Archives for October 2008

Sweet Potato Bundt Cake

October 30, 2008 by Charles Leave a Comment

Like any good American, I often buy things I don’t necessarily need. And I’m particularly susceptible to this urge when I’m around kitchen gadgets. Exhibit 1 would be my recently purchased 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan. Fortunately, the Food Network came to my rescue.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved sweet potatoes. In grade school, our class was putting together a cook book, and we were all asked to bring in our favorite recipe. All the kids brought in recipes for typical kid fare: grilled cheese, ice cream sundaes, macaroni and cheese – normal kid stuff. My recipe involved a root vegetable: sweet potato pie.

After typing ‘Bundt Pan”…

Baba Ghanoush

October 28, 2008 by Charles 2 Comments

As near-eastern dishes go, baba ghanoush is the quiet sibling to the more popular hummus. Both recipes revolve around a similar mix of ingredients, and both dishes are all-but ubiquitous in your pita-bread establishments. And yet, for whatever reason, hummus always seems to get top-billing. It practically co-starred with Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.

It needn’t be this way any longer.

I prefer grilling the eggplants,…

Graveyard Brownies

October 26, 2008 by Charles 2 Comments

Last night I had a Halloween party, and in keeping with spirit of the party, I decided to try a themed dessert: Graveyard Brownies. I thought about laying some Lego men around the tombstones for added effect, but ultimately decided to stick with an all-edible item. Then I thought about trying to make marshmallow spider webs or adding gummy worms, but there’s something to be said for simplicity – especially with a first effort.

Next year I might try…

Grilled Quesadillas

October 22, 2008 by Charles 2 Comments

Of late, grilling has become one of my favorite cooking methods. Unfortunately, as the sun is quickly setting on this warm St. Louis weather, so too are my grilling days. So before I have to shut the propane off for good, I decided it was time to grill some quesadillas. These are so fast, so easy to make – and just so good. They’re bound to be a hit.

Quesadilla literally means “little cheesy thing,” in Spanish. So some form of cheese is required. But after that, the beauty of quesadillas is in their elegant simplicity. They’re a blank slate on which to experiment. Throw whatever you want at them — and just see what sticks.

Speaking of sticking,…

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

October 19, 2008 by Charles 1 Comment

This is my pick-me-up drink. In law school, I used to reward myself with one of these at the end of every final exam. Now that I’m working, I don’t make this drink nearly enough. But when I am feeling, lethargic, grumpy, or just plain sick, this does the trick. There’s just a certain comfort that comes with drinking a cold smoothie out of a tall glass.

Keep this recipe in mind the next time …