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Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2011

With a Grain of Salt

Hi guys - sorry for not posting for so long. I haven't really been in the mood to write lately for some reason, so I decided to take a little blogging break. But I'm back!


A few days ago I had the idea to make sea-salted caramels. So that's just what I did! They were pretty delicious, however, making candy is slightly harder than I realized, only because timing is everything.  The caramelized sugar can easily burn. I'd like to think that these caramels were my practice run, and next time they'll be perfect.



Here's what I did wrong, so you can learn from my rookie mistakes:

- Um, first mistake? I used salted butter instead of unsalted, so the caramels turned out a tad bit too salty. What a dummy.  Cooking 101: Make sure you *read* the ingredient list carefully. :/  

- Second mistake? I was so worried about not burning the sugar that I don't think I cooked it long enough...which isn't so bad, but the caramels turned out a little more gooey than they were supposed to be.  I didn't have a candy thermometer, so I was just eyeballing it.  Again, this didn't affect the taste, but still - you want a firm caramel!



I followed this recipe by Ina Garten, even though generally I can't stand watching her show on the Food Network because she is so damn boring and has no personality. Sorry, but it's kinda true, right?




An attempted close-up shot.....the macro setting failed me.

Ta-Da! The finished product.



P.S. I know that in my last recipe post I said that I would take pictures of the whole cooking process on my next recipe post, but I was too stressed to worry about snapping pictures. I apologize!


Because they were overly salty, I ended up dipping the caramels in milk chocolate to counteract the saltiness, which rendered them perfecto!! Actually, I would venture to say that if you intend to dip them in chocolate or mix them in with cookie dough or whatever, you could even get away with just making them like I did with salted butter. It was the perfect salty/sweet combo!

Monday, March 28, 2011

A Cure for the Rainy Day Blues

So I'm kind of late posting this, but last weekend was really dark and rainy and all three of us were feeling a bit under the weather. The solution? Make some homemade chicken noodle soup and hunker down indoors!

We made a super delicious soup and Clay's famous grilled cheese sandwiches ( I don't know what it is about them, but somehow he makes the BEST grilled cheeses!!), and I thought I'd share my recipe with you guys. I didn't really follow a "recipe", I just kind of did my own thing and luckily it turned out pretty darn good! Chicken noodle soup is actually surprisingly very easy to make. It would take a concerted effort to mess it up. Perfect for someone like me, who is not always gifted in the kitchen...

 Sooo here we go! I only took a picture of the finished product, but next time I do a recipe I'll take pictures of the process as well :)
Now, the great thing about this (especially for moms like myself who are lazy or short on time) is that you can make this a super fast way, or take a little more time and effort to make it the real way. Even the "slower" way is really simple.  I'll go ahead and show you the fast way and interject with alternative ways you can make it even more homemade.




Ingredients:

- 1 Rotisserie chicken
- 1 package egg noodles (16 oz?)
- 4 cans of chicken broth
- 2 cans of vegetable broth
- 2 or 3 celery stalks
- 2 or 3 large carrots
- 1/2 a red onion
- 1/3 stick of butter
- basil, sage, rosemary, and oregano (or herbs of your choice)
- salt and pepper to taste

This will yield a good amount of soup! We ended up having leftovers for about 5 days. Make sure you have a large pot, otherwise it's going to overflow. I just used a standard large stock pot. You can easily alter the amount of ingredients if you don't want to make as much, or want to make more, or want to add additional veggies... but this is just the recipe as I made it.


Alternative: Instead of buying canned broth and a pre-cooked chicken, you can make your own! Chicken stock is realllly easy to make, it just takes more time. The cool thing is that you just need the same ingredients for the stock as you do for the soup, so no need to buy any extra ingredients! Just buy raw, bone-in chicken (drumsticks would be a great choice) and boil them in water until the meat is cooked through. Take the chicken out and separate the meat from the bone. Put the chicken meat in the fridge. Break the bones in half and put them and any leftover chicken (fat, skin, etc.) back into the pot of water, add celery, onion, carrots, and seasoning, cover, and let them all simmer together for 3 hours. That's it! Now, I've never made vegetable broth before, but here's a recipe that I've found for that, it seems pretty easy.


For the herbs, I just plucked fresh ones from my mini herb garden, but you could also use dried herbs as well.
Also, I am a huge lover of red onions, but if you prefer a different type, use that instead. Personally, I love the spiciness of red onion. 


Directions:

1. Chop up the celery, carrots, and onions.
2. Put the celery, onions, and butter into a large stock pot and let them cook together on low heat for about 3-4 minutes.
3. Next, add all the broth into the pot.
4. Add carrots, noodles, and break up the chicken a bit as you add it to the pot.
5. Stir so that the ingredients are evenly distributed in the pot.
6. Add seasoning, and bring everything to a boil.
7. Once it boils, turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes.
8. Eat and be merry!





the finished product!



Yucky weather, yummy soup!


Ta-daaaaa! That's all folks! Surprisingly simple, and super delish. Enjoy! If you end up trying this, let me know how yours turned out! :)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Pecan Pie Failllll

I loveloveLOOOOVVE comfort food. I totally could live off of mashed potatoes and gravy. So keeping with this Southern theme, I decided to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving.


Now, I made one last year and it was perfect! Absolutely, positively perfect. Can't say the same for this year, though. I don't really know what happened, but it was kind of undercooked or something, even though I cooked it for exactly how long the recipe said to and the crust was golden brown. Any longer in there and it would've burned!! I think the trouble is that I deviated from the recipe I used last year and used the one on the back of the Karo corn syrup bottle instead (because it called for more brown sugar...mmmmm, I thought it was a sign from above). So either I took a wrong turn somewhere during the recipe following, cooking in a different oven messed up my game, or the recipe just isn't as good as the one I used last time. Either way, I shall not despair and I WILL conquer the art of the pecan pie again for Christmas!


In case you are wondering, here's the old recipe for the pie. You won't even BELIEVE how easy it actually is!





Friday, July 30, 2010

what is a hamburger reeeeaalllly all about?


Fact: I could probably eat In-n-Out every day and never get sick of it.

Fact: I wouldn't even care if I died of cardiac arrest...it'd be worth it.

Fact: This is not just a pregnancy craving... I assure you.

Fiction: In-n-Out uses top secret recipes that pitiful civilians like ourselves do not have access to.

Yes folks, it's true! Now you too can enjoy the delicious taste of an Double Double animal style In-n-Out burger in the comfort of your own home...no long drive thru lines in sight!


Exhibit A: THE RECIPE!:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/07/in-n-outs-double-double-animal-style-burger-recipe.html


Ok, so I admit...the recipe looks a bit daunting, and I highly doubt it can really rival the original, but I do want to attempt it one of these days, just for the hell of it.


....or I could just sit in the drive-thru after all...cause let's not kid ourselves, everyone wants some fries with that shake...and that Double Double.

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