Welcome to Spring Break kids!

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Yesterday was the first day of spring break! My mom flew in from Chicago. On Monday we’re going to Palm Springs but yesterday we hit starbucks, went to Mozza (so no pictures) and target! After Target we went to third st. and kings road for cupcakes from Joan’s on Third.

First, Joans us such a great shop! Wonderful prepared foods and little snacks. We got a cupcake, which we split. I choose chocolate coconut!

It was really good. Different from Sprinkles, a little thicker but not richer or too thick. It was delicous and the frosting was delicious.

Across the street there is a sign on an empty store front that says “Magnolia Bakrey New York, Coming Soon” so stay tuned.

It's that time of year again…

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Can you spot it lurking in my freezer? It’s Girl Scout cookie time!

Coming out of Trader Joe’s there was a lone Girl Scout and I just couldn’t help myself. After delving into the nutritional facts I discovered that thin mints and shortbread are the two least unhealthy girl scout cookies. Lets be honest, I went with the chocolate! There is 160 calories per 4 cookies. I leave them in my freezer because I love how they taste when they’re cold. Its all about portion control right? 😉

I figured I was entitled to these cookies because it was the last 1L memo weekend! Feeling so good that it’s Sunday night and this weekend is over. Next week is the last week before Spring Break. On Friday my Mom is coming and and the following Monday we’re going to Palm Springs! The weather is getting better in LA (up to the 70’s again) and with this out of the way it’s starting to feel like spring has sprung.

Question of the Day: What is your memo (or stress) comfort food?

It’s that time of year again…

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Can you spot it lurking in my freezer? It’s Girl Scout cookie time!

Question of the Day: What is your memo (or stress) comfort food?

Mozza

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

So when my Dad was in town we went to a great pizza place, Mozza! Mozza is a Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich pizzaria and osteria. They have incredible pizzas with some amazing ingredients…

It was so cute, the menu and the silver wear were in the envelope with this….

Adorable! I was so hungry after our hike in Griffith Park I dug into the bread sticks quickly

We ordered two pizzas (1) Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, scallions, garlic & bacon and (2) Fennel sausage, panna, red onion & scallions.

This is the goat cheese pizza

Anddd this is the fennel sausage!

I dug into the goat cheese pizza first

And this was the point that the waiter came by and requested that I stop taking pictures in the restaurant. Doesn’t he know that I have amazing 1st Amendment lawyer connections? Anyway, I put the camera away and concentrated on eating. This was probably the best pizza I have had outside of Chicago. Granted it a different style of pizza but the ingredients were all so good , well cooked, and the balance of flavor was perfect. Also, the crust was perfectly thin and crispy. I ate the whole thing and it was delicious. Definitely making a second trip!

http://www.mozza-la.com/pizzeria/menu.cfm#69

Jody Maroni's

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

While strolling the Venice boardwalk on Sunday my Dad and I decided to stop for a hot dog at Jody Maroni’s.

Being Chicagoians, we take our hot dogs seriously and high discerning standards. Dad got one but in true Chicago fashion only got mustard and onion.

I was a little less by the book. I had the works: onions, relish, ketchup, and mustard. It was such a good hot dog! Totally grilled to perfection with a great combo of ingredients.

The fries were also so amazing. They were fried to perfection and also salted within an inch of their life.

mmmm. topped the whole thing off with a diet coke.

Nothing like strolling along on a lazy Sunday with a nice diet coke!

Also, an exciting announcement. Yesterday was the busiest day on left coast contessa with the largest number of hits coming on my health post. So glad ya’ll liked my before pic so much. I should post bloated before shots of me more often 🙂

Jody Maroni’s

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

While strolling the Venice boardwalk on Sunday my Dad and I decided to stop for a hot dog at Jody Maroni’s.

Being Chicagoians, we take our hot dogs seriously and high discerning standards. Dad got one but in true Chicago fashion only got mustard and onion.

I was a little less by the book. I had the works: onions, relish, ketchup, and mustard. It was such a good hot dog! Totally grilled to perfection with a great combo of ingredients.

The fries were also so amazing. They were fried to perfection and also salted within an inch of their life.

mmmm. topped the whole thing off with a diet coke.

Nothing like strolling along on a lazy Sunday with a nice diet coke!

Outrageous Brownies

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

There are some foods that are just too good. Barefoot Contessa’s outrageous brownies are one of those food items. I am not surprised that she sent these to her husband Jeffrey when he was in college and he ended up marrying her. That’s the kind of power these brownies have. Also, this is Ina’s recipe but my mother is famous for making these brownies. I hope I can follow in her foot steps… and here is why everyone loves these brownies…

Two sticks of butter, one bag of good chocolate chips and three cubes of baking chocolate! Melt them together, take off the heat and let them cool down.

While the chocolate is melting combine egg, sugar, vanilla, and instant coffee grinds. Set aside until the chocolate has melted and cooled down.

Go ahead and combine the egg mix before setting aside until the butter/chocolate mix melts and cools down.

Also while the butter and chocolate mix is melting combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside for later.

After a while the butter has melted, cooled, and looks so delicious! Nothing is more yummy than butter and melted chocolate!

Then you combine the cooled chocolate mixture with the egg and sugar combination and combine well. Let cool after combined. Otherwise the egg might do some funky stuff…

Then slowly fold in the flour in three parts…

Once the flour has been completely well combined you can add another handful or so of chocolate chips and walnuts (although you can leave out of your allergic).

Take the mixture and put it into a pan and cook at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Rap the side of the pan to release the air from the brownies and cook for another 20 mins. When the brownies are done baking take them out and let them cool completely. Then refrigerate them overnight (make sure to cover in press and seal!)

Like always, so delicious. I truly believe that these brownies have insane power over people. I blame the coffee!

So good! Make them for yourself: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/outrageous-brownies-recipe3/index.html

Note that I made a half portion because the full is too big to 1) fit in my fridge and 2) can feed a small army.

Victorrrrrrrryyyy!

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Ok, so potato pancakes are not part of my commitment to health. However, last night I got a job offer from a well respected public interest organization in Los Angeles. I figured a celebration was in order. My friends and I went to Jerry’s Deli in Westwood Village.

I had already had pound cake with lemon curd so instead of a milk shake, I got potato pancakes. It actually worked out because I had only had a small serving of soup before my driving lesson and a small portion of soup can hardly be described as dinner. Not that fried potatoes are packed with nutrients… In any case, the potato pancakes was good (my total guilty pleasure) and I am so relieved that I have something for this summer!

I make steak and fog up my apartment

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Being that this is a long weekend, I decided to make some really special dinners. I got Real Simple for March this week and in the mag there was a recipe for steak.

Disclaimer: I love steak, but as you can probably gather from this blog, I rarely cook meat. Not that I don’t love meat, its just more expensive and takes longer to cook. I love steak, especially a nice filet. If I’m eating a filet I like it to be fancy and expensive. Preferably paid for by my parents or a date. Thus, I almost never make steak. But, why not try something new?

The recipe is steak with a potato salad. I start off the potatoes in salted water. Once the water boils I reduced the heat and cover. Let the potatoes cook for 20 mins until cooked through.

Then I started the steak. I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and added minced garlic (the recipe didn’t call of it, but I love garlic so why not?). I put a dollop of olive oil and then cooked the steak for 4 to 5 mins on each side (so that the meat would be medium rare).

Ok, so it seemed easy enough. I followed the instructions and thought everything should be fine. I had the fan going over my stove and noticed that there was some mild smoking. By the time the 5 mins passed for the first side I noticed that my apartment was oddly smokey (it smelled good, but didn’t look so great). Suddenly my apartment was really smokey! I opened the sliding glass door. Luckily the fire alarm didn’t go off (the ultimate cooking disaster). Not sure that’s actually a blessing though. So, if my apartment was full of smoke there would be no alarm? This made me a bit uneasy but I continued cooking.

Izzy, looking a bit uneasy

Can't win them all

So, I forged on and the steak actually turned out pretty good. I think that the steak smoked so much because of the garlic. After I took the steak off I worked on my salad. Instead of bib lettuce I used spinach, because that’s what I had on hand. I added herbed goat cheese, instead of blue cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil, and cider vinegar. Once the potatoes were done I ran cold water over them and then mashed them with a fork in the salad.

before the potato

And despite the minor smoke crisis, I think it turned out pretty good! I may have cooked too many potatoes for the salad but I can always eat more potato. I’m a hearty German Midwesterner. If there is something we know how to enjoy it’s potato salad.

The meat was perfectly done and so good. Its amazing how just salt, pepper, and garlic can make meat so flavorful. The potato salad was also pretty good and so simple. I am having a love affair with spinach and the vinegar gave the salad a flavor. I don’t usually use cider vinegar in my salad, but now I think I will have to start. I would probably not make this salad if I wanted to represent good, old fashioned German potato salad, but it was pretty delish.

I like this last picture… Izzy is on a low carb wet diet and has rejected all the beef that has been presented to her. However, when I make human steak she is instantly interested…

This is almost as bad as the muffin snatching incident from last month…

Saturday Night Dinner Party

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

The beginning of an amazing meal

At the request of the family I hosted a dinner on Saturday Night. Kal and Chrissy were stuck all day at Moot Court so I spent the afternoon cooking to celebrate the end of their suffering. When having people over you can always depend on the Barefoot Contessa. I decided to make her cheddar corn chowder.

Before everyone came over I measured out all the ingredients. That meant cutting up 6 cups of yellow onions. Yes, 6 cups. I was on the phone with Carolyn practically crying because of the smell. I also measured out the seasonings, cut up bacon, chopped potatoes, measured cream and grated cheese. It was great because when everyone came over all I had to do was start cooking. The other great thing about this soup is that it only takes 45 mins once everything is prepped. It was done quickly and gave everyone enough time to have a glass of wine before dinner.

the onions, after they made my eyes water

First I cooked the bacon in the olive oil until crispy. Once it was done cooking I removed the bacon from the pot and kept the grease in. Then I added all the onions to the pot and the butter.

BACON!

Once the onions were translucent I put in flour, and the seasonings. I stirred for three mins. Then I added the chicken stock and potatoes. Oddly, Trader Joe’s did not have chicken stock. I had to go to whole foods for 12 cups of chicken stock.

onions and butter

tons of chicken stock

After the chicken stock was brought to a boil I reduced the heat and let it simmer for 15 mins before adding the frozen corn. I choose to use frozen corn 1) because I didn’t want to deal with removing corn from the cob and 2) because is there really any good corn in January? Even in California I decided it was better to use frozen.

corn chowder

After adding the corn I put in the cheese and the half and half and topped it off with more salt and pepper.

Bacon topping

My guests were able to use the bacon as a topping.

Overall, the meal was a hit. Eric made this amazing beef that he marinated, seared and baked. Then he made a tomato, onion, mushroom, and cucumber (?) topping. It was so good!

For desert I made cookies. I was able to make the dough earlier in the day. I used a basic cookie recipe off the back of the chocolate chip bag but I stepped it up by browning the butter and adding Saigon Cinnamon. Adding cinnamon to the cookie gives it a something extra special. I believe one of my guests said, “I am so never eating store bought again”. Thanks to Carolyn for the cinnamon and browned butter idea!

Then we watched “The O.C.” and marveled at Sandy Cohen’s eyebrows. We also watched “The Pregnancy Pact” and “Jersey Shore”. Clearly a stellar night.

Try it for yourself:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheddar-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html