Adventures in Book-Related Cooking (aka I Have No Life)

I've been reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  They're super-addictive books.  I can't put them down.  It's been awhile since I've read a series and I forgot how enjoyable it was to follow characters through a couple of books.  I think I'm going to have to re-read Harry Potter next.

For those who don't know, Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future.  What was once North America is now one large nation called Panem, divided into 12 districts and ruled over by a large, dominant city called The Capitol.  The Capitol puts on an annual event called the Hunger Games every year in which two "tributes" from each District, a boy and a girl, are randomly selected to compete to fight to the death.  The Games are televised and the whole country is forced to watch.  They're supposed to be some kind of horrible punishment for all of the Districts rebelling against The Capitol decades ago.  The plot is eerily similar to Battle Royale, but it's still a good read.

ANYHOO, a big point in the books is that The Capitol is wealthy and advanced and its citizens live in luxury, while nearly everyone else is starving.  Which is why I kind of scoffed when I saw a Hunger Games cookbook in the store a few weeks ago.  I thought, "What the hell are they going to have in there?  Tree bark and squirrel and gruel?"  Later, I went on Pinterest to see if there were any good HG-related pins and found some videos on Youtube of people making recipes based on food that's mentioned in the book.  And then I realized that they do talk about food all the time in the series.  So while the cookbook is clearly capitalizing on a trend, the idea isn't THAT far-fetched.  Or maybe I'm just trying to justify my foray into Hunger Games related-cooking.  I dunno.  I thought it would be fun and decided to try some of the recipes I found online.  Here are the results!

All of these are from a Youtube user named "Schemestresses", who did a series called "Hungry For The Hunger Games".  They're all foods that are specific to certain scenes in the book.  Here are the relevant links to the ones I've tried, if you wanna watch.  They might come in handy for your next book club meeting

 http://youtu.be/Yo-b97poC1Y
http://youtu.be/hcmaQot3PMs
http://youtu.be/AWUE6nXIX4s

First off, I tried making "Springtime Soup", which is described in the book as being a clear, green broth that tastes like springtime.

Basically, you need a bunch greens. Watercress, spinach, parsley, green onion, and celery, to be exact.

Also, some vegetable stock.

You cook the celery and green onion on the stove for a few minutes in some oil, then add your greens.  Once those are cooked, you can add your vegetable stock and let simmer for a bit.

Once that's done, blend it all together until it's a super green liquid that resembles something that you feel like you shouldn't be eating.

Add some salt to taste, and you're done!  Huzzah!

Despite the fact that it looks weird, it was quite delicious.  A nice, herb-y soup.  Good for vegetarians.  And perhaps people on a liquid diet.

I also made District 11 bread, which is given as a gift to the novel's protagonist, Katniss, during an important scene. 

I'd never made bread before, so this was a challenge.

Here are all the ingredients.

The most important thing to make bread, apparently, is knowing how to use yeast.  The tiniest mistake with the yeast, and you get crap bread.

You take your yeast.

And mix it with some warm water.  It's very important that the water be just slightly warm.  Not too hot or cold.  Otherwise, CRISIS.

I lucked out on my first try with yeast though.  Here it is all nice and foamy, which means it's activated and ready to go.

You mix the yeast stuff with all your other stuff.  In this case - warm milk, oats, flax seed, poppy seeds, honey, and brown sugar.  Oh yea, and flour.

Once it's all mixed and dandy, sprinkle some flour onto your counter top, take the dough out, and KNEAD KNEAD KNEAD.

Do this for 6-8 minutes.  Or until your wrists and hands wanna die.

Roll the dough into a ball, cover loosely, and put in a warm place.  After a long, long time, the ball of dough will rise and look twice as big.

Shape the dough however you want it to look, then let it sit and rise some more.

Cover in a glaze of egg and seeds. Pop in oven for 25 minutes.  And then you're done.  Voila!  Homemade bread!

This turned out very tasty.  And on my first bread try!  Hopefully one day I'll graduate to French baguettes.

So those were some of experiences in literary-themed cooking.  Any other famous book foods I should try?

Bacon-palooza

I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and I'm sure the 2-3 of you who read my blog are dying to know more about what other wonderful things there are in Alabama.  Besides the adorable dog.  


Well, part of my Alabama experience, though not necessarily indicative of the typical Alabama experience, involved... bacon.





The night that I arrived, Corianne and her roommates threw a big party.  Instead of picking a single theme to the party, they instead picked several.  


The party would have tie-dye.  





The party would have a water balloon fight.  





And, probably most importantly of all, the party would have bacon.

A bacon-themed cooking competition, actually.


The above-pictured gold spray-painted rubber pig was the prize to be awarded to the one who most effectively and creatively incorporated bacon into their dish.


I made bourbon bacon brownies, from this recipe that I found.  This is the batter.  I actually think they turned out pretty well.





Corianne made a bacon turtle cheesecake (which sadly I could not try because it had nuts in it).





One of the most popular entries were these bacon-topped cupcakes.





They were so delicious, even this ball pyton was tempted by them. Don't ask me why someone brought a python to a party. That's just how they roll in Alabama, I guess. The snake was very cute and chill though, as far as snakes go. And he was named after some famous Floridian football player whose name escapes me but starts with a 'T'. My mom would probably know. For the sake of this post, I'll just call him 'Snakey'.





Snakey was a huge hit with the ladies.




Anyway, back to the bacon.


These were some kind of delicious fried chicken-bacon balls with a duck sauce to dip them in.


There was also some of your basic, chocolate-covered bacon.



There was a delectable cheesy, corn, bean, bacon dip.



There was some crackers with cheese and bacon-y stuff on top.



And there were these peanut butter bacon cookies. They happened to be the only vegetarian thing available at the party, because of their use of veggie bacon instead of real bacon.



I'll have to admit, my favorites were the bacon-wrapped prunes (much more delicious than it sounds, seriously) and Annie's creation, which were jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.



For this creation, she won the coveted Golden Pig.




The lesson I learned from this party was that, if you open your mind a little, you can add bacon to a lot more foods than you would normally think.

Also, to always check your "douche bag" at the door.

Adventures in Vegan Cooking: Seitan Pot Pie

Last weekend, I went to my friend Daniel's apartment to make seitan pot pie.  I had never tried seitan before, and I've decided it is my new favorite fake meat.  Daniel got the recipe off the blog Vegan Sweetie, who, in turn, got it from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's book, Veganomicon.  Considering it was my first time making a pot pie, or pie crust for that matter, I think we did an awesome job and it turned out deliciously! 

In case you've never made a seitan pot pie before (and I'm guessing not many of you have), you will need the following incredients...

There is, of course, the seitan...

Add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, corn, edamame...

Spinach works too!

Don't forget the vegetable broth!

Combine all into a hearty, stew-like concoction.

Consumption of alcohol whilst cooking also helps.

Oh, right, it's a pot pie!  So, at some point...a pie crust should be assembled...this process was surprisingly difficult, involving chopping the shortening into the flour mixture.  According to the recipe, however, it would make, like...the best pie crust ever.

Voila!  You have a pie crust!

And then...assemble!

We discovered that cooking can be stressful.

But it's all worth it, because in the end you have delicious seitan pot pie!

Pop a slice on a plate...and enjoy!

Adventures in Vegan Cupcake Making - Part 1

I've been so busy the past month with moving to a new apartment and other general life things that I've been too lazy to post on this blog. Sorry! So, to ease myself back into the habit of posting, I will share with you one of my more recently acquired pasttimes - Vegan Cupcakes!

I thought I would give vegan baking/cooking a try after several visits to Sticky Fingers, a bakery in the neighborhood of Columbia Heights in DC. I admired their delicious confections and discovered that you don't have to use milk, eggs, or butter to make tasty baked goods.

This brought me to the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (of Post Punk Kitchen fame) and Terry Hope Romero. There are over 75 cupcake recipes in that book and over the course of this summer, I'm determined to try making many of the amazing-sounding recipes in this book. So here are the first few attempts. I'll keep you posted.

Batch 1 - Chocolate Cupcakes (Made with Agave Nectar!) with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, Topped with Berries.

Batch 2 - S'mores!

Batch 3 - Margarita Cupcakes!

Batch 4 - Cookies & Cream

Anyhoo, those are all the vegan cupcakes I've made for now. I'll keep you posted as soon as I try some of the other crazy recipes in that book. Stay tuned!