Eli Pariser makes a great case for why the Internet, as we know it today, is not the information free-for all that we all believe it to be. Editors, the gatekeepers of the past, have been replaced by algorithms that have been designed to tailor Google search results and Facebook News Feeds to your tastes and interests, while leaving out ideas that are uncomfortable but important. Great video from TED2011. Comment.
GTCosita
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This recipe has been passed around my family for years. It is our go-to date night recipe, which means that all of my cousins have made this dish for boys that they were trying to impress. This is crazy, seeing as there is a TON of onion in this recipe, and the cream sauce is not necessarily light, making everyone feel like beached whales after the meal. SEXY. I will say that many men have fallen prey to the charms of this recipe, just not on the night of the date.
Cheese Tortellini With Green Apple Cream Sauce
Serves 4 (easy to halve)
Prep time: Approx. 15 minutes
Cook time: Approx. 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 lb cheese tortellini
- ¼ lb diced ham
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 stick butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ½ Granny Smith apple, grated
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ¼ cup brandy
- ground black pepper to taste
- pinch of nutmeg
- Zantac, 75 mg.
Directions
Take 1 Zantac. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and stir together to create a paste. Add onion and apple, and saute for about 4 minutes. Add brandy, and cook for 3 minutes. Add cream, cheese, ham, pepper, and nutmeg. Turn heat to medium-low and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Serve over cooked tortellini. If you have leftovers, it is best to re-heat them over the stove. If you microwave them, the sauce tends to separate, which means you’ll be left with a whole bunch of butter on the top.
Please share your favorite “date night” recipes below. If you have any funny anecdotes dealing with dating and your cooking, I would love to hear those as well!
Photos courtesy of scottfeldstein and cbransto.
Hello Crasstalkers. Here’s a roundup of the week’s biggest gossip stories so far. If I’ve missed anything, please share in the comments and I will update the post throughout the day.
- Um, what? Benicio del Toro and Kimberly Stewart are expecting? How do these two even know each other? [People]
- Catherine Zeta-Jones’ opens up about her struggles with bipolar II disorder. Best wishes to her and her family, who have gone through a lot in the past year. [People]
- Bret Easton Ellis tweeted this the other night: “I like the idea of Glee but why is it that every time I watch an episode I feel like I’ve stepped into a puddle of HIV?” WTF dude? [E Online]
- Lindsay Lohan’s next role: playing Victoria Gotti. I guess that’s what she can land with her family connections. [PageSix]
- Blind Item: “Well, we finally have an explanation as to why she keeps popping up with seemingly random celebrities. She doesn’t just want to be a famous actress. She wants to be taken seriously as an actress. Yes, folks, she’s aiming for Oscar gold! To that end, she thinks that the more Academy Award winners she kisses (at least four), sleeps with, attends parties for/with, etc., the more seriously people will take her. Girl, Oscars aren’t won by osmosis. if you want to be taken more seriously, dye your hair brown, put the twins away, and try doing more than one film a year. Oh, and try to avoid getting knocked up by men to whom you’re not married.” [Blind Gossip]
- Kobe Bryant will appeal his $100,000 fine for calling a ref a “fucking f*gg*t”. Stay classy, Kobe. [IDLYITW]
- The saddest spinster that ever was, Jennifer Aniston, and bearded man Bradley Cooper are apparently “getting reacquainted.” Whatever that means. [OMG!]
Image from LinaRojas.
While staying at the Peabody Hotel recently, I was introduced to the best pancakes ever (sorry Alton Brown): sour cream pancakes. The consistency is hard to explain, they are dense and fluffy at the same time. I have been thinking about these pancakes for a long time, and decided to look up a recipe. The always awesome Ina Garten had a great Banana Sour Cream Pancakes recipe that I decided to tool around with. I am including my version in case you are feeling adventurous this weekend.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup unbleached flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup plus a tablespoon vanilla almond milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- a splash of lemon juice
- stick of butter for the griddle
Preheat the electric griddle to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated, but don’t over-beat the mixture. Once the griddle is hot, coat with butter and use a paper towel to wipe the griddle down. Scoop a large spoonful of the mixture (which will be considerably thicker than regular pancake batter) onto the griddle. Turn the pancakes when bubbles form on the top surface and the edges set. Cook pancakes until bottom side is light golden brown. Serve with real maple syrup.
Tips: you can substitute regular milk for vanilla almond milk. Also, if you like your pancakes thinner you can add more milk. If you want to add chocolate chips (a staple in our house), add them to the batter right before you pour it onto the griddle.
Your Crass gossip roundup for Monday includes a few stories that broke over the weekend.
- Looks like Bradley Cooper and Sour Puss are no longer an item. [People]
- Scary Spice’s tummy is about to get a little scarier now that she has a wee alien growing inside it. [E]
- Who wouldn’t want to shoot Wyclef Jean in the hand? Or maybe he just cut himself. [Dlisted] [NYDN]
- I guess Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn are, in fact, moving forward with this ill-advised coupling. [People]
- La Lohan and her siblings took in a Knicks game. Why does she insist on the blond hair? [OMG!]
- The Jolie-Pitt kids are growing up fast. [PopEater]
- Paris Hilton’s drug prosecutor got busted for cocaine possession. Is this the first gossip link to NPR? [NPR]
Photos courtesy of digitalART2, and David Shankbone [1] [2].
Disclaimer: this salad will give you dragon breath for the rest of the day (or the morning after if you choose to have it for dinner). It is still delicious. Feel free to chop the ingredients to whatever size you prefer.
Greek Salad
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves two
Ingredients
2 plum tomatoes, chopped into large chunks
1/2 cucumber, sliced thick
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 white onion, sliced
black olives, can be whole or sliced
crumbled Feta (as much or as little as you want)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (or 3 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Combine vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper. Whisk to form dressing. Pour dressing over vegetables and mix together five minutes before serving. Top with lots (or a little) feta cheese, and serve with warm pita or flatbread. If you want, you can add sliced grilled chicken and make a larger meal out of it.
Share your favorite recipes in the comments!
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes. It’s super easy and makes a great gift, but it’s perfectly O.K. not to share the results with anyone. I always make these during the Holidays as a gift for some of my company’s top clients, and the one feedback I consistently receive is that they are gone within minutes. I believe the two keys to this recipe (and most other cookie recipes) is to chill the dough while you are preheating the oven (about 20 minutes) to prevent cookie spread (nobody likes a thin cookie), and using a teaspoon (instead of a tablespoon) to shape the cookies in order to create a bite-sized treat.
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Total prep time: About 30 minutes
Total cook time: 8 to 9 minutes per batch
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature [you can use salted butter if that’s all you’ve got, and feel free to use the microwave to soften the butter]
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour [you can substitute self-rising flour here, just omit the salt and baking powder]
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
4 ounces semi-sweet morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
4 ounces white morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
Directions
Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add the oats, white morsels, and semi-sweet morsels and stir until well combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place teaspoon-sized spoonfuls a few inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, until the tops of the cookies turn light golden and the edges just start to brown. Let cookies cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.
Store leftover cookies (how do you have any left?!) in an airtight container. They will keep for about 5 days, and can also be frozen for up to 3 months. I like to put my leftover cookies in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften the chocolate before I dig into them again.
Share any suggestions and substitutions, or pimp your favorite recipe in the comments!
Last week, the lovely DahlELama brought up Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits and I remembered that I had recently printed out the recipe with the intention of making them. I figured cheddar biscuits by themselves are not quite a full meal (although I won’t judge you if you eat all of them as soon as they come out of the oven) and I thought I would share one of my favorite easy recipes: shrimp scampi. Typically, scampi is a butter heavy dish, so I decided to make mine with butter and olive oil to make it “healthier”, or as healthy as pasta in oil can be.
Cheddar Biscuits (12 biscuits)
Recipe courtesy of Todd Wilbur and ABC News
Total prep time: About 15 minutes
Total cook time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter chopped into small cubes (1/2 stick)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
Brush on Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl, making sure there are small chunks of butter left. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an un-greased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.
While the biscuits are baking, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the parsley flakes. When the biscuits come out of the oven, use a pastry brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.
Shrimp Scampi (2 servings)
Total prep time: About 10 minutes
Total cooking time: About 10 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled, de-veined, and cut in half
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Red pepper flakes to taste
Flat leaf parsley to taste, chopped
4 ounces spaghetti, freshly cooked
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Heat butter and olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the garlic and saute for about a minute, being careful that it does not burn. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Add red pepper flakes and lemon juice. Cook the shrimp until they are pink, between 5 and 7 minutes. Add the parsley and add the cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine and serve immediately.
Hi, my name is GtCosita, and I love P.F. Chang’s Chang’s Spicy Chicken. I am not ashamed to put this love out there for everyone to see. You would think that as someone who loves food, I’d be all about trying new things. You would be correct, except for the fact that money is tight and Orlando, FL is not exactly a Mecca of diversity when it comes to restaurants. A few years ago, one of the servers at Chang’s let me in on a little secret: order the honey chicken, ask for a side of Chang’s spicy sauce, and mix. I’ve been hooked on that combo ever since. Last night I felt like making my own, and found two recipes that I merged into the following deliciousness:
Spicy Honey Chicken (2 servings)
Total prep time: About 20 minutes
Total cooking time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Two medium chicken breasts cut into nuggets (or any size you prefer)
1/3 cup cornstarch in a medium bowl
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
2 tablespoons chopped onion (if you have green onions feel free to substitute)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce (more or less depending on your spice preference)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (you can substitute apple cider vinegar or white vinegar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed in 1 tablespoon of water
Vegetable oil for frying
Prep
Heat up oil in a wok or skillet under medium heat. I use enough oil to almost cover the chicken without completely submerging it. While the oil is heating up, combine the soy sauce, chili sauce, honey, vinegar, salt, and the 1/2 cup of water in a bowl. Stir and set aside.
Don’t be afraid to try the sauce and adjust the spice to your liking (if you use your finger to try the sauce, you may want to wash that finger after you’ve put it in your mouth). Add the chicken pieces (a few at a time) to the bowl with the cornstarch and “bread” the pieces with a light coating.
Once the oil is hot (you can test dunk one piece of chicken – if it starts bubbling, you’re ready to go), fry the chicken pieces (turning once) until the chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes per side for nugget-sized pieces). Take the chicken out and place on a plate with paper towels to drain. Carefully, remove some oil from your wok or skillet (you can put the excess oil in a ceramic bowl to cool), leaving about 1/2 an inch of oil.
Place the wok/skillet back on the burner (still at medium heat), add the onions, garlic, and ginger and cook for about two minutes. Add the sauce and stir for a few more minutes. Once the sauce starts boiling, add the cornstarch/water mixture, and stir for about two minutes. Once the sauce thickens, add the fried chicken back and stir to coat and heat through, about 1 minute. Serve with sticky white or brown rice.