super-fly stir-fry

If you are what you eat, then we would be stir-fry. Stir-fry is by far our favorite go-to dinner when we want to make something quick and delicious. And it's crazy easy!

First off, don't be afraid to plunder your salad bar. Show up with a tupperware and help yourself to what's available. Here's how we make our 'classic stir-fry', which is a Thursday-night staple:

Start with the onions. They don't have to be cut super small, but they should be put in the pan first (as for pans, we prefer cast-iron. They soak up the flavors so that each meal you make is more and more delicious). Onions caramelize on a medium low heat in a little bit of olive oil. You will keep the heat at this temperature or a little bit higher for the entire process.

Once the onions are underway, toss in the broccoli and peppers. Broccoli should be fairly small. Peppers are any size you want.

When making a stir fry, it's important to keep the ingredients moving. A wooden spoon is a common kitchen implement and good for accomplishing the stirring part of the stir-fry.

At any time you can season the stir fry with your choice of spices. We like soy sauce, salt, pepper, ginger, oregano, cumin, and rosemary (not all at once!). You can find the combination you like, but they're all tasty additions.

Mushrooms come soon after. Stir this all around for a bit, with frequent taste tests for tenderness (taste tests are EXTREMELY important, especially when improvising).

After the mushrooms, toss in the baby corn and cherry tomatoes. It's good to either slice the tomatoes in half, or pierce them with a fork.

Sometimes we put in spinach, which you usually put in last. Spinach cooks down a LOT, so get a bunch of it.

It's a seasonal thing, but apples are also a sweet addition. Chop them into small pieces and add them near the end.

To give your stir-fry some protein, crack an egg or two over the vegetables near the end of the stir fry, and scramble it up.

So, to recap, the ingredients and order of stir-fry are:

Onions

Broccoli

Peppers

Mushrooms

Baby Corn/Cherry Tomatoes

Apples

Spinach

Egg

As for what to serve your stir fry on, we've had a few different experiments. In this picture, we made ramen noodles (yes, from one of the instant packets that litter college doormrooms) separately, and then mixed them into the pan once the stir fry was over. That worked okay, but the noodles were so fragile that they broke apart. The preferable starch is couscous, which is a snap to make and cheap to boot! Couscous is delicious with stir fry, especially with lots of soy sauce. The other option is spaghetti, making a sort of pasta prima vera.

There you have it! Now as Bob Marley once said- stir it up

using your meal plan to its fullest

You might have noticed that we often get a lot of our ingredients from Kline, our dining hall. As financially-challenged college students, we advocate the dining hall as an absolutely invaluable resource. Now we by no means wish to undermine the college's food service, but rather to slowly move towards independent living by learning simple recipes that we can cook on occasion. Cooking for us has become a lovely pastime, and our meal swipes get used either way!

1. The Basics. The dining hall can be extremely useful when you are baking and find that you are lacking such basic necessities as milk or butter. Milk is always provided for cereal and coffee, and butter can usually be found (at least at Bard) by the bagels. If you are VERY nice to the dining hall workers they may spare you an egg or two, but otherwise Bard's Green Onion Grocer (or any equivalent) works just fine.

2. VEGETABLES. VEGETABLES. VEGETABLES. The salad bar is your new best friend. The next time you go to grab some salad at lunch bring along a compostable paper cup or two and drink in the possibilities. (or, if you have some, tupperware is the superior option)

Especially successful vegetables that are usually offered at salad bars include:

-cherry tomatoes

-onions

-mushrooms

-broccoli

-peppers

-spinach leaves

-baby corn (if you're lucky)

All of these can be easily stir-fried or sauteed and paired with pasta in a primavera-style dish. More uncommon vegetables like eggplant can also be easily bought at the Green Onion or any supermarket.

3. Spices. I'm not sure other schools have the same wealth of condiments and spices that Bard does, but next time you're in the dining hall keep an eye out for such offerings. In Kline, a selection of spices as well as oil, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce can be found at the corner of the salad bar nearest to the entrance. At the other end of the salad bar, honey mustard is also available, which can be pretty versatile (we like it on fries and sandwiches). Now remember, dear reader, not to be greedy- only take what is needed for the meal in mind. This blog does not advocate theft, but thrift and innovation.

4. Cheese. Bard has a pretty standard sandwich-making station, consisting of an assortment of lunch meats and cheeses. Unless they run out of one cheese, Kline typically has American, Cheddar, Provolone, and Pepper Jack (I THINK. And sometimes Swiss?). And if Bard kids are lucky, Kline will also put out feta by the salad bar. An example one way to be creative with cheese can be seen in the previous post.

5. Cooked Foodstuffs. In addition to raw materials, a lot of times the meals the dining hall offers daily can have enormous potential. Kline offers plain pasta and red sauce every day- both of which can be used to make more elaborate dishes. Also, left over cold chicken cutlets (sometimes placed on the other side of the salad bar) can be a tasty alternative to lunch meat for sandwiches or simply a hearty addition

to your salad.

Vegetables probably gotten on each of our three dinner swipes, in preparation for a stir fry.

when eggplant met tomato

The story begins with a large heirloom tomato, who sat many a lonely night in the Honey House kitchen feeling conscious about its size, and wary of its expiration date. Then, one night it met a couple young chefs, who to the tomato's surprise praised it for its voluptuous curves. The young chef's took the tomato and introduced it to a cute, bottom-heavy eggplant from Steinway-- and the rest is history.

With the help of the young chefs, this magical partnership was made complete with the addition of some sliced bread, provolone cheese, basil, and balsamic vinegar (the bread, cheese, and balsamic courtesy of the dining hall).

Specifically, small towers of eggplant, tomato, cheese, and basil were put in the oven until the vegetables seemed sufficiently cooked and the cheese was good and melted. The towers were then placed on top of slices of bread, which had been toasted, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

To make the meal a little heartier, we heated up some butternut squash soup that we had, and picked some fresh vegetables from Bard's community garden. As pictured, the soup was served with oyster crackers that were also taken from Kline. In addition, we got innovative and made cornbread out of a mix we had for corn muffins, an idea that turned out extremely well.

Needless to say this dinner was as easily devoured as it was made, and the young chefs lived happily ever after.

Valentine's Day

Ok, so owing to the regrettable lapse in posting, some recapping will have to be done. Valentine's Day was a night notable not for culinary skill, but for tastes so sweet that we happily forgot our lack of doting sweethearts. Determined not to wallow in the usual Valentine's Day backlash that comes with not having a valentine, we decided to have a Sex in the City -esque night complete with cosmopolitans (non-alcoholic of course ;]), a milieu of chocolate-dipped snacks, girlish giggling, and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" bumpin' from the computer. It turned out to be the perfect end to the weekend.

To make our fondue, we simply melted chocolate chips in a double-boiler setup, adding a little vegetable oil to help prevent the chocolate from burning. While this was happening, others prepared apples, bananas, and oranges into slices in preparation for dipping (the apples and bananas were acquired courtesy of the dining hall). We then dipped the fruit as well as some pretzels into the chocolate and set them onto some wax paper. Finding we had an awkward amount of chocolate left, we mixed some dried cranberries and walnuts into the pot and scooped out the onto some wax paper as well. We NEVER let chocolate go to waste. The chocolate treats harden after being in the refrigerator for about 15 mins, and then you can serve them with your girly drink of choice!

Ours was...

Non-alcoholic cosmopolitans

ingredients:

-cranberry juice

-lime juice

-club soda

-sugar

-a lime or lemon

-cocktail glasses (or whatever you have...note Mason jar...)

First, put a little cranberry juice on a plate or in a bowl, and some sugar in a separate plate or bowl. Dip the edges of the glasses in the cranberry juice and then in the sugar so that the rims of the glasses are rimmed with sugar. Put equal parts cranberry juice and club soda into the glasses, followed by about 1/4 part lime juice. Garnish the glasses with lime or lemon wedges and enjoy!

Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha approve- and so do we.

Winter Hiatus

Dear Readers,

We would like to apologize for the blog's apparent hibernation over the winter. As First-Years adjusting to our ever-growing college workload, blogging had to be put on the back burner of our mental stove (cooking metaphors!).We assure you, though, where our blog was lacking our stomachs were full (I'm on a roll!). We never stopped cooking, though we admit that spring's rejuvenating qualities has us scurrying about the kitchen with newfound zeal. Some new friends have since joined the mix as well, so cooking has become an even more celebrated tradition. Stay tuned for many more posts to come! (We can guarantee in the near future at least all of the drafts that have gone unposted all winter- or your money back)

Love,

Your Kitchen Crusaders

Jewish Wannabes in the Hudson Valley

So, none of us are actually Jewish. BUT: since it's still fall, and we DO always have large amounts of apples (see earlier posts as to why), we are finding ourselves in desperate search of creative things to do with them. Now, apple pie is all very well and good, but sometimes the soul craves something else. Once again scouring Google for interesting ideas that require very few ingredients, we stumbled upon a recipe for apple latkes. Genius? We think so.

THE RECIPE:

2 eggs, well beaten

1 ½ cups orange juice, yogurt or milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

¼ - ½ cup sugar depending on taste

3 medium apples, peeled and coarsely grated

Vegetable oil for frying

Confectioner's sugar

Makes approximately 36 latkes.

Mix eggs with orange juice, yogurt, or milk in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture along with the grated apples. Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet. Allowing 1 large tablespoon of batter per latke or pancake, drop into the hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until slightly golden.

Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

NOTES:

-Didn't bring a fancy apple peeler/grater with you to college? Neither did we. We peeled our apples and chopped them as finely as possible using the most imposing cutlery we could find. Pocketknives continually prove to be invaluable tools--they are handy, stay sharp, and have a bunch of other nifty appliances!

-We ended up not sprinkling the latkes with confectioners' sugar (an ingredient not commonly found in the average college kitchen). Instead, we used a combination of raspberry jam (local farms!), nutella, and cinnamon. Delicious? You can probably figure that out for yourself.

-It seems that it isn't enough to just pour the batter in, especially if the chunks of apple are larger than normal - we had to spread them out with a spoon to make them thin enough to bake through.

-Eat warm, eat messy, eat with friends. This was a great culture clash!

PIE MANIA!

THE PREPARATION: Bored on a lazy Saturday afternoon, we decided to move away from the realm of apples and into an exciting new part of the fruit kingdom. Thanks to our current pie kick, we were already furnished with all the proper ingredients for pie crust. So, armed with bags, we made our way to Kline Commons (the dining hall) and casually pilfered ten or fifteen peaches (no ghetto-ass cooking is complete without a little larceny). These peaches, while too bruised and battered to satisfyingly complement a meal, were perfect for pie filling. They were practically asking to be taken.

THE CREATION: We rolled the dough on a dorm table, which we cleaned and floured, meanwhile enlisting the help of several common room lurkers to help. Without a rolling pin, this entails patting and pulling the dough until it seems thin enough. Nothing is wrong with thick pie crust, which is usually the result of this method.

To top off the latticed crust, we made an effigy of Gregor Samsa out of dough and put it on top.

The peach filling turned out to be a little more problematic than we'd anticipated - most recipes call for ascorbic acid or tapioca, neither of which we had, so we just tossed in some flour, sugar, and cinnamon. This resulted in a less-than-ideal liquid filling, but honestly, how can you go wrong with peaches, flour, sugar, butter, and cinnamon?

THE CONSUMPTION: The scents wafting from the oven made us too ravenous to wait for the pie to cool. With the help of some ice cream that we'd liberated from Kline (Maple Walnut and Vanilla), we devoured the pie, chasing the steaming peaches with spoonfuls of chilly, melting ice cream. Needless to say, another delicious creation that was gone before sunset.

Note the common room lurkers, rewarded with a share of the feast

getting fancy

Now that we've realized our kitchen's culinary potential, we've become drunk with sugary delight, dizzy with ideas, and greedy for more. We conquered apple pie, but why put an end to a good thing? Baby steps. Taking full advantage of our virtually unlimited access to apples, we're churning out pies like it's nobody's business.

This particular baking session was prompted by our much-needed investment in some pie tins, which we happily added to our kitchen and quickly worked to christen with baked goodness.

We were soon hit with a road block, though, when while making the dough we realized we no longer had any sugar. Somewhat frantic, we scanned the kitchen and came upon- aha!- a bowl of sugar packets. We fished out and used all of the "all natural" sugar packets first, and then cringed as we continued to empty several Splenda packets into our mix as well. This seems like a pretty low stoop for pie's sake, but judging by the equally delicious results, we advise this solution in moments of desperation. Luckily we were later able to borrow sugar for the cinnamon-sugar coating from a previously MIA resident. Remember, dear reader, pie makes the best currency.

As you can see in the photo, this time we took it to the next level and made the lattice-style crust, embracing our inner domestic diva. This was done by slicing the extra dough into strips which are then crisscrossed on top. The result is surprisingly satisfying. Now slap on some red lipstick and serve up that baby like 1950's housewife that you are.

(Unfortunately not pictured is another mad creation made the same night which can only we described as an apple dumpling. This was basically a giant ball of extra dough filled with apples slices. Needless to say, it was quite the wonder.)

a breakthrough

You may have read previously of our adventures with stolen apples. As promised, here is our first creation made with aforementioned apples.

It's autumn, and it's America, so who doesn't love apple pie? The idea was tantalizing. We started with little more than a bag of flour, a large amount of apples, and a dream. Scouring the seas of Google for a simple pie recipe, we found one that seemed simple and suited our limited supplies. However, we still lacked a few things: a pie tin and a place to knead and roll the dough.

No matter! As you can see in the photo, we used a large glass pan to create something that may not conform to classic pie standards, and cleaned off a table in the common room to knead and roll our dough on (we were blessed with a rolling pin, this time around). The preparation was mostly improvisational - we encourage creativity and open mindedness in the kitchen. As you can see below, our creation was large, tempting, and smelled like the soul of America.

Now, as you can also see below, it did not look much like a classic 'pie', a

nd we would like to take a moment to defend the right of all baked goods to take any form desired, so long as the outcome is delicious. Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a dessert by its shape.

Needless to say, this was devoured by ravenous dorm mates in under ten minutes. Such is the fate of college desserts: anticipated, celebrated, and tragically short-lived.

Here is the recipe we have used several times - the pie dough is simple and tasty to boot! While peeling apples and waiting for the dough to chill, we recommend watching a movie (our choice: Shaun of the Dead).

http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/recipe/apple_pie_recipe.htm

blazing the trail: cookies from mix

We embarked on this particular adventure in college cooking after purchasing a cookie mix. Please, don't judge us! We didn't want to buy all the ingredients! We know that cookie mixes are very low on the scale of a real culinary experience, just above cookie dough in a tube, and we are sorry. However, that being said, we have a few words of wisdom to pass on:

-People will let you use their ingredients if you promise them a share of the booty. This cookie mix required butter, eggs, milk, and imagination. Not to mention a baker's instinct - the recipe didn't actually call for milk, but the one egg required didn't provide nearly enough moisture. Know approximately how a dough or batter should look so that you can substitute ingredients when needed.

-College dorms have limited baking utensils. Our dorm has a french press, but no cutting board; multiple can-openers, but no measuring cups/spoons. In this particular case, we realized once the dough was made that we had no cookie pan. The solution? Frying pans! At first we were skeptical, but they worked surprisingly well - the cast-iron frying pan had a tendency to smoke, so open the oven every five minutes to let out smoke and keep a window open ($500 fine for fire violations is no joke).

-Beware the stoner. See coming posts on how to keep your food safe and secure. If you leave cookies out and the kitchen smelling of heaven (especially on a weekend night), be aware that sharing is mandatory. We opt for the sharing end of the spectrum, but if you're hoping to save some, take heed.

If you're looking for a quick and reliable mix, the Betty Crocker brand served us well. However, we hope to be exploring the world of non-premade cookies in the year to come. Enjoy your baked goods!

taking advantage of natural resources

An expedition into unknown territory: one beautiful, cloudless day in September at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and we decide to journey to a nearby apple orchard, previously only glimpsed through the window of the shuttle bus to and from the local shopping mall. Undaunted by the towering chickenwire fence, plastered with 'Private Property' signs, we squeezed through an opening and into a veritable Garden of Eden. The knowledge we gained was not of good and evil, but of something much more precious: the deliciousness of stolen apples, warmed by the sun, seasoned with adventure, and how such aforementioned apples could be trasmuted into a plethora of baked goods (see later posts).

After seeing how easily our backpacks could be filled with forbidden fruit, we made many more trips to the apple orchard and the adjoining pear orchard and fields of raspberry plants. At one time, we were chased by a tractor and a farmer whose wrath we could only imagine, since we escaped into a nearby forest. Another time, we went at night (after the tractor incident), dressed all in black for ultimate stealth, and spent a lovely evening picking apples, filling our bellies with late raspberries, and star gazing on the steps of the nearby mansion.

The morality of our actions is questionable, yes, but one could argue that we are simply gleaning, akin to the french glaneurs of old. After the harvest, these ingenious peasants snuck into the fields and pilfered the leftover crops. In some places, gleaning was a legal right and a bell would be rung to let the gleaners know when they could enter the field; in others, farmers were ordered not to harvest to the edge of the field, so better to facilitate the gleaners. This information is courtesy of the film The Gleaners and I, recommended by the authors, and shown during Bard College's Language and Thinking Program.

For more on what to do with gleaned apples, look to further blog posts. However, they can be consumed as snacks and, if left in a dorm common room, will be gone in under two days, so be ready to share. We found several varieties in the orchard: a large, green apple, better for baking, and a smaller, redder variety, which we believe to be Red Delicious by virtue of their color and flavor. In the pear orchard nearby, several kinds of pear could be found, and behind the trees in the apple orchard there were rows upon rows of raspberry plants (look for berries low on the plant, where they are less likely to have been picked already).

That's all for now - we would like to thank Montgomery Place for their (unknowing) generosity.