Potato Leek au gratin ish

2 Leeks sliced thin

1 onion sliced thinly

2 Bay leaves

3 cloves of roasted garlic

Chicken Stock

Half and half

Butter

Oil

Salt

Pepper

Cook Leeks in oil and butter
Caramelized onions add roasted garlic
Add flour- make roux
Half and half and chicken stock, add water until consistency is right

Slice potatoes thin, see thru
Add sauce at bottom of corningware
Layer potatoes, parmesan, sauce, until full

Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of pan

Bake at 400F for 35-40 mins

Snowflakes

These are not edible and yes they are crochet projects, I figure since I'm taking a short bread break since it's almost Thanksgiving and I'm heading home that I could start posting other "creative" projects.

Made 3 snowflakes- they all have tiny mistakes, but I figured no 2 snowflakes are alike so it's ok!

Found the patterns for the first 3 here

Pattern 1- I added the corrections

Chain Loop Snowflake

Ch 8; join with sl st to form ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 1, sc in ring; (ch 12, sc in ring) 11 times; ch 5, yo hook 4 times, insert hook in first sc and draw lp through (yo and draw through 2 lps on hook) 5 times -- trtr made and 12 ch-12 lps counting trtr as lp.

BBA 1. Anadama challenge

Starting up the Bread Baking Apprentice Challenge, here's the first one Anadama Bread.

This recipe makes 2 loaves in 9x5 pans.

If you'd like the recipe you can find it here

Day 1
One. Make the starter
I weighed the cornmeal- 6oz and used my Pyrex beaker cup for 8 oz of water

**Note to all other bakers- do not use Pan cornmeal for arepas... doesn't work!**

Here's the cornmeal and water- liquid!

Day 2
Two. Added the flour, water and yeast, got it to bubble!

Three. Next was adding the molasses, room temperature butter, salt and flour.

Four. Then the kneading, my dough was super sticky, so I kept adding flour, and kneading, however I never got to the windowpane test. My arms were too tired to keep going after kneading for almost 20 minutes. So instead of continuing I decided to put it in the oiled bowl and let it rise for 90 minutes.

Five. Once the dough doubled I cut it in half and shaped it into loafs. I put them in two 9x5 oiled pans and let them rise for 90 mins, long enough for it to get over the ridges

Six. Bake for 20 mins at 350F, then switch places, bake for another 20-30 minutes
Seven. Fresh loaves out of the oven... now wait 1 hour before slicing

Verdict: Freaking fantastic!!!!! inside was uber soft and had a great molasses undertone. However I'll probably slice and freeze the second loaf. It's a heavy bread and with just the two of us I'm afraid the second loaf won't make it without preservatives. Definitely gonna make chili to accompany this one!

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge

After scrolling around the web looking for bread recipes I came across The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. The boy being awesome decided to get me a copy :) Many bloggers across the web decided to start up a challenge of baking all the recipes. The challenge has long ended but regardless I figured that I could start it up for myself.
I'll be recording my attempts at baking all the recipes. I won't be including the recipes since it's definitely worth the buy plus I don't exactly have permission either!

I've technically already started using the book, we just ate the loaf so fast I didn't have time to take pictures :P

I'll be trying to keep a continuous record of my attempts. The first one being Anadama bread. Come back tomorrow for more bread baking!

Beef Barley Soup

I've been slacking at updating this sad little blog, mostly because I hate taking pictures. However I enjoy having a compilation of my hard work and an easily accessible site to send to my friends and family.

I decided it was time to use up the carrots and celery in my fridge that have been begging me to be put to use. Since I still have pots of chicken noodle in my freezer I figured why not beef barley! My Grandmother was an expert at beef barley soup, it was always slightly creamy and full of flavor. I remember sitting in my chair and eating it with my special spoon (her sugar spoon).

 Today I'm starting the process of writing down my attempts, maybe eventually I'll get it just right!

Here's today's attempt:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 slices of bacon
• ~1/2 yellow onion- chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic grated
• ~2 lbs of beef round cubes- didn't have marrow pieces
• 5-6 carrots- sliced about 1 cup
• 5 stalks of celery- also slices about 1 cup
• 2-3 bay leaves
• Salt
• Pepper 
• Thyme
• 1 cup of barley
• 3 1/2 cups of water- or beef stock(didn't have any)

*Optional- Slow cooker

One. Wash and cut your carrots and celery into bite size slices. Slice your onion and grate the cloves of garlic.

Two. Using a large pot add olive oil and bacon slices. Cooking at medium let the bacon start to cook up, once it starts to sizzle add the onion and cook until slightly golden. Remove and place into slow cooker, leaving bacon slices inside your pot.

Three. Next add your garlic cloves and your beef, salt, pepper, thyme. Cook until beef is browned on all sides. If needed add a little water to remove the bits at the bottom of the pan. Once cooked turn off heat.

Four.  Add your carrots, meat, celery, barley, water, bay leaves and extra salt, pepper and thyme.

Five. Cook on high for 6 hours, mixing occasionally to move the barley and vegetables around. Check to make sure there is enough broth, add more water if needed.

This soup can be made without a slow cooker, simply add all the ingredients to the pot you cooked the meat in and simmer the soup for at least 1 hour. Once barley is cooked, soup will be ready. I prefer the slow cooker because the meat becomes more tender with time.

Update: Soup was definitely creamy, bacon flavor was slightly overpowering, next time look for marrow pieces, maybe even oxtail.

Zucchini fritters

Zucchini is probably one of my favorite vegetables, it's great grilled, or sauted in some butter and plainly dressed with salt and pepper. These were on sale at Publix and I had to take them home. After using about half the package, usually in a tomato sauce I always end up with leftovers. Using the wonder that is tastespotting I started to look around for alternative recipes. This is a slightly healthier version of potato (latkes or latkas) aka pancakes. 

They were AMAZING!!! I tweaked the recipe, mostly by whim and fried these up. They were great hot and cold and plain. When the boy came home I didn't want to share. We ate them so fast I couldn't even snap a picture of them. 

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini
• 2 small yellow zucchini
• 2 medium carrots shredded
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 2 eggs
• Oregano
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons of parmesan
• 3 tablespoons of shredded mozerella

One. Start by shredding zucchini and carrots with grater (larger pieces recommended). Place in colander or mesh strainer. Sprinkle your vegetables lightly with salt, this helps to get more water out of the vegetables. Let the vegetables drain as long as you can wait (recommend 1 hours). Squeeze more water out of vegetables.

Two. In a bowl add eggs, flour, breadcrumbs and variety of spices, pinches of salt and pepper. Mix until flour is moistened, add shredded vegetables.

Three. In a metal pot ( I prefer it to a frying pan, protects from splatter) add 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Heat this to medium high. Once you see ripples in your oil it's ready to cook (or you can drop a piece and see if it bubbles). Using a 1/4 cup i spoon even portions into my pot, cooking 2 patties at a time.

Four. Once nice and golden brown, flip, should take less than a minute each. Place on a paper towel over a drying rack to help them stay crunchy. Salt to taste while warm. Eat and enjoy :)

Banana Toffee Blondies

If you're looking for a flat version of a banana muffin, here's a little sweet

Banoffee Blondies

Change up

For now, until I get to urge to start taking pictures of my creations I'll simply be adding links to recipes that I've used and have worked.

Tonight we made breadcrumbs, we'll be keeping them plain and keep them in the freezer.

Found the tips on breadcrumbs and croutons here

Blondies

Delicious Blondies

Posting this link to this wonderful recipe and blog writer.

Once crazy finals are over here are some recipes to look forward to:
Lemon curd
Blondies
Chicken matzo soup
Coconut custard pie

After that the possibilities are endless once free time kicks in!
So excited :)
Be back in 2 weeks!

Corned beef

I am making corned beef.
1. Because it is on sale
2. Because I want to try it
3. Because my boy is pretend Irish
4. Because people say its delicious
5. Because Publix tempted me with pictures

I looked everywhere on the internetz for recipes. Too many different kinds.

Later when I am being productive I shall post my new creation. Hopefully it will be great, or at least edible.

Ingredients:

• 2.3 ish lbs of corned beef in a bag at Publix
• 5 largely chopped carrots
• 5 stalks of celery
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 2 cups of apple juice
• 4 gloves of garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• Black pepper
• 1 cabbage chopped in 8 pieces
• 8 small red potatoes
• Water
• 3 tablespoons honey dijon
• 1 tablespoon honey
• sprinkle of brown sugar

One. In a large pot place corned beef at the bottom. Add carrots, celery, onion, apple juice, garlic, bay leaves and black pepper. Cover with water, bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer. Cook for about 1 hr per lbs of meat. I cooked mine for 3 hours. 

Two. Preheat oven to 400F.  In a small bowl mix honey dijon and honey. 

Three. Remove corned beef and place on a cookie sheet covered with aluminium foil. Place honey dijon sauce on top of roast, covered all top surfaces. Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar. This will make a lovely glaze for your corned beef. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until glaze is nice and melted. 

Four. In the meantime take out vegetables from simmering water. Add potatoes and cabbage. Bring to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. 

Five. Slice corned beef against the grain, serve with vegetables and enjoy :) 

Honey Lemon Chicken and Chocohotopots

Last couple of days have been busy with school, exams, procrastinating, zip-lining. You know, the usual. Since it's been so long since I've been grocery shopping or real time cooking I figured I should muster up the effort and make something delicious. As always I was looking for some inspiration and tastespotting came to the rescue.

Here is the original recipe I took my inspiration from: Click here!!!
Here is my tweak on the original

- 1 lemon
- 2 tbs of honey
- 1 tbs of soy sauce
- 3 tsp of sugar
- splash of orange juice
- 3 carrots chopped into thin rounds
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 2 cups of chicken broth
- 1 cup of jasmine rice
- 1.34 lbs of chicken breast (chopped into large chunks)
- salt
- pepper

1. Place lemon in microwave for 30 seconds, this helps to juice your lemon later. Grate lemon should have about 1 teaspoon. Slice lemon in half and juice it.
2. To lemon juice add honey, soy sauce, sugar, and splash of orange juice. Mix all together
3. Peel and chop carrots and onion.
4. Add olive oil to a large pot, heat to medium high heat, brown chicken on all sides. Once browned remove chicken from pot.
5. Add more oil if needed, add onions, sauté for 30 seconds, add carrots, rice, honey sauce. Place chicken on top of rice, add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes.
6. Serve on a plate and enjoy :)

Chocohotopots- from Nigella Lawson
Recipe here

Macaroni and Cheese

Major headache. Need to study for this week. I want macaroni and cheese.

Tried a new recipe from Elizabeth's Edible Blog
Here's the original link

Recipe:
8oz box of elbow macaroni
3 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese
2 cups of milk
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Breadcrumbs(I used Italian)
2 melted tablespoons of butter

Cook macaroni to al dente, still a bit hard since it'll cook even longer in the oven
In a seal able cup combine milk, flour, onion powder and garlic salt in a container. Shake them all up together until everything is well combined.
In a bowl mix milk, cheese and cooked macaroni.
Pour mix into a 13x9 greased baking pan.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs over macaroni, pour melted butter over pan.
Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Macaroni should be golden when cooked.

Pot Roast

Once again checked the Publix ad to pick out my dinner menu. Today I'm attempting my first ever Pot Roast!!! Woooohooooo! I suppose you can't go wrong with a staple American meal for dinner.
After using the web to find a good recipe none of them fit exactly what I was looking for so it looks like I'll be making my own recipe. Still debating the use of slow cooker to stove/oven method. *Decided on oven.

Here are the ingredients:
-2.25 lbs of chuck roast
-10 ish peeled boiler onions
-6 or 7 carrots chopped thickly
-5 celery stalks chopped into large chunks
-8 oz baby bella mushrooms
-4 gloves garlic
-2 teaspoons of sugar
-3 bay leaf
-salt
-pepper
-flour
-thyme
-rosemary
-1 1/2 cups beef stock/broth
-1 cup cooking wine
- water
-olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350F and make sure to place rack with enough space for your pot.

2. Coat meat in flour, salt and pepper. Coat bottom of your pot(if you have a dutch oven use that) with olive oil brown meat on all sides, then remove from pan.

3. Add and cook vegetables until brown, if needed add a bit of broth to keep brown bits from burning. Add sugar and garlic cook until fragrant about 30 seconds.

4. Place meat back into pot, over a slight layer of vegetables. Add beef stock/wine and remove brown bits from bottom, add meat and spices. Add enough liquid to almost cover the roast adding water if needed.

5. Cover pot with foil, and put into oven. Turn roast ever 30 mins, cooking for a total of 4 hours. Once roast is tender and starts to fall apart, remove from pot with vegetables and keep under a foil tent.

6. Strain out spices and thicken the sauce (if needed) on the stove top. Either use some cornstarch or a beurre manie. For cornstarch place a small amount in a bowl and dilute with cold water or liquid from roast (this prevents clumping). For the beurre manie use about 2 tablespoons of softened butter and mix with 2 tablespoons of flour. Make this into a paste. Then add to the remaining liquid in pot, let boil, sauce should thicken to an almost gravy.

7. Serve roast, vegetables and gravy with mashed potatoes.

8. Tell your friends how amazing this recipe was :p

If using a slow cooker:
1. Brown meat as stated previously, and vegetables (adds extra flavor).

2. Place half the vegetables at the bottom of the slow cooker. Place meat on top, add second half of vegetables.

3. Add 1 cup of beef broth, 1 cup of cooking wine and all spices.

4. Set on Low for 8 to 10 hours, or high 3 to 4. Once meat is tender and vegetables cooked through it's ready to eat. Remove roast and vegetables, if needed strain liquid to remove spices.

5. Place liquid back into slow cooker, set on high. In a small bowl add cornstarch, add liquid to the bowl and mix until well incorporated, add new cornstarch liquid to the slow cooker(this way it won't clump). Or you can make a beurre manie (2 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 tablespoons of flour mixed together into a paste). Add thickening agent to slow cooker, let liquid get to a boil. Once thicken ladle over your roast and vegetables.

6. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Peanut butter, banana, chocolate chip cookies...

We bought bananas at our last trip to Publix, they sat there for a week waiting to be consumed until eventually it was baking time for them. I usually make muffins with them but this time I wanted to try something new.
Peanut putter, banana and chocolate...
I scoured the internet for some ideas and eventually found a couple concepts to work off of but none of them were to my liking so here's my recipe

½ cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white

1 ½ cups peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons honey

3 mashed bananas

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400F. Using a grease aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. 

In a bowl mix butter and sugars until blended. Add peanut butter, egg, vanilla, honey, mix together. Mash bananas and add to bowl and mix. 

Sift flour and baking soda into wet mix. Add chocolate chips to the batter.

Drop tablespoons unto cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 mins or until toothpick come out clean.

Let cool and enjoy with lactose free milk (or the regular stuff)

Lazy Post for Pork and Potatoes

Busy week. Went home for my first visit to the Florida State Fair. A little chaotic but an overall pleasant experience.

Here's a quick dinner we picked up from Publix.
Rosemary-maple pork tenderloin recipe










Quite delicious, even better the next day. Strained the sauce, added a little cornstarch and cooked until it thickened up.

Those little potatoes were delicious and probably my new favorites.

We served out dinner with some green beans in a box, next time I'll probably just steam some fresh ones.

Home for the weekend- Nectarine and blueberry coffee cake

Mom found this recipe at this blog
She really loves this blog, looks like I'll be giving it a look through soon. The store's peaches were only okie dokie, so we went with nectarines.

Here's our non gluten free version of it:
1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
2 fresh nectarines sliced thin

Topping:
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soft butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp flour

Mix dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Mix until smooth. Pour into a buttered pie pan. Place nectarines and blueberries over. Mix topping ingredients until paste like. Place in a 350F oven. Bake for 40 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Holla at your Challah Bread

3/4 cup warm water (or milk)

1 large egg

3 tbs margarine, cut up in little pieces

3 cups bread flour or all-purpose

4 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 egg

Add ingredients to bread machine. Spray pan, take out bread once done. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Braid bread or make into simple loaf. Baked on bottom 1/3 of oven at 375 F for 25 mins. Bread should be slightly brown and sound hollow when tapped.

To find out how to braid your Challah bread click here

Everybody loves pizza :)

Here's a bread machine recipe for pizza

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar (can substitute white sugar)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* optional variety of spices (Rosemary, Italian seasoning, oregano, etc)

Throw it all your bread machine
Preheat oven to 425 F


-Layer a baking sheet with aluminium foil
-Spray with olive oil or cornmeal
-Cover with good stuff- aka tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, bacon, etc
-Brush crust with olive oil, or other spices (garlic powder is a good one)
-Bake for 15 to 20 mins, until golden brown and cheese melted thoroughly!
-Eat and enjoy :)

Blackened Catfish with Butter Potatoes

Catfish was on sale this week at Publix.     Sale item = what's for dinner this week!
We also found a bottle of blackened seasoning in our cupboard. So dinner was born. Blackened catfish!
I'd hear terrible stories of smoke taking over the room so I figured an oven bake would be safer.
Definitely will be making it again :)

Recipe:
- 2 fillets of catfish
- 2 tbs of melted butter
- Blackened seasoning
- Olive oil spray

- 24 oz bag of small honey gold potatoes

- 3 tbs water

- 2 tbs butter

- salt

- pepper

Preheat oven to 450 F. Line two baking sheet with aluminium foil. Spray both pans down with olive oil. Cut potatoes in half, place in microwave safe bowl with 3 tbs of water. Cover potatoes and microwave about 7-8 mins or until tender to fork. Drain water out of potatoes, add butter and salt and pepper. Mix potatoes until well covered, place on one of baking sheet.
Rinse catfish fillets, pat dry with paper towels. Baste catfish fillets with butter, sprinkle blackened seasoning to preference. I covered both fillets they were pretty packed with seasoning (fyi pretty darn spicy). Place fillets on aluminum foil, spray with olive oil or a dollop of butter. In our case both :p

Place both baking sheets in oven bake 11-15 minutes. Check that fish is flaky with a fork. Check the thickest part of the fish to be sure. Potatoes should be slightly golden. Serve with salad, green beans, broccoli, veggie medley, etc.

Apple and Pear pies

Mini apple pie for the win
Previously I've had trouble making apple pies that were not too liquid. I had some pears and apples at home and decided to give it a try. I usually make my pie dough myself but the store bought stuff is just as awesome. This as of now is my favorite apple pie recipe. Enjoy!

The mold can be found here Williams Sonoma

Pie crust from Williams Sonoma

- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbs granulated sugar
- 2 sticks of butter, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 6 to 8 tbs ice water

Add flour, salt, sugar and butter to a food processor. Pulse several times until dough is crumbly. Add 5 tbs of water, pulse. If dough is too crumbly add one tbs at a time until dough is firm and holds together when squeezed. Take dough out, separate in half, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Spiced apple and pear filling:      Recipe tweaked from Food Network
- 1 tbs orange juice
- 6 apples
- 3 pears
- 2/3 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling later
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Peal and core apples and pears. Cut into bite size pieces. Mix in orange juice to prevent browning and enhance flavor. In a saucepan over medium high heat melt butter. Add fruit with orange juice, sugar, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Stir until sugar dissolves and juices come to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook fruits until soft to liking, about 10-15 minutes. Add the flour and mix, cook until juice thickens slightly. Stir in vanilla, mix and remove from heat. The filling should look like a compote. Let cool before using in pie.

Making your pie:
- 1 egg
- sprinkling sugar

Take dough out and let rest for 5 mins, flour a work surface. Roll out dough to desired thickness. Cut out apple molds (in total about 16 pieces = 8 pies). Place filling about 2 tbs on top of bottom half of apple , brush outline of apple with egg wash. Add top piece of apple mold, use fork to seal edges. Brush top of apple pie with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar. Place pies on a parchment or aluminum line baking sheet. Place pies in freezer for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 400 degrees. bake for 22 to 24 mins until golden brown and filling is bubbling. Let pies rest on cooling rack for 10 mins.

To reheat simply pop in the microwave about 45 seconds. Delicious with (lactose free) vanilla ice cream :)

For next time:

Even squirrels can't live off just nuts

Future entries- recipes :P