Rock The Guac by J.F. Quinn 01/26/2010
 Whether it’s for that bowl game party (which will sadly, yet again, be conspicuously absent of a Michigan game to watch) there’s no better time for guacamole than the frozen months of winter. Notes:
 First and foremost, let me say two things (especially since this is my first piece for Wolverine CuiZine!): 1. I love food. I love to make food, read about food, and of course eat food; and most recently, write about it. 2. I am a recipe girl- I must and will always have a recipe whenever I take on a new food challenge. As much as I would love to be the next Food Network star because of my brilliance and creativity in the kitchen, it is unfortunately never going to happen. I guess you could say that I am only a copycat of Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis and all the other Food Network greats, as well as numerous family friends; while I occasionally make little tweaks to their recipes. That’s okay I suppose, especially when cooking for others who don’t really care if what they’re eating is your original creation or another cook’s recipe, and will take any type of free meal. And that is exactly how my wonderful roommates felt as I threw together Giada’s Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina and my brother-in-law’s mom’s delicious apple salad. Being in the Christmas spirit and sick of eating canned soup and microwave dinners during finals week, I decided I would make this nice dinner for myself and my five finals-crazed roomies. Note from the Editor: This is a recipe from the cookbook we are currently reviewing, Freshman in the Kitchen. The recipe being reviewed is for Crepes and Fresh Berries with whipped cream made from scratch. Click the link above to read more about the book and let us know what you think! Coming from an extreme lover for mac and cheese, I have tried many different recipes for this delightful meal. So, naturally, when deciding to review recipes for Freshman in the Kitchen, making mac and cheese was immediately on the to-do list. 3 different cheeses! Yum! Generally when I’ve made mac and cheese, cheddar cheese or white cheddar cheese have been my favorite choices. This recipe, however, calls for cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, and gruyere cheese - a completely unfamiliar cheese to me! This recipe also calls for garlic...how intriguing! Mac and cheese is definitely my comfort food. When I have a bad day, I immediately grab a box of mac and cheese and know that I can at least enjoy those 20 minutes of that day eating something that I love. Instead of being a rich and creamy sauce, like most mac and cheese recipes I’m used to, the cheese sauce in this recipe was almost like a roux. A roux is a combination of fats and flour that makes a sauce thicker. In this case, the 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil that were called for sautéing the onions, needed to be soaked up. By adding flour, the mixture dried up and became thicker when the milk was added. This sauce was extremely thick and was not what I was expecting for mac and cheese. Sam Faught on Macaroni and Cheese 01/14/2010
 Frozen and boxed macaroni and cheese are so prevalent. You might think that there is a good reason why the homemade version isn’t more common, but there isn’t one. Homemade macaroni and cheese can be cheap, simple, and, with this recipe at least, very hard to screw up. Homemade macaroni and cheese is also warm and comforting, like a warm blanket on a cold fall morning, only instead of holding you in bed, it holds you to the bowl, greedy for more rich cheese and silky sauce. To make the sauce that goes on the macaroni, you will need cheese (of course) and some kind of milk or cream. If you try to make macaroni and cheese with just these two things, though, the sauce will not be thick enough, and you will wind up with macaroni soup. You you need something to change the texture of the sauce so it thickens. There are two main ways that people do this. The first of the two involves thickening the sauce with a roux, a mixture of butter and flour. With the second, the sauce is thickened with eggs. This recipe uses the second method. Cathy Fan On Key Lime Pie 01/13/2010
 Since all of this gloomy and now freezing cold weather makes us only wish that we could be laying on a beach in Aruba, or on one of those awesome looking huts standing in the water in Bora Bora, I’d like to offer an escape from Michigan icky-ness with one of the most quintessential tropical flavors: lime. This tart and refreshing flavor has been used and documented for the last 2 millennia and works just as well in any recipe as it does for chasing a shot of tequila. A cousin to lemons within the citrus family, limes are 1.5 times as acidic as lemons and are abundant in tropical areas. They’re frequently used in cuisine from India, Mexico and other countries near where they are harvested. There are three basic types of lime: Tahitian/Persian, Mexican, and key. Tahitian limes are large, with a pale, finely-grained pulp and a very acidic flavor. Mexican limes are smaller, with bright green skins and a very aromatic taste. Rounding out the bunch are key limes, which are closely related to the Mexican varietyand are a pale yellowish-green fruit, very juicy with a strong, sharp flavor (might want to use a different word than flavor because you already used it two sentences prior). They emit an extremely distinctive aroma from its thin green rind, making the zest crucial to a fantastic key lime pie.  “‘Too much trouble,’ ‘Too expensive,’ or ‘Who will know the difference’ are death knells for good food.” -Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French cooking. I am a huge fan of Mario Batali. I love following his recipes because they are delicious and authentic. They are often simple and not particularly difficult, but they are never dumbed-down. In his books, he tells you how to make everything from scratch,. Doing this is often not especially demanding, though, because his recipes rarely have more than 10-12 ingredients, He does not attempt to cut out fat, and he is not afraid to throw in an esoteric ingredient once in awhile, but oftentimes the ingredients are be simple and easy to find. He tries to present Italian food to American audiences without cutting corners as best he can. Unlike a lot of Food Network Stars that I can name, he has yet to succumb to the “death knells of good cooking”. This is Batali’s take on meatloaf, although calling it a meatloaf might be a little like calling the space shuttle an airplane. It’s a meatloaf flavored with pecorino Romano cheese and stuffed with carrots, spinach, prosciutto, and cheese. It really is a beautiful dish to serve. The meatloaf emerges from the oven with a beautiful brown crust and cheese melting out the sides while it fills your kitchen with incredible aromas. Then you slice it and there are so many good parts to be had. The loaf itself, which is a little salty from pecorino Romano cheese, has a delicious crunchy exterior. The carrots and spinach are delicious as well, as they absorb the surrounding flavors. The sweetness of the carrots melds with salty and porky prosciutto and the flavor of the baked cheese, and they will be unlike any carrots you have ever had. And the cheese looks, tastes, and smells delicious. This is a great dish to serve for guests. It is gourmet without being esoteric or tricky, comforting without being bland, and has a beautiful presentation, but you don’t need to fuss over the appearance.  Note from the Editor: This is a recipe from the cookbook we are currently reviewing, Freshman in the Kitchen. The recipe being reviewed is for Tempeh Enchiladas with Sauce and Wild Rice Pilaf and Vegetarian Stuffed Green Peppers. Click the link above to read more about the book and let us know what you think!  I have a confession to make: although I’ve been a vegetarian for five years, and an enthusiastic cook for most of that time, tempeh has always eluded me. Don’t get me wrong; I’m aware of its virtues. Like tofu, tempeh is a soy-based product sometimes used in place of meat. Unlike tofu, it’s basically a fermented soybean cake. It is far less processed, to the point where you can see the individual soybeans. Since this approach preserves more of the original fiber and protein, tempeh is considerably more nutritious. Unfortunately, while botched tofu is generally just bland and squishy, botched tempeh tastes like a granola bar made out of soap. I chose this assignment because I’d suspected that a correctly-executed tempeh recipe would be worlds better than my sad, bitter attempts of the past. Luckily, this proved true. In Love With Honey by Chelsea Fuchs 12/17/2009
 Good news for those with a sweet tooth: there is a natural alternative to sugar that tastes just as good and is better for you! Many people don’t know that honey is a natural and unrefined sweetener with many added health benefits. Studies show that honey increases blood antioxidants, promotes good cardiovascular health, and helps to lower LDL cholesterol. Too much LDL cholesterol can result in a buildup of plaque in the arteries and lead to heart attack and stroke. Honey is also easier to digest than refined sugar and has trace amounts of vitamins and minerals that make it more nutritious. Additionally, honey is a suitable substitute for those individuals on medical diets who cannot digest refined sugar. For instance, in The Specific Carbohydrate Diet, a diet designed for individuals who suffer from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, diverticulitis, cystic fibrosis and chronic diarrhea, refined sugar is banned completely. Even if you do not need to eliminate refined sugar for medical reasons, beware of the problems it can cause. Refined sugar is void of fiber, minerals, proteins, fats, and enzymes. A Plea for Feta by Nick Duolos 12/16/2009
 I eat at Subway four times a week. Many would find this fact embarrassing or indicative of severe laziness. I would not argue otherwise. However, hundreds of repeated meals have allowed me to extensively sample the entire menu and develop a false sense of superiority when it comes to my knowledge of the business. For example, never order two footlongs regardless of how hungry you may be—you will find yourself inevitably napping in the tap room. My only beef (pun intended) with Subway concerns not their meat but their cheese—in fact, their lack of a certain cheese. While they cater to most tastes by carrying American, Swiss, provolone, cheddar, and mozzarella, my stomach remains unfilled, my heart with a void, due to their lack of feta. “This is only because you’re Greek,” I expect you to say. True. Finals and Food, They Do Mix by Sara Kosuth 12/15/2009
 Finals week...or two...or three. One of the most stressful and hated times for students all across campus. Resentful of those who are done by the 14th or only have papers to write. Relieved that you’re finished before the 23rd. Trying to block out the fact that all of your friends from home are done by now, enjoying their month long break. Questioning how on earth there could not have been any possible way that your exam on the 23rd, or any exam for that matter, couldn’t be rescheduled. Somehow all classrooms throughout campus are filled to the brim up until the day before Christmas Eve, 8:00am to 9:00pm. There is absolutely no possible way of taking it early, no exceptions. Period. Unless you have swine flue, of course. It’s not the professors fault that your exam is when it is, the University set it up that way. Do you think your GSI’s want to be here too? You wake up at the crack of dawn just so you can beat the crowd over to the Grad reference room to get a comfy chair (perfect for napping). Or rush to the UGLI to get a group study room only to find them all filled with one person apiece. After about a half hour of searching around, you find a spot that “nobody else knows about.” Golden. You get situated and start working. Hours go by and suddenly you realize you’re on facebook looking at someone’s photos from high-school that you talked to once in your history class. Why are you even friends with them anymore? | Recipes to chew on:
Foodie, n. A person who has an ardent or refined interest in food.  CategoriesArchivesAuthors |
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