Pasta=Workout

I finally made something! Well, I finally had time to make something. And it was pasta. Fresh pasta. 

I made the dough last night (at 10pm) and followed the recipe according to the Joy of Cooking book. I made the classic “well” with the flour and eggs in the middle. The book gives an option of one teaspoon of EVOO and I added it just because I saw it done in many videos on YouTube. 

(I admit I was nervous about making the pasta so I researched immensely) 

My goal was to knead the dough for 15 minutes but then I found my self dying by the time I reached 5. So I decided to change it to 10 minutes. I thought it looked pretty good and it felt soft so I put it in the fridge over night. 

I could hardly sleep from all the excitement.

The next morning, after letting the dough  rest at room temperature, I began rolling it out with a rolling pin. I figured it couldn’t be that bad. 

Trust me when I say this, it was bad. 

Shortly after I purchased a pasta machine on target.com and picked it up when I got the email. 

Life became much simpler after that. 

I had to look up how long to cook the pasta and it said 1-3 minutes so I went to 3 just to be safe. I ended up using a sauce we had but overall making the pasta was kind of a work out but it was really good! I will DEFINITELY make it again. 

“Ch-ch-ch-ch-chocolate” (to the tune of changes by David Bowie)

I LOVE chocolate and all things that contain chocolate. If I’m in a chocolate mood I usually make just classic chocolate chip cookies. They never fail and they’re SO simple to make. Today though I finally decided to try out something I have been wanting to try from the Joy of Cooking book. 

Chocolate Oat Bars. Need I say more? I cannot express how easy this is to make.

The Bar Part

•  You literally just do the traditional mix of the butter and sugar and then add the “dry” ingredients to that. In this case the dry ingredients were just oatmeal, flour, salt and baking powder, essentially the same as what you use for chocolate chip cookies minus the oatmeal. 
• It was kind of struggle some when you have to press down the dough in the bar just because the butter starts to melt in your hands and it gets all over you but if you work with a spoon or just work quickly you’ll be fine. 

The Chocolate 

• Melt chocolate, condensed milk, vanilla and butter together. That’s it. Really. 

This was actually surprisingly amazing. It isn’t even too sweet. I can’t imagine how this could possibly get any better. 

Leaning Tower of Pancakes

Pancakes, not just any pancakes though. These Pancakes or Griddle Pancakes are “the classic all-American pancake,” which can be made in a quick time, if you don’t let the batter sit.

The Batter

• I’m not going to lie. I thought this pancake recipe was going to be SO easy and that I’d just nail it on the first try no problem. However, of course, without a doubt, there was a problem.
  • The same situation with crepes that I has previously had seemed to happen with the pancake batter. I added the liquids together, the milk, eggs, and melted butter and then there would be these weird like chunk of what I assume/hope was butter. It honestly looked like the milk was spoiled and chunky but I swear it wasn’t. Right when I added the melted butter it got so gross.
  • Then I thought well maybe I just mixed everything together to quickly and need to mix slowly, so I did. That’s right I started a new set of liquid ingredients. And this time I poured the butter in ever so slowly.
    • BUT GUESS WHAT? THE SAME THING HAPPENED!
    • I honestly don’t know why but it did. I decided to just strain it before adding it to the flour mixture.

The Pancake

• The pancake  it’s self was too doughy in my opinion. It was good but just had a weird texture. Maybe if I let it sit for a couple hours?
  • Ok now that I think about it I should’ve let it rest.
    • But I was just really hungry! Sorry!
• Cooking it was pretty easy too. You just wait of the bubbles to appear.

I think I’ll wait next time for the batter rest before I make the pancakes.

Carrots Are Better with Cake

Carrots. Since I was young I was told that they could help with my eyesight. So naturally I ate a carrot every chance I get. Well, now here I am, typing away adjusting my glasses every few seconds because the carrots failed me. However, even though they didn’t heal my horrible eyes, I still love them in different foods.

Today, I made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. 

The Cake 

• Super duper easy to make. Mix all the ingredients and you get the batter.
• I was actually surprised that the batter was very similar to that of the coffee crumble cake thing I previously made.
  • It was sticky and looked like a very small amount of dough as I spread it across my 9×13 pan.
• Also like the other cake, it wasn’t that sweet, as it only had one cup of sugar.
• The recipe said that in the 9×13 pan it would take 30-35 minutes but at like 25 my cake was done. Guess it really does just depend on the oven.

The Frosting

• Very easy except I didn’t really know what consistency it was supposed to be. I think mine was a little to “runny” but the flavor was pretty good.
• I also didn’t use all the powdered sugar it said to use.
  • I used 2 cups instead of 3

This cake complimented very nicely with the frosting since the cake wasn’t super sweet. I would most likely make this again once I know the “perfect consistency” of cream cheese frosting.

What is that thing on top??

Lemon. I love lemon. When I found Lemon Curd Bars in JOC I figured I needed to make it.

This recipe was, overall, really simple to make. The times suggested for baking were also on point.

The Crust

• Flour, sugar and butter. I had to cut the butter into the flour and sugar so I used my fingers like suggested. Eventually, I found myself using my whole hand and figured what could go wrong.
• The recipe also said to make the mixture into “pea size” crumbs or something. Some were pea size. Others were grape size. And others looked like sand. I didn’t know how to fix this, so I just went with it and threw it in my pan.
• The butter did start to melt and I think it’s just because I “played” with it too much.

The Filling

• Really simple and good!
• I didn’t have enough lemons. I had previously bought 5 lemons but had to work with 3 because my dad decided to use some during the week because carne asada and lemons are a must. I should’ve had 1 cup and a little more to use in the filling but I came up with only 1/3 cup. It worked though! I feel like 1 cup would’ve been too much.
• OK and what the heck is the white thing that is on top? Its really fragile and and like sweet. Is it from the sugar? I honestly don’t know what it is but it kind of ruined the bars. Its way too sweet. I just scrape it off when I get a bar. Maybe it was because the recipe had a lot of sugar in it? 3 cups!

Like I said these were really good, but that thing kinda ruined it. If you have any idea why its there let me know. I’ll make them again for sure.

PS: I don’t mean the white powdery thing, thats powdered sugar that I added (and eventually took off) because I didn’t know it’d be so sweet. I mean the thing that has the cracks in it.

I Want ALL the Crumbs

Cinnamon. Butter. Cake. Amazing.

This was without a doubt the best way to make your house smell like the holiday season. And during summer. Crumb Cake. Just the smell alone makes me so happy. It smells so good and it is SO easy to make. You just fold the dry into the wet and spread it in the pan. Then top it with this butter flour cinnamon crumb thing.

The only thing I was kinda weirded out by was how little batter there is. You need to really spread it because its also a sticky batter. I used the back of a spoon but I wish I would’ve like sprayed it with something so it wouldn’t stick to the batter.

It also bakes super fast. It only takes 25 minutes in my oven. 25 minutes. And you basically get Christmas. How fabulous.

Bit-O-Dough

Have you ever had just like a bite full of tough, bland, dry dough that wasn’t so great? Yeah, that was me today. I failed but it’s okay. Today I made I failed to make Pierogis. From what I know they’re like Polish ravioli? Is that a good way to kinda describe them? I have seen them made on food network a lot of times and I figured I’d try.

The Dough (I have never in my life made pasta or “noodle dough”)

• I was very confused. Is fresh egg noodle dough supposed to be like extremely sticky? When I mixed it I used a fork like it said I should in JOC(joy of cooking) and it stuck to it. Then I tried to take it out and it got all stuck on me. I added a little more flour.
  •  That is probably the reason that it was tough.
    • I was just trying to work with it!
• It felt weird when I boiled it too. It felt like your finger when you go swimming for too long and they turn to raisins.

The Filling

• Since I never had a pierogi I decided to just use the simplest one that the book provided, which was cheese and potato.
  • It was bland. I think next time I’ll just use something with flavor.

I will most definitely be making this again, how else will I get better? Maybe next time I’ll roll out the dough more and just try adding a little less flour.

J’aime la nourriture!

Aujourd’hui, je fais

Pardon! Today I am feeling in a French kind of mood. I listened to some French music, which made me think of my French classes I had all four years of high school. Then I remembered how my French teacher, on the day before winter break started, would bring homemade crepes to the class. Everyone would bring something to put into the crepes like Nutella, strawberries, whipped cream, bananas, etc.

I’ve made crepes before but they didn’t come out too great because they had these weird lumps of flour. So today I figured, why not try again? What’s the harm? So I did.

Let me just say, OH MY GOSH! So good! They were very simple to make thanks to Joy of Cooking. I took three of their recipes and used them all in one dish.

The Sweet Crepes (I halved the recipe but still got 12 crepes)

• In order to avoid the lumps I previously had, I sifted the flour first. The crepes recipe provided didn’t have any particular way to add the ingredients so I just added everything in one bowl and whisked it. It still had lumps though, but it wasn’t lumps of flour, I honestly don’t know what it was.
  • To make it smooth, the final step I did was add the batter into my measuring cup, but put it through a fine mesh strainer first. It all worked very well I might add.
  • I’ve seen people use a blender on food network, maybe that’ll help?
• There was no specification of what type of milk to use so I just used the regular fat free milk we had in the fridge. I think it made it a little too watery, but it still tasted fine.
• The cooking process is also not as hard as it may seem! I used my fingers to flip the crepe so I wouldn’t rip it with a fork or spatula.
  • To make it easier on me, I cooked the crepe on a back burner and then moved the pan off the heat and to the burner(which was off) in front of it to flip it so my hands wouldn’t burn, then moved it back to the back. (ha)
• I also placed a piece of wax paper in between each crepe to prevent them from sticking together!

Caramelized Apples (I didn’t make the sauce that was part of the recipe)

• These were so easy to make and the only thing I did different from the recipe is use a different apple. It called for Golden Delicious apples and I used Gala. Tasted great!

Whipped Cream

• This was probably the easiest thing I’ve made. I add sugar and vanilla and it was perfect.

This was definitely something that anyone can make because the ingredients are so accessible. Well, now I feel like watching Midnight in Paris. I’ll probably watch while I eat some crepes.

 

Nothing Says Summer Like Indoor Grilling

It is almost 114 degrees outside. Sure it’s summer, the time for hanging out outside with friends and grilling delicious chicken, cheeseburgers and steaks. Well, not in sunny California. 

So, I decided to do the grilling inside version. I made the Lemon Rosemary Chickwn on Skewers (minus the skewers). I didn’t use the skewers because 1) I didn’t have any and 2) since when have forks failed me. I also didn’t make this into a meal, I made them just to see if they we’re good or not.

Overall this recipe was REALLY simple. I’m sure anyone can make it. You make the marinade, put the chicken in and cook it. Easy. To make them in to strips I just took the thin slices chicken and well,made them strips.

I marinaded the chicken for about three hours. Not because I really wanted the flavor to infuse but because I was too lazy to interrupt my The OC binge to start cooking. 

I guess it helped though because the flavor was there. Nice and lemony. 

The indoor grill was fine. I cooked them for three minutes on each side, a minute longer than suggested just because I’m scared of UNDERcooking chicken. It worked out and they didn’t come out dry, thank goodness. 

Oh and also what the heck does it mean to remove the tenders from chicken breasts? 

Anyways, I will definitely be making this again and incorporating it into a full meal. Maybe for the Fourth of July on actual skewers? 

I Threw TOO Much Salt Today

The other day I mentioned how I made the Sautéed Boneless Chicken Breasts with Herb Pan Sauce, as provided by Joy of Cooking. Well, it was such a hit with the family that they said, “You need to make it Tuesday!” I agreed and felt flattered, the food was good enough for people to ask again.

So, I once again followed the recipe provided, did my thing, but to be honest, I wasn’t all that happy.

The Chicken

First impression: It was salty. And I noticed it when I began coating it with flour. I could feel too much of it on and I think it had to do with the fact that I salted it directly from the salt shaker. I usually put the salt in my hand and sprinkle it so I can control the salt better. Who knows, maybe I just suck at ‘salting.’ (I don’t even know if that’s a real term.)

The smaller pieces were also on the drier side but the big ones were perfect. I think the fact that I put them[the big pieces] in the oven helped but I don’t think anything could’ve helped the little pieces.

Another thing that had to do with the chicken that I didn’t like wasn’t part of the actual eating the chicken experience. The fact that when you cook it in the oil/butter thing makes it splatter all over the stove so I recommend getting one of those things to cover that pan. Not a lid. But those things. You know what I mean. It looks like a none round fine strainer.

The Sauce

I liked the sauce better the first time. Not that the taste was different, but the thickness. Last time it was thicker and more brown. I blame myself for adding too much heavy cream and not letting it reduce or whatever the term is. I’ll find it someday.

I did make a slight change, I used rosemary instead of parsley. Tasted the same to me.

Oh yeah! Also I don’t add as much shallots as it says to use. I don’t even know the exact amount I add. I usually just wait until my eyes start watering or I can’t see anymore because of the tears to stop. I take that as a sign.

Overall

I will most definitely be making the dish later on again. It’s a good dish. The sauce pairs well with the chicken. Make a meal out of it and add veggies, rice, mashed potatoes. Make it fun. That’s the whole reason for this, making cooking fun.

*Note: I have only made this twice. And sorry for no picture! I forgot!