Wednesday, March 30, 2011

What You Deserve....

What you deserve when you spend 25+ hours studying for an Anatomy & Physiology Exam....
  
Dinner at one of your favorite restaurants eating the following:
-8 oz Blue Cheese Crusted Flat Iron Steak with an Aged Balsamic Reduction
-Whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes
-Garlic Sauteed Green Beans
-Huckleberry Cheesecake

....And a Bakon Vodka Caesar to top it all off!
 
 
Oh yeah...and a date with this guy!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Slow-Cooker Tangy Beef & Noodles

I'm taking a study break from Anatomy to present you with the recipe for Tangy Beef & Noodles. I've spent the last 5 hours going over the Lymphatic System and the Immune System...sounds fun right? I needed a "blog-break" before diving into the Respiratory and Digestive System and Metabolism/Nutrition.
Lord Help Me!

I think my brain might explode!
I might be considering Culinary School again.

Just kidding!

Don't freak out mom, I'm just hysterical right now!
I'll get over it....I hope!

But anyways...due to my huge midterm on Wednesday, I made a Slow-Cooker meal with my Crockpot. That way I didn't have to cook tonight and I don't have to cook tomorrow!

Here's what you are going to need:
-2 to 2-1/2 lb Beef Stew Meat
-1 cup BBQ Sauce
-1 tbsp Prepared Horseradish Sauce
-1 tsp Yellow Mustard
-2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
-1 tsp Alpine Touch (optional)
-1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
-1/2 tsp Salt
-1/4 tsp Pepper
-2 dashes Hot/Tobasco Sauce
-2 dashes of Liquid Smoke
-1 whole Onion-Caramelized
-4 oz of sliced Mushrooms
-Cooked Egg Noodles (to serve)

Take your handy-dandy Crockpot....

And throw in 2 to 2-1/2 lbs of Beef Stew Meat.

Combine everything but the caramelized onion, mushrooms and egg noodles in a mixing bowl and then pour it over the beef. Stir to combine.


Set on Low for 8-9 hours and watch the magic happen!
After 6 hours!

About 1-2 hours before you are ready to eat, add the sliced mushrooms and caramelized onions. Continue cooking for 1-2 hours.


About 15 minutes before dinner-time, cook up your Egg Noodles!

Serve the Tangy Beef over the Noodles and garnish with some Green Onions or Parsley.
It was sooo good!


Berries and Cream

Remember when I made that Creme Anglaise for the Apple Potstickers a couple days ago?

Well...it goes really well with Blackberries and it is delicious!

What a yummy treat!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

UM International Food Festival

Dusty and I just got back from the International Food Festival here at the U of M. We are absolutely stuffed because we ate so many great foods this afternoon! There were so many countries represented today at the festival, but Dusty and I were very selective to only eat foods from places we had never tried before. Sorry Italy, France, Mexico and China…you didn’t make the cut today.

The places we did eat from today were: Africa, Ethiopia, Persia, Greece and Sweden.
Okay, so we have eaten from Greece and Sweden before, but we had to go back to our favorites from the last time we went!

First we went to Greece for some Spanakopita and Pork Souvlaki.
Pork Souvlaki = Pork Kebab
Spanakopita is basically a feta and spinach turnover…I would have taken a picture of it, but I ate it too fast. It’s my favorite!

Then we headed over to the African Student Association to get a huge array of African Cuisine from all over the continent!
For $5 we got a huge platter of: Alloco (banana plantains), Beef Tomato Sauce with Boiled Egg, Jollof Rice, Creole Jambalaya (MY FAVORITE!), and Kachumbari (Kenyan Salad).

We also got a glass of Fresh African Ginger Drink…it was delicious and so refreshing!

After having our African Feast we made our way over to the Ethiopian table were we got a plate full of really savory stews, sauces, vegetables….

And this odd but really good spongy sourdough bread. It was perfect for scooping up the sauces!
Sorry about the lighting!
We were eating in an area with really poor lighting!
At this point we were getting full, but we saw a huge line in front of the Persian booth, so we had to go check it out!
These were soooo good!

After eating all of these delicious ethnic foods, Dusty and I decided it was time to head home, but not before we got some yummy treats from Sweden!
We grabbed them to-go for dessert later tonight!

Dusty and I had so much fun! We both agreed that the African Student Association had the best food  and Ethiopia came in a close 2nd place. Hope you all are having a great Sunday like we are!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Lemon Bars

One of the first posts I did when I started my blog back in May was these Lemon Bars. Looking back at that post, the pictures are absolutely awful! I think I might have used my cell phone camera because the camera I had from 10th grade had just died. Needless to say, this recipe needed to be revisited and upgraded!


This is what you are going to need:
-1-1/2 cup Crumbled Vanilla Wafers
-2 tbsp Sugar
-5 tbsp melted Butter
-1 cup Sugar
-2 beaten Eggs
-1/2 tsp Lemon Zest
-Juice of 1 Lemon
-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
-2 tbsp Flour
-Powdered Sugar-for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 2 quart baking dish.

Using Vanilla Wafers….

Throw a bunch into your food processor and crumble them up. I didn’t keep track of how many wafers you need, so just throw a bunch in there and then measure out 1-1/2 cups of wafer crumbles.


In a mixing bowl, combine the wafer crumbs with 2 tbsp of Sugar…

With 5 tbsp of melted butter.

Stir it around until the mixture become “crumbly”…

And then press the crust into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes to set the crust.

In another mixing bowl, add in 1 cup of sugar…

Juice of 1 lemon and ½ tsp of Lemon Zest…

2 tbsp Flour and ½ tbsp of Vanilla Extract…

And take 2 eggs and beat them up until they are nice and fluffy.


Whisk it all together and pour the filling over the crust.


Bake the lemon bars for 25-30 minutes or until the center is set. Let the lemon bars cool on a wire rack until they reach room temperature and then refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Dust with powdered sugar as a garnish and enjoy!

PRINT RECIPE HERE!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Apple Potstickers with Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Is this not the cutest, most creative and fun dessert you have ever seen?!?!?

It's an apple pie in a potsticker!
It's absolutely adorable and they are super tasty.
You are going to love them at your next dinner party.

Last Tuesday I went to a cooking class and the head chef of IZA made these for our class. Being a lover of apple pie, I was in heaven! So when my friend Megan and I had a "girl's night" last night, we made some Pork Lo Mein and these potstickers for dessert. YUM! It was tons of fun and our bellies were full from so much good food.

The filling for the potstickers is really simple and easy to make. If you need a tutorial of how to fold the wonton wrappers, check out my post on BBQ Wontons. I give a step-by-step tutorial on folding them that will really help if you are new to wontons/potstickers.

Also, the Vanilla Crème Anglaise you want to make a couple hours or even a day in advance. It’s pretty runny right after you make it, so put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and you will be good to go! If you store the Crème Anglaise in the fridge, it should last you a week. You can even drizzle some on top of fresh berries if you run out of Apple Potstickers….and you most likely will, because they are delicious!

Here is what you are going to need for 25 Apple Potstickers:
-2 cups of Granny Smith Apples (about 2 apples)-finely diced
-3/4 cup White Sugar
-1 tbsp Cinnamon
-1/2 cup Butter
-3 tbsp Flour
-1/2 cup of Water
-25 square or rectangular Wonton Wrappers (or just buy a whole package)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the wonton wrappers. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until the apple pieces are soft and the sauce has thickened.
Let the apple mixture cool to room temperature before filling the dumplings, about 10-15 minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled, spoon ½-1 tbsp of apple mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper and pinch the corners together to form a tight seal.
Bake the dumpling for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Now it’s time for the sauce!

Here is what you are going to need:
-1 cup Heavy Cream
-1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste or Vanilla Extract
-4 Egg Yolks
-1/3 cup White Sugar

In a small saucepan, heat cream and vanilla at medium-low heat until bubbles form at the edges.

While cream is heating, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth in a separate bowl.

Before we begin this next step…raise your hand if you have tried making a sauce, custard or pudding and it has turned to scrambled eggs???

*I’m raising my hand*

When tempering a hot cream into eggs, you must do this slowly so you don’t cook the eggs! It will ruin your sauce and you have to start all over again. I suggest adding the hot cream in a slow stream or even dropwise while you bring the eggs up to temperature.

Okay, let’s get back to the recipe…

Slowly pour the hot cream into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Pour the mixture back into the small saucepan and continue to cook on low heat, stirring constantly.
Cook the sauce until the sauce coats the back of the spoon.

For easy storage, I used my Wilton Candy Melting Bottle for keeping my Vanilla Crème Anglaise from spoiling.

Plus it allows you to do this when plating your Apple Potstickers!
I love how creative you can be with this dessert!

The huge reason I adore these Apple Potstickers with the Vanilla Crème Anglaise so much is because it gives a fun sophisticated spin on warm Apple Pie with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream!

Enjoy!!!

PRINT RECIPE HERE!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Little Me

In the past 2 days I have met so many new and wonderful people via Tasty Kitchen! My blog-reading list has almost doubled because I have found so many great blogs :)

Since I'm meeting so many new people, I thought I'd tell my old/new bloggie friends a little bit more about me than they already know!

Shall we start at the beginning?!?!

It's little me!
Born: July 6, 1988

Funny Story!
See the stuffed animal cow that I have in my hands? That would be my dear friend "Cowie." I use to carry Cowie upside down with its tooshie in the air and pet its tag. Apparently I was obsessed with the silky feeling of the tag and I would rub it until it would disappear! I've been an odd-ball from the start! My grandmother would go into local stores that sold stuffed animals and snip off their tags and sew it onto my Cowie! Sadly, Cowie is not with us anymore because my old dog Skooter ripped it to shreds.
R.I.P. Cowie!


There really isn't a story to go with that one, I just thought I looked cute! But I will tell you that when I was little, I use to love the movie "Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang." My poor mom hates the movie now because I made her watch it a million times!

When I was 4 years old, I was Minnie Mouse for Halloween!

Apparently nothing has changed in the last 22 years.
I do this every time I bake or cook now!

Oh geez.
Maybe I've shared a little too much.

Did you do anything funny or weird as a child?!?!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...