Recipes

ENTREES

Green Chile Cheese Enchiladas

When I was a little girl I read all the time, and I mean that literally: I read while eating, on the bus to and from school every day, and even while walking down the street (some minor collisions were involved). One summer, I read the entirety of The Mists Of Avalon while seated on the back of my mom's Yamaha on a ride to Canada and back; I can't even imagine what the people who passed us on the highway thought (probably that my parents shouldn't let me read on the back of a motorcycle).

Anyway, I was a big reader. And some of my all-time favorite books during my formative years were - of course - the Judy Blume books (Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself remains my personal favorite). It's always fun to revisit the stories that shaped our childhoods, and in just a few days Tiger Eyes - the story of a young girl attempting to cope with the murder of her father - will be released on film.

In celebration of the release Lawrence Blume, the director of the film and Judy's son (and my friend), sent me this recipe straight from the Blume kitchen to try out for myself.

SIDESSALADS

Chinese Chicken Salad with Soy-Ginger Dressing

Alright, guys: this is really good.

Morgan introduced me to this recipe years ago (so long ago that the original photo I took of it pre-dates the launch of Ramshackle Glam and is thus MIA...which is probably a good thing because my food photos back then were several levels south of "terrible"). For awhile I made it all the time, but then I kind of forgot about it.

And whenever it did occur to me, I thought, you know: "Salad. Ehhh. Steak would probably be more delicious."

But it's not salad, it's SALAD. With exclamation points! Tangy, garlicky, a little sweet, phenomenal. And it includes avocado and crunchy noodles, and let's get real: that's all you really need to know.

ENTREES

Improvisational Crockpot Chicken & Beer Stew

Here's my favorite thing about cooking, which also happens to be the reason that I hate hate hate baking (which requires precision and adherence to things like "rules") with a passion: with cooking, once you know the basics, you're probably OK. And you can adjust whatever it is that you feel like eating to suit things like time constraints and refrigerator contents.

My boys are all on their lonesome for an entire week, and while I'm sure they'll survive, I'm also sure that Thai food (Kendrick) and scrambled eggs (Indy; what can I say? He's obsessed) will play a major part in their diet for the next few days. So my plan on Sunday was to make this Easy Crockpot Chicken Stew to leave for them as, you know...a supplement.

Except we got distracted by trips to diners, romps around the backyard and naps, and I forgot that this was my plan until 3PM...which left me with about half the time the recipe requires.

Oh yes, and I couldn't find chicken stock. Which is kind of important when you're making chicken stew.

Eat

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Artichokes (And Probably More)

A couple of years ago, I went through this weird phase where I ate steamed artichokes practically every single day. Basically, what happened was that I discovered that they are less vegetables than they are butter delivery systems, and boom: obsessed.

Anyway, I haven't had one for ages and ages, and then last night, all of a sudden, I decided that artichokes must be steamed. Lemon butter must be made.

It was awesome (albeit not the loveliest thing in the world to photograph post-steaming, but what can you do?).


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