Avocado Pie FOR THE WIN!!

So after a long break, Jessika, Elizabeth, and I gathered for a long overdue TND last week. As a thank you for Elizabeth cat-sitting services, I let her choose the menu and she selected jerk turkey burgers, mango slaw, and AVOCADO PIE!!! Okay, so I kind of forced the pie in, but Miss Williams is an adventurous eater, yah?
I liked the burgers all right, but I guess I'm not the biggest jerk seasoning fan because I wasn't dazzled by them. However, Elizabeth, Jessika, and I all LOVED the pie (my camera failed to show its beautiful antique green hue in all its glorious splendor). Though it only took a few minutes to make (pit avocados, blend with cream cheese, add sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and lime juice, blend, and pour into a graham cracker shell and chill....I added an extra half avocado and less citrus juice), it came out marvelously. It tasted kind of like a lighter lemon/lime cheesecake with a lovely avocado finish. Mmmmmm.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Jessika for a great TND!! Let's do it again soon!!

Bonus: Here are some pics from Michelle and my long-awaited trip to Granville Moore's. Delicious Moroccan and Blue cheese mussels with Belgian fries. Oh la la.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

All right, after another long delay in posting, the Rhino is back with another post. So, the other week, I baked up some oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for the fabulous Cate's birthday. You better believe from their description that those puppies were rich. In fact, I thought they came out a little too sweet between the peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter and Co.'s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl for some extra panache). I also think that next time I will not pulse 2/3 of the oatmeal as the recipe recommended. Luckily, my co-workers appreciate food and did not critique my creation. In fact, between students and permanent staff, there wasn't a single cookie left at day's end. SUCCESS.

Bonus pics: On Mother's Day, Mama Rhino and I enjoyed a lovely crepe lunch (my veggie included avocado, mushrooms, and mozzarella) at Sweet Berry in Fairfax and I snagged a twirl of honeydew/plain tart frozen yogurt with mochi, mango, and granola as a sweet treat (Mama Rhino enjoyed mango and hazelnut gelato too). Lovely lunch and Mother's Day with my favorite Mama ( :

No Oven Lovin for Little Rhino

Apologies again for my lack of posting of late. To update, my foot still sucks (MRI scheduled for Friday), TND seems to be history, and I tried to use the self-cleaning function on my oven last week. Though that last item sounds routine, activating the self-cleaner (to stop the oven from setting off my smoke alarm) made the oven smoke SOOOOO much that my smoke detector squealed even after opening my balcony and all of my windows AND turning on the AC. My faithful sidekick Celeste and I nearly died from smoke inhalation. No exaggeration and damn scary.

Needless to say, after that brush with death, Miss Rhino has been hesitant to get involved with the oven again. Plus, given her current activity restraints, perhaps salads are a healthier meal choice anyway (maybe). Last week, as a treat to myself and my salad, I bought a nice piece of wild caught salmon to put on top of my salad. I seasoned it simply with salt, pepper, olive oil, and lots of lemon. Post-pic, I slathered tzatziki sauce over the top as a dressing. I figure it would probably be a healthier salad sans dressing, but tzatziki's got to be healthier than some of the heavy-hitters in the g-store. Regardless of its health score, the salmon came out perfectly and so did the rest of the salad. I love ad hoc salad creations.

Added bonus pics- A week or so ago, I met up with friends for brunch at Northside Social Coffeehouse in Clarendon. It's supposed to be the new Central Perkish place for young, hip suburbanites. I got the chicken salad and a fruit salad. They were both okay, but not earth-shattering and the chicken salad cried for more salt and seasoning. However, I was glad to try the "happening" new coffee place and really glad to get together with my friends...Coffee or not.

My Favorite Seester's Bridal Shower: Food Edition

In May, sister Rhino will marry a wonderful guy in California. I'm her maid of honor. I'm not sure what all of the usual maid duties entail, but mine seem to focus almost solely on my kitchentry skills. Not to say that I mind that at all...

Anyway, this weekend I catered a large portion of said sister's bridal shower. I made my famous deviled eggs to start (no recipe needed), perfect brunch pie, overnight French toast casserole,
lemon squares (my first foray in this arena), and an adhoc fruit salad. Judging from compliments and and the few flecks of phyllo left on the brunch pie pan, I'd say I succeeded in my maidly. Now, it's back to the books for some post-wedding brunch recipes and back to healthier eating for Little Rhino (french toast and buttered phyllo ain't calorically cheap!!).

St. Patrick's Day Linguini

The other week, I invited my favorite Asian friend Jessika over for what else but some Irish pasta. In honor of St. Patrick's Day I made this Guy Fieri corned beef and cabbage pasta hybrid. I made one of Fieri's recipes in the past and didn't find it terribly remarkable. However, this rich and decadent redeemed Mr. Big Bite. Maybe he's good for more than Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Hyde Park in Pictures

So for my birthday last week, I went up to Poughkeepsie, NY to see my wonderful best friend, Yvette. Obviously, I enjoyed seeing and spending time with my best friend the most since we do not get to see each other that often. However, along the way, we also enjoyed the some tasty food. Highlights included dinner at Crave (literally next door to Yvette's) and breakfast at the Palace Diner before returning to DC. Man, I miss New York diners!

Spinach Itch TND

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have no excuse for it...just laziness. I did make both the crustless quiche and slimmed down spinach-artichoke dip a few weeks ago as reported earlier. I was as keen on the quiche...it just lacked a certain je ne sais pas. The dip came out quite well though. I detected the white beans the recipe uses to decrease the fat and calories, but they melded nicely with all the other components. I will have to keep that recipe around perhaps while I let the quiche go out to pasture.

Chinese New Year= Egg Foo Young

Happy (Chinese) New Year, Miss Wang!! Last night, I pulled out my March 2010 Food Network Magazine and made egg foo young from its weeknight cooking section (no link, the recipe isn't coming up online). The recipe required multiple pans for its mushroom gravy and omelet, but stayed true to its 35 minute time prep estimate. It also came together as easily as the recipe predicted.

But how'd the egg foo young taste? Let me start with a few caveats, when I order Chinese food, I usually get moo shu of some kind not egg foo young. I also pared some the recipe from four servings to a serving or so. That being said, I liked the dish all right...not enough to make it again but not enough to regret making it either. I liked the flavor and bacony taste in the eggs and thought appreciated the technique of the recipe, but thought the dish lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi."

Tomorrow, I'll be fixing up a crustless quiche and a healthier spin-off on spinach-artichoke dip from my December and January/February Food Network issues for the next TND. So, stay tuned!

Bad News: No More Snow Days, Good News: I Made Chocolate Cupcakes

For the third time in my life and the third time this winter, I shoveled out my car today. The whole process took about three hours with minimal breaks and some last minute help from the car crew next to me. I came inside completely spent and hopefully I'll sleep well tonight after all that hard work because tomorrow it's back to work. Sigh.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind watching more Greek and mindless tv on hulu, but admittedly I'm a pretty happy sloth. However, I guess tomorrow I'll have to push myself out of bed and hit up the DASH bus to get to work for the first time since LAST Thursday. CRAZY.

Tomorrow will also be my co-worker Katey's last day and so, as I promised (before all these snow-tastrophes hit), I made her Hersey's perfectly chocolate cupcakes tonight using Green and Black Organic chocolate cocoa powder (WF fancy schmancy) and cocoa mix (because I didn't have enough cocoa powder for the recipe. I also added in Ghiradelli chocolate chips and some butterscotch chips for good measure.


I sampled the goods for quality control and I gotta admit, these are some pretty tasty cupcakes. So, hopefully I can transport them without incident into work tomorrow and hopefully, they can soften the blow of the first day back at work post Snow-valanche.

Update: My co-workers demolished the cupcakes, which I iced once I got to work, and complimented their tastiness. Most importantly, Katey appreciated them. Though she is going to a better place...Maybe (it's the FBI)....She will be missed at NARA.

Penne Ala Vodka for a Snowbound Soul

I thought that when I posted about the blizzard in December that would be the biggest snow of the season. However, it would seem that December's snowstorm was only the tip of the iceberg (an all too true metaphor). On Friday around noon, it began snowing for about the umpteenth time this year and the snow kept going through a large part of Saturday. When I finally ventured out that afternoon, the snow came up to my thighs!! Now granted, Little Rhino has rather short legs, but still, that's pretty unprecedented.

After letting the sidewalks clear (kind of...my street isn't even close to driveable), today I trekked literally through slush, snow, and ice over to the Teet. I came back with a few more supplies and with the desire to try a new recipe. Firmly planted in my apartment once again, I came across a recipe for penne alla vodka using leftover marinara sauce and so that is what I made tonight (using 1% milk).

I liked it pretty well, but I'm not sure if I would make it again. It did feel good to make something new though and with a another storm brewing and promising 10-15"....There may be more new recipes to come!

Beefy Chili TND

Sorry for the delay in posting, though I don't have much to report on the culinary front since the last TND which was Tyler Florence's beef chili. I grew up eating turkey and beef chili made with ground beef, but Tyler's "Ultimate" chili takes the dish up a notch by using cubed beef shoulder. I upped the ante by buying organic beef from Whole Foods. Oh la la.

Though the chili took awhile to prepare, but I didn't find any of the steps overly complicated. Basically, all I had to do was sear off the beef, puree the veggies and chipotle peppers, add it to beef in the pot, add some water to the pot, let it run for a few hours, thicken it with some masa harina (suggestions of other masa harina using recipes would be much appreciated), and I added some beans for good measure. Since I prepped the recipe in advance, I simply plopped the pot on the stove and let it simmer til the guests came on Tuesday.

With Anders' cornbread and a Jessika's coolwhip/pudding concoction, Tuesday night came out deliciously once again. YUM. YUM.

Wacky Turkey TND

So, this Tuesday marked the return of TND after a holiday hiatus. Using defrosted turkey leftovers, I made the craziest turkey remix dish... Thanksgiving leftovers stuffed shells. Basically, they're pasta shells stuffed with a mixture of turkey, stuffing, cream cheese, mozzarella, mayo, and parmesan cheese ALL blended together. The mixture wasn't pretty and it didn't look any jazzier after I covered the shells with gravy and more mozzarella. I guess not all my dishes can be lookers.

Luckily, despite their appearance, everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. Jessika's crab dip helped out with that too though ( : All told, I really loved reconnecting with everyone and hearing their holiday tales. Here's to the New Year and many more terrific TNDs to come!!

Bonus pics: Restaurant week food from Art and Soul including ahi tuna over fried green tomatoes, salmon with braised cabbage and pickled beets, and our group's trio of desserts (cinnamon chocolate cake, banana bread pudding, and almond cheesecake). The salmon was my favorite.

Happy New Year, Happy Brunch

To kick off 2010, I drank some champagne and slept like the dead. Then, my best friend Jason and I went over to MD to brunch with Sara and family. We created quite the spread..albeit a semi-homemade one. I put together blueberry pancakes, Sara's sister Sheila made yummy cheesy eggs, and Sara and Jason baked up some cinnamon crunch muffins. Sheila's hubby was nice enough to clean up post-brunch. Along with the fresh fruit I bought from the Teet (had to include something semi-healthy), it made for a delectable start to the year. After filling ourselves with brunch and mimosas, we played spirited games of Taboo and Apples to Apples. All parties agreed that the brunch should become a yearly tradition.