Boiling the eggs

Thanksgiving spread - including the deviled eggs!

Vegetarian Chili

White Chicken Chili

So I've never made pancakes on my own. There's always a first time for everything, right?

This morning I decided to test out my new electric fryer with what better than Funfetti pancakes? All I had to do was add water to the mix & viola! I had a fine stack of fun colored pancakes ready to eat!

I think this might be my new Saturday morning ritual...

Pancakes in the electric fryer!

Funfetti

Tower of Flap Jacks

Apologies to any vegan/veg friends for the raw meat pic!

Tonight's adventure in the fondue pot entailed one of my staples - chicken salad. Alas, my recipe is not as great as Brickstore's, but hey its something to aspire to!

Anyhow - Chicken Salad. So after getting home, I gathered the fondue pot, raw chicken, knife and cutting board and ventured down to the kitchen to do the dirty work (a.k.a cook the meat). After cleaning the chicken breasts and dicing the meat, I heated the fondue  pot and quickly cooked the chicken meat. Dicing the meat before cooking is helpful because the meat cooks faster (and Lord knows, I need all the help I can get when cooking in the fondue pot!).

I had to be sure to open the window while cooking the chicken, as failing to do so has led to me setting off the house fire alarm in the past...yeah, not good! Luckily I now know how to turn the fire alarm off and reset it, so no biggie!


I chose to avoid any unnecessary smoke and loud noise and open the window while I cooked the chicken. After a short time, the chicken was done - my fondue pot is so fast! I let the chicken cool while I washed dishes and then headed back upstairs to complete the rest of the process in my kitchenette.




Back upstairs, I busted out the chopping board and minced onion, celery and the chicken into fine bits. I like a good crunch to my chicken salad, so a whole baby yellow onion and about six small celery sticks went into the mix. After the dry ingredients, I added in mayonnaise, spicy brown mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chicken salad is far more an art than a science - that is, I don't measure out ingredients! A good old fashion taste test will easily tell you if you need anything more!

And Voila - Chicken salad! Kudos to the nifty fondue pot for cooking up my chicken quickly.

Til next time...

First, I’d like to say, pardon the hiatus - lack of motivation…whatever you’d like to call it! I promise I have been cooking and have collected some great photos and stories to share with you along the way. I’ll play catch up soon enough, but for now, let me tell you about tonight’s adventure in the fondue pot.

My day started at Einstein’s bagels for coffee with a lovely GSU student. I enjoyed my Pumpkin Spice Latte (not to be confused with #PSL – that’s BUX only yal!) immensely at the time. However, the post-lunch sugar spike hit me hard this afternoon. I decided I needed two things in my day to make me feel better: spin class and vegetables!

After a tough, yet enjoyable spin class, I took a trip over to my fond Publix – you know the one (or one of the four) I used to work at. I always love seeing my old coworkers there and catching up. But the thing I love most about Publix is the produce. This is the most colorful and healthy section of the store. I loaded up my basket with peppers, scallions, garlic, potatoes, and tomatoes. I had an idea in mind.

After making my way home, I washed up and headed straight to the kitchen to begin crafting tonight’s masterpiece. This recipe is one I discovered with my one of my best girl friends, Mateja, while in Slovenia earlier this summer on vacation. Yes, we like to cook on vacation! This particular evening we were in the mood for tex-mex fare and stumbled across this charming recipe that brings together an abundance of flavors and really lends itself to free-styling – which is always good in the kitchen!

I pulled up the Warm Corn and Tomato Salad recipe still saved in the notes on my iPhone from my trip. First I sliced and diced the whole rainbow of veggies – red and orange bell peppers, scallions, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic. If you’ve ever cooked with me in the kitchen, you can attest that it was incredibly difficult for me to refrain from eating a handful of the colorful peppers – they are like candy!

This recipe is a good one to adjust a bit depending on what you have in the fridge. It calls for corn, which I conveniently had leftover in the freezer from another dish. I followed the main frame of the recipe, but mixed it up a bit according to my preferences. I used lemon juice instead of fresh lime (to save a buck, since I already had lemon juice in my fridge!) and left out the ground cumin and paprika – two spices that are surprisingly not in my collection!

This recipe is a great compliment to a taco night or quesadilla meal. In Slovenia, we served it with homemade chicken quesadillas. Tonight I decided to go vegetarian and serve it with some adorable potatoes I found on sale at Publix as well. The Potato Inspirations brand sells small bags of itty bitty potatoes that I knew would be no hassle and fit easily in my fondue pot – and they were BOGO! I cooked the potatoes with a bit of butter, salt, pepper, and threw in some fresh rosemary from my budding herb garden in my windowsill. I forgot how wonderful rosemary smells – and tastes!

The best part about the fondue part is the easy clean up. Tonight I had two dishes to make in the fondue pot, but all I had to do was rinse it out in between preparing the two courses. After portioning out the Warm Corn and Tomato Salad (which makes about 4 portions as the recipe indicates) and the potatoes (probably 5 servings for me!), I served my scrumptious fondue pot fixes with some guacamole and chips to spice up my meal a bit!

And look – a lovely vegetarian ensemble…and another success in the fondue pot!

The first question I typically get when I tell people where I live (besides "Do you pay rent?") is "Do you have a kitchen?" This is a tricky one. Truthfully, the answer is "yes, I have a kitchen." But honestly, the reality is that a sink, dishwasher and microwave do not constitute a full kitchen. Those of you living in dorms can relate. I can recall living in the dorms at Agnes Scott and yearning for an oven. I would bribe friends and friends of friends to let me into their houses and apartments to use their ovens. The promise of fresh-baked goodies usually worked.

So, two years later, here I am. Still no oven, still no stove. Bummer.

I love to cook. I love to bake. I like to try new recipes. Thus, I knew there must be a solution for the absence of said kitchen in my life. While friends have kindly offered the use of their facilities, I need an outlet of my own. This is where the fondue pot comes in.

Shortly before moving into the house, I purchased a simple electric fondue pot. I am sure many of you have one of those tucked away somewhere, which  you may pull out for the occasional Valentine's date or beer and cheese dip. Side story - my favorite memory of fondue was when my mom would stop by the Circle K on the way home from church to purchase a single can of beer for fondue dinner. You could count on a comment when she came out about how she insisted to the cashier that she was not drinking the beer on a Sunday! It was merely for fondue. Of course.

Beer shamed-ness aside, my humble fondue pot did not know what was in store for it when I purchased it. Sure, the first thing I ever made in it was a delicious beer cheese fondue, reminiscent of the one my mom made all those years ago. But little did it or I know how useful this device would become.

You see, my fondue pot has become my stove - my lifeline if you will. The means by which I feed myself. Sure I could survive off frozen dinners and microwavable meals, but seriously, no! I must fulfill my desire to cook and explore new recipes and my fondue pot is along for the ride! I hope you will come along with me and share my adventures in cooking and trying new things. You might just be surprised at what a little fondue pot can do.

All hail the fondue pot!