tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62389370717973216772023-11-16T04:58:06.682-08:00Undergrad GourmandMolly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-6909882334208735022012-09-15T05:25:00.001-07:002012-09-15T05:25:52.028-07:00InspirationI shop for cooking supplies like most girls shop for shoes, and when it comes to food I'm a hardcore hoarder. Discovering Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati this summer was a curse and a blessing. I spent far more of my paychecks in the international and wine sections there than I probably should have... but I also came out with a lot of really good stuff. My biggest problem is my affinity to buy things without any idea what to do with them. But sometimes I find things so awesome I just put them in my shopping cart and figure I'll research what to do with them later. A great example is something I picked up a couple weeks ago at the Olive Leaf in Bloomington:<br />
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Espresso Balsamic. I mean let's be honest, there was no way I walking out the door without a bottle of this. Of course I have no idea what dishes are really appropriate for espresso balsamic, but fortunately I have a brilliant roommate who suggested a excellent use for this bottle of magic: espresso balsamic glazed steaks. I had never cooked a steak before, but the idea was genius enough that I had to give it a shot.<br />
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We decided to make a great steak into a great meal, and since vegetables are more my forte anyway let's start with the side dishes. <br />
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Whoever says they don't like brussels sprouts just isn't cooking them right. Halve them, douse them in a bit of olive oil and balsamic, sprinkle on a bit of sea salt, and roast them until they start to brown and you'll change your mind. We also included a more widely favored vegetable in our gourmet endeavor:<br />
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Steak and potatoes belong together if you ask me. I love a mix of fingerling and blue potatoes, which is what I used here, but sweet potatoes are also an excellent choice. Put either next to a balsamic reduction, though, and I'm definitely not complaining. The recipe we used was a simple combination of sauteed shallots seasoned with rosemary and a generous amount of espresso balsamic.<br />
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I could eat this on anything, but a pan-fried filet was killer. It also added really great flavor to the brussels sprouts and potatoes.<br />
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Combined with the brain power of my roommate this year is probably going to include a lot of really good homemade food that I'm going to share on here as often as I can. There are a ton of culinary resources in Bloomington and with only one year left I'm determined to tap into all of them. In the meantime, if you're lucky enough to be in Bloomington stop by the Olive Leaf and pick up something delicious :)<br />
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Espresso Balsamic Glaze:<br />
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small sauce pan. Once heated, add one whole chopped shallot and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary. Stir occasionally until shallots become translucent, about 2 minutes. Add about 1/2 cup of espresso balsamic and cook for about 1 more minute or until the mixture reduces to a glaze. Pour immediately over steak (or just about any other meat) and enjoy!Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-19360421653429154322012-01-03T13:35:00.000-08:002012-01-10T14:51:34.888-08:00Coconut MacaroonsGoing to a gym with a television screen on every cardio machine made working out a little easier in high school. The channels, however, were limited and I'd usually end up watching the Food Network while running on the treadmill. My friends joked with me about watching Ina Garten, Sandra Lee, and Giada De Laurentiis make food while I tried to burn it off, but I loved picking up new cooking tips. Once I started classes at IU and had to adjust to new gym lacking in television screens I got through workouts listening to music and/or reading instead.<br /><br />Now I obsessively read magazines while on a bike, but I didn't ditch food as a topic and one of my favorites is Food & Wine. I was never the only one in the gym watching the Food Network, but I think I'm the only one reading recipes.<br /><br />Most of Food & Wine is filled with recipes I don't have the skill or resources to attempt, but every issue has a couple recipes I have to try. I came across this recipe for macaroons last week while cycling and bought the ingredients just a couple short hours later.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4978-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4978-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />These Coconut Macaroons call for just a handful of ingredients and are far easier to make than I imagined. If you like coconut, these cookies have a perfect sweetness and a decadently chewy texture. These will definitely be a future Christmas go-to recipe for me and I encourage you to give them a try!<br /><br />Coconut Macaroons, via Danny Cohen and Food & Wine Magazine<br /><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />Ingredients:<br />One 14-ounce bag sweetened shredded coconut</span><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk</span><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract</span><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />2 large egg whites</span><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />1/4 teaspoon salt</span><span itemprop="ingredients"><br />4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted*</span><br /><ol itemprop="recipeInstructions"><li> Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4906-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4906-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /></li><li>In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt until firm peaks form**. Fold the beaten whites into the coconut mixture.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4918-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4918-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div></li><li> Scoop tablespoon-size mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheets, about 1 inch apart***. Bake in the upper and middle thirds of the oven for about 25 minutes, until golden; shift the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let the cookies cool completely.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4959-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4959-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /></li><li> Dip the bottoms of the macaroons into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl. Return the cookies to the lined baking sheets. Drizzle any remaining chocolate on top and refrigerate for about 5 minutes, until set****.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4970-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4970-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></div></li><li>Eat them!<br /></li></ol>My notes:<br />*I used semisweet chips and I loved this choice. Bittersweet is pretty comparable though, so I would use whatever you have laying around.<br />**Egg whites have formed stiffed peaks when you lift the beaters out and the egg whites stick up in peaks without falling back into the bowl. You can over beat egg whites so be careful!<br />***I actually scooped "batter" with a tablespoon to help my macaroons look somewhat uniform. The batter is pretty sticky so it's tough to make them really round, but the chocolate helps cover up rough edges!<br />****Instead of fighting for space in the fridge I just let the dipped cookies sit on the counter until the chocolate set and that worked fine.<br /><br />You can also find the recipe here:<br />http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/coconut-macaroonsMolly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-26408916951271302722011-12-28T21:40:00.000-08:002011-12-29T21:04:23.301-08:00A Family Holiday FavoriteI love holidays and I make a big deal out of all of them, especially Christmas. My favorite part of Christmas is finding fun things to give to my family members but my second favorite is, of course, the food! Christmas is probably my best excuse to make boatloads of cookies, fudge, and other holiday treats. When I have the time, I go through flour and sugar like I do oxygen. So the natural Christmas related post from me would probably be some sort of gingerbread cookie (my favorites) or other baked good, but my family spent the week before Christmas in Orlando and I lost pretty much every opportunity to make Christmas cookies.<br /><br />This year, however, I took charge of Christmas dinner and have a recipe I'm really excited to share. I came across this recipe last year when planning on Thanksgiving meal and it has quickly become a family favorite. I don't remember where I found this recipe for butternut squash stuffing so I wrote out the recipe with a few of my own notes :)<br /><br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Courier New"; panose-1:2 7 3 9 2 2 5 2 4 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; 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mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:967707785; mso-list-template-ids:297961294;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:o; mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New";} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:1.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level4 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:2.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level5 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:2.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level6 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:3.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level7 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:3.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level8 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:4.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level9 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:4.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style><span style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Times;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Butternut Squash Stuffing:</span><br />12 cup(s) (from 1-pound loaf) sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes </span> <br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:618609253; mso-list-template-ids:128756366;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style><span style=" font-style: italic;font-family:Times;" >-Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Divide bread between two 15 1/2" by 10 1/2" jelly-roll pans or large cookie sheets. Place pans on 2 oven racks and toast bread 30 to 35 minutes or until golden, stirring bread and rotating pans between upper and lower racks halfway through toasting. Cool bread in pans on wire racks.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <br />*I don't follow this part of the recipe very closely. I'm a big fan of whole grain/wheat bread so I usually just pick whatever crusty, nutty loaf looks the best that day and usually end up using the whole thing. I usually throw all the bread cubes in one pan and let them cool in that.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4809-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4809-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:618609253; mso-list-template-ids:128756366;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi- font-family:Times;mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:10.0pt;" >8 ounce(s) bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces</span> <br /><span style=" font-style: italic;font-family:Times;" >-Meanwhile, in nonstick 12-inch skillet, cook bacon over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to very large bowl.</span> <br />*I don't usually use quite this much bacon, but I also don't measure my bread cubes either... now would probably be a good time to admit I really don't measure anything in this recipe. I use a whole butternut squash without weighing it (see below). I like an equal amount of squash and bread and prefer my stuffing drier, so I guesstimate measurements to turn out that way :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4829-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4829-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Courier New"; panose-1:2 7 3 9 2 2 5 2 4 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; 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mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:967707785; mso-list-template-ids:297961294;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:o; mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New";} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:1.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level4 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:2.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level5 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:2.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level6 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:3.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level7 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:3.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level8 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:4.0in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l0:level9 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:4.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" >1 (2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1⁄2-inch chunks</span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />3 stalk(s) celery, chopped</span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />8 ounce(s) (about 4 large) shallots, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)</span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh sage leaves</span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />Salt and ground black pepper</span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />3 cup(s) chicken broth</span> <br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:618609253; mso-list-template-ids:128756366;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" >-<span style="font-style: italic;">Remove all but 3 tablespoons bacon fat from skillet. Add butternut squash, celery, and shallots, and cook over medium-high heat 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender and shallots are lightly browned, stirring frequently. Remove skillet from heat; stir in sage, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Times;font-size:10.0pt;" ><br />-<span style="font-style: italic;">To bowl with bacon, add bread and broth; toss to mix well. Add vegetable mixture and toss.</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:618609253; mso-list-template-ids:128756366;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --></style><span style="font-family:Times;">-</span><span style=" font-style: italic;font-family:Times;" >Use squash mixture to stuff 12- to 16-pound turkey, or spoon into greased 13" by 9" glass baking dish. Cover baking dish with foil and bake stuffing in preheated 325 degrees F. oven 20 minutes. Remove foil and stir stuffing. Bake 25 minutes longer or until heated through and lightly browned on top.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <br />*My family has never used the stuffing to actually stuff a turkey, but I'm guessing it would be delicious that way, too!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4874-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4874-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I swear this is the PERFECT holiday side dish, but it doesn't quite make a meal. My dad made a delicious turkey breast, Sally baked a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, and I threw together a couple more sides:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4862-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4862-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">Fresh green beans sauteed with shallots and slivered almonds<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4843-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4843-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />Spinach salad with sliced pears, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts,<br />and goat cheese, tossed in champagne viangrette<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Happy holidays :)<br /></div></div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-16810724690156001212011-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:002011-12-05T15:21:47.538-08:00Banana Split Cupcakes<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I told myself I would keep up with my cooking blog during the fall semester after neglecting to write more than a few posts over the past year, but with barely any time to cook I unfortunately didn't have time to write either. I've spent the past couple months living off 10 minute meals when I could make it home for dinner and Jimmy John's when I couldn't. Although I could write about a few of the dishes I created to survive the first semester of my Junior Year I'm more interested in showing you some of the recipes I'm making time for now that I-Core is finally over. I have big plans for the rest of winter break, but this first recipe is something I've been dying to try: Banana Split Cupcakes.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A couple years ago I made a Banana Split layer cake for my birthday and it was amazing. Banana-pineapple cake layered with chocolate ganache, chopped strawberries, and heaps of homemade whipped cream... probably one of the prettiest cakes I've made. I loved the recipe (which you can find here: <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">http://www.howtoeatacupcake.net/2009/08/banana-split-birthday-cake-version-20.html</span>) and figured making a cupcake version would be pretty easy. I spent nearly 5 hours baking and assembling two dozen cupcakes, but now that I have time for things like this it was SO WORTH IT.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4687-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4687-1-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The base for the cupcake is a banana and pineapple batter. Some people like super light cupcakes, but I've always preferred a somewhat denser cake and the texture of this cake is pretty much perfect.<br /><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4657-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4657-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The next step is a chocolate ganache, a mixture of melted chocolate and heavy whipping cream. It's hard to believe, but it gets better still.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4666-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4666-1-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Because the original version of this cake layers all the ingredients I was kind of making this up as I went. I decided to core each cupcake and pipe in as much ganache as I could fit, but I'm sure there are other ways to put these together.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4677-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4677-2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The recipe calls for fresh strawberries but, figuring strawberries weren't going to be very great this time of year, I bought frozen ones instead. I wouldn't recommend doing so. The strawberries are a really great addition, especially since they keep the recipe truer to a "banana split," but frozen ones were hard to work with. I managed to get a layer of sliced strawberries on half of my cupcakes before I gave up and started frosting them without.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The homemade whipped cream frosting is my favorite part of this recipe. Absolutely delicious. I'm not a huge whipped cream fan, but made-from-scratch whipped cream is incredibly more delicious than the canned version. My roomie and I were eating the leftovers straight out of the piping bag. </span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4685.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4685.jpg" alt="Banana Split Cupcakes" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I added sprinkles to add to the sundae idea (and cover up my somewhat shoddy piping job), but these are even better yet with a bright red maraschino cherry on top. </span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4697.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_4697.jpg" alt="Banana Split Cupcakes" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I recommend attacking these with a fork... but no matter how you want to eat them these are delicious, I promise!</span><br /></div></div></div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-12235393353398917672011-07-01T17:23:00.000-07:002011-07-02T13:58:02.721-07:00Whoopie!So... if you've ever read my blog (probably not) you'll notice my last post is dated back to last summer and doesn't even include anything I made myself. I ran into a friend earlier this weekend who brought to my attention that letting my blog die, whether anyone actually reads it or not, is a disappointment to myself. Even though I haven't been writing, I have baked and cooked my way through a number of good recipes over the past year. Maybe I'll have time to revisit some of those recipes this summer and share them with you, but today I'm going reincarnate my blog with a recent recipe.<br /><br />Whoopie pies have been on my list of things to bake for a while now, and after my plans for this Friday fell through I decided to pull out my KitchenAid, crank up some music and make my own fun. According to the recipe I found, an Amish woman is credited for inventing the whoopie pie when she thought to sandwich two pieces of cake together with frosting. They were given their name because children would supposedly shout "whoopie!" when they found their mom had tucked the dessert in with their lunch. Hence the terribly dorky title to my blog post, find it in your heart to forgive me.<br /><br />Seeing a book called Whoopie Pies (<span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title">by Sarah Billingsley, Amy Treadwell, and Antonis Achilleos) while walked through a Sur la Table introduced me to whoopie pies, two cake-like "cookies" with a sweet buttercream filling. The book includes a recipe for classic chocolate whoopie pies with marshmallow filling as well as creative flavor combinations, such as red velvet, green tea, pumpkin with cream cheese filling, and oatmeal with maple-bacon filling :) Having somehow restrained myself from purchasing yet another baking-related book, I found a recipe for vanilla whoopies with Nutella filling on the internet. So after a quick run to Meijer and with recipe in hand, I set out to make a batch of Nutella filled whoopie pies.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0916-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0916-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title">The first step in making whoopie pies is whipping up batter for the cookie part. Most cookie batters are thick enough to hold a ball shape, but whoopie batter was alarmingly thin. Whoopie pie batter is really more of a cake batter than a typical cookie, and comes out with the same fluffy texture. Dropping the batter onto parchment paper (a must!) felt more like making pancakes... which made me nervous.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0919-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0919-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title"><br />But they came out of the oven fluffy and delicious! Turns out my only error was my tendency to make everything bigger than it should be. The thin consistency of whoopie batter means it will inevitably spread, so palm-sized whoopie pies only require 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter. Had I not made cookies with a 5" diameter, I'm thinking they would have also come out a little thicker which would have been nice.<br /><br />There is no whoopie pie without a filling and the Nutella buttercream recommended by this particular recipe was killer. I tweaked this recipe a little because I like my buttercream good and fluffy, but the flavor paired with the vanilla cookie wonderfully.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0921-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0921-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I ended up with about a dozen delicious whoopie pies, but would've had about twice as many had I made them a reasonable size. No doubt whoopie pies are sugary and delicious, but I don't think I'll be adding them to my list of "go-to" recipes. The cookies were easy to make and easier to eat, but I like a cookie with a little more chew to it. For the texture of a whoopie pie I'd rather have a slice of cake, but for the convenience of a cookie I'd rather have an actual cookie. That being said though, put Nutella buttercream on just about anything and I'll find a way to eat it ;)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0922.jpg" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0922-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0922-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Recipe for Vanilla Bean Whoopie Pies at http://traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/vanilla-bean-whoopie-pies-with-nutella.html.<br />*I doubled the amount of powered sugar in the nutella buttercream, but that really only changes the texture so you can use as little or as much as you like!<br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="sec-title"><br /><br /></span></span>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-71270084807735074342010-05-19T13:21:00.000-07:002010-05-20T09:42:56.141-07:00Like a Kid in a Candy StoreHello! This time I'm lucky enough to be greeting you from none other than London :D And although my opportunities to cook here have, of course, been few, I figured I would share a couple of my culinary related adventures with you anyway. I didn't take pictures of the yogurt and cereal I've been eating for breakfast or the "grilled cheese" sandwich I threw together in a small kitchen apartment, but I did snap a few photos while Anna and I were exploring Notting Hill.<br /><br />Yup, the same Notting Hill in which Julia Roberts' and Hugh Grant's characters fell in love in the 1999 movie. We ventured down to wander Portobello Road earlier this week and indulged in a little bit of shopping. Although Portobello Road is littered with unique shops selling everything from antiques and home decorations to vinyls and funky clothing I had my heart set on visiting one place in particular...<br /><br />When flipping through Anna's guidebook I found a page that recommended a bookstore called Books for Cooks. Obviously, I HAD to go there. I was thrilled when I found the shop, hidden on a side street, and nearly died when I walked inside. There were books on vegetables, books on vegan cooking, baking books, chocolate books, Spanish cookbooks, French cookbooks, Italian, Thai, Mediterranean... I nearly cried.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0241-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0241-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Anna camped out on a couch, admitting she expected this stop to take quite some time, while I tried not to be overwhelmed by shelves and shelves of books. Somehow I managed to only pick out one book, a beautiful book on baking that has everything from recipes for a traditional croissants to Bavarian cake recipes that have me fidgeting for a kitchen. Unfortunately, upon closer examination I realized the book, Tartine, is from a bakery by that name in San Francisco... not a very English purchase. But the fact that it has a divine looking recipe for fresh eclairs has let me adore it anyway!<br /><br />Besides, I made up for my incredibly American purchase when I wandered into another bookstore across the street. I was exploring a travel bookstore, looking for a book on London to use as a scrapbooking medium for my many photos, and a book on display in the middle of the store caught my eye. It was a recipe book written by the owner of a bakery on Portobello Road called the Hummingbird Bakery.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0245.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0245.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Where I, of course, convinced Anna to get a cupcake to share. Isn't it cute how they wrapped it up like Chinese takeout? And those awesome cupcake sporks? The place was packed, which wasn't hard to do as small as the place is and as delicious as the cupcakes are! Anna and I shared a carrot cake cupcake that was an excellent choice. Fortunately now I have the recipe for those and others like lemon curd, red velvet, black bottom, and strawberry cheesecake cupcakes (just to name a few). <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0246.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0246.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I'm having a wonderful time in London with Anna, but now I have an incentive to come back home! Spending a few mores days in Europe and then I'll be back in Indiana to start working my way through a bunch of recipes :D<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-40501520994299707632010-04-03T18:24:00.001-07:002010-04-03T19:32:29.382-07:00Either I Got Really Big or These Cupcakes Are Really SmallYou know you're meant to have a baking blog when one of the most exciting events of college spring break is making cupcakes. Six hours of making cupcakes. But these aren't just any cupcakes! I should've taken a picture of one of these in my palm, because cupcake bites are small to be... well, a bite! I found these on bakerella.com, new to my list of favorite cooking blogs, and was DYING to make them. I had actually set out to make cupcake pops, a feat I will try someday, but ended up sticking to these because they were so cute and so much easier.<br /><br />Cupcakes bites aren't very difficult, just incredibly time consuming. You start with a sheet cake (this is one of two cases in which it's acceptable to use a box mix) and cream cheese frosting (this is the only case in which it's acceptable to use a can). You take the sheet cake and break it up in a bowl and mix in the can of cream cheese frosting to make a type of pasty dough:<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0389.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0389.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></center><br /><br />Bakerella's basic cakepop/cupcake bite recipe calls for a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I figured I had to try the tried and true way, but... I also decided I had to give me own concoction a go ;) So batch one was the red velvet mix and batch two was a chocolate cake (box mix) and homemade peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Turns out one batch makes about 50 bazillion cupcake bites. Two batches multiply exponentially to make about 500 thousand bazillion. Which is why this whole project took about 6 hours total.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0386.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0386.jpg" alt="Cupcake Bites" border="0" /></a></center><br /><br />Ok maybe the total cupcake bite count wasn't in the bazillions... But I must have made at least 100. But anyway... back to the process. You can read more about how to make these on the Bakerella blog, there are step by step pictures there that I didn't think of taking. Basically you take your cake and frosting mixture and make balls with a diameter similar to a quarter, line them up on a baking sheet, and let them hang out in the freezer for an hour or so. Then, you fill a peanut butter cup candy molds half way with melting candy coating and place a cake ball in the center. Put them back in the freezer until the candy coating solidifies, which only take a minute or so, and then pop them out of the mold. In a bowl, melt another color of candy coating and dip the top of the cake ball in that color, drop a few sprinkles on and top with an M&M. DONE!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0391.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0391.jpg" alt="Cupcake Bites" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Unless you're like me and you come across tiny cellophane bags in one of the aisles at Michael's and then decide to buy a spool of ribbon and individually wrap dozens upon dozens of miniature cupcakes.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0387.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0387.jpg" alt="Cupcake Bites" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I really could've spent hours cranking these out. Even more than six.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0396.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0396.jpg" alt="Cupcake Bites" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Fortunately I found a way to speed up the packaging process that still looked really cute. I found this thin cardboard boxes, also at Michael's, in packs of three. They come in all different sizes!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0393.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0393.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0394-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0394-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />MOST people preferred the chocolate and peanut butter combination (score one for me!), but the red velvet wasn't too bad either. I topped the red velvet ones with purple candy coating and the peanut butter ones with white just so I could tell the difference. I also ran out of brown candy coating at the end of the second batch and ended up using semi-sweet chocolate instead. The chocolate tends to melt in your fingers easier, but I think it tastes better. AND if you make a bazillion of these like I did ;) they keep really well in the freezer so you can hand them out for what feels like forever!<br /><br /></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-31189923289348041012010-03-08T18:13:00.000-08:002010-03-08T18:48:06.709-08:00Not Having a Kitchen is Making Me Go BananasOn a whim I decided to go home last night. I was homeworkless, dying to be in a kitchen, and I had a ride, so why not? After pouring over bakerella.com and flipping through websites generated by stumbleupon.com, the "Recipes" folder in my bookmarks tab was being flooded and I needed to give one or two of my latest finds a go.
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<br />When I walked in the door 9 bananas were laying on the kitchen counter, all ripened to the point that they were destined for banana bread and nothing else. Just a couple days ago I had come across a recipe for banana bread that involved peanut butter, chocolate chips, and a crumbly topping that made the loaf look more like a coffee cake. The recipe came from a blog called "Oh Baby O," a pretty appropriate name when you take a look at this stuff. It's more like a dessert than a bread, but who's complaining?
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<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0369.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0369.jpg" alt="PB&amp;ChocChip Banana Bread" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><div style="text-align: left;">Given the number of bananas I had to work with I tripled the recipe (and still managed to work in another batch that I'll show you later...), 2 medium loaves and 20 muffins. I actually made these into muffins purely because I ran out of loaf pans to hold batter, but they were an excellent way to share this awesome recipe with friends back at school :D
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<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0368.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0368.jpg" alt="PB&amp;ChocChip Banana Bread" border="0" /></a>
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<br />Anyway, the recipe is here: http://ohbabyo.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/chocolate-peanut-butter-banana-bread/ But of course, I made some changes... I tripled the recipe but I only used two cups of sugar total, 1 white and 1 light brown. I thought a bit of light brown would lend better to the flavor and give the bread a chewier and denser texture. You can actually cut quite a bit of sugar out of most recipes, sometimes I'm daring enough to take out half and you usually can't tell much of a difference! I also used half whole wheat flour. Because I <3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0366.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0366.jpg" alt="PB&amp;ChocChip Banana Bread" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><div style="text-align: left;">As mentioned before, I did make a fourth batch of banana bread, this one much different. I assumed my parents wouldn't be too keen on the peanut butter and chocolate hyped loafs I was planning on cranking out of the oven, so I turned to a tried and true recipe from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/speckled-for-the-freckled/. Again I used half whole wheat flour just for good measure ;) and my father was more than happy to splash some bourbon in to accompany all of the spices. This makes a really good loaf of banana bread, a little less sweet, but my only complaint is that it tends to fall. It tastes great, but doesn't rise much at all...
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<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0367.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0367.jpg" alt="Banana Bread" border="0" /></a>.
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<br /><div style="text-align: left;">Back on campus now, hopefully my banana bread rendezvous has baking out of my system for a bit. Next week is spring break though! And I'm hoping, of course, to find some time to try out a couple more recipes I have stashed away... we'll see ;)
<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-42379551463827299182010-02-27T20:56:00.001-08:002010-02-27T21:51:40.680-08:00Happy Belated BirthdayI've done a fantastic job of neglected my blog. Which is kind of my fault and kind of not... no, I still don't have access to a kitchen at IU, which makes whipping up anything that requires more than a microwave impossible. BUT I did say I was going to tell you about some of the restaurants I've been trying out in a desperate attempt to avoid anything resembling a food court, which I haven't done either. This time around I'm not blogging about anything I made OR a restaurant in Bloomington.<br /><br />Over winter break I went to a restaurant that was perhaps one of the best I've ever dined at. I know, winter break was forever ago... it's been about two months since I went to Oakley's, but now that I've found time to actually write about it, it's worth the wait! Taylor asked me where I'd like to go out for dinner for my birthday, but being the indecisive person I am told him I'd rather him just pick a place and surprise me. He could not have picked a better restaurant! Oakley's Bistro on 86th Street is a fairly small and gorgeously quaint restaurant with innovative dishes. It is a little bit on the pricey side, but it was absolutely divine and I'd absolutely recommend it.<br /><br />I failed to take a picture of the soup I started off with, probably because I was distracted by the flavor explosion going on in my mouth. Any place that has butternut squash soup on their menu, which Oakley's did, in automatically on my good side. It was the best butternut squash soup I've ever had. And it only got better from there.<br /><br />Being indecisive didn't serve me well when scanning the menu. The entire menu was one page, only around 8 options for a main course, but eliminating any of them was nearly impossible! I eventually settled on lamb (yes, I do on occasion eat meat!). This is what the waiter brought me:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=photo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/photo.jpg" alt="Lamb Loin" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I still don't know what everything on that plate was! BUT IT WAS SO GOOD! I don't think I stopped blubbering on about how insanely delicious the food was until the waiter took my plate away. Taylor was pretty amused ;) He wasn't <span style="font-style: italic;">quite</span> as excited as I was, but he claimed the short rib he ordered was even better than my lamb loin (a complete lie, but whatever...)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=photo2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/photo2.jpg" alt="Brisket and Mashed Potatoes" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Even though this wasn't my meal, I actually know what some of the foods here were. Yes, one short rib topped with a ball of fried cheese. Yes, that white rectangle is artfully arranged mashed potatoes. Yes, the majority of the vegetables remained even after the meat and potatoes were gone ;)<br /><br />And of course, what kind of birthday would it be without dessert? A less awesome birthday than it would be with dessert. And why would ever choose to share a dessert with Taylor? I wouldn't! So I order the creme brulee and tiramisu mousse while Taylor decided on lemon crepes.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=photo4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/photo4.jpg" border="0" alt="Creme Brulee and Tiramisu Mousse" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I was a little hesitant to order a dessert as common as creme brulee but Oakley's did it so well it was worth it! The tiramisu mousse wasn't as good as I was hoping but it will still pretty tasty.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=photo3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/photo3.jpg" border="0" alt="Lemon Crepes" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Taylor's crepes were also really good. The lemon creme on the inside was tangy and had a fresh and bright lemon flavor. The thing in the corner is a homemade marshmallow. You can't really see it under that crispy thing... don't actually remember what that was... Many of the desserts had marshmallows listed as a component, probably because they are a fairly unique option, but the mallow was probably our least favorite of the components. As cool as it was that the marshmallow was made in house, I'd much rather bite into a crepe or creme brulee! <br /><br />I left Oakley's pretty much in awe. The food was incredible and, of course, I was there with excellent company! I've got my fingers crossed that I'll get to go again sometime, especially since they have a seasonal menu that constantly changes! I'm also hoping that if you're looking for a nice dinner you'll consider Oakley's Bistro, I promise you won't regret it!<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-25684725983543252912009-12-29T22:42:00.001-08:002009-12-31T23:08:58.492-08:00You Asked For It!I had a few recommendations for things I should bake/cook and I have every single one of them! That's right, all three ;) Well, now, the remaining two. I tackled one yesterday and the general consensus seems to be that the experiment was a genius idea, and I'd be the last person to disagree.<br /><br />When I mentioned to some friends of mine at IU that I was planning on picking up blogging again while I was home for winter break one of them got really excited, describing to me a cookie concoction he thought I should try. Oreos are, hands down, my favorite store bought cookie. Actually, they're really the only prepackaged I ever find myself jonesing for. So, when it was suggested that I attempt to encase entire Oreos in homemade cookie dough I was on board.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0253.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 678px; height: 507px;" src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0253.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Peanut butter makes just about anything better and Oreos are no exception. I'm not going to lie, I've been caught in the kitchen far too many times digging into a Jiff jar with an Oreo in hand, but can you really blame me? Clearly if I was going to cover Oreos in cookie dough it needed to be peanut butter cookie dough.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0252.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0252.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I figured if this was going to work, big IF, I needed a really think cookie dough. Something that would hold it's shape and not melt away from an Oreo. I ended up picking a peanut butter cookie recipes off Smitten Kitchen, big surprise. My biggest concern, however, was that the Oreo would be chewy. A couple years ago, along with a few other friends, I tried a deep fried Oreo. I'm not much of a fan of fried food and Oreos didn't change my mind. The Oreo was chewy and Oreos should not be chewy, their crunch is half their identity! If my cookies ended with chewy Oreos I was not going to be a happy camper.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0254.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 927px; height: 695px;" src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0254.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies" border="0" /></a><br /><br />But Sally and I decided to give it a go and laid out a sheet full of cookie dough encased Oreos. Crossing our fingers and holding our breath, we popped them into the oven and anxiously waited to see what 12 minutes of baking time would do to them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0256.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0256.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Turns out putting these in the oven is actually a brilliant idea. What isn't a brilliant idea is running into the refrigerator with the tray of cookies you just pulled from the oven. I killed a couple that went cascading to the floor... but the rest were laid out to cool, unharmed. Don't they look like ravioli? I think they look like giant raviolis. But they're not, they're actually delicious cookies. Check out the inside!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0273.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0273.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">These were a hit. If you're as big of a sucker for a chocolate and peanut butter combo as I am, these are going to rock your socks. They're really easy, too :D If you follow the recipe for peanut butter cookies here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/12/peanut-butter-cookies/, then you've finished the hardest part. We left out the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips because they just didn't seem necessary, but I suppose if you want them, more power to you! Then we evenly covered each Oreo with the cookie dough and let them bake for 12 minutes. I highly recommend you let them cool before biting in. The ones that met the kitchen floor ended up being our taste testers and the Oreos were alarmingly soft when straight from the oven. If you let them cool though the combination of the crunchy Oreo and chewy peanut butter cookie is phenomenal :)<br /><br />Like I said, I have plans to get to paella and fish stew, two other excellent recommendations, and hopefully I'll be able to before I have to ship back off to IU! In the meantime, if you have anything else to add to my to-make list let me know and I'll try to whip it up!<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-13141323832454780562009-12-28T22:44:00.000-08:002009-12-29T22:40:05.575-08:00Make Like a Banana and Split!I adore making birthday cakes. They are quite possibly my favorite thing to bake. Probably because they are so festive and fun and made to be everything that one person wants. When you make a birthday cake you should have only the birthday person in mind. If the birthday girl wants something chocolate, everyone's eating something chocolate. If the birthday boy wants an ice cream cake, everybody's going to have to be happy with an ice cream cake. Even if the birthday person would rather have a stack of pancakes with candles in it... then pancakes it is. I love that birthday cakes are personal, it makes them so much more special :)<br /><br />Of course birthday cakes have been added to my ever growing list of things that are a thousand times better homemade so the Dairy Queen ice cream cakes that were once my birthday treat of choice have been replaced by my own sugar laden creations. I think this is the third year (maybe?) that I've made my own birthday cake, and being the perfectionist I am... I'd have it no other way ;) My stipulations for my own birthday cakes were usually<br /> -It must contain chocolate<br /> -It should probably have peanut butter in it<br /> -It must primarily be chocolate<br /> -It should be rich<br /> -It must have large amounts of chocolate in it<br />This year, however, I kind of broke my pattern. No peanut butter. Not super rich. Only a little chocolate. But damn was it good. I'm not much of one for fruity cakes, but when I saw the pictures that went with this recipe I was sold. THAT was going to be my birthday cake.<br /><br />I toyed with a number of options before picking this cake (such as german chocolate cheesecake, cookies and cream cheesecake, or even a classic coconut cake) and was still in deep debate when a couple of friends mentioned a cake that had blown their minds. Since they claimed it was the best thing they'd ever tasted I decided I had to go on a recipe hunt. Admittedly, I never found the cake they described (though I'm planning on attempting my own "mimic" in the near future), but I was quickly distracted by a similar idea that seemed promising.<br /><br />Banana Split Cake. Let your mind wrap around that one for a moment. I picture a classic banana split having bananas (of course), vanilla ice cream, strawberry ice cream, chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, maybe strawberry sauce, possibly pineapple sauce, loads of whipped cream, and of course a big red cherry on top. Banana splits are a bunch of different flavors going on all at the same time and translating this into a cake sounds like a feat so, naturally, I had to do it. I started sifting through recipes and found one that seemed perfect.<br /><br />I am a sucker for presentation and this cake is stunning. At least I think so ;) Four layers of banana and pineapple laced cake cushioned by generous amounts of homemade whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate ganache topped with yet more whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate, dusted with sprinkles and dotted with bright red maraschino cherries... this cake was practically begging to be made.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0285.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0285.jpg" border="0" alt="19th Birthday Cake!" /></a><br /></div><br />The recipe is at http://www.howtoeatacupcake.net/2009/08/banana-split-birthday-cake-version-20.html. The recipe calls for three 8" cake pans... though the picture has two layers that were cut in half to make four. How that works out I don't really know, I only have 9" inch cake pans so I did the cut two layers in half route and felt pretty good about it. <br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0282-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0282-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br />I feel like I did over-bake the cake a little bit, it could have been a bit more moist and would recommend watching the cake closely after about 25 minutes ( I did 30 and I wish I would've done just a few minutes less). Also, I ran out of whipped cream :/ I had nearly covered the whole cake when I realized I was short on frosting. And no was I not going to pipe dollops around the edges. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0266.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0266.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /></div><br />So I made an extra 1/3 sized batch of whipped cream, though I think if you are careful about not putting too much between the cake layers you should be fine with what the recipe calls for. I also fudged the fruit a little bit... I added a little more than 2 cups of diced bananas (and still wished the cake would've had a stronger banana flavor!) and sweetened my strawberries a bit. I used probably 2 cups of sliced strawberries in all, to which I added about a tablespoon of sugar and let sit for about half an hour before using. <br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0259.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0259.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br />Great choice, especially since strawberries weren't in season. Final change, I had trouble with my chocolate ganache being thin enough to drizzle, so I dolloped it in the layers and used Hershey's chocolate syrup to make the top look pretty :D Kind of a cheat, but it worked!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0267.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0267.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /></div><br />Best of baking luck, this really isn't as difficult as it looks! Considering taste it wasn't my favorite cake, but it is definitely one of the best looking ones I have ever turned out. It was an excellent choice for a birthday cake and is a recipe I'm sure I'll use again :DMolly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-4064355216407278802009-12-24T14:32:00.001-08:002009-12-25T15:29:12.070-08:00Twas the Night Before ChristmasA few years ago, actually probably four or five, our family was contemplating what to make for dinner Christmas Eve. I don't know who came up with homemade pizzas (probably me ;) ) but the idea was genius and we've since made it a "tradition." Back then Boboli crusts and whatever brand of pizza sauce was on sale graced the kitchen counters, along with packages of pepperonis and Kraft mozzarella cheese. Though I'm sure the rest of my family would be perfectly content with their pre-packaged ingredient list, I can no longer bare to unwrap a pizza crust with a shelf life that defies the laws of natural food. Especially since I've discovered easy dough and sauce recipes that are so worth the effort.<br /><br />I came across these recipes for the first time a little over a year ago when I had first started snooping around Smitten Kitchen. That evening a friend and I were hanging out and decided to make pizzas and watch Across the Universe. Great Movie. Great Pizza. Smitten Kitchen has yet to fail me.<br /><br />First off, the recipes are here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/pizza-even-sweeter/. I actually used a different recipe for the crust this Christmas, but purely by mistake! I am a fan of whole grain breads all the way, even pizza crust, and recipes with a touch of honey in them are simply divine. I replaced half the flour in the crust recipe with whole grain flour and it was fantastic. Obviously I didn't use the same toppings as this recipe called for, each of us tops our pies with whatever sounds good that evening. Pepperoni is always around, last year we had some special sausage and a really good hunk of mozzarella, mine is usually struggling to support a garden's worth of vegetables... this year I'm treating myself to ricotta cheese and topping my pizza off with fresh spinach and slices of roma tomatoes!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0244.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0244.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The best part of pizza making is that it caters to all of us, a dinner option that doesn't happen very often. The rest of my family can load their designated crusts with whatever meats they so choose, and I... I can experiment with whatever I want :D My dad and brother usually have their own versions of meat lovers and my little sister has lately frequented pepperoni calzones.<br /><br />Mom got creative this year and tried to mimic Puccini's "campfire" pizza. I think it had tomato sauce, Gorgonzola cheese, sausage, caramelized onions, and a few spices. I didn't snag a bite, but she seemed to like it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0242-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0242-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>And here's mine! Like I said before, ricotta, spinach, roma tomatoes... all on a thin whole wheat crust. So good!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0242-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0242-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">These recipes really are delicious, and fairly easy (though maybe just a <span style="font-style: italic;">little </span>time consuming). Making pizzas is also an excellent way to get the family to hang out together, have fun with friends, or even makes for a great date night ;) This is a fun one, I promise!<br /></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-27861298434979475302009-12-19T23:22:00.001-08:002009-12-21T10:16:27.650-08:00When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Cheesecake!The first thing to come out of my reclaimed kitchen! And I think I started off on the right foot. Although I am planning on making paella (the one and only recommendation I've gotten so far!), I was seeing old friends today and couldn't help celebrating the occasion with a cheesecake.<br /><br />Cheesecakes are probably my favorite dessert to make, and to eat ;) They are so incredibly rich and creamy... and they're like cookies, if you have the basic batter you can put virtually anything in them. This time around, by request, I picked one with homemade lemon curd!<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0224.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0224.jpg" border="0" alt="Lemon Curd Swirl Cheesecake" /></a><br /><br />This is actually a pretty basic cheesecake, buttery graham cracker crust and a sweet but tangy vanilla filling. The real kicker though is the bright lemon curd that someone so geniusly decided to swirl in. Lemon curd can be kind of scary, I admit, but it's easier than it looks and is definitely worth the effort. The two most important things to remember about making lemon curd are that 1) you should ALWAYS use real, fresh lemon zest and lemon juice. Meaning, no, don't buy bottled lemon juice, it should come from a real lemon, not one fashioned out of plastic. And 2) as long as the mixture's over heat, you should be stirring. If you don't whisk the ingredients as they cook you can end up with lemon flavored scrambled eggs. Gross.<br /><br />The difference between cooking and baking is supposedly that cooking has more leeway for playing with ingredients. That may be true, but I tend to fudge any recipe ;) The lemon curd called for two teaspoon of lemon zest which I admittedly failed to measure, instead scraping as much as I could of my lemons. The more the merrier, right? I also doubled the crust recipe and would highly recommend doing the same. This gave me enough to have a substantial layer on the bottom and a pretty graham cracker edge around the sides.<br /><br />I found this recipe on a blog I hadn't been to before, Anne Strawberry (<a href="http://annestrawberry.blogspot.com/search/label/Cheesecake">http://annestrawberry.blogspot.com/search/label/Cheesecake</a>). The picture of the cheesecake is gorgeous but the recipe didn't include the whipped cream that decorated the top! Any whipped cream recipe would do, I just beat some whipping cream until it was stiff enough to hold shape. You can use a piping bag to get creative with the presentation, just dollop cream wherever you so choose, or skip the whipped cream altogether (it really doesn't affect the taste). I love to pipe and purchase a whole set of tips over the summer so I went that route, but have failed to buy a real piping bag... so I use ziplocks as a stand-in and usually can't tell the difference ;). <br /><br />Anyway, glad to be back, I've missed my kitchen and have got plenty more tricks up my sleeves for the next few weeks. Still plotting the paella I was told to make, turns out I need a really big pan so I have to get my hands on one of those and a really good recipe. We'll see what I come up with :D<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0226.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0226.jpg" border="0" alt="Lemon Curd Swirl Cheesecake" /></a></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-61508463393109006432009-12-14T17:55:00.000-08:002009-12-14T18:06:12.451-08:00Add to My "To Make" List!Well hi. It's been a while. But without proper resources, and even less time, college just hasn't been kind enough to let me be a blogger. Despite the wonderful time I've had so far, the one thing college really seems to lack is a steady supply of delicious food. Sure, the restaurants here are fantastic, but I've been doomed too dining halls far too often and one of my biggest reasons for being excited about the semester ending is that I'll be spending four weeks with a kitchen and fully stocked refrigerator. Oh. Yes. <br /><br />Needless to say winter break for me means fitting in as many cooking excursions as I can manage before classes start back up again. I've got a few things in mind... my next birthday cake ;), an avocado smoothie, gingerbread houses, peppermint ice cream, a couple soups, some breakfast experiments... but I figured before set pots to stoves and cookie sheets to oven racks I'd see if anyone has any recommendations. <br /><br />I'm always looking for a good recipe and since I've been lead to believe that on occasion people do drop in to read my endless droning about this pastry or that stew, if you have anything you would be interested in seeing me attempt, let me know. Nothing to simple, I'm looking for a challenge. And by the way, someone might be getting a big beautiful bright red KitchenAid mixer for her birthday... so bring it ;).Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-90835974303475541252009-09-06T18:16:00.000-07:002009-09-06T18:49:46.789-07:00Thai to TryExcept for when I go home I can't really cook or bake anymore. Since I'd hate to limit my blogging to every four or five weeks, which may happen anyway because of my homework load and tendency to be easily distracted, I decided I should find a few other directions to take. Food related of course.<br /><br />I noticed that there are a number of incredibly intriguing restaurants on Kirkwood, not to mention all the places in the strip across from my dorm and, of course, the numerous dorm cafeterias. I've made it my mission to try every last one of the incredible looking ethnic restaurants here and explore some of the more popular Bloomington joints.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0103.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0103.jpg" alt="Siam House" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />First, the Siam House. Oh. My. God. This Thai restaurant serves food straight from heaven. Or at least my dish was. Taylor and I went together before the Margo and the Nuclear So & So's concert this weekend and I just about died I was in such a state of bliss. I do love Asian food, like true asian cuisine, not the Americasian stuff (the American version of Asian food) like Panda Express and whatnot :P.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0100.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0100.jpg" alt="Siam House" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Taylor ordered Pad See Aiew. He claims he really enjoyed it, ate nearly the whole thing, and I thought it looked delicious, but there is no way he fell for this restaurant the way I did. I love curry and had an awful time trying to pick off of their menu which curry dish I wanted. After much debate and the emotional support of Taylor I order a dish called Mus-Sa-Mon. The menu described it as "a classic three flavored curried chicken or beef stew with potato onions and peanuts." One of the best meals I've ever had I do believe.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0101.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0101.jpg" border="0" alt="Siam House" /></a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The vegetables and chicken were nestled in a thick sauce that was almost sweet with a pleasant spicy after kick. You can order your food spicy on a scale from 1-5, I ordered 3 and was very comfortable, but I do believe the spiciness was turned down by the ingredients of the dish, one of which I'm nearly positive is coconut milk. What really made this dish hit home, though, was the cinnamon. There was an actual cinnamon stick in my bowl of curry! I think that was where they absolutely won me over. The cinnamon wasn't too strong, but just enough to make it's presence known and add warmth to the dish. Comfort food unlike any other. My dish came out with a large bowl of jasmine rice, as well, just the thing to soak up the flavor of that pot of creamy goodness.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0102.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0102.jpg" alt="Siam House" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Better yet after we left the Siam House we made our way to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater with two tickets to Margo and the Nuclear So & So's. Admittedly I only knew one song, but it was a really good show! Margo is definitely ideal chill music, the kind of band you listen to when you need music to get lost in.<br /><br />But anyway, you can find the menu for the Siam House at their website: http://www.bloomingtononline.net/directory/site/listing/965. We've only tried two dishes so the restaurant definitely needs further exploration but I don't doubt the rest of their dishes are fantastic. If any of you try anything new from there please let me know what you think, I could use a good recommendation for my next visit!<br /></div></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-88459669627575604232009-08-30T19:05:00.000-07:002009-08-30T19:41:40.912-07:00It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!I'm so upset that I nearly forgot to tell you about this recipe, because it really is SO GOOD. So Taylor's birthday is today, but as chance would have it I am in Bloomington and he is in Nashville. Not fair, but that's another story. After Taylor was shipping off to Belmont I found some time in the days before I headed to IU to put together a small package that contained a birthday treat :D.<br /><br />I saw these once while I was running at the Monon Center and watching the Food Network. Let me just say Ina Garten is frickin brilliant. Peanut Butter Jelly Bars. If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, these will shoot you to the moon. If you don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, these will shoot you to the moon. They are so delicious that thinking about them is making me wish I had a kitchen on my floor. By the way, I DON'T HAVE A KITCHEN ON MY FLOOR. Now I'm just going to have to bake a ton every time I go home for a weekend!<br /><br />When I made these for Taylor about half the tray made it into the box I sent him, the other half went straight to my mouth. I actually used to make these all the time, they're one of my favorite recipes, but I stopped when I realized that I could not make them without eating them in large quantities. These bars are the kind of thing you make and keep. Taylor's lucky he got any at all ;)<br /><br />So the basic idea of these bars, the recipe for which I'll give you in a bit, is a peanut butter shortbread with jelly in the middle and chopped peanuts sprinkled on the top. Sound delicious? That's because IT IS. Shortbreads are pretty simple, this one is the best though because you have to use an entire jar of peanut butter. AN ENTIRE JAR!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0080.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0080.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Jelly Bars" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />That's right, I used that whole thing. And as if that wasn't enough peanut for you, I used all these chopped ones, too.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0082.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0082.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Jelly Bars" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">But we'll get back to that later. So you make this peanut butter shortbread and you spread about two thirds of the dough on the bottom on a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Then you spread on top of that a jar of jam. Not jelly. Jam. Or preserves, I guess. Just not jelly. In case you were wondering, jelly is thinner than jam and doesn't have the seeds and such, the texture of jam in exponentially better and if you ruin this recipe by using sub-par fruit spread I will find you. So after you spread on the jam that you bought because you refuse to use crappy jelly, you put the rest of the peanut butter short bread dough on top. Now this part is a little difficult, but I believe in you! I like to take chunks of the dough and press it between my palms or the pads of my fingers to flatten it out and then evenly disperse pieces of the flattened dough on top of the jelly, looks something like this...<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0081.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0081.jpg" alt="Peanut Butter Jelly Bars" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then you add all those peanuts you chopped up, pop the whole layered mess in the oven and nearly an hour later you open the oven door and find heaven.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0086.jpg" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0086-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0086-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The recipe for heaven, by the way, can be found at the Food Network website: www.foodnetwork.com. Just type "peanut butter jelly bars" in the search bar and it should be the first link. Really, this is one of the best recipes I will share with you, and I promise they aren't too difficult at all.<br /><br />Well, I have to get back to college now, classes start tomorrow. See you, I don't know when, I'm running out of things to write about. Did I mention my floor has no kitchen?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0086.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0086.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /></div></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-58952208137290658662009-08-24T15:58:00.001-07:002009-08-25T09:13:02.832-07:00The Last SupperAmidst rice, potatoes, tomatoes, shrimp, and arrays of spices, jumping from burner to burner frying, spicing, stirring, reheating, when my dad asked me if I'd gotten myself in over my head I chuckled and replied no, of course not. Inside my head I was screaming, "YESSSSSS!"<br /><br />Although we were considering going to St. Elmo's tonight for a "farewell dinner" of sorts, I told my parents I would just make dinner tonight. Save a trip downtown and whatnot. Plus, at my last visit to Half Price Books I had snagged an Indian cookbook that I was dying to open before leaving for Bloomington. With my brother's blessing I selected a prawn curry for a main dish and figured potatoes with a yogurt sauce would make a nice side. All of this sounded very easy last night.<br /><br />So I trucked to Meijer this morning, which makes like the fifty thousandth time in the past week, and came out with a bag full of what I hoped would be the right ingredients. (Black mustard seeds, fresh coriander, and green chillies all proved annoyingly impossible to find...) After that it was errand after errand, turns out I need A LOT of stuff for my dorm room. And, conveniently enough, everything I need comes from a different store. When I finally settled into kitchen mode at 4:30, armed with a couple cups of highly caffeinated tea, I had a bad feeling I was going to be in a bit of a time crunch. I cranked out the first recipe of the day, nothing to do with dinner actually and something you'll hear about later, in about an hour. That gave me another hour to hit the dinner time I was aiming for: 6:30.<br /><br />I decided to tackle the potatoes first figuring I could have them ready in the pot and just give them a minute to reheat on the stove once the curry dish was done. Ok, "Potatoes in a Yogurt Sauce," I can do this. I boiled little gold potatoes while I peeled and de-veined shrimp. You can buy fresh shrimp either in the shell or peeled and de-veined, but since Marsh had the first kind significantly cheaper I figured I could do the dirty work myself. IT TAKES FOREVER. I had just a pound and a half of shrimp and it took me nearly twenty minutes to free them of all their various casings. It's not that it's hard, it's just time consuming. To de-vein a shrimp you have to, after of course removing the shell, run a knife down the center of the shrimp, right along the curl, and scrap out the thin black cord that's nestled in there. Interestingly enough, although most people refer to this cord as a "vein," I'm pretty sure I heard from Alton Brown that it's actually a digestive tract. So what makes it black? Well, I believe you can imagine...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">With </span>shrimp prepped and potatoes ready to go, I embarked on recipe number one, which is as follows:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Potatoes in a Yogurt Sauce</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12 new potatoes, halved<br />1 1/4 cup natural low fat yogurt </span>(I used a Greek, non-fat version)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1 1/4 cup water<br />1/4 tsp ground turmeric<br />1 tsp chilli powder<br />1 tsp ground coriander<br />1/2 tsp ground cumin<br />1 tsp soft brown sugar<br />1/4 tsp salt<br />1 tbsp oil<br />1 tsp cumin seeds<br />1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander </span>(left this out, couldn't find it for the life of me)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2 green chillies, sliced </span>(I couldn't find these so I used one large mild green pepper)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />1.) Boil the potatoes in salted water with their skins on until they are just tender, then drain and set aside.<br />2.) Mix together the yogurt, water, turmeric, chilli powder, ground coriander, ground cumin, sugar and a little salt in a bowl. Set aside.<br />3.) Heat the oil in a medium heavy-based saucepan and stir in the cumin seeds. Fry for 1 minute.<br />4.) Reduce the heat, stir in the spicy yogurt mixture and cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat.<br />5.) Add the chopped fresh coriander, green chillies and cooked potatoes. Stir everything together and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, stirring from time to time. Serve hot.<br /><br /></span>Voila! Right?<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Um... after the potatoes and chillies, minus the elusive coriander, had been hanging out for a while in my sauce I realized my yogurt appeared to be separating a bit from the rest of the mixture. It was kind of clumpy and the smell coming from the pot was less than appetizing. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0085-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0085-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /></div><br />Oh well, I had curry to worry about. I'm just going to go ahead and give you the recipe for this, then we'll talk.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Prawn Curry<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">serves 4<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">1 1/2 lbs uncooked tiger prawns*<br />4 dried chillies*<br />1/2 cup desiccated coconut*<br />1 tsp black mustard seeds*<br />1 large onion, chopped<br />2 tbsp oil<br />4 bay leaves<br />1 in piece ginger root, finely chopped<br />2 garlic cloves, crushed<br />1 tbsp ground coriander<br />1 tsp chilli powder<br />1 tsp salt<br />4 tomatoes, finely chopped<br />plain rice, to serve*<br />(all the * are things I altered or had trouble with, we'll get back to those)<br /><br />1.) Peel the prawns and discard the shells. run a sharp knife along the center back of each prawn to make a shallow cut and carefully remove the thin black intestinal vein.<br />2.) Put the dried red chillies, coconut, mustard seeds and onion in a large heavy-based frying pan and dry-fry for 8-10 minutes or until the spices begin to brown but not burn. Let cool for a few minutes then put into a food processor or blender and process to a coarse paste.<br />3.) Heat the oil in the frying pan and fry the bay leaves for 1 minute. Add the chopped ginger and the garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes.<br />4.) Add the coriander, chilli powder, salt and the coconut paste and fry gently for 5 minutes.<br />5.) Stir in the chopped tomatoes and about 3/4 cup water and simmer gently for 5-6 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.<br />6.) Add the prawns and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until they turn pink and the edges are curling slightly. Serve with boiled rice.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0084.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0084.jpg" border="0" alt="Indian Food" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;">Really, this recipe isn't that difficult. I think I got a little in over my head because I had so many pots going at once... the potatoes and rice and curry, the food processor was out, I had just made bars... the kitchen was feeling my presence. On it's own, this really is a pretty simple dish, and it tastes fantastic, but before you decide to give it a go, let's discuss some of the problems I encountered.<br /><br />First, this is prawn curry. I actually had a bit of trouble finding prawns, but that's an easy fix. Prawns are just a larger version of shrimp. I picked up 1 1/2 pounds of raw shrimp instead and it was practically the same delicious dish.<br /><br />Second, what the heck is desiccated coconut? When I posed this question to my brother his response was somewhere along the lines of coconut that had already gone through your digestive system, but I decided not to give that theory much attention. A really quick glance at some website gave me the impression it was basically dried coconut and gave me directions on how to take shredded coconut and use my oven to make a good substitute. Well, I was kind of lazy. I shoved the coconut into the oven at 250 degrees for as long was convenient and that was good enough for me.<br /><br />Thirdly, I could not find black mustard seeds. The store had regular mustard seeds, but to save you from a long story I didn't end up with those either. I'm sure you could use whatever mustard seeds you have and be fine, I just threw in some mustard powder, whatever, I make it work.<br /><br />And lastly, the plain rice issue. I don't like white rice, especially that instant stuff. Not only is it nutritionally void, the flavor is bland unless you kick it up with butter (making it more unhealthy) or infuse it with something which, at this point, is just more work. We usually have brown rice on hand, so I reached for that. I don't even know if instant brown rice exists, but if it does DON'T BUY IT. I know regular rice takes around 45 minutes to cook, but it's worth it. You're going to be in the kitchen anyway, just throw it on the burner and let it hang out while you do your thing. Instant rice is partially processed which is why it cooks so quickly. Unfortunately, that process strips it of some of it's nutrients. For a better fill and a more heath conscience meal, always opt for the brown rice. Plus it just tastes so much better.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">I happened to have some whole wheat naan, a bread often served with Indian dishes, on hand. I took a few pieces of that and threw it under the broiler for a few minutes then flipped it over and let it toast on the other side, too. I cut that into quarters and let my family dig in. In the end, my plate turned out like this...<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0083.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0083.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The potatoes, though I had my concerns, were actually pretty good. The aroma was fairly pungent, but the taste was very mild, needed a little salt actually. My dad started mashing them, which was a really brilliant plan. That way you could get more of the slivered green pepper and yogurt sauce in the mix, a definite plus. The curry was delicious, but not very spicy at all. I took most of the seeds out of the dried red chillis I used, if you like a kick leave them in, I think I'll do that next time.<br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">I feel like I've been typing forever so I'm going to go ahead and let you get back to your life now. As the title of this entry implies, this is the last meal I'll be cooking before I head to college, sad, I know. I've got one more recipe up my sleeve to share with you, we'll save that for later this week, but after that I don't know what will happen to my poor blog! I'm thinking I'll try to find time to right about food in Bloomington, but if you have any suggestions/requests leave a comment, let me know!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></span>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-73611258046149131912009-08-23T18:37:00.000-07:002009-08-23T19:48:43.791-07:00Let the Fun BeginToday has been a long day. My roommate and I arranged for an early move-in time for our dorm room so today we hauled A TON of stuff down to campus. Really, how we managed to fit two bed, two fridges, two desks, a couch, microwave, teapot, storage units, and impressive amounts of clothes into one room is beyond me. I guess miracles do happen :).<br /><br />After a few hours of unpacking, stacking, hanging, rearranging, and recharging with gyros, my parents and I headed home. At some point during the car ride my parents reached the mutual decision that it would be an awesome idea for me to make cinnamon rolls. Well that's really great, but cinnamon rolls are a piece of work. Mixing, rising, rolling, rising, baking, frosting... my enthusiasm died after reading through a few recipes and recalling my last not-so-super encounter with cinnamon rolls. Fortunately my brother decided he'd much rather have something else.<br /><br />After he suggested scones or strawberry shortcake I presented an option to my brother that he immediately agreed to. The Kitchen Sink always has delicious looking recipes and the strawberry cake I pulled up was a winner for Nick. Not to mention, SO MUCH EASIER THAN CINNAMON ROLLS.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0075.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0075.jpg" border="0" alt="Strawberry Cake with Vanilla Sauce" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">So I went to work. As a general rule, anything made in a pie pan is fantastic, and this cake was no exception. A basic cake recipe really, but the kicker is the fresh strawberries pressed into the top of the batter topped with a generous sprinkling of raw sugar.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0076.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0076.jpg" border="0" alt="Strawberry Cake with Vanilla Sauce" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">So rustic, so gorgeous! And it only looked better and better as it baked. A light, puffed cake with strawberries barely buried under the golden brown crust, could it get any better?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0078.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0078.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Turns out it can. I didn't have vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, the two things the recipe insisted should go with this delicious cake, so I improvised! I whipped up a quick, half improvised vanilla sauce using a vanilla bean from a private stash I've had hidden in the cupboard for quite some time. Personally, I think vanilla ice cream would be the ideal thing to pair with this cake, especially if it's like French Vanilla... a little melted... oh yes. But, what can I do? <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0077.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0077.jpg" border="0" alt="Strawberry Cake with Vanilla Sauce" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Oh yeah, and when digging out my vanilla beans I came across a bag of slivered almonds and immediately decided that I would find a way to work them into the finished dessert! I popped a handful onto a piece of aluminum foil and let them sun tan in the oven until they were light brown and fragrant. According to dad the almonds were a good flavor combination with the strawberry cake, and I have to agree. I was tempted to sprinkle them onto the top of the cake before I put it in the oven, but was afraid in the hour cooking time they'd be a little over done, but who knows. Whether you top this cake with vanilla sauce, ice cream, or whipped cream, the almonds really are a wonderful addition.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0079.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0079.jpg" border="0" alt="Strawberry Cake with Vanilla Sauce" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Well, I'm about to fall asleep, apparently carrying boxes and moving beds and couches has taken it's toll on me. But before I go, I should tell you tomorrow I'm making dinner :D. I may have taken some books to Half Price Books... and I might not have walked out with any of the cash they paid me... I might have walked out with a couple cook books... one might be an Indian cook book... maybe ;). Tomorrow should be a delicious day.<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br />Oh yes, and you can find the recipe for strawberry cake here: http://thekitchensinkrecipes.com/2009/05/25/an-imperceptible-shift/#more-5476.Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-18235412677984407862009-08-18T18:29:00.000-07:002009-08-20T22:31:24.008-07:00Do-nut Miss Out on This Recipe!A week from tomorrow I move into my dorm room. AND I'M BORED. Everyone's starting to pack up and leave and now that I'm not working I feel like half the day I'm usually twiddling my thumbs or coming up with random errands to run. This morning I was bored out of my mind so, naturally, I flipped open one of my cookbooks and started thumbing through pages for a recipe that I hadn't tested yet.<br /><br />I flipped through page after page making mental notes of things I might come back to, but when I found a recipe for French Cruller Doughnuts I was sold. I wanted something that was reasonably quick and easy, but different, and these are just that.<br /><br />My brother tried to argue that these are not doughnuts, but the recipe says so and that's good enough for me. Better yet, there was no frying involved! They aren't as heavy as a typical American style doughnut, which I think works brilliantly in their favor, and the dough puffs up to a texture similar to that of a cream puff. In short, delicious! The dough is a combination of flour, water, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla, cooked on the stove top before beating in 8 eggs. My favorite thing about these doughnuts is that the big blog of dough is piped! I bought that fifty something piece piping set last spring and I've hardly had a chance to pull it out of the closet, but the recipe requested a large star tip and so pipe I did! I couldn't help but laugh a little bit at my piping bag, I always use ziplocks instead of real bags because they are a) cheaper and b) disposable, which I think looked like an obese fish...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0057.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0057.jpg" alt="French Cruller Donuts" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">But anyway... I piped the dough onto a large cookie sheet, two circles stacked on top of one another and came up with these, popped them in the oven to bake, and came out with these beauties:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0061.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0061.jpg" alt="French Cruller Donuts" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />So cute! The lines are from the star tip on my piping bag. You can use a spoon to shape the dough into a simple circle on the sheet, but this looks so much better! My pretty piping job was masked a little bit by the frosting, but I guess that's a sacrifice I just had to be willing to make. The actual glaze recipe for these doughnuts calls for a bunch of melted butter, which I made, but quickly ran out of since the recipe yielded about twice as many donuts as it told me it would. I was feeling kind of lazy and my second batch of glaze was a simple mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and tasted, I hope, just as good.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0058.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0058.jpg" alt="French Cruller Donuts" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The plateful I gave away seemed to be well received and my family really liked them. My dad even toted off a plateful to work which he claims were gone within a couple hours. I know I say this all the time, but they really are super easy. I'm sure they'd be great company for a cup of coffee or tea and they are delicious for breakfast, dessert, or even just a snack. The recipe is from <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Joy of Baking</span>, basically my Bible, and goes as follows (I added in a few notes of my own ;) ):<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">French Cruller Doughnuts<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Makes 12 to 15 doughnuts, depending on size</span></span></span><br /><br /></span>Choux Paste Doughnut Base<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>- 1 cup milk<br />- 1 cup water<br />- 3 tablespoons sugar<br />- 1/2 teaspoon salt<br />- 1 cup unsalted butter<br />- 2 cups all-purpose flour<br />- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract<br />- 8 large eggs<br /><br />Creamy Vanilla Glaze<br />- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted<br />- 2 1/2 to 3 cups confectioners' sugar (aka powdered sugar)<br />- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract<br />- 2 to 4 tablespoons hot water<br /><br /> Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (I would also recommend using a liberal amount of non-stick spray, these things clung to my aluminum foil for dear life).<br /> For Choux Paste Doughnut Base, in a medium saucepan, stir milk, water, sugar, and slat together over medium heat. Stir in butter and allow it to melt. Increase heat and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Stir in flour all at once. Blend well with a wooden spoon, adding vanilla and beating briskly until mixture forms a ball that leaves the sides of the pan. Beat vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes before removing from burner and turning out into a mixer bowl. Allow mixture to cool for 5 minutes.<br /> Using a wide whisk or a wooden spoon, add eggs, 1 at a time, until mixture is smooth and glossy (I actually gave up on the spoon idea and immediately used a hand mixer and was golden :) ). Spoon choux paste into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch star tip (or a large Ziplock with a hole cut in one corner). On prepared baking sheets, leaving some space between each pastry, make a 4-inch circle of batter with another circle on top (concentric circles). If you don't have a pastry bag you can also use a soup spoon to spread out a ring of batter as best you can.<br /> Bake pastry 15 minutes; then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake another fifteen minutes or until doughnuts are light in texture and medium brown all over. Let cool slightly.<br /> To make Creamy Vanilla Glaze, whisk everything together in a medium bowl to a thick glaze consistency, mixing in more confectioners' sugar or water, if needed, to achieve a gloppy, thick glaze. Dip each doughnut once, let excess drip off back into bowl, let set, and then glaze again (mine were so thickly coated that I only dipped them once). Let doughnuts set on a wire rack.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">After making these I couldn't help but wonder, "Why 'doughnut'?" I mean, I get the dough part, but whoever though these resemble a nut is... well... a nut. So I Googled it quick! Turns out the idea of a doughnut was brought to American by pilgrims from Holland who called them olykoeks, or oily cakes. These original doughnuts were balls of dough fried in pork fat. Although delicious, the olykoek presented a problem: the middle of the ball was usually a little undercooked. In order to prevent this from happening, apples, prunes, or raisins were often inserted into the middle of the dough. These ingredients needed only to be reheated, not cooked, and therefore solved the undercooked dough issue. Rumor has it, in 1847 a woman named Elizabeth Gregory of New England was known to make some impressive olykoeks. What was her secret? She spiced the dough with a hint of nutmeg and filled the center with hazelnuts or walnuts, calling it a <span style="font-style: italic;">dough-nut</span>! The story continues to describe the way the doughnut evolved to the shape it is today. One variation claims that Elizabeth had a sea captain for a son named Hanson Crockett. Mrs. Gregory would send him off to see with a batch of doughnuts and provided the cook with her recipe. According to the legend Hanson Crockett didn't care for the nuts in the center and after repeatedly poking the middle out finally ordered his cook to prepare them without any center at all. And there you have it!<br /><br /></div></div>Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-51329744213475513002009-08-15T13:13:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:19:00.225-07:00The RIGHT Way to Eat Your Veggies!I wish I had realized sooner what a wonderful resource the Monon Trail is. You really can get just about anywhere you would want to go ON A BIKE! I had discovered earlier that I could get to the Clay Terrace shopping center via the Monon, but when I accompanied a friend on a ride to Broad Ripple a few weeks ago I realized I could have ridden my bike to work, to school, to various friends' houses, and, of course, to Broad Ripple. AWESOME. Especially since my brother has found a new interest in claiming the car we're supposed to be sharing... :/.<br /><br />But on this particular day I was going to Broad Ripple, a fairly leisurely 60 minute ride from my house, to meet a couple friends for lunch at Ripple Bagel Deli. If you haven't been there, you need to go. Stop reading, start driving, it's delicious. They have about a dozen types of bagels and countless combinations of sandwiches that you can make out of them. Not only are there like four giant blackboards covered with all the combinations that form their menu, but anything that could have been mistaken for free space has been covered by customer concoctions drawn on sheets of printer paper. A dangerous place for the indecisive, but I make do ;). For any sandwich your bagel obviously houses all the ingredients and can be served as is, toasted, or (what they're known for and I definitely recommend) toasted. <br /><br />I had picked out a really delicious sounding veggie sandwich, something loaded with tomatoes and sprouts and hummus and avocados and other goodness, but when I saw that their soup of the day was gazpacho I changed my mind. What is gazpacho you ask? I had no idea! I looked it up on my ever faithful iPhone and wikipedia told me it was a cold raw tomato based soup. Which sounds kinda gross... but being me I decided, what the heck, and ordered it! <br /><br />IT'S SO GOOD! It was really hot that day and this chilled soup is frickin delicious. I didn't think pureed tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers or whatever they put in their could be so fantastic but it was delicious and I was hooked. (Better yet, I order a funky bagel type roll called a bialy, steamed of course, that paired with it perfectly.) As I mentioned in my last blog entry I'm going to Turkey Run for a day trip with some friends, tomorrow actually, and not only am I taking the oreos I made yesterday, but I'm also bringing along... you guessed it! Gazpacho! <br /><br />I didn't think a soup was the greatest of all ideas, but never fear! It comes in salad form! :D So I went to work chopping tomatoes, little cucumbers, peppers, and garlic I picked up at the Carmel Farmers' Market this morning and then powered through fennel, celery, and green onions I resorted to picking up at Meijer this afternoon. I tossed this ridiculously large pile of veggies with a lemon vinaigrette and voila! Gazpacho Salad!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0052.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0052.jpg" border="0" alt="Gazpacho Salad" /></a><br /></div><br />Oh yes, and I added a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), an idea provided by my mother that I thought was brilliant.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0053.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0053.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br />One of the best parts about making Gazpacho as a salad rather than a soup is the croutons. Homemade from ciabatta bread, these little cubes were pan toasted in olive oil and Italian seasonings. They soak up the dressing on the salad and add fabulous flavor and texture.<br /><br /><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0054.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0054.jpg" border="0" alt="Gazpacho Salad" /></a><br /><br />If you're fine with chopping vegetables, this is a really simple recipe. It's a great summer salad, especially if you have a Farmers' Market nearby or a vegetable garden. If you're not a fan of a particular vegetable, simply omit it! And if you'd rather go the soup route just add some light chicken broth or water to your vegetables and give it a quick buzz in your food processor. This is a great recipe to make a day in advance because the flavors blend while the vegetables sit in the fridge, it's also a great option because it's light, healthy, and SO GOOD!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gazpacho Salad</span><br /><br />Vegetables<br />- 6 plum tomatoes, chopped (I seeded beefsteak tomatoes because that's all I could find at the<br /> market, just make sure you take the seeds out of whatever kind you choose to use)<br />- 1 English cucumber (or 2 to 3 small cucumbers), seeded and chopped<br />- 1 or 2 stalks of celery, chopped<br />- 6 green onions, finely chopped<br />- 1/2 small bulb fennel, chopped<br />- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced<br />- 2 colorful peppers, chopped<br />- 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained<br /><br />Croutons<br />- 4 slices ciabatta or 1 to 2 ciabatta rolls, diced<br />- 2 Tbsp olive oil<br />- 1/2 tsp mixed herbs (I used Italian seasoning)<br /><br />Dressing<br />- 2 Tbsp olive oil<br />- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (about one fresh lemon)<br />- 1 tsp mustard powder<br />- 1 tsp sugar<br />- 1 tsp salt<br />- pepper to taste (I used just a pinch of white pepper)<br /><br />Toss the cubed ciabatta with the olive oil and herbs then pan fry them until browned and crisp. Set them aside to cool. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl. In a large bowl, toss together the chopped vegetables, garlic, onion, and garbanzo beans. Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and gently toss. You can add the croutons in whenever you like, I have mine reserved in a ziplock because I like them crunchy, but you can put them in the salad well ahead of time if you'd prefer, they'll be a little soggy, but they'll absorb more of the dressing and taste fantastic!Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-43706409851952958142009-08-14T16:47:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:20:58.177-07:00Milk's Favorite CookieI still can't believe I'm leaving for IU in 13 days. Oh god, 13 days. At the beginning of the summer 3 months felt like they would last a lifetime, but lo and behold the trips to London, Arkansas, and New York, along with all the other small happenings I had to look forward to this summer have come and gone and the days left in my vacation from school are waning fast. Now I feel like my last two weeks are a frantic attempt to cram in as many activities as I can. What people do I want to see before I move out? What restaurants do I want to visit for what seems like the last time? What foods do I want to knock of my mental list of 'Things to Bake' before I'm hopelessly kitchenless?<br /><br />Finally, as time runs short, some friends and I have scheduled a day trip to Turkey Run that we talked about before school even let out but have thus far failed to actually follow through with. We were all recruited to bring different food items to refuel between bouts of canoeing, hiking, and swimming. Naturally, my brain immediately thought 'DESSERT!' :D Unfortunately I can't take my favorites, neither layer cakes, pies, or cheesecakes sound very camping-friendly. I was forced to consider more finger friendly options: cookies, bars, brownies, cupcakes.<br /><br />Bar and brownies are just fine, especially for the less than enthusiastic baker in a time of need. Directions are generally as follows: mix, pour, bake, cut. So simple. (Unless you're me, then brownies and bars are a game of 'how many extra ingredients can I fit in this batter without it exploding in the oven?') Drop cookies can be ok, cut-outs are time consuming, and my obsession with detail and eagerness to go over the top on everything make cupcakes a nightmare. I've made countless variations of all of the above, but ended up finding one that I had never tried before.<br /><br />Sandwich cookies. I think my favorite thing about these is you get two cookies in one package! I had been surfing smittenkitchen.com for inspiration and discovered a recipe for homemade oreos. I immediately decided I need not look any further! Who doesn't love oreos? So I went to town crafting thin chocolate cookies, doubling the recipe so that my family would have their own plateful to snack on while I tote the rest to Turkey Run this weekend. So... many... cookies. And the worst part was I couldn't just spoon them on the cookie sheet! No, I was forced to roll out and flatten teaspoon sized balls of my cookie dough. Turns out there were a whole lot of teaspoons in two batches of the chocolate stuff. Luckily, lots of batter means lots of cookies!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0049.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0049.jpg" alt="Homemade Oreos" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Everyone knows the best part of Oreos is the filling in the middle and my cookies would certainly not be complete without big dollops of vanilla creme. I whipped up a batch of what essentially was vanilla butter cream frosting to pipe onto half the cookies.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0050.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0050.jpg" alt="Homemade Oreos" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I topped the dolloped cookies off with another cookie (to complete the whole sandwich effect) and ended up with a plateful of wonderfully rustic 'Oreos.' Yum.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0051.jpg" alt="Homemade Oreos" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I only assembled half the cookies at first, waiting to add frosting to the other half until closer to the Turkey Run venture. On the first batch I used the recipe provided on the smitten kitchen site (which by the way is... http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/) but refused to eat any myself because the creme contains one of my least favorite ingredients. Vegetable shortening. Ewwwwwwww. In my house, where Oreos come, peanut butter follows, so on the second batch I decided to experiment a little and replace the shortening laced vanilla creme with peanut butter butter cream frosting. I think they turned out the better of the two and would highly recommend trying any version of a peanut butter filling. Then again, I'll put peanut butter on anything...Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-59905629436209536452009-07-27T14:43:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:21:37.030-07:00The Morning AfterI don't remember how long ago it was, a month? Nearly two, maybe? Whenever it was, Taylor and I went to this place called Earth House Cafe one night to meet up with a few of his friends and watch live music. It was a Friday night, open mic night, and it was beyond fun! Not only was the music really interesting, but it turns out the Earth House Cafe has a vegetarian, and for the most part vegan, friendly kitchen!<br /><br />No, I'm not a vegetarian, but often vegetarian options are my top food choices. That night I got what was called a wheat berry pita taco. It was a pita filled with a generous layer of hummus and this mixture that was some sort of wheat berry salad. Sounds a little odd, I know, but it was delicious! Taylor was a little less than thrilled... after all the closest he got to meat was a fried egg, and he didn't touch the wheat berry salad that was piled next to his sandwich, but where I'm a happy camper with cuisine generally he's not I guess.<br /><br />Anyway, I decided wheat berries were an ingredient I'd have to play with. They look almost like rice, and cook in much the same way, but the grains are a little bigger, darker in color, and have a chewier texture and nuttier taste. Unfortunately I couldn't find a recipe that I thought was comparable to what they serve at Earth House and instead opted for a soup recipe that sounded promising.<br /><br />I found the recipe for Cumin-Scented Wheat Berry and Lentil Soup in a Google search that took me to EatingWell.com. Cumin is one of my all time favorite spices, so I figured, why not?<br /><br />It turns out that Cumin-Scented Wheat Berry and Lentil Soup is really not that great. I mean, it was ok. I'll eat it, but my whole family sat around the dinner table making fun of my recipe (not the first time, won't be the last, I'll live to cook another day). Even though I tried desperately to defend it, truth be told it's a little bland... fortunately I cooked too many wheat berries! I had leftover wheat berries after assembling my soup so I decided to take advantage of the left over "berries" and use them to make breakfast Tuesday, another option I'd read about.<br /><br />This time I decided to screw the whole recipe route and free-style based on what I'd read, which is generally a lot more interesting. I'm not going to lie to you, it was delicious. I took a half cup of plain yogurt mixed with a little bit of dark honey and put it on the side of my wheat berries. Then I added about 1/2 a tablespoon of flaxseeds and a diced apricot. I'm officially adding this to my list of favorite breakfast items, it's delicious, filling, and healthy!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4194.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_4194.jpg" alt="Wheat Berry Breakfast Bowl" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><br />I like to call it a "Breakfast Bowl" because you can throw in basically whatever sounds delicious. At the time and apricot sounded like a good addition and flax seeds make everything better. It's really popular to use berries, though, so you could really mix in whatever kind of fruit you favor. I'm a plain yogurt fan, but you don't have to use that either. If you're really an oatmeal fan you can just mix them into hot oatmeal for a heartier breakfast cause you can eat 'em warm, too!<br /><br />The wheat berries are those things on the right, they kinda look like Smacks cereal... I soaked them in water overnight (which I actually read numerous places you DON'T have to do) and then simmered them for an hour the next day. Like I said, I made more than I really needed for the soup and ended up having plenty left over after breakfast, too. I just popped the leftovers in the freezer and supposedly they'll keep until I want to defrost them for another morning.<br /><br />I found these wheat berries at Whole Foods and I'm sure you could get them at any grocery store along those lines. I know some of the stuff I put on here is a little too health food oriented or exotic for some of you, but try these, they're really picky-palate friendly and can be used in so many ways!Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-40165377808858379502009-07-26T08:27:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:22:00.883-07:00My Cup of TeaAdmittedly this blog is a little late, but better late than never right? And even though I was busy enough that I neglected to write about the small tea party I had I figured I'd share with you now anyway cause it's like a dozen recipes all at once!<br /><br />So yes, I decided to have a tea party. Which I didn't know meant I decided to have a cooking frenzy on a Saturday and a get together the next afternoon, but hey, I was in my element, right? Hope was my consultant on the food fare of traditional tea parties, and as much as I would've liked to stick to an old fashioned menu, I decided I'd rather cater to the taste buds of teenagers and let myself experiment with some really rich recipes :D. I'm not sure where to start... I guess I'll just show you the whole spread!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0013.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0013.jpg" alt="Tea Party" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />There were a few things I didn't really make, like carrot sticks and bowls of fresh plums and apricots (by the way, apricots are like my new favorite fruit, SO GOOD), but most of the tier and most of the plates are things that I did whip up myself. Ok, Hope brought along the little chocolate balls, I didn't not venture into the realms of cream puffs.<br /><br />As I mentioned before, I spend Saturday night in the kitchen. I whipped up the scones that day that are piled high on the platters. First: Triple Chocolate Chip<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0018.jpg" alt="Tea Party" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />And then Cinnamon Bun Scones!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0016.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0016.jpg" alt="Tea Party" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Both of these recipes came from my favorite cook book, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Passion for Baking</span>, and were admittedly more like desserts than anything else. Oh well! Who cares as long as they're delicious?<br /><br />I also managed to crank a few dozen cookies out of the oven. I have a friend who is hypoglycemic, so I wanted to pick at least one sugar free recipe and I settled on a type of oatmeal nut cookie. Now although I really liked these, I think they are an acquired taste and are actually not really my idea of a cookie at all. They were a whole grain oatmeal cookie made with applesauce instead of butter (not only sugar free but also low fat now) and loaded with cinnamon, mixed nuts, and a small handful of raisins. They don't have the same crunch as a typical cookie, courtesy the applesauce, and they have more of a bread flavor since they aren't very sweet. You can kind of see them stacked on the bottom of this tier...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0014.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0014.jpg" alt="Tea Party" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />On the top of the tier I put a fleet of banana nut mini muffins. If you like banana bread, these are right up your alley. I wanted finger food, that's the idea of tea parties I'm told, so everything was supposed to be like a bite. I had a bunch of bananas that had seen better days, but banana bread didn't seem to be an ideal finger food to me, so I turned to these instead. Again, I pulled this recipe from <span style="font-style: italic;">A Passion for Baking</span> and I think they are delicious. There were a ton left over and I later found out with a little peanut butter they make a great breakfast :).<br /><br />There were sandwiches, too. I put together three different kinds on Sunday morning and stacked them all on this cute tier my mom picked up at Marshall's.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0015.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0015.jpg" alt="Tea Party" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />The top ones are simply mini tortilla wraps filled with hummus and strips of roasted red pepper, the middle are classic peanut butter and jelly, and the bottom are true to tea party tradition: crust-less cucumber and cream cheese. I think the hummus and roasted red pepper rolls went over the best, surprisingly enough. I ended up eating like two sandwiches worth of leftover peanut butter and jelly because they were neglected and I just couldn't bear to throw the food away...<br /><br />That about covers the food table, I think. We also had ice water, sparkling water, iced black tea, and watermelon lemonade to wash it all down. I don't think I'll drone on any longer, besides I've got some wheat berries I need to go soak so I can make something delicious tomorrow!Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-16224741249389806422009-07-15T20:46:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:22:46.210-07:00cup·cake (kŭp'kāk') n. A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container. WRONGSo I work at a hair salon, right? They used to turn to one of my coworkers, Tracy, for birthday cakes, but somehow I seemed to have inherited this responsibility...<br /><br />Jeremy does my hair, he's totally awesome at what he does, and his birthday was a couple days ago. He jokingly asked when I was making his birthday cake so I figured I might as well go ahead and do it. I mean, I live for these things, right? And I have a wicked new piping set that I was dying to try out :D.<br /><br />Besides my ridonkulous piping set, I also wanted to pull something cool out of my closet that I haven't used in a very long time. A CUPCAKE CAKE PAN! WHOA! It's like a cupcake, BUT SUPER HUGE.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0019.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/IMG_0019.jpg" alt="CUPCAKE!" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />There are things that I like and don't like about these kinds of cakes. What I really like about them is that cupcakes are designed to be single servings, right? No cutting, no plating, no fork, you just unwrap your cupcakes shove it in your face. This is truly an American portion sized cupcake, and I would really like to watch somebody pick it up and eat it. No cutting. No plating. No fork. :D<br /><br />What I don't like about it is that it's holds so much less frosting! See how it's kinda but not really frosted on the sides? Well... the cake pan is really two different section, a section for the bottom and a section for the top:<br /><img src="file:///Users/mpearson/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=GiantCupcakeCakePan2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_GiantCupcakeCakePan2.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I knew since I was piping the top I wouldn't fit quite so much frosting on it, and I didn't want to frost the sides cause then it would have looked more like a blob than a cupcake. I decided, to make up for lost frosting, to pile it high on top of the bottom section before putting the top part on. It just so happens that the chocolate frosting I made was a little lighter than the top of the cupcake... only a few minutes into piping the carefully placed top of the cake, Sally, who I have recently apprenticed, screamed in the most horrifying banshee-like voice "OHMYGODOHMYGODIT'SFALLINGIT'SFALLINGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I thought we were gonna die. Turns out only Sally was going to die, cause it was Monday night at 11:30PM and my dad was already in bed and my mom just about tore her head of for screeching like a cat getting a bikini wax that late at night. This whole ordeal would have been exponentially more hilarious if the top of my cupcake was not in fact quickly making a run for the bottom of the plate. Even though I caught it before it tumbled to disaster, the generous amount of icing I had piled in between the two layers came gushing out all over and fell less than gracefully all around the base of my once lovely cupcake. Damn it. I tried to make it decorative but ultimately failed and decided instead to smooth out all the icing that had accumulated at the bottom into a little chocolate moat and covered it with sprinkles!<br /><br />I got so frosting happy that I even decided to write on my cupcake :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_0020.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_0020.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I love birthdays.Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6238937071797321677.post-86365241508903964272009-07-05T20:47:00.001-07:002009-08-15T14:23:00.497-07:00Apple Technology Has It's Place EVERYWHEREI'm getting to the point where I have to carefully choose which recipes I actually want to blog about. Yesterday I whipped up three separate goods: watermelon lemonade, olive bread, and banana bread. Today I decided to experiment with my bread machine again and cranked out a loaf of whole wheat honey bread which I have to mention merely because bread machines ARE SO AWESOME. I like to cook/bake when I have generous amounts of time to dedicate to the task at hand, but if I want to make something in a hurry my bread machine is my new best friend. Let me illustrate what I mean for you. This is what I put in the bread machine<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4050.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_4050.jpg" alt="Honey Whole Wheat Bread" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />and this is what came out!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4054.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_4054.jpg" alt="Honey Whole Wheat Bread" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I didn't even have to mix the ingredients! Just dump them in, close the lid, press start, and four hours later... bread! Too awesome.<br /><br />But anyway, more to tell. So my mom and I went to get massages at Foot Finesse today, a place at Rangeline and 116th that does these full body massage things for $25. One hour for $25, I recommend it, it was nice :). Well on the way back home my mom informed me we needed to stop at Meijer to get mayonnaise for a cole slaw recipe she wanted to make to go alongside the bratwurst that would grace our dinner table this evening. Two things I don't really care for: cole slaw and bratwurst. I decided to make a salad, but as creative as I can be with food I cannot put an impromptu salad together for the life of me. Just as I was about to resort to concocting my own recipe it dawned on me that I had recently added a number of free applications to my iPhone. I opened my recipe search engine, curtesy of Whole Foods, and immediately had hundreds of salad recipes literally at my fingertips! I chose a "Fresh Mozzarella Salad with Avocado, Roasted Corn and Grape Tomatoes." Yum.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/?action=view&current=IMG_4057.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/mollymariepearson/th_IMG_4057.jpg" alt="Roasted Corn, Mozzarella, and Grape Tomato Salad" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Chunks of mozzarella, avocado, tomatoes, corn, black beans, all lightly dressed and seasoned with fresh chives and basil on a bed of spinach. Oh yes. I found the recipe online just for you because it went over so well with my parents and the couple they had over: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=548. I made it right before we ate dinner, though, and I felt like it would've been much better chilled, so I'd recommend making it an hour or so ahead of time and let it hang out in the fridge for a bit. Oh yeah, and I only used one avocado because I felt like two (the recipe's instructions) seemed a little overwhelming. The salad could've handled two avocados pretty easily, but I was happy with the turnout so it's up to you. What I really like about this recipe is that it's heavy enough to be a meal itself, but it's also light and clean enough to work well as a summertime side dish. Either way, it's deliciously fresh and so pretty!Molly Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00396094861853236684noreply@blogger.com4