Windy City Blogger Wednesday: What’s for Dinner?

Originally Published at Gapers Block: Drive Thru.

This week I would like to introduce Mara who writes the blog “What’s for Dinner?”

What brought you to Chicago?
I was born and raised in Skokie, IL, and with the exception of the 5 years I lived in Peoria for college, I’ve stayed in the general area. I lived in 3 very different neighborhoods in the city over the course of 4 years, and now live out in the NW Suburbs.

What do you do when you aren’t blogging?
I’m a middle school Spanish teacher, so much of my time is spent planning/grading, but other hobbies besides cooking and blogging include crocheting, photography (of things besides just food) and, my fiancé’s least favorite hobby: shoe shopping.

feelings of fall

Today was the first day in Chicago that really felt like fall.  I had a bowl of warm oatmeal rather than my greek yogurt/granola combo of summer.  Suddenly shorts and a tank are no longer suitable running attire and sleeves are necessary.  The sidewalks are laced with the first fallen leaves and the sun begins to set at 6:30 rather than closer to 8.  Although I really was jipped with a summer (bar exam, few “warm” days), I am looking forward to the change in seasons.

rolled thin part deux: one thousand layers

While I will admit that I did enjoy the ravioli in the brown butter sauce, the best part of the batch of homemade pasta dough came the next night  when I made the famous “Thousand Layer Lasagna“.  One of my go to meals is to simply doctor-up a few jars of pasta sauce (preferably Newman’s Own since it the only reasonably priced brand without HFCS and other crap in the ingredient list) with some chopped onion and garlic and maybe a little italian sausage that has been sautéed in a little olive oil.  I make a big batch, let it simmer low for a couple of hours and freeze it into 2 person portions for an easy weeknight meal.  Since I made a batch of sauce while making this lasagna, all I had to do was roll out the pasta sheets as thin as possible, and layer it with the sauce and the leftover ravioli filling from the night before.

rolled thin

Last week when I was having my “totally homemade meal” kick, I also knew that I wanted to make pasta dough and transform it into ravioli.  Homemade pasta is one of those things that is just so remarkably different from its dried counterpart that it should be in a category all on its own.  While I appreciate the ease and simplicity of tossing a bag of penne into a pot of boiling salted water and topping it with a little garlic and olive oil, I also really love the process of mixing some eggs into flour and after some time and some coaxing, eating a plate of homemade pasta.

Windy City Blogger Wednesday: Lottie + Doof

Originally published at Gapers Block: Drive Thru

This week, I have to pleasure of introducing one of my favorite Chicagoland food bloggers, Tim from Lottie + Doof.

What brought you to Chicago?
Birth. I was born near 59th and Kedvale and have spent most of my life in the city. I went to DePaul’s Theatre School as an undergrad and Northwestern for grad school so I have lots of ties to the city.

What do you do when you aren’t blogging?
I work at a university during the day but my free time I spend with friends eating good food and enjoying the city. I like antiques and we recently bought our first place so we are spending a lot of time searching for things for our home.

perfectly pie

September.  The sun starts setting earlier.  Saturday’s are filled with college football.  The A/C gets turned off.  And apples are slowly replacing peaches at the market.  Unlike every previous September, I am not back in school but rather am patiently awaiting IL Bar results and endless job hunting which also has the perk of providing me with lots of kitchen time.

XOCO

When my Mom and Aunt were in town last week, I mentioned that it might be fun to brave the crowds and check out Rick Bayless‘ new spot XOCO.  Aunt Sandy, immediately said “the guy that won Top Chef Masters?  Do you think he will be there?”  We made plans to go the next day.  And after seeing him post a picture on Twitter from the line, a mere hour before we planned to go, I knew that Sandy would be excited because we would have a little “celebrity chef sighting.”