It's pumpkin time.

Fall is most certainly my favorite time of year, and not lease among reasons for this is the emergence of pumpkin! Thus I have brought home a can of the glorious orange goo and will be making treats...for the next few months :)

I started off with a recipe for Pumpkin Muffins with a Walnut Streusel, but alas I had to substitute a walnut-less streusel.

They were quite delicious and a quick recipe. Usually a streusel can push a dish over to being slightly too sweet, but it seems that this recipe took consideration of that sweetness and appropriately adjusted the muffin measurements. Good job "Blogging Over Thyme." Walnut Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

Sweet Memories

Do you have food that is made better just because of the memories attached to them? These Arabic sweets are just that for me. My good friend Laith has brought them back from Jordan for the past 4 years. He's been one of my best friends since the awkward years at the beginning of college to the more fabulous dressed senior year.  Freshman year we would get together, snack on them, and watch Grey's Anatomy. Now we get together, snack on them, drink red wine, and watch project runway. Some things wonderfully stay the same.

My description of the sweets is that they are all pistachio (some have just pine nuts) variations of Baklava which is layers of filo pastry, nuts, and honey. Kelley's favorite was what we called "the bird's nest." Mine is the filo pastry with a ton of pistachios in the middle because face it, the best part is the sweet nuts.

Almond Panna Cotta

You know, just chilling with some almond panna cotta while looking over my Italy travel sketchbook, no biggie.

Panna cotta is a mitxture of cream, milk, sugar, and unflavored gelatin so it becomes the texture of flan but tastes more like a mellower ice cream.
I made this wonderful dessert for several reasons:
1. Its delicicous, everyone should try it
2. I had extra cream from an Ice cream recipe that needed to be used
3. I felt like reminiscing a little and pretending I was back in Italy.

I used a basic recipe and then modified it by replacing half the cream with my version of almond milk. I let maybe a third of a cup of almonds soak in 2 cups of milk in the fridge for two days, then blended it, and finally strained it. Then I added around a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of vanilla (almond extract would be ideal but alas i had none) . Next time I suggest just using straight up almond milk because my way was a little time consuming, but if you have some almonds waiting in your pantry to be used like I did, then go right ahead. Also, I suggest making it a day in advanced, the cup I ate the next day had a much stronger almond flavor. This is a great recipe to keep classic or modify and add whatever flavor you want so go experiment!

Good Girls Go To Paris

This weekend I traveled to visit a friend near Detroit and we spent a 95 degree day romping around town. Needless to say, we desperately needed a delicious meal to top it off, so we went to Good Girls Go To Paris Crepes in midtown. ...and it was delicious.

We split a savory and a sweet crepe. The savory was the Dana- chicken, brie, sun dried tomatoes, and herbs.

For the sweet we got the Melissa- lemon and ricotta topped with brown sugar and lemon cookie crumble. Sounds terrible, right?

Cherry and Raspberry Pie

Sometimes when you try something new it fails. Facts of life here, food can be deep. This valuable lesson was taught to me by a pie crust. Although I think the end result looked pretty good  (the woven top crust made me feel like an accomplished housewife from the 50s or Bree Van de Kamp, which I guess is the same thing in the end) but unfortunately was too tough. I think I may have overworked it so next time I think store bought crust is going to have to do.

The filling on the other hand was heavenly. The recipe for cherry pie required 4 cups of cherries but after half an hour of pitting cherries I was left with only 2 cups so the other half was some frozen raspberries I was keeping for an emergency just like this. The combination was actually perfect, it was sweet but still tart and bright, the cherries gave some body and the raspberries broke down and rounded out the flavors. Next time I'm just making the filling. I'll find ways to use it, crepes, biscuits, by it self... seriously it was that good. So to recap: things fail, crust bad, filling amazing.

Sake House

For the second Blacksburg Restaurant Week deal, we went to Sake House, a primarily sushi place. I'm not a big sushi person mostly because I don't like seafood and more so if it's raw, but what's the fun if I never try something new?

First we started with miso soup which has always been too salty for me but the spoon is so beautiful that I eat some anyways.

Then we had a sample plate that included California rolls, 2 sashimi pieces, vegetable tempura, teriyaki chicken, and best of all gyozas. These were fried but the first and best ones I've ever had were steamed and were from Wok in Colombia. They were pork and mushroom gyozas in chili oil, another perfect example of simplicity at its best. When I have some time, I must learn how to make them.

The sample plate at Sake House was decent but not spectacular, it lacked distinctive flavor. Each bite tasted fine but nothing stood out. You win some, you lose some.

(Second photo by Andrea Rampone)

Classic Caprese

We dined on this wonderful plate during a barbeque in the rain, perhaps not one of our best ideas. If its pouring down rain and your forced to hold an umbrella over the grill, maybe it wasn't the best day to decide to have the get together.

Anyways this was our easy but still delicious side to our burgers. Sometimes there's just no need to mess with a classic. A caprese salad consists of sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and a dash of salt. With something this simple make sure to buy quality ingredients, it makes all the difference!

Cherry Frozen Yogurt with Dark Chocolate Chunks

Summer is in full swing, time for some frozen treats!

I was feeling a little nostalgic for Italy so the original plan was pistachio gelato. Well this called for thickening a custard slowly over the stove. I thought I had time to go into my room put on shoes and come back, but unfortunately I came back to a pot of pistachio scrambled eggs. It was a great disappointment, even more so because I had already invited friends over to hang out and eat gelato...
On to plan B. I always have yogurt so why not frozen yogurt? I used the basic vanilla recipe that came with my ice cream maker but modified it to make a cherry chocolate version and through my experiences I bestow onto you my best tip.

Don't skimp on the fat.

Don't use skim milk and don't use fat free yogurt. I've tried in the past and it never turns out right. It may be good straight from the machine but after its spent 2 hours in the frezzer its not longer creamy and just icy. No one wants an ice cube like chunk of ice cream.

So here is the recipe
1-2/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 cups fat-free vanilla yogurt (I used cherry but experiment with whatever flavors you have around)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (I used almond extract because I thought it complimented the cherry better)
1 cup chopped dark chocolate chunks (my addition but add fruit or nuts if you prefer)

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the yogurt, heavy cream, and vanilla. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. The frozen yogurt will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the frozen yogurt to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours.
Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy the treat and experiment!

El Rodeo

Blacksburg is having a Restaurant Week where different places are giving deals on special meals. Now half of them are some sort of steak combo and unfortunately that's not my cup of tea, so off to the Mexican Restaurant we went.

First tip of the day: Make sure you go to the correct restaurant.... We went El Rodeo but the wrong location and the waiter had no idea what we were talking about.
Second tip of the day: People like you better after you speak their language. Andrea and I whipped out the Spanish from El Salvador and even though they were helpful before, they were extra nice after. The manager and waiter agreed to give us the promotion and even gave us an extra appetizer.

El Rodeo is one of those ultra casual Mexican Restaurants perfect for a college town and perfect for jumbo margaritas (get the Texas one if you are tequila fan, seriously) and cheap comfort food. We had guacamole, salsa, and queso dip with chips for appetizer which although not different than most places, you really can never go wrong with that classic combination.

Then we had Texas fajitas for two which included steak, chicken, and shrimp (which I actually liked despite not being a huge fan of anything that comes from the sea) with beans, rice, and tortillas. Again I admit this is something you can get at most Mexican places but it always hits the spot.

Finally the real reason we wanted to use this Restaurant Week deal, the churros. In El Salvador, after going shopping at PriceSmart everyone had churros. Don't ask me why it was just a thing that everyone did. Our dessert was churros with crazy whipped cream and sprinkles. I am a churro purist and believe it should just be by itself, but after pushing aside most of the whipped cream I found the best part of our whole meal. No joke I could just eat the churros for a meal.

 Well that was our little culinary adventure. Andrea and I plan on going on another best friend/Restaurant Week date so stay tuned!

Wine Tastings

This past weekend I went wine tasting in Loudoun County Virginia. I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable about wine but I have come to several conclusions:
1. I like wines aged in wooden barrels rather than steel barrels (are they still called barrels?). The flavors are more harmonious and less sharp. My dad said they taste the same, I think he's wrong.
2. Virginia does white wines better than reds. I tend to prefer reds but of the wine tastings I've done in Virginia, the whites are just better.
3. No wine tasting is complete without bread, cheese, and cured meat. OK so not exactly deep wisdom but still solid advice. Its a quick picnic and if you buy quality food, its a perfect compliment to good wine

 
We didn't really have specific vineyards we wanted to visit so the first one we stopped at was a random choice. Hunters Run wasn't my favorite, the wines taste "new," almost like they haven't quite figured it out yet. However my top choice was the Riesling which was actually quite good, not too sweet and I really don't like a too sweet wine.

The next stop, which was my favorite was 8 chains north. The wines all had good harmonious flavors (which I usually describe as round but most people don;t understand what I mean) especially the whites. The best was their LoCo Vino which was bright, fresh, and fruity.

 

Third on the trip was Sunset Hills which was decent but not spectacular. We tried a white that won best wine in Virginia last year but honestly I don't remember what it was, just showing you how unspectacular it was. My favorite was actually a Proseco that was flown in from Italy. It tasted almost like crisp green apples but not as sweet as apple juice.

 

Finally was a beer tasting at Corcoran because after all that wine we needed a beer tasting to cleanse the pallet. Their beers are actually really new and not sold off the vineyard yet and I was most impressed by one of the Stouts. It was matured in a bourbon barrel so all the bitter notes were replaced with the sweet notes of bourbon.


Well that was it and I feel I need to clarify they were spread out all afternoon with feedings and breaks in between. It was quite lot of tastings but seriously go buy a bottle of LoCo Vino, it would be a perfectly refreshing summer wine.

Tasting Tray

If you told my parents when I was 8 that I would be eating this plate of food, they would never believe you. I was that kid who ate spaghetti only with butter and maybe cheese. Now I'm eating a plate full of mystery bowls of Indian food.

Nothing too new here just a perfect Indian meal: tasty food plus tasting a bunch of different dishes. This was a mini tray with lentils, chicken curry, lamb curry, spinach paneer, vegetable dumpling, mango pudding, and some kind of bread. I apologize for the vague descriptions but usually I can never remember names or even know what I'm eating but that's what makes it so fun! 

Grilled Cheese

When my mom comes to visit she brings me groceries. Not the usual college food of cheerios and pop tarts, no this is the good stuff. For this lunch I enjoyed a grilled cheese of gouda, pears, prosciutto, and mustard all on tasty focaccia (actually I'm sure kroger lied to me, this has to be ciabatta that they just put spices on but still tasty) . For all of you out there, gouda, apples or pears, and mustard make a wonderful grilled cheese family, try it!

Random Soup

 Unfortunately I think I may be getting sick. My graduation is in less than a week so I'm really hoping its a fluke. So besides finishing a jug of orange juice in 24 hrs, I thought making some soup would be a good idea too. Now soup is one of those things I have never looked up a recipe for, I just toss vegetables into a pot with some rice and chicken stock. Today the lucky combination was red bell pepper, carrots, onions, garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, white beans, chicken stock, rice, and then cumin, salt and pepper. It was spicy, warm, and hopefully contained the magic miracle cure so I won't be sick anymore.

Art Show: Pretzels

My best friend is having her final studio art show tomorrow and she asked me to "cater" for her. I would do it for her no matter what but I'm also just excited to do an actual "event." (I use quotes because I don't feel legit yet) Well the first thing I made was the easiest and simplest, chocolate covered pretzels. Just melt different chocolates and drizzle over pretzel rods. I let them dry part way up right and then laid them on a tray to finish. I accidentally left them all tempting my roommate. She didn't see the note that she could eat some... oops

 I'll upload the rest of the food later!

More Baked Goods

Apparently I've been on a baking streak recently, so what did I do with ripe bananas? Make banana nut muffins of course. I only had half the amount of bananas so I halved the recipe and added a little bit extra sugar and extract because the batter just tasted like it needed a some extra. Turned out delicious and was perfect with a large cup of coffee for breakfast.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

A simple easy lemon poppy seed cake. Quick to make and always impresses. I rarely make the same recipe more than once but this is delicious and a favorite of my mom's so it had to be good.

Killer Carrot Cake

While at Andrea's, we decided we wanted desert. Well I love to raid people's kitchens and see what concoction to make. I decided on carrot cake with brown sugar frosting. Well it was three of us who had some slices of cake and we all started out as happy young ladies, excited for our little treat. Well as we kept going the sugar began to hit. I made the entire recipe of frosting and used it all on the cake, bad idea. It was way too much sugar and we soon began to crash. It was a delicious cake, but there was too much sugar, don't make the same mistake.


As for the recipes, since it was "pantry leftover" kind of baking I made some changes.
For the cake:
1. We didn't have whole wheat flour so we used the same amount of all purpose flour.
2. I read the recipe wrong and thought the cream cheese was for the cake and since we didn't have any, I added the same amount of vanilla yogurt into the batter. It was actually a great mistake since the cake ended up nice and moist.
3. We didn't add nuts
For the frosting:
1. we didn't have powdered sugar so we used normal sugar, but I would recomend using powdered if possible
2. I added like 1 tsp of vanilla extract
3. We made the entire batch but really only make half of the frosting recipe, unless you like sugar comas, in that case go ahead.

Wine Tasting

Earlier in the year a bunch of my friends and I went wine tasting at Chateau Morrisette one foggy Saturday morning. I was pleasantly surprised in several ways.
1. Virginia wines can be good. Who knew?
2. I preferred the white wines. I know I have always been more of a red wine lady but these white wines were the perfect balance between, crisp, sweet, and refreshing.
3. Apparently you can make wine out of berries other than grapes. The last tasting was of a blackberry wine and although I'm usually not a fan of desert wine, the tartness of the blackberries made the sweetness more delicious than cloyingly sweet.



Well this little blast from the past was brought on because tonight my friend and I enjoyed a little wine from Chateau Morrisette while doing homework. This was the Sweet Mountain Laurel and I admit I liked the Vidal Blanc better but this was already chilled at Kroger so well it had to do.

Veggie "Burger"

Veggie burgers have a bad reputation and unfortunately most people won't even try them, but when done right they are absolutely delicious. This was delicious but kind of lacked the whole burger thing...


I chose this recipe because it looked simple but I should've known the patty wasn't going to hold when there was no egg or other binder in the recipe. I also probably didn't mash the ingredients together enough. So instead of a veggie burger, I had a quinoa and black bean mix (I added extra cumin because the recipe's amount wasn't enough). The plan was to put the patty on a whole wheat muffin with a feta and roasted tomato mix but since the burger disintegrated it became more like two toasts with toppings. It was actually really tasty just not exactly the end result I was hoping for.

The side was asparagus cooked quickly in a pan (no oil or anything) until bright green then drizzled with olive oil and some grated Parmesan cheese. It really doesn't need anything else.

Desert for Breakfast

When I was younger, I used to convince my parents to let me eat ice cream and frenchfries for breakfast on special occasions. Now this first came to be on the last day we were renting a condo in Sedona and all that was left in our kitchen were of course frenchfries and ice cream (the best of both worlds). Ever since I would fantasize about this dream combo which was usually reserved for birthdays or perhaps the first day of school (to lesson the blow). Its this memory that always pops into my head whenever I eat anything desert-like for breakfast. Today was a pumpkin bread that I made from leftover canned pumpkin from my risotto attempt. Although instead of nuts I added candied ginger and doubled the amount of spices. Delicious! So moist and pumpkin-y, proof that desert for breakfast is always a good idea.

Spring is Here

Gone are the mornings of steaming cups of coffee with warm bowls of oatmeal eaten while enveloped under a giant blanket. Spring is here! Now mornings are made for open patio doors while enjoying a tall class of iced coffee and some yogurt with fresh strawberries. Enjoy the weather everyone.

I'm back!

So it may have been awhile since I last posted. Honestly I've been a little lazy in my cooking. Fortunately for you all (not so much for me) I went grocery shopping hungry and thought it would be a great idea to buy a box of arborio rice even though I don't know how to make risotto. Last year I tried once and failed, today I tried again and failed again. Today's experiment was pumpkin risotto with caramelized onions. Tasted ok but something was missing, like the flavor was very one note, maybe you will have better luck. Also something's off with my timing, it took way too long for the rice to absorb the stock and became almost too creamy if that's possible. Definitely some room for improvement. Oh well, better luck next time?


For desert I was just craving chocolate (like all women do) so I looked up a chocolate cookie recipe and this is what I got. There was only one egg left in the fridge and none of the cookie recipes needed only one egg so I halved the ingredients and alas I only have half a batch of cookies. If you notice they're chocolate and cinnamon like the Valentine's cookies. Seriously, best kept secret pairing for chocolate. (Added bonus when you give them out to friends, you look like an experienced baker because you don't just make chocolate cookies you make cinnamon chocolate cookies)

Spring Break 2012, yo!!

So I don't have a spring break this year, but my current roommate kinda does! So to kick off the week of not quite spring break we made tasty girly drinks in the Chicago kitchen...where the only alcohol we currently have is rum...and the only fruit are strawberries. So.

I made rum, orange juice and pureed strawberries and roomie Grace made rum, Arizona tea and pureed strawberries. Creative, eh?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! So I kinda love Valentine's day, maybe because my birthday is in a week (*hint *hint) or maybe because its just fun. For the past 4 yrs every Valentine's Day I give out treats and cheesy cards. This year I gave my studio sugar cookies and Bieber cards. Now I wanted everyone to get 2 cookies so I had to make a double batch which almost killed my mixer but it survived.


For the icing, I just used a around 7 cups of powdered sugar (enough for 3 batches of cookies), 2 tsps of vanilla and enough milk until its just came together. That "recipe" has been my go to for years of cookie decorating and it never disappoints.


The chocolate cookies were chocolate cinnamon and were absolutely amazing. They were for a "GALentines" potluck and everyone loved them. Seriously, you MUST make them. I added twice the amount of cinnamon and it was the perfect "spicy" flavor. I'm sure they would be delicious dipped in chocolate but I had a lot of extra icing.


Well that is my tale of two cookies. Happy Valentine's Day again and hope everyone spends the day with people they love, enjoy!

Treats

I think everyone has that special food "treat" they go to when their happy/ have time. For some its eating Ben and Jerry's while watching Will and Grace re runs but for me its coffee and pastry. This Friday I got up before my alarm, had no early morning class, and knew I had a free pastry to claim at Panera. The stars aligned and I enjoyed a warm cup of coffee, cobblestone muffin (the illegitimate child of a muffin and cinnamon roll), and watched some TED talks.

Colorful Pasta

Just about as gourmet as the Chicago kitchen gets. Pasta, corn, tomato, lime, cheddar, cilantro, salt and pepper. Mmhm.

Sunday Afternoon Snack

I decided to be productive today, of course like a good college student that didn't stick, so I made a snack. I baked some lovely sweet cornbread with this recipe although instead of cornmeal I used masa (corn flour used to make tortillas) and added a cup of frozen corn. Instead of muffins I made what admittedly looks like one giant muffin because I didn't have any rectangular pans the right size and due to its size it took about 45 min to cook (after it browned up I covered it in foil and continued cooking). I tried my piece with a little honey and then with some beans. The first I'm sure would make a great accompanyment to coffee and the second would make a great meal, so eat it with whatever floats your boat.

Better Pudding

My second attempt at chocolate pudding. This time it actually was pudding. I've never really been a fan but obviously I was missing out. This was easy, quick, and chocolatey perfection.

Best Fondue Combo

Everyone knows fondue is amazing, don't deny it. Its either dipping bite sized food into cheese or chocolate, two of the best things in the food world. I'm here to share the best treat to dip into chocolate: pineapple. Banana and strawberries are good but common, dip some tart, zingy pineapple into some rich dark chocolate and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Pudding

As promised, I cooked something now that I'm home. I've never made pudding so I didn't know what I was doing and this turned out more bread pudding like than creamy pudding. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that great. It was a chocolate, coffee pudding. I think one issue was that I may have overcooked it (I did 15 min, probably only needed 10-12 min) also tasted a tad flour-y maybe melted chocolate would've helped? I did like that it made a small portion so it was a great late night impromptu dessert but I think I'll try another recipe next time.

What to do with mascarpone

I made this Strawberry Mascarpone Pound Cake recipe just with raspberries instead...and it was all gone before I got a picture. So I guess it was pretty good. Jul's Kitchen: Strawberry Mascarpone Pound Cake

PUPUSAS!!!

Today I was driving around Tegucigalpa (Honduras) with my two cousins trying to figure out what to eat for lunch but none of the suggestions were really calling my name. However, the second pupusas were suggested I may have gotten a tad too excited and yelled my approval a little too loudly. Pupusas are basically fat tortillas with cheese and other goodies stuffed inside and topped with a sour cabbage slaw like salad thing. For all of you who have never tried them, well you should and when you do pick the one with all the burnt cheese. That may sound a little weird but trust me the best part is the crunchy, salty goodness that leaks out of pupusas (I meant that to sound yummier than that just sounded but please just take my word and do it). Oh I also tried Honduran beer, it basically tasted like a more bitter version of Corona or maybe that was because I added lemon and salt....