Food & Spirits
James Franco and Chocolate Brownies: Perfect Oscar Night Treats
February 26th, 2011 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, recipes, Travel & Entertainment
James Franco, warm from the oven chocolate brownies, a tall glass of milk, and comfy PJs are our recipe for a satisfying night of Oscar watching. While we have a healthy sense of humor and spend a lot of time writing with our tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek (Bitches on a Budget, need we say more?) we never, ever kid around when it comes to great food, great movies and snarky red carpet commentary.
By popular demand we’re sharing the latest version of our simple and fab recipe for brownies. These rich and chocolaty, not too sweet little babies are perfect for gathering around the set with your friends while you dish on costumes, rate the speeches and drool over you-know-who. For an added sexy little zing (like you’ll need more?) add some hot red pepper flakes to the batter.
The Bitches Brownies
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
5ozs unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of kosher salt
3/4 cup walnuts (optional)
8″ square buttered baking dish
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave for one and half to two minutes. Stir to completely dissolve chocolate. Add sugar and mix until you can’t see granules. Beat eggs and vanilla with a fork, add to chocolate and sugar mixture, and stir until glossy and smooth. Mix in salt, and walnuts. Stir in flour until everything is mixed evenly together. Pour into buttered baking dish. Bake approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out smooth. (Our advice is to slightly under-bake these, they taste even better).
(Tart them up and make Devil Brownies by adding 1-2 tsp crushed hot pepper flakes to the batter.)
So easy and you’ll look like a hip baking genius — you owe us big time.
Save the Life of a Fruit
February 24th, 2011 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, recipes, savings
For years, we’ve been extending the life of our overly enthusiastic produce purchases by drying them before they go bad.
We have an old dehydrator that we love. It’s simple to use and the slow work of reducing the fruits and veggies to their essence fills the house with lovely sweet smells. It’s amazing. Turn grapes into raisins; apples, bananas and carrots into smart snacking chips; blueberries, strawberries and raspberries into simple cereal toppers.
At other times we’ll set the oven to 175 or 200 degrees and toss in half pears or peaches or tomatoes.
And you thought being a ‘dried up old prune’ was a bad thing.
Not for this thrifty bitch.
Kale Salad with Walnuts
February 18th, 2011 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, healthy food, recipes
When was the last time you bought kale?
It’s packed with nutrients, antioxidants and is touted for anti-inflammatory agents. Best of all, it’s cheap.
The Bs Fresh Kale Salad with Walnuts
Ingredients
1 bunch kale
6 walnuts broken into pieces
1 small lemon juiced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper
Shred the kale. Emulsify the olive oil and lemon juice. Add the kale and toss. Season to taste and add walnuts. This salad is ready to go as soon as it is made, but it gets even better if it sits for a while, letting the dressing ‘soften’ the leaves.
Trust us, this is addictive.
Our Sauce on Shrimp Cocktail
February 9th, 2011 | Comments
Tags: bargains, budget, Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, recipes
Last night we had a craving for shrimp cocktail. Could there be a better marriage of flavor and texture? Cold firm shrimp and spicy red sauce.
We ran out to the store to pick up some cooked shrimp in order to make a simple quick shrimp cocktail. Unfortunately, the only shrimp cooked and ready to dip was farmed raised in Mexico. We were jones’ing for our sauce, but found ourselves in a pickle.
For the new Mama B book, we’d just finished research on farm raised fish and we weren’t biting. We’re not disparaging all farm raised fish, (it’s probably the future of sustainable fishing and there are some great purveyors), it’s just that we’re now more mindful of the provenance of our seafood choices*.
Our only choice: fresh from the Gulf jumbo shrimp. Not really a hardship, except way more work than we bargained for, but our craving was fierce.
Lucky for us those big babies were on sale, so we bought a pound.
The Shrimp
Peel and devein the shrimp and set them aside. Throw the shells in a pot and add 2 1/2 cups of water and one tablespoon of kosher salt and boil it down for 15 minutes. Pour the stock through a sieve, pressing on the shells to extract all the flavor. To this stock add 1 cup of dry white wine, 1 sprig of mint, 1 sprig of cilantro, 1 sprig of parsley, 6 coriander seeds, 1 California bay leaf, three cloves, six peppercorns, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of salt and set it back to boil for two more minutes.
Turn off the heat, add the shrimp and put the cover back on the pot for 6 or 7 minutes, just until the shrimp turned pink. Throw them into an ice bath to stop the cooking and hasten the cooling. Drain and refrigerate.
Our Spicy Sauce
Into a small bowl put 1 cup of ketchup, 1-2 teaspoons of horseradish, a generous squirt or two of sriracha, 1 tblsp lemon juice, salt and pepper.
…
*Check out this site: Monterey Aquarium Seafood Watch and download their rocking iPhone/iPad app for more straight dope on the fish you eat.
Mustard Greens with Honey Orange Vinaigrette
February 7th, 2011 | 1 Comment
Tags: bargains, budget, Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, recipes, Shopping
Easy on the budget, a snap to prepare, try this yummy mustard greens salad.
You’ll love the sweet and citrusy contrast of the honey orange
vinaigrette with the peppery flavor of the greens.
Ingredients
1 small bunch sparkling fresh mustard greens
1 orange peeled and segmented
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons raw honey
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Wash and thoroughly dry greens. Tear off leafy parts into bite sized pieces. Add orange segments. Make vinaigrette. Toss. Serve.
Simple.
.
Got Stood-Up? Make-Up Spaghetti Carbonara
January 27th, 2011 | 2 Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, recipes
Have you ever been stood up?
We were tonight. It wasn’t the first time and we’re sure it won’t be the last. We really didn’t care too much, except we had planned to go out for dinner and weren’t in the mood to sit in a restaurant solo. (You know, either you’re being annoyed by people you don’t want to annoy you, or no one is annoying you and you’re wondering what is wrong with you.)
The cupboard’s were kind of bare and we were starving. Really starving. And, we we didn’t want to clean up after a big mess.
So, what did we do? Well, for starters we headed over to the wine closet and rummaged around looking for a consolation bottle. Boy, did we find one. Remember our trip last year up to the Anderson Valley and the discovery of those amazing Oppenlander Pinot’s from Phillips Hill? We found one squirreled away in the back.
We poured a glass. It made us happy to be on our own.
Next we grabbed a bag of our favorite Setaro spaghetti and started the water to boil. Rummaging around we found fresh parsley, fresh parmesan cheese, the last slices of speck from La Quercia and a box of organic eggs.
We were in business.
Using a micro-plane we grated approximately 1/2 cup of cheese into a big bowl. We added to this a copious amount of freshly ground black pepper, a generous scraping of freshly grated nutmeg, and two huge handfuls of chopped parsley. In a separate bowl we lightly scrambled one egg.
We cooked the pasta al dente and with a pair of tongs added the cooked pasta (making sure we scooped a little of the pasta water with it) into the bowl with the cheese and parsley. Then we tossed the egg into the steaming pasta, mixed it up thoroughly and put it into a warm serving bowl. We finished the dish with torn pieces of speck, more fresh parsley, pepper, salt and extra cheese.
We were so glad to have been stood up. It was smashingly good.
The reason we’re telling you about this is not to whine about our friend’s bad manners, or to show off our cooking genius, but to tell you that you really don’t need lots of ingredients or a directly portioned recipe to make a killer meal.
A little ingenuity and a great glass of wine will get you far in life.
…
Old Wine Rewind
January 7th, 2011 | 2 Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, recipes
It’s not that that often we have any wine leftover, let alone wine old enough to be verging on vinegar*, but when we do our thrifty spirit sets in. We go into super saver mode scouring the cabinet for leftover bits and pieces of dried fruit, end of bottle cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, shriveling oranges, tangerines or clementines. Then we set to work making wonderful stewed fruits in aromatic wine syrups.
SO easy. SO delicious. SO fragrant.
Our last batch consisted of 3/4 of a bottle of red wine, 3/4 cup sugar, several green cardamom pods, 1 stick cinnamon, 1 star anise, several black peppercorns, cloves, Medjool dates, raisins, and tangerines used two ways-zested and segmented. We boiled the sugar and wine together for several minutes then added the spices wrapped in cheesecloth (a tea ball works, too), the tangerine zest and cooked on high for several more minutes. Then we simmered the mixture for approximately 20-30 minutes. Then we added the fruits cooking until we had a rich, lovely syrup and the fruits were plump and glossy. We served this in a bowl with a dollop of yogurt and a sprig of mint.
There is no magic or formula. Add prunes, apricots, dates, grapefruit segments–anything that makes you happy or you just to need to get rid of… Let your creative juices flow: adjust the sweetness, sharpness, fruitiness, alcohols, spices and cooking time to suit your taste.
* On occasion, we actually do make vinegar with a mother from another vinegar bottle –but, that’s for another day.
A Low Resolution New Year
December 30th, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, Travel & Entertainment
We hate to seem bitchy and unsentimental but, except for the pink bubbly, we don’t like New Year’s Eve.
To begin with, the whole resolution thing is more like a guilt-tripping-shame-festival than a positive self-esteem builder. Think about it, people looking to fix what they most hate about themselves by resolving to:
1. Lose weight
2. Quit smoking
3. Stop drinking
4. Be a nicer person
5. Spend less
Like at the stroke of midnight with a little magical thinking and a carefully crafted line item list of corrections they’re going to morph into a Shape cover girl or Mother Teresa, right?
And, who doesn’t dread the focused pressure to ‘celebrate’ New Year’s which inevitably leaves you feeling alienated and/or puts you into a position of spending more money than you bargained for (breaking resolution #5 before you begin)? How many times have you done the following?
A) Rather than feel like a loser with no ‘fun’ plans you’ve been the one to organize and hold a party.
B) Or, you head out to a restaurant with a ‘special’ menu and jacked up pricing that keeps you captive for longer than you want.
C) Or, you head out to a restaurant with a ‘special’ menu and jacked up pricing that throws you out on a schedule so they can squeeze in another seating of suckers.
4) Or, you take your life into your hands by driving home after midnight from a party you really didn’t want to attend. (Most people don’t follow through on resolution #3 .)
(more…)
Hot Drinks for the Holidays
December 23rd, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits
‘Hot’ drinks for the holidays. Mix and match ingredients to suit your taste. Enjoy!
The B’s Hot Toddy
2 ounces brandy or rum or rye
1 ounce honey
1/4 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce mulled or plain cider
2 cloves
1 cinammon stick
1 slice orange studded with cloves for garnish
A little planning goes a long way. This recipe is for two. Our recommendation, though, is to make a larger batch of the non-alcoholic ingredients in advance to keep on hand.
Infuse the cider, orange juice, and honey mixture with the cinammon stick and cloves a day or two ahead. It’s simple: bring the liquid to a boil with the spices, let cool and refrigerate until used.
Right before serving re-heat your spiced infusion then add the alcohol (off the stove) and garnish with a squeeze of orange juice and the slice of orange.
The B’s Mulled Cider
1 quart cider
1 orange thinly sliced
2 cinammon sticks
6 cloves
3 whole allspice berries
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 inch ginger root (optional)
1 star anise (optional)
rum or brandy to taste (optional)
Bring liquid (excluding alcohol) and spices to a boil. (We like to put the spices in a tea strainer or cheesecloth for easy removal). You can serve right away or let sit for a day or two in the ‘fridge to deeply infuse flavor.
The B’s Hot Buttered Rum
1 1/2 oz. dark rum
¾ oz. simple syrup
1/2 oz. maple syrup
Hot water
1 pat butter
Garnish with fresh nutmeg
Warm liquids, add butter, sprinkle nutmeg on top.
Tickle your sweet tooth with contest #13: The Cupcake Swap
December 5th, 2010 | 5 Comments
Tags: Contests, Food & Spirits, simple pleasures
How many dozens of cookies can you bake and swap in a lifetime? Aren’t you getting sick of them?
It’s not that we’re contrary by nature (ok, maybe a little)– but we are easily bored and we will not bake another cookie in December. Not ever. Not for anyone. So, this holiday season we’re starting the first annual Cupcake Swap.
Instead of inviting family, friends and little ones over to bake cookies, invite them over to make and bake cute little hipster cupcakes. (Check out using mini-cupcake pans to get the maximum bang for your batter.)
In honor of the first Annual Cupcake Swap we want your recipes. The winner will have their recipe(s) featured and get their very own copy of Bitches on a Budget.
While we’re on the cupcake trail we’d love to hear about your favorite neighborhood cupcake maker and which of their confections tickles your sweet tooth.
Leave your entries (pix if you have them) in the comment section of this box or email them to us at info@bitchesonabudget.com.
Contest ends December 19.
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