Fast Snack

I wanted a quick tasty snack today and topped some Triscuits with Neufchatel cheese and cracked black pepper. The pepper definitely made the snack.

Thighs that Size

I love dark meat and always complain about how chicken breast is often dry. So, when Rick did the grocery shopping this time around he bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I didn't realize what a pain in the ass it is to trim thigh meat. I think I'll live with the dry breast meat in the future. So, I made a chicken rice casserole today, where did I get the recipe? Why...AllRecipes of course! I have to say the dish was quite disgusting when it first came out of the oven after a couple days it became slightly more edible. I didn't take any pictures. Boo.

The Usual

Rick and I went to Thai Kitchen for dinner last night. YUM! I ordered my usual which was the red curry. I don't know why I insist on ordering it when I go to restaurants if I already know how to make it. Anyway, it was delicious.

Lackluster Cookies

Boo. If I could give myself one star on Yelp, I would. I made some chocolate chip cookies today, but with a couple handicaps. Of course I can blame the handicaps or just my lack of baking experience for these flat, poorly mixed cookies.

So, here's the list of why things went wrong, could be just one or a combination:
1. I started with Milk Chocolate Chips (I prefer bittersweet/semisweet)
2. I don't have my handwritten recipe book with Russ' Delectable Chocolate Chip recipe, so I used the one on the back of the chip bag
3. The recipe called for baking soda and I used baking powder (there was no acid in the recipe for the soda react with!)
4. I don't have a hand mixer or stand mixer, just my actual hands and a wooden spoon to mix
5. The butter and the sugars were not completely creamed (thanks to #4)
6. I didn't have an "ice cream" scoop to consistently measure out the batter

What did go well:
1. I used a Silpat (yay for minimal dishes!)

Here's what the disaster looked like (very flat cookies):Here's my tribute to Silpat!Here's the recipe if you feel so inclined to use it, or not:
HERSHEY'S Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped nuts(optional)

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 5 dozen cookies.

Burger without the Bun

After staring at the ground sirloin and pork chops in the refrigerator for half an hour, I decided I was too lazy to make a brine for the pork chops. So, we had burgers for lunch with no bun, so really it was more of a burger salad. I keep referencing AllRecipes lately to find recipes for food. Today I tried the Tex-Mex Burger with Cajun Mayo. It was rather tasty, as usual I made a couple substitutions, but it turned out quite well, if not a tad dry. I also used Miracle Whip instead of mayo because Rick LOVES Miracle Whip. I added a frozen southwest vegetable mix to the frying pan after the burgers were done. The veggies picked up all the bits and pieces that were left on the bottom of the pan. Very flavorful. Can't say I'm dying to make this recipe again, but it wasn't bad.

Here's the top of the salad:

How to Make Other People Fat

Otherwise known as, I have half a buttercream vanilla cake that I don't want to eat for fear of getting fat. Rick bought me a cake from Wal-Mart which was rather tasty, but I didn't want to eat all of it. I have always wanted to try making Cake Pops, but since I didn't have the sticks to make cake pops, I made cake balls. Here's a link to the Cake Pop Queen herself: http://www.bakerella.com/I basically mushed up the cake and frosting in a bowl and formed little balls and coated them in chocolate. Very sweet, fattening and decadent. I just need to figure out how to make the chocolate coating a little thinner.
Here's a peak inside one:

Addicted to Modifications

Ahh...now that I am gainfully unemployed and still on a hunt for a job, I am left with an abundance of free time. Recently bought the Barilla Plus penne that is full of protein (thank you legumes) and decided I wanted to make a baked dish. Okay, so I'll be upfront and confess that I did not make anything from scratch in this modified recipe (see below), but it was darn good. The heartiness from the protein pasta made up for the lack of meaty goodness in this recipe.


I have never made a baked pasta dish, aside from lasagna and I have to say that combining the cheese mixture with the pasta before baking was new to me. Like lasagna, this was better the second day. Yum! I modified this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-II/Detail.aspx.

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package Barilla PLUS pasta
2 cups ricotta cheese
4 cups diced mozzarella cheese (I used Pizza Hut cheese)
1 egg, beaten
1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu's marinara sauce because it was on sale)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 T oregano
2 T basil
1 t garlic powder
1 cup sour cream
2 T red pepper flakes (spicy!)
2 cups of frozen peppers (need veggies in the diet)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse.
2. In a medium bowl, mix parmesan, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese (2.5 cups), sour cream, thawed peppers, herbs and red pepper, egg and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Pour a thin layer of spaghetti sauce in a 9x13 inch baking dish and spoon in penne mixture. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce, followed by remaining mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes; let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Read Your Labels Carefully

I picked up this Nacho Cheddar Popcorn Seasoning at the movie theater and there was enough in the container to take home and sprinkle my popcorn with. If you take a close look at the picture it states there's no MSG in the formulation. HURRAY! Right? or not!

Take a look at the ingredients. Many times companies will use disodium inosinate paired with disodium guanylate in place of MSG. Is it really better? You make the decision, but at least you can make an informed one. :) MMM soooooo deliciously umami (the fifth sense, aka savory).

Happy New Year Nachos

Rick and I are huge fans of processed foods, so we rang in 2010 with Nachos! Yum! Tostidos chips, canned refried beans, pourable cheese, avocados with guacamole seasoning, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, canned jalapeno slices, pre-shredded cheese all topped with light sour cream. DELISH!

Proposal

Rick proposed to me last night with cupcakes from Cold Stone Creamery. Whipped cream frosting, ice cream and moist cake interior inside a chocolaty shell. Yum!

Drinks at the POV

Last few days up at the POV kitchen and I finally got to try one of the drinks, sans alcohol of course. Here's the pear cider.

WOW! A burst of spices and pear exploding on my taste buds with each sip. So delicious.

This is the terrace where patrons can enjoy this drink.

La La La La La

I found this red Smurf hat tucked away in a strawberry clamshell. Cool, huh?

Fancy Scrambled Eggs

We made pastry cream today and found that no matter what we did, the eggs wouldn't thicken. After a while the eggs started to scramble. Then we realized that we forgot to add the cornstarch to the egg mixture. Of course we had to make the pastry cream all over again. The pastry cream with the vanilla bean specks is the one that did not have the cornstarch. You can see the difference in the consistency.