A new era of Badger Girl has begun. Check out her cooking adventures at : http://badgergirllearntocook.blogspot.com.

A New Beginning

I have been thinking a lot about this blog the last few days. I realized I had no point. Originally this was a traveling blog and then it told my adventures in academia. Now I am pretty boring. So I tried to think of blogs I liked. After filling out a subscription for my third cooking magazine, I did my daily check of my three favorite cooking blogs and I thought...could I? Immediately, the answer came: NO! I don't know how to cook! I never seem able to follow a recipe or time a dinner right. The side dishes and main dish get done at totally different times. I often get halfway through a recipe to realize I am missing a key ingredient or did something horribly wrong. I can't tell anyone about cooking or food.

Then I decided maybe it would be more interesting to talk about learning to cook. Not in any kind of regimented way, but my experiments, mishaps, accidents and the occasional standout dish.

A quick key for you new readers:

Me= Badger Girl: a girl in the Midwest soon to be married and trying to learn how to cook nutritious, delicious and adventurous meals

Fiance = Manatee: He is a key player but being an English major and a bit type A, I hate writing fiance because I can't figure out how to get the little accent...well and also because I lovingly call him a manatee. It's not a weird pet name nor does he look like a manatee. But if you have ever seen them feed manatees at Sea World, you know they eat a lot of lettuce (and now the rest of you know that too) and Manatee eats more lettuce than any human I have ever met. Most of my dishes end up on top of lettuce unless I give him my pouty face and then he puts his salad in a separate bowl (though I suspect when I am not looking he puts it on the lettuce before he eats it).

That's all you need to know for now. This weekend I have committed to baking my future father-in-law a rhubarb pie as well as cooking several side dishes. I had hoped to use our CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) for inspiration but all I got were radishes, lettuce (Manatee and I were happy about the salad mix), green onions and garlic scapes (future post will be Garlic Scapes: WTF). If you have any ideas for sides dishes using these ingredients, please do let me know.

Am I really getting married?

Invitations have gone out and I am realizing that yes, I am actually getting married. For those who are holding their breath, yes- I am incredibly excited to get married and really hope I can focus on living in the moment and enjoying all that this summer has to offer.

On that note, delicious and healthy meal tonight. I had to make some last minute substitutions and was incredibly pleased with the results.

Spice Rubbed Pork Chops

What amazes me about this dish is without adding calories, you have an incredibly flavorful and satisfying dish.

The recipe calls for 4 pork chops but we always tend to make 3 (one for me, one for fiance and one for leftovers). That also means we have leftover spice rub but we're not ones to actually eat more than one round of leftovers.

1 1/2 Tbsp of chili powder: When I went to pour in the chili powder, I realized that I barely had 1 tablespoon. I ended up using 1/2 chili powder and 1/2 smoked paprika (which I just bought, more about my infatuation with smoked paprika later). It was awesome.
1 Tbsp of unpacked brown sugar
2 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

Rub it all into the pork chops and you can either broil it 4 minutes on each side or plop it on the Foreman (which is what we did, thank you future in-laws!) for 4-5 minutes.

With that we roasted some red potatoes with chicken broth, rosemary and garlic, and we had steamed veggies. A very healthy meal weighing in at 6 WW points. Now if only I hadn't had those two glasses of white wine...

Dressings

Here are two of our new favorite dressings.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Dijon Mustard

Shake and serve. 2 WW pts per serving (2 Tbsp serving).

Fiance paid me the biggest compliment he could: he told me he liked this dressing better than salsa. We eat copious amounts of salsa so this is huge.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil
1 shallot diced fine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp honey
salt and pepper

Shake and serve. 2 WW pts per serving, but you really only need 1 serving.  With my obsession with lemons, it's not surprising that this is my favorite dressing.  :)

A Little Faith

The secret to making a crust? Patience and a little faith. For both pizza crusts and pie crusts that I have made, there is always a point where I think it won't possibly come together. It's too crumbly, not enough water, why even bother continuing? This is where my mother has given up in the past on my Grandma's famous pizza crust- which for anyone who has had my Grandma's pizza recipe, you know that it's a travesty that it has gone un-made for ten years.
You have to push through that moment and have some faith that it will form. Keep mixing, keep kneading and you will have a crust that will melt in your mouth.

Today's project was a strawberry-rhubarb pie with a pie crust made from scratch. I made it through the mixing alright. I left it in the fridge for a couple of hours when I went to the gym and the store. When I went to roll it, it was a rock. Part of me wanted to throw it in the garbage, but I kept pressing down, kept rolling and before I knew it, I had my crust. And it stayed together and baked much better than it had in the past.

I'm back!

After a long hiatus that included finding a job, surviving a non-profit, finding a better job and falling in love, I'm back. Gone are the tortured graduate student days. I'm working 9 to 5 and trying to enjoy the benefits of that capitalist, middle class lifestyle.

Though I have officially signed off, I wanted to do this survey again. After such a rough 2007, 2008 gave me some closure.
Happy New Year everyone!


1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? I learned to throw pottery (on a wheel, not tossing clay willy nilly) and I began working at a non-profit.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Yes! I am more balanced and I have a smaller, more stable world.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No. Thank God.
5. What places did you visit? Arizona, Phoenix and surrounding areas.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? I would like to continue work with finding balancing and reconciling what seems to be a new identity.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 12. Week of Fourth of July, specifically the Monday after when I got my job offer. End of March when I left the PhD program.
8. What was your biggest failure? Losing faith in myself.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing serious. Again, thank god.
11. What was the best thing you bought? a bed!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My parents. Me. :)
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Hmmm. I was a little disappointed in myself at times as well.
14. Where did most of your money go? To surviving jobless.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Better Things by Dar Williams. The Way I Am.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? Happier!
b) thinner or fatter? fatter :(
c) richer or poorer? poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Reading. Gosh, I never thought I would say that!
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying.
20. How did you spend Christmas last year? With my parents, JP, and then his family.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Yes!
22. How many one-night stands? None, thank you. Not my style.
23. What was your favorite TV program? Simpsons and the Today Show.
24. What did you do for your birthday in 2007? I spent time with my two best friends- we had coffee and then saw a movie together. It was awesome because I don't think the three of us have ever offiically hung out.
25. What was the best book you read? Marley and Me.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Hmmm...I don't know if I had one. The free concert I saw in the Fall had really good musicians but I have already forgotten their names.
27. What did you want and get? I wanted to get back to Madison, in this very apartment actually.
.28. What did you want and not get? I had an unrealistic idea that I would have all this new fabulous new furniture, for now the bed will do.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? Sad. I can't think of one. Juno? Maybe? Haven't seen many really good ones.
30. Did you make some new friends this year? Yes.
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Almost unknowingly getting everything I asked for last year.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Business casual.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Will Smith? Gosh I am drawing a blank.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? Election 2008
36. Who did you miss? two California friends.
37. Who was the best new person you met? My boyfriend