Mmmmm, cheese

I jumped on the cheesy potato soup band wagon and tried this on Monday. I needed something quick & easy, and this fit the bill better than other recipes I could find without having to look very hard. I apparently had used up all of our broccoli already, so I had to use broccoflower instead, which B. likes better anyway. I used red skin potatoes and left the skin on some, so I got red specks of color from those and green from the veggies. It looked quite pretty. I want to add some diced ham to this next time as I think it will make it even yummier (although topping with bacon is really good. I added a little bit extra cheese because I wanted it a little more thick & creamy. I baked up a couple of pillsbury whole wheat frozen dinner rolls and they were great for dipping in the "broth." This will definitely be on our list to make again, when my mom's creamy potato soup (no cheese) won't quite hit the spot.

Thanks Nikki for a great recipe: http://crazydeliciousfood.wordpress.com/category/soup/

Chocolate Goodness

Our church had a baked goods auction last weekend to help raise money for camp scholarships and other programs. I figured I might as well put my baking addiction to good use. I made kahlua chocolate chip cupcakes with a mocha icing, a pumpkin spice bundt cake, and black forest tortes (both 2-3 and 4-6 serving sizes). Leave a comment if you want recipes, I thought it would probably take way too much space to post each of them.

Chocolate Cherry Heaven

Fellow knottie Jamie said she found this recipe on her bag of craisins. It sounded yummy so I had to try it. Instead of cherry flavored craisins I used actual dried cherries (I love the things). Next time I will chop them up a little bit before putting them in. I also goofed and used semi-sweet chips. You have to be prepared for some serious chocolate if you do it that way. I actually think they might be good with half milk & half semi-sweet. I liked these even better after they sat for a day or so.

BLACK FOREST COOKIES

1 (11.5oz) pkg. milk chocolate morsels (divided)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 (6oz) pkg. Cherry Craisins
1 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsley chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Pour 3/4 cup chocolate morsels into an uncovered large microwave-safe bowl. Set remaining morsels aside. Microwave morsels for 2 minutes on high. Stir until smooth.

2. Stir in brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Add flour and baking powder, mixing until throughly combined. Stir in remaining morsels, cherry craisins and nuts.

3. Drop by tbsp. fulls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 min or until cookies are puffed and set to the touch. For firmer cookies, bake for 14 min. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 min. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Wishing

I have found some items in a holiday catalog that I really want for Christmas. I had the pancake forms on our wedding registry, but they discontinued them during the summer so they weren't available. So, if anyone is looking for a late wedding present :-) ......

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=100&f=25174&q=k5106&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=17&f=25466&q=k1079&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

Frying Frensy

After reading about Nikki's doughnuts yesterday, I got the taste for them. I love doughnuts from the cider mill and thought it would be nice to try making them myself. In addition, I found a recipe at my mom's house for old fashioned apple fritters. Brian and I love fritters from the bakery, so I thought I would try my hand at them. Yumm. I had a packet of icing left from some freezer cinnamon rolls, so I used that rather than making any of the icings. I also used my wok for the frying, which worked pretty well but was a little shallow for the fritters. Still better than a pan on the stove though since it has a thermostat built in.



For the doughnut recipe, visit Nikki's blog:
http://crazydeliciousfood.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/vermont-apple-cider-donuts/
I used my 1.5 teaspoon sized ice cream scoop for dropping the batter into the oil. It worked GREAT! This batter is way to runny to try and cut out on a board, so I decided I wouldn't even try regular doughnuts. I like the holes better anyway. Like Nikki said, I think that this is missing something. I think just a few more spices would add a lot, but I'll probably try making these again to see if I can figure it out.

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The Apple Fritters are so easy:
(I made only a half batch, & we have plenty!)

2 cups milk
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
4 apples, peeled, cored, & chopped
Vegetable Oil

Mix milk, flour, salt & eggs until well blended. (I also added a few pinches of sugar and some cinnamon & nutmeg, just pinches of each.) Fold in chopped apples. Drop batter by tablespoons (I did about 1/8 to 1/4 cup) into saute pan of hot vegetable oil. Cook 3 or 4 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towel.

Optional sauce: 1/2 cup softened margarine mixed with some sugar & nutmeg or grated lemon peel. (I really liked using the leftover cream cheese icing from our cinnamon rolls though).

Finally!!

I finally was able to sort through my account and figure out why I couldn't log in. As long as this post works, then I'm back in business. I am frying up some doughnut holes, apple fritters, and baking a few cookies, so I'll be posting again soon.

Gwyn's Cakes

I can't believe that I forgot to post the cakes for my Maid of Honor's wedding. She'd be a jKnottie too, if she felt creative enough. I kind of make up the creative side of the two of us while she works to fund the arts & keeps me informed of related political issues.



They wanted a recreation of a cake from the Wilton Books. I adapted a little to make it simpler seeing as I had to make it the day of the rehearsal. The castle lights up, the tiara was her mother in law's, and the gloves under the tiara were some that Gwyn & I wore with a ballet costume in Middle school. She used my cake servers since they forgot they'd need some, or the ones they were going to use got lost in the shuffle. Thank goodness I'd brought them for the RD cake!



Gwyn is basically an adopted member of my family since I've known her since preschool. We ALL chipped in to help make her cakes. From LtoR: Dad engineered the ramp for the carriage & fixed the cake topper when it broke. Anna helped to make drop flowers & some small detail designs, Gwyn was the bride obviously, I did all of the major decorating and design, Laura helped with drop flowers, icing, and moral support, Mom baked the cakes and helped with drop flowers. Why four girls doing drop flowers? Because we needed over 1000 for the borders.

Keep in mind too, that this was the cake that melted during transportation. The sheet cakes, and the bottom tier got too hot in the car because the AC wasn't working. Mom, dad, & I were icing and redecorating all of them an hour before the ceremony, IN the reception hall.




This was the groom's cake that I made as a surprise for the rehearsal dinner. Gwyn's husband is a sugar beet farmer, as is his whole family. I decided that with the Cinderella theme of their other cake, that a carriage would be appropriate. My dad came up with the idea to fashion the carriage out of a sugar beet, rather than a pumpkin like Cind. had.



It is being pulled by a ceramic snail that I painted (an ode to Gwyn's dad's doctoral research on snails). The wheels and signs were made out of white candy melts. Only the trees and some of the dowels used for support were non-edible.

Laura was invaluable with this project as she's worked with fondant before and I haven't. I've always hated the stuff because it tastes so awful. My philosophy is that if I won't eat it, I won't serve/sell it. However, she found a marshmallow fondant recipe that is actually really yummy, so that's what we used to cover the cake to make the carriage shape. She loaned me tools and did the basic construction of the beet shape. Dad also helped with the engineering of this cake since that beet was REALLY heavy! It was a fun project, and sadly, Laura never got to see the finished product in person, just photos. Best of all...the groom's family loved it.

My side gig

This just wouldn't be MY food blog if it didn't include cake decorating. So, here are some of my favorites from the past ten years or so:


Our wedding cake


A church friend's wedding cake


Bday cake for my internship supervisor's 3 year old.


The first birthday cake I ever made for Brian. He likes West Highland Terriers.


This cake was a completely edible reproduction of the original PlayStation when it first came out. A couple of my guy friends were addicted so I made it as a birthday cake.

An ode to my kitchen gadgets

I think most of us have favorite items in our kitchens. However, for those girls who are just getting started cooking, I thought I would post some of my old time favorites as well as some new wedding presents that I'm falling in love with. What are your favorites?

KitchenAid Non-stick rolling pin from Kohl's. Simply awesome. I don't even consider using my wooden one anymore. This seems so much more sanitary and I love the way the handles are designed. No more skinned knuckles!!

KitchenAid Silicone Baking & Rolling Mat from Kohl's. I love just being able to put this down on the counter for kneading or rolling things out. I haven't even used it for baking yet because it is so great as a rolling mat. It can go in the dishwasher or I can wipe it down and spray with Clorox's new spray to disinfect.

Kitchen Shears rock! These are Henkels Brand from Kohl's. I have some ikea ones that are really nice too though.

Henkels Paring Knives. I have three different sizes and a chef's knife. These also came from Kohl's.

Pastry Blender: Honestly, I see no reason to even try making pie dough without one.

Cuisinart Cordless, Rechargable Hand Blender: It chops or it whips and cleans up quick. LOVE it!

Cuisinart 7 quart mixer:

I love this and use this so much, my husband even gave it a nickname. I chose this over a KitchenAid since there were things about my mom's KA Pro that have driven me crazy for years. This is a vast improvement so far. We were able to buy it at BB&B with a 20% coupon so it wasn't too much more than a KA and has an extra quart of capacity plus an auto shut down if it gets close to overheating AND it has a timer, which I find invaluable for 10 minute kneading jobs, or 2 minute spins for cake mix.

We've got a fire in the fireplace & this on our plates...

I have so many ideas for things to post here, but I don't dare invest the time right now. Once I get more used to the program and can do it quickly, I'll be able to post more. This weekend I'll be home alone, so maybe I can do some cake postings then.

For now, I thought I would post my chicken pot pie that I'm making right now for dinner. It is a rainy blustery evening, so pot pie sounded good. I had part of a store bought rotisserie chicken that needed to get used up, so this is perfect for that as well. The recipe calls for frozen peas & carrots, but I use frozen corn and fresh carrots cut into small pieces (I microwave them with a little water first to get them started cooking). I usually make my own pie crust, but the frozen kind works really well also. This reheats pretty well and will last us a couple of days.

Chicken Pot Pie (adapted from Betty Crocker)

10 oz frozen peas and carrots

1/3 cup margarine or butter

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 1/2 - 3 cups cut up chicken or turkey (already cooked)

Pastry for 9-inch pie crust (you choose top only or both top & bottom)

1. Prepare your pie crust (recipe follows). If using a bottom crust, line your 9-inch pie plate with that layer of dough.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, onions, salt, & pepper. Cook, stirring frquently, until mixture is thick & bubbly (like a paste). Remove from heat and stir in broth & milk. Return to medium heat & bring to a boil while stirring frequently. Once boiling, cook for one minute. Stir in chicken & veggies & remove from heat.

4. Pour the chicken & veggie mixture into the pie plate. Place the top crust over the chicken mixture. Flute if using two crusts. Create vent marks by poking holes with a knife or drawing a picture ;-)

5. Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown. I like to put a cookie sheet or some foil on the rack under the pot pie to catch any drips.

Yield: approx. six 1-cup servings.

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Pie Crust Pastry

(for a single 9 inch pie crust--this doubles well to make enough for a top & bottom crust)

1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP shortening

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 TBSP COLD water

1. Cut shortening into flour and salt using a pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until particles are the size of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with the cold water, 1 TBSP at a time, mixing with your hands until all flour is moistenend and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl. You can use more or less water depending on the needs of your dough.

2. Gather pastry into a ball, dust with flour, and roll into desired shape & size, using a floured rolling pin. Place into pie plate.