Profile

kristygarr

i'm a mom of 2 children (6 and 4), and love spending time in my kitchen creating yummy meals

  • Location: holly springs, nc
  • Favorite foods: sushi, korean, italian, seafood, indian... yeah, i like food
  • Last bite on earth: deep fried japenese bagel roll

What Did You Eat Today?

breakfast - toasted english toasting bread with butter AND peanut butter

lunch - hot pastrami on homemade rye w/ melted swiss and spicy brown mustard on the side.... oh, and a deli pickle

dinner - couple michelob ultras, bowl of miso soup, and 6 different types of sushi rolls (shiki sushi in durham, nc has buy-one-get-one 7 days a week)

a good day. definitely a good day. :)

Waffle Party!!!

banana nut, lemon blueberry poppyseed maybe?

What are you? Recipe Follower or Recipe Deviant

total deviant. i'm so OCD in everything else i do in the kitchen, not following a recipe 100% makes me feel like a rebel. :)

Cook the Book: 'Canal House Cooking, Vol. 1'

a cold tortellini salad with grape tomatoes, feta cheese, canellini beans, pepperoncini, basil, olive oil and fresh lemon juice. amazing.

dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) recipe?

thanks @yankeesgal! this is exactly what i was looking for!

Strange green specks in carrot cake

i've made this carrot cake and have never had this happen. if someone else made it for me, i would assume that there was shredded zucchini in the cake, but unless you blacked out and added zucchini yourself, i have no answers for you. strange.

Cook the Book: Magee's Roast Turkey, Parsley Potatoes, and Stewed Zucchini

i used to balk at parsley potatoes growing up. chalk it up to not knowing better...

clarification on the procedure: are you continuing to cook the potatoes in the oven? if so, what would the temp be and for how long? or are you just keeping them warm until the rest of the meal is complete?

Plane Snacks

have they flown before? i was surprised when mine (6 and 4) took their first flights 6 months ago. they were so jazzed about looking out the window and stuff that they didn't eat any of the snacks that i packed for them!

BUT, better to pack and not need than to not pack and have three kids freaking out on a plane, right? that said, i packed little snack sized baggies of pretzels and goldfish, cereal bars, little bottles of water, and a handful of hershey's kisses. i felt it was more important to indulge a little (i.e. bribe them) than to be hyper about nutrition...

hope this helps!

cheeseburger in a can?? ew!!

yeah, that whole chicken in a can thing was pretty gross. just because you can physically place something in a can, does not mean you should!

Should Recipes Shrink to 140 Characters on Twitter?

yeah, what @CatBoy said! :)

Cook the Book: Braided Beef with Anchovies and Olives

yum! this sounds delicious!

Video: Bento Box for the Google Chrome Icon Project

awesome!

Weekend Cook and Tell: Make a Meal for $10

pasta with beans and greens. one pound pasta, 1 bunch greens, 1 can cannelini beans, 3 cloves garlic, 1 can chicken broth. easily feeds 4 for under $10

Snapshots from South Korea: Soondubu and More from Ddukbaegi Jip

i've always wanted to try soondubu. my favorite korean restaurant offers it. i might have to make a run out there this weekend.

Seriously Italian: Frittelle di Spinaci

i can practically taste these!! having grown up in a house that never ever served greens of any kind, i've spent the last couple of years getting my long over-due fill. will definitely give these a try! thanks for sharing!

What to do with greens!

@2qrs - that sounds like a variation of my family's 'beans and greens' recipe.

one bunch greens (escarole, chard, kale, etc), chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can chicken broth
1 can canellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp crushed red pepper

heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat, saute garlic 1 minute. add greens, chicken broth, canellini beans, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper. lower heat and simmer one hour or until very tender. serve along side hot pasta and top with parmesan

Food that Freaks Me Out!

head cheese. that ain't cheese, people!!

Indian Restaurant Condiments

the brown one is tamarind, and it to be used as a dipping sauce for pakora, though i prefer to use the bright red oniony mixture with my pakora. the bright green one is a cilantro dipping sauce, to be used with samosas. so yeah, what's the oniony mixture and what's it for?

Wasabi Peas

love the wasabi peas! and i can totally eat an entire container in one sitting...

Cash, credit, check, or other: How do you pay for food?

debit for nearly everything. i rarely ever carry cash. the only time i have cash, is if it is given to me (hardly), or if i am doing something that specifically requires cash -- like yesterday's trip to the farmer's market.

Anybody else a hoarder?

definite hoarder. particularly when it comes to a specific variety of stuffing cubes that we cannot find in this area of NC. in fact, during a trip back home for a funeral, my father and i went to the town's two grocery stores and bought them out of the stuffing cubes to bring back to NC with us!

Grilling: Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto With Lemon

this is one of my "other" favorite ways to do asparagus. like you, i love to grill them exactly the same way... yummers!

Mixed Review: Jiffy Pie Crust Mix

i am, by no means, a baker. however, i'm responsible for the apple pie every thanksgiving, because, for whatever reason, my pie kicks @ss. ;)

i've never made a pie crust from scratch. i use the pillsbury refrigerated dough. i like to roll it out a bit on a flour-dusted counter, and i throw a little flour on top. i don't roll it out much, but just enough to take some of the thickness away. produces a wonderful light and fluffy crust that has my own mother succumbing to my version over hers! :)

Cooking hazards and other unpleasant side effects.

i look at my time in my kitchen as "my time". whether i've got my kids running by me with trucks (though there is a "no playing in the kitchen when mommy's cooking rule"), or that i've got 10, 15, 30 guests i've cooking for... i might get b*tchy and/or curt with someone trying to help me, or if i yell out "OWEEE!!!!, no really, I'M OKAY!!" after suffering a burn from a pot of boiling water or after having grabbed the oven rack w/out an oven mitt, it's part of my personal cathartic experience that is feeding those i love!

What Fictional Foods Do You Wish Were Real?

@td2036 -- they've made that book into a movie. it comes out soon, i think...

and yeah, @veggieout , it was gum. yes! thank you!

i've also wondered how those meals that turned up out of the kitcheny/machine/thingy would have tasted on the jetsons. i've always wondered that... hrm... wonder what that's about? :)

Tomato Sandwich Question

@poultrygeist had a thread a week or so ago titled "How Do YOU Make a Tomato Sandwich", and @lippy commented that "The important thing for a tomato sandwich is to cut the tomatoes from pole to pole and not across the equator."

what's the difference? @bareneed also asked, but this went unanswered.

So. WHY is it important to cut the tomatoes from pole to pole?

cheeseburger in a can?? ew!!

i saw mention of this online somewhere and googled it. nasty. would YOU eat a cheeseburger in a can?? i know i wouldn't!!


http://www.trekneat.com/deen/trekn-eat-products/products/katadynshopconnect/trekn-eat-snacks/tne-cheeseburger-in-der-dose/

beer butt cornish hen

with it just being the hubby and i (the kids opted out of the "grown up" dinner and opted for frozen pizza -- suckas), i chose to do a cornish hen, rather than the traditional "beer butt" chicken. o m g. amazing. i took a picture of my little bird on the grill, but the 3rd glass of wine i've consumed is not allowing me to upload the picture for y'all. trust me, it was golden brown and delicious looking! :)

quick, easy, 45 minutes on our gas grill (indirect heating) at 375 degrees. here's the basting sauce i used:

1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. chili powder
good shake of both cayenne pepper and paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
1 (12oz) can beer

i took a good swig of the beer to give me about 6 ounces, shoved up cornish hen's, um, bottom. added the spices to the melted butter.

placed on preheated grill.

basted with butter every fifteen minutes or so...

the hen, literally, fell off the can (onto my cutting board) after it reached 180 degrees.

succulent, browned beautifully, and was mighty tasty with a side of fresh bruchette and toasted baguette.

wow. ;)

grilled polenta -- how?

i've purchased pre-made polenta from my grocery store and have had great luck with it in the past when baked or broiled. how about grilling it? i'm worried about it sticking/falling apart/etc. any advice on pulling off this maneuver?

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