I don’t have a great photo of this one – but it was AMAZING. I bought a jar of pesto at the store the other day – maybe I’ll make my own one day, baby steps – and wanted to try making a cheesy pesto appetizer for Christmas Eve. It turned out really good except that there was an oil slick in the dish. I mopped up most of it with a paper towel. If I had made my own pesto, I would have just cut waaaaay back on the olive oil and it would have been fine.
Baked Brie with Pesto
1 8oz Brie wheel
Pesto
Crackers or Bagel chips for dipping
Preheat oven to 350
Cut the rind off the top of the brie wheel. Top with about 1/4 – 1/2 inch pesto
Bake for 20-30 minutes
Serve with a plain bread or cracker. Something with little to no flavor, as the pesto/brie combo is pretty amazing on its own.
Recently, My bodacious bride and I went to a Tasting Party for a friend selling products from a company called “Tastefully Simple”. While I’ve never heard of the company, they had some pretty tasty stuff.
So needless to say, I got a few sample packs and I think I can recreate some of their dips. When I get them recreated, I will be sure to post them.
One in particular is a Chipotle Dip that will put hair on your chest! I know the ingredients, just not the ratios. If you want to play around with it, the ingredients are as follows: liquified Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce, Mayonaise (Mayo-NAISE!!), and cream cheese.
Didn’t take as many photos this year since the Mister and I spent a quiet holiday at home with our menagerie of furry monsters, but I did manage to get a few shots of the peppermint bark before I packed it up and sent it away. Actually, we have a few more parcels of it in the fridge that I need to find homes for. I wish candy shipped better. Anyway, it was a really simple recipe and I got to smash things with a hammer, which is always fun.
Much happier with the Christmas wreath than the Autumn/Thanksgiving wreath. I think my best results are achieved when I use less ingredients. All I need was a wreath form, some yarn, grosgrain ribbon & a few fake poinsettias.
Despite the kitten in the Christmas tree incidents, I did manage to get some ornaments on the tree for a few days. I made sure they were all kitten-safe, so that we didn’t have any injuries, to the cats or the ornaments. Took ‘em back down as soon as possible, because not only do we have our own little rambunctious kitten to contend with, but his sister is here for a visit. If it’s even possible, she’s more of a terror than he is.
When almost all is well and The Cookery is up and running at full speed, we give gifts for the table at Christmas and all year through. This year, we’ve been on the receiving end of a variety of gifts of food. Thank you friends, family and neighbors, for your spirit and kindness.
www.WebCookingClasses.com this very basic element in your kitchen is against the trend in the next few Cuisine – Gourmet salts. Regular iodized salt and kosher salt can be together for you, but there is a new gourmet salts now in the culinary landscape. As a result of today's Cooking Coarse, wants the online video cooking class, Chef Todd Mohr telling the bloody history of the salt, as salt is made, what impact the color of the salt, why different gourmet salts, unique taste. You'll see red Hawaiian salt…
Happy New Year! It’s almost here. If you’re having a get-together, chances are you’ll be serving some kind of chips/crackers and dip. If you’ve got some garden onions in storage, you can make a fresh dip with them, and skip the dry soup mix. And you don’t have to serve these with potato chips, you can offer fresh veggies, vegetable chips or Lundberg’s Rice Chips, my favorite.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pudding Mix
2 1/2 Cup milk powder
2 ½ Cocoa
5 Cup sugar
3 Cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
Mix before filling jar. Instructions “add 2/3 cup to 2 cup milk, stir til boiling. pour into dishes and cool”
Hot Chocolate Mix
4 Cup milk powder
2 Cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp instant coffee
Mix before filling jar. Instructions “add 1/4 cup to a cup of boiling water, stir and enjoyl”
Chocolate Chip Bikkies Layer into jar
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 ½ cup chocolate chips
2 cup Flour + ½ tsp baking powder + ½ tsp baking soda
Instructions: “empty your bikkie mix into a bowl, add ½ cup butter, 1 egg and a splash of vanilla. Finish mixing with your hands, and roll into balls and place on greased tray. Flatten with a fork, and bake for 12-15 minutes at 180˚C”
image: bakerella
i wish i could say mine look this good, but these are from the beautiful kitchen of bakerella. bakerella has yummy treats to leave out for santa’s reindeer too
more cute things to do with your jars at Meet Me At Mikes
It’s become kind of a pattern now that I say… “Hm, I’m in the mood for such and such. I wonder if AB has a recipe in the book…” and usually, the answer has been yes. On a lazy, late-rising, Saturday morning last week, it was Pancakes.
This one let me knock out two recipes!
The Recipes for:
Semi-Instant Pancake Mix
Semi-Instant Pancakes
We decided to add chocolate and chopped almonds to the pancakes rather than the berries that AB recommended. While I love berry cakes… Ben does not, as much. So we opted for chocolate/ almond, which I have no problem with. For the record. My Gramps always made Blueberry Cakes for us in the mornings when we visited. So, I have a special thing for them. I will make them another time, since I have more Semi-Instant Pancake Mix!
I just don’t know how one can go wrong with pancakes, especially with wonderful things added into them… but, these were a perfect example of pancakes gone very right!
My son told me about his school’s family potluck dinner this week after we had already done the grocery shopping, and I just didn’t want to go shopping again for ingredients, so I went hunting online for a new recipe to try that I already had all the stuff for. I ended up over at Worth Her Salt where I found these simple to make bars that I already had all the ingredients for.
Here are my bars.
Mine are thicker than hers because I used an 11 x 7 inch pan instead of her 9 x 13 and this required a longer cooking time, I think about 40 minutes. I also found that her 2 cups chocolate chips was just a bit too much. I ended up not incorporating all of them into the dough because it seemed really full of chips and there was still a pile of chips left in the bottom of the mixing bowl. So, I’m going with a cup and a half from now on.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Here is my slightly adapted version:
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups (or more if you wish) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 and grease your 11 x 7 baking dish. You can use a 9 x 13 inch dish for more, thinner bars, but adjust the cooking time down about 10 minutes.
Dump the sugars in a large mixing bowl. Melt butter (I use my Pyrex 2 cup measure) in the microwave and pour into the sugars. Mix well, then add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix well again.
Dump in the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix until just combined. Pour in the chocolate chips and fold them in. I always need to use my hands at the end to get the chips all combined.
Take the dough and place it in your greased pan. Use your hands to push it down and spread it out somewhat evenly.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Check frequently near the end. You want to bake just until the center is set.
Remove from the oven. Let cool. Cut into bars with a sharp knife.
These bars received good reviews at the school’s December potluck. They were definitely not the most inventive or impressive looking dish at the party, but they are very rich and tasty, and had a nice texture. Everyone who tried them enjoyed them. I’ll definitely be making these again. They were super easy and I didn’t have to go shopping for the ingredients. My thanks to Lacey at Worth Her Salt.
Healthy eating habits are a must for many people who have special dietary needs, especially those that need to monitor themselves to control diabetes but still want enjoy comfort foods like delicious barbecue. The challenge for persons with diabetes who love barbecue is to find a good qualify barbecue sauce that will satisfy their appetite and not increase the likelihood of increasing sugar levels.
The Center for Disease Control indicates that 28.3 million people in America suffer from some form of diabetes. This is 8% of our countries total population. A substantial number of them love their barbecue but can’t eat it the way they like it because of the high sugar levels in barbecue sauce.
Now there is a barbecue sauce that is completely natural, no sugar and with great taste. Beek, pork, chicken and seafood comes alive with this sauce. The inventor of this sauce just won first place in an NBC TV barbecue contest in the taster’s choice category. Smokin Joe Jones the formulator of several great barbecue sauces says “It’s the barbecue sauce that makes your taste buds dance”. Featured on Amazon.com, the sauces are available throughout the country. They can be reviewed at www.smokinjoejones.com.
Low carb products are in great demand and the eating habits of American consumers will demand more such products in the future.
What’s your take on BarBQ”? According to several food sources, barbecue is one of the top ten trends for the year 201o.
Stay tuned to our barbecue blog. We will post regularly giving tips, trends, thoughts, recipes and opinions on the preparation and cooking of one of Americans favorite foods – BarBQ. Let us know your thoughts. Give us your comments.
So yesterday I finished my first grad school class. I thought it would be more climactic or something… not really sure why, but I did.
I realize that I’ll miss my bus rides to and from class and the interesting conversations I overhear. I won’t miss the cold walk, though. It’s freezing here: -2 degrees during the day. And WHY do I live here again?
Dr. Persuasion inspired me with, among other things, her incredible well-read-ness. I know that is not a word. Literate just didn’t seem grand enough. Every morning she had some article or book or interview to share. Sadly, my bus reading this morning consisted of several cooking magazines to find the dessert I’ll make for a Christmas party on Saturday.
Yule Log with Meringue Mushrooms? No thank you, Martha. I think I’ll go with the Chocolate Candy Cane Cake instead.
During undergrad I remember this profound sense of relief after finals and a total rejection of anything academic — at least for a few days. Give me green spritz cookie dough and an oven. Somehow that made the academic sprint I’d just finished seem like a distant memory.
I really have no justified reason to need a “break”, but I’ll embrace the Chocolate Candy Cane Cake anyway. I just finished my first class of graduate school and that calls for a celebration.
We are having an employee Christmas party tomorrow at SewFlakes. I volunteered to cook the turkey. (Thankfully, Erik will be home tomorrow to watch it as it cooks, while I’m at work.)
About 4:00 this afternoon.
It is 2:15 in the morning, and the turkey is nearly completely thawed. After sitting in cold water for the last 12 hours, it was a close call, but it will be ready to cook in the morning. Yay!
I will wake up early (oh around 8:00am haha), baste it, and get it in the over, and then make the gravy. Everything will be perfect!
In other news, I finally took a (bad) picture of the neck warmer I made for my Grandma’s Christmas gift.
I used lentils in the bag instead of corn. It really works well, and the lentils are smoother than the lumpy corn. The only thing wrong with it is that it smells like cattle feed when you heat it! I will add some lavender essential oil to it before I give it to her. (According to aromatherapy theories it should be relaxing every time she heats it up. We shall see.)
Another thing with using lentils – you don’t have to heat them as long because they get hot quick! 2 – 2 1/2 minutes should due fine for a while.
I will try to post again, later tonight, with the out comes of the turkey, though I’m confident enough to say I’m sure it will be delicious!
To clean the grates of your grill, you can use two different methods. You can burn your grill up to 10 minutes after cooking on it, and then brush with proper grill brush. The other option would be to preheat your grill for 10-15 minutes, then brush your grill grates. The advantage of burning your grill after cooking is having the grill clean and ready to go next time you grill. Always lubricate your cold grill grates with Pam Grill Spray. This will help your food not to stick to the grates. There are different grill brushes for different types of grates. Be sure to ask which the proper brush for your grill is! (Silver for stainless and red for everything else.)
Putting the Oil-Dri under your drip pan will absorb any and all grease dripping from cooked foods. This will help in the ease of cleaning up your drip pan. Using products like kitty litter will affect the flavor of cooked foods due to the scent, and sand will be harder to clean up in the long run.
Using a cleaner and polisher for the outside of your stainless steel grill will prolong the shine of the grill. It will help in removing fingerprints, water spots, streaks, and grease marks. Be sure to wipe stainless with the grain of the steel, buff with clean dry cloth afterwards.
Stainless steel must be cleaned to keep it looking beautiful and to maintain its ability to resist corrosion. The beautiful surface of Stainless steel is protected from corrosion by a thin layer of chromium oxide. Oxygen from the atmosphere combines with the chromium in the stainless steel to form this passive chromium oxide film that protects the Stainless steel surface from further corrosion. When the surface is contaminated by dirt, sand, or other materials, this passivation process is hindered and corrosive agents are trapped, allowing corrosion to occur.
Some form of routine cleaning is necessary to preserve the appearance and integrity of the surface. Stainless steel is easily cleaned by many different methods. The surface will actually thrive with frequent cleaning. Unlike some other materials, it is impossible to “wear out” stainless steel by excessive cleaning.
And finally always keep your grill protected with a grill cover when not in use to help extend its good looks from the elements.
The holidays are here and I have had many requests for homemade gifts from the garden. I like creating gifts from the garden, especially when they’re organic and easy to do. If the only use this mint syrup gets is for placing it in hot or iced-tea, then it’s well worth it. Create a basket with some white rum and a bottle of club soda and you have a little “Mojito Party Basket” as a holiday gift! Mint syrup can be poured over cooked fruit, fresh fruit, ice cream and mixed into recipes that call for simple syrup. The Retro glass jars were purchased at Sur le Table for under $4.00 each. I used “typewriter” FONT to print out homemade labels for the jars. Everyone loves a home-made gift and this one is super yummy and simple to make.
nadia's mint syrup
Making Mint Syrup: Also known as Simple Syrup.
RECIPE:
2 CUPS Granulated Sugar
1 CUP Water
1 CUP Packed Fresh Mint Leaves
2 Tablespoons of Corn Syrup
DIRECTIONS: In a small saucepan heat sugar, corn syrup and water to a slow boil until Sugar is dissolved. Add Mint and remove from heat. Stir for 1 minute. Allow syrup to cool back down to room temperature. Pour Mint Syrup into a bowl through a strainer. Store the syrup in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Syrup will keep for several months.
*makes 2 cups
Thank you for visiting my gardening blog: www.nadiaknows.com
I’m sitting at my desk eating lunch, and as I likely won’t have time to blog this evening, have to tell you about this cup of soup.
Leftover soup.
Leftover split-pea soup.
As stated above, comfort in a cup. It was pretty damn good last night; I think it’s better today. Filling. Warm. The thing you want to be eating when it’s heartrendingly cold outside and next April seems so VERY far away.
Without further ado, the recipe:
1 pound dried split peas
Three carrots, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
8 strips bacon, diced and fried crisp
1/2 cup diced smoked ham
1 tsp dried marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
Fry the bacon until crisp, and remove. Pour off all but 2 tbsp of the bacon grease into the crock you keep on the stove (you DO save your bacon fat, don’t you? You don’t? Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. You freakin’ idiot.), and saute the chopped onion and carrot until soft, about 5 minutes. Add diced ham and give it a quick sear. Add split peas, stock, water and marjoram; add a few grinds of pepper. Cook for an hour, until the peas are starting to soften, and taste; add salt if needed (mine didn’t). Simmer, uncovered, for another hour until peas are mushy. Stir bacon back into soup before serving.
Caveat: This is a little thinner than I’d like. It did thicken up in the fridge overnight, and is about perfect today. Of course, the bacon gets soft after being refrigerated overnight in the soup, but it imparts such a wonderful smoky flavor that you can’t really care.
I went whole hog and brought a slice of sourdough bread and some grated asiago cheese, and made myself a slice of cheese toast to go with it. Can’t beat it.
Headed home before long to finish cooking for the office pot-luck tonight. I have the dates stuffed and wrapped in bacon; they’ll go in the oven about 4:30. I need to make the German potato salad about the same time, so both will still be warm when I get them there. I have a five-pound bag of redskin potatos, and I’m trusting that’ll be sufficient to feed 18 or so adults. It’s not the only potato dish — someone is bringing a hash brown casserole, and damn, I love those things. Plus, I don’t know what all else, except that we’re having brisket and pork loin.
Yea! Getting another homemade garden gift blog entry before Christmas- I just made some vinegar infused with fresh herbs from the garden today and that should give me two weeks to allow the flavors to blend before I give them as gifts.
Use herbed vinegar for salads, veggies and all recipes that list vinegar as an ingredient.
1. Heat a vinegar of choice in a saucepan, but do not boil.
2. Wash and pat dry the fresh herbs.
3. Wash bottles.
4. Use 2-3 Sprigs of herbs per Cup of vinegar.
5. Pour warm vinegar into bottles with herbs.
6. Store in a dark place for 2-3 weeks. This allows the flavors to infuse with the vinegar.
7. Shelf life is up to one year.
* Ideas for single herb bottles or combinations: Basil, Tarragon, Parsley, Dill, Chives, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Lovage, Orange, Lemon or Lime Peel spirals, Lavender Blossoms, Sage, Garlic, Chilies.
Herb Vinegar in photo = Red Wine Vinegar with Rosemary sprigs and Oregano. Rice Vinegar with Rosemary and Oregano.
Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com Create- Grow- Inspire
I tend to buy cook books quite regularly I love going into a bookshop and spending hours browsing books and one section I love is the cookery book section. I buy all sorts of cookery books, some for reference and some simply for pleasure reading. Many of the books sit unused on the shelves after first looking through them and I wonder why I bothered buy them at all. But others cookbooks are invaluable.
Larousse Gastronomique
For guidance there is one book that has the definative answer to any culinary questions I might have and that is ‘Larousse Gastronomique’. It is a tome of a book, the War & Peace of the food world if you will and weighing in at under 3.5 kilos/under 7lbs, and packed with gazzilions of food related stuff that most of us will probably never read in their entirety but still need from time to time. And, if like me, you are a stickler about classic recipes, it is the book you need (smoked chicken in a Caeser salad anyone!). I’d highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in food.
In the Preface: “Fifty years ago, in his preface to the first edition of Larousse Gastronomique Auguste Escoffier wrote: “To undertake the task of writing the history of a country’s food, to set out the changes which, through the centuries, have been made in the way in which it has been presented and served, to describe and comment upon the improvements in its cooking, is equivalent to painting a portrait evoking a country’s whole civilization.” This was an elegantly phrased acknowledgement of the monumental work by Prosper Montagne, assisted by Dr. Gottschalk in the compilation of the historical, scientific and medical sections.”
Larousse is an absolute must in any culinary library.
A Day at elBulli ~ Ferran Adria
Another tome, even larger in physical size but a similar weight to Larousse (over 3.5 kilos/nearly 7lbs) is ‘A Day at elBulli. An insight into the ideas, methods and creativity of Ferran Adria’. It is a magnificent book and I spent ages almost drooling over it when I first got it. This book is beyond fabulous in so many ways and a perfect gift for foodies everywhere.
From the cover “A Day at elBulli: an insight into the ideas, methods and creativity of Ferran Adria is an exclusive look behind the scenes at el Bulli, the best restaurant in the world, and into the mind of Ferran Adria, the most creative chef working today. With 2,000,000 requests for reservations every year and only 8,000 places, it is notoriously difficult to get a table there.”
About elBulli: It is a restaurant run by Ferran Adria and Juli Soler at Cala Montjoi near the town of Roses in the province of Girona, northern Spain. It has been voted ‘Best Restaurant in the World’ four times by an international panel of cheffs and food criticst for Restaurant magazine. (Wine lovers will love this place also ~ they have around 1,600 wines on their wine list). I SO, SO, SO want to go there some day.
This is certainly one of the the most fabulous food and restaurant related books in the world.
Back on earth … more recipe books I like:
Bistro Cooking ~ by Patricia Wells
For anyone who enjoys simple, authentic French cooking, this is the book for you. I first saw it a number of years back when it was the property of a friend of ours who is a chef. I kept on about it for so long he eventually gave the book to me. Perserverence pays.
From the cover:
‘Pack a bistro picnic, lay out a sumptuous bistro buffet, or cook up bistro for an easy and delicious weeknights dinner. For all occasions, Patricia Wells’ ‘Bistro Cooking’ provides the kind of uncomplicated good food that cooks everywhere are rediscovering, with joy.’
Along with the recipes, there’s lots of information on bistros and little bits of information on famous bistros and the chefs who invented various dishes in the book. It’s a great little book to read and enjoy and garner information in a relaxed fashion.
‘Million Menus Cookbook’
This book is published by Hamlyn and is unique in that each ‘page’ of the book is split into three sections: Soups and Starters, Main Course Dishes, and Desserts and Puddings. This means you can browse through all the Soups and Starters, pick one and leave open at that ‘page’. Next you pick a main course and that will be just below your starter menu, and finally a dessert choice which will be open at the bottom of the ‘page’. Effectively, this means you can view your entire three course dinner menu at a glance and without having to earmark pages throughout the book, or worse still have a few books on the worktop ~ and all the fuss that creates when you are in the middle of preparing a dinner party.
From the introduction ‘The Hamlyn All Colour Million Menu Cookbook’ puts extra pleasure into meal planning. Its clever split-page layout makes it easy to choose three-course menus for all occasions: just flip over the different sections to mix and match 300 delicious recipes – 100 each for starters, main courses and desserts.’
All the menus are conscise and very simple to follow and each recipe gives hints and tips either to make the work easier or to learn bits of culinary information which are of benefit.
A Guide to Modern Cookery ~ Auguste Escoffier
This is packed with mountains of information for the cook. A little like the Larousse book but without photographs. From the cover:
“When first published in 1907 A Guide to Modern Cookery was heralded as ‘a culinary education in itself’. Begining with the first principles it explains basic techniques and terminology before givine details of hundres of recipes from many parts of the world’.”
The Complete Cook (published by Hamlyn)
Once again a large book. It is packed with easy to read information and lots of great recipes. Indeed if you wanted to buy just one cookery book, this would be a good choice.
“This comprehensive book is aimed at those who, through a love of food or just simple necesity, want to learn about food and cooking so they can produce family meals or entertain with confidence.”
The recipes are fairly conscise and easy to follow with a great selections of recipes from which to chose.
Leith’s Cookery Bible ~ Prue Leith & Caroline Waldergrave
Like the ‘Complete Cook (above) this would also be a perfect book if one was to buy just one cookery book. Lots of information for the cook including vitamins, healthy eating, methods of cooking, larder ingredients, and even wine. It tells you how to make basic stocks and soups together with bread and cakes and so on. Lots of tasty recipes and a small amount of photos.
“What we have tried to do in this book is to reproduce the style of cooking taught at Leith’s School. Frankly, we threw out recipes, however classic and time-honoured, if the teachers and students did not like the results.”
An excellent book.
The Mafia Cookbook ~ Joseph “Joe Dogs” Iannuzzi
I love this little book. It is packed with snatches of the authors inside and outside ‘The Mob’. As it says on the cover, these recipes have been ‘tested by Mob heavy hitters as wells as FBI agents and US marshals’. So if they stood up to those people, I reckon the recipes are good enough for us too.
More from the cover: “In The Mafia Cookbook, Joe Dogs took the quentessential Mob formula – murder, betrayal, food – and turned it into a bestseller, not suprisingly since Joe Dog’s mixture of authentic Italian recepies and colourful Mafia anecdotes is a much fun to read as it is to cook from.”
A really perfect little cookbook for both it’s great Italian recipes and interesting annecdotes.
Mrs. Beeton cookbooks
I collect these but rarely even open them. Maybe I’m missing things by not doing so but a lot of the recipes and writing are just too old at this stage and from a different era. Along with recipes, other subjects covered include ‘The Housewife’ where one can learn such invaluable information such as ‘Management of Servants’! From that section “Where there is a large staff of servants or a number proportionate to the work that is to be done in the house, there should be no need for the mistress to giva any assistance: her duty should be only to supervise or see that each domestic thoroughly does his or her own work.”.
From the back cover of one of her books: “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his great study of married life entitled “A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus” makes his heroine say “Mrs. Beeton must have been the finest housekeeper in the world. Therefore Mr. Beeton must have been the happiest and most comfortable man.” As I said, from a different era.
Something about the famous Mrs. Beeton that many, including myself until recent times, do not know is that she wrote her cookery books (at least eight books) whilst only in her 20s. I always thought of her as this rounded lady with grey hair tucket into a white cap with her large body wrapped in a large white apron. She actually died at the early age of 28 pueral fever after the birth of her 4th child. But there is still none so famous as Mrs. Beeton.
To conclude. There are so many wonderful cookery books out there and I suppose we cooks all have our favourites. Cutting my down to the shortlist here was a little difficult but not terribly so as I just went for the books I want in my life most. I have others I love, for instance one I bought in Greece a number of years back on Greek cooking. I love that little book simply because it gives authentic recipes rather than Greek cooking recipes that have been changed to suit another market.
It seems it all comes down therefore to the basics: honesty, simplicity and authenticity. Much like cooking.
During a “discussion” with my husband on why I needed three of the same size bowls; pans and etc. in our kitchen, I shouted that cooking is a battle and I need equipment. I really meant to say something a little more creative; but it made him laugh and now he teases me about my ongoing battles.
The more I thought about it the more I realized that cooking for me is a battle. Not so much the act of cooking, which I love very much, but the time to prepare. So this blog is not some self-serving bid to become rich and famous. This is my poor old brains way of saving up the ideas that it took me time to create. When I tell my friends and family what was on the latest cooking spree they always want the info….so here it is.
While trying to scarf down a mountain of a blueberry muffin at about 3am in Miami, FL., I got to share a table with close friends and meet new ones like Verse (Hey Verse!). I had a great debate with his nighttime sunglasses wearing friend over me not performing on demand. It ended with a respect for my personal performance of refusal. I was able to attempt devouring a huge blueberry muffin which the end result is above. Yeah, it won but, the coffee ice cream lost out unlike its nasty iced tea companion. With my left over dessert, I wondered how it came about and now I’m sharing what I found…along with Verse’s video that reminds me of muffins now.
Blueberry muffins can be baked in muffin tins, which have individual cup-like containers to hold the batter. The batter can also be pouring into paper cupcake liners for baking on a cookie sheet, or baked in cast-iron gem pans. Individually wrapped blueberry muffins have become a popular item at specialty coffee shops in the United States.
History 1. Harrieta Van Winkle is often credited with the creation of the blueberry muffin in 1244, to protest the English invasion of Scotland. Although the validity of the claim is not verified, it does place the blueberry muffin center stage in an intriguing tale. Muffins embellished with ingredients like blueberries evolved from small single serving cakes or breads made in the home. In 1703 England the term “moofin” was applied to small cakes or breads. Similar words appeared in other languages. “Moufflet” in French referred to soft bread, and in German small cakes were called “muffen.”
Identification
2. A blueberry muffin is a cupcake sized, single portion quick bread embellished with blueberries. It is typically served as a breakfast bread or as a snack or with hot tea or coffee. Muffins do not use yeast for rising, hence they’re considered “quick” breads, in that they require less preparation time.
Considerations
3. Good muffins have a moist interior and a coarse, rounded top. Their texture should be somewhat crumbly. Beating the batter too much produces a mixture that’s too compact. It’s best to mix the batter just to combine and moisten the ingredients. For the best results, use fresh blueberries and add them near the end of the mixing process.
Features
4. A blueberry muffin recipe typically includes flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, butter, milk and blueberries. If using fresh blueberries, some recipes advise dusting the fresh blueberries before adding to the batter, to reduce the bleeding of the purplish-blue berry coloring. To prevent bleeding when using frozen blueberries, do not thaw prior to adding to batter.
Benefits 5. Blueberries are hailed as having significant health benefits. They contain antioxidants that are believed to help protect the body from negative effects caused by free radicals and diseases which are associated with aging. Blueberries contain vitamin C and E, and phenolics and anthocyanins. Using wild blueberries as opposed to cultivated blueberries can enhance the health benefits, as wild berries contain more powerful antioxidant anthocyanin and show greater antioxidant capacity.
source by Ann Johnson
Recipe for Huge Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup butter , softened 1/2 cup butter , softened
* 1 1/4 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup milk
* 2 cups flour 2 cups flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 cup blueberries 1/2 cup blueberries
* 2 cups blueberries 2 cups blueberries
* to taste extra sugar to taste extra sugar
Instructions
1. You will also need: cupcake papers.
2. Using a mixer cream together in a bowl the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
3. Add the 2 eggs and mix well.
4. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder and add to the above mixture alternately with the milk.
5. Add 1/2 cup blueberries gently by hand.
6. Then add the other 2 cups of blueberries gently by hand.
7. Line a 12 cupcake tin with cupcake papers.
8. Pile the batter right to the top of the papers using all of the batter on these 12 muffins.
9. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minute
Recently, Jeffree himself did a cooking show for Hot Topic. The holiday edition of Stella Can’t cook features Jeffree Star. Jeffree announced this on his status on Facebook.
“good morning.. I’m going a cooking show for Hot Topic in a few hours!! praise Jesus.” Jeffree said Wednesday morning.
Here are some images behind the scenes pictures I managed to find. Click on the image you want to enlarge.
So, the week before Thanksgiving, one of our local supermarkets was running a sale on chuck roasts. Since there are tons of things to do with chuck, Toys got several of them towards the end of the week.
When I got home from work on Saturday totally exhausted, she suggested being lazy and making pot roast. Not our normal weekday pot roast. Nope, we were going to do it old school. All afternoon in the Dutch oven. And it was mighty good. We had a little bit of meat left and a bunch of potatoes carrots and parsnips left.
Along comes Sunday. We needed to get rid of as many of the containers in the fridge as we could, so we could make room for new containers of leftovers. And then the idea started.
We had vegetables. We had meat. We had gravy. And we had pasta sheets from work. Pot roast lasagna! It could be the ultimate in comfort food. And we could make it happen.
First thing was the meat.
There wasn’t enough left to use as meat in the lasagna. But we could use it to make the gravy beefier. In the food processor it goes to be shredded fine.
It then gets stirred into the gravy and left to come to a gentle simmer.
Next, in batches, the vegetables get a few pulses in the food processor, just to make sure that everything is about the same size and consistency.
The vegetables all go into a bowl along with a little fresh thyme from the garden, some salt and pepper, a little Parmesan cheese, an egg and some ricotta. Not a lot of cheese, just enough to hold everything together.
The pasta sheets get cut to the right size.
A pizza cutter is the perfect tool for the job, by the way.
We’re all set to assemble. In the bottom of a deep disposable foil pan, goes some of the gravy.
Then however many pasta sheets you need to cover the bottom of the pan go down.
Next is a layer of the vegetable cheese mixture. Followed by more gravy.
And repeat until you have no more filling left. We got three layers. Before the last pasta sheets went down, Toys had one more idea. The last of the scallions in the fridge got a quick chop and went on the last layer.
To finish it off, we made a bechamel sauce for the top. Lots of people do that for lasagna. And we couldn’t think of a reason we shouldn’t either.
The finished lasagna got covered in foil and put into the freezer. It weighs a lot. And sometime soon, we will be too lazy or too tired to make dinner. And all we’ll have to do is put the frozen lasagna in the oven to be able to enjoy what could be the next hot culinary thing, fusion comfort food.
I’d like to take a moment to honor my obsession adoration of the beautiful Giada De Laurentiis.
Seriously.
The woman can COOK. And she looks like this.
Seriously?!
Who WOULDN’T want to be her!!
(funny side note…4 years ago I worked at an Olive Garden and I can’t even tell you how many old people in at 11 am for soup n salad told me I look like that “beautiful italian girl on that food tv channel”
…
the closest resemblance I bore to Giada is the fact that I was holding italian food in my hands. THATS it.)
OK so anyway, last night our entire meal was Giada inspired. In fact, so was my lunch today (aka leftovers!). Yeah yeah, I’m gonna try to control my love of all things Giada for now. Let’s rewind to lunch yesterday- which, before dinner last night & lunch today, may have been the most delicious lunch I have had in a lonnnng long time.
Mixed greens topped with sprouts, roma tomatoes, cukes, a crumbled slice of center cut bacon, 1/4 of an avocado, some shredded honey roasted deli turkey, and about 1/8 a cup of shredded colby jack cheese. Oh, and a window view of snow falling!
Dressed in the most fabulous guilt free creamy dressing ever – 1/2 tbsp olive oil vinaigrette with 2 tbsp dijon mustard, a tiny splash balsamic and a tiny tiny squirt of honey.
NOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM NOM NOM x 8 thousand!
SO GOOD. WILL be repeated, fo sho.
When I knew I wouldnt be getting home until pretty late (I was in a different office that is a 1.5 hour drive from home, unless you get totally lost in B.F’in NOWHERE, which turns it into a 3 hour drive- not that I’d know !?), I busted out a snack I have been dying to be hungry for-
After coming face to face with 5 “Road ENDS” signs and more dirt road than I knew existed in Northern Michigan (my car currently looks like it was the loser in a mud wrestling match) I busted out Giada and got to work in the kitchen, putting my twist on a recipe from her newest cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen.
Spaghetti with Spicy Sausage, Artichokes & Creamy Peas
Serves 4
1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti
3 links sweet turkey sausage, removed from casings
2. Add sausage & onions. Cook 4-5 minutes, breaking up sausage with your spoon as it browns.
3. Add artichoke hearts & sundried tomatoes. Toss to combine. Push sausage mix to one side of pan and add in thawed peas.
4. Using your spoon/potato masher (or your really cool egg yolk poker!), smash the peas until most of the are mashed. Let a few keep their shape!!
5.Stir in ricotta & pasta water. Season with salt & pepper. Toss with cooked spaghetti! Finito!
On the side, my Giada recipe pt 2 was for her Pane Alla Grillia. This one I followed to a T- substituting this amazing Asiago Roasted Garlic bread made here locally. Check out these wholesome ingredients!
Brushed with EVOO, sprinkled with sea salt, popped under the broiler for a couple minutes on each side. Once out of the oven, rubbed with a garlic clove and a piece of roma tomato. BEST garlic bread EVER.
seriously, I swear I don’t love this so much because it is PINK
Winner, winner Giada dinner!
And that concludes this Giada gush sesh.
Tonight we have big plans- another 7th grade boys home game! Hopefully Coach TJ can bring home win number 3 I hope to get some better pics of the madness that is middle school basketball tonight.
And in lieu of a cute puppy pic, here is a pic of Ashley & Brents adorable cat, Zeke, trying on my sunglasses. Hahaha.
It’s become kind of a pattern now that I say… “Hm, I’m in the mood for such and such. I wonder if AB has a recipe in the book…” and usually, the answer has been yes. On a lazy, late-rising, Saturday morning last week, it was Pancakes.
I just don’t know how one can go wrong with pancakes, especially with wonderful things added into them… but, these were a perfect example of pancakes gone very right!
..no recipe today .. just had a damn good meal tonight thought ide show you all a pic …
. I had a great debate with his nighttime sunglasses wearing friend over me not performing on demand. It ended with a respect for my personal performance of refusal. I was able to attempt devouring a huge blueberry muffin which the end result is above. Yeah, it won but, the coffee ice cream lost out unlike its nasty iced tea companion. With my left over dessert, I wondered how it came about and now I’m sharing what I found…along with Verse’s video that reminds me of muffins now.
1. Harrieta Van Winkle is often credited with the creation of the blueberry muffin in 1244, to protest the English invasion of Scotland. Although the validity of the claim is not verified, it does place the blueberry muffin center stage in an intriguing tale. Muffins embellished with ingredients like blueberries evolved from small single serving cakes or breads made in the home. In 1703 England the term “moofin” was applied to small cakes or breads. Similar words appeared in other languages. “Moufflet” in French referred to soft bread, and in German small cakes were called “muffen.”
5. Blueberries are hailed as having significant health benefits. They contain antioxidants that are believed to help protect the body from negative effects caused by free radicals and diseases which are associated with aging. Blueberries contain vitamin C and E, and phenolics and anthocyanins. Using wild blueberries as opposed to cultivated blueberries can enhance the health benefits, as wild berries contain more powerful antioxidant anthocyanin and show greater antioxidant capacity.
I hope to get some better pics of the madness that is middle school basketball tonight.