Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mar20

Friends help friends who can’t take pretty pics – PB and J Bars

Posted on March 20, 2013 by athaidek

After subjecting my friend Wesley to a semester of sitting behind me and being forced to look at countless food blog distractions during class (rarely of course), I had to actually prove to him that I CAN in fact cook at least a few of them. Besides wanting to spend some quality non-comm-school time together, I roped him into showing off his photography skills! Take a look at his facebook page to see this guy in action. I love that we could combine forces and make something tasty! Brian (a fellow classmate and great recipe-tester), Wesley, and I made these on a lazy Friday afternoon. And by that I mean I made them, Wesley photographed, and Brian cheerleaded from the couch.

I spent wayyy too long researching PB&J Bar recipes bc I really wanted one that was not totally just a shortbread crush and one that did not require so much jam. While I would love to be able to use 1 cup of jam in a recipe, jam is expensive!! So this was my tweaking secret: pureed strawberries. It make a thick topping to a shortbready oat crust and I just mixed it with half the amount of jam to save my wallet. Credit goes to Brian for the oat-y topping! Sadly the picture of the final product is from my phone and not from Wesley’s pretty pics 😦

making a shortbready crust

I also combined a few recipes, so here’s some to pick from!:

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/09/06/peanut-butter-jelly-bars-with-white-chocolate-streusel-2/

http://www.marthastewart.com/852051/peanut-butter-and-jelly-bars?xsc=eml_cod_2012_06_04&om_rid=NsgB6H&om_mid=_BPzKP3B8jFp4ZZ

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=137&S=0

http://www.eat2gather.net/2012/03/food/recipes/meals-4-sharing-fridays-pbj-bars/

Mar18

Procrastinating with muffins

Posted on March 18, 2013 by athaidek

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I have a way for choosing the MOST awkward times to make muffins. Last year I had a pretty non-functional kitchen and would conveniently attempt a pumpkin peanut butter muffin batch at like 8 am while the 16 other girls I lived with tried to make breakfast. These carrot spice muffins were a vehicle for spring break packing procrastination at midnight the day before I left for the beach. What is it about a muffin that gets me so off track??

I’ve learned that whenever I’m having an itch to cook or bake, muffins will ALWAYS be well-received. Although the classic chocolate chip cookie will remain a staple favorite, the muffin appeals to the healthier sort as it can range from the supersweet banana chocolate chip to the grainy bran muffin.

I’ve also been on this kick of mastering the thickness of a muffin. Trying to eliminate some of the refined sugar makes the recipes healthier and more interesting, but quite often they come out a BIT too dense and awkwardly chewy like soda bread. These muffins are apple-ginger and the spring-break-road-trip-snack-ones were vegan carrot spice!

I’m telling ya, muffin craze! –> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-donenfeld/siggis-yogurt-makes-a-goo_b_2848715.html (watch the last recipe on the video!)

Apple-ginger muffins:

best kind of mornings

NEXXTTTT

these Vegan Carrot Spice Muffins were SOOOO good. For an extra kick for those who wanted the SWEET side of muffins, I added a little peanut butter cream cheese frosting adapted from this recipe. I LOVE shredding things, but this grating on a microplane was a little much…Also I didn’t have flax seed, raisins, or walnuts, but I added some almonds I think. These are pretty flexible to whatever ya want to add

Feb27

A Birthday Bake-Out

Posted on February 27, 2013 by athaidek

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There is nothing like a Sunday afternoon with the smell of Nutella lingering in the kitchen as it graces EVERY piece of this decadent cupcake recipe! From a coffee flavored cupcake to a nutella ganache (not sure I made that one right) to a nutella buttercream, this was quite the recipe for hazelnuts. (I was going for Ferrero Rocher bc Krupa loves them!)

This was my first time attempting buttercream and I ended up using a mini plastic bag as a piping bag (works pretty well!) but I think it turned out well! Happy birthday shout out to the rails to my rails n fries Krupaaa these are for youu

My first time baking with Christine, she was a trooper in helping with this marathon of a recipe!

BATTER

round 2 (made a half recipe but this was still huge!)

so, we did attempt to make this nutella ganache with nutella and heated heavy cream, but it never really reached the right consistency….still delicious though I think!

ganache IN the cupcake

fin

Feb27

Sorry Mom, No vegetables today

Posted on February 27, 2013 by athaidek

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There comes a time in one’s life where it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary to make homemade corndogs. Let me just put it out there that I do realize that I just publicized that Molly and I researched recipes, purchased ingredients, and set time aside in our day to make, yes that’s right, corndogs.

For those of you who do not appreciate the occasional Cookout late-night or delicious carnival treat, I don’t think you’re going to enjoy this one. But since I gave up sweets for Lent, this recipe was one of our indulgent outlets. Also, we made these for a crowd and not just for ourselves

Luckily, we found this yeast-based recipe from KohlerCreated that makes a **hEaLtHiEr** corndog (whatever that means) because these are baked and not deep-fried. While others brought cookies and guac (equally as delicious), we went out of the box, as can be expected of us, and brought a gourmet snack. Also, this is just one of the most fun recipes to make with friends. One, you get to play with dough and wrap little hot dogs up like they are in a cocoon and two, they are just a fun food! Happy Junk Food

a mix of brown sugar, olive oil, and cornmeal before you add in the yeast+milk mixture

milk and cornmeal mix – the yeast and warm milk mixture sits for a few mins before adding to cornmeal

HEY Molls!

FAST FORWARD: after kneading the dough for a few mins, we let it sit aside for 1 hour. If I were making this again, I would let it rise longer so the dough gets puffier. Then we rolled it out to cut into little strips for each mini-dog

Yes I realize this looks bizarre, but you baste them in an egg wash after wrapping up all the dogs….and here ya go

Feb14

A Farewell to Sugar: 608 Does Mardi Gras

Posted on February 14, 2013 by athaidek

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So it was much harder than I thought to find a good king cake recipe. That’s probably because it is much easier AND prettier to buy it at the store. Also, apparently king cake is just a southern thing?! I found this out as many people gave me a puzzled look when I told them of this galette des rois. This recipe is originally from saveur.com but I found it on the Huffington Post Taste page. Instead of using buttermilk for the glaze, I just ended up using regular 2% milk and powdered sugar. I find it dumb to buy whatever “sanding sugars” are just for this one cake, so we just put yellow sprinkles and mardi gras beads in the center to decorate!!

If you are familiar with the king cake tradition, most people hide this little plastic baby in one piece of the cake. And then (literally I’m googling “baby in king cake tradition” to figure out why we do this)…the person who receives the baby gets “special treats or obligations”??? Much to the surprise of my roommates, we didn’t have a miniature baby figurine. As I tried to suggest that we stick a dried edamame bean in as a replacement, everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Right, because a dried edamame bean is creepier than a baby in a cake??

Anywho, here are some pics from the adventure! We had a delightful Mardi Gras dinner including mac ‘n’ cheese, kale salad, Jo-Jos, carrot cake, KING CAKE, fruit salad, chicken fried rice and lots of other snackies.

This was my last night of sweets…giving them up for Lent!!

Start with some wet and dry separately

Cinnamon roll-y yeast dough made the night before. I highly suggest a mixer if you have one (I DONT)

Filling of pecans, lemon zest, cream cheese, cinnamon and SUGAH

SO FUN: after mixing fillling, you roll out the dough, cut a hole in the middle and spread around

Starting from the outside, roll the dough over and over again, pushing the filling to stay in, until it forms a ring

Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins, YUM

Powdered sugar/milk glaze on top with sprinkles and beads!