Peanut. Butter. Bars. Whenever these words are uttered at The University Star office, my coworkers stop what they’re doing and start asking me if I have any. They’re kinda famous to the students journalists here.

I remember the first time I made peanut butter bars was when I’d just been promoted to assistant web editor in fall of 2009. I found a recipe on Foodgawker and adapted it to be a bit more thick and less sweet, and brought them to an editorial board meeting.

Ingredients:
3 cups chunky peanut butter
3 cups crushed graham crackers
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 stick butter (salted or unsalted)
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

13×9 glass baking dish or metal pan

Melt the butter and mix with the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar in a large bowl.

Spread the mixture into a 13×9 glass baking dish or metal pan. Make sure the mix is packed into the pan tight, otherwise the bars may crumble when finished.

Pour 6 ounces of the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Pour the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips in to microwave and stir until smooth. It may take more than two 30-second sessions of microwaving for your chips to melt, just be sure to keep it at 30 seconds, otherwise the chocolate may burn/scorch.

Pour the chocolate over the peanut butter bar mixture and spread with a knife or the back of a spoon.

Refrigerate for at least one hour. Cut up into small bars or squares and keep them refrigerated until they’re ready to be served.

Brett Thorne, opinions editor, gives peanut butter bars a thumbs up.

Nomnomnom…he really likes them.

Ok, he might like them too much?

Our lovely sports editor, Lisa Carter, approves of peanut butter bars too!

The farmers market in Abilene on North 1st Street and Mesquite Street. I went to talk to farmers/get details on an agriculture story I’m working on for The Reporter-News. Instead I left with 5.2 lbs of fruits and veggies for $9 and a bottle of local honey for $4. Nomz. Got there later in the morning so everyone was sold out of eggplant, wah-wah. Oh, and I did leave with some info for my story.

Abilene Farmers Market haul:

5.2 lbs of produce = $9
- 2 green bell peppers: $1
- basket of 5 sweet onions: $2
- mix fruit basket(pears, green apples, peaches): $6

12 oz bear bottle of local pure honey from Winters, TX = $4

In addition to my position as the Multimedia Editor at The University Star, I am also a self proclaimed foodie. Whenever I’m not out shooting a story or yelling at timeline errors in Final Cut, I’m usually in the kitchen so I’ll be posting recipes and my food-tography here. I’m a lacto-ovo vegetarian (that means I still eat dairy and eggs, but no fish/poultry/meat) and consequently all the recipes I post are meatless, but feel free to substitute the tofu or whatever with your choice of meat.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I love this salsa for three reasons:
1. It’s a quick and easy process…only takes about 10 minutes to chop up all the ingredients and 5 minutes to mix up.
2. It’s made up of a bunch of healthy veggies (which also makes for colorful food photography!)
3. It’s a hearty salsa: I can even eat this this as a lunch if I spoon it over some tortillas.

Serrano chiles

Garlic salt and sugar close up

Cilantro leaves

* 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
* 2 cups corn
* 15 oz diced tomatoes, drained (I used 1.5 cans of Rotel)
* 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
* 1/2 small red onion, diced
* 1/4 cup serrano chiles, diced
* 1 clove garlic minced
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* the juice of 2 limes

In a large bowl, mix up all the ingredients except for the sugar, salt and lime juice. My measurements were created for my taste, so adjust the amount of sugar, salt and lime juice for however sweet, salty or tangy you like your salsa.

Eat immediately or refrigerate for an hour to let all the flavors meld together.

Tina Phan, Multimedia Editor & vegetarian foodie

Goes great with tortilla chips!

My tofu quesadilla with caramelized kim chi and cheddar jack cheese *drools*

Detail shot of the filling.

Chicken taco with no onions on the left for Chris, tofu taco on the right for Kathy. Tacos = marinated meat or tofu, Chi’lantro salsa, julienne lettuce in Korean chili soy vinaigrette, cilantro, onion, green onion and sesame seeds, garnished with a lime wedge.

The other day, I made Lemon Drop Cookies. Today my sister made tiny Tina Fey glasses out of paper for me to put on the cookies. And thus, the lemon drop cookies have been renamed Liz Lemons.

Kathy Phan is so creative!

I love lemon, and these taste like lemon bars! Next time I think I will add an extra half a lemon’s worth of juice in. Remember to use organic lemons, so much tastier.

Lemon Drop Cookies from Kris Holechek’s Nom Nom Nom Blog / The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes: Amazing Cookies, Cakes, Muffins, Pies, Brownies and Breads book.

Lemon Drop Cookies
Prep time: 15 minutes

1/2 cup margarine, softened (this recipe is originally vegan but I didn’t have any margarine, so I just used butter)
1/2 cup shortening, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
juice from 1 lemon
2 teas. lemon zest
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare a cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and shortening until smooth. Mix sugar to combine, then incorporate lemon juice and zest. Add flour in small batches until well incorporated.

Spoon teaspoon sized balls of dough onto cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 8- 10 minutes until edges are set and are slightly browned. If baking both sheets at the same time, switch shelves halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool completely before coating each cookie in powdered sugar. To coat, us a fork to support each cookie and roll cookie on each side to coat in sugar. Store cooled cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

*For best results, zest the lemon before juicing. You can use the small holes on a grater for a fine zest.

I didn’t take a photo of the final product because by then the sun went down and fluorescent light does nothing for foodtography.

Spaghetti Pie from Deceptively Delicious.

Prep: 20 mins
Total: 45 mins
Serves 8-10

– Nonstick cooking spray
– 3 oz whole wheat spaghetti or angel hair pasta (I used regular spaghetti…all we had atm)
– 1/2 lb lean ground turkey or sirloin (I’m a vegetarian so I used Gimme Lean Ground Sausage style veggie protein)
– 1/2 cup broccoli puree
– 1 large egg white
– 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
– 2 cloves garlic chopped
– 2 cups bottled tomato sauce
– 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
– 1/4 cup carrot puree
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper
– 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Coat a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. (I used a square Pyrex dish pan)

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander (Skip this step if you have leftover pasta).

3. In a small bow, mix the ground sausage with the broccoli puree, egg white, parmesan and garlic. Form the mixture into 1/2 inch balls. (I made em bigger, about an inch.)

4. In a large bowl, stir the cooked pasta, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, carrot puree,, and salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the pie plate and smooth the top. Scatter meatballs on top and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake, uncovered until the center is firm and the cheese is bubble, 25 – 30 minutes.

Photographed for my Intro To Digital Photography narrative assignment. It’s the story of an apple…

After my second day of school last Wednesday, my friend Alex and I decided to try Blue Goat Gourmet located very close to campus in San Marcos, Texas. I live in Austin and do the commute thing to school, so I don’t know SM very well (because past years, I was never in the city except for classes). But that’s changing now that I’m an editor at the school paper (aka will have to spend a lot of time at the office) and a few really good friends of mine have just transferred to TxState/now live in SM. So yeah, I need to find all the awesome local eateries in San Marcos!

According to their website, Blue Goat Gourmet is a “European style bakery, cafe, dessert shop – featuring desserts and baked goods all made in-house.” Mmm, sounds fantastic.

Roasted Garlic and Brie Plate
I got the Roasted Garlic and Brie Plate, whole bulb of oven roasted garlic with brie and mini baguette. Dried apricots and blueberries on the side. The owner (who was super friendly by the way) said usually it’s served with grapes, but they were out of fruit when we went, which was later in the day. (Note: they have weird hours…as in close at 3pm on weekdays. My friend and I arrived at 2:30 because we just got out of class.) But the dried apricots complimented the dish quite well! Wish the olive oil came in a pretty dish rather than plastic cup, for presentation/photo purposes. Still really delicious food! I love brie! Alex liked his roasted chicken and sweet pepper french bread pizza, and we came with the intention of ordering their Dessert Splurge Trio but were way too full after our entrees. Next time, I will eat you raspberry truffle pie in the display case, next time.

*I wish I had more pictures of the exterior, everything was blue and/or goat related!