Vegetables

In class the past two days, we have been cooking one of my favorite things-vegetables. I like almost all types-and today my recipe contained just about every veggie. Acorn squash stuffed with vegetables (carrot, zucchini, onion, red & green pepper, mushrooms, & white beans), garlic & panko, topped with Gruyère cheese and more panko. Delicious. The squashes were par-roasted, so they were slightly soft when we put the stuffing in, since the stuffing was halfway cooked. Mmmmm. I would give it a 9/10. I'll post the recipe (which makes 6 acorn squash, 12 halves) tomorrow. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes?!

                            
Chocolate chip cookie dough in a cupcake? Sounds like a dream come true. I've been seeing lots of recipes for this specialty online, and thought I should give it a try. They turned out great! I went a little shy on the filling and will use more next time. Yes, I took some shortcuts (a box mix & canned frosting) but I was pressed for time & I think mixes produce a great & consistent product.

Ingredients:

• 1 Yellow Cake Mix (and ingredients needed on package)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 Tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
• 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips + garnishes
• 1 container Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
• (optional) Chocolate chip cookie dough to make mini cookies for decorations ( I used TollHouse mini's)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make cupcake batter according to directions then stir in 1 cup of regular chocolate chips (I missed this memo..oops!). Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Let cool.

2. While cupcakes are in the oven, make the cookie dough filling by combining brown sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and cream on medium speed until fluffy (2 min). Mix in flour & sweetened condensed milk & vanilla. Beat until combined. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Cover & refrigerate until firm (15 min).









3. When cupcakes have cooled, cut a hole in the top about an inch deep. Fill the hole with about a tablespoon of the cookie dough filling. I went a little on the lighter side, but feel free to use as much as you like (:

4. Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting using a pastry bag (or ziploc), garnish with mini chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy (:

Breakfast-Food Fundamentals-2/22/11

Today in Food Fundamentals, we focused on breakfast. More specifically, pancakes & syrup, bacon & sausage, omelets, and eggs cooked to order. I learned three things today. 

1. Making pancakes can be way too much fun with a squirt bottle. We made stars, hearts, even a palm tree!

2. I can flip eggs like a champ.

3. I never, ever want to be a breakfast cook.

For my omelet, I sauteed onions, mushrooms & spinach, then added the egg, seasoned it, and proceeded to cook the omelet. It was delicious! It's so easy to make eggs interesting (:

I also had never made pancake batter from scratch, and the recipe we used gave us very light and fluffy pancakes. The syrup was pretty good, but nothing like Vermont maple syrup! We added chocolate chips to ours (:

 We made sausage patties using pork sausage,

 fennel seed, crushed red pepper, and s&p. 

I formed them into patties and cooked them on the griddle.

 They turned out pretty good (: 

We also cooked bacon in the oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes.

For my egg to order, I cooked a fried egg. They're my favorite! (:

Overall, today was a very good day! I now feel a lot more comfortable making breakfast food and will hopefully practice more at home.

Hooray!

I decided it was time to start a food blog to show off everything I make (: Haha, hopefully I'll be able to make a real post soon (: