Rosemary-Balsamic Onions

I tried this recipe from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker - Entertaining for a dinner party with a few friends a little while ago.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium yellow onions (sweet ones are fine)
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp evoo
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash the onions, paying special attention to the root ends. Peel them, then trim the pointed, but not root, end.
2. Place onions in slow cooker with the cut end up. Drizzle in vinegar and olive oil. Tuck fresh rosemary in among the onions, or sprinkle on dried rosemary. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on High until tender and easily pierced - about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.
3. Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer onions to plates or serving platter. Pour the liquid from the crock over the onions.

Verdict: These were pretty good, but a little weird. It's a whole onion, so it's just kinda odd, and bulky to eat, but the onion itself was pretty good. I probably won't make this again though.

Caramelized Onion and Feta Cheese Sandwiches

I was in the mood for a gourmet but light lunch today (I have a hockey game at 1:30) so I whipped up this delicious sandwich. I used half an onion to make half a sandwich (Mr. Barefoot stole the other half). If your spouse does not hijack your meals, half an onion is sufficient for a full sized sandwich for one person. If your spouse does, use a whole onion.
Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 tbs butter (actually, right now, we're using vegan margarine)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• feta cheese, to taste (would also be good with goat cheese)
• fresh rosemary (if your awesome older sister bought you a rosemary tree)
• 1 small pita
  

Recipe:

1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in skillet over medium heat. Slice onion thinly into strips.
   
2. Toss onion in melted butter and allow to saute until soft.
   
3. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and remaining butter. (May need more butter if the onions start to burn).
   
4. Continue stirring frequently for approx. 6-10 minutes, then add rosemary and saute a little more.
   
5. Add feta, stir until softened.
   
6. Spoon into pita and marvel at how such a simple sandwich could be so delicious.
   

Militant Vegetarian Warning!

Okay, so usually I believe my vegetarianism is personal and none of your business. But when it comes to lab grown meat, let me make a few points:

1) Lab grown meat sounds gross and I don't want to eat it, ever.

2) Did you read Oryx and Crake? If you haven't, you should. It's good.

3) We don't need artificial meat to reduce the environmental impact of the meat industry. We need to eat less meat.

Look, you probably wouldn't be reading this blog if you weren't vegetarian friend or a vegetarian ally. And I know I usually keep the crazy on the DL. And as a pro-choice person, I know that your life and my life are different and you probably love steak. But I'm gonna put this out there - you don't need steak. You certainly don't need steak every day. You could eat steak once a week and live to a ripe old age. Even if you do need meat every day, you don't need it every meal. Most people eat vegetarian for breakfast, and they turn out fine.

When it comes to health and wellbeing, meat doesn't matter. Eating a balanced, wholesome diet matters and I for one believe that scientific resources should be spent curing diseases and the problems of the world, and that if everybody around the world just ate meatless for a few meals a week, that too would substantially reduce the environmental impact of meat.

Pods of Joy!

Radishes are my new thing. They are interesting and new and don't taste much like anything else. I have been using this recipe from my new favorite cooking blog. Today I made them a little crispier than last week, and I like them better when I let them saute longer and get a little caramelized. I also tried them with parsley instead of tarragon the first time, and I think I preferred that.
Go forth and enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Pumpkin Stuffing

I made Pumpkin Mac & Cheese for thanksgiving dinner on Friday at my parent's house, so for Thursday at my grandmother's, I used some of the extra diced pumpkin I had to do a roasted pumpkin cornbread stuffing.

I've taken this recipe from the Food Network, and combined it with slow cooker stuffing techniques from the Authority on Slow Cooking. I started by roasting the pumpkin and mushrooms in the oven on about 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 bag cornbread stuffing

1 onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 box of sliced roasted mushrooms

1 cup sliced roasted pumpkin (cut up into 1/2 inch pieces or smaller)

1 can veggie broth

1 can water (just fill the veggie broth can with water once you're done with it, don't call me from the store telling me you can't find a can of water.

sage, thyme (fresh if possible), salt, pepper to taste

ground up pumpkin seeds
1 egg (optional)

Procedure:
1) Dump everything dry into slow cooker, mix well.
2) Add liquid, mix more.
3) Cook on high for 2-4 hours, or low for 4-6 hours, depending on how broken your slow cooker is. (Ours cooks too fast, so it takes 2 on high or 4 on low.)

Enjoy! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Beer Mac & Cheese

This is, I believe, the 6th macaroni and cheese recipe I have posted here.
Some foods are good foods. Some foods are fantastic. And some foods are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, to paraphrase Ben Franklin. Since Franklin said that about beer, then the same must hold true for beer macaroni and cheese.
I hate beer but I love to cook with it - so awhile ago, I thought about making beer macaroni and cheese, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I'm making mac & cheese for thanksgiving, so I thought for my friend's thanksgiving last night, I would do a different variation, and decided to try this out.
I looked around for recipes but a lot involved bacon. I found this one from Scrumptini and altered it a little.
Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne pasta
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 leeks, chopped up (just the white and light green parts)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 12 oz bottle of beer (I used yuengling but Mr. Barefoot recommends a stout)
  
• 3 cups cheddar cheese
• 1 cup parmesean
• 1/2 cup parm (for topping)
• breadcrumbs
• salt & pepper
• Tabasco sauce

Procedure:

1. Saute leeks and garlic over medium-low heat in just a little bit of butter until soft and delicious smelling. Add 3 tbsp butter and stir until melted.
   
2. Add in 3 tbsp flour slowly, allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.
   
3. Pour in milk, allow to cook until thickened and bubbly.
   
4. Add beer. Beer will bubble at first, and then calm down. Cook until entire mixture is thick, about 10 minutes.
   
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a separate pot. Drain and put in a greased pyrex dish.
   
6. Once beer - milk mixture is thickened, add cheese slowly. Once cheese is all melted in, add salt and pepper and a little bit of tabasco sauce (to taste - you can try it and see what you like).
   
7. Pour sauce over pasta, stir to combine.
   
8. Mix breadcrumbs, parmesean cheese, and some salt and pepper together, sprinkle on top.
   
9. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until top is brown and cheese bubbles.
   

Yum!

Chocolate Walnut Crumb Bars

The holidays are coming up and if you want a delicious treat to take to a party and impress everyone with, these are delicious and easy. This recipe is from my future mother-in-law and was a big hit at a recent party.

*Chocolate Walnut Crumb Bars *

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1/4tsp salt
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided
14 0z can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Beat butter in large bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 2 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of greased 13 x 9 baking pan. Reserve remaining mixture. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 13 – 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Warm 1 ½ cups morsels and sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Spread over hot crust. Stir walnuts and remaining morsels into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling. Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 mins or until center is set. Cool before cutting.