In the Kitchen Goals

This year I want to learn and do:

1. Make vegetable stock regularly.

- I can and do make chicken stock pretty often but I haven't tried making vegetable stock yet.

2. Learn to make beef gravy.

- I have no problems with chicken gravy but for some reason my beef gravy just doesn't turn out right.

3. Make a fried dessert.

-Being oven-less, I figured this is a good way to try and get some baking in. Doughnuts, beignets...any other ideas?

4. Make a rice cooker cake.

-Another option for the oven-less. I gotta learn how to read the buttons first.

5. Try brownie pancakes (with peanut butter sauce?).

-Noticing a theme here? I'm wondering if I can use brownie batter to make pancakes with since I don't care for the texture of microwave brownies.

6. Learn to make tortillas.

-I've made tortillas before but they were a bit on the dry side. I want to perfect the recipe so when I go home I can have tacos and burritos galore.

7. Learn how to make a Korean dish from scratch.

-I really want to learn how to make dakgalbi and miso soup so that Mike can have his two favorite Korean foods after we move home.

Double New Year's Challenge and a Dare

Hotglue!

In the spirit of the new year and making resolutions I have 2 challenges for you:

1. Bake up something that sounds healthy (i.e.: vegetables, fruit, oatmeal or other healthy sounding ingredients play a star role in the name)

2. Create a list of baking and/or cooking resolutions. I'll share mine with you too.


Oh! And I almost forgot the dare.

Dearest Luisa, I double dare you to cook and something from this list of important recipes to know before you're 30. I can't believe how quickly we're approaching that mark.

Stovetop Blueberry Crisp

This recipe was cobbled together by my sister Mara. She was inspired by this recipe from William-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

4 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter
2 packets instant oatmeal (I used maple brown sugar flavor)

Method:

Cook the blueberries in a little water until the juices start to come out. Pour into serving dish.'
Melt the butter. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the sugar is melted. Stir to combine. Pour over the blueberries and serve hot.

The Microwave Cake Experiment: Part 1- The Chocolate S'more Cake

As you know, I have been without an oven for about 9 months now. This means I've done a lot of experimenting with stovetop and no bake desserts.

I've whipped up a plethora of yogurt flavors, a few of which I've blogged about here. I also like making cinnamon apples.

Last week, I had an epic fail trying out a stove top cobbler. The bottom was burnt, the top dough was raw.

Soon after, a friend brought by some muffins she made in the microwave. They were delicious! So it got me thinking back to the mug cakes I'd seen floating around the interwebs.

Today, I tried making the 5 Minute Chocolate S'mores cake from How Sweet Eats.

I didn't have graham crackers but I did have a few shortbread cookies leftover so I crumbled them to use as the crumb. In the future, I think if you don't have the graham crackers, just skip the crumb crust.

I layered the batter with marshmallows, as suggested, and it filled about 3/4 of the mug. I was concerned that it was too high, but I also thought that the marshmallows might melt down a bit, like they do when baked in the oven.

I was wrong.  After a minute and twenty seconds in the microwave, the top of the cake exploded out of the mug and all over the microwave.

Once, I got that cleaned up, the cake tasted pretty darn good. It was rich and chocoaltely. Towards the bottom, it was a little dry, but the rest of the cake was great. Maybe next time, I'll omit the cookie crust and start with a layer of marshmallows, to help keep the cake most.

Oh, and unless you are able to torch or broil them there is no need to top the cake with additional marshmallows, they don't get gooey enough.

I drizzled the top of the cake with shortbread cookie chunks rolled in leftover melted chocolate. mmmm----mmmmm good!

 

That cake on the side of the mug? It's leftover from the explosion!

 

Next week I'm planning on trying a blueberry coffee mug cake.

 

Here's to happy baking!

 

PS: Have you had any experiences with microwave baking?

Plum Yummy

I mentioned in this post that I was experimenting with turning my yogurt into dessert to compensate for my lack of oven.

Plums are in season now and are going for much cheaper than my usual summer favorite, peaches. So, I decided to play around.

I peeled, pitted and chopped 4 small plums.
I put them in a pot with a cup of water,  2 tablespoons of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I let the mixture boil until the plums broke down.
I strained the mixture, retaining the liquid in a separate container.

I chopped and additional small plum or two and mixed with some plain or Greek style yogurt. I added the puree and stirred it in. In the future, I would leave out the extra chopped plum and just relish the creaminess.

The puree is totally delicious enough to eat on its own. It's warm and comforting. It's almost like the plum version of apple sauce.  But, as I mentioned before, I like the melty effect you get when you mix warm fruit and cold yogurt.

If you are using regular sized plums, I would only use two. These were real babies.

I retained the syrup with the intention of pouring it warm over my next yogurt. In the end, I drank it straight from the Tupperware container....mmmm!

As a side note, I also like chopped fresh plums mixed in with plain yogurt. It gives you a nice crisp taste, much like peaches and cream...but with er..plums.

Enjoy!

How do you like your yogurt?

Girl Scout Cookie Challenge

Long overdue, but here is a picture of my Girl Scout Cookie Challenge, for which I decided to make (drumroll)....Samoas Brownies! I used the recipe posted on the Back for Seconds website, and the brownies were super easy and delicious. My friend and her fiance had us over for dinner that day, and usually when we have dinner dates I try to make time to bake something...and then end up running out of time and having to run to the store and buy some yucky pre-made dessert, and then rearrange it on a nice platter to pretend I might have made it...but everyone always knows when they bite into something whether it was store bought or made from scratch at home ;) SO, it was really nice to actually show up with something that I had made with love and care, and that turned out delicious as well. This pictures shows the ganache, which was heavy but still very good. The only thing I might do differently next time is add a little bit more coconut as well....

It's Cookie Time!!!

Luisa,

Your beignets look delicious! I think I'll be trying my hand at some form of fried dough in the near future. 

Your next challenge is to make a dessert incorporating Girl Scout Cookies.

You can make a homemade version of a beloved cookie or use a cookie to add extra oomph to another sweet treat. The choice is yours!



Source : http://www.alannageorge.com/2013/02/20/printable-keep-calm-i-have-girl-scout-cookies/

PS: What's my next challenge to be?