cooking ala mel

Grilled Caprese Sandwich with Balsamic Reduction

August 28, 2012

School has started again. As I try to adapt to waking up for 8 o’clock lab and sit through 2-3 hour classes, instead of the usual 1 or 1 1/2 hour, I wonder how I’m going to survive this semester. Considering this has been my thought every semester of pharmacy school thus far, I’m not too worried. I adapt, fall into the new routine, and next thing I know, the semester is over. Yesterday, I felt like a zombie, just going through the motions of the first day, but that’s probably because just I came off a pretty crazy weekend (albeit so fun and full of family visits). That meant I allowed Alex to choose dinner last night. We had nachos and miso soup. Tonight, I was feeling a bit more ambitious, after a big shopping trip, so I made these sandwiches.

The sandwich itself is very simple. Fresh mozzarella, beefsteak tomato, fresh basil (from our plant that I haven’t killed yet – yay!). Whole grain bread slathered in butter. The thing that really brings it to the next level is the drizzle of balsamic reduction – it adds a tangy sweetness that is just lovely. I’ve never made a balsamic reduction before, but I felt like trying something new, and it was actually surprisingly easy!

[Read more…]

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

August 22, 2012

This week has been..interesting, to say the least. It started out with a 2am wakeup early Monday due to a fire in an apartment two sections down from us (our apartment complex is a series of buildings with 4 apartments in each). I dismissed the pounding on the door as drunken college students and sought to go back to sleep. But no, it was the police telling us to evacuate. Not really understanding the situation in my half asleep state, I got the kitties into their carriers and left the apartment, leaving my keys and my wallet inside. My priorities are at least pretty straight while still asleep; had our apartment actually burned down, it would’ve been pretty inconvenient to have my car sitting there without being able to leave, but it could’ve been remedied fairly quickly. The kitties, however, could not be replaced.

We were able to go back into our apartment within about a half hour, once the fire company got the flames in control enough to know it wouldn’t be spreading to other buildings. No one was hurt, except for the kids’ one kitty (smoke inhalation got her quick – so sad), and we were back in bed by 4:30. We were lucky in that we had no damage whatsoever to our apartment; the buildings to the other side of the apartment that caught fire sustained smoke damage because of the connecting attic (our attic is on a different level from that building). With only one shaken up kitty (and one kitten that was just happy to play, no matter the situation), I feel very lucky that we all came out unscathed.
[Read more…]

DIY Coconut Flour

August 18, 2012

Coconut flour is one of my favorite flours to use for gluten free, healthy baking. It’s full of fiber, protein, and good fats, so it’s the perfect way to make something you can enjoy for breakfast or for a healthy dessert. Because coconut flour absorbs so much liquid, you never need much of it for a recipe, so I found a way to make my own that only makes a little bit at a time – more than enough for what I need.

Coconut flour is made as a by product of coconut milk – all you need to do is dry out the solids after straining out the milk, and then grind it up into a fine powder. So easy and so much cheaper than coconut flour you buy at the store! I am ridiculously excited about this!
[Read more…]