10/30/12 "Stock"ing Up for Gumbo

Hello everyone!

Today is a good day, because today I am making gumbo.

I used to make gumbo all the time when I worked at Whole Foods.  We had these huge commercial electric skillets that held 30 gallons, so when I made gumbo at work it was huge, serious undertaking.  It's funny but even when you've made something a million times, it's very different to make it in a huge batch. 

30 gallons of gumbo at work?  No problem!
2 gallons of gumbo at home? Um...where's that Emeril recipe....

The first time I made gumbo at home, I used this recipe.  I made a few changes because of what I had on hand, and it came out amazingly. I used breast of chicken rather than thighs (I love thighs, I just didn't have any).  I omitted the green onions, parsley, and file simply because I didn't have any.  Guess what?  It was still amazing.    One of my friends told me it was the best gumbo she'd ever had.  For a foodie, this is the highest compliment you can receive.  I was beaming. 

The big thing that was missing in my mind however, was the stock.  I used my favorite chicken base Better Than Bouillon (thanks Beth! read her blog Budget Bytes)  to make chicken broth and it tasted great!  But having made stocks of all kinds at Whole Foods and being told that I made great stocks, I was dying to make one at home.  The trouble is, a good rich stock takes many things that if you go out and purchase specifically for stock, can be quite expensive.  So I started a bag.  Into this bag I put my onion skins, green onion ends, a piece of a shallot I had leftover.  I also added some celery ends, a cut-up carrot, and some herb stems.  I chucked this bag into the freezer and whenever I cooked, I put my food "waste" into this bag.  Soon I had filled a quart size bag and I was happy. 

Man cannot make chicken stock with veggies alone, however, so I was stuck.  I usually only keep frozen chicken breasts on hand.  With Fall fast approaching I knew what to do. 

"I am going to roast a chicken!" said the single girl who lives alone.

Luckily for me I have friends who like to come eat when I cook.  So I roasted a chicken. 

And it came out pretty damn good.  But I had an ulterior motive.  BOOOOOOOONES!  I needed the bones!  And all that yummy connective tissue that kinda grosses me out on a visceral level but the cook in me knows is VITAL to a rich flavorful stock!  So I saved those bones. 

This is the beginning of the stock:

Besides the chicken carcass and all the veggie stuffs, I added some whole black peppercorns and a few herbs.  Most stocks call for parsley and thyme, but I had basil, oregano, and rosemary. 

So basically what you do is get your biggest pot.  Put your stuffs in there.  Fill it with water.  Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer or "soft boil" for 2 hours.  Strain it out REALLY GOOD because there's gonna be lots of yucky bits in there.  Then you can either let it cool and freeze it for future use, or use it that evening.  There's nothing like homemade chicken stock.  NOTHING! 

This is my stock less than an hour in:

See how the water has become murky?  That's what dreams are made of.  I will continue this process for at least another hour and a half.  Then I will have liquid gold!  My mouth is watering for the gumbo I will make tonight.  Oh and did I mention fresh bread?  Yeah I'm gonna make that too.  You wanna make bread too!?  Well you're in luck, because this is the easiest, tastiest bread I've ever made.  I call it THAT BREAD because it needs no other explanation.  Enjoy!

Well I think I've talked enough for today. My condo smells great right now thanks to my stock simmering merrily away.  I think I'll watch some 30 Rock while I'm waiting to strain it. 

As always, thanks for reading!

10/21/2012 Vocalpoint

There it is. A new adventure! Since I am currently(temporarily [hopefully]) unemployed, I began looking around the web for freebies. There's a whole fleet of companies dying to let you try their product for free. They want to send you free stuff so badly, and the trade-off? Your opinion! Yes, these companies want your opinion on their prodcuts! I stumbled onto vocalpoint through an offer. It said you had to register with vocalpoint to get the offer, but i did some research and this site seems legit. This article says that vocalpoint is a Proctor & Gamble run website that sends free samples to get the "mom"'s opinion. I'm all for it! So I put my official vocalpoint badge at the top of this post. I'll let you know what I receieve and when, and post my review of it here as well on vocalpoint. I can't wait for my first sample!

10/9/12 Resurrection

My, my, my. It certainly has been a long time.
My life has seen some major changes over the last few months. When last I wrote and you read, I was still new at my job. I had lost the condo of my dreams. My mom was cancer-free. First things first: Mom is still cancer-free! She's doing wonderfully. My mother is probably the strongest woman I have ever met, but also the biggest worry-wart on the planet. She continues to amaze and inspire me with her understated strength. I think what makes her so awesome to me is that she doesn't even know how strong she is. She will worry about me going out at night, but she can handle 6 weeks of radiation treatment every day by herself. She's still dancing and living her life to the fullest. She's my hero.

As far as my job is concerned, a lot happened there. I made a few amazing friends, met some really heinous bitches, and had one of the worst bosses ever. I worked there for eight months and decided to call it quits because their values didn't match my own. I guess I'm grateful for the experience, but it was the kind of place that made you fantasize about a meteor hitting the building on your day off. I started to daydream about Dexter-style revenge on this horrid man. Thankfully for both of us I left the place before starting to seriously consider buying visqueen and a hunting knife.

Now I'm on the hunt for my Next Big Thing. I'll probably have to wait tables again for a while, but I'm okay with that. One thing I cannot abide by is being talked down to by a boss that has no idea who I am or what I'm capable of. I have no regrets about quitting the bakery. Now, while I may indeed have to take some shit from customers I wait on, they will go home after an hour and I can get them out of my mind.

Last but not least, regarding the condo.... I AM A HOMEOWNER!!! When I opted out of the deal due to the water damage, the bank that holds the title decided they did not want to fix the problem. They wanted to dump the property. They cut the asking price in HALF and since I'd already had an offer in, I got first dibs on the new deal. Well, we jumped at it. I signed the new pruchase agreement the next day and began the process of closing. On May 14, 2012, I became a homeowner. It was a very surreal feeling. Sometimes I still sit in awe and wonder how I got so lucky. The catch? The water issue was now my problem to fix. I hired a tree service to remove the tree and grind out the stump, and my father and his bestie regraded the soil away from my building. We painted every wall, ripped out all of the old ruined laminate flooring and replaced with 5 year old bamboo in the living room. We put a beautiful grey champagne frieze carpet in my bedroom, and the most amazing Italian tile in my foyer. My father and I even wallpapered an accent wall in my bedroom all by ourselves. The pièce de résistance is my custom built bar. My father built me a bar! It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is My Precious. I wanted a dark wood shelved bar with a lean rail and a tile top to match my foyer. My dad gave me just that- the bar of my dreams. Forgive my picture quality, I'm still twerkin the iPhone 3GS.



She's a beauty, eh? I know this post has been mammoth and I appreciate you sticking with me. If you've read this far, leave a comment! My new crib includes wifi (HALLELUJER) so I will try to make regular updates. Thanks for reading :)