Two Birds in the Bush

VERY Strawberry cupcakes

2011-02-12T11:04:00.003-09:00

For a friend's birthday I was asked to make the cake. He actually said he would like cupcakes and his favorite flavor was strawberry. I'm more of a chocolate or caramel kinda of person so I had to look up a strawberry cake recipe. I'm not shy about the fact I use box cake mixes. They are cheap and easy and with a few simple modifications they turn to magic. And cooking this cake made my whole house smell amazing. I hated the frosting. HATE! Too much liquid and they frosting came out runny, but flavorful. So I made some modifications to the frosting.

Gather together:

Cupcakes

1 package (18 1/4-oz.) cake mix, plain white or yellow
1 package (3-oz.) strawberry Jello
1 cup (mashed)Strawberries (I used strawberry pie filling)
1/4 cup(s) vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Frosting

1/2 package cream cheese , at room temperature
4 tablespoon(s) butter, unsalted, at room temperature
3 cup(s) (up to 3 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup(s) (fresh ) strawberries, (Used the rest of the strawberry pie filling)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
Combine the cake mix, gelatin, strawberries and juice, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed. Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 3/4 full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove empty liners, if any.) Place pans side by side in the oven.
Bake until cupcakes are lightly golden and spring back when pressed gently with a finger, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven, place pans on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool for another 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare frosting: Blend cream cheese and butter in large mixing bowl with electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and the mashed strawberries. Mix on low speed until incorporated, 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and blend until frosting is fluffy, 30 to 45 seconds longer, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar if needed to get a spreadable consistency.
Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with back of spoon. Refrigerate, uncovered, until frosting sets, 20 minutes. Decorate with sprinkles and strawberry slices, if desired.

Again, the frosting was a little too wet for my taste. The recipe called for a whole package of cream cheese. And I had to use 2lbs of powdered sugar to get it to firm up at all. Weird. So cut that in half.and just use a half of the cream cheese.

Chewy Vanilla Caramels

2010-12-04T14:53:00.009-09:00

I took this recipe from the foodie bride's blog. SHE is amazing as is this recipe. I plan to make additional flavors with this recipe as a basic recipe.

Fleur de Sel Caramels with Vanilla Bean
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces (at Christmas, I like to use the fancy European style butter)
1/2 tsp vanilla (I use homemade Tahitian vanilla)
1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped
1 1/4 teaspoon Fleur de se (sea salt)l, plus more for sprinkling
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (can substitute light corn syrup)
1/4 cup water

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly butter parchment.

Bring cream, butter, vanilla, vanilla beans, pods, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Remove pods and carefully stir cream mixture into the caramel (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248 on thermometer.

Pour into baking pan and cool 30 minutes. Sprinkle another pinch or two of fleur de sel over the top of the caramel for a nice salty crunch and let sit until completely cooled.

Cut into 1-inch pieces. A butter knife works well--foodie bride used a buttered pizza cutter, but I didn't have very good control over the cuts so my first batch was very irregularly shaped. And then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.

Traditional Cranberry Relish (or cranberry goo as I like to call it)

2010-11-21T11:18:00.005-09:00

I have never made cranberry relish in my life. In fact, I prefer the can shaped, red gel that slices super easy. However, this is also the first year that I will be hosting my entire family and it seems that some people like the real goo and not the can shaped stuff.

I got a few good ideas and decided to try to throw some thing together:

Gather together:

4 c. cranberries
1.5 c. water
2 c. sugar
zest and juice from one orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp of ground cloves (or about 5 cloves--but you'll have to remove these later)
1 tsp of ground ginger

Add water, sugar and orange zest and juice. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Then add cranberries, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Bring to a rapid boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove the cinnamon stick and allow to chill completely.

OMG! THIS STUFF IS AMAZING! However, I have to wait a few days until I get to add this very festive and delicious goo to my overloaded plate of turkey, mash potatoes and all the fixin's.

Homemade (Starbucks) mocha biscotti

2010-11-05T21:50:00.005-08:00

Starbucks is giving out free samples of the new starbucks via instant coffee. So I wanted to make something with it. As it turns out, biscotti was up on the list. I have always heard that making biscotti is a two day event and it super hard to make. As it turns out, it's not hard and I made it in less than 2 hours--including the baking time. I found this recipe here. I made changes as I saw fit.

Gather together:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (Starbucks Mocha Via works amazingly well)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 egg yolk (to be brushed on the top of the huge biscuit before baking)
1 tablespoon water (added to egg yolk)

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and coffee granules in a bowl. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla with the last egg. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Roll out on to baking sheet with a dusted rolling pin in to a rectangle that is about 1 inch high. Beat egg yolk with water in a small bowl. Brush over the top loaf. (feel free to cut in half if you want shorter biscuits--leave room between them so they can bake propperly.)
Bake in the preheated oven until firm, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 to 12 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Cut loaf diagonally into 3/4 inch slices. Place each slice, cut-side up onto the baking sheet. Return to the oven and bake until the biscotti are dry, 10 to 15 minutes on each side. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

These worked out pretty well. I was surprised. These things are going on the christmas cookie list.

One bird in the Bush-One Bird in the City

2010-04-27T22:32:00.002-08:00

While we haven't talked about changing the name of our blog, I thought I might want to point out that one of the birds has left the bush to have cooking adventures in the land of bourbon and horse racing. I think we have every intention of continuing to blog...Assuming Erin still decides to bake and I keep cooking.

And on another note, we got 2nd place again in the Beaver Round up bake off with our mini pumpkin cheesecakes. They were tasty and fun. We lost first to a cookie pizza :( Oh well. Erin always has next year.

Caramel Sauce

2010-02-20T13:41:00.000-09:00

I've started to experimenting with caramel and caramel sauces. Occasionally, I will find pints of heavy cream for half price since they are about to expired or is expired. This brings the price down to 3.50 instead of $7 for a pint. But when I find them on sale I try to buy a couple and use ASAP. By far, the best thing to make is caramel sauce. It goes great on ice cream, pancakes, cake topping, and I've been told it goes great on baked salmon. (I haven't tried that, but I was told it was the best salmon ever.)

This is by far the easiest and best recipe. I ALWAYS double this recipe, but when I do , I cut the butter down from 12 Tbsp to 8Tbsp.

Gather together:

1 cup of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on.

As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up a bit. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. Finish with some of your favorite salt (I used pink Himalayan Salt.

(Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Soft Pretzels

2010-02-17T12:46:00.000-09:00

Due to the lack of sunlight and things to do, I watch tv...a lot of tv. Which translates in to a lot of food network. And one of my favorite shows to watch is Good Eats with Alton Brown. Once again, I was watching Alton (yea, we're on a first name basis) and he was making soft pretzels. He makes everything look so easy. And truth be told, it was. Aaron would have liked them to be skinner, but I thought they were pretty good. It was a fun way to ring in the new year.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I served it with 3 types of mustard--cheap yellow, stone ground, sweet hot mustard.

Chinese BBQ Pork Buns

2010-02-15T12:55:00.000-09:00

I have never in my life been in a dim sum restaurant. I have always wanted to go to one, but I haven't found one here in the bush and I never seem to get around to going to one when I am in a large city. So I was watching something about dim sum restaurants and they served bbq pork buns and I got pretty excited. I figured I could make those. I used this recipe and tweeked it a bit to fit my personal taste. The outcome was AMAZING!

Gather together:

Dough:

2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1 lb. BBQ pork (small pork roast cooked in the crock pot over night)
1/2 lb. Chinese Sausage (or just regular pork sausage)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons (diced) red onion
1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine (rice vinegar)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
3/4 cup hoisin sauce (or ketchup--I know it;'s not the same, but I have to make things work)

To make the dough add the warm water and the oil into a large bowl. Add in the sugar and the instant yeast. Add in the pastry flour; mix till smooth, add in a cup of all-purpose flour, mix till smooth. Add in salt and mix well. Add in another cup of flour, then mix, Pour about a 1/2 cup of flour on a flat surface. Pour out the dough onto the floured surface. Slowly add a light more flour. Knead the dough for 8 - 10 minutes, afterwards pour a little oil into a large bowl. Place the dough into the oiled bowl. Turn dough in the oil to lightly coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising you can make the filling. Pour the sesame oil into a large skillet. Add in the red onions and sauté for a minute or two. Add in the diced BBQ pork, mix and cook for a minute. Be sure to stir so the pork won't burn. Add in the Chinese sausage and cook for another minute, add in the Chinese white wine. Add in the soy sauce and the hoisin sauce, mix till well combined. Pour mixture onto a large plate to allow to cool.

After dough has risen, pour out onto a flat surface (try not to deflate the dough to much). Roll dough into a long rope. Cut dough with a sharp knife or dough cutter into about 20 - 24 pieces. Take each piece of dough and place onto the palm of your hand. Flatten out, trying to keep the dough the same thickness throughout the dough.
Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on top of the dough. Now, pinch closed. Turn dough seem side down and lightly squeeze dough to shape it into a ball. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Mix the egg yolks and milk together. After the dough has risen, brush the glaze on top of each pork bun, allow to sit for 5 minutes then repeat. This will give the BBQ pork buns a beautiful shine. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops of the BBQ buns are lightly browned.

Coq au Vin for $78.88

2010-02-14T11:27:00.009-09:00

Coq au Vin is a french term for braising chicken (or rooster) in wine and other tidbits like onions, mushrooms and pork fat. (Mmm..pork fat)

I recently watched the episode of Alton Brown making Coq au Vin. This was also shortly after watching Julie & Julia. I was inspired. Plus, I figured if anyone could make Coq au Vin the easy way it was Alton. Now, living in the bush has some ups, but when it comes to cooking there are a lot of downs. We just don't get every ingredient that we need and the ones we do need are fairly expensive. Needless to say, I had to make do with a $16 bottle of red wine, which was the cheapest available in town. I was also happy to learn there are no pearl onions in town since I really don't care for them. I substituted a large spanish onion. I thought I might try to put things in to perspective by adding the cost of the items. This is not a cheap dish anywhere since it has 2 bottles of wine in it, but I just thought I'd see what the total cost is.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

24 to 30 pearl onions (1 large onion $2.34)
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces ($11.50)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (on hand)
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour(on hand)
2 tablespoons water (on hand)
6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed (I used bacon 7.99)
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered (5.99)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (on hand)
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir ($32)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (1.99)
1 medium onion, quartered ($2.34)
2 stalks celery, quartered (on hand)
2 medium carrots, quartered (4.99 a bag)
3 cloves garlic, crushed (1 bulb 2.99)
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme (used dried-on hand)
1 bay leaf(on hand)
2 cups chicken stock or broth (6.75)

For a grand total of $78.88

Directions

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside. (Again, I didn't use pearl onions, but I thought I'd leave the directions incase someone would want to.)

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

Ta-da! This is REALLY good. Aaron doesn't like thing that are cooked in wine so he was meh about the dish, but I REALLY enjoyed the sauce. The chicken was ok, but the sauce was amazing! There were leftovers, but I ate them at 2nd dinner at 11 at night. It was even better reheated hours later.

"Refried" Beans

2010-01-16T18:56:00.002-09:00

There is nothing fried about these beans, actually, but they have that good refried bean taste to them. I didn't take a picture of this because we all know that refried beans are not pretty. This recipe was super easy and also tasty.

"Refried" Beans (from allrecipes.com with some adjustments)
1/2 an onion, chopped
3 c pinto beans, rinsed
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
5 tsps salt
1/4 tsp cumin
9 cups water

1. Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker, add water, stir to combine.
2. Cook on high for 6.5ish hours. Add more water if necessary. I had to add about a cup more water. If you lose more than a cup of water you need to turn down the heat. I did this for about an hour then turned it back up again.
3. Once the beans are cooked, strain them and reserve the liquid. Mash up the beans and add the liquid until you get the desired consistency. I didn't need to add any liquid.

Peanutbutter Roll Candy

2009-12-21T19:15:00.003-09:00

I remember that you can find peanut butter rolls everywhere around Kentucky, especially during Christmas time. You would find them at church bazaars, craft fairs, bake sales and even gas stations. This is the first time I have ever made these. It was pretty easy with simple ingredients.

1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
1 stick very soft butter
16 oz. jar peanut butter
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix soft butter and 1 lb sugar, vanilla and milk together with a fork; make soft ball. Pour a coating of sugar on a sheet of wax paper; sprinkle sugar on ball to keep from sticking. Put another piece of wax paper over ball. Roll out the ball thin. Remove top wax paper and spread on peanut butter. Roll up and cool in refrigerator about 1 1/2 hours. Cut into pin-wheel pieces and serve.

Jerk Chicken Pasta

2009-12-12T16:48:00.003-09:00

While I don't have pictures of this dish, this is really good. Invest in some good, but mild jerk seasoning. I suggest mild so you can use more of it for a richer flavor.

Gather together:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut in to bite sized pieces)
1 teaspoons jerk paste (more if you like it really spicy)
1 package of your favorite paste
1 tablespoon canola
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion (rough chop)
1 red bell pepper (sliced)
1 small box of frozen spinach (thawed and drained of juice)
1/2 cup chicken stock
juice from 2 limes or about 2 tablespoons of lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, cook the noodles until al dente, and drain. Lightly oil the pan. Cook chicken with the juice of 1 lime until fully cokked. Remove from pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the garlic, onion red pepper and spinach until the onion is just translucent. Mix in the chicken stock, 1 tablespoon jerk paste, juice of 1 lime, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and stir in the heavy cream. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Add the chicken back to the pan. Serve sauce over noodles.

This stuff was good. I used jerk seasoning powder on the chicken while it was cooking--I like things spicy, but like I said, if you can find a mild jerk seasoning, you can add more or less if you don't like things as spicy.

Pumpkin Fudge

2009-12-02T19:19:00.001-09:00

I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. It's like pumpkin pie on crack.

Pumpkin Fudge
2 tbsp butter
2.5 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white chocolate chips
7 oz marshmallow creme
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil.
2. Heat milk and sugar over medium heat until boiling, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
3. Mix in pumpkin puree and cinnamon and bring it back to a boil again. Stir in marshmallow creme and butter. Bring to a roiling boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 18 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add vanilla and white chocolate chips. Stir until all melted and then pour into pan. Cool, then cut into squares.

Sorry there are no pictures! It was quite popular.

Bacon Cake

2009-11-07T09:01:00.005-09:00

Samara had a milestone birthday recently and I didn't know what to get her. Gift choices are limited here in Dillingham, so I had to be creative. Anthony and I were sitting around trying to think of something funny and something Samara would like when I had a moment of brilliance. A bacon cake! I can make fondant! I can make cake! And so I made it happen.

I won't bore you with the actual cake part. I baked a butter cake and it was fine. Nothing too special, but tasted good. The important part of this cake is the decorations. First off I had to cut the cake so it resembled bacon. Here is the wavy sort of cut I did to try and get the bacon look.

I then had to color the fondant. This was a feat! The pink was easy, the red/brown color was not. I was struggling with the stickiness of the fondant and needing to add more color and powdered sugar. It was a mess and looked like I had killed someone on my kitchen counter. I eventually got it to the shade I liked.

I then had to figure out how to get the marbled bacon look. I decided to make "snakes" out of the fondant (it really is like play dough) and stick them together. I then rolled it out so it would be all smooshed together. (That's a real technical cake decorating term.) Because I had used so much food coloring my fondant was sticky, which posed some problems. Mostly the fondant sticking to the parchment paper I was using to transport it from the counter to the cake. Overall, though, I was happy with how it turned out. Samara thought it was funny and hopefully one of her more memorable birthday cakes.

Chicken Fricassee--the easy way

2009-10-19T18:17:00.005-08:00

I don't want anyone to be fooled in to thinking that I slave over the stove for hours to feed Aaron. He doesn't care much about food so to do so would be a waste of time. I however love food...LOVE FOOD! But that doesn't mean that I have tons of time to cook. So here is an easy dish (think 30 minute meal) to whip up on any random Tuesday.
Gather together:

1lb boneless chicken bits
1 medium onion, diced
1 small bunch of carrots (about 4 large carrots) sliced--I used yellow carrots since they were in season
3 or 4 celery stalks--sliced on the bias
2 cloves of garlic-crushed
2 tablespoons of canola oil
3 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of white wine or chicken stock (add more if needed to thin out the sauce)
1 tsp dried tarragon
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

In a frying pan add the canola oil and over medium heat cook the chicken bits until they are browned on both sides. Remove them and add the onion, carrots and celery along with the butter. Cook until the vegetables are tender crisp. Then add the flour to the pot. Once the flour is made into a roux whisk in the wine and return the chicken to the pot along with the bay leaves and tarragon. Allow this to cook for another 10-15 minutes on simmer or low. Remove bay leaves and add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this over noodles with a simple green salad and garlic bread. This really is an easy recipe.

Mini Cheesecake

2009-10-19T17:34:00.005-08:00

Erin and I subscribe to the "Good Things Catered" blog. This is a really good blog. It is also where we got this next recipe. I liked the idea of making mini cheesecakes with vanilla wafers and not having to make a crust or a water bath for a big cheese cake. This recipe is good if you just want a few bites of cheese cake.

gather together:

about 30 Nilla wafers
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line mini cupcake tin with liners and place Nilla wafers into bottom of cups (you may have to trim these slightly)
In bowl of stand mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar.
Beat to combine well until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add sour cream and egg, mixing well to combine.
Scrape down sides of bowl, add lemon juice and vanilla and mix to combine well.
Remove from stand mixer, scrape sides and hand beat to make sure mixture is combined well.
Using mini cookie scoop or teaspoon, fill each liner almost to the top.
Place in oven and bake 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Cover tightly and place in fridge overnight, or at least 4 hours before serving. (yeah, like that happened...we put them in the fridge until they were cool enough to eat)

As you can see, we topped ours with fresh blueberries and cherry pie filling. We had to hurry and take the pictures because Anthony was eating these as fast as we could top them.

Tokyo Sushi--Lexington, Kentucky

2009-10-19T17:20:00.005-08:00

I recently went on vacation back to Kentucky. I call it vacation, but it was really more like we had business to tend to, namely Aaron needed to get sworn in to the Kentucky Bar Association. (YAY!) During our trip we managed to eat out, everyday. One of my favorite places to go is Tokyo Sushi, but I don't go there for the sushi--Aaron loves the sushi--I go there for the bulgogi.

This stuff is a Korean dish and is so flavorful and can be a bit spicy. I love this stuff and I had been craving it since I left Kentucky. I've had bulgogi at other places, but this place has the best. Plus you get a 5 little dishes of picked vegetables including kimchi (or kim chee). If you live in Kentucky, check this out. If you don't live in Kentucky, go to your local Korean restaurant and order this; you won't be disappointed.
And Aaron ordered Sushi. Like I said, this is a good place to go.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pasties

2009-09-26T21:39:00.008-08:00

While on vacation, I finally got to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was pretty exciting. And I always love the food they serve in the movies and in the book. So to celebrate I decided to make Pumpkin pasties and to add some extra fun, I added chocolate chips. I found this recipe here.

Gather together:

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1-1 lb. can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 2/3 cups evap. milk (1 can)
1/2 tsp. allspice
9 oz pie crust pastry (enough for two single standard pie crusts)
1 egg white

Bake the pie filling only (no crust) in a large casserole dish in hot oven (425 degrees) for 15 minutes. Keep oven door closed and reduce temp to moderate (350 degrees F/180 degress Celsuis) and continue baking for 45 minutes or until table knife inserted in center of dish comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
Make or purchase pie crust pastry. Roll thin and cut into circles approx 4" in diameter--I used the can the pumpkin came in to cut the circles. Put a spoonful of the cool pumpkin mixture towards one side of the center of the circle. Fold over the crust into a half-circle and firmly crimp the edges closed. Slice three small slits in the top for venting. Brush with egg whites. Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake only until crust is a light golden-brown (about 20 minutes). Ta-da. Mini pumpkin pies with little chocolaty goodness.

These are always fun to make. And the chocolate makes them irrestiable to just about everybody. It's something about the combination of pumpkin and chocolate that is just pure bliss.

Bourbon Spiced Pumpkin Bars

2009-09-20T11:08:00.006-08:00

These Bourbon Spiced Pumpkin Bars were taken from the Good Things Catered blog. Having come back from Kentucky (the Land of Bourbon and horse farms) only a few weeks ago, I am still in love with all things bourbon. It reminds me of home. And since it is fall here in Dillingham, I thought I should celebrate before winter starts. Naturally, I was drawn to this recipe. Oh and I doubled the recipe because I lack an 8x8 pan--I used my 9x13. I also omitted the oil. With that much pumpkin, it would be moist enough but remember to drain your pumpkin. The recipe that follows is not doubled, but it doubles very easily.

Gather together:

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree, drained on a paper towel lined fine strainer--I used a tea towel
1 egg
1 Tbsp bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp bourbon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line and prepare an 8x8 baking pan.
In medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, spice and salt.
Whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
In bowl of stand mixer, add eggs, sugars, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Add bourbon, vanilla and mix to combine.
Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
Spread evenly into prepared pan.
Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean--it took about 45 minutes with
Cool completely before frosting.
Meanwhile, in bowl of stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and bourbon and mix to combine well.
Slowly add in powdered sugar until completely combined.
Frost cooled bars with icing, cut, and serve.

Pie Pops

2009-09-12T11:26:00.001-08:00

I really like creating food on a stick. I think it's because I'm from Iowa. Anyway, I saw these on Bakerella I believe and decided I needed to make them. Plus, I had picked a bunch of blueberries so it seemed like fate.

Look at all these blueberries I picked from the Alaskan tundra! Don't act like you're not impressed. I made a simple pie filling with berries, corn starch, and sugar. You can use canned pie filling too.

Basically you just make some pie dough, roll it out, then cut circles. Here is a picture of the pops being filled. I brushed on some egg whites to make the crust a little crispy/golden. I also over-filled the pops and they oozed everywhere, so don't fill it up as much as I did.

I baked these at 375 for 15 minutes. My oven is wacky, so I would just follow the directions on your pie crust/pie recipe. Here is a picture of the completed pops. They were cute, but not all that sturdy. I think it was too much filling.

Regardless of the fact that they weren't super pretty, Anthony enjoyed them. I mean who doesn't love blueberry pie? Especially on a stick?

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

2009-09-07T10:47:00.005-08:00

I'm doing it. I'm busting out the fall recipe on Labor Day weekend. I'm sure it's some sort of sin, but I'm going to do it anyway. Summer in Alaska is pretty cold, so I'm happy fall is here so the temperatures seem more appropriate. Plus, the leaves are changing colors and it just feels right. Anyway, I made this cake back in December. It was very moist and good. Happy fall!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake
2 c sugar
1 1/4 c vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups flour
3 tsps baking powder
2 tsps baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2. tsps ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large bowl combine the oil and sugar. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in egg one at a time. Beat in flour mixture. Pour into greased bundt pan. It took about 50 minutes to bake (but my oven is on the cooler side, so it will probably take 45 in most ovens).

Indecisive Cookies

2009-08-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

I am probably one of the most indecisive people I know. I saw this recipe and figure that it would be perfect for me when I don't feel like making choices. If you are a fan of chocolate and peanut butter, you really can't go wrong with this one.

Indecisive Cookies
(from Picky Palate. She called them "Chocolate Peanut Butter Combo" or something.)

Peanut Butter Cookie
1 Cup peanut butter
1 Cup sugar
1 egg

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Set aside.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie
1 cup butter
1 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 Cups flour
1 1/4 Cups cocoa powder (I used a dutch process cocoa, so my cookies were very dark/rich)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Place flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix. Add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.

2. Take a Tablespoon (or so) of Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and a Tablespoon (or so) of Chocolate Dough and gently press together forming a "not so perfect" ball. Don't press and roll too much, just stick them together and place onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are cooked through to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

So, the only problem I had with this recipe is that there is far too much chocolate dough compared to the peanut butter. I had a little over two dozen combined cookies, but ended up with almost a dozen chocolate cookies. I suppose there are worse things in the world.

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

2009-07-23T16:42:00.001-08:00

I didn't come up with the title of this cake (thanks Cake Mix Doctor!), but it really was pretty good. I made this for my mother-in-law's birthday. It was rich, but good. I think vanilla ice cream would be the perfect compliment to it.

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

1 package devil's food cake

1 package (3.9 oz) chocolate pudding mix

4 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 12 cup bundt pan. Blend the cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, warm water, and oil for a few minutes until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips until they are well distributed. Bake for about 50 minutes (it took me well over 60, but my oven is so-so), or until it springs back to the touch. Allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before inverting the pan. Once you take the cake out let it cool completely. I sprinkled some powdered sugar over it so it would be pretty.

Chocolate Oat Bars

2009-07-19T16:50:00.001-08:00

Everyone needs a dessert recipe that they can whip up in 15 minutes and requires minimal messes. This is that recipe for me. Everyone who has tried these really likes them, and I like them because they're easy and I don't have to heat up the house.

Chocolate Oat Bars

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup PB

Grease a 9x9 pan. Melt the butter in a saucean. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla until combined. Mix in the oats. Cook this on low heat for about 2-3 miutes, or until the oats seemed cooked down a bit. Press 3/4 of the oat mixure into the pan to make the crust.

Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter over low heat. Pour this over the crust. Sprinkle the rest of the oatmeal mixture on the top. Put this in the fridge until it sets up.

So easy!

Cake Pops

2009-07-13T16:31:00.001-08:00

For our friend Saramay's birthday I created cake pops. These have been featured on many blogs before and I've always been itching to make them. Samara picked me up some candy melts in Fairbanks so I could finally make them. I thought they were pretty easy to do and looked impressive. They're sort of time consuming and tedious, but fun as well.

First, you bake a cake and let it cool. I just used a cake mix, so that gives you a rough estimate about how big of a cake to make. Then, once the cake is cooled, you break up the cake in a big bowl and put about a jar of frosting in it. You mash this up until it becomes a sort of sticky mess. I then used my cookie scoop to scoop out balls of the cake mixture. I put these in the freezer for about 15 minutes while I melted the candy melts.

I put the sticks into the candy melts and then poked them into the semi-frozen cake balls. Here is a picture:

I put this back into the freezer until the candy melt hardened up. I then sort of drizzled the candy melt over the cake ball. I tried to dip it, but that ended in sadness. (The cake ball fell off. It was tasty, though.) I then sprinkled some fancy sprinkles on it that my mom gave me. (These tasted like mocha. How fancy!)

Here are all the cake balls lined up in the styrofoam. I poked holes in the styrofoam to allow the cake pops to dry. This worked pretty well.

Overall, I think this was a success. I like how they're fairly simple to make and the possibilities are endless.

Baked Oatmeal

2009-07-08T20:00:00.002-08:00

Last weekend Anthony's parents and brother were in Dillingham to see what this rural Alaska business is all about. I wanted to make them something warm and filling for breakfast, but didn't want to have to get up at 5 AM. I found this recipe and gave it a try. I really thought it was pretty good and super easy. The best part about it was I could mix the ingredients the night before then pop it in the oven in the morning. This kept me full all morning and was quite good! (Sorry there are no pictures. It just wasn't on my mind at 6:30 AM.)

Baked Oatmeal (from Cooking Light)

2 cups uncooked oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup raisins (I used crasins)

2 tbs chopped almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk ( I used evaporated with no problem)

1/2 cup applesauce

2 tbs butter, melted

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the first five ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the milk, applesauce, butter, and egg in a separate bowl. (I then left them separated overnight and combined them in the morning.) Add milk mixture to oat mixture. Combine well and then put into an 8 inch baking dish covered in cooking spray. Bake about 20 minutes.

Easy chicken & Bean Enchiladas

2009-07-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know the thought of making home made enchiladas is kinda daunting. This is the stress free way of doing it. I even made 2 different types both under 15 minutes (not including cooking time). This is so easy you can do it with the kids. By using left over grilled chicken or left over crockpot chicken you can make this easy and cheap. I like the idea of cooking once and eating twice.

When I asked my friend Saramay what she wanted for her birthday, her answer was for me to cook Mexican food. I can do that. I was basically given free reign to cook what I wanted as long as I showed up at her house on Friday at 6pm with food in hand. I had decided earlier in the week I was going to crock pot a chicken, so I had some left over chicken for this dish. I call it faux enchiladas because a.) I don't use the red enchilda sauce on the chicken and b.) I don't use corn tortillas. So it's more like all things in burrito form with a different style of cheese. I do want to say that my mother-in-law taught me how to make the chicken enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas
2 cups of diced/shredded chicken
1 small onion diced
can of cheese soup
16on container of sour cream
1 lb of shredded cheese
1 packages of flour tortillas (taco size is fine, but you can use burrito if you want bigger enchiladas)

In a bowl mix the soup and the sour cream. Reserve 1/2 and put onion, chicken and 1/2 of the shredded cheese in a bowl.Mix thoroughly. Spray down casserole dish with cooking spray. Fill a tortilla with chicken mixture and place seam side down in casserole dish. Continue until you run out of chicken mixture & Tortillas. Take the remaining cheese soup mixture and spread on tortillas. Top with shredded cheese and heat in oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.

Bean and cheese enchiladas
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1 small onion (diced)
1 pound shredded cheese
1 can of enchilada sauce (yes, the premade stuff is ok to use--red or green you decide)
flour tortillas

Mix the beans, onion and 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Fill the tortillas with the bean mixture and place seam side down in a casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Continue filling with bean mixture until you run out of beans or tortillas. Top with enchilada sauce. Finish with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve this to your vegetarian friends.

Sorry the pictures aren't pretty. I took the uncooked over to a friend's birthday party. It was a huge success.

Fromage Fort--taken from Good Eats

2009-07-05T00:33:00.006-08:00

What can I say, I am a sucker for the food network. What foodie isn't? One of my favorite shows is "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. It's like Mr. Wizard and Emeril had a show. It's science and food all rolled in to one. I was fascinated by this particular show due to the high cheese content and the thought of leftover cheese being used before it goes funky.

Gather together:

One pound of left over cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
1 small clove garlic

Remove any rinds from hard cheeses. Grate hard cheeses and cut others into 1/2-inch cubes.

Place cheese, wine, butter, herbs, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth, approximately 2 minutes.

Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least 1 hour for a firmer consistency. This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I made mine in to balls and garnished with extra herbs.

This stuff was pretty good. I didn't get to eat a lot of it due to a trip in to the interior (that means not the bush of Alaska, but some place on the road system). It was a great way to use up all the cheese I had leftover from recent trips to Anchorage. I would buy cheese in bulk and hope I would get to eat it all before it went funky. There isn't a whole lot of cheese selection here in the DLG, so anytime I make a trip out, I try to pick up a couple pounds. My favorites include: Parrano, (non smoked) Gouda, Cave aged Emmentaler, Butterkaese, Havarti & Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Honey Dijon Salmon

2009-06-25T18:05:00.004-08:00

Since it is in abundance here, Anthony and I occasionally eat salmon. I am betraying my vegetarian self when I do it, but there were times when we first lived here that I thought I was going to die of malnourishment and fish seemed like a good alternative to dying. I haven't quite forgotten what it was like last November, and so I'm still eating the fish. Plus, salmon are just swimming to their death anyway, so that's how I justify it. I've been trying to find recipes for salmon that Anthony will actually eat since he's not too keen with the salmon flavor. This recipe masks the fishiness of salmon, so Anthony likes it. He also really likes mustard, so it was bound to be a hit. I thought it was decent.

Dijon Salmon

1/4 cup butter (melted)

3 tbs Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tsp honey

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

4 tsp parsley

4 (roughly 4 oz) fillets of salmon

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Stir together the melted butter, mustard, and honey. In another bowel mix the bread crumbs, nuts, and parsley. Brush the salmon with the mustard mixture and then sprinkle on the bread crumbs. (Note: I had a lot of leftover sauce and bread crumbs, so I just threw all of it on there. The more the merrier I say!) Bake 12-15 minutes or until it flakes easily with a fork.

I had a picture, but it wasn't pretty. Imagine a fillet of salmon with a lot of yellow sauce on top. It tastes good, though!

Fail

2009-06-15T19:43:00.004-08:00

Not everything I make turns out okay. Last week I had a number of failures. Take, for instance, the banana bread I made. The recipe seemed promising since it had almost 4,000 reviews on allrecipes.com. With 4.5 stars, I figured it was going to be good. A red flag went off for me when I read the recipe and saw no vanilla (come on, this is a baked good!), no cinnamon, no nutmeg, no spices at all. This recipe also called for a ridiculous amount of bananas. I ended up using over five bananas in this bread. I had a feeling the bread would have some texture issues, but I baked on anyway. Long story short, this bread was flat, gummy, and without much flavor. I even threw in some vanilla and cinnamon just because it felt right, and it still turned out sort of blah. There were way too many bananas and they just sunk to the bottom of the bread, making a weird sort of mashed banana layer. I suppose this all could have been user error, but really, no vanilla?

My second bad experience was with some oatmeal raisin cookies. I was in a hurry so I pulled the butter out of the fridge and microwaved it for 15 seconds. It was a good consistency at this point (soft, not melted) so I went forward with the cookies. I creamed together the butter and brown sugar and went to move on to the next step. It was then I realized that I still had to add white sugar. So, I added the white sugar and creamed it some more. This was a mistake, as my butter became more liquidy. By the time I added the other ingredients the butter seemed to be melted. My cookies spread in weird shapes and ended up crispy. Boo. This is my go-to oatmeal raisin recipe, so it was definitely user error.

Learn from my mistakes. Shy away from any baked good recipe without vanilla (unless there is some other sort of extract) and don't over-beat the butter.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

2009-06-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

I was trying to figure out what to do with a white cake mix and I had a moment of brillance. I could make cookies and cream cupcakes! This was easy and had a good cookies and cream flavor. I topped it with an Oreo cream cheese frosting. Yum.

I forgot to take a picture with the frosting. They weren't exactly pretty, but they were good!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
1 white cake mix (and the things you need to make a cake mix, i.e. eggs, oil)
1 package Oreos

Make the cake mix as directed. Crush up the Oreos and put about 2 cups into the cake mix batter. You can put more or less depending on your personal preference. Bake as directed.

Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounce package cream cheese (room temp)
1/4 cup butter (room temp)
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar (just depends on how stiff you want the frosting)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup crushed Oreos

Whip the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until you get the desired consistency. Stir in Oreos.

Gifts for Samara (& Aaron) and Erin (& Anthony)

2009-06-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

We receive tons of emails & calls every day with questions like, "I just made beer cheese soup and the cheese is staying at the bottom of the pan burning and the whole thing is greasy. What should I do?"
And "I tried making the margarita cake, but it never fluffed up. What went wrong?"

Also, "We love your blog so much, we want to get you and Erin something nice to say thank you. What should we get foodies like you."

First, Throw that greasy mess away. And next time make sure your shredded cheese is lightly coated in flour and and small batches of cheese at a time whisking it in over low heat until melted.

Second, I did not create this recipe, so I would ask Better Crocker. It was probably old cake mix. I've had that happen too sometimes. :(

Finally, foodie gift options include fun kitchen gadgets. Erin needs a 9 cup Cuisinart food processor, so do I. Well, I use need lightly since I have a 3 cup, but with the way I cook, I need something bigger. Much bigger. We also have this weak spot for chocolate. And we both have been dying to try Vosges Chocolate, especially the Mo's chocolate bar. (Yes, Erin will eat the bacon if it is coated in chocolate.) And really who can resist flavors like:

Barcelona Exotic Candy Bar hickory smoked almonds + Fleur de Sel grey sea salt + deep milk chocolate
Mo's Bacon Bar - New Applewood smoked bacon + Alder wood smoked salt + deep milk chocolate
Organic Enchanted Mushroom Candy Bar Organic dark chocolate + mushrooms
Goji Exotic Candy Bar Tibetan goji berries + pink Himalayan salt + deep milk chocolate
Black Pearl Exotic Candy Bar ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate
Oaxaca Exotic Candy Bar Oaxacan guajillo & pasilla chillies + Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate
Calindia Exotic Candy Bar cardamom + organic walnuts + dried plums + Venezuelan dark chocolate

This sounds like a fun taste explosion, but with each cand bar costing about $8.00 each, I don't think either one of us will be getting any of these for ourselves any time soon.

Just a few suggestions.

My experience with fondant

2009-06-06T15:20:00.012-08:00

Last weekend was our anniversary and I decided I would make a cake with fondant to celebrate. This was my first fondant experience and it was less painful than expected. I thought it was going to be terribly tedious, messy, and not all tasty. Really, fondant has been all about appearance in my past experiences. It's just so pretty! The fondant I made was super easy, not terribly messy (not any more so than sugar cookies), and tasted pretty good. Please don't judge me and these terrible photos. Fondant is a bit tricky to place on the cake. I put a few holes in the bottom white layer (that's why I put those leaves on the cake). I also didn't know what to do with the bottom of the cake so I rolled little balls and put them on the bottom. They don't look great, but it was my first time. Another thing I learned is that you should not use chocolate buttercream on the cake! You put a layer of buttercream on your cake before covering with fondant so the fondant will stick. Well, I made a chocolate cake so I thought chocolate buttercream would taste the best. It tasted good, but was a pain with the white fondant because I kept getting on the pretty whiteness. Lesson learned. All in all I thought it turned out decent for my first try. Pictures and recipe below.

Marshmallow Fondant

1/4 cup shortening

1 (16 ounce) package of mini marshmallows

4 tbs water

1 tsp vanilla

2 pounds confectioner's sugar

Put the marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Stir in the vanilla and water and stir until smooth. Slowly beat in cups of confectioner's sugar until you have a sticky dough. Reserve one cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough is really stiff at this stage.

I then put shortening all over my stand mixer dough attachment and let the stand mixer knead the fondant until it was smooth. I added a bit more powdered sugar. I let the mixer knead for about 5 minutes. If you're kneading by hand it will take longer. The dough should no longer be sticky but more of a play dough consistency.

Wrap the fondant into plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge. The recipe I was using said to let it be overnight, but I only did for an hour and it was fine. When you take it out let it get to room temperature before trying to roll it out. I sprinkled corn starch on the counter to prevent sticking when I rolled out the dough.

Before placing the fondant on the cake ice the cake with about 1/4 inch layer of buttercream. This will allow the fondant to stick. I made different colors of fondant by kneading in gel food coloring. I noticed the color got darker the longer it sat, so just know that when you're coloring your fondant. I rolled the fondant out to about 1/4 inch thickness. This seemed to work well and let plenty of fondant for a two layer round cake.

Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slowcooker: a review

2009-06-06T09:59:00.006-08:00

After reading the 365 days of crockpotting blog, I did some research about what kind of crockpot/slow cooker I wanted. I read reviews of a number of different crockpots and slow cookers and I took into consideration my life style ( a couple with no kids who hosts a lot of dinner parties) and decided on the Hamilton Beach 3-in-in slowcooker. The problem is I have a 5 quart slow cooker that works just fine that I got about 2 years ago when one I inherited from my mom had started to leak. So there was pretty much no way I could talk Aaron in to letting me get a new $60 appliance when mine is fully functioning. I looked on line at Target.com, Macy's.com and Amazon.com, the cheapest I found it was $45, but then I had to pay shipping (which would be at least $15 if not more).

I went to the local AC "home" store on my break the other day. (Home is used loosely because it technically sells stuff like pillows, but you only have one option. And it sells things like over priced sofas and ovens, but again there is no selection, just one to pick from.) And there it was in all it's glory: the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slowcooker! I'm not going to lie, I knew it was there. I have known since around Christmas, but it was still $60, until today. Today it was $30. I think I can justify a $30 purchase. So I brought it home and it was all mine.
It has 3 different pots in 3 pretty colors: pumpkin orange, soft custard yellow and sage green. There are 2, 4 & 6 crocks to put in it. There are buttons you push to indicate what crock is in it and it also has a high, low and warming setting. The 2 quart bowl will be perfect for heating up a chocolate or cheese dip. The 4 quart will be perfect for a dinner just for Aaron and I and maybe one other person. And the 6 quart is perfect to roast a chicken in then make chicken soup when it is done cooking.

There was PLENTY of room in the crock for the whole chicken. I didn't even have to try to squish the wings down. I looked it on high for 3.5 hours and the meat was tender and just fell off the bone. When I added the noodles, I had it set to warm for about 20 minutes and the egg noodles were perfect and didn't become mushy. It was nice. I am so looking forward to making more things with the slowcooker. I'll keep you posted.

I want to mention that the large crock does not plop down all the way in to the heating thingy. It was engineered this way, so looking at it the first time was weird. But everything turned out fine.

spinach and mushroom stuffed manicotti with vodka cream sauce

2009-05-31T11:17:00.005-08:00

I got an invite to Erin's house for dinner, so naturally I ask what I can bring. I suggest that I bring over the box of 1/2 priced manicotti that I bought last week at the grocery store. The half price was $3.15. After I got off the phone with Erin, I decided I wanted to make vodka cream sauce. This is easy and I had almost all the stuff I needed.

Gather together:
vodka
2 tablespoons of butter
3 cloves of garlic--minced
1 small onion or 2 shallots--minced
1 large can of tomatoes- I pulsed a can of whole tomatoes in the blender
1 tablespoon of dried basil--if you have fresh basil, use it instead
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
1 cup of heavy cream

Saute the garlic and shallots over medium heat until they are translucent. When those are done, add the vodka, tomatoes and stock. Allow this reduce down by at least half--this is going to take a while. Once that is reduced, add the seasonings and salt and pepper. Remove the sauce off the heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream. Add this to your favorite pasta or.....

Gather together:
1/2 lb of your favorite mushrooms:button, portabella, etc.--cleaned and sliced
1 frozen block of spinach--thawed and squeezed
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tub of ricotta cheese
1 package of manicotti noodles
mozzarella cheese--shredded

Make the noodles according to the package. In another pan, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then add the mushroom. When the mushrooms are 1/2 cooked, add the garlic and the spinach. Then the spinach is completely heated, remove the mixture from the pan in to a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta to the mushroom/spinach mixture. Start stuffing the mixture in to the noodles--it's best if you rinsed the noodles with cold water after they are cooked and sprinkle them with oil. Place the stuffed noodles in a casserole dish sprayed down with oil. Add the sauce and cover with cheese. Broil the pan until the cheese is brown and melty.

Serve this with awesome egg bread made by Erin.

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-05-28T19:28:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's another chocolate chip cookie recipe. This recipe, however, is amazing and I must share. The secret is vanilla pudding. Who knew? These cookies are soft and chewy and everything I'd want in a chocolate chip cookie.

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from allrecipes.com)

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour and baking soda, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Dump Cake

2009-05-26T19:20:00.001-08:00

Don't let the name fool you, this cake is tasty. And it's so easy it's embarrassing.

Dump Cake
1 boxed cake mix (I used a yellow one)
1 stick of butter (I used salted butter because it's better)
2 cans of fruit (I used peaches)
Preheat oven to 350. Dump fruit onto bottom of 9x13 pan. Dump the cake mix on top of the fruit. Slice the butter and place it over the top of the cake mix. Make sure you cover most of the cake mix with butter so there are no dry spots. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or so.

I've also tried this with cherry pie filling and a chocolate cake. It's like a poor man's black forest cake and also tasty.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

2009-05-17T17:03:00.005-08:00

I was bored and decided to try making dog treats. There are loads of recipes out there on the internet, but this was the only one that I actually had all the ingredients. They were super simple. I tried the dough and they were pretty plain, but Sophie seemed to enjoy them.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1 egg

3 tbs peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

Combine the wet ingredients. Throw in the dry ingredients and stir them around. You can add some more oats or flour if you think the dough needs it. Roll out the dough. You can cut them into cute shapes, but dogs don't care about that. I just cut mine with a pizza cutter into 1 inch squares. Put onto the baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Crab Cakes & Remoulade

2009-05-16T19:03:00.006-08:00

In the few months I have been working at SAFE, I am used to feeding people that come to trainings or events. This week, I had a trainer bring in fresh crab that he had caught in Juneau. It was pretty cool and yet freaky to see all those crab legs just hanging out. He didn't just bring a few crab, he brought about 40lbs of crab in. It was nice and he donated it to SAFE and everyone in the training. I managed to snag a few and de-shell them before I went home. Then, I forgot I had it for about 2 days. (D'oh!) So, I am looking in the fridge and I see the cold crab just hanging out. I figured the best thing I can do with it is to make crab cakes.

Gather together:

1/2 pounds of de-shelled crab
2 cups of panco breadcrumbs
2 eggs
Tabasco Sauce
Worcestershire sauce
parsley
Cavenders Greek seasoning
red pepper flakes
1 small onion--minced

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Shape in to patties. Pan fry these until golden brown on both sides. Make the sauce and enjoy. I know I did.

Remoulade:

2 cups mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons dill pickles minced
1 garlic clove, minced
a squirt of lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
Several dashes hot pepper sauce
cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
pinch of dill

Pulse all this in the food processor until smooth. Check to make sure you like the taste, but I am pretty sure you will.

Greek Potato Salad

2009-05-11T22:16:00.004-08:00

This salad reminds me of the salad I used to make at Whole Food Market. Obviously, I do not recall the Whole Food market recipe since it has been 5 years since I have worked there. I do remember that it is made with red potatoes and I think they used the Greek dressing made in their commissary. Since I don't have a huge kitchen that makes fancy dressings for me, I used the old oil and lemon juice recipe. This is relative easy to make.

Gather together:

1.5 lbs of red potatoes
1 medium red onion (I used yellow b/c it was all I had)--thinly sliced
1 jar pitted Kalamata olives--They were $11 in the DLG***
Cherry Tomatoes (I didn't have any so no tomatoes in this salad)
feta cheese
juice from 2 lemons
olive oil (or canola oil--once again, this is what I had on had)
Cavenders Greek seasoning (Salt-Free)--BUY THIS STUFF, IT IS AWESOME!
Parsley--chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender, about 10-15 minutes. While those are working, make the dressing. Add the seasoning to the lemon juice. Slowly whisk the oil until it thickens. This amount will very depending on the amount of lemon juice you have. Add the onions, olives, tomatoes and parsley. Drain the potatoes and allow to cool. I put mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes. (I am not so worried about the ice cream that is probably getting ruined by putting hot potatoes on it. Here is my confession, I don't really care for ice cream. It's sick I know.) Once the potatoes are cool, mix them in to the dressing. Crumble with feta cheese on top and add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to chill about a half hour before serving.

This salad is really flavorful and super easy to make. And if you haven't about some of this Greek seasoning, you really should. I put it on french fries, fried potatoes, fry bread, hamburgers, chicken and all other things good. You will love this stuff.

***I also wanted to note that the olives were not pitted and I had to do it by hand. The rest of the country can get pitted olives that are under $11 dollar, not here in DLG.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookies

2009-05-09T10:23:00.005-08:00

I jazzed up my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe because I was bored one day. I love almond and wished I would have put actual almonds in the cookie, rather than just extract. Learn from my mistake! Otherwise, these were pretty good. Something a little different but still tastes like a chocolate chip cookie.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookie

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extact

1 tsp baking soda (dissolved in 2 tsp hot water)

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or so)

1/2 cup cranberries (or so)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time (not sure why this is important, but I always do it this way). Stir in vanilla and almond extracts. Add baking soda (dissolved in water) and salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and cranberries.

Put large spoonfuls on baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Rosemary Focaccia

2009-05-07T19:00:00.006-08:00

I have a new super power. I make bread on my lunch break. It's pretty super. I took the recipe from the Betty Crocker cook book. I think I might try to make bread everyday for a week...Not this week. Maybe next. People around here do love their sourdough. Maybe I should make a starter... And while you wait here is the recipe for the Rosemary Focaccia.

Gather toogether:

1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2-3 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
1 tablespoon rosemary--crunched up
1tsp honey

Put the yeast in the warm water with the honey. Allow the yeast to bubble for about 5 minutes. In your kitchen aid mixer bowl (with the bread hook attached to the mixer) add 1 c. of the flour, salt, sugar, rosemary and olive oil. Once the yeast has done its thing then add that to the flour mixture and mix on medium for 3 minutes. Slowly add more flour and flax seed. Keep mixing until the dough pulls from the sides (that means makes one big lump). Pull the dough out and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. You could let the dough hook do this, but I like the way warm dough feels. It's therapeutic. Put the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and allow to double. This takes about an hour maybe longer if your house is drafty.
(notice the pretty flax seed in the dough--pretty and healthy too!)

Once the dough has doubled punch it down and cut in to 2 pieces. Shape the dough on to 2 greased cookie sheets. Allow to double again--this time for about 30 minutes. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top (or garlic powder) Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (Do not accidentally put the oven on broil--it will burn the bottom of the bread. This will make you sad. At least, it made me sad. )

Eat. Between Aaron, Saramay and myself we ate one whole loaf. It wasn't completely burned on the bottom, just crustier on the top. It was still pretty good.

Strawberry Cupcakes

2009-05-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

I made these for Easter. This was a pretty simple recipe. It's not a hardcore homemade strawberry cake, as it has Jello in it, but I'm not going to judge it for that. The flavor was good and didn't taste incredibly artificial despite the Jello. The frosting was really the best part of this cupcake (isn't it always?). It's a cream cheese buttercream and oh so good.

Southern Style Strawberry Cupcakes (from Ezra Pound Cake)

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (I used Funfetti because it was all I had. It was festive.)
1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (I pureed a container of fresh strawberries. The cake was still plenty sweet without the syrup strawberries.)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Prehead the oven to 350. Line your muffin pans with cupcake papers. In a large bowl combine the cake mix and gelatin. Add strawberries, oil, and water and beat until smooth. Divide the batter into the cups. Bake for roughly 20 minutes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (also from Ezra)

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup strawberry puree (Measure it from the leftover puree you made for the batter.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Up to 7 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the strawberry puree and vanilla until smooth. Start adding confectioners' sugar until you reach the desired consistency.

Bread Pudding With Bourbon Sauce

2009-05-03T14:54:00.006-08:00

The last of the Derby day feast is the bread pudding with bourbon sauce. (see I told you had other plans for that $65 bourbon) This stuff is pretty good. I think I would have liked more of the milk and egg mixture to make it more custardy. But the sauce, that sauce is awesome. I envision a world where in I can swim in this stuff. I wanna put it on pancakes, french toast and ice cream.

Here's is the recipe:
1 pound French style bread
3 1/4 cups milk
5 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans--I didn't have any more of these :(
1/4 cup raisins ( I soaked mine in bourbon overnight)

Sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. white corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

Tear bread into medium pieces. Add sugar and cinnamon. Mix milk, lightly beaten eggs and vanilla. Add to bread mixture. Place half of the mix in a casserole dish. Layer pecans and raisins, if used. Top with the rest of the mix. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for one minute. The baking soda will make it foam up, just watch it so it doesn't boil over. Serve warm with warm bread pudding.

Mint julep bourbon balls

2009-05-02T21:27:00.007-08:00

The drink of choice at derby time is the Mint Julep. The candy of choice in Kentucky is the bourbon ball and thus enters the Mint julep bourbon balls. Being the person I am, I made a few changes. I rolled the balls in cocoa powder. Normally, bourbon balls are dipped in chocolate, but I lack chocolate chips. And did I mention that the bourbon was $65? Yes, that's right. That's the kind of prices that I have to deal with. You can imagine I don't buy this kind of stuff very often. I also have other plans for the bourbon, but I digress.

gather together

2 1/2 c Vanilla wafer crumbs
1 c Sifted powdered sugar
1 c Finely chopped pecans or
-walnuts
3 tb Light corn syrup
1/4 c Bourbon
1/4 c White creme de menthe

Makes 50 to 60 balls

Crush vanilla wafers until fine and mix with powdered sugar and nuts
in a large bowl. Add corn syrup, bourbon and creme de menthe. Mix
well and form into balls.

If desired, roll in additional powdered
sugar or cocoa powder. Let mellow at room temperature for 24 hours ( I have no idea what this means--I put them in the fridge to firm up a bit. Store in tightly in a closed container.

Margarita Cake with Tequlia Lime frosting

2009-05-02T21:22:00.007-08:00

I have been wanting to make this for some time. Yes, it is a boxed cake mix. No, I do not feel bad. It smelled so good while I was baking it. You can find the cake recipe on Better Crocker.com

1 1/2	cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1/2	cup sugar
1/2	cup butter or margarine, melted
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4	cups bottled nonalcoholic margarita mix
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1	tablespoon grated lime peel
3	egg whites

	Additional grated lime peel, if desired



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Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening and lightly flour (or spray bottom with baking spray with flour). In medium bowl, mix pretzels, sugar and butter. Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.

In large bowl, beat cake mix, margarita mix, oil, 1 tablespoon lime peel and the egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pretzel mixture.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until light golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours.

The Tequila Lime Frosting Recipe

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp milk
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tequila
2+ cups confectioners' sugar

Cream together butter, milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.

In my cake, I omit the pretzel crust and just sprinkle the tequila frosting with pink sea salt.

Hot Brown--It's a Kentucky thing.

2009-05-02T20:59:00.009-08:00

In honor of Derby I decided to make Hot Browns. Think of a warm open-faced turkey and bacon sandwich smothered in a cheese gravy and topped with a tomato. It is legended to have started at the Brown Hotel. It's not very good at the Brown Hotel. I think the Hot Brown at Lynn's Paradise Cafe (when it is on the menu--The Bourbon Ball Milkshake is stupid good too!) is better. I think the cheese sauce is better at Lynn's. But This is the recipe from The Courier-Journal. It's ok, but not super. I added cheddar cheese to the sauce to make it cheesier.

Gather together

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups milk
1 beaten egg
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese- shreaded
2 tablespoons whipped cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Slices of roast turkey
8 to 12 slices toast (trimmed of crusts--I used Texas toast, but feel free to use french bread)
8 to 12 slices cooked bacon

Melt butter and add flour, stirring with a whisk or spoon to make a thick roux.

Add milk gradually and whisk to blend completely before adding more. As the sauce thins you can add milk more quickly. Bring to a boil. Beat a little of the hot mixture with the egg. Remove sauce from heat and beat in the egg mixture. Add (in small batches) cheese and stir. Fold in whipped cream. Season to taste. For each Hot Brown, place 2 slices of toast on a flameproof dish. Cover with a liberal amount of turkey. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and broil about 6 inches from the heat until the cheese sauce begins to bubble. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese.

Place dish under broiler until sauce is speckled brown and bubbly. Remove from broiler and top with a 2 pieces of bacon. Garnish with tomato slices, if desired. Serves 4 to 6.

This is goooood! And way easier than it sounds to make. It only took me about 15 minutes. I cooked the bacon in the microwave while I made the sauce. Then the broiling only take a few minutes. It this quick and easy. Give it a try.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

2009-05-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

I made these for Beaver Round-Up. I received third place for them in the cakes section of the contest, so I felt pretty good about it. I suggest not trying new recipes for bake-offs, however, because the whole process was nerve wracking and I had no idea how they tasted. I got the idea from Peabody's blog.

I used Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe for the cake. This batter is extremely runny, which made putting the cookie dough (the cookie dough from the previous post) into the cupcake a little challenging. The cookie dough sank to the bottom, which was fine. Just not as pretty as I had wanted.

I then made a Brown Sugar Buttercream for the frosting. It was intense. Apparently, the judges liked it, though.

Brown Sugar Buttercream (from Peabody)

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

4-6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together brown sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar until reaching the desired consistency.

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the cupcakes. They were especially a hit with the under 12 crowd.

Fruity waffles

2009-04-30T10:31:00.001-08:00

This isn't really a recipe, but more of an idea I had while making waffles. I've been adding various fruits to our Bisquick mix and it has made our lives more exciting (what can I say, we live in Dillingham). So far I've added strawberry puree and grated pear. I usually add a bit of vanilla to the batter as well. For the pear I added cinnamon and nutmeg. I think it's pretty tasty and a way to add a bit of fruit to your diet. The pear had a very subtle flavor, I think because I grated it. If you want more pear taste, I would suggest chopping it up in chunks. The strawberry waffles were a pretty pink color. So, if you have a little girl in your life, she might enjoy them. I didn't really do anything differently with the recipe, just added the fruit. It was easy. Here are some pictures of the finished result.

They look like there's not fruit! You can be sneaky.

I pureed the strawberries with the milk the recipe called for. It looks like a milkshake.

The pink color is subtle, so boys would probably eat it too.

Cookie Dough

2009-04-28T10:16:00.001-08:00

I don't know many people who don't enjoy eating cookie dough. It's basically why I like baking. There is always that risk of sickness, though (I guess, it has never worried me). Here is a recipe to make cookie dough minus the eggs. I've used this in my cookie dough cupcakes and I made cookie dough truffles once. I think it would be great in homemade ice cream, or to just eat while you're sitting on the couch watching tv.

Cream your butter and sugar.

It's really pretty much like any chocolate chip cookie recipe, minus the eggs.

It's dangerous.

Cookie Dough

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Mix in salt and flour. Add sweetened condensed milk and then chocolate chips. Yes, it's that simple.

The time I almost cut off my toe.

2009-04-27T09:38:00.001-08:00

These bars nearly caused me to lose one of my toes. I'm not sure how it happened. This is probably the easiest recipe on our blog, but someone it almost ended with an ER visit. Our knives are just so sharp (Samara had a run-in with them while making the infamous 12 layer cake too). Here is a chronicle of the events while making Cinnamon Toast Bars:

The foot incident actually happened while I was melting the marshmallows. Luckily my former-paramedic husband ran into the room and took care of the wound while I sat on a chair and stirred the marshmallows (4 cups mini) and butter (3 tablespoons). What can I say, I'm hard core.

After the marshmallows and butter are melted, I added 6 cups of the cinnamon toast cereal. Get all the cereal covered in the gooey mess.

Put it in a greased pan. I put mini chocolate chips on top to make it festive. These were easy, but good. A fun take on the traditional crispy treat.

Hopefully if you make them it won't end in bandages and a sore foot.

Roasted Beet & Garlic cream sauce

2009-04-25T10:10:00.005-08:00

Before I post the pictures, ignore the color. This dish is made with red beets and thus the sauce is going to be beet colored. So it is the color of magenta play-dough. It was good and low fat.

Gather together:

1-2 pounds of beets
1 garlic bulb
olive oil
salt
pepper
low fat cream cheese (cubed)
1/2 cup of fat free milk (see I told you it was low fat)
favorite whole wheat pasta

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut off the top of the garlic, add olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap in foil. Cut off the tops and bottoms of beets. Spray with olive oil and salt and pepper. Wrap in foil, but put them in a pan. It's less messy this way. Let those roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until soft.

Remove from oven. Place in to freezer for about 5 minutes--just so they are cool enough to handle. They they are cool, squeeze garlic from the bulb and peel the beats. Add Beets and garlic to a blender with the milk. Get that going until you have a smooth texture. Add more milk if needed. Next transfer to a sauce pan and add the cream cheese. Mix this until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with rosemary. Serve over your favorite pasta. Ignore the color.
This was really flavorful and pretty in a spring/play dough kind of way. This might be a way to get the kids to eat beets.

Blood Orange Bread

2009-04-25T09:54:00.006-08:00

Erin and I wanted to make a blood orange cake. We searched and searched an the only thing we could find was the Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake. (We had already tried the Anticraft Blood orange cake, but again without having poppyseed filling.) This sounded wrong on so many levels. So we went with more of a bread instead.

Gather together:

Butter for greasing pan
3 blood oranges (segmented without membranes)
1 cup sugar
Buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of butter
1/4 cup blood orange juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your loaf pan down with Pam or butter or use your misto. Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk and juice. Next slowly add in all the dry ingredients. When this is mixed up pretty well, fold in the blood oranges. Put mixture in to pan and allow to bake for 55 minutes.

We served this with a simple syrup make from sugar and blood orange juice. This turned out more like orange muffins than like a cake. I bet it would make pretty good muffins.

Pecan Sticky Rolls

2009-04-25T09:20:00.006-08:00

The Saturday before Easter, I attempted to make my mother-in-law's light rolls. I followed the instructions. They were suppose to turn out light and fluffy. Mine turned out like little hard bricks. I decided I would make pecan sticky rolls instead since I had made them a few days earlier at work. I don't feel like typing out all the recipe today, so if you are just dying for it, let me know and I will get to that in a day or so.
Making the dough in the Kitchen Aid mixer.

Rolls placed in the pan on top of the pecans sugar and corn syrup. I almost never use corn syrup. I think it is gross and it doesn't digest as well as regular sugar. It is in almost everything, but it is the only thing that I could find to use in Dillingham.

Here they are in all their buttery, nutty, sticky goodness. I made 4 pans of these before Easter and gave them out to people. Strangely, these were easier to make than the light rolls. Messier, but easier.

Brandied glazed carrots

2009-04-11T23:45:00.007-08:00

I simply can not believe how good these carrots are. We paid a caterer a lot of money for the auction and he made these carrots. Not only are they super good, but they are easy to make.

Gather together:
2 pounds of carrots-peeled and cut in to 1.5-2 inch pieces
stick of butter (I told you it was good)
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 table spoons brandy
parsley
pinch of salt

Boil the carrots until they are tender crisp--not fully cooked, but yet still tender enough a fork can puncture them. Drain the water. In a casserole dish add butter, sugar, salt, & brandy--stir. Add in carrots. Toss them in the butter mixture and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Toss to coat the carrots again. Sprinkle with parsley and Ta-Da!
People will think you slaved over the stove for hours for these.

I served it with balsamic chicken and veggies. Look at the pretty mushrooms, red peppers and onions! This is just a simple saute then right before serving add a bit of balsamic vinegar. Let it heat up and reduce for a minute and you have a great dinner on your plate.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

2009-04-11T21:42:00.006-08:00

I woke up an hour early on Monday. The sun is rising everyday at about 7:00 am and it is setting at about 10:00pm. I think this has something to do with the weird sleeping issues. But this time I used it to my advantage. This morning, I made pizza dough. This dough was pretty good and the toppings are yummy. Aaron ate a couple slices even though I added blue cheese to the whole pizza. He's such a good sport.

Gather together:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Proof the yeast in 1c. warm water and honey-- about 5 minutes. In the kitchen aid mixer (what?!? You don't have one? GO OUT AND BUY ONE RIGHT NOW!!! I'll wait) add flour, oil, salt and yeast mixture. MIx this until you get a nice non lumpy dough ball'--about 5-10 minutes. I love my mixer, it kneads the dough for you. Spray a large mixing bowl with Pam or with your Misto. Add the dough and spray it down too. Leave for 4 hours (or until it doubles) while you are at work. Come home on lunch and punch down the dough. Leave for 4 hours and come home for the day and punch down again. This time pull it out of the bowl on to a floured work station. Roll out to fit what ever pan you have. Add toppings--whatever you like. I added chicken cooked in butter and Frank's Hot Sauce, onions, green olives, white cheese and blue cheese. I guess it is also inportant to know that I added butter and garlic to the crust instead of marinara. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes.

If I could do anything different, I would have baked the crust for about 10 minutes before adding the toppings to give it a head start.

Sugar Cookies

2009-04-08T20:47:00.004-08:00

I have a love-hate relationship with sugar cookies. They're a lot of work and don't taste that great, but they're so festive and fun and remind me of being a kid. The love outweighs the hate, so I end up making them for various holidays. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that is pretty awesome. These cookies tasted like those ones you can buy at Wal-Mart with a half inch thick blob of frosting on top. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, they're pretty good. I made this in honor of Easter and spring, even though it's far from spring weather here. Well, it is above freezing, so that's saying something

I let the dough chill overnight.

Before the baking.

After the baking with the frosting outline.

I wanted to try and use royal icing because it's pretty and looks impressive. I, however, do not have meringue powder and felt weird about using raw egg whites. I found a recipe using heavy cream that looked shiny and pretty, so I used that. I was pretty pleased with how these turned out. I really liked the pretty pastel colors. I think the blue birds are my favorite. Even though it looks like a lot of work, the whole process from start to finish was about 1.5 hours, including clean-up. Not bad for sugar cookies!

Sugar cookies
(from allrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS: (I made half this recipe and it made roughly 24 cookies.)
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Creamy Icing
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
Food coloring

I just mixed it all together and added more powdered sugar and cream until I got the consistency I wanted. For the outline of the cookies I made a thicker icing. For the frosting in the middle I added a bit more cream. The measurements above are really sort of guidelines, not exact measurements. You can't really screw up this icing too much no matter what you do.

Biscuits and gravy

2009-04-05T22:26:00.006-08:00

What are you going to cook for breakfast at 11am on a Sunday morning after a long night of Wii karaoke? Biscuits and sausage gravy! Ok, so I cheated and used Bisquick for the biscuits. I swear I am going to follow Alton Brown's advice and make my own biscuit mix, but I haven't yet. I have mastered sausage gravy. This isn't an exact science when it comes to making gravy, you just go by what looks right so I am not going to give any measurements.

Gather together:
1 lb of bulk sausage--not links
milk
flour
salt & pepper to taste
cast iron skillet

Brown the sausage in the skillet. Break up the meat in to small pieces as you go, unless you like large chunky gravy--there is nothing wrong with that. Once all the meat is browned, remove it from the pan in to a collandar over a bowl to catch the oil. The oil is important so try to drain as much of the oil off the sausage in to the bowl. Add the oil back in to the pan. Add some flour a couple tablespoons. You want a bubbly flour mixture known as a roux, not a paste. If you added too much flour, pour in a bit of canola oil. Let the roux bubble and get brown. Slowly wisk in the milk. I used about 2.5-3 cups. Crank this up to medium high heat and continue wisking until you think that it is never going to thicken and you start freaking out a bit. And then keep wisking. It will thicken. Just keep wisking. After what seems like 20 minutes (in reality is only about 8 minutes) the gravy will start coating the wisk. Let it bubble for a few mintues longer then remove from heat. Stir in the sausage. I only used about 1/2 of the sausage for the gravy and saved the rest for later, but if you love sausage, feel free to use it all. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve this over biscuits with some fruit on the side.

On a side not, not every thing I make is deep fried with butter and pork. Most mornings Aaron eats a granola bar and I have a cup of coffee with splenda and a piece of fruit or toast. This kind of stuff we eat on rare occassions. But it wouldn't be any fun if I blogged about every piece of toast and cup of coffee, or would it? No, no it wouldn't. So there you go.

Blood oranges

2009-04-05T22:01:00.007-08:00

I got more blood oranges in my CSF box this week. It's pretty exciting because they are hard to come by sometimes. Erin and I back in January attempted to make this blood orange cake from the anticraft. It was really pretty in the picture and it used the blood oranges and had a poppy seed filling. We didn't have enough blood orange juice (each orange only rendered about 1/8 cup of juice) and the blood orange sauce never set right so it was just runny. Also, Dillingham lacks poppy seed pie filling. My only other option was to make poppy seed filling, but you need at least a cup of poppy seeds would would have cost me about $100 since they sell those tiny bottle of poppy seeds for $12 each and I would have needed about 9 bottles. I just can't spend $100 on poppy seeds. It's so wrong. So I bought a can of black berries that expired in 2005. I was pretty excited that the cashier gave them to me for a penny since they expired 4 years ago. I guess no one really likes black berries here. So any way, the cake was a bit of a flob. (sorry we didn't get pictures) So here I am with 4 more blood oranges and nothing to do with them.

I had been wanting some southern style sweet tea. The idea went kinda like this:
Sweet tea + Blood oranges= Blood tea (or blood orange tea if you prefer not to be creeped out)

This is easy. Make ice tea --not that instant stuff--brew the tea. This can be done by boiling water and putting it in a pitcher with some tea bags or just clean out the coffee pot and brew the tea bags in there. I used black tea bags. While the tea is still warm, add sugar or splenda. Cut 1 blood orange in to slices and toss in the pitcher. Chill for a couple hours.
Serve this with southern fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits or your scary meal.

triple squash soup

2009-04-04T17:10:00.004-08:00

Remember the butternut squash from earlier pictures? Well, I finally got around to doing something with it only after I received another type of squash in my weekly veggie box. This time it was an acorn squash. I started thinking and after the couple days of snow storms (yes it is still snowing here in Alaska), I thought it would be nice to have some warm soup and some bread.

First I had to roast the squash. This is easy, if you haven't done this before, give it a try. It's super easy and is very tasty. This stuff tastes good straight out of the oven.

Cut your squash or squashes? [I have no idea what the plural of squash is...Maybe squash is plural, like moose. Huh, uh, anyway...] Cut your gourds in half length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and gooey stuff. (You can save the seeds if you want to plant some or clean them and roast them too for a crunchy snack) Spray the insides with oil--I used canola in a Misto--and add some sea salt (Get one of these...they are awesome!) Now, place the squash skin side up on a baking sheet that has sides--as they cook, they will render some liquid. Take some cloves of garlic and some thyme and shove them in the scooped out part. As they roast, they will take on the flavors of what ever you put in there. Put them in a 375 degree oven for about an hour or until they are soft and can be removed from the skin easily. After they are cooled scoop out all the flesh. I did all this the night before I made soup.

The day of the soup, I put the squash bits in the blender with some water (feel free to use chicken stock or vegetable stock) to make a puree--add those roasted garlic cloves to the mix if you want. Now, I bet you are wondering where the other squash comes from. Enters a can of pumpkin puree. I would have roasted a pumpkin if I had one. I didn't. A can of pumpkin puree is just as good. DO NOT USE PUMPKIN PIE FILLING. It's not the same, trust me on this one.
Add the pumpkin and squash puree in to a large stock pot. Add 2 cups of water to make it more like soup and less like paste. Heat this up on Medium heat. Add Salt, corriander, cumin, garlic powder and pepper. Add Sriracha if you want to add some heat--I did, I knew Erin was going to come over. Now, add a pint of heavy cream to give your soup a velvety creaminess. (You can omit this if you are watching your weight)

I served this with grilled garlic bread. It was nice and warm and filling. Aaron ate 2 bowls and I'm not even sure if he knew this was good for him.

Chocolate Malt Cake

2009-04-02T19:40:00.009-08:00

I took pictures of this cake long before I had a food blog. I baked this for Anthony for his 27th birthday (hence the 27). He loves malt anything, so I figured this would be the perfect cake. It was a straight forward recipe and was definitely for the malt lover. The buttercream was super buttery. So, if you like butter and malt, you'll like it.

Chocolate Malt Cake

2 cups malted milk powder

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used regular salt and it was fine)

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

3 large eggs

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups whole milk (I used skim because it was all I had and it turned out fine)

1. Heat the over to 325. Coat two 8-inch cake pans with flour and oil.

2. Combine malted milk powder, flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.

3. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl and whisk until combined and smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and whisk until incorporated. Add 1/2 the milk and whisk until smooth. Continue with the remaining flour mixture and milk, alternating between the two until all the ingredients are incorporated and smooth.

4. Divide batter into the two pans. Bake about 45 minutes.

Malt Frosting

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup malted milk powder

1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature (I used skim. It was good.)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

I used my stand mixer and creamed all the ingredients together. Add more powdered sugar if you like a stiff icing. I put crushed malt balls around the edge of the cake to make it pretty.

Eggplant Parmesan or deep fried eggplant

2009-04-02T04:00:00.001-08:00

You can call it eggplant Parmesan, but that seems a bit fancy. And really one of the best ways to get the men folk to eat some vegetables than to deep fry it and cover it with cheese. This is pretty easy as long as you are not scared of deep frying. You can use one of those fancy deep fryers with the basket if deep frying scares you. If you're not scared, pull out your cast iron skillet and get started.

Gather together:
2 medium eggplants (sliced in to 1/2 slices and soaked in salt water for an hour)
panko bread crumbs or your favorite bread crumbs
4 eggs--beaten
oil for frying

Since this took place so soon after the potato chips, I just left my oil in my cast iron pan for use with this. I heated the oil to about 350 or medium heat. Get your station set up with your egg bath and bread crumbs. Coat the egg plant in the egg, then the bread crumbs and carefully place in the oil. Fry on each side until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

At this point, I put the fried eggplant in a casserole dish, added marinara and covered in Parmesan. I let the cheese melt in the oven using the broil option. I served this with whole wheat pasta to counter the effects of all the oil.

This was pretty good. I was surprised that Aaron ate 2 pieces of eggplant, but then again, you really can't go wrong with fried vegetables.

Home-made chips

2009-04-01T08:30:00.003-08:00

I order a weekly box from a CSA called Full Circle Farm which conveniently send a box of fresh organic produce practically to my door step every Wednesday, weather and volcanoes permitting.

My box the past couple weeks have had tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, egg plants, potatoes and for some reason a butternut squash. (Yes, I realize it looks kind of phallic--dirty minded people, sheesh) After a long stressful week, I decided to make cheeseburgers and chips. If you have never tried making your own chips, I really suggest you do. It's alot of fun and you can put whatever seasoning on them you want. All you need is a cast iron skillet, food processor and 1/2 gallon of cooking oil. :)

2 pounds of small potatoes (I had a bag of purple and yellow)
cooking oil (I use canola oil)
salt, pepper or other seasonings

Run your little potatoes through your food processor with the slicing blade. If you don't have a food procesor, you can cut them by hand, you might have to cook them longer. Heat your oil to about 350 --which on my stove is about 6 or high-medium. Add the potatoes to the hot oil giving a stir just to make sure that potatoes are not sticking. After about 5-6 minutes, they should be blowned & ready to come out of the oil on to a papertowel lined plate. Season imediately. Continue this process until you are out of potatoes.
Garnish with a cheeseburger with all the fixens.

Tagine style Chicken

2009-03-31T22:09:00.004-08:00

I saw this on 30 minutes meals with Rachel Ray a couple years ago. It seemed fun and exotic. And if you can look over the Rachel Ray aspect of the dish, it really is very good. I made it with leftover Roasted chicken and I put some in another pan to let the vegetarians have some with tofu. This is so good, Anthony even ate the tofu. I know, I didn't really come up with this recipe, but it is too good not to try it.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
4 cloves garlic, smashed beneath the flat of your knife with the heel of your hand, discard skins
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large bite-size pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons grill seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and coarse pepper
2 medium or 1 large yellow skinned onion, quartered and sliced
10 pitted prunes, coarsely chopped
1-ounce box or 1/4 cup golden raisins
2 cups good quality, low sodium chicken stock, available in paper containers on soup aisle

Spice blend:

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika, eyeball it
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, eyeball it
1/2 teaspoon tumeric, eyeball it
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, a couple pinches

Couscous:

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups couscous
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, in a slow stream, and add smashed garlic. Season the chicken with seasoning blend. Scatter chicken around the pan in an even layer. Cook chicken pieces 2 minutes on each side to brown, then add the onions, prunes, raisins and stock. Mix spices in a small dish and scatter over the pot. Cover and reduce to moderate heat. Cook 7 or 8 minutes, remove the lid and stir.

To prepare the couscous, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add couscous, extra-virgin olive oil and scallions and remove the couscous from the stove immediately. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork.

Uncover chicken and cook another 2 to 3 minutes to thicken slightly. Adjust the seasoning, to taste, and serve chicken on a bed of couscous.

I served this with Couscous, hummus, pita bread and a simple cucumber tomato salad. Erin thought it needed some red pepper flakes...Imagine that.

Rich Egg Bread

2009-03-30T16:20:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to bake bread since we moved here. With a loaf being $5 at the grocery store, it just seems more economical. I have a fear of yeast, however, so I haven't done much bread baking to date. I purchased a massive amount of yeast at Sam's Club, so I figured I needed to suck it up and try baking with yeast. This bread sounded easy enough and had a pretty braid in my Betty Crocker cookbook. I am pleased to announce that I have made this bread twice in two days. It is good and actually rose the way it was supposed to!

Forming the dough ball. I LOVE my KitchenAid mixer. I don't think I can stress enough how happy this machine makes me on a daily basis.

My attempt at braiding. I haven't had to braid in such a long time. It turned out pretty well.

The loaf rose and baked up nicely. It is a pretty dense bread and has a really nice flavor. I made French toast with it this morning and it was tasty! Overcome your fears of yeast and try out this loaf!

Rich Egg Bread (From Betty Crocker Cookbook, 2006)
3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose or bread flour (I needed 3 1/4 and then some)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 package regular or quick active dry yeast
1 cup very warm water (120-130 F)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, scraping the bowl. Bean on medium speed 1 minute, scraping the bowl. Add egg and beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour until the dough is easy to handle.

Knead dough for about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Grease a large bowl and place dough in to rise. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for roughly an hour until it doubles in size. If you poke the dough and an indentation remains, it's ready to go.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet. After punching the dough to let out the air, divide the dough into 3 parts. Roll each into 14 inch ropes (I did this like how you make a snake with Play Dough). Braid the ropes gently, starting in the center. Pinch and tuck the ends. Brush the dough with vegetable oil (I just sprayed it with Pam). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 40 to 50 minutes, until it doubles in size.

Heat the oven to 375 and bake the bread for 25-30 minutes (It took mine 3o minutes). It will be a pretty golden brown when done.

It hurts so good.

2009-03-26T13:51:00.005-08:00

My new love in life is Sriarcha. Most people close to me know that I love my food spicy. The more pain, the better. I had this sauce before in the Lower 48, but never purchased it. Then I met Samara and she had some at her house. It was then that I discovered my love for it. It is hot but has the most amazing flavor. Some hot sauces just taste like hot (if that makes sense). This one actually has a Thai sort of flavor about it. The ingredients include things such as hot chilies, vinegar (I also love vinegar), salt, sugar, and garlic. It's simple but comes together to make the best hot sauce ever. I almost literally eat it on everything savory. Now that I think about it, you could probably do something with Sriarcha and chocolate cake.

If you like spicy foods I highly recommend this sauce. Just look for the bottle with the rooster on it. I purchased two giant bottles at Sam's Club for $6. What a deal! So much food happiness for $6. I also snuck it into a Mexican restaurant once when we went to Anchorage.

Southern-Style rolled out Chicken and Dumplings

2009-03-25T20:37:00.007-08:00

I have to say, I do miss things like chicken and dumplings (dump-lins). And I don't mean those biscuit dough balls that sit on top of a cream of something with some chicken bits thrown it. No, I mean the real ones that you have to roll out, then cut in to vague noodle form and put in to a pot of seasoned chicken stock--the kind my great-grandmother made every family get together. (They could never be as good as those, but I tried hard enough)

Gather together:
4-chicken bits (4 breast, thighs, boneless or whatever you prefer)
3-5 carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
bay leaves

for the dumplings
1.5 c. flour
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 tsp salt
3 tbs cold water
2 tbs butter
2 tsp basking soda

In a large stock pot, add chicken bits, a bay leaf & some salt and cover with water. Boil this for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cook completely. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool so you can de-bone & shred it. Remove any chicken scum that floated to the top.
Add the vegetables and continue cooking over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, cut the butter into flour, baking soda & salt. Next, add the eggs and the water until a dough ball forms. Then kneed the dough until you get a smooth consistency. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut in to 1/2 inch by 4 inch strips.

Starting adding the dumplings in to the slow boiling pot of chicken stock one at a time. Resist the urge to stir. Keep adding until all of them are added. Then slowly, with a wooden spoon stir, just to make sure none of the dumplings are stuck to the bottom. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Add the chicken back to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Ta-da. (If you like it to be thicker, you can add corn starch, flour or heavy cream) Allow to cool in bowls for a few minutes before serving. Add parsley for garnish.

Serve with with bread, crackers or corn bread. This is so true southern cookin'!

Groundnut Stew or groundnut chop

2009-03-24T19:13:00.009-08:00

Groundnut is the common African word for peanut, and Groundnut Stew or Groundnut Chop is one of many "Chop" dishes served in Africa. I was watching Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservation" and he was in Ghana. During the trip they stopped at a Chop Cafe and I just wanted to have some of that. It seems that some of my cooking lately has been inspired by Anthony Bourdain's adventures. So here is my version of groundnut stew.

Gather together:
1 medium onion (diced)
2 cans of crushed tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
a few stocks of celery
1 bunch of carrots
1 red pepper
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tsp ground ginger

Saute those items in a large stock pot.

In another pot at the same time cook 3 large, sweet potatoes cut in to medium chunks .

In the tomato pan, add 1 cup of natural creamy peanut butter or if you live in the Alaskan Bush and refuse to pay $18 for peanut butter you can use Flavorite Brand for $7.99. Stir that until it turns in to a bubbling goo. Add a can of chilies and your favorite vegetable or chicken stock. Simmer this on medium-lowfor about 30 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes to the pot. Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste.

I served this with hard boiled eggs cooked in the stew--leave the shell on and place in the stew for the 30 minutes. I also served it with rice, avocados, flat bread and red pepper chili sauce. I also made roast chicken in the crock pot and shredded it and put it on top.

Chicken can be fried in the pan before the vegetables, but since Anthony and Erin were coming over, I made it on the side.

This is pretty good. It has a light peanut flavor. You can make this as spicy as you like. I like it spicy, but Aaron isn't so much with the level of spice I am comfortable with. This tastes awesome with beer. I am not normally a beer drinker, but this just brings it out. This is just easy to make and is filling.

If you are interested in other groundnut stews, check out this link.

Irish Soda Bread

2009-03-23T20:40:00.006-08:00

I know it's a bit late, but I finally made Irish Soda bread. Everything I read said that real Irish Soda Bread does not contain caraway seeds or raisins--which is good because I don't have any. Although I will need to pick up some raisins if I want to make Faux Tagine Chicken, but that's another post for another day. If you want a few more Irish Soda Bread recipes, check out this site. It was pretty neat and very informative. And I know that this isn't really an authentic Irish Soda Bread, but I had all the ingredients for this one.

I started with this simple recipe:

4 cups of flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk--I didn't have any buttermilk so I used the old vinegar trick
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients. Then unlike me, add the margarine. Stir in the buttermilk and egg until a big sticky ball is made. Put on a floured surface, knead a few times. Put dough in to a greased iron skillet. Cut a cross in to the dough. Let it bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I really suggest adding the margarine. My dough was really dry and didn't take all the flour. I threw away probably about 1/2 cup of flour. It turned out like a big, dense biscuit that had a vague bacon flavor--I blame the cast iron skillet. It did have a nice crust about it. I smeared it with butter and honey; it was fine. I would suggest making the dough spread out in the skillet as much as possible-punching it in there or shaping it the right size before putting it in would work as well.

Monster Cookies

2009-03-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of oatmeal for some reason and had a bag of M&M's in the freezer, so I thought Moster Cookies sounded like a good idea. I have never made them before, but fondly remember them from the cafeteria in high school and wanted to give them a try. Who knew they have no flour?

Monster Cookies (from Baking Blonde)

1/4 cup butter, room temp

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used crunchy)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (I wish I would have done this.)

4 1/2 cups oatmeal (either quick or old fashioned is fine)

3/4 cup choclate chips

1ish cup M&M's (for some reason my bag was all green ones)

You can really add whatever add-ins you like. This is what I had on hand.

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add peaunt butter and baking soda (and salt) and beat until combined. Add in your oatmeal. (My KitchenAid took this like a champ, but the batter is very thick. This is your warning.) Stir in your add-ins. Drop on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. (Mine took the full 10.) It makes about five dozen cookies.

The Rating

Anthony thought they were about an 8 out of 10 (with 10 being his favorite cookie ever--the no-bake). I thought they were a little plain. I really think the recipe needs at least a tsp of salt. Possibly more considering how big the recipe is. These are okay, but I think they have the potential to be really good with a little salt.

Mole sauce with chicken or tofu

2009-03-18T19:06:00.002-08:00

I kick my self in the butt every time I think about all the times I dismissed my grandma when she was cooking. To this day, I still have a rough time making tortillas from scratch. So it seems only natural that I should try my hand at making mole (moll-lay). Grandma did it. I should be able to do it. This is not a sweet dish. I know it has chocolate in it, but this is a savory dish.

I used the crock pot to cook the chicken in. It just seemed easier. I used 3 pounds of chicken thighs, added a bay leaf, salt and garlic. Cook it on high for about 4-5 hours. It will take some time if you want to make a good mole. I once again did not measure things, just do it until it looks & tastes right. And I always run in to the problem of not finding exactly the right ingredients that I need. So here is the list of ingredients that I used:

ground cumin
ground coriander
pumpkin spice--it has both cinnamon & clove in it so it works out
red pepper flakes
salt
canola oil
toasted pine nuts--not needed, I just used what I had
toasted almonds
tahini paste (I am lucky that Ann sent this to me, b/c there is no finding this here)
unsweetened bakers chocolate
sugar
1 can of green chilies--diced
ranchero salsa (I needed Ancho chilies, but there was no getting those here)
2 cans of tomatoes--crushed or what ever you have on hand
1 jar or roasted red peppers--diced
1 medium onion-small diced
2-4 cloves of garlic (or if you have any of that roasted garlic left you could use that)
Raisins (I didn't use any, I have no excuse other than I just forgot)
vegetable bouillon base
water

This is going to take some time. This is not a 30 minute meal! Not at all. If you haven't roasted or toasted your pine nuts & almonds do this first. Just a simple toasting in a dry pan over medium high heat. Do not over toast, meaning don't burn them. Keep moving the pan around to keep them from lingering in one spot for too long. Once, they are toasted, pulse in a food processor or blender until it is powdery...if you do it too long, it will turn to paste. This does not ruin anything so just go with it.

In a dutch oven or large heavy sauce pan, add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil on turn it to medium heat (use can use lard, my grandma would have used lard, but the vegetarians would not have eaten it) . Next add the cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, and pumpkin spice. Add enough to make a bubbling, liquid goo, but not a thick paste. Let this cook for about 10 minutes stirring constantly. It will get darker, let it get dark, but don't let the spices burn. Next add the onion and garlic. Let those get coated in the spices and get tender. Next add the roasted red peppers, tomatoes with juice, chilies, ancho peppers (if you have them--if not add the rancho salsa) and raisins. Let this simmer so all the flavors can combine, about 10-15 minutes.

Next, if you have an immersion blender, you can use that. I have the old style blender, so I had to do a few batches and dirty up another bowl, then transfer it back to the pot. With everything blended, start adding the almond & pine nut crumbs/paste. Next add a couple tablespoons of tahini paste and the veggie bouillon and about 2 cups of water. Now, coarsely chop the chocolate bars and add them to the pot. I used all 8 squares. Keep stirring the pot, you don't want the chocolate to settle on the bottom and burn. Keep stirring. Look at the bubbling goo and keep stirring. This will take about 15 minutes. It will turn from a red-ish orange color to a dark brown color. It will also thicken up as you go. Taste the sauce, it will need salt. It might need a bit of sugar. I added about 2 tablespoons of sugar and you know, enough salt to make it not taste like it need salt. Let this simmer for a few minutes more and you are done with the sauce.

(I know what you are thinking, but this really is good. Even if it is dark brown...just keep thinking about the chocolate in it)

Now assuming you had the chicken in the crock pot, you can take it out (de-skin and de-bone it if you used bone in chicken) and shred it a bit. Mix the shredded chicken with the sauce. Serve this with rice and tortillas.

I had enough sauce to give Erin some for her tofu, some for the chicken and about a quart to freeze for later. THIS WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I realized about 1/2 way through with this, you can't really screw this up too bad. You can add anything you like. You blend everything. And the chocolate makes it all better. I realized that this dish is not for everyone. It's a spicy, savory, chocolate sauce. Aaron even ate seconds. I was impressed.

Erin made her's with tofu. I went home with my sauce before she made her tofu, so I have no idea how it went.

This is Erin:

The mole sauce was awesome! Anthony doesn't even like tofu and he ate a bunch of it. Tofu is pretty much a blank slate, so it soaked up a bit of the sauce and was so tasty. All I did was fry the tofu until it was a little browned with some red pepper. This took about five minutes (a perk to vegetarian cooking!). Then I put some mole sauce in the pan and heated it up with the tofu. We ate this over rice. It was so good! Like Samara said, probably not for everyone (it has a unique flavor), but we really enjoyed it.

Lemon Bars

2009-03-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's still cold and winter here so I wanted to make something light and summery. I received two lemons in my produce box, so I thought lemon bars would be the way to go. I really like this recipe. It was easy, lemony, and not too sweet. It has a nice, buttery crust and a good amount of lemony custard. Recipe after the photos!

The buttery crust.

The pretty lemons. I love yellow, so I naturally am drawn to lemons.

Best Lemon Bars (from allrecipes.com)

1 cup butter softened

1/2 cup white sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 lemons juiced and zested

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of a greased 9X13 pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice and lemon zest (I love my Microplane!). Pour into baked crust and cook for another 20 minutes. The bars will firm up after cooling. I added some powdered sugar to the top to make them pretty.

Easy peasy Pumpkin soup

2009-03-16T19:53:00.003-08:00

I didn't get pictures. I'm sorry. But this went so quickly, I didn't have a chance. But this was SO EASY!. It only takes about 10-15 minutes and people will think you slaved over the stove for hours.

1 large can of pumpkin (not a can of pumpkin pie mix)
1 carton of chicken stock or Vegetable stock
1 pint heavy cream
garlic salt (2 tablespoons)
curry powder (1-2 tablespoons more if you want it hotter)
red pepper flake (optional--just to add heat, Erin would love this)

In a heavy saucepan, pour chicken stock and add all of the pumpkin. Heat this until it is almost boiling. Don't let it boil. It will just burn pumpkin to your pan. Turn down to low heat and add the garlic salt and curry powder. Add the heavy cream and let it simmer for a few minutes. This can be served with small noodles or rice.

You can do this in your crock pot if you want as long as you don't add the cream until you are ready to serve--just add everything else to the pot. Put it on low heat for 1-2 hours. Add the cream right before serving.

Crock Pot Hummus

2009-03-16T14:51:00.000-08:00

This is not the first time I have used dried chickpeas to make hummus, nor is this the first time I have made hummus. But it never ceases to amaze me how amazing this stuff is. Chickpeas don't exist here in Dillingham. There are no dried or canned chickpeas in the stores. This makes me sad. So a few months ago, my friend Ann sent me some dried chickpeas and they were at a great price. (I need more chickpeas!)

This is how you prepare the chickpeas:

Add dried chick peas to crock pot--I have the 6 qt with the removable crock and I covered the bottom. (about 2 cups of dried chickpeas)
Add cold water.--Enough water to cover all the chickpeas and allow the chickpeas to expand about 3 times their size.
Let them soak over night--I let them soak for about 12 hours
Drain the water
Add water--I filled it about half way full making sure all the peas were covered with room for them to expand
Set the crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours--you can go to work and the chickpeas will be done by the time you get back
Drain reserving about 1 cup of liquid

Some recipes call for baking soda. DO NOT DO THIS. Just soak them over night and cook in the crock pot. They turn out perfectly.

I didn't exactly have all the things most of the hummus recipes called for so I used what I had and I'm not not one to measure--I just eyeballed it. Here is what I did (roughly):

add 4 c. chickpeas to blender
add the juice from 1/2 a lime-most people use lemon juice
add 2t of tahini--Ann sent me this as well.
add 1/4 cup of oil-I used canola oil instead of olive oil
add 1 tbls of salt
add 1 bulb of roasted garlic--see this post
add 1/2 cup reserved liquid

Blend. Shake blender. Blend again. You can add more more oil or liquid if its too thick. If its too thin, add extra chick peas. Mine turned out super. Aaron thought he should eat it warm with Kettle Salt & Pepper chips. I also added Mrs.Dash and chili flakes to this. You can add what ever you like, more garlic, less garlic, dill, Cajun seasoning, really add what you want. I thought about adding the roasted red peppers to the mix, but I had a hard time keeping Aaron out of the kitchen while I was blending so I just let it go.

Faux Chicken Etouffee

2009-03-15T18:45:00.001-08:00

I like spicy food. Ok, I really like spicy food. And after a week of not being able to taste anything due to cold medicine I wanted something flavorful and spicy. It also helped that I spent 2 days at home instead of going to work and watched the foodnetwork and the travel channel. After watching Anthony Bourdain's show, "No Reservations" about the restaurants in New Orleans (after Katrina), I just had to have me some etouffee. Since I have never been to New Orleans and have only had cajun food at Bourbon and Toulouse in Lexington, Kentucky, I figured I would do the best I could. What I came up with was a bastardized version that resembled something like what I imagine a real etouffee to taste like.

The previous night I cooked some bacon and reserved the grease. (It had not been sitting around for days and nothing makes things taste better than a little pork fat.) Every good southern girl keeps her bacon grease even if she is in the public health profession. I figure if hot bacon grease doesn't kill it, nothing will.

Gather together:
1 lb of chicken boobs (cut up in to strips)
some flour (enough for the flour and to make a roux)
1 can of beer (I used the finest American Lager I had...the beast)
3 stalks of celery (diced)
1 small onion (diced) I also added 1 shallot
1 red pepper (diced)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)
2 bay leaves
blackening seasoning (I use salt free)
Butter

Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour (enter blackening seasoning). Cook in bacon grease on medium heat. Do not burn the oil or the flour on the chicken, so keep it on medium. After the chicken is browned and throughly cooked, remove and set aside. If you need to add some butter at this point to make about 2-3 tables spoons of liquid please do so. Remove your hot pan off the burner while you add flour one tablespoon at a time until you get a brown roux. It will resemble liquidly brown sugar (not paste). Put back on the burner on low medium & cook this until it is a milk chocolate brown, but not burnt. If it smells burnt, do not use. Add the veggies and coat in roux. Let the veggies get soft in the roux then add the can of beer and about 1/2 cup of chicken stock or water. Add bay leaves and seasoning. Add Simmer this for about 15-20 minutes until thick. Add the chicken back to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes adding water if the gravy needs to be thinner.

When this is finished it should be a brownish color gravy with chicken bit and vegetables in it. Served over rice with garlic bread.

This is really good. I know it's not the real thing. I think the real thing has tomotoes or milk or something else in it. It seems like a spicy chicken fricassee to me. My husband was even happy to eat seconds. It was filling (but not over filling) and it felt like home. I can imagine I would like New Orleans if it tastes anything like this.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

2009-03-15T10:34:00.003-08:00

Occassionally we can get a good deal on cream cheese. Usually that is because it is expiring. Living in the Bush has taught me that expiration dates really are more of a guideline, and if you want to save some money you have to buy old things. One of the sales on cream cheese arrived and I ended up with three packages of it in my fridge. I was craving a baked good, but had no eggs and no springform pan, so cheesecake was out of the question. Luckily, BakingBlonde saved the day and I found this lovely recipe.

The dough came together nicely. It had a good consistency and was yummy! Since there's no raw egg you can eat as much cookie dough as you want! (Although the risks of raw egg have never stopped me before.)

This recipe made about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

The finished product was good. I am a fan of a soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie and these were just that. They had great texture. The cream cheese flavor was very subtle and I think even non-cream cheese fans would like this cookie. Do try this recipe!

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups plus 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until room temp
5-6 oz. cream cheese softened (I used 6 oz.)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside. With electric mixer, or by hand.Mix butter and cream cheese together with a mixture until smooth. Add sugars and beat until thoroughly combined.Beat in vanilla until combined.Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips. Chill dough overnight. OR Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets (I didn’t do this and they turned out fine.) and bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and bottoms are light brown. Do NOT overbake!
Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

Roasting Garlic

2009-03-14T23:08:00.006-08:00

If you haven't roasted garlic before, you are missing out. This is one of the easiest things you could possibly do with your oven besides throwing a frozen pizza in it. Plus, you can use roasted garlic in so many things. I put some on bread with a bit of butter and made the awesomest garlic bread ever. And tomorrow, I plan to add it to the homemade hummus I am making.

Preheat the oven for 350. cut the top off the bulbs of garlic. Add olive oil and let that soak in. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Fold foil around the bulbs to make an envelope. Bake the packet for about an hour. If you aren't getting the caramelization you want, unfold the packet, and put them back in for 15 minutes. They will look golden when they are finished and they will be sweet and tender.

These are awesome. Spread them on crostini. Add them to soups, salsas, pasta dishes...The possibilities are endless. I make this roasted pumpkin & Garlic soup...OMG! It is so awesome!

And they are vegan, which means nothing to me, but some people like that sort of thing. In case I haven't mentioned this before, I am not a vegan and I am not a vegetarian. Erin, however, is a vegetarian. So most of the things she makes doesn't include meat. This is too bad, because I love bacon. Usually when Erin & Anthony come over, we choose to make meatless entrees. It's just cheaper to do that. But then there is bacon....Mmmm....bacon.

Beaver Round-Up

2009-03-14T12:01:00.010-08:00

Editors note: This post was written by Erin. Samara made comments in italics.

Every year in Dillingham they celebrate Beaver Round-Up. I believe at some point in history it was a time when trappers came into Dillingham after collecting their beaver pelts? I could be wrong. Now it's more of a reason to get out of the house because winter has gone on too long and everybody has cabin fever kind of celebration. Either way, there are dog races, turkey bowling, the infamous Beaver Buns contest, and most importantly, a bake off.

This was my first bake off. I was scared to enter my baked goods into a contest. Luckily, Samara wanted to join in on the fun and this made the whole thing less intimidating. Samara and I decided to make a 14 layer cake. We figured this would be impressive and the recipe didn't sound all that hard. So, here is the story of our 12 layer cake (somehow, we lost two layers). However, 12 layers are just as impressive as 14, and if you consider all the chocolate goo we added between each layer, it's almost like 24 layers, 25 if you count the butter cream frosting.

12 Layer Cake

First, we preheated the oven to 350. Then we cut circles of parchment paper to fit inside the ridiculous amount of cake pans. Do this! I had no idea that parchment was my friend. It seems like regular waxed paper would work, but this stuff is pretty awesome.

Basically we just made the recipe for two yellow cake mixes, using butter instead of oil and adding roughly a tablespoon or so of vanilla. (In the future the recipes will be more precise, I promise.) Erin promises. I make no such promise.

We put about 3/4 cup of batter into each cake pan. We ended up with about 12 layers instead of 14. Oops!

We baked them for about 15 minutes and then let them cool. The parchment paper was a lifesaver. Also, we sprayed the parchment down with pam and then floured it. Nothing was going to stick to the pan.

We then made a sort of icing (more like chocolate goo) to put in the middle of the layers. We were not entirely pleased with the consistency of the icing, but it tasted okay. It was just way too thin and runny. Here is a good action shot of Samara putting the icing on the layers.

This is how you can leave the cake if you like. We thought it was pretty ugly, so we wanted buttercream. (Plus, what is a cake without buttercream?) Here it is before we put the buttercream over the top. It looks like pan cakes. It's not. It takes like cake. And it's really moist. I attribute it to all the extra butter.

To save yourself some mess, place the cake on a cooling rack with a pan underneath it to catch the icing. This was a tremendous help.

We let the cake set up in the fridge and made the buttercream. We made a chocolate cream cheese buttercream to cover the gaps and make the thing pretty (and chocolately). We weren't in love with the buttercream at first. We made some changes (noted below in the recipe) that seemed to help. The cream cheese gave it a slightly interesting taste and we felt wasn't the greatest on its own, but with the chocolate icing in the middle and the yellow cake, I think it was a good choice. I am still not in love with that buttercream. And to make it look fancy, I shaved chocolate bars on the top. It was rustic.

After putting on the buttercream we let the cake sit in the fridge over night. The next morning I rushed the cake over to the church for the bake off. Stupid daylight savings time almost made me miss the deadline, which would have been tragic!

We arrived back at the bake off later that afternoon to find out how we did. We were pleasantly surprised to have won second place! For our first bake off, I think we did well. We also entered a couple other baked goods. Here we are in all our glory:

And here is a close-up of the cake:

We won second in the cake part of the contest, there was also a dried fish category and an akutaq category. In case you have never heard of akutaq, it's also called Eskimo ice cream. It's make with a fat (usually crisco), sugar and berries. And for the more traditional version adds salmon to it.

It wasn't as pretty as the one Bakerella did, but it was magnificent. I didn't even want to try a piece because I was still recovering from a sugar coma from the previous day's baking. After Samara asked me to try it for her (she was sick), I broke down and tried a small sliver. It was hard to cut, but so pretty with all the layers. The thing was good! It was so moist and had a good chocolately flavor. I love yellow cake and chocolate frosting, so this cake was right up my alley.

After the people of Dillingham were able to sample the cakes, they voted in a people's choice award for their favorite baked good. Samara and I were pleasantly surprised to win the people's choice award at the bake off! (The people's choice is actually the over all winner of the contest. Yes, we even beat out some of the smoked fish strips and the akutaq) I think people were having pity on us as we had slaved away our entire Saturday on the cake. Either way, it made my first bake off experience a good one and made me excited for next year's Beaver Round-Up. We're still anxiously waiting for our big blue Beaver Round-Up first place ribbons!

Icing for the layers:

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder , preferably Dutch process

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of corn starch--add more if it is too gooey for you

Bring the sugar, cocoa, butter, and evaporated milk to a full boil in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the icing has thickened slightly (it will resemble chocolate syrup but will thicken as it cools), about 3 minutes (For some reason it never really thickened for us, so we decided to boil it again and add some corn starch). Stir in the vanilla. Let the icing cool until thick enough to spread, but still pourable.

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting (from Bakerella)
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (We used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
1 box (1 lb) confectioner's sugar (We didn't use quite this much)
1 tsp vanilla
1-3 Tbsp milk

1 tsp salt

Cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer. Add the cocoa and vanilla. Add the confectioner's sugar in small batches and blend on low until combined. Scrape down sides with each addition. Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the consistency you desire. We added salt to cut down on some of the sweetness. For some reason salt makes everything better.

It was good. I was happy with the results and I was happy for it to be over. I had also entered the easy-way out apple dumplin's. Which also got a second place in the other dessert category. Here is the recipe:

1 apple--peeled, cored and sliced in to 8 pieces
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tbls of cinnamon
crescent rolls--see, the easy pastry
1/4 can of sprite zero (or favorite citrus soda)

Open the can of crescent rolls and fold 1 apple slice in to each triangle to make little pockets or envelopes. Place them in a casserole dish (a 9x11 pan works well) In a small sauce pan, melt butter, sugar and cinnamon. Cook just until melted. Pour over all the dumplings. Next add the sprite zero. (I have no idea what the soda does, but it makes it awesome) Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before you eat them. They are ugly and when I first made them I was really skeptical. But now people ask me to bring them to potlucks and to work related dinners. They are just so easy to make. Try it. You won't regret it. (2nd place says it all.)

Introductions: Erin & Samara

2009-03-13T19:49:00.010-08:00

Welcome to the blog. I feel like I was just writing lyrics to a new Pink Floyd album. "Welcome to the BLOG...What have we eaten? It's ok, you know what we've eaten."

The short story is Erin and I (Samara) moved to Dillingham, Alaska. Not together, we actually didn't know each other until she moved up here. And as it turns out, we are foodies. We talk about food. We dream about food. We want to knit food but we are not that talented yet! And now we blog about food.

The Long Story: (Samara) I moved to Dillingham (with my husband Aaron--I know it gets confusing but stay with me) in August 2008 from Lexington, KY. When I left Kentucky it was 90 degrees and I was wearing flip-flops. When my plane touched down in Dillingham it was 40 degrees and the only shoes I brought we me were flip-flops. The only coat I brought was a light hoodie. This was not smart on my part. Besides the weather, the next biggest shock was the prices of food. Milk is almost $8.00 a gallon. We didn't have a thing to eat when we first moved up here and almost all our money was spent turning on things like electric and paying rent. The food budget we made in Kentucky was spent the first day on oreos and ramen noodles. It was sad. We spent $90 on a 12 pack of pepsi, oreos, electrical tape and ramen noodles. Again it was sad. But then we got paid and things got better and then Erin moved up here and things got even better. We got to celebrate New Years Eve and we made cheddar fondue. It was awesome. But I am getting ahead of myself...

The Long Story: (Erin) It's difficult to find a job during a recession, so you do things like randomly apply for a job in Bush, Alaska. My husband, Anthony, had a life goal to live in Alaska, so he found me a job here and I went for it. Last November we moved from Kansas to Alaska. It was 70 degrees when we left and there was snow on the ground when we arrived here. Things were not easy at first. We were poor and food here is incredibly expensive. We were eating a lot of potatoes. But, like Samara, we got paid and things got better. Then we met cool people and things got much better. Now I spend most of my time working, baking, and walking my dog. And now writing a cooking and baking blog.

So there you have it, the story about how we got to the Alaskan bush. I should probably tell you why we consider ourselves foodies. First, I like to cook and Erin likes to bake. Second, we talk about food all the time. Third, one of our favorite weekend activities include going to one of the 2 grocery stores and walking around the 12 isles. In fact, we did that just today. We had a specific mission: take pictures of the high price of food in the bush.

Yes, that is a 1/2 gallon of milk for $4.89. The gallon of milk is $7.98. And it's all Ultra-Pasteurized. The boxed unrefrigerated milk is big here. It's kinda weird. I try not to think about what they have to do to make it so it doesn't need to be refrigerated.

Oh good! Ground clove is on sale for $13.54. I should stock up!

Oh good! Poppy seeds and Sesame seeds are on sale. If I bought 5 bottles of poppy seeds, I could make poppyseed filling. Because I can't just buy poppyseed filling. No, that doesn't exist here.

I used to buy this pasta sauce for $.99 in Kentucky. It does go on sale 3 for $10.

There is a sale on bacon too! It's $5.99 for a pound of bacon. It's not even thick sliced. I'll wait until the 2 pounds of think sliced goes on sale for 15.99.

Cake mix is $3.89. Back home it can be on sale for $.79. I miss Meijers. Erin misses HyVee.

That is the small baking soda that you see for $2.25.

This gets me so mad. It's 9.75 for cranberry juice and it's not even the diet or lite or even the 100% juice!

This is the best! That is 10.99 for a single 12 pack of coke.

Well, that's about it. There are some things that happen here in the bush that don't really happen in other places. For example: Beaver Round Up. Well, that is something for another blog.