It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...FALL!

It's FALL!  The air is crisp, the leaves are changing, and all my favorite things to cook are HERE!

Case in point: I just made all of the following for a Kappa Delta Potluck:
Oatmeal cookies
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies
Peppermint chocolate chip Oatmeal cookies
Caramel Oatmeal cookies
Coconut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies
Cranberry Oatmeal cookies
and I think that's it.  Basically, I made 52 cookies....hopefully I won't eat them all before the Potluck tomorrow night...

I bake when I'm sad, stressed, or just in need of "me-time" and since my tendonitis in my hip is KILLING me, I couldn't run.  Frustration, anger, and sadness ensued...so I baked.  But it was SO worth it!  I love Oatmeal cookies (Can't you tell?)!!!

YUM

Wow

So it's been a very long time since I have posted anything.  And I mean a VERY long time.  School got very busy for a while and something had to go, and sadly it was blogging and cooking.  BUT two of my classes are done (night classes) so I have more free time.  And this means more cooking.  SO stay tuned because I'm going to be a baking/cooking machine!  Especially with fall foods.  I love pumpkin and other fall-type dishes.  So prepare for a whole lot of pumpkin!  Pie...bread...cookies...bars...soup?  We'll see!

Sweet Potatoes, Pie Crust, and Eggs OH MY!

So this afternoon, I decided to try my hand at making some homemade brown sugar and cinnamon poptarts.  I had seen a recipe for strawberry lemon poptarts, so I figured I would follow the same basic principle and make my own version.  First of all, rolling out a Pillsbury pie crust into a square shape is HARD WORK.  After working with the dough and cutting it and peeling it off of my rolling pin, I finally cut it into ten rectangles.  After filling each one with a brush of melted butter and the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture, they were  ready for their egg wash and to be put in the oven.  15 minutes later and TA DA!

Gooey filling and flaky crust.  YUM!

So, I still had the matter of that egg left.  It called for one egg for an egg wash but I basically still had an egg leftover.  Remembering sweet potatoes I had recently bought, I decided to make....SWEET POTATO BISCUITS!  (Yes, I realize it is ok to throw out an egg, but I tend avoid wasting things, even eggs.)

Let me tell you, that dough was STICKY and hard to work with.  I'm pretty sure I got dough everywhere (the floor, the counter, my shirt, my feet, the faucet, the flour canister, the toaster, and...well you get the picture).  As I shoved the cookie sheet into the oven, I grumbled to myself that these better be worth the effort and mess.  Well, 20 minutes and a mouthful of biscuit later, my decision was made.  Totally worth the effort!

So beautiful and tasty

My only issue with these biscuits is that you can't taste enough sweet potato.  So Next time, I am definitely using extra sweet potato and brown sugar to give them a TRUE sweet potato taste.  

Now, time to get back to what I am supposed to be doing...studying for my Praxis II exam on Saturday.  YIKES!

I have GOT to share this recipe

So I had a bunch of bananas that were getting overly ripe.  And I remembered that overly ripe bananas are perfect for baking.  So, I found a recipe for banana cupcakes...yes, cupcakes.  I was going to make banana bread, but after watching Masterchef, I wanted cupcakes.  This past episode, they had to make cupcakes.  And boy, it made me hungry!  So, I found a recipe.  My next problem was, what do I do for icing?  I didn't want to do plain old vanilla or chocolate (boring).  I was going to do peanut butter frosting but I have natural PB that's more runny than solid.  Then, I thought "CINNAMON!".  Only trouble was I couldn't find a recipe for cinnamon frosting.  Well, turns out my grandmother had the PERFECT recipe!

Pre-icing

They didn't rise up very tall

LOTS of cinnamon icing

All 12 of my beautiful cupcakes!

Banana Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

3/4  cup  granulated sugar, divided

• 1/2  cup  mashed ripe banana
• 1/4  cup  butter or stick margarine, softened
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 2  large eggs
• 1  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 1/4  cup  plain yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cupcakes, combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and banana; set aside. Beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana mixture to sugar mixture, beating well. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Cinnamon Icing

2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

My first "impressive" success

So today I decided I wanted to try something that scared me.  And that something was a "fancy-pants", foreign ingredient, real recipe.  After many google adventures, I found the one I wanted to try.  Curried Chicken with a Apricot Lemon Glaze.  The fact that it used curry was enough to terrify me.  After all, weren't dishes involving curry all really complicated and intimidating?  Anyways, today when I was stuck at Walmart waiting for my tires to be rotated and balanced on my car,  I did the shopping necessary, and bought all the ingredients I'd need.

The entire afternoon, all I could do was sit impatiently, waiting for the clock to hit 5:00 so I could start cooking.  The moment 5:00 flashed on my cellphone clock, I rushed into the kitchen and got my chicken out (thanks, Mom, for all the frozen chicken!).

Rubbed chicken with curry powder, salt, and pepper?  Check.
Cook chicken in skillet until perfect?  Check check!
Cook apricot lemon sauce?  Oh yeah.
Finish assembly?  Inhale the moment it hits the plate.

And OH MAN was it good.  I had no idea how amazing curry was!  I think that is definitely my new favorite spice!

Anyways, here are pictures!

I think this one shows the sauce well.  It was so cool!  The sauce was runny but once it hit the plate, it turned thick!

And the close up.  I thought the grated lemon rind on top wouldn't taste good or be edible, but it was.

Anyways, next time I plan on trying something even more "impressive" (aka difficult, lots of strange ingredients, and time consuming).

Cooking Whirlwind and Time With God

Today was one of those days where all I want to do is cook.  As a result,  I cooked four things.

1) Baby Snickerdoodles for my ladies at Curves tomorrow morning
2) Tuna burgers (I HAD to use up some of my ten cans of tuna)
3) Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins
4) Mini Baby Strawberry Pies

So today while I cooked, I was listening to my iPod and the Christian music on it.  And just hearing praises being sung to God really put things in perspective for me.  So often, I rush and yell and get angry at anyone who is "slowing" me down.  In traffic, at work, at school, anywhere.  But in this book I'm reading called Lord Foulgrin's letters (which is basically The Screwtape Letters turned current), there is a line where the demon says in a letter to a tempter to make sure that any slow person, any impatience is seen as an inconvenience.  Don't let them realize that their time one earth is not their own.  Basically, the demon is saying make sure the humans don't realize that their time isn't their own.  It's Gods.  God gave me this time on earth to live no for myself and for my own happiness, but for Him.  All I do, even driving, is supposed to honor Him.

So, today was not only a time to cook and have fun, but also a time to enjoy calmness and praise.  I don't see "slow drivers" as an inconvenience to me anymore.  Instead, I think "You know, this just gives me more time to listen to K-Love and to talk with God."  See?  Total turn around!  :)

And now, pictures of my creations:

These are tuna burgers..they were good!

Isn't this picture pretty!  I'm proud of it.

And the baby pies...they are so little!

See? They fit in the palm of my hand!

So today while I cooked, I was listening to my iPod and the Christian music on it.  And just hearing praises being sung to God really put things in perspective for me.  So often, I rush and yell and get angry at anyone who is "slowing" me down.  In traffic, at work, at school, anywhere.  But in this book I'm reading called Lord Foulgrin's letters (which is basically The Screwtape Letters turned current), there is a line where the demon says in a letter to a tempter to make sure that any slow person, any impatience is seen as an inconvenience.  Don't let them realize that their time one earth is not their own.  Basically, the demon is saying make sure the humans don't realize that their time isn't their own.  It's Gods.  God gave me this time on earth to live no for myself and for my own happiness, but for Him.  All I do, even driving, is supposed to honor Him.

So, today was not only a time to cook and have fun, but also a time to enjoy calmness and praise.  I don't see "slow drivers" as an inconvenience to me anymore.  Instead, I think "You know, this just gives me more time to listen to K-Love and to talk with God."  See?  Total turn around!  :)

Apple-Cinnamon Crostata

The choice was made!  And here are the pictures!

Choices, Choices!

So my readers (all two of you? haha), I have a dilemma.  I'm torn between making one of three recipes...

Oreo Dream Pie (icecreamy in texture)

Cinnamon-Apple Crostata

Chunk Apple-Cinnamon Muffins

I'm so torn!  I LOVE apples.  But I looove oreos...The only issue with the muffins is, they call for Fuji and I have Granny Smith.  Anyways, I guess we will see later today which one I ended up making!

A Weekend Full of Cooking

Which one would you rather have?  Sketchy second batch (left) or beautiful first batch (right)?

So today I made a little progress on my list of things to cook this weekend.  I made two trial batches of the homemade chocolate fudge sauce.  The first (and more successful batch) had a little more water in it.  The second, scary, gross batch had less.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of water or enough to make it stir well so I did that with the first batch.  It seemed a little too runny for me.  So, with the second batch, I did a little less than that.  The result?  Thick, fudgy like sauce.  I thought it was the correct batch.  Well, after checking on it after having it in the fridge for a while, the butter had separated and formed a gross layer on top of the sauce.  So, I think it's safe to say I will stick to using the full 1/4 cup of water.

Next up:  Lemon Square Bars

First step: mix flour, sugar, and butter to make bottom layer.

Second step: mix eggs, sugar, flour, and lemon juice

Lemon squares in the oven, ready to go!

Lemon squares out of the oven...not so pretty

Finished product...not so scary looking anymore!

I think next time, I will put more lemon and lemon zest.  They don't taste very...lemony.  

Well, until tonight (I'm sure I will do a little more cooking tonight before I go out)!  Keep on cookin'!

My Weekend

So, as abnormal as this is for me, I'm actually looking forward to a weekend in Jackson as opposed to home in Memphis.  I have a lot of cooking that I want to get done and having a weekend to myself gives me that opportunity.  Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE going home.  I am a huge "homebody" and I love nothing more than spending time with my family.  In fact, my mom is coming up to Jackson tomorrow to take me out to lunch (which is why I made that strawberry pie-for her).  


But this weekend, I need to recharge, relax, and cook.  On my (hopeful) plate for this weekend:


1) Successfully make an omlet (without burning it this time)
2) Lemon squares
3) My own version of the Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich
4) Chicken Piccata
5) Chocolate Crepes with Strawberries
6) Chicken Parmesan
7) BLT Pie
8) Chicken and Dumplings
9) Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce
10) Lime and Chili Rubbed Chicken


Now, I realize I won't be able to make ALL of the above recipes, but I hope to make a huge dent in my wish list of recipes to try my hand at!  I have a BUNCH of pudding mixes I want to incorporate into recipes.  Any one out there with tips or suggestions?


Now, for my relax list:


1) Vaccuum carpet (new carpet in the apartment means lots of those nasty little balls of carpet that form and get stuck everywhere)
2) Watch 2 movies
3) Go see Eat Pray Love
4) Eat at Sakura
5) Hang out with the roommate


See?  I love to-do lists.  And I love crossing things off of them even more.


That's all for now!

Strawberry Pie

So today I made something from scratch...WITHOUT reading a recipe as I cooked.  This was a first!  Usually I check, double check, and triple check the recipe and have it right in front of me to reference.  But today, I winged it!!!!

The recipe in question?  Strawberry pie!

Doesn't it look amazing???  I had some difficulty with the crust though...

This is what's underneath all of that cool whip

So I sampled a tiny piece (I made the majority of it for my mom-she's coming to visit me this Friday to take me to lunch).  And I must say, it's good.  But not as good as my mom's or grandmother's when they make it.  Regardless, here is the recipe!

Camille's Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Pillsbury pie crust
• 2 quarts of Driscoll's organic strawberries (1 lb containers)
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Bake the pie crust as directed on box
2. Take half your strawberries and cut the tops off.  Place on plate for later.  Take other half of your strawberries, cut the tops off, then slice into smaller pieces.  Mash until pretty much mush.
3. In saucepan, pour strawberry mush, sugar, and cornstarch.  Mix on medium high heat until mixture becomes thick, stirring the entire time (to prevent from sticking to bottom of pan).
4. Once pie crust has cooled, plate whole, topless strawberries flat/topless side down in crust until bottom is covered.  Then, pour liquid mixture evenly over top.
5. If desired, cover top with cool whip or whipped cream.  Garnish with additional strawberries if you so desire.
6. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set.  Then, enjoy!

Easy isn't it?  Let me know how it turns out if you make it!  Comments are desired, and welcomed!!

Absent as of Late

So I realize I have not been posting much lately, and I am sorry.  I went home this weekend for A) a haircut, B) my sister's going-away-to-college dinner, and C) my dad's getting-home-from-Africa dinner.

Speaking of my dad's dinner:  tonight I am making lava cakes for my family.  I'm way excited but I am also nervous.  I find that I am one of those "cooks" but likes to have sole custody of the kitchen when I'm cooking.  Sadly, my stepmom and I will have to share the kitchen tonight while I'm making dessert and she's cooking dinner.  Did I mention she likes sole custody of the kitchen too?  Yeah...

So needless to say, this will be an interesting night!

I'll be sure to post an update tonight or tomorrow!

Making Bread

So today I decided I wanted to try a bread recipe I found on someone else's blog.  Amy over at New Nostalgia posted a recipe for Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick bread.  Me being the lover off all things bread and oatmeal, I decided to try my hand at it.

New Nostalgia

I woke up early this morning and decided it would be a great day for bread making.  Sadly, my roommate was still asleep.  So, after an hour or two of sitting around waiting for her to wake up, I decided it was time to start anyways (after all, it WAS 10).  As I ground the oats in a blender, I tried smothering the sound with a T-shirt to avoid waking her up, and I think it worked!  Anyways, within ten minutes, the dough was made, pan was greased, and the bread was in the oven.  Twenty impatient minuted later, voila! It was done!

It was soo beautiful!

My customers at work today are so lucky!  I'm bringing them little bites to try!

Successes and Failures

I will admit, when I started this "journey" I fully expected to fail.  My mom has told me, out of all of her children, I was the one she never expected to pick up cooking and run with it.  And yet, here I am, cooking away.  

I have another thing to admit though:  after my successes in the beginning, I began to think that I was too good at cooking to fail. But, boy, was I wrong.  Here are some pictures of the successes...and the failures:

This was my first major success...Chicken Parmesan

For my first time cooking dinner for guests, I made my mom's best recipe: Crescent Chicken

And the dessert for my guests? Individual Molten Lava Cakes!

By far my favorite thing (and impossibly healthy too): Peach and Blueberry Cobbler with Ginger and Cinnamon

And of course...there are the failures, such as this attempt at a Spinach and Salsa Omelet

and my biggest disappointment of all...brownies.  The picture on the left is what they are supposed to look like.  Mine looked and tasted gross.

But despite my failures, I have had some pretty amazing successes.  And those small successes, or victories as I like to call them, make this whole journey worthwhile.  Because even when I fail and (in my mind) waste good ingredients on these failures, I know that down the road there is another victory just waiting for me.  Cheesy? Yes.  True?  Absolutely.

The Beginning

So it seems that in any story found in any movie, book, or song, there is a beginning.  And it is always the best place to start.  After all, if you were to open The Princess Bride right in the middle, you might wonder why on earth Westley is fighting so hard to find a girl and why Buttercup is so resistant to marrying the prince.  However, if you were to start from the beginning, you would find yourself sharing in Westley's urgency and feeling the same revulsion to Prince Humperdink that Buttercup does.  So, with that being said, let's start at the beginning...

At the end of May 2010, I found myself with an apartment.  No longer living on campus, I would be on my own in terms of finding food.  After all, the idea of spending $400 on a 50 meal meal plan for the school cafeteria seemed like a great waste of my hard earned money.  So, I decided it was time to learn how to cook.  Somehow (I don't even know how), I came across a website with easy recipes that not only sounded wonderful, but they were also HEALTHY!  This seemed perfect to me because I was trying to eat healthier and maintain a healthier lifestyle.  So, I bookmarked a few of the recipes on my web browser, bought the ingredients, and got to work.

I will say, I was very nervous about the outcome of this experiment.  After all, to my family I am the child who burned rice.  In a microwave cooker.  (It helps to read the recipe...especially when it calls for two cups of water and one cup of rice, not the other way around).  The resulting rice was a solid mass that could be used as a weapon.  Seriously.  I tried to cut it with a knife but all that happened was bits of rice chipping off and hitting my sister in the face.

So, the first thing I attempted to make was: Cinnamon Monkey Bread.  Now, I had never had monkey bread before, so I had nothing to compare it too.  This is a blessing (in that I don't have to think about the other versions I had tasted that were better) and a curse (I didn't know what in the world it would look or taste like).  All in all, it turned out a great success.  I'll let the picture speak for itself!

It was cinnamony, sugary, gooey goodness.  I think it is safe to safe my roommate, family, and friends all agreed (especially since they were gone within 12 hours of making them!).  

Well, now that you (whoever my readers may end up being) have the background, I think it's time I got to cooking!