alien robot cookbook

A Few Thoughts for the New Year

2011-12-31T12:38:00.000-08:00

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.” -Steve Jobs

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Joseph Campbell

I like Pies

2011-01-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

This drawing is by my son Gabriel, the illustrator of "An Alien Robot Cookbook," and it seemed appropriate for today.

This past year I've been experimenting with making knishes, empanadas and other variations of the handheld savory pie. NPR just published an article about the pie. Apparently, it's getting hot. You can find the NPR piece here.

One of my favorite potato knish recipes comes from a video on about.com by Rachel Edelman.

Here's her recipe for her rustic, hearty, delicious potato knishes:

Potato Knishes

6 potatoes
1/4 cup of oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1 onion
1/2 cup cold water
1 egg

First, cook the potatoes. Use a vegetable peeler to take off all of the skin. Be sure to put the tip of the peeler into the potato to remove any deep parts. Next, cut the potatoes into large chunks, which will help them cook faster.

Place the potatoes into a pot of boiling water. Cook for around 15-20 minutes, until they are soft. Now, drain the pot into a colander.

Put the potatoes back into the pot and then mash them well. Measure out 1 cup of mashed potatoes. This is going to be for the dough.

Put the measured potatoes into a bowl. Add the oil and salt, then mix it together. You'll see it gets nice and creamy.

In a separate bowl, add the baking powder to the flour. Whisk them together. Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the mashed potatoes and mix. In sections, add in all the flour as best you can.

Next, make a small well in the center of the bowl. Pour the cold water right into that spot. Knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes. The dough will come together, and soon you have a nice, firm ball.

Place a wet cloth or towel on top of the dough, and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut and peel the onion. Dice it into small pieces. Then melt the butter in a pan to medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté until they are soft, but not yet brown.

Pour the onions into a mixing bowl. This will be for our knish filling. Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Combine everything together. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Flour a flat surface and a rolling pin. Place down the dough, and divide it into four parts. Take one part and prepare it for rolling. Roll out the dough, flipping it over occasionally, so it is one-quarter of an inch thick.

Make a Square Knish

For a square knish, with a pizza cutter or knife, trim the edges of all sides of the dough so it forms a rectangle. Place the potato filling into the center of the square. Fold over the short sides and push down on the edge.

Next, fold over the longer sides. You'll see how the dough forms a pocket around the filling. Dip your fingers into some water, then wet the dough to help seal the edges.

Place the knish on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Crack an egg, and beat it with a fork. Paint the egg on the knish with a brush for the final touch.

Make a Round Knish

To a make a round knish, use a bowl to help make an even circle with the rolled dough. Place the filling in the center, pull up the sides, and pinch the dough at the top.

Place it on the baking sheet, and brush with the egg.

Bake the Potato Knishes

Place the pan into the oven, and cook for about 20-25 minutes. You can see how the egg brings a nice golden color to the finished knishes.

Opening an Etsy shop and Do-it-yourself Light Box

2011-01-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I've gone and done it. I opened an Etsy shop. This is where I'll showcase my new creations. Right now, I've got a ceramic sculpture, some magnets, and some pins made from old game tiles. Soon I will offer custom pet sculptures. My shop is called Alien Robot Cookbook. (See how it all ties together?)

Taking photographs is a challenge. I built myself a light box from an old cardboard box and some baking parchment.

I learned how from awesome photographer Jen Kiaba's blog: http://www.jenkiaba.com/2009/06/diy-lightbox-for-under-10.html

Thanks Jen! It was a fun project and I think my photos turned out much, much better than they might have without your assistance.

Now if Joey doesn't put it on his head, I'll be on my way!

Happy New Year to You!

2011-01-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was taking a walk (trying to stave off post-party weight-gain), I listened to Sister Diane's CraftyPod podcast for the first time. I was inspired by her conversation with Paul Overton of http://www.dudecraft.com. Apparently like me, Paul Overton sometimes feels like his interests are all-over-the-place. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I've been kicking myself for years for not being focused enough.

I've also been recently inspired by other blogs including www.eatmakeread.com, www.sfgirlbybay.com, Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Post Punk Kitchen, www.theppk.com, and as always, by www.readymade.com. And I cannot forget the sage wisdom of my neighbor Paul and that of my new therapist. I asked myself, "If I love this stuff so much, why not try to become a part of it?" I felt like it might be the perfect time to reinvigorate this blog.

It's a new year!

In order to celebrate, I have added a lot of new recipe pages from "An Alien Robot's Cookbook" for you to sample. I want to give more this year. Enjoy!

Cookies

2010-03-03T11:24:00.001-08:00

Zenith Zucchini Bread

2009-07-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

Today we made Zenith Zucchini Bread for my father's birthday. Happy 72nd Pops!

(This recipe is not in our book)

Makes 2 loaves

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 t vanilla
2 cups zucchini, grated
3 cups flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
3 t cinnamon
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the loaf pans with oil, or butter them.

Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add the grated zucchini to this egg mixture.

In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add to the egg/zucchini mixture. Stir. Add coconut and nuts.

Bake for 1 hour.

Click here for our TV Appearance!

2009-07-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Gabe and I had a great time demonstrating a recipe from our kids cookbook. The people at the tv station KCQA/KCRA were really nice and made us feel comfortable. The director Mike used to do a radio show on KDVS (Mike & Mike). It turns out that he is a huge fan of my husband Roger's former band Thin White Rope.

Gabriel in the Garden

2009-07-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

Coloring Pages

2009-06-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge these fun images! Then save (hit control then save on a Mac) print and color them as you wish.

Now you can buy An Alien Robot's Cookbook on Kindle!

2009-05-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

After several days of frustration, I have finally uploaded a pretty good, text-only version to the Kindle store. My kids are glad that I'm done.

Did you know that you can buy a Kindle reader for your iphone? Yes, there's an app for that!

Since the electronic book (only $2.39) has no images, here's one illustration for you now, compliments of my imaginative son Gabriel.

2009-05-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

This morning (and last night), I made our "Overnight French Toast" recipe for a group of neighbors here at Muir Commons. We added fresh fruit and good whipped cream. Gabriel helped me by putting down the chairs, but he declined my offer for him to take out the compost. I suppose the fact that it's about 100 degrees here now may have had something to do with his reticence.

Sometimes cooking for twenty or more can be exhausting, but I've gotta say that this was an easy meal to make.

Big Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder

2009-05-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Check it out--we've been boing-boinged! Thanks Mark!

Click to Enlarge this Sample Recipe Page!

2008-08-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

Joey talks to Ellen

2008-08-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

On a Road Trip

2008-08-20T08:51:00.001-07:00

My family and I have been on a little road trip these past few days. After my mother took the kids back to her place (Thanks Mom!), Roger and I went to San Francisco for two nights of freedom. We ate at many places including an okay Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (the wonton soup was good). My favorite dish of the trip was fried plantains, eaten in the Mission District at Cha Cha Cha. They were heavenly and golden. We also tried YoCream tart yogurt. Delicious. One perfect SF day, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Fantastic views of course, but terrible fears after looking down.

A man who was riding his unicycle in circles in the narrow pedestrian pathway lost his jester's hat when he lost his balance. The cheerful cap sailed over the barrier into traffic. Passersby watched (along with what looked to be the man's son) as he leaned over the guardrail trying to retrieve his beloved piece of fabric. It was clear to everyone but him that it was really best forgotten. We walked away before seeing his outcome. I could not bear to look. Roger suggested someone nominate him for the Darwin awards.

As we speak, Joey is begging to leave this adorable Cinderella Motel in Hollister where the artwork is interesting not only because of its content (hand-painted geometric designs), but also because it seems to be fused to the walls.

We escaped to this motel after the bugs at the Pinnacles campground got too numerable to bear. Normally we'd brave the buzzing, but Gabriel had a fever this morning and we wanted to make sure that he could sleep well. We packed up our tent and went in search of some indoor beds.

We'll soon be back on the road, on our way to our final destination, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk! Gabriel feels better now, and it's time to get ready.

Friday Afternoon Activities

2008-08-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

My sons and I pondered what to do on this hot afternoon in the Central Valley. Why not make apple muffins? The heat is one reason not to do anything, but since we live in cohousing, we were able to use the common house kitchen instead of heating up our own house. An additional plus is that solar energy powers the common house. And there is plenty of sun today.

My father had brought us lots of little green apples from his tree. I'm not sure of the variety. Maybe Granny Smith?

Joe (my three-year old) added some dry ingredients to the batter and then he made a tinker toy sculpture. I think it looks nice in this photo.

The observant reader may notice that our own apple muffin recipe does not call for milk. "So what's it doing in the photo?" you may wonder.

Well, since we wanted to use the apples in our muffins, I looked to our very own tried and true "Astral Apple Muffins" recipe. But alas, we did not have any lemon juice! So we tried a different recipe. But that recipe called for buttermilk, and we didn't have any buttermilk either. However, I knew that we could use a secret ingredient.

You can use sour milk in place of buttermilk. To make sour milk, you add a tablespoon of vinegar (or lemon juice) to a cup of milk and wait five minutes.

When the muffins were done, Gabriel said "these are the best things ever!" But after Joe ate off the cinnamon topping, he threw his away.

2008-08-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog for An Alien Robot's Cookbook. Our cookbook is now available for a mere $9.95!

To get your oven mitts on one, follow the link below. Just enter the password "alienrobot" after adding the book to the cart. http://www.createspace.com/3352450

I origninally wrote the cookbook for boys because I have two sons who like to cook, but the content will certainly appeal to girls, as well. After all, I am a girl (okay, a woman) and I love the book.

My 9-year old son Gabriel created almost all of the original artwork last year. I'm very proud of him and am happy to share his fantastic visions with all of you.

Our book is mostly vegetarian, with the exception of "Meteor Meatballs" and "Tectonic Plates of Teriyaki Beef." Others like "Unit-Pot Spaghetti" include suggestions for non-meat alternatives. The book highlights organic ingredients, composting, and healthy food choices.

With that said, this fun and informative cookbook includes a fair number of tasty treats. Not all of the desserts fall into the "healthy" category because I believe that it's nice to indulge once in awhile.