I was one of those girls growing up who hated the color pink.
I would not buy anything pink. I would not wear pink, except for ballet, because you really can’t avoid it there, but given a choice I’d rather wear that purple leotard – not the pink one. Give me the black tights – not the pink.
But pink, the poor color, it gets such a bad rap.
It’s associated with femininity, which is seen as weakness.
It’s associated with girliness, which is just too prissy.
But there’s really nothing wrong with any of that.
As I’ve grown up… you always hear about people being very comfortable in their masculinity. Well, I’ve had to become more comfortable in my femininity and see that it’s not a bad thing.
It’s okay to be a woman.
It’s okay to be feminine.
It’s okay to like these things that are portrayed as weak, but they’re really, really not.
I am not really a morning person, but I’ve always had this positive association with getting up early and getting to see the sunrise – it always makes me really happy.
And I think this comes from my childhood, where as a family… we weren’t really early risers if we could help it, but about once every year my parents would wake us all up really really early, pack us into the car with orange juice and donuts, and off we’d go down the freeways of Southern California.
And they wouldn’t tell us where we were going, but eventually we would figure out that we were going to Disneyland!
They would take us every year because my dad had a former coworker who now works at Disneyland so she could get us in for free and it was just this big family trip. We’d get there as early as we could, we would leave as late as possible after the fireworks and everything and it was such a long exhausting day, but it was always just such a good family memory.
All the ooey gooey beefy messiness of a sloppy joe, with the flavors of a philly cheesesteak? We’re making philly cheesesteak sloppy joes today!
Do you ever have something that just sticks in your mind, and you can’t stop thinking about it?
I bookmarked this recipe for philly cheesesteak sloppy joes from the Dinner Then Dessert blog over two years ago, and it’s been on my mind ever since.
Which is weird, because I HATED the concept of sloppy joes as a kid. I was extremely not a fan of any foods that got your hands super messy.
And while I’ve had philly cheesesteaks before and quite enjoyed them, growing up I wasn’t particularly a bell pepper kind of person.
But for some strange reason, the idea of these cheesy, beefy, bell pepper-filled sloppy joes just sounded SO good to me.
We did some last-minute video shuffling last week, which meant that not only did I have some free space in the schedule, but I also had some ingredients that I had bought that now needed to be used.
Such as these bell peppers.
And provolone cheese.
GUESS WHAT RECIPE HAPPENS TO USE BOTH THESE THINGS.
I was so excited.
The recipe starts with ground beef!
One pound, nice and brown. Cook it over medium heat until all the liquid evaporates and all the pink is gone, and then cook it some more until it develops a nice brown crust! Only stir every now and then – if you’re constantly moving the meat around, it won’t get a chance to develop the crust.
Remove the meat from the pan, and set it aside for now. If there’s any fat, you can leave that in the pan for the next step.
Add a couple of tablespoons of butter to the pan, and then your veggies.
First, a small onion, evenly diced.
Then a small green bell pepper – although I happened to have extra bell peppers in the fridge that needed to be used, so I just diced them all up and tossed them in. The extra veggies worked out fine!
Lastly, some mushrooms, also diced. The recipe calls for 8oz of regular brown mushrooms, but I happened to have 10 oz of portobello mushrooms, so I used those instead.
All these veggies will release a good bit of liquid, so it’ll take a little while for them to cook down. Stir occasionally, but more often once the pan begins to look dryer.
Once your veggies are beginning to brown nicely, add the cooked beef back in.
And now that we’ve cooked all the liquid off, it’s time to add… a bunch more liquid.
First, mix a tablespoon of cornstarch into a cup of broth. The recipe calls for beef broth, but as we know I’m all about using up whatever random ingredients I already happen to have open, so I went with the chicken broth that was already open in the fridge.
Pour this over your meat and vegetables – you’ll see it start to thicken pretty quickly.
Then add a couple of tablespoons of ketchup, which will bring a sweet tanginess to the dish.
And a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce for some deeper umami.
A bit of salt and freshly ground pepper, just to round everything out, and then mix it all up! Cook until most, but not all, of the liquid has evaporated. You don’t want it soupy, but you definitely still want some gooeyness to your mixture. When you’ve attained the ideal consistency, remove it from the heat.
Lastly, the cheese! Chop up about 8 oz of provolone cheese, although you can use less if you don’t want quite so cheesy of a dish. Add that in, give it a good stir so the cheese gets all melty and gooey, and you’re ready to eat!
Serve it in a toasted brioche bun, and enjoy this ooey, gooey, oh so tasty mess of a sandwich!
Also! Son’s been playing with 3D photogrammetry, and he created a 3D version of this dish!!! You can drag the image below around to view it in 3D.
Growing up, I didn’t really wear makeup except for the occasional dance show or Halloween.
But the older I’ve gotten, the more makeup kind of feels like a shield against the world.
Oh, well, I have to wear it because I’m going to look washed out if I’m filming and I’m not wearing makeup.
Oh, well, now I feel like I have to because last time I showed up without makeup, somebody asked me if I was sick. Thanks.
So it’s become more and more of a necessity – something that oh, well, it’s a requirement.
I’m going to look terrible without makeup. I look tired and childish and washed out and just eugh.
But the other day I was like, oh, well, I can’t film the sushi stuff because I don’t have makeup on, like I look terrible and my husband was like you look fine. You’re cute without makeup. It’s okay. You don’t look ugly. It’s alright.
So this is me with no makeup, and the world hasn’t ended.
As the weather gets colder, I’m really getting in the mood for soups. Any kind of soups.
One soup that I’ve never actually made at home until now, but has always been really good when I’ve tried it, is broccoli cheddar soup. BUT I’m lactose-intolerant, so I can’t really go for the kind of soups that are totally cream filled, super super cheesy… I gotta keep it toned down or I will regret it. I WILL regret it.
So this soup uses the broccoli to add to the heft of the soup, and obviously the flavor. But then it uses a potato to give it that creaminess without adding any cream. And then of course, you gotta have the cheese, it wouldn’t be broccoli cheddar without the cheese, but you also add greek yogurt, which adds a good bit more creaminess without as much… lactose intolerance as heavy cream would.
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 heads of broccoli
1 medium russet potato
5 cups water
1 tbsp kosher salt
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese
4 thick slices rustic white bread
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
kosher salt
Cooking Directions
Halve 2 onions. Peel and coarsely chop. Peel and smash 4 garlic cloves, then coarsely chop. No need to break out your best knife skills because it’s all going to get blended, but try to cut everything into somewhat even pieces so they cook at the same rate.
Melt 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, and ½ tsp. red pepper flakes; season with salt and black pepper. Stir to combine, then cover pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to take on color, 8–10 minutes.
Meanwhile, trim bottoms of 2 heads of broccoli, then peel. Separate hefty stalks from florets (the thin, little stalks attached to broccoli tops are fine to leave attached to the crowns). Set aside florets. Coarsely chop stalks into 1″–2″ pieces. Peel 1 medium russet potato. Coarsely chop into 1″–2″ pieces.
Add broccoli stalks and potato pieces to pot and stir to coat in butter. Pour in 5 cups water, add 1 Tbsp. salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and keep at a simmer. Cover pot and cook until broccoli stalks and potatoes are completely tender (test with a cake tester, paring knife, or fork), 20–25 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop reserved florets into small pieces (you can take the time to separate them into baby florets or just have at them with your chef’s knife). Grate 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese on the large holes of a box grater. You should have about 2 1/2 cups.
Add half of florets to pot, cover, and cook until bright green, 3–5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, let cool for 5 minutes, and purée until smooth. Some blender advice: Don’t fill your blender more than halfway—work in batches as necessary. To avoid explosions, remove the center lid from the blender and cover with a kitchen towel. Alternatively, use an immersion blender. Your soup won’t be quite as smooth, but it will still be great. Return purée to pot.
Return to medium heat and add remaining florets. Cover pot and cook until bright green, another 3–5 minutes. Add 2 cups cheddar cheese and stir until smooth. Cover and reduce heat to low; set aside while you make the cheddar croutons.
Heat broiler. Broil 4 thick slices rustic white bread on a rimmed baking sheet until lightly browned (watch closely: broilers vary dramatically in power!), 2–3 minutes. Turn bread over (soft side up), then sprinkle with reserved cheddar cheese and a few flecks of red pepper flakes. Continue to broil until cheese is bubbling and browned in spots, 2–3 more minutes.
Remove soup from heat and stir in ½ cup plain Greek yogurt. Season generously with black pepper; taste for salt.
Cut cheese toasts into 1″ (spoon-sized!) pieces. Divide soup among bowls. Top with cheddar croutons.
I’m a shy awkward nervous socially inept introvert – which means meeting new people is always a little nerve-wracking for me, but I can deal with the meeting new people.
What makes it really really terrible is when there’s an ice breaker.
Does anybody actually like this? I can never come up with something interesting about myself and I never really wanted to play these awkward games that everybody hates, but the worst part is when they ask you to come up with a descriptive word about yourself that matches the first letter of your first name.
There are no good A words.
There aren’t any – Awesome is just boring, Alliterative is too obvious. Arabesque… I mean, I am a dancer. I don’t think that works though.
A is for Allison, and that’s me, but I can’t come up with any other words!
Just like pretty much everyone else out there, I hated vegetables as a kid. I was not a fan of really any type of vegetables. Lucky for me my parents never tried to feed me brussels sprouts so I didn’t have the hate for brussels sproutts that a lot of people have, but in general veggies were not my thing.
But when I grew up, became an adult, and eventually figured out how to cook, what I discovered were roasted veggies, and this is my favorite way to make pretty much any type of vegetable – brussels sprouts, asparagus, broccoli… just anything is good when you chop it up, sprinkle it with salt and olive oil, stick it in the oven (I like to go for 450 for half an hour to an hour) but then you get these tasty, caramelized, oh so delicious veggies, and it’s my favorite way to eat them now.
Roasted vegetables
Ingredients
raw vegetables (asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, etc.)
olive oil
kosher salt
Cooking Directions
Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Chop the veggies into equal, bite-sized pieces. Place on baking sheet. Drizzle with a good bit of olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Roast 30-60min, checking every so often and turning your baking sheet if needed. Veggies are done when they’re tender inside, nice and caramelized on the bottom, but not burnt.
