Sliders

Well, dinner was another small adventure last night. We had an extra 1/2 lb. of ground beef which did not turn into meatloaf or meatballs like we had anticipated. Instead, Todd turned it into sliders. We had some extra rolls left over from a few weeks ago, lettuce and cheese from last night, and potatoes to make some fries. The fries we kind of a flop, again, but the burgers were great. There were Sam burgers, Juicy Lucy, Mediterranean, and Asian. There is a basic mixture for all of them, and then they are individualized from there. A half pound of beef makes about 8-10 sliders.

Basic mixture:
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 egg
7 crackers

All of the mix-ins from here are to taste.

Sam Burgers:
Lawry's Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Form into patties
Cook and top with lettuce and horseradish sauce
*These are an original Sam recipe which is super good. But top with some Horsey Sauce, and it takes them to could eat every week wonderful*

Juicy Lucy:
Crack in some pepper
Make a large, thin patty on your hand
Place a wad of cheese (we used provolone) in the middle of the patty
Roll the meat around the cheese into a burger patty
Cook

Mediterranean:
Mix in some balsamic vinegar and fennel seeds
Form into patties
Cook and top with lettuce and hummus

Asian:
Mix in Soy Sauce and Red Chilies
Form into patties
Cook and top with lettuce and hot mustard




These were so good! I have a hard time picking a favorite out of the group. We were one roll short, so one of the Asian burgers was made into a lettuce wrap and it was amazing. I would suggest trying that with all of them.

I'm in the process of making pizza for dinner tonight and noticed something unusual. We have 4 different kinds of flour at our house right now. That's right, 4: All-purpose, whole wheat, cake, and bread. We should start a bakery. Most of the whole wheat will get used up as Todd and I try to work whole wheat pita pockets into our daily menu. We still need to make some hummus to go with them.

Also, I will post the baked fries recipe soon. I think the recipe is good, I just didn't allow for enough time. We'll have to try those again soon.

Annie and Sammy

Anne and Samuel are my niece and nephew. They are, in my opinion, the two cutest kids on the planet. Corrie recently posted this photo of Sammy at 8 months old.



See, he is the most adorable thing you have ever seen. But whenever I look at this photo, I always get a flashback in my head to this one of Annie at 9 months old.



Both with big cheeks and eyes, straight eyebrows, and the cutest little round nose I think I have ever seen and will ever lay eyes on (until I get my own, more adorable kids.) Plus that hat is so cute on Anne. Overall, it just got me thinking about how wonderful those two kids are and how much I love them and the times I get to hang with them. They make me smile, and give me my monthly dose of cuteness needed to get me through to the next time I get to visit them.




For more photos and hilarious stories of Annie sayings, click on "Corrie and Sam" on the right had side.

Pita Pockets

I was, very admittedly, a picky eater for the better part of my life. It wasn't until I moved to Chicago that I started liking a lot of veggies and anything that wasn't mostly white. Don't get me wrong, some days I could still go for a buttered noodles and milk, but those are very rare cravings.

BTW, it is storming outside right now, so Todd and I have opened the windows, turned out all the lights, and are playing Halo, blogging, and listening to the rain. Thanks Dad for bringing me out on the porch when I was little so I would not be scared of thunderstorms.

Back to the picky eating. Todd and I decided to leave tonight's dinner option open to whatever new recipe we want to try. I had this idea a while ago to find a new recipe out of any book while at Barns and Noble. It's the cheap way to get new recipes and kill an hour reading books in the store instead of staring at a computer screen. Anyway, we left tonight open and decided I would pick something new to make. Since our Seder Meal, we have been meaning to try something a little Mediterranean, so we picked Pita Pockets! Yes, the pockets are white food, but the rest was not reminiscent of the picky eater I once was. It's homemade pita pockets, a cooked chicken breast, and (you gasp while I hang my head in shame) store bought bell pepper hummus. We have not yet learned how to make our own; all reviews say once you make your own, you will never buy it again. Also, store bought strawberries. Come on, I'm not some strawberry farmer, though that would be cool (and delicious).

Pita Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)
2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour). I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.
3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.
4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)
6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.
7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired.

For the insides, we chose red pepper hummus, romain lettuce, raw white onion, provolone cheese, and chicken, cooked and shredded.
Wash the lettuce and tear it into bigger pieces.
Cut the onion.
Break the cheese into bit sized pieces.
Cook the chicken however you want. We seasoned with garlic and onion seasoning and cooked on the stove.
Shred the chicken once it is done.

To build your pita pocket:
Spread hummus on the inside.
Press lettuce into hummus.
Layer chicken, onion, cheese until your pocket is full.




We had some strawberries with dinner that Todd so wonderfully picked up on a whim and we had a great new experience with easy and mild Mediterranean food. Make the pita bread and fill them up with whatever you like. Enjoy!

Updates

First, Todd has updated his blog. It's a good post about Facebook privacy.

Second, Todd and I are very excited about the John Bible study we are putting together for the summer. We mapped it all today and we're excited for the possibilities that come with a well prepared Bible study. Let's hope we get to that well prepared state.

Third is a little piece of wisdom from Todd's talk last night at youth group. Every morning, write a passage on a piece of paper that you think is something you should remember during the day. Pick one about patience, love, faith in God, and stick the paper in your pocket. Every time you feel that paper, remind yourself of that verse. Instead of putting it on a piece of paper, I wrote it on my ankle. With the warm weather lately, my pants have been rolled up to let the ankles breath a bit, so I am constantly looking at them (because I am a firm believer I have fat ankles). Today was Psalm 13:5-6. It's a good reminder while looking for a job and working on this John Bible study. So write a verse everyday where you will see it. It's a good way to remind yourself that God is central to who you are.

Fourth, I'm making a surprise dinner for Todd. I'll post later.

Horseradish Sauce

I apologize to Corrie and Sam for not putting this up sooner. She asked for it about a month ago for Sam and I am just getting around to it now. I am a believer in the once a day blog posts so you can all have ample time to read, comment, and try the recipe on your own (which I'm sure all of you do) and I have just now discovered the wonders of "drafts" on my blog. I am writing this on Monday night and will most likely post it tomorrow afternoon, since I have already wrote about pretzels today. Anyway, here is a wonderful horseradish sauce that Todd made once to go with our steaks. It was very yummy and worth making again.

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of sour cream
1 Tablespoon of grated horseradish, fresh or jarred
Sea salt and ground black pepper
1 lemon
Olive Oil (or whatever kind you like)

Directions:
Put the sour cream and horseradish into a small bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper
Halve your lemon and add a squeeze of juice to the bowl
Add a splash of olive oil and mix well
Taste and add a little more horseradish if you think it needs to taste more fiery



So simple, so good. At Ted's Montana Grill (the restaurant Todd and I worked at during college), we had this great horseradish sauce we served with steaks and onion rings. This recipe is different, but just as tasty and probably great with onion rings as well.

This recipe, as well as many of the others, come from Jamie Oliver's book "Jamie's Food Revolution". While Corrie disagrees with his work to change the school systems in his latest show on ABC (she does have very valid points), I found myself rooting for him to change how people eat. Schools should change, but you can always pack your kids nutritious food if you have a huge problem with what the school feeds them. But people should be making changes in their homes and not blame it solely on the school system. And read to your kids! It's not Corrie's job.



This cookbook of his is a great starter cookbook. Todd and I bought it on sale about 4 months after we were married and that started our push to cooking. The recipes are easy and well instructed. It's delicious, nutritious food that anyone can make. And yes, it would be great if we could all afford to eat organic and local and whatnot like Jamie wants, but us youth interns have to settle. And really, Todd and I spend about as much on food every week as I did just for myself in college (Chicago is so expensive!) buying boxes of Mac and Cheese and crackers. This cookbook helped us figure out how to make tasty food for pretty cheap. And like Mom (and every nutritionist) will tell you, eat whatever you want as long as you eat an appropriate amount of calories in a day.

So, to sum up this rather sporadic post:
1. "Drafts" are amazing
2. Horseradish=good
3. Food Revolution show was a little off, but overall good.
4. Food Revolution book is fantastic and you should buy it.
5. Eat whatever you want, just in moderation.

National Pretzel Day

I was at slickdeals and saw a deal for a free pretzel at certain places in honor of National Pretzel Day today. Unfortunately, there are no free pretzels around where I am. But it did make me hungry for these pretzels that Todd and I have made at Todd's house and my parents'. Thank you Alton Brown for bringing the wonders of science and delicious food together.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.




So take some time today to make some homemade pretzels, or prove you are not a sucker and go buy one. Don't forget the mustard, or the looks gross but you secretly love it hot cheese.

Ice Cream and Bon Bons

Todd and I had some new friends Brian and Kelly over tonight for dinner and board games. We had Jamie Oliver burgers and some fries that I will post soon. They didn't turn out great, but I didn't allow them enough time. So we'll have to try again some other time. But, I will tell you about the delicious dessert that Kelly brought. It was so simple, and so wonderful with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
Slow churn chocolate ice cream
Frozen bon-bons

Directions:
Scoop up ice cream
Crumble bon-bons over ice cream

I don't think you need a picture to visualize how amazing this was. Be on the look out for the oven fries.

About Myself?

Todd told me my blog would be more interesting if I talked more about myself. I found that odd because he already knows everything about me. And no, we're not that naive couple that thinks we know so much about each other and then realize something about our spouse that throws us for a loop. We honestly spend every moment together (I'm only partially lying. He's out on a lunch meeting while I'm alone in the office. But we will go home and spend the rest of the day together.) Back to my point, we know almost everything about each other and that's why I found it odd for him to say I should talk about myself. And news flash, all who read this blog (Mom, Corrie, Megan, Aunt Joy, Aunt Mikki) pretty much know what's going on. That's right; Todd's not even on the list of readers. I must be bored because my thoughts are all over the place. So, here is a post about what is going on in the Spieker household.

Yesterday we went as Crossview Covenant's representatives to a Gideons' Pastor Appreciation dinner. It was more fun than I expected. We sat across from very nice people who were good conversationalists (unlike myself), we heard a testimony from a woman that found Jesus through a Gideon's Bible while growing up in a pagan religion in the Philippines, and we met a man that had been a Gideon for 67 years! It was a fun night, but a good move on our part to expect it to be 2 hours long. Dad, can't you work on that? Like I said, it was pretty fun and Todd and I got to dress up.

I have been looking (not as hard as I should be) for a job for when we move back to Chicago. Sadly, no churches in the area are hiring full time youth ministers and many non-profit organizations are not looking for full time staff either. Luckily, if I can't, for some odd reason, find a job, we can pay for our housing with student loans, though obviously we don't want to. It turns out, finding a job just by sending resumes when you are trained to work in a church is really hard. I have no office experience, no certification of any kind. I'm sort of drowning here. I did apply to be a Resident Director at North Park (my alma mater [wait, am I old enough to have an alma mater?]) but never got a call back. I guess their program has sort of fallen apart this year, so we'll see if I get a call back later in the game. I'm holding out just the slightest bit of hope. I think I would be a good RD and I would love to work for North Park (I know, you weren't expecting that Corrie.)

Anyway, that's what's going on with us. We have Brian and Kelly coming over Thursday night for burgers and Catan. We're pretty excited. It beats throwing popcorn in each other's mouth as the photo below shows. Todd is back in the office now and we're going home. (See Todd, it's boring to just talk about me. I doubt you will even read this.)

Potato Soup in Bread Bowls

I miss having friends. Todd and I like Mankato, and we are probably getting together with some new friends on Thursday to play Catan. But we miss our college friends and I miss my group of 5 from Red Wing. They have been my best friends for my entire life. But, I have always had a great relationship with Erin Ulrich. We met when my family started at First Covenant and we have been friends since. She's 3 months older, has the same name, and brothers similar ages to mine. I love the Ulrich family and they have loved on me since I was little.

So you can imagine my excitement when Erin said she could drive the 2 hours down to Mankato to hang out with me Friday night while Todd was gone. And, you can imagine my growing excitement as I planned our night of girly food. I finally landed on baked potato soup in bread bowls. I used the baked potato soup recipe I wrote about back in November. It's a tested and wonderful recipe. We didn't use the green onions because of Erin's aversion. But feel free to use them if you love them. I found the bread bowls on Eatin' on the Cheap (thanks for the link Corrie) and they were oh so good. They reminded both Erin and me of "chili in a bread bowl" day for all my RWHS graduate readers out there.

Baguette Bread Bowls
a Good Housekeeping recipe

2 cups of warm water ( 105 - 115 degrees)
1 package of active dry yeast ( or 2 1/2 teaspoons if you have the stuff in the jar like me)
1 T sugar
1 T salt
5 cups Bread flour
1 large egg white for brushing

In a large mixing bowl, combine water and yeast and let stand for 5 minutes or until foamy.
Meanwhile, stir together salt and 3 cups of flour in a seperate bowl.
Add flour into mixing bowl and mix until nice and smooth ( I am using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. If you don't have a mixer, use a wooden spoon)
Gradually add in an additional 1 1/2 cups of flour to make a soft dough.
If you have a stand mixer: Continue to knead with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Adding in remaining 1/2 cup flour to prevent sticking.
If you are kneading by hand: Knead on a floured surface for 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding the remaining 1/2 cup flour in as needed to prevent sticking.
Shape dough into a ball and roll around in a greased bowl in order to cover all sides with grease. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in the bowl until doubled in volume.
Grease a cookie sheet. Punch down the dough and divide into four equal pieces.
Shape each piece into a ball and place on cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly score the top of each loaf with an "X" to help with expansion.
Beat the egg white well and brush the top of each loaf with the egg white ( alternatively you can use butter.).
Bake until well browned, about 35 minutes.



To hollow it out, cut a hole in the top and scoop it out with your fingers. Leave it on the plate because it's great to dip in the soup.




It was a great dinner. I made the bread bowls the night before and wrapped them in plastic and left them in the cupboard. The other two Todd and I will use sometime this week with a Chicken and Wild Rice recipe I got from Lisa at work.

Thanks Erin for coming down! We ended up staying up all night just chatting and she then had to drive all the way back to Bethel for a class on Saturday morning from 8:00am-2:30pm. Well done Erin, being a responsible grown up and still going to class. I am really proud of her. She is pursuing a teaching certificate (or degree or something. I'm sort of confused), but she will then teach high school biology. I think she will like it and do a great job. Here is a horrible picture of us at a Wild hockey game earlier this year. Love you Erin!

Mac and Cheese with Parmesan Chicken

I had my first food fail last night. It's not my first ever fail, but my first in a while. It was crock pot mac and cheese and it was so unappetizing. It smelled so gross when I walked into the apartment and when I lifted the lid, I saw a burnt circle of gelatinous elbow macaroni and cheese. When I threw it away today (yes, I was lazy enough to let it sit in there overnight), I gagged at the smell and texture. The worst part, I spent time to find the recipe and then make it all that morning before work. To come home close to dinner time, knowing you still have to make the protein part of the meal, it's very disheartening to then have to make a new dinner before youth group starts. Plus, I really craved mac and cheese! I wanted to have it. So I found this super simple recipe online. I felt like a stinking idiot for not knowing the basics to make something so simple. So here is the macaroni and cheese and Jamie Oliver's Parmesan Chicken. He may be a bit of a pretentious jerk and doesn't understand how a system works, but he makes good, easy, and cheap food.

Mac and Cheese
Ingredients:
Elbow macaroni
cheddar cheese
milk
butter

Directions:
Cook the macaroni like the package says. It's easy.
Drain the pasta and mix in some butter (how ever much you like) and a handful of cheese.
The cheese will be stringy , so mix in a little milk to make it a bit more saucy.

Parmesan Chicken
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
2 springs of parsley
Club crackers
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 clove of garlic
flour
1 beaten egg

Directions:
Put the crackers, parsley, butter, and garlic in a food processor. Keep adding crackers until it looks like a breading and not a ball of butter with stuff on it.
Put a handful of flour on a plate, the beaten egg in a bowl, and the breading on another plate.
Pound your chicken thin.
Dredge the chicken in the flour, dip it in the egg, and cover it in the breading.
Heat up olive oil in a pan.
When the pan is hot, put your chicken in. Cook until done, about 5-6 minutes per side.
When done, slice up and serve.




It was a good dinner. Took about an hour overall because my chicken was still a little thick. Otherwise it was good. We were in a rush to get back to church, so the photo is my dinner half eaten. It was good and easy. The only problem I ran into was keeping the breading on the chicken. I don't know how to fix that.
Next up, bread bowls. Erin Ulrich is coming down tomorrow so we'll be having a girly dinner of baked potato soup in a bread bowl. The soup is already on my blog and I'm excited for it. It's nice to have friends.

Cinnamon Rolls

A big thanks goes to Aunt Mikki for hooking me up with this delicious friend/awkward moment maker. But more on that after the recipe. Here are the cinnamon rolls made for our staff meeting last Tuesday.

Ingredients:
1 room temperature egg+enough water warm to make a total of 1.5 cups
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of yeast
1 1/5 teaspoons of salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons of cinnamon
1/2 cup of butter

Directions:
Whisk egg and water together. This should be warm like a baby's bottle.
Mix in the sugar and oil.
Mix in the yeast and let it bubble. (I left it all in the big measuring cup I measured the egg and water in.)
While that bubbles, mix together the flour and salt.
Add the liquid to the flour and salt mixture and knead until smooth.
Let it rise in a warm place (I let my oven run while I did all the mixing and then turned it off and put the covered bowl on a cookie sheet.)
When it has doubled in size, punch it down and roll it into a thin rectangle.
Rub butter on the dough, leaving the top inch dry.
Mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar.
Sprinkle and rub in the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture, leaving the top inch dry.
Looking at the rectangle horizontally, start rolling from the bottom up as tight as you can with the dry inch at the top. (It will get the stuff squished out as you roll.)
Grease a pan/pans you need. We ended up using a normal sized pan and then another smaller one.
Cut your delicious cinnamon log into 1 inch thick circles and place them on your greased baking sheets.
Cover them and let them rise once more.
Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Icing
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons of milk

Directions:
Beat together the sugar and milk. I had to use more milk and then gave it a splash of vanilla. Mix until it runs, but is a thick enough...you know what? If you don't know what cinnamon roll frosting looks like, then shame on you. Go eat your lettuce or something.
I put mine in an icing bag and drizzled it over.




It's a lot of direction, but we made our dough and cut it up the night before and put out the stuff for the icing. Then we baked them in the morning and mixed the icing and voila, an instant friend maker at staff meetings.

So, they make friends, but they also make for an awkward moment at staff meeting. Due to lower financial giving, we had to let our worship pastor, Mike, go. We were all a little blindsided at this on Tuesday when Pastor Kevin told us. Mike had a thought it might happen, but it came out of nowhere for us. So, it was a hard staff meeting, and not a fun day. So I felt bad when the thought of Why aren't they eating the cinnamon rolls? came into my head. So, it made for awkward moments within myself, but not for others. Hopefully they made the hurt of losing Mike a little easier. We'll miss you Mike!

Quick Chicken Curry

Big thanks go out to Lisa, our ministry support/visual arts person, at church and Todd's nose for this recipe. This may be the best curry Todd and I have made (we only tried one other, and it was good, but not great or this easy.)

So Todd is at church and smells what Lisa has just microwaved for lunch. He goes in to her office to ask what it is. She then tells him "chicken curry" and she'll send him the recipe. I don't know where she found it, but we love it. And we're happy she told us to just make it with rice instead of couscous. I have been adventurous with my food choices since college (I had artichoke hummus today), but couscous may be a bit too far off my radar right now. Anyway, we make it with rice, but I'll include the couscous in case you want to try it. It makes 4-6 servings. We make it for the 2 of us with the same amounts for the veggies and meat, but then make 1 cup of brown rice to serve it on. Wed also leave out the raisins. I don't do cooked raisins unless they are surrounded by bread and cinnamon.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup couscous
2 T olive oil
1 medium yellow onion,diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 cup golden raisins
1 T curry powder
1 chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper

Couscous:
In small saucepan, bring water to a boil.
Turn off heat.
Add couscous and stir once. Cover.
Let sit while preparing the rest of the recipe.

Rest of recipe:
Sauté the veggies and chicken in separate pans in the hot oil on medium high heat.
Add curry powder to veggies. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
Add chicken and coconut milk.
Bring to a simmer, stirring often.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add cooked rice to pan to let it soak up some of the sauce.
Serve it up in bowls.




The photo does not do it justice. This curry is so good. I wish we had leftovers to reheat, but we never do. And, Todd makes this one by himself. I have nothing to do with it. I really love having a husband that knows how to cook. We would eat like crap four nights out of the week if I had to cook all the time.

Also, I will be on my own for dinner on Thursday and Friday night. If you have a one person recipe that you would like me to try, let me know. And for the FRIENDS watchers out there, I may have to make Rachel's famous baked potato and diet coke if I can't find the motivation or recipe to make. So send them in. I don't like baked potatoes that much (unless covered in cheese and bacon. Hello brain, this is your rump and hips calling. Don't feed us that crap!)

Boston Cream Pie

This is quite the dessert kick we are on. Well, tortillas can be a dessert; just put some cinnamon sugar on them. We have another dessert for you, the delicious Boston Cream Pie made for Easter. To be honest, I was not super impressed with myself. The cakes were tough and kind of tasteless, but the custard and glaze were pretty yummy. Anyway, here is the recipe. It's a chocolate cake, custard, golden cake, and chocolate glaze. There is a lot of info, so pay close attention.

Custard
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 T sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
3/4 cup sugar
3 T cornstarch
pinch of salt
4 eggs, room temperature
3 T unsalted butter
1 T light rum optional
1 t vanilla extract

Directions:
(Helpful hint: Rinse the saucepan in cool water before use. Don't dry it. This well help to keep the milk from scorching.)
Bring milk, 1 T sugar, and vanilla bean to a simmer in a large, heavy saucepan; stir to dissolve.
Stir together 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small mixing bowl; set aside.
Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light, fluffy, and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sugar-cornstarch mixture.
Remove vanilla pod from milk.
Whisk 1/2 cup hot milk into the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture back to the milk in the saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick, 5-8 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent scorching.
Lightly boil filling 1 minute to eliminate starchy taste from the cornstarch.
Off heat, add butter, rum, and vanilla; transfer to a bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap, pressing wrap on the surface of filling to prevent a skin from forming. Chill.

Golden Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
4 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract

Directions:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt three times; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, 8 minutes.
Gently fold sifted flour mixture into eggs in two additions, making sure it gets thoroughly mixed.
Fold in milk, oil, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.
Pour batter into one of the prepared cake pans.
-Grease and flour two 9x2 inch cake pans. You can use sugar instead of flour.
Bake golden cake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick is inserted and taken out clean.
Cool on a rack. Cake will pull away from the sides of pan. Then transfer out of pan.

Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1/3 cup cake flour
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, room temperature
6 T sugar
3 T hot brewed coffee
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 t vanilla extract

Directions:
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt three times.
In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, 8 minutes.
Gently fold sifted flour mixture into eggs in two additions.
Fold in coffee, oil, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.
Pour batter into other cake pan.
Bake chocolate cake 15-18 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients:
4 oz good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 T light corn syrup

Directions:
Place finely chopped chocolate in a small bowl.
Boil cream and corn syrup.
Pour over chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Pour glaze on top of cake, smoothing it with a spatula.
Drips down the side make it pretty.




Wait until custard and cakes are cooled and then assemble. Make the glaze and pour it over the top. Put it all back in the fridge for about 30 minutes and then enjoy! My golden cake was a little flat, so I just put one layer of custard. You are really supposed to cut the golden cake in half and make it golden, custard, chocolate, custard, golden, glaze. Either way, delicious. Again, I didn't take a photo, so this is the closest one I could find.

Another Lesson

Currently, Todd is at an all boys lock in at church and I am watching How I Met Your Mother Reruns. The lesson I am learning as a married woman: it's hard to go to bed without your husband when you spend all day together. Cheesy be dammed (come on, I'm not going to swear) I miss my husband. It looks like sleeping on the couch for me. Check out the tortillas below.

Flour Tortillas

About twice a month, Todd and I have taco Tuesday. It is becoming a great tradition and a yummy one as well. You know the drill for tacos. Cut up some onions, green peppers, jalapenos, and chicken or beef. Saute it all until it's done and add seasonings you like (Todd likes cumin and paprika) and serve it up.

Well, Todd starts getting ready to cook dinner and we realize we have no taco shells. Now we are faced with the decision, tacos or stir-fry. Now, I had been looking forward to tacos and was not about to let them slip away that easily. (Insert giant thank you to google here). To the internet I rushed and typed in the simple words "tortilla recipe" and up popped something so delicious I may never go back to taco shells again. Here...it...is.

Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Instructions:
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening.
Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.

This is a good time to heat up the comal. You will want to set it at medium to high
heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.

Now you can roll out the dough with your tortilla rolling pin or palote. It is a good
idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the palote in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.

Lay your tortilla on the hot comal. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a towel. If you would like you can use a tortilla warmer to keep them warm longer.
They are ready to be served!




Now I know what you are thinking and no, I do not have any of these traditional Mexican kitchen "appliances" (I can't think of the right word). So we improvised, which hungry, fat, Americans are great at. Use a cutting board, rolling pin, and non-stick skillet. They don't turn out quite as thin, as you can see in the photo, but they are very yummy. If you must have the original, correct tools to make your tortillas, you can buy a kit here.

Enjoy your own taco Tuesday and the little amount of work for these tortillas is worth it!
(I don't know why, but that last bit is played out in my head as you running away to your kitchen to make these and me calling after you. It's been a long week.)

Update: I don't know why the spacing is weird in the "Instructions" part. But I'm too lazy to fix it today.

Apple Pie

Let me start off by saying, my mom makes the best apple pie with crumbly crust and Todd now makes the best apple pie with a solid crust. I love you both and your sweet apple pie making skills. I refuse to choose one.

Todd made apple pie Monday night for our staff fun day on Tuesday. People loved it, despite the fact we brought half of it home. We thought we were the only people bringing desserts, so we made a lot. And then a lot of others brought desserts, which were equally delicious. We had lemon bars, blondies, chocolate chip cookies, and Todd's pie. It seemed like everyone was on a diet because all desserts had plenty left over. I'm getting off topic. Apple pie! Todd made it with minimal help rolling the dough out and it was oh so good. Thanks Todd and Paula Deen! I forgot to take a picture of it, so here is the one from her website. It has a lattice crust, but we never make that.

Ingredients
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
Freshly ground nutmeg, to taste
7 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Directions
Paula's Perfect Pie Crust, recipe follows

3 tablespoons butter, diced
Egg wash, for brushing
Sugar, for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. In another bowl, sprinkle apples with the juice of 1 lemon and toss. Stir in the sugar mixture to evenly coat the apples.

Set aside. Roll out chilled dough into 2 circles and use 1 round to line a 9-inch pie pan. Chill the other round.

Mound the apple and sugar mixture into the pie pan lined with dough. Dot with the cubed butter.

Using a pastry cutter, cut an even number of strips from the remaining rolled out dough. Transfer every other strip to the pie top and weave in the lattice by folding every other strip back onto itself and laying another strip perpendicularly. Fold the strips back across and repeat until completed.

Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Trim the overhanging dough and crimp edges.

Bake pie for 45 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes before slicing.

Paula's Perfect Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball.

When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts



Also, enjoy this video of the lovely Paula Deen reminding you not to eat everything she makes all the time. "It's not once a week food, it's once a lifetime food."

Up next (I promise) is the Boston Cream Pie, manly beef stew (if you can really man that up), and flour tortillas. Enjoy!

Lemon Bars

It is our staff fun day today and Todd and I signed up to bring desserts. We made an apple pie and lemon bars. I will post the apple pie later because Todd was in charge of that one and I need the recipe from him. It's a Paula Deen one, so you know it's cardiac arrest good. But for now, the lemon bars.

Ingredients

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
5/8 cup lemon juice
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups flour and confectioners' sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven.
Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.


I have yet to feed them to the staff, but Todd said they were very good and lemon bars are his favorite, so I trust him.

Also, I was thinking about how much we have been baking lately and how much I have gotten to eat all the things we have made. Of the greek cookies, cupcakes, Boston Cream Pie (post coming with apple pie) and the desserts for today, I have gotten a little taste of them all, except a whole piece of the Boston Cream Pie. When thinking about it, I thought I should be outraged. "I make all this food and haven't gotten a decent bite out of any of it." While thinking that, I realized I really don't care if I get to try it. As long as somebody out there enjoys it, I'm good. It made me feel like I could possibly own a bakery without getting fatter (not that I want to own a bakery, but it's nice to know I could.) Anyway, just my musing of the day. Enjoy the Lemon Bars!

Seder Meal Food

Well, we have the lamb shanks ready for use for Thursday's Seder Meal. However, we were missing some things so Todd and I were on the hook for making the Charoset and a dessert. Charoset is a mixture to symbolize the mortar used by the Israelites while in captive by the Egyptians. It's very yummy. The only problem we ran into was the use of wine. Since our Passover wine is grape juice, we thought he would be fair to use it in the charoset.

1 apple fine chopped
1/2 cup walnuts fine chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tablespoons Passover wine

Mix all ingredients.



It's pretty yummy.

Also, we needed a dessert. So I googled Mediterranean desserts and found koulourakia. It's like a Greek sugar cookie. They take a long time to make, but they turned out very well.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 tablespoon water
2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 to 3 teaspoons sesame seeds
Cream butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed of electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract; beat until blended. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing after each addition. Chill dough 1 to 2 hours.
Divide dough into fourths. Divide each fourth into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a 4-inch rope; fold each rope in half, and twist. Place twists 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Combine egg yolk and water; brush over twists. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sesame seeds. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately transfer to wire racks to cool.



So, there's some of our Seder Meal food. It's pretty good. I'm pretty excited to see what our catered dinner from a Mediterranean restaurant tastes like. Thanks Olives!