Spring cleaning is underway.
I spent all winter with the spare bedrooms of my house closed off. Doors were closed, windows shut, and any possible drafts were defeated by stuffing old sweatshirts into the places where cold air leeched through. It cut down on heating costs, but more importantly, it left me with cold, dark areas in my house where I could chuck stuff when I tried to clean up quick.
Fast forward to today, and I've got two bedrooms overflowing with clothes I forgot I had, paperwork with deadlines long past, and all sorts of random things that I meant to throw out but never did. So here I am, writing to you about pretzels instead of cleaning more!
That's because pretzels are way more interested than cleaning and organizing.
Even if you have OCD neatfreakness (which I do not), you have to agree that not much beats a soft, dough, salty pretzel. Especially, if you have that pretzel with some freshly made Queso Cheese Dip!
These pretzels are fluffy and chewy at the same time. I love them best right when they're still warm and fresh.
As someone who had never made pretzels before, I was new to the process. The baking soda method was foreign to me but it produced the chewiest outer crust I've ever had in a pretzel. When you cut them in half and fill them with delicious fillings like cheeseburgers, tuna melts, or something else equally cheesy??
I'm even considering making a batch sourdough-bread-bowl style and filling it up with my favorite broccoli and cheddar soup recipe... or maybe Cheddar Ale?? Oh my, I need to stop fantasizing!
I'm going to go ahead and keep eating these pretzels so I don't have to face real life and responsibilities. At this rate, spring cleaning will be done somewhere around October....
Salted Pretzels
(adapted from King Arthur Flour)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 packet instant yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (105F)
Soda Bath:
2 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
Coarse sea salt
Melted butter
In a stand mixer, combine all of the dough ingredients until everything is mixed well and the dough is slightly sticky. Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise in a warm area for at least one hour.
For the soda bath, bring the water to a boil over high heat in a small pot. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Let the water cool to lukewarm.
Preheat oven 475F.
Shape the pretzel dough into 10-12 equally-sized balls. Submerge the pretzels in the lukewarm soda bath for 2-3 minutes. Place the pretzels on a greased baking sheet.
Top with a liberal amount of coarse sea salt. Use a serrated knife to make 2-3 cuts in the top of the pretzel dough.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the tops are dark brown.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Carrot Cezerye
Multicultural.
I love trying new recipes. I love finding strange and exotic recipes to try.
When I saw this recipe for a Turkish dessert called Cezerye, I was intrigued. My initial thought was that maybe this had a carrot cake taste to it, but it's a lot deeper and sweeter than that.
I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way that this turned out.
I do need to add that I didn't get a good batch until the third attempt. For me, time management has always eluded me in the kitchen. I didn't stir this enough the first two times and I ended up producing a concoction that was dark orange and sweet on top, and burnt to black crisp on the bottom. And the smell of burnt sugar...
It was almost enough to make me give up on this whole dessert.
Luckily, on the third try, I turned on some music, got my housework done, and settled into this project with no other distractions nearby. I gave this my full attention and managed to not-burn this batch.
So... my advice to you is to concentrate and devote an extra ounce of patient and diligence to this dessert because otherwise, you can have disastrous and awful-smelling results.
Getting back to the taste, you can definitely taste the carrot, but it's unlike anyway I've ever experienced carrot before. It's not a carrot cake taste, but even sweeter.
Plus, you feel like you're eating something semi-healthy because it's basically a vegetable.
This kind of dessert makes me want to explore more Turkish goods and recipes!
Carrot Cezerye
3 cups shredded carrot
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 flaked coconut
1/2 cup thinly-sliced pistachios
Flaked coconut for garnish
Place carrots in large saute pan with water and boil on medium heat until carrots until soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and use a masher or emulsifier to mash/puree carrots.
Return to medium heat and add sugar. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the water evaporates and a sticky paste forms, about 30 minutes.
While the carrot mixture is cooking, line an 8x8 pan with waxed paper.
When the carrot mixture is done cooking, stir in coconut and pistachios and transfer to the 8x8 pan. Use a spatula to flatten the mixture.
Place in the refrigerator and cool for at least one hour.
Cut the mixture into small squares and roll the bar in flaked coconut,
Keep chilled until ready to serve.
I love trying new recipes. I love finding strange and exotic recipes to try.
When I saw this recipe for a Turkish dessert called Cezerye, I was intrigued. My initial thought was that maybe this had a carrot cake taste to it, but it's a lot deeper and sweeter than that.
I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way that this turned out.
I do need to add that I didn't get a good batch until the third attempt. For me, time management has always eluded me in the kitchen. I didn't stir this enough the first two times and I ended up producing a concoction that was dark orange and sweet on top, and burnt to black crisp on the bottom. And the smell of burnt sugar...
It was almost enough to make me give up on this whole dessert.
Luckily, on the third try, I turned on some music, got my housework done, and settled into this project with no other distractions nearby. I gave this my full attention and managed to not-burn this batch.
So... my advice to you is to concentrate and devote an extra ounce of patient and diligence to this dessert because otherwise, you can have disastrous and awful-smelling results.
Getting back to the taste, you can definitely taste the carrot, but it's unlike anyway I've ever experienced carrot before. It's not a carrot cake taste, but even sweeter.
Plus, you feel like you're eating something semi-healthy because it's basically a vegetable.
This kind of dessert makes me want to explore more Turkish goods and recipes!
Carrot Cezerye
3 cups shredded carrot
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 flaked coconut
1/2 cup thinly-sliced pistachios
Flaked coconut for garnish
Place carrots in large saute pan with water and boil on medium heat until carrots until soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and use a masher or emulsifier to mash/puree carrots.
Return to medium heat and add sugar. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the water evaporates and a sticky paste forms, about 30 minutes.
While the carrot mixture is cooking, line an 8x8 pan with waxed paper.
When the carrot mixture is done cooking, stir in coconut and pistachios and transfer to the 8x8 pan. Use a spatula to flatten the mixture.
Place in the refrigerator and cool for at least one hour.
Cut the mixture into small squares and roll the bar in flaked coconut,
Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Dutch Baby Pancakes
Today, I made pancakes.
I made pancakes for other people.
I made them, not for me, because I agreed to do a health & fitness challenge at work. I've given up all the foods that make me happy. And I'm trying to exercise more, which also doesn't sound that great to me.
I hate dieting. I like exercising when it's not in conjunction with dieting.
I hate dieting.
So, here I am, enjoying a nice plate of almonds, a nice SMALL plate, and getting myself prepared to bend in unnatural ways for an hour-long yoga session, and I'm writing about how I fed my family (and even my dog) Dutch Baby pancakes because I can't have any.
I love the fluffy texture of the pancakes mixed with the crunchy browned edges. The sweet and tart topping accentuate this lovely pancake...
Not that I would know, currently. But from what I remember, this is a delicious and decadent breakfast that takes very little time and energy, but looks like something straight out of a restaurant!
Go make this and enjoy this for people, like me, who can't!
Dutch Baby Pancakes
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Confectioner's sugar and fruit for garnish
Preheat oven 425F.
Place melted butter in a medium-size skillet. I usually warm the skillet and butter in the oven while it's preheating. I take it out when it gets to about 250F.
Combine the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt in a stand mixer and mix on medium speed until mixture is smooth.
Pour batter into skillet and bake 20 minutes, or until edges are browned.
Garnish pancakes with powdered sugar and fruit.
I made pancakes for other people.
I made them, not for me, because I agreed to do a health & fitness challenge at work. I've given up all the foods that make me happy. And I'm trying to exercise more, which also doesn't sound that great to me.
I hate dieting. I like exercising when it's not in conjunction with dieting.
I hate dieting.
So, here I am, enjoying a nice plate of almonds, a nice SMALL plate, and getting myself prepared to bend in unnatural ways for an hour-long yoga session, and I'm writing about how I fed my family (and even my dog) Dutch Baby pancakes because I can't have any.
I love the fluffy texture of the pancakes mixed with the crunchy browned edges. The sweet and tart topping accentuate this lovely pancake...
Not that I would know, currently. But from what I remember, this is a delicious and decadent breakfast that takes very little time and energy, but looks like something straight out of a restaurant!
Go make this and enjoy this for people, like me, who can't!
Dutch Baby Pancakes
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Confectioner's sugar and fruit for garnish
Preheat oven 425F.
Place melted butter in a medium-size skillet. I usually warm the skillet and butter in the oven while it's preheating. I take it out when it gets to about 250F.
Combine the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt in a stand mixer and mix on medium speed until mixture is smooth.
Pour batter into skillet and bake 20 minutes, or until edges are browned.
Garnish pancakes with powdered sugar and fruit.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Arancini di Riso
I am getting a little better at this frying business.
Up until the last few months, I had completely avoided trying to do anything with deep-frying. To be frank, it made me really nervous having a whole bunch of hot oil that spits everywhere. Plus, I felt like when I did try, things always came out overcooked. I have the same problem with cookies - what I feel is done is always overdone.
So, when I was asked to make a traditionally Italian dish known as arancini - fried rice balls - I was a little nervous. I'm much better at making sauce for pasta. That's about as Italian as I get.
But...
Somehow, this recipe came out well! I fried it for exactly as long as I was instructed to, despite wanting to give "another minute or two", my go-to phrase in the kitchen.
I think I might finally be starting to get the hang of frying.
The crunch of the frying, the gooey-ness of the cheese, the pillowy-ness of the rice and a healthy dollop of sweet marinara on top, this is a great little appetizer, but I could definitely see this as a good side as well. It's filling, but not overly heavy.
This definitely sparks my interest in Italian cuisine OTHER THAN pasta!!
Arancini di Riso
2 cups white rice, cooked and cooled
Salt & Pepper to taste
10 mozzarella pearls
4 eggs
1 cup Panko Italian breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Grated parmesan, for garnish
Marinara sauce, for dipping
Heat oil in a pot using a thermometer to reach a target temperature of 350F.
Set up two shallow bowls. Whisk two eggs in one bowl, and pour bread crumbs in the second bowl.
Mix the rice, salt, pepper and two eggs together. Scoop out 1/10th of the mixture, Place a mozzarella pearl in the middle and form a ball around the pearl with the rice mixture. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
Roll the rice mixture in the egg mixture, then coat the ball in breadcrumbs. Repeat.
Place 2-3 balls in the hot oil to fry.
Fry for about 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Repeat with the rest.
Drain arancini on paper towel. Garnish with grated parmesan.
Let cool for a few minutes before serving. Serve with a side of marinara.
Up until the last few months, I had completely avoided trying to do anything with deep-frying. To be frank, it made me really nervous having a whole bunch of hot oil that spits everywhere. Plus, I felt like when I did try, things always came out overcooked. I have the same problem with cookies - what I feel is done is always overdone.
So, when I was asked to make a traditionally Italian dish known as arancini - fried rice balls - I was a little nervous. I'm much better at making sauce for pasta. That's about as Italian as I get.
But...
Somehow, this recipe came out well! I fried it for exactly as long as I was instructed to, despite wanting to give "another minute or two", my go-to phrase in the kitchen.
I think I might finally be starting to get the hang of frying.
The crunch of the frying, the gooey-ness of the cheese, the pillowy-ness of the rice and a healthy dollop of sweet marinara on top, this is a great little appetizer, but I could definitely see this as a good side as well. It's filling, but not overly heavy.
This definitely sparks my interest in Italian cuisine OTHER THAN pasta!!
Arancini di Riso
2 cups white rice, cooked and cooled
Salt & Pepper to taste
10 mozzarella pearls
4 eggs
1 cup Panko Italian breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Grated parmesan, for garnish
Marinara sauce, for dipping
Heat oil in a pot using a thermometer to reach a target temperature of 350F.
Set up two shallow bowls. Whisk two eggs in one bowl, and pour bread crumbs in the second bowl.
Mix the rice, salt, pepper and two eggs together. Scoop out 1/10th of the mixture, Place a mozzarella pearl in the middle and form a ball around the pearl with the rice mixture. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
Roll the rice mixture in the egg mixture, then coat the ball in breadcrumbs. Repeat.
Place 2-3 balls in the hot oil to fry.
Fry for about 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Repeat with the rest.
Drain arancini on paper towel. Garnish with grated parmesan.
Let cool for a few minutes before serving. Serve with a side of marinara.
1-2-3-4 White Cake
Baking is scary.
For me, it is.
I don't know why I've always had so much anxiety about baking. I've always loved to cook, but baking has always eluded me. I felt that, with cooking, I could experiment more. Baking is such an exact science. It didn't make sense to me that I could come up with creative baked goods when I was so hesitant that adding an subtracting ingredients would throw off the consistency of the batter, baking time or final texture and density of the cake.
Over the last month, I did some experimenting with baking. My goal was trying to come up with a definitive base recipe that I could adapt to different flavors. Some were too dense, too dry. Some didn't turn out at all.
Finally, I found a recipe that sounded easy to remember, and easy to adapt. I initially tried this with self-rising flour, but felt that I got the same results with the recipe below. It's a few extra steps to add the salt and baking powder, but it keeps my pantry de-cluttered by keeping me from needing to house yet another canister of flour.
Besides, if you're like me, you're a terrible grocery shopper who forgets to buy things like self-rising flour on the regular, so having this recipe comprise all the ingredients I remember to keep stored in my kitchen is really helpful for me.
Before I tried this, I checked to make sure I was at the best possible altitude for this particular measurements. Living at the base of the Adirondacks, I live around 400 feet above sea level, so these measurements were perfect to create a dense, moist, bakery-style cake.
Now that I've found a killer cake recipe, I'll be trying out variations and flavors very soon.
Not to mention... new buttercream flavors!
1-2-3-4 White Cake
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
Preheat oven 350F.
Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer. Mix until smooth,
Distribute the batter evenly between 3 greased 9" pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Ice with your favorite buttercream,
For me, it is.
I don't know why I've always had so much anxiety about baking. I've always loved to cook, but baking has always eluded me. I felt that, with cooking, I could experiment more. Baking is such an exact science. It didn't make sense to me that I could come up with creative baked goods when I was so hesitant that adding an subtracting ingredients would throw off the consistency of the batter, baking time or final texture and density of the cake.
Over the last month, I did some experimenting with baking. My goal was trying to come up with a definitive base recipe that I could adapt to different flavors. Some were too dense, too dry. Some didn't turn out at all.
Finally, I found a recipe that sounded easy to remember, and easy to adapt. I initially tried this with self-rising flour, but felt that I got the same results with the recipe below. It's a few extra steps to add the salt and baking powder, but it keeps my pantry de-cluttered by keeping me from needing to house yet another canister of flour.
Besides, if you're like me, you're a terrible grocery shopper who forgets to buy things like self-rising flour on the regular, so having this recipe comprise all the ingredients I remember to keep stored in my kitchen is really helpful for me.
Before I tried this, I checked to make sure I was at the best possible altitude for this particular measurements. Living at the base of the Adirondacks, I live around 400 feet above sea level, so these measurements were perfect to create a dense, moist, bakery-style cake.
Now that I've found a killer cake recipe, I'll be trying out variations and flavors very soon.
Not to mention... new buttercream flavors!
1-2-3-4 White Cake
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
Preheat oven 350F.
Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer. Mix until smooth,
Distribute the batter evenly between 3 greased 9" pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Ice with your favorite buttercream,
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Breakfast Casserole in a Hash Brown Crust
Rain. Rain.
Go away.
Please.
As much as I love watching my garden come alive with all of this rainy weather, I'm also trying to get some outside projects done that are really hard to do in this cruddy weather. Not hard, like, impossible. But, hard in the sense that I don't want to be outside working unless it's cloudy and cool.
I'm a very particular girl. No sun, no rain, no humidity. I can literally boycott all outdoor activities for days if the weather isn't to my liking. Sometimes, I get a craving to go out and be in sunshine, but it's pretty rare. It's the reason that my skin is so pale, it's almost translucent.
But I'm okay with that.
Being inside, I suppose I have some time to do some cleaning. Probably not, though.
Or, maybe I'll cook something? Nah.
Most likely, I'm sitting around wondering I never started watching junk TV shows General Hospital until today. I can't say that these are great works in television history, but it's sure keeping me entertained today. Plus, I remember hearing about the infamous Luke & Laura romance as I was growing up, but I'd never seen it until today. I had to search the internet for the backstory as I watched the current soap opera plot unfold. I want to say that it's a pretty far-fetched story line, but I grew up watching people clone each other on Guiding Light as a kid.
I'm digressing here by quite a bit.
Since I've been cozied up in front of my A/C all day, trying to avoid any reminder that it's raining and muggy and gross outside, I decided to change up my meal routine.
Since I most certainly had cold, leftover pizza for breakfast, I decided to make some breakfast for dinner.
I've seen this hash brown crust on the internet before, mostly used with a variety of quiche-esque ingredients. I, myself, am not a quiche fan. First, I don't like the pie crust component. I could do a crustless quiche, but I feel like that's just a poorly executed omelette. All the same ingredients, but you have to bake it because you're no good at the omelette folding technique.
My mother has made this breakfast casserole long before Paula Deen was a twinkle in the Food Network's eye. She has since made it pretty famous, but I've been scarfing down a similar version of this since I grew my first set of teeth. We didn't have a name for it, but we always scarfed it down on Christmas morning. It was tradition to have that what's-it-called kind of dish before we opened presents.
Since I don't eat sausage, I tried this with a beef sausage variety and I really liked it.
Plus, eating this on top of a bed of crispy hash browns??
This is likely my new favorite Christmas tradition, even those it's July!
Breakfast Casserole in a Hash Brown Crust
3 large potatoes, shredded
6 slices white bread, cubed
1/2 lb. breakfast chicken or beef sausage
2 tbsp butter
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp hot sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preheat oven 400F.
Use a grater to shred potatoes into hash browns. Use a towel to blot excess moisture from the potatoes.
In a large bowl, combine hash browns with one egg. Press hash browns into the bottom of a greased 9" springform pan. Press hash browns up the sides of the pan to form a crust.
In a skillet, cook sausage in butter over medium heat until thoroughly browned.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt and pepper together.
On the hash brown crust, place the cubes of bread, followed by the sausage, then the cheese. Cover the whole thing with the egg mixture, careful to stay inside the walls of the crust.
Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes or until eggs are set and top is golden brown.
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