Need I say anything?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Philly Cheesesteak and Other Cheesy Things
Last Friday Mark made pizza. We like to have pizza whenever he has time to bake one, the question is: which kind? There's Sicilian, pan, thin crust, Mexican, Swiss... I like having the thick crust and Sicilian, because they're really big and we always have leftovers. The thin crust are so thin we always finish them the same day. So Mark came up with a way to eat the eggs without breaking them: he made a double batch of thin crust pizza and refrigerated half of it for later use. It worked wonderfully!
So Friday we had this pizza:
And last night, all he had to do was to get the dough out of the fridge, shape it, wait a little, top it, et voila!
On Saturday Mark wanted to make loaves of bread for lunch sandwiches, and to my request he made it whole wheat. They turned out very nice:
But he didn't want to have them the same way he always does - so we decided on trying the philly-cheesesteak style. Neither of us had ever had that famous sandwich, not even the vegetarian version (which we did plan to have while in Philly, but because of a certain David Letterman we ended up not going there at all). So we had to look it up online and make the required modifications, all the time thinking that we have veggie steak strips. But then when we looked in the freezer, we were very disappointed.
However, resourceful Mark came up with another idea: using the veggie-roasted-without-the-beef slices, which should work fine since the steak needs to be sliced thin anyway, according to the original recipe.
Mmmm... caramelized onions...
AND - for dessert - we had some cream cheese pie: graham cracker crust, topped with chocolate, strawberries, all buried under cream cheese-sweetened condensed milk goodness.
So Friday we had this pizza:
And last night, all he had to do was to get the dough out of the fridge, shape it, wait a little, top it, et voila!
On Saturday Mark wanted to make loaves of bread for lunch sandwiches, and to my request he made it whole wheat. They turned out very nice:
But he didn't want to have them the same way he always does - so we decided on trying the philly-cheesesteak style. Neither of us had ever had that famous sandwich, not even the vegetarian version (which we did plan to have while in Philly, but because of a certain David Letterman we ended up not going there at all). So we had to look it up online and make the required modifications, all the time thinking that we have veggie steak strips. But then when we looked in the freezer, we were very disappointed.
However, resourceful Mark came up with another idea: using the veggie-roasted-without-the-beef slices, which should work fine since the steak needs to be sliced thin anyway, according to the original recipe.
Mmmm... caramelized onions...
AND - for dessert - we had some cream cheese pie: graham cracker crust, topped with chocolate, strawberries, all buried under cream cheese-sweetened condensed milk goodness.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Rolling a Pumpkin
Last Friday Mark made a pumpkin roll. This is one of his favorite types of cake - he doesn't have many, so it's an honor just to be on the list.
It's filled with low-fat and fat-free cream cheese mixed with sugar and a bit of lemon juice.
On Sunday we made gnocchi again, this time with regular potatoes - and it was just yummy. I don't crave restaurant gnocchi anymore - they were never really good - at least, not as good as one can make at home - now that I know we can make it ourselves.
This time we decided to use the gorgonzola we had, before it gets any greener, for the sauce. But we never have cream or even half and half, and all the recipes for gorgonzola sauce recommend using cream. So how can you make a creamless creamy sauce? Here's the answer:
3/4 cup milk (we only have fat free)
1/4 cup white wine
2 tsp corn starch
gorgonzola (about the size of a small piece of cake), crumbled
salt & crushed peppercorn to taste
mix 3 first ingredients on medium heat, add cheese when liquid is warm, stir till it melts.
It's very yummy, although I'm sure not as rich as sauce with real cream. But I think the cheese is fatty and strongly-flavoured enough to make it a healthy-though-deliciuos choice.
It's filled with low-fat and fat-free cream cheese mixed with sugar and a bit of lemon juice.
On Sunday we made gnocchi again, this time with regular potatoes - and it was just yummy. I don't crave restaurant gnocchi anymore - they were never really good - at least, not as good as one can make at home - now that I know we can make it ourselves.
I was so hungry and impatient to try the sauce, that I completely forgot about taking a picture. So here are the leftovers, ready to be our lunches for the next day.
This time we decided to use the gorgonzola we had, before it gets any greener, for the sauce. But we never have cream or even half and half, and all the recipes for gorgonzola sauce recommend using cream. So how can you make a creamless creamy sauce? Here's the answer:
3/4 cup milk (we only have fat free)
1/4 cup white wine
2 tsp corn starch
gorgonzola (about the size of a small piece of cake), crumbled
salt & crushed peppercorn to taste
mix 3 first ingredients on medium heat, add cheese when liquid is warm, stir till it melts.
It's very yummy, although I'm sure not as rich as sauce with real cream. But I think the cheese is fatty and strongly-flavoured enough to make it a healthy-though-deliciuos choice.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Mexican Pizza
With cornmeal crust, salsa, jalapenos, tomato, olives and corn, this pizza couldn't get more "south of the border".
My favorite topping is the corn kernels - they're so sweet and provide such a complimentary contrast to the spiciness of the salsa and jalapenos.
My favorite topping is the corn kernels - they're so sweet and provide such a complimentary contrast to the spiciness of the salsa and jalapenos.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mmmm... Homemade Yummies...
Though we still don't have a pasta maker (we got one from a store, but it was defective; then we got another one online, and they sent us the wrong kind) we decided that it shouldn't stop us from having homemade ravioli. So we got won-ton wraps and filled them with ricotta and spinach, and after 3 minutes of cooking we got these yummy creations:
Served with our homemade tomato sauce and a couple of slices of freshly made bread, spread with Gorgonzola, this was a real Sunday night treat.
On Friday Mark made this amazing peanut butter banana bread with a recipe taken from the Vegetarian Times. He, of course, omitted the oil and used more bananas, and the result was so good, even days later (I had a piece yesterday).
In between, we colored eggs for Easter:
That was fun!
Served with our homemade tomato sauce and a couple of slices of freshly made bread, spread with Gorgonzola, this was a real Sunday night treat.
On Friday Mark made this amazing peanut butter banana bread with a recipe taken from the Vegetarian Times. He, of course, omitted the oil and used more bananas, and the result was so good, even days later (I had a piece yesterday).
In between, we colored eggs for Easter:
That was fun!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Kolach, Ears and Rockin' Rolls!
This past weekend included some new baked items. We started with Kolach, a Bulgarian type of bread that's very rich - the dough is made with eggs and yogurt. It reminded me a lot of Chalah, except it's a bit more sour.
We weren't quite sure what to eat it with. I figured an egg would be good, especially since we had some leftover from glazing the bread.
I spread it with cream cheese and topped with some greens. It was good!
A grad student got married over spring break, and so a couple of other grad students decided to have a little reception for him in the office. Then they decided that there are a couple of other people who got married recently, so they decided to add them to the celebration. One of them is myself. It was a bit weird to be congratulated for something that happened over 6 months ago, but I guess it's my fault for not telling anyone about it when it actually happened.
For the reception I decided to bring Hamantaschen, traditional Purim cookies. After all, Purim is just a few days away! In Hebrew they're called "the ears of Haman". Haman was the evil guy who tried to convince the king of Persia that the Jews are bad. I don't know why they decided to name the cookies after the guy's ears, though. As you can see from the photo, they don't really look like ears. Well, not human ones.
I used this recipe, but filled with raspberry jam because that's what I had. The dough kept opening during baking and I had to reseal them, which was kinda hot on my fingers. But the flavor was good.
And for dessert - buttermilk rolls with some veggie BBQ riblets!
Mmm... Molassessy!
We weren't quite sure what to eat it with. I figured an egg would be good, especially since we had some leftover from glazing the bread.
I spread it with cream cheese and topped with some greens. It was good!
A grad student got married over spring break, and so a couple of other grad students decided to have a little reception for him in the office. Then they decided that there are a couple of other people who got married recently, so they decided to add them to the celebration. One of them is myself. It was a bit weird to be congratulated for something that happened over 6 months ago, but I guess it's my fault for not telling anyone about it when it actually happened.
For the reception I decided to bring Hamantaschen, traditional Purim cookies. After all, Purim is just a few days away! In Hebrew they're called "the ears of Haman". Haman was the evil guy who tried to convince the king of Persia that the Jews are bad. I don't know why they decided to name the cookies after the guy's ears, though. As you can see from the photo, they don't really look like ears. Well, not human ones.
I used this recipe, but filled with raspberry jam because that's what I had. The dough kept opening during baking and I had to reseal them, which was kinda hot on my fingers. But the flavor was good.
And for dessert - buttermilk rolls with some veggie BBQ riblets!
Mmm... Molassessy!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Blueberry Yum-Yum
In addition to the usual stuff that Mark keeps baking again and again (well, mostly because it's so good!), namely pizzas, calzones and muffins, he finally baked something new: a blueberry "any-fruit cake".
When we had it fresh out of the oven, the topping was so crispy, we wanted to finish it all up right then and there, thinking it will get soggy if we wait. But I found that covering it up with a paper towel helps it stay crispy and yummy and we can enjoy it for at least 3 to 4 days.
When we had it fresh out of the oven, the topping was so crispy, we wanted to finish it all up right then and there, thinking it will get soggy if we wait. But I found that covering it up with a paper towel helps it stay crispy and yummy and we can enjoy it for at least 3 to 4 days.
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