indigo street

Baja Sauce 1/4 of a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped2 T. diced onions1 garlic clove2 T. cilantro1/4 c. mayo1/4 c. sour cream2 t. vinegar1/4 t. black pepperdash of cumin In a food processor or blender, puree the bell pepper, jalapeno, onions, and garlic until smooth. In a small bowl, combine the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, pepper, and cumin. Stir in the pureed vegetable mix. Refrigerate at least 3 hours to allow flavors to combine.
Unfortunately, I do not have a food processor, nor do I have a blender.  I blame this on the fact that I am unmarried.  People don't BUY food processors or blenders for themselves... they register for them.  Maybe one day... But until then- I use my handy little Cuisinart Mini-Prep. Lime Green. Totally cutesy.  Smells like I'm burning out the motor EVERY time I use it. Eek. It doesn't really 'puree' so I just hit 'chop' 'grind' 'chop' 'grind' over and over.
Mahi Strips 1 large Mahi-Mah…

It seems like every time I have people over, I'm still slavin' away in the kitchen when they arrive because.. well, because I'm running late! I have poor time management skills in the kitchen, and that is a fact. So I'm opting for something I can make the day before: lasagna!
My lasagna is a weekend-long affair. I start the sauce Saturday morning because I like to let it simmer for at least 3 hours. I assemble the lasagna on Saturday afternoon, and throw it in the fridge until Sunday afternoon.

World's Best(& only recipe I've ever tried to make..)Lasagna
Feeds 8-10 people. This is the base-recipe I used.


Saturday Morning
Meat-Sauce
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage1/2 pound hot Italian sausage3/4 pound lean ground beef1 large or 2 small yellow onion, minced (about 1 1/2 cups)6-10 cloves garlic, crushed 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree [is there a difference?]1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce…

Lemon Meringue Pie & Tiramisu just seemed too ambitious for tonight. So I made...
Lazy Ice Cream Cake. Ingredients: 12 ice cream sandwiches, any flavorIce cream, any flavor- softenedIce cream topping, such as caramel, hot fudge, strawberry, etc.Whipped Topping Line an 8" x 8" pan with saran wrap. Using half the sandwiches, make a single layer. 
Cover the ice cream sandwiches with softened ice cream- try to make an even layer.  I used about 1/3 of a tub of Cookies 'n Cream.
Cover the ice cream with a thin layer of hot fudge. It looks... not beautiful.
Finish the layers off with the remaining ice cream sandwiches.  Throw the pan in the fridge for about an hour so the ice cream can harden.
Once the ice cream has hardened, invert the pan onto the plate you'll serve it from. "Frost" the cake with the whipped topping.
I tried to get fancy and made lines of caramel & chocolate sauce, then dragged a toothpick in alternating directions to create the design. Return the cak…

After a traumatic day at the dentist (found out I have to have all my wisdom teeth extracted, sob.), I’ve decided to comfort myself. With food. How typical. Costco makes, by far, the best chicken noodle soup in the entire world. If I can make this taste 1/10th as delicious as Costco does, I’ll consider it a success. 2 lbs. Chicken Breasts (with skin & bone)4 quarts (16 cups) Water3 cubes Chicken Bouillon2-3 cloves garlic, whole4-5 Carrots, diced*4-5 Stalks of Celery (plus the leaves), diced*1 small Yellow Onion, diced1 t. Salt1 t. Turmeric½ t. Black Pepper1-2 T. Parsley (I used freeze-dried because I didn’t have any fresh parsley on hand)½ t. Dried Thyme (Didn’t have any thyme on hand so I sub’d Poultry Seasoning from World Market- consists of marjoram, sage, and rosemary)1 16-oz bag of frozen egg noodles
*I like my soup to have lots of big, chunky vegetables. Everything was a really large dice. Also, I didn’t have any on hand- but I usually like to throw in a few diced parsnips. Yum…

Baking is therapeutic for me. After a rough day at school, it's pretty common for me to come straight home and bake something. Today was one of those days. You'd want to bake oatmeal cookies too if you had to study this all day.  Yeah, that's the actual chart I was tested on today. Torture.

So, oatmeal cookies.. I think this is the most versatile, forgiving oatmeal cookie recipe of all time. Will they help me forget about the lab practical I think I failed earlier today? Probably not. But I'll find comfort in the extra calories getting deposited into my system.



Oatmeal Cookie Base 1 stick [1/2 c.] unsalted butter, softened but still cool1/2 c. light brown sugar1/2 c. white sugar1 egg1/2 t. vanilla extract3/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour1/4 t. baking powder1/4 t. salt1 1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.Beat the butter until cre…