Chocolate Fix Needed Stat!

Men may not get it, but I'll bet about 75 to 80% of women will.  A couple of weeks ago, I was in desperate need of a chocolate fix - largely due to hormones - and I didn't want to go to the store. Besides, it was 9:30pm. Who wants to go anywhere that late at night on a weeknight?  Well, besides those devoted husbands eager to satiate their pregnant wives' cravings.

For months, my beautiful little sister (she's nearly 20) and I had been playing around with a microwave brownie recipe she had found on a blog named "Cut Out + Keep". You should check it out, because it was definitely a good idea!  A little side note:  we used Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix instead of NesQuik, because it was what we had on hand. We both appreciated the recipe for the chocolaty goodness that it was. It hit the spot when we needed it, and we were both ever so grateful.

Then, the wacky experimenter in me, decided to play around with the recipe.  I used unsweetened cocoa powder, which meant to cut the bitterness, I needed sugar. I didn't like the idea of oil because it seemed...well...oily. I switched to melted butter but, shamefully, reduced the amount. It was nice and fudgy!  You'd think that would be enough experimenting right?

Heck no!

I continued to play with it for a few more weeks until I became...sickened by chocolate. I know! I am so ashamed to even say it!  How does one become sickened by chocolate?

My sister decided she wanted to play with my experiment as well.  Her recipe came out more cake-like, and she was still using the oil.

Our efforts created this yummy bit.  I love my sister, so I will give her partial credit. Hehe!

Warning...the following recipe is rich with chocolatey goodness. You may want to share. Or not...

Yummy Microwave Brownie Goodness

4 Tablespoons of all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

5 Tablespoons of granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

3 Tablespoons of melted butter/margarine (sister uses oil)

5 Tablespoons of water

Mix ingredients well in a large coffee mug, soup mug or large ramekin.  Place in microwave and heat on high for 2 minutes.

Let stand for 1-5 minutes. If you don't, you very well may singe your tongue and the roof of your mouth. You have been warned.

I have added a bit of frosting to the top when I had left over. That was good as well. You could add fresh fruit as a garnish, if so inclined. :)

Variation: For a slightly less rich brownie, instead use only 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and only 4 tablespoons of water.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Cheese Topped Biscuits

It sounds crazy, right? When I first thought of doing it, I thought I'd lost my marbles.

As you may already know, I am an avid Pinterest browser. I have been seeing all these recipes pop up for all kinds of things made in muffin tins. There's been individual meatloaves, taco shells, lasagna cups...just about everything you could think of.  Then, I thought of something else.

I hadn't been able to figure out what to do with some leftover cilantro lime chicken that I had taken out of my freezer. Originally, I planned on doing chicken burritos, but my husband said he really wasn't in the mood for a burrito. Well that just burst my bubble.

I began perusing the refrigerator to see what else I could make when I see that my sneaky hubby bought refrigerated biscuits. (If you know anything about me, you know that I hate buying packaged foods.)

Out of spite and a little inspiration, I decided to try something a little funky.

Chicken and Cheese Topped Biscuits

1 can Pillsbury biscuits

leftover chicken, shredded

shredded cheddar

taco seasoning ( I used my own blend)

Preheat oven to 450F degrees. Remove a biscuit from the can and flatten in your palm.  You may stretch it slightly as well to best create a bit of a cup in the pan.  Lay biscuit disc in bottom of muffin tin and allow it to form to the sides. In center of biscuit cup, layer chicken, cheddar, and seasoning. Do this for the remainder of the biscuits to fill your muffin pan.

Place in oven and allow to cook for 10-12 minutes. These will be extremely hot due to the melted cheese, so please be careful when removing them from the pan. 

We garnished with a little sour cream and salsa to spice it up.

Yields 10 biscuits. (Your can's capacity)

Gardening Adventure Update

If you remember, a while back I started a new adventure. Gardening. Things were looking so very good, but then we went on a week-long vacation. Not good. Our smaller plants (peppers) didn't get enough water or got too much, and our larger plants were wilting or drying.

One thing that I did notice and was excited about was that our Galia melon and summer squash bushes were growing very well. The Galia melon bush began growing like crazy, and I remembered a trip that my husband and I had taken while at Disney World for our honeymoon (10 years ago).

August 15, 2012

At EPCOT, they have an agriculture boat ride where you learn about what foods Disney World grows on property and some alternative growing techniques. They had melon growing on trellis and being shaped into Mickey Mouse icons. They had tomatoes hanging upside down and hanging from their root. They were growing vegetables and trees in sand. Herbs were being treated by way of a vitamin wash and hydroponics. Way cool! If you get the chance to visit, I highly recommend it!

I digress.

Based on what I had witnessed on that tour, I decided to use an old chair back and create a makeshift trellis.  The result was amazing!  It started growing like mad! We had our first melon within a week.

The melon did get too heavy and began bending the vine, so much so that the vine began to crack. I decided to figure out a way to give the melon some support so that it didn't break the vine and kill the fruit. It is a VERY yummy fruit.

August 19, 2012

Then another little melon showed up three days later and I felt the need to give them both a little support.  I had an abundance of soda bottles so I created a makeshift clamp with which to hold each melon individually.  What I did for each was cut the top of a 2-liter bottle off. I then cut the bottle in half from top to base. The very bottom of those bottles are much thicker and harder to cut, so I left them intact to act as an anchor.  The result of which is below. I know how it must look to a few of you, but believe me, it was unintentional. That just happened to be where the melons grew. The irony is not lost on me. Hehe.

August 22, 2012
Notice the change from August 15th?

The other day, we noticed that the supports themselves were slipping because the melons were causing the "clamps" to expand, pulling them back through. My husband suggested wiring the bottles to the trellis. What our minds came up with together, was so much better.  

We took a thicker gauged wire hanger and cut it into pieces taller than the space between the slats. We brought one half of the bottle through the opening between the slats and punched the wire through, allowing the other half to remain on the other side of the trellis still allowing a shelf of support.

Wire holding the 2-liter bottles to the "trellis.

Bottles hanging out

 

August 28, 2012
Can you see the difference from
just six days prior?
Just wow!

The Galia melon vine continues to grow and is attempting a takeover of the entire bed. It looks as though it is making an effort to mate with both the tomato and summer squash plants. We have to keep redirecting it, but may soon have to move the tomato plant. Every redirect seems to cause it to attempt to reach out to the plants again. It's stubborn for sure, but luckily we are on top of what's going on.

I have seen bees pollinating the flowers on the plant, so I am sure the growth is partially due to their diligent efforts. The songs from the Bug's Life show at Disneyland keep playing through my mind. Some bugs are good for gardens.

My little nieces come over two to three times a week and keep wanting to go outside to look at the plants. They want to help water them, but I have to disappoint them on the days they come over later in the afternoon. They are getting so excited, I'm considering having them help me plant our next round of seeds.

August 31, 2012

The growth has been progressing so well that we found a new baby melon very quickly!

So yesterday, we saw what you see in the picture on the left (below). It was time to loose it from its vine! We were stoked. 

September 8, 2012 - Ripe and ready to snip!

In little over a month, we have gone from seed to snip. We have at least two more melons on the vine. We can't wait to get going on more items. And to think this was all a practice round to see if we could do it.

I gave the melon a day to rest and then, this morning I cut it open. Isn't it pretty?!

Now, I just need to figure out how to save the seeds for next year!

Happy Gardening!

A New Adventure for This Food Junkie

I've been freezing chicken stock, bbq sauce, soups, spaghetti sauce, and various meals for years. I have a ten cubic foot chest freezer and a ridiculously small  nineteen cubic foot refrigerator/freezer, but it's not enough space to hold everything anymore.  I make batches, not serving sizes, and I am quickly running low on freezer space.

There's only two of us, sometimes three, but I like being prepared for the unexpected guests or the request to host a decent sized dinner party.  There's also poker nights once ever four to six weeks at our house in which we provide a meal.  Makes the day easier if I have something at the ready so that I don't have to be in the kitchen all day.

My husband, God love him, has been supportive of me and my love for cooking. It used to drive him absolutely bonkers that I enjoy making things from scratch. He's given in on some things, but he absolutely will not give in on his need for Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies. He loves the refrigerated squares - which drives me bonkers. I have my own refrigerated dough for cookies that I like to prepare. He eats mine, but a piece of him just can't let those darn Nestle ones go.

Where am I going with this?  Here it is.

I've already written about my new found hobby of gardening, and you'd think that'd be enough to keep me busy. Nope. Though I have been too scared to even imagine myself doing something this "daring" with food, I am going to begin and additional hobby. The thought is still causing me some trepidation, but I've already begun the process of learning about my new venture.

I'm biting the bullet. I'm taking up canning.  

Yep. It's the next natural step, isn't it? One grows a simple little houseplant and sees if they can help it to survive their predisposition for killing the greenery which assists in giving them the very air they breathe. Once one has somewhat mastered the art created by a green thumb in growing houseplants, the next step would be to take up gardening. Right? Well, as you've read, I've done that.

In anticipation and hopefulness of the abundance of fruits and vegetables, I am going to learn how to do an ages old food art. It is the next natural step. My basil is coming in, and it is nearing the time to harvest, which also means it is time to make another batch of spaghetti sauce.  Well, that and I am running low on stock in my freezer. So, instead of filling my freezer, I shall fill my meager excuse of a pantry.

The thing that's getting me excited is that if I can truly keep this gardening thing going, I will be purchasing other plants or seeds. I am already giddy about growing blueberries and strawberries in the springtime. If I can do that, then I can make jams or spreads and really get things going. Wee!

Don't worry, I plan on taking you all on this ride with me.  As if I'd leave you out.  You'll share in both my successes and my opportunities.

Gardening: Taking the Food Junkie to New Heights

Gardening.  Never thought I'd be one to take up the practice.  I use "practice" instead of "habit" because I could still screw this up.

When I was little, my family had a small vegetable garden in our huge backyard.  It was neat, for me, to see things growing back there. I got excited when it came time to harvest.  I think my parents got bored with it though, because I don't remember having it for very long.  I do remember Mom had said she could kill any plant that was given to her. I, apparently, have that gene as well. Up until about three years ago, I too could kill any plant you gave to me.  

Three years ago, my husband's family lost an elder - his grandfather - and we were given one of the arrangements to take home and cultivate in his memory.  The beautiful container held four different types of houseplants.  I killed one within days.  The second went within two weeks and the other two were hanging on by a thread. I was devastated. I knew that i had a predisposition to killing plants, but I really wanted them to survive.  They were supposed to live on in his memory.  I am happy to report that both have survived (in case you hadn't already guessed).

My husband decided that he wanted to start an herb garden and picked up some sweet basil. I use a lot of basil in my sauces and recently found some interesting recipes with the ingredient so this was an attractive idea.  This beautiful herb has come in beautifully, and I now have two large pots full of basil, ready for harvesting. Perfect timing because I'll be making my next round of spaghetti sauce in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking maybe Margherita Pizza for dinner one night very soon. Nom!

Anyway, add the above success to the survival of two houseplants and inspiration by way of Pinterest, and you get a food junkie that wants to try her hand at gardening.  I know, but hang in there with me.

Two or three months ago, I had seen someone post about gardening in a soda bottle.  I remember the basics of it, but I hadn't bothered to re-pin the idea, because I couldn't imagine ever doing anything like that.

Re-purposing at it's best.

The joke is on me!

ALERT:  Crazy Food Junkie has a new high!  Seed cultivation.

We had a weekend birthday bash for my husband's fortieth last month and saved every seed from every pepper we'd used.  I planted them in the soda bottles and hoped for the best.

Long story made short, it worked! I have red, yellow, and orange bell pepper seedlings. I also have jalapeno seedlings! Neither the green bell peppers nor the yellow chile peppers did well, but I will try those again. 

I transplanted the yellow bell peppers into my newly built raised garden just this morning.  Hopefully they thrive.  If they don't like it in their new home and decide to vacate the premises, I know how to plant more.

Once the husband figured out we were doing pretty good at this gardening thing, he wanted to plant summer squash. Then, a few weeks ago, we picked up some crazy melon that had the skin of a cantaloupe, but the inside looked like a honeydew melon.  It tasted like a mix of both.  I just found out this morning that it's called a Galia melon.  (Got to love Google search!)  

Hopefully this gardening thing works out. It's all on me to keep it going since I am the one at home with these things. I have a lot of reading to do and the Arizona heat to consider. Keep the faith, Food Junkie!

SIDE NOTE:  I was inspired to make garden sticks out of used plastic knives. Another re-purpose idea, but it came from my brain for a change.  Woohoo!

Time to pin it!

Cake Pops

Sometimes things go beautifully and other times, things go horribly wrong.

I felt I had perfected the cake ball pops and was ready to try something I had glanced at on a magazine rack in Michael's last week.  The headline mentioned using cookie cutters to form various cake pops. I thought that was a really cool idea, so I wanted to put it into motion sooner rather than later.

This past weekend was my first opportunity and I had the perfect "guinea pig". My nephew is turning twelve and asked for Funfetti cake pops.  We're a group that LOVES Disney. No joke. Look up "Disneyphile"(Disney's name for it's freaky fans), and you just might see a picture of our crazy crowd.

Back to the task.

I have a Mickey Icon Cookie cutter. It's about two inches tall and about an inch thick - a little big for a normal-sized one-inch cake ball, but it's Mickey! So, why not?

I was forming the Mickey Icons and was loving how they were turning out.  It was so hard not to show anyone what I was doing.  I was so excited and couldn't wait to see the look on my nephew's face.

Normally I can get 40-50 cake balls from one cake box recipe, whereas these Mickey cookie cutter cake pops only allowed for fifteen big pops and one teensy little ball.  The pops were going to be about serving size for fifteen people.  I decided the ball would have his birthday year, and he could decide who got that little nob.

Easy solution!  

I put the sticks in with a little bit of chocolate and then had a thought that these might fall apart at the ears, given the size and weight of them.  I decided one of the flat sides needed to be painted with white chocolate so that no disasters would befall Mickey.

**No mice, fictional or otherwise, were harmed in the making of these cake pops**

I decided to test my theory on the first Mickey Icon pop.

**Remember my opening remark**

Painting one side wasn't enough.  Poor Mickey split right up the middle and took a header (pun intended) right into the melted chocolate.  I, not wanting anything to go to waste, took both halves out, pushed the two together, stuck the stick back in, let it lay in all it's chocolaty goodness, and told it I would deal with it later.  Yes, I spoke to it. I was that upset.

Since painting one side hadn't worked, I stepped away from the cake pops, and the mess, looked at my tools and tried to hash out another plan of attack.  I had plenty of gadgets and yet not enough.

The question that popped into my head next was, "What would Grandma or Nana have done without all the fancy-pancy kitchen gadgets?"  The answer came back so quickly, and given my calm, I knew someone was watching out for me. :~D

Spoon it! 

So that's what I did. I used a spoon for the remainder of my venture. It worked out much better than I'd expected.


Though they were ridiculously rich - the kids loved them - they weren't too horrible. They were messy to look at for someone who is ridiculously picky about how things should be presented.  Given that this was the first attempt at cookie cutter pops, I'm letting it slide.

Ta Da!

Lessons learned:

*     Use smaller cookie cutters.  One inch is plenty big enough for a cake pop and the results will most likely be cleaner.
*     "Basting" chocolate on is a good idea for frosting, but not for candy coating.
*     When that inner voice tells you that something is too heavy and maybe you should rethink what you're doing, listen to it!  It knows of what it speaks!

And if you're wondering what happened to the Mickey that took a fall, I shaved off the excess chocolate with a knife and smoothed on a thin layer of chocolate. I was the only one that knew which one had fallen apart.

If you'd like to make your own attempts at Cake Pops, check out Bakerella.  A friend introduced me to the site last year, and it's been great for some really cute ideas!

Some of my more successful attempts at "Cake Poppery"

Easter eggs - Sprinkles over the candy coat while wet.

Cowboys! - Had to mix the Cowboy blue myself.

My very first attempt at Cake Pops. Notice the "sweating" from the chocolate. I was upset about it until I saw the Mickey in the center. I've since perfected the melting of the chocolate and the coolness of the cake.

Reality's Cooking!

So, here's the thing.  My little sister is on Summer break from college.  She lives with me when she's not living on the university campus.

She begged me to start watching a couple of her favorite shows with her:  Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef.  Admittedly, I didn't want to watch them.  I had no desire to see a boss - in this case Gordon Ramsay - shout obscenities at their crew; I got enough of that in retail and don't feel the slightest twinge of want to watch it happen over and over again.

Surprisingly enough, it's been oddly uplifting.


Don't get me wrong, I still don't like seeing people get verbally abused, but to see trained professionals in Hell's Kitchen burn and undercook items, gives me hope for my amateurish attempts.  I actually found myself speaking to the boneheads for not knowing what they are doing.  For example, on tonight's episode, a chef did not know the ingredients for a California Cobb Salad.  There was an example sitting not far away, and yet he added an abundance of sliced white button mushrooms that should not have been there in the first place.

Ugh!

What's crazier still, is that the menu doesn't seem to change.  Retention in these chefs is sorely lacking. Another chef had cooked scallops perfectly during one challenge and yet ever since then, she can't seem to cook a single one correctly. I don't get it.  Maybe it's the pressure of the situation, but in this instance the old cliche rings true.  "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Here's the Kitchenista herself!  Anna!

On Master Chef things are a bit sweeter, for the time-being.  We're just getting to know a few of the amateur chefs.  They were just whittled down to eighteen, including one very tall gentleman, a blind woman, and a single mom.  One woman in particular, touched my heart.  I found her recipe for Tarragon Beef Stuffed Onion Wrap with Shallot Vinaigrette and Horseradish Creme from this evening's episode rather intriguing.  I Googled it to see if anyone else had a similar recipe and was pleasantly surprised to find that she has a blog called "Brave Apron".  She's so adorable, and I find myself really pulling for her.  Her husband was a contestant in the beginning two stages, but sadly he didn't make it through.  He's a sweetie as well, but you could tell from the get-go that his wife was going to beat the pants off of him!

Are there any other shows I should be watching in relation to food?