Why? Because there creme brulee is to-die-for. In fact, the creme brulee is the sole reason I wanted to go there. But at that point, I wasn't about to increase the total of our check for her benefit, so we decided to leave.
Overall I was quite pleased with the results. Aesthetically, anyhow. Taste-wise, I don't really have anything positive to say. Other than that you can peel it off. And that I eat these ones instead
- Location:Home
- Mood:
accomplished
For dinner, I made buttermilk chicken strips, drenched in yummy panko bread crumbs and fried in way too much hot oil. In terms of sides I made the most AWESOME shallot, gruyere, and potato gratin. I'd link to the recipe, but honestly I have no idea where it came from. It's been in my recipe book for ages. And because I couldn't be bothered with a real veggie, I made some corn on the cob which was surprisingly delicious for this time of year. And 4 for $1.00 -- you can't go wrong.
For dessert, I tried my hand at a new sugar cookie recipe with royal icing. I'm normally a big believer in buttercream, but I wanted to try something new. The decorating wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be, but I suppose it will do for my first attempt.
Overall it was incredibly satisfying, both for the tummy and the head. I love (and miss) cooking. I truly, truly do.
- Location:Home
- Mood:
bouncy
Anyhow, every semester I end my classes with some sort of baked good. I figure, my students put up with me for 16 weeks. The least I can do is make something for them. It helps me relieve stress during finals, and it gives them a little taste of what's in store for them at home over Christmas break (or in the case of Spring semester, summer break). This year I decided on these Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies. ( Read more... )
It was, in fact, quite bland.
So yesterday I went to the grocery store and got stuff to try again. I paid way too much for some super hydroponic, vine-ripe, bright red tomatoes, and this time I ventured more deeply into the pepper selection. My result was still mild, but certainly not bland. And, in my opinion, it came out quite nicely.
( Recipe under the cut )
You guessed it --- My superawesomewonderfulseverelycovetedKitc
Naturally I had to break it in and opted to try this recipe for Lemon Cream Cupcakes. Honestly, they came out...all right. The cupcakes themselves are really dense, almost bordering on dry. The frosting is super super super lemony and is actually a bit nauseating in large doses.
They look damn good though, don't they?
And just because she's super cute,
Mischief. Clearly with a lot on her mind.
- Mood:
lazy
Kristen = ECSTATIC!!!!
Ectatic = nowhere near as excited as I actually am!!!
Talk about a birthday present to me! I just threw down $100 (that I can't really afford) for a factory-reconditioned 5-qt KitchenAid mixer. New it usually sells for about $300, and even reconditioned it's $200. I know it's a little pricey, but I've been DYING to get one of these for yearssssssssss.
http://slickdeals.net/?sduid=39493&t=550
Oh yeah, this totally made my day, week, month, and year!
- Mood: ecstatic
Words cannot express how incredibly happy I am that I did.
In all honesty, I can't really taste the Nutella in the cookies. However, the texture and flavor (surprisingly cinnamony for 1 tsp) are out-of-this-world.
- Mood: lazy
So what do I do? I made chocolate chip cookies today, lol. I found this recipe a few weeks ago but had a hard time finding instant espresso powder. While grocery shopping the other day, it dawned on me that I could probably find espresso beans in those self-serve measure/grind thingies, and sure enough, I did. It wasn't instant espresso powder, but it worked well enough for my purposes.
If you look closely, you can actually see the espresso in the cookie. I ground it up as finely as I could with my food processor, but unfortunately, that was as small as I could get it. Maybe next time I'll try a mortar and pestle to make it even finer. I think that would help the texture quite a bit. Unfortunately, removing it completely from the recipe isn't an option, because it seriously, seriously makes the cookies rockin.
- Mood:
bored
My very first conference paper!!!! Yahhhoooo!!!
- Mood: ecstatic
And sure enough, they did. Their Spinach & Bacon Baked Egg Souffle is absolutely, positively, 100% delectable. While waiting for mine to come up, I overheard a couple of guys talking about the very same item. "Man, this is the only thing worth coming for. But you have to get here early, because they sell out almost immediately. Everyone wants one of these. I hope 4 will be enough." Naturally, this only piqued my interest even more. My expectations were fulfilled 4000-fold when I got home and realized that this was quite possibly the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life.
I shit you not.
The pastry is so buttery and a teensy bit sweet. The egg mixture inside is the perfect balance of creamy goodness. Everything about it is perfect.
Except for the fact that they're nearly impossible to get!! Scott had the day off yesterday, and I convinced him to go pick a few up (he hadn't tried them). He came home with one (because, damnit, they sold out), and he immediately fell for them as quickly as I did.
So, being that I've been on a cooking/baking kick, I decided to try making them myself. I found this recipe and simply subtituted the aritchoke for bacon (though I'm sure the artichoke souffle would've been good too).
( Pictures and details here )
- Mood: full
Here's the finished product:
FINALLY, a success! After my last few attempts, I was beginning to doubt my cooking abilities. I did modify the recipe (following), though, to use up some of the things I had in the refrigerator (and to avoid mayo --- yuck). This one's definitely going into my cookbook, even though Scott's picky tastebuds weren't super fond of them. Bah, what does he know? They were friggin delicious.
( Here's the recipe )
- Mood:
hungry
Today, however, while browsing my friends list, I stumbled upon this recipe for a savory breakfast scone featuring green onion, cheese, and bacon. How can you go wrong with green onion, cheese and bacon? Those are most certainly three of my favorite foods, especially when combined together ::drools over the thought of a heaping loaded baked potato::. This recipe seemed especially appealing as I picked up a fresh bunch of green onions at the Farmers Market on Saturday.
Here's my finished product:
Note that mine were nowhere near as pretty as the Foodie Bride's. Being my first attempt at making scones, though, I'll cut myself a little slack on the appearance. More worrisome, however, was that I'm assuming they didn't taste as good as the Foodie Bride's either. If hers tasted like mine, damn her for posting the recipe!!! Why would you post something that looks oh so wonderfully delicious but that is damned near inedible? As to be expected, they were dry, flavorless, and better suited as dog biscuts than a tasty lunch. All in all, I'd say I was successful in that respect. I was able to reproduce the crappiness of all the scones I've bought in the past.
I will admit that it's *slightly* possible that I overmixed the dough. Since I don't have one of the AWESOME KITCHENAID STAND MIXERS (as mentioned in my last post), I had to cut the butter into the dough by hand using two butter knives. I'm honestly not convinced that was the problem, though, as I did end up having small pea-sized flecks of butter throughout the flour mixture. Maybe I overworked the dough when mixing in the buttermilk? Again, not convinced of that, though, because I did my best to not mix much at all! My conclusion? Scones just suck.
I ended up picking through the damn thing to fish out the bacon bits folded into the dough. The cheese and green onion were a hopeless cause -- practically invisible tastewise.
Sighhhhhhhhh, I knew I should've opted for that loaded baked potato.
for $80 (they typically retail for about $300).I was so ecstatic that I almost tripped over my cat looking for my credit card. Now, I should add that I have been drooling over one of these for the last three or four years. If you're unfamiliar with baking of any sort, you might not fully grasp the wonder that is the KitchenAid stand mixer. I assure you, though, these beasts are multitaskers to the moon! You can knead breads, grind meat, make pasta, whip creams, mix doughs, and a whole host of other things that is much, much more difficult (if not impossible) on lesser machines.
But then, just as I placed the order and received my confirmation email, I woke up. :( I woke up very, very, very sad.
- Mood:
gloomy
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tasty_things (I registered for a paid account for the single purpose of being able to create my own food blog feeds) inspired me to make a homemade gnocchi. I was going for this (note that the picture is stolen from the aforementioned blog): 
What I got instead was just as appealing...visually. Frustratingly, what were supposed to be perfect, mouthsized portions of delectable potato, were, in reality, mouthsized portions of foul, disgusting, and overwhelmingly garlic-infested potato. On a positive note, they were friggin adorable. More adorable than the ones in the picture, even. Unfortunately, we all know that beauty is skin deep. They were so bad that I couldn't even bring myself to make the alfredo sauce I was planning to accompany them. Why waste all the time and effort on a sauce when the gnocchi themselves were more suited for the garbage?
The culprit? 2 TABLESPOONS of garlic powder!!! As soon as I dumped it into the bowl (as the recipe stated, mind you), I knew it was going to be a mistake. I questioned the decision as I was reading the ingredient list but figured that the OP knew what she was doing. After all, her blog makes her look like a culinary master. I'm guessing the OP meant to type 2 TEASPOONS rather than the 2 tablespoons. Had I been a bit more confident in my own judgment and went with my gut instinct, I'm sure my gnocchi would've been infinitely more edible.
Damnit, I even went out and bought a potato ricer to make this dish extra tasty. :(
That being said: I'm totally making these again. Sans 2 tablespoons of garlic powder.
- Mood:
annoyed
Because classes have finally come to a close, I've found myself with an abundance of free time. Granted, I have some papers I still need to write (yeah yeah, I know, it's pretty weak to file for an incomplete, but what can I say? You know I'm lazy), but in general, I have very few time commitments at this point. I do, however, absolutely, positively need to find a summer job. My department has given me a summer stipend of $3000 for doing pretty much nothing, but that's almost half of what I make during the school year. Even then we just barely have enough to pay bills. However, I've convinced myself that I want to write those papers first, because, really, will I feel like writing when I'm working and taking a summer class? Of course not.
Of course, I have made 0% progress on those papers since I abandoned them during finals week.
I have good excuses though! I mean, my house hadn't been properly cleaned since I moved in, so that so -obviously- had to be done first. Piles of cat fur, dirt, and hair lurking in every crook and cranny. It was enough to make a person sick. So almost all of last week was dedicated to moving room-to-room (upstairs, anyway) and giving the house a good detail cleaning. I even moved the couch -- something that hasn't been done in an year.
And clothes. Lord knows I need summer clothes. I literally had one short-sleeved shirt, and it's been consistently 85-90 degrees in this stinkin town. So naturally a couple of days had to be dedicated to buying a summer wardrobe (ahem, ignore the prior discussion suggesting that I should be more careful with money). That's still a work in progress; definitely going to be needing some more shopping.
Finally, during the school year I never have the energy/time to cook. This results in ridiculous amounts of fast food and restaurant take out. Aside from it being horrendously expensive and a nutritional time bomb, the constant take-out saddens me because I love to cook. So, naturally, as soon as the school year ended, I vowed to start cooking. My goal was to address the issues of money, health, and fun all in one.
So, what have I been doing lately? Well, aside from going grocery shopping every day, adding half a dozen food blogs to my favorites, and obsessively scouring sites like www.foodnetwork.com or www.allrecipes.com, I have also attempted to expand my culinary horizons. Over the last week or two I've made several homemade red/meat sauces, some spinach-artichoke dip, homemade chicken stock, several big batches of various chicken soups, various chicken and spinach dinners, and a handful of less time-consuming projects. However, I decided that these efforts were nothing special and certainly nothing above my usual repotoire.
It is therefore my goal to become more upscale/adventurous in my food pursuits. Yesterday I spent the afternoon browsing some european/ethnic markets. I didn't actually buy anything, lol, but my goal was to get an idea of what's out there, so I can start searching for recipes at home. I also found this absolutely fabbbbbbulous bakery and bought a loaf of, quite possibly, the tastiest bread ever. If I was good at taking food pictures (OT: I joined food_porn and am amazed at how fabulous some people are at making their food look positively sinful), I would share the gloriousness of this spectacular bread. They call it "Popeye", presumably because there are little flakes of spinach and other goodness stuffed in every bite.
Leaving the store, bread in hand, I decided I needed something to go with it. So I headed to the local grocery store to peruse their gigantic cheese selection. Sadly, I spent almost $40 on various cheeses (hey, also used to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese I've ever tasted http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/reci
Needless to say, I had one seriously kick-ass sandwich.
Just ignore the fact that it's costing me two or three times more than take out ::babbles::
- Mood:
amused
Unfortunately, I was now left with a freezer and refrigerator of food (and a shitload of chicken) that I had to use up. So, since last night I've made:
Chicken noodle soup (to use up chicken, homemade chicken stock, frozen corn, frozen egg noodles)
A loaf of parmesan oregano bread (to use up frozen rolls)
Two dozen rolls
2 chicken pot pies (to use up chicken, frozen veggies, and chicken stock)
Mashed potatoes (to use butter, and milk)
A potato casserole (to use cheese, butter, sour cream, milk, and bacon)
Chicken and ranch casserole (to use chicken, and sour cream)
Grilled italian and herb chicken (to use chicken)
Left we have two things of polska kielbasa (sp), some more frozen veggies, and a shitload of nasty meat that Scott's Texan-dad sent him for Christmas (and by nasty meat I mean buffalo, elk, and ox). The latter just might end up in the garbage.
::groans:: Now the question is, what do I do with all of this food that I can't put in the refrigerator??? Who knows when they'll be here to install the new one! I have a cooler filled with things like sauces, deli meat, and stuff, but I definitely can't fit in all of the above.
This is definitely NOT how I envisioned spending my Saturday. (But at least I'll have a new refrigerator!!)
It's not like I post anything especially noteworthy or interesting. It's not even like I post that often. But one of my professors scared the hell out of me the other day with several stories about blogs ruining people's lives. So better safe than sorry.
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