A SICK ADDICTION.....CHOCOLATE

A picture before digging into this week's recipe....Gooey Chocolate Cakes!

Here's the brand of chocolate I chose to use. It ended up making very rich chocolate cakes. Dorie advises not to skimp on the quality of chocolate, since it is the star of this recipe!
As usual, my shoddy photography skills give no justice to this chocolate goodness!


It's Tuesday again:) This week's recipe was right up my alley. Chocolate. Gooey, Melty, Chocolate. Why is it you either have general cravings---salty, sweet, or perhaps spicy. But what is it with that fourth craving, which is oh so specific--something chocolately. It normally hits me at 2:30 in the afternoon. When I have to sneak to the candy dish and dig for what I must have. Not the Wuther's Orignals or for god's sake not the sugar coated gummy things.


No, it must absolutely be chocolate! This month I keep digging out the leftover dark chocolate dove eggs. When those are all gone I will start on the Hersey kisses....I really should just leave those alone and go eat my chocolate pudding in the fridge, but who am I kidding? The pudding ain't gonna do it. Whoever writes those books and says eat the sugar-free chocolate pudding instead of the chocolate bar is a complete poindexter in my opinion. All I am going to do is eat the pudding, feel disappointed, then end up eating the chocolate bar. So really why waste the extra calories on the pudding?


So, when I found out we were making the Gooey Chocolate Cakes this week I was ecstatic. I have never made these little lava cakes before but my god they were simple. This is the kind of recipe that you could easily whip up before an impromptu dinner party and no one even guess it took such little effort. I ended up making mine in small ramekins that came with a fondue pot I received as a wedding gift. They were the perfect size. I also used some white chocolate chips in the middle of half the batch. They turned out to be my favorites. Eric enjoyed his warm with ice cream. But honestly no matter how you eat them they tasted wonderful.



As with most other Dorie recipes, this is definitely a thumbs up in taste and ease of preparation. I promise to post the recipe whenever I get a chance! Enjoy!

SEND ME ON MY WAY

Sorry, up front for the fugly photo. It was just not my night for photography.

TGIF. Our head underwriter quit today. We had to push several closing to next month. My pants feel really tight. Ugh. And it just keeps raining.......we head to Florida in two weeks, and I don't know if I can survive until then!





I really have nothing novel to write about, so I will spare you all. Plus, I hate my camera and all the pictures stink. I had an hour long conversation with a photographer that does the food stills for Cameron Mitchell's places. He recommended a few thousand dollars worth of equipment I should try. Sure, buddy. Maybe next Christmas. He told me he spent two hours photographing some drink with different umbrellas in them for an article on the best cocktails in Columbus. I told him I understood his pain. Fifty shots of the above coleslaw and they all stink. At least it tastes good.........

WALDOLF-ISH COLESLAW

1/2 head cabbage chopped
1 cup fat free mayo
4 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons slpenda (more of less to suit your tastes)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
some celery seed
some poppy seeds
1 apple, chopped
1/3 cup, raisins
salt to taste

Mix it up and chill a few hours. Add more raisins if you want....I never measure anything in the recipe and interchange ingredients as I like. All I know is that I like my coleslaw sweet:)

HELLO MY LITTLE TURNOVER

Ever since I got my Dorie Greenspan "Baking: From My Home to Yours" cookbook, all I want to do is make all the recipes in it. There are like at least one hundred that I want to try. I really tried hard to convince myself not to make any recipes other than the one that is picked for every Tuesday. I did really try, I swear.

But.....it didn't work out. I kept staring at all these apples stacked in the bowl in my kitchen. And they kept staring back at me. Saying "use me before I wither up and rot".......so I had no choice I had to make something with apples. Now, I should have looked in other places--but that big shiny new book was sitting there staring at me too.

So, I just peeked in the apple section and found several versions of apple pies on the first few pages. Good, I thought, apple pie is just too boring. But as I turned to the next page, there it was staring right back at me......Flaky Apple Turnovers. Oh yes, that was it.

It turned out to be a good call. I loved them. I ended up topping them with large sugar crystals and baking them until golden. Eric and I both agreed they are best when warmed with a side of ice cream--so yummy!

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 sticks butter, cold, cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

4 Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks

3 tablespoons butter cut into small bits

1 large egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

Sugar, for dusting

To make Dough: Stir the sour cream and sugar together, set aside. Whisk the flour and salt together in a large bowl, then toss the butter bits over the flour. Working with a pastry blender, or your fingers, cut the butter into the ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Don't worry about being thorough--it's better to have an uneven mix than an overworked dough. Switch to a fork and, using a lifting and tossing motion, gently stir in the sour cream. The dough will be very soft.

Divide the dough in half. Put each half on a piece of plastic warp and use the plastic to shape each piece into a rectangle. Wrap the dough and chill for at least an hour. Remove one piece of cough from the fridge and roll it into a rectangle about 9x18 inches. The dough is easiest to work with if you roll it between two sheets of wax paper. Fold the dough in thirds, like a business letter, wrap it and chill it. Repeat with second piece of dough, and chill the dough at least 2 hours.

To Make The Filling: Whisk the flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Add the apples and toss to coat.

Getting Ready To Bake: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Roll out one piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/8th of an inch, and cut out 4 1/2 inch rounds with a large cutter (I used a jar lid) Repeat with the second piece of dough. If you like, you can gather the scraps together, chill them and make additional turnovers (I did this). You should get 7-8 rounds per piece of dough.

Place 1 to 2 tablespoons apples in the center of each round and dot with the butter. Moisten edges of each round with a little water and fold the turnovers in half, sealing the edges by pressing them together with the tines of a fork. Use the fork to poke steam holes in each turnover, and transfer the turnovers to the baking sheets.

Brush the tops of hte turnovers with a little of the egg wash and sprinkle each one with a pinch of sugar (I used large sugar crystals). Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 10 minutes. When done, the turnovers will be puffed, firm to the touch and golden. Gently transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.

Dorie says these are very easy to change up---fill with whatever fruit or jam you may have a hankering for! I think I am going with my mom's idea next time--Cherry Turnovers:)

THE FLAN SHOWDOWN

Okay, flan is (yawn) boring. I just couldn't get excited about it. Stir water and sugar together, pour in pan. Boil water in tea kettle. Mix some eggs together. Yawn. It also doesn't help that I think flan is just okay. Custardy-type stuff has just never really appealed to me. I like crust, I like crunch---not this smooth, sexy (as Dorie refers to it) stuff. I don't want my dessert to be sexy. I want fattening, messy, gooey. This is way too lady-like for a gal like me....and if I don't like it-- you know Eric won't even touch it.

Anywhoo-Making this was pretty easy. The caramel turned a lovely amber and it easily covered the bottom of my pan. The flan portion came together quickly and I shoved it in the oven in my trusty blue roasting pan. It baked, it cooled, and it went into the fridge for a chilling. I let Eric flip onto the serving plate while I attempted to get ready to go to Easter dinner. When I came down stairs he informed me that the caramel portion was almost dripping over the sides of the plate---so he drained it off, that way it would be much easier to tote to grandmas. Ah, god love him. I couldn't be mad on Easter and since we were already running half an hour late, I didn't have time to worry.

Good thing I didn't get upset. No one touched it. My feelings would have normally been hurt, but heck--I didn't even want it. Especially when it is sitting right next to my grandmother's homemade cherry pie. I felt really bad for my flan, so I ate a little piece to make it feel better. Then I ate a ginormous piece of cherry pie. Shame, shame on me.

Well, now I have a lot of leftover flan and I am going to eat it this week with berries and some biscotti. If you love flan, go ahead and try this recipe. I will not be making it again though. I would rather save my eggs for an omelet or more brioche:)

Caramel Topped Flan

(Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan)

For the Caramel

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp water

squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1-1/4 cups whole milk

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat. Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel. To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

SPRING CLEANING

ABOVE: Sorry, Stinky Lighting=Bad Pictures

Ah, the first day of Spring has come and gone here in Ohio...too bad it is still stinking cold and gloomy out! Since the sun refuses to shine, I am staying indoors and cleaning. Yes, how exciting. If someone were to make a movie of my life, it would be so absolutely boring since I swear I spend most of my time picking up the house, doing laundry and cleaning. I don't now how two people can go through some many clothes and dishes....it is insane!

I decided to clean out the refrigerator and freezer today. I am always amazed at the things you find when doing this task. Forgotten about frozen unmarked containers, the salad dressing you opened and decided you didn't like, the half bottle of beer that got pushed all the back with the baking soda--I ended up filling up an entire garbage bag with these kinds of things. It made me disgusted with myself for this type of food waste. So I've promised myself to make an effort to be more conscious of using up things before I buy more (regardless of how pretty the package is or if I am getting the deal of a lifetime!).

The one thing also I have to use up is all this DEER MEAT! Ugh, I am just not a big deer meat fan. I've tried to make it in chili, casseroles, etc--but it just never tastes right to me. The only thing I can do is trail bologna. My grandma has made this for years for all guys who hunt on their land. She gave me her original recipe, which I have tweaked for our tastes. Eric eats about 4 pounds of this in two or three days---always with crackers and spicy brown mustard. At least it is high protein with virtually no fat. Oh so very Adkins-Friendly--if you follow that crap:)

TRAIL BOLOGNA

3 pounds ground venison


1 pound ground sirloin or lean ground beef


2 teaspoons coarse ground pepper


2 tablespoons liquid smoke


2 cups water


4 tablespoons quick curing salt (morton's)


1 teaspoon garlic powder


1 teaspoon marjoram


1 teaspoon fennel seed


2 teaspoon dry mustard powder


1/2 teaspoon Lawry's seasoned salt


1 heaping tablespoon McCormick's Hamburger Seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Place a wire rack over a baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees. While oven is heating, shape meat mixture into several 1 1/2" diameter logs. Place on wire rack and bake for approximately one hour. Flip logs halfway through baking time.
Allow logs to cool. Wrap each log in foil and refrigerate until ready to use.

I highly recommend this recipe if you have deer meat to use up. I have played around with different mixes, ratios, and seasonings and this by far is my "keeper" recipe.

HIP-HOP HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter all! I made all kinds of things this weekend, but I will only share an easy one today. Macaroni and Cheese:) We celebrated at my mom's house this year and I was instructed to bring a side dish. I told Eric to pick out somthing and Mac & Cheese was his first choice. He's all about the comfort food!

Use whatever cheese you want but I ended up using extra sharp cheddar and white cheddar. I also used 1/2 pound small shell pasta and 1/2 pound big shell pasta....I just love when some of the little shells get stuck inside the big shells! It it the best:)

EASY MAC & CHEESE

1 stick butter

1/2 flour

4 cups milk

1 pound shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

1 pound pasta

1 brick extra sharp white cheddar cheese, cubed

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta for 8 minutes or until al dente. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. When melted, add flour and stir to make a roux. Ad a little bit of the milk and whisk to get rid of any lumps. When smooth, add the remaining milk. Cook over medium high until comes to a boil, stirring continuously. Remove from the heat and add 3/4 of the cheese (Set remaining shredded aside to sprinkle on top). Stir mixture until cheese melts. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the paste is done, drain and combine with the cheese mixture. Stir well and pour into a greased baking dish (I used two 8x8). Drop in cubed cheese and lightly combined. Then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly!

Dig in...it won't last long!

SUSHI, NO....ZUCCHINI, YES?

It's almost 8pm and I am still at the office. I have been sorting through business taxes and trying to come up with a profit and loss, but there are pages missing and it is all out of order. I've had people in and out of here all day and really have gotten nothing accomplished...except that I have developed an eye twitch. Get me the hell out of here~it's Friday for pete's sake!

I am actually going to head to the grocery store this evening to pick up items for my Caramel-Topped Flan (My TWD recipe of the week). Actually, I might not. I might need some bar food and a cocktail. I'm really hankering for some tuna tartare or sushi. Too bad the only sushi in this town is sold at Kroger's and I am not going into Columbus this evening (but oh Haiku would be so good!). Therefore, my hankering will have to wait, and I will settle for deep fried zucchini. Boy, am I not easy to please? Until tomorrow........