Everybody Has a Little Fruitcake in 'Em

First off, I want to let everybody know that Martha Stewart is the genius behind the foundations of this recipe, AND if I wouldn't have forgotten to add flour to her recipe for Raspberry Pistachio cupcakes (which can be found on her website), I would not of had the idea to make one giant cake from all of the same ingredients, with a substitution of blackberries for the raspberries (which I used up in the inedible cupcakes sans flour the night before). I consider myself to not be a very good baker, probably because I forget logical ingredients (like flour) when I'm following a recipe. This recipe was a happy accident, and a complete experiment, but I think I like the idea of it better than the cupcake recipe because all of the batter goes into one giant cake pan (rather than cutesy little cupcakes), and the blackberries are a little more toned down in intensity compared to the raspberries (plus they were the only other berry I had in the fridge). For all of those pistachio addicts out there that just can't seem to figure out a good excuse for incorporating pistachios into dishes or desserts, this is a great way to welcome them in. My thinking is that you can probably alter this recipe back to cupcakes (with less cooking time and higher oven temperatures), or alter the ingredients with different types of nuts and berries . . . whatever combination sounds delicious.

For this recipe you will need:

1 cup of flour, sifted into a bowl

1 stick of butter, softened

2 TB pure vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

2.5 C organic can sugar (or regular sugar if you don't have a Trader Joe's!)

4 large brown eggs (regular eggs are fine too)

1-2 C of ripe blackberries

1 1/4 C whole and sliced unsalted raw pistachios (oven roasted should work fine too)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Setting aside 1/4 C of sliced pistachios, combine 1 C of whole pistachios, sugar, and salt in a food processor until finely ground.

2. Add vanilla, eggs, and softened butter to mix and process until smooth.

3. Add flour (don't forget like I did), and pulse just enough until combined.

4. Pour mix into a cake pan (I used a spring-form circular pan, but any cake pan should work), and spread evenly along surface with spatula.

5. Press blackberries into surface, sprinkling evenly, and sprinkle sliced pistachios into empty spaces.

6. Bake for about 1 hour (or less depending on the oven).

7. Turn oven off, and let the cake cool down in oven for about 15 minutes.

8. Slice and serve, or store in an airtight tupperware container for up to 4 days.

This is the original raspberry/pistachio cupcake recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pistachio-cupcakes-with-raspberries

Sometimes I REALLY wish I didn't have a car.

Don't get me wrong, having a car can really come in handy, especially when you need to get out of town, or when you are buying/transporting something you can't carry, or if gets you from point A to point B quicker than public transportation. All of these options were easily accessed in good ol' Ohio or suburban Pittsburgh- Chicago is a completely different story. I didn't know how spoiled I was for the past 6 weeks, until today, the day that my complementary free six weeks of on-street parking expired. I could have gone to get a parking pass yesterday, but I used one of my five nights of overnight on-street parking instead, and boy am I glad that I did! I am also glad I had several hours to go about registering for a long-term parking pass, because the bureaucracy of city parking is a nightmare. Technically, I live in River Forest, which is located on the west side of Harlem Avenue, BUT there is NO long-term parking passes allowed on the River Forest side of Harlem Avenue, so I had to get a pass for the Oak Park side of Harlem Avenue, no big deal right? Wrong. Living on the River Forest side of Harlem requires me to pay extra $$ (yes two dollar signs) for a parking pass that is only available on the Oak Park side of Harlem, because it is for Oak Park Residents-o.k.. Well, I am also not permitted to park on the street anymore on the Oak Park side of Harlem because I am not an Oak Park resident. The only parking available for non-residents of Oak Park is in the MOST EXPENSIVE new parking garage about five blocks from my apartment. I mean, o.k., five blocks isn't terribly far away, I can do that. After all of the paperwork was filled out at Oak Park Village hall, I was free to hook up my transponder (which also costs me another $20), and affix my sticker to the back window. Finally! I am free to park and not be ticketed . . . or so I thought.  I proceeded to then use the new transponder in the assigned parking garage for the first time, and failed, because the transponder did not work! A very cold looking lady pulled up behind me in a convertible, and I got out and asked her what I should do. She pointed me in the direction of the office around the corner. I assumed she would back up so that I could pull out of the turnstile, but she did not. I had to get back out of the car and ask her to back up so that I could park somewhere else while I went into the parking garage office. She was not very happy that she had to back up (surprise surprise). I drove around the corner, paid for a parking meter, and went into the parking garage office. I spent another 15 minutes waiting for security to put my information into the system (because apparently it had not been put into the system yet). I then proceeded to move my car into the garage in the designated area for 24-hour parking. Phew. All of the fuss about using my car makes me never want to use it again . . . too bad I have to rotate my car to another space inside of the garage within ten days, or I'll be subject to a ticket. 

Easy Steamed Artichoke/Tomato Pasta Dinner In 20 Minutes

Growing up with pasta as a staple in my diet, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate it (in a more healthy manner) into my diet. Recently, I've made the switch from regular pasta to whole wheat or spinach pasta (due to the heartier, heavier flavor), but you can definitely make this recipe with regular pasta if you'd like. I was in a sun-dried tomato kick for a while when I started cooking with artichoke hearts, but I've decided they're a little too salty for me. In this recipe I'll use fresh vine-ripened tomatoes instead. I'm kind of new to steaming veggies (because I never owned a pot with a glass lid), but it's a great way to preserve the flavor and nutrients of cooked vegetables. 

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 box of Whole Wheat Rotelle Pasta

2 medium sized vine-ripened tomatoes

1 can of artichoke hearts (in water/citric acid)

1 lemon (for juice)

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 C parmigiano reggiano cheese (flakes or shredded)

1. Start the water for the pasta (enough to cover the pasta . . . about 2 cups), add salt if desired.

2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, remove the tomato stems, chop tomatoes from halves, to quarters, and finally eights. Chop artichoke hearts. Set the veggies aside in a bowl. 

3. Chop garlic finely. Roll lemon (to release juices) and cut in half.

4. Heat pot with olive oil, add garlic when oil reaches medium heat.

5. Saute garlic until lightly browned. The water for the pasta should be boiling by now, so add the pasta to the water and boil for 9-10 minutes, or until al dente. 

6. Add veggies to the pot with the olive oil and garlic. Add ground pepper. Squeeze lemon juice from lemon halves. Stir, and cover, keeping the heat on low. The veggies should be done steaming when the pasta is done.

7. A few minutes before the pasta cooking time is over, add balsamic vinegar to steaming veggies, and give it one more stir.

8. Drain pasta in strainer, and return to pot. Pour steamed veggie mix over cooked pasta (it works like a sauce), and stir.

9. Serve with parmigiano reggiano sprinkled on top.

-You can also switch the recipe up by changing the type or shape of the pasta, sauteing some pine nuts in with the garlic and olive oil, or with different kinds of tomatoes (like sun-dried or roma), or with different kinds of vinegar (like red wine)! 

A no-fail good breakfast/lunch omelette

I'll start off by telling everyone that I live down the street from a Trader Joe's, so most of ingredients come from that store. Why? Their products are affordable, mostly organic, healthful, fresh, and delicious-with the exception of their bread (I'm not saying it's not fresh, it's just the lack of preservatives in their breads makes them not a wise choice for a person living by themselves, who consumes an entire loaf of bread over a long period of time). The bread was delicious, but it didn't stay fresh for very long (it was moldy within a few days of being opened). Back to the recipe. You will need: 

-One medium/large sized non-stick pan

-Non-stick Canola Spray

-Two brown eggs

-1/4 c Shredded mozzarella cheese (Trader Joe's also makes a non-dairy shredded cheese that is tasty as well)

-A handful of sliced mushrooms (baby bella or button variety)

-Fresh basil, four or five large leaves (less or more if preferred), chopped 

1. Once a medium temperature has been obtained on the pre-sprayed non-stick pan, toss the mushrooms into the pan and sautee on low (add salt and pepper if desired).

2. Scramble/whisk eggs in a small bowl while your mushrooms are cooking.

3. After mushrooms have slightly browned, distribute scrambled eggs evenly in the pan (swirl the eggs around with the pan handle to force liquid into empty areas). Reduce heat to low/medium setting.

4. You have time to chop basil here if need be.

5. Once the eggs have settled in the pan evenly across the pan bottom, toss in cheese and basil on one side of the circular omelette. You can now easily fold the side of the omelette empty of middle ingredients to cover the filler ingredients. Let the omelette set once folded for a few minutes.

6. Either remove pan from heat to let cheese melt a little longer, or slide the omelette onto your plate.

7. Enjoy!

First time blogger, long time ponderer.

So, this is my very first blog post, kind of an overwhelming sensation. I think this may be the most difficult post to make, considering I have so much that I could talk about, but out of courtesy for readers, dragging the post out is most likely not preferred. I guess I should start out by telling every body what I would like to discuss in this blog. First off, I am an avid sharer. As do most human beings, I enjoy learning and experiencing things, and sharing them with other people who actually care about my experiences, and in turn hopefully these experiences will be able to inspire, inform, evoke change, take up someone's free time, or simply just take up space in the world of internets. I think it's sort of sad that I've waited so long to start a blog, but I'll try not to be discouraged or intimidated by all of the other super hip and innovative blogs that have been created out there, but I can't promise that sometimes what I share with my reader won't be cliche (hopefully I'll learn how to add an accent over that letter e pretty soon). If I spent my whole time posting trying not to be cliche, I don't think I could relate to anybody else (because we're all cliche at some point in our lives, and that's o.k.). See? I'm already starting a tangent there, so . . . back to being a "sharer". I like to cook, and I love to create affordable, healthy, and delicious dinners for a party of one (or two if I want to eat leftovers for a couple of days), and I would love to share some quick and easy recipes for the other cooking connoisseurs (I sadly had to google that word to see how to spell it, I'm not very good with french words). I would also like to share daily experiences, for example, an idea I might of had while I was on my morning run/dog walk, or while I was sitting in traffic, or what I was observing on the transit line, or while I was eating a meal in public by myself. Yes, I'm an avid observer-certainly shy in new and strange places (like Chicago, Illinois, where I have just moved to, from the sleepy dwellings of Kent, Ohio). If a stranger talks to me first, chances are I'll probably talk to them, because I am SO EAGER to communicate and form connections in an environment that is new and foreign. Lastly, I would like to share where I have been going in the city; museum exhibits, concerts, garage sales, community events, restaurants, etc. Hopefully, as soon as I obtain some sort of job, these places I am going will increase as my income increases. I promise I will update my blog as often as I can, and my posts will most likely decrease as my schedule gets busier, but I will try to never slack on grammar, punctuation and accuracy. Now that I feel like I've long-windingly covered all of my bases, I feel that I can start sharing with you.