Jean's Almond Shrimp

serves 4

Shrimp:
2 lbs shrimp, deveined and peeled (tails left on if desired)
cornstarch
slivered almonds
oil for frying

Shrimp sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp melted butter
3/4 tsp paprika
3/8 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients for shrimp sauce and mix well. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Heat 1/2-1 inch of oil in pan. Mix cornstarch with warm water until it forms a smooth paste. Dip shrimp in mixture and coat with almonds. Fry both sides in oil until cooked (3-4 minutes). Keep warm on a rack in oven.

Serve shrimp with sauce over rice.

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Well, this is embarrassing...did I really miss posting for the entire year of 2012? I think about this blog all the time--every time I try a new recipe, in fact, which is often. Pinterest has largely eliminated the need for me to post online recipes here. Plus, the food porn is very satisfying.

This recipe is entirely attributed to Jean, the wonderful head of the Chinese kitchen next door. I had tried to emulate her almond shrimp once and failed miserably because I couldn't get the almonds to stick. I asked what her secret was and she told me, "cornstarch!" Lo and behold, it worked wonders. I never really knew why I had a mason jar of it in my cabinet all those years, but now as soon as I discovered a use for it, I've run out.

The shrimp sauce is something I've been searching for for years. I kept looking at the recipes I found online, thinking, "surely this can't be it..." Finally I decided to give one a try. Though I was skeptical at first, my hubby and his very food-happy friend assured me that it was completely authentic-tasting. I guess they're the ones I need to keep happy anyway. =)

Magic Vanilla Ice Cream

serves 4

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 ounce white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

Microwave sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate in large bowl until chocolate melts, stirring halfway, about 30 seconds. Let cool. Stir in vanilla, salt and sour cream.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip heavy cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream into white chocolate mixture until incorporated.

Place in airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks. Serve.

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From NPR. Really good! I successfully made lavender ice cream with this recipe. I attempted to chocolatize it, but it didn't have quite the effect I wanted. I have a few other recipes I'll try involving custard, but this is definitely a keeper because it is quick, easy, and delicious! I used vanilla yogurt in place of the sour cream.

Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins

serves 4

1 lb chicken breasts or tenderloins
2 eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
dried spices to taste (basil, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, parsley...)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter and oil
1 clove garlic, sliced or chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white wine

Brown mushrooms, if desired. This can be done while preparing chicken.

Lightly beat eggs. Mix Parmesan cheese and spices, salt, and pepper. Dry chicken pieces and dip into egg batter and Parmesan coating. Heat butter and oil in a pan until butter is melted and foam subsides. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides. Deglaze pan with wine and add mushrooms. Cook until chicken is done, but do not overcook.

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It's almost too simple! But oh so good.

Almond-Crusted Chicken

serves 8

whole chicken, cut up
2 tbsp dried onions
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/3 cup butter

Heat oven to 375°F. Melt butter. Grind dried onions, garlic powder, almonds, salt, and pepper in food processor until powdery. Dip chicken pieces in butter and coat with almond mixture. Place in a pan and sprinkle excess butter and coating over chicken. Cover loosely and bake for one hour or until done (internal temperature of chicken should be 165°F).

Chicken Chasseur

serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken breasts (approximately 2 lbs)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
6 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp flour
6 tbsp dry vermouth or dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 cup diced or crushed tomatoes, drained
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Season the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook until browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all. Remove. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan.

Add the butter to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium high. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in the vermouth and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, thyme, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices. Reduce the heat; simmer, covered, until the chicken is done, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

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I made this the other day (from a package! shh!) and it was good. I have no idea if this recipe tastes at all like what I made, but it does look yummy. I tend to cook everything in the crock pot, especially since I have a bad habit of drying chicken out on the stove. Someday I'll try this for realz though.

Cranberry Pork Chops

serves 4

4 pork chops
3 carrots, sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 can cranberries
1 cup chicken or beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, flavored or plain
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 onions, sliced (or 8 oz pearl onions)
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
bouquet garni


Brown pork chops in a skillet over medium heat. Place carrots in crock pot. Top with pork and all remaining ingredients except mushrooms. Cook for 4-6 hours on low. Add mushrooms and continue cooking on high for 1 hour. Remove lid to reduce liquid or drain and make gravy.

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Still working on this one...the pork was a little tough last time I did this, probably because I forgot to brown it before cooking it. This is a conglomeration of several recipes, so I'll be tweaking as I return to it. This recipe is great with chicken and beef as well.

Quiche Cups

makes 12

Base:
6 eggs
2 tbsp cream cheese or heavy whipping cream

Veggies:
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach, chopped
1/4 cup diced peppers
1/4 cup diced onions or green onions
1/4 cup diced tomatoes, well drained
1 tbsp minced jalapeño peppers

Other add-ins
1 cup shredded cheese
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup chopped meat
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, parsley, oregano, or other herbs/spices
1 tsp hot pepper sauce

Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with muffin cups. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine eggs and cream cheese or whipping cream in blender and mix until fluffy. Add other ingredients as desired. Pulse blender just until mixed.

Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Egg cups will expand as they cook--to prevent falling, cool in oven with door open.

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Modified from a South Beach Diet recipe. Two favorite combinations so far: cheddar cheese, spinach, green onions, and hot sauce, and spinach, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, and cilantro.

Venison Tenderloin

serves 6

4 pounds venison tenderloin
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Combine the red wine, vinegar, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary in a large ziploc bag and mix well. Put the venison tenderloin into the bag. Close tightly, pressing out as much air as you can. Place meat in the refrigerator to marinate, turning two or three times, for at least 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Remove meat from marinade, and place on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the temperature reaches 150 degrees. Let the roast stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

While the tenderloin roasts, heat marinade in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by 1/3. Remove all but a few tablespoons of the sauce and whisk in 2 tbsp flour. Slowly add the rest of the sauce back in, along with milk or beef broth. Continue to add liquid and reduce until there is about two cups of gravy. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with venison.

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This was my first time ever eating venison, let alone cooking it. The marinade was great (especially the gravy), even though it was quite vinegary. The resident venison expert (my fiancé) was awed at how much better it was than any venison he had eaten before. Perhaps the butter-baste was partially responsible. =)

Considering how dry the meat is, I would probably cook it in a crock pot next time, which would eliminate the need for a marinade. However, it was a very good introduction to venison. Definitely repeatable.

Chicken with Cilantro and Lime

1 whole chicken, 4-5 pounds
or 6-8 drumsticks, breasts, or thighs

Marinade:
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp onion powder or 1 tbsp grated onion
2 tbsp cilantro
1/2 tsp ground chile pepper

If roasting a whole chicken, remove giblets. Rinse chicken inside and out with warm water. Tie chicken with kitchen string if you will be cooking it on the rotisserie.

Mix marinade ingredients in large ziploc bag. Put chicken or pieces in bag and marinate 6-8 hours in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 450. Roast about 15-20 minutes per pound. When done, temperature should be 180 (170 for breasts, thighs, or drumsticks).

Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Quick Lemonade

almost from scratch!

1/2 cup lemon juice
5 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar syrup

Mix, add ice, enjoy on a hot day!

Sugar Syrup

yields 1 1/2 cups syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Mix and heat until sugar dissolves completely. Use in lemonade, teas, and other beverages in which excessive stirring to dissolve sugar is not desired.

Super Chicken Divan

aka One Amazing Cholesterol Trip

1 lb chicken, cubed
2 cups broccoli
2 tbsp butter
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Cook chicken in butter and olive oil. Cut broccoli into 1/2 inch spears. In 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 inch salted water to boiling. Add broccoli. Boil uncovered 5 minutes; drain and keep warm.

In the same saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onions until soft. Add remaining ingredients, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Add chicken pieces. Serve over rice or noodles.

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Sort of based on two Betty Crocker recipes, one for Turkey Divan, one for Chicken Divan. I couldn't decide which one I had more ingredients for, so I just combined them. I got an all-star approval!

Cranberry Meatballs

makes 3-4 dozen

Meatballs:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
2 large eggs
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped

Sauce:
1 can (approx. 15 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 tbsp hot sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Line 2 large baking dishes with nonstick foil or regular foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Heat oven to 325°.

Combine meatball ingredients, blending well. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs and arrange in a single layer in the two prepared baking dishes. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Drain well on paper towels. Put the meatballs in a slow cooker or large saucepan. Combine the sauce ingredients and pour over the meatballs, stirring gently. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. If using a crock pot, cover and cook on low for 2 to 4 hours. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with toothpicks from a slow cooker on low setting or serve warm from a chafing dish.

Holiday Relish

aka Cranberry Sauce

12 oz fresh, frozen, or canned cranberries
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup red wine
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to combine. Keep stirring and bring the ingredients to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer gently until relish thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Garnish with orange rind curls.

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The recipe I was following is from Parade, but I made a few changes, some of which I can't remember, but I think I hit most of them. Judging by the picture at parade.com, the original recipe does produce something more like relish than sauce. Adding some wine (mulled wine if possible) makes it more liquid and adds a rich flavor. Based on what was in our mulled wine, one could probably add cloves and allspice to this sauce, or just add it to the wine and enjoy that while cooking for the holidays! (It does wonderful things to pot roast as well.)

Thanksgiving

Well, the roommates, the bf, and I survived our first Thanksgiving on our own. After three days of shopping and price-comparing, two days of cooking, and a full day of eating (and drinking), we are as fat and happy as stuffed turkeys on December 1st. At least, the turkeys who don't realize that Christmas is right around the corner.

Thanks to Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, and the World Wide Web, we successfully served a 12-pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, gravy, spinach salad with pomegranates, and even champagne punch in a fountain--most of it for the first time and all of it from scratch. Granted, we were a little lopsided in our portions. For instance, we have bowlfuls of salad and green beans left over, but hardly any gravy or stuffing. But thank God we have so many leftovers! Any weight I've lost this semester by eating healthy will be back to visit after this week is over.

I'll post the recipes soon, with modifications and exciting stories. Until then, it's off to bed before racing the Black Friday crowds!

Cucumber Avocado Soup

makes 5 servings

2 pounds soft-skinned cucumbers
6 ounces watercress, arugula, OR cilantro
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small jalapeño pepper (use more if it's very mild)
1 large Haas avocado (7 ounces)
1-2 teaspoons sea salt

Trim the ends off the cucumbers, taste each end, and trim off any bitter part. Cut the cucumbers into cubes. Wash the watercress, remove any heavy stems, and chop it roughly. You should have about 2 cups.

Combine half the cucumbers and most of the lemon juice in the container of a blender or food processor and puree. The cucumbers will soon be a liquid, and you can then easily add the remaining cucumbers, watercress, garlic, and jalapeño. Puree until everything is smooth, working in batches if you need to.

Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, peel the avocado, and cut the flesh into cubes; you should have not quite 1 cup of diced avocado. Add the avocado to the cucumber puree, along with a teaspoon of sea salt, and process again. The mixture will become thicker and creamier. Stir everything together in a bowl and taste. Add more lemon juice and more salt, a bit at a time and stirring thoroughly each time, until the balance feels right to you.

Chill the soup well. Serve it in small bowls, and drizzle each serving with a little olive oil, then scatter a few tomato cubes and croutons on top.

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This is a wonderfully refreshing summer soup--and a great way to eat more raw veggies.

Notes from The Splendid Table: Long, soft-skinned cucumbers, called English, Armenian, or Persian cucumbers, are best for this soup because they can be used with skin and seeds. If they are very large, check for mature seeds and remove them, but a slender cucumber of this type generally has tiny, soft seeds that puree perfectly.

Watercress adds a little bite to the mild cucumber and avocado. Arugula can be used instead, or a bunch of cilantro, but choose one — don't mix the flavors. This recipe is based on proportions for one large avocado and can easily be doubled.

Savory Mushroom Spread

2-3 tablespoons butter
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon shallot, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dry white wine
2 tablespoons pine nuts or almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons sour cream
salt and pepper

Melt butter in skillet. Add mushrooms, shallots and garlic and saute about 6 minutes on med-high heat. Add wine and cook 2 minutes longer. Cool mixture.
Remove to serving bowl and stir in sour cream and nuts. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with baguettes or crackers.

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I started making this before realizing that I didn't have sour cream, so I crushed up the toasted pine nuts and mixed them, along with some heavy cream, into the mixture and kept cooking till it thickened. It's cooling on the stove now, so I haven't tested it on bread or crackers, but my spoon tests (and my nose) tell me that "savory" is the right word for this!

Butternut Squash Soup

with curried apples

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup butter
8 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (about one squash)
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
16-20 oz cream cheese (and/or sour cream)

In a large saucepan, sauté onions in butter until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.


Curried Apples

2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 small tart apple (4 ounce) peeled, cored, and diced

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring vinegar, honey, and curry powder to a boil. Add apple; cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Ladle the soup into warm bowls, add a spoonful of apples, a dollop of sour cream, and sprinkle with mint and cinnamon.

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Soup recipe from AllRecipes.com, curried apple recipe from MarthaStewart.com. This is an amazing recipe! So tasty! I used half a squash to test this recipe out, intending to make some kind of pasta dish with the rest, but my roommates all requested more soup instead!

Pancakes

Betty Crocker's new pancake recipe sucks. Just putting that out there. Instead of using 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda, it calls for 3 freaking tsp baking powder. So what you end up with is a pancake that tastes like baking powder. No thanks, Betty. I'm sticking with my favorite pancakes.

Tips for making great pancakes:

1. Figure out your stove! I've cooked on a gas stove all my life, so this electric beast in my apartment is throwing me for a loop. Mostly because I can't see how much heat is going into my food. On a gas stove, I'd cook pancakes at about medium heat, but on an electric, it's the medium-high side of low. I burned a depressing number of pancakes before figuring that out.

2. Cook for other people. There is nothing more satisfying or appetite-enhancing than seeing the looks of hunger, desire, and sublime bliss on the faces of those you are feeding.

3. Don't make more pancakes at a time than your pan can hold. If you want to cook a lot of pancakes, use a large electric griddle. If you're stuck with a medium-sized pan, believe me, you're better off making one at a time and ending up with beautifully browned rounds. Trying to flip too many pancakes in the same pan always makes a mess. (If you've got the heat right, you should still be able to cook fairly quickly.)

4. Add extras! Raspberries & dark chocolate, strawberries & bananas, strawberries & blueberries, and a strip of bacon are good starters. (If you don't believe in eating a pancake with a strip of bacon laid across the middle, I encourage you to try it.)

5. If you're adding in extras, mix them in with the batter rather than sprinkling them in once the pancake is cooking. This prevents the fruit/chocolate/whatever from burning.

6. Keep the sizes small! I use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. They're easier to flip, quicker to cook, and just look darn cute.

7. Use brown (or extra) sugar, real butter, whole milk, and your favorite flavor/extract when making the batter.

Peach Push-up

1 peach, with the skin removed
1 oz vanilla rum
1/2 oz cream

Blend ingredients, shake with ice, and serve.

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I might try thinning this slightly with orange juice in the future...which would make it more of an in-season fuzzy navel.

Following Betty and Julia

I went with my parents to see Julie and Julia the other night. What a great movie! It was thoroughly enjoyable, and after a summer without any real opportunity to cook, tantalizing and mouthwatering. The next day I went to a local used bookstore and bought a few cookbooks. For years, my mother and grandmother have used their respective editions of Betty Crocker's Cookbook and I have been wanting to get my hands on one ever since. Unable to find an older printing, I came home with the 40th anniversary edition from 1991. It's paperback, but I may take it to Kinko's and have it rebound so it is more durable and lays flat. I also picked up a 1965 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, which Kyle's mother uses, and book of bento recipes. The latter, I confess, is more for eye candy since I don't even know where to find some of the ingredients, much less someone who will eat them.

Then I came home and started scouring Amazon for a 1973 edition of Betty Crocker's Cookbook so I could have one identical to my mother's, only to be interrupted by her handing me a box and saying, "Happy moving out!"

What was in the box but a brand-new 2005 Betty Crocker Cookbook, New Edition! Don't know what the lack of possessive in the title means, but I'll take it anyway. So now I have several cookbooks and finally a few American ones. I would like to get my hands on the Julia Child set, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I can wait.

Inspired by all this reading last night and the fresh, aromatic peaches I found at the farmers' market, I made a Peachsicle (although Kyle also called it a Peach Push-up, which I like better) by pureeing a peach, vanilla rum, and half-and-half. It was yummy. After dinner, I experimented with eggs, trying a Julia Child omelette and toaster-poaching in foil cups and muffin tins. The first omelette I made was near perfect, but I couldn't quite replicate it for breakfast this morning. They were tasty, however.

I'm moving into my apartment at school in a few days, and I am most excited to move into the kitchen. I've been scouring our basement for extra pots pans, and tupperware containers, so I'm well-stocked. I can't wait to start using these cookbooks!

Basil Cream Sauce

makes six servings

2 cups fresh basil leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 ounces pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
pint light cream

In a food processor, combine basil and garlic. Begin processing and pour in olive oil in a thin stream. Process for about 40 seconds, or until mixture begins to emulsify. Add pine nuts and Parmesan, then blend for 1 minute.

Heat cream in a saucepan over low heat until simmering. Pour 1/2 of the hot cream into the processor with basil pesto, and pulse for 20 seconds to incorporate. Pour mixture back into cream, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened.

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From AllRecipes.com. Mom and I made this tonight to go on chicken cooked with mushrooms, tomatoes, and broccoli. It was excellent. I actually used about twice as much cheese, a mixture of parmesan, asiago, and romano. For hors d'oeuvres (so we didn't starve while cooking) we had wheat crackers topped with smoked mozzarella, tomato slices, basil leaves, and drizzled with herb-laden olive oil. To die for!

Beef in Ale Sauce

675 g chuck steak
290 ml brown stock
A little vegetable oil
1 tsp wine vinegar
3 large onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, crushed
A little thyme & nutmeg
2 tsp browned flour
Salt & pepper
290 ml brown ale

Sweat the onions in oil until soft. Cut the beef into large steaks. Brown the beef in a hot pan with very little oil. Turn the beef only when it has gained color. Remove the beef and wash out the pan with water. If it is not burnt, keep it to go with the stock. Add the soft onions to the beef pan, raise the temperature and begin to brown.

Add the garlic and sugar, brown, add the browned flour, let it pick up a bit more color but do not let it burn. Add the ale and boil for two minutes, add the stock and boil again. Add the vinegar (to tenderize) and the thyme, nutmeg and seasoning. Put the meat and juices back into the pan, warm up, transfer to a casserole dish, add a lid and cook in the oven for two hours until the meat is completely soft. Serve with mustard mash & braised red cabbage.

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I haven't actually made this yet; the bf always does the honors. We usually make a double or 1.5x batch, and frequently run out of big enough pans to cook in. The meat always comes out completely tender, no knives needed. It's truly delicious. We serve it with mashed potatoes and a green (asparagus is always a good choice).

Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting

I direct you to Dulcedo, where Dana has posted the recipe along with beautiful photos of sprinkle-laden cupcakes. Thank God for Notre Dame students!

My only addition to her recipe is to fix up some chocolate frosting and mix Bailey's in. Oh, that must be what heaven tastes like!!

Granddad Franklin's Potato Salad

10 white potatoes, still warm
2 medium peppers
2 celery stalks
1 onion
1 large tomato
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp celery seed
4 oz pimentos
1 cup sweet pickle relish

Cut and mix? I haven't made this yet--maybe I'll sit down with Grandma tomorrow and figure some more detailed directions out. She is apparently the only family member (aside from Great-Granddad Franklin himself) who can make this potato salad right.

Scott's Pasta Salad

1 pound pasta
2 heads broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
2 carrots
1 cup chopped chicken
1 red or yellow pepper, chopped and raw
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook and drain pasta. Cut broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in bite-size pieces and steam until tender-crisp. Throw everything except the cheese into a big bowl and mix it up. The hot pasta will take a little of the edge off the raw garlic. Add the cheese last, on top of each serving if you like.

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I haven't tried making this recipe yet, but when I ate it (straight from the Kirner kitchen) for the first time, it was amazing. Now that I've rediscovered the recipe, I will make it soon!

Most Favoritest Pancakes Ever

makes ten four-inch pancakes

1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp melted shortening or salad oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract

Beat egg; add remaining ingredients in order listed and beat with rotary beater until smooth. Grease heated griddle if necessary. To test griddle, sprinkle with a few drops of water. If bubbles skitter around, heat is just right.

Pour batter from tip of large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle. Turn pancakes as soon as they are puffed and full of bubbles but before bubbles break. Bake other side until golden brown.

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This recipe, originally "Favorite Pancakes" from Betty Crocker's Cookbook of 1969, was a staple of my childhood. I changed the white sugar to brown sugar and added almond extract for truly delicious pancakes that are not your typical breakfast fare. With butter and real maple syrup, they are AMAZING.

Chocolate Martini

2 small orange wedges
A little finely grated dark chocolate or a mixture of equal quantities cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar
2 fl. oz. vodka
1 oz. dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids
1 fl. oz heavy cream
Ice cubes

Rub the rim of a well-chilled martini glass with one of the orange wedges. Dip it in the grated chocolate or cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar mixture. Chill the glass and the vodka bottle thoroughly. Put 1 oz. dark chocolate in a small bowl with the cream and microwave on low power until melted. Stir until smooth. Pour the vodka and melted chocolate mix into a cocktail shaker, add plenty of ice cubes, and shake well. Strain into the chocolate-rimmed glass and serve decorated with the second orange wedge.

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Recipe from 500 Cocktails by Wendy Sweetser. I had my first chocolate martini last night and absolutely had to recreate it!! This recipe qualifies as a dining hall friendly because all of the necessary ingredients (except the vodka, of course) can be found at your local cafeteria of choice. I used a mixture of melted dark chocolate (with half-and-half) and chocolate syrup with the vodka and rimmed the glass with chocolate syrup and dark chocolate shavings. Best hint: make too much...and then drink the leftovers!

Crackpot crockery

Hello all! I know I've basically dropped off the face of the earth since September, but here I am again! Still super busy (junior year blahs), but I am cooking again. I came back this semester with a crock pot (or slow cooker) and I'm experimenting with dining hall scraps and other fun concoctions. So far I've made a lot of rice, steamed dumplings and buns, chicken soup, something akin to glutinous rice gruel, sushi, and apple cider using my crock pot. I'm sitting in Angela's room right now and her roommates are getting ready for a party and making chili in their crock pot. Theirs is a normal size; mine is only 1.5 quarts- which is perfect for one person and a few friends.

I hope that I'll be able to write some notes here about what fun stuff I'm making; time is a precious commodity these days. Until then, I leave a link to an NPR story talking about something I happen to be very passionate about:
Pollan: Cut the nutri-hype. Eat real food.
Read it if you want, but listen to the story (top) and the interview (mid-way through), they provide much more detail.

Fall food

Heh, so you may have noticed that I haven't updated in a long while. Back at school life is really busy. And by really busy I mean super busy. I doubt I'll have time to write in here till Christmas, or maybe fall break. I am trying to keep my LJ in the loop though. BUT good news- pumpkins are in season! Adele and I both have our own personal pumpkins to smile at us from our desks. =) Mine will only last until I have time to eat/juice it. Yum!

Harry Potter eats update

I bought lots and lots of jelly beans from Kroger, the candy store, you name it, and finally snagged a little baggie of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (along with a chocolate frog and a wonderball, whee!) which I mixed in the bowl that's been sitting on our table for the past week or two. I think my parents are a little wary of what they might pull out of there, but really, the chance of a vomit or earwax is very slim compared to, say, a root beer or cream soda. There are tons of those, and I personally think the root beer gets kinda icky after too many of them.

I did finally make pumpkin pasties, which were basically mini-turnovers. Really simple (except the folding and sticking dough together) and really yummy! Great snack for anytime.

As far as butterbeer goes...I've tried a few different things, most recently making hard butterscotch (with homemade butter and all) and dissolving the entire batch into a 2-liter of cream soda so that it's all ready-made. That's probably the best method I've found yet, and it's in the fridge already so it's nice and cold when you want it. Actually, the other night I had a terrible time sleeping, and about 3 am I got up to drown my sorrows in comfort food. I heated up a foamy mug of butterbeer and sipped that alongside a plate of cornbread & honey. It was very comforting. I can definitely see myself living off of that next winter the way I lived off of apple cider my freshman year. =)

Oh yes, and I ordered $20 worth of screamin' sour pop rocks from poprockscandy.com...48 little paper tubes of 'em. They're stored in my room along with a few bags of regular fruity ones from Food Lion, two boxes of sour nerds, and crayola gummi frogs to make chocolate frogs with. That ought to tide me over for a while.

Crudo

aka Italian sashimi

I heard on NPR's cooking podcast a few weeks back about crudo, which is raw fish served with (generally) olive oil, lemon or lime juice (or sometimes vinegar), sea salt, and pepper. Their story about it is here, with more details in the audio file. I did some online searching and also found an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about it. It sounded really interesting, so I went to Sake House tonight to get some fish.

I decided to get salmon, tuna, red snapper, and sweet shrimp, and Jenny gave me some spicy tuna as well. I took these home and drizzled them with different flavors, basically following the combinations I found in those articles and a few other places:
tuna + lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, & black pepper
red snapper + lime juice, olive oil, & salt
sweet shrimp (amaebi) + lemon juice, olive oil, salt, & pepper
salmon + herbed bread-dipping oil, salt, & a few drops of lime juice
spicy tuna + sesame oil, soy sauce, sriracha hot sauce, scallions & I think a little lime juice. The spicy tuna itself already had the hot sauce and scallions, along with fish roe and Japanese mayonnaise.

It was all basic, but really good. I think the main attraction with this dish is the blending of really subtle flavors, for which I have no sensitivity. To me it all tasted delicious, but it was nothing more than my love, raw fish, in a different arena with olive oil and citrus juice. I couldn't really taste the salt and pepper until I really piled it on a piece of tuna, which was good and crunchy. I have a feeling that all those italian chefs fighting for a garlic-less culture of subtle shifts in flavor were rolling over in their graves when I did that. What can I say, I like bold flavor.

We (my parents, Michael, and I) ate this with rolled grape leaves and rather large crostini with different cheese and mediterranean spreads. It was quite a different culture at our table tonight. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Avocado: fruit or vegetable?

Notes to remember:

My mom keeps making this great lime chicken, which mostly involves sauteeing chicken breasts in butter, lime juice, and garlic powder. I added avocado to mine, yum!

Also made a really quick avocado smoothie with avocado, milk, and chocolate syrup, all mashed up and dumped in a cup drizzled with more chocolate. If I felt like getting the blender dirty I'd blend it all up with ice, but I'm just too lazy tonight.

I think I'll fix something for John and Betsie on Sunday and leave it in their fridge for them to find when they get hungry (after they fly back from Texas). I'm leaning toward lime chicken with avocado and my favorite fruit salad. I wonder if those two would go together at all...guess I'll try it and find out. Oh, and I'll add some grape tomatoes to the chicken, because there are a thousand of them coming off Betsie's plants. Yeah. We'll see what happens.

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Smoked Salmon and Dill

1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 cup onions, chopped
4 cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 5 cups)
1 8-oz russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 large fresh dill sprigs
6 tbsp fresh dill, minced
1 tsp salt to taste
1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
3 oz smoked salmon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add cucumbers and potato; stir 1 minute. Add broth, dill sprigs, and salt. Increase heat and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cucumbers and potato are tender, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Working in batches, purée soup in food processor until smooth. Return to pot. Cool 15 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup sour cream and 4 tbsp minced dill. Cover and chill until cold, about 4 hours. Serve with a dollop of sour cream in center of each bowl; sprinkle with smoked salmon and remaining minced dill.

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Another excellent recipe from epicurious.com that did not taste at all like I expected. Apparently crème fraîche is like fancier, whippable sour cream. Also take note of the pureeing the soup in BATCHES; I have a bad habit of overfilling my food processor and leaking liquid whatever all over the place. The smoked salmon goes really well with the dill and everything, although if you leave the leftovers mixed together in the refrigerator as I did, the soup sucks all the flavor out of the salmon and you get slices of tasteless, very oddly textured orange stuff instead. Not terrible, but it was surprising.

Hogwarts Sweets

Late as usual! For the Harry Potter premier, I used recipes from britta.com although I just came across this post on yumsugar.com with more cute ideas. I hope to try them all eventually, and I can't wait till pumpkins are in season to try juicing them.

Anyway, I'm not going to post all the recipes individually, but here's what I made (with Ellen's help):

Cauldron cakes - handles kept falling out so I glued them on with chocolate. They were good, but they smash easily.

Licorice wands - red and black with white and dark chocolate. I like the rainbow + sprinkles idea.

Cockroach clusters - I would crush up the chow mein noodles a little more next time or maybe use rice krispies or something. Oh, and I used peanut butter and chocolate chips. They were basically haystacks, but shhh!

Butterbeer - a big hit with Betsie and me, although no one else would try it. I drank all mine cold, but I can't wait till this winter when I can drink it hot and fizzy. Mmmm! Made with homemade butterscotch sauce too! Britta's recipe was really just inspiration since I can neither buy nor leave the house with butterscotch schnapps, and I don't know where to find butterscotch flavoring. Lots of other recipes mix cream soda or root beer (hmm) with butterscotch sauce, so I just did that. Some actually just mixed butterscotch and milk like hot chocolate butterscotch. That sounds good and warm, but I think I would die of sweetness.

Edit: Yesterday I mixed 12 oz of cream soda and about 1.5 oz of butterscotch sauce in a saucepan and heated it (although I couldn't find my hand mixer or egg beater to make it frothy), which was delicious. I can imagine that would be heavenly during the cold winter. Also, drinking it hot kept the butter in the butterscotch from separating like it did when it was cold. That wasn't so bad though; it would make this delicate foam on the top that just melted in your mouth. I also saw a recipe that involved mixing the butter, cream, sugar, and cream soda all together before cooking it. I wonder how that would change the taste/consistency. Whenever I use up all the butterscotch I already have, I'll give that a try.

Acid whizbees - the most interesting creation by far, which I decided must be a mix of acid pops and fizzing whizbees. I couldn't find pop rocks or sour lollipops/hard candy, so I bought shock tarts and sour nerds. I stuck 'em in a double boiler on the stove and experimented with melting- always an adventure! The nerds didn't really melt, so I just crushed them up and mixed them with the shock tarts, which mushed up beautifully. I made them into little balls (which stuck to the waxed paper, but I'll use a candy mold or something next time) and covered them in white chocolate. I thought they would end up like jawbreakers, but they were delightfully soft when I bit into one, and very sour! I mixed the remaining nerds with white and dark swirled chocolate and made little blobs with those, and then coated the rest of the shock tarts in chocolate as well. What can I say, I was getting lazy.

Edit: Betsie informed me that the swirly chocolate with nerds mixed in was the best- and that it was quite a surprise! That, of course, was the point. =) I'm thinking that chocolate with pop rocks and sour nerds, maybe molded into cuter shapes than squashed swirly things will be my best bet for fizzing whizbees. I need to just order a crate of pop rocks. I hope they never stop making them...that would be a very sad day.

I liked the way these last turned out a lot, especially the surprise of the sour center when your mouth thinks it's eating chocolate. Even the nerds aren't sour until you bite down. If I had pop rocks, I'd probably just mix them with chocolate like always and make little blobs. Actually, I would love to do the shock tart center with pop rocks around that or mixed in with the chocolate coating. That would be a surprise!

Sorry, no pictures. Britta's are all better anyway. I was hoping to get some pictures with my friends when they were eating their little goody bags that I packed for them, but no one else seemed quite as excited about them as I was. I should expect that. =p I am going to try pumpkin pasties as soon I feel up to making pie crust (Would you believe that I could not find a single can of pumpkin anywhere I looked?? Insane...) and experiment with cream soda and butterscotch. And maybe some treacle. I was so excited to find out that that's just molasses, although I'm not really sure how I feel about molasses tarts. Or fudge o.O

Thoughts on the movie here. I'm pretty sure there's no spoilers. Also soon I hope I can start on my Marauder's Map. I just need to decide on a few things...such as what I'm making a map of and what random Latin words to scribble all over it. But this isn't food! Must not...corrupt...blog... ^^

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarty Hogwarts, teach us something please!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is coming out tomorrow night! I'm going to see it with some of my friends, and since I keep running into different Hogwarty recipes online, I decided to try some of them. So this morning I made butterscotch sauce for butterbeer and tonight Ellen and I made cauldron cakes, licorice wands, acid sour candy things (sort of a desperate combination of fizzing whizbees and acid pops, and cockroach clusters. I can't wait to sneak them into the theater and give them to everyone. =D I'll post recipes and pictures tomorrow, but I've been neglecting my LJ for way too long. I'm going to give that some love tonight.

another week

My dad made some kind of creamy turkey noodles for dinner tonight. I don't know what all's in it; I was asleep when he made it. But it was really good and I ate most of it, so I just added to what was left for lunch tomorrow. Over angel hair pasta, there's a little turkey etc. left, now mixed with soy sauce omelette and mushrooms and onions sauteed in butter and cream. The bits I had were yummy!

One of my favorite ways to cook eggs (besides soft-boiled) is with a little soy sauce and sesame oil mixed in. It gives it such a nice salty flavor, and it's easy and fits in with lots of other stuff. I also like the tamago omelette that you find with sushi, although I've only made it once. It's sweet and light (when you don't burn it) and seems like it would be a good accompaniment to cold noodles or something.

Fourth of July's this Wednesday. I think we're going to the park with a picnic to watch fireworks. Grandmom's making her father's potato salad (a recipe which has heretofore never been successfully copied by anyone else, although I am going to attempt it), mom's making blueberry muffins, and I'm making paprika fried chicken. I think we'll leave the guys in charge of desserts. ^^ In case you didn't get it, that was red white and blue food. Mmmm, that chicken was so good, I can't wait to have it again!

Chicken with Goat Cheese and Artichoke Hearts

Yay, I get to post my own recipe now! I guess technically I stole it from Bonefish Grill, but I don't remember them putting capers or chives in their dish... =) Let's see if I can remember what I did this time, and hopefully I can go back and figure out some specific measurements at some point.

Cut chicken breast into bite-sized pieces. Melt butter in skillet or pan along with chopped chives and parsley and cook chicken. Deglaze pan with milk or cream, add capers and artichoke hearts and reduce. Top with goat cheese medallions or crumbles.

I confess...I haven't tested the last bit yet, with the cheese. I'll have a verdict after lunch tomorrow. I can see where with the sauce it'd be too much creamy stuff, but I'm hoping if I use it sparingly it'll fly. When I added milk and cream, I also put in some flour because it looked like it was going to be really thin. It was probably quite unnecessary, because I just had to add like another cup of milk to make it liquidy again. I have a hunch that heating and reducing would have worked just fine. I'll make this again at some point and refine. Ooh exciting, I'm a real chef!

I plan to serve this tomorrow with broccoli and fruit salad (made with pineapple, red grapes, blueberries, and strawberries and maybe some wheat thins on the side. I'm meeting John for lunch with this, so I put some extra time into it. As in, I actually planned what I was going to make (colors and everything) before even going to the store. Amazing! I think I'll take the rest of that cucumber soup along as well, it needs to get eaten, and I want to spread the word about it. That recipe will be along very soon, promise.

Engine-Revving Baked Chicken Wings

1 cup hot sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
24 chicken drummettes
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
3/4 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Blue cheese dressing

Stir together hot sauce and garlic salt until blended. Pour over drummettes; cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Melt butter in 15-1/2" x 10-1/2" x 1" pan in oven. Stir together Bisquick mix, onion salt and peppers. Remove chicken from sauce; discard sauce. Coat chicken with Bisquick mixture. Place in single layer in pan.

Bake 25 minutes; turn and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and juice is no longer pink when centers of pieces are cut. Serve with chunky blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.

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I also cooked some potatoes to go along, using cumin and cayenne with a sweet potato, a red potato, and a russet potato. I burn-fried half in a skillet and cooked the rest in our little toaster oven. I never quite managed to make them crispy; I guess you have to deep fry them for that. I cut them into all sorts of fun shapes that mostly fell apart when I cooked them, but there were some hearts and stars and flowers that looked more like H's and even some little potato smilies!

The wings I used were rather large, so it came out more like spicy southern-baked chicken, which was very tasty. My parents were doing the 'kids crowding the kitchen' thing and they couldn't keep their fingers out of the pan once I pulled it out of the oven. =) Guess smell is the best advertising, and they'd been smelling the hot sauce since at least 6.30 this morning. Boy, that'll wake you up.

This isn't the only recipe I'll try for buffalo chicken, but it was a decent one I found at about.com last night that didn't involve deep-frying. Definitely good; I'll get some smaller drummettes next time and try another recipe.

I've been wrapping up their little tupperware bentos (have I done my lock&lock pitch yet?) using colorful bandanas as furoshiki and doing the basic wrap with the extra corner folded in. I used to do the four-tie wrap, but it never comes out looking quite as neat or seems to cover the entire top. Plus, with the basic wrap you can tie the ends again (like in the watermelon wrap) to make a little handle. Kawaii! So I'm going to dig around downstairs or go to Walmart and buy some pretty fabrics to do the same with. I'd like to make some insulated bags so I can keep things hot inside them, but I need to do a little research first.

Chicken With Red Grapes and Mushrooms

in a thyme cream sauce

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup red wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup seedless red grapes, rinsed and dried

Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add chicken breasts. Brown 3 to 5 minutes on both sides until golden. Add mushrooms, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Deglaze pan with wine, making sure to loosen any brown bits from bottom of pan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in cream. Add salt, pepper, and thyme. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover. Reduce cream for 3 minutes, until thickened. Add red grapes, and heat through.

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This is a fantastic dish! I made this for dinner last week and my parents and I nearly died of deliciousness. Even the cold leftovers tasted great. I ended up having to add more grapes because we had way too many they were gone with dinner. This was also a good vocab recipe; I learned what 'deglaze' and 'reduce' meant. =)

I was hoping to find some angel hair pasta to serve this over, but all we had was whole wheat spaghetti. It wasn't bad. At allrecipes.com they suggest bowtie pasta or wide egg noodles. Personally, I think everything worth eating can be eaten with rice, but I try to cater to the Italian in everyone as well. ^^ They also suggest using white wine rather than red and adding garlic, which both also sound wonderful.

Honey Orange Glaze

2 tbsp orange juice
1 cup honey
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Mix and baste preferred meat while baking.

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The recipe uses ham, and that's what I used, but I just grabbed some already sliced from our freezer and oh dear, now it's been so long that I don't remember what I put with it. Must have been carrots...and maybe broccoli too? This is why I should take pictures before I let myself get lazy and wait a week before updating. But whatever I made, it got thumbs up from both parents. =)

Avocado, Tomato, and Corn Salad

makes four servings

1/2 avocado, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup fresh, frozen, or low-sodium corn
1 lime, juiced

Combine and toss. Wow, that was easy.

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The original recipe (from who knows where, my mom sent it to me) didn't say to halve the tomatoes, but I went ahead and did it. After poking around a bit, there's a recipe on foodnetwork.com that does say to do that, and has a fancy dressing with cilantro and olive oil and stuff. Really, the lime juice was just fine. They also added red onion. Meh. I put this in our lunchboxes with some leftover lime chicken my mom made and the vegetable remains from the cow bento. Might've been some flatbread too. Yum!

Mom's Best Butter Cookies

(courtesy of Angela's mother, one of my adopted moms)

1 1/2 cups butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
4 cups flour

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk (whole or half'n'half)
2 tsp light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 400°. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat well. Gradually add flour, mixing to make dough smooth. Roll on flour-sprinkled board, cut into fun shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 14 minutes. Do not chill this dough. For icing, mix milk and sugar first and then add corn syrup. Add corn syrup to thin as needed. Color with paste-type food coloring if possible. Send by multiple dozens to college kids.

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These cookies came to me in a blissful dream during the Easter season (i.e., after Lent) from a rather large suitcase sent by the angel that is Angela's mother. I begged her to consider me part of the family and thus share her recipe with me. She did gladly, and I think most of Salem is better for it. =)

One tip I learned from Brookes (and forgot about until I tried to make a double batch of this stuff and nearly killed my mixer) is that when you're mixing butter, even if it's softened, it really helps to cut it and feed it to the mixer in little pats rather than throwing the whole thing in. Also, don't ever make a double batch of this unless you don't plan on icing them. It just gets to be so much work. After hours of mixing, rolling, baking, and icing, my shoulder was so sore. Plus the whole corn syrup thickening thing gets to be a real annoyance if you're already tired of the cookies.

This dough comes out really really soft, as in, I don't know how you would ever roll and cut it. My grandmother was helping me make cookies this particular Tuesday, and between the two of us we probably added another cup of flour. We also cut them rather thick, which was alright because there were still like a thousand of them. We must have baked six or seven sheets. The icing, on the other hand, was really stiff. Be nice to yourself. Add lots of corn syrup or you will go crazy trying to spread it. It will dry out, I promise. I used regular food colors with no adverse effects. It was so thick that I don't think it would have really mattered what I used. And I have no idea why you're not supposed to chill the dough. I didn't try it.

These cookies are amazing. Make them often, paint them pretty colors, and give them to lots of people. They will get smiles for their appearance and taste- a big hit all around! (They're also fun to play with, if you've been noticing the pictures...)

so much food...

>_< I've fallen behind again...so much food to eat! You'd think that during summer I'd be able to sit down at my computer every day and post something here, but I guess Buffy really takes up more time than I realize. So here I go catching up for the week.

Lots of food and random ingredients sitting around my house. Not only am I buying whatever I need (or might need) for my recipes, my parents are bringing food home whenever they take a fancy. I gotta face it, I'll never get the fridge empty. Ever. =)

Think I'll break these entries up. Got cookies, lime salad, honey orange ham, thyme chicken, and mmmm butter. All were big hits and I have a bunch more that I'm waiting to try out.

Moo bento

Ok guys. Prepare to be amazed.

Because I'm freaking proud of this one.



In case anyone was still wondering...THIS is a bento. Lots of food groups, lots of color, and hopefully cute enough that kids (or parents) will eat their vegetables. =)

Rice underneath as usual, the grass is made from cucumber and zucchini (is that what a julienne is?) with a tomato and carrot flower, orange pepper sun, leftover lime chicken clouds in a (colored) egg white sky and the rather large centerpiece, an egg cow. I mixed in some soy sauce and sesame oil before frying it, and it is delish!

My parents both like putting their bentos in obvious places till they get to lunchtime...I can't wait to hear what people have to say about this. =D