Food tricks

Now that I live at home again, my parents do this thing where they find something they like and they want it every time I cook for them..... We've had the  Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry  I posted in January on a weekly basis. With that in mind--and acknowledging the fact that I have been coaching more and doing my grad school interviews--I haven't had the time to try many new recipes, BUT I found this one.  I tried it last month when I had to whip something up to impress the new boyfriend.  It was really easy, and cooking the noodles in the garlic and broth added a lot of flavor.  A friend from college once told me, after his time in Italy, that over there they season the water before they cook pasta.  After making this, I can totally understand why. As far as reviews:  the boyfriend said that even though he wasn't USUALLY a huge white sauce fan, he really liked this.  He might have been trying to impress me right back, but I really liked it.  I...

Though my third-annual Super Bowl Dip-Off changed locations this year, I would say that it was pretty successful.  Thank you to all the friends and family who participated!  Especially my parents, who are incapable of taking a challenge lightly (no wonder where I get my competitiveness from), and made three dishes each. I mean, it is sort of cheating making so many..... but I think everyone agreed my mom's Easy Feta Dip was definitely the winner, so I guess we can overlook the multiple submissions. Super Easy Feta Dip Recipe from:  The Girl Who Ate Everything Ingredients: About 1/3 cup olive oil 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced 3-5 green onions, thinly sliced 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled 2-3 tsp Cavendar's Greek Seasoning Fresh baguette, thinly sliced Directions: In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, tomatoes, green onions, feta, and Greek seasoning.  Stir to combine. Serve with thinly sliced baguette. Optional: Brush baguette slices with olive oil, lay out on a cooki...

When I was a kid, my mom would make huge batches of enchiladas so we would have some in the freezer.  She would boil a huge pot of chicken and then we would all sit around a big bowl shredding it for hours. Well... at least it felt like hours... I wish we had known about this little trick back then. I made some  BBQ Chicken Dip  for the Super Bowl Dip-off, and after cooking the chicken, I just threw it into the mixer with the pastry attachment on low and in about a minute had perfectly shredded chicken.

The annual Super Bowl Dip-Off was a success--though my parents might have taken the challenge a little too literally... They each made three dishes each, and in usual Phillips' style we had WAYY too much food.  But I guess that is the point of the Super Bowl. ;) Though there were a lot of dip submissions, I am selfishly going to post what I think was the best item of the day (even though it wasn't a dip)... I've been seeing this on Pinterest, and I guess I should have tried to make the brownies from scratch to really complete the recipe, but I cheated and used a box of brownie mix.  If you want to be adventurous, the entire recipe (including brownies) was posted by  Your Cup of Cake , a super cute blog with wayy better pictures than mine. Anyways, here is the recipe for the cookie dough icing.  It is eggless, so it is edible, and though I am usually not a fan of eggless cookie dough, this recipe tastes pretty close to the real thing.  I even got a call from my f...

For some reason, cooking steak scares me.  Well.... I'm not sure "scares" is the right word... but chicken is my go-to, and beef just seems a little too grown up for me. I have no idea why.  It doesn't make sense.  I've helped my mom make steaks for the family a million times, and I love beef, but for some reason I just usually gravitate towards poultry recipes. BUT, last night I stepped outside the box.  Well... I actually used a chicken stir fry recipe from  My Fridge Food , but I adjusted it to use the tri-tip my mom had defrosted by switching the cup of chicken broth for beef broth. Side note: that Fridge Food website is actually a really cool resource.  You check off the things you have in your pantry and it finds recipes that incorporate the things you already have.  Really good for those times you don't want to take a trip to the grocery store, or you want to find new ways to use the ingredients you already have. As far as reviews, the roommates...

For some reason I really felt like baking this weekend.  I was looking up recipes all week, and I was excited to try some of them out, but then I ended up making a last minute decision to take a little road trip to the Bay Area to help a friend house sit.  I make enough of a mess in my own kitchen, I did not want to dirty a complete stranger's house with my attempt at a culinary masterpiece. But when I got home on sunday night, I decided to make something to bring into work to help brighten up the monotony of a monday morning.  I went with this coffee cake because it sounded fantastic, and I'd wanted to make it last week when I found out I had no flour.  Definitely a good choice.  It got rave reviews at work, and my parents loved it (they helped themselves to big servings as soon as it came out of the oven). Crumble-Topped Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze Recipe from:  Damn Delicious Serves 12 ( generously ) Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Ing...

Sweet potatoes are awesome. I love them. I was never much of a vegetable eating person, but I'm starting to find veggie recipes that are totally changing my opinion.  Like saut�ed zucchini .  Not only are sweet potatoes one of the healthiest foods (according to the The George Mateljan Foundation ), with tons of protein and vitamins, but they also can taste like candy :) I posted my mom's recipe for sweet potato souffl� a few weeks ago, which is absolutely delicious........ But it's also packed with a lot of sugars and butter and other less than healthy ingredients... This recipe is a healthier option, its just as tasty, and it is even quicker and easier to prepare. Honey Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes Adapted from: Buns in my Oven Serves Four Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: like 30 minutes Ingredients: 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes 3 Tbsp honey 3 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F....