I haven’t been keeping up with my food documentation since a problematic… “thing” claimed an inordinate proportion of my psychic real estate. I am here today with a new recipe to try out and share with you, corporations and banks be damned.
This past Christmas I meant but didn’t get to making a pumpkin roll. Among all the other sweets and treats around the house, yet another pastry would have been gilding the lily and added even more holiday weight to my middle parts. But yesterday, I started craving waffles, and pumpkin waffles came to me for no reason I can account for. Unbidden, as it were. Then I began to think of a cream cheese filling and how wonderful that would be on a pumpkin waffle. And here we are.
Looking around for recipes, I found several (one at a blog dedicated solely to pumpkin waffles, sparsely populate, but there nonetheless), and settled on this one.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups milk
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup butter, melted
The technique isn’t shocking: wet, dry, mix; stiff egg whites, fold. Even my nephew can do it (he got special dispensation form my brother to suspend homework duties to help me out in the kitchen).
The cream cheese topping, I think, is what makes the dish though my brother who passed on it says the waffles were perfectly fine sans. I upped the butter and reduced the sugar from a traditional filling for pumpkin roll thusly:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
Whipped.
Of course, there has to be meat. Two kinds.
I have a waffle iron that I got from my Mom when I was… probably 16. It’s the same kind my Grandma made waffles for me on (accompanied by Smith’s hot dogs). It got pulled off the shelf tonight as it is about every other month. It is the item to which I attach more sentimentality than anything else I own. Someday, there may be a very awkward conversation between my future ex-husband and myself about which means more to me: his ring or my waffle iron. Someday.
However, for now nothing was left but to plate and eat.
And it was goooooooooooooooooooooooooood! D told me, “I’m going to open a restaurant and the menu will have all the things you taught me to cook on them, and will say, ‘Recipes from my Uncle Sean!’” Awwwh!
Tradition demands that pork and sauerkraut be had on New Year’s Day, and while not a fan of sauerkraut in its unadulterated form, I do love a good pork roast. Thanks to the helpful suggestions of some Facebook friends, I perforated the pig in thirty or so places and stuffed each well with a clove or two of garlic. The whole hog was then marinated overnight (I read that marinating up to three days is desirable, which I am truly curious about and will try the next time I don’t wait until the day before to make dinner) in chipotle and cider vinegar. Roasting started at 7:30 AM at 500° for thirty minutes and continued at 225° for 10 hours. The roast flaked apart when barley touched by a fork, and the crackling on top was crunchy crunchy.
Of course, I pulled out the pierogies I made earlier in the Fall for a side (Saint Joseph over a sawhorse, were they good!)…
…and sauerkraut simmered in beef broth for good luck and less gassiness.
I hope all your dinners this year will be delicious and plentiful, and may others be part of your bounty.
A holiday tradition that I have never partaken in until Sprout decided that this is the way we were going to go this year is the gingerbread man. As such, I was faced with sorting through literally thousands of recipes that I had no way to verify or put together in my head. Not being a baker, I can’t look at a cookie recipe and say, “Yes, I know what this will do and it will taste wonderful!” The function and ratios of baking powder and baking soda still confuse the hell out of me. To circumvent possible disaster, I went with a Paula Deen recipe. According to Food Network Humor, she’s a soulless homunculous, a deep-fried fiend in brown butter sauce, but she seems to know her way around sugar and fat, so why not?
Not bad, overall. I think they need more zip, though. Maybe more ginger?
The icing, while delicious, was too difficult to squeeze out of a pastry bag. and by “difficult”, I mean “copiously dribbled like a longshoreman after a week of leave.” It did dry solid and shiny, though, which makes the cookies look great, but I need a different recipe by next year. Any advice?
There was an excellent restaurant in Erie ages ago where my family used to go at least twice a month for pub grub and bonding time: The Station Restaurant featuring Oscar’s Pub. The Station still exists, but as a dinner theatre (badly in need of new roofing and exterior paint), as does Oscar’s Pub, still managed/owned by the same guy from the 80′s (and they say diversification is good for business). However, neither of the current iterations offer the best item that graced the original Oscar’s menu: sauerkraut balls. I’ve asked around and no one outside of this area of the country has heard of them, let alone tried one. Trust me, though; they are delicious! They are, in essence, Reuben sandwiches that have been balled and deep fried. Served with a side of cocktail sauce, I could eat a few dozen on my own. And since I’m on a regional foods kick, making sauerkraut balls for the holidays seems like it would solve a lot of problems, the biggest one being not having sauerkraut balls.
I also have to mention a restaurant just down the road that has the best Reubens in Erie (voted, vetted, and personally experienced): McGarrey’s. They add a slice of cream cheese while grilling their sandwiches, so the inside has this gushy creaminess that is just spectacular. Of course, my sauerkraut balls would have to have cream cheese in them as well. When is dairy ever not an option?
I looked around the net, and there were so many variations on the recipe -I even found one in my Mom’s ancient Betty Crocker cookbook (called “Reuben Balls”)- that I decided to cannibalize from a few and see what happened. The texture of the balls that I remember was akin to a hush puppy, but not mealy as they can sometimes be, so I wanted to keep any breading/filler to a minimum. Here’s what I came up with:
32 oz. sauerkraut
beef stock
1 lb. corned beef
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
2 eggs
additional flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs for breading
In order to infuse the balls with more beef flavor (yeah, yeah; I can see how that might read in a way that would make someone with a puerile mind think of an ejaculating penis), I simmered the sauerkraut in the beef stock for two hours, then drained away as much juice as I could with a colander and paper towels. The kraut shouldn’t be bone dry; a little moisture is fine. It just shouldn’t be swimming in jus. Cool until easy to handle with your hands.
Next, I chopped the corned beef and sauerkraut to a fine consistency. Since sauerkraut balls are an appetizer, the meat and veg inside shouldn’t be chunky. In other words: no big pieces!
I should probably stop here and say that this is not baking. Baking requires painstaking measurements and anal-retentive consistency to result in a final, edible product. Cooking is more fast and loose, but that being said, I still want my final product to have a certain texture and taste. Right now, I’m guessing about how the final product will turn out. Yeah, it’ll taste good (how could it not?), but is it the perfect replica of the snack I remember? We’ll see. Part of what I want to do with the blog (part of the blog; I’m supposed to be writing about writing) is to document what I do in the kitchen so I can learn from my mistakes and do better the next time.
The corned beef, sauerkraut and cream cheese were then put in a pot to allow the cheese to melt. The breadcrumbs and seasonings came next and the whole concoction was cooked for no more than 15 minutes (or long enough to develop a thickish consistency to the concoction plus a few minutes more to let all the tastes marry). The pot was removed from the heat and allowed to cool. When at room temperature, I added the eggs, then moved the pot to the refrigerator to set up.
I let the batter rest for about an hour until it was firm enough to shape into balls. Freezing may be another option if one is in a hurry.
The balls were then breaded (that is, floured, egged, then rolled in breadcrumbs), which I think is just fun.
Then fried.
Drained.
And enjoyed.
The overall product was good, but the texture was more like a croquette than a hush puppy. The center was very creamy, much moreso than I wanted it to be. Next time, I think an additional 1/2 cup of flour and more breadcrumbs may not go wrong. And, darn it, there was probably too much cream cheese. I also think the corned beef and sauerkraut should be sent through my food processor next time (sadly, my bowl and broken and the replacement didn’t allow the lid to sit in place, damn Hamilton Beach). Again, it was a croquette-y texture instead of a more homogeneous hush puppy. The taste, however, was well-layered. The normally pungent sauerkraut was nicely softened with the beef broth and contrasted well with the salty corned beef. Next time they’ll be better!
Anything anyone would like to add?
Sorry for the long delay between posts. I’m especially disappointed because the momentum of my posting new material -even though this is supposed to be a blog about comic books and writing that has somehow become a food diary- had become a joy to me whereas in the past several months, it had been something of a dreadful obligation. Not that comic books and stories and writing are burdens to me, but when I write about food, I don’t have to be as clever or as exciting as I sometimes think I have to be when I’m pounding my head at my desk, hoping that just the right turn of phrase or astounding juxtaposition is going to appear on my screen through sheer force of will. When I write about food, I’m simply relating an experience in a way I want people to respond to, and maybe learn something from their responses.
The lesson to myself then is to treat all my writing this way: love it, but don’t become awed (and thereby stunned) by it. Every day can’t be the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
As the Winter Holidays come closer, I become more expansive about food, almost to the point of parody. Last year, my brother, nephew and I baked and frosted about five dozen sugar cookies; I ordered… let’s say more than $100 of candies and petit fours from Figi’s (so worth it); plus a cheesecake, brownies, pie, and pierogies (which is the topic of today’s post). We were digging our way out of the sweets pile for months. I think the last of the cookies was eaten in February. I hope to be more restrained this year (especially with ridiculous closing costs on the house looming), but come December 12, I’m sure the house will be full of cookie tins and candy dishes.
Pierogies. Yum. I started making these a few years ago Thanksgiving with a friend of mine based on a recipe from his grandmother (so of course, we had to wear shmatas in honor of her). Old World chic aside, there were problems with our first outing. It took us hours to process the dough through a pasta maker, and because we didn’t know to set them in a well-floured tray many of the skins stuck and ripped apart. The final product was tasty, but overall wabi-sabi. I think we ate around 9 PM that year. And I think we were also stoned.
Subsequent productions took less time and had great results. Last year, however, I moved back to PA and had to find a new pierogie recipe (my friend’s grandmother’s was a closely guarded secret). After much research, this is the one I settled on. Here’s what I needed:
2 cups flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling dough
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sour cream, plus extra to serve with the pierogi
1/4 cup butter, softened and cut into small pieces
I actually quadrupled the recipe (my Mom wanted a few dozen for herself since last year’s batch was so successful), and it scaled up perfectly. I ended up with around 130 pierogies.
Mixing is easy: dry meets wet under a dough hook for 5 to 7 minutes.
The recipe says that mixing is done when the dough loses most of its stickiness. Most being the most important word. If you handle the dough and leaves behind pasty islands on your hands, it’s too sticky. Keep kneading. If you handle the dough and it feels totally smooth, like a rubber ball, you’ve gone too far. Start over. The best consistency is somewhere in-between.
Refrigerate overnight (just to be sure).
I chose for my pierogie filling the traditional potato and cheese. I went with a sharp cheddar though farmer’s cheese is also excellent choice (however, since I use it in my holiday cheesecake, I don’t want to bore my family with too many similar flavors on their plates). Butter and cream are important (to me) to enrich the flavor of the potatoes. Plus, they’re for the holidays when everyone expects a little indulgence.
Not having a pasta maker and being something of a traditionalist, I’ve taken to rolling out the dough by hand. One thing I did learn about this recipe is that the dough has to be cold in order to be rolled out properly. The warmer it gets, the flakier it becomes, and flaky is not your friend. Cold seems to keep the dough elastic (seriously, this stuff is like gum) and easy to manipulate.
And then I started in with a round cookie cutter…
Of course, I cut the entire sheet out before moving on to the next step. I learned a long time ago (I was actually told by a woman named Marge) that similar jobs in the kitchen should be done all at once before moving onto the next step. Common sense, I know, but at that time I was still pretty stupid. Dough that was left at the end of making the rounds was balled up and put back in the fridge for subsequent rolling.
The it’s simply a matter of filling…
…folding…
and crimping.
Then the completed perogies are placed on a generously floured tray (about 1/4″ all the way across) to await bagging and freezing. I use a stolen Taco Cabana tray I found, but use whatever is available to you. If you’re wondering about all that flour, fret not! The excess will boil away when you’re ready to make them.
Voila!
I have not yet made any from this batch, but my Mom has, and she tells me they’re delicious. That may seem like she’s just being my Mom, but if they were horrible she just wouldn’t have said anything rather than lie to me. Silence = Disappointment.
Over the next dew weeks, I’ll be posting my other holiday baking efforts. Next up: saurkraut balls!
This isn’t really a recipe at all, but something that I thought would taste good given how much I love (and have been using of late) bacon: BACON-FRIED PUMPKIN SEEDS!
The bacon was half-way crisped slowly to render the fat, which was then drained to just coat the pan. The bacon was left in as the seeds were added.
A little salt. About 20 minutes of medium-high heat, and voila! Salty Halloween snacking!
Taken gratefully from Secret Tips of the Yumiverse, who made it possible for me to bake Thank You Cookies for co-workers tonight with only a fraction of the effort I would have otherwise had to put forth. Click for the full-glory version.
I swear that unless something completely unexpected happens, this will be my last post about bacon jam! Seriously. Not only are there only so many times one can revisit a recipe then thrust it upon an unsuspecting public, but I think I’ve perfected my take on this wonderful condiment. This recipe is not only deep in bacon-y flavor, but is hot HOT HOT! here’s what I used:
1 lb. bacon
1 large onion, sliced
6 fresh jalapenos, sliced
5 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. ancho chili powder
1 1/2 c. strong coffee
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
4 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
The technique is the same as before: fry the bacon slowly until crisp then remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain most of the fat away and sauté the onion, garlic, and jalapenos in the remainder. Here is where I added the dry ingredients so they could come back to life. When the onions are soft, pour in the coffee and vinegar, and add the brown sugar. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least two hours until most of the liquid that remains is thick and sticky. Cool then transfer to a food processor and chop to a rough consistency. Simple simple, and delicious!
That’s it. Final word on the topic.
In my continuing quest for the perfect pie crust, today I’m going to follow the suggestion of a fellow culinary explorer and make a vinegar pie crust. However, my last crust -flawed as it was- still had a nice flake and taste to it, so I wanted to keep the shortening and butter combination. After searching around a bit, I found a lard-butter-vinegar recipe that hearkens back to my Russian ancestors. And while it looked good, I not being one to cook often with lard (…actually, never), substituted my traditional shortening. Here’s what I needed:
2 1/2 c. flour (1/2 cake flour, 1/2 AP)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBsp. sugar
6 ounces cold butter, cut into pieces
7 tsp. shortening
1 tsp. cider vinegar
5 to 7 TBsp. ice water
From what I read, all the ingredients must be at room temperature, including the melted butter. This obviously isn’t a pie that can be made at the last minute, unless you have some kind of warming-but-not-cooking device. I’m pretty sure the microwave doesn’t count. If you’re wondering about the mixing of cake flour and AP flour, it’s to create a pastry flour, which is highly desirable in… well, pastries like this. The key is to work fast and make sure everything stays cold. My personal goal is to not freak out, but rather to make sure the dough is of the right consistency before I remove it from the food processor.
After letting it rest for a few hours (and simultaneously letting the ingredients for the filling come to room temperature), I could tell already that the dough was of a better consistency than the last one – more pliable, didn’t shrink, didn’t crack – and I didn’t roll it out to near-paper thinness as I have been known to do. I set it in the pie tin easily enough, and then went to work on the filling with Sprout (whom I intend to make into a decent mini-chef by the time he’s in fifth grade).
I haven’t been party to making a Lemon Chess Pie in about two years, so I had to find a recipe that I liked and had the supplies on-hand for. Eventually, I settled on this one. Here’s what I needed:
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornmeal (I used yellow)
1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest, finely grated
1 tsp. vanilla extract
I sadly didn’t have fresh lemons to use, so no hand-squozen juice nor zest were used in the making of this product.
The four eggs were lightly beaten,
then the dry ingredients were stirred in. I premixed these so I wouldn’t spend too many strokes trying to incorporate them with the eggs. Is this traditional? Who knows? The next time I’m at a post-Sunday service potluck, I’ll be sure to ask the folks there what they do.
The remaining ingredients were then stirred in, then the whole mess was poured into the waiting pie crust (unbaked) and placed in the oven (350°) for 35 minutes or until the top was brown and the custard setting. YAY! The crust didn’t shrink like it did with the banana cream pie. Lesson learned; thick crust is good.
When the pie cooled, it was cut and served.
This was definitely a better crust than the last time, hands down. The pie itself is a wonderful mixture of buttery and tart in a creamy custard. I’ve had three slices already. Not only do I believe I’ve found a crust I can live with, but I’m sure by the time Christmas rolls around I will be both King of Pies and twenty pounds heavier.
This recipe comes to my courtesy my friend Tim, who showed me how to do a “fresh pack” of pickled jalapenos a few weeks ago. His demonstration, however, used up all the peppers I had on hand (not that I’m complaining; the two jars I came away with look amazing), so I’ve been rather impatiently waiting for my bush to yield one more crop before the frosts come. But -frabjous day!- my friend Leslee just now gifted me with peppers from her garden. Since I leave for NYCC in just about 2 hours (I relay through DC for two days to visit friends before going up to NYC with one of them), Tim’s very simple and quick pickling method seemed to be the way to go. Here’s what I needed:
jalapenos
1 c. vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar this time around)
1 c. water
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 (or more) cloves of garlic
an onion wedge
Canning jar with lid and ring
I got enough brine to fill one quart-sized jar. Scale upward according to your needs. The spices and/or herbs can be changed up according to your tastes. I despise pickling spices as they are too sweet tasting for me. Turmeric comes to mind as an interesting addition. Or possibly star anise. Go crazy and let me know what you come up with.
All the normal rules of canning apply here – wash and sterilize your jars to prevent bacteria from growing and killing your friends. Nothing sours a dinner party quicker than Death come a-calling. However, this recipe lacks the final processing step, the hot bath that everyone’s Grandma told you about, which makes the sterilization even more important.
As the brine – vinegar, water, and salt- was boiling, the garlic, onion, peppercorns and jalapenos were stuffed into the canning jar. I mean, really crammed. If this batch is like the last batch, the peppers are going to shrink and float to the top, so get as many in there as possible. The hot brine is poured over the jalapenos, the hot lid (I like to make sure it’s hot) placed on the mouth, and the ring screwed on tightly. Tightly. In about an hour, the lid will pop down and you can move the jar to a storage area. Mine is on a shelf in the kitchen, though I understand they can be kept in the refrigerator as well.
In about two weeks, the peppers will have cured and can be eaten. Simple simple.
This weekend, I revisited an idea from a few years ago for a friend’s birthday party: the Elvis cupcake. It’s a banana rum cake with a peanut butter frosting topped by candied bacon. It’s also a much more mature presentation than the one from two years ago. YAY growth! One confession: while I am all about from-scratch baking, I was pressed for time to make the cake with the raw ingredients I had on hand, so I cheated and used a yellow cake mix. I swear it’ll never happen again!
The candied bacon was the easiest part of the cupcake (not that any part was difficult): bacon rolled in dark brown sugar and baked on a rack over a cookie sheet at 325° for about 30 minutes. Yes, if you raise the temperature to 350°, the bacon will cook faster, but the sugar will also burn faster. Be patient unless you want to do this step all over again. After the bacon crisps up, remove it from the oven and let it cool. If it’s possible to dice bacon, dice it and set aside for later.
The cake recipe I got from Cooks.com, a site I don’t normally visit because their indexing of recipes is usually quite sloppy; however, it shocked me this time by giving me what I wanted without having to type 20+ words into the search engine just to narrow possible hits down under 1,000. The recipe requires:
1 yellow cake mix
1/8 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. Bacardi dark rum
2/3 c. water
2 eggs
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 med. sized)
Two unusual things about this recipe: the addition of 1/8 tsp. baking soda -such a small amount when the cake mix already has leavening agents in it- and having to mix the batter for 2 to 4 minutes, which I thought would toughen the final product. I got 21 cupcakes from this recipe, but I’m heavy-handed when I fill the cups. Each batch was baked for 20 minutes at 350° then set aside to cool.
The peanut butter frosting was easy enough. I like to err on the side of more peanut butter (MMMMM! Peanut butter.), which means a little more milk to keep the frosting from going rigid. Whip it to make it airy, but not so much that it deflates.
Assemble and enjoy!
I’ve said before that Fall is pie and pierogie season, and this year I am determined to make the perfect pie crust: one that is flaky and tender, and doesn’t shrink in the oven (which means I’m probably going to have to start doing rim embellishments). At my brother’s request, I’m doing a banana cream pie today.
For the first pie of 2011, I’m going to use Alton Brown’s pie crust recipe. It’s similar to others I’ve seen, and I trust everything that A.B. says (except when he emcees Iron Chef America, but that’s another story). The recipe requires:
3 oz. (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
1 oz. (2 tablespoons) shortening, chilled (go for trans-fat free, like I did)
6 oz. (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 c. ice water
After a lot of reading, I found that the colder the ingredients that go into a pie crust, the better off the pie crust is. Warmth melts the fat which makes the flour clumpy and turns out a tough crust. Cold dough means the fats melt in the oven and creates the flaky layers. I actually froze the butter and lard, and refrigerated the flour until i needed them. The pie plates were also frozen.
Flour and salt were processed with the butter and shortening until the flour clumped into pea-sized pieces.
The ice water was added a little at a time and processed until the dough held together. Here’s where I went wrong: I didn’t add enough water so that it held together well. When I squeezed a bunch in my hand, it was still rather sandy, but held together just enough that I thought it was done.
Sadly, when I was ready to roll the dough out after letting it set in the fridge for 45 minutes, it fell apart. It was so bad that I had no hesitation about putting the dough back in the food processor and adding more ice water (as quickly as possible), then putting it back into the fridge for another 45 minutes.
This probably had more to do with me being nervous than the recipe itself; whenever I second guess myself while cooking is when I screw up.
When I was ready to roll out the dough again, it was not a very smooth roll; edges frayed and the dough didn’t keep a semi-round shape no matter how often I turned it.
I actually had to do a lot of repairs on the crust, so many so that I had no chance to do embellishments.
And as you can see, the crust shrank in the over (425° for 12 minutes). I’m very disappointed by this. What can I do so this doesn’t happen again?
The filling turned out great, but the was so much of it! I used an English Cream Pie Filling, and even though I read the recipe and even went out to buy a half gallon of milk, I did not… exactly… understand how much custard I was making until I poured the milk into a saucepan and thought, “That seems like a lot even for two pies.” The upshot is: it was too much. Thank God we love pudding.
The topping was just whipped cream. Simple simple.
All in all, the pie tasted good, but the imperfect crust gave me syphilis. Tasty, but with a crisp texture where I rolled it out to thin. The thicker areas were flaky, but not doughy. I’m going to look around for another recipe for round two.
Maybe what I need really is to borrow someone’s grandmother for a week or so.
I was craving sweets tonight so I decided to make cookies (I know, I know, it’s after 7 PM), but my supplies on hand were low which meant I couldn’t make anything that required making a dough or… honestly, having any kind of flavor whatsoever. Then I spotted the pie crust dough I had frozen a few months ago and remembered a recipe for making cookies out of them. The process was simple: roll out the rough, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, roll, cut (under 1/2″ is ideal), and bake at 450° for 8 minutes (or until brown and bubbly).
Voila! Cookies!
Fall starts tomorrow at 5:05 AM, which heralds the beginning of soup and pierogie season. As a precursor to the next three months of decreasing light and increasing cold (I’m so excited for Fall, I may wet myself), tonight I made chicken and dumplings: rich, satisfying, and (contrary to rumor) not too hard to make. Here’s what I needed:
Dredge:
Flour
Adobo
cracked pepper
Soup:
Chicken legs
2 TBps. butter
1/4 c. peanut oil
carrots, diced (or baby carrots like I used)
celery, diced
red pepper, diced
garlic
baby bella mushrooms
basil
rosemary
oregano
dill
smoked paprika
32 ox. box o’ chicken broth (I know. I know. I’ll make my own in a few weeks.)
1 c. apple cider (next time, white wine)
1 c. heavy cream
The chicken legs were dredged in the flour mixture and then fried in the butter/peanut oil until two sides were well-browned.
I removed the chicken then cast in the celery, pepper, carrots and garlic. I sprinkled in the herbs and spices measured according to my taste (it’s why I don’t put measurements down). I myself like a little bit of warm smokiness, so I put in a few extra dashes of paprika.
I sauteéd the mirepoix until the celery turned slightly soft then poured in the broth and apple cider. I did not add the mushrooms at this time because I didn’t want them going soggy, nor did I add the cream because I wanted it to be a fresher element to the flavor. I returned the chicken to the pot and turned down the heat.
I kept the soup simmering for about 45 minutes. It could have gone longer, but the troops arrived home and (uncharacteristically for being so early in the afternoon) declared themselves ready to eat. So, I added the mushrooms and the cream and let everything continue to simmer while I mixed up the dumplings.
Dumplings:
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
I mixed the ingredients well then removed the chicken from the soup. Really, there was no room in the broth for anything, so to make the dumplings, the chicken had to be put off to the side. Then I dropped tablespoonfuls of the dough into the gently simmering broth. I let them cook covered for 10 minutes.
The only thing left was to plate up and serve!
I had considered cutting the chicken up, but I like having a whole leg to pick up and dig into. And it looks more filling that way, like I’m feeding someone who just rolled in from the fields and needs to have his supper on the table before he goes into the cellar to practice black magic. Ah! The rustic life! The best thing about this recipe is that the broth and chicken were flavorful without having to salt heavily. Please feel free to leave comments, now easier since they can be posted via your Facebook account!
Lunch today was cornmeal mush with egg, mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, and edamame), pineapple bacon jam, cheddar cheese, and sriracha. I love a quick and easy lunch!
I have not had an official housewarming party since I moved into Harvard House (AKA Ausaumhaus on Foursquare), which is a shame because I can always use more candles. However, tonight friends came over for dinner and my brother’s selection for them was white bean and chicken chili. I’d never made it before, but it’s chili; how hard could it be? I also had a dinner roll recipe and a “creeping crust cobbler” recipe I’ve been dying to try since I heard about it a few weeks ago. Again, “how hard could it be?” It turns out, not hard at all except that “too much” is always my downfall for making “like it looks in the book” dishes. I’ll explain as I go, but for now, here’s what I needed for the chili:
4 chicken breasts, cut in 1/2″ cubes
1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp, garlic, diced
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsps. salt
5 fresh jalapenos, diced
3-15oz. cans white beans
16 oz. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream
fresh chopped cilantro
For my brother, I left out the onion and cilantro. I considered substituting apples, but couldn’t bring myself to do it this time around. Maybe next time.
I made this in a crockpot set to LOW for about 6 hours. The beans and the broth were put into the crockpot to warm while I cut the chicken and veg. Here’s where I first went wrong with “too much”: the broth. By using the entire container, the end product (even with the cream) was not very thick, the way one may picture a hearty bowl of chili. The result was delicious, but it was more a soup than a chili.
I sautéed the chicken, jalapenos, oregano, cumin and salt (and onions, should you use them) briefly in a bit of oil. Allowing the dry ingredients to heat up in the activates them and intensifies their flavors as far as I’m concerned. The chicken should be heavily browned (but not burnt) on one side and the veggies should be soft. Then everything (except the cream and cilantro) went into the pot.
About an hour before service, I added the cream. As I said above the same amount of cream, but less broth would have yielded a thicker chili, but all in all, I can’t complain. Nor did the guests.
the dinner rolls came from a recipe I copied from somewhere to a piece of paper a few Thanksgivings ago. They’re really tender and flavorful -kinda sweet- and I’m curious what would happen if I used cream cheese instead of butter. As it was, I needed:
1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. warm milk
1/3 c. sugar
1 envelope yeast
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
The warm water and milk were poured into my KitchenAid mixer followed by the sugar and stirred until the sugar dissolved. Then the yeast was added. As i explained to my nephew, the warm environment woke up the yeast when then ate the sugar and farted out gas, which makes bread rise and get tender. He looked at me and said, “Is there a better way of putting that?”
I replied, “No.” So there.
After a 15 minute wait (my kitchen was cold that day), the salt, egg and butter were poured into the mixing bowl, followed by the flour (added in four batches). My nephew and I talked about how flour makes gluten when it’s mixed and gluten acts like a balloon, catching the gas the yeast farts out. He wasn’t hot on my analogy, but I think it’ll stick. When the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl, I stopped mixing and let the dough rise for an hour. We went to Walmart (not my favorite place on Earth, but they have Better Homes and Gardens candles there that are better priced than Yankee Candles and don’t cheap out on the scent) and by the time we got back, the dough was ready to be punched down. An hour later and the dough was removed from the bowl, cut into 16 parts, and rolled into 16 balls. The balls were placed on a pizza sheet and left to rise one last time. They were baked for 12 minutes at 400°.
Here’s what the plate looked like when the guests were served:
Dessert was a “creeping crust cobbler” so named because the crust (and it wasn’t really a crust; it was more like a very simple quick bread) starts at the bottom and rises during baking
crust:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
filling:
2 c. peaches
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Early in the day, I pared several peaches, cutting them into 1/2″ “squares” and putting the squares into a bowl. The other ingredients were added to the bowl, then everything was stirred together and left to set for at least an hour to draw out the juices.
When the fruit was juicy, I preheated the oven to 350°.
While melting the butter in the microwave, I mixed the rest of the crust ingredients together. The melted butter was poured into an 8″ x 8″ baking dish and the batter (it was actually pretty thick, more paste-y than batter-y) was poured over the butter. No stirring!
I poured the fruit over the batter and put the dish into the over to bake for 35 minutes. However, I lied about the 2 cups of peaches. By the time I was done paring the peaches, I had closer to 4 cups. I am not one to a.) throw away food, nor b.) not have enough food, so I err on the side of “too much.” Because I used so many peaches, the crust came up about 3/4 of the way, not even close to covering the fruit and making an even topping. it was more like a cross between a muffin and a pancake – fluffy but with good body. OK, it was a little soggy in the middle where the batter didn’t stand a chance. Ah, well. It was still good. See:
As ever, comments and suggestions for tweaks are welcome!
Tonight’s dinner was nothing complicated, nor was it particularly high-brow, but it was a meal a 7-year old could enjoy: taco soup. I had never heard of taco soup until two years ago when a friend of mine suggested it to me while I lamented a lack of ideas for crockpot-y foods I could bring to a work potluck (as it turns out, college students and faculty will eat almost anything). I gave it a try and the results were well-received. I’m not a big seasoning packet person and to have to use two in one recipe(!)… Well, sometimes I have to remember that I’m not always cooking for myself (one day I will relate the poached eggs over fried polenta disaster). Here’s what I used:
1 can corn, drained
2 cans Ro-tel
1 can black beans, drained
1 can refried beans
1 packet low-Sodium taco seasoning
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. Adobo
1 1/2 lbs. ground meat
cheese (I like sharp cheddar)
sour cream
tortilla chips
Set the crockpot to LOW or HIGH depending on how much time you have. If this is going to be a throw-it-together-in-the-morning-for-dinner affair, use LOW. If it’s a shit-it’s-noon-and-I-haven’t-even-thought-about-dinner-yet emergency, use HIGH. De-can and put the veggies into the crockpot. Add seasoning packets and spices. Stir.
Cook the meat until mostly brown. Drain the grease (I put it on my dog’s food over the course of a few days). It is possible to let the crockpot cook the meat entirely, but I drained away so much grease that I can’t imagine what kind of a swamp you’d come back to at then end of the cooking time. Put the meat into the crockpot and stir into the base mixture. Stir occasionally and add water if the soup becomes too thick.
Serve over tortilla chips and top with cheese and sour cream.
Of course, you can add any number of taco toppings to your soup – avocado, diced onions, green onions, salsa (red or verde), black olives, cilantro or whatever says “Mexican” to you. Lettuce is an option, I suppose.
Enjoy!
Every time I go to a new Chinese restaurant, I order General Tso’s Chicken. It used to be Shrimp in Lobster sauce, and for a while it was Garlic Chicken, but General Tso’s is served so many different ways with so many levels of spice and varieties of veggies that I have to try every variation I possibly can wherever I can. It makes sense then that I would want to learn to make it myself, and make it right. Unfortunately, some of the ingredients I needed (according to Chef Tomm) -such as black vinegar and rice wine- are simply unavailable in Erie, PA. So, I went out looking for recipes that claimed to be “close to authentic” (“authentic”), but kept the simplicity of Chef Tomm’s recipe.
There are a lot of General Tso’s Chicken recipes out there to sift through, and not one of them agrees on a technique or ratio or ingredient list. I gleaned from almost a dozen recipes that called for ingredients I had readily available to me and came up with this one.
Sauce:
1/4 c. corn starch
1/4 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. garlic
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1/4 c. dry white wine
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
Chicken dunk:
3 lbs. chicken, cubed
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 eggs
1/2 c. corn starch
I made the sauce this morning before work by mixing all the ingredients above in a french jar.
The resulting potion was… kinda gross-looking. And it had the added drawback of noting being able to be tasted because of the raw corn starch. I hate surprises in cooking, especially when I’m cooking for other people (tonight it was my brother and nephew), and especially when the sauce is what makes the dish. Yes, I need to not experiment with live subjects, but too late now.
when I got home, I made the dunk, cubed the chicken and put the pieces in the dunk to soak up some of the flavor.
After letting the chicken marinate 30 minutes, the pieces went into 350° peanut oil for about 4 minutes per batch.
While the chicken drained, I started the sauce. I was afraid it would burn in my wok, so I started with water in the bottom (1/4 c.) and then added the mixture. It took less than three minutes to thicken and clarify. I turned off the heat and stirred in the chicken.
The General’s chicken was served with broccoli and brown rice.
All in all, I’d call this meal a modest success. I suggested the sauce needed something more but Scott suggested it needed something less: soy sauce. I have to agree, the sauce was a little too “umami”: nice flavor, but a bit one-dimensional. It needs something to brighten up the flavor more. I’m thinking next time of keeping a 1/2 c. of wine on the side (or maybe a pineapple juice reduction with a bit of brown sugar) and throwing it in after the sauce and chicken have been stirred together. There’s just no POW! to the sauce, no ZING!, and I really wanted that. It’s competent, but not a masterpiece.
I’m also thinking about substituting Kirin Ichiban for the white wine next time. And perhaps some fresh Thai chilies instead of the red pepper flakes. Thoughts?
In the last few years, my brother has grown unexpectedly sensitive to onions. Even the tiniest amount can keep him up all night with debilitating heartburn. I, too, have this affliction, but I have to be wasted off my ass and eating onion rings just before going to bed, then it’s countdown to a bolus of burning vomit in the back of my throat.
Ahem. But we’re here to talk about food.
After making bacon jam a few weeks ago, I was saddened that Scott couldn’t partake in its delight because the bulk of the jam is onion. So, I’ve been thinking of a way to make it without onions and the solution I’m trying tonight is to substitute pineapple for the offending Allium. This is, of course, an experiment, but I thought I’d post my results and see if there’s any tweaking readers can suggest. Here’s what I used:
1 lb. bacon
2 cans pineapple, drained and juice held in reserve
6 jalapenos (fresh from the garden), diced
1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped
3 chipotle peppers
2 tsp. adobo sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Hershey’s cocoa
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 c. coffee
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. pineapple juice
1 Tbsp. honey
I have an extensive amount of rationalizations for some of the choices I’ve made. The last time I said I wasn’t going to use the chipotle again because i suspected they were responsible for the BBQ-y flavor of the last batch. However, they’ve been in my refrigerator, like tiny accusations of possible waste (as far as I’m concerned, throwing away food is a sin up there with murder), so I used them. I also think that by upping the chocolate (which goes great with both pineapple and chiles) since I could barely taste it last time, even as a hidden “note” somewhere in the mix, there will be a deeper flavor. The fresh jalapenos were because I had them on hand and to add mass to the jam. The coffee I’m less sure about. I tell myself it will make the final product less sweet, but I’m not sure how it will go with pineapples. Just to be on the safe side, I used weak coffee (it’ll get plus intense the longer it cooks anyway).
There are a lot of hopes in this pot.
I’m still looking for saltiness this time. We’ll see.
The technique is the same as before – render the fat away from the bacon while crisping it up then remove the bacon and pour out all but a Tablespoon of the fat.
Caramelize the pineapple and jalapenos in the fat over a medium-low flame. I didn’t add the garlic at this time because it seemed like it would either sit on top of the pineapple and not get cooked or it would sit below the pineapple and burn. Better safe than sorry (though crushed pineapple would probably solve this problem). When the fruits have softened, add all the other ingredients and slowly simmer for two to three hours.
Process until all the big parts are broken down into spreadable bits. I found there was some stray grease in the pot as I was transferring the jam to the food processor. I suspect this might be because the pineapple isn’t holding onto fat the way onion would. Next time, less fat in the pot or drain it away during the simmer.
My brother tasted it and says he liked it! “Intense” was his word. Sweet start then the heat rises and a salty finish of bacon-y goodness. Yay! If anyone else tries this recipe and has some suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know! I’m already consdering soy instead of coffee….
No recipes tonight because there weren’t any recipes to follow (except for The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever, but that’s been covered before) -mostly because I was the follower in the kitchen, which was an unusual and welcome experience. My friend Yasmin came over and we made (with her in the lead):
Artichoke, Shiitake mushroom, and zucchini bruschetta
Fresh salad with homemade vinaigrette
Handmade pasta
and from-scratch tomato and basil sauce (gardens are amazing things!).
Here’s what it looked like all served up nicely.
And, of course, cake!
After this meal, I am more determined than ever to get my backyard in order to plant tomatoes and basil and dill and herbs of all kinds next Spring. There’s something quite wonderful and rare about taking several hours out to cook and talk and share and spend a marvelous evening together.
Just a follow up to the other day’s bacon jam post. Tonight I made an egg sandwich with a wheat hamburger roll, a fried egg, welsh cheddar, and (of course) the bacon jam. YUM!
After watching the last several seasons of Top Chef and Masterchef, there are two thins that are abundantly clear to me: one, being team captain is not an enviable position, and two, have at least two desserts memorized and practiced. It is in that spirit that I present today’s Food Porn Recipe. It’s “The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.” and it comes from The Pioneer Woman. My wording may be a little different, but the credit is completely hers. The reason I decided to make this recipe was because it seemed simple and straightforward, but with a lot of room for play. It also required under an hour to mix, bake and assemble, which is great for nights when I’m invited over to some friends’ house to watch The Big Lebowski, and I have nothing to offer.
Here’s what you need:
2 c. flour (I used cake flour)
2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs (beaten)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 sticks of butter
4 Tbsps. cocoa
1 c. boiling water
Oven at 350°. 18″ x 13″ sheet cake pan at the ready. No need to grease it with two sticks of butter in the batter (which, indeed, makes it better).
Mix the first three ingredients together in a large bowl. Be sure that they are well incorporated so that when they get wet in a few steps you won’t have discreet piles of chocolately, salty flour and chocolately, salty sugar.
Easy enough, right?
Mix the next four ingredients in a small bowl. I don’t keep buttermilk around, so the typical substitution is to put 1/2 tsp. of vinegar into a 1/2 c. measuring cup, fill it the rest of the way up with milk, then let it sit for five minutes. This somehow makes buttermilk. Does anyone know if one kind of milk is better than another, say whole vs. 1%? Put this off to the side.
In a saucepan, melt the two sticks of butter over a medium flame. Scoop in the cocoa (be generous!) and stir. Pour in the boiling water then let the mixtures boil hard for 30 seconds.
Pour this over the flour mixture and stir until the liquid has been mostly absorbed. Make sure the mixture is mostly cool (it should be) because the next step is adding the egg mixture and you don’t want them too cook in the bowl.
Add the egg mixture and stir until just incorporated. I know the common wisdom for cakes and muffins is to not overmix the batter because of gluten over-production which will make the cake tough and full of air bubbles. However, since I used cake flour, which has less gluten, I wonder if there’s a bit more leeway into how many strokes I can use. Not hundreds more, of course. Not even as many as my Kitchen Aid might require, but maybe an additional 25 to 50 strokes. Does anyone know?
Pour into the sheet cake tray and bake for 20 minutes. My cake actually went for 27 minutes until a fork stuck in the center could be pulled out clean.
While the cake was baking, I turned my attention to my old nemesis, chocolate frosting, which has almost the same ingredients as the cake above:
1 3/4 sticks butter
4 Tbps. cocoa
6 Tbps. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. (minus 1/2 c.) powdered sugar
Melt the butters. Add the cocoa. Stir. Add the milk and vanilla. Stir. Add the powdered sugar. Incorporate. Easy, right? Unless you’re me. I used the last of my powdered sugar -which I swear was a pound (minus 1/2 c.)!- and what I got instead of a fudgy chocolate frosting was a fudgy chocolate sauce. It was a delicious fudgy chocolate sauce, but not exactly what I had envisioned for my cake. Nevertheless, my time had run out, so I poured the sauce into a Tupperware bowl and took it with me to the movie-viewing.
The cake itself was well-received. It was moist with an almost brownie-like density around the edges with a more traditional cake crumb in the center. I’m guessing this was from the cake flour, but I’ll have to use AP the next time just to see what the difference is. I’m also interested to spice up the frosting with some cayenne pepper next time (but not so much that people won’t come back for thirds). If you try this recipe, let me know your results! and thank you, Pioneer Woman!
While looking for a homemade root beer recipe, I diverged onto an Internet Tangent and found a recipe for bacon jam, which I had never heard of before and couldn’t quite imagine how to make. It turns out that most anything can be jammed as long as there are sugar and fruit/vegetables in the mix and no liquid (otherwise it would be a chutney, if I understand the differences correctly). There are several variations to this recipe (and variations weird me out, especially in cake recipes, which this is not), but two I liked were this one -for its inclusion of chipotle and chocolate- and this one -for its pictures and straightforwardness. I decided to combine the two and tweak as necessary. Here’s what I came up with.
1 lb. bacon
1 large onion (I used Vidalia)
5 garlic cloves
1 c. coffee
1/2 c. cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. Hershey’s cocoa
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 chipotle peppers
2 tsp. adobo sauce (I like spice)
1 Tbsp. honey
The bacon has to be rendered slowly so as much fat as possible melts off, but at the same time getting crisp. This took me about 20 minutes on a medium flame. Next time, I’m going to pre-cut the bacon so the cook is more even. I sliced the onions and measured out my other ingredients while waiting. This kept me in the kitchen and paying attention instead of playing Dead space 2.
Remove the bacon from the fat, then pour the fat into a heat-proof vessel to cool, reserving 1 TBsp. to cook the onion and garlic. Still over a medium flame, add the onion and garlic to the pot. Stir occasionally (don’t burn the garlic!) until the onion is translucent. This took about 10 minutes.
After that, spill the rest of the ingredients into the pot, stir, and reduce the flame to low.
The mixtures should low simmer for close to two hours. I stirred every few minutes and tested to be sure I liked the flavors and adjusted as necessary. The allspice, chocolate, and cinnamon seem to disappear into the background behind the vinegar, so next time I’m going to cut that back to 1/3 c. I was nervous at first using the cinnamon because lately the flavor sometimes seems to overpower whatever dish it’s in. I made a tres leches cake a few months back and all I could taste was cinnamon and egg. I hope my palate isn’t decompensating. I’m also not sure about the chipotle. It had too much of a BBQ tang to it, which is great for hamburgers, but not exactly what I’m looking for as a toast spread. I’ll probably cut that next time and use a chili powder instead.
When the mixture becomes syrupy, remove the pot from the heat, cool, and then spoon into a food processor. Pulse until blended. There should still be chunks of bacon and onion. It’s a jam, not a jelly.
I had it tonight on a cheeseburger with homemade pickles and a jalapeño from the garden. Sadly, Scott has become intolerant of onions and The Sprout is a picky eater, so I did all this work today essentially for myself. That’s OK; I’m worth it. The texture of the jam was really quite marvelous, and the flavor was tangy, sweet and hot. Perfect for a burger.
Next time, though, I will aim to make it less BBQ-y and more savory. Let me know your results!
I’m getting behind in posting all my food porn here at Orthocomics (damn you for being so easy to post pictures to, Facebook! seriously. WordPress need to step it up.), so here are several days with of food at once:
Poached Chicken Panini with a Yogurt Dill Dip:
Recent excursions into bread:
All of which were pretty yum. There are days when I wonder if I could go to culinary school…
Sort of. In getting ready for the new semester, I’m trying out new healthier recipes for lunch so I don’t have to subsist on hamburgers every day (which, while delicious, would be bad), so here are two experiments:
First, pan fried wheat noodles with tofu in a Dr. Pepper/soy reduction. Yesh, the Dr. Pepper isn’t too healthy, and it doesn’t do anything for the flavor other than add a bit of a caramel finish. I think I’d be better off using Sprinte or white wine the next time.
Next is brown rice risotto with veg. I completely understand now why risotto is such a delicacy: it took me and hour of constant stirring to get the rice cooked! However, it was totally worth the effort. Fresh lemon juice just before serving gives it a nice finish.
YUM!
…BREAKFAST CUPCAKES! They’re butter cupcakes with maple frosting and a sausage link on top.
Next: meatloaf cupcakes!
I LOVE Weird City Theatre, not only because I’m a company member and because next summer they’re doing a superhero play that I’m writing (!!!), but because they put on some innovative shows, and Hallowe’en is our favorite season. Last year, we did “Night of the Living Dead“, and this year WTC has adapted F. W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” for the Austin stage (picture to come soon). Early reviews say it’s a hit, and I’ve been fortunate enough to house manage the show, and to provide concessions, particularly, Elvis cupcakes: banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and candied bacon. So far, people seem to like them.
Since I’ve been asked for the recipe, I’m going to post it here; however, I’m going to start with a disclaimer: these aren’t my recipes. I’m not even sure this is an original idea (I’m actually too scared to google it). The other day I was thinking about what would be a great treat for the show, and this came to mind.
Banana cupcakes:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
* 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
Peanut butter frosting:
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup creamy peanut butter
* 3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
* 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1. Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.
Candied bacon:
1. Preheat over to 425.
2. Place bacon on a rack inside a cookie sheet and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar.
3. Bake until shiny and crisp (about 25 minutes)
Assemble all the parts. Try them at your next party and let me know how they go over.
This Winter Break i ate a lot of food that is not normally in my diet. A few days ago, my body staged a mini-coup to get me to stop eating, but until I had already had a hand in consuming this:
The pizza is a large pepperoni and mushroom from Two Friends Italian Market; the wings (from top center: Regular Hot, Hot BBQ, 24 Karat Gold, Jalapeno Teriyaki, Spicy Peanut and Shanghai Red) and deep fried pretzels are from Eli’s Tavern – still the best place for wings in the world as far as I’m concerned. Keep in mind this was for two of us – my brother and I, not a party as one might suspect. This was the latest in a long series of dietary abuses that had me in bed for over a day. Ah, but what a way to go! Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of the “Best Reuben in Erie” at McGarrey’s Oakwood Cafe. Next year.
I was overcome by traditional values this holiday and decided to bake cookies with my nephew and brother. This is them decorating the sugar cookies we rolled and cut out:
For a kid who doesn’t like to get messy, he got pretty messy. Oddly, he didn’t like any of the cookies we made (to eat), though he liked making them. Oh! And we made Venom gingerbread men. (Dominic’s favorite villain):
All-in-all, it was a wonderful holiday, but next year I’m going to add an all-you-can-eat salad joint to my list of places to go. It’s sad when a man can’t gorge himself of heavily sauced and deep-fried foods to his heart’s content anymore.
Thanksgiving today was a laid-back affair – just myself and the BFF. All in all, we had a lot to be thankful for this year – Chris got a promotion at work and I’m still following my love of writing. We have homes, food, family and friends. What else do we need?
Considering there was just the two of us, we had enough food for six people. The leftovers themselves will keep me from going to HEB for at least that long, I’m sure. By the end of the day, we were stretching, farting and contentedly whining, “I’m so fat!” The feast consisted of:
Moet and Chandon champagne;
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