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Feb
10thChocolate Chip Ginger Cookies
THINGS YOU’LL NEED 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup Splenda .5 cup dark molasses 2 eggs 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons hot water 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 TBSP ground ginger Yields about 30 cookies Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together the butter, Splenda and molasses until smooth Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and ginger. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
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Feb
10thChicken Pot Pie from Scratch
So here’s what you’re gonna need: about 2.5 pounds of skinless boneless chicken breast, chopped into ~1 inch cubes 2 cans of chicken broth 1 can condensed cream of broccoli soup 1 can condensed cream of celery soup ~14 ounce can of cut green beans ~14 ounce can of corn kernels ~14 ounce can of sweet peas ~7 ounce can of carrots ~4.5 cups of dry hearty egg noodles FOR THE CRUST: stick of butter 2 cups of biscuit-making powder (I used Jiffy) 1.5 cups of milk SPICES: oregano cayenne pepper basil rosemary sea salt Preheat oven to 350°. Take your egg noodles and put them in boiling water for about 5-7 minutes Drain all of the cans of vegetables. Combine everything into a big mixing bowl except the ingredients for the crust, including the egg noodles that you’ve boiled and drained Spice quantities: 2 TBSP Rosemary 1 TBSP Basil .5 TBSP Oregano .5 TBSP Sea salt .5 TBSP Cayenne Pour chickeny goodness into a 9×13″ baking dish that you’ve greased. You’ll likely have extra fixings so we just made a second mini-casserole too Melt the butter. Mix it with the biscuit stuff and the milk until it’s smooth. Slowly pour it over the top of your chickeny goodness that’s in the dish Cook for an hour. Delicious!
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Nov
2ndThe Last Hurrah of Sad Bananas
Several months ago, APK had some sad bananas, and instead of throwing them away, I decided to pull out his copy of The Joy of Cooking and make some banana bread. I was on a baking spree! The Joy of Cooking recipe was woefully lacking any sort of spices or flavorings or anything, so I indiscriminately added spices and have made several banana breads since, trying to duplicate my original banana magic. And now I have! Do you have sad bananas? Two or three? Here’s a great way to give them a last hurrah. Preheat oven to 350 ° Bowl One 3/4 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 4/3 cups of all-purpose flour Whisk these things together. I used a fork. Bowl Two 5 1/3 tablespoons of unsalted butter 2/3 cups of sugar, but I used Splenda I put the butter into the microwave for 30 seconds and it made this process much easier. These two things should be beat together until it is creamy. At first it will seem like little clusters of brown snow, flakey, but eventually it will get smooth. I used a fork, but I’m sure fancy people can use a mixer. Bowl Three 2 eggs, lightly beaten Bowl Four About 3 medium-sized sad bananas, mashed. If you’ve got larger bananas (and don’t ask me what constitutes a “large banana” because you can probably guess), just use 2. Mix together Bowl One and Bowl Two. Once it’s blended, it should be sort […]
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Oct
21stMaking Mead in NYC
October 21, 2012 Rosehips in water Most people only drink mead at Renaissance Faires. Unless they’re Ethiopian, in which case they drink their honey wine with delicious food. APK had never had mead, and I’d just come from the Maryland Renaissance Faire where the Bee Folks sell delicious honey and also, MEAD MAKING KITS! Things you need: Gallon of spring water 2 jars of honey (~2 pounds/3 cups) spices and things like yeast (could be from a kit) Simmering pot with lid, 2 quarts+ Funnel & tiny strainer & cup measure Bottles or somewhere else exciting to put your finished mead Making mead is not all that dissimilar from making beer. It just involves yeast, honey, and flavorings. Because the items that bees collect influences the flavor of honey so much, making mead gives you the opportunity to mix and match flavors of spices with the flavor of honey you choose. Here were the herbs and spices in our mead! Rosehips, Woodruff Herb, Meadowsweet Herb, Hawthorn Herb & Flower, and Red Clover Flower. To complement this flowery mix, I picked Wildflower honey. Wildflower honey probably has the sweetest, floweriest taste so I hoped that the mead would be extra sweet! You start off with a gallon of spring water. It makes your life easier to just “shell out” the money for a gallon, because it then gives you a place for your mead to ferment. While you’re reading this, fill your sink with warm water and […]