Merry Christmas!!

I haven't been this happy on Christmas in a long time. Usually there is one gift every year that I didn't want or have a use for. This year, everything made me happy. Especially my (cheap Wal Mart) espresso maker. I even won $40 with two lottery tickets. Now I get to spend that money tomorrow on coffee supplies.

Any recommendations on what to buy or recipes for coffee syrups? I found a recipe for gingerbread syrup, but I can't make it just yet because I used to last of my molassess last night, making gingerbread cookies.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. What was the best you got this year?

Here's a video of Murray, eating the plant I got him. He was so excited.



And here is a picture of what I got.

One of the Many Christmas Cookies

Ugh. I try so hard to make fudge, but it never turns out perfectly. My thermometer just wouldn't reach 232F, yet it started to burn so I had to turn it off. I'm hoping that letting it chill in the fridge will help it solidify. I really need to test my thermometer.

While I wait on the fudge, here's a cookie that's easy to throw together. It's originally a cookie mix jar recipe, so all the dry ingredients are added together before the wet ingredients. It still came out ok. You can add a festive touch by using red and green MnMs, like I did in my picture.


Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies




1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate (such as MnMs)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a medium bowl, mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and oats. Add butter, water, vanilla, and egg. Mix until combined. Fold in candy.

3. Spoon dough by rounded teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 5 minutes; remove from sheets and place on cooling racks. Makes 3 dozen.

Source: Betty Crocker's Holiday Cookies 2007, p. 72

A Very Busy Moose

Don't worry. I haven't completely dropped off the face of the internet. I've just been busy reading books from the library (novels not textbooks! yay!), baking goodies, cooking dinner, catching up on Scrubs (now halfway through season 6), or out driving like a maniac with the holiday crowd. I'm glad I chose not to go back to work at my seasonal job in the mall until after Christmas. I go back Thursday night *sigh*

Some advice for those making homemade syrup - it is hotter than boiling water and when it gets on your skin, it stays there. I have the blister on my finger to prove it. I can't reveal why I was making it because it's one of my entries for Betty Crocker's cookie contest. I have a few more ideas to try until the deadline in February.

I also bought another cookbook - Southern Living's The Cookies and Candy Cookbook. I haven't used it yet, but since I have leftover evaporated milk, I'm looking into fudge.

Anyway, here's one of the cookies I baked the first night I came home from school from Land-O-Lakes. Enjoy!!


Snickerdoodle Pan Cookies




Bars
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Topping
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 375F. Grease 9x9 pan. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat at medium speed sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add remaining bar ingredients. Beat until well mixed.

3. Spread batter evenly into pan. Sprinkle with topping mixture. Bake 11-13 minutes or until light golden brown and bars begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool 5 minutes. Cut into squares.

Source: Land-O-Lake's 5th Annual Holiday Cookies, 1998 p. 122

Not What He Was Looking For, But Still Delicious

My dad has been trying for the longest time to recreate his mother's recipe of fruit-filled crescents. The recipe she left behind listed three ingredients. That's it - no directions, nothing. I tried my best to recreate the dough, but it was too crumbly. Before I went home for Thanksgiving, I noticed a picture in one of my cookbooks, so I made kolacky for him. Turns out that although they taste very good, I misunderstood my dad. He said they were closed crescents with filling, not kolacky (below) or rugelach. So pretty much I need to make homemade crescents and fill it with fruit preserves. Back to the books.

Anyway, kolacky is a sweet dessert that originated from central Europe (Czech, I believe) and is filled with cheese or fruit fillings. You take a square piece of dough, fill the middle with filling, and pinch two opposite corners together. Although I made the wrong cookie, these lasted 30 minutes in the house. Next time, I want to try adding lemon to the dough because I have poppy seed filling at home.


Golden Kolacky




1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup flour
Fruit preserves (usually found in jars in the baking aisle)

Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl until smooth. Gradually add flour, blending until soft dough forms. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about an hour (do not freeze).

Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 2-in squares for smaller but more cookies, 3-in squares for bigger but fewer cookies. Spoon 1 tsp. preserve in center of each square. Bring up two opposite corners to center; pinch together to seal. Fold sealed tip to one side. If dough becomes too soft, place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely. Makes roughly 2 dozen, depending on size of cookies.

Source: Favorite Brand Name Recipes Grandma's Christmas Cookies, 1997 p. 78

Not Your Typical Pasta

Pasta is one of the cheapest and easy meals any college student can make. All you do is boil water, cook pasta until soft, drain, and sauce. Voila!! You have a meal. Now, what do you do when you eat pasta at least three times a week? Change the sauce. You can go traditional with garlicky basil and tomatoes, classy with stroganoff, spicy with habanero pesto, or crazy with pumpkin sauce. Hmm which reminds me - I should add my creamy garlic sauce and garlic butter sauce soon.

Here are two more pasta varieties. I only recommend the pad thai only if you absolutely love peanut butter. By love, I mean sitting there with a jar and a spoon and happily eating away. I love PB, but the taste was a little intense. However, it tasted better the next day, so maybe it just needed time.

The Mediterranean pasta I made myself. To be traditional, you would use kalamata olives. However, I only had a can of black pitted olives.


Pad Thai with Creamy Peanut Sauce




8 oz rice noodles (or substitute linguine or spaghetti)
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup sugar
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp lime juice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup peas

Sauce
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/8 cup peanut butter
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ginger

1. Place sauce ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth, about 30 sec. Set aside.

2. If using rice noodles, soak them for 30 minutes in hot tap water; drain. They should be flexible but not soft. If using linguine or spaghetti, cook in boiling water until done.

3. Combine water, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, chili powder and lime juice in a small bowl.

4. Saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add garlic and onions; cook until tender. If using rice noodles, add to pan. If using linguine or spaghetti, do not put in pan. Pour ketchup mixture over chicken.

5. Push chicken mixture to side of the pan. Add egg, stirring until cooked. Add peas. If you are using linguine or spaghetti, add to pan as well. Mix in peanut sauce. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Cooking with Carnation Evaporated Milk, 2006 p.14


Mediterranean Pasta



8 oz. pasta, your choice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 small can tuna, drained
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped and drained
1/2 cup olives, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese

Bring water in a small saucepan to a boil. Cook pasta until soft. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onion in oil until tender. Add tuna, tomatoes, and olives. Cook until warm. Add to cooked pasta. Sprinkle with feta. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Recipe by me



Sorry for the horrible lighting, but my dad took a video of Murray being impatient for Christmas.


He's still waiting.

A Nice, Warm Breakfast

What better way to start a snowy, weekend morning than with a warm breakfast? I decided these past two weekends, I would make pancakes. I've never made pancakes before *gasp* My family usually buys the frozen kind, and if we were to make them homemade, my dad would make them. Just like I never learned how to make scrambled eggs (I don't like egg yolk, so I would never make them for myself anyway). I used the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box (which I bought on sale with a coupon for $1) and made eight pancakes each time (to last me all weekend). For those of who not familiar with Bisquick, it's pancake and baking mix in a box. It's typically made up of dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, etc.

The first weekend, I made chocolate chip pancakes. So good you don't need to add butter or syrup. Two things I learned - always make sure your burner is level (3 out of 4 are crooked on our stove) and never, EVER put water in the hot skillet right after the last pancake is finished. I always do that everytime I make dinner so it is easier clean up later. Let's just say there was so much steam/smoke I was this close to setting off the smoke alarm *cough* I posted below Bisquick's recipe. When I run out of Bisquick, I'll be looking at pancakes totally from scratch.

The second weekend (yesterday) I made gingerbread pancakes. I've been craving gingerbread ever since the holiday season started. I didn't think these had enough gingerbread flavor, but then again I didn't have cloves to add. If I can find a reasonably-priced bottle of cloves, I'll have to try this recipe again. If you make this with cloves, let me know how it tastes.


Chocolate Chip Pancakes




1 cup Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (feel free to use nuts, raisins, blueberries, etc.)

In a bowl, mix together Bisquick, milk, and egg. Fold in chocolate chips. In a heated skillet, pour 1/4 cup batter in a circular motion. Pancake is ready to flip when bubbles form on the surface. Repeat until batter is gone. Makes 8 pancakes.

Source: Back of Bisquick box


Gingerbread Pancakes




2/3 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup Bisquick
1/8 cup molasses
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
Powdered sugar, for dusting

In a bowl, mix together Bisquick and spices. Add milk, molasses, and egg. Let chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes. In a heated skillet, pour 1/4 cup batter in a circular motion. Pancake is ready to flip when bubbles form on the surface. Repeat until batter is gone. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 8 pancakes.

Source: Recipe Zaar

Is it Friday yet??

One week from today, I'll be in my nice, warm bed cuddled with a nice, warm furball. Actually, he sleeps in odd places, so he'll probably be on the floor while I'm on my bed. That's right - the end of fall semester is near. Every year it's the same - I have a crapload of work due BEFORE finals week, and finals week is relaxation (except for my chem final). Why comm. majors do it backwards? Beats me. All I know is my ten-page research paper on minority representation in prime time programming is done. I'll get my grade back Thursday *cough* I'm hoping for a B+. And that's pretty damn good, considering what we are doing in one class is what grad students do throughout grad school. Thank goodness I have no plans for grad school.

Anyway, I've been too busy writing my paper to do anything in the kitchen. However, I do have another recipe to post from Thanksgiving break. Enjoy!!


Pumpkin Raisin Bread




1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp ginger)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, spices, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in raisins. Spoon batter into pan.

Bake 60-65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Source: Very Best Baking

New Blog On The Web

Who here doesn't have an addiction to either coffee, tea, or both? I'm a huge coffee person, although I do drink tea occasionally. If I wasn't so worried about my caffeine intake, I would drink coffee everyday! My favorite coffee chain is Dunkin Donuts because they give me coupons all the time, and let's face it - I'm a broke college student who can use all the coupons she can get. I almost always get a latte (the exception is when I have a free coupon for an iced coffee), whether it's hot or iced. Someday I'll learn how to make my own lattes and stop buying from corporate chains. I also love going into coffee houses, but I do that occasionally because they can be quite expensive for my budget.

There was a recent consumer report on the news about how decaf coffee does not mean caffeine-free. I actually knew that decaf coffee still had about 10% of the caffeine. But did you know there is no regulation of how much caffeine can be put into decaf coffee? Researchers took the smallest size of decaf coffee from six famous coffee chains and determined how much caffeine each cup had. Although most had less than 5 mg, Starbucks had 21 mg, Seattle's Best had 28 mg, and Dunkin Donuts had 32 mg. Although those numbers are significantly less than a caffeinated coffee, which is roughly 100 mg, you have to be careful you don't drink too much decaf.

So why the fuss about coffee and tea? Because of the recent grand opening of Kettle and Cup, a blog solely dedicated to all things coffee and tea. Marye and her husband are so obsessed, they have their own brand of roasted coffee! Damn, I wish I was that lucky!! What's the next best thing? Winning a pound of their roasted coffee. Head on over to Kettle and Cup for more details on the grand opening give-away.