Risotto with Rainbow Chard

Jill

Risotto. It sounds so fancy, doesn't it? Maybe that's why the prospect of making it has always scared the crap out of me. Georgeanne (who is currently en route to the US, so maybe we can make something fun together in the coming weeks) has explained to me in the past that it's actually really easy to throw together a risotto. Just keep adding liquid to your rice until it absorbs it and stir. 

Kitchen Experiment: Chow Fun Noodles made from Won Ton Wrappers

Jill

I love chow fun, but for some reason, Connecticut doesn't. In New York, it seemed that every Chinese restaurant had chow fun on the menu. Since we moved to Connecticut about a year and a half ago, we haven't been able to find any local places that carry the stuff. I'm definitely a noodle lover, and the big, square-shaped, squishy chow fun noodles are up there among my favorites. It's occured to me several times that I should try to make chow fun at home, but the Asian markets in the area are limited and packaged chow fun noodles are difficult to find.

Pizza Minus Dairy

Jill

 

I don't think I'd be saying anything too shocking by stating that it's difficult to eat healthy or cook at home all of the time as a full-time student. A lot of evenings when I come home from a long day of classes, knowing that I have to invest more time in studying for an exam the next day, I just crack open a jar of pasta sauce and boil some spaghetti. On even lazier days, I just dial the number for the Chinese restaurant down the street. I do really enjoy cooking, but sometimes it seems impossible, or I'm just too exhausted.

Basic Thai Chicken Curry

Georgeanne

Easy Thai Chicken Curry
(can be substituted with tofu or shrimp, or beef with red curry)
Serves 2 with a little bit of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch

For a little over a euro, I bought a substantial pot of yellow curry paste. I can easily get five or six meals out of that!

SEAL OF APPROVAL

Georgeanne

SEAL OF APPROVAL

My favorite grocery store here in Paris is Tang Frères, a gigantic Asian grocery store with the best prices in the whole city. Seriously, you save so much money by shopping there. Cheese and bread are cheap in France, but nothing else! Though the bulk of their stock is Asian, your culinary prospects are not limited as they have a huge inexpensive selection of fresh herbs and vegetables, fruit, meat and seafood.

EZ BOK CHOY with Garlic and Oyster Sauce

Georgeanne


Really, really easy Bok Choy with Garlic and Oyster Sauce 

Ingredients

• Two bunches of large bok choy, or a few bunches of  baby bok choy (or however much you'd like)
• 1 tsp of cooking oil
• 1/2 cup oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

Shrimp with Avocado and Bacon on Seasoned Rice

Jill

I told myself I was going to start trying to make dinner from food I already had on hand, but for some reason that process scared me. I'm not really used to cooking blind without a recipe yet. Last night, however, I was in a really relaxed mood, and I just didn't feel like going to the store. The boyfriend and I had eaten a late lunch at a diner and had spent the rest of the day at the book store, so by the time we got home in the evening neither one of us was starving. 

Dîner à la Française

Georgeanne

In stark contrast to Superbowl fare, the boyfriend's aunt cooked up a French feast for his cousin's birthday.

Rainbow Cupcakes!

Jill

 

Superbowl Sunday usually means chicken wings, chili, and other heavy man-type food. I definitely enjoy all of that deliciously unhealthy stuff, but this year I wanted to throw a little something extra in. I wanted to break up the usual masculinity with something completely frivolous, and almost ridiculous in contrast. That's right. It's rainbow cupcake time.

Dairy-Free Lasagna

Jill

 

 Nutritional yeast is something that used to really scare me. It's a vegetarian supplement, made from little yellowish flakes of yeast (obviously.) I kept running into it in vegan-friendly recipes, mostly worked in as a cheese flavoring. I kept avoiding it, however, because not only did it seem a little too weird for me, it also seemed unnecessary. Plenty of cheese substitutes were easily available around me, and they worked just fine. Macaroni and cheese? All I needed was some soymilk, some margarine, and some shredded soy "cheddar". Pizza? Shredded soy mozzarella worked just fine. Tofutti makes a pretty good "cream cheese" and "sour cream". Still, there was one problem I kept running into: ricotta. Nobody sells a non-dairy ricotta, and if they do, I have no idea how to get a hold of it.

I've Been Schooled

Jill

I can't really speak for Georgeanne, but I pretty much know a few things to be true. We are not photographers. We are also not chefs. We are two people who truly enjoy cooking at home with the limited resources that we have, and we enjoy learning a few things on the way. We spent a lot of time talking about cooking together, and this blog kind of naturally came together as a way to share our food experiences with each other. If other people enjoy reading about them or can benefit from them in some way, that's even better.