I heart baking

I love to cook.
But I have found that I love love to bake.
If you cook a steak, in the end it's still a steak.
But when you combine flour and eggs and sugar that could turn in to anything...a cake, bread, rolls...whatever you want.
And I do get a kick out of throwing a little of this and a little of that into a pan and seeing what comes out, but there's also this other side of me. The totally organized and control freak part that likes knowing that I need exactly 1 2/3 cup of something added to 1 tsp of something and it all comes out.
So the husband likes muffins so I've started trying out different flavors so he doesn't get burned out on all blueberry.
This week was Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.

Note to self; use something other than a white bowl.

Mushed up bananas, mmmm

We're dark chocolate folks so this is lovely dark chocolate!

Look at all that muffin goodness!

Ohhhhh Boy!

These were so good. They aren't too sweet (as I'm not a big sweet fan) they stay soft and moist. They are low calorie! The husband has a muffin, a half a banana and yogurt for breakfast. MMM MMM good!

All the flavors sort of, I don't know the word...

Marry.
All the flavors Marry.

I'm trying all kinds of new chicken recipes to find the flavors that make chicken good to me. This is the second time we've done Chicken Burgers with Garlic-Rosemary Mayo. I knew going in that I love these burgers. But, there are a few things that you should know going in....so let us start!

I would love to say that I made this mayo, but I didn't...Food Processor is on the wish list though.

I love fresh herbs. I love to CHOP!

Most of the kitchen gadgets out there cut out the things that I love to do. I love to chop stuff. I love to knead dough, I love to smash the garlic. I'm not really a gadget kind of girl.

Here's your delicious Mayo. It is so good!

Here's the deal with these burgers. When you patty them out they are very sticky and almost on the verge of being a bit soupy. That's ok. That's going to make the burgers super good. Be careful with them they are fragile.

Put the burgers on the grill and leave them alone. Leave it alone for the whole 7 minutes. The mayo is going to cause this beautiful crunch. That crunch is going to be not only what keeps your burger together AND it's going to be your favorite part.

Seriously, don't forget to stick the bread on the grill (with the mayo). I would like to also mention that this bread is home-made sourdough bread. I'm pretty excited about that.

Our grill leaves a bit to be desired. It cooks on HOT and HOTTTT. But we're trying to work with it. We had to leave a fantastic grill at home because it was so big :(

The arugula is outstanding on this burger. I love arugula anyway, but with that rosemary...seriously, don't leave it out.

Along with the burgers we tried sweet potatoes on the grill and a brussel sprouts and onion saute with a splashing of different spices. It was so good. It married well!

Best I ever ate

Do you watch that show?
It's one of my favorite shows on the food network. It's really cool to see the top chefs get excited about their favorite finds.
I found the best I ever ate: biscuits....in my kitchen.
The hubs has been taking his breakfast with him in his cute little spider-man big manly lunch box. He doesn't have time to come home for lunch and his options are Sonic and McDonald's. The problem is that he doesn't have a microwave to heat up in. So we've been doing some testing around to see what works to keep him fueled after PT (which sometimes is 12 mile rucks) and is super healthy.
This week he wanted to try out taking a sausage biscuit.
Well shopping with the hubs is always informational. We sometimes spend hours in the store. Most of the time spent comparing nutritional labels. I happen to like Harris Teeter (back in the N.C.), but the T.N. doesn't make those. So we have to make do.
We were not happy with any of the sausage selections. We wanted a turkey sausage, but all of their selections were pre-cooked and terrible for you. So what did lovey do? He got some ground tukey and made his own. Don't you love him?!
He wanted his turkey in a jalapeno biscuit, he searched high and low and found this Jalapeno and Cheddar Biscuit recipe that he wanted.

Dry, mix and mix and

add the pea sized butter. Hubs was very particular about the size of the pea sized butter.

Wet goes into the dry

Wait, what?!?!?! We're putting jalapeno and cheese in our biscuits!

Gotta say, I'll add at least 3 or 4 tablespoons of the jalapeno's next time.

Isn't that beautiful?!

Ever kneaded dough? It feels great to the hands.

Since I lack the rolling out gene, we choose to cut. I'm glad!

This is what happens when I roll out biscuits...true story.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!

Look at the gooey cheese, but this next picture is better...

This biscuit doesn't need butter my dear...

Look at his breakfast feast!

"Wife, this is the best biscuit I have ever eaten" ~Hubs.

Me too hubs, me too.

I am so excited about this turkey sausage biscuit.

I love it because we know exactly what was in every part of this biscuit.

I know what's in the sausage, I know what's in the biscuit.

This is not something that somebody else, who knows where and then slapped in a plastic package and frozen.

I'm also making bread right now, we'll talk about that tomorrow!!

Trudge On

So while making Tex Mex Pork Casserole, it became apparent that I was really not meant to make this recipe at all...but alas I stupidly trudged on.
I would like to start this by saying that Research and Development picked this recipe out. He also read the recipe and assured me that we were only missing one ingredient...
I did not have cumin, tomato paste, enough black beans, the taco sauce, adobo, jalepeno peppers, nor serrano peppers.
For real?
Yep?
After I got together everything I did actually have I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart (which is like a half mile away).
Wal-Mart had no jalepeno's. I'm not a fan of the hot, so I really have no idea how to substitute peppers. Most other veggies I can figure out what I can sub to keep the recipe pretty close to original. The only peppers they had were serrano's (which were already called for) and Poblano. I have seen Bobby Flay mess with Poblano's, that's the extent of my knowledge. I got them anyway.
At some point after I messed with both of these peppers, I touched my face. I now type with a red, swollen face. I have learned a couple things.
#1. Having to google "Peppers burning skin" makes one feel stupid.
#2. Taking a bath in milk does too.
#3. Don't use water.
#4. Milk does help for a few minutes.
#5. When husband gets home he will not laugh and he will hear about this...

On a side note I am currently having a love affair with the crockpot. If this affair continues I might trade my old simple one for a new fancy one ;)

Ok, to the recipe:

Tex Mex Pork Casserole

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 1 inch cubes

1tbsp chili poiwder

1/2 tsp cumin

1tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 serrano pepper, minced

1/2 chicken broth

1.2 taco sauce

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

Combine cubes of pork with chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper and mix well

In a skillet with olive oil, brown pork (about 5 or 6 minutes)

In crock pot put onion, garlic and serrano pepper. Add browned pork and chicken broth.

Mix.

Top with Taco Sauce (*recipe to follow) and black beans.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Taco Sauce

1 6 ounce can of tomato paste

2 cups water or chicken broth (I did half and half)

1/4 grated onion

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced (couldn't find this)

1 tbsp adobo sauce

1tbsp corn syrup

1 jalepeno pepper, minced (had to use poblano)

1/2 cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Conbine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until thickened (10-15 minutes).

Honestly, it took a little longer than 6 minutes for me to be happy with the brownness of the pork.

I love that you just dump and leave it alone.

The Taco Sauce is really great. I will definately use it again for other things.

Served with real live mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

SO I thought this was going to be super spicy, but it wasn't. The pork tenderloin was so tender that I couldn't stick it with a fork, I had to scoop it. I added a little extra taco sauce on top and that was tasty. It makes a very thin but tasty gravy.

Soup makes it better

I love soup. All the time.

I found Split Pea and Ham soup at Mimi's Cafe, I heart it!

So I love the slow cooker, but I am not so great at following directions.

Let me tell you how I approach a recipe, sort of the same way I approach my horoscope (bear with me, it'll make sense).

You see, my birthday is May 21st. Depending on who you ask I may be a Taurus or a Gemini. Every horoscope you look at says a slightly different date. So here's what I do...I always look at both of them and then mix and match and meld to make the horoscope that I want. It works for me.

Same for a recipe. I google what I'm looking for. I sort of see what ingredients I already have and mix, match and meld. PLUS, most of the time I will go to the grocery store with a detailed list and forget half of what I need. So the computer goes with me in the kitchen. Like the other day I needed Cumin (I thought I had some) and couldn't find it. So I googled what spice I could substitute for Cumin and away we went.

So I don't really follow directions a recipe just so. For the Split Pea and Ham recipe I will just tell you what I did...do what you like!

Ingredients:

1 bag of dried split peas

1 large onion, diced

2 tsp minced garlic

2 carrots, diced

2 cups of ham

3 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed (you have to follow this one direction)

Cover and cook on High for 6 hours or Low for 11

DO NOT MIX!

Now, you could add celery stalks, they just sort of dissolve into the soup. AND, I am not a fan of cooked carrots, but in this soup it does add to the flavor.

This is a great idea for left over ham. I like LOTS of ham in this soup, so I put about twice as much ham as asked for. Keep in mind that chances are the ham has a bit of salt in it. When you're seasoning, keep that in mind. I just put a tiny bit of salt and some pepper.

Make sure your chicken broth (I suggest reduced sodium) covers your ham.

Don't mix, or stir this, leave it in layers.

Stir when your 6 or 11 hours are up. Let it sit for a few minutes and let it thicken up (it does so quite nicely)

MMM, MMM!

This freezes up quite nicely.

I'll be eating all week!



OH Die Junge!

That's German talk for OH BOY!
I cannot wait to tell you about this one!
Tonight Research and Development took me out on a surprise date!
The date was to Edelweiss Cafe for our very first taste to German food!
It was such a great time! The people there were so nice (because it was pretty obvious it was our first time).
I had such a great time with the hubs, and the folks there at Edelweiss and of course, with the food.
Please excuse the picture quality, they were taken with my phone!

This is a German Salad. The carrots and green beans are pickled like the beet and for the dressing it tasted like the juices that they were all picked in. It was really quite delicious. It was not heavy (like ranch dressing) and it really let you taste all the elements of the salad. PLUS, I really love beets!

Husband got Jager Schnitzel. It's Jager because it's a big piece, and it's Schnitzel because it's a cutlet of pork breaded and fried. This Schnitzel is drowned in a brown mushroom sauce. The side item is Spatzle. It's a home made egg noodle. DELICIOUS!

I had the boiled Pierogi, and I am in love...

Inside of this delicious and delicate dough is the most de.li.c.ious mashed potatoes ever! There are apparently many ways to stuff a Pierogi, but mine were cheese and potato! You can also get them fried. So this was most definately a comfort food, but it also had a flavor just different enough to not be traditional mashed potatoes. They were so good! In fact I'm pretty sure I'm going to have the left overs for breakfast...yep, that good.

And finally, I vowed to have dessert. It was so good, I was almost done before I remembered to take the picture...oops!

This delight is called a Paradise. It starts with a vanilla cake on the bottom, on top of that is a chocolate mousse, on top of that chocolate cake and topping it all off a vanilla mousse. I am a big fan of mousse. I love it, it's so light and punches so much flavor. This stuff was as homemade as you get. They do not pull a cake out of the freezer, they make it all.

This is our new favorite place here in Clarksville. I can't wait to try some other things that I've never tried before.

Ending quote from the husband...

"I ate too much German Schnitzel"

I don't like chicken

As a general thing.
The taste is just not something that I'm fond of. I also don't like the consistency much either.
BUT, the hubs likes it so I'm trying to learn to cook it and like it to. It's going ok so far.

Tonight we had Chicken and Rice Casserole , and I must admit that it was pretty good.

I love onions!

This is my first time working with water chestnuts. Very easy to work with, a little oddly smelly.

Mix, mix, mix. This takes a much bigger bowl than I originally thought.

Hey MA, when's dinner ready?

Look at how colorful and tasty!

In the background is extra chicken that was made into chicken salad!

Look at me, thinking ahead!

The Best Laid Plans

Well, you know how they go.

I made a fantastic dinner and took stupedous pictures! Well it's turns out that somehow or other the card was not in the camera and I don't know where the cord is to connect the camera straight to the computer, so I will have to make it again another time and tell you about it then.

Fortunately, Research and Development had a little something in his back pocket.

He's wanting to make the Middle Eastern Honey Cake for a little while and we finally found some whole sesame seeds so make it we he did.

Middle Eastern Honey Cake

1/2 cup Toasted Sesame Seeds

1 1/2 cups of unsifted flour or whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup of honey

1/2 Olive Oil

Toast Sesame seeds at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

Mix ingredients and spread in ungreased cookie sheet (8x8)

Bake at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Look at the beautiful color on these toasted sesame seeds.

We used whole wheat flour. I totally suggest it.

I was a little skeptical at this point. It looked to simple really to be delicious.

I LOVE sharing my kitchen with the hubs.

This is a rather weird consistancy, but stick with it.

Our pan was a we bit bigger than 8x8, we just made do.

Wait until it cools off to eat it. Once it cools the sesame seeds are a part of the crunch. It you try it before it cools it seems like (because of the seeds) that it's not done.

Flat cookie of deliciousness.

I have lots of words to describe this thing.

It is so simple. It's not too sweet, it has this delicious nuttiness from the toasted seeds. It in a vague way reminds me of peanut butter.

It's just a bit sweet, it has this awesome crunch. Funnily enough, it's a little exotic.

I'm not sure how Research and Development found this recipe, but he tells me that this Middle Eastern recipe dates back to Jesus' time. This was the sort of dessert that Jesus would have eaten.