Sunday, April 29, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 27, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 4 hr 30 min
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 4 hr
Yield: 3 to 6 servings

Recipe Round-up for April 26, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 25, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 15 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 5 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Gum Paste and Fondant – Class #3


I can’t believe there is only one class left after this!  I’m having so much fun with this class that time is just flying by.  I signed up for the final course in the series too, Advanced Gum Paste Flowers with Maria.  Of course, now I’m getting ahead of myself… let’s get back to Gum Paste and Fondant and what I learned this week.

Here is what we covered this night from the class lesson plan for this course:
  • Gum Paste and Fondant 101
  • Bow Loops
  • Mum Base, Rose Base
  • Carnation Base
  • Assembling a Bow
  • Tinting Gum Paste and Fondant
  • Basic Principles of Floral Cake Design
  • Calla Lily
  • Rosebud and Rose
  • Carnation
  • Calyxes and Leaves
  • Assembling the Calla Lily
  • Daisy
  • Mum
  • Covering a Cake Board with Fondant
  • Elements of Fondant Cake Design
  • Creating Geometric Designs Using Cut-Outs, Overlays, and Inlays
  • Eyelet, Ruffle, and Ball Borders
These flowers are the most difficult I’ve made to date.  It took several tries for me to get some pretty enough to photograph.  Then there’s the mum, but here I am getting ahead of myself again.

We started with Daisies.  Using the daisy cut-outs takes a lot of time to perfect.  Even with the most precise cutting, you’re going to end up with rough edges that you’ll have to clean up.  Considering you are working with gum paste, it is going to have to be done quickly.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Gum Paste and Fondant
Daisy

Frosted Banana Bars


Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – April 24, 2011
For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Frosted Banana Bars recipe originally published by Cooking.com via e-mail – April 16, 2012.

My husband LOVES sweets, but he would probably kill someone for anything with cream cheese frosting on it.  I LOVE banana bread and happen to enjoy a schmear of cream cheese of it with my coffee in the morning.  When I found this recipe I knew it was going to be a big hit.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Frosted Banana Bars
This picture doesn’t really convey the soft cake with the fluffy frosting.  All I can do is try to explain it… the cake is firm enough to allow your fork to pass through it like butter without crumbling apart.  The frosting?  Well it is the perfect combination of creamy, tart and sweet.  I honestly could have eaten it alone.

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 24, 2012

If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Recipe.com

Servings: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 35 mins

Friday, April 27, 2012

Beef Kebabs with Couscous


Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – April 24, 2011
For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Beef Kebabs with Couscous recipe originally published in Food Network Magazine – April 2012.

I’m trying to expand my repertoire a little.  I serve a lot of dishes on a bed of pasta or rice.  It’s not a bad thing, but I like to switch things up and try new things as often as possible.  On this day, I decided to try my hand at couscous and Middle Eastern cuisine. 

This recipe seemed like a great place to start.  Meat marinated in simple (but unique to my palate) flavors and couscous which is as easy to make as rice.


© You Want Me to Cook?
Beef Kebabs with Couscous
The tomatoes and onion alone make me want to go grab the leftovers.  Who cares if it is after midnight?!?!?!  I love charred vegetables and I managed to get it perfect.  My meat looks a little dry, but that could very well be my fault since I used a different cut of steak, but more on that later.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Skillet-Baked Panko Cutlets with Garlic Mashers


Recipe made/modified by You Want Me to Cook? – April 23, 2011
For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Skillet-Baked Panko Cutlets, Italian “Sausage” Cutlets and Garlic Mashers recipes published in Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson.

So a while back, my husband and I decided we were going to try to eat more vegetables.

*Pffft… yeah right.

I began looking for more green and colored vegetables in side dishes, but never seemed to find things that went together.  Then I had a flash of brilliance – I should start looking for vegetarian entrees.  It worked and now my husband looks forward to our veggie nights.  I think it’s because I have to be creative and you rely on herbs and spices to bring out the flavor in your food… not fat from meat.

Now don’t think I’m going to stop eating meat.  I love my burgers WAAAAAY too much to do that, but we did decide to bump up the vegetarian meals to two nights a week.  Good for us and I was doing a lot of patting myself on the back for trying to get us eating healthier even if it is only one night a week.

Then I had my eyes opened.

I have a couple of relatives that are vegans.  Vegans are individuals that eat nothing animal based, including milk, butter and eggs.  Some don’t even eat honey.  Let that information sink in and give it some thought.  Those are the staples to MANY dishes and I couldn’t comprehend how to bake without eggs.  Listening to them talk about the types of meals they prepare intrigued me and then I stumbled upon a book called Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson.  She turned many comfort foods (mac & cheese, pancakes, grilled cheese) into vegan meals.

I had to have that book.

It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while now, but I’ve decided to really push this blog ahead full time, so I decided it was time.

A couple of things before we start…

First, just because a meal is vegan doesn’t mean it is (a) healthy or (b) diet friendly.  There are plenty of ways to make foods calorie and fat heavy that don’t include animal based ingredients.  Also, you’d be surprised at the sodium levels of many dishes.

Second, you’ll notice that one of the recipes in the top line is called Italian “Sausage” Cutlets.  I put those quotes around sausage, not the author.  I fully respect people who believe in the vegan way of life, but I’m slightly put off by people calling vegan faux-meats, well… meats.  Don’t get the impression that you’re going to chomp into the cutlet and scream, “OH MY WORD!  IT’S LIKE I’M EATING A SAUSAGE PATTY FROM THE BUTCHER!”

Nope, not gonna happen.

The cutlet you make for this dish is tasty substitute to meat and I didn’t eat it thinking, “Man I wish I had some sausage right now”.  It was quite the opposite.  I was thinking, “Yeah, I’m enjoying this dish and not wishing it was something else.”  However, it certainly doesn’t have the taste or consistency of a meat sausage patty.  My husband only read the title of the main meal “Skillet-Baked Panko Cutlets” and said he appreciated that I wasn’t trying to make him think he was eating meat.  He’s a grown up and has an open mind to try different things.

And that’s all I really ask.

Finally, a vegan dish is not something you can make on the fly if you’ve never made vegan dishes before and especially if you haven’t made mock meats.  You’re going to need some special ingredients, so do a little research and plan on making it a couple weeks out.  Give yourself plenty of time and most of all, keep an open mind.

Let’s get to the food, shall we?

© You Want Me to Cook?
Skillet-Baked Panko Cutlets with Garlic Mashers
Take a good look at this picture and try to forget about the fact that it is a faux meat under the delicately breaded and browned panko, delicious looking sauce and oozing mozzarella veggie shreds.  Doesn’t it look delicious?  And it is delicious!

The book does have a picture, but they don’t have any images available on-line to link to (I hate copying pictures and putting them on my blog without linking to the individual/book/blog/website for the credit), so you’ll have to take my word on this… it looks very similar.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Flowers and Cake Design – Class #4: The Final Class


So it’s the final week and that means final project cakes.  The hardest thing about the final cake is picking the design.  Sure, Wilton gives you some ideas, but there are a lot of different things you have to keep in mind.

Since we still had 2 techniques to learn, we were going to have approximately 90 minutes to finish the cake.  If you ever watch any of the Food Network cake challenges, you know the biggest weakness of the majority of the designers is they plan too big of a design to complete in the time they are given.  That is one thing I have in common with them.  The things I don’t have in common?  Insane cake decorating talent. 

Er, okay, mediocre cake decorating talent. 

Sigh… basic cake decorating talent

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 23, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 50 min
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Intermediate

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Weekend Recipe Round-up for April 21 to April 22, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other Cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 15 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 5 min
Level: Easy

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 20, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 1 hr 45 min
Prep: 40 min
Inactive: 40 min
Cook: 25 min
Yield: 6 pizzas
Level: Intermediate

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 19, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 1 hr 20 min
Cook: 1 hr 20 min
Level: Easy

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 18, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 25 min
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 10 min
Yield: 4 burgers
Level: Easy

Gum Paste and Fondant – Class #2


Last week we did a lot of prep work and made our lovely bow.  It was an incredibly busy class, but we didn’t have a lot to show at the end of the night. 

Class #2 was a totally different story!

We made several flowers with stems, calyxes (the outermost part of the flower) and leaves.  Something else happened too… I didn’t feel overwhelmed!  I truly enjoyed working with the gum paste and fondant and could have done it for hours more.

Here is what we covered in this night from the class lesson plan for this course:
  • Gum Paste and Fondant 101
  • Bow Loops
  • Mum Base, Rose Base
  • Carnation Base
  • Assembling a Bow
  • Tinting Gum Paste and Fondant
  • Basic Principles of Floral Cake Design
  • Calla Lily
  • Rosebud and Rose
  • Carnation
  • Calyxes and Leaves
  • Assembling the Calla Lily
  • Daisy
  • Mum
  • Covering a Cake Board with Fondant
  • Elements of Fondant Cake Design
  • Creating Geometric Designs Using Cut-Outs, Overlays, and Inlays
  • Eyelet, Ruffle, and Ball Borders
I’d also like to note that this is a different teacher than the other classes.  They both have distinct teaching styles and I love them both!  Maria, our instructor for this course, does a high-level overview at the front, then walks to each table critiquing our work and giving us a close-up demo on how to fix it.  The great thing about this is if we go a little faster, we can make more flowers or give them more detail.

I LOVE IT!

We started with Calla Lilies.  We had to form the petal and center first to let them dry.  Then we assembled the dried pieces and finished with the calyx.  The end result is this:

© You Want Me to Cook?

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 17, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 45 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 35 min
Yield: 10 servings
Level: Easy

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 16, 2012



If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Flowers and Cake Design – Class #3


Good Gravy!  This class is just flying along!  And not just the number of classes we’ve gone through already.  The class itself seems to be over as soon as it starts.

I learned a lesson this week that I feel like I should share with you because no matter where you take this class, you probably won’t hear it.
If you get royal icing on any facial hair and it dries, be prepared to lose some hair.
You’re welcome.  And no, I will not tell you how I found that out… just take my word for it.

What we covered this week from the class lesson plan, as listed on Wilton’s website, is in the RED BOLD text.
  • Basic Principles of Cake Design
  • Gum Paste and Fondant 101
  • Button Flower
  • Pansy
  • Making Royal Icing
  • Making a Parchment Bag
  • Flower Nail
  • Rose Base, Rose Center
  • Apple Blossom, Primrose
  • Rosebud
  • Wilton Rose
  • Daffodil
  • Violet
  • Using the Lily Nail, Lily
  • Guidelines for Flower Arrangments
  • Floral Cake Design
  • Making Stems
  • Reverse Shell
  • Basketweave
I came armed with royal icing in every color of the rainbow.  Okay, that’s stretching the truth a little… I had pink, yellow, violet and green.

Last week we practiced making Rose bases and this week we finished it.  While they both start the same, this is quite different from the Ribbon Rose we learned in Basic Cake Decorating – Lesson #4.  That’s probably a good thing since my buttercream ribbon roses didn’t look too hot.

The Rose starts with a base that is closed.  Then three layers of leaves are added in steps.  It differs from the Ribbon rose in that each layer is comprised of smaller leaves, not a single layer.  Here is my best one from the night:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Finished Rose
Does this flower kick butt?  Why yes it does!  No, no... no applause is necessary.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Weekend Recipe Round-up for April 14 to April 15, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other Cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 1 hr 20 min
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 40 min
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Level: Intermediate

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 13, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 45 min
Prep: 35 min
Cook: 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: easy

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 12, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 11, 2012

If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Video!!!
Total Time: 32 minutes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 12 min
Yield: 12 cookies, serving size 1 cookie
Level: Easy

Video!!!
Total Time: 9 hr
Prep: 10 min
Inactive 8hr
Cook: 50 min
Yield: 8 servings, serving size: 1 (4 by 3-inch piece)
Level: Easy

Makes 16 large or 48 mini muffins

Friday, April 13, 2012

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 10, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other Cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 28 min
Prep: 8 min
Cook: 20 min
Yield: about 4 cups

Gum Paste and Fondant – Class #1

© Wilton

This week began the third class in the Wilton series of cake decorating.  A course named Gum Paste and Fondant.












At first I was a little confused.  The second class that I started a couple of weeks ago and documented here and here worked with gum paste and fondant as well.  After this class, I figured out the difference.  Flowers and Cake Design is just that… creating flowers in different mediums including fondant and gum paste. 

I know, I’m a genius to have figured that out.

Daily Recipe Round-up for April 9, 2012


If anyone makes one of these recipes, I’d love for you to let me know, give me your thoughts and even take a picture or two.  I’d LOVE to start posting updates from other Cooks, such as myself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.  That’s the point of this blog.

All pictures came from the website specified.  You can click on the picture or recipe name to follow the link to their website.

Food Network

Total Time: 10 min
Prep:  10 min
Level:  Easy