ball-off: recipes

The Ball-Off was a great success! I know you've been waiting on pins and needles for the winning recipes to be posted. Well, you're in luck and will find them below (paired with my less than appetizing food photography). Everything seriously tasted better than it looked, I swear. Even though I didn't win any prizes, I've also included my recipe for Bacon Kale Feta Balls. I like to think I earned an honorable mention :)

Best Savory - Arancini al pesto - Kurt

(Maybe one day Kurt will give us an English translation...Until then, running the recipe through Google Translate is pretty entertaining.)

Best Overall - Buffalo Chicken Balls - Liz and John

Best Sweet - Oreo Truffles - Liz and John (total power couple!)

Bacon Kale Feta Balls (gluten free!)

1 lb thick cut bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 big bunch of fresh kale, maybe 4-6 cups, torn/chopped into small pieces
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium red onion, diced
3 cups Rice (or Corn) Chex cereal, crushed (use breadcrumbs if you and gluten get along)
Gluten free flour (or regular, all-purpose)
3-4 eggs
4-6 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400° F. Sauté the bacon pieces in a large pan until nice and crispy. Transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel on a plate to soak off some grease. Once the bacon cools, dice into small little pieces. Drain all but a couple tablespoons of bacon grease from the pan and sauté the onion. After a few minutes add the garlic. Cook for another minute then add your kale and mix it all together. The kale will overwhelm the pan at first but it wilts fairly quickly. Use a cover if your pan has it and the kale will steam and cook down even faster. Once wilted, remove from heat. In a large bowl, mix together your kale mixture, bacon, cereal, and eggs. Sprinkle in some flour, salt, pepper. Once combined, start shaping the mixture into 1" balls* adding a little feta cheese** to each one. Line the balls up on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm!

*When I started shaping the balls, I thought adding some flour to my hands would make them not sticky (like with baking). Wrong! Clean hands are the way to go! I would even suggest rinsing every 2-3 balls.
**Of course I forgot to add the feta until I had shaped all 437 balls (slight exaggeration) and neatly lined them up on the pan, so I had to go back and add it one by one. You could probably add the cheese to the mixture in the bowl and just make sure it gets evenly distributed.

Happy cooking! Or, rather, balling!

ball-off!

This weekend, Kurt and I hosted the latest installment of the "Off" cooking series with a Ball-Off! Normally, the challenge is centered around a particular ingredient (see Beet, Lemon, Pumpkin) or a certain dish (see Dips, Pizza) but this time we focused on shape. With such vague parameters, I was really excited to see what everyone would come up with and they certainly did not disappoint. We crammed our teeny apartment full of friends and so much incredible spherical food. All the dishes were just as delicious as they were creative, so it was insanely difficult to choose the winners. But of course, our competitiveness won over and only a few people could leave with trophies and bragging rights:

Best Overall: Buffalo Chicken Balls with Blue Cheese Dip, Liz and John

Best Savory: Arancini al pesto, Kurt (his first win!)

Best Sweet: Oreo Balls, Liz and John (double win!!)

I made Kale Bacon Feta Balls which were pretty good (I got a few votes!) but didn't end up winning :( Regardless, I'll be sharing the process along with the winning recipes soon. Everyone is super excited about the next Off and kept throwing out possible ideas for the challenge. Any suggestions out there?

cook-off | super bowl dip competition

Did everyone watch the Super Bowl on Sunday? I was pretty uninvested in the game, so I dedicated most of my attention to the commercials, the half time show, and the game day food. Jenn organized our latest cooking competition, the Dip-Off. Pretty fitting for a football game right? 

on the mend

The last week and a half has been pretty woe is me around here. Wah! I'm sick and can't hear anything! Wah! I have to study! Wah! Why is it always raining!? I'll spare you all the whiny details and share some pictures instead:

Jenn started at my office (henceforth to be known as "our office")! The bosses didn't waste any time putting her to work. After a couple hour key debacle, Jenn and I measured this nice townhouse on the Upper East Side.

I was convinced for a while that my cold and ear infection were never going to go away (almost back to 100% now!). Kurt was sweet and brought me Thai takeout and gorgeous sunflowers to make me feel better.

These thumbs made me feel a little better too.

We hit up Mad Sq Eats again for a work week lunch. This time I tried the Pigs Head Cuban from the Cannibal - beer and butcher (catchy, right?). 

Over the weekend, Kurt and I finally tried sandwiches from Zito's Sandwich Shoppe and sat in the back yard.

On the Memorial Day holiday, I spent a few hours with half of Brooklyn in Prospect Park (the other half was at Rockaway Beach) getting a little too much sun. It was really hilarious to see all the regrettably burned commuters on the train Tuesday morning.

I made some Pinto and Rice Burgers and pretended I was at a cookout instead of trapped in my apartment studying :(

I took my Programming, Planning, and Practice test on Tuesday (fingers crossed, please!) and Kurt took me out to Van Horn Sandwich Shop to celebrate that evening.

I was pretty crushed to find out they don't regularly have hush puppies on their menu anymore. A jalapeno margarita helped drown my sorrows a little though. Kurt ate the jalapeno chunk when I was finished and almost died. Died. They mean business.

I also tried their fish sandwich which was really yummy. I really like the description I read beforehand, "This must be what McDonald’s was thinking of when they made the Filet-O-Fish. You know, right before they decided to manufacture some fish." (via Immaculate Infatuation).

Kurt and I tried to avoid an impending rainstorm on our bikes and stopped in Lucey's Lounge on my block for a drink. (I mean, it's literally across the street from my apartment. I can see their sign as I am writing this.) We had been intimidated to go in before even though it is so convenient. It just didn't seem like a place where yuppies likes us would be welcome. It was really fun though! The bar tenders were nice and the place was cozy. I look forward to going back. Hopefully not too much though...there is such a thing as too convenient.

Not pictured: 

I treated myself to a post test manicure before begrudgingly going into the office. Clambake from Essie. Really cute orangey red.

I saw Moonrise Kingdom with Jenn and Christian on Sunday. Wes Anderson always does visually interesting stuff. The story was fun and cute too. I would recommend!

I hope you all had a great holiday and are excited as I am to kick off the summer!

beet off

Remember the Lemon Off (which I got a trophy from!) and Pumpkin Off? Well, sadly, the summer got a little too busy for everyone and we passed up a Rhubarb Off. Next year! The show must go on, so Jenn put together a Beet Off for the fall. Get your mind out of the gutter. Everyone gathered in the backyard with their best beet dish for a little friendly competition.

We all stuffed our faces with some delicious food and even make some converts from people who swore they hated beets. There were salads and egg dishes, brownies and cakes, and even some beet ice cream. Kurt, being the purist he is, made simple roasted beets and they were great. He didn't want to mess with the basics.

I didn't really plan what to make until a few hours before the party, so as a last ditch effort, I settled on a Beet Cake found through a lovely blog and video showing how to make it. I was a bit rushed and through my madness trying to get the cake done, it kind of fell apart...literally...not my finest moment. Instead of dwelling on the disaster, I stuck the pieces back together, threw some frosting on it, and hoped for the best. Sadly, my cake was not a winner (although it did get a few votes!) and I was forced to hand over my title and trophy :(

Jenn came away with the top prize for her Beet Gnocchi. It was really delicious. I'm ashamed to admit I had several helpings. It was that good.

The best savory winner was Stephanie (a repeat winner!) with  Beet Hummus and Christine took the sweet category with Beet Mousse. 

I have honestly never cooked a beet before in my life but now I am excited to try out all sorts of new recipes. Next of my list to try is Beet Risotto. Watch your clothes! Beets stain like crazy!

lemon off

Remember the Pumpkin-Off from last fall (and the infamous Mac-n-Cheese off which happened in my pre-blog days)? Well, we are trying to make a series of it! Everyone's been dying around here for a taste of Spring (I'm not the only one!), so the next challenge ingredient was Lemons!

This was the spread before everyone dug in. We had some delicious contenders. There were quite a few classics as well as some unconventional options.

I'm partial to my own entry of Lemon Basil Pasta. The Pioneer Woman never lets me down :)

Michele's Chocolate Chip Cookies with Lemon Zest

Majo's Lemon Meringue Pie

Kurt's Lemon Water (in our Amsterdam souvenir)

Jenn's Lemon Ricotta Tart

Hillary's Lemon Lasagna

Stephanie's Lemon Icebox Pie

Monica's Lemon Cupcakes

The aftermath :) Once everyone sampled all the dishes, we voted for our favorites. The categories were Best Sweet, Best Savory, and Best Overall.

I placed! Luckily, there were only a few savory entries and Hillary's lasagna took the prize for Best in Show. I got the trophy for Best Savory dish and Stephanie's Ice Box Pie was the Best Sweet winner. We had a great time and left stuffed with lemon goodness. I can't wait for the next cook off! We've got rhubarb scheduled for June and maybe corn in the fall. 

Send creative recipes my way! I have a title to uphold!

The Great Pumpkin Off

This past Sunday, Jenn was kind enough to organize a pumpkin cook-off on the sidewalk in front of 731. It was a follow up to last years' Mac-n-Cheese Off of which yours truly was the reigning champion (I won with a strange concoction of "Dessert Macaroni and Cheese"). The range for the pumpkin off was a little wider since the only rule was the recipe had to include pumpkin in some way. If you didn't cook something, you were requested to supply some beer (preferably flavored with our favorite gourd) to complete our little neighborhood block party.

Check out the spread! We had tons of delicious food. I was really impressed how enthusiastically people participated. We had a nice balance of sweet and savory items which everyone sampled and prepared to vote later in the evening. I apologize that I didn't get photos of all the entries. I got distracted by eating! Some highlights:

Ubiquitous candy corn. Disqualified for lack of pumpkin content. Sorry, Stephen. We devoured them anyway. It's not Halloween without candy corn!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with a vanilla/coconut icing lovingly prepared by the nicest Australians you will ever meet (come to find out, they call cookies biscuits in Australia).

Pumpkin Cornmeal Biscuits (which the Aussies call scones) made by moi. I had never made them before and was a little disappointed that they didn't taste pumpkin-y. Slathering them in Trader Joe's pumpkin butter helped a bit, but I definitely didn't win any blue ribbons with these. I happily passed the crown onto the next cook off winners. Find the recipe here. 

The sweet category winner! Jenn made a yummy and beautiful Pumpkin Trifle. Does that make anyone else think of Rachel's trifle from Friends? Jenn's version definitely did not taste like feet.

The savory category winner! Stephanie made a to-die-for Pumpkin Pasta with Sage which sounds insanely simple. I will post the recipe stat once I obtain it.

Update: Find the recipe here. I know what I'm making for dinner tonight :)

Mmmm. Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Bourbon. Kristin knows her audience. That bourbon gets you a long way with this crowd.

Personally I give Majo the award for best presentation. She made a Pumpkin Soup which she served in the pumpkin!! I'm jealous of her Martha Stewart tendencies.

Remember these little guys?! They are all grown up and made the trip from Ohio to the Big Apple. Kurt's parents visited this weekend with a car full of goodies from the garden. I'm glad they were able to join in our pumpkin overload.

We all voted by secret ballot for our favorite sweet and savory picks. The winners got some awesome prizes :)

We were so busy stuffing our faces, only Silvia and Erik carved this pumpkin. I think he looks awesome! Brooklyn is in full fledged Halloween/Autumn spirit!