My family isn't competitive at all. Really.

A few weeks ago, I visited one of my favorite cousins, Semra. We have a lot in common, but the most obvious similarities are our love of baking and our competitive spirit. When it comes to baking, we have different personalities. I focus on taste and follow all the rules, but struggle in the presentation arena - for Semra, creative liberties and presentation are the best part about baking. Together we are an unstoppable team. Which is good because we also love winning. My first day in Florida, we were participating in a pie baking contest. Where some would see this as good, clean fun, we saw it as an opportunity to crush competition and win the day (nicely of course). We set out to make the most amazing pie ever. What resulted was our award-winning apple, blackberry crumble pie.


Because we basically made this recipe up and Semra is not nearly as OCD as I am, I cannot tell you the exact ingredients or specific steps to make this pie, but here is what I can tell you - 


We coated slices of Granny Smith Washington apples and blackberries in sugar and placed the sugary fruit in the pie crust.  Then, we mixed softened butter, cinnamon sugar and oats together to make a crumble topping, which we spread on top of the fruit. Finally, we latticed the pie (this was all new to me) and coated it with melted butter. We baked it at 350 degrees until it looked done. 


The end result? Success.

New year, new muffins

In the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, I recently decided to make healthy muffins for the office. I found some intriguing recipes in the New York Times and tried my luck. 

The carrot cake muffins were my favorite. Both muffins were very low in sugar, but the spices in the carrot cake provided enough flavor that I didn't miss the sugar. Plus they were more photogenic...

The steel-cut oatmeal and blueberry muffins were good, but a little bland. They were best right out of the oven with a little bit of butter. I didn't cook the oatmeal first before adding it in, so this may have contributed to the blandness. Still, I loved eating a muffin with real blueberries and not that scary artificial substitute.  

The office was divided on which they liked best, so try both recipes and decide for yourself!

I'm in full baking and cooking mode and trying out lots of recipes, so more to come soon!

How My Family Celebrates Christmas...

Nothing says Merry Christmas like wine, cheese and baked goods...

My dad experimented with the turkey this year by baking it with Miller Lite. I am not making this up. In spite of what sounded like the turkey exploding seconds before the timer went off, it actually worked. Holiday miracle or genius kitchen discovery? We may never know. 

And in all the excitement, I forgot to take a picture. 

Happy Holidays!

For me the holidays are synonymous with baking. It just doesn't feel like Christmas until every surface in my house is covered with a baked good.

This year, over the course of one week, I made an assortment of six different baked goods:

Bourbon Truffles - It's not a holiday until bourbon is involved. This recipe was far more successful than my previous attempt, which produced mutant bourbon balls that resembled jabba the hut instead of a holiday confection. Still, bourbon truffle making is far more complicated and messy than other bourbon desserts. For a holiday go-to, I'd stick with bourbon brownies.

Buckeyes - I may not be a big Ohio State fan, but I can't help but love these addictive candies. Be prepared - the recipe yields an absurd amount of buckeyes. Also, I cut out a cup and a half or so of the confectioner's sugar. The candies are still very sweet and 6 cups of sugar is insane.

Donut Hole Cookies - This recipe was on one of my favorite blogs and I knew I had to try it this year. It's as good as it looks and definitely a cookie I will make again!

Classic Rice Krispy Treats - Perfect recipe if you're pressed for time. I'd forgotten how good homemade rice krispies are. The website has some great ideas for making them look more festive if you're feeling especially creative, but I was not nearly that ambitious.

To balance my baked goods out with something "healthy"...

Crispy Honey Nut Granola - This was surprisingly easy to make, though mine did not turn out as nice as the ones pictured on Once Upon A Chef, but that is nothing new.

Healthy Peanut Butter Coconut Cookies - I agree with the blogger, these are perfect for breakfast!

Merry Christmas!

A belated happy Thanksgiving

It is pretty sad when you have a food blog, but no Thanksgiving post. I'm not sure a belated Thanksgiving post has the same luster and excitement as a pre-holiday blog, but it's worth a shot.


This year, inspired by one family's pie-to-person ratio, I packed my Derby pie in a travel dish and headed to my extended family's Thanskgiving dinner.  Though we didn't have more pies than people, we came close enough. 


Along with the pie, I made a quick, easy and delicious roasted green beans with cranberries and walnuts dish I found at Once Upon a Chef.    It was a hit with a notoriously picky crowd and it literally took me 20 minutes to make (I cut my prep time by using frozen french cut green beans). 


I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bourbon Brownies

At the beginning of the summer I vowed to try new bourbon recipes from my Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook. Admittedly, this resolution has gotten off to a slow start.  To date, I have only made two recipes - Chicken Kentuckiana and Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Lime Bourbon Glaze. Fortunately last weekend I got back on track with Bourbon Brownies.  The recipe required some ingenuity - like devising my own double boiler...

Not as attractive as a Dutch oven, but it does the trick.

I couldn't find the exact recipe from my cookbook and don't want to run into any copyright issues, but here is a quick overview of what's required. First, you soak pecans in bourbon until they absorb half of the bourbon (roughly a half an hour). Then you toast the bourbon-soaked pecans and put aside the bourbon for later in the baking process. Next, you use the double boiler (or a contraption similar to the pic above) to melt unsweetened chocolate, butter and margarine. Once you've cooled the chocolate mixture, you stir in flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa and the left over bourbon. Then you bake (in my oven, this took 15 minutes longer than the prescribed 25 minutes)...

YUM!

The end result is fantastic, fudgy, and deliciously bourbon-y.

Philly: A wonderful foodie break from the GMATs

I have been a bad food blogger in 2011. I mistakenly thought I would have to rededicate to this blog time after my crazy work project ended, but did not account for how much studying for the GMATs would start to dominate my life. Instead of baking or trying new restaurants in the past few months, I've been trying new equations and GMAT tutoring. I have another month left, but desperately needed a break from the food desert and studying, so last weekend I went to Philadelphia with my sister and cousin. We had a wonderful time and discovered some great restaurants along the way!

We started out our Philly adventure at my favorite bar, the Continental Mid-Town. I discovered this lounge with my friend Liz on my first trip to the city and have gone back every time I visit. It serves delicious classic cocktails and has fun, mod decor. I love it.

Our next stop was the Dandelion Pub, a delightful and delicious restaurant. The menu has a range of intriguing and inventive dishes. We ordered gemelli pasta with spring squash, pattypans, and zuchhini blossoms - it was one of the best pasta dishes I've had this year. The pickled beetroot jar with olive tapenade, goats cheese, and sourdough toast was also a hit, and the devilled eggs were amazing. The decour was inviting and whimsical.

For dessert, we went across the street to Serafina, a New York import with an impressive menu. We shared a rich chocolate hazelnut cake and a light berry tart.  It was the perfect way to end our meal.

The next day, I took over fork: etc. at breakfast to study for the GMATs while my sister and cousin went to the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall. While there, I had a flaky cinnamon roll, a blue cheese pear scone, and fresh fruit (and yes, it was difficult to chose only those three). As well as their tempting pastry selection, fork: etc, had friendly service and a laid-back atmosphere perfect for a local cafe.

I met my sister and cousin at Franklin Fountain, where they were having ice cream. An old fashioned soda shop to its core, Franklin Fountain is great fun, but backs up its decor with great ice cream. This may be a regular stop on my future Philly trips.

We stopped by Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks on our way out of town. We agreed that Pat's had better bread, but overall we liked Geno's more. Before starting the long drive back, we stopped the Italian Market to pick up some provisions from DiBruno Brothers. Walking in was like heaven. The whole store smelled like cheese, olive oil, and cured meats. The staff is friendly and let us try lots of samples. We walked away with half a pound of prosciutto and two amazing cheeses. Unfortunately the prosciutto didn't survive the car ride home...thanks to me.

Cooking with Bourbon: Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime Bourbon Glaze

This recipe is as good as it sounds. It may be the best thing I've ever cooked (which obviously means it's an easy recipe). The glaze is a great spicy and sweet combination that complements the flavor of the salmon. It's perfect over white rice.

YUM!

My new favorite bar...

My two favorite places to get drinks in Old Town are Restaurant Eve and The Majestic, so I was thrilled when I found out that Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong were opening Virtue Feed and Grain, an Irish pub/lounge.  My two favorite bartenders (Ken and Mike) moved to Virtue, so I knew the drinks would live up to their reputation.  I wasn't disappointed, my all time favorite cocktail, Eve's Temptation is back on the menu at Virtue after being out of rotation at Restaurant Eve for over a year.  Not to mention, the prices are more moderate.  I like the casual feel and atmosphere at Virtue, but it can get quite loud on Friday and Saturday nights.  Overall, it's a great addition to the waterfront and definitely my favorite place to hang out this summer!

Saying goodbye to strawberry season

Strawberries have always been my favorite fruit, so I'm sad that strawberry season is coming to a close. To make the most of the fresh strawberries at my local farmer's market, my friend Emily and I made Martha Stewart's Strawberry Icebox Pie:

Not quite as picturesque as Martha's pie, but still delicious!

Say what you will about Martha, she has some good pie recipes. The strawberry filling augmented the strawberry taste instead of overwhelming the strawberry flavor with sugar. But we did modify other parts of the recipe.  I had several pre-made pie crusts at hand, so we baked one of those instead of making the graham cracker crust. We also substituted the whipped cream with mascarpone cheese, which was a nice twist. In all, it was the perfect way to get the most out of strawberry season.

Kentucky Cooking in Oklahoma

 Determined to keep my summer resolution to cook with bourbon once a week, I decided my mom and I should try a recipe together. Forced mother-daughter bonding activities can get tense, but fortunately we had fun making the recipe and neither of us walked away traumatized. 

We picked out Chicken Kentuckiana, a fried chicken dish with a spinach and mushroom bourbon cream sauce. I would love to post the recipe, but unfortunately think there might be some copyright issues, so the best I can do is refer you to The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook's Amazon page. 

We modified the recipe slightly as we had skinless, boneless chicken breasts and used vegetable oil. My mom is a big advocate of always washing your chicken in warm water, so that helped the flour stick to the chicken, and the vegetable oil worked just fine for frying. The end result was great, and our approach was a bit healthier than the original recipe.  

Our healthier take on "fried" chicken.

While finishing cooking the fried chicken in cream sauce, we were concerned because the sauce was not thickening. Fortunately, my mom knew just what to do! She put a tablespoon of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of hot water and stirred so the starch dissolved. Once we added that to the sauce, it thickened nicely...

The bourbon cream sauce in mid-thicken

Chicken Kentuckiana was delicious and is dish I will be making again.  We ate it over rice, but the recipe also suggested mashed potatoes.  

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, my dad decided to make his fried green tomatoes!  They turned out great, and fortunately, I can share this recipe:

1) Mix Louisiana Fish Fry (in the cornmeal section of the grocery store) with a dash of Old Bay seasoning. 

2)Thinly slice green tomatoes. 

3) Combine 2-3 egg whites in a bowl and set to the side. (You can also whisk 2 full eggs together if you'd prefer.) 

4) In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. 

5) While the oil is heating, dip your tomatoes in the egg whites and cover both sides with the fish fry/seasoning mix. 

6) Place the tomatoes in the pan (they shouldn't touch each other and should leave room for you to maneuver), and when the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. 

7) Drain fried tomatoes on paper towels.

8) Serve and enjoy!

Oklahoma City Highlights

I visited my parents in Oklahoma City last week and took the opportunity to check out the local fare.

I was disconcerted when the waiter at Bricktown Brewery, told me the restaurant was taking fruits and veggies off their menu, but fortunately not all the restaurants were as committed to spreading obesity.  Zorba's Mediterranean Cuisine had tons of delicious dishes with fresh veggies, fruits, and herbs - not to mention the very un-DC prices!  I also loved Picasso's in the artsy Paseo neighborhood, they had an amazing fresh beet, goat cheese, and arugula salad, but my favorite thing was their homemade cheesecake drizzled with strawberry kiwi champagne sauce.

Zorba's and Picasso's were the highlights, but I also enjoyed Cajun King (what's not to love about endless fried catfish and beignets), Cattlemen's (great burgers), and Mi Pueblo (unpretentious, classic Tex Mex).

As much fun as I had exploring the local fare, my favorite food experiences were trying out some new recipes on my parents and learning some of their cooking tricks...more on that soon!

Shake Shack is here!

For ages I've been reading about how amazing Shake Shack is - but  I never seemed to make it there while in New York. Luckily for me, a Shake Shack recently opened in Dupont.

It was well worth the wait.  I think Shake Shack's burger may be better than Ray's Hell Burger. I got the single and it was unbelievably delicious, but wasn't so rich and filling that I felt like I needed to change into sweat pants and take a nap just to recover from the simple act of eating a burger.  The fries were very good too, but perhaps my favorite thing were the concretes.  The concretes are made of dense custard mixed at high speed with toppings and mix-ins - the result is the creamiest custard I've ever tasted, add in the mouth-watering flavor combinations, and it's a crippling addiction.

I can't wait to go back.

Summer Resolution: cook with bourbon once a week

In this blog, I have documented my love of bourbon (as well as cupcakes).  For my birthday, I received some new bourbon inspiration thanks to my friend Liz...

Aside from the mouthwatering pictures of Kentucky bourbon French toast with Kentucky bourbon blueberry syrup, the book gives a good overview of bourbon 101.  The book also is broken into season to encourage fresh ingredients...though I'm pretty sure that French toast should be made year round.  

I've been dying to try a recipe, but haven't had the chance until now.  I kicked off my bourbon cooking spree with my old favorite, Derby pie.  But from here on out, I'm going to try a new bourbon recipe and share the results.

Let the bourbon cooking begin!

The longest blog lapse EVER...

I love this blog and many times over the past few months have wanted to write an entry.  But in the midst of working crazy hours and moving, blogging just hasn't been possible. 

Fortunately, this has not been the case with eating.  So I'll leave you with the highlights from my Chicago trip and I promise to write more soon (and by "soon" I mean later this week, NOT three months from now).

Koi, a sushi restaurant in Evanston, had the best sushi I have ever tasted.  It was an excellent recommendation from my office mate - I'm so glad I made it there.  Here were my two favorite dishes -

Chicago Maki - Salmon, avocado, and cream cheese topped with spicy tuna, crabmeat, tobikko, green onion, and sumo sauce

Dragon Fire Maki - Shrimp tempura topped with salmon, super white tuna, tobikko, green onion, spicy mayo, and unagi sauce, the baked and served warm.

I also checked out a local pastry shop, Bennison's.  It was delicious - I tried macaroons, a doughnut, and the sad face cookie (if only because it's awesome they had a sad face cookie).  All were amazing.  Wish I'd had room for the cupcakes though...

My all-time favorite Sesame Street character in cupcake form

Meatless Monday: Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro

Last month I promised to make Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro, and I finally got around to doing it.  Minus the chopping, which always takes me ages (even with the help of a Slap Chop and food processor), the recipe isn't too difficult and took about 50 minutes.  I substituted olive oil for the vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of ground red pepper for the 2 teaspoons of chili powder and used a sweet yellow onion instead of a white onion.  The dish was still delicious, even when I reheated it today for lunch.  Definitely a great healthy recipe.  

Ingredients Prior to the Olive Oil Swap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final product

The Best Homemade Cupcake Ever

Way back in January, my friends and I made the best homemade cupcakes I have ever had. I was not alone in thinking this - I took them to work, and my coworkers raved. 

A friend got the recipe from a friend, but after an exhaustive search, no one could identify where it was from...but it is too good not to share, so I've included it in this post. If it looks familiar, please let me know the source so I can give credit where it is due (whoever dreamed this recipe up is genius).

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PB ICING:

Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients:
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
 
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour the cupcake pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a use wooden spoon) and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, use just less than one cup of regular milk and add one tablespoon white vinegar.  Wait 5 minutes.  You can use that instead of buttermilk!), oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. It will be very liquid-y. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. (if you are making a cake, it's 35 - 40 minutes) Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.  The cupcakes will have flat tops. I filled mine almost up to the top of the cupcake liners.  It made 24 large cupcakes AND 12 mini cupcakes.  The mini cupcakes were a great size actually because they are so rich!

Peanut Butter Icing Ingredients: 
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 jar of smooth peanut butter

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (I used a regular one since I have a hand mixer w/out a paddle). Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. (I mixed until creamy and then whipped until fluffy by hand.) Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.  You will have a little frosting left over after icing all the cupcakes, but this way someone can lick the bowl! :) Plus, the frosting is so good, you want to put a lot of it on the cupcakes! 

End Result
(Snowman decoration courtesy of my mom.)

Meatless Monday: Quinoa Part 2

Last week I vowed to expand my quinoa horizons and take on some quinoa dishes. I planned to make Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro, but I experimented with Quinoa Breakfast Porridge instead.  The dish took about 25 minutes from start to finish and is very easy to make. It has a crunchy texture and the almonds accentuate the quinoa's nutty taste. The apricots add flavor, but I think I'd add more than the recipe suggests. It tastes good without sugar, but a little brown sugar would really enhance the cinnamon flavor. In all, it's a breakfast staple in my house! 

Meatless Monday: Quinoa

Last month I heard an NPR story about the rising demand for quinoa that sparked my interest in the seed, which is high in protein and iron. Since then, I've started to see quinoa everywhere - in salads, wraps and on every other shelf at Trader Joe's. Quinoa has a nutty flavor that lendss itself to many dishes, but its more notable for its chewy texture. So far I've had a pretty casual food relationship with quinoa, adding it to lunch wraps and "cooking" frozen Trader Joe's Quinoa Duo with Vegetable Melange dishes, but nothing that requires extensive preparation or effort. If you haven't tried quinoa, easy or pre-prepared dishes are a great place to start.

But now that I've established that I like quinoa and mastered the easy preparation, it's time to stop being lazy and get cooking. So this week, I'm going to try a recipe for Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro and post the results in next week's Meatless Monday blog.

Meatless Valentine's Monday: A Day for Chocolates

The best thing about Valentine’s Day is the chocolate.  But as anyone who’s experienced the Russel Stover’s chocolates knows, it can also be extremely scarring when you bite into that mint toothpaste chocolate, or worse, the orange cream chocolate of death. 

Fortunately, DC has some great local chocolatiers, so you can completely avoid the gamble chocolate scenario.  My two favorite chocolate spots are ACKC and Artisan Confections. Best of all, both are mostly meatless (ACKC does offer a bacon chocolate bar but has many delicious meatless options).  So happy Valentine's Day and Meatless Monday!