Recipes thread (continued)

[Christina]

Bobalina, the first thing I made with mine was the pizza dough. Make sure you have the temperature of the water correct, and I add about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to the recipe that came with the mixer.

Congrats! You have now doomed yourself to gain about 5 pounds from using your new baby!

[bobalina77]

Congratulations!!! Now maybe you don't need to be in a rush to get married, since you already have one of the big prizes

Do share your cooking adventures, and of course we all want to know - what is your new baby's name??

I don't know what to name her.. I was thinking Nigella cause she's the only female chef I can think of who has dark hair.. but THEN I was thinking I shouldn't name her after a chef but maybe after Audrey Hepburn because of the whole little black dress phenomenon (and because I'm obsessed with her haha). So maybe Audrey? She is really pretty!

The other day I came home from work and I played with her.. just pulled the levers and took the bowl off and on. I haven't had a chance to use her yet though. It's boyfriend's birthday tomorrow and I think I'll make a cake, but not from scratch as I don't really have time and I'm not that brave yet I might attempt to make the icing from scratch though.. anyone have any good icing recipes?

[immoimeme]

Here is a Mid-Winter Soup that I just made (up).

Fill your crock pot with about a cup of water. Put in the pot roast. Add a lil more water if you don't think that's enough.

Cook pot roast over night, or until it falls apart. Remove and "vet," putting the sort of fatty bits back in the water. Put the good parts in the frig for later eating.

Add the part of the coleslaw mix that is about to go over. Add the half container of pico de gallo that needs to be used up today. Pick over the mushrooms and cut up the ones that are about to go over, then add to pot.

Let the soup cook on Low all day. Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches and apple slices.

[bobalina77]

So I didn't make the cake last night.. I got sidetracked by a Wii I told my boyfriend that I was naming my KA Audrey and he thought it was cute haha. Then I told him I felt guilty that I didn't get his cake made because now Audrey probably thinks I love the Wii more than her. He said "Don't worry, you'll make it up to her.." haha.. I love that he plays along rather than just looking at me like I'm crazy

[sk8pics]

That's funny, bobalina77.

I am planning to make a chicken soup (with barley, lentils, carrots and tomatoes, yum!) tonight, tomorrow the potato cheese soup that I mentioned before, and then some tomato soup with black beans, and freeze single portions of all of these so I can get through the first couple of weeks of work in the new year. I also found some of the mixture I use to make chimichangas (ground turkey, fat-free refried beans, salsa, cheese) frozen and I'll get that out, too. Yum!

[bobalina77]

Advice needed please!

So I made the cake last night.. the mixer is fricken amazing! Even my boyfriend was amazed! Love the fact that I don't have to spend the whole time it's mixing scraping the sides of the bowl.

The unfortunate part is that it doesn't magically make me a good baker I made just a boxed mix cake and for some reason the top of it rose like crazy and the edges cooked faster than the middle did so they burned slightly. What's the deal? I know my oven is off a bit temperature wise so I adjusted that.. maybe not enough? Did I put too much in the pan? I only filled it half full. Boyfriend was very supportive and gave me a kiss and said "no.. it's perfect!" but it was far from perfect so I was like "you think anything I do is perfect.." and he was like.. "well.. yeah of course I do.." haha.

The cupcakes I made with the remaining batter (I only had one 9 inch pan and the mix makes 2 of those) were beautiful.. as was the frosting, but I have no idea what happened to the cake.

[michiruwater]

Would it be terrible if I replaced castor sugar in a pavlova recipe with regular white sugar?... I've never made one. What is castor sugar?

[skaternum]

I made just a boxed mix cake and for some reason the top of it rose like crazy and the edges cooked faster than the middle did so they burned slightly. What's the deal?

What kind of cake pans are you using? If they're thin or cheap, that might be your problem. ??

[BrokenAnkle]

Would it be terrible if I replaced castor sugar in a pavlova recipe with regular white sugar?... I've never made one. What is castor sugar?

Castor sugar is superfine sugar or baker's sugar. I would think your pavlova would be fine w/ regular sugar, but if you wanted to be safe, you could put your regular white sugar in a food process for a few seconds

http://www.ochef.com/580.htm

[bobalina77]

What kind of cake pans are you using? If they're thin or cheap, that might be your problem. ??

I think they're Baker's Secret or something, I got it at the grocery store haha.. it seems nice enough. It's non stick and I followed the directions for non stick pans.

I can't even make a box mix cake.. how am I supposed to make one from scratch?

[maggylyn]

The cupcakes I made with the remaining batter (I only had one 9 inch pan and the mix makes 2 of those) were beautiful.. as was the frosting, but I have no idea what happened to the cake.

What kind of cake pans are you using? If they're thin or cheap, that might be your problem. ??

I live at high altitude and it's very handy to be able to blame everything on the altitude.

[FiveRinger]

Okay, guys. I have a cooking challenge for you master chefs. I have an electric steamer, and I am determined to use it more. The problem is that food never tastes season--it always tastes really bland. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to make the food that comes out of the steamer tasty? I don't want to use excessive salt because that defeats the purpose of using it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[vesperholly]

Found this recipe on LiveJournal's poor skills community. It's yummy and really easy to make, and uses basic foodstuffs.

Puffy pancakes (or dutch baby or german pancakes)

2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter (1 tbsp for pan, 1 tbsp for batter)
other ingredients to taste (cinnamon, vanilla)

Preheat oven to 400. Coat a 7" frying pan with 1 tbsp butter (melt in oven). Beat eggs together, then add rest of ingredients. Beat lightly until flour is in pea-sized clumps. Put batter into pan then cook until golden brown (~25 min). Batter will rise really high but deflates when out of oven.

I used melted frozen raspberries and a little bit of powdered sugar for topping.

My pictures:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2575/...470f4935_o.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/...bb95a055_o.jpg

[sk8pics]

That looks really yummy!

And it reminds me that my cousin's husband made a fabulous breakfast last weekend for us: took some leftover baguettes and put slices in the bottom of an oven-safe baking dish, poured over eggs mixed with cream or milk or whatever you use to make scrambled eggs, added some leftover cut up ham, topped with cheese and more baguette slices. Baked around 40 minutes, I think at around 375 F or so.... I may try one of these tomorrow morning!

[Jenny]

Okay, guys. I have a cooking challenge for you master chefs. I have an electric steamer, and I am determined to use it more. The problem is that food never tastes season--it always tastes really bland. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to make the food that comes out of the steamer tasty? I don't want to use excessive salt because that defeats the purpose of using it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I've never used an electric steamer, but often use a metal basket over steaming water in a pot to do veggies. For more flavour, how about a few sprigs of fresh herbs on top to steam with the veggies? Rosemary and thyme should add a lot of flavour; parsley or celery leaves a bit more subtley.

Then after, butter is always good but if you don't want to do that, a toss with a bit of olive oil and some herbs and spices can make all the difference. For example, cumin works really well with carrots or cauliflower, and some hot chili flakes with broccoli can be quite nice too. Celery seeds or leaves are nice with green beans, along with some sauteed onions, and if you want to take it a step further, toast some chopped up almonds in a dry fry pan and toss in as well.

Let us know what you come up with!

My pictures:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2575/...470f4935_o.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/...bb95a055_o.jpg

Beautiful - thanks for sharing!

Last night, for our NY hangover dinner, I was defrosting the second half of turkey pot pie filling from Thanksgiving in November. We watched Jamie Oliver's Christmas special (had it on tape) and he had two great tips: first, strain the mixture to dry it a bit so it makes a more cohesive piece when cut later, but save the liquid and serve it as a gravy - yum!! The other idea was genius (as Jamie would say) - instead of forming the usual pastry crust on the edge of the baking dish, tuck it round the meat mixture so it forms a shallow dome. Worked *beautifully* with no pulling away from the edges and just the right amount of pastry.

We still have a bit more frozen turkey, so hubby wants me to do another one soon, with Jamie's sweet leeks, yum yum yum.

[laurenjm]

Not a recipe but news about Crock Pots!

Its much healthier to cook meat and food in a crock pot than to bake, broil or roast!

So get those crock pots cookin!

[bobalina77]

Really? Thats good to know.. I love using my crock pot! I just have a little one but I think we're gonna invest in a bigger one once we move. Boyfriend's already told my mom that we're planning on having some sunday dinners at our place so mom doesn't have to do the cooking all the time.. completely his idea with no prompting from me

So this might seem like a stupid question.. but being new to baking and all I need to know these things. I want to make peanutbutter chocolate chip cookies but every recipe says I have to cream the butter and sugar together. I know what that means (I'm not THAT baking dumb) but what speed should my mixer be on to do that? Need help from some experienced Kitchen Aid owners haha.

[laurenjm]

Really? Thats good to know.. I love using my crock pot! I just have a little one but I think we're gonna invest in a bigger one once we move. Boyfriend's already told my mom that we're planning on having some sunday dinners at our place so mom doesn't have to do the cooking all the time.. completely his idea with no prompting from me

So this might seem like a stupid question.. but being new to baking and all I need to know these things. I want to make peanutbutter chocolate chip cookies but every recipe says I have to cream the butter and sugar together. I know what that means (I'm not THAT baking dumb) but what speed should my mixer be on to do that? Need help from some experienced Kitchen Aid owners haha.

Ha, I don't use a mixer at all I do everything by hand, so you don't have to have a fast speed on your mixer, just enough to blend and cream the ingredients!

[bobalina77]

Okay so just on low should work then? I'm so hopeless haha!

[orbitz]

I have an electric steamer, and I am determined to use it more. The problem is that food never tastes season--it always tastes really bland. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to make the food that comes out of the steamer tasty? I don't want to use excessive salt because that defeats the purpose of using it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

You'll have to season the food before and/or after steaming or season the water before turning on the steamer. There are a lot of salt-free or low-sodium alternatives to flavoring your food. For steamed vegetables, I always sprinkle them with a lemon & pepper salt substitute. For fish, you can try steaming them with scallions, ginger or pepper. You can also try sprinkling seafood seasoning like O-Bay into the water before steaming, or use a low-sodium soy sauce as a condiment for eating any of the steamed white fish.