Bake sale

My work got bake saled the eff OUT this week.



Coworker Mrs. M made lovely adorable carrot cakes for raffle!

Minor cake catastrophe

This week, we held a charity bake sale at work to benefit Share our Strength. I prepared the Barefoot Contessa lemon cake as one of my contributions. There was an unfortunate "sticking to the pan" incident. See right.




However, if you pour enough gooey glaze over top, you can cover those accidents RIGHT up.







Extreme closeup of a particularly bad spot.

Mmm...giant burrito

Much to my surprise, R agreed to forgo the dull planned dinner of leftovers (blah, pork chops) and replace it with GIANT BURRITOS from Chipotle! Yay! He strayed from his normal fave of barbacoa beef to just regular spicy steak and I had the veggie burrito with black beans. Both of us opted for tomato AND corn salsa with sour cream and cheese. Mmm fat. He also had lettuce. Delish.

I made the mistake of hoovering a bowl of cereal when I got home from work (I was hungry) then eating this burrito less than 2 hours later...I was hurting...I had to lie down on the sofa bed...for an hour...watching Birth Day...

Adult Beverage Saturday

R and I had a lovely cocktail hour(s) on Saturday. R had several cocktails which led to him telling Daisy that he loved her (an odd sentiment, obviously, given their history) but a fun, relaxing evening nonetheless. Which was needed, given the drama of late.

R was drinking a lovely Long Island Iced Tea, the Barefoot Contessa version. You mix vodka, rum, tequila, gin, and Cointreau with a hefty splash of lemon juice and a splash of sugar syrup. Put ice in the glass, put in the booze, then fill to the top with cola.






I made a cranberry cocktail/cape codder/something of that nature featuring cranberry juice, vodka, club soda, and a lime twist. Daisy sneakily drank a sip of mine and seemed to enjoy it roundly.

Disgusting gelatinous mess of goo

Ugh. I made a WRETCHED casserole last night. R declared it "edible" and managed to gag down a bowl, but I could only manage about 3 bites. And I love casserole. To protect the innocent, I won't even link the original recipe, but here's what I did:

I mixed 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, 3 c cooked egg noodles, 2 1/2 c cooked chicken, and some sauteed onions and mushrooms together. I added some white wine. It still was a bit thick, so I added about 1 heaping tbsp of Miracle Whip, the ultimate casserole treat. I don't know what happened, but the sauce tasted like hot lotion when it came out of the oven. It was way too creamy - like a lotion, not a sauce - and it just tasted funky. R said it was the mushrooms making everything taste like dirt, but I just didn't like the texture and flavor. Bleck. Will NOT repeat.

Cookies!

More cookies...this post will become more comical when you see what else I made for a family reunion this past weekend (have been too lazy to pose those items for a photo). Peanut butter chocolate chippers. Delish. Cream 2 sticks of butter with 1/2 c white sugar and 3/4 c brown sugar. Add 2 eggs. Add 1 c peanut butter. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Mix 3 c flour with 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp powder, and salt (I like more salt, but recipe calls for 1/4 tsp). Slowly add flour mix to butter mix. Add in 1 lb chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tbspfuls on a parchment lined or greased cookie sheet. Bake for 11-14 min. Longer if you make bigger cookies. Cookies should appear slightly underdone, allow them to rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Mmm...sausage

Delicious kielbasa. And mustard-roasted potatoes. Mmm. Chop lots of potatoes. Coat with a mixture of olive oil, whole grain mustard, salt, and pepper. Spread on sheet pan along with hunks of kielbasa. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until potatoes are crisp and tender. Mmm. delish. Mmmmmmmm.....drool....

Ladies Cake

Mmm...cake. I like cake. In addition to the pound cake, I also made a "better than sex" cake and double chocolate gooey butter cake (both Paula Deen - the woman knows her way around a dessert)

Daisy put her face in a corner of the DCGB cake, hence, the removal of a square of that cake in the picture.

D's potato salad

Future s-i-l prepared to the potato salad that accompanied the pulled pork on Friday night (she also pulled the pork, which gave her, I hope, a champ arm workout for the day). She made it look easy. Too easy maybe. Easy enough that I may actually make a potato salad one day. From what I could tell it was potatoes, mayo (only a particularly brand and variety), red onion, egg, pepper, and this seasoning blend that was new to me, Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt. It is a mix of salt and other herbs (not paprika, according to the website) and a teeny amount of pepper, not very much though. It def had a garlicky/oniony flavor, and there were green bits. Beyond that I'm not sure. Crack? Ganja? Who knows. I will be using it in other recipes and delving its Krazy flavor mysteries...

LW continues...

Fajitas. Lovely fajitas. Beef or chicken. Cheese. Sour cream. Salsa. Peppers and onions. Mmm.

Marinade meat (any meat, just adjust marination time - is marination a word?) in lime juice, olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt, pepper, something spicy (red pepper, cayenne, whatever) and any other seasonings you desire. I let beef go a long time, chicken at least 4 hours. If you AREN'T like me and you DO eat fish, fish just get to look at the marinade for a bit - no more than 20 minutes or so, or else you'll have cooked fishies. Grill that up. Slice and serve. Booya.

Not the easiest food item to take a picture of, especially if you don't have a chip to support your soft tortillas.

Ladies Weekend part deux

Thanks to Miss A for supplying a new serving piece and some delish salsa. I wouldn't have thought to check out Crate & Barrel's food lines, but they have Rick Bayless (fab authentic Mexican chef) serving up salsa recipes. Check it out.


Beware the giant salsa jar, it'll come get you...

Ladies Weekend food (multi parts)

Mmm....ladies weekend food. We ate fairly well, no? There was a schload of food. I forgot to take pictures of some of it, I may try to play catch up with leftovers this week, here's a little sample:

Friday night dessert was lovely sour cream pound cake (thanks Paula!) with berries and whipped cream.



We had fruit salad with breakfast both mornings (look at those blackberries from WV) to counteract the fattyness of the other breakfast items. Mmm. Breakfat.

Custard? Good. Jam? Good? Meat? Goood!

Thanks Friends, for bringing us such quotable quotes. Ok, so I left the meat out of my trifle. But it was pretty tasty nonetheless. And it was semi-homemade, because I was feeling lazy.

I took store-bought angel food cake, instant vanilla pudding, fresh whipped cream (I'm not THAT lazy) , and berries and layered them in a trifle dish. Cake. Berries. Pudding. Cream. Repeat. Top with decorative berries. The end.

Mmm...puddin'

I resurrected an "old" favorite over the weekend whilst entertaining the in-laws, Paula Deen's "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding." Mmm. Puddin'.

Line a 9x13 dish with Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies. Slice 6-8 bananas over cookies. Prepare one package of french vanilla instant pudding according to package direction. In a separate bowl, mix together 8 oz softened cream cheese and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. Fold in one container whipped topping or equal amount whipped cream. Fold in pudding. Pour pudding mix over bananas. Top with Chessmen. Refrigerate. Serve.

Changes - I find this recipe too sweet. I think it's the whipped topping. When I make it again, perhaps later in the fall, I will make whipped cream and either not sweeten it or only sweeten it slightly. That will make it a little less sticky sweet.

Mmm...le boeuf

Steak. I heart steak. And, as I believe I've said before, I'm a big fan of the flat iron steak. On Friday, I put together a marinade for said flat iron steak consisting of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, a few crushed garlic cloves, some red pepper flakes, a splash of olive oil, and ground black pepper. Let that carry on its business for a long time (all day) then grill.

On the side, I sauteed up some scallions, then added rice, cooked the rice with water, then tossed in some lightly salted peanuts. We also had salad. I try to force some green food into R whenever possible, it's quite difficult.

Chicken parm

Mmm...delish chicken parm. A fab highlight of the Lower dining hall menu*. I'm sure I've written of it before, but here it is again. Pound chicken flat. Dredge in flour. Then egg. Then a mix of half seasoned breadcrumbs, half parmesan cheese. Pan fry in olive oil and butter until crisp and brown. Serve with pasta and red sauce. Delish.




*Now known as "Lower Live at Corcoran Common" wtf? Lower live? Live?

Light, summery meal.

Psyche. Pot roast, yummy, gravy covered pot roast.

For this culinary triumph, of which I may have blogged before but am too lazy to go through my past entries, I took a ginormous hunk of beef chuck and placed it in a lovely bath of cream of mushroom soup, beef broth, pepper, and onion soup mix. Bake at 300 degrees forever (or 3-4 hours).

I think my chuck roast was probably 4 pounds. It was large and in charge folks. It was quite a thrill, and I'm a bit startled at how much of a charge I got out of handling a large bit of meat. R offered to leave the two of us alone. I demurred. Although, that would leave more pot roast for me.....

I'm gonna open a freakin' bakery....

MORE COOKIES!!! This time, oatmeal scotchies. I ripped the recipe off some random blog who said he/she had ripped the recipe off the back of the Tollhouse butterscotch chip package.

In a small bowl, mix 1 1/4 c flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. In the mixer bowl, cream together 2 sticks of butter, 3/4 c white sugar, and 3/4 c brown sugar. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Add 2 eggs. Slowly add flour mix. Add 3 c oats. Add one package butterscotch chips. Add nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded tbspfulls onto baking sheet, bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Makes approximately 2000 cookies (or 5 dozen).

Greek gluttony

Last night was modified Greek salad night. First off, I made a dressing/marinade with 1/4 c lemon juice, a hefty splash of fancy red wine vinegar P&D gave me from Oil & Vinegar, salt, pepper, 2 tbsp Greek seasoning from Penzeys, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and about 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil. I put 3/4 pound chicken tenderloins in a 1/2 c of the dressing and let that marinate for a few hours. The rest was set aside for dressing purposes.

For the salad, I mixed a package of sweet butter lettuce, 3 plum tomatoes, 1/2 an English cucumber, a large handful of crumbled feta cheese, and a handful of chopped mixed olives (Kalamata, etc.) R grilled the chicken and I brushed several pita rounds with the dressing, and they were also grilled. After grilling, I chopped both the chicken and the pita into bite-sized pieces and tossed them into the salad. Toss in the dressing and there you have a lovely dinner salad.

Happy 4th!

For our non-traditional Fourth of July feast, R and I prepared a sumptuous grilled ribeye smeared with garlic butter and pasta with a fresh tomato, basil, and roasted garlic sauce. Mmm.

The ribeye is v. easy. Mash together 1/2 stick of softened butter, 4 minced cloves of garlic, some salt, and pepper. Rub onto one lovely ribeye steak. Grill steak. Eat steak.

For the pasta. I used about 5 roma tomatoes and 3 plain old vine ripened round tomatoes. Peel by slicing a small x in the bottom of the tomato, and dipping in boiling water for about 30-60 seconds. Remove and place in ice water. Once cool to touch, remove peel, squeeze out seeds, and set aside for future use. Here is a naked tomato:


To make the sauce, I prepared 1 lb of spaghetti according to the package directions, but undercook by 1 minute. Meanwhile, I took one head of roasted garlic (plus a few minced garlic cloves, just in case it wasn't garlicky enough), about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and heated over medium low heat until very very fragrant. I lightly chopped the naked tomatoes and added them. I let the mixture saute for about 10 minutes and then added about 1/3 c julienned basil. Add the slightly undercooked pasta into the saute mixture and toss for a few minutes until the pasta is fully al dente. Add in some parmesan and bob's your uncle.

We also had a random "cheese course" with some aged Gruyere and smoked "robust" blue cheese. We both tried the blue with the ribeye which was really very good. Mmm.