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this is the second time i made this cake. it's a delicious but ugly cake that i tried to make pretty this time around. last time the frosting i made consisted of guiness truffles i attempted to make that went all wrong, so i reused the chocolate. sooo yummy. so of course this cake was a slight let down because i used chocolate chips to make the frosting. i'm not going to post the recipe only because it's soooo long to type out right now. maybe i'll post it another time.
i stole this recipe from russell. it looks ugly but it's da bomb. beef, it's what's for dinner.
i've been wanting to make caramel popcorn for a while. it's really simple but i didn't want to make it for nothing. ryan's not really into caramel popcorn and i didn't want it to go stale. also sometimes caramel popcorn is nasty. so i was hoping this recipe would work. * 1/2 cup butter * 2 cups brown sugar * 1/2 cup corn syrup * 1 teaspoon salt * 1/2 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 5 quarts popped popcorn (about 3 bags) Directions 1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in a very large bowl. 2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat. 3. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.it's a very easy recipe and better than other caramel popcorn recipes out there. i'm giving bags of this and the double chocolate biscotti to my neighbors for christmas. oh yea in the above photo, i usually use my camera phone so this picture is all discolored.
i've never made biscotti before. i never even thought about making them. especially double chocolate biscotti. turns out they're pretty easy to make. * 1 cup white sugar * 1/4 cup olive oil * 1/4 cup margarine * 3 eggs * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * 1 1/8 cups unsweetened cocoa powder * 2 teaspoons baking powder * 1 (5 ounce) milk chocolate candy bar, chopped Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, olive oil and margarine until smooth. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking powder, gradually stir into the wet ingredients. Mix in the chopped candy bar. Chill dough for 10 minutes. 3. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 9 inch long log. Place the logs onto the prepared cookie sheet 4 inches apart and flatten to 1 1/2 inch thickness. If there is not enough room, put each one onto a separate sheet. 4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven until somewhat firm. Cool on the baking sheets until cool enough to handle. 5. Remove baked loaves to a cutting board and cut each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices with a sharp knife. Place the slices cut side down back onto the baking sheets, and toast on each side for an additional 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks and store in an airtight container.i used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips instead of a 5 oz chocolate bar because i had chocolate chips at home. i can see why it suggest a chopped chocolate bar because it would mix well into the dough, whereas the chocolate chips were falling out of the dough when i was rolling it out. otherwise, it doesn't make much of a difference. next time i think i'd try white chocolate or butterscotch chips. be very careful when placing the loaves from the baking sheet to the cutting board. mine broke in half on the way there.
someone brought pita bread to my house. the best thing to eat with pita bread, beside gyros, is falafels. i knew they'd be easy to make. they were even easier ro make than i thought! i missed falafels. i missed that flavor so much.
* 1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained * 1 medium onion, finely chopped * 1 tablespoon minced garlic * 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped * 1 teaspoon coriander * 3/4 teaspoon cumin * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 2 tablespoons flour * oil for frying (canola or vegetable) Preparation: Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour and combine well. Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste. Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten. Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (2-5 minutes).
i didn't have any fresh coriander (cilantro) or parsley so i added half of what the recipe called for in dry cilantro and parsley. i added a little more cumin to get the flavor just right. they came out perfect. i didn't have any tahini or cucumber yogurt sauce so i just topped it with a little honey mustard dressing. it was actually pretty good with the falafel.
i was looking for pasta salad recipes because i was trying to find out if a good pasta salad exists. if they do, how come the restauratns in town seem to not make them. when i stumbled upon this recipe i figured i'd try to make it because my roommate had just given me a recipe for cilantro pesto and i would finally be able to cook something to share with her since she's vegan and most of my cooking isn't. Ingredients * 4 cups uncooked spiral pasta (use rice pasta for wheat-free version) * 1 cup fresh basil pesto * 2 Tbsp chopped green olives, or olive tapenade * 1/4 cup pine nuts * 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted (or fresh if you can get them) * 12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved * Several fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped * 1 Tbsp olive oil * Salt and pepper Method 1 Cook pasta according to instructions on the package. Make sure the water is salted (at least a half teaspoon per quart). Remove pasta from heat and strain when pasta is cooked, but still firm (al dente). 2 Put pasta in a big bowl. Mix in fresh basil pesto, green olives, and pine nuts. Gently mix in cherry tomatoes, peas, fresh basil leaves and olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill or serve at room temperature. Serves 6-8.i made a looooooot of changes to the recipe. cooking is so different from baking. baking u have to follow the recipe or it won't come out right. with cooking u can change it to your taste. for the pesto i used cilantro, cashews instead of the normal pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, it came out too salty so i added 1/4 of an avocado to the pesto mixture. i used penne instead of spiral pasta, fresh spinach instead of basil leaves, black olives instead of green, no pine nuts, roma tomato instead of cherry and i didn't add any extra olive oil. i know it's pretty much a completely different recipe, but it was a good outline.
i found this recipe when i was looking for waffle recipes. it caught my eye because it sounds like making pancake cupcakes. i'm not sure why they're called canadian cupcakes.
(makes 12) 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs 1 cup milk Mix together in blender. Spray muffin pan with Pam. Melt about 1/2 (or less) teaspoon margarine or butter in each cup. Pour mixture, evenly divided, into muffin pan. Bake in preheated 425 oven for about 15 minutes, or until puffed and golden*. Serve immediately with honey or syrup. Mixture can be made night before and refrigerated until breakfast. *Don't open oven door to check. Put on oven light.
they weren't as puffy as i'd expected them to be and i didn't open the oven door. they deflated a bit as soon as i took them out of the oven. i left them in for 20 minutes instead of 15 because they hadn't turned a golden color yet. i thought they were ugly lil tasty pancake donuts. next time i would make them with 3 eggs instead of 4 because i thought the flavor was a tad bit too eggy. but i did eat 4 of them and i thought they were pretty good and i'm full. they have a pocket full of butter in the middle that drips when u bite into it. mmm i love butter. i taste it with both syrup and honey (well sopapilla syrup which is honey, sugar and corn syrup) and i liked it better with the sopapilla syrup.
