I've neglected the blog. Despite times during my schedule when I could have forced myself to sit down and write something, I didn't. I'm just starting finals today, and am publicly declaring my New Year's Resolution today, that's starting today:
I'm blogging once a week. I need to hold myself accountable, but it may not hurt to have people nudge me every once in a while.
So many new and fascinating things happening right now, and I haven't shared them. I make it sound earth-shattering---it's really not, but I'm almost finished with culinary school, planning a holiday visit to the Northwest, and teaching myself new and random cooking and baking techniques outside of the classroom.
Next week's post will be longer, more detailed, and will attempt to fill in the blanks about where I've been and what I've been up to (with three broken toes).
Until next week...
Building our family, one day at a time. An eclectic mix of posts regarding literature, food, faith, and fitness. Celebrating our adventures as a family.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
SS#1: Almond and Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
The inaugural bake for the Sunday Sweets with David, an Almond and Chocolate Chunk Biscotti, was a huge hit in my household! I've been making biscotti pretty consistently now for almost two years, and while they've always gone pretty quickly, only two were left after the third day of baking.
Granted, I did tweak things a bit when I prepared this recipe...for shame, I know! While I stuck to the method---whipping the egg whites, sugar, and vanilla for about 5 minutes (which was new to me when it comes to biscotti)---DL mentions a variation with chocolate chips instead of the chopped chocolate. He prefers the irregularity of the chunks---I prefer the convenience of having half a bag of chocolate chips to use up. ;) I also didn't cut them quite as thin as I could have after the first bake. One of the issues I've run into in the past with biscotti is breakage due to the length and width of the cookie post-second baking. I'm tempted in the future to keep everything in one log, rather than divide it into two--just to get those nice, substantial pieces of biscotti like I've seen at some of the coffee shops here in the US. While this means the biscotti wasn't as brittle as the thinner pieces have been, it was safer to the roofs of our mouths. :)
Looking forward to next month's bake!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Skip-a-dee doo dah...
Hi, y'all-
I'm skipping this month's bake, Creme Brulee. I've never been a fan of the texture, and instead took the opportunity to bake up some Oreo Brownies for a friend of ours on his birthday!
See you next month, and happy baking! If you're in warmer climates...I feel your pain! Forecast this week is 106-108 all week long...not so much fun in front of the stoves at work, and worse when the A/C goes out! YIKES!
Yours in butter and heavy cream,
Ryan
I'm skipping this month's bake, Creme Brulee. I've never been a fan of the texture, and instead took the opportunity to bake up some Oreo Brownies for a friend of ours on his birthday!
See you next month, and happy baking! If you're in warmer climates...I feel your pain! Forecast this week is 106-108 all week long...not so much fun in front of the stoves at work, and worse when the A/C goes out! YIKES!
Yours in butter and heavy cream,
Ryan
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
BWD#7 Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
First and foremost, I apologize for the delayed post! Yesterday was the 4th of July here, and my parents flew in for a visit from Washington state.
In any case, the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler was a huge success (which is good, considering rhubarb is an acquired taste, in my opinion!). Other than tracking down a cherry pitter at Whole Foods, this is probably one of the easiest recipes I've baked with Dorie. ;)
Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
For the Filling
1 pound sweet red cherries, pitted and halved
12 oz rhubarb, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1" pieces
1/3 c sugar
1 T cornstarch
1 t ground ginger
For the Topping
3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3 T packed brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground ginger
3/4 stick (6T) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 18 pieces
1/2 c whole milk
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Butter an 8" square baking pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
To Make the Filling: Mix the cherries and rhubarb together in a medium bowl and stir in the sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Stir the fruit from time to time while you make the topping.
To Make the Topping: Put both flours, the brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and ginger in a food processor. Pulse a couple times to blend. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and, using 1-2 second long pulses, mix in the butter until the dough looks like very coarse meal with a bunch of pea size pieces tossed in. Continuing to pulse the machine, add the milk, then pulse until the dough forms moist clumps and curds. Try not to process the dough so long that it forms a ball on the blade. Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface.
Cut the dough into 20 pieces and gently shape each piece into a ball. Don't worry about making the pieces perfectly round---the important thing is to not handle the dough too much or too roughly.
Pour the fruit and its syrupy liquid into the buttered pan and top with biscuit puffs, making 4 rows of 5 puffs each. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the biscuits are golden and the fruit is bubbling away. Remove the pan from the oven and cool the cobbler on a rack for at least 20 minutes.
Is there anything y'all would have changed? Personally, I LOVE bread (cobbler's been one of my favorite desserts for as long as I can remember) and I'm thinking the next time I bake this I'd probably double the topping recipe to make for some larger biscuits. :)
Because I was fortunate to have the fruit in season (but expensive...holy smokes! 6.99/lb for rhubarb and 4.99/lb for cherries) I didn't have to work with alternatives, but I always like thinking about pairing different fruit combinations and can't wait to see what everyone else came up with! Thanks for baking with Dorie, Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler...and I apologize again for the delay!
In any case, the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler was a huge success (which is good, considering rhubarb is an acquired taste, in my opinion!). Other than tracking down a cherry pitter at Whole Foods, this is probably one of the easiest recipes I've baked with Dorie. ;)
Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
For the Filling
1 pound sweet red cherries, pitted and halved
12 oz rhubarb, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1" pieces
1/3 c sugar
1 T cornstarch
1 t ground ginger
For the Topping
3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3 T packed brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground ginger
3/4 stick (6T) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 18 pieces
1/2 c whole milk
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Butter an 8" square baking pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
To Make the Filling: Mix the cherries and rhubarb together in a medium bowl and stir in the sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Stir the fruit from time to time while you make the topping.
To Make the Topping: Put both flours, the brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and ginger in a food processor. Pulse a couple times to blend. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and, using 1-2 second long pulses, mix in the butter until the dough looks like very coarse meal with a bunch of pea size pieces tossed in. Continuing to pulse the machine, add the milk, then pulse until the dough forms moist clumps and curds. Try not to process the dough so long that it forms a ball on the blade. Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface.
Cut the dough into 20 pieces and gently shape each piece into a ball. Don't worry about making the pieces perfectly round---the important thing is to not handle the dough too much or too roughly.
Pour the fruit and its syrupy liquid into the buttered pan and top with biscuit puffs, making 4 rows of 5 puffs each. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the biscuits are golden and the fruit is bubbling away. Remove the pan from the oven and cool the cobbler on a rack for at least 20 minutes.
Because I was fortunate to have the fruit in season (but expensive...holy smokes! 6.99/lb for rhubarb and 4.99/lb for cherries) I didn't have to work with alternatives, but I always like thinking about pairing different fruit combinations and can't wait to see what everyone else came up with! Thanks for baking with Dorie, Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler...and I apologize again for the delay!
Monday, June 6, 2011
BWD #6 Quintuple Chocolate Brownies....or Death by Chocolate?
This one's for you, Dad---
Once again...love the method. Life is so much easier not having to break out the electric hand-mixer!
I have to confess, I did take some liberties with this recipe. We don't have coffee in the house anymore, so I mixed up a little instant espresso (it seems like I have that in a few recipes outside of DG) and used that in lieu of the coffee. I ended up using pecans, on the off chance that my FIL will try these, but I'm pretty sure that he's going to pass on these!
And Dad...you have your own copy of the book now. No excuses! Break it in!
- cocoa powder
- bittersweet chocolate
- unsweetened chocolate
- milk chocolate
- white chocolate
Once again...love the method. Life is so much easier not having to break out the electric hand-mixer!
I have to confess, I did take some liberties with this recipe. We don't have coffee in the house anymore, so I mixed up a little instant espresso (it seems like I have that in a few recipes outside of DG) and used that in lieu of the coffee. I ended up using pecans, on the off chance that my FIL will try these, but I'm pretty sure that he's going to pass on these!
 |
| Chopping up the chocolate makes the melting soooo much easier. |
 |
| Whisking in the sugar, or rather, muscling in the sugar once the chocolate has cooled a bit. |
 |
| Dry goods---cocoa powder, salt, flour---mixed in with a rubber spatula and finished with a cup of milk chocolate chips and pecans. |
 | ||||
| Voila! Minus the white chocolate...tonight. Gooey white chocolate+late night=postponed! |
Date Night. Party of 1.
It's something I used to be pretty okay with. Comfortable, actually. I didn't give it a second thought. What's that? Dining on my own. In public.
When I traveled frequently for work, it didn't bother me. I'd sit quietly, tucked away in some corner with my laptop, a book, newspaper...whatever I had that needed attending to. I had good intentions last night to study for Beverage Management, but I've done so much reading for school lately that I decided to take the night off. I'm paying for it today, but it was probably much needed and of course...well deserved. ;)
I decided to try something new last night. Something new as in---location, regional cuisine, and new food. The trifecta of things that make me uncomfortable. I was so, so, so close to chickening out and being completely boring---but I decided that I'm not going to be expanding my palate without trying something new.
I'd been discussing Mediterranean food with my father in law the other night and have been craving hummus and pita bread like nobody's business! It's a little different buying it at HEB with a bag of pita chips, or having the appetizer at The Cheesecake Factory. I craved an authentic experience. Thanks to yelp.com, I picked Arpeggio Grill. Not only did this offer the things I'd listed above that I was nervous about, it's not in a great area of town...and it's in a strip mall. Normally, I don't think twice if Husband is dining with me, but after a frightening semester of sanitation and safety with a scary instructor, I usually triple-check my options. I sucked it up, plugged in the address in the GPS, and headed out with my book in hand.
The food was good. Not earth shattering or mind blowing, but large portions and inexpensive. I had the hummus, chicken kabob with basmati and Greek salad (seriously, people...I want authentic salad...not Romaine with a few red onions and two olives), and tabbouleh. I've never had tabbouleh, and what I was expecting and what I ate were completely different. I have to confess, though, I was much happier with what I ate!
Here's a link to their website if you happen to live in the area:
http://www.agrillaustin.com/
My biggest complaint was that the service was so slow...slow as in, I was there for about 2 hours. Yes. For an appetizer, entree and salad. Not cool, AG, not cool. Enjoy the pic!
Tabbouleh (far left) with Greek salad, basmati rice, and two chicken kabobs with green pepper and red onion. Mmmm....
When I traveled frequently for work, it didn't bother me. I'd sit quietly, tucked away in some corner with my laptop, a book, newspaper...whatever I had that needed attending to. I had good intentions last night to study for Beverage Management, but I've done so much reading for school lately that I decided to take the night off. I'm paying for it today, but it was probably much needed and of course...well deserved. ;)
I decided to try something new last night. Something new as in---location, regional cuisine, and new food. The trifecta of things that make me uncomfortable. I was so, so, so close to chickening out and being completely boring---but I decided that I'm not going to be expanding my palate without trying something new.
I'd been discussing Mediterranean food with my father in law the other night and have been craving hummus and pita bread like nobody's business! It's a little different buying it at HEB with a bag of pita chips, or having the appetizer at The Cheesecake Factory. I craved an authentic experience. Thanks to yelp.com, I picked Arpeggio Grill. Not only did this offer the things I'd listed above that I was nervous about, it's not in a great area of town...and it's in a strip mall. Normally, I don't think twice if Husband is dining with me, but after a frightening semester of sanitation and safety with a scary instructor, I usually triple-check my options. I sucked it up, plugged in the address in the GPS, and headed out with my book in hand.
The food was good. Not earth shattering or mind blowing, but large portions and inexpensive. I had the hummus, chicken kabob with basmati and Greek salad (seriously, people...I want authentic salad...not Romaine with a few red onions and two olives), and tabbouleh. I've never had tabbouleh, and what I was expecting and what I ate were completely different. I have to confess, though, I was much happier with what I ate!
Here's a link to their website if you happen to live in the area:
http://www.agrillaustin.com/
My biggest complaint was that the service was so slow...slow as in, I was there for about 2 hours. Yes. For an appetizer, entree and salad. Not cool, AG, not cool. Enjoy the pic!
Tabbouleh (far left) with Greek salad, basmati rice, and two chicken kabobs with green pepper and red onion. Mmmm....
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Summer 2011...Trying some things...
This is the first time in a while I've had a chance to catch my breath and post something other than photos for the BWD posts every other Monday. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the things I'd like to accomplish from my list this summer---some of which I'll be able to enjoy with my parents, others on my own or with other friends---and wanted to share a few of these adventures! It seems as though I discover something every day that I haven't yet tried, and am excited to start the experience!
A few of the items are going to be summer-long endeavors:
The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~Wallace Stevens
A few of the items are going to be summer-long endeavors:
- Reading and watching the Harry Potter series (I've completed the first)
- Reading Jane Austen (I'm going to guess this will take me from today's date, 5/24/2011 through the end of the year!)
- Reading three books I read during high school
- Create five sewing projects for myself (and I just fell upon a website for a store in SPOKANE of all places that sells both the patterns AND the fabric for a particular designer)
- Learn to crochet
- Finish a knitting project...more specifically, I'll root for a scarf to be completed
- Use scrapbooking supplies---for cards, frames, etc
- Make homemade soap
- Make homemade candles
- Make doughnuts at home
- Make candy at home---something that challenges me, using a food thermometer
Try eating a new ethnic cuisine- Eat at one of Austin's famous trailers
Eat at Magnolia Cafe without buyer's remorse (or guilt)- Make homemade s'mores---marshmallows AND graham crackers
- Make homemade preserves (with my brand-new pressure cooker)
- Visit the Alamo
- Go swimming in Barton Springs
- Have a themed party---I'm thinking something like 80s aerobic?
- Take self-defense
- Go on a roadtrip
Try bikram- Take a trapeze lesson
- Swim in an ocean
- Go to gospel brunch
- Buy cowboy boots
- Visit Schlitterbahn---look it up!
The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~Wallace Stevens
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