Gang Up Challange

Something that my mom, sister and I have been involved in throughout the last couple of years is what's called the "Gang-Up Challenge." It started on Allrecipes, where my mom and many of her proclaimed "AR friends," as well as anyone else on the website who wanted to participate would partake in a friendly cooking competition. I don't think it was meant to be a competition at all, but between the three of us we always made it that way. The premise of the competition is that 10 random ingredients are suggested by those who decide to participate. Once the ingredients have all been decided on participants must make a dish (or a meal) containing all 10 ingredients. 2 changes may be made (omitting 2 ingredients, adding 2 ingredients or omitting 1 and adding 1.) Water, salt and pepper are always freebies. Long story short, this competition doesn't take place on Allrecipes any longer, but my mom and her friends wanted to keep the tradition going amongst themselves so they decided to set one up for the month of October, and of course I wanted to play along.

The list of ingredients that was decided on is as follows:
Beef (any cut)
Potatoes
Pumpkin (my contribution)
Tomatoes
Red Wine
Beef Stock
Sage
Oil (olive or canola)
Barley
Turnips

This time around was obviously no "Chopped" competition, all of the ingredients are pretty coherent. No marshmallow cream or Lucky Charms to throw me for a loop. The set up was there for me to make some kind of Beef Barley Stew, but I wanted to try and come up with something slightly different. I had to work all day today so I decided to call upon my crock pot to get the job done for me. I omitted the barley and added butter. And my final product was...

12 Hour Beef and Turnip Roast with Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes 

...or "Fall on a plate" for short. The fact that it literally cooked for 12 straight hours deserved a mention in the title.

You'll notice the bread in the background. No I didn't bake that out of barley and potatoes. Call me a cheater, but I just thought bread would be a nice addition to the meal. Here is how I made it:

Around 6 o'clock this morning I put most of it together before I went to work. First thing I did was get out a pan and sear all of the sides of my roast in olive oil. I ended up using a chuck cross rib roast (or something to that effect) Normally I coat the roast in flour before doing this but flour wasn't one of my ingredients. This makes a crust on the meat and seals in all of its juices...from what I hear. Then I stuck it in the crock pot and added 3 C of water, 2 t beef stock, half a can of diced tomatoes, about 3/4 C red wine, salt, pepper, and sage. I set it to cook on low and went to work. When I got home I started my potatoes. Just peel them, dice them up and boil them in a pot of salt water. When They were fork tender I drained them, added a can of pure pumpkin (not the huge can, just the normal size one) and a half a stick of butter. Then used my mixer to whip them up. These actually turned out as good as I had hoped they would. I'm glad I thought to do this, because I'd like to make them again. Around an an hour and a half before serving I added the turnips to the crock pot. I've never cooked with turnips before, and frankly I didn't know how to handle them or what they even taste like. I peeled them and used my mandolin to slice them up thinly and threw them in the pot. They also came out as good as I had hoped...kind of had a carrot taste to them. My mom came over for dinner at 6 and I put it all together on the plate. I was pleasantly surprised with how well everything turned out. If this meal isn't the epitome of Fall on a plate then I don't know what is. My mom will serve hers tomorrow night and hopefully it isn't exactly the same as mine. Otherwise that will pretty much nullify all the creativity that I thought was using. 

Micro-Cake

I may have discovered one of the greatest things. You know when you want dessert, maybe some cookies or cake but you don't want to take the time or energy to make it? Maybe that's just me...but I saw a bunch of recipes for desserts made in the microwave, in a mug, and they have become my latest obsession. I found a million different recipes for different versions and I want to try them all. (Disclaimer: realistically I found more like 13, but I still want to try them all.) So far the only two that I have actually tried are the chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Here is my documentation of tonight's rendezvous:

I opted for the peanut butter cookie version.

Grab a mug and add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of peanut butter. (For the chocolate chip one the directions are going to be exactly the same minus the peanut butter) Put this in the microwave for about 14 seconds or until the butter has melted, then mix it up to combine the two.

Next add a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of white sugar, a pinch of salt and a couple drops of vanilla. Stir these together.

Add an egg YOLK only. Then stir this up, it'll be pretty soupy.

Finally, add 3 tablespoons of flour and mix it all together. It should form a ball of dough in the bottom of the mug. At this point you would add chocolate chips if you were going that route.

I added some chopped peanuts on top of mine for a gourmet touch...because this is obviously one of the most gourmet cookies I've ever made.

Stick it in the microwave for 35-45 seconds. The closer to 45 seconds you get the more dried out it will become. I opted for about 37 seconds because I like mine to be pretty soft and doughy on the inside. This is a personal preference for sure. If you're making chocolate chip it stays in for 45-60 seconds. I'm not sure why there is a difference but I would guess it has something to do with the peanut butter. Again, I like mine on the softer side so I go about 46 seconds.

It's not even close to complete unless there is a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. And there is one of the fastest, easiest, most awesome desserts in the world. One of the best parts about it is that the only dish left to clean up are the mug and spoon, or fork, or spork. Next up on my list of recipes to try is the microwave apple crisp or coffee cake. I'm telling you, the possibilities are endless...

Unlike my peanut butter cookie.

Soft and Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Here we are halfway through September and its still 90 degrees outside...no exaggeration. Yesterday I was looking at the weather section of the newspaper and it seems like the only other places in the world that are still this hot are Cairo and Dubai. I am in denial about the weather and therefore I dress like its 70 degrees out. Then I spend the day sweating and complaining that its too hot. In addition to my clothing, I've been cooking as if summer is long gone. Nothing says fall like waking up to homemade cinnamon rolls, which are my latest endeavor.

I got this recipe from my mom, who got it off of Allrecipes. You can find that recipe here. I've made them twice already this week, once as a morning birthday breakfast and once again as a midnight snack/breakfast for Kyle, who is the king of all things cinnamon-y. My favorite thing about this recipe is that it makes a couple dozen, and you can assemble them and keep them in the fridge for the night (or  bake half) then bake the rest off in the morning. If you're like me, you'll enjoy them at 1 in the morning and again at 1 in the afternoon for breakfast. Lets get started. 

Here are my ingredients for the dough. You'll notice the box of instant vanilla pudding. That's the secret ingredient, which really isn't very secretive at all anymore. Throw all of this in the bread machine (or Kitchenaid if you're cool enough to own one) and let it do its thing on the dough setting.

After about an hour and a half it comes out looking like this. This is probably some of my favorite dough I've ever worked with. I mean, I'm not any kind of dough connoisseur and I've only worked with a couple in my life but this one definitely tops the list. Its really soft and, doesn't stick to everything and it rolls out very easy. 

  

Here it is all rolled out. You'll notice another hunk of dough in the background. That's because I like to cut it in half and roll out one at a time...mostly because I don't have a surface big enough to roll out the entire thing. You'll want to roll it into a rectangle, and I'm still not sure I have the length and width proportions right. If its not wide enough you'll end up with tons of little tiny rolls in the end rather than big ones. I guess that's kind of a personal preference thing though. 

 

 The next step is to lather on the cinnamon filling. It's made up of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and tastes like...something so good I can't even come up with words to describe it. Maybe I should try spreading that on some toast? I like to put on a nice thick coating so that it doesn't all disappear once they've been baked. 

Like I said earlier, I can't quite figure out my length/width proportions. As you can see, I have a rather long skinny roll. The only thing that is going to affect is the size of the roll - no taste is compromised. 

Measure about 1 inch wide pieces to cut off of the roll. This picture turned out blurrier than I thought. It was after midnight when I made these so I guess my eye sight started to go. 

 

Arrange them in a greased pan like this. Its okay if they are pretty close together. They'll bake into each other but that just makes them more gooey and less dried out, which is the way I like it. They should sit out like this for at least another half hour before they go in the oven to give the dough a chance to rise up again. Or into the refrigerator for a slow rise over night. They bake at 350 for 15-20 minute. 

Hot out of the oven, apply the icing (powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and butter) which will melt all over the top of these. They are extra soft and gooey. I really don't like the word gooey at all except to describe cinnamon rolls and even then I don't particularly like it, but it seems to be the only word that gets my point across. And there you have it: the best, and only, cinnamon rolls I've ever made from scratch! 

Grilled Cheese Rolls

A couple of days ago on my way to work I stopped at Trader Joe's to grab something to eat. While I was checking out, the woman working looked at me and said, "You must be a good journalist!" I looked at her with a little confusion on my face and repeated, "Journalist?" Just on the off chance that I misheard her. She said, "Yeah, do you do any writing?" I thought for a second and answered, "As a matter of fact, I do write a food blog." Then she smiled and said, "You keep writing that, you are very good at it!"

Thanks Trader Joe's lady, for having confidence in my blog-writing abilities.

The end of August is nearing and I can actually feel a certain crispness in the air telling me that fall is here. Our short-lived summer season was nice while it lasted, but  its about time for the cooler weather to return to Oregon. Being the true Northwestern-er that I am, I am not entirely upset about the coming cool weather, and in fact I almost welcome it with open arms (as long as the rain holds off for another month or two). The fall has to be my favorite season out of the year. The weather is perfect as long as it stays dry, its football season, and the food is what puts the nail in the coffin. There is honestly nothing better than a warm meal on a cool night. You will probably notice an increase in posts during the next couple of months.

Today it's not cold out, but just cool enough and just grey enough for me to want to sit inside with a bowl of soup and grilled cheese watching HGTV in my sweat pants all day. These grilled cheese rolls are something I found on Pintrest. They are super easy to make and not fancy or gourmet by any means. They are just a fun spin on regular grilled cheese and good for kids...or 22 year old's who think they are still kids...

First thing is first, cut the crust off of a couple pieces of bread. I just used a soft wheat bread for mine.

Next, use a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you don't have a rolling pin) to flatten the bread out. Then stick a slice of American cheese on each piece of bread. Yes, this cheese is gross, and it feels like plastic, but we all know it makes the best grilled cheese.

Roll them up tightly and they are ready to go into the pan. I just used a small frying pan with a little melted butter. Hold the roll in place for a few minutes until the edge is sealed and then roll it around to make sure it cooks all the way around.

Meanwhile I was heating a can of Progresso chunky tomato soup on the stove, and just like that I had an entire meal. Like I said, super easy to make, but fun to eat and the sticks are perfect for dipping in the soup! By the time I got around to making these the clouds had burned off and it had warmed up to almost 80 degrees. But thanks to my air conditioning I was still convinced that it was cool enough out to eat soup and sandwiches. I may be rushing into fall a little bit, but Safeway has Halloween candy for sale already, so it looks like I'm not the only one!

Summer Fruit Tart

Now that August is just about over, I'll go ahead and post my first entry of the month. I'd like to say that my posting consistency will improve once the fall comes along, but I can't make any promises. Rather than blogging I've been spending my time doing way more important things, like watching TV. It was the TV however that gave me inspiration for this post, so I guess it was a rather important activity after all. While Kyle and I were watching this week's episode of "Masterchef" we watched the creation of fresh fruit tarts during a head to head elimination challenge between contestants. (Kyle is my boyfriend for any who may be reading and wondering who he might be.) Kyle mentioned that he would like to try one of those fruit tarts some time, so I took that as an opportunity to challenge myself...and maybe earn a few brownie points in the process. Plus, I needed something to blog about again anyway. I wanted to find the most authentic and homemade version of the fruit tart I could. I looked through many recipes, sifting through "shortcut crust" and "vanilla pudding filling" and finally landed on a Fresh Fruit Tart recipe from Oprah's website. The shell is a legitimate pastry crust and the filling is a smooth homemade custard, or pastry cream. I had my work cut out for myself.

I started with the crust because it was going to need to chill for about an hour while I worked on the cream. One of the first instructions told me to use a food processor to cut the butter and cold water into the dry ingredients. Since I don't own a food processor, I listened to my semi-pro baker little sister who told me to use a blender instead. I wasn't sure if that was a great idea at the time, and in retrospect I'm positive that wasn't the best idea but I made it work. After the dough chilled I ended up with a pretty crumbly mess on my hands, in which I had to perform some Texas Chainsaw Massacre-like surgery on it. I pieced it together in the pan and ended up with a semi-descent looking crust by the time it was ready to go in the oven. The first 5 minutes of baking were supposed to include pie weights to ensure that the crust stayed in place. I used poor man's pie weights, which were dry kidney beans on top of parchment paper and that worked just find. After removing the beans, I stuck it back in for 20 minutes until I had a nice golden crust that didn't glorify my patch-work as much as I was afraid of.

Cooling inside the pan

While the crust was cooling, I started to work on my pastry cream. This is the second time now that I've made a pastry cream for the sake of my blog. I think that this time it turned out better, as I experienced more scorching last time. I also used a different recipe that I will probably stick to from here on out (omitting the cognac). I was supposed to strain it through a sieve, but I don't have one of those and there weren't any lumps that I could see so I put it straight in the fridge to cool.

Filled crust, still in the pan

All of the recipes that I read regarding fruit tarts showed the crust removed from the pan before they start filling it and assembling the fruit. While consulting my mom, the expert on most things food, she told me to leave it in the pan during the filling process. Since mom usually always knows best, that's what I did. I was afraid it was going to be too heavy and create a problem for me removing it from the pan after it was complete, but it didn't. Thanks mom.

Fully assembled, still in the pan

Here it is fully assembled. I chose to use strawberries, peaches, kiwis and blueberries because I wanted a good contrast between the colors. And since I was making this for Kyle in the first place, I chose fruits that I knew he liked. Besides blueberries, but that's why I put those in the middle, so he could avoid them if he wanted. Overall, I think that it turned out pretty well. After the crust mishap in the beginning I wasn't sure which direction this fruit tart was headed, but I can say that I was pretty proud of the outcome. For the record, Kyle ate almost the entire thing in one sitting, and brownie points were received. In the words of Gordon Ramsay, this was "the most stunning fruit tart!"

Cloud Nine

Yet again my hectic summer schedule has interfered with my blogging ability, and I am sure I have left oh so many of you checking frantically daily for a new post to arrive. Well, here it is! I have recently discovered Pintrest, and by that I mean I have recently become an active member. I had known about it all along but never really understood what the big to-do was until now. In the last few days I have discovered more blog-worthy recipes than I know what to do with. Looking through them was what inspired me to crank out a new entry despite the fact that I haven't had time to do so. So here I sit at work, blogging away yesterday's breakfast.

It was the picture of the recipe that first caught my eye. A light, fluffy pancake of sorts, with fresh fruits baked in, and topped off with a drizzle of honey. I could (almost literally) taste the summer flavors through the screen. Being a late July morning, it was the perfect time to recreate this summer breakfast. The recipe is called Honey Cloud Pancakes, and can be found here. They may look daunting, or maybe that was just me, nonetheless they are super simple to make. Next time I make this I won't even need to look at the recipe...and that may be as soon as tomorrow morning.

Here are my ingredients: Milk, flour, honey, vanilla, salt, 2 eggs (1 egg white and 1 whole egg) and fresh soft fruits. The original recipe used strawberries, peaches and blueberries and I didn't find any reason to make a change regarding fruits. After all, two thirds of them are my favorite fruits. In one bowl whisk the egg white until it becomes white and peaky. In a second bowl, mix the milk, flour, honey, salt, vanilla, and a whole egg. Then fold the egg white into the other ingredients using a metal spoon. I'm not sure why you are supposed to use a metal spoon but that's what the recipe said, so I figured its important and I should pass it on. At this point you'll want to have your fruit sliced up and ready to go because you're going to need it.

Melt 1 T butter in a 6 inch (oven safe) frying pan. The one I used probably wasn't oven safe at all, I got it for $4.99 at Winco. But the handle didn't melt and the pancake turned out just fine so this is the pan I'll continue to use. Anyway, melt the butter on the stove top and pour in the batter. Leave it on the stove for just a couple of minutes until you can see it starting to set up around the edges. At that point, sprinkle the fruit on top and pop it in the oven for 7 minutes. Once its done, it will have risen up a little bit and be a light golden color.

 

Because of the butter on the bottom it slides out really easily onto a plate. Drizzle some more honey on top and its ready to eat!

The name honey cloud was spot on. It was light, fluffy and not overly sweet, and barring the butter, it isn't half bad for you. The cool thing about this is that you can substitute any fruits or toppings you want to adapt it to the season. I plan on making this again multiple times this week. Its that good.

Strawberry Danish

Its summer time (technically, but Mother Nature has little to show for it), which means fresh local strawberries are in season. I found a recipe online a few months ago for strawberry danish pastries that I had been wanting to try but hadn't gotten around to yet, so I figured this was a good time to so. The recipe can be found here. I followed the recipe almost exactly, except for the pastry cream - in which I used this recipe. Besides the pastry cream the other two ingredients are puff pastry dough and strawberries, so really it was the formula from the first recipe that I was actually following and not so much the recipe itself.

I made my pastry cream a day in advance so that it would have time to chill in the fridge. My days are usually packed pretty full of work and other various activities, leaving a 1-2 hour window of kitchen time - so anything that can be done in advance is extremely helpful. I unwrapped my puff pastry dough and set it out on the counter to thaw out for about an hour while I took a nap, which is one of my scheduled "other activities" that my day is so jam-packed with.  After I woke up  it was time to get to work.

The first step in the recipe involves draping the dough around a wooden dowel in order to cut even strips on either end, but I like to be a little rebellious sometimes and this was one of those times. (The wooden dowel approach seems confusing, so look the real recipe in order to see what I'm talking about.) Also, I didn't have an extra wooden dowel laying around so I just cut my dough into rectangles and then cut the strips one at a time trying to make them look as even as possible. It looks more rustic that way anyway. The only thing you really need to make sure of here is that there are the same number of strips cut on either side because these are going to be folded over on top of one another to create the braid effect. Each box of puff pastry contains 2 sheets of dough, which make 3 pastries each. The first two rectangles were easy to cut out - the third one required re-rolling scraps of dough in order make a large enough piece. Since I don't own a rolling pin and I was in ultra creativity mode, I cleaned off a bottle of flavored syrup that I had laying around and used that. I was pleasantly surprised with how well that worked.

Next, I spooned a few tablespoons of pastry cream on to the centers of each of the rectangles and topped them with a good amount of sliced strawberries. After tasting the finished product, I decided that I probably could have used more of the pastry cream than I did. Plus, I had over half of the recipe leftover.

Now it was time to braid the dough. It really is easier than it might seem, you just cross the strips over each other, alternating which one goes on top. There is probably a much fancier way to do this, but this method worked for me and it looked nice when I was finished too. There isn't anything sealing either end, so be careful when transferring the pastry to a baking sheet that the strawberries don't fall out of the ends.

6 pastries later, I lined them up on an ungreased baking sheet and topped them off with an egg wash to make them shine. The recipe didn't specify if the baking sheet should be greased or not so I took my chances and went without and didn't have any problems getting them off. I baked them at 375 for 35 minutes. When I pulled them out it looked like a murder had taken place in my oven. Strawberry juice had leaked from each of the ends, making blood red pools around each of the pastries. This didn't end up being a factor when removing them from the pan however.

You'll notice that some look nicer than others. This was due to the second sheet of dough being stickier than the first. I ate the one on the far right first so that no one else could see it.

And here is one of the nicer looking ones posing for a photo opp. They really did end up being pretty good, especially the next morning for breakfast. Like I said, I will add more cream to the center next time to add a bit more substance to the center. I may mess around with this recipe and adapt it according to fruits that are in season. I'm thinking a peach or raspberry version might hit the spot, or maybe a mixture of the two!