We all have them, those times when we forgot a vital ingredient or wound up short with measuring.It's going to be even rougher for us East Coasters, thanks to the monster blizzard that will be crippling the entire Eastern Seaboard. We won't be able to get to the store, not a good thing,especiallyy if there's you've forgotten something from your grocery list.
This is where Macgyver thinking kicks in.Remember Macgyver? That Eighties TV action hero that could turn a twig into a Swiss Army knife. He's currently enjoying a reboot on CBS and this new millennial inventor still probably can turn a can of beans into a full meal and a weapon of mass destruction. Do the same when you're faced with shortages.If you've run out of eggs for baking,then turn to fruit. Applesauce and bananas make excellent sub ins for them Use a 1/4 cup of either unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana. Aquafaba or bean water can also be used because it has similar proteins and enzyme to egg whites.That can of beans Macgyver could turn into a weapon can also actually be used as meat if you forgot to get burgers or there was a run on them. You can use a variety of different beans.Black beans have an earthy flavor, while kidney beans impart a more milder one. Chickpeas can be made into burgers too,giving off a Middle Eastern vibe.They can also be made into falafel for something a little out of the ordinary.
What happens when the kids want pizza and you have no or little flour in the house? Head to the crisper and get out the cauliflower. This is a true Macgyver moment. It's taking the veggie's florets and shredding them in a food processor. You will need some kind of binder such as egg and processed cheese to bind it. The principle can be applied to making cauliflower bread too which can be used for breakfast and sandwiches too. Cauliflower can even be turned into breadsticks too, perfect if you're having spaghetti.Out of macaroni for baked mac? No sweat. Spaghetti can stand in ,creating a dish the whole family might enjoy.It's layering the pasta and cheese with a creamy roux and then topping with pats of butter and paprika for color. Penne can also be used along with angel hair pasta too. If the kids are clamoring for ice cream, despite the freezing temps, don;t despair.Freeze banana slices over night and then mash them in a food processor for a creamy, tasty banana flavored treat. Yogurt can also be turned into a frozen treat. It can be poured into an ice cream maker along with one teaspoon of vanilla flavoring. It could also just be frozen too,for thirty to forty minutes.
Don't worry if you run out of ingredients or have forgotten to buy them. Go Macgyver and sub in whatever.It's amazing what you can do wit what's in your kitchen,
Monday, March 13, 2017
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Carrots, Cream Cheese, and Cupcakes
I did it. I baked twenty-four perfect cupcakes thanks to Duncan Hines and All Recipes. It started with making the carrot cake mix.
silicone.
I used my Madagascar vanilla, from Neilsen Massey (I reviewed them back in August of 2015). The two teaspoons of pure essence. This has no alcohol and no aftertaste.
Here are the guys frosted and dusted with sprinkles and frosting puffs.
I love this frosting. It is definitely going to be my go to frosting for every flavor, including vanilla and chocolate cake.It doesn;t have that cloying sweetness that regular buttercream has. It has a much needed tang that definitely will go great with chocolate cupcakes.I can't wait to make it and dye it to decorate more baked treats.It also is great for decorating, holding it's shape well as it comes out of a icing nozzle.
The cake batter is super easy to make. It even had carrots and raisithe ns that had to be reconstituted in hot tap water. From there it was blending in three eggs and a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil.It produced twenty-four perfect cupcakes. I used the three tablespoon method to fill the cups, both metal and the
Now here's the whole gang waiting to be iced
The icing recipe was the classic cream cheese which I got from All Recipes. I like their recipes which are simple and easy to make, yet packed with flavor. It's taking eight ounces or a brick of cream cheese with a stick of butter.
i used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter..The two blended together perfectly,, although it was sticky at first. The recipe called for four cups of confectioners sugar, I used three and a half. I felt that using less would bring out the cream cheese flavor more.
Here are the guys frosted and dusted with sprinkles and frosting puffs.
I love this frosting. It is definitely going to be my go to frosting for every flavor, including vanilla and chocolate cake.It doesn;t have that cloying sweetness that regular buttercream has. It has a much needed tang that definitely will go great with chocolate cupcakes.I can't wait to make it and dye it to decorate more baked treats.It also is great for decorating, holding it's shape well as it comes out of a icing nozzle.
Friday, March 10, 2017
In Tune With Tuna
Lenten Fridays usually mean no meat to those who follow Catholicism Unfortunately that could mean Friday nights full of pizza and pasta. They;'re good but can get tiring, especially week after week. Home chefs can fall back on the basic their grandmothers and moms used : tuna. Seriously, there are some good recipes out there, featuring this versatile fish.
Before buying any tuna, be aware that there are many different kinds. Even the canned variety comes in either water or oil. The last is my favorite, especially when making salad Nicoise , that Provencale delight. Again this is also my favorite salad too.It's an easy make, Add it and sliced hard boiled eggs along with quartered vine ripe tomatoes and green beans to Romaine lettuce. For a true Nicoise, anchovies are added , but they can be omitted if you feel the taste may be too intense. Capers,onions and of course, olives are tossed in for more flavor. It's usually dressed with a lemon vinaigrette but a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar vinaigrette is just as good.Grilled tuna in a salad is also a nice addition too. Water canned tuna can be used in that classic: tuna casserole. Use cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken in accordance with Lent. To make it a fun Friday meal, top with crushed potato chips for extra crunch and flavor. You could also sub in Monterey Jack cheese for the traditional cheddar. Croquettes are another way to employ canned tuna. They're usually made with leftover mashed potatoes along with green and red peppers. They 're then coated in cracker crumbs and can be fried or baked. Serve with baked French fries.
Tuna steaks are also a great way of eating meatless. This is not the season for them, which is from the late Spring to early fall, however, you can buy frozen steaks. To get the optimum flavor, thaw in the refrigerator Friday morning and then cook that night., The steaks can be grilled, baked, or sauteed.One of the best ways is searing in a skillet. This caramelizes the surface and locks in the moisture. Use a heavy skillet to cook, Add two to three tablespoons of olive oil and then cook the steaks for six to ten minutes or until the meat flakes off when tested with a fork. The interior should be a rosy pink.You could also bake them but keep in mind that the oven has to be very hot - at about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the tuna steaks on a greased baking sheet . Don't stack them. Brush with melted butter or olive oil. Bake four to six minutes per 1/2 inch thickness of fish.As with skillet cooked tuna, use a fork to test for flakiness and look for pinkness in the center. The steaks can be marinaded for extra flavor. You can try lemon and garlic zinged up with oregano or for a more exotic flavor, think soy and ginger slices mixed with lime and sesame oil.
Any tuna dish is a nice way to end a Lenten Friday. Treat yourself and family to a tasty salad Nicoise or soy marinated tuna steaks. Enjoy croquettes or casserole with the kids. Tuna's just a great way to oberve Lenten dieting.
Before buying any tuna, be aware that there are many different kinds. Even the canned variety comes in either water or oil. The last is my favorite, especially when making salad Nicoise , that Provencale delight. Again this is also my favorite salad too.It's an easy make, Add it and sliced hard boiled eggs along with quartered vine ripe tomatoes and green beans to Romaine lettuce. For a true Nicoise, anchovies are added , but they can be omitted if you feel the taste may be too intense. Capers,onions and of course, olives are tossed in for more flavor. It's usually dressed with a lemon vinaigrette but a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar vinaigrette is just as good.Grilled tuna in a salad is also a nice addition too. Water canned tuna can be used in that classic: tuna casserole. Use cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken in accordance with Lent. To make it a fun Friday meal, top with crushed potato chips for extra crunch and flavor. You could also sub in Monterey Jack cheese for the traditional cheddar. Croquettes are another way to employ canned tuna. They're usually made with leftover mashed potatoes along with green and red peppers. They 're then coated in cracker crumbs and can be fried or baked. Serve with baked French fries.
Tuna steaks are also a great way of eating meatless. This is not the season for them, which is from the late Spring to early fall, however, you can buy frozen steaks. To get the optimum flavor, thaw in the refrigerator Friday morning and then cook that night., The steaks can be grilled, baked, or sauteed.One of the best ways is searing in a skillet. This caramelizes the surface and locks in the moisture. Use a heavy skillet to cook, Add two to three tablespoons of olive oil and then cook the steaks for six to ten minutes or until the meat flakes off when tested with a fork. The interior should be a rosy pink.You could also bake them but keep in mind that the oven has to be very hot - at about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the tuna steaks on a greased baking sheet . Don't stack them. Brush with melted butter or olive oil. Bake four to six minutes per 1/2 inch thickness of fish.As with skillet cooked tuna, use a fork to test for flakiness and look for pinkness in the center. The steaks can be marinaded for extra flavor. You can try lemon and garlic zinged up with oregano or for a more exotic flavor, think soy and ginger slices mixed with lime and sesame oil.
Any tuna dish is a nice way to end a Lenten Friday. Treat yourself and family to a tasty salad Nicoise or soy marinated tuna steaks. Enjoy croquettes or casserole with the kids. Tuna's just a great way to oberve Lenten dieting.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
A St Paddy's Special Home Corned Beef
St Patrick's Day is next week and it's a day of corned beef accompanied by boiled potatoes and of course, green tinted beer. It's a traditional meal but not necessarily a tasty one.Thanks to bad cuts of beef and nasty corning methods, it would come out as a gummy, overly salty slab.That's changing, thanks to both professional and home chefs salting it themselves.
Sam Sifton wrote about this classic Irish -American dish in yesterday's New York Times Food section.The best corned beef comes from New York's Jewish delis where it shines. The meat is a ruddy pink, perfectly salted and fatty. Home chefs now can have this delicious version According to Bryan Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman, authors of "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing" the process is easy , and will turn ordinary beef into something extraordinary.The process is an old one, starting in the 1800's, in where else - Ireland.The process is named after the large grains of salts that resembled corn kernels. Curing and.packing plants throughout the Emerald Isle used them to cure slabs of beef that eventually went into barrels and then cans and onto ships to feed others.Someone , either in Boston or the Bahamas, over boiled either a beef neck or brisket with a head of cabbage and called it dinner. That's the corned beef and cabbage we all grew up on.
That version of it will change with home brining and curing. The only reason home corned beef never caught on was the scarcity of the corns, These are sodium nitrate, that turns the meat that tender shade of pink.They can be found on Amazon under the name Prague powder or curing salt. Originally it was used for forestalling the growth of bacteria but it also gave plain beef a better taste. For those worried about ingesting nitrate, have no fear. Mr. Ruhlman says ingesting a small amount is harmless, noting that we ingest nitrates when we eat vegetables which draw nitrogen from the surrounding soil. It's then creating a brine with it and whatever spices are desirable.. Home chefs could try coriander, mustard seed and black peppercorns,. Allspice will give it a zippy, smoky flavor as well ground ginger and cinnamon. Bay leaves are good too. The recipe Mr. Sifton gives has pickling spices, which is all those spices aforementioned along with garlic cloves and sugar. A four to five pound brisket is used and is brined for four to five days. It is then cooked in a blend of beer and ginger beer.A novel idea is turning it into Irish tacos with shredded cabbage that have a jolt of jalapeno. - which is a whole lot better than having a slab of it with a boiled potato.
Home cured corned beef is the perfect treat for Saint Patrick's Day. Brine it the right way and it's a salty pink delight , perfect in a sandwich or as a taco. Enjoy it with a good stout or Guinness for the holiday.
Sam Sifton wrote about this classic Irish -American dish in yesterday's New York Times Food section.The best corned beef comes from New York's Jewish delis where it shines. The meat is a ruddy pink, perfectly salted and fatty. Home chefs now can have this delicious version According to Bryan Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman, authors of "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing" the process is easy , and will turn ordinary beef into something extraordinary.The process is an old one, starting in the 1800's, in where else - Ireland.The process is named after the large grains of salts that resembled corn kernels. Curing and.packing plants throughout the Emerald Isle used them to cure slabs of beef that eventually went into barrels and then cans and onto ships to feed others.Someone , either in Boston or the Bahamas, over boiled either a beef neck or brisket with a head of cabbage and called it dinner. That's the corned beef and cabbage we all grew up on.
That version of it will change with home brining and curing. The only reason home corned beef never caught on was the scarcity of the corns, These are sodium nitrate, that turns the meat that tender shade of pink.They can be found on Amazon under the name Prague powder or curing salt. Originally it was used for forestalling the growth of bacteria but it also gave plain beef a better taste. For those worried about ingesting nitrate, have no fear. Mr. Ruhlman says ingesting a small amount is harmless, noting that we ingest nitrates when we eat vegetables which draw nitrogen from the surrounding soil. It's then creating a brine with it and whatever spices are desirable.. Home chefs could try coriander, mustard seed and black peppercorns,. Allspice will give it a zippy, smoky flavor as well ground ginger and cinnamon. Bay leaves are good too. The recipe Mr. Sifton gives has pickling spices, which is all those spices aforementioned along with garlic cloves and sugar. A four to five pound brisket is used and is brined for four to five days. It is then cooked in a blend of beer and ginger beer.A novel idea is turning it into Irish tacos with shredded cabbage that have a jolt of jalapeno. - which is a whole lot better than having a slab of it with a boiled potato.
Home cured corned beef is the perfect treat for Saint Patrick's Day. Brine it the right way and it's a salty pink delight , perfect in a sandwich or as a taco. Enjoy it with a good stout or Guinness for the holiday.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Women In The Kitchen
With this being International Women's Day . it's time we celebrate the impact of women on food and nutrition. After all it's not our dads anf grandads that fed us but our mothers and grandmothers. Yet there seems to be more male chefs than female chefs, while it seems there are more waitresses than waiters. What gives?
Since the earliest of our days, it's been the females that have been providing food, whether from the earliest hunter-gatherers to the first "home chefs" roasting meat on wood spits over a fire. It's the women who ground the wheat to make the bread that fed the family. They made sure children had the best nutrition for the time, as they tended to gardens. Our sisters from antiquity probably introduced fruits and vegetables to their families diets, expanding both their husbands and childrens' palates. Some of these recipes exist today in the form of matzoh and pita, roasted lamb and dumplings . The home chefs that lived during the Roman and Greek empires and the Han Dynasty realized the importance of meals being eaten together too, and how it would strengthen family ties.They passed down themselves and their stories in dishes that the next generation of both girls and boys are making today with electric stoves and all sorts of modern gadgets .Believe it or not we're all eating some form of the Paleo diets thanks to our early female ancestors.
You would think that with women ruling the kitchen , they'd be ruling the culinary world. Not so much, even in this day and age.The cookbooks, were written by women, with the first real one penned by Isabella Beeton in the 1860's but a woman owning a restaurant was unheard of , unless she ran it with her parents husband, or children.It was a man who gave us the famed Gilded Age eatery Delmonico's in lower Manhattan.it was the great chef Auguste Escoffier , a Frenchman who was the world's first celebrity chef. It took a century later for the first female, chef, Julia Child who captivated American home chefs and foodies in the 1960's./. She also laid the groundwork for the celebrity chef culture that came thirty years later in the 1990s. Still, there seems to be an imbalance with the number of male chefs to female chefs today. The only successful female chef now is Lidia Bastianich who has her TV show , restaurants,products and cookbooks. She's on the same par as Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsey but she' really the only one. There's an imbalance lower down the culinary ladder too.. Most of the fast food managers are men, Assistant managers are women, but it seems that this is the highest they can go. The first tier workers are usually female also. Could it be that boys would rather work in the Apple stores as opposed to a Wendy's or McDonald's? Or that girls are just pointed to kitchens.?
Today is the Internatioal Women's Day. We have fed and nurtured the world for millennia. Yet in some sectors of the food industry we're still treated like underlings. It has to change- and we have to change it.
Since the earliest of our days, it's been the females that have been providing food, whether from the earliest hunter-gatherers to the first "home chefs" roasting meat on wood spits over a fire. It's the women who ground the wheat to make the bread that fed the family. They made sure children had the best nutrition for the time, as they tended to gardens. Our sisters from antiquity probably introduced fruits and vegetables to their families diets, expanding both their husbands and childrens' palates. Some of these recipes exist today in the form of matzoh and pita, roasted lamb and dumplings . The home chefs that lived during the Roman and Greek empires and the Han Dynasty realized the importance of meals being eaten together too, and how it would strengthen family ties.They passed down themselves and their stories in dishes that the next generation of both girls and boys are making today with electric stoves and all sorts of modern gadgets .Believe it or not we're all eating some form of the Paleo diets thanks to our early female ancestors.
You would think that with women ruling the kitchen , they'd be ruling the culinary world. Not so much, even in this day and age.The cookbooks, were written by women, with the first real one penned by Isabella Beeton in the 1860's but a woman owning a restaurant was unheard of , unless she ran it with her parents husband, or children.It was a man who gave us the famed Gilded Age eatery Delmonico's in lower Manhattan.it was the great chef Auguste Escoffier , a Frenchman who was the world's first celebrity chef. It took a century later for the first female, chef, Julia Child who captivated American home chefs and foodies in the 1960's./. She also laid the groundwork for the celebrity chef culture that came thirty years later in the 1990s. Still, there seems to be an imbalance with the number of male chefs to female chefs today. The only successful female chef now is Lidia Bastianich who has her TV show , restaurants,products and cookbooks. She's on the same par as Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsey but she' really the only one. There's an imbalance lower down the culinary ladder too.. Most of the fast food managers are men, Assistant managers are women, but it seems that this is the highest they can go. The first tier workers are usually female also. Could it be that boys would rather work in the Apple stores as opposed to a Wendy's or McDonald's? Or that girls are just pointed to kitchens.?
Today is the Internatioal Women's Day. We have fed and nurtured the world for millennia. Yet in some sectors of the food industry we're still treated like underlings. It has to change- and we have to change it.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Quick Dinners
There are those days when we come home too hungry to cook. It's usually after a hectic work day, or a day full of chores or activities. What to do - act quick. You can have meals that are easy and fast to make.
The most obvious answer to a quickly had meals would be take out. Unfortunately, there is a wait time for pizza and Chinese, unless you call from the office and car. Even then, there's some kind of prep and cooking time , especially if the restaurant is having a busy night. There is also the fast food joints, but again there are lines , and the off chance of having a very greasy supper. The best bet is stocking your fridge and pantry with ingredients that cook up quickly. One of my favorites is instant rice. Boil it with any kind of bouillon - beef, chicken or vegetable, add some butter and even a sprinkled of Parmesan and you have a kind of poor man's risotto. Pasta, too , is a quick make. Again add butter for pasta con burro or minced garlic and oil for aglia e olio. Fresh veggies can be also be mixed in for a pasta crudo. Even jsliced grape or cherry tomatoes mixed with vine ripes make for an interesting "raw" sauce.
If you want something more substantial, then get out the frying pan.One of my favorites is an easy spin on beef with scallions. It's sauteing soy meat crumbles (Morningstar Farms has the best) and chopped scallions. A slug of Kikoman soy sauce adds flavor and zest. As this is cooking, cellophane noodles are being boiled and are then mixed with the meat . Real beef and chicken can be subbed in for a more substantial dinner. Another quick meal is a one egg frittata or omelet. These are wonderful because you can add all sorts of extras in them to make them more satisfying. Chop up ham and American cheese for a Western Omelet, Serve it on toast for a sandwich.Think a fritatta zinged up with chopped vine ripe tomatoes and Parmesan cheese for an Italian spin . Have slices of toasted Italian bread with it for a heartier meal. Italian bread can also be the base for bruschetta. The tomatoes can be made the night before or earlier in the day. It requires the plum variety but vine ripes work well here too. It's then mixing in oil, balsamic vinegar and basil together to be spooned on slices of Italian bread or even sliced ciabatta rolls for a speedy and delicious dinner.Add minced Italian cold cuts such as pepperoni or soppressata for more substance.
A quick dinner can be made , without having to resort to take out or drive through. Cook up some rice or pasta, Create a tasty Chinese beef or omelet. Enjoy a frittata or bruschetta in minutes. These are easy meals, perfect after a busy , hectic day.
The most obvious answer to a quickly had meals would be take out. Unfortunately, there is a wait time for pizza and Chinese, unless you call from the office and car. Even then, there's some kind of prep and cooking time , especially if the restaurant is having a busy night. There is also the fast food joints, but again there are lines , and the off chance of having a very greasy supper. The best bet is stocking your fridge and pantry with ingredients that cook up quickly. One of my favorites is instant rice. Boil it with any kind of bouillon - beef, chicken or vegetable, add some butter and even a sprinkled of Parmesan and you have a kind of poor man's risotto. Pasta, too , is a quick make. Again add butter for pasta con burro or minced garlic and oil for aglia e olio. Fresh veggies can be also be mixed in for a pasta crudo. Even jsliced grape or cherry tomatoes mixed with vine ripes make for an interesting "raw" sauce.
If you want something more substantial, then get out the frying pan.One of my favorites is an easy spin on beef with scallions. It's sauteing soy meat crumbles (Morningstar Farms has the best) and chopped scallions. A slug of Kikoman soy sauce adds flavor and zest. As this is cooking, cellophane noodles are being boiled and are then mixed with the meat . Real beef and chicken can be subbed in for a more substantial dinner. Another quick meal is a one egg frittata or omelet. These are wonderful because you can add all sorts of extras in them to make them more satisfying. Chop up ham and American cheese for a Western Omelet, Serve it on toast for a sandwich.Think a fritatta zinged up with chopped vine ripe tomatoes and Parmesan cheese for an Italian spin . Have slices of toasted Italian bread with it for a heartier meal. Italian bread can also be the base for bruschetta. The tomatoes can be made the night before or earlier in the day. It requires the plum variety but vine ripes work well here too. It's then mixing in oil, balsamic vinegar and basil together to be spooned on slices of Italian bread or even sliced ciabatta rolls for a speedy and delicious dinner.Add minced Italian cold cuts such as pepperoni or soppressata for more substance.
A quick dinner can be made , without having to resort to take out or drive through. Cook up some rice or pasta, Create a tasty Chinese beef or omelet. Enjoy a frittata or bruschetta in minutes. These are easy meals, perfect after a busy , hectic day.
Monday, March 6, 2017
My Little Cake Shop
One more piece of my bake shop puzzle arrived today. The Ohuhu cake stand arrived, thanks to Amazon.
Soon I will have my icing spatula and icing comb to create those professional looking lines on the iced sides of a cake. I also have my Wilson icer
Thanks to my new , and sadly overworked oven, I will be trying all sorts of fun recipes and decorating. This week I will be making homemade fudge along with carrot cake cupcakes and banana bread.What I am looking forward to is making my friend's favorite cake - butter with chocolate buttercream. This will my masterpiece. It will have combed sides along with delicate puffs of icing along with pink buttercream roses and pale green leaves.
My baking days are starting up again.I'm looking forward to all sorts of creations, from coconut macarons to chocolate chip cookies to elegantly iced cakes.
And a few fudge bars too.
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