Confessions of a Culinary School Dropout

12/25/2021

Season’s Greetings from our kitchen in Chicago to yours! Watch this page as we’re cooking up content for 2022! 👩🏻‍🍳

[🎨 credit: Gemma Correll]

04/22/2018

Love all of these TJ’s products:

These are the TJs products dietitians can't live without.

04/19/2018

Winter keeps rearing its ugly head here in Chicago. The joke going around this week that it's the 100th something day of January. But time has truly been flying and the signs of spring have popped up - even if Mother Nature hasn't cooperated. We've sprung forward in time, celebrated ⚾ Opening Day, turned the hassle of winter parking restrictions into the street cleaning parking shuffle for us city residents, tax day has come and gone, and the bridge lifts have started downtown, meaning boats will be back at the Lake Michigan harbors sooner than later.

My calendar says it's the 16th week of 2018 ...so what *have* I done about this business? Today I had lunch with a dear friend of almost 17 (!) years - we've known each other most of the time I've lived in Chicago. My stress level has stood at Def Con 1000 lately, so I reached out to him as he has been one of my biggest cheerleaders over the past 4 (uber crazy) years, an amazing source of reason for me and I knew it would be time well spent. (Maybe not the most healthy lunch, but so be it. Life is short!) He's also great to bounce new biz ideas off of -so perhaps I'd have some more food for thought (pun intended) when I got home. While lunch could have easily turned into a (free) therapy session, S. dove straight into the future - not into my scary, stressful present - but went for the jugular - ripped right into the really small nugget of the culinary business idea we had text chatted about earlier this week.

So now on January 109, 2018 (😀), I can say that my idea is in the development stage - think along the lines of a very specialized personal chef service. I've been very graciously offered his graphic designer marketing/branding and web hosting services pro bono. ( Adriene...you'll get the paid biz!) While he tends to put the cart before the horse - planning both my Windy City Live and Today Show interviews - he is one of the smartest people I know in terms of branding and marketing and that type of "stuff." I'm sure I'll have a name and logo and that fun stuff in my inbox pretty soon.

But enough of my blathering - you only really care about the food. What's been cooking in my kitchen lately? I'm not a baker but did jump on the Weight Watchers bandwagon of the "3 ingredient" bagels, using the recipe from Skinnytaste.com. I was pretty proud of myself as not only did they turn out delish, I recalled from culinary school how to properly scale the recipe - even though that wasn't in the instructions. A big home run for this MLB opening month with the Skinnytaste breakfast pizza recipe, using the bagel dough. (Sadly, neither of my teams is off to a great start. Sox - clearly a rebuild. O's - don't know WTF is happening in the homeland, to be honest. I digress - no crying in baseball.)

This is faster from start to fork than you'd think and delish. Of course, you can swap out the veggies and bacon for whatever your heart desires. Or more bacon. Because Bacon. Bon Appetit! 👩‍🍳

This easy, homemade breakfast pizza is made with bacon, eggs, tomatoes, spinach and cheese, made completely from scratch and ready in less than 30 minutes start to finish!

03/01/2018

WOW - February went by in a FLASH. Shamefully, I ignored this page and also admit I've put zero thought into this business concept. It was a busy month, as well as a snowy month here in Chicago. My workouts also fell by the wayside thanks to my knee being wonky. Most of my free time was taken up by my two part-time jobs. Excuses, excuses - I'm guilty of them as much as anyone. The page on the calendar has turned March 1st, it's time to refocus and get back on track. I did join the cult of the "super easy make bagel dough" (only 3 Weight Watchers Freestyle Smart Points!) - which is BIG for me as I'm not a baker. I was trained in everything from breads to cakes to laminated doughs -all the classic desserts - but it's just not my thing. On the sweet side, for a super easy recipe, discovered this on Crate & Barrel's CrateBlog. (Full disclosure: sales associate at Crate & Barrel is one of my PT jobs.) I'm not going to tempt myself by making these - but feel free to do so and report back!

Bon Appetit - and happy baking!
Melissa

Modest Marce shows us how easy it is to make some must-try red velvet doughnuts at home.

02/01/2018

Wow, February is here. New Year's Resolutions centered on diet tend to wane about now, especially with a certain upcoming "holiday" that has a big focused on sweets. Plus, Girl Scout Cookie ordering season is in full swing.

While I love taking advantage of our amazing restaurants and love the huge number of options here in Chicago, it's not always in my budget nor in my schedule to do anything but cook at home. This article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune was a great reminder of the many benefits of being your own chef - and keeping it simple in the kitchen. Maybe even getting back to your diet-related resolutions. (Can't cook? If you're reading this, funny you just happen to know someone who does.)

Making your own food, cooking for yourself and others, makes you healthier and it contributes to the greater good for all.

01/25/2018

No surprise to anyone, but probably 50% of my personal FB feed is food related: so many food blogs posting and recipe sites galore! I'm pretty picky about food blogs. My first rule is that the recipes have to be fairly easy, with the nutritional info. My main pet peeve with food blogs are the extraneous life stories woven into the recipe. I'm interested in your food - I don't need to hear about your son's soccer tournament. Unless you are a friend, a strong acquaintance, a colleague or my boss, I really don't need to hear the backstory about your alternative hummus and why you "can't serve your DH garbanzo beans." You're not Ina Garten and your DH isn't Jeffrey.

Last week I gave a big shout out to Skinnytaste - I make Gina's recipes often, own one of her cookbooks on Kindle -and only hear now and then about her family. (Although I'm sure they are lovely and I know they dig the Picadillo recipe I make often.) This week's shout out goes to The Lemon Bowl. I have not actually tried one of Liz's recipes. I keep meaning to, as they sound delish -and she keeps her posts pretty much "story free." The irony? Her backstory is how I found about The Lemon Bowl. Liz is a former hotel salesperson, spent years traveling for work, gained 60+ pounds due to her road warrior lifestyle (hmmm, sound familiar?), lost the weight and has maintained her weight loss for 12+ years.

While it's not looking like we have a return to bitter cold temps in Chicago next week, I'm always game for soup.
On next week's menu is:

https://thelemonbowl.com/instant-pot-lebanese-chicken-soup/

(Don't have an Instant Pot? There's a link to slow cooker conversion in the recipe.)

Bon appetit,
Melissa

Lebanese chicken soup is ready in no time thanks to the instant pot. Filled with chick peas, lemon juice, cinnamon and spinach, this chicken soup recipe is naturally gluten free.

01/16/2018

It's a snowy, cold day here in Chicago. You'd think I would have something delish in the crock pot going today, but frankly, I'm not having an uber-organized start to the new year when it's come to my own meal planning. (The irony is not lost on me.) When I DO have my act together and don't feel like creating a new recipe, I look for recipes with proteins that I can convert into different meals - for example, the original recipe for dinner, lunch becomes quesadilla stuffing and the next meal it's the star protein in a bowl with veggies.

One of my favorite food sites is Skinnytaste.com - recipes are spot on in terms of the instructions, easy and - the most important quality - absolutely delicious. My 2017 favorites from Skinnytaste.com: Honey Sesame Sriracha Chicken, Beef Picadillo, and Jalapeno Chicken Chili. All three recipes are pretty much "throw in and go" - no tweaks needed unless you're me: I increase the amount of sriracha in the chicken and the number of jalapenos in the chili. For the Instant Pot peeps, the picadillo works well in the IP but stick with the slow cooker for the other two recipes to let the flavors develop.

Bon Appetit!

01/09/2018

Although this page is seriously "under construction," I'll throw everyone a bone and post a recipe! (Ooo! Aaah!) This is one of my "I don't feel like cooking" recipes and takes about 20 minutes at most. It's great as a vegetarian dish, as a "taco stuffing" or as a base for poached eggs for breakfast/brunch. [If you're not near a Trader Joe's, then you just have to move.]

Easy "Mexican-eque" Skillet
1 package Trader Joe's Mexican Roasted Corn with Cojita cheese (found in the freezer section)
1 can (14.5 oz) Fire roasted tomatoes (I used TJ's but any brand is fine)
1 can (6 oz) Green chilis (I used TJ's fire roasted, but again, any is fine)
1 can (14.5 oz) Black beans - rinse and drain

Preheat a 12" or 10"non-stick saute pan, add 2 T of cooking oil of choice (veg , canola or olive oil)
Add package of TJ's Mexican corn - heat until sauce is melted (basically their package directions) - about 4-6 minutes or so
Add tomatoes, chilis and black beans - mix well
Heat another 5-8 minutes until everything is heated

Option A: No protein, sprinkle package of cojita cheese on top and serve
Option B: Mix in package of cojita cheese; add preferred already cooked protein and serve

It's great as a vegetarian dish, as a "taco stuffing" or as a base for poached eggs for breakfast/brunch.

I usually have cooked chicken breast on hand. I've shredded cooked chicken and cooked it to heat before serving, added chicken slices or cooked shrimp and re-heated together for lunch at work.

I'm not organized enough to give you nutritional info at this point - can tell you 1 serving (1+ 1/4 cups) is 5 Weight Watchers Smart Points.

Bon appetit.

01/08/2018

Hello, Second Monday of the New Year! Quite honestly, I haven't had much time the last week to think about my biz idea ... only some basic ideas of what I *don't* want. This IS a start. Slow and small, but a start nonetheless.

It's January which for a heck of a lot of people means "NY's resolution time." In the past, I used to go pretty hardcore on resolutions. My prior professional life (hospitality sales) was all about those SMART plans and SMART goals - so I've certainly been trained in "the how" - to make those goals achievable, etc. Despite this - and like most people - I flamed out on ye old NY's resolutions by March.

For the last few years, I have had a smattering (shall we say) of personal and professional upheaval and also experienced excellent changes, too. (All of the above I'm grateful for- after all, what does not kill you....!) The result is that my mindset is a bit different when it comes to the concept of resolutions - I've gone big picture, self-help books and articles be damned. Truth be told, January has always been a natural re-set month for me, as my birthday is this month.

So for 2018, I'm looking at:

-Start "THIS" - meaning my business. I'll figure out what "THIS" looks like and is named sooner than later. Really I will.
You'll hold me accountable - although there's only 7 of you following me now. We can call it Melissa M. Lipton, Inc. for the time being. (Though not particularly catchy.) This page will look a hell of a lot different sooner than later. Especially because it's not pretty or cool looking and I like both.

-Maintain my weight. Unlike 100% of America, my decision to get my sh*t together with my health ("lose weight!") happened in April instead of January - in 2016. I lost a third of my body weight and hit my weight goal in January of 2017. 1 year down, rest of my life to go. Though some may disagree, maintaining has been harder than losing was. But that's a topic for another day, along with the "how" - as I'm constantly asked when folks find out my "story." (Really, it's not all that exciting!) Though it is influenced by and does wrap into my whole "cooking business thing."

-Working out 3 x week. I pretty much do this already but life (work, social commitments, colds, subzero weather) does sometimes get in the way when you let it. Funny, I didn't let life derail me often when I was losing weight - and didn't I said maintaining was harder? Related: try something new 1 x a month. Those of you know me well, know I joined the cult of Orangetheory. It's an amazing workout and the support system from the friends I've made at my studio invaluable. But variety is the spice of life, so I've vowed to try something new once a month this year. (Barre, Flywheel, Brooklyn Boulders ...). Bonus: intro classes are generally free, cheap and Groupons galore.

-Beach. My favorite place in the world - I grew up going to the Maryland and Delaware eastern shore, I was lucky enough to work in the Caribbean and my happy place is with the warm sun on my face and sand between my toes. Foster Avenue or Montrose Beach here in Chicago can sometimes do the trick for a pretty Sunday afternoon in August. At some point, 2018 will have me on a beach that is not run by the Chicago Park District - preferably, in a place that the currency that is not the US $. (Exception: STJ and BVI.)

-"Apartment blow out 2018!" Looks the era of our nice little Friends-eque compound on N Wi******er may be coming to an end. When one has not moved for almost 11 years, one has a lot of crap, especially when you were in a home office for all but 6 months of this time. Not particularly fun, but a "to do" for my first part of 2018.

-New feline family member. I miss my last best feline friend like crazy. While my initial heartbreak has subsided a little, I now feel like my right arm is missing and I'm right-handed.

-Start "THIS." (Repeated on purpose.) My brain is still whirring on "THIS" - the whole my business thing. The related part: get my $ s**t together. (So guess I'll learn if do what you love and the $ follows is really true, eh?!) Stay tuned.

Bon appetit,
Melissa