Amazing, or just a bit too much?.
It’s that time of year again: the holidays! Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, BAKE-A-THON…. The smell of baked goods is in the air! Few things suck more than taking a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven only to discover, *gasp*, the cookies are burnt! (funny story, my mom use to always burn the biscuits ever so slightly so we called it her Trademark. she did not appreciate that as much as the rest of the family)
The artistic side of burning sadness.
Fear not, loyal readers, DinnerCakes is here for you with today’s Kitchen Tip. All you need to remedy this terrible tragedy is a microplane grater and faith. For cookies that are only slightly burnt or simply over browned you can gently grate away all that bad stuff. This works best with your non-chunky cookies (like sugar), but is always worth a shot.
Ok, these probably can't be saved
There, you are now ready for the all that the holidays can throw at you (ha!). Go forth and bake!
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
I am, or should be, studying… we’ll catch up soon!
So apparently Coolio is a food aficionado as well as rap star and has released a cook book entitled Cookin’ With Coolio. Check out his interview and be amused.
What did you have for dinner yesterday? I was short on ideas so turned to cookbooks for inspiration. I ended up tweaking a Spicy Chickpea salad from the book Totally Vegetarian
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
This week I have final exams in my graduate program. I’ll be a little… well… insane? So please excuse the lack of Ghost Baker here on DC!
No Christmas decorating has been done yet either, but as you can see above, I have been streaming nonstop Christmas music. It helps keep things in perspective!
So what do I eat for dinner when I’m completely crunched for time? Soccer ball soup. This soup was introduced to me by my husband’s side of the family. It’s simple, but it’s great. And it’s a way you can control what’s in your soup a little bit (just look at how much sodium is in canned soup at the grocery store, and you might rethink it as a healthy meal alternative!).
Soccer Ball Soup
(serves one – just double the ingredients to serve two, and so on)
(serves one – just double the ingredients to serve two, and so on)
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup acini di pepe pasta balls (or pastinis)
black pepper
Heat broth and pasta in a medium saucepan over low/medium heat, stirring occasionally. When pasta has doubled in size, it’s done (usually about 10 minutes). Be careful not to burn the soup, it should not boil. Top with fresh ground pepper.
Serve and enjoy!
No Southwest Subbing – Vegetarian Tostada With Not So Refried Beans
December 7th, 2009
by Chef Edwin
I’m not a huge fan of the term “meat substitute.” Whenever I hear it, images of tofurkey and tofu burgers pop into my head; as if that is the embodiment of vegetarian cuisine (for the record I have never had tofurkey nor a tofu burger and I am in no rush to change this). I associate those images with a desire to mimic dishes in a vegetarian way, inherently placing the original dish as the benchmark; the brass ring to aspire to.
Vegetables. Are awesome (yeah, I said it). Fruit. Is awesome. Pasta, bread, beans… you get the idea. And they’re all awesome for their own unique qualities. There. Rant done.
I really enjoyed the tostada I had while on my southwest trip. I’d never heard even heard of them before but I knew I wanted more. This sucker had a “meat substitute,” but I have no idea what it was (some restaurants have gotten really good at that stuff), so I figured screw it. Let’s do it anyway. I’m really happy with how this turned out.
These refried beans are not fried, but just cooked for a really long time. Sorry, I’m not frying beans in lard. You can find fried tortillas at any mega mart.
Vegetarian Tostada With Not So Refried Beans
8 fried tortillas
guacamole
8 ounces (approximate) iceberg lettuce; shredded
Mexican cheese mix (cheddar, colby, montery, etc. just buy a pack from the store)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups cooked beans (1 can)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 onion; chopped
1 jalapeño; diced
3 garlic cloves; minced
1 tomato; diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Simmer your beans in a pot of water for 15-20 minutes until soft. Drain and mash with a potato masher or large spoon. Set aside
Cook the onion with the oil and salt in a medium pot until translucent. Add the jalapeño, garlic, spices and cook for another two minutes. Add the tomato, beans and half a cup of water. Simmer for 20 minutes. If too watery, just cook longer (kinda hard to overcook refried beans). Set aside.
Spread a few spoonfuls of the refried beans onto the fried tortilla followed by guacamole, lettuce and cheese. Enjoy!
Two good friends have opened up a cookie shop, Palmetto Pastries, featuring iced sugar cookies for the holidays! Click here to find out more!
These are thick and delicate sugar cookies that are iced with our almond flavored icing. We only use royal icing to pipe phrases and special designs on the cookies, ensuring that you won’t bite into a hard layer of icing over a soft delicious cookie.
Don’t miss out! They are accepting orders now through December 18th to ensure quality and efficient delivery.
Please tell them to send me some free cookies as well so that I can really give a stellar review 🙂
So this video is a little silly, but the tip within it is a fantastic time-saver. I was shown this video over the Thanksgiving holiday (yep, after I’d peeled all those potatoes). I haven’t had a chance to try it myself yet, but I am looking forward to it. Have any of you tried this before?
