Our Biggest Loser Appetite

Every Tuesday, a group of lovely ladies get together to enjoy the finer things in life - some TV (Biggest Loser to be more specific), some food, some wine, and some eye candy. Sounds like the perfect combo for us Man Hunger sisters, right?!

Each time we gather, every girl is in charge of bringing a dish to share with the group. We've had everything from cheese and crackers, to macaroni and cheese, to meatloaf, and a multitude of desserts. We realize the irony of eating such amazing spreads during Biggest Loser, but we enjoy ourselves anyway. And as we munch away and in between comments about the contestants, we admire one of the newest additions to the Biggest Loser team:

Dolvett Quince

Our man here is one of the new trainers on the BL ranch, and we like his style! Whether he's yelling at the contestants, having a heart to heart, or giving us an enchanting smile, he always elicits a collective sigh or "Oh, Dolvett" from the group. So thanks for being the perfect dessert to our feast, Dolvett!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Oh, Dolvett!

Mariana and Paula

Strawberry Fields Forever

It has been positively freezing here in Tucson. I know, I know... there are places in the country that are much colder than us, but when you're used to the 80s and 70s and suddenly it drops into the 40s? It's brutal! So when I was trying to find something to bake for a certain someone's birthday, it figures I was drawn to a more summery treat. In celebration of my favoritest sister's birthday, I give you:

Paula's Birthday Strawberry Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups strawberries, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 9 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.
 
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter in and rub the mixture with your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture. Using your hands the entire time to mix the ingredients helps it to come together more easily.

Using a tablespoon (or your hands!), drop dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, spacing them evenly. If they're very round, flatten them a little with a spoon so that the inside cooks properly. Bake for about 24-25 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. If you try to lift them from the parchment paper too soon, they'll stick, which we learned the hard way. Once they're cool enough to lift, enjoy with milk, coffee, or tea.

Happy birthday sissy wissy! I hope your dinner was fantastic (once again, thanks to Justin for helping make birthday dinners delicious successes) and that you enjoyed your cookies! Here's to a fantastic year for you! (And a little music never hurt).

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Happy Birthday!

Mariana

Return of the Mac

Here we are, at the Maloney house, in the midst of too many dogs, a cat that won't come out from under the couch and lots of hungry people. A perfect Thanksgiving! But we are very thankful to be surrounded by all this love and all of this great food!

Amidst the many adults, we have a couple of young children, as well a few adults that are still kids at heart. And what do kids love? Mac and cheese! So as a nice side dish, we made a big serving of homemade, baked macaroni and cheese! We haven't tried it yet but it smells fantastic! This will be a great dish for children, a cold night or just cause its awesome!

Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Elbow macaroni
• 3 cups Milk
• 4 tbs. Butter
• 1 Egg
• 3 tbs. Flour
• 1/2 tbs. Powdered mustard
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1 bayleaf
• 2 cups Sharp cheddar, shredded
• 2 cups Mild cheddar, shredded
• 1 tsp Salt
• Black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling water (salted), cook the macaroni to al dente. Be careful not to overcook the pasta or you could end up with mushy noodles after you bake it.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add in the flour and mustard using a whisk and keep it moving until the mixture is smooth and free of any lumps. Stir in the milk, paprika and bay leaf. Simmer for 5 minutes, being careful not to boil the milk over, and remove the bay leaf.

Beat the egg in a small bowl. Carefully take about 1/2 cup on the milk mixture and slowly add it to the egg, constantly mixing it with a whisk. This helps bring the egg closer to the temperature of the milk mixture so that when you add it in, it doesn't just cook into a big scrambled mess! It is officially called "tempering an egg". Some of our fellow Hungertons may have known that, some of you may now be further impressed with our cooking skills! Add in your tempered egg to the milk mixture.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the mild cheddar and 1/2 cup of the sharp cheddar cheese and stir in the rest to the milk mixture, along with the salt and black pepper. Fold in the al dente macaroni pasta and pour into a casserole dish. Top with the reserved cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly and browned on top. Let rest for about 5 minutes and enjoy!

For your musical delight, we have a great classic which we hope you all remember and enjoy!

Thanks again for following us in our foodie ventures. We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Yum!

Mariana and Paula

Ode to Thanksgiving

Our favorite time of the year is here! With our love of food, cooking, and eating, is it any surprise that today is one of our favorite days? The mashed potatoes! The turkey! And the pie... oh, the pie.

But today is also about family, and friends, and love, and being grateful. So we'd like to take a moment to give thanks for all of the wonderful parts of our lives.

We are thankful for our family... for our parents who always support us, for our extended family who brings so much joy to our lives, for our furry children who keep us entertained, and for our new additions (thank you for having us Maloneys!).

Speaking of Maloneys, we are also thankful for Justin. Thanks for letting us do our sisterly thing Just, whether that's putting up with the Bachelor, testing out our cooking, or just listening to our ridiculousness.

We are grateful for our wonderful friends, old and new. You make us laugh, hear us out, and keep us sane! Hopefully we return the favor every once in a while.

We are also thankful for you, our readers, whom we've lovingly started referring to as our Hungertons. We're really enjoying sharing our eating and cooking adventures, and our love of hot guys, with you. Thank you for taking the time to read our silliness and for even trying out some of our recipes. We're excited to continue on with this little venture!

We would be remiss if we didn't mention that we are also thankful for each other. It's been wonderful to live in the same city again and always have someone to share things with!

And finally, we are thankful for food! We think it's important to realize every once in a while that we're lucky to be able to eat the way we do because many others cannot.

Alright... now about getting some wine for this cheese...

So savor today's meal and let us know how it goes! What dish made your Thanksgiving dinner special? If you can, take pictures and notes and send them our way! Oh, and don't forget some dinner music!

Happy Thanksgiving Hungertons!

Bon Appetit! Buen Provecho! Gobble Gobble!

Mariana and Paula

Our suspicions have been confirmed!

While we have our experimental apple cobbler in the oven and we play with a new macaroni and cheese recipe (make sure you check in tomorrow to see how it all turned out!) we have some time to reflect. On men. This last week we made a trip up to Phoenix for a Lady Antebellum concert. We got a great spot on the floor, sang our hearts out, and enjoyed the view! Most importantly, we confirmed what he had already suspected... Charles Kelley is H. O. T.

You may recall that we've already featured the one and only Mr. Kelley on a previous post. At that time, we based his hotness primarily on his voice and his ability to rock a pea coat like no other man we've seen. However, ladies and gentlemen of the Hungry for Men jury, we now present you the following additional evidence to support our claim:

Exhibit A: Kelley croons his way into our hearts, his passionate voice resonating in our souls.

Exhibit B: Kelley embraces his sexiness and uses it to seduce the audience.

Exhibit C: The camera loves Kelley and we are treated to a double dose of his beauty.

Exhibit D: Watch as Kelley rises from hotness and commands the stage and your attention. See how he makes tight pants and a beautifully revealing shirt look desirable (something that not just any man can pull off). Look above him to the big screen and admire the passion in his face as he belts out that gorgeous manly voice.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. We rest our case.

Bon Appetit! Buen Provecho! We need Charles now!

Mariana and Paula

PS - We'd like to congratulate Charles for being the first man to grace our Hungry for Men posts twice. It's quite an honor, and, as evidenced by the above, a well deserved one!

Sprouts of Time

Brussels sprouts. We're not sure if there is another vegetable with a worse reputation than these little green bad boys. Justin hates them, Mariana likes them, and Paula has never even tried them. With Thanksgiving upon us and in an effort to see what kind of potential these sprouts have, we created a recipe for a side dish featuring the one and only Brussels sprouts (and maybe some bacon).

Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 1/2 lb Bacon, cut into 1/4" slices
• 1/2 Medium red onion, sliced thinly
• 1 tbs Minced garlic
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1 tbs Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation

In our hunt for a good recipe, I uncovered some helpful tips on cooking sprouts. Food Blogga recommended "shocking" the sprouts, meaning moving them into a bowl of ice water after they have been drained to stop the cooking, helping them keep their vibrant color and keeping them from getting too mushy. So begin this dish by cooking the sprouts in a pot of boiling water, seasoned with about half a tablespoon of salt, for about 3 minutes and shocking them in ice water.

In a large wok or pan over medium high, heat the olive oil and add the garlic, bacon and onion slices in. Cook the bacon until nice and crispy. Then, very carefully drain as much of the bacon grease as possible or try soaking it up using a few paper towels.

Add in your sprouts to the pan and sauté everything for about 5 minutes or until the sprouts begin to get a nice golden brown to them. Finish up by seasoning with some salt and paper, and spinkling the parmesan cheese on top once plated on a serving dish.

The bacon sprouty wonders were a big hit at our last Biggest Loser viewing party and hopefully they will be a hit at your dinner table too!

And don't forget your music! (Caution: it's kind of a weird song...)

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Sprouts!

Mariana and Paula

Spaghetti Junction

In our household, spaghetti is considered a comfort food. It's warm, it's meaty, it's full of delicious carbs... what's not to like?! Justin and Mariana like to make it regularly, and have perfected their very own recipe. In fact, their wedding favors were little spice jars filled with oregano or chili flakes and accompanied by this recipe. For those of you who joined us that day (and hopefully joined the bride on the dance floor for a little Gaga, MJ, or Shout!), hopefully this is an oldie but goody! For those of you weren't there, we hope you enjoy it now!

 The Vazquez-Maloney Spaghetti

Ingredients

• 1 package of spaghetti
• 1 pound of lean ground meat or ground turkey
• ¼ onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 regular cans tomato sauce
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Oregano, to taste
• Chili flakes, to taste

Optional Ingredients:

• Garlic powder, to taste
• Fine herbs, to taste

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, begin sautéing the ground meat with a little salt and pepper. When the meat is about halfway done, add the onion and garlic. Stir frequently. Once cooked, drain excess fat and remove the mixture from the saucepan.

In the same saucepan, pour the red wine. You can use stale wine if you have it, or open a new bottle. Let the wine cook off a little. As it’s doing so, scrape the bottom of the pan to lift the taste of the meat, onion, and garlic.

Next, add the one can of diced tomatoes and two cans of tomato sauce to the wine. Stir, then add the meat, onion, and garlic. Add herbs, salt, and chili flakes (and optional ingredients if you're using them) and stir. Let simmer.

Boil water with a couple pinches of salt. Add spaghetti and cook according to the instructions on the package.

While the spaghetti cooks, taste the sauce. Add more of the herbs, chili flakes, or salt if needed.

Strain spaghetti. In large bowl, mix spaghetti with enough sauce to coat the noodles. Serve, then spoon a little more sauce on top.

Enjoy with bread, red wine, and a little music!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Meaty carbs!

Mariana and Paula

Jenny Artichoke Lived in a Boat...

We know, we know. We are totally slacking lately! But to make it up to you, we bring the scrumptious peace offering of...

Artichoke Dip

Unfortunately, we don't have a picture for you of this tasty treat cause in our haste to eat it all up, we forgot to take one!

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag Frozen Artichokes, thawed or two cans of artichoke heart in water, strained
• 2 Garlic clove
• 1/4 c. Diced red onion
• 1/2 c. Mayo
• 1/2 c. Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz. Cream cheese
• 1 tbs. White wine
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Pepper
• 1/2 tbs. Chili flakes

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Chop thawed artichoke hearts and the peeled garlic clove in a blender or food processor until fine.
• Put artichoke and garlic in to a mixing bowl and add in the finely diced onion
• Add the mayo, yogurt, Parm, cream cheese, white wine, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Mix together to blend well.
  
• Place in a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, until golden and bubbling on top.

We made this great recipe in a GCS free version for a friendly gathering at the beginning of the week and it was a great hit! It can be paired with crackers, chips or bread.

And though we may not have a picture to go with the recipe, we do have your song!

Bon apperit! Buen provecho! Yummy hearts!

Men Get Hungry Too

Paula and I spend a lot of time discussing the blog, which often leads to brainstorming about men. During one such conversation, Justin spoke up, saying, "Men read your blog too, you know. It might be nice to see a girl every once in a while." Touche, Justin. Touche. So, in honor of his big birthday today, we've decided to do a special edition of Hungry for, well, Women!

Now, the following women were solely chosen and approved by Justin himself. They will not be accompanied by any comments from myself, because who am I to judge? He supports me in my love for Justin Timberlake and John Krasinski, no questions asked, so I can only do the same for him. And, as he pointed out, he has offered a wide variety of girls. So, without further ado, in his own words, we give you...

The sexy, raspy voice girl
(Scarlett Johansson)

The Canadian girl next door
(Cobie Smulders)

The athlete
(Alex Morgan)

The mom
(Reese Witherspoon)

The pirate
(Keira Knightley)

The girl with an accent
(Penelope Cruz)

The girl who dates the other Justin 
(Jessica Biel)

So there you have it, dear readers! Justin and I hope you enjoyed this very special edition of Hungry. I suppose it's good to have a male perspective every once in a while. Not too frequently though ;)

Happy birthday Just!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Girls!

Mariana

I want my baby back...

Tonight is a special birthday edition of The Man Hunger. On this lovely day some many years ago, our very own Mariana was born into this world, ready to eat and be merry!

To celebrate, her favoritest sister and her favoritest husband worked together to bring a delicious birthday dinner to the table.

Mariana's Birthday Dinner

Pork back ribs, mashed potatoes, and asparagus

The recipe for the ribs came from a combination of recipes from one of our favorites, Sam the Cooking Guy. Justin was in charge of ribs, I was in charge of the sauce for the ribs and we made the birthday girl make her yummy mashed potatoes, which you will hear about later.

Pork Back Ribs

 First, we get Justin's way of preparing the ribs (as told by Justin and transcribed by Paula):

So one day, Shawn told me there were some ribs in fridge but they were Ted's and he told me to steal them while Ted wasn't around cause Ted was somewhere else, stealing from Chuck. But I didn't do anything for a few days until one day everyone left early, including me but not as early so I took the ribs and brought them home in my front seat and put them in the freezer.
About a year later, Paula decided she wanted to make ribs for Mariana's birthday and I said, 'Hey, I have some ribs in the freezer we could use." So I went and pondered the ribs, not knowing what they actually were, just thinking I knew I had a bag of ribby goodies. So I took them out the next day and I relized I still didn't know what they were. So I defrosted them. And I found they were pork back ribs. *Snoring* Oh, sorry!
I pondered lots of recipes so I decided I would make up my own. They call me the rib god. So I baked them for an hour and 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees. Wash the ribs off prior, removing all of the gunk off, place on a baking sheet and add about 4 tablespoons of cider vinegar, one in each corner of the baking sheet and cover with aluminum. Remove the ribs after an hour and half and place on the grill until you see grill marks and have a good crispiness. Then you can baste it with the sauce. Be sure to do this with a beer in your hand or nearby at all times.
Now Ted doesn't have any ribs to eat at his house.

He's a wild one that Maloney boy! Just to recap, here is how you prepare the ribs:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take a 3-4 pound rack of ribs, rinse and place on baking pan. Add 4 tablespoons of cider vinegar to the pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place in oven and bake for an hour and half. Remove ribs from oven and carefully remove aluminum foil (there could be a lot of steam). On a gas or charcoal grill over medium heat, grill the rack of ribs until there are grill marks and a crisp outside has developed. Baste the ribs with sauce (recipe to follow), leave on for a couple more minutes, remove from grill and serve up promptly.

Honey-Garlic Sauce

For the sauce you will need:

• 3/4 cup of honey
• 3/4 cup of soy sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes over low-medium heat. Any sauce left over after adding to the ribs can be served on the side for dipping.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Next, we will call upon the birthday girl for her very wonderful mashed potatoes:

Garlic mashed potatoes are my birthday tradition going all the way back to college (right Miss Mandy?), so it seemed fitting that they accompany the amazing ribs being cooked. For the potatoes, you will need:

• 10 small red potatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 tablespoons of butter
• Milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Cayenne pepper

Peel the potatoes, but leave some of the skin if you like your potatoes a little lumpy. Cut into quarters, throw into enough water to cover them and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt to the water and the garlic cloves. Boil the potatoes until you can easily stick a fork or knife through them. Drain and return to the pan.

If you like garlic and aren't afraid to get a large chunk, leave the cloves in. Otherwise, remove before mashing the potatoes. Mash the potatoes (and garlic if you left it in) and then add a couple tablespoons of butter and milk (about a half cup). Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, some pepper, a large sprinkle of garlic powder, and a little cayenne pepper. Mix thoroughly and taste. Adjust for taste by adding salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne as needed. You may also need to add more butter and milk to make them creamier and achieve your desired texture.

Asparagus

Thank you birthday girl! Lastly, I made asparagus to add some green to the savory dinner:

• One bunch of fresh asparagus
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• Garlic salt
• Fresh ground pepper 

Asparagus usually have a tougher, denser, less edible end at each stalk. You can easily remove this part by taking the stalk and bending it around the bottom third or quarter of it. The end should snap off very nicely. Rinse all of the stalks and be sure to shake off all of the excess water. Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to fit the amount of stalks you are cooking, over medium heat. Saute the asparagus, turning frequently. Sprinkle on garlic salt and ground pepper to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon each is usually what I use. Continue to saute until stalks are tender. Be careful not to overcook; you want them to still have a good crunch when you bite into them.


There was also a tasty fall treat of a Pumpkin Cheesecake Roll for birthday dessert! I will post the recipe for that later this week.

A special thanks to my gracious brother-in-law for helping out with this special birthday dinner and for his wonderful description of how to prepare the ribs.

Happy Birthday sister wister!! I hope you loved your birthday dinner and I will always look forward to many many more! I also give you this wonderful gift of music for tonight's post...

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Happy Birthday!

-Paula