pancakes - beginning of a great (fat) relationship

Don't get me wrong- I absolutely love my roommate M, but there's a few things I wish I could change about her. Most importantly: I wish she ate more of my frickin food. I mean, I can eat only so many brownies and cookies by myself before I turn into a fat pig. (And honestly, a lot of these delicious baked goods that I make are either thrown away or indulged by me on my "fat kid days"). This leads me to my next statement: (once again- no diss to M, but..) I love my new roommate A!


Okay- I love both my roomies to fucking death, that's a given. But the reason I'm excited to have A move in is because she loves to eat! She enjoys food just as much as me, she watched the Food Network just as much as me, and she more willing than myself to indulge on the types of food I make. Yayyy!


Bright and early one morning, we wake up and I see her wandering through the kitchen looking for something to eat. I typically don't eat when I first wake up (ironic, seeing as how breakfast is my ultimate favorite meal of the day), but I figured I'd whip up our first breakfast as official roommates. (Notice I said roommates, because obvi this bitch has been baking and cooking with me for ages: White Chocolate and Lime Cookies, Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime Pie, Caramel Nut Chocolate Tart, and so much more).


If anyone is keeping track here, this would be my second time making pancakes, ever, even from a box. (First time was the Whole Wheat Pancakes at my parents' house). Seeing as how I'm partially a pancake virgin, I asked A to take over the flipping at first. (Note her talented hand pouring the batter.)


After a bit of practice, I decided to take my attempt at batter-pouring. Apparently I'm not quite much of a pancake pro yet, but I'm definitely on my way. (And yes- it wouldn't be my type of breakfast without a little bit of chocolate).


For once, I looked upon a huge batch of food I just created, and wasn't worried as to what I would do with it. Luckily, my tiny little roommate A (whom I have no fricken clue as to how she can stay that small while eating so much) will help me greatly in the consumption of this pile of flapjacks.


As A went through pancake after pancake, I finally brought myself to eating just one pancake for breakfast (chocolate chip, of course). I typically try to stay away from too much sweets (which is practically impossible actually), but whatever- I mean, one pancake can't be that bad for you, right?


Okay... One turned into two... Two turned into three... And then my memory just blacked out. These were pretty damn decent pancakes for being made from scratch in literally three minutes.


A and myself made a pretty huge dent in those eight servings (pshh, no way that was eight servings) of flapjacks.


And so this concludes the beginning of happy relationship in our new household.

---RECIPE---
Taken from All Recipes: "Good Old Fashioned Pancakes".

ingredients:
1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3+1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1+1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

directions:
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

amount:
Makes 8 servings.

mexican-inspired quiche - we ended up eating scrambled eggs instead

While waiting for our assortment of scones to bake and cool, my cousin's stomach began to rumble. What I learned after spending every waking moment with her was that she apparently has an out-of-this-world feeding schedule. And by feeding schedule, I mean having to feed her like a puppy every hour on the dot. I looked in my fridge and found a ton of eggs and some leftover bacon. We could take the easy way out and simply make fried bacon and scrambled eggs... Or we could go all out and make a quiche! Needless to say, we opted for the quiche. We even made homemade pie crust- how do you like them apples?


Back to the food processor, and back to the rolling board (P.S., my grandma sent me this nifty Tupperware rolling board thing. Isn't she the sweetest little thing?).


The crust rolled out pretty nicely (even due to the fact that my cousin attempted to ruin the dough by cutting the circumference without measuring it in the pan first). Yeah, I'm a nazi at this shit.


I placed my makeshift baking beans (uncooked rice) over the pie crust so it wouldn't puff up, while my cousin beat the eggs.


While the crust baked in the oven, we prepared the filling. Apparently all I had in my fridge were onions and bell peppers, so I guess that had to do.


After the crust finished baking (we eyeballed the timing because my cousin doesn't like to be precise), we filled the cute little tart up to the brim. What should be especially noted was that we used no recipe for this entire dish (not counting the pie crust, because that needed to be exact). We guessed how many eggs to beat and surprisingly 6 was just the right amount. We also guessed the amount of bacon, onion, and bell pepper to perfectly spread throughout every bite. But let's not forget the cheese....


I had the final say on the amount of cheese we added- which was obviously a very good amount. Speaking of which, the only type of cheese I had in my fridge was the "Mexican Blend". It was on sale and I had no idea what it tasted like, but I figured it would go with our newly-Mexican-inspired quiche.


To be quite honest, the quiche came out deliciously. We winged the entire process, even down to baking time, and I was surprised that it came out flawlessly. The only tiff I had was that the crust dough wasn't baked thoroughly and was sort of soggy. If only we baked the crust longer, the quiche would have been impeccable. Also, by having both bell peppers and the Mexican cheese, it was like a little Mexican-fiesta in your mouth.


The best part of this whole ordeal was that the quiche was taking so long to bake, the scones were too soggy, and my cousin began having fainting-spells because of her lack of food. Luckily my boyfriend was over and saved the day with his cream-cheese-eggs and bacon breakfast (my favorite). So yes, we did actually end up eating eggs and bacon for breakfast, which was what we tried to avoid in the first place. I ain't complaining though; we had a tasty breakfast and a delicious lunch.

---PIE CRUST RECIPE---
Taken from Cook's Illustrated.

ingredients:
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour , plus extra for dusting dough
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , chilled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening , chilled (we just used more butter)
3–4 tablespoons ice water (we don't have an ice machine, so the water was just moderately cold)

directions:
1. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with a little of the flour. Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening and continue cutting in until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more ice water if it will not come together. Shape into ball with hands, then flatten into 4-inch-wide disk. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before rolling.
3. See, the recipe doesn't state as to how long/what temperature you should bake the crust. Which is why we had to resort to eyeballing it, hence the sogginess.)

---QUICHE RECIPE---
Made up by my cousin and myself.

1. Cook half a pack of bacon, and use the fatty leftovers to sautee half an onion and half a bell pepper.
2. Beat 6 eggs with desired seasonings (we probably only used salt, pepper, and perhaps Italian seasoning- which would be the only thing I own).
3. Pour everything, including eggs, bacon, and veggies into baked (and by baked, I mean baked) pie crust. Sprinkle with cheese (I'd go with the Mexican cheese- yum) and place in preheated 350 degree oven.
4. Bake until firm-ish!

whole wheat pancakes - drowning it in syrup negates the healthiness, but who cares

After my amazing results with the english scones, I sought to conquer more food processor related recipes. I had just finished baking the scones when my dad came by to tell me that he was going to pick up fast food for breakfast- I don't think so! I'm in a baking frenzy and I have a food processor in front of me ready to roll. I quickly searched for a whole wheat pancake recipe (attempting to be healthy here) and gathered the needed ingredients as my dad sat back and waited.


The whole wheat flour and oats added to the health factor in these pancakes. Also, there really wasn't that much butter used in this recipe.


What I liked about this recipe was that it suggested that you use a food processor. By cutting in the butter, the dough will have that fluffy texture almost similar to biscuits.


A whole ton of liquid gets poured in, and all of a sudden the batter becomes runny.


My mom, who claims to know everything, said that the batter was too watery to make pancakes. I proposed that I should at least try it, because I know damn well I followed the directions exactly.


So I'm standing there watching this pile of liquid, hoping that it will soon combine together. I learned from Bobby Flay's pancake throwdown that the pancakes are ready to flip once the bubbles rise.


So the first ones didn't come out perfect, but they tasted freakin good. My parents couldn't even tell that these were whole wheat pancakes.


I soon got the hang of it, and was whipping out pancake after pancake. Also, the recipe stated that there were 4 servings, but I honestly made at least 15 pancakes (and still had to throw out the rest of the batter), so I'm not sure how many pancakes are considered a serving to the guy that made this recipe, lol.


Time for me to taste. The pancakes were a lot thinner than typical pancakes, probably because they were so runny. Other than that, the inside was moist and soft, and surprisingly tasted fine by itself.


But nothing goes better with healthy whole wheat pancakes than tons of maple syrup.


Holy crap, these pancakes were so good. And this is my first time making pancakes, ever (like I've never even made Bisquick before). So considering all that, I think I'm pretty much the shit.


I think I'm going to have to add these pancakes to my repertoire because they are that delicious.
---RECIPE---
Adapted from All Recipes.

ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup wheat germ (I substituted rolled oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used skim milk instead. probably healthier anyways)
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

directions:
1.In a food processor or in a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, white flour, wheat germ or oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and salt.
2.Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife, and add the butter to the flour-mixture. Mix until the mixture has a sand-like consistency.
3.Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture, and add the buttermilk and eggs. Stir until the liquids are fully incorporated.
4.Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease the surface with 1 tablespoon of butter or oil. Ladle the batter onto the surface to form 4 inch pancakes. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over, and cook them on the other side for about 2 minutes.

amount:
Makes 4 servings (pshh yeah, for 4 hungry fat people)

first attempts/projects

Compilation of my previous tries. These are from September-October. I’d say these were valiant efforts (:


Nostalgia- The first night I cooked dinner for my boyfriend, which brought me this strange enjoyment from cooking. So I guess I could blame this weird obsession I now have with cooking, on this fateful night.


Appetizer:
Pesto, garlic, butter toasted baguette.
Homemade ravioli (by homemade I mean dry won ton wrappers counts) stuffed with ricotta cheese, pesto, and mozzarella cheese.
Entree:
Pesto rotini with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
Ricotta and pesto stuffed chicken breasts, breaded and fried, topped with slices of mozzarella cheese.
Dessert:
Cookies from Dunkin Donuts (lol) because I got too tired to bake.
PS- Can you tell I’m a fan of pesto?


Pecan pie I made for my boyfriend. It turned out quite good. The only suggestion I got was to make more filling on the bottom with a layer of pecans at the top, opposed to mixing it all together. Simple fix.


Breakfast I made for my boyfriend (missing the actual breakfast part lol). It included: Scrambled eggs with cream cheese and fried hot dogs, cream cheese stuffed french toast, blueberry cream cheese muffins, football shaped brownies (fudge brownies with white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, walnuts, covered in chocolate icing with cream cheese frosting lining for the footballs).
-Once again, notice my affinity to cream cheese?


Delicious cookie I must say. These disappeared within a short amount of time. Semi-sweet chocolate chips with white chocolate chips in a chewy soft cookie. (I’m still on the quest for the perfect cookie- coming soon).


My boyfriend insisted I make him cookies with his two favorite things: white chocolate chips and coconut. I told him that the batter might not come out as well, because of the massive amount of coconut he wanted and because he didn't have any baking soda in his house. Needless to say, we worked our way around it, and came up with this beauty. It was actually very good, but a little too sweet for my taste. Based on the Cook's Illustrated cookie.


My first attempt at apple pie. It probably would have came out better if my boyfriend and I had some restraints on ourselves and waited the few hours of "setting" time the recipe stated. The second we cut into the freshly warm pie, oozing deliciousness of the apple pie filling seeped out, thus not allowing for proper "setting" time. Next time I’ll hold myself back. It was still good though, as long as it was microwaved and had a massive amount of vanilla ice cream along side.


Pate choux! A lot easier than it seems. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take a picture with them filled. They were pretty good, although next time I’ll make them a bit more rounded.