Crazy Cupcakes

I found this post earlier today -- these are some awesome cupcakes, I just had to share! The post is called "The 20 Most Inventive Cupcakes Known to Man" and they really live up to that hefty title! These cupcakes really put my own to shame (even with my signature bedazzling of icing polka dots, stripes, sparkly colored sugar and sprinkles.) But these cupcakes featured go above and beyond!

Personally, I love these Glee-inspired cupcakes that were made by 2010: A Bake Odyssey (compliments to them for the pic). 


Cheers!

Dinner Out : Tasca

Last Saturday a pipe broken outside of Boston causing all drinking water to be undrinkable. Left with the option of purchasing bottled water or boiling water in a pan (which I have since heard gave a very unpleasant tin/pan taste to the water) I opted out of drinking water for the day, in favor of sangria. Same went for cooking/doing dishes, so I chose to eat out. We went out to dinner in Brighton at a Spanish tapas place called Tasca. 
 
I was quite famished after an afternoon of walking around in the intense heat and humidity so six tapas were selected: 
-- Calamari  
-- Brie and apples  
-- Garlic bread toasts with anchovies 
-- Sliced ham with cheese (pictured above) 
-- Empanada (I think) 
-- Mussels

I really enjoy Tasca, this is the second time I’ve been. I love the idea of tapas because I always have a really hard time selecting a restaurant for dinner and selecting only one item off of a menu because I always want to try a bit of everything -- which obviously makes tapas the perfect solution.

And as a result of the water ban, we also had a pitcher of tutti-frutti sangria – delish! 

Overall score : 9 out of 10.

Chicken & Apple Pot

Last week was unseasonably cold in Boston –- though the tides have turned and I’m currently writing this from my sweltering 80+ degree apartment. But last week was a different story, I needed a good old warm-me-upper so I decided to make a soup/stew recipe out of my slow cooker cookbook. The choice: Chicken & Apple Pot.

As you may have heard me mention before, I don’t like cooking with chicken, and really I can’t even remember the last time I did cook with chicken. I think I might have been about nine years ago when I made homemade BBQ chicken wings and my kitten jumped on the door of the hot oven. True story. (No kittens were harmed in the cooking of the chicken wings -- he turned out to be fine.)

Anyway, I figured this recipe would be different from other chicken recipes because: a) slow cooking chicken will make it very moist and tender and b.) I don’t have to fear under-cooking as the chicken simmers in the slow cooker for nearly 8 hours. Sudden realization when it comes to chicken: chicken is cheap! I mean, really cheap! I got 5 pretty big drumsticks (the perfect amount for 2 people) at Whole Foods for a whopping $3. I think I may be welcoming chicken back into my kitchen.

This recipe was quite easy to make and tasted very good. The chicken literally fell right off the bone and caramelized apples as a garnish were very delicious. I was told however that next time I might want to think about swapping out some of the apples in favor of some potatoes –- a suggestion that will be duly noted. 

PS: It also went wonderfully with Harpoon Summer Beer –- I’m so glad summer beer is back in season!

Overall score : 7 out of 10

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Recipe (Compliments of Slow Cooking by Linda Doesser)

Ingredients –

1 tbsp olive oil

4 chicken portions, about 6 oz each (I used 5 big drumsticks for 2 people)

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1 ½ tbsp flour

1 ¼ cup apple juice

2/3 cup chicken stock

1 cooking apple cut up

2 bay leaves

1-2 tsp honey

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into chunks

Garnish –

1 tbsp butter, melted

1 apple sliced and cored

2 tbsp raw brown sugar

Directions –

1. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the chicken and cook over medium-high heat, turning frequently for 10 minutes, until golden brown all over. Transfer chicken to a slow cooker.
2. Add the onion and celery to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat. Gradually stir in the apple juice and stock, then return the skillet to the heat, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the cooking apple, bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour the mixture over the chicken, cook and cover on low for 6 ½ hours, until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Stir in the yellow bell pepper, re-cover, and cook on high for 45 minutes.
4. Shortly before you are ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Brush one side of the apple slices with half the melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the sugar has caramelized. Turn the slices over with tongs, brush with the remaining butter, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Broil for a further 2 minutes. Serve the stew garnished with the caramelized apple slices.

Dining Out

I love going to restaurants. Maybe it's because I spend so much time laboriously preparing my own meals sometimes that it's a nice chance of pace to have a meal prepared for me and arrive in front of my all hot and steamy from the kitchen. Since summer is approaching there are a few things I want to do to explore Boston a bit more. While one of them is to find some great farmers' markets and whip up some meals using wonderful, fresh, local ingredients, the other goal is to hit up some more restaurants. Especially since there are a lot that boast nice patios and bustling street views that are ideal for summer people watching. So with that said, while I originally intended this blog just to be about my own cooking, I'm going to start writing a bit about what I eat out at restaurants (and hopefully documenting via picture as well, assuming I can remember to tote along my camera).


Cheers!

Oh avocado, how I love you!

To say I like avocados would be a lie. Because really, I LOVE them. Everything is better with avocados! Perhaps it’s because I grew up in California, or maybe it’s because I spent 3 years in Arizona… whatever the reason, I love avocados. And Mexican food. Like, a lot. I think I could eat a burrito every day for the rest of my life and be happy. Yes, variety is the spice of life BUT there are so many varieties of burrito that I think I could be pretty happy with nothing but them forever. Bold, I know. Though perhaps I would like to switch it up a bit for the burrito’s finger-food version: nachos. I could walk into a restaurant with my mind set on eating a hamburger or chicken wings or pasta and once I see nachos on the menu about half of the time I will stray from whatever entree I had previous been craving and choose the nachos instead.

So with my obsessive love of Mexican food I obviously learned how to make guacamole at a young age. Over the years I have perfected it and found what works, what I like, etc. My current way of guacamole usually includes some chopped up onion, a tomato, cilantro, lime juice, peppers, and maybe a tad of hot sauce or spicy salsa depending on my mood. I don’t measure and I’m not precise. And I like it that way, for some reason it feels more authentic.

Well, this post was inspired by last night’s dinner : guacamole made with two avocados (with the perfect squishy freshness), a chopped up tomato, red onion, cilantro and lime juice. Boy, I love guacamole but it has a face for radio. If you are not a guacamole fan there is nothing about this picture that will make your mouth water. But as gross as it looks, I find consolation in the fact that it tastes one billion times better.

Cheers!

PS: I’m making a bold attempt at trying to grow my own avocado plants. Wish me luck!

Pear Crisp

I am really not a pie person, but I do LOVE apple crisp. So, when I saw this recipe for pear crisp I knew I had to try it. I made mine with Asian and Bosc pears which I sliced up and then layered into a glass casserole pan. This recipe was so ridiculously easy that I was almost concerned that it was too good to be true, but alas, it lived up to expectations! 

It was soft, tasty, and crispy on top with light hints of sugar and cinnamon. Plus, it was amazing when served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream (errr... or three dollops as is evident from my picture). The only downside was that it made A LOT and I couldn’t eat it all, even after indulging in it for a few days. It would definitely be a great thing to make for an easy dessert for a dinner party though.

Overall score: 10 out of 10. (Wahoo, complete success!)

Ratatouille with Steak Au Poivre

Time to put the fancy new cookware to use! I’ve never made ratatouille before and I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten it either… honestly, before seeing this recipe I’m not sure I even really knew what it was, other than the bits and pieces I was able to glean after watching the first half of the Pixar movie. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it’s really just a whole bunch of chopped up fresh spices and veggies like eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms. 

This recipe was very easy, especially because I got to chop up all the fresh spices (parsley, thyme, etc.) in my little food processor so it made a very savory addition to the veggies. Then, of course, I cooked it in the oven in my fancy new Fontignac dish. Using fresh veggies and spices from Whole Foods was definitely key to this recipe and I’m pretty addicted to using all fresh ingredients now whenever I can (rather than anything canned, frozen, or dried spices) – I can’t wait for summer and farm market season!

I also chose a nice sirloin steak to accompany the ratatouille which I decided to cook “au poivre” style, coated in cracked peppercorns – I even found a recipe online for how to make the pan sauce (which was quite easy and especially delicious, thank you Julia Child!) 

I made my pan sauce with red wine rather than cognac and I added some Dijon mustard which gave it a nice kick. I think I want to keep experimenting with sauces now that I get the jist of how to make them (basically adding some gravy, alcohol, spices and such to the drippings from the steak pan).

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Valentine's Day Clam Chowder

Wow, I managed to get really far behind in updating all of the wonderful creations I have been dutifully whipping up in the kitchen. But don’t fear, I am going to spend the next few days getting everything up to speed in a quick and easy manner.

For Valentine’s Day this year I decided to pull out the trusty Soup Bible and make something that I’ve never tired before: Clam Chowder. I figured, I’m in Boston after all, why not celebrate this romantic holiday like a true New Englander. I’ve never made clam chowder before, though I have made steamed clams and mussels in broth.

Everything about this recipe went fabulously. It was very hearty and delicious, especially since I used nice, fresh clams that came from Maine. Also, it was a very attractive dish in my humble opinion, since it was served with nice chunks of potato, baby corn, clams that were both in and out of the shell, and then garnished with sliced limes.

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

Casseroles Here I Come!

I bought myself a present today! I've never spent so much money on cookware before, but I figure this a lifetime investment. After some browsing around I finally selected the 6.5 gallon (I know, it's a beast!) enamel cast iron Fontignac Cocotte Pure in hunter green. I can't wait to make a casserole this week!

Moroccan Harira

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten Moroccan food before, let alone cooked it. I also don’t think I’ve ever eaten lamb before, let alone cooked it. AND had no idea what “Harira” meant. So, right off the bat this recipe was going to be an adventure. But the picture in the cookbook looked good – so I figured it was worth a shot!

According to “The Soup Bible” Moroccan Harira is a meat and vegetable soup that is traditionally eaten during the month of Ramadan, when the Moroccan Muslim population fasts between sunup and sundown. It sounded (and looked) hearty, which was great for a cold winter’s night in Boston. Before I continue I must digress… I’ve never eaten lamb before for a silly reason: I always though of them as “cute” animals. But really, I got to thinking, I find cows cute too, and deer (and I have perfectly no problem eating those) so I’m not sure why I’ve been so adverse to eating lamb. I figured this soup was the perfect opportunity to combat my weird lamb phobia.

This soup/stew was a mixture of lamb meat, chick-peas, shallots, red lentils, tomatoes, and soup noodles (I used a thin capellini). The soup was also flavored with cinnamon (a personal favorite), turmeric, and garnished with cilantro and limes (two more of my personal favorites) so I knew my taste buds were going to be in for a treat. This recipe was pretty easy to make, it took a little bit of prep work browning the meat {see picture 1: meat & onions cooking} and then adding the ingredients together at the right time, but once everything was put together it was nice to let it just sit on the stove or crock-pot (which is what I did) for an hour and a half. The inclusion of soup noodles was a great addition which turned this stew into more of a soup. The only downfall was that they soaked up a lot of the broth so I’ll probably have to add more water next time or use some vegetable broth.

All in all, I thought this soup was delicious with a great amount of spice and very tender, tasty meat.

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

French Provencal Beef Stew

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I've been eager to treat myself to a few new cookbooks. New year, new cookbooks. It only seems logical. As I was browsing for books one caught my attention immediately: Gourmet Slow Cooker – it had everything I was looking for! I really like this book because it categorizes the recipes into region of origin which makes it easy to pick out something if I am in the mood for a particular style: America, England/Ireland, France, Italy, India, Mexico.

This week I flipped to the French section and decided to go with Provencal Beef Stew. It took about an hour of prep time (browning the meat {see picture 1}, chopping then cooking the veggies, etc.) but then I poured the veggie/wine sauce {see picture 2} over the meat in the slow cooker and let it cook on the low setting for 5-8ish hours. I love crock pots – it makes dinner so easy because I can do all the preparation/cooking early in the afternoon and then it’s all ready for me to eat later that night. (It sort of feels like dining in a restaurant that way, when I’m ready to eat all I have to do is ladle it out of the crock pot and I’m good to go.)

While I sat here and did work as the stew cooked in the slow cooker the smell that filled my tiny apartment was AMAZING. (I think it was especially in part to the fresh rosemary mixed with onions and garlic.) The tasty aroma made me incredibly hungry and eager to eat, but alas, I had to wait.{See picture 3: that's the stew cooking in the crock pot.}

And then a few hours later, finally, it was time! {See picture 4: That's the stew after a few hours.} I liked the variety of ingredients in this recipe (like white wine, Dijon mustard, fresh rosemary and thyme), they were all unique enough to add a distinct flavor yet not hard to find. After slow cooking for numerous hours the meat became so tender that if I stirred it around too much or too vigorously it would just fall apart. I served the stew with some toasty French bread and some soft brie on the side. Everything was delicious! This stew was hearty and perfect for a meal on a chilly winter night. The meaty taste coupled with the veggies gave the stew a nice consistency and a lot of bold flavor. I would gladly made this again!

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

Spicy Peanut Soup

Again, another one from “The Soup Bible”. (I’m really getting my money’s worth!) I picked out this recipe for a mid-week meal to accompany the current writing binge I’ve been on, plus I wanted to use up some of the carrots and shallots in my fridge that are left over from the mussels and saffron soup. My parents used to make a great spicy peanut soup with chicken but unfortunately the recipe has been lost, but this one sounded like it could probably top that one because I won’t have to cut up and cook chicken (which isn’t one of my favorite things). What this recipe lacks in meat it makes up for in veggies – it has a wonderful mixture that includes onion, garlic, potatoes, red pepper, carrots, corn, and celery, so it very much like a winter stew. (A winter stew infused with spice and peanut butter, that is.) And yes, I did really chop up all the veggies myself! The soup smelled really good and flavorful while cooking, but after it was done and I had the first bite I realized a slight problem: I seem to have underestimated the spiciness of cayenne pepper, because WHEW this soup really warms inside and out. Luckily I like spicy food and was in the mood for it and it’s not too spicy that it’s intolerable to eat (some of you would probably actually really appreciate the amount of zing that this soup has). It’s delicious though, and definitely packs a punch. Extra bonus: it’s very good the next day with some crunchy French bread! Score: 8 out of 10.

I'm looking into take a little bit of my Christmas cash and buying a new cookbook or two. Here are a few I'm considering:

Gourmet Today 

The Gourmet Slow Cooker 

The Big Book of Casseroles 

Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Cookbook

Almond Macaroon Failure

I did title this blog “(Mis)Adventures with Food” so you’ve probably been asking yourself, “where are all these mis-adventures anyway? This girl seems like a damn fine cook!” Well, here you go. 

Failure number one: I tried to make almond macaroons today. It seemed simple enough with just three ingredients: sugar, egg whites, and ground almonds. The only successful thing here was grinding up the almonds in my food processor. For starters, the recipe calls for five egg whites. Really, one egg white probably would have been sufficient. The “dough” was really more like a runny goop. “Spoon out ping pong ball-sized bits of dough and put them on the pan” the cookbook instructed. What happened here were NOT balls of dough, but rather a runny mess all over my pan. I tried to add a little flour to help out the so-called “dough”, but it really didn’t do anything to make the mixture less of a liquid. My first batch of cookies came out of the oven nearly taking over the whole pan in a burnt, crispy disaster.

Try number two: Add more flour to the batter and cook on tin foil. Hmmm. I suppose it helped A LITTLE. Of course, the cookies did not want to remove themselves from the tin foil after cooking. So what I have are hard, broken cookie bits.

Try number three: More flour, more flour, and (you guessed it) MORE FLOUR. These ones actually came out of the oven looking like cookies. And they actually removed themselves from the tin foil! Medium success!

Try number four: Much more of the same. (Oh yeah, this picture is of batch 4. What I like to call "The Good Ones".)

Try number five: More flour. Oh yeah, now it's actually starting to resemble dough! And these one's aren't flat. (That's the picture of the blobs/rocks sitting on tin foil.)

Well, overall this was pretty much a disaster that ate up three hours of my time this afternoon. Someone please explain to me the art of making macaroons because I clearly was not successful. I still can't believe there wasn't any flour in this recipe. Anyone want some chewy macaroon rocks? I don’t have the patience for any more kitchen time today… I think I will be eating out for dinner.

Score: 1 out of 10.

A recap of the past month : Not your average mac & cheese, turkey chili, and mussels & saffron soup

I know, it has been quite some time since I posted last. But don’t fret, I have been cooking, just not writing. With the end of the fall semester of my first year of graduate school and the holidays, I just haven't had a chance to load up pictures and write about what I've cooked. But here it is -- finally! Here’s what I made before I left:

A European-style Indoor Picnic

For the past week or two my apartment has been nearing 80 degrees. (Yesterday it was 77.7 if we want to be exact about it.) So, I figured I would take a night off from “cooking” – i.e. using my oven. I’ve been anxious to try out this recipe for Technicolor Tapenade for some time, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Apple-Pepper Salsa & Black Bean Soup

I tend to enjoy cooking Mexican/Southwestern food and realized that the past few meals I’ve prepared have been more Italian in variety. So I decided to sort through my cookbooks and find some Southwestern-inspired dishes. I really enjoy meat – I mean REALLY enjoy -- but I don’t tend to enjoy cooking it (unless it’s on a grill, for some reason I like slapping a burger or steak on the grill but hate cooking meat in my kitchen – especially chicken). So my home cooked meals tend to lean towards the vegetarian side, stuff my newly vegetarian little sister would actually eat! Cheers to her on this weeks creations!