~This is the second post in a series running through the month of June 2009 in which I attempt to post once a day for the month.~
Hoo boy – are we having fun yet? Day three of “post-a-day” month and I’m still alive!
Posts under ‘Recipies’
Garam Masala
Daring Bakers May 2009|Strudel
Short and sweet this month as this ninja is on the road again. Finishing up one last stint of work even further south in the southland and then, home…for now!
The official word:
The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
I’ve never made strudel before. Pressed for honesty, I’d admit that I didn’t actually know what strudel was before this challenge. I’d heard the word, but “strudel” evoked images of squiggly icing on top of some cinnamon-y pastry, rather than the flaky fruit-filled treat it is.
Daring Bakers April 2009|Say Cheesecake!
It’s Daring Bakers time again. And look at me – I’m actually participating this month! I’ve had a two month hiatus (which makes me oh-so-sad because the February and March challenges looked fantastic), so in spite of even more out of town work looming in the next couple of days, I managed to get it together to play this month. The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Here’s what the ninjas did with it…
Grilled Cheese Month | How did I not know about this?
I guess I did know it was Grilled Cheese Month, but somehow managed to shove it to the back of my mind. Which is probably good because honestly, I don’t need 30 days of grilled cheese even though I could easily eat nothing but for 30 days. This was my favorite sandwich growing up, when we made it with the whitest bread available and cheese that seemed as plastic as the wrapping, almost as sweet as candy and orange like only American cheese is orange.
My baby wants blueberry blueberry|Blueberry muffins
The husband is preparing to leave for a three week out of town job, which means he gets whatever he wants (more or less). So when he said “are you going to make the blueberry muffins in the Cook’s Illustrated?” well, of course I was.
Make me wanna Challah!|Kosher Braided Egg Bread (which is NOT appropriate for Passover, which starts today, kind of…)
Our neighbor moved recently, making us the grateful recipients of a number of food odds and ends that he didn’t want to pack them up and take with him. One of these things was a miraculous loaf of something called “egg bread,” which the husband has fallen in love with. The loaf was a little like bread made from brioche dough, making dangerously delicious grilled sandwiches. Eggy, but also buttery, the bread verged on making our grilled cheese into a pastry sandwich, right on that lovely edge of overkill which is exquisitely tasty.
What the heck happened to that soup you promised me?|French Onion Soup Recipe
Hey. I haven’t been around for a while. If you’re still around, at long last, here is the soup I promised when we made chicken stock back in…what? December? Better late than never and you still have some time to make this while there is a chill in the air, which makes this soup extra cozy. It’s also pretty cheap if you buy an inexpensive chicken and make the stock yourself. I’m working on a three-part post singing the miracle thrift praises of whole chickens, but it’s not done yet. So for now, get yourself a whole chicken or some chicken bones (the local market usually sells them cheap), make some stock (once you have this stuff around the house, you’ll never want to go back to the canned badness) and then take a Sunday afternoon and make yourself some onion soup. This and a salad (and a fair amount of red wine) is all you need to make a memorably tasty Sunday meal.
Bok bokbokbok bok bok b-gok!|Oven fried chicken
Even though I’m technically from Southern California, my people are from the south. One grandparent from Alabama, one from Georgia and one from Florida (the last one was from Pennsylvania, but we won’t hold that against him). Does that give me any cred in judging fried chicken recipes? Absolutely not, but the beginning of this post was giving me hell, so it’s as good a way to start as any. Otherwise, I would have just had to start with my usual gushing on about how wonderful Cook’s Illustrated is, because this Oven Fried Chicken recipe is from their Cook’s Country, an offshoot of Cook’s Illustrated and almost as good as the original.
Crack pipe? Try crack pie|Key lime pie
This is possibly the world’s most addictive pie.
If you don’t like citrus or can’t stand the idea of cream pies, you might be safe. Otherwise, this pie could be your downfall.
This pie is not only scrumpdillyicious and easy to make, it’s also relatively inexpensive. I’d say the whole thing cost about $5. If you somehow have the self-control not to stand there in your jammies at 6 a.m. and shovel it in by the spoonful, you can stretch it. It’s so flavorful that you should be able to get least 10 pieces out of it. And it’s better frozen and then partially thawed, so you can slice it up, wrap up the pieces and keep it in your freezer for future, stretching your dessert dollar even further.
Welcome…have some soup
So I did it. I somehow figured out how to make the “self-host” switch. And most of my comments came with me. None of my links, but there weren’t that many to begin with (oh crap! I have to remember to tell the Daring Bakers…write that down), so we’ll just move forward on that. I do understand, however, why people suggest you start out self-hosting (instead of using a free service) and I also have deep respect for all those who code – I apologize for ever thinking that you spent all your time in your underwear reaping the benefits of techno-phobes’ fears when really, how hard could it be? It’s hard. Not impossible, but I’ve killed several hours just trying to get my header to not suck and we’re still not there yet. So I’m sorry for doubting.
