It’s Cinco de Mayo! I hope your evening involves Tequila Fresca and Nacho.
If it doesn’t, you’ve made some terrible decisions today. I’m disappointed. What are you doing that’s more exciting to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Tell me. Tell me now.
If your shame leads you to want to make a meal that consists of more than liquor and a single chip, may I suggest my Layered Potato and Spinach Enchiladas.
I’ve had a few deaths in the kitchen lately, which, as a vegetarian, really takes a lot of work.
First the toaster became an overachiever. It would toast, but it wouldn’t stop toasting. And, as it turns out, that step is just as important. Toasting required a vigilant guard who would rip the cord from the wall when the desired level of browning was achieved. (Fun Fact: You can make Slice of Toast just like I taught you to make Nacho. You can even combine the two techniques to make Slice of Cheese Toast. True story.)
Being the cheapest man alive, I was fine with this toast-guarding situation for quite a while. But then the coffee maker shot itself in the face. It’s a grind-and-brew model, and the grinder no longer pushed its contents into the basket to brew. Again, I stood guard, opening the coffeemaker every morning and transferring the coffee grounds for it. This went on for two weeks. Then, this week, I awoke to find a coffee explosion in the kitchen. I think the carafe pissed off the rest of the coffeemaker, as its intended contents now just spill freely onto the floor and cabinets. The white floor and cabinets. But I find showing up to the office sleepy and covered in brown liquid lends a sense of professionalism and mystique.
Pea and Paneer Curry
Then, to complete this vicious cycle, I have been making dishes that are absolutely delicious but, well, not photogenic. First, a pea and paneer career. It tasted like heaven. But no photos could do it justice. While I admit I could not grab a good photo, if you judge Indian food by its appearance … well, good — there’s more for me that way.
Smoky Kale Chips
Then we made Smoky Kale Chips. Absolutely delicious. But it looks like we baked leaves and ate them.
I’ll make you something pretty soon. After I bury my appliances.
By the way, thanks for the wonderful comfort food confessions. Cheez-Its with apple sauce. Hash browns. Whiskey. You people get me. Did you not share yours? Do it.
You're in My Vacation Home Kitchen. Yeah, I'm wearing a driver's cap with Mickey Mouse ears. Jealous?
As if fate needed to remind me that there is balance in life, I was lucky enough to spend a week in sunny Florida … followed by a week with a cold once I was back home. This added up to two weeks without much time in the kitchen.
While in Florida, we rented a vacation home, complete with a hot tub, pool, and, of course, a large kitchen. Funny how your favorite room in the house is no longer where you want to spend your time once you can see a hot tub out the window, though. So we instead relied on easy meals and my favorite pizza place in Orlando, Giordano’s, for Chicago-style stuffed pizzas with spinach, broccoli, garlic and olives. Yum. Let’s go back right now.
The week following paradise was spent in the middle of a snowstorm back in Minneapolis, fighting off colds. When I’m ill, I immediately want lots of fresh fruit. And I drink an unreasonable amount of mint tea. After that, though, all signs of my normal eating habits are dead to me, as I can barely muster the energy to make it to the grocery store, much less cook. Continue reading
Beer or Whiskey = Enjoying life.
Beer + Whiskey = Good for you.
Beer * Whiskey = St. Patrick’s Day!
Beer^10 * Whiskey(Whiskey+Whiskey * Beer) * Irish Car Bomb + Beer = Yeah, I’m Irish, too.*
*And Taiwanese, hence my expertise in both alcohol and mathematics.
Cory and Carrie from Midwest Gluten Free sent this my way after giving my Tequila Fresca idea a shot.
Say, there’s a reason you get top billing in the name of this blog. I think you’re great. What you’re wearing today makes you look really good, too. What you wore last Wednesday wasn’t so hot, but the fact that I can tell you these things just shows what great friends we’ve become.
So, great friend, I want to get to know you better. You’ve been in my kitchen. What’s happening in yours? Have you made that Thai-Inspired Butternut Squash Soup yet? Or Tequila Fresca? Or nacho?
If you have, I want to hear about it. And I’d love to see it, too. I was overjoyed to receive this photo from Cory and Carrie, who run Midwest Gluten Free, a great resource for anyone with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Cory and Carrie started the site after learning their daughter has celiac disease.
Cory and Carrie gave my Tequila Fresca idea a shot, and then discovered something they said was even closer to the taste of an actual margarita. They subbed Peach Fresca with some sugar-free packets of lime margarita drink mix from Target, and were very pleased with the results.
So here’s where you come in: What’s your favorite cheap, easy-to-make drink? Share a photo or recipe on the brand new You’re In My Kitchen Facebook Page, e-mail them to me at cavan@youreinmykitchen.com or leave your recipe below.
No judgment here, people. You’ve seen me drink vodka from jugs through straws.
If Cory and Carrie have already discovered a new take on Tequila Fresca, imagine what we can all do if we work together. That’s right — we are going to save the world. And we’ll need some cocktail ideas before we take that on.
Butternut Squash and Asparagus with Rigatoni in a Ricotta Cream Sauce
I wanted to show you how to make my layered vegetable enchiladas last night. I couldn’t. I couldn’t because our fridge is packed so full that I could not fit another thing in it, much less the ingredients I needed to make the dish.
I’ve been cooking faster than we can eat lately, despite hosting two dinner parties in a row this weekend. I cook, and shop at Costco, as if I’m a caterer, regardless of how many people I’m serving. I admit it. I have a problem. I say, if you’re going to have a problem, make it a delicious one. Like cooking too many meals. And whisky!
So, in an effort to make room in the fridge, we had leftover spinach and goat cheese tarts from one of the dinner parties, and a dish I made up last week with what I happened to have. It turned into rigatoni tossed with butternut squash and asparagus in a ricotta cream sauce.
I’m having a lot of fun cooking for you. But most of my fun moments are the ones nobody will see — the oopsies that get cut out of the final videos. But then it occurred to me … why not share my leftovers with you, too? So, today, I give you the leftovers — what was edited out of my first few videos, and a few things you haven’t seen yet.
Cooking should be fun. Mistakes happen. I’m also a grown man staying up late at night talking to a camera on a tripod in his kitchen in the name of documenting his cooking. Odds were pretty good that my conversations with the camera wouldn’t always make sense.
I don’t have a recipe for you today. I have a request for your time.
You could say Lynne Rossetto Kasper is my hero. She’s the host of American Public Media’s “The Splendid Table,” and her program has nurtured my love of food and cooking for years. Every week, “The Splendid Table” reminds me why I cook, and why it has such an important place in my life.
That’s just one of the ways I use public broadcasting every day. From investigative journalism to unparalleled cultural programming, it informs me and entertains me, and it’s helped shape my life.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting. Soon, the Senate will begin work on its version of the bill.
Public broadcasting has played a big role in my life. The prospect of communities losing public media frightens me, and I know I’m not alone. I urge you to go to 170millionamericans.org to see how you can take action.
Update: I was absolutely thrilled to receive a short note from a producer at “The Splendid Table” saying they loved the video. It made my year.
Making pasta from scratch for my family. The key ingredient for hosting your first Thanksgiving? All those bottles of champagne behind me.
If I had my druthers, I’d spend my day as your personal chef and bartender, working behind a large countertop in a well-lit kitchen. Well, it turns out I’ve found the large countertop and well-lit kitchen, but not quite a way to get the food from there to wherever you happen to be. With humble apologies to you and your appetite, I instead offer you this blog as your constant invitation into my kitchen.
As a lover of food and multimedia, I promise to provide you with both photos and videos from my kitchen to give you ideas to bring to your own kitchens, from the delightfully gourmet (there will be truffle oil) to the deliciously tacky (there will also be jugs of liquor).
I like to cook. You, I imagine, have eaten food. We’re a match made in heaven. Let’s be friends. Take a seat in my kitchen and let’s eat, drink, chat and grow old together.
Remember, friends: There’s nothing in life that can’t be fixed or improved upon with a French fry or a bottle of vodka. Either way, keep potatoes handy.
So. My name’s Cavan and you’re in my kitchen. What’s your name?
You're In My Kitchen 
