Suze posted a beautiful tutorial on pizza making on her regular blog! Click on her name on the right to go see it. She's got skills and smarts!
I have discovered (well, my husband has) a most wonderful website for Indian cooking. It is called vahrevah.com, and that is its address. It's not the most technically wonderfully user-friendly website I've ever seen, but it does provide lovely video demos of awesome recipes. I know they're awesome, because every one that we've tried has been fabulous. We have tried the dosais, fish byriani, red kidney bean masala, green bell pepper masala, chicken curry, egg cube curry (maybe not fabulous, but I think it had to do with the baking dish I chose to use), egg byriani, upma rava, and chicken byriani. There are many things I love about this website. First, the man is entertaining. In one recipe, he tastes the food and excuses himself to go and cry. Really. I like that you can see on the screen how much of each ingredient he is using. I like that you can see how the food is supposed to look at the end of each stage of cooking. (He may not specify cooking times and amounts of ingredients every time, but at least you can look at the screen and make deductions). He gives a lot of "why's." I can see what type of vessel to use, and sometimes he even tells specifications on what kinds of pots are best, and once even gave a substitution suggestion. Anyway, just go and click on the video demos tab and then pick your picture and watch. It's fun. Then make something yummy. (Oh, be prepared to pause and take notes. Only a few have written recipes, and they're not the same as what he's showing you on the screen--somebody sent them in and he's adapted to suit his taste.)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Secret Project
My class is doing a secret project for an upcoming holiday. Today the kindergartners all wrote recipes. We had one recipe for cookies, one for chocolate chip muffins, one for a boiled egg, two mac and cheeses, one ice cream, and a recipe for pancakes. Some highlights:
One ingredient in the pancake recipe was "2 tablespoons yellow liquid". Pretty impressive memory there on the quantity, I thought.
Ingredient list for one of the mac and cheese recipes: lots of cheese, lots of noodles, not much water. List of ingredients for the other mac and cheese recipe: 1 bag of cheese, 2 sets of water, 6 noodles, a microwave.
Ingredients for the muffin recipe: 4 chocolate chips, sprinkles, 5 chocolates, 2 bread.
Ingredients for cookies: 1 spoon of flour, 7 sprinkles, icing.
My favorite line from all the recipes: "Put it on the frying pan and then it turns into pancakes."
One ingredient in the pancake recipe was "2 tablespoons yellow liquid". Pretty impressive memory there on the quantity, I thought.
Ingredient list for one of the mac and cheese recipes: lots of cheese, lots of noodles, not much water. List of ingredients for the other mac and cheese recipe: 1 bag of cheese, 2 sets of water, 6 noodles, a microwave.
Ingredients for the muffin recipe: 4 chocolate chips, sprinkles, 5 chocolates, 2 bread.
Ingredients for cookies: 1 spoon of flour, 7 sprinkles, icing.
My favorite line from all the recipes: "Put it on the frying pan and then it turns into pancakes."
Thursday, February 28, 2008
One of many
Lately I've been dabbling in freezer cooking (not quite once a month cooking, but similar). I make a big batch of something, freeze 2-3 portions and have meals on hand to use later. I have 4-5 recipes that freeze well and that most of my family eats! Here is one of them:
BBQ Chicken Pizza
2 cups cooked and shredded/cubed chicken
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 small red onion, chopped (I only use about 1/3 and chop up the rest to freeze for next time)
2 green onions (which I buy in a bundle of 4-6ish, chop and freeze for next time)
1 cup shredded Gouda (again, one wheel makes 2 cups shredded. Grate all and freeze half.)
1 cup Mozzerella cheese (comes in a 2 cup package, you can figure out where I'm going here!)
1 prepared pizza crust (Boboli whole wheat is great, but the generics are good, too)
Spread 3/4 cup of bbq on the pizza crust, mix the rest with the chicken to coat. Spread the chicken over the crust.
Top with onions and cheese. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.
You can prepare the pizza and wrap it in plastic wrap and foil to freeze. Just thaw it and bake as directed above. Or, you can make a "kit" of the ingredients in 4 different baggies (bbq sauce, bbq-ed chicken, onions and cheese) throw that in the freezer and assemble on serving day. Usually I make a double batch of pizza "guts", freeze one and serve the other!
Maybe I'll remember to post some of the other recipes here someday!
BBQ Chicken Pizza
2 cups cooked and shredded/cubed chicken
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 small red onion, chopped (I only use about 1/3 and chop up the rest to freeze for next time)
2 green onions (which I buy in a bundle of 4-6ish, chop and freeze for next time)
1 cup shredded Gouda (again, one wheel makes 2 cups shredded. Grate all and freeze half.)
1 cup Mozzerella cheese (comes in a 2 cup package, you can figure out where I'm going here!)
1 prepared pizza crust (Boboli whole wheat is great, but the generics are good, too)
Spread 3/4 cup of bbq on the pizza crust, mix the rest with the chicken to coat. Spread the chicken over the crust.
Top with onions and cheese. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.
You can prepare the pizza and wrap it in plastic wrap and foil to freeze. Just thaw it and bake as directed above. Or, you can make a "kit" of the ingredients in 4 different baggies (bbq sauce, bbq-ed chicken, onions and cheese) throw that in the freezer and assemble on serving day. Usually I make a double batch of pizza "guts", freeze one and serve the other!
Maybe I'll remember to post some of the other recipes here someday!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Always Remember...
... To check the expiration date on eggs before you use them. I felt like crud over the weekend, and decided fudge brownies would make me feel better. Rachel's boyfriend Will had made a big breakfast that morning with pancakes, bacon, eggs and biscuits. So, when I looked for eggs in the fridge and saw a carton, I assumed (see that's where I get in trouble) that they were leftover eggs from Will's cooking spree.
Anyhoo, I made the brownies, Jamie and I licked the bowl and beater (which included raw egg product, natch), and then we ate some brownies. The next morning, I didn't feel very good, and my tummy and Jamie's tummy were queasy. Then Will asked me how I made brownies when he used the last of the eggs on breakfast.
"No you didn't," I said. Then he told me he had only bought a six pack of eggs.
Little warning bells started going off in my head. There was one of the eggs left from the carton I had used to make brownies. I checked the expiration date on the carton, then quickly threw the eggs away so no one else would make the same mistake I did...
The expiration date was 12-21-2007.
No wonder Jamie and I were queasy! We had eaten raw, expired eggs. We're lucky we didn't wind up with something worse than some queasiness!
Oh, and BTW, we're fine today, for the most part. So no big deal, other than being grossed out by eating eggs that old.
Anyhoo, I made the brownies, Jamie and I licked the bowl and beater (which included raw egg product, natch), and then we ate some brownies. The next morning, I didn't feel very good, and my tummy and Jamie's tummy were queasy. Then Will asked me how I made brownies when he used the last of the eggs on breakfast.
"No you didn't," I said. Then he told me he had only bought a six pack of eggs.
Little warning bells started going off in my head. There was one of the eggs left from the carton I had used to make brownies. I checked the expiration date on the carton, then quickly threw the eggs away so no one else would make the same mistake I did...
The expiration date was 12-21-2007.
No wonder Jamie and I were queasy! We had eaten raw, expired eggs. We're lucky we didn't wind up with something worse than some queasiness!
Oh, and BTW, we're fine today, for the most part. So no big deal, other than being grossed out by eating eggs that old.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Jenn's Chicky-Cheese Casserole
Today, I made a chicken casserole, and it was pretty good. We had a large bag of frozen chicken legs and thighs that needed to be used (I needed more room in the freezer), so I did the following:
Defrosted the chicken for two days in the fridge.
Put the now-thawed chicken in the crock pot with some water, dehydrated onions, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
Cooked it on high for several hours, until the meat started falling off the bone.
Then, I deboned the chicken and let it sit in a bowl in the fridge overnight.
The next day, I cooked some white rice, then put it in the bottom of a casserole dish.
Preheated oven to 375 degrees.
Spread out cooked chicken on top of the rice. Added some water and a can of cream of chicken soup. Mixed well.
Added a can of drained peas. Ditto for a can of drained carrots.
Put more chicky on top.
Covered in shredded cheddar cheese.
Baked for 45 minutes.
It was very good. Even the pickiest eater in the house loved it!
Defrosted the chicken for two days in the fridge.
Put the now-thawed chicken in the crock pot with some water, dehydrated onions, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
Cooked it on high for several hours, until the meat started falling off the bone.
Then, I deboned the chicken and let it sit in a bowl in the fridge overnight.
The next day, I cooked some white rice, then put it in the bottom of a casserole dish.
Preheated oven to 375 degrees.
Spread out cooked chicken on top of the rice. Added some water and a can of cream of chicken soup. Mixed well.
Added a can of drained peas. Ditto for a can of drained carrots.
Put more chicky on top.
Covered in shredded cheddar cheese.
Baked for 45 minutes.
It was very good. Even the pickiest eater in the house loved it!
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