Easy on the Eyes

This post was originally going to be called "Christmas Cheesecake," but seeing as how Christmas was nearly a month ago now, it certainly isn't timely anymore. The following dessert was in fact made and served on Christmas, and it might just be one of the prettiest things I have ever made.

I followed this contest-winning recipe from Taste of Home almost exactly, and it paid off.

My beautiful, crack-free cheese cake. I was skeptical about needing to wrap the pan in foil and placing it water to bake, but in the end I am pretty sure these "extra" steps kept the top silky smooth.

And if rich maple-ly goodness wasn't enough, there was cranberry compote to put on the top! The compote had both fresh and dried cranberries.

My biggest regret was only eating two pieces before I left for Japan. One Christmas night and another for breakfast on the 26th. I definitely should have packed some for the plane!

Beautiful and delicious. Would really another piece right now!

Baking Bonanza

Over the past three weeks, I have made eight batches of Christmas goodies. I started making goody bags for gifts during finals and continued to bake at home in AZ, repeating some of the best recipes.

The first batch was "Foolproof Fudge" and I almost screwed it up because I didn't have as many chocolate chips on hand as I thought. Thankfully, I am a chocoholic, there were other sources available. And as an added bonus, now it's "Triple Chocolate Fudge!"

I also made some white chocolate fudge with cranberries and coconut and attempted nice shapes by pouring it into a heart shaped ice cube mold. It was a bit difficult to remove, hence the lack of photos.

Next up, "Peanut Butter Blossoms" These are some of my favorite holiday cookies, although it occurred to me while I was making them that there is really no reason I couldn't make them all year round. But that would make them less special.

On the back of the Hershey's Kisses bag was a recipe for "Chocolate Snowball Cookies" and the idea of baking a whole kiss inside of a cookie really intrigued me. I wanted to use mint Kisses, but when I went to the drug store, they didn't have any. I added some peppermint extract to the dough instead. I liked them so much, I made them at again at home.

I also repeated the PB Blossoms dough recipe at home, because I needed a yummy base for these awesome "Reindeer Cookies." I saw this idea somewhere on the vast internet probably sometime in late summer and was really excited to try it out.

Tip: the pretzels need to be applied right away when the cookies are taken out of the oven. Next time I will stagger the timing of the two sheets so that the second one stays hot and melts the chocolate on the pretzels. It also helps to have an extra pair of hands to help you!

I also made a batch of Double Chocolate M&M Cookies using a box of brownie mix and holiday M&Ms. They tasted fine, but came out looking like cow pies. My first ever brownie mix cookies came out great, but my subsequent attempts have all been seriously lacking in the presentation category.

And finally, the last treat I made was "Magic Bars" which were delicious as usual. My crust was a tad crumbly, but I don't think the thick topping to thin crust ratio prevented anyone from eating them.

Sunday Stew II

There's definitely a pattern going on here. And why not cook a whole bunch of food on Sunday for meals throughout the week? Especially when it only takes about 15 minutes to throw in all the ingredients, and the Crock Pot does the rest!

This week's menu: Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup.

Peas, crudely chopped vegetables and sausage are topped with chicken broth and left to simmer. Mine cooked for about 7 hours on low, then I turned it up to high for the last hour. Judging by how mushy the carrots got, 7 hours on low was probably fine. The extra hour was more a mind trick I played on myself to prevent me from eating too early and getting hungry later on.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have another bowl of split pea soup to slurp.

Blog > Essay Writing

Just a quick post that I am hoping will put me into writing mode so I can finish my paper that is due tomorrow.

One highlight of my Thanksgiving weekend was a trip to Trader Joe's, where I stocked up on "necessities" like whole wheat tortillas, low carb chocolate, gingerbread flavored coffee and ridiculously cheap, ripe avocados! Two of these ingredients found their way into my dinner last week. Guess which ones.

My mother graciously emailed me this recipe for "Mexican Lasagna." Tortillas take the place of noodles and regular tomato sauce is replaced by a bean/tomato/onion/olive/enchilada sauce extravaganza. The cheese part stays about the same.

Alternate layers of the ingredients listed above and sprinkle the top with tortilla chip crumbs and bake for 20 minutes at 350* F.

My mom's instructions said to serve with salsa on top, but I opted for some avocado instead, with a side of plum, which is another Trader Joe's find, but not quite as noteworthy as 4 ripe avocados for $2.99 and a $4 bottle of Chardonnay.

My new holiday placemats were also purchased Thanksgiving weekend, on Black Friday no less! I bought them and a Pyrex measuring cup for myself at Homegoods. Wild, I know. The trip to Trader Joe's was way worse for the wallet!

And writing this is probably bad for my grades. Back to work!

Always room for dessert

Befitting of someone with a blog about separate stomachs, two Thanksgiving dinners in two weeks are not nearly enough food for me. And although I woke up still full last Friday morning following the Planner's Thanksgiving, my 40 minute walk to school helped me return to my normal, hungry self. When I woke up on Saturday, I had only one thing on my mind:

Cherry Coke Chocolate Cake!

Since I don't think maraschino cherries (and syrup!) count as a fruit serving, I substituted whole wheat flour for half of the flour called for in the recipe in lame attempt to give it even the slightest tidbit of nutritional value.

I would say that whole wheat flour is pretty well hidden beneath my masterful decorating.



And my stomach will pretty well hidden (I hope!) by loose clothing for the next several weeks. The crazy/wonderful/end of the semester/holiday season is closing in fast! Enjoy it!

Planner's Thanksgiving

Every fall, the students of the Urban and Environmental Planning program at UVA assemble for a special Thanksgiving meal the week before the actual holiday. The department provides money for the turkeys, but the rest of the menu, from vegetables & sides to dessert and drinks, is a potluck. Our collective cooking skills are put to the test by the request that most, if not all of the ingredients be sourced from a 100 mile radius from Charlottesville.

For example, our turkeys came from Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA. Pretty early on in the semester, I signed on to be part of the crew that went out to pick them up. Joel Salatin's farm is only about an hour's drive from C-ville, but feels like a different world entirely. The drive out was gorgeous, with a little bit of fall color still clinging to the trees. We parked near the sales office and wandered around a bit before claiming our birds.

We saw these handsome gals...

...and their mobile summer homes.

Then checked out the four legged animals--piggies...

... and cows.

We hiked up a small hill for the panoramic view, and then went inside the sales office to get the (frozen) turkeys and wrestle them into the coolers we had brought. The largest one was 18 lbs, and the other two were not much smaller!

The trip to the farm occurred last Saturday and since I hadn't volunteered to cook one of the birds, I also stopped at the Charlottesville City Market to pick up the ingredients for my contribution.

I ended up with a large bag full of carrots, raddishes, broccoli, red onion and local cheese, which I turned into broccoli salad Wednesday night. The dressing and raisins sprinkled on the top were not local, but overall I think I did a pretty good job!

Thursday finally rolled around, I packed up my food and headed to school around 9 AM. For once, I was glad it was cold outside. A natural refrigerator for my salad in a cooler in the back of my car! I brought the dressing & cheese in to keep in the fridge, just to be safe, but given that the ice pack in the cooler had barely melted by 6 PM, they probably would have been just fine.

My last class got out early (5:30!) so that everyone could make their way down the street to the church where the dinner was being held. Several second year grad students had turned the empty hall into a lovely dinning room.

I added my salad to the long buffet table in the front, and filled out a label for it.

Soon, it was time to eat! For being loosely organized as to who was bringing what, we had an astounding variety of food in every category. Lots of sweet potatoes and butternut squash based dishes, and I think my salad was one of only about two cold, green dishes. The three turkeys were all there, but no gravy.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without an overflowing plate (or two)!

There was dessert as well, apple pie being the most popular. I am very impressed with my classmates' culinary skills, and I can't wait for my second Thanksgiving this week!

Sunday Stew

The Crock-Pot made another appearance this week, working hard on dinner for me while I spent two and half hours attempting to redesign a strip mall with my group for class. We thought we had something pretty good, until Monday's critique with practicing architect/recently elected city council member sent us back to the drawing board.

At least my dinner was good; and on the first try too! I chose this recipe to help use up some of the family size bag of fish filets I bought months back and haven't used since. I liked that it called for a bunch of vegetables too, a complete meal in one pot!

It's still too early for holiday references in my book, but white onion, green zucchini and red bell pepper do look very festive tossed together.

Not quite so much with frozen fish and dried cilantro liberally sprinkled on the top.

My apartment smelled pretty fishy when I got back from my group meeting, but once I turned off the Crock-Pot it wasn't as noticeable. And after I took a few bites, I didn't even care. Served with some fresh foccacia rolls from the store, it was an excellent dinner.

A Story about Scones

Once upon a time, I set out to make some birthday treats for a classmate. I started by lining up the ingredients for a group shot, a idea I got here.

My, what a big can of pumpkin you have! The best part, it's only can #2 of 4. I have two more of the same size waiting in the cupboard, and will probably buy at least one more when I open the next one.

Following this recipe for the most part, I got started on the scones. Since it was my first time making scones, I actually followed the instructions that said to mix wet and dry separately before combining. I think it was a good call.

Once combined, I separated the dough in half and squashed it into two circles. The recipe called for one circle, but I wanted to get more than 8 giant scones out of all my "hard work."

I cut the circles into wedges and transferred them to a baking sheet, gave them a quick egg wash and sprinkled with a bit of white sugar.

The gooey before...

...and browned delicious after.

Once cool, I mixed up some quick cream cheese frosting, thinned it with a little water for drizzling and packed up the scones to take to school...

...where they were eaten. Not exactly happily ever after for the scones, but I didn't hear anyone protesting on their behalf.

Chili con Crock-pot

I have a new roommate, purchased on sale for $20 at the grocery store:

And they say you can't buy love! Sheesh.

Emotional attachments aside, you can buy a Crock-pot and a lot of things in cans to make a really easy vegetarian chili on a Sunday afternoon.

All of the above were opened or chopped and added to the Crock-pot. Cooked on Low for 5 hours (recipe here)

When it starts to smell really good and your stomach can't take it anymore, prepare some cornbread and shred some cheese.

Spoon into bowl, top with bread and cheese (I like to mix mine all together,) eat and repeat as necessary.

That's serving #2 above, please ignore the crusty remains of #1 around the edges.