Cooking Baking Eating

I’m giddy to be able to say “last year” and put all of 2013 in the past. It was a rough year and being able to officially put it in the past makes me much happier.

During 2013 I don’t think I really accomplished much other than making copious amounts of caramel corn, drank way too much moonshine, mourned my sad and dead computer, and spent way too much time playing on my new iPhone.

Those darn iPhones are far too addictive.

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I’ve been drawn to vegan recipes for a while now. Not that I have any inclination to turn vegan, but they can have some VERY healthy desserts and I don’t feel quite as guilty eating a vegan dessert as I do a regular dessert.

I think that’s just because I sometimes feel guilty eating butter for some reason. Random personal quirk I guess.

I was looking for some vegan breakfast ideas since I’m a bit convinced I’ve got an egg intolerance, and came across oatmeal bars. I’ve done the baked oatmeal muffins before, but wasn’t too impressed by it. I’m very finicky about my oatmeal texture, it has to be just right or I won’t eat it.

But these…they looked delicious.

Now, because it’s me, I used the recipe as more of a guideline instead of actually following it.

If you’re surprised, you just don’t know me very well. Read more »

I’m not normally the type of person to really enjoy eating puddings or a custard. Yogurt is even a stretch for me sometimes. Mouth texture is a huge thing for me with eating, crunchy I can do but soft and custard-ish or gooey really doesn’t do it for me.

So why in the world is this chick doing a bread pudding? Grandma was very generous and let us stay with her during our Christmas traveling, but her one request was that I would cook with her and make her some home made bread pudding. So I had to practice!
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I shock my husband. I really do.

Especially when I suddenly bust out things like home made cinnamon rolls randomly.

He’s slowly getting used to the fact that I’ve started learning how to cook. He still won’t take bites of things when I walk up to him with a spoon and say “eat this”. That freaks him out.

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I’ve been trying to perfect bread for a while. Or at least try and find that one perfect loaf that I can master easily, and make modifications to suit my purposes.

I do believe I have found it. This bread is sweet, lovely, mouth watering, and super soft. Its the bread I make at home that has that same softness as Wonder Bread from the store.

Its a sweeter bread, so it does make good sandwiches but makes them slightly sweet. It makes a mean Italian Grilled Cheese, and would probably make the greatest French Toast known to man.

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Work has really been evil for me lately. My schedule got knocked around majorly, I now have to be at work at 5:00am. Because of my commute I have to leave at 4:20am. I have to wake up by 3:10am to go shower.

Yeah, its early and yeah it sucks. Hopefully it’ll only be temporary.

It feels as though my soul has taken a little beating lately with the stress of a new work schedule and the stress of getting up so flipping early. It almost feels as though my soul needs a hug. Or maybe a band-aid and a bubble bath. Either way I know there is one thing to feed my soul.

Baking.
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For the longest time I’ve been wanting to make home made pizza. I’m not talking about grabbing a premade/shaped crust, and adding toppings (pizza dough in a can doesn’t count either).

I’m referencing one of those times where you make the dough yourself, everything is made start to finish (well except cheese, I don’t know how to do that yet).

We made our first pizza a few days ago, and I have to tell you I’m in love.

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I think everyone will have at least one disaster while learning how to cook. At LEAST one. I think I’ve made hundreds, but that’s a whole other story.

This whole cooking thing has been a journey for me, from not knowing that some foods like marshmallows could actually be made by hand, to actually making the things that cause others to say “You did WHAT?”

That has to be the best reaction ever by the way.

I have to say my biggest disaster was my Franken-bread.

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Naan, the delightful flatbread.

I was first introduced to Indian curry from a friend in college. She loved this stuff and was absolutely convinced that it would cure the common cold.

She was a little…unique. But in a good way.

My favorite is tikka masala, but I just can’t find a place that makes something as good as the little hole in the wall Indian place she would take me to. Spicy but mild in heat, and oh so flavorful. I haven’t ventured much out of the realm of tikka masala, I think I need someone to teach me the different styles, and most importantly, how to cook it.

Well here’s a start on it. Naan is a flatbread that is usually served with curry. Its warm, flavorful and wonderful for wrapping around some meat while dipping into the sauce. Absolutely wonderful I think.

I was leery about making naan for a while since most of the recipes called for lard or shortening, and that for some reason didn’t sound right. It sounded more like a giant tortilla than a soft and wonderful piece of naan. But I did find this one and really thought I could do it. And I did. I don’t have any curry in the house, but right now I’m enjoying it plain, warmed up in some foil in our toaster oven.

I love this bread and I think it could be used for a lot more than just plain bread to dip in curry sauce. My husband agrees that it would make some pretty awesome individual pizzas, and maybe brush some garlic butter over it to have with pasta. I could probably even roll it flat enough to use as a basis for a sandwich wrap.

So many possibilities.
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Just like Homer Simpson, I love donuts. However, I don’t really eat them very often because they are really greasy and sugary. I’ve been toying with the idea of baking donuts, I even picked up one of those donut pans from the local thrift store but just haven’t tried it yet.

Now that I am finally feeling better from this evil-death-flu that has been going around the nation, even though it only took a whole month out of my life, I finally have the bug to start cooking again.

I always know when I’m feeling better when I start wanting to cook again. So I bit the bullet and decided to do it.

I made the baked donuts I’ve been wanting to make. It’s basically the same recipe that is used for making the yeast donuts, but instead I baked them.

I didn’t have any frosting handy so I dipped them in butter and then in cinnamon sugar. My husband already has deemed that he likes them, but would rather have a frosting or a glaze on them. Read more »