food porn
tonight i went to a fundraiser for my mom’s work where we were served a 4-course meal: salad, fish, pork, and dessert. i got pics of everything but the salad (forgot…oh well).
easter cheesecake
look at that piece of gorgeousness. my annual easter cheesecake has become something of a tradition at my own house. this is year 4, i think. anyway, i checked the ATK cookbook’s recipes for cheesecake, but then thought, why mess with perfection? and pulled out joy of cooking.
yum.
cookie 1: chewy sugar cookie
i ordered the “america’s test kitchen” cookbook, which has EVERY RECIPE EVER from the PBS show in it. since my dad has given up on his search for the martha stewart cookie cookbook, i’ve decided to make all the cookies from the cookie section of ATK.
the recipe calls for a couple weird things: 1. cream cheese and 2. vegetable oil. i have never seen vegetable oil used in a cookie. but, this is ATK, so i’ll go with it. they obviously have tested it!
followed the directions, mixed everything together like a normal cookie. i did use a sifter instead of a whisk (sacrilege?), and i busted out the kitchenaid instead of just mixing it together.
roll into balls, roll in sugar, and flatten with the bottom of a glass. easy peasy.
is it chewy? yes.
is it the best sugar cookie i’ve ever had? well, it’s certainly better than my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, but i think my amended eggnog snickerdoodle-to-sugar cookie is a better tasting cookie. the cream cheese leaves a slightly odd aftertaste. it’s not bad, just different.
would i make these again? probably not. i’d just make my snickerdoodle-cum-sugar cookies instead.
EDIT: i had one of these after they’d cooled a bit. they’re really crunchy and not THAT chewy. they’re still cookies, though. i’ll still stuff my face with them!
lard test 1
yesterday nate’s sister came to visit, so i made some chocolate mousse. i was going to make a pie at first, but then was like, ehhhh, do i want to? no…
but then we had some time between supper and dessert, and i thought it would be yummy to have a pie “cookie” with our mousse. i made pie dough with the lard, rolled it out, and cut out rounds that i then baked like you do with the leftover pie crust dough. (if you don’t do this, you are a heathen.)
consensus? mmmm. pie dough made with lard is yummy. it’s better than crisco, flakier than butter, but not quite as tasty as butter. i think next time i’ll do half and half, then it should be delicious.
i also got my ginormous “america’s test kitchen” cookbook in the mail the other day. since my dad has given up on finding his martha stewart cookie cook book, i think i’m going to plug away through the cookie section in the ATK book. that should be fun!
easter is a week away!
repost because i just made the poppyseed filling for this year’s kuchen. i did a double-batch this year!
original post with recipe for poppyseed filling:
when easter rolls around, it’s the tradition in the wallace (derry [fuchs {schleppenbach<etc.>}]) household to churn out some boehma/bohema/behma/whateverkuchen. i actually tried googling it this year under many spelling variations to see if anyone else out there makes these kolache-type breads under that name. nothing. my favorite b-kuchen filling is poppyseed, and the last few years i’ve been dietarily lenient with the easter treat…but no more.
this year marks the 3rd anniversary of avoiding corn syrup, and as such, i thought it was fitting to finally give homemade poppyseed filling a go. (the FIRST ingredient in solo poppyseed filling is, ahem, corn syrup.)
after much googling, the answer lay in making a custard and mixing in ground poppyseeds. easy peasy! i went to the food co-op where they sold the seed in bulk and paid $3 for a pound (srsly a steal – would have paid $3 for a little jar of mccormick in the grocery store…food co-ops are awesome).
time to grind! every recipe said to use a coffee grinder – even a food processor won’t get the seed small enough. grind up 8 ounces of poppyseed.
ok, so i was over .3 oz.
I tried to get a closeup to show you the difference between the whole seed and ground seed. it certainly smelled good when i dumped out the ground seed!
Time to start the custard.
In a pot, combine:
1 c. milk or cream (of COURSE i used cream!!)
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar (edit: after actually using the filling in a baked good, i would increase this to at least 1 cup, 1.25 if you like it really sweet)
pinch salt
cook that until the butter is melted, sugar dissolved and the milk is a little frothy (but don’t boil – cook over medium-low).
beat 2 eggs in a bowl, then temper those bad boys – slowly drizzle in half the hot liquid from the pot while you whisk like a madwoman so the eggs don’t cook. after half is in the eggs, dump the whole shebang back in the pot.
tempered eggs
cook until it’s thick like you’re cooking pudding. then time to stir in the poppyseed.
those little clumps are from where it stuck under the grinder blades.
stir that all up then cook over low for a couple more minutes to make sure it’s nice and thickened.
I added some honey and lemon juice still, just to make it taste like it traditionally does. i tasted a little bit, and you wouldn’t think it was pudding mixed with it – the poppyseed flavor is so overwhelming, that you would think it’s just a classier brand of solo filling. it’s actually a lot more earthy tasting – really pulls out the poppyseed flavor because it’s freshly ground.
part two to come tomorrow when i bust out my dough hook!
ETA: thought it was important to point out that this took less than 20 minutes to do. the only out-of-the-way thing you’d have to do is find some bulk poppyseed.
overload of lard
i picked up my half hog the other day, got home, and realized that i was missing the hocks and the fat. i’m making bean soup out of the hocks, and, well, i’m going to attempt to render lard. from what i read, it shouldn’t be that difficult.
so, i called the processor and yeah yeah – stop by and we’ll get your missing fat to you. so i stopped by on my way home to pick up my pig fat and hocks, and on top of 3 huge tubes of ground fat and my two huge hocks, the guy gave me another 6 pounds of already rendered lard! OMG what am i going to do with all this lard…
well, liz has claimed some already. she’s always on the lookout for lard that isn’t partially hydrogenated (because that stuff causes cancer). but a person can only make so many pies. i did some digging online, and i will be making biscuits as well, and i’ll try frying my chicken in it from now on (apparently it’s the only way to fry any kind of chicken). you can use it to fry a lot of other stuff as well, so maybe i’ll try potatoes.
did some more digging, and apparently i can make SOAP. i’ll have to get my hands on some volatile lye, but it looks relatively easy. if i can handle making bath bombs, i can probably make some soap. woo! project!
(as an aside, i got my seed potatoes in the mail the other day and the tomatoes are ready for transplanting into small pots. this garden is hopefully going to be epic!!)
fast food comparison
in recent light of studies saying fat and cholesterol are not as bad for you as previously thought (surprise surprise), nate thought it would be interesting to know which fast food place would be better for you from a keto, atkin’s, or other low-carb diet stance: subway or mcdonald’s. i thought, well that’s easy enough to find out just from their nutrition facts pages. they put all that stuff up online, so it SHOULD be easy.
(we’ll see as i’m doing this on the fly.)
i think ultimately you need to compare two equivalent sandwiches. i’m not going to compare a big mac to a veggie flatbread sandwich. so, taking a look at each menu and thinking like the average joe walking in to each place, i’m going to compare a double cheeseburger and a 6″ cold cut combo. i’m going to add cheese and a sauce to the cold cut combo to make it somewhat comparable to the burger.
double cheeseburger:
cold cut combo on italian bread with american cheese, cucumbers, green pepper, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and light mayonnaise (why light? to get the calories equal.):
Comparison:
burger: 440 cals, 210 from fat, 23 grams fat, 1.5 trans fat, 35 grams carbs, 2 dietary fiber,
7 sugars, 25 protein, 8% A, 2% C, 30% calcium, 20% iron, sodium 1050
sub: 440 cals, 190 from fat, 20 grams fat, .5 trans fat, 45 grams carbs, 2 dietary fiber,
8 sugars, 19 protein, 15% A, 20% C, 40% calcium, 25% iron, sodium 1460
that sodium blows my mind.
so, let’s say your subway choices lean toward the boring. try on a turkey sub, provolone cheese, olive oil sauce:
380 calories, but you’re still looking at huge amounts of carbs (more because i chose wheat bread this time around – way to be healthy!), but the dietary fiber is a little higher. i put on more veggies so your vitamins are up.
ok, so let’s see what the worst of the worst can do:
mcdonald’s bacon clubhouse crispy chicken sandwich [which is breaded and fried] vs. subway italian bmt with italian herbs and cheese bread, cheddar, mayo and olive oil, and bacon (plus a few veggies).
chicken: 750 cals, 340 fat cals, .5 transfats, 65 carbs, 4 fiber, 16 sugar, 36 protein, 8 A,
25 C, 30 calcium, 15 iron, 1720 sodium (whoa)
bmt: 710 cals, 400 fat cals, .5 transfats, 46 carbs, 3 fiber, 9 sugar, 29 protein, 15 A,
20 C, 50 calcium, 20 iron, 1820 sodium (more whoa)
the only plus side to eating the bmt is that you get some veggies on there.
for being “healthy”, subway sure doesn’t seem healthy. unfortunately, when a person walks into subway and puts a bunch of veggies on her sub, she is sort of disillusioned into thinking that her food is healthy. not necessarily the case.
**********************
let’s see what MY meal i eat a mcdonald’s comes in at (the only meal without devil’s syrup) vs. what i would get at subway:
6-piece chicken nuggets w/small fries vs. chicken breast on italian herbs and cheese.
mcd: 510 cals, 260 fat cals, 0 transfat, 47 carbs, 4 fiber, 0 sugar, 16 protein, 0 A, 10 C,
4 calcium, 8 iron, 700 sodium
subway: 560 cals, 260 fat cals, 0 transfat, 45 carbs, 3 fiber, 7 sugar, 26 protein, 20 A,
30 C, 50 calcium, 15 iron, 1160 sodium (holy cats)
even though the carbs are high from the french fries, given the lack of sugar in the mcdonald’s meal, i’d choose the nuggets and fries over the sodium-laden sub. (yes, yes, veggies are great, but the piddly amount they put on the subs does not make up for the huge slab of bread that surrounds them.)
this is all just another reason to stay home and cook.
bread making
i’ve tried to make bread in the past, and really didn’t have a ton of luck. yeast and i don’t get along very well for some reason. but, i’ve had a lot of luck with pizza dough lately, so i thought i’d give bread another go.
i used the french bread recipe from this site. pretty simple: flour yeast, salt, and water. mix, knead, let sit, form loaf, let sit, bake. the “secret” is to throw a half cup of water in the oven just before you close it to get steam in there for a crusty crust. (seems a little counter-intuitive, but it works.) i was worried about the lack of sugar in it, but the yeast did its job and it tastes great.
and omg is it crusty!
short post
short post today since it’s bedtime. found this gem on twitter, for all you foodies out there.
baked alaska, part III!
ah, the epic end to the saga.
part I
partII
preheat oven to 500, place baked alaska in oven for 4 minutes. or, after seeing how the meringue’s getting a little toasty, 3 minutes.
i wanted this to be more sensational than it was. i could have achieved the same effect by bringing over a pan of brownies with meringue on top and a couple quarts of ice cream. if i DO attempt this again (unlikely), i’ll put some other stuff in there, like in a DQ ice cream cake. at which point, it’s probably more effective to just buy a DQ cake…
ah well; i can say i tried it.