Diary of a Rationista

Fed, Frugal, and Fly

2009-09-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just recently a reader asked me"so what exactly is a rationista?" and with that question I realized that I never fully explained why my blog's name is so bomb, and what inspired it. The term rationista is the combination of a frugal housewife and a fabulous urbanite. During World War II, housewives were budget crunching, working, cooking on rations, and looking fabulous all at once, and coming from a working class family that values both good food and mad style, I figured a blog that revived a dying domestic art and an already thriving industry should have a name that does it justice. So came rationista. Rationed food and fundage and fly clothes on the cheap.

Rationistas make and find what they need. They cook with love and look fly doing it.

What? You want examples?

Well, just recently my fridge was fresh out of english muffins. So what was a rationista to do? use five bucks worth of gas to get to Wal*Mart and buy five dollars worth of mediocre english muffins, or take it as a challenge and make my own. Ch-ch-ch-challllllleeeeenge!

Alton Brown's english muffin recipe is totally a winner

1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup hot water
1 envelope dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Non-stick vegetable spray
Special equipment: electric griddle, 3-inch metal rings, see Cook's Note*

Directions

In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, shortening, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. Add this to the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Preheat the griddle to 300 degrees F.

Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with vegetable spray. Using #20 ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops into each ring and cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.

*Cook's Note: Small tuna cans with tops and bottoms removed work well for metal rings.

I like to think that as a rationista, it's my job to keep hungry family and teenagers fed, and their eyes satisfied. lol

Kid Stuff

2009-08-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

There's a first time for everything, and let's face it, at my ripe age of sixteen, first times are where it's at. This year I drove for the first time, got my first bank account, and got my first car. In nine days I'll even be allowed to drive all by myself! Can you remember the first thing you did all by your self?

All by myself.

What kid doesn't want to be independent. When you're a kid, you just want to get dressed, eat, walk to the bus stop, all. by. yourself.

The first time I did anything significant all by myself was at the not-so-ripe age of nine. I made oatmeal cookies from my mom's old Good Housekeeping cookbook. Classic right? It just might be the easiest recipe in the world, a good catalyst for and addiction to baking like mine, I gotta say.
I got all my ingredients out on the counter, I preheated the oven like the book said, and I even operated our dinosaur but trusty hand mixer. Things got wild with the mixer, but in the end I did something, everything to make those cookies all by myself.

Good Housekeeping Oatmeal cookies

1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup California walnuts
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Into large bowl, measure all ingredients. With mixer at medium speed, beat ingredients until well mixed, occasionally scraping bowl.
Drop by teaspoonfuls, 1 inch apart, onto cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until lightly browned. With pancake turner, immediately remove cookies to wire racks; cool.

I guess I'm a big kid now, but I'll never forget my first time.

Saucy Lady

2009-08-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

There's very few things I can honestly say I hate.
1. I hate techno music
2. I hate V8 Vegetable juice.

See? that's just about it. But those two things that I do hate, I despise, loathe even, quite passionately. We'll talk about techno another time. But V8... oooooohhhh V8. I hated that stuff from the get. But, I have given it multiple chances, and it has kicked me in the mouth every time.

Yesterday I gave V8 one more chance to prove itself useful, and boy oh boy did it!

I've been wanting to make 'Saucy Susans' from my prized Betty Crocker cookbook for weeks now, but it wasn't until recently I felt bored/motivated/inspired/hungry enough to make them. So on the fly I scanned the cabinet for the required canned tomato juice, but lo, there was none. I knew what had to be done. I looked in the other cabinet to see my mortal enemy staring me in the face. It was on. So without a hitch or a fight with V8, I made scrumptious Saucy Susans and scarfed one in fron of the television.

So, let's get saucy!

Saucy Susans

Sift together:
2 cups all p. flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cut in finely:
1/4 cup shortening

Stir in (to make soft dough):
3/4 cup tomato juice

Round up on lightly floured cloth covered board. Roll or pat out dough 1/3 inch thick. Cut. put biscuits together in pairs with a round slice of cheese between. Place these double biscuits close together on ungreased pan and bake at 450 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes. Serve hot.

Bring it on, techno.

Harem if You Got 'em

2009-08-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

I vowed I would never wear harem pants. I think they're pretty heinous and ridiculous. I mean, MC Hammer was fly, but the pants were not.

But, in case you haven't already noticed, I really like to have a sense of humor in the way I dress. I love to be ridiculous. So, when a pair of raspberry Silence and Noise Harem pants were on sale at UO, I pounced. The result? A bangin' outfit with a waaaay cheap price tag.

Silence and Noise pants, Adidas sneaks (like 5 yrs old), target clearance bag, Barbie shirt (a gift from my homeboy Josh... Shout out!)

Stop! Harem Time!

'I ride around town on my low-rider bicycle'

2009-08-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Boy, the Beastie Boys sure knew what they were talking about.
Few things are better than cookbook shopping after school on a Friday afternoon. My school is like, a two second bike ride away from my favorite bookstore, and with convenience like that, why not go slow riding on your off period?

But, this post is not meant to rub my Fridays in your mug, it's for showing you these:

I scored these bad boys today at Coas, (totally bomb used book store) after I scoped them out yesterday on my quick stop after school. The first book is The Joy of Cooking By Irma S. Raumbauer. As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew it was going to be mine. All of my good nature and inhibitions were immediately out the window, and for some reason I was fully prepared to throw some elbows and break faces just for that book.
I know what you're thinking, "What a freak!" But this cookbook is special. It is the third edition of the 1931 book, but reprinted and re-edited for the cook on WWII rations in 1943. Because of this, the book cost $32.50. You see why I was ready to bash some faces?

The second book is the first edition of the 1964 Seventeen ( yeah, like the magazine) cookbook. Super groovy right!? The book is made for the young hostess, the culinary 'tard, and the purist, all in one teen oriented mod package!

Even better than these books, is the price they came for. At Coas, you can earn store credit by bringing in books, and I just so happened to have enough cred to get both book for a cool $28.00.
How's that for rations!

Two fab books and a weekend well spent? $28.00
Breaking faces for the cookbook of all cookbooks? Priceless.

Bake-a-Thon

2009-08-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to bake in bulk.

Ya' see, my mom is catering for a leadership summit at a local church, but she was in need of some baked goods that did not come from a plastic box at Sam's Club. So who did she bestow the privelege of baking for the masses on? Moi of course! And I was super stoked to do it.

The menu was simple and delicious. Today the summit-ers had pulled pork sandwiches on sweet potato rolls for lunch, a mid morning snack of honey orange muffins and brownie bites, and blondies for an afternoon snack. Tommorrow they're having a peach slab pie courtesy of my momma.

Wanna bake in bulk? I dare you! It's a blast.

Blondies ( Smitten Kitchen)

8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Butter an 8×8 pan
Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (I added semisweet chocolate chips and pecan halves/bits).
Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting them.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Rolls (Pinch My Salt)

1 cup mashed sweet potato or yam, slightly warm or at room temperature*
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
2 packets active dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 – 7 cups bread flour

1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together mashed sweet potato, buttermilk, egg, butter, sugar and yeast. (I learned the hard way that it is best to whisk these ingredients by hand rather than using the mixer. I ended up with buttermilk splattered all over the kitchen when I tried using the paddle attachment!) Now let the mixture sit for a few minutes while you measure out about 7 cups of flour.

2. Using the paddle attachment for your stand mixer, stir in one cup of flour along with the salt. Gradually add more flour, about a cup at a time, until a soft dough begins to form. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook (use a wet hand to pull the dough off the paddle attachment and it won’t stick to you) and knead on medium speed (speed 4 on the kitchen aid) for 6-7 minutes, adding a little more flour as needed to make a moderately soft dough that mostly clears the sides of the bowl (the dough should eventually clear the sides of the bowl, but continue to stick to the bottom as it’s being kneaded). My dough took about 6 1/2 cups of flour, but yours made need less or more. If mixing and kneading by hand, dump the dough out onto a floured surface when it gets too hard to mix with a spoon. Using well-floured hands, knead the dough for 8 – 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to work surface and hands.

3. When you finish kneading, the dough should be moderately soft and tacky, but not sticky. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to form a smooth ball of dough. If you kneaded by hand, form the dough into a smooth ball. Cover dough with a towel, and clean out your mixing bowl. Spray the inside of bowl with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil. Place ball of dough, smooth side down, into the greased bowl. Turn the dough over to grease the other side, then cover with the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap. Put bowl in a warmish place and let dough rise for a little over an hour or until it has doubled in bulk.

4. When dough has doubled (you can check by pushing your finger into the dough. If an indentation remains without filling in, the dough is ready to go), push it down with your fists to deflate it and dump it out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half with a knife or bench scraper then cut each half into 8 equal pieces (or more if you want smaller rolls). Cover pieces with a towel and let rest for a few minutes before shaping. While dough is resting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and move two oven racks towards the center of the oven. Also, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Shape rolls by rolling against the work surface or between your hands to form balls. I like to pull the skin taut over the top of the roll and pinch at the bottom to form a smooth roll, but use whatever method works for you. Divide the rolls between the two baking sheets, and cover with a towel. Let rolls rise for about 20 minutes then remove towel and sprinkle the tops very lightly with flour. Place baking sheets in preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until they are puffed and lightly brown. Rotate sheets halfway through baking time (move bottom to top and vice versa).

5. Let rolls cool slightly and serve immediately. Or, if making ahead, let rolls cool completely on wire racks then place in Ziploc bags. To reheat, wrap rolls in foil and place in 375 degree oven for a few minutes until heated through.

Honey Orange Muffins (My girl Betty Crockerrrrrr!)

Sift together in mixing bowl:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Add:

1/4 cup soft shortening ( I used butter)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

Place in bottom of each well greased muffin cup 1 tsp. honey, then a thin slice of unpeeled orange, cut in quarters. Spoon batter on top. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20-25 mins. Serve orange side up. Makes 12 sized muffins.

Make that a triple dog dare.

I Make it Rain

2009-08-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

Naw, this post isn't an ode to crappy raps, but to summer monsoon accessories.
My wellies are my pride and joy. I got them for my 15th birthday, and could never part with them. They are the all purpose boot, and these days they come in every super cute color and print imaginable.
Somehow, some way, every time I wear my wellies, a storm manages to come. Usually I just wear them around the house and use them for backyard debauchery, but when I wear them in public, I have to be in the mood. When that mood strikes, so does the lightning!

Now watch Weezy try and make it rain like I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dPjONDN3ZI

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

2009-07-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going through a phase. A " Screw the Man, I'll make my own Power Bars!" phase. My brother Eugene got me started on this stint, and now I can't stop.
So, a few mornings ago my brother handed me a wrapper. My first thought was to toss it, but he had a different motive. Eugene wanted me to recreate a weight loss bar called the Fullbar, with only the wrapper and the ingredients on the back to go off of. Lo' and behold I replicated the Fullbar without a hitch!
Like, three days later my dad hands me a catalog from his favorite race fuel company Hammer Nutrition and says "Can you make these for me?" And once again I had the honorable task of fueling my family, this time with coconut date Hammer Bars. Yes, yes I did pull them off!

By the end of that project I was pretty full of myself... I felt like a freakin' genius! Then my mom asked for Fig Newtons. Psh! By then, that was kid stuff. I googled a recipe in like five seconds, tweeked it for lower calories, and the homemade Fig Newtons were on like donkey kong, son!

Fig Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all p. flour (I had to adjust because of altitude)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Fig Filling

12 oz. (give or take) dried figs finely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cups water
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Mix figs in sauce pan with other ingredients. Cook over medium heat stirring for about 10 minutes or until thick like preserves ( I whirled my mixture in the blender after cooling so the center was more like the O.G. Newtons). Let cool, then cover and chill.

Cream butter and sugar. Then beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda, then stir into wet ingredients (excluding filling of course). The dough will be stiff, so work it! Chill overnight.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12x14 inch rectangle. Cut into four 3 1/2 inch strips (pizza cutters are great for this if you're fresh out of pastry cutters)
Spoon filling evenly down the center of the dough strips.

Turn in the sides of the strips with a spatula and pinch the edges together. Cut these strips into about 10 pieces, or whatever floats your boat depending on how long you'd like your bars to be.

Place the bars seam side down on parchment covered baking sheets and bake at 375 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are firm and lightly browned.

Enjoy these bad boys with a glass of vanilla soymilk and the satisfaction of stickin' it to the Man like a real Rationista.

School Supplies

2009-07-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

My only motivation for going back to school was my first-day-of-school outfit. I mean really, hasn't that always been one of the most important outfit days ever? That's when you look your spiffiest and your parents take pictures of you with your backpack and lunch box. A crucial ensemble right?

Crucial usually means pricey. Not just pricey though. Excruciatingly expensive to the point where you settle for the lame basics in multiple colors from K-mart for the one flashy outfit from the mall.

WEAKSAUCE.

Why settle for a not so fabulous wardrobe for the rest of the year? You may not know this, but there is more than likely a Good Will or Salvation Army beckoning you to check out the grooviest stuff that for some reason people leave behind. Don't settle for the multiples. Score the one of a kind swag for some change, pocket lint, and a little well spent time.

I'm back in school already, and this is what I got so far:

Lowepro bag studded with vintage pins, thrifted Old Navy shorts from the Sweet Swap (fave!), Wal*mart shirt, vintage jacket from the swap

The outfits can only get better from there, if you're willing to hunt for the flyest clothes and the lowest price.

Thrifted Good Will blazer, target clearance hoops, dress from the super groovy Purple Lizard, Express clearance sandals

Let the games begin!

Food Gift Flop

2009-07-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

I love getting food gifts. They take time, they take love, and they require a little bit of labor... unless they came from a plastic box at walmart. Whatever, either way food is the best present ever.
Just recently I gave what may be the best food gift I've ever given for my homegirl Tiffany's sweet 16.

Super fab right? Sixteen strawberry ricotta cupcakes for sixteen years. Yes I know, clever too!

As superfly as these cupcakes were, I soooooooo didn't think my timing of this gift through. So, when delivery time came for the cutest boxful of cakes ever I called the birthday girl repeatedly only to get her voicemail....like seven times. I then realize that our church's children's group is in northern New Mexico for a week of summer camp fun, and Tiff is a sponsor.
Great. Now how am I gonna get rid of these cupcakes? There was no way I was going to give Tiffany week-old-not-so-sweet-16-cupcakes. No way.

After distributing the nummies among family and homies, Tiff gets home. Cupcake time again! Everything goes well, she picks them up and What? She puts them in the trunk of her car, covers them with a pool towel, and runs errands in the southern New Mexico heat for a few hours. So they melt, and droop, and get all soggy in her tunk, in their cute little box before she even opens it.

Later that day I end up chillin' in her pool with a few other homegirls, and Tiff being the good homie that she is decides to share her gift with all the other homies. They were RAUNCHIE. After their heat stroke mutilation, the cupcakes were put in the fridge to reverse the effects of the 100 degree weather. The frosting was hard and stuck to the roof of your mouth, and the homies were forced to lie about how bomb they were.

So what was the best food gift of all time, melted like the wicked witch into the worst. Happy Sweet Sixteen Tiff!Strawberry Ricotta Cupcakes (Joy the Baker)

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (half a stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
8 ounces ricotta cheese mixed with 1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup diced strawberries, fresh

Center a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcakes papers and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Dice strawberries and set aside.In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla.Add the ricotta mixture alternately with the flour mixture. Starting and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the strawberries .Divide among the 12 muffin tins and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until risen and very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Please, PLEASE, handle with care ;)

Bigger is Badder

2009-07-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

No sir! We are not talking about my thunder thighs! We're going to talk about accessories. Ooooohh, accessories. Even my near two year old niece knows the wonders of all that sparkles, shines, and hangs from your hips and shoulders.

For me, when it comes to accessories, I like it big. As a fact of the matter, I like them as big as I can get. I like my puses big. I like my earrings big. I like my clutches big. I love my bows big. As far as I'm concerned, bigger is mos def badder.

My favorite earrings for example, are the biggest ones I could find. I got them on clearance at Target, and they're never leaving my lobes.

So, fear not the giant bow or puffy sleeves.

Super size me!

Adventures in India

2009-07-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true. I have a secret love affair with India. "When did you go to the far East?" you say. That's the problem... I haven't! The closest I may get to India these days is through Betty Crocker's Coffee and Spice cookies ( sad, I know).

But, thanks to the wonders of my public library and my stove, I've achieved a better bond with my favorite country... other than the good 'ol Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

Thomas Branigan Memorial Library just so happens to have a decent selection of cultural cookbooks; From artsy and out there to bubbi's classic Kosher. There I discovered a bright orange and fuschia book all about traditional Indian cuisine and it's origins. The book broke down the country into different sections, explained their rule and religion, and why their food is so bomb! One vegetarian Hindu recipe totally stuck out to me, and for weeks it was yet another food mission of mine to be accomplished. Packed with protien and signiature Eastern spice, Ande Ki Kari provided me a gateway into India... and after cutting garlic and onions bare handed, my fragrant hands made me feel like a giddy little girl in a totally fab sari.

Ande Ki Kari

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh or canned ( I prefer canned for a jucier sauce)
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon groung cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon garam masala*
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
1 cup water
8 hardboiled eggs, peeled
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons chpped fresh coriander leaves
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Warm the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the cumin seeds and, after a few seconds add the onions and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes until onions are lightly browned. Reduce the heat to medium and add tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, mashing them into sauce with the back of your spoon. When the oil appears around the edges of the pan, add salt and the rest of the spices. Cook 1 minute, then add water and all hardboiled eggs.
Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to medium low and cook for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and mixin the lemon juice and fresh coriander. Let the curry cool for a few minutes before mixing in the cream.
just before serving, lift the eggs out of the sauce and halve them. pour sauce ove egg halves before serving.

Can you smell the spices and see the textiles now? I sure can!

Wake Up Cookin'

2009-06-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Almost Every day for the past three weeks I have woken up around 8 O' clock, with food on the brain. I've had a mission, task or aspiration that cannot be put aside until it is accomplished, and I believe, that all of this food drive has come out of necessity... or my loathing Bobby Flay. Anyways! I have done a great amount of cooking lately, and I'd love to share it with you, starting with this:
I decided to make pretzels for this reason: I despise Bobby Flay, and I'm not the type of person to outwardly dislike someone, but Bobby Flay really sours my milk. Since I've got more time on my hands this summer, I've gotten to watch a lot more television. Recently I discovered how awesome it feels to watch Bobby lose on his own show Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I was both very satisfied and inspired to watch him lose to a Philly pretzel master making uh, pretzels of course! Even though I got much joy out of watching Bobby fail, all I could think during that half hour was "If Bobby can make pretzels, then I totally can!" And so, super duper soft pretzels were born.

I used Alton Brown's recipe ( because I respect and admire him much more than I do Bobby Flay).

Here you go! I hope they bring you as much satisfaction (mean spirited or not) as they did me.

Soft Pretzels:

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Good Will Summer

2009-06-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

I seriously have not been very motivated to leave my house this summer. Like, I'll shower and get all dressed up and fab, but only for the sake of looking fab. I won't leave the house... maybe I'll check the mail, then most likely bake something. All the while, I and only I absolutely relish the comfort of my kitchen and how fly I look.

Only you can really feel the joy of looking fly for cheaps.

Dress-Good Will, Shoes-Payless, Betsey Johnson bag-Gift from Tiff, Jewels-handmedowns.

Try staying in, looking fab, and cooking well as if you were on WWII rations.
Be a rationista.

Summer Classic

2009-05-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

I actually have a goal this summer. Other than relaxing and looking fly, I fully intend to finish every Nancy Drew book this summer. I just can't get enough of that girl! She's crafty, always looks good, she's determined, and she always appreciates a good meal. She's a timeless character. A classic.

This summer I am committed to the classics. Even my baking has gone old school. Fresh ingredients are good for a dusty recipe, like Betty Crocker's Coffee-And-Spice Drops.

Kick it in the kitchen this summer.

Coffee-And-Spice Drops Intriguing flavors from the Far East

Mix together thoroughly:
1 cup soft shortening
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs

Stir in:
1/2 cup cold coffee

Sift together and stir in:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Chill at least 1 hour. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls about 2" apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake until set... just until, when touched lightly with finger, almost no imprint remains.

Temperature: 400 degrees F.
Time: 8-10 min.
Amount" About 6 doz 2 1/2" cookies.

Keep it classic

Things That Stay

2009-05-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Lately my padres have been mentioning when I move out. Not like a "when you move out... because I'm counting the days" but a "this is something that you'll take with you when you do" kind of way. I don't have a hope chest or whatever, but I'm becoming increasingly aware that my days of grown-up-hood are coming to get me.

The two items that have truly kept me on my toes are possibly the greatest purchases I've ever made.

My dutch oven, Walmart.

Triple Fringe Minnetonka moccasins.

I guess some things just stay with you, like a good pair of boots and a cast iron pot.

Back in the Kitchen

2009-04-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Sorry, I've been super duper busy with driving, homework, and art stuff. My baking was getting the shaft, and so was the blog... and you. My bad!
But I'm back, and my kitchen seemed to have missed me and I missed it's bomb diggity smells.
To make myself at home all over again, I made this:

This Souffle is bomb. The ingredients are little, and the flavor is dynamite! I used orange, but any citrus is where it's at. The sauce was on the fly, just to add an extra fruity flavor, but the wine made it deep and a little bit more fancy schmancy.

Orange Souffle Pudding with Reduced Raspberry Cabernet Sauce

Souffle Recipe adapted from Joy The Baker

1 cup granulated white sugar
3 Tablespoons butter, room temp.
3 large eggs, separated
1 teasponn vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons orange zest
1/3 cup all p. flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and position oven rack in center of oven. Butter three two cup ramekins or any oven-safe bowls you have. (you can even use a nine-inch pie dish)

Set aside 2 tablespoons of the sugar (from the 1 cup listed) to use when whipping the egg whited. Place remaining sugar in a medium bowl with the zest. With the back of a spoon, work and grind the zest into the sugar, making it more fragrant and colored (doing this loosens up all the good oils in the zest that really make the flavor happen). Then, with a mixer cream the fruity sugar and the butter. Add the three egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. After that beat in the extract. Add the flour and salt and beat until combined. With mixer on low speed, slowly and evenly pour in the juice and the milk. Let that sit while you work on the Egg whites.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and keep beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whites into the batter in three additions, mixing only until incorporated (I kid you not fool, do not over-mix the whites, no matter how many fluffy chunks you see. By over-mixing, you'll deflate the whites).

Carefully pour the batter into the ramekins. The batter doesn't rise much so you can fill it to the brim if you like. Place ramekins in a basting pan.

Boil a teapot of water to create a water bath around the ramekins in the pan. Put the pan in the oven first, carefully pulling the rack out a little. Carefully pour enough water into the pan so that its halfway up the ramekins. slide the rack back in all the way and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until the cakey tops are golden. Remove from water bath and let cool a little before serving.

To make the sauce, I just put about a cup of frozen raspberries in a small saucepan with 2-3 tablespoons sugar. Once the berries cooked down and caramelized a little I added a splash of my pop's cabernet. Let it boil and reduce to a fragrant syrupy sauce. Let cool and pour over souffles.

Yeuuhh boii I'm back! I'll try to keep up, can you?

Outfit post and more groovy shiznits to come fools.

What I Wore Today: 70's Bedsheet

2009-03-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hand-me-downs are my favorite. they're either really ugly and too big with all the potential in the world, or they're just fab in the first place. On some rare occasions though, the hand-me-downs are mad fly in the first place, but just keep getting better.

This dress was originally a super groovy sheet handed down to my momma from her best hippie homie Miss Lisa (never minus the Miss). My Momma didn't see it like that though, she saw it as this dress and only that.

Pretty much ever piece of clothing or textile has potential. Some people can just see it like my mom. Others have to stare at for a while before bedtime like me. Look for that potential, make it a quest! No T- shirt has to be just a T- shirt, and bedsheets don't always belong on a bed.

Leftover pancake fab

2009-03-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

I think you all should know the wonders of leftovers.

If you think stale, cold, or unwanted when you think of leftovers, think again!

I love leftovers for the simple reason that it's and opportunity to teach and old dog new tricks. The pancakes are already there, but the pizazz of leftovers lies in a foil covered can of black beans and some frozen spinach.

Want some?

microwave 1 half of a leftover buttermilk pancake (make them fresh if that floats your boat) topped with 1/3 cup frozen spinach for 1 minute. Then top that with 1/2 cup drained canned black beans and microwave an additional 45 seconds. season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with a fried egg over medium, parmesan cheese, and a dash of oregano. dig in!

Love Letters from One Cook to Another

2009-03-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day. Wanna know why? Sure you do!

I scored an original 1950 copy of Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook.
Early Wednesday morning after my momma and I worked our butts off (no joke) on the terrible treadmills, we stopped by the local farmer' s market and secondhand bookstore (SHOUT OUT TO COAAAASS!) Coas: My Book Store.
First stop in the shop? Coffee. Then? Cookbooks of course! Before I could even look around I saw it. That red book was shining like a beacon of culinary excellence...no joke. I snatched that bad boy up with a gasp and visions of myself in the 1950's baking strawberry shortcake. I can dream can't I?

Just to add to the coolness of my score, I found these goodies tucked insideAll of these are handwritten recipes. The one on the far left is a recipe for banana nut cake, dated 1933. Banana Depression cake! Something sweet on the cheap. I can dig it.

My momma said my finding these recipes and clippings was like love letters from one cook to another. Someone got a lot of joy and frosting out of these recipes, even when times were super hard. Now it's my turn to make something bomb, despite the crappy status of the economy and whatnot.

I'm ready to take that challenge, are you?
If so, please enjoy this recipe for Coca Cola Cake, found in my new favorite book.

Coca Cola Cake (as written on the back of an office memo)

Bake in 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for approx. 50 minutes or until done

1.Mix well in large bowl
2 cups unsifted flour
2 cups sugar
3Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt

2.Beat together
2 eggs
1teaspoon soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

3. Heat to boiling
2 sticks margarine
1 cup coca cola

Pour #3 over #1 Mix- Add #2-
Mix well, add 1 1/2 cups baby marshmallows

Batter is thin
_________________________________

Frosting:

Heat 1/2 cup margarine & 1/3 cup cake mix, 3 Tablespoons cocoa with 1 lb. box powdered sugar. Add the hot margarine & cake- Mix well. Add 1 cup chopped nuts and pour over HOT cake.

Curious Cardamom

2009-03-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Cardamom: The Vanilla of India...

How majestic sounding is that right? I've never cooked with cardamom before, in fact I'd never even heard of it 'til last year when found a super groovy Chai Snickerdoodle recipe. I'm not sure if this fancy-schmancy spice is like the best kept secret of India or if I'm just a tard, but I am totally sure that cardamom tastes like the bomb diggity shiznitz! I kid you not fools.

Before I really committed to cardamom, I thought it would be smart to fondle it a bit and see if it slaps me in the face.

The fondling started with my favorite cake recipe. Just plain old, minimal, cheap ingredients that make a bomb white cake that can be adjusted and changed easy-lemon-squeezy. I added 1 Tablespoon Cardamom and a 1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt for moisture, and made up a glaze for added goodness and decoration.

So, if you're just as oblivious to the wonders of cardamom as I am,try this cake.

Cardamom Cake with Raisin Cardamom Glaze

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cardamom
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup shortening
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease and lightly flour a 9x9x2 inch baking pan (I used a nine inch round cake pan). In a small mixer bowl combine all ingredients. Beat with electric mixer until combined. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Turn into pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before inverting and glazing cake.

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 Tablespoon cardamom
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup raisins

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let simmer on low heat until reduced and thickened, about 3 minutes.
Pour through a fine mesh strainer over cake and spread far enough for glaze to drip over edges. Dump raisins from strainer onto center of cake.

What I Wore Today: Momma's got the bomb shoes

2009-03-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

So, everything I'm wearing today is either borrowed, a gift, or gotten at ultra low Wal*Mart prices ( Save money, Live better ;]) The fab Candie's wool booties? Hand-me-down to my momma from my Aunt Max, and snuck out of momma's closet by me. I love heredity sometimes...biology has taught me why my momma and I share a shoe size. Anyways, the shorts are from Old Navy, Spring '08, and the turtleneck is Wal*Mart clearance. I pretty much paid a grand total of seven dollars for this outfit.

I'll probably say it ten million times on this blog, but the less money you have, the more creative you'll have to be. I've learned to like things that way, in both food and in fashion.
So get your elbows dirty and dig in a few thrift store dumpsters fools!

What I Ate Today: Shrimp n' Grits foo!

2009-03-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

I'd give a recipe but my mom usually just wings it. She's a genius.
p.s. the grits are cheese grits, making them 5x better than you could already clearly see. yeeeuh!

What I Wore Today

2009-03-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

I decided not to bathe today. What, I'm on spring break okay? But that has nothing to do with my outfit, so here you go.
Frye boots(secondhand) dress secondhand, tights I got for Christmas, and a jacket my pops gave for Christmas in like, 6th grade. The first picture was jst because I'm having a good hair day.

2009-03-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

I've always hated blogs. Like, no joke. Whenever I think of blogs, I think of a pasty kid with his own laptop, venting publicly about how much life sucks. Yeah, considering i'm writing one, I've got a pretty bleak outlook on blogs. That is, with the exception of food blogs and fashion blogs. Those two genres are the only blogs I really pay attention to. But where's the blog hybrid? Like a labradoodle, jacobee, food/fashion blog? You feel me?

Well let me tell ya, it's right here. Diaries of a Rationista is the bomb diggity fusion of artsy-fartsy fashion and food on a sixteen year old's budget.

So like, let's do this!