Baking, as Always!

My mom had her baking marathon, so I had mine!

I sent cookie tins filled with goodies to several of my friends this year. Here are the action shots:

I did a recipe called "Gary's Favorite Cookies." It's a family recipe, they're oatmeal/walnut/chocolate chip. My mom thinks I make them wrong, because hers spread out super thin, and mine are like tiny cookie clumps.

I also did blonde brownies, which turned particularly golden this time around.

And I made a banana loaf for my brother, who can't eat anything overly sweet. So I thought this would be a nice middle-ground.

I started doing my own baking projects at Christmas-time a couple of years ago. My mom has criticized my holiday baking. She feels that cookies for the holidays have to be fancy. She says, holiday cookies require an extra step, like rolling, cutting, icing... something special. She says that blonde brownies and Gary's Favorite Cookies are every-day recipes, and are therefore inappropriate for the holidays.

Do you guys agree? Is there a two-tiered system for cookies? Should we only cook "fancy" foods on the holidays? Or is my mother being adorably snooty? ^_^
Answer in the comments section!

Halloween!

So, we planned a Halloween party. I made lots of themed snacks, and put together a last-minute costume.

I invited 5 people, and 4 bailed. So it ended up being me, Brandon and Rory hanging out with WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. But it's okay, I needed a laid-back evening. It turned out to be really relaxing.

Photo dump!

I dressed as a 1950's housewife.

We went to the store in the middle of the day, but I didn't break character!

Foods!

Hot spiced apple cider with rum! 

Happy Halloween!

Romantic Dinner

Every now and then Brandon and I decide on a recipe that just begs to be had with a bottle of wine. And so the meal becomes a romantic dinner... at least, in my mind it does. Even if we don't do anything romantic that evening.

I searched through the pile of cooking magazines my mom had sent me for recipes to try and I was able to combine several into what became an extremely successful meal:

-buttermilk biscuits from scratch (by far the most technically difficult baking recipe I've ever put together)
-leeks in a fancy little vinaigrette and topped with a hardboiled egg
-lamb chops broiled and smothered in a rich butter flavored with pesto and sundried tomato


I got the idea to make flavored butter from Bon Appetite, they have a link to the instructions on their website: www.bonappetit.com/go/butter. The lamb chops recipe - although from a totally different magazine - called for butter flavored with pesto and sundried tomato. I cheated slightly and used pre-minced sundried tomatoes in seasoned olive oil.

Okay, this step isn't so lovely... But it tastes amazing!

We had some fresh herbs that needed using up, so I made an herbed butter too.

Another magazine clipping my mother gave me had a buttermilk biscuits recipe. This was, by far, the most technically difficult thing I've ever baked - and it turned out PERFECT. I couldn't be more proud. They are delicious, and pretty, and fluffy... Sorry. I'm just super happy with myself.

Next up are the leeks. I sauteed them lightly in butter and extra-virgin olive oil, then in dry white wine. Then I covered them in chicken broth and stuck the pan in the oven and let it boil down. I removed them from the broth when they were soft and covered them in a white wine vinaigrette with grainy mustard and parsley, and crumbled a hard boiled egg on top. This was another extremely complicated recipe that I never, ever would have come up with on my own. It was well worth the effort. Even Brandon, who does not generally like leeks, said they were the best leeks he had ever had and ate them happily. ^_^

The lamb chops I simply smothered in pepper and broiled, then melted the flavored butter on top. Easy-peasy.

Top it off with a strong, dry red wine and you have a romantic feast.

^_^

Cooking Compilation Post!

Alright. Considering the ridiculously long hiatus, I think it's no secret that I have been too busy/lazy/distracted for real blogging. That pattern has yet to break. So here is a super lazy post outlining some of the awesome things we've been cooking lately:

When Melissa was here, she made veggie burgers. They were DELICIOUS.

Then I made a quick pot of borscht.

I sauteed the onions and cabbage separately.

Cooked up the beets in the tomato sauce,

Pureed the beets and tomatoes, then added the cabbage and onions.

Then, Shepherd's pie.

I didn't get a finished shot of this one, sorry. We topped it with provolone and parmasean. 

One weekend I did a bake-a-thon because I was sending out care packages to some friends. I took some before shots of my ingredients and cookware, but totally forgot to get any after shots. 

Suffice to say, there was a massive pile of cookies. 

Then, fried tofu!

I marinated the tofu in soy sauce, brown sugar and sriracha, then we fried them up in olive oil with a little sesame oil infused.

I put the tofu over rice that was cooked in chicken broth, and threw together a salad with just balsamic vinegar and pepper for dressing.

And for lunch today, I had bruscetta.

It's okay to be jealous. ^_^