Quickie

i just made the most rachael ray meal that actually isn’t one yet: steak fajita pasta. 

1. place on water to boil.

2. chop onions and peppers.  pour pasta into pot.

3. saute veggies in a seperate pan.  in the last few minutes add pre cooked (leftover) steak and fajita seasoning (from a packet…cause it’s easy) and toss to combine.

4. drain pasta and toss in pan with veggies.

5. eat and enjoy.

ready for consumption in 15 minutes…i can’t wait 30 minutes to eat.  when i get hungry, i get hungry.

When I Hear Valentines Day I Think: Red Velvet and Broken Hearts

 now combine that with a cake competition, because that’s what i spent my time doing on saturday.

two halves of a broken heart on opposite ends of the platter seperate by fire with a chocolate knive stabbed into one side with blood pouring out. 

pretty graphic, but me and my friend, betty crocker felt we had to speak for those without a valentine this year.  if you made a valentine themed cake, what would yours look like?

No Substitutions

if you’re going to cook there’s two ways to do it. wing it and taste as you go or use a recipe (but we all know using a recipe every time you cook isn’t real cooking). it’s ok to use a recipe as a reference to see how to use an ingredient you are not familiar with. that makes sense. but does it ever make sense to pull out a recipe and make something different?

i mean you are consciously trying to make the food like the recipe, but decide on your own what you should add and what you shouldn’t? that’s like substituting vinegar for oil!

if you are trying to make a salad dressing that requires vinegar, mustard, honey, pomegranate juice, and molasses and leave out two ingredients. it’s not the same thing! stop telling yourself it is!

Mmmm Mmmm Good

so what am i making for christmas eve?  i guess i can tell you all now.

lettuce wraps with chicken, cabbage, carrots, and peppers in a spicy mandarin orange sauce

butternut squash and apple soup

a spinach salad with assorted apples, toasted walnuts, and gorgonzola tossed with a pomegranate vinaigrette

horseradish encrusted beef tenderloin

wild rice with cranberries and pecans

carrots glazed in a brown sugar syrup

and for dessert….

chocolate truffles

coconut cupcakes

gingerbread trifle with a lemon curd whipped cream and blackberry sauce

mmmm…i’m eating this as we speak

Crunch Time

well i’m back on the east coast, and my social calendar is filling up. i love this time of year. this weekend i’m getting together with a friend to build a kickass gingerbread mansion then going to a PC vs BC basketball game as an alumni…geez i’m old.

i’ve also been doing some holiday shopping. so what do you get for the mom who has everything? a savings account for the boat “she’s always wanted.” since my dad’s semi-retired i decided to him some house slippers, just like his mother use to wear. for my sister:
…in purple of course.  with a ring.  when i called to ask what size i should get, this is how she responded: “large diamond”.  yeah me too.  as for dc hero, he’ll have to wait and see.

christmas eve is coming up!! and that means a big yummy meal at my house with my dad’s family.  i would put up the menu next week, but we like to keep it a surprise…because people hate not knowing a good secret; just like i hate not knowing what my christmas presents are.  when i was a kid my mom had to start hiding them at my aunt’s house because i knew all the hiding places at our house.  i’ve gotten better but i still love to give them a good shake.

make fun all you want but i’ve got to get back to listening to josh groban and michael buble christmas music…

More Rhino!

up until 4 pm today was great.  i baked some goodies like red velvet, monster cookies, blondies, and reese cookies.  i carved a pumpkin, and it actually looked like the spider that i was shooting for.  i, also, took an adventurous ride through the country on a vehicle known as the Rhino.  but then i noticed a sore throat.  on a day filled with so much fun, i had to wonder if my body was punishing me for it.

since i thought it was just a sore throat, i went to the gym and laughed back at my body, thinking things like, “take that!”  but eventually it wasn’t funny anymore, and my body was at its wits end.  i took my temperature…100.4. so i go to a walk in clinic and here comes the throat swabbing (i’ve become a pro at these, i get many more than the average person).  so what’d they find?

nothing….yet.

Huskers Maze

i’m really excited because my mom is coming next weekend.  i haven’t seen her since august 14th….it’s been a little while.  and with her visit coming up it’s giving me an excuse to do things in the city that I haven’t done yet.  first on my list is Vala’s Pumpkin Patch.  vala’s has an amazing corn maze and of course this is what it looks like:

duh…

besides the maze they have a haunted farmhouse, pumpkins (as if you didn’t realize it), pig races (yes i said PIG RACES), a pumpkin cannon (similar to the potato gun, I imagine), and caramel apples…yum.  if anything says “Fall” to me, it’s caramel apples…and apparently my mom too.

she called last week to ask if vala’s had them because she was craving one.  if you knew my mom you would understand how funny this is.  she doesn’t eat many sweets, just on special occasions and the way she asked was just so cute.  Sometime I feel like her my mom and have to cut her off when she has too much, usually when she’s drinking wine. (her friends gave her article how wine prevents alzheimers which is proudly displayed in a frame on our dining room table).  anyway…back to the topic…I LOVE FALL!! i don’t care that i’m 22 and have a craving to carve pumpkins and roast the seeds.  I want to drink my apple cider and eat my apple too!  oh and my roommate got the martha stewart halloween magazine…i can’t wait to make my own creations. haha, i’m such a dork, but i love it too much to give it up.

Meal For Deux

when i have nothing to do, my mind wanders, and today all i could think about was that i really want to go out on a date.  nothing special, maybe a trip to the zoo or a museum.  because, frankly, it’s been a while.  i’ve never asked anyone out before, so i’m hoping someone sees this and does the work for me. but no movie…not a first date.  that just provides more time for me to get nervous and freak out inside my head.  it happened one time in high school, and from that day forward i promised to never do that again.

so instead of a date, a cooked a meal for two…

bazilla and ruz (aka peas and rice for all you non-arabic speaking readers)

1 tsp oil
1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef)
1/2 onion, diced
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can peas

brown turkey and sweat onions in oil till meat is cooked through. then add can of peas and tomato sauce. let it come to a simmer then serve over rice.
 
 and ate it all myself (but don’t worry it was mostly veggies…).

Monkey’s In My Bread

due to another request…and btw these are both to die for.

Monkey Bread (recipe may be doubled depending on the bundt pan):
Flour, for pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
30 buttermilk canned refrigerator biscuits
1 stick butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup walnuts

Butter and flour a bundt pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Cut refrigerator biscuits in half and toss in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Melt the 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar and bring to a boil; then add nuts. Line the bundt pan with biscuits and pour butter mixture over them.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan when it’s still hot to avoid it sticking.

recipe courtesy of food network

Sinfully Delicious

Due to special request…

Red Velvet Cake

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 T. cocoa
1 T. vinegar
½ t. salt
1½ t. baking soda
2 ½ cups flour, sifted
1 cup buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
2 oz. Red food coloring 

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, and beat until fluffy.  Make a paste of cocoa and vinegar and add to butter mixture.  Sift salt, baking soda, and flour together.  Add dry mixture in thirds, alternating with milk.  Do not over mix.  Add vanilla and food coloring.  Grease and flour 3, 9inch layer pans.  Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes or until done. 

Icing

1 cup whole milk
2 T. flour
1 cup butter
½ cup walnuts
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
½ chopped pecans 

Cook milk and flour to thicken, do not boil milk, set aside to cool.  Mix butter and sugar and once milk mixture is cooled add together.  Beat until it’s the consistency of whipped cream.  Fold in nuts and coconut.