Thursday, September 23, 2010

Awesome Popcorn!

At the west side market in cleveland, tucked away in the back corner is an AWESOME popcorn shop. Its called Campbell's popcorn. They have TONS of flavors. My favorite is the Cheezy popcorn. I tried the Dill pickle popcorn this time. But it was too sour. I love dill, LOVE LOVE LOVE dill. But this popcorn had too much citric acid in it.

Try it out next time you head out to the west side market. They give out free samples!

Granola Bars

Usually when I bake for my husbands work, I try new recipes that I find online, OR i just make cookies. I know im boring! With 2 kids running around, potty training one, yelling at the other, filling sippy cups, cleaning up accidents on the floor, doing laundry, thinking about dinner, taking care of our renters, paying bills ... etc... I dont have much time to bake! But truly it is my passion. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake.  So when my husband tells me at 3pm on a tuesday that the following day they are having a pot luck lunch. Yah at 3pm!  He did tell me that I didnt have to make anything. BUT that's not me. Im always the one to send in a crap load of food!
So this time, I made Granola Bars! And they were SOOOOO good. I used a mixture of Raisins, apricots and..... drum roll please...... Hawthorne Berries... I highly doubt that anyone reading this knows what these are. And if you don't live near a China town, you won't find these sugary goodness. We LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Even though I dont understand why noone truly knows what they look like lol.   The Hawthorne berries are cut into strips and rolled in sugar and are so yummy. It kinda reminds you of eating a fruit roll up but cut into strips. So good.


Enough of me talking... here is the recipe!





Granola Bars
1 1/8 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cup corn syrup

3/4 cup butter, melted

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup craisins

1 c dried fruit


In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Combine the remaining ingredients; add to peanut butter mixture and stir to coat. Press into two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pans. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Don't overbake or they will get crispy. When they come out of the oven, run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the pan a little. Cool on wire racks. Cut into bars. Yield: 3 dozen.


(If you would like to incorporate Peanut butter into this recipe, cut the Corn Syrup back to 3/4 cup and add 1 cup of peanut butter.)

Limoncello Recipe

I should've posted this before, when I posted the Limoncello pictures. Here is the recipe to it.

Limoncello

15 lemons
2 bottles min. 80 proof vodka
4 cups sugar
5 cups water


Wash the lemons to remove wax and pat dry. Zest the lemons with a peeler. Try not to get any of the pith (white part) on the lemon rind.  We are only using the lemon peels for this recipe. So take the remainder of the lemon and squeeze the juice out. I freeze the juice for lemonade later. It's a great way to add ice cubes to lemonade when its hot out.

Put the peels in a large glass jar. Add one bottle of vodka and seal the jar tightly in a cool, dark place for at least 2 weeks.

After the 2 week resting period, combine sugar and water in a saucepan and boil until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the sugar water to cool. Add syrup and the other bottle of codka to the limoncello mixture that has been resting for 2 weeks. Allow to sit for another 30 days (a month)

Strain out the lemon peels through a piece of cheesecloth. Pour the limoncello into another container. Press the peels down to get all the extra flavor out of the peels. Stir the limoncello. Put the Limoncello into clean bottles and seal tightly (I used the vodka bottles)  Let the Limoncello sit for another week before drinking.  Store it in the freezer.

Butterscotch Cookies

(sorry no pics with this one, we ate them too quickly!)

It's been SOOOOO cold lately.. I love it though! Its time to fire up the stove and bake anything I can think of! Oh and Make lots of apple cider, or mulled cider.
For some reason this time of year makes me think of butterscotch. Im really not sure why. I found a Butterscotch Cookie recipe online through stumbleupon, and I felt the need to try it. Recipe and pictures below.

YOU BET YOUR BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES
http://dujourmag.com/blog/kitchy-weekends-butterscotch-cookies/

makes 2 dozen
1 stick softened butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup butterscotch chips



1. preheat the oven to 375 F
2. cream the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl (I only used spatula to creaming the butter and sugar)
3. add the egg and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar. Blend the ingredients well.
4. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda in the other mixing bowl. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture. Blend it well. You have cookie dough! Now mix the butterscotch chips into the dough.
5. Spoon the dough onto the greased cookie sheets to make these drop cookies. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Allow the cookies to cool before eating them

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My favorite Food Blog sites

These are in no order of which are my favorite. Just a random order of some of my favs. There are sooooo many more. But for now, check these ones out!


http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.userealbutter.com/
http://www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/
http://www.amandascookin.com/
http://www.cupcakeproject.com/
http://www.thepressedpastrychef.com/
http://www.honeyneverspoils.com/
http://www.momswhothink.com/
http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/
http://www.theparsleythief.com/
.http://annies-eats.com/

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Sour Cream Double Chocolate Banana Bread


Adapted from Savory Sweet Life Chocolate Banan Bread

•Unsalted butter, 8 tablespoons (1 stick), softened
•Granulated sugar, 1/4 cup
•Brown sugar, 1/4 cup
•Egg, 1 large
•Ripened bananas, 2 large, mashed
•Sour cream (low fat okay), 1/2 cup
•Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
•All-purpose flour, 1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon to be tossed with the dark chocolate
•Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
•Cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons
•Salt, 1/8 teaspoon
•Dark chocolate chips, 1 cup, coarsely chopped

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, banana, sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended, about a minute. Add 1 cup of flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Mix until everything is well incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Toss dark chocolate with 1 tablespoon of flour. This will ensure that they don’t sink to the bottom of the bread when they bake. Mix dark chocolate into the batter.

Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes (mine took 53 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from the heat and allow bread to rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the pan to release the bread. Let the bread cool on a cooling rack. You can serve this bread warm, though it will slice better when it’s completely cool after about an hour and a half.

 
 
 
 
 

Mulled Apple Cider

Last year around this time we went to Patterson's fruit farm with our friends. We bought hot apple cider, apple chips and apples. Then sat on the patio and watched people walk the trails. It was an amazing view of the trees changing colors and is so enjoyable to drink hot apple cider! This year we will go again to buy pumpkins, drink cider and play on the playground with the kids.
Yesterday I couldnt wait any longer for apple cider. So I decided to break out the apple juice and Mulling spices that I have. I bought Mulling spiced tea bags last year at Patterson's.

Its really simple to make.
Fill a pan with apple juice, add tea bags and boil.  Fill up your cup and drink it on a nice cold night!



Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!

Found this FABULOUS recipe.. Unfortunately i have NO pics for you guys. But heres the recipe!
(jessica this is for you!)


Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins


Time: about 90 minutes

Yield: 30 muffins

Recipe from  http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2010/08/double-chocolate-zucchini-muffins.html




4 C flour

1 1/2 C sugar

1/2 C cocoa

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

3/4 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 1/2 C oil

1 1/2 C milk

3 eggs

2 t vanilla

2 C shredded zucchini

1 1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips (the original recipe calls for only 1 C, but I added an extra 1/2 C......I can't help myself, I've got a chocolate addiction, seriously.)
1. Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk. Add the zucchini to the wet ingredients.

2. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl with a wooden spoon.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir, just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and you are ready for the muffin pan baby.

4. Line your muffin tin with cupcake holders and fill a bit more than 2/3 of the way full.

5. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes.

limoncello

peeling 40 lemons finally paid off! It took about 40 days to make. Just sugar, water, vodka and lemon peels!
It smelled so delish! I ended up with about 6 of these bottles! Now its time to make pizza.. Ive already put my request in for a Pizza Stone from Santa... lets hope he gets my letter ... i wonder if i put enough postage on that thing... maybe i'll have to ask again.. I could always use 2 if he gets a duplicate of the letter :)

Its a sad sad day to be a deep fryer.... 2003-2010


RIP deepfryer.. you were with me through many many years. You've cooked many many recipes for me. I will never forget you. You were my first deep fryer.. I hope you find lots of other deep fryers at the dump.  RIP deep fryer....

teriyaki chicken

I grew up H-A-T-I-N-G.... chinese food.. My parents would get chinese take out, and on the way home they would swing through mickey D's to grab me something else. Well who would've thought that I would marry an asian man?? I remember when I first met him, i wouldn't even eat rice lol.. Things changed  after 5 yrs of marriage and 7 yrs of being together. Now  I recreate asian dishes. Its quite entertaining actually.

One of my favorite dishes is teriyaki chicken. I buy a teriyaki sauce from china town. The brand is Kikkoman but its kinda pricey. Like 4 bucks a bottle. So i decided to start making my own sauce. And WOW is it yummy!

Teriyaki Sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c soy sauce (low sodium is best!)
1/4 c cider vinegar
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper in a saucepan. Boil for a minute or so. Watch so it doesnt boil over. Stir cornstarch and water and slowly pour into sauce pan. Heat sauce until bubbly. Remove from heat and set aside.


Chicken thighs are best! Boneless skinless works well. If not use chicken breast. Slice into small chunks, saute until done. Add teriyaki sauce and stir well. Heat for a minute or two until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken.

Pour mixture over white or brown rice. Its super sweet and YUMMMMMO!


simmering the liquids...


favorite soy sauce!

all done~!


cooking it together

ready for consumption! lol My son ate almost everything in this bowl! kids love it~!

Flag Cake

After 10 days of my husband being a US citizen.. I finally made him a cake. I know Im super delayed on these posts. We were in michigan visiting some friends and honestly I really havent had time for this blog.. Sorry to all my stalkers.. he he...

For the cake, i decided to make a pumpkin flavor. I really love Cream cheese frosting. And what goes better with cream cheese frosting than Pumpkin flavored cake???? I used the same recipe I do for pumpkin rolls. The cake is a 2 layer with cream cheese in the center.

I found a picture of this cake in a Ina Garten cookbook. Shes definitely my fav Food network star~! Her dishes are soooo good. And they are things that normal people eat. Not those crazy meals that five star restaurants serve, and noone really knows what it is. Ive made Granola bars from her recipes and they were So good. I made this cake, and the lemon bread was from her too! I borrowed the book from the library and was really impressed.




       Bake 2 sheet cakes. Slice off the top to make it even...

layer on some cream cheese frosting.... Set the second cake ontop and try to make sure its on even.


Cover the cake with cream cheese frosting. ... Start the design with fresh raspberries and blueberries



VOILA~! Happy Citizenship to my Hubby~!!!


For the cakes:


4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2½ cups packed light-brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1½ cups canned pumpkin (not pie filling)



For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract