Showing posts with label cheap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheap. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Macho Sloppy Joes

If you're looking to wow a hungry man with a messy, delicious meal, look no further than these Sloppy Joes. Packed with beef, slathered in BBQ sauce, and sandwiched between two fluffy onion brioche buns, this recipe is not to be missed.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies



I have to thank my friend Erica for inspiring me to make these delicious, light blondies. For those of you who don't know, blondies are a variation on the infamous brownie. Erica made some dreamy funfetti blondies for our friend Jamie's graduation BBQ last weekend, so dreamy that I helped myself to several bites. Sunday night I found myself recovering from a nonstop weekend of beer, burgers, Blonde Redhead at the Echoplex and a mini college reunion. The only cure? A glass (or two) of wine and some quality baking. Craving more of Erica's adorable treats, I set to work on a batch for myself.

Everything is better with peanut butter, and blondies are no exception. Some of my baking tins were still at Jamie's house, so I made my baked goodies in a pie tin. Not the most conducive to evenly cut squares, but delicious nonetheless.

Monday, July 11, 2011

The "Louis Doesn't Like Red Sauce" Pasta (with Meatballs)


If anyone can understand a kid's qualms about food, it would be me. Terrified of mushrooms and partial to creating a hot dog/Kraft macaroni and cheese mutant, I was a very picky eater. My little brother Louis, out-of-this-world trumpet player and sarcasm whiz, is obviously following in my footsteps. To save him from an all-day Jazz and Blues festival our dad goes to every year, we spent a Sunday lounging in his Playa del Rey apartment utilizing his flat screen, blu-ray player (him) and spacious kitchen (me).

Since Louis and I are twelve years apart (11, 23), I often find myself lamenting his lack of movie education. After suffering through The Diary of a Wimpy Kid II at his request and his required  trumpet practice, I informed the snarky pre-teen that we were going to watch a classic from my childhood: The Fifth Element. As Louis marveled in the special effects ("How can this movie be fifteen years old?!") and sat entranced by the comic stylings of a young and trim Bruce Willis, I set to work on his dinner.


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Food Trucks LA: Dogtown Dogs

Though the food truck race in Los Angeles has been picking up steam for a while, I have yet to venture out and try any. Somehow I never get it together in time to check out First Fridays, an event in the Venice district of Abbot Kinney, where merchants feature artists, music, drink specials and a wide variety of food trucks. (I will make it there someday.) Where food trucks were once known as "roach coaches", a cheap array of Mexican fare on wheels, the fad has exploded in the LA foodie scene. Partly due to our current economic decline, the mobile restaurants feature hip, gourmet street food. 
 
Kogi Korean BBQ was the front-runner in the food truck craze, an army of five Korean-Mexican fusion trucks that feature options of spicy pork tacos or kimchi quesadillas. After winning several awards and the hearts and minds of Angelinos, Kogi's success spawned hundreds of on-the-go eateries, from The Grilled Cheese Truck (note to self: try the cheesy mac & rib melt as soon as humanly possible), the Border Grill truck, an addition to the renowned Santa Monica Spanish restaurant at the 3rd Street Promenade, and my first venture into the world of food trucks, Dogtown Dogs.
 
 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Stuff That Sausage! Or, Mushroom Appreciation Day

When I was a little girl, there were several vegetables I would not under any circumstances allow in my food. My parents tried to sneak them in to sauces, chopping up onions, chives or mushrooms into tiny bits in an attempt to dissuade me from my oh-so-healthy diet of macaroni and cheese. No matter how small the diced veggies were, I could taste them a mile away. "This has onion in it!" I would cry angrily, and proceed to pout for the rest of the meal. (What a charmer.) Mostly I've come to realize that my disgust for onions and mushrooms came from the texture ("too crunchy, too rubbery, get it away from me," etc).

This might be why my parents are still shocked to the core whenever I eat onions or mushrooms (often). I will add grilled onions to almost any dish and ever since my adventures grilling with Quinn and Daniel I've been doing the same with mushrooms. I add sliced white mushrooms to my healthier version of Fettuccini Alfredo, recreate my goat cheese & shiitake omelet from John O'Groats, and sautee large portobello caps in the balsamic-dijon marinade Daniel came up with.  The other night I  took my mushroom obsession a step further. As I sipped on some girlie moscato white wine and danced around in my kitchen with Scream 2 on in the background, I made sinfully bites of sheer happiness: stuffed mushrooms.

Monday, April 18, 2011

A Hearty Saturday Breakfast

After weeks of gloomy weather on the weekends and tauntingly summery work weeks, LA finally got its shit together this weekend. It was 85 degrees in beach-breezy Santa Monica, and I embarked on a relaxing weekend full of movies, retail therapy, endless sunshine and of course, food.

Saturday morning Quinn and I woke up early to peruse the Virginia Park farmer's market a few blocks from my apartment. We sampled fresh strawberries to pick the boldest and sweetest, picked up blood oranges and just-baked chocolate chip muffins, then headed out to breakfast at John O'Groat's.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Sausage and Broccoli Rotini with a Garlic Cream Sauce

Ok, ok. So I finally went grocery shopping under the guise that I would start whipping up some delicious and healthy cuisine for this blog. You might notice the sinful amount of cream in this dish and wonder, how is this healthy? Short answer: it's not. I'm sure I'll get around to it, as bikini season is nearly year-round in LA-LA land, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with a pasta smothered in garlic-cream sauce. Hey -- at least there's broccoli!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Fraiche Happy Hour

Blog Note: Due to my recent relocation to a studio apartment in Santa Monica (!!!) and the expenses that follow, Culinary Therapy will be entering a period of finance-management. Don't fret dear readers, now that I'm mostly settled into my new digs my infrequent posts will be a thing of the past. This just means that I'll be sampling more happy hours and adding more recipe posts to the mix. 

Last week, my friend Jamie and I had a happy hour date at a restaurant I've been meaning to try, Fraiche in Santa Monica.  As I perused my new "happy hour finder" app, I discovered that not only is the hip foodie locale only a few blocks from my work, but they have a happy hour Monday-Thursday 5:00pm - 10:30pm, Friday-Saturday 5-6:30pm. As we settled in for some epic girl-time, we ordered a glass of their red and white house wines ($6) and took a glance at the menu.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tuk Tuk Thai - A Place to Celebrate!

On Friday afternoon, I got the miraculous news that I will be able to leave my job as office slave. Well, to clarify, I’ll still be working in an office, and I’ll probably end up doing some similar duties. I will, however, be in charge of scripts and auditions for the voice over talent at a prestigious talent agency in Santa Monica; better pay, better hours, and a lovely little spot to watch the palm trees on the third floor. I apparently will also be given some free time to write while I cater to the wants and needs of my clientele – hopefully that means more blog posts!



In order to celebrate the news, Quinn and I took a stop at Tuk Tuk, a first date mecca. On one of our very first trysts together in Santa Barbara, Quinn drove me down to LA to this cutesy Thai joint on Pico Blvd. Dimmed, bordello-red lighting, intimate tables and hot sake all make for a very specific first date mood – and it worked like a charm! Apparently one of his friends brought all his dates there, sometimes even a new one every night. I’ve sent friends of mine there to keep the pressure of planning such an occasion to a minimum, so whether you’re a ladies’ man or Romeo, this is a place to check out.
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