Sad Chicken

Well, it took a couple of days to prepare (hence the name, Two Day Garlic Chicken, aka Recipezaar #20148).

The marinade had about 15 cloves of garlic in it and it really smelled quite good. I mushed it all over the chicken and it seemed like it would be good. Their suggestion was to cook it on a rotisserie but, as I don't have one, I settled for roasting it. The garlic fumes were SO strong in the apartment that I could smell it all afternoon. You know how you kind of get used to a smell and then you have to leave and return to smell it again. Not in this case, I could smell it ALL afternoon. I'm half convinced that it was the reason that my eyes felt all watery and tired too.

So after marinating it for a whole day and then roasting it in the garlic paste, it tasted like NOTHING! It was the blandest chicken I've ever had and eventually Meag went to get the ranch dressing to dip it in.

Meag made a Caesar salad to go with it and I dealt with my bland chicken by pulling it into little pieces and mixing it in with the salad. That was pretty good.

Do you ever go through a time when none of the food that you prepare really works? Yuck. I'm saving the carcass for stock though and I saved the rest of the bland meat for chicken salad or something.

La Leche Baking Mix

I know that I'm not breastfeeding but I tried this recipe anyway :D

8 cups flour (white, whole wheat, whole wheat pastry or Cornell Mix)
5 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup powdered milk
1 1/2 cups oil or butter or fat

Mix all dry then work the fat in with your fingers. Keep it in the fridge (not so great for those with really crammed full fridges).

They also suggested nutritional yeast but I didn't like the sounds of it, and I didn't have any so I didn't add it. I used 5 cups white + 3 cups whole wheat and I used butter for the fat because I was going to keep it in the fridge and I'm afraid of shortening ever since I read In Defense of Food.

Had to test it out so I made biscuits. 3 cups of mix to 2/3 c of milk plus whatever you want to stick in them. 450 for 7-10 (closer to 7). I tried (of course) Herbes de Provence because it is my ultimate favourite in all of the world. I also added some sharp cheddar and they were good but in a subtle kind of way. I sliced up some fresh tomato and had that on it, yummy. I'm saving one for you, Erin :D

Ice! Cream! Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

This has been on my 100 List from the first whack at it and I finally tried it!  Twice!  I wanted to take a lovely food porn picture of that ice cream but I just couldn't make it last that long, thank God we've still got some at Erin's (maybe).

Mocha Chip Ice Cream (10 x 1/2 cup servings)

1 c whole milk, well chilled
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 T cocoa powder
1 1/2 T instant espresso powder
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 t vanilla extract (I have a heavy hand with it though)
4 oz chopped up semi-sweet chocolate

Beat milk, sugar, cocoa and espresso into the stand mixer and let it beat for about a minute on "low".  Stir in cream and vanilla.  Turn the ice cream machine on and then pour the stuff in (VERY important that the machine be already running when you start pouring the stuff in because those freezer chests are REALLY cold and it will block up the beater if you don't have it in motion already).  Beat for about 20 minutes, till it's recognizably ice cream but it's not frozen solid yet and then pour the chocolate into the top and let it stir for another 5 minutes.  Pour it into a bowl and put it in the freezer to firm up a bit.  It was... divine.

The blueberry frozen yogurt was a little more spontaneous.  We mixed 2 cups of vanilla yogurt (well, technically 1 3/4 cup vanilla and 1/4 c plain), 1 cup of whole milk (was supposed to be 1/2 cup but I made a mistake and no one noticed), a GENEROUS splash of vanilla (I didn't mean it to be quite so generous but...) and about 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries.  The recipe that I found said that you were supposed to puree and strain the berries but I threw them in whole and frozen and it worked out just fine.  Bright purple but tasty.

Raspberry and Almond Madeira Cake

My cake did NOT look like the one in the book. In fact, going into the oven, it looked somewhat garrish. But ended up tasting quite nice! Not an ordinary flavour, as Colin remarked, "It's quite ambitious!"

Ambitious, but tasty! Here it is: again, from the Cakes and Bakes Book from the BBC;

175 g butter, softened
175 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs lightly beaten
50 g flaked almonds
grated zest of 1 orange
100g plain flour
100g self-raising flour
2 Tbsp milk
200 g raspberries fresh or frozen (I used frozen and a bit more than called for)
icing sugar to dust

1) pre heat oven to 325 butter/spray oil pan and flour it
2) cream butter and sugar, then add vanilla and gradually add eggs (I did all this in the stand mixer)
3) set aside a few almonds and crush the rest (in a baggy with a rolling pin) then stir them in with the orange zest.
4) Fold in the flours and milk, then fold in all but 8 of the raspberries (I did not do this)
5) Put in the tin and sprinkle remaining almonds and raspberries on top

bake for 1 hr and 15 mins. cool in the pan for 5 mins and then on a rack. dust with icing sugar!

Yummy! ;-)

Dijon Terragon Roast Chicken

So, I had this chicken, ...
and I also had some VE Dijon Terragon Dip Mix and some butter and I rubbed it all over Mr. chicken and WOW was he good!

Fall Apart Deer Roast

So we pulled a deer roast out of the freezer, around 4 in the afternoon and nuked it till it was thawed (hippies use microwaves, who knew!).

By the way, I didn't name the recipe. Waldo found it on this site that also had recipes name Fried Deer Steaks With a Lil' Kick, Cheesy Deerloaf, and BBQ'D Deer Balls (which, thank God, are actually just made of plain old ground deer meat). I've added the site to the list on the sidebar because, well, you never know when you might need to cook a giant critter.

Anyway, the recipe with Waldo changes:

~ 2 to 4 lb deer roast
~ 2 medium onions, chopped
~ 2 cloves garlic, chopped
~ 1 lb baby carrots
~ salt and pepper
~ 2 cups water
~ 2 beef bouillon cubes
~ 2 tbsp corn starch

Place the roast in a crockpot. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, salt and pepper to taste and the water.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Check the water and add more if needed. Drain the juice into a saucepan. We never checked it once.

To the juice, add the bouillon cubes. Stir to dissolve. Heat to a boil. Stir the corn starch together with a little water in a cup. Add the corn starch and stir until the juice thickens. Sharon did all of this part.

Pour the gravy back into the crockpot over the meat. Cook on low for 1 hour. We skipped this part, Sharon made the gravy and we just used it out of the saucepan (actually, we started to use the argumentative gravy boat (it picked a fight with the pepper shaker once) but it had suffered internal injuries after its last fight and had to be put down mid-meal, the saucepan finished it off).

Serve with mashed potatoes or rice. Super good with mashed potatoes

Meag was not a huge fan but she still cleaned her plate and I think I saw her snitch an extra bite, I know that Alice did and I know that I did. I thought it was heaven on a plate but then, I grew up eating deer and moose etc. Yes, really.

Waldo said that a lot of the recipes that he saw called for allspice and that he wouldn't mind trying that the next time. Makes sense to me, my mom always used to put cinnamon in with moosemeat because it gets rid of the game-y taste (which I happen to be personally fond of).

Okay, so last night there was this ham ...

A gigantic, gorgeous ham served with boiled potatoes and green beans with what looked like mushrooms and almonds in them (I didn't see them being made so I can't be sure). We put the ham in the over at 300 (I think) and pretty much left it there all day. A little longer than we should have actually or meant to, we got to setting at John's house and didn't make it back in time. Anyway, this is not the real subject of the post because that's a pretty straightforward meal.

Tonight we had macaroni and cheese like I've never had before. From what I could gather, this is how it went:

6 cups cooked macaroni
1 chopped onion
1/2 each green and red pepper, cut into short strips
1/2 cup each green beans and peas (I think you could probably use frozen)
1 1/2-2 c shredded cheddar
1 big honking pile of ham cut into big chunks with lots of little flakey bits that have bits of heel on them

Cook the macaroni, if you haven't already. Saute the onion and add some garlic if you want (she might have, I didn't see it), add the peppers and cook till onions are translucent. Add the other vegetables and then stir all of it together into a big dutch oven. Throw the lid on and put it in the over until you figure it's done.

It was actually really good. I think if I was going to try to do it at home, I would probably do a bechemel sauce and add the cheese to that before I stirred it all together. The ham... was divine.

Oh yeah, subtract 2 hours from my post time for Willow River time, I'm actually trying not to adjust too much.

Biscuit mix

Got this one from the 'zaar #209567. I've made it a few times now and so far so good.

10 c flour (or 6 c all purpose white and 4C WW)
1/3 c baking powder
1/4 sugar
2 c shortening (the kind that does not need refridgeration)

cut it up like pastry with a pastry cutter and Bob's yer uncle you are ready to go!

Biscuits:
1c mix
1/4 c milk

soft dough, knead 10 - 12 times roll to 1/2 inch thickness and bake at 450 for 8 - 10 minutes

yeild: 4 biscuits

Muffins:

1 c mix
1 - 3 Tbsp sugar
1 beaten egg
1/4 c milk

stir just until moistened and add whatever fruit/flavourings
bake at 400 for 15 - 20 minutes

yeild: 6

Pancakes:

1 c mix
1 beaten egg
3/4 c milk

stir until mixed (will be lumpy) each pancake uses 3/4 c mix

yeild: 6 pancakes

Whole Orange Cake

That's right, you heard it, the WHOLE orange. It's VERY GOOD and easy too. This is another cake from the Good Food Mag and BBC Books book that Katie got "101 Cakes & Bakes". Both cakes I have made from this book have been super! It's a by weight recipe, so get out your scales boys and girls.

The thing I really like about these cakes is that they are not really sweet.

1 small orange
140 g sugar
3 eggs
85 g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds (bought some at Bulk Barn and the self-raising cake flour too)
50g butter, melted

FOR THE ICING

85g icing sugar
the juice of 1 small sweet orange - I just used OJ from a bottle - unsweetened
creme fraiche to serve (0ptional)

1) Put the orange in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour. remove the orange and cool (I left it overnight)
2) preheat oven to 350 F butter and line an 8 inch deep cake pan ( I buttered and floured it insead of lining - it worked out fine.)
3) take cooled orange and roughly chop it - discard pips - whiz in the food processor until smooth.
4) wisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy and melt the butter (in the microwave)
5) sift flour and ground almonds on to the egg mixture. Using a large metal spoon, fold gently and then add orage puree and melted butter. Fold in gently until just mixed. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until the cake is brown and springs back. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then ice and serve with creme fraiche. - I served the cake iced with tea- it was amazing!!

ICING

mix the icing sugar and just enough OJ to make a drizzley icing. I tried to do a chantilly lace pattern , that is what the pic in the book did.

Make this for tea some day soon - you won't be disapointed!

Chipit Heaven

Okay, this post sat as a draft until Joe found out about the cookies but I originally made them on April 14th.

Original Chipits Cookies
(supposed to make 4 dozen but they're lying)

1 c softened butter
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 bag of Chipits brand chocolate chips (sorry, corporate shill)

Cream butter and sugar then add eggs and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients and gradually blend into the butter. Stir in the whole package of chips (minus any removed for quality control purposes), you can also add a cup of chopped nuts at this point if you want but I couldn't nail Joe down on whether he's for or agin' nuts in his cookies. Slippery bastard, can't make up his damned mind.

Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake 10-12 at 375F although I actually only went for 8 minutes on the good ones.

By the way, if you go to check out the recipes at that link, maybe have a little something to eat first because there's some serious food porn happening there.

The Bisquick Chronicles

I've given this one verbally to Erin over the phone at least once so I thought that this would be a good day to add it to the file. Plus, that's what we had for supper.

Pizza Casserole (6-ish)

3 1/3 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 small cans or one large-ish jar of pizza sauce
2 c grated mozzarella
whatever pizza toppings you be cravin'

Mix the milk and Bisquick in a bowl. Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with baking spray (I'm using my Epicure oil atomizer for this). Drop 1/2 of the Bisquick dough by the spoonful across the bottom of the dish (it won't cover it). Spoon half of the pizza sauce haphazardly over that. Sprinkle half of your toppings and then half of your cheese. Repeat the layers and bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Yummy.

This is even better for breakfast the next day. What?!! Everyone eats pizza for breakfast at some point in their life! According to the Great Wiki, Bisquick has transfats but not cholesterol. I'm not a big fan of the transfats so maybe someone's tried their own pre-mixed baking stuff and can post the recipe? I had a great one back in Ottawa oh so many years ago but not any more.

Tror du att kärlek är som sångerna vi...baka?

Vackert / Cakesters

(For those of you who aren't in with the Swedish language, le titre reads "Do you think love is like the songs we...bake?". Stay tuned to find out why!)

I don't actually know where this recipe came from. Like countless other white sheets of printer paper scrawled upon with marker and/or crayon, it must have been copied down while I was at the computer. If that works as a good prelude for the quality of these cookies (Small cakes? Gâtettes?!), then you're on the right track. The only clue I'd left for myself was the word "Vackert", Swedish for "Beautiful", which had been crossed out and a new title, "CAKESTERS" had been scribbled in green crayola. Beautiful? Hm. These must taste good. So, on a boring Saturday, my boyfriend Daniel and I rolled up our sleeves are prepared to taste beauty.

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx
the.crust
xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx

2 eggs, beaten
1 c. of veg. oil

3 c. flour

1. t baking soda
8 T cocoa
2 c. brown sugar

1 t salt

1 c. milk

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx
the.filling

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx

1 c. shortening
1 1/3 c. milk
2 c. confectioners sugar

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx
and.here's.the.poop
xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx

{{{ HAY YOU! THIS IS FOR THE CRUST! }}}
I. Preheat yer oven to a balmy 350c.
II. Sift all of your dry ingi's together in what will be your master bowl.
III. In a smaller bowl, add all your "wet" ingi's together.
IV. Pour together and grab yourself a good old fashioned wooden spoon. None of that fancy "stand mixer" crap, no sirree. (Kay fine. Use your stand mixers.)
V. Letter' rip until smooth as the cats pyjamas. It should be a vaguely cookie like consistency, if memory serves.
VI. Drop onto a cookie sheet about the size of half a doughnut rolled into like, a ball. (I actually had to sit and think about the size for awhile and this was the best thing I could come up with. Seriously guys.) ...or slightly smaller than a hockey puck. Remember, two of these makes one cookie - so make them thin. (Top + bottom, like a hamburger.)
VII. Give those suckers some hot hot love for anywhere from 5 -7 minutes and let cool on a wire rack. We want these to be crispy and NOT soft at all.

OOoh yeaaah - Step one? COMPLETE. Give yourself a big pat on the back and a run round' the block because these babies are...well. Did you even read the ingredients?

{{{ ALRIGHT NOW LETS GET THAT FILLING DONE! }}}

I. Um...Mix it all together until one solid, creamy blob. I suppose if you were feeling sexy and rebellious, you could add some coconut, sprinkles (Danny squealed like a tiny Japanese schoolgirl, so we added rainbow-balls.) or food-dye, if you're into that sort of thing.

{{{ 1 + 1 = ...3??!! }}}

I. So, just like a hamburger, assemble as such. Only this time around, its a hamburger made of cake. Crust on the bottom, filling, crust on the top. Lather, rinse, repeat.

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx
the.finish-line
xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx

Well, we had the infallible equation of "small chocolate cakes" + "filling" = "Oh god. I need new pants." going for us, but sadly for the indomitable kitchen duo of Danny and Kato, math is dumb. Vakert/Cakesters taught us that EVERYTHING WE KNOW IS WRONG. They were incredibly rich and addictive...but just not. very. good. We haven't made them since, but maybe with a bit of tweaking, they might put stupid math back in its stupid place.

xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx
~ stay fresh everyone. Until next time. ~
xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx --- xxx

Roast Beef

OK, so I did a roast beef (inside round I think) and did the S&P pan fried in olive oil and a bit of butter then rubbed it down with some VE 3 onion dip mix - put it in at @300 until it was 163 on the meat thermometer.

EXTREMLY GOOD!!

then cut up potatoes and carrots roasty style and tossed them with olive oil, 3 onion dip, paprika, celery salt, oregano, basil, s&p, marjoram and thyme. into the oven with you fellows and nummy it was (Katie made me say the last bit! ;P )

Think the herbs provincial (or whatever) that I bought tonight will be good on veg too.

Quick 'N Easy Risotto

Well, since I'm a member of this here blog, and since I cooked something I've never cooked before, I figured I would post something. I've never made risotto before, and I think it turned out all right. I got the recipe off the lid of a Parmesan cheese container, which really is one step above using a recipe off the back of a Ritz cracker box. Admittedly, it was slightly bland. I had hoped the wine would give it more of a kick, but I still enjoyed it.

Here's the recipe, not so much because you'll want to try it, but this way I can throw out the lid.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped mushroom
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup long-grain rice, uncooked
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk

Heat oil on medium heat. Add mushrooms and onion. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in rice, water, and wine. Bring to boil, cover. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in 1/2 cup of cheese and milk. Serve with remaining cheese.

Makes 4 to 6 servings, though I pretty much ate half of it tonight. I'm not sure if you're supposed to have risotto as the main course, but that's how things turned out tonight.

Roast chicken "eurasian style" whatever that means!

Howdy

used a recipe off the zaar - Recipe #10911

I used red wine vinegar instead of red wine. smells pretty good cooking

happy tummies all around.

VE odds and ends

No 'recipe' this time out - just a few things I have used my epicure spices in and worked!

egg salad - lousianna hot and spicy dip with 3 onion dip mix - tasty!

roasted chicken - butter mixed with Tyee fish rub and tapinade spices about 3 to 1 tyee to tapinade. rub the mixture over the chicken and throw some inside the cavity too. Way good!!

Potato wedges done in the oven with - the Tyee rub - also very good
another time I used tziki sauce dip mix with the 3 onion - rockin!

Oh So Yummy Chicken

I don't remember the punny name for it but it's one of the Podleski Sisters' recipes and it was delicious.

12 skinless drumsticks (I substituted 9 thighs cut into 1/3s)
1/4 c liquid honey
2 T cider vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
2 T grainy Dijon mustard
1 t minced garlic
1 t Herbes de Provence
1/4 t each salt and pepper

Arrange the chicken in a 9"x13" sprayed casserole dish. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over the chicken. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, pull the pan out and baste all of the pieces with the sauce. Put it back in for another 20 to 25 or until done. Yummy.

Erin made an amazing garlic and herb bread in the machine and some mixed brown and wild rice. Also some broccoli and cauliflower.

Bread dipped in sauce... mmmmmmmmmmm.

Note added later: They were called Not Humdrumsticks.

Vegetable Stock

Supposed to be simple stuff. I ended up cutting 2 or 3 carrots, a couple of stalks of celery, about a half a cabbage and a bunch of onion and garlic. Sauted them for a little bit and then added a bunch of water. Bay leaf, thyme, black peppercorns and salt. I ended up boiling it for a little longer than I probably should have because it just smelled so good.

Truth be told, it actually tastes a little bland to me so far but I think it'll be a really nice base for the saffron risotto that I'm going to try tomorrow. With crab meat and peas. I'm drooling a little just thinking about it. I'm not sure why I don't make risotto more often, it's a little labour intensive in the making but it tastes so rich and it's so good for me (I believe that my body requires freshly grated parmesan cheese the same way it requires sushi every now and then.

But, yeah, the vegetable stock. Servicable but the taste totally didn't match the aroma. I'll try it again with different root vegetables, maybe a turnip, and definitely fresh herbs next time.

Cedar Plank Salmon and Hot Fudge Monday

Our fish was a little further along in the process than the one in the picture but all of the pictures of cedar plank salmon were boring. So I've never tried this method of cooking fish before and I bought the Tyee Fish Rub without tasting it first. I mixed some into about a 1/4 cup of olive oil until it was sort of somewhere in between sauce and paste. I soaked the planks in a big bowl in my bathtub for about 6 hours then I rubbed a little oil over them, put the salmon down and covered them with paste (and doesn't that sound appetizing?) Threw them into the oven at 325 F (found that number on the net, I didn't know if it was supposed to be a really hot over or not) for about 25 minutes.

After about 10 minutes, Meag came out and predicted that we would soon be hearing from the smoke detector. I didn't know that cedar planks, as they dry in the over, warp upwards into an arch (as opposed to warping downward into a bowl). This meant that, as the fish cooked and released some of the juices with the olive oil mixed in (it's not always attractive but it's really tasty), they were sliding down the arch and dropping to the superhot oven floor. So, note to self: next time you're cooking cedar plank salmon, put a cookie sheet on the rack below.

We never did hear from the smoke detector and if someone can explain to me why I can fill the entire room with acrid woodsmoke it doesn't do a damn thing yet when Meag is boiling water for pasta, we're having to fan it with towels every five minutes, I will bake them their own Triple Ginger Pound Cake.

To console myself over all of the smoke (and because I was having a chocolate jones) I made Hot Fudge Monday. You know those Dr. Oetker Cake & Sauce packages, they come in chocolate, apple, lemon, caramel, etc? It's just like that only you know what's going into it (not that I don't trust Dr. Oetker, he invented baking powder, you know)

Hot Fudge Monday (6 servings)

Cake: 1 cup flour
3/4 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 1/2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t baking powder (thank you Dr. Oetker!)
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup skim milk
2 T vegetable oil

Sauce: 1 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups boiling water

Prepare the cake batter, the original recipe does the separate dry and wet mixing but I just threw them all in a bowl and it worked out just fine. Spread batter evenly in an ungreased 8"x8" baking pan (I've only tried it in pyrex).

Mix the brown sugar and cocoa for the sauce together and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the cake batter. Pour the boiling water gently over the top but don't stir it in (very important!). Bake @ 350 F for 40-45 minutes and then let it stand for about 5 minutes before serving warm. Spoon the sauce from the bottom of the pan over the individual servings of cake. (Only 17% fat)

Oh, yeah. The salmon was f---ing amazing. I ate my first piece of it while standing and dishing the food out onto the plates. It was that good.