Blogging in the "Post Fact" Age

This blog is a creative outlet for me. I love to read and interpret recipes and cooking articles, create something in my kitchen, and share the fruits (or vegetables, or desserts) of my efforts with others. It's important to me to use this digital platform to bring good vibes into this world that is increasingly mired in ugliness.

In a New York Times piece published just over a year ago, Farhad Manjoo explored where the internet is likely headed in his article "How the Internet is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth." Manjoo explores the distortion of facts and loss of rationality that has become widespread across the internet. He ends his article with pessimism, stating his fear that we will someday be crushed by the overwhelming weight of trying, then failing, to keep the internet fact-checked.

Manjoo's article is fuel for my light little blog about the kitchen. While I'm not sure we can take the internet back from the conspiracy theorists and websites filled with half-truths and fake news, I do think it's a responsibility of the general population to put positivity out into the ether. I fill my Facebook and Instagram pages with images of my dogs and toddler-aged nephews (but never all in the same picture-- as much as I've tried to wrangle two puggles and three boys into one photo, it's impossible!).

The internet is filled with distrust, anger, arguments, and hate; we don't have to feed the monster. I implore everyone to take simple steps to make the world a brighter place. Start an Instagram page for your pets. Use a blogging platform to share your hobby with others; creating and designing this blog has been easy and fun. The internet belongs to all of us; I would go so far as to say that each of us has the responsibility and the power to make it more positive.

So this is my challenge to anyone reading this blog: do something. Put yourself out there, add something bright to the world. To illustrate the power of a precious photo, I've included a few of my favorites of my little puggles.

Blog Inspiration

I started following the A Couple Cooks Blog when I moved to Indianapolis in 2010. Alex and Sonja were just getting started on the blogging journey then, and it's been inspiring to watch them grow from a local blog into the internationally known blog they are today. Along the way, they have included glimpses into their personal life, including remodeling their kitchen and the adoption of their son. Alex and Sonja have a warm and inviting style that makes this blog one of my favorites.

In celebration of their first cookbook, which is scheduled to come out in February 2018, they have started a campaign to make a global dinner party. Alex and Sonja are asking people to cook a recipe from their cookbook and share their dinners on social media. They've got participants from 43 states and 18 countries right now. This is a fun and inventive to encourage healthy at-home cooking while reaching out to the largest possible audience.

photo from creative commons cc0 via Pixabay

My suggestion is that they make this a regular thing. Establish the third weekend of every month as Dinner Party weekend, when cooks from around the world can share meals with like-minded individuals. This could be easily implemented using hashtags and a Facebook group. Having a regularly scheduled dinner would allow Alex and Sonja to introduce monthly themes, and allow regular participants the opportunity to get to know cooks from around the corner or around the world. This could broaden their A Couple Cooks brand even farther than they've already gone.

The Magic of Bread

I make a loaf or two of bread every week, and it's one of the easiest things I do in the kitchen. The simple combination of sourdough starter, flour, salt, and water works together like magic. When we've got fresh bread in the house, we've always got a snack or the makings for a quick dinner. I like to make bread at home because I know exactly what is in it, and I know there are no additives or preservatives. Because there are no preservatives, it doesn't last more than a week, so when I've got more than we can eat in that time, I slice it and freeze it, then toast it when we need a quick breakfast. To illustrate how easy this process is, I've included a video; the recipe can be found beneath the video.

Take your refrigerated starter out of the fridge a day or two before you want to bake. Feed it once or twice, mixing 1:1:2 ratio of starter, water, and flour. When the concoction has doubled in size, it's ready to use. Put a small amount of starter back in the fridge to use next time.

Sourdough Bread

2 1/3 c. sourdough starter

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. salt

1 1/4 c. water

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Knead on low setting for 20 minutes. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, divide into two pieces and place in loaf pans. Cover loaf pans and let rise in a warm place for at least four hours.  When the dough has roughly doubled in size, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. When bread is golden, it's done.

* I got my sourdough starter from my cousin, but if you don't know anyone who has starter to share with you, it can be purchased online. Or ask me; I'm happy to share my starter with anyone!

*I use a stand mixer in the video, but if you don't have one, you can knead the dough by hand for 20-30 minutes. 

Caramelized Onions!

Caramelized onions add amazing flavor to meals of all kinds. They can be used to bump up a frozen pizza or a take-out burger, and they can take homemade meals from good to great. Not much is needed to get your onions wonderfully brown-- the most important ingredient is patience. I always use the white or brown skin onions for caramelizing, but if you are a red onion fiend, go ahead and try it. This is also a great way to prepare leeks or shallots; use either in the same way you'd use an onion.

The Process

Cut an onion or two into thin-to-medium slices. This may seem like way too much onion, but the onion cooks down a lot during the saute. When I cut onions, I like to cut in half around the "equator," then put the cut end down on my cutting board. I'll then slice into my desired thickness. I think this results in a prettier sliced onion. Set your burner to medium-low, and pour a tablespoon of olive oil per onion into a non-stick pan. Add a tablespoon of butter in there if you want. Adding the butter makes the flavor even better, but is not necessary to make your onions delicious.

Use a wooden spoon to stir the onions every five or ten minutes. While the onion is slowly browning, your house will smell amazing, and you've got plenty of time to get other parts of dinner ready. After 15-20 minutes, your onions will look like this:

Have patience! After around 35 minutes, your onions will look and smell amazing, but keep waiting, and keep your burner on medium-low.

Remove your onions from the burner after 45 minutes. If you have more patience than I do, you can continue to saute for closer to 60 minutes and you'll have a bit more brown than I've got here, but I usually am too hungry to wait that long.

Eat it! I use caramelized onions in eggs, pizzas, burritos, onion dip, grilled cheese, salad dressing, and many other dishes, but in our house we most often use these with meat. These are delicious on top of a steak or burger!

If you've got leftovers, these onions freeze well. To use after freezing, add straight to a dish from the freezer, or throw back into your pan with a little oil to brown them up a little more before using as a topping.

WHY I COOK

"Can tonight be Taco Night?" is the first thing my husband says to me when I pick up his call. "I've been thinking about tacos all day."

My husband works at a mentally challenging job, often putting in 10 hours a day. Tacos seems like an easy enough request to fill. "Sure, call me about 30 minutes before you'll be home and I'll have Taco Night ready."

I usually keep taco stuff at the house, because it seems like Phil thinks about tacos every day. As I go through the fridge and pantry to make sure we've got everything we'll need, I find only one ingredient missing-- the taco sauce. I am happy with sauce-less tacos, but it will crush Phil if we don't have any at dinner. I'm in workout clothes and I haven't brushed my hair yet today, but I know I have to make a run to Kroger.

After work, traffic is heavy, the self check-out lane several people deep. I add a Snickers bar to my basket to make up for the inconvenience of having to come to Kroger at 5pm.

He calls while I'm driving home, so I get things going as soon as I return. By the time he walks in, the house is filled with the rich smell of seasoned ground beef and warm refried beans. The lettuce is satisfyingly crisp as I slice through it. With a flourish I pull the taco sauce out of the plastic bag and hand it to Phil. He actually kisses the bottle, opens it, and pours a bit of the tangy, spicy sauce onto a spoon, which goes directly into his mouth. A huge smile breaks across his face. This is why I cook at home, why I ask myself, "What's for dinner tonight?"

I do it for the smile. Well, I like tacos, too.

STEP ONE: GET IN THE KITCHEN

The simple action of purposefully walking into the kitchen is an overlooked way to get dinner started. Once you make the commitment to yourself to get in there and cook something, each step is easier than the previous.  I've listed a few additional things you can do to make dinner preparation as painless as possible.

Be Efficient

I made hamburgers for dinner last night, and there's nothing like sauteed onions on that burger.  Before I did anything else in the kitchen, I started the onion saute. A good sauteed onion takes around 45 minutes, so the first and last things I did in dinner prep involved the onion. The smell of the slow-cooking onion was amazing, and it took almost no active time.  While the onion was cooking I put away the clean dishes, prepped the other burger toppings, and grilled the burgers.  By the time it was all done, the onions were brown and delicious.

Clean As You Go

I've recently started cleaning my messes as I make them, rather than piling everything in the sink to take care of later.  This makes such a huge difference!

Empty The Dishwasher

This is something I like to do at the beginning of my evening's cooking.  I get something started on the stove, then empty the dishes so I can just add dirty dishes as I continue cooking.

Get Out!

By cleaning in the few minutes here and there you have between recipe steps, it's much easier to get out of the kitchen in a reasonable amount of time.  A quick wipe-down of the stove and counters, if done daily, takes only a minute or two, allowing you to get out of the kitchen with more time to spend doing what you want to do.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

When I'm looking for inspiration for dinners, I tend to use a few websites pretty regularly.  Serious Eats is a great resource for the hows and whys.  There are discussions on cooking methods and explanations for why each recipe works.  Sometimes, however, I don't feel like reading an essay on a recipe, and on those nights I like to use New York Times Cooking.  Another trusted website is Food and Wine.  I tend to stick to these three websites most for dinner ideas.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT

I have typed this phrase into google more times than I can count.  Usually google will tell me what restaurants are nearest, but I don't always want to go out, often I want to cook at home but just need inspiration.  I hope this blog will help readers put together quick, healthy, easy meals at home.