Rainy Day Banana Bread

What's more comforting than mushy bananas, sugar, butter, and vanilla extra on a rainy Wednesday morning when you don't have to be at work until 9:30? Nothing, people. The answer is nothing!

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4-1/3 cup butter, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, 3 old, black bananas (think of them as antiquated), and fold in a cup and a half of flour at the very end. Spray the bread dish with pam or butter, and put it into an oven set at 350. Give it an hour, and voila! Comfort.

Pizza Dough is the Devil

I cannot handle pizza dough. It drives me insane. It tortures me. It laughs at me. It oozes everywhere the cheese doesn't. It sticks to my hands and my pizza paddle, but for some reason, the toppings refuse to stick to it. It shrinks when I want it to expand. But once you place it in the oven, it grows like a peeps in the microwave. One day I will conquer it, but today is NOT that day.

However, the fresh basil, chopped onion, Jersey tomato sauce, Italian deli meatballs and Italian deli sliced pepperoni make it all okay. Thank goodness for small topping favors.

Time to consume my blob.

Morning Tofu Scramble

So today I realized that my random purchase of a rectangle of firm tofu was going to expire. I'm going camping this weekend, and after purchasing beef burgers and turkey burgers and hot dogs and bacon, I realized that tofu just wasn't going to cut it in the wild. So what to do with it at 6:30 in the morning, I wondered.

Well... breakfast scramble!

First, I tried to get as much water out of the tofu as possible at 6:30 in the morning when you can't really see and bright lights hurt. After various attempts with paper towels, I called it a day. I then basically chopped up a yellow onion and it in olive oil, and then added thin strips of tofu after about ten minutes. I threw in some cumin, tumeric, and chili powder for flavor, and let everything turn a bright yellow. Once the tofu started to brown, I sliced it up into thinner pieces with a fork. Then I decided to go all Sesame Street on this meal, and chopped up a yellow bell pepper to add to the mix. Last, I threw in some egg whites, Jarlsberg cheese, and my only non-yellow ingredient: medium spicy salsa for an added "Spanish omelette" kick.

And you know what? It's actually delicious.

Baked Sweet Potato

"It takes forever to cook a baked potato in a conventional oven. Sometimes, I'll just throw one in there, even if I don't want one. By the time it's done, who knows?" ~Mitch Hedberg

So true. The nutritional value of a sweet potato is pretty insane, so at least once a week I'll pop some in the oven when I get home from work. I'll stick it with a knife or fork, set the oven to 400 degrees, and place the potato on tinfoil on a cookie tray. I'll stick it right in and leave it for an hour to an hour and a half. Delicious! Good old American sweet potato; doesn't even need butter! If I have to rush the process, I'll microwave 2 for 10 minutes and then pop them in the oven for as long as possible.

As cspinet.com claims: "A nutritional All-Star — one of the best vegetables you can eat. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Bake and then mix in some unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness."

So set it and forget it!

On Top Of Mount Smokey... AKA Spaghetti and Meatballs with a Twist

So Bradford and I were offered Red Sox/Yankees field seats tonight. Normally, I would jump on this rare opportunity to bust out my Red Sox shirt at Yankee stadium, but alas, the heat combined with my cold/allergies/inability to breathe deeply has made me woozy, so we opted to watch the game from home while consuming the classic comfort dish, spaghetti and meatballs followed by warm brownie with vanilla ice cream.

So spaghetti is rather simple... place in a pot of boiling water and let bubble for 10 minutes and then drain thoroughly.

Now, since this meal is supposed to be simple for a sick girl and her boyfriend to create, jarred sauce is the way to go. But unfortunately, the Jersey Tomato sauce that I actually like (and is very low in sugar!) was not available, so all we had was Prego, which I'm not a huge fan of consuming. So a few touch ups were necessary.

I started with olive oil in a pan and added some garlic and a chopped onion. While this was simmering, I chopped up a red bell pepper and a whole tomato and added it to the mix along with some fresh basil. After about 5 minutes, when the tomato started to "melt," I turned the burner on low and let it sit for a while.

The meatballs involved the kitchen sink. Basically I threw turkey ground meat, ketchup, some egg whites, Italian bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper into a bowl, then grated some Jarlsberg cheese (since it was the only one we had, being on sale at Stew Leonard's and all...) and hand mixed it forming round meatballs. I placed them on tinfoil on a cookie sheet, and popped them into the oven that was set at 350. After 15 minutes, I flipped 'em and cooked the little suckers for another 5 minutes.

After the meatballs had been flipped, I added the unfortunate Prego to my onion, pepper, tomato mixture and turned the heat back up for about 3 minutes. Then I let the whole thing simmer for the last two. Combine it all together, and Voila! spaghetti and meatballs and hopefully a Sox victory!

Parker House

The PH is a summer tradition. Lounge on the beach in the hot sun, and then scamper on over to the Parker House around 2:30 for the raw bar. Drink specials combined with raw bar goodness--sliders in the form of steak sandwich, sausage sandwich, cheeseburgers, and even a softshell crab sandwich. The steak sandwich is cooked to perfection, and the burgers are nice-sized and juicy. the crab sandwich has a bit too much bread I hear, but the meat is tender and tasty. Clams, both steamed and raw (fabulous), lovely shrimp and cocktail sauce, and the ultimate draw: $8.95 lobster. Yes, ladies and gents, approximately nine bucks for a pound + lobster. Seasoned in old bay, this monster of a deal is so scrumptious that it gets a daily shout out all winter long. Mmmm summer. The ONLY way to kick off summer.

It should be noted that this is a cash only joint except for the actual restaurant. Boasting weekday specials and a quaint open-air peacock chair brunch, this green and white establishment is worth a try. The bar has lines like crazy, which can be avoided by getting into the raw bar section in the back before six and allowing them to stamp your hand. It does close earlier, due to Sea Girt zoning laws, so be prepared for last call to occur around 11:45, as this place clears out by midnight. The bar can get packed, and expect loud music and sweaty bodies. Worth the adventure, don't forget to be safe and take one of the rotating cabs that circle the block. If you're lucky, you'll end up in Wally's and get free candy. It's still summer somewhere!

Rosie's. Sammie's Counterpart: Bronxville Orig!

For my mom's birthday, I decided to take her out to her favorite restaurant. Rosie's. Rosie's is a quaint restaurant on the corner in Bronxville, across from the hospital. Sammie's Downtown, a delicious restaurant on the main drag, is Rosie's spawn. Therefore, Rosie's is the original, and equally delicious.

We started with a bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc (171 on the wine list). Crisp, cold, and smooth. We broke bread, which was fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, served warm with ricotta cheese instead of butter, or olive oil. We ordered the melanzane rustica appetizer, which was eggplant, cheese, and spinach in a tomato-marscapone sauce. Delectable.

Moving to the entree, my mom ordered the ravioli quattro formaggi, which is 4 cheese ravioli. Served with green and yellow zerbra stripes and a dash of Parmesan, it was rich without being oily. My spaghetti umberto, which consists of meatballs, in-season zucchini, and thick spaghetti served in a tomato-marscapone sauce. Heaven on earth, and by far my favorite dish on the menu.

For dessert, my mom ordered key lime pie as her birthday cake. So different, but so melt-in-your-mouth yummy. Fluffy rather than smooth, it was a little slice of whipped heaven on a graham cracker crust. Fantastic!