Spork or Foon?

TWD: Creme Brulee` and the Evil Keebler Elves

I am convinced - convinced! - that someone is trying to sabatoge me. And I think that it is the work of the Keebler Elves exacting their revenge since I found a counterpart to their Mini Middles of days ago.

First, my weeks have been insanely hectic, leading me to miss last week's TWD assignment. Then, as I finally got in my groove and did some major cooking this weekend, I couldn't find my camera to take photos (hence, during every meal, I kept saying, "I can't believe I don't have my camera to take a picture of this!" Blogging may have ruined my enjoyment of eating.). Then, I found my camera, but now cannot find the upload cable.

So I took the photos on my iPhone. Blur, blur, blur! Come on, Steve Jobs, I know you are capable of more of this!

But I had no choice. I apologize for the poor photos and will hopefully upload better ones soon.

On to the tart. Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake chose Creme Brulee (THANK YOU!) .I made two little mini graham cracker creme brulees and one large one. I could have eaten twenty of these. Smooth and creamy. So much fun to crack through the brittle skin of the carmelized sugar. The mini graham cracker crust brulees tasted like smores. But the best part of making the creme brulee?

The torch.

I have had this torch since Christmas and have not used it. I finally got the butane and tried for hours (on and off) to fill my torch. Butane was spewing everywhere, but mostly on me. I was like a walking lighter, just waiting to explode. I kept washing my arms off because I was nervous that would be the case. And then, I finally figured it out. Turn the torch upside down. Use a pumping motion. Squirt, squirt, squirt. I released the child safety lock, took a deep breath and hesitantly pressed the button. It lit and the bright blue, dagger-like flame startled me. I jumped back and screamed. I was on my balcony. My boyfriend came running out, convinced I lit a part of my body on fire (which, believe me, would have been no surprise). Instead, he found me with a sick grin on my face, my heart pounding madly.

"It works," I said.

And then I proceeded to walk around my apartment shooting the torch like I was Robert Downey, Jr as Iron Man in the desert.

Check out TWD for more Brulees!

Spice Crusted Salmon with Cinnamon Sugar Sweet Potatoes and Sauteed Asparagus

You want a quick, filling and healthy dinner? Try this recipe out. It is so simple and fast, yet the variety of spices will really get your tastebuds working. I like to make this with sauteed asparagus and cinnamon-sugar sweet potatos, but you can make this with whatever side you prefer.

Serves 2

8 ounces salmon fillet
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus
Sea salt and kosher salt to taste (or just kosher salt)
Water
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sweet potato

2 sweet potatoes
Vegetable Oil
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse sugar

Directions

Sweet Potato

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Coat a shallow baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine brown sugar, coarse sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Slice sweet potato into 1/4" rounds. Place in a shallow baking dish and drizzle with vegetable oil. Sprinkle sugars evenly over potato slices, place in oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.

Salmon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Spray a shallow baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine first six ingredients in a bowl. Rub mixture over salmon fillets. Bake salmon for 20-25 minutes (or until salmon flakes).

Asparagus

Heat olive oil in a saute` pan over medium heat. Add asparagus and a pinch of kosher salt. Saute` for three minutes. Lower heat to medium low and add enough water to just cover the bottom of the pan. Cover and cook for additional 5 minutes or until tender. Drain water, drizzle with olive oil and add coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Butternut Squash Rigatoni with Prawns

This is one of my favorite recipes ever. And healthy (zing!). You see, the creaminess of the butternut squash tricks your mind into thinking you are eating something laden with cream and cheese, but you're really not. Genius. The sweet addition of basil and the sharp bite of the parmesan cheese really amps this dish up and creates such complex flavors. Best of all, no softening this squash up in the oven for an hour. By dicing the squash and cooking it in the vegetable broth, the squash is softened in about 15 minutes.

Oh, and don't substitute any other broth for the vegetable broth. The flavor is nowhere near the same. Trust.

Recipe Courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 pound butternut squash, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon
1 cup vegetable stock
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound prawns, peeled and deveined
3/4 to 1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Warm 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butternut squash, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Saute until the squash is golden and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the squash is very soft, another 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the squash mixture to a blender or food processor and puree.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta.

Meanwhile, warm the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the prawns with the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Add the prawns to the pan and cook until just pink, about 3 minutes.

In a large pot over low heat combine the cooked pasta, pureed squash mixture, and 3/4 cup milk. Stir to combine. Add the remaining 1/4 cup milk if the sauce needs to be moistened. Add the cooked prawns, basil, and cheese. Stir until warm and serve.

Pulling It Together... and Handing Out Awards

OK... so I'm slowly getting my life back in order (it's not that dramatic... just super busy. And hey, it's better to be busy, than not, right?).  I'm preparing to move back to NYC soon (as soon as January - as Chandler Bing would say... can I BE any happier?) and I'm trying to get a lot together!  And my cooking has been non-existent. My dinners consist of a 35 calorie fiber cracker spread with 2 teaspoons of peanut butter. I didn't think that would interest or inspire anyone, so I will spare you all of that. But if it does, let me know, and post my cracker I will.

I was lucky enough (and so honored!) to receive FIVE AWARDS in the past month... three "I Love You This Much" awards and one "Excellente Blog" award.  I'd like to thank all that were kind enough to award me this:

The amazing bloggers who gave me the I love you this much awards (and really, I love them that much too!)

Heather of Sherry Trifle who is, without a doubt, one of the sweetest bloggers out there (and I mean that about her cooking AND her personality).

Esther and Hannah of Del Sister's Kitchen. These are two of the kindest girls out there.  Their parents must be so proud of raising two such talented and sweet girls!

Jaime of My Baking Addiction. Let's just face it. This girl is TALENTED. She is a fantastic cake decorator. Just for proof... check out these two  cakes . Amazing, no? Jaime, can you invite me over so I can dive into them???

Cathleen of the Tortefeasor.  Whether it is Barefoot Bloggers or Tuesdays with Dorie, she does this with ease. If only we could all be so lucky! She's obviously extremely talented in both the baking AND the cooking field... a rarity, for sure! Amazing!

Matt of Matt's Kitchen was nice enough to award me the Excellent Blog award! His photos are always gorgeous and his posts are so well written.  For example: check out his post on Dimply Plum Cake where he describes the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly dimples (ie: the dimples you see in the mirror when trying out a bathing suit). Check it out for yourself. You won't be sorry.

And now, to spread the love:

I would like to tell these bloggers that I love them this much:

Christine of Blenders Galore. I don't think you'll read a sweeter, more positive blog than Christine's. Pair that with her amazing culinary skills, and you've got the complete package right here!

Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table. I adore this woman! She is sweet, supportive, and an amazing person to know in the blog world! She's a fantastic person with a gorgeous family, to boot! And check out the photos of the joy she brings to her family... by keeping them well fed with fantastic goodies!

Jessica of Have We Met? I absolutely love the story behind her blog name. She's a fantastic writer, and she just moved to Charlotte and has had a bit of a rocky ride between lost passports, losing computer files, and evil National Bridal Chain companies, so I think we should all send her a little love!  She deserves it!

Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake. Mel has been a dedicated blogger through broken stoves and broken legs! She always gives great tips and secretly, I'm jealous that she made an awesome move from The States over to Amsterdam! One day, I hope to make that move (back) to Italy!

And for the Excellent Blog:

 

John and MacDuff of John and MacDuff in Boston. I am serious. Please always read this blog. They are hysterical and fantastic writers. Get them a few drinks, and they'll tell you how they will BE something and then sing some Gwen Stefani!  As a New Yorker, I shouldn't be spreading love to Boston ; ) but these guys absolutely deserve it. I just hope they are not Red Sox fans!

Mike of Ugly Food Dude. Mike is hysterical. Mike is a great baker. You must read his blog. You won't regret it. You'll thank me later. That is all.

TWD: I'm a Bad Person

So I didn't make the cute little dimply plum cake. Life has been a bit crazy... I spend half of my week in NY and half in DC, and this time, I just couldn't get my body in the kitchen. If I had one superpower, it would be to extend the days by 5 hours. But only the days that I feel like making long. Otherwise, 29 hour days would suck if they were boring.

I'll be a better blogger soon. I hate missing TWD and this is only my second time in 5 months. But overall I'm slacking... I need to go to blogger detention and get my act together.

Check out TWD for some plum dimples!

TWD: Chocolate Clunkers

Short post, just got back from a bachelorette party in VEGAS (BABY, VEGASSSSSSSS!) and still recovering, which is why I overslept this morning, was almost late for work, and did not have time to take too many pictures, and there was DEFINITELY no natural light. I must be a vampire, because I never see the sun.

Speaking of Vampires, I just read the first Twilight book in two days (on the flights back and forth to Vegas) and am halfway through the second one. Obsessive? Yes. But it has filled the void that JK Rowling has left in my life by not writing any more Harry Potter books. Come on, JK, seven is not enough! (Please, no one tell me what happens in Twilight: New Moon! No spoilers, please! Thanks! :))

So when Claudia of Fool for Food chose Chocolate Chunksters, I asked my boyfriend to go get me tons and tons of chocolate, he called these Chocolate Clunkers. The nerve.

Thankfully, these cookies were the shizz (yes, I did just write that.).  I made two batches and I wanted to add more chocolate, because really, these cookies didn't have enough chocolate (or butter or eggs for that matter?).  I spent $45,000 on M&M's Premium Chocolates. I bought one Raspberry Almond box and the Mint box. I made the base and used white and milk chocolate chips, split it into two batches (one Raspberry Almond and yogurt covered raisins, and one Mint). I ate two spoonfuls of the dough (clean spoons, people!) and then ate half of each kind of cookie when they had cooled (restraint!).

The skies parted. Angels sang.  They sang "These are the shizzzzzzzzzzz" (yes, I said it again).  The cookies were soft and fudgy, and the different types of chocolate really blended well together. I loved the mint, my boyfriend loved the raspberry almond.  He ate five of them. I told them he'd better stop, because I have to bring them to work. He accused me of not loving him because I'd rather give my cookies to other people. I reminded him that he presumed that these would be "Chocolate Clunkers".  I won. 

These are definite Christmas cookies (I had a dream about Christmas last night, that's how powerful these cookies are). I think I'll play with the mint and add some peppermint pieces during Christmas time. The raspberry seems to be more popular at work. WHATEVER more mint for me (who am I kidding, I won't eat them. Restraint!).

OK, so this wasn't a short post.  I need to learn how to edit.

Check out TWD for these awesome, awesome cookies.

Natural Light. I tried.

TWD: Poop Sandwiches and Natural Light

My father always calls milkshakes "Chocolate Malteds" and it drives me crazy. But when I saw that Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart chose Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, I envisioned a really cute set with the old school 50's milkshake glass and I would cast Archie, Veronica (or, as I like to lovingly call her, Ronnie), and Betty look-a-likes to share the chocolate malted milkshake at Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe whilst eating these chocolate malted whopper drops. But then I thought, who am I kidding? Where am I going to find a bubbly blonde girl, a beautiful, stylish raven-haired vixen and a lovable, redheaded guy with freckles?

But most importantly, where do you find those old school milkshake glasses?

My dreams were crushed.

My sweet, little old Italian grandmother requested that I make cookies for her birthday. I didn't want to let her down. I baked the cookies. I tasted the cookies. These cookies got a big, fat POOP SANDWICH from me! Too much chocolate!!! Could it be? That too much chocolate has ended my weakness for chocolate?

It is life's greatest paradox.

But then these cookies disappeared. My sweet, Italian grandmother loved them. My mom loved them. My dad scrunched his nose at them (he is very supportive). Soft and chewy, they declared! Please make a second batch! A second batch? Please, God, NO! But I did. And I heeded my mom's advice (she is quite a cook/baker, although she never does either anymore).

"Cook them for a minute or two less so the chocolate flavor is not so strong."

ZING! She was right. I hurried and took these pictures outside on a beautiful sunny day before my second round of cookies disappeared (it took two days for two batches of cookies to disappear).

Can I just say that natural light makes all of the difference? All. Of. The. Difference. The cookies don't look yellow and sweaty! That is how they actually look! Unfortunately (but fortunately in all other senses?), I have a huge tree in front of my window of my apartment so, even on the balcony, I have no sunlight. And in NYC, where the sun does not shine, I will never have sunlight. It's true.

I guess when I get back to NY, I'll have to bake all of my TWD challenges at my parent's house on Long Island.

And then they can do my laundry, too.

Check out TWD for more Whopper Drops!

No natural light.

Oh Yeah.

(On a side note, if you couldn't tell, I am a very nostalgic person. Why does modern... well, everything ruin my childhood memories? The new Betty and Veronica? DOUBLE POOP SANDWICH!)

How to Grill the Perfect Steak

The Kitchn has a great series of tips for grilling the perfect steak. Now, I know grilling season is over, but if any of you are lucky enough to have an indoor grill pan where you can very easily almost burn down your apartment, then you'll find this useful all year round.

1. Buy good meat.
For bold flavor and peace of mind look for grass-fed, grain-finished steaks from the rib or short loin.
2. Bring your steak to room temperature before grilling.
It'll cook faster and stay juicy.
3. Salt boldly.
Salt your steak before you put it on the grill, and again before serving.
4. Before you grill, make sure the steak is dry and lightly oiled.
It'll brown beautifully.
5. Sear the steak over high heat, then cook gently to finish.
Grill over intense heat for 3-5 minutes per side, then move the meat to a cooler spot on the grill to cook it through.
6. Don't overcook.
Use a meat thermometer and aim for between 125°-130° F. for rare, 130°-135° F. for medium.
After you pull it off the grill, let the steak rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Set the steak on a plate in an 170 F. oven, or tent it with foil on the counter.
7. Think butter.
Plain sweet butter or – even better -- a composed butter of shallots and chopped herbs makes any steak taste better.

TWD: Baked Butter With a Few Other Things...

...then filled with a stuffing of lard, processed "marshmallows", and more sugar.

Yes, heart, I love you.

I personally think we here at TWD can pool together our resources and, for the same amount that we spend on butter, we can figure out a way to invest in Land O'Lakes and take over the company.  The net sales increased by $1.8 million dollars from 2007-2008. I think since the start of TWD, they must have seen double that increase this year.  Plus, revenues last year were around $9 billion. They made about $162 million in profit.

I don't believe that they are a public company, but I think we can work something out.

This week, Stefany of Proceed With Caution (click for recipe), chose these Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters.  I must say, though, that these cookies are some definite, definite keepers. Soft and chewy, artery-clogging goodness.  And really, is there anything better?

To take it up a notch, I wanted to replicate those Lil Debbie Cookies, so I googled some recipes. Most of them were just shortening and marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar, and vanilla.

Shortening and marshmallow fluff? Eh, why not? I bathe in butter now, so my body can take it.

Lil' Debby Filling

Cream together:

1/2 white vegetable shortening with
1.5 cups of marshmallow cream and
2 cups of powdered sugar and
1 tsp of vanilla.

If it's too stiff, add milk a teaspoon at a time until spreadable, but not runny

This tastes just like the real thing, but enhanced with peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

On a side note, I just got a MacBook. How did I live before the wonder of Apple?

Check out TWD for more amazingbutter cookies!