fish chowder

cooked another soup from the soup bible. it was pretty easy to make, but took a little longer than anticipated. basically you make your own fish stock, whisk in some milk & mashed potatoes and re add the flaked fish. it was so good. gotta buy the book for the recipe.

catering and apricot-mango nectar lemon cake

today was my first catering gig since may. the class i'm catering for is about half the students now so i have to work on my portions. i decided to make meatballs because that's what i made for the first gig last year. so it was meatballs with pasta & vodka sauce and an apricot-mango nectar lemon cake. usually i don't make cake mix cakes but there's just something about lemon cake mix i love.

1 pk lemon cake mix

1⁄4 c sugar

1 c apricot nectar

4 eggs

1 c vegetable Oil

1. Combine the above ingredients.

2. Pour the mixture into BUNDT pan. Bake for 55 minutes at 375 degrees.

kahlua cheesecake

ok this is supposed to be kahlua cheesecake but i change the recipe a lot. first of all, i didn't have any kahlua, and i refused to pay $25 bucks for the bottle considering i'd be using just a few tablespoons of it in this recipe. this recipe caught my eye, because of the chocolate & coffee & sour cream inon the cheesecake, and that sounds da bomb to me. so i made it anyway in my own way. i halved the recipe, used a premade graham cracker crust & added a little more coffee. let's just say i took it over to gillian's house and we ate half the pie in one sitting. here is the original recipe:

1 1/4 cups crushed graham crackers

1 cup granulated sugar - divided use

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa - divided use

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

1/4 cup coffee, brewed

1/2 cup coffee liqueur

2 teaspoons vanilla extract - divided use

1 cup (8-ounces) sour cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 ounces milk chocolate candy bars, grated

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).

Combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa and melted butter in a small bowl; mix well. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, until firm but not browned; cool

Raise oven temperature to 375°F (190°C).

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, mixing well. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup cocoa. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in coffee liqueur, coffee and half the vanilla. Pour into the cooled crust. Bake for 30 minutes, or until almost set.

Raise temperature in oven to 425°F (220°C).

Combine sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon of vanilla in a small bowl; mix well. Spread evenly over the hot cheesecake. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes.

Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Refrigerate, covered, for 8 hours. Carefully remove from pan and garnish with grated chocolate.

Makes 12 servings.

spicy carrot soup with garlic croutons

i had a bunch of carrots left over from that time i made split pea soup. i know carrots can survive for a while before going bad but since that's almost a month ago, i figure i'd use them to make soup. i have this amazing soup book that i pretty much use for every soup i make (link here if you wanna purchase it: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Soup-Bible-Anne-Sheasby/dp/0760774498). i was scanning through all the carrot soup recipes, but settled on the spicy carrot soup with garlic croutons. it's flavored with coriander, cumin, and hot chili powder...some of my favorite spices. it also called for vegetable stock but i used beef instead. i added a little more of the spices than the recipe asked for to give it a bit more flavor. i really enjoyed it and i think ryan did too. i gotta make soup to sneak him vegetables somehow!

philadelphia style (no egg) chocolate ice cream

i haven't posted anything in a while. it's not because i haven't been cooking anything, it's cuz i've been forgetting to update. i've been making a lot of french toast and pancakes with the raw milk & fresh eggs i get from the farm. the pancakes are da bomb and they are a bright yellow color from the eggs. mmmm!

today i decided to make chocolate ice cream since i have an ice cream maker and almost never use it. i found this recipe for philadelphia style ice cream meaning it's a no egg recipe. after my ice cream maker taking a long ass time to churn, it finally turned into ice cream. i have to say i am disappointed. it's not horrible but it's not that great. for as long as it took to make the ice cream, i would expect it to be better. it definitely taste like it's missing something and i can't help but think it's the egg. i should have just spent the money on some haagen daaz.

1 cup milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/3 cup bittersweet/semi-sweet chocolate

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

If you don't have an ice cream maker, click here.

Heat milk (stove or microwave) until it just begins to bubble.

Meanwhile, process chocolate in a food processor or blender until the chocolate is finely chopped.

Mix chocolate and sugar.

Combine hot milk and chocolate mixture and blend until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Cool.

Once cool, stir in heavy cream and vanilla.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker.

Mix in ice cream machine for 25-30 minutes or according to manufacturer's instructions.

lemon icebox cake

for new years i made a lemon icebox cake. it was actually supposed to be a lemon lime icebox cake but i didn't have lime jello. an icebox cake is when a cake needs to be refrigerated because it has either pudding, whipped cream, or jello in it. ryan and i have been on a jello instant pudding trip lately, dunno how that started, so i figured i'd make an icebox cake.

1 3-ounce package lime gelatin

1 18.25-ounce-package lemon cake mix

Topping

1 envelope whipped topping mix (2- to 2 1/2-cup yield) or two 8-ounce tubs of Cool Whip

1 3-ounce package lemon instant pudding mix

1 1/2 cups cold whole milk (omit milk if using Cool Whip)

Dissolve gelatin in 3/4 cup boiling water. Add 1/2 cup cold water and set aside.

Mix and bake cake as directed in a 9-by-13-by-2-inch pan. Cool cake 20 to 25 minutes.

Poke holes through top of warm cake (still in pan) with a drinking straw. Space holes about 1 inch apart. With a measuring cup with a spout, slowly pour gelatin mixture into holes. Refrigerate cake while preparing topping.

Topping

In a chilled, deep bowl, mix either by hand or in a mixer the whipped topping mix, instant pudding and cold milk until stiff, 3 to 8 minutes. If using Cool Whip topping, mix in a blender with the instant lemon pudding mix and omit the milk. Mix well, about 5 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl so the pudding mix is well incorporated.

Immediately frost cake and store in refrigerator at least four hours. Cake is best served chilled. Frosted cake may be frozen for a month or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

of course i made my own changes to the recipe. i used lemon instead of lime gelatin. i never used whipped topping or cool whip in a recipe so i substituted with 16 oz of heavy whipping cream and threw the instant pudding in there and then blended it up. it's just like making fresh whipped cream except the flavor is from the instant pudding and not sugar. the cake is pretty good and there is a ton of it. the gelatin makes the cake really moist. i usually don't bake premade cake mixes but i did this time and i realized it doesn't really save as much time as you'd think if i had made it from scratch.