Broken Oven :(

Well as you probably guessed from the title, my oven is broken!  The touchpad broke last night. I am very unhappy about this for many reasons.  First, no baking for the time being, and as a baking addict, this is quite unsettling.  Also, I just bought this oven for my mom in August for $2500, and if you ask me, that is a lot of money and it should last more than half a year!  Yes, it is still under warrantee, but that didn't help last night, when Nick and I were ready to make empanadas!

I did manage to sneak in a batch of amazing brownies before it broke, luckily.  It was Jay's birthday and he likes chocolate, so I decided to try some brownies from scratch and top them with mocha frosting.  As a person who is not a huge chocolate fan, it means a lot for me to say that a brownie is good!  But they were so cakey and delicious, and the frosting had just enough coffee flavor!  My mom, who basically hates everything, loved them and said they were the best thing I have baked.  I'd bake them again someday... if I had a working oven :(   Anyway, I got them out just in time, because when I went to shut the oven off... it wouldn't. It was stuck on!  We had to flip the breaker to get it shut off, and now it's no good at all.  I wonder how long it will be until I can bake again!  Hmph.

I'm in quite the funk tonight.  No oven, and back to work after a week off tomorrow.  Argh!

Recipe:
Cakey Brownies with Mocha Frosting
From the February 2012 Food Network Magazine  Insert: 50 Brownies

Brownies:
1 3/4 cups flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks butter
2  1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
6 ounces chopped unsweeteed chocolate (just noticed that I used semisweet... I guess my brownies were extra sweet!)
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting:
1 teaspoon instant espresso (I just used instant coffee granules)
1 tablespoon water
1 stick butter
1  1/4 cups confectionary sugar
shaved chocolate for garnish  (not surprisingly, I skipped this.  I'm all about ugly food)

Pre-frosting!

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Coat a 9-by-13-inch pan with cooking spray (I actually lined my pan with tin foil, and then used butter to grease it since I am out of spray.  It came out perfectly).

2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

3.  Bring butter, brown sugar, and water to a simmer in a saucepan.  Off the heat, whisk in chocolate; cool slightly.



4. Whisk in 5 eggs one at a time.  Whisk in vanilla.

5. Stir in the flour mixture.

6.  Spread into the pan; bake 3-35 minutes.

7. For frosting, dissolve 1 teaspoon instant espresso (or instant coffee)  in water.  Beat this with butter and confectioner's sugar.  Wait until the brownies are completely cool to frost.  Sprinkle with shaved chocolate.

Don't feel too bad for them... Delilah helped herself to a couple brownies herself.  Apparently chocolate does NOT kill dogs.

Vacation Catch-Up

I haven't been updating much because I have been attempting to squeeze every last second of fun out of this vacation week!  This does include baking and cooking, but blogging has not slipped its way in yet ;)  With two days left to go, and more recipes to try out, I knew I had to do some catching up this afternoon!

I have made three different things this week.  First, my mom mentioned that she saw a Mardi Gras special on the Today Show and they made a special Mardi Gras cake called a king cake.  It's kind of like a coffee cake that gets rather garishly decorated with green, gold and purple (the Mardi Gras colors).  Inside the cake, you bake a little plastic baby Jesus, and whoever gets the Jesus in their slice gets good luck for the year (or something).  I was intrigued by this cake and decided to give it a try. 

Pre-decorating, this braided cake is sooo pretty!

Scary attempt at making a baby Jesus...

There was one problem: no baby Jesus.  Mom and I tried to figure out what we could do to solve this, but we ended up grabbing an old  oyster shell and drawing a Jesus onto it.  The end result was so bizarre that I left Jesus out altogether and our cake was luck-less! ;)

Decorating the beautiful braided yeast cake was wonderful, because this is one time when it is supposed to look bad!  I am an expert in that.  The frosting's secret ingredient was evaporated milk, and came out great... I was a little afraid since I have had numerous bad frosting experiences lately.  Then I frosted the cake, and shook the colored sugars on top.  Like I said, I was supposed to use green, purple and gold.  I had green, so that was no problem, but we do not regularly use purple or gold sugar!  I improvised with yellow, and a mixture of blue and pink.  Perfect?  No.  But it wasn't supposed to look great, so I'd have to say I did the king cake justice!   I love the end result.  Tacky and ugly, but absolutely delicious.

Post-decorating, and ugly but delicious!

The cake called for a ton of egg yolks, so I was left with my usual problem of tons of leftover whites!  I wanted to try something different than my go-to pavlova, so I found a recipe for meringue cookies.  You may notice that there are no pictures of these... and that is because they look like mushroom caps and I hate them!  I followed the recipe to a T - I did the mix-in flavors of vanilla and rum - and I think the recipe is definitely wrong.  With what I already know about meringues and pavlovas, I know that it's pretty uncommon to see the oven at 300 degrees, and then to bake for two hours!  It's usually a much lower temperature, and not that long in the oven.  I had my doubts but I tried it anyway.  The house smelled great for a while, and then started to smell like burning.  I took them right out, and while the consistency was right for meringue, the taste was a little burned.  Luckily I took this in stride and didn't do my usual meltdown because I can definitely say this was no mistake of mine; do not try this at home!

I also made my family's favorite dinner of the lettuce wraps this week.  These absolutely delicious little babies came courtesy of Laura and when I made them last time, Kenzie, Mom and I devoured them.  The sauce is so good, I could practically drink it.  I was excited to let Mark try them this time, and was slightly (very) disappointed to find that he wasn't a huge fan.  He claims he hates ground chicken.  I claim that he went into the dinner planning on not liking them!  Regardless, Mom and I still scarfed them down and think they were great :)

Be ready for another update, hopefully tonight; I have a new brownie recipe I am going to try!

Recipes:
King cake
Meringue cookies
Lettuce Wraps

Strawberries and Cream Muffins!

For Valentine's Day last week, Nick gave Kenzie an Edible Arrangement.  It was pretty awesome and had pineapple, grapes, chocolate-covered strawberries, and lots and lots of regular strawberries!  Since it has now been a week since the big day, and we still had a lot of fruit left over, it was time to do some baking with fruit.  Luckily it was the perfect chance to whip up my favorite use for strawberries: strawberries and cream muffins!

Hurray for leftover strawberries and lovebug decorations :)

I love muffins, I love strawberries, and I love cream (okay not really that last part) - so these muffins are like the perfect thing for me.  I had made them over Christmas vacation and fallen in love, so I was thrilled to have a surplus of strawberries today.  The problem with baking with strawberries is that they disappear when you bake them; they turn into pinkish areas in the cake, but definitely do not stay in their berry form!  This recipe tries to fix that by pouring the batter into the cupcake cups, and then adding a layer of berries, then more batter, then sprinkling berries on top.  It keeps the strawberries intact and helps the muffins look rather adorable.  In addition, you also layer on some sweet cream (hence the strawberries and cream muffins!) in between the berries and batter.  The cream is absolutely delicious and adds to the cupcakes' amazingness.  It is safe to say that these are one of my favorite things to make - and eat.  If you ever end up with an extra cup of strawberries, there is absolutely no excuse to make these babies.

How cute are these?  Nice work with the cute cupcake decorators, Mom!

Recipe:
Strawberries and cream muffins

Dedicated to my Cutest Fans :)

Today I was home alone with Dad while everyone else was out shopping and doing errands.  Mom and Kenz are doing some much-needed grocery shopping: we are out of many things, including sugar, which severely limited my baking this afternoon!  So I had a great idea: why not make something that doesn't need sugar?  And this idea evolved intomaking dog treats :)

I had seen a recipe recently for dog biscuits and was intrigued.  Why haven't I thought of this before?  The dogs love any food, so I know that even if I burned them, left out an ingredient, or made them look like crap (like most of my food!), they would both still devour them ravenously.  So this entry - and day of baking - is dedicated to Daisy and Delilah, the world's sweetest basset hounds!

This recipe could be eaten by humans (and I will admit that I took a bite of Daisy's); it didn't include anything weird.  It has oats, applesauce, peanut butter, and coconut for flavor.  I will confess that they are actually kind of delicious.  But don't take it from me:

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

A heart for Delilah!

Daisy even woke up for a treat!

I love my two girls :)

I Hate Cake

Hello, to my many followers!  AKA, hi to my aunts, mother and Laura ;)  I have not forgotten about my blog, but my back has been pretty horrendous.  After a day of work standing on my feet all day, by night time, I am miserable and can do nothing more than lay on the couch.  Luckily, it is February vacation week!  Perfect timing!  I can take care of my back and still find a little time to limp my way into the kitchen. 

Today I decided to give in to my mother's constant begging for "chocolate cake with vanilla frosting."  I think it sounds kind of bland, and as someone who likes weird and different food combinations (I am very intrigued by maple bacon cupcakes), chocolate cake with vanilla frosting is boring.  But, my mom loves boring food (we always say she hates flavor) and it was time to give her what she wanted!  I found a recipe for dark chocolate cake, so I was happy that it was at least slightly different... except then I couldn't find dark chocolate Hershey's powder, so it ended up being just a regular old chocolate cake.  Hmph.

I was hoping for a triumphant return to the kitchen, but it did not quite turn out that way.  For some reason, every time I make cakes, I somehow fail to properly butter and flour the pans.  This is now the second cake in a row that has stuck!  Argh.  I guess I need to go heavier on the butter next time - way heavier.  Then, we ran out of confectionary sugar when I was making the frosting, so I made less of the recipe.  I should have gone to the store, but my back was already starting to aches, so I made the decision to just go with less.  This was not a great idea.  When you make two layer cakes, you need a lot of frosting, because you have to frost the tops and sides of both.  Well, when you don't have enough frosting, you can only do the tops of both... sparingly.  This resulted in another ugly cake (remember, the cakes stuck in the pans, so they were a little strange-looking, and usually frosting covers that up... well, nto today).  I am kind of sick of my food being ugly, but today I can blame no one but myself for not going to get more sugar!  I have basically been half-assing my entire life since my back started hurting 2 weeks ago, and I really need to get it figured out so that I can start living again!

At least Kenzie and Mom say that the cake is delicious (but could have used that extra frosting!).  And Daisy looks interested...

Recipe:
Dark chocolate cake with vanilla frosting

Spasming into the Kitchen

Well today is my second consecutive sick day from work... I haven't done this in years!  Not a great feeling.  Apparently I am having back spasms (you know, like athletes... which I am so not)  and there is not really much to be done about that besides massages (yeah right) and some exercises to strengthen my back.  Since I am going to be miserable well into the unforeseeable future, I figured I would suck it up and do some more baking today.

Seriously, how gorgeous are these ramekins? Never mind the cakes!

Susie bought me ramekins this weekend, after hearing me whine that I want to try souffles but had no small dishes.  She surprised me with the most beautiful little ramekins: four are white and four are turquoise; they have little polka dots all over, and I am in love with them.  It was perfect timing, too: my new Food Network magazine subscription finally kicked in (thanks Nick!) and there was a recipe for chocolate molten lava cakes.  I remember having these for the first time on my first cruise and thinking that it was pretty darn cool, so I thought it would be a great thing to cook in my new ramekins.

What is surprising is the amount of eggs in these babies.  It calls for 6 eggs, which is a lot in and of itself, but then you also need 6 more yolks!  One entire dozen eggs in these 8 little cakes!  I was shocked (and also stressed, because you know I refuse to waste egg parts... more on that later).  Another surprise is the inclusion of a pinch of cayenne pepper!  You can't taste it, but you know something is there.  And there is cinnamon in there too: I am realizing that chocolate and cinnamon are winning combinations. 

Anyway they weren't too hard to make, and they come out fantastically.  Susie and Mom devoured them, and as more people stopped by (Pat, Betsy, Kenzie), they have been thouroughly enjoyed by all.  Susie claims I could market them to restaurants!  My only regret is that I think I cooked them for maybe 4 minutes too long, and they weren't so molten.  The middles were soft, but not runny (then again, Mom says she hates runny cakes, so it was for the best!)  The recipe says to bake for 12-14 minutes; mine were nowhere near done in 14 minutes, but my oven is always slow, and I bet they took more like 25.  Maybe next time I will take them out at 20.  And yes there will be a next time, as soon as my family has recovered from eating 12 ounces of chocolate, 2 sticks of butter, and a dozen eggs, all mushed into only 8 little cakes :)  One last  tip: serve them with vanilla ice cream.

Then, despite the throbbing pain in my back, I could not let my egg whites go to waste, so I whipped up my favorite old egg white -user-upper: the pavlova.  Sooo easy and delicious!  This one came out way better than my last one.  I tried a slightly different recipe (this one called for lemon juice instead of vinegar, and had a higher oven temperature; it also did not require leaving it on the oven after you turn it off). The last pavlova stayed a little mushy, but this is perfectly meringue-y.  This one called for kiwis to top it (apparently it is the national dessert of New Zealand!) but I wanted to keep it simple.  I texted Pat and told him it was all his (this is one of his favorites) if he brought strawberries for the top, and we had a deal.  I cheated a little and used a can of whipped cream on top.  Hey, give me a break, I'm injured!  If you plan on trying the lava cakes, plan on making a pavlova too.  It is just too easy and delicious not to.

Recipes:
Pavlova

The Neelys' Molten Lava Cakes
From the March 2012 Food Network Magazine
Active time: 30 min
Total: 50 min
Makes: 8 cakes

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for buttering ramekins
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinchof nutmeg
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
6 large eggsplus 6 egg yolks
1  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Butter 8 6-ounce ramekins (I think mine were bigger... no matter!) and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sugar (I tried to spread the sugar around so it wasn't just one big clump).

2. Combine the butter, cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until melted and smooth.  Cool slightly.  Whisk the flour, confectioners' sugar, eggs, yolks, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a bowl until creamy (I think I will use my mixed next time).  Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture.  Divide among the prepared ramekins.

3.  Bake the cakes until the tops are stiffand the edges darken, 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes.  Loosen the edges of the cakes with a small paring knife and transfer to plates while warm.  Dust with confectioners' sugar (and serve with vanilla ice cream!)

Barely Back at It

I am sorry that there have not been any new posts, but to be honest I am miserable with this random back pain!  I took Friday off from work, but my doctor couldn't see me, so I took tomorrow off too.  I can barely sit, never mind stand, so cooking or baking has been beyond me.  Today I went in to work, made my sub plans, and came back to the couch, but soon I was so stir crazy that I sucked it up and went to the kitchen to make a snickerdoodle bundt. 

The side that actually came out of the pan!

I'm practically completely crippled now after the process of making a bundt cake, but it was well worth it!  You coat the bundt pan with butter (note to self: more butter next time... one part stuck!) and cinnamon and sugar, so that the outside sort of caramelizes into a crusty outside!  And the inside is very moist and tasty.  Also, there is a layer of more cinnamon and sugar in the middle - so if you're into snickerdoodles, this is the cake for you!  It wasn't too hard to make... it just was difficult for me and my sore back!  I am hoping for a doctor's appointment tomorrow so that I can get back into the kitchen and update you on more fabulous new foods ASAP :)

Recipe:
Snickerdoodle Bunt Cake

Out of Commission!

This is my apology entry!  I haven't posted in a while.  Part of the reason is that I am out of commission (more on that later) and the other part is a slight tantrum I took Tuesday night....

So, let's get right down to it.  To Tuesday night, and my temper tantrum.  I decided to make dinner, and since Kenzie was home sick thay day, I told her to get the ingredients for ricotta gnocchi.  I had pinned it on Pinterest, and Laura had made it and said it was delicious.  I love gnocchi, and I was intrigued by the sage brown butter sauce, and I have a love for all things gnocchi, so I was excited.

I decided to triple the recipe.  Laura said that one recipe did not make a ton, and we had about 8 people for dinner!  So... I tripled it.  It took forever to roll out the dough, cut them, and fork them to make them pretty (this step makes me sick now... so much work, all for nothing...) and then it was time to put them into boiling water.... annnnd they completely disintegrated.  Immediately.  It looked like I was attempting to boil polenta.  I started to panic, and Mark attempted to calm me down by trying to pan-fry a few of them (what a good man), but they were beyond all help.  We ended up scraping lots of food down the disposal, which I really hate.  What you should be inferring is that throughout this fiasco, I was crying and swearing and generally handling things quite poorly.  I do not deal well with my own mistakes, and I read over that recipe over and over again, and still cannot figure out what went wrong.

Ironically, Laura had made the gnocchi again the same night, and doubled it, and it worked just fine.  My theory had been that the tripling somehow ruined the recipe, but obviously that is not it.  I used skim ricotta, but she used part skim.  The only thing we can think of is that I used pre-grated parmesan cheese, and she used the real deal and grated it.  We figured that has more moisture and helps the gnocchi to stick together.  I am not sure if I can emotionally handle trying again, but I really do want to eat them, so we'll see.  Laura says it is a good lesson to learn that the first time you make a recipe, you follow it exactly.  She's such a know-it-all (just kidding!  Love you LG!)  In the meantime, I might have to make more ricotta blackberry muffins...

Then yesterday I made herbed focaccia.  I had made this back in December, and it is an amazingly easy yeast bread that comes out deeeeelish.  Kenzie was craving something salty and warm and soft (she has strep) and that was all I felt up to doing (my back was bothering me).    Yet again, it came out wonderfully.  Perhaps this time it is even better because I used fresh rosemary and thyme.  I really recommend this bread!

And now it brings us to today.  I actually just called out of work tomorrow because my back is so bad!  Don't ask what I did: the answer is nothing.  It started bothering me yesterday, and as time went on, it hurt more and  more until today I am crippled!  I have had to just sadly flip through food magazines and take the day off from the kitchen.  This explains the lack of photos in this post.  Just take it from me that the bread looks good.  I'd have to stand up and walk to get photos, and that is beyond me right now!

Recipes:
Ricotta gnocchi in brown  butter sage sauce
Herbed focaccia

Sphere Today, Gone Tomorrow

Tonight I did not want to do something too involved, and I had been planning on trying out my new maple cornbread drop biscuit recipe.  I liked that it was cornbread, it was biscuits, and there was no rolling out the dough!  When I made biscuits before, it was a lot of work, rolling and cutting out dough circles, so I liked the "drop biscuit" part of them; you just drop tablespoons on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

This was practically the fastest thing I ever made!  I got all the work done in about 15 minutes and had them cooked 16 minutes later!  I was really hoping they'd be good, after being that easy- and they are!  They are slightly sweet from the 1/4 cup of maple syrup, but still cornbread-y from the cornmeal.  I specifically bought yellow cornmeal for this because the recipe called for it; we had white cornmeal, and I like to think that was what was wrong with my corndog muffins of a couple weeks ago.  Wrong cornmeal!  Of course!  Really, there was a lot wrong with the muffins besides the wrong color meal, but it's nice to have a scapegoat.  Anyway, these are delicious and fabulously easy.  The next time your dinner is lacking good bread, grab your maple syrup and your yellow cornmeal, and a half hour later, you will be devouring maple cornbread drop biscuits.

As you can see, I continue to have problems with my food being ugly as sin.  Why aren't my drop biscuits round little biscuit balls like in the recipe's pictures!?  What is wrong with me!?  Similar to my orange cookies, the spheres have turned into round cookies.  Agh.  Like all my food, simply eat with your eyes closed for maximum enjoyment :)  If anyone can figure out why I cannot seem to make any spherical food, let me know!

Recipe:
Maple Cornbread Drop Biscuits

Super Bowl Sunday

I have realized that I am the perfect Super Bowl party hostess.  I don't care about the game, so while everyone else is glued to the TV, I can spend my time in the kitchen whipping up interesting new appetizers!  That basically sums today up.

This morning, I finished up the bagels that I started yesterday.  I just had to boil them all, 1 minute per side, and then bake them.  They are delicious!  And much prettier than last time, although I have still not mastered the art of the perfectly-shaped, lumpless bagel.  Oh well: eat them with your eyes closed and they are amazing :)  I even got fancy and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on top of 3.  Kenzie and Mom already ate one each and said they are delicious.  Maybe next time I make bagels, I will get even more crazy and try some different toppings!

When the bagels were all set, I also made a batch of lemon blackberry ricotta muffins.  They are amazing!  My mother's exact quote was that they are "to die for!"  Kenz and I had found blackberries for sale last week, and this recipe was in my mind since I saw it on Pinterest.  I am really glad I tried it.  It has a great lemon flavor (I think it is due to the finely-grated zest thanks to my beloved citrus zester... such a must-have in any kitchen!), and the blackberries we got were giant!  You don't fold the berries in since they are so fragile, but you push them into the tins once the batter is in place.  I could only fit 2 berries per muffin because they were so big!  Then there is a lemon zest and sugar topping.  In all, fabulous muffins!

At game time, my family, Nick, Alex and Allie got comfortable in the living room, so I had the kitchen to myself.  I first made pizza puffs.  I was interested in this recipe because it was on a healthy eating blog of recipes for the Super Bowl, and I like pizza (who doesn't?)  Basically I made a dough out of milk, an egg, baking powder, and whole grain flour.  Then I mixed in low-fat mozzarella and chopped turkey pepperoni, and I baked them in a mini muffin tin.  They come out like little puffs of pizaz dough with cheese and pepperoni, and you serve it with warm pizza sauce.  They were good, but you could tell they were low fat!  I think if I make them again, I would add some green pepper and salt, and take out the pepperoni (I hate pepperoni).  They're certainly a good starting point!

Then it was on to my next puff.  I also made mini puff pockets of gouda, honey and apple!  Anything involving cheese and apple sounds good to me, and this was my first experience with puff pastry!  My only issue with these delicious little bites of apple, honey, gouda, and chives was the wrapping-up process.  The recipe calls for you to make triangles out of the puff pastry, put the filling on the big bottom part of the triangle, and then roll up into a pocket.  This was beyond me.  I had no idea how to make a triangle into a pocket.  I even called Mom in, and she wasn't sure either.  There was no photograph in the blog of the folding process, so basically all 24 of mine look completely different -  and nothing like pockets!  Most of them look more like croissants.  But they are definitely delicious: the mix of sweet honey and apple, and the smokey gouda, and the peppery chives., and the buttery puff pastry... mmmmm!  Besides looking kind of bizarre, they're great.  Similar to my bagels: eat them with your eyes closed.  I spotted my mom eating at least 3!  As Gram always says, God bless her appetite ;)

Well it's the 4th quarter of the game.  So far, I have watched half of the half-time show (loved Madonna!), and a few commercials.  I just can't get into this game... or any other for that matter.  I am going to hit the hay... yes, before the game ends.   I mean, the Patriots are winning and all, and I hope it stays that way for the sakes of Mark and Kenzie (and thus for my sake, because if the Pats lose, they will take this out on me!). But it has been a very busy weekend for a girl who has quite the cold and asthma issues!  I made four different dishes today, and finished all my report cards!  Whew.  I need another weekend!

Recipes:

Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins

Pizza Puffs

Mini Gouda Apple Honey Puffs

I'm watching you, Daisy!  No bagels for you :)

Cookies and Bagels

Thursday night, I started making cookies at 8:00.  Note to self: worknights are not great nights to start making cookies near bedtime, especially a recipe that makes 2 dozen cookies and calls for a glaze!  Hence, you are not hearing about them until today.  By the time I finished up, it was around 10:00, and I had to be up early for an informational MCAS meeting for parents (I had one dad show up, and he stayed for 15 minutes... worth getting up before dawn... NOT).  Anyway: they were called melt in your mouth orange cookies.  I love orange, and I suppose I would like cookies to melt in my mouth, so the last time I went grocery shopping, I picked up a few oranges with these babies in mind.  I had realized that so far in this resolution, I had not made any cookies!

What I found out: I don't really love making cookies.  They came out good enough, but cookies just are not easy to work with.  Bread dough is easy to knead, cupcake batter just gets scooped and poured... cookie dough is not easy.  My mom also told me I was making cookie mistake #1: letting them melt a little on the pan before I put them in the oven.  I was reusing pans and not letting them cool, and letting them wait their turn on top of the stove.  Apparently this makes them look flat and melty.  Lesson learned Mine definitely do not look like the picture, and you know how much I hate when my food does not look like the recipe.  They did come out delicious though - very orange-y.  There was a lot of orange juice and zest in both the cookie and the glaze, and I do have to say that they live up to their "melt-in-your-mouth" name.  I will work on my cookie phobia again soon.  Why should I be scared of cookies and not of bagels!?

Today I decided was a good day for bagels.  I had made these in December before I started my blog.  In fact, I think it was what gave me the confidence to cook and blog about it, because - let's face it - making bagels is intimidating.  Actually, I had pinned a bagel recipe on Pinterest and wrote, "I wish I had the cooking confidence to make my own bagels."  After looking at the recipe more and more, I started to think that maybe I could try making them.  There were step-by-step pictures- how hard could it be?!  And to be honesty, it really was not all that hard.  It is certainly a lengthy process, but it isn't difficult - just not something to try when you want to eat them right away, and you don't want to start them late at night either!  Once I was done, I was so proud of myself - and I had 13 delicious bagels to prove my new skill.

Basically there are four major steps: sponge, dough, boil and bake.  you make something called a sponge with flour, water and yeast and let it rise for a couple hours.  Then you add some more flour and yeast, malt (I used honey), and salt, and you have the dough.  Knead like crazy (and this is a workout, believe me!), make rolls, and wait.  Make bagel holes - and wait.  Refrigerate overnight (this is when I start getting impatient).  Then boil them -only for a couple minutes.  Apparently, the boiling is what turns them from bread to bagels.  I read somewhere that an unboiled bagel is just a roll with a hole!  Then comes the baking, and voila!  Bagels, about 24 hours after you started :)  but trust me - they are well worth the wait.  They are so much more delicious than store-bought, and even bakery bagels!  They are great toasted or not toasted.  I have not tried making anything other than plain bagels, but the options are endless once you have perfected the process.  I am not quite ready for fancy schmancy bagels... mine are still what I like to call "rustic" (read as delicious, but ugly and lumpy).  I worked hard to make mine smooth this time, but they are still not perfect - a big improvement over my last ones though!  I'll get there.

No pictures of the bagels yet - you will have to wait for tomorrow, when they are finished.  They are "retarding" in the fridge  - and that is literally what the recipe says.  The jokes about my retarded bagels do not get old.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday, which frankly is why I planned bagels for this weekend.  I could not possibly care any less about football, so it is a good weekend for me to be shut in the kitchen.  I am also planning a couple appetizers for our little Super Bowl party, so I will be busy.  Not the best weekend for me to have a cold, but I will pray that my germs do not make their way into my food (and wash my hands like a crazy person). 

Okay, and I guess it would be un-New England to not say it: Go Patriots!

Recipes:
Melt in your Mouth Orange Cookies
Bagels

Happy Birthday, Kenzie!

Today is Kenzie's 24th birthday, so I let her make requests for dinner and a cake.  She doesn't seem to have the best track record picking things lately - think "mutt muffins" - but hey, it's the birthday girl!  Hence, enchiladas and Oreo cake.

The first thing I tackled right after work was the triple layer Oreo cake.  Take it from me: do not make this cake.  Save yourself the time, and the pain and suffering.  The first step is to make the Oreo layer cake; that went fine, and lulled me into falce peace!  Then I made the 2 chocolate cakes, and somehow, they both exploded in the oven.  And I mean exploded; they poured out into the oven and made a huge mess (thanks to Mark for cleaning it!).  To make it worse, since so much overflowed, my cakes were deflated and ugly.  Hmph.  THEN I made the Oreo cream - and it was runny.  Then I made the chocolate frosting... and it was runny.  I added confectionary sugar until I got rid of all the flavors in both - and they were still runny.  Finally I gave up, schlepped it all together, and called it a day.  The birthday girl liked it, and so did most people who were here... everyone except for Mom, who announced, "Bad cake.  Not a good cake at all."  Rude!!!  I didn't have any myself, not liking cake and certainly hating this one in particular.  I wanted to just sulk about the disappointment of the Oreo cake, but there was no rest for the wicked!

I made chicken enchiladas, with assistance from Mark and Mom.  They came out great!  Everyone really liked them - I even had one and a half.  Nick didn't add barbecue sauce, and Kenzie didn't salt it!  That is always a huge compliment from those two.  The only things I changed about the recipe was not adding jalapenos, and I added a can of pinto beans to the sauce to give some more filling to the enchiladas.  Serve them with sour cream, and: delicioso!

P.S. Thanks to Mark for my new apron and chef hat, just in time for the Super Bowl on Sunday!

Recipes:
Triple Layer Oreo Cake
Enchiladas



Happy 24th Birthday!