quick and easy (and delicious) bread sticks

Have you made the cauliflower soup yet? Well why not? I made another batch (this one for just me) on Saturday (with cauliflower purchased specially for the event for 69cents a pound!) and tonight after having left over pizza for breakfast... and lunch (quick hint-- heat your pizza in a frying pan, with a lid on it, over med-low heat and it will be almost as magically delicious as it was the night before!) Anyway, I decided to pull out the soup leftovers and go a little crazy. The only problem was that my pantry (read: ikea shelves in the corner) have no bread like material. I didn't want to make bread/rolls as they take *at least* an hour, and require yeast (which I am currently out of.). Anyway, I googled, and found a recipe that was super easy and quick.

(this picture is from a second batch-- Rachel and I made cheesy delicious bread sticks to go with tomato soup!)

Soft no-yeast bread sticks

1 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
⅔ cup milk (or less)
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients and gradually add milk to form a soft dough.
Knead gently 3 or 4 times on a floured surface.
Roll out into a rectangle about 10″ x 5″ and cut into 12 sticks.

Put the melted butter into a large baking dish (jelly roll pan or 9x13 pyrex) and turn the bread sticks to coat them with the butter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if you like.

Bake at 450°F for 14 to 18 minutes.
Serve warm.

You could also do amazing things with cheese, herbs, garlic, etc. I just went for simple plain bread sticks and they were delicious with a bowl of the cauliflower soup! 

On a random, upsetting side note: I went to cut the bread sticks from the rolled dough and... I COULDN'T FIND MY BASH 'n' CHOP!!! I don't know where it got put away after someone else unloaded the dishwasher! I had to use a table knife to cut my bread sticks... it was a sad sad day

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

We made this soup in my foods class last Wednesday (7 days ago) and since then I have made or helped make 2 batches. This stuff is DELICIOUS! The recipe is alterable to use whatever vegetable you'd like (we did carrot, zucchini and cauliflower in class) and the Cauliflower was my favorite hands down! I've got a head of cauliflower in the fridge just waiting for me to make a batch of this-- then they'll be pictures.

Soup Base:
1/4 c+2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp Chicken bullion granules
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 cups milk

1.Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat,
2. Blend in flour, salt and pepper bullion and other sauces
3. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
4. Remove from heat and wisk in the milk.
5. Return to heat and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
6. Let sit on warm heat in pan till veggies are ready to add

Vegetables (other veggie options listed below)
4 cups (about one head) of cauliflower
1 tsp curry powder (add with spices)
1/4 cup onion chopped fine, cooked with cauliflower.

7. Place cut veggies in a medium saucepan, add enough water to barely cover the vegetables.
8. Bring the vegetables to a boil on high heat. Cover the sauce pan with a lid and reduce the heat to simmer. Cook the veggies in the saucepan until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Don't let the water boil out.
9. before mixing the veggies into the cream base, puree part of the vegetables in a blender with some of the cooking water. (I used my food processor last time and the first time at home I used a potato masher, which also worked but made for a thinner soup)
10. Combine the remaining veggies, pureed veggies and white sauce together. Add enough veggie water to make the soup the desired consistency. Serve hot with rolls or french bread.


Other vegetable options:
**Cream of Potato**
4 diced spuds, washed and peeled
2 stalks diced celery
1/4 cup onion
**Cream of Asparagus** (which I want to try when asparagus is cheep)
4 cups asparagus
2 tbsp lemon juice
dash of nutmeg or mace
**Cream of Green Bean**
3 cups green beans
1 tsp crushed savory
** Cream of Broccoli**
4 cups broccoli
1/2 tsp dry leaf thyme
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaves-- add to white sauce and remove prior to serving
**Cream of Carrot**
2 cups carrots (about 6 large)
1 Tbsp dry parsley
1/2 tsp dry basil
**Cream of Zucchini**
3 cups zucchini
1/8 tsp nutmeg
**Cream of Mushroom**
3 cups mushrooms
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Chicago Style Pizza

Being the ever-hungry pregnant lady that I am (Rachel, not Emily), I am always craving weird things. For example, two days ago all I wanted was pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and tomatoes. But not any kind of pizza, chicago-style pizza aka a true deep dish pizza. Here is what I managed to whip up and it turned out great!


Pizza dough


1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon sald
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
cornmeal (for the Chicago style I omitted the cornmeal)

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oil, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface; cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
2. Roll into a 13" circle (For the Chicago style you need to make it nearly 16"). Grease a 12" pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. (For the Chicago style you need a spring form pan, no cornmeal, yes to the grease.) Transfer dough to the prepared pan, building up the edges slightly (you may need to wrap the dough just over the edge of the spring form pan to help it stay in place). DO NOT LET RISE.
3. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes, or until browned. Add toppings; bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Chicago style filling
The filling is slightly different than a normal pizza. You add more and you must must precook any vegetables going in so that the pizza doesn't pool up with water from them.


First, layer 5-6 slices of provolone cheese on the crust.
Then start adding in your fillings. Because the pizza is so thick and to avoid any extra liquids, I used turkey pepperoni -- it's less fattening and because of that you can add more layers of it.

Remember, you do not want your pizza crust to rise, so have all of your toppings pre-cooked and ready to go as soon as your dough is rolled out.


Once all of your toppings are in, add your pizza sauce. Ladle approximately 1 1/2 cups over the top of your pizza. Then, add a final layer of cheese and send it off for baking.

Then enjoy!! And yes, there is a little bit of liquid at the bottom -- our power went out and  I couldn't use the microwave to pre-cook my tomatoes and some of my mushrooms. Lesson learned.

Ahoy Matey!

I think you may have noticed, but I am just not very creative on my own... so I stole this idea from Family Fun: it is my go to for fun cakes. I modified a little, and was very happy with it. For dinner group there were two birthdays this week, so I made a cake! Our dinner group's theme is "Pirates of the Dinner Group," so what would be better than a PIRATE SHIP cake! That's right folks-- a pirate ship :)

I'd like to just put pictures up and let you marvel at them, but that would reduce the fun of this experience... so here's what you'll need:

• 1 cake, baked in 2- 9" rounds
• Chocolate frosting (family fun says 3-4 cups, but I made my own so I don't really know how much there was)
• Chocolate wafer rolls (Pirouettes) (cannons) 
• tootsie rolls (cannon base/barrels)
• whoppers (cannon balls)
• pirate action figure/lego/playmobile (I couldn't find one at the dollar store, so I actually used a wrestler who didn't have a hand, I drew on an eye patch and a beard, and cut off his leg. It served it's purpose)
• Fruity rings/ peachios/life savers (for the port holes)

Make the cake according to directions, except to prevent it from being too fluffy I reduced the water to just 1 cup instead of 1 1/4. I read that idea on one of the reviews on FF and it was great. 

When the cake is cooled cut each round in half. 

Use frosting to layer the 4 halves together (as if you were making a 4 layer 1/2 cake) then wrap in saran wrap and freeze for several hours (I froze it while I was at work, and it was perfect and ready for me when I got home!) 

I trimmed the bottom off so that it would sit flat, or float flat... 

Cover the whole thing with chocolate frosting

Then all you have to do is decorate:

Use a butter knife to make planks on the side of the ship. I melted chocolate chips in a ziplock bag then cut off the corner so that I could pipe out railings onto parchment paper then freeze. I used bamboo skewers for the sails and turned the wrestler into a pirate. 

Note that because we're the pirates of the dinner group the cross bones are a spoon and fork! (the sails are made of parchment that was already out from making

Kevin turned 27 and Kim 23, so we fit 50 candles in the ship!

We had to open the door to keep the fire alarm from going off. Also... the action figure lit on fire... probably best to take it off prior to lighting the fire!

See the very burnt action figure? 

And boy it was delicious!

THE BEST Valentines Dessert EVER Part 2: The Filling!

Ok for the filling you've got 3 parts:
Again this all comes from The Sisters' Cafe. When I grow up I want to be like them!


1. The Chocolate Cake
This is the easiest part (even though none of it is really hard). 
I just used a boxed cake-- it was, however, I used Duncan Heinz Dark Chocolate cake. It was moist and delicious, and not too sweet (which was great because the mousse and drizzle are VERY sweet)


2./3. The White Chocolate Cream Drizzle and White Chocolate Almond Mousse (they start with the same base)
You'll need:
3 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
¼ cup butter, cut into pieces
1 lb good-quality white chocolate (again you hit the budget restrained college student-- I just used target brand white chocolate chips. They were delicious, but I'm sure it would be even better with something good, say Ghirardelli's)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
Red food coloring (it's Valentines day, I couldn't help myself!)

2. Making the White Chocolate Cream Drizzle - Bring 1 cup cream and butter to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate and stir until smooth. Whisk in vanilla.

Pour 1 ½ cups white chocolate mixture into a small bowl, add food coloring; cover and refrigerate until cold. 

Let remaining white chocolate mixture in saucepan stand at room temperature until lukewarm, about 20 minutes.

3. Making the White Chocolate & Almond Mousse - Using electric mixer, beat remaining 2 cups cream and almond extract in large bowl until peaks form. Working in 3 batches, fold in lukewarm white chocolate cream mixture. 

Refrigerate whipped cream just until medium peaks hold, folding occasionally, about 3 hours.

Serving your Chocolate Bowls -

Cube your delicious chocolate cake and place 4-5 cubes in each chocolate bowl. Generously spoon mousse on top and then generously drizzle with the white chocolate cream drizzle. So rich and delicious. 

Prior to the drizzle being put on. Go ahead: tell me you don't want one of these. You're LYING!

Bah! I wish this last picture wasn't over exposed (I'm still working on picture taking skills) You can't really see the pink drizzle on top. 

THE BEST Valentines Dessert EVER Part 1: The Chocolate Bowls

I'm not going to lie (and I have 15 other people who can back me up) this might be the most delicious recipe that I have ever made... It was so good.

You'll soon find out that sister's cafe is one of my most favorite blogs ever (and!! my sister just figured out that one of the sisters lives in my hometown and attends church in the same building as my family! How sweet is that? I love the small world!) So you can find the recipe there, but I'll also put it up with my pictures, and observations.

Edible Chocolate bowls with Dark Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Mousse and White Chocolate Drizzle
(I know-- there's so much chocolate in that title it's almost a crime... almost)

Chocolate Bowls: 


1 Pkg Chocolate Almond Bark (I'm sure you could use more expensive chocolate or melting chips-- but I'm on a college student budget, and I found it on sale at Target)
15 Balloons-- water balloons are what a lot of websites suggested, but I found that smaller party balloons-- 7" worked really really well and weren't as hard to blow up as water balloons.

In my cooking class we learned that despite what the directions say, the BEST way to melt dipping chocolate is to chop it like this:

Note the use of my Alaska Ulu and the cutting board it came with-- I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

and then melt it in the microwave in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring well in between melting. The chocolate should never get hot, or even warm (some blogs talked about the balloons popping, but I made 30ish and had no popped balloons!)

Use a deep bowl to make dipping the balloons easier and keep lots of chocolate in the bowl. Place on cookie sheets with parchment paper covering. Let sit for a few hours, or over night, or outside when it's cold out-- but be careful, the sun might come out and you'll get melted bowls (this is the voice of experience speaking):

You just cut a little hole in the balloons and let the air leak out, then let them sit for a few minutes and then peel the balloon away from the chocolate carefully!

I used a brick of White Chocolate that I had lying around to decorate the inside-- cute huh?

But when they turn out well, you get something LOVELY like:

Valentines Dinner

You should be so jealous of my dinner group tonight. For real... It was DELICIOUS!

Heart Shaped Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf:

3/4 c milk

1 egg

1/2 c onion, chopped

1 T Worcestershire sauce (We call it woo sauce at my house)

Garlic (I just sprinkled powder b/c I was too lazy to chop up a clove of garlic or three, but just as much as you want.)

1 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 c oatmeal
3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 lb ground beef

Mix the milk and egg, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well before adding the meat. I just went ahead and used my hands to mix it all up. I refrigerated it all night (to limit the amount of prep needed with only an hour to get ready before people showed up.)
Break the meat mixture into 8 loafs, and I made mine heart shaped (because it's valentine's day for Pete's sake!) and place them in a pan-- 8 fit comfortably in a 9x13, I however multiplied this recipe a few times for dinner group.

Then mix:
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Mustard

Brush over the heart shaped beauties in your pan and pop them in a 350* oven for 45 minutes. Brush some extra sauce over the top when they are finished cooking.

Serve with baked potatoes with pink sour cream, broccoli, salad, etc. It's a beautiful thing!

A cupcake cake

This one needs no introduction... or really instructions, just check out the photos.
I volunteered to make a cake for my friend's birthday, and decided to try something new. This is really easy, and I think it turned out cute :)

24 cupcakes (Hello fun-fetti from a box!) 

Add Frosting

Look how pretty :) 

And it would be so easy to make it more complicated with different colored flowers, or designs on the petals, but today I wanted quick and easy.

Viola! 

Fortunate?

This time of the year signifies the beginning of the new Chinese new year! 2011 is the year of the rabbit

This week was a little (read: A LOT) stressful and on Wednesday (?) night, to blow off some steam, I made Fortune Cookies! They were way easier than I thought they would be! My roommate helped me come up with clever fortunes. 

I got the recipe here, and the directions are pretty easy!

Fortune Cookies

1/2 C flour- If you have bread flour, use it. (I didn't.)

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla- or sometimes I use 1/2 almond 1/2 vanilla (I am in love with almond, so I did the half and half.)

2 egg whites

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend to combine. Be sure to blend till it's completely smooth!


 Place in a container and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper*(I didn't have any when I made them, but used a sprayed cookie sheet, it worked fine, but I think that the parchment would be WAY better). Draw 3-4 (3-inch) circles on paper (Here, I dipped a glass in flour and put it on the greased sheet). Turn paper over. Spoon 1 teaspoon batter into center of each of the drawn circles; spread evenly to fill circle. 

Bake at 400° for 5-6 minutes or until the cookies are brown just around the edges and a little toward the centers. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few seconds (just a few!) before removing from pan. Working quickly, loosen edges of cookies with a spatula, and turn over.

Place fortune along the center of 1 cookie. Fold cookie over so the edges meet ; press edges together. Gently pull the ends of the cookie down over the rim of a small bowl (or jar); hold for a few seconds or until set. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.

Be excited!

Just a heads up... I realized yesterday that I am in charge of dinner group for Valentines day. And since I am convinced that I'm going to make valentines day awesome this year (rather than just another SAD-- singles awareness day). I'm celebrating LOVE this year. And continuing my family's valentine's tradition for dinner! 


So what I'm really saying is stay tuned for amazing food/recipes such as:


Heart Shaped Cheddar Meatloafs (don't judge... they're AMAZING)
Jello Salad (I live in Utah, folks!)
Crock-pot baked potatoes (you can make them in the crock pot!) 
Some delicious veggie (Haven't gotten that far yet)
AND: The one I'm really excited for:
Edible chocolate bowls filled with chocolate cake and served with white chocolate and almond mousse and white chocolate cream drizzle.


Be Excited! Very excited!

Broccoli

I love broccoli. I like it in soups, in casseroles, plain, with dip, with butter, lemon, there are just so many ways to eat it. And it's healthy! Well... until you drench it in cheese... then it's debatable. Every Sunday my family gets together for what we call "Sister's Dinner." "Family" includes me, my younger sister, her roommate S (who is also our other sister's sister-in-law), S's fiancée, and S's brother. Yes, it's all very convoluted, but we love each other. 
Anyway, we rotate who makes dinner, who brings dessert and who brings the veggie/salad. Today was my day to bring the veggie and I wanted to try something that was new for me.

I've made white sauces before, biscuits and gravy are among my favorite foods, but I've never made a cheese sauce for broccoli. After this EASY adventure, I'm thinking that I might make the cheese sauce but cut the broccoli smaller and use it as a topping for baked potatoes. Sorry about the lack of pictures. But it's delicious!

Ingredients

6 cups broccoli florets 
2 tablespoons butter 
2 tablespoons unbleached white flour 
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder 
Sea salt, to taste 
1 cup low fat milk 
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated 
White pepper, to taste

Method

Steam broccoli until crisp tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour, mustard powder and salt to taste. Gradually stir in milk, whisking over med-low heat until thickened. Add cheese, stirring until completely melted. Season to taste with white pepper. Pour over steamed broccoli and serve at once. Boy was it good! 

Re-creation of Emily's creation

Emily's creation of her strawberry cake inspired me to make a similar cake for my birthday. The exterior looks mostly the same, however the inside is a little different. After having red velvet cheesecake at a wedding I fell in love and knew that that is what I wanted to make for my bday.Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but here is the link where I got the recipe. The only change I would make would be to not use Martha Stewart's cheesecake recipe. Devastating, right? Usually Martha is fail proof, but I felt like her cheesecake was a little citrus-y for a red velvet.

Lincoln's Red Velvet Cheesecake -- Here is the cake recipe!