Some Kind of Voodoo

I will just come right out and say it...the Zac Brown Band album "The Foundation" has some kind of voodoo over me. Lately my thoughts have been directly pulled from the lyrics, I am beginning to wonder of foul play. Certainly a lead singer as scruffy and unassuming as this must need subliminal messages or voodoo to have ensnared my mind so well. For example, "sic 'em on a chicken" isn't something generally found in my vocabulary, and "its not ok" to be humming songs of Jolene and cocaine. But still I find myself almost dreaming the words, wishing for a first kiss on the forth of July, hoping someday I'll have "whatever it is" to be the center of a man's world, to have my "toes in the water, ass in the sand, ...cold beer in my hand," and to have some bittersweet memory of that "highway 20 ride." I guess what it boils down to is they have "whatever it is" that makes my "heart go haywire." Really, they just have an awesome record that flows so well together that I feel like I'm living the sweet and melancholy life of a broken-hearted, yet loving southern man. Given I'm So Cal born and bred, that doesn't happen so easily.

See what I'm saying! Voodoo I tell you! But if you like real country with out the flash and bang of pop mixed in, this group straight out of the south may make you wanna "slap yo' momma," but please don't, southern ladies are sure to hit back harder than you might think!

So tell me, who's got the voodoo over you?

PS - They're not paying me for that shameless plug, but if they feel like throwing tickets my way, well I'd me much obliged! ;-)

Complicated

How quickly things get complicated! I received an email this week from an old "friend" (please don't read anything even remotely relationship or sexual into that, so not the case!). He had a potential proposition for me, if I was interested (again, non-sexual, I know how this sounds!). In a quick two-liner he said something along the lines of "I don't want to complicate matters for you, but..." And with that, my life was inescapably complicated. This could be a good thing, a very good thing if he has his way and I have mine (I swear, completely platonic discussion happening here!). But it could also lead to nothing(typical with guys, but so platonic!!). I had to laugh though, at least he labeled the complication and warned me it was coming. I knew by reading any farther in the email that complications were guaranteed...but did that stop me? Hell no! So we'll see what happens....(again platonic!!!! maybe even Socratic!)

Blue Bites!

So I am considering adding a signature dessert-ish item to my repertoire and I did try out a very quick and easy shortbread cookie recipe on Saturday night (not to be confused with Saturday Morning). It was super simple - flour, sugar, and butter. I of course wanted to make something a little more exciting so I threw in some blue food coloring to make Blue Bites! As with any shortbread, the cookie is dry and rather plain - read not at all exciting. I am thinking for next time I'll spice up the recipe with a secret ingredient (which I don't even know yet) and see what happens. I mean, it could be the next chocolate chip cookie! Right....

Fried Rice - Round 2

The first time I tried to make fried rice, I enlisted my mom's help. As some one who had cooked the dish many times, I figured she was a safe bet for the assist. Not really the case! We tried to use brown rice, which I am generally a fan of, but for some reason mom insisted we didn't need to cook it first. Bad idea!!!! I will say this, the end result tasted pretty awesome, but the crunch of undercooked rice kind of killed it for me. Sorry mom.

Round two involves me and co-chef Saturday Morning throwing stuff into a skillet with pre-cooked white rice. This attempt was far more edible! We tried to pull off the recipe listed on the Secret Recipe Blog for Benihana's fried rice, but we were missing a few items and ended up creating our own kitchen concoction. Kitchen sorcery at its best! We threw in ginger, sesame seeds, fresh garlic and garlic salt, pepper, egg, chives, soy sauce, and some left over chicken. It came out much like we had hoped. For next time, and I am sure there will be a next time, we'll try using onions and a ginger-sesame dressing to kick it up a little. Either way, we had a nice steamy dinner for pretty cheap!

Again no pictures, but that's just because I forgot! I am in search of recipes for next week. Hopefully I will have a little more time as this week's run was literally thrown together!

Baking Adventures - Lite

After a disastrous attempt at fried rice, I decided to try something new, but a little more in my control. Granny had been asking Mom for a new recipe out of the Martha Stuart Living magazine, and since I'm the one tyring new recipes...Mom felt it appropriate to pass it my way. And given that Mom is (unfortunately) the cause of the fried rice debacle, it seemed best that I take the reins on this one. So this week's adventure was Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricots and White Chocolate. A few things about this recipe: 1) Don't preheat the oven! Ok, yes do it, but not when it tells you to! The recipe starts with preheating, but you don't actually put it in the oven until you've set the dough in the freezer for a while. So unless you want to waste 30+ minutes of energy in the oven, just do it later! 2) The dough smells awesome, kind of like doughnuts. The cookies...well they taste nothing like doughnuts. That said, I warned you, so you won't experience the same let down we did! 3) Apparently Martha's staff doesn't understand that Step 1 should be 15 different steps! We're not all Martha's, I personally don't have six more hands coming out of my back to do everything at once like she does! Gifted or not, I bet she knows how to break down the steps better than this! Here's the recipe:

1.5 Cups all-purpose flour
1.5 Cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
8 Ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Large Eggs
8 Ounces white chocolate, chopped or chips
7 Ounces dried apricots, about 1.5 cups

1. Preheat the over to 350*. Mix flour, oatmeal, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add salt, vanilla, and eggs, beat until well combined (about a minute). Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just combined. Stir in chocolate and apricots. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes. (Now you see why I said to wait!)
2. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are golden brown around the edges but still soft in the center, about 14-16 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack; let cool. Cookies will keep, covered up, for up to 1 week.

Like I said, these smelled like they were going to be great, not so much. But take that with a grain of salt as I am not all that excited about apricots or white chocolate.

Sorry no picture, but check out MarthaStewartLiving.com to find out more!

Baking Adventures

Keeping with the resolution I tried out three new recipes last weekend. On the docket for the misadventures of kitchen sorcery were Rainbow Cake, Hummus, and Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. A random assortment I know, but novelty is not lost on me!

Rainbow Cake

Saturday Morning, my co-chef - she's much more than a sous chef - found the Rainbow Cake idea online and knew it would be a good challenge for us. It is exactly what it sounds like - a cake with rainbow colors. The actual making of the batter is simple, so simply Betty Crocker prints it on the side of her cake mix boxes! The real challenge to this "recipe" is the intricate mixing of colors.

1. Start with two boxes of white cake mix. You can make if from scratch if you wish, but this cake takes some serious time beyond the initial mixing of ingredients!
2. Pick colors for your cake. We used the basic set of four colors and mixed three more of our own. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Teal.
3. Separate the batter into bowls, one bowl per colors. Mix color into batter. Continue to add color until the batter looks good to you. You can do pastel colors by adding less color, or bold colors by adding extra. The neon colors look fun, but we used the basic primary set.




4. In greased pan or dish (cupakes work too!) pour colors in layers. The colors will not mix or run, just trust me on this! Keep in mind what colors will be next to each other and know that the cake will rise!!!!




5. Cook and cool as directed on the box.
6. Frosting! - we used the Funfetti frosting for an extra punch, but any kind of icing will work. This really depends on your preferred tastes.

The cupcakes are super fun! The cake looks awesome! But here is where we ran into a bit of trouble... I had planned to take the cake to a Super Bowl party, but ended up taking the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes instead. But I failed to tell my roommate that. I put the cake in the oven to keep it away from the dog and keep it fresh. Since I didn't warn her, Saturday Morning got quite a suprise when she preheated the oven to make dinner!!! Moral of the story - put a post-it on the oven when you use it for storage!


Hummus


For a healthier turn, I took up the task of hummus. Recently I have found some awesome hummus at the deli close to my work. I realize that those words are a rarity in the combination, as my brother was quick to point out! But when you find something good, you tend to want more of it. Instead of constantly paying for it a la carte, I figured it was worth a shot to try and make some of my own. The first challenge was finding the tahini. At this point, you are likely saying "tahini? what the heck is that?" much as I did when I was reading the recipe. Apparently tahini is a sesame past, much like a really runny peanut butter. I had to look in several stores before I found it in the "nut butter" section at Henry's. To my shock, it was $8 bucks for the stuff, but you get a big can that will last for many batches of hummus! Here's the ingredients and recipe:

• 1 16oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans.
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (not lime - trust me on this).
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1. First open the can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans ;-)
2. Drain the chickpeas or garbanzo beans into a cup, you will need part of the liquid later.
3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of th liquid from the chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
4. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
5. Place in serving bowl and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus. Add a small amount of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley.

I also found that adding a sprinkling of paprika on top adds to the flavor. Hummus is great with crackers and pita bread. So yummy!

And for the finale...

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

It is the best of both worlds - alcohol and sweets! And its not even enough to give you a hangover or sugar crash! I got the idea from Aggie a couple months back. Admittedly, it sounds crazy at first, I mean Guiness in a cupcake?!? The crazy thing is it tastes so close to the actual drink. I love it!

Cake

• 1 Cup Guiness
• 1 Stick, plus one tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 3/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 Cups dark brown sugar
• 3/4 Cup sour cream
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 Cups flour
• 2 1/2 Teaspoons baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a muffin tin or put in the muffin wrappers.
2. Combine the Guiness and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the better.
3. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
4. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture.
5. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter.
6. Pour inti the muffin molds and bake for 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes, remove from muffin tin, and cool completely on rack.

Frosting

• 6 Cups of confectioners sugar
• 3 Sticks of butter
• 1/2 Cup of Bailey's Irish Cream
• 1 Tablespoon of vanilla

1. Combine butter, Bailey's, and vanilla - beat with a mixer on medium.
2. Slowly add the confectioners sugar, beat until smooth.
3. Frost when cupcakes are completely cool.
4. Enjoy!
   

I think that was enough for one weekend! Now to figure out what is on tap for the next recipe!