Casserole Carrier

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the casserole carrier I made my sister in law for Christmas. I found an easy tutorial online from http://2littlehooligans.blogspot.com/2010/10/casserole-carrier-tutorial.html

I loved the fabric, it's from the Domestic Diva line designed by Emily Taylor for Riley Blake designs. It is insulated with Insul-Bright (same stuff used in hotpads) so that it will reflect the heat of the casserole back into the carrier or if you're carrying something cool it'll reflect that back as well. I've got a few more to make, one for me and some for my sisters. They're fun to make and when you find cute fabric to use it's even better! I even had enough fabric and Insul-bright left over to make some hotpads. I'm toying with making a round one for pies. I'm sure this would carry one or two just fine but it would be interesting to try to make a round one just to ensure that they don't slide around inside the carrier during transport. We'll see if I get up the time and courage to attempt it.

Baklava

Over the holiday weekend I decided to try a new recipe and challenge myself to make something I'd never done before. My cousin posted a picture of the baklava recipe he's been working on for awhile now and after one look at it my husband and I knew we had to try it. My cousin lives in another state so we haven't been able to try his but he was kind enough to forward me the recipe. It was very very yummy! It's definitely a keeper!

Thanksgiving pie

For Thanksgiving I made 2 pies and a cheesecake. The pies below are butterscotch, pecan and milkyway pies, they were so good. The recipe is definitely a keeper. I can't find my picture of the cheesecake but it was a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap cookie and pecan crust. That one turned out really good as well. I cooked the cheesecake in a water bath so it didn't crack and turned out really nicely.

I need to learn how to rotate my pictures...

December Daring Cooks Challenge

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

I choose the classic Eggs Benedict recipe. Poaching an egg was surprisingly less difficult than I thought it was gong to be and that part was a success. I choose to substitute Canadian bacon with turkey bacon and regular Enlish muffins with whole wheat ones. The hollandaise sauce was pretty time consuming and I will definitely add way less salt (if any) next time. With the turkey bacon, which is pretty salty on it's own combined with the hollandaise sauce the dish was so salty we couldn't eat it. So although the meal was a success aesthetically it failed on taste, so bad in fact that the first thing my husband said when he took at bite-with his mouth full was, "ahhh you poisened me!".

Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Simons of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as a information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

This was a fun challenge and it tasted great. The only down side is I really need to practice a latice. They're harder than they look.

November Cooks' Challenge

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Souffles as our November 2010 Daring Cooks' Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate souffle recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay's recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I choose to make their Crab and Artichoke Souffle with a couple adaptions. I added a sauted shallot and changed the cheese to parmesean. It tasted great but I couldn't get it to puff up like a souffle should. I'm not quite sure what a did wrong but at least it tasted good.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I chose to use a pumpkin Spice Doughnut hole recipe I found online and then added some extra spices that I enjoy in addition to what the recipe called for. I had extra pumpkin to use from my pumpkin cookies that I made a weekend or so ago and couldn't let it go to waste. They are rolled in cinnamon and sugar but if I ever make them again I might try a glaze too.

They may not look very good (a combination of my camera skills and the fact that it was my first time trying to form and cook doughnut holes) but they were super yummy. Trust me they weren't burnt despite how dark they look. I think it was a partly because of the orange color of the dough. So yummy in fact that we just kept eating them as they came out and were rolled in cinnamon and sugar. I finally had to put a hold on eating them until I could get at least a few on the plate for a picture.

All in all it was a fun challenge. It took a batch or two to get the sizing right but once that was mastered they came out well. Cooking with oil or should I say deep frying is not my favorite and you won't catch me doing it very often, if ever but with my sisters help it worked out well.