Campbell's Thai Green Curry Sauce Mix

i'm never a huge fan of buying pre-packaged sides/sauces/anything, but this Campbell's Thai sauce caught my eye when i was shopping. i've been wanting to make green curry sauce for a while, but most recipes call for fresh kaffir leaves which apparently are non-existent in Albany NY. in the meantime, this little packet was a pleasantly surprising bandaid.

we cooked chicken and shrimp and sauteed green pepper, onion, mushrooms, and mixed it a bit of additional spice (crushed red pepper) into the sauce. served it over rice noodles. the sauce mix actually had a great flavor to it - nice & sweet but still spicy & savory. would have it again.  

Bros Tacos, Yonos, & Genoa

over the past month i visited 3 restaurants/eateries on my gotta-try-em list in Albany.  for 2 of the 3, i was either too distracted or it was too fancy to snap a pic. so... all i have are delicious memories.

Yonos we hit up for our 12 year anniversary. i had the Indonesian Sampler Plate which consisted of Chicken Sate, Vegetable Lumpia, Bakmi Goreng, Pork Tenderloin, Beef Short Ribs, Jasmine Rice, Krupuk, Acar, Sambal, and Peanut Sauce. it's the ADHD of plates. i loved every part of it except the Acar, but i don't really like veggies or pickled things, so that's no surprise : ). for dessert we had the chocolate praline creme brulee which was so decadent. it tasted like a fancy version of eating undercooked brownies (which doesn't sound like a compliment, but believe you/me it is). best part of this place is that they pay attention to the tiny details - 2 amazing butter selections for your 3 choices of bread, a ottoman for your purse so it doesn't touch the floor, amuse bouche of a cold asparagus and caviar soup, you name it. for a 5* restaurant in albany, it's on the top of the list. 

Bros Tacos i've seen seen a lot recommended for albany restaurants on various blogs, or as a reco as best cap city tacos. my bff & i hit it up this past weekend (or last weekend?!).  i had one Carnita Taco (slow cooked shredded pork, onions, cilantro, salsa verde and cojita cheese) and one Fried Shrimp taco (beer battered/fried shrimp, topped with pico de gallo, salsa roja, pineapple and bros tacos crema). had it with a side of rice (no beans!!!). we both really liked what we had, particularly how fresh the ingredients were and the good selections of fresh cheese (no crappy packaged shredded standard cheddar), BUT... thought they weren't the "best ever" which was our impression walking in. and i know that's lame to say - they made (i believe) fresh corn tortillas, but i found the tortilla a bit try. might have had better luck with the flour tortilla - maybe that's what my issue was? idk. i would definitely go back as they have a lot of fun items on the menu and i liked them, but i wouldn't go out of my way as many other Albanians do.

hot pastrami silf

Genoa Importing i've heard from every person in Albany how amazing it is. it was right down the street from my old school, but some how i never made my way there. HOLY COW. i went with Kyle and my BFF and we decided to do a 3-way split on each of our 3 subs. we had a Mad Cow (prime rib, melted meunster, lettuce, tomato, horseradish mayo), the A-Rod (hot pastrami and corned beef, swiss, red onion & russian dressing served on triple decker rye), and a chicken & ham sub with other-delicious-extras-that-aren't-currently-on-the-menu-BUT was amazing sub. one thing about Albany is that it doesn't have any delis (and the few that do suck) - this place blows even a metropolitan area deli out of the water. frankly these sandwiches are all i can think about now, and am kind of happy i didn't try them back in college or i would have easily hit a freshman 15. tip my hat to these fellas.�

the Big E

this week we went to The Big E fair which is a lot of fun but so stressful in the sense that there is SO MUCH amazingly delish and unhealthy stuff to eat, if you pick wrong and fill up fast and waste your appetite, your day is ruined. STRESS. 

i was so hungry, taking a decent picture was 0
on the list. so saraaaay.

i showed up way-hungry but wandered across the whole place before finally finding "the one". in the Massachusetts building, there was a local cheese company that was dishing out grilled cheese. specifically, cheddar with horseradish cheddar, bacon, and tomato grilled cheese. HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL yes. after a long (2 minute?) wait, this gooey cheesy delish bugger was SO well worth the wait. hands-down the best possible pick i could have made. 

Kyle & i split some fried oreos after that from the Beignet truck which were fab. i filled up with sugar tummy after that and stopped my food quest (the cheese curds have escaped me once again), but i feel like the grilled cheese was so amazing, it didn't even matter. mmmmmnnn. 

Creo'

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recipe: chicken and potato bake

i had taken drumsticks out with the intention of making some red chicken curry tonight, but it's so nice and fally out i wanted something a lil more comfort-foody today. i couldn't find any recipes that spoke to me and decided to just free-ball this one and throw some chicken and potato-friendly things in a pan. i had zero expectations, but this actually had a ton of flavor and was yum city (even if the picture doesn't look so yummy : ). super easy too which i'm always a fan of during the week.

update 10/7: made this again, but swapped out the rosemary for dried sage and baked at 400 degrees (the higher temp roasted the potatoes a tad more and made the sauce even thicker). even better!

ingredients list (serves 2)*:
- 4 chicken drumsticks, skins removed (thighs or breasts would also work)
- 3 medium red potatoes, diced into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 small onion
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp (roughly) olive oil
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- salt & pepper to taste
- cornstarch

*mushrooms would also be yumz in this if you had them on hand.

to make: preheat oven to 375 degrees. place potatoes, onion, chicken and garlic into a small baking dish. pour in wine, lemon juice, and drizzle with olive oil, then season with thyme, rosemary and salt & pepper. bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. half way through baking, flip chicken and stir potatoes, and remove some of the liquid to make a cornstarch slurry. stir cornstarch mixture back into the dish and continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes. by the end of the hour, the cornstarched wine sauce should be thick enough to be a nice gravy.

recipe: roasted red pepper tomato sauce

din din last night, inspired by the gigantic red peppers i bought for $.99 at a lil farm stand down the street - woot! i intended to make a red pepper cream sauce, but for unbeknownst reason a grocery store run didn't happen yesterday so we had to make due with what was on hand. 

the Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce recipe from twopeasandtheirpod.com fit the bill with what we had so we gave it a whirl... result was good, but missing something. it was very fresh, but the peppers need a bit more pep in the salt realm (and this is after adding a fair amount of salt). if it was paired with some cooked down sausage, it would probably be enough to round out the flavor which is how i will prep the leftover sauce. 

ingredients list: 
- 3 large red bell peppers
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion,chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes (i used Hunts Fire Roasted)
- 1 cup packed fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper

to make: roast peppers over gas flame, under the broiler, or on the grill. roast for about 10 minutes, or until peppers are completely black. place peppers in a zip lock bag to allow to sweat for a few minutes. peel the charred skins from the peppers, remove the seeds, and roughly chop. 

in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until soft. stir in garlic for 30 seconds, then red peppers and diced tomatoes. cook for 10 minutes over medium-low heat. add fresh chopped basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

puree the sauce in a blender until mostly smooth. add more salt and pepper if needed, then serve with pasta. 

recipe: snickerdoodles

i love little snickerdoodle cookies. classier than a sugar cookie, but too silly to be fancy. and usually they can be made without having to run to the store for any ingredients, so they're a good lil go-to. i also made these last weekend, and they were delish as per usual. if you follow the recipe to a T, taken from Mrs Sigg's Snickerdoodles recipe on allrecipes.com, you can't go wrong.  

ingredients list: 

• - 1/2 cup butter, softened
• - 1/2 cup shortening
• - 1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
• - 2 eggs
• - 2 tsp vanilla 
• - 2 & 3/4 cups  flour
• - 2 tsp cream of tartar
• - 1 tsp baking soda
• - 1/4 tspn salt
• - 2 tbsp white sugar
• - 2 tsp cinnamon

to make: preheat oven to 400 degrees. cream together butter, shortening, 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and vanilla. blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls, about 1 inch big.

mix the 2 tbsp sugar and the cinnamon, then roll balls of dough into the cinna-sugar mixture. place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. bake 8-10 minutes until set but not too hard. remove to wire racks to cool. 

recipe: s'mores brownie bars

i was looking but a quick but comfort-foodie dessert to make for last weekend, and the s'mores brownie bar recipe from Serious Eats.com was a perfect lil fit. i had attempted s'mores brownies once before (i want to say 2 years ago), and when it came time to broil the marshmallows on top, 1 minute on the oven was 1 minute too many... i kind of lit the whole tray on fire. after letting them burn out and leaving me with a tray of char, i had put that idea aside for a while until this past weekend. seemed like a good time to try a new kind and give them a go. 

they came out really yummy, which was a very pleasant surprise for how quick/easy they were.

ingredients list:
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (10 whole rectangular crackers)
- 1/4 cup (or less) graham crackers, roughly crushed
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
- salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips, plus more for topping
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp instant expresso powder
- 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups mini-marshmallows

to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease an 8 in square baking pan and set aside. 

grind graham crackers in a food processor until they become fine crumbs. melt 4 tbsp butter. add melted butter, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt to crumbs and pulse to combine. press into bottom of prepared pan.

melt chocolate chips and remaining 4 tbsp butter in a small bowl in the microwave, stopping every 15-20 seconds to stir. allow to cool, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

in a large bowl, mix melted chocolate, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and 1/4 tsp salt. add flower and baking powder and mix until smooth. pour batter into prepared pan. bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes up with a few moist crumbs attached (being careful not to over bake). 

top with marshmallows, additional chocolate chips, and crushed graham crackers. return to oven for an additional 3-5 minutes, until marshmallows start to get a little golden brown. 

allow to cool about 1 hour before serving, cutting with a very sharp knife as the marshmallow topping will be very sticky. 

recipe: red skinned potato salad

this was the potato salad i used for last weekend's bbq - it's taken from allrecipes.com, the Red Skinned Potato Salad recipe. i modified it slightly, omitting the eggs and adding in a little extra seasoning than what it calls for. i don't eat potato salad, but it seemed like it went over pretty well and is a good repeater recipe.

ingredients list: 
- 2 lbs new red potatoes
- 1 lb bacon
- 1-2 green onions, diced (green & white parts)
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 2 cups mayo
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 tbsp pickle juice
- 1/2 tsp paprika

to make: bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. add potatoes and cook until tender but still a bit firm, about 15 minutes. drain and set in fridge to cool. 

place bacon in a large skillet, and cook over medium high eat until medium brown. drain*, crumble and set aside (note: CRISPY bacon works best in this recipe). 

chop the cooled potatoes into small cubes (roughly 1/2 in), leaving skin on. in a large bowl, mix together the bacon, onion, celery, mayo, salt & pepper, mustard powder, pickle juice, and paprika, carefully fold in the potatoes, being careful not to mash them up.  chill for a least an hour before serving.  

*i had reserved my bacon grease to add it into my burger patties... um YUM.

recipe: enchilada stuffed mushrooms

labor day weekend we had a bbq and i made a bunch of new recipes, but i was so busy i took hardly any pics so probably won't be posting them... booooo. i took a quick (poorly taken!) shot of one of the apps, enchilada stuffed mushrooms. i had taken this recipe from Lauren's Latest, found through foodgawker.com. they were very easy to make and quite tasty... something i would def make again - they're a good pep to normal stuffed shrooms. 

ingredients list: 

- 20-24 baby bella mushrooms

- 6 oz cream cheese, softened

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1 tsp taco seasoning

- 1 green onion, sliced 

- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, divided

- 1 cup red enchilada sauce

- salt & pepper

to make: lightly grease baking dish and set aside. preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

rinse mushrooms, and remove stems. place into baking dish.

in a small bowl, stir cream cheese, parmesan cheese, taco seasoning, green onion, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, and salt & pepper. spoon filling into the mushroom caps, then pour the enchilada sauce over the top. sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, then bake 20 minutes until brown & toasty. serve!