Kristin Janz

Tag: Cooking

  • Serves 4!

    Only 3 servings left!

    I think I might have mentioned how Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meal recipes, in addition to being impossible to finish in 30 minutes, also serve way more people than the recipe claims. The cookbooks always say that the recipe serves 4. Above, you’ll see a picture of “Curried Vegetable Stoup” from Just in Time–after I’ve already eaten a bowlfull. That is, the humongous amount of soup you see in the Rubbermaid container should theoretically contain 3 servings.

    This is not necessarily a bad thing. While I do love to cook, I would probably have more time for writing, sleeping and socializing with friends if I didn’t spend so much of it cooking. Still.

    “Stoup” is Rachael Ray’s cutesy term for something that’s a cross between a soup and a stew in consistency. Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s why I don’t watch her television show, even though the cookbooks are excellent. It tasted good, no matter what you call it. And this recipe was vegan, too, so a good thing to serve if you have friends of that persuasion coming over for dinner.

    Here it is in a bowl, with some pita chips on the side (no, I didn’t make the pita chips myself!).

    Oh, and although this recipe was categorized in the cookbook as a 60-minute meal, and my experience thus far has led me to believe that it takes twice as long as the suggested time to cook a Rachael Ray recipe, it only took 1 hour and 13 minutes. I’m relieved that it didn’t take 2 hours.

    I also made Roasted Beets with Dill-Walnut Vinaigrette, from the America’s Test Kitchen cookbook The New Best Recipe.

    I wasn’t keeping track of how long this one took. Roasting the beets takes a while, but that’s pretty hands-off. I suppose, in retrospect, making a roasted beet dish when it was almost 90 degrees outside was not the smartest idea.

    Finally, from a few days ago:

    This one is not for the vegans (or those counting calories). That’s a 1:1 mixture of heavy cream and whole milk, not soy milk. And yes, those are bits of bacon you might see floating around in there. This is “Harvest Creamy Corn ‘Choup’”, also from Just in Time. It was listed as a 30-minute meal, but took 1 hour and 2 minutes. I guess “choup” is a cross between chowder and soup, but really, it seemed pretty chowderish to me. I don’t think that this soup really required the invention of a brand-new word in order to adequately describe its physical characteristics.

    I suppose I should talk about writing again soon, since, despite theoretically being my author website, this seems to be turning into Kristin’s Cooking Blog.

  • 30 Minutes, at last

    I finally cooked a Rachael Ray meal that took less than 30 minutes (28, to be exact). “Pea and Parsley Soup with Canadian Bacon.” (or “peameal bacon” or “back bacon”, as we refer to it in Canada) From Just in Time.

    Only trouble is, this recipe is listed as a special, super-fast “15-minute meal.”

    Usually, with a Rachael Ray recipe, I assume that it will take twice as long as the cookbook says it will.

    I put in a picture, which I think will show up at the top of this post, but I’m not sure, because it’s the first picture I’ve included in a post so far. I’d put it down here, but I don’t know how to select where in the post I want the picture, and I’m trying to limit myself to 30 minutes of time on the internet each day, and I only have 2 minutes left.

    Anyway, it was very tasty. I used to hate peas, but now I don’t mind them so much. Though I still don’t like them all by themself, especially the canned or over-ripe frozen ones that have gotten all starch and gross.

    On Monday night, I made a Rachael Ray recipe from the 2nd 30-minute meal cookbook. This one actually gives full menus, instead of just a one-pot meal. It claims that you can make the entire menu in 30 minutes, but I find that it usually takes 30 minutes for each of the 2 or 3 courses. I made “Tuscan-Style Grilled Tuna Steaks” and “Grilled Stuffed Portobellos with Tomatoes, Rosemary, and Smoked Mozzarella.” And a tossed green salad. 1 hour and 14 minutes. I’m willing to shave off 15 minutes, since I used a charcoal grill, and that adds a bit of time compared to using gas. But a 30-minute meal it was not! (It was absolutely delicious, though. And my cat Tallulah also enjoyed the tuna.)

    Okay, I’m 3 minutes over my alloted internet time for the day, so I’d better stop.

  • Another “30-minute” meal

    I’m a big fan of Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals cookbooks. I own four of them. In case anyone is unfamiliar with these (or the accompanying TV show on the Food Network), the premise (not surprisingly) is that each meal can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Ideal for busy people, coming home late after a long day’s work….

    The problem is that it is a rare and remarkable day upon which I manage to cook a Rachael Ray recipe in less than 30 minutes. They’re good recipes, creative and interesting. But 30-Minute Meals? Not so much.

    For instance. Tonight. Eggplant Subs a la Norma, page 57 of her 2007 cookbook Just in Time. This consists of toasted sub rolls topped with grilled eggplant, raw tomato sauce and crumbled ricotta salata cheese. I started this recipe at 7:30 p.m., and it wasn’t until 8:26 p.m. that I was finally assembling my sub from the prepared components. Was it delicious? Absolutely! Was it worth the time I spent preparing it? Yes, because there’s enough filling for 6 subs,* which works out to 9.3 minutes per meal (though only if you’re cooking for yourself). But it took 56 minutes.**

    (In case anyone is curious, I rounded out the meal with Greek salad and finished with sliced strawberries tossed with a bit of sugar. I suppose that a salad containing tomatoes and feta cheese is an odd choice to accompany an entree that contains tomatoes and a very similar white crumbly cheese. But Greek salad ingredients happened to be what I had on hand.)

    * Another thing about Rachael Ray’s cookbooks: most of the recipes are purported to serve 4 (and the one I cooked tonight is no exception), but that’s only true if the 4 you’re serving are all linebackers. I’ve occasionally gotten 8 servings out of a Rachael Ray recipe.

    ** Technically, I started cooking dinner at 7:15, and it took 1 hour and 11 minutes, but I decided it wasn’t fair to count the time I spent preparing the charcoal grill (and sweeping spilled charcoal dust off the rear walkway), since Rachael Ray probably used a gas grill.