Cooking With A Wanna Be Foodie

Baked Custard

2009-12-10T11:43:00.001-08:00

I’m a big fan of pudding and custard, and I’ve always loved flan. I recently found a recipe for a baked custard that looked really easy. It called for 6 personalized sized ramekins, which I don’t have. So instead I used two larger ramekins. To make the custard more like flan, I coated the bottom of each ramekin in brown sugar. It melted and formed something similar to a caramel sauce, yummy! Anyway, if you like custard, give this recipe a shot. It was so easy.

Baked Custard

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated Milk
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
ground nutmeg

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F.
COMBINE eggs, sugar and salt in large mixer bowl. Add evaporated milk, water and vanilla extract; beat until mixed. Pour into six 6-ounce custard cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Place cups in 13 x 9-inch baking pan; fill pan with hot water to 1-inch depth.
BAKE for 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Remove cups to wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
When ready to serve place a plate on the custard cups and quickly flip.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

2009-12-08T14:30:00.001-08:00

I love the taste of Buffalo Wings, but I hate wings. So, whenever I go to Applebee's I always (and I do mean always) get the boneless buffalo wings. Well, recently I was feeling like experimenting, so I found a recipe online for making them myself. Let me tell you, it was worth it. These boneless wings were just as good as the ones at Applebee's, and surprisingly they weren’t that difficult to make. Now the one thing I fudged a little bit on was the sauce, which I just bought at the store instead of making myself. I’ll include the sauce recipe in case anyone wants to give it a shot.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

Ingredients

oil for deep frying
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1/4 cup hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Combine flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and paprika in a large bowl. Whisk together the egg and milk in a small bowl. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg mixture, and then roll in the flour blend. Repeat so that each piece of chicken is double coated. Refrigerate breaded chicken for 20 minutes.
Fry chicken in the hot oil, in batches. Cook until the exterior is nicely browned, and the juices run clear, 5 to 6 minutes a batch.
Combine hot sauce and butter in a small bowl. Microwave sauce on High until melted, 20 to 30 seconds. Pour sauce over the cooked chicken; mix to coat.

Fall Muffins

2009-11-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I've posted courtesy of a road trip that was unexpectedly lengthened. Anyway, I've been meaning to post about these pumpkin and cream cheese muffins for quite a while. They were so good. I definitely would say they can hold their own against the Starbucks muffins. The cream cheese filling, isn't really a filling, but more like a topping. These would be a great Thanksgiving breakfast item! I made these just like the recipe called for from All Recipes. So I'm just going to attach the link. If you make them, enjoy!!!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Cream-Cheese-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Homemade Greek Yogurt

2009-10-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Yogurt is one of those things that you either love or hate. I'm one of those people who love it. I am particularly fond of Greek yogurt. I really like the rich creamy consistency. However, its pretty expensive at the store, so I would rarely purchase it. A couple of months ago I decided I would find out how to make it myself. So I got on my trusty Google search engine and looked up directions. I found directions and decided to go for it. I've been making my own yogurt ever since. I think its pretty easy, but its definitely time consuming. I made a new batch last night; so I thought I would share the recipe for any brave souls who want to give it a try. It is really good with fresh or frozen fruit and honey, or in smoothies. I also use it as a substitute for sour cream or oil in baking.

Ingredients:

1 Gallon of milk (I use 1% milk, I had trouble with skim burning)
1/2 a cup of plain Greek yogurt (the first time you make this you need to purchase a single size serving of Greek yogurt that has live cultures in it. The brands I'm most familiar with are Oikos, Fage, and Chobani. I've tried making it with all three brands and Chobani is my favorite. I bet if you have a Trader Joe's, their Greek yogurt would also work. After making yogurt once, you can just save 1/2 a cup of your homemade yogurt and use it instead of purchasing yogurt.
Candy thermometer (or if you're like me I use my meat thermometer that beeps when you reach the desired temperature)
Saran wrap
A large towel
A colander lined with cheese cloth (I use Bounty paper towels)
A mixing bowl the colander will fit in

Directions:

Pour the milk into a large, heavy bottomed pot. Turn the stove to medium low and bring the milk to 185*. Stir the milk occasionally. Heating the milk like this kills anything that could be lurking in it. I almost always have burned milk in the bottom of the pot and it doesn't affect the taste of the yogurt, so don't freak out if this happens to you.
At this point set out your starter yogurt to warm to room temperature.
When the milk reaches 185* remove from the heat. It needs to cool to 105* You can either let it cool just sitting on the counter or you can quick cool it by putting the pot in the sink with ice water. If you use ice water keep a close eye on it because it cools quite quickly.
Once the milk has cooled to 105* mix in your yogurt starter. Make sure there are no large clumps.
Cover the pot with Saran wrap and wrap the pot in a large towel. Place the milk in the oven, with the oven light on. Let it sit for 10 hours. Any longer than this and it becomes more and more sour.
After 10 hours remove from the oven, the milk should be thickened and there should be a yellowish liquid separated and floating on the top. This is the whey that has separated out. Pour as much of the whey off as you can. Then carefully pour the yogurt into your lined colander. Cover the yogurt with the cheese cloth or paper towels that are sticking out around the edges (if using paper towels you made need to put more paper towels on top) and push as much of the liquid out as you can. Place the colander in the large bowl and put it in the fridge to drip for 2 to 3 hours, or until the yogurt is the consistency you want it.
After the yogurt has reached your desired consistency, transfer it to an airtight container. The yogurt is good for 2 weeks in the fridge.

Spinach and Pea Manicotti

2009-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you don't like vegetables don't be freaked out by the recipe name. This manicotti was really really delicious. I didn't really taste like it was full of veggies. I adapted the recipe from Giada De Laurentiis' swiss chard and sweet pea manicotti recipe that I saw her make on the Food Network (have I mentioned yet how much I love the Food Network?). I used spinach instead of chard, regular ol' frozen peas, and the worst part...I used 2 packages of Knorr Alfredo sauce packages to make the sauce, instead of making it from scratch. Can I just point out that homemade sauce costs a small fortune to make, and this turned out to be a really good substitute. Anyway, here is the recipe. I'll include the sauce recipe too, in case anyone reads this and wants to go to the trouble ;).

Spinach and Pea Manicotti

Ingredients:

12 manicotti or cannelloni pasta shells
12 oz fresh spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3/4 cup frozen petite peas, thawed (I used regular peas)
1 cup shredded mozzarella (4 ounces)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) mozzarella, shredded

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish liberally with butter (or cooking spray like I did).
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Filling:
Using kitchen scissors or a knife, remove the leaves from the stems of the chard. Discard the stems. Chop the leaves into 1-inch pieces. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the chard and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Place the ricotta cheese, peas, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, basil, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cooled chard mixture and blend until smooth. Spoon the mixture into a prepared pastry bag (I used a gallon size Ziploc bag and cut a corner out) and fill each manicotti shell with the filling. Place the stuffed manicotti in the prepared baking dish.

*If you use the packaged sauce like I did just follow the directions on the package, pour over the pasta and cover with the mozzarella. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. If you want to make the sauce yourself here’s the recipe.
Fontina Fonduta Sauce:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 cups (6 ounces) fontina cheese, grated
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions:
In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring milk and cream to a simmer, over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Add the fontina cheese and cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and basil.
Pour the sauce over the stuffed manicotti and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I'm Back...with Chocolate!

2009-10-08T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone in cyberland. Its been a while because I've been out of town, but I'm back and have quite the backlog to catch you up on. Today, I thought I'd go simple. Nothing beats chocolate-in this case-Chocolate Pudding Cake. This recipe actually took a couple of tries. Not because it was difficult, but because the first time I made it I forgot to add the leavening agent. Oops! Anyway, if you want a really good, easy to make, probably have all the ingredients at home chocolate recipe, this is the one for you. Yummy chocolate cake that makes its own pudding sauce!

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups boiling water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C).
2. In a mixing bowl stir together flour, white sugar, cocoa, the baking powder, and salt.

3. Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla with a fork until smooth.
4. Spread batter evenly in a 9x9 pan (batter will be thick).

5. Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa.

6. Pour boiling water over batter.
7. Bake for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes.

8. Spoon into dessert dishes or cut into squares and spoon sauce over each serving. Top with ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

Out of Town

2009-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone has been checking to see if I've added anymore tastiness, I thought I would forewarn you. I'm in St. Louis through the first weekend of October. Therefore, there is a high probability that I won't be adding anything until I get back home. So check back in a couple of weeks and I'm sure I'll be back on a role with some yummy recipes for you!

Baked Chimichanga with Spanish Rice

2009-09-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I last posted, but I haven't stopped cooking. One of the things I made recently was baked chimichangas with Spanish rice. You would never guess that I love Mexican food, huh? For easy, homemade Mexican food it was pretty good. I took a lot of help from frozen veggies and jarred picante sauce. I also used chicken, but you could use any kind of meat you want.

Baked Chimichangas

1 chicken breast, grilled and chopped
2 burrito sized tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup picante sauce
3/4 cup frozen bell pepper and onion blend
1/2 cup refried beans
1/4 cup shredded jack cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 425*
2. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add olive oil and frozen veggies. Cook until the veggies are soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add picante sauce and chicken, mix thoroughly and remove from heat.
4. Spread half of the refried beans on each tortilla-make sure to keep on one side of the tortilla, this makes rolling easier.
5. On top of the beans add half of the cheese, then the chicken, veggie mixture to each.
6. Roll, just like a regular burrito.
7. But the burritos on a greased cookie sheet. Then spray the burritos with non-stick cooking spray. Make sure all sides are sprayed.
8. Put in the oven for 15 minutes.
9. If desired spread picante sauce on top of the chimichangas and sprinkle with cheese. Return them to the oven until the cheese melts. This takes just a minute or two.

Spanish Rice

1 cup white rice, I use basmati
chicken broth, use the about of water that your rice calls for
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup picante sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Heat a skillet to medium heat. Add the olive oil and onion. Saute until the onions are soft.
2. Add the garlic, rice, picante sauce and chicken stock.
3. From this point follow the directions on your rice package. For me this meant bringing the rice to a boil, reducing the heat and covering for 20 minutes.
4. When time is up, remove the did and fluff the rice with a fork.

Mediterranean Tilapia

2009-09-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

I like fish. I used to really like tilapia because of its mild flavor. But then I discovered I really liked different kinds of fish that have more distinctive flavor. So tilapia kind of went to the back shelf because I started to find it bland. All of that changed with this recipe. I found a recipe with these ingredients, but I didn't like the way they cooked the fish, so I drastically changed the recipe. If you have never tried tilapia, Mediterranean tilapia is the way to go!

Mediterranean Tilapia

Ingredients

2 tilapia fillets
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 tablespoons kalamata olive, chopped (I just used regular black olives)
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions

1. In a skillet add the white wine, broth and lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
2. Add the sundried tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic. Then gently slide the fish fillets into the liquid.
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and allow the fish to cook for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the fish and cover.
5. Add the butter and bring liquid up to a boil. Allow to reduce for 5 minutes.
6. Serve over rice.

*I served asparagus along side the fish. I put it in the poaching liquid for two minutes after I removed the fish.

Carne Asada Tacos with Pico de Gallo

2009-09-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is the last recipe before I'm caught up, whew. My mom loves to get carne asada tacos at our favorite Mexican restaurant. So I decided to find a recipe and make them myself. I was really pleased with how they turned out. The recipe is from Tyler Florence, who I like to watch on the food network. I made this exactly like the recipe, so I'm just going to include the link where you can see the recipe and print it off if your interested. I served these tacos with the homemade refried black beans I talked about a few posts back. Happy cooking!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/tacos-carne-asada-recipe/index.html

Here's a picture of these yummy tacos:

Tiramisu

2009-09-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have two more recipes to post to catch up with all of my recent cooking. I'm sure those of you out there in Cyberland who read this blog are just waiting in anticipation for my next post. Wink, Wink! Anyway, my former roomie from school came to visit me for the holiday weekend. Rachel is pretty fond of Tiramisu, and I had never made it before. This was a match made in heaven. It was SO good. The only thing I would caution is to save this recipe for a really special occasion, because a 9x13 pan of this stuff cost over $20 to make!

(This is not a great picture, but its what I had.)

Tiramisu

Ingredients

6 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cups strong espresso, cooled (I just used really strong coffee and it worked just fine)
2 teaspoons dark rum (I didn't have rum, so I added vanilla extract)
24 packaged ladyfingers (if they are the little short ladyfingers, then you need 3 packages)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate shavings, for garnish (I omitted this)

Directions

1. In a large metal bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, put over a pot of boiling water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water) and whisk continuously for 5 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Add mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of espresso and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. In a small shallow dish, add remaining espresso and rum. Dip each ladyfinger into espresso for only 5 seconds. Letting the ladyfingers soak too long will cause them to fall apart. Place the soaked ladyfinger on the bottom of a 13 by 9 inch baking dish, breaking them in half if necessary in order to fit the bottom.
4. Spread evenly 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top with remaining mascarpone mixture.
5. Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder.
6. Cover tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 8 hours.
7. Before serving, sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Tortilla Soup with Baked Tortilla Strips

2009-09-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, on to another one of the recipes I made this week: Tortilla Soup. This was pretty good, although I may keep looking for a recipe I like better.

My favorite part was the tortilla strips. I just couldn't bring myself to fry up the tortillas like the original recipe called for, so I experimented. The recipe for the strips would work really well for chips if you just cut the tortillas into wedges instead of strips.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

1/4 bunch cilantro, well washed (leaves only)
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small can of green chilies
6 cups chicken stock/broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can tomatoes
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in a small amount of water
Corn tortillas (about 5) cut into thin strips
4 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt, pepper, cumin, ground red pepper
1-2 cups cooked chicken (2 oz. per serving)
Monterey Jack cheese (1 oz. per serving)
1-2 avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced
Sour Cream for garnish

Directions:

1. Puree cilantro, garlic, onion, chilies, and tomatoes in a blender or food processor. Heat stock and add pureed mixture, add cumin and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour. Stir dissolved cornstarch into stock.

2. Toss the tortilla strips with the olive oil. Add a dash of salt, pepper, cumin, and ground red pepper. Make sure the tortilla strips are coated evenly. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 12 minutes.

3. Top the soup with tortilla strips, avocados, cheese and sour cream.

Behind on My Posts - Braised Beef Short Ribs

2009-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

It has been several days since I posted and the recipes I have tried are getting numerous. So, while I have a minute I thought I had better post about a couple of the things I have made this past week.

The first thing I need to talk about is Braised Short Ribs. Now, these ribs were so good, but having said this, I think its necessary to point out that they tasted suspiciously like beef stew. So take this recipe for what it is: ribs that taste like really yummy stew. I served the ribs over garlic mashed potatoes.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Ingredients

12 beef short ribs, bone-in
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 750-ml bottle good dry red wine
6 cups beef stock

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Season ribs to taste with the salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed ovenproof pan over high heat. Add ribs and brown on all sides. Work in batches if you need to so that the ribs don't get crowded (this will help with browning).

2. Transfer ribs to a plate. Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pan and sauté, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Pour off excess fat, then add the wine, deglazing the pan, scraping off any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by three-quarters until thick and slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes.

3. Return the ribs to the pan, add the veal stock and enough water to cover the ribs. Bring to a boil, cover with foil, and place in the oven. Braise, cooking in the oven, until the meat is fork-tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Allow the ribs to cool in the liquid, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. The next day, remove the excess fat that has solidified at the top from the overnight chilling. Place the pan with the ribs and cooking liquid over medium heat, uncovered. Cook until the liquid has reduced by three-quarters, about 1 hour. Continue to cook, spooning the sauce over the ribs, until the sauce is thick and ribs are glazed. Take care not to burn the glaze; move the ribs around in the pan to keep them from burning.

Personal Notes:

1. If I make this again, I will probably add 3 or 4 carrots and stalks of celery.

2. I didn't let the sauce reduce enough to make a glaze, instead I added a tablespoon of cornstarch, mixed in cold water to make a gravy at the very end.

Chilaquiles and Homemade Refried Black Beans

2009-09-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Chilaquiles is one of my favorite Mexican dishes. I don't know how else to describe it, except to call it the ultimate Mexican comfort food. Refried black beans are one of those things that I have not minded buying in a can and just heating up. Well, the last time I went to the store, they were out of the refried black beans. This would explain the homemade beans. But now, having made them once, I'm not sure I can ever go back to the canned refried beans again. They were sooo good and incredibly easy to make!

A random bit of trivia: chilaquiles was originally created as a means to use up leftovers.

Chilaquiles

Bag of tortilla chips (if you really want to follow the recipe, you could fry tortillas yourself, but really, why bother!)
5 cans Mexican tomato sauce
1 and 1/2 cups sour cream
1 onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded (I like to use a rotisserie chicken)
16 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1. Preheat the oven to 350* F, grease a 9 x 13 baking dish
2. Heat a skillet to medium, add olive oil and onion. Cook until soft.
3. Combine the Mexican tomato sauce, sour cream, and onion.
4. Line the bottom of the baking dish with chips.
5. Cover chips with 1/3 of the chicken.
6. Next cover with 1/3 of tomato sauce mixture.
7. Add a layer of cheese.
8. Repeat layering.
9. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 45 minutes.
10. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
11. Enjoy!!!

Refried Black Beans

1 can whole back beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt, pepper, cumin, ground red pepper to taste

1. Heat a skillet to medium heat, add oil and garlic, cook for a minute.
2. Add can of beans, including the liquid (if there is not much liquid you may need to add a little water to get the consistency you want)
3. Use a potato masher to smash the beans until they are the consistency you want.
4. Add salt, pepper, cumin, and ground red pepper to suite your taste.
5. Continue to cook until the beans thicken, about 5 minutes.
6. Serve with your favorite Mexican food!

If anyone out their gives this a try, let me know what you think.

Salmon, with Asparagus and Feta Pasta

2009-08-31T16:41:00.001-07:00

Have you ever made a new dish that you thought, "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I've eaten in a really long time!"? That is how I felt after I tasted this pasta dish: Asparagus and Feta Pasta. It is slightly adapted from the recipe in New Vegetarian Cuisine. The salmon was really good too, but I would have been perfectly happy without it. I'm sure if you just have to have meat it would be good with chicken or steak as well.

Anyway...if your reading this, asparagus and feta pasta is a must try. I'm sure I will be making it many more times!

Asparagus and Feta Pasta

Serves 3-4

10 sun dried tomatoes

1 cup boiling water

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

4 ounces feta cheese, cubed

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained

2 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp black pepper

3 cups whole wheat penne

20 thin asparagus spears, cut into 2" pieces

1. In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes and water. Let stand for 2 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.

2. Transfer the tomatoes and reserved liquid to a food processor. Add the parsley and process until coarsely chopped.

3. Put the feta in a bowl; add the vinegar oil, capers, oregano and pepper. Stir in the tomato mixture.

4. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Add the asparagus in the last minute to parboil it. Drain.

5. Transfer the pasta and asparagus to the serving bowl. Toss with the tomato mixture.

Salmon

4 salmon fillets

olive oil

McCormick Mediterranean spiced sea salt

1. Heat a skillet to medium heat.

2. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with the spiced sea salt and drizzle with olive oil on each side.

3. Lightly oil skillet and cook fish for 6 minutes on each side.

Good Ol' Southern Comfort

2009-08-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Try to imagine my frustration last night as we finished our dinner-which was categorically an experiment-and I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture. "What was on last night's menu?" you might ask. The good ol' southern classics: fried green tomatoes and country fried chicken with sawmill gravy.

Now I must confess, that in the past my experimentation with fried food has been hit or miss. This and the fact and it is just so stinkin' unhealthy have limited the number of times I have fried anything to around three. So this was a meal far outside my comfort range and it actually turned out really well.

So even though I'm lacking photos, I'll still share the recipes.

Fried Green Tomatoes

4 cored and sliced green tomatoes
1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 and 1/2 cups corn meal

1 egg

frying oil

1. Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into a skillet and heat to medium.

2. While this is heating combine the all purpose flour and corn meal in a shallow dish.

3. Beat the egg in a shallow dish.

4. Coat the tomato slices in egg and then in the flour mixture.

5. Fry four slices of tomato at a time-about 3 minutes on each side (I found it to take less time than this, so keep a close watch!)

6. When finished frying place on a paper towel lined plate to soak up any extra grease.

Country Fried Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts- flattened (I like to use a rolling pin)
2 cups all purpose flour

1 and 1/2 cups butter milk (1 cup milk with a teaspoon of vinegar is an adequate substitute for buttermilk)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon red pepper or a tablespoon of Tabasco

1 egg

frying oil

1. Heat 1/4 inch frying oil in your skillet-medium heat.
2. Put the all purpose flour in a shallow dish.
3. Mix together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper.
Add the buttermilk and egg.
4. Coat chicken breast in flour, then in the buttermilk mixture, then flour again.
5. One at a time, cook the chicken breasts 3-5 minutes per side.
6. Place chicken on a paper towel lined plate to soak up any extra grease.

Sawmill Gravy

3 slices bacon
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
oil (just in case)

1. Preheat your skillet to medium.
2. Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp.
3. You should have the same amount of oil and flour, so if your bacon did not render enough fat-now is the time to add a little oil (I eyeball this).
4. Whisk in the flour.
5. When the flour is light tan in color whisk in the milk.
6. Stir continuously until the gravy thickens.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

So here you go, several recipes to try! And since I forgot to take a picture of the finished project, I thought I would leave you with this little gem I found floating around!

Scrumdiddlyumptious Cupcakes

2009-08-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Last night my mom was going on about how she wanted Red Velvet Cupcakes. So, being the obliging daughter that I am...take a guess at what I did this afternoon? Really hard to guess right? Well, I found a recipe on the Internet that was originally Paula Dean's recipe, but had more cocoa added. Seeing how in my humble opinion you can never have to much chocolate, I went with this recipe. They turned out well. The tops of the cupcakes have a slight crunch to them, and I even took them out a couple of minutes short of the recipe cooking time. Just proof that no two ovens are the same. Anyway, here is a picture of the cupcakes, with the recipe to follow.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder I prefer a little more, maybe 2tbsp
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a larger bowl, and being careful not to stain everything within 100 yards, carefully whisk together oil, buttermilk, food coloring, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the dry to the wet and mix until smooth and combined using an electric hand mixer.Divide batter between cupcake pans lined with papers (should make about 24). Bake 11 minutes- turn- bake 11 more. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Cool before frosting.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth.

Yummy Enchiladas

2009-08-18T08:49:00.001-07:00

I'm a sucker for cheese enchiladas. Whenever we go to a Mexican restaurant (not the TexMex variety) I love to get cheese and onion enchiladas. So I decided to find a recipe to make authentic cheese enchiladas at home. I would say that for the most part they turned out well. Although, I think next time I'll just use store bought enchilada sauce instead of making my own.

The link to the recipe is: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Authentic-Mexican-Enchiladas/Detail.aspx

A few notes on the recipe:

1. Use Mexican melting cheese, rather than the crumbling cheese, if you like cheese enchiladas, its probably at least in part because of the yummy ooey gooeyness!!!
2. Its easier to put the enchilada sauce on the tortillas after you fry them, and it tastes just as good (at least I think so).
3. If you like cheese and onion enchiladas, saute chopped onions and add them with the cheese before rolling the tortilla.

Enjoy!

The First Recipe

2009-08-15T05:29:00.001-07:00

The first recipe entry on this blog is: orange roughy in a lemon butter sauce.

I have just recently discovered orange roughy and it could very well be my new favorite fish. Normally I would just bake it with salt, pepper and paprika. But I thought I would experiment and the results were really tasty. So here is the recipe.

1/2 of a red onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 orange roughy fillets
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
The juice of half a lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat your skillet to medium heat. Add the olive oil and red onion. Cook until the red onions start to soften, then add garlic. Once the onions are soft push them to the sides of the pan. Add the orange roughy fillets and season with salt and pepper. Cook the fish for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip. After turning the fish add the lemon juice, wine and capers. Let the wine thicken a bit, then add the butter. When the butter is melted into the sauce, remove from heat. I served this over basmati rice (its the only rice I use).

* If anyone reads this and happens to try the recipe, I would like your thoughts.

Here we go

2009-08-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

My life is rather boring. I just graduated from graduate school in May. And, with the economy the way it is, I still have no job. So at the age of 25, when most of my friends are living on their own, settled into their careers, getting married and having children; I'm back at home with my mom. While I'll admit this is pretty lame, at least by my standards, I do have my love of cooking and experimenting. Luckily I have a willing Guinea pig in my mother. So here goes. Since I'm a foodie wanna be anyway, I thought I might as well document it.

This blog will be a record of the recipes I've tried, my successes and failures. I'll include pictures and hopefully if you read this you will be inclined to try some of the recipes too! So Bon Appetite!