Blueberry Crisp

So I made that apple crisp before, and it was pretty good. The maple was a nice touch, but the topping was a little lacking for me. I found a new method that really pumps up the crunch factor. Definitely use this recipe and tweak it how you like.

Easy and delicious, it is extremely difficult to mess this up. Blueberries are so great right now at the farmer's markets, but if you find raspberries, peaches, apples, blackberries, you get the idea, they all work wonderfully with this dish. It's a great summer dessert with some vanilla ice cream!

You'll need...

• 1 cup Blueberries (or Any Fresh Fruit), Washed
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• ⅔ cups Brown Sugar, Packed
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Quick Cooking Oats
• ⅓ cups Butter Or Margarine, Softened
• ¾ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt

This makes about 4 generous servings.

Ok, first, cut a lemon in half. OK you're done! Told you it was easy.


Just kidding, you caught me. Oh man, I'm such a joker.

In all seriousness-ish, lay the blueberries in a baking dish, and toss them in some freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 1/2 a lemon. This just gives them a nice zing when everything is said and done. Wakes 'em up. Gives 'em some pep.


Ok...now mix everything else in a big bowl! I find it's easier to melt the butter a little in the microwave.


You'll want to mix everything together, until it's kinda in little lumps. Lumps = more buttery crunch. Definite plus when it comes to something with "crisp" in the name.

While I was fantasizing about buttery crunch, my roommate was making his lunch for the next day. This is what he was making.


Lettuce. He eats a salad and a chicken boob just about every day for lunch. A whole head of romaine. Quick poll, which do you prefer. Lettuce? Or buttery blueberry crisp?
...
....
Yeah, I said lettuce too.

At this point, while you want to scatter the topping all over the blueberries, and stick it in an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees.


Ok, give it a half hour. Do your nails. Watch Family Guy. Read TFLN like me.

Come back to THIS.


Want to know what I had for dinner that night?


God I disgust myself.

My roommates are also disgusted with me.


Awww they're really cute underneath the hostile exterior. BTdubs, that bucket in the foreground is full of fresh corn. Gotta love Illinois.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Coming soon...

So I'm super behind on my blogging. Cooking-wise, I have like five...yes FIVE new recipes to share. SO... to blog dump or not to blog dump.

Which do you prefer...

- 5 recipes spread out over the week?
- 5 recipes all at once for your salivating pleasure.

Let me know in the comments!

<3 Courtzilla

Fluffity Stuffity Potatoes

Ever had twice baked potatoes?

No?

Then I would argue you haven't lived. These things are potatoes made from little fluffy pieces of heaven. They are argueably not healthy for you...they are also arguably some of the best potatoes ever. Read on if your waistline can handle it. If not, wait about half an hour and I'll post my summer vegetable salad recipe!

You'll need:
- 5 - 10 yellow potatoes. Not the huge ones, the mid-sized ones. Make however many you need/want for lunch the next day.
- a smidge of cream cheese
- couple spoonfuls of sour cream
- a sprinkle of cheese (I think I used Monterrey Jack cheese, but you can use cheddar or whatever you've got)
- couple tablespoons of chopped chives
- garlic
- bacon bits? peas and carrots? onions? peppers? Let's be honest... this is a good way to use up your veggies.
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Ok! First, you want to preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then, rinse and scrub your potatoes. Throw them on a baking sheet, and drizzle some olive oil on them. You can also add some salt and pepper right now.



Let them bake along all honky dory in the oven for about 45 minutes.


Toasty.

Now, once they've cooled a bit you want to scoop out their souls, so they become shells of their former selves. Like this!


Now, you definitely don't want the souls to go to waste... so mash them up with the cream cheese, cheese, sour cream, garlic, and chives! Plus... any of the extras like bacon bits etc.




Doesn't THAT look appetizing.

Now, take scoops of the stuff, and load them into the potato boats you made earlier.


Now, you just want to stick them back in the oven for about 15 ish minutes!


VOILA!!


Delicious.


My roommate Rob is as happy as a clam. What a lucky guy.

Next up! The corn salad you see pictured.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Foodie Blog Roll

So, as you may have noticed I'm part of a foodie bloglist. You can see the application on the left side of the screen. Akin to googling yourself, I searched Courtzilla on the browse blogs portion of their website.

What tags did they designate for my humble blog?

Tags: recipes, college, easy, humor, dinosaurs, 30 minute meals, 5 ingredients or less

Recipes, college, easy, humor, 30 minute meals, 5 ingredients... all legit.

But DINOSAURS?

I literally snorted into my diet coke. I feel like I should cook up a massive steak and call it like a brontosaurus slab or something. How much do you want to bet that I'm the only one on the Foodie Blog Roll with a "dinosaur" tab.

Keep your eyes peeled for a new post or two this evening.

Dinos for life,

<3 Courtzilla

Asian-Style Flank Steak

You want meat? I'll give you meat.

For those scared of strong flavors...run now, and run quickly. This marinade is not for the weak and wimpy.

However, it is for those who enjoy asian flavors and cheap cuts of beef. Raise your hand if that's you. (My hand is TOTALLY raised).

Now... I only have pictures of me making the marinade. I took it over to grill at the boys house, because they are lucky, lucky men. BUT! It's pretty simple...and I'm going to yoink a money shot from The Pioneer Woman, because that's where I got the recipe.

You'll need:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cooking sherry
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame oil - really important and an asian food must
2 heaping tablespoons minced ginger, aka star of the marinade
3 to 5 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes if you can handle it

1 flank steak

Alrighty! Let's get crackalackin'.

Take your steak. For those of you who don't know, this is what a flank steak looks like. It's massive, just FYI.

Ok! Now, throw your flank steak into a ziplock bag. These directions are super complicated.

You'll want to chop up your ginger. What's ginger look like raw? Something like this. Kinda like an alien. To chop it up, you'll want to take of the outer part...as that pretty much tastes like wood. You'll be left with a fragrant piece of...stringy...root thing. Looks like this.

Now! Chop that piece into matchsticks, then chop the matchsticks into tini tiny pieces and throw it in the bag with your steak. Oh, go ahead and throw everything else in there too.

Go ahead, close it and give it a couple 'o squishes.

Ok, for flank steak you'll want to marinate it for at least 3 hours. The marinade kinda works into the steak, making it more tender. It's especially important for flank steak, since it's kind of a tough steak to begin with. Tough = manly. Manly = delicious. In some world that makes perfect sense.

OK! Here's where my pictures end...and PW's begin. Color me jealous.

At this point, you're ready for grilling. You'll want to get the grill/grill pan smokin' hot. You just want to sear the outsides, since it's a pretty thin steak. Overcooking this is criminal. For medium rare, it's about 4 minutes on each side. I went more for 6 or so minutes on each side, since rare meat makes me nervous.

PW, can I be you? She even does the hatch marks. Le sigh.

Once it's done, take it off the grill and let it set under some foil for about 10 minutes. This will let the juices redistribute. If you don't let it sit...all the juicy goodness will just die on your counter. Don't let the juice die!

When you do cut it, make sure to cut it against the grain of the meat. This will help with the tough meat! Do as PDub does.

Holy delciousness batman. It's such a great dish! Perfect to serve with a mandarin orange salad, or some delicious twice baked new potatoes*.

*Coming soon to a blog near you.

Enjoy!

<3>

Strawberry Buttermilk Cupcakes

aka. THE BEST CUPCAKES EVER.

Matt made me go to the bookstore, and I ended up picking up three new books that I absolutely do not need, one of them being Martha Stewart's cupcake book. Clearly, I needed to bake immediately.

These may be my favorite cupcakes of all time. I think the boys agreed, they got demolished in record time. I swapped out her frosting for a concoction of my own, and swapped buttermilk for regular milk. Fresh strawberries, vanilla, buttermilk? YES PLEASE.

Here's how you make them! (Makes ... a ton. Like 36 - 40)

You'll need:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour (not self rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large whole eggs, plus 1 egg white
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups finely chopped strawberries, plus more for garnish


Frosting:
- 1 box of powdered sugar
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 4 spoonfuls of strawberry jam
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup of milk

While not exactly simple per se, these have become my new favorite cupcake. SO moist, SO delicious. Watch me work.

First, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Might want to preheat your oven to about 350 degrees at this point.



Cream together the sugar, vanilla, and softened butter, until pale and fluffy. Then, add the eggs, one at a time, into the mixture. Make sure each egg is beaten into the butter/sugar before added the next egg. Did that sentence make sense? No idea.

Next, mix in the flour in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk.



Now, you'll want to chop up about 1/2 of your strawberries. We'll use the rest for garnish. Fold the chopped berries into your batter. When it bakes up, it'll look like this...dispersing fresh berries all through your cupcake!



Fill each cupcake tin about 3/4 of the way up, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool on a rack completely, about 30 minutes.



For the icing, pretty much dump everything in a bowl and stir.



If you want it thinner, you can add more milk. I really like the flavor of this icing. Originally I was just going to make the one on the back of the powdered sugar box, but it was WAYYYY too sweet. So, to counter it, I added a bit of salt, then some strawberry jam and the cream cheese. WAY good. Too good? I ate the leftovers with a spoon. Don't tell anyone.

Pile the frosting on top, and garnish with your strawberries!




Yeah. That happened. Thank you Martha, you've made my world a much better place.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

The reason I am not Julia Child.

Julia making a French style omelette. (No, seriously watch it. It's magical, and it'll make you want to go see Julie and Julia which comes out...next weekend I believe?)



Courtzilla making a French omelette.


















EPIC. FAIL.

At least it still tasted ok?

<3 Courtzilla