I did have raspberries, so here's a delectable raspberry orange banana smoothie, more delicious and more nutritious than spending your hard earned dollars on Dole:

Raspberry Orange Banana Smoothie
serves 1

3/4 c. frozen raspberries
1/2 c. frozen banana (about half a med. banana), cut into slices
enough orange juice to cover the fruit in the blender (I think I used about 1/2 c. or so)

(optional)
1/4 c. plain unsweetened yogurt

Put frozen fruit in blender.  Add orange juice.  Blend until smooth.  If it's too thick, add some more juice, too thin, add some more fruit.  If you want some protein in there, add any kind of unsweetened yogurt.  You should get a sweet and tart beautifully pink smoothie that packs a nutritional punch without any added sugars.

(So, here's the deal: I think it's stupid to focus on things like calories in most recipes.  In this recipe, it's pretty clear that it's something good for humans to eat.  It's fruit.  Whole fruit.  And juice.  100% orange juice.  You shouldn't need a calorie count to tell you that it's good for you, and anyone who is counting calories on a fruit smoothie only made with whole fruits needs different diet advice in my opinion.  THAT SAID, I know that some people just want to know this stuff, so here's some nutritional facts on this recipe):

Calories: 171
Fat: 0.8g
Dietary Fiber: 8.5g
Vitamin C: 224% Recommended Daily Value

Forgive how sickly I look.  Ugh.

HAPPY SMOOTHIE-ING!!

-Bethy

Posting elsewhere, changing names, large cabbages

I've got a post about my butchering experience in Virginia over on the BU Gastronomy blog that my friend Audrey edits!  Read it!  Here!

It's a little short, and it's definitely on the academic side, so you know that there's going to be a butchering part 2 blog coming soon where I tell just how freaking cool the whole thing was in my expressive language with no holds barred, haha.

AND in an effort to reorganize my web presence, I changed the URL to this blog.  It used to be www.quinoacake.blogspot.com.  It's not anymore.  If you have bookmarks, you should change them.  It's just going to end in heartbreak if you keep trying to access this blog at that address.  It's now www.goatmilkandcookies.blogspot.com.  Makes sense, right?  Because that's the name of this blog anyway…

Well, I'll leave you with this.  It's Thursday, and apparently people these days put up a picture of themselves from the past and tag it #tbt…yeah, I've never really done it before, but ehhh, why the hell not?  Here's a picture of me with some of the biggest cabbages I'd ever seen.  They were for sale in McMinneville, Oregon in 2006 when I went to visit James at Linfield.

I look like such a baby!  Also - who KNEW that cabbages got this big outside of Alaska?

-Bethy

It's a New Year! 2014!

So, you knew there would be one - a New Year's post, a resolution post, all the lists of things that I thought I was going to do in 2013.

Well, at the risk of being melodramatic, if you know anything about my life at all, you know that where my life was headed at the beginning and end of 2013 couldn't be more different.  And so, in respect to those changes, some of which I take responsibility for, and others which happened to me, I'm not going to go over last year's list and evaluate myself according to a standard that no longer exists.

Instead, I'm going to proudly state some of the things that I did in 2013.  I did these things to become a better, kinder, smarter, fitter, more amazing me.  And I'm pretty convinced that it worked.

In 2013...

I RAN A MARATHON!

You wouldn't believe me if I told you how happy I was
during this entire race...it was more than a little weird.

If you had told me a year ago that I would finish a marathon, I probably would have laughed and said that it was a fun idea, but that it was probably not the most realistic thing that I had ever thought of.  Fast-forward to September 28th, mile 25, and this picture is what you get.  I will publicly admit that if Chris had not dumped me, I would have never have done this.  I wouldn't have grasped at something, anything to make my life make sense again - a challenge that, in truth, I myself didn't even take seriously until about June.  Regardless of reason, I found myself in training for this race.  I found my strength, I found my willpower.  I identified the places in my life where I had been sweeping things under the rug and I unearthed them.

It seems so incredibly cliche to say that training for this race gave me all those things.  Probably it is.  But I don't care.  Because conquering something so impossible allowed me to believe that I can do the same with other "impossible" things.

And then I finished the marathon.  I had run the whole thing, no walking.  I had passed people who looked more fit than me.  I sang while running.  And I was so filled with joy through it all that I couldn't help but but smile.  I crossed the finish line with "I got the eye of the tiger, the fighter, dancing through the fire, cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar" blasting into my ears four hours, 43 minutes, and 45 seconds after I crossed the same line to start the race.

It remains, to this day, the proudest moment of my life.  (Probably that'll change when I have a kid, but it'll be there until then...)

I DISCOVERED WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE!

Like serious, actual dream-job type stuff.  Like if I could have the best job that I could ever imagine for the rest of my life.  

Now WHOA THERE.  I'm not saying that I have this job, or that I know who does, or even that this job exists...but I know what it is I want to do, and where and how that job will fit into the food world, and knowing what I want is most of the battle.  For more information on how I've been destroying "impossible" things and making them work for me, see above entry about marathon running.  :)

I STARTED WEARING MY HAIR DOWN MORE!

I have long hair.  I've always had long hair.  And I love my long hair.  But it can get in the way sometimes...

In 2013, I really started to wear my hair down in everyday life, not just for holidays...for proof...

February - tromping around in Nemo snow

March - at a party with my cousin Courtney

October - the three Irish lasses reunite for SB's fabulous wedding

October - with USF besties around the North End

May - beers after the Brooklyn half-marathon

I HIKED!

I'm just going to say it.  I never thought I would love to hike.  And there was a lot of potential for this love of hiking that happened at the end of 2011 and in 2012 in North Carolina.  But for whatever reason, I wouldn't admit to myself that it was something that I enjoyed doing and wanted to do more of.  Sure, while I was hiking I'd like it, but there was something about the thought of it before I went that didn't appeal to me.  Yeah, I know.  I didn't understand it either.  Well - that's all changed now.

For evidence, I give you this:

BOOM.

Ok, ok, ok.  So that's all good and fine.  All those things I did.  Sure.  So what's to come you ask?

Well, lots.

LOTS.

I'm always setting goals, making lists, etc etc etc.  And 2014 will be no different.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2014:

1.  In 2014, I will do something new every day.

That sounds ridiculous.  And hard.  And maybe impossible.  But I'm going to try.  I'm writing them all down, and on December 31, I will have a list of 365 things that I did in 2014 that I had never done before in my life.  They don't have to be big things, they don't have to be extravagant or expensive or even good or fun things.  But everyday, I'm going to stretch my human experience and let something new in.

2.  In 2014, I will (finally!) open up my esty shop.

You guys - it's so close.  And yes, I know that I've been saying that for (literally) years.  But it's going to happen this year.  Probably in like a month or so...keep your eyes peeled for that one.

3.  In 2014, I will try to be better at keeping in touch with people who I love who don't live near me.

This is something that I've been wanting to get better at, but maybe I just needed a little New Year push.  I have so many friends that I love more than anything else in the world.  But I am busy, and sometimes I justify keeping less contact with them because of that busyness.  Well, I'm just going to call myself out on this one.  That's bullshit.  I need to be better at showing the people that I love that I love them - from across the city, state, nation, or world.

4.  In 2014, I will give online dating a good, honest, solid, uncynical try.

Ugh.  I know.  But hey - I'm 26, I'm not getting any younger, and then gentlemen in bars in this area aren't the greatest...so, I've decided that I need to give online dating an uncynical try.  For 3 months, I will actually try to do this without being a sourpuss about it.  We'll see, haha.

4.  In 2014, I will create things.

I know.  This sounds super hippie and ambiguous.  Well, I was thinking a few months ago about high school.  When I was in high school, I had a poem published in a poetry anthology, I choreographed a dance concert, and I wrote a piece of music for a string trio.  I created things.  All the time.  And I don't do that anymore.  That needs to change.  Now my life consists of writing academic papers and reading scholarship.  Which is great, but not if it comes at the expense of putting my own artistic creativity out into the world.  So, my goal is to create something every month of 2014.  To write or play or dance or draw or or or....to do something, to make something.

In all, if 2014 turns out to be anything like the last 5 months of 2013, I'm in for a wild, amazing ride.  I'm excited.  Bring it on, 2014!

Love, Bethy