eat, drink, & be crafty

MIA

2009-09-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers,

I sincerely apologize for my lack of posts as of late. This is primarily due to two reasons:

(1.) On Labor Day weekend, my boyfriend proposed...Yep! I'm engaged!!

(2.) My internal hard drive AND my external hard drive BOTH crashed...Yes, they are toast...isn't it ironic that my back-up drive also died?? Ugh! The external one is hanging out with the Geek Squad right now...keeping my fingers crossed.

But no worries. I'll be taking new pics of any new cooking and crafting adventures...and inevitably, wedding stuff too...

Thanks for understanding!

Hair Rosettes

2009-09-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

I made these little hair clips and pins for a co-worker's little girl...mostly because I was feeling crafty and I have no kids! :-P

All you need is scraps of ribbon and a needle and thread!

Just do a running stitch and when you pull the thread, it'll form a little rosette! Do a few extra stitches to keep it in place.

I attached some clips and brooch pins (or both) so she could wear them in her hair, on a headband, on a dress, on her shoes, on a belt/sash, etc.

You can stack more than one and just stitch them together.

Shredded Beef Sandwiches

2009-08-31T18:08:00.003-05:00

I felt like using the crock pot for a SUPER easy meal.

The night before, I threw a chunk of London broil into the crock pot with one roughly chopped onion, 1/2 C. water, a dash of dry steak seasoning, and some barbecue sauce.

You can use any cut of meat (brisket, flank/skirt steak, etc), any barbecue sauce, any combo of seasonings (Mrs. Dash, brisket rub, etc), omit the onion, or replace the water with broth...whatever you want!

I let it cook overnight and here's how it looked when I woke up.

I threw it into the fridge, so it would be ready for me after work. When I got home, I skimmed off the fat and used tongs to shred the beef.

I felt like it needed some veggies, so I added in a bag of defrosted veggies...a blend of peppers and onions.

I put the crock pot insert back in and cranked it to high to heat it through...if it's too watery, spoon some out and leave the lid off, so as it bubbles, the sauce will thicken.

Serve on hamburger buns. Potato chips and pickles optional. Enjoy!

DIY Loop Scarf

2009-08-30T15:36:00.005-05:00

What's a loop scarf? Well, it's a scarf inspired by the necklush. What's a Necklush? It's an accessory made from free-form loops of cotton fabric. It can be worn as a scarf, cowl, necklace...the possibilities are endless!

When I first laid eyes on these, I thought they were so cool and unique...and the gears in my brain were working on how I could make my own...they looked kinda easy. But, of course, someone already beat me to the punch. I used a tutorial from this old dress...but I can't find it now!! Here's a similar tutorial though, for a braided one, which I'm going to make asap!

This is a really great "upcycling" craft!! What were you going to do with all those old t-shirts anyway??

Start with a clean t-shirt. Lay it down on a table and cut horizontally straight across the shirt, creating loops.

Try to go for the kind of t-shirts that don't have seams on either side. But if yours does (mine does too!), no big deal!

You'll end up with a pile of loops. The more loops you have, the fuller your scarf will be.

Now, gently tug on the loops. You can do several at once. The fabric will naturally curl in. See? you didn't have to cut perfectly straight! hehe

If your t-shirt did have seams, you'll notice that it didn't curl in very nicely on the seam, so just use some scrap fabric to cover it up.

Now you've got a lovely scarf you can wear numerous ways!

They would make really great gifts, and you can make any color combo you like. You can also thinly brush on some paint mixed with fabric medium if you want to channel your inner-artist. Don't put on too much though because your fabric won't curl up nicely.

It's still really hot outside, but you can make a bunch of these now so you'll be ready for fall!

Enchiladas Verdes Casserole

2009-08-26T18:18:00.003-05:00

I love casseroles. I love how you can throw just about anything in there and you'll end up with a yummy, comforting, steamy hot square of goodness on your plate.

Roasted, peeled, and seeded poblano peppers

Salsa verde

Chicken broth

Sour cream and cheese

Shredded chicken

Layer the ingredients

Bake until hot, bubbly, and delicious!

Enchiladas Verdes Casserole

6 roasted and skinned poblano peppers, chopped
1/2 can of chicken broth
1/3 C. salsa verde
8 oz container of sour cream
1-1/2 cups of shredded cheese + 1/2 C for the top
2+ cups of shredded chicken
Corn tortillas, or flour, if you like
Optional: green onions & limes

Heat the poblano peppers, salsa, and chicken broth. Remove from heat and add the sour cream and cheese. Layer the tortillas and chicken with spoonfuls of the sauce in between. Sprinkle on the green onions, if using. End with tortillas and sauce. Top with cheese. Bake until bubbly and heat through...350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve with green onions and lime wedges.

Sweet, Spicy, & Sticky Drumsticks

2009-08-25T18:42:00.003-05:00

You like alliteration? Me too...along with these amazing chicken drumsticks.

I adapted the recipe from Martha Stewart Living for Sweet-and-Sticky Grilled Drumsticks by adding Sambal chili paste! Just add the amount you want depending on how spicy you like it.

Throw all the ingredients (except the chicken, duh!) into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and let it reduce. The recipe says it'll become the consistency of honey, but I don't think you need to take it that far! It'll get a lot thicker as it cools down.

Throw in a couple spoons of this at the end.

I let it cool to room temperature and then poured about 1/3 of it on the chicken and let it marinate all day.

I brushed on the rest while grilling.

Don't forget to cut big slashes in the drumstick to let the flavors permeate the chicken.

Some people may call this burnt, some may call it caramelized, but I just call it delicious!

Sweet-and-Sticky Grilled Drumsticks

1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
8 chicken drumsticks, skin on
Coarse salt

Bring wine, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, and simmer until mixture has thickened to the consistency of honey, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool.
Using a sharp knife, make three diagonal slashes through the skin and flesh on both sides of each drumstick (this will help the flavors permeate the meat).
Preheat grill to medium-low. (If you are using a charcoal grill, coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above grill for just 7 seconds.) Place drumsticks on grill, and brush with sauce. Close cover, and grill 4 minutes. Flip chicken, and brush with sauce. Continue to cook, flipping and brushing with sauce every 4 to 5 minutes, until cooked through, about 20 minutes total. Season with salt.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings

2009-08-24T21:37:00.000-05:00

Although summer is technically over, it's not too late for some warm-weather barbecuing!

I tried out this recipe from Kraft Foods because it looked really delicious and reminded me of my favorite Plucker's wing flavor (off the menu)...Jamaican Jerk!

Just off the grill!

Yummy and caramelized!!

1 envelope GOOD SEASONS Italian Dressing Mix

2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground thyme

1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

Mix it all up and throw it onto 3 lbs of chicken. I used chicken wings, but feel free to use drumsticks, thighs, etc. Marinate for 1 hour, up to overnight. Grill or bake.

I highly recommend this recipe! It'll get you out of the usual chicken rut!

Diaper Cake, Baby Boy

2009-08-19T21:36:00.004-05:00

I made a diaper cake and some cupcakes for a co-worker's baby shower.

Contrary to how it may sound, these are not made from edible pampers...hehe

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing (tinted blue)...too bad it turned out Tiffany blue instead of baby blue...oh well.

Peach Buckle

2009-08-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

What do you do when it's summer and peaches are on sale? You buy a mountain of them and then realize you can't possibly eat that many...and then you look for recipes like this.

Here's a tip: If your fruit is getting too ripe, go ahead and peel and chop it. You can freeze it in plastic freezer bags in the right amount for your recipe!

I roughly chopped up 2 peaches and 2 nectarines. I left the skin on one of the nectarines for color.

Cream the butter & sugar until fluffy...but guess what. I didn't plan ahead and leave the butter out to soften...oh well.

It says to add eggs one at a time, but I'm a rebel. I threw 'em all in along with the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder, & salt. I didn't whisk them first, nor did I "spoon & level" the flour. Martha would not be happy with me.

Once that's all mixed, fold in the peaches by hand.

Then make the topping, which is the cinnamon, almonds, and the 2 tbs. of sugar...you DID remember to reserve 2 tbs. of sugar right?! You didn't just add it all to the butter at the beginning?? Good!

Spread the batter into a buttered pan or skillet. Sprinkle on the topping.

When it's done, it'll be golden & delicious.

This is an awesome seasonal dessert. Not to sweet & perfect with a glass of iced tea! Enjoy!

Peach Buckle
from Everyday Food

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for skillet
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds peaches, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, nine-inch square baking pan, or a two-quart shallow baking dish. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla; beat to combine.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat until incorporated. Fold in peaches.

3. Spread batter in prepared skillet. In a small bowl, mix together remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. Sprinkle mixture over top; bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and topping is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.

Tomato & Cucumber Salad

2009-08-17T21:44:00.000-05:00

Howdy everyone! If you're reading this blog, you've made it safely from my old blog to this one. Thanks for sticking with me!

I have taken a little break and done a little redecorating. I hope you like it!

I know I'm pretty behind on my updates, so I'll be updating regularly from here on out! (or let's just say I'll try my best!)

Today's recipe was inspired by three things: (1) the cucumbers from my sister's garden, (2) the ingredients in my fridge, & (3) company coming over and I needed to make a salad.

I started with 4 Kirby cucumbers from my sister's garden. I peeled off some of the skin and then scooped out the seeds/pulpy stuff with a small spoon. You can also just use regular cucumbers or English ones.

Then I sliced 3 Roma tomatoes, but you can use any kind...

I added a little bit of white onion that I sliced super thinly on a mandolin

If you have company coming, arrange it all nice-like on a plate. If you don't care, just slop it on the plate.

Put that in the fridge to chill and then make the dressing.

Use a big knife to smear the garlic and salt into a paste.

Throw the garlic paste into a jar or plastic container along with the olive oil, vinegars, & herbs. Give it a good shake. It'll look like this.

Pour it over the salad. If you're not gonna eat it right away, put it back in the fridge and let it marinate. It'll taste even better!

Cucumber Tomato Salad

1/2 tsp. salt (sea or kosher)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 C. olive oil
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons dried basil (chopped, fresh if you have it)
1 tablespoon dried oregano (again, you can use fresh leaves if you have 'em)
4 pickling cucumbers (Kirby-variety, or English cucumbers)
2+ tomatoes

The ingredients are really flexible...just whatever you have on hand...thinly sliced red, white, or yellow onion, bell peppers, olives, slices of fresh mozzarella cheese...

Enjoy!!

Blackberry Bars

2009-07-15T08:28:00.000-05:00

Summer is in full swing and so are all the summer get-togethers! I needed to throw together a dessert and this is a great one since you probably have everything in your pantry!

These fruit bars are also known as struesel bars or linzer torte bars (depending on what fruit you use). You can use ANY fruit jam, preserve, or even mash up some fresh fruit with a fork (maybe run it through a sieve to get the seeds out though...)

You can also use any kind of nut you have on hand. I used a combination of almonds and walnuts because that's what was hanging out in my freezer.

AND this is a super simple recipe...so simple that I've memorized it!

Start with 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 stick of softened butter.

Use the butter wrapper to grease your pan!

Mix in 1 cup of finely chopped nuts (you can use ground nuts if you'd like, but I like it chopped) and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon...it'll be course and crumbly like this:

Press 2/3 of this mixture in the bottom of a pan (9X9 or something close to that).

Bake it for 10 minutes at 375 degrees, until slightly golden. Spread 2/3 to 1 cup of preserves on there...depending on how fruity you like it. I used sugar-free blackberry preserves here.

Throw the rest of your crumbly mixture on top of the fruit layer.

Bake for 15 minutes, until it's golden and the preserves are bubbly.

Let it cool completely before you cut it into squares.

Enjoy!

Tips:

Lightly toast the nuts and cool them before adding them to the crumble mixture. You'll get a better flavor.

Walnuts are really recommended for this, but you could use almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts...I wouldn't recommend peanuts or cashews though.

Use jam or preserves, not jelly. The jelly would just melt...and I don't think there's any real fruit in jelly...

Seriously...any fruit jam or preserve...strawberry, raspberry, orange marmelade, apricot...anything!

Asian Salmon

2009-07-07T09:22:00.000-05:00

This recipe looked so easy, I had to try it! Plus, I already had all the ingredients on-hand! Yay!

Just mix all the ingredients, minus the panko...

Place 2 salmon fillets on a baking sheet and put the panko on top of it. Pour the dressing and soak the panko with it. I can't believe that the recipe only called for one fillet...I used two...it would have been bathing in salty liquid otherwise...

Bake it.

Voila!

I served it with Crunchy Noodle Salad, but please don't! The salmon was sooo salty even though I baked two salmon fillets! It would be best served with steamed jasmine rice and a steamed/sauteed veggie.

Eli's Asian Salmon
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa
Episode IG0803H

2 1/4 pounds center-cut salmon fillet (1 1/2 inches thick)
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon toasted (dark) sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chili paste
1/2 cup sliced scallions (2 scallions)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (8 large cloves)
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Directions

Line an 8 by 12-inch baking pan with aluminum foil. Place the salmon in the pan.

In a mixing cup, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, scallions, garlic, and ginger. Pour 1/3 of soy sauce mixture over the salmon fillet. Sprinkle the panko evenly over the fillet. Pour the rest of the soy sauce mixture evenly over the panko. Be sure to soak the panko completely and if any runs off, spoon back onto the salmon. Set aside for 15 minutes, leaving all the sauce in the pan.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Roast the salmon for 18 to 20 minutes, or for about 12 minutes per inch at the thickest part of the salmon. The internal temperature will be 120 degrees F on a meat thermometer when it's done. Remove from the oven, wrap tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Crunchy Noodle Salad

2009-07-06T09:33:00.000-05:00

This is a bit of a misnomer...the noodles in this recipe are not crunchy, rather the other veggie-related ingredients are the crunchy part!

Start by boiling half a pound of thin spaghetti in salted water. Try using a bigger pot and more water than I did! hehe

In a large bowl, layer the ingredients. I had dry parsley on hand, so I put that at the bottom...so it could recontitute with the moisture from the other ingredients. If you're using fresh, put it at the top!

Next, the al dente thin spaghetti and the blanched sugar snap peas. If you've snapped off the ends and removed any strings, there will be water trapped inside the sugar snap peas, so be sure to drain them well!

While the spaghetti was cooking, I chopped the veggies: orange, red, and yellow bell peppers and scallions on the diagonal.

Throw those in too.

Grate the ginger on a small grater or microplane. You can just get the thin skin off with a spoon or the back of a knife (even a butter knife!)...no need to cut it away and waste the ginger.

I usually like to shake dressing and marinades in a jar or plastic container. It combines it much easier and faster than whisking...and washing whisks are a pain anyway...

Just before serving, toss the dressing with the noodle salad. Toss in the remaining sesame seeds and fresh parsley if you're using it. I wouldn't dump ALL the dressing in. Two-thirds was enough for me.

See? Just saucy enough!

Notes:

I followed Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) menu and served this with Eli's Asian Salmon (next blog). BIG mistake because there was wyyy too much flavor going on. This noodle salad is best served with a simple grilled meat (maybe chicken, flank steak, or shrimp).

You can make the dressing and arrange the salad ahead of time, but don't mix them together until you're ready to eat! The dressing would surely make the noodles mushy!

Feel free to add any veggies you like or have on hand that you think would be tasty...green bell peppers, blanched snow peas, red onion, bean sprouts, blanched green beans (cut into 1-inch pieces), julienned carrots, etc.

Crunchy Noodle Salad
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa
Episode IG0803H

Kosher salt
1/2 pound thin spaghetti
1 pound sugar snap peas
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, divided
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded, and thinly sliced
4 scallions (with and green parts), sliced diagonally
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring another large pot of salted water to a boil, add the sugar snap peas, return to a boil, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp tender. Lift the sugar snap peas from the water with a slotted spoon and immerse them in a bowl of ice water. Drain.

For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds and peanut butter in a medium bowl.

Combine the spaghetti, sugar snap peas, peppers and scallions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and the parsley and toss together.

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

2009-07-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am fully aware that I am very behind since this was a Father's Day cake. Shame on me.

I decided to make an "Asian-y" cake for my dad for Father's Day. Chiffon cake is a soft, moist cake made with lots of eggs for a very soft, spongy texture.

This also became the cake where every single thing went wrong. I love to bake, but cakes really are not my forte.

Also, I realized that I did not own a food scale since this recipe was in grams...off to Bed Bath and Beyond I go...

Start out with the milk, sugar, and oil.

Here are the dry ingredients: AP flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and the matcha green tea powder (optional).

I sifted the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir it a little bit first so that the dry ingredients don't fly everywhere.

Add the yolks one at a time, blending a bit after each addition.

This mixture will be thick and gooey...if you're gonna add flavoring extracts or coloring, do it now.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites. Once they get frothy, add a pinch of salt and the remaining sugar.

They're done when it has medium peaks and is very glossy like this!

Fold the egg whites into the batter. I did 1/3 at a time. Be gentle and don't deflate the batter by stirring it!

Put the batter into an ungreased tube pan. Mine is just an angel food cake pan and it comes in two pieces.

Do the toothpick test to see if it's done.

Here's the strange part. Now, while it's hot, turn it upside down. I put it over a rack so that air could pass underneath it and it wouldn't get steamy or soggy. That's what the little feet on the pan are for. If you just let it cool sitting right side up, it could sink and become dense. Turning it upside down will allow the cake to stretch and be nice and soft and spongy. This is also why you don't grease your pan. If you did, it would just slide right out. If your pan doesn't have feet, you're supposed to put the hole over a soda bottle, beer bottle, or maybe a funnel.

Once it's completely cooled, run a butter knife around the edges and it should come right out. Then I put it on a foil-covered cake board. (I accidentally dented the top, but that's okay because I'm gonna lop it off)

Cut of the mounded top to even out the cake and then cut the cake in half if you want to put filling in between. I used pieces of the top of the cake to fill in the hole. At this point, once I had cut into the cake, I was very sad because the cake was a light tan color and not a lovely shade of green. I guess the matcha powder changed color during the baking process. Sad day. Next time, I'll just use green tea extract/essence and then some food coloring!!

Here's where I make some stabilized whipped cream to ice the cake.

I started with 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar (use as much or as little sugar as you want) and a tablespoon of clear vanilla. Pour in 16 oz of whipping cream.

Get a packet of unflavored, powdered gelatin and sprinkle it in the water that you put in a small saucepan. Heat it over very low heat until it dissolves. Let it cool.

Once the whipped cream is about half way there, add in the gelatin and keep whipping.

Done! You've got a bowl full of whipped cream that will not "weep" if you let it sit. You must use this IMMEDIATELY. Do not make it in advance. Wait until your cake is ready to ice and then make this, or else it will set-up...that's what the gelatin does!

I drained a can of fruit cocktail and mixed it with some of the whipped cream. I reserved some of the cherries and grapes to decorate the top of the cake.

Put the filling on the first layer and then place the second layer on top. Use more of the leftover cake to fill in the whole. Please eat the rest of the leftover cake for quality assurance purposes.

Here is the final product. As you can see, I have terrible cake decorating skills and I write like a 5-year old. Thank goodness this was for my dad, who loved it anyway.

Kettle Corn

2009-07-02T08:49:00.000-05:00

I have a healthy obsession with things that are salty and sweet. When I head to a fair, carnival, or some other outdoor event, the smell of freshly popping kettle corn intoxicates me. It forces me to pay $4-$6 for a bag of this delicious popcorn that I will inevitably inhale within the hour.

I was sitting around at home when a case of the munchies hit me hard. I wanted kettle corn and I wanted it now!

Little did I know how easy it would be!!

The proportion is 1-2-1...1 part oil, 2 parts kernels, 1 part sugar...

Here's 1/4 C. of canola oil (You can use vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, but please don't use olive oil because of it's low smoking point!)

Here's 1/2 C. of unpopped kernels

Here's 1/4 C. of plain granulated sugar (You could even use vanilla sugar, or heck, you can use a bit of colored sugar to achieve the crazy colored Pop-Secret "Pop-Qwiz" popcorn of the 80's)

First, use a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. Not a heavy pot because you're gonna have to pick it up and shake it around.

Place the pot over high heat. Once, the oil gets hot, throw the kernels in and sprinkle the sugar all over the top of it.

Cover the pot and wait until the popcorn starts to pop. Once the popping gets frequent, grab the pot by the handles, using pot-holders, and while holding the lid on, shake the pot vigorously for a little while and place it back on the stove. Keep doing this until the popping slows down.

Dump the popcorn into a bowl and sprinkle a tiny bit of salt (maybe 1/4 tsp) on top while the sugar is still nice and sticky. With that being said, DO NOT touch the popcorn with your hands right now. The caramelized sugar is HOT!! Use a long spoon (I used chopsticks! hehe) to toss it around.

One of my favorite parts about real kettle corn, is the random bits of caramelized sugar...like this:

Oooh...or like this!

Try making this at home and you'll never pay for overpriced carnival kettle corn EVER again!!! Yummy!!

Better yet, make loads and loads of this for your 4th of July get-togethers! Your friends will love you for it!

A June Birthday

2009-07-01T07:13:00.000-05:00

Wow...It's July 1st already! The year is halfway over!

Just wanted to share a June 29th birthday that we celebrated at work.

Thanks to my good friend Rosaly for the cupcake stand and to Target for the silver tray I found on clearance, I've managed to create a happy little daisy cupcake display!!

Completely Random Icebox Dessert

2009-06-30T07:18:00.000-05:00

I always have a sweet tooth after a meal...no matter how full I am. So after lunch, I was rummagging around the kitchen for something, anything that I could eat for dessert.

I saw half a package of reduced fat graham crackers, boxes of pudding mixes, and lots of random little things in the freezer. So what did I make? You guessed it. Another icebox dessert.

I made the sugar-free, fat-free chocolate pudding according to the directions, with two cups of skim milk and a dash of instant coffee. I didn't lighten this one with whipped topping, mainly because mine was frozen and I didn't feel like waiting for it to defrost in the fridge.

I placed some graham crackers in the bottom of a dish. I skipped the step of dunking these in milk, but you can definitely do that if you need then to soften quicker.

Graham crackers make awesome fodder for icebox desserts...especially if you make the Boston Cream Pie dessert for a crowd in a large dish!

Spread 1/3 of the pudding on the graham crackers.

Does this look familiar?

Last time I made the Butterscotch Bark, after all of it was devoured, the platter had about 1 cup of the topping that did not stick to the graham crackers. I put it in a ziplock baggie and put it in the freezer thinking that it would make a killer topping for some vanilla ice cream...but then it found its way into my icebox dessert.

Sprinkle some of that onto the pudding.

Repeat this 2 more times, for a total of 3 layers.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. If you dipped the graham crackers in milk, it'll be softened and ready to eat in less than 2 hours, but if you did not soak the crackers, you can leave it in the fridge all day and eat it for dessert after dinner!

Enjoy!

Berripop

2009-06-29T07:33:00.000-05:00

I am sooo behind on my posts! Sorry guys! Time to play catch-up!

I saw this frozen yogurt shop not too far from my place and thought I'd give it a try. Since I had brought along a hungry cohort, I figure we'd tackle this thing.

Sweetened shaved ice, topped with fresh strawberries, kiwi, granola, and a swirl of raspberry-pomegranate frozen yogurt.

Yumm

A Weeknight Indian Dinner

2009-06-17T15:32:00.000-05:00

I had a hankering for Indian food for a weeknight dinner, so I headed to the pantry to see what I could find.

I had to keep this one "semi-homemade", but I wanted to be healthy too. Here's my take on a super-duper simple chicken dish...think, Chicken Masala Light...

Saute one chopped onion until soft & translucent.

Add two chopped tomatoes and saute some more.

Add three tablespoons of garam masala, which is a spice mix containing bay leaf, coriander, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili, and more...You can definitely find it on the aisles of regular grocery stores these days. Saute for another 5 minutes or so...this "frying" of the spices really draws out the flavors.

Add 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces. Saute until meat is opaque.

Add 2 cups of water.

Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens.

Serve over rice.

The rice I used was a "Spiced Jeera Rice mix", which was basmati rice seasoned with cumin, bay leaves, black pepper, and cinnamon. Plain basmati rice would have worked well here, or even just jasmine rice.

Another dish that I am enamored with is palak paneer. Paneer is basically chunks of cottage cheese, but it does not taste like cottage cheese at all. It is cooked in a spiced spinach gravy, flavored with coriander, garlic, ginger, green chili, cumin, coriander leaves, cumin, turmeric, red chili, Fenugreek leaves, pepper, and other spices.

It looks like baby food, but is completely delicious. This pre-packaged, ready-to-eat version is more pureed than I like it, but if you ever get the chance to eat this at an Indian restaurant, please do! Spoon it on the basmati rice. Yummm.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

2009-06-15T13:56:00.000-05:00

I was excitedly flipping through my new July issue of Martha Stewart Living when I came across a section for bean salads.

(I would have just linked to it, but they still have the June issue online!)

I've been trying to eat healthy these days and I know that I don't get enough protein or fiber...and I had an abundance of veggies in the fridge that I needed to use.

This salad was really easy to throw together! It was also a great way to work on my knife skills because there was a LOT of chopping involved!

Note: chickpeas = garbanzo beans

I used canned chickpeas instead of boiling my own...so drain 2 cans of garbanzo beans and leave them in the sieve/colander to drain.

While those are draining, make the dressing.

Place the garlic (I used the pre-minced, jarred stuff) and salt on the cutting board and flatten the mixture with a knife. (Don't mind the green flecks. That's some parsley that I chopped on the same board)

Run it back and forth like you are smearing it on your cutting board. It will make a paste like this.

Place this in a plastic storage container (big enough for dressing + chickpeas) with the vinegar (I used white wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar), olive oil, oregano, & pepper (I used freshly ground pepper instead of crushed peppercorns. I don't enjoy crunching into a spicy little peppercorn!). Shake vigorously until well-combined.

Throw the chickpeas into the plastic food storage container with the dressing and let them marinate while you are chopping all the other veggies. Give it a shake every few minutes to make sure everything is coated.

Chop the cucumber. Even though it was an English cucumber, which has thinner skin and less watery seed pulp, I scooped out the center so that my salad wouldn't get watery later.

I chopped 1 whole bell pepper because I like it, but the recipe calls for half.

Carrots roughly the same size.

I also added a bit of red onion because I like it.

The whole pint of tomatoes (I used grape, but the recipe calls for cherry). I only cut about half of the tomatoes in half and left the rest whole...which would also help to keep the salad from getting watery.

Roughly chop the parsley.

Slice the green onions on a diagonal.

Chiffenade the basil...doesn't have to be too thin.

Throw it all in a big bowl, add the chickpeas & dressing. Toss until well-combined.

It makes a lot, so it would be great for a get-together.

Isn't this a gorgeous salad?! Super fresh, healthy, crunchy and delicious! Enjoy!

Salad Bowl

2009-06-11T14:51:00.000-05:00

I thought it would also be fun to post about kitchen stuff that I've bought or added to my wishlist.

The first item up is this AWESOME acrylic salad bowl with matching servers from Crate & Barrel. The servers hang on the side of the bowl.

At only $14.95, it is a steal! I love acrylic because it looks like glass, but is sturdy, light, and dishwaher-safe!

I made my Asian Coleslaw in this and it was perfect!

Diaper Cake, Peonies!

2009-06-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

It's June and you know what that means! It's peony season!

They are my absolute favorite flower and the sole reason why I must have a June wedding! :-)

While I'm waiting for Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet, here is a diaper cake adorned with my fave blooms.

Mississippi Mud Pie

2009-06-04T20:17:00.000-05:00

My sister had a batch of brownies in her freezer and she thought up the idea of making a brownie-bottom Mississippi Mud Pie.

I married that idea with the pudding mixture from my notorious icebox desserts, and here's what I came up with!

Crumble up about half of the brownies and lightly press onto the bottom of a 9X13 pan.

Make the lightened pudding mixture, but this time, mix in 1 heaping tablespoon of instant coffee granules into the milk (more or less depending on your love of coffee).

Use the entire tub of whipped topping, not just half.

Spread half of this mixture on top of the brownies.

Repeat the brownie and pudding layer.

Top with a generous drizzle of chocolate syrup or ganache. I used Hersheys Special Dark Chocolate syrup. .. and I had a few brownie crumbs left in the baggie, so I threw those on top too.

Cover and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Remove from freezer and cut into squares with a knife. Don't worry, it won't freeze hard.

Perfect dessert for warm weather!! Enjoy!

Zucchini Cakes

2009-06-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

Yet another Pioneer Woman blog find. I needed a second side dish for the Memorial Day grilling Fest and these Zucchini Cakes looked too yummy to pass up!

I doubled the recipe and made much smaller, silver-dollar-pancake-sized ones fit for a party!

Get two big zucchinis and shred them on a box grater. Are those two humongous zucchinis? Or is that a tiny box grater? Both! I don't own a box grater, so I borrowed my sister's. Apparently she shops at a kitchen store for ants because that thing was itty-bitty.

Here's a tip. Only trim off the rounded end and shred starting at that end. Once you get to the other end, you'll have a handle to hold onto!

Now you've got a sopping wet mess of shredded zucchini. I worked in two batches, placing the shredded zucchini in a kitchen towel and squeezed the heck out of it.

Throw that in a bowl with the garlic, 1-1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, 1 cup of cheese, 4 eggs (I used Egg Beaters), salt and pepper.

Get out a big skillet and heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in it. I know the recipe calls for shallow-frying, but I was trying to be healthy AND I hate dealing with all the oil splattering everywhere.

Scoop the zucchini batter into the skillet, whatever size you want, but mine were about 1/8 cup each. Fry on medium-low on each side until golden. Keeping frying in batches until all batter is used, adding more oil as needed.

Serve with ranch dressing or maybe even marinara sauce. Enjoy!

The end result was a little too egg-y. This was probably because the Egg Beaters carton told me that 1 egg = 1/4 cup, which looked more like an extra large egg. Most recipes are referring to just large eggs by default, so I'd cut back on the egg if I were you.

If you're in the market for a different zucchini-related appetizer, here's one from Betty Crocker that I LOVE!! It's basically like a crustless quiche. It is even simpler to make than the zucchini cakes.

Zucchini Appetizer
From Betty Crocker

3 cups thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini (4 small)
1 cup Original Bisquick® mix (I like the Heart Healthy kind)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or dried)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (Lawry's)
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano leaves
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten (or 1 cup of Egg Beaters)

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.

2. Stir together all ingredients. Spread in pan.

3. Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into 2-inch squares; cut squares diagonally in half into triangles.

I'll probably make this recipe soon, so I'll have a tutorial with pictures coming up!

Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes

2009-06-02T07:27:00.000-05:00

That's a lot of alliteration! I was browsing through my blogs on Google Reader and came across this recipe on Pioneer Woman.

Memorial day was coming up and it seemed like an awesome side dish to accompany all the grilled foods.

Start with 7-9 Roma tomatoes, depending on the size. Seven if they're on the big side, eight or nine if they're on the small side. Scoop out their innards with a spoon and discard (unless you can find a use for it. I couldn't.)

Sprinkle each one with a bit of sea salt or Kosher salt. This will serve two purposes. It'll season the tomato and it will purge out the excess water, which will make a BIG difference when you're roasting. Turn them cut side down on paper towels or a kitchen towel.

While the tomatoes are purging, make the ricotta mixture. Stir together the ricotta (16 oz container), garlic (I used pre-chopped), parsley, basil (I used dried), salt & pepper.

Place about 15 Ritz crackers in a Ziplock baggie and roll over it with a rolling pin until you've got crumbs. You can also just use breadcrumbs (homemade or store bought). I like the crackers because they're nice and buttery.

Fill each tomato half with the ricotta mixture. You can level it off or mound it on, depending on how your tomato-to-ricotta ratio turned out. Smush each filled tomato into the crumbs.

Line them all up on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

If you didn't purge your tomatoes, they'd be swimming in tomato juices right now!

But you did purge them and they're golden, creamy, and delicious!

Homemade Pizza

2009-06-01T07:24:00.000-05:00

I usually follow the rules when cooking and baking.

Pizza-purists everywhere will cringe if they see this post. My hunger got the best of me and I committed several pizza crimes. The end result was delicious nonetheless!

[Pizza crime #1] This is just semi-homemade pizza. I copped out and used a pizza dough mix. Yes, I know...but I was in a hurry (translate: hungry) and I didn't have time to wait for the dough to rise and all that jazz.

First, move the rack in your oven to the lowest level and then crank the temperature as high as it will go. For me, that's 500 degress.

I blended the dough mix with hot water and let it sit for a few minutes. While the dough was resting, I floured the counter and got my rolling pin. I rolled out the dough to 1/4" thick, folded it in quarters and unfolded it out onto my baking sheet, which was lined with my Silpat.

[Pizza crime #2] I know I'm supposed to use a pizza stone, but mine broke in an unfortunate accident involving me placing it on the stove and proceeding to turn on the wrong burner sending pizza stone shards flying everywhere. There was also an incident where I baked a pizza on an unfloured, un-cornmealed baking sheet and the pizza cemented itself on there. Sad day...I didn't want a repeat...

Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle on some Italian seasoning. Par-bake the dough for about 7 minutes, until it gets a little firm and a little bit of color to it.

[Pizza crime #3] I used a canned pizza sauce. Not even a gourmet one...just a $0.99 can of pizza sauce. It did the job. Obviously if you've got marinara sauce or the homemade stuff, go for it...pesto, alfredo sauce, or even a bechamel sauce would be great too.

Then 1-1/2 cups of cheese. I used a 4-cheese Italian blend.

[Pizza crime #4] I always put on wayyy too many toppings. What can I say? I love it all. I can't pick just a few! Just a few pointers for you topping lovers out there...

1. Slice everything thinly. You'll be able to spread out the flavors, without adding too much weight.

2. After you slice, place the ingredients on a kitchen towel or paper towels to drain out the excess liquid. This is especially for ingredients like bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, etc.

3. Don't even think about using a pizza peel to transfer your pie into the oven. If you've loaded it with toppings, there is no way that baby is gonna slide off. Even with a few deft flicks of the wrist, that pie will remain firmly seated as the toppings come flying off. You're better off making the pizza right on the baking sheet.

So anyway, this pizza has: 1/2 lb turkey Italian sauage, a handful of turkey pepperoni slices...

1/2 a thinly sliced bell pepper, 6 thinly sliced mushrooms, 10 thinly sliced jalapeno-stuffed olives...

...& 9 paper thin slices of beefsteak tomato.

I would have also added onion, but that would have been too much! :-P

Top off with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and maybe a few shakes of Italian seasoning...and yes, maybe a light drizzling of olive oil.

Bake until everything is nicely browned, about 20 minutes.

Transfer it onto a wooden cutting board (to keep it from getting soggy) and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Cut into squares and ENJOY!!!

Oh and mix these ingredients for an amazing dipping accompaniment!..I know...you're thinking I already have enough flavors going on already...

Almond Macaroons a la Martha Stewart

2009-05-29T08:06:00.000-05:00

The second type of almond macaroon that I made was considerably simpler and had a finer texture. Definitely a good cookie to sip some tea with...light, crisp and chewy.

The almond paste I purchased for this recipe came in a can. I bought this type because it was an 8 oz can, and the recipe called for 4 oz. I simply used half the can. Now, if I had a digital food scale, I wouldn't have to guesstimate this stuff!

Add the powdered sugar and salt. Blend until crumbly.

Please use your stand mixer if you have one. I had to cut this in with a pastry cutter and then finish it off with my electric hand mixer...

Add the egg white and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

Drop tablespoons of the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, topping each one with two slivered almonds. This batter will make EXACTLY 12 cookies. No more, no less.

Bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees, until the cookies are slightly golden.

Let them cool completely. You can just slide the entire parchment onto a wire rack.

You can dust them with powdered sugar for serving, but I didn't. Also, if you're going to store these, make sure you put parchment paper between the layers of cookies or they will stick to eachother!

Almond Macaroons
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living

4 ounces almond paste (about 5 1/2 tablespoons)
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
Pinch of coarse salt
1 large egg white
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put almond paste, sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until crumbly, about 3 minutes. Add egg white and vanilla. Mix until smooth and thickened, about 3 minutes.

Drop batter by tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Place 2 almond slices on each mound of dough. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, lightly dust cookies with sugar. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days

Almond Macaroons

2009-05-28T12:50:00.000-05:00

Our dear co-worker, John, was leaving us to pursue a graduate degree up north. For his farewell, a potluck lunch was organized. I asked him what baked good I could whip up for him and he replied with Almond Macaroons.

I didn't know what those were, and I was desperately hoping he wasn't referring to French macarons. I hadn't quite mastered that art just yet.

I found two recipes: one from Martha Stewart and another from Cook's Illustrated. The latter being the MUCH more popular one...I thought I'd document it first.

Place 6 oz of blanched slivered almonds in the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse until roughly chopped.

Add 1-1/4 cups of granulated sugar.

Pulse until finely ground.

Almond paste can be found in the baking aisle of some grocery stores (I got mine from Kroger's). It looks like this and comes in a 7 oz package. Coincidentally, that's exactly how much you'll need for this recipe.

Crumble it into the food processor.

Again, pulse until you have a uniform mixture.

I transferred this into a large mixing bowl for the next steps because my food processor is impossibly tiny, but if you've got a full-sized one, please continue in there.

Add the egg whites, Amaretto, & extract. If you're not using Amaretto, you don't need to add anything to substitute for it!

I mixed this with an electric hand mixer (Yes, I know. I am ill-equipped for someone who loves to bake.) Mix until it forms a ball.

The recipe tells you to let this sit for 20 minutes, but my oven is hot and my apartment is small, so I'd wait for maybe 5 minutes and proceed. :-)

I used my small disher to scoop out level tablespoons of dough onto my parchment-lined baking sheets. Of course, you can just use spoons.

Bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. At the 10-minute mark, rotate your pans 180 degrees and then swap racks if you're baking two sheets at a time to ensure an even golden color.

Promptly remove them from the oven once golden and let them cool on the parchment. I slid the entire parchment onto the counter to make sure they didn't continue to cook on the hot baking sheet.

They'll be crisp on the outside and chewy in the center.

Farewell John!

Almond Macaroons

6 oz blanched almond, silvered
1-¼ cups sugar, granulated
7 oz almond paste (NOT Marzipan!)
3 egg whites from 3 large eggs
1 tablespoons Amaretto (optional)
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. You can also use silicone baking mats.

Place almonds into the bowl of a food processor and process until roughly chopped. Add the sugar and continue to process until the almonds are finely ground. Crumble in the almond paste and continue to process until the paste is pulverized and you have a fairly uniform mixture.

Add the egg whites, extract, and Amaretto and continue to process until the dough is smooth and begins to form into a ball at the edge of the processor blades.

Remove from the food processor and allow mixture to stand for 20 minutes.

Drop level tablespoons of the mixture onto your prepared parchment paper leaving about 1-½ inches of space between each cookie. You can also use a disher, ice cream scooper, or roll them a bit with your hands.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets top to bottom and 180 degrees during the baking process. The cookies should be golden all over, but not too dark.

Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool completely on the parchment paper. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

TIPS:

1.You must have a food processor to make thise recipe. It's blades are sharp enough to cut through those almonds. A blender would just make almond butter.

2. You could buy whole blanched almonds, but slivered is better so your food processor doesn't have to do so much work.

3. DO NOT skip on the parchment paper or silicone baking mats. You will regret it if you do. The cookies will spread and/or stick and that would very very, very sad.

4. To make them extra fancy-schmancy, a drizzle of dark chocolate would be sublime! (Because I can't leave well enough alone!)

Necklace Board

2009-05-27T08:10:00.000-05:00

I have been on an organization kick lately...cleaning out unwanted/needed clothing and accessories.

I realized that I didn't wear many of my accessories because I just couldn't see any of them!!

I had all my necklaces hanging on a belt hanger. Each hook had several necklaces on it and they always got tangled. Not only that, but it was hanging in between all my clothes in the poor closet lighting.

I had an old French memo board I was about to bring to Goodwill.

But instead, I bought a box of T-pins and cubicle hooks and hung all my necklaces on it!

I am soo happy with it!

After that, I got really crazy and bought this from the Container Store to organize my earrings and bracelets!

Ooh and guess what!! It's two-sided!

LOVE!!

Stuffed Mushrooms

2009-05-26T07:24:00.000-05:00

This past weekend at the grocery store, I was restocking my pantry and picked up some whole wheat plain breadcrumbs. The front of the container had a picture of some delicious-looking stuffed mushrooms...which made me want to make some for dinner, so I did!

Wash a package of mushrooms (about 10 big ones). I don't care what everyone says about not washing mushrooms and to just wipe them with a damp dishtowel. They even have mushroom cleaning brushes, and you know how I feel about uni-taskers! They say if you get them wet, they'll get tough and rubbery and change colors. Well, we're not talking about Mogwai (Gremlins) here, we're talking about mushrooms. Just use them immediately after washing and you'll be just fine. Nuff said.

Pop out the stems and chop 'em up

Get a bowl and add the chopped mushroom stems and 1/2 lb of bulk Italian sausage. I used mild turkey sausage to be on the healthy side, but you can use whatever you've got. You can use breakfast sausage or just plain ground meat, but, if you do, please season it up with Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, garlic and some S&P.

Even though I used Italian sausage, I added some garlic salt and pepper to make sure the mushrooms were well-seasoned.

Grab up a little ball of meat and pack it into each mushroom cap, forming a little mound. Put some breadcrumbs into a shallow dish. I seasoned my plain breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning and garlic salt.

Before you get your hands covered in meat, put a pan on the stove with some olive oil in it and get it to medium-high. If you've used regular Italian sausage or breakfast sausage, skip the oil. There will already be enough fat in the meat filling!

Turn the mushrooms upside down and press them into the breadcrumbs. Then place them, meat side down, into the heated skillet.

Once they're nice and golden brown, turn them over and cook for about 5 minutes.

Transfer them into a 350 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the meat is cooked through.

Serve this with a simple pasta with butter and herbs..maybe a salad...YUMMY!!

These would also make a great appetizer, but maybe use some smaller mushrooms. To go the vegetarian route, you could substitute prepared stuffing for the meat.

Blackberry Cobbler (for two)

2009-05-22T06:28:00.000-05:00

May is the start of blackberry season and they were definitely on sale this past week at the grocery store. I somehow managed to get home with 3 pints of berries!

Here's a recipe that just makes dessert for two...or for one very greedy person.

Start with two tablespoons of butter and melt it in the microwave (about 45 seconds). Don't be like me and put melamine in the microwave. It gets HOT!!

Add 1/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of flour

1/3 cup of milk

Whisk until smooth (a few lumps are okay!). Spray two 8 0z ramekins with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter evenly into ramekins. Toss a handful of [washed] blackberries into each one. I put 7 in each.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on each one

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (Maybe put the ramekins in a baking pan just in case they decide to bubble over)

Let them stand for about 10 minutes before serving

Feel free to serve with whipped cream or ice cream!

Bon appetite!

Blackberry Cobbler (for two)

2 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup of sugar + 2 teaspoons
1/3 cup of flour
1/3 cup of milk
Handful of blackberries

Melt two tablespoons of butter in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Add the sugar, flour and milk and whisk until smooth. Pour evenly into prepared (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) ramekins. Drop the blackberries on top. Sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar on each ramekin. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

You may have noticed the proportion of ingredients...its 1 part flour, 1 part sugar, one part milk, and half part melted butter. You can easily multiply or divide this recipe!! You can also sub in other fruits and berries or even add spices to the filling and/or batter. Have fun!

Mocha Icebox Dessert

2009-05-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...I need to stop with all this icebox stuff. Don't worry, I'll start using my oven again very soon (maybe even tomorrow)!

Here's my last icebox creation for a while...

Start with some coffee in a shallow dish. Dissolve a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee in about a cup of warm water. I added a splash of cold milk for a quicker cool down. I did not sweeten the coffee because the cookies and the pudding mixture are already sweet!

I happened to have a box of Anna's Cappuccino Flavored Thins on hand. I was glad to have found a use for these because they are very unexciting on their own. You can buy these at most grocery stores and even in Ikea because they're Swedish!

I would like to stress how flexible icebox desserts are. You can just use whatever you've got on hand as long as the flavors go well together. You can even use graham crackers!

Quickly dunk them in the coffee mixture and place them down in your dish. And I mean super quick because these are called THINS. They will soak up enough coffee in a millisecond! If some break, that's okay. No one will know.

Drizzle some ganache or chocolate syrup on there too.

Top with dollops of your pudding mixture* and then spread it out evenly.

Again, anything goes. You could have used chocolate pudding mix, or chocolate-flavored whipped topping. You can sprinkle in some instant coffee for an extra mocha boost. Whatever you want!

Also, this was the other half of the pudding mixture from when I made the Boston Cream Pie parfaits for two. You can make dessert for one, or two, or a crowd. It's up to you!

Repeat those three layers (soaked cookies, ganache, pudding) and end with another layer of soaked cookies and ganache.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Enjoy!

*"pudding mixture" means a 1.34 oz pkg of sugar & fat-free instant vanilla pudding made with 2 cups of skim milk and then lightened with half a tub of sugar & fat-free whipped topping...but if you've been reading the last few icebox posts, you'd know that! :-)

Diaper Cake, Baby Boy

2009-05-20T08:05:00.000-05:00

A co-worker asked me to make a diaper cake for a baby shower last weekend. Her specs: Classic & clean, for a boy, NO theme...

Here's what I came up with. Kinda boring, I guess my creativity has been waning...but she liked it!

Icebox Tiramisu

2009-05-12T15:54:00.000-05:00

I make a pretty mean tiramisu from scratch, but considering my current icebox obsession, I thought I'd continue the theme!

Here's what I'd call Quick-and-Dirty Tiramisu.

Microwave 1 cup of water in a mug for 60 seconds. Add 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips:

1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules:

1 heaping teaspoon of sugar substitute:

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract:

1 teaspoon of sweet Marsala:

Place that in the fridge to cool downl.

2 tablespoons of sweet Marsala, then fill it to the 2 cup line with skim milk to make the instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz package):

Lighten the pudding with half a tub of fat-free whipped topping (you know the drill):

Quickly dunk the vanilla wafers in the chilled coffee mixture and place them in a 8x8 square dish. I say quickly because you don't want them to turn into mush. If you've got ladyfingers, by all means, use them. I was just trying to use ingredients I had on hand. Ladyfingers can linger in the liquid for 1-2 seconds, but not the wafers!!

Top with 1/2 of the pudding mixture, more dunked wafers, and the second half of the pudding mixture.

I topped it off with the 9 remaining unbroken wafers in the box and a dusting of unsweetened cocoa powder:

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours (up to overnight). If you used ladyfingers, you'll need to chill it overnight.

This was SUPER DELISH!! It's obviously not real tiramisu, but the flavor and texture is absolutely phenomenal. You can't beat that for something that only took 10 minutes to throw together!! No zabaglione, no mascarpone cheese, no problem!!

Boston Cream Pie Parfaits (for two)

2009-05-11T07:23:00.000-05:00

Now that the weather is so warm and I had success with the Dulce De Leche banana pudding, I have become completely obsessed with icebox cakes/desserts. The concept is basically a cookie, layered with some kind of pudding and/or cream, and when left in the refrigerator; the cookies will soften into a sumptous cake-like texture. One of the most notable icebox cakes being the "Famous Chocolate Icebox Cake", made from Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers.

This morning, I had a terribly unsatisfying Boston Cream Pie flavored fat-free Yoplait yogurt. I decided for dessert, I'd make a tastier version.

Make some vanilla instant pudding (3.4 oz box) with two cups of skim milk.

Lighten the pudding by adding half a tub of fat-free whipped topping:

I know this sounds retarded, but get a big shot glass and fill it with skim milk.

Dunk three vanilla wafers in and place them at the bottom of the glass. They'll be nice and evenly coated with milk...wayyy better than trying to spoon milk over the wafers.

I always keep some chocolate ganache in the fridge (don't ask me why), but if you don't have any, just melt some chocolate or you can use chocolate syrup!

Drizzle some over the wafers:

Top that with some of the pudding mixture:

Repeat...milk-dipped wafers, ganache drizzle, pudding....end with milk-dipped wafers and another drizzle:

By the time you're done just making two, you will have used only half of the pudding mixture. I'm sure I'll come up with another icebox dessert later this week!!

Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours:

Double yummm...

This dessert was AWESOMELY delicious! I will definitely be making this one again and again! I want one right now!!

Dulce De Leche Banana Pudding (for two)

2009-05-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

I am a firm believer in the idea that there is always room for dessert. I get it from my mom who, no matter how full she is, can always have some sweets after dinner.

I had a craving for banana pudding...the kind you'd find at barbecue joints like Rudy's. Layers of vanilla pudding, softened Nilla wafers, and whipped cream...Yummm.

Suddenly, I had a bright idea. I always keep Jell-O Dulce de Leche pudding in the fridge. The awesome thing about this recipe is that you can make as many as you want...just one or six...It's a make-ahead and it's healthy!

Here's my quickie dessert fix:

All the ingredients. Reduced fat vanilla wafers, skim milk, a banana, and two Jell-O sugar-free dulce de leche pudding cups...yes, I buy store brands! haha

Place 3 vanilla wafers in the bottom of the glass. Spoon on a tablespoon or so of milk to moisten the wafers.

Scoop out half of the pudding cup and place it on top of the wafers.

A layer of banana:

Another layer of wafers and milk, then the second half of the pudding cup. Top with more banana, wafers and milk.

Top with fat-free whipped toppping:

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Enjoy!!

I hated this dessert. :-P

Roasted Cauliflower

2009-05-07T12:46:00.000-05:00

I had a head of cauliflower sitting in my fridge. My normal go-to would be a cauliflower curry, but I wanted something different. Last weekend, my sister and I lunched at Fadi's, one of my favorite Mediterranean eateries. I convinced her to try the roasted cauliflower and she really liked it. I know that some other Mediterranean restaurants deep fry their cauliflower, which is also uber-delicious...so golden, crisp, and yummy!

Here is my weeknight take on this awesome side dish:

Turn the cauliflower over and cut off all the leaves and the excess stem. Wash it, pat it dry, and then I use a paring knife to cut off the florets.

Cut them into manageable pieces. The smaller the pieces, the more surface area you'll have for getting it nice and golden.

The cauliflower looked awful lonely, so I sliced up half an onion and threw 'em on there too.

Drizzle olive oil all over it. Don't be shy. Then get in there with your hands and make sure each and every piece of cauliflower and onion is coated.

Generously sprinkle on the kosher/sea salt. Maybe about 1-1/2 tablespoons.

Roast for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Toss it around and then bake for another 15 minutes.

It doesn't beat the deep fried version, but it is certainly delicious and (mostly) nutritious!

Spumoni Cake

2009-05-06T07:42:00.000-05:00

A co-worker of mine was heading back to his home country of Italy and I thought we should have a nice send-off accompanied by cake, of course.

I pondered my options and decided to go for something Italian-ish :-)

Spumoni and tiramisu came to mind, but he is lactose-intolerant, so after a bit of internet browsing, I found many recipes for Spumoni Cake. It sounded tasty and I seem to have a penchant for layered things...

Start by blending the wet ingredients: eggs, oil and sour cream:

Next, the package of instant pudding mix:

Quickly stir in the package of cake mix because the pudding mix will cause the wet ingredients to thicken. I used white cake mix instead of yellow to get better color results. The batter was still yellow because I used whole eggs instead of just whites and the pudding mix was yellowish too.

The batter will be super thick!

Divide the batter into thirds.

In one batch, add coarsely chopped walnuts, almond extract, and green food coloring. I also added a drop of blue to balance out the yellowness of the cake batter.

The next batch gets chopped maraschino cherries (the picture of whole cherries was better!), more almond extract, red food coloring, and any extra juice that came from chopping the drained cherries.

The last batch just got the melted chocolate.

I buttered and floured the bundt pan, even though it was non-stick.

Start with the green layer first, then pink, then end with chocolate. Dollop each layer on and then smooth it out with a rubber spatula.

Smooth out the top layer

Bake, cool, then turn it out onto a plate. The cake was just sitting there naked, begging for a glaze or some kind of topping, so I whipped up some ganache.

That's one cup of cream and 1-1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips. Just heat the cream and pour it over the chips. Let is sit for five minutes and stir. Voila! You've got a bowl of rich am creamy ganache!

The cake was dense, very moist and delicious!

Spumoni Cake

Adapted from Cooks.com

1 pkg. yellow or white cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 c. cooking oil
1 - 8 oz. container of sour cream
1 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding

For batch #1
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
2 to 4 drops green food coloring + 1 to 2 drops blue food coloring
1/2 tsp. almond extract

For batch #2
1 (8 oz.) jar maraschino cherries drained and chopped
2 to 4 drops red food coloring
1/2 tsp. almond extract

For batch #3
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate melted

Prepare yellow cake mix by combining cake mix, eggs, oil, sour cream and dry pudding mix. Beat together 2 minutes at medium speed. Divide batter into 3 bowls. To 1 bowl add walnuts, green food coloring and almond extract. To bowl 2 add drained cherries, red food coloring and almond extract To bowl 3 add melted chocolate. Mix each well. Put green batter into well greased tube or bundt pan, then add pink batter, then chocolate, smoothing out each layer with a rubber spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool, then turn out on cake plate.

Cake Balls aka Cake Truffles aka Cake Bon Bons

2009-05-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! Sorry it took me so long to post this one!

A while back, friend of mine sent me the link to these awesome looking Hello Kitty cake pops made by Bakerella.

I was intrigued.

I kept reading...and reading...and before I knew it, I was way back in the archives of her blog and I was hooked!

Before I delve into the world of cake pops, I thought I'd try it's precursor: the cake ball.

Well, to be honest, the concept of cake balls was really odd to me. To mush up a perfectly yummy cake seemed somewhat blasphemous, but when I read that even Martha Stewart was on board with the cupcake pops, I was sold.

Well, don't knock it 'till you try it! I got rave reviews about these things!

First, bake a cake from a mix. Any flavor will do.

Once it's completely cooled, crumble it up in a bowl with your hands.

Next, dump in a can of frosting. Again, any flavor will do as long as it compliments your cake flavor. I would hold back a few tablespoons. You can always add more, if neeed.

Mix it with a wooden spoon until the frosting is completely absorbed by the cake...wow, that looks like ground pork!

I used my spring-loaded disher to get uniformly sized balls. Then roll those balls between your hands so that the surface smooths out. You will yield about 50.

Put them in the freezer and chill until firm.

Melt some chocolate or white chocolate coating and contemplate the decor.

Drop the chilled balls into the melted coating.

Scoop them up with a spoon and tap it on the side of the bowl so that the excess drips off.

Place on a baking sheet. If you want to decorate them with sprinkles, now is the time to do it. The coating will set up very quickly because the cake balls are cold! If you want to drizzle chocolate or colored coating on top, you can do it later.

I decorated these with spring time in mind!

Pink!

Yellow!

Green!

Blue!

Purple!

Clear sparkling sugar!

I decorated the last batch like truffles using pink-tinted white chocolate to indicate that there was strawberry cake inside.

Fontina Scalloped Potatoes

2009-04-30T07:45:00.000-05:00

I was heading to a pot luck dinner and was tasked with a side dish.

Everyone likes potatoes and cheese! I like this particular recipe because most of the cooking is done on the stove and it's just finished off in the oven.

First, dice up an onion...

Melt the butter and cook the onion in it. Then throw in the thyme (I used dried), garlic (from a jar...shame on me), and S&P.

Peel & slice the potatoes. It says "thick", but I like mine about 1/4" thick.

In the same pot with the sauteed onion mixture, pour in the cream & broth. Then slide the potatoes into the hot tub.

Cover & simmer until potatoes are tender. Then dump all of it into a baking dish. The recipe calls for an 8-inch square dish, but I used a 9 X 13 dish. I like more surface area on the top for maximum browning and crisping...

I was kinda rough with the potatoes as I was dumping it into the dish, so you can see that a lot of the pieces are broken and it looks really ugly, but that's nothing that the cheese can't cover up!

Shred up some fontina cheese. If you can find it already shredded, more power to ya, but I couldn't find any.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake at 425 degrees until golden and bubbly.

Fontina Scalloped Potatoes

Adapted from The Food Channel

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced, pressed, or from a jar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped or 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 1/2 pounds (about 5 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
4 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded (1 cup)...or more...

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the foaming subsides, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Add potatoes, broth and cream and heat to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender (a paring knife can be slipped into and out of a potato slice with some resistence), about 10 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a 9 X 13 baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake until the cream is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Cool slightly before serving.

Diaper Cake, Sports Themed

2009-04-27T07:14:00.000-05:00

A co-worker of mine headed to a baby shower this past weekend, so I finally got a chance to make a diaper cake for a baby boy! Seems like everyone has been having girls lately!

She described the baby's room as being decorated in "Oilers colors"...not Houston Texans colors. haha

Not sew crafty, but I'm getting there.

2009-04-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

I am a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Too many things pique my interest, so I can never focus on any one thing....Gocco printing, amigurumi, cooking, baking, photography, diaper cakes, origami, rubber stamping, embossing, scrapbooking, underwater basket weaving... You name it, I wanna try it...

I have been less than stellar at sewing and I have always wanted to learn the real way to sew instead of just doing a sloppy job out of necessity...

As a birthday gift, a friend signed us up for a beginners sewing class at SewCrafty where we'd be making an apron. No, not an adorable Jessie Steele type of hostess apron, but a utilitarian canvas type of apron...we're talking basics here y'all!!

Brown and blue to match the decor in the apartment!

Hot-glued the buttons on. We were short on time...

Look Ma! I sewed in a STRAIGHT line! Yay!

And I even used a decorative stitch on the machine!

I can't wait to start more sewing projects!! I need my very own sewing machine first...

Asian Coleslaw

2009-04-21T20:05:00.000-05:00

I was heading to a potluck and decided I was way to busy to make anything complicated. I love this coleslaw because it's fresh, crunchy, delicious and you can make it the day before (in fact, you must make it the day before).

First, crumble the ramen noodles in the bottom of the bowl. I used a vegetarian flavor. It's best to crush it while it's still in it's package. Don't pulverize it! Put the seasoning packets to the side.

Next, the broccoli slaw:

Then, the angel hair coleslaw OR you can spend 23 cents on a small head of cabbage and shred it yourself on a mandoline:

Green onions

Slivered almonds

Sunflower kernels

Get a plastic food storage container or a jar and place the oil, vinegar, sugar and both seasoning packets in there. You can change it up with some rice vinegar or sesame oil...

Shake it vigorously until the mixture is combined thoroughly.

Pour the dressing all over the coleslaw. Cover and chill overnight.

Mix just before serving!

Asian Coleslaw

2 pkgs. Ramen Noodles (any flavor)
1 bag Angel Hair Coleslaw Mix
1 Bag Broccoli Slaw Mix
1 bunch green onions
1 cup sunflower kernels
1 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar

Crumble uncooked ramen noodles in the bottom of the bowl. Put both bags of slaw on top. Then the green onions and nuts. Mix the 2 seasoning packets from ramen noodles with oil, vinegar & sugar. Shake in a jar or whisk together in a bowl. Pour the dressing on top. Resist the urge to mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Stir just prior to serving.

I recommend making this in a large, low and wide bowl instead of a deep bowl so that the dressing has a chance to make contact with all of the ingredients instead of sitting at the bottom.

Homemade Neopolitan [Coconut] Sundaes

2009-04-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

Do you remember those Brach's Pick-A-Mix bulk candy bins that they had at all the grocery stores? They still have them at some grocery stores, but you definitely don't see them as often. You could eat a piece of candy and they had a little slot for nickles.

I absolutely love Brach's Neopolitan Sundae...a chewy square of coconutty goodness!

When I saw this recipe for Neopolitan Coconut Strips on Martha Stewart, it looked so easy, I had to give it a try...

Combine the white chocolate (I used chips instead of chopped), condensed milk, butter, salt and vanilla (I used extract instead of vanilla beans) in a sauce pan and cook, while stirring, until smooth. Make sure the heat isn't too high because you could burn the mixture...you don't want to get little brown burnt flecks in your nice white mixture!

While that's cooking, line a 8X8 square pan with plastic wrap. Once the mixture is smooth, take it off the heat and mix in the two types of coconut.

Divide the mixture by three. Add the chocolate to one batch and food coloring to the other, leaving the third batch plain.

The chocolate batch goes on the bottom. Smooth it out with a rubber spatula:

Then dollop the plain batch on top of that and smooth it out evenly:

Lastly, the pink coconut:

They look kinda gross up-close, huh? It yummy though, trust me.

The mixture is really sticky, so it makes it difficult to spread. If I could do it again, I would cut out 8X8 squares of wax paper to lay on top of the mixture and spread it out with my hands. You'd get more uniform layers.

Here's what it looks like when you're done. Chill it for at least two hours.

After it's nice and chilly, you can grab hold of the plastic wrap and lift the whole thing out. Peel off the plastic and plop it onto the cutting board. Trim off the uneven edges. I like to use the giant cleaver I bought at Hong Kong Food Market. It is awesome. I bet you could use it as a machete...

Cut it however you like. The recipe tells you to cut it into strips, but you can cut it into cubes...

See how the layers are uneven? And do you notice the little air pockets? Try the wax paper thing and I think it would look nicer...

I know you're thinking, "Hey, what's up with all this coconut stuff? Butterscotch bark, toasted coconut flan, Neopolitan coconut candy..." Well, I just like it! I will leave you with this:

"I love coconut, because when you think you're done eating coconut, 25 minutes later, a little piece of coconut comes out of the back of your mouth, and then you say, "Hey! It's more coconut!" I think any food with that kind of determination needs a little respect." - John Mayer

Toasted Coconut Flan

2009-04-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

My mom LOVES flan. I wasn't even going to make a dessert for Easter dinner, but at the last minute, while flipping through my numerous recipe print-outs, I came across this recipe.

First, toast the coconut in the oven. Try not to be a gung-ho multi-tasker and end up burning the coconut. If you can smell it, it's probably too late and you've burned it.

While the coconut is toasting, boil then simmer the milk, coconut milk and coconut cream. When the coconut is nice and toasty, throw it into the milk mixture to steep.

If you're good, you could also have been making the caramel during this time. Put the sugar, lemon juice and water into a pan and boil until it's a nice amber color, like this:

I stirred the caramel even though the recipe said not to because I am a rebel.

Pour this caramel into six ramekins. I just used one large round pan (again, the rebel tendencies prevail). The baking time will differ, but I'll mention it later.

WARNING: once you pour this caramel into the pan (especially a metal pan), the pan will be extremely hot. Sugar can heat to a much higher temp than water!!

Whisk the eggs and yolks together in a big bowl.

Strain the milk mixture and whisk it in as well. I did it in thirds because I was afraid of accidentally making coconut scrambled eggs...

It made me kind of sad to strain out all that yummy toasted coconut and just throw it away. I wonder how it would be if I left it in the flan? I'll experiment with that someday...

But I digress...Pour that mixture into the pan (or ramekins) on top of the caramel. Put that pan into a roasting pan. Pour in hot water till it comes up one third of the way up the pan (hot tap water is fine, no need to boil water).

Cover the entire thing with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, if you used ramekins, one hour if you made one big flan!

Let it cool completely. I like to take it out of the water bath and place on a kitchen towel to keep it from carry-over cooking.

The edges will pull away from the pan and you can just invert it onto a plate. Watch out for all that delicious caramel liquid...make sure the plate you are using to invert the flan has a lip, or at least enough volume capacity to contain it...no one likes caramel sauce all over the counter. If you have the time (and patience), chill it in the refrigerator. It's yummy when chilled!

Toasted Coconut Flan from Michael Chiarello

Ingredients

2 cups milk

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup coconut cream

1 cup toasted coconut, recipe follows, or store bought toasted coconut

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoon lemon juice

6 eggs

3 egg yolks

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine milk, coconut milk, and coconut cream in a saucepan. Stir, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 15 minutes until slightly reduced. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Add toasted coconut and infuse for 15 minutes.

To make the caramel: combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a medium saucepot and cook over high heat, without stirring, until it darkens to amber. Pour the caramel evenly into 6 (4-ounce) ramekins and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and the yolks. Strain the milk mixture into the eggs and whisk to combine. Fill each ramekin with this mixture, then place ramekin in roasting pan. Create a water bath by filling the roasting pan 1/3 way with hot water, and cook, covered with foil, for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

To unmold the flan: take a paring knife and run it around the sides of the ramekin to loosen the flan. To help it along, you may also place the ramekin in a shallow bowl with warm water until it comes halfway up the sides for a few seconds. Invert a serving plate on top of the ramekin and flip over to unmold

Corn & Green Chili Casserole

2009-04-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

This has got to be one of my all-time favorite side dishes. It is crispy on top, creamy inside, cheesy, and has a southwestern flair from the green chilies..Yumm...

The recipe:

2 eggs

1 can of creamed corn & 1 can of drained corn kernels

4 oz can of diced green chilies & 8 oz sour cream

1/2 onion, diced & 1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix

1-1/2 C shredded cheddar & 1/2 stick of melted butter

Put it in a 9X13 baking dish or two smaller ones (sprayed with Pam)

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I par-baked this one for only 30 minutes so that I could transport it to my parents and finish it off in their oven before serving.

Enjoy!

Corn & Green Chili Casserole

2 eggs
1 can of creamed corn
1 can of drained corn kernels
4 oz can of diced green chilies
8 oz sour cream
1/2 onion, diced
1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix
1-1/2 C shredded cheddar
1/2 stick of melted butter

Mix all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

You do not have to mix the ingredients in steps. Just throw it all together. You can omit the onions if you're weird about onions, but honestly, you do not taste them. They just add to the over all moist & creamy texture. You can also use other types of shredded cheese...maybe colby, pepperjack, etc...Might also be a good idea to top the casserole with 1/2 C. of cheese...You can't ever have too much cheese.

Easter Dinner

2009-04-13T07:55:00.000-05:00

This year, we wanted to keep Easter dinner really simple since it was just going to be the four of us!

The Menu:

Turducken
Roasted asparagus
Corn casserole
Toasted coconut flan

No, we didn't make the turducken. My sister bought it at the grocery store! I'll start off with posting a pic of this bizarre poultry conglomeration:

Sorry I never got a picture of it before we delved into it...

Many, many more culinary adventures to come...

Easter Treats for Co-Workers

2009-04-09T08:34:00.000-05:00

Easter is just days away and I thought it would be nice to bring in some goodies for the co-workers.

I rummaged through my pantry last night and found that I had all the ingredients for Butterscotch Bark from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and some homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I won't bore you with all the steps of making the chocolate chip cookies, but here they are in their unbaked glory.

If you know me at all, I am a stickler for uniform shapes and sizes. A must have if you're making cookies, truffles, etc are these stainless steel spring-loaded scoops.

Some people looking at this picture are salivating right now over this little ball of dough. I am not a fan of eating raw cookie dough...bleh...

Now, this is what I'm talking about...a Silpat-lined, baking sheet full of warm, gooey, chewy chocolate chip cookies....oh yea...

Come to mama...

Next up, the butterscotch bark. It does seem kind of random that I made this, but I had graham crackers, toasted coconut and pecans...

Toss the toasted coconut with the toasted pecans. I used a combo of chopped pecans and pecan pieces.

Once that mixture is cooled, toss in the chocolate chips. I used a combo of semi-sweet and milk chocolate because what I had left over from the cookies wasn't enough!

Break up the graham crackers and put them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cook the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until smooth and then pour it over the graham crackers. Bake until bubbly...it'll look like this:

It doesn't look very appetizing at this point, so quickly sprinkle that mixture over the top while it's warm and gooey. Press down a little with a rubber spatula.

You might be tempted to touch it right now, but DON'T! The chocolate chips are barely keeping their shape and will melt into an ugly blob at the lightest touch!

Once it's completely cooled, you can break it up:

Packed and ready to go!

Overeating at the Bellagio

2009-04-09T07:46:00.000-05:00

Last month, in honor of me and the BFF's birthdays, we took our annual trip to Las Vegas!!

Now, I can't really show you any pictures save for those in which I took at the glorious Bellagio Buffet. This was our first time eating at a Las Vegas buffet and we were not disappointed.

I only remembered to take pictures of the desserts. Besides, I'm sure you don't want to see my dinner plate stacked with prime rib, on top of Alaskan snow crab legs, on top of rack of lamb, on top of manicotti....I could go on...haha.

The desserts were super delicious and each on its own little plate:

Creme brulee, flan, chocolate and hazelnut mousse cake, chocolate raspberry mousse cake, bread pudding (way in the back of the picture, but insanely delicious!)

A Very Sweet Birthday!

2009-04-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

I LOVE baking and making things for friends, family, and co-workers... but this time, I got to eat TONS of goodies that were made for me!

Banana Bonanza Cake (not pictured, sorry!)
Red Velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting
Tiramisu
...and an incredibly delicious cake from Andre Thierry Tellier

Thanks everyone!! I had an amazing birthday!

Check it out...a tiramisu made with yellow sheet cake! A yummy alternative to lady fingers!

Adorable Orange Birthday Bear!

2009-04-07T10:49:00.000-05:00

Yet another March birthday of a dear friend of mine brought me to Tokyo Cafe in Fort Worth.

This must be the sweetest ending to an awesome birthday dinner! (It also helped that we had green tea ice cream, plum ice cream, red bean ice cream, AND fried bananas!)

I MUST make this! Too cute!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

2009-04-07T10:44:00.000-05:00

Birthdays really bring out the baker in everyone! A very good friend made some super yummy cupcakes, as seen in Martha Stewart Living: Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Thanks so much for letting us be the guinea pigs in your baking experiment! They were awesome! I love your blog and I can't wait to see what you cook next!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-04-06T13:18:00.000-05:00

I know, I am very, very behind on my blogging. Forgive me while I try to catch up!

March was a very busy birthday month! I celebrated at least 7 of them! These were for a co-worker...

Inspired by the delicious Michael Jackson cupcake that I had at Hey Cupcake in Austin...

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I love these foil cupcake liners...you don't have to use a cupcake/muffin pan!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

2009-03-18T07:34:00.000-05:00

Yea, that's right...I said Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies!! The best friend's birthday was coming up and I wanted to bake her something so yummy that she would forget that she was turning 27.

I got the recipe from the Betty Crocker website. I have this Betty Crocker Recipe of the Day gadget on my iGoogle homepage. I LOVE it.

The recipe was so insanely easy...

Make brownie mix and cookie mix as directed on the package.

I buttered the pan and dusted with cocoa powder for anti-sticking insurance!

Drop the cookie dough onto the brownie batter and press it in a little bit. The picture below shows perfect little rows of cookie blobs, but in fact, I still had more cookie dough, so I had to plop it in more randomly...

Let it cool completely. Then put on the icing!!

Cut into squares and ENJOY!

While I was cutting the brownie squares, one of them looked too rectangular, so I was forced to cut off a piece to even it out...and then I was forced to eat it for quality assurance purposes, of course.

Honestly, this was the BEST brownie I have ever eaten. It made me so happy, I was squealing with joy...really....squealing....

Homemade Banh Xeo (Vietnamese crepes)

2009-03-17T07:20:00.000-05:00

The next item on our agenda was Banh Xeo, or Vietnamese crepes.

First, I roasted a pork tenderloin the night before:

We bought a banh xeo mix at the Asian grocery store. Just add water, coconut milk, and chopped green onions. It comes with a packet of turmeric, for color. My mom, of course, would have soaked rice and grind it herself...but we are lazy...

My sister painstakingly shelled and deveined the shrimp and steamed them.

Heat up a big, non-stick skillet and put in a heaping tablespoon of canola oil.

One ladle-full of banh xeo batter into the pan...

A handful of pork tenderloin slices, steamed shrimp, and as much bean sprouts as you like.

As soon as the edges are crisp and the bottom is golden, fold it over the filling and slide out onto a plate!

Serve with leaf lettuce, basil, cilantro, and any other herbs you like (such as dandelion leaves, purple basil, etc)...those are home-grown!!

Don't forget the nuoc mam!

We also like to have some rice paper (banh trang) on the table to wrap it all up and eat, but lettuce wraps alone would be fine!

Enjoy!

Homemade Bo Bia

2009-03-16T20:38:00.000-05:00

My mom is visiting family in Vietnam right now, so my sister got the bright idea of making some authentic Vietnamese cuisine for my dad while my mom was away.

What spurred this idea was my sister's discovery of the Wandering Chopsticks blog. There, you can find a dizzying plethora of Vietnamese recipes and recommendations, all fully documented and photographed!

We adapted the Wandering Chopsticks recipe for Bo Bia, recalling our mom's variations.

- Saute the julienned jicama along with julienned carrots.

- Slice the Chinese sausage crosswise and saute it with the reconstituted dried shrimp, along with a bit of green onions. (They actually make "extra lean" Chinese sausage now! Even a chicken variety too!)

- Spread a little sauce directly onto the rice paper as you wrap it. No need for dipping sauce on the side...for the ultimate street food experience!

- Omit the omelet...there's already enough flavors going on in there...

Here are all the ingredients, ready for assembly.

It helps if you have these stackable plastic thingies for the rice paper...so you can avoid using a bunch of plates:

Everyone loves macro shots...

We added garlic chives for garnish...totally optional.

Yummm...salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy...

Diaper Cake, Jungle Safari

2009-03-03T08:02:00.000-06:00

A co-worker was going to attend a baby shower and asked me to fashion a diaper cake for her. She said the baby's room was decorated in a jungle theme and they didn't know the sex of the baby.

Here's what I came up with!

Here's the final product wrapped in tulle and tied with rafia.

Homemade Oreos and Thin Mints

2009-03-02T08:16:00.000-06:00

I saw this picture in a Food Network newsletter and I knew what I'd be doing this weekend!

The recipe was given by Trois Pommes Bakery in New York. It is definitely a keeper!

Here are some of my observations:

It calls for Dutch process cocoa powder, which isn't sold in regular grocery stores, so I headed over to Whole Foods and picked some up for a hefty $8.99. I figured I shouldn't try to substitute regular cocoa powder and mess up the recipe. Wondering what's the big difference? Here's your answer.

It doesn't say "Dutch Process" on the box. It just says imported from Holland. Here's a picture of what it looks like:

It says to only re-reoll the scraps once, but I did it maybe 3 or 4 times to use up all the dough...no big deal. (Especially since I spent $9 on the cocoa powder!!)

It says the recipe yields 64 cookies or 32 when sandwiched together. I got about 100, probably because of all the re-rolling I did.

I used a 2-inch round cookie cutter like the recipe suggested, but I think a smaller bite-sized one would be better.

I used my linzer cookie cutter set (just the heart) to make decorative imprints in the cookies. Since the cookies don't rise, you can take a lot of creative liberty here. You could use rubber stamps (with not too much detail) or even just prick them with the tines of a fork.

It also says to space them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. This is totally unnecessary since they don't spread. You can just space them 1 centimeter apart!

Here are all the cookies: plain round, imprinted round, and round with fluted edge.

Since Girl Scout cookie season ends on March 29th, I thought this would be a good time to experiment with making Thin Mints. I melted some Andes Mint chips in the microwave and dipped all the ones with a fluted edge.

I sandwiched the rest with the creme filling:

The final product!

They don't really look like the ones in the Food Network picture, but hey, I am really proud of them!!

Austin, Food Dossier

2009-03-01T17:16:00.000-06:00

Whenever I plan a trip, the first thing on my mind is what I want to eat!! Weekends are too short, so we could only hit up a few of the places we wanted to eat at...just another reason to go back to Austin!!

Trudy's - Mexican martini, Queso Especial, Sopapillas de Maiz

This is one of the places I miss most since I moved away from Austin! We were definitely craving a Mexican Martini. I didn't snap any pics here, but the food is amazing and worth the wait.

Flip Happy Crepes - Chicken & Mushroom crepe, the Cuban, french press coffee.

This little trailer on Jessie Street was made famous back in August 2007 when it was on Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I never saw this episode, but I bet they kicked Bobby's butt because those crepes were amazing! (We had to eat in the car because it was so cold outside!!)

Hey Cupcake - 24 Carat (carrot cake with cream cheese icing), Michael Jackson (chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate sprinkles)

This sno-cone stand turned cupcake mecca is located on South Congress. There was a really long line, but for a good reason! The carrot cake was the best I have ever had.

Pluckers - Popeye Dip, Waffle Fries, & wings (Spicy ranch, Caribbean Jerk, Gold Rush, Spicy BBQ)

Another "must" for us when we go to Austin. We went to the original location, which had been completely renovated since we were there last. I don't even eat chicken wings anywhere else because once you've had Pluckers, all others fade in comparison...

Juan in a Million - Don Juan

This place has always been popular among the locals and they've gotten even more of a boost since they were featured on the Food Network's Man vs. Food. This guy tries to beat the record of eating seven Don Juans. I don't think he got close. One is more than enough for me!

Random Brenham gas station - Blue Bell Country Cookie

I know it may sound silly, but I had to stop at a gas station and get one of these. A friend introduced me to these and you can't find these anywhere in the city. You can easily find a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, but not oatmeal cookie. Yummm...I may have to make these at home!

Retirement Party, Part 2

2009-02-25T22:16:00.000-06:00

Not everyone eats sweets and, more importantly, not everyone likes the combo of cupcakes and beer, so I decided to try my hand at making an edible fruit arrangement.

You've probably seen these before...impossibly beautiful, these are elaborate and expensive!

I honestly have no idea how they keep the fruits from being too juicy...

Here is the equipment I used:

Easter grass, a styrofoam cone, a flower pot, bamboo skewers, and small cookie cutters. If you have a crinkle-cut knife or other fruit-carving tools, by all means...go crazy. I also hear that a head of iceburg lettuce would work well instead of styrofoam and Easter grass. You would just have to carve it to fit inside your flower pot.

Cut the Styrofoam cone to size and place (upside down) in the flower pot. You might want to put some grass in the bottom first to stabilize it. Then place some more grass on top and tuck it into the sides.

I just cut cross-sections of canteloupe and honeydew and cut out flowers and circles with cookie-cutters:

A few other tips:

1. Wash the strawberries and remove the leaves, but do not cut off the tops. The less you cut them, the longer they will keep.

2. Keep the strawberries away from the pineapple. Since I used canned pineapple chunks (I got lazy!), the sweeteners might cause the berries to macerate.

3. Thread the skewers in a consistent pattern for a more uniform look.

4. If you're making this ahead, store the kabobs in a large zippered food storage bag lined with paper towel. When you're ready to party, just pull them out and stab into the grass-covered styrofoam.

The final product...Okay, it looks nothing like an Edible Arrangement, but hey, it is edible and it is an arrangement...

Next time...

I would try a "topiary"-style fruit arrangement, using different lengths of skewers and filling in any empty areas with lime leaves or even pandan leaves (or any other non-poisonous greenery). You might need to cover the styrofoam with plastic wrap to keep the fruit from touching the foam since it is not food-safe.

Retirement Party, Part 1

2009-02-24T14:12:00.000-06:00

A good friend from my old stomping grounds was retiring...A good excuse to visit Austin (as if I needed an excuse!).

I was tasked with a celebratory baked good. I decided to go with the classic cupcake and chose lemon with vanilla icing.

I used the large tip from my Williams-Sonoma Mechanical Pastry Bag, and went sans sprinkles.

I made some cupcake picks to spell out "Happy Retirement Wayne!"

First, print out the words onto colored or patterned paper. Be sure to space them out depending on the diameter of your circles. Mine are 1-1/4 inch. It's really handy if you have a circle cutter and self-healing mat and I especially like this one by Fiskars since it is clear and I can center the letters.

Then just tape some toothpicks or fruit skewers to the back! If you're very particular, you could cut out some blank circles and "sandwich" the toothpick in between two circles with double-sided tape.

Final Product..okay, this picture was taken at a bad angle, so it just looks like a jumble of letters!

McGriddles: Unwrapped

2009-02-23T15:08:00.000-06:00

You either hate them or love them, but I'm a part of the latter camp who loves these quirky calorie bombs called McGriddles. Nutritionally unsound, these satisfy the tooth of all those who adore the combo of sweet and salty.

I was perusing Not Martha, when something caught my eye. SplatgirlCreates...McGriddles! My heart went pitter patter as I clicked the link and read the blog. I was a little disappointed with the end appearance and the result of her attempt at making the syrup blobs. I then went on to read many other blogs and the chronicles of those who have tried to conquer this elusive fare.

I was on a mission to make these at home myself and pare down it's uber caloric contents.

Here are my accoutrement:

The first challenge was how to make those glorious little syrup blobs. I once saw a Food Network special about the McGriddle and how they used little syrup candy-looking chips. Obviously, the home cook can't get our greedy little hands on these, so I googled. I found these mini maple chips, but I didn't think that they would work. They looked too creamy.

So I squirted about a tablespoon of regular syrup into a silicone baking cup (for anti-sticking insurance) and popped them into the oven at 250 degrees, just to evaporate some of the water, and hopefully, yield a "syrup candy".

Refrigerate until chilled. Pop them out of the cups and dice (with some pancake mix to reduce stickiness) with a very sharp knife.

The result: little syrup gummies! Kind of like a mini, syrup-flavored Turkish Delight.

I went on to cook the other items...turkey breakfast sausage patties and egg (cholesterol-free, fat-free egg substitute)...using my trusty Ateco round cookie cutter as a mold.

The last step was to cook the pancake buns using the round molds (and lots of Pam) and placing the "syrup gummies" onto the batter just before turning. I poked them down into the batter to prevent them from oozing out onto the pan.

I was delighted to see the results! They looked way better than I imagined.

Assemble (with a slice of processed cheese, of course!) and bon appetite!

Here is an up-close image. You can see the syrup pockets.

We enjoyed these for a lazy Saturday brunch. I would call it a success, although the syrup blobs did not really remain as blobs...they kind of absorbed into the surrounding pancake bun.

Next time, I'll make thinner sausage patties (less like sausage burgers!) and not fuss with perfectly shaped eggs. I'll just make a big thin omelet and cut into pieces. I'll also try another technique for the syrup blobs...maybe mix in some tapioca flour or cornstarch...

Valentine's Day 2009, Part Trois (last one!)

2009-02-18T22:55:00.000-06:00

Project 3: Alfajores

Many of my co-workers are Argentineans. I have also traveled to Argentina for work and I couldn't help but notice the Starbucks-like popularity of these Havanna Cafes. These chic cafes, nestled on every corner in Buenos Aires, peddle rich espressos and delicious confections.

One confection in particular, alfajores, are extremely popular. You can't leave Argentina without a box of these. They are shortbread-like cookies filled with dulce de leche and coated in chocolate, coconut, or meringue. The Havanna variety are wrapped in regal, gold wrappers...Think, the Rolls-Royce of Hostess Ding Dongs.

I tried my hand at making these, with a Valentine's flair, of course.

I used this recipe I found on the net, but any shortbread recipe would do. I would also highly recommend the "semi-homemade" version of making rolled cookies by kneading 1/4 C. of all-purpose flour into one tube of sugar cookie dough. I got that idea from Giada. It yields an ever-so-slightly-cakey cookie that is just sweet enough. Plus, they really keep their shape while baking; no need for spacing them out because they don't spread!

For the dulce de leche, I was fortunate enough to find it in the international foods aisle of my local grocery store, but you can easily make it by boiling a can of condensed milk for hours and hours. Instructions found here.

I dipped them half way in semi-sweet chocolate melted in a double boiler.

Place them on a platter and adorn with wrapped chocolates and watch them disappear!

They were a HUGE hit and even the Argentineans raved about them. I will definitely make these again, maybe with a fluted round cookie cutter next time...

Valentine's Day 2009, Part Deux

2009-02-17T22:19:00.000-06:00

Project 2: Box of Chocolates from design.wash.rinse.repeat

An adorable DIY Valentine gift using Hershey's Nuggets...I used the one with toffee and almonds. Yummm.

I must say that this one was tricky. First, I couldn't figure out how to open a .png file and then I could not figure out how to print it to get the right dimensions. After toying with it a bit, I got some decent results.

I just LOVE the color combo of the gold with pink and orange. It just makes me happy.

With a bit of customization, this would make such a cute wedding favor, but it would be way too much work...

Valentine's Day 2009, Part One

2009-02-17T03:57:00.000-06:00

This year, I decided on some semi-homemade gifts for co-workers and friends. Inspired by a few of my daily blog habits, I grabbed my apron and my exacto knife and went to work.

Project 1: Apple Pie a la Twig & Thistle

I used store-bought pie dough, rolled it out on a floured surface and cut out circles for the little pies using a paring knife...and conveniently, this yogurt container was the perfect size for the pies.

To save time, I used canned apple pie filling. Don't put in too much or you won't be able to close the pie!

Brush on a little egg wash and seal with a fork. Then brush some more all over the pie and prick to let the steam escape.

Make a slew of these adorable pie boxes. It will be handy if you have these tools.

My pies did not look nearly as good as hers, but I was happy with the results. I wrapped the pies in wax paper before inserting into the boxes. Next time, I'll cut out the wax paper squares with my rotary cutter's pinking or scallop blade.

Hello world!

2009-02-11T21:10:00.000-06:00

Hello World. I have jumped back onto the bloging bandwagon after quite a long hiatus in order to document my adventures in:

1. Eating
2. Drinking
3. Being crafty

I hope you enjoy the pics and blogs to come!...(and I hope to keep up with this blog!)